Return of the Emblem Chapter Five: The Retrieval

[Snowy_One]

As the ship came to a rest and the ramp lowered, a strong feeling of wariness overcame Robin. Something felt very... wrong... about the whole thing. It was not the suspicion of the soldiers as to who they were picking up, that seemed to be more of good policy than anything else. Yet it was defiantly there. Possibly because it was a boat being used to transport a young child confirmed to be of great power? Robin looked over to Raquel, noting that the girl was also nervous. She decided to be quite, however, as the last thing Raquel needed was the captain becoming suspicious of the Neviskotian girl standing behind the woman he was supposed to be contacting.

Then someone else whom Robin had yet to talk too approached the group, asking one of the people whom had come down if they were the captain. "Hey." she said, trying to come up behind Gytha and put her hands on her shoulder. "Let Raquel handle this."

[GoD]

"What could you have possibly left? But still, I won't stop you if you decide to go....just keep a low profile. That place has changed......far too much than we what you used to remember. I'll go with you of course, but keep that in mind."-Chelsea told Ucollas.

And then the ship, the magnificient humongous ship arrived. "Oh dear.....we're going on that thing? I must confess......this is the first time I have ever seen a ship before.....and I'm a bit excited."

[Ether]

As the ship docked, Xavier looked back to Gabbie.

"Well, looks like they didn't blow 'emselves up after all." He said, still somewhat confused, until the Dark Avian descended from the ship.

"Think it might have something to do with the red one there?"

[Acacia Sgt]

Back on ground and somewhat away from the shore, John dismounted, watching the ship's crew descending to meet out with Raquel. 'So they even have an avian with them?' John thought. 'Well, the ship's finally here. Though, would we still be on time to begin the search today? I don't think... unless we are going to search during the night...'

[Phoenix]

Gabbie

"Yeah I met that one when I found the ship. Couldn't even answer a simple question though, which is buggin' me." Gabbie replied. Fallen? Yes? No? "I'm sorry, I can't say." ... why the hell not, red-head?

Who's In Charge Here?

"Hm?" Fira responded to Gytha at first. It felt odd being asked that given her history with the ship, but since she was the first one to greet the party, she figured that it wasn't a silly question. "No, I'm not the captain." she said before pointing out the actual captain who had nearly arrived.

"Greetings." the man said to the small gathering. "I'm the captain. This over here is Fira. Everyone's favorite crewman. And this sky scraper here is Rico, my first mate."

Fira gave a very small wave instead of a larger one given how close she already was to Raquel and the others. Rico said "H-hi." with some apprehension in his voice, mainly due to Raquel, and not know where or when to expect Jethro.

"It's nice to meet you, Captain. Um, I have a quick question. Have you been briefed on what we're doing here?" Raquel replied. She needed to know just how much explaining she would have to do.

"We're to get you across the channel onto Kigenese shores. From there, you'll go out and bring back some precious cargo. Whether or not the other mercs are still alive isn't a big issue, but it could affect how long it takes you to get back. We'll anchor at the shore for about a week, which gives you plenty of time." he explained.

"Well ..." she paused wondering if he knew just what the precious cargo was. He must know right? Even if he didn't, there was a dark avian in his crew. She seriously doubted he didn't already know, but she had to be sure. If he didn't know and got upset over them keeping secrets, he might very well strand them over there or something. "Uh, about the precious cargo ..."

"It's one of the fallen ones. We know." Fira cut in. "That is part of why we're being paid so much. You need a ship that can easily handle one of them for the short time that we must, and there isn't one better than ours."

"Right, the ship's covered in magic wards, but the fire based ones Fira makes are the best. I don't care if they start shooting at us with Meteor tomes, they won't even singe the woodwork, heh." Rico said cockily. "Too bad the regular wards look so ugly, or I could have stood putting more of them on her."

"It's also too bad that all those wards don't stop cannon fire from punching holes in my ship. Oh well, can't have it all I guess. So that's the gist of it. We ferry you over into Kigen and wait for you to get back with the cargo. When you do, we'll take you back to Ursium. Questions?" The captain asked crossing his arms.

"One quick one and then anyone else who has a question can go." Raquel began. "What should we do with the wagon?"

