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Laer     This particular contract for a time and place to meet up was sent out, not exactly discreetly, but with some degree of not-obviousness to only people who at least would be willing to do something slightly sketchy, if not downright immoral. In contrast to where Laer generally prefers to meet, in various dramatic scenery, this particular area on one of the flying islands of civilization in this section of the multiverse is something of a sleepy little town.

    Laer's sitting next to a pond in the public park, looking at ducks. The observant might notice that there are a number of crystals throughout the city, seeming to take the place of lanterns; even now, in what is locally the late afternoon, they're all giving off a faint glow and a trace of magical energy.

    The pond feeds into a little stream, which, approximately two hundred feet away from where Laer is sitting, seems to fall through a hole in the island into the abyss below. She seems to be studying why the ducks never follow it as she waits for people to come along for the mission briefing.
Starless Night     A slip of a girl, no more than fourteen or fifteen, with short black hair, alights after a little leap next to Laer. She wasn't actually sneaking... the elf would have heard her coming a few moments before. Wearing a sword, she's dressed in the Japanese style, with an elaborate kimono rather than more practical battle gear. Her sword, also, is of that style... though slightly off, and carries an odd device which looks like a semi-automatic pistol chamber with a clip attached.

    "Laer," she greets. Starless has used this disguise before, but isn't sure if she's ever shown it to Laer. "It's been a while."
The Kid     Kid is not an immoral fellow. Hell, he kind of jeopardized an operation yesterday to try and bring one criminal among many to justice. However, he is someone that three other people are depending on, and they need to be fed. Food requires money which requires work, not all of which will be to the Kid's taste. He has to pick his battles these days, he's finding.

    Which is why he's here. Laer seems alright from their brief cooperation at the dockside town, so surely whatever job's on offer will be acceptable. He's rolling up with Cael Hammer and Breaker's Bow on him, as ready for anything as he'll ever be. He looks tired, his hair's a mess, but that's his usual state.
Sanary Rondel Sanary's track record of cultists has been rather shaky for quite some time. Hearing murmurs about a former ally needing assistance with another group of them, along with the promise of good money, is more than enough to have Sanary heading towards the meeting area.

     She also doesn't look anything like someone who's about to go beat up a bunch of robed weirdoes. No, she's dressed like some sort of student from a local school, complete with a backpack and white trench coat that's definitely not hiding an axe underneath it. Spotting the woman by the pond and the ducks, Sanary slows to a stop nearby to watch the ducks as well.

     "Laer. Been a whi-" She stops, however, when she hears another voice saying nearly the same exact thing. The healer's just left hanging with an awkward droning noise from her mouth, eventually giving up and clearing her throat while nodding towards Laer, the Kid, and the unfamiliar girl in the kimono.

     She's definitely not flustered about losing that chance to sound cool or anything. Nope. Not at all.
Laer     "Oh, hello. Yes. Well, things happened, my position fell into the abyss, you know how it is." Laer will reply to Starless, looking over the disguise. And over to Sanary, who hadn't made the same choices when things had fallen apart. "Thank you all for coming, though. I know how hard it is to make time for these sorts of things at times... Luckily, I can at least afford to pay well, which is why I assume you're here."

    "So. As for the mission. I was indisposed for a bit, during the, ah, transition from the Confederacy to the Concord. During that time, some members of an association that I had entrusted some very precious items to decided to take them, and go work for someone else. Someone in this town, in fact. The Church of the Saint of the Air and Tiny Birds and Flowers and Other Things." She'll go into a higher-pitched, bitter voice as she continues with that title; it's hard to tell if she's serious.

    "Anyway. There were a group of five of them - two elves, three humans - that left. They took a number of things with them, but there are two that really matter here. One is a large orb, smooth and golden, that I truly need back for personal research I have been working on for quite some time. The other is a glass compass that is, in fact, attuned to alert them seven and a half minutes before I arrive and is SUPPOSED to be used to let them know they should have hot tea and bed slippers ready for me but they are ABUSING it to avoid me by leaving before I get there every time." Yes, there's definitely bitterness in there.

