Rhys - Doniaeth 'Arc Workshop'

As the flow of people entering his vacant place of work grew, the boy continued to scan the 'less than normal' people one by one. His curious eyes shifted from individual to individual, absorbing their appearance as a first impression and acting accordingly to it.

"Eh- ah- there's more than I thought. Well, I'm Rhys, some of you might know me, others might not. N-nonetheless you're all here for the same reason I'd assume, the creatures that appeared on the battlefield, the flier recruiting some braves to face them... If I'm wrong, please don't hurt me."

Rhys continued to pace from one end of the room to the other, his leather boots lightly kicking small bits of metal across the room as he did so. An ARC seeming more bird-like than reptilian quickly fluttered over the boy, landing on his shoulder and began to play a variety of melodies. This seemed to calm the overwhelmed kid down, he stood, facing the group and smiling brightly. He quickly made his way to a small shelf near the entryway to the Metals Room, a plated iron door that seemed to be reinforced quite heavily. Pulling from the shelf a sheet of paper which bore the insignia of each nation at it's back. Rhys read the paper to himself, quietly under his breath as he approached the group, then, as he reached a few feet in front of them the clockwork ARC on his shoulder scooped the paper from his hands holding it within the creation's beak as the boy read.

"In two days, each nation will send volunteers to the dormant battlefield. While the ceasefire that has been established is active, none of the voluntary parties, regardless of background, may harm one another throughout the duration of this period. The sole enemy will be the unknown monsters that have appeared, one is solely the main priority, being the large creature that appeared within the active warzone and caused discord for each of the nations while in combat. There are no special conditions for those who partake in this venture, the rate in which you annihilate this threat is advised to be quick and thus the quicker you return, the larger the reward's sum will be."

After the boy spoke the containing words of the paper, a flicker came from the bird's mouth causing the corner of the parchment to ignite, the small flame trailing down the words and leaving nothing left but fragments and ash. As a small white and grey pile formed below him, the ARC flapped a wing quickly sending the residue into the air.

"Now, any questions?"

---

Zhong - Thao 'Crimson Barracks'

Near the center of Thao, walking distance of the Empress' fortress and just beyond the riverbend is the Crimson Barracks. Here, the finest of Thao's military meet for strategic meetings, conferences, and other events that are needed to be within the capital. But today was a different event, the great General sat in the building alone, in silence, waiting for any kinsmen to open the door and volunteer for the task at hand. But there were none, and instead of waiting, he fell into a trance state.

The general didn't question if someone would come, but instead wondered why those who were interested took their time getting information on the matter. Or maybe this was overthinking things a bit much, the general had always been an inquisitive person, though still having doubts about the whole ceasefire. Commotion could be heard outside the barracks doors, there was no need to check, they would eventually make their way into the building.

A pair opened the wooden doors, entering the statue's domain, rather loudly to be precise. Fortunately the man seemed familiar, though not identifiable to be honest, nor was the girl who accompanied him. As they approached the general they quickly stated their reasoning for being there, why else would they flippantly approach him?

"Ah-yes, we'll wait for any other voluntary bodies. Once we have a few more we'll begin the explanation of this task."

Grimm drummed his fingers on the shield for several fingers, thinking. "Nothing Regarding the job, just some things to ask you personally. I'll be by tomorrow."

He lifted the shield up onto his back, walking out through the door. He stood on the street for a moment, trying to decide what to do for the rest of the day. Those vampires there sure as hell looked like quite competent engineers. He decided to head to the quarantine section to ask some questions. It was rare that he took went into battle without knowing his team and he wanted to hear what their neighbours had to say about them. One of the names he had heard was Fortuna so he decided to follow up on that first.

No amount of persuasion could get him into the quarantine zone so Grimm stood in sight of the entrance, waiting for one of them to return.

Drana pulled a hand from pocket and rose it before Rhys quite apathetically, as if her wrist were incapable of pulling her hand upwards.

"We got any information on what the target is, besides disruptive and dangerous? I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say that we'd rather not go in to find out our target is a leviathan that buries itself into the ground, only to devour us in one big gulp as soon as we go to sleep. Or whatever." She'd seen her fair share of creepy crawlies, big bads, and murderous monsters, but what was always consistent was how surprising each creature appeared to be; they always had some newfound way of killing. While she'd never encountered a leviathan that swallowed the resting, it didn't take much imagination to come up with it, and it got the point across, she hoped.

