Fineo's Awesome and Amazing

Puppet Show

with Heroes and Monsters

Performed in the Central Plaza · Old Quarter · Hashan

Dramatis Personae

🎪 Tahquil — Narrator & Puppetmaster 🪆 Ehene — Ledia & the Good Traveller 🪆 Mhuswys — Torien, the Grook Sage & others 🐉 Minkai — Sunflower the Dragon 👥 The Audience

✦ Prologue ✦

TAHQUIL

Thank you all for coming today to watch "Fineo's Awesome and Amazing Puppet Show with Heroes and Monsters!"

TAHQUIL

This is not your usual puppet show. There are going to be times when our heroes are going to need help on their journey. Luckily we have a very helpful and prepared set of people who can help them.

TAHQUIL

You guys! Our DEAREST AUDIENCE! Sometimes you will need to call out to our heroes to tell them what to do. Sometimes the heroes will need certain items. You have all been given a Hero Kit when you arrived — if anyone is missing theirs, take one from our tophat here!

The audience cheers, clutching their pouches with excitement

⚔ A city enemy — Ksha — is spotted lurking in the audience. Fendo moves to deal with the matter. After a brief scuffle, Ksha departs with a bang of sigils.

TAHQUIL

No baddies allowed unless they are in the script~!

Once order is restored, Tahquil claps her hands together brightly.

TAHQUIL

Let's practice! DEAR AUDIENCE! Let's all have a piece of candy before we start! Please take the candy from your Hero Kit and pop it in your mouth.

With grand gestures, Tahquil holds a piece of maple candy aloft for all to see, then places it in her mouth with ceremony. The audience follows suit, one by one.

The audience dutifully — and with varying degrees of enthusiasm — devours their maple candy. Solina announces they are all poisoned. Laughter ripples through the plaza.

TAHQUIL

Good! Good! Well done! Since we have the gist of it — it's time to start!

Act I

A Tragic Backstory (Reluctantly Told)

Tahquil opens a Hero's journal and begins to flip through the pages. The curtains remain drawn.

TAHQUIL

We join our soon-to-be Heroes wandering along the winding roads…

Two small felt puppets burst up from beneath the stage before the curtain even opens, arms flopping over the edge.

LEDIA

Wait! Wait! You have to tell our backstory first!

TORIEN

Yeah! It's, like, important to the plot.

TAHQUIL

It's kinda cliche…

TORIEN

I think you mean TRAGIC! ANGUISHED! HEART-WRENCHING!

TAHQUIL

(turning to the crowd) Hmmmm… how about we let the audience decide? DEAR AUDIENCE! Would you like to hear our Hero's tragic backstory?

The two puppets lean out over the edge of the stage, frantically nodding their heads up and down, silently begging a "Yes!" Meanwhile, Tahquil shrugs as if offering the option to say "No."

The crowd erupts — "YES!" "AYE!" "ALASTOR!" — one lone "No" goes unheeded

TAHQUIL

Fine.

LEDIA & TORIEN

Yay! Whoo!

The puppets swiftly vanish back beneath the stage. Tahquil pulls a cord — the curtains open on a peaceful farming village bathed in soft painted light.

TAHQUIL

Once upon a time there were two soon-to-be heroes who lived in a picturesque farming village. Their names were…

The girlish puppet pops up with tremendous enthusiasm, strutting forward with a wave.

LEDIA

LEDIA! Hiii! I'm super awesome, the best warrior in the village, and I'm also everyone's favourite!

The boyish puppet rises suddenly, gesturing with profound indignation.

TORIEN

I'm Torien, and Ledia is a liar. No one likes her because when it's her turn to make breakfast she always burns it. …And she stinks like feet.

LEDIA

No I don't!

TORIEN

Yes you do!

Ledia shoves Torien. Torien shoves Ledia back. They trade nuh-uh's and ya-huh's, slapping each other with their floppy puppet arms.

The audience laughs and grins

TAHQUIL

In case you couldn't tell — they were siblings.

