[IC] EXTRA=STELLAR [Stage 1 - Meracus]

[Yours Truly]

Richard let out a slight grunt as he jumped away from the Iron Titan, letting loose gouts of steam at the titan's eyes and knees to blind and distract him a little before he jumped up, and attempted to tear apart a piece of the roof large enough to slam the titan down on the floor below him.

[Empiricist]

Julianne holds onto her hat and just backs the fuck away, aiming to get further down the carriages back onto the next carriage even and crash inside, using as an opportunity to loop around and hopefully change the relative positioning of herself and her foe. From where she could try luring her into the line of fire of an ally on the way back.

 

That's Plan A.

 

Plan B? That consists of a few wires, a hat, and pretty damn good idea of how to strike. Here's how that goes: As Juliane's heading backwards, she's leaving wires behind, wires that should be near-invisible to the assassin, they'll be scattered wide so that they don't get clipped by the claws. More distance she can get, the better, gives her more time to build up steam. If or when the assassin goes for a lunge, three things will happen almost at once: Julianne will disengage the magnets on her hat if only for a moment before hurling it forwards to bait an attack or obscure her assailant's vision, her quick reels will engage slingshotting herself forwards and throwing any incoming attacks off-timing with some sidesteps and whatnot as necessary to help parry and avoid the attack, and of course she'll add her own counter to the mix, a trip or shadowless kick to the lower leg as she passes by to throw her foe off-balance, keeping her arm close to protect herself with the plated sleeves and the threat of a hard elbow strike.

[Twinwolf]

Eleanor, for her part, decided that stopping the enemy from killing Henrietta was probably smart. She drew her sword and pressed forward. "Why don't you try that on someone who can fight back?" she asked with a smirk as she lunged for the goons, aiming to smack down the one with a scimitar before hacking at the one trying to grab her machine gun. 

[rustytengo]

Henrietta shot a glare at the mook who tried to take her gun from him and slammed her heel down onto his toes the next time he got close to her.  Ignoring the mook trying to cut as she slowly advanced toward Tohl unleashing a hail of bullets on him as she did.  She wasn't expecting her bullets to do much against his current molten form but she was hoping it would at least force him to get closer to the window so once things lined up right she could send him blasting out of the window into the up an coming water.

[IntSys]

Julianne

 

The clawed assassin tailed Julianne, closing the distance at an amazing speed. With one more leap forward, her prey was firmly within the reach of her claws. But then, Julianne turned back and threw her hat back at her pursuer. The hat broke into two clean halves, with fibers drifting in the air. The assassin gave herself a second boost with her right leg, and Julianne could see another set of claws coming out of her left foot. Almost immediately, she slung herself backwards, barely avoiding the assassin's spinning kick as it cut down a few strands of her hair, and sliding away from her. She couldn't get a good aim at the assassin's lower legs to go for a counterattack, unfortunately.

 

The assassin landed first on her left, and then on her right, standing several feet away from Julianne, with the remains of the hat landing roughly around the midway point. They shook with the carriage, slowly rocking toward the edge. The claws on her foot seemed to have been retracted, but her hands remained armed.

 

"Reels? This is a first, I admit! Who taught you to fight like that? A ringmaster?" The assassin mocked Julianne as she began to press toward her again.

 

 

Everyone Else

 

Richard seemed to have caught on to Nemesis' strategy. A thick burst of steam came out of his hands as he pulled a few steps away from the demon before him. But it didn't seem to have fazed him at all, as flames immediately burrowed through the steam clouds - a flamethrower - and went right for the tailor! "USELESS!" Tohl shouted at his opponent. The piece of roof Richard was about to bend and break ended up being a makeshift cover against the flames only, though most of the attack still went through, blowing him up and away, and tumbling down just outside the party's cabin. His chest was seared considerably, but more importantly, his suit was completely ruined.

