Origins
There once was a fox. A happy little creature. All black with golden eyes. The only white one could spot on her nimble body was on the tippy tip of her tail and a small tearshaped mark on her chest. Her favourite food were chickens and eggs, easily obtained in the small houses the twolegged grumblers make for the tasty birds. Usually the little fox had no trouble stealing a good snack. Until one day, she ran into a trap on her way out. It took her hours to finally free her hurt paw. Sadly enough, a hurt fox often is a dead one. And so she would have been, if she had not run into Masaru. This kind man took her along on his travels and nursed her back to health. By the time the little fox had fully healed, she had gotten so much respect for this man that she started helping him with his business. Kind as he was, he was a con man. And he profited greatly from having a sneaky animal friend. He called her Yumi, meaning beautiful friend.
The Yokai Trap
This comfortable and enjoyable way of life goes on for a while, until they try to steal some kind of mythical object from a temple. The duo gets greatly into trouble with the local priests and have to flee. They truly had gotten themselves into trouble they could not cope with, for the priests could summon beings from other places — nowhere they could be safe anymore. Unless they battle magic with magic. There were rumours of a magical torii gate that could transport you to anywhere in the world that you so desire. It only appears on a specific night every year. Sadly they did not know this was a trap set by yokai, spirits according to local beliefs. Her human companion gets devoured and she is forced to be a servant to her captors.
Being in the fey world changes her slowly over time. She starts to be able to use magic, just like those she serves. However she keeps it a secret from all but one — someone who is a servant, just like her. Her first use of magic is harmless pranks. Her friend helps with practicing. As she grows stronger, the possibility to escape becomes greater. But just the day of their first try, something dramatic happened. She had no control over her body. It stretched and shaped into a new form. A very humanoid form. Their escape plan moves until she is able to fully control this new shape.
The Fox Spirit Gathering
They escape, and her friend informs her of the yearly meeting of foxes. Perhaps they can tell her more how to be what she has become, and how to return to the common world.
She goes to this meeting of the Fox Spirits. There she learns about all the different kinds of foxes that exist. And it is also here that she learns of the starballs — magical sources that can make all kitsunes stronger. She is happily welcomed into this circle of foxes. But the ones in this group she vibes most with are a few foxes that enjoy pulling pranks and joking around. Life has been more than serious enough for her — let's enjoy everything a little more on her own terms. One very slender and super big-eared fox lets her use her magical den to return to the common world. They part ways discussing one last time the vague clues they gathered about locations of starballs. Yumi wants to investigate a lead to the North.
Travels — The Tower Town
And so her travels begin. One day she looks up and spots a huge tower. She decides to visit the base and finds herself in a town. The town's sole purpose is to build the biggest tower ever. It is the sole obsessive activity of the population, although nobody seems to know why. Yumi is curious what the people would do if their project fails. She covers the base of the tower with cracks, so it looks like it is going to collapse some time soon. The people show a reaction she had not expected — they are happy? She destroys the tower after much planning, to free the people of their tower. But yet again the reaction is not what she was expecting. They instantly start on a new tower, a more elaborate one. The fox shrugs it off and continues on her way. There are forces at work here that she cannot understand.
Travels — The Desert Library
Yumi comes across a great library in the desert. It is not in the common world — that much she knows for sure. Is it the fey realm yet again? Who knows. The Librarian is such a dusty and boring creature that she decides to spice up his life with some pranks. Things like switching the order of his books, placing buckets of water above doors — silly things like that. Totally undeserving of the punishment she receives. He curses her to be stuck in her more harmless fox form for a while. Quite miffed, she leaves and continues on her travels.