TAHQUIL

For many years they lived a peaceful life in the idyllic village… but then a great disaster befell them.

Tahquil retrieves a plush black dragon from behind her lectern and places it atop the stage. The siblings stop fighting and look up at it. Ledia and Torien turn to face the beast in silence.

TORIEN

What's that?

Horrified gasps ripple through the crowd

TAHQUIL

You see, a large, fearsome, black dragon decided to make its home in the very same lands they were living. Her name was Sunflower, and when she saw their pretty little village surrounded by swaying yellow wheat and grain — she wanted it for her own.

Tahquil fumbles with a cord. After some coaxing, the mechanism triggers and a double chain of paper monsters springs open, swaying back and forth like an army on the march.

LEDIA

Aren't those Sunflower's monsters? Are… are we being raided?

LEDIA & TORIEN

OUR VILLAGE IS BEING RAIDED!! AHHH!

The puppet siblings throw their heads back and scream. They run back and forth across the stage, arms flailing in absolute panic.

TORIEN

AHHHHH! It's not working!

LEDIA

Why can't we run off-stage?!

TORIEN

This is your fault… somehow!

The crowd laughs with genuine delight

TAHQUIL

With the monsters of the dragon claiming their village as their own, the siblings could do nothing but flee — together.

TORIEN

You heard the big lady. We gotta run away together!

LEDIA

Okay! Let's go!

They immediately scream and run in opposite directions, then meet, bewildered, back in the middle of the stage.

TAHQUIL

DEAR AUDIENCE! It looks like they could use some help. Should they run LEFT or RIGHT together?

The crowd divides sharply — "LEFT!" shout the majority; "RIGHT!" cry a defiant few; Faerum proposes "Straight." The LEFT faction carries the day

TAHQUIL

And so, they ran LEFT together.

LEDIA & TORIEN

Left!

They confirm with each other and run off stage-left. The curtain drops.

Act II

The Winding Road (Good, Bad & Weird)

The curtains open on a road winding through rolling hills. Ledia and Torien bobble in, facing right.

TAHQUIL

Driven from their village, the siblings wandered down the winding road — and along their journey, Ledia and Torien met many, many people who had also been attacked by the dragon and her hoard of minions. Most of their encounters were good—

A Good Traveller puppet suddenly appears before them.

GOOD TRAVELLER

Hark! What's this? Two children travelling alone on this long and dangerous road? Unarmed? Undefended? Unaccompanied?!

TORIEN

Err, who are you?

GOOD TRAVELLER

It matters not who I am. All you'll remember about me in your story is that I gave you your weapons and taught you how to use them so you could protect yourselves!

The Good Traveller vanishes beneath the stage amid a tremendous racket — BANG! CRASH! "Yeeowch!" — then pops back up with weapons. He pushes a wooden sword into Ledia's hands, then forces a wooden staff at Torien with considerable enthusiasm. Torien accepts it… with minimal enthusiasm.

LEDIA

HEEEYAH! YAH! YAH!

TORIEN

Uh… hi-yah?

Laughter and clapping

GOOD TRAVELLER

Good work, children! Now that you can defend yourselves, I can continue on my quest to find some lemons to replace the ones the monsters stole from me!

"TALLY HO!" The Good Traveller raises his sword high, leaps acrobatically — does a flip — then smacks his head on a stage leg and tumbles out of sight. A moment of silence. His sword pops up over the edge. "I'm good!" he calls out.

The audience collapses into laughter

TORIEN

But… we are still unaccompanied…

GOOD TRAVELLER

(receding into the distance) Two out of three is good eeennnooouuugh!

TAHQUIL

Some encounters were bad—

A mean-looking puppet leaps in from the right of the stage with a menacing growl, landing behind the heroes.

MEAN TRAVELLER

Ha! This is a mugging — give me all your gold!

TORIEN

But… we don't have any gold.

MEAN TRAVELLER

Oh… hmm. Then, what can you give me?

LEDIA

A beating!

Ledia and Torien smack and stab and beat the bad traveller back until he falls off the stage and disappears with a yowl.

