"Welcome to the Silver Wand Inn. What can I get you... Drake! Oh, it's good to see you! You look like you've grown half a foot since I last saw you!"

Drake grinned as none other than Jenny greeted him with a hug and a smile. "I'm doing wonderful, Jenny. How are you and the baby?"

She flushed at those words but patted a belly that still didn't show at all with her uniform dress, for all that other parts of her body were definitely blossoming with the promise of motherhood. "Little Villy and I are fine." She flashed a pained smile. "Even if we wish her father would get his act together."

Drake grinned. "I know he's always just a step away from disaster. But to think: he actually tried to channel the academy's entire Etherial field through his soul. Oh, the sheer brilliant madness of it!"

Jack couldn't help but grin at his friend's expression, seeing a twinkle in his eye that made Jack think his friend was almost envious of the poor, exiled student.

"I don't suppose you know if his mad plan worked, do you?"

Jenny looked suddenly on the verge of tears, before curtsying before Drake, like a woman before her king. "I know not, Your Grace. He knows how furious I am, if he even thinks to bring up the... the life we had before. All I know is that he lives only because you took pity upon him, reminding the High Council of who his parents were, the debt they are still owed, and that the madness and daring of adventurers was what had kept Greycliff from falling to Velheim's wiles, long ago."

Drake smirked. "That, and it didn't hurt to remind the pompous idjits that executing the offspring of esteemed Guild members would be a great way to get them to cut us down to size, just like they did Bonaparte himself, not that long ago."

Jenny nodded, eyes heavy with a weight beyond her 17 or so years. "Because Velheim could come flooding over the river with over 3000 riflemen, and our captain Stormy has just a single company of a hundred cavalry. If they manage to avoid any mana fluxes and can shoot down our mages before we can blow up their gunpowder... we're all as good as dead."

Drake sighed, holding her close and kissing her brow. "You worry too much, little cousin. And there's no way in hell you should know that number unless certain noble tongues are wagging. But I'm glad you're keeping informed. Besides, you know how well protected our city is."

"Protection which my idiot of a boyfriend almost destroyed!" she hissed with surprising heat.

Drake winked. "But he didn't. That's the thing. And one way or another, we'll handle Velheim."

And for all that the dining area was unusually sedate, only a few early morning patrons to be seen, what struck Jack as most odd was the complete lack of heavily armored adventurers radiating a larger than life presence lounging upon the elevated platform that was both their tables and stage.

All the usual heroes of the inn, as they were called, were gone.

And in their place were several tables upon which sat clusters of men and a few women, all of them suddenly looking the way of Jack's group with an odd mixture of hope and fear.

Almost all of them had pinched, hungry faces, worn linen clothing, and eyes radiating determination or despair, with white candles on small silver disks before each of them.

And none of them were lit, save for a single pair.

Sitting at a table farther back than the others. And Jack somehow found himself drawn to them, not even looking the way of so many other hopeful gazes as he closed, holding back his surprise to see a face he actually recognized, before a candle that, though lit, was quite different from the others.

"Jack?" Jack silently shook his head at Drake's questioning voice, and how odd it was that his aristocratic friend was deferring so readily to him, even letting Jack take the lead when, with heart pounding in his chest, he dared to sit at the only table with lit candles and at least a couple souls wearing what one could call armor.

Even if one was wearing all black leathers radiating a protective aura Jack had encountered once before. He flashed a bemused smile at the haunted eyes gazing back into his own.

"How are you, Aroust?"

The rough-voiced man flashed an odd smile, both bitter and bemused. "I am..." He shook his head and sighed. "I am a fool who dares to hope that there might be more than one chapter to my story, should you dare to believe that my tale is worth the telling."

