Near the frigid north pole, was an infamous tavern known as the Warlock Laughing Stock. It had been in the same general area for more or less seven years, blown back and forth by the cold winds partly due to its small size. A large metal dock surrounds the tavern, allowing sky pirates to park their ships to stop for the night. Behind the tavern is a small wooded area with a road which leads from the other side of the sky-island to the back side of the tavern. The sky-island is small, no more than three square miles across, and five miles down at the lowest point. A large light house build next to the tavern, both houses the servants and guides patrons to the island.

The tavern itself is made with a metal exterior with hard glass windows. The inside, however, is made of wood for a more familiar atmosphere, a fireplace set up inside providing enough warmth for the lobby area, where guests would be capable of lounging about as they waited for their drinks. Servants of all different shapes and sizes work at the Warlock; primarily those who sought adventure, but failed; not that the sky pirates really cared. The tavern provides lodging for small parties. Four rooms are in the back, connected by a single hallway with a staircase leading up to the top floor, where there are six more rooms, connected with a T-shaped hallway. Each room holds about six people. Several other guest houses were built, each with a single doorway leading to a hallway, with six rooms each.

The weather is undoubtedly cold. Strong winds blow in different directions at different hours. Those not careful, find themselves falling off the island to their death. It often snows around the tavern island, covering the surface in a sheet of ice. Needless to say, the fireplace is much welcomed.

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On a fateful day, several rather small, identical vessels approached the tavern island. They were enough to hold a single passenger. The hull was made of metal reinforced wood and the cabins were small with circular windows, allowing the passengers to look out. At the side of the vessels in small letters, was the name "SOCIETY OF DUNGEONEERING AND EXTERMINATION".

There were several other ships anchored as well, scattered about around the island.

There was heavy snow fall around the island and those who left their ships, ran for cover into the tavern pushed back slightly by the harsh wind. The tavern itself, filled with a myriad of different colorful characters with all different varieties of beard, eye-patch, and peg-leg including a slime-pirate with a slime eye-patch, slime beard, and a wooden peg where its feet would be. The bartender was an old man, working perhaps too long. He had gone bald by the looks of things, nothing but a gray goatee remaining. His skin was pale, and his eyes were bright green. Wrinkles lined his forehead.

Around the tavern were strewn circular wooden tables, each with a wax candle at the center, or wherever the patrons happened to want them. Chairs were scattered about, pushed aside and swapped around by the tavern's guests. At the center was a table with no chairs, a single figure sitting there alone.

This particular man looked somewhat demonic in appearance, but definitely much more sophisticated than the other tavern-goers. His skin was red and smooth, fleshy with texture comparable to an average human man. His black hair was slicked back with silver streaks running down. The hair on his side was trimmed down. A single black horn stuck out oof his forehead, and appeared similar to a bent fork. It had one end go back, outlining the right side of his head. The other part of the horn curved to the left slightly and bent upwards. Both ends ended with a sharp point. The demon had lacked facial hair. Two pointy ears sprung out from both sides of his head. Black rimmed glasses were on his face, and gold ball earrings hung off his right ears. He wore a blue vest over a white button-up shirt, a pair of black trousers, black dress-shoes, and a brown overcoat.

He sat there alone and quiet, eyeing the door intently with a cigarette in his mouth. Meanwhile, the tavern bustled on as usual.

Alice Loftheart strolled in from outside, a gust of icy air following her. Not because of a frost spell, but because it was really cold outside. Hence why she was shivering heavily, massaging the chill off her arms.

"You don't need wall of flame, it doesn't work as well as you'd hope, they said. You'd cause too much property damage, they said." she muttered to herself. Looking up, she eyed the demon, and her eyes lit up.

Demons could be really strong Summons.

Turning around for a moment, she nervously straightened her hair and dusted off her dress. Coughing, she stood upright, and put on her most serious face before approaching the horned man.
"I trust you came to have words with me?" she asked.

As a girl entered into the tavern, the demon watched her, tracing her appearance, drawn primarily by the fact that she was alone. The demon drew a breath from his cigarette, and exhaled a long puff of gray smoke. The demon adjusted his glasses, and prepared to initiate conversation, before it became clear that he did not have to.

