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

Steve is floored by the amount of people crammed into the Arena. He laughs and says, "Wow, look at all of them! How many do you think there are?" He starts moving around the area trying to see so he can count. He quickly gives up on specifics and starts estimating their numbers. "Guys, there must tens of thousands of people here! The fairies are racing carbuncles! Woo, go, go!" He cheers. Steve's practically hopping up and down in excitement at this point, clearly over stimulated and not paying attention to Doodad or the conversation at hand.

Zenobiusz realizes that Doodad is one of the party's acquaintances, so he decides to step away and wait for them to be finished. Before he does however, he walks up to Steve, taps him on the shoulder and points at the executive manager.

"Yes, I am," Doodad answers. "I'm also here to meet potential clients. I would never have expected this Tournament to be such a big event; I'm glad we've come here. Oh, Walter and Lucy are here too if you want to speak to them."

He refers to two of the weavers in the company's employ.

The black mage is mid cheer when Zenobiusz taps him on the should. "Woooo! Oh, what is it?" He follows the line of the point to Doodad, whom he notices for the first time. "Doodad!" He walks over and shakes the fairy's hand, which shakes the whole fairy really. "Good to see you. Are you enjoying Odwaz so far?"

The fairy's voice shakes as he answers the black mage. "Yes! I am!"

"They're two of our three weavers. I know them from school. They are super reliable and discreet." He laughs mischievously.

"Oh." Konrad's face withers. "Reliable and discreet" with Steve can only mean one thing. "Splendid."

Doodad takes some time to recover from Steve's handshake and says, "Yes, they're doing a last minute checkup at the moment. I can assure you that everything will go without a hitch." He looks around and then asks, "Are Ms. Melan and Breeze here too?"

Steve stops laughing. He looks sad now. "Oh, um no."

Mihai's mood visibly falls, but he tries to keep it straight - "That's part of the reason we're here. We'll tell you all about it once we can talk more at length. Need to take care of some preparations before the fight; we're uh... helping Szef Zerva."

Konrad just nods along to Mihai's insistence on their previous engagements.

"Oh, you're acquainted with one of the contestants? This is unexpected."

A few of the spectators seated around the party now look at them with curiosity and they begin to whisper to each other. As for Doodad, he doesn't seem to fully understand the long faces on the adventurers, so he chooses to move on from the subject.

"You seem quite busy at the moment, so I won't take any more of your time. If you ever need our help, you can find us at the National Inn, right over at the Faculty."

Mihai nods - "Thanks. We'll meet you there."

"Thanks. You're doing a great job Doodad."

"Thank you sirs. I wish you good day."

Doodad nods at the adventurers and then flies upstairs—probably to find Walter and Lucy. Once the party is ready to move again, Zenobiusz guides them to Szef Zerva's seats. The section reserved to Nadzieja's clansmen and guests is actually pretty close to the Imperial box, where officials of the Old Empire used to sit when an event took place here.

View from the Imperial box:

Nadzieja is actually sitting in the first row of the terraces, right between two familiar faces; Volwind and Saria, the two orphans the party met at the monastery. Volwind has had a growth spurt since then and he be must at least six feet tall now. As for his ten years old sister, she seems less timid than before judging by how expressive she is with her hands when talking to Nadzieja. The rest of the Zerva family are seated around them; Leon, Valor, Suzy, and of course, Master Avalon. They're all wearing the traditional monk outfit.

To the left of them are Anastajza Zawistowski, the Administrator of Odwaz, and the other three party members; Amber, Fluffle and Florolf.

They're drinking slushies at the moment.

"Hi guys!" Amber shouts.

"Oh, hi!" Fluffle says.

The Zerva family turns to look at the three adventures who've just appeared. Konrad can feel the gaze of the four monks settle on him for a moment before focusing their attention on Nadzieja's conversation with the children.

Steve waves at the monks and kids before addressing Amber and Fluffle. "Those look good. What kind did you get?"

Mihai tries to work up some kind of smile as he nods at the family. They're obviously a welcome sight, though he tries to hide how troubled his mind is.

Konrad puts on a bold face and smiles, raising a hand in greeting to the monks, before addressing Amber, Fluffle, and their pet.

"Hello, you three."

The monks nod back at Mihai with respect, but for some reason, only Master Avalon returns Konrad's greeting. It's clear they'd be willing to engage in a conversation with the adventurers—at least two of them—but it might be difficult to talk from this distance.

"I've got blueberry," Amber says with a blue smile. "Fluffle and Florolf have strawberry."

"It's very good," the fairy says. "They even gave us small straws."

Florolf yaps happily and drinks again from the small cup that sits between him and Fluffle. The Administrator chooses this moment to interject. "Good day to you," she says in Imperial. "I've heard you're going to fight today."

Steve looks at the slushies and says, "I'm going to have one of those. Yes, I will." He looks super serious about it like he just swore a sacred oath or something. He even pumps his fist for emphasis.

Amber chuckles and offers Steve some of her own slush. Meanwhile, Anastazja listens to Konrad, takes a look at the many people around them and asks, "Here?"

"Oh, can I? Thank you." Steve takes it and sips some of the blueberry. "That's really good! What other flavors did they have?" He hands it back.