The next morning is overcast. Alcaeus looks through his window up at the grey sky while nursing the bruises he sustained the previous day fighting against Sarge. Looking back at the duel makes him angrier if anything. He would have won if not for Sharn and Gorl’s meddling. They cheated him out of two hundred gold. He slips on his shirt and heads to the regular meeting place. As he walks there he runs into Xander.

Xander doesn’t acknowledge Alcaeus walking next to him, wanting to avoid small talk with a man with such shallow ideals.

This irks Alcaeus a little, “Hey, kid?” Xander doesn’t answer. “Why are you ignoring me? I thought we were supposed to be a team or something,” Alcaeus watches as Xander shrugs.

“You know you are really quiet all the time. The only thing you have said this entire time is your name. If you don’t even know how to talk why are you with us?” Alcaeus asks in frustration.

“Gold,” Xander elaborates concisely. Alcaeus smiles hearing one of his favorite words, the kid can’t be all that bad if he’s in it for the gold.

The two walk silently together until they meet up with the others outside of O’Malley’s tavern. Sarge is standing there nursing a bandaged shoulder.

He sees Alcaeus and stares at him until he will meet his gaze, “I’m sorry lad. I was too drunk I shouldn’t have lashed out at you”. Alcaeus just nods, accepting Sarge’s apology but not offering one himself.

“Now that we cleared the air, here is the gold we earned yesterday from cleaning up those pesky Wolves,” Sarge hands out pouches of gold. Alcaeus eagerly pockets his.

“Look, I know this amount is good and all… I don’t know about you guys but I’m getting low on gold, guard’s salary isn’t enough to make a living. So I want to start making some major coin by going after some gang leaders,” Gorl shares his opinion with the group. No one objects to this suggestion.

“I suggest we split up and see what we can dig up about the gang leaders. I’ll take my city guard squad and sweep the city for anything we can learn about the potential location of the gang leaders. You, four lads, split up and see if you can do the same,” Sarge and the rest leave to begin their part of the mission.

“Anyone know anything about these gangs aside from what Sarge told us the other day?” Kayde looks at the others inquisitively.

“Yeah, I might have a lead on the Snakes. I know a guy, he owes me,” Alcaeus declares confidently.

“Same,” Xander mumbles.

“Okay, then how about Drakthar, you go with Alcaeus to find out what you can about the Snakes. Since they don’t like cyborgs like me I’ll go with Xander so that we’ll have someone who knows how to talk between the two of us,” Kayde suggests, while also making a subtle jape at Xander’s quiet nature. Xander becomes flustered, it’s not that he doesn’t know how to talk it’s just he prefers not to.

Alcaeus and Drakthar head to the South East of Melusarej.

“So who is this person that owes you, seems shady to have a contact within the Snakes?” Drakthar asks as they walk, not fully certain Alcaeus isn’t one of them.

“Nah, I mean he is shady but my contact is just some guy who owns a casino. He’s another man of the desert like the two of us. He’ll probably help us if I just don’t mention that we are trying to kill the leader of the Snakes,” Alcaeus explains.

“Here we are, not the fanciest place but I don’t fit in at the fancy places,” Alcaeus points to a building. Drakthar looks up at a dingy place with a sign across the top of it that reads: Reed’s Gambling. The two of them enter. The smell of smoke makes its way to their nostrils as soon as they cross the threshold.

“Just follow my lead. I won’t steer you wrong,” Alcaeus approaches a table at the center of the room occupied by only one man and the dealer. As Alcaeus sits down Drakthar looks around and notices they are the only ones in this place. Drakthar had assumed that gambling was an appealing pastime and is taken aback by the room being as empty as it is.

Alcaeus pulls the sack of gold he just got from Sarge out of his pocket and throws it on the table.

“Sir, are you sure you want to bet this much on one hand?” The dealer asks sardonically. Alcaeus nods and the dealer deals the cards.

Alcaeus smirks as he sees an ace and a queen.

“Twenty-one,” he boasts, flipping his hidden card.

The dealer stands up, a frown not well hidden upon his face, “Okay sir, I’ll be back. I need to go to the back to give you that much gold”.

