Blind Devotion

by dnd4evr

While on the run from a haunting past, a half-orc warlock finds himself the chance companion of a blind elf doctor. Despite her quirks, he finds great comfort in her company, and the two make fast friends...even if their enemies are never far behind. All original characters that are HIGHLY INSPIRED by the cast of Critical Role.

7. Plague of the Plains

Jonathan slowly opened his eyes. He wasn't dreaming. He was actually in a real bed for the first time in months. It may have been a year, but he couldn't remember. He rolled over and hugged the pillow, just wanting another ten minutes of bed rest before he had to do anything else for the day.

He glanced across the room, and in the other bed was his sister, Zoe. As usual, she was sprawled across the entire surface, taking up as much room as possible. She had managed to remove only a single boot before passing out on the bed, but from the looks of things, she also managed to keep down whatever she ended up drinking.

It was very kind of that half-elf, Al, to donate a gold so they could all drink to the inclusion of their new companions. In fact, now that Johnathan gave it some thought, they were all very kind. Not just anyone would give what amounted to complete strangers a room for the night, on just the promise of help.

He rolled to his back and stared at the ceiling. In truth, that whole group was odd. A half-elf who hailed from the notoriously xenophobic elvan city of Syngorn, and even claimed to have high ties there? From his memory, full-blooded elves looked down on the othlir, the "ill-born," among them, those who carried only half a lineage of the long lived race.

Then there was the goliath. The large brute of the same race that tried to raze the city of Westruun, on the tail of Umbrysl, just five decades before, but this one was kind, and even interested in learning to read. Even the goliath hero involved with the black dragon's death in the past was infamous for being as thick as a brick wall, but it seemed Gauth was proof that not all goliaths were as stupid, or violent, as the stories told.

And speaking of "not as violent", that half-orc was a puzzle too. He didn't use any aggressive posturing to assert himself as a leader, and spoke with respect, albeit with a rough accent. He had once seen a pair of half-orcs, mercenaries who were fighting with a group of rough looking adventurers. They had been fighting beasts, captured from the Bramblewood, in the pit fights during the summer festival. They had been viscous, cruel fighters, and had instilled a healthy fear of marauders in his young mind. As an incredible example of juxtaposition, Jayce almost made his head hurt, simply by existing.

Last, but definitely not least, was that elf, Dahlia. Even with the blindfold, he could see the high cheekbones and sculpted jaw of her race. He blushed slightly and rolled over, making sure his back was toward Zoe, just in case she woke up. Jonathan could easily imagine a lithe, beautiful form beneath those layers of clothes, and a part of him wanted desperately to discover her. A distant but cherished memory came to mind; a delegation of elves, almost surreal in their grace, dancing at a ball during a new year ceremony, when he was just a teenager. One of their younger members, a woman about ten years his senior, swept him into the dance, twirling around the dance floor as if her feet touched nothing but air. He had been enraptured by the elves ever since.

And Dahlia was so kind. She asked for nothing when she handed over that canteen. As he had literally lived as a beggar for almost a year, he knew such kindness was few and far between...and often accompanied by betrayal. He was well aware he'd have to be on guard around her, but something about her made him want to be completely open and honest, to want to trust her. He would have to be careful, even if he didn't want to be.

Her curse came to mind. Jonathan's thoughts wandered to his cousin, Frederick, who had once been seven years his senior, and second in line to inherit the house if something happened to Jonathan. He had been young at the time, but some of the symptoms of the curse sounded familiar to Frederick's strange quirks. He vividly remembered strange mood swings, his cousin shutting down with almost no warning, speaking ill of himself, seemingly in jest, losing the ability to speak during his darkest moods, crying almost incessantly…

Jonathan remembered the letter most clearly. His father had attempted to burn it, but quick thinking and the creation of magical noise in the hallway sent the man running. Jonathan saved what he could of the letter, but let it burn when he finally read it.

Frederick had committed suicide.

The rest was hard to remember. He remembered being angry, crying in his room, his familiar trying in vain to comfort him. He remembered his father making excuse after excuse for Frederick's behavior, saying the boy was unwell, unfit, and eventually coming to the conclusion he was better off dead than in charge of his family's land.

After all, Frederick had died of weakness, and the Riddle family would not tolerate weakness.

Not even his weakness, even if it meant there would be no heir, or heiress, for the family. By then, Zoe had been sent to the Cobalt Soul several years prior to tame her more erratic behaviors, and was showing promise. They had likely assumed she would jump at the opportunity to become the sole inheritor of the Riddle estate. As usual, she surprised them.

Jonathan snickered at the thought. Zoe was his blessing. Once, she was just a waif who had a surprisingly sharp mind and managed to charm his parents during one of their "obligations" to the public. At first, there was great animosity between them, but her knack for getting into, and out of, trouble, and his budding skill with magic proved to be a most entertaining combination. She had originally been nothing but a public relations stunt. Now she was the most cherished member of his family. To him, anyway.

He twisted in the bed to glance at his sister, who was still snoring softly. Today, their lives were changing for what he hoped would be the better...and what better way to celebrate than a prank?

xXxXx

Jayce's eyes opened slowly. For the first time in months, he couldn't remember what he had dreamed the night before. It was wonderful.

He sat up and stretched in bed, facing the window at the far end of the room. Daylight drifted in, softly illuminating the dust hanging in the air. Despite himself, he found a smile on his lips, and he wondered about the day ahead with hope and eager anticipation.

Jayce glanced over at Gauth and Al, and had to fight the urge to laugh. Both were dead to the world, still dressed except for their boots, and fully sprawled across their respective sleeping surfaces. Al had even managed to fall asleep in his armor, which couldn't have been comfortable.

"Ew! Gods, you asshole!"

Jayce nearly jumped at the voice shouting through the wall, then recognized it as Zoe. He suppressed the urge to laugh as he heard her sputter and crash her way into the hallway, coughing hard. Quietly amused at the obvious discomfort of Al and Gauth from this rude awakening, Jayce slipped out of his bed and tip-toed his way to the hallway, not even bothering with his coat or boots. When he poked his head out of his doorway, he found Zoe leaning heavily on the opposite wall, coughing, gagging, and rubbing her nose as if something truly fowl had offended her senses.

"The fuck happened t' you?" Jayce asked, badly hiding his mirth. He was in a good mood today.

"John! Get your ass out here!" Zoe gagged, dry heaving at least once. "The asshole cast a cantrip up my fucking nose!"

Johnathan, still safely tucked away in his room, burst out laughing.

"I swear to Ioun I will draw dicks in every fucking book you own!" Zoe roared at her brother, diving back into the room. Jayce rolled his eyes as he heard a scuffle quickly turning in Zoe's favor.

"I yield! I yield!"

"Dispel it!"

"Lemme go!"

"Dispel it or I will end you!"

Jayce finally caved and laughed quietly, stepping back into his room. Once he saw Al had completely buried his head under his pillow, he replaced the Pouch of Infinite Wealth back on his belt and donned his boots. Dahlia, with her focused hearing, would probably be curious what all the shouting was about, even if she was at the opposite end of the floor.

As he passed, Jayce did peek in on the siblings, just in case they were actually about to kill each other. He was pleased to find Zoe was finally breathing normally, and the extent of her violence against her brother was a rather solid head lock. Jayce continued down the hall.

Things were definitely going to be lively with them around.

He reached Dahlia's door in short order, and raised a hand to knock. The door pulled away before he actually could, and he was surprised to see Dahlia, already dressed and packed, standing at the door.

"Good morning-"

Dahlia squeaked in shock and nearly stumbled backward, but managed to catch herself on her back foot. "G-good morning, Jayce!" she said awkwardly, trying hard to maintain a sense of decorum as Jayce nearly burst out laughing at the sight.

"I didn't think anyone could sneak up on ya!" Jayce beamed, stepping back so she had room to step into the hall. "What happened to that 'focused' hearin' you've got?"

"I was distracted!" she said, obviously embarrassed. "I couldn't figure out what all the noise was."

"Just Zoe n' John havin' a spat," Jayce snickered, looking down the hallway toward their room. "Seems we picked up a coupla pranksters."

"Oh boy," Dahlia sighed. "That could be trouble."

Jayce shrugged. "Or fun. Anyway, just came t' let ya know what the noise was an' tell ya we'll be down for breakfast soon. I don't suppose you've got a hangover cure or somethin' for Al and Gauth? The two of 'em seem to be in bad shape."

Dahlia tilted her head as she thought about it. "I...think I have Wives' Tears on me, and if not I can mix some up-Oh! That reminds me! I finished two potions this morning. Should I hand them to you or pass them out at breakfast?"

"Whoa, back up," Jayce chuckled, trying to make sense of what he just heard. "First off, that's fuckin' fast-"

"I was up early," Dahlia mumbled, as if embarrassed again.

"-an' the hangover cure is called Wives' Tears? Where the hell did that come from?"

"I actually have no idea," Dahlia said, fidgeting with her glove. "That's just the name my teacher gave it when he taught it to me. I didn't think to ask at the time."

Jayce was disappointed, but smiled anyway. "Fair's fair. Anyway, ya got any?"

Dahlia dug through her bag but wilted. "No. I'll go mix some up. It should only take a quarter of an hour."

"I'll see you then," Jayce said brightly, and headed off to return to his room.

When he arrived, Gauth was sitting mostly upright, his head in his hands as he groaned. Al was still buried under his pillow, a valiant but vain effort to keep the previous squabbling at bay. Thankfully, the siblings seemed to have calmed down somewhat, and their voices had lessened to the volume of a more amicable conversation.

"Good morning!" Jayce said, a little too loudly on purpose to watch his friends flinch. Al presented a middle digit from under his pillow and Gauth just grunted in annoyance and pain. "Beautiful day outside!"

"Jayce, if you don't shut your fucking mouth right now I'm going to stab you," Al hissed from under his pillow.

"Hey, it was your gold," Jayce chuckled, picking up his armor and buckling it on. "Ain't my fault ya got pissed last night."

"I shouldn't have joined in," Gauth whined under his breath.

Al rolled over, and finally surfaced from under the pillow. He immediately regretted it when the sunlight fell across him. "Augh! Dammit… What even happened last night?"

"Hell if I know," Jayce said, slipping on his armored gloves. "I left early, remember?"

"Yes, you did," Gauth mumbled, rubbing his face. "And yet you weren't in our room. I had to find you in Dahlia's."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Jayce said. "Dahlia wanted t' go through that medical journal we got. Turns out, the first half's completely useless. I ain't got high hopes for the second."

"I don't suppose there's something in there about hangovers…" Al mumbled weakly, covering his eyes with his hands this time around.

"Yer actually in luck. Dahlia knows somethin' that'll actually cure it," Jayce smiled, sitting on the bed to more solidly set and tie his boots.

"Oh dear gods give it to me now!" Al said through his hands, desperation evident in his voice.

Without hesitation, Gauth stood up, grabbed his bedroll and bag, and trudged into the hallway.

"Where're you goin'?" Jayce asked, genuinely confused.

"To get my share of the cure before it's gone," Gauth replied.

"Nooo! Gauth, carry me!" Al begged, whining in the most heart-wrenching way he could. Gauth pointedly ignored him and disappeared from sight.

"Gonna have'ta walk yerself, Al," Jayce snickered, grabbing his coat and his bag. "I'll see ya downstairs."

Al whined about how he was obviously dying and the world should pity him, but Jayce left him on his own. Perhaps, once he decided to stop being miserable, he would get up and actually get the cure himself.

Jayce passed Gauth, speaking to Dahlia just outside her room, and Zoe raced past him to beat him downstairs. Jayce just rolled his eyes and descended himself, and headed to the bar to talk to the innkeeper.

In the mornings, it was the plump barkeeper's husband who manned the shop, and Jayce offered a cheery good morning as he walked up.

"Well, look who's in a good mood!" the man, stocky and rounded himself, beamed. "Sleep well?"

"Better'n I have in months," Jayce laughed, sliding into a seat. "I'll blame yer beds for that. That aside, I'm here to order breakfast."

The man nodded, obviously trying to recall details from the day before. "Four, right? Although one of them eats like three?"

"Got it in one," Jayce smiled, "although we picked up a coupla straglers last night. We're feedin' two more this morning."

