Act 3: The Ball - Crisis

A disappointed Steve says, "Well, looks like we'll miss almost half of the glitter then, Konrad."

"What a shame," the red mage replies with weakly-feigned discontent. "Don't worry, I'll deflect as much as I can over to you."

That cheers up Steve, a little bit. "Thanks, man, but I would never want to deprive you of the full Deadly Weapon experience. It gets everywhere." He giggles at the thought.

"I, for one, can't wait for it!" Fluffle exclaims from atop Steve's shoulder.

The party members continue to make small talk while they wait for the play to begin. More guests enter the Bow Room, until finally, the curtains rise...
____________

The two policemen Miggs and Rurtaugh arrive outside a hotel, where their colleagues are waiting for the mage squad to show up. Apparently, someone planted a bomb in a carriage that's parked inside the underground area. Miggs wants to check it out, but Rurtaugh argues against it, since he's mere days away from his retirement. Miggs convinces him to come anyway.

They arrive in the basement and peek into the carriage in question.

Rurtaugh: "I hate it when I'm right. Crap."

Miggs: "You really ought to learn to trust your instincts more, Murv. First impression can often be the right one." He starts to look under the carriage for possibly boobytraps. "Look at that ugly thing. No wonder they'd put a bomb in it..."

Rurtaugh: "Just don't touch it!"

Miggs: "I'm just looking." He then stands up and heads for one of the doors, intent on opening it.

Rurtaugh: "No no no... What are you gonna do? Hey—don't open the door. Don't open the door! It's gonna—"

Miggs safely opens the door, a grin on his face.

Rurtaugh: "You son of a bitch. Just look at it! Just look at it!"

Miggs: "That's all I'm gonna do. Just look at it."

He pulls the blanket that's covering the bomb, and exhales in admiration when he sees how big it is. There's also a giant countdown with eleven minutes left on it.

Miggs: "Oh my. It's more magic than materials. I love this job. This is amateur hour, Murv."

Rurtaugh mimes through the window that he can't quite hear him.

Miggs: "Open the door! I can't hear you! Open the door!"

Rurtaugh reluctantly starts to open it while he says, "Don't do nothing!"

His partner then replies, "NOT THAT ONE!"

Rurtaugh: "EEEEEHHH!"

Miggs smiles at his friend and then goes back to his inspection of the bomb.

Rurtaugh: "Son of a bitch..."

Miggs: "Well, this is a pretty shoddy job. I think I can dismantle this."

Rurtaugh: "Looks worse than Waterglass to me. Let's get the hell out of here."

Suddenly, the puppet of a cat lands on top of the carriage, scaring the both of them, and they go check what it is. Rurtaugh sighs in relief and says, "Miggs, everybody is outside. Just me, you, and this cat are dumb enough to be down here!"

"Nearly catastrophied, right?"

They go back inside the carriage.

Miggs: "Relax, Murv. Relax."

Rurtaugh: "Don't do nothing!"

Miggs: "I swear, Murv. We got nine minutes and seven seconds left. Hey, you know what we can do? You know what we can do?"

Rurtaugh: "What?"

Miggs: "We can drive this thing out of here."

Rurtaugh: "Hey, fine. It's your turn to drive!"

Miggs: "Aw, crap. No horses—oh, deweaving!"

Rurtaugh: *Gasp* "AH! Don't even say ‘deweaving’ around this stuff, man!"

Miggs: "You're right, you're right, you're right."

Rurtaugh: "Why am I doing this?!"

Miggs: "Looks like we're gonna have to do it the old-fashioned way." He then pulls out a giant pair of scissors seemingly out of nowhere—which must have been hidden inside the carriage—and takes a closer look at the wires sticking out of the bomb. Rurtaugh widens his eyes and begins to shake his head.

Rurtaugh: "Eeeeh! Miggs, what are you thinking?  Miggs!"

Miggs starts muttering to himself about the bomb design, causing great distress to his partner.

Rurtaugh: "What are you thinking, Miggs? Miggs!"

Miggs: "I'm thinking we should cut the blue wire."

Rurtaugh: "Hey wait!

Miggs: "What?"

Rurtaugh: "That's not what I'm thinking!"

Miggs: "What? You think maybe the red?"

Rurtaugh: "No! No! I'm—I'm thinking it's eight minutes and forty-two seconds. We can go upstairs, wait for the mage squad—have a cappuccino!"

