Monster Party Book Seven: There's some things you're never gonna help or change, but hunger is something we can turn around!

Chapter Six: There's nothing sicker in society than a lack of liquor and sobriety!

"When the going gets tough, the tough..." Cal Wright said confidently.

"Get going." Devi Skye answered at once.

"Right. When the going gets tough, the smart?" He pressed with an even wider smile.

"Go to the library." The elf replied in an utterly deadpan manner.

"Right again!" The alchemist concluded as he flipped over the book before him.

Granted in Zhukar instead of having something as secular as a library it was a gigantic repository to the history of Zhakata, at least those parts of his past that was available to the public.

He'd also needed to make a several hundred gold donation to the cause of Zhakata to get in. That had rankled Cal twice over, once for having to give up the money, and then there was the idea that idiots would have said money instead of him. Still, sometimes knowledge was worth even more than money.

Cal began to lazily flip through the book keeping his eyes open for any sign of a simple circle containing an eclipsed sun.

"How long do you expect this to take?" Devi pondered, rubbing her flail in boredom.

Callan Wright looked around and gazed at the rows upon rows upon rows upon rows of books and scrolls containing the history of Zhakata and his city.

"It might be a while." He admitted.

"Why, do you have anything better to do?" He muttered as he buried his head in the book.

"If we were anywhere else I might go and get a bite to eat. Not much chance of here..." The blue haired elfess sighed.

"Pull up a chair, I'm sure that once you got really invested in it, there's nothing more interesting than looking at details concerning the minute theocratic arguments, like how many angels can dance on the head of a pin!" The alchemist offered.

"Do you really believe that?" Devi answered.

"Of course not. I want to spend my time researching religion the same way that… well boss would want to!" Cal immediately admitted.

XXX XXX XXX

"We have what you want. Come to the brewery at the corner of Zhakata's Power and Zhakata's Rage." Was all the note that had been slipped under Alexander Diamondclaw's door said.

Leon didn't have anything to tell him about who had left it behind. That was the inevitable downside of Mirri repeatedly using her charm gaze on him to make sure he didn't notice Alexander's new roommate; if you used magic to keep someone from noticing who was walking around in front of him…. He just might not fail to notice who was walking around in front of him.

So, while he'd been busy hating the sound of ringing bells, someone had entered into the guesting house, slipped the note under his door, and he had only now gotten around to noticing it.

"Do you know what this is?" He asked to Florence.

"Probably a trap?" She green clad woman responded.

"Yes, that. The fact that it is a trap is nearly as important as the fact that this is my first real shot at getting some actual G'Hennan liquor! If it wasn't a trap, then they wouldn't have bothered to contact me through a clandestine note. Instead they could have just knocking on the door, holding out the bottle, and naming their price. That means things probably won't end well for me if I follow up on it." He admitted openly.

"Which doesn't mean you aren't going to follow up on it." Florence wisely predicted.

"Over my years I've learned a thing or two about walking into traps. If you're going to do it, then you need to have someone you trust, someone you can count on never to betray you. So long as you've got that… well the market isn't open today and nobody ever sings heroic tales of those who sat around in their rooms waiting for fame and glory to be suddenly showered upon them." Alexander insisted.

"No, you win fame and glory by charging headfirst into danger!" Florence shot back.

"Was that 'you' meant in the general sense or referring to me in particular?" Alexander couldn't help but inquire.

"You in particular, you beast." She answered before picking up the pillow and tossing it at him.

"None beastlier." Alexander smiled.

Then he casually reached out and place a hand on the shoulder of a very confused Petchko.

"You should come with us. It'll be safer than staying here alone, besides, given how much of the stuff is evidently turned over to Yagno Petrovna, priests of Zhakata obviously are allowed to drink liquor." The silver haired man pointed out.

XXX XXX XXX

As the brewery at the corner of Zhakata's Power and Zhakata's Rage wasn't located in the City of Bridges section of Zhukar, the three (with Petchko now wearing a less obvious brown cloak whose hood covered most of his face) managed to make the journey without being waylaid or getting lost.

As they approached the towering structure of the brewery Alexander's nostrils flared and his brow furrowed.

"Yep, this isn't gonna end well." He admitted with a heavy sigh.

"Why are you even more certain now?" Petchko couldn't help but ask.

Alexander leaned himself against the door, shaking his head sorrowfully.

