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Trostenwald. Here in this sleepy trade stop along the Amber Road, a handful of wandering destinies slowly begin to intersect...
I stared across the table at my temporary companions.The blue Tiefling seated to the left of me, Jester, was unknowingly swishing her tail back and forth, excited for our upcoming meal. Fjord--the half-Orc--was across the table, looking around to watch the waitress’ movements so he could flag her down. And Beau, on my right, was preoccupied, following Jester’s tail with her eyes, no doubt bored. She seemed to be over any situation that wasn’t fighting—in the day I’d known her, the happiest she’d looked was when we were killing the serpent.I was relieved to get a long night’s sleep after that fight. It hadn’t been something I’d planned on, killing a serpent with a group of strangers, but we were the only ones who had stepped up when an older man ran ragged through the docks screaming for someone to help his daughter.Speaking of, the same Fisherman now stood meekly by our table, clutching his hat in his hands.“I thank you for your time. Fjord. And, I apologize, I forget your names…?” I wasn’t offended that he didn’t remember us, having talked to Fjord the most. He was a good talker, while Beau and I struggled a bit more and Jester could be overwhelming.“Beauregard.”“Serasai.”“Jester.” “Jester,” He repeated, trying to commit the names to memory, “Thank you. You all came when no one else would yesterday, and because of you my daughter is still alive.”I felt a surge of pride. Before I could speak--“Oh yeah. Sorry for being a pessimistic asshole, by the way, when we three first came into town.” Beau gestured to the trio. She wasn’t wrong.“Oh, that’s okay.” He waved it off.“I’m not used to things turning out…good.”“You’ll do well this side of the Empire.” He chuckled, weakly. “Anyway. I won’t keep you, but I– we spoke yesterday, and I didn’t have much to give you. Sent you away with nothing but my gratitude. But I’ve been asking around the other fishermen, lochsmen, and we’ve put together a little bit of coin for your troubles, so.” I watched him turn his cap over the table and empty out a pile of copper and silver, with a few bits of gold catching my eye. The noise of it spilling onto the table caught the attention of the rest of the tavern, and all eyes were on us. Once he noticed, he looked sheepish, and quickly put his cap back on and pushed the pile towards us.Jester’s eyes lit up most notably as she gaped at the pile.“I hope it’s helpful. But thank you.” He bowed his head a little, awkwardly.“Yeah, yeah.” Beau reaches out for the pile before stopping abruptly. “--Oh wait.”“We can’t accept this, right? I mean, it’s too much.” Fjord said.“We’re supposed to at least say that, right? And then still accept it, right?” She asked, looking hopeful.“I think you’re supposed to do it if you say it.”“Although the person giving it typically tells you to take it anyway.” I added, amused. Jester looked between the three of us, trying to think of an out.“Well, I mean, he did go around to a bunch of people. That was a lot of work on his part. I would hate to make him go back to all of those people and give it back to each individual person.” Jester reasoned.“If he didn’t keep a ledger, you know. We wouldn’t want to do that. It’s rude not to accept a gift, right? It’s rude not to accept a gift, right?” Beau turned to ask Rinaldo.“I would hope that is the case. Anyway. Thank you very much. I am sorry for getting in your way.” Rinaldo began to scurry away, obviously still uncomfortable being watched by the other tavern patrons.“No trouble at all!” I called after him.“DIVIDE IT UP.” I jumped at the sudden outburst from Jester.“Okay, okay!”Beau began counting out the coins, immediately handing us each a gold piece. The trouble came when she got to the silver.“How do you divide 22 by four!?”I snickered, but watched carefully to make sure she didn’t stiff me any of the money.“That’s creepy. Fucking disgusting.” I looked up to Fjord, confused, and he turned back to the table. “I think we have people watching us.” I followed his gaze to the table next to us and reeled back a little as a small hooded halfling was staring us down with wild eyes.“Who is watching us?” Jester asked. I used my head to point to the other table. “Is something wrong with your neck?”I sighed.“She was telling you to look over there.” Fjord explained. The Halfling had stopped leaning towards us and seemed to be in deep discussion with the man sitting across from him. They both looked worse for wear, covered in dirt, likely travelers passing through. Underneath all the dust and heavy-set coat, the man looked quite handsome. The Halfling was covered in too much cloth to make out much about their appearance.“Are you guys staying here!?” The now-familiar accent broke me out of my thoughts as I saw Jester practically inches away from the strangers. They looked completely startled.“Don’t move. Don’t move.” A squeaky voice came from under the Halfling’s hood, “Tieflings can only see movement.”“I don’t think that’s true—"“It’s very true, we have a hard time seeing things that aren’t moving, it’s very true.” Jester claimed, nodding. “But I can hear you. You should take a bath! You know they have showers here, it’s possible.”I broke, silently laughing in my chair as this took place.“A what now?” The man asked.“You bathe yourself in water.”“No, I’ve bathed before, yeah, I know what a bath is.”“It’s because you smell really bad, and it’s wafting over this direction. I’m just letting you know. I would hate if I smelled that bad and someone didn’t tell me.”I had thought the smell of dirt was from the tavern floor but now I was questioning if I was wrong.The man stared blankly at Jester, jaw slack.“I’ve only just met you.”“Hi! I’m Jester.” Jester held out her hand excitedly to shake. Gingerly, he took it.“Hi, I’m Caleb.”“Nice to meet you, Caleb.” Abruptly, towards Beau and I, “How much silver did I just get!?”“Five!”“WOO!”I jumped again at the shout, pocketing the money Beau pushed my way.“And twelve copper! Aren’t you all jealous?” Beau stared down this poor table that had been dragged into our midst by Jester.“Morning.” The Halfling girl muttered, meekly.“Morning.” Beau nodded.Now that I was looking at the girl…she had a mask covering half of her face—white porcelain with red lips painted on. The skin showing was green, and I wondered for a split second if she was ill before I realized she wasn’t a Halfling at all.I watched, bothered for a second by what I had figured out, eyes darting to Caleb. He seemed close to the girl—I thought it was a girl—despite having to be aware of what she was. It was out of place, but clearly a human trusted her. I doubted either were a threat in a busy tavern.Beau and the Goblin began speaking in a language I could tell was Halfling, but I couldn’t understand.“You’re being mighty fucking friendly. They were looking at our coin.” We looked over to Fjord.“Why can’t they have been looking at me? Maybe they were looking at me.” Beau argued.“I didn’t think of that.” Fjord admitted.“Maybe they were looking at Serasai. Maybe they were looking at you. As Jester said, you’re handsome.”“Just—”“Yes?” Jester turned immediately back to Caleb.“Nott—”“He said ‘Just’.” The Goblin explained.“I just thought he said my name, is all.” Jester explained. I sat back in my chair, idly wondering what time it was and if I should leave this group now or later.The waitress made her way to our tables, dropping Trosts at the adjacent one before turning to us.  “Would you like anything as well?” The trio ordered quickly, and the waitress looked to me.“And for you?” She asked.“I’ll have what she’s having.” I pointed to Beau with my thumb. The waitress nodded.“Right, I’ll be right back.”I zoned out a bit, playing with a copper piece. The bronze coin cast a faint light against my hand as I twirled it. I paused when I heard Caleb raise his voice.“I mean, I’m sorry, not to be blunt, but, you know. It’s pretty obvious goblins are not welcome strolling about.”“She’s a goblin!?”“Yeah, yeah, but you don’t have to make a big thing of it, all right? There could be people here who don’t know.”“I mean you just announced it.” I murmured. I felt someone looking and turned to see Caleb staring me down. I put my hands up in faux-surrender. “Just saying.”“She’s my companion, she’s my friend. There’s nothing to make a big deal about. That’s why she’s wrapped up. Just leave it, please.” He continued.“I didn’t ask why she was wrapped up.” Jester said. Beau nodded.“I know, we’re not making a big deal out it. You’re making a big deal out of it.”The squabble continued and the waitress came back with our food. Fjord and I thanked her, and began to dig in, followed by Jester and Beau not long after.In the middle of eating, there was a sudden commotion at the door of the tavern. I looked up to see two figures walking in, sticking out even more than our group did--which was an impressive accomplishment. My eyes fell on another Tiefling, moving with grace through the crowded room. Lavender skin and pure red eyes, as they neared us I could hear the piercings, jewels, and baubles adorning their horns jingle. They were dressed in ostentatious, colorful robes, not even trying to conceal the striking looking blades hanging from the belt at their hip.Following a step behind was a larger woman with skin even paler than my own. Her hair was wild, matted and braided black that faded to white at the tips. Her eyes were different colors. She seemed to be standing guard over the Tiefling as they made their way from table to table.I leaned toward Beau, “Don’t move. Tieflings can only see movement.”I felt rather than saw the approaching Tiefling’s eyes dart to the copper coin still resting on the table by my hand. In half a second, his eyes met mine and moved to quickly scan over our group.“Well. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a group of people more in need of a good time in my entire life!” He declared. He reached a hand out for mine, to shake. With a firm, quick shake, he made his way around shaking everyone’s hands at our table. “Mollymauk Tealeaf of the Fletching and Moondrop Traveling Carnival of Curiosities.” He introduced. I perked up at the word “carnival”, having always wanted to go to one.“If there was ever a group of people that needed a good time to go out, have a laugh, see things that you have never seen before, and my god, take my word for it, one month’s time, people will be buying your ale to hear the tale of what you saw at the Traveling Carnival of Curiosities this night.” They didn’t seem to stop to breathe; they sounded like an old friend giving advice while at the same time I was highly aware they wanted me to buy something. Perhaps it was because I already wanted to go to the carnival, but I found that I didn’t mind their sales pitch.“We saw your tent going up! We did!” Jester said, giddily.“We were actually going to go without the flyer, but now we also have a flyer.” Beau held it up. I put a hand out, and she handed it off to me.“Well, I don’t think I’d joined up with you yet when you saw the tent, so I didn’t even know it was in town. We should go together.” I directed the comment at Jester, knowing she’d say yes.“Yes! We should all go!” Jester cheered, clapping.“Excellent! It’s just five copper. A steal. At five silver, it would be a steal--at five gold? Worth every penny. But if you’ve got the five copper to spend, we would happily have you all.” Having already won us over with the carnival’s mere existence, I couldn’t help but chuckle at the sales-pitch.“Do you perform?” Jester asked, stars for eyes.“Ah. I’m less of a performer and more of an intermediary for these parts. I do on occasion perform. I can read fortunes–“ Jester’s loud gasp interrupted him.“I was going to ask if you read fortunes! Can you do one now?”“I knew you were going to ask that.”My shoulders shook with silent laughter at the sight of Jester completely taken in by this silver-tongued performer. But she was happy, so I stayed silent.“May I bring up a chair?”“Have mine, for the moment.” Fjord insisted, standing.“Thank you very much!” The purple Tiefling slid into his seat, across from me, and turned to Jester. I heard the woman who had come in with the fortuneteller order a drink. I took my copper and continued playing with it, twirling it around my fingers as Jester introduced herself and asked for his name again.“Oh, my name is Molly to my friends, and we’re friends, now, aren’t we? Pleasure.”“Look at this guy!” Jester nudged me with her elbow. He smiled at me, red eyes alight.“Mollymauk. Molly for short. This is Yasha, she’s a charm.” He gestured to the woman standing guard.“Hello.”“Good to meet you.” I greeted back, having to look directly up from where I was sitting to face her.“Now. Would anyone like a fortune read?” Molly asked, holding out his deck.“I would love one.” Jester said.“I’ll take one, after Jester.” I decided.“Do you have coin?” He asked.“Yes. How much do you want?”“How much is it, she means.” I corrected, despite being unconcerned about the cost. He couldn’t charge more than the actual show, which was only five.“Two copper.”“Two copper, okay, I just got some copper. Here you go.” Jester dug through her coin purse and handed hers over.He took it, smiling his thanks, and held his hand out to me. Beau leaned over to me before I could pass him the coins.“You know this is bullshit, right?” She murmured, quietly.“Yeah, but it’s fun bullshit.”I placed the coins in Molly’s hands. If he’d heard us, he didn’t let on. I appreciated Beau trying to watch out for me, considering how we didn’t know each other that well.The two Tieflings chatted as Molly shuffled. He kept the conversation light, but I figured he was trying to get a read on her. I didn’t want to go so far as to doubt he had magic, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he knew how to work a deck of cards, and let his smooth talking do the rest.“He’s really quite good, you all should line up and get your fortunes told.” Yasha said, in a complete deadpan, convincing no one.With a flourish, Molly pulled the first card.“Your first card, the Silver Dragon. This is good. You’re pure, you’re virtue, you are a worthwhile and wonderful human being, obviously, or creature of some repute.”“That’s what everyone always tells me.”I shook my head fondly.“It’s true. And heading towards the Anvil—”“What’s that?”“That’s destiny forged.”“Oohh.” Yasha deadpanned again.“There is something bright and adventurous in your future.”“Wow! You know, we did just defeat a really big snake? So maybe there’s even bigger things coming up, you know?” Jester said, practically bouncing in her seat.“Of course you did.” Molly flipped the next card to reveal a Serpent. My eyes widened. I had been watching his hands the whole time—either he was for real, or he was damn good at this.“Oh my gosh! Look at that! How did you even do that!?”“That’s all the cards. I’m simply a vessel for higher powers.”That’s when I knew he was bullshitting us, but I was still no less impressed. Jester leaned in closer.“Will you ask the cards if I’m going to find him?”“If you’re going to find her?”“Him.” She corrected.“Give me a little bit more. Who’s this 'him’ that you’re looking for?”“I’m looking for my dad.” She didn’t seem at all upset when she said it, just determined. Molly shuffled a little and pulled a card with a large eye on it.“You’ve already found the clue you’re looking for. You just don’t know what it is yet.”“Really?” Jester looked on, hopefully.“Apparently. Well, it’s what the cards are saying. It’s right in front of you.” Jester nodded.“Wow. Does it say how long ago I found it? Because that’s–““Sadly, I don’t have that sort of specifics. That’s much more expensive.” I barely contained a snort, covering it with a cough. “And of course, it’s time for your friend’s fortune!  But you find us at the show, you’ll find my tent and I’d be happy to give you a more complicated reading.”“I can’t wait! It’s going to be so much fun.”“So much fun.” Molly echoed, shooting me a wink. I couldn’t help an expression of surprise at the quick flirt, but recovered and squared-up for my reading.“And your name, dear?”“Serasai.”“Serasai, never heard that one. Beautiful! Elvish?”“Yep.”“Simply darling. Now, we’ll do a classic read, then. Past, present, future, sound good?” I nodded. “Wonderful. Tell me a little bit about yourself while I shuffle.”“Well, I’m traveling around to see the world. Like Jester said, we all fought a serpent the other day, that’s how I met up with them. Looking forward to the carnival, I’ve never been to one before.”“Oh well you’ll love it! I will say, it is so utterly spectacular, all other carnivals will pale in comparison from here on out--but it’ll be worth every moment.” I watched him shuffle, wondering if I could catch him pulling any sleight of hand moves this time around. “I don’t want to spoil any surprises, or I’d tell you all about my favorite acts. Have you ever been to the menagerie coast? We’re sometimes compared to the higher class street performers found there, the world famous ones—nearly as famous as our carnival.”“I go frequently.” I admitted.“Beautiful area. It takes a while to shuffle between readings, please pay it no mind. Have to realign the energies.”“Of course.” I said, smiling at how ridiculous this was and not believing a word of it.“Did you go with anyone? Friends, family?”“No.” I said quickly.“A lover?” Molly asked, pointedly ignoring my reaction to the word ‘family’.“No.” I laughed, looking away from him for the first time. “Mostly went for work.”“A performer yourself?”“No. I’m a bit of an alchemist.” I admitted.“She was so cool fighting the serpent with her vials of fire like WHAM WHAM!” Jester interrupted, mimicking vicious throws.“I can practically see it! You, standing amongst flames. You’re glowing now, I can only imagine what you’d be like by firelight. Luminous.” I couldn’t help a laugh, thrown by the flattery.“First card, the past. The Tower.” Any good humor drained from me immediately. “Does this mean anything to you?”“Maybe. What does it mean?” My voice sounded more like Yasha’s than my own—void of emotion.“Solitude, locking yourself away or part of you away. Perhaps your past of traveling without companions.” As Molly spoke I was able to calm myself down. His reading of the card was not what I’d expected. It was likely a terrifying coincidence.“Makes sense.” I pushed some intonation in, embarrassed now that I could see the concern on Jester’s face, and even Molly’s--a stranger’s. I was grateful that Beau and Fjord seemed to be paying no mind as they spoke to Yasha about her role in the carnival. “Sorry, the castle looks uncannily like a place I’ve been before, this art is incredible.” I rambled, looking over the card. The castle walls didn’t look a thing like the ones I’d known, but the lie seemed to hold up, and Molly pressed forward.“I’m quite fond of them myself, I like the gold edges.” He gestured flippantly to the deck, eyes not wavering from mine. He leaned forward. “But that was your past card. That solitude is behind you, it’s over. You’ve moved past it and never have to go back to it.” My hands clenched into fists under the table.“Your present, The Wave. A sense of going with the flow is just what you need right now, or a visit to a body of water. Going back to Menagerie Coast for some pleasure, perhaps, instead of business? Or attending a lakeside carnival?”“The serpent came from the water!” Jester interrupted again.“My gods that could be it!” Molly agreed, overdramatically. With the two of them bouncing off each other, I felt much more at ease, chuckling. “And in your future…”He laid down a card depicting a woman that looked vaguely like myself, at first glance. Unsurprising as I matched the pale, light blonde, long-hair stereotype of Elves—although looking closer at the card, her hair had a light green tint to it. She was playing a violin, and sparks were falling from it made up of small balls of fire and small hearts.“The Spark.”“WOAH.”“Jester.” I said, kindly asking her to move as she had leaned over the entire table in awe.“Sorry!”“It’s okay.”“Certainly depicting your affinity with fire, but the focus of the Spark card is that a spark of love resides in your future.”We’re ending with a love fortune?I laughed to myself at how scared I had gotten when he pulled The Tower. It wasn’t fate, he was making these cards dance somehow, or I’d gotten unlucky. If I’d stopped to think, from what little I knew of tarot cards I would have remembered The Tower is a classic card.“A spark of love, you say?” I asked, amused.“Oh you may laugh now, most do. But it’s hardly unheard of for love to spring upon one when they least expect it.”“Very true.” I agreed, not willing to get into an argument over a couple of cards. “Well, I’ll admit, the Tower card was very accurate. That was good. You’re very good at this.”Molly took the compliment with another flourished bow, this time standing.“As I told your friend, it’s all in the cards. If you’d like to further explore that Tower card, or even your Spark of love, I’ll be at the Fletchling and Moondrop Traveling Carnival of Curiosities!”“Speaking of, is there a reason why it says 'No admittance to the elderly’?” Beau asked, holding up the flier. “You don’t want to deal with those riley elderly. Or the ill, yeah. Why no elderly, though? Ill kind of makes sense, but elderly?”“We cannot be held responsible for anything that may happen to someone who is ill or infirm. It is such an exciting, impressive show.” He said, gesturing to the chair for Fjord, who sat down as Molly pushed the chair in.“We’ve had people die watching it.” Yasha said. “Yeah. It’s just that exciting. Just from excitement.”“Did they die in the show, or from watching it?” Fjord asked.“Yeah, just like heart attack. Just from getting so excited, I guess.”Beau turned excitedly to Fjord and me.“We gotta get so wasted.”“When is it? How long is it? When is it?” Jester asked, bouncing.“First show is tonight.” Molly said.“Well, we have plans tonight!” Jester cheered.“Sounds good.” I said, flagging down the waitress for an ale. Jester whipped back around to the table we’d been bothering earlier.“Do you stinky people want to come with us?”“I– Caleb, we don’t have any plans tonight.” The Goblin pointed out. Caleb looked at her, a small smile—the first time I’d seen him smile at all—coming across his face at the Goblin’s barely concealed excitement.“I guess we could go along. I wouldn’t mind seeing it.”“It’ll be fun!” Beau added. Molly nodded.“Or you could stay here and buy beer for the people who do see the shows, and you can hear all about it and pay more.” I made a face, amused by the twisted logic.“Yeah, we can go.” Caleb nodded. Jester let out a little squeal.“It’s going to be so much fun!”“Yeah, yeah, it sounds like a good night. Yeah.” The Goblin girl nodded. Jester sighed, smiling.“Look at all these friends we’re making here. This is a good city.” A few of us in the group agreed.  “You are all the most charming people I’ve met in–yes.” I watched Mollymauk take an ale from Yasha and down it. I was moderately impressed by the speed. “Well, we’d better be getting on.”“Yep, nice to meet you all. You’re so, uh, wonderful.” Yasha said, seeming to attempt to imitate Molly. Molly patted her on the arm, grinning.“Charm. Pure charm. See you tonight!”Yasha followed Molly’s lead in downing her ale, slamming it down on Caleb’s table. The two carnies made their way towards the exit, dropping a few more flyers off with the pub patrons as they went.  “She was awesome.” Beau said, leaning back and looking a little winded.“She didn’t say much.” Fjord commented. Beau nodded.“That’s why I liked her.”“She was really, really cool. Did you see that cool thing she had going on with her chin? That’s interesting. I wish I would have thought of something like that.” Jester said, sighing dreamily.“Yeah, I mean, you could maybe do something like that in time. Just wait until maybe–““So she doesn’t know I copied. I can’t do it tonight.”“No, no.” Beau shook her head. Jester took a breath and settled herself.“Wow. Cool. What do you guys want to do now?”Something about the question broke the air, and our table started laughing.“Was he using magic?” Fjord asked, pointing to the exit where the carnies had gone.“I don’t know.”“I was watching his hands. If he wasn’t, he’s damn good.” I admitted.“Are you– “ Beau turned to Jester, narrowing her eyes. “--You’re superstitious. Yeah?”“No.”“…Okay.”“No, I’m not superstitious at all.” I raised a brow at that. Beau looked equally puzzled, and opened her mouth to argue.“You– sure.” She immediately gave up.“Why?”“I mean, what he was working in was– he was doing a little like– he– he’s a smart guy. He’s a smart guy.”And very convincing. Naturally easy to talk to, clearly a born performer, quite attractive…I had a niggling sense that if he tried hard enough he could get me to buy into just about anything. I knew the type.“Keep me away from him if we see him at the carnival. I don’t want to buy anything else.” I half-joked. Beau chuckled.“Don’t want to know about your Spark of Love waiting around the corner? Or waiting in the fortune teller’s tent?”“What? Pass.” I laughed at the idea.“C’mon! He was flirting with you!” She grinned.“And he also looked at Fjord’s ass when he pushed in his chair so I’m not gonna put much stock in that.”“What?”The three of us girls laughed at Fjord’s surprise.“Also, for the record, there was nothing magic about that. Maybe he’s good at reading people, but that was not magic.” We turned at the sound of Caleb’s voice.“Caleb knows everything about magic. He’s been even teaching me some. He’s real good. You should see him–“ The Goblin said.“Nott.” Caleb warned, and I realized that was the Goblin’s name.“Caleb, are you going to go the Academy?” Jester asked. He gave a shaky laugh.“That’s silly.”“He could if he wanted to. He’s really good at magic. He can make a cat appear and disappear whenever he wants.” Nott bragged.“Really? A cat?” Jester’s head tilted. Caleb snapped his fingers, and from beneath their table an orange tabby cat emerged with a quiet meow.“Oh shit! What’s his name?” Beau said, all her attention immediately on the cat.“Or her name!” Jester added.“Well, it is a he.” Caleb explained, “This is my cat Frumpkin.”“That’s not all he can do. Caleb, tell them all the stuff you can do. It’s really impressive!” It was clear that Nott was incredibly proud of Caleb and his magic. “You know, sometimes less is more.” Caleb said.“I can do things, too.” Jester piped up.“With magic?” Nott asked, wide-eyed.“Yeah.”“Like what?”“Like–““Not to me, not to me!” Nott cowered back as Jester seemed to wind-up to pitch a spell.A huge gust of wind slammed the nearby windows open, and the candles surrounding us dimmed and flickered, plunging the tavern into dim shadows. The music stopped at the sudden change, and everyone in the tavern turned to look at us once again.“Jester, don’t you remember us talking about keeping a low profile?” Fjord murmured, easily heard in the now-silent tavern.“You’re right. I’m sorry.” She apologized. I thought she got the point until all the windows slammed shut just as suddenly as they had opened. The candles slowly flickered back to life.“Ta-da!” She posed. Beau cheered, seemingly oblivious to the accusing looks we were still receiving.“Come see me tonight at the carnival! I’m really good!”I snorted, shaking with silent laughter as I heard a single person slow-clapping across the tavern floor. Frumpkin ran under my chair and hopped onto Beau’s lap.“Hey, buddy. Look at this kitty! I think he likes me.” Beau cooed at him, petting him immediately.“Sure, right now he likes you.” Caleb muttered flippantly.“Is this a real cat? Or is this a fake cat?” Beau asked.“What do you mean, a fake cat?”“Like a magic cat.”“He’s both a real cat and a magic cat.” Caleb said, seemingly miffed by the question.“Like an actual cat, I think she meant, and not a different creature? Like a fey disguised as a cat.” I tried to explain.“He’s a cat.”I backed off, taking a drink from my ale.“Could you put him over there?” Fjord’s face was scrunched up, looking like he was about to sneeze.“Are you allergic to Frumpkin? Oh no!” Beau realized. Caleb looked puzzled.“But he’s a magic cat. How can you be allergic to magic cats?”“He’s a cat.” I echoed. I saw Caleb open his mouth to retort but stop himself. Beau stood up, still holding Frumpkin, and walked a few steps away from Fjord to help.“Well, you’re both magic-users, then.” Nott said, changing the subject back to magic. “And so is the larger fellow?”“Well, I mean, a little.” Fjord shrugged, shyly.“Yeah, I mean, he’s learning. He’s getting really good at it.”“Trying to learn more. Serasai and I talked about it briefly, we’re both learning.” He nodded over to me, trying to include me further.“I’m getting a slow hang of it, I know a few rituals. I wouldn’t feel comfortable giving anything else a try just yet. At least not indoors.” I shrugged, and began rummaging around my bag.“You should have seen Fjord. He disguised himself the other day, and it was like,” Jester clicked her tongue for emphasis. Fjord chuckled.“Thanks, Jester. She’s better at it than I am. We’re trying to make our way up to the Academy to get a little bit more learning done.” Fjord explained.“You as well, Serasai?” Nott asked, looking interested, but confused.“Oh, no. Just want to learn the basics, to help with my alchemy.” I finally pulled out my book. Caleb’s eyes fell on it immediately, making me feel a little self-conscious.“Me neither. Fjord’s going to learn; I’m not going to the Academy.” Jester corrected.“Is that a spellbook?” Caleb asked, moving his chair to face me better.“It is.”“May I…? Have a look?” I weighed my options for half a second before handing it over.“Sure. Very basic spells.”I kept an eye on Caleb as he flipped through, pausing on each page to read the descriptions of the spells.“Man, this Academy place keeps getting brought up.” Beau commented.“Well yeah, it’s the place to be.” Fjord said.“I’m sorry, what Academy are we talking about?” Nott asked.“Soltryce Academy. You know.”“It’s a very fancy place.” Caleb added absent-mindedly as he skimmed over the Create Bonfire cantrip.“You know it.” Fjord acknowledged.“I have heard of it.”“And you have arcane talents as well.”“How long have you had yours?” Jester asked, curiously. Caleb looked up from my book.“That’s a tricky question. I studied when I was younger, and then I gave it up for a while. I picked it up again recently. It’s all book-learned.”“Me too.” I said.“Can you do these?”“Not yet. I know two rituals that kind of come with the alchemist territory. But I’m very close to knowing those all, yeah.”“This one sounds very useful.” He said, pointing to my favorite spell in the book.“Agreed. Anything with potions, I’m there.” I cracked a smile.“Wow, that’s cool.” Jester said, looking between the two of us.“This was a good way to go for your first spell, Caleb.” Beau held up Frumpkin. “This is kind of therapeutic. Making me feel better, just about life in general.”Fjord sneezed loudly, nearly spilling his drink.“All right.” Beau put Frumpkin back on the floor.“He reads lots of books, Caleb does. He’s very smart. In fact, should we go looking for more right now?” Nott asked. My attention piqued.“Maybe in a little while.”“All magic books, or…?” I trailed off.“Preferably. Like I said, my magic is mostly book-learned. You…know how it is?”“I do. I just, I grew up reading a lot. Anything I could get my hands on. Haven’t had a lot of free time uh, in adulthood, so I’ve been thinking of catching up on reading again.” I admitted.“Can we see one of your books?” Jester asked, looking to Caleb. Caleb carefully handed me my spellbook, which I put away in my bag.“Well–“ Caleb moved his coat to the side and we could see he had a couple books held in holsters at his side. “The books are right here. I have these, but these are heirlooms, family heirlooms, so I don’t share those, but– no, I like to read. That’s all. And I’m a bit of a self-starter, so I have to find– I mean, good luck at the Academy. That’s rough, I hear.”“Do you know anything about it?” Fjord asked, hopefully. “We’re just going up. Beginner’s luck.”“We know it’s rich people that go there. We have to find a way to get you in.” Jester said, turning to Fjord. Caleb shrugged.“All I know is how hard it is to get into.”“You don’t have a lot of money, then?” Nott asked. I raised a brow.“Welllll.” Jester trailed off. Fjord shook his head.“No.”“We had more.”“But then we lost it, but then we got it back.” Beau said.“Somebody has a gambling problem.” Fjord said pointedly.“Oh. Which one?” Nott looked between the four of us.“Crick-Queen’s Call!” Jester cheered, outing herself as the gambler. “Have you played it?”“No, I haven’t.”“I’ll teach you someday. It’s so much fun.”“It’s a game?”“Yes.”“Cards? All right. I might like to know that.”“I mean, I can teach you, if you want.”“Yes, I would like to know that.”“Okay, I’ll deal!”“Oh, right now?” Nott looked taken aback.“Yes, sure, this will be fun.”“Well, we have the time for it. I don’t know about you all, but my plans are only to get wasted and go to the carnival.” I said, raising a glass. Beau raised hers.“Cheers to that.”Fjord raised his as well and the three of us clinked our tankards together before taking a swig.Nott seemed torn on what to do, looking up to Caleb.“Is this okay?” She asked. Caleb leaned forward.“Listen, I would not be sitting here if it were not for you. Do whatever you like.”“Okay!” Jester pulled her chair over to their table, deck of cards now in hand. “You draw three cards. Well, I give you three cards.” She dealt the cards. “Okay. So hide your cards from me, because we can’t know. So first you have to ante up. How much coin do you want to put in?”“I’m out.”The group of us watching laughed. Caleb shook his head, smiling.“It’s all right. I will front some coin for you to play this game.”“Oh, great! How much do you want to front him?” Jester asked him instead.“I will give you a silver piece.”“A silver. Okay, this is great.”“Thank you, Caleb. Thank you.” Nott said.“Wish I had more.”I started biting at my nails, and then took a drink to stop the habit.“Okay. So the best hand you can get is three of a kind. Then, after that, it’s a straight. A high straight. Then a low straight. Then it’s if you get all evens, or if you get all odds, then it’s two of a kind, then it’s nothing, it’s just high card. Okay, but now we put in a second amount, because you can up the ante, and you get one more card.” Jester rambled.“I’m out.”“No, but wait, wait, wait. You can put in more money, and then I deal you a different card. You get to give a card back, and then I deal you another card.” Jester explained.“Should I?” Nott looked down at her cards, then wide-eyed up at Caleb. “Caleb, do you have any more?”“Because you saved my life yesterday, you may have one more silver piece.” Caleb said evenly, handing Nott another silver piece.“One more silver. Okay, I’ll keep it low, too, because you’re only doing the one. So I only put in one silver, too.” Jester said, placing her silver in the small pile.“Yes. And now give one of your cards back, whichever one you don’t want, and draw it again.”“Okay, got it.”“I don’t want to redraw any.” Jester explained when she didn’t draw. “Okay. Now you show what you got and we’ll see who wins.”“I got a pair of fours.” Nott showed her hand.“I got three fives.” Jester grinned widely, showing her winning hand.And all hell broke loose.Nott jumped up onto her chair, drawing her shortsword in a flash. Beau immediately moved to grab her. I held my ale closer to myself as if it were a shield. Nott slipped from her grip and stood, hopping a little with the force of her words.“You’re cheating! Somehow you’re cheating!”“Nott, Nott, that’s fine. That’s fine. She won my two silver pieces. We’ll just leave it at that.” Caleb comforted her. Slowly, Nott sheathed her shortsword.“I’m sorry.” Nott apologized—more to Caleb than anyone else.“That’s okay. She’s very jumpy sometimes. You can understand; we’ve been living in the woods for a long time. Every time we come near any place like this, we’re attacked, jumped, followed. So I apologize on behalf of–“ Caleb went into a nervous apology.“That was stupid. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry.” Nott said, now apologizing to Jester. Jester shook her head.“No, it’s okay. Just don’t do it again. But I’m sorry I took all this money from your friend.”I let out a small sigh at the bad, blunt apology, and allowed myself to relax again—nearly finishing off my ale.“That’s making it worse.” Caleb winced.“Maybe you could give some of it back.” Fjord said, playing mediator, as I’d come accustomed to seeing him do.“Why, though? But I won it.” Jester whined. She sighed, collecting herself. “Tell you what. I’ll give you–…none of it back, I can’t!” She looked distraught. “Okay, here’s one silver back–““No, I insist.” Caleb shook his head.“All right, fine, it’s mine, thank you. Yay.”“I need another drink.” Nott sighed, sounding exasperated. Caleb quickly flagged down the waitress as she passed.“A round of Trosts for both our tables, please.” He ordered.I blinked, surprised and not complaining. It was an unexpected gesture—but I was never one to turn down a free drink.“See? Isn’t that the most fun?” Jester asked, gathering up the cards and putting them away.“It’s fun.” Nott admitted. “Any preference of family?” The waitress called from the bar.“Not Baumbauch.” Caleb called back. I cocked my head, surprised again by the wizard, this time that he had remembered our preference that we’d only said in passing. “Von Brandt it is.” Came the waitress’ call.“I’m impressed that you stuck to taking a guy’s money in a training game.” Beau said, getting Jester’s attention.“Right?” Jester beamed. Then she stopped. “Oh, wait, is that bad?”“Meh.” Beau waved her hand in a so-so gesture.“Well, I only learned last night, you guys.”“What is a training game?” Caleb asked.“Just meaning when she was teaching.” Beau explained. Jester huffed.“People took my money when I was learning!”“It’s fine.” Caleb repeated, “It’s water under the bridge. It’s fine. It’s all right.”The waitress walked up to our table with a platter full of trosts, sliding one in front of each of us.“If you feel slightly worse, there’s a drink on me.” Caleb said.“Oh jeez, now I’m definitely giving you your two silver back. Don’t worry about it, man!” Jester said, handing him the two silver coins like they didn’t matter—a complete 180 from moments ago.The now much larger group of us shared our drinks, chatting idly about what had brought us to town, and about the upcoming carnival. I was slowly on my way to being a nice level of buzzed, and I was determined to at least take Beau down with me on this drunken carnival idea—which had originally been her plan in the first place.When it seemed like a good time to get going, we gathered our things. Jester looked over to Nott and Caleb, grinning widely.“Do you guys want company? Do you want us to come and hang out with you today?”Nott leaned over to Caleb to consult him.“I don’t know about that. That sounds risky, I don’t know.”“Do you know something? I, shockingly, think that’s not a bad idea.”“To have these weirdos with us!?”“I can hear you.” Jester interrupted. The two paused, and then continued on unperturbed.“Yesterday was a very bad day.”“Yes. Well, I suppose if we surrounded ourselves with weirdos, then maybe it would take some of heat off of me.” My eyes narrowed at Nott’s logic. It made sense, but I wasn’t sure how I liked being a cover for someone I didn’t know.“Well, yes.” Caleb turned back to us. “Bottom line: can you hang with the goblin?”Jester looked determined.“Bottom line–“ Jester reached out and touched Nott’s shoulder, casting a spell. Nott tensed, but quickly relaxed. She looked refreshed, or alert.“Trickster’s Blessing.” Jester explained.“Thank you. That’s very nice.”“I don’t have a problem with goblins, but you guys aren’t in any trouble, are you? No one’s after you?” Fjord asked. I smiled, remembering them asking me the same question yesterday.
“You are traveling alone? Why don’t we stay together?” Jester hopped up to me, grabbing my arm excitedly.

“Guess it would make the Inn cheaper. And you did help us take down that snake, so. Why not?” Beau shrugged. Fjord stepped closer to us.

“May I ask, if you don’t mind, why you’ve been traveling?”

“To see the world, really. And try to use my skills in a more practical setting.” I said, holding up one of my potions.

“Now I don’t want to offend you with any assumptions, but you’re not in any trouble, are you? No one’s after you, or anything like that?”

I let out a calm sigh, a smile on my face wide enough to match Jester’s.

“No one’s after me.”
“No one is after me!” Nott squeaked out, a polar opposite to my response the other day. I gave Fjord a side-glance, which he caught. It didn’t take any words for everyone to be on the same page about Nott completely lying.“Good to know.” Fjord nodded, and started walking towards the door. The rest of our traveling party followed suit.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“So.” Beau walked over towards Caleb and Nott. “Mask. I’m just fascinated by the mask. Looks well-made. Did you make it?”“Found it. It was a doll’s face.” Nott said. Something told me maybe ‘found’ was a loose term.“It seems we have all day. What were your plans?” Fjord asked, now that we were in the open.“Not much. We were going to sample the different Trosts, and I wanted to maybe do some book browsing. Nothing major.” Caleb shrugged. My eyes widened.“That sounds like my perfect day.” I said, sighing happily.“What’s a Trost?”“Brewery tour!” Beau cheered, completely ignoring Jester’s question.“Pub crawl!” I cheered along.“It’s ale.” Nott explained. Jester’s brow furrowed.“We just can’t go by the Baumbauch ale.” Jester warned. I snickered.“What happened with the Baumbauchs?”“There are two others to choose from, here.” Caleb pointed out.“We loaded crates for them, but then we kind of screwed them over.” I explained.“Not screwed them over, not that badly at least.” Beau tried to correct, “More like…lightly swindled.”“Didn’t leave on the best of terms.” Fjord summarized. Caleb looked troubled.“Do you need their ale specifically for something?” Jester asked.“No, it’s just the one you swindled, it’s got the blessing of the big cheese here.”“Oh. Well. Why do you need it?”“We don’t need it. It’s just pleasurable to have a Trost, is what they say.” Caleb shifted. We blinked. His shoulders sunk and he pointed to Nott. “She kind of needs it.”“I need it a little bit.”“You need a beer?” Jester questioned.“Well, I prefer the harder stuff, but I’ll take what I can get at this point.”“Well if we go to multiple bars, maybe it’ll be good we’re taking it light. It’ll add up.” I reasoned.“So beer tour, then circus?”“Carnival.” I corrected, “And book shopping before we head there?”“I’ve got to say, I miss those two people we ran into at the carnival.” Jester admitted.“Don’t get too disappointed if we don’t see them again, they told us they’re not in the show.” Part of me wanted to see them again. I hadn’t gotten to talk to Yasha very much, though she didn’t seem overly talkative in the first place. But Mollymauk’s performer personality made them simply interesting for me to listen to.Jester seemed to ignore my warning completely.“We will see them again.” Jester nodded, as if she knew it as fact.“To a brewery, then?” Beau prompted, sliding to my side.“Husseldorf is closest.” We looked around at each other, silently agreeing to head that way. Fjord pointed the way.“To Husseldorf!”//The afternoon was a surprisingly fun mess of a pub crawl slash brewery tasting. Our first stop was Husseldorf, and our two bartenders were very sociable, which made up for us not being that well acquainted with each other. Once the others got more than one ale in their systems, laughs flowed easier.Avoiding Baumbauch was as easy as ducking into any tavern. Every tavern had all three houses famous to the area. For the sake of sight-seeing, we went to the final brewery house instead of a random tavern. The drinks seemed to pass hands more at the last brewery, all of us getting different kinds. “Try this!” “This is my favorite.” “Try this, it’s awful!” By the time Caleb wanted to head to get books, I felt pleasantly dizzy.Our group wandered the shelves of the Hillsbrook Parchment and Binding shop, and I glanced at the titles. Most were about farming, which was disappointing. I had hoped for a wider selection. Caleb spoke to the shopkeep as we browsed, but I could hardly care in my daze. I turned around to ask Fjord a question, but stopped when I noticed the layout of the shop was unrecognizable. I looked around and saw Beau closest to me, picking at her nails. I awkwardly walked over to her.“Okay I didn’t think I was that drunk but I don’t remember this looking like this.” I pointed around. Beau looked up and looked around the shop.The shelves were realigned—there was a giant tower of books I hadn’t noticed, piles on the floor in corners—everything was rearranged.“No dude, what the fuck.”“You too? Okay. Fjord?”“Yeah?” I saw Fjord shelf a book on livestock. He stopped and looked around the shop. I saw his eyes widen in realization. “Jester.”“OH.” I looked at Beau, our faces mirroring Fjord’s realization.“We should go.” Beau choked out.I nodded and the three of us beelined to the door. Jester was waiting outside, rocking on her heels.Caleb followed not long after us, looking tense. He’d clearly noticed the shop’s new décor too. We started walking towards where Fjord, Jester, and Beau had once seen the carnival.The sky was a beautiful orangey-pink as the sun set in the distance. It felt cooler out than before, which I didn’t mind as much in my buzzed state. It took me a second longer than my traveling companions to notice the sound of fiddling in the air.As the sound neared, townsfolk seemed to be looking for the source of the noise as well. It became clear when a small procession of flamboyantly dressed people began parading through the central road. I looked on with glee at the parade the carnival had set up to promote the opening of their show.An elvish man with long, ashy-brown hair led the pack, stepping lively. His coattails and part at the front of the procession made me imagine him as the ringmaster.Behind him, two halfling women danced from one side of the road to the other. One was wearing a purple, and the other green. They were handing out flowers and flyers as they went along.A bald man strode behind him in a frilled red coat, orange makeup splashed across his face that looked reminiscent of the sunset happening around us. In his hands rested the fiddle, calling attention to the motley crew.Behind him was a tall half-orc with a large handlebar mustache, manning the drums.I felt a jolt of recognition at the tiefling following behind him—Mollymauk was juggling his scimitars. He fumbled momentarily, but was able to catch it and continue on. I wondered if it were a real accident or if he did it for show.I was so busy watching his display that my attention was yanked away by a sudden fwoosh of flames. A firebreather found between the two dancers was the culprit. People clapped and cheered in awe.Finally, in the back, was Yasha with her arms crossed. She was clearly working as security.Townspeople began to follow the procession, and our group quickly followed suit. Jester was practically buzzing with excitement, and her joy was contagious. The pack of us were quickly surrounded by excited children and townspeople. I spied a couple Crown’s Guard frowning at the crowd as we passed.Once we got close to the waterfront I could see the tents. The show tent was the largest one, I assumed. It stood tall, dark blue, with streamers of white and silver flapping about. I looked at it with awe, excited to finally experience a carnival.“Molly! Molly, hey!” I jumped, Beauregard calling Mollymauk over to our group. He seemed confused for a split second before recognizing us.“Oh, it’s my favorites. Hello.”“We came!” Jester cheered. Molly smiled, warmly.“I’m so glad you all came to see the show. It’s going to be great tonight.”“It’s going to blow you away.” Yasha deadpanned, “You’re going to love it.”“First show of a round’s always the best. Without fail.” Mollymauk declared.“Makes sense. Like a play.” I reasoned.“Exactly!”“Where are the best seats?” Beau asked.“Well, I’m always partial to the front. Then you’re right in it, if something goes wrong, it’s nothing between you and whatever terrible, bloody mess is going to happen. It’s just the best.”“What?” Beau and I asked at the same time, both a little alarmed.“Nothing, nothing, you’re fine.” Molly waved off our worry. I relaxed, assuming that speech was part of the scare-hype thing the carnival had going, like their rule against the elderly.“It’s going to be great, but before you go in, I do have to give you guys a pat-down, 'cause you can’t go in with any weapons.” Yasha explained. My expression hardened at this, worried. Before we could speak—“You two!” The ringmaster Elf called. Molly and Yasha looked over to him. “Skip ahead, quick. We need to go ahead and set up. Looks like we’re already having quite a few people excited to come here, so at the door, interior to set up. Meet us at the front--Actually,” He paused in his rant, turning directly to Molly. “You know what? You’ll be on card duty. We need a little extra change on the side.”“Card duty it is.” Mollymauk nodded.“All right.” The ringmaster turned to face us, and addressed the full crowd. “Folks, excited for your patronage. Enjoy the night air. Walk slowly. We need just a moment to set up.”He bowed, tipping his top hat at us, and as he did so I was able to recognize him as a half-Elf instead. With his bow, he was off. We were left to file into a line with the rest of the patrons.At the entrance to the tent stood Yasha and a half-orc on either side, both checking in weapons and taking fees.A few feet off to the side was Mollymauk, surrounded by a crowd. He was sitting on a small blanket with his cards splayed in front of him. As we passed we could easily hear the conversation, and I couldn’t help but eavesdrop.“All right, so what can you tell me about this here cough?” A farmer asked, Molly’s first customer of the night.“How long have you had it?”“Oh, going on like three, four months.” The farmer coughed. Molly looked down at the cards.“It looks like it’s getting better. Oh yes. Does it feel like it’s getting better?”“Oh, right now? Yeah.”“Yeah, look at that.” He gestured vaguely at the cards, “I would maybe breathe a tincture or something. Let’s– yeah, maybe you should get that looked at.”“From who? What do the cards tell me?”“Some sort of physician, perhaps…?”“Right! Of course! Oh, thank you so much.” The farmer hurriedly places two copper in Molly’s outstretched hand. Molly eyed the coins distastefully—obviously worried about catching the farmer’s cough.“Platinum Dragon be with you. Thank you.” He said quickly. The farmer nodded his thanks and turned. He yelled out to someone in the far crowd.“Dear!! A physician!”“I’m…concerned for that man...” I muttered.“What happened to 'no sick people’?” Beau heckled.“This is outside the tent.” Molly explained, not looking up at Beau from his cards.“…Fair.”“It’s good to see you all here, though.” Molly said, now looking up at the group of us as we stepped up to Yasha and the half-orc.“Here’s the thing,” Jester began, “Some of us have weapons that we don’t want to pass away to other people, so how much of a chance is it that we could get through without having to do that, you know?”“Well, you can’t see the show if you have a weapon on you.” Yasha said, evenly.“Right. And we really want to see the show. But, you know, we are really good at security, like all of us are really strong, and we could fight things that came up, too, so maybe it would be best if you don’t take our weapons, and then we could help.”I rolled my eyes, already able to tell this wasn’t going to work.“Actually, here’s a deal. We’ll make you a good deal.” Beau interrupted, “You waive our entry fee and if anyone needs to be kicked out, or any security needs to happen, we’ll help you out.”“Like deputy bouncers?” Nott questioned.“Like deputy bouncers.” Beau agreed. Yasha raised a brow.“Well, see, funny thing about that, though, is that’s my job. So.”“So do you want to hire us?” Jester asked, hopefully.“No.”“You would be like our boss. Have you ever wanted to be a boss? Like, in charge?” Beau asked.“Well, I am.”“We could ask you for days off sometimes.”“Is it too late to say I’m not with them?” I asked, directing it at no one in particular. I heard Mollymauk snort. The half-orc came over and put a hand on Beau’s shoulder.“I’m terribly sorry, but we’ve got it taken care of. If you wish to pay entry, you can, butthe rules are the rules. So sorry.”“Do they get stored in some sort of locker or something?” Caleb asked.“I hold them.” Yasha said, “And if you want, I can stand right next to you guys. You can keep your eye on me the whole time.”“She’s very trustworthy.” Molly added. Damn it.I handed over my crossbow and whip, which Yasha took. I handed her the coin as well, to get in, which she pocketed. Finally, I unstrapped my double-bladed scimitar. I could feel people staring me down as this happened, a glance proving that Molly and Nott specifically were staring at the blades. I held it out to Yasha, but did not let go when she went to take it. I looked her in the eye.“This is a very valuable weapon held in high regard among Elves. I appreciate your offer to stand nearby so I can keep it within my sights. It is very important to me, and I would be extremely upset if anything were to happen to it.”Yasha nodded. I doubted she was perturbed by the thinly veiled threat--just looking at me I did not come off as intimidating.“I promise it will be returned to you.” She nodded.“You have a lot of weapons.” Nott commented, eyes still locked on my scimitar.“I like to be prepared.”“Yasha, does that seem– all right?” The half-orc questioned. Beau moved his hand off of her shoulder.“What’s your name, by the by?“Bo.”There was a beat as we all processed that.“Good name.” Beau said, smirking.“Thank you.”“Well, that’s funny, because your name is also Beau.” Caleb said. Bo cocked his head, surprised.“Really?”Beau’s shoulders sunk.“You didn’t have to– maybe let me choose when to tell people–““No, no, I’m curious about this.” Bo interrupted, “How do you spell your name?”“Well, it’s short for Beauregard.”“Oh, mine’s just B-O.”“That’s unfortunate. I mean, it’s great. Did kids make fun– never mind.”“It’s not inaccurate.”I made a face, a little grossed out by this whole conversation.“It’s funny, see, my name’s Beau because my parents wanted a son.” Beau continued.“Well. If it helps with any other confusion, call me the Breaker. Well, if you see the rest of the show, perhaps you’ll see why I got my name.”“Are you in the show, too?” Jester asked. Bo stretched, cracking his arms.“I am. Towards the end.”“Now I want to see the show.” Fjord said, eyes wide.“Well then. May I?” He reached out towards Fjord’s weapons, “Besides, if you’re going to enter, we’ve got to get through the rest of this riff-raff. Do you wish to join in?”“All I have is a dagger.” Caleb said, handing his dagger to Yasha.“I promise you I will give it back.” Yasha said, “I promise you I will give you all of your weapons back.” Jester bounded up to her, squinting.“Pinky-swear me, Yasha!”Yasha made a face.“Ugh. I don’t like–“ Even as she spoke, she reached out her hand and pinky-swore with Jester. Jester immediately perked up.“Yay! Now we’re best friends. Here’s my sickle.”“I have a staff, but I also use it as a walking stick, so I like to keep it on me.” Beau said, still trying to get out of handing her weapon over.“Can you not walk around without it or something?” Molly questioned.“She has a really bad limp.” Jester lied.“Sometimes I get a little twinge, a little disc issue.” Beau went with it. Molly stood up from his blanket, walking over.“Can you hand me your staff so I can watch this? I want to see this limp of yours. Purely for my own entertainment.”My eyes widened a little, surprised by Molly’s snide comment. He’d been nothing but polite so far, trying to get us to buy into the carnival. Beau’s eyes narrowed at him.“Are you patronizing me, Mollymauk?”“No, I’m hoping that you’re going to patronize us.”I covered my mouth as I felt my jaw drop. Beau scowled, staring him down for a tense moment.“…Can I keep my stick!?” She turned to Yasha.“How about this? I’ll take it, and I can just carry you to your seat.” Beau’s eyes widened.
“Deal.”
Beau all but shoved her staff into Yasha’s hands.“How are you carrying all of these weapons?” Jester asked.“Because I’m really fucking strong.”After a quick pat-down of Caleb to make sure all he had was the one dagger, Nott handed over a shortsword, and tried to pocket his crossbow.“No, no, no. Little girl.” Yasha said, holding out a hand for the crossbow. I let my head loll back and sighed, annoyed at how long my group was taking.“I’m just a little girl!”“Give me your other weapon.”“This is a toy for little children--All right, here. I’m sorry.”“Are you keeping track of what goes with what person? Because it’s a lot.” Jester said.“She’s very good at this.” Molly repeated.“I’m very good.”I saw Caleb drag Nott away, Beau and Jester following. I stayed close to Yasha and my scimitar, waiting on Fjord.“Do you want to stare at me all day, or do you want to give me the weapon so you can go watch the show?” She asked Fjord.“That’s an interesting choice.”I looked over to Molly, who was now standing at my side.“I am losing my damn mind with these people.” I said. He let out a short bark of a laugh.“Can you stay here and just vocalize my thoughts I’m not allowed to say because I work here?”I laughed.“Sorry, I already paid my entry fee.”I looked back to see Fjord hand over his falchion to Yasha. She felt its weight, sizing it up.“This is nice.”“Very nice.”“I like it.”“It’s a falchion!” Nott interrupted. Jester bounded back over, and looked up at Yasha.“You’re going to hang out with us the whole night?” She asked.“I’ll hang out beside you so you can watch.” Yasha explained. Yasha quickly organized the weapons we handed her in her pack alongside what I believed to be her own. Molly left my side and quickly picked up his cards into a deck.“All right, well. If you want to follow me, I’ll take you to your seats and I’ll stand beside you the whole time.”“Thank fuck.” “Fucking lead the way.” Fjord and I swore at the same time.“Hey, Jester. Before you go.” Molly slid back to the group, “Tiefling to tiefling, and thank you for keeping this rabble in check.”“Of course, you know, they’re a lot to handle.”I barely restrained myself from making a smart remark, the strain visible on my face judging by Caleb awkwardly patting me on the arm. I was not a patient person.“One on the house.” Molly reached for his cards.“Yes? What are you telling me?” I looked over to see Jester wide-eyed, Molly holding two cards. One was black wisps and a humanoid figure, the other was a picture of the moon.“Does this mean anything to you?”“Oh, yes.” Jester nodded, sagely.“Well, think about it.” Molly grinned.  He brushed past us, opening the flap of the tent and waving us in. “After you.”“Beau.” Yasha called.Beau and Bo both turned to her. Yasha sighed.“Little one.” Bo turned away. Yasha walked over and in one fluid motion lifted Beau over her shoulder, fireman style. “Since you can’t walk.”“Oh.”Yasha carried Beau in ahead of us, Molly slow-clapping as they passed.“Such grace! Such form! Such dignity!”Beau flipped him off as we passed.“If I skip around, will I be part of the show and then I don’t have to pay?” Jester asked behind me.“Weirdly, being part of the show means you strangely pay more. I’m not entirely sure how that works.”The rest of the group fumbled with their coin, paying the entry fee. I stayed by Yasha, having paid already. I saw Jester run off to get front row seats for us, and followed suit—keeping an eye on my scimitar best I could.Inside the tent stood a central pillar holding the tent up made of an old tree. The floor was rocky, and scattered with patches of flattened grass and dirt. People were sitting on the floor in a semi-circle, waiting for the show to start. Four lanterns flickered constantly, lighting the tent from above.“Did you guys want to sit in the front row?” Yasha asked.“That’s what we were told is the best seat in the house.” Nott said.“Front and center? Or do you want to be on the sides?”“Front and center!” Jester cheered. Yasha led the way, and I felt a little awkward sitting directly in front of people who had been waiting. I wound up sitting between Jester and Caleb. Jester immediately pulled out her sketchbook and began drawing what looked to be the cards Mollymauk had pulled for her. I turned to Caleb, who had Nott sitting on his other side.“Excited?”“Oh, yes.” Caleb seemed surprised I had struck up a conversation. “I am interested to see the magic they will be using for their stunts.” He looked over to Nott who—now that she was actually in the tent—was bouncing up and down. Caleb smiled. “And Nott is excited to see the show, too.”I smiled, looking between them. It was obvious Caleb cared a lot for Nott. There was some kind of love there I didn’t understand, but it was nice to see even if it made me feel a bit envious. It had been a while since I had anyone to watch my back in a fight.“--bring a cushion from home like a regular person.” I heard Molly sass Beau a couple spaces down, breaking me out of my thoughts.The music began to die down and the whole crowd began to quiet to whispers of anticipation. The sound of a fiddle was what finally caused the audience to silence, and wait for the show to begin.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Look!” I heard murmured behind me and looked up to the top of the tent. The man in red from earlier was above us, now dressed in deep blue, hanging from a rope by his foot. In his hands was the fiddle, haunting music swathing over the audience. Gracefully he descended, playing continuously, until the very last moment before he hit the floor. With a quick flip he was standing, music undisturbed. With a slow spin, the half-elf ringmaster joined him on the stage. With a large, dramatic bow, we began to applaud."Ladies and gentlemen of Trostenwald, I am Carnival Master Gustav Fletching, and allow me to welcome you to the Fletching and Moondrop’s Traveling Carnival of Curiosities.”“I ask you, each and every one of you–” I heard the sounds of children giggling as he went out of his way to make eye contact with nearby audience members, “–grant us your imaginations this eve but a trifle bit of time, and allow us to reveal a realm of laughter, mystery, danger, and beauty. I see you’ve already met Desmond.” He gestured to the man playing the fiddle.“He’ll be part of our story tonight, so keep a wily eye for the shifting fool. But first, I tell you a tale of two sisters of the Fey.”We watched Desmond slowly exit the tent through the performers entrance, and two Crown’s Guard step through to take a position guarding the entrance.“Lost without form into the mazes of the underworld. There, where the body would break, they found a teacher in a mystical serpent, and the gift they received was the ability to bend with this maze that captured them and slither their way back to the surface to reclaim their place in the world.”I blinked in awe, allowing myself to be taken in by the story that sounded so much like a fairytale I’d read in a book."May I present to you Mona and Yuli, the Knot Sisters.” Gustav walked slowly out through the performers entrance.“Hey! Nott sisters.” I looked around Caleb to Nott, grinning. I saw Caleb make a face at the joke, and chuckled to myself. In Gustav’s place appeared the two halfling dancers from the earlier parade.They had serpentine makeup and scales adorning any bare skin that was visible. They approached the central pole holding the tents up to take center stage. Immediately they began leaping onto one another and contorting to create a humanoid sculpture of themselves. Others in the front row cringed at the spectacle and how painful it looked, but the halfling girls didn’t even flinch as they matched the--now disembodied--fiddle music’s increasing speed.“It’s like the serpent we fought, you guys!” Jester breathed, excitedly.Suddenly, the top halfling folded over and slammed into the ground, tumbling across the center wildly. The two of them began to tangle and wrap like two battling snakes, their bodies seemingly disconnecting from any sense of rigidity. For a moment they truly looked serpentine.They intertwined around the base of the pole. My eyes were locked on their performance, it was beautiful and violent and I wanted to remember everything about it.The lights above began turning a dull greenish-blue, the tent getting darker and darker. The story of the underworld came back to mind as they moved in the darkness. They used their serpentine-like forms as an extending ladder, folding over each other while desperately clinging around the pole, ladder-stepping up like a snake.It was the most out of world, alluring sight I could recall in a great while. Everyone seemed pulled into their performance despite the violence and struggle, but that was a large part of what drew me in. It was too easy to forget these were two halfling girls and not the serpent of the story. All of us were enraptured by their wordless tale of climbing back to their place, to the surface, towards the dark sky represented by the dark blue cloth.As the light of the tent began to glow brighter and brighter, their climbing became more fevered. The two of them, arm into arm, leg into leg, rolled up and swirled, until eventually at the top of the tent and top of the song, they grabbed each other’s arms around the pole and spun downward, back-to-back, legs outward, at a rapid pace. The music came to a full crescendo as they both curled and tumbled to the ground before the audience with a flourish, arms in the air.We erupted into thunderous applause, I loudly cheered from my place in the front.“That was amazing!” I cheered, beaming over at Jester.Gustav emerged from the performer’s entrance as the two girls exited, smiling. Desmond followed behind him, dressed in all black this time. The lights dimmed again as Gustav stood center stage.“In a flash, beyond the ash, the gods all went and gone. The darkness came to grasp, reclaim, and suffocate the dawn.” Suddenly, out of the darkness behind him, a burst of flame lit the room. “But from that night, a burning light doth keep back shadows’ bane. The strength to fight will set alight the morning sun again.”"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Ornna the fire fairy.” And Gustav left the tent.Through the entrance appeared the firebreather from the parade. Now framed by a pair of metallic fans, alight with flame, the beautiful woman with short red hair made her way onto the stage. Ornna spun in a hypnotic twirl as strands of her dress fanned out in glints of golds and reds. She looked like she was glowing in the firelight around her, luminous as Molly had said only hours ago, the flames and her movements illustrating that of a warrior-goddess battling the surrounding darkness. Desmond played his fiddle at a more frenzied pace as her dance sped up to match. Her face was expressionless, but she moved with grace and precision.She twirled the fans in her grasp, and a hushed awe from the audience filled the air. Ornna struck out at the shadows, the lights above began flickering brighter with each spin and dive, banishing the defeated shadows from the room. At the music’s crescendo she leaped and did a barrel-turn, striking a powerful landing pose as the lights rocketed to a victorious brightness. Once again, the crowd went crazy with applause.“This is really different than most carnivals that I’ve gone to!” Jester said. I saw Nott peek over, leaning around Caleb.“It’s very artistic, yeah!”Gustav entered again, applauding along with the rest of us as Ornna took her bow. A low drumbeat joined the fiddle as Gustav took the stage.  “Even as the sun would rise anew, bellowing roars will quake the lands of Xhorhas and beyond. Terrible beasts, now freed from their dark masters, scattered into our world.”As if on cue—and perhaps it was—a terrible, guttural roar shook the tent. The sounds of shackles and chains being yanked could be heard in the distance. The half-orc we’d met earlier, Bo, and Desmond—whose fiddle played of its own accord now floating midair—were dragging chains desperately. The metal wrapped around their arms to give them traction as they pulled in an enormous creature I had never seen before.Covered in green scales, but with slimy-looking skin, this large beast with toad-like legs was dragged in against its will. It fought and roared, wrestling against its chains as the two men pulled it further in to the center of the tent. My eyes darted to Yasha, who stood unperturbed, while the nearest audience members began pulling back in fear of the creature. The sounds of kids crying could be heard below the creature’s roar, and some audience members were scrambling to their feet out of fear. Yasha looked unbothered, so I stayed on the ground as calmly as I could.Gustav continued, looking equally calm as Yasha.“The devil-toad crawls hungrily into the land of the free folk, lording over nightmares as they say, and what truth lies behind the eyes of this beast? What would be learned when the guiding heart of innocence pierces the hateful soul and brings it to see beauty for the first time? I present to you the vivid voice of Toya.”And as Gustav backed away, the devil-toad struggling against the chains, a soft, faint voice began to slowly emanate from the air.Our eyes that were previously locked on the frightening creature now darted around for the source and found it high up, on a small platform set against the apex of the pole. There stood a young dwarven girl, maybe 12 years of age, with her golden hair set in braids and her hands at her side, a white dress obscuring her feet.She sang with a mystifying, mature voice that pierced our hearts with uncontrollable joy. The 180 from the fear, panic, and tense air moments ago was like a whiplash. The crowd gasped, entranced by the girl’s song. It had to be magic.The devil-toad stopped struggling in its chains, as caught up by her spell as we were. Its enraged face dropped into a soft smile as it treaded slowly towards the base of the pole and sat down. Desmond and Bo dropped the chains and backed away slowly, leaving the beast in the little girl’s care.Her voice seemed to ripple, magically, summoning an almost ethereal chorus from thin air to join her in her song. With a joyful smile, she stared into the eyes of the creature. I felt a small splash on my hand as a tear fell—I hadn’t realized I was crying. I felt gentle bonds of magic holding my gaze to the girl, and despite knowing it was a benevolent magic, I felt a dulled jolt of panic. I ripped my eyes to Caleb, who had streams of tears down his cheeks, but otherwise stood motionless—eyes never straying from the girl. Looking over to Jester, she was in tears as well, but smiling through it up at the little girl.I gave myself a moment to calm myself, though the tears didn’t stop. It only took a second for the panic to fade, dull as it was, and I chose to look back up at the girl and let the magic capture me again.As I looked up, a man in our row, but on our far left stood up. He outstretched his arms towards her, and his cloak fell away. His face and skin was wracked with age, and I looked on in confusion—wondering how he had managed to get in, and if he was part of the show.His legs were shaking as he stood, his cheeks wet with tears like the rest of us. With a sudden shout his arms dropped and he clutched his chest in pain. My eyes widened as other patrons nearest to him began to lean and shuffle away from him. Heart attack?With another sharp yell, the skin on his arms suddenly began to tear—bones jutting out violently from his flesh, writhing unnaturally and cracking. Dust and blood shook from his wounds as he began to grow, swelling up from his once-human form. It was like we were all too in shock to speak until that moment, and as one we all regained our wits.Screaming rang out from the audience and people around us sprung up, clinging to their children, pushing and shoving towards the exit. Our row jumped up and I pushed myself in front of Caleb and Nott. I heard Bo yell as Toya looked down in growing horror.“Everyone! Leave the tent now! Kylre–” Bo pointed to the devil-toad, “–get her to safety.” The devil-toad glanced up and leaped with a sudden gust of strength to the top and grabbed the center pole of the room as it began to sway with his weight. He grabbed the little girl safely under his arm and leapt back down.Suddenly beside me were multiple versions of Jester, an increasingly familiar sight to me.“Pass my stuff.” I held a hand out to Yasha, Fjord at my side, already doing the same.“Man, I thought it was kind of lame at first, but this is awesome!” I heard Beau cheer.“Everyone get out right now.” Molly said, trying to usher her out.“This isn’t part of the show?”“Not part of the show.” Fjord confirmed.“It’s too artsy.” Nott agreed. The old man’s body stopped quaking, his flesh now grey and mangled unrecognizably. He turned to us with blood-red eyes and a horrifying grimace.I saw the two Crown’s Guard trying to make their way through the panicked crowd, and found myself standing at Fjord’s side, in front of Caleb and Nott, facing down the creature.Jester shot out a spell, hitting the creature with a jolt. One of the two Jesters stayed nearby while the other fled, flanking the creature. I grimaced, feeling naked without my double-bladed scimitar between me and danger. I reached into my alchemy pouch and grabbed a bottle, chucking it at the creature.The vial soared, nearly missing, but exploded into fire upon impact. The creature reared back, roaring.“You had a weapon still!?” Molly shouted.“It’s a potion doesn’t count!” I shouted quickly, my sentence practically jumbling into one word.Enraged, the creature lunged at the nearest passerby—a woman who was trying to back away. It turned towards her and grabbed, missing at first. She ducked down and tried to crawl away but the second attack came too quickly. The creature’s fist slammed into her chest and she let out a horrible yelp. It ripped into her and began to gnaw into her flesh, ripping away mouthfuls, blood covering its form. It broke away, eyes darting around wildly for its next victim.A clatter grabbed our attention as Yasha chucked our weapons out towards us. I grabbed my scimitar first and foremost, able to grab my whip and crossbow to holster them as the others joined the fray and covered me.Fjord ran through Jester’s form, which dissipated and reformed around his charge. His falchion at the ready, he swung violently.I could feel Caleb move away from me, retreating further into the crowd. Above my head a beam of light blue energy blasted, slamming into the creature and forming crystals on its skin.
“And IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII will always soothe YOOOOOOOOOOUUUUU!”
I glanced over to see Nott trying to sing to the creature, whose red eyes darted amongst us. One of its eyes locked on Nott.“Fuck!”Swearing, Nott retreated even further behind me into the crowd, near Caleb.“Guys, no, it’s part of the show. Molly said that people die. She was just a claque.” Beau said, waving her hands, trying her best to look nonchalant. Dropping the act, she ran forward and tackled the creature. He broke away from her hold easily.“Oh, fuck that!”  Angry at her failed attack, Beau pulled back and leaped, kicking it in the chest, landing, and immediately uppercutting the grey, blood-splattered creature in the chin.The crowd behind us was thrown into further chaos after witnessing the first death, Caleb and Nott barely able to weave around the stampeding civilians.The woman lying on the ground with a gaping, ragged hole in her chest, suddenly moved. With a crack that was in no way natural, she snapped up to stand.“Shit.” I swore, finally affixing my whip to its place on my belt.“Open the tent wide!” Molly tried to bellow over the crowd. He darted ahead of me, towards the side of the newly formed creature. He drew one of his scimitars, and as he did he sliced a thin line across the side of his exposed chest. At the contact with his blood, the edge of the blade began to form ice crystals.One strike, Molly cut into the creature, cutting a wide wound open and exposing the creature’s inner organs. Instantly the organs were frozen where the wound cut through, cauterizing the wound with ice. 
Damn.
“Dude, are you here!? Because this is like the coolest shit we’ve ever seen!” I heard Jester across the room, basically voicing my own thoughts.  The sound of a deep, temple bell followed her shout, ringing out so loudly that I could feel the vibrations. The creature folded in on itself, clutching its head before lashing out at Beau. It slammed into her stomach with its fist, its other hand grabbing at her abdomen and digging its claws in. My eyes widened as its jaw unhinged and dropped like a serpent’s.Face contorted in pain and anger, Beau turned to Fjord.“I’m not a claque, this show’s bullshit.”The woman-turned-creature rushed Mollymauk, missing its strikes as its eyes turned unnaturally black. Stumbling out of range, Fjord turned and with the brief opening as it rushed past Molly, Fjord swung his falchion and struck it across the back of the creature’s shoulder.The falchion took a chunk out of the swollen, undead form lumbering past, but didn’t deter it from spinning back around and clocking Mollymauk across his jaw.I darted ahead, double-bladed scimitar in hand, flanking the newer creature. I struck out with my scimitar, slicing into its already gaping wound from Fjord’s falchion. It roared out in pain, which I silenced with another hit from the other end of my blade across its face. Its jaw was nearly sliced through, dangling by a strand of sinew.A gleam behind us shone as Yasha unsheathed her greatsword and charged towards the original creature with a violent yell.“GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY TENT!”I heard the first creature’s body crumble to the ground, destroyed by the force of Yasha’s strike.Shadows began to swirl and gather around the zombified woman Molly and I faced, the only remaining creature. I recognized the shadows as a spell Fjord had cast against the serpent. True enough, Fjord stepped up next to me and ripped into the creature with his falchion again, carving a giant mark across its chest. The opening of the wound showed the creature’s blackened interior, its muscles moving like worms, regathering and pulsing.A crossbow bolt came from nowhere, piercing the creature through the eye—the eye itself flying into the distance out the back of its head.On my left, Molly spun around, pulling out his second scimitar and taking a strike with each of his swords. Molly hit the creature in a flurry. The creature’s body snapped open from the force of the first strike, before falling and snapping back into place, just as quickly being spun around its spinal column by another blow, managing to stay standing at an uncomfortable angle.With a demonic growl of his own, Molly jammed his scimitar into the creatures gaping abdomen, wedging it into its spinal column, grating and cracking as Mollymauk drew his scimitar upwards. The creature’s spine shattered and immediately froze over as ice followed the blade’s grinding trail. Its wailing became a final whimper as Molly’s blade sliced completely through, leaving a vertical trail of ice through the creature.Frozen, the creature’s knees gave out, and the shadows from Fjord’s hex dissipated. As the creature fell back limply, the ice shattered, leaving the remains cut cleanly down its center.“Holy shit.” I breathed, the ending of the fight simply brutal.The others gathered around, each confirming for themselves that the creature was dead.“…I thought you said you didn’t let in the sick?” Beau snarked.“Fuck off.”Molly sheathed his scimitars.I looked over to Beau to see her buckled over, grabbing at her gash. I reached into my pouch and handed her a vial.“Drink this.”Worldessly, she wrenched the vial from my hand and downed it. I fished around for another and held it out to Molly, having seen him get hit too.“Healing potion?” He asked, already reaching for it.“Yeah.”He raised the bottle in cheers, silently thanking me, and began to drink it as the two members of the Crown’s Guard rushed to the front. Their weapons were drawn and they looked around frantically, until they spied us standing over the mangled corpses.“You, you! Stay where you are!”Seconds later, Gustav pushed through the crowd towards us.“Dear god, what’s happened here?” He asked. He looked over toward Bo, as he joined us.“Sir, I don’t know how he got in here.” Bo shook his head. Everyone turned to our group, the two carnies addressing Molly.“What happened?”“One of them turned. I don’t know what happened.”“There was a sick guy!” Jester said, running over to Beau’s side, and casting a healing spell. “There was an old sick guy and he turned into a zombie!”“Oh, thank you, man. I’m really down.” Beau breathed, handing my vial back. It disappeared in my hand.“Are you sick too? Did you get hurt? Hold on two seconds. I’m going to cure her and then I’ll cure you too.” Jester said, to Molly.“Holding up with the potion, but wouldn’t mind some more healing.” He said.Fjord stepped forward. “Yasha, have you ever seen anything like this happen before?”“No. Never.”“Stay where you are.” The Crowns Guard repeated, both looking shaken, “Don’t go anywhere.”Molly looked at them as if they were stupid.“Oh. Wherever will I go.” He deadpanned. The Guards ignored him.“Sivelmen, find someone. Bring the rest of the guard. Please!” “Right now, sir.”I ignored the Crown’s Guard’s conversations and looked around the tent. Children crying, families clutching one another and leaving through the tent flap at a more normal pace, all looking traumatized. There was a small, barely smoking hole in the navy canvas of the tent where a spell must have misfired in combat. The flattened dirt beneath us was stained with red and black, occasional ice shards scattered, and an initial scorch mark on the ground where I had thrown my vial.Jester’s forms merged with themselves again, leaving one Jester standing.“Don’t move.” The guards commanded.“Which one?”“…Both? Uh…”The group of us watch a frankly ridiculous display as Jester reformed her doppleganger and both began to loot the bodies under the nose of the Guards.Rather than watch, I turned to listen to Gustav’s growing panic.“I’m terribly sorry. I– this has never happened. I don’t know what happened. What happened!?”“We’ve never seen anything like it before.” Mollymauk shook his head, “He just– he gripped his heart and fell over and turned into that thing.”“It was when Toya started singing.” Yasha added. Beau’s brow furrowed.“Yeah, what’s with the dwarven girl? Why–““Nothing like this.” Molly cut her off.“She’s been singing with us for over two years, now.” Gustav said.“She looked scared.” I interrupted. I remembered watching the devil-toad performer leap up to her. She hadn’t been scared of him, but the creatures…she’d looked confused and frightened. “I don’t think she expected that to happen, let alone—” caused it, went unspoken.“How’d she come to you? She’s a pretty young girl.” Beau continued.“She had no family and she was singing in the street for change. There was an opportunity. We seized it. We gave her a family she didn’t have.”“Put your hands down.” Fjord said. The whole while Gustav had been speaking his hands had been up in fear of the Crown’s Guard. Gustav looked over to the guards for confirmation.“It’s fine, just don’t move.” They commanded. Gustav’s arms fell. We stood in an awkward silence waiting for more Guards, it seemed, until Ornna, the fire fairy who had previously performed, walked in.“I’m sorry. What has happened here?”“Your little dwarf girl was singing, and she turns people into zombies.”I facepalmed at Jester’s explanation.Mollymauk stepped up to do more damage control, “I feel that that was entirely coincidental. I’m really not sure that the two things were related. Something was wrong with this man.”“See, it’s interesting, because I would say the opposite.” Beau argued, “I would say it wasn’t that coincidental, because–““I would agree, it seemed to happen with this–“ Caleb began, but Molly cut him off.“We’ve seen her sing dozens, hundreds of times. Nothing like this has ever happened. I’ve seen people sit in the front row hundreds of times. Nothing like this has ever happened.”“Have you had the elderly or the sick in these tents before?” Caleb asked.“Yeah, you also happen to be very explicit on your page that you don’t want the sick, so.” Beau agreed. Mollymauk sighed.“Gustav.” He waved his hand tiredly, bringing the ringmaster in to explain.“It’s generally just because we want to promote a space of welcoming cleanliness. When we’re working amongst the outskirts of the Empire, we don’t want to bring an element that reminds you of death and–”“You hate old people so much.” Nott blinked.“Well, we’re in entertainment. We have to be cautious.”“…Hold up. I’ve never seen that one before. He looks really suspicious.” Molly said, suddenly pointing at a Crowns Guard. The man was practically quaking. Jester gasped dramatically.“He does look suspicious!”“Don’t try that on me.” The Guard glared, even while shaking, “I’ve been doing this for over ten years.”“Oh wait, look at him!” Yasha said, trying to deadpan a less. Jester suddenly started hacking, coughing uncomfortably.“There was some popcorn that I ate earlier.” She explained.This group was getting more ridiculous by the hour. I fidgeted with the bandana around my neck, unsure what the Guard’s intentions with us were.“You should know that whatever happened to that first man when he attacked the woman, she caught whatever he had.” Fjord spoke up, pointing to the bodies.“And that is extremely worrying. Nobody touch that body.” His eyes widened, realizing what he had just said, and looked over to Jester. “Don’t you touch that body! Are you sick?”“I have bloody fingers.” Jester held up her hands, still coughing.“Someone hold her down! If she’s sick and turns into one of these, I will not–”“She’s fine.” Yasha interrupted, “Just calm down.”“Well, we’ve already killed two of them.” Molly shrugged. Nott nodded.“She’s definitely sick.”The Guard’s face goes white, and with his blade held above he began to rush forward, “Kill the thing!”Yasha pulled out her greatsword before he could reach Jester, stepping between them.“Stop, stop.”I leaned on my double-bladed scimitar, watching the back and forth of the group as they had an inane conversation in an attempt to calm the guard, and prove that we were the ones who helped contain the threat rather than caused it. It didn’t seem to be going well, and I knew I would be little help if I chose to speak. Since I’d met up with them, the only smooth-talker among us seemed to be Fjord.   Eventually, the entrance of the tent flapped open, and ten more guards began to filter into the chamber. The leader, or so it seemed, of the guard came forward and took off his helmet. He looked to be around his early 40s, brown hair going a little grey.“I had a gut feeling that you were nothing but trouble when you came into our town.”Great.“I guarantee to you, my friend, I have no idea–”“What happened here?” The guard finished Gustav’s sentence for him.“Sir, Flynn.” The scared Guard introduced himself, “There was a creature. This carnival seemed to create some sort of terrible entity that killed and then created a secondary beast. I watched it with my own eyes from the back row.” The lead guard turned back to Gustav and our group.“And who else saw that?”“We did.” Fjord said.“Well, we saw an old guy turn into a zombie,” Jester began, “But it’s possible that he just died because he was old, and then he had the zombie curse on him and just turned, you know? Because that happens a lot.”“Gustav, it’s no use, we’ve been found out.” Molly deadpanned, “Our terrible plot to make a zombie rampage through our carnival has been discovered. Whatever will we do now that we’ve been discovered for our brilliant plot to make a zombie ruin our circus. My god.”The scared guard—Flynn—jumped and turned to Molly instantly.“Put your weapons down or we’ll arrest you immediately!”“I’m literally holding nothing but my hands.”“I mean, I’m sorry, but we’re basically a group of strangers.” Caleb explained, “Most of us don’t know each other. We all have the same story. There was a show, an old man became a thing, and we helped destroy it. This one destroyed it. What more do you want from us?”“It ruined our show.” Molly repeated.“Watchmaster, what should we do?” Flynn asked, addressing the group’s leader. The Watchmaster walked forward towards Gustav, giving him a once over. He stood a few inches shorter than Gustav, but had this sense of entitlement about him. Disinterest and disrespect.“You, sir, and your orc, and your circus, are considered currently under arrest. Who else belongs to your merry band?”Gustav looked at all of us, eyes barely glancing over Yasha and Molly.“The orc. …The rest of them are just purveyors of our performances. He was just joking earlier, right?”The Watchmaster didn’t believe it for a second.“And you are also under arrest. The rest of you, what are your names?”“El’aria.” I lied immediately. The others followed suit.“Shirley.” Jester.“Temple.” Nott.“Caleb Widogast.” Ruining the game.“Beau, same as him.” Beau pointed to Bo.“Here’s the thing. Oh, it’s Mary by the way,” Yasha said, “But I think I know who might know what has happened here.”“Do you? Tell me.”“I’ll have to go get her.”“Who is this?”“She is the singer that made this all happen.”The Watchman turned to the guards.“Flynn, escort this woman to retrieve this individual she speaks of.” Flynn nodded and walked towards Yasha. Jester shuffled forward.“She’s really shy, though, and I hear she only talks to tieflings, so you should probably send–“
“Stay where you are.”
“–my brother along, because he’s really good with that stuff.”This didn’t go over well with the guards, and they ignored her. Molly gave an exaggerated smile to Flynn.“Try not to stab any random people on your way there, Flynn. You’re doing good.”Flynn shot him what was probably meant to be a glare as he left.“My men tell me that the rest of you helped destroy these fiends. Is that correct?” The Watchmaster asked.  A chorus of “yeah”s answered him. “Then on behalf of the Starosta, I appreciate your aid. But until this investigation is complete, you are all under investigation from us. Where are you staying?”“The Nestled Nook Inn.” Fjord answered.“Nested Nook.” Nott said, at the same time.“Nestled. He got it right.” Caleb corrected, quietly.“Do not leave this city unless you are told otherwise. Should you do so, I have your names,” I held back a grin at this, "and I can have the full might of the Cerberus Assembly track you down.” He turned to the guards. “You. Flynn. Free this girl.”Flynn and Yasha walked out, Yasha leading him to the singer.“So. The investigation will begin. If any information comes to light that could alleviate you of the charges brought to this carnival, come to me and let me know. If you have no answers before we complete this investigation, then I believe you all will fall into the judgment.” My eyes narrowed.“Next time we don’t help. That’s what it comes down to.” Jester huffed.“I know,” Beau agreed, “We got paid the first time we helped, and then we got arrested the second time. I don’t know what lesson to learn here.”“Remember, you flee, I’ll find you.” The Watchmaster warned.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Watchmaster! The big woman is gone! She’s gone!”All of us turned to the entrance, where Flynn had rushed back in, bent over and huffing from his run. The Wacthmaster glared at him.“You three, go with him. Search for her.” Three guards immediately ran out of the tent, Flynn following behind. The Watchmaster turned to us. “Shackle and drag those three down to the stockade.”Five guards pushed Gustav, Bo, and Molly to the ground and began to put chains and shackles on them.“I’d like to make a counteroffer?” Molly interjected. The Watchmaster kept giving orders, ignoring him.“The rest of you keep an eye on the performers here. Ask around, see what you can find. As for the others, don’t go far.”“The innocent patrons, you mean?” Jester’s tail swished. The Watchmaster paused.“You may be innocent, in which case you have nothing to worry about. However, we have an investigation to complete, so I would ask that you stay in the city and wait until you are called in. You will be questioned, and when this investigation is completed, regardless of how long it may take, you are not to leave Trostenwald.”“If I could just contribute one word,” Caleb stepped forward, “The 40 or so people who are outside and the rest of us will vouch for this one, the colorful one. He saved many people’s lives. Don’t take my word for it. There’s everyone outside.”It felt like our whole group held our breath as the Watchmaster looked from Caleb to Molly.“Well, unfortunately, that is not for me to decide. The Lawmaster would have to be appealed to. If you wish to come with us, we can bring you along with us to the stockade and you can speak with her. Then, perhaps, she may grant you leniency, but I can give you no guarantee.”“Why don’t you just question us right now?” Beau asked, “I’m confused on why you don’t just do that now.”“Well, we could do that instead. We’ll have you arrested, put you in the stockade as we question the rest of you.”“No, let’s go to the stockade!” Jester said quickly. Fjord nodded.“Yeah, we’ll all be in one place.”“Yeah.”“Better to argue free than in chains.” I added. The guards hauled Gustav, Bo, and Molly to their feet.“We’re leaving. The rest of you, stay in here.” The Watchmaster commanded the remaining guards, “Watch over the performers. Make sure nobody leaves.” He turned to us. “Come if you wish. Otherwise, we’ll be in touch.”With that, the group of prisoners were ushered out of the tent. Beau set out quickly on her own, with a look of determination. Fjord and Jester went towards the flap of the tent. I took a moment to examine the bodies strewn on the ground. Looking them over, their entire insides had been transformed into a whole new material, organs blackened, as if it were devoid of life.“Coming, Serasai?” I saw Fjord and Jester at the entrance, looking at me.“Coming!” I ran over, and the three of us set out to follow the Watchmaster’s procession. The city bustled as it normally would, word of the carnival not yet having spread throughout the whole town. The battle felt like it was longer ago than it was. I could see the back of Molly’s coat through the crowd, as the last prisoner in the line, flanked by guards.“So what’s our play on this?” I asked, looking up to Fjord.“Try to get them to see reason. As far as we know, it’s the truth that the carnival workers weren’t behind this.”“It would be weird for them to want to ruin their own carnival.” Jester said, nodding.“And Caleb, wherever he went, he mentioned that the audience could vouch. We have a lot of witnesses.” I added.Ahead of us stood a large, single-story, stone building. Crownsguard banners hung from the walls, the only decoration. Following the guards inside, we were ushered into a darkened office. The room was sparse, a couple of crates with pieces of paper scattered across it, and a stone desk at the far end. There sat a dwarven woman with black hair streaked with silver, dressed in red and gray leather armor. A guard spoke to her as she sat there, writing swiftly out onto parchment set before her. The guard bowed, and made his way out of the room past us. The dwarven woman stopped writing to look up at us. She slammed her hands on the table, making me jump with the loud slam.“All right, what riff-raff have you brought in to me this day?” The Watchmaster ordered the guards to take the chains off Gustav, Bo, and Molly. Taking off his helmet, he walked forward to the woman.“Sorry to be a bother, but we have three individuals arrested in connection with, as you have heard so far, the deaths at the carnival performance this evening.”She rolled her eyes.“All right, bring them forward.” Yanked up by the guards, the three carnies stood before her. The Watchmaster bowed his head and made his exit. The dwarf stepped around her desk to face the prisoners.“I am Norda. It is my job to keep this city safe and keep shite like what happened tonight from happening.” Her eyes narrowed at Gustav. “I approved your second time on the outskirts of our town and you have killed two of my people. What have you to say about yourselves?”“Exactly how did we kill them, exactly?” Molly asked, eyes darting from Norda’s to the floor. She looked at Molly for a passing moment, before turning back to Gustav.“I have been told by my guard that you gave performance, and as part of this performanceyou released two beasts into the midst of the population.”“Well, technically, he wasn’t part of the performance, technically he was saving everyone.” Jester pointed at Molly. Norda’s eyes settled on her. “…Technically.”“Thank you.” Molly said, “Yes, you see–““--I’m so sorry, my liege.” Gustav interrupted, “Please, I take full responsibility for what happened this evening on myself. These people around me had nothing to do with this. They are not part of the carnival, they were just merely helping. It is my carnival, and whatever judgement there lies, I take upon myself and my head.”Bo strained forward a step against the guards,
“Gustav, what are you doing?”

