Sylvia nodded as she started serving the tomato soup and grilled cheese, “Thanks Pylia, the soup and sandwiches are ready! It’s a dish from back home,” She moved to give the first five dishes to everyone else who wanted the meal before serving the last one for herself. She hoped that the meal would not just taste as good as it smelled, but would also soothe the soul at least a little.

Slowly but surely, the two others would awaken to the smell of your food, and even the young boy would be tempted as he edged on over. Pylia offered the family some food and tea as they ate. The father was named Andras, the young woman was Elena, and the young boy was Andrew. The woman who was with them was the wife and mother of the family, and her name was Leena. The man recalled how they were just passing through when suddenly a bolt hit one of his oxen, causing him to panic and topple the wagon over when they hit a gap in the road. It was chaos from there. He knew the roads were dangerous, but he thought the brigands wouldn't bother getting out during the rain. He was wrong. Andras looked solemnly into his soup as he continued on, explaining that he tried to negotiate peace, but the brigands just attacked him. His wife came to his defense, taking two attacks before he tried to save her and that's when everything went black.

Elena confirmed the story. She and her brother were knocked off the cart when the brigands attacked, and she tried to ran away with him. However when they attacked her parents she made a noise and they spotted her. She distracted them by running away so that Andrew could go hide, which was when she ran towards the hill and spotted the cart coming. The entire time Andrew at his food quickly and quietly.

"I... I wish we could repay you somehow. But that wagon had all our produce, and without our oxen we won't be able to even bring it to Gransys to trade." The man sighed. "I always knew the roads would be dangerous. I have some money saved away so we're not penniless but... My dear Leena... Nothing I have is worth your life..."

Sylvia listened to the family as they spoke and informed them what happened right before their caravan arrived. Sylvia felt a little worse when she heard that the woman who died was the mother and wife of the family. While Sylvia never met her own mother, who died a little after Sylvia was born, she could never imagine what Andrew and Elena were going through right now...

Why did the bandits take great pleasure in causing harm like this....?

At the mention of repayment, Sylvia answered them, “Oh please don’t worry about repaying us. We’re just glad we were able to help,” She then told them, “I truly am sorry for your loss. I hope you can rest assured that those bandits will never plague the roads again,” She then offered “We’re heading to Gransys ourselves. If you want to, and Ferric is okay with it, you can travel with us,”

It was then that the young boy spoke up. He was quiet at first but Andras and Elena noticed him speak. His sister encouraged him to speak up and the boy spoke nervously. "I... Maybe we can get our cart? It's not too broken." Andras sighs at his son's naivety. "We could. If these kind people are willing, we might be able to get out cart and repair our wheel. But without an oxen or horses, there's no way we could pull that wagon through the mountains." That's when the boy nervously spoke up again. "I saw... I saw last night, in a dream. A hero who helps people. He's here. He has a good heart." When the boy said those words the images from your dreams flashed through your mind. The green glow, the unmoving body, the cave. But then came another detail that you wasn't there last night; the sound of roaring water.

Andras looked at his son with sadness. "Andrews... I know what happened was terrible, but..." The man took a deep breath. He didn't want to discourage his son. He thought the boy was just having fantasies to escape the tragedy that befell them. "Well, I'll go speak with Ferric at least. Thank you for the food." Andras left the fire to go find the dwarf, leaving you with his children and Pylia. Andrews sat next to his sister to hold him close and just stared at the fire. Pylia looked over to you with a look of concern. "What do you think we should do now?"

Sylvia stopped and sat stiffly after Andrews finished talking about the dream. Her senses were overwhelmed with her own dream from last night, and this time...there was an additional sound to it now. The sound of roaring water. But...there wasn't any water in the cave she was in...was there?

She was in shock. After the dream came back to her like that, she realized that the boy had a dream...and it was about her. She wasn't gripping her bowl that still had some soup in it, and it fell from her hands while her hands remained in the same position. She didn't say anything in response to the father. She could only nod dumbly to him as he wandered off. She slowly looked down to the ground as she thought about it.

The boy saw the dream, and she saw a dream last night. It's not a coincidence they met up. But if wasn't a coincidence, then that meant that the gods...just practically set them up to die...if she hadn't been there...

She snapped out of it when Pylia asked her question. Sylvia at first kept her eyes towards the ground as she answered, "Well, we can't just leave the family alone on this one. It's still not safe out on the roads. And besides...Pylia..."

She then looked at her in the eyes with a serious look and a tone in her voice that indicated something serious was going on, "I don't think our running into this family was merely a coincidence anymore," The tone was clear: She needed to talk to Pylia...

Pylia could tell something was bothering you. Shifting the remaining soul and tea away from the fire so it doesn’t burn she stands up and walks away out of the earshot of others waiting for you. Once you come over Pylia looked at you with a concerned face. “What’s going on? Do you think this is still a trap or something?”

Sylvia followed Pylia away from the campfire and earshot of the others. Sylvia shook her head and answered "I don't know what to think right now, other than something big is happening right now," She then informed Pylia, "Andrews was not the only one who had a dream last night. I had a dream last night as well. But I don't know what it was I saw. I only saw flashes, but there was a cave, and something in it. It looked like a man in armor, but it wasn't and it had a green glow in its chest. It reached out towards me and called out, only saying 'Heart'. When Andrews said that the hero has a good heart just now, the dream came back but with an additional detail that I hadn't heard last night: the sound of rushing water. This...This can't be a coincidence,"

She asked Pylia, "What do you make of this? I want to ask Andrews more about what he saw of his dream last night, but..."

