Months passed, and it is now near the end of October. The autumnal leaves flutter through the land of Liberté as everyone prepares for Hallowstide.
The Black Box is already making their own plans for the holiday and the accompanying harvest festival. Emily, Heathcliff, Elizabeth, and Tim headed to the Rosenkreuz guildhall to inquire about the year’s plans. There Chiron told them about the various festivities.
“Let’s see,” the centaur priest said. “The guild at Vajra Falls reported the results of that region’s harvest. The Convention at Eastshire had already tallied the number of children in the New Virginia region…” He continued telling the assembled adventures about the status of the festival preparations.
“Vajra Falls?” Emily asked.
“A settlement to the north of la Praire Incontinue, cher,” Heathcliff said. “Founded by Karuvan immigrants. They surprisingly took to the festival here.”
Chiron eventually finished the reports. Pauline had taken Emily’s group to discuss what the dungeon would do to prepare for the festival.
Meanwhile, Carla and Charlotte remained in the Black Box. They saw the young Dungeon Cells talk with excitement about the upcoming festivals. While they themselves had no clue what it was about.
Richard approached the Alraunes. “Is something the matter, dears?” the tanned dwarf asked.
The beast tamer was the first to respond. “Richard, forgive me, but what are the children chattering about here?”
Richard looked at the cells that were the Hamlin children and realized the date. “The Hallowstide festivals?”
Carla nodded. Her skin was green with confusion and her chartreuse petals bore a share reflecting her confusion.
“Right, I don’t think that village was connected enough to the wider world to even know about it.” The dwarf said. He clears his throat. “You are aware of harvest festivals right?”
Charlotte turned to Richard. The child’s violet petals showed her curiosity. “They are supposed to celebrate the land’s bounty, right?”
Richard nodded. “Hallowstide evolved from these celebrations. It is meant to pay tribute to Anesidora, the Giver. To thank her for both the agricultural boons and any fruitful endeavors adventurers had gotten from Dungeons.”
“But why are the kids so excited about this?” Carla said with concern. Left unsaid is how she and her daughter wondered why they didn’t know about this until now.
“A common feature of Hallowstide celebrations involves treats in some way,” Richard said. “Several folks take their kids through neighborhoods to get them from houses. Others instead use it to train budding adventurers with the help of nearby dungeons.”
Carla realized that is why Heathcliff mentioned the guild had a special business for the Black Box in a few days. “So that is why they wanted me to make sure the beasts do not harm anyone throughout the week.”
“Yeah,” Richard said. “Emily is going to be tasked to make a safer environment for this week. The goal is to help the young adventurers hone their skills and prepare them for the real stuff later in life.” A thought crossed his mind. “Costumes! I forgot the costumes!” he rushed back to his atelier.
Carla was left confused as he sees the tailor run off. “Costumes?”
✦✦✦
Among the children excited for the coming Hallowstide, are the Coloraturas and the Nina. The nine girls talk about what they plan to do.
“I’m going to get a lot of treats!” Nina said with an eager desire. She had awaited this day ever since her mother Minerva told her about it. Her silvery high radiated with excitement.
Rose Rhapsodia, however, was less than enthused. She had learned from Emily that as a Sentinel she would have to be the one to help her give away treats when she would rather be the one receiving and easing them. The pink-pigtailed lamia sighed.
“This is our first Hallowstide since Emily took us in right?” Raine Carnation Cadenza said. The red-haired girl looked and saw various other children. Her red-feathered wings glowed with a small warmth.
Azalea Adagio is busy thinking about a comedy routine to help entertain her younger guests. Clover Capriccio is helping her with it. The blued-haired mermaid and the green-haired deerlet brainstormed several ideas around the topic. Stretlizia Sonato polished her labrys, well aware that even if they were to hold back this week, they still must fight their guests.
Lily Borea Legato meanwhile cantered around asking the other children about the upcoming festivities. There she saw Hydrangea Harmony and Anemone Aria. The latter acting very unusual today.
The lilac-haired lycanthropic girl sat on the floor, avoiding the nearby chairs. Her tail wagged exuberantly. She sometimes scratches the back of her ears with her bare feet. And she sometimes panted.
“Anemeone,” the blond centaouride said. “Are you okay?”
“Huh?” Anemone said. “I’m fine, what do you ask?” she lied through her teeth. She was well aware of her impulses and tried vainly to conceal them. The cyan-bobbed girl next to her showed Lily a book on lunar cycles. A realization suddenly dawned on Lily that it was that time of year again for Anemone.
Anemone whimpered like a lost puppy, trying to maintain her slightly more refined aura in the spire of Tranqualitas’ not-very-tranquil influence on her. Hydrangea wiped her glasses. “Had you re-cast your charm, Anemone?” the cyan-haired girl said.
“I tried,” Anemone said. Her pointed ears drooped as she said this. “But I can’t seem to focus on it. This season’s full moon is stronger than I thought!” She said with a whimper.
Lily offered to her friend to remake her charm. The three set off for the guildhall to ask Emily and Elizabeth for help.
✦✦✦
Minerva met with Atsuko and Hoshikage about their own Hallowstide preparations. The white-haired Arachne, the teal-haired nekomata, and her tanned and blond kunoichi retainer talked about how the traditions differ between Liberté and Yae Shoto.
While they were discussing the cultural differences, the three saw a pair of Archane enter the room looking for Minerva. One was a Selinopida, an Arachne with adept poisonous abilities and who could make sharp turns with her legs. The other is a Salticida, an eager and excitable spiderling that zipped around the room.
Minerva is a little exasperated by these two as they rush to ward her. Starry-eyed and eager to please. “Annie, William, what is it?” Minerva asked.
The spiderling boy answered first, his hair slicked by the wind from months of high-speed running. “Mommy wanted us to tell you that we need to get more Webcakes!” The Saliticida’s torso bobbed in place as she made his declaration.
“Webcakes?” Hoshiguma asked. Her blond hair furrowed with confusion.
“They are a type of cupcake, made with edible silk,” Minerva said. “The threads used are obtained from specific rituals.” She then turned to Annie. The Seinopida’s face shied away from Minerva. A finger from each of her two hands touched each other and retracted anxiously.
“Did you accidentally poison the treats, Annie?” Minerva said. Annie’s continued silence was enough confirmation for her. Minerva sighed.
“I’m sorry!” Annie said. Her blue and green hair framed her worried face. “It was…I don’t know how.”
Minerva comforted her. She knows that young Selinopidae have trouble controlling their venomous sacks and that leaking poison is a common occurrence. With a calm smile, she turned to her and William. “Come on,” she said.
“Seems our chat will have to wait,” Atsuko said. The teal-haired and cat-eared girl left. Hoshikage meanwhile was intrigued by these Webcakes. “Maybe I can help?” the kunoichi said.
Minerva held an incredulous expression.
“What?” Hoshikage said. “I know a thing or two about making snacks.”
“I suppose,” Minerva said with a little trepidation. “But please refrain from eating them, they’re for the children.”
“Gotcha!” Hoshikage said.
“Have fun then,” Atsuko said as she left the room.
A while later, Atsuko finds Noboru in the Blew maw. The elder Tanuki practices with a wooden sword. Unsheathing and resheathing it in rapid succession.
“Iaido again?” Atsuko said.
The philosopher chuckled as he placed the wooden blade back in its sheath again. “I needed the exercise.”
Atsuko looked around and saw cut marks in some of the foliage.
The two talked about traditions. Both those they encountered in their travels in Liberté and those they were raised in their homes in the kingdoms of the islands of Yae. Noboru’s raccoon-like tail swayed and swished in the gentle breeze. The topics included honor and duty. Atsuko is reminded of various settlements on the archipelago that included Universalists.
Noboru then reminded Atsuko of a certain legend. “You recall the tale of the Okami-no-Yami?”
“The dark wolf?” Atsuko said. “Slain by three warriors? Plunged the islands into darkness for a millennium? Yeah, I remember that story. Mom had it read to me when I was younger.”
Noboru chuckled. He had expected as much from his liege.
“Why did you ask that, Noboru-san?” Atsuko said. “Is it because of that sword of yours?”
