Perhaps Lucius had been too optimistic when he'd dressed for the weather.

In retrospect there was an obvious difference between actively walking around the forest in the early morning to visit a grave, and sitting still in cold moss in the middle of the night next to an intimidating war veteran to scout for suspicious scientists.

The two of them had hidden near an old farmyard just far away enough to be shrouded by the trees. It was, unsurprisingly and fortunately, close to the mark Lucius had found on the map.

"How long are we gonna sit here?" He turned to Ivan, who had leaned against a tree next to him. "It's really cold."

Ivan held up a finger against his mouth and Lucius squinted in order to see it.

"It's impossibly quiet," Lucius protested. "No one's nearby."

He received no answer, and thus let go of his manners in order to shake the man's shoulder.

"No one's nearby," he repeated, closer to the man's ear, and Ivan turned his head to look at him.

"And no one will be if you keep talking."

Lucius obediently held back a groan and looked forward again. Would it have been so bad to look for the Larkspur order during the day? Even if they moved around at night there was a chance neither Lucius nor Ivan would actually spot them. What if they knew a path and could move without a proper light source?

And what if a werewolf was nearby? The rumoured claw marks did no favours for the idea of late night strolls in the forest.

For that reason Lucius was grateful Ivan had brought a rifle with him, even though it was a big, scary weapon. It had supposedly been for the purpose of tricking Milica into thinking he was out hunting but chances were he had other, less peaceful intentions as well.

Lucius wondered how much Ivan actually knew. He was at least aware of the Larkspurs' existence and they had supposedly taken something from him, and he didn't want Milica to find out. So was it safe to presume she didn't know anything about them at all?

"What, um... So what did they take from you?" he asked rather bluntly, and Ivan released a silent sigh at the refusal to stay quiet.

"Nothing, but they owe me something."

"Like... Money?"

"Payment for this place." Ivan nodded in the direction the barnyard was in. "And for me keeping their existence a secret despite... Everything. But it's not money."

Lucius cocked an eyebrow as a sign for him to continue but Ivan had already turned his head away again.

"What is... 'Everything'?"

"They're not very... Ethical," Ivan admitted, voice even lower than before. "I don't know details but their ways sound far from legal, and I'm supposed to turn a blind eye, saying they're not around if anyone asks."

Lucius' stomach turned into a knot thinking back at Ethan's guess that they experiment on unwilling supernaturals.

"But they haven't kept their end of the deal, and I've been unable to track them down," Ivan continued, shuffling in the dark suggesting a shrug. "So it's a kind of... What is it called? 'All bets are off'?"

"I guess more like 'anything is fair game'?" Lucius suggested. "If they're avoiding you so they don't have to pay."

A hint of a laugh escaped Ivan.

"Most would argue there are limits." He patted his rifle to Lucius' horror and in a way, awe. "But it's very important, and I don't like being swindled."

"I guess..." Lucius smiled nervously. He wasn't sure how much of his not so peaceful life he wanted to share. "... I can understand that. I don't like being lied to either."

"I appreciate you not backing down despite—" Ivan interrupted his sentence to look up, and Lucius looked around to find the reason.

There were footsteps approaching them. Quiet, but the silence around them gave them some advantage.

"Lucius?" a voice then called out, and Lucius frowned. What the Waste?

Ivan turned his head in his direction with what Lucius could guess was an accusatory glare, but Lucius was just as surprised as he was. Samueli was the only one who could possibly guess the two of them would sneak away to investigate, but he had a hard time believing he'd walk around the forest because of that.

The footsteps kept approaching, and to Lucius' frustration he could discern Ivan grabbing his rifle. For the love of Dyris, the voice clearly knew him.

"Lucius, what are you doing here?" The voice was close now, and to Lucius' shock it was Tom who emerged from the trees, holding a lantern.

"Something similar to what you're doing," Lucius guessed. Both he and Richard had sure seemed upset enough last time he'd seen them and mentioned larkspurs. "How did you know it was me though?"

"Oh, well..." Tom's head turned in Ivan's direction and then back to Lucius. "You know Richard's... Impressive hunches."

At the mention, Richard appeared from behind Tom with a somewhat staggering walk. The aforementioned 'hunch' and his manner of walking combined led Lucius to conclude he'd just transformed into a human, and had managed to sniff him and Ivan out from afar before that.