Jack's nodded, before turning to take in a well-built curly haired youth with tanned skin, a laborer's body, and both Carolingian style blade and shield by his side. His armaments were limited to a full-sleeved quilted gambeson of excellent quality, which Jack knew as well as anyone just how effective a deterrent to arrows and blades it could be, and a crudely made jack-of-plates, scores of overlapping squares of iron or steel nestled between two thick layers of burlap that served as a poor man's version of the fine brigandine armor favored by Stormy's rifleers that allowed rifle stocks to rest firmly against their shoulders. His tailor's eye sensed properties at a glance he knew most would need minutes of careful inspection to make clear. And even if all the aspirant wore for leg protection were several pairs of pants from near tights to baggy linen work pants, the layers of linen and canvas would still allow for maneuverability as well as limited protection, cost almost nothing to obtain, and was far less a concern for shieldmen than for other frontline fighters.

The youth's eyes widened with surprised hope under Jack's considering gaze, and Jack couldn't help but note with approval the tiny lit flame upon his pristine white candle.

A definite contrast to the unlit candle of the young woman beside him who could have been anywhere from 16 to 26, wearing what he already thought of as academy robes. She swallowed under his regard, before meeting his gaze with deep brown eyes both hopeful and sad.

Then Jack turned back to the duelist, carefully reading the flood of complex emotions racing across the man's features. Having feared being instantly snubbed, humiliation had transformed to tense hope once more, as dark eyes that did not flinch peered into Jack's own.

And Jack said the only question that mattered. "Tell me your tale, Aroust."

Aroust flashed a bitter smile. "I can only tell it once, Jack. If I tell it to the party that wouldn't have me... none ever would."

"Ooh...there's a bit o' a tricky dilemma!" Interjected Barlton with a booming voice out of nowhere, a bemused Jack thinking he truly was a giant in every way, save height. "Well, you know we sure as hell ain't gonna pick ya unless ya tell us why yer candle's dripping with five black beeds o' betrayal!"

Aroust paled and lowered his head. "I'll tell you this right now, Jack Greenwood... Prince de Leone. If you take me into your service, I will never give you cause to regret it." He glared at his own candle. "Five bitter tears for all I lost. And never will I accept another black mark upon my soul." Aroust gave a sad shake of his head. "My life just isn't worth that burden."

Drake turned to Jack. "What do you think?"

Jack swallowed, heart pounding, fearing so deeply playing the fool, making the wrong decision... yet he had seen and felt far more than he ever admitted when he healed the broken sobbing man whose face he himself had been responsible for destroying. "I tasted his despair the night I bested him. He has already lost everything. The honor of his blade is all he has left."

"And now?"

Jack furrowed his brow. "I think you know as well as I."

The girl at the table, who had been glaring at Aroust, actually looked surprised. "Wait, Drake, you're actually thinking of taking him?"

Aroust's features took on an almost inhuman stillness. A trained warrior doing all he could to hide the roiling torment within.

Drake gave a thoughtful nod. "I am, Veti. Perhaps on a provisional basis?"

Jack blinked. "You know this girl?"

His friend nodded. "Academy student. Sad story. We'll talk later."

Aroust's features fell just as Barlton tisked.

"I'm afraid it doesn't work that way, yer lordship. The party you form is the party you form."

Drake blinked at that, turning to the massive dwarf. "Wait, what are you saying, exactly?"

Barlton shrugged, furrowing his own massive brows as he squinched and picked out a massive blob of earwax with a great big grin. "Damn bugger's been itching me all day!" With a careful flick of a giant finger and thumb, he set the nauseating ball of wax flying with a satisfied nod.

"What I meant o say, yer lordship, is that the honey ya bring to the dance, or in this case, honeys, yer lordship, are the honeys ya bring home at the end of yer tale. Whether months, or a thousand years hence. Death might shrink yer party, but the story that will bind us will also help us all pull through! Downside is that it's rare as a dwarf given' out free gold to find any new companions whose tale meshes well enough with yer own!"

The dwarf then shrugged. "Not unless they're Twice-Born or the like, dancin' with the fates so often that they can pretty much form up with whoever they choose. But those lucky sod's are rare as an honest merchant! Most of us have ta taste peril before we can even walk her path, and imperfect sods like us can only forge bonds o' destiny once, the broken pieces of our soul formin' into one perfect whole, that destiny pities enough to fudge a few roles of fate our way, so long as we're true to each other, even if we let the rest of the world go hang."

