Alette narrowed her eyes at the accusatory words from the serpent.

"If I believed myself to be working for your enemy, would we really be having this conversation?" she asked, crimson eyes almost seeming to shine for a moment, "I'm a mercenary, y'know? I don't give out my clients' names, especially when people are trying to piss me off."

Her spear left her shoulder, glistening almost as if it still had blood on it when the tip bit back into the soil again.

"Captain," came the deep, rumbling voice of Bors, "I understand why you trust that our employer meant us no harm, but surely you think it strange they desired this shard, do you not?"

"... Tch," Alette looked away. It was quite possible at this point that stubbornness was in large part why the blue-haired mercenary refused to give more information.

"Ah? Sir Gillian..." Fanilly trailed off, surprised when the knight suddenly began dispensing orders. They didn't sound bad at all, though. Splitting up and working together to attempt to locate the shard and secure it only made sense. In fact, she had planned to order it... her... self...

She had even caught herself in the middle of nodding.

The petite blonde cleared her throat.

"Sir Gillian, your advice is appreciated," she began, "However, I am captain of this order. While I will take your words into account, it is my position to dispense the orders. I shall take your advice on dividing our numbers, but remember that it is my decision."

She had to maintain her authority as captain. Even if Gillian was simply acting in interest of facilitating their swift recovering of a dangerous artifact, it was her duty to lead the Iron Rose Knights.

She had to make sure she did so.

Meanwhile, Tyaethe would witness a single cloud passing over the sun, briefly casting the fort entirely in darkness.

---

At Gerard's praise, Abigail looked back at him, tilting her head backwards in a rather unusual fashion and giving him what would have been a sweet smile if not for the circumstances, before joining in investigating the captain's quarters. Naturally, the first thing she gravitated towards was the deceased captain himself.

"... So inelegant... a ragged cut like that," she commented, looking over the wound to the man's throat, "He must have spent his last moments gurgling on his own blood. He probably would have anyways, but killing like this is so lacking in grace."

She let out a heavy sigh, as if more disappointed over the wound that had killed the man then the death itself.

The room appeared mostly untouched, but on closer inspection the unmarked desk had a drawer that was ajar.

Within, there was rather conspicuously nothing.

Further inspection would reveal nothing else within the captain's quarters, but just outside was a heavy cloth binding soaked in blood, next to a dead man who appeared to have been stabbed in the neck and chest with a small, very sharp object.

@HereComesTheSnow@TheFake@Crimson Paladin@PaulHaynek@FlappyTheSpybot@Raineh Daze@ghastlyinc@Krayzikk

The paladin was paying no attention to the increasing aggression, fixated as she was on the meteorological portent. It wasn't like there was a regular call for divinatory practice, but shadow...? No sort of sunbeam or anything that might point at the fort, just brief darkness, which could only mean... well, it could just mean sheer happenstance, the weather changing in respond to nothing else at all, but she was fairly confident that there was no reason to be snubbed like that right now, least of all when such a dangerous artefact had escaped into unknown hands.

The vampire groaned, interrupting anyone that was talking, or thinking about talking, and resisted the urge to bury her face in the pony's neck. That would make talking difficult. "We got here too late. I'm confident that the shard isn't here any longer and if whoever stole it in the first place was prepared, then they now have their hands on it."

"So unless Alette has a master tracker on hand..." Which was also fairly unreliable, whoever it was had probably escaped down the road far enough to leave no discernible tracks before breaking off.

@HereComesTheSnow@TheFake@Crimson Paladin@PaulHaynek@FlappyTheSpybot@VitaVitaAR@ghastlyinc@Krayzikk

Gerard Segremors

@Crimson Paladin@VitaVitaAR

The Stingray openly preened at his words, tilting her head back and regarding the young knight with a smile that might have been charming, had he not been overwhelmed by the sense he was being appraised by a hunter in the forest. It was almost chilling. He couldn't relax around this person, not fully and not yet. He'd treat her with the care one ascribed to a dangerous beast— never to show fear, but to maintain healthy awareness of capability.