“Hold on. While you are back there tell your boss that Alcaeus wants to speak with him,” Alcaeus tells the dealer before he leaves.

A short man with a beard thicker than Alcaeus’s emerges from the back with the dealer. Alcaeus greets the man familiarly, “Ah hello old friend, I have things to speak with you about”.

“I don’t remember us being friends, why would I be friends with a man who has swindled me as you have?” The short man recalls angrily. He looks at Drakthar, “Who is he?”

“He is my friend. It’s like I said before we have things we need to discuss with you,” Alcaeus tries to get to the point.

“Alright, come to the back but if you try anything I’ll have the two of you kicked out of here before you can run that foul mouth of yours,” the short man tells them. Alcaeus looks at the dealer for his gold, but he doesn’t have any.

“Where is the gold I won?” Alcaeus inquires, eager to see his winnings.

The short man turns around and grins at him, “Price of speaking to me”. Alcaeus grits his teeth and continues to the back without another word.

In the back room are a couple of red couches opposite each other. Alcaeus and Drakthar sit down on one while the short man sits on the other.

“So what does a man like you need to speak with me about?” The short man asks once he's settled in.

“Word is you happen to know something about one of the gangs causing trouble in this city, the Snakes,” Alcaeus stares at the man trying to gauge his reaction to see if he will lie.

The man calmly responds, “I myself have no information on the Snakes right now, but I have sent one of my men to check them out. I’ll tell him to give you a visit. Do you know the tavern towards the middle of the city? The one run by that coot O’Malley?”

“Yeah, I’ve heard of it,” Alcaeus responds, having been meeting up there for a couple of days now.

“My man will meet you there in a couple of days. Now please get the hell out of my establishment and please never come back,” the man stands up glaring at Alcaeus.

“Fine, if you want to throw away our friendship that quickly. Anyway, thank you for your help,” Alcaeus thanks him. Alcaeus and Drakthar head toward the front door.

“Seriously though, never show your face in here again,” the man yells after them as they exit into the street.

“That guy is not fond of you,” Drakthar points out just in case Alcaeus couldn't tell.

“Maybe, but I got the information we needed right? He hates me yet I was able to get what we wanted,” Alcaeus’s point is valid his methods were effective; well if the man truly shows up in a couple of days. Drakthar thinks about this as they head back.

Meanwhile, Kayde follows Xander through the busy streets of Melusarej.

“So where is it we are going?” Kayde looks to Xander.

“Don’t worry about it,” Xander responds trying to give as little information as possible.

Kayde continues to ask questions, “So you aren’t going to tell me about your connection?”

“It’s a man I have leverage over,” Xander explains without getting into specifics. Kayde keeps looking around to see where they might be going. He is surprised when Xander turns into an alleyway.

“Why are we in a random alleyway? Having something over someone living here isn’t exactly promising if you ask me,” Kayde asks, not expecting this to be a good place to gain information.

“Stay here, I’m going to do the rest alone,” Xander throws up the hood on his cloak so his face is barely visible in the dark alleyway and he starts to exit it.

Kayde tries to ask him, “Hold on why do I need to wait? You aren’t going to let me meet this guy too?”

“Where I’m going I don’t want to be noticed,” Xander explains before exiting completely from Kayde’s view.

“Well fine, it’s not like stealth is my specialty or anything. It is… not that he can hear me anymore. Now I’m just talking to myself pointlessly… I’m going to stop now,” Kayde leans up against a wall in the alleyway and watches as rats come in and out of the cracks of a manhole cover above the sewers.

Xander walks through the alleyways towards the back of the capitol building. He hears footsteps and hides behind a couple of barrels. Two guards on patrol pass by. He waits until they turn the corner and he begins to climb. He pulls himself through the window of the mayor’s office.

“WHAT THE HELL!” The mayor turns around and jumps back in shock after seeing someone enter his office through the window.

“Oh, it’s you,” the mayor exhales realizing who the hooded figure is. The mayor knows him as the hooded wizard; he became somewhat of a folk hero in Melusarej because of his spotless record of executing difficult jobs posted in the bounty office. Before going into the bounty office the day of the squad being formed, he has never shown his face to anyone.

