The next morning there was a knock on the barracks' door, Gene hopped out of bed to answer it. In front of him was Astrin, her face looked groggy and unimpressed. "There is a child at the front door looking for you."

That was odd, Gene never met a child in this town before. Maybe it was Buddy's daughter? He hurried to the door and opened it, there in front of him was a young boy dressed like a little lord caring a big satchel with paper sticking out of it. "Are you Gene of the Jellybeans, sir?"

"I am," answered the monk. "But who are you?"

"My name is Alden, I'm just here to give you a letter from the palace." The boy reached into his bag and pulled out a letter addressed to Gene and the Jellybeans. He stretched it out and then held out his other hand expecting some sort of payment. Gene held up a finger and ran back to his bag and grabbed a gold piece and gave it to the boy.

"Use that to get yourself a new pair of shoes. Yours are looking a bit worn down." Gene smiled at the boy as he looked at his old shoes.

"Thanks, mister," shouted Alden as he ran off.

The monk closed the door and walked back to his party. Everyone was getting dresses, some people looked rough from the night before and Gene was sure everyone shared the same dull pain from their brand. "We have a letter," whispered Gene. He was trying to be considerate of anyone who may have had a hangover.

"Who is it from?" Aliya looked worried as usual.

"From the palace. I haven't read it yet, I was waiting to be with all of you." The monk then tore open the envelope and pulled out a fancy piece of paper.

To The Jellybeans,

I, Gerald Malorne, am inviting you to the castle for the Autumn Solstice Ball. This will be the first time a party of any sort has happened within the castle walls for many years and it's all thanks to you. Sadly, we won't be able to recognize your true efforts as we have no way of proving your involvement. Regardless, please consider this chance to mingle with the nobles and ladies of the town a form of reward.

The attire needs to be formal and your names will all be on a list that will be given to the front gate. No weapons will be permitted into the castle either for safety reasons. If you are inclined, each of you is permitted one guest as well and they will be given a special band with your name on it, as any trouble that guest may is your responsibility.

I look forward to seeing you there and I am sorry for the short notice as the party is in two days.

Forever Grateful,

Gerald Malorne

"What the heck can of reward is that," scoffed Meowlynn. "Mingle with the noble class. Speaking down to me in a letter as if I was some commoner." Fire crackled between her fingers.

"If you do not wish to go, that's okay," said Gene defensively.

"Oh, I'm going," shouted Meowlynn. "If only to show those ladies what a real high born woman looks like!"

"Very well," smiled the monk. "Is there anyone who doesn't want to attend?"

All eyes immediately shot to Aliya. "I don't think it's for me," mumbled the gnome. "Too many strangers and I have the thing in a box with me. I don't want to risk it getting stolen."

"Come on," insisted Kira while yanking at Aliya's sleeve. "Let's have some fun. We never get to enjoy the finer things."

"I'm sorry," replied the cleric. "I just don't feel comfortable about it."

"Well at least come try on dresses," begged the halfling. "There is no danger doing that."

"Fine," fortified Aliya. "If it will make you happy. But since we have the day I was wondering if I could go to Tormund. I need to look at their library."

"Why not," said Gene. "In fact, let's make a trip of it. There is a lovely dress shop there run by a woman named Kendra and we can shop around for other things as well."

"Sounds like a great idea," agreed Fern. Everyone else nodded in agreement.

"Alright, let's meet at the east gate in an hour," instructed their leader.

Gene grabbed his stuff and left the Hunt. He headed towards the northern gate so he could rent some horses and a cart to make the travel to Tormund easier for everyone. He heard while the others were gone that it would only take about 6 hours on horseback on the main road instead of the 8 or 9 hours it took on foot using the shortcut through the woods.

Once he arrived a little girl came to the counter to help him. "100 gold for the cart and ye get 75 of it back once the cart is returned. As for horses, it's 15 gold a head but ye only need two to pull the cart."

"That's fair," smiled Gene. "I'll take two horses and a cart then."

The girls began preparing the horses and hooking them up to the cart. "Where is your family? I don't see anyone else around," inquired the monk.

