It wasn’t long after we left the city that we saw a road sign that had been spray painted in black with an arrow pointing right and the words ‘Safe Zone’. Grell took the next right turn onto a gravel road through a thickly forested area that we followed, until our gravel road ended in a T with a paved road that followed the coastline north-south. We followed that road north and before long reached what seemed to be a small village on the shoreline called Haven where, in addition to several rustic looking homes, there was a lone gas station, a diner, a pub, a bait and tackle shop, a small market, some small shops, a cheap motel, a small church, a bed & breakfast, and several fishing boats docked.

As soon as we entered that village my countdown clock stopped ticking downward, with eighteen minutes and forty-seven seconds to spare. We were the first PCs to arrive it seemed, though there were several NPCs, including Christina and her Grandpa Grady from the gun store. I was strangely relieved to see them there as we pulled our truck into what seemed to be the village square, where the refugee NPCs were gathering. I wondered for a moment how I could get so attached to an NPC, it was just a game after all. It was an extremely realistic game though, one that engaged all of the senses and with that level of realism, and the strange feeling of protectiveness that I had first felt when seeing Christina, I thought that maybe the better question to ask would have been, ‘How could I not feel something for them?’

Including us, less than thirty players made it to the safe zone under the gun. To my great annoyance Razor and three other members of H3lls-Pwn were among them, though the car that they had come in couldn’t have carried much gear or supplies. Another sixty or so would arrive later, as the morning made its way into afternoon, but the rest of the players all seemed to have died on the journey, so they’d be out of commission for the next day or so, and have nothing to show for it when they did respawn in the village.

The Party XP leaderboard showed that as a party we were in first place with H3lls-Pwn a distant second. I figured that the secret quest and that big spell that I had used on that horde of zombies had contributed to that, as had the fact that one member of H3lls-Pwn had died, while our larger party was still whole. While it was nice to be vindicated by showing up those jerks, I really just wanted to get into the game and start practicing my magic more. The fact that it felt like I was actually using magic, rather than just selecting a spell from a list and clicking on an enemy, had been an even greater thrill to me than I had expected, and I was eager to learn more and try different things.

We didn’t plan on waiting around for others to arrive after the time for the event was up, since there were quests to be done in the village, in addition to some specialized quests that were tailored to each character based on their combination of class and race. Unlike regular quests, these seemed to have timers on them, so we decided to split up and do them first. Apparently Haven wasn’t really aptly named, as before we arrived they had suffered an attack from a pack of werewolves and there was a lot of damage done around town, a bunch of people dead or injured, and no electricity.

Looking over the quests, it looked like some of us had similar goals, well at least to start with. Venika Nishalle, and I all had to go find the Lennox Estate outside the village without attracting too much attention, and Lissany had to ‘escort the princess and try not to stand out’. The others would all be doing tasks around town; Grell would be looking into getting the village’s electricity problem fixed, Pete and other human soldiers would be trying to reassure the villagers that we would keep them safe, and that some of us weren’t monsters needing to be killed, while Reiko was to keep up a completely human appearance and heal the injured.

“Try not to stand out,” Lissany said with a laugh at her assignment. “Even if I take off my armor we’re all going to get attention among the Humans. Mom and Nishalle could stay hidden in the truck while Her Highness and I ask for directions I guess, but even we’re going to stand out. We’ll need to try to hide our non-human features somehow, before we interact with any of the villagers.”

I nodded with a sigh, my odd-colored eyes with slit pupils and big pointed ears were going to be hard to hide, but there was no way Nishalle could blend in with her dark blue skin as well. Lissany was going to have a problem too with her ears, eyes, tail, and kitty nose. We needed some way to hide our features and blend in, and I wasn’t sure that hoodies were going to work. Then I saw the women’s clothing shop across the square. The windows had been smashed, mannequins toppled over, and the inside looked like a war zone, but it looked like it was empty for the moment. “I think… I have an idea,” I mumbled.

