Eugene quickly ran back to his shop. He opened and closed the door behind him then rubbed is thumb over a rune in the wood. A faint glow crossed all the walls of the building accompanied by a barely audible snap sound. In this first room were four tables with various boots and women’s flatware. The variations were not all that unique but there were many. In the back was counter messy with a hammer, an awl, a knife, a shoe stand, a cutter, spare leather, and thread. All the necessary tools for shoe making. Eugene made his way behind the counter and lifted hatch below it. This revealed a ladder leading into a lower level of the building. Candles were already lit in sconces on the wall as he made his way down. At the bottom, he looked around at shelves of shoes and boots. Eugene made his way to the back of the storage area and opened a door against a wooden wall and closed it behind him. In this room was a desk, a lamp, and a deep quartz crystal in the middle of the desk. Eugene sat behind the desk and cast a spell consisting of blue and green rune lettering that slowly spun around the quartz before being drawn into it.

“Your Majesty. The Hidden Circle has returned and is operating out of Iron Mountain Plateau.” Eugene spoke carefully into the crystal.

“Are you certain. If so that means the old enemy has returned. How did you discover this?” Asked the Griffin King.

“I was captured during a routine investigation into House Taurant. I suspected his youngest son of being involved with the Circle. I was right. While I was preparing my escape something peculiar happened. Not a day after I was imprisoned and forced to fight for their amusement an Adventurer’s Guild member was also captured. Apparently, he was sold to the Circle unconscious. When he awoke, he had a conversation with the only other prisoner there who was in bad shape. Shortly after the conversation he knocked out a guard with sheer strength of arm and a liberal application of metal bars.” Eugene said.

“Get to the point it is early morning here.” Said the King.

“Right, it appears he’s the Champion of Cheshire. He immediately began bending the bars to get into the walkway, but they lifted his cage to the arena floor before he could. In the next five minutes blood rained down from seams of his lifted cage. Too much blood to be his. Before I knew his cage slammed back down into position and he was covered head to toe in blood, completely nude with a bag on his hip. Never seen anything like it. I looked over at the other prisoner he was talking too to find him the picture of health. Not a scratch on him. Later I used Inspect on one of them to find out he has guild perk that lets him passively heal his party. We escaped the facility but got caught in a brawl upon reaching the surface. While they were checking the door, I snuck back to the open arena doors where I saw nothing but a devastated mess of bodies. There was gear everywhere. If anyone was left, they would have been in there for the bounty of riches. When I rejoined them, the Champion was down bleeding, and the guard used the technique Crippling Stomp before falling over exhausted. I executed him before noticing the Champions bone protruding from the wound was green.” Eugene explained.

“Some sort of curse or sickness?” Asked the King.

“He didn’t know anything about it. Once stable and awake it was like the injury never happened.” Answered Eugene.

“This is all very interesting, but I think we’ve strayed from the point.” Replied the King.

“One more thing, the other adventurer tried putting a weapon in his hand and it just shot away from him. It was the damnedest thing I’ve ever seen.” Said Eugene.

“Valos, you have done well. If your cover is blown return to the capital, if not I need you to be my eyes and ears there. Crippling Stomp is taught by the Vasilly Army. There is something happening at the Plateau, and I don’t like it. I will be sending reinforcements shortly so hold tight.” Said the King before cutting the magical connection.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Deacon and Ralph exited the Casino and started to head toward the Guild. Looking over his shoulder he could see one of Mr. Clean’s goons following them very obviously. It was like he wasn’t even trying to hide it. Deacon tapped Ralph on the arm and thumbed back behind them.

“We have a very obvious tail.” Deacon said excessively loud.

“Really? Let’s just get back to the Guild. Don’t need anymore trouble on this trip back.” Ralph replied exhausted.

“Mr. Clean insist you get back safely. I’m going to make sure you have no further trouble tonight.” Said the goon.

“Oh that’s nice.” Said Deacon.

“You realize we were just face to face with one of the most powerful people in the city?” Ralph asked.

“We're old buds. He’s very polite.” Deacon replied.

“That was polite? I’ve never seen anything like that. Did you see his eyes?” Ralph asked.

“Look, if you’re going to hang out with me, you’re going to see some shit. I recommend just rolling with it.” Deacon said.

Ralph looked exasperated. He began just trudging along the last few blocks to the Guild. Once they entered gates the Mountains Shadow member turned and left. They opened the doors to a mostly silent Guild passing by The Teller that gave Deacon an energetic wave. Deacon thought he looked a little younger and was wearing a green top hat now. The beard was shorter as well. He also considered why The Teller was up this late and in the booth.

“I’m going to wash up. Can I count on you tomorrow to help me find Amanda?” Ralph asked.

“Sure. There are some old enemies of mine mixed up in that quest. I kind of feel responsible.” Deacon said as he waved good night.

Deacon retrieved some water for washing and headed up to his room. He wasn’t physically tired, but he was mentally exhausted. He needed to meet with Old Pai in the morning according to their agreement and he’d have to do some Alchemy tomorrow as well. Tomorrow is going to be a long day. After he felt he got enough of the blood and gunk off himself he sat down to meditate.

“What took you so long?” Asked Cheshire.

“Come on man. You know what’s been going on.” Deacon said exasperated.

“I had you at a seventy-five percent chance of dying in that arena. Very nice. The odds are all over the place with you. Perfect.” Replied Cheshire.

“Well if it wasn’t for your gift, I don’t think I would have gotten out of there.” Deacon replied.

“You earned it. I was hoping it would roll to portal. Who knows where it would send you or what might come through it? The odds are astronomical. So I noticed you earned a new halo.” Cheshire said.

“A what?” Deacon asked.

“Halo. That mote of energy Mr. Clean, I love that guy, asked you about. He was so surprised.” Cheshire said.

“Wait do you know what he was going on about?” Deacon asked.

“Well he summoned his demon energy to intimidate you during your conversation. Funny how you didn’t notice. But your body did. Just slurped up that Perpetual Plane energy..” Cheshire replied.

“What does that mean?” Deacon asked.

“Yikes, the fourth hell? The hell of infinite tasks? You might want to learn a little more about the world you’re in now. Think Sisyphus. I think that’s what they call him on Earth. Just Bob here.” Cheshire explained.

“Wait I have a halo from the fourth level of hell? Why not horns or cloven hooves?” Deacon asked.

“You aren’t a demon, silly. Remember when you burned all those moss ghouls? You tapped the Infernal Plane when you sacrificed that mage’s soul. You got a halo that day too. You should really check your notifications more often.” Cheshire said.

“So why can I even do that? My class is Nether Monk, so that one makes sense. Why the others? Wait did you say demon energy?” Asked Deacon.

“All questions better suited for your scaly passenger. I’m still surprised by how well that worked out. Oh well suns coming up and you have a lot of work to do. Tell Zageracks I said hello.” Cheshire said as his enormous grin chuckled out into the starry expanse.