Immortality's End - IC

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The terrain was unfavorable, but Jagred made do. There were more than one way to stay inconpicious, and not all of them involved sneaking about in shadowed paths. He left his longsword and mask with Ren, opted to bring only two daggers. To make sure they stay hidden from prying eyes, he adjusted the straps and fitted them underneath his thick coat. Doing so might cause some difficulties when drawing them, but it didn't seem he would have to, considering the fact that they were surrounded by civillians. He looked around, noting the stares passing villages casted their way. No one seemed particularly interested though, so he didn't pay much attention to them. Talking to them might be a good start, but he didn't like doing so right here in the open. So he kept walking, and eventually, they left to attend to their own bussiness.

Upon approaching the farmhouse, Jagred slowed and turned back to his companions, namely whoever decided to follow him. They were free to act however they saw fit, after all. The guild didn't appoint their group a leader. –"We will now pose as a travelling caravan then? It's quite easy, really, as long as we don't ask too many…suspicious questions."

After that, he turned back to the farmhouse and knocked exactly three times. By the time the door opened, Jagred had already had a script in his head. He just simply let the words flow out, as natural as they could. –"Forgive us for the intrusion, but our carriage just broke down north of here, and this was the only town around…"-He paused, feigning a weary sigh-"Can you tell me a bit about this place? Anywhere to rest around here?"
 
Carefully watching the four as they approached the farmhouse, Renchu licked her lips nervously as she peered through her scope. The locals had spotted them, alright - just as she'd expected to happen - sneaking out in an open farmland really wasn't going to work unless one of them went invisible. Citizens of the hamlet didn't seem to like what they were seeing - and retreated back out of sight. Was this mission already compromised? Were the citizens just going to report these guys to the guards? Even if some weapons had been left with her to make the four seem more legit, Ren had a feeling she'd be needing to pull the trigger at some point in the mission already.

Still, she believed there was still hope for this mission. Maybe she was just getting paranoid and twitchy because she wanted this to end perfectly. Chances were the civilians were just going back to doing what they were doing after being somewhat spooked.
"Welp. This is where it begins. Good luck, you guys." Renchu muttered to herself.

Pulling down her goggles over her eyes and biting her lip, Renchu holstered her rifle, grabbing any equipment the others had left with her. Keeping low as she switched positions into a thick patch of trees in the forest where she could keep an eye on the hamlet, Renchu kept the others' gear in a safe pile behind her as she set up her tripod. She did her best to keep an overall surveillance of the area through her scope, keeping a particular eye on the airship.
 
Their approach was less than stealthy, to Rue's displeasure. While she knew that they would not be immediately suspicious, she loathed the fact that there were going to be witnesses to their faces; if there were any foul business, even if they themselves weren't implicated, it was not hard for visiting strangers –odd looking ones at that—to have the blame pinned upon them. And since they were here to make an assassination, that made it all the worse.

Unfortunately, there was little they could do about it for the moment, so Rue made no effort for any sort of concealment. Instead, she acted as per normal in any sort of traveling arrangement. Jagred seemed to be of a similar mind, although she disliked the carriage lie; it was not a difficult deception to see through after a quick investigation. She let him do the talking in this situation, and she hung back within hearing distance, observing the farmland and looking for any behavior amongst the locals that betrayed suspicion or hostility.
 
Elias followed the others, his robes wrapped around him like a travelling cloak. His weapon, blade dematerialised, passed as a staff as he trudged along, digging the butt into the ground has he walked. He briefly considered faking a limp, so as to justify the staff, but decided against it. If anyone had already seen them walking, a sudden change in gait would merely serve to make them seem suspicious.

As they neared the houses, Elias caught sight of a small group watching them approach. It was difficult to tell whether it was through curiosity or suspicion that they were being monitored. Gripping the wooden haft tightly, he wondered how much time they would have were an alarm to be raised, and whether they stood a chance at silencing the village in time should it all go south.

The villagers slipping away was another mixed signal. Sure, they weren't overtly hostile, but they weren't particularly friendly either. So, either they were bored of the show or they were calling for the guards. He could only trust that Ren would give some notice of the latter. Following Jagred's lead, he waited a couple of paces back whilst the man spoke to the villagers.
 
Apparently Amulak's sense of humor had passed away as well. It was only a small reaction, but the red-head had apparently found it amusing. Nonetheless he shrugged at the lich's plan of action, and hoped in secret that things would go awry for Amulak. Ideally he would be found and destroyed with the guards none the wiser about the three, but heightened security for the lich's death wasn't that bad either. He watched as the lich went off about his own business before Sahms turned to follow after the red-head.