Miggs: "The mage squad never gets here on time, okay? Anyway, it's eight minutes and thirty-one seconds, okay? Murv, please."

Rurtaugh: "Okay, forget the cappuccino!"

Miggs: "You know what they're gonna say?"

Rurtaugh: "Hell yeah! They're gonna say ‘Miggs, Rurtaugh, get the fuck out of here!’"

Miggs: "That's right, but after that, they're gonna say ‘Let's cut the blue wire’, which I'm gonna do right now, Murv."

Miggs prepares to do just that.

Rurtaugh: "Hey, hey, wait! Miggs! Wait!"

Miggs: "What?"

Rurtaugh: "How can you be so sure?"

Miggs: "Oh, it's just a hunch."

Rurtaugh: "You're playing a hunch?!"

Miggs: "Okay, you remember the bomb under your toilet?"

Rurtaugh: "Oh, crap. How could I forget...?"

Miggs: "Red wire, blue wire, same thing. This is more simplified though... A bit more powerful, but more simplified!"

Rurtaugh: "Really, from where I was sitting, I couldn't see."

Miggs: "Forget it. Come on, Murv. Trust me!"

Rurtaugh: "So, yeah, trust you?"

Miggs: "Well, guess not. I'm cutting the red wire, okay?"

Miggs brings the pair of scissors closer, but his friend stops him.

Rurtaugh: "Woah! WOAH!"

Miggs: "What? What?"

Rurtaugh: "A minute ago, you said ‘blue’!"

Miggs: "...Did I say ‘blue’?"

Rurtaugh: "Miggs, you said ‘blue’!"

Miggs: "Well, I meant red."

Rurtaugh: "You sure?"

Miggs: "Look, Murv, we can do it your way if you like—"

Rurtaugh: "MY WAY?! I DON'T HAVE A—"

Miggs: "Stay quiet!"

Rurtaugh gasps, afraid that his shouting might trigger the bomb.

Miggs: "I'm sure. Okay?"

Rurtaugh's face twists into a grimace as he admits defeat. "Oh, crap."

Miggs grins at his partner again and places the blades of the scissors on the red wire. Rurtaugh closes his eyes and braces himself.

Miggs: "Murv?"

Rurtaugh opens his eyes again and asks, "What?"

Miggs: "Aren't you gonna miss all this good stuff when you retire? Aren't you gonna miss it a little bit?"

Rurtaugh's eye twitches as he stares at Miggs in complete disbelief. Miggs chuckles and says, "I'm cutting the wire..."

Rurtaugh closes his eyes again.

Snap.

The number on the timer suddenly begin to count down faster than before, and Miggs puts the scissors down.

Miggs: "Murv?"

With his eyes still closed, Rurtaugh sighs in relief and says, "Yeah?"

Miggs: "...GRAB THE CAT!"

Rurtaugh: "GRAB THE CAT?!"

Rurtaugh immediately grabs the puppet lounging on top of the carriage and they both break into a run towards the right side of the stage, the décor behind them sliding towards the left side to create the illusion of a change of location. The two policemen come out of the building, yelling to their colleagues to take cover, and then suddenly, a huge boom resounds throughout the room, which is then followed by a shower of glitter and confetti that rains down over the audience.

As the building behind them burns down—which is an actual wooden miniature of a hotel that's been set on fire—a horse-drawn carriage with the sign "Mage Squad" on it pulls over, and all policemen in the area begin to stare at Miggs and Rurtaugh in silent judgment.

At least the cat is safe.
____________

8:02 PM

"We'll now take a small break before we continue with the rest of the play," Minerva announces, "so feel free to stand up and stretch your legs. We'll see you in fifteen minutes!"

The fairy then returns backstage while the guests follow her suggestion, many of them going outside the room to share their impressions of the show, which are overwhelmingly positive so far. Even Femke chuckled a few times.

"That was so funny!" Fluffle exclaims. "I can't believe Rurtaugh got demoted to patrol duty only days away from his retirement."

"I can see why this play is so popular," Femke comments.

"I wish I could have seen that toilet incident," Thirza mutters to herself.

Steve tags along.

Thanks to his cantrip, Konrad is completely clean! Femke is not, sadly, which means glittery fingers for the poor mage. However, the first act of the play managed to get some laughs out of him.

"Yeah, poor Murv is getting way too old to be following his partner around, but Miggs keeps drawing him out."

He turns to Femke and says, "I think they're going to talk about our plan. Will you stay here, or come with us?"

