Down in some ruins beneath the sands, the group encounters Gwendolyn, standing in front of a group of men holding swords that look similar to the ones Sharn wields. Gwendolyn seems surprised to see Xander, understandably not thinking she would see him down here of all places.

“I am sorry, I lost the statue you left behind,” Xander apologizes immediately, feeling he owes her that after losing it in the door that opened this place.

“Are you serious? You lost another key?” The man looks incredulously at Gwendolyn.

“I apologize for our leader’s clumsiness, you shouldn’t have been able to enter this place,” the man tells them, frustrated at Gwendolyn’s mistake.

“Wait wait wait, back up, she’s your leader? Who are you guys anyway?” Alcaeus asks, shocked to see a young woman in charge of the band of seasoned warriors standing before him.

“We’re the Silent Brotherhood, protectors of the artifacts of our desert. We belong here, unlike you fools,” the man retorts with a clear air of superiority.

“You have swords like Sharn’s,” Drakthar speaks up, still looking for a fight with the man in Melusarej who’d impressed him.

“You know Sharn?” Gwendolyn asks, surprised to hear that name come from Drakthar.

“I do, we met in Melusarej. He was a member of the city guard there,” Drakthar responds, explaining from where he knows him.

“Were you guys there when the city was destroyed and those fire monsters showed up?” Gwendolyn asks, curious to find out if they know something about the incident.

“We call them distortions,” Kayde lets her know so that it is easier for them to communicate if they all use a shared vernacular.

“Yes, we saw what caused their appearance. Down in the sewers, we encountered a scientist who pulled a lever causing it all,” Xander eagerly answers Gwendolyn’s question, hungrily searching her eyes for a sign of approval.

“Yeah, and when we woke up there was this house within a house within a house. It was quite odd, what could be in the last house? Perhaps another house,” Kayde adds, trailing off as he ponders this last bit. Everyone in the room stares at him like he is crazy, those that were there not remembering what he is referring to.

“Well... anyway, this scientist you mentioned, I wonder if it’s the same one I’m thinking of. I found a journal of his while I was in Melusarej,” Gwendolyn moves on, not acknowledging Kayde’s comment at all.

Xander quickly pulls out the journal he took from the desk in the sewers, “I have one of his journals too”.

“Really! Can I see it?” Gwendolyn requests as her eyes light up, curiosity painted across her brow. “Perhaps we can piece together more about this mysterious scientist”.

Xander, knowing the journal is going to end up in Gwendolyn’s hands, quickly stuffs the extra dragon tooth necklace he made in the front cover with a note reading: for you.

Xander hands Gwendolyn the journal nervously, anxious to see how she will react to it, watching as she opens it and immediately turns the page. Seeing this reaction, he consoles himself by thinking that at least she didn’t laugh at him, even if she did completely ignore his gift.

“It looks like from this we have a lot to talk about,” Gwendolyn tells them once she finishes reading the journal.

“I believe both of these journals were written by the same person. Mine must have been written before yours,” she hands Xander the other journal. He begins to read it out loud so the others can hear.

I begin writing this journal as a scientist of the Black Sun Empire, like my father and grandfather before me. The Black Sun has been ruling the entire world long before anyone alive can remember. I knew that they were not a just empire, bringing nothing but misfortune and despair to its abused and oppressed citizens. And so I know that I cannot just sit idly by and watch them rule. I found an old project my grandfather worked on, a curious cubic device, larger than any other in the room, with a large ornate handle at its side. I was unsure of its purpose but pulled the lever anyway, knowing he was a man whose genius far surpassed even my own. All of a sudden, I awoke in a time long before mine, in a place known as the Sacrosanct Empire, one of the powers that ruled a small region of the Black Sun Empire long before my time. I realized the incredible gift I was given, I could prevent the Black Sun Empire from ever forming. So that became my goal, to bolster the Sacrosanct Empire with new advanced technologies so they can become an Empire that doesn’t crumble to the Black Sun, as they did in my time.

“Hold on... that dude is from the future?” Alcaeus is the first to react.

“I wouldn’t be so sure. As of now, we don’t believe what he wrote in the journal, likely it is just the ramblings of a madman, but hopefully, they will at least help us understand what is happening” Gwendolyn explains, also skeptical that time travel actually exists.

“No... it’s real. Why would he lie in one journal and tell the truth in another?” Xander reasons, trying to convince the others.

“How do you know he was telling the truth? The other journal could be full of lies as well,” Gwendolyn asks curiously.

“Because... that young priest he talks about framing in the journal is me, and we found him helping the Cult of Chaos just like he said. So based on that, I think he is telling the truth about traveling back in time,” Xander explains, willing to believe it no matter how crazy it sounds.

