The Beanies had found their way into Hano by renting out their wagon space for a merchant looking to maximize their delivery by any means necessary, though Demony thinks the female merchant was probably suckered in by the Beanies' cuteness as was normally the case.

Far from what the Beanies would expect from a bustling port (their images mostly taken from Gold Port of Sol City), Hano was pretty gloomy with guards patrolling everywhere and the guards scrutinizing everything, which included their wagon. The merchant told the quartet to pretend to be toys, so they did just that with the Beanies lying on their dollhouse beds and Demony pretending to be a shadowy cat statue.

"A dollhouse in a wagon?" The guard asked incredulously.
"You got a problem with that?" The merchant put on a defensive tone.
"Oh no, just seemed odd is all. You're cleared to go." The guard sensed weirdo vibes and so he decided not to pursue further. Which, unbeknownst to him, was an entirely deliberate ploy to lower his suspicions.

Anyway, the wagon soon found itself inside a sheltered parking tent and the workers got to work unloading the goods, consisting mainly of textiles and jewelry, though the Beanies couldn't shake the feeling there were probably weapons stashed in there based on the sounds their little ears heard when the boxes were placed on the wagon platform. Saying no probably would've left them stranded on the island they were at previously, however, so the Beanies had no choice but to hope this does not come back to haunt them.

"It'll take a while for us to unload everything. Don't worry about the parking fee, it's nothing compared to all the help you've provided today," the merchant pat the three Beanies in the head as well as Demony. Demony was so tempted to claw the hand before it could come in contact, but it was unfortunately aware that the tent housed a good amount of armed personnel.

"You'll find a tavern just around the corner. Enjoy yourselves, my friends!" The merchant followed up by handing them a pouch of Solars and left to deal with her other affairs. The Beanies, having nothing else to do anyway, set off to the tavern as per her suggestion with Demony in tow.

---

SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: By Moonlight
Participants: Two or more
Location: Crescent Isles
Post Requirements: 5 posts per person, 200 words per post
Reward: Ability to take on Part 2, +1 Renown
Description: Grand Chancellor Lao has put out a call for assistance to solve some troubles that seem to be occurring in the port town of Hano. The city itself doesn't specialize in any one trade or craft, but instead functions as both a major port and population center within the isles themselves. Its strategic location allows for swift trade between the isles and the mainland making it an important city. As of late the military garrison located in Hano has come under fire, either during their patrols or garrison being ambushed at random intervals throughout the city - some of their warehouses have even been burned down or ransacked. The current political situation with the Crown is tenuous at best and Lao would like you to investigate whatever is happening in Hano City. As is, the Imperial Garrison has instituted a curfew, door to door inspections, and has filled their cells with anyone caught near their sector of the City. Lao cannot allow such brazen tyrannical acts to continue but also cannot damn the Isles to further Imperial Influence.


During the length of this quest you can discover one of dozens of rings of Oniwanban agents causing disturbances throughout the city with little to no regard of who gets injured along the way. Whatever strike team you uncover can have no more than five members and while you can gain some information, such as the presence of other strike teams in the city, you cannot gain anything definite.

Many in the crowd gave the walking teddy bears an odd look, but none stopped to question them. Everyone was hurrying along and the streets were quickly emptying. The people were all trying to get home before the curfew instituted by the imperial garrison. It wouldn't be long before sundown and they all wanted to be safely off the streets before it became dark out and they were likely to be thrown into jail without a chance to defend themselves.

The city had been like this ever since a string of warehouses had been burned down. No one even knew who had done it, and despite all the imperial's efforts, door to door inspections, and the curfew, they still had no idea. No one they had caught had been able to tell them anything. Really, everyone knew the only people they had caught so far were completely innocent people who just happened to be near the warehouses. Now people were just entirely avoiding that section of the city, not wanting to be thrown in jail as well.

The atmosphere was tense. Before the Beanies could reach the tavern they'd been recommended, it shut its door. The taverns in town were in high demand thanks to the curfew. Every visitor needed to find somewhere to stay before it became dark and they were arrested.

Oh dear. The tavern's doors had closed just before the Beanies could go in. They could shout, but a flash of instinct told them to hide, fast, so they collectively barrelled to the back of a barrel sitting in front of the tavern. If anything happened, they could all just pretend to be plush toys someone happened to leave behind a barrel.
Just in time as well, as a trio of guards would come knocking at the tavern door right after, and none of them seemed remotely friendly.
"Open up! This is an inspection!" One of the guards barked, and the doors creaked open slowly to show an elderly Dwarf, presumably the owner of the establishment, who was none too pleased about this state of affairs.
"Hmph," The dwarf let out a disgruntled spit in front of the guards' boots before walking to the side to allow the guards in.

