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.

16. Grave Tidings

"I'm sorry, alright?!"

"Yeah, so sorry, 'not-my-boss'!" Zoe shoved past Jayce and stomped into the graveyard ahead of them. "Didn't realize you meant you were a dictator, asshole!"

Jayce dragged both hands down his face as Jonathan watched him. Out of sympathy, he reached out and patted Jayce on the shoulder.

"Just...give her some time. She's got a temper, but I'll talk to her when she settles down."

"Thanks, John," Jayce sighed. He turned to Jonathan with a world weary look. "Didn't figure she had so much put down on that name, that's all."

Jonathan raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said you couldn't remember it."

"Half true…" Jayce grumbled. The two of them followed Zoe into the graveyard, set into the very edge of the Parchwood Timberlands. The autumn winds were chilly in town, but here, they were cruel and biting. Deep and dull pine trees stretched to the sky, bare trunks creaking in the wind as unnatural fog creeped around them. The shattered sunlight barely reached the graveyard, marking the fog with lances of light that looked like phantastic figures out of the corner of one's eye.

Jonathan shivered. That blue fire that Jayce tended to use would seem at home in a place like this.

He glanced over the others as they wandered around the cemetery. First was Al, who was friendly, but clearly had some sort of past with the Clasp. He avoided the question far too easily yesterday, as if he had practice deflecting the accusation. Gauth was right beside him, although it was hard to tell if they truly had a friendship or if Gauth was actually Al's bodyguard. Al had claimed he was nobility at some point, and it was common practice for nobles to have hired muscle.

Jonathan glanced about, and noticed Jayce again. Jayce had paused to kneel and trace the name on a gravestone, a strange sorrow on his face. What he saw in front of him was a man who had the blood of a monster, the flame of some demonic force, and a touch gentle enough to seduce a woman like Dahlia. He couldn't understand it. If Jayce wouldn't admit what gave him his unnatural power, why did Dahlia trust him?

Speaking of Dahlia, he scanned the graveyard for her. It was actually quite rare to see her without Jayce trailing behind, like a predator, but with the half-orc currently busy with that gravestone, he hoped she would finally be alone.

When he finally spotted her, Jonathan almost couldn't breathe. The way she flowed through the fog, undeterred and confident, made swirls of mist rise around her as she made her way through the graves. Her hand brushed by a beam of light, and briefly seemed to glow...but then she paused. She twisted her hand in the light, stretching her fingers as if it was a thread to swirl across her palm. A smile began to spread across her rose-hued lips as she stepped into the sunlight, her eyes unflinching as the sparse beam fell across her face.

Gods above, she was beautiful. More so since she had stopped putting her hair up, or wearing that oversized coat. Granted, the circumstances of the change was not ideal, but the change it inspired was so good for her.

More importantly, she was alone. Jonathan glanced around one last time, and once he confirmed the others were occupied (and Puffpaw was with his sister, perched on a gravestone), he made his way over to her. Of course, he didn't want to surprise her, so he gently called out her name as he approached. She turned with that continued smile.

Unfortunately, the fog was thick around his knees, which prevented him from seeing the broken headstone across the path.

As soon as the toe of his boot hit the stone, he pitched forward, a yelp escaping his lungs as his world began to twist out from under him.

Dahlia dove for him, but she was unsure exactly where he was. Instead, she threw out her arm to hopefully catch his head, and when he grabbed at her coat for purchase, she lost her own footing and they both disappeared beneath the fog.

There was a moment when the world seemed suspended in time, and Jonathan had his eyes squeezed shut against whatever pain he had been expecting. His hands had fistfulls of heavy wool, and his head was resting slightly higher than he had expected to land. Even more confusingly, he had landed on his side, rather than his front. Then a gentle hand, warm and soft in the cold mist, rested on his face.

He opened his eyes to match those of Dahlia, on the ground with him.

"Are you okay?" she asked softly. "Did you hit anything when you fell?"

"J-just my pride…" he mumbled. Her eyes were so green. He could feel his face go hot under her hand. If he opened his own, his palms would be just above her breasts. He did dare?

She smiled in relief. "It's fine, Jonathan. I trip on things all the time. A hazard of being blind."

Jonathan realized his head had landed on her arm, and he pushed away and scrambled up to his knees. "Gods above! Are you okay? I almost crushed you!"

Dahlia slowly rose to her knees as well, rubbing her upper arm that had cushioned Jonathan's fall. "I wouldn't call it crushed," she giggled. Beneath the fog, her form was softer, blurred at the edges unless he leaned in. Already, her hair was starting to stick to her cheek and neck from the droplets that clung to her skin. Instinctively, Jonathan reached forward to brush her hair out off her face, but she flinched away.

"Please, don't," she mumbled. "At least tell me you're going to touch me first."

"Oh! Dammit… That's right. I'm sorry," Jonathan said, his voice full of regret. "You have some hair on your face, that's all."

Dahlia deftly brushed it away, then ducked a hand into her bag to root around for something. He watched her curiously as she pulled out a leather strap and, in a practiced motion, tied up her hair in that signature bun he had seen before.

"There," she smiled. "Now, we shouldn't stay in the fog too long. It's cold, and the moisture will make it harder to retain heat."

Just as Jonathan opened his mouth to comment, Jayce's voice, calling for Dahlia, rang out over the graveyard. Jonathan grimaced. That half-orc was always getting between them.

"We're over here!" Dahlia called to Jayce's general direction, her hand straight up and beyond the limit of the fog. "We fell! We're okay!"

Jonathan blushed as he started to stand up. It was nice of her to avoid hurting his pride even more. She was so kind.

Out of the mist, Jayce appeared and helped pull Dahlia to her feet. Of course, she didn't twitch or flinch as his hand grabbed her arm, and she even smiled. Jonathan felt a twinge of jealousy as he finally breached the fog.

"Be careful," Dahlia said, without hesitation. "The fog seems deeper here and there are broken headstones. There's one just three feet to the right."

"Ugh," Jayce spat. "Damn fog's annoyin' enough. Now we gotta look out for headstones too?"

"At least walk slowly," Dahlia said in an attempt to be helpful. "It's hard to know what else is under this fog."

Jonathan wanted to talk to her, but how could he say that without annoying her guardian? He had already asked to speak to Dahlia, but Jayce would get tense and defensive every time. Maybe, at the festival, he could distract Jayce with some sort of competition, and then he could speak to her on his own terms. He had to ask about that curse, if it was curable, if he could have saved his cousin...but that barely crossed his mind as he began to plan through the festival, and he became distracted with thinking up activities he could share with Dahlia. He wondered if she had ever experienced a taffy apple before, or if any of the games were even possible while blind.

"Hey, Jonathan!"

Jonathan twisted to spot his sister hanging off the top of the only crypt building in the entire cemetery, a giant stone box that housed downward stairs behind an iron gate. She was waving at him, with Puffpaw across her shoulders. She looked concerned, so Jonathan made his way over to her immediately.

"What'd you find?" he asked, after he had to catch himself on a nearby headstone after almost tripping again. "Any clue to find the girl?"

"Not a good one," Zoe said gravely as she hopped down. "Here, look at this."

She held out a small red cloth, more deeply stained brown in one corner and clearly torn from a larger garment. "Her mom said she was wearing red when she disappeared, right?"

"Oh please no," Jonathan gasped. His hand hovered over the clue, but he refused to take it. "Do you think it was a wild animal?"

"That's the other thing," Zoe said softly, her eyes turned toward the crypt. "That magic trick you do, does it make wind?"

Jonathan shrugged. "Probably enough to blow a piece of parchment off a table. Why?"

Zoe motioned toward the base of the crypt by her feet. "See if you can clear the fog for a second. I think I felt a void next to the cloth but I don't wanna stick a foot in there."

Jonathan nodded and snapped out his hand, easily changing the inflection of the magic command to summon a weak puff of wind. While it was nowhere near the strength required to move an object, fog was a simple matter, and enough cleared away from the foundation of the crypt that both were able to see clearly.

A squat, three-foot-wide hole had been burrowed in the earth, just below the stone edge of the crypt. In the bare moment they had before the fog returned to its place, Zoe ducked down her head and glanced through it.

"Shit. I can see the crypt stairs through there," Zoe grumbled. "Fuck. Whatever took her is probably inside."

"If that's even related," Jonathan shuddered. "It could still have been a wild animal. This is the edge of town, after all."

Zoe motioned for Jonathan to blow the fog away again, and as soon as he did so, she dropped down to a squat and scrutinized the ground. Puffpaw leapt to her master's arms, rather than risk going down into the damp fog.

She stood back up as the fog rolled back and rubbed the back of her neck. "There are scratch marks in the dirt, but fuck me if I could tell how old they are. Might've been Crissy getting dragged under, might've been whoever dug the hole. We need a second opinion."

"Question is, which one?" Jonathan asked in a hushed tone. "Dahlia's the only one I trust, but she's blind; she can't help here. Al and Gauth are clearly partners from a previous arrangement, and even if Al lies and cheats, Gauth will back him up. Jayce is a face man; he does nothing but lie, and we've seen him fool anything from beggars to nobles. Bera is literally hiding the fact that she uses conflicting magic, and won't admit to her heritage. On top of that, who here would be good at figuring out the trail of a child in a fog? None of them are trackers."

Zoe crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Pfft. Gauth is. He literally tracks dinner, remember?"

"He's also beholden to a sneakthief," Jonathan growled, his own arms crossed.

Zoe sighed heavily, annoyed that her brother was being so thick. "When I said we needed a second opinion, I was talking about Lady Puffpaw, you idiot."

Jonathan, surprised and annoyed he didn't think of that, glanced at the very hesitant cat on his shoulder. He could feel her claws start to dig in through his coat at the very idea of being dropped into the fog.

"She's not a fan," Jonathan winced with a pained smile and then tried to shift Puffpaw to a more comfortable position. "Her claws are making that very clear-ow ow ow!"

Zoe giggled and helped her brother extricate the cat from his coat. Puffpaw hissed when Zoe then tried to put her down by the hole, but that only served to make Zoe giggle more.

"Hey, bro, can you blow away the fog again? The lady must not sully her coat," Zoe cooed, Puffpaw held in front of her face so she could nuzzle the cat's nose. Puffpaw's ears were back and a throaty growl rumbled through her being. She clearly felt patronized.

Jonathan snickered but complied, and before Puffpaw could really resist, she was shoved through the small hole in the wall. She immediately twisted around and tried to dive through, but a magical force held her back. Her master wanted her to continue into the darkness. Growling and annoyed, Puffpaw turned back to the darkness, her form small, her ears flat, and her tail twitching in fear.

She loved her humans, she loved her humans, she loved her humans…

Her mind went cool as another shared the space with her. Her master was in her consciousness, and her body went slack and lithe from the relief. No longer alone, she padded softly into the growing darkness, silent as a shadow as she stuck to edges and slunk along low to the ground.

The fog quickly faded to nothing as she went deeper below, with what little remained rolling like strange water in tendrils of mist down the stairs. The cobblestone floor in the round room at the bottom was slick with moss that clearly appreciated the moisture, and Puffpaw shook her paws multiple times as the squelchy substance made its way between the toes of her paws.

With her master sharing her vision, she glanced about, her eyes scouring the floor for information about the missing girl. Little light reached this deep into the crypt, but the moss was clearly desturbed in a pattern, stretching from the stairs toward the rightmost door of the three she could see.

Something was clearly dragged through.

Spurred on by Jonathan's will, Puffpaw began to softly sneak her way toward the rightmost door, her eyes darting across the room and her ears pining for any sort of sound. It was far too quiet. Even for a tomb, it was too quiet.

"Kitty kitty… pspspspsps…"

Puffpaw flattened herself, her paws out wide to prepare for an escape in any direction. Her ears went flat, her eyes wide and fully dilated in panic. Where did that strange voice come from? It sounded harsh and gravely, and was definitely not the lost child.

"Come here kitty… pspspspsps…"

A shadow crawled toward her in the darkness, hunched and humanoid, but it moved like a sickly ape, pulling itself across the ground. Terrified, Puffpaw leaned backward, her fur beginning to stand on end as she pulled back her heckles and hissed in warning. A blackened hand, the skin stretched over little more than bone, reached for her out of the shadows, grasping for her fur.

Run!

Puffpaw launched backward, sprinting toward the stairs as something behind her howled in fury. Skin slapped against stone in the black hallway as she leapt up the stone steps, four at a time, her claws screeching as she scrambled for purchase. The fog swirled around her as it flowed down the stairs, and she misjudged the distance to the step that was level with the hole and stumbled.

Luckily, all she struck was her shoulder, and a quick shake of the head helped her recover enough to launch through the hole and directly into her master's arms.

The second Jonathan had Puffpaw back, he threw a pointed hand at the hole and hissed a command in the arcane tongue. Three orbs of fire swirled around his wrist and, each in turn, exploded into a ray of scorching fire that screeched into the void at the foundation of the crypt. The first slammed harmlessly into the stone, but the second two found their target, a humanoid face stretched gaunt over a mutated skull. Milky eyes winced away as the creature howled, and it disappeared into the darkness, a faint trail of embers quickly fading in the fog that flowed below.

"Over here!" Zoe screamed, waving her arms. "We found something! Something's in the crypt!"

