Act 2: Upheaval V - The Red Sword

Duma, Zenobiusz and the Aspect look at each other, somewhat horrified by what they just heard.

"The world can only handle one of me," the green mage says in jest. "Better keep this thing in my head."

"Don't lose it," the Aspect adds.

Once the orb is back into its owner's head, Nadzieja decides to interject. "I'm sure you have a ton of questions, but we have only ten more minutes left before the next battle, so..."

She motions to the adventurers to speed it up.

Mihai nods - "Agreed. We'll tell you all we can once we've made it through this."

Konrad looks at Nadia in surprise. He hadn't noticed how quickly the time had gone by. "Yes, let's wrap this up. What did you bring in the case, Zenon?"

"Uh... yes," Duma says. "I suppose we should..."

The green mage stands up from the bed and walks to the table where he left the briefcase. It's with a disquieted expression that he opens it and reveals its contents; rows and rows of neatly packed rings. Konrad and Steve feel a gentle wave of magic wash over them, and they realize that the briefcase was woven to contain the power of these seemingly cheaply made rings.

"Let me warn you first..." the Szef says as he presents the items to the adventurers. "Do not break one of these rings while they're in the box. It'd be very hard to do, but if it happens, this whole section of the Arena would explode. Kaboom."

"...What a fucking day," Zenobiusz mutters under his breath.

Mihai pats Zenobiusz on the shoulder reassuringly as he looks at the rings.

"And i thought we gave you something cool." - he tells Duma.

Steve gets up and walks over to take a look. He whistles to show how impressed he is. "I've never seen so many together. No wonder you have them in a suppressor. Is this your clan's supply then?"

Konrad walks closer to appraise the rings' power. Really? How recently did you have these made? He thinks of asking, but would rather not give the man a chance to flatter anyone.

Spellcraft 27
What do these things do? Which are the strongest?

Despite Mihai's best efforts, the white mage isn't very much reassured by the presence of so many woven items in this room. Szef Duma, still reeling from the recent revelations, responds to Mihai's comment with a smile. He then turns to Steve and says, "Not exactly. Think of it as a rainy day fund."

Nadzieja is impressed by the lengths her fellow countryman is going to support her bid to the title of First.

"Just how many spells are there?" she asks.

"All the basic and medium spells known to mankind," Duma announces proudly. "I have a few more powerful ones, but they're back home alongside my teacup collection."

Konrad:

"If you have anything with Haste, point it out please."

Konrad is so damn jealous right now, but he pushes past it.

After thinking about it carefully Steve points to two rings. "I'll take the Protect and Esuna rings. I can cast Protect on Mihai and save the Esuna just in case. That way Zenobiusz can maybe save some mana not having to cast it and do something more important instead."

Konrad nods in thought at the selection, and says "I'll take one of those rings of Haste."

He looks at Nadzieja. "For you, I would recommend Regen. And Life." The corner of his mouth curls in bemusement. "For the short time you have before attaining the highest office in our nation, you'll need one."

Nadzieja rolls her eyes at the pun, but her lips still curl into a small grin. "Fine, give them to me. Zenon, it won't affect my magic, right?"

"Come on, have a little faith Nadzieja," Duma replies. "Your magic will work just fine."

"Haste and Protect, please." - Mihai requests. - "If Konrad gets the first Cast, i'll cast the latter."

Konrad's grin takes a turn for that of suppressed laughter when she rolls her eyes. He goes forth, takes the two rings he suggested from the case, and hands them to her.

"Actually, I've been meaning to ask you about that. How do monks manipulate magic?"

Nadzieja takes the rings from Konrad while Duma continues to distribute the rest to the champions.

"We really don't have time for that right now," she says. "In short, I punch harder when I use it."

They have only a few minutes left.

"That's how my sword works."

"That's how you work, too," Konrad points out. "Hmm... If you have 'Enfeeble', I will take that as well. It would be worth a shot."

As he takes off his rings and puts on the new enchanted rings, he looks at his ruby ring of spell storing for a few seconds.

"Actually, Szef Duma, do you have time to charge this?" He holds up the ruby ring.

ooc:

Now that all the rings are distributed, the green mage studies Konrad's ring before he nods to him and says, "I can surely try!"

"You mean I can," his Aspect retorts.

"You, me, we, it's all the same thing."

It takes but a few seconds for the Aspect to cast into the ring and then give it back to the red mage. The party members then hear a knock at the door, followed by one of the sentries' voice.

"Ma'am, I'm told you have five minutes left."

Konrad nods to Duma in silent thanks.

"One more item to address, but no less significant. The woman out there that we are about to face is one such person who had someone else's orb stuck in their head, and then taken out - or left in? I'm uncertain... Either way, mentally, that szef out there is a replicant of another person - this 'Edward' we keep mentioning to you, in fact. Nothing remains of the woman she was before. I'm not comfortable with a person like that remaining to be the leader of my own clan. If she dies, someone else will replace her. She could be a powerful ally if she survives, I will grant, though I don't like it. What do you want to do?"

Mihai takes a palm to the upper right quadrant of his face as if nursing a sudden migraine. - "Yeah, Wanda is Edward. Another one." - he groans - "Just... digest that real quick, and decide whether we go for the kill or not. Please."

Everyone's eyes go wide.

"What!?" Nadzieja exclaims, irate. "You're telling me this now?"

"Wait wait wait," Duma says with a hand raised. "You can clone your mind... onto someone else's?"

"Zenon, not now please." The monk then glares at the adventurers. "You didn't think of informing me of this earlier!?"

Overwhelmed by this last second revelation, Zenobiusz facepalms.

"There was no earlier." - Mihai counters - "We went to sleep, got barraged by the Orbs again, woke up and had to calm Steve down because he was still going haywire. We learned this literally the moment we woke up. I'm sorry we couldn't manage this better, but keep in mind what we're going through here."

The black mage smiles nervously when folks look at him after the reveal. He's not sure how he feels about it yet much less them. He hopes they don't stop trusting him.

"I think I'm numb to these revelations about the Enemy, the conspiracy, magical creatures, and so forth. I forgot how much of a shock it can be to others." Konrad bows and looks at the ground for a moment. Then he looks over at Mihai. "Nevertheless, this is personal to me, and also important to our candidate, hence I broach this critical decision with her at the eleventh hour, rather than not at all."

Mihai just shakes his head, trying to nurse the sudden migraine, and sighs.