The existence of the Thieves’ Guild was an open secret. While there were some who doubted, most people agreed that somewhere in the city there was a place where thieves gathered. It was not, however, an official organization recognized by the government. As a result, its members were expected to at least keep up the veneer of secrecy, by insisting that the Thieves’ Guild wasn’t real. As a result the refrain of “There is no Thieves’ Guild” from arrested thieves had become something of a joke amongst the city guard. Andra, of course, didn’t care about any of this. After all, what was the point in pretending it wasn’t real if everyone knew about its existence?

“Look, even if you really are a member of the Thieves’ Guild, which I still doubt,” said Kaylen as Andra led her through a series of twisting alleys in one of the seedier parts of town, “aren’t they going to be unhappy about you investigating one of the other members for an assassination?”

Andra shook her head. “Thieves’ Guild rules are pretty complicated, but basically it works like this: Since I’m a member of both the Thieves’ Guild and the Adventurers’ Guild, I’m expected to be loyal to the Thieves’ Guild first. However, thieves are expected to keep themselves from being caught. If I catch a fellow thief as part of a job for the Adventurers’ Guild, that’s the thief’s own fault.”

“Okay, but that means you’re allowed to use Thieves’ Guild resources to catch a thief?”

“Oh, absolutely not.”

As she said this, Andra removed a small card from an inside pocket of her jacket and offered it to a filthy-looking beggar dressed in rags who was sitting against a wall. The beggar examined the card and offered it back, nodding silently. Kaylen snatched the card away before Andra could take it and looked at it herself. It was printed on expensive-looking paper with a raised seal displaying a hand reaching for a coin. Within a fancy brown border it stated the name of the thief who owned it.

“Slurg Sneerbrook?”

Andra took the card back and continued down the alley. “It doesn’t really matter what the name says. If you manage to steal a membership card from a thief, you must be a talented enough thief to deserve membership in the Thieves’ Guild.”

“So, let me guess, you convinced a drunk Slurg to sell it to you?”

“Th-that’s not even close to how I got it,” Andra stammered, her face growing red. She had, in fact, bought it from a pawn shop.

Andra led Kaylen through a nondescript door not far from the beggar and into what looked very much like an ordinary tavern. It wasn’t especially clean or dirty, not especially busy or quiet. It was just… plain. If the various patrons were thieves, it wasn’t obvious to Kaylen.

“This is the Thieves’ Guild?” she asked.

“Yeah, what were you expecting? A bunch of offices like the Adventurers’ Guild?”

The duo’s presence seemed to be drawing the attention of the patrons, who were looking up from their mugs and their conversations to examine the newcomers. Kaylen wasn’t sure if it was her own vestments or if perhaps Andra had as much of a reputation here as she did in the Adventurers’ Guild. Andra seemed unbothered by the looks, however, and she walked straight up to the bar and sat down next to a well-dressed man with a long beard. As Kaylen took the stool next to her, she tapped him on the shoulder.

“Hey, Forthright.”

The man looked up at her, annoyed. “I’ve told you it’s Frostwait.”

“Yeah, I don’t care. I’m looking for someone who recently assassinated a nobleman,” Andra replied.

“Wow, real subtle,” Kaylen commented.

“Let me guess,” said Frostwait, “someone hired you to find this assassin and you think you can use your connections with the Thieves’ Guild to get information.”

Andra reached into her jacket and pulled out a coin which she toyed with, twirling it between her fingers. “Not at all, not at all. It’s just that this is a big job and I want to keep track of whoever’s moving up the ranks.”

Frostwait shook his head. “Forget it. I’m not turning against another thief like that.”

Andra reached into her jacket again and pulled out a second coin, playing with it and the first simultaneously. “Ah, so you do know something. Although I have to say I don’t really understand why you care whether or not the killer gets caught.”

Frostwait had his eyes on the coins. “It doesn’t make a lick of difference to me whether or not he gets caught.”

Andra added a third coin to the pair she was toying with, stacking and unstacking them in the palm of her hand. “Then why not just tell us? We’re just going to bother you until you do, now, so you might as well just say who it is.”

Frostwait considered this for a moment, staring at the coins. Finally, he said “Fizzman was here a little while ago, bragging that he had finished a big assassination job. He bought a round of drinks before announcing that he was going to Fate and Fortune. Probably going to lose it all before the sun goes down.”

Andra grinned. “Excellent. Thank you.”

She pocketed the coins and stood, walking toward the door. Confused, Kaylen got up and started to follow her.

“Wait,” Frostwait called after her. “You’re supposed to give me the money.”

Andra paused to look back at him. “What money? I never said I would give you any money.”

Maxim Nobody lived in a lovely-looking brick townhouse with a small garden out front which grew several types of herbs. Fiona wasn’t surprised to see that he dwelled in such a nice neighborhood; alchemy was said to be a lucrative business.

Riven knocked on the door. A moment later, the door crept open and Fiona jumped as she saw an uncanny grinning face peering out. It was a wooden mask carved with exaggerated features, painted in a myriad of bright colors, and worn by a short man covered head to toe in what appeared to be several layers of drab clothing. Riven had neglected to mention that Maxim owned a collection of strange masks, and was never seen without one.

As he examined Riven, he gripped the door frame with one gloved hand as if to deny entrance.

“Oh, it’s you,” he said. The mask did little to obscure the annoyance in his soft voice. “What do you want?”

“Geez, that’s how you greet people?” Riven replied dryly. “I was just hoping you could help us figure out what kind of potion was used to kill a guy.”

