World Tree MUSH

Notuborg is a large town on the inland sea, serving primarily as a port for the local area with little to no industry of its own. The region itself is primarily centered on resource extraction, most of which gets shipped off to the heart of the empire to which it belongs. Being a poor region as a result of this extraction, most of the urban poor are vying with eachother for day labour every day.

The town looks poor, too, once venturing beyond the harbour in which its vine is located. The little tavern to which offworlders have been invited by the poor who seek help is barely little more than a shack, driftwood stacked together, upheld by discarded rope from the ships; with scraps of canvas sown together as a roof. It's mostly dry, but the rain drips through the ceiling nonetheless. A small group of people wearing old rags, women and children mostly, stands in one corner; while an older man, wrinkled and bent from a lifetime of hard work, sits at the table to which offworlders are directed.

    Yumi steps in the door wearing a neon yellow raincoat, pulling the hood back as she looks around. Just seeing the slapdash nature of the bar and the clothes on the people present, she comes to an almost immediate conclusion; unless something drastically changes her opinion in the next two minutes, she's doing this one pro bono. She'd rather see that money put food on someone's plate.

    "Yumi Tachibana," she offers as she slides into her seat at the table. "Yumi's fine."

    Uni feels more out of place than normal, with her rather fine attire compared to the locals, she doesn't really pay the rain much mind, the water slicking off her outfit, and even seeming to not cling to skin or hair. She holds herself with confidence she doesn't really feel, however, and approaches the contact. "Uni. Just Uni." she adds, following up after Yumi, as Bravette opens a holographic panel to take notes. "You've had people disappearing lately, do you have any information on the stranger, what he looks like, where he's been seen coming from?"

    Once again, Yumi isn't alone.
    A much smaller figure enters after the cream-haired girl. Tugging the hood of her wolfos-fur cloak back in a similar manner, except less flamboyantly yellow, a green-haired girl sidles up to the table.
    "So what's this about people going missing?"
    Rydia of Mist. Right to the point.

Duncan is quite surprised by the destitute look of the place. But he has seen worse places, so he doesn't comment. Really, what's important is that there's someone here who needs help. A Lot of someones, probably... but, one problem at a time.

He'll head to the makeshift tavern with the others and to the table, dressed in his dark armor. He might look a little out of place in it, but given the newly-added tattered brown cloak thrown over the lot, probably not too much. That and he does remove his helmet, so as to make sure there's an actual face to be connected with the person in that armor.

As questions have already been asked, Duncan will remain quiet for the time being, and listen.

    Emily is here, wearing a black trench coat and a wide-brimmed hat which seems to put her face in much deeper shadows than they ought to, entirely hiding the upper half of her face; her current form has dark gray hair, just a shade lighter than the outfit. She was looking pensive until immediately after she arrived in this world, at which point she put on her her usual amused and faintly smug smile.

    "Emily Nyx and Duncan Ritter," she says by way of introduction, even though she didn't actually specifically come here with Duncan. "This is sounding kiiiiind of interesting!"

"I am Jorvik Portr, no title to claim my own, but in our community some call me Elder Portr. A pleasure to meet you, and thank you for coming" The old man introduces himself his voice a bit raspy, "Like most men in this part of town, I was a day labourer. It is not a life that offers much stability. There's never quite enough work to go around, and those who are too sick, injured or old for physical labour don't get work." He explains, "A day's wages only cover slightly more than a day's rent and a day's food for the family."

"And if you no longer pay rent, your family is sent to the poorhouse. All of us here are at risk of being sent there because our breadwinners are gone." Portr explains, taking a look around, "So the reward we can offer is meager, and we don't expect you to be able to bring them back. We just want to know what happened, though if you can return them, so much the better."

"It all started two weeks ago, when a stranger drove a cart into town dragged by the most unusual creature. He waited at the ports for the labourers who did not get work that day, and offered some of them food if they heard him out. My son mentioned him, and said the man worked for a so-called Lord who took care of his own; and that this Lord was looking for more followers. Heresy if you ask me, but my son was not to be dissuaded. Four days later, he didn't come back home. He hasn't come home since."