Atsuko referred not to the wooden practice sword the Tanuki wilded earlier, but instead a relic he brought with him. A wakizushi with an ebon blade. A sword that he swore not to wield.
“The Muramasa had been on my mind lately,” Noboru said. He had chanced upon the sword early in his career as a monk and a samurai. “It is said to be wilded by one of the three heroes that slain Okami-No-Yami, but in spite of the divine lineage, it thirsts for blood.”
“Ah yeah,” Atsuko said. “The rumors of it forcing its welders to cut someone when drawn were pretty common.” A though occurred in Atsuko’s mind. The nekomata made a wicked grin. “Maybe we can try exploring the sword. See how it works?”
“My lady,” Noboru said in a polite tone. “I must ask if that is truly wise. Who knows what profane spirits lurked in the Muramasa? Your microdugneon technology had improved since we were hired by Emily, but I fear there are still risks involved with items like that cursed sword.”
Atsuko pouted. It was clear that Noboru was against exploration of the sword. The two talked about other things for a while and then they left the Bleumaw.
✦✦✦
Later, Lily, Anemone, and Hydrangea searched for someone to help the lycanthrope. They soon ran into Elizabeth, having returned from Rosenkreuz. The pink-haired fairy greeted the three girls. She noticed Anemone was moving on all fours.
“We have a problem,” Hydrangea said.
“I see,” Elizabeth said as she saw a tearful Anemone trying to dig on the floor.
“Help me,” Anemone said with a whimper.
The fairy asked the girls to follow her as she fluttered towards a room in the Dungeon.
“Is something wrong?” Emily’s voice echoed to Elizabeth.
“Ah, Emily!” Elizabeth said. “Well well…there is—”
“Anemone is acting like a dog!” Lily blurted out.
“What? How?” Emily said.
“Well, you see,” Elizabeth said. “[Lycanthropes] tend to be sensitive to the moon. The Influence of [Tranquilitas, the Moonshadow] forced them to behave a lot like their [Dormarch] distant cousins.”
“We use special charms… to help ward it off,” Anemone said, struggling to get the words off. “But getting mine recast is… Is…” she suddenly noticed Rose slither nearby and rand to lick her face.
“She needs specific items to recharge her charm,” Hydrangea said. Lily galloped to her lycanthrope and Lamia friends.
“What the heck is going on?” Rose said while Anemone sniffed her tail with a look of embarrassment.
“The full moon is near,” Lily said.
Elizabeth and Emily discussed the issues Anemone might cause the Hallowstide guest in her current state. “What do we need?” Emily said.
“[Moonstorm Argentum] for starters,” Elizabeth said. “Silver melted to a liquid state and electrified.”
Emily decided to ask Sarah for help.
Meanwhile, Sarah was inside a kitchen with Minerva and Hoshikage. Giving them ingredients to help bake their Webcakes.
“Okay,” the platinum-haired dwarf said. “Got a gallon of milk, a case of eggs, and some bags of baker’s chocolate. Anything else?”
“I’ve managed to secure the silk from some of our friends in the brood here,” Minerva said. “Thank you, Sarah.”
“No problem,” Sarah said. “You sure you don’t want my help?”
“The recipe is rather delicate and well…” Minerva said. “I fear that having two gluttons bake would yield… disastrous results.”
“Fine,” Sarah said. “I can control myself, but I can’t say much with the other one.”
“I can hear you you know!” Hoshikage said.
Emily’s voice echoes to Sarah. “Sarah? Can you help us get some silver?”
“Got to go. Something came up with Emily,” Sarah said. “Good luck with the cupcakes!” She rushed past her brother Richard who carted around various costuming materials. The blond dwarf was perplexed by why Sarah was running so fast.
✦✦✦
Esteban and Julia meanwhile are helping Lydia with the spiderlings.
“Thank you for helping me out,” Lydia said. The Arachne broodmother had needed extra hands.
“We’re happy to help,” Esteban said. “We have experience with kids.” He straighted out his azure coat.
Julia twirls a lock of violet-blue hair as she sees some of the Arachne children. Including an Argyronetida swimming in a nearby lake. Her head encased in one of their signature webbing. The young Arachne splashed some of the other Argyonetidae close by, giggling as the others tried to chase her.
“Melissa is always a fast swimmer,” Lydia mused.
Esteban looked out at a Lycosida boy hiding behind one of the webbed pillars in the room, near the lake’s edge. Melissa swam toward the edge unaware of the boy lurking nearby.
“Got you!” the male spiderling leaped from the pillar and tackled Melissa, ticking her and distracting her long enough for the other Argyonetidae to catch up.
“I take it Melissa used webs to keep the water from her mouth and lungs?” Julia asked.
“Of course,” Lydia said. “Argyonetidae webs are very water proof. How did you know?”
“Call it a hunch,” Julia said.
Esteban gathers several of the broodlings around and tells them several stories, tales of thieves stealing legendary items and unearthing vast conspiracies. Lydia is impressed by Esteban’s word craft.
“He’d make a good bard,” Julia said. “If he could carry a tune that is.”
Esteban chuckled. Still certain thoguths ahd crossed his mind. In the months since Tim had asked him to find Alkahestic factions in Noir, he had unearthed some leads. However even with the help of the Rouges Guild following up on them had proved difficult. They were too opaque, too esoteric and as verse in the art of stealth as he is. His own push into finding out more about the Voorhes Gang proved similarly fruitless.
Still he is not going to let these setbacks keep him from entertaining the children. Julia meanwhile brought some art supplies and paper for the Arcahne children. The first to make use of them were the Araneidae, who held a vibrant image in their heads and desired to bring it to life.
Kaitlyn had arrived, with a paining of an eerie meadow in tow. The bipedal girl asked the artistic Araneidae about her work. Several of them complimented the amount of detail in the picture, and the use of reds and greys.
The married rouges continued to help Lydia with the children, who expressed their excitement for the coming holiday and festival.
✦✦✦
Heathcliff gazed upon a garden of vibrant flowers. He had spent a good chunk of the morning tending to the flowerbeds. The red-haired knight looked proudly upon his recent work.
He noticed Carla approaching him. She is taken aback at the array of flowers in front of her. The rainbow roses, the dianthas and the Lunar Drops arranged in a harmonious formation.
“Never took you as a gardener,” Carla remarked.
“Heh, There’s a lot of things ya don’t know about me. What’s up?” Heathcliff’s tone was cordial.
“I want to learn more about Hallowstide,” Carla said. “I figured one as traveled as yourself might know a fair bit about it.”
Heathcliff stroked his chin. “Hallowstide huh? It’s actually pretty recent as far as traditions go. With roots in similar festivals all around the world. Right near the equator, there is a tradition focused on remembering the dead. In Albion and Eturia, it stemmed from a day of prayer for Anesidora. And in the rest of Eberus, it is said to be when spooky things happened. The Wild Hunt, Phantom Horsemen, et cetera.”
“Oh my,” Clara said. “Any other details about it?”
“Right now, historians claim that Liberté is where the current traditions, and the name emerged. Some think that it was related to the formation of a more localized shindig in November, which itself is said to be another harvest celebration before becoming more known for celebrating the Albionian settlers there.”
“Interesting,” Carla said. “I think Hamlin celebrated that, but I wasn’t too sure. The villagers had invited me several times, but I had turned them down. Was too busy tending to the animals. Samuel…” Carla sighed. “He told me a fair bit about those gatherings and lamented how I was never able to go.”
Silence filled the room where the garden rested. A light breeze flew through the blue and back walls where sunlight peaked through. Carla lingered on the demise of her husband, the beginning of her misfortunes that ending with her shunned by her original village.
The silence was broken when the two noticed Anemone barging and digging a hole in a mount of dirt, to the knight’s surprise. “Qu'est-ce que?” he asked.
The wolf-eared girl barked as she continued building her mound on the flower bead, uprooting several of the dianthas nearby. Hydrangea and Lily entered the garden.
“Anemone! No!, bad girl!” Lily said. Anemone whimper at the centauride’s command. Carla noticed something is off about her.
A while later, Anemone regained enough lucidity to feel embarrassment for her recent actions, and apologize to Heathcliff about his garden.
