Alex didn’t get a friendly reception when entering into the common room of the adventurer’s guild.

“Where are the nymphs?  Who has a bird net?  How did that harpy get in here?” the group panicked like just being in the same room as a harpy would doom them.

One burly tribesman tossed a large net at Alex.  

What was this?  A repeat of that night where they lost their home?

Activating dance partner, the harpy flapped one wing, spinning around.  The action was just enough to use the momentum from the throw to whip it around and send it flying right back at the man, spinning like a bolo.

The man ducked, and someone standing behind him took the net full force.

People kept panics, running away, or throwing stuff at Alex.  

There wasn’t really a good way to escape.  Alex predicted doors would be tricky with no hands.  Also, dancing in front of all the tribes people would be awkward.  The stairs up went to boarding rooms and offices and the stairs down went back to the dungeon portal.  Alex didn’t want to retreat into the dungeon.  Harpy Alex didn’t want to dance in front of everyone to get Lily to open the door.  

Moments later, an unfamiliar nymph walked out from the kitchen.  “What is all this commotion?” 

“There’s a harpy, she came up from the basement!” One man said.

“Huh?  I have a name you know.” Alex protested at being treated like a monster.

“Oh, you can still talk,” The nymph said. “Come on, let's get you to the sanatorium. What’s your name, do you still remember it?”

“Alex, is my name.” The nymph shot him a look of disbelief.

“I’m sure you are not Alex, maybe you are having trouble saying Alice?  Alice is your name right?” The nymph opened the door and led the harpy outside.

Alex held Lily tightly for support, “No, I said it right.  I’m Alex. It took a couple days but I just finished the dungeon.”

“Okay, so you must have been sick before going into the dungeon and it looks like the bird flu progressed fast for you.  You must be really susceptible to transformations.  Hopefully the disease doesn’t progress any worse.  It looks like you are in the late stage when your body is completely transformed and the mind starts to go next.” The nymph took them to a big tree.  She used her plant magic to have roots lift them up into a series of tree houses.  “Just rest here with the others.  Do you need anything to eat or drink, Alice?”

“Yes, it’d be nice to get some fresh food and drink. Also, it’s Alex, you are being really rude.  Just get Ki or Fufi. They should be able to verify my identity, I hope.”  Alex sat down on an open straw bed. 

Beds were all around.  Some of them had wooden cages around them.  Only women seemed to be in the ward.  A few had feathers growing on them or claws forming where their feet should be.

A feathered woman wearing a simple tunic approached the harpy. “Hello newbie, looks like someone did a good job of hiding you for a while or you came down with the worst case of bird flu anyone’s seen.”

“Yeah, I went to take a nap and woke up like this.” Alex sighed, “It is going to take some getting used to.”

“Sounds rough, I heard you talking to the Nymph that brought you here.  She said your name was Alex?  I can’t believe that she didn’t recognize your outfit.” The avian woman gestured to Alex’s magical girl outfit.

“The men in the adventurer’s guild mostly freaked out. I don’t know about the nymph who took me here.  I didn’t recognize her so maybe she just came to town recently?” Alex said.

“Well, they’d have to be really stupid to not recognize that frilly outfit.  I don’t think anyone in the tribe hasn’t heard about it.” The feathered woman said. 

“You would think so right?” Alex shrugged, wings making the gesture a bit weird.

A few minutes later three people entered.  The nymph from before came with some food and drink.  Ki and Fufi were alongside her.

“Hello, Alex? you look a bit different.  Sorry about the mixup.” Ki ran a hand through her green hair.

The harpy sighed and hugged the doll with her wings. “It is me, Alex.  I took a nap and woke up like this.”

The third nymph set out a wooden tray and poured some tea for everyone.

Alex lifted a wing towards the cup and frowned. 

“Why can’t you get Lily to help you with your tea?  You’ll be like a mistress.” Fufi cheerfully added, not reading the mood at all.

The avian lady quietly retreated and sat down on her bed. 

Ki shot Fufi a look.

Alex took a breath. “Look, I can’t just up and dance in front of strangers.  Trying to come up with a dance to get dressed was awkward enough.”

“You could use your claw.  When we flamingos have tea parties we stand on one leg and hold the teacup in the other claw.  It is just tricky to get around the webbed feet.” Fufi explained like a teacher.

“You say that, but I think if I tried to grab a teacup with them I’d just crush it.  These claws are much bigger than your little webbed feet Fufi. I haven’t tried it but I could probably grab a person and crush their bones.  They are bigger than an eagle’s claws.” Alex groaned.

“Ehhh… E.eagle… Please don’t mention such large raptors.  You know they hunt flamingos right?” Fufi trembled.

As Alex’s claws wiggled, the flamingo looked uncomfortable. “I’m not making you nervous, am I now?” Alex said with a girly smirk.

Ki used her magic to grow a wooden cup that would fit nicely in Alex’s claw. It was a bit big.  It had to be, considering the size of the claws.  It was also extra thick.  The nymph poured a generous portion of tea and handed it to Alex.

Alex awkwardly lifted a claw and grasped it.

Fufi winced at the grasping claw.

