Return of the Emblem Chapter Thirteen: Flight

[Mercakete]

Norbert shook his head and sighed. "This is stupid..." Then he raised his gaze again. "But it sounds like some of you going to do it anyway. Fine! Whatever. None of you have experience in this sort of thing from the sounds of it, but if we all get arrested or have to kill a bunch of soldiers, then I'm blaming you!"

He sighed again. "Before joining up with Raquel, all I did was hunt down, kill, and steal from bandits. Was known as 'Bert the Crusher' up north. So yeah; to answer your question from before, I have experience. I'll try to help you not die but it sounds like I won't be able to do this like how I used to: too many people and not enough time." He shook his head again. "This is such a bad idea..."

[Toogee]

"Yeah they'll definitely find us, first, Jamilla," Greta groaned, "it's their stompin' grounds after all. And yeah, apparently they've been pickin' off the garrison's scouts."

"So what's the plan? Won't do us any good if they find us before we find their base."

Jam was having her doubts as to how easy Greta was claiming this would be. Nothing had been so far. She hoped they weren't going to be wandering aimlessly until they were ambushed. That was likely their only option: get ambushed, overpower their foe, and get a survivor to lead them to their base. A sound plan...if they can do the last two parts. She was not so worried about the soldiers as the others were. They could use a few soldiers friendly to their plight. It was certainly a start in paying off the mess made rescuing Joanna. The dancer had confidence her employer could deal with people without getting stabbed in the back.

Bert, er, 'Crusher', seemed to have experience in this matter, but all he was doing was complaining on how stupid and bad this was. Unless he started spouting off advice, Jam chose to block out his protests. This had to be done if Greta hoped to get her business back up.

[Phoenix]

Party Matters

"Look, the plan for the guards is to not incriminate yourselves," Greta began irritably, "the plan for the bandits falls on you tactical types. Lastly, the plan for gettin' the wagon is doin' it as quickly as possible and then headin' south. If we're quick enough, we might even make some progress before nightfall. "Bert, if you know how to deal with bandits, then maybe you should come up with the plan," she added, figuring he could probably adapt his solo work into something fit for a small team if he really put his mind to it. They weren't all going, after all, that would slow things down if nothing else.

Shadrak emerged from the back of the wagon, obviously having something to add to the discussion, and looking rather annoyed, as well. "You couldn't just pay for a wagon? We've got to put our lives on the line for this?" Even Raquel wasn't this self centered.

"Never indulge with investor money, Shadrak. I want somethin' that we can work on and improve over time, and if I can get it with little or no money down, you'd better believe I'll point out some bandit camp in the woods, take my prize and ride off into the sunset," she explained with a cocky grin.

Edited April 11, 2015 by Phoenix

[Mercakete]

Norbert still wasn't entirely sure to just what extent he was willing to help with this errand, but when Greta told him that maybe he should be the one to think up a plan, it caught him a little off-guard. Thinking it over a little, it made sense, but it still felt a little weird. Sure he suggested his ideas in the past, but he'd never actually been asked to be the planner. Normally, Blake took that upon himself.

He still frowned some. "Alright; I'll try to think of something." That said, he set himself to going over old tactics in his head and trying to figure out how to shift them into something more expedient for more people.

It only took a moment or two before he looked up and asked, "How many of us are going, anyway?"

Then he asked Greta, "And did the guards say anything useful, like where they've already been looking or if these bandits call themselves anything? You said they've been losing scouts, right? What sort of scouts were they? Did they travel by foot, a land-based mount, or by air, and what kind of weapons did they use?"

[Nanami Touko]

"I'm going," Eva chimed in again, feeling rather ignored, and wanting to make it painfully obvious that she was damn well going to find that fort if it killed her.

[-Cynthia-]

"There didn't seem to be much in the way of wagons for sale. I'll come along, y'all are gonna want a staff if things get ugly," Nadya chimed in.

Liam stayed silent for the time being. If Joanna felt the need to involve herself in this, he suspected she would say so.

[Toogee]

"As a member of Greta's team, I should come as well."

