Scene #9703: BINDING BLADE Ch57: Eye in the Sky

Owner	Pose
Marigold	THE FIELDS OF CENTRAL BERN Between the Shrine of Seals and Castle Bern. Bern remains an unfairly beautiful country. Coming down from the mountains, its gentle meadowed hills are a brighter, tenderer green than anywhere on Earth, rainbow-freckled sparingly with a hundred kinds of wildflower. Its great oak-and-pine forests are tamed by human foraging, but not too tamed, and still stand tall with a dark-shaded inviting majesty. If anywhere in Elibe could rival its youthful beauty, Lycia- Roy's homeland- might. Your journey has almost circled back to where it started, after all; you might only be a couple hundred miles from Pherae, where Roy set out from. Maybe these fields exacerbate his homesickness. Climate and ecology don't acknowledge kingdoms or borders. Soldiers do, though. In the nearly two years since this campaign began, Lycia's beauty has been torn up by the hooves of warhorses, the breath of dragons, and the magic of humans. And Bern, but for your careful and stealthy tread, remains unsacked and uninvaded. Its people, even, are fattened by foreign gold. It's so unfair. Guinivere knows it, and it lives in her guilty-longing looks, though she never says it aloud. . . . For Roy's army, avoiding towns and military attention has become more and more difficult, until the tension becomes stifling. With wyvern knights occasionally soaring overhead, those open rolling meadows are an enemy; the shaded forests are a friend. The Binding Blade recovered from the Shrine is a powerful asset, but it amounts to 'standing a chance against Iðunn'. It's been taken as implicit by the locals, in attitudes and planning, that to draw the attention of Bern's army and Iðunn's spawn this close to their seat of power would still be suicide. With that sliver of hope in hand and the war grinding on far-away, surely the leviathan of Bern will present a Blade-shaped weakness, right? Instead it feels like the walls have been closing in.
Marigold	Merlinus has parked the wagons (and all their typical occupants) well within the shade of another stately patch of forest, conveniently near a warpgate that serves for your arrival- probably why they chose it. But near the shade's edge where it opens back up to sunny meadow, Roy and Melady watch the sky with a queasy sense of foreboding. A trio of wyvern knights are flying overhead. One in very loose patrolling circles, centered close by; one in a similar holding pattern, but as nearly a speck on the horizon; and a third flying a more or less straight line from west to east like a courier, approaching the two of them- first the further, and soon the nearer- close enough to gesture some signal. Behind are the slightly muted noises of the camp- Fae's laughter, Lucius's soothing tones- but there is no chopping wood. No-one dares to make a fire; dinner tonight is cold salt meat, hard bread, and foraged greens. Roy startles jumpily when the first of you approach; Melady, hiding from the open sky behind a great oak, waves with a rueful little smile. "Ah-! Oh... I apologize. I was just..." "Lord Roy, lookout duty is getting to you. Please, leave it to me." "No, no. I... I'm quite alright, Melady. Look, everyone. At first we didn't think much of it, but we haven't seen a sky without at least two wyvern knights in the last two days. We've only been able to move at night. And Melady says, from her experience--" "It isn't a typical patrol pattern, even this close to Castle Bern, but if Galle tightened their guard after discovering the Shrine had been disturbed, I wouldn't be shocked." "... I do think they know we're here." "Then they'd have tried to kill us yesterday. Galle is stupid, arrogant, stubborn, spineless, and gormless, but he isn't slow." "What do you make of how they're gesturing to each other, then?" "... I don't know."
Riku Asakura	Riku isn't bothered that the land isn't ravaged by war; to him, war is a bad thing. He's only experienced a little bit of war. Such as the week-long war during the fall of L-Corp, and the current conflict that has taken them to Bern. He's rather glad that Roy has taken a more gentle hand to Bern, even out of necessity. Riku isn't going to like it when the battle comes to sieging Bern either. Out of the warp gate, Riku arrives in his normal, off-world outfit. Jean jacket, orange shirt, jeans, and tennis shoes adorn the young Ultraman. The forest is very nice, and the shade is good for protection from the sun, Riku believes. Of course, it's important to protect them from the wyvern knights threatening to reveal them and force a fight. Riku walks up to Roy and Melady, looking up at the sky, trying to get a bead on the strange movements of the riders, but they're pretty far up. "Did anyone bother to bring binoculars?" He asks, looking around at the others, "Or... uh, what a spyglass? I think that's what they're called?" he asks. "Can you mimic how they're gesturing to each other?" Riku asks Roy. Not that he'd know, but it at least makes him sound like he's trying to put some effort into this mystery.
