They met at their usual outdoor café; Miles started on his second breakfast burrito as Lorarona slowly chewed her food. Rikki read the morning herald, occasionally glancing around with a concerned expression.

“Well,” Noninja piped up. “This is new.”

“Yeah,” Lorarona pined. “This isn’t like him at all.”

“If he takes any longer,” Miles said between bites, “he’s going to miss breakfast!”

“Ye Gods, you guys!” Rikki anguished. “Do you think something happened to him?”

They exchanged uncomfortable glances. “Should we go by his house? His parents’ house, I mean.”

“Never mind,” Noninja interjected. “I think I see him coming.” He pointed into the distance. “Doesn’t that look like our resident wizard?”

They strained to look. “I guess so,” Miles offered. “But he’s just shuffling. He’s usually much perkier than that. No sign of his usual clueless-nerd joy.”

“Think maybe there was another poison needle, one we didn’t notice?” Lorarona posed.

“I guess we’ll find out,” Noninja surmised.

Rikki turned to look at him as he approached. “Morning, sleepyhead!” Rikki bubbled. “We were worried about you!”

Clancy yawned deeply. “No, everything’s fine,” he related. “I was just reading when I should have been relaxing. I seriously can’t put down those books!”

Miles smirked. “So you’re a fan of, what was it called…electric something?”

“Electromechanetics,” Clancy corrected. “And it’s a revolution. Almost makes me want to rethink my career.”

Noninja turned to Rikki. “Do you know anything about it? Or maybe one of your connections does?”

Rikki chuckled. “I’m a bard, not a turbo-nerd!” They all shared a laugh. “Still, I have some vague memories.” He turned to Clancy. “Does it involve using magic to create lots of tiny machine parts, that then work together in complex ways?”

“Yeah!” Clancy trilled. “You’ve heard of it?”

Rikki took a sip of his coffee before continuing. “I’ve heard of it being used for evil.” All eyes were on him.

He leaned forward. “You guys need to be careful; we’re dealing with some really bad guys here. You have to avoid their ancient corruptions, or they might turn you to the dark side.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Clancy growled with uncharacteristic firmness. They were all silent as Rikki glanced around nervously.

“I’m sure you will,” Rikki concurred. “So anyway…now that we’re all here…what’s your plan for the day?”

“Our lead is someone named Torun,” Lorarona related. “He gives the Radiant Theater as his address.”

“Know anything about it?” Miles asked.

“Do I!” Rikki gushed. “That used to be the most luxurious theater in the area.” His eyes burned with reverence. “No expense was spared to construct it. The most famous and popular bards in the land used to perform there!” A tear formed in one eye. “The idea was that it was going to last forever.”

Lorarona looked sad. “So I guess that didn’t work out?”

Rikki shook his head sadly. “It seemed like there was always a newer and fancier theater somewhere. The stars slowly stopped performing there. They began showing less-respectable works just to pay the bills – amateur productions, gory re-enactments of military battles, weekend children’s matinées, stuff like that. Finally, they couldn’t keep it running anymore. It’s been rotting away ever since.”

“So why don’t they just tear it down?” Miles shrugged.

Rikki glared at him. “Because that’d be like destroying history!” Then his shoulders slumped. “Also, I heard the owner left behind huge debts, and the city doesn’t want to pay them off. So they’re waiting for it to collapse or something, at which point they can condemn it and and wipe its debt off the books.” He looked down and sobbed lightly. “It’s such a sad ending for such a noble playhouse.”

“So Torun is most likely a squatter,” Miles concluded.

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Rikki gave them all a fearful look. “And he’s probably not the only one. So be really careful, guys.”

“Not to worry,” Lorarona crowed. “I assume everyone ran their errands? Using their portion of our recent hauls?”

“Look for yourself!” Noninja cheered, drawing his weapon. “My new +1 katana!”

Miles followed suit. “And my +1 greataxe!”

Lorarona smiled as she unsheathed her blade. “And not only is this a +1 longsword…but it’s infused with silver!”

“Why’d you do that?” Miles asked. “Do you expect to encounter lycanthropes?”

“Maybe,” she hinted before giggling. “What can I say…I read too many dungeon-crawl magazines.”

