Back in the workshop, Bones sat at the alchemy table and continued working while Hem sat next to him and Darsumi stood behind Bones, glancing over his shoulder. .

"Don't keep us waiting! What are you working on?" Dar asked again.

"A type of bomb." Bones said, not taking his eyes off his work.

"Ooo…" Hemdus made an o with his mouth and slowly started distancing himself. "Are ye really makin da bomb? In mah workshop?!"

"Yes! I uh, I'll be careful Hem, not to worry!" Bones tried to reassure him but saw Hem was still distancing himself and looking at him dubiously.

"Why have you decided to make a bomb of all things? What kind of bomb is it?" Darsumi asked the important questions.

"See, when I was observing humans around me I noticed one common weakness they all share, and everyone else for that matter. Once even me!"

"Weakness that everyone…share?" Dar repeated, wondering.

"Yes. You see, they have the tendency to need to breathe air!"

"Ah yes, quite the flaw!" Dar said sarcastically.

"Amused, are you? Just wait until you see the effect of my bomb!"

"Alright, so this new bomb, what is it going to do exactly?"

"What I am making is a highly concentrated poisonous substance that is highly virulent and spreads fast once in contact with air."

Bones turned to Dar and continued.

"The poisonous fumes resulting from the explosion should cause difficulty breathing, coughing, wheezing and overall weakness. Those at the point of impact should feel the brunt of it and most harmful of the effect from the chemicals. Sudden collapse, convulsions, and possibly even death are a possibility.

I just need to find a way to disperse it quickly enough…" Bones finished, returning to work at hand.

"Gobrick's beard Boney…dats monstrous!" Hem said. "I wouldn’ wanna be yer enemy…"

"Thank you Hem, it would make me sad if you ever were one. I've grown quite fond of you dwarves."

*cough* "Well…ye 'no," Hem started mincing words, "We're just glad ye weren’ da type of undead lookin to eat our brains!"

Bones raised a hand to his chest and said, "It warms my heart to hear you say that Hem. I would never risk our friendship for a midnight snack!"

Darsumi snorted and laughed.

"Ye 'no? I feel a bit insulted just nao! Takes a real bond fer da dwarf to open up like dat! "

"I'm sorry Hem. Are there many brain-eating undead out there?"

"Sure, most will try to take a bite out of you." Darusmi replied and switched back to the topic at hand. "You said you need to find a way to disperse the fumes?"

Bones nodded and asked him if he knew a way. Darsumi stroked his beard, thinking. "I believe I do. You should find Mirami and ask her for help. She makes most of her gadgets herself, smoke bombs included!"

"Oh? That would be perfect! I'll go find her after I finish here. Thank you!"

"Then, we'll leave you to work in peace!" Darsumi said and motioned for Hem to follow. On his way out, Hem pleaded with Bones not to destroy his workshop.

Hah, what characters! I think I know why the bomb was a surprise though. I can't imagine many would use gadgets and bombs on the battlefield surrounded by the constant barrage of spells. If I can get Mirami to help me, all that will be left to do is find a container for the bomb and test it!

Bones finished grinding the leftover dried Blue Orchid before evening and left the smithy heading toward the pub where Mirami spent most of her time. The pub had a classic look for that type of establishment, serving mead and ale to a working class that made up for most of the clientele.

Bones found Mirami in a booth hanging with her dwarf friends. He approached their table and after greeting the bunch, asked to speak with her privately. Once they were away from the crowd, Bones explained what he needed her expertise for and asked her if she could help him. He didn't know much about the young dwarf apart from being a thief and a burglar, but Mirami always came off as an easy-going type.

"Why sure, Mr. Bones. Come by my place tomorrow afternoon and we'll see what we can do for ye! Let me write down my address..!"

Bones received a small note with her address written on it and stored it. "Then, I leave you to your friends and I'll be seeing you tomorrow! Thank you and have a good night!"

Mirami waved him goodbye and Bones slowly headed back toward the smithy. As he was walking through the narrow streets of Stonefalls, a person walking toward him from the opposite direction drew his attention. There was something about the figure approaching that made Bones spine tingle. When they were just a few meters apart, Bones saw the figure of a young man he saw once before…

"Small world…it's been a wh-" *thump*

Bones senses were completely cut off. The last thing he remembered, before apparently blacking out, was a lightning fast hand reaching out to him.

As he was coming to, he could faintly make out the voices around him.

"Tha…n't work.

"-at? Why?"

"Why? Because he IS a skeleton! Wait…I think he's waking up!"

Bones finally got his senses checked and working and saw that he was sitting in a chair, tied up in a ransacked room and watched by two people. On his left was a young girl, tapping her finger on a hilt of her rapier, but the man on his right fully drew his attention. Both were the figures he saw in the Adventurer's Guild the first time he came to Hagos.

"Ahem, like I already tried to say, it's been a while, former branch guild leader and an adventurer." Bones said to Rayne who leaned closer and stared Bones down.

"Quite a while. Are you having fun being an adventurer?" Rayne asked, his tone indifferent.

"I do. A membership has its perks. What can I do for the two of you?" Bones asked, looking at the two.

Rayne strengthened his back, turned and walked over to the window, looking at lights in the distance.

"I want something out of you and I am prepared to do anything to get it. Do you understand me?"

"Well, if I'm getting this right, you're threatening me?! With what exactly?" Bones asked in a mocking tone.

The situation he got himself into caught him by surprise, but the moment he saw Rayne, he knew what he wanted.

"I told you I'm prepared to do whatever it takes!"

"You have NOTHING to threaten me with!" Bones chuckled.