"I'm sure the kitchen can handle it," the man laughed softly, motioning to the dining room. Several groups of patrons were already up and about, eating and getting ready for their day. "A few more won't stress things."

"Good to know," Jayce said, ducking his hand into the pouch. "How much do I owe ya?"

The man counted out on his fingers. "Food n' drinks for...six of you, plus the two extra shares… Eight silver."

Jayce nodded and called forth a gold, handing it directly to the man. "I'll trade in the last two silver for a lead on work, if ya got any."

The man chuckled. "Not a fan of change, I take it?"

"More a fan of convenience. Anythin' good around here?"

The man rubbed his chin, looking Jayce over. "Mercenaries, right?"

Jayce smiled and shrugged. "I prefer 'traveling problem solvers', but merc's about right."

The man leaned across the bar, lowering his voice to avoid other patrons picking up the information for free. "So a couple of rumors may peak your interest; First, Jeremiah Sook, the guildmaster for the Farmers' Guild, is running around telling anyone who would listen that the spawn of Umbrasyl have invaded the grazing fields to the east of Westruun, but no one believes him. Even so, plainscows are disappearing at an alarming rate, so something's going on."

"Hang on," Jayce cut in, holding up a hand to imply a pause. "Umbrasyl? The black dragon from fifty years back? That thing?"

The innkeeper nodded gravely. "I'm not one to judge. I'm just here with the rumors."

Jayce nodded as well, thinking over the implications. "And the second?"

Again, the man leaned in for a hushed whisper. "The Margrave's Shields were in here just the other day, and dropped off a notice. Strange shadows have been seen in the Opal Ward square, just outside the Margrave's house and in the vicinity of the statue of the Black King. Rumor says it's members of the Clasp, looking to rob the Margrave. Personally, I think it's the protesters, planning something big to rattle the man."

"You've piqued my interest," Jayce said, his voice also kept low, "but I ain't familiar with Westruun. Protesters? Black King?"

"As much as I'd like to stay and chat, I have your breakfast order to make, and plenty of other patrons to deal with. You'll have to ask a local."

And with that, the innkeeper rushed off to appease a loud patron at the other end of the bar. Jayce was mildly frustrated, but that quickly faded. After all, his group had just gained a couple of locals, and both Jonathan and Zoe had descended the stairs and picked a table.

Jayce walked toward them with a smile and a friendly wave. "Mornin', you two. Friendship mended or ya still out t' kill each other?"

The siblings replied in kind, although Jonathan began to giggle at the second half of the statement.

"Everything's fine!" Zoe sighed, obviously annoyed. "This little prick has a habit of riling me up because I don't have magic to fight back with."

Jonathan actually laughed. "Bullshit! Your creativity is nothing short of magical. That prank you pulled on Father-"

"Fun story!" Jayce interrupted, picking a seat across from them. "Tell me later. First, I got a few questions about Westruun, while we're waitin' for friends 'n breakfast."

"Absolutely," Jonathan said with a smile. "What would you like to know? We both grew up here, so there's likely few things we wouldn't be able to answer for you."

"Exactly what I was hopin' for," Jayce beamed. "First off, who's the Black King?"

Jonathan and Zoe shared a glance and it was silently decided the sister should start. "The Black King is a massive onyx statue of Palest Westruun, the merchant who founded the city, astride a horse in the Opal Ward. It's right outside the Margrave's estate, on the edge of the main city square. Rumor is, it's enchanted to protect the city if tragedy should ever befall it again."

"Of course, no one knows if that's true," Johnathan added with a shrug. "It's not like it came to life and fought for the people when the Chroma Conclave nearly flattened it five decades prior."

"Oh! And best part," Zoe cut in with a mischievous smile, "Umbrasyl actually called itself 'The Black King'. We stole its name!"

The two of them couldn't help but burst into giggles as Jayce nodded along. He was already considering visiting the statue, just to see the famous landmark of Westruun. Then a thought came to him; how would he even describe such a thing to Dahlia?

Before he could muse over potential descriptions, Dahlia, Al, and Gauth all entered the common room and began making their way over to the table. Dahlia allowed her friends to go first, as it limited the amount of guesswork she'd have to do to travel through the room, and Jayce called out to her, making it clear he was offering her an end seat. She gratefully accepted.

"Well you two look positively chipper!" Zoe laughed. "You don't get hangovers either?"

Al looked at her with disbelief. "You're kidding. You don't get hangovers?"

"Nope!" Zoe crossed her arms and looked smug. "Never have."

"I am so fucking jealous right now…" Al grumbled. "But no. Dahlia has a hangover cure that is, frankly, a damned miracle."

"It's great!" Gauth added, obviously pleased with the Wives Tears. "But why were you laughing when we walked up? What was so funny? Did Jayce tell another joke?"

Zoe perked up immediately. "Oh this gets better and better! Jayce tells jokes?"

Gauth beamed. "The best jokes!"

"He means the worst jokes," Al hissed. "They're all...ugh, puns."

Everyone turned to Jayce, who had dropped his head into his hands as Dahlia giggled softly next to him. Of course this would come up. He desperately tried to think of a joke before they asked him.

"Now I have to hear one," Zoe said, leaning on the table and staring at him so expectantly that he felt her gaze boring into him. "Tell us a joke, boss."

Jayce sat up and sighed. "First off, not yer boss. Second, I don't usually pull 'em out on command."

"You did yesterday," Gauth said, trying to be helpful.

Jayce hung his head. He needed to think of something. He glanced at Dahlia, who was smiling in his direction. She had faith in him, and it gave him an idea.

"Fine. So, Dahlia," Jayce began, leaning on the table to more comfortably look at her. "How do ya make holy water?"

Dahlia took on a blank look, despite her blindfold, and stammered. "Uh, I...don't really know. I assume it includes blessing a collection-"

"Pst, Dahlia, it's a joke," Jayce whispered, trying not to laugh.

"Oh! Um, I don't know, Jayce. How do you make holy water?"

"Wow," Zoe snickered. "That was so forced that's practically the joke itself."

Dahlia wilted in embarrassment, which prompted Jayce to jump back into the conversation to take the attention away from her.

"As I was sayin', how do you make holy water, John?"

"I have no idea," Johnathan said, eagerly awaiting the punchline.

Jayce leaned across the table, dropping his voice as if what he was about to say was a dire secret. "Thing is, I've heard there's only one way to make holy water…"

He paused, matching eyes with all of his companions to make sure he had their attention. With the exception of Al, who was already groaning from the mere idea of the pun, and Dahlia, who had the blindfold, the three remaining friends were completely hooked and waiting.

"You boil the hell out of it."

With the exception of Al, who moaned as if his hangover had returned, the table burst into laughter of varying degrees. From Gauth's booming laugh to Johnathan's amused chuckle, it was obvious the joke had gone over well.

"Jayce?"

The laughter quieted down as the attention was turned to Johnathan, who had his own mischievous grin.

Jayce was genuinely curious. "Yeah, John?"

Johnathan steepled his fingers and matched Jayce's gaze. "You know how the story goes. A half-orc and a gnome walk into a bar…"

Jayce sighed and rolled his eyes. The bar jokes. Those can get predictable.

"And the half-orc fell over."

That was new.

Zoe burst out laughing as Dahlia valiantly attempted to restrain her own mirth from getting too loud. Gauth, unfortunately, didn't immediately get it, but as soon as he did, it was more an epiphany moment than a round of laughter.

"Dear gods above, now there's two of them," Al whined.

Even Jayce had to laugh, even though the joke seemed to be at his expense. "Not bad, John. Seems I've got some competition."

Johnathan shrugged and smirked. "We'll see if you can keep up."

"Oooh! Bolts fired!" Zoe grinned, biting her lip with excitement as she looked between the two of them. "This is gonna be fun!"

"Okay! Yes, facin' off with another jokester could be fun, but we've got work to do, and I have questions for the two of you," Jayce said forcefully, trying to bring the conversation back to the original topic. "Who're the Shields, and what's this rumor I hear 'bout protesters?"

At the mention of the protesters, both Zoe and Johnathan turned grave. They shared a look of concern.

Johnathan spoke first. "Most of the protesters are students from Westhall Academy, where the dispute began. When Umbrasyl razed Westruun, a lot of the lower and middle class citizens took it as an opportunity to start over, and possibly better themselves. The upper class and nobility fought against this with every tool they had, only wanting their status restored, and the status quo upheld."

"I think I see where this is goin'..." Jayce mumbled, crossing his arms, then glanced across the table to gauge his companions' reactions. They were about what he expected, except Al found it hard to look at Johnathan and Zoe as they talked. Unknown to Jayce, Al had some associates who were well entrenched in the local political dramas.

Johnathan gave a knowing nod. "Exactly. The previous Margrave was fastidious with his notes-"

Dahlia quickly explained what "fastidious" meant to Gauth.

"-and records, which allowed the upper echelon to return to graces with little dispute over the redistribution of wealth."

Dahlia resigned herself to play translator as Gauth struggled to keep up.

"However," Johnathan sighed, "that also meant the appointment of another Margrave, who is currently Margrave Zimmerman. He's had the post since the Chroma Conclave fell, and even in his advanced years, he's…" Johnathan rolled his hand, trying to come up with the correct, but most polite, term.

"He's ruling the city with a fucking iron fist," Zoe spat, as she did not have the same moral restrictions when it came to those in authority. She slammed her fist on the table to drive home her point. "He's not a city leader, he's a military one, and his men, those damned Shields of the Plains, run this place like a fucking army compound!"

"I see you have opinions on this," Jayce said with a nervous smile as he leaned back slightly from the enraged monk.

"Of course I fucking do! He's a piece of shit," Zoe growled, crossing her arms in a huff. "Some students arranged a friendly 'pyreman' gathering, where people got to hurl insults at this big burning mock up of the Margrave. Just a way to let off steam, you know? And maybe, if the fucker had anything in his skull except shit, a way to listen in and hear the people's complaints, and maybe, I don't know, fix something-!"

"Zoe!" Johnathan grabbed her shoulder as she huffed and growled through her teeth. "Just...breathe, okay? They get it. Tell them what happened."

Zoe forced herself to breathe in slowly, then out in measured counts, a vein practically popping on her forehead as she rubbed her temples. "The bastard sent the Shields to clean up. They instigated a riot and they pulled blades. Five students and a shopkeeper were killed." She looked at each of the party in turn. "Guess how many Shields were hurt?"

"I'll assume none, as, again on an assumption, they were armored and the citizens were not," Dahlia said, sadness evident in her voice.

"Bullseye. Not a fucking one of them had any evidence the students struck frist. Then the Margrave had the gall to ban public gatherings for the next several months during the investigation. Not a reprimand on his soldiers, a restriction on his people!" Zoe grit her teeth and looked away, her body as taut as a primed bowstring.

Johnathan was quiet, watching his sister for a signal that she would continue to explain, but she had gone cold and stiff. He knew that meant she was done, so he turned to the group. "She was there. She saw everything happen, and the criers reported it was the students who started the riot."

"Damn," Jayce mumbled. "This's been goin' for fifty years?"

"And building pressure all that time," Johnathan sighed. "The pyreman incident was rumored to be the final strike. Unfortunately, I'm no longer part of the college, so I'm a little out of the loop about what's going on there-"

"And the Soul are no longer allowed to fraternize with students outside of the Reserve itself," Zoe hissed. "I'm just as much in the dark as John."

"And the incident was almost nine months ago," Johnathan added. "If anything was going to happen, we would have expected it to happen by now, but as there's been nothing…"

"I need to go," Al said quickly, rising from his seat. The team turned to him, confusion evident on their faces, but he refused to say more and simply left. Jayce tried to get out of his seat to follow, but Gauth's arm kept him in his seat.

"Where's he goin'?" Jayce asked, but Gauth just shook his head to answer. By the time Al had disappeared from view, the food had arrived.

Gauth was more than happy to take the extra share.

xXxXx

If the Residential Ward was cramped and stifling, a shanty town of stacked rooms divided up in confusing ways, the Underwalk Ward was barely livable. Hastily carved caverns, leading from tunnel to tunnel of the sewer system of Westruun, were only spared from collapse by surprisingly well placed columns of solid stone, the bedrock of Westruun. The eternal darkness, the threat of attack by sewer dwelling monsters, and the pervasive smell of filth made it a truly desperate choice for a home, and yet several hundred people choose such a home intentionally. After the fall of the Chroma Conclave, the Underwalk Ward was no longer needed as an emergency shelter from attack, and the Margrave had attempted to include it as an official part of the city in an attempt to relieve massive overcrowding of the Residential Ward; Unfortunately, his Shields despised the place and often shirked their duties, allowing more disreputable people, and creatures, to make the underside of Westruun their home.