--

 

Meanwhile, Henrietta stubbed a birdhead's toes with her heel so hard that his grips softened for a moment, enough for her to aim again. Eleanor quickly came to the rescue, going for the goon trying to slit Henrietta's throat but in vain. He met the noblewoman's claymore with his scimitar, parrying it briefly before he watched it chew down his blade in disbelief. And then, its edge gave him a kiss to send him into eternal slumber.

 

The goon trying to hold down Henrietta did not get to live much longer. Caught off guard, he was cleanly beheaded, finally relieving all the pressure on the nun. Nemesis got to her rear just in time, trying to pick down the floor holding Tohl bit by bit from afar. It seemed that Tohl had managed to counter Richard's approach, making things even stickier to deal with.

 

Richard crawled up to face Tohl, only to see his shotgun emerging from his body. Instinctively, he rolled back into the cabin, barely evading a slug. The slug immediately set the floor behind him on fire. "Oh dear," Bellos looked at a ragged up Richard. "Might I suggest you take Julianne's recommendation?" He glanced at the broken window. "You're not going to be bringing down the old general head-on, after all. I'll be following you." He smiled and offered Richard a hand.

 

Nemesis' bullets dug through the floor like termites on steroids, softening the wooden floor enough for Tohl's left leg to sink through somewhat. However, the metal layer on the bottom prevented him from sinking any further and gave him new support again. Getting a foot stuck in some planks was enough to impede Tohl's advance, though.

 

Not that he needed to walk around to be able to fight back. He fired back with some more slugs, but Nemesis along with Eleanor took cover behind Henrietta. The slugs were not kind at all to the frontal shields, though, making significant dents all over it. With Richard out of the way, Henrietta pressed forward, and unleashed another hail of bullets at Tohl. His molten body almost completely negated the attack, aside from a few tiny bits of magma blown off after absorbing momentum, though they were immediately replenished by the molten shells.

Tohl pointed his shotgun at the half-torn piece of roof, and fired three shots at its connected end, severing it and causing it to drop down on the floor. With the slab of metal in the way, Nemesis couldn't get a good aim at the floor Tohl was on anymore. He then continued to blast Henrietta's shields. Before long, they were at their limits.

 

--

 

The train began to cross the bridge. Seeing two people standing on its roof was quite the spectacle for the noblemen and noblewomen relaxing on their boats and enjoying their little vacation.

[Yours Truly]

Richard resolved to extract a nerve for every thread of cloth ruined by Tohl's attack later as he rolled back inside of the cabin. He was straightening out what was left of his ruined suit as he heard Bellos's statement, taking his time as he stood up, nonchalantly took them by the hand and helped them up to their feet, and then kept pulling with enough force to make them lean forward, before shifting to grab them by their waist with one hand.

"I am going to jump out of this window and throw you towards the roof of the next carriage, you can glide down with your wings or curl up into a ball to resist impact, I recommend that you do the former," He said in a deadpan and matter of fact manner, just before he completely and utterly ignored any protests Bellos might level at him and jumped out of the window, using his steam and his quick reaction time to throw himself past the ruined section of roof while chucking Bellos in the closest he could achieve to a trajectory that would buy the nobleman some time to try and control his own flight path.

He then saw Julianne fighting against the assassin, and quickly jumped towards the two, intending to use his sheer strength to land behind the new foe and react with a barrage of quick and potentially disabling blows meant to drive her to a corner, while using his steam ports and quick reaction speed to dodge her counter attack and attempt to target her eyes with bursts of it in distracting, distracting ways.

If this works out in his favor with a successful sneak attack by Julianne, Richard will attempt to reveal that actually, his fists don't always have this short of a reach by punching her shoulder with a right extending steam fist, attempting to dent or break it.

[Empiricist]

Julianne remains silent, firing tethers laterally in preparation for a dodge. A few are angled backwards, a few more angled forwards. Good burst speed, better than her own, but if she commits for a kick that will limit her mobility if only for a moment. The girl's gaze shifts to the side of the train to the waters below if only for a moment.