    "Keep your reward, you need it more than I do." replies Uni without hesitation, "A cart pulled by a strange creature, what kind of creature?" she asks, Bravette scribbling on the holoscreen, causing words to appear on it. "Do you know which way the cart goes when it leaves? Anything at all will help narrow the search immensely."

    The young looking girl reaches a hand out to place it on one of the grizzled elder's hands. "If we can rescue your son, we will... I promise you we will do everything in our power to bring them home."

Duncan offers a nod as Emily introduces him. He'd forgotten to do that -- which he tends to do. Oops! "Thank you," he offers. Though as he listens to the issue, he does say almost immediately, "I will ask no reward of anyone for this." A bit more of a buffer for any of the others who might want a reward.

Though with that out of the way, he listens to the account of how people are missing. At least, this one's son. "This is how they all went missing?" he inquires. "Answering a summons from this 'lord'? Did your son tell you anything else about this lord?" He's hoping to get a location or something.

    "I'm the same," Yumi follows after Duncan and Uni. "Use my share to get a good meal." She sits back a little, listening with a soft frown. That sounds like a cult for sure. And cult leaders usually aren't happy about letting their followers go... nor do they care much about local weapon or violence laws. "Can you remember anything else your son mentioned? A name, some details of what the stranger said? What kind of beast it was pulling the cart?"

    "Hmmmm ... very interesting indeed!" Emily's grin widens as she theatrically adjusts her hat. "Uni, you're lucky I was just about to say this sounds like it'll be fun enough that I'm planning on doing it for free." It's ... not entirely clear how serious she is about that. Maybe she's of the same mind, and just wants to keep up her freewheeling, amoral reputation? "But yeah, I wanna hear more about this 'creature', too."

"West of town, into the ancient wastes." A woman from the crowd answers Uni's question, "My son went and followed him one day, until it was so late that he was worried he couldn't find his way back." Then she goes quiet again. The elder smiles at the generosity on display, "Thank, thank you." He offers, before glancing towards Duncan. "Strong, wise, protective. I do not think for a moment this was a nobleman they were discussing, it sounded more like some kind of false god."

The question of the beast comes up, and he considers it. "Imagine a chicken, make it bigger and meaner, and make it yellow. That's roughly what it looked like. Looked as big as a knight's charger." He explains what the creature pulling the cart looked like. "I didn't hear a name, perhaps you'll have more luck if you try to pretend you're poor, hungry and failing to find work. He seems unwilling to approach those whose relatives have come to him."

    "..." Uni frowns. "... This could be related to another world's problem, at least tengentally." she says, looking around at the others, giving Emily a /look/ at her comment, before glancing at the others. "I wouldn't pass for a poor person even if I tried... something to do with my aura or something." she remarks. "I can probably find some high vantage and overwatch someone else if they feel like playing bait." she mentions to the others... her companions all know what Uni's deal is, or at least might be tangentally aware of it.

    A chicken.
    Bigger and meaner.
    Yellow.
    Rydia gives Yumi a *look*.
    That perfectly describes a chocobo.
    "I can do it." Rydia volunteers to play the bait as Uni puts it.
    "An orphan looking for work is more believable than an offworlder," she says looking at Yumi, "a Dark Knight," she says looking to Duncan, "or some kind of goddess-thing."
    And then the looks at Emily.
    "And whatever Emily is."

Quite a bit of information to be had here. Will it be enough? Hopefully. The description of the creature actually sparks something, though, and he frowns a little. ...A chocobo? Surely not. But it's worth keeping in mind. His isn't the only world out there that uses chocobos, after all.

As for being reluctant to approach the relatives? "No surprise," Duncan replies. Rydia's words of acting as bait get a slight frown. It's not a terrible idea. But it's still concerning. "...We'll need to make certain someone can keep an eye on you."

    A chicken, but bigger and meaner, and yellow.