Rayne frowned, he also knew he didn't really have a way to extract the information he needed out of the undead, but he was at the end of his wits. He felt his chance to catch Silva was slipping and every second he wasn't making progress was a wasted second.

It's been half a minute and Rayne was lost in thought, doing nothing but standing there. Bones saw no reason to delay this any further so he turned to Belle.

"Is he ok? This is getting a bit awkward."

Belle glanced at Rayne, then turned to Bones and answered his question. "No Bones, he's not ok. I'm afraid he is going to lose it if he doesn't find-"

"Silva! Yes I remember from the interrogation."

"-en what? I torture the information out of him? What would even work on an undead?" Both Bones and Belle turned to Rayne who kept voicing his thoughts, still looking out the window.

"Torture wouldn't work nor is it necessary Miss Belle."

"Then, do you know where Silva is?" She asked, hopefully. Bones grinned.

"Tell me! Please!" She pleaded.

"Sure. I'll tell you where you can find him AND the rest of the Hounds!"

"Ohmygodreally?" Belle blurted out.

"Light affinity works best on undead but this one is a bit different. They're weakened by the sun and this one doesn't seem to be affected by it! What if I don't find Silva…No! One of his goons ought to know where he is!"

Bones nodded and said that this is getting out of hand. "Could you untie me?"

"You won't try to run away?" Belle cocked her head and asked.

"Could I run away from the two of you?" He asked and Belle shook her head, giggling.

"Then I won't try and run away. Could you…do something about him as well?" Bones motioned toward Rayne. Rayne went silent, occasionally shaking his head and whispering, "this won't do!"

"-ne?"

"-ello?

"HELLO? RAYNE??" Belle screamed.

Rayne snapped out of it and turn around only to see Bones untied, waving at him and Belle with her arms spread wide, silently mouthing "what a fuck?"

"Uh, wha…what are you doing Belle?" Rayne asked, looking at Belle incredulously, then his expression turned serious and the room temperature started dropping.

"Wait wait Rayne! We made a deal! It's done!" Belle hurriedly said.

Rayne abruptly stopped and glanced at Bones who winked at him. "What is?" He asked.

It didn't take long for Belle to explain what transpired. Convincing Rayne, however, did.

"And he implicitly said, when you asked him, that he knows where Silva was and is willing to sell him out?" Rayne repeated, having a hard time believing.

"For the tenth time, YES!" Belle answered, tired.

Rayne turned to Bones who sat in the chair again, untied this time. "Why? Why now and like this?" Rayne asked. There was no reason for Bones to give up Silva now. Unless…unless something happened between them? That would explain his willingness to cooperate. A thought occurred to Rayne.

"You're running away from him, aren't you? What happened?"

"Things have changed." Bones simply said, not willing to comment further. Rayne snorted and agreed to a cooperation, saying he doesn't really care what happened between them as long as he can have Silva.

Before working out the details of their deal, Bones asked to change the location to a more…accommodating place. The thrio left the building and visited the nearest pub where they sat in a booth and ordered ale.

"You can drink ale?" Belle asked Bones in surprise.

"Not really, it dissolves immediately. Mana potion is my choice of drink." He replied and Belle made a sour face after hearing that. Bones turned to Rayne and asked how they found him.

"We followed the thugs Silva sent. We didn't know they were searching for you though." Rayne replied.

Rayne had been looking for Silva all this time and knew Silva hired numerous thugs to work for him. He tried interrogating them, following some and bribing for information, but no one knew where Silva was. They all said that Silva would find THEM when he needed something. Last he was looking for him was in the Underground City where he saw a group of thugs leaving Hagos.

He followed them to Stonefalls and watched them search the city until they gave up and left. Rayne stayed and waited, trying to find information on who they were looking for until he spotted Bones going through the city's gates. Bones was dressed differently but still covered his head with the hood and walked a bit hunched, looking down. It was enough for Rayne to notice and focus his attention on the suspicious figure. He still wasn't completely sure it was him until tonight, when he got close enough and still failed to use Identify on Bones.

"Right, I heard they were here, searching for me. I can tell you where Silva is and the location of the Hounds' hideout, but you need to make sure he is really there when you go after him!"

Bones explained that Silva spent most of his time Underground, no doubt making plans for the festival. It was Rayne’s first time hearing about this and his heart started racing. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.

"Rayne…stop it!" Belle said, increasing her voice. Rayne took a deep breath, calming down. "I can't let them succeed like they did in Westbrook!"

"It won't be like Westbrook! The necromancer is dead!" Bones affirmed, then continued. "Look…"

Bones explained that The Hounds are preparing something big! Bigger than Westbrook and at the mention of the mana bombs, Rayne threw another fit. Bones further voiced his opinion and said that the hired thugs are a part of the plan but couldn't tell what exactly for, nor where Silva planned to detonate the mana bombs. Rayne wanted to go immediately and raid the tavern after Bones disclosed the location of both hideouts, but Bones persuaded him not to.

"Think about it, you attack them now and you catch some of them. If you want all of them, you need to do it prior to the attack when they'll be gathered in the same place, Silva included."

Rayne reluctantly agreed to wait after he thought about it. He also needed time to prepare. Come tomorrow, he would go straight to the Adventurer's Guild in the capital and request of the guild leader to let him form and lead a small task force. Even if he wasn't a member of the guild anymore, he had no doubt his master would comply with his request. The assault needed to be handled with a small group of people as Rayne didn't know who to trust in the guild but his master.

"I think I've told you everything. I take it you won't be mentioning my involvement in this to anyone?" Bones asked after finishing his ale. Rayne nodded and said he and Belle will respect his decision as part of the deal. Bones bid them good night and left. Rayne finally leaned in the chair and relaxed, closing his eyes. Finally…