"Ma passed when I was young, Pa is passed out upstairs and me brother be running around delieverin' papers and letters for the castle."

"I think I met your brother this morning."

"Well at least he ain't all that useless," sighed the young girl. "Here ye are mister, please bring back the cart."

With that, the monk smiled and headed towards the east gate by traveling along the wall outside of Erend. When he arrived, everyone was there waiting.

~~~~~~~~~~

Fern grabbed the reins of the horses, he always enjoyed being around animals and horses were some of the first animals the druid learned to morph into. The main road was peaceful with other travelers going to and from Erend and Tormund. The breeze was refreshing and crisp, with leaves floating upon it. Autumn was coming and with it the scents of the harvest which excited Fern.

It reminded him of a happier time in his childhood, where his mom would bake serval types of pies and soaked a turkey in the most delicious vegetable broth as it slowly cooked over several hours. Fern wiped a tiny bit of drool from the corner of his mouth and continued to focus on the road ahead.

After many hours, the Jellybeans finally arrived in Tormund. Fern directed the cart towards a stable not far from the northern part of the town.

"Let's meet here in about 5 or so hours," instructed Gene. "Don't forget to purchase your formal wear for the ball."

With those words, the Jellybeans began dispersing into groups. Kira and Aliya paired off. Meowlynn, Ciylia, and Blaine grouped up and Gene started walking towards the Bruntsworth Estate by himself.

"Excuse me," called out Fern to Gene.

The monk turned around, "What's up Fern?"

"I was wondering if you could help me out with something actually," answered the druid.

"Sure, are you in trouble?"

"No, no," laughed Fern. "Just need some financial support. I'm sure you'll agree with it. Follow me."

The two men walked off together, they could see the shortest members of their party a ways ahead. Fern grabbed Gene on the shoulder when they arrived at their destination. They were standing outside of a jewelry store that claimed it made custom pieces for a fair price.

Fern entered first with Gene following behind him, "What are we doing here?" asked Gene.

"I want to get a custom emblem made for our team and then we can wear them around our necks or as a brooch."

"That's a great idea," yelled Gene. The half-elf was happy to see the monk so pleased and it meant that Gene was could to help fund the idea.

Just then, the owner walked into the main area from a room in the back. "Welcome to my shop! What can I do for you?"

Fern took off his bag and searched through it until he found a folded sheet of paper. "I was wondering if you could make this for me?"

The man took the paper and scanned it. "I could, and would you prefer it to be in gold or silver?"

"White gold, if you have it," said Fern.

"I can do that," the man paused and scratched his chin. "Well with the gems you want in the picture and white gold metal, it will cost you about 300 gold pieces."

"Okay, now I'm going to tell you that I want 7 of them."

If the man had a liquid in his mouth, he would have sprayed it all over Fern's face. His eyes widened to the point where Fern thought the owner's eyes were going to explode from the surprise.

"You'll need to pay 200 for each now," claimed the man after he caught his breath. "The other 700 you can pay when you come to pick them up. Should be ready as early as two weeks and as late as a month."

Gene started counting out coins and Fern pitched in as well. After they had paid the required amount they left the store. The druid waved goodbye to the monk as Gene went to go see Lord Bruntworth. Fern started making his way to the Home Inn to see what Ken had on special to eat.

~~~~~~~~~~

Aliya and Kira went to Kendra's Dresses so that Kira could embarrass Aliya. The gnome hated the thought of putting on all those dresses because she wasn't as beautiful as Kira or Delta. Regardless, she was going to endure this type of torture for her friend.

When they arrived at the shop, Aliya watched as Kira practically skipped into the shop.

"Hello," called out the halfling. "We are in dire need of assistance!"

Kendra came out of the back and readjusted her spectacles on her nose. "What seems to be the problem, my dear."

"My friend here needs to look wonderful for a ball," explained Kira. "Can you help us?"

"It's going to take a lot of work but I have worked with worse clay," smiled Kendra.

Just great, Aliya hated that she was just compared to clay. She hated that she volunteered to come to the shop in the first place just to ridiculed.