“You know, if it were t for your particular origins, I would’ve said hat it was just a Dream. But... Surely this is too much of a coincidence for that.” Pylia pondered what these things could mean before looking over at the bridge. “This bridge is build over ravine, which itself has a river running through it. Rushing waters... Perhaps this cave is near the river somewherewhere ghe water moves fast. Rapids or a water fall. If we find the cave, we’ll find that man you saw in your dreams. Maybe he’s the hero Andrews spoke about.”

Sylvia nodded and agreed ponderously, "Maybe," She then told Pylia, "Maybe we'll end up finding that cave while we help Andras, Elena, and Andrews with their cart and horse problem. I think I'll ask the doll about the figure in the dream before we head out again. Maybe I can get more information regarding the person I saw in the dream,"

“That’s right, your divination doll! Perhaps you could ask him something now?” Pylia suggested. Soon Shortfang came back, has he had left sometime after eating. He had some fish which he proceeded to descale on the rocks nearby. “I don’t know if it’s too early or not but it can’t hurt to try right? So far it’s shown to be reliable at least. Vague as it is.”

Sylvia nodded and answered “Yeah, it might! I’ll give it a shot now,” As Shortfang returned with fish, she brought out the doll from her backpack. After looking at Pylia once more, she looked back at the doll and asked it, “Who, or what, is the figure I saw in my vision last night?” She made sure not say dream this time.

”Waiting to be awakened.”

The oracle wander seemed even more vague than the last few times they were used. It almost didn’t make sense. Pylia continued to look expectantly at you while Shortfang came over curious about that was going on. “Boss? What that?”

Sylvia blinked and she asked, perplexed at the answer, “...What...?” She snapped out of her thoughts when Shortfang asked about the doll. She answered Shortfang, “An oracle doll. It answers any question once per day. I use it for situations I don’t quite understand, or for preparation ahead of time,”

After she answered Shortfang she looked to Pylia and told her “All the doll said was ‘Waiting to be Awakened’”

“That’s.... Vague.” Pylia sighed. “Waiting to be awakened. I guess that at least means if we find this person or thing, there’s some way we can get it to do... Something. But that oracle didn’t exactly tell us anything important about how to do that. Or more importantly where.” Pylia looked over to Andrews and Elena. She leaned over to you and spoke quietly. “Maybe Andrews would know more. He had a Dream too. Maybe he saw something you didn’t.”

After Pylia made her comment, Sylvia added thoughtfully, “I wonder if it has anything to do with a heart. And if there are any caves near here at all...” When Pylia looked to Andrews so did Sylvia. After Pylia mentioned Andrews, Sylvia agreed, That may be a possibility. I’ll see if I can talk to him about it,”

After saying so, she approached Andrews and Elena, kneeled down on one knee so they’re eye level with each other. She softly spoke, “Hey, Andrews. How ya holding up?”

After he answers her question, she asks, “Hey, can you tell me more about the dream you had?”

When you approach, Andrews shies away. He seemed scared of you but Elena gently put her hand on his shoulder. "It's okay Andrews. She helped us. She's a good person." Hearing this Andrews does look at you but still seems shocked. "I don't remember it very well..." He says quietly. "I remember seeing a man. I think he's a hero... I want him to be a hero." Elena hugs him tightly. This was when Shortfang came over and held out some fire grilled fish. "Boss make good food, but Shortfang knows tummy hungry! Eat eat, many fishes!"

Sylvia wasn't surprised to hear that Andrews didn't remember much, nor that Andrews was somewhat scared of her. Before she spoke, Shortfang approached and offers fish. She beamed happily at Shortfang. He was helping! She could hug the kobold. She turned her attention to Andrews and she agreed, "Yes, if you're still hungry, have as much as you'd like," She then said, "Anything you can remember would greatly help. If I can find him, I can check and see if he is the hero for you. But don't push yourself. It's okay if you can't remember everything,"

The boy took some of the fish, looking between you and Shortfang. He munched on it before he started talking. "I remember... The sound of water. A river, no, a water fall. It was scary at first. But when I went in I saw... Monsters. Scary monsters, and bats. A big strong monster with a big weapon. But then... He was here. I saw a green light and... And it felt like he was here to help. As long as I believed in him he'd help fight the monsters." That's when Shortfang chimed in. "When Shortfang get fish, he see waterfall up stream. Big and loud. Maybe there?" The young boy shrugged. "I also know that... Right now, he's hurt, because he fought the monsters. He needs... Something, in that cave, to become strong again. If he gets it he can help." Andrews made a shape in his hands though it was hard to describe. "He needs... His heart back."

Sylvia listened as Andrews spoke, and Shortfang once again became the life saver by mentioning where he found a waterfall. She first thanked Andrews, "Thank you, Andrews. I think I can go find him and help him out now," Sylvia waved Pylia over before she looked to Shortfang and she told him smiling, "Shortfang, you are a genius! Thank you! Can you lead Pylia and I to the waterfall?"

"Mmm! Okay!" Shortfang nods enthusiastically before Pylia came over. "I overheard most of that conversation. Perhaps we should rest a while and tell Ferric we'll be going somewhere before we run into dank waterfall caves filled with unknown dangers? For courtesy sake at least." Pylia says with a slight smile. "Not to mention if we are going to be delving into danger, we should prepare ourselves. Perhaps there was some items among the brigands we defeated that could help us."