A roaring flame sat in freeZe's raised palm, providing light for them as they walked through the darkness. A lot of the mechanisms that were in place everywhere else in the city seemingly didn't apply to their temporary tunnel. The artificial bedrock remained pitch black no matter how much you stepped on it. This also seemed to include whatever kept the air in the tunnels from going bad. The air in their little pocket got quite stuffy if they didn't occasionally visit a tunnel to get fresh air.

freeZe walked next to her brother, they really couldn't do much more since only Undira and TehLulz were able to see where they were going. It was impossible to keep track of time since everything looked exactly the same.

After an undefined amount of time Undira suddenly stopped walking. She said: "There's a big hollow space ahead and we aren't deep enough for it to be Rock Bottom. Let's see what it is."

Ambigious asked: "Can you see if there are people?"

Undira replied: "Only indirectly, using the lit up portions of the walls. That room is completely dark though."

Undira resumed her humming and started walking again, more slowly this time. freeZe counted roughly fifty steps before the wall ahead of them opened up.

The room she saw was completely circular but almost empty. The only thing that stood out was what looked to be a portal frame.

"Huh." Undira said. "Didn't know the city had something like this."

freeZe meanwhile walked over to the portal frame and inspected it more closely. It was made from artificial bedrock, that much was clear. She placed her hand against the side of the frame and released an unbound energy pulse.

She promptly was greeted by a high pitched voice: "Who the hell do you think you are to wake me up? The archmage?"

freeZe answered in the demonic language: "The apprentice of a former one."

The voice shrieked in surprise: "Ah! Didn't expect to get heard there. So… what year is it?"

freeZe was intrigued by the demon's response, for how long had it been here? It also seemed that this one was less foul mouthed than the ones Undira had talked about.

She replied: "Just about past five-thousand-five-hundred."

After a bit of silence the demon replied: "Daaaaaamn. Been a while. When they bound me to this thing they told me that this would be some sort of secret meeting place for the higher-ups in the Mage Guild. Probably realized they can just as well meet in an office. Anyways, what can I do for you?"

freeZe waved her hand to signal the others to come closer, when they arrived she told the demon: "Are there more rooms like this?"

"How am I supposed to know? I've slept in here since two-thousand-whatever."

Undira stepped up. "Something about other portals maybe?"

The demon slowly replied: "Oh. Those." After another pause it said: "Yeah, could tell you but not allowed to. The lady who summoned me was real clear on what happens if I do. Nothing fun, let me tell you."

freeZe looked to the others. Ambigious caught her glance and asked the demon: "You wouldn't make an exception if we all had a certain rune on our hands, would you?"

A long silence followed.

Finally the demon spoke again: "I get it now why they say not to take indefinite contracts unless you're really sure. Cause you might end up sleeping for so long that your senses keep sleeping after you wake up. I see your marks now and yeah, the protocol states that I'm to answer anything I can. Just give me half an hour or so, need to contact some of the others. Bureaucracy and that. Just… I don't know sit on the floor until then."

The four of them walked away from the portal, instead of sitting on the floor TehLulz constructed some crude chairs for them using the artificial bedrock.

"That's at least something." Ambigious said. "Maybe we'll get some actual clues for once."

freeZe replied: "Would be good, if we include today we spent two days without getting any meaningful evidence. I also hope that Unchosen manages to analyze that poison."

Undira said: "I don't know about you but this is really exciting. I feel like I'm uncovering some ancient secrets here while at the same time hunting down a conspiracy."

"It does look that way." freeZe said.

She really wished it would be just that, Undira was blissfully unaware of what the real reason for the entire situation was. If they hadn't needed the Axe to construct the Ban Hammer, Fire never would have been poisoned and this whole conspiracy situation would have never presented itself.

The more she thought about it the more the entire thing stunk, how probable was it really that a conspiracy here in Rockhaven had one of the few substances that could kill a Mencur-Besh that quickly? Not only that but with a plan ready that they could use to benefit from the situation? Something about this was very wrong but she needed more information to find out exactly what. Perhaps the demon would provide some of the answers.

He unlocked the door to his house and went inside, a few glances and a quick scan for thoughts assured him that he was indeed alone. He hurried up the stairs and into the bathroom, it had been a long day and a relaxing bath was exactly what he needed right now. While the water climbed higher he left the room in order to get a quick bite to eat.

Everything was going according to plan. The delivery of silver had arrived just after he had stepped out of the portal, the few blacksmiths they had were now instructing their mages on how to quickly turn that silver into crossbow bolts. It had been easy, really. He had used his high rank in the Mage Guild to place a large order of silver for "shielding".

In around a day they would have enough bolts to overwhelm the Mage Guild and use the resulting magical advantage to take the rest of the city by force. It had also helped that the figure confirmed that the Mencur-Besh themselves were exceptionally weak to silver.

Once they were out of the city it was time for a new era to begin, a Rockhaven for humans alone. While he would prefer to take the title of king for himself, he did realize that that would only destabilize the city further than his current plan would anyways. He'd probably have to settle for archmage, Emilia wasn't with them and judging by her stance on the Axe she probably was against them so she had to go as well. It was less than ideal but it had to be done.

Just as he was about to return to the bathroom, a yellow orb appeared beside his head, someone was trying to talk to him. Under normal circumstances he would have ignored it but yellow usually meant something was up. He gave the orb mental permission to establish the connection.

On the other side of the connection was a woman, he didn't quite recall her name but it was one of his followers. Her voice was uneasy. "This is Sandra Treebranch. Something bad just happened."

Great. He suppressed a sigh. "Go on."

"Earlier today four people appeared at the guild and asked questions, I think they know something about us."

All frustration disappeared, this really was important. "Were they with the Guard or not?"

Sandra replied: "No, two enchanters, one mage and one blacksmith. From what I have heard they also went everywhere else and asked similar questions."

He said: "Did you recognize them?"

"Only one, namely Undira… something, enchanter."

He sharply inhaled. "So she's against us after all."

"A few minutes ago I saw them walking in the streets and followed them, they went underground."

"Good work Sandra, don't go after them further, I'll handle the rest."

He terminated the connection immediately. He calmly walked back up to the bathroom, turned off the water and pulled the plug. This would be an even longer day than he had anticipated. Undira was dangerous, she knew much about the city and the Mencur-Besh and could seriously endanger his plan if she found the right people, which she had evidently done already.

He unlocked his safe and took out his notebook. He flipped through the pages until he found what he was looking for, he had put together a group who he could send after troublemakers. He admitted to himself that nobody in his order truly was fit for open confrontation. They had no proper soldiers, which was why their plan relied on the element of surprise first and then on superior firepower.

He conjured up a communication orb and contacted all of the names on that page at the same time. Once the connection was established he said: "A group of four people has been asking around, they were last seen entering the lower districts near the Guard. Find and eliminate them."