 

Two figures rise from the ruined carriage. Friendlies too. Well that changes things doesn't it? She steps back as foe lunges reels pulling her backwards. A feint. If she calls it and stops short then that's just fine, she doesn't know about the armor just yet, meaning a parry stepping parry with a kick to the leg should work well. If she does then she'll quick step diagonally forwards or to the side depending on what works best, bringing the armored blade of her arm against whatever claws come her way, and a fist and heel slamming into what opening she sees. Focus is on minimizing damage to herself though, aim to disrupt not to harm. There's plenty of harm coming this way anyways, she could afford to spend some steam.

 

Of course if an opportunity presents itself, Julianne won't mind using a little more steam to get a bit of payback. Priority are the legs, then the arms, the head, and finally the torso.

[rustytengo]

Henrietta kept firing at Tohl hoping that it would keep his attention as she dropped a few grenades at her feet with short fuses and gave them a hard kicked towards Tohl hoping that the heat he was letting off would be enough to set them off. Once the final grenade was kicked over to Tohl Henrietta would crash through the nearest cabin door to take cover from the hopefully coming explosions.

[Chevaleresse]

Nemesis, on the other hand, elected to do the opposite, scrambling further back into one of the nearby cabins (separate from Henrietta) and waiting for the explosives to go off. The shock wave, if it didn't blow the train apart entirely or dislodge Tohl, might present an opening. As soon as the report of the explosion reached his ears, the mysterious marksman leaned out of the cabin with his rifle and began sending rounds downrange, aiming to strike Tohl in the head or heart while the protective layer of molten metal was reduced or absent.

[Twinwolf]

Eleanor, raising her pistols to fire more shots while she went (aimed at the shotgun in particular, to try and disable the weapon), retreated along with Nemesis to find cover from the coming explosion, and would also start firing again when the grenades went off. 

[IntSys]

Richard

 

"H-How aggressive," Bellos muttered, but he didn't actually make an attempt to resist. Richard sounded sufficiently tilted after the burn, after all.

 

Richard grabbed Bellos with one hand and leapt out of the window, before launching him toward the back of the train. As per his suggestion, Bellos spread his wings and soared into the sky. Meanwhile, Richard propelled himself onto the roof of the carriage.

 

 

Julianne and Co.

 

As the two women stared down each other, two figures emerged from the periphery. To Julianne, they were helping hands that arrived just in time, but to the assassin...

 

The assassin lunged forward as soon as she caught notice of Richard and Bellos, not willing to get cornered so easily, but Julianne was no easy prey. A diagonal slash came down, which Julianne then sidestepped. But against the Tokai Yasha Ken, there was little space for evasion in hand-to-hand combat. The assassin revealed the next trick in her book, the Demonic Corkscrew - she immediately propelled herself backwards with one foot, and followed up with two consecutive slashes, one from her other foot, and another from her other hand, all awhile landing with one hand. Julianne was able to parry away the first slash, while aiming for a kick to the legs.

 

The second slash caught her off guard somewhat, but she managed to meet it with her bladed arm again, though this time she really felt the force. Her kick softened as she was knocked off balance, though the push seemed to have disrupted her assassin enough to prevent a counterattack. She teetered toward the edge of the carriage, just a step away from falling into the river.

 

The assassin did a backflip with one hand as she recoiled from Julianne's attack. That went poorly, she thought. Her friends were probably heading for her right about now. She diverted her attention to tend to the big guy landing from behind, though she was immediately surprised again by how he was already within melee distance. The situation went from great to awful for her all the sudden, and she had to backstep away from Richard's flurry of punches amidst the peril.

She knew the odds were terrible for her if she had to deal with three arms and four legs simultaneously, and so she had to break through one side as quickly as possible. As she was about to lunge at the guy with a scorched suit, he blinded her with bursts of steam, prompting her to practically breakdance to protect herself. With her body spinning and her limbs revolving, her claws formed a shredding wall that made direct contact extremely risky.