The Beanies would take this opportunity to sneak inside, and nobody would notice them thanks to everyone's attention squarely going to the armoured enforcers.

The guards would leave soon enough, but not before one of them punched the air in front of the Dwarf for the perceived disrespect. Well, the Beanies were now in the tavern, though they were not sure what to do, really. The guards might have left, but the atmosphere was largely tense and frigid and dreary. The Beanies did not feel safe enough to be interacting with others as they normally would, so they opted to just observe the people, maybe wait for another opportunity to leave. Demony, though, was very much enjoying the Beanies feeling down in the dumps, since it made for tasteful juiciness.
"You wanna add this to the tab again?" The Dwarf's voice carried a frustrated resignation to it.
"Yeah. Real sorry, boss. But the curfews are making it impossible to get any real work done." The man he was talking to answered.
"...inspections are getting more frequent too..."
"...it's all those bastards' faults... burning the warehouses down..."
"...lost count of how many days I've seen these walls..."
The Beanies looked at each other with worried expressions. Does this mean they can't go back to their wagon tonight?

The conversation was suddenly cut off as the inn shook and a loud boom was heard from outside. The guards that had come in to do the inspection ran back out the front door in a hurry and several more guards outside were already running in the direction the noise had come from, toward the warehouse district.

On top of the inn's roof, Hylltywyll let out a short, impressed whistle as he watched orange light glow from a spot in the distance, a pillar of black smoke rising from the same spot and distant bits of debris still falling down, raining upon the neighboring buildings. Some of the debris was even flung all the way to the inn. A broken piece of wood cracked a roof tile on impact with the building across the street from the inn before it clattered down and fell into an alleyway. The few people still on the streets trying to get in before the curfew were now trying not to get hit by anything falling from the sky.

It was difficult to see the debris in the dwindling sunlight, but Hylltywyll could see perfectly fine in the dark. He could see it was safe now, relatively speaking. The last of the bits of tile and wood had already fallen and no one was in danger of getting hit anymore. That wasn't the only problem though.

The warehouse that had been blown up was now on fire, and that fire threatened to spread to the other warehouses nearby. Now this was a lot more excitement than Hylltywyll had expected when he paid this city a visit, but how could he not go take a closer look after that display?

He started to jump from rooftop to rooftop, making his way toward the warehouse district under the cover of darkness.

---

Cloak of Shadows

The Beanies, too, couldn't help turning around to the direction they'd heard and felt the explosion come from. Their immediate instincts were to run out the door and check was going on, though it would take them some moments to be able to slip out as many others would peer out the double doors to check what was going on outside. Thankfully though, the many legs on the ground, most of which was covered due to the chilly autumn weather, meant that the people were unlikely to notice the little Beanies squeezing through their feet as they made their way out. Demony followed as well, not wanting to miss whatever chaos had just unfolded outside.

Once outside, the Beanies would witness the billowing smokes already beginning to blend in with the dark clouds in the sky as the evening sun was fast descending into the horizon, the only element serving to differentiate them the orange glows flickering and spreading along the edges of buildings. They had absolutely no idea what they could possibly do, but first things first, they ought to return to their wagon to retrieve their medical kit, at least. There were bound to be someone injured somewhere from such a loud explosion, if not from the resulting flames.

Imagine the Beanies' surprise when they returned to the parking tent only to find that the merchant, and their three workers were being arrested in relation to that explosion.
"It wasn't us! They did it!" The merchant pointed at the Beanies and Demony, and the guards turned around, their faces and demeanour furious.
"So this was how you caused the explosions, eh? Get a bunch of little creatures to set up the explosives?" The guard captain barked distastefully. "Arrest them all!"
"We didn't do-" Star quickly grabbed Goody and Chili and hopped onto Demony, who immediately bolted off without having to be prompted. Even it understood the gravity of this situation.

Hopping up crates conveniently stacked by a building in a side alley, Demony would squeeze in between the decorative awnings of two buildings. The guards couldn't look in there even if they tried, so the Beanies were safe at the moment. Still though, this was bad. They're just been framed by someone they thought was their friend! The Beanies were horribly depressed and hurt, and Demony found this a deliciously gleeful turn of events. Except the part where it was also framed by those bastards, that was. So it was a rare case where Demony was glad to offer its assistance when the Beanies decided they needed to clear their names. Making the Beanies miserable was a welcome move in its books, but messing with it? Well, Demony wasn't about to let that slide.