    "So! Your mission... is not to kill them. The priority is the golden orb. The secondary mission... is to scare them into returning to my cult. Ah, order. I need all the faith I can get, and losing five who were this close might inspire others to doubt." She'll point at the sky at that. "So. The bonus pay for the secondary mission is a full doubling of what I'd offered."
The Kid     Kid frowns as Laer... well, lays all this out. It seems he has personal thoughts on this matter. But he keeps his mouth shut, nodding along and memorizing the things. Big gold orb, glass compass. Okay.

    "I'll do it. Have the double payment ready," he intones. There's a long pause before he adds, "But if their reasons for leaving are legit, you gotta promise me you'll address whatever issues they had. Only way I'll be comfortable with it all. If they jus' got greedy though? No worries." Guess he couldn't keep it in after all.

    "So, where do we look?"
Sanary Rondel Heh... At least I'm not the only one." Sanary sighs wistfully, then stuffs her hands into her pockets while turning towards the ducks again for a few moments. She's watching the Kid and Starless curiously despite her facing, but it's probably not all that subtle what with it being kind of obvious she's staring at them.

     "You're in the Concord now? Huh... And now you're having trouble with the..." She can't even follow that church's name. Sanary mouths it slowly, looking confused for a moment before turning to Laer again.

     "Golden orb, glass compass, get 'em to rejoin you, and-" Her jaw drops some at the offer of DOUBLE REWARD MONEY. It takes her a moment to regain her bearings, and although there are some personal misgivings about cults in general...

     Double reward money. Selling pigs is only going to get her so far! "Sounds good. So. This have anything to do with that hole?" Sanary gestures at the hole the stream is leading into, squinting briefly before turning back to Laer again.
Starless Night     Starless smiles at Sanary, "Hello again, Sanary!" The girl is all chipper, and perhaps not really paying attention to the fact that Sanary knows her best as a woman 3-4 times this age. Whoops. The Kid she doesn't know, though. "Ah, you went independent too, Sanary? If you ever need anything, just contact HR and I'll see what we can do."

    But for now she needs money! The 'girl' nods, "Yes, where should we look? Mn... is there anyone that would be particularly good to take the face of, too?"
Laer     "Hmm. Well, like I said, they've taken refuge with the Church of the Saint of the Air and... well, just ask for that, you'll find it right off. I haven't gone near it because the detection on the compass can be a bit wonky and I didn't want to scare them off. It's on the far other side of this island, about five miles, but local transit's pretty good. And they left mostly because they believed that I had died in the transition, and now they're afraid to face me instead of properly being afraid not to." Laer says, a bit coldly. "But they won't be harmed. Physically, at least. They'll be subjected to the proper rites of my Order of punishment, which they agreed to when they joined."

    She'll hand over a map of the town, along with a dossier that includes well drawn images of the five in question. "Also, watch out for the holes in the ground. They're remarkably unconcerned about tourists falling through the world, here. But they don't have anything to do with the mission."

    "Hmm. I'll leave that up to you, who you might want to surprise them as. I'd advise against trying to look like me, but if you wanted to try it you could see how it goes. The church has barracks in the armory behind the main building; I'd try looking there, first."
Sanary Rondel "Local transit? Ah, so we don't have to actually drive ourselves. Perfect." Sounding mildly relieved, Sanary nods slowly as Laer explains the reasons for the cultists' apprehension in getting back to her. Understandable worries, but...

     "They brought it on themselves. Taking the map, Sanary holds it open at an angle in order to let the unknown kimono girl and the Kid read it more easily than she can herself. The former actually gets a blank stare at how chipper she sounds, raising an eyebrow slowly and tilting her head.

     "Do I...? Er. Yeah, I've just been doing odd jobs and raising... Wait." She squints. "... HR? Have we... Do you know Starless?"