 

She regained vision quickly and paused briefly to get a proper hold of the situation. The first thing she saw was Richard's right fist stretching right at her in an almost unimaginable way. Hell, the Master wasn't kidding when she said Gaea was full of monsters. She folded her arms right away, blocking the extended fist but pushing her closer to Julianne again.

 

And just when she thought things couldn't get any worse, she remembered that there were two new enemies coming from the carriage. Where the fuck did the other one go-

 

She turned her head slightly, and there he was! Was it a bird? A bird with a katana? Yes! Bellos dived right down toward the assassin, and frankly she was out of hands. She shoved Richard's fist back, and spared one hand to block Bellos' swooping cut.

 

With a clank, the assassin was knocked backwards, and off the edge.

 

 

Almost immediately, a series of explosions came from not too far behind Richard, rocking the carriage hard.

 

--

 

 

Everyone Else

 

First, Tohl saw Henrietta's shield break apart as he fired his shotgun one more time.

 

Then, he saw her shifting toward the cabin next to her. A futile attempt, he thought. He was about to fire again, but a bullet hit the barrel of his shotgun. It came from Eleanor. He was annoyed, but he could mend it on the fly anyway given a bit more time.

 

And then, he saw explosions, rending through his molten body violently. He didn't have the time after all.

 

--

 

Nemesis was the first to jump back to the action, emerging from the cabin next to the one Henrietta got in. The damage was apparent. The grenades tore the floor and the walls before Tohl. Speaking of whom, he was laying low on the floor, his molten body presumably spread all over the floor like a splashed bottle of glue. The angle was still awkward, so Nemesis had to get closer to land the finishing blow. He saw what Tohl did with Richard, so he still kept a safe distance, just enough to get a clear shot. He made his way to the previous carriage, and stopped at the cabin they were in.

 

There he was, lying on the floor. "The suffering ends for me... But not for my family." He muttered, though only Nemesis could hear it. And then, he went silent. A bullet punched through his exposed heart, and his body began to cool down, reverting back into lumps of iron.

 

--

 

Eleanor watched from a distance, standing outside the cabin Nemesis was in. She thought she had heard the sound of someone walking along the outer walls of the carriage, and it was approaching fast. And then, a slender figure kicked right through a window just behind her using a clawed foot. The two made eye contact. Her dressing style was notably oriental, with a pink kimono wrapped up to serve as fighting clothes, and a brown bun on her head.

 

The assassin could very well have just sneaked away after noticing that the Iron Titan had been killed, but hell if she was going to leave empty-handed. She took a deep breath, and went right for Eleanor, flashing the claws on her hands as she was about to attack.

[Chevaleresse]

"For me, but not for my family." So he was a victim, or at least believed himself such. Nemesis didn't have time to ponder that for long, though; the crash nearby drew his attention. It wouldn't change what happened anyway; the man had been in his way. There were only two ways it could end. He brought the rifle up again as he spun, chambering another around as he moved with purpose towards the sound. The source of it wasn't difficult to pick out; pink tended to not be the most subtle color, particularly when it was rushing at someone with claws outstretched. Nemesis took careful aim at the assassin; this would be a difficult shot, given the speed of his target and the proximity of Eleanor. Doing his best not to strike his ally, he fired a single shot, aimed as close to the center of the assassin's body as he could manage.

[Twinwolf]

Eleanor raised an eyebrow at the woman who had just crashed through the window. She didn't look very friendly - "Can I help you?" . As the woman lunged, Eleanor activated her jet boots, suddenly bursting backwards and rapid firing her pistols at the assassin as she dashed backwards. She would then duck out of the way of Nemesis' shot, holstering her pistols in order to draw her sword and bring it to a guarding position. "Well, aren't you a rude one?" she said with a smirk, "Attacking a lady without even introducing yourself? You need to be taught a lesson!"