“So what the hell do you want with me this time?” The mayor asks knowing that Xander could expose his secret whenever he wanted to. While doing a job Xander came across the mayor cheating on his wife with another woman, naturally, he has been blackmailing the mayor regularly for information.

“I need to know if you know anything about the gang activities of the Wolves, Snakes, or Bears. Specifically regarding the locations of their leaders,” Xander explains.

The mayor sighs, “The hooded wizard has joined the fight against the gangs now. Interesting... if it’s you I know it’ll get done so here”.

The mayor begins to write something on a piece of paper, “Be at the address I gave you at two in the afternoon tomorrow. You may be able to find answers there. Now please get out of my office”. The mayor hands Xander the piece of paper.

Xander goes to walk out the front door.

The mayor stops him, “No, through the window, don’t let anyone see you. It would raise questions of why a suspicious man is leaving my office”. Xander listens to the mayor and hops out of the window after he checks that the alleyway is clear.

After turning a few corners Xander finds Kayde staring at a bunch of rats piled on top of each other on the side of the alleyway. He finds it weird but doesn’t comment on it.

“So oh mysterious one, did you learn anything?” Kayde asks sarcastically.

Xander holds up the piece of paper he got from the mayor, “We need to be there tomorrow at two”. Kayde takes the paper and reads the address off it.

“So are you going to tell me how or who you got this from?” He asks.

“The Mayor and Blackmail,” Xander answers truthfully this time.

“What kind of shady guy have I started working with?” Kayde comments as they walk out of the alleyway.

“Trust me he’s the bad guy. I’m by no means good, but I’m not the same as him,” Xander insists sincerely.

“Okay… so what’s up with you man? You're quiet all the time and stuff I feel like I don’t really know you,” Kayde points out trying to get more out of Xander.

“I can’t trust you yet. You understand we just met. Maybe I will tell you more in time,” Xander looks down at the stone street.

Kayde notices this body language, “Oh yeah, not ready to open up yet? I get it. You are one of those introverted humans”.

Xander gives Kayde a weird look, “What do you mean by humans?” Confusion comes over Kayde’s face at that question.

“You said humans like you weren’t one,” Xander tries to elaborate.

Kayde tries to cover up his slip up, “Oh, did I? My bad dude, didn’t mean to confuse you”. He decides to stop asking Xander questions, so they walk down the streets of Melusarej in silence towards the specified meetup place.

Kayde and Xander are the last to arrive outside of O’Malley’s Tavern. “Good to see you back lads, now what did you lads find? Unfortunately, we weren’t able to find anything,” Sarge looks to Kayde, Xander, Alcaeus, and Drakthar for answers.

“Yeah, I got something. A guy from the Snakes, he’ll give me a visit in a couple of days, or he is supposed to,” Alcaeus informs the others of the information he received at the casino.

“We found something as well, or really Xander got us something,” Kayde speaks up hoping Xander will explain what they found. Xander stands there silently while everyone else looks at him curiously.

Kayde soon realizes he isn’t going to say anything, “He was given an address by the guy he is blac… the guy he talked to. Anyway, we are supposed to go there tomorrow at two”.

“Did they say which gang it relates to?” Sarge watches as Xander shakes his head.

“Damn, okay, sorry to say lads but we are on assignment tomorrow so you’ll have to check it out yourselves. You’ve proven yourselves capable so I have no doubt y’all will come through,” Sarge delegates the task to the four of them.

Sarge and the other members of the city guard start to depart except for Lydia. Kayde turns to the others, “I guess it’s getting late, I should be going as well. See you guys back here tomorrow?” They nod and Kayde leaves. He not so discreetly walks up to Lydia and they head off together.

“So that is definitely a thing now right? Two nights in a row man I’m jealous,” Alcaeus asks the other two. Drakthar looks angered to even have been asked such a pointless question.

Xander simply answers, “Yeah, probably”.

“Damn that will only make it more difficult for me to bang her. Well now I’m horny, I’m going to go to a brothel, either of you want to join?” Alcaeus invites them.

“No, I don’t let myself be distracted by trivial things like women,” Drakthar answers bluntly.