“You do?” Lissany inquired. Then she looked in the direction of my glance and gave a feline grin as she seemed to catch my meaning. “Oh! I get it!”

“Yeah, it’s not really an idea I’m too thrilled with, but we apparently need to keep a low profile,” I replied with a frown. “So I guess you and I are going ‘shopping’ again Liss.”

“Venika and I will stay here and guard the truck while the others go about their quests and you two try to blend in and find out where that Estate is,” Nishalle said with a nod, though she was looking at me in concern. “I want to sharpen my weapons anyway while I have the time. Besides, I don’t really like the way the other PCs have been glancing at the truck, and all our supplies.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep her safe,” Lissany assured her. Then we trotted off across the square to look for something to wear.

My dysphoria was in high gear as we made our way out of the shop and carried our armor and gear back to the truck. I was currently wearing a bright yellow sundress with crimson flowers on it, a pair of heeled sandals, sunglasses, and my ears were tucked up inside a big floppy yellow sun hat. Not only was it not comfortable for my ears, but it also made me even more aware of them and my non-human status. That, combined with being dressed all girly and the skirt constantly swishing against my bare legs, was making me distinctly uncomfortable.

Lissany was dressed much as I was, though her color theme was a pale blue and white. Except for the occasional swishing of her skirt, her tail was hidden and since her ears were at the top of her head and not overly large, the sun hat hid them well. Her kitty nose may cause issues, but it was mostly hidden in shadows by the large brim of the hat. So she looked passable as human, though she seemed almost as uncomfortable as I was as her eyes darted around to scan the crowd. “I don’t like this,” she muttered. “I feel too exposed, and how am I going to protect you without my armor and weapons.”

“This is a safe zone,” I reminded her. “Unless there’s an event we should be safe from monster attacks here, and any PCs who try attacking other PCs here are going to get penalized XP rather than gaining it. The worst that could happen is that the villager NPCs discover we’re not human and try to run us out of town. Besides, if things really do go pear shaped then you have your beast and hybrid forms, and I still have my spell focus on. Even if I didn’t have it I could still use magic, it would just require more concentration, at least from what the game materials said.”

We had returned to the truck by this point, where Nishalle was sharpening her katana and doing her very best to look threatening to anyone coming too close. It wasn’t difficult, since she was a Tokh'dhraí assassin and just one glare from her made even me want to back away for a moment, like those glowing red eyes of hers were ready to burn right through those sunglasses and leave me a charred husk. It was still kind of strange trying to remember that inside that frightening and grim-looking assassin was my usually sweet, caring, and teasing sister. At the same time though, being both a girl and a magic-using elf myself made it easier to suspend my disbelief, especially with my currently heightened body dysphoria.

She seemed to recognize us and dialed back the scary ‘I’m gonna rip out your heart and feast upon your blood’ look she was giving us. “Sorry about that Your Royal Highness,” she said with a slight smirk, though there was concern on her face. “I didn’t realize it was you until I saw the armor you’re both carrying. Those disguises are pretty good… that can’t be easy for you to wear?”

I winced a bit at the ‘Your Royal Highness’ part as Lissany and I placed our gear in the back of the cab of the truck. “No it’s not, but hopefully it won’t be for long. Ummm... Sis, look I’m sorry about the whole conscription thing. I was maybe overreacting a little, and being a bit of a bitch. You don’t have to call me that or anything.”

Nishalle shook her head sadly before wrapping me up in a spine-creaking hug. “You don’t have to apologize, if anyone was being a bitch there it was me. It might be funny from my side, but I should have known that it’s not for you, especially since I went through the whole gender and racial dysphoria when I first tried the game. And the whole conscription thing is actually a good idea, in fact we should all address you formally, when we’re not alone or you’re not keeping a low profile. You’re going to start getting attention once people start figuring out that you’re a princess and that you’re quickly becoming a powerful Magus. Having me and Lissany as your official bodyguards/vassals gives us a good excuse to stay close to you and protect you, and it kind of works for my character too. I mean, this game is about roleplaying too, not just fighting, and none of us should be ashamed about getting into character.”

