The lamb and salad we had Cojisto order for us came as we waited for the event to start. Parchment and ink had also been delivered to each table for answers, with ours headed by our team name, The Inspectors. By the time we finished, Forstra was back on her platform.

The main room's ruckus died down as everyone became quiet. Everyone except the bard in the corner gently strumming on a harp. I noticed that he wasn't half bad now that we didn't have to strain our ears to hear his music.

Once the room became silent, Forstra began. "Welcome everyone, to trivia night at the Frosted Froth!"

The people cheered, including Ferrisdae and Cojisto. I remained silent, though I was excited, too.

"As always, we have a slew of different topics today from art and literature to foreign countries," she continued. "For those of you who are new or just too drunk to remember, I'm going to rattle off ten questions. Your team will have one minute to answer them before I move on to the next question. Afterwards, the judges will take your answers and figure out who had the highest score! And, please remember, legible handwriting only! If the judges can't read it, it's automatically wrong! Any questions?"

Another round of mostly drunken revelry, but no one had any questions. I also found myself shaking my head, thinking back to all the times clear handwriting would have won games, before I spoke to the team.

"Whispers only during discussion," I ordered. "We don't want to give away any answers." Ferrisdae nodded, a look of determination on her already slightly red face. Cojisto gave me a sloppy salute.

"Our first question, then!" Forstra announced. She had pulled several small pieces of parchment from her apron and was now holding them in front of her. All noise sans the harp quickly dispersed. Forstra cleared her throat. "What is the height difference between the two tallest towers in New Frausta?"

Immediately, I turned to Ferrisdae and put three fingers down on the table, hiding them from the sight of other tables using our plates. This was a softball question for us, but was probably good for stumping teams who lived here.

Ferrisdae raised her eyebrow. "Only that much?" she whispered. Cojisto craned his neck to see my hidden digits, but didn't say anything.

"Yes," I confirmed quietly. "At the time of construction, the royals and Mage's Guild were feuding, so when the Gnomish crews came in, the latter spent quite a lot of money to get around the royal's rule of their home being at least one story taller than all other buildings. They also made some modifications this year, making the height difference smaller."

"Power move," Cojisto commented.

"If you say it's right, then I believe you," Ferrisdae said. I nodded and filled in the answer on the parchment, then folded it backwards once the ink was dry enough.

Once we were locked in, I paid attention to the room. Many were whispering, but some rambunctious, drunken tables were speaking aloud. I heard answers from two stories to three feet to no difference at all. The confidently incorrect mutterings of those people made me smile.

"Next question!" Forstra announced. "What was Sir Sampson the Righteous' weapon of choice during the Continental Crusade?"

"Oh, he used a big, two-handed hammer, didn't he?" Ferrisdae asked. "He led the supporters of Segrech to the continental dungeon."

The mention of Segrech, God of the Sun, made me scowl, but I nodded nonetheless. "You're right," I confirmed. "His was the biggest and most public expedition to fail at quelling the continental dungeon."

"It was… luminous… something, right?" she asked.

"Luculus Rex, Maul of the Luminescent King," I said. "It was never recovered, which the church of Segrech is still angry about because it was a divine treasure." I looked at the team with the quill ready, and they both nodded. The answer was added.

A lot of the people got the words Luminescent and Rex right, but failed to come up with the full title. A lot, but not all. I noticed a lot of the older Elves knew. That made sense. They would have been alive during that time and heard news about it.

"Moving along!" Forstra said. "Athir, home of the Forest Elves, is the world's largest supplier of what export?"

"That's not fair," Ferrisdae complained with a frown. "Largest as in volume or as in most lucrative?"

"Go with your gut," I told her. "You're from there, aren't you? I'll go with what you think."

"You don't already know the answer?" she asked.

"I know that it's either sugar or the Hajidi Paper used to make spell books and scrolls," I answered.

Ferrisdae stared at the table in thought. "Let's go with the Hajidi Paper, then," she finally said. I nodded, and wrote it down.

Just in time, too, because Forstra was ready with another question. "Next up! The Flowing Ship Style of martial arts is widely attributed to have been created by Bull Barracks, but new records show that its actual creator is who?"

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I pursed my lips. I had a passing recollection of the Flowing Ship Style, something about evading attacks and retaliating with all the force of a cannonball. I didn't recognize the name Bull Barracks, though.

"Captain Brother Rabbit," Cojisto whispered excitedly. He tapped on the parchment. "Write it down."

"Yeah?" I asked Cojisto with a raised brow. "You're sure?"

The man nodded repeatedly. "Very sure," he claimed. "He was a monastery leader on a boat called The Great Shenanigan. Bull took over after he died. I tried to learn from them, but I didn't have the kind of flow they were looking for."

"That sounds very made up," I told him honestly.

"Everything is made up, that doesn't make it false," Cojisto claimed. Looking into his eyes, I could tell he thought he was right. Ferrisdae shook her head when I switched to her, and I shrugged. An answer was an answer.

