Jacob looks around the crowded reception room, bobbing up and down as Grup carries him. His mind is running. ‘Where the hell do we find a phoenix feather….’ He looks again, more desperate this time for inspiration. ‘Where is a phoenix when you need one?’ Jacob thinks, then adds, ‘What is my life?’.
His eyes land on Sue, the helpful receptionist. ‘If anyone can help us, it’s her,’ he thinks. “Grup, take us to Sue; she might know something,” Jacob says, struggling to release himself from the claws of the orc.
Grup dangles Jacob by the armpits in front of the receptionist. “Sue!” Jacob yells over the crowd.
“What? I can’t hear you.” Sue shouts back.
“Sue! We need a Phoenix feather,” Jacob yells back, but the noise of the crowd only gets louder—something about a sighting of a celebrity.
Sue reaches under her desk and, with a sigh, pulls out an air horn and presses the button until everyone gets quiet. This takes some time. Long enough for Jacob’s ears to hurt and Sue to get concerned that it wouldn’t work at all.
The room goes quiet. Sue stands up. “EVERYONE OUT! One at a time in reception, I am currently helping this fine gentleman here!” Sue points at the dangling Jacob.
Jacob waves. “Hello,” he says shyly as the 50 people in the room all stare at him and his predicament.
Someone in the crowd shouts toward the desk, “Hey, I was here first.” The room breaks down into chaos. Sue reaches under her desk and pulls out the air horn again. She presses it for a moment.
“Form an orderly queue outside. I don’t care if you have to fistfight to determine order,” she chastises. The room goes quiet; Grup nods in approval.
The crowd disperses. “I hate the festival,” she glowers. “Now what do you need?”
Jacob slaps at Grups hand. “Put me down.” He turns to Sue. “I need a phoenix feather.”
Grup does not set him down.
Sue is exhausted. Her shift started 9 hours ago, and her relief isn’t going to be here for 3 more… Luckily, she came prepared. “You want to know about Phoenix feathers? Seriously, today? I have so much to do! And you want to know about Phoenix feathers… Have you tried the library upstairs?” She laughs, and she pokes her diaper discreetly. She estimates she can make it to the end of her shift but only barely.
“Do we have time to look at books? I think it’s our only option.” Jacob asks Grup.
“I know the way.” Grup says and turns and heads toward the elevator, holding Jacob like a child who has filled their diaper.
Jacob shouts back, “Thank you.”
As Grup moves back into the elevator, he sets Jacob down, and the doors to the elevator pop open almost immediately. The quiet reading lounge is now fairly noisy with several conversations going on at the same time, but Grup decides that the crowd should be thin enough for Jacob to walk on his own.
Jacob touches his hips and his armpits, feeling like he will be bruised in the morning.
Grup almost looks scared as he looks at the 4 walls covered floor to ceiling with books. “The answer should be here somewhere,” Grup says quietly as he pushes Jacob toward the first shelf. “Get going,” he grunts.
Jacob begins looking through the thousands of books, looking for anything that seems likely to have reference to phoenix feathers.
“This scavenger hunt is looking like it’s going to be all about reading.” Grup waves his hand and looks around the room. “We may need assistance, but from whom?” He rubs his bald head while he thinks.
Jacob pulls a large book with the words “exotic lexicon of fantastical monstrosities” stamped into the leather with gold foil. He sets the book down and flips through the pages till he hits the entry for phoenix.
“First seen in the Sahara Desert, the phoenix reaches maturity in approximately 200 years. The extreme rarity of this animal is due to its means of reproduction. When fully mature, it builds a nest, and through means we do not know, it lights the nest on fire with it inside. The adult is consumed, and a singular or, in one recorded case, 2 eggs are left behind.” The tome’s pages, made on cotton paper and from the early 1800s, are almost falling apart at his touch.
“Got a way to get us to the Sahara?” Jacob asks Grup, who is standing looking out the window, his eyes looking at the shrimp taco truck.
“Not in the time we have available.” Grup looks around the room, a look of concern on his face. “Do not tell me we are going to lose this contest; that would be unthinkable.”
Jacob scratches his head and pulls out his phone. “I need a phoenix feather,” he whispers to the device.
“Phoenix feathers are found in the high tower or in the low street,” the device chirps at him.
