FFd6 - Group 1 Part 2

[Truce]

"An Android short, huh..."

Mondiale paused for a moment, crossing his arms. Looking around at the group, he mentally assessed their abilities again. While he certainly didn't seem to have the same aptitude for sizing up an opponent, the group knew that they wered being judged.

"Well," he finally said with a shrug. "It matters not to me. I had not met him yet, and you meet the requirements for the mission. Besides," he added somewhat whimsically. "The five of you should more than enough."

Before he would give anybody a chance to ask him anymore questions, he raised his hand in the air. With a snap of his fingers, the spell was cast instantly - and the city of Rios began to blur away, before fading to a background of white.

Then, suddenly, you found yourselves at the base of a mountain, standing in front in the middle of a road. Mondiale is nowhere in sight, somehow having disappeared without anybody noticing - nor is the city that you were supposed to find the moogle in. A sign post, however, gives you the directions you need; by following the road northeast, you would reach Cornelia. Southwest, however, would lead you towards the Wastes.

[Overcast]

Transport was done, sort of. They were a short ways from Cornelia rather than within, magical transport was always dangerous for that possibility of ending up in a wall somewhere, and even shooting someone to the middle of nowhere came with the subtle risks. At least that better be the case if he decided not to fucking put them in the city rather than out of it.

He had no time to complain.

He moved on the road at a desperate pace while trying to maintain some dignity by not sprinting for his life in that direction. If his team mates followed that was fine, but if not he would try to finish this damn thing on his own. He didn't have time to waste waiting for people to get their footing back or whatever excuse they may have.

He wanted this over yesterday.

[krogothwolf]

Ziegmund looked around at the location they arrived in. It was mountainous terrain and they were on road. He checked the sign to notice they were indeed on the path to Cornelia.

"Well, it looks like we are indeed suppose to head to the Holy city to persuade the moogle that an it is always wise to honour ones debts." He said to the group with a smile then he noticed Caspin start heading off on his own at a quick pace. Running quickly he grabbed him on the shoulder,

"Hey there friend, no need to head off in such a hurry." He said somewhat cheerfully, "You seem a bit out of it and it is not always wise to move about in such a state. Not at the pace you seem to want to go anyways. You know as well as any of us the Wilds can be fairly dangerous its best to move with your wits about you."

He then let go of the Mage hoping he wouldn't try to head off again.

"Now, you should let us know what is bothering you so much that you are throwing caution to the wind and acting like a nervous wreck. If Cornelia is anything like I've heard it is, we have to be on our best behavior there and they may not let you in wwith you acting all twitchy."

It was in the groups best interest to calm Caspin down, a twitch person makes mistakes and mistakes can lead to fatal consequences. Ziegmund figured if talking won't calm him down, he may have to beat some sense into him. It was generally how his masters had treated initiates who cracked during training missions. Nothing like the fear of a beating to cure what ails you.

[Overcast]

He stared at the Paladin forcing his hand away, bearing his teeth and staring him down like there was something severely wrong with him for stopping him when he was trying to move. He was heading to their destination, why stop him? then the little phrases about him losing his wits, well what a fine thing,

"The person who we are working for is a damn bit greater than just a businessman looking for some thugs to take back money owed. Whatever he is involved with could become involved with me by some poor bit of association, and I would enjoy to avoid that as much as I possibly can. Though you don't need take my word for it. Ask Keith, I'm on my way."

He was indeed, stepping quickly down the path to the city. Woe to whoever decided to step in his way on the way there.

[Menarker]

Ark silently watched with a slightest look of disdain as Caspin's actions spiraled completely out of control. His battle-algorithm calculated the odds of successfully stunning him into passive unconsciousness in one blow for the sake of the mission. The formulas came up with 3 very differently drastic results... The highest and almost sure chances would be that Ark would severely wound but not stun the blue mage. The rare chance would be that one blow would put the incessant one in a short coma. At worst, the slightest accident would kill him outright. Rejecting the notion as reckless for both the sake of the mission and the safety of the group and the mage in question, Ark merely took action to survey the area around the group, watching for hostiles.

---------------
Awareness check.

[Teal Mage]

Panicking like a nervous wreck, Caspin took off at a near run down the road to the northeast, toward Cornelia. Ziegmund quickly caught up to him, attempting to talk some sense into the Blue Mage. The attempt, alas, failed miserably. Caspin gave a hurried and not entirely understandable reply, before running off again toward the city, perhaps moving even faster then before.

For his part, Keith ignored the going ons by and large, only noting with a distant annoyance that, if Caspin went off on his own, in his state, he'd be a threat to their own investigation. The thought crossed his mind to use the dream dust he'd brought with them to calm the blue mage down, forcibly, but he dismissed it quickly.