"I'm surprised a merchant would ask that question. We're not getting paid to guard anyone or anything that's not on the Al-Lyrae, so unless you're leaving some of your people on this side to guard it, I say bring it with. You probably won't need to take it ashore with you, that'll just slow down your search, but leaving it out in the open over here on this side is just asking for trouble. At least this way if something comes up, the thing is safe on board my ship. I'm sure I'll get some complaints about the horse shit but they'll forget all about that once they get paid."

"Hmm ... okay. I'll get that ready then. Thank you, Captain." she said bowing out and heading over to the wagon where Connor was. "Okay we're taking the wagon onto the ship, but it's staying there for most of the ... operation ...? Not sure what to call it really. Is that okay, Connor? I just don't want to leave you and everything else over here if we don't have enough people to stand guard, and I think we're going to need everyone we can get to help search for the mercenaries."

[-Cynthia-]

Connor

"It'll slow down my progress a little, but I guess that's better than having the wagon stolen," Connor admitted to Raquel, snapping to attention when his name was called. He began to pack up all his research materials as quickly as possible, not even noticing the ship really.

Nadya

"Hey, Captain uh...captain!" Nadya called out trying to get his attention not recalling him giving his name. "We can leave before the week is up right? Shouldn't take that long to catch a bird after all," Nadya said, punctuating this with a somewhat nervous laugh.

Veronika

The somewhat odd crew got a raised eyebrow from Veronika, but she decided not to comment further. Instead, she turned to Amon.

"The files tell us where the mercenaries should be right? Possibly with a map of some sort? Since I don't think any of us are familiar with the area, I'm not especially keen on wandering around searching for them once we reach the other side," she said to him.

Callisto

"Neviskotia is bound to fall eventually, ships and dragons are but playthings compared to the will of the gods," Callisto said rather airily. "Volunteers you said? I would like to know more about these people, surely they must be blessed to act as Wrath's arm in such a decisive manner," she said to the Major General.

[Phoenix]

Raquel

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that, but I'd rather we be safe than sorry." she said as she began looking through the wagon for something specific she hardly ever used. It was a wooden plank and despite its humble appearance, they weren't going to be loading up the wagon without it.

"Here it is. The wagon doesn't have any fixed stoppers so loading things on is really easy. So is taking them out. But because of that, we can't go up steep hills or ramps because some things could just slide right out the back. The ramp doesn't look too steep but I don't want to take any chances."

Captain

"Hm? 'course. We'll wait for you for a week, but if you get back before then, we're best setting sail right then." the captain answered Nadya. "Not a fan of Kigen, I'm guessing, hahahahah!"

Amon

"There was no map but luckily we have our own to reference." he began. We're actually taking the same route they were going to use to smuggle the fallen back into Ursium and into Europa. We're just coming backwards. They didn't take any roads heading back from southern Kigen so we're going to have to search in a ... relatively small area about ten miles inland. It's small depending on how you look at it, but it'll still take us a whole day or longer if they're in hiding. I'm also worried about whatever's got them hiding in the first place. If it comes after us, we might get overwhelmed. I mean, is anyone in this group experienced at fighting in forested areas? I might be useless in a situation like this." Amon explained with a frown. He had already been missing the urban environments he was used to.

Trish's Volunteers

"I don't know if they were blessed or just lucky. The whole battle was the most atypical I've seen. Before we realized what they were up to, I went in to try and find Doctor Dolan and figure out what was going on. I had a feeling he might go nuts and attack us, but he had a lot of units ready and every team sent in suffered some casualties. Of the three front line teams, the ones Weyland sent us fared the best. The other two volunteer divisions were almost wiped out. The two Neviskotians over there were part of one of the divisions that got smashed."

"Hellooo~" Olga waved with an innocent smile. Bron kept his head down, and his mouth shut.

"Anyway, they took on a battalion of those abominations and only had one fatality by the time Remus' shocktroops stormed in. They gunned down the rest of them. It was a nice save, but they didn't give us any kind of warning so it was a miracle none of our own got killed. That's when I was hoping Dolan was out of tricks and we could take him, but he still had an artificial dragon waiting for us in the basement. We still needed to reorganize and time wasn't on our side, so I sent Weyland's unit down there and they managed to beat Dolan and the rest of his experiments, including the dragon. Quite impressive if I do say so myself."