Jonathan leaned heavily on the crypt wall, clutching Puffpaw's body to his chest as she panted with exertion and terror. He stroked her head and whispered that she was okay, that she was safe, and she began to purr as her body went slack.

Al arrived first. "What happened?"

"Puffpaw was attacked by something in the crypt," Jonathan replied. His voice cracked as he vividly remembered seeing that creature through Puffpaw's eyes. "It could speak, and seemed human-like, but its skin looked dead and…"

His eyes went wide as he realized what he was saying. "Gods above, there may be zombies in the crypt!"

"Damn this fucking town," Al swore. "Of course it's zombies. Don't they bless their dead?"

"They may not have an official cleric to do so," Dahlia responded. She and Jayce arrived as Gauth and Bera, who was riding on Gauth's shoulder again, caught up. "It's also possible someone intentionally corrupted the land."

"Wouldn't you notice though?" Zoe asked.

Dahlia shook her head. "That is the purview of the paladin. They are warriors of divine power who actively seek out corruption against their diety's domain. The purview of the cleric is to heal and purify, so you can understand why most clerics and paladins travel in pairs."

"Kinda wishin' you followed tradition then," Jayce mumbled. He ducked to the iron gate and glanced in. His sharp eyes followed the fog as it rolled down the stairs like water, and even the darkness failed to hide the hunched shape as it scrambled toward the right side of the rounded room.

"Just a thought," Jayce called out, albeit quietly. "Do zombies run?"

"Uh, no, they shamble," Dahlia said. "Why?"

"'Cause that fucker down there just ran," Jayce said simply, a hand pointed at the iron gate as if that would help illustrate his point.

Dahlia gripped her arms and shivered. "One way or another, it's pretty clear we're dealing with undead now. We need to purify the grounds before anyone else becomes a victim of these creatures."

Gauth nodded and reached for his axe. "I will get the gate."

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Al called out, his arms out to stop his friend. "I'll get the gate. Let's avoid damaging property for now, okay?"

Gauth huffed in annoyance but pulled his axe anyway. "Bera, you will be safer up there. You stay."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Bera whined.

Al ducked over to the iron gate and slipped out his tools in a practiced motion. The lock was old, heavy, and just complicated enough to keep the local children from causing trouble. In seconds, the lock opened with a heavy clunk and Al swung open the gate, the hinges protesting against the movement with a loud, iron squeak.

"And it's open," Al smiled. "And now...down into the black...dark...foreboding crypt. Full of undead."

Al audibly gulped and turned toward the others. "Who wants to go first?"

Gauth puffed out his chest. "I will go."

"Maybe this isn't the safest spot," Bera mumbled as she tried to look even smaller.

"Wait! Gauth, before you go," Dahlia called out, her hand digging through her bag. "Let me enchant your axe with light so you can see."

Gauth nodded his thanks. "Good. I will be less likely to hurt you."

Dahlia pulled out some yellowed moss, which began to glow as she rubbed it between her fingers. Rather than press the moss into the axe, she just touched it to the handle Gauth held out to her, and the whole axe began to glow with a pure, bright light.

"Still crazy how bright that is," Zoe winced.

"Right. Anyone who has trouble seein' in the dark, stay close to Gauth," Jayce said. His weapon appeared in his hand with a flash of blue fire. "We're goin' down as soon as you do, Gauth."

Gauth nodded and began his descent, his heavy boots thudding on the stairs as the light from his axe threw strange shadows on the walls. Bera shifted from his shoulder to hooking her feet into the empty axe harness on his back, which allowed her to put most of her body behind Gauth's shoulder. She felt safer that way.

The others followed, their descent slow and careful as Gauth led the way into the round room at the base of the stairs. Three doorways were visible, and with the light thrown from Gauth's axe, they could easily see deep shadows thrown beyond the thresholds, where old families had their final resting place in stone tombs. Jonathan paused briefly to read the names; Koginder on the left, Turst in the middle, and Dustpaw on the right.

"I bet these are the founding families of Turst Fields," Jonathan mused quietly.

"That would explain the special digs," Zoe huffed, her bo assembled and ready in her hands.

Dahlia spurted a laugh, cut short only by her hand, and Zoe smirked in victory as she glanced at her brother. Jonathan grumbled under his breath. He'd have to step up his game.

To Jonathan's surprise, Jayce actually paused in leading Dahlia to give his sister a fistbump, which Zoe gleefully returned. Then Puffpaw began to growl, her ears flattened and her face pointed solidly at that third door as she sat on Jonathan's shoulder. As if on command, everyone faced that last door which once housed the remains of the Dustpaw elders, but now held little more than rubble and shattered bones. The right wall of the alcove had collapsed, revealing a more natural-looking cavern behind it, and a dark shadow ducked away from the light.

"Right…" Jayce said with a puff of breath to steady himself. "Whatever piece of shit took that little girl's in that fox hole. Y'all ready?"

"As I'll ever be," Al grumbled.

"Dahlia, you stayin' outta the fight?" Jayce asked.

Dahlia nodded. "Yes. I'm just as likely to hurt one of you as one of the creatures, be they living or undead. However, I have passive skills that may help, even from the back of the group, that are no risk to any of you."

"I will do my best to keep her safe," Jonathan said quickly. "That's the most strategically advantageous position for me as well."

Jayce narrowed his eyes at the human wizard. "If there's even a single damn scratch on that new armor of hers, I'm takin' it outta your hide, got it?"

Even though Jonathan felt the hostility was entirely misplaced, he couldn't help but recoil and nod rapidly to acknowledge Jayce's sentiment.

Jayce suddenly lurched as a bo staff rapped him on the shoulder. "Back off! After all he's done, isn't it obvious he wants to protect her too?" Zoe snapped.

Jayce didn't respond, choosing instead to glare at Zoe and take his place near the front of the group. Zoe huffed through her indignation on her brother's behalf and followed, leaving Jonathan and Dahlia alone in the round room, and the growing darkness. Rather than be pitched into blackness, Jonathan waved his hand to summon dim sparks around them, and Puffpaw immediately chirruped in excitement as she briefly forgot where they were.

"Puffpaw sounds happy," Dahlia giggled. The laugh was more nervous than joyful. "Did she see a mouse?"

"Uh, no, sparks," Jonathan said awkwardly. His voice carried so well down here and it made him anxious. "Gauth walked off with the light."

Dahlia nodded. The light danced around her, partly as he willed it, and partly as they fell naturally. Her eyes glittered in magical ways as they caught glints of the dancing sparks, and it captivated him.

Did they really have to follow? It would be much safer for them both if they just headed back the way they came. Jonathan did imply he would keep her safe, after all. No one would blame them, right?

"Jonathan?"

Jonathan tensely shook his head to clear it and looked at Dahlia. What little light he had was already fading as the others traveled even deeper into the discovered cavern. If he was going to follow, he had to do it now, before he was lost in the darkness.

He sighed and took Dahlia's hand, which caused her to squeak in alarm. He knew it was futile. If he even suggested leaving, she would protest immediately, and it would likely harm his chances to get closer to her in the future.

Jonathan rushed down the passageway before he could second guess himself. Rubble covered the floor, and with bright light ahead of him and deep shadows behind, the ground seemed full of voids where the world ceased to exist, and he found himself fearing that any one of the moving pitfalls was literally what he imagined.

Just as they were about to catch up with the back of the party, Jonathan felt his arm yanked back and Dahlia sucked air through her teeth. He glanced back to see what had happened, but the darkness made it difficult to make out anything, including her shape.

"You okay?" he whispered.

"Y-yeah, just stumbled a bit," Dahlia stammered as she shifted to one foot. "We should catch up though. I'll be fine."

Jonathan hesitated just for a moment before he pulled her along again, still by the hand, until he came to the end of the curved tunnel. The light from Gauth's axe was clearer now, and he pulled them both as close as he dared to the rest of the party. Glancing about, Jonathan could see the room expanded a bit to the right, the earth clearly clawed away and broken caskets hanging from the cave ceiling, their contents spilled to the earth as mottled bones and scraps of rotted clothing. Even from his distance, Jonathan could tell the bones had been chewed on and cracked with teeth, all flesh sucked from them by some ravenous beast.

"Jonathan, what do you see?" Dahlia asked quietly.

Jonathan had to swallow back bile before he could reply. "Bones, and scraps. It looks like whatever was down here was breaking open coffins from below and devouring the bodies as it pulled them out."

"Wait, devour?" Dahlia gasped.

Jonathan nodded. "I can even see bones broken open and scraped of marrow."

Dahlia immediately turned toward the rest of the group and yelled, "It's ghouls!"

The whole group was startled, shocked by the sudden interruption to the tense quiet. "What now?" Al asked.

"There aren't zombies down here, they're ghouls!" Dahlia said quickly, a panic evident in her voice. "They hunt in packs and devour flesh, and carry ghoul fever with them! Do not let them bite you! They will attack like a pack of wolves instead of mindless creatures, and fear no pain!"

"That...makes things more complicated," Zoe mumbled. She gulped down her fear. "So, Jayce, what's the plan?"

Jayce's expression hardened, but Jonathan couldn't tell if it was in determination or some sort of grim recognition. "Same thing you do with any fuckin' rat you trap in a corner. Give 'em hell."

As the others continued to advance toward the upcoming choke point in the cavern, Dahlia stalled, the heel of her hand pressed hard against the side of her face as her eyes made rapid, but drifting movements. Jonathan tried to pull her along, but when she nearly squeaked, startled at his touch again, he paused.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"There's more to it, I know there is," Dahlia wailed quietly. She pulled her hand from Jonathan's grasp and buried her face in both palms. "There's something else about them, something that makes them even worse. What was it?!"

"Dahlia, we shouldn't get too far from the others," Jonathan said. It took great effort to keep a nervous whine from his voice. "What if one of those things got behind-"

Gaunt hands flashed out of the darkness and clawed at Jonatha's neck, but he was well versed in dodging sneak attacks, thanks to his sister's proclivity for pranks. He twisted out of the way as a wall of putrid odor assailed their nostrils, causing them both to stumble back, and Puffpaw to be thrown to the ground.

"What the hell?!" Jonathan gasped.

The creature screeched in anger and lunged again, but this time Jonathan was ready. His hand flashed across the space between them and a thin purple bubble enveloped him just long enough to deflect the gnashing jaws of the barely human beast. As it recoiled, Jonathan was horrified to realize the beast was a rotting body, but its face and jaws had been mutated in undeath to look like a cross between a man and a canine.

Then it paused.

"Hrrrrr, hrrrrr," it grumbled in a gravely, harsh voice. "Bite the child, and the meat comes willing. Warm and wet." It licked its taut, black lips with an almost snake-like tongue. "Hrrrrr."

It's chest rattled as it paced around them, almost like a strange purr, its shoulders hunched as if it would be more comfortable on all fours than walking on two legs.

The air around it was choked with a noxious miasma, and Jonathan's lungs began to burn as his eyes became blurry. He glanced at Dahlia, who was fighting to stay standing, rather than drop to her knees. Her hands were up around her throat as she fought to resist whatever effect this creature was forcing upon them.

Gauth's roar echoed from the next room, beyond that chokepoint. The light began to flash and flicker, and Jonathan rubbed at his eyes to keep from getting disoriented. Already, he was beginning to see spots in his blurred vision, but when he looked up, the creature was gone.

Immediately terrified for Dahlia's safety, Jonathan whirled toward her, her form nearly lost in the flashing shadows accentuated by the ghoulish screams of the creatures facing their companions. He threw out his hand, three points of purple light swirling around his wrist before they stretched into long darts of plasma, and fired them at the amorphous blob behind her. With his vision so unfocused, Magic Missile was his best bet; After all, it was a spell that never missed the intended target.

As the strange, speaking ghoul stumbled backward with a screech of its own, Dahlia leapt forward to put distance between them and whirled around, her hand ducked down the collar of her coat. She ripped out her holy symbol, already glowing with divine light, and held it over her head.

"Foul creatures of undeath, the light of Pelor will smite you into oblivion!" she roared, her amulet thrust toward the ghoul. A ring of golden mist exploded from her center, rolling over all of them like a wave of gentle fog. The ghoul immediately recoiled, its face contorted in terror as it stumbled over its own footing to scramble away. From what Jonathan could hear, the effect of her spell was felt even in the adjacent room, hopefully giving their companions some breathing space with their own combat.

Jonathan grabbed Dahlia's arm and yanked her toward the light, almost dragging her as she stumbled along. He twisted just enough to catch her as they finally caught up with the others, just in time to see Al bury his dagger in the back of one ghoul's skull and Zoe easily snap the spine of another with a well aimed heel strike.

He had to warn them. He had to say something about the ghoul behind them. He took in a breath to scream, and the fire in his lungs flared with vengeance. He folded over, hacking and coughing, unable to do anything as Dahlia dropped next to him and pulled him close to her chest.

Jonathan barely caught the prayer she said, but the pulse of sunlight from her chest, very similar to her prayer to smite the undead, washed over them all, calming the burn in his lungs and knitting together a previously missed gash on Gauth's arm. Finally able to breathe, Jonathan glanced up at the others, relieved to see they all seemed unharmed.

Then he watched as Jayce snapped out his arm, his blade wavering in the light as if black marks across the blade were pulsing with dark energy. Oily blue-black flame flared across his shoulders, down his arm, and fired as a bolt of cruel magic into the face of the only ghoul who was not cowering against the back wall. The creature's face peeled back from its skull, a similar blue flame erupting from its mouth, and an orb of darkness, one that seemed to absorb the light, ripped itself from the creature's mouth and flew right into Jayce's chest.