His search through the Captain's quarters, by contrast, was roughshod and almost irreverent in the name of thoroughness. Where surprisingly little had been disturbed prior, Gerard all but turned the room upon its side in search of evidence, but to no avail. Whomever had incited things had, for all The Stingray's opinion on their technique in slitting throats, taken great care to cover their tracks. Save for the pointedly empty desk drawer, mocking them in its question-raising, he had found nothing until they came across the corpse, hidden in the shadow of the door next to a blood-drenched mound of linen.

"Well, much cleaner here." he chuffed plainly, dropping to a squat and reaching out to examine the wound up close, steely hand staining slightly red as it traced the crimson line across the man's neck. If there were any fragments of the blade that caused this wound, he'd pry them out. Anything would be a step up from what they'd been working with thus far.

Then again, such a wound would surely be the Shard's doing, no?

Fleuri Jodeau

Most of the searching ended up being done by Gerard, due to his complete lack of regard for the fort captain's belongings and Fleuri's hesitation to move them. They didn't find anything, however, although Fleuri thought the empty drawer might be a bit curious. It had been left open, but had nothing in it. Perhaps the captain had simply been doing some reorganizing prior to his death, although it was also possible that something was here, but someone took it and didn't bother to shut the drawer.

"Does it seem odd that someone would go through the trouble of breaking into the captain's quarters and murdering him in his sleep instead of just letting him succumb to whatever madness gripped the fort?" Fleuri asked Gerard and Abigail. "One of the drawers of the desk was left ajar and empty, hardly something you'd expect from a disciplined officer. I think whoever snuck in here was looking for something, and if they were, they probably found it."

Fleuri followed Gerard out the door where the corpse lay, which his fellow knight was currently examining. Fleuri knelt down and took a look at the wound in the man's chest. It looked like it was made with something small and narrow, nothing like the weapons that the soldiers were carrying. True, a maddened soldier wouldn't be above using anything as a weapon, but Fleuri didn't think they'd be lucid enough to kill with a few well-placed blows to the vitals with a small object.

"This doesn't look like the work of a berserk soldier, either," Fleuri observed. "I'd guess it's the work of whoever broke into the captain's quarters."

@HereComesTheSnow@VitaVitaAR

At Tyaethe's proclamation, Maritza blinked in surprise and shifted to glance at the diminutive vampire. "Forgive my impudence, but are you absolutely positive of that Dame Radistirin? A shard of Angroron really is not something we want to miss. How do you even know, anyway? You've never struck me as sort to bother with divinatory practices, though I suppose given that you've got a couple centuries of life experience it shouldn't surprise me that you would have picked one up at some point." The Naga sighed in irritation as she reassessed the situation.

"If it's a tracker we need, I could probably do it, so long as our quarry stayed away from civilization. However, I'd need a starting point from where they'd have broken off of the main road. Tyaethe, if your source of information could narrow that down for me, I can keep us on their trail." She added, returning her attention the rest of the group. "Captain? Your orders?" The Knight Serpenta asked, though her gaze squarely rested on the stubborn mercenary leader.

"Sir Gillian, your advice is appreciated. However, I am captain of this order. While I will take your words into account, it is my position to dispense the orders. I shall take your advice on dividing our numbers, but remember that it is my decision."

Jarde was relieved and glad that Captain Fanilly stood her ground and asserted her authority, stopping Sir Gillian from hauling them off. They were still splitting up, though, but now on the Captain's terms.

However, Lady Tyaethe then claimed with confidence that the artifact might already be gone from the fort. Spirited away by a thief who slipped away during all the commotion. Lady Maritza challenged the claim, but still offered to track the thief down should the vampire paladin's claim be true. Jarde stayed quiet during all this, having little knowledge on the matter, and looked to the Captain for the Iron Roses' next course of action.

"Dame Tyaethe?" Fanilly questioned, tilting her head. Just why did she think the shard was already gone? What had changed? Was there any reason to suspect as much? There were so many moving parts to this situation. From the dead soldiers, the two bands of mercenaries, their mysterious employers, it was all adding up to just about nothing. Just where could this shard have gone?

"... If it truly is gone, then we shall have to find it as swiftly as possible," the petite knight-captain said, after a pause, "If only we had any idea of where to begin."

It was frustrating. Such a dangerous relic, and yet it was seemingly lost with no way to track it? They could not simply give up. They had to at the very least extract a lead from the fortress. All these soldiers had died in vain, she could not simply let it end here. For their sake. For Thaln's sake.

