Act 2: Upheaval II - Revelations and search

"There's something else," Nadzieja says. "Once I bring us back to Odwaz, we should yell like we did during the fight."

As she says this, two birds with red feathers land on the roof and observe the party. The monk glances in their direction but promptly ignores them.

"...They're beautiful," Fluffle exclaims, having momentarily forgotten about the werewolf and the situation he's in..

The birds' attention switch to the corpse.

Birds:

Mihai looks intently at the birds - "Got something to say, or just enjoying the show?"

"I doubt they need to report back."

Steve looks up at the birds. "Yeah, if they mean us harm the jig is up already. But not everything is bad. Maybe these particular spies belong to a friend?"

"......"

"They're just birds," Nadzieja explains, somewhat concerned for them. "They live in the Shroud, just like the carbuncles. So no need to shoot them down, okay?"

Mihai shrugs.

"The Avatar told you this?"

By now, Fluffle has flown over to the birds' side, who are looking at him with curiosity. He waves at them.

"No. I've seen them before, that's all," Szef Zerva says. "I don't know much about them, except that they appeared a few months after the carbuncles." She sets her eyes on the werewolf again and sighs. "Ok. Ready to be showered in blood?"

The fairy rushes back to the party and hides behind Mihai's shoulder.

"Way ahead of you."

Steve's expression momentarily shows he doesn't quite agree with Nadzieja's take on the birds but nevertheless the black mage moves into position. "All set."

"Then gather around me. We need to be in physical contact with each other to go back to Odwaz."

Mihai walks over and holds out his hand.

Steve joins them. He take's Nadzieja's other hand.

Konrad reaches over and places a hand on one of them.

Fluffle decides to land on everyone's hand and smiles, which manages to amuse Nadzieja. She then turns serious again and says, "Here we go."

As soon as the party is out of the Shroud, the smells and sounds of the real world assault the adventurers' senses. The momentary absence of gravity caused by the "blinking" makes them feel sick again, and the stench coming from the nearby dumpster doesn't help. The monk doesn't appear to be affected by this, and the moment Steve activates his right of light, she initiates the plan.

Over the next twenty seconds, the group reenacts their fight with the werewolf as best as they remember it, except this time, it ends with a shower of offal, blood and burned fur. All of the party members except for Florolf and Fluffle are now covered in gore. Mihai somehow looks worse than before.

"...Disgusting," Nadzieja mutters, looking at herself.

Caring little at this point, Mihai doesn't waste much time - "Which way to Leopold?"

"Leopold? Why?"

She cleans her face with a handkerchief she had in her inner pocket.

Steve looks like he's going to throw up. Which he does not a moment later. He tries to get as much of it into the dumpster as he can but the smell makes him throw up more.

Mihai shrugs - "Nothing important. Just like to toss him the head, really. Unless you want to wait here for someone to find us, that's fine too."

Konrad heaves and catches himself a few times. Then, he swallows. "Could get rid of the mess with some raw magic, if I had any."

"He just wants to rub his nose in it," he replies as he uncorks a bottle of warm rum. "What were the instructions for when someone killed it? Go back to the arena with a trophy in hand?"

His stomach already emptied, Fluffle flies to Steve's side and rubs the back of his neck. Szef Zerva continues to wipe the blood off her face while she answers Konrad.

"‘Tell the others’, that's the gist of it. We should find a patrol of Defenders instead. Reporting back to Leopold would be an acknowledgement of his authority. I assume none of you want that."

Her face is now almost blood-free. She then takes a silver watch out of her pocket and pushes on one of its buttons. The adventurers feel a sudden wave of magical energy coming from Nadzieja and going through them. Even Mihai felt it.

"They won't be able to scan the corpse now."

Mihai shrugs casually in agreement, then Nadia does her thing - "Another gift from the man?"