“If you ever swoop down and try to grab me with those claws I won’t forgive you.” The flamingo said, voice cracking.

Ki interrupted, “If you two could stop behaving like children for a moment we’ve got some stuff we need to discuss.”

“What’s that?” Alex asked.

“Well, there are some quarantine things that I found out about after asking around.  Unlike the occupied kingdom, we won’t be killing anyone showing avian characteristics.  The tribes isolate the people for at least a week after they are no longer showing signs of the bird flu progressing.  I know that this might seem insensitive, but after the sickness has completely transformed the human, the next steps are mental degradation.  The only way without some very specific kinds of magic is to just wait and observe to make sure they are not contagious.” Ki spoke with her most professional tone.

“Could you help me with my phone Fufi?  It is in my skirt pocket. If the weird thing Luna did to it is correct then I’ve beat the disease.” Alex gestured to the bird with a wing.

Fufi took the phone out of Alex’s frilly garment with her beak and set it down.  She poked the button on the side and beak-swiped up to open it.  

Alex’s status screen was on display.  “Now if you long press then that can bring up a log menu.”  The harpy was happy that past Alex was lazy and didn’t enable a thumbprint lock.

Fufi did just that.  “Oh, there is a lot of stuff here.  Take a look Ki.”

The green-haired nymph took the phone from Fufi’s beak.  As she looked through the logs she winced a bit.  Maybe she read the part about the apple nymph transformation? “Well, if this artifact from the goddess says that Alex had resisted the disease that is good enough for me.  I don’t think there is a higher authority than a divine one.  I am glad that you were able to resist the disease before the mental parts started happening. You don’t need to be isolated because there is proof that you are no longer sick.”  Ki gestured to a harpy in a bed surrounded by a wooden cage.  The setup was not that much different than the one that Fumi was being kept in back in Sakura’s grove, only smaller.

 “So what now?  If we don’t have to rest for a week I guess we don’t need to stay in this treehouse.” Fufi said.

“Well, before I got treated like a plague rat I was planning to check the loot but there isn’t space in here.  The barrel’s on top of it would be above the ceiling.” Alex said, raising a clawed leg to sip the tea.  It wasn’t all that difficult. Bird jointed legs could reach a lot higher than human ones with ease.

After a quick snack the trio left the other nymph and the patients in the sanatorium behind.  They opened a door and stepped outside onto a platform held up by several thick branches.

“Will this work?” Ki politely asked.

“I think so” Alex said, and deployed the carriage from the card.

The carriage popped into existence and Alex opened a panel to reveal the treasure chest within. “Well, let's see what we got from the dungeon.”

The treasure chest contained a sealed scroll case and a pair of black-and-white dancing shoes.

“Oh, that is a really cruel dungeon.” Alex said, looking at the claws.

“Hmm, no more feet.  Well you did have feet when you entered. I’m not sure how dungeons decide what happens in terms of the timeline of treasure selection..  They don’t say anything at all. What is in the scroll case?  Maybe it is something better.” Fufi said.

Alex used a claw to pass the scroll case to Ki.  Her being the only one with hands made her the best suited to this task.

Ki broke the seal and pulled out a rolled parchment.  She unrolled it and set it on the floor of the carriage. “Hmm, I think this is a treasure map.”

“How do you know?  Is it nearby?” Alex bobbed up and down, trying to get a look.

“Well, you see that big X?” Ki moved aside and pointed at the map.  “I think X marks the spot where you are supposed to go.”  She gestured to some simple symbols of trees and mountains. “This is actually the entirety of the domain we are controlling.  And that X is to the northwest of it.”

Alex took the chest and placed it on the platform. “Thanks Ki, also I don’t need this empty chest.  Maybe someone around here can use it?  Going on a treasure hunt might be nice.  Bob and Martha’s farm is on the way.  We could stock up there and head out.  It takes two days to get there by carriage though.  And the X is many times farther than that if this map is to scale.  It could take weeks or months depending on the terrain.”

Fufi flapped her wings about flamboyantly. “I think that you are forgetting to consider something Alex.”

Watching the odd display of flapping Alex asked, “Huh what’s that supposed to mean?”

The flamingo pecked at Alex’s feathers. “Get it now?”

“Hey ouch!  That hurts like someone was pulling my hair.  Why did you do that?” Alex paused.  “Oh…no I don’t know the first thing about flying.”

Fufi puffed out her chest feathers. “Good thing you have a natural flier right in front of you.” She led them to the edge of the platform.  “Now just do like I do!”  She jumped off and started flapping.  The flamingo made a nice circle in the sky and landed back on the platform.

Alex gulped. “Well, here goes nothing.”  The harpy jumped off and started flapping.  Alex’s flight soon turned into flailing and then doing summersaults through the air.  Before the painful crash landing happened, a vine grabbed Alex’s claw and stopped the fall.

Fufi flew down and hovered in front of the inverted Alex.  “Were you not watching?  You have to use your tail feathers too!  You can’t just flap.”

The flying lessons with Fufi promised to be a pain.

melchi

Also, trying to get an upside down harpy hanging from vines mostly just produces nightmare fuel.  Here is the best one out of maybe 100 tries.