"I've got a very good sense of smell. I'm decent at picking up blood, but I'm really good at picking up beer. Fermenting hops has a particular scent to it, and it is a scent that lingers. If this place was in operation as a proper brewery, I'd be able to have picked it up by now. Since I haven't, that means whatever is behind this door, it isn't going to end with me contentedly sipping a bottle of G'Henna's finest." He explained.

"Then why don't we not open the door, and go back to the guesting house?" Petchko suggested, stating the most obvious course of action.

"Because if I let myself get tricked into criss crossing all over the city chasing phantom bottles of booze without getting some manner of revenge, then everyone will start doing it to me. No, instead I'm going to put my foot in this trap, find out who comes to collect, and then I'm going to beat their head against the nearest wall." The silver haired man explained as he swung the door open.

"Does he do this all the time?" Petchko didn't quite whisper to Florence.

"Only if he can't think of something better. That, or if he just wants to see someone suffer. I'm guessing its the latter at the moment. Besides, doesn't Zhakata preach about placing burdens on people's shoulders so they grow stronger?" Florence 'comforted' the transformed priest..

Inside there was a great deal of nothing, musty deserted nothing.

Alexander's nostrils flared again as he took in the sight of the deserted brewery.

"That, that's not hops but it is..." The silver haired man's words trailed off as he began to head deeper into the building.

The brewery was one of the larger buildings in Zhukar, not anywhere near as big as Zhakata's prime temple, but still larger than the dwellings of most prosperous merchants. That meant that there was not only room for a great deal of nothing, but multiple floors "full" of "theoretical nothing" to explore.

Alexander followed his nose down a flight of stars, and at the bottom of them found a door that looked surprisingly firm for a deserted brewery.

The real give away however was the fact that the door had a one of those sliding slits in it at a height of just over five feet.

Sliding slits at a lower height showed up in prison doors to allow food to be pushed in, but at that height… it meant whoever was on the other side waned to be able to get a good long look at anyone who wanted to enter, while remaining relatively obscured themselves. Alexander wrapped a black gloved hand against the door and tapped his foot on the ground. A moment later the slit slid open and a pair of probing blue eyes glowered out at him.

"Who sent you?" A gruff voice demanded.

"Whoever it was who slid this in under my door." Alexander answered holding up the mysterious note that had instructed him to come here.

The slit slid closed. There was the sound of at least three locks being fiddled with, and the door slowly creaked open. Alexander was now able to get a better look at the man on the other side of the door… except that he had wrapped straps of white cloth across most of his face.

"Look around, but try not to take too much time doing it, merchandise is always moving. If you have anything of your own to sell let me know now." The man demanded in a slightly muffled tone that managed to be more brisk than aggressive.

"No, we're just here to see the merchandise Alexander informed the man.

He then promptly twisted his head slightly and shot Florence a pointed look letting her know that if Petchko decided to say the wrong thing at the wrong time, he'd be perfectly fine with her beating him unconscious.

XXX XXX XXX

"That symbol means hope, hope that a better day will come to Zhukar." Ivan explained to James Firecat in between swallows of the water he had so desperately needed.

XXX XXX XXX

"That symbol?" The librarian, or Zhakata worshiping equivalent, who probably had a much more impressive sounding title, sniffed in disapproval as Cal showed him a drawing that he'd made.

After managing to work his way through a great many books he still hadn't found any trace of the symbol, so he decided that it might be time to consult people rather than books.

"Yes… I have seen it around tovn in a fev places, and I vant to make sure if it is some important marker of Zhakata I don't show it undo disrepect…." Cal explained.

He made sure to speak Balook with the thickest most obnoxious Lamordian accent he was capable of. When you were starting to explore what you expected to be a sensitive subjects, establishing that you were a silly foreigner was typically a good idea.

"You should show it the utmost disrespect every chance you get! It should be defaced and obliterated! That symbol represents all those who wish to tear down this wondrous city that Zhakata has provided us with!" The not quite a librarian fumed.

XXX XXX XXX

"These people look nice-ish." Florence Bastien reflected as she looked around.

Underneath the brewery was a market. A much more informal and boisterous market than the one that was held in the bright light of day. The biggest difference of course was what was for sale; food.

It wasn't the only thing for sale, but for the first time since the group had entered Zhukar, it was possible to see items of food on display.

Very carefully guarded display of course, there were a lot of weapons being worn quite openly down here. Not that food was the only thing for sale of course, there was lots of other things, from religious nicknacks of a most likely more heretical variety to magical scrolls and maps to various hideaways, secret passages and buried treasures.

There was nothing in particular that drew Alexander's interest, but he kept looking all the same. Alas, there was no sign of a simple circle containing an eclipsed sun, which was what he was most looking for.

