"Come quick, someone's entered the secret passage in the middle of Town Square again!" rang a high-pitched voice from the street.

The crowd of gnomes and elves poured past Max and Alyssa and out of the Potent Potion Inn on their way to see the standard excitement. While they had only just shipped into Grimmauld, Max and Alyssa had encountered strange complacency toward what were apparently constant heist attempts of the local legend's vault.

That local legend's name was Grimmon. His stony likeness on a statue in the center of Town Square emanated as much feeling as gazing upon the fleshy version of the face the sculpture was modeled after - that is to say, none at all. Over the years, Grimmon aged in the ways that makes a gnome hard, inside and out. His once bright eyes grayed over with the wisdom of knowing his own superiority could deal with any and every threat he might face. While this provided Grimmon the leisure of disposing the uncommon, successful trespasser in accordance with his daily whim, it left the regular townsfolk eager for his trespassers' success. Unfortunately for everyone involved, Grimmon also aged with uncanny maintenance of his intellect and had thwarted thousands of attempted thefts. Combining his own creativity with that of his attackers, Grimmon fortified and reinforced his estate, manor and vault just as constantly as they were assaulted.

"Of course there's a secret passage in middle of Town Square," scoffed Alyssa. "This city might actually be charming in another era, but we had to show up when everybody's a kleptomaniac, and the magic industry's on the fritz."

"Relax," Max replied, "we fit right in with the kleptos, and the magic makes for some interesting sights."

No sooner had they exited the Potent Potion than did they befall such a sight. Two robed figures were scurrying toward them, their pious garb aflame. "Stop, you two fools!" shouted an elderly gnome who was out sweeping his storefront across the street. "The magical smog is explosive!"

But it was too late, the hooded figures were mere paces away from the nearest cloud of hazy, green mist, and their momentum carried them right into it. A magnificent emerald explosion engulfed the two figures, the blast echoed off the surrounding buildings, and a shockwave sent Max and Alyssa reeling backwards over the street's uneven cobbles. As the smoke cleared, many onlookers gazed upon the two fallen bodies. Where before their hair and skin were singed, sloughs of flesh now fell from their arms and faces.

Alyssa gagged and swallowed back down a bit of acrid phlegm. "I think I could do without some of the local attractions."

"What, that was awesome. They were all like, Ahhh, help us! We're on fire, and then BAM! And now you can practically see there ribs poking out of their torsos," Max observed. "I should grab a femur for a cudgel or something."

"You do that," Alyssa replied. "I'm going to check out what's going on in Town Square. Maybe we should be exploring the secret passage, don't you think?"

"Oh, yeah, you're probably right," said Max as they headed off together in that direction.