[Mercakete]

A woman Gytha didn't recognize put a hand on her shoulder. In responce, the mariner looked inquizitively at her. Whoever she was, she was nervous, clearly, but Gytha couldn't understand why. Her attention returned to Raquel and the ship's crew as soon as they started speaking again, brushing off Robin's hand. When there appeared to be enough time for her to ask a question of her own, Gytha decided to introduce herself.

"Ahoy!" she cheerfully greeted, "So, yer th' captain, first mate and a crewmember o' that ship o'er there, aye? Me name's Gytha! I'm a mariner, usually docked in Fairgale or out at sea, but travellin' with Raquel fer now. It's been a long time -- almost a fortnight, maybe! -- since I've been on deck, though. Forewarnin' ye, though, I have a cat named Maw who sails with me. Not sure if any o' ye's allergic. Just tell me if I should keep'er away from which parts o' the ship and I'll keep an eye on 'er. She does hunt ship rats, though, which is part of why I bring'er along. So, if I'll be sailin' with ye, it'd be best if I knew yer names a bit better than I do. So, let's see if I've got this savvy. Yer Crewman Fira, yer First Mate Rico. ... But I still need the ship's name and 'er captain's, don't I?" she was jolly about the whole introduction, obviously quite happy about being aboard a ship again.

[-Cynthia-]

Nadya

"Oh, Kigen's fine enough I guess, we nomads just don't like staying in one place for very long," she said, laughing a little in response to the captain as she led Luca on deck.

Veronika

"Hmm, I hadn't considered the terrain might be different than what we've fought in before. I'm at a disadvantage as well, I'm not used to...traipsing around the woods," she said to Amon, frowning a bit. "We do have fliers to cover the territory more quickly, but if the mercenaries are hiding from the Fallen we probably won't be able to find them very easily ourselves," she said, putting her hand on her chin. Hopefully someone in the group is more experienced in this type of setting than we are...fighting Fallen in the woods wasn't something Father ever prepared me for.

Callisto

"An atrificial dragon, you say? Sounds like quite the battle indeed. I would like to meet with this unit sent by Weyland. Are they still in Ursentius or have they left?" Callisto asked Trish somewhat casually, waving back to Olga.

[Mercakete]

Forested terrain? They're not used to...? Well, I guess that makes sense. They don't really look like they're used to fighting in the wilds. "You're worried about the terrain?" Norbert calmly interjected into Veronika and Amon's conversation, "Not used to fights that have a lot of trees around, I guess. Can't say any of us not from Kigen would be in a comfortable situation, though. Maybe you should ask some of the Kigenese people here for tips." I'm used fo fighting in forested terrain, yeah, but that's Ursian forested terrain, not Kigen forests.

[Phoenix]

Amon

"I'm starting to wonder if there's anything in this mission we've got going for us. So far it's just one disadvantage after another." Amon muttered. The situation was a bit ridiculous to him.

Gio and Co.

Well that was certainly a lot to address, the captain thought as Nadya headed off up the ramp. "We call the ship Al-Lyrae. I'm Captain Giovanni. I've no clue who's allergic to felines on this vessel, but I guess we'll be finding out shortly, hahah."

"You wouldn't guess it by looking, but our dear captain here is a total sadist." Rico said being only half serious.

"Best way to learn what is and isn't is to cram your nose in it, hahahahaahah!"

Whereabouts

"I'm not sure where they went, but that's partly why we keep track of people coming and going from the city. If they left then there'll be a report about it somewhere. That's a lot of wrathdamn files to go through though." Patricia said getting nauseated just thinking about it. "Depending on which checkpoint they left from, they could be heading, north, south, east, or west. If they haven't been recorded leaving then they're probably still in the city somewhere."

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

"Not sure if Kigenese forests are different from Ursium's or not," Veronika responded to Norbert, shrugging. "Eastern Neviskotia is heavily wooded but I've never been out in the wilds for multiple reasons. We could ask Ranyin for advice on the matter I suppose."

Callisto

"Ah, the glory of...sorting through files," Callisto responded, failing to maintain her usual exuberance in the face of such tedium. "I would like to look at these records, if I may."

