In The Name of Love

Zac thanks the guy informing him, and makes his way down to see who was there.

--

Dawn walks by and sees Roatha and Euryale, "A boy? Are you cheating on my daughter? In my house? With another peasant no less?"

~Lesalia~

E"I'm not going to waste my time explaining to you all of the ways that's wrong, because Mortal already knows why he's here, & no one who knows you would trust anything that comes out of your mouth anyway."

*Roatha uses the distraction to escape by sliding down the bannister. Euryale watches as he goes.*

E"This is going to be a very successful stealth mission."
=====================================
~Sal Ghidos~

*Lilith is drinking a cup of coffee, her sword propped up on the seat beside her.*

Noct walks passed Dawn and into the bathroom without a word, and a groggy morning look on her face. Sab is two steps behind, awkwardly trying to get by Dawn, "Excuse me, pardon-- Oh, hi Euryale." She then walks into the bathroom behind Noct, and shuts the door.

Dawn lets out a sigh, and begins walking away, complaining about being surrounded by whores.

--

Zac sits down across from her, "Good morning, Lilith."

~Lesalia~

"Takes one to know one."

*Euryale heads down the staircase.*
=============================
~Sal Ghidos~

"Good morning. We drove off the ninja that Seraph had hired, & I tracked her here."

*A dancer comes by.*

<Are you 2 ready to order?>

Noctab is making God cry in the bathroom, and Mortal is still sleeping.

--

"I would love a stack of pancakes, thanks," Zac said before turning his attention back to Lilith, "I see. I found Seraph yesterday, but he managed to get away, as well as burn down half of the slums."

~Sal Ghidos~

"And I will have toast & eggs."

*Lilith waits until the Dancer leaves to respond.*

"I think we're going to have to actively pursue Seraph from now on. He's too dangerous to be left alone."
================================
~Leasalia~

*Euryale sits down & drums her fingers on the table, waiting. She has no idea where Roatha is.*

"Agreed," Zac said, "I'm not sure if he is still in Sal Ghidos however."

--

Mortal comes out, eventually, and sits down next to Euryale. "Good morning, beautiful," She said while yawning, causing it to sound almost unintelligible.

~Lesalia~

*Euryale understood the intent fully.*

"Likewise, Gorgeous."

*Roatha mysteriously appears in a seat on the other side of Euryale.*
==============================
~Sal Ghidos~

"He didn't leave north. I can be sure of that."

"Well, our stealth mission should go swimmingly..." Mortal said, still tired.

--

"That only leave the south road, assuming he left at all," Zac said.

~Lesalia~

R"What stealth mission?"

E"Oh, we decided it would be a good idea to sneak into the castle, after defeating the guards."

R"If you think that'll work."
=============================
~Sal Ghidos~

"Mt. Germinas offers him many hiding places."

*The Dancer returns with their food & bows before leaving.*

<Enjoy.>

"Thank you...but that's only if he wants to hide. He's gone through all of the trouble to draw us out. Why? Surely this wasn't the full extent of what he had in mind."

"I'm hungry," Mortal said, "I could go for some ham."

--

"You have a point," Zac said, "So, what could possibly be his end game? What does he want out of all of this?"

~Lesalia~

E"I don't think there is any. Pigs are pretty rare to begin with. Plus, the famine."

R"At least the rain storms should ease that somewhat."
===================================
~Sal Ghidos~

"I can think of only one thing that he could want. To fan back to life the flames of the Lion War, until they destroy Ivalice's civilization entirely."

"Famine sucks," Mortal said.

"No one said it was good," Noct said, walking into the room, hair still a bit damp. Sab was in step with her wearing a big ol', goofy grin.

--

"How cheery," Zac said, "How do you imagine he plans to go about with that?"

~Sal Ghidos~

"We'll just have to ask him, now won't we?"
===========================
~Lesalia~

*Euryale & Roatha try not to make eye contact with what they assume is a terrible aftersex pokerface.*

R"It's going to take time to hike through Gollund with all of the snowfall. We'll probably have to stop there for lunch."