Kendra ushered them in to start the real torture. They dressed Aliya up like she was a little girl. Frilly dresses, sexy academy outfits, even a wedding dress. None of them looked good on her which she felt a bit sad about as some were quite cute. It was disheartening as it seemed impossible to find something to wear.

As all hope seemed lost, Kira spotted a nice white dress that seemed exotic. It was quite simple and Aliya recognized it as a dress worn by priestesses who followed some old god of wine though that god died during the Calamity protecting her allies. It was simple but elegant. The off-white looked good on her tree bark shade of skin. A bronze coloured thin rope was tied at her waist giving her figure a nice look and making her chest seem bigger than it was. Golden sandals were used to help finish the basic look.

"Yes," thought Kendra. "This will do. Give me a minute to fetch some of my make-up supplies and a brush for godsakes."

Kendra hurried to the back. "You look great," said Kira. "I think this look really suits you."

"Thank you," blushed Aliya. It had been so long since she received a compliment about how she looked.

The store's owner returned from the back with a thick brush and a small bag. "Let's fix her up right."

Kira removed Aliya's pointed floppy green hat to reveal her messy mossy green hair. Kendra rolled up her sleeve as if she was a blacksmith about to hammer hot steel. She grabbed the brush and began pulling it through Aliya's hair. The hair resisted at first but after a few minutes, it began to obey Kendra's movements.

After a while, Aliya's hair was finally straight. Kendra then put most of it into a ponytail and began curling it extensively. Once the curls had set in, the shop owner then grabbed a golden wreath of fake leaves and placed it on Aliya's head. Light make-up was then applied to make her nose seem less crooked and to even out her face. Aliya thought that she looked just as beautiful as Kira or Delta at that moment.

The half-sized women smiled at each other and bought the outfit. The halfling then took the gnome by the arm and skipped out of the door.

"Now that you've had your fun," said Aliya. "The reason I want to come here was to use the library."

"Oh right," laughed Kira. "I almost forgot."

Once they arrived at the library, Aliya approached the librarian. "Do you have any books about celestial beings?"

"Yes we sweetie," smile the woman behind the desk. "Mythical beings are in the aisle near the back, just behind the children's section."

"Thanks," sighed the gnome embarrassed. Next to the children's section. Did they think she was some little kid? She walked to the back with her friend.

"I'm looking for any information about celestial beings," explained Aliya. "I need to find one so that it can destroy that unholy symbol that was stuck to my old pendant. My father says it contains a great evil that only a creature that has light racing through its veins can destroy."

The ranger stood her shaking her head, "If you need me to find something out I'll do my best. Why don't use start at this end and I'll start at that end and we'll meet in the middle?"

"Great idea." The cleric began thumbing through pages of books but there was no way two or three hours was going to be enough time to find the information she was looking for, but maybe it would be enough to get her started.

