Emerald Stratos was very annoyed this morning. No, annoyed was too small of a word for what she was feeling. She was absolutely perma-on-dragonfire livid.

  Nothing was going her way.

  Emerald glared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror of her Inn room. Her ruby scales were dull, lacking their usual luster despite an hour of polishing. Whatever bullshit potion had been spilled on her head from a mage tower's window made her look like a total knob.

  "Where the eff is my delver and Bank cards?!" She snarled, upending her bag for the fifth time that morning. Everything spilled out - potions, magic bracelets, gold rings, extra weapons, but no bank card.

  She was certain that the cards were in her wallet before the delve, which was in her pants pocket. Without her delver ID, the Arx Bank refused to issue her a new card and she had to rely on Quint to give her cash like a peasant knob.

  A knock at her door made her tail lash in irritation.

  "What?!" She growled.

  "Hey Em," Solace's voice called through the door. "You've been in there for like an hour. Are you okay?"

  "Do I sound okay?!" Emerald snapped. "This shit won't come off and I still can't find my effing delving ID or bank card!"

  "Oh," Solace said. "Well, umm, there's this new cafe that opened up recently - Lord David's... Forged Brew? They're offering free lattes and breakfast discounts for first-time customers. I could treat you?"

  Emerald's stomach growled traitorously. She hadn't eaten since yesterday, too busy dealing with one misfortune after another.

  "Fine," she grumbled, yanking the door open. "But this better be good."

  Emerald growled at the Inn maid in the hallway, stalking down the stairwell with Solace trailing behind her. "And why is this place called a Smithy if it's a cafe?"

  "Maybe they forge their own cups or something," Solace shrugged. "I dunno. It's like a converted smithy or somethin'?"

  They found Quint waiting downstairs in the garden, looking as pristine and proper as ever.

  "Finally," he said, checking his pocket watch. "I was beginning to worry..."

  "Shut it," Emerald snapped. "I'm not in the mood for..."

  A passing flock of pigeons chose that exact moment to unleash their payload directly onto her freshly polished armor and scales.

  "ARGHHHH!" Emerald roared, dragonfire erupting around her. The pigeons scattered from the flash of dragonfire that obliterated the nearby bushes.

  Quint and Solace winced.

  "Don't. Say. A. Word." Emerald gritted through clenched teeth. “Unless you wish for death.”

  The trio made their way through Shandria's morning streets. Emerald's day continued to get worse - she stepped in what appeared to be enchanted bubblegum that multiplied every time she tried to burn it off.

  A street vendor's cart mysteriously lost a wheel just as they passed, sending a cascade of rotten fruit rolling directly at Emerald. She tried to dodge but slipped, landing face-first in a pile of overripe melons.

  "I swear to the Abyss," she snarled, dragonfire burning away chunks of fruit. "Someone jinxed me!"

  "Don't ya got an anti-jinx hex colla, Em?" Solace asked.

  "Yes," Emerald snarled. "Obviously I freakin' do, ya dum beerch! Except it's not doing shit."

  A window above them opened and an old lady dumped what appeared to be week-old fish soup directly onto Emerald's head.

  "Oops!" The elderly woman called down. "Sorry dearie! Didn't see you there!"

  "THAT'S IT!" Emerald roared, flames erupting around her. "I'M GOING TO..."

  Emerald looked at the building above, having scraped the soup-chunks out of her red eyes. Then she choked. There wasn't even a window up there anymore. Just a solid brick wall.

  Her eye started to twitch.

  "Look!" Solace pointed quickly. "There's the cafe! Come on!"

  Emerald steamed with dragonfire burning away the soup chunks.

  The Forged Brew Cafe was an odd establishment - a lonely dark tower standing on a cliffside, part lighthouse, part forge, part coffee shop. Emerald looked left and right suspiciously before she sat down next to her Wendigo partner and only remaining kobold, occupying one of many outside seats with the view of the chasm.

  "I bet it's him doing this somehow," she growled.

  "Who?" Quint asked.

  "That Abyss-damned bastard!" Emerald snarled far too loudly. "Who does he think he is? Walking around like he owns the place! I'm going to effing murder him!"

  "Now, Em," Quint offered. "Let's not be too hasty. Think it over, relax. We have..."

  Emerald considered breaking Quint's legs, but then this would leave her with only Solace and Quint was technically their substitute Instructor. She held her rage in just barely.

