Contrary to what I was expecting after Velan, The Rajak WCP's G district was exceptionally bright. Not as in there was sunlight shining down on it or anything like that, but because of all the incredibly brightly lit buildings. It looked like a neon city under a night sky with no stars. Every inch was lit but the darkness above us fell away into an empty void from shadows due to the sheer height of the massive ceiling. I wasn't sure how deep we were, but it wasn't something the Velan branch could even begin to compare to.

We stepped off the capsule in an old fashioned square. Cobblestones like the nicer ones we saw in Velan, but unlike back home there was no slow climb in quality. This place was nice around the board. Despite the inviting glow of the buildings however, we had other places to go and things to do. I turned to my friends. "Alright guys, I did some asking around and I was able to dig up a few places that we might be able to find out more about these...Heartripper Society guys." I kept my claim vague because I had no viable way to explain any information I got from Zeke to the girls.

Luckily they didn't seem to care much, too busy glancing around in wonder at what I admitted was probably one of the most electric places I'd ever seen. Unlike up top EVERY person here was in costume. The mortals apparently headed to J district, and this particular area was pretty much G ranker exclusive, with the odd H ranker following them. I didn't see anyone with the weight of presence of an F ranker, but I knew from dealing with Zeke you could hide that if you tried...somehow.

Callie came to a stop, of course, in front of a food stand. A man in a top hat and a rabbit mask was selling big juicy looking sausages. When he saw us he clapped his hands in delight, clearly used to showing emotion from behind a mask. I still hadn't mastered that, so I was impressed and he gestured grandly to his wares. "Well now! I haven't seen you fine folk before. Welcome to Spruce Bunny's Juicy Sausage Cavalcade! Best sausages in G district and potentially the world!" He gave us an exaggerated thumbs up.

I smirked behind my mask. "Potentially the world? That seems...vague. We're actually looking for a place nearby, the Bad Night Moon? We're happy to buy some of your delicious sausages, if the price is reasonable and you can maybe point us on our way?" Truthfully I could see Callie drooling from here, and she wouldn't let us leave without trying the sausages, but I didn't want to blow our money for zero return other than admittedly great smelling spiced meat, so I figured this would be a happy medium.

The bunny man clapped again. "Delightful! Two H rank chits will get you a sausage! They're the finest H ranked spined boar meat, personally ground and cased by yours truly. Definitely the best sausages in the world, if not potentially the universe!" The ears on his mask actually drooped slightly. "Though...friends. The Bad Night Moon is a rough area, especially with what's been going on lately. Saint Aiden has been having some awful trouble with the local arm of the Flame Riot Militia, it's not safe for newcomers in those parts."

I...didn't know who either of those people were. I passed over eight H ranked chits I had to spare, accepting the delicious look sausages set in what seemed to be freshly baked buns. I passed the others theirs and then froze when I realized I couldn't eat mine. My fucking mask stopped me from eating food. I wished Zeke had included an eating feature in the thing-. No sooner had I had that thought than a wide toothy grin opened in front of my mouth in the mask. I froze in shock for a second, then began to eat, trying not to let on how fucking shocking that was.

I REALLY needed to drag out of Zeke what all this mask could do. I still didn't know everything, I was sure, but now wasn't the time. Acting like my mask hadn't just defied the laws of physics without me knowing it could, I looked at Spruce Bunny. "We appreciate the warning. Aside from pointing us in the right direction, maybe you could give us a bit of an idea what the forces around here are like, especially those ones you mentioned?" I took a bit of the sausage and groaned in delight. No stat boosts luckily, just good old fashioned delicious food.

The top hat wearing rabbit sighed theatrically. "Saint Aiden is the strongest G ranker in G district, and the kindest. He keeps the peace in this area, and is well known to be a generous and patient individual. He operates out of the Red Revenant church on 12th street and is known to shelter newcomers who get into trouble if you need the help. He's not an actual Saint of the church of course, those are rare and jealously guarded, but he's a devout believer who cares for everyone."

That sounded like someone who we could benefit from getting to know, and I made a note to stop in there if my other sources didn't pan out. I doubted we would need to however, the Bad Night Moon, was Zeke's first pick for information. Still, that was only one of the people he'd mentioned. "And the Flame Riot Militia?" They sounded less than friendly, and if we were going to run afoul of them I wanted to know as much about them as possible.