Aliya and Kira poured over books but only made a small dent in the aisle. As the gnome was about to give up, she came across a book that told of a place called the Isle of Light. It told her that angelic beings lived there but not much else. She was happy though, she now had a more specific topic to look at and the next time she visited she could spend the night combing over the books.

~~~~~~~~~~

Meowlynn wandered around the town with two of the people she seemed to always get stuck with.

"Any ideas about what we should do," asked Ciylia.

"Not really," answered Blaine. "It's my first time in this town."

The wizard tried her best to ignore the two behind her, scanning the plaza area for something that looked interesting. Shop, shop, stand, big blue tent, shop. Wait, what was that big tent? She couldn't recall seeing it before but it was sitting there for all to see. Maybe this trip wasn't going to be such a waste of time after all.

The tent was visible from the plaza but not in it, she had to travel a little bit until she got to it. It stood in the middle of an empty lot and looked like a circus tent. A wooden sign was posted outside the entrance of the tent and read: Percival's Shop

"Doesn't really tell you what's inside," thought Meowlynn out loud. "Oh well, might as well see for myself."

She lifted up the flap to the tent and the inside was the definition of chaos. Papers, books, and scrolls were scattered all over the place as if a hurricane had been here moments before her. Some places had weird smoke coming from them and even a corner of the room was on fire.

From above her, a crazed and frenzied voice greeted her. "Hello, friend." Its voice belonged to a thin and elderly man whose eyes were bloodshot. He had a thin and long beard that was singed from some sort of fire. "Well, I guess we aren't friends but we could be if you wanted!"

"Hello," chuckled Meowlynn. "What kind of shop is this?"

"What shop? Oh, my shop! Yes!" He paused for a moment, "It's a magic shop. I mainly focus on making potions though."

"I see," mused the wizard. "I'm a wizard and I love magic. Especially fire magic."

"Ah, you love when things go boom like this?" The weird crazy man exploded a fireball in the middle of his tent and then waved his hand and extinguished it.

Meowlynn felt his body quiver in excitement, "Exactly like that."

"Well I can teach you another time," he rambled off quickly. "Today I need to make potions. Some noble has an order of healing potions today."

Ciylia and Blaine finally entered the tent. "Who is this," inquired Ciylia. Her face had disapproval and disappointment written all over it.

"This is my friend Percival," said Meowlynn energetically. "He owns this fine potions and magic shop."

"FRIEND!" Percival practically broke everyone's eardrums when he squealed after hearing Meowlynn.

"Yes," smiled Meowlynn. "Friends."

"This is most excellent news! What should friends do together?" As the old man rambled on, Meowlynn's smile grew more and more. She was thinking of a way to exploit this man's years of experience in the arcane arts to further herself.

"Well, you said that you couldn't work on fire magic today," said the wizard while putting on her best pouty face.

"Sorry," frowned Percival. "But I can teach you how to make potions. How does that sound?"

Potion-making could be useful. The gods knew that Meowlynn was afraid of being hurt so learning how to make a basic healing potion would be useful.

"That sounds great! Would anyone care to join us?" Meowlynn secretly wanted the other two to get bored and leave her alone.

"Fine by me," said Blaine enthusiastically. "Learning how to make potions could be useful to my studies."

"Oh? What do you study," asked the potion-maker.

"I mainly study the blood of different creatures and how it can be used," explained Blaine.

"Oh, yes. Potion-making will definitely be useful but I'm not teaching you," stated Percival.

"Why not?"

"I'm only teaching my friends and the only friend I have here is her," grinned the old man.

"My name is Meowlynn."

"Ah, yes, Meowlynn. Cute name for a cute woman."

"Can I be your friend," asked Blaine.

"You want to be friends with me," Percival's eyes lit up like stars.

"Of course I do," smiled Blaine.

"Okay! Let's go make some potions, yes?"

"Yes," replied Blaine and Meowlynn in unison.

Ciylia rolled her eyes, "I'm out of here. Probably going to go pick out a dress for the ball or something."

"Bye!" Meowlynn hummed with glee. First, she got to better her knowledge of magic and secondly, she got rid of Ciylia.

The three left in the tent went to the back and began learning how to make a basic healing potion. Blaine paid more attention than Meowlynn but she didn't care. She just had to push through this little class and the next time she visited, she was going to learn some real magic from this crazy man.

Creating potions was a time-consuming process, a lot of stirring and grinding ingredients, testing how viscous the liquid was, and even testing its taste. The high-born elf grasped the basic concepts but did bother too much with the hands-on stuff. If Percival was creating something like that fireball in a bottle that Fern had then she would have been engrossed in the lesson.

Once the lesson was down, Percival handed a recipe card to his prized student Blaine with the instructions on how to make a regular healing potion. If worse came to worst, Meowlynn was sure she could convince the hemomancer to create and sell the potions so they could profit and maybe leave the group one day being potion-makers.

~~~~~~~~~~

Gene went to the Bruntworth Estate to check up on Trent and Ronald. At the gate entrance, he was stopped by a guard, "Who are you and what business do you have here commoner?"

"My name is Gene and I'm here to see Lord Bruntworth and Trent."

"Piss on that," mocked the guard. "Why the fuck would they want to see shit like you?"

"Just tell them I'm here and you'll find out."

