[center][h2][color=#b3ccff]Esben Mathiassen[/color][/h2][/center]
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After a last-minute planning session with Miina and Chisato, reminding them of the rules of engagement (the first being: don't engage unless completely unavoidable) and working out a place that [i]they[/i] could meet up or hide messages if need be before finding the others, the trio had split their separate ways. Given a lack of information that the three had on where their quarry could be, it had left them with a host of options.

Attempting to infiltrate the cathedral, one that he figured was best left to Chisato as her target was the one with the most ties. Observation of the guards and the locals, listening to rumors, following their movements to see where they were congregating, anything that could lead to determining the Grovemasters' residences or outright locations in that way—perhaps best left to the one that could blend in as a local or outright make herself invisible. Lastly, infiltrating the Council halls themselves, finding offices, taking any information that could be useful in that way.

Naturally, Esben had assigned himself the third option.

While the security around the city overall was not terribly effective, he had noted that it was still more than had been when they first came through. The presence of guards—as well as their apparent competence at their jobs—only increased the closer one got to the major centers of the town's rule. The living tree that held the Grovemasters' chambers, as the beating heart of Drana Asnaeu's governance, was one of the most heavily guarded parts of the city. The guards made a fine show of things around the main entrance, but they were clearly patrolling the streets around it as well, smaller teams posted at various side entrances, and no doubt they would have snipers—archers, crossbowmen, possibly even riflemen if they had deigned to trade for such [i]modern[/i] weaponry—watching various points in the vicinity.

More professional by far than Mizutani Tane's goons, if he had to guess. This wouldn't be quite so simple a task as running along the walls and stabbing a few criminals in the back. Still, he had the cover of night on his side once again, where the guards would be relying on light sources either posted or carried. As he watched the surroundings of the Council chambers from the high perch he'd climbed to, he couldn't help but note just how [i]predictable[/i] the guards' patrols were. Predictable and gappy; unacceptably so, if it weren't for the possibility of snipers on overwatch.

Peering through a spyglass, he scanned the field once more, pausing when he caught the reflection of firelight off of metal. [color=#b3ccff]"As expected,"[/color] he muttered. The prod of a crossbow was a hard thing to hide when it was kept so clean and polished. The guard holding it was almost invisible, the balcony they hid on cloaked in shadow and themselves draped in dark, form-obscuring clothing, but the light that caught the steel limbs and spiked bodkin bolt gave them away to anyone who knew what to look for. He followed the arc of the patrol that had just inadvertently revealed their comrade, spotting another sharpshooter a couple blocks down, and a third.

Overlapping fields of fire. At least they were being smart about it. Though, if he had to guess, judging by the way in which they all conducted themselves...perhaps the time the Kirins had spent lost in the forests had been to their advantage. They seemed less concerned about infiltration than they likely should have been.

He brought the spyglass down, pointing to the first sharpshooter. [color=#b3ccff]"One there, one there, and one there,"[/color] he directed the eyes of his small, fey companions in turn. [color=#b3ccff]"Likely more, but you see the side entrance there, [i]ja?[/i] I'm going to make my way in near there, which means those are the three we'll have to take out. Once I'm close enough I'll have the two of you distract the guards at the door to make sure they don't notice me coming in, but until then, keep yourselves dim and stay hidden."[/color]

[color=#008b8b][b]"Right!"[/b][/color]

[color=#cc44f5][b]"Right!"[/b][/color]

He nodded. [color=#b3ccff]"I want to do this with as little death as possible. These aren't criminals or invaders, they're just doing their jobs—and I want to try and take them out simultaneously, if we can. What options do we have?"[/color] The fairies, having already dimmed themselves to the point that he could only tell they were glowing because of how dark it was, looked at each other in thought. Obviously, he was planning to physically knock one of them out; if the two could manage to remove the others at the same moment...

[color=#cc44f5][b]"I can slow one down until they fall asleep!"[/b][/color] Selene exclaimed after a moment, earning a raised eyebrow from Esben. [color=#cc44f5][b]"You saw how Rudolf reacted when we dropped him back to normal, right? I can do that in reverse—unless they're [i]very[/i] good at forcing themselves to stay awake, if they just keep slowing down more and more, eventually their body will just assume they're tired and—lights out!"[/b][/color] He nodded, looking over to Eos.

[color=#008b8b][b]"I can—"[/b][/color]

[color=#b3ccff]"Make them so sick they pass out?"[/color]

Eos's cheeks flushed red as Selene began to laugh. [color=#008b8b][b]"No fair!"[/b][/color] she pouted, as Esben flashed a small smirk. [color=#b3ccff]"Alright, you two, stay dim like I said. Keep out of sight until you see me ready to work. I'll go for the far one, closest to my entrance—both of you peel off as we pass by the other two."[/color] The fairies nodded at him again, and he turned, climbing down from his perch quietly before dropping to the street.

The more organic nature of Brightlam's construction introduced an element of chaos to his route that didn't exist in any of the other places they'd been—however, from his earlier vantage point he'd already familiarized himself with the majority of the layout he needed to know, and between his sense of direction and the fact that he could send one of the fairies up higher to point him the right way if he ran into an unexpected dead end it was no difficult matter for him to make his way along and avoid the sporadic patrols as he did so. Selene split off first, staying near the first sharpshooter; Eos with the second a couple blocks later.

Esben kept to the shadows of the buildings, moving with a light, quiet step. Over the two block span, he only had to press himself into an alcove to hide once, when he'd barely overtaken the guard patrol one street over and heard them coming towards the intersection. Luckily, they continued along, turning back towards the Council building as they made their rotation.