Greta's lackadaisical attitude toward the situation irked Jam. She was asking everyone else to risk their lives so she could save some gold as if it wasn't a big deal. It was one thing if they worked for her, but most didn't. All it would take was for Amon to tell Greta to screw off and that would be the end of her business venture. She could show a little gratitude. Or at least contribute something to the effort, which is where Jam came in.

[Phoenix]

Details

"Probably best if the avians stay here," Shadrak chimed in, "even if sparing enemy combatants doesn't come up, the guards might recognize Joanna."

So at the very least the avians weren't going? Greta shrugged. At least Nadya and Jamilla were willing to help. She turned back toward Norbert. "All they told me about their people is that they lost a lot of the pegasus riders. Some of the scouts goin' on foot came back but they didn't find anythin', not even the pegasus riders."

"I bet that means you can see at least part of their base from the air," Fizza spoke up as she leaped out from inside the wagon, onto the driver seat, giving Gwen quite the scare. She then quickly hopped down to the ground. "I think these bandits have a few ballistae in their arsenal."

"They never said what the scouts were armed with, so I'd assume standard stuff ... but if they got shot down by ballistas, it probably doesn't matter," Greta said with a disturbed look on her face. She always found siege weapons to be overkill, and imagining a rider and its steed skewered by a massive bolt mid-flight made her sick to her stomach. "They think the bandits set up somewhere in the mountains just east of the city, and that's where they want us to check." Considering their scouts kept going missing, that was the most likely area.

[Mercakete]

Norbert's head subconsciously bobbed up and down as he thought over what they knew. "So Jam, Eva, Nadya, and Lumi, huh? Against a base of bandits with ballistae..." He shook his head. "This must be a big group. They probably have a name, but we don't know what it is... If they have ballistae, then they probably don't move their base around much, either, so we could be looking for a fort or something like that. And if it's in the mountains, then of course they'd defend against flyers, so I guess we can expect archers and pegasus riders. I don't know if we can even reach it from the ground, but we should at least start there and stick to tree cover. If they're set up on the mountainside and keep busy watching the sky, they might not look down. If they do, we'll want the branches between us and them until the last second, though. Most of the people going can fly, so we wouldn't want to actually get airborne except to get over whatever walls they have. After that, though... I don't know." And so commenced his out-loud thinking.

"We'll have to see what's there. I'm already working on assumptions, but that's the best plan I can come up with right now," he concluded. It was only after he said all that he remembered a small detail. "Oh, right. We're not actually going to break in and break them. Well, if those soldiers just want us to find it while they tail us and they provide cover for us to get out of there, then I'm fine with that, too, but we really should try to keep our heads covered and stay aground."

[Nanami Touko]

Ballista? As headstrong as Eva was, that was actually a pretty scary thought. Sasha was tough, as tough as they came, but even he couldn't handle getting blasted with a spear sized arrow of strong steel. She'd have to actually be careful this time with flying. As long as it's just scouting... "Well, Bert, you might come across a bit strong, but I'm sure you can handle yourself with a plan. Don't get us killed, yeah?" she said, trying to lighten the mood in her own way, while giving him a pat on the shoulder. "I'll go get Sasha set up and bring him over. I'll pay attention, promise!" She started doing just that, walking over to the sleeping green rock of a lizard and starting to set him up.

[Phoenix]

Paths and Power

Around that time, Joanna had managed to climb out of the wagon from the back end. She was quietly making her way over with the box in her arms. That was no surprise to Shadrak. "Hey," he turned to fully to face her, "You should at least try to get it working while there's time. There won't be time for you to figure it out if the whole group gets dragged into a battle, right? So consider that."

"I suppose I could try," Joanna's head hung. He sure was pushy about this.

"I think I'll go with them to try and help out, but please let me know if you make any progress," he added, much more gently this time.

"So ..." Greta paused to try and properly word her response, "we got most of our fliers comin' along even though the bandits apparently have a way to take'em down ... is there some way to keep them from just bein' dead weight here? I can't imagine any trails that lead close to their hideout are safe for our mounts to use." Going offroad had occurred to her, but that seemed more difficult to her than going on foot. She wouldn't be going, so she supposed it would come down to whatever approach they wanted to take.