     So close.
The Kid     Cowards then. Kid seems satisfied with Laer's answer, nodding, before looking over Sanary's shoulder at the map. Map-reading is one of the things he's actually good at, reaching out to circle their location with a finger and tracing a path from there to the church with it.

    "Check barracks, got it." And with that, he leads the way. He is a city boy himself at heart, so navigating the public transport system is surprisingly easy for him, though he certainly stands out with the weapons he's packing.
Starless Night     Starless clucks her tongue at Sanary. "I /am/ Starless. This isn't my real appearance, is all. I'm not using an alias for this mission, there's no need." She nods at Laer, then looks thoughtful at what the Kid says. "Hmm. I suppose it would be harder to convince them if any of the Church died messily, too. No-casualty mission it is, if possible."

    She turns to the others, "I'll see if I can slip inside while you find another way. These matters always work better with multiple approaches." The armory and barracks, eh? Starless will head toward the Church with that in mind. Hopefully she can find someone to snag and make a copy of.
Laer     The public transit system is quite nice, if somewhat difficult to follow. Most of the people here seem to be rather underfed, but nothing so bad as starvation in the streets or anything of that nature. Laer will remain behind, but the church is indeed easy enough to find. And it is, in fact, named 'The Church of the Saint of the Air and Tiny Birds and Flowers and...' The size of the wording on the sign in front of it grows smaller over time; where Laer had said other things, it simple grows too small to read.

    Laer had left out some of the details of the assignment, though. The Church looks more like a fortress, with spiky metal bits poking out from the sides of the walls, and gates that look quite secure, and armed guards. She had also left out that the entire Church is floating seven feet off the ground. There are spiky bits sticking out of the bottom, just for good measure. The building, even ignoring the floating, is a good four stories high, with a bell tower that juts another forty to fifty feet above the ground.

    The observant may notice that rather than a bell, there's a glowing golden orb in the tower. It's still ringing, however.
The Kid     It's never easy, is it?

    Kid sighs and puts his hands on his hips as he looks up at the floating church with the run-on name. "Pantheon preserve me..." he mutters before looking at the two he's with. "Could probably get a rope up to the orb with my Bow. That'll give us a way in... ah, but I reckon the targets will make themselves scarce. It'll be clear who we're workin' for." Well, he can be smart when he needs to be.

    "Maybe," he adds after a moment. "I could probably launch you two up to it." He polishes his bicep to punctuate the point. "If ya can take out the guards quick, we can be inside before the alarm goes up."
Sanary Rondel "So that's why. Huh... Fun look. We almost match, huh?" Sanary chuckles lightly while gesturing at her own and Starless' outfits, still looking a smidge confused by the age gap.

     Only a little, at least. Tilting her head so the Kid doesn't have to look too much over her to get at the map, she eyes the indicated location and path while following her allies. She's still something of a country bumpkin herself, so Sanary is more than happy to let her allies lead the way.

     "Sounds good to me. Maybe I can... Finesse my way in with talking." That's never gone badly before, no. Sanary doesn't seem too dismayed at the Church's more fortress-y appearance, at least, and she squints at the sight of the golden orb in the bell tower. "There's one. So... Uh. Well, it wouldn't be fatal, so..." She shrugs, then squats in place and hugs her legs to try and compress herself into a ball-ish shape.

     "I'm ready for whatever we go for."
Starless Night     Starless weighs her options... only to find that The Kid has an idea. "That works for me. I can sometimes talk, and if not I have ways to subdue the guards nonlethally. Or lethally if they insist." She shrugs, the young-looking girl eying the orb. "Let's do it your way. My way takes a lot more time than most other options. If I find someone to take the place of it only takes a moment anyway."

    She hmns. "I may need to use you two as a distraction. I'll make sure you're pulled out in time if so."
The Kid     Kid nods and strips off his weapons to make this as easy as possible. "Jump as I lift you, that's how you get the height." Back on the Rippling Walls, this was how they negotiated the scaffolds in an emergency. Much faster than ladders.