When the girl asked him, the demon only nodded. "I trust you are Ms. Loftheart. I expected someone of higher... stature. You weren't quite what I had hoped for when the mages told me they were sending me one of their "star pupils"." the demon said. He took another hit, finishing the cigarette, then snuffing it out on the table, putting the butt in his pocket.

The demon stuck his hand into his coat, grabbing a box of cigarettes, before taking the coat off. "We're still waiting for the rest of your group. Once the whole party's here, I can give you all a brief instead of telling each and every one of you one at a time. Until then, do you want one?" the demon stuck a cigarette out of the carton, offering it to the small wizard.

Mimi had began her new journey of discovery excited and overjoyed at the prospect of visiting many new locales and meeting lots of different people. Now, however, she was all of those things as well as very cold. The cloak helped somewhat, but it was never quite so frigid back at home and the Mimic was unused to this temperature. Mimi stopped on her way to the tavern to grab a large, nice-looking rock off of the ground and place it in her backpack. It would be good food for later, she thought.

It was her first adventure for the SODE, so of course she was somewhat nervous as well. While she personally didn't like the idea of killing other Mimics, it was the researching aspect that drew her to work. The SODE had all sorts of resources that she could make use of, and the fact that parties were easy to find would allow her to explore dungeons and research freely without having to worry about being alone in a hostile environment. That aside, she assumed that any extermination order had to be for a good reason.

She soon arrived at the tavern, and quietly opened the door. Stepping inside, she quickly closed the door so as not to let the frigid air in and pulled down her hood. Silky ebony hair cascaded down her shoulders and perfectly framed her warm, kind-hearted smile. To best interact with humanoids, it was best to maintain the facade of being Human. While Mimi was a terrible liar, her perfect mimicry spoke for itself and covered any falsehoods. To these people, Mimi would just be a weird Human girl. Who was far too strong for her size. And who could somehow communicate with dungeons. Probably nothing too abnormal to be believed.

"Wow," she cried, looking around the area in amazement, "A real adventuring tavern! It's seedy-looking and smells of smoke and alcohol and everything!"

Her eyes gleamed in excitement as she looked around and spotted two other patrons.

"Oh, and a real Demonoid offering a real little girl drugs! So many new experiences," she remarked, more to herself than to anyone else. She continued looking around for the group she was supposed to meet up with.

"Of course, something as insignificant as tobacco would have no effect on my wizard physiology." Alice placed her fists on her hips, laughing haughtily. Accepting the cigarette, she placed the smelly item between her lips, and with a snap of her fingers, produced a small flame to light it.

Immediately, she began to cough violently, doubling over as she dropped the cigarette.
"As you can s-" she cut off to dry heave. "...See, no effect."

"No doubt you are impressed by my constitutional prowess." she turned to face an easily impressed dark haired girl, still coughing into her hand, albeit looking much more composed.
"Prowess comes naturally. It's why the SODE so readily hired me on, you know."

"Right" the demon nodded, as he gently plucked the cigarette from the girl's fingers, putting it into his own mouth.

The demon breather another line of smoke, before noticing another individual pass through the door. This time, another female. "Excuse me miss" the demon called the small, hooded girl over. He squinted his eyes abit, but continued on, a little confused. "You must be another one of the adventurers SODE sent me" the demon said, laughing nervously "it's a little uncommon to have two female adventurers, let alone two that are so... small in a single party."

"Still, I'll make sure that you two are in a room together, away from what I hope are a group of rough hardy killers. Meanwhile, I do have a bit of paperwork for you two." the demon said. He held up both hands, and in a puff of flame, a scroll materialized in each hand. The scrolls unrolled, revealing a long wall of fine text. At the bottom, a big X and a line presumably where the two girls would sign.

The demon put the papers down, and reached into his pocket for a pen. "Just sign on the line next to the X. These are your contracts, which make sure you're working for me and that I get a good 30% of your profits along with some other benefits- in your favor of course. The Society loves their paperwork, I assure you, so you'll see much more in the future." the demon said, sticking out his pen for one of the two girls.

