Leone is happy to be free from the ropes, and happier that his friends are safe, but he follows Rendaz with caution as they depart the bandit camp. Leone isn't sure what to make of it all. His curiosity is certainly piqued.

As he follows Rendaz, he feels a slight buzzing sensation, but he doesn't know what to make of it exactly.

"This should be far enough." Rendaz says in a soothing tone. "Leone Lebrae. A strange name for an elf."

"Apparently I'm big for elf too." Leone shrugs slightly.

"Ah yes, by current standards, I guess you are." Rendaz nods. "But there was a time when you would not have been out of place."

"Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?" Leone asks inquisitively, but with respect.

"No." Rendaz says. "I want to tell you a story."

"Okay." Leone replies, tilting his head slightly.

"Long ago, before war and conflict were common in Bryconia, the elves lived in peace with the other races," Rendaz begins. "Soon, these lands will be filled with the hope of that becoming a reality again. Even now as we speak, Prince Ardryll rides from Elvenlark. His destination is Logis, and he has a personal invitation from King Brynn. It will be the first time an elf from the royal bloodline has set foot in Logis since their race was betrayed by the humans."

"Why are you telling me this?" Leone asks.

"Because you are not a true elf, are you, Leone?" Rendaz moves closer. "You are something different. Something ancient."

"I don't really know what I am," Leone sighs. "You know we're not from Bryconia, so you must know something about how we got here. How we… Became what we are."

"Regardless of who you used to be, who you are now is what matters, and you will soon find that you may very well hold the key to Bryconia's future. Whether you use that for good or evil, is yet to be determined." Rendaz says.

"I don't understand." Leone blinks in confusion.

Rendaz walks closer and leans his head against the golden haired elf.

In an instant, Leone is flooded with visions. He sees a man who looks similar to him, with dark skin and dull-colored blonde hair, holding a sword with several gems in the hilt and crackling with power. The vision fades to one of a dragon, ridden by an elf, roaring across the sky. As quickly as that vision appears, it fades to another. A man who looks very similar to Leone, but clearly older, is standing in a field of grass, with enormous trees surrounding him. In the distance Leone sees a woman – the most beautiful woman he's ever laid eyes on, real world or Bryconia. As she turns, he realizes she is an elf. She smiles to the man and two children rush past her, arms outstretched. Before Leone can fully process what he sees, the vision fades.

"What was that?" Leone steps back, his pulse racing and his heart beating hard in his chest.

"That which was. That which is." Rendaz lifts his head. "Perhaps a glimpse of your future. I can only show you what I see. How you interpret it is up to you. You do not have a true destiny, Leone. You must forge your own path. Those you travel with may follow you down it, or eventually stand in your way. Their destiny is also unclear."

"What should I do?" Leone asks. "Can you give me any guidance at all?"

"No." Rendaz turns away. "I've shared all that I can."

Leone starts to speak, but before he can, Rendaz rushes into the woods and the light goes dim. Leone blinks a couple of times as the shock wears off and then he walks back to the encampment. The rest of the group already has the horses ready to go.

"Where is Rendaz?" Lucy asks, looking past Leone.

"He had to go, I guess." Leone shrugs. "He disappeared into the woods."

"What did he say?" Vryce walks closer.

"I'm not really sure." Leone shrugs again, grabbing a cloak from one of the bandits and putting it on. "He showed me several visions and said I don't have a true destiny. He said I have to forge my own path."

"Interesting," Palmer says. "Well, for now, we need to get out of these woods. Especially if Rendaz is gone."

"Agreed," Lucy replies, hoisting herself up onto her horse. "Let's go."

The sun is beginning to rise, so the group mounts up and takes off towards it. The way is not clear, and the path that cuts through the trees is hard to follow at times, but they keep their horses aimed towards the sun.

"What the hell was that?" Palmer pulls on his horse's reigns. "I swear I heard someone call my name."

"Don't stop!" Lucy urges. "Remember what Rendaz said, we can't get distracted until we're out of the woods."

"This area is familiar to me," Leone says, looking around. "But I don't know why."

"I don't think we should try to figure it out." Vryce glances at his companions. "This area feels… Sinister."

Vryce takes off, and the others follow. Soon, all of them are hearing voices calling their names, but they do their best not to let the voices distract them from their course. After several minutes, Leone slows his horse, but Lucy grabs the reigns and urges him forward. Leone just stares ahead, his eyes glassed over like he's in a trance.