    Yumi turns her head to stare at Rydia just the exact same moment the summoner does towards her.

    Two cases of chocobos turning up on unrelated worlds, two cases of something-or-other going missing. This just got more complicated.

    "...That's not a bad idea," she finally says in response to the suggestion they masquerade as destitute. "I think an offworlder that's low on money might actually pass muster in general, but I don't have anything to wear that'd make me look the part, and I'm probably too fit and healthy-looking besides. It's better if I stay out of sight and keep my eyes and ears open."

    Emily's grin shifts into a smirk. "Yeah, if it's a chocobo, it just might be our friends from last week, huh?" Beat. "And it wouldn't work if it was me, either. I could disguise myself, but one look at my eyes ..." She slightly lifts the brim of her hat, revealing that her eyes are now glowing purple. "... would give the game away."

    She smiles down at Rydia. "I'm a Eudaemon," she says unhelpfully, in the tone of someone who's trying to be unhelpful.

"Are you sure, little one?" Elder Portr asks, looking at Rydia. He's not saying she shouldn't, just concerned; and glances towards one of the others. "Don't you think your daughter is about the same size? Maybe she can borrow some of her clothes." He suggests, glancing back to Rydia, "Because well, your current clothes both say offworlder and noblewoman to me."

The woman addressed such goes out to fetch some clothes and returns soon after, when she does she offers. "Pippa told me he's there."

    "She's a lot more dangerous than she looks," Yumi says, with a glance Rydia's way. "And I'll be nearby. If anything happens to her, I can be there in a heartbeat." The clothes will definitely be an issue, but if they have a solution... wait, he's there? "If he's there, we probably ought to get going."

    "I'll go high, get on a rooftop or something for a better vantage point... if there's any solid roofs in this town." says Uni, looking up at the canvas tarporline that passes for a roof here. "We should split up and approach the area from different angles, so there's less chance of the guy spotting us and bolting. Even if I went HDD mode, I doubt I could keep pace with a chocobo going full sprint."

"I'll call Nemesis," Duncan offers. He'd left his own mount a bit out of town, but a chocobo with only a single rider should definitely be able to keep up with a chocobo pulling a wagon or cart, right?

He stands, picking up his helmet from the table, and waits to see who will go where.

    "I can take care of myself." Rydia says matter of factly. "And when I can't take care of myself that's what I have Yumi and Duncan for. With Uni and Emily with them, I think I'm pretty safe." The little Summoner says before glancing down at her clothes.
    They're very worn with travel and hand mended in places thanks to the long treks on the roads of Hyrule and up and down Snowpeak mountain. Yet the clothes presented to her are probably the better choice. Especially when word comes that their mark is in position.
    Rydia will find a quiet and private place to change into said clothes before putting her set in the saddlebags on her own chocobo, outside.
    "Stay." She orders the bird; "Watch my stuff." To which her noble avian steed twitters affirmatively.
    "Alright. I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

    Emily nods to Yumi. "She really is," she says cheerfully. "... I bet I could keep up with a chocobo, depending on what form I take, but yeah, splitting up sounds like it would work best."

    And then her smile widens as she is informed that it's time. "Well, then," she says, tipping her hat slightly. "Shall we away?" Beat. "-- Oh I just thought of an awesome way to move around in the darkness." She shakes her head. "But, uh, yeah. Let's do this!"

>> SUMMARY[Emily Nyx] >> Once again, Emily ruins the mood she was attempting to set.

The cart is big and full of food, the bird in front of it is most definitely a chocobo, the harness clearly designed by someone who knows chocobo anatomy. The man sitting on the side of the cart is wearing robes that cover him almost entirely, looking around to see if anyone else seems interested. It seems most of the locals have wised up, however, and he doesn't appear to be gathering any interest except from a handful of urchins who take turns distracting him while the others steal some of the food.

