> "What do you mean all you do is screw up? You realize your actions just saved us all? None of this is your fault, stop blaming yourself!" -- Anon Guest
Of all the heralds of doom for the grand villain of the adventure, the one least expected is, "Oops." At least, not from the seemingly mandatory idiot minion. It came from the Adventurer's tagalong-mascot-adoptee... the scrawny little kid who was told not to come with them for the final battle... and snuck in anyway.
Oakroot was did not come with a destiny. There was no prophecy attached to him. He just had a means of getting small, shiny objects into his sticky fingers. And that was what caused the Malevolent Mage's downfall.
The gem in their shrine of power was _especially_ shiny and, like any sneaky little thief, Oakroot had crept in during the fireworks and attempted to pry the gemstone loose.
It slipped out of Oakroot's grasp and fell, hence the, "Oops."
It flipped like a fish, bounced off a railing, and tumbled down to the spiky pit that the heroes were trying to avoid. And landed on one of the spikes. Where it shattered.
"Oh no," whispered Oakroot, hands already over his mouth.
The Malevolent Mage, hands around Cleric Tagnis' throat, began to dissolve into a heap of truly disgusting muck. He didn't even get the chance to finish his villainous monologue. And it was rude to interrupt.
The Wizard Whatli, always faster on the uptake than the rest of the heroes, saw the missing gemstone from the Malevolent Mage's altar. Saw the huddled scrunch of Oakroot, and put two and two together in rapid order. "Huzzah," she cheered. "Hooray for Oakroot's curious nature."
"Um," said Darme the Fighter. "Was that a load-bearing artefact? 'Cause I can feel some trembling in the stones."
Gisse the Bard couldn't help themself. "I'm pickin' up bad vibrations," they sang, "it's giving e-vac-u-a-tions."
Whatli opened up the trans-dimensional hallway. "Yeah, we should probably skedaddle. Just in case. Our saving point is well outside of the collapse zone. Hurry-hurry."
Darme automatically scooped up Oakroot. "Come on, shortstack. Let's put the 'oose' in 'vamoose'."
Tagnis set off the diverse alarms on her way out. Just in case any hidden minions wanted a redemption arc. The heroes had already helped all the captives escape. Anyone left in the complex was under the thrall of the Malevolent Mage.
It was, indeed, a load-bearing artefact. Everything holding the gravity-defying edifice,and the Malevolent Mage, together was held in that gem.
Any remaining treasures would have to be excavated from the rubble.
Meanwhile, Oakroot was dreading his consequences. "I broke it," he murmured. "I broke it and it wrecked everything."
Tagnis, throat still bruised, went to comfort their collectively adopted waif. "My dear one," she croaked. "You just saved the world."
"I broke the shiny," said Oakroot. "It could have been worth a fortune. 'Nuff to buy a real place."
"Dear," said Whatli, "it was a reliquary. The very object where the bad guy hid his soul and stored his magic. Breaking it was a _good_ thing."
"We won 'cause of you, twig," added Darme. "Pretty sure we can get you a real place after we clear up all that rubble. Everyone freed is bound to be grateful."
"...but I broke it," squeaked Oakroot.
This was going to take a while.
[Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@shawnc?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash">Shawn Celavie ❤️🇨🇦</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/a-group-of-red-rocks-sitting-on-top-of-a-table-k-aVSbvJ-LI?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash">Unsplash</a>]
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