Today was the day Aliya was supposed to get back and the day of the trial to gain true membership into the Erend Hunt. It had been one day since the trio from the mountains had come back. Ciylia sighed in annoyance as she watched Fern and Meowlynn play with their new pets, Drake and Cupcake. At least she received the gold she was promised and met someone interesting.

The bored thief hopped out of the bed she was laying on and decided to go to Mistress Astrin's study. Sharp thuds could be heard coming from the room before she opened the door. Inside, Blaine and Mistress Astrin were carving out useful pieces of the griffin's head. Scented candles were burning in the room to mask the scent of the decaying skull.

Astrin was removing the skin from the skull when the elf walked in. "Good morning," said Ciylia.

"Yes," agreed the leader of the Hunt. "Zis is a good morning." Blaine and Astrin peeled the skin off the head like they were removing the peel from an orange. "What can I do for you?"

"Nothing," shrugged the elf. "I just came to watch. Better than sitting around watching the other two play with their pets, Gene is out buying something, and Kira is the definition of boredom." Ciylia went to one of Astrin's armchairs and turned it to face the table the others were working at.

The lady of the hunt gave Blaine a weird-looking blade that was curved like it was designed to hold something in it. She took one in her hand and they both began scooping out each of the eyes. "Hey Ciylia," called out Blaine. "Can you grab that jar over there on the counter. The one with the gross-looking green liquid."

Ciylia spotted the jar and walked over and grabbed it. "What do you want me to do it?"

"Open it, please," demanded Astrin. "I 'ould hope zat 'ould be obvious."

Doing as instructed, Ciylia open the glass container and was greeted by the foulest smell of her life. It was as if thousands of animals were killed, piled on top of each other, and rotted in a sealed hot room. "What the fuck is this?!"

"Don't worry about zat! Bring it 'ere quickly!"

Ciylia turned her face away and presented the jar. The two carving the head plopped both eyeballs into the jar. The thief quickly sealed it shut and left the room to vomit. Even her vomit tasted better than that liquid smelled.

She returned a few moments later, the smell was almost gone and the two were in the process of removing the beak. "What are you going to do with that," asked Ciylia.

"'Ell it depends," replied Astrin. "Either it will be sold to ze 'ighest bidder or it will be ground down in a powder to be used in some sort of alchemy."

"Are you sure it can be used for that? It just seems like a giant beak to me," said Ciylia confused.

"I'm sure. Blaine, grab zat 'ead a little higher. I need to finish chiseling ze beak out."

Blaine obeyed and Astrin grabbed a hammer and chisel and began to cut out the griffin's mouth. The group had learned the name of the beast after they had brought in the gryphlings though according to the book Astrin had, baby griffins had many names usually to do with a bird or a cat. Apparently, some hundreds of years ago they were nearly driven extinct by humans, how typical, trying to capture them and use them as steeds of war. They said some still lived in the Spine of Asmir since it was a treacherous place for most people to go.

A knock on the office door broke everyone's concentration and all heads snapped to face it. After some jiggling of the handle, the door creaked open and Aliya walked through. "Just thought I would let you know that I have returned," stated the gnome.

Astrin briefly ignored her and yanked out the beak, some fleshy matter was dangling off the end of it. Aliya looked like she vomited in her mouth but was sensible enough to not spew it all over the floor of her employer. She ran out the door clutching her stomach.

"Perfect," remarked Astrin as she pulled the flesh off with her hand and then held the beak to her face. "You 'ill fetch for a 'igh price." A giant smile grew on her face.

"Glad I could help," sneered Blaine. "At least I got my blood vials from helping you and a few feathers. I'll help you carve up creature anytime Astrin. I need as many different blood samples as I can get."

Blaine pulled the vials out of a pouch on his belt, it was a new thing he had bought from Rolivish designed to keep his blood samples frozen until he needed them for his experiments. Gene had instructed that Ciylia show Blaine where the magic shop was, once the griffin hunting trio, received their pay. Something about how if Blaine was going to be a member of the party then he should be well equipped or some bullshit like that.

