Tales of Legends: Justice and Freedom

14:30 - Location: A Wasteland on the edge of Vale

Only a few weeks earlier, the Kingdom of Vale discovered the origin of the large scale kidnappings that had been going on in the rural areas of the Kingdom, where guards rarely patrolled. A fairly small, but well equipped group of bandits has been enslaving anyone they can grab to work in their mines, earning them even more money. The Kingdom obviously cannot let this continue - If they don't act, more and more citizens will be kidnapped, and the bandits will be able to grow stronger and stronger with their mined wealth. If they sent a platoon of troops though, the bandits would easily be able to see it coming and flee, which, in the long run, would solve nothing.

The Kingdom has come up with a rather risky solution - They sent out a call for mercenaries and volunteers, searching for warriors, searching for heroes, searching for legends to step up and stop this threat to the people.

And so the four heroes arrive, on the outskirts of the base of the bandit group, just around the corner. Unfortunately, the camp is inside a massive canyon, leaving only one way into the encampment - the front door. Anyone looking to even take a glimpse around the corner should be careful though - the guards are vigilant and there is very little cover between the corner and the encampment.

Emerald stops at the corner at the head of the group, turning around he says, "We've walked this far and none of you have answered my question." So they don't give an excuse of they don't know what question he asks again, "What are your names? We should at least know each others' names before we go in there. Again, mine is Emerald Ubiquitous," He says for the umpteenth time.

((OOC: Yuki kind of put us in at a weird time, but I didn't want to just assume we knew a lot about each other already. So let's start with the introductions.))

((OOC: Well this isn't meant to be a plot big on character development anyway - Feel free to get some introductions done now though, you wont get a chance to after))

"Not answered or are you just not listening?" Tsuteto replied, stopping right behind him. "Tsuteto is mine. Does anyone have a mirror to peak around the corner with?"

((OOC: Sorry guys, Skratty isn't around anymore so Snow called me in. Hope you don't mind.))

A gladius with a mirror sheen was shown to Tsueto. "This will work. And General Duilia Matidia is my name." A woman in Roman armor answered.

"Good, now that we got the introductions out of the way," Emerald said, "I'm gonna say that I'm not looking around that corner." Chicken. Quiet, he thinks. "Anyone here got a cloaking device or semblance? Because I don't trust my own luck with being seen if I look around the edge," he finishes.

"Maybe not, but be prepared for people to come," Tsuteto replied, grabbing the mirror handed in front of him. He quickly flicked it around the edge of the corner, looking out to the group. He knew there wouldn't be much time before it'd be shot out, but he was hoping to at least get a glimpse of everything before that, to which the next response would be taking care of folks that would inevitably investigate such a flashy object.

The quick flash reveals that the way forward is lightly defended with sets of stakes set up at various points, along with a couple of lone sentries patrolling. There doesn't seem to be anything dangerous like an archer tower, surprisingly, and there seem to be a rather small amount of sentries - even if they all attacked the group at once there likely wouldn't be a problem. However, the quick flash doesn't give anyone enough to actually notice how many there are.

Come night, someone might be able to sneak into the camp, but in the day it would take a master thief a very long time to even get close. In the far distance large frames can be seen, likely mining equipment.

Taking her weapon back, Duilia looked to the group, "We can attack now, or wait till night fall. What do the rest of you think?"

Sage let a yawn with an exaggerated stretch. "Weeeeell, we could wait until night, buuuut I'm not exactly eager to wait around for a few hours." He fell into a sitting position onto the ground. Suddenly, he snapped back to life as he developed an idea."Actually....we could try disguising our intentions. I don't know about you guys, but I can play the classical mandolin and act really well." He looked up at the others waiting for a reply.

"Be my guest," Tsuteto said to Sage, with a slight wave of the hand in front. "I, personally, will be waiting until the night. As a courtesy, I will break you out as well." Leaning up against the wall, he folded his arms and closed his eyes. It would be a few hours, yes, but it'd be better to wait and possibly allow another kidnapping to happen than to be kidnapped themselves, or worse yet, killed. As such thoughts mulled in his head, he closed his eyes and lowered his head slightly, giving the appearance of going to sleep.