“What is that from a game?” Jacob asks the phone.
“Would you like to know more about games?” The phone chirps.
Jacob rubs his face. “Grup, this is hopeless. Are there clues or anything?” Jacob asks while holding the sides of his head together.
Mars walks into the room with a flamingo following behind. “Get out of my way; I will not be bested by mortals,” he shouts to the room. A total of 5 people look up at him, and he glares at them until they look away. He marches over to the bookshelf and begins pulling volumes. “There must be something here about the phoenix.”
Jacob looks at Grup. Grup looks at the flamingo. The flamingo looks at Mars, and Mars looks at a tattered copy of the original Beauty and the Beast in the original French. “Useless,” Mars says, looking down the line of books.
“Grup, we are up against a god. How can we win?” Jacob asks.
“Because I am Grup, and you are the love slave of the high priestess of the filing cabinet,” Grup boasts.
“You are a mortal from a cursed land in the shadows.” Mars says casually, pulling down the next book, the spine leather inlaid with glittering emeralds says “Exotic Botany of the Orient.” He starts rifling through the pages.
“And you’re a washed-up god with no temple,” Grup roars back at the man.
Mars tosses the book across the room, where it harmlessly spins to a stop. Less harmlessly, Mars launches across the room fist first and attempts to knock Grup out.
Grup relaxes his body and takes the punch, laying him backwards with Mars Landing on top, punching at his face. Grup kicks sideways and rolls on top; he does a silly little hop, then comes down with the force of a mountain, breaking the hardwood flooring with the force. Mars’s face is, unfortunately for him, between Grups fist and the hardwood.
Grup raises his arm to punch again. “She doesn’t want to get over it,” he grunts as he brings his fist down again.
Mars moves his head, and Grup’s fist goes through the floor. “She will once I show you as a fool.”
Grup’s face turns orange in rage; he pulls his hand out of the floor and goes to punch again. “You will never be a match for me at anything.”
Mars grunts and kicks upward, hitting Grup in the nuts, sending him over Mars’s head and landing on his back. “We will see.” Mars gets slowly to his feet, pulling splinters out of his hair.
Grup, with gritted teeth, stands up shakily. He looks around at the now empty room other than himself, Mars, and Jacob, at the damage to the floor, and at one flamingo snapping at the splinters as they fall to the ground. He rubs his head with one hand and holds his swollen testicles in the other. He glares at Mars. “I don’t need to see; I already know.”
Jacob looks in awe as the titans stand up and glare at each other, realizing that this is a god and an orc. His level of impressed slowly drops as he watches the two men stare each other down. “You ok, Grup?” Jacob asks, touching the man’s rock-hard skin.
Grup looks down at Jacob, and with a faint hint of laughter, turns, holding his junk, and waddles away from Mars.
Mars stands holding his face, the shape of Grups’s knuckles plainly visible on his face from a forming bruise.
“Brought low by the petty passage of time…” Mars laments.
In a higher pitch than usual, Grup says, “Yeah, where can we get a feather?”
Jacob laughs, and Grup genuinely smiles through the pain. “I don’t know, Grup,” Jacob says, looking over to see if Mars is going to attack again. Mars is looking busy going through the books, “but we won’t find it here,” Jacob finishes.
Grup shepherds Jacob into the elevator. He digs around in his pocket and pulls out the scavenger sheet. “Here, read this.”
rules
Teams of 2
No leaving the planet.
No stealing.
The first to return with the items on the list gets a reward.
The first one—let’s get this done.
Find a coin that is ages old, from before the creation of this land so bold.
Hint:
The ones who live the longest might have forgotten change until needed this night.
Now find a phoenix feather of bright silver and gold.
hint:
The skies are their home, but it isn’t always so; some reach for the sky but can never go.
“Did you know this part about reaching for the sky and never being able to go?” Jacob asks as the doors open to the now busy again reception.
“I told you I can’t read in your wimpy air.” Grup grunts holding his testicles as he pushes Jacob towards the bar.
“Why hello, Grup and Jacob. How is the hunt?” The Cat points to the large TV behind him. “We saw your fight.” The Cat grins widely. “Now tell me you’re ready to turn in all the items; otherwise, what are you doing here?”
“Ice,” Grup says quietly, and the room bursts into laughter.
