August Thrid, 827 Wednesday, Two days before Guild-pact Day.

An Azorius Senate Lawmage runs down a corridor, with a stack of papers in his hands, fretting along the way. "Two days?! I thought it was Two WEEKS!" This year, The Senate was hosting the Guild-pact day festivities. and of coarse, they had to hand all of the paperwork to Grayan Longsword, one of the most disorganized people in the Senate ever. He was trying to get to a Griffin Rider, to bring the message out to all the other Guilds. "If the Gruul found out, or even thought they were not invited, oh boy there some trouble. We will also need to get the Rakdos to preform..." Grayan began to trail off as he started to mumble to himself about the other 8 guilds.

After about two hours of running around mumbling, Grayan finally found the Griffin Rider, at the Griffin Pad, were all the griffins were.

"There you are! I've been all over the guild looking for you."

The Griffin Rider looked at him with a funny look.

"Anyway, Take these to all the Guild Gates, and be quick about it!", handing him the Guild invitations.

The Griffin Rider took them, and with a snap of his fingers, the Griffin flew in to the air of the City of Ravinca.

Grayan looked up as the Griffin flew away, He thought to himself
"What did I need to do?"

Sebastian ran his fingers through his black hair, unaware of the large mutant that stood beside him. He was far too focused on discovering a way to make the cytoplasts that the disgraced Guild Master, Momir Vig, had created for his Project Kraj into something less….insipid. He turned to look at the mutant, finally acknowledging the Hull Clade guardian that had been assigned to him by the Prime Speaker. The mutant merfolk was large, armoured in coral like plates that jut out and random intervals over the merfolks body. The figure cut an intimidating swath through the Simic guild halls, as all Hull Clade did. He picked up the cytoplast and placed it on one of the Gruul beasts that had been given over to the Simic in an act of peace forced upon the guilds by the Guildpact. The cytoplast shivered as it came into contact with the beast and Sebastian moved it from the beast to the merfolk. The cytoplast spread out and encased the merfolk’s arm “can you feel the strength radiating out from the cytoplast?” Sebastian said gently, his voice coming out soothing and gentle. The merfolk simply nodded and rolled its shoulders. Sebastian nodded in return and pulled the cytoplast off the merfolk and back to the sanitized holding area as he left the bio-lab.

Once again, the fingers of the young Planeswalker ran through his black hair as he walked through the halls of Zameck, the coat tails of his jacket flicking as he walked with some pace. He had been called up by one of the Gyre sages. A griffin rider of the Azorius had come with a commandment. Sebastian sincerely hoped it wasn’t another bureaucratic push to ‘sanitize’ the Gruul Clans Stomping Grounds. Sebastian shook his head gently and walked to the Simic Guild Gate where the Gryff had landed. Apprently the Prime Speaker wished for Sebastian to finally be revealed to be a Planeswalker at the right time, and that time seemed to have come. The Guild Pact day, where Sebastian would be shown to be a Planeswalker. Sebastian shook his head, not understanding why it was so relevant for the Simic to have a Walker. He had met the two native Walkers that had recently awakened, Domri of the Gruul Clans and Ral Zarek of the Izzet League, both of them were fearsome mages in their own right. Sebastian had no doubt that this would be a problem when they discovered he himself was a Walker of greater experience than them. The GuildPact himself was yet to discover Sebastian’s true nature. Sebastian walked with the gait of someone world weary despite his young age, and approached the Azorius Rider. They handed him down the invitation to the guildpact day festivities “ahh…I see…” Sebastian nodded gently and understood when and where the Prime Speaker intended him to reveal himself.

Neil squinted his eyes in concentration. A hung picture of Isperia hung against the furthest wall, in his hand was a throwing dagger. Neil hate the Azorious. Their rules, their laws, their holier then thou attitude and the way they were always so self assured of what was right. Isperia represented exactly the kind of person he despised, the Azorius and their damned sphinxes. With a flick of the wrist the dagger sailed through the air and met it's mark; right where the heart would be. Now that he thought of it he wasn't really sure where a sphinx's heart was. Not even the Azorius knew them that well... maybe one day Neil would get the opportunity to find out for himself. Neil's walls were covered in daggers and various pictures of people he did not like. Isperia, Aurelia, Trostani were the most prominent. They were all the same to him. His open contempt was interrupted by a rattling on the door. Neil lifted himself out of his chair and lumbered over to greet his visitor.

