Basil instructed the Bugbears to hang back and start making their way to the house once they made their way inside. If the Hag came out when they were there, they were to swarm her! Hopefully, it wouldn't come to that. He used his new Eagle Eye ability to see if he could spot anything. While looking at the Hag's home, he saw that a fire was burning brightly inside with two silhouettes standing near it, but that was all he could gain.
So he used his Clairvoyance to look through the home but was hit in the face by an unknown force! Falling to his butt and rubbing his face, one of the fairies told him that Hag's put enchantments on their homestead to prevent prying eyes. So, with that idea thrown out the window, he went to phase two.
Despite wanting more than anything to break the door in and attack, the Bugbears agreed to sit back to wait. Basil, the three fairies, and Teto began to sneak towards the house, staying low and silent. Teto stayed close to Basil while the fairies rode on his head so their wings wouldn't make noise. Once they were near her front porch, Basil silently nodded to Teto, who nodded in response and ran behind the house to look through the back window.
At the back, he saw two small windows just above the chimney, so he carefully climbed up and peeked inside. There, he saw the hag use a set of keys that she locked down on various locks, which bound the unicorn in chains. Able to see which key went into which lock, his mind instantly recorded it. He used some of his feathers to unlock the window he was looking through and waited for the hag to move away from the animal before letting out a soft bird call.
Basil heard this and moved up the porch and to the front door, where he took a peek through a nearby window. Looking in, he saw how the Hag's home was as small as it appeared. The bed, kitchen, and storage were all next to one another. Where in the world she went to the bathroom was beyond him. The smallness of the area was exemplified even more by how much junk was within it.
Spices, flowers, bones, shiny rocks, jars full of whatever was stacked high, stuffed into shelves, any table space, and even dangling above the rafters. The chimney had a roaring fire, and a large cauldron barely fit into the area alongside the captured unicorn chained to the hearth. The hag was at the opposite end of the room, looking through a collection of knives hanging on the wall over a table full of rotting meat while she laughed.
Basil looked at the creature and shivered at the mere sight of her. Using his Eagle Eye skill made it so much worse to look! He couldn't see too much since the house was so dim, with only the fire for light, but he could tell the hag looked like an old ugly granny.
Resisting the urge to vomit, he comments, "Ick! She's even uglier up close.", suddenly his nose picks up on an old yet familiar scent, and looking over, he notices how the house's siding looked an awful lot like gingerbread.
He took a whiff and was shocked to realize that it was gingerbread! The whole house was made of candy. Throwing caution to the wind and reverting to his lizard brain, Basil broke off a piece while saying, like a giddy child, "Ooo! Candy!"
"No, don't!", one of the fairies tried to stop him.
But it was too late as Basil popped the food into his mouth and began to chew it. He was enjoying and immersing himself in the sweet flavor that he had long since yearned for many years of his old life.
Only to be brought back to reality when he heard the Hag question aloud, "Is someone nibbling on my house?!"
"Oops. Game time people!", Basil said to the fairies as they all nodded together.
The moment that the Hag stepped in front of her door, excited and waiting to see unsuspecting children eating her house, she was surprised when she was the unsuspecting one. The door slammed open, crashed into her face, and pinned her against the wall as Basil, and the fairies barged in!
"Weeeeeeeeeell!", Basil began to sing as the fairies manifested tiny instruments, only to stop when he noticed the house was empty. Looking around, he called, "Hello? Hello! Anybody home?"
With no answer returned, Basil scratched his head and said to his companions, "Huh. She must've left. Lucky us.", only to hear grumbled grunting from behind the door he slammed open, where he jumped back to see a very angry Hag standing behind it and rubbing her nose and glaring hateful daggers at the young man. "Oh, oops, sorry.", Basil apologizes as the witch slams the door closed and begins to stomp over to him in anger.
Only for Basil to clear his throat and begin singing from the top;
"Weeeeeeeeeell! Tanya is a witch,
She's a big fat witch,
She's the biggest witch in the whole wide world
She's an ugly witch,
If there ever was a witch,
She's a witch to all the boys and girls.", he sang as the fairies played their tiny magic instruments.