Mimi's eyes lit up as she observed the young wizard, and clapped at her amazing feat.

"Incredible! It's real magic! A real wizard," she cried in amazement, "And even though you choked while praising your own constitution, you were able to continue naturally like it was nothing! I'm very impressed."

Mimi nodded, grinning widely.

"But you really shouldn't smoke. Big sis says it's bad for you."

She then turned to the Demonoid. Surprisingly, it seemed as if he was the person she was supposed to meet. She clapped once again as he materialized the contracts. Magic was everywhere today, and it was magnificent. Was this just daily life for professional adventurers?

"Ah, that was even more impressive than that girl's," said Mimi, eagerly taking the contract. She then began reading it almost hungrily, eager to dissect her first real contract. She'd heard about them before, but had never been asked to sign anything. This day just kept getting better and better.

"And thank you for giving us the same room, sir. Fragile Human girls like we both are should certainly be kept from ruffians that might do us harm."

"Well naturally I'm an uncommon sort." Alice smiled, placing a hand against her chest. Grinning, she immediately took the pen and signed the X in the biggest, floweriest handwriting she could muster.

Surely no signature would be larger than hers. She'd have a familiar read over the contract later.

"And yes, hood girl, I am pretty m- waitwhatdidyou." her eye twitched involuntarily.
"I'll have you know that my magic is the MOST IMPRESSIVE." she stamped her foot, scowling at this dark haired non-mage poser.

A man from the background dressed quite like the pirates enjoying the room approached Mimi from the corner of her eye. A hood was pulled over his head, he kept his face straight and it was difficult to see more than the bushy beard perking out. He clapped her shoulder and leaned closer.

"We wouldn't want you young, fragile human girls being harmed by us ruffians now, would we?" His face remained straight for a moment before cracking into a warm smile. The man started to laugh and raised a hand to scratch the back of his hooded head absently. A slight smell of liquor permeated his breath. "The name's Ozend. Looks like I've got to pay more attention." He muttered, looking at the imposing amount of words on the contract.

Ozend yawned as he looked the other three over. "I've been here a while. Must've lost track of time." He motioned at the table in the corner by a frosty window and the lonely mug settled on it.

The surly man turned his attention to the demon. "Anywho, I guess we're here to get things settled and leave." He glanced suspiciously at the contract once more. "I'm not one for signing things. Seen my share of records. Some of it's filthy word work." He narrowed his blue eyes. "How do I know you can be trusted?"

The demon pushed Loftheart aside, as he realized he had a new guest. He held his hands out again. In his left hand, another contract; in his right, a leather-bound wallet apparently fat with its contents. The demon put down the contract, then revealed the contents of his wallet, as what seemed like limitless panels dropped from the leather bindings and onto the ground, rolling outward like the tongue of a lizard.

The demon then presented his left hand, gesturing to shake. "Vulthathar, youngest son to the Duke of Sunset. I'll have you know I have studied in several universities and learned business from the finest professors and instructors in all of Magica. I boast half a decade's worth of work experience, and have been with SODE since nearly its conception. Since then, I have signed a good twenty different adventuring parties, each of which, I will inform you are very successful." Vulthathar introduced. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"But you just lit a cigarette, and this man poofed a contract," Mimi replied to the tiny wizard a bit nervously, "But, um, I didn't mean to imply that you were... lesser. I truly didn't seek to hurt-"

Just then, she felt a strong hand clamp onto her shoulder and saw a man lean in out of the corner of her eye. A hooded man. Her eyes widened in fright, and terrible thoughts swam into her mind as he spoke. What if this stranger was one of those very ruffians? A ruffian whose only joy was bringing his meaty fist to strike the soft flesh of fragile Human girls? Or worse, he could be a kidnapper like big sis had warned her about.

Then, he began laughing. A horrific laugh that told Mimi that, without a doubt, this man wanted to eat her tonight. Her eyes widened even more, and she quickly darted away from him. She gazed into the visage of he who had accosted her, and saw only a smile. A sinister smile. He spoke now to the Demonoid, as if nothing had happened. This was perhaps the most frightening of all.