[IntSys]

Eleanor and Co.

 

The assassin's slash missed as her target retreated backwards, with several bullets hitting her squarely in the chest, slowing her advance. A bullet passed right by Eleanor and the assassin's waist, and all the sudden the assassin was reminded of the presence of two more targets in the train. They were supposed to be handled by the Iron Giant, but clearly, without bioaugmentations, he was barely any more capable than the birdhead goons. "Tch," the assassin's eyes shifted toward the door for a moment. "Fine, allow me to introduce myself!" She lunged forward again, locking Eleanor's blade with her claws as the two's eyes met, "Kroza Nanayama! Remember it!"

[Twinwolf]

"Eleanor Julia Flores! A pleasure, but I have to say - you're not nearly as subtle as most assassins. Things not going as planned, hm?" She smirked, and hit the switch on her sword to set the serrated teeth spinning, trying to cut through the claws. If that didn't work, she'd try and manuever to get between her and the door - and also give Nemesis a clear shot on the assassin. Confident in her abilities in a one on one as she was, she was less certain the man wouldn't keep shooting and accidentally hit her in the back. 

[IntSys]

Eleanor and Co.

 

A sharp and piercing screech rang through the hallway as the teeth on Eleanor's blade ground against the assassin's claws. "This is about as bad as it can get, lady!" With the confidence she pulled out of nowhere, the assassin shoved Eleanor a step away before she could saw through. With a moment of breather, Eleanor sidestepped toward the door in an attempt to move out of the way for Nemesis to score a clean shot, but the assassin one-upped her by throwing herself at her, parrying the claymore briefly as she tackled her into the cabin.

 

"You certainly don't fight like a noble pansy! What's your deal?" The assassin crossed her claws, feeling even more confident now that she was no longer within Nemesis' line of fire, though the repeated fighting had begun to tire her out.

[Empiricist]

That's enough rest for now, back to work. Julianne drops down, sprinting down the cabin towards the commotion. A tether fires out, snagging a fallen falchion and bringing it into her hand. The noises were coming from a cabin, Nemesis was aiming through the door. Entry points would the the window or the door. But that's too predictable. 

 

Go to cabin before. Expend steam. Put a fist through the wall and quick reel backwards. At the same time, fire a tether through the hole and drag the assailant backwards. Shift falchion into warding stance. A quick pull off balance in a situation like this, could very well be a death sentence. 

[Chevaleresse]

Nemesis approached the door; he'd have to get closer to get a clean shot. Entering the cabin with the long rifle was a no-go, and so he slung it back over his shoulder before pulling out the revolver. It was a risk; Nemesis didn't have much going in a close-ranged confrontation besides quick reflexes, a sturdy blade. . . and a plan. He lead with the gun as he pushed into the cabin, preparing to fire all six bullets in quick succession and fan the assassin down if he got a favorable angle. If she rushed him, he'd go for a quick draw-strike with his katana, and if that failed, there was always his Drive, the second chance he would create for himself.

[Twinwolf]

"A noble who cannot duel is not worthy of the name!" Eleanor said, "But then, the staged ones many prefer were never as interesting as real ones, so I took some lessons." The close confines of the cabin were not an ideal place for her sword, but then, just then collateral didn't strike as much of a concern; Eleanor lunged, feinting left before making her real strike from the right, trying to get past her guard. 

[IntSys]

Everyone

 

"Is that so?" The assassin took a back step as Eleanor lunged forward, and cut in from left to right with both of her claws in the most barbaric way possible - cutting through both possibilities. Her claws crashed into Eleanor's claymore, and with another clank, the two women recoiled away from the blow. "My turn!" She was about to leap toward Eleanor, with all four of her claws revealed like a life-sized shuriken, when a small hole opened up in the wall to the left with a long bang, and a tether flew out and struck into her. Caught off guard, the assassin was dragged to the ground forcibly.

