Anjelica and Hound worked their way through the crowded streets with Sera trailing along just behind them. While Anjelica and Hound had dressed to impress, wearing their traditional reds, Sera looked a bit bedraggled with her hair both damp and dyed a deep black color. This left her usually enthusiastic curls to hang around her face in stringy clumps. The state of her hair was certainly not being helped by the steady drizzle which had plagued the city and showed no signs of relenting.

Their journey brought them to the exterior of what looked to be a mostly abandoned flathouse. Though all of them felt a bit skeptical, they began to make their way up the exterior stairs towards the second floor of the building.

Walking down the hallway, they noticed that the place was surprisingly empty. Doors sat ajar as they passed them and lifeless, empty flats stared back. Upon reaching the end of the hallway, Anjelica sighed.

"This looks to be the place," she muttered. Wiping her arm along the front of the door removed the dust and revealed faded gold letters that had once proudly read "Quinn and Associate Private Investigations" though several of the letters were now nothing more than outlines in the wood.

Anjelica rapped upon the door.

There was a moment of shuffling noises from within before the door swung open at a forcibly steady pace.

Quinn had done all that he could to look presentable. His usually scratchy beard had been trimmed down to a humble goatee and his hair was pulled back into a ponytail. He was wearing a fine suit of a cream color and he smiled with as much courage as he could muster.

"Hello!" He said with excitement, "How can I help you?"

Anjelica and Hound shared a look of confusion before Anjelica turned back to him.

"We set up this meeting? I think that we arrived right on time, in fact." Anjelica said bluntly.

"Oooooh so you are the Gavels I was told would be coming to see me! Yes of course! Please come in!" Quinn said as he took a step back to allow their passage.

The pair followed suit and entered into the sitting room where four chairs had been placed in a square for better conversation. As Sera entered, Quinn's face turned to puzzlement.

"You brought a Fledge with you?" Quinn asked in an attempt to find a logical explanation for the tiny person's entrance.

"Partner, actually!" Sera said joyfully as she entered the room.

"I can assure you that there is nothing to worry about in regards to Sera, sir," Hound explained. "She is a friend and she is just as interested to hear what you have to say."

"Right," Quinn grumbled. "Laena! We need another chair!" He called out to the kitchen.

Laena soon appeared from around the corner holding a wooden kitchen chair. Setting it down between Anjelica and Hound, she muttered some apologies before moving to her father's side of the table.

Finally, everyone was able to sit down and basic introductions were made.

"So!" Anjelica began with a clap of her hands, "I hear that you are the man with the conspiracy theories!"

"They are not conspiracy theories!" Quinn defended, "They are conspiracy fact! My first investigation proved that the waters of Mount Lilliheim were toxic! As the water reaches higher volumes and lower altitudes the vegetation cleanses the water and makes it drinkable for the rest of us. The monks who choose to live on the mountain's face are mostly hermetic so it was quite a long time before someone noticed the yellowing of their eyes and skin due to the iron in the water. With some time and a move to the base of the mountain most of them recovered!"

"No offense was meant of course!" Hound swept in, "It has just been a long time since you provided any actionable reports to the Church."

"All of our reports keep getting burned after they touch a desk!" Laena interjected. "If not burned after a fit of laughter. We WISH that we could have someone take action but instead they have strong fighters like you running around cleaning up their messes!"

'Hunting demons is a public service, just the same as finding the truth," Sera said politely.

"Oh so you have hunted a lot of demons then?" Laena asked sarcastically.

"Some. Enough to know that it is important that they send people like Hound and Anjelica to do the hunting," Sera responded placidly.

Laena narrowed her eyes at Sera.

"What I am trying to say is that we have heard of your exploits and it is a real honor to have people so accomplished in our field here," Laena said tersely.

"Our field?" Sera chirped, "It does not seem like you have done much outside of this house."

"Yes well at least I do not have to dye my hair just to walk around the city," Laena shot back coldly.

There was a pause as Laena realized she had overstepped. The adults in the room quickly noticed the shift in energy.

"AHEM," Hound cleared his throat loudly, "Sera, one type of work is no better than any other. Now I am sure that this is the start of a wonderful friendship where you two lock horns for fun but there are actually things to get done."

"Laena, do not antagonize our guests!" Quinn rebuked in turn, "Also do not play your hand that early. If you notice something strange like her hair being dyed then it only has value while you know it and nobody else does."

The girls, both of them miffed and embarrassed, shot angry glances at each other but subdued their body language.

"Can you tell me how many children are even left in Gabriel's orphanage? It cannot be too many," Anjelica continued as if nothing had happened.

Quinn straightened his coat and leaned back into his chair.

"Oh plenty. Place like this has plenty of reasons for not wanting to care for a kid. Gabriel is more than happy to scoop them up and sit them in front of a pulpit," Quinn explained.