Wreathed in fire, his eyes literally glowing with unnatural light, Jayce wiped drool from his lips as he grinned at the final ghouls. Jonathan watched him in horror, and one thing became abundantly clear; The only reason Dahlia trusted Jayce was because she couldn't see the monster he really was.

Now lacking targets that fought back, Gauth turned his rage to the final two ghouls, cowering against the back wall like cornered rats. He swung his glowing axe in a lethal arc, the blade sparking against random stones in the earthen wall, but his target ducked at the last second. His rage fading to simple frustration, Gauth yelled something foul in his home language at the cowering creatures, but Jonathan barely caught half of it.

Dahlia twisted him back into her chest, and then screamed in agony as the talking ghoul emerged from the darkness, clamped its fanged jaws right into her neck, and jerked back. Warm blood splattered on Jonathan's face as he could do nothing but stare in shock. How did that thing catch up to her? Her magic had chased it away!

Faster than he could blink, Al's blades flashed out of the darkness, both plunged deep into the creature's temples, to rip the creature back as soon as it screeched in pain. Dahlia collapsed forward, limp and bleeding, and Jonathan thankfully thought to staunch the wound as he shielded her from further attack with his own body.

Its head revealed, and its body still thrashing toward Al despite two daggers embedded in its head, Bera cupped her hands around her mouth and whispered a discordant tone, one that made Jonathan's skin crawl. Thankfully, it had a much greater effect on the ghoul as thick, black blood began to ooze from its nose, ears, and eyes as it screeched a final time and went limp.

"Are you okay?" Al asked, a hand on Jonathan's shoulder to grab his attention.

Jonathan experienced a very sudden, and very strange, flutter in his heart. Dahlia was bleeding, probably to death, in his arms, but when Al looked at him in that moment, taking that second to check on him, Jonathan felt his face go hot. What just happened?

As it was clear he wasn't going to get a reply, Al nodded to Dahlia. "Keep her alive."

Jonathan nodded dumbly as Al raced off to help the others, and Jonathan looked up just in time to see Zoe punch a wall twice trying to hit a cowering ghoul, and then after nearly popping her wrist, she kicked the creature right in the teeth. Suddenly recovered from its fear, it screeched bloody murder and lunged at her, and Jonathan's memory vividly flashed back to the moment when Zoe was evicerated by an ankheg.

He grabbed at the component pouch in his coat and deftly ripped out an iron nail, which hovered above his palm as his eyes became wreathed in smoke. With an arcane command, Jonathan twisted his fingers in a practiced way, the nail wrapped in glowing threads of purple light. He snapped his hand flat and the strings went taught, removing all movement from the iron nail and holding it fast an inch above his hand.

As if the nail and ghoul were one, the ghoul's limbs locked in place, and it collapsed to the floor like a stiff sculpture. Zoe glanced at her brother with a smile of thanks, but it quickly changed to horror as she noticed who he was holding.

Jonathan turned his attention back to Dahlia and saw her hand reaching for her throat, a golden light flickering as she fought to cast her magic through her pain. Before he could think of any way to help, she choked out a word of blessing through a wad of blood and pressed her hand to her neck.

The wound immediately closed, but what remained was a clearly irritated bite mark across her neck. Jagged, inflamed holes seeped a milky fluid as Dahlia gasped for air and spit the remaining bloody bile from her mouth.

Jonathan blanched as Jayce twisted and glared at him, roaring, "I told you to keep her safe!" as he advanced on the frozen ghoul and stabbed at it, his blade slicing through the outer edge of a limb that didn't even bleed.

Even the monsters seemed to be afraid of him, as the paralyzed ghoul twitched in desperation and the remaining ghoul began to dig through the earth behind it to try an escape. Gauth and Al very quickly took care of the digging one with a practiced strike from the former and a surprise stab from the latter, and Zoe crushed the skull of the last one with a downward heel strike that was as vicious as the beak of a diving bird. Why did no one else notice? Why was Jonathan the only one who saw Jayce for who he was?

With the threat contained, Jayce immediately raced to Dahlia's side and braced her shoulders, in an attempt to see her face more clearly. Gauth, who had just noticed that Dahlia had been injured, lifted his still-glowing axe to provide more light to them.

"Dahlia, are you okay? Talk to me," Jayce said gently, his hands ever so lightly brushing her face. As if practiced, Dahlia turned her head to the side at his touch so he could more easily see the wound on her neck, even though it was a shadow of its original dire state. The edges of the puncture wounds were swollen and raised, and a milky fluid continued to weep from the individual teeth marks.

"I'm fine…" Dahlia huffed, still slightly out of breath from the wound. "There was a ghoul hiding in the previous room, one with the intelligence to speak. It was a ghast, both powerful enough and deadly enough to resist my divine power. I heard it coming up behind us and took the brunt of the attack to spare Jonathan."

"Why?" Jonathan wheezed, his own breath unsteady from the noxious miasma from earlier. "I have spells to keep me safe."

"But you're human," she said gently. "I'm an elf, and that makes me resistant to ghoul fever. If I've contracted the disease, I'll have a much better chance of survival than any of you."

"Now wait wait wait a second here," Zoe said, her hands out as if to physically stop the conversation. "First off, define ghoul fever."

Dahlia tried to stand, and Jayce offered her every assistance he could. His arm was underneath her shoulders as she turned to the others.

"Ghoul fever is just as it sounds; an illness caused by the bite of a ghoul, and marked with pain, paralysis, and fever. Should it be left untreated, the affected die within a week, usually in their sleep, and they rise at the next midnight as a ghoul themselves."

"So if you've got this, you're going to be a ghoul?!" Zoe yelled in shock.

Dahlia shook her head. "No. Where there are ghouls, there is corpseweed. The same corrupted magic that fuels their undeath warps the plants near their feeding grounds, and the mucus contained in these plants is one ingredient I need to make a cure."

"Huh. Me-maw wasn't kidding when she said nature likes to package the solution with the problem," Bera mumbled.

"You said that's one of the ingredients you need," Zoe said. "What's the others?"

Dahlia winced and nearly touched the wound on her neck before she thought better of it. "Well, brewing in spring would be ideal, but ucre bramble is another plant I need. It's practically all over Exandria, so it shouldn't be too hard to find it; It's also popular for making orange dye, so the tailor we spoke to yesterday may have some."

She sighed and leaned heavily on Jayce, who briefly struggled to keep her standing. "Either the fatigue is already setting in, or the adrenaline is wearing off. Either way, wisp stems would be better, because they have the same magical essence as ucre bramble but in a more concentrated form. I would need less, but they're much harder to find."

Zoe nodded, clearly committing the information to memory. "Anything else?"

Dahlia tilted her head slightly as she worked through a mental list. "Ah. One last thing; marrow from a ghoul, ideally the one that bit me. I can use it to test the medicine's effectiveness."

The light shifted dramatically as Gauth swung his axe, hard, at the ghast's body on the ground behind them. The body squelched and hissed as noxious gas escaped into the air, causing all of them to gag briefly before it cleared.

"Done," Gauth said simply, a few severed ribs held out as his prize. Jonathan nearly gagged at the lumpy, coagulated black blood clinging to his fingers and the bones.

"Thank you," Dahlia said with a tired smile. "Then let's get looking for corpseweed and ucre bramble."

"That's assuming you're sick," Al grumbled.

"It's better to be prepared than to be lacking," Dahlia said sagely.

With a new plan laid out before them, Dahlia quickly and concisely explained exactly what they would be looking for throughout the graveyard, likely under the fog. Bera came to her aid with her grandmother's diary, which had colored sketches of the plants, which bolstered their understanding immensely.

As soon as they reached the graveyard proper, they split into teams. Jonathan, Zoe, and Al scoured the graveyard for corpseweed, while Guath and Bera raced off into the edge of the Parchwood Timberlands to look for the ucre bramble, and Jayce stayed with Dahlia to help her recover. Within the hour, despite Jonathan and Gauth having absolutely no luck in their search, Al and Zoe had produced enough slimy corpseweed to satisfy Dahlia's requirements, and Bera came back with an extremely lucky handful of pale blue reed-like stems with translucent flowers. Against all odds, she had found wisp stems, and Dahlia's palpable relief was enough to put them all at ease.

xXxXx

To say the young girl's parents were upset would be an understatement. The pair were inconsolable, sobbing and begging Jayce to lie to them, to tell them the group had been unable to find evidence of her death. Zoe watched in amazement as Jayce spoke gently, patiently, his own eyes misted with tears, as he offered the consolation of the ghouls' death, so no other child would join her. He painted their daughter as a hero, whose unfortunate circumstance saved the lives of so many others who would have followed her fate. In the end, he refused the parents' money, asking instead the coin be put toward bettering their own lives, or creating a memorial for their daughter.

Zoe leaned over slightly to whisper to her brother. "And this is the same guy who devoured the black soul of a ghoul in that last fight?"

"I swear I know what I saw!" Jonathan hissed. Puffpaw grumbled in his arms as he petted her aggressively. Zoe sighed. Jonathan had a habit of working his frustration out on others, something Puffpaw knew too well.

"I'm not saying I don't believe you, I'm just saying it's a bit hard to believe when he's being a paragon of good intentions!" Zoe whispered harshly back, sparing a hand from her crossed arms to indicate the half-orc. "I mean, look at him!"

Jonathan grumbled something under his breath, but she didn't catch it. With a shrug, she turned back to the conversation to watch Jayce shake the father's hand, clasp it in solidarity, and then turn to return to the group. Of course, he passed Dahlia first, and she briefly patted his shoulder for encouragement. He smiled, but said nothing.

"Hard part's over," Jayce mumbled. He ran a hand through his hair and cleared his throat. "That was the hardest damn thing I've ever done in my fuckin' life."

Gauth huffed and crossed his arms. "I only regret we did not kill those ghouls twice."

"Yeah, you pretty much lost it when you saw that one gnawin' on that skull," Jayce shuddered. The skull in question had been quite small compared to the other bones in the debris, and with the mention of the bloody cloth, it had been easy to find the obvious conclusion. "Anyway, Hazel Festival's tomorrow, an' I'm takin' Dahlia back to the Nutty Knob t' work on that medicine. Y'all have fun takin' the time off."

Zoe's eyes flashed over to the still visible bite mark on Dahlia's neck. It was no longer seeping whatever that fluid was, but it still looked angry. She winced and gripped her arms tighter. Dahlia had taken that attack for her brother. Zoe could see why Jonathan was so obsessed with that woman.

Beyond the obvious, of course. Dahlia was, after all, very pretty, but also oblivious to all of Zoe's subtle and less-than-subtle attempts at flirting. She probably wasn't worth the pursuit, but if her brother really wanted her, then Zoe would at least try to help them get together. The poor guy deserved something, after everyone else abandoned him.

That wasn't the kind of feeling anyone would forget, even after a lifetime.

Just then, Al stepped up and nudged Jonathan in the arm with his own. "Hey, me and Gauth are going on a tavern crawl, see the town. Interested?"

To Zoe's shock and delight, her brother blushed and turned away. "I-I don't- Al, it's barely noon!"

Al laughed a little and thumbed over his shoulder. "We're going to eat first! Bera spotted an open kitchen on the way over, so that was the first stop. Whatever they're making, it has a lot of garlic in it, and Gauth was practically chomping at the bit when we passed. You and Zoe coming?"

Zoe almost gaped like a fish in disbelief as her brother went even redder in the face and then shoved that face into a startled Puffpaw's fur. Before too long had passed, Zoe intervened by shouting that they would catch up and physically dragged her brother away from the others.

"Oh my gods, Jonathan!" Zoe almost squealed, her grip on both his upper arms preventing him from running away. "You're gay!"

"I am not!" Jonathan protested, but his face was still as red as a beet.

"You are blushing up to your ears, you dork! You like Al!" Zoe said gleefully, which she only avoided yelling due to an amazing application of self control. "Welcome to the wide and wonderful world of gay love, John!"

"It's not love!" Jonathan almost shouted back, but he was terrified of being overheard. "He just...saved our lives down in the crypt, and then asked if I was okay, and then my heart did this weird flutter thing and I have no idea what's going on!"

"Ho-ly fuck…" Zoe gasped. She suddenly regretted seducing all of Jonathan's potential girlfriends when they were younger. "I've deprived you of so much! You've never been in love before!"

"Of course I have! I'm in love with Dahlia!" Jonathan shot back.

Zoe crossed her arms with a smirk. "Does her touch make your heart 'flutter'?"

"Well...no, but she doesn't usually touch me," Jonathan mumbled. "And when I touch her, she usually flinches away like I was about to scald her."

"Okay, so, sounds to me like you're attracted to her romantically, but you're attracted to Al physically," Zoe beamed. Oh this was just too good.

"Can we just drop this?! I don't even know what's going on!"

As much as Zoe wanted to push this and force her brother to admit he wanted to have sex with another man, she could see he was in a literal panic over the idea. She sighed and ruffled his hair like she used to when they were kids.

"Hey, breathe, bro. If you like him, that's fine. You can still like Dahlia too. Here's an idea; you hungry? We don't want that headache thing to come back before we get a chance to check out the festival, right?"