“Shut. Up. Please.”
Gustav recovered and looked back to Norda.“Whatever judgement there is, put it upon me,” He bowed his head.“Is that the case? Is he the only one?” Norda asked, looking hard at Bo and Molly.“…Oh, are you waiting for me to speak? Yes, he’s the only one.” Norda narrowed her eyes at Molly’s flippant reply, while Molly did his best to avoid eye contact.“Keep these two downstairs.” She pointed to Bo and Gustav. “This one let go. We’ll be talking to you very soon.”Molly let out a breath of relief, as the guards removed his chains. The other carnies were quickly pulled out of the room—Gustav and Molly barely catching a glance.“Well, you’re out of chains! That’s great. Doesn’t mean you’re absolved of the investigation. So, where are you staying? You and your compatriots?” Norda gestured back to us.“Well, technically we just all met, technically.” Jester explained.“Well, technically, as far as I’m concerned, you’re all together as part of this investigation.”“We’re a group you guys!” Jester practically squealed, looking overjoyed. Fjord sighed, while Molly looked amused.“More like we’re babysitting.” I muttered. It went unheard as Norda spoke over me.“So we’re going to have our investigators come to wherever you’re staying, which looks to be the Nestled Nook?”“That’s correct.” Fjord said.“All right. Don’t leave the city. We’ll be in touch.”“Great, I really like it here so that’s good that we get to stay so long.” Jester smiled. Norda looked over to Molly, who still stood in the center of the room.“Do you have something to say?” Norda asked, pointedly.“No. Just shocked to see someone die in front of me not more than–““--I can assure you, we’re here to cause no trouble. We will be as compliant as we possibly can be.”“Good. Dismissed!”She slammed the table again and I jumped.“She needs to stop doing that.” Jester noted, quietly. The four of us found ourselves in the street. With how dark it was, it was probably midnight. “Mollymauk, I don’t mean to pry into your business, but has this ever happened to you before?” Fjord asked. Mollymauk shook their head.“This has never– anything like this has ever happened before. And thank you. For the record, I don’t owe any of you anything–““Oh, I don’t know about that.” Fjord raised an eyebrow.“–I swear, but thank you, and I’m ready to help with this.”“If it makes you feel better, you could probably repay Jester in fortunes.” I pointed to Jester with my thumb.“Do you think it was the little girl?” Jester asked. Molly looked affronted.“No! That’s an act, that’s not anything. It’s just a show!”“Right, the large toad that was with the girl, what’s the story there?” Fjord asked.“It’s nothing special, it’s just a guy making a buck, all right? He’s fine!”I could hear footsteps approaching and looked to the source of the noise. I stared, not even wanting to understand what I was seeing.“By the way, where’s the obnoxious one? The really loud–“Found her.” I pointed.Beau was being pulled towards the building, in chains, much more roughly than they had ever been with Gustav, Bo, and Molly. The chains were taut so she couldn’t move, and the guards looked serious, but strained.“Help.”“What happened?” Jester gasped. Beau kept her eyes on us.“Help. Help help help. Help help. Help help help.” I heard Mollymauk snicker next to me. “Help. I’m with you, I’m with you. Help help.”“Oh, I thought you didn’t like jails.” Jester cocked her head.“Help.”“You know, I was snarky earlier,” I began, as we watched Beau be pulled into the stockade building, “And I joked that now we were babysitting Mollymauk. I sincerely apologize. I should’ve realized we’re babysitting Beau.”“And doing a bad job of it.” Fjord said. “C’mon, let’s go after her.”“I’m going to be very helpful and not go in there with the two of you while you try and get her out.” Molly declared. “I’ll stand guard.”Before we reached the door, Fjord whirled around and pointed an accusatory finger at Mollymauk.“Don’t. Leave.”“I have nowhere to go.” Molly shrugged.“I’m not good with people maybe I should stay, make sure he doesn’t lea—”“—come on.”With a yank, Fjord had pulled me inside the building with them.Instead of Beau being brought to the Lawmaster’s office, she was immediately brought towards stairs leading to a basement floor. Before we could follow, the guard watching the front entrance stopped us.“I’m sorry, where are you going?”“It was a busy day for us. Unfortunately, we’re partially responsible for this one as well. Bad luck.” Fjord explained.“We’re not happy about it.” I added.“She was also helping to save a lot of people. Big misunderstanding.” Jester chimed in. The guard looked between the three of us.“Well, see her into her cell and please exit the vicinity.” The guard decided. Fjord nodded.“Fair enough.”“Appreciate that.”The guard followed us to Beau’s jailcell. I heard a mumur, and saw Fjord muttering to Jester. The two of them were the closest of our accidental group, having been traveling together since before we met up in Trostenwald. It was that closeness that made it easy to ignore any asides they had between them. But it was also that closeness that, without Beau, made me feel like I was third-wheeling.The basement smelled like mildew and piss. Two rows of cells stood with iron bars, about ten cells in total. Resting in corners we could see figures of sleeping prisoners. I couldn’t tell if it was always so dark down here, or if it was dark because it was just past midnight.“It smells like Caleb down here.”“Pfft—” I tried to cut off my laughter. Jester definitely knew how to break a tense moment.The closing of a far cell echoed in the chamber, and moving closer we could see it held Gustav and Bo. Feeling somber again, we stepped to the cell next door and saw Beau being shoved inside.“Are they not going to take her to see the Lawmaker?”“I know, why doesn’t she get to talk to the Lawmaster?”The guard finished locking the cell.“Because she decided not to come helpfully.”“What do you mean?” Jester asked.“Ah, oh, no you misunderstood. See that was just, I have this spasm that has this twitch. It was an injury from, like, a childhood thing.” Beau said.“Oh no, are you guys making fun of her because of her spasm?”I kept a straight face as Jester looked up at the guards with sad, puppy-dog eyes, the picture of innocence.“Yeah that’s actually–“ Beau sniffled, “It was very sensitive for me. I had a really tough childhood. I was just trying to find a bathroom.”The three guards walked away, not caring in the slightest. A man from the hall entrance, instead, walked up to us. He had a larger build, a bushy beard, and judging by the key ring at his hip was probably the jailor. “Oh well, if you want to be patient, I’m sure the Lawmaster will be here sometime in the morning and you can discuss whatever this business is. But if you want to say goodbye, now’s the time.” He said.I definitely didn’t plan on staying the night.“Actually, we were just upstairs and it would really help us if we could, perhaps, expedite the process. Perhaps there’s an arrangement we could come to if she could see the Lawmaster now?” Fjord asked, sounding very professional. “Yeah it’s not going to help my spasm to sleep on the floor, man. It’s an injury. I’m injured!” Beau added, gripping the bars of her cell.“An audience is all we’re asking for. No favors.”“Yeah, this is just a wrong time, wrong place thing.”The jailor looked between Beau and Fjord.“All right, but if she gets angry, it’s not on me.” He warned. Beau let out a breath of relief, while Fjord nodded in thanks.“I understand. Thank you for your understanding.“She’s a very calm person. I’ve never seen her angry, ever.” Jester commented. I wasn’t sure if she was talking about the Lawmaster or Beau. The jailor whistled, and a crownsguard ran up.“I’m sorry. Could you go and fetch the Lawmaster? They are requesting an audience. If she gets angry, just add it to this one’s sentence.” He pointed to Beau. The guard exited, and it didn’t take long before we could hear a familiar dwarven voice cursing as she descended the stairs. She had her coat on, likely about to leave the building before we had summoned her.“Beau, remember your little sister.” Fjord warned quickly.Norda arrived, saw us, and looked the picture of exasperated.“Okay, so you’ve returned, apparently, needing to poke into what business now before I go off and get some food?”“I do hate to trouble you again, twice in the same evening. It’s incredibly inconvenient.” Fjord tried to sympathize.“I hate being troubled twice in the same evening.”“If we may, this sweet girl here was also part of our party and she is quite the protective one. I’m afraid that she was also providing aid to our fellows in that tent. I’m afraid her younger sister was attacked in a similar way. I feel it’s only prudent to acknowledge that she was trying to protect this young dwarven girl that performed in the circus. She means no harm.”“It was an adopted sister.” Jester chimed in.“I practically raised her. It’s a sensitive subject.” Beau agreed. I glanced nervously between the three of them. Beau and Jester seemed to misunderstand Fjord’s lie, and I was worried that Beau would be assumed to be part of the carnival and stay locked up.“She tends to project that, on any young girls we come across. Gets very protective. You can ask the fishermen down at the loch, we saved a young girl from an attack just the other day.” I rambled, trying to cover.Norda looked between us all, then faced a guard.“Is this true?” She asked.“It appeared to us that she was attempting to escape upon us trying to bring calm to a very tense situation, but I’ll leave it in your realm, Lawmaster.”“And were you attempting to escape?” Norda asked Beau.“We had already been told we were free to go as long as we stayed in town for the investigation.” I answered instead.“She’s staying at the same place that we are.” Jester added.“Indeed. And we can be found at any hour. The Nestled Nook Inn is where we are.” Fjord said. Beau nodded.“And I’m more than willing to be compliant with the investigation.”Norda rubbed at her eyes in tired frustration.“I just want to sleep.”“Indeed. It would give us no greater pleasure than to get out of your hair.” Fjord said.“Fine. We’ll have guards posted at the outside of the inn. You’re not to leave until this investigation is complete. It may take days. Until we find out who’s responsible for these deaths and bring them to justice, you are not to leave the tavern.”“The tavern?” Before I could protest, Fjord put a hand on my shoulder.“Understood.”“Like, at all during the day, even?” Jester asked, “Just a question. If we wanted to shop or something. Not okay?”“Not until this is done.” Norda seethed.“Cool.”“Because otherwise, you’re welcome to stay here, instead.”“It is really beautiful here, but I think I’d rather stay at the inn?”Fjord and I nodded rapidly.“Indeed we would. This is most gracious of you, Lawmaster Norda.” Fjord said, clearly trying to schmooze.“……Get them the fuck out.”She turned around and heavily stomped out of the chamber. The jailor opened the cell door and Beau walked quickly out. The jailor looked a bit confused and yet amused at the same time, while the guards just looked annoyed. They hastily escorted us out and back onto the street, where Mollymauk was sat on the steps, fiddling with his cards. He jumped up and joined our walk as the guards escorted us all the way back to the Nestled Nook Inn. As we walked in, I turned and saw the guards station themselves at either side of the door.“You should have spasmed a couple times on the way here.” Jester said.“Aw, shit.” Beau swore.“Yeah. Opportunity missed.”Beau turned to Fjord.“My little sister? What the what?”“She’s a dwarf! She’s human!” Jester agreed. Fjord looked between them, confused.“What? No, I was trying to say she had a little sister that had a similar incident and that made you try to protect Toya. I was trying to throw you a bone!”“Oh. You didn’t make that clear at all.”“No, I got it!” I argued. Fjord gestured to me.“Luckily, Serasai was able to cover for it.” He said.“And you’re free! You’re welcome.” I added.“I was just trying to go with what you said.” Beau let out a huff. Fjord gave a lopsided grin.“Yeah. You did all right.”“All right. I mean, it kind of worked. But you’re not entirely wrong! I was trying to go get the stupid little girl, who seemed to be stupid.”“Did you see anything?”“I tried to save her. I was like, get the hint, what’s going on?”Jester looked confused.“Why would you save her? She turned those people into zombies.”Beau stammered, unable to come up with a solid reason.“We don’t know that.” Fjord argued.“I mean, she could have.” Jester crossed her arms.“She didn’t.” Mollymauk said. Jester looked over to the other Tiefling, who had yet to speak since we’d left the stokades.“Oh, hi! You’re here.” Jester looked overjoyed, while Beau looked happy to have someone else to shove the conversation onto.“Yeah, if anything, we should be looking at this guy. Why are we putting our neck out for you?”It was a fair question. We’d only met him this morning. Then again, I’d only met the others yesterday.“You’re putting your neck out for Toya for some strange reason and I don’t know why, she’s perfectly capable of handling herself.” Molly said, airily.“Have you been to this town before?” Fjord asked. Molly’s eyes narrowed as he tried to think back.“Not that I can remember. They all look the same after a while.”“And you’ve never seen conditions like this affect any other carnival goer before?”“Nothing like this. Hundreds, possibly thousands of shows. Yeah, thousands of shows. Nothing. Never. It’s not us.”“So great!” Jester interrupted, “We’re stuck in a city that has zombie issues, that’s all.”“And since it’s not us, it’s going to keep having zombie issues.” I added. Fjord looked around the near-empty tavern.“Where are the other two?” He asked.“Which other two?” Molly asked.“The stinky one and the little one.”“Caleb and Nott?” I asked. Molly’s eyes lit up in recognition.“Oh, your friends! …You call them Stinky and the little one? All right.”“They’re not actually our friends. We met them, like, twenty minutes before we met you and Yasha.” I explained.“I wonder if they came back.” Fjord muttered.“I’ll go up and ask the tavern keeper!” Jester said as she bounded over to the bar. We watched Jester and the bartender chatter for a second.“Weird question, is there a reason Yasha ran for it, but you’ve decided to stick around?” I asked.“Aside from me being in chains when she ran?”“I know, but you still could have ditched us at the stockades. Like you said, you don’t owe us anything.”“Well if someone doesn’t clear the carnival’s name, the guards will use us as a scapegoat. That’s how these things work. And my best chance of figuring any of this out is with you lot. You were there when it happened, and you’re not bad with a blade.”“Neither are you.” I said. He grinned, and I looked back to Jester. “Safety in numbers anyway.”“They’re here!” Jester called over. She walked back towards us.“They are?” Fjord asked.“Yeah.”“Good.”“…so we heading to bed or grabbing a table?” I asked. I hadn’t allowed myself to enjoy the buzz from the beer tour since the carnival went sideways, forcing sobriety through the fight and jailhouse negotiations.“I’m all for grabbing a table and getting some drinks.” Mollymauk said, already headed towards the tables we had occupied earlier.“I could use one too, after that shit jailcell.” Beau agreed. The group of us joined in, Fjord pulling up a chair to seat the five of us. Just as we did, we heard footsteps falling down the stairs. We looked up to see Caleb and Nott coming down.“Oh, thank God you’re here and safe!” Nott beelined over to us. “We missed you! Somehow we got separated! Friends.”I looked at her, then over to the rest of the party.It was clear all of us could tell she was lying.“That happens, yes.” Jester said, letting it pass.“You guys peaced out pretty quickly.” Beau, however, wasn’t going to let it slide that easy.“We did,” Caleb admitted, “I did not come to Trostenwald to go to jail.”“What did you come to Trostenwald for?” Fjord questioned.“We are tired. We’ve been traveling a long time. We’ve been saving. Wanted to take it easy for a few days.” Caleb said.“Sure, I’m not trying to pry. I was just curious where you were going.”“Just curious why you have a mask.” Beau’s eyes narrowed at Nott. Molly slammed his hands onto the table, making me jump.“If I’m going to listening to somebody’s life story I’m going to need a drink.” He raised a hand, calling to a barmaid. “You, gorgeous, what’s your name?”“Adelaine.”“Adelaine, I would like a round for all these terrible people and one for myself. What’s the difference between these three beers? I’ve honestly got to admit, they all taste the same to me.”“Go with the Von Brandt.” Adelaine recommended. Mollymauk looked torn.“They had my favorite, on the brewery tour we did. But it depends on the brew.” I added my two-cents. Molly gave a nod.“Let’s get a round of Von Brandt for everybody.“Actually, if it’s all the same I’m not really an ale fan. Do you have any fire whiskey?” Fjord asked.“We can get you some liquor, aye.”“Can I have some milk?” Jester asked, beaming.“Two, please.” Nott held up two fingers. Adelaine looked between our group, making sure she got the changed order, then looked to Molly for confirmation.“All right.”“Would you mind if we pulled these tables together?” I asked quickly, before she could leave.“As long as you put it back before you head to bed, makes no difference to me.” She shrugged.“Great idea! We can all sit together!” Jester cheered. I got up, as did the others, and easily pushed the two tables into one. I sat back down between Fjord and Beau. “You think she heard that I wanted milk?”“I think she did. We can ask again if she doesn’t bring it.” I said.“I’m going to ask for one of each of these beers because I want to have a tasting competition.” Molly decided, looking around the table, “I’m not going to be drinking alone.”“Bud, I’m about two away from being drunk, don’t tempt me.” I warned. That seemed to only make him grin wider.“Caleb, you want to see something cool?” Jester said, peering around Nott.“I would love to see something cool.”Jester pointed down at the side of her table, and Caleb looked. Now that it was pointed out, it was clear there was an etching in the wood of a cartoon dick, which I remembered Jester drawing it yesterday.“Yeah! Bringing it back.” Beau cheered. I chuckled, and even Caleb broke a smile.“That’s pretty good. Have you always been an artist?”“I have actually, I’ve been an artist since I was little.”Adelaine came around the tables with our drinks, temporarily silencing the discussion about dicks. But once she was gone with the order for a few more drinks, Mollymauk started it back up again.“You think that’s what they look like?” He asked, gesturing to the etching. Jester looked at him with a leveling stare.“I’ve seen a lot of dicks. That is what most of them look like.”Mollymauk hid a laugh behind his cup of Von Brandt.“So where do you two come from?” Caleb asked. Jester and Molly looked at each other, and back to Caleb.“Us two?” Jester asked, her head tilted.“Yes, you two with the horns.”“Well, I don’t know where he comes from. You think we all come from the same place? That was really inconsiderate.”“No, you are very different it’s very clear.” Caleb chuckled, uncomfortably.“He’s purple.” Jester pointed.“She’s blue.” Molly pointed.“Which is pretty rare.”“He’s every color.” Caleb said.“It’s very true.” Molly agreed.“It’s pretty.” The whole table turned to me.  “…sorry, I like your peacock tattoo a lot.”“Thank you.” Molly grinned.  “I’m from Nicodranas, to answer your question.” Jester said to Caleb.“I’m from the circus!” Molly held his tankard up in a solo cheer.“So you’re a traveler then?” Caleb asked.“Oh yeah. Quite a while.”“Since childhood?”There was a pause as Molly thought for an answer.“Long as I can reasonably remember at the very least. It’s been a while. It’s nice. I like it. They’re good people. Work hard.”“You have a lot of scars.” Caleb pointed out. It was true; Molly did very little to hide them, with his shirt nearly completely open.“That’s a very funny story, actually.” Molly grinned widely.“I like funny stories.” Fjord said, leaning forward.“Me too.”There was a long pause as we all thought Molly was going to speak further.“You did some crazy shit with that sword of yours.” Fjord said. I nodded enthusiastically. That ice magic had been brutal to witness.“Thank you. These swords– you buy a drink and we’ll see.”“You polish off that one already?”With that question, Mollymauk knocked back his ale and chugged. He set it back on the table, empty.“Wow, that’s a lot– okay.” Jester said, surprised.“Can we get another round? For the–“ Fjord called over the Adelaine.As sober as the events of the carnival and stockade had made me feel, it didn’t change the fact I was going on at least my sixth beer of the night, from the pub crawl and afternoon. I was fairly good at looking sober, but I was starting to slip a little.“Hi Frumpy, nice to see you again.” Nott said, the cat having jumped up onto her shoulder.“Mother always told me to never give a story away for free.” Molly said, pointing at Fjord with his tankard.“Wise words.” Fjord agreed.“My mother said don’t give away other things for free.” Jester chimed in. Molly smiled.“I already like your mother.”“My mother always said nothing in life is free.” Beau said, shrugging.“…I can tell.”“None of this absolves the dodgy goblin who slinked past that first question!” Beau rounded on Nott, “Where are you from? What are you traveling from? Why the mask?”“Only because we seem to find ourselves in quite the predicament.” Fjord said, sounding apologetic.“We’re just a couple of friends, strolling around the countryside looking for adventure.” Nott claimed, still clearly lying.“Sure you are.”“Do you see many goblins walking around cities here?” Caleb huffed.“It has nothing to do with that. People who move from place to place frequently tend to have other stories as to why they’re doing it.” Beau argued.“Then why are you travelling?” I asked. Beau looked over to me in surprise.“…I asked first!”Caleb looked to her with a level stare. “Well, let me make it clear: goblins are not typically welcome in any cities, that is why the mask.”“Well, you’re going back to the goblin thing. I’m more curious about the travel thing.”“We have a string of bad luck.” Nott said. It sounded more like a confession. “We tend to get in trouble in places for various reasons. Some of which is my fault. Most of which is my fault. I have sticky fingers. I can’t help myself sometimes. I’m fascinated by little bobbles and fancy pieces of jewelries and I love trinkets so much!” Her eyes got wider the more she listed, “I just have to take them, and have them with me, and put them in my pockets. It’s gotten us in a few scrapes a couple times. Caleb, he is fantastic. Very patient with me, understands. But really it’s my fault; it’s not him. He’s a smart man, a brilliant magician! Have you seen? Some of his tricks are phenomenal, really.”“No, I’d love to.” Fjord said.“I feel bad too because we never stay in one place long enough for him to have a decent shower.”The rest of us held back laughter to various degrees of success.“It’s a moving story.”I noticed Beau and Molly both rifling through their pockets, and realized they were checking to see if Nott had lifted anything from them. I did the same, a glance in my bag proving everything was in its place.“Anyway, that’s the long and short of it.”“What do you do with the things once you steal them?” Jester asked.“Well the nice ones I keep. I have a little–““Do you have a collection!?” Jester interrupted. Nott nodded, excited at first, but then deflated.“I collect a lot of things, but in the last place we hunkered down, it was all taken from me We were in one of those prisons before– Am I sharing too much?” Nott looked to Caleb, “I’m sharing too much, aren’t I?”Before Caleb could answer, Nott continued, “We were in a prison, they took all of our belongings. I lost all of my collections. I had a lovely rock collection. I had a rare coin collection. I had a stick collection. Yeah, it’s all gone now.”“What about shiny things, though?” Jester asked.“I love them. I just don’t have any right now.”“Because I think if you have sticky fingers for sticks and rocks, I don’t think that will get you in trouble.”Jester had a point. Only some people cared for certain types of rocks, rock collectors, but I couldn’t imagine people getting overly upset about Nott snagging branches for her stick collection.“True. But they were like people’s canes and things.”The group of us burst into laughter, Caleb hiding his face behind his hand, and Nott looking unbothered by our reaction.“I mean I call them sticks because I don’t need them. But I suppose they really needed them.”“Yeah, that makes sense.”“There’s only one way to find out.” Molly commented. It reminded me of a couple hours ago when Molly had asked for Beau’s “walking stick”.“Wait, I’m sorry. I think I need clarification. If sticks mean things like valuable canes, what do rocks mean to you?”“You know those rocks that humans wear on their fingers and around their necks and stuff? They’re really nice rocks.”I chuckled to myself, finishing my beer.“We don’t have many of those at the moment.” Caleb said, looking amused despite himself.“Would it be fair to say that the more someone desires something, the more you’re interest increases?” Fjord asked.“Oh I don’t care about the people who have them. I just like pretty things. Toys, anything really.”“I’ll keep an eye out for things that you would like.” Jester said, kindly.“Okay! Can you help with that?”“I can if you want me to. Or I can point it out.”“Is it the joy of taking the things or do you just like gifts?” Beau asked. After the discovery of Nott’s “stick” collection, the lot of us were much more interested in this.“No, it’s the collecting.”“It’s like a nervous tick a little bit.” Caleb tried to explain.“Are you good at it? Do you get caught very often?” Fjord asked.“Well, would you like a demonstration?”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Yes!” Jester cheered.“Now, Jester, if I may, we are already in a little bit of a pickle.” Fjord warned. Jester ignored him.“Steal something from me! Do you want me to close my eyes?”“…Sure! That’ll make it really easy. Are they closed?”Jester shut her eyes tight.“Yeah!”“All right. Out of practice here.” Nott stood up, grabbing a shot from the counter and downing it. She cracked her knuckles, and then walked over to Jester.“Just don’t take the thing on my waist, because he’ll be pissed.” Jester said, eyes still scrunched up. Nott stopped, hand in mid-air reaching toward her.“He’ll be pissed? What?”“Yeah.”“…He?”“Yeah.”All of us looked down at Jester’s waist. There was a small bauble I’d paid little attention to earlier, that looked almost like a geometric painter’s palette.The group of us watched Nott nod, then slip her hand into Jester’s side pocket. She rummaged around. I raised a brow as I watched; for something she considered to be her “specialty” she didn’t seem particularly great at it. I wouldn’t be as judgmental if it wasn’t something I had experience with myself.“You’re doing great!” Jester said, clearly able to tell what Nott was doing.“This is not how it usually works!” Nott pulled her hand back, frustrated, “The person is not really expecting it. This is embarrassing, really. I have the one skill and I failed at it.”“It’s okay, you can keep practicing.”“There is that one magic trick that you’re able to do. Would you like to show them the magic trick that you can do?” Caleb asked. Nott looked over to him, looking vaguely confused before Caleb pulled out a red ceramic bowl. Nott’s eyes widened, and Caleb pulled out a copper piece.“Here, you know the trick, right?” Caleb asked, handing the bowl and coin over to her.“Yes, I know the trick. Takes a little bit of time, doesn’t it?”“You’re good.”“Okay.” Nott took a breath, “I do know one piece of magic. Feast your eyes–“ Nott hopped up onto a stool, “On the sacred money pot of school. If you place a copper piece into this pot and say the magic words–what’s the magic word again?” She hissed to Caleb.“Fibulous—"“--Fibulous! It will turn into a silver piece.”“Should I say it?” Jester asked, excited.“I want to hear you say it, anyway.” Fjord chuckled. Nott paused, looking thoughtful.“…Only I can say it!” Nott decided. Fjord and I laughed. “For everyone has their own magic word, and it won’t work with you.”Nott began to make some strange noises, vocalizing and waving a hand over the bowl.“By the ancient order of the school…fibulous!” Nott lifted the coin, which gleamed silver.“That is a silver coin right there.” Caleb said, proudly.“Oh my gosh!--Wait a minute. Does this mean the silver I won from you was actually copper?”“No, it only works up.”“Great! Thanks for the silver.” Jester reached out an open palm, waiting for the coin.“…Well, no, we weren’t giving you the silver piece just showing you a bit of magic. This pot is actually quite powerful. It can do that once a day, so if you’d like to purchase it…?” My eyes narrowed. Something about this seemed off.“Can you turn this into a gold piece?” Jester asked.“Well, it only works once a day.”“Well, tomorrow can you make it gold?”“I think it only does the copper to silver?” Nott looked to Caleb.“The magic is not that strong.” He explained.“Yes, it’s a mild magic pot. But if you’d like to purchase it from us, we can sell it to you for five gold.”“Five gold for one silver a day? That doesn’t add up.”“By the end of the week you made your money back.” Fjord reasoned. Jester shook her head at his bad math.“No.”“At discount for friends, three gold.” Nott tried.I raised my hand, murmuring a familiar spell, drawing figures in the air out of faint purple light now glowing from my fingertips. When the spell sigil was complete, my eyes glowed the same faint purple, and I looked around. My satchels and potions glowed with the same energy—now visible to me. I saw Caleb’s eyes widen a fraction, and I assumed he recognized the spell. My eyes fell on Nott’s pot. It looked unchanged.“Not to rain on the parade, but the pot’s not magic. Lovely trick though.” I smirked.“You lied?” Jester asked. She didn’t look upset.“…One gold!” Nott said, offering the pot.“You can tell stuff is magic or not?” Beau asked, looking at me.“Yeah. It’s helpful for alchemy. Lets me find ingredients faster, know I’m not getting cheated…” I waved my hand flippantly, cancelling out my spell.“How come you didn’t check out his cards earlier?” Beau jutted out her chin to point at Molly.“I knew what I was paying for then: Fun. Jester deserved to know what she was paying for too.” I shrugged. Molly’s cards hadn’t glowed when I’d had the spell up—at least I hadn’t noticed.“You’ve been asking a lot of questions, but I’ve got some questions for you.” Nott said, putting the bowl down. Beau looked over.“You have questions for me?” She asked.“Yeah! How does someone like you – you’re human right?”“Yeah, I am.”“How do you come by learning Halfling?”“My parents were in the winery business. The wine making business. And halflings really like wine.”“Everyone likes wine!” Nott argued. Beau shrugged.“That’s true.”“Some people more than others.” Fjord added.“Some halflings just deal in wine a lot, and a lot did in the town that I’m from and then my parents wanted me to keep up with the books and all that stuff so it forced me to learn halfling. I was around it a lot.”“What town was that then?” Nott questioned.“It’s close by here, right?” Jester looked over. Beau shrugged again.“It’s a bit aways. It’s Kamordah.”“Hmm, haven’t heard of it.” Nott said, sounding unconvinced.“It’s a small farming town, it’s no big deal. It’s whatever.”“Nothing shady there!” Nott leaned back in her chair, plopping back to sit.“Nope, just a wandering traveler just like the rest of y'all. Speaking of, where are you from again?” Beau asked, rounding back on me.“Port Zoon.” I said easily. Beau nodded slowly, recognizing the name. “It’s on the Menagerie Coast, not far west from here.”“Huh.”“Well I mean I was really impressed with the little trick, I mean, bowl might not have been magic, but there was magic there. I sure would like to see a big trick.” Fjord said, changing the subject. Jester beamed, and with a huge WHAP all the windows swung open.I sighed, cradling my face in my hand.I could hear a rush of people coming inside, and opened an eye to see the crownsguard that had been stationed outside were now looking around wildly for the source of the windows. They clearly expected to find conflict. Instead they were greeted with our merry band in various states of drunkenness looking over at them, trying to seem innocent. “Sorry! Drinking!” Mollymauk quickly explained, holding up two glasses of ale, “I did order two extra. Two extra?”The guards sneered at his offer and slowly slunk out of the bar.“You’re no fun.” Molly half-pouted.“I’ll take one.” I said, giving myself over to drunkenness. He slid one across the counter to me.“Yeah, circus! Woo, circus coming to town!” Beau cheered, trying to pass of the Thaumaturgy again. Fjord leaned over to Jester.“Jester, I meant a trick from Caleb.” He explained.“Oh.”“You want to see a trick?” Caleb asked.“I would love one.” Fjord nodded.“I can show you a trick. Young lady, if you would assist me please.” I looked up groggily, not sure who he was asking until Nott hopped up in front of me. “Step up onto the table.”“Absolutely!”“Just don’t break anything.” Beau said.“Or do.” I grinned.Caleb began to weave on of his hands in a slow circle around the other. A small globe of light began to form, then suddenly blew into a bigger orb of gold light in his hand. Center-table, Nott stood with her arms and feet outstretched.Another orb began to form, circling the first, orbiting.“I feel it coming! Hit me!” Nott cheered.Two more orbs quickly shot out, all of the circling lights coming together in the form the frame of a person. The small form of light ran the short distance to Nott, colliding and enveloping Nott in golden light. Nott sang a Ta-da as we began to clap.“The Goblight, ladies and gentlemen. The Goblight!”“Pfffft I love it.” I broke, not able to stop myself from laughing at the pun.“Thank you!” Nott bowed as we applauded, other patrons scattered about the empty tavern clapping too, drunkenly praising the performance.“How did you learn to do that?” Fjord asked, leaning forward. Caleb shrugged.“I could always do that a little bit, as a kid. I was always good with magic. I had a knack for it. That one’s easy.”“That’s impressive.”“Well, thank you.” Caleb said, looking sheepish. Jester nudged Fjord.“Maybe he can teach you how to do that.”“Is it something that can be taught to others?”“Are you trying to learn magic?” Molly asked, “Is that a thing?”“Yeah, it’s a thing. Reading.” I slurred.“Well, I’m just a little curious about how people use their magic.” Fjord said.“I’ve seen you have a few tricks up your sleeve. You seem like you’re not totally magic inept.” Beau shrugged.“No, it’s relatively new for me though, so I’m just trying to learn.”“Are you reading a lot? Like Serasai, I also learned most of my magic from reading about it, studying it.” Caleb nodded to me.“No, I wonder if maybe I should be?”“Well, it could be helpful. Although, I’m a bit of an amateur teacher. I taught Nott the one trick you saw, but other things. We’ve been working together, I suppose I could try to help you.”“Have you had your abilities your whole life, like a kid?” Beau asked.“No. Again, fairly recently.”“Something happen?”“Yeah.”It was quiet for a beat. I am going to need help getting upstairs to our rooms. “Oh, I’m sorry, do you two not know each other super well? You seem like you do.”“We got a good 24-48 hours on the rest of you.”“Yeah, we’re not super deep.”“Nope.”“And you, Serasai?” I looked over slowly, seeing Caleb look at me expectantly.“Same. Met them yesterday.”Jester leaned over to me.“Technically since it’s past midnight it was two days ago, now. Technically.”I groaned and put my arms on the table, cradling my head.“You holding up?” Fjord asked.“You’re really blitzed, aren’t you?” Molly followed up.“Yeah.” I said, answering both of them.“Got any embarrassing, revealing stories to share?”I looked up to see Molly smirking, looking like he was half-joking.“If I did I’d tell them to you sober. Don’t play with me.” I heard him bark out a laugh as I put my head back down on the table.“Where did you all come from then?”“Well I came up from the town of Port Damali.”“That’s where we met!” Jester cheered.“Yeah, I met Jester a while back and after I Ieft town, coming up to the northeast, I ran across her. I’d seen her do some of her magic before. That’s what I’m trying to learn about.”“Serasai’s from Port Zoon,” Jester began, “And I’m from Nicodranas. We’ve got the whole Menagerie Coast covered, us three.”“You still awake?” Fjord asked. I felt a hand on my shoulder.“Yeah.” I didn’t move to look up.“I think we need some sleep, you guys.” Jester said, yawning.“Gustav, the person who runs the circus, is he your friend?” Caleb asked suddenly.“He’s family.” Mollymauk said.“He’s family?”“We take care of each other. He’s a good man.”“So what’s your play tomorrow?”“Well, they have all my things and they have all my family. I’m going to figure out what is going on. Try and find out what’s actually doing this. Like we said, since it’s none of us, it’s going to happen again.”“But how can we because we can’t leave this tavern?”“Well, I–““Were Caleb and I not instructed not to leave the tavern? We received no formal instruction.” Nott asked.“I’m sure if we sleep on it, we’ll think of something.”“Fjord! You and I could leave in the morning the same way we got in.” Jester said.“That’s true.”“How’d you get in?” Nott asked.“With magic.” I could hear the smile in Jester’s voice, “I would show you now, but I’mout of spells!”“All right. Hey bitches, I’m going to go to bed. Sera?” Jester asked.“Huh?”“You coming up with me?”“Yeah thanks.” I stood up slowly, the world spinning. It felt nice, even if I was tired.“Where exactly am I going to be sleeping, by the way?” Molly asked, “I can sleep down here, but it might be nice–““Molly, if you would like to share my room, you can.” Fjord offered.“If he’d like to share my room please do.” I flirted.Everyone turned to look at me.“Fuck, sorry, I make easy jokes when I’m drunk.” I stumbled, Jester at my side, balancing me. “You’re strong...” I trailed off, looking at her. Jester laughed. I saw Molly shake his head, amused. He turned to Fjord.“You don’t mind?” He asked Fjord, beginning to take off his swords, and shrugging off his coat.  “See you guys tomorrow!” Jester called, as her, Beau, and I went upstairs to our room.Once we entered, I slowly lowered myself onto my bedroll. I found my way onto my back, looking straight up at the ceiling and enjoying the world spinning around me.Beau was getting comfortable on her bedroll, while I could hear scratching of Jester drawing away in her sketchbook.“…Do you usually drink this much?”I glanced over to Beau.“Sorry,” She began, “I just—No judgement, but I don’t know you that well. Just wondering if this is like, a thing.”“I drank a lot when I lived in Port Zoon.” I said. My voice sounded like it was coming from someone else. “It reminds me of the ocean.”“Drinking reminds you of the ocean?” Beau repeated, sounding skeptical.“Rocking of the ship.”“Oh. Port Zoon’s a…port, town. You spent a lot of time on boats?”“Yeah.”“You should talk to Fjord about that!” Jester interrupted. I couldn’t see her from where I was on the floor, but I could still hear her scratching away at parchment.“It’s not important.” I said, voice trailing off.Beau and Jester let the subject drop. I closed my eyes and imagined being back on the ship, the occasional bumps and sounds of the tavern sounding almost enough like the creaks of the wood and the sea.//I woke up cold, with a headache.“That makes sense.” I murmured. I wondered if the bar had any kind of hangover cure. Water and food, for sure. I moved up slowly, taking stock of how sick I felt.“Morning!” Jester cheered. She would be a morning person. “Morning.”“Mornin’!” Beau said, smirking. “How are you?” Her voice was loud, probably trying to aggravate my hangover.“Ready to kill some zombies.” I said, not wanting to give her the satisfaction. I stood up and forced myself to stretch out.“Technically they’re already dead if they’re zombies, technically.” Jester said, before bouncing out the door. As we were getting ready I heard a knocking outside and heard Jester call “Ey oh ey, good morning!”Through the open doorway I saw Nott shuffle past.“She’s a morning person too? Jesus.” Nott muttered.I chuckled, finishing packing up my pouches and bottles.“Hey, Beau! Sera!” Jester’s head peeked back in the doorway.“Yeah?”“Do you have anything you can do to make yourself not look like you?”I stared at her blankly, forcing myself to ignore the various jokes I could make.Beau started moving, flipping her robes inside out. She bent down and rubbed some dirt on herself. With a tug her hairtie was removed and she grabbed a scarf of Jester’s to tie around her head. She held out her hands wide, silently asking ‘what do you think?’“…No, you look like you with a bandana around your head.” Jester said. Fjord shook his head.“Yeah that’s not going to cut it, not quite like what we had in mind.”“Yeah.”“What are you guys doing? You guys leaving? Are you guys fucking leaving? You’re not leaving without me are you?” Beau began to panic.“No, of course, we’re coming back!” Jester said. It did nothing to stop her.“You’re skipping town.”“No--Oh, but we could!” Jester realized.“They’re right here.” Fjord murmured.“Okay.”“I could skip town with you, though. Do you want to skip town?” Beau’s eyes darted between the two of them.“We’ll be back.”“Let’s see if Caleb and his little friend are downstairs first. He has tricks after all.” Fjord said, holding off the decision.“Saw Nott head down a bit ago.” I piped up, already walking to the door, “I want breakfast.”Walking down the stairs, I saw Caleb and Nott already sitting at the table from last night, Mollymauk walking over to join them from the bar.I put a hand on Caleb’s shoulder to get his attention.“Save me a seat.” I requested. He nodded, and I started towards the bar.“You drinking already?” Nott asked.“Drinking water.” I corrected, annoyed. I knew I drank a lot last night, but we had all gone on the brewery tour together. I quick order a water, along with a light breakfast, and made my way back to the table.“--Well, I mean look at me.” Molly began digging through his bag as I slid into a seat next to Caleb. “I have a disguise kit?” He offered.“Fair enough.”“It’d be a little tricky for me. I look like what I’m going to look like. But the rest of you could do a little work.” Molly explained.“Beau, I don’t want to leave you behind, but I–“ Fjord began.“It’s true. I have a disguise kit, too. I could help you out?”“Would you do my makeup for me?” Beau asked.“I’m really good at makeup.”“Are you?”“Yeah.”“Let’s do that.”“Me too?” I asked.“Of course!” Jester said, clapping excitedly.“We could just shower this one that would be enough.” Molly joked, looking over to Caleb.“He can leave, apparently.” Jester explained.“Yeah, we could. But not town, we were told to stay in town.”The waitress came over with my food and I thanked her, quickly paying her.“What are we doing again?” Nott asked, once the waitress had left.“We have to find out why there are zombies so we that don’t get arrested for being zombies.” Jester said.“For making zombies.” I corrected.“So we solve the case to clear our own name.” Nott nodded.“Why shouldn’t we just wait for it all to blow over? We didn’t do anything.” Caleb asked.“I tend to find these things don’t blow over necessarily as more they just eventually decide someone’s guilty and take their revenge on them.” Mollymauk said.“And odds are they’re going to choose the circus, or us.” I said, taking a drink of water.“Or both.” Molly agreed.“Do you find yourself in situations like this often?” Caleb asked, directing the question to Molly.“Not this particular one, but yes.”“I mean, look at him. No offense or anything.” Beau said, throwing out a hand to gesture at him. I raised a brow.“None taken, really. A little taken, but that’s fine.”“He makes a point. I think that the sooner we find the cause of this, the sooner we can get out of here.” Fjord said, stepping up as mediator again.“She’s right, immediately the two of us are going to get hit with this.” Molly said, gesturing between himself and Jester.  Nott looked thoughtful.“If we solve the case we would be absolved. It’s not a terrible plan.”“And you’re so concerned with your goblin friend,” Beau began, looking at Caleb, “I mean he’s in the same boat as the tieflings.”“That’s a girl.” Caleb corrected.“I know it’s hard to tell.” Jester said, patting Beau on the shoulder. Beau looked confused.“I said your goblin friend.”“You said he.” Jester, Caleb, and I spoke simultaneously. “Whatever.”“Listen, we’ve all had a rough night.” Nott said, “I know that my features aren’t necessarily the most feminine. Among goblin kind, I understand. It’s hard to tell.”“I can tell.” Jester nodded.“Everybody can tell.” Caleb said, putting a hand on Nott’s.“I’m working on it.” Beau said, as her way of apologizing.“Let’s get out of here.” Fjord said, putting his hands on the table and standing up.“Time to look pretty?” I asked, looking to Jester. She looked excited to do Beau and I’s makeup to the point where I was a little concerned.“You’re already pretty, darling.” Mollymauk winked, walking past us and up the stairs towards our rooms. I stared after him, amused, but mostly confused by the compliment.“…I need to be more careful who I flirt with drunk.”“Yeah you invited him to bed.” Jester said bluntly.“I remember now.”“Like to have sex with him.”“I know, thanks Jester.”I stood up, grabbing a piece of toast to go.“I can punch him or something if you want?” Beau offered, as we began walking to the stairs.“Nah, I don’t mind flirting. I was just surprised.” I chuckled. The group of us made our way upstairs after him to get our disguises ready.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“You know what I’m going to do for you? I’m going to use my disguise kit, and I’m going to give you a beard.”
“Oh, yeah!”
Beau rubbed her hands together, excited at the prospect of disguising as a dude for our undercover investigation.“Yeah and I’m going to turn you into a dude, that’s a good disguise, right?” Jester asked, taking out her disguise kit.“Yeah.”“Yeah, and a mustache. And a hat.”“Love it.”“You really have to sell it though, and act like a dude.” I warned. Beau cleared her throat, and when she spoke her voice was lower and rougher.“I think I can do that.”Jester and I lit up at the fake voice.“I’m going to go a step further and tape down my boobs, bandage them down all the way, you know wrap them. Stuff my crotch a little bit.” Beau said, grabbing materials and stepping into the bathroom.When she emerged Jester set to work. A few minutes in, a slight knock at the door sounded and Mollymauk popped into the room.“Need some assistance? I brought my kit as well.” He said, holding out a nearly identical box to Jester’s.“Yes! We’re making Beau into a guy!” Jester said, not looking away from her work on Beau, “Can you hold this?”Mollymauk slid up to her and the two set to work, while I sat patiently on the bed to wait for my turn.“This kind of feels like how I imagine a girls’ night.” I said.“Doing each other’s makeup and things?” Molly questioned. I nodded, stopping short as Jester gasped.“Oh my gosh! We should have a girls’ night!” She said.“Could use a spa day myself, after this whole affair is over.” Mollymauk agreed.“Get your nails done?” I asked. With all of his colors and jewelry, I was surprised they weren’t painted already.“What color would suit me?” He grinned widely, gesturing to his entire outfit.“Get a rainbow!” Jester suggested. I looked him over, glancing at his hands as he worked along with Jester.“Something iridescent.” I said, “Like dark blue, but iridescent with purple and green. You know?”Molly looked pleasantly surprised by the suggestion, while Jester looked excited.“Yes! My horns can look that way sometimes in the sunlight.” Jester said, moving her head back and forth to model her horns.“Are you guys almost done?” Beau said, gruffly.“Almost! Iridescent blue would look good on you too, Beau. And me, since it would match my horns. And you Sera, since it would be like a darker version of your bracers—Oh my gosh! We should find a bottle and all do each other’s nails the same color! Matching!!”Jester began to ramble on excitedly, while I contented myself to just sit back and listen to the mundane chatter. It was calming to be talking about something as pointless as painting our nails together amid this investigation. Beau eventually gave up on any of her annoyance and did the same, while Mollymauk looked amused by everything Jester said. Eventually, Jester stepped back from Beau, waving her arms dramatically. “Ta-da!!!”Beau stood in front of us, a five o’clock shadow and change of gear making her look more masculine. Because we knew it was her, it was easier to see through the disguise, but if I were a passerby or guard I would have been fooled.“Nice!” I grinned.“It’s good, it’s good.” Jester said, admiring her work. Then she turned to me with wide, excited eyes. “Your turn!”“Good thing we have two kits.” Molly said, passing his to Jester. I stood up and walked over to them. The group turned to look at me critically.“Hmm. If we put your hair up in a bun, we could hide it with a hat?” Jester suggested.“Maybe you could be a different kind of elf? So we don’t have to hide your ears?” Mollymauk said, his hand idly touching at his own pointed ear.“Wood Elf?” I suggested, wracking my brain for other types of Elves. I definitely couldn’t pass as an Eladrin.“They are a bit tanner than you.” Jester said, invading my personal space and closely looking around my face.“Throw some dirt on her.” Beau shrugged. Molly raised a hand.“I could paint some patterning on her? The Wood Elves I’ve come across have had some green on their skin.”“Ooo yes!” Jester handed the disguise kit back and Molly set to digging through it. “I’ll start on her hair!” Jester jumped behind me and I felt her start to undo some of my smaller braids.Beau walked over to the mirror and started messing around, doing “manly” poses and checking out her new look. Mollymauk stepped near to me with a brush and face paint. He set to work, lightly painting along the corner of my eyes. I watched Mollymauk as he worked, and wondered if he did makeup for the carnival performers often, or at all. It was hard to tell where he was looking with his pupil-less eyes, but he looked focused, and was very careful in his movements.Jester began braiding my hair up into a bun, but would occasionally pop around to look at Molly’s work. The two tieflings practically danced around me getting the disguise together.“Ta-daaa!!!” Jester jumped back and Molly followed suit, both gesturing to me. Nott and Beauregard squinted at me.“…you know, that’s actually impressive.” Beau admitted.“WOAH!” Jester gasped, actually taking a moment to look, “You look like a whole different  person! A wood elf! As dirty as Caleb!”I sighed, able to feel the dirt she had spattered across my face.“I’m definitely on board with the spa thing now.” I said, and walked back to where I had dropped my bag. I dug through it and took out a light green cloak, tying it around my neck.“You worn it out around here before?” Beau asked. I shook my head.“No, the weather’s been too nice for it these couple of days. But it’ll work for now.”Beau nodded, about to say more before there was a knock at the door. An old man was outside.“It’s me, Fjord.” He said, in Fjord’s usual drawl, “Is it a good time for me to come in?”“Yes, we’re just about done.” Mollymauk called.Beau walked over to him.“Fjord, how do you sound? Say words, you’re manly.”Fjord looked at her disguise with understanding. He shifted, puffing his chest out and sat up straight. He spoke with purpose, making his voice sound even deeper and rougher than usual:“Manly words.”
…

“Mirror image.”
…“I got nuts.”The group of us laughed, only trailing off at Molly’s voice.“Care to give me a hand, Jester?”The purple tiefling was holding out a different color face paint this time—tan. Jester jumped over and began helping Molly smear the paint on his face and neck, hiding his purple skin and peacock tattoo beneath layers of paint. When they were satisfied with their work, Molly pulled a black cloak around himself, yanking the hood roughly down to cover his horns and face.“Thoughts?” Mollymauk asked.“Surprisingly passable.” I decided, chuckling as he struggled to tuck in his colorful cloaks. I barely caught a flash of Molly’s grin under his hood.“It should work.” Fjord nodded.“My turn!” Jester cheered. The group of us watched with interest, although Fjord and I were watching more intently than the others. It had become clear in the last couple days that the two of us, and Caleb, were more nerdy about magic, learning everything we could and then wanting to learn more. Although my preference for magic stemmed from potions, I was always interested to see anything that changed a person’s appearance.A blonde woman was now in Jester’s place, a stark contrast from herself. She had big, red lips, bright eyes, and large jewel rings. The only thing that let me know this was still Jester was the wide, mischievous grin on the new woman’s face.“Is that your human face?” Beau asked.“Yes! Aren’t I pretty?” When she asked, she sharply turned to Fjord, batting her eyelashes.“Erhm—yes, you’re very pretty.” Fjord recovered. Jester beamed.“Off we go then? Caleb said he was heading out to check on the crownsguard, see if they were still there. He should be waiting for us now.” Fjord explained. The rest of us followed suit, making our way down the stairs. I spotted Caleb and Nott standing near the bar, waiting for us.We huddled around and Caleb explained that the door was being guarded by just the two crownsguard, like we had seen the day before.“Should we try to do this, then?” Jester asked.“In twos, or singles?” Fjord asked, pointing a finger out the door.“Yeah, of course, not all at the same time, that’s obvious.” Jester agreed. She took a step further down the bar to Nott and Caleb, who were having a hushed conversation.“Hi! Yes, we weren’t talking!”I rolled my eyes, catching Beau looking at me. She shrugged.“Do you like my outfit?” Jester asked, posing.“Oh! What are you? I’m sorry, I’m just a young girl from the village.”“And I’m just a young girl from town.”“I don’t know anything. I should go get my father.”Jester leaned in closer.“Nott, it’s me! It’s Jester!”Nott’s eyes widened.“But you look like–““I know! This is how good I am at magic! Check me out. Are we leaving here or not?”“Are you afraid you’ll be propositioned on the street?”I covered my mouth to keep from laughing, turning my back on the two of them as they continued talking.“I am really attractive right now.”“Those lips are very big.”“I came over here to give you the blessing!”“What is that? What does that do?”“It helps you with your stealthing!”“Oh, the stealthy thing, yes, thank you so much, I’ll accept it.”“You’re welcome. Okay, that’s it. But I’ll see you outside at some point, okay? Don’t be scared, come up to me.”“Okay.”Beau tapped me on the shoulder and I turned back around to face the group.“Should I go first?” Fjord asked.“Sure!” Jester nodded.“Are we going out in pairs? Like you said?” Beau asked, then suddenly stopped herself and spoke again with her deeper voice, “Are we going out in pairs?”“You want to come with?” He asked Beau.“Yeah.”“Don’t do anything stupid.” Fjord warned, “Mouth shut, eyes forward. Show me how you walk.”Beau did a short walk around a table. Wider steps, swinging her hands in fists.“Maybe a little less.”She corrected.“That’s nice.”The two of them set out, Fjord limping a little as he walked, and Beau managing to not overdo her manliness.“Us next?” I asked Jester.“Sure!”“I might head out first, alone, just to break it up.” Mollymauk said, standing.“Okay, sounds good.” I said, nodding.A while passed after he left, Jester and I stood up.“Two gorgeous ladies out on the town!” Jester said, smiling. I laughed, trying to relax as to not arouse suspicion from the guards.“Excuse me! Stop there!”Shit.One of the crownsguard pulled  back my hood, revealing my face.“I don’t recall you entering the Inn. What’s your name?”Before I could answer, Jester interrupted.“Oh, I am Angelica, and this is my best friend!” She hugged my arm, excitedly, “We’re very close.”“Your best friend got a name?”“Aisha.” I answered instantly.“What’s your business in Trostenwald?”“We are passing through on our way to Nicodranas.” Jester lied, “Why, is there something the matter?”The guard’s eyes darted between the two of us.“Nothing we can’t handle. Good day, ladies.” He slowly went back to his station.“Good day! Have a good time guarding the door!” Jester said and pulled me back out into the street.We walked down the street, finally able to breathe a sigh of relief once we were out of view of the guards. I spot Beau first, then see Fjord’s elderly disguise hobbling alongside her. A black swish catches my eye and I see Mollymauk sliding up to them as well.“They’re up there.” I said, pointing them out subtly to Jester.Eventually the group of us are able to come together, and after a few more minutes Caleb and Nott join us.“We did it! Where should we go?” Jester said, grinning excitedly.“Let’s just keep walking for now.” Fjord decied.“Okay. Should we walk toward the carnival where the zombies were?”“Who was he, would be my question.” Mollymauk said.“He?” I asked, confused.“The guy who went zombie on us.” Beau explained.“Oh, right. We should find out where he’s from.” Jester agreed, “How do we do that? Should we ask around and say ‘hey, anybody know where the old guy came from that turned into a zombie?’”“That’s a good point.” Fjord admitted. Mollymauk shrugged.“Seems to be the most appropriate thing to ask at this point.”“Well, we could find some public places and just gossip a bit, see if anybody has heard of him, if a friend has died at the circus last night.” Caleb suggested.“That sounds smarter than outright mentioning him. Pretending we’re a bunch of gossipy busy-bodies is less in-your-face. Less conspicuous.” I agreed.“I mean, you mentioned no sick people.” Beau said, pointing to Molly, “If he was sick, sometimes that word gets around.”“Maybe there is a morgue, maybe they recognized him?” Fjord suggested.“I’d be afraid of going to the morgue. If they’re actually investigating, they’d probably have guards there.” I said. Caleb nodded.“I agree.”“Besides, these small towns, most everyone knows everybody else.” Mollymauk reasoned.“Let’s go to the bazaar then, to start? Lots of people to talk to!” Jester said.“Let’s split up and ask around?” Fjord suggested.“In our groups from earlier, maybe?” I suggested.“I went out alone, so I’ll go along with you two, if that’s alright with everyone?” Mollymauk said, sliding up next to Jester.“Works for us! You can be our bodyguard!” Jester said, clapping.//Enon Brinjay. That was the name of the older man who had suddenly turned into a zombie. Nobody seemed to know many details about him, but he’d been an unassuming older man in good health. He was retired, the only work we heard of him doing was helping fishermen down by the dock moving their fish. It sounded like people were passing this information along because of the recent events—no-one seemed to have known him personally that we had spoken to. Most didn’t even know his name.After we had gathered some information, we re-grouped with the others.For all that Jester could sometimes be overwhelming with her personality, we seemed to balance each other out well when we tried to gather information. It was a variation of good-cop bad-cop, almost. We walked up to the group, looking like Jester, Mollymauk, and I were the last to join.“…Retired fisherman?”“He was helping.” Beau corrected.“Do we know where he was retired from and where he was staying, maybe where he was drinking?” Mollymauk asked, “He had to go somewhere.”“We asked! He went to The Old Mud Hole Tavern.” Nott said, raising her hand.“I should point out this is the second connection to the Ustaloch.” Fjord said, looking thoughtful.“The what?” Molly asked.“The lake.” I explained. Fjord looked between us.“Well, before we met up with you and your friend,” He said, recalling Yasha, “We fought off a wicked, sick water snake.”“It came up out of the lake for some reason.” Jester said.“Is this a metaphor or is this actually a real thing?” Mollymauk asked, looking between us.“It really happened. I almost died.” Jester said.“I punched a snake to death.” Beau said, jutting her chin out. Jester nodded emphatically.“She did.”“While it was on fire.”“She did. It was Sera’s fire though, technically.”“Don’t you remember the Serpent card?” I asked, amused. Mollymauk sighed, sounding half annoyed and half plain tired.“A lot has happened since my last reading.”Sounded like an excuse, but I let it go.“There were the snakes in the circus last night, but it wasn’t related to the attack, I suppose.” Nott said quietly.“They were halflings who looked like snakes too.” I said.“A little different.” Jester agreed.“How long of a snake are we talking about?” Caleb asked. I thought back to the serpent that had attacked. It had been almost eel-like in appearance, its scales slick, and a dull, dirty green in color to match the deeper parts of the lake. It had been over 10 feet long, but not by much.“Oh, it was a giant water snake, then the little girls were complaining about more and more instances of these snakes coming out of the lake.” Beau explained.“And this fellow who died worked with the fishermen in the lake?” Nott asked.“Well, he took some jobs with them.” Jester said.“So our leads are the lake and the Old Mud Hole Tavern.” Caleb said.“Should we try the Tavern, first?” Fjord began, “I think if we’re gearing to fight anything it would be at the lake. Should get all our information together best we can first.”The group of us agreed and began walking together to the Old Mud Hole, on the lochward side of town. It didn’t take long to reach the dive bar, and once we were there I was able to recall that we’d been there before—I just hadn’t cared enough to learn the name.It was darker than most of the other breweries we’d hit, but smelled more of peanuts than the others as well somewhere among the smell of wet wood and ale. Just like our previous visit on our pub crawl, we were the most business it had at the moment. There were a grand total of four tables, only one of which had anybody seated; an old man playing solitaire alone.The barkeep was thumbing through a book, only glancing up once we had already reached the bar.“Can I help you? Are you looking for drinks? Can I get you anything?” He asked.“Yeah, I would really love a drink.” Caleb said, “What do you have? I need something heavier than a trost. I’ve had enough trosts to last me a lifetime.”“We have liquor.”“I will take your liquor.”“I will get some whiskey for you then. Whiskey, everyone?”“Sure.” Beau said.“Two please.” Nott murmured. The guy looked at her oddly. I put a hand on her shoulder, ignoring Nott tensing under the contact for now, and leaned over towards the barkeep, smiling.“Make it three, thank you!” The barkeep looked carefully between us.“We’ve been doing a pub crawl.” Mollymauk drawled.The barkeep shrugged, and began lining up a glasses of whiskey for all of us.After a small struggle of who’s paying, Jester slid the barkeep eight silver, which he pocketed. He slid the glasses across the bar to us. I took mine and held out in cheers to Nott, which she tentatively returned.“Honestly, it’s been a terrible 24 hours. We were at the circus last night and I did not know him well, but old man Brinjay fell.” Caleb began. The barkeep looked back up from his book.“Enon.” He acknowledged, a grim look coming to his face, “It’s sad to see him go, and many of us were wondering what day it was going to be.”“Did you know him?” Caleb asked.“He came in here most every day to drink. He’s a lonely man.”“It was a terrible way to go. I’m sorry.”“Doesn’t bother me one way or the other. Just sad to lose a patron.”“Do you know who was talking to him the day of the carnival?” Jester asked.“I don’t recall. Sometimes he would tell stories to whoever was willing to listen and not most were willing to listen.”That sobered my mood. It reminded me of the older crew members that came in and out of port, with wicked tales of battles at sea and fearsome sea monsters. Every sailor had a story or two, even if it were just about a raging storm they managed to survive, but the stories of the older sailors were like their lifeblood. They needed to share their stories, to leave a mark, to feel a connection with someone when the friends in their stories didn’t make it to the end. If anything had been passed to me, it was the importance of listening when those stories are shared.“--I think he came in briefly for a drink before the carnival, but that was it.”“You know, we should drink to old stories of Brinjay.” Beau began, quickly being shushed by Fjord. I heard a glass slap the table as Mollymauk set down his empty shot-glass.“What did the man drink, out of curiosity? What was his final drink? I’m a bit of a macabre person, myself.” Molly grinned.“It’s this very whiskey you just had.”I eyed my own empty glass warily.“I’ll take one more, and I’ll get one of my own!”“I heard he was sick, too.” Jester chimed in.“I don’t believe he was ill. I hope not. He seemed to be rather wasting away. You shouldn’t be doing so much manual labor at that age.”“What labor was he doing?” Nott asked.“He carries stuff around from small tasks to–““--Down at the docks?”"The docks, up at the North Ward. He carried crates, boxes. Just odd jobs, ways to get by ‘til the end of his days, which now that they’ve come, may he rest and not have to do odd jobs ever again.” He said ass he poured his own bit of whiskey. As he raised his toast the group of us did the same, Nott and I with empty glasses.“Do you know who he was doing odd jobs for that day?” Jester asked.“To be honest, if he did, I wasn’t paying attention.”“I’m sure his family will miss him very much.” Caleb said, thankfully making this sound more like a real conversation than an interrogation.“There’s nobody nearby. He had a son about 35 years ago, but he got married and went up north.”“Did he work for any of the particular breweries around?” Fjord asked. The barkeep shrugged.“I don’t know. Maybe.”“Brinjay…” Beau murmured, lost in thought.“Where did he sit in here?” Jester asked. The barkeep pointed to an empty table to our left, and Jester went over to sit down and investigate.“If we were to go down to the docks and ask after a few people he worked with, is there anyone you know that we should speak to, familiar of his?” Fjord asked.“I apologize. I served him drinks and pretended to listen to him many times, but I wasn’t really paying attention.”“I understand that.” Fjord nodded. I stayed quiet, looking down at my shot glass.“Is there anyone who did?” Fjord and I looked over to Beau, “…That wasn’t hypothetical.”“Maybe. I apologize. I spend most of my days reading.” He lifted his book.“You read!” Nott said, nudging Caleb.“Subtle, guys.” Caleb chuckled, quietly. I scanned the book’s cover, but was not able to read the language. Caleb however, seemed to.“How’s your trashy novel? Is it a good one? No judgement.”“It’s not trashy. It’s very tasteful.” The barkeep huffed. Caleb began to backtrack.“Oh no, I’m fluent in Zemnian. I’ve read all of his works.”“Have you?”“Mutual fan.” Caleb shrugged, grinning.“I didn’t realize there was another Samuel fan in here. Which is your favorite?”“I love the Farthing’s Embrace.”“I haven’t read that one.”“It’s an early one. He actually did it under a pseudonym. He did a whole series under that pseudonym, short stories.”The barkeep’s eyes widened.“What is it again?” He went over and grabbed a piece of chalk in the back and started, “It was–?”“Farthing’s Embrace.”“Mein Gott, I did not know about this. I may have to send out Zadash and see if we can find some of those books. Thank you.”“You’re a big reader or just Samuel?” Caleb asked.“Just recently Samuel. I read on occasion. It depends on what you can find.”“I read a lot, but all I’ve been able to find in this town is that parchment place.”“The parchment place is good for trash.” The barkeep leaned forward, as if imparting a secret, “If you’re looking for unique stuff, there’s a few places you can go.”“Here in town?” Caleb asked, hopefully. I leaned forward too, now interested.“Here in town, yeah. If you’re having a hard time finding a specific book, I would recommend going to Burnished Bibelots.”“Burnished Bibelots. Which ward is that in?”“That is in the North Ward, just on the outskirts of the main market street. It’s a bit of a cluttered mess, but Oglen would be happy to help you.”I saw Caleb mouth out the name ‘Oglen’, committing it to memory.“That is good to know. Thank you.”“Not to worry.” The barkeep leaned back.“Those are hard to find, the Farthing’s Embrace.” Caleb warned.“I imagine so. It can’t be that bad.”“He wasn’t as proud of them,” Caleb explained, “Early work and all that.”“Of course. I have a contact in Rexxentrum. If I cannot find it in Zadash, I will get it from Rexxentrum.”“That would be the place.” Caleb nodded. The barkeep’s eyes narrowed.“What’s your name?”“My name is Caleb.”“Caleb. Pleasure to meet you. I am Vosna.” The barkeep held out his hand, and the two shook hands.“Thank you for the drink, Vosna. I’ll be taking my leave now.” Fjord said, interrupting.“Of course. If anybody else is a reader as well, come by and talk sometime.”“I may take you up on that! I can’t read Zemnian so I’m not familiar with Samuel’s works, but I read quite a lot of fiction.” I said, kindly.“Please visit again! Chats like this make the workday go by so much faster.” The man sighed.The group of us turned in time to see Mollmauk down his entire whiskey and set the glass down on the bar.“I love small towns.” He said.I looked back at the old man playing solitaire, wondering what had happened.“What he say?”“Nothing I haven’t heard before.” Mollymauk shrugged. I felt rage shoot through me as I realized the kind of comments he must have made.“You guys go ahead. Jester, can I talk to you for a second? Privately, here?” I requested. The others looked confused, but did as I asked. Once the group had stepped outside, Jester turned to me.“What’s wrong, are you okay?” She asked, looking concerned. I leaned in so we could talk quietly between us.“Yeah, I’m alright. Just was thinking…want to teach that guy a lesson?”“Revenge? On that old dude?” I nodded. “Okay! I heard what he said to Molly, and he was being a huge dick. But what are we going to do?”“I need you to distract him, pretend you lost your earring.”She blinked.“Okay!” She immediately perked up. I hugged her, as if we’d finished a deep discussion. When we parted, her hand went up to her hair and she gasped.“Oh my gosh! My earring!!” She clutched her ear, looking around frantically. She immediately began scanning the floor and walking around wildly. It must have been convincing because I saw the barkeep begin checking around the counter-top.“Excuse me, I’m just looking for my earring! Have you seen it?” Jester said, almost covering the table as she interrupted the old man’s game. As the man yelled at Jester I slipped behind him and slipped a hand in his pocket, taking his wallet. I hid it inside my robe and then gasped loudly. I bent down and picked up a speck of nothing.“Found it!” I said, beaming, holding my hand in a fist.“Oh good! Let’s go!” Jester said, flouncing off. For the first time since I’d met her, my step almost matched her’s for energy.“What did you do in there?” Jester asked, curiously.“Took his wallet.” I said, removing the cash and dropping the empty wallet on the path. “You want half?”“You stole his money!?—yes please.” Jester said, holding out her hand. I gave her half. She looked down at the coin, surprised. “Wow. You did much better at this than Nott did.”I snorted.“I’m sure Nott was just having an off-day, it happens. Pick-pocketing is hard.” I said.“…They seem to be the one connecting through-line. Also, what’s her name, Norda? Mentioned that she didn’t want to let you lot in, but made an exception. I don’t know, if I wanted to do something, and if I already knew a bunch of people were upset and angry at a circus and strange people coming in, it’s easy framing, in my opinion.” At the end of Beau’s theory, we were returned to the group.“She makes a valid point, actually.” Fjord said, then turned to Jester and I, “Welcome back. You two alright!”“Yes we are!” Jester said, grinning and looking a little too happy. Fjord eyed us suspiciously.“Beau’s theory makes sense.” I said, turning us back on topic, “If people are scared of carnivals, they won’t want them in the future, and she wouldn’t have to let them come back.”“That, or if you’re up to no good and you don’t want to get caught, blame it on the easy frame. The weirdos who just rolled into town.” Beau said.“Great, so we just need to investigate the guards.” Jester said.“That might be harder to do. Maybe we go down further Lochward.” Fjord suggested.“Start at the docks, but I’ll keep that in mind.” Mollymauk nodded.“I don’t know, it might not be the guards. There might be another through-line that we’re missing.” Beau said, back-tracking a little.“Do we need to question the guards?” Jester asked, confused.“That sounds terrible.” Nott said.“I agree. I almost got caught already earlier, I don’t know if we could fully investigate them without being caught.”  “Maybe we should tell them they can’t leave town.” Jester huffed.“Ooh, that’s a good idea, yeah!” Beau lit up, “Maybe when they question us–““We turn it around!”“Yeah!” Beau and Jester cheered, high-fiving.“I like that.” Beau said.“I was about– nope, nevermind.” Molly stopped himself.“What?”“I was about to be very impressed, but I take it back.”“Aw.”“I’d like to avoid the guards for as long as possible.”“Agreed.” Beau and I said simultaneously.“Let’s head down to the docks. Keeping an eye out for crownsguard.” Fjord decided. The group of us nodded and started walking towards the edge of the Ustaloch.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

After weaving through the streets of Trostenwald, we made our way towards the Loch. On arrival, we could see six docks of varying length stretching into the Loch. No ships were in sight, though there was a litter of boats and rowboats tied up haphazardly. At a glance I was able to see that little had changed since our last visit to the dock; all the boats clearly belonged to fishermen.Looking out, there were even more fishermen out on the loch itself. Further out from any of the fishermen was a small island in the middle of the Loch. I assumed nobody was fishing near it because the smaller fish congregated within the rocks lining its coast.As we walked by, workers on the dock only gave us a fleeting, judgmental glance. They were older, tan—their skin worn from their work in the sun.“No Crownsguard,” Jester murmured, looking around. She perked up. “Looks like we’re ahead of them in the investigation.”“Hey, Jester.” Beau began, “Do you happen to remember the name of that guy whose daughter we saved from the snake?”“Oh shit.” Jester swore. I silently agreed, unable to remember it myself. “Let’s see if I wrote it down in my sketchbook.”“Yeah, because I didn’t write it down.” Beau said, apologetically. Jester flipped through her journal, the pages a blur of sketches and colors.“King Bertrand?” She suggested. Fjord shook his head.“No.”“Okay. What about– no, I know that guy.” Jester shut her book, “Nope, I didn’t.”“Damn it.” Beau made a face, mulling over ideas. “We could go by. He seems to like us.”“He worked out there, right?” Jester pointed to the Loch. Fjord, Beau, and I nodded.Our group of four Serpent Slayers led the way down the edge of the Loch to the fisherman’s house. As we neared we could hear the sounds of tools hammering away at the damaged structure. The door was off its hinges, and there was a large pile of ruined furniture on the front lawn. The familiar body of the snake was half in view, being skinned by a young boy. It was a slow process with the length of the snake. I looked over to Molly, recalling how he hadn’t fully believed our serpent story, and grinned. He was busy eyeing a snake tattoo on his hand in comparison—moving it forward and backwards to try and line up its head with the serpent’s.“That’s the snake I punched.” Beau jutted her chin out.“That’s your work? That’s impressive. You took it all by yourself?” Caleb asked. Beau’s smile fell.“Well, no. They helped me. I’m not an egomaniac. They fucking helped me.”“But I saw your guns last night. You probably took the lead.” Caleb said. Beau sneered.“Give credit to the whole damn group, move on.” Beau said, throwing out her arm to the door. Fjord pat Caleb on the back.“Flattery got you nowhere.” He consoled. Caleb sighed, looking down to Nott.“We have been in the woods for too long. I’ve forgotten how to talk to people.”Nott nodded.“Your game is really suffering.” She agreed. It seemed to click for Beau only now that Caleb had been trying to flirt with her.“Thanks for the damn compliment.” She said, in the same bitter tone.The squabble caught the young man’s attention who had been working on the snake, looking up with knife in hand to stare at our crowd. Before either of us could speak, a voice yelled down.“Hey!”Up on the roof was the familiar fisherman that we had helped the other day.“Rinaldo!” I exclaimed.“What--did you know?” Beau turned to me. I shook my head.“Only remembered his name now.” I muttered quietly. Seeing his face and hearing him talk again had jogged the memory. Rinaldo paused in his repair of the roof, and made his way over to a ladder on the side of the house. In a moment, he stood in front of us.“How can I help you?”“It’s us!” Jester said, pointing to her human-looking illusion.
We were all still disguised.
“Yeah, it’s me.” Beau said, pulling off her hat and pulling her hair up. “We killed your snake?”“Pretend I don’t talk—” Jester coughed, switching out of her accent, “Pretend that I don’t talk like this.”Fjord rolled his eyes and dropped his spell. Rinaldo reared back.“AH!” He put a hand on his heart, trying to calm himself.“I’m sorry to deceive you.” Fjord apologized. Rinaldo looked at the group of us.“I’m very confused.”“Rinaldo, this snake that was in your house is not the only strange occurrence that’s been happening. We’re trying to find out the cause of it. Have you seen anything else like this in the time that’s passed?” Fjord asked. “No, we’ve been doing repairs on the house and getting everything underway. This is the first thing that’s come on this side. Most of them live toward the center of the lake and stay underwater. It’s been two in the last few months that have come up. It’s a bit of a nuisance.”“Have you seen any zombies coming out of the lake?” Jester asked. Rinaldo stared at her, even further confused.“Zombies? What are you talking about?”“We’re asking after a man that helped down at the docks, named Enon.” Fjord explained, “Have you heard of him?”“Enon?” Rinaldo repeated. Fjord nodded. “Yeah, I worked with him a couple times. He comes through, looking for work, asking to see what’s available.”“You obviously have not heard the news from the traveling circus in town. From last night?” Caleb prompted. Rinaldo shook his head.“No. That’s the big blue tent, right?”“That’s correct.”“No, what’s going on?”Jester leaned in closer and whispered. She was so quiet it was unintelligible.“What?” Nott asked.“Enon turned into a zombie!” Jester shouted, and then immediately quieted, “And was killed.”“What?” I glanced down at Nott. Was she hard of hearing?Rinaldo deflated at the news. “I’m sorry to hear that. That’s terrible. Wow, that’s really terrible. I’m sorry.”“We were trying to see if he might have worked with people that might have known what he was doing that day, earlier.” Fjord explained.“I haven’t seen him at the docks in a while. Not for a week, at least.”“Really?” Fjord and Jester asked at the same time.“Is there anything out of the ordinary from the past week or two that comes to mind? Anything off about the run-of-the-mill stuff?” Caleb asked.“Other than a giant fucking snake ruining my house, but not that comes to mind, no. Circus coming into town, that’s a little weird.”“I see you’re skinning the beast. Can I ask why?” Fjord gestured to the serpent. Rinaldo shrugged.“I’m not going to let it go to waste. That’s some good meat. Some good skin.”“You mentioned the circus coming to town as weird. Why?” Beau asked. He shrugged again.“Because there’s a circus in town. We don’t get many shows and traveling folk. Last time this was here, a year ago, it came and went in a week.”“You said you hadn’t seen this person in a week? Was that unusual?” Nott questioned.“No. I didn’t keep up with him. He came through every now and then...I had a little cash and needed some help hauling things around. I asked for his assistance. He was an old fella, and it was less that he was helpful and more that we wanted to help when we could.”“If we went down to the docks where he worked,” Fjord began, “is there anyone that we should ask for, to speak to, who might have known him better?”“Your guess is as good as mine. To be fair, although we’re a community, we’re also relatively competitive. You understand.”“I do.”“You think anyone would have wanted him marked or harmed in some way?” Mollymauk asked. Rinaldo shook his head.“I don’t think so. He’s an old man. I haven’t seen or heard anyone– his disposition seemed positive enough, if a little sad and lonely.”Fjord nodded.“If you think of anything, or if you hear anyone speak about him, you can find us at the Nestled Nook Inn. We’d appreciate anything, if it happens to reach your ears.”“Of course. Let me finish up here with the roof and I’ll ask around, see if anything comes up.”“Much obliged.”“How’s your little girl doing?” Beau asked, re-affixing her disguise.“It just wasn’t expected.” Rinaldo sighed.“Sorry.”“No, she’s doing great. She’s been a little spooked, but she slept well last night. She’s doing fine. Thank you again for what you guys did for me.”“You’re welcome.” Jester and I spoke together.“What? For what?” Nott asked, confused.“We saved a little girl!” Jester reminded. Nott’s eyes widened, recalling the story.“Oh yes, that’s right.”Jester turned back to Rinaldo.“If you see any zombies, please let us know."“I will. You were so kind to help me when I saw a snake, I figure if I see a zombie, you’d also be helpful.”“We would, definitely. We already killed a zombie too!”I glanced over at the group, still seeing Molly eye the snake.“We have some of its fangs.” I said, carefully pulling it out. I had placed mine in a small glass jar. Molly held out a hand, and I let him examine it. “I kept it for alchemy reasons. Poison studies. But we all kept one as a trophy.”“Yes! I have one!” Jester said, cheerfully holding hers up.“Me too.” Beau said, nodding.Mollymauk handed the jar back to me. He held out his right hand again, holding it up to the snake so I could see.“Looks like mine.”“Only bigger.” Jester said.“Much bigger.”“Now we just have to run into a peacock and…” I looked to his left hand, which he held up at my questioning gaze, “…a field of flowers.”“Sounds much more pleasant.” Molly chuckled.“Shall we?” Fjord called over to us, gesturing back to the docks. Rinaldo had already clambered back onto the roof to return to his repairs. “Fuck. Sure.” Jester said. Molly and I followed, Nott catching up to Jester.“We are the best detectives ever!” She said. Jester sighed.“I feel like we are really doing bad at this detective thing.” She disagreed. “We should probably wrap up whatever we’re doing. I imagine they’re going to come by the inn soon and try and speak with us.” Fjord said. He pointed at Caleb and Nott, “Not you two.”“Is there anywhere else that we need to inspect? The carnival or more docks stuff?” Nott asked.“I feel like going back to the carnival is probably a bad idea.” Jester said.“Returning to the scene of the crime? Probably.” I snorted.“I’d say the docks are his home, if we could figure out where he lived.” Molly said.“Where he was last seen?” Nott suggested. Molly raised a brow.“He was last seen at the circus!” Molly said. “You were there.” I reminded. Nott’s eyes widened.“Oh! Right!”“Rinaldo!” Jester called back.“Yeah!?”“Do you know where Enon lives!?”“I can’t say I do! I’m sorry! My apologies! Wish I could be of more help!”“It’s okay!”“You don’t happen to know what happened to his son, by any chance!?” Molly joined the shouting.“I didn’t even know he had a son!”Inexplicably, this cheered up Jester. She looked to Nott, smiling.“See? We’re better investigators than this guy.”“But he’s not trying to investigate!” Nott argued. Molly shrugged.“I take the compliment. I’m putting it my pocket.” He mimed doing so, “I’m keeping it for later.”“I’m starting to think that following Enon’s story isn’t necessarily going to lead us here.” Beau said, “He seems like a random victim.”“Hey, 14 year old kid!” Jester shouted. Being much nearer to us than Rinaldo now was—back on the roof—the kid jumped at Jester’s shout.“Yeah?”“Do you live here?” She asked.“No, I live about three houses up.” The kid explained.“Did you go to the carnival?”“Last night? Yeah, I was there.” He nodded.“Okay, where were you at the carnival?”“…I actually snuck in under the tent after it had started.”I snickered and looked at Molly. He pushed me lightly on the arm, barely making me stumble.“Right, that’s a good thing. Were you close to Enon? In the show. Were you on that side or the other side? Did you see the zombie?”“I saw him a little bit. He was in the front and I had people in front of me, but I think I saw some of it.” He paused. “…It was pretty cool.”“It was kind of crazy, right!?” Jester geeked out too. “Have you heard any ghost stories around town lately? About scary things happening?”“My grandma told me a ghost story years ago about these giant badger creatures that live on the hills of the Ashkeeper that can stand up on their hind legs, and they come down and they eat kids that don’t go to bed in time.”“Oh shit. Those guys are scary, I’ve heard of them. You should be really careful. Have you heard anything about zombies?” This time Jester specified.“No, not since that.”“Hey, listen, if you hear any other ghost stories, you come and find us, okay?” Jester said. The kid nodded rapidly.“Okay.”“All right.”The group of us set off, some of us chuckling over the kid’s rambling as we got out of hearing range.“Are we just going from person to person in town telling them to come find us?” Beau asked, amused.“We are really terrible at this!” Nott laughed.“Well, she’s making friends with everybody.” Molly defended Jester, “I don’t see any of you making friends.”“Wow, are we not friends? My heart is broken beyond repair.” I deadpanned, smiling all the while.“WE are friends!” Jester said, jumping over and hugging me from the side. I tensed up at first, surprised.“Thanks, Jester.” I chuckled, patting her back. “I’m a little concerned that we’ve been gone for a while.” Fjord interrupted.“Yeah, maybe we should get back.” Beau agreed.“Maybe let these two, that aren’t under house arrest–““Continue the investigation?” Nott said. “Or go back?”“No, continue. I mean, if you’re up for it.” Fjord said. Nott nodded. “Yeah, yeah, We’ll be a regular–““Yeah, we’ve done nothing wrong.” Caleb interrupted, looking shaky, “We’re not sweating it. I’m not sweating-...”“...Yeah, I believe you completely. That was very believable. I’m going to give you another blessing before you leave, okay?”I laughed quietly at Jester’s shade at Caleb, while he began to look more frustrated than nervous.“What are you talking about? None of us did anything. None of us! We protected the people of this town!” He argued.“It’s true.” Jester agreed.“It is true.”“I know.”“That’s easy. Let’s go solve a mystery, Nott.” Caleb’s mood turned around.“All right.” Nott said. Molly looked between them, confused.“Were you being sarcastic– oh, no you weren’t, okay. Catching up on that.”“So,” Beau interrupted, bringing us back on track, “kids don’t know anything about this, old people don’t know anything about this–““Tavern-keeper doesn’t know anything about this.” Fjord added.“Only the pure of heart make their answer out of riddles.” Mollymauk quoted. He shook his head, “Back to the tavern.”The quote confused me, although it sounded pretty, so I ignored it.“Well that leaves the fishermen and the guards.” I said. Beau pointed at me excitedly.“But pure of heart! Still going back to the guards thing! Back to the tavern, let’s go.”Oh I am not pure of heart.“We’ll see you back at the inn.” Fjord said, the group of us saying goodbye to Caleb and Nott, and beginning the trek back.“Should we run back, or should we saunter back?” Beau asked, “Maybe super stealthily back?”“At least Fjord and Jester.” I said. Fjord had dropped his spell, and Jester’s had worn off. Jester nodded in agreement.“All right.” She put her cloak’s hood up.“I can maybe put a rope through the window?” Molly suggested.“Yeah, that’s a good idea.” Beau agreed.It went off surprisingly well. Molly was able to get inside without a problem, and after a minute or so, a rope fell out the window of his and Fjord’s room. With the group of us on watch, we were able to quickly climb up when no one was looking.“Thanks.” I said, taking Molly’s hand as he helped pull us through the window.“Not at all.” He waved it off. When we all were safely in, and the rope retrieved, I felt the drain of the day catch up to me. We made our way back to our room, bidding Molly and Fjord farewell as we went back to our rooms.I immediately began setting out my alchemy supplies.“What ya up to?” Beau asked. I glanced up from setting my beaker on its frame.“I’m gonna set a healing potion to brew.” I said, “Since we’re stuck here for a while, might as well be productive.”“I’m going to draw!” Jester cheered, her way of agreeing.“How’d you get into…potioneering?” Beau asked.“A lot of books about it when I was a kid.” I said, vaguely. I started grinding up the ingredient, idly wondering when I would get the chance to find or purchase more. The shop in town had been surprisingly limited on ingredients, rather than the potions themselves.“So, what, your family are alchemists?”“My mother.” I answered shortly. “Oh, cool, cool.”I could feel Beau’s eyes on me as I began the brewing process. It was second nature to me, making a common healing potion. For a long while as I worked, the room was quiet except for Jester’s sketching and occasional giggles.“Do you have a family business to go back to, then?”I contained a sigh at Beau’s questions. I supposed I should have seen it coming; everyone had gotten an interrogation last night around the table, and all I had given for information about myself was that I was an Alchemist from Port Zoon.“Not really a family business, but I do have a couple of job prospects back in Zoon.”“Like what?”“…like Alchemist?”“No no I get that.” Beau backtracked, “But you said a couple job prospects. Like what?”“Alchemist for different places is what I meant.”Beau’s eyes narrowed.“Hey, if you don’t want to talk about it, I’m just trying to make conversation. But we are in a weird situation, and I’ve only known you for a few days, so it would be nice to actually know something about you. Ya know?”I looked at my potion, which was going well. Almost too well—it didn’t give me an excuse to ignore her when it was at the point of practically brewing itself. I set it to simmer and looked up to Beau.“It’s not personal. I just left Zoon, so I’m trying not to think about it.”“Oh. Okay, I get that.” Beau sat back. “How long you thinking of traveling?”“Well, I’m an Elf. So…I’ve got the time. Indefinitely.” I said, smiling lightly. A longer lifespan felt freeing.“Right. Are there a lot of Elves in Zoon?” She asked.“There’s a lot of everybody. Kind of like everywhere on the Menagerie Coast, everybody ends up together.”“Huh. Is it—”A knock at the door cut off Beau’s questioning.“Hello?” Jester called.“Please open, it’s Crownsguard.”“Hold on, I’m naked!” Jester called. Beau and I looked over to fully-dressed Jester, confused. She began to whisper, “Yeah, I don’t know. Do you want to put clothes on? Should we take our clothes off?”“Did you say that because you wanted to tell us something?” Beau asked.“No, I just wanted to make them wait.” She cleared her throat and called through the door again, “Okay, I’m dressed now!”“I like that. We’re giving them–authority. Got the upper hand. Okay.”“It’s a power play.”“Do we invite them in or are we going to–? You open the door.” Beau sat at the foot of the bed, looking at her nails. I moved my potion to the other side of the bed so it was not immediately visible. "Ready." I said to Jester. “Come in, please.” Jester called.The door slowly opened, and we could see two Crownsguards standing in the doorway at attention.“Oh hello, I wasn’t expecting you.” Jester said. Beau looked up to them.“Oh, yeah, hi.”“We’re here to notify you that the investigation is ongoing. You will not be needed today. Please remain in your premises. Be back tomorrow.” One of the guards ordered.“Can I ask you a question before you leave?” Jester asked, politely.“Yes, what is your question?”“Are you guys going to be the same people coming back tomorrow?”The guard paused.“Possibly.”“What is your names?”The two guards looked at each other in silent question before turning back to our group.“I am Jonas.” The first guard said. The second guard, the younger of the two, introduced himself next.“I am Lucas.”“Jonas and Lucas, very good names.” Jester said. Beau smirked.“You guys should start a band. Like a boy band or something.”“Yeah, that’d be good. Girls would go crazy. If you guys want to play some games tomorrow, we’ll just be here!” Jester offered.“Very well. Have a good day.” Jonas said. Before the door shut, I caught the two of them exchange a glance, clearly thrown by Jester and Beau’s commentary. Once the door was shut, Jester turned to us two, nervously.“I shouldn’t have offered the game. What if we want to leave and then they want to take us up on the game thing?” She asked.“I thought you enjoyed games.” Beau raised a brow.“No, I love games!”“Sure.”“But what if we leave and then they want to play games?” Jester asked.“Something tells me that’s not going to be a problem.” I said, putting a hand on Jester's shoulder.“Really?”“Really.”“Okay.”There was another knock at the door, not a moment later.“Oh for the love of—” Beau went over to the door this time, annoyed. Instead of the guards we were expecting, Mollymauk stood in the doorway.“Visited by the guards already?” He asked, taking in Beau’s irritated expression.“Yeah. You guys too, then? Not called for jury duty?” Beau scoffed.“Nope. May I?” He gestured into the room. Beau stepped aside and Molly breezed past, his deck of cards in hand.I slid my potion equipment back out from around the corner, claiming my space again before Mollymauk could swipe it for his tarot spreads. His eyes landed on my kit, and he perked up.“Now, what do you have here?”“Healing potion brewing.” The potion was still fairly separated, the base of water only just tinted pink. In the end stages, the healing potion would be as bright red as Molly’s eyes.“Not another fire bomb? And that was so impressive.” There was a touch of sarcasm in his voice. I took it to be in reference to me technically sneaking a weapon into the tent after the whole weapon-check debacle. “I don’t need to brew those. I can just conjure them when I need them.” I explained as Molly took a seat at my side. “What brings you to the girls’ room?”“Fjord need some alone time?” Beau snickered. Molly ignored her and continued looking at me.“Well, you invited me here last night. Figured it was an open invitation?”If I had been eating something I would have choked. Instead, I had my mouth agape, equal parts amused and surprised that he would bring that up again.“Oh did you?” I asked, my amusement taking away from my warning tone.  “Don’t get yourself all in a tiff, love, I’m joking.” Molly waved it off. “Fjord kicked me out, asked me to ‘bring my game to the other room’.” He held up his deck of cards, and began to shuffle.“You can get to repaying us for helping you get out of jail by giving Jester more fortunes, if you’d like.” I pointed back to Jester, ignoring Molly to fiddle with my potion—though I knew there was little I could do to improve it.“Oooo! Yes please!” Jester said, looking up from her sketches.“I believe I made it clear I don’t owe you anything for that assistance, though I’m happy to give further readings for coin.” He said, evenly. I grinned.“Don’t get yourself all in a tiff, love, I’m joking.”At this, he outright laughed.“It’s always the quiet ones.” He winked at me.“I’m not quiet!” I argued, not sure why I was at all bothered by the statement. His eyebrows raised. “What?”“Asking me to bed and telling me you're a loud one? You're quite forward, aren't you.”I stared at him blankly, taking a second to figure out what he meant.“…Shut up!”He laughed again.“Speaking of quiet ones, any word from your friend? Yasha?” I asked, desperate for a change of topic. I felt like I had lost at whatever verbal sparring we’d just engaged in.In the corner of my eye I saw Beau perk up at Yasha’s name.“No. I left a note at the bar, in case of her return, but she hadn’t come to pick it up yet.” Molly hummed. “But no need to worry. Yasha can take care of herself.”“Of that I have no doubt.”I thought back to the strong woman and her wicked blade. Carrying all of our assorted weapons and Beau on her person—carving into the zombified monsters raging through the tent…she’d be fine.For the next couple of hours, the four of us made small talk over our own tasks. Beau rode out her time watching Jester sketch away in her book. Occasionally Jester would bounce over to see Mollymauk’s cards, as he gave himself what I assumed were practice readings. I was overseeing my potion, or at least pretending to. I was almost certain Molly could tell I was just finicking with my ingredients to keep myself from watching his cards, but he said nothing of it. His presence seemed to annoy Beau just enough to the point where she didn’t restart her interrogation from earlier, which I was grateful for.I got where she was coming from; we’re all strangers, essentially, so it’s comforting to know that we’re trustworthy people—at least amongst ourselves, for now. But it went both ways: We’re all strangers…so why would I trust you with personal details?Another knock on the door and we saw Fjord in our entryway, letting us know that Caleb and Nott had returned. The group of us went to convene downstairs.The tavern was more alive than last night, the bustle of it all letting our conversations go unnoticed.“Well.” Nott began, “That was terrible. No one found out anything. It was a waste of a day. We’re all terrible at this. Goodnight?”“What time is it?” Jester questioned. I looked out an open window, trying to judge.“Like, maybe 8?”“That’s not true!” Beau pointed to Nott, “I still say that some of the best information that you can get can be in the information that you don’t find.”“That is nonsense.” Nott argued. I shook my head.“No, I get what she’s saying. Lack of evidence is a kind of evidence.” I said, unsure if that made any more sense to the goblin than Beau’s original statement. But Beau nodded, looking proud.“Sometimes the lack of information can be a process of elimination.” Beau said.“Sure.” Fjord shrugged.“It’s super broad!”“No, you know what?” Molly began, “I’m going to take it.” Beau huffed.“I’m trying to be fucking silver lining, so I don’t feel like a piece of shit for waste a day, and you guys are shitting on that, but it’s fine.” She crossed her arms, leaning back in her chair. Fjord turned back to Caleb and Nott.“You found nothing at the docks? Zip, zero?”Caleb shrugged, looking at a loss.“We spent hours there, no one knew anything about the old man.”“See?” Beau leaned back towards us, “No one knew anything about him. That means, prime candidate, someone’s little experiment. Little Frankenstein. I’m telling you.”“…I don’t really understand what she’s saying.” Caleb admitted.“I don’t either.” Jester agreed. She abruptly stood and ran over to the staircase. She ran up, and I wondered if she was going to get something from our room before she ran back down.And back up.And back down.And back up.“How long have you known this one?” Molly asked.“About 24 hours longer than you have.” Beau answered.“That explains a lot.”It didn’t take long for the barmaid, Adelaine, to go up to her.“I’m sorry, can you please stop?”Jester looked at her.“Okay!”She bounded back to us as Adelaine said “Thank you” in a very customer-service voice.Yeah, we weren’t being easy guests to this place.“I saw some weirdos running around.” Nott suddenly blurt out.“…Nott, Jester is right here.”Jester pushed me in the arm, making me sway in my seat, quite similar to how Molly had earlier.“No! The other night, when he was asleep.” Nott explained, pointing to Caleb.“How late?” Fjord asked. Nott thought about it.“Two in the morning?” She guessed.“You were out that late?” Nott shrunk a little under Caleb’s stare.“Sorry.”“Maybe we should go out at two o'clock in the morning and see if we can find them!” Jester suggested.“Ooh, that’s a good idea.” Beau agreed.“Follow them.”“You guys notice that it’s weird that no one’s actually really talking about this? This is a small town. I come from a small town. Small town people gossip.”“I feel like there should be some more gossip than there is, that’s very true.” Molly agreed.“Someone is talking about this, we just haven’t found them yet. 2:00AM field trip!” Beau cheered, quietly.“We can always leave through the window this time.” Jester said.“Mm-hmm, I like that.”“I can be down for that.” Fjord agreed.“I leave the rope tied in here. Can we use your cat?” Molly asked Caleb, “Reel it back up in so that there’s no trace of us until we need to get back there.”Caleb looked at him, brow furrowed.“…Are you asking for my cat to haul up our rope?”“No, I’m telling you that your cat is going to haul up a rope.”I snorted.“How is a cat going to lift up a rope?” Jester questioned.“It’s not that heavy of a rope, it’s just hemp.” Molly shrugged, “And if I throw it back up there then I imagine your cat can knock it back down at the very least.”“There, that would work, maybe.” Jester agreed.“Oh, is he like an asshole cat?” Beau asked, looking around for Frumpkin.“I assume he’s an asshole cat. Aren’t all cats asshole cats?” Molly asked.“Or we could have Caleb take the rope from your guys’ room, and then he can walk out the front door, like he’s allowed to do, and give you your rope back when we meet up again.”Silence met my too-logical plan from the cat-plan people.“That makes more sense to me.” Caleb admitted, breaking the silence.“It’s always the loud ones.” Molly murmured. I leaned around Jester to hit him on the arm with such speed it felt almost automatic.“Shut up.”He snickered.“Where were you when you saw these cloaked figures?” Fjord asked, getting us back on track.“I had gone out to do some window shopping.” Nott squeaked. Fjord’s eyebrows raised.“At 2:00 AM?”“Yes, I wasn’t very successful. I had walked by the general store–““Oh, we went there.” Jester reminisced.“Yeah, we did.” Beau nodded.“--I passed by a place called Natural Remedies, herbs and medicinal things--”“Picked up ingredients there!” I said, happily. “--I went by a spot named Jackalwere, it’s a smithy.”“Okay, but where did you see the cloaked guys?” Jester pressed.“It was one block north of the Natural Remedies.” Nott decided. She perked up, “We could do a little stakeout!”“We could.” Fjord said, thinking it over. “Should someone stay up? Well, I was thinking someone should keep a lookout on the roof of the inn in case someone comes for us while everyone else is out.”“How would we let anybody know?” Jester questioned.“I don’t know. Can you conjure those golden orbs up into the air as like a signal?” Fjord asked, turning to Caleb. Caleb sighed.“It’s pretty limited. They don’t go that far.”“Maybe we just risk it.” Fjord said.“Yeah!” Nott cheered.“Let’s risk it!” Jester joined in.“It’s 2:00 AM, I’m sure everybody will be asleep. Let’s risk it.” Fjord said.“I’m for risking it,” I began, “But we still need to be on top of our game. If we were going to sneak out, or if the guards thought we were going to sneak out, they’d expect us to do it at night. Like 2:00 AM kind of night.”“On guard for guards, got it.” Jester nodded, sagely. I sighed, a hand playing with my bandana. I wished my healing potion would be ready. They typically took a day to brew, but with this brew going so well, it was looking to take twelve hours. It would be ready by morning.“We should set something up in the rooms, so we can tell if anybody enters after we leave.” Beau mused. She stood up. “Come on!”Beau, Jester, Fjord, and I quickly followed suit. I saw Molly trail along behind us, and assumed Caleb and Nott would join us in a second. It was becoming second-nature to keep track of the party of people I had gotten stuck with. It made me wonder where everyone would end up after this investigation was over.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

