Bones wasn’t sidetracked on his way back to Stonefalls. Delivering the Skeleton Key was crucial to the heist and he immediately went to find Darsumi. He stopped by the store and saw it was as busy as usual. He continued toward the smithy where he found Hemdus in the workshop who directed him toward Darsumi's place. Apparently, Darsumi was cooped up in his house for the last few days, working out the details of the heist.

Bones had never been to Darsumi's place. In fact, he hadn't been anywhere much, except at the smithy. Darsumi's house was down the mountain and about a ten minute walk away from the smithy. Bones followed directions through the numerous alleys until he stopped in front of the doors of the small house, situated between two apartment buildings. He knocked on the doors and waited. Shortly after, he heard the sound of footsteps and the grumbling of a dwarf. The door snapped wide open and an aggravated dwarf appeared.

"WHAT?"

"Uh, it's me, Bones!" Bones said a bit startled as he pulled his hood up, showing his bony face.

"Oh! Sorry Bones! Come on in." Darsumi said and stepped aside, letting Bones inside. Once Bones entered, Darsumi gave a quick glance around before closing the door. As a proper host, he offered Bones something to drink and then led him down into the basement.

Bones descended the stairs and saw the basement was turned into a base of operation. Numerous papers lined the walls and in the middle of the basement was an enormous table with seven miniature models of the mansions on it. Two dwarves were at the table discussing something and pointing at one of the models.

"Don't mind them, they were into it since morning. Now then, do you have the key?" Darsumi asked. Bones turned his head away from the table and focused on him. He summoned the Incomplete Skeleton Key from his inventory and handed it to Darsumi who inspected the key and nodded in satisfaction.

"That's great Bones! I was counting on you! One less thing to worry about."

"About that…"

Darsumi sighed, then apologized.

"I take it you realized you would have to be the one to use The Skeleton key?" Darsumi asked and Bones nodded, asking him if that was the plan from the start.

"It was. I didn't say anything in case you failed to make the key. Regardless, you're the only one who can use the key and make appropriate adjustments when necessary." Darsumi finished and motioned for Bones to come to the table and take a look. Bones circled the table and looked at the models. He noted they were all two-story mansions but not as big as the ones he saw at the lakefront before the capital.

"These are the models of the mansions on our list to rob. There are seven of them but unfortunately, we're going to have to remove two from the list. Something came up and the residents won't be leaving the residence for the festival. Which leaves us with five, two of them which concern you."

"One of the two has a mana core in the vault right?" Bones asked to confirm.

Darsumi grinned and said that both houses might have intact mana cores. "One has it for sure. The last mansion on our list and the most difficult to rob!" Dar said pointing at the model slightly bigger than the rest.

"We should at least be able to get you one mana core if not both! Now then, we still have some quirks to work out so you can leave and wait at the smithy if you don't want to join us here. I'll stop by the smithy in the evening!"

Bones thought for a moment and said he would wait for him at the smithy then. That wasn't to say that he wasn't interested in the plans they were making. Bones still had polishing left to do on his newly engraved left arm. Bones left the house and returned to the quarries and ore processing site but didn't go up the mountain and to the smithy. He continued walking along the base of the mountain until he reached a remote place surrounded by trees and void of people.

The spot was close to the city walls and Bones found the place adequate enough to conduct his business. He sat cross-legged and pulled his left arm out of the sleeves of his robe. He inspected the deep and rough lines engraved onto his bone armor. The work done was rushed as he wanted to finish in time and it showed. Bones took out engraving tools and after taking another look around making sure that there weren't any people nearby, he went to work.

Bones finished before midnight but not without difficulties. He had trouble controlling the mana flow and mana output through the engraved arm he used to polish the incisions. The flow was smoother and the mana output much higher now than it was before and Bones wasn’t used to it. When he finished polishing the engraving on his left hand, he switched back to the engravings and polishing done on right arm and rectified the work he previously did. Once he was satisfied with the result, he stood up and went back to the smithy. He was a little late, getting lost in his work.

He reached the smithy just as the burglar dwarf, Mirami, was leaving.

"Greetings Bones! Yer just in time! We finished our business so ye can join the merry folk in the kitchen."

"Greetings…Mirami was it? Hope everything is going as planned."

"You and me both! Later!" Mirami shouted back as she walked away from the smithy.

Bones nodded and waved a hand in goodbye, then turned and entered the smithy. He found Darsumi and Hemdus already awaiting him in the kitchen with drinks poured in and one blue colored drink set aside waiting for him.

"Gentlemen!" Bones said, drawing attention.

"Heya Boney! Yer just in time! Come, come! 'ere…" Hemdus said and motioned toward the blue colored drink. Darsumi nodded his head in greeting and waited for Bones to take a seat before he spoke.

"Sorry about earlier today. It's been a busy few days but, I think we covered most of the plan so…what have you been up to for the past month? I can't imagine you spent all your time working on the key?"

Bones chuckled and pulled up his left sleeve, showing the engravings on his left arm. Hemdus spat out his drink seeing Bones' arm and Darsumi sucked in breath.

"Boney ye…" Hemdus was left speechless. Bones continued explaining the difficulties he had and finally said it was worth the effort because the effect was significant.

"What do you plan to do about your…problem back in the capital?" Darsumi asked.

Bones took a swig, emptying his glass, before he answered.

"I thought about that too while I was away and I came to the conclusion that perhaps it would be best if I continued my journey beyond the Wezar Kingdom."

There was a moment of silence before Darsumi answered that they kind of expected that.

"How did you plan to go about doing that? Bones, while you were away, some thugs came to the shop and asked for you. They've been snooping around the shop for a week before giving up and leaving. They seemed like the type that hung in the Underground City in Hagos."

