Frackett looked over to the newcomer, coming in and yelling about how grand his stature is about being a bard. The bartender leaned on the counter and huffed.

"You? A bard?" He scoffed slightly. "Sing us a tune, elf, then maybe we can talk of payment if the night doesn't shatter from it."

-=-=-=-=-

"Aye!" Gilderhall laughed hard. His apprentices drank theirs in their own time while Emma refilled the blacksmith's and Rudolph's mugs. "Thank you miss." Gilderhall smiled as he downed the next one.



Saria raised a brow at the mention of lycanthrope. "Yes, there have been sightings of them but they have not been a problem to us other than scaring off the game."

The branch they were walking on visibly widened until they neared the parent trunk of the massive tree. "We've had hunter parties scrounge the area for their kin but they've evaded even our best trackers. Something is not right with that." Saria threw the last words off-handedly. "Anyway, we're here."

The escort had lead the party in what looked to be a massive mess hall carved right into the wood of the trunk. It was right in there, with a massive column at the very center with tables and chairs circling it. Food was freely set the central column and numerous elves were mingling about inside.

"Welcome to one of the Commons," Saria bowed slighltly as she ushered the rest of the party inside. Looking up, the ceiling was incredibly high and seems to have a second floor to accomodate for more people. It was also lit up by the same lanterns outisde. "Here you'll find all the manner of food and drink you want. But perhaps not much of human or dwarf alchohol."

The bard's smirk continued to linger upon his face, satisfied that the Vanvalor's weren't very well known in this particular area. If word of his family had gotten this far out, then that would mean something terrible must have happened. But, he had no time to continue thinking about his family in Fedimia. Right now, he had to come up with a song. The fingers on his left hand rearranged themselves on the neck of his cittern, placing firm fingertips upon the strings that made up his first note. The first song was a bit slower with each song afterwards getting progressively more energetic and fast-paced.

"Not much, what a pity," Rabbit casually remarked, winking.

"Still up for a good meal, however. Who's with me? I'll grab ye a good drink before they sling it down their throats."

"Been a long time since Oy've drunk ale dis good. Dunt make em like dis in prison." Rudolph chuckled loudly, clinking tankards with Gilderhall before chugging it down too. He licked the foam off his mustache. "Ayy yer apprentices seem ta be laggin behind. Dunt tell me they already are fallin off."

Twinveil was having a much easier time with the lycans, at least from the sound of it. "I'm hoping your people will help Thornfell, so we can carry on to Highmount without any more needless delays. Have you heard anything in regards to the happenings there?" Rhea stared over at Lera, expecting her to lead the way since she was apparently familiar with this place and their customs.

"Well, we're at a bar, with food and drinks for everyone to enjoy. How about we spread out in a group of two and ask around?" Lera suggested, "We can have the escort accompany us to help ease communication, too."

"Ask around? They seem to be rather unacquainted with the problem." Aurea was about to cross her arms, but once more the sword she held got in the way, resulting in her just doing an awkward motion. "It's as if Thornfell was their target exclusively... Good, at least Twinveil will have men to spare." The knight shrugged. "Though the way these lycan behave, it's just odd. Hopefully we-...They will put an end to this soon enough." The woman's gaze was already surveying the hall, searching for a convenient place off sight to take 'rest'.

"Aye, Frackett's got the best ale in the city!" Gilderhall agreed with a wide grin. "Oh come on now. I didn't just teach you to smith did I? I taught you how to drink as well!"

The master looked to each of his apprentices and mockingly glared at evert one of them. "Come on now, don't fret about tomorrow. Live through this moment, here and now."

With that, one of the apprentices, the eldest gathered his wits and snuffed them out in a single drink of alcohol.

"That's it!" Gilderhall nodded then raised his hand to get the attention of the waitress. "Another round her for my boy!"

Moving about in his own rhythm, Ox carved out a tune from his cittern. He did his best under the careful watch of the barkeep, hoping to please and coerce the coin for later. Much to his delight, the barkeep nodded and shooed him to do his job. "Go on then, elf," he said. "Pay off the wage I'll be giving you."

