Investigation: Ezzo Empire

Kite folds his hands behind his head. After having duelled Polaris for some information, he'd taken the time to recover and also wait for Shiroe. He didn't doubt the villain in glasses would make good on his threat if Kite ventured forwards without him.

And then there was that woman, Nureha, who also was interested in investigating the matters concerning Ezzo, and Mizuki had been adamant on coming back around once she heard he'd be staying behind.

All in all, he found himself with a party to accompany him, funny enough. "Ah .. man, I don't know where to wait for them, though ... " he murmurs.

It was understandably very crowded with refugees here at the shores.

The temperature is freezing cold. Not too far below freezing, but definitely freezing. The ground feels hard under the ground of those who decided to get /off/ the boat, rather than staying safely on it. It isn't long before the ship sets sail back towards 'Aincrad Island', the name Adventurers sometimes use for that place.

Beyond the 'shield' that has erected across the region leaves an obvious meter long black mark on the ground, which halts any vegitation from growing. It even blackens rock. Yet, in various sections it is hard to tell there is a shield because of how it seems to visualize. Long patterned lines that cross-cross eachother. It's like a giant square grid that has been made to be lay out across a dome, without losing too much of its shape.

The crowds at the edge of the land are crowded near the beach and the tall cliffside of certain areas. Longboats have been used in order to get everyone onto the ships, and the progress has been a slow one.

Nureha steps off the boat, lugging some food supplies with her. She drops it off with the people handling the supplies for the refugees and tightens the strap on the satchel over her shoulder. Her clothes are washed out and unremarkable, a black staff used to gently but firmly guide people out of the way and keep herself from falling in the crowded and somewhat noisy throng.

She moves farther out, towards the edge of the beach where she stands studying the shield while shivering from the cold. She looks from side to side, watching the ebb and flow of the crowd as she tries to make out Kite or anyone else familiar.

    Mizuki has ridden back on one of the boats here to pick up refugees, and is dressed for sailing in an armor set that includes a piratey black, plumed hat and blue cloak. The cold doesn't bother her, she's wearing a fur coat all the time.

    The cat-person assumed Kite's brightly-colored outfit would be easy to find. She is, however, short, making it hard to see over crowds after she disembarks. She tries jumping, but it's hard to look around for someone only a second at a time. Eventually she finds a pile of supply crates to climb on top of, and scans the crowd.

With a vantage point, its much easier to spot Kite's bright red hat among the crowd, deeper inland on the shore. He seemed sandwiched inbetween various adventurers trying to make their way to the arriving longboats, not unlike canned sardines, or perhaps a Japanese train.

"Excuse me ... sorry ... I need to get through -- watch your step -- try not to shove ..."

He seems to be making some headway through them, at the pace of a particularly slow sloth.

    Shiroe having departed from the ships had made an extended effort to try and make a good spot to meet up with Kite based on the nearest landmarks he could. Also he's just tall so that helps. If it was good enough for the sailors it would have been good enough for him. Of course, the moment they had first come to shore it didn't take much to see how some were elated at the prospect at getting off of Ezzo. He can only imagine why, let alone how terrible the weather was in the area but the conditions they supposedly had been trying to live through it truly had to be hell. Even he found himself feeling the chill wrapped up in his cloak.

    The bespectacled enchanter makes his way through the crowds as he makes it to the red-capped player, making sure that a certain ninja is keeping pace considering it was probably harder for them to see over the crowds. His own appearence probably making him easy enough to spot amongst the hustle as he makes his way to Kite. He walks up examining Kite overall as if evaluating his choices for preparation in the manner. He had said before he had intended to investigate Ezzo, but never said for how long. Just for the duration till the ships headed back. Longer? Was it less based on time and more based on examining the entirety of the area? He had never said.

    "So...Are you hoping to find something specific?" Truth be told he's not really sure what it is Kite's trying to investigate, and if he doesn't know that he's not sure how much he can be able to help. "Ah, right, before I forget." He'd step aside for a moment to reveal a lady of a more petite size, "This is a friend of mine, Akatsuki. Akatsuki, this is Kite. He's the one we'll be helping. Akatsuki's a capable player from before the Apocalypse. If possible I'd want to have her to take point to scout so that she can notify the group if there's monsters ahead of us. It should hopefully keep us out of too much harm's way."

    The air's chill bites slightly into the tiny frame of Akatsuki as the longboat she is riding makes landfall, she spritely leaves the boat and quickly scans the shoreline full of the displaced of Ezzo it is as chilling of a sight surpassing the mere cold in the air the petite ninja gives a brief shiver.

    As Shiroe makes his way throught he crowd she follows along quietly a crisp but light cracking of the frozen ground beneath her feet the only sign of her passing though easily lost in the din of the crowd. Her eyes wander toward the shield and a mild curiousity grips her as to what lies beyond, though she suspects her curiousity will likely be satisfied before all is said in done on this trip for Shrioe's friend.

    Akatsuki's attention snaps back to Shiroe as he seems to meet up with said friend. The nature of their search obviously interests her but then she is introduced. "A pleasure to meet you Sir Kite, I will do my best to ensure I shall not let you or my lord down." She gives a brief but deep bow as she speaks and waits for the red capped adventurer's reply.

The tall, lanky enchanter meets up with Kite at last. And, on the edge of his vision, isn't that fox-eared woman..?

His attention is brought back to Shiroe and the companion he introduces, a petit ninja named Akatsuki. "Hi! It's nice to meet you. I appreciate any help you can give." he says, stepping back to bow politely. There ultimately wasn't enough room for that, however, resulting in a clumsy half bow and a sheepish laugh.

"Well, anyway. Something specific .. yes and no. It's difficult to explain, and I'd prefer not to speculate without any proof first. I do have a lead, though."

The location of the terminal that Polaris had given him, Kite moves to share the map-marker with Shiroe and Akatsuki. "This is the first place we'll be checking out."