"I'll come," Femke responds.

The whole group manages to catch the attention of a fairy working backstage, who leads them behind the curtains where the rest of his siblings are scurrying about, preparing for the next part of the play.

Amber and Théo are also there, helping carry the painted backgrounds.

"There you are," the girl says. "You haven't run into any problems, have you? I've—"

She then notices the two women, one of whom she barely recognizes. Amber gawks at Femke for a second before she says, "Damn, Femke. You look good."

The Tyke woman nods at her, and maybe even blush a little.

"Yeah, everything good on this side. Spent all afternoon drawing flyers for the troupe, but it's been fun. What about you guys? You look kinda funny in those suits."

The teenage girl doesn't appear to react to her brother's mental probing. The only response Mihai receives is from Smirk. "Yes, I can hear you, mate. You sure we can't stay a little longer? It's the best thing I've seen in the last two hundred years."

Meanwhile, because Amber is now busy talking to the adventurers, Théo has to pick up the slack and carry everything himself. It's not that bad though, since a few of the fairies have taken upon themselves to cheer him.

As for Thirza, she examines her surroundings in silence and waits for the party to finish speaking.

"Eh, just got in. Can't stay for the second half though, gotta go and network. Well, be back, though."

"Miss Windscarf, kiddo! This is your short range wordless cooms package calling."

Konrad continues to attempt a mental connection with his date. With a Tyke, it may not be achievable overnight, but it has to start sometime before it can be realized.

"Got it. I should be allowed to join the ball after the show. You guys want your stuff?" Amber doesn't wait for an answer and unties the bag of holding from her belt and hands it over to her brother. "Here. And be careful."


Neither Amber nor Femke react to the telepathic messages.

"I'll take that, thank you very much," Steve takes the bag and plops it down on a nearby crate, opening it up. "Get your goodies while they're hot."

Steve puts on his bracers under his jacket but doesn't activate them yet and puts on his ring of light. He also takes most of the fliers out of his pockets and replaces them with the firecrackers and 2 smoke bombs.

Mihai takes his medallion - "That's about all i can get away with right now." - and hands Amber three smoke bombs and two thunder stones - "These are for you. Run as much interference as you can when the time comes. Save one for yourself and Théo if things get hairy."

He hands two more to Femke - "Use them as best you see fit. Can you hide them?"

"It's definitely going to get hairy," Amber says while she takes the items and puts them in her bag of holding.

The Tyke woman accepts the smoke bombs from Mihai and nods at him. "I can," she replies, before opening her skirt to place the small bags into hidden pockets sewn on the inside of her skirt. She doesn't seem to mind the fact that her legs are also in plain view of her comrades.

"That's handy," Thirza comments.

Femke nods at her.

"Do you have anything else in them?" Fluffle asks her.

"No," she answers. "I couldn't risk it. But I knew this might happen."

"Oh..."

Konrad reaches into the bag and puts on his magic rings, his necklace, and his bracelet. The necklace goes on underneath the suit, and the bracelet goes on underneath his sleeve.

A few more things he takes: two sticks of chalk, rolled in toilet paper, and his whistle.

He hands his whistle and one chalk to Femke. "Use these if you get into trouble. There is something important I need you to do, before the plan goes into motion. I need you to explore a bit to pick out some vacant rooms that would be useful for hiding guests. I want to make sure Aemilia and Malakai are not caught up in this. Can you do that?"

(rings: Cantrip Dilator, Ring of Negotiation)
(necklace: medallion of Sleep resistance +10)
(bracelet: Mage's Magnifier)

Steve also looks elsewhere, all while contemplating where to throw the fireworks for maximum STEVE just in case they need a distraction yesterday.

Steve determines that in this close space, it might be best to rely on the fairies for any distractions the party might need. The fireworks should definitely be reserved for a bigger room.

Femke takes the items from Konrad's hands and adds them to her pockets. "I can," she replies.

"Who are Aemilia and Malakai?" Amber asks.

"Aemy is a close friend of mine, from Walkerfree. She came here with her fiance."

Steve perks up at that news. "She's getting married? Good for her! I need to congratulate her then."

"And she's pregnant too!" Fluffle adds. "I saw her baby bump."

"Oh, okay," Amber says. "So... you're sure it's not yours, Konrad? 'Cause the way you're talking about her..."

She looks at the red mage, a glint in her eye.

Konrad raises an eyebrow. "I'm sure. She's a friend. Should I not want her to be safe?"