"... Not here? How can you tell?" the incredulous Alette asked, "That would explain why we couldn't find it, but what makes you think it's gone?!"

"Perhaps a sign from one of the goddesses?" mused Bors, one massive hand placed to his chin.

---

"Mmmm... this man..." Abigail leaned close to the corpse in the doorway, examining the wounds closely, "... He was struck unawares. My my, neater then the captain~"

She pressed a finger lightly to each wound in turn, cocking her head to one side as she did.

"Swift and concise, practically in a single motion. He didn't see it coming, and yet it was from the front?" She commented, "Curious~ The killer was perhaps someone he knew then? Hmmm..."

If the body was examined further, another note would be discovered on it.

The Silver Stone

The Silver Stone was the oldest shrine to Mayon in the entire country of Thaln, located within the Brennan forest, at its edge. Opposite, to the east, was the Golden Stone. It was the oldest shrine to Reon.

Regardless, the note had to have meant something. What was impossible to know, but it was the only clear lead in the entire fort at the moment.

@HereComesTheSnow@TheFake@Crimson Paladin@PaulHaynek@FlappyTheSpybot@Raineh Daze@ghastlyinc@Krayzikk

"The big guy gets it," Tyaethe said, shrugging, "I asked if it was still here, and it seems that the shard's been stolen... or recovered? As for where it is now... there's a reason the Church should have known it was in the country to start with."

From the grumpy expression, it could likely be inferred that the very nature of the stolen shard interfered with attempts to observe it--its origin as a divine substance, even if evil, made it a uniquely effective focus for hiding from unrelated deities. Something that, no doubt, explained how it could have been kept within the capital for any period of time without attracting undue attention.

The vampire shook her head, "Unless our new thief left a physical clue behind to follow, we'd have to work out who even knew it was there to steal."

Interacting with: @VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze@PaulHaynek@FlappyTheSpybot

Gillian blinked owlishly at Fanilly's....far too nice reproach of his usurping of her authority. It took him a moment for it to register that she was attempting to 'discipline' him, though the act had all the intimidation of a small blonde puppy growling its tiny heart out. "Of course...Captain." He said, trying to square his features and take the adorable 'dressing down' with some degree of seriousness, albeit struggling to contain the amused grin poking its way through the mask. To be fair to the girl, she'd probably have had some measure of success with that if he were anybody else. Unfortunately, she had yet to learn how insufferable Reliquaries (well, him and Parnella more specifically) could be at times.

Tyaethe thankfully saved him from an impending giggle fit with the somber news of the shard having long since vacated the premises. Via divine intervention no less."Still sounds like we need to search the keep then." Gillian said glumly as she finished her explanation. "I can track as well, but like Maritza said, does us fuck all kinds of good without a direction. Humans and the like are easy to find in the woods, not as careful as animals." He said, more by way of explaining for Jarde and Fanilly's benefit as he knew little of their respective training in the subject. "Damn easy to track, especially if they're in a hurry or injured. But if they took a road, unless they're a special kind of stupid, not likely to be any signs we can safely attribute to them. Flat dirt tells us nothing." he said. It was one of those things most nobles would never actually learn. Roads were pounded flat when they were made to keep grasses from taking root and hiding the trail, and maintained that way through healthy amounts of traffic. There weren't signs TO find, unless it was a very large force which seemed unlikely.

With an annoyed sigh the knight stretches, several loud pops echoing from his back. "The upshot is that atleast whatever caused this wont cause chaos in our ranks while we search." he huffed, looking to Fanilly. "Me, Maritza and..." He paused, sparing a glance to Jarde. "Billbert can go check the surrounding trails for something, if you want Captain. But I can pretty much promise its a waste of time."

Gerard Segremors

@Crimson Paladin@VitaVitaAR

"The Silver Stone, huh?" Gerard murmured, pensive furrow to the brow only deepening as hints beget yet more questions. It colored his tone, lending a thick smoke of contemplation to his voice. He mulled over the loose scrawling of the note, flipping the scrap of parchment between his fingers multiple times, as if each about-face would reveal a key to the deeper meaning. He wasn't getting far, and found his eyes wandering back towards the body of the guardsman, now laid fully upon the floor instead of slumped along the doorframe.

