Prepare your parties.

"Party C, standing by!" Lady Vex says with a sarcastic salute. She grins before sticking out her tongue playfully. She then returns the hand to her hip, and looks at the other girls around her.

Lynx glares back. "As Spymaster of Castle Phoenix, I'm giving the orders here. You're our guest."

"Well, as Demon King of the Oraang Desert--"

"That doesn't outrank me here!"

Mistress Dajy chuckles beside them. "So cute, both of them."

Ariusia sharpens the blades protruding from her back. Next to her, Lalarin stands proudly, garbed as always in her green spandex suit--not as Lala, but Rabbit's Foot, the lucky heroine.

There's one missing. "Where's Bek?" you ask.

"I'm coming!" he shouts from down the road. The dwarf hurries over, and does so impressively fast given a massive maul leans over his shoulder. After coming to a stop, he grabs the weapon's shaft and plants the hammer down against the stone beneath his feet. "Laira and I were just looking over my weapon one more time, and guess what? It's got a name, Kyle! I don't gotta explain. You get it. I know you do. Finding a magic weapon with a name? This is the best gift anyone has ever given me. Aw, come here, Kyle! Give Bek a hug."

You chuckle as you lean down to wrap an arm around the side of the dwarf. "What's it called then?"

"Foe-Pounder."

"A very subtle name."

"The original name is in an ancient form of Dwarvish, but I like the name Foe-Pounder. It gets right to the point. Anyway, I'm ready to go anytime, Hero King."

Lynx the sunheart rogue (about to level-up).
Mistress Dajy the high succubus.
Ariusia the mantidae insectrin warrior.
Lalarin Relestel the bunnyfolk monk (about to level-up).
Bekram Kholrann the dwarf warrior (about to level-up).
Lady Vex the devil monk, avatar.

"I believe Party B is also prepared, King Warren," Yaera says with a polite bow of her head. She stands beside five others. They nod alongside her, though of course, there's one amongst them who has to speak up.

"Of course I am~!" Kashura shouts. She looks to the cloudy sky with a hand to her forehead in a melodramatic pose. "For when the new sun rises, the sorceress queen must be prepared for anything. She has many duties--"

"Like what?" Mipa asks with genuine curiosity.

She looks down to the goblin, surprised. "What do you mean?"

"What duties?"

"Oh uh... like gracing her fans with her beautiful presence!"

After pondering for a moment, Mipa raises up her hands and copies the other girl's stance. "Like this?"

"Don't you dare mock me!"

Other than those three, there's also Peony, both bodies of Sen-nu, and Anastasia.

Suddenly, Peony from the others and grabs your hands. "I'm going to make you sooo proud, m'lord. But I'll miss you. I think that since you're my husband, I should be given one kiss before we're separated for a time."

Yaera smiles warmly. "That sounds exactly correct to me."

Giddy, the dryad jumps into your arms, and you welcome her embrace with a kiss to the lips. She said one, though she certainly makes it last. Others start to wonder what they should be doing after a time, though eventually Peony does liberate you from her lips. She giggles and runs back to the others.

Yaera Tedrilui the elf cleric, archpriest.
Anastasia Phairgem the human cleric.
Peony the dryad.
Sen-nu the anubian.
Mipa the goblin warrior.
Kashura Saylinor the human mage.

With a hand on Lauo, you look over your allies and say, "Well, is Party A ready to go too?"

Niki, Amara, and Ava grab one another and pull into goofy group hug. They seem quite happy, no doubt in part due to last night. They laugh and respond with nods and a yes.

Nyllia stands beside them--armour polished, practically radiant despite the sun being concealed by a blanket of clouds. "Ready when you are, my king."

Kyle Warren the earthling hero-king-demon-king-ero-king.
Eva Beela the bunnyfolk mage, universalist.
Amara Tedrilui the elf cleric, archpriest.
Niki of Clan Vakila the sunheart warrior, stormwall.
Lady Nyllia Tesgella the elf paladin, templar.
Masumi the kitsune mage, enchanter*.

*You've yet to be given a clear answer as to what exactly Masumi is beyond a kitsune, but considering what you've seen her do, you're pretty sure she's a master of enchantment magic.

Masumi is wearing the same kimono she wore when first arriving here the other day, though now here face is completely concealed by a white and red fox mask. You've seen her wear it before. Perhaps it's meant to be a disguise when moving through a city, though you can still see her fluffy red tails, as well as her long hair and pointed ears, so it does little to censor her identity as a kitsune.

Fortunately for her, as rare as species is, they aren't hunted as often as djinn. Meti has a far more dangerous time moving around undisguised.

"Light up the portals, Kashura!" Lady Vex commands. "She'll grant passage to some place close to Silverleaf for Party B, and then bring Party C to Zettanko. We'll figure it out from there. I trust you can bring your own squad to Tanver's Crossing, right, Kyle?"

"Of course," you reply.

"Ooh. I hope we run into some real monsters in the desert," mutters Bek.

Vex scoffs dramatically. "Please. The biggest baddest monsters around are in the Oraang Desert. That's why I'm the only one who could--"

"Let's gooo!" Bek cheers, running up to Kashura impatiently. "Get that portal open, girl. My new maul is ready for battle."

"Excuse me?" Kashura snaps back. "Can you say that again, but not in a way that disgusts me?"

"Oh just open the portals already," Vex says.

"Y-Yes, Lady Vex."

"You all know what to do, right?" you ask. "Find out everything you can about the keys that went missing. We need to figure out the grander conspiracy here. Clearly, a group of people want Xavex to get stronger for some reason. They're helping him, and if we want to stop him before things get out of hand, we need to know more."

"We're professionals at this point, Kyle. It'll be easy," Niki responds.

"Sure, but you can't just swing your mace around to gather intelligence," replies Eva.

"Have you tried?"

"Of course I haven't tried!"