Act 2: Upheaval III - The Master Weaver and the Arena

He chuckles. Then he sighs and considers.

"I can stay back and wait, if you guys want to leave. I just don't like surrendering expensive gear to them, after all we went through."

"If that's the way they are going to be I see no reason to stick around. Let's go get cleaned up and find some place to eat. I doubt anywhere reputable would want to seat us in our current conditions." He looks down at everyone's ripped and bloody clothes/armor. "Would you like to join us Administrator? It's as much your victory as it is ours."

Mihai shrugs - "It's really nice bondage gear." - then sighs in resignation - "But yeah, i guess. Can just ask for it later or something."

Konrad laughs. "Good, just looking out. You've got a broken rib that needs fixing, after all."

"Uh?" - he taps the spot where his injury was - "Nah, Amber fixed that."

"The wand did actually," Amber says with a grin.

"I'll make sure the Defender return the shackles to you," the Administrator says. She then listens to Steve's offer and replies, "Thank you, but I unfortunately need to handle this situation first. Come see me when you're fully rested so we can talk about what you found in that basement."

"Thank you, on all accounts."

"Another time then I hope. See you later then." He tips his hat to the Administrator and leaves with the others.

6:21 PM, 5th of April 422
Wharf, Odwaz, Myr

The mercenaries say goodbye to the Administrator and depart for the docks. There's only an hour of sunlight left when they arrive at their ship, and judging by the laughter coming from the galley, the fairies are enjoying the fresh food the party bought for them today.

Segel salutes the captain and welcomes everyone aboard. He informs them that they've received and installed three new baths; one in the captain's quarters, the second in a separate room accessible to the party and the last one in the crew's quarters. If anyone needs to take a bath, the fairies will prepare one for them.

Femke comes out of her cabin and goes to meet the adventurers on the deck. She greets them with a slight bow and says, "Hello."

"Oh, hi Femke!" Fluffle says.

"Hello Fluffle." She turns to the rest of the group. "I have some news to share with all of you."

Steve waives a weary hello to Femke and Segel. "I hope it's good news. I could really use a bath."

Mihai greets Femke, and waits for her to lay it out.

"It might be better if I told you in private," she adds.

"We can use the Captain's room."

"Yes, Captain," Segel says with an affirmative nod.

"Very well," Femke says. She then waits for Konrad to finish his conversation with his first mate.

"Oh. That's impressive. Did you do it with this?" He floats the bottle Myrzen Red that he took from Goodman's wine cellar above the palm of his hand.

"Oh! Yes, let's go to my private quarters."

"Yes, we did," the fairy says. "We were very careful."

The party then moves to the captain's quarters and Segel returns to his duties—which consist at this moment of supervising his siblings.

Once the adventurers are truly alone, Amber asks the Tyke woman, "So, is it good news or bad news?"

"It depends on your perspective," Femke says. "Your altercation with the Werewolf has earned you some fame." She gazes at Steve, Konrad and Mihai. "I have confirmed that four nations, three companies and two criminal syndicates have been gathering information on all of you. Some of them have also dispatched agents to track your movements, but we have done our best to impede their efforts."

Steve facepalms. "Thank you for running interference but what nations and syndicates exactly?"

"Thanks. We spotted some of them earlier, but ended up losing them in the crowd. They're not sending bottom feeders either." - then he sighs - "I'm guessing this morning won't help us keep any lower a profile."

Then finally starts thinking - "What are the crime syndicates?"

Konrad cracks a smile. "So, you really mean that we're ultra famous now."

"Myr, Lorinth, the Free Feathers, Lofell, the Golden Legion, the Western Islands Shipping company, the Padlock Bank, the Noze and the Whisperers. When I say Myr, I also include the independent efforts of multiple Szefowie. Unfortunately, we've managed to confirm the identity of only one of them; Leopold Czelusniak, the Szef from Barbazyn."

"Wow, that's a lot of people..." Fluffle mutters under his breath.

She faces Konrad and says, "No, I do not."

Amber chuckles.

Konrad keeps smiling. "Whatever you say sweetheart, I didn't expect your people to care properly about this anyway."

Mihai frowns at one of the names on that list, as if confirming his suspicion - "That's great work, Femke. I'm afraid we must've bumped up our notoriety even further with our op this morning though, and it'll probably get worse before we leave."