We got upstairs and poured into Fjord and Molly’s room. Beau started taking out her healing kit as we closed the door behind us. She looked to be affixing the bandages to the chair nearby, making some sort of system to know if someone came in while we were out.“Oh for god’s sake.” Molly huffed, pulling out a ball of string from his bag. Beau looked at it, then at her bandages. “…Okay, yeah.”“What are we going to do? Leave through the window?” Jester questioned. Beau nodded.“Yeah.” “What are you trying to do?” Caleb questioned.“I’m trying to make sure that if someone tries to come in our room we’ll know if they come in.” Beau explained.“I can take care of that.” Caleb said. Molly perked up.“Oh, well then, I’m taking my string back.”He went to grab it but Beau pulled it out of his reach, staring down Caleb.“What can you do?” She asked.“I have some magic for that.”“Yeah, he has a magical spell that alerts you when someone tries to break in your room.” Nott said, bouncing excitedly.“That is correct.” Caleb smiled, “Yeah. I will take a moment to do that and it will let me know.”“Best part is, it doesn’t alert him when I sneak in or out.” Nott said, proudly.“That you know of.”“Wait. What?”“One mile of the warded area.” Caleb continued, ignoring Nott’s question.“That’s better! Let’s do that.” Beau said, finally handing Mollymauk his string back.“I just need ten minutes.” Caleb said, pulling out a spool of silver thread. “Where did you want this? Over the window?”“Well, I was going to say in the door, but if there’s maybe a place in the hall?” Beau suggested.“Well, I can do the entire room really, I can go doorknob to–The funny thing about this thread, there’s no end to it.”Caleb looped the string loosely around the doorknob, pulling it around the room and tying it off. He took out one of his books from his holster and began tracing symbols onto the floor. After ten minutes of Caleb’s intricate designs, he stood up and put his book away.“Done.” He declared.“Nice.” Jester nodded. Nott smiled widely. “See? He’s really good!”“Didn’t really look like much.” Fjord muttered.“Yeah, either that or I’m really bullshitting you and nothing happened.” Caleb gave him a half-smirk. Jester grinned.“Either way, I liked it. Let’s sneak out.”“I’m going to do one last thing before we leave,” Molly said, “Which is just tussle the room a bit so it looks like it’s been robbed. Just in case they do come in.”The group of us bar-Caleb began our descent down a rope. Once we all had reached the bottom, Caleb pulled the rope back up. I scanned the alleyway and sky.The lanterns at intersections in the distance were lit, otherwise we only had a scrap of moonlight to travel by—which would be my preference for sneaking around, regardless. Patches of clouds littered the sky, but for now the crescent moon shone down. The town, once alive with people, was silent.“Where are we headed?” I asked.“Caleb’s going to meet us at the north end, by Natural Remedies.” Nott squeaked.“I ought to be leading the way, I reckon.” Fjord said, nodding.“Maybe not, if we want to go stealth instead of disguised.” I argued.“Maybe me?” Nott asked.“No, I—well, actually, yes.”“Do I still have the blessing?” Nott asked, looking to Jester.“No, but if we get to an empty space, I can cast it on all of us one by one?” Jester offered.“Let’s head out for now, and when we meet up with Caleb we can have you work your Trickster’s Blessing.” Fjord decided, then turned to Nott, “Nott, lead the way.”Following the goblin’s lead, the group of us began to dodge between alleyways. Occasionally a patrol of crownsguard would cross our paths, but waiting for them to pass us in the shadows did the trick well enough. It was second nature to me, reminding me of the late nights out in Zoon.Nearing Natural Remedies, we spot a figure walking down the road in a long coat.“Caleb.” I murmured, careful to make sure nobody else around could see us. Jester waved him over, and he was able to sneak over to us.“Welcome back.” Fjord muttered as Caleb joined us in the shadows.“Should we fan out a bit? Cover a couple corners, so we can still see each other?” Nott suggested. Fjord nodded.“Good idea.”“Yeah. I’m going to go with Fjord!” Jester said, moving close to his side.“Let’s not spread out too far, though.” Beau warned. Nott was ignoring her in favor of looking from Jester to Fjord and back.“Are you two like an item?” She asked. Jester looked over to her.“What?”“You and Fjord, are you like a thing?”“Why, are you interested in him?”“No, ugh, no!”“No?”“You travel together."“Well yeah, he’s a good friend. He watches out for me, I watch out for him, you know. We’re a good team. Like you and Caleb.”“…Not at all like that, but yes, all right.”Nott dropped the subject, and the group of us fanned out.I found myself on my own a ways out from the door. Maybe it was my experience, or maybe it was my elvish ability to see in the dark, but I was highly aware of where everybody was and what was happening in the area.The Crownsguard approached with torches in hand. Time wore on, the only movement the firelight of the occasional Crownsguard, or the clouds covering the moonlight.After a couple hours of our stakeout, I see the forms of the others begin to congregate together again. I easily slipped over to where they were.“--Oh, we should talk to the girl!” Jester said.“Toya?” Nott asked.“Yeah.”“Let’s go wake her ass up!”“Is she under arrest? We don’t know.” Beau pointed out.“Maybe we have to go back to the circus.” Molly mused.“Maybe it was Yasha?” Jester said. Molly ignored the suggestion.“It’s early enough maybe we should just–““We have a few more hours and the cover of darkness.” Fjord said. Nott nodded, enthusiastically.“Yeah, let’s go wake her ass up!”“Maybe we should go back to the circus. Scene of the crime? That whole thing?”“It’s going to be difficult, it’ll be guarded.” I warned. Molly sighed.“I hate to admit it, but maybe– it’s not us.” He gestured to himself. It wasn’t the circus, he had kept repeating it. I was sure he believed it, but how well did they all know each other? All it took was one.“Who’s real stealthy?” Fjord asked.“I’m all right.” Beau said. I raised my hand too.“I’m pretty good.”Fjord looked between us.“Maybe we don’t all need to go. Maybe just a few, and the others will hang back.” He suggested.“Hang back close by though, right?” Nott asked, “If something goes bad–“While the others discussed how we should approach the circus, I saw Jester rifling through her bag. She pulled out a set of paints and crouched down. She began painting on the side of the building. I watched, amused, as she painted a brown blob onto the wall.When a conclusion had been met, the group looked over to see me watching Jester scowl at her painting. Fjord stepped over to us, and tilted his head as he looked at it.“Is it a worm? It’s a snake!” He corrected. Jester deflated.“It’s poop, I should’ve–““That’s an oval.” Caleb said.“Poop can be ovals.” I argued, trying to defend Jester.“I should have drawn a pile of poop.” Jester said, and began drawing more of the ovals next to it. Or, attempting.“…That’s a triangle.” Caleb said. Fjord nodded.“Yeah, I thought it was like chocolate frozen yogurt.”“It’s math or something?” Molly guessed.“It’s dark okay!?” Jester snapped, “I can usually paint much better than this. It’s really dark and my hands feel a little numb.” Nott patted Jester on the shoulder“Let’s move then.”//It didn’t take long for the group of us to make our way through the outskirts of the town to the circus tents. It felt even more foreboding now than it had during the attack—the dark blue tent matched the night sky, so the moon illuminated the outline of the tent and nothing else.Even a distance away we could see the torchlight of the Crownsguard.While I felt confident that I was well hidden, when a guard was about 40 feet from us, he turned to the group sharply.“Who goes there?”All of us froze.In a single beat, Fjord cast Disguise Self and turned himself into a Crownsguard. Caleb quickly followed suit. Jester moved a couple steps into the loch and ducked down, not at all hidden. The group was panicking. If Jester trying to hide in 6 inches of water wasn’t evidence, Nott tearing off her mask and jumping Caleb was.“Get off, you little beast!”“Shit!” The two real guards pulled their blades and started charging at Caleb and Nott. I took their distraction and was able to backtrack into an alleyway, hiding in the shadows once again.I heard a big thud and Caleb yell “Down, you beast!”A harder thud of something hitting wood.“Where did this thing come from!?”“I have it!” Caleb called, and I heard Nott let out a squeak in pain. “I have this. We’re taking these people across to jail.”I heard Fjord speak next.“Indeed, stay your blade, please, obviously he can handle this.”“Don’t you fucking move you little green piece of filth.” Caleb hissed. A quick noise passed.“Right in your face! Haha, incredible.”Nott must have spit.“This one is mine, thank you. Beat her within an inch of her life.”“…All right…if you see anything else, give a shout.”A louder spitting noise this time, followed by a disgusted groan from Nott. The real Crownsguard must’ve spit back…or Caleb got petty revenge.Probably the guards.“The rest of you lot fall in line!” Caleb commanded.There was a long silence.“…I really had to pee.”I pressed my lips together at Jester’s excuse. “Hey! Not in the Ustaloch!”The sound of water splashing was quickly followed by footfall. I hugged the wall of the alleyway and watched the orange torchlight from the guards move across the dirt path. I stayed still. Once they were out of view, I heard the others speaking.“…Is that a natural thing for you guys to just attack each other in moments of stress?”I peered around the alley entrance, looking after the guards first, then back to my group.“Are you alright? I am so very sorry, I’m so sorry–“ Caleb was worriedly hovering over Nott, looking unsure of what to do, but deeply concerned. Nott had a trickle of blood falling from her nose.“No, I’m fine that was good acting.” Nott said, waving him off, “You were perfect. I panicked, I didn’t know what to do. I was trying to create some sort of distraction.”“Let me see your teeth. …Okay. You look all right.”“They’re all over the place.”“Oh, I can’t tell if that got worse or better.” Fjord said, eyeing Nott’s teeth.“You fixed them a bit!” Beau decided. Fjord looked up and around.“Where’s Serasai?”“Here!” I held out a hand, and stepped out from my hiding spot. I walked over to the group of them.“Did they not see you?” Caleb asked, confused.“I’m not sure. I hid again when Nott attacked you. Figured it was a good distraction.”“Aw, man, that’s what we should’ve done.” Beau complained.“I think they would have noticed if suddenly everyone was gone.” Molly pointed out, dryly.“We set to go?” I asked.“Yeah, okay.” Caleb nodded, “Who wants to go to the circus?”“Yay.” Beau deadpanned.Now able to get nearer to the circus, the group of us could see the front flap guarded by a half-asleep looking Crownsguard. Behind the tent, what I had once thought was simply moonlight seemed to be firelight as well; the camp for the circus performers.“If you want to make your ways around, I could distract them for a moment, have a conversation with them.” Fjord murmured to the group. Beau looked over Fjord’s disguised form and nodded.“Okay, yeah.”“You you want to go with them?” Caleb asked Nott. He pointed to Fjord. “I’ll go with him.”“Sure, but will you be watching me or no? You don’t have to.”“Frumpkin will go with you.”“All right. I’ll go with you and– who else is going? Are you stealthy?” Nott asked Jester.“We’ll take care of you. Don’t worry! And Sera is stealthy!” Jester said.I nodded.“They’re not going to talk to you without me, so I’m coming, too.” Molly said, tightening his black cloak.Jester, Beau, Nott, Molly, and I watched Caleb and Fjord wander off to the guard:
“I’m a little jittery, do you want to be a front man for a little while?

“Sure I got it, yeah.”
The boys walked off to the guard and their voices faded. We saw them strike up a conversation, and Molly pointed around the tent, directing us. We nodded and began following.The group of us darted around the tent, but I accidentally leaned onto the tarp and saw the tent flap wave from the movement. We rushed ahead to avoid any trouble, and soon found ourselves in the circus’ encampment.The bonfire in the middle was only embers now. Two Crownsguard were keeping watch—one nodding off, and the other doing basic patrol.“Molly, I have a question.” Jester whispered, “What made you guys set up your tent here?”“We were told to set it up here, if I recall.”“In this specific area?”“That sounds right. If I recall, we were specifically told to set up tent right here.”“That’s pretty close to the lake.” Beau whispered, eyeing the Ustaloch.“What if they set up their tent on a cursed land or something?” Jester suggested.“I feel like that’d be common knowledge. Like a ghost story kids who live here knew.” I reasoned.“And we already asked that one kid about ghost stories.” Beau pointed out.Mollymauk moved towards the nearest tent, the rest of us following suit. Unexpectedly, he did a bird call.No response.Jester tried the same thing, with no results.We dashed around to the next tent, Mollymauk making his bird call again. This time, there was a faint response. Molly gently lifted the back of the tent up and ducked in.I looked around at the others, unsure whether we were meant to follow.After a minute or so, the flap was lifted again. Mollymauk waved us in, and we crawled inside the tent.The performer inside had to be Desmond, though he looked much different than he had during the performance. He was out of his colorful costumes and had a face clean of makeup. Now that he did, we could see that half his face was marred—shredded and healed over, long ago. The makeup had hidden it during the performance.He was understandably upset, the whole tent awash in melancholy feelings.“So you’re all the ones that helped earlier. Thank you. It would have been far worse if you hadn’t.”“No problem.” Jester said immediately. Mollymauk leaned forward.“What do they think happened? What are they asking?”“They’re thinking something about the show. They’re thinking Gustav made this happen. I don’t think it’s Gustav, he’s a good man. He makes poor choices and it’s plagued him his whole life, you can see it in his brow. But good intentions have grave consequences. No one that good comes out of Shady Creek Run without some mistakes behind them, but I don’t see him doing this.”“What would be the point?”“Has it ever happened like this before?” Jester asked.“No.”“Anything weird ever happened before?”Desmond gave a tired chuckle, with no real humor in it.“Weird things? All the time. We’re a bunch of weird folk, work with a lot of weird people. Bunch of strange freaks gathered to this show.”“Was there anyone new here recently that you haven’t worked with a lot?” Beau asked.“Yeah, she apparently ran off.”Molly turned to the group of us.“Yasha’s the newest, but she can be flighty.” He explained.“What about Mona and Yuli?” Beau suggested.“The sisters are bitter, but it’s no fault of theirs.” Desmond said.“Why are they bitter?”“Because the world is cruel.”“You’ve never met it– Well, nevermind.” Molly cut himself off. I looked over at him, confused.“I wish I could help them, but it–”“What happened to them? What did they say? Why do they think that? Why is the world shitty?”“Have you been around? Have you travelled to see anything?”“Yeah. Listen. The world has its own brand of shitty depending on whose eyes are looking at it, right? So what is their brand of shitty?”“Circus shitty.” Molly said, gesturing around us.“I don’t know. Ask them.” Desmond shrugged.“Where are they?”“In a tent over there.” Desmond pointed, “They don’t seem to take much of a liking to me anyway, so I can’t really tell you myself. I’m sorry.”“They don’t like you? Why?” Nott asked.“There’s a lot of people that don’t like me.”“I like you, Desmond.” Jester said. “I think you’re great.”“Why? What did you do?” Nott asked, wide-eyed. I let out a quiet sigh, knowing the answer. Desmond looked over at Nott, weighing his words.“Same reason folks probably don’t like you; you’re different.”“Looks mean nothing, people need to get off their high horse on that.” I muttered, bitterly.“Easy for you to say.”I looked back up to see Desmond looking me over. I smiled, though I could tell it didn’t reach my eyes.“Not always.”“Is everybody still here?” Molly interrupted, “They’ve not taken anyone away other than–““Other than those two, everyone else is here. We’re just keeping under watch until their investigation is complete.”“Molly, why did you laugh when I asked about the sisters?” Beau asked, suddenly. They looked over to her with a blank expression.“We’re carnival people, we’ve all got our issues. You don’t end up here if you’re not a little weird.”“I just cast Detect Good and Evil. I don’t sense anything yet.” Jester interrupted. She was clutching the charm we’d seen her carrying earlier, which I now figured was her holy symbol. Nott looked interested.“How far does it detect?” Nott asked.“About 30 feet.” Jester said.“Does it follow you?”“Yeah, it follows me.”“That’s pretty cool, let’s keep going then. Maybe we’ll see something?” Nott questioned.“Won’t hurt.” I shrugged.“Yeah, let’s leave.” Jester said, clutching her holy symbol. Before we did, Nott turned to Desmond.“From one outcast to another, are there any questions that are bugging you about all this?” She asked.“…I don’t want this all to fall on Gustav. He’s done a lot of good for all of us, and the way they’re talking about the investigation, they’re looking to make a scapegoat of this.”“Well, thank you.”“Thank you.”Nott made a squawking sound; a poor attempt at the bird call from earlier.“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Molly rolled their eyes and pulled Nott towards the back of the tent, “I’m going to do my best.” They called to Desmond.“Thank you.”The group of us snuck out the back of the tent. Following Molly, Jester close behind him and still clutching her symbol, we made our way to the next tent.Just as we all made it behind the tent, we heard a guard.“Huh?”“Quick, go in the tent!” Jester hissed. From inside the tent we can hear the guard’s footsteps. The two Knot sisters gave a start at our sudden intrusion of their tent until Mollymauk put a finger to his lips and shushed them.They both curled into a ball and stayed silent. Another figure in the tent, Ornna, began to stir as the footsteps faded.“…That was close.” Jester whispered.Ornna leaned forward from her cot, “Okay, what is going on.”“That’s what I’m trying to figure out, what the fuck is going on.” Molly said quickly, “They’re with me, it’s been complicated. Gustav’s in deep. Bosun’s in deep.”“Tell us you know something.” Jester practically begged.“What do you want to know?” Ornna asked.“What did you see? I don’t know.” Molly shrugged.“Who did this? What was it?” Nott asked.“I don’t know. I looked and I saw what you saw.”Molly sat back, all anger and panic.“For fuck’s sake, they’re going to kill every last fucking one of us unless we figure this out.”“Right.”“We’re not going to let that happen.” I said, hardly thinking as I said it. Mollymauk looked at me, sharply.“And how do you propose we stop a whole town of guards if they decide they want our fucking heads?” I kept my mouth shut.“…Thought not.” Molly finished. He turned back to Ornna. “If we don’t figure this shit out, we’re shit out of luck. What do you think?”I stepped away from the conversation, looking around the room. The Knot Sisters were still folding themselves into a ball, silently watching the conversation. Beau was eyeing them suspiciously, while Nott and Jester were muttering to each other and edging towards a flap of the tent. I turned to the Knot Sisters.“For what it’s worth, your act was my favorite.”They said nothing, not that I expected them to. I turned and quickly followed after Jester and Nott. They were more likely to get caught on their own, and I wanted to be there if things went south.The next tent was further than the others, leaving an open space we had to pass through undetected by the Crownsguard currently half-asleep by the fire-pit.After sneaking around the other tents, I felt more back in my element.Jester, unfortunately, did not.A louder snore from the sleeping guard caused him to wake himself up, looking over in our direction and locking his eyes on Jester.She immediately froze.The guard stood up. Nott and I were tucked down together, cloaks hiding us in the darkness, both ready to pounce into a fight.He moved towards Jester, hand on his blade—and stopped.“Hi, I’m not here.” Jester said, plainly. He looked at her, expressionless.“Okay.”“Okay. Sit down. Go to sleep, this is a dream.”His brow furrowed in confusion. “You want it to be a dream.” Jester tried. The guard slowly went back to his seat and plopped down, still watching. He sat there motionless.“...Okay, well it’s good enough, I guess.”Jester came back towards the tent, Nott and I both tentatively standing and going over to her. She clutched her symbol. Her eyes went wide and her mouth made an ‘o’ as she looked at us, excitedly."I can sense something! Let’s go in the tent.”“Go in? But if it’s bad, that’s bad!” Nott argued, nervously.“What are you sensing?” I asked.“Something fiendish. But what if it’s just a dead thing?”“Oh god, will we have to fight a dead thing?” Nott asked, “Should we get some help?” Nott looked down to Frumpkin, sat by Nott’s foot. “I say go! Go get Caleb! Shoo!” Nott hissed, “Go away! *Hiss!* I can’t speak Cat! Go away!”Frumpkin meowed, lowly.“Go away! Go tell Caleb we’re here!”Frumpkin hissed.I took a step back.Frumpkin turned around, hissed again, and walked away.“Okay, I’ve sent for help!”“…’kay.” I said, not trusting myself to say more.“Okay. Let’s go under the tent!” Jester said, carefully pulling up the flap. The three of us ducked in, hearing heavy snoring immediately.The noise was coming from the Demon Toad from the circus show. I remembered him jumping up to save the little dwarf girl once the zombies had begun attacking.His green, scaly, oily body expanded and contracted with each breath. Whatever the guy was, he was large and intimidating.“That’s why you detected him, because he’s a fiend.” Nott whispered.“The Demon Toad from the show.” I agreed. Jester shrugged, confused.“Maybe he’s a good fiend? Can fiends be good?”“He protected the girl, so maybe?” I shrugged.“I don’t know, you detected–!” Nott waved her hands around, at a loss. “We can wake him up and ask?”“That is a horrible plan, no.” I shut that down quickly. “Besides, even if he was good, he wouldn’t talk to us. We’re not carnies.” My eyes fell on a pale piece of material sticking out from the crook of the Toad’s arm. I held my hand out in warning to Jester and Nott, and took a few steps forward. Glancing from the side, I spotted Toya. The little girl was asleep, peacefully in the Toad’s arms.“Toya’s asleep, he’s cradling her.” I whispered.“We could talk to her? But if we wake her up he’s going to be mad. I guess we have no choice, we should talk to her. She’s a dwarf? Do you speak Dwarvish?”“No, I don’t.” Jester shook her head.“No.” I said. “Maybe she speaks Common. We’ll be fine. She’s a circus person.”I sighed, weighing our options. Would she even speak to us, if all went okay? I didn’t want to go back and get Mollymauk to act as our go between.“…Fine, screw it, let’s go.” I agreed. Nott fist-pumped the air.“Let’s sit down on the ground and look non-threatening! Like we’re having a tea party.” Jester said, sitting down. Nott moved to fix her hair. When we were all settled, Jester began to call to her. “Toya! Toya, wake up!”“Wakey wakey!” Nott echoed.I tensed as the Toad’s breathing stopped. The Toad’s flesh made a squeaking sound as it rubbed against itself, head curling to look back at us, mouth ajar. Rows of teeth gleamed in the dim tent light, a drop of drool falling to the ground not far from us.“What. You. Want?”“We’re here to talk to Toya.” Jester said, the picture of calm. For all I had been concerned watching Nott and Jester sneak off, moments like this reminded me of how capable Jester could be when it was necessary. There was a small yawn. The Toad turned with surprising silence, allowing us to see Toya. She sat up, still half-asleep.“What’s happening?” She yawned.“Hi!” Jester said.“Hi!”“Sorry to disturb your slumber.” Nott squeaked.“Hi.” I said, quietly. She took her braids in hand and held them closer to her body, almost on a reflex. She looked even younger now than she had during the show.“Well?” She asked, voice cracking.“Do you recognize us from the other night? Last night?” Nott asked.“I don’t remember, I got scared.”“It was scary.” Jester agreed. Then she perked up, “You have a really pretty voice.”“Thank you.”“Did you notice how when you sang that a dude turned into a zombie?”I let my head fall forward at Jester’s lack of tact. Luckily, Toya chuckled.“I did. It was really scary! I didn’t like it at all. I didn’t do that, did I?”“Probably not.” Jester said.“If you don’t know if you did, you didn’t.” I said. I didn’t know if this kid was lying, but she seemed genuine to me.“Has it happened before, or was that–“ Nott trailed off. Toya shook her head.“No. The guards are saying I probably did that, they’re saying I might have done that.”I cocked my head a little, noticing how different her voice was. When she sang, it was pure, angelic, mature. Now her voice sounded crackly, like she had damaged it from singing too much. It was a startling shift to happen in a single day—I wondered if her voice was always that way.“Do you sing all the time, Toya?” Jester asked, obviously wondering the same.“I sing a lot. It’s what keeps me alive, it’s what gets me money.”“We get that.” I nodded, “You do what works best.”“Was that the same song you always sing?” Nott asked.“Yeah. It’s the one song I know.”“Did it feel the same coming out of you or was it different?”“It felt the same.”“What language is it?” Jester asked.“It’s an old dwarven tune.” Yeah, that checks out. “My mother taught it to me before she passed.”“What does it mean?”“It’s a tale of the angels and how they came from the realms beyond of the gods. They granted each to us our sparks of life.”“When you were singing, did you hear any other sounds or words that someone else was saying?” Nott asked.“No, not beyond the ordinary. Then I saw that poor man just start tearing through people. I got scared and Kylre helped me.” She reached up and patted the Toad, who grunted in appreciation.“How did you and Kylre meet?” Jester asked.“They brought me into the circus. I was up in a city north of here, far north of the Marrow Valley and I was just on the streets singing. And this carnival came by and I met Gustav and he invited me to join and that’s how I met Kylre and I met all these wonderful people.”I felt myself calm at her story. She reminded me of a younger me--perhaps a luckier one--though it was hard to know. But still, our tales were similar. Someone took us in, brought us into a group of people, and helped us grow.“Has anyone new come around and talked to you?”“No.”“Asked you to do anything? It’s so strange.”“Man, we suck at this.” Jester sighed.“No, we’re really good.” Nott comforted her.“The newest people we’ve had are Mollymauk and Yasha.” Toya said. My attention piqued at this. We’d been told Yasha was new, but Mollymauk flaunted his circus-folk culture like he’d been here his whole life.“They’re new?” Jester asked, equally surprised.“Comparatively. Mollymauk’s been here almost two years now.”“Oh. Okay.”“He came after I did. We both found our voice together.” I leaned forward. Found their voice? “I was very scared and he wasn’t talking and together we helped each other learn to have fun again.”“He wasn’t talking?” I asked. She shook her head.“He didn’t say a lot when we found him, and then he didn’t say anything for a long time. But he helped me. It was nice, to have someone who could understand. It made it less scary.”I mulled this over, wondering what could have happened to traumatize him into silence.“And yesterday before the show you didn’t notice anything weird, anyone creeping around the carnival, setting up anything?” Nott asked, continuing the investigation.“No.”“Snooping around?”“Anybody in weird cloaks?” Jester asked.“We’re in weird cloaks.” I said, dryly, snapping back into the conversation.“I didn’t see anything.”“Okay.”“Is there anyone you think would want to destroy the carnival or hurt Gustav? Does Gustav have any enemies?” Nott asked. “I hope not. I know him and Ornna argue a lot, but–”“Him and Ornna!?” Nott shot up, “It’s Ornna! Ornna’s the one. Thanks very much, we’re out of here!” Nott darted out of the back of the tent, Jester hot on her tail. I got up at a more leisurely pace/“Don’t worry about them. Mollymauk is with Ornna right now, and they’re talking it out. We’re gonna find who did this. You get back to sleep, and thanks for talking to us.”I went to leave but stopped when I heard her ask in a tiny voice,“Is Mollymauk okay?”I paused. “Yes, he’s just frustrated. He’s worried about you, and everyone in the circus. But he’s okay.”“…Thank you.”“Goodnight.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

I left the tent quietly, shutting the flap behind me. Beginning the investigation, everybody had been acting so light-hearted. Without any worry for my own life on the line, knowing I could negotiate out or at worst escape the prison, the stress hadn't set in until we'd come back to the circus. I tried to push it out of my mind as I turned around, seeing Nott and Jester waiting for me.“We’ve solved the case!” Jester said, taking my hand, excitedly.“We’ve connected the dots!” Nott declared.“You haven’t connected anything.” I argued.
“I’ve connected them!”
“I think we should check the last tent before we head back, just in case!” Jester said, calming slightly.“Okay! Just so we know it’s Ornna.” Nott said. I gave up on arguing.“Let’s go.”Nott and Jester, maybe because of all their excitement, made their way to the tent much easier than I did—practically dragging me along at the end.“Any evil?” Nott asked, as Jester clutched her holy symbol.“I’m sensing it…” Jester’s shoulders fell, “No fucking evil!”“It’s Ornna! We know who it is! We know who the killer is!” Nott was practically bouncing up and down. We snuck back to the other tent, easily dodging the guard Jester had Charmed earlier.Jester rushed through the flap, “It’s Ornna!”“Ornna, you have a lot of explaining to do!” Nott rolled in behind her. I lifted the flap and ducked inside.“Shut up!” Beau hissed at Nott. Beau had no way of knowing the guard outside had been duped by Jester’s magic.“For the record, they’re jumping to conclusions.” I said. Nott continued, unperturbed.“We’ve talked to Toya. She knows it’s you who did this!”“We know you guys are in a fight all the time.” Jester said.“You’re the one behind the whole plot! You did it!”
“You!”
The Knot sisters looked alarmed, inching closer to one another.“Ornna? Is it you?...Did you kill that guy?” They asked. Ornna looked between everyone, anger growing.“I don’t know what you’re talking about! What the fuck is this? Who the fuck are you!”“Why did you turn that guy into a zombie?” Jester asked.“Who do you work for!” Nott demanded. Mollymauk floundered, looking between everyone, then concentrating on Ornna’s mounting anger.“Ornna, Ornna.” He reached out, trying to calm her.“To be perfectly honest, I have no idea what’s going on.” Ornna said, “Y'all just came in here, started throwing accusations at me. Gustav got arrested. Bosun got arrested. Molly got arrested--I’m glad you got off that. But to be perfectly honest, this whole thing’s a shit show. And the circus is probably not going to be the same after this.”She looked frustrated, and pissed, but she didn’t seem to be lying.“I think she’s telling the truth.” Jester muttered.“Ornna, you might as well come clean, this is classic you.” Mollymauk said, borderline sarcastically. Ornna shot him a warning look.
“Molly.”
“I’m just trying to–““Fuck you.”“Oh, fuck you, too. It’s no secret that Ornna and Gustav have their differences, but this is ridiculous. I mean, she knows damn well that half the circus would leave if he got fucking arrested and died.” Mollymauk defended. Ornna looked between us.“You’re for real worried about this?” Ornna asked, exasperated. “You really think who it could be? Let’s play.” She settled into her seat, collecting herself. “Gustav: he’s an idiot. But he’s not a murderer. Bosun: bit of a dick. But he’s a stand up fella. Toya: absolute doll. Couldn’t hurt a fly. Mona and Yuli: They’re cunts. But they’re not going to kill anyone. Desmond’s a weird fellow. There’s something dark in his past; you can see it in his melancholy.”“But this is not his style.” Mollymauk argued. But Nott was already on it;“It’s Desmond! Let’s go to his tent!”“Not again—” I moved to block Nott as Mollymauk reached out and grabbed her by the back of her cloak."There’s some untrustworthy intelligence in those lizard eyes of that devil.” Ornna continued, unbothered. Jester nodded.“I did get a very evil kind of vibe off him.” She agreed. Molly looked over to her, questioning. “What do you mean ‘evil kind of vibe’?”Jester shrugged.“Well, I mean, he’s a fiend.”“He’s what?”“The devil toad guy. He’s a fiend.”Mollymauk sputtered.“That’s just a name. It’s not actually, like, real thing. That just–““Jester cast Detect Good and Evil, we were checking the tents.” I said, realization dawning.There was silence as the Circus folk looked at each other, unreadable expressions on their faces“…You guys know he’s a fiend, right?” Jester asked.
They didn’t.
Through the stunned silence, Ornna spoke first.“He’s supposed to be lizardfolk.” She murmured.“What do you–“
“It’s the lizard man!”
Mollymauk grabbed Nott fully and pushed her into the ground, holding her against the dirt and shushing her.“Shhshhshh not yet.”“We’re cracking this case wide open!” Nott chirped, seemingly unbothered that she’d been taken down in a span of a second.“A bit dramatic, but can’t argue results.” I finally said, wide-eyed from Molly’s move.Suddenly, from outside the tent we heard a voice yelling out.“Damon? Damon!?”Silence.Jester peeked outside the tent, the group of us rushing to join her. Outside, the guards were flat on the ground, gurgling—veins bulging and moving as if something were crawling inside them.  Beau pushed past us and ran toward the nearest guard, stopping short as his throat split open and began transforming into the zombie creature we’d fought before.“Oh no! We have to fight them.” Jester cried. Beau pushed us back inside.“Yeah, but get under the tent! We can get the drop!”Just as Beau is pushing us inside, I spot Caleb running our way, Fjord on his tail.“Girls, we’re not supposed to be here.” I heard Molly speak, turning to see him addressing the Knot Sisters, “Can you help us handle this?”“Fuck no!”Mollymauk sighed heavily.“We’ll do what we can. If something goes wrong, nudity usually works.”I didn’t have the energy to laugh as the sound of the mutated guards drew closer.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

I could hear the approaching footsteps of the guards, and took a place closer to the entrance of the tent, at Beau’s side. My double-bladed scimitar was drawn and held defensively in front of me as I readied to strike.We could hear the footsteps of the zombies rushing near us. The monsters startled the guards’ horses, who let out a loud whinny and took off, dashing away from the circus.  “Damn it!” Caleb swore. Beau turned to Jester, Molly, and I.“Fucking– we probably shouldn’t kill crownsguard, even if it’s a zombie. Should we go after the toad?”“We should probably kill the zombies because anybody that gets bitten by a zombie turns into another zombie!” Jester whispered.“I don’t want to be a guard killer—"“I don’t want to be a fucking zombie.” Molly argued. “Doesn’t matter if they were guards—they’re not anymore!” I agreed.Beau ran out of the tent, rushing to the nearest zombie. She swung her staff at his knees, trying to sweep him. A crack of wood and a clang of metal sounded off as the guard’s metal armor halted the blunt attack. The creature’s burning red eyes turned sharply to Beau.“You fucking broke my stick!” Beau yelled, elbowing the creature in the face. The hit landed, the creature’s unhinged jaw partially dislodging, swaying from the blow. Beau swung a punch at his face and the creature caught her fist mid-punch, dragging her forward to bite her arm. Without control of its jaw, the bite wasn’t effective.   I darted forward to the same creature, flanking it. I swung down on the back of its knees, hacking halfway through. With a spin, I sliced with the other side of my scimitar, causing the creature to buckle to the ground, struggling to keep upright and dropping Beau’s arm in the process.A white ball of light crashed past me and into the creature’s shoulder. It rears back from the hit, ice shards coalescing around the outside of the armor, the impact almost burning cold as mist rises like smoke from the wound. The creature’s angered hissing becomes a high pitched screech as the ice spreads over its body. The weakened knees and the ice on its upper body causes it to topple forward, motionless and silenced.“Fuck yeah.” I said, already looking to the next zombie.As soon as I set my eyes on it, Mollymauk was there, scimitars spinning deftly. He slammed both blades simultaneously into the side of the creature, cutting a v-shape into the upper torso, its arms hanging limply by strands of gore, black sand spilling from its wounds.The creature lunged wildly at Molly, its bulging red eyes suddenly black as thick tears of blood began to spill down its sunken face. In its rush, the creature swung wide and Molly was able to duck out of the way. The creature’s arms swung loosely, slamming into Molly as the creature turned around, throwing Molly to the ground.“Ow.”“Shit shit shit!” I heard Nott hiss behind me as she ran past. She fired a crossbow bolt, piercing through the creature’s chest. The bolt was left stuck inside of it, sticking out the other side. Fjord charged past us to the barely surviving zombie. He flipped his falchion in hand so it was pommel up. It began to glow with black, thick energy. As it powered up it began to crackle with bolts of purple lashing out. The Eldritch Blast leaped from Fjord’s falchion to the zombie, pushing it back a step as it hit. Its armor breastplate was dented inwards from the blast. Fjord looked around at us, wildly, “We need to drop this fucker and get the hell out of dodge!”Beau nodded, vaulting off the corpse of the zombie we had defeated and leaping down next to the other. Beau slammed her staff onto the zombie’s head, denting the creature’s helmet in and further disfiguring its face. “Ugh, die!”Beau roundhouse kicked the creature in the face, its neck snapping back and hanging down. The creature tried to snarl, but its ripped windpipe caused it to make a horrible choking sound.I copied Beau’s move, vaulting off of the creature at my feet and landing at her side. I brought my scimitar down—not unlike she did—but this time aiming for its opened neck. The creature hobbled, causing me to miss as it turned to growl at me. I came down with the other end of my scimitar and sliced its head cleanly off.It fell to the ground with a wet thump, its choking sounds intensifying as the body wobbled. I stabbed it again with my staff, tipping the lifeless body over backwards. It fell to the ground and immediately began disintegrating into black sand and inky-looking acid.“Fucking A.” I breathed, forcing myself to relax my shoulders, “Now we know to go for the head.”I saw Mollymauk in the corner of my eye begin to push himself to his feet. I walked over and held out a hand, helping him yank himself upright.“Ooh! Hold on! I may have a healer’s kit!” Jester rushed out of the tent towards us.“It’s not too bad.” Molly said, adjusting his shoulders. He lolled his head around, cracking his neck. It sounded painful, but he looked unphased—however, I noticed a splatter of blood on the side of his neck.Jester was pulling out all of her items—most of which were art supplies and pastries.“You have a six pack of donuts, but you don’t have a healer’s kit in there? And you’re the cleric? I’m confused.” Beau commented.I reached into my alchemy pouch and pulled out a Healing Drought.“I’m the cleric?” Jester said, “What is this? I’ve never traveled with a bunch of people that I thought would die in front of me, okay? I never needed a healer’s kit before.”I handed it wordlessly to Mollymauk. He took the bottle, recognizing it from the earlier battle, and downed it without a word.“Well, congratulations, you’re the cleric now.”Beau held out a Healer’s Kit to Jester. Jester gasped loudly, her eyes wide.“You have a healer’s kit!? Oh my gosh. I’ve always wanted one of these for so long!”“Here, it’s a gift. Congratulations-on-you-being-in-a-new group gift.”“Yes!--How do I use this, though?”“You can check it out back at the room. Gave Molly a potion that should tide him over.” I called.“Besides having the wind knocked out of me, I’m fine.” He agreed, trying to hand me the empty vial back. It disappeared in his hands, which he seemed momentarily surprised about before a clear look of curiosity overtook him.“If you have a bandaid in there though, he did get a small open wound to the neck.” I said, pointing at my own neck. Jester nodded and began rummaging through the kit.“Not a concern.” Molly waved it off. He still took the bandaid Jester held out to him.“Great, now let’s get out of here before we get blamed again.” I said, suddenly rushing the group.“Where’s Nott?” Caleb asked, looking around. We saw Nott exit from Toya and the Demon Toad’s old tent, Frumpkin rushing up to her.Beau dropped down and started searching the dead guards.“Serasai is right, we should get out of here soon though because guards could be coming.” Jester warned.“Did anybody see what happened or where that hellish toad went?” Fjord asked. Jester nodded.“It jumped off that way.” She pointed.“You saw it?”“Yeah.”New voices caught our attention as the Knot twins emerged from their tent.“Where are the guards, the rest of them? Are more coming or is this all of them?” One asked.“There’s probably more coming, I would think.” Jester said.“We can’t be here.” Fjord said.“Do you think we should run?” The other Knot sister asked.“We should hide the evidence.” Beau suggested.“How?” I gestured around. Their bodies left clear traces of black along the ground.“I don’t know!...they’ve got a longsword each, six gold pieces, and four silver pieces.” Beau said, standing.“Ooh!” Jester went wide-eyed over the money.“We shouldn’t take the longswords. Hard to hide and could probably be traced back as belonging to crownsguard.” I rattled off the warning instinctively.“Does anyone even know how to use a longsword?” Jester questioned.“I do.” I said.“Oh.”“I don’t want to get these folk in any more trouble. How far is it from here to the lake?” Fjord said, getting us back on track, “I say we could drag them and throw them into the lake to avoid suspicion on the carnival.”“The carnival is lakeside, and the crownsguard are looking for a scapegoat. We’ll be under suspicion either way.” Molly said, bitterly.I looked around at the group, making sure everyone was together. This was starting to feel like herding cats. Speaking of cats, our cat-lover is missing.“Where’s Caleb?” I asked. Beau looked up.“I thought he was with Fjord.”“He was.” Fjord said, looking around, “Nott, have you seen Caleb?”“He was right here, looking for Nott earlier.” I sighed, annoyed. Speaking of…“No, not yet. Is he okay? Did he live? Did everyone live?” Nott asked, looking around wildly.“Yeah, nobody took any hard hits.” Beau shrugged.“You got his little cat right there on your shoulder.” Fjord pointed. Nott looked over to Frumpkin, almost surprised.“Oh yes I do, hi. Yeah, so he can’t be far.” Nott nodded.“We need to get out of here. We need to follow after that toad.”“Okay. There’s horses around here, let’s steal them!”“…That’s actually not a terrible idea.”Jester clapped her hands together, perking up.“Ooh good, we can put Molly on the back of the wagon. That way we can get him out of here. And the guards’ bodies, too! That way we can drop them off away from the carnival and people won’t think it’s related!”“Oh my god, you are so speaking my language.” Beau breathed, eyes wide. Jester smiled.“I’m a very wise person.” She nodded, sagely.“It could work! Let’s do it!” I said.“Who wants to help me with the one totally charred body?” Fjord asked, already moving towards the corpses.“I’ll do it!” Jester said, skipping over.The rest of us watched as the adorable tiefling lifted the charred body easily. I felt my jaw go slack, shocked at the impressive show of strength. Even Fjord looked surprised.“…Shit. Never would have known.” He muttered.Beau grabs the other body and I move to help her. Ornna comes up to us and assists in throwing it into a cart, while the Knot sisters watched from a distance.“Might I point out real quick,” Nott began, “Up to this point we are fugitives who haven’t committed a crime. But starting now we will be fugitives who have committed crimes. Are we sure we want to do this?”“I mean it’s either that or leave the carnival and take the fall for what is two dead crownsguard.” Fjord said, shrugging.“Being treated like criminals isn’t much of an incentive to not be criminals.” I muttered, leaning against the cart.“That’s a telling insight.”I jumped, whipping around to see Molly smirking over my shoulder, having already been in the back of the cart without me even noticing.“Scared the shit out of me, stop grinning about it!” I shouted, annoyed. Mollymauk just smiled wider.“You’re a little jumpy, aren’t you?” I saw his tail flick as he asked. I went to say something, but stopped again as Caleb appeared at my side.“We going?” He asked.“Yeah, Beau is hooking up the horses.” I explained, shooting Molly another look as I spoke. He looked away from me quickly and I followed his eyes to see the Knot sisters running southeast.“They’re outies.” Jester called.“Should I shoot them?” Nott questioned, holding up her crossbow.“They’re okay.” Molly said, and Nott lowered her crossbow. Molly vaulted over the side of the kart and pulled out his scimitar. He headed over towards the horses and started riling them up, getting ready to go.Beau sat atop the cart, reins in hand, as the rest of us began to pile in. I began covering the bodies in tarps and piles of rope that were already in the cart, as I saw Ornna walk up to us.“I think I should stay here.” She said.“Are you sure?” Jester asked, concerned.“What, and be a fugitive?” Ornna shook her head, “I can explain what happened. Hopefully.”“What are you going to say to them?”“Exactly what happened. The same thing that turned these guards ran off and you’re hoping to stop it.”“Don’t say that we were here!” Jester warned, “Don’t mention we were here. That’s pretty important, I think.”“Yeah?” Ornna looked at the group of us.“You couldn’t see us in the low light, but they chased after whatever caused this.” Fjord said. Ornna nodded slowly.“Okay. I can do that. I can’t leave Gustav and Bosun in prison to take the fall for this.”“We’ll get them out of it.” Jester promised.Caleb looked over the battlefield.“Would you have the abilities to burn these things up the way we did? Are you capable? Could you have killed these things? Is that believable for people who know you?”“I’m quite good with fire. That’s not entirely impossible.” Ornna said, unphased by Caleb’s rapid-fire questions.“Ornna, is there anything else that you can think of that could possibly help us?” Beau asked, “Like why this toad decided to freak out right now? Anything that comes to mind before we go chase after your mess.”“Any previous episodes of this kind?” Fjord agreed. Ornna shook her head.“No. Never trusted anything that looked the way Kylre did.” My eyes narrowed, but I said nothing, “Everyone seemed to put a lot of trust in him. Gustav did. Toya did. I don’t know if this is still a misunderstanding, but–” She pointed back to the leftover carnage on the battlefield, “Just get this figured out, please. This is all I have left.”She stood alone in the middle of the empty encampment, back turned on us as she looked at the ripped tents and ashes.“…We’ll try and find some evidence that will exonerate you and we’ll return.” Fjord said.“We need to find evidence to exonerate us.” Jester sighed.“Sorry that we thought that you did it! Briefly!” Nott apologized. Ornna shrugged.“It’s okay. It’s hard for some folks to trust carnival folk. Just as hard as it is for some folks to trust little green folk.”Nott shrunk down into the cart, looking sheepish.“We should really get to stepping.” Fjord said.“Let’s get moving then!” I called.Fjord hopped on to one of the horses and began following the road as best we could in the direction the devil toad had hopped in. I saw Molly give Ornna a nod goodbye before slipping down into the cart. I was sitting next to Jester and Caleb, Nott and Molly across from us.“Where are we going?” Nott asked.“In the direction the toad leapt.” Fjord’s voice came from up ahead.“Are we really chasing the toad right now? We did just fight a lot of zombies.” Jester said.“Maybe we can at least find him, stake him out.” Beau suggested.“I mean, we are all at pretty good health.” I mused. But I’d only have two more Healing Droughts to use.“We might need to play it by ear.” Fjord said. Jester nodded.“Fjord, I’m trusting you!” Jester declared. Fjord chuckled.“If it’s too dangerous, we’ll stand down. How about that?”“Okay!”“Also I have a cat.” Caleb said.I raised a brow, most of the party equally confused.“Yeah, it’s cute.” Jester said, breaking the silence.“That’s not what I mean. If we catch up to them, my cat can follow and I can watch.”“Ohhh.” I hummed, understanding.“Yeah, you blanked out there for a second.” Fjord said.“If we find them, then we assign Frumpkin to the case and I will lean against a tree. Nott will keep watch over me and we will know where it goes.”“We’re going with them, then?” Nott asked.“Yeah, let’s follow the direction that the toad went.” Jester said.“Cats love toads.” Beau said, agreeing. I snorted.“I like it. It’s a good plan. This is definitely not going to backfire. Let’s go!”//The horses picked up and began heading northward towards the Ustaloch. Once we were far enough away from the carnival, we dropped the charred bodies off. Fjord and Caleb set them out so it looked like they were on patrol when they had been turned into zombies.Before long we reached the southern edge of the Ustaloch. I could see the muddy shore and the retreating edge of the water. One of the moons shone down on the Ustaloch, only a slight breeze causing sound besides our cart’s movement.Beau pointed out into the water.There was a boat that was about a hundred feet out on the water. There were two figures that were in the boat. I couldn’t see the other end of the lake with how large it was, almost looking like the ocean if not for its brown color. There was a giant mass in the center of the lake, the exact shape was difficult to make out in the low lighting.“An island?” I questioned.“Or a giant toad sitting in the water?” Jester suggested.“That would be a very big toad.” Molly said.“It’s far away on the horizon, the little bump? And there’s two figures on a boat about a hundred yards out.” Beau said.“Can they see us?” Jester asked, nervously.“Not well.” I shrugged.“We’re going to have to ditch this wagon anyway because we’ve got tracks.” Fjord pointed out.“No time like the present?” Molly suggested.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Hey, let’s not ditch the cart until we know what we’re doing.” I said, hand up, calling for a pause, “How are we getting out to the island?” “There’s the one out there with the two fishermen. All the ones at the docks are tied up and locked by this time of night.” Caleb said. “Damn.”“Even if we find this thing, if we rest camping out then we’re not at the tavern.” Beau warned. Fjord nodded, and squinted up at the sky.“Yeah, we got like four hours until sunrise.” Fjord looked to the group of us, “How do we feel about the knowledge that it’s somewhere here in the lake, perhaps, or the other side? Circling back tomorrow? At least we’ll avoid suspicion if we’re at the inn.” “Do we think it’ll stay? Or would it continue fleeing?” I asked.“It’s anyone’s guess.” Fjord shrugged. “…This whole time I’ve been sitting with this.” Mollymauk murmured, looking out at the loch.“As we’re deciding on a course of action, I feel like I should mention, it costs some ten gold pieces worth of charcoal, incense, and herbs to transform Frumpkin’s shape. So he’s a cat for the foreseeable future.” Caleb interrupted. “You need incense?” Molly perked up, looking away from the loch and rummaging through his bag. “Here.” “Do you have charcoal?” Caleb asked.“I’m sure we can find some charcoal.” Fjord said.“Isn’t this impressive enough that I happen to have some incense?” Molly said, a brow raised.“Technically, parts of that guard’s body are charcoal now.” Beau said, gesturing vaguely back to the burned guards. “Charcoal isn’t hard to find.” I said, “Or you and Nott could go shopping tomorrow.” …It should probably have been disturbing that none of us were bothered by Beau’s suggestion. “Let’s go maintain the illusion of innocence for the evening.” Molly said, hopping out of the wagon. “Should we walk the cart off?” Beau suggested. Jester nodded.“Yeah, yeah, yeah!”“And leave it outside town as we’re making our way back.” Fjord said, “Maybe give the horse a little spank on the ass and send it on its way.”“See where it goes. I like that.” Beau agreed.“Shall we?” Beau and Fjord began to set the horses loose as the rest of us stood by. Caleb was on my right, looking thoughtful.“That random book about fiends has all the answers about the fiend we’re chasing. Let’s go get it.” “A book about fiends?” I looked over, “That would be perfect.”“Xhorhas.”The two of us looked at Molly at his interruption. “It’s a creature from Xhorhas. I’m pretty sure, I don’t know. We’ll see. God, I’m remembering something.” He shook his head, almost disgusted at his memory. “Have you fought these creatures before?” I asked, hopefully.“I can’t remember. Probably? I must have.” A thud caught our attention, Beau having hit the horse with a branch. She was just barely able to duck out of the way of the horse’s kick.“Beau, what the fuck. Don’t stand behind an animal you’re hitting!” I sighed, tiredly. Molly went to stand beside it, trying to calm the animals, but had no luck. A sudden crack and snarling sound behind us startled the horses off—almost startling me, myself, until I saw Jester’s eyes aglow. She’d conjured the sound.“There we go.” Fjord nodded in approval.“Back to the Inn!” Nott agreed, sidling up to Caleb and beginning the march back to town.//We managed to make it to the Nestled Nook Inn without any prying eyes noticing us, just as dawn began to break.I splashed water on my face, wiping away the smudged makeup from my disguise. When I was done, I collapsed onto my bedroll.  It must’ve been afternoon, at least, by the time fists banging on our door woke us up.“Jester!” Beau hissed.“Is that our door?”“I think so.”“Hold on, I’m naked!”“Yeah, hold on, she’s naked! Do you want to get it? Or should I get it?”“I’ll get it!”“Maybe I should get it--”“--Hello!”Hearing the door open, I forced myself to stand up, nearly stopping in my tracks at the sight of the two guards and a familiar old man behind them.“…Did you come back to play some games?”“No. We came to tell you that you’ll be needed for the investigation and questioning within the next three hours to arrive at the behest of the Lawmaster at the stockade.” “Why didn’t you just come and get us when you were ready for us?” Beau asked. It didn’t look like Beau had recognized the old man standing with the guards, but a glance between Jester and I proved that we did.It was the old man we’d stolen from last night. “…Well, you know, we might want to brush our teeth.” Jester said.“Does that take you three hours?” “No. Now we have time to–““Do these three look familiar?” The guard asked, turning to the old man. The old man looked between us, glaring at Jester, then quickly shaking his head.“No. This is different filth .” His hard gaze was on Jester before he looked away with distaste.  “Hey—” I put a hand on Beau’s shoulder, stopping her. The guard looked up, almost visibly holding in a tired sigh.“Understood. We’ll be back in three hours.” With that, they shut the door. I pushed past, pressing my ear close to the doorway to hear them approaching the boys’ room.I looked to Jester, eyes wide.“They’re going to blame Molly.”I pushed the door open and followed them down the hall—yelling had already begun.“It’s THAT ONE! That devil stole my money!”If looks could kill, Molly would be on the floor. The old man was in his face, Molly standing with an unwavering grin. Fjord pushed between the two of them, firmly separating them both.“We’ve been here all night—I’ve been with him, I can vouch for his character.” Fjord assured, looking to the guards. “We’ll search his person to be sure.” Mollymauk lifted his arms, his annoyance starting to peek through. The guard approached him, looking briefly tentative at the sight of his scimitars. “First you accuse me of destroying my own carnival and then you accuse me of theft. Really reaching for a reason to lock me up, aren’t we?” “Stand back.” The other guard put a hand out toward me, stopping me from entering the room any further.“We were also with him all night and can assure you he didn’t steal anything.” I argued. “There is some money in his possession.”“My money. From my job. At the carnival that was destroyed.” Molly deadpanned.“He’s lying, it’s what devils do!” “We aren’t actually devils, technically, we’re Tiefling, which is different, technically.” Jester said. “What exactly is the cause for this investigation?” Caleb interrupted.“He was robbed last night, and his wallet was found empty outside the tavern he was in, on the ground. He recalls speaking to your friend, and no one else.”“Well that’s impossible since we stayed in all night. You were guarding us, so you surely know that.” Caleb said. We all looked to the guard.“…be that as it may, we should bring your friend in for official questioning.”“You have no evidence!” I argued. “But if there’s any possibility that he has been leaving the Inn, then its possible there could be interference in the investigation. We’re bringing him in. We’ll be back in three hours.”“Three hours!?” Jester gasped.“Is asking him a couple of questions really going to take three hours?” Beau asked. “We will return to collect you for jury summons at that time.” The guard answered. The one nearest me began to pull out chains.The fakest grin I’ve ever seen spread across Mollymauk’s face as he held out his wrists.“Could we come along? Keep an eye on him, as his friends, it’d be a comfort.” Fjord asked, evenly. “If you want to go with, it’ll be in chains.” “--I’m good staying here.” Beau said, nodding. I could feel Jester’s eyes on me, looking to me for the lead. I stood, expressionless, letting her know without a word that confessing the truth right now would be a bad idea.The guards shuffled the old man out first, who was still glaring at Mollymauk, looking hardly satisfied. The guards escorted Molly out the door, past Jester, Beau, and I. He was grinning but I could practically feel the rage emanating from him. Memories of the last time we’d gone in for questioning came forward, and, although I prayed he would, I knew he wouldn’t keep his mouth shut. Some snarky comment was going to get him into even deeper trouble. And it was all my fault.The group of us gathered in Fjord’s room, Caleb and Nott quickly joining us. The door shut behind them....“That was us wasn’t it.” I looked over to Jester who was looking at me, expression unreadable, but her tail noticeably still.“Yes.” I sighed. “What was?” Nott asked, popping up between us. “That was…? Did you two steal from that mean old guy?”“It was Serasai’s idea, technically.” Jester said.“Okay, what did you steal?” Beau asked. Her ‘done’ tone of voice just rubbed me the wrong way.“That old man’s wallet because he was being a racist dick to Mollymauk.” I snapped. “I thought if he tried to pin it on us he’d be looking for a Wood Elf and disguised-Jester, but clearly the racism won out! Molly doesn’t know anything about it.”“He was a bit of a dick.” Nott said.“But now we’re down a fighter and that Toad’s still out there.” Fjord said. Beau nodded. “Not to mention Molly seems to be one of our strongest. He’s taken out two of the zombies!” She held up two fingers for emphasis.“We don’t know that he won’t come back yet.” I said, but even as I spoke I was worried about his chances.“We should wait and see if he returns before we move out.” Caleb said. Fjord turned to me.“When did you even learn to pickpocket?” “I have deft hands! For potioneering!” “...”Silence met my lame excuse.  “It’s a science!” I exclaimed, defensively.“Sera. I’m not blaming you for this, though maybe I should.” Fjord began, “We just gotta know if this is going to be a repetitive thing. Nott spoke up already, told us she enjoys ‘collecting,’ and we all let that be. We just need to know why and how often we should be expecting this from you.”I looked around the room. All eyes were on me. “I don’t owe you an explanation.” I said. Fjord opened his mouth to say more, but I hurried on. “I want to make that clear; we are strangers. Being part of this doesn’t change that I don’t know you—““—We don’t know you either.” Beau argued.“Let me finish.” I waited to be sure I’d be heard. “ ...I saw Molly being treated unfairly, and I don’t stand by when someone is being treated that way because of how they look. I couldn’t fight the old guy, what was left to do?”“Taking justice into our own hands isn’t necessarily our decision to make.” Caleb began, carefully choosing his words.“That’s what we’ve been doing this whole time, if I’m correct. Taking the investigation into our own hands.” I argued. But somehow between us, our voices had calmed.“So you stole his cash because he was a racist dick?” Beau asked.“Yeah.”She leaned back, resting against the bed.“I’m good with it.” Beau shrugged. Fjord gave a tired sigh, looking at me, sizing me up.“I get where you’re coming from, really, I do, but we were already in a situation with all of this. Committing a crime while we were already committing a crime was gutsy, and now we’re down a fighter.”“It was like a crime within a crime. Crime-ception!” Nott said, eyes wide. Jester took a step forward.“I’m really sorry, Fjord. It was just--we just--we wanted to be there for Molly, you know? And he’s our friend, and that guy. Did you hear that guy? That guy was being a dick. Like a huge dick.” Jester stumbled, looking up at Fjord with wide eyes. Fjord sighed again, looking over at her. I couldn’t tell if it was from a soft spot or if the reminder that Jester was a Tiefling too had anything to do with it, but he nodded. Jester immediately perked up and smiled.“We are in agreement that we wait for Mollymauk’s return before we take action?” Caleb asked. The group of us nodded. “Great.” Beau stood up, stretching. “More time to kill. I’m going back to sleep first, then food.” “We’ll join up with you all for a late breakfast, then. I’ve got an errand to run.” Caleb said.“The book?” I asked. He nodded.“Do you want to join us?”I was surprised by his quiet question.“Any other time, I would, but I’m setting another potion to brew. But thank you.”Caleb nodded, and exited the room, Nott in tow. Just as they rounded the corner I could see Nott excitedly hitting Caleb on the arm. The rest of us separated, many going back to sleep. I began silently brewing another healing potion, the last one completed and tucked away into my bag. //Our breakfasts down in the tavern were beginning to feel familiar. As I sat between Jester and Beau, Caleb and Nott came wandering in. They were both beaming--a rare sight from either of them, but especially Caleb.“Why are you guys so happy?” Jester asked, scooching over so they could pull up chairs.“Good shopping run. Where did you get 13 gold?” Caleb turned to Nott. Nott shrugged, grinning.“I’ve always had it, you never asked for any.”“Good to know.” Caleb chuckled, “I don’t need to know anythingmore, I’m just happy that you have it. I’m thankful.”“I collect things. Among them are pieces of gold. I have more!” Nott said, excitedly. Caleb reached over and gently squeezed her cheeks, before opening his coat and taking out a new book.“Ooh! You made my cheeks all green!” Nott huffed.“Can I look at one of your books?” Jester asked.“Yeah, go away.” I raised a brow at Caleb’s response.“Is that a yes? You said yes.” Jester began to reach for it but Caleb suddenly shoved the book into his pants, attempting to keep it from her. Jester blinked, and then continued reaching, Caleb pushing her hands away.“Hey now.” He warned. Jester sat back on her stool.“He gets like this when he’s studying,” Nott explained, “He gets very focused, it’s best not to disturb him.”Squinting at Jester, Caleb pulled his book back out and began to read. I finished eating, idly watching Jester try to crane to read the book as Caleb shuffles further into the corner.“I was thinking that if we get out of there tonight, fingers crossed, we should probably think about acquiring some sort of vessel to explore the lake tonight.” Fjord said suddenly.“We can definitely steal a boat.” Jester said.“I think there’s been enough stealing for now.” Fjord said. My expression soured.“I could ask--"“--I may be able to arrange free passage on a vessel.” Fjord said. I stopped to listen.“What, how?”“I have a little knack with, you know.” He shrugged, looking proud, but trying to be nonchalant. Jester, however, is the opposite of nonchalant.“He was a sailor! That’s how I met him!” Jester bounced up in her chair.“Well, for a bit.”“Wow, that’s pretty cool. Just like Sera.” Beau said. Fjord, Caleb, and Nott looked to me in confusion.“You were a sailor?” Fjord asked.“I spent some time on a ship, never felt right to call myself a sailor, though.” I said, carefully. “How long was that for?” Caleb asked.“A little over a year.”Fjord nodded.“I worked for a few years. What did your ship mostly trade in?” He asked. I couldn’t tell if it was pure curiosity or partial interrogation.“We helped move scrap. A lot of injuries happened aboard, so I made myself useful with my healing potions.” I saw Caleb yank his book away from Jester, who had stuck her face in it at the first given opportunity.“What is your book about?”“Oh, this is about grumpkins and periwinkles.” He said, sarcastically. Jester gasped loudly.“Those are my favorite! Are there drawings of them?” “Occasional drawings. There’s no penises drawn in this book so I don’t think you’d be interested.” Caleb said, a small, snarky grin on his face.“Anything on the demon toad?” I asked, grateful for the change of topic.“Quiet please, I’m still reading.” Beau groaned.“Caleb, we’re bored! Tell us a story!”“No.” Nott put her hands down on the table, loudly, catching our attention.“So Fjord and Sera, you’re very acquainted with seamen then? Having been on the water for so long?” I facepalmed, sighing into my hand at the familiar joke.“Sure am! Yep.” Fjord chirped.“Have you heard that joke a lot?” Beau asked. “Yes.” I groaned. Fjord nodded. “I have. It gets funnier every time, though, I got to say. It’s all in the delivery.” “Debatable.” Jester shrugged, “He laughed at it the first 20 times I said it to him.”“So wait, do you seamen have cloisters in Trostenwald?” Beau asked.“Are there clusters of seamen around you at all times?” Nott asked. Fjord got up and began to walk away. “Don’t leave me to this!” I gestured to the group. “Wow, you and Fjord sure are different for both being sailors. Come from different places.” Nott began. “Where do seamen come from?”“Fucking hell.” I pushed Nott gently on the shoulder, making her stumble into Caleb, who looked up at us all with annoyance.“Ooh, domino effect. Nice.” Beau nodded. Fjord returned to the table as Caleb huffed, pulling up his book.“Something to share with the class?” I asked. Caleb looked down at the text.“I mean, it’s chock-a-block with a lot of things, most of it probably untrue and stories to scare your children, but there is some sort of demon that is described as being fat and rotund, and it talks about– I mean, this is too coincidental, it can’t be the thing that we’re– what are the odds of something being in this book, and it’s what we’re chasing today? But this is describing some sort of scaled demon that feeds on people in the night, when they’re sleeping, and it leaves corrupted, undead corpses behind, known as husks.”Jester jumped up, pointing at Caleb and the book.“That is what they look like. They look like husks!”“They did look like husks.” Beau agreed.“And we didn’t see anybody it fed on.” Fjord added.“What’s it called? The toad guy?” Jester asked.“Well, if it’s what’s described in this book, it’s called a nergaliid.” Caleb said, carefully sounding out the name. “Once again, I have no idea if this is the creature that we’re in pursuit of, but this talks about it not eating food, but siphoning the life off of mortal creatures, but not to the point ofdeath or harming them. They might not even notice that it’s happening.” “During their sleep?” I questioned, a growing feeling of dread.“Yes.”Jester gasped, and I knew she’d realized it too.“That’s what was happening to Toya. Maybe all of the circus performers.”Caleb nodded.“It says that this thing has two types of feeding: one is slow and unnoticeable, maybe, and one is quick with much pain and anguish.”“Does it say anything about it hiding in water?”“No.”“Does it say anything about it liking the sound of song?”“It does not.”“Is it related at all to the periwinkles you were talking about before?” Caleb elected not to answer that question. “I think we saw both the fast and the slow feeding methods.” Fjord reasoned. “Does it say how to kill it?” Jester asked. “Yeah, weaknesses? Vulnerabilities?” “Would it be the same as the husks?” I questioned. “Well, most fiends are weak to holy damage, right?” Jester asked, partially to herself, face squinting up as she tried to recall. A sound at the entrance alerted us to the two guards that had come in earlier coming through the main door. It was much earlier than the three hours we had anticipated. A third figure made it’s way in behind them--another guard. Not Molly.They rushed in and glanced around the room, spotting us and making a beeline to our table in a rush.“You are absolved of meeting this afternoon. We’ll pick this up tomorrow.”“What’s going on?” Jester asked.“Where’s Mollymauk?” I asked.“There have been a series of murders within the Crownsguard that we are investigating as well. This will be part of the investigation tomorrow, you are not to leave this inn. Your friend is being detained for later questioning in light of this new investigation.”
Shit.
“But we could help. Obviously, we had nothing to do with it if people are hurt outside and we were here the whole time!” Jester argued. “How are we absolved yet we still have to be locked in this inn!?” Beau said, anger rising.“You are absolved of it today. We’re still going to come by tomorrow and have you questioned. We’ve arrested Ornna and we have members of the carnival that have fled that we’re currently seeking at the moment.” Beau leaned back in her seat.“You should pick better words next time that are slightly more clear.”“Mollymauk couldn’t have done that while he was in your custody!” I argued, barely containing my anger. “We’ll return tomorrow.” The guards ignored my protests and rushed out the door. ...“Well, our day just got more complicated.” Fjord muttered.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“So what’s our play? Are we gonna break him out??” Nott asked, looking anxious at her own idea.

“No. It won’t do us any good for us all to get caught.” Fjord shook his head.

“We’ve gotta go after that shit, though.” Beau said, gesturing to the door, “We know that toad’s what’s causing these husk-zombies, it has that kid, we gotta go catch it and kill it before it hops off and leaves us in this mess.”

“Agreed.” Caleb said.

“We don’t have a lot of other options. We might be down a fighter, but we’ve still got it outnumbered.” Fjord said.

“And we beat all of its husks before, how bad could it be?” Jester asked, looking optimistic.

“We still gotta find it and hope it didn’t leave yet.” I reminded.

“I could also--Here’s the thing about my cat.” Caleb began. I blinked at the change in topic. “He’s a cat, definitely a cat, but is also a fey creature. If I have an hour, he doesn’t have to be a cat. He can temporarily be a bird.”

“Magic bird.” I muttered.

“How much did you say it costs, though?” Jester asked.

“Well, I have a lot of charcoal now, and Mollymauk gave me some incense last night.” Caleb rummaged through his bag and held up a small satchel covered in designs and gems. If he hadn’t said, I think we all would have assumed it belonged to Molly.

“Are you sure you want to do this, with your cat?” Fjord asked.

“Yes. I prefer him as a cat, to be honest, but in a pinch.”

“Anything else besides a bird? I mean, any kind of creature?”

“Well, not any kind of creature, but I’ve made him an octopus once. There was this one time when Nott was very high up in a burning building and we had no way to get her down.”

Nott nodded.

“I jumped on to the octopus and it served as some sort of a landing pad. It killed the octopus, but I lived!”

“Octopuses are very smart.” Jester said, nodding sagely.

“I think it’s octopi.” Caleb corrected.

“I didn’t say

I

was very smart.”

“It can be killed is an important thing to know.” Fjord began, “I only mean, if it’s important to you, in a moment of danger I would try to save it, but if that’s not important.”

“It can be pricey to keep bringing him back and all that, but he– no, you can’t kill him.”

“Fair enough. That’s very impressive.”

“I’ve tried.” Nott admitted. Caleb nodded, looking tired.

“She’s eaten him twice.”

“I was very hungry.”

“This actually isn’t enough to go off of.” Caleb said, sifting through the incense bag. “This is not a joke; I need to actually go to the incense store.”

“Get ten gold worth of incense?” Jester asked.

“Charcoal and incense, yeah.”

“I’ve been to one of these places, it’s called Natural Remedies. Herbs and medicinal things. It’s up the street a bit.” Nott said. I remembered the store; having spent nearly all my money on components for crafting healing potions. Caleb leaned towards Nott.

“Do you have ten gold?”

“...Maybe.”

“I have ten gold.” Fjord raised his hand.

“You’re going through gold very quickly.” Jester pointed out.

“I could sneak in and grab it for you? Or maybe Sera?” Nott suggested, looking over to me sheepishly. I said nothing, not wanting to snap at Nott. I knew she meant well.

“I could help again?” Jester offered.

“That sounds fun! Since I didn’t get to help the last time, I’d really like another chance to show off my skills.” Nott said, grinning.

“We’re still in trouble with the law, and have learned since the incident with Mollymauk. I don’t want to push that. If we have the gold, that’s the safest path.” Fjord argued. He reached into his pocket and Fjord handed Caleb the gold. Caleb nodded in thanks, and gestured for Nott to follow. The two exited the tavern.

“So what do we do until then?” Beau asked, leaning back in her chair and propping her feet up on the table.

“Wait for them to get back, I guess.” Jester said. She looked wistfully at the stairs and I remembered her running up and down them last night.

“What ship did you sail on?”

I turned to Fjord, dreading his question.

“What ship?”

“Yes, what ship?”

“Tide Trolley.” I answered. I tried everything I could to keep my expression neutral.

“Haven’t heard of it.” He shrugged.

“I’d be surprised if you have.”

“Is that a real ship? ‘Cause it kind of sounds like one you made up, kind of.” Jester asked, cocking her head.

“It was real. I mean, it was kind of tiny, could technically be called a boat instead. But. Yeah.”

A look from Jester made it clear she didn’t believe me, but surprisingly Fjord and Beau seemed to buy it.

“Tide Trolley Scrap Ship.” Beau repeated, testing out the name.

“Alliteration.” Fjord muttered.

“The S.S. T.T.” I smirked.

Jester opened her mouth to make a joke—

“No.” I said, pointing at her.

She shut her mouth but still gave a shit-eating grin.

The group of us continued idle chit-chat until Caleb and Nott’s return. And even then, Caleb only waved before retreating upstairs, wordlessly.

Nott plonked onto a chair next to me.

“He’s going to cast the spell.” She explained.

We nodded, and returned to our talk.

“So, like, we’re not going back towards the coast, but like, if we did, we could go to all our port hometowns and do a bar crawl!” Jester clapped, excitedly.

“Port crawl in the port towns.” Beau approved.

//

Caleb’s return was announced by a frumpy little bird flying down the stairs and landing on Jester’s horn, perching.

“Damn it. Right here?”

“Yes.” Caleb said, sliding into a chair.

“Is his name still Frumpkin, it’s just a bird now?”

“Always Frumpkin, yeah.”

Bird poop slid down Jester’s horn.

“I feel so special and blessed, you guys.” Jester deadpanned.

“That’s good luck, a bird pooping on you.” I said.

“Says who?” Beau asked. I shrugged.

“Is it a High Elf proverb?” Nott asked, amused. I grinned.

“Sure.”

“Is this what we’re doing?” Caleb interrupted, pointing up to Frumpkin. “I can’t go anywhere, I’m going to be blind and deaf, I have to stay still and safe. Try not hit me in the head with too many things. It’ll take a while, but he will go off.”

“Well, if you’d like, you could stay at the inn, or we could acquire that boat and once you’re on board we could send it out as a sort of a recon.” Fjord offered.

“That’s true as well.”

“Do sparrows see in the dark? They’re daytime birds.” Nott said.

“It is daytime right now, it would require us leaving now.” Fjord said.

“I can see in the dark! And that

is

a High Elf thing.” I muttered.

“Can we turn Sera into a bird?” Nott asked.

“I don’t have the means to do that, I’m afraid.” Caleb said.

“Then we should do this quickly before the light goes away, right?”

“I could have done a bat, but it’s too late for that now.”

“We should take advantage of the daytime. Out the windows as we did before?” Fjord asked.

“We could send lumpy frumpkin out first.” Jester said, tilting her head so the bird poop wouldn’t land on her dress.

“Perhaps we should go upstairs–“ Fjord gestured. The group of us stood up and started up the stairs, ducking into what had been Fjord and Molly’s room.

Caleb set himself up on the bed, comfortably, and whispered to Frumpkin. Caleb’s eyes began to glow a very faint sky blue. The light flickered with strange movement, almost as if Caleb’s pupil made up the entirety of his eye, moving to look about.

Frumpkin took flight, soaring out the open window and out to town.

“Yep, there’s that bullshit again.” Fjord said, gesturing from Caleb to his own eyes.

“He can’t communicate with us when he’s like this?” Jester asked.

“He talks. He will talk to you out of the fucking blue.”

“Can he feel if we touch him?” Before any of us could speak, let alone stop her, Jester had poked Caleb on the forehead.

“Ow.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Don’t do that, please, I’m trying to concentrate.”

“Can he tell who did it?” She asked.

Nott shook her head.

“No, he can’t see you.”

Jester grinned widely.

“That’s wonderful.”

“But I will tell him later when he asks.”

“Well, okay, but he won’t know

now

.”

The group of us watched as Caleb stared out into space.

“...”

Nott squatted down on the floor and began rustling around her bag, pulling out some familiar looking equipment.

“Are you doing alchemy?” I asked. Nott looked up, shyly.

“Well, I don’t know if it’s alchemy, since it’s not exactly magical. A little chemistry.”

“What are you making?” I sat down, interested.

“Just a little something. It won’t be done before he comes back, it takes a while.”

I nodded. Even though Nott didn’t say what she was making, from the components in front of her, it was something corrosive. Probably a plain acid.

“I feel that.”

I looked up at Caleb’s voice and saw Jester sitting behind him, braiding his hair.

“I know.”

“And it feels good.”

I look back to see Nott about to make a mistake.

“No—“

My interruption stopped Nott from pouring too much, but she poured just enough at the incorrect time to begin to melt the glass vial it was held in, the inner wall beginning to bubble.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to, I was–“

I reached into my bag and got out my glass vials, ready to catch Nott’s acid in as it melted out.

“Jester, go get a glass of milk, we need a base.”

“Okay!” Jester flew out the doors and down the stairs.

“I’m sorry! I was just trying—“

“It’s ok, Nott. It happens. I’ve done it plenty of times before.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I only summon my acid magically now to avoid it.” I said, chuckling. Jester came back in, milk in hand. I took it from her and dunked the half-melted vials inside of them, quickly placing the cup onto the floor. The milk immediately curdled, a waft of vapors rising and a dark liquid surging up from the bottom of the glass, leaving a milk-colored curdle on top--glass vials peeking out. It came dangerously close to overflowing.

“What are you doing?”

Nott, Jester, and I looked to Caleb as if we were caught red-handed.

“My bad! Alchemy. I have it handled.” I lied.

Caleb was unconvinced and looked over to Nott, who had visibly shrunk, ashamed.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Caleb.”

“Sorry for? What happened?”

“Acid incident, but it’s been contained. No harm no foul.” I explained. Caleb came over to us and examined the glass on the floor.

“No harm no foul.” He echoed, patting Nott on the head. Nott managed a smile, looking relieved.

“Thank you, Caleb. And thank you, Serasai, I don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t here!”

“No trouble at all.”

I considered offering to supply Nott with acid if she needed it, or offer to help her learn more about chemistry, but I stopped myself. I didn’t know how long I’d be with this group, once this circus fiasco was sorted.

“Okay, but that is like, really gross.” Jester said, pointing at the glass.

“Can we ask what you saw?” Fjord asked, turning to Caleb.

“Of course, sorry. Acid.” Caleb gestured, apologizing. I pulled out my gloves for alchemy, and moved the cup to the bathroom to clean up the mess, keeping the door open so I could still hear. “There are two islands out there, a bigger one– they’re not close– and a smaller one. One is bald-ish, a couple of trees, but I couldn’t see too well on either of them. The bigger one is dense with trees. I didn’t see them.”

“Did you have it fly down closer so you could see better?” Jester asked.

“I thought that he would be able to see from the air, and I thought that would be safer, so no, I’m sorry.”

“Was it busy water, was there lots of ships out?” Fjord asked.

“There are some fishing vessels out there, and there are a number of them that are still at the docks.”

“It’s not a lull for any reason?”

“It’s not fleet week.”

“I guess we should go to the big island?” Jester suggested.

“I think that the chances of finding it on the big island are greater, yes.”

I finished cleaning up, trashed the melted vials, and came back to hand the empty cup to Jester. She took it, holding it with two fingers, still grossed out.

“Fair enough. Out the window, shall we?” Fjord gestured to the open window.

“Should we wait until dusky-time?” Jester asked, taking the cup. It was coming up on 5 o’clock. Beau nodded.

“That’s what I’m thinking. Wait until the sun starts to go down? Because it’s got to be soon at this point.”

“But not too late if we’re looking for passage to the islands. Got to have the captains awake.” I reminded.

“Okay. Does anybody else want braids in the amount of time we have to wait?”

“Ooh, yeah! Can you give me one going back this way?” Beau asked.

“Of course, I can totally do that! I’ll be right back!” Jester began skipping out the door.

“I’ll take some little ones, like you did with Caleb’s.” I called after her.

“Is anyone else going to be heading out the front door besides Caleb, Nott, and myself?” Fjord asked, as Jester settled in to do Beau’s hair.

“Jester’s the only other one with that spell.” I said. Upon her return, Fjord repeated the question.

“I don’t want to waste a spell this time.” Jester shook her head.

“I think that’s smart.” Fjord agreed.

Smart to not be the same lady from when we robbed that guy, too.

I thought.

Caleb left the room for a bit, returning by the time Jester was done braiding Beau’s hair and beginning on mine. Caleb began using his silver thread around the room, creating the ward from earlier.

“If anyone goes in to these doors besides you, I will know, but not when we’re on that island. Only on the way there. Lasts about a mile.”

“That’s awesome!” Jester cheered, making me jump.

“That’s great, yeah.” Fjord nodded.

“I don’t want to cast suspicion on the kid, but are we sure that she’s not in league with this demon toad...thing?” Beau asked, looking exasperated. “We just, we gotta be prepared for anything once we find it. The kid might not be too happy when we start fighting it’s friend.”

“But the child is essentially...kidnapped, right?” Fjord began, “It’s doubtful a girl her age is in league with this thing. ...Right?” Fjord looked around at us.

“When we were investigating, we were–“ Nott began.

“We gave them a hard– what was it?” Jester asked.

“Bad Cop.”

“Yeah, Good Cop. I was the good cop.”

“I was the bad cop! Sera was the muscle.”

“What?” I blinked. Jester continued, unperturbed.

“Yeah, and we got hard information from them!”

“You’re not leaving here without telling us the truth!”

Nott re-enacted.

“Yeah, and I was like,

“Don’t worry, she won’t hurt you!”

”

“I’m crazy! I’ll bite her too!”

“Then they fessed up to everything!”

“They were like,

“We’re a fiend!”

and she was like,

“I’m a little girl!”

Yeah, it was crazy.”

“That was how it went.”

“She

confessed

to being a little girl.”

…

The rest of us stood and blinked at the two of them.

“Well, none of that happened.” I began, “But for what it’s worth, the little girl really cared about Mollymauk and the rest of the circus. I don’t think she would be okay with something that would hurt them like this.”

“Do they have any empty positions at the circus for these two?” Caleb murmured, eyes darting from Nott to Jester.

“Unless, and here’s my new theory: the big frog man can leech the life force from people?” Nott clarified.

“If that’s what it is, yeah.”

“What if Toya is a fully-grown adult woman, but he’s been slowly leeching so much life from her that she’s a small husk.” Nott gasped.

“Toya got to the circus after Kylre was already there, I think. She mentioned that Molly showed up around when she did. She would’ve mentioned Kylre too.” I said.

“She’s a tiny full-grown person!”

“She’s a dwarf!” Beau snapped.

“Oh, she’s just a dwarf? Oh, okay, that makes more sense, actually, when you say it that way. It seemed like she was shrunken down from magic!”

“That’s not a thing you should say.” I murmured, facepalming.

“Perhaps this girl Toya is his baby’s bottle, and then once in a while he wants an extra snack.” Caleb said.

“What if he’s like one of those creatures that lives on the bottom of the sea,” Jester began, and honestly, it wasn’t inspiring me to move my hand off of my face. “And she’s not actually even a person, she’s like this light thing that dangles in front of–“

“One of his tentacles!” Nott cheered, pointing at Jester as if she’d cracked the case.

“Yeah!”

“He has tentacles now.” Fjord deadpanned.
“Not just tentacles, dwarf tentacles!” Nott said.
“Okay, first off, the dangling light creature at the bottom of the sea is called an Angler Fish. Secondly, it doesn’t have tentacles, the light dangles in front of its teeth.”

“It’s

dwarf teeth!”

I let myself fall flat onto the bed, face-down, giving up on being the logical one.

“Let’s go. I think we know all we need to know.”

//

“Guys, we have a situation.”

I had stayed face-down on the bed as the others readied themselves to leave. I looked up to see the group and disguised-old-man-Fjord peering out the window.

“Ah shit.” Beau swore.

“Maybe you should go out the front and talk to him and distract him so we can sneak out the window.” Jester suggested. Fjord nodded.

“I can do that. Do you want to come along on this little escapade?” He looked over to Caleb.

“Yes, I’m a good talker when I have to be.” He said.

“As am I.” Nott agreed.

“Not for this.”

“I’ll keep lookout.”

Fjord and Caleb walked out, and we soon saw them appear in the alleyway below. We saw Fjord point wildly, looking panicked, as he led a crownsguard away.

The group of us began our descent. I misjudged my jump and wound up falling onto Beau, who hissed in pain as we landed.

“I am

so

sorry.”

“It’s okay. Just a pop, in the ankle, it’s nothing major.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’ll walk it off.” She grimaced, trying not to show pain.