At first, the hag was shocked by this scene, but hearing such nice things about herself in song form, she became pleasantly surprised. She stood back and allowed the boy and his fairies to continue their song with a smile on her ugly face. Meanwhile, Teto had quietly opened the window and snuck in. Seeing the Hag distracted, he looked for where the hag had put the keys from his vantage point.
"Everybody sing it now!
On Monday she's a witch,
On Tuesday she's a witch,
From Wednesday to Saturday, she's a witch.", Basil sang with all his might and got really into it.
All while the fairies chime in with vocals, singing, "La la-la-la-la-la!"
Teto descended from the window after remembering where the keys were hidden and took to the many shadows within the building. He snuck over to the hook that held the keys, snatched them, and maneuvered to the unicorn.
"Then, on Sunday, just to be different,
She's a super King Kamehameha wi-atch!", Basil sings as the Hag claps along with a smile on her face, even being joined by the many animated objects in the hut.
Once Teto made it to the unicorn, he placed a finger to his beak, and the unicorn, desperately trying to break free up to this point, nodded and stayed perfectly still. Teto remembers which key goes in which lock and tries to unlock the first one carefully. It popped open, and Teto quickly yet quietly took the first chains off the animal. But just before he could unlock the next one, the chains he removed became animated and captured the bird!
Unsurprisingly, this made some noise, which got the Hag's attention. Turning to investigate, she sees Teto lying on the ground and wrapped in chains! She looked back at the boy and his fairies still bouncing around and singing, blissfully unaware that their ruse had been discovered. The Hag smiles as she makes her way to the opposite end of where Basil is giving his performance, with the boy turning to stay facing her. Now Basil was standing with his back to where Teto was held down while the Hag just stood before him with her arms crossed and a smug smile.
"Have you ever met Tanya?
She's a big fat witch,
She's the ugliest witch in the whole wide world.
She's a mean old witch 'cause she has disgusting hair and smells like dog!", Basil continued to sing, still blissfully unaware.
So the Hag snapped her fingers, and a mirror floated beside her where only the fairies noticed what was being reflected, leading them to gasp and drop their magic instruments!
"She's a witch, witch, witch, witch, witch, witch, witch, witch, witch, witch, witch, witch, witch, witch, witch, witch, She's an ugly witch!", Basil sang with all his heart as he got completely lost in his song.
"Uh, Basil.", one of the fairies tried to stop him, but was too scared to try, leading Basil to finish off.
"Tanya's such a witch, and she's just a dirty witch!
I really mean, like, man!
She's a big fat ugly wiiiiiiiiiiitch! Chya!", he finally finished his song, dropping to his knees and doing jazz hands.
Breathing heavily from the singing and dancing, Basil opened his tightly shut eyes and stood up when he noted the tension in the room. So he asked, "What's everyone looking at?", the Hag made a 'spin around' motion with her hand, and the boy turned around to see Teto lying on the floor in restraints. He sweat dropped at the sight then realized what had happened and could only say, "Oh, poop."
Turning back to see the Hag approaching him he used his Appraisal skill to search for something that could help. Then he caught sight of something on the witch's shelf called blast powder. He didn't bother to read too deeply, but he saw the words explode and cloud, which was all he needed. So he grabbed the small gray clay jar and yelled, "Plan B, everyone run!"
He threw the jar at the witch's feet, which exploded into a small explosion of fire and smoke, blinding the witch! Usually, this would have allowed them to escape, but an animated broom came out of nowhere and began to attack him like a woman trying to swat a rat! He covered himself from the onslaught of straw as the fairies attempted to pull him away!
"Ow ow ow ow! Help! I'm being assaulted by a broom!", he cried out, only to realize what he was saying and doing. "Wait a minute, come here, you overgrown cleaning tool!", he yelled in aggravation as he grabbed the broom and held tightly to the wiggling item as he broke it over his knee. Throwing the two halves to the ground, he boasted, "How'd you like that!"
Only for two sets of chains to fly off the bound-up unicorn, entangle Basil in a flash, and hold him up in the air! He blinks a few times, not fully registering it, before saying, "Crud."
He tried to spot the fairies, hoping they were still here and could help or at least get away, but was struck with more uneasiness as he saw them all trapped in a birdcage that floated in the air. All cried hysterically as they attempted to free themselves but to no avail. Seeing that the situation had gone hopelessly astray, he could only dangle and watch as the Hag stood back and watched them struggle, with a snide look on her face with all her teeth showing.