Abigail's eyes were keen not only to inflict wounds, as any in their her line of work would need to be, but also to analyze them post-mortem. By his eye, none of what she'd extracted from the single red line in the man's windpipe was incorrect, reaching the same conclusions he had in about the same time, give or take— in all honesty, probably a little more extensively than his evaluation. But nonetheless, every word was true. One clean cut, no signs of struggle or prolonged contact. He'd sooner expect this from an assassin taking a man in his sleep, or...

Suicide?

Seems unlikely, given the wider context. Then again, the Boars...

Having found no trace of the offending weapon left behind in the wound (a stretch to begin with), Gerard had rummaged through the man's uniform, seeking out a weapon, perhaps a well-hidden tattoo of the selfsame group of mercenaries— to no avail. In the place of things that would link back to what they'd already learned, was the cryptic note he now beheld. Why the Silver Stone? Was the shard headed there, or had it come? Was the perpetrator? Was there some deeper significance, beyond the first site of worship of the Moonlit Goddess Mayon? Perhaps built to honor the moment mankind knew of her deification, all he had known of the Hallowed Ground was passed on through legend and folk tale.

"Either of you ever been?" he asked aloud, holding the note up behind him to Sir Fleuri as he stared a flummoxed hole into the corpse. If he were a betting man? Surely his fellow knight, a man that had grown to strength beneath the tutelage of an honored Paladin, was the more likely of his current band to have visited personally. "I'm at a loss. My home is far, far closer to the Golden, as were most of my battles in the prior line of work. Never seen Lady Mayon's shrine with my own eyes."

As it stood, he had no working guesses how this incident and the Stone interlinked. While he was certain they'd end up investigating the eldest of shrines, he still felt they ought to have an idea of what they were looking for.

Fleuri Jodeau

"I've been there twice," Fleuri replied to Gerard's question. He had visited it once as a squire, and again after finding his faith again. "It's the oldest shrine to Mayon in Thaln. I can think of a few possible reasons whoever was behind this might have an interest in it, and none of them are good."

Perhaps it was simply the pre-determined site of a rendezvous, an easy landmark to meet with other malefactors and conspirators. Another possibility was that they wanted to vandalize and desecrate the shrine out of spite for the goddess. As the patron goddess of the Iron Roses and the most commonly worshiped goddess of Thaln, anyone with ill will towards those organizations might also have ire towards her. A more alarming possibility, however, was that they wanted to use the shard's power on Mayon's faithful. Fleuri wasn't sure if the shrine could be subverted in such a manner, but it wouldn't be a good idea to wait and find out.

Normally Fleuri might also consider the possibility that it could've been a written reminder for the soldier to make a pilgrimage, but the circumstances around the man's death were too suspicious to write off any possible lead. If Abigail's analysis was correct, the man knew the killer and likely thief enough to let his guard down when he was killed, implying that he was lucid when it happened. Perhaps he was simply somebody who had been deceived by the infiltrator, but if so, why bother killing him at all, why not leave him to be driven mad?

"I think this man might have been an accomplice, the circumstances of his murder seem too strange to simply be a soldier at the wrong place at the wrong time," Fleuri stated. "If that's the case, then this note might be the lead we need."

"I'm going to inform the captain of what we found," he told the younger knight, "She needs to know about this as soon as possible. Thanks for your help, Abigail." Fleuri rushed back to the courtyard as quickly as he could, where the other knights, Alette, and her massive subordinate, still were.

"Captain, we've found something," Fleuri reported to Fanilly, before making a brief pause to compose himself. "Gerard, myself, Abigail found the scene of a double murder in the fort. Someone appears to have slit the captain's throat in his bed, stolen something from his desk, and stabbed a soldier to death outside. Unlike the other deaths, however, it looks like both the killer and the soldier were lucid when this happened, and Abigail thinks that the soldier was letting his guard down when he was stabbed, which sounds to me like he wasn't killed trying to stop or apprehend the culprit. When we searched his corpse, we found a note simply saying The Silver Stone."

Fleuri wanted to ask Fanilly if she had discovered anything out there, but he could wait to ask about it later.