"We have to go!" Lucy says harshly. "Leone's snap out of it!"

"Leone, come on!" Vryce pulls his reigns.

"But they're calling me by my real name now..." Leone looks dazed.

"We have to go, I hear it too!" Palmer urges.

"We're can't stop!" Lucy spins her horse around slaps the hindquarters of the one Leone is riding, which causes it to take off at a sprint.

The others follow Leone's horse through a dark part of the forest where the trail is even harder to follow, but they are able to spot the sun through the leaves. The voices get louder, then begin to fade as they get closer to the edge of the forest. Finally, Leone breaks free and pulls the reigns as he enters an open field.

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"Thank you, Lucy," Leone says immediately. "I tried to ignore it, but I couldn't."

"We have to take care of each other, right?" Lucy smiles.

"Yeah," Leone replies, looking down at the ground as he remembers what Rendaz told him.

"It's going to be okay." Palmer slaps Leone on the back. "We made it. I was struggling too towards the end."

"This is such a strange world," Vryce sighs. "But we escaped the woods, so now what?"

"I think that may be the King's Road up ahead." Palmer points. "If we follow that, we should get to Logis."

"Onward then," Lucy says.

The group rides to the road and follows it. After almost an hour, they see what appears to be a broken down wagon on the side of the road in the distance, with a man and woman standing next to it. Vryce immediately brings his horse to a stop and begins to remove the sword from his back.

"What are you doing?" Palmer asks.

"I still need some XP if I'm going to level up." Vryce chuckles. "They aren't bandits, but I'm sure they're good enough."

"No!" Lucy says, grabbing the reigns of Vryce's horse. "We aren't going to start killing random people!"

"You aren't…" Vryce shrugs and pulls the reigns away.

Vryce unsheathes his sword and starts riding towards the two people on the side of the road.

"I'll stop him," Leone growls, yanking his rapier out of the sheath as he pulls the hood of his cloak over his head.

Leone pushes his horse into a gallop and circles in front of Vryce. Leone levels the rapier at Vryce, which forces the half-elf to stop.

"What's your problem, Leone?" Vryce glares at his friend. "You normally love killing everything in your path."

"Look, I realize this is basically a game, but we don't have any idea how to get home." Leone leans forward on his horse. "Anything we do here will have consequences. Do you really want to end up in a dungeon somewhere or get executed because you decided to kill a couple of people for XP?"

"They'd have to catch me first." Vryce shrugs.

"Fine." Leone sheathes his rapier. "If you want to kill them, go ahead, but we're going on without you. If something happens, then you can deal with it on your own."

Vryce glares at Leone for a couple of seconds, then returns the sword to his back.

"We damn sure better find something to kill soon." Vryce sighs angrily. "We need a bunch of goblins or… Orcs. Something!"

"Be patient," Leone says. "We're not strong enough to go looking for trouble yet."

"Whatever." Vryce looks to his left as Palmer and Lucy ride up beside him.

"Are we good here?" Lucy asks.

"I guess so," Vryce mutters.

"It's a good thing you had a change of heart." Palmer points. "I see two heavily armed guys on horseback ahead, and I'm guessing they are patrolling the King's Road."

"More XP." Vryce shrugs nonchalantly. "But, I'll wait. I'll try to be patient."

"Come on," Leone motions to Vryce. "Let's see if we can help them out with their wagon."

The ride ahead to the wagon, and offer their support. The man and woman are grateful. They are on their way to their daughter's wedding in a nearby town, and their wagon has a broken wheel. The group helps them get the wagon off the road, and then they begin contemplating options for repairing it. They are still discussing those options when the two heavily armored men arrive, both wearing the symbol of an ornate fish on their tabard.

"Greetings," the armored man in front says. "Did you run into trouble?"

"We did," the woman says. "But these folks have offered to help, and I believe we'll be on our way shortly."

"Stay on the King's Road," the other armored man says. "It's dangerous if you stray."

"Understood," the man beside the wagon says.

The two armored men ride off, and Leone takes a step back, looking at the wagon.

"I think we can fix it. It won't be perfect, but if you go slow, you should be able to make it." Leone nods. "What do you think, Palmer?"

"I believe it'll work." Palmer nods in confirmation, then looks towards the man and woman by the wagon. "Do you have any rope... Or twine, perhaps?"

"We have some twine," the man says, moving some stuff around his wagon until he finds it. "Here."