He opened the door to meet a thrull. It was a gray and shriveled mass of flesh with a golden mask concealing it's face. These things were always interesting to Neil; they were servants the Orzhov put together using old and discarded flesh. They were loyal and never questioned their orders. Neil would have to see if he could get one of his own sometime soon. The Thrull merely extended it's hand to present the Ogre with a neatly adorned letter. Neil plucked the note out of the Thrull's hand before it turned and walked away. Neil watched it leave, wondering if they even had thoughts of their own. Free will isn't the kind of thing the Orzhov generally like. The only reason Neil himself was given any agency at all was because an assassin that can't make their own decisions is a useless assassin. Their money gives him all the loyalty they need anyways.

Neil slammed the door to his pent house shut before he opened up the letter. The first thing he noted was a few hundred coins in credit which he quickly pocketed. Then he decided the note was worth his while and opened it up.

"Greetings Neil," The letter read with very intricate handwriting, "As you are likely aware the day of the guild pact is near. Your mission during this day is one of recon. Linger in the shadows, watch the other guilds, then report directly to me about your findings. I have sources leading me to believe that the day of the guild pact will be a day of interest to the Syndicate. If you must be seen, don't let it be known where your royalties lie. Like always, If you are apprehended your existence will be denied by the guild and you will receive no further support. May the omens of good fortune watch over you.

Signed, Teysa, Orzhov Scion."

Neil was surprised to have been addressed by Teysa herself. Normally one of her many inferiors would be the one to address the letter. This seemingly mundane and unimportant assignment must be important if she felt like it was worth her time to write it. Neil double checked to ensure that he had cleaned the letter of all cash before throwing the letter into his fireplace. Standard protocol for someone like him. If he were ever subject to a boros raid they'd find nothing directly linking him to the Orzhov, and that was the way they liked it. The guild pact was in two days, but Neil decided to begin getting ready now. He opened up his knapsack and began loading it with his usual supplies. He would prepare for a stake out. This didn't seem quite as exciting as his usual work, but it wouldn't do to disappoint the Scion.

Ah, The Festival of the Guildpact. Everyone together in one place. Azorius lawmages to piss off, Boros legionaries to brawl with, Izzet machines to blow up... that is, if they haven't blown up on their own already.

Elric Rokunov didn't cut an imposing figure, but that was okay. A Rakdos cultist was already likely to get arrested just for walking out his door, being large and muscled was only adding an extra excuse. He looked at another cultist, who merely nodded. A few days ago, word had begun to spread that the Demon himself was waking, but he had merely shifted in his sleep. Still, it had been hilarious to watch the arrestors run around in panic at the mere thought of Rakdos awakening. He knew he had to take his fun wherever he could get it.

Kala could be found in one of Vitu-Ghazi's temples as she spread her roots through the ground and bathed in the light of the sun. She enjoyed listening to the plants speak around her as she meditated on the beauty that existed in all living things that surrounded her. A few hours into her meditation, an elf convert approached her with a smile on his face and a letter in his hands which had the Azorius stamp on it. The elf bowed to the Dryad before handing the letter over to her. " Lady Kala, this letter arrived from an Azorius griffin rider and Lady Trostani would like you to represent Selesnya at the upcoming Festival of the Guildpact." Naturally Kala had already heard all of this through the song that the plants sang but it was good to hear it also from the convert messenger.

Kala retracted her roots from the ground which formed into two strands of twisted roots that took on the resemblance of two legs as she also ran her hands through her hair trying to straighten out the vines and branches that made up part of her hair. "Thank you for letting me know." She told the convert as she took the letter and left the temple so that she could prepare for the up coming Festival.

August Forth, 827 Thursday, One day before Guild-pact Day.

A section of Azor Street had been taken for the festivities. Many of the guilds had responded quickly, sending some members to set up. A Rakdos was setting up a circus tent, to show off some of their Pyro-mancers. The Gruul had some creatures that would give rides, and the Boros were calling upon anyone who wanted to spar with the best. The Guildpact day was one of the few days that the guilds weren't fighting over everything.

