[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/BjtZNtv.png[/img][/center]
[color=ed1c24]Location[/color]: Hdur, Kindeance. --> 5 miles outside Fanghorn
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[hider=The Inn's Farewell (hidered to not break present event flow)]
At the nosey redhead(?)'s attempts to appear clever, Veronica snorted, chest briefly heaving in a fairly restrained expression of dismissive mirth. [color=ed1c24]"It's really a wonder what nonsense parents will fill their children's heads with to keep them in line."[/color] Sometimes, in hindsight, Veronica found she could be a little too free with her inherited surname. For all that he'd been such a major feature in her life for such a... comparatively mercifully short time to the rest of it, it somehow managed to often slip her mind that the man had [i]history[/i], and in this case, it seemed she had the misfortune to come across two individuals with personal familiarity with it. Still, she didn't feel like rewarding a stranger's prodding at this stage. Less was more. [color=ed1c24]"Coincidences sure are funny things,"[/color] she only replied blithely, leaving it at that.

To be fair, she wasn't exactly going out of her way to conceal her nature. If she really wanted to, maintaining her protective magic without closing the windows would have sufficed to continue muddying the waters. In fact, she determined it was only inevitable that her state of undeath would become apparent without a good deal of luck. Even so, it wasn't in her best interests to recklessly broadcast it, especially with strangers of debatable trustworthiness. Therefore, the wise thing to do would naturally be to confirm and deny nothing. For her own part, she simply tucked away the casual admission -or claim, rather- that the nosey, weird-smelling Kaito was a [i]lot[/i] older than he looked. She wasn't yet sure exactly what that said about his nature, but it would be interesting to follow up on when convenient perhaps.

As it turned out, this appeared to be the right play. The shadowy, bundled man, Solomon... He seemed far more familiar than she'd like with her Sire. In spite of his claims that the meeting had been "less than hospitable", it had also been cordial, and Veronica wasn't sure what all that must have said about the man. For all she knew, "cordial" might mean Solomon was allies with her Sire, had a contract or some other inconvenient pact that would see her in some very hot water if she... Well, perhaps it was best not to be too free about mentioning her Sire's demise until she could feel out his apparent acquaintance better.

And so, as she was want to, Veronica lapsed into quiet observance, allowing herself to drift away from the conversation in order to observe and catalogue. The great thing about other people, honestly, was that they loved to talk, to needle and prod, gloat and reminisce, and carelessly present more than their fair share if only you were to pay attention and resist doing the same. And in doing so here and now, Veronica learned... quite a bit.

"Kaito" -if that truly was the obvious trickster's name- was an illusionist, older than he looked, and quite possibly not showing his true face in a very literal manner. The last thought was not so much implied by either conversationist, but more a paranoid possibility Veronica felt ought to be logged. He was born with "natural talent", which on its own wouldn't have been any clue as to his nature. After all, she too was born with a "gift". However, his claims that he had studied with no-one, that it had come naturally, and that it was a familial trait? That implied a genetic predisposition to the magic, which had some implications. Nothing she could say for sure, but more an intuition on the tip of her tongue. Also, apparently, he was a glib hand at bluffing... or so it appeared. For a moment, Veronica had almost been convinced that Kaito was already aware of her nature, but he claimed he thought the existence of her Sire a mere children's parable. "Claimed" being the operative word. Honestly, the more she heard him speak, the less she trusted a single word out of his mouth to be delivered without a double-meaning or alternative aim. She would have to be more careful with him going forward.

Solomon, meanwhile, was the now obvious source of the medicinal smell, undercut by something... other. Given the new context of his cordial association with her Sire, Veronica now had a few more possibilities to tack onto her list. He was apparently both a mundane medic and a possible magical healer. Although, the latter was less directly stated... and he was apparently inferior to the actual bear at said healing. Would wonders never cease? Aside from that, the man was a clear mystical scholar... a very ambitious one too. Wanting to bring back the dead? Veronica politely held her tongue on that matter. "One step at a time" was damn right.

Besides, Veronica didn't know a whole lot about matters involving death and the afterlife, but she did know that every tale that spoke of such things tended to emphasize the toll to be paid, often without even resulting in true success. Hell, she was a "living" example. Vampirism itself was an example. For all that one gained, they lost much of what made life worth living. They became a predator of their own kind, something innately, irrevocably [i]other[/i], no matter how much she'd like to pretend otherwise. She knew that her turning, at least for a moment, had killed her. She had seen... Well, maybe not [i]seen[/i] so much as [i]experienced[/i] something incomprehensible, something that had burned into her memory and yet remained utterly indecipherable regardless, searing a fear of death into her that she had taken... a decently long time to overcome. Regardless, vampirism was, in a sense, at least one true method of resurrection...

