[center][h3][color=C0392B]Rudolf Sagramore[/color][/h3][/center]

[color=c0392b]"So be it."[/color] 

Sure enough, there it was. He'd had his immediate suspicions anyway, even knowing how young this Chisato looked from the jump— after all, invasions tended to file off the edges of what 'too young to fight' really meant for the nation on the defensive. He was content to leave his thoughts on the matter there, and not dwell on why else he didn't believe himself terribly surprised his first guess was right.[sup]1[/sup]

He closed his eyes and furrowed his brow, killing the urge to shoot the ninja a return salvo of dagger-eyed glaring as it came. No different from double checking how close his hand had drifted to his knife in the chapel with Cid when Izayoi had first set him down this train of thought his mind was trying to derail into— but he'd taken his moment to be so temperamental and burned it already while on the beach. The Kirins didn't need two, potentially three people trying to ignore the bigger picture in favor of indulging grudges. It was founded on partial information, and atop that five years in the books. He was better than that.

The sound of shifting parchment saw him pin his coppery gaze instead on the map before them all, poring over the layout of the city, retracing steps once Izayoi had denoted their lodestone of the council chambers. He folded his arms. The same objective and obstacles as their initial approach to Kugane before they'd made contact with Chisaki, but structurally it was a whole new game. They traded high city walls for tall, flowerlike mangroves, sitting high above a spirited river instead of nestled between dunes of dead sand. The only commonality, aside from the need to hide their faces from probable sentry nets, was that it was damned [i]warm[/i] around both capitals.[sup]2[/sup]

The immediate instinct was to insert from below, taking advantage of the waterways to meander upstream until the were beneath the city itself, shaded by the petals of those impossibly sturdy flowers from any perimeter watch... but boat traffic was going to be spotted and likely vetted from a ways off, and a group their size would be hard to slip below that initial notice unless they split into smaller cells that could maybe pass as fishermen. And provided that worked, there was still the ascent to contend with— he could see maybe an easy river or riverside approach, but scaling the stems thereafter would doubtless draw somebody's attention. The guard forces would be hopefully on alert regarding the threat Valheim posed to begin with, but they'd definitely be on the lookout for their lot. He had his doubts, without a better scouting report available. In hindsight, he should have paid more attention on their way in when they had a referral on hand.

[color=c0392b]"Regrettably, no. We actually got quite lost."[/color] the swordsman leaned forward, the wry edge to his voice not even remotely reaching his expression. Reaching out, he began at the council chambers before sweeping his arm across the parchment, more or less drawing a meandering path that winded through the many disregulated and seemingly [i]organic[/i] corridors, alleyways, nooks and crannies. More than once, it doubled back on itself, or sharply deviated from a general trend— the leaf-wrought buildings had really done a number on them, in retrospect. Once he had the trail locked in, though, he began tapping intermittently along it. [color=c0392b]"That said, from what I remember: here, here, here, and ...[i]here[/i], though this one's a tight fit for the eight of us— All good and dark nooks and crannies that we could use once we're inside as stakeout, staging, or meeting points. They're quieter than the surrounding foot traffic, well-obscured, and a couple of them aren't too far if you actually know where in the maze you're [i]going[/i]. Worst we'll have to deal with are maybe pickpockets and common muggers, but they're a good sign. They wanna evade the law same as we do, after all."[/color]

Pulling away, he reached into his nearby pack for a moment, both to store his blade oils and to procure his stick of charcoal and an unmarked section of parchment. [color=c0392b]"Getting there's the hard part. I've only come up with the obvious idea so far, that being... one sec. I more or less remember the base."[/color]

He pressed the page into the earth, and his right arm began to glide across it, confident strokes in its wake. After a minute or so, a rough markup of the profile view of the city's support structures had come together, an arrow sweeping up from the river and along the stalk. With this copy, they could scribble whatever the hell ideas came to them during the meeting without obscuring the actual proper map of the city.

[color=c0392b]"Approaching on the river until we're beneath is where my first thought went, but I have trouble believing we get up and into the city without somebody noticing. And that's provided they don't have the river under heavy watch to vet unfamiliar vessels. Hearing Goug tell of how busy Isolde's been, it wouldn't shock me if waterside checkpoints are being set up."[/color]

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[*][sub]1. You know, now that I think about it, it's all but outright the proverb of casting stones in a glass house. I won't press the issue, since he's more pliable like this, but he was upset that he [i]didn't[/i] get to go have "wartime experience" as a wee lad. Not exactly leaving much ground to stand on. You chose wisely, kid.[/sub]
[*][sub]2. And the bunny ninja! You just brought the first one up, don't forget that you've had a bunny ninja tag along for both. I'm looking forward to the hat trick in Skael, when the average height and average bust brunette viera named Chisame smuggles everybody into Solitude. Maybe she'll be a SEED.[/sub]
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