Nobunaga	At some point during the march, the towering colossus of a man Nagayoshi Mori had very abruptly disappeared. He only had enough time to assure the soldiers near him that 'Master calls' before he had vanished, at least putting to bed any notions that he had died or something. Such is the life of a Servant, he is after all a magical familiar bound in service to the warlord Oda Nobunaga. So it's been a while; but here he is again, tromping through the forest from the nearest warpgate with his comparatively tiny daimyo sitting on the flatter part of his left shoulder's armor. Nobunaga herself has doffed her cape to reduce her visual signal by reducing herself to just the black uniform and red accents and gold trinkets. Nearing the camp, she raps on the back of his armor, then hops off to the left while he veers right and directly into the soldiers to join them. Nobunaga lands deftly on her feet and keeps walking, not missing a beat, "Many eyes might see things that few eyes miss." is all she says of Melady's comment about leaving the watch to just herself. She doffs her hat as she approaches such that the great golden sunburst sigil won't catch inopportune light, even if this means she has to shade her eyes with her hands. "And a good day to you, Lord Roy, Lady Melady. Are these your troublesome riders?" The warlord cups her hands around her eyes as if holding invisible binoculars, "Would we happen to know what the nearer one is circling over? Would Lady Gqynevere know, perhaps? That's right in our way, after all..." Melady already admitted the messenger's message seems to be inscrutable at this distance. Nagayoshi Mori meanwhile seats himself with the soldiers, though he's nearer to Merlinius' wagons than usual this time, "Sorry fellas, I couldn't scrape together enough of anythin' that I could share with all of you." The warrior glances over his shoulder towards the wagons and those gathered amidst them, "Oi, Merlin, what's the wind stock like? Enough for some pick-me-ups?" Yes, he used the wrong name. No, it's not clear if that was intentional.
Lilian Rook	"Honestly. What I'd give to have a proper sniper along for this campaign." Of course, there's Mulagir, but straining it on a trio of wyvern riders would be ridiculous. People here have magic, only some of which is suitable for long range, and the local forces are accustomed to dealing with it. Engaging them otherwise is a tedious and tiring process even for Lilian, involving flying all the way up there and engaging in freefall close quarters combat. The wyverns themselves are tough and vicious up close, and able to catch their riders. So she yearns for someone with a big-ol' beam gun, like the old days. That yearning lasts ten seconds before she says "It is what it is." shrugs, sighs, and turns back towards the camp. 'It isn't a typical patrol pattern, even this close to Castle Bern, but if Galle tightened their guard after discovering the Shrine had been disturbed, I wouldn't be shocked.' Lilian frowns, stopping well before getting there. "As nice as it is to assume that the enemy has recognized us as a serious threat, after foiling major operations half a dozen times and breaking minor occupations and supply chains on nearly a score of occasions, it seems strange all the same." she says. "I'd understand if they were attempting to place King Zephiel under greater watch, anticipating an assassination attempt, but we're much too far away for that. The idea that he'd be leery of letting us near Iðunn is just . . ." She tries to find an adjective, for a little while, and then gives up.
Desire Stars	Neon feels like she knows that look of Guinivere's. Arriving with Ace, she nods towards him and then splits off, making a beeline for her. "Hey," she says, softly pulling up alongside her. "Do you want to talk? I don't know how many more chances we're going to get, this far in..." Ace, meanwhile, lifts a hand in greeting to Roy, almost convincingly casual. "If it isn't my biggest fan." ... I don't know. Ace frowns, the smug-casual demeanor discarded for something more sincerely grave. "You're both right, if you ask me. That is, you're both looking at pieces of the bigger picture. I'm sure Galle does want to attack us. The question you should be asking is whether Zephiel wants him to." "They knew we'd go after the sword. That means they probably know the shrine was disturbed, just like you said," he says, nodding towards Melady. Turning to Roy, "The entire time that we've been here, I haven't stopped thinking about what he said--how only a fool would mistake a stay of judgment for a final verdict. He doesn't say things frivolously. So it's possible that he wants us all to appear in his court, and the Binding Blade is a key piece of evidence. In other words, he might be opening the door for us."
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Madeleine is happy to have her feet back on Bernish soil, and her body clad in the earthy greys and browns of the outfit she's taken to wearing since the journey through Ilia. Happy enough to in turn feel a little guilty about it. After the frantic urban centers of Etruria and the desolation of Sacae, the land here has been comfortable, grounding. Maddie feels present here, in a rare way. As she nears the camp she thinks to herself, 'More worlds should have places like this.' Then, more darkly, 'It's a shame someone's decided to throw this all away.' "Did anyone bother to bring binoculars?" She chuckles at Riku's question, mostly out of nerves instead of mirth. Her answer comes in the form of slinging her backpack over one shoulder to rifle through for, indeed, a pair of large binoculars tuned to further enhance her already-keen vision. Trusting in the distance and her knack for staying in cover, the huntress scrambles most of the way up a tree to observe the riders' signaling from afar. While she's up there, she also takes a minute to watch the wyverns' flight patterns. These seem like capable riders, but Bern likely needs its most experienced at the Etrurian front. Is their circling idle, or precisely calibrated? If she had an aircraft of comparable speed and endurance, how would she be searching for a group of indeterminate size and composition, over this terrain? As the wandering rider nears the closer patrolman, she examines his gear - is this a wyvern loaded up for war, or a long-distance messenger? Back on the ground, she hears Melady's assessment and offers her own opinion. "If we'd been spotted, the information would be traveling away from us. This third rider is checking in, but not going so near as to pass material hand to hand." She describes what she could see of the gestures to Melady. "What can you make of that?"
