In the early morning, a day or so after Quintin had left PanQuil, a silhouette made its presence known. It was in the airspace, high up and traveling fast towards the town. The white blanket of clouds a stark contrast to its vibrant plumage as it began to descend. Closer and closer.

The bird looked ill-defined as if each movement was a blur of activity born of a Painter's canvas. What the motion might look like in a mind-captured, obfuscated sort of way. Of course, there was nothing fake about the sight; it was there, and it was descending down towards The Perches where flying beasts would be stabled.

A couple of guards used their hands as a visor to trace its path with curiosity.

"Say Willis, issat a giant Parrot ya supposin'?"

Willis replied while straining his eyes. "Jergen, you know I'm blind as a skunk," he paused and took a whiff of himself, "mayhaps smell like one too, now I think..."

"Come off it! What if it's an enemy attack? Oi'v never saw such a color-filled bird in all me life. I think me eyes might bleed. Nary a-day I see anything asides copper n' silver standin' by these gates," Jergen replied in good humor.

"Gimme your flask, I can see better when I've been drinkin'!" Willis grabbed the flask from his partner's hip-pouch and took a long pull. "Ai, it looks like yer mum Jergin—a right Parrot that one!"

While the two grown men began to fight in the dirt, and a crowd began to take bets, the Parrot landed within The Perches.

The Parrot squawked as a [Demihuman], more precisely, a woman with a pure-black goat head dismounted it. She stood on convex legs that ended in grey hooves that looked like they could kick a hole through a wall. Her golden earrings glinted in the sun as she absently tugged on a cluster of chains that connected from them to her nostril while she surveilled the immediate area.

Cramie Niddil, a member of The Elucidators, had arrived amongst little fanfare. Well, a fist-fight had broken out. At least some things never changed.

She pulled out a blank canvas as the Parrot funneled back inside with a twist of colors, and without much pause. Its cage a flat 2D space.

"Damn bird! Instead of feathers up my crotch, I'm wet! Tobio and his damn painted flock!" A line of colorful liquid ran down her thigh.

A nearby guard inside The Perches tensed up at her spoken words, which caused Cramie to snap and round on the man with a quick step.

"What's this? Never had a fair maiden so excited for you to enter her she was absolutely spilling over with love-juices?"

The man gulped hard, frightened out of his wits, and stammered. "Y-yes. I mean nu-no ma'am. No, absolutely nu-not... I'm, I'm sorry?"

Cramie huffed in his face and let a low "woof" out beside his ear, before storming past into the tunnel he guarded.

The guard collapsed into a piss-puddle of his own design in a delirious state. Cramie's voice carried from further down the hallway.

"Now who's wet? I might play with you yet!"

She headed onward, briskly walking through the tunnels and out onto walkways and platforms as she made her way up. Tobio had tasked her with questioning the courier. Her fists itched with the hope that this Rookie would put up a fight; discretion would turn into excessive force and interrogation.

"Now let's see. It has been a while. Top floor, I believe." Cramie muttered to herself, continuing past men and women who jerkily got out of the way in abject terror when they saw her.

"Typical scum. They see miss black goat coming and lose their collective shit," she spoke like a whisper just on the edge of full bloom into thunder.

The Adventurer's Guild came within her reach. A few moments later, the circular door crank-clacked open. Her entrance was marked by spinning eyeballs from every corner. It became still and quiet as she took her first footfalls in.

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A captive audience, can't say I'm disappointed by that, she thought while tugging on her chains.

The image of herself, reflected by the multitude of wide-open eyes, was of a Goatwoman a little more than two meters tall. She wore light metal armor that peeked out through a white surcoat. A pattern of Esoteric swirls in black adorned it, curving down to her cream-colored Tasset. The emblem of The Elucidators—two different eyes with a swirl coming out of both Caruncles, spinning around the eyes, and connecting in the middle.

Cramie scanned the surroundings and snorted, lifting her fist, wrapped within a gleaming gauntlet. It lit up with strange symbols and shapes as she spoke, "Don't let me stop you're fun, guys! Though, on second thought, if you do stop, I'll show ya' how to have fun with this!"