"From the sounds of it, this thing is pretty adept at fucking up our troops. There must be something special to it that we should know about."

Notice? Well, he wasn’t blind, so yes Chatsu did notice the various looks cast in his direction. Some lingered for longer than others, but he paid them all the same amount of attention; just a moment’s. While he had his doubts that somebody would actually try to start a fight in the center of one of Kaien’s most important buildings, better safe than sorry. The only thing that even bothered him was the… thing that seemed intent on him for one reason or another; he ignored it with a soft sigh.

The black horned helmet spun end over end, was swiped mid-air by the horn, and then thrown up to spin again. He had gotten a nice quiet chuckle from the idea that the three nations would peacefully meet, fight together, and then go their separate ways. Oh, he didn’t think it was impossible, he had been wrong plenty of times, but old grudges and bad blood weren’t so easy to brush aside. Deftly, he caught the helmet and slipped it over his head, twisting it slightly so it fit snugly. Hefting his equipment from the floor and slinging them to his back, he turned towards the man who had addressed them all.

“Is there any procedure for dealing with anyone who breaks the no-violence agreement? Will all three nations attempt to deal with the guilty, or is it up to individuals to make the choice?”

“I take back what I said.”

“What?”

“About you being respected.”

*Thwack*. Domenico had jabbed the pressure point on Relk’s trapezius muscle, sending a jolt of shock through his body. As a move, it didn’t actually do much other than cause discomfort. Relk gave a face to which Domenico responded with a sneer. As annoyed as he was about flat out ignored, his subordinates had received similar treatment. This gave him some peace of mind, at least he had something to rebut with if they bothered him later.

Taking in a deep breath, Domenico focused on the matters at hand. A ragtag bunch of nine was hardly the monster-slaying team he envisioned. He knew the pope wouldn’t do something as ludicrous as use the nation’s resources to take out beasts which would in turn benefit Doniaeth and Thaos… however he had expected much more to step forward of their on their own accord.

“Is there any procedure for dealing with anyone who breaks the no-violence agreement? Will all three nations attempt to deal with the guilty, or is it up to individuals to make the choice?”

One of the most enigmatic figures in the room spoke up.

“We settle it ourselves,” responding to the Thao was not Alexander but Domenico. “We’ll be out in Open Scar, not a courtroom. It’s not like anyone who broke the agreement would just patiently await punishment anyway.”

Another question was asked, this time, the one who spoke up was Felicia.

“Uuuuummm, will our transport and supplies be provided? If so, can we choose what supplies and horses ourselves? Then you guys pay for it of course.”

Inside the Black Heaven and Earth Dojo

Zhao stood before his students with his hands in the pockets of his pants. All eyes were on him and what he would decide for the dojo. With the threat of the creatures harming the nations and the call for warriors, the students were all pulling for their master. They wanted him to join. Not to defend the nation but instead to bring glory to the Dojo. The more exposure, the more people that would seek tutelage, and that more that dojo could spread it's knowledge. It was a solid plan with only one glaring hole; Zhao's death would destroy the Dojo's reputation. Death was not a pretty idea for Zhao; he was secure in his abilities despite the high risk. The Grandmaster slowly rubbed the back of his neck accompanied by a heavy sigh.

"Come on. You can do it Senpai."

"Fine. People do need to understand our style and I'd suck if those monsters wrecked our home." Not even a breath left Zhao's mouth before his students were glossy-eyed and exclaiming their joy over the decision. He didn't want to just leave his Dojo unmanned so, fortunately he had been training his eldest student in the art of teaching. For now that would be good enough until Zhao's return. He quickly brought an end to the commotion by signaling for his students to get back into form. For now they would finish the training session. No lesson was ever left at a cliffhanger. The session didn't alleviate the thoughts of fighting powerful monsters that roamed in Zhao's mind now. "What am I thinking? This could be fun."

3 hours later

The Crimson Barracks overshadowed Zhao's body as he gazed upon it. He had never seen it up close in his life, always thinking that he'd never have to. There was a larger group of people gathered around the front of the barracks; a few people recognized Zhao from his time in one of the tournaments. Despite inquiring a few moments ago about any information anyone had about this, no one provided any helpful info. A shrug of his shoulders indicated his notion to finally enter the building. His eyes roamed the barrack's interior whilst he walked in. Previous thoughts suggested the place was grand in appearance on the inside. There would be golden embroidery and the like. Instead it looked quite normal to Zhao. Finally he reached the one of the chairs near the couple that had walked in before, spun the chair around, and sat in it backwards.