"Who are they?" Ivan whispered, not without a threatening tinge to his voice. "I didn't tell you to bring anyone."

"I didn't," Lucius hissed back. "But I suspect they know even more about the order than we do, so I'm guessing they're here for them as well."

"Why do—"

"Why do you even know about them?" Richard was quicker than Tom. "Anthony shouldn't have said anything."

"If I relied on Anthony for all information I'd be gravely upset with life." Lucius rolled his eyes. "But since you're here, why don't you fill us in? We can help each other."

"I think they'd be a better help if they could stay quiet and snuff that light out," Ivan muttered, and Richard huffed.

"No one's there." He raised an arm to point towards the houses. "We checked earlier."

Ivan released a groan, but at least he'd dropped the whole 'quiet' thing, and Lucius gladly got up to get some warmth into his clothes.

"This really is none of your business though," Richard said, giving him another shake of his head. "You shouldn't snoop around in things like these just because you can."

"Well I guess the Anthony-friends don't fall far from the Anthony tree." Lucius' lip curled, and he gestured between Ivan and him. "I do have reasons though, and so does he."

"I doubt it," Tom joined in, sounding graver than usual, almost so Lucius took him seriously. "There would be very few reasons for you to look for them."

"They're indebted to me," Ivan protested, and Lucius nodded in agreement.

"And they've most likely stolen my friend's corpse."

The fact that Tom and Richard didn't look utterly mortified by the idea was enough for Lucius to stay determined.

"Why—Why would you believe that?" Tom blinked, and Lucius closed his eyes in resignation.

Ugh.

"So... I buried my friends in the same place Anthony had marked that map with the larkspur symbol, and now one of the corpses is missing and Ethan said that Larkspur order is very sketchy and this man owns the land so I asked him about it, and it turns out they owe him something for letting them be here and stay quiet about it." He paused for air. "And they haven't paid him, and he can't find them, and now we're both looking for them."

It was a lot of information compressed into a few sentences, but he just couldn't deal with another long conversation.

"You..." Tom struggled with getting words out. "... Why did you bury your friends—"

"That's really not relevant," Lucius interrupted. Instead he decided to turn the questioning around. "I'm curious though... Lieutenant here and other hunters have seen some pretty nasty claw marks around lately.

His eyes slowly turned in Richard's direction.

"... Anything you two would know about? Perhaps related to this strange group?"

Neither of the two men moved a muscle, but Lucius could feel in the very air that he'd struck a nerve. He had a hard time believing Richard would be the cause though, since he'd been around for much longer and people would have noticed the torn apart animals sooner.

He was also fairly certain Richard lived as a human most of the time.

"Who is this Anthony?" Ivan then asked as no one else would speak. "Why did he have a map like that?"

The rest of the group exchanged looks, and Lucius realised the other two didn't know either. The confusion and potential betrayal in their eyes was too telling.

"He's... Pretty secretive." Lucius grimaced, turning back to focus on Ivan. "Frustratingly so, so I don't think turning to him will amount to much."

He looked back at Tom and Richard.

"Especially if he wouldn't even tell these two."

"And you two know this order?" Ivan turned his head to squint at them, and even Richard looked uncomfortable now.

"I suppose, in a way," Tom mumbled, anxiously twisting his gloved hands. "But we were certain it didn't exist anymore."

"And now that you do, why are you looking for it?" Ivan's interrogation persisted, to the two men's obvious frustration.

"Can we just—Can't we look for them without so many questions?" Richard looked like he was about to stomp the mossy ground, but then he suddenly perked up and sniffed the air.

The knee jerk reaction of everyone else was to follow his example, but Lucius couldn't smell anything, and by the looks of it, neither could Ivan nor Tom.

"Garm," Richard then uttered, barely so Lucius could hear, and he shook his head in disbelief.

"What?" Tom then whispered back, lowering his voice to a similar volume. "Are—Are you serious?"

Lucius blinked, trying to read the expressions on the two men's faces. No matter what they were thinking, it didn't look positive.

"Garm?" he asked to make sure he'd heard right.

"Garm as in... A werewolf?" Ivan then asked, to Lucius' astonishment. "... Is that what you're talking about?"

"You—You know about werewolves?" Lucius asked, suddenly very interested in the man. "What—How?"

"Another Wexian, I reckon." Tom shrugged, giving Lucius a stern look. "Werewolves are sacred creatures to them, after all."

