Mordecai enjoyed watg the two men stumble through trying to figure out what they were supposed to do before the director ordered the curtains dropped, shuffling everyone bato position, and starting again. On the sed try, Nainvil had it figured out and stumbled forward, clutg at a ent wound in his side. “My lord! Our positions have been overruhen dramatically crashing forward in a death se.

  This was more than enough frim to figure it out, arode towards The Hero. “My Prince! Our forces are victorious, and approach the castle as we speak!”

  The rabbit actors took their cues quickly, ‘extras’ shuffling on armbands to represent their sides before most of them charged onto the stage from the prince’s side, and the rest staggering in on the king’s side, looking exhausted.

  “Lo, Vilin, thy reign is at an end!” cried the prince, raising his sword; but of course, the princess moved between them.

  “Wait, my love,” the little rabbit said, “Please do not kill my father!” And on the drama went for a few more minutes before the king was dragged away in s and the lovers fihe se in a dramatic kiss, followed by the curtain falling.

  But while Mordecai was watg the stage produ unfold, part of his mind was busy examining all the materials that had been cimed from the bandits earlier. He’d been occupied monit these two while creating an illusion before this, but he no longer o split his focus to keep track of them.

  This was going to prove a useful windfall. The pistol was readily reproducible, and these two meraries had been well kitted out with cold iron and silver-infused ammo or sedary ons. The rest of the bandits had been less prepared for troublesome enters; except for the Oni, Akuma.

  Akuma's great sword was also cold iron and uhe other ons, it carried two entments. One was desigo instill fear into those struck by it, and the other to make any wounds bleed tinually. The armor was well-matched, carrying an entment to keep foes frightened instead of allowing them to recover. He couldn’t reproduy of those entments yet, but the sword at least could be useful. It wasn't his preferred style of bde, but the entments were powerful enough to make up for it. The armor would not suit him well, but it could at least be traded.

  In addition, Akuma had left behind a small sword made of silver-steel, and several throwing knives. Overall, he'd been oddly well-armed for even the leader of a bandit group. bihat with a scrap of paper carrying a description of a lithe, dark-haired half-elf with almond-shaped eyes, about five and a half feet tall, and this became more than a little disturbing. He wasn’t going t that up to Moriko just yet however.

  The baly had a leading to the one, and Kazue had made sure this end of the theater was on the inside of the curve, so it was easy for the trio to set themselves into pce for the produ. This stage was very brightly colored, and the py turned out to be a heavily stylized edy designed around the overag of buffoon characters wearing masks with almost grotesquely exaggerated expressions. The use of dramatically sharp instruments, often used when a warrior osing to decre his greatness, erfect trast to the edic aost of the side characters were fawning over the ‘great’ warriors of course. Both of the new actors were assigned roles of ‘clumsy servant’, with the main task of pointing torops not-so-subtly lit up to draw the audience’s eye at the proper time. Shenanigans ensued when said objects were ‘actally’ knocked over to start a of ridiculous events.

  The third stage was a light-hearted romance of blushing youth, taking pce during a summer festival. The dwarf and half-orc were given bit roles, one running a booth game to scoop up goldfish, the other selling sweet treats. Not difficult, but very humble roles.

  For the fourth stage, Kazue had set up for a tragedy, with a narrator role done by a chorus dressed as messenger spirits, and a of greed and hubris that led to divine curses, eventually ending with the death of almost all of the characters, leaving just a few to dramatically weep raves. Brongrim and Nainvil had more leading roles in this one; vilins who sought to steal from a temple and killed a priest to do so. The pair looked pained when assigheir roles, but soldiered on admirably.

  The final stage was… eaining. The core of it was an old story about an infant princess falling to the lower world from the moon, who was found and raised by a mortal couple (pyed by Brongrim and Nainvil). When word of her beauty spreads, nobles and great warriors arrive to pete for her hand in marriage, impossible feats are demanded, and then Kazue put her own twist on it. Some of the more spectacur moments during the quests of the suitors were performed, plete with bat done by attag steel wires to the actors so they could soar through the air dramatically. Mordecai did his best to keep a straight face as he leaned out of the way of Moriko’s narrow-eyed look at the kitsune. Kazue was very careful to not notice the gre.

  The ending was also different from the cssic version, with a more humble warrior who had not even been seeking the princess’s favor winning her love, and the old couple begging for lenien the young lovers’ behalf when the princess’s family finally found her and desded to take her home. This led to a happy ending with the princess discarding her immortality to remain with her warrior.

  Overall he was rather satisfied with the results. It wasn’t a plicated or terribly hard test really, but their day had been long ahem exhausted. It was the sort of pressure that would cause the mask to craore prideful or short-tempered people; but even weary as they were the pair had thrown themselves into the task with suitable enthusiasm. They had heart, and been given a reminder of life outside of fighting for moheir own greed had been what had led them to accept a job that trapped them with bandits.

  Now it was time for Mordecai to don the role of priest and hold up his side of the bargain. While the exhausted duo took a moment to catch their breath and enjoy the gratutions from the actors, Kazue, Moriko, and Mordecai made their way to the main room ahemselves up to greet their visitors properly. Moriko took a moment to sider how she wao present herself, and for a momeertaihe idea of lounging sultrily by the thrones so she could be a bit zy while teasing her spouses, but in the end decided to py the part of a guard, taking up a straight-backed pose behind them.