“And by none you mean me?” I asked with a sigh, well aware of what she was getting at.

“Yeah, this is supposed to be a fun vacation where we can explore new things and get away from real life for a while. Don’t be afraid to do that, see it as an opportunity to get in touch with your feminine side, play with magic, and have some fun,” she suggested as she released me from her arms. “We’ve never really had a normal brother-sister relationship, we’ve always been not just close siblings, but best friends as well and that’s not going to change, no matter who or what we are. So yeah, I don’t mind being conscripted if it keeps me close to you. Nobody is going to mess with my sister on my watch, now get going, the clock is ticking on our quests.”

“Okay, we’ll be back as soon as we can Sis. Will you and Venika be okay here alone until we get back?” I asked as I stepped away.

“We’ll be fine, now that she’s not all brooding about having made you feel bad,” Venika put in as she fluttered from the hood of the truck to land on Nishalle’s shoulder. Then her tiny head swiveled over to Lissany. “Be careful and stick with Taelya.”

Nishalle nodded to that. “I’m counting on you to keep her safe if anything happens Liss.”

“You got it. She’s not leaving my sight for a second,” the Beastkin girl said with determination as we turned and left to explore the village and gather information.

Basically our search had boiled down to asking one NPC after another for information, and being given small scraps of background information, before being referred to the next NPC, who would do the same. I had asked the questions, to keep people from looking too closely at Lissany, while she kept an eye out for possible trouble. Eventually though, we had discovered that the Lennox Estate was a large mansion on the shoreline, not far from the village to the northwest, and still within the safe zone. The Estate had been owned by Alfred Lennox, a reclusive millionaire, and he had died in an accident several weeks ago, leaving the place empty.

Once we had returned to the truck, the four of us drove out of town along a gravel road through the coastal rainforest toward the northwest, where we found the gates to the large estate. As we made the short drive, with me behind the wheel, I noticed movement among the trees. There were Fae in these woods, a lot of them and various types too, some that weren’t even PC races. “We are not alone here,” I muttered.

The others, whose senses were equally acute, nodded. It was Lissany who added, “That’s a lot of Fae. They won’t attack us right? Technically we’re still in the safe zone, and Taelya is like their princess.”

“I’ll have to take your word for it, I can barely see in this bright daylight. The shades are helping, but my eyesight is probably worse than a Human’s right now,” Nishalle grumbled. The whole reason that I was driving was because she didn’t trust her vision at the moment, Venika was way too small, and Lissany was too young to have a driver’s license and hadn’t taken it as one of her skills. She had been thinking of taking it, but chose ‘awareness’ instead. It allowed the Beastkin girl to be more aware of her surroundings and what’s going on around her, which had saved me from Grandpa Grady’s sniper attack, and was probably a lot more useful to her class than driving would be.

As I pulled up to the gates and stopped the truck, our quest goals, except for Lissany’s, updated to ‘Enter the Estate and speak with Queen Amoiraishe’. We stepped out of the vehicle to look for a way to open the gates, but it looked like they were electronic and needed a remote, or to be opened from the house. There was also a video camera and an intercom, which I was about to press when I noticed that we were surrounded.

It was the Fae that we had been seeing in the woods of course. At least a dozen Nyiir'dhraí, or wood elves, had emerged from the trees to either side of the road and they all had bows trained on us, and those were just the ones I could see from a quick glance. There were also Sprites, a couple Tokh'dhraí, Brownies, Sylphs, Knockers, and some Nymphs. I’m not sure how I knew what those last four were, but I figured that it was probably from my ‘Fae Culture’, one of my four required skills. Brownies, Sylphs, and Nymphs were usually peaceful and non-combative species, or so my new knowledge insisted, and they were probably watching us out of interest more than anything else.

