[center][color=#b3ccff][h2]Esben Mathiassen[/h2][/color][/center]
[hr][@Psyker Landshark] [@HereComesTheSnow] [@Ithradine] [@vietmyke]

Esben looked up from the short pair he had been speaking with as Izayoi sprang up, barely giving the rest a chance to process the news before requesting to go and rescue the young lord from the noose. A lord she couldn't have seen since the last war's end, from what [i]he'd[/i] been taught about the war between Edren and Osprey. Until he'd seen her alive [i]himself[/i] he'd only paid minor attention to the tales working their way through the populace that she'd returned—he'd have thought it more likely that someone had chosen to take up her tactics and name as a rebellious ploy, rather than fact.

A lord who was barely more than a child when the last war had ended.

[color=#b3ccff]"What do you honestly expect to do with him if you're successful?"[/color]

Where Rudolf had quickly pledged his aid, rattling off his own tactical appraisal of the immediate scenario—one that was, as expected, just as far beyond the average sword-swinging monster hunter as had been his [i]insightful[/i] thoughts on occupation and sieges in the days before—Esben couldn't agree to the same so rapidly. Izayoi herself had already made mention that the wider mission bore the greater importance, and hadn't offered up any way in which such a rescue would [i]aid[/i] their mission.

And it was Rudolf that pointed out one part of what it could cost them. More than they could really afford—while the group wasn't without skill, Izayoi was an asset they couldn't lose, both for her own skill and the fact that she was the one Ospreyan among them. [color=#b3ccff]"We still don't know the full situation here. How far our host's influence reaches, the overall state of any movements within the populace to subvert Valheimer control...do you plan to turn him loose? An [i]ildsjel[/i] is a valuable resource, but one that needs to be handled carefully, and needs the network in place that they'll act within."[/color]

Without the network in place that made them useful, such a person would better serve as a martyr than a figurehead. And he had his doubts that the young man, little more than a boy, would prove the most effective figurehead at that; some level of leadership and skill were still necessary, and if he remembered his details right, Hien [i]was[/i] young enough to be barely more than a child. Much of their number was the same, but the present company was exceptional for all that some of their number had accomplished [i]despite[/i] their age, and counting on encountering more such was optimistic to the point of being foolhardy.

[color=#b3ccff]"Ciradyl."[/color] His head turned sharply following his eyes, landing on their host where she sat. No self-identification given; if asked he'd give his name, but his own interjection had already ruined the opportunity to give himself a proper introduction. [color=#b3ccff]"You and yours are the only ones here that can answer some of those questions, and more besides. What are the patrols through the city normally like, and how dense? How firm of a grip do they maintain and have they been tightening down on the citizens or loosening up? What percentage of the garrison has already left the city?"[/color] His eyes glanced back at Izayoi for a moment, as intent to gauge her reaction to his words as he was to note that of the rest, before his head turned again, this time to Galahad.

[color=#b3ccff]"Barring, perhaps, those of us who arrived so much later than the initial part of this team—none of us are as expendable, nor expendable in the same [i]way[/i] when we [i]are,[/i] as the common soldiery. We need more information, and some semblance of a [i]plan,[/i] before we can consider risking our limited resources on this."[/color]