Rosalia transitioned into her Titus form as she crossed the guild hall threshold. The dusty building felt like it was aglow to the group, after their unexpected success.

“How did the quest go?” The guild staff member said without looking up, as he fiddled with a rubber ball on the worn counter.

“It’s done,” Rosalia/Titus said, with a solemn nod that made her mustache bob. She’d increased the power of the Order with that quest, which probably wouldn’t be good for the guild in the long run.

“Let’s see that quest you mentioned earlier,” Hazen said.

“Of course Mr. Anders,” the staff member said, poking through a crumpled stack of papers.

Hazen did a double take, and looked back towards the door. His master Anders wasn’t there. He clapped his hand to his forehead as he remembered that he’d used the false name in his guild application.

“Yes of course,” Hazen said, removing the hand from his forehead and placing it on the table. “I’m Mr. Anders.”

The staff member raised an eyebrow but fumbled with the ball rather than saying anything. The guild master had told him on his first day, ‘One does not become an adventurer unless they see the world differently from the ordinary person, unless they see possibility where there is a path, find purpose where there is an obstacle, and joy where there is mystery.’

The staff member was convinced of the accuracy of his own interpretation of the statement- that all adventurers were a little crazy.

The staff member handed the flier over and then returned to toying with the ball with both hands.

Titus/Rosalia looked over Hazen’s shoulder. “It’s a hunting quest- for a pack of direwolves living in a nearby forest. They’ve killed a number of travelers who went the wrong way.”

“It’ll require stealth and combat.”

“Perfect then!” Tano said, pumping a fist in the air. Dina stroked her bow string and narrowed her eyes, envisioning the shots she would take.

Hazen glanced at them, nodding slightly at their excitement. He would let them do their part this time. Maybe.

“Why hasn’t the Order cleared the direwolves out?“ Hazen asked as they walked out of the building.

Titus/Rosalia stroked her mustache. “I want to say it’s because mages like to keep the natural order of things in place, to not disturb nature. But that’s so often not true… I guess direwolves howl at the moon so the order of the Half Moon has some hesitation to get rid of them?”

“They really take this whole moon thing very seriously,” Hazen said.

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Rosalia transformed back into her normal self when they were a street away from the guild hall. “I’ve got the perfect spell for this quest,” she said, rubbing her hands together.

“Illusions would be helpful. But no defensive spell to help with fighting?” Hazen asked.

Rosalia frowned. “I mentioned that I’m not very good with defense spells. Didn’t have much training in them.”

“They don’t teach defensive magic? Who’s maintaining that ward wall around the Order then?” Hazen asked.

“The mage who cast it is gone,” Rosalia said. “It was former Archmagus Cynthia’s death spell, that’s why it’s lasted so long.”

“She cast it with her dying breath?” Hazen asked.

“It’s really hard to cast a spell when you’re busy dying,” Rosalia said. “It’s more like… if a caster had a spell active when they die- cast even before they’re dying, but active when they take their last breath- then an incredible amount of their magical power is transferred into it when they pass. Archmagus Cynthia cast the wall spell the day the dark lord invaded Harwich. He couldn’t break through. When she went out of the order’s walls to face him… he killed her but the wall held no matter what he threw at it. After that he pretty much left the order alone.”

“And so she wasn’t around to teach you,” Hazen said.

“I’m not that old,” she scoffed.

“You could be though,” Tano said. “This could all be an illusion.”

“Speaking of illusions,” Dina interrupted. “What do you have planned? Direwolves have keen senses of hearing and sight. A normal illusion won’t cut it.”

“Hehheh,” Rosalia said, rubbing her hands together again. Hazen waited, expecting a spell to take effect.

She met his blank stare, and cleared her throat. “This one requires a bit of preparation. I’ve been working on it for a while- actual, perfect invisibility. The Direwolves won’t be able to detect we’re there at all. They won’t even be able to hear us. But it requires some preparation.”

“What do you need to do?” Hazen asked.

“It's not about what I need to do,” Rosalia said. She gestured to her green robes. “It's about what you need to do. Wear green.”

“Huh,” Dina said, raising an eyebrow. “First we have a weird group name and now you want us all to be matching?”

“Hey!” Tano said, objecting to the slight on the group’s name. He slammed his feet into the broken floorboards, but didn’t stand up..

“It's not about style,” Rosalia said. “Its about the spell. Illusions are cast easier on green things- or things that are mostly green. I don’t know why it is, but its always been that way. It could be the wavelength of light, or just arbitrary- one color was selected long ago to be a baseline, but thats how it is.”

“I don’t own anything green,” Hazen said, looking down at his reflective armor. If he painted it, how long would it take for the shine to come back?

“I have a shirt, but the green on it is a customer’s vomit that never washed off,” Tano said. “Never thought I’d wear it again.”

“I think we’re in for a mini-quest then,” Rosalia said. “Let's go shopping.”

***

The group walked into a miscellaneous clothing shop a few blocks away from Tano’s place.

“Welcome!” The shopkeeper began. “How can I help-” She stopped when she saw Rosalia’s face, and frowned.

“That’s the real reason she’s always casting illusions on herself,” Tano turned and whispered to Hazen, loud enough for everyone to hear.

“It's good to see you,” Rosalia said, giving the shopkeeper a toothy grin.

“You’re not going to buy anything,” The shopkeeper said. “You should just go.”

“What do you mean?” Rosalia said. “I’m a customer, you should be happy for my patronage. Besides, the sight of people browsing will make those passing by stop.”

“You look at every item in my inventory, once a month. Every item. And you never buy a single one,” the shopkeeper said. “You try on dress after dress, suit after suit…”

“You have the most diverse items in the area,” Rosalia said. “And you really keep up with the times.”

“Get out, please,” the shopkeeper said, lowering her face into one hand in despair.

Hazen, Dina, and Tano all stared at Rosalia. “Oh come on,” she said. “For illusion disguises to work, I have to know clothes very well.”

“Do you wear the same clothes every day and cast magic to make them look different?” Hazen asked.

Rosalia didn’t answer. “We’re looking for something green for these three. Anything green, that covers most of the body. We will buy clothes from here, I promise.”

The shopkeeper squinted at Rosalia through the gaps in her fingers. “You’ll buy whatever I bring?”

“Yes,” Rosalia said. “We’ll buy from your store…”

The shopkeeper was already running around- she grabbed three dark green-dyed cloaks from a rack and tossed them at Rosalia.

Rosalia caught the cloaks and peaked at the price tags. Her hands tightened into fists around the cloth.

“Mink Fur. The dye was soaked in peppermint.” The shopkeeper said.

Rosalia opened her mouth to ask for some other green articles of clothing but the shopkeeper didn’t give her the chance.

“You have good taste,” the Shopkeeper said. “Trusting me to pick quality out for you and agreeing to buy whatever I pick out.”

Rosalia turned to her companions looking for support, or coin, but none of them met her eyes.

They left, the three non-mages wearing the warm, soft cloaks over their armor or normal clothes. Rosalia was silent as they crossed the threshold, and for half the walk towards the woods