Kayde butts in to stop the conversation from devolving, “None of this matters, we don’t even know where the Scientist is and can’t talk to him to see if it’s true. Even if he is telling the truth we can’t even learn anything from it”.

“Yeah! We don’t care, we have treasure to get to in the mountains,” Alcaeus agrees with Kayde, keeping his eyes on the prize.

“The mountains you say… there is actually an artifact there that we need to recover. Since you guys are headed there anyway, do you mind picking it up for us? You would be paid handsomely for it of course,” Gwendolyn asks, trying to get them to do her work for her.

Before anyone else can answer for the group, Xander willingly accepts, “Yes, we will get it for you. Where is it?”

“Great! we have a deal. Take this, it should mark the spot of the ruins where you will be able to find the artifact. If you don’t have any other questions you guys can get out of this place through that passageway over there,” she hands Xander a map before pointing them towards the right.

They start to head down the hallway, but Xander hangs back to ask, “Wait, where will we be able to find you once we have the artifact?”

“Don’t worry about it, we’ll find you. And if we learn anything more about this scientist I promise to let you know,” Gwendolyn warmly assures him, staring at his back as he walks off.

Stolen novel; please report.

Once they are above ground they spot the sand dragon’s prodigious corpse, leading them to Drakthar’s cart and injured horse. Drakthar stares pointedly at Alcaeus, who had begun walking off without grabbing a hold of the cart.

“Dammit! Fine,” Alcaeus sighs, dragging his feet as he joins Drakthar in pulling it.

After two days of pulling the cart through the arid dunes, they arrive at the northernmost desert village. It doesn’t have an official name but is commonly referred to as Tent village due to the village consisting entirely of tents rather than permanent buildings.

Kayde and Alcaeus walk directly into the nearest shop hoping to sell their dragon parts. Alcaeus pulls the giant tooth he painstakingly harvested out of his bag of holding and places it onto the ground.

“I want to get this appraised,” he informs the shopkeeper. The man looks down at the tooth in awe, never having seen anything of the like.

“I’m so sorry sir, but I cannot appraise this. Not because I don’t want to but because I don’t have that ability to. I don’t think I would even have enough gold to buy it off you at a fair price,” the man honestly tells him, not wanting to rip off his customer.

“It’s okay dude. We understand, no need to apologize to us,” Kayde assures him.

Kayde and Alcaeus walk out of the tent disappointed.

“Looks like we are going to have to go see the blacksmith in Aconblasam to get it appraised,” Kayde notes, his spirit instantly lifting as he starts to think of how that interaction will go. Alcaeus sinks further into despair, overwhelmed by a sense of impending doom.

The group continues deeper into the village. They walk past a group of scantily clad women in front of a tent, salaciously attempting to lure them inside. Uninterested, Xander and Drakthar continue on as Alcaeus and Jorge take the bait. Kayde goes along for fun.

Alcaeus and Jorge disappear into other sections of the tent while Kayde sits in the main area.

A woman approaches him and runs a finger across his cheek, asking, “See anything you like handsome?”

Kayde laughs a bit, “That’s funny, nobody thinks I’m handsome”.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I think you are,” she slides next to him trying to make some gold off him.

“What is it about me? The eyes surrounded by the metal or the misplaced mouth?” Kayde calls her out, pointing out the two creepiest parts of his face.

“The eyes obviously,” she replies, not skipping a beat.

“Alright, I’m with you, I think I’m handsome too,” Kayde admits, actually finding himself quite fetching but knows others typically don’t view him that way.

“Now that we’ve agreed on that, you want to join me in one of the private tents?” The woman asks as she begins to suggestively lean up against Kayde.

“Not really, but I am interested in any rumors you might have heard about treasure in the mountains,” turning her down in favor of information.

The woman backs off of him a little, “Oh... yeah a bunch of people have come through there on their way to a set of supposedly treasure-filled ruins. I’ve even seen a few of them come back. One time, this whole village went up to the ruins. In the end, just one guy returned, and to add to that he came back to find his entire village destroyed. Imagine that?”

“Interesting… do you know where their village is?” Kayde requests, her story reminding him of what Drakthar mentioned about the Iron Legion.

“Sure no problem handsome,” she marks a spot on Kayde’s map. He thanks her for the information, rolling up the map and slipping her some gold for her troubles.

Once Alcaeus and Jorge are finished having their fun at the brothel, they meet the other three in the tavern.

“Ya lads should have seen this guy back there, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Jorge brags about Alcaeus, clearly impressed by what he witnessed earlier.