“It’s fine, Anemone,” Heathcliff said to Anemone. He turned to Clara. “Seems like the moon is causing trouble for her,” he said to Clara before moving to a different flowerbed.
“Hey Em,” Heathcliff said as he took some Lunar Drops from a flowerbed.
There was no response, but Heathcliff did see Emily’s avatara materialize in the garden and in front of the the girls.
“Seems she already knew of this,” the knight thought. He approached the avatara and handed her several of the anemone flowers. “Think these will come in handy.”
Emily realized that Heathcliff knew what was going on and thanked her.
“Heathcliff,” Emily said to her Dungeon Master. “Sarah told me about a nearby dungeon with enchanted Silver ore—”
“I gots you,” Heathcliff said. “Unfortunately I can’t go with you this time. Pauline wants me to make some extra treats for the kids.” It was a rare moment for him, what he was unable to accompany Emily.
Anemone struggled against her urges while Lily tried to keep her calm.
Heathcliff looked at Emily. “You go ahead. I’ll tell Pauline about the trip.”
Emily took the three Coloraturas and left the gardens.
Clara’s shock over Anemone’s current state gave way to confusion. She had dealt with wild animals before, but temporarily wild people was beyond her ken. She then turned to the knight. “You said you had to help the Guild supply treats?”
“Oui,” Heathcliff said. “The guild wanted to make sure a repeat of the Honey Disaster doesn't happen again.”
“Maybe I can come with you?” Clara said. She wanted to get more perspectives on Hallowstide.
“Huh?” Heathcliff said. “I don’t mind, but what about what you said about laying low?”
“I do not believe that anyone from Hamlin would be in Rosencruz, not with how far it is.” Despite this, she considered donning a disguise just in case. She also wondered how her sister Geraldine was doing back at Hamlin.
Heathcliff agreed to let Clara accompany him. Clara helped him repair the flowerbed Anemone had ruined before they left the garden.
✦✦✦
Emily, Elizabeth, Tim, Sarah, Anemone, Lily, Hydrangea, and Rose arrived at the Dungeon Sarah mentioned. The Silvervale Crags. Gleaming grisaille cliffs and valleys were visible for miles on end.
Anemone howled at a nearby hilltop for a few moments. Her friends grew more worried about her condition.
“So what should we expect here?” Tim asked.
“It’s Autumn, so we might see Dormarches and other Lycanthropes here,” Sarah said.
“Dormarches?” Emily asked.
“The [Dormarches] are distant cousins of the [Lycanthropes],” Elizabeth said. “While they have nomadic lifestyles and migrate frequently, it isn’t unheard of for a few to settle in a given place.”
A large serpentine beast emerged from the one of the cliff faces. The creature swims in the air as it bore into the glistering silver rock at the other side of the valley.
“And those are…” Rose asked.
“[Rock Morays],” Elizabeth said.
“They are…” Anemone had recovered a few moments of lucidity. “They feed off the rock and metal embedded into the ground.” Her sentence was punctuated with some barking. Her tail was clenched.
“Are you doing okay?” Lily asked Anemone.
The purple-haired wolf-eared girl still struggled with the amplified impulses wrought from the nearly full moon. “I’m sorry you had to—”
“Don’t apologize!” Rose interrupted. “That’s what friends do, right?”
Lily cantered to Anemone. “We’ll help you with your charm, promise!”
Emily’s group ventured forth into the Silvervale Crags.
✦✦✦
Emily’s group traveled down the Silvervale Crags. Rose noticed that the dungeon held several festive decorations. Pumpkins with faces carved onto them. Fake cobwebs and skeletons dot the cliff’s faces.
“Do Dungeons celebrate holidays?” Rose innocently asked.
Emily is confused by the lamia’s question. She asked Elizabeth for answers.
“It depends,” Elizabeth said. “Some are not willing to engine with festivities, but others do want to engage with the holidays when possible. Some even go as far as to change their challenges around them, even beyond making sure younger adventurers are unharmed.”
Anemone noticed the bony remains among the Allowstide decorations. She tried to resist the urge to pounce on the bones and chew on them with her teeth.
Lily meanwhile approached a different pile of bones. She was certain they were just decorations. Tim meanwhile surveyed the area. He noticed mana surging from the ground.
A Rock Moray flew above the party, seemingly ignorant of their presence. A silvery powder is secreted from the eel and coats the ground and the bones. As Lily curiously tried to touch one, Her arm grazed an arrow that hit the pile of bones.
Lily turned back and saw Anemone had fired the shot. “Stay back!” the purple ringleted girl said. “Those bones are…” she couldn't finish her sentence before her speech turned to barking.
Lily was perplexed. “They’re just decorations, right?” she thought. They looked like plastic bones at a distance as she held that train of thought she noticed something grab her hind leg. The blond centaur turned her head and saw that it was a skeleton.
“Welcome to the Silvervale Crags!” the undead said.
Lily screamed and galloped away from the skeleton. Their arm still grabbed her hind hoof.
The skeletons surrounded the group of eight. Sarah already took her hammer out and got to smashing. Emily used bardsong to sing a gusty tune. Tim uses his bajiquan techniques to dispatch several of the skeletons. Rose and Elizabeth used lightning spells, and Anemone tried to assist with her magic as much as possible.
The lycanthrope tried to focus as she aimed her bow and arrow, but the lupine and canine instinct overwhelmed her again and she accidentally nocked an arrow at Emily’s shadow. The arrows pinned Emily in place instead of their opponents. Emily, rooted to the ground is ambushed by more skeletal cells of the cliffs, her swords clashing with their femurs.
Lily eventually regained enough composure to take out her spear and come to Emily’s aid. She charged towards the ambushers and uprooted Anemone’s arrow from the shadow, allowing Emily to move again.
Anemone tried to attack the Cells, but her aim was impeded again and she instead grazed Rose. The lamia nearly dodged the projectile and saw Anemone struggling to steady her aim.
Hydrangea meanwhile was channeling an ice spell to freeze the skeletal mob. Her glasses coldly stared at the battle as she continued her casts. Several of the undead were entombed in icy coffins.
Her spells in tandem with everyone else’s attacks had thinned out all but a few skeleton warriors. Those last stragglers were eventually defeated by Anemone, who had caved into her impulses and leaped at a tibia from one of them and chewed on them. The remainder realized Anemone was a lycanthrope and fled the battle.
Lily, Rose, and Hydrangea looked at the hatted girl, who had an embarrassed expression. Hydrangea and Lily begin to wonder about the extent of the moon’s effect on Anemone.
The group ventured deeper into the cliffs.
✦✦✦
Meanwhile, Raine helped Richard with the costuming. The dwarf asked the phoenixian girl to help him prepare the costumes. While they gathered the various materials, Raine thought about what was happening with Anemone.
Richard noticed the young girl’s mood. “I thank you for taking the time to help me with this, but…”
“But?” Raine asked.
“Is something on your mind, Miss Cadenza?” Richard asked.
Raine stayed silent for a few moments, as she took some sheets of fabric from the basket. “You wanted the cloth here, right?” she answered, ignoring Richard’s question.
Richard walked to the table where the cloth was placed and took out some sheets. The colors of the sheets were black and purple, colors that reminded Raine of her lycanthropic friend.
Azalea swam into the atelier, curious about the costumes Richard decided to work on. “Howdy!” the clionid said.
“What is it Azalea?” Raine asked.
“Just wrapped out my practice,” the blue-haired mermaid said. “Wanted to see if the wrappings were also wrapped up.”
“We just started,” Ricard said while he sewed patches of black cloth together.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“What are the costumes for anyway?” Raine asked. “I thought most new adventures just wore normal armor and robes?”
“There are some traditions that necessitate costumes,” Richard said. “Some were created by Messengers. Others emerged by happenstance.”
Azalea noticed Raine’s long face. “Thinking about Anemone, huh?”
“W-what? No!” Raine lied. “The moon has thrown her loopy multiple times now. I’m sure she’ll be fine.”
Richard is perplexed by Raine’s answer. To him, it seemed like the Coloraturas were very close-knit. “Why didn’t you go with them?” the blond dwarf curiously asked.