Seeing that Basil was the only one not having a drawn-out panic attack, she walked up to him and gloated, "Well well well, you must've thought you were pretty foxy to try and outsmart me, didn't you?"
Seeing no reason to play nice with the thing that was probably going to eat him or turn him into a frog, he decided to go with the sass approach and shot back, "Actually, I did, and can you breathe away from me? Your breath is so bad that I think it's gained sentience and is trying to choke me."
With the Hag, Tanya, close to his face, he could finally witness her in her full glory…or gory. While the fairies looked like humans on a superficial level, this hag, this thing, looked almost no different to an old human woman…with a few extra bits.
Her hair was long, matted, patchy, and stark white. Her sclera was black, her iris white, and her pupils pinprick small and bright red. She was tall yet hunched over like an old woman with long, gangly arms, spindly fingers, and bony hands that held black claws. Her mouth was full of uneven razor-sharp teeth, some being different sizes, shapes, lengths, or widths.
Then came her nose; the witches in the media had warty noses, but her nose looked like she stuck an old rotten pickle to her face! She wore many layered clothes on her body, all of different sizes, shapes, colors, and patterns, all stitched together with each part equally dirty to the last, making it look like a solid brown color. Trinkets of witchcraft, bones, skulls, feathers, flowers, gems, and other bobbles hung or decorated from her body.
Her head was done up in cloth wrappings that held two deer antlers firmly to the top of her skull. The last and most notable thing about her was her skin, which was moss green, just as the fairies had told him.
Tanya gave a small cackle at the statement and replied, "Flattery will get you nowhere, deary." Suddenly, she felt something nudge at her thickly covered feet. She looked down and saw the two halves of the broom Basil had broken. It almost looked like it was asking for help, but Tanya didn't look interested. She sneered at the broken broom and kicked it aside, yelling, "Get out of here, you! You're useless to me now!"
Basil grits his teeth at the sight as the broken broom scampers away into a dark corner and says under his breath, "You really are a rotten old witch."
Tanya put her eyes back on Basil. Her angry expression turned into bravado once more as she professed, "Still, I was just thinking about getting something to eat, and dinner delivered itself to me.", This made Tanya cackle loudly, and the fairies cry in fear.
Basil had to think fast, and now! If he didn't do something, his second chance at life would be cut off just as it started! So he scrambled his mind for an idea, and finally, one did. It was ridiculous, but anything would do in a situation like this!
So he put on an exasperated expression and commented, "Lemme guess, you gonna bake us into a pie, a stew, or a roast, right?"
"Make some nice fairy pie for starters, then I'll roast the bird, and finally, I'll make a stew from-wait what? How'd you know that?", Tanya began to list off like clockwork as she made her way around to her victims to describe their demise. Only to be taken back and inquired of Basil.
Seeing her take the bait, Basil smiled internally and put on a show while exclaiming, "Oh, come on! It's so obvious it was painful to say it aloud. All you Hags are the same."
"Nowhere not!", Tanya argued back while putting her hands on her hips.
Rolling his eyes, Basil told her, "Come on, I know you Hags live in the middle of nowhere in houses of your own making and by yourself no less. Well done on the construction; I'd give it a ten out of ten. But I deduct points for the…unsettling decor. But come on, that's all you Hags do. Make pies and stews of your unwitting victims. Yawn."
Walking up to his face close enough for her nose to nearly touch him, she incredulously demanded, "Oh, and you have something better in mind?"
"I do.", Basil offered with a sneaky brow raise, like a businessman trying to strike up a client to take a deal.
"Basil…what are you doing.", Slow asked from their cage, getting increasingly concerned by the conversation.
Ignoring the fairy, Basil continued to tell her, "Ever heard of something called sashimi?", Tanya looked confused by the word, so he continued and explained, "Basically, it's raw fish over rice. But in your case, you can use human flesh."
