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

The szef answers Steve's question first.

"Zenobiusz Forys," she says. "He's one of the best white mages in Zdetermiwa, and he's young enough to still fight at the Arena. You won't be the only tempting target after all. Oh, and don't worry too much about your reserves of magic; our first fight will be tomorrow at noon and the next at eight in the evening. That should give us enough time to rest."

When Konrad suggests that Amber fights in the Arena, the teenager looks at him like he's crazy.

"Fuck that!" she says. " I'm watching from the terraces with a bag of pretzels. You go fight those guys."

Nadzieja and Fluffle chuckle at that reaction.

Mihai exhales something between a chuckle and a sigh of relief.

"Oh wow, a dedicated white mage. That should be helpful." Steve is looking more upbeat about the fight tomorrow, especially with the knowledge they'll be able to rest.

Amber nods. "Like the good meat-shield you are."

"Changing the topic, there's a bit of a trick Florolf showed us last winter, about using the Shroud against someone trying to cast on him. He doesn't talk much, so do the honors Konrad."

Konrad smiles at her.

"Oh... Ahem. I tried to Scan Florolf once and he teleported away. I got nothing from it. This they know, but that was my first encounter with the Shroud." He shudders. "I didn't want anyone to worry because I didn't know anything about the Shroud back then, and I didn't think there was anything we could do about it, so what I tried to keep to myself is that the carbuncle has some kind of link to it. I know this because it completely drained my ability to cast."

"He diverted your spell into the Shroud and it ate all your Mana in turn." - he surmises, then looks at Nadzieja - "I know you don't want anyone finding out, but if you're cornered... not a bad piece of knowledge to have."

The young woman considers this new information while taking a sip from her glass. Once she's put it back on the table, she says, "This is interesting, but no, I won't use it during the Tournament."

"Why not?" Fluffle asks. "That'd be useful, no?"

"It would, yeah, but it would also raise a lot of questions. Like why didn't I tell the rest of the Szefowie about it?"

"Do the Szefs usually lay all their techniques and tricks out for the others? I know you guys are colleagues but it seems like you guys are rivals too."

"Depends on the Szef."

Mihai shrugs slightly - "I just didn't want to go down there without mentioning it. Can call it the Florolf Maneuver and make a Carbuncle happy."

Florolf doesn't react to Mihai's comment. He simply continues to purr on Steve's lap with his eyes closed.

"You mean for Duma?" Nadzieja says. "Yeah, I have an idea. He'll never know I was there."

"Perfect." He looks at the others. "Does anyone have anything else to share?"

"What kind of battle formation are we going to do? That shield came in handy at the mansion, are you going to keep on using it Konrad? If so, we should put Mihai and Nadzieja on the wings on either side of you." He looks to Mihai to see what he has to say about it.

Mihai considers it for a moment - "You know i'm just gonna charge forward, unless something tells me i shouldn't."

"Each member of one team must either surrender, be knocked unconscious or killed for the whole team to lose," Nadzieja explains. "We'll also get a few minutes before combat starts to plan a strategy; I don't know who the champions are, but I can tell you about the Szefowie."

"Duma is a green mage, so he has an Aspect," Amber says. "What Element though?"

"He has three Aspects; Water, Earth and Life. I've always wondered how he managed to get so many, but after what you told me about the Elementals, the answer seems obvious..."

Amber blinks multiple times. "Fuck."

"Yeah, that doesn't sound good..." Fluffle remarks.

"It won't matter for this fight, especially after he's got the Orb, but killing a possessed Green Mage will do nothing to the Aspect. They'd just keep going till exhausted. If there were more than one... well, i wonder."

"Green mages can only have one Aspect out at a time but there's nothing stopping him from desummoning and resummoning to move them around the battlefield. At least until he gets tired."

Nadzieja is taken aback by the revelation that Aspects can remain after their summoner's death. "I'll definitely keep that in mind," she says.

She then answers Konrad's question. "Czelusniak is a berserker; he's at his most dangerous when he's enraged, and you don't want to be near him when he starts swinging his axes."

Amber eyes Mihai. "Like my brother then," she says.

"Except he hurts more. Uh, no offense Mihai."

"What about Szef Makara then?" Fluffle asks. "She sounded scary when I heard her talk."

"An accurate description of her," Nadzieja says with a lopsided smile. "She's a red mage, a dangerous one. I'll give you some enchanted medallions to help you resist her Sleep spell."

"That..." - he remembers - "...was how Edward got us to begin with. Bastards must have a fad."