Adventures in Diagramming, Part 5

After their fateful encounter with the ancient dragon Atlas, our heroes finally have a goal in sight—the city of “Wiesgooden,” the birthplace of the legendary Eierlegende Wollmilchsau. But the roads are dangerous and the journey quite demanding. Hopefully nothing unforeseen will happen during their time on the dusty roads… 

Perched on their borrowed horses, our heroes ride toward their objective, each preoccupied with their own thoughts. The discussion about the possibility of breaking off the adventure and returning home came up several times in the evenings at the campfire. Even today the four have talked about leaving this strange world behind and returning to their familiar home.

Angie knocks the dust and dirt from her studded leather armor, “I think I’ve run out of enthusiasm for horses now. Can we talk about what are we going to do when we get to Wiesgooden? Just ask around and see what we find? Or do we want to do things differently? We need a plan!”

Pauline exhales audibly. “We know what your plan would be, Angie, and it involves a one-way ticket back to Austin. Look, we’re almost to Wiesgooden; if things are bad there, we can still head back to King Gaudenz and hightail it out of here.”

Marcus agrees with Pauline, “We don’t even know what to expect in Wiesgooden yet. On the map, it looks like a pretty important city. Hopefully, the people there are not stuffy or unfriendly to visitors. Unfortunately, Atlas didn’t provide much information before she threw us out the door. But, look on the bright side, maybe we can get a brush for you, Angie,” says Marcus with a bright grin.

Angie opens her mouth to respond to Marcus, but Caroline suddenly darts up in her saddle, raising a hand to get their attention. “Did you all just hear that? A high-pitched, sort of muffled screech?”

The group immediately halt their steeds, which prance somewhat anxiously in place. Nervous glances are exchanged, and everyone listens intently into the unnaturally silent woods that envelop the path.

“Are you sure you heard something, Caroline? I haven’t noticed anything weird. Come to think about it, I haven’t heard anything from these woods in hours…” Pauline interjects from her mount.

Suddenly, from the stretch of road in front of them comes a long, drawn-out, and pitiful wailing. The sound is reminiscent of some kind of screeching avian yet deep and, at the same time, growly. And, just as Caroline described, it is strangely muffled.

The horses perk up their ears, flare their nostrils, and in an instant they rear-up on their hind legs. Surprised, the heroes land in the dirt one by one while their horses gallop away from the terrible sound. “Yup, definitely over horses,” Angie rasps, holding her right arm as she stands up.

“Is everyone okay?” asks Marcus, only to be interrupted again by the dreadful noise. Apparently, something must have heard the commotion on the road and is trying to make itself heard.

As everyone scrambles to take cover, Caroline draws her sword and grips it firmly with both hands. “Let’s see what’s screaming for us ahead. We better be careful!”. Still looking unhappily after the horses, Marcus joins the others and follows.

The group, guided by Caroline, turns around the embankment in front of them and catches the first glimpse of the thing responsible for the turmoil. A sheep-sized creature is stuck with its head in a clay jar. The thick lettering “honey” on it suggests the contents, while next to the strange beast lies a beehive that has already been broken open and plundered. In a small clearing behind the creature rests a backpack, whose contents have been carelessly distributed across the grass. The muffled cries resume as the entity senses the group approaching.

“What kind of monster is that?!” exclaims Pauline, who stares in horror at the bizarre figure of the beast. The paws of a bear are supplemented with long, black, and curved talons, almost resembling human fingers in length, grasping the sides of the jar. A muscular body is covered with a mixture of fur and feathers, which are colored in various shades of brown and black, giving the helpless little something a dangerous and yet beautiful grace. The group stares at the struggling animal, all standing behind Caroline, who is undecided about what to do.

Marcus, however, finally pushes past her and takes a step toward the defenseless creature. “This must be like in a fairy tale; we help it, and it helps us. Like the lion with the thorn in its paw, right? Maybe we’ll get lucky, and this is the creature we’re looking for?”. Marcus runs up to the little monster before anyone can intervene, gently extending a hand toward the jar.

