Act 2: Upheaval I - The Werewolf

"If i'm backing anyone, it's Nadia. She's the only candidate with a background we can verify to any degree."

"As long as the elementals don't win I don't see the issue. I'm just hoping the Myrzen are free to choose their own leaders."

"I don't care about politics, i'm worried how many of these we can actually trust. The Zervas vouched for her character, and we have the basis for some kind of rapport, if nothing else."

Konrad's casual demeanor transforms. "Zanotowano, cudzoziemiec. That you have the option to back anyone comes from our extenuating circumstances. Count yourself priviledged."

"If that's a yes, it's good enough for me."

Then refocuses on the matter at hand - "I'm getting Wolf flashbacks to this whole Monster thing. It's serving as a pretty good means to keep all the Chiefs locked up in one place, with one of them. We can try and save Duma, but we have no way of knowing if he's the only Enemy, and we only have one Orb. And we still don't know if Edward is around; he might just go under if we pre-empt his move." - he pauses a moment - "For now, i don't see any other path but to go take out that Monster. It's the only thing that might open some doors to us."

Steve rubs his chin while thinking about what Mihai said. "That makes sense to me. What should our first move be? We could go to the brothel and poke around a bit. Or maybe approach someone in authority and offer to help as Coins."

Konrad finds his smile again. "Of course! Helping and even solving this before Edward gets here will buffer us from any doubt he casts on our reputations before the tournament begins."

"That would certainly help, yes."

Amber's eyes widen. "So... we're going to hunt down a monster?"

To Amber - "We're gonna investigate, first of all. Then decide what to do."

Then refocuses - "As for the monster, maybe the brothel first. It's the most recent lead, best go there before the trail goes any colder."

"Wouldn't the police be there?" Fluffle asks.

"They probably will be, yeah. But it should have the side effect of drawing the locals out to watch so we should have plenty of people to question. We may have to sneak into the crime scene when the cops aren't around but that has other problems, mainly being out at night."

"Very astute. Yes, there will be police, and we can question them too, and the monster if it finds us," he grins.

"I don't think it's gonna attack an armed party." - he muses, but then reconsiders - "It might make an exception for us, though."

"Hey, shouldn't we also ask what the monster looks like?" Amber suggests.

"Good idea Amber. Anyone have any other ideas before we head out?"

"Me too," Amber says.

"I'm ready to hide!" Fluffle adds with a smile.

Femke stares silently at the party members.

"Before we go any further..." - Mihai says after some deep thought - "Femke, we've also obtained new information, that we should share with you."

Mihai proceeds to explain about the Green Mages' vulnerability, and the Elementals' plan to enslave Humanity (which now might be more akin to destroy).

"For good reason, this knowledge has been kept secret for generations now. We aren't sworn to keep it that way, but i still understand why it can never come out in the open." Then he shows her the Orb.

"This can save a Green Mage from being mind-jacked. All of us have one, for a whole lot of reasons. They're good for more than one thing, though they can also be dangerous when misused."

He pauses for just a second, even if he doesn't believe the girl needs time to process - "Breeze could normally make a few of these, but right now we have only the one. If we save someone with it, we won't be able to help anyone else until we get Breeze back."

"..."

The Tyke woman considers the implications of these revelations. She puts a hand on her chin, and after a long moment of reflection, she says, "If Zenon Duma is under the influence of the Enemy, and what you told me about Edward wanting to eliminate this threat is true, the Tournament would most likely be the way to do it."

"And the loudest, even if it gives him a pretext. Though we may end up being forced into it sooner or later."

"Do you have any other questions Femke?"

"Only one. If this faction is so secretive, how did you learn that Edward would come here?"

At that moment, Konrad produces the correspondence from Myr. "Here, give this a read."

As she takes it, he says "We have another from Emerald mentioning a planned assassination. I think we made the right choice in coming here first for more reasons than one."

Femke takes the letter and reads it.

"...Did Edward write it, or did he receive it?"