He shook his head sadly. "A recent group of thugs who have been expanding throughout the WCP. The ones in G district are only a single branch of their organization. Their boss is Burning Fist, the E ranker. He wouldn't be caught dead down here of course. The occasional F rank visitor is one thing, but an E ranker hanging around to lord it over G ranked Ascendants is bad for business. The Deacon wouldn't be able to ignore a challenging like that, and Burning Fist is a thug, not an idiot. The Riot keeps it to level appropriate thugs anyway, since that's the best way to build up a rep, but still, you should be careful."

I nodded. If they were just G rankers we should be fine. I thanked him and asked again about the Bad Night Moon. He sighed again and pointed off to one side. "Down that alley, turn left and walk for about three miles. The Moon is the black building with no lights. The sign and entrance are both down a flight of stairs and out of view so you might have to do a lap around the place to find them." We nodded our thanks and headed down the alley in question, though Callie and I were careful to keep Benny and Jessie between us just in case.

Once we were out of earshot of the bunny man I sighed. "Ok, well this place is a lot more complicated than I was expecting. I guess I should have figured it would be different to the Velan branch. Keep your eyes open though. I get the feeling things here might get a little crazy." I had my overlay active. I considered trying Seek Hidden, but I didn't know what I was looking for so it wouldn't do much good here. Besides this whole place was probably full of hidden things.

We made our way carefully down the alley, heading in the direction of the Bad Night Moon. I didn't entirely trust the sausage selling bunny man, so keeping an eye out seemed prudent, but when we eventually reached the place it became clear he'd been legit. I felt slightly bad for suspecting him, he seemed like a nice guy, if a bit weird. We got down to the door and I stepped up, rapping on the dark wood sharply. A panel at about eye level slid open. "What."

The glaring eyes on the other side of the door were gold and blazing with aggression. I mentally recounted the instructions from Zeke to make sure I had this right before I answered. "We're here for the...raspberry jam festival." My friends all turned to stare at me, but I very carefully kept my eyes on the person behind the door. The golden orbs narrowed in suspicion, and for a minute I thought I might have screwed up.

The deep voice echoed out of the door again. "What variety of jam do you prefer?" Hearing the incredibly deep voice ask that made it hard not to laugh, but the creepy atmosphere and the intimidating presence of the person asking the question, even with only their eyes visible, certainly helped keep my chuckles down.

Still I had to roll my eyes as I answered. "Seedless is best, but only on a bagel." The hatch slammed shut. There was a series of loud clicks and thunks and the door opened, revealing a man much shorter than I had been expecting, dressed in a vest and slacks with a bow tie and moving back with a stool he had clearly been standing on. The golden eyes were the only strange thing about the short balding man.

He gestured us in, then shut and locked the door before turning back. "Sorry about that. Usually the pass phrase is more a formality and I don't mind letting someone in before asking, but times being what they are, it's best to keep the clientele to friends only. Speaking of, who do you know that told you how to get in here? There are places around where you can get the days password, but you all stink of newbie."

Which was fair. If the place didn't have any local contacts that could get you in the bunny man wouldn't have known it, but given the suspicion and hoops we jumped through that he said were unusual I was guessing he wasn't exactly advertising right now. Though it was still weird to me that everyone seemed to be able to tell at a glance that we were new here. I didn't think we were THAT obvious. Maybe G district was just more frequented by regulars. It did take a while to get to F rank.

We followed the man to the bar and he disappeared behind it, reappearing across from us and I sat down at one of the stools. "Friend of a friend, but yeah we're new. We were hoping to get the lay of the land, maybe find out a few things specifically, if you're open to sharing. I'm Solomon, That's Clockwork, Nightstrike, and Agria." I nodded to my friends in turn. "What should we call you?"

The older man chuckled. "See, even if I didn't already know it that would have told me you were newbies. Nobody who comes down here is that polite. I'm Riley, and before you ask about the eyes, yes, I am fae. No I won't tell you what kind, no I won't talk to you about the faerie land, and I don't discuss my powers. Other than that feel free to ask whatever you like. Can't promise I'll have an answer, or that I'll tell you for free if I do, but you can ask away."

I chuckled at that. "Fair enough. Might need to come back depending on how much you charge though." Sadly we were low on funds after Benny's shopping spree. The smaller man smiled and shook his head sardonically, but he was cut off by a loud crash.

A large man with shaggy green fur all over his body was lying on the ground in the shattered remains of a table while a guy about my height with long black hair and no costume loomed over him. Riley's eyes grew cold and he pulled out a gun, cocking it loudly as he drew the men's attention. We all stepped back as he came slowly out from behind the bar. I had to admit, my first trip to a bar was turning out to be pretty exciting.