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    We followed the cloaked figure into a long hallway, then up a flight of stairs into an office. Most of us were led to a waiting room, with only me, Callie, Abel, and Bethy following the figure inside. “Please, come in,” they said cheerfully. Walking over to a coat rack, they gestured for us to sit down.


    “Sorry, let me get comfortable first,” Reaching up like they were about to remove the cloak, the figure instead grabbed the darkness underneath it, pulling to reveal a human shaped blob of shadow the now empty cloak hung on the rack before drifting over to settle on a chair across from us.


    “Magic cape!” squealed Bethy excitedly. “So cool! I want one. Are you like, a person stuck inside a cape? Or were you animated from cloth? Ooh, are you some kind of higher being, and you’re not really a cape but our puny mortal minds can’t comprehend your true form?”


    I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Bethy, do you remember the conversation we had about filters? What did I say?”


    “To think about any of my questions for ten whole seconds before I ask them, in case they might offend someone” she recited dutifully. “But that’s pretty boring. Plus, he’s a MAGIC CAPE. Do you have any siblings? Do you have a sister? Is she a MAGIC DRESS?”


    The animated cloth waited patiently for her to finish, before finally interjecting calmly. “I…am a CLOAK. Capes are nonsense clothing whose only purpose is drama. Cloaks are useful and sturdy garments that provide protection from the elements and warmth during travel. I do have siblings, they are all cloaks. In fact, the branch managers of all the tranquility towers are cloaks. Except the one in the capital, that one is run by our maker.”


    “Alright, well, that’s good to know,” I said slowly. “But we’re actually here for a specific reason. First, do you accept chits?”


    The hood bobbed. “We do. Our organization often trades with external forces. Chits are still useful for exchanging goods with outsiders. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, while it is impossible to enter the Shoals after advancing beyond D-rank, items of that rank can still pass through the barrier.” He gestured to my armor, which made me pause. I hadn’t actually realized that.


    Depositing a few D-ranked chits on the desk between us, I stared at him intently. “I’m looking for some friends of mine. I suspect those people from earlier are ALSO looking for them, and I’d prefer to find them first.”


    Ray, Vesper, Cavallo, Elena, Mnemosyne, and Chess had all entered together. They were among the ones I’d given wish scrolls to, but they’d mostly used them for contact. Still, there should be a few left, and I had to have faith that they would be able to use them to avoid being discovered in the short term.


    His response was…well, it was hard to tell. No amount of Perception can help you read the body language of a floating curtain. But…I did have another potential avenue. I triggered Dantalion.


    I kept it pretty low power, throttling the effect to prevent myself from being overwhelmed, and he didn’t seem to notice the state.


    When I tried to puzzle him out though, I realized I couldn’t sense anything. While the cloak himself was D-rank, the power that made him up was a core of C-rank technique. Presumably his maker’s energy, it was too high level for me to parse.


    The floating garment sat motionless for a moment, finally responding. “I can help you. I can even prioritize your matter over theirs. My other self is currently interacting with your enemies, and I must admit I find them a bit obnoxious. They reacted with far less aplomb to the revelation of my origins, treating me with disdain. As a proud Heaven Draping Cloak, I naturally find this unacceptable.


    “However,” he continued, cutting off my grateful response. “This is but one small branch of the tranquility tower. I can’t promise other towers won’t aid your enemies based on the information I help you gather. Ultimately, we all serve the Rag King, and even he serves at the pleasure of Skartaris.”


    I understood what he was getting at. Any info I gave him for the search would be accessible to everyone involved with the Ghost Bone Tranquility Tower. “Would it be possible to purchase general information and keep that purchase confidential? As long as I don’t ask you to conduct an active search?”


    He hummed (somehow, despite having no voice box or even a skull) “Perhaps.” His voice was hesitant, but not outright dismissive. “It is at my own discretion to report the distribution of local resources. Things like maps or general tips on local environments would technically fall under that umbrella. You understand, of course, that such an action would be an inherent risk, and would require more…thoughtful compensation.”


    In my head, I heard Callie snickering about me being extorted by a tablecloth, but I avoided reacting. He’d mentioned local resources. I’d originally wanted to ask about a map to find my friends, but chances of them having moved already were high. What I needed was someone who knew the area, and local resources should include that kind of information.


    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    “Do you know of any local forces who might have contacts in Ashborn?” I gave him the name of the only village I knew of near where they’d vanished.


    There was a whisper of paper, and a large scroll slid from an umbrella stand next to the desk and unfurled itself across the top of the surface. The cloak bowed over it, eventually nodding. “Within the domain of Ironreach, which is under the sway of Dezcarta. She’s one of the higher ranked generals, probably top twenty these days, though it can get hard to keep track.”


