Beringer's suggestion was tempting, and really, Alicia could not think of anything better to do anyway. But first, might as well finish what she came for anyway. The safehouse. It would be in the oldest part of town, of course. "I'm all up for that, but first I have one small matter to take care off in this town." At this point Alicia was beyond keeping state secrets. Really, REALLY old state secrets. "If any of you... warriors here want to see something amazing, come with me. I would be grateful, of course, if someone could guide me to the oldest part of this town - should be the crypt in the cemetery." An elf of all things offered up to be a guide, rather cheerfully in fact.

And so they left. Alicia didn't bother to see if anyone else was following them. The elf inquired about her destination. Why would a Royal Guard would want to visit the crypt? "Let's just say I'm about to commit high treason by showing you this. Fortunately for us, there isn't much of a kingdom left to betray." Eventually they reached the cemetery, and the crypt in the center of it. As always, the Royal Guard attire attracted the attention of the commoners. Maybe they didn't even know who she was, but the armor's design itself stood out quite a bit. At first Alicia was uncomfortable, but with time, she just stopped caring. A common conclusion to any thing concerning Alicia.

The graveyard, while nothing to note about, had quite a deep and labyrinthine crypt. Alicia lighted her lantern for illumination, descending below. "Now we gotta find the oldest part of this crypt. No doubt it was gradually expanded after the main chamber was built." After wandering around for a bit, inspecting the differences in color of the walls, Alicia stopped at a hallway intersection. The crypt was not large enough to get lost in, but still rather confusing. "Should be around here somewhere. I hope. Otherwise I'll look like an imbecile." She cleared her throat and recited the passphrase loudly. "By the will of the King, grant his humble servant passage." At the exact moment she uttered the last letter, a nearby wall started glowing. In the center, a glowing white circle appeared, roughly the size of a adult human head. Below were large white glowing words: "Produce the symbol of the King" Alicia approached the wall, and pressed her palm to the glowing circle. On her palm, was the crest of the Kingdom.

After a few seconds, the whole section of the wall started glowing white, emitting a loud humming sound. Gradually, over the next ten seconds, the light began to dissipate, revealing a 2 meter length passageway into some kind of... dwelling. Alicia and all who followed her stepped in and started to explore. The air was remarkably fresh in the chamber, so different from the dank and humid air of the crypt. "There are places like this all across the Kingdom. At this point no one even knows who built them. Well mostly because it's a huge secret and very few know about it. And among those who had knowledge of these safehouses, no historians were present." Truly the magical enchantments upon these locations were impressive, esp. the one that cleansed and purified the air.

The safehouse had an armory, a study with a board of sorts, and a map, and a place with what most likely were beds. Flat wooden slabs more like. Still better than sleeping on the crypt floor. Between these rooms and the central connecting room they were all standing, it was quite spacious. "Help yourself with anything that interests you, you can't enter these places without possessing a symbol of the King. Like the crest on my armor, or the hilt of Royal Guard sword, or some kind of ring, and so on."

It was her lucky day thought, since the armory had a few swords still in stock. They were certainly not the ones Royal Guard had, but still better than most people use - steel. Grabbing a sheath and the sword, and affixing in on her armor's "belt" buckle right next to the mace, she then checked out the study. The map had a red circle one of the locations, and on the board was a pinned message. Alicia heart jumped as she rushed to read it. At the top was the date it was written - three years ago! In all her excitement, she read it aloud:

"To anyone reading this message, my name is Luxius de Erzo, a Royal Guard Librarian. It has been seven years since the Fall. When it happened, I was away on a mission given to me by the King himself. Only after the Fall I realized why it was so important. But this does not matter now. While I feared I'm the last of Royal Guard, I have sensed at least one survivor, as we may have crossed paths without noticing one another.

I will be leaving for the safehouse marked on the map, so any findings about the demons will be left there. Most likely I will leave further instructions there as well. I will admit I was not diligent enough in my search, but the scarcity of information and the difficulty to separate truth from fiction has made coming up with any definitive conclusion difficult, to say the least. And the demons were smart enough to destroy most places that had some sort of practical knowledge about demons - mostly monasteries and other locations where men of faith gather. However, in my recent years I made some significant discoveries, and they are only useful if there are more competent people who possess them. Come find me, or at least my findings."

