The sewers of Nyurajke were not extensive. Mostly, in Nyurajke, it was to contain the water runoff.


    There were many waterfalls in draculkarmunities.


    Krow could almost say they engineered them as a theme.


    But also, in Nyurajke, the sixteen fountains in varying tform-levels of the town meant that water management was a governmental concern.


    Draculkarmunities, Krow already noticed, were cleaner than the human towns he''d known in Zushkenar. Of course, no town was as smelly and disease-ridden as the towns in Earth''s histories.


    The scenting abilities of draculkar were strong, only second to the strength of vargvir senses.


    It was probably one of the reasons that draculkar and vargvir had cleaner streets and scent-containment spelled sewers, really – they had the sensitive nose inmon.


    Though any of the two races would be outraged at theparison.


    Sucar hunched over the map they''d taken from the fountain maintenance people,yers of cloth wrapped around his nose and mouth. "We''re right under the market right now."


    "Look around then."


    The Scount subss gave Krow no data. Did that mean the key was out of range, like it had been swept away by the waters or that it never had been here?


    Unfortunately, even following the sewer tunnels gave them no sess.


    It was just a key, Krow puffed out a breath after nearly an hour of searching inmplight.


    In that time, they found several battered umon armor pieces, a rare boot (missing the second), and a grade F Common ne. Krow tossed everything into his inventory – he could use them for deconstruction practiceter.


    There were also two bone-newt monster nests in the way.


    The monsters were Lvl 6 and below.


    Which says a lot about thefortableness of the Nyurajke sewers for bone-newt reproduction.


    Krow didn''t want to think about it.


    He grumbled. "There are probably people out there that could be hired to change locks even if the ce wasn''t your house."


    Sucar sent him a scandalized, censoring look. "That''s not something aw-abiding person should say."


    That''s the point, Krow silently riposted. "Besides, it doesn''t solve the problem: where would you get an identical key? Though I suppose the theoretical scofw locksmith likely could make one."


    Not in time.


    There were less than two hours to noon.


    Krow peered over Sucar''s shoulder. He pointed. "That''s a vertical ess point, yes? We should just head there, get out of here faster."


    They didn''t need to go all the way to the maintenance office entrance.


    Sucar nodded vigorously.


    Disappointed yet again, they hurried to the exit.


    He only had Minor Poison as a debuff.


    But there was no way he was going to mix sewer fumes with anything he put in his mouth, even an antidote!


    Sucar stopped walking.


    "Lost again?"


    "I haven''t gotten lost. Not once!"


    "There was the time you had the map upside-down."


    "That doesn''t count."


    "It does."


    Sucar ignored him. "I heard something."


    They strained their ears.


    Krow heard it.


    They weren''t alone in the sewers.


    They nced at each other, mutually deciding to sneak a peek.


    The voices were in the direction of the exit, after all.


    Sucar turned off themp. They relied on the light from sewer openings to improve their vision as they moved.


    "—rs, this is the glorious time that is ours. We are on the precipice of creating something great, something enduring, something that our descendants would point at and say, ''This were my ancestors!'' rather than the so called blood that makes people strut around entitled."


    "We act!" came from a half-dozen throats.


    "We act! We persevere! We protect!"


    Krow and Sucar looked at each other, and decided to back away.


    Was this a cult?


    Why was there a draculkar cult in the sewers?


    "They''re close to the exit," Sucar hissed to Krow.


    Krow answered in whispers, their heads meeting over the map. "Go here, toward the exit. I''ll cause a diversion here and then join you. Just wait a few moments. You''ll know what to do."


    Sucar bit his lip, nodded .


    They moved into tunnels going into opposite directions.


    The one Krow took curved, gently, until the tunnel opened into an underground pool.


    On the tform, eight people sat listening to two deiming about their glorious revolution.


    That didn''t sound good.


    [You''ve discovered a group of conspirators! Will you help them or hinder them?]


    Krow grimaced and grabbed up a few broken pieces of pottery between his fingers.


    He tapped them on the stones in a rhythmic pattern, that walking insouciance of the wed animal.


    Several looked in his direction, but dismissed the sound.


    One of them frowned. "Rats again?"