    He takes Sanary's foot in his interlaced hands and starts counting down. "Three, two, one!" And with that, he smoothly rises up, throwing his hands above his head to launch the girl to the floating church! It's quite a display of his bullish strength. He immediately hunkers down again afterwars to offer Starless the same.
Laer     The guards are armed with sticks with crystals on the end. These aren't at all ominous, with the variety of other uses that crystals have been put to around here.

    Still, the metal bits actually make for quite a convenient way to help climb, and there are windows and walls that can be reached. Closer inspection, in fact, will make it clear that some of the fortifications to the building are quite new, where the building itself, a stone building, looks ancient.

    With rapid decision making, the two launched up can head indoors; without that, they're quite likely to have to deal with some of the guards walking along paths built alongside the outer sections of the walls. None of them match the images Laer had given.
Sanary Rondel "I can be a distraction. I'm really good at being a distraction." Sanary grins widely as she wriggles herself around a bit more to get more limber, then braces herself as the Kid grabs her foot.

     "Remind me to ask about that HR thing." And then with a partially acted, partially startled yell, the healer goes flying! She makes sure to jump with the movement, of course, to add some height to the toss! Her contact with the flying fortress likely isn't quite as graceful as Starless' or even Kid's throw, but she does at least reach the outside and get a firm enough hold on the metal bits outside! After a brief climb, Sanary sets out to do just what she agreed to:

     Be a distraction. Without a frame of reference on which way to go besides up, the healer just picks a direction and starts walking at a brisk pace.

     No running, though, oddly enough. No, she's making sure to put on a lost-and-bewildered-stranger face. It's time to be a tourist!
Starless Night     her foot thunks against Kid's hands, and Starless is launching herself into the air, grabbing hold of the handholds and skittering up with the agility of... well, someone who climbs extremely well. As soon as she finds a good spot, she ties off her rope and secures it further with a quick splotch of webbing, then drops it down for the Kid.

    "Let's see if I can find a lone guard," she murmurs, wishing she had paralytic poison or something. Oh well. Her webbing would have to do. Scanning the fortress for a shadow that looks isolated enough, she starts her hunt.
The Kid     Now, how does Kid join them? Thankfully, Starless has him covered, something he acknowledges with a wave. Slipping all his gear back on, he ties the rope around his waist before using it to scale up to the handholds.

    There is a reason he has tied it around his waist though, and it's not just for safety. He intends not to be a distraction like Sanary, nor to help in taking down guards like Starless. He intends to secure the primary objective first and foremost. To that end, he scales to the belltower and removes the rope from his waist, tying it around the orb. He also uses the opportunity to scout the barracks, should they be open to the sky.
Laer     Sanary can certainly find a guard soon enough! He has one of the sticks, as well, and will look just as bewildered as he is angry to find Sanary up on the wall. "...What are you doing here? You're no member of the church!" He'll brandish the stick at her, threateningly. "How did you even get out here?"

    Starless will also quickly be able to find her choice of guards, whether Sanary's or otherwise. Her stealthiness will allow her to sneak up, without fear of sticks with crystals or otherwise, and take the first action against one.

    The Kid, however, is going straight for the brightest prize. Up close, the glow is clearly something other than simple light; it's a sort of vapor, that seems to float around and then eventually coalesce down into the main building through a hole. Still, he can secure a rope around it. Though it notably is just floating there, and won't move as the rope is tied onto it unless he gives quite the tug.

    The barracks are directly behind the church, but are not floating; they appear to be quite extensive.
Starless Night     Find a guard, take their place. That's what Starless usually does. Sneaking up behind one, she tries for a quick hushed whisper and to lull them into a few minutes of the Butterfly dream. It's the tactic she used to talk with Sanary... but this time, she's going to use it to have a casual and friendly chat with the guard in the span of a few heartbeats, so as to better act the part.