But Veronica was quite sure it would not suffice for Solomon's purposes. Given his association with her Sire, she had good reason to suspect that he thankfully didn't consider such methods viable on a large or practical scale. Ironically(?), that just made him seem... almost even more arrogant or naive than she'd initially thought upon hearing his ambition. He didn't just want to resurrect people. He wanted to be able to do it without [i]paying a price[/i]. Foolishness. But far be it from her to stop him from figuring that out on his own.

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A measure of Veronica's attention to her internal musings was drawn away by the intrusion of the inn's owner, who was... Gosh damn it. Yet [i]another[/i] outsider now in on the mission... and [i]again[/i] at the fault of the damn elf. As the "baker" and Jazdia drifted away to a different room, Veronica turned her near inhumanly keen hearing far more towards them than the conversation of her tablemates.

The back and forth between the owner and Jaina confirmed the vampire's suspicions, much to the quiet clenching of her jaw. So, the elf -and most likely those injured among the team- [i]had[/i] been responsible for the bombings in the Capital. She resisted the urge to bury her face in her hands upon hearing more. The Black Serpent Guild had been riled and its leadership annihilated by Jaina and her band or hooligans, and worse, the mysterious additional stray they'd brought back was a formerly enslaved mage with a potential bone to pick. Not that Veronica had any issue with rescuing slaves on principle, but still...

Her eyes narrowed ever so minutely at the talk of some form of magical devices, at least one of which appeared to be anti-mage, lips pursing in consideration of the knowledge that Jazdia had once been part of some now defunct organization... which again sounded like it should have rung a bell. The vampire's expression remained neutral, but her mien turned cold at the mention of innocent casualties... ones that might have been the direct result of one of the team's actions. Jazdia refused to name names, but there weren't a whole lot of options to choose from anyway. That left Kaito, the Samurai, the infamous rogue Rosenving, the AWOL Henri... or even Jazdia herself, either by accident or necessity.

The conversation soon wrapped up after that. And though nothing further incriminating seemed to have been said, the damage was done. Crimson eyes carefully followed the elf's retreat up to the second floor, soon pursued by Captain Matilda. Almond-shaped pupils narrowed to furious slits. So, now she was to tolerate willful murderers of the innocent and those that would cover for them as her comrades?

Closing her eyes, the vampire leaned back in her chair and reached for her magic, casting out her Sight, as the world opened up to her in a watery haze that began to clear with her sharpening focus. As usual, there was a manner of out of body sensation that accompanied being able to look down at her own self, before she turned her sensor away and sent it up the stairs after Matilda and Jazdia, sounds also beginning to bloom into her perception to go with the sight. Warbly and almost like they were coming from underwater, but clearer the longer she focused. Listening in to the orc and elf, Veronica quirked her ears in curiosity, before her brow furrowed in frustration.

Honestly, Matilda was far too trusting for her own good sometimes. But that was fine. Veronica had enough caution -some would say paranoia- for both of them. As the conversation reached its conclusion, the pale girl quickly released her sensor and excused herself from her table wordlessly, setting about finding herself a good seat by the fire to perform equipment maintenance. It wasn't like there was a whole lot else for her to do for the next twelve or so hours.
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Night fell, and all too soon after (if not soon enough for Veronica's liking) so also came departure into the night. There was a chill in the night air, but for the pale girl, it was an almost comfortable clinical feeling. The atmosphere and environment, somewhat to her chagrin, were exactly suited to her nature, and she couldn't help feeling comfortably at home under the stars. There was the offer of a horse, but she declined it. She was faster on foot anyway at the pace they were going. As if she couldn't outrun a cart. Bah. Besides, the animal in question didn't seem all that enthused with the proposition of her mounting it to begin with. It was hardly too much of a surprise. Beasts could have the strangest intuition sometimes.

So it was that that she found herself riding in the front seat of the cart, casting her night vision about at the lands illuminated by the moon in varying flavors of shadow. She'd have preferred to park herself in the back of the cart, but it turned out to be very much filled with bear. Reinhold lead the way slowly but steadily towards what was apparently turning out to be Fanghorn, and Veronica had to fight the urge to be up front with the comparatively vulnerable guide. Her instincts as an assassin steered her otherwise, however; tarrying in the potential line of initial fire was not where she would be most valued. Her time and energy was best spent elsewhere. Between her vision and magic, she kept a whether eye out for trouble in the immediate vicinity for the next few hours.

