Sentenza was standing at the sink. It was full of water and overflowing with bubbles from the soap. He had taken off his hat, jacket, and rolled up his sleeves with his hands immersed in the hot water. As he rubbed the dishes with a rag, he stared out the window with a distant look on his face.

"You know you don't have to do that Sentenza." said Ted as he hung up a bushel of dried chilis.

Sentenza smirked as he looked away from the window and glanced over at Ted. "Course I do. It's only right after all."

"I mean I don't expect..."

"Now look," Sentenza said as he interrupted Ted. "You fed me, sheltered me, and gave me plenty to drink. Now it's all of dubious quality, but I repay my debts. All of them. Since you don't need anyone killed, I figured helping out was my best option."

"I mean, we could always go through all your supplies in that wagon. That's where you got these chilis and the ginger Trizel's planting out back, right? So, who knows what else could be in there?"

Sentenza chuckled as he continued to hand wash the dishes. "Sorry there Ted. Not a chance. You'll just have to make do with clean dishes and my finding stuff in there every now and again."

Ted sighed as he finished hanging up the chilis. "Alright then, if you're going to be so stubborn, I guess I'll have to make something to really make you suffer."

"Oh? Trying out your hand at torture Ted? Doesn't really seem your style."

"You'd be surprised Sentenza. See, one time for the heck of it I used Carolina Reapers to flavor a bottle of mead. It was pure pain in a bottle." He smacked the dried chilis. "So why shouldn't I take one of the harsher drinks and mix in some homemade, concentrated chili oil and make you guys really suffer. Unless you let me check that wagon for some other ingredients? Maybe something sweeter I could add?"

He chuckled and wiped his hands on a nearby towel as he turned to look at Ted. "Sorry there kiddo. Looks like you're going to have to go the torture route, because it's strictly off limits."

BAWK! BAKAW!

A harsh cacophony of screeches was coming from another room. Ted rushed in to see if something was wrong while Sentenza continued to dry off his hands.

The chicken's cries continued as Ted found the main room they'd been using empty. Her cries seemed to be coming from another part of the building, but as he approached the stairs it was clear that she wasn't up them. But was somewhere beyond them.

"Is Angel alright?" asked Trizel as he peered over Ted's shoulder.

"Angel? Why, you never said you had a woman working here, innkeeper." Sentenza had put his hat back on and was now rolling down his sleeves as he sauntered up towards the two of them. His holsters with his two pistols had found its way back onto his waist. It seemed putting those on was more important than fixing his sleeves.

"It's the hen that roams around here, though I still prefer the name Nugget to Angel."

Sentenza scratched his neck as he thought about it. "I do like a sweet girl."

"She isn't sweet," snapped Trizel. "She is a foul monster from the lowest pits of hell! No one here is ever truly safe as long as she is able to roam free."

"That right." murmured Sentenza. "In that case I'd say Nugget is a better name. Don't want to call such a foul killer angel, now do we?" his words had a hint of sarcasm, but the reasons behind it were known only to him.

Trizel sneered. "Curses. This is why I didn't ask his opinion. I knew he would side with you, Ted."

SQUAWK! SQUAWK! SQUAWK!

While they spoke at the bottom of the stairs the cries of Nugget rang out around them. Finally, the noises got Ted's feet to step forward past the stairs. As he walked through the dusty hallway with Trizel and Santenza close behind, Ted realized that he hadn't been in this part of the building before. With all their talk of exploring and searching the floating islands, did he ever really go through the entirety of this lone building?

There it was. The source of Nugget's cries. Several of the floorboards had been pried up revealing a wooden ladder descending down into darkness. The three men all looked at each other.

"Now, there's no way this house is haunted, right fellas?" gulped Sentenza.

Trizel scoffed. "Spirits are no big trouble. Now ghouls, those are real pests. Not because they're hard to fight one on one, but because they always live in such vast swarms. If you miss even one, you'll be infested with even more than before."

"I'd prefer if neither were in here really," offered Ted. "But did Nugget pry these boards up? Because she's clearly down below crying out."