Elric walked over to the center of the Rakdos tent to "warm up", for lack of a better term. He had to check the height of the ceiling, and it was good. No chance of setting everything ablaze. Destroying the property of other guilds would earn a reward. Destroying Cult property would probably earn him one of the more inventive Rakdos punishments.

He went into a calm trance, feeling his mana bonds... and his skin exploded into ten-foot flames. Fireballs appeared in his avatar's hands, and he started juggling them. Off the knee, behind the back, even between his legs. His skills were just as sharp as ever, so he let the flames extinguish themselves.

He shook his head several times to clear his head of the pain. He wouldn't be able to do this again today, the agony was too much. Even Rakdos Cultists had their limits. He knew he'd be able to perform for the crowds tomorrow, however. The show must go on, and all that.

Kala walked through the Selesnya section of the festival where they had created a large garden filled with flowers of all kinds and many different types of fruit-bearing trees.The Selesnya's wanted to show the people of Ravnica the beauty that resided in nature and to also allow the people the chance to hear the song of Mat'Selesnya that all Dryads and Elementals could hear. She watched as several Dryads went around to the different plants tending to their needs which elfish and human converts greeted people at the entrance to the garden with two towering Scion elementals standing guard encase one of the other guilds attempted to ruin the garden in any way.

Neil wandered in the back of the festivities wearing the most non denominational clothing he could. The Orzhov were hosting events like the lottery and various religious get togethers but it would be foolish to mingle with that crowd and draw attention to himself. Ogres were not exactly known to hang out with the Orzhov, and Teysa was firm when she told him he would be denied all connection should his true intentions be discovered. Neil mingled with the Rakdos for a little while, a clan that he had originated from and still involves himself in every once in a while. He prefers the business minded professionalism of the Orzhov, but the Rakdos held the best parties. Gruul parties were fun too, but any party where the clowns explode into giblets was superior by principal.

Neil was taking mental notes about the Rakdos but there was nothing especially alarming about them. They were chaotic and difficult to control, obviously. But without Rakdos himself they weren't very organized and did not pose a serious threat to the Orzhov. Neil felt pretty comfortable that the Azorious were suitably horrified that the demon might wake up. He kind of wished Rakdos would get up just to bug them. Neil turned to leave, deciding that the Rakdos were their usual and uncrafty selves when a fire twirler caught his attention. He always liked fire twirling, even dabbled in a little bit of it himself during his younger years, but this particular twirler was one of the best he had seen. With a grin of appreciation Neil flicked a gold coin out of his wallet in the direction of the performer as he left, deciding he'd splurge a little bit to celebrate his heritage.

Neil decided he would check out the Selesnya area next, as loathsome a prospect as it was. It was suitably done up, with plenty of greens to show off their attention to nature. Predictably they had scions standing over the event, in case someone would harm their precious plants. It would be difficult for him to get in without drawing attention with the guards at the doors. He questioned if he could even get through with the reputation his kind had. He took a mental note of the layout before moving on. Selesnya territory was stake out territory, as he probably wouldn't be able to sneak in until nightfall. The Selesnya weren't to be underestimated; Teysa would appreciate whatever information he could gather about what they were up to. Neil continued on, heading towards the area of the Boros.

August Fifth, 827, Friday. Guild-pact Day
"Guild-pact Day!"
"Guild-pact Day!" criers cried as they ran though the streets.
Children ran though the streets, seeing what all the guilds had to offer this year. Many young people, trying to seek what they stood for, talked to many guild members, asking about them. Many, many people were rummaging though the streets, seeing the Guilds getting along.

A Worek of Boros stood in a circle decorated with the symbol of a flaming fist.
"Anyone want to Brawl with the best? 100 gold to anyone who can pin me to the ground. Anyone, Please don't be shy."

A Lawmage sat at a booth with a sign painted to say "Complaints/Lost Persons." He sighed as everyone passed him, and breaking about five laws in the progress.

An Izzet mage was at his booth, showing off a new Invention. He was blabbing about how it worked, or at least how its suppose to. Suddenly the machine, looking like a mixure in between a dog and a bird, exploded, casing the Izzet mage to be covered in coal smoke.

Nothing could go wrong.