That included the organization who established the hastily cobbled together warren in Westruun's time of need; The organized crime of Tal'Dorei, the Clasp.

Al kept his hood up and his eyes open. Along with the usual humans and gnomes of Westruun, the Underwalk Ward was home to less well established tieflings, smatterings of battle scarred half-orcs, and the rare sighting of hyena-human hybrids known as gnolls. While gnolls were not particularly intelligent, they were strong and ruthless, and as such made especially intimidating guards. In fact, he was quickly reminded of such things as he made his way down the street. Al winced as he passed a gnoll on a chain, leashed to the wall next to the entrance to a seedy bar. It barked and howled at him, chackling in some chattering language he couldn't hope to understand as he flinched away.

He shuddered as it bared its teeth, licking them hungrily as it beckoned him closer with a clumsily thick claw. Al quickly turned and sped away, fighting to keep his pace under a run.

Al just had to keep his eyes open. Somewhere, there would be a sign to point him to the Clasp. The problem was, the language of thieves, Cant, could be anything; the specific placement of trash along the side of the road, strange marks on the wall, shadowy figures repeating odd phrases every few minutes, and even the pattern of laundry a housekeeper left out to dry. So long as it was designed to catch the attention of only the knowing few, it could be fair game, damn it all if deciphering it was a chore.

Thankfully, Al spotted a tried-and-true marker for thieves' cant. A torch, sputtering away on a cobble stone wall, was at an oddly canted angle. As much as he hated puns, he did appreciate the subtlety this one offered.

He shifted into a nearby shadow across the street, leaning against the wall as if he was meant to be there. Two half-orcs and a human, all dressed in rags, passed him without a second glance, singing drunkenly about some fictional past maiden who couldn't live without them. Al rolled his eyes, and then followed the angle of the torch with his gaze. Where the angle of the torch met the street, an empty barrel barely obscured a scratched symbol of a diamond containing three horizontal stripes. Al nodded to himself. Now he knew which cypher to use.

His next task would be to find a brown bottle with a green glass lip. After all, the cypher was called "Drunken Scoundrel" for a reason.

xXxXx

Al found himself in the back corner of a bar called "The Half-Filled Flask". Half empty would be more appropriate. The tables were barely more than planks of wood straddled between disused crates, and the seats were a mish-mash of badly repaired stools and squat cock barrels. He balanced the brown bottle on its bottom rim, twisting it gently to watch it rock across the table as he waited. He just needed to keep an eye out for a thug named Gauward Challe, unless he had decrypted the riddle incorrectly and he had already missed his target.

Al shook his head. He needed to be confident in his abilities here. A mistake would be costly, but second-guessing oneself could be fatal. He continued to scan the room, trying to think of what this Gauward Challe could look like; the message in the bottle had been vague at best, but he had a few hints, such as a short stature and a nimble build. Perhaps the person was a gnome.

A chair scraped its way over to his table, right next to his seat, and Al watched in amazement as a rotund halfling with powder blue eyes, sun-bleached nearly silver hair, and a childish, clean shaven face hopped into the seat next to him. Considering the dark, rough air of the Underwalk Ward, this halfling left him speechless.

"I hear you're looking for the Clasp!" the halfling said openly, squinting through a broad smile. "Buying or selling?"

"You...are Gauward Challe?" Al said, completely unable to keep the shock out of his voice. "You…!"

"Don't look like I fit in here, yes, I know," Gauward snickered, one hand barely hiding his mouth to make the laugh polite, as the other ducked underneath the table. Al caught the movement and batted away the offending hand before Gauward could nick anything from his belt. The halfling looked impressed.

"Now I'm intrigued. You obviously know cant, as you made it here. You know to spot a pickpocket, as you just demonstrated. And, Alqinor, you're a long way from home."

The hair on Al's neck went stiff as Gauward leaned his cheek on his fist, and that broad smile took on a strangely dangerous tone.

"So, is the cast-out buying, or selling?"

"Trading," Al grunted, pulling over his bag to dig through it for the papers. "I have information on a mine that's about to get interesting, and I want information-"

Al paused. Should he ask about the necklace, or about the Clasp's involvement with the local protesters? The only reason they'd wait so long after such a charged event was if someone had convinced the leaders of the movement that a more opportune time was approaching, and if he knew what that was-

Why did he care? He wasn't even a local. Avoiding bloodshed was good, of course, but he could finally make some progress on his father's murder, and he only had the one plum to trade.

"You want information on…?" Gauward asked, obviously waiting for Al to fill in the blanks.

But then again, how could he justify his sudden retreat from his companions if he came back with nothing?

"I don't appreciate it when someone wastes my time-"

"Why did the Clasp hold back the protesters? What are they waiting for?" Al snapped, slapping the papers on the table. He refused to remove his hand. He knew better than to hand off the plum before the pay.

"First," Gauward smiled, again with an unnatural twist that made Al's skin crawl, "I'd like to see what the information is worth. Then I can trade, in accordance to value."

Al's jaw went tight. It sounded fair, but that smile really set him off. What was the play here? He couldn't figure it out, so with a defeated grunt, he lifted his hand.

Gauward thanked him kindly and began flipping through the pages, his face never changing from that duplicitous smile. After a tense minute, he folded the pages and stuck them in his inner vest pocket, completely hiding them from view.

"The Clasp thanks you for your contribution, Alqinor," Gauward said brightly. "You should check out the World Market sometime soon; I've heard the weekend auction tends to be a little cutthroat, but this weekend might be especially intense. Always good for a show!"

Al looked confused. "That's it?"

"For what you brought me!" Gauward laughed. "But now you know where to find me. I look forward to the next nugget you bring in. G'day!"

With that, and before Al could further respond, Gauward had hopped down from his seat and disappeared among the debris of the Half-Full Flask. Al cursed to himself. As far as he knew, that little tidbit of information would be a red herring to throw him off whatever the Clasp was truly planning. His only option was to trust the honor of thieves and check out the lead, whatever it might bring.

He left the bottle and swept out, pulling his hood back over his head as he walked. On the upside, the World Market was a famous auction house, and if the lead turned out to be a dead end, he was sure there would be something worthwhile in their stores.

xXxXx

"Thank ya kindly, sir," Jayce smiled, shaking the older man's hand. The man was Jeremiah Sook, the guildmaster of the Farmers' Guild, and it was obvious he had worked his way into the position. Sook's skin was leathery and wrinkled, tanned from working year after year in the sun, and his back was bent from a life of hard work. Even in his old age, his hands were thick and callused, as if he still worked in the fields in his silver years.

"Honestly, thank you," Sook said, relief already seeping into his voice. "My notices have been ignored and people call me insane when I take a more direct approach. You've already done more than most I've talked to."

"Can't beat the price!" Jayce laughed. Fifty gold a head to check a field and look into some holes. It was practically the easiest money he had ever gotten on a job. "We'll be back in a few hours. Should we meet ya here?"

"If you could," Sook said, wringing his hands. "We've lost several score of the plainscows in a fortnight, and it's been a nightmare trying to clean up. Whatever the culprit is, it's a hungry one!"

"I'm still doubtful it's a dragon," Johnathan mumbled.

At the mention of the mythical beast, Sook's eyes went wide and his arms flew over his head, as if to block some incoming attack from above.

"Never underestimate such creatures! They're evil! Evil incarnate! You have to kill every one you find!" Sook screamed, racing back into the Farmers' Guild building.

The team stood in shock, watching the large, utility-minded door slowly swing shut under its own weight.

"That was...interesting," Zoe said, mostly to break the silence.

"My guess would be post traumatic stress disorder," Dahlia sighed. "Based on his advanced age, he was probably a small child during the attack so long ago."

"Oof. I'm glad I ain't got those nightmares," Jayce puffed, pulling out his map. Thankfully, the map contained some detail of the city of Westruun, but even if that failed, he did have the locals on his side. "Seems the main eastern gate for the Silvercut Roadway goes our way, so that should be good enough. Unless you two have a preferred exit, of course," Jayce said, turning to Johnathan and Zoe.

"Nope. We've never actually left Westruun, so this'll be the farthest we've ever traveled," Zoe said with a smirk. "I've always wanted to ride a plainscow. They're supposed to be ten feet tall!"

"You're horrible," Johnathan snickered. "I have never in our whole time together heard you say you've wanted to ride a plainscow, and they're not ten feet tall. They're six."

"Doesn't change the fact that I want to ride one now," Zoe said brightly.

Jayce chuckled to himself and rolled up the map, glancing at Dahlia and Gauth. Both had shown quiet concern over Al's abrupt disappearance, but had otherwise kept to themselves. Gauth constantly checked over his shoulder, as if he was expecting Al to show up at any time. In all honesty, if Al was going to show up, it would have to be at the Farmers' Guild; that was the extent of their knowledge as to their plans for the day, and if they headed anywhere from there, Al would be on his own to find them.

Jayce grimaced to himself. Al was far from his favorite person in the group, but Gauth was fond of the guy, so he might as well make an attempt to stall.

"Before we head out," he said, turning to Johnathan and Zoe, who were quietly bickering about the logistics involved with riding a plainscow, "tell me about these plainscows. I ain't seen one around the coast, and I didn't pick one out on the way in."

"Oh, they're one of the main exports of Westruun," Johnathan said with a nonchalant shrug. "They're large beasts of burden and can provide dairy and meat. While not as fast as a horse, they can carry or pull over twice the total weight. I've also heard they tend to be rather empathic creatures, and can impress on a person for life."

Jayce's head tilted, his curiosity peaked. "You're sayin' if one of those things likes a person, it'll follow 'em around their whole life?"

Johnathan nodded. "Or the plainscow's whole life. Whatever's shorter."

Jayce nodded, actively wondering if such a beast of burden would be useful if their team continued to grow. "And how long's that?"

Johnathan actually looked lost for a second. "I...don't know. About as long as a human, I guess?"

"Look, not that this rather sudden turn towards exposition isn't fascinating, but I wanna ride a plainscow and we're not getting any closer to that by standing here!" Zoe said, nearly bouncing with excitement. "East gate, right? So let's go!"

Guath stepped in front of her, literally looking down to meet her eyes that were over a foot below him. "Not without Al," he said firmly. It was clear he would not willingly leave without his friend.

Zoe visibly swallowed and backed up, her hands up to show she meant no offense. "Sorry, Gauth! I may have forgotten about him. I mean, we did only meet you all last night."

Gauth nodded, satisfied.

Jayce, however, sighed. "As much as I'd like to wait around for 'im to show up, we got work t' do. I can't stall forever."

Johnathan smirked. "Oh, so you weren't actually interested in plainscows?"

Jayce shrugged. "Can't say what I heard wasn't interesting, but that's about all I wanted t' know. Now I'm back to bein' curious as to why Al stalked off like that this morning."

"We can go."

Everyone turned to Dahlia, who had apparently wandered off without their knowledge. Rather than her previous position of behind Gauth, she was walking toward them from the front door of the Farmers' Guild.

"Where the hell'd you go?" Jayce asked, completely surprised.

"Just to talk to someone here," Dahlia said as she crossed her arms. "We left a note for Al to meet us here, so, logically, if he can't find us out front, he'll ask around. Providing he heads inside, he should run into the man I talked to, who has been given a description of our friend. One way or another, he should hear that we've headed out the East Gate toward the fields, and should be able to find us there. Assuming we don't wander too far from the road, of course."

"Hey, Jayce," Zoe snickered, "you're sure you're the one in charge, right?"

"Ha ha. Still not yer boss, Zoe," Jayce grumbled, walking over to Dahlia. He tapped her elbow and she easily took his. "That said, we all good to head out?"

Gauth grumbled under his breath, unwilling to move, but he looked across his companions. As much as he did not like the idea of further abandoning his friend, he trusted Dahlia to be intelligent. Reluctantly, he nodded in submission.

"Great. Let's move."