The group of us heard footsteps approaching and made a run for it down the alleyway. We darted on the outside and made our way down the alley behind a cluster of empty rain barrels, just managing to avoid the sight of the crownsguard on the outside of the inn.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Above us appeared a familiar frumpy bird, and it flew ahead of us. It took a moment for us to realize it was leading the way. We slowly made our way across town and down to the outskirts of the Ustaloch, down to where the majority of the docks were set up on the lake itself. As we’d walked, the lights had begun to peter out, but most of the boats had come back in. They were bringing in their hauls, and had small nets and baskets filled with fish or crustaceans they’ve caught while on the lake. Most of them looked to be in the process of offloading, locking up, and tying off their boats.“I think perhaps the best thing to do is to rent a boat, not steal a boat.” Caleb said. “You guys should talk to people.” Jester said, looking at Fjord and I.“Yes, between us I think we may be able to avoid any kind of trading of currency.” Fjord nodded.“What’s your idea?” Caleb asked. “Let me see if I can find a boat that would accommodate all of us and see if we can find some amicable people.” I scanned the ships docked nearby. One of the larger fishing vessels caught my eye—large enough to comfortably carry a group of our size, pulled in with most everyone else already loaded off.“There.” I directed Fjord’s gaze to the Captain. He was roughly in his mid-forties, a little bit of a five o'clock shadow on his chin, and a small scar across the bottom of it. He had a heavy knitted cap folded back onto the top of his shoulders and a long coat. He must have felt our eyes on him because he looked over at us and watched our group as we approached, Fjord in the lead. “Hello there. I was hoping that perhaps I could trouble you. We’re trying to make our way out into the lake, some of my companions and I, for a small day trip. We’ve never quite been out on the lake, not this one. Is there a chance we could trade some work on your day’s journey for some travel?” Fjord asked. “If you’re looking for someone to take you around the lake, I could do that for a bit of coin, sure.” The Captain said. “I’m sorry, we’re a bit light on coin. Is there perhaps anything we could help you with around here in trade?” I saw the man glance at Fjord’s hands. “You look like a hard-worker.”“Indeed. Many years of my life.”“Where are you from?”“Port Damali.”“I see you’ve been a shiphand before. I can see the cracks in the fingers.”“They never go away.”I held onto my alchemy pouch, self-conscious about my hands. It didn’t go unnoticed by Beau or Caleb.“So you’re just looking for a joyride?”“Yes, it would help me look a bit more impressive in the eyes of my younger comrades. Especially the young Elf, she worked as a healer aboard a scrap ship for a time, and always enjoys a jaunt on a boat.” Fjord gestured to me.I faked a shy smile. It must’ve helped sell it, because after sizing me up, he turned back to Fjord and said, “I’ll tell you what. I’ll take you around. You get a bottle to take more out there, we’ll call it even.”“Much obliged.”“All right.” He started getting the boat ready to go back out on the lake. Fjord walked back to the group. 
“It fucking worked.”
“That was pretty cool, Gramps.” Jester said, slapping a hand on Fjord’s shoulder.“Thanks. We need to trade a bottle is it!” He turned to Nott, “You don’t happen to carry any fine firewhiskey on you, do you?”“Nope.”“If I gave you some money, could you go pick us up a nice bottle of some stuff?”“Yes.”“...I don’t trust you.” He turned to Jester instead. “If I gave you some money, could you–?“Yes, you can definitely trust me.” Jester nodded emphatically.“I don’t trust you either.”He turned to me.“...” He turned to Beau.“Beau, I’m going to give you three gold.”“That’s too much, but do I get to keep the change?”“No.”“Damn it. I’ll be right back.”As Beau set off, Jester grabbed Fjord and drew him to the side. The two quickly whispered back and forth. I looked over the rest of our group; Caleb and Nott. I felt like I already knew their personalities very well—at least Nott’s—but how they met up and fell in together was still a mystery. In fact, almost everything about Caleb was a mystery; he neglected to say anything about himself.It didn’t take long for Beau to return with two bottles of cheap wine, and for us to board the boat. “I’m Noah, this is my vessel.” The Captain said, “I’ll take you where you need to go. Now, if I can ask where you’re headed. Want to do a pass on the lake and back, or…?”“Caleb, where are we headed?” Nott asked, looking up at him.“We hear that there’s beautiful islands out in the middle of the Ustaloch.”Noah stopped in the middle of untying from the dock. “Beautiful?”“Aside from us two, they haven’t been on the water much.” Fjord began, “An island to the eyes of someone like him would appear–““I’ve never seen a lake before this one so, first island. It’s a very big moment for me.” Caleb nodded.Noah got his paddle out and began making his way–“Well there’s only two islands out there. One’s a piece of shite and the other’s Crookedstone.”“What’s Crookedstone?” Asked Jester. “Crookedstone used to be where an old witch lived about a hundred years ago. No one goes over to Crookedstone.”“No one goes to Crookedstone.” Beau echoed, looking amused. “Did you say piece of shite? What’s the name of the other one?” Caleb asked. “Well, it doesn’t really have a name. It’s too small.”“Oh, so the big one is Crookedstone?” Jester asked.“Crookedstone, yeah.” Caleb nodded.“Can I ask you where you’re going?” Noah asked, looking nervous.“I mean, that sounds like fun, right?” Jester’s tail swished. Beau nodded.“Yeah, you guys aren’t actually afraid of some–“A clatter interrupted her as Noah set his oar down. He grabbed the bottle we had given him, removed the cork, and took a hearty gulp of wine. He let out a big sigh. “Far be it to me to judge. To Crookedstone, then.” He picked up his oar and began paddling.“Tell me more about this witch!” Jester said, almost bouncing in her seat.“I don’t know. Probably died many years ago and no one goes around, seeing as it’s cursed land. You’ll see for yourself soon enough.”“Did she have a wart on her nose?”“Probably.”“Yeah.”“We don’t really deal with witch folk.”“Did she wear a hat? Like a pointy one?”“I’d only expect as such.”“Right?”Noah took another swig as we began to make our way towards the center of the Ustaloch. Fjord put an arm around Beau to brace her and the two went towards the bow of the boat. I followed, wanting to scope it out.The sun had barely set as we approached the outer banks of Crookedstone Island. I could see the grove, a clustered central conglomerate of trees that all created this mound of brush. I could see the bit of moonlight that was starting to come over the horizon dancing across the upper part of the canopy. The trees, at most, stood about 15-10 feet tall, but some were hovering around the 5 foot range on the outskirts.The bank was comprised of a lot of heavy rocks, unlike the soft, muddy embankment on the outskirts of the lake. Maybe it was my Darkvision, but I spotted a dip in a series of trees—barely noticeable, but it struck me as unnatural. And recent.“It’s still on the island.” I murmured to Fjord. He looked down at me.“You can see it!?” He scanned the island harder, squinting.“I can see signs of it.”I couldn’t tell if he was impressed or didn’t believe me. Probably a bit of both. Noah got as close to the shore as he could, steering clear of the jagged rock, finally coming to a stop.“All right, I think this is as close as I can get. What are you doing here, if I might ask?” “We are going to have a picnic on the island.” Jester said quickly.“Beach party.” Beau added.“Nighttime beach party!”“Sorry I asked.” Noah looked away.“The nighttime is the best time to go frog-digging.” Beau said. I wish that’s what she’d led with. “I’ll tell you what.” Noah began, “I get the sense the less I know, the better off I am. Go about your business, I’ll be waiting here. Don’t do anything stupid. I’m not getting involved with anything. If there’s some illegal business here and I see something shifty, I’m back on the shore and you have to swim your way home.”Fjord nodded.“Of course. Would someone help me down?” Fjord stood on the edge of the boat. Jester carefully stepped into the loch. “Here, I’ll help you, Gramps.” Beau followed Jester’s lead, helping him out. “All you need to know is, there’s two dudes and four ladies. You do the math.”“ Nott .” “I’m joking, I’m joking!” Nott tried to appease me. I rolled my eyes as I jumped off the ship, Jester and Beau helping me down as well. Noah took his bottle and took a big, heavy swig as he settled onto the boat.“We’ll return.” Fjord promised, as we began to walk to shore.When we were on the shoreline, Jester got Nott and I’s attention.“Should I cast Good and Evil Detection again?”“That seemed to work.” Nott said“I can do it.” “Before you do, let’s take a look around. Serasai, you saw hint of the creature? Can you tell which way it went?”I was able to lead the group a few feet inland to the disturbed patch of trees.“Well?” Fjord prompted. I looked around at the impression in the ground.“Uh, inland?”Fjord rolled his eyes.“That’s not nothing, it means it came to the island.” Caleb said, eyeing the sky. I shot him a grateful look. Fjord and I were just rubbing each other the wrong way after the incident about the theft. “I can cast it, I just will lose a spell.” Jester said.“Hold on.” Caleb sent Frumpkin into the sky. We waited.“Balls. It’s too dark.” “Well, I was really only looking at the footprint. Like I said, I’ve got Darkvision. Maybe I can lead us inland a bit? The demon toad is huge, so he should be easy to spot.” I said, stepping around the group further inland and looking out into the forest.“I have Darkvision as well, as do a couple of us. How about we fan out and move in?” Fjord suggested. “Okay.” Jester said.“Keep a line. Within eye shot of each other. Serasai, maybe on an end so you can be further out from us, cover more ground?”Part of me was annoyed by this plan, but the idea was sound enough. “Fine.”I saw Caleb put a hand on Nott’s shoulder to guide him. We corralled the humans into the middle of the line, Fjord and I on either side. Fjord, Beau, Nott, Caleb, Jester, and I. “Just don’t spread out too far to where we’re not in shouting distance.” Beau warned. We began to walk.The forest was otherwise silent besides the occasional breeze, floating in the smell of low tide. The unearthing of sediment, and the occasional whiff of dead fish; gross, earthy, familiar.The feeling of us all in step felt somehow familiar too. We walked slowly, stealthily as a cohesive unit, a true adventuring party, making our way through the forest. The floor of the small glade was soft, aiding our stealth.I heard a whisper down the line. “Hold for a second. These shells have been devoured.” Fjord said.“Oh. I pass it down the line. The shells have been devoured!” Beau whispered.“The bells have been deflowered?” Caleb.“The whales are in my power!” Nott.“The veils are covered in flour.” Jester.“The sails are in the harbor?” I blinked.Another round of telephone and Fjord holding up a shell got the point across.We continued about 30 or so feet into the treeline, before we start finding that the trees had begun to thin out. A round of telephone starting at Beau told us she’d spotted a small ruin ahead. As we neared I saw the once single-story stone structure that had fallen inward and been destroyed. Partially overgrown, with corners still standing, but other than that, it looked like it’d been toppled over and left to ruin.“Sera, it’s on you, keep an eye on it.” Fjord whispered down the line.I was surprised, but nodded. Whether he could see the motion was up for debate. A few steps closer and my eyes widened.
“Hold the line.” 
“What is it?” Jester whispered.“It’s in the ruins. I saw it.”The faintest flash of red, the light hitting an eye just so. If it wasn't Kylre, it was something living, and something big from the size of the eye.“Did it see you?” “Possibly. Sneak as many as we can around to get a sneak attack on it, use me as a diversion.” I started stepping away from the group. “Sera!” Caleb hissed, worried.I made my way around the edge of the clearing. It felt different than going out in Port Zoon, being in a forested area, but the rest felt the same. I reached for my crossbow. It was the weapon I used least, in all honesty, but if I wanted to get a hit at distance that counted, this would be it.I waited a few moments, hoping the group could get into a position for an ambush. I was used to a team. It was time to see if this was one. I aimed carefully, and shot—hitting Kylre directly. The demon toad let out a roar of pain. Any pride I felt was immediately overshadowed by Toya’s scream—not of pain, but of fear. The creature pulled the bolt from its chest and whipped towards me. Just as quickly, the toad turned to Toya.
“They’re trying to take you away. Come, sing for us! Stop them!”
Kylre leaped toward me, not seeing Beau climbing up the ruin wall behind him. She swung her staff as he jumped, smacking him with a horrible wet thud on the back of its body, but it moved through with immense speed and as it landed, the ground shook. It began muttering in a deep, cracking, twisted voice in sounds I was incapable of even beginning to make. Three bursts of flame appear around it, flaming creatures inside. A song rises over the night air.My eyes fell on Toya, unable to look away. The pull was stronger than it had been at the carnival, despite Toya’s terrified expression. She stepped back to hide behind the wall, but continued to sing. Another Jester appeared next to Fjord, the original Jester running behind a tree, crouching for cover.Beau vaulted off the platform, landing in front of Toya. With a lunge, staff in hand, Beau pinned her against the wall. The singing faltered for a second as Beau held her in place, Toya squirming and twisting, reaching up the wall to try and keep her throat from being crushed and keep her song going. “I felt bad for you before, but now you should be scared.” Beau growled.Four globules of light popped out of Caleb’s hands shot out in a row over the building, illuminating the center of the island. He ran, getting as close to Fjord and faux-Jester as he could, for cover. Nott slashed out at the Imp near her, missing as it flaps its wings backward and the tiny, demonic humanoid creature cackled. Nott dodged back and ran to Caleb’s side. I put my crossbow back in its holster, drawing my double bladed scimitar. As I did, I saw Fjord’s falchion suddenly transform from its metal form into something organic. A cluster of barnacles appeared out of the hilt of the weapon and curled about three or four inches down the blade, and it began to drip water, sourceless. Like it was freshly pulled out of the ocean or a shipwreck. The shadows that had been drawn from the nearby bits of stonework began to condense around myself and Kylre, but swarmed around me to dive into the body of the devil toad. Kylre stared with confusion at the swirling bit of black energy that was wrapping around him. “I’m coming for you.” Fjord’s voice echoed. A blast of energy sprung from his sword, barreling into Kylre. As it impacted, the shadows seemed to grab the bolts of energy and tear them back towards its torso causing additional damage as Kylre grunted in pain. As retribution, the three Imps flew to the sky, only to dive bomb at the nearest target.The only one to hit was the one that dived toward me. Wings out, cackling, it jammed its stinger into my arm. I felt poison burn through my veins, barely standing. Kylre must’ve thought I was done for, because he leapt away, landing all the way across the clearing next to Caleb. He nearly got knocked off his feet as the ground shook. The two made eye contact, Caleb holding a hand to his head but shaking off whatever pain the demon had inflicted.Toya’s singing barely managed to distract me from the pain of the poison, my eyes on her as she was pushed into the wall by Beau. “Shh! Shut up!” Beau growled.I saw faux-Jester climb on top of the ruins and attempt to fire a bolt of light outward, but the devil creature glanced up and ducked. The blast soared past into the ground right by Jester’s feet, arcing past and exploding across the dirt “You are so stupid, why did you get up on the roof like that?! That’s why he saw you!” Jester yelled at...herself. She ran out of reach, barely able to lug her shield up to block a swipe from the toad. We could all hear the horrible grinding of metal as its claws scooped across the outside of it.Beau, meanwhile, was wrestling with Toya—trying to shove her arm in the girl’s mouth to silence her. “Fuck!” Beau swore, and elbowed Toya in the temple. The girl's eyes lolled back and she fell limp, song over. “Oh, he is going to be so pissed!” Jester gasped.The toad looked over the shoulder to see Beau dragging Toya back. What previously was this low, guttural growl became this bellowing scream of hatred.Light came from where Caleb stood, I barely saw him fumble with some crystal or diamond, light dissipating at the failed spell. Nott pushed away from the imp as it tried to strike at her, and she dived into the shadows, leaping into the air towards Kylre. She drove the blade into the devil toad’s thick neck, plunging the knife right to the hilt. It began to bleed from the wound but its attention was still focused on the unconscious dwarf being dragged off by the monk. I stared down the Imp in front of me, blocking me from the rest of the party and Kylre. I felt weak and exhausted, but I remembered my training back home on the ship, pushing through exhaustion. I took a concentrated breath, feeling a second wind as I readied my blade. With a cry, eyes blazing, I swung my blade, cutting through the burning creature. The squelching sound as I destroyed it was satisfying, before the creature popped out of existence. With equal rage, Fjord yelled as he ran past the exterior of the ruined building, his large blade, water drifting off of it behind. As he rushed through the air and the blade arced, the water seems to glow as it comes off, phosphorescent, and as Fjord hacked the blade into the side of the demon toad, there was a flash of light. A glowing scar like ember was carved through its hide. Kylre looked down at him, averting its gaze from Beau for a second to snarl. For a split second, for the first time, we could see fear in its red,  burning eyes.An imp took a dive at Caleb, hitting him and flying off as Caleb sunk onto the forest floor, unconscious. The light flooding the field dimmed out as he fell.“Oh no!” “No!” Jester and I’s voices overlapped as Nott was struck dumb at the sight of Caleb so close to death. The other imp left standing jammed its stinger into Jester, who luckily stood standing, though looked worse for the wear. Too scared to move closer, the demon toad swatted at the Goblin stood on his shoulder, hitting Nott with its claw. Panicking further, the toad leapt away. Nott and Fjord were both able to make another hit before it jumped out of range. It looked to be in horrible shape, landing and looking over at me. “Gods damn it.” I swore. Beau managed to make her way closer to us, Toya in her arms. “Kylre!” She held up Toya. “Come get her!!” The toad seemed too frightened of Fjord to care.I saw Jester cast a healing spell on herself and make a run to get out of range, dodging Kylre’s attack and narrowly missing another sting from an imp. 
“Shit, shit, shit!”
Nott shot an arrow at the imp near the unconscious Caleb, missing as it ducked out of the way. In desperation, Nott jumped on top of Caleb’s body, shielding him with her own. I looked wildly from Caleb and Nott to the creature. If I ran to them, Kylre or the imp could finish me.I turned decisively to the demon, swinging my scimitar. My panic cost my hits, missing entirely as the creature reared back. Over my shoulder came a violent blast of energy, Kylre’s eyes turned to a bright pink with fear as it recoiled from the blast. As it hit, the blast seemed to be absorbed by its blubberous form. But the glowing crack formed earlier began to crack further across its body. It desperately grasped at itself, trying to hold itself together, but its scales began to turn to ash. Like the inside of it burning out, like the end of a cigarette, the embers glowing, incinerating the interior of its body as it slowly tried to hold its body together. It fell to its knees, and then slowly the rest of its body tumbled away into ash and dust, almost resembling the husks it once formed.The battle wasn’t yet over, as an imp swung with its stinger toward Nott, just barely missing. The other imp dived to Fjord, stinging him and knocking him out, slumping to the floor.Jester turned and said, “Oh, help me, Traveler!”The imp near Nott seemed affected, hissing at Jester as a whitish-blue light began to burn up its body.A shot of a crossbow zoomed past Jester as Nott shot blindly, protecting Caleb.
“I’m blinded by tears!”
I ran to Fjord, who was closest, shoving a potion in his mouth. I was surprised how easily I dodged the imp’s attack, only to see its dive at me had gotten its stinger stuck into the dirt. Fjord gasped to life and the vial I held disappeared.Almost as if he was on automatic, Fjord blasted the creature with his Eldritch Blast, killing the Imp in front of us—it going up in a mix of flames and energy like flash paper.The final imp took a dive at Jester...only for it to be the faux Jester. Its stinger passed through with no effect and it seemed confused at first. “Stupid!” Beau ran up to it and slammed it with her staff, hitting it to the ground. The wings went limp and it clearly died, but Beau still yelled and stomped down, crushing it more and more. Its body eventually burned away into ash. Jester and I began running over to Caleb, ready to heal him, but Nott pulled back her porcelain mask and dived towards him, giving Caleb the most terrifying mouth-to-mouth any of us had ever seen.Slowly, Caleb’s eyes opened, and he immediately yelped at the sight of Nott and instinctively cast Dancing Lights, blinding himself in the process. While most of us were in an exhausted state of shock from the battle and from the hillariously gross sight we'd just witnessed, Jester and her illusion began dancing together in a circle, celebrating our victory.I awkwardly passed a potion to Caleb.“Uh, here. Might help get the taste out.” I tried not to snicker as he took the vial. I saw Beau run over to Toya.“Not a good idea. She needs someone who didn’t choke her out to comfort her.” I warned.“What, you wanna do it?” Beau asked, gruffly.“Probably not for the best, since I fired the first shot. Jester? Fjord?”Jester looked over to Fjord hopefully, blinking innocently.“...Fine.”Fjord wandered over and lifted Toya into his arms. “Someone else, get on checking the body. We’re going to need it.” Jester happily skipped over to the body, looking it over curiously. After a few moments, we saw Jester dig into the creature’s skin with a disgusting squish. Pulling her hand out, Jester held a handful of jewels; stolen jewelry.“What? This is awesome.” Jester breathed. “Here, Fjord, I found a cloister of seamen for you.” She held up the gooey pouch of flesh in front of him. “What is it? What is this? What the fuck is that?”“It’s a bag of stuff that I think you will like. I already removed all the fancy stuff from it though.”“That’s foul.”Jester slid the still-wet rings onto her fingers. “Nott, look at me!”“Those are very nice.”“Aren’t these pretty rocks?”“They are very pretty, yes. Where did you find them?”“On the bag.”“On the bag? Can I have one?”“Yes, but first, I want to Detect Magic on them.” I was too tired to offer help. After about ten minutes, the ritual was complete, and Jester hummed.“Hmm, they’re just plain rings, but they’re very pretty.”“What are we going to do with the girl?” Beau asked.“Take her back to the circus.” I shrugged. “What if she’s evil?” Nott asked, worried. “We should bring her to the–“ Jester began.“Authorities.” Nott nodded.“So that she can defend us. So that she can tell everyone that the fiend was bad.” “I don’t know if she feels that way.” Beau said. “I agree with Beau. Besides that, we can’t let the guards know we snuck out.”“Except for us.” Caleb said, tiredness lacing his voice, “Nott and I aren’t under house arrest.” “That’s very true.” Fjord nodded.“Sera, you don’t happen to have some more potions in there?” Caleb asked. “I’m feeling a bit worse for wear myself.”“I have one vial available today still, and my healing potion. I’m trying to save it for emergencies—like when I’m out of vials and someone’s down.” “You take it, you need it more than me.” Fjord said, gesturing to Caleb. He nodded in thanks and I handed him a vial.He looked better for it once he’d downed the thing. “We can rest for 30 minutes or an hour or so.” Jester said, looking up at the sky. Fjord nodded.“Let’s take a rest.”We sat there in the quiet, the sound of crickets the only noise; the rest of the sound of the forest had fallen away and the din of the battle had vanished. The moonlight got a bit brighter as the moon climbed higher in the sky. And we all kind of look around at each other. Through this haphazard series of events we had come to assemble a skillset that seemed to overlap pretty well. Like a team.Hopefully everything we’d done would be enough to clear our names.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The crickets’ song grew deafening in the otherwise quiet night. The group of us sat or laid out on the grass, recovering from battle. I closed my eyes and let myself relax for a moment—the grass and sounds around us reminding me of my first night setting out from Port Zoon.I’d traveled alone on my journey inland. It took some adjusting to travel during the day, as I was mostly used to spending the nights running around the busy city. I’d never been out in such a vast landscape either, with no ocean in sight. “Ow. We’re all fucked up.” Fjord interrupted my musings.“Does anybody still need any healing?” Jester asked. She looked over at Fjord and Caleb. “You need some?”“I’m a little shabby at the moment.” He shrugged.“Oh, that’s too bad because I don’t have any spells left.”I snorted, amused she’d asked anyway.“That’s good. Let’s go back and talk to the cops.”“Should we do something with this body?”“It’s evidence we need to exonerate us.” I said, not moving up from the ground. “What about just its head?” Caleb asked.“It’s a big head. It might be all we can take.” Fjord said. Jester looked it over.“I don’t know if it’ll fit on the boat.”“Sera!” Fjord called over.“Hm?”“You’ve got an impressive blade. You want to do some hacking?”“Sure.” I took a knee and hoisted myself up. Double-bladed scimitar in hand, I sized up my position around the dead creature. I wound up, and with all my might— hack! “I’d say you have a pretty impressive blade, too.” Beau said behind me, to Fjord.“Wait, yeah, why aren’t you helping?” I asked. I wasn’t truly annoyed. Beheading the fiend was cathartic, even if difficult.Not only was the exterior of its flesh blubbery, a heavy rubber-like substance glistening with whatever mucus-like liquid it naturally produced, but then beneath it, the muscle sinew was extremely tough. It took me the better part of 20 minutes to finally get the head entirely off the rest of the torso. “That’s an artiste at work right there.” Fjord nodded.“Hardly artful. Have you seen me use this blade before?” Despite the goo sticking to its blade, I spun the scimitar gracefully. “It’s like my staff.” Beau said, copying the move.“But with knives on it.” I pointed.“A stick with knives on it.” Fjord snorted.“Make fun all you want, but when it comes down to it, that’s all weapons. Including your falchion.” I shrugged. Fjord looked off into space for a second, thinking.“...Point.” I nodded. Jester skipped over, looking over the head for a way to grasp it. “I’ll help you out.” Beau said. Fjord walked to where he had laid out Toya, and lifted her up into his arms as the girls hoisted up the fiend’s decapitated head.“It’s probably best not to wake her up while we’re carrying this head around.” Jester warned. “Good idea.” Fjord murmured. “Yeah, this is frightening.” Beau agreed. She suddenly grinned. She grabbed the creature’s jaw and moved it, using it as a puppet to talk, “Hey, Jester.” Jester and Fjord snickered. I was caught between amused and disturbed, disturbed winning out. On the full, other end of the spectrum was Caleb, retching into the grass at the sight. “Sorry.” Beau jutted out her chin. “Do not do that if Toya wakes up.” I warned. “Right, duh.” “If it will help tomorrow or today– what time is it?” Caleb asked, holding himself up by a tree. “I know exactly what time it is, don’t I? Yeah.” “...You know exactly what time it is?” Fjord asked, incredulously. “It’s something I’ve always been able to–“ Caleb looked around at the group, “—why is everybody looking at me like–“ He turned around suddenly and vomited again.“Where’s Frumpkin?” Jester asked, as if nothing was wrong. Said cat appeared at her feet. “Oh, good.”At what felt like a horrible moment to do so, Toya began to stir and wake up. Fjord was at her side, ready to carry the girl. Her eyes opened a bit as Fjord scooped her up gently and she looked up at him, confused, eyes lolling around in her sockets for a moment before she could fully wake. I tried to move between her to block the view of Kylre’s head, Jester thankfully taking the hint and throwing her cloak over it.“What—where’s Kylre?”“Kylre...well, you know those things that have been happening? Those...zombie people at the circus?” Fjord began. I could tell he was trying to be delicate, but it was such a difficult topic. Zombies at the circus. “Yes. Is Kylre alright?”“Well, I don’t know how to tell you this, Toya, so you’re going to need to be really brave right now. But from what Mollymauk has said you’re a really brave girl, right?”“I’m scared.”“You don’t have to be scared anymore. There aren’t going to be any more zombies. We found what was causing it all and stopped it. But during the fight...your friend, Kylre…”Her eyes widened, and she began struggling to get out of Fjord’s arms.“No!”She scrambled and Fjord held her back, she tried to fight for a second, and then went limp in his grasp and murmured, “Kylre…“I’m so sorry. We’ll get you safely back to the circus. He turned on you all and you didn’t deserve that, and... it’s hardest when the people who hurt you were a friend. But we’ll get you back to Mollymauk and Yasha. Molly’s waiting to see you again.” “What happened?” Toya asked. Fjord looked to the rest of us, at a loss. With how young she was, it was like he didn’t want to tell her the truth.“Kylre wasn’t lizardfolk like he’d said.” I said. I wasn’t good with this kind of thing normally, but something about seeing that girl, knowing that she deserved the truth, it let my sincerity come through. “He was keeping dangerous secrets to himself, and during the last show, with the zombies? He caused it.”Toya looked both horrified and resigned. “He...he was my friend.”A hard pang of sympathy went through my heart, almost painfully.“I’m sorry.”She got quiet. We all got the sense she wasn’t going to say much more, so we continued our walk to the boat. The captain from earlier that we had passed the wine off to was sitting there waiting. He had a small pouch opened with some dried meat that he chewed on as he waited. He spotted us as we approached.“Oh, I see you’ve finished.”A grunt came from Jester and Beau as they heaved the covered, severed head into the boat.“What in the hell is that?” The captain asked, curiously.“It’s not pleasant, is what it is.” Caleb said, stepping in the boat. “Fjord? May I speak with you?”“I’m a little caught up at the moment.” He looked down to Toya, who clung to him.“Now that it’s in the boat, I can hold her?” Jester offered. “Are you okay with that, Toya?”The girl stared, and then silently nodded.Jester took up Toya into her arms and settled down into a seat as the others had a discussion toward the front of the boat.It had begun as Fjord and Caleb, but Nott joined almost immediately, as did Beau.“Sera, do you want to join this conversation?” Caleb called.“About?” I asked, sidling over. “He’s yet to see what we’re carrying and in an ideal world he won’t, but we were considering sweetening the deal with coin or the other bottle.”“I think the other bottle ought to do it as long as he doesn’t ask questions. Any of us good at reading people?” “You two’ve got fisherman vibes.” Beau shrugged, looking between Fjord and I. “There was an old man who was with us before.” Fjord said, gesturing to himself. His disguise had dropped not long ago. “I shouldn’t talk to him like this, he don’t know me. Sera or Caleb, you two should.” “Caleb should, he’s better with words.” I said quickly, throwing off the responsibility. Before the wizard could say any in his defense, Beau was shoving a wine bottle into his hands.“Here.”We watched Caleb awkwardly walk over to the Captain, who was eyeing our cloaked ‘package’ suspiciously. “The thing of it is, we’ve just done Trostenwald a great service. And we plan to visit the authorities tomorrow to inform them of such, but we don’t want to cause much of a ruckus or panic in the town. We’d appreciate it if you didn’t say anything about our visit or ask any questions on our activities, and to show our appreciation, we have this, for you.” He handed over the bottle.The Captain looked at the bottle, then up into Caleb’s eyes, trying to size him up.“We like to be unsung heroes!” Jester chirped up, “You know, like superheroes with secret identities.”“Yeah, we’re an underground anonymous activist group.” Beau nodded.“Yeah, that helps people. But if everyone knows who we are, it’ll be much harder to fight all the crime.”“Try to focus on the wine.” Caleb said, in a tone that almost begged him to ignore the two girls high-fiving in the background. Thankfully, the Captain slowly reached out and took it from his hand. “All right. Anything that comes from that island...is unlikely to be anything good. I’m going to take you back, and then you promise I’ll never see you again?” “We’ll try really hard to not let you see us.” Jester nodded, “We’ll pretend we don’t know you.”“That includes the goblin.” The Captain rounded on Nott, whose eyes went wide.“I was never here! We never had this conversation!”“She’s a halfling.” Jester insisted. The Captain leaned over and took a closer look.“...I’m very ugly for a halfling.”“...Let’s just get back to shore.” He grabbed the oar, took his first bottle of wine, polished it off, and then grabbed the new, outheld bottle from Caleb. “Don’t boat drunk.” Jester said, looking down at Toya as if she were teaching her sage wisdom. Slowly he began to paddle us back towards the western shore of the Ustaloch, to the outskirts of Trostenwald. I settled in next to the head to keep it from rolling as we traveled. The last thing we needed was for the cloak to fall off, have an even more frightened Captain and even more distraught Toya on our hands.“When we get to the shore, we should probably split up.” Beau asked.“How are we going to get that,” Jester gestured with her head to the cloak, “To the authorities?”“That’s a good question.”“Oh, I got an idea! Why don’t you go get a wagon as soon as we get to shore, and we’ll helpyou load it onto the wagon, and then you just take it on in yourself.” She said to Caleb.“Why do we need to take it with us? Us traipsing through town with a giant head seemslike it would draw focus. Why don’t we just put it somewhere and send the authorities out here to find it later?” Nott suggested.“There’s no guarantee someone else wouldn’t find it first.” Fjord said.“What are they going to do with it? It’s a big head!”“We could leave someone with it, and we can just–” Beau began.“I could stand guard as a crownsguard next to it.” Fjord said. “We can hide it.” Nott said, “Maybe some of us have skills to hide things?” “I think Fjord had a good idea, which is if you can disguise yourself as a crownsguard again,  you wait with it. You guys get back to the tavern, yeah?" Caleb looked between us. Beau nodded.“You can go and alert the authorities.”“Now, here’s the thing.” Caleb began. I settled in deeper to my seat, beginning to expect little speeches from Caleb. “I may be speaking out of turn–I know I don’t know you very well, butit feels like the thing that we all share in common here is that we don’t wish to make–” He paused, looking at Jester, “--maybe not you– make a big splash here.”“Agreed. The less attention, the better.” Fjord said.“Well, you know, whatever.” Jester shrugged. Fjord looked at her, leveling her with a stare.“The less attention, the better .”“Okay, so maybe I’m 70 to 80 percent correct, but we’re all in this together.”“And gold. I like getting paid.” Beau said.“I agree on both accounts.” I piped in. Caleb nodded.“I don’t want to make a big thing. I’m going to go to the authorities, to Norda. I want to go to her and citizen’s arrest kind of thing. Keep it quiet, don’t need big accolades, will take gold, and then I’ll bring that back and we can divvy that up. That’s no problem."“I like it.” Fjord said, “As soon as other crownsguard arrive with Norda and the rest of whoever you bring to the scene, maybe I can go with you and help return Toya.”“You disappear quickly, because if you get drawn into that investigation, it would be bad.” Jester warned.“Right, and if nobody recognizes you–do you remember any of the guards that were in town that you could make yourself look like specifically?” Caleb asked.“Oh!” Jester perked up, looking to Beau and I.“What was that guy’s name?”“What were the two guards that keep coming to the tavern?” Beau asked.“Jonas and Lucas.” I answered. “Just to game this out.” Nott interrupted, hands out to pause us. “You, Caleb, someone who is not suspected of a crime, is going to bring the severed head of a member of the circus to the police–”“No, he’s going to go to the police and bring them to the head.” Jester corrected.“Either way. You, Caleb, someone who is not suspected of a crime, is going to point the police to the severed head of a member of the circus with no evidence showing what that thing was or that it was evil, and that will somehow not implicate other people who were not with us at the time. How is this going to prove their innocence, just showing a head?”“They already believe that the circus is terrible. I think they were just going to confirm their own suspicions.”“Also, Toya. If she would speak honestly, she would absolve all of us.” Beau muttered. We looked over to the young girl. She was still on edge, eyes darting to all of us. “I think Beau makes a very good point. Without Toya’s testimony we’re in trouble.”“If it will help Molly and the other circus folk, I’m sure she will.” I muttered. “Well, that’s a sticky situation. Because what if she talks about my friends who were there with me?” Caleb asked. “We can talk to her beforehand?” I suggested.“If there’s something you want to ask me, I’m right here.” Toya interrupted.  “Can someone please explain to me what’s going on?”Fjord nudged me in the arm. I shot him a quick glare, and then scooted closer to Toya and Jester. “What we talked about earlier, what Kylre did.” I began, speaking carefully but levely. I didn’t want her to think I was talking down to her, not after the group of us talking over her seconds ago. “The authorities think that Mollymauk and the circus are responsible for what happened, when it was just Kylre. We were with Molly at the circus, so the authorities don’t trust us either. They didn’t want us to investigate, but we wanted to help so we came here anyways. Caleb and Nott are allowed out of the tavern, but we aren’t, so the authorities can’t know we left. They have to think that Caleb solved the case alone, to help clear our names and to help clear your circus family’s names too.”Despite everything, it was like she couldn’t listen. Like even if she wanted to, she was too shaken by everything, the trauma she had experienced, to focus. Caleb knelt down by us.“Child, how did you grow so close to him?” He asked.“Gustav put us together for our act and he protected me. I felt safe around him. He didn’t let anybody get too close I didn’t want to.” Toya said, folding tighter into herself. “Did he communicate with you in some way?”“He talked.”“What did you talk about?”“Well, we talked about everybody else in the family. We talked about how I missed not having a family. He didn’t talk about himself much, but it was mainly just little games.”“Did he teach you how to sing to affect people’s minds?” Jester asked.“No. That was how I got by before I met these guys.”Caleb nodded.“I am sure this is painful for you. You are young. Sometimes people we feel we know can be someone else. Regrettably, this is one of those instances. He was a dangerous thing. It is very important that this is buried here. You want to travel on with the circus and with Mollymauk and your friends. That thing tried to kill us. It did kill things in Trostenwald. Who knows what it would have done to you, child?” As  talking to her, her eyes kept flickering off over towards Beau, further curling back into herself as she did.Fjord shifted to lean towards Beau.“It might do for you to apologize.” He drawled. Beau rolled her eyes, crossing her arms before looking at the kid.“Sorry.”“Sorry for what, Beau?” Jester prompted. Beau hit her with a deadpan stare.“...Really, Jester?”“Really.”Beau gave a huge, annoyed sigh.“Sorry for choking you with my stick.”“... And I’ll never do it again? ” Nott prompted.  “And I’ll never do it again! As long as you don’t try that again, of course, I guess.” She finished, lamely.“It was only because Kylre was trying to kill us and she was afraid that you were helping him.” Jester tried to explain.“Yeah, I wasn’t trying to hurt you. I was just trying to get you to stop singing. But it was so abrasive.”“...I’m tired.” Toya mumbled, looking down at the floor.“Let’s get you home, okay?” Caleb said, standing. The boat ride was quiet as we waited, finally hearing her breath settle as she went limp in Jester’s arms. I supposed of all of us, Jester looked most like she could be a circus folk. Her horns were the same style as Molly’s. That familiarity could be at least a little comforting to the poor girl. “That went well, I think.” Jester whispered. “Man, if Molly finds out you choked Toya out... woof .” I muttered, looking over at Beau, wide-eyed. “Shut up.” “All right, we’re here.” The Captain interrupted. The boat hit the edge of the dock. I noticed everyone swayed or stumbled bar Fjord and I. The Captain hopped off and pulled the rope up. Slowly he managed to get the boat over to the side of the dock, and tied it up.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Fjord was the first off the boat, rushing ahead of us.“Sera. Give me a hand.” Beau called, holding the head precariously. I looked over to Jester, who had helped last time, and saw she still held Toya. I sighed and went to help Beau.Jester carried Toya over to the Captain and began talking to him. I realized she was causing a distraction for Fjord.“Thank you very much, it is much appreciated. It was a lovely trip. I hope you enjoy the wine!”“Yes that’s fine. Just, please, get out of my boat.”“Who goes there? What is this, what have you brought?” I looked over to see Jonas. Or, Fjord, disguised as a guard.“Oh, I have felled a beast.” Caleb called. The Captain looked panicked.“They got in my boat. I– they–” He floundered. Fjord looked to him.“Are you responsible for this?”“No!” He shook his head rapidly, “They took over my boat and forced me to take them to the middle island there.”“You will not take credit for my kill.” Caleb said, jabbing a finger at the Captain. “I have killed this thing and I want it to be watched. I am going to the authorities. We will bring them back and get this sorted.”Fjord made a show of looking underneath the cloak and recoiling at the sight.“It’s a horrifying-looking creature. You are to be commended for your bravery. Lawmaster Norda will want to know about this immediately.”The Captain shook his head rapidly.“I want nothing to do with this. Good bye.” He ushered the group of us off the boat. He tied and locked it up and made a beeline away from us. Nott cupped her hands around her mouth.
“We’ll come to your house with your share of the reward!”
We waited for him to be out of sight. Once he was, Crownsguard!Fjord turned to us.“All right, we can’t waste any time.”“We’ve got to get Toya to the circus, and get back to the tavern without being spotted.” I said, breathing heavily from lugging the head ashore. “Is anyone at the circus? Molly and Gustav’re in jail still.” Jester said. “The woman we left, the fire...that woman, she should still be there.” Beau shrugged. “I can take her back, since I can travel easiest.” Fjord offered.“Meet us back at the tavern?” I asked. He nodded.“Who is not very stealthy here?”Silence.“Ok, might be you, then, Jess.” I shrugged.“I’ll keep watch over the head, Fjord will return the girl, Nott, are you alright to return to the tavern and wait for me?” Caleb asked. “What if you’re in trouble? You’re still hurt. You’ve had a terrible night.”“If any problem should arise, I’ll send Frumpkin straight away to you.” “Unless you’re dead. No one’s going to be around to save you if you get into trouble.”“I’m not far from dead already.”“Yeah, that’s not good. ”“That’s not comforting, Caleb.”“I have a potion. You can keep it on your person for emergencies. But I want it back if it’s unused.” I said, pulling out the potion I had brewed. Nott’s eyes widened as I held it out to Caleb.“I will take it if it will calm your nerves, Nott.” He said. Nott nodded. He reached out, eyes downward, taking the bottle. “Thank you, Serasai.” He tucked it into his coat. He got down low to speak to Nott. “Nott, this is what I talked to you about the other night. These are our friends and we’re going to sort this out and figure out what we do next. It has been you and me, now it is you and me and them. Okay? You’re with your blue friend here, and your elf friend.”“You can hold my hand.” Jester offered. “I’ll be back. I’m just going to have a conversation. We have gotten out of prisons before, you and I. I’m not worried about that.”Nott looked from Caleb, to the two of us, and Jester’s outstretched hand. She took it.“...Her hands are very warm.”“I’m warm blooded.” Jester said, cheerfully.“Well, she was just carrying a child.” Caleb shrugged.Jester turned to Fjord.“Should I leave my cloak here over the head, sir, good sir, guard man?” “...It’s fucking me, right? We know it’s still me. I’m right here.”“We’re not RPing still?” Beau asked. “No.”“Sorry.”Fjord sighed.“You can do what you want.”“Should I leave my cloak here or should I take it with me?”“I’d leave it so it’s not just a demonic head sitting around, but we don’t want to incriminate you.” I advised. “Good point. Take it with.” Fjord said, handing it to Jester. “All right, go quickly.”“Okay. I’ll give you the blessing, Nott.” Jester said, squeezing Nott’s hand.“Thank you.”~We made our way back to the Nestled Nook Inn, coming to the intersection where the alleyway leads us back to where the rope we had originally let down wasplaced. The rope was still there, hidden in the darkness.As we made our way toward the alley, Nott and I spotted a crownsguard incoming. Nott pulled back on Jester’s hand, and I grabbed Beau by the arm as we ducked around the corner. “What?” Jester whispered.“There’s a guard there.” Nott said, pointing.“There’s two more down the way.” I said, spotting them in the distance.“Shit.” Beau swore.“We could try to make a distraction, so we could sneak in?” Nott suggested.“A loud sound somewhere?” I offered. Jester’s face lit up, and before we could say anymore, there was a familiar and terrifying roar from the other side of the street.The guards looked terrified, not moving at first, before they ran toward it.“Get—“ Beau gestured quickly, and the group of us ran.We made it to the rope and began the climb. I rushed ahead of the group and was able to scale it easily, pushing the window in to clear the way and turning around to help the others up. Jester was next, and with a hand, she was in. I heard a grunt of pain from Beau, who was having unexpected difficulties. But maybe out of pure fear and adrenaline, Nott pushed her up a foot or two to help her get her footing and scampered in, slamming the blinds behind her. “SHHH!!” Beau and Jester quickly shushed her. “Sorry!” “Let’s go to the other room, in case they come to investigate the sound.” I said. The group of us nodded and went to our room.~We set back into a familiar rhythm, but we all still felt on edge. When would Caleb be back? He was guarding the head, until when? Morning? I sat by idly finishing my healing potion. This time instead of Mollymauk watching, Nott watched intently. “So, you could help me make acid?”“If you’d like. If you have stuff for it, we could start now?” I offered.“I don’t have anything for it after the last time.” She seemed to wilt a little, disappointed.“That’s probably for the best. I know healing potions best, not acids.”“You have to heal people a lot?” Beau asked from across the room, re-tying her wraps on her wrists. “Healing potions are always needed. Good money.” She huffed, likely annoyed by the vague answer.“Did you own, like, a shop?” Jester’s tail flicked. “Like a little potion shop where you’re at the front desk and like adventurers come and get stuff for their journeys??” “Noooo. No.” I laughed a little at the idea. “Or like on a black market?” Beau asked, a glint in her eye at the prospect.“No, but that would’ve been cool, though.” “You from a port town? I’m sure they had one.” Nott said.“A black market?”“Yeah!”“This is a port town and they don’t have one here.” Jester pointed out.“Or DO THEY!?” Nott gasped.“Well we can’t find out until Caleb comes back.” I said. I felt like I was corralling children.“Wait, so if we all get exonerated, do you guys want to try and find the black market before we leave?” Jester asked, sounding excited.“If we get let off for a crime we didn’t commit, do we want to commit actual crimes?” Nott asked, head tilted.“How about in the next town we look for one. This town is getting on my nerves, ya know?” Beau suggested. “We can just ask a few people on the way out?” Nott asked. “As we pick up supplies to leave, maybe .” I said. “You’re coming with us, right Nott? You and Caleb?” Jester asked. It was a sincere question, but the puppy-dog-eyed expression was impossible to ignore.“I don’t know. It’s up to Caleb, as well, but. I...I would like to.” Nott said. “It’s been...nice, being able to talk to so many people without...this, being a problem.” She gestured to herself. “But I will have to talk it over with Caleb. Where he goes, I go.”“And you, Serasai?” Jester asked, turning to me with the same expression.“Wait, she hasn’t agreed to go with you!? I thought you three and Fjord were like, a thing?” Nott yelled.“A thing!?” Jester wriggled her eyebrows.“Not a romantic thing!” Nott began, sounding embarrassed at first as the rest of us laughed. But then she joined in on the joke, “I mean, if that’s your business, that’s--”“NO!” Beau and I yelled.“Alright! It’s not my business! But I thought you were like, like a team. I know you said earlier you’d only just met, but…”“We’d agreed to share lodging after we saved that kid at the docks.” I explained, “Cheaper that way.”“And? Are you going with?” Nott looked at me pointedly. Beau was staring me down, expressionless, and Jester was batting her eyes.“Where are you all planning to go?”“I don’t know. From town to town, I guess.” Jester said, sitting back. I thought back to the days before I’d reached town. Honestly, it had been my first time being alone since I was a kid, and I had been on edge the whole trip to Trostenwald.“I wouldn’t mind that.” Jester about shot up from her chair to hug me and squeal.“Yes!! Nott, now you and Caleb HAVE to come with us!”“When do you all think Caleb’ll be back, anyhow?” Beau asked.A knock at the door met her question.“Who is it?” Jester called.“Crownsguard. We’re coming in.”“Glad we weren’t naked this time.” I joked as the door opened, and our favorite two crownsguard stepped in.The group of us looked at one another, wondering if Fjord had made it back and if this Jonas in front of us was actually Jonas.“Lawmaster Norda has need of you. Follow us, and do not attempt to flee.” They said, evenly. The group of us were ushered to the first floor of the tavern and out the front door. There we saw Caleb, a group of crownsguard, and a haggard looking Norda. “This friend of yours has claimed proof of your innocence. Let’s get to it as quickly as possible.” Norda gestured tiredly for us to march on, and we followed Caleb and the crownsguard. As we reached the docks, I looked around and spotted an old man sitting in the distance, but still in eyesight of the head. Fjord. The head was now covered by a tarp pulled from one of the tied off boats.“–here it is, right here, where I left it. Nobody has tampered with it.” Caleb said. He turned to the guards and Norda, pulling back his clothing to show the ruined fabric and healing tissue. “You see this? It was done by this thing.”With a flourish, Caleb pulled back the tarp to reveal the face. It looked even more hideous than before.The jaw had relaxed, its muscles had sat after being left at the dock, and it’s flesh had pooled at its base. Its tongue lolled out and unraveled on the ground, a pool of saliva soaking the remaining wood around its base. One of the eyes had rolled back in a horrible display.The guards took a step back immediately at the reveal, but Norda got immediately interested, stepping closer to take a look at it. She prodded it with her finger.“It is as bad as it looks, and if you have any holy people in this city, they will confirm that this thing is fiendish.” Caleb claimed. Norda sighed.“You say it’s a fiend? Because what this looks like is you just murdered one of our possible witnesses and/or other members of this investigation, so I’m hoping this is a fiend. I don’t know fiends.”“I hope you don’t believe that I murdered in cold blood and then went to the police.”“Honey, I’ve been doing this for a long time. I’ve seen stranger. Hold on just a second.” She called one of the guards over, whispered to him for a second. He rushed off. “Just so happens we have someone in town who might be able to confirm this for us, might help your case.”“Who is it?” Jester asked.“Oh, they will be here shortly.”Caleb got comfortable sitting on a crate. An awkward period of time passed with everyone idling, awaiting Norda’s mystery guest. Jester, Nott, and Beau tried playing boulder-paper-shears before a guard snapped at them.Finally, the guard that had left earlier came back in a brisk jog with another figure following behind him, also jogging. The figure was dressed in a light gray hood and cloak. As the figure approached and stepped into the torch light, they pulled back the hood, revealing their long, shoulder length curled blond hair. I blinked at the sight of a very delicate looking elven male. I blanched, and tried to sidestep behind Fjord to not be seen.“I believe I’ve been summoned, Norda?” They asked. “Yes sorry, this is Archivist Zeenoth.” Norda introduced, “He’s been in town for a few days and he comes from the library that knows a lot about a lot of things. I hope that he can help us in this. Zeenoth, they’re calling this thing a fiend. What do you know about this?” He stepped closer, kneeling down next to the head. He looked it over, pulled a small book out of his side pouch and began to thumb through it, comparing the creature to his notes. “I’m not a specialist, unfortunately. This creature is very much a very dangerous entity from the far east. I’m surprised it made it this far into civilization before being destroyed...It’s a good thing it has been.” He stopped and looked over at the group of us. I felt myself freeze, motionless, on trained instinct as he looked at me. It was clear he’d noticed my race, and seemed briefly interested in my scimitar, but he looked more preoccupied with Beau than anyone else, kind of smiling at her. “Are you the ones who slew it?”“Oh well technically it was Caleb, technically.” Jester answered.“Just me.”“What’s going on over there?” Nott muttered, looking at Beau—who looked even more uncomfortable than I felt.“Oh sorry, I just have back issues. I’m just stretching.” Beau lied.“Yes it was difficult, but I prevailed in the end.” Caleb interrupted, keeping us on track. “The city is safe. What library was that that you mentioned?” “Oh I’m an archivist. I’m the archivist of the Cobalt Soul.”“Here in town?”“No, I’m from Zadash. I’m a bit out of my depth at the moment.”“What brings you this far?” Jester asked.“Well, I have business.” At that point Norda snapped, “All right you know what? This is some serious bullshite. We’re all just chilling here at the docks, we have confirmed that’s a fiend—““The nergaliid!” Jester corrected.“A nergaliid! Bring them back to the stockade. Let’s have a trial.” With that, the guards ushered us back to the stockade, while two other guards grabbed the nergaliid head and began dragging it along.“Oh sorry, one last thing, Watchmaster.” Caleb called, pulling out a book from his cloak. “Here this is a gift, for you. This is folklore. You will find I have marked a page in there. It will describe this thing.”As we walked, she thumbed through and found the page, reading it quickly before passing it to the archivist. He began to read it, and passed it back right as we arrived at the stockade. We were not ushered into the room from last time, but a much larger room instead. The room had much more of a stark, barren, stone interior. Benches lined a central kind of pit, about four or five steps deep.A desk overlooked the pit where Norda sits, presiding as the law master. Norda took her cloak off, putting on some kind of ceremonial armor bits. She slammed her hands onto her desk.“I would like you to present what evidence you have to absolve you of these charges against you and then based on what you present, I’ll decide whether or not you’re innocent or guilty or require further investigation. Who would like to present evidence first?” Without pause, she pointed at Caleb. “You! You brought the head of a creature! You weren’t on house arrest. We’ll start with you.” The guards dragged the creature’s head forward. Norda held up Caleb’s book. “And speaking with Zeenoth here, it appears what you said is true. This creature is a dangerous, terrible fiend. And looking at it’s apparent ability to feast on the essence of creatures, this explains both the transformation of the old man. This also explains the destruction of our two guards, who were recently discovered. Rest their soul. So, that explains that. Convince me as to why you were not working with this entity, especially those of the carnival.” She snapped her fingers and in marched Gustav, Bosun...Mollymauk and Yasha.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“That one was caught fleeing from the scene.” The guard said, pointing to Yasha.“No, that’s completely a misunderstanding of things. That’s not what happened.” Yasha said.“I’m certain. You have a trustworthy face.” Norda said, sarcastically. “What’s the next bit of evidence you want to present, please? Anyone?”“Well, first a question. Are you familiar with Occam’s Razor?” Caleb asked.“What?”The entire room looked at him like he was crazy.“I figured. Okay. That one works for the circus. Do I look like I work for the circus?”Norda looked him up and down.“Strangely, not well dressed enough.”“No. I’m a dirty hobo and I reek like yesterday’s garbage.”“I wasn’t going to go that far, but I’ll admiss it.”“Yeah. This one, does he look like a circus performer?” Caleb gestured to the door, and as if they’d rehearsed it, Fjord entered the room. “Or is he filthy like me?”Caleb turned to gesture to Beau, “The sardonic one, right? With the shit-eating grin. Does she look like she works for the circus?”“I don’t know what she works for, but I don’t trust her.”“That’s smart.” Beau said.“I am injured, she’s a healer, this one is a nincompoop--”Caleb pointed from me to Jester. Then he moved to pull the mask off of Nott.“This is my good friend. She’s a goblin.”“A little halfling girl!” Nott argued feebly.Norda pulled back and I fought the urge to facepalm. What was Caleb doing??“She is my friend and colleague and you will not lay a hand on her while I am standing here.”Norda’s eyes were chained onto where Nott had stood, Caleb blocking her line of sight.“And I’m sorry, I’m confused why you’re going to such lengths to defend the rights of this large, oversized frog skull.”“I defend no rights of this creature!” Norda snapped, “I’ve been in this office long enough to know that there aren’t usually solo workers on something like this. I know these folk. They all protect each other. Who’s to say this wasn’t their whole reasoning for coming anyway, and something went wrong, and they’re letting him take the fall?”“There’s a big conspiracy to make undead crownsguard here in the city?” Caleb asked, brow raised.“I don’t fucking know! Don’t tell me how I do my business! Sit the fuck down! Who’s next?”“You’re right.” Mollymauk spoke, “We do protect our own. That’s absolutely true.”“Let him up.” The guards loosened the chains and Mollymauk got to stand and approach a bit.“It’s a common tactic. It’s a good way to make your way through this world.” I looked down to the floor as Molly continued, “Normally it works. We assumed, the circus, anyway, that we were being framed. We were protecting our own. This one showed his true colors, and then they took care of it. Not out of obligation, or protecting the circus, but out of self-preservation, or maybe even kindness. To clear our names. Surely, that is believable to you, acting for self-preservation?”“All right. And that’s why this one ran?” Norda gestured over to Yasha.“Well–” Yasha began.“I mean–” Nott floundered.“--I feel like I didn’t need to be in there anymore. You know. I don’t– ugh.”“We needed someone on the outside. We knew we were innocent. We knew you didn’t think so. We just assumed you were going to have us all executed and we didn’t do anything. What would you have done?” Mollymauk asked. Norda paid little attention, staring down Nott.“Is that goblin pissing in my court?”“I’m sorry! I’m really nervous!”“In his defense, it’s a wonderful vintage. Her defense.” Molly corrected, smirking away.“I’m very nervous. I’m sorry, it’s just your guards shackled both my wrists and my ankles and I can’t move to get into a good position.”“You know, when she’s nervous she aerates her bladder, all right?” Caleb said. “Look, I have some evidence to submit. Look at my hands and also the hands of Jester and Serasai. We’re covered in the thing’s blood. We were there too. We helped the killing of the creature.”I didn’t know if that was going to help or damn us considering that meant we’d ignored our house arrest. But Norda seemed concentrated on Nott. She leaned forward and looked Nott dead in the eyes.“I’ve known friends I grew up with who were carved down by your kin. Convince me why I shouldn’t hang you tomorrow.”
Oh shit.
“I’m sorry for your loss. Where are your people from?” Nott asked.“Grimgolir.”“That’s not where my clan’s from. I had nothing to do with it. My clan operates far, far away and–”“Where does your clan operate from?”“Near the Felderwin Tillage.”“That’s not too far. Maybe we’ll send some folks to pay a visit to your clan.” Norda threatened. Nott looked unfazed.“You can. Feel free. I’ll even tell you where they are. I’m no longer associated with them and I can help you hunt them down if you’d like.”After a long pause, Norda leaned back. “I want to sleep. I think you’re telling the truth. Most of you. Archivist, does this resonate with you as well? Does this check out, lore-wise? I don’t know what the fuck you do.” The Archivist sighed and said, “I believe based on what they’ve stated, at least it’s consistent. Elves with blades such as hers are respected in some circles.” I felt every person in the room turn to look at me, but the Archivist continued, “--though I’m a bit confused as to the demeanor of the goblin. It’s not unheard of to have goblin kin turn against their own. There have been a number of historic individuals of various monstrous races who have been beneficial members of society.”Caleb turned around and scooped Nott up onto his shoulders.“Bring the two others forward.” Norda ordered. The guards brought forward Gustav and Bosun. “This is your circus, right?” “It is my circus and I take full responsibility for what’s happened.” Gustav said, “Sincerely. They have done nothing wrong. They are completely innocent. I brought this creature into our fold and that is on me. Whatever judgement you have, bring onto my head, not theirs. Please. I implore you.” A pause.“Fine. I’ll consider the investigation closed. You’re all freed of charges against you...Including the goblin.” Norda huffed that last part, hitting her gavel down.“Oh! Thank you! I would kiss you if I could.” Nott said, looking relieved. Caleb patted her gently on the leg as she still perched atop him.“I would not recommend trying. Okay. Gustav, what’s– I can’t read your last name. You’ve been given quite a debt for Trostenwald so you shall remain here until you’ve worked off the debt to the city. To the number of 2,645 gold pieces. To make up for the deaths of our two crownsguard, of the two civilians who have died, and the general cost of this entire investigation. We’ll consider what your work is to the city tomorrow. However, the rest of you: you’re free to go. I’m going to go get myself some sleep.”“Can I have my book back, please?” Caleb asked. Norda took off her decorative armor and gave a heavy sigh.“All right. I’m going to get a drink.” She put her cloak on and then hopped off the stand. With the imposing sight of her on top of a large pedestal and desk hopping down to her natural dwarven height was almost comical as she skittered away.   “Where are you getting a drink at!?” Jester called. No response. “...Do you want company!?” The guards began to remove the chains from the circus folk, freeing everybody, though two guards were assigned to watch over Gustav so he did not attempt to leave town. I looked over to our group about to speak, but saw Beau had already left. The guards ushered us out and we quickly saw her coming back inside to rejoin us. “I thought you left.” Jester said, hopping over to her side.“Just had to pee.” Beau shrugged.“Oh.”“Shame.” Mollymauk shrugged.“Welcome back.” I said, sheepishly, to Molly. While the first thing on my mind had been Beau’s going to be in trouble when he talks to Toya , the second thing on my mind had quickly been, hey remember why he was in jail? Yeah, that’s your fault. “Thanks, love.” He grinned, none the wiser.“Hey, you guys, we’re town heroes! What’s it feel like?” Jester yanked me away, looping her arms through mine and Beau’s.“Yeah!” The two of them cheered.“And Yasha, it’s very good to see you again.” Jester beamed.“It’s good to see you guys, too.” Yasha said, a small smile on her face.“Where did you go? Were you on the lam for a long time?” Nott asked. She was almost level with Yasha now that she was perched on Caleb’s shoulders.“I have a little bit of a problem with authority and I didn’t want to be caught in a small and confined space and then that ended up happening.”“How long have you been in there?” Jester asked.“Immediately after I ran away.” A couple of us chuckled sardonically. “They sent out horses. I’m not that fast, but I did fuck up a few of the guards. By accident.” She made faux parentheses around ‘by accident’. Almost immediately we heard a couple of guards clear their throats, and turning to look I saw they were visibly bruised. I tried not to laugh. “Molly, what do you think this means for the carnival?” Fjord asked. Molly let out a long sigh.“I don’t know. That is a question.” “I mean, if Gustav has to stay here then who’s going to run it?” Jester asked.“That’s a lot of gold. That’s like a life sentence worth of gold.” Beau mused. I swallowed. “Well, I mean–” Jester began, but Molly interrupted.“Gold comes, gold goes.”“How much do you think the circus has?” Caleb asked.“I don’t know how much the circus has and, honestly, I think Ornna would lie about it if we asked.” Once settled outside, the crownsguard pulled away and left our group, Bosun and Gustav, to our devices. Gustav approached us, rubbing his wrists.“Well, thank you everyone for helping. That could have been a lot worse. And, you know, it’s fine. I know it’s a lot of money, but shouldn’t take me more than a few years... It’s a nice town! Trostenwald is a nice town!” He seemed to be saying the last part to himself more than us.“It’s not that nice.” Fjord said.“No, it’s not, but you know, it’s better than prison.” He shrugged.“There’s a lot of beer here.” Jester pointed out optimistically.“That there is. I may have to start a small fund for that on its own.”“What happens to the circus, because, you know, you can’t do the same show for the same people for a year?” Caleb asked.“Where’s Ornna? Where’s the twins? Where’s–” Gustav began to panic.“The twins left, I believe.” Fjord said.“Yes, we saw them run.” I nodded. “Ornna was still at the carnival when we left it last. Did you see her when you dropped off Toya?” I asked. Fjord shook his head.“I didn’t stay around long enough. Toya should be back at the circus. She’s very shaken by all this.” Nodding, Gustav began making a beeline for the circus. Bosun watched him go, sighing.“How hard can it be to make 2,000 gold?” Mollymauk asked.“I don’t know how much he saved. Nowhere near that much, probably.” Bosun asked.“How hard can it be to steal 2,000 gold?” “I don’t know how many people around here have that much. Although, the breweries might.” Jester answered. “And considering some people were already accused of theft, might not be the best course of action.” Fjord said, eyes landing on me. I tried to stay expressionless, looking over to Molly. He looked between the two of us.“There’s a story there. But perhaps you’re right, best to find that gold elsewhere.”“Wait, so who killed him?” Yasha asked. It took a second for us to realize she was asking about the demon. Before anyone could answer, Gustav had spun around and quickly rushed back.“Sincerely. I appreciate the aid, but don’t.” He spoke more to Mollymauk than anyone else. “This is on me. I’ll take care of it. This is not your responsibility. It’s not your responsibility. You guys have already done so much. It’s fine. I’ll take care of it.”“Suppose we should take a look at what’s left of the circus. Find Toya.” Mollymauk said.“I’m so tired.” Jester said, deflating.“Don’t suppose you want to retire for the evening? Share a drink together now that this issomewhat behind us?” Fjord offered.“I will definitely drink.” Molly nodded, “I think we should probably drink at our camp then. I’m fine inviting them.”“Tell you what.” Gustav began, “As a thanks, we’ll grab Toya. We’ll meet you guys– where are you all staying?”“The Nestled Nook.” Beau and Caleb said.“We’ll come meet you at the Nestled Nook and I’ll get a round for you all. As a thank you.”“Is this a human thing to– never mind.” Mollymauk’s tail flicked.“Yeah, we’re just like tieflings, we’re all alike.” Caleb said, deadpan. I giggled.“I know.” Mollymauk said, smiling.“All right. Bosun, come on.” Gustav said, the two heading towards the circus.“...It was him?” Yasha asked. Molly looked to her.“Kylre went bad. Maybe he’d already always been bad, I don’t know.” “I mean, he attacked us. A lot of guards, too.” Jester said.“He was an evil fiend. When he joined the circus, who brought him in?” Nott asked.“Let’s not be throwing words around.” Molly said, carefully.“No, he was literally an evil fiend.”“He summoned imps.” Jester nodded.“He summoned–?”“Caleb found out what kind of demon he was, a nergaliid? It’s in the book we gave to the Lawmaster.” I added.“You may read it, if you’d like.” Caleb said, handing the book to Yasha.“He was fine for years. Something set him off.” Molly shook his head. While he’d been with us when we’d detected that Kylre was evil, he as having trouble wrapping his head around it. I understood; they considered him family. It was hard, usually, to imagine family could do something wrong.“We think he may have been feeding on you all at the circus, or on Toya.” I said, quietly. Molly’s eyes snapped to mine. Then he looked back down.“He was fine for so long. There was nothing for so long. Why? Things don’t just…”“I still think there’s something creepy about this lake, man.” Beau said.“Maybe?” “It gives me the heebie jeebies.”“Everything gives me the heebie jeebies.”“Perhaps he needed to feed more or was impatient for some reason?” Caleb suggested, as Yasha handed the book to Molly, having skimmed it. He simply held it.“What’s happened with Toya?” Yasha asked, “How is she?”“She is taking it as you would expect.” Fjord said. “Gave us a little trouble, but got her back safe. Misses you.” “Also Beau crushed her windpipe.” Nott chirped.“Wasn’t me!” I said, looking over to Beau. I may have thought about it but I wasn’t going to bring it up.“Hey, I apologized!” Beau huffed. “Why--?” Molly seemed at a loss for words at the rapid-fire information.“She was singing doing magic stuff on us during the fight! I did what I had to do.”Molly closed his eyes, trying to control his anger or annoyance, while Yasha looked saddened at the news.“And, I’m sorry, for the topic change--” Caleb began.“Please.” I said, shaking my head.“--are we also taking the bouncer into our little coven of weirdos? Is that a thing that’s happening?” “Oh, well–” Yasha looked around at us.“Always.” Mollymauk said, putting a hand on her shoulder.“I mean, I kind of go on my own, but–” “Yeah, she’s one of us.” Beau said decisively.“She’s the charm, she has to come!” Mollymauk grinned.“...I’m too tired to argue. Let’s get that drink.” Caleb said.“See? Charm. Drink.” Molly said. The group of us made our way back to the Nestled Nook Inn, gathering the tables up in what had become our usual spot, and within the next hour or so, Gustav, Bosun, Toya and Ornna all came in and joined us. Under the flickering firelight in the fairly empty tavern, we dominated the center space.“I’m sorry, Yasha, for new patrons, you’re going to have to surrender your sword.” Fjord said. Yasha laughed lightly.“You’re very funny.” “He is very funny.” Molly nodded.“That is a very sick burn.” Caleb said. “Speaking of swords–” Beau began, only for Jester to interrupt.“Careful Fjord, we haven’t been fully healed yet, you know. She could take you down.”“You could always try to take it.” Yasha said, smiling.“Arm wrestle.” Molly suggested.“Arm wrestling competition, right now!” I agreed. “You do look pretty strong. I mean, you’re just a little bit bigger than me, but I still think I could probably take you.” Yasha said.“Looks could be deceiving.” Fjord shrugged.“Arm wrestle! Bets on Yasha.”“Betting Yasha too.” I said.“Do it! Arm wrestle!” Jester cheered. “I just thought it would be a nice gesture.” Fjord said. Jester cocked her head.“To arm wrestle? ”“No, to give up her sword.”“What about your sword?” Yasha asked.“Oh, I’m a paying patron here. They know me quite well.” Fjord said.“That is true, unfortunately for them.” I said, nodding.A couple of the group laughed as Fjord shot me a playful glare.“But you’ve got to be putting something on the table, though. Well, if you want to surrender the sword or not surrender the sword.” Molly reasoned.“Did you want to stay in that room any longer, Molly?” Fjord asked, half-joking.“Well I’ve had other offers.” He winked at me.Completely blindsided, I blushed hard and put my head in my hand, shaking my head.“I was drunk!” I exclaimed, smiling all the while as my exclamation made the rest of the group laugh.“Also, not happening with us in the room.” Beau said, pointing at herself and Jester.“You know what? I’m making a wrestling bracket. It’s too late, it’s happening.” I declared, changing the subject, “Jester, can I have a piece of paper?”“Oooo! Yes!”“Who wants to participate on the circus side? Molly and Yasha I am forcing to participate.” I said, reaching across the table to grab the paper from Jester. “I’m in.” Bosun decided, raising his cup. “Do we have--” Caleb began to ask.“Name’s already on it, you’re in, Caleb.” I said. He huffed into his drink.“Odd number.” I complained. “Count me in, then.” Ornna said, shrugging.“Alright. Ten. It’s gonna get weird, so Fjord and Yasha will versus towards the end and get a pass for some rounds because we all want to see them go.” I said, writing it out. Nott hopped around the table to my side, looking it over.
“Beau vs Bo!”

“I’m putting you versus Caleb, for yucks.”

“That leaves…”
After some shuffling around, we had a bracket. “First up, Caleb and Nott.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“First up, Caleb and Nott.”Some goodhearted cheers came from the group as we backed up to give them space, and they settled across from each other. Caleb looked hesitant at first, but him being against Nott seemed to let a little of his competitiveness come forward.“I’ve got this! I might be little but I pack a punch!” Nott yelled.“Let’s go then.” Caleb said, arm in place. “And...GO!” I called.The two of them fought, both looking like they were struggling. But as Caleb’s hand slowly fell back, pushed by Nott, the group of us began to cheer louder. It hit the table and we cheered and laughed, Nott getting up onto the table to put her fists into the air. Caleb looked a little disappointed, but still clapped for his friend.“Are you alright, Caleb?” Nott asked.“I am alright.”“I didn’t hurt you with my immense physical strength?”“No, I am fine.” The next round was Bo versus Beau. Knowing he was the strong man made me feel a little bad throwing him against anyone, so the name joke had been an easy choice that Nott had pointed out.Bo sat down in Caleb’s chair, grinning smugly. Beau was stretching out, shaking out her hands, moving her head to stretch her neck. She settled in, other hand braced against the table already. “GO!”The two pressed with all their might. I was shocked how much of a fight Beau was putting up, her face already red and their two hands shaking violently. Even Bo seemed to be surprised, but despite all Beau’s efforts, her hand was pushed down to the table. Everyone seemed a little disappointed, rooting for the underdog, but the circus folk quickly cheered for their strong man.“You put up a good fight.” Bo said, now looking completely recovered.“You too.” Beau said. She was breathing heavily and clearly trying to hide it. “Who’s next?”I looked at the sheet and winced.“Me and Molly.” I sighed.“I’ll say Go!” Nott said, hopping back up onto the table.Molly slid into Beau’s spot, cheekily grinning at me as he did. “Scimitar users fight.” Fjord noticed.“Best of luck.” Molly said. His tone said the opposite. “And to you.” I brushed it off. We clasped hands and I stared him down.“Annnnnnd….GO!” Nott shouted.Almost immediately he slammed my hand to the table.“GOD DAMN SHIT FUCK.” I swore as everyone laughed.“Don’t start a fight you can’t finish.” I sighed, collecting myself.“I didn’t. I started a game with no stakes and lost.” “Hey, that’s true, what’s the prize of this?” Bo asked.“...We have a magical pot that turns copper pieces to silver?” I offered, smirking.“HEY!” Nott exclaimed.“Get out of here with that shite.” Molly chuckled. “Good game, love.” “Don’t patronize me or make any puns about patrons.” I said, trying to look annoyed, but smiling all the while. He seemed fully amused. Before he could say anything else, I rushed ahead, “Next is Jester and Ornna.” The circus folk began to cheer for Ornna while our party seemed pretty smug about our chances. For once. “You got this Jess.” Beau said, clapping her hands on Jester’s shoulders.“Don’t fuck it up, Ornna!” Molly called.“...GO!”The two began their fight. It was our longest match so far, neither hand making way, the two of them locked in it. Red was sneaking onto Ornna’s face while purple was sneaking onto Jester’s. Their hands shook but only slightly, still an even match. Both put their other hand onto the table to get a better grip. The cheering of both sides echoed over one another until finally--Jester slammed Ornna’s hand to the table. We went crazy as Ornna sat, stewing and angry. The circus folk clapped, unexcited about the victory.“Ya fucked it up.” Molly said, smirking.“Shut the hell up!” Ornna snapped, getting out of the chair. “Next is Fjord versus Yasha!” I called. The group got excited, so I struggled to yell over them, “They winner will get a pass through the next round and fight in the final round!” Fjord took Jester’s seat and Yasha took Ornna’s. Yasha looked very confident. Fjord’s confidence began to waver, but only Beau and I seemed to notice. We’d fought with him, he was a strong fighter, but we recognized his strength wasn’t necessarily with...well, strength. But I wasn’t one to talk.“Ready?” Yasha asked.“Yup.” Fjord gave a nod. They clasped hands.“.........GO!” All the build up of the hype fell flat as Yasha immediately slammed Fjord’s hand to the table. It put Molly’s fast win to shame. Mollymauk couldn’t have cared less though, losing his mind and part of his drink as he cheered for Yasha.The entire circus followed suit and a few of our own--myself included--laughed at Fjord’s loss. “It was just talk. I’m better with this.” He said, pulling out his sword.“Sword envy.” Caleb said, nodding.“It’s not--”“Hers is bigger, it’s fine.” Nott said. The group laughed, Fjord slowly getting over his loss to smirk a little at the joke.“Yasha goes on to the finals!” I decreed.“Well deserved!” Bo called.“Next up is you and Nott.” I said.“What!?” Nott looked over to Bo, uneasy. We laughed at her reaction. The two quickly settled.“Ready?” I asked. They nodded, Nott a little shakily. “GO!”“NNNNNNNNNNNNGH!” Nott pushed with all her strength, Bo’s hand sat unmoving as he pushed back. Nott cheated and tried pushing with both hands. Bo dramatically yawned, and then pushed Nott’s hands down to the table. We all clapped appreciatively, Caleb patting Nott on the back as she wandered back to him.“It’s his job to be strong, you still did good.” He said.“I know. I beat you, at least. I’d probably beat Sera.” “Thanks.” I deadpanned. “Next...Tiefling battle!”Jester sprang up.“Molly! We get to fight!”“I know, isn’t it exciting?”“Let’s show them how it’s done.” Jester and Mollymauk sat across from each other.“Ready? GO!” I called.The two pushed and in a flash both of their seats slid back and they tumbled forward, hands pulled apart as they fell to the floor. The screech of the chair legs on the floor, the thud of their bodies onto the packed dirt, and the jingle of metal clamored out all at once in their wipe out.
“What the fuck?”
Beau rushed to Jester’s side, Yasha went to Molly who waved her off.“I’m ok!” Jester said, popping up, Beau’s hand in hers.“As am I!” Molly stood up, slower.“What happened!?” Nott asked.“Unstoppable force meets immovable object?” Caleb offered.“Or they’re just clumsy idiots.” Ornna muttered.“Uh, I guess go again, but standing? Don’t die, please.” I chuckled. “No promises.” Molly grinned, taking Jester’s hand again.“Go?”The two of them pushed against each other, Molly’s face going a darker shade of purple as his hand shook. It was slowly pushed down to the table and Jester stood up, victorious.“Jester has avenged me!” I cheered.“After completely wiping out.” Beau snickered.“Take a small break after all that, because next up is Bo and Jester.” The group of us cheered, enjoying a small break for drinking. Caleb sidled up next to me.“This is nice. A good change of pace.” He said. I snorted.“Hard not to be considering half of us were in jail and half of us were fighting a demon.” I said.“Yes, of course, but I meant, this was a good idea.”“Oh. Thank you.” I said, smiling. I noticed Nott next to us shoot Caleb an enthusiastic thumbs up and I chuckled. He was sheepish about it, looking down. It seemed like that was as much as Caleb was going to say.“I’m ready when you are!” Bo called to Jester.“Let’s do this.” She seemed determined.“Excuse me.” I said, smiling at Caleb again, and went back to the head of the table. “Get ready, then!” Jester and Bo sat down, hands on the table to ready themselves.Everyone was quiet, quelled a little from the break. “...GO!” The two began the fight, this time Bo held nothing back and Jester’s hand immediately began shaking and sinking under the pressure. Her face almost hit Mollymauk’s shade as she struggled. But steadily, her hand hit the table. Our group was out.“Good job, Jess!”“You got third place!” I said, cheerfully. That seemed to perk Jester up.“Oh yeah, I made the top three! I am the strongest!” Jester sang, doing a little dance. “Last, Bo versus Yasha.” “The finals!” Gustav yelled, his ringleader voice coming out. The group of us all cheered. It seemed like everyone now wanted Yasha to win, being the underdog up against the Strong Man.“On your mark…” I began, “Get set…..”Silence.“...GO!”The struggle was about as one-sided as Bo versus Jester. But the twist was, Yasha was winning.Our yells reached a fever pitch and I was surprised the tavernkeeper hadn’t come to yell at us, but from my place at the front I saw they had also become invested in our tournament. The veins on both of their faces popped as they fought. It looked like Bo might make a comeback for a moment before THUDHis hand hit the table and we erupted in cheers and applause.“Looks like I have a new strong man, eh?” Gustav joked.“I fought more people, I was more tired out. Next time it will not be so easy.” Bo said, wagging a finger at Yasha.“I will look forward to it.” Yasha said.We were able to somehow chorale ourselves back together, thank Gustav for the round, and order some more. We congratulated each other, made cheap-shot jokes, and it felt familiar to me. Everyone was a little beat from the game, so it wasn't long before there was a moment of quiet as we were all sipping, and just tiredly thinking over the events of the evening. Toya, who had been enthusiastically cheering for Molly and Yasha during the game, had the strongest noticeable shift in mood. No longer distracted by the game, she broke the silence.“Is the family going away? Am I going to be alone again?” Ornna looked over at her.“Not if I can help it. It’s you and me, kid, against the world.” Bosun pat Ornna on the shoulder.“Well, if you’d have me, you can probably use a strong arm. Not the strongest.” He shot a look at Yasha, “But on most days.” Ornna looked back at him. “You know what? Sure. The trio makes for a strong pack of performers. Desmond, are you in?” Desmond sat there, staring down at his cup.“I see a new family before me. And one I fear that’s a story I could only spoil. No, I thank you, but I’ll find my own path.” He gave a brief pat and side hug to Bosun before he stood up and left. Gustav seemed to follow suit.“I’m sorry for everything. For all the pain this has caused you, for all the pain it’s caused you.” He looked to Toya, “For all the pain it’s caused you, little one.”“We had quite the adventure, actually. I know people were hurt, but that was really something.” Fjord said. It was like he was trying to raise the mood back to how it was moments ago during the competition.“And apparently, nobody really cared about Enon, so that’s, you know, good for your conscience.” Beau added.“Everyone’s conscience is heavy with its own reasoning.” Gustav said.“Get no blame from me.” Molly said with a nod.“I appreciate that. We are our own worst enemy, are we not?”“Ah, cheers to that!”“Well, I think that’s the end of my carnival.” Gustav chuckled weakly. “It was such a good carnival.” Jester gushed.“It was a good run! It was a really good run.”“...Man, we caught the last show, you guys!” Beau said.“Not our best show.” Mollymauk said. Jester shrugged.“I liked it.”“The parts of the show we saw were beautiful.” I said, nodding.“Now the tickets are probably worth something!” Nott said, eyes wide.“They might!” Beau said.“Closed it down.” Fjord nodded.“I’m gonna keep this flyer.”Mollymauk turned to face Yasha.“You have plans?”“No, I’m just going to float around like I usually do.”“I don’t know, I’m thinking about it. I don’t know where I’m going to end up now.”“You can go with Bosun and Ornna, if you like.” Gustav said, “You guys are still carrying on. I mean, I’m not going to keep the tent, I’m not going to keep the supplies. I might hock some of it to try and pay off my debt, but– take what you want. Start anew. It’s my gift to you.”“Thank you very much.” Bosun said.“We’ll start small, I don’t think we need too much of the ensemble. How we began, back up in Shady Creek.” Ornna said. “I mean, I could use a really large tent. Like the biggest one? I would take that off your hands.” Jester said.“The biggest one’s a bit–” Molly made a face.“What would you do with a really large tent?” Fjord asked.“I don’t know, I could open up a hotel? Or I could make a bunch of dresses. Or–” Jester said, before Nott interrupted.“Out of the tent!?”“Yeah!”“You could make a lot of dresses out of that tent. That’s fair.” Molly agreed. “Yeah, right? It’s really pretty fabric.”“Thank you.”I raised a brow.“That makes it sound like you sewed it.” I said. Molly said nothing, just took another sip while maintaining eye-contact. “Sera, Jester.” The two of us looked over to Nott. “I think it’s safe to say that this first case is closed!”Jester gasped excitedly while I laughed.“So we could open some sort of private investigation service!” Nott said, bouncing in her chair.“That’s what we should do!” Jester nodded.“Out of a tent.”“Let’s not open it here, though. This town sucks!”“Yeah, we were still planning on moving on after this.” Fjord said.“Bosun and Ornna, you guys can use that tent, right?” Gustav asked.“Yeah, I think we’ll take the tent.”“All right.”“Aw, they took the tent.” Nott frowned.“Aw. We waited too long!” Jester said.“You got to jump on the tent when it becomes available.”“You know, just out of curiosity, what’s everybody plan to do now?” Caleb asked.“We talked about it a bit. Waiting for you and Fjord.” Beau explained, arms crossed. “Fjord and I are going to try and get him into the Academy. Serasai is coming with us! So is Beau!” Jester said, running over to us and wrapping her arms around us both, excited.“Better than traveling alone, huh?” I chuckled. “As long as it's ok with you, Fjord.” Jester said, looking up with puppy-dog eyes.“Well, I wanted to find out more about the Soltrice Academy, yes. I didn’t know what direction you two were heading, or you two for that matter.” He looked from Beau and I over to Caleb and Nott. “I never even asked what you were doing here in the first place.”“Oh, you know, I’m just doing a walking tour? Through the continent, just kind of–“ Beau shrugged.“A walking tour?” “Yeah, just like a backpack vacation, you know? Just stretch my legs a little bit. Meeting some fine people. Discovering myself.”“Are you on a vacation?” “Yes.”“Bring a lot of money with you for that vacation, did you?”“What’s it matter to you?”“I don’t believe you’re on vacation. Where are you going?”Beau laughed, “That’s your problem. So, am I coming along on this little quest or– ?”Before Fjord could answer, Gustav finished his drink and said, “Well, I’m going to go get some sleep and try and figure out how to put my life together. I bid you all a wonderful night–”“Gustav, wait! Here.” Jester took off one of the rings from Kylre. “This is an old family heirloom, and I hope it can help you pay some of your debt.”Gustav looked it over, looking almost nostalgic as he stared at it.“Looks just like the one I lost off my pinky.”“Well, that’s so weird that you and my family have the same looking ones.”The rest of us kept our eyes down.“That’s wonderful, thank you so much.”“You’re welcome.”“That’s very sweet.” Gustav put his hat on. “Yasha, be safe, and punch anyone who gets in your way.”“I will.” She gave a nod.“Mollymauk, I hope you find what you’re looking for.”“I think I will.” Mollymauk said, solemnly.“To the new family, don’t make the same mistakes your forefathers did. The rest of you, thank you.” In the tense moment I could barely hear Jester whisper over to Nott.
“He said forefathers.”

“That’s progressive.”
“I bid you all adieu,” with that, Gustav left.We settled back in, that gross feeling goodbyes leave blanketing the room.“What are you looking for, Molly?” Jester asked.“Hmm, I’m not quite done with this one." Molly shuffled his tarot deck, idly. "We’ll see.” “Toya.” Yasha called. The young girl looked up to her. It looked like Bo and Ornna were planning on following suit, getting ready to leave.“Yeah?”“What are your plans? What do you want to do?”“I figure I’ll just move on with Bo and Ornna and make a new show. Something with a little less death. That’s what I’d like.”“You should make your way to the Menagerie Coast.” Jester suggested, “I think you guys would have a lot of success in Nicodranas.“I haven’t been to Nicodranas.”“It’s beautiful.”Toya looked up and tugged on the side of Bosun’s sleeve. “You know, I actually haven’t been there either.” Bosun mused.“They’re always looking for good performers. You would do well.” Jester said.“Hmm. Let’s go ahead and make our way. That sounds like a nice change of pace, and this empire is getting a little stuffy for me anyway.”Beau went over to Toya, removing one of the little bangles on her wrist. As everyone's eyes were trained on the interaction, I grabbed out half of the coin I’d gained from robbing the older man the other day, and quickly snuck it into Mollymauk’s pocket. “Here. This will keep you safe from assholes named Beau. Except for that asshole, named Bo. He’s a good Bo, but all other assholes named Beau.” Beau said, holding it out for her. Ornna elbowed Bo.“Oh, no, he’s an asshole too. It’s fine.”“It’s true.” Mollymauk chuckled, none the wiser to my silent apology.“Sorry. Sorry again about that.” Beau apologized. It was much more sincere this time.“It’s okay. I know you did what you had to.” Toya said. A spark of determination lit up in her eyes. “But when I’m older, I’m going to get you back.”“You better.” Beau grinned. She stood up, Jester at her side.“Your first nemesis!” Jester squeed.“My first nemesis!”“Is a twelve year old girl!” I mumbled into my cup. Mollymauk let out a bark of a laugh while Beau shot me a quick look. She ignored me and gave Toya a fond little nudge on a the chin.The three circus folk give a nod to Molly and Yasha, wordlessly look over the rest of us with a smile of thanks. Bosun looked to Fjord. “Take care, brother. It gets tougher for us up north.”“I’ll keep that in mind.” Fjord said, nodding. With that, the left.…“I mean, I’ll say it.” Yasha began, “I don’t know if you will, but I think that little girl is creepy.”The group of us burst into laughter.“Oh no, she’s had a thing the entire time. There was a little while I thought she was in on it completely.” Mollymauk agreed.“Yeah.”“I mean, she might have been.” Jester said.“I’ve known her for years. I just assumed that she was in on it.” Molly sighed, finishing off his drink.“She could’ve been in on it--""--she could've--""--and just got right away with it.”“Yeah. That would be great.”“She’s good.”“For her, yeah, I mean I got to give it to her, yeah.” Beau nodded.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“You know, no matter what you pick, you’re always welcome, right?” Mollymauk asked, turning to Yasha.“Yeah.”“Wherever you end up.”“...Maybe for a little bit, but I’ve got some things I need do, so.”“Do you guys want to travel with us?” Jester asked. “Where are you going, again?” Yasha asked.“Up north.” Fjord said, “Northeast to the Solstryce Academy.”“Straight there.” Caleb muttered. “Northeast. I’ve always wanted to go there.” Mollymauk said. “Where’s… where northeast?” Yasha asked. There was an awkward silence as the group tried to figure it out. “We should really get a map, you guys. I haven’t spent a lot of time in this area and I don’t really know where we’re going.” Jester said. Fjord nodded.“We’re kind of going from town to town and asking as we go. Afraid we don’t know too much.”“I wonder if there’s a place– maybe at the general store? They would have a map? Or do you have to go to a map maker?”“Traditionally, you have to go to a map maker.” Mollymauk said, tilting his head. “We might have a bit of something at the circus, I don’t know.”“I would love a map.” Yasha nodded.“We’ll go looking for things tomorrow. We can go shopping.” Jester said.“Okay. We’ll go shopping with you.”“Yeah!”“Where are you guys heading off to? Seems like people are making pretty big plans.” Beau asked. Fjord looked her over, then glanced over at me.“There’s safety in numbers, you know?” He said, taking a swig. Something about it seemed official, like that was him signing off on us joining them.“Yeah. Took the words out of my mouth.” Jester said, grinning. “Nott, don’t you want to travel with us, too?”“Um, is she coming?” Nott looked up at Yasha, looking uneasy.“Yeah, she just said she was.”“Oh, are you scared of me?” Yasha asked.“A little bit.” Nott admitted, “You’re very big.”“Well, I thought you were Nott, the Brave?”“Oh. No, there’s no comma.” ...“I’m just Nott the Brave.”The group of us burst into laughter, unable to repress it. Caleb was the first to calm down enough to speak.“I don’t know. You know, Nott and I have been travelling together for a while and two is better than one, although still very difficult.”“How long ago was it that you guys broke out of prison?” Beau asked.“Uh… you know, it was six months ago, about. Five, six months ago.”I couldn’t hide some surprise. Caleb seemed to have an incredible memory, but he wasn’t sure how long it had been? I doubted it. “Damn, you guys are doing good.” Beau said.“Broke out of prison? That’s very impressive.” Fjord said.“Well, it was mainly Caleb. We had to get out. I mean, it was a bad place.” Nott said. Jester looked both intrigued and sad.“Were they going to kill you?”“We would have died, for sure.”“But you guys were there together? Because you knew each other before?” Yasha asked.“Well, first of all, she’s being modest.” Caleb said, putting a hand on Nott’s shoulder, “It was not just me at all, I could not have gotten out of there without you. I don’t think you could have gotten out of there without me either but you know.”“That’s true, for sure.” Nott nodded.“Makes sense. If it was easy to escape alone, then everyone would do it.” I reasoned. Caleb nodded.“Two is better than one. One is the loneliest number.”“That you’ll ever see.” Jester agreed. Caleb nodded, but Beau seemed to bristle at the phrase.“There’s nothing wrong with being alone.” She said, crossing her arms.“...You know, normally I wouldn’t feel comfortable talking about shit like this but you are all very shifty.” Caleb said.“I’m very trustworthy.” Jester said.“—Thank you.” Molly nodded, gladly accepting his shiftiness. “No, no, no, you’re shifty as well. Yeah.” Caleb pointed to Jester. Mollymauk nodded again.“It’s true.”“I’m a healer.” I said, echoing Caleb’s defense from the earlier trial.“Who can hold her own in a battle.” Caleb said, a brow raised.“I’m not sure that makes me shifty— “ I began. Fjord interrupted, perhaps feeling an argument brewing.“In the short time we’ve spent with you, you seem to be very upstanding folks. I’m sure it wasn’t for anything too serious.” He said, looking at Nott and Caleb. “No, nothing serious at all, really. I was too curious. She was maybe a little thirsty. You know, petty stuff.”“But they treated us very badly and we needed to get out of there.” Nott said. “We all know how this country works.” Caleb said, with a world-weary sigh.“And where was ‘there’?” Beau asked.“Yeah, is there anywhere we should stay away from on our travels?” Fjord asked. Caleb cleared his throat awkwardly. “Any place is– I mean, we’ve been travelling around a bit but–“ Nott floundered.“You know, I wouldn’t go west, maybe.”“Northwest.” Mollymauk said.“I’m told east is bad too. There’s monsters.” Nott nodded.“Yeah and they’re pretty terrible in the north. That’s no secret.”“So we go south?” Jester asked.“Oh no, not south.” Nott shook her head. “It just depends where in the south, actually.” Yasha said. “I’d be happy keeping a bit of a low-key existence.” Molly mused.“Well, I mean we are vigilantes so it’s best if we, you know, have our secrets.” Jester said.“Some of us are a bit sketchy with the law.”I smiled. I guess I had a habit of falling in with these kind of people. “Mollymauk, you’re comfortable leaving the circus? You are very– you have a lot of flair.” Caleb asked, carefully choosing his words.“Well, I figured if you’re going to live your life, you’re going to live your life.” Molly shrugged. Jester reached over and bapped some of Molly’s horn’s jewelry, making the jewels jingle. “Does do that.” Molly said. He moved to lean back in his chair. “There’s nothing wrong with living your life. You only get one of them, or mostly.” I stilled to listen as he continued. “And your days are going to be the days that you’re going to have and I’d like to keep living my life the way I’d like to and keep off of certain radars.”“Cheers to that.” Beau said, raising a cup. “Yeah. Life does need things to live.” Jester declared. Mollymauk raised a brow.“Stupid phrase.”“That doesn’t make any sense at all.” Caleb agreed.“ Really stupid.” “Who said that?” Fjord asked.“I mean, it does but it is blatantly obvious and simplistic.” Caleb said.“That’s just ridiculous.” Molly huffed. With that, he turned to Yasha. “Yasha, anywhere that we should avoid for you?” “You know. I’m just– I’ll make my way wherever we go and maybe I’ll not stay with you the whole time but I don’t like, you know–““Being confined.” Fjord guessed.“Yeah. I don’t– groups and things–““Are you claustrophobic?” Beau asked.“Uh, no.”“You mentioned the smaller cl–cramped space in the cell. Just curious.”“ Clamp space?” Jester asked, teasing.“Clamps– clampy space.” “Clam space.” Molly said.“Space clams.” I continued.“I like to have my freedom.” Yasha said, ignoring our comments. “I mean, technically this is a group. You mean groups bigger than this group or is this group too claustrophobic for you or– ?” Caleb asked.“No. I don’t mean it like that. I just want to make my own way sometimes.” Yasha explained.“Not tied down to anything but that cloak, am I right?” Beau said, grinning. Yasha chuckled lightly.“Yeah, that’s right.”“Speaking of cloaks, mine smells really bad.” Jester said, face scrunching up.“It was on top of a head. Ugh, that’s really gross.” Nott agreed.“I’m going to go try to find somewhere to wash it.” Jester said, hopping up from her seat and scurrying off.“Sera, anywhere we should avoid for you?” Fjord asked. I looked over.“I mean, I just came from Port Zoon. We don’t have to avoid it, but it would feel kind of stupid to go back.” I said. Beau raised a brow.“You don’t plan to go back?” “Not this soon. I want to go out and see different towns and places. Leaving and going back immediately would feel dumb.”“Ok.”The way Fjord said it sounded like he didn’t believe me.“Unless it was for an errand, that’s stupid!” I argued, “Like what is that, ‘Hey I’m going out to Trostenwald to get arrested, be home soon!’”Mollymauk and Beau laughed, Caleb gave a smirk. “Alright, I understand.” Fjord relented.“ Hey Caleb!” Jester yelled from upstairs.“ Yeah?”
“You know what’s upstairs?”
The rest of us laughed as Caleb just made a face.“You smell fine.” Mollymauk said. “I like you just the way you are.” Nott said. “ You’re bloody now, too, in addition to being stinky!” “ Yeah, I’m good, thank you.” We laughed some more. “Damn right.” Fjord nodded.“Well, I suppose we should all go to sleep and then if any of us are here in the morning, we’ll set off together?” Nott asked. “That seems fair.” Fjord nodded.“Last chance to run for it.” I joked. “We’ll head off and collect our things from– my things, anyway, from the circus. There should be some spares.” Mollymauk said. “Do we have time to–“ Caleb cut himself off, turning to Nott, “—look at this, we’re making plans with friends, that’s amazing—Do we have for errands in the morning? I have a couple stops. Nothing major.”“I do as well, and Jester wanted to go shopping for a map at least.” I said. “It’ll take me a while to pack.” Molly said.“We won’t leave without you if you want to come along.” “I do.” “You guys want me to tag along with you?” Beau asked, still unsure on what Fjord thought.“If you weren’t too anxious to run off anywhere.” Fjord said, raising a brow.“No. I’m free on my backpack tour. No plans.” Beau said, awkwardly.“Right. Any sightseeing we should schedule along our way?” “Maybe avoid Zadash just because I just came there, you know. What Sera said, would be stupid to double back.” “Zadash?”“Yup.”“Keep that in mind.” He muttered. As we finished our drinks and stood up to leave the table, a familiar voice piped in from the center of the tavern.“Beauregard?”Beau groaned loudly.We looked to the door and the Archivist who was there earlier during the trial in the stockade now stood in the doorway. “It’s been difficult to find you. Do you mind if we speak?”Beau’s mood changed to a very disingenuous cheer.“Hey, Zeenoth! Hey. It’s been all of about twenty minutes since I’ve seen you last.” Her happy tone tapered out to a mumble.“Yes, um, would you walk with me? I believe we have much to discuss.”“Okay.”The Archivist turned to address the group of us.“Don’t worry. She’ll be returned to you. Just–”“In one piece?” I asked.The Archivist floundered, not expecting the darker question.“Yes—““You all right with this?” Fjord asked Beau.“It’s cool. I’ve got it.”“I don’t care. I’m not that attached yet.” Mollymauk shrugged. “All right then. This way please, Beauregard.”Beau gave a heavy sigh and followed as the Archivist gave us a bow. He seemed to be facing me specifically, eyes sizing me up as he had in the trial room. The group of us began to disperse, before I could get more than a couple steps up the stairs, Capeb stopped me.“Sera?”“Yes?” I turned, seeing Caleb holding out a familiar red potion.“Your healing potion. Thanks for entrusting me with it.” He bowed his head a little, handing it over.“Thank you for returning it. I’m glad it wasn’t...necessary.” I said, searching for the right word.“Me too. Have a good night.” He said, taking a step back.“Thanks. See you tomorrow.” I said, smiling. He walked off towards Yorda and I made my way back up the stairs. I opened the door to see Jester drawing, her cloak up to dry in the corner. “Keeping it unlocked for Beau.” I said, closing the door behind me.“Okay!” Jester said. I went over to my mat on the floor, readying for bed, before I remembered. I felt like kicking myself for having forgotten. Instead of sleeping, I settled onto the mat in a relaxed position and meditated. I slowly fell into a trance, my breathing leveling out. Four hours later, I opened my eyes, well-rested. Just as Beau walked into the room.She jutted her chin out, acknowledging me, but then immediately winced. She looked beat to shit.“Are you okay?” I whispered. She nodded, casting a glance over to the sleeping Jester. “Do you want a potion?”“I’ll sleep it off.”I didn’t seem so sure, but let it go. She paused.“You should see the other guy.” I grinned at the idea, which she returned. She settled back onto her mat while I sat for a moment. Only having to rest for four hours gave me a lot of free time, though little to do with it now in the early hours of the morning.I went over to the door and began to slip out, deciding to spend my time downstairs where I wouldn’t disturb Jester or Beau’s sleep.“You leaving?”I jumped, turning around to see Beau looking up at me. It took me a second to realize she was asking if I was leaving the group —setting out in the middle of the night.“No. I don’t sleep much. Gonna wait downstairs for everyone.” Beau stared, sizing me up, and then nodded.I slipped out the door downstairs, settling into a corner rather than our usual table. With the tavern completely empty it felt odd sitting in the center alone.I took out a piece of paper and began to write. 
Dear Aldric,
 
              I made it to the town of Trostenwald. It’s very close to

Port Zoon, perhaps you’ve been here before. I am looking

forward to traveling further. There was trouble we ran into, so

I can’t say I enjoyed the town much. I’m okay, don’t worry. I’ve

fallen in with a group of travelers that intend to journey from

town to town. I’m excited to see the sights and write back to

you! 
 