Tanya then began to think, and the more she thought about it, the more she didn't seem to be impressed with the idea. So Basil had to put all his cards on the table, feeling like he was back in his old life and trying to close a deal with a stingy client. So he continued to tell her in an enticing offer, "Think about it for a moment. What will the villagers think when you kidnap two unsuspecting kids and eat one alive in front of the other while the one you're eating is still awake and aware of what's going on? Then the second one escapes and tells the whole town. Then what?", Tanya opens her mouth to respond, but Basil cuts her off as he answers, "I'll tell you what. Then, the name of Tanya the Green Hag will be known throughout! You'd be recognized and not just another face in the crowd."
"Basil! What have you done!", Slow screamed while banging on the bars as Moe and Flo held one another and cried.
Basil watched as Tanya's expression changed to intrigue, especially with the panicking fairies, and with a smile, she said back, "Hmmm. I like the way you think, boy. Very well, I'll do just that, and I'll eat you last.", and goes to retrieve a knife.
"Wait!", Basil exclaimed before she could choose one. Once looking back at him, Basil told her vaguely, "If you wanna prepare some good sashimi, then you need a garland."
"What's that?", Tanya asked with interest.
Seeing her interest, he explained further, "Something that adds flavor. And I know just where to get some. Just outside your house behind the crooked tree. But you'll need protection."
Tanya raised her eyebrowless face and questioned, "Protection from what? Nothing in this swamp can hurt me."
Basil agrees but tells her, "Everything but raw uncooked garland. It's poisonous to Hags of all kinds. The slow and unpredictable kind of poison. You'll have to cover your exposed bits in flour until you cook it."
Tanya then went to one of her shelves and held a fresh pot of yellow flowers before him, asking, "Like this?"
Basil shook his head and clarified, "No no no. Flour! The stuff you make bread with.", Tanya threw the flower out the window and held up a small sack of wheat flour up to him. To prove it, she scooped up a handful. Basil smiles and tells her, "There you go, now, just dust your exposed body parts, and you will be fine."
"We're gonna die!", Flo screamed as all the fairies cried in one another's arms.
Tanya smiled at their misery and began to dust herself in the flour until she looked like a white hag instead of a green hag. Striking a pose before him, Tanya asked, "How do I look?"
"Yummy.", Basil replies while trying not to vomit.
Tanya cackled once more before telling him with a tap on his nose, "I misjudged you, boy. Perhaps I should keep you around and teach me more recipes.", she then looked closer at him, and when she did, her eyes went wide as she followed up, "...and now I see you're a Chosen Touched! Glad I didn't eat you straight away."
Choosing not to tell her off for calling him the chosen one, he let her walk to her front door and open it before saying, "Good luck out there."
"Good luck with what?", she asked back while opening the door, only to get a long arm attached to a huge hand, grabbing her face and pulling her outside.
Just as Basil had planned, the Bugbears were right outside her door, and with the flour on her body, even if she did turn invisible, they could find her. Not to mention the monstrous reach the bugbears had meant she couldn't escape, especially from outside her house. The sounds of her echo screaming could be heard from outside until the sound of the Bugbears roaring and their blunt weaponry bashing against her body quickly drowned them out.
Suddenly, the screaming and roaring stopped just as suddenly as it came, and the chains that bound and held up Basil and Teto fell off their body and onto the floor, where they also fell back to the ground. Even the cage that held up the fairies stopped floating, disorienting the poor creatures as it crashed and rolled around. Basil quickly grabbed the birdcage and held it up to ensure the fairies were unharmed. Seeing they were only shaken up, he sighed with relief as Teto gave him the key to unlock the cage.
While fumbling to unlock the door, he congratulated the fairies, telling them, "Nice job playing along, you guys. Pissing yourself and crying like little girls made it so much more convincing."
Flo looked at him strangely, tears still in their eyes as they asked cautiously, "You were lying?"
Shaking his head, he told the fairies, "She thought I couldn't trick her, and I proved her wrong."
Once he opened the cage and let the fairies out, he turned to the trapped unicorn, where Teto jumped onto his back to show him which key went where. "Now you.", he said to the unicorn, who remained oddly calm.
Basil would pick out a key from their seemingly endless pile, and Teto would point out where they'd go. After only a few seconds, the unicorn was freed and shook off the last of its chains. As the unicorn and Basil locked eyes with one another, the young man felt a deep and unusual feeling upon looking into these two glittering golden orbs in his eyes. It was so surreal and alien, like looking at something that wasn't real. Even as he stared at the creature, it seemed so familiar and yet so different from what he expected of the creature.