 

Well fuck, the tether clown had figured out her whereabouts. She probably shouldn't have tempted fate. With a grunt, she severed the tether before Julianne could drag her any further, but it was too late, for Nemesis had her within the line of fire.

 

"Shit-" The first three bullets hit squarely into the assassin's chest, but her insurance - her armor - was finally starting to pay off. The force knocked her back again before she could flip herself back up, only to be met by three more bullets, punching in deep and making plasmic blood spill.

 

Three again. The previous encounter made it clear that three was her limit. She was not about to die so young. The job didn't pay well anyway. Surely she could find a better boss and land in a job that's not extortion, right?

 

"Fuck this shit, I'M OUT!" She flailed her claws toward Nemesis, prompting him to parry with his katana and get brushed aside. Then, she escaped through the shattered window she came in from.

 

--

 

Bellos was not at all used to the fast pace of a battle. He offered his thanks to Richard, however, for giving him a chance to fight.

 

He got back down to the ground floor through the gaping hole left by Henrietta's grenades. The Iron Titan was long gone, and what was left of his body had cooled down and hardened. His goons, or rather, the Monolith's goons, were long gone, either jumping off the train or hiding underneath some table in the cabins.

 

Through the windows, they could see vast plains bordered by tall mountains. And of course, the Frontier Town, Kaagan. They were minutes away from their destination.

"Good work." Bellos commented. He shot a glance at the corpses in the carriage Tohl was in, before continuing, "We should probably not stay in Meracus for too long. The news will spread like wildfire as soon as this train stops, and the Meracus Monolith will most certainly try to hunt us down. He wouldn't be able to do so should we make it out of his territory."

[Chevaleresse]

Nemesis took a moment to look over his guns, inspecting them for damage incurred during the fight, then mechanically reloaded the revolver in case anyone else decided they wanted to try their luck. "Good," he finally commented. "We shouldn't spend time doing anything but pursuing our goal, anyway." Nemesis glanced out the shattered window by which the assassin had escaped, still trailing blood. "Do you have any idea who that was? With her escaping, the Monolith will have our descriptions."

[IntSys]

Bellos scratched down a piece of the blood with his katana as he answered. "Frankly, I have no idea. Her fighting style reminded me of an assassin I've hired before, though she's not quite on the same level." The blade was raised to the level of his eyes. "She's a nobody. And it should stay that way. That aside, we're not going to be stopping anytime soon. The Monolith's not going to be able to react in time... And if it comes down to it, I'm sure you wouldn't mind taking his head, right?"

 

The train began to slow as it passed through the fortified walls of Kaagan. "Let's make this quick. We'll rendezvous in an hour at the East Gate. In meantime, get yourselves fixed up. If all goes well, we'll only have to butcher a few Teras to get through Chloropylae."

 

--

 

Everyone || Frontier Town Kaagan || Midday

 

Had you arrived thirty years earlier, you would've seen a prosperous market town where merchants from all around Gaea negotiate deals and celebrate successes over a hearty feast. But now, Kaagan is a military stronghold where soldiers outnumber civilians two-to-one, an inevitable outcome considering the strategic importance of the town; it sits before the only safe passage between the two neighboring regions. The town's service sector transitioned smoothly, but the merchants of the past can no longer be found aside from a select few who cling to those days.

The main attraction of Kaagan is the various clubs that line the streets. Clubs host a variety of entertainment such as gambling, dueling - for Manavi and for trained Teras, underground prostitution, and more.

 

For the more prestigious tourists, Kaagan is likely just a rest stop for their journey to Kaleiga and beyond, where they'd wait for the next round of military escorts through the pass.

 

--

 

The train slowed to a stop at the town's train station. The first-class passengers were the first to disembark, and they were very much in a hurry to considering how one of the carriages blew up amidst an actual gunfight.