It didn't take too long for the trio to stumble across what was likely a guardpost, but he had already drained most of his canteen by that time. With the water warming quickly it was for the better anyways. Readjusting his hood as Aesil motioned for him to halt, he squinted at the hazy structure in the distance. It was hard to pick out any details at the range, but from what the Huntress said there were guards present. 'Geez… how good's her eyesight.' He knew his own wasn't shabby as an archer, but all he could see at this range were indistinct shapes around the structure. Probably the guards, but if Aesil hadn't spoken up he likely wouldn't have given them a second thought.

Wiping the beads of sweat that formed on his brow, he took a deep breath and winced at the stale air that filled his lungs. "Agreed. It's unpleasant but our best bet is to wait until we're going for the kill and go straight for it. Taking the guard post right now will just alert them."
 
Amulak resisted the urge to sigh as he looked up from the arrow, gazing at the youths from behind his mask.

"That was quite impolite." He chided, raising his staff as he began to sense for nearby bones to animate. As luck had it, there were a good few bodies he could raise that were in range to contribute to a fight if it broke out. But there was no need for violence just yet. Most likely, these youngsters were merely overzealous guard recruits or hunters.

"The three of you would attack a lone traveler?" Amulak called out to the trio, sounding amused. "If you would assault my person, may I at least know what offense I have given?"
 
Considering this was supposed to be a sneaky mission, Gestalt should have maybe been annoyed at the decisions the...majority(?) of the group made, but ultimately Gestalt did not care. Not because it didn't want this mission to be success, but rather because it was curious. After all, it was its first time...cooperating...in such a fashion with other individuals. It wasn't supposed to be much different from a binding contract, they would make the decisions and give the orders, and Gestalt would execute them.

Another point of doubt could have been Alicia's bloodline, but considering Gestalt found nothing in the girl's mind that even hinted at this place or the name of their target, Gestalt doubted her appearance would give any trouble in that regards. Still, Alicia's choice of clothing was definitely not fit for traveling, if anything, she could come through as some sort of low noble that simply accompanied those merchants for whatever reason, and that's exactly what Gestalt did for now: Staying silent and looking annoyed.
 
Team 27 - Mastema
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"So what do we do, then? Simply wait until dusk comes, then strike? Keep looking for another entrance?" Glinda seemed mildly flustered, and cast a glance over the edge of the canyon to the pathway that abruptly turned into the mountain several dozen feet below. "Do we try jumping down there? Are well capable enough?" The witch looked at the other two's feet.

The three children who stood before Amulak glared fiercely, a hint of worry in their eyes. The boy in the middle kept his bowstring pulled, arrow aimed for Amulak... or more likely the ground in front of him again. He lowered his head but kept his eyes trained on the lich. A hooded girl behind him cowered, holding a stick tightly. On the other side was another boy with a bigger stick, albeit just as flimsy as the girl's.

"No one comes down here but us! You're either a monster from the expanse or a bandit!"


Team 14 - Yiwanul Fields
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Jagred was met with an elderly but nevertheless well-built man. Grey of hair and eyes, his physique indicated he still toiled out in the fields, oblivious to old age. He narrowed his eyes at the group before him, apparently partially blind as well, or perhaps cautious of their appearances. Either was equally probable. He grunted as he stood in the doorway and twisted his lips upwards in a grimace. The old farmer cupped his chin, scrutinizing them all.

"Eh? Broken down ye' say? Don't get caravans often round' here. Where ye' going to? Might be able to find a ride," he scratched his chin and grunted again, "Who knows, maybe ye' can get a ride from that there knightess what's been hangin' round' the town. Seems like a nice enough lass." He stepped aside as if to welcome them in, seeming peaceable enough. "If ya' can't find a ride or get it fixed though, yer' welcome to sleep in the barn or my spare room. Son's gone off to do his own work, won't be back for awhile."

Meanwhile, at the edge of the forest, Renchu found herself simply watching for quite some time. The airship remained immobile, the telltale signs of magitek workings offline across its surface. Several minutes passed when she suddenly heard the rustling of undergrowth off to her side. A quick turn to see what it was offered only the briefest sight of a small, thin figure running into the forest, blonde hair trailing behind whoever it was. A basket of wild vegetables fell where the person once was, dumping the contents across the earth.
 
As Glinda brought their attention to the drop down below, Aesil peered over as well, narrowing her eyes. It wasn't that far of a drop, but the sandy terrain didn't bode too well for any sort of purchase. If she wasn't careful, or something unexpected happens, she might just fall off the side of the mountain.

Then again, while she hadn't tried it yet, the huntress was fairly certain that she could drive the Tempest into the side of the mountain to act as an anchor, if it came to that.