It was so cold, even after all the time he'd spent in this world, he was still amazed at the sensations it could feed back. Something as simple as miserable weather ... Kite shakes his head and puts himself back on the right mental track.

"That dome .. it's practically a quarantine, or I guess a partition ... at least observing it from the outside, everything inside of it is an entirely different 'world space'. Nothing inside can interact with anything outside."

Nureha sees someone standing on a pile of supply crates, and not too far away it's not entirely difficult to triangulate on the bright red hat she was searching for. However, the white cloak that soon joins him freezes her in her tracks. She draws the grey hood over her face, ears flicking with nervous energy as she leans on the black staff.

She looks over at the food supplies and the milling, cold, frustrated crowd.

Take a deep breath. Hold it.

There was no legitimate reason to put this off any longer. She had prepared for this trip and.. regardless of the company, she was going to make use of it. Still.. It would be a shame if they were held up for a little while dealing with a situation on the beach. She wanders back towards the crowd, bumping a person there or saying an innocuous comment as she helps someone get onto the boat or unload supplies. It's nothing much at first.

"My, these rations look thin." "I hear there was trouble on the last boat." "How many are they planning to send?" "What if the adventurers start to hoard all the food?" "Oh yes. Walked right onto the ship, without waiting." "It's dreadfully cold tonight."

But of small pebbles are avalanches gradually formed. "Those adventurers over there. The one in the red hat... What are they planning?"

    There, indeed, is Kite's hat. Mizuki makes her way through the crowd.

    "Kite! You've really been waiting here all this time?" She glances around at the crowd. "I guess this is business as usual for someone who's been doing this since Fragment, huh. We're running around worrying about our place in this world, but you..."

    She watches him talk about... something that they're going to see, probably the Install Port. "You have a way through the barrier, don't you? What is it?" He is, clearly, a hero who's been mixed up in who knows what and probably has special powers or something, because it turns out life was an anime the whole time and she just didn't know she was a background character.

    But now... now she has a chance to be in the hero's party, at least for one adventure!

    Akatsuki manages to nimbly keep out of the way of the passing horde of stranded adventurers though her keen eyes instantly regard Kite as he begins to relate what the target of their search is. Though Kite's words leave her a bit bemused as searching for something your not sure of a very hard prospect.

    Mizuki grabs Akatsuki's attention as she joins the small group huddled in the masses as she seems to know Kite already the ninja relaxes her body having tensed from the unexpected voice speaking to their group. The ninja offers the other girl a quick nod as way of introduction before focusing on what Shiroe and Kite are talking about.

    The fact that Kite says the inside of the dome is a 'different world space' definitely catches her attention but she's not exactly sure what the red capped adventurer means by it. Though the search might not be easy they at least has a starting point given Kite's map marker. It is at about this point that the crowd seems to suddenly thicken around them and the attitude seems to sour from desperate but hopeful to angry and belligerent thus her hand flutters to the handle of her blade nonchalantly as she spins to face the crowd putting her back to Shiroe and Kite, no one would be getting the drop on her lord that was for sure though she says nothing just yet about the crowd merely keeping an eye on them should something happen.

    Shiroe finds himself scratching the back of his head when Akatsuki calls him that again, "Akatsuki, you're being too formal again..." He doesn't hound her too much about it, but it's just so unusual to be called something of the sort. Not when Kite's starting to elaborate more on the situation. "Things that are difficult to explain are starting to become a running theme it seems. That's fine though, for the time being I guess we'll play things at your pace."

     As he starts looking over the point on the map as well, he can hear another voice reaching over to them. Another familiar face in Mizuki arrives to which Shiroe would have greeted her, but she gets right into the meat of the next question. Shiroe doesn't verbalize it himself, but he does give a bit of a ponderous look to the red-capped player. He did have a way for them to get through the quarantine right? "Well, we can worry about that after we check out that first check- Oof...Oi!"

    Just as they were preparing to depart from the beach, the side they're at finds a lot more foot traffic. In fact, it felt like for some there were quite a few eyes there direction. Questions start coming one after the other. "Ah, no the ships did take some damage but as far as I know the rations are still in tact, if not still very bland..." He turns to the next, "Hoarding the food? The tasteless food? I can't go into details but there's no way at the moment anyone would be able to do so." Again another, "It's possible the Adventurer was already on the ship before so but, ah..." More and more questions keep coming and well it does start to feel rather suffocating. It's to the point that he can see Akatsuki reaching for her weapon to which he urges her against it. "Akatsuki." His voice is stern as he brings it up before she and Kite receive a message.

>
>
    <<Looks like everyone's getting riled up for some reason...Akatsuki, find a path to lead Kite and the others through here. I'll meet up with you guys as quickly as I can. Even if we just left it'd be a problem if we left everyone like this.>>

    With that said he'd let Akatsuki handle sneaking them through the crowds while Shiroe tried delegating with them in some form or another to try and keep this avalanche from getting any more messy.

Kite becomes more uncomfortable as they begin to get crowded out even further. What was with that?

"Yeah, I had some stuff to look into before trying to actually go inside." He answers to Mizuki, making an expressive motion with his hand. " ... and ... well, I might. We'll have to see, yeah?"

It was an awkward topic to broach in the first place, even more so with so many prying ears visibly trying to eavesdrop. "There's someone else who also wanted to come, but I can't really remember her name .. ah, man, I feel a little bad about that ... but she'll understand if we go on ahead, I hope."

The best solution to the dissatisfied masses would be to simply disengage from the situation and distance themselves, and so he recommends they get on their way. It seemed that Shiroe was of a like-mind.

