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Tom put his water down and went on with the story. "You had joined Niall by that point, as well as Aurora and Ralvon. You'd taken leadership of the team by then, too." He smiled, lost in the memory. "You were what had held the team together when all the others would have given up. I think you believed in it even more than Niall did. "Samika joined right after me, by your persuasion, and we headed out following the map you'd discovered. It was hard- very hard- but we triumphed. Every time. "Eventually, after a year of traveling, we got to the vault where the map had said the key rested. There we faced our hardest challenges yet. But the trials we had already faced had made us strong. We had a couple close shaves, but we all made it through alive and even relatively unhurt. And eventually, at the very center of the vault, we found it. The Tombstone Key. "We used it right away, of course. It seemed to work; at least, it did what all the texts we had found said it did. But we didn't feel any different, and we certainly weren't healing from our wounds. We began planning our next moves once we got out of the temple; how to get back to our laboratory back home to see for ourselves how exactly this strange artifact worked. "But alas; in our arrogance, we had planned too soon. The text had implied there was a way out of the vault once the key was retrieved, but it had never actually described what this supposed way was. And, unfortunately for us, the vault was airtight from the inside. Unable to find a way out, we all suffocated and died." He took another sip of his water.

Here's what I've gotten so far: Day 1: 1 tin, 1 bendalloy, 1 aluminum Day 2: 1 steel, 1 cadmium Day 3: 2 electrum, 1 Iron, 2 Bendalloy Day 4: 2 tin, 1 bendalloy Nobody has brass.

Rumpelstiltskin looked up. "Oh. Hello, wolf." He swallowed. "How about not eating us?"

Tom took another deep breath and went on. "There were six of us, then; me, you, Aurora, Nialliv, Samika, and Ralvon. We were all sorts of people - performers, scientists, policemen, you name it. But we all shared a fascination with the legend of the Tombstone Key. "As I said earlier, it was said to have the power to "lock" the soul, preventing it from dying; and then, later to "unlock" it when you were ready to pass Beyond. We were all drawn to it, although I don't know if any of us actually thought at first that it was real. But then..." He trailed off. "Then Niall discovered something. A clue- a hint, really- in an ancient book. He told his friend, who told his friend, who told me. I didn't think too much of the clue, at first; it seemed too unclear to me. It convinced him, though, and he spent the next year or so looking for more clues. "From time to time, I would hear about him and some others who had believed him supposedly finding more clues from my friends, who knew I was interested in this particular topic. It certainly hadn't been the first time I had been informed of an expedition that had gone out on some treasure hunt for this mystical artifact. But I had been skeptical of all of them, and Niall was no exception; while I believed his clues were sound, I doubted that they led anywhere but to another ancient ruin from some lost civilization that had long ago been sacked by raiders for all the valuables it possessed. I wondered idly once or twice if it was true, as I did with all the others, but I never truly believed he would actually find this mysterious key. "Until he found the map. "The map was clear and unambiguous. It gave a precise location for the vault, as well as directions on how to get there. It contained information that fit with everything that I had learned about it so far. And it wasn't fake; I did every test I could think of, and they all came out with the same result. He was telling the truth. "That was when I joined the team." He paused, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a bottle of water. He uncapped it and took a drink.

Tom opened his mouth, trying to say something encouraging. You aren't nothing. You have worth to me. But he couldn't. He closed his mouth again. He closed his eyes and took a low, deep breath. Control, he thought. Control. He opened his eyes and released his breath. Better. There was a pause. "Should we get on with the story?" he asked softly.

Tom looked down and sighed. "I know." He scratched at a spot on the table. "It... it didn't use to be this way. When we first started out - the six of us - we were so confident." He looked back up. "Especially you," he said softly. "You... you were our leader. The person we all looked up to."

Rumplestiltskin snapped out of his reverie. He stood up and looked around the tree. "What's going on?" he said.

About the progenitor thing: if people believed that there was more than one of a creature, they would form a species. I don't think concepts should be able to destroy gods either.

Tom looked at her, curious. "Why not?" Then he laughed, a little sadly. "I suppose I know the answer to that, don't I?"

Tom laughed. "To avoid death, of course. Why else?"

Tom sighed. "I had a feeling it wouldn't. Anyways, the Tombstone Key. It's a device, shaped like a key. It had the power to 'lock' a soul, preventing it from dying. Or so it was said."

Tom sat down in the last chair, facing the other two. He drummed his fingers on the table. "Where to begin, where to begin..." he muttered to himself. "Hmmm... Better start with the Tombstone Key." He looked up. "That's what started all this. The Tombstone Key."

The liquid tasted slightly bitter, but had a sweet aftertaste. It filled Thought with a comfortable warmth, healing her injuries and bringing peace to her mind. Tom watched with a carefully projected air of nonchalance. When it became clear that the potion was working, he turned away and flicked a switch on the wall. A table with three chairs appeared in the middle of the room. He waved at it. "Shall we sit down?"

Tom nodded.

Shelves lined the walls, filled with devices of all different kinds. There was a gun that had strange writing on the side; a box that looked a lot like the one Rorim had used back at the docks; a small box that seemed to float in midair; and keys. Lots and lots of keys, in various shapes, sizes, and colors. Tom was spinning a small wheel filled with vials of colored liquid. At last he came to a stop and pulled out a red one. He handed it to Thought. "Here," he said. "This should do the trick."

What if we start with a smaller plot, then work it into a larger plot as we go?

Tom nodded and turned around. "Step into my office, please."

Are we doing a longer story? I thought we were just experimenting right now.

Tom raised his eyebrow. "Weighty questions indeed. Ones I will explain. But come," he said, turning to Thought. "Tamika is still injured. We should attend to her care first."

Okay then. Could we do the Anti-superstition league against some sort of monster?

Can I help run whatever plot we decide on?

Tom waited for a moment without saying anything. "I believe you were expressing your discomfort at your lack of information?"