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"Well, she's just a chicken. I'm sure even mundane things can terrify her." offered Sentenza as he shook slightly.

"Nothing I can imagine could terrify that beast," dismissed Trizel. "Ice runs through her veins."

"W...well, I'm just saying is all..." gulped Sentenza.

Ted happened to see a lantern hanging just below the floorboards. He reached down and pulled it out. With a puff of air from his mouth he sent dust flying that caused him to cough and choke for a moment. "Sentenza, you have a light, right?" When he didn't reply after a moment of silence, Ted spoke a little louder, "Sentenza?"

"W...what? Yes, I'm here."

"Do you have a light?" he held the unlit lantern open towards the gunslinger.

Sentenza nodded and with a shaky hand he pulled out a match from his pocket. He struck it on his foot but couldn't seem to keep his hand steady enough to light the lantern. Until Ted finally grabbed ahold of his hand and held it steady. Once the lantern was lit, Trizel smacked Sentenza on his back and let out a loud laugh.

"I thought you were a brave assassin! Yet you seem to be shaking like a child facing the dark of the woods for the first time."

Sentenza sneered. "I'm not afraid of any man or beast...but can you blame a guy for being nervous around the supernatural? Those kinds of things don't follow the same rules as the rest of us."

"Of course," said Trizel in a mocking tone. "I am sure those are your true reasons."

"Listen here! If you value..."

"Guys!" interrupted Ted as he tested the ladder with his foot. "Why don't we worry about checking on Nugget, and then you can sort this true fear thing out."

Of course, Ted was only acting brave. He completely agreed with Sentenza. But he had seen monstrosities he couldn't fully understand already and made his decision. In spite of his fear, in spite of his low view of himself, in spite of everything, he was going to push on. His words seemed to help settle things between Trizel and Sentenza, as the two of them had stopped arguing. Though Sentenza insisted that he go down second as being the last one or first one down was asking for trouble. Trizel teased him only a little about that but allowed him to take his place as the second one down.

With all three of them down they tried to look around, but with only a single lantern's illumination it was difficult to see much of anything. Nugget's cries still seemed to be in the distance. The ground seemed to be packed dirt with thick wooden beams holding up the floor of the rooms above.

"If only my Meteor was here. Then we would be able to see everything clear as day."

"Meteor?" asked Ted and Sentenza in unison.

"Yes, my pet fire lion. He just loved the flesh of my enemies. Ah, I hope he's running free now."

"This...fire lion you say? Now, was he actually on fire?" asked Sentenza.

"Yes of course." beamed Trizel. "Sparks flew out in his wake, and he was even large enough for me to ride into battle on occasion!"

"Uh huh," the absurdity seemed to calm Sentenza down a bit as he tapped Ted's shoulder and then used the lantern to light a cigarillo. "Now, that seems pretty big."

"Yes, the biggest of beasts! Truly a glory to behold."

"Uh huh. So, you think a giant lion that's on fire would be a good fit for down here. With the wood up above us, not to mention all that flammable alcohol spilled over the floors and in barrels."

"I mean...when you put it that way..."

Sentenza nodded as the conversation and influx of nicotine seemed to be helping him quite a bit. Ted let out a snort and Trizel joined in with a loud laugh. He took it in stride, and his echoing deep voice seemed to help cut through the eeriness of the darkness, even if it didn't actually brighten any of it up.

Ted froze in place, which led to the two behind him to bump into him. If it wasn't for Sentenza's good balance and quick hands that grabbed ahold of the back of Ted's shirt, Ted would have been sent falling to the ground with the lantern. Although, he was still leaning pretty far forward and made no effort to pull himself back up.

"What is it?" asked Trizel. "Why'd you stop."

Ted kept silent as Nugget stood staring at his face. She looked into his eyes for what felt like an eternity for Ted before turning around and walking deeper into the cellar.

Ted finally stood back up and wiped off some sweat from his forehead. "Phew."

"What is it?" asked Trizel again. "I couldn't see past the two of you."

"It was a chicken," offered Sentenza nonchalanlty. "Had the eyes of a gunslinger at a showdown."

"Well, if we know she's fine we should just..."