> Okay ... but be careful and try not to get lost in the crowd. (v ^.^)b

Mizuki makes Nureha's day by saying very important things very loudly, or at least loudly enough for someone with keen senses to pick up on through the turmoil. So the one with the red hat had a way through the barrier? She had put together that he was somewhat important from earlier builds due to Balmung's reaction to him, but she was intrigued by the idea. She wasn't sure it was true, but if she stayed quiet and kept the group distracted as they investigated, she might be able to have some questions answered of her own.

She stays in the crowd of disgruntled adventurers and Landers, predicting that at least Shiroe would stay to calm the restless mob. That would allow her to tail them at a distance. The terrain is rocky but that was why she brought the staff.

It always paid to be prepared.

    Mizuki stares at Kite's hand briefly. He really does have something?! More evidence for life being an anime, or a JRPG at least.

    But then people are asking questions.

                                       --                                      
    Mizuki shouts at them, 'What the hell are you on about? All of us were on the first four boats and some of us have escorted more! I've escorted three boats here! Since then we've sent two boats every hour for two weeks! You think we're suddenly going to stop NOW?! There's like half a million of you and boats only take so many! Do the math!'

    And then the angry mob gets in a fight. Adventurers and landers are killed in the crossfire, and with the status of Ezzo, there's no coming back for either of them.
                                       --                                      

    Mizuki shakes her head as the mental image of how THAT would play out fades. No. That's what SAM would do, and it would only end in tears. This is a job for... MIZUKI.

    The catgirl faces the crowd and raises a hand. "Excuse me!" She gestures to the group. "Mizuki and her friends were all on the first boats, nya, and Mizuki herself has escorted three boats across the sea! Mizuki is doing her best, and so are her friends! Please believe in us, nya!" She ends the speech by posing as cutely as she can manage with a wink and one hand raised like a beckoning cat.

As portions of the crew manages to get away from the crowd, they find themselves at the precipice of a cliff. There's various stones hewn out that looks like they'd been traveled down, and anyone careful enough could take their time and safely make it down... if they didn't run into some really bad luck. According to the map Kite has, the spot should be down there - the origin of this strange 'web' that encompasses the Ezzo Empire.

Kite, ever ill-fated, decides to simply try and climb down. He places his leg down to try and find a good foothold before beginning his descent, glad for the thick leather protecting his hands and feet from the rough rock edges he has to grip at to continue his reverse-climb.

Misfortune strikes him as his hand slips off a mound of soft dirt that he'd mistaken for a rock. "U-uh....wait, wooooaaaaaaaAAAAAH!"

Kite flaps his arms to try and stabilize himself, for naught, as he enters freefall.

    Akatsuki's hand moves away from the handle of her blade as soon as Shiroe commands. Then as she gets the message to escort Kite and Mizuki away she nods her head, "As you wish my lord." She then regards the other two adventurers, "Follow me, it'll be be best if we get away from here..." Mizuki's show of cuteness does seem to calm the crowd somewhat, "Let's hurry while we have the chancce."

    Arriving at the Cliff she takes a moment to peak down the edge to try and determine the best way down from the edge when Kite begins to climb on down. Akatsuki follows suit but apparently choose her path a bit more wisely down as Kite suddenly slips down, "Sir Kite!" Her hand shoots out to try and catch the red capped boy but she misses and almost goes tumbling down herself.
    

    Behind the smile, Sam is sweating mentally.

    That... worked. That worked?!

    Mizuki actually... lifted the crowd's spirits?

    Mizuki lifted the crowd's spirits!

    Yes. That is how Sam should think of what just happened.

    They party makes their way to a cliff. Sam is not a rock climber. But since the Apocalypse, Mizuki has had plenty of experience climbing up and down buildings and trees. Is a rock face that different? The ninja cat nimbly climbs from foothold to foothold and at no point becomes a motivational poster! And oh hey, there's Kite, who does not fly like his namesake! Mizuki tries to catch him, somersault, and land nimbly!

Nureha makes a winding way towards the cliffs, making sure to keep out of the party's direct line of sight as they make their way towards the edge. She examines the view ( which includes a tumbling kite-- there must not be enough wind to keep them aloft) taking special care to avoid the especially adroit Akatsuki.

After examining the situation and finding a way down that doesn't directly intersect with the others, she scribes earth runes carefully and with precision into the rock face. She does the same to her sturdy leather boots and gloves and begins to carefully make her way down, the rock clinging to her form and supporting her weight, molding itself into handholds where she needs them.

Once the team make their way down, even with a rocky descent for some of them, they arrive at... a cliff wall. It looks like a normal cliff wall, and is not at all out of the ordinary. Though one might suppose the bit of 'beach' that sticks out at the bottom of the cliff has this suggestion that something might be here. But it tip-toes that line between natural land formation and hint darned well if that is the situation. Proteus had marked this location. But now what? When Proteus had tried to enter it again, or touch the wall, it had not given way.

Kite finds himself in the arms of a dashing nin, a real flying shadow.

Shockingly, being carried by a large bipedal werecat is pretty cozy, if not embarassing. "That was a close one ... good save! You caught me like a star athlete saving his team from a homerun."

Kite gives Mizuki a well deserved thumbs up, not that he didn't appreciate Akatsuki's effort when she almost fell down with him.

After leaving Mizuki's arms behind for solid ground, Kite frowns slightly, biting the inside of his cheek. "Well...this is what he described, I think..."

Kite tries pushing against the wall to no avail. It was most likely Protected and only accessible to a system administrator .. in that case ...

    "Hm."

Not being one to be too hasty, he waits to see what the others think, first.

Nureha ensconces herself on a ledge somewhat to the left and above, murmuring a long and delicate Hymn that leaves her skin and hair the color of the surrounding rock as she settles down to wait. The group below gather on a small strip of beach and she sits, her staff to one side of her, leaning against the rough stone and waiting. -- Perhaps Mizuki had been mistaken and this was a fools errand. But even if so, she had her plans to pursue before heading back.