Jonathan's shoulders slumped as his body seemed to lose all tension at once. "You know I hate it when you muss with my hair," he said weakly.

"Yeah, and yet you have never, ever stopped me," she teased. "Come on. Let's get some food and talk about your grand plan to seduce Dahlia."

"Can you not call it my 'grand plan to seduce Dahlia'? That makes me sound like a creep," Jonathan mumbled.

"You got it," Zoe smiled, with a playful punch to his arm. They walked toward the others and quickly found them at the open kitchen from before, sitting at one of the provided outdoor tables with plates of meatballs and flatbread. The smell of garlic was almost overpowering as they walked up, and Bera was fanning her mouth as they arrived.

"Mother's mercy!" Bera squeaked. "That's hot!"

"They're fresh, Bera," Al sighed. He broke one in half with his fingers and popped the chunk into his mouth, clearly with the intent to show off, when his own eyes nearly bugged out of his head.

"Fuck!" Al gasped around the food. "That burns!"

A large woman carrying plates of meatballs and flatbread laughed heartily as she dropped off the food at another table. "It better! That's ten bulbs of garlic in the recipe, not to mention a healthy share of hot sauce!"

"Are you trying to kill your customers?!" Al wheezed, also fanning his mouth now as Bera hid her face to avoid laughing.

She winked and heavily patted his shoulder. "You knew what you were in for when you ordered 'em. They're called 'spicy garlic meatballs' for a reason!" She then turned to Jonathan and Zoe. "You two interested in plates?"

"Oh fuck yeah!" Zoe beamed. "I gotta try this!"

"Seven copper," the woman smiled. "You, sir?"

Jonathan sighed and gently dropped Puffpaw to the ground. "Do you have anything that's not spicy?"

The woman shrugged. "The flatbread."

"I guess I'll get that…" Jonathan said in resignation. He reached in his coat pocket to grab the money, but winced when he realized he didn't have anything small enough. "Um, can you make change? All I've got on me is gold."

The woman looked annoyed and shot Bera a look, and Bera responded by ducking behind Gauth. "I think I have enough. I'll bring the change with the plates, so have your coins ready."

"And I'll need change too, but I've got a silver," Zoe smiled.

The woman brightened considerably at that, and shuffled off to grab the food. Gauth had already polished off his plate and successfully nabbed a meatball from Al's plate without the rogue noticing, which got Zoe and Jonathan to giggle.

Poor Al was too distracted anyway; he was beginning to sweat and his ears were red as he wiped away tears.

"Can't take the heat?" Zoe snickered.

"Never been a fan…!" Al wheezed.

They all shared a laugh over Al's minor torment, but Zoe glanced at her brother and was not surprised to see him faking the amusement. Clearly, Jonathan was going to do what he had always done, and that would be to bottle everything up until he literally became sick over the stress, and then pretend it was never a problem. Of course, Zoe could easily fix this by implementing the world's best relaxation tool; alcohol! She knew from experience that John had a soft spot for artisan beers, which would be practically everywhere in a farming town like this. With a pint or two in his system, he'd finally be willing to actually talk about his problems, and maybe they could get to the bottom of it together.

And, hopefully, she would be able to find out what he really felt when Al had touched him. She was well aware adrenaline can do funny things to the mind, and that situation was not lacking in it.

Whatever the truth ended up being for Jonathan, the bottom line was that Zoe wanted her brother to be happy, with someone who wouldn't abandon him for an imagined weakness, or ideally abandon him at all. Definitely someone who would take care of him during his lowest moments, and who would lift him up at his highest.

Zoe plucked a meatball from her delivered plate and briefly inspected it before she caught Al's sweaty face beyond it. Her eyes narrowed as she saw the man in a new light as possible boyfriend material for her brother.

Time to interrogate. Subtly. With alcohol.

xXxXx

The first rule of any engagement was to know thine enemy in totality: their weaknesses, their strengths, and their allies. The second rule was to know the battlefield, and note both potential advantages and disadvantages that could come into play. The third rule was to know thyself, what your own strengths and weaknesses could be, and with everything defined, to plan accordingly.

Zoe had to laugh to herself. She never imagined applying her training to a tavern crawl, but damn did it fit. As they walked toward the first tavern, literally just the closest one, she looked over them all. Al would be the easiest to get drunk, as that man would drink just for the sake of the sky being blue. Getting his tongue loose would be child's play, as all Zoe needed to do was continually fill whatever mug he was using at the time. Gauth would be harder, simply on the fact that he was a massive being and had, by default, a much higher tolerance, but his downfall was he was competitive, and would match Al mug for mug until he was also inebriated. Her best bet with Gauth would be to trick him into believing Al had drunk more than he actually had, to force the goliath to imbibe more than his fair share.

Bera, on the other hand, was a bit of a wild card. Zoe wasn't sure of her drinking habits, but she did have one trick that was sure to work; the halfling was clearly enamored with Gauth, and if Zoe could force the two together, either in proximity or conversation, it would surely cause Bera to drop her guard. Especially if she could get Gauth to reciprocate...but that would be a challenge for another time.

The true challenge was Jonathan. Her dear younger brother loved artisan beers, but he hated being drunk. She couldn't blame him; hangovers and his awful headaches made a terrible combination, which he avoided like the plague. Zoe would have to be very subtle about introducing her brother to more alcohol than he was prepared for, especially if she was going to get him to open up about his new feelings for Al. Before she even dared confront Al about her impossible standards for her brother's potential lover, she had to confirm what her brother felt was real, and not simply adrenaline or a side effect of whatever miasma had him coughing after the fight.

All this rattled around in Zoe's head as the group made their way inside Turniphead's Tavern, a small bar along the road with worn out and warped wooden flooring but a cozy atmosphere, bolstered by cheerful faces around most of the round tables and bursts of random drinking songs among the patrons. The bartender was a human woman, her red hair braided and twirled in a bun on the back of her head and her smile bright and cheery as she served those at the bar. Occasionally, she would join in the songs, her voice overpowering any who were involved, and then a cheer would erupt from the patrons and a toast to "ol' Turniphead", a scarecrow propped up at a table in the corner with its own mug of drink. True to its name, ol' Turniphead did indeed have a massive turnip for its head, and upon the turnip was drawn a simple face that sported a corncob pipe.

Al glanced around the room and then counted those behind him. "So, looks like we need-"

"-a tavern crawl!" a boisterous man called out next to them, and the others at the table agreed with a cheer and rowdy enthusiasm. "And the first fucker to find all five tokens on the list wins the pot!"

Zoe immediately spun on her heel and faced the table. "You're fucking kidding. There's an actual contest?!"

"Hell yeah!" The challenger was the first to speak, a stout halfling with dark hair and round features, proving that, even for halflings, there was such a thing as overeating. "You saying you wanna join us for a game of Blind Drunk Dash?"

A thinner halfling with chiseled cheekbones and suspiciously cleaner clothes immediately scoffed and turned to the rounder man. "Faulkner, we don't even know them. Don't invite every yahoo that walks by the table."

"But it's in our interest!" Al said brightly, his hands rubbed together in eager anticipation. "We had intended to explore the town with a tavern crawl of sorts, but we aren't against earning money in the effort."

Faulkner laughed and brandished his mug as if it was required for any attempt at speech. "Ain't nothing was said about any money! Although we do have a buy-in. Ain't no free drinks in this game, o' course."

A thick woman whose heavily developed arms made it clear she was either an avid baker or a lumberjack finished her drink with a noisy quaff and slammed it down on the table. "You said it like tha' on purpose, you sly fucker!" she laughed. "You wanted more players."

"I's more fun!" Faulkner grinned. "You all still interested in a mystery pot?"

Al couldn't keep the excited smile off his face. "Of course I am! How much is the buy-in?"

Faulkner put down his cup and held his hands out wide as if it was the simplest thing in the world. "Easy! You buy yer own beers, you play by the rules, and if you win, you get the pot!" He then clapped a hand hard on the well-dressed halfling next to him. "And don't worry! Kai here will be our very own DC!"

The newly identified Kai dropped his head heavily to the table with a groan as the human woman and the fourth person at the table, a human man, laughed along with Faulkner. Al's brow furrowed as he watched them, clearly confused, and Zoe sighed and stepped forward.

"Okay, I'll bite," she said, her arms crossed. "What's a DC?"

"I bet it's a drunk chum," Bera giggled. Gauth tapped her head to remind her to hush, but he also had a smile of amusement.

Kai grumbled something about past sins into the table as the human man slapped his back with a laugh. "It's a bit of a joke," the human said. "Kai here went to the Academy and called it a 'designated chaperone' to sound like a smartass and we love reminding 'im."

Faulkner shrugged. "Them ten gippy words take too long to say, so DC it is!"

"So long as we have a chaperone," Al laughed, "then I say I'm in!" He turned to the rest of his companions. "What about the rest of you?"

"I am in," Gauth said, a bright smile across his face.

"Me too!" Bera added quickly.

Zoe glanced at her brother. He seemed unsure, but as soon as she put a hand on his arm, he smiled at her reassurance. "We're in too," Zoe said to the table.

"Fuck yeah! Alright! Let's start with the introductions then!" Faulkner stood on his seat and struck a ridiculous pose. "I am the il-lusty-ous Faulkner Egidel Bilberry, or Fuckin' Faulkner to me friends, and we're all friends right?!"

The two humans raised their mugs in solidarity, with a "hear hear!" before they turned to the group. "I'm Elena Gircyte, and this is my husband, Orestas," the woman said.

Her husband smiled broadly at the group and held up his mug to them as well. "Just call me Orry," he said, right before he took a swig and emptied the mug.

Faulkner reached over and tussled the hair of the smaller halfling. "And this twig is my little brother, Kai! He's gonna be a captain in the Shields, you know. He's studying hard!"

Kai ducked his face and blushed, but he had a smile on his face. "It's still a way off."

Faulkner looked over the group standing by his table. "And you folk?" he asked with a friendly smile.

Al couldn't stop the grin on his face as he checked who was standing beside him. "I'm Al, and that's...Zoe, Jonathan, Gauth, and that one's Bera."

Puffpaw, draped over Jonathan's shoulders as she was wont to do, growled when she had been passed over. Al, barely phased, waved a hand dismissively in her direction. "Oh, and that's Puffpaw."

Elena brightened considerably. "What a sweet little thing! It a friendly one?"

Jonathan smiled, somewhat more relaxed now that he knew one of the practical strangers was a fellow cat lover, and reached out a hand to allow Puffpaw to use his arm as a bridge to the table. "She's a familiar, so she's friendly so long as you respect her."

Like a seasoned cat owner, Elena held out a hand, palm facing upward, for Puffpaw to sniff and to allow Puffpaw to make the first move. After the cat was sufficiently informed of Elena's scent, Puffpaw chirruped happily and bopped her forehead into Elena's hand. Elena immediately switched to scritching Puffpaw under the chin and cooing as if to a child.

"You're a familiar, eh? I'd bet you have him wrapped around that paw o' yours tight, don't you? You pretty little thing!"

Orry snickered into his mug as he watched his wife croon over the cat who was clearly loving the attention.

Suddenly, Kai hopped up on his chair to join his brother and projected his voice to be heard among the groups. "Alright! Tonight we will be playing Blind Drunk Dash. The rules of the game are as follows: First, you will go to the bar and order a pint of your choice and pay for it then. No tabs! Second, once we all have our beers, we will stand or sit in a circle, cover your eyes with one hand, and drink your full pint. Once you finish, you may remove your hand and search for the token in that bar. Once you find it, you are to take it and announce 'I'm not blind yet!' to the room. That will be the signal to the rest that the token has been found, and we leave as a group to the next bar. Currently, the bars on the list for this month are…" Kai trailed off and pulled a small journal out of his pocket and flipped through it. "The Giant Yew Pub, the Stately Rat Pub, the Light Chick Tavern, the Dusty Oak Inn, and… huh. Missed one. Any votes for the last bar?"

Orry immediately spoke up. "How about the Moldy Shoe?"

Faulkner burst out laughing. "Oi! We did that one last month, and they got terrible beer!"

"But they cheap!" Orry chimed in with a wink.

As Elena made a comment about how they must brew their beer in the moldy shoe after which the tavern was named, Kai turned to the others. "How about you lot pick? This is your first time playing, after all."

Al fell into deep thought and tapped his chin when Jonathan spoke up. "Honestly, we were going to do this tavern crawl as a way to see the town-"

Zoe snapped her fingers. "I got it! The Nutty Knob! It's close to where we're staying for the night, and since one of us is a bit of a lightweight, that means less distance to drag them."

She added a wink toward her brother, who grumbled in annoyance. However, he couldn't object, as it was technically true.

Kai brightened and scribbled in his journal. "That will work! Okay, the tokens for this one are the following. Faulks, can you pull them out?"

"You got it!" Faulkner, still standing on his chair, said with a broad smile as he pulled over a shoulder bag. From it, he produced a fork, knife, spoon, plate, and bowl, all simply adorned with an approximation of a sunflower. It was carved into the handles of the wooden flatware, but in the case of the plate and bowl, simply decorated the edges. Faulkner spread them over the table and motioned to them all with pride.

"This is my Sunflower Dish set! Kai here will hide one each when we're drinkin', and no peeking!"

Kai nodded. "And the one who has the most tokens wins the pot! If it's a tie, we do a coin toss."