Raine didn’t think of a response.
“I wanted to entertain the other kids,” Azalea said. “There are few opportunities in the year for me to tickle their funny bones with Allowstide jokes.”
“Clover and Strelitizia wanted to check things out at Noir,” Raine added. “They heard Gatsby Tower is having a shindig on Allowstide.”
“That is true,” Richard said. He then realized that Raine still hadn’t answered his question.
“Look, I just wanted some time to myself, okay?” Raine said.
“She’s always like this,” Azalea whispered to Richard.
“Look can we get these costumes done already?” Raine said impatiently. Azelia giggled a bit and offered to help Richard. The three spent the next hour finishing several sets of costumes.
Raine left to get more cloth from outside. Richard looked to the clionid. “So why is she so…?”
Azalea pondered for a bit. “Don’t really know. She tried to deny it, but she often went to great lengths to help us when we were in the Underground. Rosie thinks it might have to do with her missing parents.”
Richard was aware of the girls’ lives before being adopted by Emily. Eight orphans who had lost their parents in myriad ways. Though the Coloratura’s time as Emily’s sentinels, they had divulged some details about their old families, but Raine was unusual in that she had recollected nothing of hers at all. She had not the faintest of memory about them.
Raine returned with white and indigo fabrics, as well as a separate basket of fake horns and pumpkin-shaped buttons. Her mood was somewhat calmer now. Richard took the items and the three continued work on the costumes.
✦✦✦
Emily’s group arrived at the maw of a vast expanse in the Silvervale Crags. There they found no one else. Furthermore, the path reached a dead end.
“That’s strange,” Tim said. He noticed that such a place would be appropriate for a fight against a Sentinel.
Elizabeth fluttered around the arena but found no trace of anything there. Emily uses bardsong to detect any invisible presence, but so far her music had no echoes.
While Emily, Tim, and Elizabeth search for any boss encounters, Lily, Hydrangea, Rose, and Sarah looked at the silver and rock walls around them. Anemone was nearby, trying once again to keep the moon’s hold over her at bay.
The wolf-eared girl looked at the moon, a desire to just howl at it began overwhelming her.
“I can’t, I mustn’t!” Anemone thought. She recalled the sense of manners her parents had instilled in her. “Ramona,” her father said. “You mustn’t bark at the kind strangers, dear.” “Ramona,” her mother scolded. “It is uncouth to bite the guests!” She was instilled with both the means and a desire to act prim and proper. Almost as if she was raised as an Empyrean.
Anemone’s train of thought was interrupted when she heard Lily yell in shock. Her gaze was turned toward a pair of two figures that were not beside the group. The shorter of which had a canid tail that wagged excitably, and the ears to match.
“Wow!” the stranger said. “I never thought that there would be other guests here!” Her tone and the cadence of her voice reminded both Lily and Anemone of Clover. “It’s so exciting! It’s usually me and my pack that goes to these parts. Say, can you tell me your names? We haven’t gotten around to—”
“Cassie,” the other Dormarch said. Her ears were cropped in a triangular shape. Her tail slowly swayed as she approached the group. Her hair was styled with a pink mohawk and her attire was black leather overlaid upon armor. Both of them also notably had masks around their mouths.
“Oh, right, sorry,” Cassie said.
Sarah noticed the Dormarch pair. She found their sudden presence strange. Emily returned to the group and saw the strangers. “Hello?” she awkwardly asked.
“Hello!” Cassie said with a great big wave and a smile. She then introduced herself. Her neck-length bob was half blue and half blond, trailing off into two braids alternating in both colors. Her canine ears were the opposite colors. A faint whiff of hair dye emerged from the blue parts of her hair.
“Sid,” the punk-dressed woman said curtly.
“So, what brings you guys to a place like this?” Cassie asked.
“One of our friends is in trouble,” Hydrangea said. “We’re trying to get some silver for her.”
Cassie turned around and saw a purple-ringleted girl among them. Anemone’s hit obscured her ears, but her lupine tail was still visible enough, to make matters worse for her, Cassie’s nose picked up her scent.
“You have a lycanthrope with you?” Cassie said with glee. She pounced on Anemone and hugged her. To Sid’s annoyance. The leather-clad girl pinched her nose as her friend made rapid-fire questions about the increasingly uncomfortable Anemone.
“Please,” Anemone whimpered. “You’re…too close.”
Cassie didn’t hear Anemone’s pleas over her exuberant string of questions. Sid gave her a tap on the shoulder and glared. Cassie rubbed the back of her head. “Hehe, oops.” She backed away from Anemone. “Sorry about that.”
“Why are you guys here?” Emily asked.
“Our pack asked us to scout out potential dungeons around Nova Virginia,” Sid said. “They heard a promising new one popped up here recently.”
“We wanted to check up on Silvervale too,” Cassie said. “After finding out some mean old Divine Dungeon had absorbed several nearby ones…”
Emily guessed they were talking about the Engines.
“I take it you’re trying to make a charm for the cub here?” Sid asked.
“That’s right!” Lily answered.
“I see,” Sid said. “I think we can help you get the Argentum, then.”
Cassie made a sad expression. It seemed to them that she wasn’t keen on the idea of repressing her instincts like that. Before she could respond, the ground rumbled.
✦✦✦
The Rock Moray arced over the party again. It secreted the same silvery powder.
“Looks like it’s showtime!” Cassie said eagerly.
The powder coalesced into the center of the room. Emily prepared her weapons as she and her fairy sensed the emerging Sentinel.
“HELLO GUESTS!” a mechanical voice said. “‘TIS TIME FOR TRICKS AND TREATS.”
A silver golem was formed by the dust. Gleaming with the moonbeams shining down on it. It had eight mechanical arms and a holster on its hip.
“STARDECK PROTOCOLS ACTIVATED,” the machine bellowed. It took the front card from the deck in the holster and swiped out. The motion caused a wave of water to follow its momentum. The wave was directed at the party, but the wave was too small to flood the arena and was absorbed into the ground.
“TODAY’S HOROSCOPE CONFIRMED. MAIMARIO ARSENAL ACTIVATED.” The robot said.
“Maiamrio?” Anemone said. She knew it as the deck of water.
The machine revealed the card. “ASTRAL CARD CONFIRMED: LEO WEAPON ENGAGED.” The arm that held the card transformed into a sonic weapon. “BOW TO THE KING OF BEASTS.” The weapon created a high-pitched sonic wave that caused the ground to rupture, and Anemone, Cassie, and Sid to cover their ears.
“It hurts!” Anemone yelled before letting out a pained howl.
Hydrangea cursed herself as she conjured a wall of ice to try to dampen the noise. Neither Azalea nor Clover were here to use their combined magic to mute the machine.
Lily galloped to Anemone’s aid and took the werewolf on her back. Sid manifested a guitar and made three riffs. The music channeled the wind to create a whirlwind. around them.
Cassie meanwhile took out her own Stardeck and drew the Aquarius card. “Time for the high tide!” Cassie said as she presented the card. A gigantic jug manifested above them and water powered from it, Cassie used the card, and the windy powers of its native Maimario deck, to direct the water around the direction of the Sid’s whirlwind. Dampening the noise enough for Anemone to move.
The lycanthope’s ears still rung from the vibrations of the argent golem’s sonic pulse. She looked at the two Dormarches and wondered why they didn’t succumb to the high-pitched sounds from the golem’s weapon.
Hydrangea combined her ice with Cassie’s water to create an orb of gelatin and launched it into the arm of the golem. Its sonic blaster was coated in sticky gel. She then used her wand to conjure a path of ice for her to slide on as she took her grimoire and looked through her pre-inscribed spells.
Rose and Tim used lightning and earth attacks respectively to attack the silver boss. Emily meanwhile channeled fire and lightning through her twin swords as she and Sarah engaged it head-on. Sarah managed to topple the golem enough for everyone to land some good hits.
Sid, in a mood to give the boss a taste of its own medicine, used her Jonguler abilities to hinder the golem. Her guitar’s bard song enfeebled it to the magic attacks Emily, Rose, and Hydrangea used while Sarah and Tim assaulted it with heavy hammer strikes and Tim’s bajiquan attacks, respectively.