    Uni, true to her word, has found a perch to look down onto the docks from. <"Comms check, Hawkeye to all units, do you copy?"> she says, touching the throatmic to activate it, before releasing to receive again. She sights down the scope of a long rifle, a bolt-action affair with sleek curves and a softly pulsing 'energy line' running from the end of the barrel to the receiver mechanism. <"I have eyes on target. Looks like he's got slim pickings with some local street kids.">

    This is it then. There's the cart. There's the man. It's Rydia's time to shine. All she has to do is put on her best 'starving orphan' act and...
    Okay she doesn't have to act very much.
    "... Excuse me...?" She says, approaching the man and his cart half feigning hesitance, half with hesitance that is very real, before she finally steels herself.
    The others will certainly back her up if this goes pear-shaped.
    "I heard you had work for anyone looking for it."

    Emily steps out of the house, just out of sight of the cart. She tips her hat, and starts gliding away, shadows swirling around her feet, her legs completely unmoving. Still holding that pose, she sinks into the shadows at her feet, which visibly expand, and moves into a position where a little extra shadow won't be noticed.

    <"Hawkeye, this is Patrick,"> she radios Uni. <"I'm pretty sure you and me are literally the only ones who have radios here.">

    Yumi is also somewhere nearby; possibly on a rooftop, if she can manage to do so without being spotted. Otherwise most likely just around a corner, listening.

"Hey little one." Rydia has heard that voice before. Deep underground, before the thaumaturge set things on fire. "You misheard. I am here to help people find a better lot in life. Work is part of that, but really it's about finding a place that will treat you with respect, rather than chew you up and spit you out like the nobles do to food that isn't to their liking." He explains, "This community wants to grow." He smiles, though his face is hard to see. "What's your name, little one? I am Ungust."

    That voice. That voice is familiar. Rydia certainly recalls it from the mines, and it makes her pause and blink owlishly for a beat. All the better to appear like she's listening intently as he speaks.
    "Lidia. Lidia of Kakariko." She lies on her introduction, squinting a she tries to see the man's face under his hood and robes. "... Okay, I'm listening."

    "I can't hear what they're saying from up here." muses Uni, then transmits the same to Emily. <"I really should invest in some cheap sets to hand off when I work with others... know anywhere that sells them in bulk?"> she asks, nonchalant as can be, while kneeling in the rain atop a roof in the dockyard of some noble's little personal playground.

Duncan is not on the roof, but he is in hiding. He's managed to locate his bird, and is just out of sight of the main area. There should be enough buildings between him and the site of things going on that he should be able to hide.

    Emily goes completely still in the shadow where she's hiding. Argh, Rydia, people here have surnames, not place-names!

    <"I have literally never bought anything in bulk before, and I don't want to rely on stuff from the halcyon remnant,"> she answers Uni. <"I mean. They probably make that kind of thing everywhere. You know that city with the great ice cream shop, the next Branch over from YoRHa's world? I've delved into electronics stores there before, maybe you could make inquiries about manufacturers ...">

    That's a familiar voice. Yumi's eyes narrow where she stands, but she remains silent. That's even a textbook cult pitch. Kindness. Welcoming. For now, she remains quiet.

"Lidia of Kakariko, huh?" There's audible doubt in Ungust's voice, and he considers something a moment before he glances to his stores in a manner that makes it pretty obvious from up close that he knows exactly what he'll see. He is in fact looking at one of the street urchins taking another handful of food and he calls out, "Guards. Guards." The food is dropped and the kid in question scampers off immediately, clearly familiar with all the ways to run from the guard, "This girl was distracting me while her friends were stealing from me."

The city guards proper ignore him, but three fellows who are dressed similar to the city guards, but upon closer examination seem to be carrying weapons made of bronze rather than the steel the locals use, and of greater variety. One wieding sword and shield, one wielding bronze knuckles and wielding a bronze scepter. They approach Rydia swiftly, meanwhile Ungust unhooks the chocobo from the cart and gets on, clearly not keen to wait.

