Meeting
[Group Meeting]
As the rest of the shepherds gathered around in the barracks, the mood became more and more frantic. Everyone knew that the slavers had struck, and had struck hard. Lissa, Roxanne, and Noire were all missing, and everyone was trying to figure out what was going on. Many shepherds were suggesting caution, wanting to wait and carefully plan some action. Others were in for a more direct approach. However, Gregor knew that nothing was going to get accomplished while everyone was shouting. His became more and more tense. 3 of his friends were now missing, and all the bickering was not helping. He couldn’t take it anymore.
"ENOUGH!" Roared the old sell sword has he pounded hard into the wooden table he was sitting at. "Shouting does not help! Making plan is what will help," he explained. He had hit the table a little harder than expected and may have bruised his fist, but he wasn’t about to show any pain in front of the shepherds, all of who were now staring at the mercenary.
"Must be thinkings about what we know. We know slavers are in area and common people frighten. Lissa disappear while investigating, Noore disappear by lake, Roxanne disappear outside of camp in woods," he said, stating the facts that everyone else already knew. "What else do we know?" he asked, hoping his fellow shepherds would chime in.
[Open from here. Gonna TRY to tag everyone, sorry if i accidentally leave you out.]
Quietly, Maribelle walked into the Mess Hall where the rest of her comrades sat.
Her eyes were hollow, and for once… she did not carry herself with that same pride like she always did.
Her shoulders were hunched, as if the world were weighing upon them.
Her appearance was ghastly, her lips pale and her face pallid. Ghostly.
Was this the same noblewoman who so often looked down her nose at everyone? Who so often prided herself on her prim and proper appearance?
Maribelle quietly took her seat at the table, occasionally a sob would escape her lips as she thought of the possibility of never seeing Lissa again.
She had nothing to add yet, for she knew nothing, but what she did want was revenge for the dastards who dared to take her best friend.
Cayson jumped at the sudden loud noise. He had been trying his best to listen to what the others were saying, as he didn’t know much about what had happened. He had felt his nervousness skyrocket as the others argue, and his tense posture was not helped by Gregor.
All the same, he appreciated the man’s efforts. Something needed to be done. After a short moment his worry and curiosity overcame his anxiety, and he decided to speak up. “Have we s-sent out patrols searching for their camp? They h-have to be keeping them somewhere…” he paused to take a deep, calming breath, then continued. “And have we already searched the areas f-from which our comrades were c-captured?”
Feta lurked slightly beyond the crowd, uneasy around so many humans and unwilling to get closer to the loud noises. Nevertheless she payed close attention to what was being said, wondering what these people would eventually decide to do.
"If I may," Frederick interrupted. He kept his composure as all eyes fell onto him and continued, "I looked over our convoy and I noticed that one of our bronze axes went missing. It is possible one of our own took it for defense. Said lady knew they were going some ways away so we can assume that lady is Lissa as Gregor kindly put, she was investigating. Now wherever she is, she’s considerably farther than the other two maidens which brings me to my next point."
He then brought something out onto the wooden table, wrapped in an old wash rag. Frederick parted the cloth to reveal a peculiar bloodied arrow covered in an equally particular substance. “I came across this fellow during one of my perusals after their disappearances. See how it shines there? It’s some sort of concoction that causes paralysis. I found out the hard way.” He lifted up his right hand, fallen, fingers unresponsive. “It’s especially potent so be careful not to touch. I’m not quite sure when the feeling in my hand will return, but no matter. That is all I gathered, I apologise for not having all the answers.”
♥ → █ ❝In addition to this, I believe that our missing friends must’ve disappeared sometime during the night. No one in their right mind would steal someone in daylight, and… The concoction could’ve been used because they put up a fight. Lissa uses axes, perhaps? I hear healers use that or tomes as means of defence.❞
┌It wasn’t much, but it was something. At this point, anything would be of use to help find their comrades. All Cherche wanted to see was for the trio to return home safely.┘
♖ ≻ █ What where they talking about again? Oh right, something about poison and midnight. To be honest, he could care less about how they were taken. Robin just wanted Roxanne to be with him again.
❝Roxanne would,❞ he put in sharply, looking up towards his fellow Shepherds. ❝She would fight back with all she had. They must’ve used it on her.❞ The tactician added in quietly, ❝My sister was most likely up late, since she left out her reports and a now melted candle.❞ Louder this time, he said, ❝Was a tome missing? Someone look into that immediately.❞
He stood up, hands clasped behind his back and a fierce look in his eyes. Continuing, ❝It was a arrow, correct? There’s no chance they would risk putting a scratch on Lissa. They know how much she’s worth as princess of Ylisse. As for Noire, unless she broke into her… alternate persona, I believe she would’ve given herself rather easily because she was scared. If not, the paralysis potion would’ve been used on her as well.❞
❝This poison, do you have any idea as to where it could be from? Valmese, Plegian, anything could be valuable. If necessary, I give Tharja and Henry permission to work their dark magic on it.❞
Tharja almost did not attend the meeting, she was stuck in her own tent trying to find a way to get her daughter back. Of course she was concerned for the others but it paled in comparison to the anger she felt over someone taking Noire the way they had.
She went to the meeting only because she would gather more information by hearing what everyone else had to say as well. Tharja stood near the back and listened to what everyone had to say before seeing the arrow with the poison on it. Tharja immediately perked up, knowing that if Henry and herself could most likely find the origin of the poison if they pit their heads together.
At Robin’s mention of the very same thing, Tharja perked up and cleared her throat. “Leave the arrow with me, Henry and I can figure out where it is from and what it is made of.”