The sonic weapon faded along with the influence of the Leo card. “PREPARING REPULSION PULSE!” the silver golem launched a range of attacks that threw Emily, Tim, Sarah, and Rose back as it prepared to draw another card.
Sarah leaped forward after she was repelled and knocked the arm away from the holster with her hammer. “Don’t let it draw any more cards!” she yelled.
Lily charged forward and used her spear to intercept the machine’s eight limbs, Tim likewise did the same with his Qiang. Rose and Emily tried to use their lightning-enhanced swords to stun the silver machine, but their attacks were to no avail.
“Sorry, that silver makes it both heatproof and shockproof, ehe,” Cassie said enthusiastically.
Anemone, still struggling with the lunacy of the nearly full moon, tried to steady her aim as she pointed her bow at one of the arms of eh silver-coated golem. She nocked an arrow and it landed on the arm of the machine. With that secured, she aimed to use gravity spells to make the arm too heavy to move. Her stomach growled and thoughts of eating meat began to flood her mind. The distracted lycanthrope’s magic ended up increasing its apurgy instead of its gravity and made the arm easier to move instead.
The machine seized their opportunity and drew with the impaled armed. As it drew the card another wave emerged from around it and repelled nearly everyone. Hydrangea froze the wave in a bid to immobilize the golem. But it broke through the icy confines and presented its card.
“ANDormEDA, BIND THESE FOOLS IN YOUR CHAINS!” The engineered construct said. Its eight arms transformed into spheres where silver chains emerged. Everyone tried to avoid these chains.
The machine drew another card. “MICROSCOPIUM, MINIMIZE THEIR CHANCE SOF VICTORY!” the silver golem’s arms begin to glow as a linear ray was launched from them.
Lily was hit by the blast and shrank down to half her normal size. She gasped as the already large machine loomed larger over her.
Anemone tried to fend off her feeling of hunger and her other instinct as she fired another arrow. Another arm of the golem is impaled.
Another beam is fired again, alongside more chains, but Cassie draws a card on reflex. Unlike the green cards of the Maimario deck, this one was cyan with ice. The sigil on it resembled a W.
The Dormarch used her card to summon a reflective surface that bounced the beam back at the golem, and it shrunk down to a quarter of its size.
Though weaker now, the Sentinel is also faster and more nimble. However so was the shrunken Lily, who used her increased speed to slam into the golem. Sarah followed up with a mighty hammer swing and lobbed the golem high into the air. Anemone aimed at the aerial machine and struck it with an arrow, breaking out half of its silver armor.
“ALERT! ALERT! ARGENT ARMOR PENETRATED! UNSTABLE AERIAL MOVEMENT PREVENTING STABILIZED LANDING!” the machine bellowed as it crashed onto the ground near one of the crags.
Emily attacked with a flurry of slashes for her fire and lightning-enchanted swords. The machine’s exposed circuitry was melted by the attacks.
“THANK YOU FOR THE BATTLE. ENJOY FOR ALLOWS—” The silver golem’s last words before shutting down. It soon vanished into a cloud of silver powder that subsequently concentrated into the shape of a silver chest in front of the avatara. Emily opened the chest and found jars filled with enchanted silver powder and silver coinage, as well as several silver bladed broadswords.
Elizabeth and Sid looked at the coffer’s contents. “That is not going to be enough for the charm,” Sid said.
Anemone hung her head in disappointment as she sat on the ground. Her leg impulsively scratched an itched on her cheek.
“Guess we have to go deeper,” Rose said as she slithered to an emerging path in the cliffs.
Sid smirked. Her pink mohawk fluttered in the wind. “I’d bet Cassie would love to get to know y’all better.”
“Hey!” Cassie said. “I wanted to say that!” she puffed her cheeks.
“I’d like that, at least,” Anemone said. “Truth be told, this si the first time I’ve ever met Dormarches.”
“Really?” Cassie said.
“Nomads are not exactly common in the city Noir,” Hydrangea said.
“You guys from Noir?” Sid asked incredulously.
“Well,” Rose said. “We were from Noir, but Em and her friends here weren’t.” The lamia then gestured to Emily, Tim, Sarah, and Elizabeth.
Cassie then noticed something about Emily. Her eyes glowed with excitement. Her mind was intrigued by Emily and her friend’s strange armor and attire.
The group of eight turned ten ventured deeper into the Silvervale Crags.
✦✦✦
Meanwhile, Streltizia and Clover were at Noir. Accompanied by Pearl, who heard they were going to the city, as well as Scarlett, Kei, and Aika as chaperoned.
The porcine girl was sad to learn that Lily was away that day, but she decided to take the opportunity to learn more about some of her friends now that filming was completed. Clover was all but happy to indulge the starlet.
“The eight of you lived in the underground for how long?” Pearl asked.
“Several years now,” Streltizia said. The orange-haired minotaur looked at the diner they were in. It was a far cry from the one they once called home. She wondered how Jacquelyn was doing.
“We had been through a lot as the Coloraturas,” Clover said with a cheerful expression. Her green hair was tied in their usual pigtails, right beneath her antlers. “Like the time Rose and I stopped a Manticore from breaking a shopping center down!”
Kei held a discontented look on his face. The hustle and bustle of the city was not conducive to his usual sources of inspiration. The noise of traffic and cars was unbearable to him at best and reminded him of his days as a salaryman at worst. Aika at least was there to help him focus.
Scarlett meanwhile asked the Yanese pair about their own lives.
“Well,” Aika said with a flustered face. “I wanted to be a songstress.”
Scarlett was intrigued, she had heard a fair bit about Yae Shoto’s idol culture. Largely because of how it bled over into Hollyland.
“As for me,” Kei Iyashi said. “I find writing to be my passion.”
Neither of them knew that Pearl or Scarlett were movie stars yet, and neither of the porcines wanted them to know yet. All they knew of Pearl and Scarlett was that they were friends with Lily and acquaintances with Emily.
“You’ve been to Noir before?” Streltizia asked pearl.
“A few times,” Pearl responded to the minotauride’s question. She looked around at the various Allowstides decor at the diner. Bats, pumpkins, and figures in pointed hats decorated the walls of the restaurant.
“You think Amenone would be peeved seeing these witch decorations?” Clover asked.
“She has other concerns, remember?” Streltizia said.
“Oh, right,” Clover said after being reminded about her recent plight. “I hope she got that charm made.”
“Does she usually have issues with her instincts?” Pearl asked.
“I don’t think so,” Clover said. “She is usually more composed than that. More…dignified I guess?”
Scarlett had something on her mind. Kei noticed the red-clad woman’s expression changed. “Is something the matter?” Kai asked.
Scarlett looked at the Yanese writer and said, “No.” Aika saw a waiter bring their food over as well as a copy of the Bugileblitz. The headline mentioned that tomorrow is the anniversary of the “Allowstide massacre.”
“Allowstide massacre?” Aika asked curiously. She read through the newspaper and learned about how a prominent lycanthropic power couple was murdered several years ago, alongside several members of the Greytails gang. And also the decline of that faction following the event. Aika was confused when she read that investigations into the murders yielded nothing conclusive about the killers.
The group of six soon had their lunch. Scarlett paid the check and they soon left to see what else Noir was doing to celebrate Allowstide.
✦✦✦
Emily’s party continued down the Silvervale Crags. Along the way Cassie eagerly told them about her hobbies.
“You’re an artificer? “Sarah said. The tanned dwarf had a surprised expression as she said that question.
Cassie nodded. Her tail wagged with excitement. “I loved tinkering with gadgets. Some of the stuff in the Crags was my handiwork!”
“Did that include the [Golem] we’ve faced?” Elizabeth said.
Cassie nodded again. She took out her Stardeck. The sapphire hues of the Maimario deck shimmered in the sunbeams. “Programmed this bad boy here with the ability to use the powers of the Stardeck.”
“That’s…impressive,” Sarah was surprised she hadn’t considered that sooner.
Hydrangea used her powers to try to keep everyone cool in the warm air of the canyons. Sweat dripped from her cyan bobbed hair as she maintained a passive cooling spell. “So,” the bespectacled girl said. “Why did you create a Sentinel for this place?”
