While Jen and Tamako walked with Lucky’s daughter, Dicey, and son-in-law, Poker, towards the City’s bot-battle-arena Dicey commented, “The City is starting to calm down with someone thinning Night-Jack’s vampire herd, but he’ll probably come out to hunt them if they keep it up.”

Tamako asked, “Who’s Night-Jack, and with the bounty on vampires, why would anyone be afraid of him?”

Poker replied, “That’s right, you two are new to the City. Night-Jack is the vampire clan-leader in the City. Their hide-out is suspected to be hidden somewhere in the miles of catacombs below the city.”

Jen’s creased her eyebrows in confusion, and said, “Okay… so why doesn’t a guild party just go down in the catacombs and kill them all?’

Dicey rolled her eyes, “It would make more sense if Poker hadn’t failed to mention that Night-Jack and his other clan officers are effectively as strong as level 45 to 50 adventurers. They are incredibly fast and strong! Plus, with no light so far down in the catacombs, it’s not like you can assault their hideout during the daytime.”

Tamako nodded in understanding, “So, the City’s bounty is just high enough to thin the herd of weak vampires, but not high enough to cause problems with the more powerful and politically connected vampires."

Dicey gave Tamako and Jen a strained, hard stare, and replied, “No, you are mistaken. That is not how we were describing the situation, nor is that what is happening. The City Lord is doing a great job on behalf of the citizens, and spending our gambling taxes wisely. I mean, everyone knows that revenues from gambling taxes are not unlimited.”

Tamako and Jen understood Dicey’s “look,” and Tamako replied, “My mistake. It was foolish of me to jump to such conclusions. We lived in a city with significant political corruption, and I should not have assumed the same was going on here.”

Poker then changed the subject and asked Tamako, “How do you like your apartment?”

Tamako replied, “It’s nice.” Discussing housing was not interesting to Tamako. She liked to discuss combat, weapons, armor, clothing, jewelry, and food. She was more than happy to let the Boss handle all the boring topics. “Thank goodness Jen enjoys being the boss, because I’m with Sam on letting someone else deal with all that crap!” Tamako thought to herself.

Jen piped up, “We checked on several places that were for rent, and we were very fortunate and appreciate your guild renting such a spacious and lovely apartment to us.”

Poker was just trying to change the subject and really wasn’t trying to get them to ingratiate themselves. It was the least they could’ve done for their help saving their daughter’s life. “You saved our daughter! Dicey and I are trying to see if there are any options to get it extended another three months on our account when Crapshoot’s account time runs out.”

Dicey added, “But don’t hold your breath, our guild doesn’t often give weight to loopholes.”

Jen replied, “No worries. Thanks for trying!”

Just then Poker noticed a beggar that frequented the street they were walking down. He pointed in the beggar’s direction, and said to the group, “It looks like the angels of mercy have struck again. That woman could barely stand up, but look at her now!”

The old lady was calling out, asking for work, “The angels of mercy have healed my legs. I can walk perfectly. I can work! Please let me know if anyone is hiring!”

A young man selling fruit said to his wife, “These angels of mercy have been healing beggars all over the city!”

His wife replied, “They must be master healers on a gambling quest, because none of the guild healers would ever heal beggars that couldn’t pay!”

Tamako gave Jen a knowing wink. She knew good deeds helped Jen cope with the killing and suffering that seemed to be a constant in their lives. However, Tamako’s primary concerns were the benefits of grinding for improvement of their healing spells, and the fun of killing a few vampires. They had organized their day by training their fighting skills in the arena during the morning, and then practicing their healing spells every night in the city’s back alleys. However, based on what they just learned about Night-Jack, Tamako was now considering whether they should visit the catacombs.