Balthier walked through the crowds congregating through the northern gate of Isamanca, looking to all like one of many other northern foreigners coming to seek a place to stay and partake in the Carnevalla. Under normal circumstances, he most certainly would, and no doubt some people were probably hoping to see the Baruvadi Bard grace them with a show in honour of their city's festivities. Unfortunately, much more dire and unhappy business had brought him to the city. The contents of Lethodus' curt and simplistic letter were deeply troubling to say the least, especially given his own last assignment.

For just a couple months prior, he had been engaged in a task to root out the substance of suspicious reports coming from the Duchy of Abbelona, the mountainous Duchy north of Revossa, specifically within the Monasteria di Ebia where grissly bodies were apparently being uncovered. With local authorities finding no leads, and were fearful for their own lives, they called upon the specialist aid of the Order of Cinder, whom tasked Balthier to investigate. 

He had entered the Monastery under his usual frontal impressions that he had made himself modestly famous upon, that of a Bard and wandering Storyteller, seeking shelter for a few days to rest and recuperate from a long journey on the road that required no payment in coin to stay, and perhaps grace the Priestesses of Love and Beauty with some of his performances. And although they welcomed him warmly, some of them even being fans of work, he immediately felt a sense of unnatural unease and dread hanging over the whole secluded area. No mere undead, ghoul, or even lesser vamphiir was living here, not likely even a pack, this was a singular, older, and more menacing vamphiir, with far more intelligence and eldritch calculation than most. Even though the local authorities could hardly be expected to have understood the entire gravity of the threat, they had been wise to notify the Order.

Though finding the vamphiir had been a challenge, with the powers it wielded, it could have impersonated anyone in the Monastery. Balthier had been glad he had entered using his cover profession, as he could use it as an excuse to not look so suspicious and to be able to stick around for a few days without necessarily tipping off the old monster. Thus, that is what he did, and he entertained the Monastery for a few days as he quietly kept his eyes open. He shared a few . . . memorable moments with some of the Priestesses as well in order to keep up appearances, though his weapons were never out of his reach in case of his lovers turned out to be a murderous and ancient monster.

Eventually, he narrowed his suspects down to one individual, the main central figure of authority in the Monastery, and the one person who both was the most likely person to provide the information necessary to know the identity of who was the vamphiir, and also the most likely person to be the vamphiir, High Priestess Simonella. Since the monster had to be someone either so unsuspecting and forgettable that they were rarely noticed in the place, or else had assumed the character of a person so powerful that they commanded great authority and fear even when they were in disguise. Since many elder vamps that had been encountered by the Order were of the imperious and self-aggrandizing nature, Balthier was acting under the assumption she was the former. 

His guess proved correct. Cornering the High Priestess in her chambers under the premise of a private inquiry in regards to arranging transport to Abbelona proper, he was swiftly thrown into battle with the revealed vamphiir, thinking she had found an amusing if now irritating interloper in her home. But Balthier was no mere wanderer, he was a Hunter of the Order of Cinder, and trained to be the scourge of the undead in all its forms. Both proved evenly matched and the fighting between the two ranged throughout the monastery, with roles of prey and predator changing several times. In the end, after a protracted fight over several hours, Balthier succeeded in killing the vamphiir, though heavily wounded himself, he instructed the Priestesses to burn its body to ash that it may not rise again before passing out. 

Several weeks later, he awoke in one of Abbelona's Apothecaries, his wounds treated with the compliments of the Duchy, and two letters, one from the Hunter-General herself directly from the House of Fire, and the other from Hunter Lethodus who was apparently in Isamanca, Revossa.

It was the contents of both letters which had brought him here, mostly out of the sense of duty he had along with the gnawing fear they brought in equal measure rather than any fondness for the former Knight. All the same, seeking the residence of his fellow Hunter was his first goal in this city.