With love,

Serasai
 I folded the letter with a sigh and opened my spellbook, stuffing it between some pages. My spellbook was fairly pristine, dyed the faded turquoise color of the bandanna I wore around my neck. It held no words or markings on its outside, just a flat cover. Inside all the spells were handwritten. Differing from a typical spellbook, I had written out cantrips. I hadn’t used special ink or paper to add them in, merely written them in for a sense of complete-ness. As it was, I didn’t expect to delve too deep into magic. Yet. I had time, hopefully, with the long lifespan of an Elf ahead of me. But these spells I’d chosen to study were a utility, or something that piqued my interest. I settled in to continue reading, studying them. I had undersold my magical ability to the group, as I was incredibly close to being capable of using all the spells in this book. As the hours wore on, a small  green spectral hand began flipping through the pages in my stead, at my silent command. My first spell I’d ever learned, Mage Hand. I recalled how quickly it had come to me the first time I’d cast it—a complete accident as I had been wishing I could grab a document from across a room. It came in handy for potions and other less honest activities, but I often forgot about it in the moment.Eventually, I heard steps on the stairs, banishing the floating hand with a lazy wave of my wrist. It was a patron I didn’t recognize, and more flowed in from upstairs and outdoors. Yorda began to cook, the smell of cooking meats and pastries filling the room. I left my corner spot and began laying claim to our table, spreading out some of my alchemy vials and scribbled notes to make the table look taken.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Fjord came down the stairs first of our group, spotting me across the way.

“You’re up early.”

“I don’t sleep much.” I shrugged.

“Oh?”

He sounded, not

suspicious

, but curious. For all we’d been through these past few days and the camaraderie that had formed, everyone was clearly hiding something. Fjord and Beau seemed the most determined to find out what, for each of us.

“I’m an Elf, we can just meditate for four hours and be good.”

At the anticlimactic answer, Fjord let out an almost disappointed huff.

“Hm. Guess you’ll be on night watch.” He looked over to the front, “You order food?”

“Not yet.”

Caleb and Nott made their way down the stairs, quickly followed by Jester. We placed our orders. Mollymauk strode in the door with Yasha in tow, placing orders as well and settling in as I cleaned my alchemy junk off the table. Caleb had been curiously looking over a note that, as he handed it back, was evidently my old shopping list; a list of ingredients to brew healing potions.

Last down the stairs came Beau, who still looked completely beat to shit.

“Hi, guys. Sorry I snuck in last night.”

“Oh, fuck! Did you get horse kicked?” Fjord asked, rearing back at the sight of her.

“Several times.”

“Damn. How’s the horse look?”

“Horse is fucking dead. I ate it.”

“That’s a bit excessive.”

Beau rolled her eyes.

“Horse is fucking fine. Hey, Jester, or Sera, whoever, do you have a bandage? Do you have a thing?”

“Oh, yes! Of course I do.” Jester perked up and began riffling through her bag, “I have a lot of bandages because I am the cleric.”

“Sleeping it off not work?” I asked, sarcastically. “I can pop in a potion quick.”

“Save those for the road, if we can.” Beau waved the idea down.

“I don’t know if that bone’s supposed to be sticking out of that part.” Fjord said, sounding unsure.

“Give me your wrist! I can definitely heal this.” Jester said, holding out her hand.

“Or I bet Yasha can pop it back into place.”

“Yeah,

crack

.” Beau snorted.

Jester finished bandaging Beau, giving some support to the injury.

“Thank you.”

“What happened to you?” Yasha asked.

“I’ve been practicing!” Jester said, cheerfully.

“Not you,

her

. What happened to

her?

” Fjord explained, gesturing to Beau.

“Oh. Sorry.”

“Man, it was a great night.” Beau said, “I had a great night! I haven’t had a great night in a long time, you guys. That was a great night.”

“With the guy you–“ Fjord began.

“You came in really late.” Jester said. I nodded.

“I’d like to see the other guy.” Mollymauk grinned.

“I might have been accepted into, like, a secret society. It’s kind of secret society business. It’s hard to talk about.” Beau said. I gave a short chuckle.

“Are you allowed to talk about it? Tell us about it!” Jester gushed.

“Okay! No, I can’t. It’s fine. ...There are these monks. I thought they hated me. It turns out they like me. Turns out they want me to become a part of their gang. But it’s not really real, and they’re like, “Just keep doing your thing! But you’re against injustice and seek out truth and break systems!””

Jester practically had stars in her eyes.

“You are a hero!”

“Is this one of those dreams where nobody has their clothes on?” Caleb asked.

“Does that happen to you often?” I asked, amused. He did an ok job of ignoring that comment.

“You know, if the monks beat you up to make them join your gang, they’re not really your friends.” Mollymauk said.

“You know, I said something like that to her. It wasn’t as black and white as that.” Beau said.

“Sometimes initiations are intense, like, they have to know you’re capable if it comes to a fight. Or sometimes they’re just necessary.” I defended.

“Is that why they did that to her face there? Oh, no, they didn’t.” Beau leveled Mollymauk with a glare, “Apparently they were pretty–“

“—I wouldn’t say this woman was my friend. I would say she’s definitely a

badass

. I wouldn’t say she’s my friend.”

“Friendships come after the initiation.” I reasoned.

“Have you been initiated to a secret club too?” Fjord asked, a brow raised.

“...This feels like we’re a secret club sometimes, does that count?”

He gave a quick eye-roll and turned back to Beau.

“This woman, was she with the fellow that you left with last night?”

“She was. His name was Zeenoth. He’s an archivist of the Cobalt Reserve. Lot of books there. Lot of books.”

“Cobalt Reserve. He was in the court.”

“Was this a test of some sort?” Yasha asked.

“I think so.”

“Did you pass? I mean, they made you a hero, so obviously you did.” Jester answered herself.

“I’m not a hero. That’s not what they did. It’s more like a vigilante! Like what we said! Yeah!” Beau fist-pumped.

“This is so great. Can they let us into the secret society too?”

“No.”

“Well, you know, this is very fascinating, but I have some errands to run.” Caleb stood up, “Nott, would you like to run errands with me? We are totally coming back and not leaving on our own undercover.”

The whole table gave him a look.

“Ok, bye forever, it was nice meeting you.” I said. Caleb huffed, looking at us all with annoyance.

“Whatever. I’m being very honest! We’re not going anywhere. But I do have errands to run. So, we’re going to leave soon. Have some breakfast.”

He grabbed some bacon from Fjord’s plate, and practically dragged Nott out the door.

“Meet us at the circus!” Mollymauk called after him.

“I’m off on errands too, what are you all up to?” I asked.

“Apparently eating less of my bacon, motherfucker.” Fjord cursed. I laughed.

“I’m going to pack up and head back to the circus. Start getting things together.” Mollymauk said.

“Yeah. I think I’ll join you.” Yasha agreed.

“I’ll come with you, Sera! I want to go try to buy a map.” Jester said.

“That’s a good idea. I’ll come along.” Beau nodded.

“Yeah!”

“Oh, I did actually want to see that map.” Yasha looked over to Mollymauk.

“I’ll meet you there—Actually, you know what? I want to see you see that map.”

“I think that’s a great idea. Seeing me see a map is something pretty special.”

“It’s gorgeous. It’s fabulous.”

“I gotta stop off by the post office at some point, is my errand.” I interrupted.

“Who you writing to?” Beau asked.

“A friend back home.” I shrugged.

“Like a friend or a

friend~
?

” Jester nudged me, wiggling her brow. I chuckled.

“The first one.”

“Whatcha telling them?” Beau asked. That same constant curiosity of

I don’t know you

read in her voice.

“It’s like a I-got-here-safe letter. Yeah.”

“Mhmm sure.”

“Can we read it?” Jester asked.

“It’s pretty boring.”

“Or it’s something secret.” Beau said.

“A secret lover?” Mollymauk asked, a brow raised.

“In what worl—you all have trust issues. Here.” I placed the letter on the table. Everyone was on it like flies.

…

“That

is

boring.”

I gave Beau a withering look.

“It’s more like an obligation for him to know I’m still out here doing my thing and didn’t die.” I said, putting the letter back in my book.

“And you didn’t even mention the circus.” Mollymauk shook his head faux-sadly.

“Aldric, huh?” Fjord asked, committing the name to memory.

“Yeah.”

“How’d ya meet him?”

“He was my Captain.”

“Ohhhh your

Captain

.”

“Jester, what the fuck.” I finally broke, laughing at her overdramatics. She just batted her eyes and the rest of the table laughed.

“Are we getting this fucking map now?” I asked, trying to get us back on track.

“We’ll head to a general store, if we see the post office we’ll drop off your boring-ass letter first.” Beau said.

“Maybe I should write my mom.” Jester considered, as she gathered her things. “I’ll go ask Yorda if there’s a map maker in town.”

“Or if she can draw us a map of how to get there.” Mollymauk smirked.

Jester bounded off over to the barkeep.

“So let’s get this straight, you went off backpacking and you went off on...an

alchemy adventure

, and neither of you packed a map?” Fjord asked, looking from Beau to me. Before Beau could respond, I was on it.

“You left for the Academy and don’t know where it is. You had a

set destination

and don’t have plans to get there.”

“...that’s, that’s fair.”

“Let’s go on a trip!” Jester skipped back over.

“General store~!” Beau sing-songed.

“We’ve been there before.”

“I want to buy another healer’s kit~!”

“The general store doesn’t like us very much.” Jester mumbled.

“The general store didn’t like

you two

very much.” I chuckled. I had known immediately what I’d needed when we arrived and had been able to buy empty potion vials before they’d started causing trouble.

“Oh wait. That healer’s kit, is that the one you bought when we were together?”

“Yeah.”

“And you spent way too much money on it because I changed the tag?”

“Yeah. That one.” Beau said, flatly.

“That was great. Now I have it. Cool.”

“You won twice.”

“Everything’s coming up Jester.” I said.

“All right, let’s go back there. They don’t like me, but let’s go back there.”

“I can just pop in if you want to wait outside?” I offered.

“Or us, we only stopped by to hand out a flyer. They were indifferent.” Mollymauk suggested.

“No matter what, they like money. Let’s go.” Beau said.

We made our way to Lochward General in the Lochward District. As we entered, the older woman who ran the store was at the counter. The building itself was a large, almost wooden barn exterior. The inside was wall-to-wall lined with tools for farming and farming equipment for building. It was by all accounts a rural general store. The older woman turned to us.

“Hi, can I help you? What are you looking for?”

“We are looking for pickles, did you get any yet?” Jester asked.

“No, we don’t sell pickles here, sorry.”

“Most general stores have pickles, this is the only thing.”

“You’re not wrong, generally, yeah.” Beau shrugged.

“We can order some pickles, if you like.”

“Actually we’re headed out of town, don’t bother on our account.” I interrupted. Jester seemed a little disappointed. She suddenly perked back up.

“Do you have maps for sale of the area?”

“The area? Let me check. I’ll be right back.”

As soon as she left, Fjord turned to Jester.

“

Don’t

– put your hands in your pockets.”

“Don’t put my hands in my pockets, got it!”

“No!”

She started running around and moving everything on the shelves again the same way she had before. Most of the price cards that were dangling from a number of the tools were completely switched. None of us tried any further to stop her, just watching the glorious display as she rummaged back and forth throughout the interior of the chamber, turning things around and sticking them in the ground. It was kind of impressive how silently she completely rearranged it all in a period of about two and a half minutes.

Eventually we heard some rummaging from the back room and some footsteps coming nearby and Jester quickly stopped and returned to her original point at the counter as the old lady reappeared from the back room. She had a few papers in her arms.

“I’m sorry, we don’t have any maps of the local area for detail. I have a map of the Dwendalian Empire as a whole, I hope that’s enough.”

“I mean, that could work, I suppose. It’s not what we need, but if that’s what you have that’s what we can buy from you.” Jester said.

“All right, let me look at the date here. This will run about seven silver.”

“Okay, that sounds like a good price, yeah.”

“Can I also get another healer’s kit? If you have one.” Beau asked.

“Right, yes, let me go ahead and get that for you here.”

After selling Beau the kit, and retying a ribbon around the map, she handed both over the counter.

“Can I see it?” I asked. Jester took the ribbon off, handing the map to me and beginning to tie the ribbon around the end of one of her horns.

The map itself was surprisingly detailed, gorgeous even. It said “The Dwendalian Empire” at the top, only showing that portion of Wildemount.

Fjord made his way past us to the counter.

“Do you know of any stores that have arcane items, things with magical properties, healing potions?”

“I’m sorry, we’re a bit out of the center of the country for arcane items. You’d want to go further north for that.”

“Further north? I appreciate your time, thank you.”

“Of course.”

“This town blows.” Beau huffed. Fjord shot her a look.

“She’s right fucking there.”

“I don’t care.”

Fjord rolled his eyes.

“Shall we depart?”

“Sure. Thank you so much for this beautiful map. You did a really good job drawing it.” Jester said, as I handed the map back to her.

“I also really like what you’ve done with the place.” Yasha said.

“Thank you very much–” The old lady began. Beau grabbed Jester by the arm.

“Let’s go, bye! Thank you!”

“I– um…”

“Gotta go!” Fjord called. I snapped into escape mode, remembering Jester had basically destroyed the shop. I was starting to become desensitized to her chaos.

As we made our way outside, Jester spread out the map.

“Wherever we go, I’m going to bury my head in the map and walk behind everybody like a total tourist.” She said, posing with the map blocking her face.

“Well, that’s the question: are we going to be able to grab a cart or two from the circus?” Mollymauk mused.

“We can probably get a cart.” Yasha nodded.

“Should we buy healing potions?” Jester asked.

“Seems unnecessary when someone among us can

make

them.” Mollymauk said.

“Slowly. With difficulty during travel. It wouldn’t be a bad idea.” I argued.

“Let’s try Natural Remedies.” Jester said, looking down the street.

“I’m very wary of this, but fine.” Mollymauk said.

We made our way towards the central hub of the city, and as we neared Natural Remedies I spotted a post office. I put a hand on Jester’s shoulder to get her attention.

“I’m going to veer off to the post office, I’ll meet you in the apothecary.” I said.

“Okay!”

With that, I crossed the road and quickly went inside. A human woman stood behind the counter, reading over her thin rimmed glasses, blonde hair up out of her face, leant up against the counter nonchalantly.

“Hello, I’d like to mail this, please.” I said, holding up the letter. After sealing it into an envelope she handed it back for me to address. I quick wrote out where it needed to go and handed it back. She read the address and paused. Her eyes flicked up to me and back down at the letter, like she couldn’t fit the two things together in her mind.

“...Right, that’ll be about 5 gold pieces to get this to Port Zoon.“

I handed off the gold that I’d been gifted for writing back, and the woman took it, putting it into her register. She turned around and put the letter in a slot labeled “Outbound”.

“Thank you, have a good day!” I left, hearing a quiet, confused call of ‘You as well!’ behind me.

I took the quick walk over to Natural Remedies. The group was inside, Jester, Fjord, Beau, and Yasha idling around the shop as Mollymauk leant up against the counter, eyes quickly darting to me.

“Sera.” He greeted as I stepped in, before turning back to the shopkeep. “Just a darling, she’s with us.”

I’d been here when we’d arrived to pick up herbs for potioneering. I didn’t have much more cash than I had arrived with, now. Still, the store felt like something out of a novel—a kind of witch’s hut.

There were strings of herbs that were tied up and left to dry out. The shelves were lined with various flora and fauna that were being cultivated for remedies and herbal medicines. The shop had a very musty smell on the inside that I attributed to the fungus. There was a lot of fungus being grown on the inside here, and I could see that elements of it may have expanded into the corners of the actual room. That was probably what struck me more as a witch’s hut rather than an alchemy apothecary. But the fungus itself seemed natural.

The shopkeep was a gentleman of relatively tanned skin, with darker hair that was ratty and clustered. He looked to be in his late twenties or so, part Elf and part human. He was paying attention to whatever Mollymauk was saying.

“—I feel like you can excite me. I feel like there’s something that you have to show that’s really exciting. I’m not entirely sure it’s all about stamina-”

“

What

are they talking about!?” I whispered to Beau, who snorted a laugh.

“I think you’ve got something– you did that on purpose. Talk to me like I’m a child, show me something I’ve never seen before.” Mollymauk's eyes lit up as he grinned, leaning onto the counter.

The shopkeep stared at Molly.

“...I’m fishing for drugs, I’m not going to lie. I’ve been on the road a long time, I don’t remember how to do this.”

“....Mind closing the door?” The shopkeep asked. Mollymauk skipped over to the door and gingerly closed it.

“I missed something.” I said.

“You actually didn’t, really, is the sad thing.” Beau smirked.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Keep curious company, that’s true.” The shopkeep said, looking over us.

“Yes, I do. And we’re leaving town today.” Mollymauk added.

“Those are magical words for a man of my business. Are you a fan of skein?”

“I don’t actually know what that is.”

“Well,” and he went back into the back chamber, coming back with a small satchel. He opened it and showed it to the group. There’s a finely dried, dusted material on the inside, with a grayish-blue color to it.

“This is a dried and ground fungus called skein. It’s called skein because when you eat it you can see the weave of time.”

I squinted, inspecting it and running through what I knew about fungi and drugs. It looked legit, from what I could tell—whether this was the intended use or not, this was a real drug that would have an effect on whoever took it. It wasn’t a scam of, say, spice being passed off for mind altering substances.

“Is that what skein means?” Beau asked.

“It’s a woven skein, it’s a joke on fate–never mind.” The shopkeep huffed.

“I thought it was very clever.” Mollymauk said.

“Thank you very much. It’s effective, it’s popular on the outskirts where it’s not so heavily controlled and carries a huge jail-time if caught. ...How much are you looking to purchase?”

“I’ve got to be honest, I’m not made of money, but I’m always curious for a new experience.”

“How do we know if it’s good quality, though? Can I give it a sample?” Beau asked.

“Well, this might be complicated, I think that just– What would–“ Mollymauk asked.

I idly looked over the dried herbs hanging above us. If we were going to commit crimes right after being cleared of a crime, I would’ve stolen my money back after sending out mail.

“How about a few experiences?” Fjord asked.

“A few experiences’ worth. What would that run me?” Mollymauk asked.

“I’ll put you in at a gold an experience, how about that?”

“All right. Yeah, put me in for one. I’ll try anything once.”

The shopkeep took a small little batch of this dried, powdered fungus, and put it into a small glass vial, corked it, and handed it over.

“Well, you might as well make another one. I’m not going to let my friend experience it alone.” Yasha said.

“What’s it called? Skein?”

“Skein. S-K-E-I-N. I believe that’s how it’s spelled.” The shopkeep said.

“Yasha, you should take it with them. Right now. It’ll be fun.” Jester said.

“No, this is not how this works. This is not how this works. We bank our moments for those moments when life is disappointing.” Mollymauk shooed the idea away.

“I know a unique substance when I see it, I’ll take one as well.” Fjord said. I raised a brow, not sure why I was surprised. For all his responsibility act when I’d been caught stealing, he was a sailor. From the look of him, a rough and tumble one.

“Oh my god.”

“One for me too.” Beau said.

“This can come in handy in all sorts of ways.” Mollymauk grinned.

Pros and cons. Pro, can slip it into someone’s drink, and I have an alchemical interest anyway so it’d be easy to hide. Cons, if I get jailed for this then the guild’s gonna be pissed.

... I can slip it onto someone else either to hide it or get someone jailed on purpose.

“I’ll take one too.” I said, slipping a gold piece out of my pocket.

“Yes!” Beau fist pumped.

“Purely for alchemical reasons?” Fjord asked, grinning.

“Science knows no bounds.” I smirked.

“Speaking of, how much it cost for you to brew a healing potion?”

“A common one? 25 gold pieces.”

The group of us turned to look at the shopkeep, who looked a little sheepish now.

“I’ll tell you what,” Fjord turned to the shopkeep, “Because you are such a purveyor of such interesting items, I will take one of those health potions, but for 50 gold. That’s the running price I’ve seen in neighboring towns, and I don’t mean to be swindled.”

“I assume you’d want to go ahead and give it to us for that so that we keep this a secret.” Beau added.

“50 gold,” and he pulled his hair back a bit, “Seems fair.” He took a potion and handed it over. He scooped up a little vial and said, “And for fun.” And threw it over. We paid the shopkeep.

“She’s fine, she’s just awful, you’re a gentleman, I hope to see you again. I’m looking forward to this.” Mollymauk said, gesturing to Beau after her threat.

“Come back any time, I’ll be here.” He said.

“Of course, we never met you, you never met us.” Mollymauk said.

“Of course not. I don’t know who you are.”

Mollymauk was already out the door, with a flourish.

I followed him out quickly, not wanting to spend more time than needed in the shop any longer. On the way out the door, we spotted Caleb and Nott heading our way.

Jester started sniffing loudly.

“What’s the matter, do you have a cold?” Caleb asked.

“You don’t smell as bad, what did you do?”

A few of us snickered.

“I will take that as a compliment, thank you. What are you guys doing here, are you shopping? What do they have in there?”

“They bought drugs.” Jester said.

“That is an over-exaggeration.” Fjord defended.

“That is an extreme over-exaggeration. We got a health potion.”

“It’s an apothecary, everything in it is a drug.” I argued. Mollymauk gestured to me.

“Exactly!”

“All of you got a healing potion?” Nott asked.

“Well, it was kind of a ploy to get a cheaper health potion.” Beau said.

“It worked.” Fjord nodded.

“That was

not

the intention.” I muttered.

“Pick a side, Serasai.” Mollymauk said, smiling to himself at his rhyme.

“But we got drugs on top of it. It was a win-win, am I right?” Beau shrugged. Jester turned back to Caleb and Nott.

“If you guys go in there and you buy a health potion, don’t spend as much as he says, because apparently he was lying.”

“How much do they run for?” Caleb asked.

“Health potions were quoted at 70, but he was kind enough to understand that 50 was enough.” Fjord explained.

“

70?”

“Gold pieces.”

“North we go!” Nott said, walking straight past the apothecary as we laughed.

“North, to the horses.” Mollymauk corrected.

“We have a plan for the day?” Caleb asked.

“Yes!” Jester pulled out the map from her bag. “We’re heading that way. I mean, we can stop through Alfield first and see if there’s anything cool there, or– what city was it that the academy was in?

“Solstryce?” Beau tried.

“Soltryce.” Fjord corrected.

“Is that the name of the town?”

“No, I don’t think it’s the name of the town.” Mollymauk said, looking over Jester’s shoulder at the map.

“I mean, the ultimate goal, you guys, is to get to

Hupperdook

,” Jester said, giggling at the stupid name, “but–“

“What about

Yogurt?”

Mollymauk asked, pointing at the map.

“That’s an afterthought.”

“It usually is.”

“How far off does Hupperdook look?” Caleb asked.

“Well, we have to pass through Felderwin and the Felderwin Village first.”

“Let’s skip that one, please.” Nott requested.

“Oh, is that the one you don’t like? Okay, then we’ll go up through Alfield, and then Zadash, and then we’ll cut across and go to Hupperdook.” Jester explained.

“Is that where your clan is from?” Beau asked, looking down at Nott.

“They roam about.”

“You don’t want to go to Zadash, is that right?” Yasha asked, looking to Beau. Beau shrugged.

“Nah, it’s cool. We can go back.”

“It’s cool now?” Fjord asked, a brow raised.

“Yeah, I mean, there’s a few places that I didn’t get to see in my sight-seeing roundabout, didn’t get to hit everything. Now that I’ve slept on it, I’ve had a change of heart. It’s a nice town.”

“How long of a travel would it be to get to Zadash from where we are now?” Jester asked, squinting at the map. Caleb took it gently and looked it over.

“Following the road is longer, but probably safest. That’ll probably be close to 200 miles to Zadash.”

“Jesus. We’re on foot.” Nott said.

“No, we’ve got a cart.” Mollymauk corrected.

“A cart.” Nott repeated in her same tone.

“Let’s go back to the inn and ask Yorda if she knows if Alfield is a big city.” Jester suggested.

“Will you share your map with me for just one minute?” Caleb asked.

“Of course.” Jester said, handing it over.

“This is a good trick he does. He can look at it once and it will stay with him forever.” Nott said, excitedly.

“Really?”

“Yes, it’s amazing, you can quiz him on it later. While he’s memorizing it, Yasha, is that your name again?”

“Yasha.” She nodded.

“It’s like Ash, with an -ay.”

“Not really, but close enough.”

“I got you these flowers.” Nott held up a bouquet. Yasha looked pleasantly surprised.

“Oh.”

“Thought that they might gussy you up a bit. It’s a lot of drab colors. Also, maybe you won’t kill me now.”

“I’m not going to kill you.” Yasha said, gently.

“I know, I gave you the flowers.”

“All right, well.”

“Girls like flowers.” Nott declared, shooting a look to Caleb.

“I love flowers, did you get me any?” Jester asked.

“I didn’t, because you’re less of a threat.”

“You don’t know that.”

“That was very nice of you, thank you.” Yasha interrupted.

“Sure!”

“Didn’t peg you for a flowers type of girl.” Beau mused.

“All girls like flowers.” Nott nodded.

Yasha took out a book that she had and in between some of the pages was a four-leaf clover. She took the flowers and put them in between the other pages, before putting it away.

“

You see?”

Nott stressed.

The group of us laughed and she crossed her arms.

“It doesn’t hurt to be nice sometimes.” Nott huffed.

“I mean, it can, though.” Beau argued.

“Well it hurts

you.”

“It looks like somebody was very nice to you the night before, over and over again.” Caleb said, pointing out Beau’s bruises again.

“Oh, she was.” Beau grinned widley.

“You guys, we are going to Zadash. Is that what we’re saying, we’re going to go to Zadash?” Jester asked, trying to get us back on track.

“A big city sounds nice to see.” I said.

“Sure, let’s do that. What’s our goal in Zadash?” Caleb asked.

“I don’t know, I just need to know where we’re going, okay?” Jester huffed.

“That’s on the way to the “Solstryce” Academy?” Beau reasoned, mispronouncing it again.

“I’ll take it.” Fjord shrugged.

“Are we going to walk there? Should we get horses?” Nott asked.

“Did you memorize my spellbook?” I suddenly asked, turning to look at Caleb accusingly. He looked sheepish.

“Yes, I don’t, I don’t really control it, I have a photographic memory. Sorry.”

“It’s ok, I just. I don’t know, I just thought of it now. If it were private I wouldn’t have let you see it in the first place. So. It’s ok.” I rambled.

The rest of the group had continued talking over us, as we tuned back in Beau was speaking.

“—A horse and a carriage. I’m assuming it can’t fit all of us.”

“Yeah, like a wagon.” Fjord nodded.

“We have a wagon.” Mollymauk agreed.

“So a couple of weeks on the road to a city bigger than this one.” Caleb said.

“Are we all going to get along for a couple of weeks?” Beau asked. Nott shrugged.

“We’ll find out, I suppose.”

“I get along with everyone, Beau.” Jester said, cheerfully.

“That’s true, that’s true.” Beau nodded.

“I don’t get along with anybody.” Mollymauk said, smiling.

“That’s also true.”

“Molly, Yasha’s standing

right there.

” I joked.

“Oh no, we don’t get along. Can’t stand him.” Yasha said, smiling kindly.

“Never seen together, if we can help it.” Mollymauk agreed.”

“Two weeks is not a bad test run for companions. If we don’t like it, we part ways in Zadash.” Caleb reasoned, ignoring them.

“Yeah, free to go at any time. As long as it serves everyone, we’ll stay this way.” Fjord agreed.

“I think I need to stay here just a little bit longer. But I will meet you guys there at some point?” Yasha said.

“Why?! What’re you doing?” Nott asked, looking half panicked.

“You have something else to do?” Caleb asked.

“I just don’t think I can leave here until I’m told I can.”

“By the authorities?” Nott asked.

“No, I just–“

“You’re so mysterious.”

“I have things that I need to do–“

“Name

one

.”

“You know where we’re headed.” Mollymauk said, pushing Nott to the side.

“I have reasons, I can stay, I just need to converse with somebody to see where my next step leads.”

“You know you’re not beholden to Gustav anymore, right?” Beau asked.

“No, yes, no. It’s not him.”

“Is it Bo? The other Bo? Is it Desmond?”

“No.”

“Is it Ornna?”

Nott pushed back to the front of the group, ahead of Beau.

“Please, Beau, let the detectives figure this out. Is it Desmond?” Nott asked.

“Is it Ornna?” Jester asked.

“Sera, ask a question!” Nott all but shrieked.

“Agh—uh, is it Yorda?”

“It’s Yorda, isn’t it!? It’s Yorda, I knew it! See? Another case cracked. It was Yorda.”

“You’re a part of this?” Mollymauk asked, pointing from me to them.

“Apparently.”

“Before we leave, Sera, where is the post office?” Jester asked.

“It’s right over there.” I pointed.

She raced over there before stopping and racing back.

“How much money was it to send a letter?”

“I sent mine to Zoon and it was 5 gold. Should be about the same if you’re writing to Nicodranas.” I said. Jester made a face.

“Ughh that’s so much! Ok.” She ran back to the post office, running inside this time.

“Guess we better follow her.” Beau sighed.

“I’ll stay out here. Already finished business in there.”

“We’ll keep you company.” Caleb said, gesturing to Nott.

The others went into the shop and quickly handled their business. They came out, all looking amused, but Beau looking smug.

“--When you get to Zadash, maybe send me a note, or maybe I’ll be there. I just have to do a couple things.” Yasha said.

“We’ll send you a note on the way to Zadash.” Jester said, “Then maybe you can meet us there.”

“Okay. That sounds like a plan.”

The group of us followed Mollymauk’s lead as we set off to our new (to us) wagon.

~

“Do we have our fucking wagon ready?” Fjord asked.

“Wagon’s ready.” Mollymauk nodded. “I’ve even attempted to hide some of the contraband and otherwise. I packed well.”

I double-checked my gear, making sure none of the glass I carried would be disturbed on the trip.

“Fjord, something in me says that, for some reason, you should be the one who tells the horses and wagon to go.” Nott squeaked.

…

“It just seems– you’re the biggest, maybe?”

“That is mighty considerate of you, Nott. Are you sure you don’t want to take a crack at it?” Fjord offered.

“I could take a crack at it.”

“Everyone in!” I called, getting the stragglers’ attention. The group scrambled into the wagon.

“The wagons be hitched, hee-haw!” Nott called.

“Use your diaphragm. Really get a yee-haw, get in there.” Fjord coached.

“Saddle up your doggies, hee-haw!”

“One more time, on the count of three.” Fjord placed his hands carefully on Nott’s diaphragm. “One, two, three.” Fjord pushed her chest in.

“YEE-HAW!”

At Nott’s screech, the horse immediately rose up and went into a very heavy gallop, and the cart took off, heading northward along the road towards the direction of Alfield, and eventually Zadash. We began to head further into the Dwendalian Empire, and whatever fate had in store for us on the next leg of our journey. 
 
Welcome to Level Three

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The six of us had fallen in through circumstance. But strength in numbers, and for the time being, we all seemed to enjoy each other’s company.

Caleb was reading--peacefully, for now, as Jester was preoccupied with Mollymauk’s jewelry. Beau seemed to either be zoning out or meditating, eyes idly on Jester. Nott was up front with Fjord, both steering the wagon. I sat by Caleb, reading from my spellbook, memorizing the spells more out of paranoia than need. I knew these. I felt competent with them. I just...hadn’t had the opportunity to cast them, now, that I was starting to feel like I had a grasp on them.

I looked up from my reading as a break, taking in the surroundings. I’d never been on a wagon trip this long, before, having only ever been sea-bound or in Zoon.

It was a little before noon at this point in time, the wagon heading northward along the Amber
Road. The well-packed dirt of the ten-foot roadway gave us a clear path towards our next destination. The gentle creak of the cart mingled with the clomping of the horse hooves, jingling of jewelry, and occasional sound of a page being turned.

The midday air was warmer than I expected, though perhaps it had to do with the group of us being sat closely together. The sky’s common gray presence was broken into smaller cloud patches, the victorious blue peeking through.

As we continued traveling for a few hours, we talked amongst ourselves a bit.

Fjord glanced back at the group of us, an eye on Beau.

“That’s a good shiner.” He commented.

“Thanks.” Beau smiled. She seemed almost proud of it. She had, earlier, too.

“Did you give as good as you got?”

“I wouldn’t say I won, because I lost. But I did pretty good. What color is it right now? Is it in that orange-ish purple–”

“It’s got the green-yellow sunset happening, things are starting to spread. Tomorrow will be–”

“Right. Got that little orangey. Mm-hmm.”

“Almost matching Fjord.” I joked.

“It’s really pretty.” Jester said.

“Thanks.”

“Significant improvement.” Mollymauk grinned.

Beau ignored his comment.

“That trouble going to follow you as we go on our way, or do you think you’re free and clear?” Fjord asked, concern in his voice.

“Oh no, that was just a little bar fight. Nothing. Just a little friendly sparring. Nothing crazy.” Beau waved it off.

“Nice.”

“Does anyone want a donut from my bag?” Jester asked.

“Yes, I’ll have a donut, thank you, please.” Mollymauk said, raising his hand a bit.

“I would also like a donut, please.” Caleb said.

“I’ll pass, thanks Jester.” I said, smiling.

“Okay, here you go.”

“How old are those donuts?” Fjord asked.

“These donuts are not that old.”

“What does “not that old” mean, does it mean they’re young?” Mollymauk asked.

“Are they pretty new?” Caleb asked.

“They’re pretty new, yes.”

“Three days new? Or– Forget it, I don’t actually want to know the answer.”

“It’s better that way.” I agreed, tracing the green font on one of my written spells.

“Just eat it, it’s good.” Jester said.

“Mollymauk, is this weird for you to not be traveling with your performing family?” Caleb asked, changing the subject.

“It’s change, but travel is travel, so.” He shrugged.

“Did you travel in a wagon when you were with your family?” Caleb asked.

I set my book down a bit to listen.

“Oh yes, we traveled forever. It was constantly on the road. Once we left home, we stayed moving.”

“Some things don’t change.” Caleb said, mouth quirked in an almost-smile. “We didn’t have much of a chance to see you perform. I saw you do a card reading for Jester and Serasai, but things got waylaid at the circus. What do you normally do?”

“Oh, things. I’m not really much of a performer, I’m more of– Help set up. Help run the shows, help make illusions, that sort of thing.”

“Like a techie?” Nott asked.

“I guess you could say a techie. I also show off a little bit of the sword juggling.”

“Oh!”

“I’ve got some things I was working on. Like this.” Mollymauk gestured to the swords at his belt.

Fjord seemed alarmed, looking back at us but still trying to keep his eyes on the road.

“You juggling those big motherfucking swords?”

“Yeah.”

Mollymauk sat up, getting into a kneeling pose as he drew his swords. My eyes widened.

“On a

moving--

”

My concern was immediately cut off as he began balancing one sword on the edge of his hand and then tossed it up and caught it as it fell. He took the other one and slid it across, spinning it up, and caught it on his chin. With a jerk of a nod it hopped up onto his nose; he made it hop around before hopping it back down and catching it in his hand.

Most of us were stunned, impressed. Jester’s eyes grew wide.

“Can you swallow it!?”

“Noooo!” I warned, “We’re on a moving cart in the middle of nowhere! No!”

Mollymauk laughed at my reaction.

“Well, it’s a curved sword. So not the curved ones. But I could probably do a straight sword. I’m not going to swallow a curved sword! That would be very complicated to pull off.”

“If anybody can do it, it’s you.” Caleb nodded.

“That tiefling anatomy is very strange, you know.” Nott said.

“I’m flexible, but not that flexible.”

A few of us snickered. Mollymauk grinned.

“I’m pretty flexible. Yeah, I never nailed anything down for a really good act.” He shrugged.
 
~
 
A few hours into travel along the road, Nott and Fjord informed us of another caravan ahead of us, heading southward in our direction. They began to crest over one of the hills. As we looked forward, too, the central portion of the Marrow Valley wasn’t just a smooth, constant grade. It was a series of rolling hills and high grasses, wheats and grains, and a lot of wild weeds that had taken over the areas between bastions of civilization.

We could see up there about maybe a half mile or so, as the other cart crested over one of the hills in the distance.

“I’ll send Frumpkin ahead and see it, and go blind and deaf here, so I can get a closer look at them.” Caleb said.

“Which is Frumpkin now?” Nott asked, looking around as a sparrow zipped in front of her.

“Frumpkin’s a sparrow at the moment. I don’t have the components to put him back to the shape he prefers, which is a cat.”

“A magic cat.” I mumbled. Unfortunately, Caleb was not yet deaf, so he gave me a half glare. I chuckled.

“What are the components?” Jester asked.

“Charcoal and some incense, a kind of incense you have to use. I’m all out. I used it all.” Caleb said.

“Is there money involved?” Fjord asked.

“Money? Well, you have to pay money to get the things to do it.” Caleb explained.

“Right, I’m sorry.”

“He’s been a couple of things before. He can last. Anyway. Off you go.” The sparrow flew off and Caleb’s gaze became hazy, like he was looking through us.

“Have you ever made him a turtle?” Jester asked.

Silence.

“Have you ever made him a snake?"

...

"Have you ever made him a roach?”

“He’s gone to the other place. He won’t be able to respond.” Nott explained.

“Have you ever made him a unicorn?”

“Oh my god.” Fjord groaned.

“A unicorn would be really cool.” Nott admitted.

“That would be really cool.” Beau agreed.

“I’d like to see that.” Mollymauk said.

I gasped loudly, the others looking to me.

“It could

pull the cart.”

“YES.” Beau cheered, pointing at me excitedly.

“Unicorns exist, you know.” Jester said, nodding.

“I didn’t know that.” Mollymauk said.

“They do.”

“It looks to be six heavy wagons.” Caleb interrupted.

“Six!?” Beau and Jester gasped.

“Six heavy wagons, each being pulled by a trio of horses.”

“We can rob them.” Nott suggested.

“18 horses.”

“We should

what?”

Fjord asked.

“Well, we could rob them, or we could go off the road and hide and wait for them to pass.”

“I’m going to hazard a guess we’re outnumbered.” I said.

“Do they look like they’re in armor? Do they look like they’re soldiers?” Jester asked.

“He can’t hear you.” Nott reminded. Just as before, Jester ignored her.

“Do they look like they’re mean?”

“Do they look like they’re unicorns?” Mollymauk asked.

“Do they look like they’re traders? Like traders, not traitors.” Beau asked.

“He can’t hear you.” Nott said.

“Do they look wealthy?” I asked, throwing in with the others.

“Do you see, are they carrying money? Are they carrying people?” Jester asked.

“He won’t be able to talk to you for a while. You see, he’s not really there.” Nott said, again.

As we continued onward, the gap between our traveling troupe and the caravan grew smaller and smaller.

I popped up with Beau to look ahead and could see the wagons were covered, some of them bundled; some of them taller; some of them smaller. At the front of each of the wagons, there was a figure with the reins that was in the process of sitting there and occasionally making sure the pace was kept relatively steady forward.

By the long robes and ornate silk mantles of the highwaymen that were holding these reins, I recognized the caravan as folk of the Menagerie Coast, and from the wear of it, probably those who trek up and down the Amber Road. Likely they were heading back to the coast after completing some sort of a trade run.

As the gap began to close, there was a brief moment of chicken to see who was going to avert the path to yield.

“I would just like to suggest we might give way. There are six of them.” Fjord said.

“I’m fine with that.” Mollymauk said.

“Yes, agreed.” Beau nodded.

As we pulled slightly off into the grass, the cart bumped as it hit some rocks and patches of dirt and thick grass. The caravan continued to pass, and as they did, we could see the individuals.

The one in the front had what looked to be a thick scarf tossed over their shoulder obscuring part of their face, and she gave us a hand salute as they passed and a bit of a head nod.

Jester waved her hand frantically.

“Are you going to Nicodranas?” Jester called.

There was no response as she passed, so Jester asked the next cart.

“Hi. Hi, are you going to Nicodranas?”

The next driver looked over to her for a second, head cocked a little bit.

“No, we are on our way to Port Zoon.”

“Ayyyyyy!” I cheered, and tried to get a better look at the guy. I didn’t recognize him, unfortunately, but knew they wouldn’t recognize me.

“A local?”

“Yes sir!”

“Did you come from Zadash?” Jester asked.

“We briefly did, yes, but we are returning. We have finished our wares and we have things to bring back to sell.”

"Good fortune in Zadash?" I asked.

"As good as can be expected!"

“How far is it to there?” Jester called.

“Uh…” At that point he’d passed by us and his voice got a bit louder over his shoulder as he yelled, “From this point, it’s probably around 150 miles!”

“Thank you!”

"Safe travels!" I yelled after them.

The next cart continued, one after another. The ones at the front were pretty heavily covered, as opposed to the ones in the back which were a little taller, and as we looked into the back, we could see families traveling.

“Molly, feel like making some coin, doing a little bit of a show?” Fjord asked.

“Hmm.” Molly hummed, thinking it over. He didn’t call out to them, instead he balanced one of the swords on his head and flashed the cards as we passed.

I shook my head, a small smile on my face.

One of the young boys on the caravan, a mess of tangled black hair that poofed out a bit on the sides and deeper brown skin, looked up at Molly with his bright blue eyes. As soon as Molly began balancing the sword, he smiled a little bit and jabbed his elbow into his sister who looked a little bit older than him, and glanced over and pointed.

They both pointed towards us now, smiling as their cart pulled away, the sixth cart making distance from us.

“He can tell your fortune!” Jester yelled.

“They didn’t poke the parents.” Mollymauk shrugged, catching his sword as he did.

“They’re stupid.” Jester huffed.

I snorted, Molly pulling a card for Jester.

“Ah, it’s very good.”

“Is it?”

“Yes.”

“What does it mean?”

“It means that you’re on a cart.” Mollymauk grinned cheekily, turning the card around to show us.

“The Chariot.” I read.

“Would you normally, you know, hijack a caravan like that?” We looked up to see Fjord looking to Caleb quickly and then back to Nott, his copilot.

“I mean, we have in the past. If we are confident we can get away with it, we would. We could–“ Nott said.

“Can you get away with something like that?” Mollymauk blinked.

“There’s a lot of people in that caravan though, it seems like a risky maneuver.”

“That’s a pretty big matzo ball there.” Caleb agreed.

“And stealing is wrong.” Mollymauk said. I tensed, remembering Molly’s stint in jail and dreading Fjord or Beau saying something about it. I'd paid him back for his troubles so felt clear of conscience, but it wasn't a conversation I wanted to have with him. Luckily, Molly kept talking. “But if you did it, could you get away with it?”

“We could probably get away with it. Why? You want to follow them and rob their shit?” Nott asked.

“Just going off what you said earlier. I don’t want to change your behavior just because you’re with us all of a sudden.”

“Wow.” My sarcastic comment was out my mouth before I could stop it.

“You’re an alchemist, not a thief.” Fjord began, and this time I managed to hold my tongue. “This is Nott’s specialty, a little less likely one of us ends up in jail.”

Oh no he did

not.

“I mean, Sera, if you wanna come with, let’s go do it.” Nott said.

“He’s just trying to get you in trouble.” Jester said to Nott, then turned to me. “And wind you up.”

“Oh, okay.” Nott said.

“I am not. Merely asking a question.” Fjord said.

“Bullshit.” I called.

“Would you join in in the stand off?” Beau asked.

“Wait, what does that–“ Fjord began.

“Would you join the stagecoach robbery?” Beau asked.

“Yeah, but I would ask.” Caleb interrupted, “Are you asking because that is something that you have no experience with or are you wondering maybe is that something that we could join you in?”

“Only because I have no experience in it, I was just curious what it was that you might have done, you know, previously.” Fjord said.

“

Did

you hijack a cart?” Jester asked, looking to Nott and Caleb.

“No, we were more small-time thieves. We wouldn’t typically hijack moving caravans. Usually we’d wait until they parked somewhere and then just go sneak on and steal something out of the back.” Nott said.

“Mostly whatever we can walk away with.” Caleb agreed.

“Plus if there are any authorities, it's harder to hide that you did that if you take the whole thing, unless you have a safe place to put it nearby.” I added, leaning back and looking up at the clouds.

“The things with moving carts of that big a family is they tend to prep. You don’t know what kind of people or weapons they have with them.” Beau said.

“Always go for a sure thing.” Caleb nodded.

“You know how we’re pretty sure that everyone on this road’s going to kill us? Yeah, everyone else thinks that, too.”

“...Fair enough.” Fjord shrugged.

“But if you need me to teach you how to steal, you can tag along sometime.” Nott.

“I might take you up on that, yeah.” Fjord said.

“All right.”

“Okay I don’t want to go deep into this because reasons, but I’m feeling this is a little hypocritical.” I looked to Fjord. He paused.

“I was only concerned because you were stealing while we were under investigation already. Hard to get away with.”

“So now’s fair game?” I asked, sarcastically.

“Comparatively, yes.” Fjord paused again, thinking over his words. “And I’m sorry if you think that’s hypocritical of me. With the stakes back in Trostenwald and Jester being involved, I was concerned.”

“Interesting, it seems I missed something.” Mollymauk said.

“It’s not that interesting.” I lied. “And that does make me feel better about things, Fjord. We’ll definitely give you a heads up next time before we rob a cart so you can join us.” I joked, weakly.

“Oh shit you don’t know.” Beau smiled, looking over to Molly, as she caught up on the conversation.

“There’s a lot I don’t know, care to be more specific?” He asked.

I looked over to Beau, trying not to panic.

“...nah.” Beau sunk down in her seat, grinning. I looked away, relieved, desperately trying to think of a segue.

“Hey Jester, you know what we should do?”

“Steal a cart?”

“Decorate the sides of this one.”

Her eyes lit up and she began sprouting ideas about drawing us all on the side and drawing a unicorn on it, as we continued traveling.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Beau and Mollymauk eventually switched places with Fjord and Nott, leading us on.There were patches of trees and small wooded areas ahead of us. The grass field was tall, but it was beautiful and the light breeze that blew through made the grass ripple like waves on the ocean. I could hear the faint sound of it rustling across.“We should probably rest the horse for just a bit.” Fjord suggested.“How long have we been traveling?” Jester asked.“Four hours.” Caleb said.“Sure. Anyone want to take a quick pee break?” Beau asked.“Yes.” Jester nodded.“Yes, please.” Nott agreed.“All right. Let’s go over to the bushes.” Beau gestured, steadily veering the cart off road.“I’ll sit with the cart to keep watch for a bit.” Mollymauk said.“I’ll stay with you.” Fjord said.“What are you going to do?” Caleb asked, looking to Beau.“I’m just going to go check out this tree over here. See if I can get a little better vantage.” Beau pointed.“Okay. I have a bird that can go probably higher than the tree, if you want.”“Yeah, kind of forgot about that.”“Would you like me to do that?”“Maybe she likes climbing trees.” Jester said.“Or you could. I don’t want to rob you of the joy of climbing a good tree.” Caleb said. I cocked my head, confused. “Or falling out of it, which we would really enjoy.” Fjord grinned. Mollymauk grinned widely.“That would be actually extremely–““Both are very pleasant, but I do not necessarily need that to feel fulfilled.” Beau interrupted him, answering Caleb instead. “Do people climb trees for fun?”The group stopped and turned to me.“As opposed to…?” Beau asked.“Vantage and stuff.” I shrugged.“You never just climbed a tree to sit up there?” Fjord asked.“I guess I didn’t think about it.” “Send your bird Caleb, but we’re climbing that thing! C’mon Sera!” Beau grabbed my sleeve and started tugging me toward the tree.We all scattered amongst ourselves, relieving ourselves separately, and then congregating closer to the nearest tree to the road. Jester began picking wildflowers and Beau rushed up to me again, leading me to the tree.“You climbed a tree before though, right? Like not for fun, but you know how?” She asked.I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, instead just giving Beau a look.“Yes I know how to climb a tree.” “Okay, just asking!” She put her hands up in faux-surrender, and then took to the tree. “Do you need me to lift you up to the branch?” Jester asked, looking between us. Beau gave a quick nod, and Jester put her wildflowers down to boost up Beau.“Okay. Feels like childhood. Sera!” She called, bracing herself and holding out a hand to help me up. Between the three of us it was easy getting up into the tree, though I quickly switched branches to not strain the tree. “Do you want up here?” Beau called down to Jester.“Yeah, I’ll jump!”Beau and I tugged her up and Jester found herself a perch among the branches.“I’ve never climbed a tree before at all.” Jester said.“Really?” Beau asked.“Yeah. This is really pretty.”I looked out across the field as a gentle breeze swept past my face. The air was fresh and clear, though now there was a slight smell of forest, and the rustling of leaves filled the air. The easy drop to the ground calmed me--I didn’t like being high up without an exit--so I was able to relax. The tree bark was rough against my hands, but other than that the breeze and idle chatter reminded me of sitting on the docks in Zoon. “What do you think lives in that hole?” Beau asked. I turned to see her gesturing to a knot in the tree.“Probably very small unicorns.” Jester nodded, sagely.“Have you ever seen an unicorn?”“Yes, I’ve seen many. The little ones can be as small as hamsters.”“Pocket unicorns?”“I want twelve.” I said, accepting the nonsense. “Yes.” Jester squeed.“Where do you find such things?” Beau asked.“All over. You just have to know where to look.” “And believe!” The three of us looked carefully down to see Nott, calling up to us. Mollymauk strode over to her side.“She’s starting to believe.” Mollymauk gave a nod up to Beau. Beau looked over to Jester.“What is it like being in your head?“It’s pretty great!”“You guys want up? See how many the tree can hold?” I offered.Mollymauk surveyed the tree before shrugging.“Why not?”“I think it can hold me.” Nott said. Mollymauk bent down and Nott got up on his shoulders, easily being hoisted up to the three of us and scrambling to a branch. Molly needed a bit more help, but he eventually found a spot between Jester and I. I held tight to the branch as it wobbled before he settled. Something about it all, sitting with this group in a tree, in a field, traveling across a country...it reminded me of how alive everything was. I had moments like that from time to time, remembering how I grew up and how much had changed, but they never felt any less important. “All good?” I asked, looking to Mollymauk.“Yep!”“If we get Caleb and Fjord that’d be all of us.”“I feel like we’ve hit capacity.” Beau said, looking around the tree.“Only one way to find out?” I joked. Jester beamed.“FJORD!”“No.”The group of us laughed while Jester made a face.“Pleeeeeaaaaase?”“I will sit at the base of the tree. Compromise.” “Don’t leave Caleb unattended! He’s blind!” Nott yelled.“Nein. I looked and don’t see anybody nearing us.” Caleb stood up from the cart, pausing at the sight of all of us in the tree. He walked over to stand right under Nott. “Having fun up there?”“She’s the tallest.” I said. Right now, it was true.“How’s the weather down there!?” Nott called, looking to Fjord. “Gonna be raining goblins in a second.” Fjord muttered. He spoke up for his next question. “We pressing on?”“In a minute.” Beau said. Fjord nodded. Caleb and him found themselves sitting at the base of the tree as we all took a breather. Eventually they began to help us down.“All of us sitting in a tree.” Mollymauk hummed. Jester beamed.“K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” She sang loudly.“Eww gross!” Nott made a face, and we laughed. I waited for Mollymauk to make it down, having pushed me out further onto the branch, and when he did he turned and spotted me as I jumped down.“Another few hours and it should be sunset.” Caleb said as we walked.“We’ll find a place then, get camp set up.” I agreed. ~As the sky grew darker, the clouds from the north-northeast began to filter in with a colder wind. The warm day was coming to a close and who knew how long the current cold weather would keep. The light began to fade, darker and darker.“Should we pull off on the side of the road and get a campfire going?” Fjord asked, his breath slightly visible in the air.“I’d say let’s get a bit off the road, if possible.” Mollymauk agreed.It took us longer than expected, spending about 45 minutes in pitch dark keeping an eye out before we could make it to the small cluster of trees nearby.“Set a tent. Start a fire.” Mollymauk nodded.“This is why we should’ve taken one of the circus tents.” Jester said.“They take an awful lot of time to put up. You do know this. There’s a process.”“Yeah, but think about how cool it would be to camp in one.”“Oh, it would be amazing. I’ve done it. It’s great, but this is nice, too.”“Shall we collect some wood and start a fire?” Fjord asked.“Sounds good.” Beau nodded.“Anybody want to come with me to find some kindling?” “I’ll go.” I offered.“I have an adventurer’s kit. Does that have a tinder in it?” Beau asked, pulling it out.“It should.” Fjord nodded. He turned to me. “Shall we?”“After you.” The two of us went out and found some scattered, dead-ish branches. Eventually we got a fire going. A little beacon of light here in the darkness, orange-ish flickering against the interior  of the three trees as we situated ourselves.“Who’s keeping watch?” I asked.“Nobody. We’re all going to sleep.” Fjord yawned. Caleb stood up wordlessly and began winding a 20-foot circle of silver thread around the fire.“Oh, nice.” Beau nodded with approval. Jester fished herr bouquet of wildflowers out of her bag, fluffing them up a bit, before presenting them to Nott.“Oh, that’s very nice of you.” Nott said, surprised as she took them.“Well, you said all girls like flowers.”“We do. That’s very nice of you, thank you. What did I do to deserve this?”“I don’t know, you are my friend.”Nott’s eyes widened, lip trembling as she looked up at Jester, touched. “A single tear pours down a porcelain cheek.” Mollymauk narrated quietly. I snickered.“I’ll take first watch.” Jester said.“I don’t need to sleep long, just four hours. I can stay on watch after that.” I said.“You only need to sleep for four hours!?” Beau looked shocked. Many of the other group members looked equally surprised.“Yeah, I’m an Elf. We, like, meditate instead and we’re good to go? It’s weird.” I explained. There was a ting as Caleb hit a little bell in his hand, completing the Alarm spell. “And that’s it.”“I’ll sit up with you, Serasai, on your watch. Keep you company for a bit. That’s a long watch.” Nott said.The rest of us got to sleep as Jester watched over us. I sat cross-legged and fell into a trance, still semi-conscious to the sound of the crackling fire.~A gentle shake on my shoulder woke me from my trance.Jester woke myself and Nott up.“It was violin class!” Nott squeaked as she jolted awake.“Nott.” “Sorry.” As Jester settled in to sleep, Nott and I sat against trees to keep watch. We were quiet for a while, just looking out into the field for movement. Nott broke the silence first.“Sera, I wanted to ask you something.”I looked over to her curiously. “Yes?”“You’re an alchemist. That much you’ve proved to us, but I’m curious because...well, I’ve met alchemists. I’ve known alchemists, and, they can’t usually fight like you do.”I looked into the fire, thinking of how to respond. I must’ve taken too long because Nott rushed to speak again.“Maybe that’s a generalization, I don’t know, but I was wondering how you learned to fight?”“Well. It’s dangerous to travel.” I grabbed a stick, idly poking at the fire as I spoke, “And I set out alone, initially. It was better to know how to defend myself. But I’d learned to fight when I was pretty young. Some of the sailors taught me how.” “Like, your crew? Or like some random sailors?”I chuckled.“My crew. I guess I’m more a fighter if I had to put a label on it, but I like alchemy. I like learning about magic. And with, hopefully, a long life ahead of me, I don’t want to only learn one thing, you know?” “...That makes sense. I understand that, a little--I mean, I’m learning how to do a little magic like Caleb. Learning a little more about fighting and poisons, from you a little too.” Nott said.“Yeah. Similar tracks, I guess.” “Why were you on a ship so young?” Nott asked.“I always lived on the ocean.” I said, carefully, “I guess it made sense that’s where I wound up.”“...”“...”“What is that?” A little ways off we could see a distant shape that was moving through the field maybe about 400 feet off. We could see it pushing through the height of the grass, moving slowly.“Okay, I can sneak around and look. Right? We don’t want to wake everyone because–”“--They need their sleep. Besides, if it’s dangerous we’ll scream and that’ll wake them.” I quickly agreed.“Should I wake Caleb?” Nott asked. I looked between them, weighing options.“If it’s important to you. But if we wind up in a fight he’s better further away anyway, ranged spells and less armor he’d be better back here.” I reasoned. “...He needs his sleep. Stay behind me though, so you can help guard him.” Nott decided, and darted off.I waited silently, double-bladed scimitar drawn, eyes trained on the distant creatures. At a sudden voice in my ear I jumped, hearing Nott as if she were next to me, I’m going to say: “It’s three buffalo, or buffalo-type objects. Creatures. What do you want me to do?” “They’re probably herbivores. Easier to come back, I guess.” It ended more as a question, as I wasn’t entirely sure Nott could hear me. It didn’t take long for Nott o appear next to me.“They could be good for meat. We could go kill them and eat them for meat.”“I mean, we’re good on rations, I’m not sure it’d be worth it, but I’m game for anything.” I said. "And you said they’re buffalo-like creatures, were they not buffalo?”“They were three large beasts of burden. Wait, we could use them to pull the cart!” “We’d need help for that--” As soon as the words were out of my mouth Nott was practically on Caleb, nudging him awake.We quickly woke up the rest of the group, Mollymauk and Jester the only two determined to stay asleep. After catching everyone up on what happened, Caleb scooped up Nott in a hug and spun her around, beaming.“Look at you! You cast a spell, you spoke to Sera!”“You said to do the hand movements and the whispery thing. And I did it and it worked!”“It’s as simple as that, isn’t it?”“Yes!”“Oh, I’m so proud of you! We need to go see about those creatures now.” Caleb lowered Nott to the ground.“Yeah! Where are they?” Fjord said.“They went that way! In the dark!” Nott cheered.“You sure they were just cows? Or donkeys? Or buffalo-type things?" Beau asked as we started moving.“I don’t know! I don’t know what they were, but they looked big and able to pull the cart.”“Let’s go look at one.” Fjord said. Nott paused.“...You want to go cow-tipping, don’t you?” “ Fuck yeah! Take me cow-tipping, son! WOO!”The cheer echoed in the field, Beau hitting Fjord on the shoulder to shut him up.“Are we going to go after them or are we goingto go back to sleep?” Nott asked, looking for a decisive answer.“Yeah, let’s go look at one.” Fjord nodded.“Well, shit. I guess we’re going to look at a buffalo.” Caleb let out a huff.“Let’s go!” Nott cheered.The five of us walked shoulder to shoulder, keeping low. I acted as bookend on the left as Fjord took up the far right. We made our way through the field, stepping ever so carefully. There was a sudden croaking sound as one of us accidentally went completely foot down on some sort of field frog. As the croak hit, we watched as one of the creatures startled, and, with a grunt, they all started running away, spooked by the sound.“Shit.” Fjord sighed.We watched the ‘buffalo-like-creatures’— buffalo —run away.“Well, that was worth a look.”“Sorry.” Nott apologized. Beau shrugged.“That was fun, let’s go.”“Back to sleep.”I saw Caleb ruffle Nott’s hair on the way backto camp.“Stop it.” Nott complained.“Who’s got the third watch?” Jester asked, awoken by our return. Mollymauk yawned, stretching.“I’ll take it.”“I’m awake now, so I’ll stay up too.” I said.The others settled in and I rifled carefully through my bag, trying not to wake them. Mollymauk watched curiously as I pulled out a jar. “Whatcha up to?” He asked, leaning forward.“I’m gonna try to catch some crickets. I need them as spell components.” He blinked. Then slowly grinned.“You think you’re quick enough to catch some?”“.....I think I’m in the perfect mood to find out.” “I’d love to join you,” He said in a tone I couldn’t quite tell was genuine or not, “but someone’s got to stay to look after this lot.”“‘Course.” I nodded, “I’m hoping to be back soon.” I went out towards the field again, the lack of bison probably a help as now the only sounds were crickets and the wind. I grimaced, wishing I had a net. Following the sound of crickets was difficult with the sound echoing everywhere, but being able to see in the dark had its advantages. I was able to spot one, antennas moving about, on the tall grass. I opened the jar before deciding my best move. I decided to try and tear the piece of grass and slowly put the end with the cricket in the jar. The plan backfired quickly, with the cricket immediately hopping away.Directly onto my face.On instinct I slammed my hand on my face, hitting the bug and smashing it.
On my face.
I stood in the field for a moment, processing what had just happened. Disgusted, I peeled the bug off of me, eyeing its dead form before dropping it into the jar. I gave a heavy sigh, annoyed and grossed out—but above all else relieved the rest of the group was asleep and it was dark out so nobody saw that.I took out my waterskinne and poured some on my hand, washing my face of whatever grime the cricket had left behind. The antics hadn’t disturbed nearby bugs as much as I’d expected, and I was able to catch another cricket without the same hassle. I screwed the lid on the jar carefully before shoving it in my bag and returning to camp. I got back to see Mollymauk leaning against a tree, hands behind his head, grinning widely.“So how’d it go?”“I caught two.” I said.“I know.”…I sunk down back onto my sleeping mat as Mollymauk snickered. He’d seen the whole thing. Of course he had—Tieflings have Darkvision.“Best show I’ve seen in a while!”“Shut up.”“Now, you should take it as a compliment.”“Or the circus should take it as an insult.” He simply smiled, saying nothing.I stared at the fire, embarrassed.“Now, I’d love to say more about the crickets, but I can only come up with so much material. So I’ll ask instead, what did you and Nott talk about on watch?” Mollymauk asked.“Buffalo, mostly.” He made a face, but returned to smiling quickly.“Nothing else?”“Fighting, a little.” I looked up to my double-bladed scimitars.“I noticed those when we met.” Mollymauk said, gesturing to my blades. “You have good taste.”I looked over to his own scimitars, lying by his side.“Where’d you get yours?” I asked.“Never give a story away for free.” Mollymauk said, sounding only half-serious. “You got a free show, front row seats, I think that was worth something.” I pointed out into the meadow, grinning sardonically. He chuckled.“I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.” His eyes bore into mine with a kind of burning curiosity. “Deal. But you go first, since I asked first.”“Fair’s fair.” Molly shifted, getting comfortable. He began weaving his tale, a natural showman.“It was bad luck that I found them, in a matter of speaking. You’ve seen what they can do. They bite with ice. They eviscerate. And that’s all well and good when someone’s coming at me, but that’s not all there is to them. The man I got them from, well, he was happy to be rid of ‘em.” He paused, the weight of his words seemingly affecting him.“They’re cursed blades. Their powers can only be activated by a blood sacrifice, but that’s only the start of it. The curse goes that whoever wields them, each battle fought with their powers freezes the heart of the wielder. They lose their ability to love, becoming a shell of themselves as their heart freezes over. The man who sold them claimed that pure love could thaw a frozen heart,” He leveled me with his stare, “but leave the swords powerless as a result. Or so the story goes, anyhow.” I stared at him. I had no doubt he was trying to gauge my reaction.I also had no doubt he was bullshitting me.“I see…” It was hard to think of a response to all that without outright calling him on his shit. “An intense price to pay for some ice magic.”Mollymauk shrugged.“It’s saved my life on more than one occasion.”“That much is true; I’ve seen you fight. That battle back at the circus.” Despite everything, I couldn’t keep a bit of awe out of my voice. “That was vicious.”Molly hummed to himself.“You’ve definitely proven yourself a capable fighter, if not a crafty one. I remember you sneaking in your potions to the tent. I won’t be underestimating you unless there are crickets about.”I made a face at the end of his “compliment”. “I didn’t technically sneak anything in. My pouch is empty of any dangerous potions. But using it, I can summon small fire and acid potions like those. Like my healing potions.” I explained. He nodded.“That explains why they disappear after use.”“Just the summoned ones. Any I brew classically will leave behind the bottle.”“Interesting. But I’m sure it’s not as interesting as how you got your weapon?”I looked back up to my scimitar. Old words from Aldric floated in the back of my mind. The poor guy had immediately seen how useless I was with lying, and had tried to help me with it. 
The best lies have a kernel of truth.
“It’s a weapon held in high regard with Elves. The crafting of one has been honed over the centuries, so it’s a weapon we feel belongs to the Elves. To see a non-Elf carrying one is practically unheard of; usually our warriors wield it. I got mine before setting out. It wasn’t the first weapon I’ve trained with, but once I got a double handed weapon—“ I smiled, reminiscing, “That was it. I’m just as skilled with a sword, but something about staffs and this just sits right with me.” “Hmm.” Mollymauk hummed, tilting his head. “So you’re considered a warrior?”“No, I mean...I can fight decently. But it’s...it’s from someone who's fallen in battle. I carry it to honor them.”“Family?”“Yeah.” I lied.He grinned.…“You’re lying through your teeth, aren’t you?”For the second time tonight, I blushed from embarrassment.“Well that makes two of us!” Molly let out a bark of a laugh, causing Jester to stir. Once she’d settled back in he smiled over at me. Quieter now, he said,“I'm glad I came with. This group, it’s an interesting group, I can tell. Everyone’s got a story here.”“You’re not wrong.” I said, idly looking over the other members.Jester and Fjord had some sort of history, Beau was a wannabe vigilante now and probably some sort of runaway, Caleb and Nott were confessed criminals. Mollymauk grew up in the circus. Yasha was a full mystery. And me? A wide array of “bad”, I supposed. What would they think of me if they knew all that had happened to lead me here? They’d accepted Caleb and Nott so quickly, but they were petty thieves. The others were anyone’s guess. Though the idea of Fjord’s reaction was appealing…The rest of the night was spent on more idle chit-chat. Less lying, on my part at least. More trivial stuff, like “what spell are the crickets for” “have you ever been camping” “what do your tattoos mean” “explain the serpent fight but in more detail please”.Somehow in one of the longer pauses in conversation, Mollymauk nodded off. I eyed the forest and the road, reluctant to wake him, but unsure why.