Odette Raskins	Joining Roy's army on the road once again, Odette's looking considerably happier than she has in recent weeks. Despite recent events being a bit of a drain on her, she's really missed many of the people here. There's an excited bounce in her step as she comes out of the warpgate and scurries towards the familiar wagons with the familiar sounds, tempered somewhat once she sees the wyverns above. Right, they still need to keep a low profile. Hunching over for the rest of her approach, she greets Roy and Melady with a stiff wave. "Hey, Roy...! Mello, Miss Melady. Gosh, it's been forever... Um. Atypical good or atypical bad?" Melady clarifies it's the latter, and Odette scrunches her face up some. Hearing Roy's suggestion that Bern already knows the army's there has her scrunching up a bit more, but that relaxes a little more when she hears Fae and Lucius further in. She peers around Roy and Melady briefly to see where they are, leaning sideways to wave excitedly should she catch a glimpse of them. Spotting Lucius will especially have her chomping at the bit to go see him, but- "Galle is stupid, arrogant, stubborn, spineless, and gormless, but he isn't slow." "it seems strange all the same." Melady stomping down hard on Galle catches her completely off guard. The medic chokes briefly, and then she turns away to hold in a quiet snicker before straightening back up. "Erf.. Y-yeah, it's really weird, even for them. Maybe they're waiting for us to get closer, then? Or... For all of us to be here first instead of just coming in while we've been scattered. We... You've all been beating him back pretty bad every time, so he might be biting his time to really show us up with something huge the next time we meet." Odette goes quiet for a moment, wondering if that was the right word. Riku asking about the specific gestures gets a big 'ooh' out of her, and then she looks back at Roy as well. "Oh, good idea. I know there's different kinds of sign language floating around all over the place, so if we can figure out which one they're using...?"
Angela	So, Angela's been sleeping like she's been catching up on all her sleepless nights so far. As far as Roland can tell, she's been fine, but even with Hokma looking after her--and he certainly doesn't trust any architect of the Smoke War--he can't help but feel worried. If she never wakes up again, well, that's not how he wants to handle things. And more to the point, she's KIND OF instrumental to restoring him after a Reception and without her, damage has been piling up. He's already limping as he arrives, having one of his sleeves pulled back and wrapped with bandages. Walking along with him, however, is someone new to the Elibe alliance: The Red Hooded Mercenary, a woman wearing a red cloak. She's armed with a long barreled firearm in one hand and a sickle in the other. She is wearing more bandages than Roland. Her arms and legs are wrapped in bload-soaked bandages but unlike Roland she isn't limping at all, like this is just normal to her. Her face is shrouded by a dark red cloak. She has a horribly scarred mouth, showing a severe set of jagged sharp teeth, and one of her eyes is too big and glows a dull yellow even behind the hood. "Thanks for coming along, can't really bring Gebura along for a '4 Spooky Rating' and Love's been weirdly busy lately." "I can handle any job Pink can do, and so long as I'm getting paid, I'll cut open whomever they want." Red looks around and asks Roland, "Who's the boss?" "Uh, I don't know if it's one boss==" Roland looks around and waves to Lucius, "Hey Lucius, sorry we're running a bit haggard today because Angela's been sleeping for a while. Do you uh... Know someone Red could work well with today?" She jerks a thumb towards Red Hooded Mercenary. Red looks towards Melady in the meanwhile. "Mm... Maybe something's slowing him down. Any idea what that might be?" She then looks to Lilian and waves a hand in her direction. "Dame Commander. You know what you're doing. You got work for me? Roland dragged me out here so I might as well be useful."
Petra Soroka	Petra, in contrast to many others here, has had a pretty great time recently in her life. She's moisturized, in her lane; she's indulged in her hobbies and spent time with her loved ones and did not have to be present for a torturous forty eight hour marathon of death and madness and then shoved back into a vindictive bureaucracy right afterwards. So, she figures, when there's calls to work, it's her responsibility right now to take on as much of the burden as she can, to even out the load. So, to facilitate a productive and reliable mindset, she has to double down on her outfit preparation. Petra exits the warpgate looking like a picture perfect little soldier-knight, Silver sword sheath clattering against her belt as she scampers to make up for the time lost from hair and skin care. Whether the presence of Lilian, and very possibly also Guinivere, affects this decision to make beautification a priority before heading to war, can't be answered for sure, but it is at least also helpful to her mindstate. "Ah-! Oh... I apologize. I was just..." "Yeah, it's stressful being a rabbit." Petra gives Roy and Melady a wave before looking up at the sky. Sending a ratbot up to get a closer look is... probably not useful, with how slow they move and how visible anything is in the open sky. "Haven't been caught yet, though, so-- oh, right, also. I brought some chocolate. Take some, here." From her bag (a saddlebag purse, which in this context almost looks like a mature and rugged satchel, but is actually one of the girliest fashion pieces Petra has), Petra withdraws a hefty box stuffed full with MRE-style dense chocolate bars, cracks open the top box, and pulls one out. "Honestly. What I'd give to have a proper sniper along for this campaign." Petra chews on the inside of her cheek, tracing the movement of the wyverns with difficulty at this distance. "Er, I could try a couple things, but none of them would be very subtle. There might be other chains of wyvernriders near enough by that they'd notice these ones getting wiped out too." "The idea that he'd be leery of letting us near Iðunn is just . . ." "We got the one thing that can hurt her," Petra points out. It is, in a bitter way, similar enough to the feeling of 'Mesmer getting her hands on the anti-Bloom array' that Petra can immediately model it as such. "She's the whole point of the war to him. He'd dedicate every soldier to hunting us down and taking back the Binding Blade if he had to, even if it's just a chance of killing her."