She did not have anything else to say, her mind was too preoccupied with the idea of Noire trapped in some dark, cold place.
Chrom was positioned within the center of the group that was surrounding the table, attempting to keep his cool through all of this. Rage had built up within him- rage and worry for that matter. Not only had his dear friends been taken away and perhaps used as slaves at this point, but his sister had been taken as well. He was aware that everyone else must feel the same way right now, and being the Prince of Ylisse, this was resting firmly upon his shoulders.
”…”
Chrom actually listened to the many people that were within the room, presenting evidence and sharing their opinions and facts upon the matter. It was important for him to get his head around all of this, since he wasn’t actually here whilst all of this was happening… Would have this been prevented if he was actually here..?-No! There’s no time to think about things like that!
The evidence that Fredrick presented was obviously a very good way forwards, but as he explained about it even more the blue-haired male became troubled once more within his mind. How did such a thing come here? Better still, how did they know that they were all going to be in a certain place at that specific time? Was he overthinking things? This could prove to be troublesome, yet it could also prove to be efficient at the right time, so he kept such things to himself for now, allowing them to swim around in his mind as he focused on what was brought up in front of him.
After listening to everyone else say such things, Chrom decided that it was time for him to speak up upon the matter. The blue-haired Prince frowned before speaking, allowing a serious look upon his face to be worn. He was attempting to keep away his anger, since the atmosphere was full of tension enough already without him adding to it.
”Alright, firstly I need to say that you’ve all done well handling this whilst I was away. You’ve all done what was needed to be done regarding this situation. Secondly, I agree with everything that has been said at the moment. Since we don’t know what poison was actually used, or where it’s from, I think it’s a good idea to look into that. I also think that we need to form a search party- or maybe even two – and look for them. Perhaps we could find out their location then.”
He may not give off the same peaceful radiance as Emm did, but he sure did try his best to help out the people close to him, and since this was one of those moments, Chrom tried his hardest to put an input into this situation… However, he had very little information on the matter, he was unsure which way to take it.
Olivia sat quietly, listening to what everyone was saying. The stress was so thick in the room she almost thought she could actually see it. She took several small deep breaths to keep focused on the meeting. She was worried about her missing friends and seeing her present friends in the state they were in broke her heart. Something had to be done.
Search parties sounded like a good idea, as long as they were in a group, Olivia felt the Shepherds would be able to handle these damned slave traders and not lose another Shepherd…
"What if…" she started, worried she was too quiet to hear she closed her eyes and spoke just a little more loudly, "what if we tried to be a step ahead of them?" Her face turned crimson red when attention was turned to her. "What if we set out bait? Let them ‘take’ one of us, and then that would lead us straight to where they have Roxanne, Lissa, and Noire, right?"
The dancer’s wording wasn’t coming out as clearly as she was hoping. This may be a silly idea, but she had to throw something out there. “I can travel a little ways away from camp, maybe to the next town, I can preform there… then practice my dancing just outside of that town. Slavers take dancers very often so… if we had one group searching, another could be nearby, so when they take me, they could follow the slavers…” She began to feel a bit dizzy, doubting if anyone would think this was an idea to try. “Once we know where our friends are being held, maybe we could rescue them?”
Gerome hadn’t planned on putting in input, but after hearing Olivia’s idea, he found himself agreeing.
"The plan isn’t as secure as it could be, but it is worth looking into." After adjusting his mask as a ruse to secure his thoughts, he nodded slightly. The pieces were starting to fit together more and more as he began to fully register the other Shepherd’s input.
Maybe someone else would have ideas that would seal up the faults in the current one after he was done explaining his idea.
"It would be best to send someone who’s appearance is delicate, but one who is suited for breaking out of situations. Gaius, for one, knows how to lock pick. A small party will be watching them, in the meantime, and half of the small party follows while the second half either scouts ahead or returns to the camp and relays the information. Then, the Shepherds can split up, taking small groups to storm the main hideout and save whatever people they have enslaved." He tapped his foot slightly as he considered his own words.
The small groups may be a bad idea normally, but in this sort of operation, stealth was key. He didn’t nececarrily wan’t Inigo’s mother to put herself into danger either without some sort of backup. Dancing could only carry so far.
"If anyone else has any ideas…"
———{ ╰☼╮} She... She was gone. Lissa was gone..! Her sister. Emmeryen could not simply talked, she only listened. Listened to the roars, whines, the shouts.. The once Exalted was by no means strong at all, she was as frail as a wilted flower, and that showed deeply when water began to soil her cheeks. Rolling down and down.. her eyes held so much water that she could not stop her self. "Lissa.." she croaked out in a shaky voice as she sat back in the chair, attempting to wipe the tears from her face with her hands.
The child like woman could hardly put in any input, virtually useless to help get her sister back. And now people wanted to get captured? Why.. That sounded like madness to the fallen Queen. "Dangerous.." she quietly disagreed. "You could get.. hurt.." hands balling into fists as they rested on her thing legs, her head down and still disagreeing with the idea. Not that she would be listened to about this.
"Can't lose.. anymore of you.." meek and quiet. "What if it.. goes wrong.. they capture more.. of us.. I am not.. sure." Touching her head as she tried her best to think clearly. What did she know.. she had no mind. "Please.. Please be safe! I.. I can not.. fight well.. But I can.. I can heal? Can I go.. Go with?" feeling as if she had to ask for permission, seeing as this was such a big deal, and she was so vulnerable, it seemed almost required for the Exalt.