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The party began to come to consciousness in the morning air, beginning to situate our belongings and put out the embers of the fire that lasted throughout the night. Fjord had slept in, nobody willing to wake him yet considering how long he’d been leading the cart yesterday. He had been ever so still in his sleep until suddenly, without warning, he suddenly shot up from his sleep, eyes wide. As he opened his mouth, he began coughing and spitting water up.“Oh no, he’s injured!” Nott yelled.“ Fjord!” Jester rushed to his side, a hand on his back as he coughed up the water. As the coughing slowed, Caleb stepped closer.“Can you speak?” He asked.“Yeah. No, I’m fine.” Fjord took a few deep breaths, getting air back into his lungs. Mollymauk rose a brow.“Yeah, you look it.”“You just spit a lot of water out and you were sleeping.” Caleb said.Mollymauk came over, kneeling down on the other side of Fjord and rested his hand on Fjord’s chest. Pulling it back, he sniffed the water on his hand.“Huh.” He looked at his hand, curiously.“That’s gross, that just came out of him.” I said, pointing to Fjord.“If it’s a strange sickness we wouldn’t want it to be catching.” Caleb murmured. “Or just, jeez, Fjord. That’s a lot of drool.” Jester said, nervously. Beau peered over Molly’s shoulder.“Does it taste like stomach acid? Because that’s gross, man.” Beau said.“Only one way to find out!” Molly beamed.“ No!” He looked over at me, feigning innocent.“Like a momma bird. Everybody have some of what I puked up. It’s all good.” Fjord joked.“At least your sense of humor is intact.” I said.“It’s salt water.” Molly said, holding up his hand.“Tell me you didn’t taste it.”“I didn’t, it smells like saltwater. See?” Mollymauk shoved his hand towards my face and I reared back.“Pass!”“Yeah, I don’t think it was acid reflux.” Fjord confessed. Beau looked at Molly’s hand, then back to Fjord. “You taste like a seaman.”Despite the seriousness of the situation, the whole group started laughing.“I don’t know. I want to shake your hand, but at the same time, I want to smash it.” “What happened, Fjord?” Jester asked again, reaching for his hand. He sighed, taking hers, and seemingly debating something. Then he looked up to us all.“I had a dream, I’m sorry. A vivid one. Just shook me to my core a little. I’ll be fine, really. It’s not a common thing.”“Why the water, though?”“I don’t know.”“You never told me where you got that sword.” Beau jutted her chin out, pointing towards the sheath on the ground. “I mean, because I saw it get a little soggy, a little drippy, when we were fighting the frog thing, so, you know.”Fjord looked at the empty sheath.“Yeah. That sword is a pickle.”“It’s a pickled sword? Are there benefits to pickling your weapons?” Beau asked.“It’s a mystery .”“Oh, right.”“He’s not wrong, though. It actually is a pickle. You can taste it.” Molly said.“You—“ I looked to him and Molly just grinned a shit-eating grin back up at me, “Ugh, that’s disgusting.”“Yeah. It is very salty.” Beau agreed.“I do like pickles.” Jester said.“Yeah, it’s not bad.” Molly said.“Is our group going to be all about puns and that stuff?” Caleb asked. “It’s the lowest form of humor.” Nott shrugged.“Is it really the lowest?” Jester asked. “Okay, there are some pun competitions that get serious.” Beau argued. “Are you all right, Fjord?” Nott asked, bringing us back to task.“Yeah. I feel funny. Caleb, you remember me asking you about your arcane prowess?” Caleb nodded and Fjord continued. “My small experience with the arcane came to me around the same time that sword did.”“How long ago was that?” Caleb asked. He seemed much like a physician in this moment, the way we deferred to him on magic as if he would know the cure.“Not too long ago. Very recent. Right before I met up with Jester.”“Were you in the ocean?” Nott asked, wide-eyed.“Yeah, I was. Did a lot of merchant sailing, previously. Had one trip that didn’t go so well. Suffice it to say, after it was done, I found that sword.”“What happened on the trip?” Beau asked, “Rough waters?”“Yeah.”“Did anyone die?” Nott asked.“Yeah, I’m not real comfortable talking about it.”“What about the sword? You said you found it on the ocean, you found it on the boat you were on? You were on an island? What do you mean?” Caleb asked.“I found it on the shore.” Fjord said, “When I got back to land, it was just there. I’m not super familiar with a ton of weaponry– the sword I know, I had some training in it, but this seemed like a unique sword. I felt like it almost called to me. I know how that sounds, but when I picked it up, seemed like everything changed. Ever since, I’ve been able to do more things. Been able to reach out with some of the stuff I’ve seen you do. That’s why I’m trying to make it up to the Academy. I’m trying to figure out what it is that I have.”Caleb’s eyes slid over to the sheath as Fjord talked, but when he was finished Caleb looked to the rest of us, bewildered.“I don’t mean to alarm any of you, really. I’m trying to be as forthright as I can.” Fjord apologized.“Where is the sword right now?” Molly asked. Fjord looked down, focusing. Staring down at his open palm, there was a sudden flash of greenish-blue, teal energy out of his grip. Then, clutched within his grasp, was the falchion, coated in the remnants of sea floor life. Barnacles encrusted around the edge and up the back of the blade, as  it began to drip water. The same kind that was coughed up by Fjord this morning.“You can see why I’m a little curious about this item.” Fjord said, sheepishly.“That’s a great trick.” Molly grinned, unperturbed.“I don’t even need to touch it, but would you trust me to study it for a moment?” Caleb asked.“Do you have any experience with items like this?” Fjord asked.“I’m good at figuring things out. I’m clever.”“I might be able help you with that. I was obsessed with underwater life and mermaids, so I’ve read a few books. Or maybe Sera, ya know? She was a seaman too.”I ignored the jab and looked over the blade.“Can’t say I’d be much help, but I can give it a go. Magical items are supposedly my bag.”“Could we revisit that idea, perhaps? I’m sorry, the night has left me a bit shaken, and I feel like I need a moment to get my bearings, if that’s all right.” Fjord said.“Of course.” I nodded.“Ja, you can understand that we would be curious, but I don’t want to push anybody. I mean, we’ve just met.” Caleb agreed.“Of course not, and I don’t want to make anyone feel uneasy. Again, trying to be as transparent as I can. I don’t quite understand, and I appreciate your patience in advance.” And like that, the falchion was gone.Jester put a hand on Fjord’s shoulder.“Fjord, do you think you’re slowly turning into water?”...“No. I hadn’t considered that terrifying thought, but thanks. I’ll just add that to the fucking list.”“That would be horrific.” I said, shuddering at the thought.“And probably excruciating.” Mollymauk agreed, smiling as if he’d simply commented on the weather.“If you feel like it’s happening, let us know and we’ll try to catch you in a jar.” Jester said.“In a jar?” Fjord raised a brow.“Unless he runs away.” Mollymauk warned.“We’re not going to let you run into the dirt!” Nott promised.“Maybe something can happen.” Jester shrugged.“...Tell you what, I start sweating real hard, I’ll let you know, okay?” Fjord said.“He’s fine.” Mollymauk waved him off.“Has that happened to you before, by the way? The whole, “waking up coughing salt water” thing?” Beau asked.“I don’t really remember.” Fjord said.“You wouldn’t have to remember that far back. You said that this all started just a few weeks ago, when you met this one.” Caleb pointed out.“I don’t really remember my dreams all that well. They leave me quickly.” Fjord said.“Well, we asked about the saltwater thing, not the dreams thing. Though that’s also concerning.” I said.“I remember all of my dreams, I don’t know.” Molly shrugged.“I’ve never seen him wake up with water all over him.” Jester said. Beau clapped her hands together.“Well, excited to see what unfolds. Shall we?” “If you’re going to vomit something, salt water’s pretty decent. It could have been way worse.” Mollymauk said. Jester nodded.“Of all things, it’s way better than vomit.”“Oh, it’s far superior. Already, you’re proving to be an asset.”“If we get really thirsty, we’ll just come to you in the morning.”“You can’t drink– the salt water makes you thirstier.” “Oh, really?”“It feels like you should be able to, but you can’t.”“In a perfect world we wouldn’t put anything in that’s been inside one of our bodies, but, I do have a magic waterskinne that purifies water.” I said, grabbing for the item and taking a swig.“Really!?” Jester’s eyes lit up.“Yeah.” I grinned, seeing her excitement, “It helps for alchemy and sailing. Fresh water can be precious at sea.”“That’s good to know.” Caleb nodded, “As an artificer, do you have many other magical items?”“Just my component pouch and my waterskinne. For now.” I shrugged.“I wanna test it! Fjord, spit up again!” Nott hit him, excitedly.“Like I said,” I interrupted, “rather not have bodily fluid in the bottle. Thanks.”Nott huffed, disappointed.“Should we get back on the road, then?” She asked.“Let’s.” Fjord nodded.“How is Horse doing today?”“...Horse?”“How’s Horse?” “What is his name?” Jester asked, curiously.“I was wondering the very same thing, actually, all night.” Caleb said, “I was wondering what we would call–““This horse? Maybe he has a name. Molly?” Jester looked over to the other tiefling.“His name was Winter’s Crest.” Mollymauk said.“Oh, that’s pretty—“ I began.“—If he lived that long, that was when we were going to butcher him and eat him.”“...”“You can rename him, it’s fine.”“I like it, it’s like a celebration.” Jester said.“That was the plan.” Molly shrugged.“Maybe for short we’ll call him W.C.” Nott said, looking out at the horse. He was eating grass a fair ways out into the field.“You were going to butcher, at Winter’s Crest, and that’s a special treat?” Caleb asked. “It means you’re going to eat meat, and then you’re going to make some jerky, and then you’re going to buy another horse with the money you make.” Molly explained, “If you’re on the road long enough, youeat a lot of animals. You eat a lot of beasts of burden.”At the finished explanation, the group dispersed.Jester and I hopped into the wagon, she immediately grabbed her journal and started drawing. As I waited, I vaguely wondered what Winter Crest celebrated, but assumed it was the beginning of Winter or something similar.I saw Caleb and Nott bump fists before they jumped aboard as well. Everyone else followed suit, and Fjord stood at the side of the cartZ“Is it still Beau and Mollymauk keeping point?” Fjord asked.“I’ll keep.” Mollymauk nodded.“I don’t mind.” Beau shrugged.As we brought the cart back up onto the Amber Road, northward, we began our second-day trek. We pushed on for a few hours. //The day was uneventful. Caleb and I talked a bit about spellwork, but it was apparent he was much more advanced than I was with magic. As afternoon hit, Jester showed us a drawing.It was of all of us sitting in a giant tree together.We decided to try to get to Alfield today, continuing our trek through the night. The sun eventually fell towards the Cyrios Mountains to the west and night crawled in.  We could see just over the distance in the hill as darkness came, a faint glow, a cluster of light, of a village in the distant hills. I got the sense it was probably Alfield. Maybe because of the inactivity, I felt exhausted. We got about a half mile away from Alfield before we could make out details. It looked smaller than Trostenwald. I saw a faint cluster of trees on the north, eastern and northeastern sides of the city, otherwise it was just in a pocket behind a few hills. Despite its small size, it seemed welcoming. Until there was a flash of orange light on the outskirts of town.“That’s weird.” Mollymauk said, voicing all our thoughts.There was a second flash. Squinting, I faintly saw the distant curl of flames beginning to spread across a roof.“Oh shit.”“Oh no.”“Think we just watched someone commit arson, you guys!” Beau said, eyes wide. She looked a little excited by the prospect. Fjord began to betate her,“That’s not really a–““Let’s go kick their ass.” Beau grinned.“Yeah, let’s do that.”We abandoned the cart, jumping over the railings, the group of us setting off running. Fjord and Mollymauk pulled ahead, both in a full sprint.“Fire!” As we ran, the fire was beginning to consume a handful of buildings and the flames were starting to flicker higher.A very faint high-pitched yelp and screech echoed from the town. Dozens of voices screaming intertwined. The uncontrolled flames progressed on the eastern side of the village and as we neared we saw people just running . Villagers, probably a few hundred of them, were just running out of the town as we began to approach. Towards us and out into the field, darting past us like a stampede, panic and fear on their faces.A family of five halflings rushed past Mollymauk, the mother dragging two of the younger ones by the hand while the father ran alongside the eldest daughter, probably in her teens.“What has happened!?” Molly yelled.“Oh, I don’t know what happened!” The father yelled, “They started to burn the buildings and these things started rushing! The city is under attack!”“What things?” Jester called.“Big things. Dog-faced. I can’t–Come on.” He pulled his kids past us, running further out.“Dogs are attacking the village!” Jester yelled to us.We ran closer, making it to the border of the city, about 100 feet away. I saw a young human man with scrappy, tattered brown hair, a bit of blood dripping down his face, running before his back arched and he fell flat onto the grass. I could see an arrow protruding from his back. My eyes traced the path the arrow must’ve flown.Standing up from behind one of the exterior walls of the city, a humanoid creature stretched up to about seven feet tall, with a muscular torso and thin dog-like legs. I watched as it extended its neck with spots of fur, its ears curled upwards as it had a dog-like snout at the front of it. I watched as it leapt onto the back of the fallen villager, bit into the shoulder, and tore a chunk out. It swallowed it before it growled into the air, a yipping yowl.“What is it?” Jester asked.“I think they’re– well, we don’t know what they’re called. We just fought them. I don’t know what they’re called; we fought one before!” Nott squeaked.“You know how to kill them!?” “You just hurt them until they die!!”The creature swallowed the flesh, grabbed the body, and then darted back into the city, dragging the corpse of the villager it just killed with it rapidly.“That’s weird.” Molly repeated.I spotted a handful of crownsguard come out of the town, one of them looked wounded and yelled commands.“To the north! Where are they coming from?”  Two crownsguard ran off northward.Fjord ran off immediately towards the crownsguard.“Shit.” I swore, following suit.As we went charging into the city, we pushed past fleeing villagers and could see some of the buildings now have been locked shut. Glancing inside the windows as we sprinted past I could faintly see furniture being boarded up from the inside. People were hunkering down for whatever this assault was.Smoke is starting to billow up and you can see now there’s embers rising and then falling. There was very faint ashy rain of small points of reddish-orange light that began to fall with the ash. As we turned around one of the buildings, there’s one of the side walls and four crownsguard all ducked down behind the wall with crossbows and longbows, all back behind it. My eyes went to the one that’s adorned with more ornate armor. Adrenaline pumping through me, I had little reaction to seeing their elven features, recognizing their mixed lineage before any response. Their helmet was on the ground, showing shoulder-length blond hair that’s turned red in places from a spattering of gore. Through gritted teeth they cursed in pain as the bandages were applied to a wound right around the midsection in the thigh area. Another soldier was in the process of wrapping it. “Gah! You fool, bind the wound, don’t stuff it. ” They pulled a bolt back into their crossbow and nocked it at the ready.Glancing up they saw us approach, scanning us, most of us with weapons at the ready, charging forward. “ You!”  Suddenly an array of arrows, about five or six, flew over the wall. One of them managed to pierce the back of one of the crownsguards’ heads and they fell, crumpling to the ground. We all ducked lower.“You, are you able-bodied?” The elf asked.“Yeah.” Jester said.“Very.” Nott nodded.“And you’re armed.” The elf said, eyes darting back and forth.“A little.” I said, sarcastically.“30 gold a gnoll ear. Now get in there and help.”“A gnoll?” Fjord repeated.“30 gold a gnoll ear!?” Beau gasped.“For each one? How many are there?” Jester asked.“Just go get them .”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Nott and Jester, do you guys have ways to block arrows?” Beau asked.
Whoosh!
Two of the guards glanced up and fired two crossbow bolts over the wall and ducked back behind.The sound of heavy smashing of wood, some more barks, and gibbering echoed around the way. I could see flames curling up to the top of the building that we stood by.“I have a shield.” Jester said.“We are sitting ducks, here. What do we do, Fjord?” Caleb asked.“Let’s go towards the wall.” Beau said.“This is so cool.” Jester said, eyes wide, “Look at that flame on the side of the roof.”We could see dark figures silhouetted by flames, and other bits of light flickering. We could already see a few bodies of guards and civilians that were lying on the ground, carved open and not moving, spatters of blood across building sides.“I have an idea. We need to move away from here, right, Fjord?” Nott stammered.“We do. We have to use the cover of the buildings.”“All right, I think I can do something that would make them fire many of their arrows at something, but not us. Should I do that and then as soon as they fire their arrows we can run?”“Diversions are absolutely–”“ Diversions! That’s what it’s called, it’s a diversion!”Nott took out a bit of fleece, murmuring and doing hand gestures over it. Ahead of us appeared an image of the guard who had told us 30 gold a gnoll ear. The image of the guard ambled across the alleyway. About four different arrows passed through its form before one of the gnoll creatures came lumbering forward and slashed out at it. This gnoll looked different than the rest. This one seemed to be porous; clumps of fur and exposed bone, and part of its skull just pushing out of its snout with teeth gnashing. As it teared into the illusion, its claws passed through and, confused, it looked over in our direction.We readied to fight.Mollymauk drew his blade, glowing like a beacon of bright white light rather than the cold mist we’d seen around it before.Caleb muttered a few words and his form started to blink in and out of view. There were suddenly three Calebs, shifting, blinking, flashing back and forth making it hard to see where he was.Fjord slapped a hand onto his armored chest and a spectral frost started to harden around his armor in a shimmering light.Red eyes now glowing, Mollymauk rasped out a yell in what I could only assume was infernal, his voice sounding completely different than when he normally spoke--demonic, indecipherable. He dragged the other edge of your blade across his skin, and its glow matched the other scimitar. The gnoll reeled back at Molly’s yell before growling and crouching to lunge.Practically the opposite of Molly’s move, Jester put her hands together in prayer. A flash of purplish energy suddenly apparated into the air above the gnoll. This thick-like wooden handle that is jammed into a massive, bludgeoning, solid piece of...lollipop.As it struck down, wham! The spectral lollipop just smashed it into the ground and its bones went flying and scattering in every direction.Nott ran off across the alleyway, as did a duplicate of Jester. I set off after them, preparing to dodge incoming arrows. Beau was quick on my heel.Beau looked in the window of the other building and quickly ducked back down.Turning to Nott and I, she made some hand signals. “Look at two unicorns inside?”“The gnolls!” “They’re inside the–?”“ Shh. ” “Why would you think she meant unicorns, she had two hands up?” I whispered.
“Unicorns have ears too, Sera!” 
“SHHH!” Beau shushed us again. She peeked in the window once more before turning to us. “Hey, you want to take these guys? You ready for this?”Nott stuttered something out and took a swig from her flask. “Ready.” I gave a nod.Beau whistled loudly at the window, but between the sound of all the breaking of furniture, them all growling at each other, and the general screams in the vicinity, it was lost in the chaos.“Shit. Going in!” Beau jumped through the window.I heard a commotion of her footsteps and a few barks as I followed in through the window myself. There was a gnoll right in front of Beau currently throwing a corpse of one of the villagers onto a cart that was sitting right outside of the door. That cart was piled up with other corpses, bags, and whatever things they were robbing from the inside of this building. Four gnolls were gathered around it in the process of throwing things onto it, and it looked like they were getting ready to start pushing it. Beau was standing in the doorway, so I had little option in way of actually attacking a gnoll. But watching them fill the cart gave me a stupid idea: The cart was clearly important to them.It’d be a shame if something happened to it. I reached out a hand, muttering the spell under my breath, feeling a jolt of nerves as this was my first time casting in battle. An orange glow danced around my fingers like embers, barely visible in the smoky air. Suddenly, in the already burning town, the inside and corner of their cart was enveloped in a block of flames. They all reared back, Beau seemingly unbothered, and they began hissing and barking at one another in panic. They whipped around, spotting Beau. They readied their bows and fired.The first one, whistled past her and slammed into the door.“Whoops.” Beau mocked.The next arrow shot past her towards me, but I sidestepped out of the way. The last came right for her, but so fast I could hardly see it, Beau grabbed the arrow out of mid-air and spun around with a flourish before throwing it back towards a gnoll in front of her. The arrow sunk into the chest of its thick hide armor. It snarled.The other three gnolls I could see from behind were trying desperately to stop the spread of fire on the cart, to no avail. Create Bonfire would last until I lost concentration or a minute was up. One, maybe noticing how futile the efforts with the fire was, turned to tower over Beau. It grabbed out for a spear off the side of the wall that it had been leaning against and it thrust it at her.As it thrust with the spear, coming off of the adrenaline of the deflected missile, Beau ducked low, and then kicked the spear up, which slammed into the top of the door frame and completely missed her. It stepped into the door frame, completely filling it as I sidestepped to give Beau room, both of us now flanking the creature.“No, seriously dude, did you see that?!” Beau was beaming.“That was badass!” I whooped.Beau grabbed at the gnoll in front of us, moving it and with a sharp thud I heard it get hit from behind--she’d used it as a shield. “Thank you.” Beau said, letting him go. There was this thick, oily, horrible liquid that was matted in the fur, and the smell itself was very acrid of rotting flesh and mangy fur. A loud snarl ripped through the air and one of the gnolls grinned. It tried to strike again, and as it came out with its claw, it put its spear to the side.Beau ducked and it missed her entirely. Enraged, the gnoll began slamming through the front doorway, bashing it inward on each side. From behind, completely unexpected, a crossbow bolt shot past Beau and I hitting the gnoll straight under the clavicle near the heart. As it pierced in, the gnoll screamed and coughed up a bunch of blood onto the front of its hide armor. I chanced a glance behind me to see Nott scurry up past the window we’d entered through, heading to the second floor.A second later, I heard a faint goblin scream.“THIS IS FINE!”A gnoll bit out towards Beau with its broken toothy jaws, clamping down on Beau’s forearm, pushing forward now to try to find the space next to the larger gnoll--both blocking the doorway from escape.Beau swatted at it, “No, no, bad!” treating it more like a dog than a monster. The creature let go, barring its teeth and drooling. Beau reached forward and ripped out the crossbow bolt still stuck in the larger gnoll’s chest. There was a horrible pained yelp as she yanked it out. As Beau spun around and attempted to slam it into its back, its giant, thick gnoll arm slammed into the door frame and blocked her ability to pass forward. Beau attempted to strike out at the other gnoll with her elbow, and as it collided with its skull, its jaw unhinged and snapped it back into place.I saw Beau make a small step to the side, giving me an opening.I charged in with my double bladed scimitar, blades gleaming with green flames as I made contact with the larger gnoll, ripping into his armor. The green flames jumped to the other gnoll, catching it alight for a moment, before I spun around and hit the original gnoll once more--slicing into its neck this time and taking a sizable chunk out as it spewed blood.It let out a bark of a cry, its hand wavering to its neck, before falling back to the ground."Sick!" Beau said, eyes on the green fire. But there was no time to celebrate as a gnoll from behind the fallen one shot and had its arrow embedded into the side of the busted doorframe. Nott suddenly hung upside down behind the gnolls, from the ceiling, and shot in a bolt. It zipped past and slammed into part of the now broken door that was coming off the hinges. She disappeared immediately after.Beau pulled out her bo staff and I spun out of the way as she brought the staff down with both hands, whack, slamming right through the center of its chest and clavicle. Its torso broke and folded from the weight of the blow. The skull tumbled off and hit the ground, falling into a pile of bones an rags.Beau charged through the now empty doorway towards the nearest gnolls left. With that momentum, she stuck her staff in the ground, and used that to lift herself up and do a two-footed kick into the other guy. One foot hit and skimmed off its shoulder. As she struck him with the other foot, she snapped the side of his jaw, which broke out. As he stumbled backward, she took the back of the staff and cracked it up underneath the jaw, snapping the neck the rest of the way, and it fell to the ground, no longer moving. I followed Beau out into the clearing, taking stock of the battle as quickly as possible. I saw the others in combat, but majority of creatures at the cart, retreating. They looked singed--having pushed the cart through my now non-existent Bonfire. I grabbed a bottle on my person and dumped a cricket into my hand. I squished it in my fist and held out a hand towards the gnolls pushing the cart, snapping my fingers. Two of them crumpled to the ground, asleep.Another gnoll leapt down from above and began helping push the cart, picking up the slack, and leaving its kin behind.I saw Fjord pull back and a gnoll reach out with a glaive to try and strike him. Fjord turned around and went to strike out with the Eldritch Blast, and it pulled one of the other gnolls nearby and yanked it in front of him, as a shield, then set him back in place; deflecting it with its own guy.The guards then took shots at the gnolls still standing.Mollymauk swung with his scimitars, the gnoll he was fighting ducking out of the way of his first attack, but Molly knocked its spear to the side. The second scimitar made contact, arcing through and actually carving through the creature’s eyes. In a flash, Molly leapfrogged off of him, grabbing his shoulders, and landing behind him, scimitars at the ready. A giant lollipop fell towards two of the gnolls closest to me, but the two managed to take a step back, avoiding it. I saw an attack of fire swoop after it, burning and singing a gnoll, now charred and burnt, its flesh cracked and blackened.“Hey, what happens to a frog’s wagon when it breaks down? It gets toad away!” Nott yelled.One of the gnolls that wasn’t under immediate fire glanced up and heard, letting out its hyena laugh...but didn’t stop. It clutched at its stomach and dropped its weapons to the side and just started rolling on the ground. Its singed friend looked at it in confusion, and then up to Nott. “Hey, your friends have an inside joke without you.” Beau called.As soon as he turned Beau whacked him over the head with her staff, as if it were a bat.About five or six gnoll teeth went flying from the impact, the jaw quivered as spittle and blood went careening off the side. It fell and stumbled, Beau doing a helicopter flourish above and cracking down over top.It fell, dazed and beaten within an inch of its life. Barely standing at this point, one eye is lolling around, the other one swollen shut.I followed Beau over, finishing the one Beau had beat up with a swift slice across the stomach. Green fire jumped down to the one laughing hysterically on the floor, which I followed as I spun and stabbed it through the abdomen with the other side of my blade. Its laughter paused, then silenced as it went limp on the ground.In the corner of my eye I saw Mollymauk still in combat, and Fjord ran over firing a blast of arcane energy at one I’d set to sleep. It hit the dirt next to it, sending a bit of dust into the air, but waking neither.The guards moved forward as they loaded their crossbows, firing towards the one engaged with Molly. I heard a twang and a thump, assuming one hit. At my side, Nott fell to the ground, and started running off after where the cart had gone.I saw Mollymauk run after her. Jester, or an image of Jester, skipped up to a sleeping gnoll, bent down and touched him, and he suddenly withered into this completely dried-out husk of what the gnoll once was, the life force drawn and cast out of his body. Almost horrific in the way it was done so peacefully.“I guess we’re– race you!” Beau yelled to me, running after Molly and Nott. I let out a swear and followed suit, running. She easily outsped me, catching up to Molly as I trailed behind. There was this cloud and ash, embers pushing into the atmosphere now, the nearby building are actually in flames and engulfed on the side here.Ahead I could see the shape of Nott, and the largest gnoll, likely the leader of them. From nearby buildings appeared about ten other gnolls all gathering around the cart and all leaving. They were all carrying giant sacks on their back, dragging bodies and corpses behind them.“Nott, get back here!” I heard Fjord yell behind us.“What? Don’t blow my cover!”“Let them go!”“Okay. What?”The leader saw the three of them ahead of me, put its glaive away with one hand, and turned around as he drew his longbow and fired an arrow right at Nott. The arrow struck Nott in the chest, who fell onto the ground, the ash and embers starting to spill over her unconscious body. My running became less about catching up and more about getting to Nott.Another arrow fired, shooting Mollymauk through, crumpling to the ground just as Nott had. I veered off to Mollymauk--closer to me, and summoned a healing potion. I saw Jester run past me to Nott as I propped Mollymauk’s head up onto my lap and started pouring the potion into his mouth.Mollymauk gasped to life, Nott doing the same near Jester. I froze. Mollymauk’s eyes blinked up at me, chest heaving, resting against my lap. The second we spent looking at each other felt much longer than it was. “What were you thinking!?”  Molly yelled over to Nott, aggravated, before wincing and leaning his head back into my lap, breaking whatever haze I’d been in. “I was just going to follow them from afar. I forgot they had bows and arrows!” Nott squeaked back. Jester pranced over, resting a hand on Molly’s shoulder, and casting Cure Wounds. He perked up a little more, but was still far from a hundred percent.“That’s literally the only thing that’s been happening.” He groaned.“I thought they wouldn’t see me because of the smoke. Oh boy.” I summoned another potion, tossing it over to Nott. “I’m going to put out these fires--” Molly moved to get up. It only lasted a second before he collapsed back into my lap, moving a hand to my knee. “Oh, I’m not getting up.”“Ah shit, the town, you guys!” Beau said, looking around wildly. We managed to regather around the final sleeping gnoll, killing it easily as it slept. More of the crownsguard that had been battling and had been partially wounded by a lot of the other gnolls had begun to gather their dead, starting to try and put out what fires they could and acknowledge which buildings couldn’t be saved. As we began to join in where we could, I found myself hovering around Nott and Mollymauk as we did.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Crownsguard began to come back--those that were still living--many of them wounded and tending to their wounds, or helping the survivors that were still within the town. We could see some families starting to unblock their entryways and the people who had escaped the city slowly beginning to filter in. Sobbing was heard in the distance of families that were coming back to homes that had been destroyed. The dissipating smoke still stung the back of my throat.Jester nudged me in the side, calling my attention to the armored individual that we had met at the start of battle. Their half-elven face was solemn and tense, but they approached and extended a hand. “There aren’t many who would immediately jump into the fray as you did. I would say that we would have lost many more, and perhaps all of my men had you not been there, so thank you.”Jester jumped up to grab their hand and shook it emphatically. I listened, still crouched on the ground cutting ears off the gnolls.“Of course!”I recognized the gnoll we were working on as one of the ones I’d put to sleep. Caleb quickly descended on the other one, Jester excusing herself from the half-elf and doing the same.While Caleb cut off the ears I saw Jester cut off a chunk of tail. I grinned, realizing her plan to try and pass it off as an ear.When the party had finished scavenging for gnoll ears, we had around 14.“I totally remember kicking this guy’s ass.” Beau kicked at the dead, earless gnoll on the ground.We found our way back to the half-elf, looking for our reward. He stood taller as he officially introduced himself. “I am Watchmaster Bryce Feelid, assigned here to Alfield, now in my fourth year. Thank you.”“What were those creatures? Have you encountered them before?” Fjord asked.“We’ve encountered them before, yes, in smaller hunting packs, maybe a half-dozen at a time, usually on the outskirts. They don’t come to civilization like this. It’s generally too dangerous for them, in the smaller numbers they travel...What the fuck are they after?” He looked out over the scorched town, angry but at a loss.“Such a grizzly scene, they seemed to be carrying away bodies on that cart they had.”“What was left of them.” Beau chuckled, punching me in the arm. Burning the cart had been one of the highlights, for me, at least.“That was weird.” Mollymauk muttered.“Did you notice they had some undead gnolls with them?” Jester asked.“I did.” Fjord nodded“There were.” Molly said.“Have you ever seen anything like that?” Jester asked, looking to the crownsguard.“I’ve maybe crossed one or two as part of the roving packs, it’s not terribly uncommon.”“What turns them like that? Is there something in the water?” Molly asked.“I have no idea. I don’t know the ins and outs of their creepy bestial lifestyle. I mean, what–” They sat down for a second, leaning against the wall, thinking and scratching at their chin, “Word came of a small hunting party of these beasts spotted to the south, so we sent a small troupe to slay them naught but two hours before they struck here. We had sent more than half of our men’s strength to go and deal with them, so we were unprepared and, at the time, unguarded for the most part. We were caught at half strength. It can’t be a coincidence. They must be desperate to assault head-on like this. There’s plenty of small game in the surrounding wood and they’re known to be provoked to violence, but I’ve only heard of gnolls picking off the outlying folk, those that wander too far from the fields.”“Do they eat the bodies?” I asked. “They eat what flesh they can get a hold of, but we went through a number of the buildings and they’ve ransacked two of the inns. They completelytook the entire butcher’s stock. They’ve carved the city of whatever meats, fresh or dried, we had.”“Word came? Word came that they were in the south? Where did word come from?” Molly asked.“Word came from some of our crownsguard who were running a patrol.”“We have seen these things as far south as Trostenwald. Further even.” Caleb added.“Has there been something else going on, that you can think of, that might have cut off their food supply?” Beau asked.“Not that I can think of.” The watchmaster said, “For the most part, this far south, other than a few run-ins here and there, they aren’t– conflicts of this size don’t make it past Bladegarden.”“Bladegarden?”“It’s where most of them– It’s where most of the Empire’s military and guard are trained and then sent out throughout the rest of the valley. That’s a lot of meat that they’ve acquired from us, and they’ve lost many, I thought, of their kin in this battle as well.”“Too much meat. What are they feeding?” Jester asked.The question was haunting, but plausible.“Or what’s making them so hungry?” The watchmaster asked.“Oh. Or that.”“Indeed.” Fjord gave a nod, “My concern is that they’ll return. We’ve fended them off for now, but they’ll come back.” “Especially if they’re as desperate as you say they are.” Beau said.“I’ve sent three of our scouts to try and find out where they went, track wherever they’re taking their spoils. Reports come in that most of the bodies they took were dead, perhaps not all. We have to do our best to at least recover any survivors, wipe out what remains, and prevent this from ever happening again.” The watchmaster explained. “Have you heard local farmers complaining about them stealing livestock? Missing livestock?”“I’m going to look into that, actually. I’m sorry, I’m still gathering my thoughts.”Jester gasped loudly, catching our attention.“W.C!”She ran before the rest of us could process what she’d said.“The horse!” I looked to Beau. Her eyes widened, and the group of us charged after Jester. Once we could see the open field, I slowed, seeing W.C. in the distance, still affixed to the cart, currently chewing on a small bag of oats where one of the families of villagers who fled had come back and begun to feed him.I saw Jester shoot a thumbs up to the family and run back to us.“I’m going to leave it out there.” Jester said.“Oh, cool, okay.” Fjord nodded.“Petting zoo.” Mollymauk said. Jester nodded, smiling.“Yeah, they’re petting him.”The watchmaster, Bryce, had followed us, grabbing our attention again. “Well, as rash as it was said– and our coffers are not as strong as they could be, I will request more of a monetary influx up north– for the ears you have taken you will be paid. Any more that you find, those will be paid as well.”“Well, and we’re going to need some lodging anyway, so perhaps some trade could be worked out.” Mollymauk said.“Indeed, we could provide some extra muscle, perhaps for some lodging while we stay and maybe we could aid your men and their efforts to exterminate this foe.” Fjord said. “Well, I would normally put you up in the Candleglow Inn but–” The watchmaster gestured over towards the large building that we had walked through that was now currently–“It’s literally glowing like a candle right now.” Molly said.The watchmaster paused, tilting his head.“...That is ironic now that you point it out.”“I feel really bad for saying that out loud.” Molly said, shrinking back.“Eh, you’re not wrong.” I shrugged.“Let’s just not let Thadeus know that his life is–”I saw Caleb slink off and start poking around the rubble. Curious, I followed him.“Whatcha looking for?” I asked. He startled at my voice, but calmed once he saw it was me.“I am looking for charcoal.”“As a spell component? For frumpkin, right?”“Yes. You...I saw you use spell components during the battle.”The memory of catching the crickets was a small blow to my ego, but I ignored it. Caleb hadn’t seen, after all.“Yeah, for the sleep spell.”“That was clutch.” He nodded.“Thank you.” I was surprised, but flattered. “Need any help looking for charcoal?”“I mean, it’s abundant.” We looked around at the burned town, “Just finding high quality...I wouldn’t mind the help.” Between the two of us we found and made a small pile of charcoal.“Yeah, good, that’s good.” Caleb gave a slight smile. His smile faltered. “You have some charcoal on your face.”I blinked.“Oh!” I took off one of my bracers and tried to wipe my face with my sleeve. “Did I get it?”“Sort of. It’s just—“ Caleb pointed to his own face as an example and I wiped where he said. “Got it. Those are interesting bracers, by the way.”“Yeah…” I struggled to lace the one back up one-handed. “They’re dragonscale, actually.”“Really?”“Uh huh, I got them as a gift.”“Aquatic dragon, I’m guessing, from the color?”“Yeah. I mean, that’s what I’m told.” I mumbled, still having problems with the laces. Tying it up with my nondominant hand was proving an issue. “Honestly, wouldn’t be surprised if they were counterfeit. But they do the job, and they’re pretty.” “Here, let me help you with that.” Caleb reached over and started tying the laces. “Thanks.” I chuckled, a little embarrassed. I was caught off guard at how gentle he was as he worked. Whether he was always gentle or just nervous with dealing with what would usually be a more expensive item, I wasn’t sure. But he cleared his throat as he backed away, and I lifted my arm, checking to see if it was tight enough.“Thanks, Caleb.” I said again.“No problem.” “Caleb!! Sera!” Nott ran over to the two of us as Caleb began scooping up his charcoal. “They’re putting us up at a tavern for the night. We’re gonna head that way now!”“Lead the way?” I said, though it came out as more of a question. Nott grabbed Caleb’s hand and dragged him back to the group, myself in tow.The party explained we were to find Crute at the Feed and Mead Tavern, and tell him Bryce sent us. He wasn’t hard to find; He looked an ornery, salty-looking dwarf with tousled white-gray hair, and a single tuft of a beard that dangled down towards his belly button before it hit a ring of gold.“Oh, so I’ve been told you’re the ones who were coming to sleep. Got one of our two rooms for you.”“One? ” Nott asked.He never quite made eye contact with any of us, just looking at Nott’s shoulder, or right above her face. Nott leaned close to whisper to Caleb, but by proximity I heard it.“I think he’s got two glass eyes.”“Come, I’ll show you.” He turned around and led us to the room. There were four twin beds jammed in here. Cramped, but functional.“I’m fine with the floor.” Molly and Beau spoke in unison.“I’m great with a bed!” Fjord said. I rolled my eyes. “I just meditate anyway so I don’t care.” I said. “So me, Fjord, Caleb, and Nott get the beds.” Jester reasoned. Speaking of Caleb, he was already looping his silver thread out and around the open window.“Was there beer downstairs? Was there ale?” Mollymauk asked.“It’s a tavern, so I’d hope so. Could use one right about now.” I said.Mollymauk dropped his stuff down on the ground, practically in the middle of the room.“Then come along, Cricket!” He dashed out of the room.I stood there, hearing his footsteps retreat, as I processed what he had just called me.The rest of the party looked on curiously. “Motherfucker .” I swore, amusement and annoyance clashing. I dropped my stuff near his and raced down after him.“—Is there drink? Is there smoke?” I heard Molly’s voice across the room. I got down to the bottom of the staircase and stared at him, already sitting at the bar.“Smoke we don’t have. But drink, that I can give you.”“I’ll take something interesting.” He said.“I’ll give you something interesting .” I muttered. I made my way over and he shot me a grin.“Interesting, you say. Heh.” Crute began preparing a drink as I slid next to Molly.“Cricket?” I asked, steeling my face so I wouldn’t break a smile.“I think it suits you.” Molly slammed his hands on the table, making both me and the barkeep give a start. “You’re jumpy .” “And last night has nothing to do with it.” I said sarcastically. “Oh, no, everything to do with it.” He turned back to Crute, and pointed at me, “She smashed a bug on her face!” “I did not—that makes it sound like it was on purpose!” “Heh. Would you like one too?” Crute asked, sliding Molly’s drink across. He’d taken a small shot glass that had a bulbous bottom, poured it to the very top with this deep, sea-teal green liquid.The color interested me.“Please.” I confirmed. Crute nodded and poured another shot.“Fast or slow?” Molly asked, a hand on his glass.“Well, depends on how much you like to dream.” Crute chuckled.“How much?”“For that, and for what I heard you all did, it’s on the house.”“Nonsense.” Molly argued. “For the night. You want more, you’re paying top-shelf price.” “What’s top-shelf price?” “For that drink there, that would run you about three silver.” Crute explained.Molly reached in his pocket, and faltered. I looked on curiously as he regained his composure and pulled out a gold piece. He put it on the table. Crute’s eyebrows raised, but he pocketed the coin.“Not going to complain.”“Should cover me and the lady. The rest, consider it an advance. It’s been a rough night for everybody.“ Mollymauk said."Right, right, of course.”“You don’t have to pay for mine, Molly.” I said, reaching in a pocket. “Nonsense. Cheers, cricket.” He held up his shot. …“That nickname’s gonna die soon, right?”“Nope.”I sighed heavily.“Cheers.” I deadpanned, clinking glasses with him. Before I could take a sip he stopped me.“Uh-uh! You have to keep eye contact when you cheers.”“What?”“It’s something I learned in the circus. I think it's a Zemnian tradition? You have to make eye contact with whoever you cheers with, or it’s seven years bad sex.”“...What!?” “Just cheers with me.” I did as he said, our eyes meeting over my glass. Red, pupil-less eyes met my dark blue. Both of us took a sip, still maintaining eye contact. The drink surprised me with a very smoky, oak-barrel flavor to it. The flavor swiftly turned into more of a burn, into this very medicinal, herbal, almost anise-mixed-with-burnt-charcoal flavor. If I hadn’t been familiar with alchemical mixtures I probably would’ve spat it out.Mollymauk turned back in his seat to face the counter, sinking down in his chair a bit. While it could’ve been read as getting comfortable, something in his demeanor shifted. He’d been all jokes before, but his eyes seemed to glaze over a little as he stared into space. I got the feeling he didn’t want to talk.So I sat, nursing my own drink, in silence.Silence usually felt so loud to me, but this was okay.We went through a couple more drinks each. I didn’t get another of the teal ones, but nobody seemed to care about my orders. Just when I was thinking of departing to go upstairs, Mollymauk spoke.“Thank you.”“What?”I felt like I asked that a lot around Molly.“I was worse for wear earlier and you shoved a healing potion down my throat? Thanks.” “Oh. Of course—you, I mean, you don’t need to thank me for that.” I stumbled over my words, thinking back to earlier, on cradling him in my arms.“Hm.” He hummed. “Then I won’t.” He downed the rest of his drink.“Okay…” I raised a brow. Not exactly the reaction I expected, but I stood up. “I’m heading up. Is the tab settled?”Crute nodded. I put a hand on Molly’s shoulder.“Thanks for the drinks, Molly.”He shrugged.“You don’t need to thank me for that. Actually found I had more gold than I thought I did. And we’re all getting paid soon anyway.”  Actually found I had more gold than I thought I did. I kept my smile on my face, trying not to think about it.“Looking forward to that.” I said, “Night, Molly!”I made it upstairs to the room and felt a sense of relief, as if this was some kind of safe zone. The cricket incident had been merely embarrassing. The incident of getting Mollymauk temporarily thrown in jail? I didn’t want to dwell on it. I heard Mollymauk’s footsteps behind me, following me up, as I opened the door.Luckily Jester jumping on the bed was a good distraction as now Mollymauk and I both stood in the doorway, watching.“Jester!” At Fjord’s warning voice, Jester jumped down next to him.“58 gold, 59 gold, 60 gold.” Caleb counted, beaming.“60 gold, Caleb!” Jester grinned.“This was a good idea.” He nodded. I spotted two piles of gold by Mollymauk and I’s things.“This is working out weirdly, I’m excited.” Molly said, moving past me to plop down by his pile.“We all have an extra 60 gold, yeah?” Beau asked.“For all the work that Beau and Sera did.” The group laughed. I put an elbow on Beau’s shoulder, grinning as I leaned on her.“That was some ninja shit. We were in the doorway, but you were dodging everything.” I said.“That was some crazy shit.” Molly agreed.“We are hitching our stars to your wagons.” Caleb said. We laughed. Beau held out a fist to me and we fist bumped.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

As the uncomfortable warmth of the morning kicked in, with our small room and number of warm bodies encompassing a very tight and not very drafty space, the partially humid early hours drew the rest of the party from consciousness. I’d spent my extra time awake being annoyed at myself for not having bought more ingredients for healing potions, and then writing a letter again.
Dear Aldric,

We’ve traveled to Alfield. Upon our arrival, a very intense
fire spread throughout the town and it was laid under siege by gnolls.
I’m fine. A lot of trouble, but nothing we couldn’t handle. But not

enjoying my stay, for the obvious reasons. The town is in shambles.

We may stay to try and stock up, but hopefully we’ll be heading to

Zadash soon. Excited to see a bigger city again!

With love,
Serasai“What do you guys want to do today?” Jester asked as I folded my letter. I had no clue if the post office was functioning or in ashes, but I’d send it at the next opportunity.“That bed was not my favorite.” Fjord complained.“I liked it.”“Little stiff.”“You should try sleeping on the floor. It’s actually really good support.” Beau advised.“It’s good for your back, it’s really true.” Molly agreed.“You use a pillow, or are you just on the floor?” Fjord asked.“Pillow.” “I use a sleeping mat.” I answered, “You can borrow it if you want? I mostly sit up for my trance.”“I might take you up on that.” Fjord nodded. Then he turned to look back at Molly, “Do you have to pray over your swords or anything this morning?” “No, everything’s fine. They just do what they need to do. I just have to keep them clean.”“You have to pray over your swords?” I asked, confused.“Yeah, we were sharing a room one night, and Molly has a ritual. I think it’s part of his custom. Yeah, he performs over his swords.” Fjord explained. “I have to take care of them or else they’ll stop working, of course.” Molly said. “You have to care for them and they steal a part of your emotions? High maintenance.” I snarked. I expected he’d fed Fjord some bullshit about his scimitars like he’d tried with me.“Do they need to feed? On your blood? Or your emotions??” Jester asked.“They do actually, yeah. I’ve got to feed them some, well– it’s complicated. I don’t like to go too deep into it, but I’ve got to use my bloodline on occasion.” Molly looked over to Fjord, looking a twinge guilty, “Actually, since we’re already on the road, I should be honest, I wasn’t entirely telling the truth when I talked to you that night. Or with you, Sera, though you called me on that already.”Fjord gasped dramatically.“Noooo! Stop it!”“Inconceivable .” I joined in, my tone drowning with sarcasm.“You seem so honest.” Nott said. Molly shot Nott and I a look.“Oh, you’re just little bundles of truth too, aren’t you?”I laughed.“What is a bloodline?” Caleb asked.“I suppose it’s only fair. I did tell you that these swords are special, and that they use the blood of my family to activate themselves. I know I might have said I was from a long line of priests, and–““Oh my god, you killed your whole family.” Beau interrupted, gasping.“I didn’t kill my whole family.”“Oh, okay. Never mind, keep going. I’m sorry.”“Our family were less the priests, and more the sacrifices. We may have stolen the swords and run. That’s why I’ve been trying to keep a bit of a low profile when it comes to some of the authorities.”“Yeah. I mean, for fear of your life you ran?” Fjord prompted.“It’s been a long time, but I’d rather not run into them.” “What gods were you being sacrificed to?” Jester asked.“Oh, I couldn’t tell you. It was my parents, I was just wee by the time that happened.”“Is there a roving band of priests that are trying to find you right now?” Nott asked.“Oh, I hope not. I mean, it’s been a long time.”“Where’s home? Where is this place that you stole–“ Beau began, but Molly quickly cut her off.“My parents never spoke of it. Somewhere out east.” “How’d you fall in with the circus?” I asked. I knew a few small details from talking to the young dwarf girl back in Trostenwald. I wanted to see if his answer lined up.“Well, it was a bit of a mess, but I just ended up there eventually. Just looking for a place where I could rest, I suppose?” “That’s funny, you gave her an answer, but you didn’t really give her an answer.” Caleb said, looking from Molly to me.“Well, I don’t know you all that well.” Molly shrugged.“That’s what he’s been doing this whole time.” Beau said, crossing her arms.“That requires a drink.” Yeah, he definitely reminded me of Aldric and the crew.“I understand that sentiment. Trying to find a little respite, a little peace.” Fjord said, ignoring the paranoia of the group. Whether the paranoia was rightfully placed was a separate issue.“It’s a good place to be if you want to run, but not run.” Mollymauk said.“Are there any others of your family out there on the run?” Nott asked.“Not that I’ve ever met.”“Was it just your parents and you that were being sacrificed?”“You know, I don’t know. I never thought to ask.”“How long until you met up with the circus?” I asked.“Quite a while, wish I’d met them sooner.”That tracked.“Did they want to kill you or just take your blood?” Jester asked.“Apparently they needed us alive for it, so there was that.”“Oh! So it wasn’t so bad, they just slowly drained you.”“Um, no, in some ways that could be considered worse?” I said, “Could be a painful process, as anything involving removing blood typically is?”“But isn’t that what he’s doing to himself on a daily basis?” Beau argued.“It’s not that bad, though, it doesn’t leave a mark really.” Molly said. I looked to the scars littering his chest and quietly disagreed. “You’re in control of it. You’re using it for yourself?” Fjord asked.“Oh yes, of course. It can come in handy.”“Does it have to be your blood?” Jester asked.“Oh yes. Of our bloodline, apparently.”“Have you tried any other bloodlines?” Beau asked.“Well, I’ve cut a lot of people with them. Would you like to take a run at it?” Molly held out a blade, “You could be lucky.”“...I’ll save that for another day.”“I had a funny feeling.”“I’m tempted.” Fjord mentioned. Nott turned to him. “What about you, Fjord? Are you going to vomit any seawater this morning?”Fjord immediately began making a retching sound, fake dry-heaving.“Oh, watch out!” Nott scrambled back.“Nah.” Fjord shook his head.“Could’ve been worth five copper on the open road at one point.”“Five copper to see a man puke seawater?” I asked, disgusted. “I seem to have missed my calling.” Fjord shrugged.“Always could use a circus geek.” Molly’s tail swished.“How’d you sleep, aside from the crappy bed?” Beau asked. Fjord gave her a look.“I know what you’re asking. I didn’t have any other dreams. It was fairly restful.”“No dreams at all?” Jester asked.“None I care to speak of.”“Do we think there’s anything left of this town?” Caleb interrupted.“That is a question.” Molly nodded.“Anything left?” Fjord asked.“It didn’t seem like the whole thing was on fire.” Nott shrugged.“Bryce recommended a shop, too. I don’t think he’d have done that if it was in ashes.” I argued.“That’s true.” Fjord nodded, “And we couldn’t really see at night. Maybe we should go down.”“I would like to take a walk and see what it is we’re out to save.” Caleb said.“We can steal some things!” Jester suggested, happily.“Maybe we do that second, and first we take a walk.”“Jester, we agreed not to put anyone in harm’s way in an excessive manner.” Fjord warned.“When did we agree that?” Jester asked.“...Did we not?”“I don’t remember that, either.” Caleb shook his head.“I don’t recall making that arrangement.” Molly agreed.“Did we agree to that?”“I think we already put ourselves in harm’s way excessively, yesterday.” I said.“Maybe I thought that was an unspoken thing.” Fjord said. “Usually when you agree to something you have to say it out loud. Most of the time. Unless it’s, like–” Jester cut herself off and started staring down Beau, smiling and nodding. Beau looked alarmed, and then just confused. Jester clapped her hands. “We just agreed to it! You said it, you said it!”“What did you agree to?’ Nott asked.“I can’t tell, it’s a secret! Oh! But she’s serious about it, I can tell!”Beau looked around at us, at a loss.“You’re so good at this.” Mollymauk grinned.Caleb clapped his hands together, making me jump.“Well, my social anxiety is getting the best of me. I’m taking a walk. Goodbye.” The door slammed behind Caleb, briskly making his exit.“Do you want a donut this morning? It’s a little more stale in the bag, I have to let you know.” Jester said, looking to Fjord.“I think I’m fine.” Fjord said.“Do you want one?” She turned to Molly.“Oh, yeah. More donut for us.”“I guess we should greet the town.” Beau sighed.“Fair enough.” Fjord shrugged.“Wait!” Jester yelled, “When did we say we were going to meet Bryce?”“Why are you yelling?” Nott yelled back.“I thought they were leaving.”“Actually, I think they’ll find us.” Fjord said, ignoring Jester’s antics.“Yeah. Maybe we could just stand in the middle of town and go, “Bryce?” until they show up.” Beau suggested.“In front of Broad Barn.” Jester nodded.“Okay, I have a question about this Broad Barn thing. Is Broad Barn the name of an establishment, or is Broad Barn a very broad barn?”“It’s a very long barn.” Molly answered.“It’s a very big barn?”“What if it’s a street? We didn’t clarify, did we?” Jester asked.“I just assumed it was a shop from the name. I don’t know why.” I shrugged.“What if it’s a tavern? I don’t know, I got confused in his delivery.” Beau said.“I bet we can ask the guy downstairs.” Jester suggested.“All right, yeah.”“He seemed nice last night.” Mollymauk said, looking to me.The group of us headed downstairs. Crute was still there, off to the side and one very dirty and ashy civilian was currently slowly scarfing a meal with a thousand yard stare. Looked like they had been close to the action and chaos the evening before. As we walked down, Crute looked across and spoke, “I see you’re awake. Would you like breakfast?”“Yes, please.” The tieflings said in unison.“All right. It’ll be about an hour. Because it’s just me.” “An hour? All right.” Nott plopped down at a table. I grabbed a few more seats and began pulling them up to accommodate for the group.“It’s just me.”“Do you want some help? I’ll come help you!” Jester offered.“Come on!”“I’ll go in for this if it means a faster breakfast.” Molly said, following the two of them into the back. With the group of them cooking, it didn't take long for a breakfast to be served and for us to devour it like we were starving. As we emerged from the tavern we saw that the fires had now been reduced to maybe a dozen wide plumes of gray-white smoke on the eastern side of the city. It rose from the ashes and charred wood remains and wood frames where some buildings used to be. It seemed much more dangerous and chaotic last evening, but looking at it now in the day, it’s no more than maybe a dozen buildings or so that were affected. They were more centralized to cause the most chaos suddenly at that time of night. I got the sense as soon as I looked around that the folks of the city are on edge, understandably so. I saw the people trying to pick up their lives and move on in the face of what recently occurred. The very air held this tension as I looked around.People walked past us with sacks of grain and tools, their eyes wide, darting around for unseen danger and glancing past the two tieflings, immediately, instinctively stepping back a bit and making a wide berth. I saw children run from doorway to doorway, trying to stay out of the street as long as possible. The town seemed like it was trying to carry on, but it was  going to be a process. Some folks were rummaging through the remains of the respective buildings.I glanced over near where the central portion of our conflict last night took place, where the Candleglow Tavern was, and there I saw, amongst the smoldering rubble of the inn, a single halfling man sifting through the wreckage, a crownsguard helping him lift heavier beams. I saw him pluck what he could of his former life from the rubble.“Should we go over and talk to him?” Nott asked, pointing to the halfling.“Sure.” Jester said, “You’re a halfling, too, so maybe you should talk to him.”“I’m not technically.” Nott said, a note of sadness in her tone.Mollymauk, on the other hand, was already walking over.“Need a hand?”Now closer, the halfling man looked to be in his fifties. He has ashy blond hair and a face cracked by smiling, though now too dour and soot-covered to see any sort of smile on his face. As he pulled through some of the rubble, making a small pile on the side, he looked up and said, “Oh, right. Can I help you?”“We were part of this commotion last night. We were wondering if you need a hand with anything right now?”“I mean, if you don’t–”Molly shrugged off his coat and started taking off his jacket.“You don’t have to! Okay, okay.” The rest of us followed his lead. We spent the next ten minutes helping move through some of the heavier beams that collapsed.There was still somewhat a structure, mainly of the bottom floor, but a lot of the top floor had fallen in over time. So the job was moving some of the bigger beams out of the way. As we were pulling through and moving some of the larger pieces of the structure, the halfling spoke again.“I appreciate the help. Name’s Thadeus. Thadeus Candleglow.”“Oh, this was your place?” Jester asked. I’d kind of assumed it was.“It was.”“Oh, wow.”“20 years since I was left this place. Built by my grandpaps, Reedus.”“Were you here when the attack happened?” Nott asked.“Oh, I was here. When they all came in, I was gone. I wasn’t about to stay around, you know?”“Did you happen to see where they came from?”“Oh, I did not. I was in the process of cleaning dishes and dealing with a couple of my patrons. One of them–” He pointed over to the rubble. Following his finger I spotted a skeletal body that had been partially collapsed. “I suppose Leiman’s probably not going to be a regular anymore.”“Oh, no.” Jester breathed.“You going to rebuild, give him a fine plaque?” Molly asked. Thaddeus shook his head.“Rebuilding requires something called money. I think I’m probably going to gather what I can here and shop up north and see what other work I can get myself to.”“How much gold do you need?” Jester asked.“I don’t know. A building establishment like this. I’m not entirely certain, but I could check in. I assume it’s probably a few thousand gold pieces for the structure.”“I just had that, too! I’m sorry, I don’t have it anymore. But I could try writing to my mom to see if she’ll help you.”I wasn’t sure if I believed Jester or not. Either way, Thaddeus gave a weak smile.“That’s really sweet.”“Or, as another thought, since you were basically robbed, who were they? What happened? Has this happened before?” Mollymauk asked.“Oh, this hasn’t happened as long as I’ve been here, and I’ve been here most of my life, here in Alfield. You hear about these things wandering on the outside, and you know crownsguard keeps you safe. Anything comes too close, they just shoot them in the face with a bunch of arrows and shit.”“Love arrows and shit.” I chuckled.“Thadeus, did they seem to be after anything in particular? Were they here for property or people or gold or food?” Beau asked.“They didn’t take any of the worthwhile stuff, thankfully.” He pointed over to a pile and I saw there was a brass urn or vase that’d been smashed and dented by the conflict. I could see bits and pieces of a few other keepsakes that might’ve been worth a little bit of money that had been left behind. “They just mainly took all of our food stores. Most of my meats, most of my salted meats, the dried meats, the fresh meats, the butchered meats. They cleared out the butcher down the street.”“Shrimp scampi. Butterfly shrimp.” Jester mumbled.“Coconut shrimp.” Fjord said.“Fried shrimp.”“Don’t engage them.” Nott said, waving the two of them off.“We’re all going to die now.” Mollymauk muttered.I spotted Caleb making his way over to us as Thaddeus spoke.“That’s a real curious-looking face you got there.” Thaddeus squinted at Nott.“Excuse me, I saw in the middle of the fray–Sir. Excuse me.” Caleb came to Nott’s side. Nott said something quickly in what I assumed was Halfling. Thaddeus noded.“Yeah, sorry. What can I do?”“I’m sorry, I was part of the fray as well. I was right in the thick of it. I saw a cart piled high with bodies. Are there people missing from town?” Caleb asked“Quite a few. You’d have to ask around some of the crownsguard.” “How has the rest of the village fared? Is everything as poorly off as you are?”“I mean, plenty of folks seem to get through this okay. They only took down a few buildings. I’m more worried about the folks that were plucked from their homes.”“Is yours the only business that was hit?”“I haven’t looked around, to be perfectly honest. I’ve been a little focused on–” He gestured out with his hands at the rubble that was once his life.“You had a lot of meat, didn’t you?” “Well, you have to present meat. A lot of people around here eat meat.”“Would you say that you offer a larger selection of meat than some of the other establishments in town?”“If you’re asking me, then the best meat. Don’t know about quantity, but quality was–” He made a click with his tongue.“I feel like I’ve been robbed of the experience of your fine, fine meat products, and I, for one, would like you to rebuild so that I might try some of your meats.” Mollymauk said. “Well, if at some point the gracious gods see fit to bequeath upon me a strike of good luck and I can get to rebuilding, my friend, one day, you may be able to try one of my meats.”“Where is this butcher that you mentioned as well?”“Oh that’s–” Thaddeus stepped out through where the doorframe was still standing, the one Beau had gone through during the fight. He pointed over to a building across the way, one of the buildings that was nearby. He said, “That there’s the Ruddy Top Butcher, well, what remains of it,” It was still standing, and it was nowhere near as damaged as the Candleglow Inn, but it had sustained quite a bit of damage, and it looked like the roof had fallen in.“I’m sorry, Mollymauk,” Caleb began, turning to Thaddeus, “Another question for you: Is there maybe– I hope it is still standing– but a supply store?”“Yeah, if you’re looking for farming supplies, general supplies, there’s–”“I’m sorry, I’m in the need of some incense.” “Oh, you could probably find something like that there, The Broad Barn.”“Oh! It’s a store!” Jester smiled.“Question answered!” Beau said.“It’s like half a question, because you’re wondering why it’s called that at this point.” Molly said. Jester nodded.“I bet it’s big.” “At least wide.”“At one time it was a barn,” Thaddeus explained, “but the farm stopped giving up crop, and so they converted the barn itself into what was a general store, because they started selling off the tools they didn’t need, but that made them more money than the crops did that year, so we started importing more tools, and for the past 30 years the Broad Barn has been our commonly known general supply place there on the western side of Alfield, so if you want to–”“This is really fascinating.” Nott said, as Thaddeus continued.“Wow, this is a really good talk that we’ve had.” Jester cut him off. The Halfling stopped, smiling.“Of course.”“Did he just out-talk Jester?” Fjord murmured. “I think I’m going to go look for the Broad Barn!” Jester announced.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“That’s an idea.” Molly nodded, “Don’t pack up shop just yet, we’re going to see if we can do something about these terrible creatures that have been roaming around.”

“Maybe we’ll find all of those thousands of gold for you, and you can build your shop back up!” Jester said, eyes lighting up.

“Well, y'all look like you’re geared up to be making a mess. You going after these things?” Thaddeus asked.

“We are, perhaps, persons of action.” Molly grinned.

“We’re really tough. We have no fear.” Jester said. Thaddeus leaned in real close to her, getting on his tippy toes to meet her gaze.

“Well, if you manage to go and kill some of them dog people, you tell them Thadeus Candleglow says

hi.”

“I will.”

“Thank you.”

“She really will.” Molly nodded.

She would.

“Good.”

“Here.” Jester pulled out one of her donuts. “It’s a moldy donut. Be well, child, the Traveler is with you.”

“I’m not a child, but I appreciate the gesture.”

Jester beamed.

“You know my name!” She squeed. And like that, she turned on her heel and left.

“Gesture. Her name’s Gesture?” Thaddeus asked. He shrugged and took a bite of the donut, spitting it out immediately.

“Also, I’m sorry, just between you and me, I know the look on your face a little bit, you seem a little manic.” Caleb said, “If you have friends you can stay with right now, you know you don’t have to rebuild it today. I recommend you take it slow.”

“I don’t think I have much of a choice at the moment.” He gave a long stare towards Caleb that faded past a little bit beyond. “Anyway, I should get back to picking up the pieces. Excuse me,” and started gathering more stuff from the rubble.

The crownsguard came over and took the things he’d already gathered, and began putting them into a small crate, but didn't engage.

“Question:” I turned to Beau, who was looking at Fjord, “If you were a crazy, ravenous, dog humanoid person thing, what would make you really hungry all of a sudden? ...I didn’t phrase that question very well.”

“No, I knew where you were going with it, though.” Fjord nodded, “How do we ring the dinner bells, is what you’re saying. How do we get them to come to us?”

“Yeah. It seems like they’re into meat? Kind of anything.”

“Well, they done took it all, I think.”

“Also, they’re really hungry, more so now.”

“Do you think it’s to do with some being undead now?” I asked.

“Right, shit.” Fjord swore. Beau and I looked at him, quizzically.

“There was that whole zombie gnoll thing?” Beau prompted.

“I forgot all about that.”

“How could you forget that?”

“I have some weird dreams. What did you have in mind? Other nights.”

“...What?”

The three of us—including Fjord—had spoken at once. We laughed.

“I legitimately didn’t understand what you said.” Beau laughed.

“Oh, nothing, I got shit in my teeth.” Fjord chuckled. “But anyway, that undead thing, That’s a possibility. Do undead have to eat?”

“I don’t know. Maybe whatever’s turning them undead is making them hungry?” Beau suggested.

“We fought zombies not long ago, they tried to take some bites out of us.” I reasoned, “Probably depends on the creature?”

“Well, we know these are hungry. So the big question is still: Why more so now?”

“Well, they took all the Luby’s Cafeteria with them, so I don’t think they’re going to be hungry for a bit.” Fjord said.

“But what if they

are

still hungry?”

“Then we would need to roast some meats.”

“You know who else was really hungry out of fucking nowhere?”

“Who?”

“Big angry toad man. Devil toad guy. I feel like I should get better names for all these things.”

“Yeah. He was hungry all of a sudden?”

“I mean, he hadn’t done that zombie thing before, and all of a sudden decided he needed more life force and did it. The circus had never seen him do it, at least, and from what I gathered he was part of it longer than Molly.” I explained.

“I mean, it might be a coincidence. Like maybe he went too long with too little?” Beau suggested.

“Did you have a plan? Did you want to do something to wrangle them–“ Fjord looked to Beau.

“I was just striking conversation.”

“Oh, sorry. Well, maybe we’ll follow them to the Barn Broad.”

“Okay, let’s go to the Barn Broad.”

“Uh—“ I began, but Fjord got there first.

“Broad Barn. I was fucking with you.” He corrected. Beau sputtered.

“I was going along with you!” Beau defended.

“Yeah, that’s all right.”

//

We followed the east-to-west path westward, and on the way out, where we first entered last night, we could see there was indeed a very large barn that looked to have hundreds and hundreds of feet of coiled rope on the outside.

The front doors were wide open and we could see a number of folks coming in and out, many of them with cleaning supplies, heavy pieces of cloth, and buckets. Anything that could be used to start getting rid of the remaining black splash and ashy covering of last night’s destruction.

I also noticed, as we approached on the outside, there was a bit of commotion. I saw a dozen or so crownsguard, and a handful of armed volunteers, that all appeared to be in regular civvy farmer clothing, that were all gathered in a loose huddle, with Bryce among them.

I heard a loud grating voice from within that huddle. As we approached from the outskirts, I saw a middle-aged male gnome of ruddy complexion and slicked, parted dark hair. He wore very clean, maroon and gold robes that would lend an air of elegance were he not hopping around and pointing fingers.

He started shouting between the crew, waving his hand around.

“Without any warning, it was your job, Bryce! With Ruben cold dead, that leaves no Lawmaster to preside, forcing me to take that position as well. I do not need that added responsibility, but until we get a new Lawmaster instated from Rexxentrum, I have no choice.”

Bryce’s eyes traveled from the gnome to us.

“Starosta, I’ve sent a request to both Zadash and Bladegarden for a supplementary force, but it may be weeks before any would arrive. Can we send trained hands at my approval to retaliate?”

“We cannot spare any of our forces while the surviving guard are drawn so thin. Out of the question! Maintain a vigilant perimeter and deflect any further incursions.”

Bryce nodded slowly.

“Can we at least have permission to hire mercenary strength to retaliate, then? I feel not being proactive before the gnoll force can fully regroup would put us at a severe disadvant–”

“Yes, that’s fine!” Starosra interrupted, “Hire outside! I don’t want any more of my citizens’ deaths on my record. Dismissed!”

He immediately pushed through the crownsguard and stormed off, which was admittedly hilarious looking. The crowd began to murmur and disperse to go about their business. Bryce turned and smiled at all of you.

“Look inviting. Look heroic.” I heard Beau’s muffled voice behind me, and assumed she was talking to Jester.

“I’m deeply sorry about that.” Bryce apologized, “Starosta Kosh is high-strung on a holiday, and tensions have never been this high since he was assigned here eight years ago, so please don’t take that to heart. He’s just a–”

“Dick.” Jester cut him off.

“...Your words, not mine.”

“Seems some people handle pressure better than others. He doesn’t seem like the handling type.” Fjord said, much more diplomatically.

“No. Those in higher political positions rarely do, it seems. Anyway, I want to thank you all again for your aid last night. I can’t fathom the further death toll, had you not been there and jumped in selflessly as you did. Thank you.” Bryce trailed off and looked back towards where Starosta Kosh had stormed off, “Fucking Dwendalian political bullshit. We’ve needed a more trained guard here for weeks, especially with Xhorhas bleeding into the valley, but we’re far too south to matter. Any request has been declined due to all necessary forces being needed at the garrisons by Brokenveil. If they were doing their jobs at the Bluffs, we wouldn’t have so many reports of violent beasts in the valley in the first place, but here we are. At least I’ve gotten approval for a bit more cash. To that, while I do not know what your business here is in Alfield, if you are still interested, we are in need of some skilled mercenary work.”

“We’re going to kill all of them!” Jester said. She sounded excited, but there was a sense of determination in her voice, or finality.

“We couldn’t help but overhear that you were asking for some aid. How long were you thinking you might need these replacements?” Fjord asked.

“Well, until at least this threat has been dealt with in a satisfactory way.” Bryce said, “I’ve unfortunately not had my scouts return after they were sent the night before, which does not bode well, but I suspect that we should see some sort of hopeful backup sent by Zadash or Bladegarden within the next week or two. In the meantime, we’re a bit of a sitting duck scenario, so I’ve sent a few guards to go to Zadash to see what other mercenaries could be sent forward. We do have some folks traveling along the road and will keep an eye out to see if anybody else is looking for some coin, but for now, you are our first line of defense. Or offense, if you will.”

“Well, I think I speak for all of us, we’re certainly up to the task for a bit. Well, maybe for a little less than a bit. Can I ask, are there any other threats to this town, besides those gnolls?”

“Oh, there are plenty of threats. Let’s see, famine, syphilis–”

“Things that come on legs and with weapons, I mean.”

“Syphilis can come with legs–“ Jester said, cheerfully.

“I feel like that was worth pointing out.” Mollymauk snickered. Fjord gave a world-weary sigh.

“Why do both of you know that?”

“You’re not wrong.” Bryce shrugged.

“Tiefling thing.” Molly smirked.

“This backwards place has its fair share of issues, as I’ve come to learn as being not from the region, but it seems to me that nothing on this scale has quite assaulted in some time. I mean, there have been wandering rumors of terrible things and creatures wandering past the Xhorhas border for as long as the Dwendalian Empire has been around. It’s the whole reason that the garrison’s up north. But this far south, generally the guard can keep things at bay. This is a very organized thing, I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all.”

“It’s new, then?”

“Well,

this

is new. Nothing on this scale.”

“It seems, from what we’ve seen, that they were hungry.”

“I’ve done a bit of research overnight, and it seems that gnolls are known to be very aggressively hungry creatures. Could say famished to the point of obsession.”

“So this is normal, then.” I said.

“I feel their pain.” Jester nodded.

“So you wish to hire us. How much?” Caleb asked, “We are very experienced, but we’d like to know what we’re talking about in advance. What kind of money are we talking about?”

“The deal stands. 30 gold per gnoll ear, proof of a dead gnoll. If you can recover any of the missing townsfolk here in Alfield and bring them back safely, I’d be willing to pay 25 gold a head, returned.”

“What if we find a dead body and bring it back?” Nott asked.

Took the words right out of my mouth.

“Is there some lesser number for those?” Caleb asked.

“There is, because even if they are gone, we would wish to bury those we’ve lost. I could probably muster ten gold per retrieved member of the Alfield citizenry.”

“Specifically their heads, too?” Jester asked.

Taking words I never would’ve said out of thin air.

“Preferably all of them. Whatever you can find.”

“It is permissible, is what they’re saying here.” Caleb said to her.

“Seeing what these creatures did last night, I don’t know what state you’ll find any of them, but I’m being hopeful.”

“Do you know what area they might have gone to?” Fjord asked.

“They seemed to be heading east, to a northeast direction. That’s where the scouts went before they left. I wish I had more information for you, but that may be the place to start.” Bryce said.

“Could you tell us at least what the landscape is like in that direction, what is over there?” Caleb asked.

“There are some spotty woods on the outskirts of the town that Alfield was built into. Beyond that, it’s rolling hills and fields. There are some older, long grown-over settlements that have been abandoned. Small-scale, but honestly, beyond here it’s mainly fields.”

“I bet we can find some ghosts!” Jester said.

“I always love a ruin.” Molly said.

“Been to many?” I asked him, curious.

“Eh.”

Not really an answer, but okay.

“If I might offer some advice: If you do see a ghost, don’t engage.” Bryce said.

“Do you know where they are? So we know how to steer clear?” Jester asked.

“My dear, there are ghosts everywhere in this world. It’s far more ancient than you assume.”

“

Ooh!”

“Bryce, some of these gnolls were undead, or raised from the dead. Do you have any inkling as to why, or have you seen that problem around here before?” Beau asked.

“I don’t know as to why, but it’s not uncommon, from what I could ascertain. Whatever dark powers they worship, it seems, allows some to progress beyond death. Rumors are that when gnolls go hungry and left to feed on each other, what remains rises to fight alongside those that still live.”

“That would be why some of them have chunks missing out of them.” Jester nodded. Caleb shifted, interested.

“This comes from research you have done, that you have read up on? Would you be able to share this reading with me, so that we are fully prepared?”

“Honestly, I just shared with you most of all that I had learned.”

“Just a small book.” Caleb nodded in understanding.

“More of a pamphlet, actually.” Fjord said.

“The only other bit of information I was able to pull from that was, they have this thing, this entity that they worship. It has a name.” Bryce began to pull out a few small notes.

“Does it start with an A? Sometimes if you go down through the alphabet, A, B–“ Nott began singing.

Luckily she got cut off as Bruce pulled a small series of notes from his pocket.

“Yeenoghu.”

“With a

Y?

That would have taken forever!”

“Let that be a lesson, young halfling.” Bryce gave a half-smile.

“With a Y? Yeenogru?” Caleb repeated.

“Yeenoghu.” We all corrected.

“I don’t know how to pronounce it, I only read it. I apologize.” Bryce said.

“Sorry, another question. May I call you Bryce?” Caleb asked.

“Of course.”

“Bryce. We were just about to go inside the barn here and get outfitted for this–for many things, but especially now that we are going to go take care of this problem. Do you have any sort of pull with these people? Might we get any friendly–“

“Advance?” Fjord suggested.

“No. Well, sure, but I’m talking about some sort of discount for getting ready for the road. We’re not that flush.”

“It’s not so much about that, more than these aren’t well-to-do people in their own right, and right now, honestly, rebuilding–”

“It’s asking a bit much, I was too forward.” Caleb apologized.

“That’s all right. But you, as I know quite well from personal experience, have some coin to your name. Perhaps that will be of aid to you.”

“Yes.”

“One last quick question, though. What do the gnolls normally eat?” Mollymauk asked.

“As far as I could tell, whatever living things they can get their hands on.” Bryce said.

“Those buffalo creatures that we see roaming around?”

“Probably.”

“Good to know.”

“I will say, if there are any surviving captives, then haste is very much key. For if they are as hungry as they seem, regardless of the massive volume they have acquired through the evening, I know not how many their number is, or how hungry they are. Take too long, there may not be much left to find.”

“We’ll get this stuff and head right out.” Jester nodded.

“Sorry, my curiosity gets the best of me, always." Caleb interrupted, "You are talking about buff– “buffaro” creatures, or something? We saw these beasts on the outskirts of town. They look brown-furred, beast of burden-type creature? Do you know what those animals are?”

“Right, yes. The valley aurochs.”

“Valley aurochs? Got it, thank you. All right, we should get ready for the road.”

Caleb walked off to the Broad Barn, leading the way in. I saw a few of the group stay behind to badger Bryce with more questions, but I felt confident we’d learned all we could from him.

“Caleb!” Fjord caught up to us.

“Yeah?”

“In my personal holdings– I don’t really remember putting this there– but apparently I have five sticks of incense that I have no intention of using.” Fjord held out the sticks.

“Oh yeah?”

“Will that do you any good?”

Caleb assessed the incense. It was about 5 silver's worth, and if I had to guess, not close to enough for a spell.

“That is really very–“

“Changed your day, didn’t it? Everything’s coming up flowers now.”

“Yes, this has helped me immeasurably.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“Wait, wait. How much incense do you need?” Jester ran up.

“Well, it depends on how much I want to do with it. I want my cat back. But I was in the realm of 15 or 20 gold I’m going to spend here today, if they have that much.”

“On

incense?!

And that five sticks was five

silver’s

worth!?”

“Did anyone say that out loud?” I wondered. Caleb and I had noticed because of our interest in wizardry, but he’d been too polite to say anything to Fjord.

“She has a good eye for value.” Nott said, impressed.

“That is a lot of incense to burn.” Jester said.

“It’s not quantity. It is the quality of the incense. And this was top-shelf, but I still need more. So, in we go.” Caleb said, and then turned to Fjord, “Thank you, big guy.” He gave him a punch in the arm and walked in.

“

Ow…

”

I snickered at Fjord, who huffed and followed us in.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

As we walked into Broad Barn, there were five other individuals that were coming through and picking up thick cloth for cleaning. One person was picking up a few different burn balm kits. On the far end, as they were checking out, there is an extremely old gentleman with this giant, gnarled tuft of a chin beard that merged with this halo, like a lion’s mane of white hair. He had this really thin, long, crooked nose. He was trying to keep a smile in the rather dark faces of the people that are coming in, with the evening’s events coming around. As we walked in and approached, he glanced down and went,

“Well. If y'all need something, y'all just let me know.”

“Do you have any pickles?” Jester asked.

“Y'all want pickles?”

“You seem like the type of place that would carry pickles.”

He leaned back and rummaged through what sounded like a small paper bag.

“They come in barrels, usually. You get barrels of pickles.” Jester said.

With a clink, a small glass mason jar with two pickles in it was set on the counter.

“I’m willing to part with these here pickles! I could part with them for around three copper?”

“That is a good deal, sir, and I will give you the copper.”

“Do you need more copper? Are you all right?” Molly asked.

“No, hold on. No, I’ve got copper around somewhere.”

“Okay, because I’ll give you two copper if I get one of those pickles.”

“Okay!”

The two tieflings slid copper across the counter. The old man slid the jar across and gave a toothy smile.

“Good deal!”

“While we’re grocery shopping, do you have any butter here?” I asked.

“Butter?”

“What, are you going to eat straight butter?” Nott asked.

“

No

, it’s a spell component.”

“Butter face mask?” Mollymauk grinned. Something in his grin made it clear he was referencing me smashing that dumbass cricket on my face again.

“Fuck you.” I muttered.

“I don’t think that would be good for you pores.” Beau said. Thankfully, the shopkeep spoke up.

“We have more of that than pickles, being a farm good and all. What kind a butter?”

“The cheapest. Just one stick.”

“Two copper.”

I didn’t care to haggle over copper pieces, not knowing the price of butter offhand.

“Here you go.” I slid two pieces across the counter as he handed me a wrapped stick of butter. I found a vial in my bag and was able to slide it into the bottle easily enough; it was butter, after all.

“I am needing a very fine kind of incense, and I don’t know if that is the type of thing this establishment would carry, but it’s very important. Do you have that sort of thing?” Caleb asked.

“You want incense? That’s

fancy

.”

“Well, look at me. Can you not tell how fancy I am?”

I tried not to laugh

“That’s why I’m curious.”

“Well. You know, I’ve been on the road a long time and I’m carrying a smell with me, if you cannot tell.”

“I got incense!”

“To the point, I like it. I would like to spend about 20 gold worth of incense. Do you have that much? I don’t mean cheap shit.”

“What kind of establishment do you take me for?” The old man looked slightly offended.

“Well, it’s a barn, ja?”

“...Touché.”

He wandered away from us and gathered any semblance of anything that could be considered incense to some degree. It was a massive volume, two big burlap sacks filled with all sorts of fine ground herbs and things. I watched carefully, wanting to make sure Caleb wasn’t being swindled.

I looked over my shoulder, feeling a presence. Seeing nothing there, I shrugged it off. The old man seemed to be doing his best, and dragged the bags over to Caleb.

“Excellent, I will pay you 16 gold for this.”

“Deal!”

Caleb counted out his gold pieces meticulously before handing it over.

“I appreciate your patronage.” The old man said. Caleb tested out a bag, trying to lift it.

“These are heavy.”

“I was wondering, if you happen to have any ingredients for healing potions on hand? I brew.” I explained, “Or is there an apothecary somewhere nearby…?”

“Or maybe any healing potions already done?” Mollymauk asked over my shoulder.

“I’m not sure how the apothecary fared in the fire. And I ain’t got nothing like that here, I’m afraid. All the healing stuff kinda got cleared out.” The old man said. I nodded.

“Or maybe– this might be weird– some kind of poisons maybe?” Molly asked.

“That’s pretty weird. I’m going to say there, sir, I mean you look pretty weird. That’s a pretty weird request. No, we do not carry poisons.”

“For dealing with pests on a farm. That sort of thing.”

“We have insecticides.”

“Think that will work on a gnoll?” Molly looked to me.

“Yeah! Insecticide. Pesticide. Herbicide.” Fjord cheered.

“Might work, but more likely than not with the size difference and their metabolism, they’d just uh…” I trailed off, searching for the right words.

“What?” Nott asked.

“...yeah, I can’t think of a good way to say it. They’d probably just have the shits.”

The group laughed.

“You ever chugged a bunch of insecticide? That’s a bad day.” Fjord said.

“Stuff is stuff, it’s bad for anybody. I guess.” Molly shrugged.

“Is it flammable?” Caleb asked.

“Insecticide is not flammable.” I said.

“Surprising.”

“How much is it?” Molly asked.

“For about a vial that big? A silver.”

“You’re going to have to use a lot.” Beau said.

“What would that really– If I were to drink that right now, what do you think that would do to me? Would I just have the shits?” Molly asked.

“For a few days, probably.” I said.

“Wow, really?”

“May I examine it?” Nott asked.

“Yeah.”

Nott looked at the bottle, swirling it around. Carefully smelled it.

“Oh, that’s nothing. It won’t really do much.” She handed it back.

“Do you know about these sorts of things?” Molly asked.

“Sometimes. Not a lot.”

“That’s very impressive.”

“Nott, you’re selling yourself short.” Caleb said, looking down to her.

“Speaking of– do you have any components to make acid?” Nott asked, looking from the shopkeep to me, excitedly.

The old man was able to scrounge up the materials acid could be made, but didn’t have straight acid for sale.

“Okay. How much for all this shit?” Nott asked.

“How many vials’ worth are you looking for?”

“Just one.”

“Just one? This will run you about 12 gold.”

“All right. That’s fine.”

“Oh, can you throw a med kit in there with it, if you have any left?” Jester asked.

The shopkeep looked around.

“I’m afraid we’re clear out. Bit of a– ”

“You have things going on, right.”

“Lot of things. Sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

“My apologies.”

“No, it’s okay. I have this pickle.”

“It’s a good pickle.”

“It was.” Molly said, now empty-handed.

“

Is

it a good pickle, though?” Beau asked.

“I haven’t tried it. I just drank the juice, but he ate it.” Jester said. Molly nodded.

“I ate mine. It was quite good. Now we’re just sharing the juice at this point.”

“That’s good for dehydration.” I added.

“Guys, let’s go kill gnolls.” Beau interrupted, looking excited.

We all ignored her.

“Just the juice?” Fjord questioned.

“Juice is great!” Molly said.

“It is. With a little whiskey.”

“That’s a thing?” I asked.

“Don’t knock it till ya try it.”

I shrugged.

“Are we prepared now to go?” Jester asked.

“No, I have things to do.” Caleb said.

“What do you need to do for the rest of the day, Caleb?” Fjord asked.

“Well, I would really like to get my cat back, so I would need about an hour to go do a little stuff. Do you have anything else to do?” Caleb asked.

“I mean, there are people getting chopped up and eaten. But if you really want a cat.” Jester said. If I had been drinking I would’ve choked.

“What are we doing? Are we taking our cart?” Caleb asked.

“Take the cart? And get some meat from the butcher?” Molly suggested.

“Bryce said the butcher got cleared out.” I reminded.

“We might be able to go faster with the cart.” Jester said.

“I think if we were a little spread it would help.” Fjord said.

“Well, okay. Maybe I can put it on hold, although I really hate to.” Caleb said, “But let’s come up with what are we doing? What is the plan?”

“Well, I would follow the direction they left last night. See if we can find a trail.”

“We’re just going to go into the belly of the beast? Because one of them shot me and killed me with an arrow. We could draw them out.” Nott said.

“Yeah, you just stay behind Caleb. You’ll be fine.” Fjord waved her off.

“You didn’t die, Nott. I saved you.” Jester said.

“Thank you so much, but I don’t want to be in that predicament again! Can we draw them out somehow?” Nott began, “They are fond of meat. Here’s my idea. We stage a barbecue contest. Finest in the land! All the best barbecue will be there! And then, when they come to sample our wares, I run and you kill them.” She pointed to Fjord.

“You know, I love that idea. Small thing, though. Time, again, is of the essence.” Fjord said, sarcasm barely masked.

“Because you want to slow cook that stuff to be really good. It’s true.”

“Right. Dry aged. Really get a good hickory chip under them. Problem is, people might be dying in the meantime. So if we could find a more expedient solution?”

“Oh, so were you thinking of having a barbecue here or setting up a barbecue on the road?” Caleb asked.

“I’m thinkin’ the middle of a field, yes. So that it’s–“ Jester began.

“Just a random field?” Caleb asked.

“With random meat?” I echoed.

“It’ll take a while to make the signage alone.” Mollymauk continued, breezing past our logical questions.

“So it seems like less of a trap.” Jester nodded.

“Beau had an idea! Get them, Beau! You tell her–“ Fjord hit her on the back.

“No, you take it for me, please.”

“Beau had a fantastic observation. If we happen to see one of those beasts of burden on our way out tracking, maybe we could wrangle one up and use it as a bait.” Fjord explained.

“That could work.” I admitted.

“And if we don’t see one, then Fjord, you’re the biggest.” Jester said.

“That’s fair.” Molly grinned.

“Either way, we will probably need the cart.” Caleb said.

“To bring people back.” Fjord announced.

“And bring people back!” Jester cheered along.

“And maybe one extra horse.” Nott cheered.

“I think you’re right. Extra horse. We need the cart.” Fjord agreed.

“To carry one of those beasts if we kill one.” Caleb said.

“If we can try and figure out a way to set up our operation on the edge of the forest so that we’re not in the middle of a field, in the open–“ Beau said.

“Well, is the point to try to–“ Caleb interrupted before catching himself, “I’m sorry, no, you finish your thought.”

“Hills are bad to fight in, unless you’re on top of the hill. That’s good.”

“You want the high ground.” I said.

“I’m not a tactician, but I have a question.” Caleb said.

“Go ahead.” Beau waved.

“Are we trying to go back to these things where they live? Their lair, their home, their camp? Or are we hoping to luck into them on the road or–?”

“I think we’d be making a best guess at this point.” Fjord said, “My best hope is to find out where they are. What it looks like where they’re staying, and if we can, without confrontation, get some survivors out of there. That would be ideal.”

“I like that idea as well.” Caleb nodded.

“Actually, that’s not a bad idea at all. Maybe we could have like a survivor round up team and a defense team?”

“But then how do we get all of the ears?” Jester asked.

“I’m just putting it out there: maybe survivors before ears.” Fjord said.

“They

are

worth more.” I said to Jester.

“We can always go back out and get more ears whenever we damn feel like it.” Beau shrugged.

“Well, that’s the thing. We can do both, but there is a timestamp on the people.” Caleb explained, “We should take care of the people first. Because then we’re increasing how much gold we will bring in because if they die then we will not get as much money for them if they are alive. We should get them alive. Get them out. Kill the baddies if we can at the same time, and if not, go back a second time.”

“I thought you said you weren’t a tactician, look at you!” Fjord said, impressed.

“He’s very smart.” Nott said, proudly.

“Extremely tactile.” Molly smirked.

“Caleb’s plan! Let’s do it!” Fjord said.

“No social graces. Let’s do this.” Caleb sighed.

“Let’s go!” Beau yelled. Her and Fjord came together, yelling, “Break!”

“Are we getting another horse?” Nott asked.

“We’re going to ask Bryce if they have a horse to spare.” Jester said.

“Why don’t you four go get horses? Me and the C-man will go get some incense and stuff.”

“C-man? I thought I was the seaman?” Fjord stopped short, “Fucking get your titles right. Come on, sister, you know you want to! I’m a proud son of a bitch!”

“Sorry! You’re a seaman.” Nott said.

“That’s fucking right.”

“Serasai is a seawoman.”

“I’ll take it.” I sighed.

“Wait, so now we need time?” Caleb asked.

“We’re going to go get a horse, you don’t need to be here for that.” Mollymauk said.

“Oh god. I really want my cat, but maybe–“

“Let’s go get some incense! I need to buy some tarts.” Nott said.

“We’ll get the tarts. Maybe it would be handier as a bird…”

“You need a tart?” Jester perked up.

“I need a tart.”

“Oh, well, why didn’t you say something? Hold on, let me dig.” Jester started rummaging through her bag. Nott’s eyes grew wide.

“That’s a

bag of pastries!”

“There’s this one–“

“Wow!”

“Hold on. I think there’s a blackberry one somewhere in here.”

“Ooh, I can’t tell what this used to be.”

The tart in Nott’s hands was almost unrecognizable.

“It’s kind of gross; I’m sorry.”

“Is that the top or the bottom?”

“I can’t tell anymore. It’s all black. Sorry!”

Nott looked unbothered.

“I have two tarts!” She said, happily.

“We ready to go?” I asked, leaning against the doorway.

“Let’s find us a horse.” Fjord nodded.

//

Within ten minutes of wandering through the city as we gathered ourselves and began heading towards the eastern side, we saw a crownsguard who is currently walking by with some washrags under one arm and a little streak of dried blood down the side of their face. A  young man probably in his mid-20s or so, longish hair that’d been heavily braided on the sides and then pinned to the back in a tuft of a ponytail.

“Howdy!” Fjord greeted.

“Yes?”

“Sorry to bother, but we’ve been commissioned by Bryce to make a little expedition to go after those gnolls and we’re going to need an extra steed if the Crownsguard has one.”

“We’re not allowed to give out any Crownsguard supplies. If you’re looking for a steed, you’d probably have to go to the On the Wind Stables. They’re going to be your best bet.”

“Where would those be?”

“Right–” and he pointed over towards the northern side of the town. It was one of the buildings that’d taken a little bit of fire damage.

Fjord looked the Crownsguard over.

“Are you concerned about the people that live in this town? Clock’s ticking on their lives and you want me to go get a steed from another stable instead of saving their lives?”

The guard floundered.

“It’s not–”

“I sure would hate to have to report this to Bryce. I think they’d be pretty upset about it.”

“Look, I mean no offense whatsoever and if–I can go find Bryce and see if we– the Watchmaster would be much more suited to–”

“Your

name?”

“Reggie.”

“Reggie. I’m disappointed, Reggie. I don’t know what else to say. Let’s go.”

I heard Jester half-whisper,

“Should we go to the stables then?”

“Fuck yeah. Now!

Instead Caleb stepped up.

“Reggie, this town has been hit hard, you look very weary and maybe a little down on your luck yourself. Maybe I’m just reading into things, but I would gladly pay you a silver for this horse.”

“Let me tell you, Reggie, it would be the best deal you could possibly make.” Something in Molly’s voice sounded different. His accent was always lilting, but it sounded smoother, a touch melodic. It triggered a familiar memory, and I knew he was using Charm Person.

Reggie glanced over at him. “Let me see what I can do,” and he scampered off to the stables.

“Very nice!” Fjord nodded.

“Thank you!” Molly smiled, voice back to normal.

About five minutes pass and we could hear the clopping of hooves as Reggie came back with a very obstinate beast on the reins. Dragging it towards us, slowly guiding it. Reggie didn’t seem to be a very trained individual when it came to handling creatures, especially beasts of burden.

“Will this do?”

“Oh good, I see you brought us your best, Reggie. Thanks, man.” Beau deadpanned.

“Ignore her, she’s very difficult.” Mollymauk said, waving her off.

Reggie handed Mollymauk the reins.

“You’re a hero. Thank you.”

“Best I could do. Good luck.” Reggie said.

“Here’s that copper. Thank you.” Caleb said. In the back of my mind I recalled Caleb had promised silver, but I certainly wasn’t going to argue.

“Thank you.” Reggie took it.

Mollymauk handed him a silver.

“Thank you. Thank you.”

“Silver’s way too little for a horse.” Caleb said. I looked at him incredulously.

“Says the man who just gave him a

copper?”

“You said silver and we’re being fair!” Mollymauk argued.

“Just bring it back– it’s on loan! It’s on loan.” Reggie warned, nervously.

“If we come back, it comes back.”

“Probably.” Jester chirped, “We definitely won’t use it as bait for the gnolls. Okay, bye!”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It didn’t take us long to find W.C. and get everything set up to go. We were starting to get into the habit of it, as few days as it had been. With all the time on the road and the fight with the gnolls, it felt much longer.

“I saw them take off into the forest. I tracked a little bit right between those trees. I don’t know, we can start there.” Beau suggested.

“I bet they left a lot of tracks and probably some cart things." Jester said.

“I don’t know why, I thought you were going to say they left behind poop.” Fjord said. Jester gasped loudly.

“They probably did! Oh my god! They weren’t wearing any underwear, were they?”

“I can honestly say. Didn’t check.” I said, shaking my head, amused.

“If that’s the direction you saw them head off in, check it out.” Fjord said, looking to Beau.

We got situated, Mollymauk standing to take a look along with Beau. Caleb went blind to send Frumpkin ahead of us as a scout.

After a little time tracking, Beau turned to the group.

“Good news, we’re real stupid if we thought we couldn’t track them, because there’s a fuckton of them. That’ll be easy. Bad news is, oh god, there’s a fuckton of them. That’s it.”

“Yeah, that is bad news. Are the carts all heading in the same direction or would they split up?” Fjord asked.

“All one path.” Beau confirmed.

The tracks headed through the relatively thin woods that surrounded the northeastern side of Alfield. Past the other side of the woods looked to be northeastern fields where the rolling hills began, going on for miles. The grass looked to vary anywhere from knee-high to chest-high in places. The hills towards the top looked a little more rocky. There were patches where the grass wasn’t as thick and there was open dirt and broken shale.

After about an hour or so of tracking in that direction, we came upon Rillway Road, which led up to Felderwin. It was within seeing distance.

“Before Nott and I arrived in Trostenwald, just outside the city limits,” Caleb spoke, coming back from his blind Frumpkin quest, “we were waylaid by gnolls previously and they were hiding in grass just like this. It was very much like this so we should be– I’m getting very nervous right now looking at it all.”

The group of us looked out into the grass, warily. As we started coming up over some of the bigger hills, we could see waves of wind through grass cresting over the hillside and causing the shift of it. It would look like the sea if not for the vibrant green of it all.

…

“Remember how I was like, ‘this is the worst situation to be in’?” Beau asked.

“Mm-hmm.” Fjord hummed.

“I feel like this might be the worst situation to be in.”

“Right.”

The grass was too tall for us to see out into sitting in the cart. Jester had hopped up and was on her tiptoes to see. I got myself up and brought out my scimitar, holding it defensively.

“Jester, you want a ride on my shoulders?” Beau offered.

“On a moving cart?” Nott asked.

“...oh but when someone wants to swallow swords on the cart I’m the only one worried!?” I asked.

“What could possibly go wrong?” Mollymauk shrugged.

“In the cart, and I’m holding you. It’d be kind of cool!” Beau said.

“Yeah!” Jester stepped over to her and Beau crouched down. Beau tried to stand up but soon Beau let out a groan, her elbows started to buckle a bit, but rallied herself and hoisted her up.

Jester flattened her back out and gave a graceful pose as she looked ahead. It didn’t take long before she gasped.

“There’s carts! I see the carts!” She jumped up and down in her sitting position, excited.

“Oh god–” Beau grunted.

“Are there people in the carts?” Nott asked, unconcerned.

Beau sunk to her knees, unceremoniously dropping Jester, but neither were injured.

“They’re empty!” Jester said.

“Abandoned?”

“Maybe.”

Nott took out her flask and took three big swigs.

“Should we pull the cart over and sneak up?” Jester asked.

“Yes. By foot is how we should proceed.” Fjord nodded.

“Okay. Let’s pull the cart over and hide it in the grass.”

I strapped my blade on my back again and helped the group hide the cart.

“Oh, but our horses. What if they get eaten?” Jester asked, concerned.

“It’s alright. It’s fine. We don’t care about the horses. Let’s just save ourselves. Who cares about the horses?” Nott stammered, looking increasingly nervous.

“But how are we going to get all the people back if we don’t have horses to pull the cart?”

“That’s true. Should we leave someone back to protect the horses?”

“No, this is an all hands on deck kind of thing.” I said.

“Yeah. Seems a waste.” Beau agreed.

“Would you want to be the one person that got attacked with the horses by yourself?” Fjord asked.

“No.” Nott said.

“Yeah, I didn’t think so. We stick together.”

“All right. I’ll be part of the Fjord expedition.”

The group laughed and groaned at the pun.

“...Yep. Now I’m ready to die.” Fjord said, dryly.

“Does anybody have to sneeze?” Jester asked suddenly.

“...What?” Fjord, Nott, and I asked.

“Anybody feel like they need to–”

“Should we?” Mollymauk asked.

“Sneeze? What? Why–”

“That would give away our stealthy approach.” Fjord explained.

“Oh. I see.” Nott nodded. But Jester shook her head.

“Because… Bless you!” Jester practically pounced on Mollymauk, “I give you Blessing of the Trickster.”

“Holy shit.” Fjord chuckled.

“I was waiting for the punchline.” Caleb said.

“That’s great.” Mollymauk said.

The group of us started rolling the car back a ways to hide it in a small depression of the hills.

“I’d like to point out that we came up with a loose plan, but we’re not doing that plan.” Caleb said.

“What was our loose plan? We didn’t see any of them?” Jester asked.

“I think the plan was if we ran into any of those buffalo on the way, and we didn’t.” I shrugged.

“In a pinch, we could kill the horses.” Caleb pointed out.

“But we won’t be able to pull the cart. I’m really strong, but I don’t know if I can carry that many people.” Jester said.

“Did do pretty good in the arm wrestling competition.” I said.

“We wouldn’t have to kill the horse, we could just send the horse–” Mollymauk continued.

“--Let’s find out what we see first, and then we’ll decide.” Fjord said.

“Sure. Recon.”

“Let’s flank. Around.” Beau said, pointing loosely.

“Everybody fan out in a firing line, just one straight line–” Fjord directed.

“We’re going away from each other?” Nott asked, nervously.

“Just within eye distance, right? But keep a line.”

“Answered my question. I was curious what flanking was.” Molly said.

“Keep in line. We’re going to move towards the cart. We’re going to use the tall grass.”

“Towards the three carts?” Beau asked.

“Yeah.”

“Do we need to have some sort of awesome whistle or something? To communicate with each other?”

“I’m open to it, if you have any.”

I whistled an easy tune, down up down.

“That works, I guess.” Beau said. But then she turned to Molly, “Oh, but what was that thing you did in the circus? That was cool.”

I didn’t mind being brushed over for a whistle, knowing it would be a waste of time to teach the group the old whistle code we’d had back at the guild. We’d had five different whistles that helped us in the field. Maybe another time, when I could think of a better excuse for its use, I could teach the party.

Meanwhile, Caleb made a spitting noise.

“I can’t do that.”

Various whistling noises from us all rose up, and I tried my hand at Mollymauk’s whistle with little success.

“How about we don’t make any noise at all, but we just sneak in?”

"Yeah, let’s do that.” Fjord said.

Jester and Caleb started throwing grass on top of the cart to camouflage it.

“Put your alarm around the cart! You do it all the time!” Nott said.

“Do we have the time for that right now?”

“How long does it take to cast?”

“Right now, it will take me 11 minutes to do that.”

“Yeah, do it, do it!” Jester said.

“People’s lives. Urgency. Clock. Time. All that stuff.” Fjord reminded us.

“Money.” I added, hoping to appeal to greed.

“All right, let’s just go.” Nott relented.

The group of us lined up shoulder to shoulder. Mollymauk was on my left, Nott and Caleb on my right. Down past Caleb was Jester, Beau, and Fjord.

As we stayed low to the grass, pushing through with our hands carefully as we walked, hearing the wind occasionally rise and fall with a distant swish of grass, we came upon where the grass began to fall off. We stayed low as best as we could before the grass itself came to an end right on the outskirts of where the central area between the hills began. There, as we poked our heads through, we could see three carts that were scattered a bit amongst a mineshaft yard. The exterior of a mine.

I saw large, wooden pan tables; some pickaxes that were leaning against the side, the remnants of some lanterns that had rusted. There were the three carts. The carts themselves were spattered with blood. One had a charred front wheel that made me smirk. I noticed three creatures, similar to the gnolls that we saw the night before, but smaller and more dog-like. Basic hyenas that had gathered around and were licking the blood that had soaked into the wood.

One of them wound up finding a piece of meat or something that was hanging from one side, and teared it off. Another one came over, whined, and bit onto it, and they began tearing and fighting over it before one of them pushed the other over and it yelped. It went back and started licking the blood off the side of the wood again.

“Do you think they’re centurions?” Beau whispered.

“I think they’re going to make a big fucking stink if we–” Caleb muttered.

“If they see us? I’ll bet they’re the alert system.”

“We should kill them!” Jester whispered.

“But we have to kill them all at once.”

“That is correct.” Caleb nodded.

“I could make a distraction. Nott, Beau, Sera, are y'all fast, quick, and quiet?” Fjord asked.

“Yes.” Nott nodded.

“Yeah.” I agreed.

“Who else?” Fjord asked.

“No, just us.” Nott said.

“I’m quietish.” Mollymauk murmured.

“There’s three of them, right?” Fjord asked.

“Yeah.” Beau gave a quick nod.

“All right.”

“You want to try and make a distraction and bring them closer? To us? Then we can jump out of the grass? Do the old “jump out of the grass–””

I saw Frjod’s eyes glow faintly as he cast a spell.

Quietly, this plump, wounded rabbit, with a hint of pink to the fur around the arm where it looks like it may have been bleeding a bit, begins to hobble its way silently out of the grass, just beyond the edge.

In the corner of my eye I saw Mollymauk ready his sword, a whitish-yellow light low in the grass, out of sight.

One of the hyenas spotted the rabbit and began making its way over. The others looked over and snarled, beginning to gather up. And the three almost went into this pack swoop formation in the direction of the rabbit, closing in.

With a rapid bolt, one of them ran forward and leapt out toward the rabbit and skid into the dirt past it, right to the front of the grassline where Beau stood.

Beau went to swing, and as it saw her it backed away, and her staff hit the dirt right next to it. Frumpkin ran forward to distract one and cast a firebolt its way. Jester cast a fire spell herself, overtaking the same hyena and it fell to the ground.

I hit out towards the one closest to me and it bit at the handle of my staff. It worked to our advantage, almost holding it in place as Molly swung down with his scimitars, first strike just completely cleaving it in half, seamlessly carving through it.

Beau moved out with her heel to go ahead and swing, but the hyena ducked underneath and tried to snap at her. As Molly rushed up to the one by Beau, a bolt just went right through the side of the hyena’s head, and it just fell lifeless to the ground.

All three of the hyenas were out in a split second.

“...I don’t want to, like, make y'all alarmed or anything, but that was kind of fucking efficient.” Fjord said.

“Hey, look! We can use this hyena meat as bait!” Jester said.

“Do we need to drag these bodies?” Nott asked, looking at the hyenas.

“We’ve got to figure out where we’re going first.” Fjord said.

“I’m also going to point out, they hadn’t been eating the hyenas anyway, so maybe leaving bodies of their pets is not the greatest idea?” Mollymauk said.

“Toss them into the grass, then, to get them out of view?” Jester suggested.

“That might be a smarter way to go.”

“Do it.” Fjord gave a nod.

Like a massive shotput, tiny Jester, with a double spin each, chucked these relatively heavy beasts deep into the grass field, where they vanish with a heavy thud into the field.

“...You’re a lot stronger than you look.”

“Thank you! Hey, what happened to the little bunny, though? I’m going to look for the little white rabbit.”

“Oh dear.” Molly murmured.

“That’s really sad, they ate it.” Jester frowned.

“Yeah, boy, sure did.” Fjord said, monotone.

“We’ll have a funeral later.” Nott said.

