With the stakes so high... (The Mission. 1.2)

[Ingway Desmodius]

"Well that escalated quickly..." Ingway muttered to himself, with a hint of confusion in his tone. It was a little odd really, seeing everyone in person, as Ingway's skills usually disposed him to work in the background, and, even thought it was not without it's rewards, he couldn't help but feel a little cheated. All these grandiose heroes, tales of their exploits and, well, heroics having already circulated the lands across Allorum, while he, the rogue, the informant, the messenger, consigned to the shadows, only having dabbled in events with an unseen hand.

Dammit thought, things were gonna change, and Ingway's gut told him that this was were things would all start. Sure, he still had to report back to Seigmand regarding recent events, but, being the experienced wordsmith that he was, Ingway figured he could easily put the right spin on this detour. Something like "an impromptu instance to gather intelligence", yes, that sounded like it would appease his studious employer.

Stepping out from the slowly amassing crowd, Ingway waved his hand casually, hoping that might draw Mark's attention.

"Okay, so, presumably, like everyone here, I'm a little curious as to what the plan is here? I'm guessing that there's something more we need than what we've got, and us being here has something to do with it. I mean, otherwise you'd already be going after Duo, yeah?"

[Mark Angelus Fri]

"Our first step is gathering a crew," Mark stood back up and walked over to the young man, "Our second step is securing us a transport... that's the part that gets a little complicated, you see, the transportation we'll need is a bit... unorthodox, to put it simply."

He raised his hands quickly to stop the barrage of questions, "All will be explained once everyone arrives. I know, 'patience', I've never been good at it but it's what I'm asking of everyone."

[Ingway Desmodius]

Patience and Ingway were not two things that particularly went hand and hand, so figuring he should make the best use of his time, he decided to start sizing up, er...getting to know his new allies, and what better way then by chatting them up.

The young blonde one, Eli, provided Ingway heard his name right, was a new face, and one that looked fairly amicable, so he approached the young lad, and who he assumed was his escort, hoping to break the ice.

"Hey you two, the name's Ingway, and I don't believe I've met either of you before, so i figured, hey, if we're gonna be working together, may as well get to know each other, right?" spoke Ingway nonchalantly as he energetically strolled up to Eli and Juno.

[Eli Ventus]

Eli was trying his best not to geek out whenever Mark talked, Juno was trying to make sure Eli was grounded during this. As Ingway spoke Eli nodded, "Yep, I am Eli Ventus. Lunar Knight of Crepusculum, this is Juno Rune the Lunar Priestess and one of the few surviving Ketulunians."

[Brea Cao-Wei]

"Well... Every crew needs somebody who knows how to sail a ship, right..?" Brea Cao-Wei asked as he stepped into the village. His blood red katana was in hand, resting against his shoulder as a precaution from the noises he had heard coming from the small village not so long ago. His steel blade with the white hilt stayed at his waist in its scabbard. Upon seeing that nobody was killing each other, he ran the red blade up the side of it's scabbard before cleanly sliding it back in with a resounding hiss. He looked around at the group with a smile on his face.

"It just so happens that with me, I have Zaria DeGantz, fellow Captain to President Benjamin Kirix-Unda and one of the damn best sailors we have!" He rested his right arm against the hilt of his swords on his left hand side, and his left hand motioned to his blue-haired companion. "I guess that we've just made this journey relatively more plausible."

[Ramirez De Zoro]

"So, It seems Archangels have return. What a fun research opportunity!" Ramirez said to himself as he try to approach the group of people, with some stealth. As Ramirez had felt the arrival of Duo, he was sent by the Dunnzol elders to gather information of the arrival of Duo. However he couldn't pass up the chance to gather information on Archangels and these other people. His head was down, jotting more notes, not realizing that he got too close to the group.

[Zeke Omoihake]

"Over here sire, I can see something emitting the light just over the the ridge!" Zeke called out behind him. His hands were course from the reins digging tightly into his palms as he held his balance low towards his steed. It charged swiftly across the trader's road, it's only sound being the heaving pant as it followed it's rider's commands. Zeke could only make out the forms of several bodies congregated near the source of energy as his eyes caught the shining light of the sun that laid behind them, and with a grimace he knew he wasn't going to have much of a chance of identifying the trespassers till he closer. Close enough for an attack if he was unlucky. His one hand reached behind him, feeling the tough leather grip of his blades as he neared the group.

With a single smooth and practised motion he dismounted his steed, leaving only his one hand on the reins while his other drew out his chained blade. "Now see here, by the authority of his majesty, King Alexander Frexton of Santo-Luce, I am charged with interrogating the trespassers of this..." Zeke stood still with his mouth hanging open as he looked up for a moment to survey those he was reciting his speech to. "Mark! What are you doing here?" Zeke's shoulders went lax as he abandoned the rest of his speech and looked towards his old ally with joy. Many of the others in the group were strange and unknown to him, but aside from the one person shooting dirty looks at the group everyone else seemed to be friendly enough. Friends of Mark? He hoped someone would clear this up before Alexander started blowing his top. Friend or not he was not going to like a bunch of people scaring away his citizens, even if one of them was an Archangel.