He climbed atop the buildings again, the close-set roofs proving very easy for him to make his way over to the last sharpshooter. Off to his right, he caught the barest glimpses of green and purple lights, letting him know that Eos and Selene were watching closely, ready to tackle their own. He turned back, creeping to the edge of his roof. The sharpshooter was just below him—like the others, draped in black, this one holding a longbow rather than a crossbow or a rifle. He looked off to the streets, noting that none of the patrols were near enough to hear anything if much noise should get out, and moving [i]away[/i] at that.

He dropped down to the balcony. The guard turned instantly, dropping the bow and reaching down to pull out a knife or a sword. Esben lunged forwards, the heel of his palm striking hard and sending the guard's head jerking up and to the side before he could yell anything out; before he could recover he had them pulled in tight, slipping behind and pulling his neck into a triangle choke. Within seconds, he was out cold—just as the fairies zoomed up beside.

[color=#b3ccff]"Make sure he stays out,"[/color] Esben bid the pair as he let go of the guard. Selene drifted down, placing her tiny hands on either side of the man's forehead. His eyes fluttered as he started to come to as blood flow resumed to his brain, before drifting away again, far more peacefully. Once he was sure the man wouldn't wake up for a good while, he nodded, dropping back to the street, fairies in two. [color=#b3ccff]"Alright. We have a couple minutes here. Go get those guards distracted for me—nothing that'll draw suspicion and leave them gone from their posts, I just need some time so that I can get in through one of the windows."[/color]

The pair glanced at each other once and sped off, brightening up again once they were in the wider street. Within moments, he heard the guards—cursing about like Izayoi had been, though at least a little more good-naturedly. The people of Brightlam were familiar enough with fairies, after all, so a pair of them coming and causing a bit of mischief wasn't cause for alarm.

He went wide around, passing an extra block just to be safe. Off where the two guards were watching the side entrance, he could see the pair of them swiping at the fairies playing just out of reach; they seemed to have grabbed [i]something[/i] of note, that they were tossing back and forth between themselves—and surreptitiously turning the guards away from the windows Esben intended to get in by. Once they were looking the other direction he sprinted the remaining distance, slipping his cutting dagger in just enough to undo the latch and force the window open so that he could climb through. He did, waited a moment as his diminutive compatriots finished having their moment with the guards, and closed the window again. Blinked the summoning spell, the fairies disappearing wherever they'd gone after messing with the guards, and reappearing next to him.

[color=#b3ccff]"Good work, you two,"[/color] he praised them, looking about the room. Nothing special, this one—no doubt the offices would be deeper in, near where they'd all met with the Grovemasters. [color=#b3ccff]"Scan the halls ahead of and behind me, I don't want any surprises."[/color] With that, the trio carefully combed through the Council building. The offices of each of the Grovemasters were easy enough to find. Alambert's was fairly empty, other than his calendar detailing some of his meetings; the man didn't seem to keep much by way of notes within his. Isolde's was about as empty as he expected as well, given that she likely spent just as much time at the cathedral, though there were more than a few notes about how her lockdown was grating on the populace, and a small notepad of her own. He scanned through it quickly, frowning at some of what he read.

In Zacharias's office, there was more to be found. Some mail that the man had brought from home to work, giving Esben his home address. Details of the efforts he'd been taking to contain the Blight, organizing expeditions and cleanup crews, curiously [i]without[/i] the aid of the other two. Then, in the man's notes...more of what he'd read in Isolde's own. It appeared that the Grovemasters weren't half the united front that they tried to present, especially if the both of them seemed to find Alambert's activities to be questionable. Ducking meetings with them, avoiding questions about how he was spending his time, roving about to parts of the city that one such as himself would normally have no business being in, all for the last few months.

[color=#b3ccff]"And yet she said that [i]he[/i] could be turned,"[/color] he mused to himself. Either Isolde was overconfident, blatantly lying to them, or whatever Alambert had been up to, she was getting in on it. That suspicion should now be cast on [i]two[/i] out of the three wasn't something he'd been unprepared for, though if Miina or Chisato couldn't find something to turn the tides more in their favour, it made it more likely that things would have to end in further bloodshed.

[color=#b3ccff]"...Unfortunate."[/color]

[color=#cc44f5][b]"Hmm?"[/b][/color]

He shook his head. [color=#b3ccff]"Don't worry about it,"[/color] he bid his companions. Selene was keeping watch at the door, Eos down the hall, but both could hear him clearly enough. [color=#b3ccff]"Come on, let's get back out of here—I want to make my way to Zacharias's house while he's still there."[/color] Everything he'd pulled out was put back precisely where it had been, anything important already committed to memory. While he had half a mind to go and verify Cid's thoughts on the possible location of the Crystal of Water, he decided against lingering too long in the Council chambers, or risking that he might run into some fresh [i]new[/i] threat down below if he did find the crystal.

The sharpshooters should, likely, have still been unconscious, so the best way out was the way he'd come in. He backtracked through the halls, coming back to the side room with the window. Looking outside, he could see a patrol making their way towards the door guards. He waited for them to come by, turn round and head back, giving it time for them to get far enough away, before looking back to the fairies as he slid the window open once more.

The dimmed pair slipped out, staying low, before brightening up again next to the guards.

[b]"Oh, come on, not again!"[/b]

Somewhat exasperated, but still with some good humour about it, the pair began to try and catch their things back once again. Esben slipped out, slid the window back shut, sprinted back to the dark cover between the buildings he'd come from. Now he had only to pick his way back through the city, to the eldest Grovemaster's house, see what the guards were like there...

[color=#008b8b][b]"Having fun?"[/b][/color]

[color=#b3ccff][i]"Ja.[/i] How could you tell?"[/color]