"I thought that with the few isolated cases that I found that somewhere central like the orphanage would be the perfect base of operations," Anjelica continued.

"Sure," Quinn agreed, "But that is NOT what Gabriel is doing. I have seen every inch of that orphanage and it seems to be completely legitimate. Hell, he even pays his taxes on time."

"So he splits his time between helping and hurting. Charming," Hound growled.

"Right? Why would he expose himself and his city to risk when he could just go kidnap poor children instead?" Quinn said darkly, "Speaking of the poor, did you all notice how few of them there are around the city?"

There was a pause for a moment as the trio thought about it.

"I do not think that I have seen a single beggar now that you mention it," Sera said confused.

"Exactly!" Laena cut in excitedly, "There are no beggars, no street venders without a license, and no way to get help. The broke and broken get shuffled off to the Night Barrows where their dreams go to die. Pushed into a shantytown by Gabriel with no real way out. The Barrows are dangerous, yes, but far too many people go in and never come back out again. We think that they are using those people for their experiments inside the city."

"Wait," Anjelica interjected, "You are saying that they are kidnapping both the children and their own people?"

"We cannot say anything for certain but it appears that way, yes. I do not think that Gabriel or the Church consider them their own people though. The sick, the poor, and immigrants are not exactly protected peoples in this country. The only thing that we know is that carts get sent off to Duke San Gwinn's School for Children and bloodstone gets carted back in. I found a bit of it that had fallen out of one of the carts once. Otherwise we would not even know that much," Quinn added sadly.

"Then how do you know that it is Gabriel doing experiments in the city and not just the Duke?" Hound asked.

"Shipping records!" Laena piped in while grabbing a notebook from under the table, "There is about twice as much bloodstone leaving the city as is coming in from the shipments. Obviously we can only guess how much was in each cart but that would be my best guess. Someone is making bloodstone in this city and we do not know how."

"They would need a lot of clot users to do it at that scale," Sera added morosely.

"I doubt the Internal Bureau is lining up for blood draws," Hound grumbled.

"Exactly," Laena agreed.

"So!" Quinn exclaimed while clapping his hands for emphasis, "You lovely people of action! What would you like to do with our lovely information?"

"No offense meant at all," Anjelica started, "There does not seem to be much information here at all?"

"Well we have done our best!" Laena interjected.

"We know that," Hound responded, "There are just a lot of things that are unclear. Is there anything that we could do to get more information? As people of action?"

Quinn rubbed his freshly shaven face.

"There is an old building that I have been trying to get into for a long time. It seemed too risky to get into myself. I would not send Laena anywhere I would not go and so it had just sat abandoned. We might be able to find something there? It is a whole basket of unexplored information if that is what you are looking for?"

"That might help," Anjelica confirmed, "There is also something to be said about scouting. We know that something is happening in 'The Barrows' as you call them and I would like to get a look at these shipments of bloodstone myself."

"I can take you to the Barrows!" Laena chimed excitedly, "I have friends down there and I think I have a good lead on one of the medical clinics! It is only the afternoon so if we wanted to make a scouting trip then we would have plenty of time! Besides, the Barrows have a pretty sprawling night market and I love it there!"

"Night market?" Sera said, suddenly paying attention, "Like food carts?"

"It is the only place in the city where they are allowed to run! There are fish skewers, potato cakes, sweet carrot drinks, basically anything you could want!" Laena added happily.

"Anjelica, I think that I should go and scout the Night Barrows," Sera said with a grim determination and a mouth full of saliva.

Anjelica shook her head in amusement.

"Sera, you do not need my permission. I trust you. If you want to, you can go with Laena and see the Barrows. It might finally give you something to spend all of that money you have been hoarding. Quinn? Would you mind showing us to the gate where these shipments are happening?"

"I most certainly can! Maybe we can get a drink and talk in a less....uh...professional, stuffy environment?" Quinn asked.

"I do not see why not. As long as the scouting gets done," Hound said.

"Well now that that is settled!" Laena stood up excitedly, "Follow me Sera! Dad I am taking the last of the cash that we have to spend in the night market with Sera so you will have to buy drinks with whatever you have on you! Bye!"

Laena walked to the doorway and opened it with a flourish for Sera to walk through.

"I have been summoned!" Sera said playfully as she stood up. Offering farewells back to Anjelica and Hound, she quickly disappeared into the hallway.

The air filled with acrid odor as the pair turned back towards Quinn who was lighting a hand rolled cigarette with a candle on the table.

"We are happy to buy your drinks tonight if you are short on cash," Anjelica offered with a giggle.

As Quinn exhaled the first big lungful of smoke, he smiled.

"Now THAT is an offer that I will never refuse," Quinn, short on cash, replied cockily,