@HereComesTheSnow@ghastlyInc@Raineh Daze@VitaVitaAR@FlappyTheSpybot

Fanilly felt quite lost at this point, sighing, her shoulders sagging. No matter how they discussed it, the conclusion was obvious: The shard was no longer in the keep. All these brave soldiers of Thaln had died in a horrific manner, and they couldn't even locate the culprit or the artifact that caused the madness to spread.

"Oiii, you've got some leads, right?" commented Alette, "Don't look so damn sad, you were cuter when you were determined, y'know?"

The Knight-Captain wasn't exactly sure why that mattered, but the truth was they at least knew what they were looking for and who was involved in its transport. It was better then nothing.

It was around that moment that Sir Fleuri, Sir Gerard, and the pale and mysterious figure of the Stingray emerged from the fort.

"The Silver Stone?" Fanilly said, stunned for a moment, "Why would they...?"

She couldn't understand why anyone potentially associated with the horrific acts here would be carrying such a note. Did they intend to meet there? At the holiest and oldest shrine? After being involved in something terrible like this?

Regardless, the blonde knight nodded to herself. This was their best lead, the only location they had any information on.

Thus there was only one path forward.

"... We ride to the Silver Stone," Fanilly said, striding back to her horse, "We have no further time to lose."

Alette sighed, hands on her hips.

"Tch, of course our job ends up like this... Good thing they paid half ahead, I guess," she commented, moments before the Stingray suddenly wrapped her arms around the mercenary captain, hanging off of her affectionately.

Fanilly pulled herself astride her horse.

They had to hurry.

---

The Silver Shrine was half a day's ride from the fort, at speed, which made the note even more suspicious. It had to mean something. It had to mean this was a meeting spot, didn't it?

It was coming into view ahead, at the edge of the Brennan Forest. A large, silver-white stone, sitting pointing skywards. When close enough, it would be possible to make out numerous sinuous, spiraling carvings, created by some of the most ancient residents of Thaln in honor of the Moon Goddess. It was surrounded by smaller stones, and a large, flat table with a hole in the center, leading straight down to an underground water source. It was not infrequent for offerings to be left here, cast into the 'moon pool' beneath the table or set at its edges.

Fanilly had been here once before, when she was seven years old. It had felt strange, an ethereal, light sensation filling her chest as she approached the shrine. The same feeling was present today, too, but at the same time...

Something didn't feel right.

@HereComesTheSnow@TheFake@Crimson Paladin@PaulHaynek@FlappyTheSpybot@Raineh Daze@ghastlyinc@Krayzikk

---

Riding hard, the young Knight swore lightly under her breath. She was certain that there would be some sort of bad reputation she'd be building, on her first deployment no less, for her tardiness. Not that it was entirely her fault, but still, she couldn't imagine others taking kindly. At first, she had only been running behind due to various tasks assigned to her back home, simple tasks that had felt administrative to the young Hundi. Perhaps to finalize her transition into being a full-fledged Knight? It didn't matter why, as in the end it had still caused Runa to depart after her fellows for their deployment. On her way out of the city, however, Runa had run across a young girl who seemed to have lost her mother wandering the markets. The markets that... Runa probably should've avoided before heading to her deployment. But sometimes a girl wants a snack when she's out for a long ride! That whole distraction had cost Runa a few precious hours in her attempts to catch up to the others.

Then she'd arrived at the fort, only to find out that the Order had already moved on. Thankfully, a couple of men left behind to watch over the fort knew where they were heading and told the young girl where she needed to be. Now driving her horse about as hard as he could go, Runa was determined to catch up. As they tore across the land, her horse breathing heavily from its exertion, Runa gently leaned forward to pat his neck. "We've a duty to uphold, Fenrir, you can do this. You're strong." She whispered reassuringly to the animal, though uncertain exactly how much he'd understood. For that matter, given his attitude, Runa wasn't entirely certain much he'd care about what he did understand. Still, her kept up his thunderous pace as Runa felt a feeling of anxiety building within herself. Both out of worry for how she'd look being late, and from an unshakable feeling about her destination. After all, she much doubted the detour was going to be much of a pleasant visit.

