Old Man Pudding had finally stopped his random crazy screaming, and was simply laying in the bed on his back, with tears streaming out of his closed eyes. Action man was sitting in the middle of his chest lightly patting his master. Jen couldn't get a response out of either of them, but she could tell that Pudding using his meditation skill to help him with the trauma of his past.

Jen was sitting on the bed next to him, reached out with her psych skill, and offered, "If you can hear me, I can try to close off some of the worst of your memories if you like."

She sensed the emotional refusal from Pudding, and could see action man shake his head rejecting her offer. Jen looked to Tamako for any suggestions, and Tamako replied, "There's nothing more that we can do for him right now. Action man knows where the food and water is if he needs anything, and we need to get to the System Casino before it opens back up."

Action man gave a look towards Jen and Tamako that communicated his fear, and his desire for them to stay. Jen shook her head sadly, and said, "Sorry Action man, but we've got to go find out what happened to Sam. We'll be back as soon as we can."

***

As Jen and Tamako entered the city, it was obvious to anyone that the City experienced some upheaval during the night. After a few moments of intercepting private conversations, Jen explained to Tamako, "Apparently, the City Lord captured and took the former System Casino boss into custody, and used some persuasion techniques on him to find and purge all the former Boss's allies and informants within the City from the ranks of the living. Also, from what I can tell, the guilds and noble houses were given information from the City Lord allowing them to do the same from their ranks."

Tamako nodded in understanding, "That certainly explains why it was so easy for us to enter the city, but the line to leave the city is being checked so thoroughly."

Even with the massive purging that took place during the night, most citizens were smiling and talking excitedly as they opened there stores and made their way through the streets. As Jen and Tamako made their way closer to the System Casino, it was readily apparent that they weren't going to get anywhere close to the casino as people packed around it to be the first ones to meet the new Casino Boss and see how the casino might have changed. The City Lord, several guild leaders, and leaders of a few of the noble houses were at the front of the crowd waiting for the casino to re-open.

The crowd started to chant a countdown as the time for re-opening was approaching, "TEN, NINE, EIGHT, SEVEN... THREE, TWO, ONE! LET'S GAMBLE!!!"

Jen and Tamako watched from the rear of the crowd in open-mouthed amazement when Sam flung open the double entry doors while wearing nothing but a bathrobe and boxers.