"Time's up, next question!" Forstra yelled. "What year did Crystal Snows very own composer Gaius Stopherlyn compose his magnum opus, Violin Concerto #3?"

"727," I said.

At the same time, Ferrisdae said, "726."

We both looked at each other for half a second before she explained. "Historians say it was 727, but it was finished and put to review in the last month of 726," she said quickly. "My grandmother, Arabella Anne Runelara was the one who performed as the violin's first seat in its first performance in the counsel."

I watched Ferrisdae carefully as she spoke. She bounced with all the enthusiasm of a child who knew the right answer and wanted to share it. But was she remembering it correctly?

Slowly, I nodded. I decided to trust her.

I wrote it down and began paying attention to other tables for the last few seconds we had left. No one was talking about it anymore. That made sense. This question was about one of the city's historical figures, it was obviously a free question.

"Next!" Forstra yelled. "What creature did Sultan Jareet Sal Buradar liken the singing of Queen Tanta of Alashroe to, causing a standoff in the desert province that has played out for the last decade?"

"Banshee," Ferrisdae and I both said, on the same page about this one.

"Not a mandrake?" Cojisto asked. We both leveled our eyes on him, and he chuckled. "It's the only other creature I know that screams constantly."

I wrote the right answer on the parchment while still staring at Cojisto. Funnily enough, about half of the other patrons were on the fence between banshee and mandrake. Apparently, those were the only two well known screaming monsters. Well, at least that would make some people correct. We had answered that rather quickly, with plenty of time left.

"Next question! The House of Fire and Fate is a well known adventuring guild based in countries all over the continent, what are the ancestries of the three founding members?"

"I hate those guys," I groaned.

"You know them?" Ferrisdae asked.

"Gnome, Lamia, and… Devil, right?" Cojisto mused, talking to himself more than us.

"Tiefling, not Devil," I corrected. "Which is a person with Devilish ancestors. And their head boss, a Gnome named Teladora Whizzlefizz, is a nightmare. She’s a fire specialist mage who doesn't care about collateral damage coupled with a get shit done attitude. Teladora is strong enough to burn dungeons down, magic protections be damned."

Ferrisdae's eyes went wide. "That's… not what I was expecting," she admitted. "Fire magic can do that?"

"No!" I exclaimed, a little louder than I meant to. I returned my voice to a whisper. "No, it can't, she's a little freak of nature. The other two aren't bad, though. Really nice folks."

Forstra called for the next question, and I swiftly wrote my answer down. "Who was the Dwarven sheriff who brought law back to the desolate Thieflands?"

"The legendary Dwarven Sheriff Flint Stranglebeard," Cojisto whispered excitedly. This time, I knew he was right. "He's my inspiration."

That gave me pause, and I shook my head. "Wasn't Flint Stranglebeard notoriously an idiot? Basically a box of rocks with big muscles, a long beard, and insane grip strength?"

"Yes, I love the stories they tell about him," Cojisto admitted. "I followed Flint's path of the grappler after learning I couldn't make it as a monk, anyway."

A martial artist. For Cojisto, that made sense. I hadn't noticed any weapons on him, but I figured that was just because he also had an extradimensional space like we did.

Regardless of Cojisto's fighting prerogative, I wrote the answer down.

"Second to last question, everyone!" Our host announced. "Where do the legends say the fabled Heart of Magic resides?"

"Saralorsa, capital of the Southern Continent and heart of the Continental Dungeon," Ferrisdae said as I looked at her for her answer.

"Excellent, Ferrisdae," I said, writing it down.

"That's two questions about this continental dungeon," Cojisto said, stroking his chin. "I would like to visit it someday. It sounds like a great adventure."

"No, you don't. It's a very deadly one," I said. "A scant few that have gone have come back. It's an unregulated death trap."

"That just sounds like a good time," Cojisto said.

"Adventurers," I muttered, shaking my head. They were almost all like this. How the Consortium hadn't gone out of business due to members dying was a miracle made possible only by the work of the DoD.

"Last question! Last question, everyone!" Forstra called. The room went quiet, and the harp player changed his tune from soft and pleasant to something a little more sinister for effect. "Here we go! The best selling book series Of Dragons and Dungeons by Norsky primarily takes place in what fictional country?"

I groaned out loud as Ferrisdae bounced in her seat. Why was this following me all of a sudden? "What is it, Ferrisdae?" I asked.

"Runathir," she blurted out in a stage whisper. Then she spelled it out for me to make sure I had it right.

"I've been meaning to start those books," Cojisto said to Ferrisdae. "Are they really all that good?"

"Absolutely," Ferrisdae said vehemently. "They're an absolute wonder of literature. I actually keep a set of them in my Dimensional Pocket if you want to try them sooner rather than later."

"I may take you up on that, but maybe after I'm sober and after the job," Cojisto said with a chuckle.

"And that's it! Ramanelle and I will collect the answers, and we'll be back with you shortly to announce the winner!" The young barmaid was already collecting the answers closest to the bar, and true to her word, Forstra started helping her. I handed our folded up parchment to Ramanelle when she passed by.

I was feeling confident about this.