It was still early when the lawyers arrived. All three of them stood at the doorway in well-pressed suits. The halflings Abul and Feng had opted for a nice brown tweed pattern, while Krog wore a crisp charcoal gray suit. The adventurers, for their part, had cleaned up a little. Alvec made no attempt to control his hair, which was still sheepish and curly. Instead, he had opted just to make sure that the buttons on his clothing were polished and that some of the fading colors had been restored to his outfit.

  Illaria and Naya were both wearing their usual gear, but like Alvec, they had made a point of cleaning themselves up by combing their hair extra and polishing any bits of metal on their gear. Bait and Mavec had gone through no efforts to clean up. Mavec looked like he had freshly rolled out of bed, and Bait... well, Bait had goopy cheese stains all over his clothing. The group departed towards the Academy, where Alvec and Feng took the lead in finding out where the meeting would be held.

  The pair was easily able to get their questions answered and were led to what amounted to a large meeting room. Sitting at one end was Warren Alston, who wore a deep-seated scowl on his face. The trust fund party boy facade was fully dropped at this point, and to Alvec, he looked more vulnerable than he had ever seen the man. Whatever semblance of control he used to have over the Academy looked to have thoroughly eroded. Perhaps the winning of the festival of blades had elevated their status so much that even a small pile of gold hardly swayed their opinions.

  "Welcome, I didn't realize we'd be hosting the entire cheese acolytes." Said a man in deep red robes. Several tattoos were traced over his face and neck. All of them looked to be some sort of arcane marking. As fascinating as Alvec found it, they weren't here for such things. Today was about securing the tools for the survival of the Empire.

  Mavec slammed his hands on the table. "Let's cut the small talk; we all know why we're here today."

  "BAIT STEW YOU!" Bait shouted as he hopped onto the table.

  "He be meaning he sues you, but I think we all be knowing that," Illaria said.

  "Very well the man said. Warren, you stand accused of breach of contract; the suit is brought on by the Boar Eater tribe with the legal assistance of Abul, Feng, and Krog at the behest of the Cheese Acolytes. How do you respond to these accusations?" The man in the red robes asked.

  "Look, I delivered them what they requested; I performed the locator spell for them and gave them the information," Warren replied. "This is a waste of time brought on by Mavec; he's just here to make my day worse and cares nothing for any laws that may or may not have been broken."

  "While it is common knowledge that Mavec and Warren share a professional grievance with each other, we do have the contract that the goblin Boogie had you "sign," Feng said as he unfurled the piece of leather onto the table while making air quotes around the word signed. "Are you denying that these are your teeth imprints?" Abul asked.

  "No, I'm not denying that at all," Warren replied. "What I'm saying is that I fulfilled my end of the deal. I told them where to find their "Dogmother," Whatever that is." Warren replied.

  "Do you have any proof of it?" Alvec asked. "Did you perhaps keep a record of what information you gave them in regard to their request?"

  "Of course I did, I brought it with me. Do you take me for an idiot?" Warren asked.

  "Of course I do," Mavec responded. "We already know you're a thief twice over."

  "Now, now, Mavec, please keep the vitriol at bay if you can," Feng replied.

  "I'm fairly knowledgeable at spell craft; I would request to review the documentation that Warren has provided," Alvec asked.

  "Go ahead, see for yourself," Warren said as he passed over a file full of papers. Alvec glanced over the paper and immediately rubbed at the base of his horns.

  "Is this the way that you presented this information to them?" Alvec asked.

  "They received an exact copy of this information. They can go to their Dogmother whenever they'd like to."

  "Feng, I want it on record that I, too, think that Warren is an absolute bufoon," Alvec said as he placed a hand on the paper. "You seriously mean to tell me that you handed THIS document to the goblins as proof of where Dogmother is? And you expected them to be able to read it? What the hell is wrong with you?"

  "It's not my fault if they're too stupid to understand," Warren replied.

  "No, but it's your fault you failed to deliver it in a manner they could understand. By Sarosa, how do you even dress yourself in the morning?" Mavec asked.

  Naya leaned over Alvec's shoulder and whistled. "Look, I don't know what any of that says, but I can tell you I'm at least smart enough to know that the goblins wouldn't understand a damn word of that."

  "That would certainly qualify as a breach of contract from the perspective of the Boar Eater Tribe. Granted, it sounds as if this situation may be able to arrive at an amicable solution after all. Would you be able to translate this information into a form the goblins would be able to read?" Feng asked.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  "Of course I can, but why should I?" Warren asked.

  "Because the academy will officially reprimand you if you don't satisfy your obligations in a manner that is satisfactory to both us and your clients." The man in the red robes said. "You could even have your badge revoked if we consider it serious enough of a violation of our ethics."

  "Alright, if someone would fetch me a map of the Empire, I could transcribe it. It won't even take too long, I promise." He said.

  "Actually, we're not entirely done here," Mavec said as he grinned wide. He pulled a spring plucked from the Slag Devil's remains and placed it squarely on the table. "You wouldn't happen to have taken a trip to the Tsuhomma Downs recently, did you?" The color drained from Warren's face, fear replacing the agitation.

