The countryside of central Portugal very much reminded Omero of his own homeland of southern Italy, with it very mountainous terrain and it sparse vegetation growing whether it could survive. However while most men may feel comfort from seeing sights that remind them of home, Omero was greatly frustrated by it as Portugal also had the same heated Mediterranean climate of his homeland. The heat made the long journey through the Portuguese countryside feel even longer, as well as extremely uncomfortable. Omero silently cursed the idiot who thought it would be a good idea to have a near full black design for the Red Cross agent’s uniform. His frustration was further fuelled by the fact he had made near no progress with his investigation. Omero had been in Portugal for nearly two weeks passing through a number of hamlets and villages as well as meeting various merchants and travellers on the road. Every man and woman he asked gave the same response: No one had seen or heard anything of a cult within Portugal. Omero started to question whether he was even looking in the correct region of Portugal. Afterall, the reports given to him had been sketchy to say the least. Soon Omero rode south into the Lisbon region where he decided to continue his investigation in the town of Sintra believing a larger settlement would reveal more answers. It was there when he found out why his investigation had yielded no answers.

After arriving in Sintra, Omero rented a room in the town’s tavern, the ‘La Agua de Vida’ for a few days, believing that would be more than enough time for him to gather the information he needed. However a day after arriving in Sintra a Quaesitor Messenger bird arrived. The Quaesitor Messenger bird is a special type of message carrier. For a reason unknown to Omero it is always able to locate its target wherever they may go. Whatever the reason, Omero highly doubted that it’s purely down to ‘good training’ like his mentor Lorenzo tells him. After untying the message from the bird’s foot and reading it, Omero soon found out why he could find no leads. The message was from the head of the inquisition, Archippo De Santis. He stated that Omero was no longer needed to further his investigation of the cult in Portugal as informants sent word back to Rome shortly after Omero’s departure, that the cult had started to draw unwanted attention from the Portuguese Military and therefore headed south into Morocco to escape. As the Morocco is not Christendom the Red Cross should not become involved with the situation and leave the cultists to rein Havoc on the unbelievers.

This news caused great anger in Omero, not only had he wasted nearly a month investigating a wild goose chase, but the very idea that these cultists would continue their barbaric ways and cause countless numbers of innocent people to suffer made him sick to his stomach. Omero was also greatly infuriated by Archippo’s actions. He could have sent the Messenger bird as soon as he got word from his informants. Omero would have got the message by the time he landed in Aragon and would already be back in Rome. Instead Archippo must have decided to wait for weeks before sending the message, most likely in retaliation to Omero constantly talking out against his orders. 

Omero decided to stay in Sintra for a few days so he could rest before heading back to Rome. A choice he would later greatly regret. In the first time in what felt like years, Omero was finally able to sit back and relax. He was miles away from all the political Nonsense back in Rome and in the peaceful town of Sintra, he actually felt safe. 

On the third night Omero was out in the town square alongside a few other townspeople, watching the La Agua de Vida’s barmaid dancing in the plaza, tapping her tambourine against her hip all the while. However the performance and tranquillity of the town was abruptly shattered by the terrified screams of the town’s people. Fire erupted from the sky and the bells of Sintra palace had begun to toll, calling for all townspeople to evacuate to safety. Omero was disorientated and confused, still trying to figure out what was going on. Fire poured from the blacked sky as Omero watched La Agua de Vida incinerate into ash. Omero finally came to his senses and ran through the street of Sintra knowing that if he remained in the town for much longer he would be nothing more than a burnt corpse. Omero decided to follow a number of the panicking townspeople, if there was a safe location in this town they would know where it was. He followed them into a hermitage where the terrified townspeople cowered in the cobblestone circular room attached to the hermitage, Omero was able to get inside just in time as the monks of the hermitage closed the doors right after he got in, behind him he could hear the unmistakable roar of a dragon, accompanied with the agonising screams of the townspeople still trapped outside.

Omero had been taught at great length about dragons as well as countless other monsters he and the rest of the Red Cross might have had to deal with in future, as well as numerous ways to dispatch all of them. However learning about something and actually seeing it’s destruction in person are two very different matters. Even with all his training and experience with slaying monsters, without proper preparation, weaponry or the rest of the Red Cross to back him up, he was just as helpless against this beast as anyone else in the room. The room was filled with people weeping in a frightened state of dismay and confusion. The Monks said their prayers providing great comfort for the believers. Omero reflected on how these same prayers which until a year ago would have brought great comfort to him as well, now only caused him bitterness. In the end there was nothing to be done except wait out the dragon and hope the hermitage withstood the dragon’s wrath. 
Sintra was now nothing more than a burnt out husk of its former self, the smell of charred wood and burnt flesh filled the air. Only around two hundred of the original town’s people survived; those who took refuge in the hermitage alongside Omero and those who took refuge in Sintra Palace. Omero walked through the streets of the once peaceful town searching for any supplies to help him on the journey back to Rome, most of his original travelling supplies had been left in the tavern and his horse was nothing but a lump of burnt flesh, now the only supplies he had were the ones that he had on him at the time. One thing that did survive the slaughter however was the Quaesitor Messenger bird. At the very least Omero could write back to the inquisition to explain what had happened. The count had made up some story about this destruction being the wrath of god and him punishing the people of Sintra for their sins. A clever tactic, that Omero had seen Catholic Church officials do numerous times before; in the times of disaster, make the people believe it is their fault and they will flock to their priests and bishops for guidance, allowing the church to prevent them from going into a mass panic as well as keeping the populous in line. 