    So it is, Starless will /attempt/ to web up the guard and drag him/her somewhere if possible. It'd be invonvenient to take the guard's form with them still running around. That's how she plans to get into the barracks, though.
Sanary Rondel Time to test out her acting chops! Which... Hasn't always been consistent outside of hamming things up really hard. At least she looks like a really out of place student, right? "H... Hi! Uh. N-no, I was just with the tour group and... Looking for the bathroom!"

     To be fair, she does look like she's about to crap herself in mid-climb. She does make sure to climb slowly and carefully, though, and avoids making any sudden moves. "I-I just... Gotta find a bathroom, okay? Then I'll buy whatever you're selling. Like the..."

     She gestures at the brandished stick, looking it over to try and eyeball how durable or thick it might be.
The Kid     This is not the Kd's purview. This level of strange mysticism is well beyond him, but he secures the orb regardless. After a quick chat on the radio, he decides not to move it for now.

    However he does get on his belly and peek into the hole the light is being siphoned into. What's down there?...
Laer     Sanary's acting chops are perfect! ...Ly terrible. The guard will frown. "We don't HAVE tour groups. We're floating above the accursed ground, aren't we?" He'll ask, lashing out with the stick. Sanary is going to find that the principle thing that the crystals on the sticks do is be hard and hurt when one is hit with them, if she doesn't do something to keep herself from getting smacked with it.

    Starless, on the other hand, is going to be able to drag the guard off as he sinks down into sleep, and then into being webbed up. He's as least just as underfed as everyone else in the town seems to be; she'd be in for a rough time if they'd been heavy.

    The Kid, on the other hand, will spot when he looks through the hole... A lot of light, going down into the interior of the tower, and feeding downwards further, as far as he can see before the intermingled light makes it impossible to perceive further.
Starless Night     Well, Starless can't put someone to sleep, even if they're int he dream... except via good old-fashioned cracks on the noggin. Or strangling until they pass out. Either way, at least she can now use her ninja disguise to head down toward the barracks, by way of the church. She still has to find the missing members.
Sanary Rondel "Accursed... Ground? What makes it so acc-ow!" Instead of avoiding the hit, Sanary just raises her arm to block the crystal-on-a-stick. Being able to cheat with healing magic is awesome (even if it still stings)! "What the hell?! Do you just go around hitting everyone like that, jerk?"

     Sanary's starting to get more into the act. She's raising her voice, she's stomping, and she's even moving over to try and smack the guard with her palm like a rowdy tourist and student rather than someone that's been trained to put axes into people. Still, she's got strong meaty hands!

     "Just show me where the exit and the bathroom are! And whatever this accursed thing is!"
The Kid     Kid gets back up quickly, rubbing at his eyes. "Too bright..." he groans. Well, so much for that. Instead of messing around up here, he opts to instead check the barracks. Taking his own length of rope, ties it on to the one Starless gave him This way, he keeps himself secured to the gold orb, while allowing him to abseil down to the barracks. Since it is very stuck in place, it makes a good anchor point, and he can pull it down when they need to go.

    Upon landing on the ground inside the barracks, out comes the hammer. No telling what might happen here...
Laer     The guard that's having a 'talk' with Sanary will flinch back as he's slapped, glowering. "You dare to strike one of the blessed children of the Saint?" He'll ask, before trying to smack her again. "You can tour the bathrooms in hell!" This seem a bit extreme, as the crystal isn't going to hurt that much.

    The barracks are easy to get towards, for Starless and the Kid, though as the Kid descends he can start to feel that the orb might not be THAT stuck in place... One even partial tug, and the orb will be coming after him, and it's starting to slip just a bit right up until he lands. Still, there aren't that many occupied rooms in the barracks this time of day, and looking through them will allow those two to spot a classroom, crowded with nearly two dozen of various ages and species, being lectured to on the principles of the church. Among those, in a group at the back of the classroom, are the five who Laer passed along pictures of. One of the humans looks to be asleep, while the two elves are whisper to each other and seeming to ignore the lesson.
Sanary Rondel "Who the-ow. Who's this Saint?!" It seems Sanary's still trying to make a scene as she blocks that crystal stick with her arm, her side, anything under her clothes and isn't her face. It'd be hard to hide the healing magic's faint light if it was in such an obvious spot!

