There was a brisk breeze through the air that came down through the trees. Saul hardly felt it, his body being padded and protected by his thick coat. Even still, he could tell that Xen should be showing a slight shiver at the very least. His outfit was much thinner and tighter to his skin, not to mention the fact the Erudine were famous for their lithe bodies. In spite of this, Xen was moving as fluid as he had been when they first met in the sewers.

“This will be the third structure in the Western side of the Megaden. I guess the third time’s the charm?” Saul said, shrugging as they stopped in front of the stone building. “It’s a shot in the dark, but do you know if these places are owned by anyone, Plafluf? Wouldn’t really matter, but I’d like to avoid stepping on toes.”

“It is possible.” The Urchski answered, stepping in first and sniffing at the air. “I think some of the rich folk buy them to try and say others cannot go there. Rich people are very scared of their ancestors. Usually betrayed one or all of them.”

Inside the building was much like the others they’d been to. Empty stone and metal covered with a thin layer of dust. Even without the rumors of ghosts, the quietness and alien materials made it eerie to walk around in. Xen was unphased by the atmosphere, marching straight for the stairs in the back, waving for Plafluf to come forward.

“Come on, we don’t know how long we’ve got left, and there’s a lot of these buildings throughout the Megaden!”

“Do you really want us to go to every single one? I’m pretty sure that would raise flags with anyone that we’re up to something. Even going near these places causes us trouble in the future.” Saul warned him.

“We’re in the right general area, I’m sure of it. They had to be somewhere close to Volruun, since we were just a little late in meeting him after they fought, right? Since both of them were there, I can only assume it’s not a day trip out here, and that they actually had a place nearby.” Xen assured him, being the first down the stairs.

The path ahead was less dusty than he had expected. All of the other structures showed signs of being recently disturbed, but this one even moreso. Saul considered using his ability, but with how Alzholme materials worked it wasn’t likely to help. They were ancient and often immutable by conventional means, leaving him with only vague impressions on most of their properties.

As they got to the bottom, Xen leapt the final few steps as he moved into the chamber in the basement. Saul and Plafluf had to rush to catch up with him, finding the Erudine doubled over a desk in the room as he recovered from overexerting on his bruises. More than just signs of activity, there were signs of people living here. Some of the shelves were like ones they found in the other buildings, but they covered in furs to make them into makeshift bunks.

“See! This is definitely their hideout. Safly they’re not here, but at least we can get an idea for their strength and size.” He said, approaching the bunks himself. “Seems like enough space for about three people, maybe four. I’ll bet they kept their numbers low to keep from getting caught at first. Well, that will definitely bite them in the back now.”

There was a confident smirk on his face now, but Saul could sense the dangerous emotions dwelling beneath. Pulling himself away from psychoanalysis, he set about inspecting the things they’d left behind in the room.

“Make sure not to disturb things too much. This is an investigation still, so I want to make sure I can find anything relevant to the case. Not to mention if we start tearing it apart they’re going to know that people were here.” Saul warned them before crouching down and reaching under the desk.

There was a mess of bandages hidden there, thick clots of blood staining a majority of the fabric. He poked his pinkie finger against the red spot to make sure it was dried out before he used his analysis on it.

Goes without saying this is from that Erudine woman. Seems like they had a decent amount of bandages, and this one was used not too long ago. Whoever they are they know how to treat massive injuries like this. Smugglers probably wouldn’t have expertise in this unless they were bad at it. Could they just be guards of some kind?

As he stood up, he noticed the desk still had pieces of paper left on top of it. He had to move aside some measuring instruments to get at them, the sheets themselves being messily layered on top of each other. As he touched them, he noticed that the parchment was a much higher grade than he was expecting. Though he had only seen it once or twice, the paper seemed like the sort of thing used by college researchers. It was durable, and made with fibers custom made by the Enterus.

“Xen, this person you’re hunting, she doesn’t have any history with rogue research or anything, right?” Saul asked as he checked if all of the paper shared these qualities.

“Not that I’m aware of. They seemed to go dark for a long time, and suddenly reappeared working for various groups in random places. Unlike the merchant’s guild, we don’t really look into the motives or the like. The guilty pay, no matter what their reasons are.”

“It’d be alot more efficient if you did.” Saul commented.

As he flipped over the pages, most of them had designs and diagrams on them for machinery he’d never seen before. While at first he thought it might have been plans for something to build, the amount of blank parts and questions led him to believe it was attempts to reverse engineer technology. Only on the last page did he notice large pipes similar to the one that he had seen in the pool. Large splotches of ink covered the page, presumably from an accident.

He pressed his thumb against one of the ink spots. Strange, there’s something off about this stuff. It seems like the ink is used for final thoughts, and the rest of it is using cheap charcoal. That would imply there’s something official about this, but no college research can get approved in places outside of the center ring without knowledge by the guild. I would have to double check, but there shouldn’t be anything like that in the Megaden.

