It was getting late. Gwendolyn sat idly in the parlour of Mystwud Estate as she waited for the suitors to arrive. Her father had sent out invitations to twelve nobles and knights and all but three had declined in writing. Gerhart, Gladio Aurum, and one named just Wolfe had yet to send RSVP’s, and the night of the invitation had arrived with little fanfare. Father had written them in hopes of finding someone of high esteem to betroth her to keep her out of trouble. They read simply “You have been invited to a feast with the beautiful Lady Gwendolyn Mystwud at Mystwud Estate for Hearth Day. Attire is formal.”


    A decent feast was prepared and ready to go, and if none showed up it would simply be given to the servants. Priscilla stood awkwardly nearby, bereft of instruction whilst Gwendolyn stewed tapping her finger loudly on the teak side table. She had dressed up in a dinner gown at fathers instruction, it’s long blue folds reflecting the firelight in the dim waiting room. It was getting late, and while she didn’t even want to do this silly matchmaking thing, she was a little disappointed that no one had shown up.

Blue Raspberry walked up the path slowly. They really hated the cold. This place was freezing and it had a horrible effect on the blue ooze, partially freezing them and making them tired and lethargic. The cold was survivable thanks to the heat generated from the electricity always coursing through them and their increased density since the last time they'd been to Frostglade making the cold penetrate their goo a little less easily. Still, they were wrapped in thick clothing lined with furs beneath a heavy coat with a hood pulled as tight as possible.

There was only one thing that could get the ooze to come to such an awful place. Food! They'd been invited to a feast and they just couldn't refuse. They'd had to get Astrid to read the invitation for them and she giggled for some reason as she read the name of the one inviting them, a Lady Gwendolyn Mystwud. They'd never met her before so they didn't know why she would want them to come to a feast, but they didn't really care. A feast was a feast.

When they finally reached the entrance to the estate, they were approached by two maids.

    Millicent was the first to notice the thickly wrapped warrior approaching the manor. It was hard to distinguish exactly which of the invited he was, mostly due to the excessive amount of wrapping for a climate most would describe as "Mildly chilly". Nonetheless, she hit the bell signaling guests. Priscilla jumped with a start as she excused herself from her ladies presence and rushed over to the door to meet Millicent for the entrance.

    Opening, the sisters stepped outside, bowing with hands motioning inwards.

"Welcome to Mystwud Manor" They said in unison, before Millicent stands up from the bow.
"M-my name is Priscilla, May I see your invitation?" The younger blonde maid asks, with both hands out to receive. The suitor took quite a few moments to release the paper from his clothing, but handed it over. It was oddly sticky, which sent icky shivers down Priscillas spine, but opening it revealed the suitor to be the Warrior Wolfe.

"Sir Wolfe, a pleasure to greet you. Please, right this way." She says politely, before retreating back within the warmth of the confines. 

"Hey, I'll take your jacket" The older, disaffected maid says. "Dont worry, It'll be right by the door when you leave."
"Lady Gwendolyn will be down in just a moment, please, you may proceed to the Dining hall to wait" 

"Oh, okay." Wolfe said as they handed over the heavy coat. It was a relief that the inside of the mansion was pleasantly warmer, especially compared to outside. Even mildly chilly weather made the ooze feel a bit sluggish, but not so much as the freezing temperatures they'd encountered last time they visited Frostglade.

Without the coat, their clothing was revealed to be more thick, warm clothing. They had on Fur-lined leather boots, warm wool pants, and a baggy wool sweater that didn't look like formal attire in the slightest. They looked ready to cozy up to a fireplace in a log cabin and start drinking hot chocolate rather than attend a dinner date in a fancy mansion. They'd prepared for it to be a lot colder out on the way here, but they did at least have the meaning of formal attire explained before they left and had some in them.

"Wait, is there somewhere I can go change my clothes first? I brought formal attire." They asked, stopping the maid before she turned to lead them to the dining room.

"Of course sir, Right this way" Priscilla bowed before leading the quite handsome man towards a dressing parlour nearby the dining area. "You seem quite prepared for the weather! Thankfully it's only been -6c this week, otherwise we'd be breaking out the braziers!" She noted cheerily. Maybe he was a Zeinavan or something? 