Cassie thought about the young girl’s question.” I just felt like it I guess!”
Sid sighed, “You’ll have to excuse my friend here.” The punkish Jonguler said. “She’s rather off beat at times.”
“Am not!” Cassie said with puffed cheeks.
“Kinda reminds me of Rose at times,” Lily said.
“Hey!” the pink-pigtailed lamia puffed her own cheeks in defiance of Lily’s remark. Her friends chuckled at the display.
“I can see the resemblance,” Elizabeth said with a suppressed chuckle.
Anemone meanwhile couldn't enjoy the conversation as much as the others. Largely due to her attempts to keep her id under control. Lily cantered to the lycnathrope. “Still hanging in there?” she asked.
Anemone nodded. “Barely,” she asked. She looked at their party’s guests. The two Dormarches get along well with Emily and the others. Cassie particularly has an affable aura around her. Yet something about her rubbed Anemone the wrong way. She doesn't know why.
Cassie noticed the purple-haired child starting at her and approached her. “Hey maybe we can go play on the way back!” she took out a plastic ball from her pocket. The sight of the red toy caused Anemone’s face to visible contort in repulsion. “What is with this girl?” she thought.
“Maybe later,” Anemone said. She is not in the mood for Cassie’s antics. Sid sicned the young girls distress and rubbed her nose. “Cassie!” she barked. “This isn’t the time.”
“Aw,” Cassie said as she left.
Sid approached the centaur and lycanthrope. “I have to apologize. Cass doesn't quite grasp how…different werewolves are from us.”
Anemone is not sure why, but the response didn’t help her mood one bit. Still she was raised to be polite. “It’s no problem,” she said. “Did you come across other werewolves in your travels?”
The Dormarch bard strummed her guitar a bit. “A few times, though most of them were not quite on friendly terms.”
“Do you plan on going anywhere after this trip?” Lily asked.
“Yeah actually,” Sid said. “Some of my pack is looking for a place to settle down.”
“Huh?” Anemone said.
“Yeah!” Cassie butted in. “A few of us grew weary of the nomadic lifestyle, others physically were no longer able to continue anymore. So out pack is looking for a new home.”
“I see,” Anemone said. A thought came to her mind, but she didn’t want to entertain the notion right now.
The party saw the giant Rock Moray again, as wella s its shining silver powder.
“Is that the source?” Emily asked.
“It’s possible,” Tim said.
“[Rock Morays] are known for shedding metallic particles,” Elizabeth said. “Especially in the autumn.”
The group decided to follow the serpentine eel, in the hopes of finding a larger source of the powder for Anemone’s charm.
✦✦✦
After scaling a tall cliff, Emily’s group sees themselves atop a large, round plateau. There they saw the giant Rock Moray circling it. Silver powder emanated from its pores as it flew around the flatland.
Sid looked around and saw something rushing towards them. “Lovely,” the Dormarch bard said as she took her guitar out again.
“Is that a [Lithroc]?” Elizabeth said.
“Yeah,” Sid said with a sigh. Cassie however is more enthusiastic.
Hydrangea recalled her and her friend’s encounter with a similar creature when they explored Cocytus Manor. She knew there was a family of elementally attuned birds.
The large avian zoomed toward the cliff and hovered over the party. Its wings were various shades of black and brown. The edges of its feathers resembled stone, and its talons were long and narrow. Its beak was also long and sharp.
Sarah smirked as she brandished her heavy hammer. “Time to clip some wings!” she said as she leaped into the air. Her weapon clashed with the claws of the Lithroc. The stone-like bird repelled the blunt attack but was distracted by the parry to notice Tim also striking at it with his Qiang. He used his weapon to piece the rock-solid feathers coating the bird and caused it to screech out in pain and fly around the arena. It directed its wings at the others and threw fletches at them. Hydrangea froze the feathers with her grimoire and Emily and Sarah used them as stepping stones to reach the avian.
Soon four smaller Lithroc fledglings arrived at the plateau. Anemone tried to snipe at them, but her focus wanned and her arrows missed the birds, falling down into the valley below. The smaller birds fired stones at the group. Lily galloped around and blocked them with her spear. Rose slithered past them and struck with her rapier. Her lightning-fast strikes channel actual lightning and paralyzed one of the fledglings.
The larger Lithroc eventually shook its “passengers” off of it, they landed on the plateau as it conjured large boulders from the blue. Cassie drew a card from her Stardeck, The blue card bore the sigil of Pegasus. Cassie saw Lily galloping around and had an idea, she took out a specialized ranged weapon and loaded the card, then fired the card onto the centauride.
The blond-haired centaur began sprouting wings of water from her sides. The power of these liquid wings enabled her to fly towards one of the fledglings and strike it with her signature Lumière Avant attacks.
Anemone tried to avoid the boulders as she aimed her bow at the larger Sentinel. But a slip had caused her to be repelled to the edge of the plateau. She hung onto the edge of the cliff with her free arm. She desummoned her bow and tried to reach the edge with her other arm, but it was unable to touch the cliffside.
Rose and Hydrangea tried to slither to their lupine friend’s aid, but they were intercepted by the fledglings. Emily, Elizabeth, and Tim tried to each Anemone, but the larger Lithroc impeded them. Lily was too far from Anemone and the effects of the Pegasus card began to fade.
Anemone’s grip was slipping, she looked at the expanse below and was gripped by fear. She struggled to grab the edge with her other arm and to make matters worse, black ooze emanated from her pores making the arm slippery. She was certain she would be taken out of the Dungeon.
Before the ringleted girl could slip. Cassie managed to grab her arm. Anemone looked in surprise at the peppy Dormarch as she used all her strength to try to lift her up. Anemone, fearful for her life tried to grab onto the dog-eared girl.
The larger Lithroc saw Cassie and Anenome and let out a loud shriek. It then flapped its wings to pelt Cassie with conjured stones. The continuous assault of rocks placed the Dormarch close over the edge. With both the rocks and Anemone’s slippery arm, the purple-haired child ended up plummeting down.
Cassie fell over soon after, the two girls were in freefall towards the ground below. Lily flew as fast as she could with her ephemeral wings. And barely reached them in time, With anemone landing on her equine half and Cassie clinging to her forehooves. Lily used the rest of her bequeathed powers to fly them to the plateau before the Pegasus card’s power faded from her.
Anemone looked her her old friend and her new guest then thanked them.
At the same time, Sarah managed to defeat two of the fledglings with her hammer, leaving only the large Lithroc and one of its smaller kin. The two sentinels were outraged and attacked with both their feathers and their powers over rock. Anemone summoned her bow again and aimed at the larger of two targets, yet fear still overcame her. She whimpered as her hand trembled. Lily grabbed her arms and helped her steady her hands. Even though she had used the weapon for around a year by now, her skill had much room to grow even when her mind was calm and not assailed by enhanced canid urges.
“Ready?” Lily said.
Anemone was calmed by her friend’s presence. She nodded and pulled the string on her bow. A bold of black and purple mist emerged from the bow, with a white center of energy as its arrowhead.
“L’Ombra Adante!” Amenone shouted as she and Lily let go of the bowstring. The dark arrow left the bow and was followed by a volley launched from the lycanthrope and centaur’s shadows, aimed at the Lithroc.
The avian tried to dodge the volley, but several pierced its wing. The remaining fledging tried to intercept them but the dark projectiles were too much. Worse still, its shadow overlapped Anemone and she used it to pin the smaller bird in place. She fired another bolt at it, causing more arrows to launch from her and nearby shadows again. The Lithroc couldn't fly anymore with its wings impaled like that and crashed into the depths of the valley surrounding the elevated plateau. The group of ten looked on and saw the avians dissolve into silver powder.
A treasure chest emerged at the center of the plateau. Sid opened it this time and found more vials of silver powder, as well as a silver ingot and several pieces of gear, including shields and a silver bass. Sid took the instrument and a shield and handed it to Anemone. “Seems you could use some mana.”
Anemone absorbed the shield with the ooze on her arm. Afterward, most of it had receded. Both she and the other three witches with her understood the ramifications of the black slime on her arm. Even with Emily stabilizing their mana, they knew there were still certain risks individually.