------Between the planes------

Ambrose sat between the planes listening to see where his next victim would be. He enjoyed the thrill of sitting there waiting for a moment when a plane would have some festival or some great splendorous event that unveiled some great plot of good vs evil. He was the rain on their parade or rather the exploding vortex. Ambrose had frozen his own plane when he had received his spark and enjoyed the power that he had been given so much so that he had to spread the joy of it. He cackled to himself. in the darkness between the planes and suddenly something stopped him....it was other laughter. Suddenly he honed in on where it was coming from. A plane called Ravnica. This place looked interesting. It was comprised to guilds that split and shared their mana and another magic seemed to be in place...a spell that held their chaotic balance in check. The guild pact! Oh something like that must be toyed with, twisted into an abomination so that these so called guilds would turn on each other. Ambrose could tell that this was going to be a very fun plane to mess with. "I think I should go introduce myself to the populace." He choose his spot perfectly one where all the guilds would see him...see the threat that would now torment their plane.

Ambrose cackled as he waved his hand into the darkness before him. His spark activated as he winked out of the darkness with a flash of light and reappeared in the atmosphere of Ravnica. He began to feel the mana seep into his veins. New magics twisted into his mind. Nothing really new but it was spells that this plane had twisted to make their own. "Well well it seems that some guilds here mess with mana just as I do...I wonder if I will make any friends here." He began to descend below the clouds and hovered above the guilds pact day events. Ambrose augmented his voice and amplified it so that all the citizens would hear him; he also created an illusion of his own head in the sky so that everyone could see it. "Hello Citizens of Ravnica! My name is Ambrose Arcanus! I am sure you have never heard of me but in the coming days you will get to know me very well! Now that we are somewhat acquainted I have a demand! Take me to the guild pact magic or you will have fire rain down from the heavens upon you all!!" Ambrose put a smug grin on his face which appeared on the illusion version of his head to and right after that it winked out back into the blue mana from wince in came. Now he just waited for the response. If the guilds took to long then he would torch the place and move to find the guild pact magic himself.

"Well, damn." Much as Elric loved chaos, threatening the Guildpact was something beyond the pale. Even Rakdos himself wouldn't commit such an act. He went over towards the Azorius pavilion. If the bloody lawmages had a plan for this sort of crap, he'd do whatever he could to help. He might not be the biggest team player, but he loved Ravnica all the same.

And if the Azorius didn't have a plan, well... it was going to be a bad day all around.

Gazzo was sitting at a desk inside of a dark room, a wrench in one hand and a welder in another. Well actually the flames were just shooting out of his fingers, but that wasn't what was important. He had spent 2 weeks putting this device together and it simply had to work. He fighted with dials, calibrated various sensors.. Gazzo believed it was already in working order, but he wouldn't leave it up to chance. Not now, not while it would make or break him as an inventor.
A man poked his head through the door to the room where Gazzo was working. He gave an incredulous stare at the goblin sitting there.
"Erm... did I get the wrong room? I was looking for Gazzo the inventor..." He mumbled the words out,

"Yes, you did find Gazzo. And at the nick of time too; I just finished rewiring the electromagnetic pulsifier." Gazzo leaped off of his chair while he gingerly held the device he had been working on in his hands.
"Erm.. okay then. Whatever." It was clear the stage hand wasn't convinced, but he wasn't being paid to care. "You're on in 5 minutes."
"Thanks mate." Is all Gazo could mumble as he pushed past the human, which was an impressive feat consider Gazzo was only about 4 and a half feet tall.

He made his way to the stage, maneuvering past people from all different guilds who all gave him a funny look for being a goblin wearing the garb of an Izzet scientist, but Gazzo didn't pay them any mind and made his way to the stage. He looked over his invention over and over again while he waited for the current act to end. Everything seemed to be in working order, but his invention had to work. At this point it wasn't an issue of money, it was an issue of pride and of proving to everyone his worth. It just had to work...

Gazzo looked up from his inspection to find that the previous act had ended. He braced himself as the counter for the next act came up. Going live in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...
Suddenly the curtains were pulled open and a hundred eyes burrowed their way into Gazzo. The goblin wasn't deterred; he cleared his throat before he began.
"Fighting wars is tough, ain't it? You're given a piece of metal on a stick and told to go beat up a bunch of other fellas with metal on sticks. It ain't easy. Whether you be human, minotaur, centaur, elf goblin or otherwise you're constantly afraid that you'll loose your weapon, and as the boros will tell you again and again, your weapon is your heart and soul and the very thing keeping your heart beating. Am I right?" He got a few nods from the audience. They seemed a bit confused about where this speech was going, but it was clear Gazzo had their attention.