Flamel Parsons	Flamel's here too. Just fluttering out of invisibility. He nods to Melady and says, "Yeah. Galle's the one who's shown that he'll do a fast, hard, proactive attack if he thinks he has a position of advantage, and he does, here." He taps his temple. "He's a great fighter and a decent leader, but he's a wyvern rider, not a SCANATE. He'll definitely gather a force and attack us, after his team have actually seen and identified us! And not before." He takes a big swig of water from his canteen and sighs. "So don't lose the fight in your head before it's time to win it in the world. If you want, I can get in there and fight your mental image of him! But it is dangerous... Makes me wish I'd gotten into some of those disguisemaking classes at the Motherlobe." Riku's question is answered when he puts that canteen back up, this time to his eyes. Spytech! He peers to look at the gestures, keeping Odette's theory in mind. "Only so many ways you can turn concepts to gestures." He knows enough spycraft to decode one thing in particular: "Let's see, are they indicating any bearings or distances..." Over time, he can identify if any two riders indicate directions or distances that correspond to his location. "One of the key pieces of spycraft is communicating coordinates, and one of the common ways that's done is to have a few people on designated paths that you certainly know the location of and have them send bearings or distances of a target at a specific time." "If he's opening the door for us, then... Hmm. That wouldn't fit Zephiel exactly. I don't think he has anything to 'prove' to anyone, it's more of a word-is-law situation for him! What if it's more like, there really just aren't enough to mount the attack they'd need? The attrition has been... brutal. But that'd mean Iðunn is busy somewhere, which isn't less worrying in that sense."
Lilian Rook	'We got the one thing that can hurt her' "It's still a lot to assume that she needs protection." Lilian says. "Or maybe he's simply out to retrieve the Binding Blade for himself. That's also a possibility." 'I brought some chocolate. Take some, here.' Damn. Now she wishes she thought of it. Unfortunately, Ace is correct about the sniper situation. It's not as if Lilian was particularly serious, since ordering a sniper to execute some random soldiers is still a bit outside her comfort zone, but she may as well shake her head to properly decline Petra's dubious, well-meaning offer. 'Dame Commander. You know what you're doing. You got work for me? Roland dragged me out here so I might as well be useful.' "Right now your job is familiarizing yourself with the Lycian League and what's going on." Lilian says. "And perhaps take it easy until those wounds are healed." 'So it's possible that he wants us all to appear in his court, and the Binding Blade is a key piece of evidence. In other words, he might be opening the door for us.' "His funeral.." says Lilian, impulsively enough that she frowns about her own wording a second after. "I'd still rather take care of Galle before then, though. He's been a massive pain every single time we've run into him, and being pincered by him at the midnight hour would be miserable."
Riku Asakura	'She chuckles at Riku's question, mostly out of nerves instead of mirth.' 'Only so many ways you can turn concepts to gestures.' Riku was surprised that someone actually had binoculars, or in the case of Flamel, spytech that worked the same as binoculars. Riku made sure to get out of both Madeleine and Flamel's way, however, and instead listened to the information they could gather and what signals they could relay back to them that the riders were making. 'So it's possible that he wants us all to appear in his court, and the Binding Blade is a key piece of evidence.' Riku thinks about this, turning to Ace after a minute. "If he wants us to appear in his court, then why destroy the building the Binding Blade was in at all? It seems... contradictory." Riku didn't like this thought at all, because it meant that Bern's King was one step ahead of them, or at least plotting that step. 'Red and Roland' Riku looks a bit distressed to see both of them so injured, but wonders if Roland is more beat up because of trying to save Mayu from the monsters. "Are you alright?" he asks Roland, eyes full of concern over the injuries. 'I'd still rather take care of Galle before then, though.' "I don't think I've run into Galle before... did it happen before I joined the League?" Riku asks.
Angela	''Right now your job is familiarizing yourself with the Lycian League and what's going on.'' Roland provides Red a shit-eating grin. The Red Hooded Mercenary retaliates by punching Roland in his injured arm. Roland hisses because this hurts. It's the cycle of life. "As you wish, Dame Commander." Red Hooded Mercenary pauses long enough to say, "And these aren't wounds, they're just my clothes. The blood just happens. I'm a monster, just look human." "Sometimes wolf--ow!" Roland gets punched in the arm again. "Alright, who'se that?" Red Hooded points to Roy. "That's Roy. He's uh. One of the Lords." "He signing our paychecks huh..." "I know you're just doing your bit but you know Angela signs our paychecks." ''Are you alright?'' Roland's distracted by Riku's inquiry. "Oh, yeah, I'm a bit beat but I've fought in worse spots before. I figure it's not so obvious that they'll not consider me an extra head to deal with at least. If they're giving us time to marshal up like this, they're probably not going in for the kill today." ''I don't think I've run into Galle before...'' "Gebura fought him before and he's still around so. Take him seriously." Roland suggests to Riku.
Odette Raskins	"A Scanate?" Odette repeats after Flamel, trying to piece together what that means even in the context of the wyvern riders. A connection to language, perhaps? Or scouting... Scanning! Pleased with herself there, she chuckles awkwardly before shaking her head and tapping on a temple. "I-I think I'm good on head fighting. Er. Thank you, though!" It's definitely not because she doesn't want anyone seeing what's inside her head. Then again, it's not as though several people here couldn't already, but the thought of having someone actually linger on that still makes her uneasy. Instead, she tries to help Arthur where she can with the decoding, taking out her PDA to quickly hammer in notes about what he's saying and observing. It's probably nothing he can't already do on his own, but she wants to feel useful recording those observations anyway! "I don't think I've run into Galle before..." "He's really strong. Um. If he starts swinging a spear around on a rope or chain, keep your head down. I-it'll cut through a lot if he builds up speed with it." Odette warns Riku, keeping an uneasy noise in as her mental image of Galle gets a little stronger.