A path of light appeared at the other edge of the plateau, the Rock Moray swam towards another part of the Silvervale Crags. The group delved further into the cliffs. A sense of urgency washed over them.
✦✦✦
Meanwhile, at the Black Box, Flowena and Ulric are helping the other sprites prepare for Allowstide. The small fey gathered several of their Mirage Staves. Though they were generally cheerful, several remained wistful about the affair.
One of them tearfully gazed upon the memorial for their previous dungeon, especially Puck and Maeve. It would be the first Allowstide outside of the now-erased Mirage Feywood. Another bittersweetly mused on how they adjusted to their new surrounding and lamented the loss of the friends that weren’t able to escape the Baron Roberts’ siege. A third is telling the younger sprites tales about what they had lost. Stories that framed the Baron as a wicked invader, Puck and Maeve as valiant defenders, and Emily as the one who avenged them.
Ulric looked at the repressions. His once innocent eyes dimmed the day the Baron attacked, and he saw the trauma of him and his fellows manifest in the illusions they weaved. Flowena tried to make sure these memories did not appear through these illusions. After all, it may be a time for scaring children, but also a time for ensuring they have fun. They do not want the terrors of their past to scar their little minds.
They ended up talking about the preparations.
“There is still disquiet in our hearts,” Flowena said forlornly. She wondered how long would they be haunted by the losses they had suffered back in Cerberus.
“Better an unsilent heart over a still one,” the blue-hared sprite said to his pink-haired companion. They both knew they were lucky that Emily and her friends stumble into the feywood. If that weren’t the case then Mister Puck wouldn’t have any idea on how to save his people and they would’ve all been destroyed by the wicked Baron of the Engines.
“Still,” Flowena said. “There is some solace here.” She knew that Emily had absorbed the Baron and all of the mana accumulated with the Engines. Preventing him from rendering terror onto anyone ever again.
Ulrich held Flowena’s hand. “Chin up, dear. It fell to us to lead the sprites now.”
A blond sprite approached them. Clad in an equally yellow tunic and pointed hat. “There you are!” she said. She seemed younger than Ulrich and Flowena. Her eyes possessed a naivete that slowly waned from the other sprites.
“Salliandra?” Flowena said. “What’s the problem?”
“Gnobby is causing trouble again,” Salliandra said. Ulrich sighed as he and her fellow sprite leader followed her to the source of the trouble.
There they find a more slobbish sprite ranting about their troubles. While most of the sprites had adjusted to life in the Black Box, others were more maladjusted. They were unable to let go of the Feywood that no longer exists, of the joy that used to be found there. None were more unable to move on than Gnobby, whose brothers, sisters, and parents were lost to the might of the Engines. The sole survivor often acted jealously, belittling the few joys his fellows had in the fact that their loved ones at least survived, and sparking conflicts with them as a result. When he isn’t doing that, he often ends up having nightmares among the other sprites. The two leaders had tried to get him to cut it out, to no avail.
They saw two other sprites nearby. their faces left in tears. They intuited that Gnobby had verbally assaulted the poor twins with insults and lamentations. Flowena scolded Gnobby again while Ulrich comforted the fey twins.
After they escorted the twins away from Gnobby. They saw a purple-clad sprite practicing darkness magic. One of two vital elements for their mirages.
“Still at it again, Philliam?” Flowena said.
The purple sprite sheepishly nodded. He had occasionally asked Anemone among other experts in dark magic for guidance on his spellcraft and took their lessons to heart. His glasses shined as he tried to conjure shadows and dark mist. Philliam then reported that his sister Molly was finishing up with their decorations.
As if on cue, a green-covered sprite fluttered around the others. Her hair was done in brads adorned with a big bow. She smiled a big grin as she used her staff to create phantasmal images of bats and people raising broomsticks above.
“What do you think?” Molly said with a great big smile on her face. Flowena, Ulric, and Salliandra were impressed by the young sprite’s improvements.
The group of five sprites soon noticed some more normal-sized people approaching them. They were Saizo, Kasumi and Suzune. The three shinobi were surprised at the strange illusions on display here.
The one with the prosthetics greeted the sprites. “Hello there,” he said. Emily and Atsuko decided to have Saizo represent the rest of the Black Box when the former was unable to.
“Hello there Sir Saizo,” Ulrich said. “What brings you here?”
“Just checking up on things,” Saizo said.
Kasumi looked at the smaller beings. “Huh, Thought you were a bit bigger.”
Molly greeted Kasumi and used an illusion spell to make her appear larger. The two were surprisingly close friends since they met a few months ago. Philliam scolded her sister for using her mirages to make herself appear larger.
Suzune looked at the other sprites. “They’re certainly more willing to show themselves the the korpokkur at least,” the swordsmistress said.
“How is Hoshikage doing?” Molly asked cheerfully.
“She is doing alright,” Kasumi said. She had an idea and asked Flowena and Ulrich if she could help them for a bit. The two sprites agreed.
With their permission, Kasumi took a bauble from her dress and used it to create a veil of fog. Molly understood what she was planning to do and prodded her brother to make illusory shadows in the fog, then used her own spells to create reflections in the mist.
The spectacle surprised Saizo, Flowena, Ulrich, and Salliandra. Suzune was nonplussed and Phillaim was outright shown at the quality of the illusions in the fog.
Saizo and Suzune let Kasumi play with the sprites. The orange-haired girl then continued helping Molly and her brother by mixing their illusions with her mists. Ulrich and Flowena then took Salliandra to other parts of the Black Box to look at other aspects of their preparations.
✦✦✦
Emily, Anemone, Lily, Tim, Rose, Hydrangea, Elizabeth, Sarah, Sid, and Cassie followed the Rock Moray through the decorated canyons of the Silvervale Crags. They fought their way through the sun-bleached skeletons and several giant scorpions as they followed the eel through the dungeons. The eel soon stops and circles a gigantic tree as Stella receded over the horizon.
The tree leaves were not green with the vernal tones, nor did they brown with the autumntide. They were instead gleaming silver. Like moonlight made manifest. Anemone felt at ease for the first time since she entered the Crags.
The Rock Moray circled the party, aware of why they were here. Though it is the first thing Emily and her friends saw upon arrival, it is in truth the third Sentinel, bearer of the will of the Silvervale Crags, tasked by the dungeon itself to test their worth for the argent scales it held, the powder it shed and above all, the enchanted silver of the tree. Emily senses that deep within the canopy of the silver tree behind the arena was the Dugneon’s core. But she was not here for that. She had a friend to help. She took out her twin blades and gazed at the Rock Moray.
Elizabeth fluttered around the eel, trying to find its weaknesses while Sarah engaged with the last Sentinel. Sid used her new instrument and skills as Jonguler to enfeeble the eel. It was an easy task for her, having faced it so many times. She knew the right notes to play.
The eel circled around the party and the open arena was suddenly washed in fragrant mists. Anemone’s nose was assaulted by the potpourri of aromas. She saw the Rock Moray vanish into the ground.
“What do we do?” Lily said with worry. “We can’t see it.”
Cassie drew the Hydrus. A card that was unable to help in their current fight and held on to it for now.
“The [Rock Moray] prefers to dig into the ground,” Elizabeth said.
Anemone tried to control herself, but among the fragrances were those of grilled meat. Her tongue salivated as hunger overcame her. She rushed around the arena, trying to dig for the source despite herself. For her impulsive act, she, and the party were punished by the sight of silver skeletal piles unearthing and assembling themselves into undead monsters. Tim, unamused, performed a charging step toward the one facing anemone and used palm strikes on the joints to disassemble them.
Anemone followed her nose to another scene and tried digging again. While her mind futilely tried to get her body to cease. Another skeleton emerged and Lily and Hydrangea combined their magic to create a refractive barrier that mitigated the skeletal mage’s attacks. Anemone still not in control of her body, dug at a third sight and unearthed two Mages, Emily made quick work of both before they could harm the lycanthrope.
The moray emerged from the ground, creating shockwaves as it dived again. A dull silver powder erupted from the monster’s attacks.
“Be careful!” Cassie said. “That powder is dangerous!”