    Letting out a relieved sigh as Mizuki manages to easily catch Kite and land without incident, Akatsuki makes the rest of her way down the cliff. Her deadpan features don't give away the annoyance she feels at herself for failing to catch Kite but she quickly got back to the task of looking for anything out of the ordinary and help them find whatever the red cap was looking for in the area. Though while he tries to push the wall she notes nothing about it either, "Is this where we are supposed to be?" Maybe they had the wrong place?

    Mizuki's not that large! Although she's not Akatsuki-smol, either. She just gives Kite a smile and sets him down on the ground. "No problem!"

    And now they face... an empty cliff wall. Well... relying on catness has served her well so far today! She approaches the cliff and feels across it, closing her eyes. Rapping on the surface with the pommel of a dagger and listening for hollowness. Smelling and feeling for air currents with her nose and whiskers. Come on...!

    But would some kind of debug access point created by the admins even HAVE such features? The whole cliff could just de-rez when you hit some hidden switch or something... No, don't think about that. Focus, Mizuki!

    That sounds... weird. But familiar. Mizuki opens her eyes.

                               <IMMORTAL OBJECT>                                

    What. "Dammit..." Okay, so this really IS a chunk of geometry that's not subject to physics. She turns around. "There must be a hidden switch or trigger volume around here somewhere." She can only hope it's not something weird like 'stand in this exact spot, spin three times, and recite the password'.

    Beat.

    "Wait." She turns to Kite. "Whatever you were going to use to get us through the barrier... does it work more than once? Could it work here?" She raps on the rock behind her with her fist. <IMMORTAL OBJECT>

Nureha slowly reaches over for her staff, beginning to trace runes in the stones just in front of the ledge. She slowly moves to the rockface she was leaning against, taking something out of her inventory and planting it against the wall. She traces little runes around it as well, looking up towards the top of the cliff and keeping herself hidden so she can't be directly seen from the top in case Shiroe returns from calming the restless Landers.

She continues her preparations, waiting for the right moment.

Kite smiles a little bit once the indicator pops up. "Jackpot." he murmurs.

Essentially, this place held the same kind of status as any other 'essential terrain' in the game. Trying to attack it was like trying to attack a church, or a fountain in town..that was the best approximation he had of it, anyway.

"Give me some space, okay?" he asks, holding his hand up against where Mizuki had been tapping with her pommel. Kite takes a deep breath.

It had been seven years since he'd actually used it. It was odd to think about -- almost like trying to remember how to ride a bike. A ring of light becomes visible, shining around his wrist. "If this works, then .. !"

It blossoms outwards almost formlessly before 'jutting' in a sharp motion that strains the eyes.

Streams of data flow from his Twilight Bracelet into the structure as he uses Data Drain on it. "H....hnnngh...!!"

It'd been so long, Kite struggled to control his arm. It reminded him of back when he'd first gained the ability to use it.

Kite aims the Twilight Bracelet at the wall. For most of those here, it's something they've never seen before in their lives. In fact, Nureha would perhaps only know it by description, if anyone mentioned Haseo's little thing in the Ezzo Empire. The device activates, lighting up for a few moments - visible for those here until...

It stops.

It doesn't appear that pointing it at the wall does anything? Most certainly, he wills it to do something, but it just... doesn't.

"Hn...hngh...the Twilight Bracelet isn't activating..?!"

Kite struggles to make it work, but, it all winds up for naught. He sighs, lowering his arm, a look of worry and confusion on his face. In Fragment, he'd been able to strip the system protection off of places to enter restricted zones -- but it seemed as though he wouldn't be able to do that in Elder Tale. Had whatever method Aura employed to make the bracelet work been patched out? Kite had already suspected that ETO was using data carried over from back then, but even if true, it didn't necessarily mean that things were going to always work out like he thought they would.

Even so, the disappointment showed easily on his features, "It can't be used that way anymore, huh..."

If it wouldn't work on <Objects> or <Things> then the only category left for it to be used with would be <Entities>. Kite puts a hand to his chin in thought.

    Pondering what the next thing to do in this situation maybe search further afield, Akatsuki's thoughts are interrupted as the immortal object tag pops up. The tiny ninja frowns ever so slightly at the wall well there wouldn't be an easy way past that though as she turns to speak to Kite to confirm this is in fact the right place he seems rather excited by Mizuki's find.

    Kite's light show is rather impressive and totally unexpected to the point she is stunned into silence for a long moment as the wall lights up and then nothing more, well that was unusual. As the light from Kite's arm dies down she notes the strain on his features, "Sir Kite are you alright?" Making a note to ask about the "twilight bracelet" later, Akatsuki does her best to stand in such a way that should Kite flop over she'll be ready to catch him and break his fall...just in case.

    It's still all not quite real yet. It's not that Mizuki doubts Kite, but she hasn't seen him actually DO anything a normal player can't, yet. When asked she stands back at least as far as he is and watches with interest... then stares as the Twilight Bracelet activates, even if it doesn't work.

    "What was /that/?!"

    Sam takes the failure in stride though, already trying to think of the next thing to try. He's not an experienced modder or anything, but he's USED mods. And when a coder who cares more about function -- say, a portable storage space you can move around -- than aesthetics, you get stuff like a tent (or whatever) that doesn't quite line up with the level geometry. Hmm...

    Mizuki looks around, and starts explaining: "Look for something that could be a switch placed here by a coder instead of a level designer. It's probably also an Immortal Object, or at least doesn't interact with physics normally. They wouldn't want their switch to roll away."

    Mizuki picks up a stick (or rezzes one from her inventory) and starts poking and whacking at any small rocks, bushes, trees, etc that are lying around.

Kite wobbles, but stays standing. It'd be embarassing to have to be caught twice, "Hueh .. thanks, but I'll be fine," he smiles to Akatsuki. "Mizuki has the right idea, I think ... to be honest, I was pretty much putting all my eggs in one basket with the Twilight Bracelet ... but it does mean that certain things carried over from Fragments were adapted rather than dumped in here on their own, I think.."