"H-how can you trust him? How can we trust you? You want to make me your dinner, I know it! Well, I don't taste very good," she cried out. She hoped that that fact alone was enough to get him to leave and not try to eat her.

Ozend didn't expect that. He looked at the hand with a defeated expression. Finally he relented and gave the demon a firm handshake. "Very well put. Suppose I'll see you prove it with more than paper real soon. Don't mind the suspicion. It.. was my job."

The little lady seemed absolutely violated that he pulled the little prank. To the point that she reflected his own suspicion. "I.. well." Ozend scratched his head as he though about it. "I have no titles or credentials." Standing straight and firm he continued. "What I have is more important to me. I am a protector. Oath-sworn to defend the innocent and seek justice wherever I go. I am no pirate, ruffian or brigand. Forgive the appearance. I see little need to keep it unless it serves a greater purpose."

Ozend knelt down on one knee. "Forgive my brazenness. I will use my strength to protect you and each companion as we adventure." He looks to the other little lady, Alice and nods.

"Harumph. I'll have you know, firstly, I don't need some weirdo protecting me. I'm a wizard. I know magic." Alice stated, crossing her arms.

"And as for you, I'll have you know there's nothing 'lesser' about me. I am the biggest and the bestest, and I have the strongest magics, and that's why I'm not worried about that guy kidnapping me. Can that man easily turn any room into a comfortable and relaxing reading den? I think not."

There was no doubt that, although this man was trying to make amends, he was absolutely seedy. Just like the tavern, except the tavern was charmingly seedy. Mimi continued to eye the man with suspicion, even though he said he was a lady-protecting hero of justice. She bet that a cannibal kidnapper would want her to think just that.

First impressions were important to the young, impressionable, and naive Mimi. She hid behind the small wizard, because that girl didn't seem scared, and continued to scowl at him.

"I... I'll decide if you're a good guy for myself, thanks," she replied to the man. Until he showed her otherwise, Mimi would keep an eye on this person. With that, she regarded the wizard who she was hiding behind.

"I didn't say you were lesser, though," she murmured, before adding, "Wait, you can turn any room into a relaxing reading den? Really? That's the most amazing thing of all! May I see? I'm Mimi, by the way. Mimi the innocuous Human girl."

The noise of busy men stirring Bumble from her slumber as the great, Ground Dodger the II drifted cautiously to the air dock. Realising what was going on, she removed "Traditions and Practices of Ironhide Monks" from her face and swiftly dropped down from her tatty hammock. She grasped at her bum bag, nearly falling over as the boat rocked and swayed in the wind and after attaching it wasted no time in getting out. She bolted up the stairs and out on deck, where the heavy gales threatened to throw everything overboard. The wind cut through you, making it seem even colder than it did inside.

"THANKS CAPTIAN NEMO" Bumble wailed in competition with the wind
"NO PROBLEM, YER WEE SCAMP" Capt. Nemo shouted back.
"ONE QUESTION BEFORE I GO?"
"AYE"
"WHAT HAPPENED TO GROUND DODGER THE FIRST?"
"WHY DON'T YE GET GOING BEFORE I NEED A THIRD? BEHOLDER ALMIGHTY, YE DO SAY THE DAMNDEST THINGS"

The wind was threatening to throw the zeppelin into dangerous territory so Bumble took the captain's advice, navigating her way down the gangplank and onto firm ground. The island itself wasn't easy to walk on either and Bumble was glad she'd bought a more sensible pair of boots for the occasion. She pulled her skins tighter around herself and trudged towards the largest of the buildings, called the "Warlock Laughing Stock". Through the window the place looked warm and cosy and so, with little thought to the sort she would encounter inside, she scuttled in.

Inside was much better, the warmth of the fire and the smell of the booze was instantly uplifting. This was very much Bumble's natural habitat. Trying to look like she knew what she was doing, she strode through the room, passing narrowly by the hilariously dysfunctional party that stood around the most central table. She elegantly mounted a bar stool and with her head just over the counter, made her desires known.

"A halfpint of your warmest drinks, dear barkeep and err, do you know when SODA arrives?"