Taking a look at the other two, Aesil nodded once, and then leapt off, bending her knees to absorb the impact as she landed. There was scarcely a sound as her feet gracefully touched the sandy terrain, and, as fluid as a ghost, she stood up and began walking. It was no big deal, in the end. There wasn't even a speck of dust on her body as she continued down the path, eyes and ears alert for the signs of any other approaching guards who may be going through the same path to relieve those two of their shifts.

The smells and sounds of the city grew stronger, but for now, those things were merely background noise. For now, what she wanted was to ensure that there won't be any other run-ins of Ingrid's men that they could avoid.
 
He followed the redhead and peered over the cliff's edge at the path that jutted from the canyon wall a dozen meters or so below them. While the distance was manageable, the landing point was hazardous to say the least. By the time he looked back up at the other two it seemed that Aesil had already made her decision. She plummeted quickly, but landed without a trace of the of the speed she had hit the surface at. Scratching at the back of his head, he glanced at his remaining teammate and shrugged. "Guess we don't have any choice but to follow now."

He rolled his shoulders once, promptly hopped off the cliffside, and twisted around mid-air to grab the edge. It was worth it even to cut off a meter or two in fall distance, and this also let him kill any forward momentum and reduce the chance of overshooting his landing. With a small wave at the redhead, he let go and dropped down to the pathway. His landing proved to be as smooth as Aesil's and Sahms quickly rose to clear the space for the last of the trio.

Where the Huntress hadn't waited to move on ahead, he elected to stick around for the moment just in case something went awry. Aesil had already proven to be very capable as a scout, and his presence would only make it easier for the two to be found. Death by slip and fall would be a rather poor way to lose a member, especially since it was easily preventable.
 
Three heartbeats went by, and Jagred had already come up with a dozen of ways to end this farmer without shedding a drop of blood on the doorway. Old habits did die hard. It was an unproductive train of thought, so he ended it there and then, while dissecting the new pieces of information in his head. Just as he thought, the hamlet wasn't a hotspot for military personnel. Whatever that airship was doing here, it wasn't going to be there for long. They could use this. But first, he would have to get more information out of this old man. This particular farmer was strangely accommodating, even when as far as offering them shelter. His trust was completely misplaced, of course, but then again, they could use this.

"Ah, we appreciate the offer. Thank you, good sir."-He put some warmth into his smile, well, at least he tried. He did have some experience when it came to putting on façade. –"In truth, we weren't going to come this way. But, as Lady Luck would have it, our guide wasn't as experience as he claimed to be, and before we knew it, he left us to fend for ourselves. Certain complications took places; the roads aren't as safe as they used to be, you'd understand, and we end up here."

Sending a glance back at his companions, he paused slightly, as if considering, before turning back and continuing.-"As for our caravan, well, there isn't much left to fix. Cargo's gone, horses have run off, any profit thus forfeited. Like I said, complications." – He gave a little shrug.-"I'd hate to trouble the local authority with such trivial matters, but it seems we have little choice. Can you tell us where this lady knight is stationed?"
 
Renchu let out a large yawn as she watched through her scope, observing nothing else of note of the magitech airship as time went by. The exhaust, the balloon design, the intricate markings - it could've been for a variety of purposes, but it was just a run-of-the-mill magitech vehicle, by the looks of things. The hamlet certainly seemed to be a peaceful place - as she kept an eye on the others, it looked like an old man had simply come to greet them.

She guessed the villagers had either bought whatever act her team-mates were trying to pull, or the villagers knew something was suspicious, but they were kind enough to go along with stuff and offer them accomadation anyway. It sure was a nice, peaceful little place. Hopefully they could get stuff done here, then move on without having too much of an impact on the little town.

After a while of looking at nothing noteworthy and getting a back ache from sitting in the same position (though she was used to that by now), Renchu whirled round at the sound of a rustle in the bushes. Crap! Had she been spotted? She had her rifle set up on the tripod, so she couldn't instinctively grab the thing and blast away if some axe-wielding guard had come to deliver surprise executions.

Blinking as she lifted up her goggles, Renchu looked on the floor as some sort of kid-like figure had dropped a basket of veggies on the floor. They'd ran away at the sight of her, which was kinda to be expected. Crap... she should've taken in the whole 'random kid picking wild vegetables out of nowhere' thing into account when setting up. The person was probably going to run home and report her, or something... though, Renchu really didn't have any intentions of hurting someone who was just picking veggies. Perhaps she could talk this out.

"Oyyyyy...! You dropped your delicious and nutritious vegetables... you just gonna let me have them all?" Renchu called out with a chuckle to the running away figure. Pausing, she stooped over, and placed the vegetables neatly back into the basket with great dexterity. Wild parsnips, herbs... all sorts of colours of stuff was in here. The person was probably going to make an awesome soup with this, which made Renchu hungry.

