Reconassaince & Chance Encounters

Vincent stood atop the wall which separated Sin from the kingdom of knights: Pergrande. While he was always seen wearing the robes which he had earned from the place where he had learned about magic, tonight was different. The moonlight cast down from the full moon would reveal him in a relatively tightly fit reflective black coat. A mask in the likeness of a fox covered his head from the nose up and while the shape of the mask wasn't exactly necessary to his mission, he felt as though it would be beneficial to be a bit more recognizable to all those that saw him. He had a plan which was unknown to even those closest to him, for he knew that the acts he would be committing would most likely get him reported to the Magic Council. Being careless about his intentions and his plans was not something which he could afford to be. While one might question the decision to scout around one of the most heavily fortified locations of one of if not the most hostile nations to magi in Earthland under the complete light cast by a full moon, Vincent knew that he needed the additional visibility in order to create an accurate timetable of the patrols at different locations along the wall. His sketchbook was out while squatting on the stone structure so that he could record the number of guards patrolling this segment of the wall and at what time. To that temporal end he had a small and accurate pocket watch floating in front of him at eye level so that he may easily check the time whenever he wished. An interesting note that he made was that every fifteen minutes a pair of guards would patrol along the foot of the wall and were followed by another pair of guards which would patrol along the top of the wall fifteen seconds later. Due to his growing ability to manipulate space and the objects within it he managed to translate himself easily behind this second, staggered patrol so that he would not be seen.

Oddly enough, there were certain hours where the young wizard noticed that there weren't any patrols. Like clockwork, a pair of guards would patrol the wall and its foot every fifteen minutes between eleven o'clock and midnight. However, no guards would patrol in the hour between midnight and one o'clock. From one to two the patrols would start up regularly again. He took a note of this and made sure to verify if this was a recurring pattern or incidental. Over the course of the next week, Vincent would have his complete time-table of the patrols along the parts of the wall around what he viewed as key locations such as places where there were high frequencies of monster attacks. The Pergrande kingdom's soldiers operated like a well oiled machine and this would be used to his advantage. If he could reliably predict when and where any number of patrols could be, then he knew exactly when and where he and potentially other group members needed to be in order to perform tasks with the highest chance of success. Vincent knew that he needed to be diligent in his data if he was to succeed. I need to avoid a situation like what the basin had showed me. I cannot afford to make any mistakes. I need to know when, where, and what I'm up against. To that end... Vincent looked over the stone wall's edge to the ground below. The winds were coming from Sin and Vincent took a deep breath. It smelled cursed. The young wizard jumped down and looked in front of him; he would need to go into Sin and study all of the creatures close enough to the wall to reasonably attack it.

As the story went, a group of mages who survived the great inquisition performed by Pergrande tried to take their revenge by enacting some kind of awful magic. This terrible corruption of nature backfired and gave birth to all manner of beasts. They probably didn't help the reputation of wizards with their act. Vincent walked for about thirty minutes before coming across a massive horned beast which stood on two hoofed legs. Vincent summoned his mother's sword to his side and got into a stance to cut the beast down. Before he got the chance, though, a wind blew from behind him and before he even realized what had happened, the goat monster split in half. The tip of a sword was at his throat and a strong voice commanded that he tell where his sword came from. "I know you're a mage. I saw you conjure that sword from thin air - a requip type if I'm not mistaken. If we were in the borders of my nation I would have cut you down already, so be grateful you still draw breath. Who are you and where did you get that sword?" "You may call me Fox, for now. This won't be the last time you'll see me because I'm coming to your kingdom to help with your monster problem." Vincent's sword clashed with that belonging to his father; he was so happy so see him alive after that nightmare that the basin put him through. The wizard stepped was sucked into a black hole and appeared in the space a few meters behind the Paladin. After a moment, a distortion in space exploded violently and the warrior appeared to be harmed a bit.

