Act 2: Upheaval II - Revelations and search

"Good to see your eyes are still working, Gab." Konrad nods to the fairies.

"Yes, I didn't think so either. I'm pushing our talk up sooner than I hoped."

Let's go inside for a minute.

Gabby gives Konrad a thumbs up before Segel tells her to pay attention. Nadzieja, Amber and Fluffle follow Mihai. Femke thinks for a moment before she decides to join the party inside the captain's cabin.

"It must be important if you're sending your crew to find me," the szef points out.

"Yeah," Amber says. "Looks like everyone wants to make friends with us now."

Nadzieja raises an eyebrow, curious to see where this conversation is going.

"Wanda Makara wants to meet. Seeing as we've never had any contact with her before, i have to suspect she could be the ISA agent they have among the Szefowie. I wasn't expecting much, but i cast a lure last night, right after Leopold left. Maybe they bit."

The young woman's eyes widen. "Wait a minute," she begins, flustered. "You're telling me one of the szefowie is an Imperial agent?"

"We're not sure, and we don't know in what state the Empire is in right now. For all we know, there's no human left alive inside that dome. But the organization that's trying to thwart the Elementals most likely has someone in there."

"How can you not be sure? How did you learn about this?"

She's still trying to warp her mind around this fact, and Konrad's attempt to calm her down seems to make it even more difficult. Femke is listening very attentively from the other side of the room.

"So... you didn't know one of these imperial agents might be a szef until a few minutes ago?"

Nadzieja sighs and facepalms when she realizes the party forgot to mention this crucial detail during their previous discussion, but she quickly lets it go.

"So Makara then?" she repeats. "Were you given a reason for why she wants to meet you?"

Mihai is suddenly irritated, and for a moment looks like he wants to say something more impulsive but quickly stops himself and reins it in. Instead, he pulls a piece of paper from his pocket, gives it another once-over, frowns, and hands it to her.

"This should explain it. And then some."

letter:

Konrad creates a mental note: okay, item number 1 will be this little exchange.

"I assumed it has something to do with our recent activity."

Steve shrugs. "She might want to win our support given recent events or she may be luring us to a trap. That's why we wanted to tell you."

"So she didn't give a reason? Hmm. If you're right and she thinks you're one of them, you could use that to your advantage."

Nadzieja takes the letter and starts to read it. She then frowns and reads it again.

"...Who is this ‘Brother’? A sibling? Or a colleague?"

"No idea, but that's not the kind of talk you'd expect from a Deep Cover Intelligence Operative. More like... a cult. These people have been doing this too long for their own good."

"We think that letter was sent to Edward," Amber says. "The bastard who put these orbs in their heads."

She points at the three other adventurers.

"And who kidnapped our friends," Fluffle adds with bitterness.

"Hmm." Nadzieja examines the letter before turning to face Mihai. "This letter does mention the attrition of their mental fortitude. If they're planning an assault on the Elementals, they'd need many soldiers. This fairy you mentioned, Jacob, is he the same as the one in this letter?"

"We believe so, yes. He seemed a descent sort from what little time we spent with him."

"It would be a hell of a coincidence if it weren't so."

Konrad recites the closing sentence from the letter. "Jacob's idealism will be his downfall. we must take care that it won't be ours."

"The translation may be as simple as them not having wanted to attack Shadowstep all this time, but... i wonder. As far as i know, that's not the only thing Jacob has had scruples about. This thing about body-snatching sane people to use as vessels? That seems to be Edward's idea. The person he put in Fedler's mind certainly didn't seem comfortable with it, but ended up relenting when he told her Jacob was dead. I hope that was just a lie to coax her along, but i can't be certain. Even if it's true, there should still be people within their organization that can be reasoned with. I just don't think the Szef if one of them, judging by that letter."

He stops, but then thinks of something.

"Do you recognize the handwriting at all?"

Szef Zerva seems disappointed to learn that Jacob might be dead. "This is unfortunate. For all of us." When Mihai shares his next idea, her eyes widen. "...Let me see."

Nadzieja reads the letter again, but after a short moment, she dejectedly shakes her head.

"No, I don't recognize it," she says. She then realizes something. "However... if you let me keep the letter, I could maybe find out. "

Amber and Fluffle seem surprised – almost excited – to hear this. Even Femke shows some anticipation.

"There's someone we need to show this to, to maybe get her to stand down without a fight, but..."