Travels — The Orc Refugees
Happily continuing in her fox form she ends up in quite a dangerous situation. A group of people fleeing from an army of orcs. There are adventurers, normal civilians, craftsmen, wizards, military trained people — all trying to flee from that big army. It is safest to join this group to the next big city instead of going solo. Besides, even in these hard times, there are still people who find some kindness to share a morsel of food with this cute little fox. She tries to lighten these people's struggles by entertaining them with goofy little shenanigans. And it is also very fun to tease one of the people who appears to be in charge. After many dangerous skirmishes the crowd gets safely to their destination, a big city. This is where the orc enemy gets defeated.
Luckily, right before the festivities of their victory, she transforms back to her humanoid shape. Or maybe unluckily so, for she learns what alcohol can do and what a hangover is. She needs a few days to recover from this.
Travels — The Doomed Village
During that time she hears of a land where travellers are shunned. She decides to visit anyway and experience the people's attitude for herself. To her surprise, when she says she will stay only three days, the inhabitants become extremely friendly and welcoming. Yumi is soon made to feel at home among them and makes friends. When she considers staying a little longer her new friends react strangely, but they shower her with parting gifts when she leaves. That evening, Yumi watches in horror as a pyroclastic flow engulfs the land. Yumi then reads a letter given to her, explaining that the people knew of the impending destruction but decided to stay in the place that they were raised and always cherished.
Travels — The Wild Sheep and the Ravine
Yumi keeps going North. One day she is chased by a flock of wild sheep, ending up at the edge of a ravine. She climbs down the ravine then walks upstream to find a way out. Yumi exits the ravine and finds the corpse of a traveller beside his vehicle, trapped in the narrowest part of the ravine. With some illusion magic she manages to run away from the sheep on her next encounter with them. When she arrives at the front gates of the next city, she confirms to the immigration officer that she ran into sheep on her way. The immigration officer explains that the sheep were bred for fighting but released after the practice was stopped.
Travels — The Speaking Glacier
By now her surroundings have become what you would expect of some place far north. Snow, cold, mountains. And a glacier — one that speaks. Yumi must cross without the glacier learning her true name, or risk being frozen in the ice's collective memory. Luckily for her she started out as a fox, and her true name is not Yumi, but a series of yips and yelps only a fox can make.
Arrival at the Bifrost Isles
While trekking through the snowy landscape, she somehow got lost, losing sight of the roads she was following. Freezing cold and low on supplies, she spots a small fox-like being with a glowing fiery tail in the distance.
She manages to follow the curious creature through the cold mountains until she spots a familiar sight in the distance. A Torii gate. But it looked different from the malicious one she had entered before with her dear friend Masaru — different in some way she could not put to words. The tiny fox with the fiery tail turns around towards her, giving a nod of acknowledgement, or maybe reassurance, before jumping into the portal that had formed inside of the Torii gate.
To possibly starve or freeze to death here, or to jump into a portal not unlike the one that had hurt her so much before. A difficult choice. But in the end she decided to trust the fiery fox and follow it to wherever it might have gone.
As she steps out of the portal she ends up in an environment not unlike the one she was in before. Freezing plains, snowy mountaintops — but in the distance she could now also see a giant frozen body of water. This new land felt like it was filled with all different kinds of magic. It reminded her of the Feywild she had been a prisoner in, but yet it was not the same at all.
Suddenly feeling very dizzy — possibly due to the magical travel, or maybe it was just due to malnourishment and tiredness — she collapses to the ground.
The Cage
She later wakes up in a cage made of both metal and bone. Surrounded by people she had never seen before. Large, bulky human-like creatures with grey skin and strange markings across their body, wearing both robes and sturdy armour.
These Goliaths start asking her strange questions in the common tongue she can understand.
"Can you speak?"
"I never knew the Nottvulpin could change its appearance like this. We should research this further!"
"We have had many messages of strange happenings in the Bifrost Isles these past few days. This creature must be yet another kind of strange omen."
Before she is able to fully take in everything that is happening, she hears a carriage riding up from the distance. Inside the carriage she sees a somewhat more familiar sight — a Human, a Gnome, a Dragonborn, and a Tiefling.