Cheers and delighted applause

TAHQUIL

And some encounters were just plain weird.

A large greenish troll-puppet peeks out from the stage curtains, wearing an obviously fake moustache affixed at the very last minute.

WEIRD TRAVELLER

Psst… hey, kids. You kids want some soup?

The weird traveller emerges onto the stage, revealing it holds a vellum drawing of a bubbling cauldron filled with green… soup. Probably.

TORIEN

Ohhh! I want some soup!

LEDIA

WAIT! Are you a good or a bad encounter?

The weird traveller does not answer. Or move. Three puppets stare at each other in prolonged, uncomfortable silence. Then, very slowly, the weird traveller begins to slide smoothly back through the curtains — staring at the siblings the entire time — until it disappears completely.

The audience stares. Then laughs nervously.

LEDIA

WAIT! GOOD OR BAD?!

TORIEN

What… just happened?

Both puppets shrug and keep walking.

TAHQUIL

But like all stories, this winding road the siblings wandered soon came to an end.

Tahquil tugs on another stage cord. A big red 'X' on a stick springs up to the left of the puppets, stopping them from going any further.

TORIEN

Oh no! There's no more winding road to wander!

LEDIA

Well, what do we—

A Wise Grook Sage drops down from the wing, clutching a stalk of celery as a staff.

WISE SAGE

Ah! You must be the heroes who have been on a journey of discovery. Quick! Follow me!

Without waiting for a response, the wise sage HOPS HOPS HOPS offstage! The would-be heroes look at each other, shrug, and follow — hopping along exactly like the stranger did. The curtain drops.

The crowd laughs with genuine delight

Act III

The Wise Sage & The Turning Point

The curtains open on a ramshackle hut in the woods. The celery-wielding Grook Sage hops onto the stage, and the heroes follow.

TORIEN

Wait! Heroes?… Us?

LEDIA

Heroes?

WISE SAGE

Yes, yes, you two.

TORIEN

We can't be heroes!

WISE SAGE

Well, why not?

LEDIA

Because we haven't done anything yet.

WISE SAGE

Sure you have! You just finished walking the path of discovery and hit the turning point in your story.

LEDIA

Turning point? But the road just… ends.

WISE SAGE

Aha! Not so. Not so! This is the point you choose to turn back and face the problem that started this… or do nothing and have the story finish with a dead end.

Wide eyes and wonder from the crowd

LEDIA

I kinda want to go and beat up Sunflower for what they did.

TORIEN

I really want to go home again some day.

LEDIA

Okay! We'll do it. But we'll need a plan. We don't know where Sunflower is, so we are going to have to lure her out.

The wise sage does a small victory dance with his celery staff, then steadies himself.

WISE SAGE

Hmmmm… well, what did you learn on your journey?

LEDIA

Uhhh… I got this cool sword, and a nice guy taught me how to use it.

TORIEN

Ummm… we met a lot of other people too. Some were nice, some weren't nice.

LEDIA

Yeah, they were all walking the wandering road with us. They were all pushed out of their towns by Sunflower and the monsters as well!

TORIEN

And Sunflower stole lots of really weird stuff from those towns.

WISE SAGE

What kind of weird stuff?

LEDIA

She attacked our village because of all our grain.

TORIEN

The good guy was looking for the lemons he lost.

LEDIA

And the bad guy wanted to steal our gold.

TORIEN

Oh! Don't forget the circus. The clowns had all their rubber duckies stolen, and the trapezer lost his cheese — not to mention how the ringmaster lost all his sentimental hometown bananas!

WISE SAGE

Well, what do all these things have in common?

The siblings hem and haw, thinking hard and scratching their fabric heads. The wise sage pulls a sheath of yellow grain from under the stage and tosses it out front, then a round piece of card coloured yellow, then names rubber duckies, cheese, and bananas in turn.

TAHQUIL

DEAR AUDIENCE! It looks like our heroes need some help. What does yellow grain, yellow gold, yellow rubber duckies, yellow cheese, and yellow bananas all have in common?