[Zsword]

Shadrak

Shadrak chuckled at Chelseas comment. "I wouldn't expect you not to." He said, before adverting his gaze to the ship. "It is one of the larger ones, I'll admit. But it's nothing to a Neviskotian... Ship-of-the-Sea, I think they called it, or something like that... those are monsterous.

Zel

Zel couldn't look away from the ship, he'd never actually seen one before. His father had told them they were big, but he never expected this. He had Sliep trot over to the group of crew-members that were talking. "I'll tell you, having such a fine vessel watching over our supplies will be a wonderful thing indeed. Greetings, I am Zelatus, Knight of Ursium. It is a pleasure to meet you." He said with a bow. I hope that doesn't worry them... I know some people don't appreciate working with nobles... or so I heard.

[Dark Sage]

Well.....looks like we're going hunting for the Fallen. Geez, I never thought I would ever do this in my life. But then again, I never thought about doing any of the things I've done with these people. Hmm....maybe it's good to broaden my horizons. It's good training for when I confront my father's killer.

"Excuse me captain! Are we allowed to board now?" he asked as he noticed Miskavolv was getting impatient and starting to move towards the ship.

Edited July 9, 2011 by Sagekitty

[Mercakete]

"Well, I'll help out as I can. Permission to board, capt'n?" Gytha asked Giovanni, standing respectfully as she understood that she had no right to board until the captain gave his permission.

"I'm mostly used to northeastern Ursian forests, so a lot more pine trees than where we've been. Maybe it's not so different from around here, though," Norbert replied with a shrug. Gives me something to wonder about.

[Snowy_One]

As Domo boarded the ship, a soft gulp came from Robin. Though she knew she held no true reason to be suspicious or wary, something felt... ominous about the boarding of the ship. As if a fight was starting to lurk in the future, if not upon the ship itself then after they left it. It felt like a calm glade during the hunt, when the deer had already fled. She knew there was no proof to her nervousness, but still...

Gripping her bow tightly, she brought it down, holding it low. She wanted it near her, like a child holding a treasured doll for comfort. "<Please, Gods of Neviskotia, Ursium, or whatever else, do not let this be a one way trip.>" she muttered under her breath, trying to keep it as low as possible.

Edited July 9, 2011 by Snowy_One

[Acacia Sgt]

Well, it looked like the group was now heading up to the ship. ''Come on Gil, I think it's almost time to board.'' John said. The wyvern grunted. ''No, we're not going to fly over. Once we're on the other side you can fly all you want, we'll be scouting the area anyway. For now, we're going on the ship.'' He finished before walking closer to the group. Gil grunted again, though followed suit.

[Phoenix]

Shore

Eastern Neviskotia? Hmm, I hadn't made it very far into Ursium before stumbling across the emblem ... err ... piece of it. I don't think I would have done too well out there myself. Amon thought to himself thinking on his journey. "Well I guess the ecology can't change too much across rivers, but further south I remembered things being pretty unique. I didn't come up this way to reach Ursium though." Amon added.

Captain

"Permission granted, Gytha. Welcome aboard the Al-Lyrae. Same for you, rider." Giovanni said to Gytha and then to Domovoi.

Loading Up The Wagon

"Yo, Raquel! Need any help with that?!" Gabbie called over to the merchant, who was trying to maneuver the wooden plank into position on the back of the wagon.

"Yeah some help would be nice. This thing is heavy." she said strained.

"Exerciiiiise. Anyway, here I'll take this half." she said stepping in. Once the two got the panel in place, Raquel went up to the driver's seat and took up the reigns. She needed to be careful about getting the wagon up onto the ship, though the crewmen already seemed to be getting ready for them.

Glorious Files

"You're going to need some help. The records rooms are pretty much a labyrinth. Lyra!"

"Crap. Y-yes, ma'am?" the dark avian called back from the corner of the room.

"Show the captain here to the records room and help her find anything on the group. Ask the manager too. Maybe he'll know."

"Yes, ma'am." Lyra muttered.