Fortunately for Runa, she wasn't left alone with her thoughts for very long. Soon she could see the large silver-white stone sitting at the edge of the Brennan Forest. The Shrine and she could see the knights she was to catch up with approaching it. Runa slowed her blistering pace, figuring she would arrive at the shrine a mere minute after the rest would arrive. After all, she much doubted that a minute would cause any further damage, whereas it would give Fenrir a moment to catch his breath in case they needed to be moving soon after they arrived. Still, she couldn't shake that feeling of worry in her gut.

Why the hell were they at a shrine?

Gerard Segremors

@JessieTargaryen@VitaVitaAR

So that was why they called it the Shrine of Silver— it looked like a fragment of moonlight fallen to the earth, an obelisk of flowing argent pointed towards its ancestral home.

As though Mayon herself had descended, and gifted her followers a pillar from her home.

The ride out here from the fort had been a rigorous one, haste overriding any last vestiges of or designs upon subtlety. They had rolled through the countryside of Thaln, the thunder of the Goddesses returning to a site of ancestral worship. He, in truth, had only a foggy idea of a connection perhaps between their Order specifically and the Stone, but as a devout worshiper of her twin Goddess, Gerard understood well the significance of Mayon's foremost shrine coming under potential danger. As they rode into close proximity of the site, the surrounding ring of stones just barely crested the trees of the Brennan Forest, tips of white of the the curtain of silhouettes. Deep within his breast, below armor, below skin, below even his heart, he felt as if that moonlight had flowed into him as well; like gentle, nurturing aether surrounding his spirit.

And yet, he couldn't ignore the tension. Beneath the gentle nighttime breeze flowing through him, beneath even his primal, instinctual awe... the atmosphere was thick. He could chop it in half with the blade on his back, if he were to take his battle sense at its word—

So too it was, then, that upon hearing the sound of a horse galloping out of step as they'd slowed he whirled, reaching for steel. A pincer attack? Lure the knights with a message they had no choice but to investigate, only to fall in upon them from behind? No, this sound...

Only one rider. A horse he'd seen a day or so before, outside Candaeln— the very same moonlight that had illuminated the stone for their retinue had cast enough brightness onto the field behind for his sharp eyes to make out both horse and rider fairly quickly from the rear of their formation. He remembered it seeming temperamental, and as for the woman he'd mistaken for an attacker...

A pretty Hundi woman, clad in armor that seemed almost decorative, ornamenting her form as much as it was guarding it— that said, what steel there was was clearly forged well, maintained better, and caught the light as she rode to a slow canter, about a minute out. Shoulder length dark hair, bushy tail, large longsword across her back... A new recruit, if he remembered right. He'd not gotten opportunity to meet her yet, not in person.

Pity this is the circumstance where our paths first cross, and not a proper welcome.

Guess it's better than her riding up to accost us, though... These weeks have made me jumpy. Like I never left double-waging.

At this point, satisfied enough that he was at least fairly sure he knew who she was, he turned for a moment to the knight beside him. Perhaps just a formality, seeing as they were certainly as aware as he'd be with their seniority, but nonetheless a confirmation that there wasn't an immediate threat.

"One of ours back there. Just fell behind a bit— might have paced the ride poorly."

Was that a whispered lie? He couldn't say. He certainly hoped he'd have remembered her tagging along in their investigation of the fort, but they'd not gone back home to pick up reinforcements. Time was paramount. They couldn't have afforded to. Where had she fallen behind, if such was the case?

...Regardless.

She was new, as he still felt he was. He'd been in spots akin to hers before— a first impression was an important thing. Knightly Orders, despite being a collection of the Crown's warriors, were effectively communities in and of themselves. There were better ways for one to stick out.

He looked over his shoulder again, amber eyes meeting hers, and quietly waved her in. He could see her face a little more clearly now, as it grew closer to torchlight— pensive. No kidding. He would have been too.

You were simply rear guard, as I am. Nothing out of place here from me.

Hed'd ask his questions when she caught up in full. Best to keep it quiet for now.

After all—

Those golden eyes were cast towards the front again, searching the Standing Stones, the Moon Pool, the shrine itself. He was no shrewd investigator like Sir Jerel, nor as seasoned a veteran as Sir Fleuri or Dame Tyaethe, but to be distracted was to be unaware was to be killed. There were those among them that would have keener intuition, surely, but that same tension that had so troubled him upon the Hundi's approach had also saved his life in the battles before.

—He needed his ears open.