"I'm sure I will call upon you again," hummed Astrin. "Now, let's get ready for ze trial, no? Of with you, I need to prepare." The lady of the of hunt waved the two of them out.

"I guess I'll notify everyone," groaned Ciylia. She hated being an errand girl.

"I can tell those two in the room," said Blaine as he slapped her on the back.

"Ugh, fine," sighed the elf in defeat. And she left the hunt to go find Kira and Gene.

Luckily for Ciylia, she didn't have to travel far. Kira was at the front of the building mending what appeared to be a beautiful and expensive dress. The elf couldn't figure out why she had it or why she would need it. Ciylia thought Kira looked more rugged and therefore didn't need to clean off her grim to reveal whatever beauty she might have had. Besides, Ciylia had never met a woman more beautiful than herself regardless of what others said.

"Astrin is preparing for our trial," snapped Ciylia. "Have you seen Gene?"

"I think he'll be back in a moment," blushed Kira.

"Fine, I guess we'll wait for him to get back."

After about an hour Gene returned to the Erend Hunt. "About time," remarked Ciylia.

"I'm sorry," said Gene. "I was helping some people fix their market stand."

Aliya popped out from behind Kira and waved. The monk then knelt down to Aliya's level. "Welcome back," he smiled.

"Astrin wants us to meet her in her study in about an hour or two," said Fern. "We are going to being the trial and then get paid in full for the jobs we do."

"Is there anything, anyone needs before we going into this test," asked Gene.

"A little inspiration would be nice," laughed Meowlynn. "You always know exactly what to say to make me motivated."

"Very well, but first we need to do something." Gene moved over and grabbed Blaine's violet arm and pulled him into the middle of the group. "Aliya, this is Blaine. These three rescued him from an orc encampment as they went to search for the griffin." Gene paused for a moment, "The giant bird we first saw coming into Erend."

"Hello," greeted Aliya coldly.

"What's her problem," whispered Blaine to Gene.

"She doesn't like strangers," sighed the monk.

"I see," the hemomancer shook his head. "I can't blame her, most people are hateful to me. I mean just look at me."

"As I told you before, you are just a normal person to me." The Jellybean's leader patted Blaine on the back. "If you want I can introduce you to a nice curse-blooded woman. She works with my mother at a brothel in Velo."

"I think I'll pass," chuckled the curse-blooded man and moved to the back of the party. The rest of the members all stood there looking at Gene.

"Right, the speech." The monk took a deep breath. Ciylia was so bored by all of this. She just wanted to get on with the trial so she could start making real money. The idea of monster-slaying and making a profit from it interested her. Not to mention, that some creatures like the griffin were a rare sight so maybe she could find some creatures like that and sell their parts like Astrin. Or maybe some of the beasts would be intelligent like dragons in the fairytales and have a lair full of valuables for her to loot.

"I'm glad that we are all still alive to be here together. I couldn't have asked for a better group to be with. We saved a little girl from death and stopped this town from being in a state of oppression. We have killed man-wolves and tigers that threatened the farms and the city itself. Some of you have gone to find ways to get rid of evil in this world and others have learned that this country still holds many mysteries to be discovered."

Gene smiled at each member, and Ciylia felt herself being drawn in for some unknown reason. It was as if Gene's presence warmed the room up and she wanted to bask in that warmth. "Most importantly, we gained a new ally in the form of Blaine. I know some of you may be suspicious of him as many of you have not met a good curse-blooded, but I have and we can trust him. He helped members of our team and I'm sure he will may a fine addition until the time he feels he wishes to travel on his own."

Gene shook Blaine's hand again. "Now how about we go kick this trial's ass and become members of the hunt and make some real money!" At those words, most of the Jellybeans cheered. Ciylia loved the sounds of that and she could see everyone was feeling motivated, all except Aliya. The gnome was hiding behind Kira whispering conspiracies into her ear no doubt.