Although it wasn’t visible, somehow both Riven and Fiona knew that Maxim was rolling his eyes. “Typical mage. You expect to get paid for your expertise, but since ours doesn’t consist of throwing fireballs at monsters you think you’re entitled to get it for free.”

Riven gaped at Maxim. “Seriously? You alchemists are so arrogant. You act like every piece of knowledge you have is some amazing treasure that should only be bought with the finest gold. I’m just asking you to look at something and tell me what it is? You seriously think you should get paid for that?”

“Yes,” Maxim replied.

Riven glared at Maxim’s mask, which stared back at her.

“You know, you actually owe me a favor,” Riven said finally. “Remember when we had to find that rare mushroom for you? We got attacked by a griffin.”

“You got your pay for that job,” Maxim replied. “Besides wasn’t that, like, two parties ago for you?”

The two stared at each other for another few seconds. Somewhere in the distance Fiona heard a bird chirping.

“Fine, I’ll take a look,” Maxim said finally, and he stood aside, allowing Riven and Fiona in. Fiona, feeling relieved that the argument was over, let out a breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding.

Inside, they found themselves in a living room decorated with strange artwork depicting confusing, violent scenes in twisted worlds that seemed to defy physics. A strange, lightly chemical smell permeated the room. Maxim led the group through the room and into another, this one a lab. It was exactly as one would expect. All strange tools that Fiona didn’t recognize and flasks full of mysterious liquids. The chemical smell was even stronger here.

“Please be careful with my equipment,” Maxim said. “While, unlike magic, alchemy benefits the whole world instead of just the practitioner, it is unfortunately rather delicate work and the slightest disturbance could break something. Or set it off.”

“How exactly does alchemy benefit the whole world?” Riven asked.

“It has revolutionized the medical field, for one thing. And transportation, too, thanks to the alchemical rail. Magic hasn’t done anything that can compare to that.”

“What about Magi-net?”

Maxim gave a snorting laugh. “Magi-net is a perfect example of how magic only helps mages. What has it done for anyone else?”

“Are all of these explosives?” Fiona asked, trying to change the subject. She gestured at a random potion on a shelf full of multicolored flasks behind her.

“Not at all. In fact, that one’s a love potion,” Maxim explained.

“I thought those were illegal,” Fiona said, cocking her head.

“Illegal to sell. Not illegal to make. You see, love potion is uniquely effective at neutralizing the negative effects of certain poisonous ingredients. Thus, a few drops of love potion are an essential ingredient in a number of different medicinal potions. For example, if you wanted to cure—WHY ARE YOU DRINKING IT!?”

Fiona spun to see that Riven had slipped the potion off the shelf behind her and was now guzzling it down. She grabbed the potion, easily taking it from Riven’s grasp, but she had already nearly emptied it. Riven looked up at Fiona, eyes wide.

“Oh, wow.”

Fiona could feel herself starting to panic. What was she going to do? “Shit, the boss is going to kill me. This is exactly the kind of thing I was supposed to prevent.”

“You think you’re in trouble?” shouted Maxim. “What about me? The sale of the ingredients of love potion is carefully monitored by the International Society of Alchemists. If they catch me buying more right after the set I bought to make that potion, they’ll become suspicious.”

“Can’t you just explain what happened?” asked Fiona, trying not to glance at Riven, who was staring at her very intently.

“I’ll still get audited,” Maxim moaned, grasping his head behind his mask. “Even if they understand about the potion they might—”

He cut off suddenly.

“Might what? Might find out that you’re doing something else that you’re not supposed to?” asked Riven.

“That’s not important,” Maxim said. “What matters is that now I have to spend extra money buying the necessary ingredients from the black market.”

“Well, maybe we could pay you to make up for it,” Fiona suggested.

“Absolutely not!” Maxim replied sharply. “Selling a love potion is a huge breach of ethics, no matter the circumstances. Just let me look at whatever you wanted to show me so I can get you out of here.”

Fiona moaned softly. She felt terrible for having caused this poor man so much inconvenience. At her sad sound Riven looked up at her, her expression nervous.

“Fiona?” she asked timidly. “You aren’t mad at me, are you?”

Fiona looked down at the mage. Ever the people-pleaser, she couldn’t bear the thought of causing her any distress. “No, I’m not mad. It’s okay, just get out the sample.”

Riven gave a small gasp as her expression became excited. “Oh, right. I have it right here.”

She pulled the knotted handkerchief from her pocket and offered it to Fiona. Sighing, Fiona took the handkerchief and offered it to Maxim, who carefully untied it on a table and examined the contents.

“Stone,” he said after a moment.

“That’s strange,” said Fiona. “Lord Prospero said those were the remains of his father.”

“There are a few potions that can turn a man to stone if drunk or applied to the skin. It’s kind of a strange choice, though. You can get a traditional poison for much less money since poisons, unlike love potions, actually have a practical use and are legal for alchemists to sell. A stone potion requires a rare ingredient whose purchase is monitored, so not only would it be extremely expensive, it would be very easy to track down the alchemist who made it and by extension find the killer.”

Fiona could feel herself growing excited. It was starting to look like Riven’s approach to the mystery really was the right one. “How would we find out who made it?”

“Stoneflower petals aren’t used for much, and it’s only sold locally by one company, the Prospero Trading Company. Their records are public, so you just have to go to their office and find the record of the last purchase of stoneflower.”

“Hey, I did pretty good, right, Fiona?” Riven asked, eagerly.

“Oh yeah, you did amazing,” Maxim replied dryly. “All it cost was a bunch of my money. Now get the Hell out of my lab.”