“I’ve got ‘disrupt undead’ prepared, as well as a few other undead-related spells,” Clancy revealed. He displayed his weapon and grinned sheepishly. “My +1 dagger is silver, too.”

“Are you and Lorarona hanging out now?” Miles smirked.

“Well…yeah,” Clancy revealed. “We had to coordinate our prepared spells. It’s only common sense.”

“As are silver weapons,” Lorarona quipped. “You two are missing out!”

“I have one more warning for you,” Rikki added; they turned to look at him. “The neighborhood has really gone to seed recently.” He put his finger to his nose in a knowing gesture. “Trust no one.”

“Well, I feel inspired.” Noninja stood up and moved to leave. “Are we ready to get to it?”

“Wait,” Clancy protested. “I need to grab some food first.”

“You can eat your burrito on the way,” Noninja declared. “We’ve waited long enough.”

Their destination was a good distance away, so they hailed a city taxi. It stopped a few blocks before the theater.

“Last stop,” the driver called. “Everybody out.”

“Hey,” Miles growled. “We’re not there yet.”

“This is as far as I go,” the driver declared. “This neighborhood isn’t safe.”

“But we’re adventurers!” Lorarona protested. “We can handle it!”

“And you will!” the driver shot back. “But I won’t. I’m not an adventurer. And I’m not going to depend on people I just met to protect me and my cab.”

The team exchanged sanguine glances, then exited the vehicle. It sped away in a hurry.

Lorarona shrugged. “I guess we walk.”

They had gone about half a block when a filthy beggar staggered up to them. “Excuse me, noble knights, might you spare some change for an old codger?”

“Oh, you poor man,” Clancy pined, pulling a copper piece from his pocket and handing it over.

“Thank you, kind sir!” the derelict blubbered, bowing clumsily before toddling off.

“Clancy!” Miles chided. “Has your brain gone soft? Don’t give anyone here anything!”

“Oh, come on,” Clancy dismissed. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Is that the sleep deprivation talking?” Miles charged. “Rikki said to trust no one!”

Another beggar ambled up to Clancy. “Pardon me, sir, but I haven’t eaten in three days. Can you spare anything?”

“No!” Clancy growled, trying to push him away.

He felt a hand in his back; Clancy turned around to see the beggar running off with one of his crossbow bolts. “Hey!” he yelled. “Give that back!”

“That was worth, what, about a silver piece?” snickered Miles. “Look what you’ve started.”

Three more beggars swarmed in front of them, hands outstretched, inarticulate pleas burbling from their lips. The team stopped and eyed them with alarm.

“Alright, I’ve had enough of this.” Miles grabbed his greataxe and started swinging it in circles above him. “Get the devil away from us or your heads will roll!” The beggars scattered, including a crowd that had been streaming in their direction.

He grabbed Clancy by his shirt collar and got in his face. “What the devil, man? You need to be rested and awake or you’ll put us all in danger!”

“I’m sorry!” Clancy pleaded. “I’m not tired; I promise! I got plenty of sleep and restored my daily spell count. I’m just distracted.”

Miles let go of him. “You’d better be right. I don’t plan to die today.”

Clancy hung his head. “You want to know what my real problem is?”

Miles crossed his arms and glared. “Yes. Very much so.”

Clancy looked up with an enraged expression. “I’m actually happy! For once, I found something that gives me optimism! Electromechanetics is incredible!” He cast his glare between the members of his team. “It seems like I’ve done nothing but grind all my life, and all the while, my so-called peers have nothing on their minds but tormenting me and putting me down!” Miles dropped his eyes and gazed sadly at the ground.

Clancy continued. “And finally, I’ve found something that gives me hope, that gives me a leg up!” A smile suddenly washed over his face. “I built some simple devices last night that’ll blow your mind! You think I’m a danger to the team? I’m a danger to anyone that crosses us! You’ll see!”

His eyes burned with religious fervor. He breathed heavily for a moment, then swallowed involuntarily. “And it was the unaccustomed joy I felt in my heart that led me to giving coppers to beggars. OK? So I acted stupidly.” His glare returned. “I’m not used to feeling happy, like a normal person, like all of you, so I’m not good at it! Give me some time to practice, OK?”

They all stared back with wide eyes. Clancy walked past them. “Let’s get to work.”

“So are we the project, then?” Miles whispered to others. They exchanged sad smiles, then moved to follow him.