With that, the four were now headed towards the area where the explosions happened to see if there were any clues.

The entire warehouse district was already swarming with guards trying to find who had caused the explosion. An emergency crew had also run in to attempt to control the fire. A handful of mages with fire and water magic were snuffing out and dousing the flames to prevent them from spreading any further.

The entire city was hectic. Everyone who wasn't either a guard or a fire fighter was just trying their best not to be suspicious. The last few stragglers to get off the street ducked into whatever building they could. A few travelers with nowhere else to go just climbed into the backs of their wagons.

Hylltywyll chuckled as he watched more than a few random people get arrested, most likely innocent and just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was funny to see just how much worse these guards were making the situation. Did they really think arresting an old man just trying to amble his way home, or some merchants from out of town was going to help anyone?

From what Hylltywyll had overheard while skulking around the city, these acts of arson had been going on for a while now. How could these idiot guards think some travelling merchants who had just arrived today could be the perpetrators? They really must be losing their minds in this city.

It was pretty fun to watch the chaos unfold though, so he wasn't about to go say anything. In fact, if he showed himself in front of a guard, they'd probably try to arrest him next. Oh that wouldn't go well for them, he'd be sure of that. Looking around, he noticed something odd scurrying around. Some small teddy bears. They didn't look like they could blow up a warehouse, but they were probably the strangest thing he'd seen in this city, other than himself, of course.

---

Cloak of Shadows
Shadow Sight

The fires were spreading all over the warehouse district, with only the strenuous efforts of mages keeping it at bay. The Beanies wanted to come here to find clues, but looking at the situation as it is, it seemed like all they were doing was leading themselves to more trouble. And did trouble find them indeed as the guard captain they saw just now spotted them.
"There they are! Those little critters who caused it! Arrest them, and get them to tell us where their allies went!" Demony tried to turn back towards where it came from, only to find that it was already surrounded due to the guards being on high alert. Only one thing to do then. The Beanies had a horrible gut feeling as they felt Demony turn towards the fire.
"""(((Ahhhhhhhhhhh!)))""" The Beanies screamed out loud as Demony jumped into the fire and everyone got burned for their troubles.[1] Luckily for the Beanies though, the fires were mostly concentrated around the walls and hadn't reached the inner floors yet... For now.
"(((Fireeeeeeee!)))" The Beanies were now rolling along whatever unburnt floor they could find, trying to extinguish the fires on them. Still though, this is getting a little too dangerous for comfort, so Goody frantically pulled out their Gingerbread Cottage Key they had stashed inside their hat and turned it, manifesting their official best foodie friend, the Gingerbread Cottage! Demony then swiftly bit the Beanies by the ears and threw them inwards before joining them and pushing the door, shutting it.

The Beanies collectively let out a breath of relief as they used the confections around them to extinguish the last of the flames plaguing their bodies. They'll definitely need to patch themselves up later, and treat Demony's burn injuries, if, uh, that even works.
"(Guard captain said something interesting though,)" Chili voiced out loud.

"('Where their allies went', right?)" Star guessed. Goody tilted their head in confusion.
"(That merchant might actually be responsible for the fire,)" Chili theorized. "(If we take that statement in face value, they might have escaped or fought their way out of the guards just now.)"
"(Oh......)" Goody felt exceptionally glum. They didn't like the idea of suspecting others of evil intentions. Still though, Goody understood that they needed to get to the bottom of this, so they puffed their face and gathered themselves to prepare to make a move. Except...
"(But where do we even go? We can't just search blindly like we did just now.)" Goody flapped their ears frontwards with a miserable look on their face. Star and Chili both did a facepalm. Indeed, they hadn't the slightest idea where their accusers would even be.

---

[1] Minor Wound, Burning

The guards ran past burning buildings, searching for the runaway teddy bears. A strange order for them in the middle of such a situation, to be searching for toys, but they weren't questioning the captain when he looked so angry. He was probably pissed that yet another case of arson had occurred right under their noses and they still couldn't find the perpetrators after weeks of burning down warehouses.

The fire had managed to spread to a few of the warehouses that were right next to the original bombing, but the fire had been contained enough that it stopped spreading further. Now they just needed to put them out and hope some of the supplies inside those warehouses were salvageable. From what they could find in records, these warehouses contained food, weapons, and armor for the local military garrison. That matched the previous incidents. It was clear they were being targeted, but why?