Caleb and Beau started walking around the sides of the clearing.
There was no visible entrance to the mine from where I stood, instead it looked only like a mining expedition party had been preparing here.

“A ghillie net.” Beau said, pointing out. Blending into the grasses, a net hung over an entrance not far from their carts.

“That’s way smarter than what we did.” Jester said.

“But we’ll remember it for the future.” Caleb said.

“Yours was hand-crafted.” Mollymauk pointed out.

“Why don’t we just take this one?” Nott asked.

“It could fit in a backpack. Maybe roll up.” Jester mused.

“We can grab it on our way back and throw it on the cart.” Beau said.

“Ideally, if this goes well, we can ransack the place and take what we want.” I added.

Caleb walked up to the net and pulled it back. Inside looked like a barricade had been partially placed up on each side. I saw piles of broken furniture, stools and chairs that were shattered and jammed into each other to form some sort of a barricade on each side. Dry-rotted pickaxe handles, other pieces of general wooden beams used for construction were all pushed up against the sides, with a small path, maybe about three feet wide, through the center. It looked pitch black inside.

My eyes adjusted and as I looked to the floor, there was a definitive trail of blood that had been dragged through and caked in the loose dirt and dust.

“Should I give it a little light, or no?” Molly questioned.

“Wait, before we go in–” Nott began.

“You’re anxious to go. You want to go first?” Fjord asked.

“No! Jesus, no. No, please. There were hyenas out here, right, posted as guards? If one of the hyenas had gone,” Nott made a mini howl, “Would something have come out of this hole to come get us?”

“I mean, that is a fair assumption, yeah.” Caleb said.

“Then why don’t we make that sound, and wait for something to come out, and kill it?”

“Well, but what if it alerts a lot of the gnolls, and then we don’t have the element of surprise at all anymore?” Jester asked.

“You want to go into that dark, scary cave?”

“It doesn’t look that bad to me.”

“It is a dark, scary cave!”

“We can light it up as we go.” I shrugged.

“It would still be a scary cave!”

“Frumpkin is still just a sweet little bird, so I thought maybe a little quick flight in–” Fjord began, before Beau quickly interrupted.

“CANARY IN A GNOLL MINE!”

The group of us laughed, trying to muffle ourselves.

“Oh! Oh, smash!” Fjord high fived Beau.

“We have to do it, it’s too perfect.”

“Canary in a gnoll mine.”

“That was good.” Caleb admitted.

“That was so painful.” Mollymauk groaned.

“Sorry.” Beau apologized.

“Do not be sorry.” Caleb said.

“There’s limits.” Molly muttered.

“I don’t know if that’s something Frumpkin can do, unless, Nott, you just wanna go in there and go kamikaze?” Fjord asked, bringing us back on track.

“No!” Nott took a swig of alcohol. She stood up straighter after swallowing it, swaying for a second. “I’ll go in if you need me to!”

Our eyes widened, though Caleb looked the least fazed by this change.

“Oh shit! Oh shit YES!” Fjord muttered, grinning.

“Is that where “the Brave” comes from?” Jester asked.

“That was going to be my question!” Beau said.

“We get her hammered, and she’s the most fucking badass.” Fjord breathed.

“Oh my god, this is awesome.” Jester said.

“I’ve definitely known a guy who was better at fighting drunk, is that this situation?” I questioned.

“I can send Frumpkin in there, he’ll probably hit the wall a few times, but if there’s any fire or anything–” Caleb trailed off.

“You wouldn’t mind?” Fjord asked.

“No, you know, I can always bring him back, but be careful, all right? But there he goes.”

Caleb’s eyes misted over, blind, like before, as Frumpkin flew off like a dart down the mine shaft. Caleb’s hand went to Beau’s shoulder to steady himself.

There were a few beats of him muttering to himself before Frumpki flew back. Caleb looked over to Nott.

“Okay. Nott, my friend, I think maybe this is a time where you could– please don’t go crazy, but maybe go in 30 or 40 feet, there’s a room in there, and I don’t think there’s anything in there, but you would see.”

“I’m jus’ going to go in there an’ get the gnolls.” Nott slurred.

“I’m gonna bless you before you go. So you can be sneakier.

“Great.” But it sounded more like ‘rate’.

“Consonants are gone!” Fjord murmured.

“Can sparrows hear?”

“I can hear through my sparrow.” Caleb said.

“I could bring the sparrow, you could at least hear what’s going on, like a walkie talkie.”

“That’s correct. Richtig. Go.”

“Okay.” Caleb’s eyes misted over again as Nott shoved the bird into her robe.

“Wait, I don’t want to get punched in the face while I’m blind. Somebody please put a hand on my shoulder–”

Beau and I immediately put a hand on Caleb from either side.

“Oh, you got to hold his hand.” Nott hiccuped.

“Are we going in?” Jester asked, confused.

“No, he’s going to go into that other place.”

“Oh, okay.”

“If something bad is going to happen, just shake me.” Caleb said.

“I’ll punch you in the face.” Beau nodded. The rest of the group chuckled, or stiffled a laugh.

“No, don’t do that, just shake me.”

“Just tickle his balls.” Jester said.

“Don’t do that, just–”

“I will shake you.” I said, squeezing his shoulder gently.

“I’m going to go in.”

“...Punch him in the balls.” Mollymauk muttered.

“No.” I said.

It took about a minute until we heard a SLAM from the inside.

“Oh shit.” Caleb swore.

“What’s going on?” Beau asked.

“I’ve heard a confusing thing. Something fell down, but okay, we’re good.”

“I think we might have lost the element of surprise.” Mollymauk said.

A few more moments passed.

…

“Help me, help me now, save my life.” Caleb’s eyes snapped clear, “We have to go in! Here we go!”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Help me, help me now, save my life.” Caleb’s eyes snapped clear, “We have to go in! Here we go!”

The group of us ran, my hand grabbing to Caleb’s, leading him in a sprint--knowing he couldn’t see without darkvision. Molly’s sword glowed, giving faint light. I let go of Caleb’s hand and drew my crossbow.

A giant blast of light exploded around a gnoll as it yelped and it encompassed its torso with a glittering light.

Another got blasted by a bolt of eldritch energy by Fjord. Mollymauk hissed in infernal, angrily.

“Oh, wow, I understood that. It was scary.” Jester said.

I notched my crossbow and took aim toward the one Jester had hit. I fired, stabbing into its shoulder and making it spin out from the force before it collapsed.

The room filled with light at this point, dancing orbs floating midair and surrounding us.

Nott let out a scream and leapt up at the last gnoll, grabbing at its leg. A burst of electrical arcane energy surged through Nott’s body. Veins popped up the gnoll’s torso to its neck before it collapsed onto the ground, Nott ducking out of the way before it slammed to the ground.

The two gnolls down, I took stock of the room. Jester was already at the floor, cutting off the gnoll ears.

“Put them in the jar?” Mollymauk suggested. The two tieflings eyes lit up.

“It’s an

ear jar!”

“Our pickle jar–”

“–Is now an ear jar.”

“What happened? How’d they find you?” Fjord asked, kneeling down by Nott.

“I don’t know. They’re very clever. I was sneaking all the way down and they still discovered me. I don’t know how.”

As Nott spoke the rest of our eyes wandered off of her over to the right where we saw this heavy tree covered in jagged bark, connected to rope, hanging midair, creaking.

...

“That happened after they discovered me.”

“Right.”

“Ooh, what are all these bags in here?” Jester asked, screwing the lid on her jar.

“I was about to go through them, do you want to help?” Nott offered.

“Yeah!”

The two started rummaging through bags, Fjord wandered to a tunnel to stand watch. Beau began walking the perimeter, accompanied by Caleb’s dancing lights.

I looked aroound at the room as I stood in the center. This looked to be a central area, considering how close it was to the entrance of the mine. There were a number of tables here, but a lot of them had been knocked over and broken. A lot of what would have filled this chamber had been pushed into the barricade we saw up front.

“Sera! Want to help?”

I looked over to Jester, Nott joining her on searching, but also hiccuping drunkenly.

There was an untapped ale barrel, an untapped water barrel, a hooded lantern that still had a functional bit of oil in it, though it was only about half-full and very rusted over. I found a sledgehammer where the handle had nearly rotted to uselessness. Jester found a crowbar.

We found a small lightweight rod less than a foot long that had a short piece of waxed twine hanging from one end.

“Human, want a lantern?” Mollymauk picked it up and held it out ot Beau.

“Well, what’ve we got, are we happy?” Fjord asked.

“Yeah, I found a small rod and a crowbar and a sledgehammer.” Jester said.

“Are you going to carry the sledgehammer?”

“Is it heavy?”

“Not for you, Beast Mode.”

Nott was holding the rod we found, looking it over. I looked it over as well, curiously. If we had the time, I’d cast Identify, but we didn’t.

Nott sniffed the stick and her eyes widened.

“Careful with that. I think maybe none of us should hold that. Maybe Sera, she seems sort of responsible with those--” Jester had taken it from Nott and was balancing it on her lip, “No, don’t make it a mustache!”

The group laughed.

“It could blow up your face. It could blow up your face. Yeah, it’s a boom-boom stick. That’s the alchemical term.”

“That’s true.” I nodded, smiling.

“Oh shit.” Jester swore.

“I think if you put it near fire it could go explode. Who wants to hold it… who is not Jester?” Nott added, taking it back.

“I’ll take it!” I said, raising my hand. Nott handed it over and I stuck it in my alchemical pouch.

“Smart to give it to someone with alchemical fire experience.” Fjord nodded.

“With that over, all’s left is left tunnel or right tunnel?” I said, looking between the two.

“I’ll go down the tunnel and scope it out for us.” Nott said.

“Well, before we do that, we should remember to check for traps maybe.” Mollymauk said.

“Oh.”

“Oh, can you do that?” Jester asked.

“I don’t know.”

“I certainly can’t.”

“You can?” Fjord asked, mishearing.

“No, I can’t. I can’t do any of that.”

“I can.” I offered.

“

You

can?” Fjord asked.

“I can certainly try.”

“I can look for them too, I don’t know what a trap looks like.” Nott shrugged.

“Well, what did that one look like that you got hit with before?” Jester asked.

“Big piece of rope, probably should have seen it.”

“Maybe look for ropes crossing the ground.”

“All right.”

“Maybe we view this an opportunity to grow and we look for those now.” Fjord said.

“I will make a mental note.”

“Great.”

“Look for big pieces of rope.”

“Yeah. Anything that looks out of the ordinary, out of place. On the wall, on the floors–”

“Have a peeky-poo around as you go.” Caleb summarized.

“Are you still shithoused? Are you fucking hammered still?” Fjord asked, looking down at Nott.

“Don’t tell me what I can and can’t drink.” Nott hissed. Fjord reared back a bit and the others laughed.

“You know, she does this from time to time, she becomes a little unpredictable, but you can’t argue with the results, you really cannot.” Caleb said.

“I kind of like her when she’s like this. It’s good.” Beau said.

“Okay, she needs another shot." Fjord said.

“You want me to go ahead again?” Nott asked.

“Yeah.”

“Oh boy.”

“Which one are we going down, though?” Jester asked.

“I’ll go down one, just a little ways, and then I’ll come back.”

“You should actually stealth, though, this time, okay?”

“I will stealth. I’m going to stealth.”

“You have a blessing.”

“And search for traps.”

With that, Nott wandered down the left tunnel. It wasn’t long before she returned.

“You know what could be really handy in this situation is some of that fancy fucking thread of yours.” Fjord turned to Caleb.

“For keeping things– alerting us of things coming here or–”

“Yeah, I don’t mind commiting to one of these tunnels, I just want to make sure nothing comes behind us or comes up from the other way.”

“Yeah, that’s a good suggestion. First, what are we doing? What did you find out down that way?”

“It just keeps going and starts snaking, and there’s no traps, though.” Nott said.

“Let’s go down the right one.” Jester said.

“Why?”

“I think we should also send you down that one as well to have a look around.” Caleb agreed.

“All right. Here I go.”

Nott was gone a bit longer this time.

“All right, so one path goes

wiggedy woo

and the other path goes

zibbidy zow

.”

“Were there any traps?" Mollymauk asked.

“No traps--Oh yes, there was a trap! To be fair, there was one trap. I thought you meant any sprung traps. There was a trap.”

“You sussed it out.” Fjord said.

“I sussed it out. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.”

“How far down did you go each way?” Caleb asked.

“40 feet down the

ziggedy zow

and like 25 feet down the

zibbidy zoo

.”

“Well, my instinct tells me that if there’s something there, that they would trap it, so probably more valuable, if we’re going on nothing, take the path that is trapped.”

“I agree.” Jester nodded.

“Hear, hear.” Molly agreed. Nott smiled up at Caleb.

“You’re so smart.”

“Unless they want us to think it’s the path that they’ve trapped.” Jester gasped.

“Reverse psychology!” Nott gasped.

“That’s right, and it’s actually the path that is least resistance.” Jester said.

“Unless they

knew

that you would think that.” Molly raised a brow.

“Oh, reverse

reverse

psychology!”

“...These are

dog people?”

Caleb said, making me snort. “Let’s take the path with the trap.”

“Trap, trap.” Molly echoed.

“Right path!” Nott pointed.

Down the path, the shaft wound for about another 150 or so feet before it slowly leveled out into a long chamber of multiple levels. What once looked like a solid mining vein was now strewn with bones and flayed skin pinned to the rock walls with scavenged nails, blood spattered across them with intent painted in a jagged smile of sharp teeth on each of the four hides. A faint source of light in the center flickered, a small stone altar holding a cluster of candles in a central level platform. It looked like about six gnoll-like figures had gathered around this stone while a strange seventh figure placed small wet stones upon the altar, smaller than the other gnolls.

The figure looked gnoll-like, I could see the ears and the snout, but as it reached down and picked up these wet stones and placed them on the altar, giving small, dark, muffled barks and yipping sounds, I saw elements that looked like smooth human flesh. The more I watched, the more it seemed that the humanoid figure was wearing pieces of hollowed-out gnoll-like armor. A hood missing a jaw had been placed over the top of the head, sections of arms worn like a glove with the hand missing, sifted through, rested as sleeves. The body parts were discolored and rotting a bit, from what you could see from the candle light that flickered across it. Long bonelike spines, similar to what adorned the armor of the pack lord that we had battled in the middle of the city last night, were also affixed to the outside and pierced through elements of the shoulders and head of this flesh gnoll hide that it was wearing. As it growled, mimicking the sounds of the gnolls that it seemed to be residing along, the other gnolls around looked, pacing from foot to foot impatiently.

The figure began to speak louder and louder at this altar as it placed a final wet stone on it. All the remaining gnolls began to bark in unison together.

“Should we stop this?” Jester whispered.

They all at once leapt onto the altar and began tearing into the stones, which were not stones...They were glistening.

Hearts

were now being torn and swallowed by the gnolls at the altar.

“Should we kill them all?” Jester whispered.

“No.” Nott whispered.

“Not yet.” I agreed.

“Don’t make a sound.” Fjord muttered.

Caleb vomited in the background, doing a surprisingly good job of muffling the sound.

“Oh, that was well done.” Beau sounded impressed.

They finished devouring the hearts and the humanoid figure began to bark a few more times and then in broken Common said, “The hunger will be fed: ours and hers. Come,” and pointed to two of them, “Help me carry more meat below. The rest, stay. Feast on what remains.”

It turned around and, on the other side of the chamber, darkened, we could see a gnoll leaning in familiar armor: the one that we had battled and had knocked Molly and Nott to the ground, was watching from the far end of the chamber down on the lower third-level platform.

Many of the gnolls filed out behind the weird humanoid, including the armored gnoll, leaving four in there in the chamber. As much as I wanted to fight them all, this worked out for us tactically.

The leftover gnolls began to grab the bodies on the ground, a clatter of grinding of bones as they dragged broken corpses across the floor and began to tear into the torsos.

Four hyenas filed into the space where the gnolls were eating and began to sit at bay, waiting for the gnolls to finish. One of them got close, and the nearest gnoll just grabbed its head and shoved it against the wall, and it snapped into the wall and then backed up, waiting its turn.

“I’m afraid if we keep waiting, more will just show up.” Beau whispered.

“Yeah. Let’s kill them!” Jester agreed.

“Here we go.” Caleb muttered.

“What? We’re just going to go? There’s no plan?” Nott asked.

“Well, maybe we can draw a few over to us and take them out on our terms.” Beau suggested.

“Is there any way to even the playing field a bit? Any strategy? Fjord and Caleb, come on?" Nott looked between the two of them.

“What about the boom stick that you have? We can chuck it into the–” Caleb mimed throwing the alchemists fire.

“Oh! Wouldn’t that be really loud? Wouldn’t that draw them back, though?” Jester asked.

“Yes, it would, but–”

“Plus we’re in a mine.” Fjord said.

“It might bring the whole thing down on us.” Jester said.

“Maybe we could use that to escape later.” Nott suggested.

“Hopefully we won’t need to escape. Any gnolls we get separate from, that’s less gold.” I said.

“If we can make some sort of distraction, to get their attention, and if we can put or heavy hitters, our people up front, we can try and hold them in this mouth, ranged people in the back.” Beau reasoned.

“Where would you want this distraction to be? Because I can make a little–” Caleb trailed off.

“Behind them, and make them turn away from us. Because we’re in a fatal funnel up here at the top.” Fjord said.

“Not necessarily. We’ll have easy flanking, and a better sight range from up here. Only issue is the lack of cover.” I argued.

“I can make a little dancing golden person of light appear down at the bottom of the passage?” Caleb offered.

A fifth gnoll began to wander its way into the chamber.

“You see, more are going to keep coming.” Beau said.

“We can see now or try the other way.” Molly pointed back down the tunnel.

“If there’s more in there, they’re just going to come in here anyway.” Caleb said.

“And it’s not confined.” Beau sighed.

“I genuinely feel like we should go the other way.” Fjord said.

“The other way? This is it, this is the other way.” Nott said.

“There’s a whole other path.”

“It’s nothing.”

“No?”

“That’s nothing.”

“Do you know?”

“No, I’m guessing.”

“Here’s the question: do you think these things are going to come out of here right away, or is it worth a shot? Maybe there is a way around, to a way they’re not expecting?” Caleb asked.

“Normally, miners build coal mines with connecting shafts and double exits in case one side collapses. You always want another way out. We just don’t know where they’ve put everybody. We’re here looking for villagers, remember?” Beau explained.

“You know, there’s nothing saying we have to run in here if we’re not feeling this. We can backtrack and look in the other direction. In fact, I’m leaning that way.”

“Five gnolls. We’ve got these guys.” Nott crossed her arms.

“We can try attacking them, and if it gets bad, then we use the TNT.” Jester said.

“Someone says fire I’ll fire it.” I said.

“The longer we wait, the more things are coming.” Mollymauk repeated.

“Maybe it’s the whiskey talking, but I think we’ve got these guys!” Nott slurred. “We can definitely do a distraction to get some of them to turn away from us. At least we get a round in.”

“Get a surprise round.” Jester agreed.

“I can make a little golden person dance behind that guy there.” Caleb reminded.

Fjord pat his chest and a spectral frost collected from the air on his armor.

“Okay, so we’re doing this.” I said.

“Okay. Are you going to try your thing or should I try my thing first?” Nott asked, looking up to Caleb.

“What is your thing?”

“I don’t know. I can try something! I can do a similar thing, have them see something behind them, but you can do the same thing. Yours are already cast, right?”

“Not right now, no. But it’s like that,” Caleb snapped, “It’s easy, this one.”

“Okay. I could try to get one of them to fight with one of the other ones of them.”

“Yeah, that’s good.” Beau and Jester nodded.

“Do that.” Caleb said.

Nott skittered off, getting closer to the gnolls. Jester whispered and cast Mirror Image on herself, two other clones of her appearing.

“Let’s all agree that if this goes bad, we run.” Beau said.

“If it goes south, I’ll leave last and blow the place.” I said.

“Alright.”

“Are we going right now?” Caleb asked.

“Oh God.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Caleb muttered a spell and a blur of Calebs appeared, making it hard to see where he stood. Beau moved, silently, getting into position. I saw Frumpkin fly through the chamber and down and started battering into the walls by the gnolls.The gnoll that was nearest on the side, the one that had dropped an arm piece earlier, took the bow off its back and began to notch an arrow, as I silently did the same.It took aim and shot, hitting Frumpkin. The bird fell to the ground with a thud and dissipated. All the gnolls went to the spot where it landed and found an arrow lying there, and snarled and yipped.A spectral lollipop appeared above two of the gnolls, landing down on them as the two yelped out. Jester ran down to the left, staying close to the wall. In a burst of dull greenish-blue fire, Fjord’s falchion was in hand, dripping with salt water across its blade.The gore that had been dripping from the front of one of the gnolls body seemed to roll up its torso in reverse before it slipped into its armor and grasped itself, the darkened shadowed gore now holding it in place. Fjord aimed his sword and a blast of energy crashed into the gnoll, immediately dropping what it was eating as the blast slammed into it. As it reeled back and almost stumbled onto its back, its foot crushed one of the nearby skulls, and there was this gaping wound in its chest where the armor had been sundered. There was a smoking plume of blackened, horrible, shaded smoke pouring from it.Fjord ran towards Jester, Beau on his heels.Beau paused at the top of the nearby stairs, fidgeting. Then, the sound of hundreds of tiny metal clangs in succession as the ball bearings Beau had bought when we met began to spray down the stairs and scatter across the floor of this central makeshift ritual room. Beau darted closer to Fjord and Jester, getting in a position to fight. An arc of red light flew across the room in an arc, shot over my shoulder towards the hexed gnoll, which suddenly went up in flames with a warbled scream and falling back onto the ground.Across the room, a bolt flew into the gnoll Jester had hit. The bolt went through the center of his forehead and embedded itself right up to the very back. It let out a dying scream and fell  onto the ground over one of the piled corpse pieces it had been tearing through. I darted across the room to where I assumed Nott was, not wanting us to all get stuck together, and wanting clear sight for shots. I readied my crossbow, shooting out towards a gnoll that had yet to take damage. I hit it in the shoulder, the gnoll letting out a short yelp. Mollymauk creeped closer up behind me, sticking rather to the wall as cover. I heard the increasingly familiar, increasingly creepy sound of infernal being yelled behind me, and the gnoll I had hit winced and whined in response. Two of the gnolls grabbed their bows and and began to fire at Beau. The first shot missed completely, hitting the cave wall and clattering to the ground. The second bolt shot straight towards Beau. Like a flash, she caught the arrow. She held it out in front of her and dropped it to the ground. The one closest to Beau, on the lower level grabbed its spear off the side of the wall, growling, and ran up the stairs.It slipped, but it managed to make its way up the stairs.Laughing at it, Beau parried its blow off to the side and returned to her defensive stance. I notched my crossbow again and fired, the bolt passing close by a gnoll but not making contact. “Shit.” The bad luck was seemingly contagious, an attack from Caleb careening past a gnoll as well. As Beau swung her bo back, trying to crack him in the head, the gnoll slipped on one of the ball bearings, and as it managed to catch itself, it fell out of range of her attack. Aiming a kick or something, Beau slipped on one of the ball bearings on the second strike, and managed to catch herself by grabbing the fur on the outside of the gnoll and using its body to right herself. She made a face at her hand, wiping it on Fjord’s arm really quick. The spectral lollipop swung at a far gnoll and hit it in the back of the skull. It leant forward and grabbed the back of its skull with this pounding, throbbing pain in its head.A bell sound rang out, echoing, and blood began dripping out the side of one of the hyena’s ears.The hyenas rushed up the stairs towards us, some making it up and some slipping. One  rushed up and lashed out towards Beau. She slapped it in the nose and it pulled back.Two hyenas had flanked Fjord, one lunging and biting him--immediately shattered into ice on the ground. The other hyena did the same, a million tiny shards of ice splaying across the floor. The armored spell around Fjord glowed slightly and settled, still in place.There was movement next to me as Nott peeked out from behind Mollymauk, resting her crossbow on his hip. Molly tilted himself, to support better. Nott fired, the bolt missing and bouncing off the cave wall.Nott ran off towards Caleb to hide. The dark shadows spinning around a further gnoll shifted to the gnoll in front of Fjord, as he grabbed his falchion with both hands and swung, arcing upward. The gore and shadow, which now seemed to grasp around its chest, almost reached out to meet the blade in the middle like two bits of lightning hitting in the center of the sky. As they impacted, the blade carried through the momentum, the strength coming from the blade. He carved through a large portion of its torso, the hide armor folding off, revealing this huge gash wound in its chest. It was still standing, but it was horribly wounded now.“You fucked with the wrong one, son.” Fjord said, glaring.As the gnoll reared back, a flash of cloak billowed at my side as Mollymauk dashed across.  As the cloak fell, you just watched as the gnoll’s head just rolled off of its shoulders. With his offhand strike, Molly carved through the nearby hyena as well. It was left standing, but whimpering in pain. One of the gnolls still on the ground floor tripped on the ball bearings, falling flat and struggling to get back up. The other gnoll moved backwards towards the back door, avoiding the ball bearings. They both pulled back on arrows, aiming towards Molly and Fjord. As one aimed at Molly, its eyes suddenly went dark and began to bleed from the inside. It snarled and releases its shot, the arrow splintering against the central column. The other gnoll strikes true. The arrow hit Fjord to the right in the abdomen, sticking in.I ran towards Fjord and Molly, slicing down with my scimitar into the hyena in front of them. It yelped as I stabbed it through and I flung its limp body to the side, clearing my way to continue down the stairs. I carefully stepped around the ball bearings, standing at the foot of the stairs with my scimitar held across my body. An electrical sphere shattered against the central column in front of me, dissipating as it hit the stone. Beau pushed off a hyena as it bit at her heel, running across the wall, leapt, hit the pillar, and then, using the momentum, leapt and started falling towards a gnoll. Her bo staff in hand, she screamed on the way down, aiming to whack him over the head. The gnoll saw her coming and sidestepped, Beau hitting the stone floor instead. The gnoll laughed, hyena-like in its own right. As it laughed Beau popped out a punch, its jaw dislocating and snapping back into place. Some of its teeth clearly broke. It looked kind of dazed and hurt by it. “Don’t laugh at my friend!” Jester shouted, the lollipop floating over. As the lollipop came around the corner, the gnoll moved to get Beau to intercede between the lollipop and itself. The lollipop hesitated, moving back, not wanting to hit Beau.A now familiar bell toll rolled out, beginning to vibrate in the gnolls ears as it whimpered and reached up to its ears. Both of its eardrums burst on the sides of its head and it fell to one knee, looking like it’s completely ruined and dazed. Seeing an opening, Beau hit it and broke its neck with one swoop of the bo. Combined, both finishing it off.The last hyena up by Fjord tried to retreat, I readied myself to hit it as it passed. No need, as Fjord and Molly stuck back at it and I sidestepped its body as it tumbled down the stairs. Above me, Fjord and Molly tapped their swords together, cheers-ing. The momentum carried the dead hyena across the ball bearings, sliding across the floor. I saw Nott appear in a rush. “Hey, you!” Nott yelled to the only gnoll left, “If you spend all day in a well, well, that’s a day well-spent!” The gnoll immediately started cackling and fell on the ground, on its back, rolling with laughter.Laughter that was echoing through the halls and making its way through the tunnel.“Fjord, kill him!” Nott called.“You made it prone; it’s harder to hit that way!”“Get closer!”“ I’m trying! ”“Watch the ball bearings! Watch the marbles!” Beau called as Fjord stepped next to me, me placing a hand on his shoulder to try and help.He slipped for a second but together we got him up right, and he was able to run past me to Beau. The shadows of his hex moved to the laughing gnoll on the ground. Fjord held his hand out, lining up a shot, and hit with Eldritch Blast. The hit gleaned off its armor, but enough power to make a painful impact on its body and slam it  into the nearby rock, causing a spray of dust and debris.Molly ran down the stairs the opposite direction from the ball bearings, yelling something in Infernal.The gnoll stopped laughing, whimpering in confusion instead. I ran across to it, getting in close to hit it with my scimitar, slicing it across the face and hitting it across the chest on my backswing. A small orb of fire skimmed across the stone past us, like skipping a stone across a lake. It slammed into the wall behind it and exploded.Beau strolled up at my side. She leapt in the air, getting ready to slam her elbow down into it. As the gnolls whimpers subsided from my strikes, its eyes widened up at Beau, and it rolled out of the way at the last second.WHAM! Beau yelled in pain as her elbow hit the floor. I winced. The gnoll started laughing again, this time of its own volition, and Beau kicked it in the head. It was stunned on the ground for a second and its eyes kind of rolled in different directions.It stilled on the floor.  Beau just rolled over and went into the fetal position for a minute, nursing her elbow.The rest of us stood, still alert, now that the fight had ended. The rest of the group carefully joined Beau, Fjord, and I on the ground floor. “Well, he had a good run. A toast to that guy right there on the ground.” Caleb huffed.“Yes.” Nott nodded.“Cheers.” Molly mimed raising a glass.I looked down to see Jester was already cutting off gnoll ears and sticking them in her jar. About five sets of gnoll ears and four sets of hyena ears.“Nott, there is a chest.” Caleb called, “Do you see anything wrong with this? Is there anything hinky about that chest?”Nott looked it over, nudging it.“It’s good!”“Does it look good?”“It’s totally good.”“Take a step back. You’ve earned this. I will open it, just in case.”Caleb moved in front of Nott, placing his hands on the lid.Clunk!It was locked.“Oh.”“I will pick it!” Nott said. I glanced at it as Nott worked. The chest looked like it’d been bashed in a little bit, like one of the gnolls had tried to get into it and eventually gave up, got flummoxed, and threw it on the ground. Nott opened it easily, and we looked at the contents. It looked to be medical supplies. There were two healer’s kits in there. There were a number of disinfectant herbs and funguses I recognized. There was a small leather hand pack that contained four glass vials, three of which were shattered from the rough movements when it was tossed around, but one that was still intact and contained a healing potion.“Healing Potion!” Nott picked it up. “That’s a greater healing potion, not a standard healing potion.” I said.Nott handed it to Caleb. “You need this more than all of us. You’re the squishiest.”“Well, that’s probably true. Thank you. You take the two medicine packs and then–”“What do I do with these? I don’t, all right fine, I’ll take them. I collect medicine packs now.”“I need them. I could probably use those.” Jester said. Nott handed them to her instead.“I also like the idea of maybe giving the healing potion to a healer.” Mollymauk said, looking between Jester and I.“I’d really like those herbs, if no one else’ll use them.” I said.“Here you go.” Nott handed them over.“Wait, I missed it, what do those do? I was cutting gnoll ears.” Jester said.“These can help remove poison from a wound.” I said, putting them into my alchemy pouch.“Oh shit.” Fjord said, looking impressed.“Oh, that’s pretty cool. Well, I got the med kits, so we can share.” Jester said, smiling.Caleb was standing, looking down the back entrance. “There was a lot of gnoll chatter in here, and a lot of exploding orbs and stuff, so I’m going to guess that we have alerted whatever is beyond that we are here. How do we wish to proceed?” “Well, they make a lot of noise. They may not have noticed.” Molly argued.Beau took a few steps into the hole and stilled. We watched her crouch down. Then she returned to the group.“There’s something bigger.”“Jester, could you give me a heal a little bit? I took a little bit of a beating.” Fjord asked.“Oh sure.” Jester laid a hand on his shoulder, casting Cure Wounds.“I think there’s something bigger at play here. Whatever is driving these gnolls I think is deeper in.”Beau looked about the altar, which was horrific. Smaller pieces of fresher flesh had been stretched over the edges of the altar, like on the corners. There was a grin across the center. It was all blood splattered from the hearts that were placed on there. As Beau wiped a little bit of it away, we could see stained into this loosely tanned human skin the same symbol of the jagged smile. The jagged teeth that formed a grin that the various tanned banners that were stapled into the stone walls showed. “Yeenogru?” Beau guessed.“Yeah, Yeenoghu.” Jester corrected.“Yeenoghu?” Beau repeated.We gathered this was probably the symbol of that creature.“The cult of Yeenogru.” Mollymauk said.“Yeenogru or Yeenoghu?” Jester asked.“Yeenoghu or what?” Beau asked, getting frustrated.“Caleb?” I asked.“Yeenoghu.” He said. He looked down to Nott. “Are you clear now?”“I’m fine.” Nott said. “How many fingers am I holding up?”“...More than I think I have on my entire body. I think I just have four on each hand.”“You good? Do we need to get out of here?”“Yeah. I’m good. We’re fine. I mean, is this the plan? We were supposed to free living people, but we got some arms. We could bring those back.”“I don’t think, I mean, yeah, we could, but–”“He did say to bring back anything we could find.” Jester said.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The group of us decided to fan out to see if we could find anything identifiable. Nothing seemed to be immediately coming in to search as to what the noises were from our previous fight, but we did hear other distant sounds. Impacts and cackling and stuff. I got the sense that the deeper tunnels had some activity amongst the gnolls that lived below whatever they’d converted this mine network to be. Unfortunately, all the bodies in the chamber had been pretty much picked of any identifiable facets.

Caleb kind of corralled us all back again.

“We’re still trying to get to people here. Our options are we press forward to something worse, or we backtrack and try the other direction, or we get out of here.”

“We have the silver thread up top, right?” Fjord asked.

“Did we do that?” Nott asked.

“We didn’t because it took eleven minutes.” I said.

“We could do it now. As we move forward?” Jester suggested.

“Yeah, we could do that now.” Caleb nodded.

“How are you feeling, Fjord?” Molly asked.

“Yeah, Fjord, are we going to be Fjord Explorers or Fjord Escapes?” Nott asked.

“I could do that quickly.” Caleb continued, ignoring Nott’s quip, “I could put an Alarm here quickly. I could do it the fast way, and know if anything is coming behind us. Is that what we want to do? Do we want to go around? I don’t know, I’m a little terrified of what is down there. There’s two ways that I can do this. I can do it lickety-split or I can take my book out and do it the harder way, but that’s ten minutes, about.”

“I think the real danger’s in front of us.” I said.

“There’s something real big back there. It’s real big.” Beau nodded.

“We just have to march into it. Okay.” Caleb said.

“I’m not convinced that they don’t still have people alive down there.” Molly said.

“I’m pretty much out of spells now. But that’s okay.” Jester said.

“I can focus more on healing, next fight.” I offered.

“How are you with that sledgehammer on your back?” Caleb asked, looking to Jester.

“Oh. I don’t know. It’s a big weapon.”

“She’s got a badass scythe.” Beau said.

“Yeah, I’ve got a scythe. A sickle.”

“I’d like to volunteer that perhaps we move forward until we can see whether there are any living people that we can help and we make a decision then.” Fjord said.

“That sounds good to me.” I said.

“Okay. Let’s go.” Beau said.

“That went far better than the village, but also that big armored bastard wasn’t there.” Fjord huffed.

“Let’s make a pile of these bodies, too. Just in case, maybe they think that they took each other apart.” Mollymauk started moving some gnoll corpses together.

“And specifically went for the ears.” I muttered.

“Let’s set them up like they all were making out!” Jester said.

“No, we don’t have time for that here. We have to get going.” Caleb said.

“Like some sort of a circle-jerky sort of a thing?” Nott asked.

“Yeah, yeah.” Jester nodded.

“On the way out.” Molly said.

“Loosely prop them up like that.”

“When we’re victorious we can do disgusting things as we leave.” Caleb said, “Nott, I think you should take point again.”

“All right.”

“Did you do the–” Jester mimed out a string, asking if Caleb had set up an alarm.

“That I thought that was for going back the other way. We want to know if something comes behind us?”

“Yeah.”

“The reasons for doing that are slighter and I don’t want to blow my wad magically.”

“Okay.”

“If we were going the other way, I might.”

“I agree.” Mollymauk said.

“Let’s go and be really smart and do this.” Jester nodded, decisively.

Beau turned to Molly.

“Do you remember anything in your recollections of this Yee…ah…noghu.”

Molly made a face, lost in thought.

“It’s hard to remember. It’s a lot of aggression, anger.”

“I’m wondering with that whole, you know–“

“Why are you curious about that?” Caleb asked.

“Well, the guy. The guy running the ceremony said that the hunger will be fed, “ours and hers,” right? I mean, that’s what he said. I just wonder who “hers” is. Who is that?”

“That is the crux of the matter.”

“Yeah.”

“Shall we go find out?” Molly asked.

“Yep.” Fjord nodded.

“You feeling better, Nott?” I asked. She seemed to have sobered a little during the fight.

As she was about to respond, a terrifying, high-pitched, female shrieking

scream

echoed down the tunnel.

“NO! MY BABY!”

“Oh, no! This is what happens when we sit down and we talk.” Jester whined as we all started off running.

“We got to go! Can’t fuck around with mama deaths!” Fjord called.

Nott had darted down the tunnel ahead of us, leading the way down the tunnel deeper into the maze of mine shafts.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The tunnel continued in a wide spiral before eventually snaking a bit and sharply turning to the right. The tunnel straightened out and emerged into a chamber of mixed natural rock walls and simple stone work. Two other tunnels marked this chamber as a Y intersection or like a second common room. Tables and stools were strewn about the area, with a pair of hyenas currently picking at junk for scraps. Bits of meat were being dragged across the ground by them about 20 feet off to the left. Two thick natural pillars of rock currently stood as load bearing portions of the chamber, breaking the open space, while a crumpled section of the floor dropped into a pit below.

Two closed doors to the left were guarded by a skeletal gnoll and two standard gnoll warriors. The sound of muffled cries came from beyond the closed door. Four other gnolls rushed from within the chamber into the right tunnel exiting on the opposite side.

The gnoll pulled the crying child out, currently bickering with the other gnoll.

In a brief moment of quiet, a loud boom shook the interior of the chamber. Both the hyenas squealed and looked up, scared. The two gnolls immediately looked about. Dust and rocks began to settle and fall from the ceiling as it shook and then came to rest. A moment later, a cloud of dust and smoke came billowing out the side of the chamber where the four gnolls had run previously.

Then the rumbling settled. The gnolls themselves looked spooked.

I saw some sort of a flying creature, very small, emerge from the tunnel, humming, hovering in the air a few places before locking itself on the far wall, on a higher perch.

“Fucking bugs.” Fjord muttered.

“Did you see that?” Jester asked.

“Yeah.” I said.

“I think I saw that. Did you see that?” Molly asked.

“I saw that.” Jester nodded.

Another moment passed, and the gnolls relaxed. The immediate dread of the recent explosion sound, the shocking and rocking of the room, seems to have passed over them. They both go back to paying attention to their recent vicinity, which includes the small child, which is still quietly sobbing in the painful grasp of this large curled gnoll hand.

“On the count of three?” Mollymauk asked.

“Wait, are we just going to attack?” Nott asked.

“Yeah.” Fjord said.

“We should distract them–!”

“Just shoot!”

I hissed.

Nott scrambled forward and aimed her crossbow. As one of the gnolls was looking down at the young boy, lifting it off the ground and bringing it toward its jaws as its teeth opened wide, its lips curled back like it was ready to take a quick bite of the child’s arm. Nott shot, and the bolt hit it in the side of the jaw and it struck, sticking out.

It started looking over in Nott’s direction, glaring right toward her. She dashed away, ducking behind a rock.

Molly ran straight in, back to the wall, and yelled out to the gnoll in infernal. While his eyes were locked on the gnoll holding the child, the undead gnoll seemed to hear him and shuddered for a moment.

I reached out a hand towards the gnoll holding the kid and my fingers curled spasmodically. The gnoll squeaked, twitching. I made a practiced motion, flattening out my hand downwards, and commanding aloud,

“Drop it.”

The kid dropped to the floor, roughly, as the gnoll stood, temporarily paralyzed under my control.

Jester’s Toll the Dead rang out, but the gnolls seemed unaffected. Jester gurgled something in infernal and grinned over at Mollymauk.

“Oh, yeah!” Mollymauk barked a laugh.

Shadows congealed around one of the other gnolls and a flash of light from the arcing of arcane energy streaked across and slammed into its body just in time for us to see another shadowed shape emerging out of this tunnel to join the fray.

I glanced over and saw this shape begin to emerge from around the wall. A tall, spindly humanoid figure that began to curve around the side.

As the gnoll closest to the child shook off the effects of my spell and snarled down at the terrified kid, a bolt from Nott caught it in the base of the skull and it fell to the ground.

Nott dashed over to the little boy’s side as fast as her bolt. As she got to the little boy’s side, the kid just started screaming bloody murder.

“I’m good! I’m a good one! I’m good!”

He started screaming louder.

Spinning swords at high speed, Molly lunged at a gnoll and missed, hitting it with his second scimitar. It let out a quick yelp of pain before growling.

I stepped to the side, looking for a gap between Jester, Beau, and Molly--there.

“Heads up!” I called.

I  made a grip in the air as if I was holding the whip resting against my hip. Lightning crackled around my fist, and with trained expertise, a line of electricity cracked forward like a whip--connecting to the gnoll. I yanked back and the gnoll came sliding towards me, Beau and Jester leaning out of the way. Once it was close to me, electricity surged down my arm to the gnoll and it screamed as it fried, hitting the floor.

Beau, Jester, and Molly stared at me in surprise. I looked back up at them, suddenly feeling very

seen

.

“That was dope.” Beau said.

“Thanks.”

Jester beamed and ran further into the room, quickly followed by Caleb’s dancing lights spreading out and lighting the chamber up.

“Ah, god!” I heard Fjord’s voice, complaining about the sudden bright light.

But the majority of us were distracted by the figure on the far side of the room, standing barely within the light of one of the floating orbs.

His eyes were pupil-less, clear white. As white as his billowy, white afro; fingers of curly hair radiating in all directions. He had a beard  dripping down from his chin to a straight point about three or four inches below. An older man with darker skin, making his hair and eyes even more striking.

A blast of eldritch energy slamming into a hyena tore my attention back to the fight. It was hit back and fell into an open hole with a long, pained whine as it fell.

One of the gnolls took its spear and attempted a stab at the mysterious figure, but  the man pushed it out of the way in time, parrying it with his hand and his cane off to the side and it smacked into the stone and sparks off of it for a second, hitting flint.

The last hyena in the room ran towards Mollymauk. It snapped up and bit the edge of Molly’s foot, Molly kicking to shake it off on the rocks to get it to let go.

The man took out a reed and whipped it through the air three times as the gnoll charged back at him. As the third whip hit, there was a burst of energy forward. A small boom of air surged. The gnoll got blown back, slamming into the stone wall and fell back to its knees before getting itself up. It was previously wounded, now it looked like it’s starting to hobble and try to flee.

A bolt whisked by the hyena and bounced off a rock to the floor, missing. I saw Nott pick up the still screaming child and run away from the fight, hiding as well they could near the cavern wall.

Beau used her staff as a jumping leverage point to give me a little bit of momentum and kicked the hyena away from us. The hyena launched and arced through the air, slamming into a table which busted up against the wall onto its side, leaving us with no view of the lifeless body of the hyena. Beau moved over toward Nott and the kid, taking a defensive stance in front of them, guarding them.

Molly charged forward past them to the gnoll that had been blown back. It tried to strike at him with some sort of rusted battleaxe, but Molly managed to lift his foot out of the way and strike down towards it.

Molly shattered it with a strike.

As it attempted to swing towards him with the axe, he ducked out of the way, spun around, and backhanded it with his scimitar, the bones exploding and scattering across the ground.

With one gnoll left, my target was obvious. I ran closer, crossbow in hand, and took a shot. I hit it in its abdomen, a bit to the side, blood dripping from the wound. It bent over in pain, and then snarled at me.

A familiar bell toll rang out behind me but the gnoll shrugged it off.

A bolt of fire scorched past me, hitting the far wall and leaving a burn mark behind.

The gnoll took the longbow off its shoulder and spun back, pulling an arrow. It whizzed past towards Caleb, hitting him in the stomach, piercing out the other side. He looked like he was in shock, but it wouldn’t last long. I started running towards him.

I heard a blast and screech behind me, a blue glow at my back as I got to Caleb.

“Someone bring me those ears and bring them to my jar!” Jester called. “How many gnolls was that we just killed?”

“Three.” Fjord said.

“Well don’t we send a lot of them down the hole. We didn’t get their ears. So bad job.” Caleb said.

“We only sent one down the hole.” Jester said.

“We got two ears.” Fjord said.

“Right and then, one hyena set.”

“I appreciate you all counting ears, but can we deal with the kid for a minute?” The man asked.

Nott turned and saw the stranger next to us. “Who are you?! Ah! Who are you!?”

The man grinned.

“I like your smile.”

Nott’s eyes widened, looking up at him in sudden awe.

“Who am I? My name is Shakäste. Nice to meet you.”

Nott swooned, looking to me.

“He said

Shakäste

." Nott sighed.

Shakäste followed suit, looking to me as well.

“And you, I see you’ve got some lightning in you. It’s people who know the storm who whether it best. I like that.”

“Thanks.” It came out half as a question, but he didn’t look phased. I assumed he was referring to my lightning lure cantrip.

“You can thank my bird for knowing what you all look like, actually.” The hummingbird in question zipped by.

“Oh, I saw your bird!” Jester said.

“That’s not just some bird. That’s the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna. They call her Stacy, but that’s not her name.”

“The Grand Duchess.” Jester breathed.

“The Grand Duchess. She’s a sweetheart, but she’s angry.”

“It is very dark in here, what kind of bird is that you have?” Caleb asked.

“Oh, that would be an abrahum. That’s a dark, midnight hummingbird.”

“Hey, you’re a badass, what’s your deal?” Beau asked, sidling up next to me.

“Well, right now my deal is to deal with this little person over here.”

The kid looked up at all of us with varying degrees of fear.

“My mom—“ tears welled up in the kid’s eyes, choking up.

“Are you ok? Do you need healing?” Jester asked. The kid shook his head. “Do you have healing?” Jester turned to Shakäste, curiously.

“He’s just shaken up.” I said.

At a loss, Jester took a doughnut from her bag and held it out to the kid.

“It’s okay, child. The Traveler is with you.” Jester said dramatically. Then she perked up. “You want a doughnut?”

“No—” Fjord grabbed the doughnut away, “These went bad. We can get the kid real doughnuts later. But what’s this about your mom? She through there?”

The kid nodded, still crying.

“We’ll get heading that way. We ourselves were comin’ down trying to rescue folks.” Fjord explained. Then he looked over to Shakäste. “What brings you down here, by the by?”

“I tend to look over the people who happen to be around here. I come by every once in a while. I used to live and grew up in this place, or in the valley not too far from here. Probably just like you, I heard a commotion. I’ve taken a few of these people to safety. I’ve been trying to do it less overtly than some of you.”

“We do make a bit of a clatter.”

“We’re working on it.” Jester said.

Looking closer at Shakäste, he was covered in leather straps that were a tangle of brown, red, and green that pretty much covered him from his neck to his calf, where his boots started to take over. He was also wearing a deep green cloak. It went down to his legs and had a big hood.

“We have to get this gnoll out of the bottom of this hole because that’s gold.” Caleb called over.

“He’s probably covered in really old poop.” Jester said.

“It’s still good for the monetary value that was laid out for us, so maybe on the way out we could send–“ Caleb looked to Nott, “We have a rope we could lower you down and you could slice it off.”

“Yeah, I could go down there.” Nott said.

“Not right now, save it for a rainy day.”

“Shakäste, my name is Fjord. We are, like I said, on a rescue mission.” Fjord brought us back on track, “Are you familiar with these tunnels, at all? Have you been down here before?”

“Well, I’ve done a pretty good job of taking care of the other tentacle of this cavern, I guess you’d say.”

“Shaft.” Jester corrected.

“Yes, the shaft. That’s a good way of putting it. That boom you may have heard happened to come from me, so we’ve got a little bit less to have to deal with. This, I really don’t know what’s going on.”

“Should someone lead the kid to the surface, then? Or should he hide and we carry on?” I asked. “We don’t want him in combat again.”

“If what Shakäste says is true, there shouldn’t be any danger left in the tunnels behind us. Outside, we don’t know.” Caleb reasoned.

“Would you be alright waiting here?” Jester asked the kid.

“You’ll bring back m-my mom?”

“That’s the plan.” Fjord said. I noticed it wasn’t a promise.

We helped the kid find an alcove, blocked off from view.

“I feel bad just leaving him here with nothing to do.” Beau muttered to me.

“Oh!! I know!” Jester tore out a page in her sketchbook and gave the kid a few colored pencils. “You can color something while you wait!”

“Better than nothing.” I shrugged. Caleb made his way over to the door where the kid had been pulled from.

“Nott, do you want to take a look at it? In case it could blow up on us.”

“I’ve seen their traps. I know their methods!” Nott scurried over.

“Are there any ropes across the door?”

“Let me look!” Nott looked over the door, paying attention to the handle. She stood up straight. “It doesn’t look trapped!”

Jester ran up next to her and knocked on the door.

“Housekeeping! Is anybody locked in here?”

A moment passed.

There was no response, but I heard the faint sniffing and whimpering of somebody on the other side.

“I think it’s the mom.” Jester whispered.

“Let’s open the door.” Nott said.

“Okay.”

Jester lifted the small latch and pulled the door open.

First thing we noticed; a strong smell of decay.

The back of the room was filled with piles of bodies or parts of bodies. It looked to be maybe four people in total that had been placed here.

There was one living woman, in her mid-thirties or so, wearing a dirtied apron. She was covered in dirt. A spatter of blood, unable to tell  if it was from her or not. Her hair was ratted.

She looked to be human. She was currently huddled with her knees to her chest and there were tear streaks down her face.

The Grand Duchess flew in, and Shakäste began to approach and take the space. He walked calmly up to the woman. He reached out carefully and put a hand on her chin, so that she looked him in the eye.

“Shh…” Shakäste shushed her gently, comforting her.

She reached up and took his hand. She said, “Thank you. Thank you.”

“We need to get her out of here.” Shakäste said, turning to us.

“Yes. Definitely.” Jester nodded.

“Holy shit, this guy’s good.” Beau muttered.

“He is. Smooth operator.” Fjord agreed.

Nott went back over to the boy who was coloring and coaxed him out.

“We have your kid, he’s safe.” I said, making way for Nott and the boy.

The woman turned around, and gasped, “Oh my god!”

She ran over to him and immediately picked him up into her arms and began to hold him.

“He’s alive, don’t worry.” Jester said. The mother didn’t stop crying.

“Thank you. Thank you.”

She rocked the child in her arms, quietly rubbing his face and wiping a bit of blood off of his cheeks.

“Are there any other people that are alive that you know of?” Jester asked.

“There are a few. I haven’t seen, but I’ve heard voices across the way, and they took a number deeper in, before they locked me in.”

I heard another door unlatch, and looked over to see Mollymauk open the next one as the mother continued to comfort her son, “Jules, it’s okay. It’s okay, Jules.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

In the room ahead it looked like there were three bodies in there. The bodies seemed to be placed in there for some sort of storage, for the time being. There is one figure you can see, a man in his older years. Half-elven in appearance, his features were a little sharper, a little more elven, but not fully. His hair was dark-brown, black to gray, and salt and pepper on the sides.

He looked as disheveled as the woman we had just uncovered.

“This is a personal question. Is there anyone alive in here right now?” Molly called.

“I’m the only one.” The man croaked.

“Oh! Well, we’ll take it.” Molly swung the door open and stepped in.

I stepped in after and saw there was a  large claw gash across his midsection that might be infected.

“If you wait a second, it’s only getting better.” Molly grinned, unbothered by the carnage.

“Who are you?”

“Oh, that is a question. We’re here to help. Come on out.”

“We’re the rescue party!” Jester said, proudly.

“Here.” I summoned a small potion, making a mental note of my healing supplies, “This’ll help tide you a little.”

The man took it tentatively, cautiously at first, but after inspecting it he drank it desperately. The gash on him slowly began to look like a cleaner cut, though the potion didn’t completely heal him.

“Is there anyone else that you were with that’s no longer with us in there?” Beau asked.

“I mean–” He pointed back, “I don’t know most of these folks, I was just passing through. We were bringing some of our armor-wares up to Zadash when we were waylaid on the road.”

“You didn’t get taken from Alfield?”

“Oh, we were taken on the way to Alfield. We were almost there. They hit us right as they were reaching the city. We had no chance.”

“We were going to head to Zadash…” I muttered, more to myself than anyone else.

“You got hit on the way to the city, not in the raid on the city?” Mollymauk asked.

“We were just arriving in Alfield when it hit.” The man clarified.

“Bad timing.” Jester said.

“You’re telling me.”

“Let’s get you out here, for a second." Mollymauk sasid, and the group of us went back to the chamber the woman and her son were in.

“I have a place for these people to go. It’s up on the surface.” Shakäste said.

“They’re safe there?” Jester asked.

“They will be safe there.”

“Do you have a cart to get them back to Alfield?

“Well, a cart was just the thing I was needing. What say we hang out?”

“All of us together, like a big party?”

“I’ve got nothing else to do.”

“I like it.”

“So many new friends lately.” Mollymauk said.

“I am concerned that there are more further on in these tunnels, but I think you’re right, we won’t be of any use to these people if we don’t get them to safety first.” Fjord said.

“Exactly.” Shakäste nodded.

“Do we need to escort them or can we send them up to the surface?” Molly asked.

“You know what we could do?” Caleb interrupted, “If we want to check this cave for more people, is that we could bring them up to the cart and I could do that one spell that I have that would let me know down here if anything is happening up there–”

“Yeah!” Jester said, doing a little hop in excitement.

“Yeah. If the little bell goes off in my head then I know that either that something’s coming out–”

“The good bell, not the bad bell.”

“The good kind, ja. We would know, more or less, not 100 percent perfect, but pretty close. Then we could come back down here quickly, and see if there’s anyone else who needs help.”

“Let’s do it.” Beau said.

“Are we going to leave some folks down here to–” Nott began.

“--No.” Jester said.

“What if they repopulate all of these rooms that we’ve already cleared?” Nott said.

“There’s not an unlimited supply of gnolls...probably. We’d end up fighting them anyway, these rooms are as good as any, maybe even better since we know the layout.” I reasoned.

“We should move together.” Fjord agreed, “There’s no point in leaving just a few–”

“If you leave your alarm up here–” Mollymauk gestured around, looking to Caleb.

“Well, I was thinking about getting them to safety outside. If anything leaves the mine, we’ll know it was them.” Caleb explained.

“That’s fair then, yeah. That’s a good plan.”

“Let’s do it.” Jester said. Nott still had reservations.

“I don’t like this plan at all. What if someone– What if one of the gnolls wanders into this room and sees five of his dead brothers?”

“Let’s throw them down the hole!” Jester said.

The group of us started kicking the gnolls into the pit. Between the eight of us, it wasn’t difficult.

“Good call.” Shakäste said. Jester smiled.

“Now they all look like they just left and had some–”

“--There’s a whole other room with dead bodies in it that we also caused, and also ball bearings.” Nott said, exasperated.

“Oh, people die all the time.” Molly waved it off.

“Well--yes, but not like that.” I said, thinking back to the last room and the clear battle wounds. “Not with their ears all missing.”

“You know, sometimes accidents happen.” Jester shrugged.

“What kind of accident would that be!?”

“We’ll be coming right back down. We just need to get them to safety.” Fjord said to Nott.

“You know, people don’t bare balls all the time, but I think it’s a reasonable risk at this point in time.” Caleb said.

“Plus, we could take a short rest up top while we’re getting them folks to safety.” Fjord said.

“All right.” Nott agreed.

“I like this plan.” Molly nodded.

“Are there any other boxes or things to search down here before we get out?” Nott suggested.

“Yeah, let’s search around.” Jester began searching. Beau swung her staff and cracked a box open, shattering the wood.

“Nice.” I deadpanned.

“Quietly, maybe?” Fjord said, shooting her a look.

“Quiet, sorry.”

In a quick glance through, a lot of the stuff in the cavern appeared to be pickaxes, shovels, tools. Anything of worth had been ravaged or taken. There were a few bits of rotted meat of indeterminate origin, that Caleb immediately put into his pockets.

“Um--” I cut myself off from whatever comment was going to come out.

“You can’t smell it.” Caleb said.

“No, it smells good to me!” Nott said, eyes wide.

“Could be good bait later.” Fjord said.

“That’s why I’m taking it.” Caleb agreed.

We started our walk back through the tunnels, dragging the dead bodies with us, Nott rifling through the dead bodies as we did, looking for knick knacks. As we walked, Shakäste paused and reached out towards a pile of crates, and pulled out a singular stick with a long explosive wick on the end.

“Gently! You should be careful with that. Those can make big booms.” Nott warned.

“This ain’t my first rodeo, baby. Thank you.” He winked and continued walking.

A flustered squeaky noise left Nott, and I repressed a smile.

As we followed, the small black hummingbird perched on his shoulder as he continued to walk.

“He’s got a Frumpkin too!” Nott said, looking up to Caleb.

“Duchess! Duchess Stacy, please come over to me! Duchess Stacy!” Jester was cooing at the bird, trying to get it to land on her...as we dragged dead bodies.

“

Grand

Duchess.” Shakäste corrected.

“Grand Duchess Stacy!”

We carefully made our way back up through, trying not to drag the bodies over heavy bumps or rocks, eventually making our way out of the main entrance way. We passed the hanging tree trunk trap that Nott had activated earlier. And like that, we eventually found our way out into the daylight once more. The woman, who introduced herself as Herma, and the older half-elf man, Petrov, all stepped out into the light, blinking, bleary in the sudden influx of light. As soon as we made it into the open sky, I saw this breath of relief wash over both of them. I was reminded of the young girl we rescued from the serpent, the relief on her face when she reached her father. It was a strange sight that brought about strange feelings, thinking back on how I usually spent my days before leaving Zoon. While grateful townsfolk and people were not always uncommon, more often than not it was rare.

“Mom?”

“Shh! It’s okay; it’s okay.” Herma comforted her son, and I felt a quick twang of jealousy. She looked up over towards Shakäste, and with tears in her eyes, said, “Thank you.”

“I helped too!” Nott squeaked.

“Thank you all so much.”

We led them over through the hills, the cluster around where mine once was, around the corner there appeared to be a shed that’d been long abandoned and locked up. Shakäste walked up to it and took his reed stick and rapped on the door.

“Is that you?”

“Shh.”

The door opened and four survivors emerged and quickly welcomed Shakäste, as well as the three other survivors we brought in. Some of them began to reunite with people that were familiar to them, people who lived in Alfield and knew each other. It was a moment of relief and joy.

Then they began to pour over the bodies that had been recovered, and they began to identify them to each other, and sadness took over. Individuals began to come up and thank us. They took our hands, “Anything I can give you, please, just let me know. Thank you so much.”

I floundered a bit at first, shaken by the sheer gratitude—a kind I’d never seen before. Lives saved.

But then I switched gears, my experience representing the guild to the public coming out to help cope. I said little, accepting their thanks with a nod or light squeeze of their hands. My eyes wandered over to Caleb wistfully; he was avoiding the attention by setting up his Alarm spell.

“Stay safe, stay here.” Shakäste said to the villagers. He turned to us, “This isn’t over.”

“Let’s go.” Him and Beau spoke together. We turned back, Caleb rejoining us, and set off for the mine.

“That’s a badass motherfucker, I’m just saying.” Fjord said quietly to Beau and I.

“Yeah. I’m so about it. He’s so cool.” Beau agreed.

“I know. Number one fan club.”

We weaved our way back through the mines, following our previous path.

I heard a thud.

“I stubbed my toe!” Caleb swore.

“Shh!”

Beau shushed.

“Learn how to see in the bloody dark!” Mollymauk hissed.

“You’ve got light, boy, you’ll be fine.” Shakäste waved it off.

As we made our way back through the familiar tunnel, the right side of the tunnel, the one that we had decided to not head down into, was now a large cluster of rock and rubble.

“Oh, that’s where you came from?” Jester asked. Shakäste hummed as affirmative.

We passed through the ritual area, carefully avoiding a scattering of metallic ball bearings across the floor. We saw an altar with candles on it that all burned down entirely, except for a few tiny flickers.

Caleb snapped his fingers and balls of light flew out, floating around the group.

Finally, we made it into the familiar chamber where the last fray occurred, carefully avoiding the large hole in the ground.

“Who’s taking point? Nott?” I asked.

“I can send the Grand Duchess?” Shakäste offered.

“I’m not getting over that.” Molly said, grinning at the hummingbird’s name.

“Oh, the Grand Duchess and Frumpkin will be best of friends.” Jester cooed.

“You know, it’s funny, because only about 30 minutes ago I also had a bird, but he was obliterated.” Caleb explained to Shakäste, “It was very sad. I’ll bring him back tomorrow.”

...

“...Thanks for that.”

Shakäste paused us in our walk to send the Grand Duchess ahead. She zoomed out of sight and we waited. Shakäste sent the Grand Duchess ahead, the little hummingbird quickly zipping out of sight.

“It’s really smart that he made a  hummingbird. That’s really fast.” Jester murmured.” Jester said.

“It’s really clever.” Molly agreed.” Molly agreed.

“It’s a pretty smart move, don’t you think?””

“It’s not a cat.” Caleb muttered.

“One that can see in the dark” Nott added.!” Nott added.

“Yeah. I mean, it’s really smart.” Jester nodded.” Jester said.

The little bird returned, charging back towards us and landing on Shakäste’s shoulder.

“I’ve never seen one sit, before.” I muttered. Everyone paused.

“Yeah, I haven’t either.” Beau agreed.

“That’s really special.” Jester said. In a few moments, the bird came charging

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a hummingbird sit before.” I said. Everyone took a second to stare at the bird.

“It isn’t a common sight.” Caleb agreed.

“We have a friend about a hundred feet away.” Shakäste began to explain, “He’s by himself, but yeah, there’s just the one. Beyond him, there is more to deal with. I think we quietly take care of this gentleman first, and then we move on.”

“Did you see any survivors?” Jester asked.

“Not yet, but there are two sentinels and they are guarding something. I’m hoping that’s someone.”

“Perhaps we can create a little bit of a lure to bring back that single fellow closer to us and we dispatch him quietly.” Fjord suggested.

“It’s not a bad idea.”

Beau reached into her pouch of ball bearings and took one out. She threw it gently down the stairs and we listened to it

clink! clink! clink!

as it bounced down.

Eventually, the sound was out of earshot.

Nothing happened.

Most of Caleb’s dancing lights zoomed ahead to attract the guard’s attention.

Long minutes passed.

...Nothing happened.

“...“Ah, shit! He’s stupid!” Beau hissed.

“Maybe he’s sleeping.” Jester said.

“Who’s real good at dispatching them quiet?” Fjord asked. Beau looked to Nott.

“Nott, do you want to?” Beau offered. Nott made a face.

“Don’t make me do this again.”

“I can do it.” I offered. Fjord looked surprised.

“You wanna do it?”

“Sure.”

“You think you’re stealthy enough to?” Fjord asked. I held back a sigh.

“Probably.”

He looked thoughtful.

“...I’ll tell you what, why don’t I come with you?” Fjord offered.

“Outnumber him, sure.” I nodded.

“I got a really good feeling about what you’re about to do.” Shakäste said.

“Thanks?” I blinked.

“Like a really good feeling. Like the kind of feeling that will put a big smile on your face, you know, take you back home, make you feel like there’s a big–”

“It’s starting to feel like you’re jinxing us.” I interrupted. His shoulders slumped.

“Well, this isn’t working at all.”

“What are you trying to do?” Jester asked.

“I’m trying to cast Guidance, to help with their mission. Give them inspiration.”

Jester looked me over.

“What does Sera like?” Jester wondered.

“Alchemy? Sailing?” Beau suggested.

“Reading?” Caleb suggested.

“Gold?” Nott suggested.

“Okay, we all like gold.

Ear jar

.” I said, pointedly.

“Ah, you know what? You know the way this is turning out, I feel like there’s bound to be some treasure down below.”

“Treasure?” I asked, skeptically.

”It’s waiting for you just down the hall. All you got to do is take care of a creature quietly and quickly.”

I thought it over. Then I grinned.

“Don’t have to tell me twice. C’mon, Fjord!” ”

Jester put a hand on Fjord’s arm and a faint glow appeared, I assumed it was Blessing of the Trickster.

The two of us began to make our way down the hall carefully.

I stepped heel-toe, close to the wall, like I’d been trained. Fjord’s footfalls were causing a bit more noise than I’d have liked as we went. 60 or 70 feet towards the bottom where the grade began to turn up, Fjord stumbled, but being closer to the wall and each other we were able to get him upright without a sound. We looked down to see a ball bearing on the floor. Both of us looked at each other, deadpan expressions on our face.

I held out a hand asking him to stop, and dug a hand into my belt, pulling out a bottle and dumping another dead cricket into my hand. I put the glass bottle away, carefully, and held the cricket in my fist.

I looked back up to him and nodded. He nodded back and we continued forward up until the corner. I took a breath before I peered around the corner and cast Sleep, squishing the cricket in my hand. The gnoll looked up and then stiffened a moment, before its body went slack and sank down, asleep.

“Nicely done.” Fjord murmured, impressed, “Didn’t even need me.”

“Should we attack it together, or go back up and get the others so we can all attack it?” I asked.

“I think we can take it.”

“Alright. I’d say you go up, slash across the throat so it can’t cry out for backup?”

“...Dark. But alright.”

“Sorry.” I said, sheepishly.

“No, it’s, it’s a smart plan. Just...remind me never to piss you off.”

I chuckled. The both of us walked out of the shadows over to the sleeping gnoll, Fjord drawing his falchion. I took out my scimitar. Fjord sliced hard through its neck with surprising strength the creature’s eyes opened in a panic, convulsing and reaching for its neck. I stabbed downward with my blade through its abdomen. I pulled my blade back out, habitually spinning it to slash again, but the creature went limp, gurgling on the floor. Dead.

“Mission a-fucking-complished.” Fjord said, hand out for a high-five. Instead of high-fiving him, I fist-bumped his open fist. Fjord’s smile fell to annoyance. “Oh—what the fuck.”

I snickered at Fjord’s annoyed expression.

“There’s still two up ahead, can’t make noise. Wanna go get the others?”

“Yeah, but I wanna ask you something first.”

I faltered.

“Sure, what’s up?”

“You definitely took point on this one, and I can’t help but wonder, seeing how you did...you know most of the group is real sketchy. We’ve all talked about that. I’m just wondering, are you, maybe, a little more sketchy than I anticipated?” Before I could say anything, he continued, “Like I get not wanting to share details, but it’s a little unnerving how well this just went.”

I looked back to the dead gnoll.

Then back to Fjord.

“...Are you asking me if I’m an

assassin?”

His eyes widened.

“No! No nothing like that. I mean—are you?”

“No!” I laughed.

“Good!....Right!”

“Can we go upstairs now?” I chuckled.

“Yes. Sorry, that was—I didn’t mean that you were an assassin, I don’t know what I mean.”

“I’m going upstairs.” I said, amused, and the two of us started walking back up to the group.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

We reached the top and the rest of the party looked at us, curiously.

“We took out the one at the bottom.” I said.

“Experts over here.” Nott squeaked.

“Thank you, thank you.” Fjord bowed.

“Let’s go get the ears!” Jester said, running past down the stairs.

“Still be quiet!!” I hissed, following. I reached the bottom to see Jester sawing them off, and Mollymauk coming over from behind us with the open jar.

“Thank you.” Jester said, dropping the ears in.

“Careful, there are more in the next room.” I reminded.

“Okay.” Beau nodded.

“Fjord, what do we do?” Jester asked.

“Don’t do anything yet. We have to figure out what we’re doing.” Nott said.

“Well, I’m meaning simply as a strategy.” Shakäste began, “Should we use something to distract them? Since they’re already not looking our way, so that we could get a few shots at their back.”

“Can you send the Grand Duchess in?” Jester suggested.

“I will. Let’s do that. Find a safe perch, my dear.” Shakäste said to his bird, as the Grand Duchess made her way down to the tunnel and up.

“Is she really royalty?” Nott asked.

“That’s what she told me.”

“Did she used to be a person and you shrunk her down?” Jester asked. Jester really did have some of the more horrifying theories of the group.

“No, she is who she is, baby. Just like you.”

There was a pause as Shakäste saw something through the Grand Duchess’ eyes. “Come back here, baby.”

We heard a growl in the next room. Shakäste’s eyes faintly glowed in the darkness as we heard a bowstring and a yip.

“Well, now I’m pissed.”

“Do they know we’re here now?” Nott asked.

“He saw the bird come back this way so maybe–” Jester said.

“It’s just a bird.” Caleb and Nott spoke at once.

“He might have even thought it was a bat.” Caleb continued.

“Should we all turn into birds and confuse him?” Nott suggested.

“Do you know how to do that?” Jester asked.

“I could try.” Nott and Jester spoke together, this time.

“Let’s try later. Why don’t we do things we’ve done before?” Shakäste said.

“Are we doing this?” Beau asked, readying her bo staff.

“Let’s fucking go.” Jester said.

“We’re going to go in or–this doesn’t seem very smart! I don’t know.”  Nott whined. Jester rubbed Nott on the head, casting Trickster’s Blessing.

“Don’t you worry. You keep hiding whenever you need it.”

“Thank you.”

“If I used Sacred Flame on one–because if it’s dark in there and one of them burst into flames wouldn’t they all look in that direction?” Shakäste questioned.

“I could Sacred Flame him in the exact same time.” Jester offered.

Fjord hit his chest, casting a spell and pulling the moisture out of the air and forming a frost all over his armor, shadows coalescing into the dark, cold, icy armor that shattered into bits of shards around the exterior of his leather armor, mist rising from it.

“...Everybody chill.” Fjord said, grinning.

The group groaned.

“No, you ruined it! It was so good!” Caleb groaned.

“You looked cool for once and then you played yourself.” I complained.

“Wait, everybody. Be cool.” Fjord said.

“Stay frosty? Stay frosty.” Nott said.

Mollymauk activated his scimitars and Jester pulled out her sickle. I held my double-bladed scimitar at my side, ready to move.

“We could get the one in the back, and then the other two might look at him.” Jester suggested, pointing out a gnoll.

“I think that’s a great idea, darling.” Shakäste said.

“Let’s do it.”

The two of them took point, all of us easing towards the gnolls. Shakäste took out his reed wand and Jester readied her sickle.

The two of them released Sacred Flame and Toll the Dead on the same gnoll.

Simultaneously, Caleb cast blur, and flickering versions of himself joined the group.

The gnoll burst into light, seemingly unaffected by Toll the Dead, as it bursts into quick flames.

As the gnolls all clumped together, preparing for the onslaught right at the edge of the hole with the furniture on the opposite side there, the two skeletal gnolls readied to rush into the fray.

Shakäste flicked his reed and suddenly, a similar cold to what had coalesced around the armor of Fjord, attacked and froze inward toward a gnoll.

The three gnolls began to back away, and they all began to notch their bows. The frostbit gnoll shot toward Shakäste, but missed as it shook from the cold. The bolt skated past Shakäste’s afro.

“Oh man, I’ve got beads in that thing, baby. Got to be careful.”

Another bolt flew towards Molly, but he sliced it in the air, a grinding sound ripping through the room. The last incoming bolt flew towards Beau and she sidestepped it.

I reached a hand out, casting Lightning Lure to drag the nearest gnoll closer, hoping to get it flanked by the group. The lightning struck out from my hand, cracking against the floor as the gnoll lunged out of the way, growling. I grimaced and ran up closer along the right wall, standing at the top of the stairs and preparing for a barrage.

Mollymauk hopped up and moved to the left side, almost mirroring me. He hissed in infernal at the creature, his words dying out. It didn’t seem to do anything.

“Excuse me, pardon me, pardon me, excuse me.” Nott chimed as she ran up through the group and past me. A quick fire from her crossbow hit the frosty gnoll and splintered off the icy armor. Nott ran back down past me and hid amongst the rest of the party.

“Pardon me, excuse me, excuse me, pardon me.”

Jester moved forward to my side and suddenly there were two of her.

The gnolls growled, confused by the sudden appearance of two Jesters.

A skeletal gnoll rushed up and swung at the illusory Jester; the attack passing through. The other skeletal gnoll started clambering closer. Beau ran up close to us, following the skeletal gnoll and going into a defensive stance.

The choo-choo train of globules of light went whirring to float over the battle. The globules passed us and curved to the left a little bit, and one floated specifically above Beau’s head. As soon as the light came around close to her, she used her staff with the light as it flew and cracked it down over top of the skeletal gnoll’s head.

It splintered the skeleton into pieces all around its entire body, crushed and collapsed to the ground. Scattered across.

“Fuck yeah.” Beau beamed.

“Anastasia, did you just see that?” Shakäste asked from down the stairs, where Caleb cautiously neared the battle.

Fjord joined the new cluster of us at the top of the stairs, staying behind Beau.

Beau hugged the wall, letting Fjord do his thing.

Shadows rose at the feet of the nearest gnoll, coalescing around him in a Hex. Fjord held out his falchion and cast Eldritch Blast. It managed to strike some sort of shield on the side that shattered, that had been bolted to its forearm. It pulled it up just in time to deflect the Eldritch Blast. The force cracked the shield and did damage to its exterior, but no damage to the actual gnoll.

In the distance came the sound of more growling and hyena barking.

“Oh no, it’s the general!” Jester said.

We watched as an armored gnoll walked in the back of the chamber.

As the pack lord approached, cackling at the sight of us. It was the gnoll that had downed Nott and Mollymauk just yesterday.  Seeing it closer now added to its imposing figure. Its armor was chunks of chainmail and hide armor patched together where a number of long, thin spines, like heavy, bone-like spikes had been woven into it like a decoration to make it look extremely intimidating. The outfit, so similar to some of the old crew’s patched together clothing, made me irrationally angry.

I saw a look of recognition on its eyes as it pulled back its longbow and fired immediately at Jester.

Jester quickly put her shield up, the arrow splintering across the shield, no impact.

A slight wisp of energy, almost visible wind, began to circle Beau and Jester, and I looked back to see it coming from Shakäste. Some sort of boost.

“I think the group of us could use a little Aid, don’t you think?” Shakäste said.

“Are you a motivational speaker or something?” Beau asked.

“I pack them in on the Menagerie Coast, baby.”

The last skeletal gnoll rushed towards Jester, spear in hand. Jester deflected it with her sickle. She pulled the shield up a little higher as it lunged at her, biting. Its teeth shattered and broke, flying off around the exterior of the shield.

Jester beamed and turned to look at Beau.

“I’m doing you!”

“Good job!” Beau looked back just as two arrows went flying towards her from the two other gnolls. The first arrow Beau dodged out of the way, and the second one Beau caught it right in the middle of her hand. It pulled her back a little bit, but it was firmly in her grip.

“We’re so cool right now!” Beau stuttered.

“Yeah!” Jester cheered.

“You’re welcome.” Shakäste said.

I stepped up onto the table, and lunged at the skeletal gnoll, jumping off. It sidestepped me and I swung backwards, hitting it on the backswing. It yelped in pain.

Mollymauk ran up the stairs to my side, swinging his scimitars and--crack! The blade carved through the upper part of its shoulder blade into its ribcage. Whatever necrotic energy was holding its body together suddenly dissipated and all the bones clattered to the ground in a pile.

Molly kept up his momentum, running past me to flank another gnoll, a backwards swipe carving through the back of the other gnoll. It arched its back with pain as he carved a giant wound across the back of its shoulder to the base of its spine, and I saw blood beginning to flow from its wound where the bits of the armor separated, the fur poking out from within the haphazard hide.

As the gnoll pulled back and tried to strike again with its spear, a bolt pierced right in its sternum. As it pulled back its spear with its final thrust of momentum, it fell to the ground into a pile, bleeding out of its mouth as it died.

“I’m a really good fighter you guys!” Jester cheered, happily, as the gnoll sank right in front of her.

Jester’s duplicate reached out a hand and a gnoll in the distance shook its head for a second as a bell toll rang out. It continued to string another arrow.  Jester simultaneously hopped up onto the table I had been standing on moments ago.

Beau rushed forward to swing at one, but as she neared it, it threw the longbow over its arm and brought up the shield in the same motion and deflected the quick thrust of her staff.

Burning arcane energy flung from the side towards the armored gnoll, at the impact I saw flames curl up its form. It tried to pat it out with its giant hand, snarling.

“Oh boy.” I heard Caleb mutter from down the steps.

Fjord moved up closer to us, firing off an Eldritch Blast, grazing a gnoll of the shoulder as it tried to notch another arrow.

“Come on, you sack of shit, come get me!” Fjord called, turning to the armored gnoll with his falchion outstretched. There was a beat of dark energy that pulsed around Fjord before it disappeared and pulsed around the armored gnoll. It didn’t have a noticeable effect besides making the gnoll snarl at him.

Fjord ran back down the stairs, trying to act as bait.

The pack lord stepped around to face Beau and pulled back and Sparta kicked her. Right as she turned to try and defend, wham! It hit her right in the sternum and she got pushed back violently, teetering on the edge of--a pit.

I felt my heart drop, not having even noticed the pit in the side of the room.

Beau slipped, unable to get a grip, and tumbled into the pit below with a quickly fading scream.

It was like the whole group of us were holding our breath, expecting the worst.

A tiny call, quiet from the distance, rose from the pit;

“......I’m good. I’m okay.”

“Halt!”

The pack lord looked back towards Shakäste, and the surprisingly commanding tone that had burst forth from the man. It lowered its weapons for a second and looked right at him, eyes wide, confused as it cocked its head.

Arrows flew at us from the other still-standing gnolls. One pierced Molly in the side, grazing him, and another flew at me--stabbing into me. I let out a grunt of pain, pulling it out with a short yelp and dropping it to the floor.

Killing Mollymauk, Nott, kicking Beau down in the pit, the

searing

pain in my side, the fucking

outfit

this armored gnoll was wearing. Anger welled up in me and my blades inflamed, green fire burning, green light bouncing off my surroundings.

I roared, slicing at the armored gnoll, from its lower stomach to its shoulder, green fire cauterizing the wound  as I slashed. I swung my blade back around and cut a slit across its throat, as the green fire hopped--as if it had a mind of its own--to its nearby ally, who yelped in surprise and tried to hit out the fire.

The armored gnoll took the hits, eyes still on Shakäste. Almost less satisfying the way it hardly responded to my attack. Mollymauk sidestepped around it, closing in with his own blades. His own magic cutting down, a mirror of my own movements. The armored gnoll let out a gurgle, bending at the hip, eyes still on Shakäste as blood ran from its throat and torso. It stumbled forward and the two of us stepped away, before it fell flat forward on its face, a pool of blood leaking around it. A final pulse of dark energy showed around it, dissipating.

It felt like the end of the battle, almost, with their leader down. But the sound of a bolt behind me reminded us it wasn’t--Nott hitting one of the other gnolls, which squealed and fell down dead.

With one final gnoll standing, Jester ran forward and attacked him with her scythe. As she did so, I spotted Beau climbing out of the pit, huffing.

“Hey!” Fjord greeted her.

“Did you guys know there’s a hole?”

“I did not know that. Did not know that.” Molly shook his head.

“We did not.” Fjord said.

I saw Caleb pull out a diamond and start spinning it around, a tannish colored orb slamming into the gnoll’s chest. It looked really hurt now, breathing heavily, getting ready to run.

Absolutely barreling up the stairs came Fjord, slashing the air with his falchion to release an Eldritch Blast. The energy seemingly stabbed through the gnoll as it connected, leaving this burning hole in its center before it fell to the ground and collapsed dead.

It was like the whole group paused, as we scanned the room. Then breathed a sigh of relief. Jester was immediately down rummaging through the bodies, along with Mollymauk.

As they did, I stood over the pack lord.

“Can I use that dagger when you’re done?” I asked Jester, as she removed its ears.

“Yes, of course, here you go!”

I took it and began cutting off a piece of its cobbled together armor. My foot was firmly planted on the dead gnoll’s head as I tugged the leather chunk free. I pocketed it, but felt the gaze of a few of my party members. Fjord and Nott were both preoccupied, but the others watched, curiously.

Of the group, I saw Beau and Mollymauk’s eyes go from the piece of cloth to my patchwork skirt. Mollymauk just raised a brow and continued to rummage through the gnolls’ pockets, while Beau continued to stare at me, sizing me up.

When Jester and Molly gave up, what they had to show for it was the glaive the pack lord had wielded, roughly 13 gold pieces, and three silver. It was sturdy, it had some of the spines that were part of the armor as well affixed to it along the top.

“Who wants this gold? Anybody?” Jester asked.

“Well, if you’re offering.” I chuckled.

“Never say no to gold.” Mollymauk said.

“I could use it.” Shakäste said.

“Yeah?” Jester asked.

“Sure.”

“Here is three gold for you.”

“You are the best thing.”

“Here is three gold for you.” Jester handed Mollymauk three gold, and turned to me, “And for you.” She put three gold in my hand.

“How much was in there?” Caleb asked.

“There’s four gold left. Here’s three gold for you. I’ve got one gold left.”

“Yeah, I’ll take it.” Beau said, raising a hand.

Jester pocketed the silver, and her ear-jar, and we started walking to the next room. As we got closer to the exit where a broken, hinged archway stood, a double door archway about eight to ten feet wide, a new smell rushed into my nose. Previously it had been just decaying earth and dust, but now there was a musky smell that resembled the faint mixture of urine and citrus. It was hard to place, but it was new and different than the rest of the mines we’d been through.

“It’s a step up for me.” Caleb joked.

“We got all the ears?” Nott asked.

“We got all the ears. Should we search for more survivors and then burn it to the ground?” Jester asked.

“Like the mine?” Caleb asked.

“Yeah.”

“Burn the mine to the ground? Under the ground?”

“Well, we can explode it.”

“

You

can.” Mollymauk said.

I grinned, “Boom.”

“I appreciate your excitability. Why don’t I let the bird do the talking?” Shakäste suggested.

“You mean search for people?” Jester asked.

“That’s what I meant, baby. Thank you.” Shakäste said.

A humming sound zipped by as I saw the Duchess make her way further down the tunnel. It wasn’t long before Shakäste started telling us what the Duchess was seeing...

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

A humming sound zipped by as I saw the Duchess make her way further down the tunnel. It wasn’t long before Shakäste started telling us what the Duchess was seeing...

“Beyond the broken doorway the tunnel grows rougher.” He began, “It’s snaking a little bit forward, through ten, 15 foot wide tunnels, to an opening into a large, rocky alcove formation. There’s some broken digging equipment around the corners.

“It slopes down from the immediate entrance to this tunnel, hits the wall before it, and rises a few feet past that to a smaller platform that meets the opposite side of the wall. There are two folks sitting against each other, roped up by this rock platform. And this...Human-like, but seems to have large chunks of gnoll flesh strapped to their body, kinda nasty.”

“There is this individual carrying baubles and chains of some symbols across their neck and they’re spattered with blood. They’re standing at the top, currently holding a third person bound in ropes, and dragging them up the stairs to this platform on the opposite end. There’s also a priestly-like fellow, holding one of the crownsguard. He’s still alive.”

“There’s this pile of broken wood, rope, burlap and scrap and…..it’s moving. It’s a creature. Got two large, brown red, leathery wings and covered in fur.”

“What should we do? What should we do?” Jester asked, eyes darting around to the rest of us.

“We should wait and see what else unfurls in this thing.” Shakaste said. He paused, concentrating.

“It’s standing up and has this large, lion-like body and torso the size of a rhino, massive and muscled, with giant clawed paws. Has this red, fiery mane of hair and a humanoid female face, dark and tanned, with this large, curled grin. Got some real sharp teeth, but weirdly humanoid. The priest’s saying something—

Come, gifted mother. Feed and may you grow strong. Your strength is a boon from Yeenoghu, and one that will bring us much more meat in the time to come....

“They’re gonna feed it the guard. “Your god meats hold me to nothing, but your offer pleases me and my child.” Oh it’s got a kid—“

The crownsguard’s scream echoed back through the cavern.

“I think that means he ate him!” Jester hissed.

Abruptly, the screaming stopped.

“Get your medical kit ready.” Nott said.

“Don’t think it’s going to help.”

“Healing potion?” Nott looked to me.

“I think it’s too late.” I said.

“This sacrifice will not end.” Shakäste said, gravely.

“Should we go in?” Jester asked.

“We should talk. This is going to take a minute.”

The Grand Duchess buzzed back on to Shakäste’s shoulder.

“How flammable is that nest?” Mollymauk asked.

“I meant it’s–” Jester began, panic taking over a second, “What are we doing? What are we doing? We got to go in, we got to throw some dynamite, get the people out, and run!”

“We got one stick.” Shakäste said.

“We got two sticks!” Jester pointed to me.

“And I can make three weaker ones on the spot if we need them.” I said.

“I didn’t hear about any support columns. I’m just going to say it." Fjord said.

“No, we hit the nest. Set the nest on fire and it’ll run.” Molly argued.

“Yeah. You got to get pretty danger close to do that, though.”

“Maybe not. Sera, you’ve got a fire spell or two, don’t you?”

“I’ve got Create Bonfire, I can get it lit from 60 ft.”

“I could potentially use Firebolt, give us more range? 120 ft.” Caleb added.

“That’d be a possible distraction, but what’d stop them from attacking the village and doing it all again later, when we’ve moved on?” Fjord asked.

“This does seem to be a cult of some kind.” Shakäste nodded, “...Well, personally I’m a fan of freedom of religion, but that’s got its limits.”

“It’s fair to draw a line at human sacrifice.” Molly said.

“I think so.”

“Yeah. Let’s–”

“We can’t possibly kill whatever that beast is.” Nott argued.

“I don’t know, maybe not on our own, two at a time. I’m pretty tapped, but there’s a lot of us here and only a few of them there, according to our new friend.” Caleb said.

“But there’s only two survivors in there, right?”

“Two survivors and two enemies, right?”

“Yeah, but what happens if they get sacrificed?” Beau asked.

“No, I mean, what if we just get the survivors out and leave?” Nott suggested.

“I think that’s smart.”

“I tend to agree with my little friend.”

“And we steal the baby.” Jester said.

“We could also try and seal the cave behind us as we go?” Caleb suggested.

“Sealing the cave would be one thing, I think stealing the baby is going to be a bit of a–” Mollymauk made a face. Fjord nodded.

“I love your enthusiasm, but I tend to agree with Molly here. Maybe the baby just stays put?”

“If we can get the baby, I bet it would fetch a high price.” Beau argued.

“If we can get the baby, the mother’s going to come after it. And she won’t be happy.” I muttered, grimly.

“A baby should be with its mother.” Nott argued.

“Yeah. We might kill the mom though, or bury it.” Jester said.

“I think I’m okay with that.” Fjord said. Nott shrugged.

“As long as they are close to each other.”

I found that a weird sentiment, but didn’t argue it.

“It just ate a Crownsguard in half.”

“Let’s get it out, and then collapse the tunnel leading to it. Then they can get stuck in this room.” Jester said, decisively. I nodded.

“I can handle taking up the back and lighting it up.” I said.

“All right.”

“I will be your backup on that one.” Shakäste nodded.

“We should make our way, though. They’re going to get to the next hostage by the time we get to this room, cause we’re 100 feet away from it still.” Jester said, “Start walking.”

“Stealthy walk.” Molly added.

“

Stealthily.”

“Wait, what’s our plan?” Nott asked.

“We’re going to make a bunch of noise, we’re going to throw some dynamite, we’re going to get the kids to run and we’re going to keep them distracted by threatening the baby.” Fjord explained.

“That’s not a plan.”

“Yes, it is a plan!” Mollumauk said.

“No, to kill or to capture the–”

“We get the guards out, we get the people out.”

“Get the guards out and run? So who are we leaving back with the sticks?” Nott asked.

“Oh, we’re all going to be in there." Jester said.

“We will throw the sticks.” Molly nodded.

“No! We should use the sticks to blow up narrow passage way so they can’t get out!” Nott said.

“That’s what I thought I was doing.” I said.

“Well, we have two sticks. Plus Sera’s maybe three.” Molly said.

“We should use them all!”

“If we run, then we’ll drop the sticks.”

We neared the room and quietly began discussing our best option for getting the villagers out.

“We could cut them free?” Shakäste whispered.

“We’re going to have to keep them busy.” Fjord said.

“You need to sneak in and you need to try to unhook the ropes, okay?” Jester said, looking down to Nott.

“I could try to untie them.” Nott suggested.

“You stealth around. They won’t even know that you’re there while we’re attacking. Untie the guards and then we all run.”

“And if something goes wrong we can distract them by burning up the nest?” I looked to Caleb. He nodded.

“That would distract the mother, at least.”

“Could we distract them with maybe a Thaumaturgy or Spiritual Weapon?” Shakäste asked.