"So....I'm here to volunteer, General."

Luthica

---

Having finished her timeline tuning the magic in Luthica's hand quickly disappeared before she put her attention towards the others again; she could also confirm no one seemed to remember her.

Questions? The only questions Luthica had were the kind of questions that would get her thrown out of the building before getting stabbed to death by angry nuns; and while she didn't care about death she didn't want to die like that. This longer she stood here the more corrupted her own thoughts became and thus, she decided to just shut up and let the others do their thing and just kept listening.

---

Lu&Rinshan

---

"Ah-yes, we'll wait for any other voluntary bodies. Once we have a few more we'll begin the explanation of this task."

"Alright, we will wait." Now that Lu thought about it, the Thao realized that his plan had one fatal mistake: what if the other volunteers were exactly the kind of person that he tried to protect the small girl from? But now it was too late, there was no backing out of this room without any blood being spilled; all he and Rinshan could do was to wait.

...

And so they did, in fact, they waited quite a while and the small girl was undoubtedly bored, as it was written all over her face. Just as Lu was about to comment about the lack of recruits the door swung open again and finally another person appeared, he did look familiar but nothing that rang a bell in Lu's head; he withdrew himself from society around 8 years ago after all. He still rose his hand and greeted him with a friendly. "Yo." While the small girl kept silent, just as Lu told her to be in the near of the General.

Rhys

"It's large, from the information we've gathered... It's a few feet taller than the walls surrounding the capital. Additionally it's exterior is extremely strong, so stabbing it in the legs until it falls down probably won't be the best approach. Other than those two things, that's all we know miss. But if I had to go with my wits, rather than the stated information, I'd say It's probably a large slow-moving colossi who's sole purpose is to be able take hits while it's strength covers for it's lack of speed. I could be wrong, but we've not explored all of Daear yet so who knows how things may have adapted. "

---

Oh, Great General

"Three, less than I assumed. But who am I to question those who didn't appear, they are smart, not to go out there and risk their lives.. We're made for war after-all, not hunting."

The seemingly amused figure snickered visibly to the small bunch. Then, as the general calmed quickly, pulled out from the donned uniform a scroll of paper bearing the nations seals. Laying it on the wooden floor and unraveling the parchment to reveal it's contents.

"In two days, each nation will send volunteers to the dormant battlefield. While the ceasefire that has been established is active, none of the voluntary parties, regardless of background, may harm one another throughout the duration of this period. The sole enemy will be the unknown monsters that have appeared, one is solely the main priority, being the large creature that appeared within the active warzone and caused discord for each of the nations while in combat. There are no special conditions for those who partake in this venture, the rate in which you annihilate this threat is advised to be quick and thus the quicker you return, the larger the reward's sum will be."

With this the general turned the script towards them so they may read it themselves, as they'd be more concerned with it themselves. Remaining silent, standing, and placing two hands behind the back in proper posture.

"Any questions?"

---

Alexander Da Great

Alexander nodded as Domenico answered the question at hand. Though soon after another was asked "“Uuuuummm, will our transport and supplies be provided? If so, can we choose what supplies and horses ourselves? Then you guys pay for it of course.”" Said one of the Hammer's crew. Which brought the man to a bit of a dumbfounded pause, was this part thought through, or were all of the nations just going to send them on their way and give them no assistance? Well, that didn't really matter since he was not them, and did not need to ponder their course of action.

"A Teleportation Spell, horses won't like it where you'll be going. As for your supplies, you're free to take as much as you need and can hold, however there will be no way for us to constantly keep you sustained while you're out there. And if you think there is, like, transporting them via spell to a certain location? Well, since there's a lot of residual mana in that area- transportation magic isn't really reliable from a long distance. Which might birth another question, will you be definitely transported to the Open Scar? Not sure, you let us know when you get back? Any further questions?"

That really wasn’t much information to go by. Anybody could tell her that it was large and slow or fast and small; broad descriptions like that were useless. Charging in knowing nothing but generalities was tantamount to suicide. Did the reconnaissance teams have only that to say?