    <"Target's gonna bolt... Patrick, can you track him while I cover Rydia?"> says Uni without missing a beat on the 'callsign' the Eudaemon provided. Instead, she turns from the chocobo and rider, and aims for the Scepter weilding 'guard'. "EX Multiblaster. Mode Needle." She squeezes the trigger, and the rifle barks sharply, launching a railgun slug aimed for the Thaumaturge's scepter-arm shoulder.

    On the one hand, Ungust might be getting away, and Yumi is fast enough on her feet to chase him down, even on chocobo-back. On the other, there's three armed thugs advancing on Rydia.

    Yumi doesn't even have to think about it.

    There's a flare of golden-white light from one side, and by the time the thugs look, an armored magical girl is already hurtling straight towards the sword-wielder. She's not armed; but even her unarmed punches are powerful enough to dent all that bronze he's armed and armored with. It's not gonna be fun taking her hits.

Duncan is aware of the guards approaching Rydia. However, he knows that's where the others are going to be aiming to assist Rydia. He only has fire and darkness, and using one of those near Rydia would be bad. So instead he mounts up on Nemesis -- he figures that this Ungust guy is going to bolt when the attacks from the others on his comrades register, and he wants to try to trail the guy as far as possible.

    "Whuh...?!"
    Rydia blinks when the man calls the guards on her. "I don't even know those kids!" She blurts pissily before it dawns on her.
    Those aren't actual city guards are they?
    Rydia curses foully under her breath.
    "Uh. Uh. Uh."
    Crap.
    Guys, now would be a good time to swoop in, because Rydia can't take three armed men twice her size.

    There's a giggle from the shadows, which move further out of sight behind a building. <"On it, coach! Releasing capacitor seals three and two."> While Ungust and the "guards" are likely to be distracted by Yumi's light show, there's three distinct glows, one gold, one silver, and one pearlescent. The first two disappear abruptly while the third one fades a bit more slowly. ... If anyone were to look, the glow would make it pretty obvious that the "shadows" are actually carefully-positioned particles orbiting around a solid core.

    And then the pitch-black shadows are moving, carefully positioning themselves where Emily can keep track of where Ungust is going. Secretly, they're moving on wheels.

At the slightest hint of resistance, Ungust bolts. That Chocobo must've come straight from the gold saucer, because it's /fast./ The apparent cultist clearly picked it for its ability to help him flee from trouble. But, despite being fast by chocobo standards, they're not fast enough to be impossible to chase for a good while. It turns out, he's heading exactly where he's been before, touching bead on his ears and muttering something that can't be easily overheard.

As for the guards, they appear to pose little in the way of a real threat. Uni takes out the thaumaturge with that shot, the weapon being dropped and the thaumaturge raising his hands in clear surrender. Similarly, the moment Yumi's fist makes contact with the shield the gladiator is wielding, he drops the ruined shield and falls to his knees. "Mercy." He whimpers.

The pugilist is less impressed, so far, throwing out a couple of quick punches to Yumi, clearly the most skilled of the trio. "Thieving's a crime." He states, "Even when kids do it. Stop interfering, and I'll let you walk."

    As soon as the gladiator gives up the fight, Yumi takes a pace back, almost reflexive in the way she relents... and she's completely blindsided by the pugilist as a result. But when he strikes her, it feels like striking steel; and while one blow leaves a mark on her cheekbone that's definitely going to bruise, she turns around and looks right at him, completely unbothered, just... standing there and taking the blows. All he gets in return is a harsh glare. "If you want to talk crimes, let's start with 'impersonating law enforcement'. Now, are you going to stop hitting me, or is this going to turn into a really bad day for you?"

>> SUMMARY[Yumi Tachibana] >> >:|

And that's Duncan's cue! Ungust bolts, and Duncan urges Nemesis to follow. Nemesis is not a trained racing bird, but what she lacks in speed, she more than makes up for in stubbornness and stamina. However, she's also got to rely on Duncan's eyes, since her own aren't that great -- albinism most definitely affects her vision.

Duncan isn't completely unfamiliar with the concept of linkshells and/or radios, so when he catches sight of the hand on the bead, he figures that's what Ungust is doing... probably alerting allies. For now he just follows.