  "I don't give a shit what we have, Quint!" Emerald slammed an armored first into the table, making it wobble precariously. "He needs to die! He needs to be deported ASAP! He's a human! A HUMAN, Quint!"

  "Are you sure?" Solace asked.

  "Obviously I'm sure, you bloody beerch knob!" Emerald snarled. "Scrutimancer Davosh investigated him from every possible angle! He's not who he claims he is!"

  "Humans can't..." Solace started.

  "I don't give a shit what humans can't or can do," Emerald waved her arms. "You're all useless imbeciles! I'm going to STOP HIM myself if that's what it takes! Someone has to stop him before he gets his pink scrawny limbs into Cinder! She's my Bard! SHE BELONGS TO ME! She's not his thing to paw at!"

  "It is rather odd. I didn't think that Ci would be into humans," Solace yawned with her round forehead mouth.

  "Me neither and yet here we are! You, cafe maid!" Emerald barked, visually locating an owlkin cafe maid. "Triple frap stat! What do you knobs want? Hurry up and order, we have dungeon monsters to smite!"

  The owl-kin cafe maid blinked her large yellow eyes slowly at Emerald's outburst, white and black skirt fluttering.

  "I said TRIPLE FRAP!" Emerald snarled. "Are you deaf as well as slow?!"

  "Em..." Solace started. "I know you're having a bad day, but there's no need to take it out on the locals."

  "And make it snappy!" Emerald continued berating the maid. "I don't have all day to wait for your tiny bird brain to process a simple order!"

  The owlkin's feathers ruffled slightly, wind swirling around her ever so slightly, but she maintained a professional demeanor. "Of course, ma'am. Would you like any..."

  "Did I ASK for options?!" Emerald cut her off. "Triple frap! Now! Before I burn this entire place to the ground!"

  As if on cue, a passing adventurer tripped, sending his coffee directly into Emerald's lap.

  "ARGHHHH!" She roared, jumping up as the scalding liquid soaked through her armor. "YOU EFFING..."

  The chair she'd been sitting on chose that moment to collapse, sending her crashing to the floor.

  "THAT'S IT! I'M GOING TO MURDER EVERYONE HERE!" She roared, flames shooting from her mouth and mane.

  "Em, maybe we should..." Solace started.

  The owlkin maid tensed up, a wind sword forming in her hand. "Ma'am, I'd appreciate it if you didn't threaten our staff or clients. This isn't a tavern to brawl in."

  "SHUT UP!" Emerald snarled. "SHUT UP. SHUT UP. SHUT UP!"

  She stepped away from the wind sword armed maid.

  She saw that other maids seemed to be wielding mid-tier magic too. Other clients pulled out their swords and mage staves, pointing them at Emerald.

  There were too many well-armed adventurers at the damned cafe. Emerald chose to retreat strategically, memorizing everyone's faces to murder them later when greater numbers were on her side.

  She stormed out of the cafe, leaving scorch marks on the ground with each step. Her armor was soaked, her scales were still dull, and now she smelled like burnt coffee.

  Children called her names and threw rotten apples at her, but before she could smite them, they vanished amidst the crowd.

  Arriving back at the Inn, she collapsed into bed. The pillow burst into flames from her rage and then an anti-fire hex activated overhead dousing her with questionable, smelly foam.

  The foam-covered Lindworm stormed into the delving preparation room downstairs, her rage literally burning the anti-fire foam off her scales.

  "We're going delving!" She declared to Solace and Quint. "I need to kill something! Anything!"

  "Are you sure that's wise?" Quint asked carefully. "Given your recent string of... misfortunes?"

  "What's the worst that could happen?!" Emerald snarled, yanking open her locker. "I already smell like an effing garbage fire!"

  "Em, maybe..." Solace began.

  "That was rhetorical, idiot!" Emerald snapped. "We're going! Now!"

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  The wild fields outside of the city seemed peaceful. Too peaceful. Emerald glanced left and right.

  Then she heard a distant rumbling.

  "What's that sound?" Solace asked, her round forehead-mouth opening wide.

  Before anyone could respond, a herd of Thundersnargs–massive, antlered beasts that looked like a cross between an elk and an ant-eater–came charging over the hill directly at them.

  The herd slammed into Emerald and her companions like a living lightning storm.

  The massive beasts crashed through their group, static electricity crackling between their antlers. Emerald tried to dodge, and slay the monsters, but there were too many.

