"Hey hey hey, what're y'all doing? Pay attention, pay attention!" A voice cried out in the Cauldron's bar. The whispers shied down, and as one man went over to Chester, there was an underpinning of excitement.

Resting his arms on the bar, the man in his wavy, dark gray hair, brownish skin, a stained red long sleeved shirt, and straw colored shorts. A grin was plastered on his face as he said, "Sup pal! Name's Jeko. You can call me Jeko. Some call me Jack but they're all pricks. You're the one who's been drinking half this bar under the table, right? How about a round?" The bartender gave Jeko a look, prompting him to laugh, "Ah, you got me!"

From the other side of the room, Isaac moved, sitting on the far of the bar from Isaac. The bartender clicked his tongue. "You're gonna make me walk?"

"Get some help. Trust me, you're gonna want about a meter of clearance on both sides." As he called a couple of his serving girls, Jeko began, "Anyway, I heard your usual rate is 20,000 Beli. Well that's not enough for me and Isaac here. I like things to be [i]interesting[/i]. Even if you don't have 200,000 beli on you, we'll figure out some way to get it from you, heehee[i]hee[/i]."

"And one last thing! I like a little bit more depth. Strategy, you know?" Slinking off into the kitchen, he returned moments later with two plates of crackers arranged in squares, 5x5 each plate. He handed one to Chester and the other to Isaac, explaining, "Just a little something to take the edge off, if you're up to it, but now you have another thing to pace out." Sitting down in the middle, right between the two contestants, he said, "Well? Are you in or out?"

---

As she got a bit closer to the Cauldron, Lina couldn't help but notice an increase in energy. Was something going on?