He's fully armored up now, and has let the cloak fall off somewhere so that the flapping cloak doesn't attract more attention than he already does.

>> SUMMARY[Duncan Ritter] >> Duncan holds R1 and R2 while sprinting!

    CHUK-CLAK. "Reloaded..." she brings the scope around on the Pugalist, adjusting a switch on her rifle, she aims down as Yumi tanks the punches. "Dropping the target." she squeezes the trigger and a bolt of electrical energy launches out, aimed for the fist-fighter's center of mass. It's designed to be less lethal, but with all the water from the rain...

    That's two of the 'guards' handled, and as the thaumaturge and gladiator give up fast that leaves the pugilist still posing a threat. And as he rains down blows on Yumi, Rydia reaches for the whip under her clothes.
    With a snap-crack she pulls it free and lashes it for the brawler's ankle. She probably doesn't have the strength to outright yank him off his feet, but probably can disrupt his balance briefly enough for a reprisal.

    Hmm. Emily thinks fast while she joins Duncan in pursuit.

    Well, Emily's a machine, so she's not going to get tired any time soon. The problem is, she wasn't built for raw speed, and this shadowy form isn't the best either. She gets the same idea as Duncan from his bead-touch and muttering, so that rules out an ostentatious attempt at cutting him off.

    Oh now she knows what to do. Silvery nanomachines swirl around her ...

    And then, about half a mile off to the side from Ungust, a staticky portal opens up, and a miniature black car with full-sized wheels drives out, moving parallel to his chocobo. There are no engine noises; apart from the sounds of the wheels bumping over the landscape, it's completely silent.

"Not a crime here." The pugilist answers, wincing as the whip and electrodart make contact, falling over. "We checked." And then he's out like a light. Meanwhile, Ungust keeps going, the wastes he's rapidly going into not exactly a great surface for wheels. The ground is rocky and uneven, like someone took a pebble footpath, and scaled it up both in the size of the pebbles and the territory covered.

Eventually, his chocobo stumbles over one of the larger rocks. A leather tube falls as the chocobo recovers and he continues onwards, gaining speed once again and eventually getting too far to maintain the chase. The tube contains a map, not of one world but rather of a couple of worlds, each in their own little circle, with dashed lines connecting the vines. The mine is in one, this town is in another, and there's a handful of other places that seem not too exceptional.

And then there's the place marked 'Ring of Fire'

    Not a crime here. Figures. Yumi snorts in quiet annoyance, then turns around to look in the direction Ungust fled. By now, he's way too far gone to chase down; if Emily and Duncan can't catch him, it's out of her hands for sure. So instead, she turns to Rydia with visible concern. "Hey, you alright?"

Duncan's figured out that he's not going to catch up, and the distance between them was just increasing too much. But fortunately, before he can decide to do something insane like throw his sword at the fleeing rider, he notices the falling of the leather tube. Rather than try to continue chasing him, Duncan brings Nemesis to a stop and makes sure the leather tube is in good condition.

It looks like a map case! That could be useful. But only if they move quick. It won't take Ungust long to realize he's lost his maps and that it's a good idea to move. He takes a quick look at the map before putting it back in the tube and heading back to where the others were, hopefully. If nothing else, they might be able to inquire with the defeated fake guards as to what everything on the map is...

    "Target neutralized." Uni hops down from her perch, dismissing her rifle and walking over toward Rydia and Yumi. "Well... lets hope the others can shed some light on this, or we'll end up at a dead end." she kneels down and checks the pugalist's pulse, before looking over at the Thaumaturge and Gladiator. "You just hired help or do you know something? Don't lie to me or I'll give you the same treatment as this guy."

    "I'm fine." Rydia replies. She sounds a little shaken, but for the most part got off scott free uninjured. Just threaetened and riled up on adrenaline is all, once the pugilist goes down. That leaves three people to question, sans an Ungust anyway.
    "Think the others fared better chasing him down?" She asks, dusting off her borrowed clothes.
    "She'll do it." She asides to the gladiator and thaumaturge, in regards to Uni's threat.
    She actually doesn't know if Uni will or not, she's just saying that to help Uni's cause by playing Bad-Cop-Worse-Cop.