Zoe, who took her self-proclaimed position of navigator very seriously, immediately rushed to the front of the group and led them down the roads of Westruun, taking them to the East Gate. Along the way, she regaled them the local history of her home city, glossing over the more history-making events in favor of the day-to-day goings-on of the people. Johnathan, who had heard these tales what felt like a thousand times, offered snarky comments and jeers designed to trip up his sister. Despite his efforts, she confidently kept her stride.

Past the gate, Zoe's words faltered, as she had wandered beyond her sphere of knowledge. The siblings looked over the rolling plains to the east of Westruun with true awe, as the grasslands stretched to what seemed to be the literal horizon. The distance was so vast and even that the group could make out the individual shadows of passing clouds, drifting lazily across the sky above them.

Johnathan, acutely aware they were no longer in the shaded streets of the city, pulled his hood up higher and squinted, trying to limit the light his eyes had to process. He knew it would not paint him favorably if he suffered another of his particular headaches while out on the field, and especially before he had established a rapport with his new companions.

"Oo! Look! There's one!" Zoe practically squealed, pointing toward the fields. Sure enough, several large bovine creatures, heavily furred and six feet tall at the shoulder, were quietly grazing the vegetation, searching for whatever delectable green shoots they could find.

"Huh. Don't know what I expected," Jayce mumbled, looking over the field. He turned to Zoe. "Think this is the field…"

The space where Zoe had been standing was suspiciously empty. Johnathan, who had been walking next to her, just smiled, his arms crossed. "Nope. She's already gone."

Gauth suppressed the urge to laugh. "She's over there."

Sure enough, Zoe had bolted straight for one of the docile creatures, her limbs coiling like a spring at the last second to launch herself into the air. She easily landed exactly on the plainscow's back, and threw her fists into the air to celebrate her victory.

"Ha! I'm riding a cow!" she called out, completely oblivious as to why her comrades were suddenly bolting across the field toward her. Zoe realized the world was beginning to tip far too late to do anything about it.

The plainscow, too large and bulky to move quickly enough to buck off this intruder, simply fell to its side, trapping Zoe's leg between its body and the ground. Zoe cried out in pain, anger, indignation, and surprise as she finally realized what just happened.

"Get this thing off me!" she roared, shoving the creature as hard as she could, despite having no strength or leverage to actually remove it. The plainscow lowed deeply, as if pleased it had completely trapped this interloper to the ground.

Gauth, Jayce, and Johnathan all did their best to pull the creature off Zoe, while trying to treat the situation with the seriousness it required. Gauth, especially, was having a hard time hiding his amusement as he nearly single-handedly righted the creature and led it farther into the field, away from the livid Zoe.

"That was incredibly stupid, Zoe," Johnathan huffed, immediately checking his sister's leg for fractures.

"Yeah, yeah, turns out plainscows are assholes," Zoe spat, slapping away her brother. "And don't touch me! That fucking hurts!"

"Of course it does! You probably broke your leg!" Johnathan yelled right into her face.

"Both of you, shut it!" Jayce snapped, yanking Johnathan's shoulder to pull him away from his sister. "How about we leave the medical opinions to the resident professional, yeah?"

Dahlia, having finally caught up, was already at Zoe's side. "Which leg hurts?"

Zoe was flustered, noting Dahlia's hands already sliding up her ankles and shins. "Uh, my righ-my right! Ow! Gods damn it!"

Dahlia nodded, the rest of her team stepping up to watch. Both her hands were around Zoe's right knee, gently twisting and squeezing. Zoe responded by hissing through her teeth and cursing under her breath.

With another nod, Dahlia dipped a hand into her bag and pulled out a small metal tin. Inside was a smooth, slightly green ointment that smelled vaguely of mint.

"Ah! I remember that stuff!" Gauth smiled. "A toppy...dammit."

Dahlia suppressed a giggle. "Topical anesthetic, Gauth. Good memory. So, Zoe, good news and bad news."

Zoe's face twisted in suspicion as she gave Dahlia a side eye. "Why are you going to use something to numb my knee?"

"Because," Dahlia began, as she untied the strap keeping Zoe's loose pants flush to her ankle, "good news, nothing's broken, but bad news, you wrenched your knee pretty badly when the plainscow landed on you. You're lucky you didn't dislocate the capula."

Jayce let out a whistle of awe.

"Okay, so how are you-"

Dahlia violently twisted Zoe's leg back into alignment, causing the monk to scream in pain. Zoe's eyes began tearing up as she hissed, swore, and spat, punching the grass next to her.

"You couldn't have used that cream stuff before you did that?!" Zoe yelled.

"No. It isn't strong enough," Dahlia said, slathering a thin layer over Zoe's exposed knee. "However, now that the burst of pain is over, this will help you get back on your feet so we can work. Keep in mind, your knee will still be pretty weak for a few hours, so if you can, try to lean on something, or someone, as you walk." Dahlia replaced the pant leg and refastened the ankle tie. "If you're good and don't jump on any more cows by the time we arrive at the field, I'll use my magic to fix any lasting damage you might have caused."

"Oh that's just cruel," Zoe said, her face screwed up in annoyance. "But that cream stuff feels pretty great. I feel like I can just hop back up-"

"Don't you dare," Dahlia hissed. "I have a low tolerance for stupid as it is, and while you can't feel the pain, you are still injured. You loosened the joint enough that you're risking dislocating your capula, your knee cap."

"I wondered what that was," Gauth mumbled.

Zoe grabbed her brother and used him to pull herself to a standing position, to which Johnathan only half minded because he wasn't expecting the sudden force that threatened to throw him off balance.

"So?" she asked. "It's like a dislocated shoulder, right? Just pop it back into place?"

Dahlia shook her head and stood herself. "Absolutely not. It could do enough damage to your nerves and cardiovascular system that you might not ever walk again."

The only one who missed Zoe going pale was the blind woman.

"O-okay," Zoe cleared her throat, still leaning on her brother, and smiled awkwardly. "So, uh, definitely no more jumping on plainscows. Got it. Off to the field?"

Jayce, arms crossed and damn proud of his friend, nodded to Zoe. "Shouldn't be too far now. If it weren't holes, we'd probably see it from here."

"Great. Wonderful. Awesome. Tally-ho!" Zoe announced, her arm thrust forward in the general direction of their destination. "...Bro, that means move."

"You are the most random person on Exandria," Johnathan snickered, but he complied, and the group moved forward.

After twenty minutes of walking, and asking a cattle hand for directions, they arrived at the field in question. The overgrazed field was patchy with blotches of dried out dirt and anemic grasses, made all the more sickly by nearly ten-foot-wide holes lined with melted, brown vegetative sludge that had hardened into a crusty grime. Jayce poked some of the substance with the toe of his boot, watching it crack off and fall into the pit below.

"So who's jumpin' down?" he asked, trying to hide his own disgust at the idea.

Gauth and Dahlia immediately turned to the siblings, who visibly protested.

"Uh, no. I can't. My knee's still busted," Zoe said, gesturing toward the knee in question. "Even with the gunk on it, doctor's orders were to stay off it."

"And I wouldn't be able to climb out," Johnathan quickly added.

"The knee can be easily fixed," Dahlia grinned, her fingers already glowing with a sparkle of divine power. "If you can jump directly on the back of a plainscow without assistance, I'm sure the hole will be no problem for you."

"How do you even know what happened? You can't see a thing!" Zoe huffed, trying to avoid Dahlia's reach without pulling her brother over.

"I'm blind, not deaf. Now hold still!"

"But I don't wanna go in the hole!"

Jayce rolled his eyes and sighed, kneeling down to take a closer look at the crust around the hole's edge. Gauth kneeled next to him as a flash of divine light went off behind them.

"Any idea what this is?" Jayce asked, turning to his large companion.

Gauth lightly dragged his forefinger across the dried sludge and rubbed it against his thumb. He noted how it tingled slightly, and then inspected the crude, unstable walls of the pit below them. He could tell it was not excavated by a creature that swallowed earth, like a worm, or that used paws to reinforce the walls, like a mole.

"I can't be completely sure, but I know this isn't a dragon. The tools this creature used were thin and long, like a jagged scythe. To be claws like a dragon, there would have to be lines side-by-side, but these are too random. I think it is an insect of some kind."

Jayce leaned over the edge to get a better look at the gouge marks Gauth was indicating. "Bugs come this big?" he asked incredulously.

Gauth nodded, his face grave. "I don't know their names, but there are insects that are bigger than me in this world."

Jayce shuddered. He almost hoped it was dragon spawn instead.

The earth collapsed under his knee, and Jayce pitched forward, yelping in surprise as he flailed for purchase. Gauth whipped out a hand to grab his friend, but in his haste accidentally smacked the man's shoulder as he fell into the pit, rather than actually grab him.

A rain of loose gravel and sticky earth pelted Jayce as he landed, hard, on the same shoulder Gauth had mistakenly attacked on his way down. He felt it wrench and pop, and a scream of pain escaped his throat before he could restrain himself.

"Jayce!"

As soon as Dahlia's voice hit his ears, he knew she was charging toward the pit. He had to warn her back, before she fell in too!

"Stay back!" he roared, forcing his voice to be as loud as he could muster. "The ground's unstable!"

"But you're hurt!"

Gauth's shadow fell across the opening above him as Jayce struggled to his feet. He knew Gauth would keep Dahlia from getting close, so the next step would be to scan his surroundings and learn where he was. As he turned his head, his shoulder throbbed angrily with pain, and grasping it did not seem to help. Instead, he hugged the attached arm, his left, to his stomach as he glanced around. That, at least, prevented additional pain from unintentional movement.

The pit he had fallen into was rough hewn and obviously unstable, even to his untrained eye. Rough chunks of moist earth hung from the walls and roof of a nearly blocked passageway by the power of grass and shrub roots alone, just to his right, which seemed to head even farther down. An acrid smell assaulted his senses, and he realized whatever creature made this cavern must use the acidic compounds it produced for tunnelling. Considering the hole was lined with the stuff, he felt like a moron for not realizing that sooner.

Zoe slammed into the close wall and dug her hand into the loose dirt, using it to slow her descent enough to land next to Jayce without injury. Jayce couldn't help but smirk when she hopped up to her feet and turned to him.

"You okay, boss?"

"Not yer boss, Zoe. And yeah, I'm fine. Just knocked around a bit," Jayce grunted as his shoulder caused him to wince. "Probably just a bruise. My backpack took most of it."

Zoe's nose twitched as she turned toward the mostly collapsed cavern. "Ugh. Whatever this thing is, it's digging methods literally stink. The team all agree we should get you out of here before our mystery beast comes back to find our resident noisemaker."

Jayce sighed in relief. It was nice to know his companions cared. "Sounds like a damn good idea. I've got a climbin' kit in my bag, but my shoulder's shot; I ain't climbin' for a while. Long as you can get the rope up there, I figure Gauth'll have no trouble pullin' me out."

This time, Zoe smirked and flashed a mock salute. "Aye aye, captain."

Jayce shrugged off his backpack as carefully as he could. "Where the fuck'd that come from?" he snickered.

"Well, you're not my boss, so…" Zoe giggled. "Anyway, got the whole kit in there?"

"Pitons, hammer, rope, the works," Jayce said, handing over his bag.

Zoe noticed a leather loop on the outside of the bag. That was usually where adventurers would keep rope, if they had it. "Why isn't the rope on the loop here?"

Jayce shrugged and immediately regretted it. Hissing through his teeth, he explained, "Clasp broke about a month ago, never got around to replacin' it. Now get up there so I can get the fuck out of this damn hole!"

"Aye-aye, cap-"

"Not yer boss, Zoe!"

Zoe laughed as she shouldered the backpack and the rope and leapt at the wall, only for the loose earth to give way under her weight and send her tumbling back to the ground. This time, Jayce was laughing, although he was polite enough to keep it mostly to himself.

"Alright, take two," Zoe grumbled, as she took a second to more carefully plan her route up. Gauth and Johnathan were looking down over the edge, and she imagined Dahlia was still pacing up there as she clearly worried after her friend. "Hey, one of you get ready to catch the rope!"

Gauth held out an arm and called out that he was ready as Zoe held the rope behind her, her arm primed for a throw. The second she tried to release it, a rumbling screech shuddered through the passageway, and the scrambling sound of some creature clawing through earth reached their ears. Unfortunately, the shock caused Zoe to drop the rope.