“Oh, I understand you would rather be distracted by men,” Alcaeus assumes as a joke. Drakthar doesn’t respond calmly to Alcaeus’s jape.

Knowing he messed up Alcaeus walks it back quickly, “I was just kidding man, don’t be like that”. Drakthar glares at Alcaeus.

Feeling uncomfortable Alcaeus asks Xander, “What about you kid? Want to see what a woman looks like?”

“Why do you assume I don’t know?” Xander is offended.

“Because you are so young,” Alcaeus points out like it's obvious.

Xander corrects Alcaeus, “I am most likely not much younger than you, I am twenty-two”.

“Holy shit, you look sixteen. What are you doing to keep yourself looking so young?” Alcaeus asks shocked.

“Nothing, this is just my face,” Xander looks annoyed by this conversation.

“Anyway, do you want to accompany me to the brothel or not?” Alcaeus returns to the original question.

“No,” Xander also refuses.

“You two are no fun. What is wrong with you, are you not men?” Alcaeus insults them.

“Nothing is wrong with me, women will only serve to distract me from getting stronger,” Drakthar reiterates.

“What Drakthar said goes for me as well,” Xander agrees.

“Fine, fuck it, see you two virgins later,” Alcaeus walks off to the brothel.

After Alcaeus has left Drakthar and Xander begin to walk in the same direction back toward the inns they are staying at.

“What is your trick? The one you used on Eric at the tavern the other night,” Drakthar asks him now that they are alone.

“I am not going to tell you now. In time I am sure it will reveal itself, but for right now I am going to keep it to myself,” Xander tries to explain.

Drakthar nods his head at Xander’s vague answer, “I understand, you do not trust me. It’s wise not to trust those you have just met, but I’m not like Alcaeus. I understand when it is necessary to talk and when it isn’t”.

“Thanks, I wouldn’t say I don’t necessarily trust you, but yeah I have trust issues,” Xander admits.

“This is my inn, I’m going to rest up for tomorrow. Good night,” Drakthar leaves. Xander watches as Drakthar disappears behind the slightly cracked wooden door of the inn. The door almost falls off altogether when it slams closed. It must barely be on its hinges, Xander notes as he continues back to his inn. Maybe he could trust Drakthar and Kayde, but probably not Alcaeus. To Xander, he isn’t that reliable.

The next morning the four of them arrive back in front of the tavern. As soon as all of them show up, they begin to head to the address specified on the piece of paper the mayor gave Xander. Drakthar and Xander walk near the front leaving Alcaeus and Kayde a ways behind them.

Alcaeus asks what he has been wanting to for a while, “Aye, you’ve been awfully close with Lydia, are you hitting that?”

Kayde looks at Alcaeus plainly, “C’mon buddy of course I have, you don’t have to be so coy about it”. Xander and Drakthar look back because they are confused by Alcaeus’s sudden laughter. They don’t pay much attention to it and keep walking.

Alcaeus congratulates him, “Good for you man, gotta admit I wanted to hit that but you beat me to it”. Alcaeus pauses for a second leaving a weird silence, “So you’re metal up here, so… what do you have down there? A cannon?”

Kayde smiles, “Of course, you want to see it?”

“Nah man I’m good. I don’t look at other dudes’ dicks,” Alcaeus backs off.

“Come on you have to be a little curious,” Kayde winks at Alcaeus. “No… no trust me, I’m good man,” Alcaeus insists.

Xander stops, looking up at the building before alerting the others, “This is it. Wait here, I am going to go get a closer look”. The address led to a warehouse that appears to be two stories high. It has large double doors in the front and a window just above the doors.

“I’m going to go up through the window,” Kayde tells the others, ignoring Xander’s orders for them to wait.

“I think that would be the best way to get in if this place is a hideout for one of those gangs,” Alcaeus agrees, preparing to follow Kayde up to the window.

“We will wait at the doors, scream or something if you’re in danger,” Xander suggests, just in case whatever is inside is too much for them to handle.

Kayde nods, “Will do quiet guy. Good thing you aren’t going in because you wouldn’t be able to make a noise loud enough,” he chuckles a little at his own bad joke.