It sure looked like a horse…. sort of. It had the head and body of a horse, but that's where the similarities ended. Its legs were long and robust, and cloven hooves colored the same gold as its eyes. It had a long tail like a lion, short ears, and a large mane of hair that almost made it look like a lion. On its head was a curved golden horn like a rhino, and it was massive! In the stories, they seem to be the size of ponies or regular horses, but he was larger than any horse he had ever seen! But then again, he was still young, so he probably had some growing to do himself. And the most surprising thing was that this unicorn wasn't pure white, but bright pink. But still, he shook this thought away while looking deeply into its eyes.
Despite looking like another animal, albeit a strange one, it had a sense of intelligence and emotional connection that only something with a mind could comprehend. There was majesty behind this animal, its age, and its secrets. This wasn't just an animal but something uniquely different, and that difference filled his senses with longing, wonder, and awe. Basil wondered if this was how it felt to be in the presence of something so…unique. He wondered if this is what scholars of old felt when describing such a creature. And in total, he just…wondered. Basil carefully and mindlessly reached his hand out to pet the unicorn, and the unicorn seemed to reciprocate the action by gingerly reaching its muzzle out to be petted. But just as they were about to touch, the whole house began to shake so violently that the flying fairies looked ready to drop from the air!
"Hey! What's going on?", Basil cried out in shock,
"Without the Hag, the house's magic is fading! It's going to collapse!", Flo yelled as they and their friends flew out the window.
As the unicorn ran out the open door, Teto hung tightly to Basil as the boy tried to gain footing! Just before leaving, he saw a large book on a pedestal and thought it was the Hag's spell book. It could be helpful in the future, so he grabbed it! Just before dashing out with Fast Retreat, he saw the Hag's broken and tossed aside magic broom hiding in the corner.
Feeling a sense of pity for the object, he yelled while grabbing it, "Oh, come here you!"
Once he had the broom in hand, he ran out of the crumbling house just as one of the beams narrowly fell onto him! Basil truly underestimated just how potent Fast Retreat was, and before he knew it, he had dashed out like the RoadRunner and zoomed past any safe distance and nearly into a twisted swamp tree that he had to stop short from crashing into! But he didn't, and he, alongside Teto, painfully slammed face-first into the tree! After pulling himself away and apologizing to the young bird, who gave him the stink eye, he carefully walked back to where the unicorn and fairies were watching the Hag's hut fall to the ground and subsequently sink into the swamp muck.
As he stood by the creatures, ignoring the Bugbears, who continued to beat the Hag; watching in a mix of horror and awe at the sight of the sinking hut, he heard someone comment, "That almost went pear-shaped for us."
"You said it, pal.", Basil agreed until his distracted mind caught up to his common sense, where he realized that voice didn't sound like the fairies or Bugbears. And since Teto couldn't speak, the only other option was the unicorn, who was looking right at him. Where Basil asked the group around him, "...did the unicorn just talk?"
"Indeed I did. Forgive the mental intrusion, but it's the only way for my kind to speak with others. My name is Gossamer. Yes, it's telepathy; no, you don't need to talk in your mind for it to work. And thank you for saving me, Chosen Touched.", the Unicorn, Gossamer, introduced himself and info dumped on him all at once, leaving Basil stunned and speechless.
After shaking the shock away and slightly digesting the fact this animal could talk, he replied, "Don't thank me, the Bugbears did most of the heavy lifting. And I'm not the Chosen One or whatever. Speaking of Bugbears….", he trailed off, trying to break away from the current topic as he looked over to the large goblins standing around something.
As they all approached the circle, they saw the hag Tanya, or what was left of her, lying on the ground in a broken mess of her own body. The only thing keeping them from seeing the carnage was her thick and nasty robes. The only sight was one of her broken arms and a small pool of crimson around her body. Biting his fist, Basil asked dumbly, "Oof! Is she dead?"
"If not, I suggest you make it a mercy kill.", Gossamer offered in retort.
"Tonight, wes having Hagy soup!", Burr declared to the other men as they raised their clubs and shouted a cry of victory and excitement.
As the Bugbears celebrated, Gossamer looked at Basil and saw the two items he inquired about in his arms. "What's that you have in your hands?", he asked.