Bera climbed up to stand on a nearby chair so she could more easily see those she was speaking to. "Just so I get this straight, we head to a bar, drink while covering one eye, Kai hides the token while we're drinking, and then we start looking as soon as we finish our pint, right?"

Kai nodded again. "You cover both eyes, but yes. It's a race to see who finishes their pint first, and-"

Faulkner stomped a boot on the table and lifted his empty mug. "And I'm a tough one t' beat!"

Elena smirked at Faulkner. "You weren't last time, eh, Fucker?"

Faulkner laughed at the good-hearted tease. "Yeah, ya got me good that round!"

Kai rolled his eyes at his brother, but it was all in good fun. He couldn't stop a smile from peeking across his face.

Bera nodded and looked over at Gauth. "Last question. Gauth can still play, right? I mean, he's huge. His gullet alone can hold twice the beer of mine."

Orry shrugged. "That just makes it a challenge, and let's be fair; the little half pints here can only try so hard."

"Oh I'm gonna get you for that one!" Faulkner laughed. "Let's bet on who finds the first one! My money is on the spring sprout over yonder." He winked at Bera, who smirked and winked in response.

Kai grimaced. "Faulkner, no bets. We made that rule last year."

Faulkner stepped off the table and waved off his brother as if to shove the man. "Ah, you're no fun."

Bera did a last count of everyone and then her face took on a look of shock as she realized something. "Okay, for real, last question; Are we playing in teams? Because five tokens among...nine of us is a pretty good chance that more than a couple of us will tie."

Kai looked surprised. "Oh. Good point. Then yes, let's do teams. Veterans versus the new?"

Kai winked at his brother and Faulkner took on a mischievous grin. Kai then looked over to Elena and Orry, and despite the former being distracted with the cat, the latter confirmed the two of them would be okay with the idea.

Al crossed his arms and looked at Kai with a smirk of his own. "For someone who's not even drinking, you're pretty excited for this."

Just then, Puffpaw flopped onto her side and stretched, pushing her back into Elena's hand while purring loudly. Elena responded by continuing to pet the cat with glee and cooing over Puffpaw's cuteness.

"I think my familiar just switched teams on me," Jonathan whined into his hand.

Zoe had to stifle a laugh into her fist.

Kai turned to Al with a subtle shake of his head over the display. "To be honest, sir...I have more fun hiding the tokens."

Faulkner smirked. "And he's not much of a drinker, you lightweight."

Kai flailed slightly, clearly flustered. "No! I just...get into fights when I drink."

Orry snickered. "Kai has a big competitive streak."

Al nudged Guath playfully. "Sounds like somebody I know," he teased.

Gauth rolled his eyes with a smile of his own, but knew better than to comment.

Faulkner grinned at the group of them. "We ready for round one, lads? And ladies, of course," he added with a wink.

Zoe didn't even glance at the others before she replied on their behalf. "Absolutely! What was that first one? The grand yew or something?"

Faulkner swelled with pride and hopped down from his seat as the others began to collect their things. "To the Giant Yew Pub!" He turned to the others as they walked to the street. "Two generations ago, this pub was built at the base of a yew tree, and legend says that the better the pub does, the bigger the tree grows!"

Zoe visibly brightened at the sound of local history, something she enjoyed learning. "You're kidding! And there's an actual yew tree?"

Faulkner smiled brightly as they exited the tavern and began to head down the street. "As I live and breathe! But it burned down some time ago…"

Orry waved it off. "Ain't a total loss, though. Little Kai here managed to save a cutting, and now the owners are trying to regrow it. Still going strong, last I heard!"

Bera, also opting to walk this time around, nudged Kai with her elbow after she sidled up to him. "Seems like you're a local hero then, aren't you?" she said with a smile.

Kai blushed and avoided eye contact. "I was nearby is all… And the town got me a scholarship for the Academy as thanks."

Jonathan called out from the back edge of the group. "How long ago were you at the Academy? I might have seen you there before I left."

Kai shrugged, trying to pass it off as if it was a trifling matter. "I was a new student last year. I have another year yet for my degree before I graduate."

Jonathan caught up to walk next to Kai as he nodded. "Ah. I've been out of school for a little over a year now, so it seems I missed you."

"Still, you're pretty far from Westruun!" Zoe said with a smile. "In town for the festival?"

Kai smiled back. "I am! I brought my homework with me so my teachers and professors would allow me to visit home for this."

"And here we are!" Faulkner cut in. "The Giant Yew!"

The building was a wooden one, with visible planks that were still bright from being freshly harvested and varnished. The building was a mostly open design, opting for a loose seating plan that was easily accessed from the road rather than shielding those inside from the chill of the elements. In the very back of the building was the bar, and in the center was a circular area that was cordoned off from the patrons. Within the area was a thick patch of black dirt, edged by charred remains of roots, and perfectly centered under the open ceiling was a yew sapling, barely as tall as the halflings among them. As soon as the locals walked in, the barkeep, an older man with a large nose and a scruffy mustache, welcomed them warmly, and even asked if they were playing Blind Drunk Dash again.

Faulkner scrambled up a chair and struck a pose. "That we are! The deal still workin' for us?"

The older man laughed and nodded, pulling out three mugs in a practiced movement. Just before he began to draw beers from the tap behind him, Faulkner cleared his throat loudly.

"It ain't just us today!" Faulkner said with a grin. "We got five more to join us!"

"And this little sweetheart!" Elena cooed, hugging Puffpaw to her face. Puffpaw, in a moment of extreme pandering, wrapped her front paws around Elena's neck in a make-shift hug, to which Elena clearly found herself unable to resist the cat's feline charms.

"Well that's a surprise!" the old man beamed. "I'll apply the same deal, but you know the rules! No disturbing the other guests!"

"Of course," Kai said quickly. "You know me, I'm careful with where I hide things."

The barkeep nodded and poured the beers, with a gentle warning to the team to be kind to the other guests and to not break anything looking for the token. Gauth had to promise twice, which he clearly felt was unfairly calling him out.

Finally, with drinks in hand and excited for the first round, they all gathered around a table where Kai held up the fork from the sunflower set. "Here's the first token! Everyone ready?"

Zoe nudged Jonathan hard enough to nearly cause him to stumble, and he matched her mischievous grin. She clearly wanted to race him, even though they were on the same team.

Jonathan nodded in understanding and faced the others with grim determination. Even though he wasn't a fan of getting drunk, there was no harm in a friendly competition, after all.

Faulkner lifted his mug into the air. "Alright, everyone raise your glass, and on the chant 'Blind Man Drink!', quaff it as fast as ya can! Make Kai work t' hide it!"

Following the lead of the locals, they tapped their mugs on the table to the beat of the chant, and then guzzled the beer as fast as they were able. To no one's surprise, Gauth finished first, followed by Zoe, and Al dropped his mug just a split second after Jonathan.

As soon as the mugs hit the table, Bera slammed hers down just after the others, but she launched from the table with such speed that Zoe, standing next to her, nearly tripped over the small being and stumbled into Al. Competitive to a fault, Gauth saw her race off and duck under tables, but twisted too fast to keep his footing in the small environment, tripping over a chair and falling right into the newly-recovered Zoe. As Gauth, Zoe, and Al all yelled at each other to untangle themselves, Jonathan and Bera began to scour the tavern for the hidden fork.

Orry, Faulkner, and Elena quickly finished their own brews and set to it, with Kai sitting by the sapling with a smug look on his face. Bera happened to glance over just as Kai's eyes darted to a specific chair on the far end of the tavern area, and she bolted for it. Sure enough, the fork was wedged between the slats of the chair's back, and she brandished it with pride.

"Ha! Score one for the newbies!" she yelled.

Orry burst out laughing, mostly at his wife's disappointed face than from a sportsmanlike camaraderie. "Oi! Say it right! 'I'm not blind yet!'"

Faulkner, halfway under a chair, clonked his head on the chair seat in shock and rubbed it vigorously as he stood up. "Fukkin' hell, already?!"

Bera brandished the fork again to avoid drawing attention to her rather embarrassed face. She wasn't usually the type to forget the rules. "I'm not blind yet!" she called out.

The bar patrons cheered and whooped them on as Elena pointed at the street. "An' that's one for the newbies! Next bar?"

Kai, Faulkner, and Orry all shouted a chorus of, "Next bar!" and raced off to the street, with Elena and Puffpaw hot on their heels. The excitement swept through the group and Zoe, Jonathan, Al, Gauth, and Bera all raced outside after them, where the merry band of friends had barely made it ten steps down the street.

Kai, however, paused just before they passed the bar, glancing one last time at the yew sapling he personally saved. Satisfied it was doing well, he raced after the others, just in time to see his brother sidle up to Bera.

"So!" Faulkner began, with a gentle nudge to Bera's arm, "I have t' ask. What's a beautiful young thing like you doing with a bunch of long legs?"

Faulkner added a wink to his comment and Bera had to work hard to stifle a laugh. She put on a more serious, but friendly, face and turned to Faulkner. "They're my bodyguards," she said with a wink of her own. "And each are extremely capable in a multitude of ways."

Faulkner's eyebrows shot straight up as they all walked down the street. "No kiddin'! Bodyguards you say?"

Bera smiled coyly and placed a proud hand on her chest. "Of course! I'm a famous bard in Westruun! My safety is paramount when I travel."

Faulkner got excited and missed it when Zoe rolled her eyes hard enough to get briefly dizzy. "You have any songs I may have heard out here? What's a good one?" he asked excitedly.

Bera shrugged. "My favorite is Marquet Misery, but I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't heard about it. Most people don't believe that's the name of the song because it's full of puns and jokes."

"You, uh, interested in a private performance? I got things I can do, too. Promise you'll like it," Faulkner smirked.

Kai dropped his head into his hand. "Faulkner, I swear to every god…!"

Zoe elbowed her brother as Kai moaned about his. "Hey, so I won that one," she teased.

"Yeah, but I actually got away from the table," Jonathan teased back.

"Okay, that was Bera's fault," Zoe huffed. "I still won that one."

"We'll call it a tie," Jonathan smirked. He patted his sister on the shoulder. "Next one, I'm definitely winning though."

"If it's too close to call, then whoever finds the token is the winner," Zoe said, her eyes burning with a fire of determination. "Deal?"

"Deal," Jonathan said, the same fire in his eyes as he grinned.

"You drunk already? She's sayin' she likes 'em tall!" Elena laughed, loud enough to break into their conversation.

Jonathan and Zoe clued back into the conversation as Faulkner, red in the face, coughed awkwardly as Bera gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder and his friends laughed at his expense.

Faulkner shrugged and shook out his shoulders and glanced over to Zoe. "Eh, I'll give it a try!" he announced, and saddled up to the blue-clad monk. "Zoe, right?"

Zoe, an amused and curious smile on her face, looked down at him as they continued to walk. "Give what a try?"

Faulkner nudged her in the thigh and winked. "I'm a bit famous in this town, and I'm willing to show ya why."

Zoe almost laughed and rolled her eyes hard. With the flat of her palm, she pushed Faulkner away by his forehead. "Whoa there, buddy," she snickered. "Only thing we've got in common is our love of women."

Kai absolutely lost it as the others joined in the laughter, and laughed even harder as Faulkner's face turned an even deeper shade of red from both embarrassment and booze.

"Oh! Two in a row! Fucker, you poor man!" Orry laughed heartily.

"To the bar!" Faulkner announced, loudly, in a vain attempt to move their attention away from his recent floundering. Much to his chagrin, he was needled about it during the whole remaining block to the Stately Rat Pub.

This pub was a plain square building with a small sign hanging above the door. Upon it was a rat in a top hat and monocle, holding up a pint of beer as if saluting those who entered or handing it to the next patron to ask. A stately rat, it was presented in a noble manner and had no airs of pestilence or evil that normally followed such creatures in artistic expression.

The plain outside belied a cozy interior, with tables and booths nearly choked with the number of patrons laughing and speaking among themselves. Kai puffed himself up with pride and stood before them all.

"This is the Stately Rat!" he announced. "Legend says that when the owner bought the building, it was in disarray. Trying to clean it and scared he wouldn't open on time, he prayed-" Kai threw a hand next to his mouth for a stage whisper, "-and the god changes depending on who tells the story," and then continued at a normal volume, "and the god answered by sending a rat that could talk! The rat struck a deal with the man, and called its family to help the man open. The rat's price? A partnership with the bar, and so it got its name!"

"And it's biscuits are to die for!" Elena cut in, Puffpaw cuddled into her chest. "In fact, a round of those on me!"

"Well if they're that good, better grab them before Gauth gets a chance!" Al laughed.

"Then I will have to beat you to the biscuits!" Gauth said, a competitive smile plastered on his face as he tried to politely shove his way to the bar. Considering his size, it was quite a feat that he could even move through the throngs of people, and Kai mumbled something about skipping the Light Chick, which Zoe barely caught. She did hear something about a "halfling bar", and the mental image of Gauth trying to shove his way into a place that small nearly made her double over in restrained laughter.

"We all ready for the next round?" Faulkner yelled, a mug of beer raised in the only clear spot in the center of the room. Some of the locals had already clued into what was about to happen and were cheerily discussing who the newcomers were, and if they would win the bet.