Hylltywyll watched the guard scramble, looking for the walking toys that he'd seen actually jump into a burning building for some reason. Welp, the guards would just have to find ashes once they finished putting these fires out. Some movement in another alleyway caught his eye as some people dressed in black with hoods crept along a wall. The guards even ran right past them. Strange given just how suspicious they looked. Weren't they arresting just about anyone they found nearby? Yet they didn't even glance at these masked, hooded creepers?

Hylltywyll tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. Ah, of course. He should recognize this magic. He used it himself all the time. He was even using it now. They were hidden in the shadows, practically invisible to anyone that didn't have the ability to see through such magic, like he did. No wonder they could get away from the guards so easily.

---

Shadow Sight

When unsure on what to do, eating generally helps, right? The Beanies nibbled away at the various furniture while looking out the translucent sugared windows, mainly to observe the fire surrounding them and perhaps, if they were lucky, they might spot something unusual. And spot something unusual they did, in the form of shadowy cloaks, not all that dissimilar to the gaseous shadows Demony emitted. For whatever reason, none of the guards seemed to have noticed them as the group skulked past the buildings the Beanies were on.

The Beanies weren't necessarily sure if the group were who the Beanies were supposed to be looking for, but they sure seemed mighty suspicious. The flames around them seem to be weakening, which the Beanies took to be good news until they realized they were being extinguished through external means. They wondered if they should hunker down or just run for it, but the decision would swiftly be made for them.

"I don't see anyone!" One of the guards exclaimed.
"What!? I clearly saw those teddy bears being lit on fire!" The guard captain roared angrily.
"There is nothing here except singed wood and burn marks on the floors, sir!" Another guard reported.
"They must've gone elsewhere! HUNT THEM DOWN!" The guard captain ordered at the top of his voice.
"Yes sir!" The guards marched off, trying to remain as calm as possible in the face of rising tensions.
Soon, the building was devoid of people, and the Beanies finally mustered enough courage to open the Gingerbread Cottage door once more.

"(That was weird.)" Chili commented. Maybe further experimentation with the Gingerbread Cottage Key was in order. The Beanies had, up to this point, largely thought of the Gingerbread Cottage as convenient meals they could summon at any time, as well as emergency shelter in case the weather shifted for the worse.

So now the Beanies and Demony were out and about, careful to stay in the shadows as they weaved between the buildings looking to find those mysterious arsonists. And find them they did, behind cleverly-positioned rubble to give the illusion that the floor surfaces beyond were covered in charred debris and thus inaccessible, four figures in shadowy cloaks letting out hints of their misdeeds into the air.
"Don't you think maybe we're going a little too far?" One of the cloaked figures uttered.
"Nonsense! The Crown must be resisted by any means necessary!" The voice was familiar, if muffled. Another shadowy presence then appeared right behind to the Beanies, though luckily they hadn't the wariness to look into the precariously stacked rubble allowing just enough space for the Beanies to crawl into and spy on the group in front of them.
"How goes your mission, fellow Onibanwan?" The figure behind them spoke in a commanding manner, and the Beanies had to suppress their urge to let out a shocked yelp right there and then.
"All according to plan, fellow Onibanwan." The familiar voice spoke once more, then added. "The supplies should have safely arrived at headquarters by now.

"Very well. Return to headquarters and await further orders." The commanding voice spoke authoritatively, and its owner then disappeared as quickly as they appeared. The four-person group in front of them would then leave through the back entrance, leaving the Beanies to process what they had inadvertently gotten themselves into.

These guys must be really confident that no one is listening in on their conversation to be saying the name of their group out loud. It was too bad for them that they were a bit overly confident in that assumption and didn't realize that not one, but two different parties were nearby eavesdropping on them.

Hylltywyll shook his head and straightened up from his leaning position over the edge of the roof above them. So, it was the Onibanwan burning down buildings. Well, it wasn't like that was any of his business. It was funny how wrong those dumb guards were, thinking a bunch of teddy bears burned down a warehouse, meanwhile a group of shadow assassin agents or whatever they were just ran around the city. They apparently even made themselves a headquarters here.

Most of the details about the Onibanwan, Hyll still wasn't an expert on. He had heard of them before this when a different group had posed as them posing as ghosts. A strange turn of events, but he had learned a little about them then. Covert operations were their forte. Sneaking around, causing trouble. He could understand all that, except for why they were doing it. It didn't look like they were doing it for fun like him. They had some kind of agenda.

It still didn't concern him.