How The Mighty Are Brought Low

Tripp had been right.  The Lunar Empire was actually accepting shorties (or really anyone) who could cook and clean to keep their tiny hamlet running.  It wasn't even hard to cross the "border" (I put that in quotes because it was a couple guys standing next to a wood barricade with guns older than me).  Tripp had of course been assigned to the kitchen (which is why he carried all those kitchen implements), me I got stuck cleaning things.  Which you would think would afford great opportunities to steal things.  You'd be dead wrong!

No see shorties don't get normal jobs like dusting plates or something. No we have to climb under and through pipes all over the damn land! I tell you the worst part about this con was actively working hard.  Like I'd never had a real job until the Lunar Empire, and yet there I was scrubbing pipes and hoping to find a bit of coin or discarded jewlery (neither of which ever emerged). I did however hear something that lead me to believe that things were not well in the lands of the Lunar Empire. It should have been readily apparent from the lack of people and the demand for people to come be servants, but what can I say I'm not always as observant as I should be. It was while I was cleaning out a clogged storm drain that I heard a couple Lunar Empire guards discussing something. I couldn't tell who they were (nor did I really know anyone anyway) but I'll let their conversation speak for itself.

"The emperor has gone insane, we can not ally with them."

"We have to, if we do not we'll all be destroyed they were clear on that."

"Destroyed?" The one guard laughed, "How can they destroy the gods chosen?" Here is where I had to avoid laughing.

"We must act soon, and the emperor knows this."

"Perhaps we should act, to remove the emperor." At this point they walked off and I slipped into more muck (I mean why not make a bad situation worse?) But I was terrified of the conversation.  An empire in turmoil is not a place to be doing day labor, its not even the place to swing in for a bite to eat. And there I was with knowledge of an attempted coup or potential destruction and the thing most on my mind? I hoped the mud would come out of my boots.  Yeah I'm a man of action.