  The creatures' electrified antlers cast thunderbolts at her armor. The first thunder blast was absorbed by her shields, as was the second, but the twentieth one fried the gemstone collars and armor, sending thousands of volts through her body.

  "ARRRGHHHHH!" She screamed as the herd thundered past, leaving her twitching on the ground, smoke rising from her armor.

  "At least we got one," Solace said cheerfully, holding up the beast core she'd harvested from the Thundersnarg she'd managed to take down.

  "Shut. Up." Emerald growled through clenched teeth. Her second armor set was completely fried, the protective runes burned out.

  Her dragonfire refused to ignite, the electrical overload having temporarily short-circuited her ability to produce flames.

  They approached the Adventurers Guild cathedral, Emerald limping slightly from electrical burns.

  "See?" Solace said encouragingly. "Nothing bad has happened for at least twenty minutes! Maybe your luck is turning around!"

  "Don't jinx it," Emerald growled.

  They entered the Guild hall, making their way to the core evaluation desk. Sister Antiqilla looked up from her paperwork as they approached her desk.

  "Good day," she said carefully, accepting the beast core from Solace to trade it for silver. "I see you've had an... eventful delve?" She glanced at the smoking Emerald.

  "Has Alexander Glock registered at the Guild yet?" The red dragon girl demanded.

  "Afraid not," Secretary Antiqilla shook her head. "I already told you that your team Captain will be updated by Voicecast when he does."

  "See?" Emerald spun to Quint. "He's avoiding registration on purpose! He doesn't want to be exposed as a pathetic level zero human!"

  "Emerald," her boyfriend sighed. "You've been obsessing over this all day. Even if he is human, which I doubt, he still managed to display magic skills at the duel. Maybe we should just..."

  "Just what, Quint?" Emerald snarled. "Let him get away with it? Let him make a mockery of everything we stand for? He's charmed his way into everyone's good graces, and now he's avoiding Guild registration because he knows that'll expose him!"

  "Or maybe," Quint said carefully, "he's just busy with his community service project in Undertown."

  "Community service?!" Emerald's eyes flashed dangerously. "What community service? Seriously, how stupid are you Quint? Sol, back me up! Tell this knob what Undertown is."

  "It's a criminal district," Solace said. "Full of thieves, murderers, and Topaz addicts. Nobody does 'community service' down there."

  "Exactly!" Emerald loudly smashed a clawed fist covered in magisteel on the secretary's desk. "He's obviously lying! Probably buying Topaz and booze down there!"

  "That seems... unlikely," Quint said diplomatically. "Father Matthias vouched for Alexander personally. And his work with the Slayer's Cathedral..."

  "Is obviously fake!" Emerald interrupted. "Just like everything else about him! His records, his identity, his supposed mixed heritage - it's all lies!"

  "Oh come on," Solace rolled her gold eyes. "You're just mad because he made you look bad in front of everyone in class."

  "Made me look bad?!" Emerald hissed. "He humiliated me! Used artifacts n' trickery to beat me! And now everyone's treating me like I'M the villain! I'm not! I'm the good one here!"

  "To be fair," Quint said carefully, "you did challenge him publicly..."

  "Because he's a FRAUD!" Emerald roared, smoke curling from her ruby hair. "A human infiltrator making a mockery of our school! And now he's corrupted Vespera, Cinder and Io! He's been screwing with me somehow all day long! Every time I try to go outside the Inn, something happens!" she continued ranting. "I get hit by falling flowerpots, slip on banana peels, get waste dumped on me from windows, get buried in fertilizer! It's like the universe itself is conspiring against me!"

  "Maybe that's a sign, Em," the Death Worm suggested dryly. "You know, to chill out? Before something... really bad happens?"

  "CHILL OUT?!" Emerald's voice rose to a screech, her scales blazing like hot coals. "DID YOU JUST TELL ME TO CHILL OUT?! While that lying sack of human filth runs around free?!"

  "Excuse me," A dark foxgirl with flowing black hair in a leather dress covered in blue gems said politely but firmly, interjecting herself into their conversation. "You're holding up the line with your incessant screeching. Lord David needs to register his party."

  Emerald spun around, coming face to face with an elegant-looking vulpine woman. Behind her stood a ginger haired, ginger bearded blue-eyed human in a gray robe - presumably Lord David. A dragoness wielding a massive hammer stood beside him, her scales flickering with orange and violet colors. Something in the way the girls' scales changed color reminded Emerald of her lost kobold Cinder.