Nishalle, Lissany, and I were getting suspicious looks from all the gathered Fae, and we didn’t dare make any sudden movements. They were probably giving me those looks because I was still wearing my ‘human disguise’ in case we had needed to stop for directions, gas, or something. As for the other two, Nishalle was a Tokh'dhraí and they couldn’t be sure what her alignment was and Lissany was a Beastkin, and thus not Fae, so they couldn’t be sure of her either. “Who are you and what is your business here?” one of the Nyiir'dhraí asked in English, keeping an arrow notched and in our direction.

“Wait! Don’t hurt them!” Venika pleaded in Elvish, “We mean you no harm.”

“I very slowly moved my hands up to remove my hat and sunglasses, speaking in Elvish as I did so. “I apologize, but I needed to blend in among the Humans. I am Princess Taelya of the Autumn Court and we have been summoned by my mother, Queen Amoiraishe. The Tokh'dhraí and the Beastkin are my personal guards.”

I didn’t need to say anything more than that. Whereas, with that silly hat and the sunglasses on I could be mistaken for a red-headed human girl, the moment that I took them off my eyes, ears, and Danann’syr were clearly visible. There was a chorus of “Your Highness” from the assembled Fae as they gave brief sweeping bows. I felt more than a little awkward about that as the spokesman smiled at me and said, “A clever disguise Your Highness. Please, use the intercom and the face the camera and they will open the gates for you to drive through. We shall remain here until we are certain that you are safely inside.”

Once I had turned to face the camera, and used the intercom to announce my presence, the gates began to open almost immediately. We quickly returned to the vehicle and drove up the long drive toward the mansion. “Well that was interesting,” Nishalle muttered.

“If by interesting you mean scary and super-awkward, then yes it was interesting,” I agreed. “Thanks for giving me the time to take that stupid disguise off Venika.”

“You’re welcome, I couldn’t let any of you get filled with arrows without our Priestess here. Not so stupid a disguise though, since it managed to fool both Humans and Fae.”

“Yeah, but I hope we don’t have to do this low profile thing often. Not having my armor and weapons with me seriously fucks up my ability to protect Taelya,” Lissany grumbled.

“Watch your language young lady,” Venika chastised her in the authoritative ‘Mom’ tone.

“Sorry Mom,” the Beastin girl beside me replied as she sank back in the seat ashamedly.

I giggled at that. It was just so hilarious, not to mention adorable, having the tiny Sprite making the big, badass Beastkin Guardian squirm with a few words. Especially since I’d seen Lissany in combat. I quickly tried to cover it up by pointing ahead. “Oh! There’s the house! Shit, that place is huge.”

“You watch your language too Taelya. You’re a princess now and a proper lady doesn’t swear,” Venika chastised, now giving me both barrels of Mom-ness as well.

“Sorry M… Venika,” I responded guiltily.

“You have to teach me how to do that,” Nishalle said with a laugh.

As soon as we had stopped the truck at the front of the house, Lissany’s quest goal updated to ‘Don your armor and escort the princess to meet with Queen Amoiraishe’. As soon as she received that message the Beastkin girl breathed a sigh of relief and began getting it all on while we waited. “It’s not like wearing all this armor is comfortable, I just don’t like not being prepared to do my job,” she explained. Soon she was suited up, with her helmet on, her shield on her back, and both her war hammer and sword hanging from her belt.

We were then escorted by a Brownie inside the house, which I noticed seemed to have running electricity. I figured that the former owner must have had a generator of some sort set up as we were led through the massive foyer and into a sitting room, which had had all furniture removed. The exception to this being a pair of throne-like velvet chairs siting side by side and a pair of end tables to either side of them. In one of those chairs sat Queen Amoiraishe. The Yseil'dhraí smiled at us as soon as we entered the room and gave her a bow. “You need not bow to me daughter. I see that your Guardian has kept you safe, who are your other companions?”