"Yeah, I'll do that alright." The guard turned away from Gene and ignored him. The monk noticed that the guard's finger twitching on the trigger of his crossbow. Clearly, the man was looking for a reason to shoot Gene and the Jellybean's leader was willing to give him that reason.

"Trent! Let me in! It's me, Gene!" Gene prayed that his voice would carry far enough for someone to hear it who wasn't this jerk on top of the gate.

The guard took that as his queue to shoot Gene. He aimed his crossbow and fired but the monk was waiting for it. Gene gracefully sidestepped the bolt and snagged it out of the air. He then spun around before throwing at the guard. The bolt whizzed by the man's head, a shocked expression frozen on his face.

"Please go tell Trent I'm," demanded Gene.

The rude man nodded speechlessly and headed the ladder, not that he needed to. As he was descending, Trent came out through the main gate. "You idiot!" yelled Trent. "Why didn't you come to get me when this man arrived?!"

"Sir," stuttered the man. "He is just a commoner. How was supposed to know he was important?"

"It's your job to report guests at the gate," huffed Trent. "Didn't he tell you to ask for me?"

"I did," laughed the monk. "I asked again after he tried to snipe me with a crossbow bolt."

"He did what!" The knight went to meet the guard at the ladder. "Open this fucking gate and then pack your stuff, you are relieved of duty. Get the hell out of here!"

The gate slowly raised as the ex-guard whimpered, Trent walked out as if to greet an old friend. "I haven't seen you in a while. You saved Ronald and then ran out on us."

"I'm sorry," said Gene. "We had to go rescue a little girl."

"I see, well it's good to see you but we also have some bad news."

"Oh, what's that?" Bad news was never anything good, hopefully, Ronald was in good health.

"I'll let the lord tell you in person. Anything new?"

"Not really, I became a member of the Erend Hunt yesterday so I guess that is new. What about you?"

"The same. Ronald gave me a promotion and a pay raise. He also got me this beautiful great sword." He drew the sword off his back. The blade reflected the light of the sun and was so polished that the monk could see himself in it.

"It's a magical blade, meant to deal more damage when I hit. Really, it just allows me to use less force in combat which saves me energy thus allowing me to fight longer."

"Congratulations," grinned Gene.

"Thanks."

The two walk into the estate and went into the dining hall where Lord Bruntworth liked to spend his time. He had lost a bit of weight and gained a few white hairs but other than that he looked fine. Ronald seemed to be drinking excessively for some reason though.

"Hello, Ronald. It's good to see you." Even though his words were kind, worry still seemed to seep through the calm tone.

"It's nice to see you, Gene," replied Bruntworth. "I have some troubling news but no one knew where you were so I couldn't send a messenger."

"What's wrong."

"It's about my wife, or ex-wife, or whatever it doesn't matter," frustration and confusion weighed on every word Ronald spoke. "Candice escaped her prison cell about 5 days ago and no one knows where she has fled to."

The leader of the Jellybeans made his way across the room and patted the lord on his shoulder. "It's okay. I doubt she will come here. Odds are she has either fled north to Erend where her ex-lover was but I didn't see any sign of her there. Or he fled south though her best bet to hide would be in Velo so odds are she is on the road somewhere."

The monk paused to think, "I know Trent will keep you safe here. He is one of the strongest warriors I know and he is now well versed in Candice's magics. I'm also sure you could pay Grand Wizard Fen to help you ward her off so don't worry."

"I didn't think to ask the old bat," laughed Bruntworth. "Thanks."

"Anytime," smiled Gene. "There is another reason I came here. I was wondering if you have some sort of trade contract I could advertise for you. I feel bad about tricking you and I'm going to be meeting some nobles in two nights' time."

"That is a swell offer but I've tried serval times. None of those stuck-up people enjoy good tobacco." He stopped briefly, "If you do find someone who is looking, let me know. I'll be sure to make a contract with them and let you in on some of the profits."

The three men shared a laugh, "May I have a drink?"

"Of course you can Gene." Bruntworth clapped and the same boy as last time entered. "Three ales, please."

Trent raised an eyebrow at the request for three ales. "You're drinking too, Trent," chuckled Gene. "Now sit down and enjoy the company."