     No, she'll just settle for trying to trick the guy with unnatural toughness. "Whoever it is, they sure as hell aren't as strong as whoever gave me... Lars' charms? Laer's blessings?" She might as well try shaking his faith with a heavy-handed name drop while she's smacking and trying to invade the guard's personal space via... Not quite tackles or ramming, but getting in close and almost trying to strong-body him along. "Now where. Is. The. Bathroom?!"
The Kid     Oh, that's not good. Kid quickly undoes the rope and lets it drop, so he doesn't unintentionally bring the orb crashing down. He walks up to the classroom and peeks inside. There they are...

    He gives Starless a look and whispers, "You grab them. I'll pin down the instructors." The hammer is swapped for his bow and he counts down with his fingers before kicking the door down. The Breaker's Bow is powerful, despite it's size. Smoothly, Kid draws and releases several arrows, aimed at the loose part of the instructor's robes. Essentially, he's trying to use the arrows to pin him to the wall by the clothes.
Starless Night     Looks like The Kid is helping out. Starless smiles to herself, as this simplifies her job. As the arrows thunk into the instructor, the 'guard' rushes in. "WE HAVE AN INTRUDER!" Yes, Starless is speaking the obvious, as a 'guard' she's disguised herself in. "Everyone stay calm, the accursed one will be found!"

    The goal is to walk right into the classroom with arms upraised... and direct several of the students outward, to thin the crowd a little. Until the targets, in the back of the class... get a spray of her webbing.

    "Now then," she says, in her normal voice. "This has been a reminder that traitors to their own faith have much worse to worry about. The Lady Laer has a farther reach than many would expect. I would... reassess your loyalties. Now, the glass, and I will be on my way and leave the rest of you to your studies. Since you looked so into them."
Laer     The rope will dangle down from the orb, staying in place for the moment as the duo deal with the barracks. Sanary, on the other hand, will find that the guard is not actually a physical match in any way for her. "There aren't any public restrooms! Just go, then!" The guard has no idea who Laer is, though. He's not important enough for that.

    The invasion on the classroom will be met by a lot of shrieks and alarms and panick. The greatest source of this, perhaps unsurprisingly, is the instructor who's now pinned to the wall. There would be a full fledge riot if not for the guard who kindly comes into help.

    This gets many among the class to leave, and the situation is far too confused for any of them to notice the guard starting to assault the relatively new arrivals who had brought such riches to the cult recently.

    "You.. she.." Will mumble one of the elves, who looks very, very pale. The other elf, with trembling hands, will reach out with a glass compass, matching the description given. "Please. Don't hurt us."
The Kid     "We're won't if ya don't give us cause," Kid says as he snatches up the glass compass. He looks down at the five, a slight scowl on his face. "Why'd you do it? If ya gave up so easily, your faith was weak. But she'll take ya back, if ya want to go through the punishment rites. Consider it a trial to improve yourselves. That's what the gods are for, after all."

    And with that little nugget of personal philosophy, he goes to tug the gold orb down. He'll let it crash before rolling it off to deliver.
Starless Night     Ah, the compass. Starless smiles as The Kid walks in to recover it. "Remember that if she wanted to, she could have reached you at any time. Fortunately, she's far more merciful than I would have been." With that, the 'guard' tips her head toward the instructor, and walks on out with The Kid.
Laer     The two will get the orb - it stops glowing once it's out of the bell tower, and light. Of course, there's a bit of ominous shaking once it's removed, but it's probably fine. Probably.

    On the bright side, they're about halfway back across the city when the entire church resettles to the ground with an enormous noise and cloud of dust going up into the sky. It wasn't fully returned to dealing with gravity all at once, judging by the lack of crater, but the church people are likely to be very angry about this.