I saw some some people turn into god-damned metal men today. And not the clean, smooth aether kind, they had wires and gears like a fucking watch.

Has stuff like this always been happening?

I mean, here I am going toe to toe with human metal cage monsters shooting their god-damned bones at us when all I can do is side-step and jab, and not even because of some weird magic or artifact, but just because I learned to fight as a kid.

I don't know, man.

Anyway, we arrived in town with the crystal, and we're pretty much ignored by everyone living there. Doing their old jobs without thinking. Couldn't find any council or leadership, just work-work-work.

Turns out the plane of order was seeping in or something, so we had to disable as many beings and cage people as we could to take them back with us. It went alright, except that I spent too much time unprotected in the Bloom, and got what looks like a circuitry tattoo crawling up my neck. Not sure if I should embrace it, or hope it goes away. At any rate, I feel like a need a stiff drink after every single one of these.

Reggie talking to a someone at the bar, one hand coming out of a sling, the other holding a shot of dark liquor.

"...and he straight up just turned into a rat. I mean, know there's some crazy magic out there, but that's a new one for me."

He throws back the shot and slides the small glass into a small collection of them. The camera pans down as the glasses change to mountains, a train howling down the tracks in the distance. A flash of thick red lightning strikes down onto the trailing airship with physical force, splintering a section of the ship.

"And one of the new recruits—Miwa—absolutely crazy. Summon hellfire lightning on the Blue's Sloop. They're supposed to be fire proof, but this shit... this wasn't fire. It was more."

We see Reggie leap from the train to the airship.

"I saw some faces I recognized on that ship. Steele one of them. He was never just going to let me take over, but he was fighting like it was personal."

In the bar, Reggie swirls his 6th drink, watching a mesmerizing little whirlpool form in the middle.

"No idea what I did."

There's a pause.

"I didn't really know what to expect on a job like this, but..."

He seems like he's lost in thought for a moment, then remembers something.

"Oh, and did I tell you about the fuckin' BEES?"