Alcaeus doesn’t waste any time, grabbing his whip and lassoing the bars around the window. Kayde climbs the whip first and carefully removes the bars so that whoever might be inside doesn’t hear. He pulls the window out and lightly drops it down to Alcaeus. After catching the frame, Alcaeus starts to climb the whip himself. They both crawl through the space in the window.

Inside they find what must be a storeroom, crates of different shapes and sizes scattered across the room. Alcaeus, as greedy as he is, doesn’t waste any time, rushing towards a crate and starting to try and pry it open to see what valuables he will find inside. Kayde takes a more measured approach, starting to quietly roam the warehouse. At the other end of the room, he comes across a ladder to the first floor.

Kayde half whispers as he calls Alcaeus over, “Hey Alcaeus, stop rooting around and come over here for a second. I found a ladder leading down a floor”.

“What? We don’t want to keep looking around here?” Alcaeus questions, wanting to find at least something of value.

“I don’t see anything here that is going to help us against the gangs, just help me down this ladder, it looks old. I don’t know if the rungs are strong enough to hold me,” Kayde proposes. Alcaeus listens and reluctantly stops looking around, giving Kayde one end of some rope. After wrapping it around his waist Kayde slowly descends the ladder. As his foot reaches the third rung down, spikes jut out pushing Kayde off the ladder.

Alcaeus strains to hold up the now dangling Kayde, using muscles that aren’t used that often. With all of his strength, he is barely able to lower him to the first floor. Instead of following him, Alcaeus decides to go back to trying to check out what is in the crates.

Kayde reaches the floor and unties the rope from his waist. Just as the rope hits the floor Kayde hears voices get frantic, they know he is here. He fires his rifle at the corner of the ceiling and quickly ducks behind a crate a ways away from where he fired the shot.

Outside, Drakthar and Xander hear the bullet ring out from inside the warehouse. They both share a look and Drakthar busts the lock on the door and they barge inside the warehouse. Like the floor above this one is littered with crates. They look around frantically for the source of the gunfire.

Three men appear from behind the crates and they surround Drakthar and Xander. Kayde sees that Drakthar and Xander have arrived and he sneaks past one of the men and joins the other two in the middle, “Oh what’s up guys?”

“Who are you three? What are you doing here?" One of the men asks.

Instead of answering Drakthar inquires, “Who are you?” As Drakthar talks with the man, Xander scans the room for any other people including where Alcaeus might be. He doesn’t notice anyone, just piles of crates.

A man in purple robes walks out from behind the crates with another well-armored man at his side, “We are a part of the Bears, but that’s not important, tell me what the hell you three are doing here?” Their conversation is interrupted when they hear an explosion from the floor above, undoubtedly caused in some way or another by Alcaeus.

The man in the robe seems to be caught off guard by the situation so Xander decides this is his time to act. Xander has a very special power only given to chosen priests in the Sacrosanct. He has the ability to switch any two objects within his field of view, an ability he doesn’t like using because he can only use it every few hours. He switches the bell in his left hand with the man in the robe.

“Nobody move!” Xander orders the others while he holds the robed man in his arms with his sword to the man’s neck.

Instead of complying the robed man grins, “It seems you can do what I can”. Xander is now the one caught off guard; he and the robed man are behind the armored man.

Xander realizing his mistake pulls out the one last trick in his arsenal. Xander focuses and time is rewound to the point just before the explosion. This time when it goes off Xander does nothing, now knowing that whoever this man is he also has the powers of a priest from the Sacrosanct Empire.

“It would seem there is another with you. I assume you all know the pest upstairs?” The man in the robe asks.

“No, why would you think that anyone we know is upstairs?” Kayde tries to smile so that his lie will be believed.

The robed man orders the armored one, “Then you don’t mind if I do this. Julius go kill that rat upstairs”.

Kayde takes a deep gulp as he watches Julius climb the ladder towards the second floor. He can only wish that Alcaeus is smart enough to get out of there after the explosion.

“So what do you all want? I take it you wouldn’t just invade a random warehouse over nothing,” The robed man gets back to questioning. Xander notices that Kayde and Drakthar look ready to fight now that the armored guy, Julius is gone.