“Venika, Your Majesty, of the Rosethorn Clan. I am a friend to Her Highness, Princess Taelya,” Venika offered.

“Nishalle, an Assassin of the NightWind Clan, Your Majesty,” my sister said with another bow. “Princess Taelya is my friend and sister and I swear an oath of fealty to both her and the Autumn Court. I would be her sword, where Lissany is her shield, and I will defend her with my life if need be.” Except for the Yseil'dhraí, all the other Fae races were made up of various clans and each of those clans were loyal to one of the Courts, except for any Tokh'dhraí who happened to become Shadow Walkers, which were kind of like the epitome of chaotic evil. Because of that, Tokh'dhraí who were loyal to their Clan and Court usually swore an Oath of Fealty before the Queen of their Court, as Nishalle just did. I was beginning to think that everyone else had a much more intensive character generation experience than my own.

To my surprise Amoiraishe laughed. “So formal, but your oath is accepted, may you serve my daughter well.” She handed each of us a scroll and added, “You have completed your quests and delivered my daughter safely to me, please choose your rewards.”

I opened my scroll and saw a choice of two enchanted items; Nature’s Crown and the Cloak of the Wild. The first would allow me to gather mana quicker while the second would keep me dry, warm, and comfortable in any weather. For me it was a no-brainer and I took the crown. Once we had all made our selections, she smiled and quickly cast a spell to produce an object from thin air. I was wondering if it was possibly a slightly altered teleportation spell, since one of the sigils was the same, but my attention was brought back to the matter at hand as she addressed us.

First she placed a delicate looking golden tiara in my hands. “For you my daughter, Nature’s Crown, a wise choice for a Magus as the speed at which you gather mana can mean life or death in a battle.” The tiara hummed with power and had the appearance of golden leafy vines moving along from behind the ears on either side to meet in the middle in a cluster of leaves with a small flower shape fashioned from rubies in the center. Really? Maybe I should have taken the cloak, wearing this thing in public was going to make me seem even more like a princess.

“For your Guardian, the Mark of the Shield,” she continued as I awkwardly placed the tiara on my head. To my surprise she didn’t hand Lissany anything, but merely touched her arm. I was even more surprised when her armor and other gear all vanished, leaving her once again in the blue and white sundress. She had a blue shield-shaped tattoo on her arm where Amoiraishe had touched her now though. “With this mark you may summon your armor and weapons whenever you have need of them, and dismiss them just as easily.”

Lissany’s face scrunched up in concentration and a moment later she was wearing her armor and other gear once again. “Cool! I can still look casual, but have my armor whenever I need it!” She switched back and forth several times like a kid with a new toy, grinning broadly whenever her face was visible.

Amoiraishe moved on to my sister and Venika next, reaching out to touch them both on their foreheads. “Nishalle of the NightWind Clan, and Venika of the Rosethorn Clan I awaken in you both abilities unique to your clans. For you Nishalle, I awaken ‘Shadow Call’. In darkness or dim light it will allow you to deflect light around you for a short time, cloaking you in darkness. Venika, the Rosethorn Clan’s ‘Farsight’ will allow you to see in perfect detail whatever you wish to focus on, even from great distances, so long as you can see it. Be wary though, while you use it you can only see what you are focused on. Everything else, even things happening close to you, will escape your notice.”

“Thank you Your Majesty,” we all supplied when she was finished.

“Taelya, you need not be so formal with me, you can call me Mother or Mom, should you wish it,” the queen of the Autumn Court said with a smile cast in my direction before getting back down to business. “I have summoned you here, as I have summoned all surviving Fae of the Autumn Court. The world has changed greatly since we were sealed within the Veil. We and the other Races must ally ourselves with the Humans to survive and to restore the balance of nature and magick. We must also adapt to this new world and teach the Humans a better way of doing things so they can assist us in restoring that balance.”

“Is that why you summoned us to this house instead of a Fae Glade?” I asked.