Instead, Keith's attention was on the landscape around them. The meeting, he concluded, had been stressful. Taking a few moments to unwind couldn't hurt, nor would getting a feel for the terrain they were in. Better to know what Geotrances he had access to before he needed them, after all.

* * *

Awareness check, like Ark. Also Survival, to get a better feel for the setting.

[krogothwolf]

Ziegmund grunted as Caspin turn and hurried off again.

That idiot is going to get himself killed. He thought as he shook his head. He had half a mind to chase him down and tackle the moron but then he thought of something he said. Shook his head and turned back to ask Keith a question. Hopefully Caspin will smarten up shortly, if not it could cause major problems for them all.

"Keith, Caspin mentioned something about asking you why he seems to be out of sorts." He questioned the man, "Would you actually know what he's talking about or is his nervousness sending him into insanity. The more information we have about this job the better. I do not like the idea of going into a situation like this blind. I'm not sure if chasing after Caspin is such a good idea right now either. Maybe the air will cool his head. Although I don't know if he'll be let into Cornelia at the state he is in."

------
Survival Check as well to get a feel for the land and what we might actually run into.

[Truce]

Caspin walks ahead of the group, quickly catching sight of the city walls on the horizon. Though it's some fair distance away, at his pace it would not take too long to reach them. He's able to make out a pair of people standing out in front of the gate, facing his direction, though he's still too far to make out any details of them.

Meanwhile, the rest of the party takes a somewhat more cautious approach. considering the landscape around them, it was easy to conclude that despite the fact that there were a few trees here and there, there was plenty of visibility around them. It would be difficult for a monster to ambush you here, though some of you might remember that there were drakes here in the mountains as well - but the ones here were supposedly smaller than the one your group faced before.

It's the middle of the day. The sun is straight above you, slightly past its zenith now. Even if you take your time, you could still make it to the city before sunset.

---

Available Geotrances: Mountains, Forest

[Teal Mage]

That's six spells. Keith nodded to himself, feeling satisfied with this result. Even if two of those spells weren't reliable, at least the other four offered him some options-until they reached Cornelia at least. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

He turned to Ziegmund.

"Our mission statement is as follows." Keith dispassionately related, crossing his arms over his cotton tunic. In his right hand was the worn bo stave given to them by Mondiale. "We were hired by an organization, calling itself N'revat, to track down and capture a dark gray furred and purple pom-pomed moogle who was last seen near Cornelia. Alternatively," he let out a short laugh, "we could also just collect fifty thousand gil from him, then let him go. But," he shrugged his head, "first we need to find him."

"The N'revat didn't give us any solid information beyond his appearance, his profession and that he was on his way to Cornelia because he'd been injured." Keith threw Ziegmund an ironic smile, "So Ziggy, we're only walking by moonlight, not blind."

"In any event," the Geomancer continued, gesturing the others to follow him as he started up the road at a leisurely pace, "Caspin's probably insane." He smiled cheerfully, "And we're probably working for a powerful secret organization that's very good at getting what it wants. So of course-" Abruptly lengthening his stride, Keith quickly put a short distance between himself and his companions, before spinning back to them a few steps later, grinning brightly, "-the whole thing's totally suspicious." He shrugged, "But these are the best kind of missions, right?"

Keith turned around, facing northeast again and returning to his leisurely pace. "So, any one else got any bright observations they want to share?"

"Oh, and," the geomancer added as an afterthought, glancing over his shoulder, "Mondiale gave me an Ultima Staff."

But that was irrelevant.

[krogothwolf]

Ziegmund could have strangled Keith when he called him Ziggy. He had half a mind to grab him by the neck and throttle him. Ziggy indeed, doesn't the man know anything about respect. Why he'd be laughed out of the temple if anyone heard him call him that.

Why are we always stuck with someone who overacts. He sighed and then shook his head, It's not like there is anyone else around but us, he really doesn't need to try so hard.

"Alright so we're dealing with a powerful organization who can't enter Cornelia for obvious reasons, thus we are being assigned to enter Holy Land and shake down a Moogle." Ziegmund said as he caught up to Keith and matched his pace. "I'm not sure finding him would be that big of an issue, it's figuring out how we can even shake him down in such a town. Not onlt that the Moogle is obviously not stupid to pick this place as a hiding ground. So we are also dealing with a crafty one."

Then He thought for a second at something Keith had said, then stopped and starred and at him with his mouth slightly agap.

"He Gave YOU A WHAT?!?!" He practically shouted at him. Shaking his head to regain his calm he caught up to him. "We are dealing with a high powered summoner who is just handing out Ultima Staff's?

He cursed a few times and then looked down the road to where Caspin headed.

"Oh This mission just got fun." He said sarcastically, "We have an insane Blue Mage and you're walking around with a walking stick of doom. Please don't hit the lunatic over the head with it. Or give it to him for that matter."