Nureha murmurs. "Fascinating." at the stream of data that twines across Kite's arm and then.. ends. She has enough of an angle to see the 'Immortal Object' barrier, but whatever it is that Kite intends to do seems not to go the way they intend it.

She watches Mizuki pick up a stick and begin to methodically poke and whack every pixel in the surrounding terrain. She stands up and prepares to leave, climbing back up the same way she went down.

    Mizuki doesn't find any hidden switches. But she does find... "Footprints?!" She hurries back up the wall to see if she can pick up the footprints there!

Kite hums slightly, observing the footprints after they've been pointed out. "I think that these aren't that old. So there's someone who can come and go through here as they want.."

Polaris mentioned 'The Bandit King' before. From what he'd said, Kite had figured that the NPC was used by a System Administrator at the time, but, it was the only lead he had left as far as actually trying to enter Ezzo went.

"I think we've done pretty much all we can, here."

    "Haaaa...Haaa...Quite the view..." As Nureha finally climbs her way back up to the cliff, she finds that Shiroe's at the top, a bit out of breath, but he's there right before her eyes. While she had taken her precautions inorder to hide herself from a bird's eye perspective should he have spotted her from the cliff, the moment she had returned up it seemed that Shiroe had ended up just making it to the cliffs himself. He looks exhausted but slowly regains his breath as he stares down the Cait Sith. He says nothing to her, yet the look in his eyes makes it clear that he has plenty he wants to say. A hand comes to his ear before he speaks up, "Akatsuki, let the others know I'll be with you guys soon." Clearly a message unintended for Nureha, but she hears it none the less...

    Prior to that meeting though, the situation had taken some time but finally...FINALLY he had been able settle the crowd and more than that he was even able to learn that all those rumors had been started by a single person. A woman of blonde hair, pale skin, and radiance like a queen all jumbled within beige and brown robes. For a short time he thought he had spotted such a person near the shore but ultimately realized the person in question hadn't been as such. "..."

    It eats at him a little to possibly lose the suspect, but if they weren't at the shore there was a chance that maybe...

<
<
<<Akatsuki! I need your location and the path you got there from now! We might be getting followed!>>

    It was only a hunch at this moment, but his intuition was kicking in. If the person hadn't still been at the shore, they were probably keeping their eyes on the group still. As to why though... He wasn't sure but there was one thought in his mind, if he ended up following the route they had taken he might find the person in question. And while he doesn't find a blonde-haired woman of queen-like radiance, he does find someone in beige robes who ends up following the same path as his comrades. It's only for a moment, but his gaze weakens at the surprise of what seemed to be a familiar face, though quickly readjusts. He says nothing still, though those sanpaku eyes behind his villainous glasses ask the question, 'Why?'

Nureha freezes for about half a second when confronted with an out of breath Shiroe.

She tilts her head, standing still and silently with her ears and tail completely still, her manner frozen like a statue standing out here in the courtyard somewhere. A gleam of something runs across her eyes and she doesn't insult him by feigning ignorance. So the look is amusement perhaps, or curiosity, and -- in respect to an opponent who has decided to commit themselves, she curties elegantly in her simple robes.

But there is no malice in her eyes.. and no repentance either. "I suppose one should be careful, wandering around these hills. You never quite know whom you will encounter."

The tail swishes once as she strides past him, the staff balanced on her shoulder and fingers clutching the haft with a white-knuckled grip as she moves back down the Cliffsier, going to seek out the one her Guild called the Bandit King and ask him a few questions.

    Mizuki climbs past Nureha. She has to find the footprints! The footprints... which lead back into the crowd.

    She slumps her shoulders, ears and tail drooped. God damnit.

    Well. She still got to actually... lift peoples' spirits, and saw something cool, even if it didn't get them to the Install Port or whatever that was.

    She calls Kite on the chimlink. <<The footprints just lead back into the crowd... What's our next move, Kite?>>

    Akatsuki nods simply in response to Kite saying he's fine. Then about the same time as Mizuki notes them Akatsuki sees the footprints as well though without any hesitation she begins to follow them looking for the path they took up the immortal wall face.

    While looking up she suddenly gets a message from Shiroe requesting their location, the path they went and the fact someone might be following them. She barely even reacts to this no change in features for actions continuing her looking for the trail as Mizuki seems to be doing the same.

    <<At once my lord!>> The ninja dutifully recounts the path that was taken to get to their current location while also trying to look out of the corner of her eye for someone potentially spying them from afar.

    Making sure she is facing the wall as she speaks she whispers to Mizuki, "Do not react but my lord says we might've been followed down here keep your eyes open."

    Making their way along the twisting path back up another cliff face only leads them into a crowd of Landers and Adventurer, "Hmm." It is at this point that Shiroe speaks to her again, "My Lord says he'll be joining us soon."

Kite ruffles the back of his head, frowning. "Eh....well....you did a really good job tracking them this far."

Overall, the effort had been a bust. It'd be a lie to say it was disheartening, but, it's not as if looking into these kinds of issues was ever easy before. But it was also undeniable that back then, he had certain advantages that were no longer the case.

The original functionality of the Twilight Bracelet. The support of Aura. And more than a dash of luck, really.

"I guess we should talk to The Bandit King. I heard that he helped establish this dome."

Kite's eyes widen as Akatsuki mentions that there was a chance they'd been spied on. That was /bad/ .. for him, at least. He'd prefer it if his Twilight Bracelet wasn't public knowledge, but ... if they had been seen, and that person kept it close to their chest, that meant nothing good for him either way.

    "Gh..."

    Mizuki gives Akatsuki a curious look while waiting for the others to catch up. "Your Lord?"

