The Vertix

[Xero Scythe]

Thanatos roared with laughter. "Now that's what I love about you, Ice Queen. No matter how important the mission, you still manage to pout about the most inconsequential things!" After nearly falling off the top of the carriage, Thanatos thought of something. "Hey, should I send a flare, or would that be begging for trouble?"

 

[NeoAC]

"Well I can multitask, can't I?" Grace asked. "I mean, we don't get to travel much. It'd be nice to protect the princess and pick up a new top at the same time! Ahhh, oh well. They probably don't have anything good anyway. So, what's the holdup? Where are the other guys?"

 

[RavingPenguin]

Trent saw the carriage roll through the gate and quickly scrambled up to ride it as it passed. Already they're being arrogant. He thought to himself. "Oi!" he called to get the groups attention. "Keep your guards up, this town does not take well to visitors. There is no organized defense, however the people will look after their own. Act out, even in self defense, and you may incite a riot."

Trent addressed Cygnus from his perch, "We've been attacked twice already. We need to keep Her Highness in our sight at all times." He then addressed Grace and Thanatos, "You two, settle down. I know its not your specialty but subtlety will keep you alive here."

 

[AboveUp]

"I'm going to take the liberty and guess that fire had to do with the attacks then?" Cygnus sighed "I've had a bad feeling about this place from the start. I tried digging up information in the library, you know what I found? Nothing. Nothing at all. As if Easterbank just popped up out of nowhere. The place looks old, however. It doesn't seem right."
He climbed down from the carriage. No need staying on that thing, besides, it might help to be mobile and responsive if things are really this bad.

"What happened to the others? Don't tell me they..." Cygnus bit the sentence of, unsure of whether or not it was a good idea to say it out loud.

 

[Broken Orange]

"Come on man, say your mind." Jarod said on the passenger seat of the carriage.

"You need to let all of know everything, even if we won't like it. You owe us that much."

 

[axle 19]

The meeting hall was just as the map showed, several traps set up to kill the unaware person or public speaker. If the town wanted to be left alone, why set up traps in the meeting hall? This had to mean that they new the princess was coming or at the very least that it was someone important and they wanted to make sure they remained unknown.

"Aurellius lets go back and warn the others. They should have arrived by now."

 

[Cinnonym]

Aurelius agreed. He could see the carriage's arrival from the roof.

He leaped down and followed his partner to meet the others.

 

[axle 19]

Kylar came out through an alley, Aurellius at his heels. The others were clustered around the carriage talking animatedly about something. The princess was out of sight in the carriage and the townspeople seem to have disappeared from the surrounding area. Walking toward the carriage he said, "Guys you made, we have some bad news."

 

[RavingPenguin]

"You don't need details on what happened to us," Trent said to Jarod, "I've said what you need to know. The towns off and we need to be careful." He didn't need the group pressuring him, he'd said his piece.

Kylar had stepped from the shadows to address the group. "Any worse than the news I've already given?" Trent did not like the tone in Kylar's voice, something was up.

 

[NeoAC]

"I guess that explains why the place looks like crap," Grace reasoned. "But if that's true, why is it here? What are they hiding?"

Grace jumped back after Kylar emerged. "Dang it, Ky," she said softly through her teeth. "You know I hate it when you do that."

 

[Lost In The Void]

Retran watched as the group talked amongst themselves. He raised his eyebrows when Kylar appeared, apparently bring bad news. He didn't say anything though, he had no used for petty talks, only wishing more people to appear to fight like men, not like the pathetic archers who hid and attacked.

 

[axle 19]

Kylar laughed at Grace's reaction happy to see some levity despite what he was about to say. "Like Trent said, we have been attacked on several occasions since we have been here. Not only that but what I gathered from the man who's mind I destroyed, they will attack outsiders on sight. They want to keep their town to themselves and they have others before us."

He paused glancing at each of them in turn before continuing, "There is no police force to speak of and the meeting hall where the princess was going to speak was full of traps set to kill anyone who did not know of them. We need to keep the princess in sight at all times and trust no one."

 

[AboveUp]

"This is getting out of hand" Cygnus said, he was quickly starting to lose his temper. "How could the ministers have chosen this as a spot for the Princess to have her first appearance in?! Do they want her to be killed?"

All this time spent planning to protect the princess during a speech... I knew something was up and still I never expected things to be this bad. This has got to be a joke at my expense.

 

[NeoAC]

"What?!?" Grace exclaimed. "What kind of place is this? This is crazy! Can we really even let the princess out of the carriage if this is the case? Why don't we just go? It's obviously not safe here!"

 

[RavingPenguin]

"She has her duties and we have ours," Trent said, "We can clear out the assembly hall of traps if need be, or she could call the whole thing off. The point is, right now, we have our orders. 'Protect Her Highness while she gives her speech.' We can advise and gripe all we want but in the end, it will fall on our abilities." When Trent finished he folded his arms to sit and think.

 

[AboveUp]

"The mission, huh?" Cygnus was starting to calm down, at least he was sure on the mission. "You all heard Trent, he's right. It's our mission to protect the princess under any circumstance. Besides, I think we've proven we're capable of what we can do and that we can trust each other on the way here. It's time to put that to good use here."

His attention went back to the group of guerillas, "I trust you will show us the way and give us a good heads up in terms of traps and possible hide-outs and sniping spots on the way there?"

 

[Cinnonym]

"Unfortunately..." his eyes flicked to Kylar, "The one we were using as informant was subsequently broken."

Aurelius used a bit of parchment to sketch a crude map of the rooftops, marking the requested areas on it for Cygnus.

 

[Time Travelling Toaster]

"I have one question, where is Jon?" Misa asks, sliding off the horse.

"Was he not meant to be in charge of this mission?" she asks Aurelius.

 

[Cinnonym]

"It's an excellent question, to which I do not know the answer. I fear he may have fallen to the brutes of the streets."

He gestured with a nod of the head in the general direction of where he had seen the man last.

 

[Broken Orange]

"either he got captured, killed, or knocked out" he didn't bother adding the part where he could have gone awol. "If he got captured, we can't waste men looking for him when they could protect the princesse. If he is killed, nothing we can do for him. If he is just knocked out, he can take care of himself. We have a mission that needs our complete attention."