[center][h2][color=#b3ccff]Esben Matthiassen[/color][/h2][/center]
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The answer to his previous wonderings, as the red-haired Mystrel opened his mouth, was most definitely 'worse' this time. He raised a hand, signalling the team that had been assigned to them to keep back and make a wide circle around the few of them in the center. Harried and exhausted as the continent-traipsing rogue looked, Esben wasn't about to give him the chance to try and run off again.

He came up a step or two behind Rudolf, eyes fixed on Zeke, lowered pistol still in hand. [i]Quarantine.[/i] One of the Valheimer patrol had said the same. [i]City of the dead,[/i] that was new, and fanciful beyond all but the wildest tales that were often told. Necromancy was rare enough as it was to have slipped more or less into mythical status, at least in Skael. That Valheim had been able to make use of such magic as [i]that[/i] when creating Siren was shocking enough, not to mention a massive affront against all that was right in the world.

But that was one person. One small part of a small project. Not an entire city. To convert such a population to undeath, whether or not they were suborned to any necromancer's will, was inconceivable. More likely would be some sort of plague, or a biological weapon gone wrong. Experimenting with the Blight, maybe, trying to weaponize it rather than it just being a side-effect of their conquest—Valheim would almost have to quarantine the area if something went wrong in that way, just to protect all their other interests. If that were the case, however...

[color=#b3ccff]"Nobody come closer than eight feet to him unless absolutely necessary,"[/color] he commanded. Further still would be better, if he'd been exposed to some sort of pathogen, but they needed to be able to move fast enough to keep him from getting away as well. If need be, he trusted in his and Éliane's aim well enough to cripple one of his legs until Miina could put him back together. Assuming it [i]was[/i] her brother, after all. That the man who was always skirting the edges of the law was so willing to go and speak to their superiors hinted at either trauma and extreme desperation, or some sort of ulterior motive.

He glanced past Zeke, over to where Éliane stood, and nodded in the direction opposite Rudolf, before stepping off to the right. Chisato would hopefully pick up on it and take position opposite him. Two nets, their Mystrel caught in the middle, with no choice but to play along. [color=#b3ccff]"Answer his questions quickly. On top of that, you will explain exactly the route you took in and out of the city, and through the quarantine. Now's not the time to hold anything back."[/color]