“Spiritual Weapon is really good if you have that, that’s very badass.” Jester nodded, sagely.

“I think Spiritual Weapon could make a lot of noise and call a lot of attention, and then maybe you could sneak through.”

“You could do two Spiritual Weapons if you’re feeling it.” Mollymauk said.

“I know, but then I have no spells left.” Jester said.

“Why don’t we use–okay, here’s the thing. If we start with Spiritual Weapon, we lure their gaze to this side of the area and then if this beautiful young lady could find her way around the other side to free the two–”

“I can sneak in down to those stalagmites.” Nott nodded.

“Yes.”

“She should sneak in before you do Spiritual Weapon, otherwise it’s going to make them aware that something’s going on. The Spiritual Weapon will definitely alert them to our presence.” Jester warned.

“The Spiritual Weapon goes off, giving the people a chance to run out of the place.” Shakäste said.

“Yeah. You make that Spiritual Weapon appear right next to them. You can hit them immediately.”

“Right.”

“You do it right when we do the surprise attack. You sneak in.”

“Yes.” Nott nodded.

“The rest of us can be on distraction duty, yeah? Until we go.” Beau said. Jester nodded. “Nott?”

“Are you good to sneak? I’m going to bless you.” Jester said, putting a hand on Nott’s shoulder.

“Okay.”

“Before you go sneaking around the side.”

“Can I have a ball bearing, please?” Nott looked up at Beau.

“Sure. You can have a few.” Beau handed her a small handful of ball bearings.

“Thank you.” She pocketed them.

“...Did you just want that because it’s shiny?”

“Yeah.”

The group of us successfully muffled our laughter, staying hidden from those in the next room.

“Oh, Nott.”

A very familiar cantrip was cast, a small floating hand in front of us, with a single ball bearing between its thumb and pointer finger. Nott and the hand disappeared into the room ahead of us.

As we approached, I couldn’t quite see the room fully. The Grand Duchess flew in with surprising silence. Nott scurried after it, disappearing into the distance.

The lightest sound, familiar from earlier, of a ball bearing

tinging

down the stairs came from across the room.

“It has spines in its tail.” Shakäste whispered. Somehow that made everything feel foreboding.

I heard the sound of wings flapping, wind brushing past us and down the tunnel. A low, female voice growled out, the sound of a smile:

“Company.”

I readied my crossbow, lining up a vague shot in the direction of the voice, and waited for something to appear out of the darkness.

Loud, dull thuds echoed as its feet impacted the floor.

As the manticore crested the top of the stairs, the large, joker-like, toothy grin of the female manticore glanced up right towards all of us growled.

Twang!

It hissed, more out of annoyance than pain, as my bolt hit and skated past the side of its arm. Mollymauk shouted something in infernal, but the female face just grinned even wider.

Molly backed up, sliding behind me. Fjord rushed forward with a flash of greenish-blue energy, a splash of water spattered across the ground as the water logged falchion appeared in hand. Both hands on the hilt, Fjord slammed his blade into the manticore’s side, slashing twice. Jester ran up to the manticore’s other side but out of the corner of its eye it saw her. The manticore spun its giant, spined tail--practically looking like a porcupine filled with javelins. Its tail rushed past and slammed into Jester’s shoulder. Her sickle flew out of her hand and clattered across the ground, hitting the floor at the bottom of the stairs.

The manticore didn’t let up, its large claw sweeping across the floor and hitting Jester, its claws biting into her skin. Jester shouted out something in infernal--a stark contrast from Mollymauk’s change of voice when he spoke his native tongue, Jester’s own voice sounded the same as she gurgled her words.

With an awkward flick of her wrist, a wave of ice spike energy flew outward and pierced the side of the manticore’s body in retaliation. The creature spun around, shattering the ice on its torso as it moved, and lashed out with another attack this time directed at Fjord. The ice on Fjord’s armor reacted, a burning hiss coming from the creature’s paw from the attack.

It grinned widely towards him and the mouth opened wide enough to see three separate rows of teeth like a horrible shark maw. It lunged forward to bite towards him, jaw clamping down onto him. The ice from his armor again bit back at the creature, and as she let go it was clear that she’d taken some damage. Her wings flapped, sending a quick but violent wind through the cavern, and she was up in the air.

I re-notched my crossbow. While I favored my scimitar, this was my best bet for damage with the manticore in the air. With a quick aim--with its size, a hard target to miss--another bolt went flying and hit it in the wing. Beau darted past me to Jester’s side as the creature cried out.

Dancing lights rushed forward, following her into the cavern, filling the room with light.

I saw Fjord stiffen with a jolt, his muscles locked up, and my eyes darted to the priest across the room just in time to see him lower his outstretched hand and duck behind a stalagmite.

Glowing beneath the manticore appeared what looked to be a floating bust of a tiny curly-headed elderly woman. It slammed its way into the torso of the manticore, bludgeoning it repeatedly as if a ghost was using it as a weapon.

There was a passing thought in the back of my mind about how odd this group was.

Mollymauk stepped closer, almost guarding Caleb as the two of us stood in front of him now. He yelled out in infernal and I realized he didn’t have much in the way of a ranged attack.

Across the room came a burst of pink energy that sparkled around the priest as he looked over towards Jester and continued to try and crouch behind the stalagmite.

Jester ran down and grabbed her sickle from the floor.

“Save yourself!” Beau yelled over to the captives. Where Nott was, was a mystery, but the captives were no longer bound.

“This is why you don’t plan, Nott! This is why we don’t plan! Because plans go wrong!” Mollymauk called out.

Jester darted towards the priest, sickle in hand.

“

Get the fuck out of here!”

Nott revealed herself, racing past the captives and making a bum-rush for the baby Manticore.

“Oh no!” Molly, Beau, and I spoke in sync.

“Nott the Brave!” Beau cheered as Nott stood over the baby.

“

YOU WANT TO SAVE THIS THING!?”

Nott yelled. With both hands, Nott held her shortsword above the baby.

As she plunged her shortsword down into the mewling, eye-covered cub, it went still, and the mother manticore flying up in the air turned around to watch this, and gave a deafening roar.

Nott screamed.

“GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!”

“WHAT THE HELL--” “OH MY GOD!” “NOTT!”

We were all in shock, impressed and terrified.

“I take it back!

Plan!”

Molly yelled.

At top speed the manticore landed by Nott, shaking the floor of the cave. With intense fury it struck down towards Nott, and instead its claw got jammed into the ground. As it wretches it out, its other claw slashed across Nott’s small body. It lunged forward in a murderous rage, rows of teeth crushing into Nott, leaving her on death’s door.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

At top speed the manticore landed by Nott, shaking the floor of the cave. With intense fury it striked down, but its claw got jammed into the ground as it missed. Its other claw slashed across Nott’s small body. She had no time to cry out before the Manticore lunged forward in a murderous rage, rows of teeth crushing into Nott, leaving her on death’s door.

The civilians ran towards Molly, Caleb, and I at the door and we heard a groggy yell from Nott,
“Yeah, leave, motherfuckers! LEAVE!”
They were gasping, tripping and falling, but managed to make their way there, frightened, covered in all sorts of dirt and gore, but the roar set a further fire in them.

I ran in the opposite direction towards Nott and the Manticore, passing the civilians. I knew I couldn’t make it to Nott quick enough to get her a potion. Without any better idea, I pulled out a potion and put my hand out as I ran. A phantom hand appeared from me and grasped the potion, shooting forward to hand it to Nott.

“Nott, the fuck?!” Beau yelled as she took off in a full sprint towards her, able to make it to her side and scoop her up like a football drill.

She turned and ran back, away from the creature--but she wasn’t quick enough. It lunged, biting into Nott again.

Her scream rang out, echoing in the cavern.

Beau tried to tug Nott out of the teeth of it.
The manticore’s fangs ground across Nott’s body, dragging wounds like daggers across her face and chest, blood pouring out of each of the scars.

The potion bottle clattered to the floor, but didn’t break.

A strike of ice blasted into the manticore, freezing part of the mane and the fur on its body. The skin and fur impacted, cracked, and exposed muscle beneath the skin. Beneath the manticore's roar of pain a high pitched scream was heard across the room.

The priest had reached out and grabbed onto Jester’s armor, and with a burst of black energy, the veins under Jester’s blue skin began to pulse with black. She screamed out as her eyes lolled back and closed, and she hit the ground, unconscious.

Beau stood between the two unconscious people, looking between them, horrified.

A quick shot of fire burned the priest, about the same time as a yell in infernal from Mollymauk echoed around the room, quickly followed by “Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.” in Common.

Fjord darted forward and pulled out a healing potion, pouring it into Jester’s mouth. Jester’s eyes slipped open.

“Go!” Fjord nodded.

“Thank you!” Jester stood up and reached out, casting Cure Wounds on Nott.

Nott gasped to life.

Then she looked up at Beau.

“The fuck?!”

Jester took a chance and darted away. The priest tried to strike out with his dagger, but the dagger hit her armor and scraped off the metal.

“Oh, this is crazy.” Nott whined as she rifled in her pockets, still aloft in Beau’s arms. She looked up at the manticore, took out a tart that Jester had shared, and crumpled it onto the ground. She pointed up to the manticore and yelled:

“What did the incontinent druid say on his surprise birthday party? ...I’m so excited, I wet my

plants!”

Despite the adrenaline, fear, and pain...the group of us groaned.

“Wow.” Fjord shook his head.

“Never mind, leave her behind.” Mollymauk said.

The manticore turned around, eyes filled with fury and anger, and growled. I thought the spell had failed--but all of a sudden she began to chuckle. As its mouth opened from the laughter, I saw the jagged teeth, filled with Nott’s own blood, and the forked tongue lashing around from the laughter as it fell on the ground, cackling. The sight was worth a nightmare; the goblin blood in this lighting looked black, dripping from its fangs as the manic creature lay convulsing on the ground.

Nott jumped down from Beau’s arms and ran in the opposite direction of the creature. 
There was a pause where you could feel the energy of the room, of the party all debating our next move silently.

We could try to kill this thing and the priest, or we could take this as an opportunity to make a run for it. I didn’t want to make the call, so I drew my scimitar and went in on the priest, slashing across his back with my double bladed scimitar. I spun and attacked with the other blade--both hits connected and he let out a scream.

Back to back he got hit by a two-handed staff swing from Beau, right across the face. She knocked part of the gnoll-head off of him, off-kilter to the side. He spit blood, stumbling as he tried to stay standing, and looked back at her, “Do not worry. He will come for you too.”

“Don’t patronize me!” Beau hissed. She smacked him with her elbow and I saw his jaw dislodge a bit. He spun out on one foot from the force of it before he crumpled to the ground.

A bolt of flames shot from behind us, heat rushing past and firing onto the floor by the Manticore, missing but leaving a char mark on the ground.

The floating bust of an elderly lady--because that’s a thing we have--made its way over to the Manticore, following suit. It lined up its shot as the Manticore lay cackling. The bust slammed into the manticore, exploding into light and energy that dug into the creature.

Shakäste dropped the reed in his hand, almost like he sensed it was the end.

A stillness settled over the room.

“You know what?” Shakäste began, “...I did that out of love. For someone who just lost their child.”

Shakäste smiled, the merciful grin of a person who understood that the loss of a child is hard, and released a torrent of energy. As the writhing stopped, and the manticore began to stand up, looking down, she looked back at the corpse of the child now laid still. She looked back at Shakäste with a look of pity and acceptance before a burst of gore shot out of her chest, and the creature fell to the ground, motionless.

Silence took the chamber.

...

“...Well, time to light the TNT, let’s go.” Fjord ushered towards the door.

“You all right?” Mollymauk asked Shakäste. He nodded.

“Yes...Sometimes a mercy doesn’t look loving, but it doesn’t make it less merciful.”

“It was the right thing to do. That thing, that close to a village?” Mollymauk shook his head.

“Yeah.” Caleb agreed.

“I’m going to do a quick scan. See if there’s anything of interest.” Beau said. She wandered over to the priest, looting the body. She pulled a pair of goggles off of him, and immediately started putting them on.

“C’mon, I need night vision goggles!”

“You do.” Caleb nodded.

“Don’t touch it!” Jester pointed to a red glove the priest was wearing, “I wonder if that makes spells better.”

Fjord made his way over to the nest to take a look. I sat down nearby, “If we’re going to look for a bit, I can cast Identify as a ritual? It takes 10 minutes…”

“Let’s see what I find.” Fjord nodded.

The pile of items began: A skeletal hand that had been mostly chewed through that held a single fleshy finger that still had a ring of beautiful silver make and a blue gem. A refined and well-carved stick that didn’t match the rest of the rather rough wood. Chains, but larger than normal chains, attached to a set of unlocked manacles, much larger than any human manacles I’d ever seen. There were four identical loops, a little over one foot in diameter, all attached via this chain to one larger one about four feet in diameter.

“That’s huge.” Nott commented.

“Was it for the manticore?” I asked.

“Probably. They’ve got a rune on it.” Fjord squinted at it, “Don’t recognize it.”

Caleb settled on the floor next to us, and for a second I thought about what a strange picture we were together. Fjord, Caleb, and I sitting on a floor casually discussing arcane runes, whilst surrounded by a bleeding Manticore carcass.

As if to make it weirder, Jester came up and started petting the Manticore.

“Aw, fuck that thing.” Fjord groaned when he saw her petting it.

The central portion of the chamber began to fill with a thick mist, somewhat obscuring my vision. I could only see a few feet in front of me, but knew the cause. Fog Cloud, a spell I was familiar with from my time at sea with the crew.

“What was that?” Jester’s voice echoed.

“Is this supposed to happen?” Mollymauk’s voice.

“What’s going on?” Nott’s voice.

I could see Caleb at my side and Fjord near us, the three of us still on the ground so as not to lose each other.

“We should get out of here.” Jester said. The fog began to dissipate.

“Yeah.” Fjord called, “Hey, Molly?”

“Yeah?”

“You want to help me butcher that manticore head?”

“Let’s do this.”

“Yeah.”

Within a few moments, between the triple-blades that the two of them wield, they managed to carve a fresh female manticore head.

Its resemblance to a human female without its lion body now was further disturbing.

“We’re not going to take those giant manacles are we?” Nott asked.

“Yeah.” Jester nodded.

“I’ll take the tail.” Shakäste said.

“Yeah we’ll be taking

all

of that.” Fjord nodded.

“It’s huge, can we carry that?” Nott asked.

“Just over the shoulder, just walk out.”

“

I

can’t carry it, that’s how much I weigh.”

“Even I couldn’t carry that.”

The group of us organized who would carry what, and we began our march to the surface.

~

The light of the day was growing closer to sunset, but we returned to the shack, which had been untouched, unsullied since our leaving. The remainder of the survivors greeted us upon us letting them know we’ve returned, and we watched two more reunions occur as the two individuals we had saved from the belly of the manticore found the rest of their family within the survivors. We gathered the rest of the bodies, and whoever needed the travel, and began to load up the cart, as well as the manticore head, which we roped onto the cart without much of an issue.

It took a couple of hours to make it back to the outskirts of Alfield. Back through the forest that cradled the northeast side of the city, a handful of crownsguard that were keeping watch for any sort of incursion watched us approach and immediately one of them put up a hand, “Halt. Who goes there?”

“All hail, the conquering heroes!” Mollymauk called.

“The saviors of Alfield have returned!” Jester joined in.

“Huzzah!”

I rolled my eyes, but started laughing when I saw the crownsguard spot the manticore head.

“Right the, um, yes– come this way,” He seemed to not be able to deal with the fact that we’d arrived with all of these survivors, let alone the head of a manticore.

Since we’d seen Alfield last, a number of buildings still were in cinders and ash. But the people were in the process of cleaning and rebuilding their lives from the night before. Within a short time, the crownsguard seemed to have brought Bryce back for us. The now familiar genderfluid half-elf with blonde shoulder-length hair and armor approached us; the current Watchmaster, Bryce. They seemed to be recovering from the wound they sustained the night before and as we approached they immediately came up to us with a bit of a jog.

“My gods, you’ve certainly come through on my–what is that?”

“It’s a manticore head.” Jester said.

“There was a lot.” Molly said.

“A lot going on.” I nodded.

“Apparently.” They scratched their head, and shook their head in wonderment, “Well, you’ve–Thank you. What do we call you?”

The group of us looked to one another in a panic.

“Oh shit.” Beau murmured.

“Oh fuck.” Jester echoed.

“We’ll get back to you.” Nott spoke up.

“Yeah.” Fjord nodded.

“We’re still a–” Jester shrugged.

“This is all very new.” Mollymauk said. Fjord nodded again,

“We’re the TBDs.”

“Very well.”

The woman we had helped earlier came forward with two oft he members, “Bryce, Watchmaster, all of these people came and helped my baby. And–” and turned and looked at Shakäste.

Shakäste put a finger to his lips, a silent shh. The woman paused.

“Anyway, thank you all.”

Other folks started to come out of their respective homes now to see the spectacle. Children were gawking and I heard gasps at the sight of the horrible beast head, the tongue lolling out and dragging across the ground.

People were gathering and having reunions, other people were beginning to identify the dead that had been brought in the cart...and while there was sadness and crying, there was also closure. There were even some still that were disappointed to not see those they had hoped to see amongst those who had been recovered.

Still, a hero’s night was prepared and people began to bring forth food. For a brief moment past the darkness, I heard music begin to build as people began to bring chairs and tables out to the center of the town square, the intersection of where Alfield’s simple backwoods lifestyle seemed to still understand what celebration is, in the face of victory.

Treated like a hero. It was something that had happened rarely, but never at this scale for me. The attention felt misplaced, but I didn’t let it show.

Jester pulled out the jar of ears. Before she handed them over, she opened the lid and whispered in: “Thaddeus Candleglow says hello.”

She looked down at Nott. “I think I did what he asked.”

“He said to do that. He said to say that to the people.”

“They heard it.”

Nott wandered over to Caleb and I noticed Shakäste keeping a distance. The Duchess is perched on his shoulder, and he scrawled something in the dirt with that long reed. From what I could make out, it looked kind of like a “H.”

With that, he faded into the forest.

“We don’t get to say goodbye.” Beau whined from my side.

“He’s the coolest.” Jester nodded.

“He’s so cool.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Where we last left off, the party had been travelling northward into the Marrow Valley, eventually making their way towards the city of Zadash. Along the way, they were passing by the city of Alfield as a gnoll warband set fire to the city. The party rushed in to aid the denizens there and managed to slay a few attackers, but the gnolls managed to escape with a number of bodies and living members of the community.

The party was given the opportunity to make some money by finding out where the gnolls were and retrieving those who were taken. They discovered an abandoned mine that the gnolls had been using as a hideout. While battling these gnolls, the party encountered a new ally: Shakäste and his amazing little dark hummingbird. All of them together managed to make their way through, save a number of lives, and encounter the priest of these gnollish creatures who had been using these members of the town to help feed a mother manticore. In battle with it, Nott slew the baby manticore, drawing its mother’s ire. The party took both the manticore and the priest out by the skin of their teeth. In doing so they saved many lives, and made their way back to town.

Upon returning, the sun had set. Members of the city of Alfield began to thank the group for what they’d done. People came out into the streets and made small campfires, played music, and took this moment to both grieve and be thankful that there are individuals who will stand up and show strength in the face of darkness, even this far out on the edges of the empire.

During the festivities, the new friend Shakäste vanished from the vicinity…

We glanced about, and at a quick look, he was gone.“Where did Shakäste go?” Jester asked.“I don't know. He's very mysterious.” Nott said. Beau nodded,“He's the coolest.”“He's like the wind.” Jester said, sagely. She gasped— "Maybe he was the Traveler!”“What does that mean, the Traveler?” Nott asked.“The Traveler.”“…What does that mean?”“It's like a deity.” Fjord explained.“Well, yeah, mostly. Yeah.” Jester said.“Oh.” Nott cocked her head.“I mean he takes many forms.”“Do you worship the Traveler?”“Maybe I'm the Traveler.”“…Okay, maybe she doesn't worship the Traveler.”“I mean, yeah, sure. I worship him, sure. He's more like my best friend.”“Jester, don't you think that if that was the Traveler he would have said, "Hey. I'm the Traveler."?” Fjord asked.“Probably.”“He didn't seem very irreverent in the way the Traveler seems to be.” Beau said.“Yep.” Fjord agreed. Jester looked at Beau wide-eyed.“How do you know what the Traveler's like? Do you hang out with the Traveler too!?”“No, but I hang out with you.”“Oh, right.”“I’d assume he’s kind of irreverent, or I don't think he would appreciate you saying stuff like ‘maybe I’m the Traveler’. I feel like some gods would be mad at that.” I reasoned.“Oh yeah, he doesn’t care about that kind of stuff at all, he’s like, really cool.” Jester said.“I thought that Shakäste guy was ‘really cool’ though. He was good.” Caleb said.“He was.” “He was pretty cool.” “He was talented.” The group sang his praises for a bit. But Nott was looking up at Caleb, concerned.“Are you okay, Caleb? You went a little quiet there for a little while.”“Is that your first time killing something? Or somebody?” Beau asked.“He was burned alive in front of me.” Caleb said, almost a ‘duh’ tone of voice as he explained his shock.“Yeah, you did that, though.”“I am well aware that I killed a person. I have nothing else to say, why is everyone looking at me?”I could tell the line of questioning was annoying him, or maybe just Beau’s bluntness about it. But the group was on a roll.“Have you ever killed someone before?” Jester asked.“We were worried. Kind of went into a state. Just making sure you are all right.” Fjord reeled it in.“I'm okay.”“All right, yeah.”“It was terribly grisly; his hair was on fire and he burned horribly. Maybe it went a little bit further than I anticipated--I have killed people before in defense, ja. But not like that.”“Well, there's one sure-fire way to make sure that he's all right,” Molly slapped a hand on Caleb’s shoulder, “Which is, we get drunk on something really expensive and listen to the stories of all the people we just saved , so you can feel better about everything that just happened.”Part of me was surprised that it actually sounded like that could help.“Okay, that sounds good.” Caleb said.“We're going to spend a ridiculous amount of the money we just made.”“I'm okay with that.” Jester agreed. Beau nodded,“I am too.”“Oh, didn't we get some items as well?” Nott asked.“Oh, yeah! Who was it that had that stuff?” Jester asked. Fjord raised his hand.“Yes, you, the small one in the back!” Molly pointed. Fjord made a face, but continued,“Yeah, we have a silver ring with a little blue gem on it.”“Can I have it!?” Jester asked, excitedly.“Hold on a second!”“I like rings!”“Fucking pace yourself, all right? Yeah, I know. The bling is going to come your way, all right. We have a carved wand. Anybody have a wand that's not carved?”“Is it a stick?” Nott asked.“It is.”“I like sticks.”“Oh, shit. Well. Yeah. We got some chained manacles, they're some big sons of bitches with a bunch of runes on the cuffs.”“I like manacles.” Mollymauk grinned.Meanwhile, Beau pulled out a pair of goggles. Molly looked over, staring at the goggles, “Those are fancy.”Beau put them on, leather with a blue-purple glass lenses that bubbled out.“What does it look like? Is it like a kaleidoscope?” Jester asked.“Holy shit, you guys. Is this what you can see all the time?” Beau looked around wildly.“I don't know, what does it look like?”“It's like I got night vision! Like I can see... things!”“Look over here.” Caleb called. Beau turned to him. “You look like a nerd.”I snorted, caught off guard by the joke. Caleb and Molly both looked at me, looking pleased for different reasons.“...I can deal with that, it's fine.”“That's great. With you humans—” Fjord began--“I can see shit!”“--Yeah, it's real important. We were running into problems—"“I'm curious, can I try them on really quick?” Molly asked.After a fiasco of trying to get them around Mollymauk’s jewelry adorned horns, they got the goggles on.“…Yeah, this is nothing.”“Lies.” Beau huffed.“Anticlimactic.” I joked.“Can you see through my clothes?” Nott asked as Beau got the goggles back.“Do you want me to see through your clothes?”Nott paused, in thought.“…No.”“Nah.”“Hey Caleb? I remember you have an ability to identify?” Fjord asked.“I don't have an ability, I understand certain magics. If you want me to explain what those things are before you try them willy-nilly, yes, I can tell you—” Caleb began, “Although if memory serves, Serasai can do the same spell?”I blinked, surprised.“Yeah, how did you know that?”Caleb looked sheepish.“I remember seeing it when I read your spellbook. I’m sorry if I assumed you knew that spell already--?”“Oh!” I remembered Caleb’s photographic memory, and it all made sense. “No, no you’re right, I’m happy to help identify the treasure.”“Ooh, then look at the ring I want!” Jester grabbed my arm, practically squee-ing.“Yeah, sure, yes.” Fjord handed Caleb the ring.“May I see the wand then?” I asked.“Absolutely. Here's the carved wand.”I saw Caleb slip the ring in his pocket.“We’ll need some somewhat valuable pearls,” He said, “then we can do the spell all day long. I can know what anything is, even though I am tired.”“I actually don’t need a pearl, but it will take some time. Not too long, but if I cast it as a ritual I don’t need any components.” I explained.“Fancy.” Fjord nodded. I shrugged as Caleb looked at me, an unreadable expression.Jester’s loud gasp cut his stare off. She was pointing excitedly at Nott—“You have a pearl!”“Would you—"“Oh, yes, let me—” Caleb paused, looking to Nott, “Can I borrow this?”Nott paused for a moment, before handing Caleb the ring. It was clear she didn't want to part with a new item for her collection, but it was also clear that she trusted Caleb. Caleb nodded, “This is not instantaneous. Since I am so tired, it takes me a little bit longer.” He started taking a book out of his book holsters.“Maybe we could hit a tavern? Or find somewhere to sit so we can set up more comfortably?” I suggested.“We'll make sure you're not disturbed.” Fjord agreed.“It's up to you. I haven't done this in a while and I'm excited to do it. But I could hold off a little.” Caleb said.“I require drink and lumbar support.” Molly nodded.“Okay.”“Okay, yeah.” Fjord turned to Mollymauk, “Molly, I need something from you.”“Yes?”“Find us a fucking bar.”“On it.”“Should we just go to the Feed and Mead?” Nott asked.“Let's do it!” Jester said.“Or somewhere else?”“I hope they have milk.”“Because the Candleglow Inn is fucking toast.”“That candle’s burned out.” I said. “Ooo! Bad taste!” Fjord winced, joking.“Like calling it fucking toast is any better.” I shoved his arm."I’M LOOKING FOR THE BEST PUB IN THIS BLOODY TOWN!”I flinched as Mollymauk screamed at the top of his lungs."Huh, that would be my place where you are staying." A voice said. We turned around. Right behind us stood the dwarven owner of the Feed and Mead. Molly took his word for it;“Onward!”~We made our way up to the bar and Crute, the owner, slid behind it, ready to serve. The majority of the town had followed us, and it looked like the party was going wherever we were going. As we began to order drinks, various villagers prevented us from paying, thanking us for our service to the town of Alfield and to their loved ones.“Very, very generous.” Fjord thanked the town, a deep southern drawl in his voice. He then leaned close to Beau and I, whispering; “Fucking drink up.”I began knocking back a drink until Caleb came up to me. “I'm going to find a corner table in the ruckus. Serasai, are you joining?” Caleb said, gesturing to a back table, drink in hand.“Yes, let’s go.” I agreed. Identifying everything wouldn’t take too long, especially with the two of us, and after it was done I’d have all night to enjoy myself.Jester came and sat with us, pestering Caleb, thankfully, as we began our separate spells. There were some similarities in how we cast, the main difference being Caleb having to hold the pearl ring to his forehead for an extended time while my approach was more hands-on. We finished casting around the time the others came to join us, drinks in hand.“What is it, Caleb?” Jester asked, excited. “This is good. You may have it.” He handed the ring back to Jester, “I don't get into water too much, as you could guess. This is good for walking yourself upon water. You take this, as promised.”Caleb explained the ring in a little more detail, it was a Ring of Water Walking. “You can stand on and move across any liquid surface?” Jester asked. “Yeah, but also why is there a dickbutt in my spellbook?”I looked down at the spellbook and grinned as I saw the crude doodle Jester had undoubtedly done.“Where did that come from?” Jester asked, innocently.“I don't know. Maybe it was Nott pulling a prank on me.”“Probably. It was probably Nott. Wow, this ring is so cool!”“Hey Caleb are you exhausted from that experience? We do have other items to—” Fjord trailed off.“No. This is my thing, so what else did we get?”“These big fucking chain manacles I've got over my shoulder.” Fjord deadpanned.“I need another ten minutes. Fjord, would you get me a second whiskey? By the time you get back, maybe I will understand what this is.” Caleb said.“Oh, and me? Just finishing with the wand.” I explained. “I ain't a fucking waitress.” He mumbled, “What’s the wand?” He asked.The spell completed and I instinctively knew what the wand was. It took a second for me to realize the implications, and when I did it must have show on my face.“What is it?” Jester asked.“It's a wand of dickbutts.” Fjord joked.“How fortunate.”“You’re not too far off.” I sighed. Fjord’s eyes widened.“I’m not too far off!? What does that mean!?” He was half laughing, incredulous.“What is it?” Jester asked.“It’s not for you, you’ve got the ring already.” I said.“That is avoiding the answer.” Beau said.“What is it?!”“What does the wand do?” Molly asked.“Yeah, I was going to say, you can just share.” Fjord reasoned. “You have to tell us.” Jester said.“It’s not good to give into peer pressure, I have to set an example.” I said, joking.“Then I'm taking your drink away. You don't get to drink.” Mollymauk said, grabbing my glass and drinking some of it.“HEY!”“You can trade it back? Wand information for your drink.”“I can get another one, that’s an awful trade.” I said, smiling at this dumb exchange and even dumber item.“What’s it dooooooo?” Jester whined, hugging onto my arm.“FINE! But if I tell you, you can’t use it on me ever, deal?” I asked.“Deal!” Jester held out her pinky. We made a pinky-swear.“It’s a Wand of Smiles. It forces people to smile for about a minute.”Jester’s eyes lit up and Fjord’s jaw went slack.“Oh no—” “YESSSS! That's so CUTE!”“I don’t know who else wants this, so Fjord hang onto it since you’re the pack mule and we can decide in a bit.” I said, handing it over.“Pack mule!?” Fjord huffed.But he still took the wand.“How about the manacles?” I asked. Caleb had been looking them over for a bit now,“Wrapping up.” He said, eyes concentrated on the runes. “Got it.”“Are they valuable? They look valuable.” Fjord said.“They are a very strange one. If you are feeling gassy, they take away the cramps you feel. You have to wear them. It's extraneous, it's too much.”“…Seems extreme.”“It's overkill.” Caleb nodded. His expression was a mask, unreadable, as I looked back and forth between him and Fjord to see if Fjord actually bought this bullshit.“…Yeah, all right. Well mysterious wonders.” Fjord said. I looked away, trying to keep a poker face, and Mollymauk finally handed me my drink. I began drinking in an attempt to hide my expression as the others debated selling the manacles for scrap metal later on.“There’s the glaive as well—Serasai, do you want to identify it?” Caleb asked.“Can do. I know nobody else in the party can wield it, are we still alright with me having it regardless?”“Yeah, better with you getting use out of it than it just sitting around.” Fjord shrugged. I nodded and began the spell. Caleb took over casting a spell on the red glove we’d found too.“Oh!” I said, pleasantly surprised as the spell finished up.“What is it? Is it like super magical?” Jester asked.“Pretty magical. Does more damage than a regular glaive. Nothing flashier than that, but that’s not nothing.” I said.“You going to use it instead of your scimitar?” Fjord asked, pointing to my weaponry.“Probably depend on how I feel. These are sentimental.” I said.“Are they?” Mollymauk asked sarcastically.“Yes, they are.” I said back in the same tone, mocking him.“And those? What is it? Can you shoot fire from your hands? Can you shoot lightning from your hands? Can you catch things really well?” Jester asked, pestering Caleb.“Does it make a very good macaroni and cheese?” Mollymauk asked.Caleb just silently put it in his coat. Jester frowns.“I don't like Caleb looking at our shit anymore. He just looks at it and steals it. He put the ring in his pocket too and I didn’t know if he’d give it back.”“I gave it back.” Caleb said, evenly.“What's with the oven mitt?” Beau asked.“It hurts people.”“Wait, it hurts people so you're going to hang onto it?”"Do you know how to use arcane artifacts?" Caleb asked, almost derisively. “It doesn't matter if I know how to use arcane artifacts. Stuff that hurts people could still be beneficial to our cause, because other people want to hurt us.”“Is is fire based, and that’s the problem with it?” I asked. I didn’t know how else to put it delicately, so I hoped my quieter tone sufficed. “Because I got a glaive, which also hurts people, but you didn’t say anything against it.”“I mean, they have a point. And I know how to use arcane artifacts.” Fjord said.“Yeah, why don't you see if Fjord wants it?”“Oh my goodness. That's really creepy Nott.” Jester said suddenly. I glanced over to see the edges of the toothy, goblin grin curl into this uncontrollable smile that threatened to crack the sides of her face.
She must've taken the Wand in the middle of it all. 
“I can't stop!” Nott said, voice strained as she spoke through her smile.“How do I make it stop?”“I don't know, dear gods!”“It hurts!”“I think it lasts for a minute.”“Oh gods! It's painful!”While we'd all been discussing, it had been surprisingly easy to tune out the fact there were people celebrating all around us in this packed room. But a sudden silence near us made me look over. These two young farm boys that were in there drinking in the back watching us, just started staring at Nott and backing away slowly. "We got to go."“It's okay.” Nott said to them, only succeeding in scaring them more."We've got to go!" They rushed out of the room and everyone else started looking over at the scene. ...“Back to the glove thing, though.” Beau said, turning back to Caleb. He let out a breath. “Serasai’s correct. Yeah. It burns people like I burned that man.”“Oh.” Fjord said, solemnly.“Oh.” Jester echoed. “Well, you don't want to keep it. You hate burning people.”“Exactly.” Beau said.“That could come in very handy.” Fjord pointed out.“It's not fair for you to put your issues onto literal inanimate objects.” Beau said.“Would you like to trade your goggles for them?” Caleb asked.“No. I can't use arcane shit. But he can.” Beau pointed to Fjord with her thumb.“You have that very fancy sword you have.”“Yeah. But sometimes you need batting gloves.” Fjord said.“Does it mean that much to you? Would you like it?”“I would like to see it.”“Okay. Here it is.”“Yep. Hold on…That's a fucking Glove of Fire.”“Do your thing.” Molly gestured. I took my cup off the table, holding it close to me protectively, as if Fjord was gonna set it on fire.“I'm sorry that I kept it for myself. Enjoy. I will not take any of the spoils of anything we find anywhere. Enjoy.” Caleb said. I felt a twinge of annoyance at him trying to play the victim about it. Luckily, Beau spoke my thoughts aloud;“Okay, you didn't frame it that way, though. You put it under the guise of this is bad, this hurts people.”“It does hurt people. You seem very angry at me right now.”“I'm just wondering what your deal is.”“Look. This ring is perfect for you.” Jester took off the ring and held it out for Caleb, “That way if we get near water you don't go in it.”“…I'm slowly, ever so slowly beginning to like you, so please don't fuck it up.” Caleb said, with a hint of a smile.“I think that we should all say thank you to Caleb and Sera for identifying our objects.” Nott squeaked.“Cheers!” Jester held up her cup.“Yeah. That's not the issue. But cheers!”“And Nott,” Fjord began, “May I say thank you for saving my life because I was in a fucking pickle in there and if you hadn't gone and slaughtered that little baby manticore, I'd have been fucked. So thank you.”“You're welcome.” Nott said.“Thank you, Fjord for saving my life.” Jester said.“Did I save your life?”“Didn't you give me a potion?”“I did. Yeah. That's right.”“I woke up and you were over me giving me a potion like a knight in shining armor.”My mind shot back to holding Mollymauk in my lap, giving him a potion, and his eyes blinking up at me.I pointedly looked away from the group as I felt my face heat up.“Yeah. You're right. It was my pleasure. You would have done it for me.”“I probably would have. Probably. I did do it for you though, Nott.”“Did you save me?”“I saved your life!”“Thank you.”As we finish our cheer, everyone else in the room lifts their drinks.“HURRAH!” The town cheered for us.“Huzzah!” Beau shouted, and the whole room echoed, “HUZZAH!”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Today has been the most profitable day in my life. I have never seen so much money cross my path.” Mollymauk said. “More money will come tomorrow because we are selling the ears tomorrow!” Jester clapped, excitedly.“This is ridiculous.”“Yeah!”“Where are the ears? Someone has them safe.” Nott said, looking between us.“Jester has them.” I pointed.“Of course, yeah, I have the ears right here in this pickle jar.” Jester nodded. Nott looked at her, fidgeting in place.“Maybe it should be in Caleb and I's room because we will have the alarm to protect us.”“No, I have them, it's okay.”Mollymauk raised a brow. “Is somebody just going to show up and say I–”“Like who wants pickled ears really, except for me?” Jester interrupted.“...All right.” Nott said. With that settled, Caleb jumped up. “I'm going to go get my cat!” He bounded up the stairs.“I'm going to go eat some pickled ears!” Jester said, following Caleb.“I'm going to watch this.” Mollymauk said, following Jester. “And I’m going to stop this if it’s actually happening.” I said, following him. Everyone else scattered for the night. With Jester having been joking about eating the ears (thankfully) she settled into her bed with a journal. Mollymauk looked briefly disappointed, but then nudged me with his shoulder on the way out the door. I looked over to him as he left, only seeing him give a quick smile goodnight. I shut the door behind me, seeing Beau had already claimed a bed and was spreading out some letters on the blanket. I started getting out my bedroll and getting settled.Jester started speaking, and at first I thought she was talking to Beau and I, but I quickly realized she was praying to The Traveler. “...You know, I don't know what's going on. I'm just hoping that you're here because this is the farthest I've ever gone and I'm afraid that you can't hear me anymore and it's freaking me out a little bit. Because I know that I'm around a bunch of people now and I haven't been before but I want you to know that you're still my best friend and if you want me to be alone I will be if that means that you'll be here.”I faltered, not sure I should have been listening to something so genuine. Beau reached over and handed her a tissue. “Thank you.” Jester took it, then closed her eyes again in prayer, “Okay, that's all, good night.”With her eyes opened again, she looked at Beau and I. She seemed confused by Beau’s staring and my clear refusal to meet her eye. “...What?”“Nothing.” Beau said.“Did you hear that?”“We’re in the room with you?”“...Oh. Right.”Jester curled up on her side and went to bed. I cast a glance to Beau to see if we should say or do anything else, but Beau was happily opening the letters in front of her. Beau, in her own way, didn’t strike me as secretive when it came to other people’s information, so I figured she would tell me in the morning if she found anything important.With that, I laid back and tried to let myself fall into trance. It was still a newer experience for me, so it took some time. A rustle of noise caught my attention, and I opened an eye to see Beau had gotten up to go over to Jester. She pulled her blankets up and tucked her in before returning to her own bed. It was a surprising moment of comfort. And maybe that small bit of care comforted me too, enough to get to sleep. ~Morning came, and it was nice to sleep in for a change. “Hey, Serasai?” Beau called. “What’s up?” “I want to show you something. You too, Jester, check this out.” We gathered around.“You know how I stole some shit from the Baumbauchs on our way out of town?”“I don’t think I knew that.” I said. “...Oh. Well most of it's boring shit, but I stayed up and I was trying to solve it and figure some of this stuff out. This one letter mentions some kind of extract. I was wondering if you might know what it is? Or if it’s fake and some kind of code or something. Take a look at this, what do you think?” Beau handed me one of the letters from yesterday. I took it and read aloud, “Demedan, your request has been approved and the toordolbo extract will be arriving in a case of rose wine from the Evening Nip in the coming week. Many Gifts, The Gentleman.”“The Gentleman . Who's The Gentleman?” Beau asked. Jester peered over my shoulder at the letter.“I don't know but I like your addition of “douche” to Demedan, I agree.” She said, pointing to Beau's note in the margins. “Uh-huh, I wanted to put a reminder for myself.”“Oh yeah, who specializes in a rosé? You're right, that's weird. Especially not the Baumbauchs.”“No, the Baumbauchs don't make rosé.”“I wish they’d made a rosé.” I added.“Yeah, they make, like, ale.” Jester said.“You're right. The place where I came from, you got-- certain regions are going to make certain kinds of wines. That might tell us where it's come from. And, what do you think-- I think the "oblodoro" I think that's a code.”"Toordolbo." Jester corrected.“I’ve never heard of Toordolbo.” I confirmed.“I think it's bloodroot. Is that a thing?” Beau asked. I nodded.“Yeah, it’s a poison. Well, it’s a flower that’s poisonous, causes nausea and vomiting.” I explained, re-reading the letter. “Oh like the insecticide you were talking about? You’d have the shits!” Jester said, excitedly.“Kinda, yeah. Like the insecticide, as is it probably wouldn’t kill you. But it’s not great; they usually fence areas where it’s grown off so kids can’t get to it by accident.” I explained.“OH! I know that flower!” Jester’s eyes lit up in recognition, “It’s super-duper red. I know because I tried to make paint out of one of the flowers one time and it made me want to like seriously puke my guts out. And do the spins, if you know what I mean. Super bad. That's bad.”“And they're wanting an extract, so–” Beau trailed off.“Extra strength. It would be more potent.” I nodded, but my mind was far away. Beau had really found some sort of conspiracy letter about people transporting poison. I made a mental note to keep her eyes off of my future letters. Though I was sure she’d bought the story they were to my old Captain, I didn’t want to risk her recognizing any patterns or trying to pick up a code. “Are the Baumbauchs trying to poison people!?”“Oh my gosh! Well, the Gentleman wants to poison people. Oh, no, the Baumbauchs, yeah, I understand. Wow, do we need to tell someone about this?” Jester looked at us, wide-eyed. “No. Just keep it in the back of your head if you hear something, if something spikes your interest--“If we hear about an outbreak of people vomiting–”“--or about a gentleman.”“Or about a rosé.”“And an Evening Nip.”“Yeah.”“I want to know about these evening nipples-- evening nip.” Beau corrected herself. I chuckled despite myself, and handed her letter back. “In the coming week! That's soon. When did you steal this?” Jester asked. “Four days ago?” Beau guessed. “Oh my gosh, what if we could intercept it? Then we could have all of the poison, and the nips.”“We’d have to be careful not to get caught, or else the Baumbachs and this Gentleman would not be happy. We don’t know how dangerous they are.” I cautioned. Beau nodded.“Let's keep this-- we'll workshop it.”“Oh man,” Jester let out a big sigh, “I'm really hungry though I'm going to go downstairs.”“Let's get some food.”~After breakfast with the group, finding Bryce wasn’t too difficult in the small town. He was working at the jail, but came out to meet us quick enough when he heard we were here. Bryce came out in ceremonial maroon and gold crownsguard robes. "You're awake! Come, I've been able to gather enough pay for your deeds the other day. Please, do step inside." They lead us over to their desk, "How many set of ears have been procured?"“19 sets!” Jester handed over the pickle jar. Bryce looked a little disturbed by the jar, but only for a moment before they schooled their features and took it."That comes to--" They pulled up a small chest and began to count out change into a large sack. Two more large sacks followed before they slid them across his desk. "A total of 570 gold pieces."“We also brought home live people and also some dead people. We brought home seven dead bodies.” Jester recounted. I was strangely so proud of her for keeping track, my eyes already lit up at the sight of gold before us. Maybe I should’ve been embarrassed by how quickly the group had realized I was a bit obsessed with treasure; but I felt like with the life I lived it was only natural. "Seven dead bodies at five gold per seven, that will come to 35 gold pieces as well. Then the live ones were how many?”“25 gold a piece. How many live people did we bring back? I didn't have those in jars.” Jester asked, looking at the party.“Twelve, people.” Caleb interrupted. All of us looked over to him in surprise at the number, before it clicked; Shakäste had saved some before us, and left beforehand, leaving the glory and bounty to us. I did some mental math as Bryce counted out the coins. 130 gold each, split evenly! Bryce pulled out a large book and began writing feverishly, "For my own ledgers, because I do have to present this paper work to the crown for the approval of these rewards, what do we call you?"“We should have talked about this. What do you guys think?” Jester asked.“We're very strong.” Nott said.“That's true, we are. We're very strong.”“We have to leave a paper trail, is that a thing that actually has to happen?” Mollymauk questioned. I didn’t adore the idea but it was preferable to including our actual names.“What if we're The Strong?” Jester suggested.“We're like the mighty.” Fjord said.“The Mighty! That's good!”“Hey there new guy,” Beau turned to Caleb, “You know good words that like sound cool in Zemnian right?”“We are The Mighty Nein.” Caleb said, definitively. “Nein?” “Nein!” “The Mighty Nein.”“I can buy that.” Mollymauk nodded.“Yeah, why not? There's one, two, three, four–“ Fjord counted. “Eight of us if you count Yasha.” I said. Molly shot me a grin, glad I had remembered to include her.“Well, close enough.”“It's just a spelling that is tricky.” Caleb turned back to Bryce."Please, do spell it for me."“Yeah 'Mighty' in Common is spelled M-I–““I will pull your beard off your face.” Fjord threatened, trying not to smile.“G-H-T-Y…Now we come to the next word. N-E-I-N. We are The Mighty Nein.”"All right, The Mighty Nein, that is from the paperwork. Are you staying a while in Alfield then?"“Think we’re traveling through.” I said, looking to the others.“I mean, do you want to keep hiring us for always?” Jester asked."I don't have much in the way of work here for your type at the moment."“You seem to be at peace with the current situation,” Fjord said, looking around, “I think it might be in our best interest that we moved on.”“Traveling through.” Mollymauk echoed."Whereabouts are you going?" Bryce asked, curiously.“We're going to Zadash.”"Interesting, well that's much larger for the tastes of most field folk out here. I lived there for about three years when I was younger, in the West Outersteads before joining the Crownsguard and shipping off to Bladegarden. If you are indeed off to Zadash and are in need of a friend, if she's still there; ask for Claudia Sheed at the Leaky Tap.”“Oh, I should ask you, is that like the big inn, the big place?” Jester asked."It is of moderate size."“What would be the biggest inn in Zadash? Like the biggest place that if you go like, “Oh, I need to find the biggest inn in Zadash,” this is what it is?”“That would be The Pillow Trove. That's in Tri-Spires. I don't know if you can afford that? I don't know, maybe you can! I don't know."“I just need the most popular one, because that's where my mom is going be sending me stuff. The Pillow Trove.”"Good luck."“Haven’t happened to have heard of a tavern called the Evening Nip, have you?” I asked.“I cannot say off the top of my head, I do tend to stay at the Leaky Tap, as I’ve said. Although I do know most of the inns, so I wouldn’t expect the Evening Nip, as you say, to have lodging.” Bryce said. Their eyes lit up, “Oh! I almost forgot, follow me please." They stood up and closed the ledger and led us back outside. We followed them about two blocks down by the outside of the stables, the On The Wind Stables. There we saw a hardy looking female dragonborn; built and strong, no tail, who was black scaled. She turned around as gave a quick wave to Bryce. "Ah, thank you Durmas. Everyone, this is Durmas. She is the main stable hand here at the On The Wind. We've taken, as a bit of appreciation here, we've outfitted you with a new cart as the previous one was a bit--It had carried many of our dead, so Durmas." And Durmas stepped forth and said, "Great. I have presented for you this cart that we had made. It belonged to somebody here, it is now yours. It is well made, it is larger than what you had previously and does not smell of blood and feces."“Yet!” Nott and Mollymauk spoke in unison.“Give us a day.” Caleb joked, with a almost-there smile."Very well." Durmas gave a curt nod.“Have they had water?” Fjord gestured to the horses.“Fed and watered, cleaned, brushed.”“Is that enough horses?” Nott asked. “Should we be getting two more to pull us faster?”“Two is pretty decent, I think.” Mollymauk shrugged.“Is it?” Jester asked.“For seven?“You're little.” Jester waved that off.“Six and a half.” I said.“Watchmaster, I'm sorry it slipped my mind,” Caleb interrupted, “Is there anywhere still open in town after all of the carnage that sells inks and paper?”"I'm sure that can be done. Yes, I can lend you some. I wish you'd told be back in the office." Bryce gave a small wince. “I'm sorry, but I'm looking for the highest quality ink. Do you know what I mean?”"I think I do, and I don't know if this is the city to find that, unfortunately. You have much better luck in Zadash."“Okay, thank you.”"Of course."“Before we leave, can you tell me where Starosta Kosh's office is?” Jester asked.I saw Bryce smile a bit at the question, "Why do you ask?"“Oh, we have some unfinished business.”"Best that I summon him? But I can retrieve him."“All right.”Nott leaned over and up to me, “ Because he's balls deep right now.” I snickered."I'll be right back. We've taken--" There was a loud sound, as Durmas shook the large manticore head, chained to the side of our cart. “--You still have that.”We took some time to get our stuff situated on the cart. I traveled fairly light, so it was mainly ensuring I could find a spot to lay my scimitar without stabbing anyone, for me. After helping Fjord and Beau with some of their things, we spotted four crownsguard approach with Bryce and the small robed gnomish figure of Starosta Kosh. "Right, I've been summoned. What is your business?"Jester hopped down from the cart. “Yes. Hi! Starosta, it's so wonderful to see you again.”"I've been told that you did a great service for Alfield and for that I am very thankful."“Yes. I was thinking a really good thing you could do for us in return is to give my friend Fjord here a letter of recommendation to the Academy.”Fjord’s eyes widened in surprise."What?" Starosta raised a brow.“He did a great service to your city.”"And you have been paid handsomely for it. As the Watchmaster has notified me."“...Starosta, it's good to see you again. It's been a while, about, hold on.” Jester fished around for her sketchbook and flipped  through it. “Maybe like eight years almost? Your hair hasn't changed though, you should change it.”"I'm confused? This is strange, but no I believe that our business is complete."“The Ruby of The Sea says hello.”Color absolutely drained from his face. His hand dropped to his side. "Um. I will be happy to write you a letter of recommendation, but I cannot assure you that it will be accepted as there are many points of acceptance within the Academy. And it is quite a bit of travel to Rexxentrum anyway. Is this to the actual Soltryce?"“Of course.”“If you wouldn't mind, that would be most kind of you.” Fjord said, looking between him and Jester in veiled confusion."Very well, it will be done in just a moment. What is your name?" He asked.“Fjord.”“There's a j in it.” Nott piped up.“Make sure he spells it right, Fjord.” Jester nodded.“Yeah, F-J-O-R-D. Fjord.” Fjord spelled."Have you a surname?" “No.”"...I'll return in the next 15 minutes." Starosta turned and gave Jester a forced smile that had easily read simmering fury behind it.  He spun around then walked off in a haughty march.“He really should have changed his hair, I mean it's pretty hideous.”“You may be my new hero.” Mollymauk said.“How is it that you saw him before?" Fjord asked.“Oh, he visited my mother years ago.” Jester explained.“And your mother's The Ruby of The Sea?” Beau asked. Like a shot, it clicked why that had been so familiar. My eyes widened. “Like the real Ruby of the Sea? That’s your mom!?” I asked, baffled and a little awestruck. “Yes, The Ruby of The Sea! You've heard of her?”“I mean, yeah! The sailors used to sing the song about her all the time!” I said, practically bouncing. “Of course, I remember now. The Ruby of the Sea, I can't believe she's your mother.” Fjord said, looking over Jester.“Is she a jeweler?” Nott asked.“No.” Jester said.“Not exactly. No, she entertains gentlemen. She's hard to describe, a performer, an entertainer or–” Fjord trailed off.“Well, she's mostly known for her hmm-hmm-hmm . Outside of that, her voice is amazing, you should hear her sing.”“What does that mean?” Caleb asked.“What does what mean?”“Hmm-hmm-hmm.”“She’s the star courtesan in a famous brothel.” I explained, taking some pity on Caleb. When I’d first learned the song I was too young to understand, and had to learn the tale later on. “Many travel all across the Menagerie Coast and beyond just to meet her. Even more fall in love with her, fruitlessly though. There are a lot of songs about her, I only really know the pirate shanty but I’ve heard the one in Infernal is really beautiful. I wasn’t sure if she was real or not though, or like a legend?” I looked to Jester for confirmation. She nodded.“Yeah, she has sex for money!” Jester said. “Mostly, I mean, people pay her a large sum. It's like three guys mostly, she keeps a few people at a time. She doesn't see everybody because she's super famous.”“Yeah, the name has made itself known all along the coast. You'd be lucky to find yourself in her company, at least how I've heard it.”“Why is the only version you know a pirate shanty?” Beau asked me. “Sea shanty, pirate shanty, same thing.” I shrugged. “Well what’s the song like?” “Uhh–”“THE RUBY OF THE SEA IS THE BEST LAY EVER!” Jester sang.The whole group burst into laughter, including myself and Jester.“She’s RIGHT though, that’s the song!!” I defended her, pointing excitedly. “Is the best lay ever, oh god.” Fjord echoed, shaking with laughter.“I'm so glad I asked. No regrets.” Beau was doubled-over, recovering.“The best lay ever. Oh shit.”“Is that the whole song!?” Mollymauk interrupted.“I don’t remember the whole thing. Wasn't my mom's favorite version.” Jester shrugged, smiling.“Do you, Sera?” Molly asked, looking hopefully smug.“I could lie and say no right now and ruin your day, but I won’t, because I’m nice.” I said.“Sing it!” Beau cheered.“I will sing it if Jester is comfortable with it, AND with the warning that I am not a bard, and also that I did not write this.” I said, looking around at everyone, until my eyes settled on Jester.“Ooo! Yes, sing! Sing!” Jester immediately sat on the grass by my feet, looking up at me.I looked again at the party crowding around, Mollymauk and Nott joining Jester on the ground, and–thankfully–the fact nobody but the party was now nearby to hear this.“Okay. But I will hit anyone who criticizes my singing voice, and there will be fire.” I joked, “ Looking at you, Molly.” “I’d never, dear, all performers start somewhere.” He smirked. I wasn’t sure I believed him, but took a breath. I paused again,“Oh shit, I forgot to mention, it’s written from a male point of view.”“Stop stalling!” Nott whined. I laughed and began,

Oh I weathered every storm, sailing on the Ozmit Sea

I battled mighty waves and I felt the ocean breeze,

But the fondest of me memories will always be of thee,

Oh the Ruby of the Sea is the best lay ever!

The group whooped and laughed at the line, and I continued,

Ohhh her hooves are tough as nails, and her horns are smooth as ice

Her tongue is like a feather, and her tail grips you tight

Lucky be the one who can afford her pricey fee

‘Cause the Ruby of the Sea is the best lay ever!

The Ruby of the Sea is the best lay ever!

Ohhh I…paid her and I loved her ‘till I near forgot my name

She took my gold and closed her robe and promised me she came

Mollymauk and Beau in particular howled at the line, and I could hear Fjord’s deep laughter over my singing,

She took more than me manhood, I’ll never be the same

‘Cause the Ruby of the Sea is the best lay ever!

The Ruby of the Sea is the best lay ever!

‘Cause the Ruby of the Sea is the best lay everrrrrrr

HEY!

“That’s it!” I ended, smiling through the awkwardness. The group cheered and applauded.“Take a bow, love! Encore, encore!” Mollymauk cheered. I did a small bow with a sweep of my arm.“I love that you have that fucking memorized. ” Beau said, giggling.“The sailors sang it a lot! I’m surprised you don’t know it too, Fjord!” I said, beaming.“Never much for singing, sorry.”“You’d be great at it. Some old rural town songs.” Nott said, looking up at him.“Sure.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“So you're the daughter of a celebrity!” Nott turned to Jester, “How was that, growing up in fame and fortune?”

“Well, I wouldn't know exactly, because she never told anybody that I was there. I bet if she had, it would've been crazy.” Jester said.

“Then where were you at this point?” Caleb asked, a brow raised.

“You know, in my room.”

“Just trapped in your room?” Nott asked.

I was glad everyone was looking at Jester, so nobody could see my smile drop. I felt the happy high of singing a stupid song to the group fall away to hurt and then numbness as I listened to Jester's story. The words of the group passed over me like I was in a fog, as my eyes trained on Jester.

“Well, no I wasn't trapped, but you know–”

“Did you get to go to the park, did she read you stories, did she do the things that parents do?”

“She read me some stories. And a lot of times I would listen at the door and hear her sing.”

“Did she tell people about you?”

“No.”

“I imagine that would affect her business a little.”

“Exactly. I totally understand, she loves me so much. She really, really does. It's just, you know, people frown upon courtesans with daughters.”

I blinked away the haze I found myself in, and felt a stab of envy. I put on a fake smile as the others began to stand back up.

“I am sorry, you are from the south, yeah?” Caleb asked.

“Mm-hmm.” Jester nodded.

“I am from the north. Does this include also, besides the hmm-hmm-hmm, singing and poetry, you said?”

“Yeah.”

“So she was skilled as an artisan as well.”

“Yes! That's why I'm such a good painter.”

“That's fascinating, for real.”

“Did she teach you your spell and fighting talents?” Beau asked.

“Oh, no, that came from the Traveler.”

“How did you-- never mind.” Caleb backtracked.

“And this is why you're looking for your dad?” Nott asked.

“Well, yes.”

“Was he a client of your mother's?”

“Well, yes. But-- I feel so nervous all of a sudden, everybody's looking at me.”

“We can look away.” Nott offered.

“Yeah, we'll–” Beau turned around completely, crossing her arms. I averted my eyes from Jester as she spoke, “Keep talking.”

“Okay,” Jester took a deep breath, “So they were totally in love and she was going to marry him, and he was totally in love with her and he was going to marry her, and they said they were going to get married, and then she got pregnant with me, and he said--they got married and he was going to go set up his house, and then he just never came back.”

“That's very sad.” Nott said.

“I know, it is really sad.”

“So are you going to find him to meet him and know him, or to seek revenge upon him?”

“No, I'm going to find him so that I have somewhere to live because I'm not allowed to be at the house anymore.”

“Why aren't you allowed to be at the house anymore?”

“Well, because I'm kind of in trouble in Nicodranas.”

“What did you do?”

“Well, because I sort of played a prank on this guy who was seeing my mom.”

“What kind of a prank?”

“Well-- so the Traveler taught me how to make myself look like other people, right?”

“Okay.”

“So, I made myself look like my mom, and then I lured him out onto our balcony and he was wearing nothing but this girdle of hers. And then I locked the door. And I thought that was funny, you know?”

I snorted.

“That is funny–” Nott began, but Jester jumped in.

“It looked really good in my sketchbook.”

“So he was just out there in a girdle?”

“Yeah, which is no big deal. But then I found out he's a lord.”

“And you embarrassed him?”

“He was really pissed off.”

“Was it nighttime or daytime?” Caleb asked.

“It was in the day.”

“How many people saw?” Beau asked. Jester couldn’t help but giggle, looking a little proud despite herself.

“Oh,

everyone!”

“That's so great!”

“It was

so

great. But he said he wanted to kill me and they said–”

“That's not great.”

“--that was cool and he could. So my mom was like, "Go!" and I was like, "Okay."” Jester’s arms flopped to her side, seemingly tired from the story.

“What was his name, so we can avoid him?” Nott asked.

“Yeah.” Beau looked back to Jester.

“Or not avoid him.” Mollymauk piped in.

“Lord something something.” Jester waved the name away.

“Let's avoid all Lords.” Nott said, decisively.

“I'm all right with that.” Mollymauk agreed.

“Lord Robert something something.” Jester’s face screwed up, trying to remember, “I’'ll remember it eventually.”

“Funny is funny. He should have a better sense of humor.” Caleb shrugged.

“I thought so, too! He looked really good.”

“What's wrong with being in a girdle?” Beau asked.

“I know, right?”

“Very waist cinching. Skirt.”

“I'm wearing one right now.” Mollymauk nodded. Nott and I looked over at him.

“I bet you are!” Nott said. Molly grinned.

“No, I'm not. I'm actually just built this way. I could be, I'm built like I am.”

I purposefully looked away from him instead of following the instinct to look to determine if that was true, figuring Mollymauk would make an easy joke about me checking him out or something. Instead, I turned back to Jester,

“Regardless, sentenced to death is a little dramatic. It’s not even a crime?”

“I know, right!” Jester gestured to me, dramatically.

“That's pretty crazy.” Beau said, “So you think you can actually-- hang on, why do you want to live with your dad that you never met? Why not just go do your own thing?”

“Well, I mean–”

“Your father is your father, how could you not be curious about your father?” Caleb defended.

“I know, right? I mean, I've never met him, I thought it would be cool. That's who I was looking for when I met Fjord, over there.”

“Sometimes fathers are disappointing.” Beau said. Sounded like projecting, but I didn’t comment.

“But it is still your right to know your parents. Who they are, you have to understand where you came from.” Caleb said, looking to Jester, a level stare.

“I mean, he's supposed to be pretty darn cool.” Jester said, “He wears lots of rings on his fingers too, you guys!”

“Do you know his name?” Nott asked.

“Ahem!” We turned to see the Crownsguard approaching along with Starosta Kosh. He presents a rolled up piece of parchment with a broad smile. "As you requested."

“Thank you, kind sir.” Jester nodded, taking the scroll.

"Of course, it's everything I can do. Now, be on your way."

“Fjord, it's your letter.” Jester beamed over to him.
"Go!” Starosta snapped, then clenched his jaw in frustration, “Please." 
“Bye.” Jester smiled.

He huffed, stomping off, and the Crowsnguard entourage followed. Bryce came up one last time and spoke, "Sincerely, you've saved many lives and... A paltry sum I could get approved, but know that you have my gratitude.”

“Thank you, Bryce.” Jester said.

"Of course. Good luck to you. I hope our paths cross again."

“Me too. If you see a girl named Yasha, let her know we are on our way to Zadash.”

“She's tall.” Nott added.

"Yasha?" Bryce repeated, looking between them.

“Yasha. She carries flowers.”

“She's super scary looking, but she's got a heart of gold.” Jester said.

“Extremely charming.” Mollymauk said, grinning.

“Very in shape.” Beau nodded. Bryce gave a short nod.

"I'll try my best."

“Black chin.” Nott said.

“Wearing a girdle.” Molly added.

A few of us snickered while Bryce looked confused.

“...All right."

“What are you talking about, the bouncer?” Caleb asked, looking to us.

“Oh, she makes her way back every now and then.” Mollymauk said.

“Yeah, we offered for her to come with, remember?” I asked.

“I do, just making sure. Okay.” Caleb nodded.

“Plus she looks like she can hold herself in a fight. She'd be most welcome.” Fjord said. Mollymauk nodded, “She can.”

“Do you want to hold on to your letter, Fjord?” Jester held out the scroll. He took it.

“Yeah, I would love that, thank you, Jester.”

“You're welcome, of course. I told you I would get you to the Academy.”

“That was smooth. I'm into it.” Beau nodded, impressed.

“I forgot to say this is the most pleasant experience I've ever had at a city building before. I could get used to this.” Mollymauk turned, appraising the building.

“Yeah, the hero worship is kind of nice.”

“Are we sure we want to leave this place? People like us here.” Nott said.

“It's only a matter of time before they don't.” Jester shrugged.

“Plus, didn’t sound like they’d have much work for us, now, unless you’re into construction.” I said, looking in the distance at the bedraggled town.

“You could open a shop!” Nott cheered, looking up at me.

“Sera doesn’t want to own a shop.” Jester shook her head.

“Even if I did, what, would I be supporting you all?” I asked.

“We could be your workers! Like your lab assistants! I’d be very good at that.” Nott nodded.

“And there’s no ingredients here either.” I didn't know why I was continuing with this.

“Ooo! I could garden!!” Jester jumped in place, hand raised in the air to volunteer.

“We should go.” Caleb interrupted, thankfully. Mollymauk slapped a hand on Jester’s shoulder.

“It's like you were born in the circus. I'm so impressed.”

“It's so true.” Beau agreed, “Yeah, let's leave while we're on a high note.”

“We want to find a bigger city to disappear into.” Caleb said, looking down to Nott. She nodded.

“Hey, Caleb?” Beau called, getting the cart ready.

“Ja?”

“Do you have kids?”

“No.”

“

Did

you have kids?”

“No.”

“You just have some paternal qualities. Just you know–”

“I’m glad he said ‘No’ that could’ve gone pretty dark, Beau.” I nudged her.

“I guess–I, whatever, I wasn’t thinking.” She said, making a face.

“You know I think maybe you are confusing my good friend and I.” Caleb said, looking to Nott again, “You know, she's very little, and I am taller. So, it does have that sort of father-daughter look, but you know well, that's not exactly what it is.”

“No, no, no. I'm a goblin.” Nott said, taking it literally.

“Yeah. You know if anything-- I've never really said this out loud before, but if anything you're more like a Schwester, a little sister to me.”

“That's nice.” I could tell Nott was smiling fondly from beneath her mask.

“How old are you, Nott? Are you a little goblin? Or are you a normal adult goblin?” Jester asked.

“Well, you know, the funny things about goblins is we don't really celebrate birthdays or anything so it's hard for me to know exactly. There's no real holidays in clans.”

“Are you fully grown or are you still growing?”

“I'm of child bearing age. So I'm about somewhere between six and nine.”

“Okay.”

“So that's like a grown--almost grown goblin.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Yeah, but like I said, it is really hard for me to tell. It's not like we had a party every year.”

“Birthdays are shite.” Mollymauk said, a little snappishly. I was about to speak up to sympathize with Nott when--

“I think today we call your birthday.” Caleb said, decisively.

“Today we're calling my birthday?” Nott cocked her head.

“Yeah, you know, we never talked about that. I didn't realize that, so today is your Geburtstag, today is your birthday.”

“Today is your birthday, Nott!?” Jester asked excitedly, as if Nott just had told us herself.

“Apparently. What day is it?”

“12th of Fessuran. Happy birthday.” Caleb said, warmly.

“Congratulations, Nott.” Fjord nodded.

“Thank you.”

There was a chorus of Happy Birthdays and congratulations from all of us to her. Nott looked over to me, curiously.

“Do you know a birthday song too?”

I tried to think back. I knew there

was

a birthday song, but I also didn’t know it. I knew the one the crew had sang once or twice. It didn’t seem very sincere…

Not wanting to disappoint Nott, I began, “Thiiiiiis iiiiis yoooouuurr–”

“Not that version!” Fjord hit me in the arm. I chuckled.

“I don’t know the other one!” I laughed, holding my hands up defensively.

“How do you

not know the other one!?”

“You sing it, then!”

“What’s wrong with Sera’s version?” Nott asked, amused.

“It’s just very short.” I chuckled.
“Well…I am very short!”
“Then here’s your song!” I gave a pointed look at Fjord who rolled his eyes, and sang, “Thiiiiiiis iiiiiiis yooooouuurrr birthday song it isn’t very long~!”

Nott blinked.

“That’s it.” I confirmed.

“That

was

short, WOW!”

“With that, congratulations, today you are a mighty nine.” Caleb said.

“Well, thank you, Caleb.” Nott said, looking up at him.

“Well I didn't do anything, you got me a pile of gold, so thank you.”

“All right.”

After a bit more fumbling around and chatting, we finally were seated to make way. With a “Yeehaw!” from Nott, our cart lurched and began motion, this time with Nott and Mollymauk at the reins.

“That was a good one.” Mollymauk appraised, chuckling at Nott’s yell.

We traveled westward for the central streets up Alfield. A few folks came out and watched us leave, those who were present for the evening, wishing us luck with silent nods and smiles as we made our way back onto the Amber Road heading northward deep into the Marrow Valley on your way to Zadash.

~
 
The sky grew more cloudy, as the day progressed, uneventful. I couldn’t help but think about what Mollymauk had said about birthdays, and how Nott’s celebration didn’t seem very…

celebratory.

“I think we should play a game for Nott’s birthday.” I declared, breaking the silence.

“A game? For me?” Nott looked back briefly.

“We’d have to pull over so she could join in.” Mollymauk called.

“What game you thinkin’?” Fjord asked.

“Well, Nott likes pickpocketing, and rocks and things. What if we pull over, find some bigger pieces of gravel, and see who can pickpocket the most of them out of us by the end of the day?” I suggested.

“A little skewed in Nott’s favor, ain’t it?” Fjord asked.

“It’s my birthday!” “It’s her birthday!” Nott and I exclaimed simultaneously.

Fjord put his hands up, “Alright, alright…I’m not against it, long as all we’re stealin’ from each other is rocks.”

“What’s the winner get, though? There’s gotta be a prize!” Jester said.

“I dunno, what do you want, Nott?” I asked, already worried about an answer.

“What do we have? Gold?” Nott asked, hopefully.

“I’d put money down on it.” Mollymauk shrugged.

“Oh! OR I could offer a

drawing!

Anything the winner wants, I’ll draw it!” Jester offered.

“Might be better off, don’t want any sore losers.” Fjord mumbled the last part. I could tell he was remembering Nott and Jester’s card game from before.

Nott thought it over.

“I could like a drawing.” She decided.

“Who’s driving then?” I asked.

“I don’t mind sitting out.” Fjord offered.

“Oh! I kind of want to play, but I guess I could, since I get to draw whatever I want all the time.” Jester suggested, looking a tiny bit disappointed.

“I can sit out, Jester. How about if you win Fjord or I get a drawing?” Beau suggested.

“OH! Yes! I can do that.”

“I would sit out but I feel like I should be part of Nott’s festivities. Thank you, Sera, for the idea.” Caleb said, nodding to me.

“‘Course. We’ve got time to kill anyway.” I waved it off.

We pulled the cart over and with all of us looking it didn’t take long for us to find some rocks, stretch our legs, and switch drivers. Beau and Fjord “Yeehaw-ed” and sent us moving along.

“Alright, how you doing this?” Beau asked, glancing back, curiously. Everyone looked to me.

…Right, this was my idea.

“I think we all should put our actual valuables away, so there’s nothing else in our pockets." I began.

With some shuffling, everyone did so, and then looked back to me, attentively. It was a little intimidating.

"Okay...everyone starts with three rocks. Your rocks have to be in your pocket once you’ve gotten them or successfully stolen them, you can’t hide them further or keep them in your fist.” I said, mind running through to find ways to cheat so I could make rules around it, “You can’t put them in your back pockets, sitting on your pockets is cheating. Not all of us have coats so inner pockets don’t count either, gotta be your outer pockets–-we’ve all got those, yes?” I looked around. Everyone checked themselves as if we didn’t know our own clothes, and then nodded.

“Great. If you get caught, you have to give the person back all the rocks you stole from them, honor system. Don’t be a dick and lie, it’s a birthday game. You can only call out people who are stealing from you, not other people, we don’t want wild accusations. Game ends once the sun sets…” I wracked my brain for other rules before remembering I could ask for help.

“Does that sound okay?” I asked, “Anything I missed?”

“Anything goes for how we get the stones? Magic allowed?” Caleb asked.

“What do you guys think?”

“Bring it on!” Nott crowed. I laughed.

“Alright, magic is on the table. Um, if you hurt someone you have to give all your rocks to them.”

“What if I hurt myself?” Mollymauk asked.

“...You seriously gonna use your blood magic for this?”

“Maybe.” He grinned, pointed teeth showing.

“Ugh, fine, just don’t seriously injure yourself, we’re on a moving cart.”

“You keep saying that it’ll sound like you care about me~”

“I’m stealing

all of your rocks

if you don’t shut up.”

He said nothing, but grinned away.

“...and Fjord and Beau are the judges if there’s a fight, their rule is law once we start.”

“Hell yeah.” Beau said, still looking at the road.

“We should probably be doing something else at the same time so we have opportunities to actually steal from each other, otherwise we’re all just gonna be staring at each other.” I mused.

“Boulder paper shears?” Fjord supplied.

“Arm wrestling?” Mollymauk smirked over at me. I gave him a clearly unamused look, and he snickered.

“Boulder paper shears.” Caleb nodded, agreeing with Fjord.

“Agreed, but we’ll have to not all play all at once, or it’s just the same issue with the staring but all our hands visible–even worse.” I said.

“So we play one v one and just switch around?” Jester asked.

“Sounds good. Extra rule, you have to be directly facing your partner for Boulder Paper Shears. Having all of us moving around a bit will give opportunities to steal.” I nodded.

“This sounds a bit chaotic.” Fjord muttered.

“PERFECT for my birthday!” Nott beamed.

“Alright, everyone find a starting partner for Boulder Paper Shears, don’t start stealing yet!” I said.

“Oh! Sera, let’s start together!” Jester said, grabbing my arm.

“Okay.” I turned to face her, fist out to start the game.

Caleb and Nott paired off, “Shit we’ve got an odd number.” I said, seeing Mollymauk trying to look inconspicuous.

“That might be even better, gives someone an extra opportunity to steal if they struggle with such things.” Molly said, smiling.

“You do not struggle with such things.”

He put a hand to his chest.

“I’m offended! Why would you think such a thing about me? I’d hardly call myself a thief.”

“We saw your sleight of hand with the cards,” I bluffed. I still

thought

he did but hadn’t actually seen a thing. “Pair up with Caleb to start. If anyone gets a head start it’s the birthday girl.”

“She

definitely

doesn’t need one.” Molly snorted, but did as I said, “And I resent that. My tarot cards are divinely guided.”

“Shush so we can start. Beau, Fjord, can you count us down?” I asked. Jester and Nott were both practically bouncing in place, ready to go.

“Done fighting like an old married couple?” Fjord snorted.
“No, she just shushed me!” Mollymauk pointed at me.
“Just count us down!" I rolled my eyes, a little flustered by Fjord's comment.

“Alright.” Fjord and Beau locked eyes, both bobbing together in sync to match up as they yelled:

“THREE! TWO! ONE!

GO!”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It started out innocent enough.

We played some hands of Boulder Paper Shears, hardly caring about the winners, and switched around. I hadn’t seen anyone pull anything yet. On occasion I’d check my pockets and I still had all three rocks. I left Jester’s game to find a partner and passed by Caleb. I reached out a hand to his pocket without thinking it through—and he happened to turn around at the same time. We froze.

He raised a brow at me.

I smiled, sheepishly.

“Hi.” I chuckled, nervously.

“Hello.”

“Um, I didn’t get any.”

“...Right.”

He stared at me, unreadable, and it made me nervous.

“Um, Boulder Paper Shears?” I offered a fist instead. He gave a quick eye roll and put out his fist to play.

That small interaction seemed to set everyone off.

“Nott!” Jester whirled on the goblin, who had her hand stuck in Jester's pocket.

“What!? What I didn’t–pfft

what!?”

Nott sputtered.

“Nott, did you try to

steal

from

me??”

Jester asked, aghast—dramatically faux offended.

“I would

never.

” Nott said, clearly smiling in her voice. Seeing Jester distracted, I saw Mollymauk try to swoop in and pickpocket her from behind. But Jester must’ve noticed, as she looked over her shoulder and gasped loudly.

“

Molly!

How dare you—I am talking to Nott! You think you can gang up on me!?”

“Sorry, dear.” He smiled, not sorry at all.

Nott tried to pickpocket her next, quite clearly and it became a bit of a comedy act of Jester slapping their hands away until Caleb moved to try and steal from Mollymauk—he didn’t even get his hand towards his pocket before Molly fixed him with a look.

“And what do you think

you’re

doing, Mr. Caleb?”

Caleb looked sheepish.

“Ah, participating in my friend's birthday game, ja?”

Mollymauk raised a brow.

“Hey, someone play Boulder Paper Shears again!” I called. The group paired off, leaving me the odd man out. As I moved to get out of the way of a game, I felt Jester’s hand in my pocket.

“Jester!”

“Sorry, sorry, jeez!” She went back to her game. I chuckled, smiling.

I settled in and softly murmured a spell. I hadn’t wanted to steal from Mollymauk immediately after threatening to do so—too obvious—but now I had some free time and an opening.

My mage hand flew behind him seamlessly, sliding into his pocket with practiced skill. I felt like punching the air, giddy.

More out of instinct than any trace of him noticing, Mollymauk’s hand wandered to his own pocket to check his rocks. I panicked and dismissed the spell, swearing internally. He was none the wiser and went back to his game. Annoyance spiked in me and I quickly repeated the action, the mage hand flying behind him.

This time, he’d finished his game, and spotted the spell.

“HEY!”

I dismissed it and the hand popped out of existence.

“I saw that! Whichever one of you magic fuckers did that!”

I said nothing, not wanting to give myself away, but pissed I hadn’t succeeded because of dumb luck.

My hand went to my own pocket and felt fabric. My eyes widened. I checked my pocket again—empty.

All my rocks were gone.

I looked around at the other members, bar Mollymauk, pissed. Someone had

completely cleared me out!

“Mollymauk.” Caleb said, evenly.

“Not sorry.”

I turned to see Molly retreating from behind Caleb, having been caught.

...This was going to be a long game.

~

Things settled for a while as everyone had gotten caught multiple times by now with a few scattered successes. Except for Caleb, who had gotten caught what I was beginning to think was every time he attempted to steal. For a self-proclaimed thief, it looked like sleight of hand wasn’t his specialty.

He seemed to realize his disadvantage and tried to mutter out a spell—but he wasn’t quiet enough, and we all snapped over to look at him.

“He’s casting something!” Jester pointed, accusingly. The spell completed and nothing happened. We all checked our pockets.

Well, I checked for show, I had no rocks.

“IT’S UNSEEN SERVANT!” Nott jumped up, pointing aggressively, “HE KNOWS THAT ONE, I’VE SEEN IT! Well—I haven’t

seen

it, but HE CAST IT!”

“Fucking had that in mind didn’t you when you asked about magic?” Mollymauk snorted. Caleb shrugged, wordlessly.

“That’s playing dirty.” Fjord chuckled from the driver’s seat.

“It’s well within the rules.” Caleb defended.

Nott huffed and turned to me to play another round of Boulder Paper Shears. After Nott won, I moved towards Mollymauk, and passed Jester heading to Nott. I slipped a hand in her pocket and deftly grabbed two rocks before making my way to Molly.

“Caleb! I caught you!” I heard Jester squee, and chanced a glance back at them.

“Ja, you did.” He relented. Jester checked her pockets.

“Hey! I am missing two rocks. Caleb, give them back!”

“I did not manage to grab them, I’m afraid. Someone else must’ve taken them.”

“You’re not cheating are you?” Jester got close to his face, sizing him up.

“I would not cheat in this game, it is for Nott.”

“It is for naught.” Mollymauk echoed, calling my attention back to our game.

My paper beat his boulder and he paused, head tilting slightly. It was like he wasn’t present for a moment, mind somewhere else—and then

SLAM.

A distinct sound of contact with thin air as Mollymauk punched seemingly nothing right beside him, and a slight waft of wind from a spell dissipating.

Caleb said something in Zemnian I took to be a swear, and Mollymauk smiled at him, triumphantly.

I couldn’t help but be impressed by it. With our game done, he slipped past me, and I kept an eye on him as he passed to make sure he didn’t try to pull anything.

~

I felt bad stealing from Nott on principle as it was her birthday, but once my hand was in her pocket, some of that guilt disappeared. She had

so many rocks

.

I was beginning to think I’d found the person who’d cleaned me out earlier.

I grabbed three, nervous to take more and fumble the lot, and slid across the cart to Caleb, holding out a fist to play.

We played a couple rounds of Boulder Paper Shears before loud shouting broke out behind us:

“IT’S MY BIRTHDAY! IT’S MY BIRTHDAY! IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!” Nott was yelling at Mollymauk, whose hands were up in defense, clearly having just attempted to steal from her. She seemed to be yelling it like it was some new rule to the game.

I broke out laughing, hearing Beau and Fjord doing so as well.

Jester, moreso as a joke than anything, moved to try and steal from Nott while she was distracted. Nott caught her of course—

“IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!

IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!”

Mollymauk was now laughing as well, along with Jester, and somehow—even shaking as we were—I swiped a rock from Mollymauk in the same go. Caleb noticed, shaking his head in amusement, as I pocketed the rock in continuous laughter.

Once settled, I smirked. Whoever else had stolen from Molly, I didn’t know, but I had taken his last rock—currently, at least. It felt good.

~

The sun was very close to setting over the hill and the game was becoming more frantic, with last ditch efforts to steal resulting in Nott and Jester in another friendly-enough shouting match; this time with Nott being the thief. I, myself, was trying to play the defensive. I didn’t necessarily want to win and beat Nott on her birthday, so I’d decided that my goal was to

1. Not come in last. And

2. Beat Mollymauk.

While I’d been about to move to play again with Jester in an attempt to break up their fight, Mollymauk slid across from me, looking at me expectantly for a game.

“Been a wonderful game, darling. Clever to have thought of it.” He complimented. I blinked, surprised. We had been a bit at each other’s throats today—nothing that made me genuinely angry at the Tiefling, but it was becoming abundantly clear that he enjoyed pressing people’s buttons.

“Thanks, Molly. It’s been fun. I’m glad Nott’s having a good time.”

A screech from the girl in question happened behind me, but I didn’t dare take my eyes off of the opponent in front of me. I smirked, amused.

“Well, I

hope

she’s having a good time.”

Mollymauk barked a laugh.

“I’m sure she’s is. It’s right up her alley, I’ve a niggling feeling she’s winning, and…” He paused in our mindless game of Boulder Paper Shears, appraising me. “...It’s rather fun being with the lot of you. You, in particular.”

I felt myself blush a bit, flattered and surprised. I glanced away for a second, almost embarrassed, before eyeing the Tiefling across from me. He seemed innocent enough, if not genuine. Maybe this was a temporary truce as the game wound down.

“I’m flattered. It’s definitely a different crowd than what I’ve been used to lately.” I said, looking around at the group, thinking of the Guild, “Reminds me of when I was younger and at sea. Couldn’t always join in on the games then, nothing to gamble really, but that same camaraderie.” He nodded. I felt a pang in my chest, and wanted to say something else. “It’s been a lot of fun spending time with you too. Hope this birthday wasn’t as shite as the others you’ve been to.” I joked.

He seemed surprised. By the compliment or the fact I remembered his comment, I couldn’t tell. But he recovered, smiling and shrugging.

“A low bar.” He said, then bit his lip, thinking. He seemed to settle on something, saying, “The only thing this party’s lacking is Yasha. But you’re rather a charm, yourself.”

I blushed again, and wondered if Mollymauk had always been sitting so close to me, or if I was imagining it. My mind felt hazy as he tilted his head, smiling softly. It was hard to concentrate with him right there. I blinked rapidly, my eyesight a little hazy around the edges, as he looked at me.

....Mollymauk

hadn’t

been that close before.

I slapped my hands down to my pockets and trapped Mollymauk’s hand in mine.

“Motherfucker.”

He laughed boisterously, caught.

“You absolute

shit!”

I felt like hitting him again, throwing his hand away and checking my pockets, “Give me my rocks!”

He handed two rocks over, giggling.

“You took

two!?

Right now!?”

“Got greedy going for a third.” He admitted, giggling.

“And what the hells did you do to—” My eyesight was returning slowly, whatever haze he’d put over my mind. I squinted at him, looking him over. With his stupid smile as he giggled madly, I saw a faint cut on his lip.

“YOU USED YOUR BLOOD MAGIC ON ME!?”

He started laughing, nearly doubled over, crying.

“You’re such a bitch.” I said, trying not to crack a smile and failing, “The fucking

audacity

to try and steal

right in front of me!”

“And that’s TIME!” Beau yelled, smiling back at us.

“Fuck you.” I pushed Mollymauk a little roughly on the shoulder. He sat up.

“You are
the most fun, though, Cricket.” Mollymauk said, smiling contentedly, “The most fun to tease.”

“I hate you.” I said, still smiling.

“No you don’t.”

“EIGHT, MOTHERFUCKERS!” Nott screamed, holding up her rocks.

I laughed at the shout, and double-checked my pockets.

“I’ve got three.” Jester said, a touch disappointed she’d ended with the same.

“Five.” I said.

“Zero.” Mollymauk said.

“Ha.”

“Shush.”

I made a face, but shushed, and looked to Caleb.

“It looks like Nott is the victor.” Caleb said, turning his pockets inside out to show them empty.

“I WIN! I WIN THE GAME! I’M VICTORIOUS AND THE REST OF YOU ARE LOSERS!” Nott screeched excitedly, jumping, but then paused, “Oh, except you, Caleb.”

“Of course.” He chuckled.

“Wow thanks Sera for organizing such a fun game for me, you’re welcome Nott.” I joked quietly. Mollymauk snorted at my side.

“See? Told you she’d like it.”

“We hereby declare Nott the Sorest Winner and Loser of the party, Happy Birthday!” Fjord said, as he pulled the cart to a stop. Nott stumbled at the abrupt halt, but stayed standing, smiling away. “Now help us find a place to camp.”

Beau meanwhile was giggling. Fjord raised a brow.

“Caleb and Molly have no stones.” She snickered.

Jester immediately began laughing, and the rest of us followed, snickering as Caleb rolled his eyes and Molly just grinned, unperturbed.

~

We eventually found a small clearing that looked to be a handful of rocks that were partially lodged into the ground long ago that had since been overgrown with moss and grass. From the bits of charcoal strewn around, it looked like a fire had once, or many times, been built and then put out here. A standard place where people have set up camp while making their trips up and down the Amber Road. Caleb lit us a fire easily, and we all started settling our bedrolls around it.

“Who’s on first watch?” Fjord asked.

“I can.” Caleb volunteered.

“I'll take the second.” Fjord said.

“I'll take the last.” Beau said.

“You sure? I only need the four hours.” I offered, looking between them all.

“Well…my ass does hurt from the cart.” Beau admitted.

“I can take last watch.” I nodded.

“Thanks, Sera.”

“Don’t go out catching crickets without waking me, it’s my favorite show.” Mollymauk hummed. I swatted at him but missed as he made his way to his bedroll.

“Goodnight, Sera.” Jester said, from my neighboring bedroll.

“Goodnight, Jester.” I cracked a smile.

Today had been good. I couldn’t remember the last time I had spent a day just goofing off or enjoying myself, work with the Guild always coming first. And second, visiting the docks…my smile fell as I settled on my roll, and willed the memories away.

He didn’t care about me, clearly, so it was stupid to waste my energy thinking of him. Familiar guilt crashed into me, the what-ifs and maybes—maybe he

did

care and something happened. Maybe he was dead. Maybe he hadn’t meant to go.

I took a breath, sighing deeply, shutting my eyes as if it would shut out the rest of the world. Leave it to silence at the end of a day to sour my thoughts.

~

“Sera.” I woke with a start, seeing Fjord above me, “Your turn for watch.”

I yawned silently.

“Got it. Get some sleep.”

“Thanks.”

I watched Fjord as he stumbled to bed, crashing on his mat and falling asleep. I chuckled before I turned to look out into the darkness. Stars twinkled overhead, and the only sound was the campfire crackling. I held my hands out toward it for warmth and tried to concentrate on my task.

Silence stretched out, the only movement in the distance being wind through the grass and trees. No threats through the night. Just the warmth of the campfire and gentle breathing of my companions…

“Be careful with that!” Varek warned, watching as Aldric attempted to teach me how to light a fire.

“She’s gotta learn somehow. And Jemma’s on watch.” Aldric said, shrugging.

“She don’t have the talent for it.” Varek leaned against the mast.

I looked up at the tiefling, annoyed.

“She’s got plenty of talent, that’s the rub.” Aldric scoffed. He looked back to me, smiling, kindness in his eyes I never really saw aimed anywhere else.

“C’mon, now. There was definitely a spark there. Just a bit more power, buteaseintoit—”

I shot a bolt of fire shot out into the lantern, which sprung instantly into huge flames that engulfed the entire thing.

“SHITE!”

SPLASH!

Aldric and I looked up to see Jemma’s hands outstretched, likely having just cast Create Water considering the fact we were drenched. Aldric gave a crooked smile, looking proud.

“See? Told ya she’s got talent— Aldric cut himself off with a snort. I followed his eyes to see Varek, dripping, tail flopped down, looking like a wet cat.

The two of us burst into laughter as Varek seethed.

I knew how to make a fire now. I knew how to cast spells. I knew how to survive on my own, in great part to Aldric and his crew, and in great part to the Guild. My hand wandered to my armor, the grooves in the leather hidden beneath my neckerchief, the crest of my guild hidden from prying eyes. And from the party’s eyes. I looked over to Fjord and Beau specifically, the two who seemed the most inquisitive for suspicion's sake. Even if they found out, they didn’t know the Guild’s secrets. They’d take it at face value. I’d be safe.

My hand fell. Eventually I’d have to go back, and days like this would be another faded memory like the ones with Aldric.