    Millicent ascended the stairs just as Gwendolyn came from the top in her light blue dress and matching heels. She had gotten word that a suitor had arrived, but the maid stopped her before making her grand entrance and shooed her back up.

"Yeah, he went to the parlour to get dressed. Came in a big jacket."
"Oh thank Avasha, I was not ready for this. I pray father would stop setting up these secret dinners with people I haven't the slightest inkling of their habits. Which is the one to have arrived?"
"The one named Wolfe."
"Gods, I pray he is not the barbarian his name speaks him to be."

    She returns upstairs for a few minutes to allow the traveler to make himself appropriate. Priscilla raps against the oak door of the parlour to check in on Wolfe.

"Sir? Are you alright in there? Do you need any help?" She needed to be easy on guests, take a breath, back off a bit. How did she even intend to help a man get dressed anyway.

Blue Raspberry followed behind Priscilla and headed into the parlor, the maid closing the door behind them. Alone in the privacy of the room, they could finally change their clothing. Their skin became blue and then morphed and stretched, enveloping the baggy sweater and pants and absorbing them. When the blue ooze receded, the clothing had been completely replaced by a whole new outfit before their skin went back to its normal skin tone.

On the blue-bearded man was black, buttoned up dress shirt, the cuffs decorated with silver cufflinks, and a small pin on their shirt collar that denoted them as a dignitary of Dragon's Cradle. Over the black shirt was a bluish grey vest and matching pants. They had on a light blue tie and had a matching light blue pocket square in the breast pocket. Black leather dress shoes and belt, and black socks completed the outfit which was impeccably tailored to fit the knight's broad, muscular build that was now visible without the baggy sweater and pants.

Cantio had practically wept when he's heard Blue was invited to a feast and had made sure they would wear a suitable outfit. He even altered the outfit to fit them better himself. Blue didn't really understand fashion. They would have just worn the same outfit they'd worn to the court meeting, but Cantio had been absolutely appalled by such an idea. Apparently a court outfit and a fancy dinner outfit were not the same, even if they were both formal attire. 

As Blue heard a few knocks on the door and the voice of the maid outside, they opened the door with a smile.

"Nope, I'm fine. I'm already done."

"Quite dashing sir~! Right this way, the feast awaits." She said with a bow, arms pointed down the hall. The polite young maid led Sir Wolfe down the velvet grey carpet towards the dining area. The doors opened to a large hall with a 5 meter long table laden with a several course feast. Several candelabras stood lit through the middle of it, ensconcing the Roast Avianbear, Cockatrice Neck, Praised Potatoes, and Demonic Food Cake, among other lavishly presented dishes.

    She walked over to a chair at the head of the table, pulling it out slightly to offer the seat to the travelling Wolfe.
"J-Just a moment, Lady Gwendolyn should be coming down soon." Mumbled only before walking quickly over to the entryway of the main hallway. A short rap of the door told Millicent hidden on the other side about the arrival of their guest, and to begin the main attraction.

    Gwendolyn nodded at her professional yet blase` servant to start, as the pair coordinated their opening of doors to look quite impressive. Show's of grandeur like that were necessary to catch certain nobles attention in a field of much competition, and her world class maids certainly put her at an advantage in that category. She stepped into the dining hall wearing a shiny silk-like dress of pale cerulean, with silver droplet earrings, and a matching silvered set of short flats.

"Hello, Wolfe. I am Lady Gwendolyn, a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Blue looked around curiously at everything as they were lead through the estate to the dining room. The decorations all around were very pretty. It reminded them of Cantio's parents' house in Sol City, but this time they were definitely not supposed to eat any of the furniture like they had then. Technically, they weren't allowed to do it then either, but they were specifically there to steal stuff, so they had a great time. Now they just followed Priscilla to the dining hall and sat down where she indicated. The chair creaked beneath them as they sat down from the weight of the high density ooze, but thankfully it didn't break.

While they waited for Gwendolyn to arrive, Wolfe did their best to be a good guest like they'd been taught. Cantio had drilled them on all the proper etiquette once they'd shown him the invitation. Don't eat until they were supposed to, sit where they were lead to sit, be polite, do NOT eat the silverware, try to pretend to chew and swallow, don't eat everything, don't eat any furniture... A lot of it ended up being about not eating things they weren't supposed to, but there was also a decent amount of proper manners.