Drake nodded solemnly, now sitting in the seat next to Jack, both of them peering intently at Aroust. "I know you can fight, Aroust, and I know you're honorable. And I know the sound of your screams, and the face of a man filled with such gratitude for mercies unexpected that it changed him in ways he never saw coming."

For some reason, Aroust was trembling, no longer able to meet their gaze.

Drake smiled. "There's something I like about you. Not sure why, but it's there. And I don't give a damn for the Guild candle, or the Guild that left my home to fend for itself. So long as you tell me your tale."

Aroust swallowed and nodded. "As you will it, Your Grace," he said, and told his tale.

It was a quiet half glass later that he finally choked off his final words, taking a long sip of mead a sympathetic looking Jenny had handed him. Because of course his tale was now one with the very fabric of this adventurer's inn, the moment he had whispered the words to his tale of tragedy, betrayal, and mad greed that had cost him everything.

"...And then Bedra looked me in the eyes and said, 'You swore yourself to my service. As did your wife. Jump and obey, or you will never see any of your friends again."

Aroust trembled, glaring with hot fury at bitter memory. "I told them all that Bedra was a madman. A fool! We partied up as a team. We only made him party leader because of his bonuses. We never swore to obey his acts of madness, but they... they all acted as if he were their master. Even my Jennevieve!"

He shook his head, squeezing back silent tears. "To dare the Red at our level... we were Rank 6, barely ready for green! Centuries away from level 21! There was no way we could possibly survive the Red Portal. None! But we were already bonded to him. Somehow, he had used his class to make himself the heart of our band. He our brain, and we, his utterly subservient limbs. I have no proof, but I know it to be so!" His eyes grew haunted. "I looked at my wife. I raised my hand and begged her to come back to me. Begged her! But all she said was that we had to have faith in our god. Have faith! As if that damned Bedra was anything but a manipulative monster! As if the portal would even open to us without clearing that first damned room."

He choked back a sob, trembling as wild eyes gazed at a nightmare only he could see. "And then... moving like a puppet... not even like my wife... she jumped. And the last thing Bedra said as that damned bard smiled back at me from the swirling crimson gate was 'you lose.' And I never saw any of them again."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

He gazed with fury at his candle. "And the one who bonded this candle to me was yet another bard, who declared it my burden, my sin, for abandoning my party." He flashed a bitter smile. "Declared just before the Guild itself bound me, forbidding my story from ever being told, save by whoever was foolish enough to have me. One chance. Just one chance to vindicate myself as those bastards hid the corruption of one of their own!"

He sighed and shook his head, tears running freely as the entire dining hall absorbed his tale.

"And there you have my bitter secret, Your Grace, Jack." He swallowed, forcing tear stained eyes to look their way. "And so long as you swear not to force us through portals that would obliterate delvers of our level, and swear never to attempt to control our minds with bardic or mentalist arts, I swear to serve our band to the best of my ability, to the end of my days."

Drake turned to Jack. "What do you think?"

Jack swallowed the lump in his throat, his hand firmly on Aroust's shoulder. "I think you already know my answer."

Drake laughed. "Indeed I do." He turned around, gazing at the half-giant behind them. "Barlton?"

Barlton shrugged. "Why not? Little bit o morose drama might make our tale that much more interesting!"

Drake nodded. "There you have it, Aroust. Nothing like a bit of pathos to spice up a tale I'm absolutely determined to make as exciting and wonderful for us as I possibly can." He held out his hand. "What do you say?"

For long moments Aroust looked too shaken up even to speak before clasping Drake's wrist. "Till our final days," he whispered.

Drake laughed. "Hopefully that's a long way off."

He then turned to the pair that had been gazing so intently at Jack and his friends.