“Indeed,” she replied, “the homes we once knew are long gone. But we must rebuild the Courts and organize our people to face this new reality. To begin that task we shall ally ourselves with the Humans of the village Haven and attempt to build good will with them. Still, they need time to adjust to us, and we will not give up our ways entirely. This home was abandoned and set aside from the Human village, yet it is close enough to begin working with humans, secure, and situated well for both forest and water Fae. I felt that it would be a good place to position the new Autumn Court’s Glade. The Fae you saw in the woods, and some in the ocean beyond this home are already building homes around this compound and casting the magicks to keep us secure.”

“What about other Races?” Nishalle asked.

“We shall offer sanctuary in the Glade to any who wish it, until good relations can be established with the local Humans, but this compound must remain secure for me and my daughter. Only Fae of the Autumn Court, and those who have sworn their allegiance to me and my daughter by magically binding oaths, shall be allowed to enter,” Amoiraishe said stoically before turning to me. “I shall have some of the Brownies set up rooms near your own for your protectors so they will be nearby if you need them, though you should be perfectly safe here.”

“I’m going to be stuck here in this big house?” I asked with a frown. That wasn’t the only thing bothering me about my current situation though, there was something about Amoiraishe that felt… off. Something that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

She considered her answer for a moment before replying. “It is for your own security that you live here Taelya, you are my only heir, but you shall be free to come and go as you wish so long as your protectors are with you. In fact I hope that you will go out among the Humans and other Races, to assist them and foster good will. It will show a better example, to our own people and all the other Races, if one of the Yseil'dhraí is seen trying to improve relations between us.”

“Wait a minute,” I thought to myself, my eyes widening in realization. “She considered her response, actually took time to think about it. All of the other NPCs I spoke with today generated responses almost immediately to questions, though it took them a second or two to realize that I had initiated a conversation or done something to get their attention at first. She’s never taken that time, it was like she had been waiting for us, just like in my tutorial. She was speaking to the whole group too, addressing us by names sometimes, in fact she initiated our conversation herself.”

I took a deep breath and turned to smile at my party-mates. “Since we will apparently be staying here, do you think you could get our supplies all unloaded and put away, where we can access them and we won’t have to worry about them being stolen when we go back to town? Especially the groceries. I’d rather not let the meat and veggies spoil. There is something that I would like to discuss with ‘Mom’. Once we’re done I’d like to return to Haven and see how the others are doing.”

“We’ll take care of that for you, Your Highness. You should be safe enough here, just shout it you need us.” Lissany agreed. Then the three of them left the room with the Brownie who had brought us there, leaving me alone with Queen Amoiraishe.

The second the door closed behind them I looked straight at the ‘NPC’, giving her my best glare. “Okay Moira, what exactly are you up to?”

To my surprise she laughed. “I should have known I couldn’t have fooled you for long. You’re a bright one, far too bright to be working as a one of half a dozen IT systems managers for a faceless corporation that doesn’t value its employees. You were top of your class, you could have been lead programmer for any company you wanted, including mine.”

I narrowed my eyes at her, I knew she had done extensive background checks on anyone who was going to be play-testing the game, but it was like she had mine committed to memory. “I don’t like being in charge,” I stated simply.

“No you don’t, do you?” she agreed. “Despite displaying marvelous leadership skills and creative thinking. Is that because you don’t relate to other people, other than your sister or fiancée, very well? Or is responsibility too heavy a burden? I do know what that last one feels like, but you know what? Reluctant leaders are the best leaders. If I may ask though, why didn’t you just confront me while the others were still here?”

“I didn’t want to ruin the game for them, and I wanted to know if it was something that they needed to be concerned about before risking that. Why are you messing with me? What is your game here?”

