Location: Near the crossroads, 6 km from Stritzel's Estate, Western Kindeance.
The sun had already set by the time Veronica dared clamber up into the thick boughs of a tall tree, nimble and dexterous limbs executing practiced movements, as she scaled the natural expanse. The faintest glimmer of dying sunlight was still fading on the horizon, as her eyes scanned the lands from above, carefully keeping herself pressed against the tree's trunk so as to minimize her profile and avoid any searching eyes.
Her gaze was aimed East, of course, watching the crossroads from afar, the last glimmers of sunlight to her back and warded off by the watery sensation of her protective magic. It took a while, time spent patiently waiting while the sun set, before crimson eyes narrowed at the distant sight of people taking the main road, approaching from the East towards the crossroads. She thought she spotted a few recognizable faces at the front of the group, but it was a bit too early to tell at this distance and lighting.
According to the plan of Lord Fredricus, the roads leading here would be blocked by divisions of the border garrison and the area thoroughly scoured for enemies beforehand. If all had gone well, enemy activity in the area -at least for now- should be completely absent, leaving only those arranged for by the King to enter freely, a secure place to conjoin the two halves of the King's team of agents. In that case, it was a safe assumption to make that the people approaching were, indeed, those they had arranged to meet with. Of course, the chances they weren't were low...
...but never zero.
The land was shrouded in night by now, the dim light of twilight illuminating all under the gaze of the moon and stars. The small group of travelers had arrived at the crossroads and then moved off the main road a small ways north to a largely flat, cleared out area with only a small, bare hill as any sort of incline of note. From her position, Veronica could see the distant orange flare of some kind of fire being lit, the one holding it making for the hill and placed themself in the wide open.
Risky... but it certainly made the group less likely to be slinking ne'er-do-wells. Never hurt to be certain, however.
Finally secure in her safety with the lack of sunlight, Veronica allowed the watery sensation of her protective magic to fall away, as she closed her eyes and cast a different spell altogether, casting her Sight into the distance. Moments later, Veronica was peering down atop the gathered group of people... some a bit odder than others. Not that she had a lot of room to talk, but still. She spotted three distinctly familiar faces amongst the crowd, which was definitely another point in their favor, along with a new elf, another yokai, two blonde knights -one man and woman- and...
Was that two bears wearing-?Veronica pinched the bridge of her nose, quelling a growing headache. This was getting out of hand; now there were two of them? Oh, don't get her wrong, she liked Cedar well enough, but let none ever claim he was the most worldly of sorts. The term "bull in a china shop" came to mind, both physically and socially. Inconspicuous? What was that? Could you eat it?
Shaking her physical head, Veronica's Sight refocused on the last member of the group, and her eyes nearly bugged out.
Lord Thernous is here? In person?!Well, unless the enemy was using some sort of illusory measure and had access to some really confidential information... Having the King's uncle out in this situation was almost absolute proof of their good intentions in and of itself. While she couldn't absolutely write off the chance of Lord Thernous being a traitor, the idea was so unthinkable that she only considered it on the grounds of a matter of course. A shinobi prepared for
any threat, no matter how unlikely; habitual paranoia was basically part of her job description. She would have vastly preferred being given some sort of passphrase or having a solid link between the teams that could have been present and dispelled any potential suspicions before they could even form, but as she apparently wasn't afforded that -in her opinion, standard procedure- luxury, she would just have to make do.
Veronica cast her Sight towards the one on the hill, Jazdia, and nodded to herself. The vampire let her spell fade away and quickly clambered down the tree to where the other three members of her team of four were waiting thereabouts. The group had steered off the main path for a while to hunker down out of sight in the trees, observing the designated meeting spot from afar. The two members of Antigone were tending to their horses, the only two the group had bothered with for the sake of speed and subtlety. There had been the consideration of using the summoned wargs of their fourth member exclusively, but if something happened to him, the last thing they needed to be was stranded.
Veronica straightened out her clothes and gave a small smile.
"They're here," she stated simply.
"Several recognizable faces, amongst which are Lord Thernous Est Eluin, himself. It would be exceedingly difficult to get more well vetted than that." She glanced around their near area with habitual wariness, brief flickers of her eyes searching for potential observers.
"Are we ready to move again?"One of the Antigone members -Charles- loosed a low chuff of exasperation, rolling his eyes, as he mounted his horse, clicking his tongue and giving its side a pat. "I've been ready for hours, but
someone-" He shot the vampire a mild gimlet eye. "-just had to go the extra mile for no reason at all." He grunted, as he received an elbow from the other Antigone member, Farris, who had sidled up to him, already mounted on his own horse.