The various Adventurers and guild-staff quickly made themselves busy, as well as scarce. A cold smile crept onto her face that matched her predatory gaze. Naturally, her brisk, calculated strides to the clerk-counter went unchallenged and uninterrupted.

"I'm here to see your Guildmaster. Got an important topic to discuss with the man," she stated emotionlessly.

The clerk was in a panic, stuttering out words that may or may not have been freely given. "O-our Guildmaster is ou-ou-away at the moment. Our Va-vice-Guildmistress will see you, if it pa-pleases you!"

The clerk went towards the backdoor without a second look or guess. He opened the door behind the counter and lead the way deeper into the Guild. Someone would have to give the man a raise later, that or a mop to clean up the sweat dripping steadily onto the floorboards.

Cramie followed dryly, thinking this was her least favorite part. Guild politics didn't interest her. If this guild-branch was going to throw up bureaucracy in her way, then she just might need to whip these pups into place and break all the brooms and dustpans afterward for good measure.

The Guildmaster's office opened up to her. She paused and gently patted the clerk's cheek while whispering, "Good boy."

Inside the office, Cramie saw the Vice-Guildmistress. A woman she knew and was surprised to see sitting behind a stately desk in the center of this reasonably sized room.

"Well, I'll be damned! Cassida! You really moved up in the world. Last time we saw each other you were still a desk-humpin' clerk!"

Cramie was not shy. Her hooves stomped loudly on the wooden floor as she excitedly came closer.

Cassida stood smilingly, schooling her expression as best she could. "It's good to see you as well, Cramie. As always you cause quite the stir no matter where you go. I do wonder what's brought you around these parts? I've got a lot on my plate right now with the Guildmaster gone, it's been a real headache."

Cramie pacified her excitement. "Where is that old man, anyway? I was kind of hoping for a rematch. Ah well, straight to business then. Just so happens I'm on a mission, duty-bound, and all that. We have questions for the Rookie in regards to you know what."

A deep frown settled onto Cassida's face, the power of which caused her to collapse back down into her chair while she pressed her temples feverishly.

"Oh of course you are. Why would I expect any different? Ugh. That stupid, lousy Guildmaster must've known something and got out before the shit-show."

Cassida suddenly remembered something and hastily attached, "Shit. The Rookie's not here right now. Our Guildmaster allowed him free reign via message. He went off on a [Contract] and hasn't been back since. Been nearly a day and a half to two days gone, give or take."

Cramie stomped her hooves, cracking and splintering the floorboards underfoot. An audibly loud snap-groan accentuated her words,

"You knew there would be questions for him, and you just let him wander off? He could be anywhere by now!"

Cassida was quick to try and quell Cramie's anger. An attempt to compose the right words to try and head off the brewing tempest.

"He has an [Adventerer's Badge]. We can track it as long as he has it on him. Also, it wasn't my idea, I just followed my Guildmaster's orders, please try to understand that, for past friendships..."

A glyph on Cramie's thigh lit up, and she huffed out a turbid breath. "Bureaucracy. You know I hate it. You must've sacrificed much to gain the position you now hold, I understand. I'll take it up with that shit-stain you call a Guildmaster very soon instead. Very well, hurry up. Show me the tree-fort the little boy ran off to."

Cassida brought out a pyramidal [M.I.G.A.] device with a set of symbols on the base and padded surface. She began by inputting a string of symbols, followed by another that, presumably, aligned with Quintin's unique [Adventurer's Badge].

"Strange. It's not showing off coordinates anywhere nearby, or anywhere besides. Unless it's been destroyed, or he died and it got ruined, or something. It would even show up inside a [Bag of Holding]. It would take considerable effort to completely destroy one, especially for someone at such a low level..."

Cramie was growing furious again but regained her composure at the last moment. "Cassida, how could you be so negligent..."

She forcefully calmed herself down as a rune on her lower arm pulsed out twice once more. "Alright. Alright. It's fine. You know what, I'll go look around the place he went for his [Contract] then, where is he? I'd love to meet this cretin."