Knowing that isn’t an option for them given the robed man’s abilities he responds with a half-truth.

“We are here investigating the Wolves, we have nothing against you Bears,” Xander lies, trying to defuse the situation now that he has no more tricks up his sleeve.

“Interesting, actually I lied. We are part of the Wolves,” the robed man messes with him.

Now Xander is the worried one, his bluff just backfired on itself.

“But, maybe we will be able to help each other out. Our leader has been well… uncooperative, so you brutes taking him out will work in my favor,” the robed man offers.

Before they even have time to question the offer, the robed man hands Drakthar a map, “This is a map of the sewers underneath Melusarej. In three days, the leader of the Wolves will be down there with a reduced amount of guards”.

“How do we know this isn’t a trap?” Kayde asks the obvious question.

“Because I have no need to trap you, if I wanted I could just kill you three right here right now,” the robed man confidently states.

Xander for one believes the man’s threats and ushers the other two to leave. They do so and find a passed out Alcaeus in the dirt just outside the warehouse. Drakthar picks him up and they walk a couple of blocks before putting Alcaeus down and waking him up.

“So what happened to you? Did you have a little too much fun up there?” Kayde asks, mocking him a bit for his mistakes.

Alcaeus explains his experience, “Look I couldn’t have known. I opened a crate then boom. Next thing I know I’m here”.

Xander speaks up, “There is something I need to tell you all”.

They look attentively at Xander waiting for him to elaborate, “That man in there had the power of the priests of the Sacrosanct Empire, but his robe is purple and not blue”. Priests in the Sacrosanct typically wear blue robes.

Drakthar asks, “How do you know this?”

“Yeah, and why does the color of his robe matter?” Alcaeus chimes in.

Xander dodges their questions, “How I know does not matter, what matters is we let Sarge and the rest of the city guard squad know of this business with the Wolves leader in the sewers”.

“You know Xander pretty soon you aren’t going to be able to keep all of your secrets from us,” Kayde warns him. Xander doesn’t know if that is actually true after all when the gang leaders are taken down they will probably all go their separate ways.

They arrive back at O’Malley’s tavern late at night. They find Sarge and Sharn at a table near the door.

“Aye, how did it go boys?” Sarge asks them.

“We found something out about the Wolves,” Drakthar shows Sarge the map.

“We met a man in a purple robe, he was a part of the Wolves and said their leader would be down in the sewers below the city with decreased security in three days,” Kayde explains what happened.

Sarge processes the information at a slower rate due to the alcohol he has already consumed while at the tavern, “Okay, I think I have it. You might have to repeat it to me tomorrow though”. He pauses to chuckle before continuing, “We need to prepare to go down into the sewers, it’s not the most friendly place. I try to avoid that death trap as best I can but I guess we don’t have another choice. I’ll let the other city guard members know. I guess this means you lads have some time off until then. But sit down and have a drink with us for now”.

After a few drinks, they notice a group of large men in the corner is getting rowdy. They are breaking glasses and harassing barmaids. As they look over at the source of the clamor, one of the men makes eye contact with Drakthar, a large burly man sporting a full beard.

He gets up and walks over to their table, “What do you think you are doing? I saw you looking at me”.

“Nothing you should be concerned with,” Drakthar responds, unfazed by the bulky man in front of him. The two of them lock eyes with frightening glares.

It only ends because the man decides to knock over Drakthar’s drink, “Oh no you spilled”.

Drakthar stands, revealing his height advantage over the man, “You’re the one who spilled my drink”.

The man slurs, “Look, kid, me and my friends are from the Bears. You don’t want to mess with us”. The man’s confidence is high, perhaps because his blurry vision makes it so he cannot tell how threatening the man he is messing with is.

Drakthar looks behind the man and sees numerous buddies standing with him.

“I don’t care who you are,” Drakthar declares menacingly. The Bear after hearing this decides to try and punch Drakthar. Before he can make contact, Drakthar catches his fist in his hand, everyone around them hears crackling as Drakthar begins to crush the man’s hand.