"Liven up a bit," Farris grinned. "Being careful never hurt anyone, especially not when it's something this important."
Charles sniffed. "Some people should have a little more faith in the King."
"Blind faith is a fool's errand," Veronica drawled out, shaking her head.
"But let us not concern ourselves with petty quibbles while our mission is at hand." Charles scowled at the vampire's authoritative tone, but a sharp look from Farris apparently stilled his tongue... for the time being at least.
Still, for all the group's inner dynamics hadn't necessarily been the most harmonious thing in the world even from the get-go, their skillsets were nonetheless complimentary. Outside a couple verbal tussles, when it was actually time to knuckle down and get their jobs done, they were each exemplary in their roles, certainly enough so that Veronica had no complaints of actual worth she might feel compelled to voice.
While the attempt to plant a magical geolocator hadn't ended up successful, they had still come away with relatively important intelligence. In particular, three days ago, bound for Stritzel's mansion, there had been a wagon guarded by Delving's Usuals, who -indeed- also seemed to be the primary security for the compound. That time, three days ago, was also the last time anyone had been seen leaving the area either. The presence of Delving's men did not bode well for the noble family's future prospects, especially not after their actions four months ago; another infraction of even slightly similar magnitude could very well be the straw the broke the camel's back.
That aside, however, the actual compound was practically entirely deserted, an ominous sign. The last time anyone had been seen entering was a day ago, a small convoy of two carriages with several horsemen, and all of them had disappeared into what the recon team had eventually deduced was an underground level. Unfortunately, actually scouting out that level at this point was too risky. While Veronica could easily evade anything that the magical ward might offer and was an extremely skilled infiltrator in her own right, she still couldn't turn invisible. Trying to enter a bottlenecked entrance to an underground layer unnoticed wasn't feasible; there was simply no result that didn't end with the recon team's presence compromised, and there was no way the vampire was giving up the element of surprise until they had a lot more people in their corner in the case things went sideways.
Speaking of the magical barrier, Veronica wasn't entirely sure of its full capabilities, only that it at least repelled scrying. She had been extremely careful in her initial probes with her Sight, aiming around the compound rather than directly at it. Even then, she felt a certain measure of repulsion, and she was confident that trying to force her Sight inside was only going to fail, get her detected or both. If the barrier did anything beyond that, she simply couldn't be certain, but there was no sense in taking risks. The Delvings specialized in anti-magic and barriers; it was practically their magical callsign, and this
reeked of their work. Though, the barrier felt similar to Asever's work back in Fanghorn.
There had been no sign of either of their targets, Cedar or Stritzel, and with the upper levels confirmed empty by Veronica's personal infiltration with her own anti-magic active the whole while, it was a safe bet to assume they were both tucked away somewhere underground, the latter doing who knew what to the former.
Veronica turned to the quietest member of their quartet, raising a single brow at the pale, silver-eyed man, who was largely swaddled in thick clothes that spoke of a life of harsh, northern living in the cold. Admittedly, for all that they'd spent a fairly extended amount of time together so far, she hadn't formed much of an opinion on the young(?) man with ghostly-white hair. Baron Evan Mikkelsen was a quiet sort without much force of presence, and while he was certainly competent at what he did, there were little things that cropped up every now and again, holes in his capabilities that raised eyebrows. Still, she hadn't found him a nuisance so far, and she was increasingly optimistic that would stay the case.
"Apologies for the delay, Baron Mikkelsen; my thanks for indulging my unreasonable instincts." She shot a nod his way and towards the mounted Antigone members.
"If you could indulge me again, however, I'd like for us to circle around a bit further and approach from the North. I want the first person to spot us to be Lady Crystalspark, and the small hill should conceal us from the rest of the group until we are in speaking distance with her. We weren't given any clear signal to assert our allegiances, so I'd like to hopefully avoid the potential of anyone doing anything... impulsive."Farris shrugged, nonplussed. "Fine by me, lady."
Charles just clicked his tongue dismissively but didn't assert a better suggestion.
Veronica glanced at Evan, gaze inquisitive. The Antigone members were ready, and as usual, she would travel on foot, her own sprinting speed plenty sufficient to keep pace with the horses of their mounted teammates, especially across forest terrain in the dark, where they couldn't afford to drive their steeds at full tilt without risking injury. They hadn't set up to wait all that far away, so once they got moving, even with a circuitous route to meet Jazdia from the North, they would easily cross the distance in around five to ten minutes at worst.