"Sir Rudolph?" One of the younger apprentices suddenly asked. "How does this compare to Dorrondar's? I haven't been to a dwarven bar before."

The older apprentices laughed. "None of us have, Donny," he replied. "I doubt we'll see it, Dorrondars far off in the east."


"From Thornfell?" Saria wondered. "Last I heard, they were well off. Though the moon has been odd lately with the advent of the lycanthrope. We scared them off our territory. Is that why you're here?"

Saria continued to lead the group towards an empty table. The table itself was a marvelous piece of craftsmanship, held up by a lone leg at the very center fused with the tree itself¹. It was smooth to the touch and was sturdy. All around, were chairs presumably made the same way. The monk was the first to take his heat and he groaned satisfyingly as he did.

"Well," he said. "That's a comfortable chair. Now off you go, get some food. I'll go after."

The disciple then laid his massive sword laterally onto a pair of chairs, occupying them both. Before he could muster a sentence, however, he looked down to his blade and leaned towards it as if hearing something. He nodded and beamed.

"Yes, yes," he said. "This is a gift from Soramaru! Another day of life, celebrated with a feast! Rabbit, lead the way!" He said with gusto, marching towards the historian.

Mari and her crew were found a bit further back, talking amongst themselves. After a few minutes, the two lieutenants broke off and searched for their own meals while Mari approached the table, waiting for the party.

FOOTNOTES
¹The table and chairs were woodsung, which means the wood were magically coerced to grow this way.

A misty look formed in Rudolph's eyes as he reminisced about his time back at Dorrondar. "Laddie... nothin can compare to da grandeur of de great 'alls of Dorrondar. Ye get a pub in town? Maybe a tavern in a city? We got an entire layer dedicated to the art of ale 'n cheese. Sum aged cheese with grog older than ye? Laddie there ain't nothin loike it, loike drinking the drink of gods. But..." Rudolph got his refill and chugged it immediately, slamming the tankard down. "Good ale is still good ale! So ye still lucky mate! Now drink!"

"Aye sah', les go!" Rabbit exclaimed as the disciple marched toward him. With gusto, he began striding toward the food, grabbing himself a couple items, as well as a great mug of Elvish Spirits.
Surprisingly, he didn't throw himself at the food once obtained. Though Rabbit was quite famished, his instincts kicked in, and he slowly, bit-by-bit, devoured a fresh loaf of bread.
"Ahh, now this is magnificent. I should probably get some more..."

"That'd be somewhat correct..." Aurea sighed out gently. "Thornfell struggles with the Lycanthrope, and its means of defense seem to be insufficient to withstand for much longer. We..." The knight paused and her gaze briefly jumped to the side, as if she wanted to fix herself again, but eventually refrained. "...came to ask for help in their stead."

When they were led to the table and people began to sit themselves down, or walk away to get some repast, Aurea stood there awkwardly for a longer while. She finally, almost shyly put her sword point down against one of the chairs and sat down with her arms crossed. The woman seemed uninterested with the food and drinks, and just watched people bustle about around the center pillar without all that much visible interest.

The night continued on, the merry cheers and laughter went to be undisturbed for that night. Ox and Rudolph enjoyed the company of the small pub's patrons and likewise did the occupants with the dwarf and elf.

The clockwork stood by the entrance, gazing above into the stars.


Saria lead the rest of the group through the food area, attending to their questions and answering them the best she could about TwinVeil itself. So far, the city has done its due to its side of the forest, lycanthropes were controlled as soon as they were spotted but were more pushed away from their land rather than hunted down entirely. During the night, Sir Dreimon and Esther of the Ghostlight had returned with news from the Elven High Council. As the party ate their dinner, the two disseminated the information they had gathered from the meeting.