Flamel Parsons	"SCANATE. You gotta codename-style it, it's all uppercase." Flamel clarifies to Odette. "SCAN-by-coordinATE. A military remote-viewer. They don't have that sort of thing in this world. We just know that Galle can find us using wyvern riders and that he won't hesitate to attack when he does. He won't be ESPering our location and showing up before he's figured out where we are, you see?"
Marigold	"Oh! Ah, hello..." Guinivere says to Neon, a little startled to be approached. She's still nibbling around the edges of her cold dinner. Her wistful-uneasy looks congeal into a rueful smile, once she's pinned down about it, and her eyes drop to her lap as she sets aside her bowl. "I... hm. I'm sorry. I don't mean to burden anyone with my feelings. And it's still too soon to be thinking about victory. But if you really want to hear, I just... I don't know what could bring justice back to the world. If Bern profits while everyone else suffers, how can it ever deserve to hold its head high again?" Lucius is moving back to the wagons to gather up some ointment for someone's scuffed-up shin, but he stops when Roland calls out, and then waves to him and Odette. "Who she could work well with? Well, ah..." He tries not to make assumptions! "I'm not certain what kind of work she does, exactly. Does she need medical help...?" "Alright, who'se that?" When Red points at Roy, he puts up both of his hands almost pleadingly. He's not quite used to being singled out like this! "I, uh, haven't been signing much of anything lately? Merlinus handles the gold...?" "If it isn't my biggest fan." Roy starts to wave back, then his mouth wobbles into a goofy smile as he holds in a laugh, and then he shifts to rubbing the back of his head self-consciously. "Ah, it's... really good to see you too, Ace." By now warm familiarity has worn that into something that can lift his mood. "What I'd give to have a proper sniper along for this campaign." "There might be other chains of wyvernriders near enough by..." Melady nods at Petra, crossing her arms. "See that third knight flying by, in a line? I think he takes the other two's status. And they all report to somebody at the end of the day. If a knight is missing, they'll know about it by sundown and be swarming here before morning." "Which might not be as bad as them knowing exactly where we are," Roy says. "But it's a lot worse than them having no idea," Melady maintains adamantly. "You're both right" Roy looks at Melady hopefully, and Melady looks at Roy dubiously. "If he is inviting us in... it can't be a good idea to go, can it?" "Even if he were, I don't think we have a choice. There's only one way this war ends." "... Then I guess I have to hope he's not." Binoculars? Roy turns slightly pink: "I think Chad, um... broke our last spyglass in Sacae, horsing around." "You had nothing to do with that?" "I didn't!" Fortunately Madeleine has a pair. The gestures she relays look something like 'a stilted wave, reciprocated'; then 'an opaque hand gesture'; then 'shaking head twice'; and finally 'nodding, reciprocated'. Melady translates: "Either 'situation normal' or 'no change to report' from both of them; then 'confirm new orders?' answered by 'no orders'; then 'understood' and 'understood'." It doesn't look to Flamel like any particular coordinates or directions ae being relayed, but conceivably that work has already been done. Madeleine can tell the circling ones are armed-and-armored as proper knights, not mere messengers, but with a lighter-than-normal complement of javelins.
Marigold	After that, Melady looks to the sky again. Answering Nobunaga: "I don't think they're circling around anything important. It could be that they're assigned at fixed distances. That one's nearly overhead, and that other one's almost at the horizon. 'Keep just in view of each other', maybe." "At least rabbits get to hide underground," Roy commiserates, gratefully accepting some chocolate. "Um, thank you, Petra. I never thought I'd feel jealous of them, though." Melady nods gratefully, too, but she says around a half-mouthful of sweets, after Roland mentions Galle surviving Gebura: "Yeah, he's good at fighting and great at running away. ... Ugh. Sorry. It's just... no, I'm being unprofessional. What I mean is, he's dangerous but let's not forget he hasn't beaten us yet. It's not like we need to roll over unless he has the whole army behind him." "Let's assume the worst-case scenario, though. Say Zephiel isn't 'inviting us in', and these knights are gonna bring down the army if they see us. It doesn't sound like they're going to break this watch anytime soon. Do we just, what, keep moving at night and hope there's always a forest to hide in? What if they start using glow staves to light up the fields?" "... Melady, you're a wyvern knight. Couldn't you pretend to be a messenger just coming through and give them a false signal?" "Sure, but what would I say? They'd figure out the lie by nightfall, and we're a lot more than a day from Castle Bern." "Mmh..."