"Allow me to introduce you to my latest invention; the Electronic Weapon Retrieval System, or the "E.W.R.S". " Gazzo held up what appeared to be a gauntlet of some sort with a few buttons and knobs attached to the arm guard. "This baby will ensure that you never loose your precious weapon again, using my patented electromagnet technology. We need to find ourselves a volunteer.... You! You look like a lady who knows how to wield a sword!" He pointed directly an elven women in Selesnya garb. She slowly made her way up to the stage with a nervous expression on her face, not entirely sure what a goblin would have in store for her. Gazzo simply lifted the gauntlet... and plucked it directly on her hand.

The device was clearly too large, but the device clicked and pieces of metal move and shifted as the gauntlet adjusted itself to fit the elf's dimensions. She looked down with a confused look on her face.

"One size fits all! This baby can adjust from minotaurs and ogres to elves and goblins quickly and easily. It weighs virtually nothing, and offers protection comparable to the toughest of armors! But we aren't done quite yet folks!" Gazzo reached up and pressed a button on the gauntlet, and it whirred to life as sparks of electricty bounced between her fingers. Suddenly a short sword was pulled from off stage and the electro magnetic pulse firmly grasped the sword in her hands.
"This device will ensure you will never loose your sword again! No matter where it is within a 100 foot radius, this baby can pull your sword back to you as long as you have one of these special tags! All of this can be available to you... for a reasonable amount of gold coins. Just imagine all of the money you'll safe from lost equipment!" His thoughts were interrupted by the elf pressing a button on the back of the gauntlet... and reversing the polarity.

Suddenly the sword was fired from her hands and it soared past the crowd. There was some panic as sword sailed through the air and firmly planted itself in the soil. The crowd backed off with fearful expressions in their eyes. But Gazzo simply looked at the sword with interest. The Selesnyan woman dropped the gauntlet on the floor and left with a shocked expression on her face but Gazzo's brain was already running at full capacity and he couldn't be bothered to pay any attention to the thinning crowd.
"I bet I could weaponize that." Gazzo said aloud as he scratched his goatee, which he was more then proud of. The Izzet viewed failure as an opportunity to innovate, and Gazzo took that mantra to heart everywhere he went. However, his thoughts were interrupted by a large lizard head appearing above his head.

He stared up at the figure above him. That was some grade A illusion magic. Whoever was pulling this off was a powerful magic wielder, and someone not to take lightly. For a moment Gazzo considered readying up a fireball to fire at the figure, but if whoever that is can cast blue illusions, it would probably be even easier to counter a simply fireball. He had to come up with a plan. He considered going to the firemind, but the dragon was probably already formulating his own plan. Gazzo quickly grabbed his gauntlet and hopped off of the stage and made his way over to the Azorius tent, checking to see what their response to such a threat would be.

====================

Neil had finished his stack out of the Selesnya gardens the previous night. His findings? They were doing nothing. Nothing at all. Whatever they are planning, they are not pulling it off during the guildpact as far as he could see. No matter what they were up to.. Neil was tired and grumpy, since he had spent the entire night scoping out the Selesnya gardens and avoiding detection. It was even worse that he didn't have any meaningful information for Teysa herself. Neil was chugging down tea trying his best to stay awake when he noticed the illusion being cast, like he was sure everyone else was. This was an interesting twist. Neil contemplated what to do next, and the weariness quickly went out of his eyes. He needed to see what the Azorius were planning. He knew everyone would go to them first, since they are the most experienced with anti magic and counter spells. Their control magic were the very antithesis to what they were about to face, so people from many guilds would be there. This was a perfect opportunity to spy on them. This would more then make up for his previous failure to report on the Selesnya; this incident had the potential to make Ravnica history, so she would certainly want to know what the Azorius's response was going to be.

Neil ducked into the back alleyways and undercity, making his way to the Azorius tent with absolutely no intention of allowing himself to be seen. He would document whatever happens there today and report it back to Teysa herself.