"Hm, I don't know," Zac said, "When I see him next I plan on doing a lot of shooting, and not very much talking, if I'm perfectly honest."

--

"Alrighty," Mortal said.

Noctab sits down next to one another. Sab is still looking incredibly happy, which brings a little smile to Noct's face.

~Gollund~

*After they've trudged uphill in the snow for a few miles, they reach a tavern. Euryale had refused Roatha's cloak no less than 4 times, insisting that she wasn't cold, but was clinging to Mortal.*
===================================
~Sal Ghidos~

*The pair are now searching the burnt-out slums searching for signs of a certain Black Mage. Lilith finds his footprints behind the shack he used to start the fire in the first place.*

"Looks like he teleported back here after starting the blaze, & escaped from there. He heads out of the slums...but turns, instead of running to Mt. Germinas. So he's probably in the good part of the city."

Mortal kept her arm around Euryale, for her own warmth as well as Euryale's. Sab was giddy, again, because of the snow.

--

"Well, a bum in a nice neighborhood is usually easy to spot," Zac said, "People notice new faces in places like that."

~Lesalia~

*When they enter the tavern, people are discussing a dragon that has taken up residence in the coal mines.*
====================================
~Sal Ghidos~

*Sure enough, nearly everyone on the streets has seen an old, soot-covered, magic-looking hobo. Some of the more informative ones have several bruises on their faces & forearms. Gradually, they are funneled to a back alley where he is talking to a ninja woman with a large facial scar.*

???<So you aren't upset that I failed to kill Ovelia?>

S"Naw. If you ask me, I think we might've been a bit TOO good. Now, no one wants to put up a fight. They're just too beaten-down.>

???<Is that not a good thing?>

S"You want to kill nobles, right? Well, it's kinda hard to get to 'em when they're holed up in their little hidey-holes. You have to smoke 'em out first."

Mortal is interested, and makes her way over, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but did you say something about a dragon in a coal mine?"

--

Zac shoots Seraph in the leg, not wanting him to get away again.

~Sal Ghidos~

*Seraph looks at his leg.*

S"I wonder how many times he'll do that before he realizes that it doesn't work."

*Teams of 2 archers appear on roofs on either side of the street, 1 male, 1 female. The ninja draws her weapons & advances forward. Seraph teleports behind her.*

S"I see you've still got that shiny armor on. Guess I'll just have to beat you to death the old fashioned way."
=======================================
~Gollund~

*A female chemist with tattered, dirty clothing speaks up.*

<Yeah, it's reeking havoc on the mines, no one can get down there to work. You look pretty tough. You wanna kill it for us? We'll pay you what we got from the last coal sale.>

Zac shoots the male archer with a barrage, though he can already tell he is going to be shot ten times due to his rivalry with every archer everywhere.

--

"No need for compensation," Mortal said, "I was just wondering, did you see anyone else with the dragon?"

~Gollund~

<No? Why would there be some'un with the beast?>
==================================
~Sal Ghidos~

*Well, they do all move into position to shoot at him, except for the one he killed.*

S"Do ho ho, seems we've had some upgrades."

*Lilith slashes at the ninja, who steps out of the way & retaliates with 2 slashes of her own. Lilith catches one & takes the other across the stomach.*

~3~

"Oh, no reason," Mortal said, "I was just wondering."

--

Zac shoots the other archer with another barrage.

~Gollund~

*Euryale puts an arm around Mortal & rubs her shoulder.*

E"You want to check it out? We're not in any hurry, are we?"

*Roatha shrugs.*

R"I suppose not."
=============================
*The remaining 2 archers fire into his back.*

S"Come on, now, there's only 2 of them. Get a few good hits, & we can take 'em out."

*The ninja slips around to Lilith's side, allowing Seraph to take a swing at her. She catches it, but while she's preoccupied, the ninja slashes her twice across the back. When Lilith spins around to slash her, she ducks, & Seraph smacks her in the back of the head.*

~3,2~

Mortal shakes her head, "No, no, I don't want to waste time. Like I said, I was just wondering."

--

Zac splits the damage. Zac then shoots the ninja with an arm shot so that Lilith would only have to deal with one enemy attacking her.