This letter, or more like a message, left Alicia trembling and shocked, to say the least, unable to pay attention to anyone around her. As everyone was inside for a few minutes now, the passageway closed again, leaving inconspicuous stone behind. And their only way to leave would be Alicia. Or someone who also possessed some sort of symbol of the King. As for the highlighted location on the map, it was the city of thieves, Ashbourne.

Ah, the smell of burnt corpses in the morning. Nothing better to start the morning. Tobias rocked back and forth in an old chair, his legs up on the study's desk. He glanced to his right, where a big pile of burnt, magically enchanted items laid on the floor. Amongst them stood tall a grandftaher clock inscribed with strange glyphs. A special artefact that was unique amongs the other items. It showed the time without missing a single second in a thousand years, and the display lit the drak room with an eerie blue glow. The light reflected from the shining plates of the corpses, and then faded away on the black stone walls. However Tobias didn't want these practical, but insanely common enchantements of the clock. He was more interested in a custom enchantement the item possessed. If rewinded, it would count back to an event the user had in mind. Thought the previous owner busted it to hell, making it miss by a few days, it was still sueful for any bandit. Tobias looked at the display. The clock's hand ticked between a few days of time from now. With a smirk running through his face Tobias began chanting a song, writing it down on a small paper.

"Come out, come out, wherever you hide
Your time is down, I'll cut your pride
Your future shone, but now it's gone
Only destruction, will meet you hon' "

Re reading the text Tobias let out a childish laughter, and clapped for hismelf. "Perfect, perfect! I am such a poet. Now it's time to leave this stinkhole." With a small dagger he pinned the paper on the study's table and left the burnt room, with the guard's corpses. With a leisurely hop, he entered a small hallway, with another corpse. The walls were burnt here too, just like in all the other rooms. After all he burnt it down. Whistling a song, he grabbed the corpse and started dancing with it to a rhyme. It didn't take long until the head fell down from the body, echoing the thud within the walls of the safehouse. As the whistling intensified, Tobias bent the corpse and whipsred to it. "I'll be taking your ring my lady." Just as hastly as he picked up the corpse, he dropped it on the floor, taking a small ring from it's finger, with the Royal Guard's symbol on it. With a stone cold expression he left the place, no longer with the cheerful mood. "A stinky hole befitting you scum." As the doors closed behind him, he took one last glance at what little remained of the Royal Guard's safehouse.

Ashbourne, was a bustling city, one of noble history, but a disasterous ending. The place used to be a merchant's town, as it had a centralised location if one wanted to travel between the mountains. Traders would stop and go every day, bringing wealth to the town, and those who lived in it. However after Veiron, trade fell, and more and more people began turning into thieves and murderers. Soon the city was swarming with no good people and robberies took place every day. Now it's just a town filled with those who don't want to leave their heritage, but under the surface, the town houses the Thieve's Guild, the only thing that keeps the city running. They restrict the thieves and bandits who are not in the guild, or in any other major bandit faction. Onyl with their help, the city can keep running, and maintaining a liveable economy.

As Tobias walked down the paved road, filled with dirt and mud after the recent rains. People rushed by him in hoods, carrying a small bag of something. A few guards ran after them, but there was no chance they can keep up with the thieves. The slums are of town would make any traveller regret coming to the town. With it's shady figures and run down buidlings, the narrow alleways didn't made the palce into an ideal spot four tourists. But it was the palce where he felt safe. Tobias walked past a group of hooded figures, and as he passed they nodded him. Tobias jsut continued his leisurely walk not in a rush to greet the bunch. People knew him in town, and no one would mess with him. Just his sigil was neough to scare people away, however the few youngters who have never heard of him before all enede up in the canals, rotting there as food for the rats.

After half an hour of walk in teh zig-zag maze of streets, the houses started to thin out, and the road became wider again. The buildings became higher, and all of the windows had bars on them. the district housed those who were the middle class before veiron, and obviously they didn't want their wealth to be stolen. The crowd was also less shady, and the people on the street started to look weird at him. Two guards on patrol passed him, and they nod in greetings. Tobias put up his widest smile and greeted the "gentlemen". After some walk, he reached an area where no people was present, and with a few quick hops, he climbed one of the buildings, and reached the roof. Fromt ehre he could see the clock tower, and along with it, his usual hiding place. With a broad smirk he told himself "Now, we wait for our bird to catch the bait."