    The car starts muttering curses as it reaches that terrain; Emily's wheels start picking up silvery scratches as the nanomachines making them up gain bits of damage. She simply rises off the ground at that point, but ... yeah. Emily's top speed when she isn't cheating using the mundane laws of physics can't quite match the running speed of a well-bred chocobo.

    Heaving a great sigh, she turns and flies over to Duncan, changing back into her trench-coated form along the way. "Find anything?" she says, just in time for him to look at the map.

    She pushes up the brim of her hat and peers at it over his shoulder, grinning almost nastily. "Oooooh!" But then her expression falters as she sees the destination. "... Hoo boy, Rydia is not gonna like this."

"Just hired help. Like, he hired us before we got stuck out here, but he doesn't tell us an ilm more than we need to know." The thaumaturge answers, "Pray forgive us, just trying to make do." The other shrugs slightly. "He didn't used to do this cult business though. He's a merchant. Where's the profit in giving food away to the poor?"

    "If he's starting a cult," Yumi replies to the mage, "Then the food would be an initial investment. For labor he could exploit cheaply down the line. That's pretty much what a cult is, you dupe people into worshipping the ground you walk on and then you live it easy." She crosses her arms, and shakes her head. "But in context, it makes less sense. You all were stealing some kind of magic oil on another world, too. That doesn't add up with starting a cult in and of itself." A faint frown tugs at Yumi's features. There's got to be a missing piece to this puzzle.

"Some kind of map," Duncan notes, to Emily's question. "Let's head back and see what the others make of it." He'll head back on Nemesis, though a bit slower than he headed this way, to let the bird rest a little.

"I'm afraid his chocobo was too fast to catch up to," Duncan announces for the group once he gets back, and dismounts. "But he dropped this. There's a map." He opens the tube, pulling the map from it again. "Something about a 'ring of fire'."

    "..." Uni looks at the men for long moments with her intense red-hued stare. She can be pretty intimidating for her size. "Fine. Just a trio of useless grunts. Got it. That means he won't miss you if we decide to make you disappear. Right?" Uni stands to her full height, and summons a bullpup rifle from Inventory. "Not like anyone will miss a group of thugs who enjoy picking on little girls."

    Once they're within range of Emily's dimensional field abilities, she opens a staticky portal, giving her and Duncan a shortcut back. Nemesis might have to duck to get through the ten-foot opening, but ...

    Emily hmms. "A cult, huh?" she says. "And the 'magical oil' was a source of energy ..." She looks between the others in turn. "Either he needs breathtaking pyrotechnics to keep his cult-con going, or the cult and the oil are both a means to another end ..." She taps her chin thoughtfully. "Maybe there's an actual god he wants to fire up ... or something. But they're clearly from the same world as the Dotharl clan." She looks at Yumi. "We really need to find Temulin."

    She pauses, watching Uni, but doesn't do anything to try to stop her.

"If I knew anything else, I would tell you. Ungust's as cagey as an Ul'dahn merchant's purse." The thaumaturge answers, "Pray don't kill us."

    Uni looks about ready to blast caps in all three, but then dismisses her weapon and points the way Ungust went. "Start running. You might make it to the exit before I change my mind."

The shortcut back is appreciated! Especially by Nemesis, who seems relieved when stepping through a portal takes them back to where everyone else is. Whew, she doesn't have to walk all the way back!

Duncan is more concerned with the map than with the three minions, so when Uni gives them a 'head start', he doesn't look in their direction. Nope, those three are on their own. He's no Paladin-in-training, after all...

    Emily watches Uni proceed. "They'll probably need help carrying the unconscious guy," she points out, as if this was a minor detail that didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.

    "Anyway!" She gestures to Duncan. "Ungust dropped a map. There's a place called the 'Ring of Fire'. Might be useful intel."