Riku Asakura	'Oh, yeah, I'm a bit beat but I've fought in worse spots before.' Riku looks concerned, but nods to Roland. If he thinks he can keep going, then he'll trust in his ability to know his limits. To be fair, it wasn't likely they'd get spotted, or that if they were spotted, the wyverns hadn't attacked yet, so the risk of a fight is low. 'Gebura fought him before and he's still around so.' 'If he starts swinging a spear around on a rope or chain, keep your head down.' 'Yeah, he's good at fighting and great at running away.' Riku is surprised to hear this, especially when Roy was badmouthing him about his flaws just a moment ago. But the fact that Gebura fought him and he didn't pass out dead is, in fact, a very concerning fact about his prowess. "That's good to know, thank you," he says to all three of them, concerned about the knowledge. Especially at running away, the last thing they needed if they cornered him was for him to get away and ambush them later, as Lilian thought. 'I think Chad, um... broke our last spyglass in Sacae, horsing around.' Riku looks at Roy with a bit of a concerned look. "That's no good... I could go get a pair of binoculars then," Riku offers. The army would need to get at least one pair. "If I do, just uh... you know, make sure that Chad doesn't get ahold of them, yeah?" Melady translates the hand signals, which causes Riku to think. "So... they are looking out for an army. Or at least, looking out for something. Which means that they would be missed eventually. Hm..." Think Riku, think, what could this mean seriously?
Nobunaga	> "I don't think they're circling around anything important..." Nobunaga nods along as Melady makes her suppositions about the patrol orders to the wyvern knights in view. Her hands drop from her eyes and she lets out a thoughtful noise, rubbing at her chin, "Movement by night is the best option, but without a clear destination to safely make camp, it's still risky..." She pauses, glancing up towards the sky, "If only there were a storm brewing. Heavy rain would be our greatest ally right now." Not only would it make flying harder for wyverns, it would just about annihilate any visibility on the ground and render air patrols pointless to begin with. Closing her eyes, she jokingly adds, "Or our friendly Ultraman doing a cannonball in the nearest lake." She huffs a bit, shaking her head and dismissing her little joke, "No, no, what we could use is some measure of distraction but nothing so drastic as that. Even something as simple as a campfire to draw their attention in the opposite direction... No, no, they'd still be unnerved by such a thing." Her eyes wander to Mori, sitting with the soldiers again. After a moment, she bops one hand into the other waiting palm, "Ah!" She glances towards Melady, "At that altitude, it must be difficult to discern just who is what, barring the glint of sunlight on armor or bright colors, yes? Would a small party moving on the road as ordinary traffic even draw attention?" Her posture straightens, her attention shifting back to the nearer of the wyvern riders, "The easiest place to hide a letter is on the mantlepiece. If we move our troops in small groups, departing at random times... It would be slower than moving all together, but it might not attract attention." She shoots a look over her shoulder at Merlinius' wagons, "We may even be able to utilize our comrade's generous wagons if we split them up among the groups, and make use of their covered space for things much harder to conceal."
Angela	Roland shakes his head at Melady. "Hey, so long as we're not beaten and we live, I'm not exactly gonna begrudge him living to fight another day. Gebura was just ... She just knows how tough he is. And how skilled, so ger attitude tends to be 'Me letting him survive means he'll kill us later. She's uh. Got her reasons for not wanting to take risks like that with people she's protecting." He frowns. "Me? ... I'm a guy who will do what he's gotta but I know leaving bodies behind doesn't exactly smooth things over when the fight's over." He sighs, not exactly looking forward to a potential fight anyway. "It's 'cause you're soft." Red says. "If they didn't have help from Pink and all of you, there's no way they could've fought a war so gently." Roland looks to Lucius. "Don't mind her. She's like Love, it's her whole narrative. She'll help out normal." He lowers his voice like he's giving confessional. "I think she's sourced from Miss Angela's tendency to be hard on herself." Red violates the spirit of confessional and kicks Roland in the leg hard. He yaarrgghss and adds, "Uh maybe I could use some medical help, though." "I can hunt and I can kill and I can move." Red tells Lucous. And then, after a moment, more awkwardly adds, "And prepare elegantly arranged lunches if given a picnic basket. Lessons from a previous life that never was." She looks towards Melady and adds, "If you don't want them to spot you and don't mind being patient, why don't you just send a small team of hunters ahead, people who can escape their notice, intercept whatever orders they're getting." "I don't think we have the time though." Roland admits. "But couldn't Flamel just read their minds and figure out what's up?"