“We really don’t need to hear about it Jorge,” Kayde begs, trying to stop him from talking about what went down in a brothel.

"No, ya don’t understand lad, I’ve never seen anyone like that before!” Jorge insists, continuing the story.

Xander starts to knock back drinks to survive the conversation and retain his sanity.

“That’s not that impressive,” Kayde comments after hearing Jorge’s story.

“Are you saying you could do that Kayde?” Alcaeus calls him out.

“I thought you already knew about the cannon, you should know I can pull something like that off,” Kayde reminds him.

Alcaeus’s eyes grow wide as he remembers their conversation back in Melusarej, “I guess... maybe... you can then”. He doesn’t wish to revisit that conversation.

Drakthar, who has been ignoring the others the whole time, looks over at Xander and notices something is off.

“Are doing you okay? You look a bit off,” He asks, his voice full of concern.

“I’m fine,” Xander wearily waves his hand at Drakthar.

“Is that why you're slurring your words?” Drakthar notices.

“Nope,” Xander curtly responds and then starts to laugh.

“Hey, Drakthar, I did learn something earlier that I think you’d be interested in,” Kayde interrupts them.

“I heard of a village that was destroyed, which made me think of what you mentioned about the Iron Legion slaughtering civilians,” he informs him of what he learned at the brothel.

“Where did this happen?” Drakthar asks, his hand subconsciously gravitating towards his axe as he eagerly awaits an answer.

Kayde pulls out the map, “Right here. It’s pretty far, but I was thinking maybe we could check it out after we stop by Aconblasam”.

“I would like to check it out as soon as possible,” Drakthar insists, desperately wanting to know where the Legion is so he can challenge Orrin once again.

“You know, you guys are my first friends,” Xander blurts out, still very drunk.

“Really man? I guess that’s pretty cool, being one of someone’s first friends,” Kayde thinks to himself.

“It’s an honor to be considered a friend,” Drakthar declares, slapping Xander on the back and knowing the same is true for him.

Alcaeus starts to laugh to himself, “You’re a fucking loser”.

“What?” Xander asks, not expecting him to say something like that after he just called him a friend.

“You heard me. You’re a loser. You’re never going to get anywhere with that blonde bitch of yours the way you are. Don’t worry though, I’ll fuck her really good for you. You heard what Jorge said, she would enjoy it more with me anyway,” Alcaeus mocks Xander, finding his current state pathetic.

“Why would you even say something like that? Right after I called you a friend?” Xander is more baffled than anything.

“Because that is who I am. What else did you expect me to say?” Alcaeus gets up, knowing Drakthar will probably maim him if he stays.

“Don’t mind him, Xander, he is just an idiot sometimes,” Kayde puts a hand on his shoulder.

“I get it, he is just a horny dumbass, he was right, what did I expect him to say?” Xander thinks it over, starting to slowly sober up at the intensity of the situation.

“Don’t worry about it lad, I’m sure he didn’t mean half of it,” Jorge tries to downplay Alcaeus’s insults.

“No, he meant it, but it doesn’t bother me,” Xander reaches to take another drink.

Drakthar grabs his wrist, “Maybe that’s enough for tonight”. They bring Xander back to their tents where he immediately falls asleep.

The next morning, Xander wakes up later than everyone else. He peaks outside of the tent and sees Drakthar checking his horse’s leg.

“I think he is better now,” Drakthar observes.

“Finally, I was so tired of pulling that damned cart,” Alcaeus throws up his arms.

Xander gets his stuff together inside the tent so they can leave.

Kayde joins him, “Hey buddy, how are you feeling this morning?”

“Fine, sorry if I caused you any trouble last night,” Xander apologizes for his actions.

“It was nothing,” Kayde responds rather robotically.

“You know sometimes you don’t act as emotionally as the rest of us. Is it a cyborg thing I’ve never heard of or…” Xander tries to ask as tactfully as possible.

“I don’t know what you are talking about? I have emotions; I’m kind of offended,” Kayde retorts, trying as hard as he can to sound angry.

“For example, when Lydia died you did not skip a beat. It was like she meant nothing to you,” Xander points out, clarifying his point.

“I really only knew her for two weeks or so. That time was fun, but I didn’t really make that much of a connection with her,” Kayde explains, not finding his behavior odd at all.

“But I mean… you had sex with her right? That doesn’t register as anything to you?” Xander asks, clearly believing that it should be meaningful. Instead of answering Xander’s question, Kayde leans in and vividly describes his first time to Xander. As he does, Xander’s face turns bright red and he entirely forgets about their previous conversation. Kayde smiles inwardly at his deflection of Xander’s pesky questions.