Immediately returning to her senses, Zoe dipped down, scooped up the rope, chucked it as hard as she could to the opening and threw a loop of the generous slack around Jayce. Rather than tie a knot, she wrapped the folded cords around one arm and threw the other around her potential boss.

"Yank us up!" she screamed, hoping that would spur on the giantkin above them.

The partially collapsed passageway exploded open, damp earth pelting them as Gauth gave a mighty heave to drag them upwards. Rust-brown mandibles, as large as their arms, burst through the debris and snapped shut, barely missing Zoe but catching Jayce's leg as they flew past it. Jayce yowled as the mandibles ripped through his calf, the wound flaring with pain as acidic juices immediately began to burn through both his boot and muscle tissue.

His vision was white with pain as he and Zoe crashed to the ground next to Gauth. Jayce could feel his consciousness slipping away, but he was too stubborn to pass out right then and there.

The ground exploded twenty feet to the side as a second creature arrived to investigate the noisy potential food source. What towered over them was a horrifying amalgamation of a centipede and a praying mantis, over ten feet tall and covered in chitinous armor speckled with backwards facing spurs. It chittered and clacked, the ground beneath it hissing as acidic spittle dripped from its mandibled maw.

It suddenly bucked backward, screeching as it writhed against something on its back. Al, finally revealed, hung on to the hilt of his blade, buried deep between the plates of the creature's natural armor, as it whipped him around. Despite himself, Al let out a scream as he fought to hold on to his dagger, as he knew that creature would not hesitate to eat him if it could reach him and he was also painfully aware he was only barely out of its reach.

Dahlia dove for Jayce and Zoe as Gauth stood between them and the pit, his great axe pulled and ready for the creature to appear from the depths. He did have the forethought to warn Dahlia that it was Jayce's leg that was injured as the ground heaved beneath them, and she responded by throwing a chalky, white powder over Jayce's injury. Jayce dry heaved from the pain as the wound began to foam and fizzle, but it was cut short as Dahlia force fed him one of her homemade potions, fresh from that morning.

It was more potent than Jayce was expecting, but he swallowed his shock as his leg wound sealed and his shoulder began to numb. He was ready to fight!

Johnathan stood back, his dominant arm pointed at the creature dealing with Al and braced as magical power swirled around his wrist. Three points of painfully bright purple arcane energy elongated into darts, and fired at the insectoid monstrosity as Johnathan chanted arcane commands. All three whistled through the air, tracking the creature's face with alarming accuracy as it bucked about, trying to throw Al off its back, and impacted with incredible force. The monster stumbled, nearly falling on its side, and Al took the opportunity to yank the blade from its hide and hop off before it could react.

With his strength finally back, Jayce followed Zoe's lead and scrambled to his feet, but rather than follow her toward the creature her brother had attacked, he grabbed Dahlia's arm and yanked her away from the battle. His injured leg nearly buckled under him as he pulled her along, but he pressed on, only turning to fire a bolt of magic when he was able to tell the ground was no longer grumbling under their feet. The bolt struck what amounted to the creature's chest as it fought to return to its feet, and it screeched in agony as chitinous plates shattered and peeled off from the force.

Zoe didn't even flinch as the bolt screeched past her shoulder, and leapt toward the monster as it fought to regain its balance. She pointed her heel like an arrow, but the creature's hide was too thick and it obviously didn't even notice the strike. Enraged, she shifted onto a back foot and jabbed with a pointed palm strike, but again, the natural armor proved better, and she swore as her hand stung.

Restraint was not his normal strategy, but Gauth held his swing, watching the ground as his companions attacked the other creature. The first was moving through the earth below him, that much was obvious, and he wanted its first glint of sunlight to be off his axe when it finally appeared.

The ground buckled under his feet, and he managed to just barely jump to safety as the first monster erupted from the ground. Even off balance, he managed to slam the blade into his target, but instead of the body he was aiming for, he only managed to cleave through one of its club-like claws, tipped like a thick scythe.

Furious, the creature screeched and cackled, hissing as it took in a gulp of air before spewing a viscous, translucent fluid at Gauth. Still off balance from his attack, Gauth was unable to duck out of the way and took the full blast into his chest, and he immediately felt as if his entire torso had suddenly caught fire.

The second creature, practically blind with rage and pain, lunged at the closest target, Zoe, and slammed its mandibles closed around her arms and chest. She screamed as its acid-coated maw ripped into her stomach, tearing at her furiously, and it ripped viscera from her body as she blacked out.

Johnathan's vision nearly went black, the only image burned into his eyes was the limp body of his sister. He didn't even realize he was screaming.

Al reacted before he could think, leaping back on the creature's hide to rip both blades through the connective tissue exposed beneath its exoskeletal skull. The monster gurgled as a strange, milky fluid spurt out of the wound, and it collapsed on top of Zoe's unconscious form.

Dahlia had heard enough. With Gauth screaming in rage and pain, Zoe's cry as she was eviscerated, Johnathan's plea against fate, and of course Jayce's own injuries, she broke out of his grip and dashed into the middle of the fight, diving for Zoe underneath the finally still creature. Unfortunately, she was unable to make heads or tails of the pile of chitinous slates and barbs, and could not find Zoe.

"Al! Help! We only have seconds!" she screamed, as Gauth nearly drowned her out with a scream of his own. Al scrambled to her aid as Gauth's axe tore through the final monster's face, but he kept his nerve as it gave off a bone-grinding screech.

Johnathan had barely any physical strength in him, but he didn't care. He nearly shoved Al out of the way and tried to physically lift the creature's upper body off his sister, not even registering what Al was doing to help. Between the two of them lifting, Dahlia was finally able to reach Zoe, and with a command of "Return", the monk regained a painful consciousness.

Meanwhile, Jayce was tracking his target. That monster that had bitten through his leg was all he could think about, and his hand, wreathed in blue, oily flame, followed its head as Gauth dealt a mighty blow. The second the axe left an open, pale, milky hole in the monster's face, Jayce released a bolt of his power, making his will for the beast's death a tangible arrow of anger and murderous intent. His aim was true, and half of the creature's face exploded from the internal impact against rather important, and soft, organs kept within its skull.

Jayce almost wished that didn't kill it so he could strike it again.

"Zoe! Zoe!"

Jayce snapped back to reality and glanced over at the others. Johnathan continued to cry out, fighting against Al, who was trying to pull him back from his injured sister. Gauth, unable to shake his rage, was no help as he continually chopped at the already downed creature by the original pit. Both monsters were beginning to smoke from its internal acid, no longer held back by its biological processes.

Jayce moved toward Dahlia and the others, grimacing as his leg once again threatened to give out under him, and clumsily shoved into Johnathan.

"You gotta give her space, you moron! She's workin' to save her!" he spat, grabbing Johnathan's arm that had wormed out of Al's grip. "You gettin' in the way ain't gonna help!"

"Zoe's dying!" Johnathan screamed, powerfully wrenching his body toward the two women on the ground. Jayce and Al barely kept a hand on him, and shared a look of worry before glancing at the doctor and her work.

Dahlia's hands were literally within Zoe's abdomen, replacing perforated small intestines to their approximate location before applying another sprinkling of white powder. Again, the wound began to foam, and Zoe reacted by bursting into an agonizing scream. Dahlia winced at the sound, but kept working, not even breaking into a visible sweat as she placed a bloody hand over her own chest and called out for the light of Pelor to bless her patient.

Sunlight fell from her fingertips, and she pressed both glowing hands to Zoe's stomach. Even Johnathan went still as they watched the wound knit closed, the white powder somehow working its way to the surface of the wound, which, although it remained, was a much shallower and no longer bleeding gash.

Dahlia did a quick assessment with her fingers as Zoe sobbed from the pain.

"Good news, Zoe. You'll live," Dahlia said softly, a smile of relief visible on her face.

Zoe, in shock, started laughing, choking as she continued to also sob. Jayce and Al let her brother go to finally clasp his sister in an embrace.

"You idiot," Johnathan said, also in tears, his arms wrapped around his sister as tightly as he dared. "You were supposed to be keeping me alive, not the other way around!"

"Uh, whoops?" Zoe wheezed. She would never admit it to his face, but she was happy the one holding her in this moment was her brother. She had been terrified she would lose another chance to pick his fascinating brain, and possibly get him back for that morning. The second idea was an afterthought, of course, but it still came to mind.

"I'd still like to treat your wound, Zoe," Dahlia said, trying to keep her voice gentle despite a creeping sense of urgency. "I'd feel better if the wound was stitched closed, or at the very least bandaged until I've had a chance to rest and apply more magic."

"Resting sounds like a great idea," Zoe said with a wince. She gently pushed her brother away. "Sorry, bro; doctor's orders."

"It's okay," Johnathan said with a smile, and took the opportunity to wipe his face dry. "I'm just glad you're going to be fine."

"It's literally the first day of our adventures! It'd be a fucking shame if I died now," Zoe smiled, adding a mischevious wink.

"You did give it your best shot, Zoe," Dahlia smiled. "And welcome back, Al."

Al crossed his arms and smiled, although it quickly faded when he glanced at the still furious Gauth nearby. "I'm surprised you clued in to the fact that I had returned. It took a while to catch up to you all!"

"Let's just say you have a unique timber to your voice, even when you're screaming," Dahlia giggled.

"Yeah, well, it popped up right in front of me, and it was my best idea," Al grumbled. "What were those things, anyway?"

"Ankhegs," Gauth growled as he returned to the group, his axe dragging behind him. "They are hunters of large beasts, and favor plains like this. I should have realized when I heard of acid and pits. That is their preferred method for collecting prey."

"That, and poppin' out of the ground like it was fuckin' water," Jayce grumbled. He turned to Johnathan. "These normal 'round here?"

Johnathan looked briefly blank as he was not expecting to be put on the spot. "Uh, I don't… I'm not sure. Zoe?"

"Don't make me think right now," she grunted into her hands, which covered her face. Dahlia was in the process of cleaning and bandaging her stomach, and despite the numbing cream, it was hard to forget why her lower torso was being constantly shifted and nudged.

"Then we take it to Sook," Jayce sighed. "Any way to- Fuckin' hells on a ship, Gauth! That thing's practically paste!"

Gauth crossed his arms, his axe leaned against his hip. "So?"

Al nudged Jayce and, with a shake of his head, made it clear not to continue this line of thought. Jayce visibly swallowed and silently agreed.

"Okay…" Jayce wheezed, trying to suppress the nausea from glancing at Gauth's handiwork. "Any way to get this ank-heg back to… Fuckin' names… How're we gonna get this one back t' town?"

"Uh, hang on," Johnathan said, his hands diving into his pockets. "I think I can help with that… Just…"

Al, Jayce, and Gauth watched in fascinated amusement as Johnathan dug through his patchy, ripped, and ruined coat. The wizard had obviously misplaced some object, but they were quite surprised to see a large book, far too large for the pockets he had been excavating, that suddenly popped into existence in his hands.

"There we go!" Johnathan smiled, and flipped to a specific page at the beginning of the book with ease. "Tenser's Floating Disk should do the trick."

"Where the hell were you keeping that?!" Al gasped. "That's practically as big as your head!"

Johnathan produced a small book charm on a gold necklace chain that seemed to glimmer in the light. It looked pristine.

"This. The chain's fragile and the clasp is broken, so I keep it in one of my pockets instead of wearing it."

"Okay, nice," Al huffed, his curiosity unsatisfied. "What is it?"

"It's a folding charm. This one is attuned to my spellbook, so when I close the charm-" Johnathan said, holding up the charm for his companions to see. With a practiced pinch, he closed the small book on the chain. The book blinked out of existence. "-my book disappears."

Al whistled in awe. "That's handy."

"Very. Should I summon the disk?" Johnathan said with a smile.

"Can I ride it?" Zoe whined from the ground.

Dahlia, having finished, twisted the ring under her glove and cast the magical cleaning spell on Zoe's form. Freed of blood, white powder, and acidic grime, Zoe looked much better, although her doctor still had a bloody handprint on her chest and sticky gloves.

"Uh, doc, you're going to want to clean up too," Zoe said, although her attempt to keep her comment polite was unfortunately off the mark. "You're a bit of a mess."

