The cold night wind howled outside the window, causing it to vibrate loudly. Diane had been having some difficulty going to sleep, her mind alight with questions and all kinds of thoughts.

Just how had everything worked out so well? She rolled over in the bed and opened one eye to look at Thistleman, sprawled out on the floor again.

“Hey, Thistle. You awake?”

“Always. Whatsup?”

“Well, I…. uh… about today. Did any of it… seem weird to you?”

“Hmmm, well that Haraldr guy sure seemed pretty happy getting all torn up. And the counter guy thought the moon was made of cheese. Why do you ask?”

“Well… I just… I thought you shouldn’t think anything was weird and just get back to sleep. You’re keeping me up!”

Diane turned back over in a huff. She realized she didn’t have the confidence to ask what she really wanted to know.

Meanwhile, Thistleman opened his eyes and looked at her in confusion. Thus, the night passed, with Diane finally catching a few hours of sleep after getting over her embarrassment.

Diane jumped up with a start. The dim light of the day was peeking through her window,.

“How late is it? Thistle! Thistle! Get up! I think we missed breakfast! This is all your fault for keeping me up! What will I do if we don’t get breakfast? What will I eat? Can I go on another quest while hungry? You better have a good answer for me!”

“Well, how do you know we missed breakfast?”

“Because I can’t smell it! Plus, look how late it is! Ryme said that breakfast is at sunrise and it is well past sunrise!”

“You know, they kept a plate of dinner for us last night. Maybe they kept a plate of breakfast this morning too.”

“But… what if they didn’t?”

Thistleman was getting a little flustered. He had no idea how to handle this situation. Hunger was rarely a problem for daemons, and even then, only the weakest suffered from it

“Well, the only way to find out is to go down and check!”

“Then what do I do if they have nothing?”

“Well… I don’t know, eat some moss or something! There is a lot of the growing around here!”

“YOU IDIOT!”

She struck him upside the head and Thistleman found himself almost regretting stopping her from getting eaten. Almost.

The morning had been a particularly busy one. Word was getting around from the other patrons about Diane’s story, and that Jotuun had a niece and nephew in town. A lot of the locals were curious and wanted to meet them, and so Ryme found herself cooking nonstop almost all morning, and Jotuun had a lot of cleanup to do around the tables. Before she ran out of food, Ryme managed to stash a plate for the kids.

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“I hear things are getting really heated amongst the nobles. Did you know Duke Vermillion and Count Horatio are preparing to go to war against each other?”

“What? How did that happen??”

“I heard he assassinated the count’s son.”

“That’s outrageous! Why would he do something like that?”

“I dunno, noble minds are just different, I guess?”

“Woof, is that so? I heard he was aiming to kill his daughter and missed!”

“Nyah, his daughter? I heard it was her lover!”

“Hah! Neither of you are right! It is certainly the duke projecting a man’s strength! Killing the count’s son is a truly bold and time-honored way to declare war!”

“Time-honored for who? We aren’t orcs. That’s not how things work here!”

“Kyahahahaha! Then wrestle me, the winner will be who is right!”

“That doesn’t matter, from what I heard it is even worse than that! My cousin is a squire to a knight back in the capital. Apparently, the king’s brothers are using this fight to push their children’s claim on the inheritance.”

“What? How could the king allow this! What about his children?”

“Do you live under a rock? This is only a problem in the first place because he has no kids.”

“Well, I for one have no interest in feuds. Njord has always followed the rightful king of Luthas. If there is no heir, when the king dies we will have no liege.”

“Shhhh, you shouldn’t say things like that!”

“Why not speak his mind? We are among brothers here!”

“WOOOOAH! The canian and orc are going at it! Who will win the arm wrestling contest?”

The bustling activity kept Ryme from hearing Diane’s tirade to Thistleman. However, when she saw Diane appear at the top of stairs, she waved energetically and called out “Dearie, I saved you a plate!”

She wasn’t sure if she had said something wrong but but Diane stopped in her tracks, her face turning bright red. Then she saw a despondent boy walk down next to her. When he looked her in the eye, she just got even redder.

What is wrong with kids these days? I just saved some breakfast for them.

Elsie was having a very odd day so far. First, when she came in this morning, Mr. Franz was behaving stranger than usual, and seemed out of sorts. She couldn’t quite pin down what was wrong, and he didn’t elaborate much other than shoving a small pile of papers into her furry mitts before wandering out the door, whistling to himself.

Then, as she sorted through the stack of papers, not only did she see that most of Randall’s crew had died yesterday, which was an absolute disaster, but that Diane had managed to save their last member, completed the gathering quest, and killed some nasty monsters. What the heck was up with this report? Was Mr. Franz finally losing all his marbles?

Then… one of the guilds office assistants came in and delivered her the weirdest note yet.

“Here you go Elsie, an internal announcement straight from the top. For guild staff only.”

“Nyah? What kyind of thing would…”

The soulless office drone had already turned around and started making his way back to his cubicle.

With a sigh, she closed an eye and glanced down at the bulletin. What kind of crazy announceme—both her eyes opened wide.

Diane Culaine has been promoted, with the official rank of Copper! She was hereby allowed to take quests, ignoring the usual rank restrictions, effective immediately. Elsie was hereby instructed to convey the guild’s sincerest congratulations to Miss Diane at her soonest convenience, and to ensure all appropriate protocols were followed to prevent the excessive spread of this information, for Diane’s privacy and convenience. Naturally.

Our sincerest congratulations on your new role, Elsie!

Before she even had time to finish processing this information, the guild door was flung open. Huffing in the entrance was a small girl wearing a purple and gold hemmed dress, starting to fill with patches and stitches, most impatient at the late start to her day.

“ELSIE! I’m here for a new quest!”

Behind her, that peasant porter of hers smiled and waved.

“Nyah?!?!”

The cloud of miasma that was hanging around Brownrock Mountain was slowly condensing. In the thickest part of the cloud, a hand began to form, before reaching out and grabbing onto a nearby boulder. A shadowy body was slowly starting to materialize.

Who am I? What is my purpose? Why do I feel so… lost? Aimless?