"The pleasure is all mine." Wolfe responded exactly as Cantio had taught them, standing and giving a formal bow before sitting back down.

    Well well, Not quite what she had expected. He had...manners? And had managed to match her outfit without forewarning. An expert at dress code etiquette, like she said, unexpected. Whatever, she curtsied back and walked around to her place at the other side of the table to begin. Two maids and two butlers each came out from the swinging kitchen doors with the first course, and began serving foods from around the table. Plates of lean rabbit and fresh greens sat before them, and Gwendolyn picked her silverware up to signal the start of the meal.

"Wolfe, I must thank you for coming all this way. Marrowvines embargo on our estate must not extend to handsome warriors from across the seas." Calculated compliments to throw them off guard, weapon two of the noblewoman's armoury. 

"What sort of things do you get up to these days? I see you aren't used to the Frostgale, have you been around the deserts lately?" Weapon three of the noblewoman's armoury, information. If she could find out whether he was worthy of her betrothment she could lock him down asap, If not, a quick dinner was small price to pay to find out.

Blue waited patiently for Gwendolyn to pick up her utensils before they began to eat what was served to them. They had to be sure to cut their food into bite sized pieced instead of slurping it up whole, bones and all. What a waste, but they were trying to follow all the rules Cantio had taught them carefully, so it had to be done. After Blue took just a single bite, Gwen stopped eating and started asking questions.

"Oh, I didn't come from across the seas. I live in Dragon's Cradle, so it wasn't very far. It did get pretty cold part way here though." Wolfe replied cheerfully before taking another bite of some roasted brussels sprouts with balsamic glaze. They didn't really know what she was talking about with the embargo or the Marrowvines, so they just didn't comment.

"I travel a lot, fighting monsters and bandits, adventuring, all sorts of things." Wolfe said with a toothy smile, showing off their enlarged canines. The question about the desert was oddly specific, but the ooze didn't catch any kind of suspicion or ulterior motive to the question. Their only thought was wondering if their adventure into the underground city with Astrid counted as "lately" since it had been a while ago. "I did explore an underground city in the desert once. It was a while ago though, so I don't know if that counts as lately."

"Have you gone on any fun adventures lately?" Wolfe asked, remembering the advice to not only talk about themself and to be sure to show interest in the other guests.

    Oh, an actual adventurer, not some stuck-up castellan who doesn't do anything for an entire career. She had to say, her interest was piqued. She could possibly relate to this guy at least. 

"Ah, very interesting. I consider myself something of an adventurer myself. Just recently I had gone with a fellow Consortium Member into the sky around the Smokey Mountains in the Dragons Cradle. We created a lightning bolt and fell a mile. Good times."

    She parsed around a brussel as she reminisced. Astrid had been a bit of a surprise to see, but she had fun regardless. Wolfe seemed to be enjoying the food at least. It was hard to see him, with the table being just long enough to make the facial expressions blurry and incomprehensible. Gwendolyn parsed the idea of popping a Sight Salt for the purpose of navigating the conversation better, but decided against it. They were expensive, but very usable. 

    Well, the Interesting checkbox was at least met. Now to see if he meets the Prestige checkbox.

"So, Do you have patronage in any of the Guilds, or Groups around Charon? I myself am a member of the Golden Consortium..."

"Oh, I have a friend in the Golden Consortium! That sounds like a fun time!" Blue replied with a laugh. That sounded a lot like a story they'd heard from Astrid. Crazy how people can do such similar things sometimes. They'd have to tell Astrid about that crazy coincidence when they got back home.

Wolfe finished their plate of vegetables and rabbit before wiping their face with the cloth napkin. It took a lot of effort to not eat the napkin afterward, but they put it back down on the table like a good dinner guest. This was a lot harder than they'd expected. They were so used to just nonchalantly eating everything they could get their hands on. They were often asked to spit the salt shaker back out at home during family dinners.

"No, I'm not in any of the guilds yet, but I am a dignitary in Dragon's Cradle. I went around and helped with some farming, helped escort the vegetables we picked, and went to a court meeting with the other leaders there. I'm also hoping to join the Knights of Tegrid. I met one of them at the court meeting. Have you ever been to a court meeting?"