As he pulls his hand away, he spots a message showing through the back. Flipping it over, he reads the start to some kind of letter. Most of it was smudged over, either on purpose or on accident. Though most of it seemed to just be talking about progress and the dangers of their hideout, the introduction stuck out to him. The name “Underking” was used for the recipient.

Taking the final page, he folds it up and places it on the final pages of his journal for later. Plafluf was still standing by the doorway, having already inspected around the room for any hidden entrances. Xen was crouching on the ground, checking for any hidden weapons or plans of escape they might have left.

“Hey, have either of you heard of the name Underking?” Saul asked them.

“No?” Xen replied, giving a quizzical look. “Was that what humans called their king? Granted there hasn’t been one in about twenty years, but still.”

“I have heard some things.” Plafluf replied. “Some people will say they have worked for someone by that name. Many people think it’s just a slang term for some sort of criminal work though.”

“He’s mentioned on one of the sheets here. Have you heard any rumors about where he might be, or what he’s working towards?”

“I do not even know if he is real! I do not like working for shadows, so I have never tried to go looking for him. Actually, now that I think about it, some of them sounded like a cult or something. That is another reason to not look into it.”

“Well, hopefully we can find something elsewhere. Now that we know where their hideout is it shouldn’t be long before we can get some information from them.”

“Information?” Xen asked as he stood up. “We’re looking to kill Twenty-Two. I don’t see a reason to try and get information out of them.”

“Alright, well, I am looking for information then. Happy?” Saul asked him, rolling his eyes as he moved to the stairs. “Either way we should head out for now. This is their turf after all, so they’ll notice that someone was here fairly quick. The best thing to do is head out, notify the guards what we’re doing, and then wait for them to come back.”

Xen hesitated, his fists clenched at his side like he was being chained to the spot. Eventually he took hold of his emotions and nodded. Saul made sure to watch him carefully while they all departed the room, with Plafluf trailing behind.

Plafluf was slower on the stairs than the two of them, owing to his stumpy legs which meant he needed to use his hands and feet to scurry along them. Once they reached the mid point of the steps, he felt an odd sensation in his body and closed his eyes. Saul noticed the lack of footsteps behind him and turned around.

“You okay?” Saul asked.

Without an answer, Plafluf nodded and then popped out of sight. Xen noticed the absence as well this time and walked back down cautiously. It was only a few seconds before Plafluf reappeared and immediately pulled out his dagger.

“It is them, there is a tunnel!” He said, pointing with his weapon at the spot.

Saul drew his sword and Xen readied himself to attack them. All of them waited for some kind of opening to appear and a fight to break out. With nothing but the faint noise of wildlife outside to pass the time, seconds felt like minutes during the wait. Eventually the tension gave way to boredom, and Plafluf was the first to respond. He teleported once more to the otherside.

“You think they fled?” Xen asked. “Cowards.”

“There’s gotta be something more to it than that. They sure seemed willing to fight us before this. Maybe your injury has them scared.”

The steps of the stairs shifted beneath their feet. Saul stumbled down as a platform grew from under his right foot. Eventually the flattened platform opened to a doorway down a tunnel. Plafluf stood there, slightly out of breath from jumping.

“I hate this stuff. They made it for people too tall.” He grumbled as Xen and Saul entered.

Saul glanced up, where the strips of lighting traced over the seams of the tunnel and made it into a smooth transition from wall to ceiling. As they moved forward through the tunnel he realized there was a noticeable lack of wind in the area. Even knowing nothing was nearby, he felt like something ominous was lurking in the halls. The sensation eased by the fact the entrance had sealed behind them.

When the tunnel ended, it bent out to a larger tunnel. Saul peeked ahead, with the sound of chatter of movement drawing his attention. Plafluf and Xen watched from behind as he scouted slowly forward. He wasn’t able to get close enough to see them, but the sound of Urchski voices told him more than enough. His right hand swept back and the group of them moved back down the tunnel to the entrance.

“Shoot, seems like the Urchski are flooding back into that chamber. Normally I like having the local law enforcement on hand, but I get the feeling those guys aren’t going to want to help us.” Saul said once they were a safe way down the tunnel.

“What, so we’re supposed to just leave right when we should be tracking them down?” Xen asked impatiently.

“We know where their hideout is, they’re probably going to return to it at some point. The best thing to do now is to get out of here and head back to Plafluf’s place. If the guards have got anyone keeping tabs on us, it’ll look like we had no luck. If we camp out here they’re going to get suspicious and start hanging around as well or strongarm us out. Do it this way and you can have your revenge if you want. Happy?”

Xen folded his arms in frustration. “My happiness doesn’t matter on this, we’ll do as you suggest for now.”

You could try being a little less difficult, you know. Saul thought as they reopened the tunnel and left. Guess it’s fair for you to be a little on edge though. I don’t like it, but I’m going to have to go over your head to find out who this Underking is; and right now Twenty-Two is probably my best lead.