Quickly detaching her rifle from its tripod and slinging it over her shoulder in case following the figure led into some sort of trap, Renchu ran after the figure, holding the basket of vegetables. She was quite a speedy and able runner, though she wasn't running at a pace that suggested 'I'm going to follow you to the ends of the earth and kill you.' Moreso of a casual following.

"Hey, lady, you sure you don't want these back? I know I'm ugly n'all, but there's no need to run. I'm not gonna harvest your soul or anything. I was just scoping the place out... s'just a misunderstanding, that's all." Renchu called out in her usual casual and friendly tone.

"...If you don't wanna come and get them back from me, I'll leave them behind this tree or something. Kay?"

Hopefully that'd do the trick from stopping the stranger from thinking she was some psychopathic sniper waiting to blast everyone in the town's brains out... or something. If they kept running, things might get a little complicated... a child telling the village that there was some weirdo with a magitech sniper rifle watching the city would probably cause a little uproar.
 
Elias listened to the conversation carefully. A knight, in the village? She could be keeping watch for strangers, or checking up on the work of the villagers. Revealing themselves to this knight was a risky motion. On the one hand, they maybe stood a chance of getting close to their target if they could gain this knight's confidence and trust. On the other hand, if they were sniffed out by her the whole operation could go very badly wrong. Right now, it seemed their fate rested in the hands of Jagred and his smooth talking.

Regardless of whether they went or not, it was still a good call to follow up on the comment about the knightess. After all, they had to ensure that they didn't appear overly keen to avoid authority, lest the villagers became suspicious. It truly was a knife-edge that they were walking along, with a slip to one side or the other spelling danger and potential failure. Well, if things truly went south, they would just have to silence the village. It might even make a decent distraction, and draw a certain amount of the military force in the area away from the target. That had worked out before, but the capabilities of the airship were a massive unknown this time. It may well be that they could get caught in the act, or that there would still be too many guards, this time on high alert. Elias sighed. Too many variables at the moment. Best to wait and see, while keeping options open.
 
"No one comes down here but us! You're either a monster from the expanse or a bandit!"

Amulak couldn't help it anymore. He started laughing, planting his staff into the ground for stability as he howled with amusement.

"You expect me to be threatened by mere children with sticks?" He called out after his fit ended, grinning behind his mask. Oh, this was adorable. Too bad for them that there was nobody around to witness this. "Very well, then. You have the right of it."

Amulak raised one hand to his mask as the other raised his staff. Skeletons began to rise from the dirt around the youths, some brandishing the weapons they died holding while the rest outstretched their hands towards them.

"I am the monster you fear." Amulak said calmly as he took his mask off, revealing his skeletal visage to the teenagers. "I am Amulak al Acterus, and tonight, the world shall know my return." And without even another gesture, the undead closed in on the trio, intending on adding three more to their ranks.
 
It would seem that the man that met the group at his door was friendly enough, and he offered them a fair bit of hospitality for what amounted to a mountain of lies on their part. She felt a bit bad about the whole thing; after all, he was offering free lodging to would-be assassins, even if their own actions in the end would possibly help the man in the long run. It would be terrible if the man became implicit in aiding them after the fact, but if Rue and the others did their job well, nothing should even come of the matter.

Nodding as the man and Jagred finished their exchange, Rue smiled and offered him thanks as well. Her interest was raised by the mention of a female knight on station. There was a concern on her mind whether or not she would be troublesome or provide an obstacle, but she resolved to take care of the matter, hopefully through diplomatic words and not steel and magic. At his, she gave a shrug and a subtle nod at Jagred that seemed to say 'I'll manage that.' If there was anybody that could keep a knight at bay without bloodshed, it would be her. Still, she would need some information on the girl.

"Pardon, but might you know the name of this knight?"
 
From her first impression and information Gestalt got from this villager, it didn't seem like their target was in this village. While that did not surprise Gestalt, it was an annoyance nonetheless. Not to mention the slim chance of complications that Rue as well as Alicia could make. Gestalt was thinking about using that chance and simply 'drop' the girls body here and get something more suitable for this task, after all, the way the fragile peasant spoke about the Knightress she didn't seem like a bigshot. Or maybe just find temporary sanctuary in one of her allies.

Nonetheless, Gestalt knew it wasn't much of help without acquiring any information, but simply dropping unconscious here was out of the question, not to mention Alicia had a roll to play. "I don't doubt for a second traders get around this place often. I feel tired, hungry and dirty. A group of professional traders that is. Now, I would very much appreciate a bath, dinner and a warm bed for the night." This wasn't how Alicia was used to be, but considering the nearly grown up girl had no troubles in her life, bitching and crying about some petty hardships wasn't too far off.
 
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