[alexanderthegreat]

Alexander followed Zeke, shaking his head and waiting impatiently for answers. He had enough to worry about at the moment without random invasions happening here, too. Hearing Zeke's sudden change of tone he approached curiously, only to find a face he seriously wished he'd never seen again.

"Mark Fri," Alexander's voice was loud, anger easily noticed as he narrowed his eyes, "here you are terrorizing my kingdom, now! You have less than two minutes to explain this."

Because Alexander remembered clear as day the last time they met, Mark 'escorted' Alexander through a wall and down a flight of stairs for dancing with his daughter.

[Mark Angelus Fri]

Sadly a good thirty seconds of his two minutes were spent with Mark simply staring at the them, seemly unsure how to respond to the question. So he stepped up and placed his hands on both of their shoulder before looking at Alexander and speaking, "Be at peace, King of Santo-Luce. We meant no harm to your people."

The Mark standing in front of them was not the Mark that they both knew. Before he was constantly being hunted by the wrongs of his past and the light god, Solaris, that wanted to make his body a vessel of destruction. This Mark had come to accept the consequences of his actions and turned them to make him stronger, while his time up in Heaven helped him completely control Solaris. Don't expect him to apologize for crashing Alexander through a wall though, at some points Mark still looks back and laughs at that moment.

And even though he had no true explanation for running off the civilians he found what he said to be good enough, for he looked away from the King and back at Zeke, "It's been too long, Zeke, the last I saw you was the day we defeated Trucido. Do you plan on joining me? I could use someone of your skill set."

[alexanderthegreat]

Alexander raised an eyebrow as Mark turned his attention too briefly away from him to do business with Zeke.

"He works under ME, actually. If you're looking to use him for anything, you''ll be going through me and be asking nicely, too."

[Mark Angelus Fri]

"I'm not looking to take away your bodyguard. I just thought that was the reason why you two were here, I wasn't aware that the King of Santo-Luce and his soldier stopped in to check on every disturbance in his land." He bowed his head in a rather sarcastic way, "So what will it be King Frexton, if your soldier wishes would you allow him to join me and my merry bunch of bad-guy crushers? It'll be fun, we even have cookies."

He was nicer but Mark certainly hadn't lost any of his sarcasm, in fact, it had taken a more prominent role. At least he wasn't throwing punches at anyone.

[Zaria DeGantz]

The new Unda Captian Zaria entered beside Brea, hands at her sides in a casual manner. She wore strange looking gloves that matched her uniform. She had a sword in a sheath strapped to her waist, but unlike her companion- for the moment it seemed of no importance. Her long blue hair was tied into a ponytail, and her sea blue eyes scanned the area to see the faces of who was all present.

"If it is transportation you seek, we will be certain to provide it safely and efficiently." She Announced.

[Mark Angelus Fri]

"Your offer is most kind, but the transport we must secure is a bit... different." Mark held up his hand for them to wait a second before leaping onto one of the smaller houses and whistling to get everyone's attention.

"Alright everyone, I suppose it's time for me to explain everything, so all attention over here please." Mark waited a moment before continuing, "During the war 1000 years ago there was an Undian warship. During the siege of Roccia it was the flagship with a number of about twelve other warships... after shelling a city of Roccia to the ground the captain witnessed the scale of murder his forces had committed and in disgust he ordered that the guns turn on his own forces, who seemed to love the destruction, the flagship somehow managed to sink all eleven."

Most of them might have recognized this from their history books but Mark was hardly finished, "Duo tracked down that ship off the coast of Santo-Luce and damned it to the bottom of the ocean, they would never die... and they would never live. A fate very similar to the Saints, but here's the entire point of this: we're going to go awaken the warship."

The entire idea was most confusing so Mark decided to add one little sentence to the end that should help clarify the situation, "That ship is vital to the defeat of Duo."

[Yeligar Maelstrom]

Yeligar gave a nod to Alexander Frexton, and Zeke as they arrived, but the comment on the ship brought him back to Mark.
"So we are going to get a warship. Where is this warship exactly?" Yeligar asked Mark, "I guessing that it isn't somewhere we can just walk up without a massive chance of our lives ending right then and there."

[Mark Angelus Fri]

"You didn't expect everyone to come out with a single scratch, did you?"

He jumped down from the building and gazed off to the distance, "I picked this village to land for more than just the scenic view, this is the closest region to where we think the ship was damned. I do have to warn you, Duo left more than just a curse with the ship... there is a beast that guards it, at least that's what our intelligence says. Now if any of you wish to leave I'd have to say too bad, you know too much to leave now... you're stuck for the long haul." He flashed one last smile before he began to walk past the group. His face hardened, jokes were finished and it was time for seriousness.

"Alright everyone, I'm serious here... I can't guarantee that everyone will survive, securing this transport is only the shell of what's coming. I can't give you a reason to fight, everyone here has their own reasons to face an enemy such as this, but that's good. You'll need to harden your resolve and use it, because where we're going that's going to be the only light you can trust. Does everyone understand?"