"I will not allow a direct threat to the kingdom go unpunished. Hundreds of magi have fallen to my sword, Fox. You're not the first and you will not be the last." "I am not like those other magi - I'm wily and I'm not afraid to retreat when there's nothing to gain from fighting." In that instant Vincent transformed a black, nine tailed fox and ran away. The mobility of a Paladin was their greatest weakness. In spite of all of the training and experience, humans could only run so fast while wearing heavy and specially crafted armor. Once he was far enough away, he changed back into his regular form and stretched. He had heard stories of Paladins braving the wastes of Sin to "take the fight to them," so to speak, but he never imagined that they would be true. Paladins somehow became even more fearsome in his mind. For the next seven days Vincent would camp fight and catalogue all manner of creatures in Sin within a large distance of the wall. By the end of this week Vincent was tired and knew that soon he would have to return to Fiore. Despite his fatigue, though, he realized that he was much stronger than he once was. He supposed that his little expeditions with Elvira in addition to clearing that village of its curse with Lester and finally fighting the beasts of Sin finally brought him to an acceptable level of strength. With this observation in mind, Vincent transported himself back to the Crystalli to continue his planning of the massive mission which he would undertake.

WC: 1194/3000

Vincent took a long rest on the Crystalli before continuing his mission. His dream had given him a good idea of the kind of team he would be forming. Elvira, himself, a mage which specialized in healing, a mage which specialized in illusions, and a mage which specialized in utility. A five man team. The first of these magi he would find right here in his current home: Fiore. There had been rumors circulating for a while that there was a mage who could perform miracles of healing that far surpassed the current understanding of healing magic at the time. This rumor had previously been ignored by Vincent who concerned himself more with... concrete information that could easily be tested, but now was not the time to concern himself with such things. An arduous trek awaited the young mage as he made his way to a secluded monastery towards the summit of the Phoenix Mountains. Starlight shone down upon him and, as if he were being watched over by some unseen force, no wildlife attacked him on his journey. He knew that the only path to the monastery saw a high frequency of attacks which led to the path being given its common name: "The Black Corridor." Given its reputation, he expected some kind of resistance that never came. While he wasn't about to complain about the ease of the journey, he kept the odd circumstance in the back of his mind. Vincent arrived to two large stone gates that completely separated the monastery from the Black Corridor which had two large wolves carved into the front. That's oddly coincidental the mage remarked as he was greeted by warm smiles. Two women dressed in orange gis welcomed him to their home and invited him inside the doors.

They informed him that their monastery was exclusively female before letting him know that while he was welcome as a guest, he could not join them. "That's quite alright. I heard rumors of a woman here who was capable of performing miracles." One of the them spoke almost immediately. "Ah yes that's..." Vincent raised his hand to stop her. "Please I don't want to know her name - please believe me when I say I have my reasons. Would you please lead me to her?" Despite being confused and nearly offended by his interruption, the monk who had nearly told him the name of the miracle worker nodded and gestured for the white haired mage to follow her. Eventually the two reached one of the smaller shrines that were constructed at different points along a circle which surrounded the main shrine in the middle of the area. Inside, Vincent found the rumored healer meditating. All of these monks had a certain calmness to their magical energy that disturbed the scholar. He approached her and keeled down so that the two were face to face. "Would you please give us a moment?" The monk who led him inside nodded and left the building, closing the doors behind her. They're either too trustful of strangers or believe that this healer can take me on long enough for the two outside to come to her aid. Interesting. Her eyes were wide open when Vincent turned his head back to face her which gave him a bit of a startle. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Fox." Confusedly, the young girl responded "Fox? That cannot be your given name can it?" He shook his head. "No, it's not. It's best if we do not know as little about each other as possible. I'm currently forming a team of five which would greatly benefit from someone with your expertise."

She stood and he followed suit. "So you do not need me to heal an ailment of yours? I am very sorry you traveled all of this way mister Fox, but this is my home; it's unreasonable to ask me to leave with a man I have never met before." Vincent didn't think it would be so easy, so he continued his attempt to persuade her. "I know you're a monk, but there must be something that you need all the way up here in the mountains." The woman shook her head. That's when Vincent felt a cool breeze within the room. His head turned to the source and he realized that the wall had cracks and holes forming in it. "How about I offer to pay for all the repairs that you need for your monastery if you come with me?" The young girl hesitated while backing off and putting her hand on her chin. By framing the rewards for her as a benefit to what she considered her family Vincent made his job offer that much more enticing. "What does this job entail exactly...? You are very suspicious, mister Fox." Vincent then told her that the team of five would enter the Pergrande Kingdom which caused the girl's eyes to widen in shock. Her initial reaction to hearing the name of that kingdom so dreaded among mages was to say refuse outright, but with enough pressing she managed to entertain the idea. "That is certainly a noble endeavor, mister Fox, but I cannot think of anything more dangerous."