"Veti? You sure about this? You know odds are that you'll turn to a blob of bouncy jelly, right?"

The mousy haired girl with plain features, a splash of freckles, and eyes that blazed with intellect dipped her head. "I am, Drake." She then took a deep, shuddering breath. "I have a theory. If I'm right... all those years of my life I wasted might be worth something after all."

Drake nodded. "Be interesting to see if your theory works. Though personally, I think your almost as crazy as Tim."

Veti's eyes bulged at that. "Your foolish excuse for a best friend that near invited disaster upon us all? You take that back right now, Drake de Leone!" she hissed.

"Not a chance," he smirked, holding out his hand. "Welcome to the party, Veti. So long as you can survive that first step."

She flashed a sad smile, ire instantly fading. "I..." she swallowed. "Thank you, Drake." Then she turned her gaze Jack's way. "I promise you won't regret having me as part of your team."

Jack smiled. "If Drake says you're okay, then you're okay in my book." He then eyed their final prospective member, the nervous looking youth wearing functional, if crudely made armor, eyeing Jack and Drake as if they were his last hope, for all that his tiny white candle burned brightly without a single dark tear.

"So, what's your story?"

The young man blinked. "Name's Elof, sir. I..." He swallowed nervously, presenting a crimson talisman that Jack recognized all too well. "I can survive in Shadow," he whispered, gaze shifting uncomfortably.

Drake nodded encouragingly. "Good to know! What's your class?"

The Elof's cheeks flushed. "I... don't have a class, sir."

Drake's eyebrow's widened. He turned to Jack. "Same thing with you, right?"

Jack winced but nodded. "I'm working toward something that I think will be worth all the trouble, since I have one shot at this forever... but I don't have all the pieces to the puzzle just yet. It's half the reason why I'm willing to accept your invitation to the Arcane Academy next month."

Drake's nod was for Jack, though his gaze was on Elof, all but twitching in his seat. "So... you're holding off until you've met the prerequisites for the perfect class?"

Elof flashed a sheepish smile. "Um... if you like, sir."

Drake nodded solemnly. "Warrior class, I take it?"

"That's my goal, sir."

Drake's gaze roved over all of them as he gave a considering nod. "Considering that we have 2 mages and a Wordsmith, a warrior that believes in fast and deadly, and only one very powerful looking tank," he said the last with a glance at their beaming dwarf, almost as broad as Jake and Veti put together, "I think we could use another fighter type. Are you any good with a shield?"

Elof positively beamed. "I am, sir! Sword and board! Or... at least, I like to think so."

"Excellent!" Drake flashed an approving smile, turning to his friends. "Well, we could use another shieldman, but we're a team now, so what do you all think?"

The dwarf gazed thoughtfully at Elof. "Boy looks a bit like a fool to me, but he feels like a right good fit! I say we keep him."

Elof winced. "Thanks. I think."

Jack dipped his head. "I have concerns... but I'm the last one to judge a fellow delver who has yet to pick his class, and at least we know he can survive in shadow. Sure, he's fine in my book."

Drake positively beamed. "Excellent! Veti? Aroust?"

Aroust gave a rueful chuckle. "I have my concerns as well. But I know all too well the bitter taste of hope turning to disappointment, and from there, despair. Until it transforms you into something you never thought you'd be." He gazed for long moments at a now blushing Elof, who swallowed, but did his best to hold the duelest's gaze.

Aroust gave a slow nod. "I can tell he's still wet behind the ears, but he looks hopeful. Hungry to excel."

"More than anything, sir!"

"Good. Then I'll train you to be fast as a whip on our off hours." He flashed a smile that made even Jack wince as Elof paled. "It won't be easy. You'll be wishing you'd chosen an easier path. But by the time I'm done with you, you'll be the best shield man any party could ask for."

Elof swallowed. "Thanks?"

"Excellent!" Drake said, before turning to Veti. "Any objections?"