Almost as if he had crossed a magical boundary, the honeypot shatters into its individual pieces, revealing a fleshy interior, the edges of which are studded with jagged yellow teeth and a purple tongue that slithers around the newly formed maw. The rest of the bear-like creature splinters in a similar manner. Tentacles form out of the interior of the abomination and shoot toward the agile coach, forming fanged mouths at their ends.

Marcus lets out a sharp scream as the tentacles wrap around his waist and wrestle him to the ground. As the surprise wears off the rest of the group, they take the initiative and charge toward Marcus, who is being pulled closer to the creature’s writhing form. But, before Caroline reaches her friend, she hears hissing and buzzing from her side as the presumed beehive also springs to life. From the fragments of the honeycomb a gigantic jaw forms, leaning on tentacles, throwing itself at Caroline and the others almost like an insect leaping. Saliva trails the creature as golden brown blubbery eyes twist out from the surface of the abomination behind the open gullet.

Caroline blocks the monster with her blade but is nearly swept off of her feet on impact. Angie rushes past the fighters towards Marcus, who has nearly reached the creature’s maw. She grabs Marcus by the arms to pry him from the tentacles. The dwarf strains with all his might against the grapple, but to no avail. “Caroline! Your sword, here, NOW!” Angie shouts in the direction of her PMM, but the latter is pushed back further and further by the monstrous honey-colored entity in front of her.

The massive figure of the bear lying on the ground now rises to its feet and begins to close the last few feet on Marcus. Meanwhile, Pauline looks back and forth between the two wrestling parties, unsure of what to do, while ice is forming around her hands. “Guys, you’re too close! What if I hit you?!”

Caroline lashes out at the twisting hive in a wild flurry of steel and sweat, but none of the strikes hit the agile hive. It playfully dances around her, constantly snapping at her arms and legs.

A piercing cry from Marcus breaks through the turmoil as the teeth of the former honeypot drive deep into its leg, and with a huge bang followed by a shockwave of intense heat, the creature and Marcus disappear from the clearing without a trace. Only a semicircle of charred grass indicates their struggle. Still sitting on the ground, Angie stares stunned at her hands, while Caroline, on the other side of the road, remains in complete focus while she exchanges lightning-fast blows with the hive.

Pauline shuts her eyes and surrenders to a Wild Surge of suddenly emerging magic. A deafening crack accompanies a flash of light that she perceives even under her closed eyelids, ending with an unsettling splat sound. She reopens her eyes and faces a completely honey-soaked and dumbstruck Caroline, her hair still sticking out in all directions due to the electrical voltage of the conjured lightning.

“Caroline, are you all right?” asks Pauline tentatively. A grim-looking Caroline nods. They’ve lost Marcus; now it’s personal.

“Look at this!” calls Angie, who has been going through the backpack’s contents. “Looks like our friends had to leave this behind. The map shows Wiesgooden, and here it says ‘Hideout Entrance’; not very subtle or clever.”

Caroline helps Angie to her feet and wordlessly continues down the path toward Wiesgooden. “So we’re going to this ‘Hideout’ now?” asks Pauline a bit sheepishly.

“Of course,” Angie replies, her newfound determination making her seem like a new person. “They have my idiot.”

Diagramming Inspiration

Facing challenges can test us to the limit of our capabilities. Whether we are battling against honey pots gone wild or with a looming deadline makes no difference. Whether you take a vacation after completion or enjoy resting in a tavern with the treasures you’ve found, it’s always essential to take a step back after the work is done and reflect on what’s transpired. The concept is to keep learning from the processes, something that any Agile Coach will know only too well. If our heroes had an Agile coach by their side, they could take a lot of lessons from this confrontation.
Since Marcus is currently preoccupied, we took care of that for him with this “Good, Bad, Ideas, Action, Kudos” retrospective. Check it out!

Want to get started building your own maps or floorplans? We have a few blogs and videos to get you started: