At breakfast the next morning you and dAnkan once again start scheming on your new plan to bring back Santa.
— “So, have you come up with a plan for finding out where that dragon lives?”, dAnkans asks, stuffing their beak with some elven morning bread.
— “Perhaps a ranger or something? Or perhaps that won’t work since the dragon flew away what we can only imagine to be far”, you respond, as bread crumbles start dirtying your clothes. dAnkan lights up, brighter than the fire from seven elven bakeries.
— “Do not fret, my friend, for I might have a foolproof plan which is guaranteed to work… eventually. Someone out there is sure to know how to find the dragon, so let’s just ask literally everyone until we come across the right person.” dAnkan exclaims, very sure of the elegance of their plan.
— “What do you mean, ‘asking literally everyone’? Asking them where Santa got santanapped?” you try to say but is cut off by dAnkan.
— “No! We can’t let the people find out that Santa’s been kidnapped this close to Christmas. It would create a complete pandemonium and then finding him would become quite the NP difficult problem.” dAnkan says in between slices of bread.
— “Okay, so you’re saying we should go around, asking people all over, in the hope of finding someone who knows anything… That would take forever.” you interject.
— “Alas, I think you are right. Hm, what to do, what to do indeed?” dAnkan mumbles.
All of a sudden dAnkan jolts as they are struck with the energy of a foolproof plan. “I got it, I got it!” dAnkan exclaims as they lay down a map of Yuletide on the table. “It won’t take too long, we just need to do it efficiently. As long as we only visit each town exactly once it should be no problem.”
— “That would still mean a LOT of walking… My poor legs… If only we had a bicycle…” you mutter, finishing your breakfast. “I have an old pal here in Duckston named Hamilton who might let us borrow two…”
— “No time! We need to head to Ausilalulon at once!” dAnkan exclaims with confidence. “And we need to hurry! We’ve got to get back before dark! I do not want to miss out on my long rest.”