 

--

 

Locations of Interest (including but not limited to)

 

Kaagan Nexus (Foundry / Church)

Spoiler

The Gaean architecture is directly influenced by the Imeran architecture. As such, the tradition of building the Foundry and the Church together in compound structures called Nexuses persisted, even with a weakened presence of faith.

 

The Foundry has one floor on the surface and two more floors underground, allowing it to contain the central pole that holds the entire structure together. Wombs and repair platforms extend out from the same pole which powers them, and a spiral staircase lines the walls of the Foundry.

 

The Church is fairly standard. There's the statue of Bramada - a headless figure, reminding all that His image cannot be replicated through mortal hands, while providing a means to imagine that same image with. And right next to it is the statue of Divus Meracus... Wait what? Why of course, Divus Meracus, otherwise known as Meracus Clarone, the man that founded the region that was named after him posthumously. He's now deified in the Meracus Sect in order to reinforce the support of the population. Unlike the statue of Bramada, Meracus still has his head. Whether that places him above or below the true God is up to the interpretation of his detractors and supporters.

 

Kaagan Hunting Guild

Spoiler

Hunting Organizations are rich in history, with roots tracing back to the old world's Kingdom of Pisces. In Gaea, these organizations are paramilitary by nature, but they've also seen greater investment from the Monoliths due to them holding the means to obtain to the bioaugmentations that make up the backbone of their military might.

 

The Kaagan Hunting Guild is one such example of how hunting organizations have changed in Gaea. While Teras are still graded according to their threat levels, people hunt them down not because they're dangerous but rather because they hold elusive powers.

 

The building that houses the guild also comes with contained cells that house captures ready to be sold to the next Manavi vying for power. Treants - Sentient trees with will-o-wisps in their husk - are especially popular, as when bioaugmented, they can give Manavi the ability to trigger the overgrowth of plants within a small radius, and cause them to wither just as quickly.

 

[Empiricist]

Naturally, Julianne's first action was to check the cabins for valuables, mostly the pockets of the fallen but a few cursory glances into the hastily abandoned cabins wouldn't hurt either. There are three things, three simple things you need to survive in Gaea. Money's one of them, the lesser of them, but one of them nonetheless, and while you'll need an awful lot to be safe, it doesn't hurt picking it up where you can. With the bodies looted and lost belongings appraised (but not yet taken, a little too early to be making enemies after all) Julianne heads out for the Nexus.

[Chevaleresse]

Nemesis nodded. An hour wasn't much time to prep, but it was enough. He headed in the direction of the Hunting Guild, not targeting the compound itself but the buildings that would inevitably be servicing it. Armories supplying the weapons one needed to bring down Teras, and everything needed to maintain them and not be torn apart by the things you hunted. There had to be a few merchants in the area, trying to eke a profit out of hunters that wanted a special, made-to-order elephant gun or what have you. There, he would restock his ammo, and try to make some idle conversation. He was headed further into the region, happened to be passing through the area; the weather seemed good for hunting. Any good stories to tell, warnings to share? At least, that was his goal; Nemesis found himself rather lacking in diplomatic ability as of late, and covering oneself from head to toe tended to not invite trust.

[Twinwolf]

Eleanor, for her part, followed Nemesis - she needed to reload some. As much as she would like to have some dueling for pleasure in the clubs, she was certain she wouldn't have the time to do that and to refit and restock. When she got there, she would see about getting some ammo for her guns to replace what she had used (along with some extra - too much ammo was preferable to too little). While she was there, she'd see if any of them were skilled enough engineers to check over her sword as well, make sure there wasn't damage from it's earlier use and repairing it if there was some. Noticing Nemesis having some trouble getting information out of the locals, she decided to help out - a pretty woman tended to loosen lips easier than a fully covered man. 

 

After the first such incident and disengaging from that conversation afterwards, she'd give him a smirk. "Need some help getting people to talk, I see. You must know that covering up like that is suspect, especially in a place like this, no?"