Lilian Rook	'And these aren't wounds, they're just my clothes. The blood just happens. I'm a monster, just look human.' Lilian takes a minute to absorb the idea of 'blood just happens'. It leaves her looking troubled and disturbed; for some reason. 'I-I think I'm good on head fighting. Er. Thank you, though!' "Nobody cares about whatever boring garbage you're thinking." Lilian rolls her eyes. Cold read. 'If Bern profits while everyone else suffers, how can it ever deserve to hold its head high again?' Lilian sighs. She really, truly, never likes thinking about this. "Perhaps it doesn't. Not until it becomes a nation worthy of having pride again, at least." 'Either 'situation normal' or 'no change to report' from both of them; then 'confirm new orders?' answered by 'no orders'; then 'understood' and 'understood'.' She makes a noise that sounds like 'houf'. "So we've got the competent ones now. Dreadful. I suppose it would be sensible to keep a veteran reserve garrison close to the capital at this point." she says. 'At least rabbits get to hide underground' "You could hide under a blanket in the wagon, if you like." It's impossible to tell how serious she's being. Probably 'not very'. 'What I mean is, he's dangerous but let's not forget he hasn't beaten us yet.' "Be that as it may," Lilian says like 'yeah fuck him'. "He's the last person I'd want swooping in from our rear with a brigade of knights while we're in the midst of a difficult battle already. I'd rather have him out of the picture entirely." 'Do we just, what, keep moving at night and hope there's always a forest to hide in? What if they start using glow staves to light up the fields?' Unfortunately. This is a very good question. Lilian really only has one helpful answer. "Zephiel has already mapped out the Warpgates in Bern, hasn't he? We could try extracting that information from the enemy. Provided Parsons can erase their memory of being captured." She doesn't want to do that herself unless she has to.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	"I don't know what could bring justice back to the world. If Bern profits while everyone else suffers, how can it ever deserve to hold its head high again?" As the tactical discussion begins in earnest, Maddie drifts over to Guinivere. "Who's the 'it', though? Which part of Bern is the Bern that made this war? It's not the land," she says, tapping the toe of her boot against the soil, "and I don't think it's the people who work that land, either. They've seen bits and pieces of plunder, enjoyed whatever their lads brought home without the officers taking it for the treasury, sure, but..." A pause, a shrug. "I wouldn't hold a mother responsible for the actions of her grown sons, or a sister for her brother's crimes." Maddie didn't mean to allude to Guinivere with that last bit, but she hesitates and glances nervously at the noblewoman when she realizes she kind of did anyway. "Er, that is, maybe the answer is there's not a 'Bern' after this, but something else in its place? Parcel the land up into a few smaller nations, you've already got the social structures 'n' such to do that. A couple lords and ladies get to call themselves king or queen, most of the old royal treasury gets put to rebuilding Sacae and Lycia, that sort of thing. It... it could mean you'd not be a royal of anywhere anymore, but." Madeleine's expression tightens a little, a twinge of almost-sympathetic pain. "Sometimes we have to give up on the way a world used to be. Even if it means admitting that something's gone or changed in a way it can't come back from."
Odette Raskins	"SCANATE..." Odette repeats after Flamel again, putting just a little more emphasis to really get that all caps-tone going right. "So something like a drone, or a flying camera? I'd be surprised if they did have those here, yes. But..." She recalls that last encounter with Iounn, and her face scrunches up again. "What about Iounn? She had these shadowy things that were following us around when we fought her. Unless she's not communicating with Galle and everyone?" "Nobody cares about whatever boring garbage you're thinking." "It's not..." Odette can't even finish that protest. She can't deny that at least half of it really would be boring, and she'd rather not raise questions about the rest by protesting harder. "See that third knight flying by, in a line?" "I don't think they're circling around anything important." That's something Odette's taking notes on for sure. "So one's acting as the relay for the others, and then that one goes back to someone else, and the chain keeps going... Er. Probably." She comments, following Melady's gaze to the sky So even the outermost links would be risky to act on. That's annoyingly smart of them." She admits with a quiet groan, rubbing her head lightly a moment later. "There's only one way this war ends." "By... Jumping into the trap? We can't put it off forever, but it still... It's scary to think about. G-going right in, knowing he knows we'll be there and all." She starts, pauses, then purses her lips while looking over at Roy and Melady again. "Although... That's kind of what we've been doing most of time already, isn't it? Although it really feels like we've also been making sure to skew a lot of things our way before setting off whatever traps they had." "Do we just, what, keep moving at night and hope there's always a forest to hide in?" "I'd rather have him out of the picture entirely." "Not with all these people and the wagons and everything. Even if we posed as merchants the whole way, I bet they'd keep too close of a watch not to notice something's weird when we're not moving enough cargo and just heading towards Bern." Odette rubs her forehead lightly while trying to puzzle out a potential solution, looking towards Lilian after a few more moments of thought. "Maybe if we went all in on Galle like Commander Rook said, though... Do you think Zephiel would rush his troops in to help him the same way Galle would if we went after Zephiel?" She asks, glancing up at the wyvern riders for a moment. "Like... anyone on a wyvern could fly back to Bern way faster than Zephiel could get to wherever Galle is on foot or by horse, right? S-so if we zero in on Galle first, then... Yes! No more pincer risk."
Desire Stars	If Bern profits while everyone else suffers, how can it ever deserve to hold its head high again? "I..." Neon smiles a little sadly, and shakes her head, then takes a seat next to Guinevere. "Thought it might be something like that. Would it surprise you to hear that I've felt the same way, before? 'Who am I to want what I want, when I have so much and so many people have so little?'" She folds her hands in her lap. "In a way, I'm glad you asked that," she admits. "It's something I've thought of a lot.For Bern..." "I bet that 'five years from now' might as well be 'five hundred,' with how hard we've had to fight to get even here. And even when we're sitting right here..." Her eyes drift upwards, to the wyvern riders, and she sighs. "Right?" "Even so... here we are. We lived through each day that got thrown at us, and more than that, I feel like we had a few choices, here and there, between what was easy and what was right. And I think that might be the answer--that it isn't about having some kind of grand plan, but coming to terms with what's happening right now, and not... drowning yourself in a million little compromises. I think a leader that can do that can get Bern to where it needs to be."