Granted, the place wasn't entirely without any source of pleasure for the silver haired man.

His single green eye darted back and for to Petchko every so often which was always good for a carefully hidden chuckle. The transformed priest clearly knew that he was now in unhallowed ground, surrounded by various offenses to Zhakata.

His pride having been "mildly buffetted" to say the least by his recent transformation however, he managed to keep his tongue still. He even managed to refrain from giving the "side eye of righteousness" much beloved of "holy-er than thou" men of all faiths when confronted with those who clearly (at least in the opinion of the one doing the side eyeing) would have unpleasent things happen to them in the afterlife.

No, Petchko said little, and tried to keep himself hidden inside his cloak. Luckily, people were more interested in what was for sale than what their fellow shoppers looked like and no one asked him to remove it. Alexander had been in more degenerate markets than this one, and didn't think anything he'd seen here would be worth pondering over after he left.

Just as he was about to suggest that to Florence that he'd seen enough, a loud pireceing bell began to sound. This one was different from the those which had sounded the Taking of Zhakata (after all, even those bells would be unlikely to reach down here) it was closer by and infurriatingly even more high pitched.

"RAID!" Screamed someone.

It took about five seconds for everything to descend into complete and utter chaos. Some people ran for the entrance they'd used to get in, others to try and find other places to hide, one or two souls who clearly thought they had little enough left to loose now made grabs for merchandise they hadn't been willing to actually purchase, ensuring that fights broke out and the situation grew only more confusing.

In reponse to the vast number of people doing their best to impersonate a decapitated chicken, Alexander gently reached out an arm and grabbed one random person running by.

"Who is raiding us?" He demanded.

"The inqusition!" The black market shopper all but screached at him, trying to wiggle free from Alexander's grip.

The silver haired man gently let him go, it was clear the man wouldn't have anything else useful to say. Besides, Alexander Diamondclaw didn't particuarly need to hear anything else.

"The Inquisition works directly for Yagno Petrovna. Yagno Petrovna claims to work directly for Zhakata. Powerful priests are supposed to be able to raise their subjects from the dead. I wonder exactly how forgiving Yagno is to those who die in his service?" He pondered, his right hand starting to finger a long blade still bound by bright orange string.

Before he could eithe rundo or break that string however a bare hand closed around his own gloved one.

"Forigner, come with me if you want to live." Another seemingly random occupant of the black market pleeded.

Alexander had been prepared for a long drawn out battle with the inquisition and whatever soldiers they'd been forcing to serve them. He had not been prepared for a sudden turn of generosity or good luck thanks to the people of Zhukar.

On the other hand, he was already trapped inside this semi-abandoned brewery, what was this man going to do, lead him into some sort of even worse trap?

"All right, if you've got a better plan than fighting, show it to me." Alexander offered.

The man moved his arm to Alexander's shoulder and began to try and pull him through the mass of frigthened people. He did not have much luck, at least until Alexander began to throw his own weight into pressing against the crowd as well. Florence and Petchko swiftly followed in the human wake he managed create.

As various people ran in various directions, their unexpected rescurer lead them deeper into the brewery, so deep that there was no one else around. It might take the inquistion longer to search this far, but that was the only protection it offered.

Until the unkown man pressed his hand against a section of a wall. A section of the the wall which suddenly tilted out of their way revealing a long dark corridor.

"That's convient." Alexander couldn't help but reflect.

"A fortress with only one way out isn't a fortress, it is a trap." The black haired blue eyed man answered with a smile.

The four of them pressed into corridor and then their rescurer carefully closed the section of the wall behind them. He grabbed a flickering torch from a wall and headed off down the long dark coridor.

"So, who are you exactly and how did you know we were forigners?" Alexander inquried, now that there seemed to be little threat of them being captured by the inquisition for the moment.

The man smiled as he carefully gestured with the torch towards Alexander's sword.

"Your weapon was peace bonded. That and I do not believe I've seen anyone in Zhukar with hair quite like yours before. I've heard about it though, you've been making quite a stur in this city. I think that we could be very good friends..." He half answered.

As they walked forward the torch illuminated a simple circle containing an eclipsed sun that had been painted on one wall of the coridor.

"Which still doesn't tell me anything about who exactly you are." Alexander pressed.

"My name is Madar, and I lead the Circle of Darkness." Madar told them cooly.

End Chapter.

AN: Christmas happened, and then XCOM 2 happened. I'm sorry it took me nearly a month to get this chapter taken care of.