Fleuri Jodeau

As the knights approached the Silver Stone, the details of the shrine came into view. Fleuri looked over the shrine as they came to a stop. The carved silver stone, the offering table, and the surrounding stones looked just as they had been the last time he had been here.

There were no outward signs of vandalism or desecration upon the great stone, and it didn't look like anybody was there. There was a lingering worry in the back of Fleuri's mind that perhaps the note might not have had anything to do with the events at the fort, and if they had been mistaken and the real lead went cold as a result, it'd be his fault. On the other hand, something did feel...off. But was it his intuition, or was he simply still shaken up from the grisly scenes at the fort?

Fleuri continued to look around, but did not approach further, not without orders from the captain. After all, they were dealing with an evil artifact of catastrophic potential that had already wiped out an entire military garrison, so a little caution was quite warranted. On the other hand, if they hesitated too much, whatever trail they might find may grow colder and colder, depending on what they'd find here.

I never thought I'd find myself apprehensive about being here at night, Fleuri mused.

It was at this point that Fleuri heard someone approaching. He turned his horse around and headed to where Gerard was, looking out at the new arrival to see who it was. Whoever it was, their rapid pace of approach probably ruled out being a pilgrim coming for the shrine, and the fact that they were alone suggested that they weren't looking for a fight. Even so, Fleuri remained tense, unsure what their arrival meant for them.

As the rider drew closer, Fleuri was able to discern the armor-clad form of a fellow Iron Rose knight with the distinct ears of a Hundi. Judging by her armor and black hair, this knight was Runa Liulfr. She was only recently inducted into the order, as Fleuri recalled, but had several years experience as a squire to one of the older Iron Roses.

I thought she wasn't coming. I can't say Tyaethe will be happy about her tardiness, but I'm glad she's with us now.

When Runa finally reached the group, Gerard was the first to welcome her here, albeit wordlessly. They couldn't be sure how much she knew of the current situation, so it'd be a good idea to ensure she knew what was going on.

"I'll make sure she's brought up to speed about what's going on," Fleuri said to Gerard as he rode past him towards Runa. He directed his horse to the Hundi knight's left flank to greet her.

"You are Dame Runa Liulfr, correct? I am Sir Fleuri Jodeau, and the knight over there is Sir Gerard Segremors. It's good that you were able to join us," he introduced himself.

"Now that you're here, much do you know about our mission?" he asked as he circled his horse to be facing the shrine alongside the new knight. "Whoever told you where to find us, did they explain everything that's been going, or do you need someone to fill you in?"

@HereComesTheSnow@JessieTargaryen@VitaVitaAR

With a grunt, Maritza slithered somewhat ungainly out of the cart they'd procured from the fort's supplies. The distance they'd needed to cover, and the speed at which they had done so would have been too far, too fast for the Naga to have kept up with the group on her own. Carefully navigating around the horses, the Knight Serpenta ignored their newest arrival and wove her way to front of the column to join Fanilly, Tyaethe and any other senior members of the order.

"If someone had a shard of Angroron and bore it here with ill intent, my first assumption is that they would have simply tossed it down the well and into the moon pool. Can't imagine that not having any ill affects. Is there any way we can get down into the underground chamber? This is my first time here." Maritza half-commented, half-stated her thoughts aloud; the naga's head on a swivel of danger in spite of the shrine's serenity.

In their ride out, Tyaethe had commandeered a horse from another knight--relegating her to the unfortunate job of following slowly behind on pony or foot, or outright heading back--and arrived at the shrine in full armour. The attention she was paying to the other knights appeared to be minimal all around, as the paladin didn't even acknowledge Runa's belated arrival.

Maritza got slightly more acknowledgement as she leapt off the horse, cocking her head, "Throw someone down? If it was me, I wouldn't drown. Could maybe raise the water up." Not that any explanation was forthcoming as to how exactly one would go about doing something like that, and she was already walking ahead with no concern for any traps or ambushes this might spring. It was nighttime, the moon was out, and she was both a vampire and paladin of Mayon--they could bring it, as far as Tyaethe was concerned.

Plus, she wanted to get a better look at the disturbance around the table. Someone had been here, even if the others couldn't see it yet...

"I don't believe there's any other way to access this water," Fanilly said as she approached the moon pool, warily taking in their surroundings, "At least, not anywhere nearby."