Looking down at himself and realizing what he meant, Basil answered, "Don't know, a spell book maybe? I was hoping I could use it to fend off any more hags that I meet in the future.", he quickly opened the book where his expression of excitement changed into one of disappointment where he declared, "Nevermind, it's a cookbook.", placing the massive cookbook into his Magic Pocket, he held up the broken and unmoving remains of the hags broom where he explained once more, "And this is the Hags magic broomstick. But I don't think it's animated anymore.", suddenly the broom sprang to life and while in his hand, smacked him right in the face. After spitting out the straw and rubbing his already sore nose, he said, "Never mind."
"Why take it?", Gossamer inquired further.
Basil gave a slight shrug and answered, "Well, the Hag didn't seem so upset when I broke it and just threw it aside. And since I broke it, I may as well fix it."
Gossamer's eyes softened at his answer, and he felt true intent from the young man. He had lived in this world for many years and met many humans, but never with the amount of compassion he saw in Basil. And yet, looking into his eyes, he could see an old weight and sadness. One that would've been brought on by years, if not decades, of hardship and strife, and even after all that weight on his heart, he could still see such radiant kindness.
Such a unique person, and so the unicorn told him, "You show great compassion, young one, even to things that possess no true mind or soul. I admire that about you.", Basil looked up at him and gave him a small but thankful smile, to which Gossamer followed up by offering, "For your aid today, I would like to make a pact."
The boy's smile faded and was replaced by confusion and caution as he inquired, "Like a demon?"
Gossamer looked like he wanted to laugh at the question, where he proclaimed, "Who told you only demons could make pacts with mortal creatures and not heavenly creatures as well? With this pact, you may use my magic to aid you in any way, including boosting any spells you already know, especially healing and nature magic. In addition to summoning me at any time.", he explained with a bit of hubris.
But instead of the awestruck expression he expected, Gossamer only got a confused face off the boy as he questioned, "I thought you were a fairy or at least related to them. These three were sure up in arms about you being horse-napped.", he said while thumbing to the fairies flying around the two of them.
"Unicorns are technically both.", the unicorn briefly explained, to which Basil casually shrugged. "Do you agree?", Gossamer asked him, referring to his previous offer.
"Um…sure?", Basil replied, not sounding so sure. Just then, Gossamer touched the tip of his horn ever so gently upon the back of Basil's right hand. Then, a light glowed from it, and once it died down, an unusual sigil appeared on his right hand outlined by the light. Examining the mark, Basil commented, "Oh. Tingly."
When the mark disappeared, the fairies chimed in excitedly, where Slow exclaimed, "Oh, oh, oh! Us too! Us too!"
"A great gift from us.", added Moe.
"The fairy triplets!" happily pronounced Flo.
Before Basil could open his mouth to answer, the fairies swooped in and began to do something without his consent. Before he realized it, the fairies quickly flew around his lifted hand, where they started to shed something like dust. The same light surrounded his right hand like the unicorn, albeit much less bright, and more marks appeared on his hand, but this time they appeared on three of his fingers. The marks all glowed with one another before vanishing from his hand. Examining it, he took note of a few things; the first thing was he couldn't see the marks; second, he couldn't feel anything; and third, he sensed as though there was a new power in him where an invisible tether bound both him and the four fay creatures. As he was thinking, a new window opened, and a message appeared in congratulations.
Congratulations- multiple contracts have been accepted
Monster-Human Bond- successfully linked
Gossamer and Fairy Triplets have been added to the List of Summons
Pulling up his stat block, he saw how a new list appeared in a new window alongside the Monster-Human Bond page. This one was labeled as "Summons," so the only thing he could think of was that he could summon either Gossamer or the three fairies on the fly for any reason, but he was also linked to them like with Teto. But this situation was different, as he didn't get any of their skills, just the ability to call them into…well, whatever. So if he named a monster, he was technically claiming ownership over them, in a sense, but making a contract or pact with them only allowed him to summon them or boost a specific skill or magic. This was a lot to take in all at once.
"What do you intend to do now?", Gossamer asked him, seeing the vague and distant expression on his face.
Breaking out of his stupor, Basil thought to himself for a moment and said with a smile, "You want some bread?"