Lucius' mouth formed into an 'o' and his gaze flickered in Ivan's direction.

"Oh—Oh, yes of course, the werewolf myths," he therefore added, ending it with an amused chuckle. "Yes, I suppose Wexians would know about that."

Tom shook his head at him and Ivan's face didn't move a muscle until he opened his mouth.

"There is no myth about it." He gestured towards the woods. "Don't you think the traces of large animals suggest as much?"

"You... Always thought it was a werewolf?" Lucius still tried to sound amused but it was slowly fading. "Then why didn't you say so?"

"Because of that dumb expression of yours." Ivan scowled. "No one listens to Wexians. Of course Mitsa and I suspected something like werewolves, but why bother telling anyone?"

Lucius pinched his lips together.

"Why would you suddenly bring that up though?" Ivan turned his head in Richard's direction. "And of all things, why would it be a garm?"

"It just... Hit me." Richard averted his gaze. "With all those things you mentioned around the woods. There's something to it, isn't there? And if anything can wreak havoc like that, it would be a garm."

"Well if it is, then this land is cursed for certain." Ivan's voice was grim, and he stared into the forest with pained eyes.

Tom cleared his throat.

"Well, uh... With that in mind, perhaps it's for the best to give up the search, don't you think? No need to roam a forest with potential garms in the middle of the night."

"Except you're not going to give up." Lucius glared. "You just want us out of the way, because you know how to find them, don't you? The order?"

"Lucius, we..." Tom struggled to find words. "... If we find them I can look for, I don't know... Things that could be connected to your friend. Then you don't need to come."

"Why do you care if I come or not?" Lucius held his hands out. "If you're fine, why shouldn't I be? And it's not like we've known each other long enough for you to be bothered if I get hurt."

"No—What? Of course we do." Tom frowned and Richard followed his example. "It's not that hard to care enough about a person to not want them hurt."

Even Ivan nodded in agreement now, and Lucius felt ganged up on.

"All right, fine. I guess you're allowed to care about me." He shrugged.

"Besides, Anthony's really worried about you," Richard said while folding his arms. "You're always rushing into danger and he can't seem to convince you to do otherwise. It sucks seeing him all frustrated like that, you know? So if nothing else, we care that you're safe... For his sake."

What a lousy time for blushing, but at least it was hard to see in the light of a lantern. Still, Lucius noted that Richard gave him a light smirk and the idea that a werewolf could probably hear hearts beating faster occurred to him.

He couldn't just back down though, could he? He needed answers, more than Tom could provide, assuming he'd even tell the truth to begin with. He had also promised to help Ivan, and it seemed unlikely the other two would bring him along.

"I'll stay in the background," he therefore offered. "If things get scary, I'll retreat immediately."

"If you can," Richard argued. "Staying back doesn't always mean safe."

"We need to do this," Ivan came to Lucius' aid. "I will do what I can to protect us."

Both Tom and Richard looked at the man's cane with sceptical faces, to which both Lucius and Ivan took offence. Judgement coming from a socially impaired, monster fanatic and an overgrown sheep herder?

"They're not gonna leave," Tom then whispered to Richard as if the other two couldn't hear him just as well.

Richard rolled his eyes.

"Alright then." He nodded in a direction just left of the barnyard and started walking.

"How does he know?" Ivan asked Lucius as they followed, and the latter wondered just how secret Richard's true identity really was. If Ivan was sure werewolves existed, wouldn't it be fine? But since the other two hadn't told him perhaps Lucius shouldn't either.

"He does get some real good hunches now and then." He shrugged, and Ivan didn't look the slightest convinced.

"Sure makes it seem like they're hiding more than we think."

Sure does, doesn't it?

After a short walk Richard stopped in front of a small hill and walked around it, waving for the others to come along.

There was an old, worn down door on the other side. One of those food cellars some people used, but how would a werewolf fit down there?

Richard sniffed the air again, and Lucius noticed Ivan's eyes narrowing.

"It's... Here," Richard said, but even he didn't sound confident. "... Has to be."

"Do you need any help?" Lucius offered Ivan a hand as the other two opened the door. "I can support you."

"I'm alright," Ivan said dryly, gesturing for Lucius to walk ahead.

A damp, earthy scent prickled Lucius' nose as they descended into the cellar and he grimaced. It was a similar kind to the one present in many rooms of the Hydrina theatre where water had damaged the ceiling and walls, and not a very pleasant one.