The answer rings out instantly — "THEY ARE ALL YELLOW!"

WISE SAGE

Yellow! Thank you! They are all yellow!

LEDIA & TORIEN

Ohhh! Yellow!

LEDIA

Sunflower steals yellow things! That means we can make a lure out of yellow things to draw Sunflower out! (thrusting her sword) Then we can beat her up so she'll leave everyone alone!

TORIEN

Then everyone can go back to their homes!

WISE SAGE

That sounds like a plan. My, what clever children.

LEDIA

All right! Let's go!

Ledia runs off-stage — then quietly returns to the Wise Sage.

LEDIA

Just curious — why do you have a stalk of celery as a staff?

WISE SAGE

It was a set-up for a joke the author thought was very clever until they reviewed it the next day. It was so terrible, they erased it for the audience's sake.

LEDIA

Oh. Okay!

Ledia turns and runs back off-stage. The curtain drops.

Act IV

The Ruined Village & the Final Battle

Accepting their new roles as heroes and with a revelation in hand, Ledia and Torien return to their ruined village to stand up to Sunflower and her hordes.

The curtains open on a ruined village. Ledia and Torien bobble in slowly, taking in the destruction.

LEDIA

Wow… It's been so long since we were here.

TORIEN

Yeah… I wonder where everyone went.

LEDIA

Don't be sad. Once we get rid of Sunflower, everyone will come back home!

TORIEN

Okay! Let's start making the pile of yellow things to lure Sunflower out!

TORIEN

Umm… I think we forgot something very important.

LEDIA

Yeah… Sunflower already took all of the yellow things.

TORIEN

Where are we going to find things to make the lure?

TAHQUIL

DEAR AUDIENCE! Is there anything in your Hero Kit that can help? If you have anything yellow — please come up and give it to me to help build the lure!

Tahquil steps out in front of the stage, basket on hip. One by one, members of the audience come forward with yellow ribbons, corncobs, handfuls of wheat grain, gold sovereigns, yellow ink — Fineo the beggar saucier shouts for everyone to throw their gold on stage (to much laughter). Tahquil coos and thanks each giver, adding everything to the basket.

A substantial pile of yellow things has been constructed.

TAHQUIL

"Good news, Ledia, Torien! Everyone came together and built an amazing yellow lure for you!"

Tahquil places the overflowing basket in front of the stage. The siblings peer over the edge in amazement.

LEDIA

Wooow! There's so many yellow things!

TORIEN

Thank you everyone!

LEDIA

Quick! It's already working! TORIEN! Get ready!

Tahquil pulls the cord again. The familiar paper monster legion springs open across the stage.

TORIEN

ATTACK!!

The crowd cries "ATTACK!" in chorus

With every "hiyah!" and "take that!", another paper monster falls — crushed and torn. Ledia's sword slices through the paper legion, shredding them to ribbons. Torien smacks monster after monster with his staff — proving that paper might beat rock, but puppet-with-staff beats paper.

LEDIA & TORIEN

WOOOOO!!!

Wild cheering erupts across the plaza

From the back row, Minkai stands, cradling the plush black dragon.

MINKAI

"How -DARE- you?"

She flies the dragon across the crowd — Sunflower alights upon the stage with a crash of oak and a roar.

Ledia and Torien cling to each other, screaming — then remember they are the heroes of this story. They separate with a sniffle and raise their weapons.

TORIEN

I didn't know she was this big!

LEDIA

It doesn't matter! We are the heroes! We can take her down!

Both puppets attack with "hi-yas!" and "take that!"s — but Sunflower merely laughs.

SUNFLOWER

Pfff, hahahah!! Do you think two heroes is enough to take -ME-, the great Sunflower down? Yoouuou foolish little puppets!

LEDIA

Oh no! She's right — we need more heroes if we're to drive her away!

TORIEN

But all of our audience is too big to fit on stage! We need little heroes to come help!

TAHQUIL

DEAR AUDIENCE! Our heroes need your help! THROW your little heroes up at the stage to help them drive off the awful Sunflower!