The council had agreed to the terms set by Esther and Dreimon in which the elven forces will assist their sister city, Thornfell, from certain doom at the hands of the rampant lycanthropes. Dreimon then said he would return to Thornfell with the elves. Without question, the disciple raised his hand in the air, proclaiming that it is his right and solemn duty to slay the moonlight theives and volunteered to go with Dreimon. The monk nodded as well, and then looked at the remaining party members bidding them luck and a promise that they would reunite someday if needed.

Esther then elaborated that the party were to continue on with their journey and that she would go in place of Dreimon with the rest. With that being said and concluded, the night continued on.

--TIMESKIP to MORNING--

Thornfell had a quiet night. Not much had happened during the stay at the pub. It all ended with Rudolph winning in the end being several mugs in the lead. Gilderhall hadn't passed out but had decidedly gave in saying there was still work tomorrow and he had the boys to drag back to the forge. Ox was paid handsomely for his work with the cittern, earning him the respect of the barkeep and the patrons. The elf was allowed to sleep in the inn while Rudolph accompanied Gilderhall back to the forge. It didn't take long for everyone to be asleep.

As the morning sun rose from the horizon, the two party members readied themselves for their trip to TwinVeil. They had both agreed to wait each other at the gate before setting out¹

In the City of Bark and Leaf, the party had been given rooms of their own to stay the night. They were treated as guests during their stay. Morning soon arrived, breathing fresh air into their rooms with a cool breeze. Everyone had shared one massive living quarters, and each bed had been woodsung right out of the trunk. It was fully furnished with a table and some chairs and two windows on each side of the door which allowed the suns rays to cast into the room, brightening the place. Aurea had been awake the entire time, noting the early departure of Dreimon, the disciple and monk.

FOOTNOTES
¹ Rudolph and Ox could leave earlier to match the waking of the party in TwinVeil. Just notify me if you want to.

Rudolph snored happily, there was no better way to sleep than a belly full of good grog and food. His snore was like a foghorn and it was a wonder how he didn't wake himself up with the noise. However, he didn't sleep long, always only having needed a few hours to feel rested, a trick he had learned and polished over his over a century career of being a hard worker. It was an old habit he wished would bite the dust as he's no longer the same as he was back then, but trying to stay sleeping only succeeded in making him feel restless and itchy. The dwarf would get up and after cleaning himself up at the nearest rest room, would begin tending to the shop as if it were his own. Heating the forge and prepping the tools, refilling the quenching barrel as well as other simple chores. The dwarf soon had finished by the time the others begin to rouse awake. "So 'ow ya lot feelin'?" His voice boomed. "Drunk like pups so Oy 'ope yer dunt feel too dull round da edges!" He laughed, seeming to not be hungover a single bit. "Best fill yer tums with some good bread and meat, and 'ope it clears yer 'eads."

Throughout the dinner, Aurea still hasn't touched a single piece of food, nor even had anything to drink. She just watched her surroundings and listened, inter alia, to good news that Dreimon and Esther had brought. Not so good news however, was that Esther decided to accompany them for somewhat longer. While the order member didn't seem to be a problem in herself yet, the item in her possession might prove to be one.

When they were led to their room, the knight stopped barely past the doorway. She glanced over the chamber, turned around and slowly took her leave with some doubtful "I've still got something to do..." on her way out. The woman hasn't been seen in the room since. The elves who were still awake however could see her first wander around seemingly aimlessly, and then head up the higher parts of the city.

Once more she has returned at sunrise. Waiting not so patiently in front of the quarters' doors, she was ready to move on but decided against bothering anyone, letting other people have their rest. Some weak curiosity crossed her bored mind; 'who's gonna be the first to open these doors.'

And out from the doors came Rabbit, bursting through with book in hand. He was fully dressed, but smelled slightly of spirits.
"Ah, that was a pretty nice sleep. Oh, hello!", he said, glancing at Aurea. "Seems you are already up and ready to travel, eh? That's something I respect."
"I'm probably going to find some food for myself. Maybe store some? I have no idea."