Bones sighed, leaning back in his chair and looking up at the ceiling. After a couple of seconds, he replied he planned to join the frontlines immediately after the festival for the time being and then continue his journey throughout the continent. As to where specifically, he didn't know yet.

"Darsumi, given your occupation, I would like to employ your services."

"Mmnn given my occupation you say? Alright, what can I do for you?"

Bones stated that he wished to continue traveling as an adventurer as it proved to be of great benefit, so he thought about acquiring a new identity. He didn't need the Hounds following him around like dogs.

"Difficult, but manageable with enough resources of course."

"What sort of resource? Gold? Mana stones? Something else?" Bones asked.

Darsumi shook his head before answering. “To tell you the truth, Hemdus and I already talked about what we should do in case you decided to leave."

Bones glanced at Hemdus who nodded his head while handling his drink.

Darsumi extended his arm and summoned a spatial ring in his hand which he then handed to Bones.

Bones looked at the ring for a moment, then took it and gave Darsumi a puzzled look. Darsumi gave him a smirk and motioned to look inside the ring. Bones took a peek, then looked at Darsumi and Hemdus before taking another look inside. The spatial ring only had one item inside it. Gold coins, five thousand of them to be exact.

"What is-"

"It's a downtime payment for the rights to the dungeon. The amount of gold in the ring is nowhere near the actual value of the dungeon but it's all we could sum up at the moment. Do you…agree to leaving the rights to the dungeon with us?" Dar asked, trying hard to hide the uncomfort he felt for even asking.

Bones tapped his finger against the table as he was thinking about it and was genuinely surprised that the dwarves thought about it so far ahead. He already had in mind leaving the dungeon to them and making some sort of a deal, but the dwarves already planned ahead.

Bones smiled widely, a layer of bone armor covering his face making up for quite a nasty look.

"It’s not like we actually had an official contract regarding the rights to the dungeon. I don't mind, but that's quite an amount you collected."

Both dwarves chuckled and clinked their drinks in agreement. They were glad that Bones was rather understanding on the topic of the dungeon. "See Bones, while mana stones would be more useful for travel, having too many would be a sure sign telling you had something valuable on you! Besides, the basic spatial ring couldn't handle that many mana stones."

Before Bones could interject, Darusmi held up his hand and continued. "You could store the mana stones in your inventory, of course, but that would put a strain on your soul. Don't do that to yourself if you can avoid it! That’s why we’re paying you with gold instead, for now. Back on the topic of acquiring you a new adventurer ID…Gold will suffice, but it'll cost you quite a sum!”

"Ahem," Hemdus drew Bones’ attention. "Err, am 'fraid we gon hav to take sum of it back. Sorry Boney, we didn take into account ye be wantin a new adventurer ID."

"Hem is right Bones. I'll make inquiries and after making rough calculations, I'll get back to you on how much it'll cost you. No matter the price, you'll have enough for your journey and if you ever lack the funds, you'll always be welcome back here!"

"Thank you for that, and everything really." Bones said earnestly and started getting up. "It's late and you probably want to get some rest. Should we continue in the morning?"

"Nonsense mah boi!" Hemdus exclaimed, making Bones pause. "Sit. Sit!" He ushered and Bones slowly sat back down.

"What he meant to say was that we'll be staying up all night. We have no trouble staying up a night or two. Hell, we stayed up for a whole week before when it was necessary, so don't worry about us." Darsumi explained.

"If you're sure, then…"

"Boney, dis be our third noight awake." Hem ensured."

"Alright, alright then…pour me another drink!" Bones said, grinning and questioning Hem's more than usual slurred speech.

Hem guffawed and slammed a whole bottle of mana potion on the table. "'ere! Pour yer self a drink!"

After a round of drinking, Hem stood up and went to the kitchen while Darsumi began speaking.

"While we touched the subject of leaving, do you at least have a direction you're heading? Since you mentioned the frontlines, I take it east?"

"That's right. I think I'll head east, over the Aphiton kingdom and then north, north-east."

Darsumi nodded and said he would bring him a larger map so Bones could have a proper look. Hemdus returned with bread, cheese and spotted sausages. While the dwarves indulged in food, Bones further explained and instructed Darsumi on what he wanted his new ID to be.

After a few hours, a new day dawned bright and sunny.

"Alright Bones, so your new ID would be under the name of Muriel Jones with golemancer class?"

"Yes, that is correct. Think it sounds plausible?" Bones asked.

“Didn’t you use that name the first time you came to us? Did you use it anywhere else?” Darsumi asked because he vaguely remembered the name.

Bones thought for a moment, not remembering when and how many times he presented himself as Jones. I think it was once before Westbrook and at the smithy. For the life of me I can’t remember anywhere else.

“Should be fine, I think. Leave it as Jones.” Bones settled.

“Sure, sounds good. Look, I’ll be going to the capital tomorrow for an errand and I’ll make an inquiry. I should get an answer by the end of the week but I’d like to make arrangements as soon as possible rather than going back and forth, making a deal.”

“Do what you feel is best. How long do you plan to stay there?”

“A day or two, depends. Why? Do you need anything from the capital?”

“Actually yes. Before I left, I made a visit to an auction house and made a deal with a merchant named Sagard to acquire something for me. I've been away for a month and I'm beginning to worry.”

“Sagard? Big guy? Dressed like he owns the place?”

Bones nodded. “So you know the man?”

“I had dealings with him before. Sagard is an antique dealer and the last time I saw him he was smuggling goods. Didn’t know he was back in Hagos. Whatever deal you made, you don’t have to worry about him not delivering!”