"I can't play any instruments, so I'll stick behind with Tsuteto and wait until nightfall," Emerald said, lowering himself down against the wall. He put the hood of his cloak up so it covered his eyes from anyone trying to see if he was awake.

"Nightfall it is then." Duilia nodded, making the motion for the group to follow her away from the camp, "Come on, we don't want a lucky scout to find us."

Sage's excitement turned to disappointment as his idea was immediately tossed aside. "Oh, fine," he pouted. "We'll wait until night. You guys aren't much fun...," he muttered this last part almost silently.

Night falls fairly quickly, and soon it is difficult to make out anything more than a meter away. It is very cold though down in the valley, even without wind, leaving anyone without a thick jacket shivering. In the distance, the sentries continue to patrol, but more of them, each marked by a bobbing ball of fire.

With the night amongst them, Tsuteto once again found himself at the corner with the allies that have been chosen. Keeping himself from looking around the corner, he then asked, "My speed should allow to cause a disturbance by taking some people out in front. Anyone else with a good semblance or the likes? I'd rather consider all options than acting abrasively."

Sage immediately raised his hand. "Oh, I do! I don't know how I really do it, but I can predict other's actions with pinpoint accuracy for a brief period. Only if they have auras, though," he answered. "It's almost like watching a play," he added, speaking to no one in particular.

Emerald wrapped his cloak around him to keep out the cold. "I don't have a speed related semblance," Emerald answered. You've got us, though! Quiet! he thought back.

"I can set up a shield." Duilia said, "If you can take some out, I can lead the main charge."

"Hmm," was the first sound he made, his hand going up to his chin. After thinking for a quick moment, he then spoke out with a quick plan. "Duilia, if you step out and set-up a quick shield, I will follow immediately and take out those first few who focus in on you. After that, charge in, in which you two will follow. My hope is that it will cause enough of a disruption at first that they won't know how to react immediately and we can make a good break through and gain some cover to move on from there." Pointing at Sage, he continued on with, "You'll have to be the surveyor for what's going on, so you can tell us if there's something critical about to happen we should be aware of." Looking then at Emerald, he finalized with, "Wherever you see fit, take people out."

Leaning against the wall again, he finally added, "I should let you know, I don't kill. I'll knock out or incapacitate some way, but there's no need to shed blood in my opinion. I would ask for the same from you all, if possible." Nodding to Duilia, the last words he finished were, "If we all agree to this, then please take charge when you're ready."

Duilia raised an eyebrow, "Not kill anyone? Do you have a death wish? This will be a battle, there will be dead men before the sun comes up."

"Those who kill are just those who are unrefined in their technique and resolve." Those words dropped from his lips with a hint of sorrow, but his expression was lacking of any emotion. "As I said, if possible, does not mean you have to. I would believe you all have enough sense to not go on a killing spree for kicks and giggles." Looking around the corner, he gave a soft sigh. "Now are you going to start this mission, or shall I with the rest of you charging in right after?"

"I agree with the no killing. For now at least," Emerald said. Awwww. "We can just as easily incapacitate the sentries and move on."

"Though, what I'm worried about are those bobbing lamps. We're gonna have to make sure the lamps don't fall and shatter, otherwise the other sentries would hear it. But that's only half the problem," Emerald said cautiously, "if the sentries can see the other lights, then they would know if one of the lamps was shut off or had been set on the ground. Then that could raise an alarm and ruin any stealth we had." He thought a moment. "Or we could just go in there without a care about stealth and just fight a mob of the sentries."

((OOC: The group saw the bobbing lights, right?))

Sage sat quiet throughout the conversation, which was rather unusual for him. "Okay, fine, no killing unless we have to," he finally said. "Even though these jerks kinda deserve it," he added under his breath. "However, Emerald brings up a solid point. I think we should do this stealthily if possible. Here, let me see if I can try and map out some guard patterns to look for an opening." As he finished speaking Sage closed his eyes for a brief moment. When he opened them, they had changed from their pale blue color to a vibrant shade of red.