  "No, certainly not. I have no idea what you're talking about."

  "Look, Warren, I'll throw you a lifeline right now. There's a particular formula that we require. Give it to me, and I don't share the details of what you've been up to with the Academy." Alvec said.

  "Nah, let the fucker burn. He had all the grace of a grave robber." Mavec replied.

  "Is there something we should know about?' the man in the robes asked as he spoke directly to Mavec.

  "Depends if he co-operates. Alvec's being kinder than I would be. So what's it going to be, Warren?"

  "Again, I don't know what you're talking about." He stammered.

  "Price just went up," Alvec said with a devilish grin. "I was going to just take what we need, but I think we'll be taking it all back now; it's only right that those designs be made public after all. Having come from such an illustrious and contentious source."

  "Last chance, Warren, where are they?" Mavec asked.

  "Hold on, let's impress on him the gravity of the situation." Alvec pulled out his sketchbook and slid a page face down on the table towards him. "Take a look at that."

  "What the hell am I looking at?" He asked in confusion as he recoiled from the image of the tongue they'd fought in Vato's hideout.

  "You're looking at something referred to as an "Intruder," what we're looking for is the only thing we know about that seems to be abnormally effective against them. So it's of utmost importance that you show us where you put them." Alvec said.

  "And if you don't, I swear to use every tool at my disposal to make your life a living hell," Mavec said.

  "Shit, you'll really do it." He muttered to himself as he reached into his neckline and pulled out a key. "I locked everything up in my room... just don't. Don't say anything else."

  "Was that so hard?" Mavec asked.

  "Fuck you," Warren replied as he slid the key across the table.

  "So is that it? Do we be needing anything else?" Illaria asked.

  "Our business with the Academy certainly isn't over. As soon as we grab that formula, we'll need to get them making it for us asap." Alvec said.

  "Well then, let's be fetching that, so what we may get on with this then," Illaria said. Warren dejectedly stood up and escorted the group to his lodging here at the Academy. From one of his personal chests, they recovered a thick book full of grand new designs Alusai had been working on prior to his death. The most important one was the Ferrous Mercury. Alvec quickly copied the formulae and instructions down, and he and Mavec broke off to find the head of artificy here at the Academy. No doubt they could talk him into making some of this strange material. They found the dwarf in the middle of one of his lectures. It would be too rude to interrupt, so they set up camp and waited.

  Illaria, Naya, and Bait went back with Warren and watched as he sat over a map of the Empire and reviewed his own notes. He circled a very particular piece of mountain in the wilderness of the Empire. "Dogmother will be there. I think she's below ground based on some variations in the readings. So please, tell me we're square with the goblins." He said.

  Bait smiled wide. "Bait fine with dis. Bait, tell Boozie not to make you do Leech combat."

  "Leech combat?!" He asked with alarm.

  "Yeah, the goblins weren't really sure what breach of contract was; got lost in translation, so they were arguing whether it was beach combat or Leech combat. They had a tub full of Leeches ready for you to enter. I think the goal was to see if you survived or if the Leeches killed you." Naya said.

  "Justice no matter what!" Bait cried. "Either you are innocent and survive, or guilty and die. Goblin justice best justice." He proclaimed.

  "Guess I'm glad you guys only sued me." He replied. "Think I'd rather light myself on fire than face a bathtub full of Leeches."

  "I can't blame you, nasty, blood-sucking creatures," Naya said.

  "Not too many of them on the ocean though, so maybe you all best join the Blue Banner in the future. Keep you safe from those blood-suckers."

  "Illaria, stop trying to recruit me. I'm fine just doing this." She said, waving her arms in their general circumstances.

  "Can't be blaming me for trying." She said.

  The pair of wizards filtered in as soon as the students started heading out. "Hey, we got something you're going to want in on." Mavec slammed the piece of paper onto a desk. "We got our hands on some stuff created by none other than Alusai. Don't ask how, I can't tell you, but it's legit." Mavec said.

  "We were curious if you would perhaps begin producing as much of this as possible. It's called Ferrous Mercury." The dwarf grumbled and looked at the paper, his eyes going wide as he relieved this was more than just some silly joke the two wizards were trying to play on him. This was, in fact, the genuine article.

  "I'll be damned; I'd love to participate in this. I'll get my students working on preparations next block. We were supposed to be creating some new construct designs, but I think this is infinitely neater of a project. I'll let you know as soon as we have an appreciable amount of this." He said as he started putting the formula onto the blackboard and crunching some numbers. Confident that at least one copy of it was in good hands, Alvec made his way out with a deep, contented sigh.

  The pair of wizards met back up with the rest of the party.

  "We leave now." Bait declared.

  "Not so fast, Bait, it's Ivy Day today. We'll be wanting to give out or make any gifts we wish to give away to friends and family." Illaria chided him.

  "Ah, Bait make rat-sticks. Go catch rats now!" His feet slapped along the floor as he dashed out from the polished stone floors of the Academy.

  "All agreed that we're throwing them away?" Mavec asked.

  "Setting them on fire sounds better," Naya said as the group went their separate ways to prepare for Ivy Day.