    That was an odd hesitation after he wiped his face...Had she said something? Did she have something in her teeth? She can't read his expressions, this was bad. He was still engaged in the conversation seemingly, but what if he was finding her boring? Shit, it might be time to pop a Seeing Salt. She surreptitiously dropped a spoon from her complete plate, bending down to retrieve it before the approaching butler could. Whilst they were in the midst of serving the second course of Game Hen and Cinamini Cuail, She withdrew a salt she had oozed under the table and snorted the sucker.

    Her eyes dilated and she came back up, all smiles and placed the spoon on the quickly retreating first courses plate.

"Ah, court. The Mystwud family has attended several Marrowvine courts and balls, along with a court held by the King himself... It was a rather droll afair if I do say so myself." She said, attempting to look as cool and collected as possible to try and impress the Adventurer. "You know, all those nobles are doing for court is pomping their feathers at some play at dominance. Childish if you ask me. Though the Knights of Tegrid on the other hand, quite aspirational, colour me impressed."

    She sliced into the Cuail, as delectable and tasty as always. He didn't look bored from across the table, now that she could see his expression he looked like a quite well put together and polite young man. Not only that, but soon to be a knight? It was one of the last things on her checklist that hadn't fallen into place. Any old adventurer had war stories, but a knight was fit for marriage. Not to mention he had friends in the Consortium... If anything this sounded like an excellent match. Time to seal the deal, Weapon of the Noblewoman's Armoury #5.  I'm Pregnant. No, that was #18... What was weapon #5 again?

"You know, the adventuring life is quite difficult these days. I hear all sorts of stuff has been happening in the Arid Mesa. Have you ever thought about what you will do when you retire?"

Oh, that was why the name Marrowvine was familiar! The Black Harvest Ball! That had been at the Marrowvine's mansion in Sol City, hadn't it? Did that count as court? That had been a really weird court meeting then. Everyone was wearing costumes instead of the fancy clothes they had to wear to the meeting with the leaders of Dragon's Cradle. There had also been lots of food. The food was really the thing the ooze remembered most about the ball since they'd spent a majority of their time there eating while in the form of a small bluebird. There was a weird fuzzy thing under one of the tables though. That was pretty memorable.

"Oh, I went to the Marrowvine Black Harvest Ball. I thought it was really fun. The food there was great!" Wolfe said happily with another big smile. They'd really enjoyed the ball. If that counted as court, they couldn't all be bad, right? They didn't understand what she was talking about drool for though. Maybe she meant there was good food there? Then the Ball sure had been a drool affair!

"Retire...? I haven't really thought about it. Sleep, I guess" That was the best answer they could think of to the question. You sleep when you tire, right? They didn't see much of a difference between tiring and retiring. If you tire again, you just sleep again, right? They didn't think about sleeping much. They just kind of did it when they needed to. What a weird question.

"Arid Mesa, you mean the whole thing with that cultist guy and the Sol Stone? Yeah, that was pretty crazy. I thought I was gonna die a couple times, but we made it out just fine. Did you fight Ziev too?" Wolfe replied nonchalantly as they started eating the next course.

    Went to a ball...Sleep...Her fork stopped halfway to her mouth. What did he just say? Did he...Fight the God of Space and survive? A small tremor saw the carrot drop to her plate as she attempted to compose herself. The warriors in that fight were said to be legendarily strong, and one of them was across the table from her at this very instant. The wait staff all looked at the man now eating his dinner idly, as though it were no big deal he was one of the god-killers.

    She cleared her throat to attempt to regain composure. She was doing that alot this meal. Her vision was still clear enough to see the man still enjoying his second course, as if all the world were in order.

"N..No, I was unfortunately still undergoing my training at the time. I see it hasn't affected you all that much? I heard that all that Ziev stuff was a mistelling... All just some plot to defraud the crown or something? Are you telling me you actually fought Ziev? Sorry for prying it's just... a little crazy don't you think? Maybe he had slipped some delusion poison into you all or something."

    Yes, yes that was the true explanation. Scern had gotten a hold of our Miasmic Catalyst and used it to drug a bunch of adventurers. Just in case this guy was actually crazy, she gave a quick gesture under the table to hurry with the third and final course. Dessert.