“You’re in my game and, despite what you may think, I have no wish to ‘mess with you’. I actually have a great deal of respect for you. I had hoped that you would choose to play an Yseil'dhraí before Karin even gave you your tickets and, once you did, I knew that you were just the type of person that I needed. Your sister thinks very highly of you, you know. You’re smart, a natural leader, creative, and you care about others. I had hoped that your sister would have chosen to play an Yseil'dhraí as well, two would have been better than one. Let’s just say that I have a vested interest in your future and I want you to succeed in this game, and beyond,” she replied with an apologetic look on her face.

“That explains Lissany’s new class and her assignment to me, if you want me to succeed she’s got an edge over most other characters, but really, a new class just to cover my ass?” I replied tartly, arching my eyebrow.

“That class was as much for Danielle as it was for you,” she admitted with a shrug. “She saw something that we were missing and she was as dedicated to playing that type of character as you were to playing a magus. She needed to be rewarded for that. She is a sweet girl and I see both her mother and your sister more as friends then employees. It’s why I gave Karin the extra ticket for Jessica. It helps make Jessica’s dream come true, it made you and Karin happy as well, and it brought you into the game.”

“What’s your interest in me though, and how are you even in the game if you have a company to run?” I pressed.

“I have plans, and I need people who I can trust to do the right thing. You know, my investors weren’t very happy that I decided to do the prelaunch this early. Some are even thinking of pulling out. They wanted to scrub the Yseil'dhraí and a few other races completely and make the game more ‘conventional’. It was important that I follow my vision though. That’s why I need you to succeed,” she answered, looking away and sighing. Then she added, “I’m using a specially tweaked headset, it doesn’t allow me the full experience, but I get warnings when anyone’s quests are going to take them to this NPC so I can connect and interact. I wanted to be there for yours and Lissany’s tutorials. You were both like kids in a candy store while trying out your skills.”

“I do really like using magic,” I admitted reluctantly. “If you like me so much and want me to succeed so badly, why stick me in a girl avatar. This dysphoria is driving me crazy.”

She at least had the good grace to look embarrassed. “I apologize for that, but there was a problem with the code used to generate Yseil'dhraí that I didn’t know about until after you came to me as Taelya in your tutorial. You have no idea how hard it was to hide my surprise. I have been assured that your discomfort will fade over time, and I shall see that you are compensated appropriately when you return to the real world.

By the time I had made my way back outside to the truck Lissany and Nishalle had all of the food placed in the kitchen, filling both the empty fridge and freezer and leaving the rest on the counters for the Brownie servants to put away. Our clothes and the rest of our gear were placed in the foyer for now, we didn’t want to risk anything getting stolen by H3lls-Pwn or other PCs by being left in the truck, and the house was secure. If Grell and Pete decided to stay in town or something else rather than swear a magically binding oath to me and Amoiraishe, then we would bring their share of the supplies and gear to them.

I didn’t think they would object to it though, they seemed to be the loyal and open-minded type. Besides, it wasn’t like we’d be spending all our time in that mansion though, just sleeping there really, and maybe not even that if we went on long scouting missions or foraging runs. We had a light lunch after unloading everything and then I got back into my armor and other gear so we could head back into Haven.

“Shouldn’t you still be wearing that disguise?” Nishalle asked as I climbed into the driver’s seat.

“No way. We have the authority to try and make nice with the Humans now and do quests in the village, so I’m never wearing that thing again unless I have to.”

By the time we got back to the village square the others had finished their personal quests and were waiting for us. I practically leaped into Reiko’s arms, smothering her with kisses before we asked how their personal quests had gone. Apparently they had all done well and completed them. The injured were healed, villagers were grudgingly willing to give non-humans a chance to prove themselves, electricity was restored, and they had all gotten nifty rewards too. Grell had gotten some kind of toolkit for his reward, while Pete had received a flak jacket and Reiko had gotten something called Inari’s Scarf, a white scarf that gave a small amount of protection against magic. Once we had let them know how our quests went we discussed the housing with them. Reiko of course agreed right away, and expected to be sharing my room. Grell and Pete had to give it a little more thought, but they decided to go along with it as well as we began to scour the village in search of quests.