“I wish we could take this with us,” Bruce said as he rifled through the papers in Elder Plain’s desk.

“What did you find,” Eve asked, she had some papers as well.

Tristan for his part had gotten tired of reading black mail, accounting details, and different schemes that the old elder had tried to put together. There was only so much entertainment one could derive from an affair between two people that had been eaten. He was currently inspecting the rest of the bedroom, which was also quite mundane.

“Well for starters, do you remember Vin?” Bruce asked.

“The guy I stabbed?” Eve did remember him, though not fondly. He had tried to kill Tristan after he had saved her life. If the stories were to be believed it was simply out of spite.

Bruce nodded, “Yeah, there is a note from him detailing a plan to purge the ghost crabs from the Grass Caldera.”

“So?” Eve asked not understanding why this was a big deal.

“It’s dated four months ago, just a few days after the crab crossed the boarder wall. It means that Elder Plain had some foreknowledge and decided to do nothing,” Bruce paused to collect his thoughts, “Or worse, he instigated it.”

“Wouldn’t his desk be a bad location to keep incriminating evidence,” Eve asked. It was the first place that anyone looking for dirt would go.

Bruce nodded, “Yes, it would explain why William was sent to destroy the evidence.”

Both of them jumped when they heard a crash. They turned to see a book shelf tipped onto its side and Tristan holding a large skull. Books were scattered everywhere and many of them were ruined as they soaked up Williams blood.

Tristan looked up, “What, its made of metal?”

He had noticed the skull, it was of some animal he was unfamiliar with. It looked vaguely human, however it had fangs like a large cat and horns curving back from above the brow. The fact that it was made of metal peaked his interest, if it was made of bone, then there was a chance that it had some metal essence if it came from a mythical beast. So he had climbed the bookshelf that it sat on and it tipped over.

“Why do you want that, are you going to wear it like a helmet?” Eve asked, her voice filled with sarcasm.

Tristan shrugged, “Maybe.”

In truth his blood would be just as good as any armor when he reached a high enough tier. With the exception of the epidermis, blood was everywhere in his body. His organs, bones and even his brain had blood. It would eventually make Tristan immune to blunt force trauma and resistant to cuts and stabs.

Eve rolled her eyes, “well, go look for a secret passageway or something. Most Elders have them built into their homes.”

That was news to Tristan, “do they have metal in them?”

Eve started thinking, it was obvious that she was thinking back to her grandfather’s passageway. She nodded slowly, “Yes, but not much. A few metal torch braziers should be down there.”

Tristan frowned, that was not enough metal to locate a tunnel with. Especially as it would not be the only source of metal underground. The sewage system would be large metal pipe. It would drag his senses off.

So the next best option was to tear apart the places that Elder Plain would frequent. If Tristan was him, he would place it in an easily accessible location. The value of these passageways was the quick escape that they offered.

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Well, the room that the Elder spent the most time in was the one they were currently in. The only issue with this room was its place on the second floor. Maybe there was a ladder somewhere hidden in the wall. Tristan shrugged, he had already been destroying the place, so he would just have to finish the job.

He pulled over the bookshelves, removed carpets, removed picture frames, and found nothing. Well, he did find a small safe behind one of the pictures, however it was empty when he cut it open. Tristan wondered if he was being greedy, he was disappointed that he could not find more money while he was walking around with sixty years worth of wages.

Bruce and Eve did their best to ignore all the valuables being ruined. The papers had been very mundane, mostly discussing shipping, complaints from the manager caste, and a few plans to become the next lead elder after Elder River died. It was an oddly coveted position, even though only the oldest could hold it. Normally that made it a very short term position.

A whomp distracted them as Tristan flipped the bed over, “Found It!”

Tristan looked down at a slide that was as smooth as polished steel. That would explain why William did not utilize the hidden tunnel. Or maybe he tried, but this slide was not climbable so he had to leave and take the long way around. Normally slides were easy to climb, it was the favorite pastime of children on a playground. This one had small hooks attached to the walls and ceiling, they would not hinder someone going down, but they would hinder someone going up. It was actually quite a clever way to stop invaders from using one’s own defenses against them.

“Well,” Bruce said, “I guess we have our way out. Sage you get to carry the hammer.”

Tristan scoffed, “what, you too scared to touch a metal artifact.”

He reached out to lift it. In his dream it weighed around fifty pounds and it was fairly accurate. Fifty pounds may not seem like a lot when referring to something to carry. Many backpacks would exceed that weight, so Tristan was shocked at how unwieldy the hammer was. It turned out that most hammers were significantly lighter.

“No,” Bruce smirked, “Its heavy, and thats what we keep big dumb brutes around for.”

“I am not a brute,” Tristan said. He was actually a little offended by the accusation.

Bruce eyed the skull under Tristan’s arm and the destroyed room, “Right, you have the disposition of a well adjusted person.”

Tristan missed the sarcasm in Bruce’s tone and asked, “Well then, can we get going.”

He jerked a thumb at the slide mad of smooth marble. It looked like a portal to hell. After a few feet the only thing that could be seen were hooks leading into pitch black darkness.

“Don’t we need to figure out where it comes out?” Eve asked, she was eyeing the hell slide uncertainly.

Tristan shrugged, “The way I see it, we either go through this passageway or we go through the city. Sure we don’t know if we can handle what is down there, but I am certain I cannot handle the hundreds of metal plated crabs out there.”

This building was only standing because it was built more solidly than the bank. Tristan was sure the place would have been torn apart long ago if the crabs could quickly chisel through stone. The next thing Tristan would do in their place would be surround the mansion and kill them when they left. He had a strong suspicion that the guard crabs were tier four, just as a tier two could handle a tier three crab with sufficient skill, William had proven that a tier three warrior was a match for a tier four crab.

Tristan was not tier three, he was not even tier two. He would not stand a chance against the ghost crabs outside. Even if Bruce and Eve wanted to go through the front door, he would not follow them. He valued his life more than thier’s.

Eve slowly nodded, “Alright, lets go then.”

Tristan gave her a thumbs up and hopped into the slide. The last thing he heard was Bruce yelling at him for jumping down first. He was carrying twenty percent of the Caldera’s wealth. If he died and the artifact was lost, everything they had gone through today would be pointless. Bruce also was the one who could create light.

Tristan was also tired of waiting. Reading a bunch of notes from dead people would help no one. He needed to get to Hadrid and buy a plague. He also wanted to buy some artifacts. Tristan was not sure of the value of tier two metal artifacts, but he should be able to get a handful at least.

Splash.

The slide terminated in a soupy liquid. It clung to the skin like an oily syrup and his clothes probably would need to be burned instead of cleaned. Tristan shuddered at the sensation of the liquid soaking his boots and seeping between his toes. It felt wrong. After a few seconds to orient himself, Tristan took a few steps away from the slide.

Eve came down next. She let out a short scream as she splashed into the liquid, “Uhhh, gross.”

Bruce followed shortly after lighting up the space. Evidently they had entered the sewers, though with no people no waste was in the water. It was only upon closer inspection that Tristan realized that they were standing in gestational fluid. Eve watched a hand float past and vomited, gestational fluid and vomit. Tristan really hated these bugs, it really was a slide to hell.