"There usually aren't multiple levels of these things, right?" Richard asked as he looked further into the dark space, and Lucius stepped forward to spot what looked to be a roughly dug staircase stretching down into the ground.

He wasn't sure though. He'd never been in a food cellar like this before.

"No," Ivan replied, however, and the other three nodded comprehensively.

"So that's probably what we're looking for then," Tom concluded and began walking down the stairs with little hesitation. Lucius wouldn't have guessed that he of all people was eager to face potential danger.

While Richard assumed the second spot of their line Ivan pulled Lucius forward to walk in front of him, and Lucius arched an eyebrow.

"Thought I was supposed to stick to the background."

"Things can approach you from the background." Ivan shoved him gently to move forward. "You're safest in the middle."

Once they'd descended the stairs and reached a less narrow area Richard grabbed Tom's shoulders to switch places with him, which Lucius could understand. Despite Tom's supposed courage he'd rather have a large beast in charge of the front.

To Lucius' shock and disappointment, the place they'd entered smelled worse than the earthy cellar.

Much worse.

"What the fuck?" he whispered as they all looked around. Sounds of water running came from further away, but it was hard to see anything from where they stood.

Richard looked about as upset over the smell as Lucius was, if not more, and he took a step forward to look around the corner.

"Sewers," he declared with a voice so filled with disgust Lucius had to pity him. If it was bad for a human, how bad was it for a werewolf?

"Why the fuck are we in the sewers?" Lucius hissed as he glared at the water rushing by. For better or worse, the people of South Kerilia had chosen a natural cave system underneath the town to get rid of waste. While it most likely erased some of the smell, falling down into it may just be a quick trip to East Kerilia. "Why would they be in the sewers?"

Richard reluctantly sniffed the air, wrinkling his nose as he tried to look ahead.

"I'm... It's hard to tell with all this, but I still think we're on the right track."

"How so?" Ivan asked, and Richard pursed his lips together.

"Well, look," Tom pointed along the pathways stretching along the water. "There are torches lit. Someone has to be here, right?"

It did seem like a very obvious tell, Lucius reckoned as he acknowledged them, and Ivan dropped his suspicious glare once again.

"Pretty cramped area for a garm," Tom continued with his head turned in Richard's direction. "They must be human while down here."

"Either that or very limited." Richard tried picking up the scent he'd smelled before, mostly looking pained as the stench seemed to drown it out. "Let's be on our guard either way, and look for any signs that indicate a door or something. If the order's really here there's gotta be a hideout or something."

"What's a garm anyway?" Lucius whispered back to Ivan while moving forward. "Just another word for werewolf?"

"Not quite," Ivan replied, and Lucius noticed Richard glancing back at them. "They're a larger, more ferocious kind. Should a creature like that have entered this forest, all wildlife will disappear soon enough and we can do nothing but hope it won't seek out humans after that."

"But—But if that's the case we need to kill it, right?" Lucius paled. "We can't let it eradicate all wildlife, or humans for that matter."

Ivan scoffed.

"Should one stumble upon a werewolf it would be very unwise to try killing it. Not only is it a certain curse upon your land, but I've heard of very few throughout time who've managed to kill one."

"Ah, well if they're so sacred..." Lucius threw a judgemental glance in Richard's direction. "... Is there anything good about them? Or is it just a 'don't upset them and they might not curse you' kind of thing?"

"Other werewolves guard the forests, the garms claim it as their territory."

"Forest guardians, huh?" Lucius gave Richard another, more amused look. "Must be quite the majestic creatures."

Just as he said it Richard halted his step and spun around to look behind the group.

"Get behind me," he whispered while bending his knees in order to crouch down. "And be on your guard."

Lucius obeyed but still leaned a little to the side in order to see better, immediately wishing he hadn't. As it turned out, Richard was not as enormous of a werewolf as he would have guessed. Lucius was actually rather certain now that he was of the smaller kind.

"That's... A garm?" he whispered, already knowing the answer as he stared at the creature approaching from the shadows. Its head was, despite being much broader than Richard's, disproportionately small and lacking thick fur compared to its unbelievably massive body. Most eerie to Lucius though were the jaws filled with a crooked, uneven array of sharp teeth, some of them protruding enough to look more like the tusks of a boar.

"Alright," he then concluded as it kept staring at them with beady, dark eyes. "Maybe not that majestic."