The audience hurls their hero plushes — warriors, shield-bearers, runic knights — toward the stage in a glorious rain of felt and stuffing. Tahquil flings them onto the stage as fast as she catches them. Faeryn hurls her yellow rubber duck at Sunflower for good measure.

SUNFLOWER

Aiaiai, oof, ow, stop! Stop that right now! Aiya!

The crowd surges — cheers, shouts of "SHOO! BAD DRAGON!", more heroes flying through the air

SUNFLOWER

UGH, there's WAY too many heroes here! I'm outta here! …You haven't seen the last of me!

Sunflower speeds away into the sky. Ledia and Torien celebrate! The audience erupts!

TORIEN

Phew! We did it! We drove off the terrible Sunflower from our lands!

Yelling, cheering

…Then the stage goes dark. The boards creak. An ominous shadow falls.

An ominous shadow eclipses the stage before Minkai herself descends upon it as Sunflower the dragon, the oak creaking under her weight as she lets out an earth-shattering roar.

SUNFLOWER

YOU THINK YOU CAN GET RID OF ME -THAT- EASILY? WATCH THIS!!

LEDIA & TORIEN

(yelping in surprise)

Gasps of horror — the crowd shouts for the puppets to run

TAHQUIL

Wait… this isn't part of the script!

TORIEN

Oh no! We drove Sunflower from our lands, but she just went to a different land!

LEDIA

And she got really big! We're too small to fight her like this!

SUNFLOWER

GWAHAHAHAHAH!! All your yellow will be MINE!

TAHQUIL

DEAR AUDIENCE! Quick! I put one last thing in your Hero Kit just in case there was an emergency — Banishment Cones! Everyone! The Incantation! Yell really loudly "GO AWAY SUNFLOWER" and PULL your spell cone!

The audience tears into their Hero Kits and produces paper cones of alchemical fireworks. The plaza resounds with the incantation as cone after cone is pulled—

The crowd roars: "GO AWAY SUNFLOWER!" — heard across the city of Hashan

✦ BOOM! ✦ The plaza fills with light and smoke — the incantation is complete

SUNFLOWER

Ow argh ow, aiaiai! What are you all doing?! I can't take it any more!

With a flap of her majestic black wings, Minkai (as Sunflower) enters a tear in the fabric of reality — and is gone.

Eruption. Absolute eruption. Cheering from wall to wall across the plaza.

✦ Epilogue ✦

TORIEN

Is it…? Is it actually over now?

LEDIA

I think so. She vanished into nothing this time. …I don't hear any more surprises brewing.

TORIEN

I think… I think we defeated the awful Sunflower for good!

Ledia and Torien dance across the stage, whooping and hollering with glee. Then the celebration dies down. Ledia looks around at the destroyed village.

LEDIA

We're officially heroes now!

LEDIA & TORIEN

YAAAAAAAAY!!

LEDIA

So… what now?

TORIEN

I guess… I guess we start rebuilding the village so people have a place to come back to.

LEDIA

And I guess we have to find the people to bring them back.

TORIEN

Okay! We're heroes — this is the easy part.

Ledia and Torien attempt a high-five — miss each other a couple of times — shrug, hug, and skip off the stage in opposite directions.

Tahquil snaps the Hero's journal shut.

TAHQUIL

And so, this chapter in our Heroes' story ends. Two heroes embarking on two different stories, both monumental in scale and of equal importance.

TAHQUIL

Torien remained, rebuilding the village and growing the community that came to call it home. Ledia, searching the lands for their old friends who had been spread far and wide. They still met from time to time — Torien always welcomed the stories and strange things Ledia would bring, and Ledia always had a comfortable bed and warm meal she could call home.

TORIEN

(muffled, from beneath the stage) And it wasn't even burnt!

LEDIA

(muffled) Shut up!

The muffled sounds of puppets fighting drift out from beneath the stage.

TAHQUIL

THE END!

The plaza erupts in applause, bravos, and wild cheering