Get some answers.

Amara moves strangely as she uses her silver staff to prop up her body. Her face is flushed red. As she looks to you, she shyly brings her fingertips back through her hair, sliding it behind her pointed ear. A shiver travels up her body. Then finally, she opens her lips to quietly speak. "We should, uhm... find out more about Grenmila."

"Are you all right?" you ask.

She places her hand upon your upper arm. "I am fine, yes." Her grasp tightens.

"Amara's right!" Eva pulls out her crystal star, grips her wand, and looms over the entangled druid menacingly. While her target seemed to have been attempting escape from the wilting roots, now she gazes up in fear. "All right, old lady. You caused us a lot of trouble, so you're gonna tell us exactly what you're doing here."

"And why would I do that?" the gnome replies.

"Words Escape!" your bunny casts. Then a smug, wide smile draws across her face as she looks down her nose at her target--a mischievous grin. "Hehe. There's nothing you can do now. Tell me... when was the last time you had sex?!"

"Yesterday." Her brow furls as she shuts her mouth with one hand freed.

Niki squints. "... With who?"

You lean in over Eva's shoulders and scowl. "Ask her the proper question, please."

"Sorry." Eva smiles innocently. "My bad~."

Oh god was it Ramon or something? Why would she ask that? Now that's all I can think about. Never mind! Enough of that nonsense. We need to figure out what Grenmila is actually doing here.

Hot, deep breaths blow gently over your ear. As you turn, you see Amara's heated face over your shoulder. You clear your throat and move to the side, gently taking hold of the sensitive elf's arm to keep her steady. "Please don't do that so close. It makes it really hard to focus."

She smiles and lets out a short giggle. "Sorry. I did not mean to do that."

Again, Eva swings her wand down at the gnome. "Words Escape!" After another cast, she continues. "Who sent you here?"

"The Demon King!" Grenmila replies.

"Oh man. I'm getting exhausted... Spells from this item aren't frugal with my mana reserves, and I was casting a bunch early on." She lets out a sigh and hangs her head.

Once again, the gnome closes her mouth with her hand, but this time, she keeps it there.

Niki strolls around behind her and grabs her arm to **** it away. "You're gonna tell us what we actually want to know, damn it."

"Words Escape!" Eva shouts. Then after taking a deep breath, she asks her question. "What is the name of this Demon King?"

Grenmila clenches her teeth. As much as she tries to resist, the spell is too potent. It forces a response from a target's mouth, and without the means to dodge, flee, or counter the casting in any way, she's stuck. Finally, after a stuttered inhale, she whimpers out, "Lord Cresswell."

"William?" you reply. "Why would he want you to do this?"

Of course. There's no way Lady Vex would have done this, especially after all she went through with us. Elok's automatons showed up and seemed to be both of our enemies, so I was thinking it wasn't him, unless it was some elaborate trick. This proves it though. Naturally it's the last of us Demon Kings, and the one I haven't heard much from at all. I don't know why I figured he wouldn't ever do something like this.

"You were spying on us, weren't you?" you continue.

She purses her looks and glances away.

Though as you stare closely into her eyes, you can strongly feel that you hit the nail right on the head. She's scared as well. The woman knows she's beat, and she's being **** to break her loyalty.

"Of course." Amara seems to have somewhat calmed herself down. "It is actually quite difficult to spy on Castle Phoenix, partially due to our residents, but especially because of Peony."

"That's true!" the dryad shouts out with pride. "I'd notice if something weird was lurking about in the woods nearby."

"So he sent a druid to do it," you add.

"We better watch our back," Eva says. "We allied with Lady Vex, but there are plenty of other enemies out there. If anything, it might make you even more of a focus if that whole allying thing becomes known, Kyle."

You cross your arms. "What has William even been doing all this time? He has a damn floating rock where his castle is, and apparently he's just been doing stuff southwest, but what? Last I saw him do anything major was when he absorbed the soul of Sa'dis, which doesn't sit well with me. It's a little unsettling that I know more about Elok Daven right now than the guy from my own world."

Grenmila pulls her other arm free from the rotting root over her body. "Not even I know everything. My lord isn't so foolish as to give me all the information before sending me out, just in case. I was simply following an order to retreat back, and to collect any Elder Wood that might have survived. It's valuable, especially in the creation of magic items. He's a wise man. A powerful man."

Niki grabs that arm too. "Well tell him to buzz off."

"Calm down. It's important to keep an eye on everybody, friend or foe. I wasn't instructed to attack the castle or anything like that."

"I suppose," you reply.

Eva laughs boisterously. "Yeah. I mean, you haven't even found the spy we have over at your place."

"We have a spy? Is it Lynx?" Niki asks. "No wait she's back home."

"Uh. No, no. Her name is... Lady... Sneak...arina...?"

"Lady Sneakarina?" Grenmila asks.

You give Eva a tug, disengaging her from the conversation to take her place. "Enough of that. Listen. We're taking you back to Gobiidae, and then we'll decide what to do with you. Yes, all you did at first was spy on us, all while being this village's helpful druid. But you also poisoned and killed an Elder Tree. And tried to trap us underground."

Finally, stomping past everybody else, Zido appears. The back of his shirt is still stained with blood, and he grasps the woodcutting axe in his hand. "Grenmila! How could you? After those beautiful nights we spent together."

Oh no! You put your hands over your mouth and take a moment to recover from that.

Grenmila cackles. "You didn't even know what an Elder Tree was, and you fought alongside yet another who calls himself Demon King anyway. Why are you upset?"

"Because... I'm supposed to be the protector of Gobiidae. And yet, the biggest danger was under my nose all this time. You lied. And any attack towards the village is an attack towards me. Ramon trusted you. The people trusted you. How can I face any of them again after this?"

"Wow. Where did all the ego disappear to?" Niki asks.

With tears forming in his eyes, Zido suddenly falls to his butt, places his hands over his face, and begins to loudly sob in a ball. He rocks back and forth, barely making out unintelligible words.

"Oh, uh." You look around awkwardly before placing a hand on his shoulder. "Woah there. It's all right, man. You came across as a bit of a big arrogant Gaston type guy, but that doesn't mean I want you to start crying."

Eva bends over and places her hand on his head. "Hey. It's all right. We made the baddies go away."

He looks up from his hands to see a glistening pair right before his eyes. But then his vision focuses, and it instead spots a tiny individual wedged between them.

"That's right. I'm still here," Fava speaks up. "I just kinda accepted my fate for awhile there. It's actually insane how tight of a squeeze this is. Even if I could move more easily and wiggle out without her noticing, I kinda wanted to see this through to the end. Because that old broad collapsed the entrance to my precious lair!"

"Oh. So there was life down there after all. They were meant to be trapped in whatever ancient dungeon that was until they perished, yet of all things, a pixie," Grenmila muses. "How interesting."

With potent enough magical infrastructure that it was messing with my Bunny Hop.

Fava glares. "Put me back in my bigger body, and I'll interest her across the face with the back of my hand."

"All right. Let's get going to Gobiidae already," you state. "We've been here long enough. The tree is falling apart even faster now. If we stick around, we'll be crushed by falling branches. Come on. Grab Grenmila and let's get back there quickly."