She shrugged. "I think he's broken, Drake." The whole table stilled at his words, Elof looking positively devastated. "But as I don't know the first thing about fighting with anything save wands, every shield man between me and my enemies is a godsend. So I'd take him even if he's a mortal, if he can actually survive in shadow."

Drake laughed at that. "Good enough. Congratulations, Elof. You're in!"

"Really?" Elof's eyes filled with relief and gratitude, and Jack couldn't help grinning at the pure joy the youth felt. "Great! I mean, I won't let you down, Your Grace. I swear it!"

Yet the enthusiasm worried him as well.

If his earned talisman truly meant that Elof could have joined the adventurer's guild and simply moved to any other city, perhaps ones with far more opportunities for new adventurers... Jack could only wonder why he was so happy to be with them now.

Drake, however, was nothing but beaming smiles and back-claps. "Wonderful! Our party is formed. Now let's have ourselves a hearty breakfast. Because after that? It's off to the academy dungeon, and the first step to the most exciting and wondrous chapters of our lives!"

All of them ate well, drank moderately, and celebrated to the fullest, even the brooding Veti flashing a happy smile at Drake's jests and Barlton's larger-than-life presence. And if the Silver Wand Inn was also filled with the increasingly despondent stares of near a dozen other hopefuls with unlit candles before them, Jack did his best to slide his eyes free of desperate gazes, already sensing that their tales were not his own, and never would be.

But what made Jack truly wince was when his eye caught sight of the withdrawn looking Narri, who not a soul had bothered greeting or interacting with. The despondent former servitor just sat, hunched over at an adjoining table, without even a mug of small beer to drink.

Utterly ignored, even by the serving girls.

Because everyone already knew.

Jack turned to Drake. "We should just let him go. We both know he's not a part of our tale."

Barlton looked up from his roaring jests as he told a lively tale about a maiden and a giant's foot, the laughter of Aroust and Elof echoing across the dining hall as the massive dwarf turned around and gaze at the flinching Narri. "Elf's right, yer lordship. Let the little fishie go. We all know he'll get swallowed up, if he dares anything deeper than his future master's wine cellar!"

Drake gazed for long moments at Narri, and only now did Jack truly take in the longing written across the servant's careworn features. "I think my friend's right, Narri." Drake flashed his most winning smile, hands bright with silver placed on the table before the despondent-looking man. "And you were man enough to take the harder path, without anyone twisting your arm."

He glanced at a smirking Barlton. "Well, maybe a little. Point is, you were willing to stand by my side, and I respect that. So here. Silver for a fresh start, and consider your sentence commuted."

He gave the former servant a clap on his slumped shoulder. "Good luck, wherever life takes you, Narri. Consider this a second chance to prove to the world that you're far more than a single moment of weakness."

Aroust nodded in approval. "You're a good man, Drake, not throwing the fool's life away needlessly." And the way Narri flinched made it clear he heard every word. As did the way he looked with hopeless longing at their group.

"And why the hell can't I be a part of you?" The man's whisper was almost a plea. "Why am I so worthless that you won't even give me a chance? Am I truly so insignificant that I'm not worth a single smile or joke, or even a how-do-you-do?" He swallowed, eyes bright with unshed tears. "I'm not half so worthless as you all think. Not half! If only I was given a..." Narri shook his head, took a deep breath, and glared their way. "I'll prove to you I'm more than the stupid fool so desperate for a lord's friendship that he almost lost his hand and his head! You've given me coin, and I will earn it! Just promise me this, Your Grace. I beg of you. If I survive the deep and claim a class... will you take me on as one of your men?"

Drake gazed at the trembling former servant for long moments, before finally dipping his head. "Aye, Narri, I would. I'll honor that spark of courage I see in your soul with those words alone. But if you're as smart as I hope you are, you will take that silver and start fresh somewhere else, anywhere else, knowing that at least one lord holds you in high regard."