Flamel Parsons	Flamel shakes his head at Odette. "I don't think that Iðunn is talking with just about anyone, honestly." He says. "She only talks to Zephiel when asked questions. There's no way she's keeping up an intelligence network." Roland's question gets a raised finger. "My telepathy has range and mechanism limits. I'd need a lot of help to get into a mind at range like that. But, it's not impossible. If someone could plant a psychogate at this distance, it would work. Still, they tend to make their organization cellular. Intel gets smaller as you get closer to the boots on the ground -- or in the wyvern's stirrups, as the case may be!" "If we can do that, sky's the limit, really. I can make memory edits, misdirect the enemy, the works. But they know what I'm doing, and if anything comes back to them that doesn't add up, they'll know where I was. The goal should be to be gone by then." He rubs his face a little. "Which is cutting it close, because they know we'd go straight for Zephiel's castle, and they can move faster. But then again, we don't have a lot of alternatives." He thinks for a while, messing with his chin. "Unless someone here has a really secretive nature they're not letting on, that they'd let me use for something I'm working on lately. But that's unreliable at best."
Marigold	Would it surprise you to hear that I've felt the same way, before? 'Who am I to want what I want'..." "No. It doesn't surprise me," Guinivere says to Neon with soft-sad eyes. "I imagine everyone of conscience born to wealth feels that, at one time or another." She lets her gaze turn to Lilian for just a second, before turning it away. "... If clarity and principle are all that's needed, Neon, there are plenty of people here with both. Perhaps I'm even among them, ahaha. But I suppose... I don't know how I can get what I want, if I don't even know what I want." "Or... no, that still isn't quite right. I know I want justice. And I know I want happiness. But even five or five-hundred years from now... I can't imagine Bern having both." Her head dips. "Perhaps it doesn't," she echoes Lilian. From a little ways away, Roy lifts his voice. "... You wish things could go back to the way they were before," he offers, sympathetically. "Don't we all, Lord Roy? Time seems to take so much more than it gives. It's taken a home from you, and a brother from me." "... I do wish that, sometimes, but... surely that's only because we are at war. When peace comes, I hope the future will begin to look brighter than the past." "Hm." She doesn't sound completely convinced, but smiles. Almost shyly, her eyes find Madeleine's, approaching her. "I would happily give up a chance at the throne, Madeleine. To give up on the past would pain me, but if I knew that pain would set the world right, I'd gladly endure it. But... would it?" Her eyes sweep off, to the sunny beautiful wildflower-strewn fields. "'Responsibility' and 'cause' are very different things. A mother who raises a dozen murderers can't have done anything right. If the country changes its name, can we really wash our hands of its deeds? Or would we be setting the stage for all this to happen again, only with the actors changed a little?" She breathes out; then pinches her nose. "... Oh, Saint forgive me. I'm starting to sound like Zephiel," the princess murmurs, self-annoyed.
Marigold	Lucius's eyebrows climb his forehead slowly about the bloodsoaked, gun-toting, allegedly monstrous assassin Roland's brought along, apparently coalesced from a spirit of self-loathing... but then he smiles, tentatively. "Well, ah... we can't make a fire, so there's not much call for hunting tonight, but if you could help us arrange some cold lunches for the road tomorrow, that'd be very welcome. I'm Lucius; can I ask your name, kind hunter?" "Mmhmm," Melady concurs grimly with Odette, about the annoying competence of the wyvern knights' setup. She even sounds only a little professionally proud. "It'd be great if we could draw Galle out and nail him down. But that's his choice whether he plays ball or not. If he doesn't come to us, there's not much we can do about it," she sighs. "But, he is an idiot, so who knows." To Nobunaga: "I'm sure that splitting up could get most of our army through. But if we're in small groups, anyone the wyvern knights do descend on is pretty much sentenced to death, right? And I wouldn't put it past them to stop 'merchants' on the road if they get bored. It's Lord Roy's call, but..." Roy, rarely a cold-blooded pragmatist, grimaces. "Let's, at least figure out something else to do alongside that..." "Right." "Zephiel has already mapped out the Warpgates in Bern, hasn't he?" "He'd already started to by the time I, um, defected," Melady says with an uncomfortable shift of her weight from hip to hip. "Safe to assume he's finished by now. Why?" "We could try extracting that information from the enemy. Provided Parsons can erase their memory..." "I'd need a lot of help to get into a mind at range like that." Melady looks up at the sunset-reddening sky and sighs, like she's begrudging herself a bad idea already. "... They'll get yelled at for slacking if they return to their barracks while there's still daylight. There'll probably be a window where they're still out, but they can't see each other very well. I can fly up there, grab the nearer one, and toss him down to you; the others will still see one knight in the sky, more or less." "If you can pull the warpgate knowledge out of his head, then get him memory-wiped and back in the sky before it's call for him to return..." She looks to Roy for his approval, but the poor young noble just looks relieved to have a plan that doesn't involve splitting up and potential sentencing-to-death.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	"To give up on the past would pain me, but if I knew that pain would set the world right, I'd gladly endure it. But... would it?" "I don't know if there's such as thing as 'setting the world right'," Madeleine says. "But there's setting it better, you know? Even if the best we can get is twenty, thirty years of peace before some other bloke gets some other big idea and causes trouble - doesn't even have to be a king, you've heard the stories about Nergal - then Hell, that's thirty years of peace. Right?" "There's two things we can hope to accomplish, really. Solve the problems in front of us and make sure whoever comes after will be ready to solve what's in front of them. It's hard to imagine what'll be to do 'after the war', but that's a matter for after-the-war Roy and after-the-war Guinivere and all the rest of you. Not to mention whichever of us otherworlders stick around." She scratches her cheek, idly. Puts on a bit of a smile - intentional, but not forced - in Guinivere's direction, an effort at reassurance. "All we-right-now really need to do is make sure we can get from here to there."