    "The newts, more like."


    Krow skipped a pebble into a far tunnel.


    The fiery rant of the two on-stage was just heating up.


    It stopped. "Jarver, go check what that was."


    Could he hope to discover that these were just stage yers or debaters?


    Of course he could.


    The universe just doesn''t want to y along.


    What he wouldn''t give for a silent weapon, right about now. Krow threw another rock, then another, then another, then another.


    "That wasn''t an animal."


    "Just go see it''s gone," the leader was obviously disappointed that he had to cut his rant short.


    Krow lit amp and rolled it like a bowling ball into another tunnel. Like someone had tripped and decided to leave theirmp.


    "There''s someone here!"


    "Catch them!"


    The one standing by the lectern shook his head. "Kill them."


    There was briefughter.


    "Of course, what do you take us for?"


    "Come out,e out, you."


    Krow quickly traced Sucar''s path, moving as quietly as he could. This was too much excitement for a single sewer dive.


    "Where is the outside ess point?"


    Sucar pointed at thedder, right behind the lectern.


    Of course it was.


    But now, there were only three of them left.


    "Get ready," he hissed at Sucar. "Now. Go, go, go!"


    Krow snapped out three stuns in concert, swapped cylinders, and shot again three times.


    Two of the three dropped. Low-level grunts. Thest one standing was no match for two stun bullets. Grunt-leader, probably.


    Krow ced into his Inventory all that he could swipe with a single sweep of an arm. He could hear the others returning at a run. He jumped at thedder even as Sucar''s feet were disappearing upward.


    They tumbled from the ess onto a clearing outside the town.


    Krow closed the ess, grimacing at the broken lock. He grabbed Sucar, triggered Double Jump twice in rapid session, getting away as soon as possible.


    They hid behind trees, panting.


    Krow''s Minor Poisoned was now added to Minor Exhaustion.


    "Did you hear what they were saying?" Sucar was pale and trembling. "They want to blow up shops and buildings!"


    They said what?


    "Guardhouse," decided Krow.


    Sucar nodded fervently.


    Once they were there, Krow ced the documents he swiped on Training Sergeant Amluyr''s desk. Sucar was already babbling about the things he saw in the sewers.


    The sergeant nodded. "We''ll look into it."


    [You''ve assisted the Nyurajke Town Guard with the quest, ''Seeking Conspiracies''! You''ve gained 10 RP with the Town Guard, and 5 RP with Nyurajke Town.] [B]


    That meant they''d stumbled across a quest-chain, or probably a storyline quest.


    An assist or a hindrance on a quest other yers are doing was also part of the Rends game mechanics. Not one of the popr ones, as most yers didn''t want others butting in on their quests.


    "By the way, your key came in."


    Eh?


    "What."


    He didn''t just hear that?


    "The key you were looking for." The sergeant reached under the counter and retrieved a small package she pushed to Krow.


    Sucar all but scrambled over him to see the package.


    Carved iron cylinder, copper head, faded white stamp of the letters KR.


    Sucar stared at the key in his hands. "Uh. Yes, this is the one. This is the one!"


    Heughed, almost crying with relief.


    Krow slumped down on the counter and groaned.


    It was, in fact, that easy.


    He had just to wait for it here?!


    Un-belie-vable.


    Krow hooked an arm around the hysterically relieved Sucar. "Friend, you owe me for this."


    *


    They were in the Realty in less than a half-hour.


    The day wasn''t going any better.


    The average 1300-slot warehouse cost 150,000 drax.


    Sucar saw his expression. "You can always search the private sales. Those are usually the ones with conditions that cannot be put on the official catalogues. I''m not supposed to give you ess, but well…I promised to help. I know you didn''t believe me, but this is all I can do. Sorry?"


    "You''re a great help, Sucar."


    The other nodded, and unlocked a few things at the desk, gestured at the holo before Krow.


    The holo of listings changed.


    The numbers lowered by at least half.


    The warehouses were more run-down. Not as many item-slots, not as prestigious locations. There were warning notes aplenty on at least half of them.


    But they were priced under 90,000 drax per building.


    Krow smiled.


    This was more like it.