Master Falldwell Naaf - Shortly after his meeting with Michael Hayes

As I walk through the streets toward the meeting place my mind is filled with thoughts, some larger conspiracy is moving through the shadows. I have seen small things that have come to light, little things that don’t add up or may even be unrelated to each other, but if that clone is telling the truth then this may be the part that connects them together.

My discussion with Master Carson right after my conversation with them was short and cryptic. “We should discuss this in person, the usual place?”

The usual place is Miss Celies, a restaurant which doubles as a meeting place for business, adventurers, guards, institute and more. The tall five story building has a large signage blinking with lights and outdoor dining areas.

I head inside and make my way to reception. I find Cheryl, an older elf with a few grey hairs but I have known in my past times here that she is quite resourceful and friendly, like in a grandmotherly way.

“Ah Naaf, welcome, welcome. Here to meet with Carson?”

“Yes, thank you. The usual?”

“Oh yes, please go up and I'll be there in a moment hon.”

I smile back at the old woman and head to the Hoist, after reaching the top level I make my way past the ornately carved walls and roof and to a sliding door. Opening it I find Carson sitting on one side of a long table, normally kept for meetings and lit by a large window looking out over the city. Carson sees me and lifts his glass in a wave. Stepping inside and closing the door behind me he asks.

“Naaf, how are you doing?”

“Well thank you, Cheryl will be up in a moment.”

I take my seat opposite him, sitting down on the cushioned seats. Carson takes a sip from his drink and I take him in, his eyes are starting to go baggy like he has been up all night and seems tired, although he is doing his best to not appear so, sitting upright and looking attentive.

We wait a moment in silence before a knock comes from the door and Cheryl enters, we all know not to start business before we are ready. “Alright boys, what will you like?”

“Some small nibbles please.” says Carson, “I’ll have a glass of water please” I add. Carson gives me a look and insead says into his glass, “Make it a beer. You’ll need it.”. I nod to Cheryl who writes it down on a small notepad before stepping out, closing the door behind her.

“That bad?” I ask Carson.

“Remember all those years ago, with that rogue adventurer when we were first starting out?”

“Yes?”

“Worse.”

I frown at that, that's bad, very bad. That rogue caused a city wide man-hunt and lockdown for a week. To think this could be worse than that is…

“You're right, I will need it.”

We stay in silence for a few minutes before Cheryl comes back with our food and drinks, along with a small pitcher of beer. “Just let me know if you need anything alright?” she says before leaving.

Carson reaches over to a set of crystals in the table and activates the anti-surveillance crystals built behind the wall and cleverly into the glass. I refill his glass before picking up my own, this is going to be a long rest of my day.

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“So, how do we start this?” I ask Carson.

“I’ll go first, unbelievably it is the more pressing matter right now.”

Carson then proceeds to tell me Michael’s deeds since he entered Oghqoa only a few days ago. Avoiding Institute members, Jobs taken from the society, the find that his clone called Number 4 found and, the fight that resulted from it.

“The Teleport System? How by the Tides did they get access to it, it's locked down for a reason. It can only be used by a small group of people so our list of possibilities are low… But”

Carson puts down his glass. “That’s right, the only people who should have access are Adventurers and Guardsmen.”

“Wait, even if someone found a way to use it, the logs and mana expenditure should have been logged. We almost never use it.”

“I thought of that, here are the usage and mana reports for the last month.” says Carson pulling out a sheaf of papers out of thin air from a storage Power, graphs of usages, scheduled safety checks and more are logged but nothing stands out. All are low or are logged within accepted amounts for testing, nothing is out of the ordinary. I finish scanning over the documents before looking at Carson.

“I thought that it might have been during scheduled testing and maintenance but those are well within limits. These have been scrubbed.”

“Yes, I got these from our logs but I’d suggest checking your own when you go back”

“You, you think someone in both our organisations may have changed the logs?”

“Maybe, there are too many unknowns for us right now. What do you think?”

“Well,” I say, tiredly rubbing my hands on my head and horns, “We definitely work together on this, and with trusted teams. Michael’s proposal is smart, especially for this situation. Did you suggest it?”

“I thought about it, but his clone beat me to it.”

“His clone?! So his duplicate Power is very different to Muahaix Aiwatito.”

“They are smarter than Muahaix’s, and also retain their memories.”

“That's! Preposterous, crazy!” I say taken aback, duplicate Powers are always theorised to never have the clones retain memories, or even stay at the same level of intelligence due to personality drift.

“A little, but they are his Powers. I won’t tell you what other Powers he has, but his clone gave me permission to tell you this about his Power. He said he wants an “Ace up his sleeve” whatever that means.”

Shaking my head in disbelief I think about our plan.

“How sure are you that the Institute has a hand in Michael’s arrest. I’ll admit I was a bit surprised when he walked into Headquarters.”

“I see no reasons as to why they wouldn’t, just because it has been a long time since there was an OutWolder in public view doesn't mean there are not OutWolders appearing each year.”

“True, even if it's a random arrival between the three domains there should be several known OutWolders in more local history. It would also be a great step up for whoever gets Michael to the Institute City.”

It only takes me a moment before following that line of logic. “By the gods, Sir Falgus of Haven Isle. You think the head of the Oghqoa Institute is behind this?”

“Yes.”

“That’s, that can be a carrier killer. Tides, we could be arrested if we are wrong, no wonder you wanted to have a private meeting.”

“And thank the Tides that Cheryl runs her business like this, or we’d have nowhere to talk. Even Communication Stones can be tapped.”

“Oh Tides, if old man Brominster heard of this he would have smacked me upside the head!” I mutter, thinking back fondly to my old mentor in my early Guardsmen days.

“What do you think about the Shae-Eq dealers, they moved a lot of their product recently but we have most of it.” Asks Carson who leans back a little to let me think about it.

I shake my head at that, “Crime is down, it might have been because of a new group. I can’t see the Troson or Killingson Families doing this, they mostly work with fraud. I don’t remember anyone in the smuggling business who could move this much, we caught all the main ones. Up and down the coast to”

“And if it’s not the normal families, or some new guy who would have the necessary reach too… Oh Tides only some noble, another country or Institute could manage something like this. What have you gotten us into Carson?”