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Bright Journey	The Arena. The Colosseum. The name is interchangeable, and it doesn't have or need a name beyond the obvious. An absolutely massive structure of mostly red stone, it dominates an area to the south central portion of Great Forks. Entrances are at the ground level at all four cardinal points, leading both upwards to the extensive stands and inside to the bowels of the place, a warren of passageways underneath the stands. These passages then lead to staging areas, and from there to the floor of the Arena itself. Other passages lead to offices, storerooms, kitchens...all of the behind-the-scenes places that actually make a place like the Arena work. For the duration of the Congregation of Victory Tournament, the Nine Sheaves Consortium has essentially rented out the entire Arena from the City for an exorbitant sum, but the spectacle they've created has surely paid them back tenfold, between entry fees and a wide variety of concessions from liquor to drugs to exclusive box seating. Many independent stalls and carts sell their wares outside, but the Nine Sheaves have exclusivity inside and guard it jealously. Warriors from all over Creation (but especially the East) have gathered here to compete, and whatever one might say about the Nine Sheaves' sales practices, they -have- put on an excellent show, and as anyone can tell so far, a fair and just tournament.
Tiziri	Now. How they can be so successful and organize it... and more importantly? Who is helping back this up, not to mention the spying device they have? That's the real question. The one Tiziri has decided to try and find. Yes, this might be a more dead time for the tournament. Yet who is ever going to notice a bug? Bugs are everywhere. Even as Tizis... well, Tizis are getting better at being everywhere too. This just makes it more interesting. She is currently shifted into a common local bug, trying to scout out some of the more barred locations in the arena now. Especially the sort of ones anything might be hidden or used to help spy on things. After all, she's got other 'Tizis' watching the other events nearby.
Bright Journey	The search for answers is not complete in a day, to be certain. As Tiziri searches and listens and explores, several things become apparent: First, exploring the place is time consuming but easy. This is where Lunars shine and mere mortals cannot hope to compete. The insect form easily bypasses the considerable security the Nine Sheaves has placed around their more sensitive locations--offices, the counting house, the Nine Sheaves-only private viewing box. Other places have some interest but these are the most heavily guarded. Still, they're guarded from humans, not hermetically sealed. Second, Nine Sheaves personnel are absolutely ubiquitous, all over the Arena, and many are hawking wares or working the crowd, or taking in a fight or two in between shifts. Most are doing their jobs diligently, at least as far as you can tell, but there's a few who wander the Arena and do not have an obvious job--in fact, they don't seem to engage the public at all despite being in the public areas. Others, in the private areas, seem to be doing what's expected of them--cook, clean, count silver, keep the books, organize the bracket, whatever. Third, the Nine Sheaves VIP's keep to themselves and do not lower themselves to interacting with the public. They're high ranking merchants and businesspeople. Some do take to the VIP box and watch a fight or two, but many others clearly consider this whole tournament a job and don't spend much time away from their offices. In most cases, everyone is very busy, no matter their rank. No one is taking it easy for long.
Tiziri	Scouting is part of the fun. Part of the mission. Easy enough to do too. The important sorts are the ones to follow as well, trying to scout them out as much a spossible to see where they go. Most importantly, who the real leadership sorts are, because they are likely the ones who will lead her to any real insights, or at least interesting stuff. The area with the books is noted too, but not paid too much attention yet... it's unlikely the main area is where the information she's curious about will show up. Though all else fails it provides a good place to go to if she reaches a dead end.
Bright Journey	Following the VIP's yields plenty of information on them, certainly. All their names, their actual jobs and titles, their unofficial pecking order, all begin to make sense. Aside from getting used to their daily routines, though, the first thing that attracts your attention is how some of them will discuss business matters easily at first, but there's always a point where they switch to what sounds like very juicy gossip. They'll be talking about qat sales or morning ticket sales, and all of a sudden one will mention that he heard a Dynast talking about a scale of soldiers going to Nexus in three weeks. That's easily a Realm military secret. The VIP's may discuss that sort of thing briefly, but they always quiet down afterwards, occasionally one of them shushing the others, and then they shift back to a safer topic.
Tiziri	Thanks to the Mind Sharing Blossoms, Tiziri has one of her clones writing down important bits of gossip so it's there whenever it comes up. That sort of intel especially. It might be useful after all! If nothing else Raksi and the Pact might like to know it, and she's got ways to pass along intelligence like that too. It will be the sorts who mention that sort of thing she'll follow too. Surely one of them must have the device? Or some sort of contact?
Bright Journey	To be sure, listening to those tidbits can be instructive, though they're something to dig into later. Now is the time to focus on the Nine Sheaves, after all. All of them are interesting, though, and Tiziri can already think of ways they may be useful. It becomes clear that this sensitive information is being passed through the chain of command through some of the operatives in the Arena--all seem to be tidbits coming from spying on people in the Arena, though the details may be easier to come by through tracking the people reporting the information, not the high ranking people aggregating or listening to them. If one of them has the other half of the device, it's not yet apparent. The exact method of spying is never discussed, and that's clearly intentional. The rank and file people reporting on these tidbits are more disciplined than the VIP's when it comes to their information, but they could be followed easily enough.
