“Heyyyy Slim,” purred the Siamese Cat as she brushed up against his side. She quivered as she thought, “His smell is so irresistible, but he is ignoring me. I want to burrow into him, and then have him take me on his loot pile!”

The simple cat annoyed Slim by interrupting his walk towards his alley. All the cats in the city knew to find him there and bring him food or information. “You know the rule, Simone. What do you have for me?”

“Yes! Yes! I know! That’s why I wanted to find you before you went all the way to your alley. I have something for you, but your scent distracted me, and now I’ve forgotten. Shoot!” she said as she whipped her tail in frustration. “Slim, I know it was something fantastic! Can I snuggle with you in your loot pile now? Please!”

Slim groaned with exasperation. “No, not until you remember. Was it food?”

“No,” Simone said as her tail whipped and fluffed out in frustration.

“Was it something shiny?” he asked her.

“No, not that.”

“Was it information?” Slim asked, knowing that if she said “yes” the information was probably as good as gone from her mind by now.

“Yes, that’s it!” Simone purred, and rolled on the ground in front of Slim in happiness.

After an excruciatingly painful discussion with the dumb, but loveable Simone, Slim finally learned that there was something “really important” going on over at the Acid Guild Hall. Slim promised Simone some snuggle time in his loot pile, but they first needed to go to the Acid Guild Hall and find out what was so important.

Cats were tolerated around the City because they kept the rat population under control. This made it easy for Slim to listen in on the Acid guild members as he blended in with Simone and the other cats that claimed the Acid Guild Hall as their territory.

“What has the Deck Director so wound up?” asked a young guild member to the older guard on duty with him.

“He’s pissed about Soup Bowl Bob going missing,” said the older guard. To answer the confused look that was still on the young guy’s face he explained, “For some reason the guild won’t explain to us lower members, every ten years with the beginning of the Oracle quest, the same four Acid Guild members drop from the fourth deck, and take Soup Bowl Bob on the quest with them.”

The young guard then guessed, “So, the Deck Director is upset because these extremely powerful fourth-deckers will be super pissed at him since Soup Bowl has disappeared.”

“Exactly!” replied the older guard.

“But that makes little sense! If they are so powerful, why would they need Soup Bowl Bob for anything?” The younger guard argued with his own conclusion.

“Like I said, the guild won’t explain it, but I heard that the Deck Director has hired a tracking mage from the Elf Zone. When the Deck Droppers arrive later today, the elf will lead them straight to Soup Bowl.”

The younger guard let out a low long whistle as his eyes opened wide after hearing that the Director hired an elf tracking mage, and said, “Hiring that elf mage for even a few hours probably costs more than I make all year!”

The old guard laughed. “Try two years with the shitty loot you’ve been recovering. Even at that price, those spineless elves refuse to help fight. All they will do is track the target.”

Slim felt Jen’s connection calling him for their meeting, but he’d heard enough.

Slim promised Simone two snuggles in his loot pile because he needed to leave immediately. He laughed to himself, “She forgets everything, but I doubt she will forget this.”