    As the trail of tails slowly begins to stride past him, as she grips so tightly to her staff, Nureha would hear that same voice speak up once more. "Oi..." The voice is steady, unyielding, and clearly directed to get her attention. The sounds of footsteps can be heard from behind her as they dig into the frozen over edge of the cliff. Rather than following behind her, to obstruct her the sounds end up going the opposite direction towards the edge of the cliff.

    "I wasn't joking. This really is a nice view..." If you ignore the giant quarantined area at least. But as Shiroe looks out from the cliff, he's able to see the beach to which the other's had gone. He can see the ocean going out into the distance, and with it he can see the sun slowly setting into the horizon. "This is definitely the kind of view you'd want to share with friends..." The two stare off into their separate paths, his voice which had seemed so stern up to this point almost sounds...Inviting. Inviting her to see that view with him. To stay at his side perhaps like those friends he speaks of. "Nureha, with all your wandering, what are you looking for?"

    Akatsuki's lips quirk up in a mild flash of amusement, "My Lord Shiroe." The embarrassment it causes him when she calls him that almost makes her but out laughing but the aforementioned short lived smile is all that appears.

    <<My lord, we followed some footprints up the other side of the crevice we are no amongst the Landers and Adventurers of Ezzo again.>>

    Her report to Shiroe complete she regards Kite again as he clearly begins to worry about having been followed, "Do not worry too much we will catch them and find out what they've seen." Though to change the subject some and take his mind off his troubling thoughts, "Whom is this Bandit King?"

Nureha pauses in her exit, but only for a step. She turns to look at him rather than out along the cliff, giving him a serene smile. "I know. Oh.. I heard so much about it that I had to see it for myself." Her glance flicks to the quarantine zone rather than the slowly setting horizon. She stands with her back to it, just a silohuette whose shadow is growing longer as the light fades. The expression on her face is.. considering. She seems to have more attention for him than the vista around them but.. it slides away, back to the quarantine zone. "I suppose, of anyone, you.. are welcome to guess. I'll even give you a hint, for today's.. encounter. Look out there, at those people. Those frightened crowds. Those angry faces. Do they have anything to live for once they've stepped on a boat? Do they have a Reason anymore for their actions... and do you?"

She draws out the sounds. "Or... like me.. are you simply indulging your curiosity?"

She smiles, turning her back on the sunset as she continues on her way.

"Someone speak my name?" Coming forth is a woman with blonde hair, and green eyeshadow, as Akatsuki invokes their title not once, but twice. With a notable whip on their hip, and green armor, the woman strikes a rather impressive figure. That hair which just so /slightly/ curls, while waving down their head. It's kept short, as to not get in the way during battle. And their armor clearly looks like it may be some kind of Relic.

That's strange though - Nureha might realize, what with Polaris' prattling. This doesn't at all look like the Bandit King he had described.

Yet, for anyone who might use Inspect on this BLACK difficulty marked Person of the Land, it very clearly indicates that this is in fact... the Bandit King.

Kite looks sheepish, "Actually, I don't know a lot about that person, just what Polaris told me ... "

Which wasn't much. And when the woman of the hour steps up, Kite tips his head to the side "Huh?"

After all, that wasn't precisely the image that the massive knight had conjured of the leader in question. Although, given Polaris' taste for eccentrics ...

"Are you the same Bandit King who helped seal Ezzo?" he asks, cutting straight to the point.

"So I was told." The Bandit King answers Kite with a slight irritation in her tone of voice, crossing her arms and kind of glowering at the group. "If you are looking to be Cast Out from the Ezzo Empire, you'll have to wait in line along with the rest of these people." Pausing, as she realizes that none of these people seem to be bound to the Kingdom anymore. "... but that is not why you are here."

    "..." As the shadows continue to expand he listens quietly to Nureha's words. Just like the cool air they give a bit of a chill as she regards the motivations of those once they end up fleeing, and then of Shiroe himself. It was hard to ignore those words. For the time being he had found himself coming to Ezzo because well...It was better than seeing the situation in Alne. It was a distraction, a way he could say to himself he had been able to help out the cause. Though when this all came to an end...Then what? What would he do from there? It was...Something he needed to think upon. But not now. For now he'd accept that Nureha would fade into the distance just as the sun slowly began to as well. Then...Dark and silence...

    <<Got it, keep me informed of the situation and your location. I just hit the cliffs so I should be arriving shortly.>> It'd probably still take some time considering all the effort the others had taken inorder to traverse down the cliffs and the like but with a bit of time, the appearence of a white-robed enchanter would slowly make his way back to the group, traversing the sounds of the beach now as he kept himself balanced with his staff.

    Mizuki looks between Akatsuki and Shiroe. Are they... roleplayers? He's a noble and she's his retainer?

    Well, Mizuki can certainly understand if throwing yourself into a fictional role helps you get by.

    And then, hey, it's the bandit king! "So... wait, does that mean you're an admin who's stuck in here with us?" She overheard a somewhat garbled report when all this started.

    "We're just... trying to find out what happened. Why we're all stuck here, and stuff."

The woman raises her brow at the accussation of being an admin, looking rather confused. "A what?" The Lander seems to be unable to parse what Mizuki just said. "Sorry, I don't know what that is." She remarks, before making a frustrated sound and motioning her arm. "If I knew why you lot are all stuck on my island, or why all of THIS has happened." She motions at the 'dome'. "I would have told you all, instead of constantly have your kind nagging me for answers on the daily."

Shaking his head, Kite gives the whip-wielding woman a half-smile, "No, it's not. I came here to try and enter Ezzo."

Pondering the information, he continues, " .. so you don't remember it, huh ... I'm not trying to be rude, but you don't really look like what you were described to have been at the time, either."

At Kite's comment, the Bandit King is rather short in her answer; "Not my problem now is it?" Clearly, not particular a 'regal knight' or the like.