"I'm pretty sure she wanted us to follow her," interrupted Ted.

"I was hoping you wouldn't say that." sighed Trizel. "Fine. Lead the way."

And so, the four of them made their way deeper into the cellar with Nugget leading the way. It was strange down here. It felt like they had been walking for both hours and for less than a minute. Time seemed to have no sway here as they made their way over the dirt. Finally, Nugget stopped in front of a large stone door. It was simple and seemed to be built with a complete focus on use, instead of any kind of ornate decoration. Its handle was just a rusted metal ring. Simple and effective and surrounded by similar looking stone walls.

"Well, looks like this one's on you big fella." nodded Sentenza.

Trizel looked down at the door and reached for the handle, until Ted interrupted him.

"Wait!" he said, "That looks pretty nasty. Let me just..." he shoved the lantern to Sentenza, and then took off his apron. He tried his best to cover up the rust with it and added, "There. Just make sure to wrap your hand with that, and you shouldn't have to actually touch the rusty handle. I mean, I doubt we could get a tetanus shot all the way out here."

"Thank you, innkeeper Ted." said Trizel as he grabbed ahold of the cloth covered handle. With a grunt he pulled on the door. At first, it still wouldn't budge. Then, slowly, but surely, it began to scratch across the floor as a gust of musty wind flew out from beyond the door. As if this was the first time it had been opened in thousands of years.

Without hesitation, Nugget strutted inside.

"Well, we've come this far," sighed Ted as he grabbed the lantern back from Santenza's now shaking hand.

"W...well, we could always come back tomorrow." suggested Santenza. "Not like this place will go and disappear on us, right?"

"If we leave it. It will just bug you knowing it is here without going inside." Suggested Trizel. "Come now, let us grab life in our own hands and set forth."

"If you need to go back Sentenza..." started Ted.

"I'm no coward," he said shakily. "Just don't expect my lead to do much against the dead."

Together, the three of them followed after Nugget through the stone doorway. The smell of must was even stronger past the threshold. Then, as they walked a little further in the room's purpose became clear. All three of them were stunned as they saw lanterns hanging from the ceiling, but more importantly, the room was filled with row after row of wooden casks. It was a wine cellar!

A wave of relief washed over all three of the men as they moved to light all the hanging lanterns. With the room fully illuminated they could take stock of everything. Trizel was the first to check the barrels. He turned the first spigot, and nothing came out. Then he tried the second and third. Still nothing. But, on the fourth a stream of red liquid poured out. He was ecstatic, and put his mouth under the glorious red liquid, before his eyes grew wide and he spit it out. He wiped his mouth with Ted's apron he had forgotten to give back. HE continued to spit as he seemed to struggle to remove whatever he had tasted from his mouth. As he struggled to cleanse his palate, Sentenza got more and more anxious.

"What was it?" he asked. "Blood? Did it taste like death itself? An omen of something coming?"

Trizel shook his head. "I wish. No. This was wine at one point, but it's clearly gone bad. I doubt it would even be good for vinegar now."

Ted closed the spigot and caught a couple drops with his finger. He put it in his mouth and Trizel was right. It was absolutely foul. Turns out all the barrels had their bung removed, leaving the alcohol inside open to the air for years. Still, these barrels were able to seal and were a better way to store their alcohol than the water barrels they had been using. So, Ted and Trizel got to work on reorganizing which barrels would stay in the kitchen, and which would be down here. Luckily, they could see the light from the hole in the floor from the wine cellar. The darkness must have just been playing tricks on their minds and making them think it was far away.

Meanwhile, Sentenza elected to explore instead of travel through the dark basement where he wouldn't be much help lifting things anyway. At least, not when Trizel was there and carrying a full barrel under each arm. Although, instead of exploring the area, he walked up to his wagon. Inside, he lifted up a pile of blankets to reveal a small glowing light about the size of a fist coming from the bare wood of the bottom of the wagon. He reached his hand down and through the light up to his shoulder. When he pulled his hand back out, he had a small box of cigarillos. He covered the light with the blankets again and smiled as he stuffed the box into his jacket, and headed out towards the wilderness.