 The town crier began to call out:
“Your Count begs your attention, for the sake of Portugal. Be you young or old, male or female, the Count, with the authority of the papacy and Lisbon behind him, urge that you meet in the palace courtyard for the opportunity of a lifetime and a chance to travel around the world. All who decide to undergo the task are promised a handsome reward, should you be chosen to do so!”
This seemed rather strange to Omero. Why would the count organise an expedition so shortly after such a large disaster. Surely he would have far bigger problems to deal with. Omero had a suspicion that this ‘expedition’ had something to do with the dragon attack, whatever it may be. He decided to go to the palace courtyard to investigate in further detail.

There were a great number of people in the courtyard of varied professions, including soldiers, mercenaries, merchants and explorers. A bunch of oafish sailors were commiserating in the corner of the courtyard. A voice came through the crowd, targeted towards the sailors.
“You bunch! Go with these men moving boxes; help them get the supplies from the dock onto the ship, then join the crew.” The voice commanded authority and came from a man whom was clearly the captain. The sailors followed his commands without question and proceeded to move the boxes as asked. The Captain was a brown-skinned man with black hair pulled back into a bun, from his side hung a scimitar, though that wasn’t the weapon that caught Omero’s attention. Along with his scimitar hung a glass dagger of what seemed to be made of glass and twine. Through his various studies under the Red Cross Omero had learnt many things about magical artefacts and their appearances, and this dagger did not look like a normal man made dagger. The captain turned to face the rest of the crowd and continued to speak.

“We need people for an expedition into the Berber coast. If you’ve never been on a boat, or have a weak stomach, I recommend you stay behind. It’s a risky mission but nevertheless lucrative. We’re working on Portugal’s bankroll. I’ll be happy to answer questions now, but I recommend that everyone follow these men and get to the ship if you’re satisfied. We should set sail by nightfall. ” He spoke with both great level of suave and soon enough everyone in the plaza was heading towards the dock. Omero overheard a conversation between both the captain and the counts assistant. They claimed the expedition was a relief mission for Sintra. Although it’s reasoning they gave was reasonable enough, shortly afterwards they openly lied to the gentleman who asked whether the expedition was at all related to dragon attack, stating that dragons do not and never have existed. If they lied so openly about the dragon attack then there was a large chance they were also lying about the aim of the voyage. 

At this point Omero had two choices. The first one being that he could go back to Rome and report the events to Archippo and Lorenzo and listen to their judgement. However by that time any leads he may have had on the dragon would have gone cold. The only way they would be able to find out where is was, was by waiting for it to attack again resulting in the deaths of more innocent lives. Even then, by the time the Red Cross agents had prepared and travelled the dragon would already be long gone. The second choice would be going with the gut feeling that these men were hiding the true intention of this expedition. Allowing him to pursue his investigation of the dragon and learn about where it may be and the best way to defeat it. He could also investigate the dagger the captain had hung by his side to find out whether his suspicions of it being magical were true, and if so how it came into the captain’s possession. He could keep the Inquisition updated through using the Quaesitor Messenger bird, while they could give him orders and advice. Omero believed the second choice to be the wisest approach to the situation.  With his decision made he headed down to the docks with the rest of the crew.

Omero would have to be careful. If a member of the crew were to see him suspiciously sending messages to an unknown receiver they may think of him as a traitor and throw him overboard. Also if the captain were to suspect or discover his true profession, aims or loyalties, it could end him up with the same result. He would have to keep a low profile. For the majority of the crew he could simply pass as a low ranking member of the church. Most people wouldn’t even care about his presence here on the ship and many of the more pious members of the crew may even look to him for guidance, all too eager to put their trust in anyone associated with the church. However after observing the crew he could already tell that not everyone would be so easily fooled. The captain (who Omero found out name was Emilio during a heated engagement between him and two of his now most trusted crew members) seemed as sharp witted with his mind as he did with his tongue and if Omero did anything too suspicious, Emilio could quickly find out that Omero wasn’t who he claimed to be. The Incan weaponsmaster, Epunamun, and the English swordsman, Leonard, were also far more observant than the others, as well as being completely loyal to Emilio. If they suspected Omero of disloyalty Emilio would soon find out.

As true to the captain’s word, the ship set sail at nightfall, soon the ship was in the Atlantic and Sintra palace was no longer to be seen. Fruit, bread and wine were provided to the crew and the barmaid from the La Agua de Vida, who had survived the dragon flames, was dancing and singing on the top deck. Omero realised that this was a perfect opportunity to send the first message back to the Inquisition, explaining what had happened in Sintra and what he was currently doing. He tied the pre-prepared message (he had written while everyone else had been busy loading the ship) to the leg of the bird. There was only one person on the same deck as him at the moment, a young woman who had been given the task of laying out cots for the crew. Omero waited until she had run up to the top deck to join the rest of the crew, before sending the bird through one of the ships portholes. The bird casually flew just above the water before flying high up into the night’s sky. The crew were too busy eating, drinking and singing along with the barmaid to notice such a thing. After Omero had finished, he decided to join the rest of the crew on the top deck, hoping that this time he would be able to watch the barmaid’s performance, without being interrupted by dragon.