  "How dare you interrupt me!" Emerald barked at the dark fox. "Do you have any idea who I am?"

  "Someone who's clearly very worked up about a particular human," the foxgirl said smiling with sharp chompers, blue eyes twinkling with blue and silver. "And who's preventing other adventurers from conducting their business."

  "I'm not worked up about..." Emerald choked, the words of the fox reminding her of how Alexander Glock behaved. "I am Emerald Stratos!" She barked even louder. "Prima Heiress of the Stratos Omnicorp!"

  "Uh-huh. Cedez Astra," the foxgirl replied, giving Emerald an unimpressed glance, a dark halo flashing over her head. "The Sovereign of Shandria."

  "You're... a what?" Emerald blinked, her rage momentarily derailed.

  The foxgirl couldn't be the Sovereign. According to what she learned in delving class Shandrian history from Instructor Zalimar... Shandria was ruled by High Lords and its last Sovereign died about two decades ago.

  "Heir Apparent of the Shadow Empire crown," the dark fox repeated calmly. "And you're causing a scene in my Guild hall. Kindly piss off before I ban you from my city."

  Emerald sputtered, her mind racing.

  This had to be some kind of joke, a trick. Things were falling into a pattern. The damned human must have paid off these twats to harass her. David didn't look like a Lord in his simple gray robes. He looked tired, like a man that had been trampled by the same Thundersnarg stampede. This was obviously just a group of actors, another way to annoy her! That's how the blasted human was avoiding triggering her anti-hex rune! Hired help!

  "WHAT?! You can't ban me!" Emerald let out. "You're not... you can't be... You're full of shit, lady! Shandria doesn't have a Sovereign!"

  The words left Emerald's mouth before her brain could catch up.

  This had to be another trick, another scheme cooked up by that insufferable human to torment her. First the jinxes, then the "accidents," and now this? Some random foxgirl claiming to be Sovereign? Ridiculous!

  But then something changed in the air. The temperature dropped several degrees. The foxgirl's blue eyes flashed with silver, and a dark halo-crown materialized above her head.

  "Oh? Is that how it's going to be?" The fox asked. "By the power invested in me by the Crown Tower Arcane, I hereby BANISH Emerald Stratos and her party from Shandria."

  The words hung in the air. Emerald's mind reeled. This couldn't be happening. This had to be another trick, another scheme. That Shadowcrown was basic Shadowmancy at best! Deception!

  "WHAT?!" Emerald boomed. "You can't..."

  "I just did," Cedez said. "You're annoying me. You and your party have one hour to gather your belongings and leave the city. If you're still here after that, the Watch will escort you out. Less pleasantly."

  "This is outrageous!" Emerald snarled. "I demand to speak to..."

  "To whom?" Cedez tilted her head. "The manager? That would be me and I just told you that you three are banned. You made a scene in Lord David's cafe this morning, being rude to our staff. Now you're making a scene in our Adventurers Guild. That's two strikes and you're out."

  "M-My father will hear about this!" Emerald declared, her mind burning from within with absolute rage. This wasn't happening! None of this was supposed to happen! She was Prima Heiress of the Stratos Omnicorp! People didn't just... banish her from Guilds! Obviously this was more of Glock's bullshit, a way to get her out of the Guild.

  "Oh, please do tell Daddy Stratos that his precious daughter got banned from Shandria for throwing a tantrum in public," the dark fox's fluffy tail swished. "Too much cheek. You're still here? Still being an annoying twat? Let's up the banishment then. You're hereby banished from Illium, Nocturna, Umbria, Starveil, Gloomhaven, Duskhollow, Rustspring, Ebonspire, and Tenebri."

  Emerald's mind raced, her thoughts a chaotic inferno of rage and disbelief. This wasn't happening. COULDN'T be happening. First that insufferable human infiltrator making a mockery of everything, and now this? Some random foxgirl claiming to be Sovereign, trying to banish HER?

  No. She was Emerald Stratos. Prima Heiress. She wouldn't be dismissed like some common knob!

  Something snapped inside of Emerald. She had enough of today, reached her boiling point.

  Her armored fist shot forward with devastating speed, magisteel claws aimed directly at the foxgirl's crystalline heart. She'd show this imposter what happened to those who dared challenge her authority. One quick strike, one dead "Sovereign," and everything would go back to...