Edited April 15, 2015 by Phoenix

[Mercakete]

Norbert was a little surprised at Eva's response and the pat on the shoulder. She sure had a lot of confidence in him. Right; no pressure there. Evidently, Shadrak would be coming with them. Norbert still hadn't really made up his mind whether he would actually be going or not. On the one hand, he would probably be along the most recognizable of the group if legal stuff did get brought up. Besides that, it was pegasus knights specifically who kept not returning. He figured he could at least keep himself and Rizen safe, but then there were the others to consider. The whole reason he was giving his opinion on this right now was to try to make sure they didn't wind up like those pegasus knights, but would it be enough? He knew he didn't have the best head on his shoulders, but in a tight spot, he tended to survive. If something went wrong, maybe he could do something to help them. But again, trouble with the law...

Greta sounded like she had her own concerns, to which Norbert shook his head. "It's not like we can't fight dismounted, for one. But the main thing is that if the bandits have high walls with ballistae on them, then clearing the walls quickly and taking the bandits by surprise is going to be he safest course of action. Like I said, as long as we stay grounded once we start getting close, then we should be fine. But until then," he frowned as he realized he'd probably have to go with them just to help the other fliers figure when to ascend and when to land "we can go ahead and fly. The wyvern will have an easier time taking passengers than Star or Riz, but even if we have to run away from the bandits, it's not like our mounts don't have legs. We'll use the trees to protect ourselves from attacks from above. Besides, if they can't see us, they can't fight us, and mountain-growing trees -- or at least the ones I lived around -- have branches that are hard to see through from above. And in case it wasn't obvious, we're not taking roads. Roads get rid of tree cover, and we wouldn't have the pine needles, moss, grass, or whatever we'd need to muffle the pegasi's hoofbeats."

[Toogee]

If there was something Jam could respect, it was someone who could pull through a task despite disagreements. For all his bellyaching earlier, Norbert was a surprising effective tactician when it came to this stuff. He was laying out plans for things she never would have considered. Still, he was operating under the assumption that they were assaulting the fort, which was something they wanted to avoid.

"Wait, aren't we just trying to find the base? Why do we need to scale walls at all? Once we hit a high wall, we point it out to the soldiers and go home. No need to risk all the pegs and wyvern if we're trying to keep a low profile, right?"

[Mercakete]

"We'll still want to get away quickly in case a fight starts and we decide not to help," Norbert replied to Jamilla, "And even if we're not flying, pegasi can run faster than humans can. And if we do wind up having to fight, I'd rather get behind those ballistae as quick as possible instead of being stuck outside the wall. If they don't have a wall, then that's even better, but I'm not willing to risk it, personally."

[Phoenix]

Camp

"Guess I'll let y'all handle the mount situation ..." Greta shrugged heavily. She thought about reminding them that they were supposed to try and find the missing scouts, too, but as she thought on the matter, she began to suspect they wouldn't find any of them alive, if at all. Sad as that was, it seemed like these bandits had enough sense to kill anyone who got remotely close to their hideout ... but not enough sense to pack up and leave before the guardsmen fully committed themselves to catching them, oddly enough.

[GoD]

Ingret's Super Duper Happy Fun Fun Time

Once Shadrak had told him what exactly he was doing, the knight only gave a short nod before going to relax beside the wagon. It was only a little bit later when Greta had arrived back with her companion and explained that she had struck a deal with the town guard; in exchange for a wagon, this group would help the guards locate a bandit hideout and eliminate them. Then Greta had asked the group at large if they had any experience in dealing with bandits and their hideouts, which caused Ing to ponder for a moment.