Kite chuckles, "It probably isn't. I don't think you're the same person who did those things." he says, deciding that being direct was probably best. It was a simplistic conclusion, but it also supported the existing notion he had that it was most likey a System Administrator who had been providing assistance rather than an actual Lander. Or, maybe, an AI like Aura had been ...

    Mizuki supposes the admin must have released posession of the NPC. "So... What do you remember of events surrounding what we call the Apocalypse? And... what are you going to do now?"

    <<Understood!>> Akatsuki then focuses on the new arrival in their little group in the form of the Bandit King, <<My Lord we have made contact with the so called Bandit King.>>

    For her part she allows Mizuki and Kite to speak the most with the Bandit King while she keeps an eye out for anyone that might be trying to circle around and sneak up on them. Though she does pay attention to what is being said so that she can catch Shiroe up on any important details that might come to light during the discussion.

The Bandit King shakes her head. "Nah, I don't remember a thing. One moment I'm in Lia Fail, the next moment I'm standing in some weird gray room surrounded by idiots, running away from that light which ended up cursing my land." She motions once again to the dome. "So unless one of you 'Adventurers' have any bright ideas on how to solve that..."

    Mizuki hmms. The Lander having no memory of posession isn't unexpected. "Have you seen anyone suspiciously coming and going from the base of the cliff down there, by any chance?"

"Well, we know where the 'control' for it is ... at least, I think ... the only problem is that it'll only let a certain person in, and the tracks led right into a big clump of people."

Although, the fact the Bandit King was here, in that selfsame clump while no great surprise was still a point of consideration. "It'd almost be too hopeful that you could let us in there, huh? Haha."

The Bandit King shakes her head. "Aside from the occassional singing monster freaks, no." She remarks. "And no, I can't get back into that stupid walled place. Again, if I had a way to do something about this, I would be doing it. Instead, I'm stuck babysitting this lot." Motioning at the Landers and Adventurers with her.

    As he finally arrives along with the others it's Akatsuki who ends up filling him in on most of the situation. He nods along for the most part as she explains. "Thanks Akatsuki, it was a better decision than I thought to have you come along. I owe you for keeping an eye on these two. For the time being I don't think we'll be pestered any further from here, but I'd keep an ear to the ground just in case."

    As Shiroe makes his way into the group he doesn't say much though the blonde-haired woman does catch his attention. "Hmmm..." As he identifies the Bandit King, something sparks into the back of his head about her. "No one can agree on it..." He finds the words mumbling to himself as he looks over the blonde-haired figure. A hand goes to his chin in contemplation as he looks over the person in question rather thoroughly. "Could she have..." He pushes up his glasses for a moment as he tosses the thought to the side. Though something does perk his interset when the Bandit King makes mention of it. "Excuse me, but you said something about being in Lia Fail at first, and then the next instant in a gray room. When this happened, did you happen to hear a sound by chance?" He waits for confirmation on the question before immediately following up, "What about the other people in that room. Where they people of the Land or Adventurers? Did they seem confused as well?"

"No, no sound. You're referring to the 'beep' you Adventurer lot heard, right? None of the Landers have heard that sound. It's just your people." The Bandit King answers Shiroe. One can tell that her patience is wearing thin, but she's at least still humoring their questions. "The people in that room were all Adventurers, and seemed to know what they were doing in regards to running from the big pillar of light."

    Akatsuki silently continues to fill Shiroe in on the high points of the disuccsion between Kite, Mizuki, and the Bandit King. Though once he arrives and praises her she shakes her head, "It is my duty." Humbly waving off any further comment though she does grin briefly at the recognition.

    Not being one to really question others that much the ninja girl stands silently listening for a chance to perhaps put any of the information to use to help her party though also keeping watch just in case any of the Bandit King's 'subjects' decided to help their 'lord'.

"I see.." Kite says, waving to Shiroe as he rejoins them. "Well, thank you for talking to us anyway. That's all I wanted to know from you."

Something tenacious and untoward, in the back of his mind, reminded him that the Twilight Bracelet was a tool used to strip, view, an replace data. In that case, using it on a Person of The Land might ...

But that train of thought ended there. Even if it were true, he couldn't bring himself to use it on another person, not knowing the consequences of doing so as he did. Besides that, with how it had changed already, there was no guarantee that would work.

Kite really and truly had hit a dead end. It took the wind out of his sails more than he thought it would, but he put up a smile regardless. He'd just have to find another way to go forward with investigating.

    Mizuki nods. "Thanks for talking to us, your highness. Sorry that none of us seems to have the puzzle pieces to make this..." she gestures vaguely around, "make more sense."

    Then she turns to Kite. "Hey, uh. Is there anything more you can tell us about what happened in that other game... Fragment, I presume? Maybe, uh, you and Balmung are used to dealing with craziness, but it's new to us, and if there's anything you can tell us that might shed light on what's happening now..."

    She rubs the back of her neck and looks away. "I'm sorry if it's prying, about what happened to your friend, but if it might be what's happening to all of us right now..."

    It seemed the way the conversation was turning up there wasn't much the Bandit King could provide. It seemed at the very least not in regards to Ezzo and the quarantine anyway. "I do have one more question of my own. But it's not about Ezzo or even the barriered area. It's about you. That you're someone who's appearence can change depending on who sees you. I won't ask you if those words are true or not but..." He tries to think of the proper way to phrase it, "Have you ever seen anyone else with a magic capable of that feat...Without the use of an item?" He makes that quick note already familiar with those that could change the gender of a person in game with certain event items. So no point asking on that, but now that he was with someone who'd probably have expertise on that matter he was curious if what he thought was plausible.

The Bandit King stares at Shiroe, and then motions her hand dismissively. "Everyone has rumors around them." Clearly avoiding the actual question asked, before turning around. It almost seems like Shiroe just hit a nerve in inquiring about that in particular, and so directly, as the Bandit King turns on the spot, and moves back into the crowds.

