"Alexius has a focus for his ritual, a necklace. If it is destabilized in the right way, I believe it will undo all his work."

"He keeps it on him?"

She nods. "At all times."

"Do you know what the right way to destabilize it is?"

"I know what two wrong ways are."

"What are those?"

Slightly too technically magical to be easily understood in a short conversation, alas.

Though something she'll want to return to in the future. 

Of course.

For now... She needs to know Alexius's immediate plans. 

Eliana can explain the typical progression. Arrival, tour through the town, meeting with the Grand Enchanter, the negotiations, the Circles' discussions, the agreement...

Talking to the Grand Enchanter before he can seems straightforward - she's unsure if they can just keep him out of the town. 

Unlikely. He has effectively infinite time to plot his approach.

...Does flat out killing him tend to cause problems? Bellona isn't Hawkeye but she's still a decent shot with a sniper rifle.

That is what snared Eliana to begin with. Alexius's magic must be unraveled first.

Bellona can hopefully help with that - Amestrisan alchemy is good at figuring out what's going on, if nothing else.

The problem then is creating a window of opportunity.

She'll need to get pretty close to whatever's happening, too.

Then it seems like they should focus on finding a way to incapacitate Alexius.

For that, she'll need to know more about his magic. 

Then they can talk magic.

Fun, despite the solemnity of what's going on. (Bellona has so many questions about what her alternate timeline self tried, too, including an almost hesitant, "Did you meet her?")

"Briefly. In circumstances that were... considerably more hectic."

"So you probably didn't have a chance to talk..."

"Not as such, no. A missed opportunity, I am seeing."