He was quite adept at dealing with bandits, the mercenary group he belonged had killed scores of their ilk in the past. He could most certainly give the group a couple of pointers in dealing with these bandits, but to do that he needed information. Furthermore, even if they had a plan, the group needed to have a sense of unity and right now, the lilac-haired did not feel anything resembling cooperation with the rest of the team, and he suspected they felt the same way towards each other. It's not that he hated them, but Ing himself did not feel anything towards them, not even his employer; he was simply performing his duty as a bodyguard,

It was then that the owner of the pegasus from earlier spoke up and declared her intentions of scouting ahead to see the situation. Ing shook his head; if they were run of the mill bandits, then scouting would be extremely optimal, however they were causing problems for the garrison for some time now, so naturally, they were far more dangerous. As such, scouting would have to be limited to ground operations; anti-air measures would probably be in place to deal with airborne threats.

A young lady who looked as though she were some sort of dancer said something about encountering bandits before, followed by an older woman declaring her intent to kick ass. That made a small smirk appear on the knight's face, before quickly fading away back to his stoic demeanor. Then Norbert and one of the others questioned why they had to work with the guardsmen, to which Greta once again, stated that they only had to find the hideout, they didn't even need to fight the bandits. Both sides of the argument were correct; this could be dangerous, especially if it was all just for a wagon, however they did not necessarily need to engage in combat.

Then Norbert blurted out the possibility that they could all get arrested, which made the knight's eyebrows raise up. Just what exactly did this group do to get one of their own worried that the militia would detain them? Was this going to Kigen to fight the Fallen a whole lie, and they were really a drug cartel in disguise? Regardless the group continued talking until Norbert got fed up with it all and decided to take command of the small group. "Fine by me. That just allows me to focus on my duty to Shadrak. Besides, I think that the group as a whole would be adverse to me taking command."- thought the veteran knight. Of course Shadrak chose that time to emerge from the wagon and he looked quite annoyed at the prospect of sending some of their own to their deaths.

It was then that Norbert began planning and a couple of more people decided to volunteer, in addition to the dancer and pegasus scout, the 'kick-ass' woman and Nadya agreed to join in as well. More information was revealed, apparently the bandits used ballistae, which alarmed the knight."Those bandits are not your average, run-of-the-mill bunch that's for sure. But where could they have acquired ballistae? And worse yet, they're based in the mountains?! Looks like whatever happens, we're running into them. The mountains are an incredibly cliche place, but it has always proven to be highly effective..."

And then Shadrak announced to the female avian that he would be accompanying the scouting party as well. "Great."- Ingret clicked his tongue in disapproval. He really didn't think he would be able to protect him well enough if the all of the bandits came crashing down upon the small group. Still, the knight would go wherever his employer chose to go, it was his duty as a bodyguard to protect Shadrak as much as he could.

"Pardon the interruption, but if Shadrak will be going then I'll be joining the scouting party as well. I'm rather good at defending others."- told the knight to the purple-haired pegasus rider. "I'll need to gather my armor, did the guards mention when exactly we would be leaving?"

[Mercakete]

Norbert really had no idea, so he redirected Ingret's question to Greta by looking over to her expectantly. He was also thinking, however, that if this guy was a defender, then he probably had heavy equipment. What was bothering him the most was what that meant for their mounts. The wyvern will probably have to carry him, and Riz and I can take either Jam or Shadrak. Star can carry whoever we don't... The more people who come, though, the more dangerous this will get for us, if we're just scouting. We shouldn't tire out the pegasi and the wyvern on the way there, or we might be outrun on our way back if we're seen.

[Nanami Touko]

Speaking of wyverns, Eva had hopped onto Sasha and was slowly trotting him over to the rest of the group, getting him to rest near the conversation happening. "So, uh, I can take two more people with me, if that's necessary. There's enough room on the saddle. Just need to not be afraid of flying." She smirked at that, wondering if anyone of their members were afraid of that.

Edited April 16, 2015 by I have opinions

[Phoenix]

Camp

Ingret was apparently coming along. Good, Shadrak thought. He would have been a little surprised if the man had decided to stay behind and not at least try to convince him to do the same. He wasn't looking forward to making his way up the mountain off the beaten path, not on foot or mounted. On the bright side, there would be plenty of cover if they were attacked, so the awful terrain could at least partially make up for itself.

"You're supposed to head over to the southern gate and meet one of the patrols there," Greta answered. "I'll probably be stayin' there until we hear back from ya."