"It's fine," Dahlia said with a soft smile, wiping her gloves on a rag from her bag and then rubbing off the smudge on her chest. "The advantage of oilcloth is it's hard to find anything that actually sticks to it."

No one wanted to mention how it was now a dark smear across her entire front instead of an obvious red blotch, and wasn't actually gone.

Jayce turned back to Johnathan. "How much does that spell carry?"

Johnathan recalled his book and checked the page in question. "About five hundred pounds, but the surface isn't very big. It's about three feet wide, so, like a small table."

Everyone nearly jumped as Gauth took the initiative and chopped at the dead ankheg's neck, with a guttural bark to lend power to his blow. The team quietly mused that he likely still had aggression to work through as Gauth cut cleanly through the beast in a single strike.

"There. The head is free," Gauth huffed, dragging it away from Zoe, who was still whimpering on the ground. He didn't know why she was so upset; his aim was good enough to keep from hitting her, and he did land the blade a foot away from her shoulder. That was plenty of room.

Jayce subtly leaned toward Al and tensely whispered, "Any way to calm 'im down when he's like this?"

Al, his eyes never leaving his large friend, simply shook his head.

"Right," Jayce mumbled, as he watched Gauth heave the creature's head onto his shoulder as if it was just a heavy sack of potatoes. "So, uh, John?"

Jolted back to reality, Johnathan mumbled some affirmation that he was paying attention and cleared his throat, his hand again dipping into an inner pocket to produce a small glass bead filled with silver liquid. As Dahlia helped Zoe to her feet, the small glass bead began to float over Johnathan's palm, swirling with pale light that turned and twisted fast enough to begin extruding outwards, as if pulled by centrifugal forces into the shape of a three-inch-wide disk. Johnathan continued to chant as it gained size, and when it reached a foot across, he tossed it to the ground in front of him.

Rather than landing, it came to a sudden stop three feet above the ground and hovered in mid-air, as if resting on an invisible surface. The bead was completely lost in its center, especially when the light took on a dark violet hue and settled, looking no less solid than the dirt they stood on.

"Leave it to a wizard to make a table look fancy," Al smirked.

"Oh you haven't seen anything yet," Johnathan laughed. "Try to move it."

Al rolled his eyes and gave it a gentle nudge with his hip, and to his complete surprise, it was completely immoble. He shoved at it three times, each with more force, before he finally gave up and turned to Johnathan.

"Alright, I admit, that's pretty solid. However, if it won't move, I don't know how this is going to help us," Al said, his arms crossed.

"It's anchored to me," Johnathan said, motioning for Gauth to set down the ankheg head on the disk. The goliath complied. "If I move, it will follow me unless it's impossible to do so."

"How long we got on this thing?" Jayce asked. He imagined the hassle of trying to drag the massive head along the road if the disk suddenly gave out, and he didn't like the idea.

Johnathan checked his book. "An hour. We should get moving."

"That should be just enough time," Dahlia added with a nod as she helped Zoe stand. "So long as no one's too hurt to walk-"

"Uh, Dahlia, Gauth's turning pink."

Al's interruption caused the team to turn toward Gauth, who looked embarrassed, and so he tensed and put on a face of indignation. However, it was not his embarrassment that was the culprit. Dahlia sniffed the air near him and immediately dug through her bag.

"Gauth! Why didn't you say anything?!"

Gauth shrugged. "What is there to say? I'm fine."

Dahlia pulled out the small satchel of white powder and, after passing Zoe to her brother, began throwing it on Gauth as if blessing him with starlight. Her companions were briefly confused before Gauth began to wince and his skin began to foam.

"You are literally covered in acid, and you are not fine!" Dahlia spat. "Between the whole of you, I'm now out of nahcolite and if we come across any more of those things, I won't be able to neutralize any acid you get doused in!"

Al couldn't help himself. "Why is he foaming up, anyway?"

"It's a process called saponification, and if we wait too much longer, that disk will wear out long before we reach town. I'll talk as we walk. Zoe, I'll help you walk if you help me see."

"Deal."

xXxXx

Jayce now wondered if he would have nightmares about soap. Apparently, saponification was the process of fatty things, in this case skin, mixed with acidic things, in this case ankheg spit, and neutralized with something "basic", which did not mean simple. In this case, it meant something that was the opposite of acidic, which happened to be Dahlia's entire store of nahcolite. The most common use of that process was to make washing soap, and now he wondered what exactly those common soaps used to be before they were processed. Perhaps it would be better not to think about it.

He rubbed his face as he limped along with his team through town. Just another mile to the Farmers' Guild, a hand off to Sook, and they could return to the inn and possibly take a nap. Maybe, if he played his cards right, he could convince the guildmaster to give them a bonus. With Gauth looking steam cooked, Zoe bandaged and in obvious pain, and him limping, it wouldn't be too hard to play up the actual battle and make it seem as if they did more than just kill a couple of plains pests.

On top of that, Zoe's belt needed to be replaced, Gauth's various weapon harnesses needed repair, and he needed a new pair of boots. Or at the very least one boot. Although if they didn't match, it would secretly bug him. It would be better to just get a new pair.

Dahlia had donated one of her tourniquets, which thankfully was nothing more complicated than a leather strap, to tie what was left of his boot to his leg, just below his knee. It aggravated the wound somewhat, but it was just for another mile.

Just one more mile.

Unfortunately, with his leg and Zoe's general state, their travel had been slowed somewhat, and Johnathan's magic had collapsed before they reached the gate of Westruun. Gauth had been hesitant to burden his hands, but they were close to the city by then, and the threat of attack by those strange insectoid monstrosities was far less than out in the fields.

Even without the aid of magic to ferry the trophy through the streets, the group was catching several curious eyes, including a small, meandering crowd that followed them to the guild hall. The rare sight of a goliath in town was already hard to miss, but one with a massive ankheg head on his shoulder was nearly impossible to ignore. As the rapidly increasing number of bodies was making him nervous, Jayce motioned for Al to catch up to him. He didn't want to be the only person in front, and a distraction would help him stay calm.

Al quickly jogged into position and offered a friendly smile. "How're you holding up, Jayce?"

Step one, smile.

Jayce smiled back as he tried to keep his limp under control. "Ain't comfortable, but I've dealt with worse. You?"

Al chuckled awkwardly. "Well, I feel pretty lucky to have gotten out of all that without a scrape. I was quite a ways out when that first one burst out of the ground, but thankfully close enough to catch it off guard."

Step two, keep hands visible.

Jayce nodded and made a point to adjust the straps of his backpack. He left his thumbs hooked on the straps, his fingers loose and open, and visible. Just in case.

"Speakin' of, Al, where did ya run off to this morning?" he asked, turning toward the rogue. Al immediately turned his gaze, refusing to meet Jayce's eyes.

Step three, be very polite.

"Al, I'm serious. We all got damned worried, and so long as ya stick around, we share the load. You okay?"

Al sighed, and dropped his voice to a whisper. "Look, I want to tell you what happened, but I'd feel better if it was a more private conversation. I will say it wasn't good news, and I'm pissed off I gave up a good plum for it."

Step four, stay calm.

Jayce also dropped his voice. "Can't say that sounds good... What about?" Jayce tried to remember that morning, when Al first left. "Somethin' about the...protests? That's when ya ducked out, right?"

Al's shoulders went tense, and Jayce knew he hit the right idea. Al's hands began to gesture his frustration as he hissed through his teeth. "I'd love to talk about this now, but there are too many ears about. Can this please wait?"

A small rock clattered to a stop in front of them, and it seemed to have been tossed from the right. Curious, both men turned to see an older human man, his right arm missing from the elbow down, pull out another stone from a pouch on his hip. Winding up to throw, the man cried out, "Go back to the Bramblewood, you half-breed! You fucking spying on us?!"

The man was obviously not originally left handed, as the rock went wide and clattered harmlessly past them.

Step five, never talk back. Talking back is bad. Talking back is very bad.

Al was ready to pull weapons on the man, but to his amazement, Jayce gave the man an awkward nod, ducked his head, and moved on. No words, no retorts, and definitely no gestures. The only thing Jayce seemed to do differently was pull up his hood as he walked, despite that man screaming hateful insults at his back. He was so shocked by Jayce's behavior that he failed to notice Gauth had turned toward the man hurling rocks.

"Leave my friend alone!"

The whole group twitched and whirled toward Gauth, who, despite being somewhat pink from his acid burns, still cut a terrifying figure as his muscles tensed with restrained anger. The people parted in front of him like vermin under a bright light, and the one-armed man disappeared into the crowd.

Gauth, satisfied, shifted the ankheg head back onto his shoulder and continued to follow Jayce and Al at the front of the group. He assumed the man was no better than a rat, and so like a rat, would hide rather than face his foe. He was pleased to know he was correct.

Jayce, however, knew it was far more complicated than that, and desperately hoped the man did not have enough courage, or friends, to consider retaliation.

Just one more mile.

xXxXx

News of the group's procession through town had reached the Farmers' Guild before their actual arrival, and they were greeted with the sight of an anxious Guildmaster Sook waiting outside the massive doors. The man wrung his hands obsessively until he caught their eye, and Al waved to confirm the man had been seen. What then passed over Sook's features was a curious mix of curiosity, relief, recognition, and eventually embarrassment.

Zoe, despite her wounds or position at the back of the group, immediately clued into Sook's discomfort. She pushed off Dahlia's form and stumbled to the front, one hand spared to prevent what was left of her belt from failing as she stood defiantly in front of the guild.

"I knew it! You know damn well what this is, don't you?" she spat. Sook flinched under her gaze. "Your stupid obsession with dragons made you blind to some fucking important information that we could have damn well used!"

Sook withered, noting the bloody bandage around her stomach, Guath's visibly irritated skin, and Jayce leaning heavily on Al. It was clear over half the team had been grievously injured, and while he did feel bad about that, it was also clear this young woman was overreacting due to pain.

Sook did his best to stand up straight, an action that required a large effort on his part, due to his bad back. "Miss, you were provided with all the information I had. Yes, I know what these are, but they use acid, and they leave holes; what exactly were you missing? You had what you needed to be prepared."

"That- They, but they-!" Zoe wanted both hands free to wring that man's neck, but she did not want to moon the crowd in the process. "Dragons don't burrow, you asshole!"

The guildmaster did flinch at the mention of his greatest fear, but he stood his ground. What remained of his reputation was at stake, and they were in the middle of a remarkably public setting. A tempting thought then entered his mind; if he could prove they were incompetent, he may get away with refusing to pay them.

Sook huffed and crossed his arms. "Yes, and I hired you and your team to find dragons, which you clearly failed to do!"

Zoe screamed in rage and frustration as Johnathan caught her arm and tried to pull her back, but she stood her ground. Instead, he stepped in front of her.

"Sir," he called to Sook, "semantics aside, you hired us, and we have returned in fulfillment of the contract. We were to check the fields and report what we saw. We have done just that, and I believe that requires payment in full. If I am incorrect, please present your proof, and we will turn away in peace."

Here, Sook's face went sour. He was well aware the contract was a verbal one, and as such his reputation was all he could rely on. His reputation was in terrible shape as it stood, but the group ahead of him were all dirty, scruffy, and arguably in worse shape, being relative unknowns in Westruun, and also included some barely tolerated races among their ranks. As far as he could tell, the verdict could go either way.

He stood as straight as he could and puffed up his chest. "Your contract-!"

"Cut the crap, Sook!"

The whole crowd gasped and at the arrival of a weathered, toned woman in studded leather armor and a compound longbow on her back, made of some type of white material between stripes of dark wood. Four long scars, clearly from claws, traveled from her mangled right ear to almost her left shoulder, as could be seen from her lack of sleeves. Her eyes were dark and menacing, and it was clear she held authority among the locals.

"W-Wolf!" Sook gasped, nearly falling back a step. "You're back!"

"From the fields, yes. And I'd like to personally thank this group here, for not only uncovering the actual threat to our industry, but for having the foresight to bring a trophy back for study." The woman named Wolf turned to the group. "Who speaks for you?"

Al nudged Jayce forward before he could protest, and his exaggerated stumble caused by his injured leg easily caught her eye.

