January 28th, 1588 - Stuttgart, Holy Roman Empire We have only found three consistent ways to kill Beans (assuming that Crimson Beans behave the same as Ashen and Verdant Beans): heat, crushing, and slicing. The heat from a simple candle is enough to kill a bean placed within a few centimeters of the flame, while crushing and slicing kills the bean if a large enough chunk is crushed or cut off.

Sauer, Reist, and Schubert stood with a group of nine other doctors in the heart of Stuttgart’s Bean Research Facility. The research facility, which had previously been an administrative building on the grounds of Stuttgart’s military headquarters, was guarded by three layers of guards who would check the clothing and possessions of everyone entering or leaving the facility to ensure that no beans left, intentionally or not. It had taken the group of twelve two hours to enter the facility, and it would take them another two to leave.

The reason they had gathered was twofold; to discuss the knowledge they had gathered from their experiments with the beans over the past three days, and to introduce themselves to each other. Though they had been reviewing reports on the Beans and developing theories independently for months, they had yet to formally introduce themselves to each other in person; merely reading each other's reports.

The researchers were split into four groups of three, each group having a senior researcher, and each member having a different specialty than the others in their group. The reasoning behind this was to provide varied points of view when discussing the Beans, though the reports they had been dependent upon for months provided little information to discuss. Sauer was the leader of his group, being the most experienced, his specialty being human surgery. Reist’s specialty was creating medicine, and Schubert’s specialty was animal physiology and behavior.

“So, shall we begin?” Victor Lehmann asked. Lehmann was the leader of his group, being nominated to Bösch by a nobleman in Frankfurt for his exceptional surgical skills.

“I think, we shall,” Arthur Meyer, a fat man with a huge mustache and fluffy eyebrows said. He had been recruited by Krüger for his previous work for the Empire regarding the study of climate in natural environments and food production. He spoke carefully, thinking about each word before he spoke. “The question is, however, where shall we begin?”

“I think we should discuss their w-weaknesses,” Carl Fischer said with a slight stutter. Although it was not nearly as prominent as Wagner’s, Sauer was taken aback every time he heard it. Fischer had volunteered and been accepted due to his detailed background in alchemy. “My research g-group has successfully killed a bean by s-slicing it in half. Further research will h-have to be done to determine how susceptible they are to slicing, b-but it is a start.”

“Hmm,” Meyer grunted. “We should, have discussed this, previously. My research group, has also determined, slicing as a, viable method of disposal. As well, as crushing. This leads me to believe, something inside, of the beans is vital, for their survival, however, we have been unable, to determine what that would be; they seem, identical, to the regular beans, we grow and eat, ourselves.”

“No, that doesn’t make sense,” a sarcastic sounding man from Lehmann’s group said. “If that’s the case, then how are the beans able to move? Unless there’s something important we missed about the beans we grow in our fields.”

“Our intent, when we sliced open, our first bean, was to determine, how they were able to move,” Meyer said. “However, all we determined, was a method of extermination. Nothing more.”

“Then what differentiates the Beans from any ordinary bean?” Lehmann’s aide asked.

“Well for one, the Beans can kill people,” Schubert said.

Lehmann’s aide was about to reply when Lehmann spoke. “Let us return to the topic at hand. It would be unwise to attempt to find more ways to kill the beans without prior discussion. Our supply is limited; we should focus on finding different ways to kill them rather than verifying known methods.” Each of the ten groups in Stuttgart were given ten beans to experiment on, the rest of the beans being sent to other cities for further research. Once their supply ran out, they would not be able to acquire any more beans. “On that note, my research group has determined that it is possible to kill the beans using extreme heat, specifically by placing them in fire.”

Sauer wrote in his journal before speaking. “My research group killed a bean with fire as well, meaning that we have two methods verified by two research groups, and one that was carried out by only one group.”

Lehmann sighed. “Everyone, we need to be more clear in our reports. By my count, we’re down twelve percent of our beans in four days. At this rate, our supply will be exhausted by the end of February.”

“I wrote our report myself,” a woman with shoulder length brown hair from Meyer’s group said. “I was incredibly clear about the methods we used and their results.” She turned to Fischer. “Did you read our report before discovering slicing kills the beans?”

“Your report said nothing about slicing, nor crushing,” a gruff man from Fischer’s group said. “Before you accuse me of not doing my job—”

“This is neither the time nor the place,” Lehmann said. “If we want any chance against the Beans, we can not be infighting about petty matters such as this. It is obvious our communication was impaired before, we shall ensure it will not be in the future. We still have thirty-five beans between our four groups; plenty to continue experiments.”

“Were any, other methods of killing the beans, discovered?” Meyer asked. No one replied. “Now, then, we should, move on to a different matter. We have discovered, how to kill the beans; would it, not be advantageous, to discuss potential weapons?”

“Isn’t that the tacticians’ job?” Reist asked.

“No,” Fischer replied. “W-We are supposed to discover how to consistently kill the Beans, develop weapons to do so, then i-inform the tacticians. They will use what we find to a-arm our forces and d-develop strategies for our advance on Bean territory.”

“Weapons…” Sauer began. “In Dijon, we discovered that muskets are able to partially damage the Beans, while cannons are able to consistently kill them. I would assume that this is due to the heat produced by the musket and cannonballs, as well as due to the crushing of beans upon impact… Keep in mind, this is only regarding the Crimson Beans; the Ashen and Verdant Beans may differ in their weaknesses.”

“So we already have weapons, albeit ineffective,” Lehmann said. “Perhaps we could modify our muskets and cannons to better take advantage of the Beans’ weaknesses.”

“T-That would be difficult, I think,” Fischer said. “It would have to be able to be d-done in the field, not to mention accessible enough for all of our s-soldiers to be equipped… I don’t know the exact number, but we would need to supply a few thousand men, at least.”

“Creating new weapons, would be more resource intensive,” Meyer said. “Modifying our existing weapons, would be our best option.”

Fischer nodded. “Y-Yes, what I meant was merely that we would need to c-consider what our men in the f-field already have available, or what they can gather easily. Creating new weapons specifically to f-fight the Beans would be a terrible misuse of our resources.”

“Not necessarily,” Sauer said. “We could begin developing new weapons here in Stuttgart that could be used in the event of a Bean attack. If the conflict goes on for long enough, we could consider equipping our forces in the field, but researching and developing Bean-specific weaponry would not be a waste of effort.”

“That makes sense,” Lehmann agreed. “But today our focus should be on how to supply our forces in the field. We need to ensure that they are prepared for any conflict that may arise in the spring. Once we determine that, we can move onto the subject of Bean-specific weapons.”

“And,” Sauer added, “we should also discuss how to prepare our cities in the event of a Bean attack.”

“I agree,” Meyer said. “Something such as, safehouse designs, would be pertinent to discuss. But we should do that, after discussing weapons.”