  The dragoness' magisteel-covered fist punched clean through Cedez's chest, tearing through her leather dress and going through the space where her heart should have been. The sound of ripping leather and crunching crystal gems echoed through the Guild hall.

  "No one..." Emerald snarled, smoke curling from her ruby hair, her scales blazing with triumph, "tells me what to do! Especially not some fake Sovereign playing dress..."

  Her words died in her throat as she realized something was very wrong. There was no blood.

  Cedez looked down at the fist protruding from her chest with mild curiosity, as if examining an interesting piece of artwork.

  "What?" Emerald's voice came out as a strangled choke. Her mind reeled, unable to process what she was seeing. Her fist had gone straight through the foxgirl's chest, but there was no blood, no viscera, nothing but a strange spilling dark shimmer in the air where her hand passed through. Shadow-like smoke poured from the hole.

  "You heard me," Cedez said with an icy-cold voice, dark crown-halo pulsing above her head. "One thousand years dungeon. For assaulting the Heir Apparent. Maybe I should make it ten thousand years? What do you think, M'Lord?"

  Cedez turned to Lord David, her vulpine features splitting into a predatory grin. The dark halo above the fox's crown winked away.

  "W-why aren't you dead?!" Emerald's mind was spinning, her thoughts fracturing like shattered glass. This wasn't possible. None of this made any sense. Her claws should have torn through flesh and bone, should have ripped out this pretender's crystalline heart. Instead, her armored fist had passed through the foxgirl like she was some kind of ghost. There was nothing inside her to crush. No organs, no muscles, no bones. NOTHING AT ALL.

  Emerald yanked her fist back, her mind desperately trying to rationalize what was happening. This had to be another trick. Like everything else today - the accidents, the "mishaps," the humiliations. It was all connected!

  "Guild Sister Antiqilla," Cedez glanced at the Secretary. Emerald saw that the dark fox quickly tied more dark leather straps around the hole, stopping more shadowy stuff from escaping. "I do believe that this adventurer just assaulted me. In your Guild. Punched me through the chest, trying to pulverize my crystalline heart. While loudly asking why I'm not dead."

  "GUARDS!" Antiqilla's voice cracked like a whip through the Guild hall. "ARREST THIS GIRL!"

  The response was immediate and overwhelming. Two burly Watchmen flashed next to Emerald, their armor gleaming with enchanted runes of strength-reinforcement and suppression. Each stood nearly seven feet tall, their helmeted faces betraying no emotion as they moved with practiced efficiency.

  The guards' massive gauntleted hands clamped down on Emerald's arms, red triangular logo of the nine-eyed Shadow Empress Nox gleaming on their helmets.

  "Let go of me!" Emerald thrashed violently against the guards' iron grip, her ruby scales flashing with impotent rage. Her tail whipped back and forth. "Do you have any idea who I am?!"

  "A violent criminal who just attempted to murder someone in broad daylight," one of the guards growled, his enchanted armor humming with suppression magic that dampened Emerald's dragonfire. The crystalline eyes in his helmet gleamed with cold authority. "In the Adventurers Guild no less. In front of hundreds of witnesses and a Kitlix Infix."

  "I do believe that's a collaring," the second guard added with a grin. "For life."

  "Yep," the first guard nodded.

  "But... but she's fine!" Emerald protested frantically, her voice rising to a desperate screech. The foxgirl was standing there completely unharmed, examining the ragged tear in her leather dress with the mild irritation of someone whose favorite outfit had been ruined. Dark wisps of shadow-stuff still leaked from the hole where Emerald's fist had passed through her chest, curling and dissipating in the air like smoke. "She's... she's not even bleeding! There's nothing inside her! She's not real! She's... Not alive!!!!"

  "Attempted murder is still a crime," Cedez replied with a predatory grin that looked exactly like the smile of Alexander Glock. "Afraid you're going to the coal mines, darling."

  Quint and Solace were saying something but Emerald wasn't listening anymore.

  "You can't do this!" Emerald flailed as the guards dragged her towards the door. "I'm a Stratos! Solace! Help me take down these knobs! My father will have this entire damned city leveled for this!"

  "Be silent," the guard ordered as he snapped a slave collar over Emerald's neck.

  A cold sensation spread from the collar around Emerald's neck, like ice water flowing through her veins. Her connection to dragonfire - that constant warm presence she'd known since hatching - suddenly vanished.

  The familiar heat in her core winked out like a candle being snuffed, her scales dulling to dark red and gray.