"That'd be me, ma'am," Jayce said clearly, wincing as he stood straight and pulled back his hood. "I'm assumin' you're the voice of reason 'round here?"

It was a subtle twitch of curious shock, but Wolf hid it quickly. From the way she spoke, it was clear that the right half of her jaw was somewhat paralyzed by whatever creature had managed to strike her so long ago.

"I've been called worse, but for simplicity, yes, I'm the de facto judge, jury, and executioner for a number of the laymans' guilds." She crossed her arms and looked over the whole of them before speaking again. "Am I correct in assuming they were sent after dragons, Sook?"

Sook wilted under her gaze as she snapped her attention toward him, disapproval clearly in her eyes. Against his better judgement, he tried to defend himself anyway. "We-we don't know for sure the black dragon was killed! We have only the word of-"

"Esteemed heroes, who were once adventurers like these young men and women here," Wolf hissed, motioning toward Jayce and his group. "It's been fifty goddamn years, Sook! There are literally more immediate problems than your imagined nightmares!"

Sook opened his mouth to speak, but decided against it when Wolf shot him yet another glare.

She turned with a mild flourish, indicating over her shoulder that she wanted the parties involved to follow. "We will finish this inside. It's damn brisk out today."

The group all shared a look of surprise and disbelief, even Dahlia, before they slowly limped after the commanding woman and the guildmaster, who slinked in behind her. They finally entered the Farmers' Guild of Westruun, and it was just as utilitarian as the front doors. The left of the hall was mostly dirt floor, roped off and arranged to facilitate the auction and sale of livestock of various breeds. The right was simply wooden tables and stools, with a plain tavern bar for patrons to wet their throats as they talked over contracts and business deals. Beyond was a heavy oaken door, studded with iron bands and rivets, and it seemed to lead to someplace important, probably Sook's office, or some other administrative function, as it was generally avoided.

Jayce glanced at the multiple portraits on the high walls, and briefly wondered if the siblings knew the names of the men and women on display. Were they former guildmasters, or local heroes? Were they even known outside the walls of the guild?

Wolf marched straight over to one of the tables and motioned for all following her to sit, and Sook did so without complaint as he rubbed a cold sweat off his face. Gauth, as usual, found the seating somewhat restrictive, and pulled an additional stool from a nearby table to park himself at the far end, where he was less likely to take up too much space. After everyone was seated, with special care being given to Jayce and Zoe, Wolf nodded her satisfaction and refused to sit herself. She stood before them like an arbiter of justice, her arms akimbo, switching her glare between Sook at her right, and Jayce at her left.

Jayce instantly understood why Sook seemed so nervous under her gaze.

"Now that we aren't throwing tantrums in public," Wolf hissed, alternatively staring down the two men, although she did shoot a specific glare at Zoe, who winced, for her involvement, "allow me to air your grievances. Sook, you, again, thought all your problems were caused by dragon spawn that did not exist, and when they did not produce the results you expected, you refused payment because you assumed the problem was what you imagined it was instead of what was real. And you, of course," she said, turning to Jayce, "and your...people, simply want to be paid what you're owed. Especially since it looks as if you came to great harm."

Noting a pause, Jayce cleared his throat and spoke up. "To be frank, ma'am, we nearly lost one; if it weren't for the actions of our healer, sittin' there next to the giant, our outspoken lady in blue wouldn't be here to state our case."

Zoe gravely nodded, and quickly checked to make sure her pants were still in place. She really needed a new belt.

Wolf looked over them all again. "Based on previous...incidents with parties in question, I rule in favor of… What do you call yourselves?"

Sook slumped in his seat, the bend in his back fully restored in his defeat.

Jayce looked over the group, nervous from being put on the spot. He couldn't choose for so many people! "Uh, ma'am, we-"

"Just call me Wolf."

Jayce nodded. "Wolf." He cleared his throat again and wondered if it was his nerves or some aspect of her gaze that made his throat feel so tight. "Wolf, we ain't yet named as a group. Truth be told, this's our first day of work, t' see if we're a good fit. Considerin' how it went, we'll take a name in the future, but today we're just blokes lookin' for coin."

Wolf sighed and rolled her eyes. "Take my advice; join a guild. There won't always be someone like me to save your asses if a contract goes wrong."

There was a general nod of consensus between them all.

Wolf whipped her attention toward Sook. "How much do you owe them?"

Sook briefly glanced toward Jayce, and winced again under the half-orc's withering gaze. "Fifty gold a head," he mumbled.

"Double it."

Sook nearly did a double take as he turned toward Wolf. "Double it?!"

Wolf nodded slowly, crossing her arms. "Think of it as a thanks for tolerating your delusions-"

"They aren't-!"

Wolf drew a knife and slammed it, tip down, into the table before anyone could blink. She leaned heavily on the table, her hands on either side of the knife, as she made an obvious mental effort to keep herself from physically lashing out at the old man next to her.

"Double. It," she hissed, her face now in line with his. He blanched and nodded dumbly.

Zoe quickly leaned over and quietly explained what happened, as Dahlia had jumped at the noise and seemed confused.

Sook scrambled away from the table and hobbled toward the riveted door in the back, and Wolf took the moment to slide into the seat Sook had vacated. She yanked out the blade and, leaning heavily on her hands, pressed the pommel to her forehead as she sighed.

The lull in the conversation began to take an awkward turn as the silence dragged on. The group all looked to Jayce to continue, and he returned the look with an incredulous face of his own.

Dahlia, unable to see any of that, spoke up instead.

"Uh, Wolf?"

The picture of exhausted patience, Wolf turned her head toward the blind healer, her forehead still leaning on the pommel of her knife.

"She's looking at you," Zoe whispered, in an attempt to be helpful.

Dahlia gave Zoe a nod, then spoke up. "Outside, you said you had just come back from the fields. Was it the eastern fields specifically, where we were sent, or someplace else?"

Wolf gave Dahlia a curious, and intrigued, look. "The same field, actually. Very astute of you."

"Were you sent out by another guild?"

Wolf shook her head. "No, my own interests. And before you ask, I did see your fight. The tail end of it, anyway. Specifically, I saw your large friend there turning one of the creatures to paste."

Gauth coughed awkwardly.

The comment seemed to give Wolf an idea, and she sat up straight to face the group. "Actually, if you're looking to join a guild, I can give you an in...provided you help me with this ankheg problem."

Jayce held up a hand to both catch her attention and pause her train of thought. "Now hold on there. This seems a bigger decision than should be made on the fly, and we're all sore an' tired."

"Of course," Wolf cut in. "Where're you staying? I'll meet you there in the morning."

The idea of just volunteering the location of their lodgings left a sour taste in his mouth, so Jayce looked over the group to gauge their opinions. Of them, Al looked a little suspicious, but the others seemed trusting...although Gauth looked as if he would trust anyone in that moment, so that didn't help.

He swallowed his trepidation and turned to the self-proclaimed judicial representative of the guilds. "The Riversong, on Elmwood."

Wolf nodded. "I know of it." She then perked up, looking behind her at the reinforced door. Sook had returned and was making his way over with pouches of gold. "I'll see you there tomorrow morning."

"Or, you could stop by tonight," Zoe cut in, leaning on table and flashing a playful smile. "I have to say I'm incredibly curious about your work in town-"

Johnathan dropped his head into his hands and groaned. Wolf found the reaction entertaining.

"Are you really curious? Or just looking for an excuse to talk?" Wolf said with a smirk.

Zoe leaned her chin on her palm, adopting an innocent look. "Isn't both an excuse to talk?"

Jonathan leaned over to Al and, not so subtly, whispered, "Can I please sleep in your room tonight?"

Al shuddered, and Wolf laughed.

"I've got work to do, but if I'm done early, I'll stop by," Wolf said brightly, her mood restored. She turned to Sook, who had returned. "Now, if we're done here, pass off the money so I can leave. Unlike you, I have actual threats to find."

Cowed, Sook passed over the pouches, a two-pound sack each, and when Johnathan's landed in his hands, he nearly cried. Zoe, ever sensitive to her brother, immediately noticed, and reached across the table to pat his arm.

"You okay?" she asked softly.

"Yeah, I'm...I'm fine," Jonathan choked. He fought to regain his composure. "It's...been awhile. And...this is enough. I can see her again."

"Wait, you serious?" Zoe nearly jumped out of her seat, but a twinge of pain, the fear of dropping her pants, and Dahlia's immediately present grip on her arm prevented that from actually happening. "It's enough?"

"Wait a second, what now?" Al cut in before anyone else had a chance to. "What are you two talking about?"

"My familiar," Jonathan said, his voice threatening to crack from incredible emotion. "One of the first spells I ever taught myself was to summon a familiar, and I lost her years ago. This...is enough to- Shit!" Jonathan dropped his head into his hands. "Sorry. It's not enough. How much do I need to put into the pot?"

"Wait, how much do you need for the spell?" Zoe said, and the urgency in her voice was hard to miss. Her hand was already dipping into her share. "I'll cover the pot. You need...eighty, right? Something ridiculous?"

"All one hundred," Jonathan sighed. "Ten gold worth of incense, charcoal, and herbs, and then a brass brazier, which is not cheap."

Zoe hissed under her breath. "I knew the eighty was involved somewhere."

Al rolled his eyes. "I can get you a brass brazier, and trust me, it'll be cheap."

Sook cleared his throat. "Uh, may I-"

Jayce growled at Sook, who immediately scrambled away, to Wolf's amusement. Wolf also stood and excused herself, as the conversation didn't seem to concern her anymore.

"That aside," Jayce added, glancing over at the retreating Sook, "party cut is 10%. John, if ya really need the gold, I'm okay lettin'-"

"I'll pay twenty, he keeps his share," Zoe interrupted, and the intense look in her eyes made it clear she was not taking no for an answer. "I can afford it. Now let's get to shopping! I need a new belt fucking fast, and there's got to be a brazier on the market we can pick up on the way."

"And I need new boots…" Jayce sighed.

"I would very much appreciate more nacolite," Dahlia chimed in.

There was a clatter as Gauth triumphantly landed his hand on the table, and removed it to reveal ten gold coins. "Ten coins of one hundred is ten percent," he beamed, and Dahlia clapped with a genuine smile on her face. Gauth felt very proud of himself.

"Gauth's got a good point; Y'all should hand over the share now, so ya don't dip in it when ya go shoppin'," Jayce said, as he pulled out his journal to make notes. "I'll see what I can find for health potions and gear, as y'all got hurt in the line of duty. Only fair the party funds replaces damaged equipment."

With that established, the team got up and exited the Farmers' Guild. It was short work to find the various materials they needed, and by the time Al returned from a "brass-hunting" trip of his own, they had all returned to the Riversong.

xXxXx

As orders of vegetable stew, boiled pork stuffed with artichoke, and roasted mutton with whey cheese arrived, along with orders of local ales, beers, and a non-alcoholic mug of crisp cider for Dahlia, Jayce nearly missed the conversation around him as he scribbled more math into his journal. It was similar work to being a bosun, so long ago, but it was still far from his favorite job. The problem was, he didn't trust anyone else in the team to be able to handle the funds fairly...except Dahlia, but he didn't want to put more work on her, when she already did quite a bit of work just to keep everyone alive.

What finally jolted him out of his work was Zoe slamming her hands on the table.

"Okay!" she beamed, looking over the group at the table with a mischievous eye. "So it's pretty obvious they're going to be writing songs about us, we need an easy to remember name!"

Jonathan stifled a laugh around his pork and swallowed. "Really? That's the reason you go with?"

Zoe huffed and crossed her arms as she looked at her brother. "Yeah, and what excuse would you use?"

John shrugged. "Well, if we want to register with any sort of adventurer's guild, as Wolf suggested, they require a team name for assignments and accounting."

Zoe rolled her eyes and sighed. "Gods, you're so boring."

Al set down his own mug of beer and shrugged. "Why would we want to register at some guild anyway? That's just more fees and paperwork."

"Ever try to cross country borders with money?"

Al matched Jonathan's smug grin with a smirk of his own. "Legally?"

Jayce sighed and closed his journal. "Al, come on."

"Fine," Al huffed and crossed his arms. "Nope."

Jonathan looked across the table to the rest of them, and Dahlia, somehow able to feel his gaze, turned away. Gauth looked confused, and Jayce shrugged to make it obvious that the thought had not previously occurred to him.