"Oh hang on I still need a beer-!" Zoe yelped, just in time for a pint of beer to be shoved under her nose. Jonathan gave her a smirk and a wink, clearly ready for their bet, and she returned the smirk with a grin of her own. It was easily understood that the bet was on.

"Right! This one's for the spoon!" Faulkner beamed. "On the count of three, you know the drill! One! Two! Three!"

They all cheered, "Blind man drink!" and quaffed the beer as fast as they were able, one arm thrown over their eyes as Kai raced through the throngs of people. Zoe finished first and threw down her drink, then smirked, a burp and a laugh suppressed, as she saw Orry accidently tip too far and pour beer down his nose. Just as she glanced about for Kai in the crowded room, Al finished his pint as well, quickly followed by Gauth.

Zoe threw herself into the crowds, her head whipping about for a tiny halfling man in the middle of the crowded bar. Al, clearly intent on stealing the prize from under her nose, shoved his way toward her, and she shot him a look of warning before she ducked behind a table. Unable to follow, Al picked another direction at random and raced off, dodging patrons as best as he was able.

Within seconds, the others finally finished their beers and tossed down their empty mugs, just like before, although now they were collected by a snickering Kai, who had completed his task of hiding the sunflower spoon and was clearly quite proud of his accomplishment. Zoe cursed under her breath as Kai's location was no longer the hint she had hoped for, but she did giggle when Jonathan began to sway and dropped to his butt on the crowded floor.

The world began to swim for Jonathan as he pressed a hand into his face and another solidly into the floor behind him. He fought to concentrate through the sway of voices and vertical people that bled together around him. Clearly, two beers was his limit, but a nagging voice at the back of his mind reminded him that he was in competition with his sister, and he still needed to win.

Why were they competing again?

Before he could actually determine what the predetermined prize could be, someone bumped into his shoulder and knocked him sideways, just enough to throw his hand from his face. Now forced on all fours, Jonathan tried to force himself back onto his feet when something sparkled and caught his eye.

Kai, a small dagger in his hand, had caught the candlelight by the bar and angled it to catch Jonathan's attention. With a meek smile and reddened cheeks, Kai glanced down the bar and hopped down from his seat, where Jonathan immediately lost him in the crowded tavern. Curious, Jonathan struggled to his feet, swaying far enough to require a hand on the nearby table to save his balance, but the patrons there did not mind. In fact, they patted his arm and goaded him on, cheering for him as the others in both groups tactfully raced between the full chairs.

Even in his inebriated state, Jonathan correctly surmised that Kai had been giving him a hint as to where the spoon had been hidden. However, he incorrectly assumed that Kai had snuck a beer himself, and that's why the man had looked flushed.

Now determined to win, Jonathan lurched forward, his footing unsteady as his body acclimated to the sudden influx of alcohol just moments earlier. So unsteady were his steps that, just feet from the bartop, he tripped and had to fling both arms across it, just to keep from slamming his head into the edge and dropping to the floor like a heavy sack of potatoes.

"Oi! You okay, mate?" the barkeep asked. The heavily freckled man in his later years even grabbed Jonathan under the arms and helped to hoist him back up to his feet. "Lost your beer legs?"

"No, just-" Jonathan suppressed a burp into his arm and winced a smile at the barkeep. "Just...not used to drinking. It's been a while."

The barkeep snickered and patted him on the shoulder. "Eh, you'll get back on that horse eventually. Buck up and keep at it! Your pals have nearly torn through the whole tavern!"

A burst of adrenaline spurred Jonathan back to his original goal and his head whipped around to glance where Kai had previously indicated. Once his vision had caught up with him, what he saw at the end of the bar was a sawdust-stuffed cotton rat with a tiny top hat and a little monocle made of bent wire, perched upon an iron beer stein. Nestled against the rat's foot, hidden within the stein, was the very edge of the wooden spoon handle adorned with yellow petals.

Zoe, having heard her brother crash into the bar, peeked in his direction to check on him when she noticed him reaching for the stuffed rat. Curious, she followed the line of his outstretched arm to also notice the stuffed rat and it's stein-hidden prize, and she launched herself literally over a table by vaulting across it. Even two beers in, her dexterous control was nearly exact as she threaded herself through multiple persons without disturbing their meal beyond their yelp of surprise as she flew past them.

Once she landed, Zoe twisted, dodged, and dove for the stein to snatch the spoon just inches away from Jonathan's fingers finding purchase on it. "Ha! I'm not blind yet, fuckers! And ha again, John!" she whooped.

Jonathan dropped his forehead to the bartop and grumbled something foul under his breath, to which Zoe laughed and tickled him under his arm. That caused him to lurch away hard enough to nearly lose his grip on the bar and stumble. Zoe couldn't help but laugh as Faulkner shouted from the open door to the Stately Rat Pug.

"Another one down!" the halfling yelled, completely undeterred by the loss. "Where we going next?"

Orry, struggling to get through the crowd and make it to the door, immediately piped up. "The Dusty Oak is just down the road! Let's do that one!"

Kai pulled out his trusty notepad and scratched something off the list. "Works for me. To the Dusty Oak!"

"I totally won our little bet, John!" Zoe teased. "I finished first and I found the token!"

"I saw it first…" Jonathan whined.

"Yeah, but I've got it!" Zoe beamed, twirling the spoon between her fingers. "Hey, Gauth, can you help my brother walk? I think he's pretty close to his limit!"

"I just need a bit!" Jonathan protested. "That was two beers in-" He suppressed another burp. "-b-barely twenty minutes!"

"Help your own brother!" Gauth called out, already beyond the tavern's door frame. "That place is too small for me!"

Zoe shrugged and grabbed Al's arm as he passed. "Hey, Al, you help. Can you help Jonathan walk?"

Al looked over at the clearly tipsy wizard and smiled. "Sure. Help me hoist him-"

Zoe immediately noticed his sly look and held up her hand to stop him. "Hold up. No. Second thought, I'll do it; Last thing I need is you rifling his pockets."

"Dammit…" Al grumbled. Zoe snickered as Al didn't hide his pout on the way out of the Stately Rat.

Zoe hoisted up her brother and stretched his arm across her shoulders, and then sighed. That was a mark against Al. Well, it was possible he was planning on giving whatever he nicked back, just as a way to tease, but Zoe didn't know him well enough just yet to make that call.

By the time Zoe and Jonathan stumbled out of the Stately Rat Pub, their friends and the locals who had invited them to the game were already at the Dusty Oak Inn, a little hole-in-the-wall inn with a bar on the ground floor. It was barely half a block away, and everyone assembled were clearly impatient for Zoe and Jonathan to join them.

"We're here!" Zoe called out triumphantly, to which Jonathan weakly raised an arm while leaning on his sister. Kai looked over Jonathan with worry while the others rushed inside to continue the game.

"Is he going to be alright?" Kai asked.

"Eh, he's fine," Zoe said with a grin as she waved off the comment. "Books are more his speed, that's all. The guy can talk circles around just about anyone I know. Eh, except maybe our cleric. But then again, she's a rare breed."

Kai pulled his elbows in tight and fidgeted with his thumb. "Ah. So...he's interested in battles of wit-?"

"Kai!" Faulkner yelled from just within the Dusty Oak's doorway. "Get your ass in here! We've got a game to play!"

Startled, Kai dashed inside as Zoe giggled to herself. She nudged Jonathan, still draped over her shoulders, to see if he was still lucid.

"You awake in there?" she said with a grin.

"I miss my Puffles…" Jonathan whined.

"Good enough!" Zoe laughed as she helped walk him inside.

The Dusty Oak Inn was a building that was a house first, and an inn second, with a foyer that led to a large area that used to be a dining room on the left, and a staircase heading upward immediately on the right. The bar itself was less a bartop and more a man standing behind an old crate and in front of a large barrel drum with a tap on it.

"Ah! Fucker 'n friends!" the older man said through a clearly forced smile. "That time of the month again?"

"You know it!" Faulkner laughed. "We'll buy drinks and be out of your hair in a bit. Everybody ready?"

There was a cheer of agreement as the bartender's face fell in dread. He had expected the four locals, of course, but upon seeing the additional five people, and one of them being nearly eight feet tall in his tiny dining space, forced him to face the facts. The only way he'd get them out of his bar area would be to let them play their game and leave.

Beers in hand, and Zoe still propping up her brother, they all cheered, "Blind man drink!" before quaffing down the alcohol. Gauth, able to absolutely slam down the flat beer, dropped the hand from his eyes in time to see Kai trip over his own shoes and faceplant on the floor, a sunflower-etched plate still in both hands.

Before the little halfling could begin to recover from such a stumble, Gauth bent down and grabbed a fistfull of the back of Kai's vest and lifted him from the floor. After a smirk from the giantkin drove home to the halfling that he was caught, Kai simply held out the plate with his head hung in defeat.

Gauth took the plate, gently put the halfling down, and looked back at the party just in time for his head to start to swim from the effects of the alcohol. He almost laughed as he brandished the plate above his head and roared, "I'm not blind yet!" so suddenly and loudly that Al let out a burp that almost rattled the nearby chairs.

"Holy fuck I'm only-" Elena coughed a burp into her hand and tapped her chest with her fist, Puffpaw still draped over her other arm. "-halfway through my beer! That was fast!"

Bera lightly punched her own chest to alleviate some of the built up gas from the carbonized alcohol. "Does that mean..we win?" she slurred.

Kai, still in the process of straightening his vest, shot a sympathetic look at the very relieved barkeep. "Well, that is three of five for the newcomers. Looks like we were outclassed today!"

"Aw, already?!" Faulkner cried out, far too loudly for the enclosed space. "Nah, we got- we gotta do one more! Or at least hit the rest o' bars! I wanna keep playing!"

Elena, her face now tinged with an inebriated glow, hugged Puffpaw to her chest and patted her short friend on the head. "Aw, Fucker, what's done is done! Let's call it on the game."

Orry, clearly more inebriated than his wife, leaned on her shoulder and whispered far too loudly for his comment to actually be kept secret. "But, love, if we stop, you gotta give the cat back."

"One more round!" Elena announced to the group, Puffpaw lovingly clutched to her chest.

They all exited the Dusty Oak Inn, awash in the sound of laughter. Jonathan, barely able to walk, leaned heavily on his sister and whined about getting his cat back, to which Zoe nearly burst out laughing from the sight and assured her brother he would after the next round.

"And you gotta win this one, John!" Zoe hiccuped, a goofy smile stubbornly upon her face. "Puffie's the prize, you know!"

"But she's mine!" Jonathan whimpered. "My kitty."

"Just one more round!" Elena cut in. Puffpaw's traitorous purrs were quite audible in the pauses in her speech. "And...it'll be all or nuttin'!"

"Wait, what?" Kai asked, the knife and bowl already in his hands. "You want me to hide them both?"

"And they're worth two points!" Elena announced, triumphantly.

Orry threw one arm around his wife and the other into the air. "Let's do it!"

"Double points! Double points!" Faulkner cheered.

Jonathan, completely drunk at this point, slurringly joined the chant to the laugh of his friends, who also joined in solidarity. In barely half a block, they were all laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation and finally settled into more personal conversations among them as they walked.

With alcohol and merriment warming their limbs, none of them noticed the growing chill of the slowly darkening evening as they headed toward their final destination, the Nutty Knob. During a lull in the conversation, Kai paced his steps to end up next to Zoe and Jonathan and looked up at them both.

"So, John!" Kai said brightly. "What did you study at the Academy?"

Jonathan clumsily waved out his free arm as if to brush the comment away. "I studied...con-ger...conjuration! 'Cause...I taught myself a familiar spell when… I was twelve...ish?"

Zoe bit her lip to keep from laughing as she helped her brother drunkenly walk down the street. Even so, Kai looked impressed.

"Wow! I've never been able to figure out that magic stuff," he said, slightly self-conscious. "I did try though. Uh, did you take any classes in strategy or war tactics?"

Jonathan fought to pull any sort of relevant memory through his foggied mind. "Uh, no?"

Perhaps it was the way Jonathan drew out the slurred "no", or perhaps it was the pouty lip he was sporting as he said it, but Zoe nearly burst out laughing at the sight and completely missed Kai slightly deflate at the comment.

Kai fidgeted as he tried to talk to Jonathan again. "Oh. Uh, you all staying in town for the festival?" he asked awkwardly.

Zoe twisted around her brother and smiled. "'Course we are! It's tomorrow, right? We're hanging out at least that long-"

"Tha' it is!" Faulkner cut in, having suddenly decided to be part of the conversation. "Best festival this side of the country! The hardest part is only eating what ya can, not what ya want!" he laughed.

Elena and Orry launched into humorous stories of their own struggles with that sentiment, describing pies, pastries, and cakes in detail as the others laughed along. Zoe could barely keep her amusement to herself when, on a whim, she glanced at Kai and nearly dropped her jaw in surprise.

Kai was looking at her brother with soft eyes and a blush, and Zoe had just remembered that Kai hadn't had a drop to drink yet. She nearly stumbled in shock, but amazingly she kept her footing as they continued their walk. Her face twisted into restrained mirth and joy as she tried, and failed, to keep her glee to herself, but thankfully her space at the back of the group kept her feelings of amusement private.

As Zoe turned her attention back to the conversations, Orry and Elena detailed, at length, the deliciousness of their meat and pot pies, and practically begged them all to visit their stall at the festival tomorrow. Elena made sure to mention that Puffpaw's attendance would bring them all a discount, and they all continued to laugh and chat on the way to the Nutty Knob.

