Rebeca was the first to wake up, lifting her head groggily from the wooden floor she had been using as a pillow. From what she could see, she was in a canvas wagon with the others.
"Will, what'd you do?" she asked, waking up her companion.
"Where are we?" Will asked as he pulled himself to a seated position.
"Alright, if you didn't do this, who did?" Rebeca asked.
"Why's everyone so loud?" Logan asked, pulling Cal's arm over his head and trying to go back to sleep.
"Logan. That's me," Cal pointed out, not moving.
"You're an awful pillow," Logan said, lightly punching Cal in the side.
"What's going on?" Gabe asked, pulling his knees up to his chest and backing up to the wall of the wagon.
"You fellas awake in there? We're nearly to Leafbend by now," a voice called from outside the front of the wagon.
"Yeah, we're up," Will called back.
"Grand. Shouldn't be more than a few minutes now," the voice said.
"We're not too familiar with the place to be honest. What should we expect out there?" Will asked, pulling aside the flap that acted as a door to the wagon.
A bone-thin man turned back to Will and smiled a toothy grin, "Hell kid, they didn't tell you what you were getting into?"
"They didn't tell us a whole lot, no," Will said.
"Well, Leafbend's been having trouble lately. S'far as I know, you guys got hired to figure out what the problem is. That sound about right?" the cart driver asked.
"Yeah, but that's really all we know." Rebeca said, joining Will at the front, "Well, that and what our reward's going to be."
The driver gave a crazed grin and cackled, "You adventurers, always getting in over your head for some coin. Well, you'll definitely earn your pay if you figure out what's wrong. The forest itself is fighting back against this town. Between the beasts and the plants, I'm the only guy left who's willing to cart people down this road."
"What do you mean the plants? I understand beasts being an issue, but how have the plants been fighting back?" Cal asked from just behind Will.
"All's I heard was that the locals've been having problems with their leafy neighbors if you catch my drift. I don't stick around that place long enough to see it." the driver said, yanking the reigns to take a sharp turn, "I might be willing to drive these roads, but I'm not about to spend any time in that cursed town."
"Hey you three, a word?" Logan called.
"Excuse us a moment," Rebeca said, closing the cart's door and turning to face Logan.
"What the hell is going on?" Logan asked.
"I think we're in that game we're playing. Like in Jumanji," Will said.
"Or Zathura," Gabe offered.
"How?" Logan asked.
"Call me crazy, but I'm gonna go with magic," Cal said.
"Wait, I totally should have bought more stuff at that shop," Will said, smacking himself in the forehead.
"Look, guys, what do we do? I don't know about you, but I'd rather not get stuck in a board game," Logan said.
"Dude, you've seen this storyline before, haven't you? We beat the game, we go home," Will said.
"How do we win?" Gabe asked from his corner of the wagon.
"The guy up front said we were supposed to find out what was wrong with this place. I think the rules said we have to beat the end boss. We'll do a little detective work, find out who's to blame, and kill them," Rebeca said.
"Alright. But only because we don't have any other choice," Logan said.