Sarge, emboldened by his inebriated state and seeing this play out in front of him, stands up and grabs his chair. He swings it at the Bear next to Drakthar and its legs crack over the back of his head, leaving cuts where the chair broke. Drakthar feels the man go limp and watches him fall to the ground as Sarge screams, “BAR FIGHT!”

The bar erupts into a frenzy, people trying to flee while the two feuding parties stand, preparing to come to blows. The Bears, that witnessed what Sarge did, come to their friend’s defense and they start to charge. Sharn, Sarge, Drakthar, and Xander are ready to fight. Kayde slips into the corner next to the only other person in the bar not wise enough to flee, and Alcaeus waits in the background for people to start falling so he can steal their belongings.

Sharn rushes off to the other end of the room, easily pushing through the Bears, taking a couple down on his way there. He fights another two once he gets there. The Bears might have numbers, but they are slowly falling like flies in front of the mighty Sharn.

Between Drakthar and Sharn, they do not stand a chance, even Sarge is getting a few good licks in despite his inebriation. The only one that isn’t too successful is Xander. He is fighting a Bear in the corner while the others deal with the bigger group. He is unable to dodge an incoming swing from a Bear, feeling the full force of his fist collide with his own face.

“You are pretty weak,” the Bear taunts him while continuing to punch Xander now that he has the upper hand. Just as he is about to try again, his arm is suddenly held back.

Xander notices Drakthar behind him, pulling the guy’s arm and lifting him over himself, throwing him at a table nearby. The Bear crashes into the table knocking it over and sliding a bit before coming to rest amidst spilled liquids and shards of glass on the floor.

“You didn’t seem to be doing too well,” Drakthar offers Xander help up.

Xander takes the hand, “I was just holding back, it’s not worth the effort on these types of people”. Once he is on his feet he sees Alcaeus stealing gold from the passed out Bear’s bodies and notices Kayde is missing.

O'Malley calls out from behind the bar, “Hey! Sarge! You’re going to need to pay for all of the damage you caused”.

“Yeah,” Sarge drunkenly responds to O’Malley’s demand, not fully comprehending how much that will be.

While the fight was going on, Kayde was speaking to the other man in the bar, “Hey buddy, not looking to fight how about you?”

The man nervously looks at Kayde and back at the fight occurring before him, “Yeah, I better leave”. When he does Kayde notices a wolf tattoo on his wrist. Kayde decides to tail the guy, he might lead him back to a hideout of the Wolves.

Suddenly, Kayde hears a gunshot. He watches as the man he is tailing collapses to the ground. He rushes over to him, “Hey what happened? You were just shot out of nowhere”.

“It’s because I… I wanted to let the leader know...” the Wolf can barely speak.

“Know? Let him know about what?” Kayde asks frantically, trying to get as much out of this man as possible before death takes him.

“The Cult of Chaos. They infiltrated our ranks, they want to kill him," the wolf coughs up blood.

“Cult of Chaos? I’ve never heard of them, who are they?” Kayde tries to get one last thing out of him as he ponders how odd of a name for a cult that is. The man cannot respond and he slowly slips away. Kayde sighs and walks back to the tavern to relay what just happened to the others.

Kayde returns to see the others helping clean up the tavern that was destroyed during the fight.

“Hey Kayde, didn’t see you leave. You duck out to avoid the fighting?” Sarge asks Kayde, understanding if he didn’t want to be involved.

“I tailed a guy who had a wolf tattoo on his arm. Turns out he was a part of the Wolves. He was killed because of something called the Cult of Chaos, ever heard of them?” Kayde inquires, never having heard of them himself.

“Can’t say that I have”. Sarge goes back to cleaning up the mess they helped make.

Kayde tells the others about what happened, asking them if they know the Cult of Chaos. Xander thinks to himself that the man in the purple robe is most likely from the Cult of Chaos, if they have a vendetta against the Wolves then it would make sense that they would ask for assistance in their leader’s death. From what he heard from Kayde it seems like the Cult of Chaos is trying to overthrow the gang leader of the Wolves. But what really bothers him is how the Cult of Chaos has Sacrosanct technology. There is only one person that can develop that technology and there is no way the Sacrosanct would let him go.