Ozend began laughing. If they were to be his companions the only thing he would need to worry about was how capable they actually were. The young mage certainly talked herself up but if she had any real power then this could become quite the adventure.

A contract still waited at the table for him to sign. He returned to the table that Vulthathar casually waited at and took up a waiting pen. Hesitating, he lowered the pen to the line. The sheer volume of words intimidated him. It felt like a corrupt tax collector making some phony scam. Ozend choked back his reluctance and scribbled a fantastic signature across the line. It was barely legible but it certainly looked impressive.

"Well, Vulth. You've got me. Hopefully now I'll have something worthy to do instead of chasing drinks and punching thugs." He'd felt rather unheroic lately and it was tugging at his ego.

"Of course, any person deserves to see the might of ALICE LOFTHEART once in their pathetic lives." the wizard shouted, twirling her staff about. Speaking in an ancient and mysterious tongue, mana swirled around its length, her eyes glowing as a rift tore open in the fabric of space, and three things happened.

Firstly, a large, overstuffed chair crashed onto the floor next to the girls.

Secondly, a large blanket floated out from the shadows, with a large cat in a witch hat embroidered onto it. Alice leaped into the air, landing on the couch as she tied the blanket around her neck, billowing like a cape.

Thirdly, a large mug of hot chocolate appeared from a column of flame, dispensing itself in her hands. From her high perch, the young wizard grinned down at the innocuous human girl.

Mimi's eyes grew wide as she observed the wondrous miracle that Alice had created. All thoughts aside from this fantastic spectacle exited her mind at that moment, and Mimi's fear from earlier was all but erased. There was no contract, there was no scary man, and there wasn't even a Hobgoblin woman walking past her to the bar. There was only the most amazing magic she had ever seen.

"Great World Mimic," she blurted out as Alice finished, "That was far more amazing than contract-poofing! That was the most amazing thing I've ever seen! You really must be a great wizard with a skill like that!"

Mimi practically undulated with excitement. She felt a little inadequate compared to someone as fantastic as Alice, but that just made her want to work harder. Truly, this world was filled with even more amazing things than she could comprehend.

"H-how many times can you do that? Can you do more than one at a time? Could you make a chair for me? Does it come from somewhere, or does it just materialize from nothing? How do you learn a thing like that? Is there a book I could read and be able to do it too some day? What is the staff for? Is that beverage tasty?"

"Right right..." Vulthathar laughed nervously as he tried to entertain his new talents. As the older human was speaking, Vulthathar's eyes drifted off to another soul making its way into the tavern. Lo and behold, it was another female. If SODE had informed him properly, it should have been the last one. "Hm. It looks like I've gotten a bit distracted

The demon turned his head. "Excuse me uh... ma'am. Were you looking for me?" Vulthathar asked, walking up to the hobgoblin. From his pocket, he materialized yet another contract, presenting it to the Hobgoblin. "The name's Vulthathar, representative of SODE. I'd presume that's who you're looking for, correct?"

"The name's Vulthathar, representative of SODE. I'd presume that's who you're looking for, correct?"

She swivelled round to see who was addressing her. A demon no less, sharply dressed, contract in hand. It was about bloody time she actually met someone from SODE, registration had been a trail of patience and repetition, signing and posting dozens upon dozens of letters to the bureau. It was also no surprise they'd send a demon to do the rest of paperwork.

"Yes", Bumble chirped, "Ms. Billowgrub of the Silence, but please call me Bumble."

She sipped her drink, setting down on the bar behind her, it was revoltingly creamy and bitter, before taking the contract and adjusting her glasses. The blue tinted spectacles offered no corrections to her vision but the effect was the same, the demon would know she was carefully scrutinising him and his dark pack. There were no mention of soul stealing, which was good enough for Bumble, so she dove in to her bag for the clan shiv. Revealing the blade slightly from its tiny scabbard, she nicked her thumb on the sharp edge, pressed it to the pommel and then the pommel to the document. A bony goblin finger pressed to non-goblin lips was printed onto the signature line to which Bumble also added her name. She handed the documents back with a smile.

"When do the rest of the expedition arrive?"