Jonathan, vindicated, nodded to them. "Well, most border crossings take taxes or tithes from goods you take across, or even enforce fees for carrying weapons. By joining a guild, we can get special passports to facilitate crossing and not have to take money with us, as we can use the network of guilds as a bank."

Jayce was immediately aware of the large sum on his hip. "Okay, so it ain't a bad idea to join a guild if we plan on traveling."

Jonathan nodded again. "Absolutely. Just pay a one time fee, then it's a tithe once a year and a name to call the collective us by."

"I still think we need one for bards," Zoe snickered.

"You and legends," Jonathan laughed. "Are you that obsessed about getting into the books at the Reserve?"

"But what would we even call ourselves?" Dahlia asked, finally speaking up. "We're so diverse as it is."

Jayce turned to her. "Did you have any ideas?"

Dahlia immediately went tense, her shoulders almost reaching her ears before she turned away and began fidgeting with the hem of her glove. "Oh! Um, no. I mean, I don't even know what you all look like! Wouldn't that be a good place to start?"

Al huffed to himself and mumbled, "We could say the same about you."

Jayce shot him a glare of warning and hissed. "What was that?"

Al immediately popped up from the table and slipped into the crowd with a call of "I'm gonna get a beer!" before he disappeared.

Zoe, amused, watched him go. "Okay, so he's out... Anyone have something?"

Gauth saw his chance and had to jump at it. "The Cinnomen!" he announced with pride.

Zoe and Jonathan burst out laughing and took a minute to recover.

"I love it but no," Zoe wheezed, hugging her very sore stomach.

Gauth couldn't understand why such a good name wasn't a good idea. "Why? We all carry a piece, for Dahlia."

Dahlia winced and lost her appetite.

Zoe flinched through her giggles and held her stomach as she fought to recover. "Because, first of all, it's a gods dammed pun and I will not have songs written about me that consist of puns!"

"You're no fun," Jonathan giggled as he nudged her side.

"And two, I'm not a man, and neither is Dahlia. Three, John and I don't have cinnamon sticks yet."

Gauth nodded slowly, disappointed. He didn't want to admit it, but those were fair points.

Jonathan took on a thoughtful look, rubbing his chin, and his sister noticed.

"Well what would you pick?" she asked, lightly back-handing his shoulder.

Jonathan mused over his thoughts before he spoke. "Probably... The Celestial Voyagers."

Zoe barely suppressed a laugh. "Are you serious?! Nah, too long, and fucking pretensious. Next!" She turned to Jayce. "What about you, Jayce?"

Jayce, having been put on the spot, completely froze. He sputtered, before finally coming up with, "Can I pass?" instead of an actual answer.

Zoe crossed her arms with a smirk. "No can do, Boss, you gotta-!"

"Still not your boss, Zoe!"

Zoe snickered, but held her ground "Still don't care. But you gotta have something! You were unanimously called 'he who speaks for us' at the guild hall, and that puts you in enough authority to have the deciding vote."

Jayce sighed and rubbed his temples, leaning heavily on his elbows on the table. "Then what'cha got? Ya've obviously got ideas."

"The Frugal Felines!" Zoe announced with vigor.

In response to the obvious inside joke, Jonathan burst out laughing and buried his head in his arms on the table.

Nearly everyone at the table twitched, but Jayce spoke first. "What the hell was that?"

Zoe giggled, as the pain in her stomach made it easier to regain her composure quickly. "Okay, that was a joke. John and I used to have a cat as kids and she was a stingy bitch. Seriously though, I think I would go with the Allies of Karma."

Jonathan, still wheezing, barely lifted his head and faced his sister. "How is that any shorter than mine?"

Zoe waved him off. "Details! And it's easier to remember for folk simpler than you."

Jonathan was about to protest, but then remembered the blank looks he had been garnering from Gauth nearly all day. "I want to fight you on that so much, but I really can't."

Jayce sighed. He really wanted this to be over with. "Okay, so we got 'Cinnomen', the 'Celestial Voyagers', and 'Allies of Karma'."

Zoe pulled a sour face. "I will so vote no for the Cinnomen."

Al appeared behind her, nearly shocking her into a shriek as he grabbed both her shoulders and said with a smile, "Everyone voting yes to spite Zoe say aye."

"Get off me you asshole!"

The table had to share in a moment of levity as Zoe shoved Al back with flailing arms, and the half-elf slipped back into his own seat across from her. "Sorry, just had to put in a gippy. I won't vote for Cinnomen either; I fucking hate puns."

"As fun as puns are," Dahlia cut in, although her voice was barely loud enough to hear, "I would like something that feels more inclusive to the current group."

"And please no puns!" Zoe begged, to Al's emphatic approval.

Jayce snickered. It would be fun to stick Al with a punny name, but there was history to consider. "Okay! Fine. No puns." Then, inspiration struck, and the table noticed as his face took on a curiously encouraged look. "Actually, I think I got somethin'."

"Oh! Oh! Spill it! I must know!" Zoe squealed, but neglected to bounce in excitement when she was viscerally reminded she still had a minor hole in her gut.

Jayce steepled his fingers and looked over his companions. It felt like fate had brought them together, and he liked the idea of being vanguards of justice. "Well, if y'all don't mind me kind of combining the two, how about Guides of Karma?"

Jonathan mulled it over. "Actually... That's not too bad."

"Oh, I like!" Zoe beamed. "I can already think of the catchphrases!" She puffed herself up and cleared her throat, taking on a dramatic tone. "Beware evil doer, for we are the Guides of Karma, and your luck has run out!"

"Or we could say something like, 'fate has come calling', but regardless, it's pretty dramatic and easy to remember," Al chimed in. It was growing on him.

While they spoke, Gauth tried to subtly lean over to Dahlia and ask what karma meant, and while it wasn't as subtle as he had hoped, no one seemed to mind. Dahlia easily explained the limited history she knew.

Gauth nodded and sat up straight. "I approve of this name. We will be the Guides of Karma."

Zoe put on a big smile and carefully stood herself up from her seat. "Then, as 'Not-Yer-Boss', I now officially declare we are the Guides of Karma!" For emphasis, she thumped a fist to her heart and held her chin high, but quickly collapsed back into her previous giddy demeanor. "Now I can't wait for the legends to start pouring in!"

They all had to laugh at her infectious, child-like joy, and even Dahlia smiled. Jayce chuckled and turned to Zoe.

"We'd have t' do somethin' pretty grand to get a song this early in our career," he chided, although gently. He was enjoying the levity.

Zoe's face twisted into a devilish grin. "Like taking out the Margrave?"

Jonathan's eyes nearly bugged out of his head as he slapped a hand over his sister's mouth and scanned the round around them. Despite her volume, it seemed to him that no one had noticed.

"Zoe!" he hissed, instantly bringing down the mood of the group. "Don't be so careless! If the wrong person heard, you could get killed!" His eyes dipped to the bandage around her waist, and his voice almost trembled as he spoke one of his true fears. "Permanently."

Zoe wanted to shove him off, but she knew his feelings were genuine, and she didn't have the heart to fight him at that moment. Especially while her most recent close call was such a vivid memory.

Instead, she gently pushed away his hand. "You know my feelings about him," she growled, but her fire had been sufficiently extinguished, at least for now. Jonathan sighed in relief.

"He will get his due, Zoe. No one gets to where he is without enemies," Jonathan said softly.

"Just kinda wish it was us," she huffed, as she crossed her arms and turned away.

"Actually," Al cut in, his voice just as soft, "now would be a good time to let you know where I ran off to this morning."

There was a collective nod across the table.

"This would qualify as a more 'private' setting," Jayce added, although he had to lean on the table to hear Al properly. They were at opposite ends, and the half-elf clearly didn't want the conversation moving past his companions' ears. "You ready to talk?"

Al nodded. "In the interest of keeping things short, here's what you need to know; I have…connections in this city, and when you," he indicated the siblings, "mentioned the rather significant lull in protester activity, my curiosity was piqued. I can't say I got anything too useful... but the exact words were… Dammit, hang on…"

The team watched as Al wracked his memories for a specific phrase. Despite their curiosity, they held their tongues, and even the fiery Zoe kept quiet.

Al grunted in frustration and dropped his fist to the table with a thud. "Alright, so not his exact words, but it was something about the World Market auction on weekends, and how they tend to be cutthroat. Especially this weekend."

"And…?" Jayce trailed off and rolled his hand, hoping Al would continue.

Al shrugged. "That's it. That's all I managed to-"

"Shit."

Everyone turned to Jonathan, and it was hard to ignore his look of shock, coupled with Dahlia's expression of worry. She was wringing her hands in a nervous prayer, and somehow, the two noticed the other had come to the same conclusion.

"The Margrave is going to die," Dahlia whispered, as if afraid that speaking too loud would make the comment instantly true.

Jayce's head tilted in confusion, as he could not quite connect the same dots Dahlia and Jonathan had followed. "How ya figure?"

Jonathan, his heart in his throat as he realized yet another reason Dahlia had to be attractive under her many layers, found himself temporarily mute as he watched her in fascination. Of course, she didn't notice his gaze, but she did notice his pause, and so continued for him.

"The clues," she said, refusing to speak any louder for fear of roving ears. "You asked about the protests, specifically why they had paused, correct?"

Al nodded, and managed to remember to audibly hum his agreement before Gauth could nudge him.

"And, it was in this context that the comment was given?"

Al nodded again, somewhat miffed that he was being put on the spot. "Yeah. He made it sound like the auction house gets a little dangerous on the weekends-"

"If we assume," Dahlia interrupted, to the shock of her companions, "that the clue was presented directly in the context of your question and not, say, as a non-sequitur to throw you off, then the Margrave will be expected to be at the World Market weekend auction, someone is planning for him to be there, and whoever that person is, they have planned grievous harm for him."

"In fact," Jonathan added, having finally found his voice, "if we take the comment somewhat literally, the Margrave will be murdered by garrote, or some other close quarters assassination."

"Great! So we just wait a couple of days and the asshole in charge is no longer our problem!" Zoe spat. She then crossed her arms, settling into a pout at the table. Even Gauth could tell she was upset her craving for revenge would go unheeded.

"Not necessarily," Dahlia said, despite her shoulders being tense and her knuckles tight. "He's human, correct? And instated right after the Chroma Conclave fell?"

"That's right," Jonathan responded.

"Then assuming he was well into his career, which is...military?"

Jonathan again confirmed her assumption.

"Then he was roughly in his forties when he came to power. He should be pushing one hundred years, if he hasn't already. Human physiology heavily degrades after five decades, and unless he has regularly employed magical intervention, he is nearly at the end of his life."

Gauth cleared his throat, and was glad his teacher couldn't see that he was embarrassed.

"He's an old fart and he's close to kicking the bucket," Zoe growled, to Gauth's visible relief. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Dahlia squared her shoulders and turned toward Zoe. "If he's as intelligent as a military commander typically is, then he will have groomed a replacement. Specifically one who will follow his ideals and methods as closely as humanly possible."

"Oh this just keeps getting better!" Zoe said roughly, her hand slapped to her face. "So someone drops the asshole and he gets replaced by a younger, more ambitious asshole! This couldn't get worse!"

Al awkwardly cleared his throat, and Zoe whirled on him.

"Don't you fucking dare," she hissed.

Al's face hardened. "Hell no. The only reason my contacts were involved is because, if their end goal is to get this groomed heir in power, that man is going to be in their pocket. So yes, a Margrave that won't actually change anything, on top of being one that is probably some black market puppet. Congrats, it got worse."

"I fucking hate you," Zoe growled through her teeth.

"Enough!"

The whole table turned to Jayce, who rubbed his frustration off his face before he continued. "Look, I ain't got yer history, or yer loyalty, to Westruun, but what I've heard ain't fuckin' fair, and action needs to be done. That aside, bumpin' off some old man, just to get replaced by a worse one, ain't a solution t' this. You wanna be the Guides of Karma? You wanna be the ones t' say 'Fate's come callin'? Then it's gotta be justice that takes him down, not some backstabbin' assassin."

"Oh no. No no no," Zoe whined, slowly recoiling from the table. "Please don't tell me we're going to…!"

Jayce gravely nodded, his face dark and serious. "We're gonna save the Margrave."