Lyna rolled Tobie forward on his wheels before plopping down on him with a small clank. The bot beeped in displeasure at being abused as a makeshift stool but otherwise did nothing else. She hadn’t initially wanted to speak up too much, but she and the others clearly needed a bit more to go on.

“So, how does this behemoth act? Does it pick a target and focus on it ‘til it’s dead, or is it easily distractible? There should be at least some information about how it attacks. I mean, I’m confident enough in defending myself, but I’d throw our success into doubt if we’re going in blind like this with all these vague statements.”

Grimm used the opportunity to visit some more taverns in the area, talking to soldiers about the monster and to city folk about the quarantine district. He heard a lot of obviously exaggerated second hand stories about both, some exaggerated first hand accounts much along the lines of what he'd first heard upon coming to town and also heard a scarce handful of solid information.

Regarding the monster, the more reliable accounts only had mention of a single Thao soldier as the sole casualty rather than the dozens mentioned by others. It was about as large as reported however and apparently quite strong. From descriptions of the event he drew a few hesitant conclusions of his own. It's actions appeared to be far from the thoughtless actions of a simple monster with the intent to instill fear and get the full attention of the nations.

He tented his fingers on the counter of the bar he was currently occupying. He may need to make some modifications to his weapons for something like this. His shield would be useless against something so large and the driver lance would require him to be much too close. This left the recoiless gun. He had some ideas to discuss with an engineer possessing a greater grasp of magic than he did. He rose and left the bar for his rented room, reflecting on his allies.

He could tell by looking at them that they were vampires, so he'd come to the area around the quarantine district to ask about them. This information was much easier to come by, vampires allowed to leave the district being rare. One appeared to be enough of an engineer to be able to help him and the other seemed to be strange, even for a vampire.

He reached his room and unlocked the door, entering and locking it behind him.

Chatsu shrugged at the response he got; it made things simpler he guessed. With his only concern addressed, he simply waited for all the others to ask their questions so the doors would be opened and he could leave. He poked up a bit towards the answer that was given for the other question asked though. Free reign over what supplies they purchased to bring along for the job? While he had a substantial sum on him, the thought of being able to have free reign in a herbalist’s or alchemist’s store, if he could find one suitably stocked, was quite enticing. The ingredients needed to produce the concoctions and mixtures he had uses for rarely came cheap after all, making them quite the rare indulgence. Two days though… he would be have to work long and hard to brew up even a small number of usable batches. Best to find someone who could direct him in the right direction then… someone other than that thing.

His choices, at least amongst the group that had gathered, didn’t seem all that varied. As far as he could see, he was the only individual who was not from Kaien, though the white-haired mercenary lady seemed to be at ends with the church. Still… he would rather not be indebted to any of these individuals, however small or trivial a favor it might be. Exhaling softly, he let his gaze drift around once more, settling on no one and nothing in particular as he waited for the church’s doors to be let open. His priority would probably be an inn or tavern of sorts. Even if he wasn’t going to spend a lot of time there, it would be a good place to start asking about.

Hm, so supplies would be the problem, wouldn't it? And the Open Scar is rather far away from the capital as well. Teleportation would make a mess of things, but at the same time, that was the only method of transporting large groups of people at once, while teleporting people one by one would be ineffecient. All the magical residue in the battlefield was a pain to deal with, ultimately, and Savaniel sighed, then smiled slightly.

In cases like these, his Boundless Blade really will be used for mundane purposes, wouldn't it? Then again, he's used his spell for those purposes before. After all, when supply lines are cut, it was generally up to Savaniel to provide for his men, if they didn't want to resort to hunting for monster-meat or cannibalism.

“I'll take care of the issue with supply transportation, mainly in regards to food and water. And can you provide me with the coordinates for that teleportation spell? As it stands, my real body is still two days of travel away, so I will be setting up my own instant-transportation spell to travel there.”

Pleased with his information gathering, Grimm headed back towards the inn where he had his room. He lifted his gear down from the rafters and laid it our on the bed. The cannon, lance and shield took up the entire surface. His bag containing the shells sat on the floor. Pulling a bandoleer from his bag, he began to fill it with shells for the cannon before hanging it diagonally across his chest. The cannon went on a sling over his shoulder with the lance vertically on his back, the tip at his head height and the butt almost touching the ground. The shield went onto his back, covering the lance. He picked up the bag with one hand and left the room.

After paying for the partial day he heading back to Rhys's Arch Workshop, having a few more questions for the boy regarding the mission.