Four hours in, around 3 AM was when things got a little more... interesting. Initially, Veronica hadn't had any intention of making any more deep scries until the place of the Prince's imprisonment was well in sight. However, Matilda insisted, and so she complied. Only... the results were not as she had been expecting. The fact that she had broken through at all came as a surprise. Even more shockingly -or rather inconveniently, her vison seemed to have been... redirected to Pesti, the village further away?

Well, redirection was certainly one possibility.

As the group slowed their pace and began dismounting to consult the map once more, Veronica's lips pursed tightly in consideration, unrolling the map under the light of Jazdia's enchanted arrows. Questions were rolling in, and she did her best to answer.

[i][color=ec008c]"How much is the enemy on each site?"[/color] she began, eyeing Veronic. [color=ec008c]"In Pesti especially." [/color][/i]

[color=ed1c24]"I honestly couldn't say,"[/color] the vampire responded with a frown. [color=ed1c24]"I only maintained my scry long enough to backtrack out of the prince's residence. There were guards in the threatening plurality. That's not in question. But I was more concerned with getting the most out of the apparent crack in the defense I entered. No telling if I'll be able to do it again."[/color] She jabbed a finger down at the mountainous region of the map. [color=ed1c24]"My greater concern was guiding my probe through the building and finding a window as fast as possible to get a look at the mountains and determine the locale's orientation, just to be certain that I wasn't being redirected."[/color] She shook her head. [color=ed1c24]"Which is to say, I can be fairly confident that, regardless of where he might have been before, the Prince is now in Pesti. Fanghorn is probably a trap at best."[/color]

[i][b][color=00a651]"Veronica, what are the chances of our enemies noticing the scrying?"[/color][/b] Matilda wasn't well-versed in matter of magic, but she had better general knowledge than most. Skilled far-seers were great boon, but nowhere near impossible to predict and counteract. [b][color=00a651]"And as the elf said, try check the amount of potential hostile on both sites. Surprise may no longer be on the table now, if we are to divide our force we need to split it accordingly."[/color][/b][/i]

Veronica's head swiveled to the Guard Captain, and she shrugged. [color=ed1c24]"Given that the King is unlikely to have ceased his own attempts to scry the Prince, the surely constant barrage must be muddying the waters if the barrier is, in fact, capable of back-tracing scrying. Oh, I've little doubt they know people are attempting to scry them, but I don't really see any reason why the enemy would notice anything specific is off on that end. They would be expecting to be scried, after all, so it -perhaps ironically- wouldn't stand out for us to be doing so."[/color] Cupping her chin with one hand, she snorted. [color=ed1c24]"I doubt such a firm ward would also contain a capacity to trace scrying back. If it could, it would be much less defensively powerful."[/color]

Her brows furrowed at the suggestion to split the group's forces. Kaito's own interjection regarding the suspect integrity of the present situation also got her nod. [color=ed1c24]"If I may,"[/color] the vampire posited, [color=ed1c24]"it seems like the last time this group split in two, one half was nearly wiped out by a trap from our foes, and they'll be likely even more prepared this time. I don't think we should split our forces unless absolutely necessary."[/color] Nodding to Matilda, she continued. [color=ed1c24]"With distances like these allowing us to quickly reach either village within about an hour or two from the other, it would behoove us to commit to wiping out each potential enemy one at a time with our full strength and then quickly engaging the other thereafter."[/color]

Sitting down, Veronica laid the map across her lap, adopting a bit of a thinking pose. [color=ed1c24]"Way I see it, there's a few scenarios: the prince is in Pesti after being moved by his captors who were warned of us coming. The prince is still in Fanghorn, but my scrying is being redirected to Pesti. The prince is actually in Pesti, and the enemy doesn't know that we know. In the first case, Pesti is a trap, but one baited with what we want. In the second, Pesti is still a trap and also a red herring. In the last, Both places are a trap, but Fanghorn is likely the more dangerous one. Point is..."[/color]

Veronica shook her head, trying to pull herself free of the deluge of internal concerns and contemplations that threatened to overwhelm her. [color=ed1c24]"My intuition is that we should act according to how Kaito here suggested the enemy may be planning and so counter them, fully committing to whichever front we pick, crushing it and then moving on to the other. If we find the prince in one place? Lucky us. If we don't?"[/color] the pale girl shrugged. [color=ed1c24]"Just means that we now won't have the other locale's inhabitants potentially hunting us down while we're vulnerable escorting the prince back home."[/color] Working her jaw, Veronica considered the matter further. [color=ed1c24]"I don't have numbers on troops quite yet for either location, but I can see about changing that."[/color]