The chill breeze was kept at bay when they crossed the threshold to the Nutty Knob, a warm light washing over them as they were bathed in the scent of roasted nuts and sugar during the pre-dinner rush. Faulkner marched in triumphantly, like a hero who had finally returned home, and yelled a name at the top of his lungs.

"JEREMY!"

The barkeep twisted toward the door with such force that he nearly slapped a regular with a full mug of beer. "Fucker! Been too long, mate!"

"You bet it has!" Faulkner laughed. "We got a doozy of a...a game thing to do!"

"And here's the last stop!" the barkeep, Jeremy, laughed. "Three?"

Gauth, far too excited to do math, held up a full hand and three additional fingers. "Eight!"

Jeremy nodded with a snicker. "Comin' right up!"

"And I'll take one too," Kai cut in.

"Must be the last round, then!" Jeremy smiled. "You keep behaving and I won't cut you off."

Kai winced in embarrassment but clearly couldn't fault the barkeep. "Deal."

Coins were exchanged, and once everyone had a beer in hand, they congregated around one of the round tables near the center of the dining area. Faulkner, standing on his stool and beer ready and waiting in his hand, looked over them all with the rosy glow of drunken brotherhood. "We all ready, friends?! Last two items are the knife an-and the bowl, and they worth two points! Each!"

Gauth nearly punched his chest in the excitement. "We're ready! Start the contest, little man-!"

"Oi! No cheatin'!" Elena snapped, a finger pointed accusingly at Al. Everyone turned to see that Al had his pint ready for a sip, the froth already coating his upper lip. "That means you get a penalty beer!" she yelled, both indignant that he had tried something so foolhardy and proud with herself that she had caught him. The drunken sneer was a little hard to miss.

"Ha, joke's on you!" Al huffed, annoyed that he had been caught. "I was gonna keep drinking anyway!"

Kai sighed and slid his beer over to Al. "You gotta finish both before you can start looking, then. I'll get a new one."

Before anyone could protest, Faulkner rapped his full mug on the table. "Alright! Blind Man Drink!"

Despite clear hesitation on Jonathan's part, they all threw an arm over their eyes and began to chug the beers, errant splashes of the drink dribbling down their faces as they gave it their all for that final round. To his credit, Al did finish first, but had to lock eyes with the finishing Gauth and sigh in defeat as he grabbed his second beer and gave it another go.

Once again, Gauth and Zoe caught each other's eyes as their more sturdy constitutions carried them through the rapid quaffing. There was a moment of recognition of ability before they both shared a nod and raced off into the crowds, Gauth checking the tables for replaced table settings and Zoe scrambling over to the bar to check for another trick like the Stately Rat. Just as they had made one round through the tavern, everyone else at the table finally finished their beers and joined the chase.

Jonathan, his head absolutely swimming, crashed into the wall next to the fireplace and threw a hand over his mouth as his stomach audibly churned. He had moved far beyond the floating sensation he usually enjoyed while tipsy, and now the room felt as if it was literally spinning. Jonathan glanced about the room and fought off a wave of vertigo as his mind fought to keep pace with the movement of his eyes. Why did he even join in? Some stupid contest with his sister again? He could barely make sense of his thoughts as his feet struggled to stay under him as the room continued to sway.

Jonathan crashed heavily into his chair back at the original table and rested his head between the abandoned mugs. He was well beyond the point of drinking being fun and he just wanted to sleep.

His eyelids heavy, Jonathan weakly looked up across the table when his inebriated brain registered movement. At first, all he saw was Kai carving into an apple, the peelings dropping into a wooden bowl under his hands. Just beyond him, Faulkner had jumped up on a table and called out to the others that they were all "blind fucks" who couldn't possibly find the tokens before he did. Faulkner even went into a long description of how he knew his brother's mind so well that by the time he finished talking, he would have found the tokens.

It was at that moment that Jonathan's eyes finally focused and he realized what Kai was using to peel the fruit. With a clumsy hand, Jonathan shifted the bowl of nuts in the center of the table to more clearly see, and Kai made no move to hide the sunflower-adorned knife and bowl in front of him. The apple now peeled and sliced, Kai cored the quarter in his hand and took a crisp bite of the fruit, noticed Jonathan was watching him, and smirked.

"You...you little…" Jonathan slurred. Somehow, even putting together a sentence seemed difficult at that moment. He reached limply across the table toward the tokens. "Gimme."

Kai snickered and waggled the knife between his forefinger and thumb. "Ah ah ah! Magic words!" he beamed with a playful wink.

Jonathan pushed himself back up to sitting and, good judgement be damned, belted out, "I'm not blind yet, you fucker!" with such volume that the whole tavern jumped with a startled twitch. Kai burst out laughing and slid the bowl and its contents toward the drunken wizard seated across from him, the knife stabbed into the remaining apple pieces.

Orry stumbled over to them and nearly shook the table when he practically crashed into it. "Oi hang on, where were they?!"

"Kai had 'em, the...little…!" Jonathan suppressed a belch into his fist and panted. "Kai had 'em," he wheezed, hugging the tokens close.

Faulkner scrambled up on Kai's chair as the others joined them and grappled his brother in a headlock. "Kai, you little twig! Tha's cheatin'!"

Kai twisted right out of Faulkner's grip and easily hopped to a safe chair. With a smirk and his arms crossed, Kai called his brother out. "After you pulled that stunt six games ago it so is not!"

Faulkner flushed more than could be blamed on the beer and stuttered. "Th-tha'wus once!"

Everyone shared a laugh as Faulkner tried hard to recover his pride and Elena gave Puffpaw one last snuggle before letting her loose on the table. As she padded over to her master, Orry appeared behind Jonathan and gave him a hearty clap on the back. "Yeah, you got us good!" he laughed. "Alright, give'm the pot!"

Al rubbed his hands together in anticipation but immediately deflated in confusion as Kai pulled a literal pot out of the messenger bag on his hip. "John, since you technically have the most points, here."

The pot was a small, salt-glazed ceramic vessel that was tied shut with cloth and twine and then sealed with brown wax. "This is Aunt Farah's famous Elderberry Jam," Kai explained. "It's been sealed for three years now, so it's probably alcoholic, but it makes any drink or pastry that much better. Pairs best with tart and sour fruits."

Jonathan awkwardly took the jar and stared at it. "Th...thanks, Kai. This is...really nice," he said slowly, thankful but with some confusion as he had not quite realized he and his friends had won the game just yet.

"Don't mention it," Kai said, flustered but happy.

Faulkner clapped loudly and hoisted an empty mug. "Let's do a round for the newbies! We'll get ya next time!"

"Hear-hear!" Elena and Orry cheered, which spurred on the others. Within moments, they were all seated around the table, a fresh round in their mugs, and chatting like old friends.

xXxXx

Nearly an hour had passed when Faulkner, Orry, Elena, and Kai finally left the friends to their own devices, with Bera loudly complaining about the subpar quality of the drink, now that she had gotten fully drunk like the others. Zoe had helped settle Jonathan's stomach by mixing his beer with various available fruit juices, and had ordered fried potatoes for the two of them to share. As it was, Bera had bounced away to a different table to spout the merits of her personal mead, to which both Al and Gauth had moved to intercept before yet another incident could take place.

Seizing the opportunity immediately, Zoe turned to her brother and smirked.

"So...describe to me your perfect lover."

Jonathan spluttered and spit his mixed beer back into his mug, coughing and choking as the alcohol had made it into his windpipe from the shock. Zoe, impatient and annoyed, rolled her eyes and half-heartedly patted his back to help him breathe.

"W-what?" Jonathan gasped.

"I said, describe your perfect lover. Who do you see in bed with you?" Zoe reiterated, a nearly manic smile on her face. "And don't just say 'Dahlia!' I wanna hear descriptions, not names!"

Jonathan stammered a bit and rubbed his face as if it would somehow encourage thoughts to appear. "Um...someone...to hold me, and...keep me warm, I guess?"

"Oh my gods, John! I'm asking who you would like to fuck!" Zoe whined. "I'm not talking about a cuddle buddy!"

"I don't know, alright?!" Jonathan whimpered, his head in his hands. "I've never had to think about it before."

"Okay, let's start here," Zoe grumbled. She set her shoulders straight and held up her hand to Jonathan's face to count her points. "One, do you want someone soft, or someone strong?"

"Uh...well, both have their merits…" Jonathan mumbled. "Either?"

Zoe grimaced in annoyance. "Fine. Two, do you want someone in charge, or someone who wants you in charge?"

Jonathan leaned his chin heavily in his palm as he thought about it. "Well...maybe...maybe that first one. That sounds nice. I wouldn't have to think at all and I do that a lot anyway."

Zoe smirked. A point for Al. Maybe. A strong-willed man at least.

"Okay, three," Zoe said, her voice low and dark. "This is the most important question of all."

Jonathan leaned away from his sister, a comical look of dread on his face.

"What do you think happens during sex?"

There was a moment as Zoe's glare bored holes into her brother's skull that his eyes glazed over, completely unable to come up with any sort of answer. Zoe sighed heavily and imagined literal gears turning in her brother's brain, slowed to a crawl by a deluge of alcohol gumming up the works.

"Yep. That's what I thought. Bro, we're going to have to buy you porn," she said, her voice full of pity as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe Jayce has some. He's got a bunch of books in his bag for the trip anyway."

Jonathan continued to stare forward, his thoughts so scrambled he could not even make eye contact. Zoe huffed a sigh and patted his shoulder again before she checked that his food was still close to him and his mug was at least half empty. It was not, so she made sure it was.

Coughing and clearing her throat through an application of surprisingly tart alcoholic cider, Zoe stood up and made her way over to Al, who was laughing and trying to remove an exceptionally drunk Bera from Gauth's leg. Unfortunately, Al's giggling was so thorough through his whole body that the poor man could barely grip the halfling wrapped around his friend as she professed her love for his "mountain of muscles."

"Well, she knows what she likes!" Zoe laughed. She grabbed Bera's arm and tried to give it a tug, but Bera begged to be left alone with her "strong smooglepuff", and Zoe nearly collapsed laughing.

"What the fuck?!" she wheezed, her arms wrapped around her stomach to give her a modicum of relief from the sore muscles of laughing so hard.

"I know!" Al gasped, his own stomach aching from laughing. "She's been doing that the whole time! I can't!"

"Please get her off," Gauth mumbled, his beet red face in his hands. He was terrified he'd accidentally hurt her like that other halfling from the day before if he tried to intervene on his own.

Zoe stood up straight, took in a deep breath to steady herself, and said, "Okay, okay I've got this!" when she reached for Bera again.

"No! I wanna kiss his biceps!" Bera squealed, her arms solidly wrapped around Gauth's calf.

"Nope! Don't got it!" Zoe sputtered, a laugh racking her body as she turned away.

"We need to do this together," Al wheezed, tears glistening in his eyes from laughing so much. "On the count of three!"

Zoe nodded with determination, and a barely restrained smile, as they both set themselves up on either side of Bera. Al used his fingers to count out three, and as soon as he pointed to Bera, the two of them lunged at her and grabbed her arms. Bera squealed and fought valiantly, but they just barely managed to keep their grip on her as Bera was finally pulled away.

"Thank you," Gauth said with clear relief.

A sudden thought came to Zoe. Gauth and Al were best friends; perhaps speaking to Al directly wasn't the best course of action here. Without a second thought, Zoe shoved Bera fully into Al's arms and smiled.

"Probably about time she went to bed, right?" Zoe asked with a wink.

"Noooo!" Bera whined. "I wanna do naughty things to Gauth!"

Al bit back a laugh and hooked Bera on his hip under his arm. "Yeah, I'll take her upstairs. Thanks, Zoe."

Zoe gleefully waved them away and, the second they were out of earshot in the noisy tavern, she whipped around to confront Gauth with a mischievous grin. "So! Spill. Does Al like men?"

Gauth, however, was not paying attention. A group of men at a nearby table were lamenting the loss of their friend, who had been foolish enough to chase after the local owlbears. They knew of his death only by the pieces the owlbear had left behind, including an arm and a boot.

"Hey! Gauth! Hello!" Zoe chirped, hopping up just enough to wave her hand in Gauth's face. "I wanna know who your friend likes to bang!"

"Huh? What?" Gauth asked, too shocked to really register what she just said.

Zoe rolled her eyes hard and landed a frustrated punch on Gauth's arm. "I'm asking about Al! What's his type? I think my brother might think he's hot but I need to know he's not gonna crash and burn!"

Gauth laughed with relief and landed a heavy hand on Zoe's shoulder. "Good! Al won't be lonely then. Al likes to sleep with men and he is upset Jayce won't sleep with him. It will be good to have someone Al can turn to."

"Oh thank the gods he's gay," Zoe said, blowing out a breath of relief. "After Al said Dahlia doesn't like sex I was worried John was gonna be alone forever."

Gauth put a finger to his lips and winked. "Al will not be happy I spoke, but that is okay. I know you are trying to help your brother, not hurt Al."

"Are you serious? Why would I hurt Al just because he thinks men are hot? I'm gayer than the Harvest Close parades!" Zoe laughed.

Gauth patted her on the head like a father proud of his child. "And that is how it should be. Now, Jonathan needs help."