Palmer and Leone use the twine and a piece of wood to repair the broken wagon wheel. It looks rather unsteady after they're finished, but they make a few more adjustments and are confident it will hold.

"Try to avoid rocks," Leone says as he helps the woman back into her wagon.

"I'll do my best," the man says. "Thank you again for your help."

The group waves as the couple makes their way down the road, and suddenly, they all feel a light surge.

"What caused that?" Lucy asks. "I thought it was XP after we leveled up, but this is similar to what happened when Palmer cured Miranda's daughter."

"Wait," Palmer says, pondering it for a moment. "I think we just completed a quest."

"What?" Vryce asks in confusion. "We just repaired a damn wagon."

"Just like Palmer cured Miranda's daughter." Lucy nods. "They were both quests, and we completed them. That's why we felt the surge."

"Well, once again." Vryce sighs. "It wasn't enough for me to level up."

"Maybe it's because of your class." Leone walks over. "You're the only one playing a hybrid. It may take more XP for you to level up."

"Bullshit," Vryce mutters. "I want to re-roll."

"I don't think that's an option here," Lucy chuckles as she gets back on her horse.

The group rides onward, and they pass a few more guards on the road before they finally see Logis. They stop for several minutes to stare at the majestic castle in the distance before continuing on. When they get to the gates, they see a number of guards, all of them with the ornate fish emblem on their tabards.

"I guess the king likes fish." Vryce shrugs.

"Who knows." Leone leans over to pat his horse. "I think we need to find somewhere to stay for the night, and stable our horses."

"A tavern or an inn, perhaps." Palmer says.

"Yeah, I'm sure we can find accommodations." Leone nods.

Finding room and board proves to be a bit of a problem. The news of the Royal Quest has spread and Logis is bustling with travelers. After asking around, the group finally gets directed to an inn in the poor part of town, where most of the houses are run-down shacks, as opposed to the stone buildings near the center of town. Still, they're happy to have lodging, so after stabling their horses, they make their way to a nearby tavern.

"We may need to be careful with our coins here." Leone says, pulling his cloak down over his face. "Don't offer anything except for the ones with King Brynn's stamp unless we see them taking other coins."

"We've got plenty." Palmer motions to his coin purse. "I took everything I could from the bandits."

"Hmm." Vryce narrows his eyes at Palmer.

"I'm going to tithe to my god." Palmer chuckles and shrugs. "As soon as I find a temple."

"Drinks are on you, then." Leone pats Palmer on his back.

Palmer orders the first round and the group finds a table. It's clear that people are excited about the Royal Quest because there are numerous conversations going on about it, although none of them seem to know exactly when it will happen.

"We need a plan," Palmer says, sipping his ale.

"Yes." Lucy nods. "We need to try and find Rabu and Malakai."

"Tomorrow morning, I'll see if I can find a temple." Palmer nods. "Malakai mentioned that when he was making his character, so it's a good place to start."

"Agreed." Lucy says.

"I'm going to look for Rabu." Vryce lifts the tankard to his lips and guzzles some of the amber brew. "I'm sure there aren't many gnomes around here. If anyone has seen him, I'm sure they'll remember it."

"I'll give you some coins in case you need to persuade them." Palmer nods. "We need to find our friends."

"I'm going to see what I can find out about the Royal Quest," Leone says. "If doing quests really did give us XP, then that we may want to consider it."

"I'll, um…" Lucy looks around at her friends. "Maybe I'll tag along with one of you."

The brunette rogue has a lot of her mind. She's still reeling from almost dying, getting lost in the forest, and meeting a literal god that saved her friends. She's also beginning to worry about Vryce. While she's never admitted it to anyone except her best friend, Lucy has always had a crush on Vryce. In Bryconia, Lucy is struggling to remember why she was so infatuated with him. He's practically a monster. The bandit girl was one thing, but the two people on the side of the road? They were just trying to get to their daughter's wedding.

"Alright," Vryce says, raising his tankard as a second round is delivered. "We made it to Logis. That's worth drinking to, right?"

"It is," Palmer nods, lifting his cup.

"To getting here alive," Lucy sighs, joining her friends.

"Logis." Leone says flatly, then they all drink.

The drinks continue to flow. The coin, well spent, after they day that they've had. A burden weighs on all of them. Lucy isn't the only one with thoughts in disarray. The others, drown them in ale a little easier than she does.

But as the night wears on, all of them find some comfort in their drinks before they finally end up in their beds.