Chapter 1: Papa Smurf is Bored
Once upon a time, in a town not that far from here, there lived four smurfs. There was Papa Smurf, the leader of the group; Brainy Smurf, who was very clever; Bossy Smurf, who always thought she knew better than Papa Smurf; and Silly Smurf, who was very, very silly.
One hot summer evening, the four friends were sitting in Brainy Smurf’s garden, drinking their favourite smurf juice. Papa Smurf and Bossy Smurf were arguing - as usual. Brainy Smurf was swinging in her hammock, and Silly Smurf was sitting on the grass, playing a silly game.
“I’m bored”, complained Papa Smurf. “There is nothing left to do here”, agreed Brainy Smurf. “I think Papa Smurf is right”, added Bossy Smurf. “Can I have some more smurf juice?” asked Silly Smurf, but nobody was listening.
“I think that what we need is a holiday!” exclaimed Brainy Smurf. “Good idea!” shouted Papa Smurf and Bossy Smurf, simultaneously. Then they stopped, and stared at each other with confused looks on their faces. “Well” continued Brainy Smurf, “if you both agree, then it must be a good idea.”
“Can I have some more smurf juice?” asked Silly Smurf, but nobody was listening.
Chapter 2: Riding in the Smurfmobile
A few days later Papa Smurf and the other Smurfs packed up the Smurfmobile and headed out of town. Papa Smurf had heard about a big tunnel under the sea, which would take them to a whole new smurfy country, where the Smurfs were known as les Schtroumpfs. Papa, Brainy and Bossy all agreed that this was an excellent idea.
“I wanted to go to Alton Towers...” grumbled Silly Smurf, but nobody was listening.
The Smurfmobile made surprisingly good time as the four friends travelled through the beautiful countryside. Papa Smurf and Bossy Smurf were arguing, again. This time it was over what kind of music to listen to as they drove. “Music from Smurfville!” Bossy Smurf shouted. “No, you’re wrong. As usual. We need some 12 bar blues.” replied Papa Smurf.
“Listen you two, if you don’t take a break I’m going to hit you!” shouted Brainy Smurf angrily.
“Look! A dead umbrella bird!” squealed Silly Smurf, but nobody was listening.
Soon the smurfmobile arrived in a quaint little village on the coast. “We’ll stay here.” decided Papa Smurf. “Good idea.” said Brainy Smurf. “Just let me out of here!” whined Bossy Smurf. “Is it time for some smurf juice?” asked Silly Smurf, hopefully. But nobody was listening.
Chapter 3: A Curious Message in a Bottle
The little village had an enormous beach, so the friends decided to go for a walk while Brainy Smurf tried to teach Silly Smurf all about estuaries and tides. Soon, the sun began to set, and they decided to go and find something to eat (or in Silly Smurf’s case, to drink).
But as they walked along the sand, something strange happened. Silly Smurf was slightly behind the others, playing in the rockpools, when he spotted a glowing blue bottle bobbing along in the water. “Look at that!” he shouted, but nobody was listening. So he tried again. “Papa! Bossy! Brainy! What is that?”
“Just leave it alone Silly,” said Brainy, “it’s only litter.” “Yeah,” added Papa, “now hurry up, I’m starving”.
But Silly Smurf wasn’t so sure. He picked up the glowing bottle and peered at it closely. “Papa! Look Papa!” There’s lots of keys in here. And they all have your name on them!”
For once, all the other Smurfs stopped and listened to Silly Smurf. “My name?” Papa Smurf exclaimed. “How odd!”
Chapter 4: Why Keys Are So Important to Smurfs
Now it’s important to explain just how special keys are to Smurfs. They use them to send messages to other smurfs across long distances, and sometimes they use them to send messages to lots of smurfs at the same time, by making a big blue blanket.
Smurfs give each other keys as presents. Sometimes they find them in the street. But never before had any smurf found a key with their own name on it. Even Brainy Smurf didn’t know what that meant.
“Maybe something is broken in the G.A.M.E (Gargamel Avoidance Messaging Engine)?” Brainy Smurf suggested, looking puzzled. “Let’s see if we can fix it.”
Chapter 5: The Smurfs Decide to Experiment
First they tried to send a message with one of the keys, and it seemed to work. They could see the message flying out over the sea. Just to be sure, Papa Smurf made a small blue blanket, and this seemed to work too.
But Bossy Smurf was still confused. “Wherever these messages are going, it still seems to have your name instead of an address. How is that possible?”
The next day the small blue blanket was gone, leaving the smurfs even more confused.
“Right” announced Papa Smurf, “I have a plan. Let’s visit all of the interesting places in the village and send messages using these keys. Maybe one of our friends back home will see them and help us understand what’s going on.”
Chapter 6: Fun in the Sun
So that’s exactly what they did. The Smurfs visited the beach, the market, the churches, some war memorials, and lots of other interesting places. Then, just to be sure, they took a steam train to the next village over and made some blue blankets from there too.
They still didn’t really know where their messages were going, but they decided that it didn’t matter. The important thing was that they were having a lot of fun in a new place, and it was all because of Silly Smurf.
“Maybe I’m not Silly Smurf, I’m sensible Smurf?” giggled Silly Smurf. And, although everyone listened this time, they decided it might still be a bit early to tell for sure.
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Disclaimer: All smurfs appearing in this work are fictitious...ish. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is mostly coincidental, and possibly insulting. No UK portals used in this op holiday were submitted by any of the players involved. Fields built on Saturday 23rd, Sunday 24th and Monday 25th (at 4am local time, after they were taken down by enl players at 1am).
Acknowledgements:@julesdg6, @cuznatch, @woollyhedge and @regthefish on the ground.@16shells, @oindypoind and the Brighton Resistance for key farming and portal building.@Darksniper83 for air support.