Edited July 9, 2011 by Phoenix

[Mercakete]

"Aye, sir!" was all Gytha could get out as she dashed towards the ship and called for Maw who promptly chased after Gytha onto the ship. Though Gytha began exploring the deck immediately, Maw chose to hurry belowdecks. Boat rats were sure to be around and that meant an easy meal.

~~~~~~~~~~

Everyone seemed to be getting read to board the ship, so Norbert climbed into Rizen's saddle and began looking around for Ranyin, still feeling that keeping the Kigenese mage from being trampled was in everyone's best interests -- his own included.

[Zsword]

Zel turned to the winged woman that had undocked from the ship, when he realised that, well, she was winged. "Excuse me miss, would you happen to know strategies as to how to combat the fallen? Seeing as you yourself are a flying combatant, you might be able to offer some incite for those who have yet to combat opponents similar to you." He said... trying to seem as polite as possible, trying not to imply he thought she was a fallen.

[Phoenix]

Tactics

"Strategies? The only decent strategy when dealing with the fallen is to avoid them. You won't find them in small numbers unless they're incredibly powerful, so seeing only a few is probably an even worse sign than seeing a flock. If you have to engage them though, there are a few things that can aid you. One of them is fire." Fira explained, emphasizing her point with a quick manifestation in the palm of her hand. Just a small little flame, enough to light a torch or jump start a campfire. "This won't work on all of them, but in general fallen tend to be easily detoured by fire. Anima magic in general hurts them quite a bit, but fire seems to hurt their morale as well."

She dismissed the little flame. "I wouldn't count on it sending all fallen into a panic. Their higher ranks don't fear anything at all. Don't bother with dark magic offensively either. From what I've heard, it doesn't do a lot of damage. Light magic might work but I don't really know for certain. Anima-particularly fire based-is anyone's best bet if they don't have slayer weapons." she explained.

Get Up That Ramp

Slow and steadily, Raquel steered Sandrock and Riley up the ramp with some guided assistance from the crewmen. Once the wagon came onto the deck, she had to steer the horses toward the front of the ship to avoid the mast. The wagon was parked off to the starboard side of the ship, and from there, Raquel got down from the driver's seat and began undoing the horses' tack. They would probably need to be hitched pretty close by.

"So you're a merchant, right?" a random crewman asked her while approaching as if not to startle her.

"I, uh yeah. Did you want to buy something?" she asked. Wow, I can't believe it never occurred to me that I might be able to make a sale to someone other than the others during a mission like this. Father was right. Everybody needs SOMETHING.

[Zsword]

Zel tilted his head, humming in thought before he spoke. "Funny, I figured that, because they are 'dark' based creatures... that light magic would be effective, because that's how the normal cycle is... correct?" He inquired. He knew how magic worked and how the trinities reacted, but he sometimes forgot details, because it never really mattered to him. Both his sister and mother, the magic half of the family, where healers, not offensive casters, so it's not like he'd know anything from that.

Edited July 9, 2011 by Zsword

[Phoenix]

Tactics: Continued

"Maybe light magic does hurt them. I don't know for certain though. I only use fire magic, and the Kigenese military often uses anima, slaying weapons, and projectiles against them. I'm certain that part of Seth Weyland's reasons for wanting a fallen captive are to test some of the weaknesses as well as some of their strengths. It's a lot easier to defeat an enemy you understand." she replied. "I'm not certain why he wants a female though. I found that to be a little odd the moment I found out."

[Acacia Sgt]

And indeed, they were now boarding. ''Alright Gil, we can fly just to the ship I guess.'' John said, to avoid going up the ramp with everyone else. Gil complied, and after John mounted, he rose parallel to the ship, then went over, and landed.

'Heh, easy.' He thought, dismounting. 'Hmm, how long was it since I've been on a ship? Hard to tell when I just fly when it comes to traveling most of the time.' He laughed.

[Rothene]

The rest of the journey across the Kigen border was relatively eventless for Ranyin. To minimise his chances of being spotted by his peers if they so happen to be around the northern edge of Kigen, Ranyin had spent the entire journey inside the wagon practicing image projections with wind magic. The fundemental concepts were simple, they were technically similar to mirages that form beyond southern eastern borders of Kigen.

He had assumed he would be hiding inside the wagon until the group either found the mercenaries or abandoned the mission. Unfortunately, he recalled that he needed to paint the river near the borders for his sisters, a task he had forgotten to do when he left his homeland.

He got off the wagon just before Raquel had to steer it onto the ship that was to send them across the river. Wasting no time, he took out the little ink bowl from his bag, scooped some river water before rushing up onto the front of the ship, an ideal place to take in the scenery, to begin taking out his painting materials.