Zoe whipped around and paused a bit as her vision caught up to her movement. Her brother, in all his drunken glory, was sprawled out on the floor and giggling. Zoe slapped a hand on her face and made her way over to pull him off the floor.

"Okay, buddy, you're done," Zoe snickered. "What happened?"

"I thought I saw Dahlia," Jonathan mumbled. "She's so pretty, you know that? I wanna kiss her."

"And it's definitely bedtime," Zoe giggled. "Up we go."

With Jonathan's arm pulled across her shoulders, the two of them made their way to the stairs and, finally, to bed.

xXxXx

The singing hum of a ceramic pestle against a similar mortar. The crackle of rough material between its surfaces. The soft burble of her alembic, distilling a tincture from the wisp stems.

Dahlia smiled with relief as her world became these familiar sounds for the moment. She was in a space she knew and understood, near her tools and materials. This was a world where she had control, and the required patience and steady pace suited her well. Her neck twinged as pain shot through the bite mark again, and she paused only briefly to trace it. Would it be another scar? She chuckled to herself. She didn't expect the fourth to be a monster.

Although, a thought came to her. If that monster was the fourth, would she ever have to worry about Jayce? Of course, she immediately realized he could just be the fifth. She sighed and went back to her work. Sometimes, she wished her thoughts would give her a victory, no matter how small.

"Hey, Dahlia, what's eighty-seven plus fifty-four?"

Dahlia blinked a few times and then went back to grinding the dried marrow. "One hundred forty-one."

"Ah. Got it."

The scratch of pencil to paper gave her pause for the moment. That was a sound she hadn't heard in a long time. Not since her school days, back when she could see. Could she still write? She wouldn't be able to tell if she was even passable, but it would be interesting to know.

Dahlia twisted in her chair to face Jayce, who had set up shop on the bed that Bera had borrowed the night before. Both had been momentarily startled when turning the Pouch of Infinite Wealth inside out had revealed a literal pile of coins, but Jayce had insisted he would do all the counting and organizing by himself. Dahlia had initially been upset, of course; the coins were all different shapes and weights by type and she was well able to tell them apart, but Jayce had made it clear she had her own work to do, and he didn't want to interrupt her.

She couldn't blame him. The medicine was important. She shuddered slightly with the thought of ghoul fever poisoning her veins, but quickly pushed it aside.

"Why not arrange the coins in piles of fifty?" she asked.

"Thought I had finished 'em, then found more mixed in with the platinum…" Jayce sighed. "This is gonna take me all fuckin' night at this rate."

"I think this is the appeal of banks," Dahlia giggled.

"I ain't trustin' my money to some damn bank only to find out I'm fuckin' high 'n dry in a city that ain't got one," Jayce grumbled.

"That's a good point…" Dahlia said quietly. She turned back to her work and hissed as her neck twinged in pain again.

Jayce noticed immediately. "You alright?"

Dahlia rubbed at her neck and returned to grinding the marrow. "I'm fine. My neck is sore, but I don't want to close the wounds until I finish the medicine."

"That gonna cause a problem?" Jayce asked.

Dahlia shrugged. "It shouldn't. It would be far worse to close them now, if I really am sick, as the toxin would have nowhere to leave but my digestive system. I'd rather not throw up."

"Don't blame ya," Jayce wheezed. The room became quiet again as he returned to counting coins, but then came out with a question that nearly startled her. "That medicine ain't gonna be toxic if you ain't sick, right?"

Dahlia almost dropped her head in her hands, but habit had her press her fingertips into her brow instead. "No, Jayce," Dahlia said as soon as she recovered. "The medicine will, at most, cause minor spasms within the diaphragm. I'll be fine."

"If ya say so," Jayce mumbled.

Again, the room returned to a relative silence. Time passed, and finally a thin syrup with a light blue hue remained in Dahlia's potion vial, which smelled faintly of dewy grass. After testing the viscosity and scent, Dahlia took a small scraping of the marrow dust and left it on a piece of parchment from her journal, and then took great care to slowly tip the vial.

"Finally! I'm fuckin' done!"

Dahlia had to scramble to catch the vial when Jayce's sudden comment actually startled her, and then breathed in relief when she confirmed nothing was spilled. She had no more than a drop to spare for the test, or there was a good chance the toxin could resist her treatment. She turned to Jayce and smiled. "So, how much do you have?"

Jayce didn't even hesitate to tell her. "Five-hundred forty-nine platinum, five-hundred fifty-nine gold, five silver, and one, just one, fuckin' copper." Dahlia giggled as Jayce audibly flopped on the bed and landed a hand heavily on his face. "Gods damn… I hate math."

"Oh, I don't know, I like that it always makes sense," Dahlia beamed. "Should we celebrate with a flash of magic?"

"You got that sparky thing John does?" Jayce asked.

"In a sense. If I made the medicine correctly, then it should flare in heatless blue flame and crackle, and give off the smell of seawater once I apply it to the bone marrow." Dahlia shifted her seat so Jayce would have an easier time seeing the table where she had been working. "That's actually because one of the ingredients in this medicine is salt, which produces a harmless blue flame when in contact with corrupted dead material."

"And, just to be clear, it won't explode into sparks inside you, right?"

Dahlia sputtered through a laugh. "No, although I might glow for a bit," she giggled. "I promise, this medicine is safe."

Slowly and carefully, Dahlia tipped the vial to drip the syrup onto the powder. Just as she described, it flared in blue fire, spitting bright sparks like blast powder exposed to flame. Jayce stumbled backward, yelling "Holy shit!" as he clattered through the piles of coins on the bed.

Dahlia had to duck her head into her arm to stop herself from laughing.

"And that's fuckin' safe?!" Jayce gasped. The panic in his voice was palpable but Dahlia couldn't help but laugh at his expense.

"Yes!" Dahlia wheezed. "I promise, it's safe!"

She brushed her finger across the parchment and was pleased to find nothing, not even ash, remained. The medicine was perfectly effective.

All that was left was to drink it. Confident in her skills, she immediately put the vial to her lips and drank the exceptionally salty syrup, and only barely managed to finish it without choking.

"Ugh! I should have realized it would taste so salty!" she gagged. "But that's done. I'll be fine by morning."

"Right. Good." Jayce sounded unsure and nervous, but Dahlia passed it off as just him, still being thrown off by the reaction of the medicine to the undead marrow. He moved to start shoving the coins back in the enchanted coin pouch as Dahlia began cleaning up her supplies.

"So...that's a bit less than six thousand and fifty gold," Dahlia said absentmindedly.

"Truss me up and toss me off," Jayce huffed. "Still fuckin' blows my mind how much debt Al managed to rack up."

"And I imagine that's not the whole amount," Dahlia said softly. She moved the remaining powdered ghast marrow to the empty jar that used to hold the powdered rust beast chitin. It was a useful component in some poisons and a few potions, and rare enough to be expensive if she found an interested buyer.

"Damn if I can remember," Jayce grumbled. His voice was muffled slightly as he turned away to run a hand through his hair. "I do remember chokin' on my own spit the second I heard it."

"Oof. I had no idea it was that bad," Dahlia said quietly. "I'm assuming you'd like me to keep the total to myself?"

Jayce nodded, noticed he nodded, and immediately added, "Absolutely. Just until I can trust 'em a bit more, ya know?"

Dahlia nodded back. "Of course."

Dahlia turned to put away her tools and materials, while Jayce continued to awkwardly shift the coins back into the Pouch of Infinite Wealth. She was honestly impressed; she couldn't recall a single person with that kind of money on their person, and now Jayce's insistence on spending money on her made more sense. He clearly had coin to spare. Once she finished, she picked up her bag and got up from her seat, only to feel a sudden jab of pain in her shin. Suddenly thrown off her footing, she stumbled forward and managed to grab the table to steady herself.

"Shit! You okay?" Jayce asked, startled enough to have jerked toward her.

"I'm fine," Dahlia said awkwardly. "My leg still hurts from earlier."

"You got bit there too?" Jayce asked, his voice steeped in worry. Dahlia immediately tensed as he tapped her arm, but relaxed by the time he braced her elbow and took her hand to help her sit on the bed.

"No, I just tripped over some debris, that's all," Dahlia almost stammered. Why did she feel nervous? "Jonathan had been leading me by the hand instead of my elbow, so I wasn't able to pace my steps appropriately-"

"Dahlia!"

Both paused and turned toward the door, where Jonathan's voice could be heard giggling and calling out Dahlia's name.

"Speak of the devil," Jayce managed to say without any audible venom in his voice.

"Shh! She's either busy or sleeping!" Zoe's voice, also outside the door, spoke far too loudly to actually be a polite whisper of warning, despite her intent being clear.

"Dahlia, you're so pretty!" Jonathan slurred, and it became clear he was drunk. "You're so smart and I love you!"

"Bedtime, Jonny!" Zoe's voice giggled. "Dahlia if you're awake I'm so sorry!"

"I'm not sorry! I love you!" Jonathan called through the door, although with rapidly reducing volume as Zoe was clearly successful in dragging him away. "I love you!"

The room descended into a very awkward pause as both Jayce and Dahlia processed what happened. "Uh, so that's…" Jayce cleared his throat and turned to Dahlia. "So that happened. You okay?"

Dahlia had a hand on her face, her arm braced against the other across her stomach. When she didn't immediately respond, Jayce started tapping his fingernails against each other to make a small clicking sound, more to fill the silence than to actively annoy anyone. Finally, Dahlia raised her face from her palm, took in a deep breath through her nose, and spoke.

"Obviously, he was drunk. If he was thinking straight, he'd remember my condition and be hesitant to admit any sort of romantic feelings toward me."

Jayce clenched his jaw on the thought of defending Jonathan's romantic feelings, but the better side of him won out. "Or, he might be shy and unable to say his mind without some liquid courage." Having thus achieved the minimum defense, Jayce quickly changed the topic. "Now, I'm worried about that leg of yours. Can I help with your boot?"

"Um, I… I'd rather do it myself," Dahlia said. She reached down for her new boot laces and fumbled on the left boot for a few seconds before the lacing finally became loose. Once that was off, she rolled up her pant leg until an angry red patch of skin, with a deep purple center, was visible about a third of the way up her shin.

Jayce sucked on his teeth as soon as he saw it, his own skin prickling in empathetic pain. "Got a nasty mark on yer shin there."

"What color is it?" Dahlia asked.

Jayce was once again amazed her voice was so even and professional, even about her own wounds. "Red, but the center's dark, almost purple. No blood though."

Dahlia breathed with relief. "Just a bruise then. In a few hours, I'll barely feel it, and in a few weeks, it'll fade completely. No harm done."

"'No harm done?'" Jayce said in disbelief. "Dahlia, this is literally some fuckin' harm done. You got a fuckin' bruise!"

"But I'm not bleeding and I have no broken bones. Based on what Jonathan just shouted through my door, I'm quite confident any damage done to my limbs was accidental," Dahlia said coldly.

"Look, I…" Jayce sighed. He sat on the floor and ran a hand through his hair again. "I'm just fuckin' worried about you. I promised I'd protect you, be the best damn protector I could be, and I ain't better'n shit. You got snatched right out from under my nose, and then a ghoul almost took a chunk out of your neck just three damn feet away. Some protector..."

Dahlia slipped down to the floor in front of him and waved out her hand gently before she lightly tapped his shoulder. From there, she brushed her fingers across his shoulder, along the curve of his neck, and finally placed her palm against his cheek. Jayce swallowed hard and tried to match her unfocused gaze.

She smiled kindly. "You've already done far more than any other protector I've ever had. You saved me from abusive men, you fought for me when I was insulted, and you've been incredibly attentive to my needs. I couldn't ask for a better protector."

Jayce chuckled humorlessly. "Honestly, that's a pretty fuckin' low bar."

Dahlia continued her kind smile. "Even so, that's all I require, and in that respect, you excel. Thank you."

"I want to be better," Jayce sighed. "But what if I can't? What if I really am that monster everyone sees when they look at me?"

Dahlia gently cupped Jayce's face with both hands and tried her best to face him as directly as she was able. "You have never, ever given me reason to believe that. You are a good person, and I refuse to believe otherwise."

Jayce matched her eyes, his own welling up. Before he even realized what he was doing, he threw his arms around her shoulders and held her tight, his own shoulders shaking with restrained tears. How long he had wanted to hear something like that, to hear it spoken with truth and conviction.

Part of him was so afraid of hurting this woman in his arms, the nightmare haunting his mind, but the louder voice in his heart begged for this moment to last, to indulge in this rare kindness. Then, to his shock, her arms came to rest across his back, and gently gave a solid squeeze to pull him close.

They spent a moment in silence, and just as Jayce began to wonder if he should pull away, she spoke softly.

"Take as long as you need. I'm here for you."

The tension left him as Jayce's breath shuddered through his chest. Luckily, his arm was close enough to rub away the tears, rather than use Dahlia's coat. After she had extended such kindness, he didn't want to be rude.

"Just...give me a moment...and… Dahlia?"

Dahlia hummed her response, with enough of a tilt of her head that he was sure she was listening.

"Please don't...tell the others… I might've cried, and… that ain't the character they know, ya know?"

Dahlia patted his back to reassure him and smiled. "It won't even come up."

"Thank you," he whispered and, for the first time in his life, he allowed himself to enjoy a warm, quiet hug in peace.