Drake offered a sympathetic smile. "It's clear I misjudged you. You are indeed more than a simple mistake. Now it remains for you to value yourself at least as much as I do, and earn the respect of your future employer, your future wife and family as well. By working hard, spending wisely, and making the most of your own potential. Not throw yourself away on an expedition which even I will admit skirts pure madness. And I will freely admit as well, friend Narri, that had I been dealt a different hand by precarious fate just a week ago, I would never dare the folly I'm soon to embrace."

The trembling Narri, fists still clenched, jerked a quick half bow, saying only, "I will be worthy of your regard, Your Grace," before turning on his heel, and heading out the door.

Not even taking the silver coins he had been given.

Drake sighed and shook his head. "Why the hell does he have to play the noble hero now? If he had shown half the spine he is now to his former employer... he might still be employed."

"You've done what ya could, yer lordship. Can't do anything more than that," said Barlton philosophically.

Drake smirked, gathering up the silver once more. "I'll have to write up a recommendation for him when we get back home. Least I can do for the suddenly noble idiot, though if he ever steals again, I'll cut off his head myself!"

"More than fair, yer grace."

Drake laughed. "Just call me Drake, Barlton. And everyone else as well. First names, no fancy titles. We're a party now, which is just one step from being family, after all."

Barlton laughed at that. "Cheers to that, Drake! And if we weren't about to dare the deep, we'd celebrate so grandly that we'd drink this whole inn under the table, before wakin' up days later, only to do it again!"

Aroust chuckled softly. "My kind of party."

"Not mine," Veti said with a sigh, gazing pointedly Drake's way.

Jack's eyes widened, only now noting the anxiety coming off her in waves, the way she gazed almost anxiously at the door, as if both anticipating and dreading what was to come. "Drake?"

Drake flashed his friend a gentle smile. "It will be alright, Veti. I'll be right beside you, and the moment you feel any twisting or weakness... we race back for all were worth. And my shieldbrother has something that might help as well."

The girl frowned in consternation. "Drake, there is nothing that can help..." then her eyes widened at the arm band Jack revealed, a faint smile suddenly crossing her lips. "The magics radiating off that thing... a chaotic mess no Academy-trained wizard would dare." She chuckled softly. "So, why the hell not a Delver?" Hopeful eyes peered into Jack's own. "Could this really save me... if I need it?"

Jack shrugged. "Can't hurt. Might help. " He deliberately did not look Drake's way as he said it.

Drake, however, was already paying their tab, chatting with the ever bubbly Jenny who flushed and smiled at the tip he handed her. "for you and my old chum. You tell him to stop on by when he gets his head on straight, and we'll sort him out. Alright, Jenny?"

"You know I will, Drake. And thank you."

He held her close and kissed her forehead. "We were all thick as thieves, not that long ago. You know you can always come to my place, if life's wolves come a-howling."

Jenny chuckled throatily. "Ever the rogue, my dear wild Drake." she then squeezed his hand and stepped back. "Thank you, Drake. You were always someone I could count on, when I needed a friend."

Drake dipped his head, his gaze pointedly taking in the relatively quiet dining hall as a whole. "Are you happy, Jenny?"

To this she flushed and smiled. "Believe it or not, I am. Lady Sigrid really is my aunt, and I love working here. She says one day it she'll give it to me and my daughters, when she's ready to move on. But until then, I'll work my way up, the same as everyone else."

Drake looked pointedly at her belly before grinning once more.

"Well, until she starts to show. Then of course aunty will take care of me. But I insisted that I still wanted to earn my keep. Like any other wayward girl she takes under her wing, even if I am her niece."

"The best businesses are run by those willing to work for it, and get hands-on experience with every position needed for the business to succeed," Drake said with a smile. "I think you'll do just fine, Jenny, and this inn will prosper under your care."

"That's the plan," she said, with a final kiss on his cheek. "Take care of yourself, Drake, okay?"

Her worried smile belied the sisterly words meant to soothe.

She feared for his life, that much was clear, even to Jack.

And he could hardly blame her. They were, after all, right about to dare the Deeps, from which no adventurer was ever guaranteed a safe return. Or any return at all.