The concourse noise swallows the last of the crowd behind them. Under the stadium lights, Elizabeth smooths the cream envelope open and reads fast, her shoulders tightening.
Elizabeth Bathory
This names a time tonight, and a downtown address. Someone wanted us to see it.
Marla snaps a photo of the handwriting, thumb already flying across her phone. The stranger in the security uniform lingers a few steps back, uneasy and too still.
Marla Brewer
I am searching the signature now. If it matches any public trail, I will find it.
The envelope drops half-open in Elizabeth's hand. Inside, a second line catches the light, crisp and deliberate, like a warning dressed as an invitation. Thadeus can see the message is not just for now, it is a move toward something waiting in the city.
The Stranger
I only delivered it. That is all I was told to do.
Marla looks up from her screen, pale with recognition. Whatever sent this has reach, timing, and confidence, and it is pulling them out of the game and into downtown Detroit.
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify the sender of the envelope
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify the contents of the envelope
“Thadeus directs his attention to the stranger and extends his hand, "Thank you for the letter, I will follow up on it." Confused, the stranger also extends his hand, the two of meeting with a handshake. As soon as he does, Thadeus squeezes down hard, not allowing the stranger to flee. Thadeus tells Elizabeth to slide the letter in his Thadeus's trench coat pocket, then check the stranger for any weapons. The stranger panics, but can't escape Thadeus tight grip.”
SUCCESS (Superb Strength, rolled -1)
Thadeus closes the distance and locks the stranger’s hand in a hard, decisive grip. The man jerks once, then freezes, caught between panic and the stadium crowd pressing somewhere beyond the concourse.
Thadeus Jovanović
Thank you for the letter. I will follow up on it.
Elizabeth moves in at once, plucking the envelope from the space between them and tucking it into Thadeus’s trench coat pocket. Her other hand is already checking the stranger’s sides with quick, practiced care.
The Stranger
Wait, hold on, I did my part. That is all I was told.
Marla lowers her phone a fraction, eyes flicking from the screen to the man’s uniform. A tiny crowd shift ripples past the concession line, and one onlooker keeps looking back too long.
Thadeus Jovanović
Someone out there is watching this handoff.
Elizabeth finds no weapon, but her fingers stop on a folded receipt in the stranger’s inner pocket, marked with a downtown parking structure and a time matching the letter. The man goes pale, still trapped in Thadeus’s grip, while the receipt hangs in the open for everyone to see.
Thadeus Jovanović leaves Ford Field behind and arrives at downtown parking structure.
“Continuing to hold the man's hand, Thadeus states, "Why don't we take this outside the field." Thadeus turns to Marla, "Sorry, I guess we're not catching the end of the game today." Marla smiles, understanding this situation is more pressing. Thadeus's party carefully escorts the stranger through the concourse and out to the parking structure, attracting as little attention as possible.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +0)
Downtown air hangs cold between concrete decks, carrying exhaust, damp cement, and distant traffic. Thadeus and the others guide the stranger under a strip of harsh sodium light, away from the stadium noise and into the parking structure’s echoing mouth.
Thadeus Jovanović
Why don’t we take this outside the field.
Thadeus Jovanović
Sorry, I guess we’re not catching the end of the game today.
Marla Brewer
Yeah, I figured. This is louder anyway.
Marla keeps her phone low and walks tight to Thadeus’s shoulder, while Elizabeth stays on the stranger’s other side, calm but ready. The man swallows hard as they pass a pillar marked with fresh white paint and a faded stall number.
A security camera on the next level slowly pans toward them, then stops a beat too long on the group. Beneath it, a sticker on the concrete points to a maintenance stairwell, and the same downtown time from the receipt glows in Thadeus’s mind.
The Stranger
I was only told to deliver it and wait. That’s it. I swear it.
As they reach the parking level, the stranger’s shoulder jerks toward the rows of parked cars, where a dark figure slips behind a sedan and vanishes from view.
“Thadeus looks at the stranger, "We got we needed, thank you." Thadeus points at a nearby sedan. Thadeus says to Elizabeth, "You saw that, right?" Elizabeth smirks, "You know I did, I'll get him." With lightning speed, Elizabeth runs over to the sedan and locates the dark figure. Terrified, the figure tries running away, but Elizabeth is much too fast. She grabs him by the collar and drags him over to Thadeus and Marla. Thadeus looks to the stranger, "Oh, you can leave now." The stranger, fully afraid, runs down the parking structure out of sight.”
SUCCESS (Superb Diplomacy, rolled -1)
Elizabeth comes back hard, one hand clamped on a man in a hooded jacket. He stumbles between the cars, boots scraping concrete, while Marla’s phone snaps up to catch the moment.
Thadeus Jovanović
We got what we needed, thank you.
Thadeus points toward a nearby sedan, and the stranger in the security uniform flinches at the same time Elizabeth does, as if they both see the same thing now.
Elizabeth Bathory
You saw that, right?
Elizabeth Bathory
You know I did, I’ll get him.
She is already moving, fast enough to cut around the sedan before the hooded man can get two steps. He tries to bolt, but she catches his collar and drags him back into the light.
Thadeus Jovanović
Oh, you can leave now.
The stranger recoils, then turns and runs down the parking structure, his footsteps fading under the concrete decks while the captured man stares at Thadeus and Marla, trapped in Elizabeth’s grip.