Nope. Time for a heist!

You groan in protest as you're shaken awake on the day of the ball, but nonetheless dutifully drag yourself out of bed. This last week of relaxation has been welcome, but if you ever want to be a big-time boss you still need to act when it counts. A short amount of prep later and you and Ari are off to pose as a couple of RPers at the regional social event of the season. The journey is relatively uneventful, and after a few hours of peaceful hiking you find yourself in the woods outside Highcastle.

The two of you strip out of your adventuring gear and don your costumes. You have a fancy and somewhat puffy blue and white suit, while Ari wears a complicated and revealing outfit made of wide strips of of translucent red cloth that dangle from her arms and body and even includes a veil, hopefully obscuring her appearance from anyone who's seen her fighting on your side. You stiffen at the sight, but now isn't the time for those thoughts: you have a job to do here. You'll have to take another look in private later, though. For now, fully dressed, the two of you step out of the woods and back onto the road.

The castle sits on a small hill, and its gates are thrown open to accept a trickle of adventurers who are checked by armoured guards at the gates, a few being turned away while most are let in. By the time it's your turn, they simply check your guild badges and let you through without much fuss. The grounds are full of well-maintained gardens, dotted with adventurers talking in small groups and even a few performances and choreographed duels. The two of you walk through a small hedge maze and around a small park area, stopping to appreciate a man who swallows a torch and then breathes fire. While the scenery is beautiful there's no sign of Lady Highcastle anywhere on the grounds, so you drag yourself away from the performers and head inside.

The interior of the castle is a bizarre mix of sounds: every once in a while some door or other opens to expose whatever loud sound comes from inside. The doors directly ahead open into a familiar-sounding mix of stringed instruments and piano, but some sort of bizarre distorted thudding and flashing coloured light comes from a room to the west, the result of some sort of strange magic apparently called "disco." Different sounds echo through the halls, most completely unnatural: you've never felt anything so alien, and you're a daemon!

"Well, she could be anywhere in here. How about we split up and explore? I was thinking of starting out in the room just in front of us."

"Sure! I'm going to check out that disco: I learned a bit about it when Sarah was still playing." Ari doesn't seem to share your aversion for the bizarre sorcery happening over there and happily goes over to investigate some of the stranger rooms, while you go straight through the doors ahead of you and find what looks like a high-class court dance accompanying the orchestra.

The room seems separated into two rough groups: on one side, adventurers and NPCs wearing formal wear dance elegantly in high society fashion, while on the other side a bizarre mix of adventurers in their combat gear and in various states of undress or bizarre, clashy clothes are socializing or flailing about. It's unlikely an aristocrat would be in the latter group, so you move to the formal side; luckily, the volume of the music and chatter drones out the antics from other side of the hall. Sure enough, you soon spot a woman with a glowing blue gem necklace weaving through the crowd, dancing with various men and women as she does.

For lack of a better plan, you approach a random woman in a flowing dress currently on the side of the group without a partner. Apparently she's a level 23 rogue most of the time, but currently she could easily be mistaken for a noblewoman if it weren't for her character summary. "Would milady care to dance?" She giggles at your attempted courtly talk—did you do something wrong?—but then takes your hand and begins to guide you into the crowd. Despite your inexperience you hold up surprisingly well, possibly due to your social stats.

"So, how are you enjoying this thrilling event?" A few fluctuations in her tone betray she isn't totally used to speaking this way.

"It's alright, not quite what I'm used to, but it's a nice change of pace from killing monsters."

"Well, I say, some of the invitations here are simply scandalous. Did you know that the Lady Fargrave and the Lord Merrywater—" you tune her out at this point as she rambles on about courtly scandals. It really doesn't actually sound like she cares at all about what she's saying as much as the fact that she's saying it. These "RPers" at least are coherent as far as adventurers go, but they're still a strange breed.

After a change in the music you manage to swap your chatty partner for another one nearby, and repeat this process to gradually work your way into a collision course with the Lady Highcastle. A few partners later, the two of you 'just happen to' weave next to one another just as another section is ending, and you see her disengage with her current partner and turn in your direction. She gracefully switches in for your current partner and the next thing you know the necklace is right in front of you. Now if only you had thought this far ahead... you can't just reach out and take it: you'd never get out of the hallway alive. However, you currently don't have much in the way of other ideas.

"Hmm, a warrior, eh? I'm glad to see that you respect the traditions of this court, unlike that lot or the ones currently visiting the other halls." She sounds much the same as the woman you first danced with, but without the slight hint of uncertainty in her voice.

"Why do you even invite them to your ball then?"

"I'm afraid the gods insist. I don't understand it myself, but we mere mortals must obey their whims. However, I must admit that the strange magic artifacts in the other rooms are at least intriguing, whereas that lot is just boorish." Her voice alternates between a singsong tone and deadpan disdain when referring to the crowd on the other end of the room, but maintains its dripping sarcasm the whole time.

Your subconscious takes over the mundane conversation about your adventuring life and her dislike of the non-RPers while you ponder how to make off with the necklace. It doesn't look that firmly secured, just a delicate clasp at the back of her neck. One of your hands is on her shoulder, but the other hand is on her back and she'd notice if you moved it early. Maybe just as you switch partners in a moment? Before your thoughts can go any further, Ari materializes behind her wearing a sapphire dress which perfectly matches her blue eyes. She reaches up to the necklace and you try your best to pretend not to notice her, not wanting to alert Lady Eleanor to what's happening. Before you know it, the necklace is gone, and moments later, you disengage from the dance and head out to the hallway to regroup.

The hallway greets you with the familiar mess of different sounds, but Ari is nowhere to be found. You're halfway to the disco room when she pops out with her red fabrics trailing behind her and runs up to you. "So, did you find the necklace? What's the plan?"

"Didn't you just steal it? I was dancing with Lady Eleanor a minute ago and you came up behind her and removed it while I distracted her. Speaking of which, where'd you get the blue dress and how'd you change so quickly? It seemed a bit risky to be there without the face covering, but it was still gorgeous and I really liked how it matched your eyes."

"Huh? What blue dress? You know I only brought this one. And my eyes have been red ever since we made the contract—you know that. What are you on about?"

You groan as you start to piece things together. It seems like you aren't the only ones after this necklace. But how did the thief look so similar to Ari that even you didn't notice the difference...?