[Toogee]

With plans somewhat finalized, it looked their party was getting ready to head out. It was clear they would be riding their way to the bandit hideout. The question Jam had in mind was who would she be riding with? Judging from the fiasco last time, Norbert wasn't an option. Eva seemed to be the obvious choice, though the new guy also needed a ride, unless his armor included wings. Best to claim her spot before it was taken.

"You know I'm OK on wyverns," Jam replied to Eva, walking up to her to get a choice spot behind the rider.

[Mercakete]

Norbert sighed. He wasn't particular fond of this city. Great. "Well, we might as well get this overwith." He began walking over to Rizen, but then he stopped and turned to face the others. "Does anyone need extra time to prepare or anything like that? 'Cause I'd like to start heading towards Ursaea as soon as we can." I wonder how long it'll take us to find their hideout. I hope there's still daylight when we find them... I don't know how accustomed the town guard will be to fighting in the dark, but the bandits have probably had plenty of practice if they've gotten as big as it sounds they have...

[-Cynthia-]

"I'm gettin' more used to wyvern ridin'," Nadya said with a wink at Haythem, "but I'd like to stick with Luca if that works for y'alls plan. I'm ready to head out."

[Nanami Touko]

Sasha gave a lazy glance at Jam as she walked on over, but Eva just smiled. "Sure thing. Hop on, make sure you hold on tight, all that stuff. Anyone else?" There was room for one more in their little scouting mission on a wyvern of Sasha's size, and Eva was a bit surprised that a certain someone wasn't already on board. Well, that was her choice, so, whatever.

[GoD]

It seemed as though no one had any objections to the knight's request. "Good. That makes my job easier."- thought the older man as he surveyed the rest of the group that would be joining the expedition. He had no problems walking the rest of the way while the rest of the group moved via other means, such as horses or via the air. He would be a little slow, but his armor and supplies would cause some problems for the mount and his/her rider. First though, he needed to secure Shadrak's safety and pairing him with one of the mounts would do a world of good, for both the dark mage's safety and Ingret's nerves.

At the very least Greta specified where exactly the scouting group would meet with the garrison, and it sounded as though once everyone was ready that they would move out. As people started taking dibs on where exactly they would go, Ingret surmised that he had to make sure Shadrak would be on one of the wyverns. With that in mind the knight nodded and made his way over to Shadrak.

"Shadrak, I will begin to make preparations for departure and gather my weapons and armor. If I could make a suggestion, perhaps it would be wise if you were hitch a ride on one of the pegasi or the wyvern? It would make things easier for you, if you did not have to walk."

[Phoenix]

Camp

Once Haythem was finished smiling nervously at Nadya and scratching the back of his neck, he began thinking of Isis again, wondering what he was going to do about her. She was far too big to move through the woods unnoticed ... or at all, really. Forcing her along would at least clear them a path back by removing quite a few trees, but the bandits would literally see them coming a mile away. "Just as well," Haythem sighed, "Isis is a bit too large for heading up the mountain on foot, so I think we'll stay here."

"Are you sure?" Shadrak began, giving Ingret an uncertain look, "mounts with two or three passengers struggling over bad terrain all the way up the mountain? As long as we aren't running the whole time I can manage well enough. I've done plenty of walking in the past."

"I think I'll come along, too," Fizza chimed in, again, "mainly to see if I'm right about those ballistae."

Glen quickly hopped down from the driver seat to try and say something to the group as well, though he hadn't figured out exactly how he was going to word it just yet. He decided to just say what he was thinking and hope he didn't come across as weak or paranoid. "Don't forget the whole reason we're in a hurry," he paused, indicating Joanna, "we don't want to be caught off guard while you're away. Don't forget to have some people stay here, too."

Actually we're in a hurry because for all we know the Siege Gate in Kigen could be finished at any time and we need to warn them about it, Shadrak mused. Racing to the border is necessary, but the wrathites are almost certainly going to catch up to us before we ever reach the border, so our best option is to trick them into going ahead of us and then take a different route to the border than them so we don't get boxed in. We can figure that out later, though.