It was late at night when he left the Mage Guild, probably past midnight. The nights in Rockhaven were no different from the days temperature wise. Indeed, no aspect of the air changed for as long as the wards above the city existed. The streets were quite empty during the night, most people either slept, were in the lower districts or worked night shifts in their respective guilds. Only occasionally did other people cross his path, they didn't pay him much mind, he was a familiar face in Rockhaven.

As he walked, the artificial bedrock below his feet emitted gentle pulses of light in addition to the usual ambient light it provided. The street he was on was one of the three main ones, he was walking home after a day of work at the Guild. Before taking a right into one of the smaller alleys he looked back to the center square. The eye looked at him like it looked at everyone, though he wasn't sure if it actually did, it might as well be looking through him or not looking at all.

He didn't like the eye, it stood for everything wrong with Rockhaven. Everything on the surface had some kind of purpose. Every building served production, sale, housing, defense or government. Except for the tower and the eye, neither served any real purpose besides tradition. At least that's what most people thought. He knew better, though not by much. The eye was here for a reason, it had been put in Rockhaven to serve some purpose. What purpose that was exactly was unknown to him but he knew that it had something to do with a certain faction that kept sticking their scaled noses where they didn't belong.

He was so immersed in his thoughts that he initially didn't notice the figure leaning against a wall ahead of him. Normally he would have just ignored it but that specific wall it was leaning against had engravings of nether wart blossoms, it was the wall that belonged to his house. The figure was averagely tall and wore a bright white cloak that completely concealed its face and any other features that could be used to identify it.

Even before he could ask anything, the figure spoke: "How much do you know?"

Just like its appearance, the figure's voice was vague, so vague even that it was impossible to tell if the figure was a woman or a man. Usually this meant one of a few things, either the voice was magically or alchemically altered or the figure was a golem, a projection or a demon. Which one of those was true didn't matter right now, only that the figure or whoever sent it absolutely did not want to be identified.

He answered: "About what?"

The figure said: "Don't play dumb. You know exactly what I am talking about. I might be able to help you, depending on your answer."

He certainly knew what the figure meant and he also knew that the figure knew that he at least knew something. He also knew that the figure probably was not someone to easily mess with.

He sighed. "Fine. But not here out on the streets."

He walked up to his door and unlocked it, then signaled the figure to go in first. It pushed itself away from the wall and walked into his house. No sounds came from its steps. He followed and closed the door behind him. They both sat down in his living room.

"Alright." He said. "I know that the Mencur-Besh and their associates placed the eye in Rockhaven and are influencing affairs beyond their voting power in the guilds."

The figure said: "Correct so far. Anything else?"

"Any attempts of removing them from the city so far have failed because of their intelligence network."

"Correct again."

He slowly said: "And I… believe that we have found a flaw in their system."

The figure said: "That was what I was looking for."

He asked: "So, now that I told you how much I know, shouldn't you tell me why?"

The figure said: "I also want them out of the city. Not violently but I still want them out. I believe Rockhaven should be given an opportunity to develop without them supervising it."

He said: "We agree on that front. Now, one question remains. It took me a long time to figure out only those few scraps of information, you seem to know a lot more. From where?"

The figure said: "I am one of them, one of their 'associates' as you called them. Rockhaven is very costly to keep control of and those resources could be used on other things."

He slowly nodded in disbelief. "So, you're willing to flat out betray them?"

"Oh no, it's far from betrayal. Just exerting a bit more 'voting power' than I should have."

He laughed. "I see where this is going. What kind of help can you offer us?"

The figure said: "Information and perhaps a few more people who share my point of view."

He said: "Alright, what have you got?"

The figure said: "That banquet tomorrow, do you know its purpose?"

"I heard things but nothing that seems relevant."

"They are taking the Axe of Eric the Viking. If you were not aware, that axe is one of the few things older than the Mencur-Besh and it is capable of destroying artificial bedrock. They don't want it in the city because it would be a powerful tool in an uprising or a war."

He said: "That is interesting, I already have a few ideas on how to use this to set up a diversion so that we have time can think of something."

With those words he stood up and went upstairs. He walked into his bedroom and quickly unlocked a safe hidden behind a painting above his bed, it was cliché but so far it had worked to keep things hidden. Inside the safe was a book where he wrote down all things relevant to his plan, including people who were part of it. Next to the book was a silver dagger and next to that was what he was looking for. A wooden box he obtained in Redwater, engraved with the sigil of the Mencur-Besh. He took the box, locked the safe and put the painting back on the wall. As he came back down the stairs he noticed that the figure had not moved one bit since he had left. It was strange really, he usually prided himself in being a talented Life mage and empath but he was completely unable to read anything from the cloaked figure. Usually he wasn't so quick to trust either but his partners were getting impatient and he feared that his entire effort would collapse if nothing happened soon. If the figure had wanted to eliminate him it would have done so as soon as he had told it what he knew.

He sat back down and opened the box. Inside, safely bedded in nether wool padding, was a small flask that contained a green, faintly glowing liquid.

The figure said: "Shineroot essence. Fast acting and undetectable."

He said: "Alright then, you seem to already know where this is going. Let me tell you all about how I intend to delay the Axe leaving Rockhaven."

He spent hours working out the details of his plan with the figure that still hadn't show even a sliver of emotion or changed its posture. The sun was already rising when they were done.

He said: "Now that everything's decided, it's time for you to do your part."

The figure said: "Of course."

It picked up the flask standing on the table, its long sleeves concealing its hands, naturally. Without a further word the figure stood up and left through the door. He followed shortly after but somewhat expectedly the figure was already gone by the time he looked out the door.

He deeply inhaled, there was something different about the air today, probably only to him. It was a very peculiar scent that was impossible to describe, many denied that it existed at all but he knew it well. It had been a long time since he had last encountered it in this clarity.

Revolution was in the air!