    With a snap, the scroll rerolled itself and then flipped off the desk to land back in the stand. “You’ll want to speak to the Ordinary Citizen. He runs the Casual Friends, a deceptively named group of extremely malevolent robbers who use a facade of harmlessness to avoid harassment by Lord Malzareth. The Citizen is, at the very least, quite open about his penchant for bribery, so getting his help shouldn’t be much of an issue if you have the coin.”


    “Except we don’t,” I said bluntly. “Because we spent all our fish getting into the city. Don’t suppose you convert chits to fish?”


    “We can, but I don’t recommend it,” he said bluntly. “While fish are heavily traded among the peasantry, the elites use a slightly more functional form of currency.” A drawer opened, and a small scale floated out and dropped onto the desk. “As you surely know, the fish in the dark ocean are prized for their powerful external protection. However, low rank fish actually don’t condense too many decent quality scales. On an entire fish, you’ll usually only get one above base quality, which equates to early D-rank.”


    The scale slid across the surface, and was then joined by a second, much more lustrous scale. While both were black, the second was more glossy and had a nice shine to it. “Above base quality are fine scales, which are understood to be worth about a hundred base quality scales. Your average lower D-rank fish condenses one or two of these, with the condensation accelerating as they climb the ranks.”


    I picked up the second scale, turning it over in my fingers. Picking up the first, I compared them, and it was clear the base quality scale had a lot less give, and was much easier to scratch. “So the more these fish progress, the more of these fine scales they condense? I assume there’s a level beyond fine?”


    “Well reasoned,” he said cheerfully. “Yes, traditionally, the deeper a fish’s territory in the sea, the more powerful they become, and the more lustrous their scales. A fish with all fine scales is a fine fish, and they have a chance to condense exotic scales, beyond exotic is the even more prized unique. Base fish scales are a single unit of currency, but are more accurately a sub unit. Similar to the concept of ‘change’. Fine fish scales are ten units, exotic is one hundred, and unique scales are a thousand.”


    That was an interesting system. “So, the currency can be directly forged into armor? That’s certainly novel. But what’s the exchange rate for scales?”


    “D-rank chits are formed of pure Creation stats. They are rare and difficult to find in the shoals. I’d be willing to part with a single exotic for one.” I could tell from his tone that this was his bottom line, and we weren’t getting any better.


    But I didn’t really need him to. Rather than take out the D-ranked chits I had on me, I pushed forward one of the three I’d dropped originally, and then stacked eighty one E-rank chits, my entire sub D-rank reserve, on the desk. “I’ll take a hundred and eighty one fine scales. That should be enough for a decent bribe, right?”


    “Indeed,” he said, all three of the coins smoothly sliding into the drawer as stacks of scales poured out. They were quickly stacked up in neat piles of fifty, with an extra stack of thirty one beside them, and I swept them all into my ring. “Unique scales are rare and valuable, and are generally kept for armor. Exotics are the highest useful denomination, and paying them out in lower quality coinage is usually safer.”


    We didn’t discuss the other party. I wasn’t even sure they were going to ask anything now. They seemed to have been looking for us, so I was more concerned about being jumped as soon as we left town. I’d paid my bribe and got my info, so I stood up to leave, but before I could finish exiting the room, I stopped.


    “Would it be possible,” I said slowly. “For me to get you help with a little…practical joke? On those other adventurers you didn’t like so much.”


    The hood lifted sharply. “It would depend on the joke. I can’t give them false information. The reputation of the Ghost Bone Tranquility Tower is paramount. Nor can I help you poison or attack them.”


    “Nothing like that,” I assured him. “Rather, if I give you the information about when and where we’re going to leave the city, can you make sure they get it? It will be accurate.”


    There was a pause, and then the cloak chuckled. “I suppose as long as I believe you intend to leave the city at that time and place, it would be accurate information. Any additional knowledge left out at that point would hardly be my responsibility. To clarify, you’re planning to ambush them outside city limits, yes?”


    “That was my intention, yeah,” I acknowledged. “You want to help?”


    A dark chuckle emerged from the empty hood. “One of them just called my other self a ‘glorified dishcloth’. I do believe I can be of assistance. However, I think just giving them the information would be suspicious. I’m an expert at dissemination, leave that to me. What time should they be expecting you, and which exit.”


    We had a general idea of the gates, but Callie had done the map, so I consulted her. After a brief discussion, we gave him a time and place, tomorrow and went on our way, heading back to meet up with the others.


    Once we were out, we followed some directions that Bella had managed to chat out of a local and made our way to a reasonably safe inn called the Brutal Dullard. It wasn’t fancy, but it was cheap and clean, and for the low price of thirty one fine scales we got food, drink, and lodging for the night and the next morning. Once we had a place to stay, we headed out into town to look for the Casual Friends. We still had plenty to do today before bed.