Tiziri	This is starting to make Tiziri worry if the whole gossip is just to pass on info via the spying devices somehow. So following some of the intel sorts is the next step indeed. If anything, this is a point to add in another clone too. She can do that easier than ever with the Mind Sharing Blossoms. Though it does take effort to utilize another shape like that, espeically since it means forgoing the continuance of other projects given the necessary rest. But she makes the effort.
Bright Journey	It certainly sounded as if the gossip was exactly that--gossip--just that the quality of information available was highly suspicious, even for rich merchants. Following the operatives who have been reporting details to the VIP's, however, leads to some interesting results. It's very quickly obvious these are, one and all, the same people who had no visible job while wandering the Arena crowds. Following two or three of them for several days, Tiziri marks where they go, what they do, and who they report to, and all of that information is itself quite valuable. Simply put, they stand in inconspicuous places and listen. Some of them act as waitstaff in the private boxes, some are with bartenders at the various bars, some even follow some of the more oblivious, drunk high ranking spectators around to see who they speak to and what they say. To be sure, much of what they hear is unadulterated drivel, but the operatives are diligent about reporting it all anyway. They report, not to the VIP's at first, but one of the most highly secure set of offices in the deepest part of the Arena back rooms, a place where no one else really has any business being. Most members of the Nine Sheaves are ignorant of the place or stay far away. Inside are a collection of four or five people gathering, writing down, and collating information. It's quite an operation, and has to be quite expensive to maintain.
Tiziri	With everything else going on, and the whole operation starting to take some time (at least for main Tizi. Her other clones continue to go about their days and... the Tizi situation is sort of weird!), Tiziri continues to work at this mystery. Her new focus is going to be on following the ones in the super secure room. Specifically watching where these documents end up being delivered. Following the people who they end up gonig to as well.
Bright Journey	Learning about how the secure room (Inside, the people there simply refer to it as 'The Vault') operates turns out to be a very good tactic. For one thing, it lets Tiziri learn what every operative looks like and what they typically wear, so if she needs to identify them visually she certainly can. They don't generally use names, though, so visually is the best way. There were a number of operatives that hadn't been reporting to the VIP's--in fact, the most dedicated and businesslike ones were the ones who were not so reporting. Flies are not exactly adept at opening file cabinets, so the exact contents will have to wait until someone makes a more substantial visit there. But as Tiziri watches the goings on, it becomes clear that some managers are tied into the information gathering side of things more than others. There's three managers that visit regularly, more to manage the staff than read secrets. All three do glance at the secrets now and then, of course. Perks of the job. None have an office in this area, but there is a locked storage area in the back of the room that only but those three managers ever go in, and rarely even then. The documents that are being collected mostly stay in the filing cabinetry along the walls, seemingly brought in by the Nine Sheaves since they're much newer than anything else in the room. Once, a contingent of well-armed guards collected an entire locked cabinet, wrapped it in thick padding, and carried the whole assembly out of the room.
Tiziri	Something like that requires further investigation. Tiziri ends up following out th locked cabinet. Lot of information there, so it must be something interesting if nothing else to follow. A second Tiziri clone will work to intercept and go back towards the main Vault so she can wait to try and get into the locked storage area if possible (ideally crawling through a gap... a fly is small after all. If not? Then through in general, anything she sees can be learned by the main Tiziri after all! If a more human edge is needed, the real version can get there to sneak in and shapeshift as needed. But for now the locked cabinet is the thing to follow.
Bright Journey	The storage room is extremely well locked, such that it would take some work to get inside without considerable violence. Then again, there might be a few people around who could manage it. Inside, it is of course dark and seems to contain haphazard stacks of papers, a couple desks atop one another, a couple cabinets jam-packed in a corner. Nothing in the room screams value, but the location must surely mean something. As for the locked cabinet being taken away, the guards are doing this at an early hour of the morning, taking a path meant to absolutely minimize contact with anyone, especially the crowds that have largely dispersed for the evening. They get to a large shipping and storage area, where the entire package is packed in a large shipping crate, loaded onto a cart, and hauled towards the docks, ending up on shipboard. The guards stay with it the entire time, including when the ship leaves port.
Tiziri	The room clone waits to see what happens if someone comes in, after all, those VIPs who go in must have something to do, right? She'll read what she can, being stuck in fly form too, but that likely means almost nothing. Just a good chance to case it out. Meanwhile, Tiziri follows the cabinet. She will be careful not to get out of reach of the range of her ability to hold her clones together, though at least they can consolidate (aside the one in the room). Still, now she knows something, and can use one of her other clones to find out where that ship was going, or at least try to ask around and find out. That accomplished, back to the vault.
Bright Journey	None of the top VIP's have ever been seenm in this room--just the workers here, the operatives giving info, the guards on that one occasion, and the three middle managers. The storage closet has not been opened in the time Tiziri has been in the room. Nothing in there seems to be needed for day-to-day operations, but it's too well locked and in too sensitive an area to have nothing of use. A human will be needed to pick those locks, though--fly form alone isn't enough to learn its secrets. The ship leaves under cover of night, and trying to learn more about it will take a separate investigation in and of itself, with sailors, longshoremen, or dock managers far removed from the Nine Sheaves. That will have to wait for another day. There are many paths that could be taken with the information Tiziri has found out! Several possibilities and quite the prize to be won, far more than simply keeping knowledge of the Exalts of Great Forks out of the hands of the Wyld Hunt...