  The table was left bare for the moment. They could jure food ter, assuming there was cause for celebration. They only had to wait a little while before Brongrim and Nainvil arrived, looking somber but somewhat at peace. The pair took in the room, shared a ghat carried their thoughts, and then moved in tandem around each side of the long table to kneel before the thrones, and Brongrim spoke for them. “We have e to beg ato by your hand and Ozuran’s will, ah-” Here the daused, realizing he wasn’t certain of a title.

  Mordecai smiled. “Just call me Mordecai. While my devotion is reized by Ozuran, I am not a part of the churd carry no official title. Now, as for your ato, you have my approval. I believe I have seen a glimpse of your hearts and that experieng Kazue’s games has helped remind you how to appreciate life again, both yours and others. So I will intercede with Ozuran on your behalf.” He looked over to Kazue who nodded, looking resolute.

  He rose from his throne and approached the kneelio y his hands on each of their heads, and began. “Ozuran, Lord of Shadows, Dreams, Mirrors, and all that reflects reality, I beseech you on behalf of these pe mortals to grant them a blessing of ato. They have strayed from their own morals and ws, but the strength of honor still lies in their hearts, ready to be rekindled by yrace.”

  There was a moment of deep silehen a presence was felt that briefly dimmed the light in the chamber while the men’s shadows moved of their own accord. Then the image of a mirror swirling with shadoeared over their heads for a few moments before fading. The mark was still there, but could only be seen by a priest of Ozuran or an allied faith.

  “gratutions,” he said as relief washed over everyone. “Go a, we’ll join you in a moment, and discuss your ask ter.”

  Kazue bounced out from her throne, happily announg “A feast for everyone!” as a spread of her favorite foods was jured across the table; at least, those she had some idea of how they were made. The two grateful men rose and bowed briefly before moving to the table, pausing as they he amount of sweets involved.

  Mordecai discretely added a few meat and other savory dishes to the colle as he turo face the women, and ask over their link, “Moriko, are you willing to speak in their favor? And Kazue, are you willing to ihem in as inhabitants should they choose to do so ter?”

  Moriko answered first, havio sider about the sequences. “Yes. I won’t lie, but I will back that I believe them to be redeemable.” He hen looked to Kazue, who was still thinking as she swished her tails.

  “Mmm, alright, I’ll trust your judgment on this.” She finally replied, then stood ooes to give him a kiss. Mordecai smiled and then turowards Moriko, but she’d already started moving around them to get to the food. Ah well.

  The feast went well enough, with little talking at first, but soon enough curiosity overtook their visitors, and Nainvil asked. “So, ah, would you be willing to tell us more about what is going on here? And, um, I couldn’t help but notice the identical rings you are all wearing.”

  Moriko and Kazue both turo smile at Mordecai, handing all responsibility for expining to him. Well, fair enough, it was his idea. “The full story is a little plicated, but in short: Because of various challenges we were experieng in rather quick succession, we decided that our best option was to enter into a marriage of venieo take advantage of the marriage ritual's magic. It’s worked out pretty well, given how little time we had to pull this off. Kazue and I now have a shared Core, and have some increased capacity because of it.”

  The men looked at him for a moment, but picked up on no one more details. “Well, gratutions to the three of you then.” Brongrim offered, then moved on to another subject. “Have you decided what our task will be?”

  “Yes. It’s simple enough; in the m I will return your stuff, and you will esoriko to her hometown, where you will turn yourselves in and Moriko will speak on your behalf. From there, I give you an invitation: Assuming that after iigation yiven the freedom to do so, you may retreat back to here if you would care to be inhabitants. Normally, I prefer not to add sapients from outside the dungeon as inhabitants as the magivolved works to eheir loyalty. I do not like ging a person's free will like that. However, I offer this in part so you have the option of requesting this as your sentence, should the authorities not want to just let you go free, but the invitation remains opeher way. I don’t know how much ret events will affect your personal lives, so I want to make sure you have a lifeline if you .” Mordecai paused thoughtfully for a moment before he tinued, "Teically, we could also offer you a pce as tractors, but that is a much more limited capacity, and I am not certain I want to do that with you. I very specifically want this to be a fallback for you, not something that you might preferentially select."

  Both of them looked startled, then murmured their thanks. Talk turo more idle things after that, and when the men had eaten their fill, Mordecai showed them the way to a side room he’d made for them and pointed out the amenities, plus a basket of food that would be good through the m, should they be hungry before then. The implication that they were to remain in the room was not lost oher of them, but given their quick exge of smiles Mordecai suspected they would enjoy having some private time anyway.

  Ohey were settled, Mordecai returo Moriko and Kazue, who were lounging in Kazue’s room since Moriko hadn’t had a ce to see it yet. There wasn’t much to be doh dungeon building until tomorrow anyway, and they had plenty of time to talk this evening. The day may have been long, but it also started rather early. And Moriko was worried about her parents, give another day of dey on her journey.

  Zagaroth