To be truthful, while she had been to the shrine once before, and learned much more about it since, the young Knight-Captain knew little of the origin of the waters beneath the shrine. Perhaps that was one of the reasons they were considered divine, that they possibly sprung from Mayon's will.

Regardless of their origin, it was impossible to tell if there was anything in the water from this distance.

"The only way to know if anything was down there would be for someone to go down..." Fanilly commented, uncertain if that was at all a wise idea without knowing where the waters flowed. Certainly, they were divine, and the current did not appear strong, but...

Aside from Dame Tyaethe, the young captain was reluctant to send anyone down there without knowing how deep it was. Then again, perhaps the water's divine nature made it impossible to drown?

Still, she was quite certain that attempting to search the pool at night was impossible. Unless you were Dame Tyaethe.

However, this pondering was cut short, as the sound of rustling foliage immediately caused Fanilly's hand to fly to the hilt of her blade.

What emerged was not an attacker, however.

The armored form of a very tall knight, clad entirely in black plate, emerged from the foliage. Beside them was a young girl, her grey hair in pigtails.

Some of the knights would recognize her from the recent ball.

"... Lady Cal?" Fanilly questioned, perplexed at the sight of the only living member of the Cal family.

"The Iron Rose Knights, then," she commented, head cocked to her side, "I can't say I expected to see you."

Immediately, a flurry of questions filled Fanilly's head. What was Veileena Cal doing here? Had she hired the mercenaries? Did that mean she wanted the shard? But why?

@HereComesTheSnow@TheFake@Crimson Paladin@PaulHaynek@FlappyTheSpybot@Raineh Daze@ghastlyinc@Krayzikk@JessieTargaryen

---

Noticing one of the male knights waving her in, Runa's ears pinned down against her head for the briefest of moments. A display of her embarrassment from being noticed. Still, the man seemed to be keeping quiet and not like he was about to harass her over her tardiness. So perhaps she could count her blessings, for now. Spurring Fenrir forwards, the Hundi quickly caught up with the rest of the group. She took a place next to the man who had waved her in and offered a sheepish smile and a soft word of thanks towards him for not making all that much of a scene. Her attentions turned back towards their destination, her mind still at a complete loss for why they would be at Shrine of all places. Weren't they out to hunt some mercs or something? She didn't recall hearing anything about Shrines in her mission briefing. Though... to be fair, it had been a bit since the briefing. The girl admitted that she could've forgotten some details from that initial briefing. Scarcely detailed as it had been.

Soon after, a voice from her left flank caused the young Hundi to jump lightly. Whipping her head over in that direction, the girl let out a soft sigh of relief to find it was another knight. He introduced himself and the one who had waved her into the group, the girl nodding softly in response. "Aye, I am. A pleasure to meet you both." She said softly, opting to error on the side of being overly polite in this first meeting. After all, first impressions could truly be everything when it came to such close-knit groups. Runa gave an embarrassed smile towards the man after hearing his questions, shaking her gently. "I wasn't told much, just where to go to meet you all. Would you mind catching me up?" She asked softly, turning her gaze back towards the shrine after she asked that question. In the next moments, she watched a couple of figures step out into view. Eyes widened as she wondered if they were going to fight, yet in the next moments seemed in conversation with the leader of their group. "Who's that?" Runa whispered softly, unable to place the face.

@HereComesTheSnow @Crimson Paladin

"You!" the paladin snapped, spinning to face Cal. Given the situation, she appeared to be a lot more suspicious of Veileena's motives than her captain did, "I thought you were supposed to be better than your father, but here you are snooping around in places you shouldn't be after things you shouldn't touch..."

Tyaethe paced back and forth a few times, not wanting to get too close to the bodyguard, nor being the one the one to enlighten the poor Hundi who had only just gotten here. "So, are you the thief, or just one of the people too cocky to tell the Church when items of cataclysmic importance are found or go missing?"

Nott hat this would particularly help find it, unless she was the original thief, but at least they could determine if Veileena needed to be imprisoned. Which would be annoying; anything involving the misdemeanours of high nobility was.

@VitaVitaAR@JessieTargaryen@FlappyTheSpybot@Crimson Paladin@HereComesTheSnow