Hydrangea inhaled some of it and began feeling woozy. Her focus waned as she tried to freeze the reinforcements. Elizabeth and Tim blew much of the powder away from everyone, but it found their way into their lungs and began tiring them out. The poisonous powder also ended up in Anemone’s lungs as a result of her digging. Only Emily, whose avatara body is unaffected, and the two Dormarches, whose face masks protected them, were unaffected by the powder.
Anemone tried to keep herself away as the toxic silver sapped her energy and the moonlight continued to cause her beasteal instincts to to go wild. Before she knew it she collapsed on the ground, her mind drifted into unconsciousness.
✦✦✦
Anemone soon found herself in a place that wasn’t the Silvervale Crags. It instead was reminiscent of the skyscrapers of Noir. Red blotches stained every wall around her. In the distance, she could see a giant wolf, bound by silver chains.
The wolf howled at the moon as if calling for her. Anemone felt a dreadful familiarity coming from it. The lupine beast set its sights on her and snarled.
Anemone understood the creature’s cries, but she dared not answer its plea. She knew nothing of why her parents died. Or who they were, she could not answer the wolf even if she wanted.
The giant animal was angered by the response. It tried to lunge at her, but the fetter son it forbade it. Liquid obsidian oozed from the legs where the chains were attached and the savage beast cried out in pain. As if it was bleeding. Anemone dared not approach the beast and the strange city was soon clouded in fog.
✦✦✦
Anemone woke back up, still tired. She saw that Cassie had tended to her. She growled at the Dormarch, as she helped her up.
The young girl looked around and saw most of her friends were knocked out by the poisonous silver. She saw Lily and Hydrangea unconscious on the ground while Sarah, with her mouth covered as much as possible, tried to knock the scales off the Rock Moray. Sid had used her Bardsong to dislodge several of the scales while Sarah and Emily attacked it. While Rose dealt with the skeletal reinforcements.
Anemone rubbed her eyes as Rose slithered towards her. “Glad to see you’re awake Mona,” she said in a surprisingly cheerful tone, given the circumstances. Anemone and Case can see the powder had gotten onto the Lamia.
The Rock Moray was weakened, but it was not taken out yet. Anemone tried to focus, to silence her instincts as she took her bow at the beast. A thought had come to her that caused her to kick herself for not realizing it sooner. “Rose, can you help me out here?” she said.
The Lamia looked into her eyes and realized what her request was. “Anemone, I can’t… do you know how dangerous that—”
“Please!” Anemone interrupted, nearly growling. She clutched her head in agony as she felt her id trying to override her again. Rose looked at their allies and back at Anemone. “Okay,” she said. “Here goes.”
Cassie didn’t understand what was happening. Rose told the Dormarch to stay back as she took her wand and rapier out and used them to channel lightning. She tried to be as careful as she could as she heeded Anemone’s silent request and zapped her with her spells. Anemone, in turn, took her darkness-enhanced bow and used it to draw the thunder to her. She let out a yelp as electricity coursed through her veins, but she had a plan.
The lightning kept her lucid, but it did more than that, combined with darkness, it allowed her to channel mild psionic power. The energy of her and Rose’s magic is channeled into an arrow that she immediately aimed at the Moray. The lightning and dark powered arrow pierced an exposed part oft he Rock Moray, and through that, Anemone found her opening, projecting her lupine id onto the Rock Moray’s mind. The monster was overwhelmed by the same instincts she struggled to suppress throughout the whole day. These impulses and thoughts clashed with the consciousness of the eel’s mind and caused it to flair around in distracted movements. Until to dive back into the ground and spread its near miasmic powder, Emily, Sarah, Cassie, Rose, and Anemone attacked the Sentinel with all they had, while Sid shredded her instrument to further distract and weaken the eel.
The eel was soon vanquished. A brighter powder erupted from its body as its form vanquished. The powder covered the entire ground and counteracted the poison of its attacks.
At the foot of the silver tree, a treasure chest dropped. Cassie cheerfully leaped toward it and opened it, reliving it of all its contents, inclining a gleaming set of armor and enchanted Argentum.
Everyone took time to recover and gather their bearing. Anemone retained enough lucidity to assess that they had enough ore for the Moonstorm Argentum.
“We did it!” Cassie said. “Wasn’t that fun?”
“We beat the dungeon,” Elizabeth said, “But we still have much work to do.”
“I know of a forge near here,” Sid said. “Many of our pack set it up for our smiths.”
“How convenient,” Sarah said. “Leave it to me.”
Later, a short distance away from the tree, Sarah took the silver and placed it in the forge’s furnace. There she, with guidance from Elizabeth, Sid, and Anemone, poured the livid silver into a crest-shaped mold. At the center of it was the Lunar Drops Heathcliff gave Emily.
With the melted silver set. Rose used her lightning spells to electrify the mold. “Alright,” she said. “What’s next?”
The flower’s petals were severed by the lightning and fell into the crest. The metal began to glow with a lavender light. Anemone saw the Moonstorm Argentum was readied and approached it. The typical ritual is for her forehead to be coated in it, but as a Magical Girl, she knew of more effective means. Black ooze emerges from her palm and covered the crest and silver before retracting back into her hand with it. Following the absorption of the silver, her clouded ming grew more lucid. The urges of her lupine instant had ceased.
Cassie turned to the moon in the sky. Her tail wagged with anticipation. “Allowstide is the day after tomorrow!” she said. She had an idea and left the party.
“Cassie?” Sid is shocked to see Cassie just leave them. “W-wait!” the bard followed her friend.
Emily meanwhile held someone from the treasure. A slab with a message from the Dungeon itself. Congratulating her and wishing the fall and winter are kind to her.
A while passed and it was clear that the Dormarch pair wasn’t returning. Emily and her group turned and noticed a path to the entrance had opened up, illuminated by light. They followed this illuminated path through the caverns and canyons until they returned to its maw and headed back to Rosenkreuz.
✦✦✦
Meanwhile, Heathcliff and Clara were still at the guildhall. Pauline and Benoit looked over the various treats the two made.
“Thank you both for your help today,” the blue-hared elf said.
“Now the guild is well prepared for Allowstide!” Benoit said.
“Pleasure is all mine, cher,” Heathcliff said.
“It certainly was…an experience,” Carla said. The alruane wondered if her baked goods were good enough for the guild. She also wondered about Orpheus Arion over at Noir.
The knight and the Alraune left the guildhall to return to the Black Box. There they found a strange pair of Dormarches.
“So this is Rosenkreuz, huh?” The younger one said. Her two-toned hair and her friend’s punkish attire were very distinctive.
“Dormarches?” Heathcliff said with a little surprise.
“You know of them?” Clara said.
The knight nodded. “They don’t usually come across these parts.”
The two dormarches, including a Bhargest, noticed the knight and Alraune. The Bhargest bard approached them.
“Welcome to Rosenkruz,” Heathcliff said. “Guild’s right behind me if you’re interested.”
“Thank you!” the blond and blue-haired girl said as the pair walked past them.
Shortly after Emily and her party arrived to pick up Heathcliff and Clara.
“Have you obtained the silver?” Clara asked. She learned from Heathcliff that Emily had ventured to a dungeon for it.
Anemone nodded.
“Getting that silver is a real doozy,” Rose said.
“How was the baking,” Emily said to Heathcliff.
“Went really well!” Heathcliff said with pride. “My cookies will put a real smile on the younger adventurers.”
The group then saw Cassie and Sid leave the guild hall, their presence surprised Emily and Anemone. Cassie in turn recognized them from earlier and greeted them.
“Hey there!” Cassie said.
“Seems someone made some new friends at the cliffs,” Heathcliff said.
“It’s a long story,” Emily said.
They learned that the Dormarches had decided to check out the town and its Allowstide festivals. Sid also explained that the guildhall is offering them a room to stay in for the week. With that Cassie asked if Emily wanted to give them a tour of the town tomorrow. Emily agreed and the Dormaches left the group again. The others headed back to their homes in the Black Box. By this time, Strelitizia and her group had also returned from Noir. After a long day and with Allowstide on the horizon, Emily and her friends took a well-earned rest.