Vincent took his notebook out and showed her the pages upon pages of information which he had gathered over the course of his week in Pergrande. "I know more than anyone how dangerous that place can be which is why I have not only mapped the guard routes out for the entire twenty four hours of every day with the coordinates of different sections of the wall, but also have catalogued all of the monsters that I could hunt down within a reasonable distance of the wall. With my information and the skills of all the members of my imagined team we should not run into much difficulty." She asked for how long the team would operate. "One hundred hunts. If the Pergrande Kingdom's stance on magi isn't undermined by magi assisting in protecting the wall from great threats on one hundred different occasions while also defending against the strongest knights the nation has to offer all the while getting away uncaught then nothing will. I will admit defeat. If nothing else, though I will give the foundations of that nation a good shake." With a bit more coaxing he finally managed to get her agree to joining him in his righteous crusade against the crusaders. "Excellent - now if you wouldn't mind could I have a demonstration of your power?" She was happy to show him her power and, in the blink of an eye, she had punched him with both of her hands made into fists and both of those fists into the left and right sides of his chest.

Pain flooded his brain as he flew back and hit the door of the small shrine and slid down to the floor. She let him now how many of his ribs were broken, the degree to which his sternum was fractured, and the organs that had been punctured by broken bones. He would be impressed if he weren't currently going into shock. Eventually Vincent awoke miraculously healed in the same place that he had passed out. "You know - I don't really know what I expected asking for a demonstration, but please never attack me again. You are much stronger than you appear." The young girl smiled and Vincent gave her a small lacrima which would glow and lead her to another that he would be using to let everyone recruited know where to meet. The white haired scholar returned to the Crystalli to take a long rest before the next day where he would need to recruit the next member of his team.

The next day, Vincent left the Crystalli and began to walk from Magnolia Town to Hargeon Town because he heard of a magnificent circus performer that he felt fit the description of a utility oriented mage, but on the way his attention was caught by a beautiful woman who lay seemingly injured next to a burning cart. Feeling inkling to help her, the young wizard decided that his recruiting would have to wait. When he knelt down beside her she looked at him sharply with eyes glowing purple. She was a predator and she gave him no chance to escape. While most, at this point, would be completely under the spell of the illusionist, Vincent had the assistance of his pendant as well as experience with much stronger illusions to assist him in resisting her power. Still, though, he decided to play along to see what her aims were. "You're going to save me from my debts, noble mage~" He didn't respond; instead, Vincent followed her to a nearby bandit encampment and was brought before their leader who was happy that someone was caught in her trap. "A deal's a deal. We'll clean take everything this guy's got and leave him in a ditch." The young wizard disappeared from sight and reappeared behind the leader who bore an odd tattoo on his arm. In an instant, the space between here he stood previously and where he currently stood distorted and exploded, causing the leader of the bandits to collapse where he stood and his underlings to simply freeze and look at either Vincent or his escort.

"You're all under arrest. Please don't try to escape - you will only end up tiring yourselves out. Simply remain where you are until my business with that one is concluded." Some tried attacking him, some tried running, but nothing really changed aside from a few bandits that were once conscious were not lying on the ground and some that were once running were now locked in unseen cages. "I'm willing to overlook your crime if you are willing to join a team I'm forming." "Just my luck to try and hex another mage that is resistant to my specialty.... I don't really have a choice but to hear you out, do I?" He smiled at her and introduced himself as Fox. Vincent didn't have to tell her not to share her name with him, for she had enough sense to know that no one who introduced themselves in such a manner were looking to be on a first name basis with the one with which they were speaking. He informed her of his noble goal which garnered a roll of her eyes and a reluctant acceptance of his invitation with little additional persuasion. This more than likely had to do with the circumstances that both of the magi currently found themselves. Once again, the young wizard pulled out a small lacrima and handed it to his new teammate. He let her know that it would at some point soon show her the way to their meeting place before transporting all of the bandits and himself to Hargeon Town. Once they were dealt with, he would make his way to the carnival to begin the process of recruiting the last member of his team barring Elvira. This acrobat was the most difficult to recruit, but by taking advantage of his youthful idealism Vincent managed to convince the performer to join in his mission. The only person left would certainly be the most difficult to convince, but he knew that she would vital a key part in this mission. He could not afford to fail.

WC: 3102/3000