Kite frowns, reticent to say anything. It's a reasonable request, of course, but even still .. it wasn't like it was an easy subject to speak on.

"Sorry. Uhm...I understand what you're saying ... but it's difficult to talk about. Not all of it was bad, but it's tough to spit, and harder to chew."

"Like I said before, I don't really want to speculate, but if the Apocalypse really is related to what happened back then ... it probably has something to do with the AI systems Harald Hoerwick made."

    Mizuki nods as Kite says it's hard to talk about, but looks hopeful that he'll tell her /something/, anyway.

    He drops some keywords, and she has no clue what he's talking about. "AI systems? Harald Hoerwick?" She tilts her head to the side slightly. She knows what AI is, but who is Harald Hoerwick? And how do his AI systems have anything to do with trapping people in games?

    Sam thinks back to the mage's guild D&D campaign, and the party negotiating with NPCs who thought they were spouting nonsense about rogue members of the mage's guild having connections to ancient conspiracies and monsters threatening to eat the sun. It DID all kind of sound ridiculous if you hadn't seen what the party had seen.

    Is this what it's like to be on the other side of that?

    Mizuki has got to get in the party fast. She's not going to be a background character in all this!

    "Looks like I ticked her off..." He lets out a bit of a sigh, "Guess it can't be helped, she was already reaching her boiling point but guess I pushed it." He starts to rub at his shoulder a bit as he turns back towards the Mizuki and Kite, "Sorry for the late arrival by the way. The crowds were much more riled than I expected, than I ended up on a goose chase for a moment."

    He starts to roll his shoulder a bit before fixing his glasses, he honestly sounds exhausted after all this. "So, how would you rate the success of your escapade, Kite? You get the exploration bug out of your system for now?" Seems he had just missed the part of the conversation about the ai systems and Harold Hoerwick.

Kite nods to Mizuki but before he could say anything more on the matter, he turned to Shiroe. "Not really. It was a bust, if I'm being totally honest ... worst of all, my Twilight Bracelet isn't working how it should."

In other words, whatever preconceptions Shiroe might have gained concerning that power from Balmung, it'd be best to set them aside for now. Kite looks troubled as he folds his hands behind his head.

"Don't the Landers seem different to you, Mizuki? They're practically human, now."

"That and all the residual data from Fragment ... and while I didn't play it, supposedly, there's a lot of stuff from Sword Art Online here, too ... "

"When Hoerwick died, he left a lot behind ... but most of it was hidden within the data of Fragment. His hopes, his dreams, and .. the consequences of what he was doing, too."

Kite seems like he isn't sure what to say, or if he should say anything at all. Ultimately, he laughs it off, stiltedly. "Well, don't worry about any of that right now! I'll let you guys know if I think of anything else. Sorry for wasting your time."

    When Kite starts explaining the situation with the Twilight Bracelet there's a bit of a...Chuckle? Yeah, it's definitely a chuckle. It probably sounded odd enough given the situation. "Sorry, sorry. I just thought it was funny. The way you and Balmung were making this out it sounded like it was some game breaking item. So it just sounds a bit funny that essentially it's been nerfed. Anyway, as for it being a dud..."

    "...Yeah, it was a total failure. But given how abrupt it was, I'll still consider this passing given the fact we weren't attacked by any monsters or harmed by the barrier. At the very least we also completed our main objective of getting the ships to Ezzo without them getting destroyed. So at least consider that as your victory. Alright?"

    Mizuki listens, rapt.

    "You're not wasting our time! We're learning a lot! Even if we can't get through that wall, it's evidence of... /something/. It's a piece of the puzzle."

    She glances in the direction the Bandit King went. "I dunno. I've theorized that an AI might be generating their responses, but... human? This system is already rendering the world hyperrealistically and sending an unprecedented amount of data to our brains. If the landers are individual AIs, where would they be /running/?"

    She looks back to Kite. "Also, /who/ is Harald Hoerwick?"

    Then her eyes widen with realization. "Wait, did you say /Twilight/ Bracelet? Giant hologram sky man said we had to find the Twilight something-else. Could they be related?"

"Thanks, Shiroe." Kite says, genuine in gratitude.

He felt a little better now. "It kind of was! Although, the fact that it's been changed means that the transition of Fragments data, if that really is what happened, wasn't one to one .. or at least that it was filtered to some degree."

"It might be related. I think they might have made another item similar to it." he says to Mizuki. "Hoerwick ... was the guy who was primarily behind the creation of Fragment. I don't really know much about him, but as for what's relevant, he was invested in creating the ultimate AI, and Fragment was just another tool for it."

She'd brought up a good question. There were a few answers he could speculate at, but none of it was good.

"As for where the Landers' AI could be running from .... how many players do you think are in the game right now?"

Human brains are just organic computers, after all, and if the interface was clean enough to bring them into the game .. "It's just a joke though, relax. I have no idea about the specifics of stuff like that! I was never actually all that into electronics or anything like that, but ... I am positive that the Landers are all individuals."

    "Key of the Twilight....Or something of the sort I think it was." Mizuki brings up the mention from the day of the Apocalypse, "I do assume there's a correlation if they're both pieces brought from Fragment. But if that's the case my only hope is that this Key won't be as watered down as your bracelet...Also...I happen to agree with you about the People of the Land as well. They definitely aren't the same as before. It's something that's rather incredible...But also something we should be cautious of..."

    Sure, why not, the Fulldive connection using parts of peoples' brains as wetware CPUs makes as much sense as anything else going on at this point. So she is only partially relieved when Kite says it's a joke. "I see... I guess if this much is possible, there's no reason NOT to assume CC Corp has an even more powerful computer system that can simulate a bunch of people too... but are they really... people?" She feels a bit nervous about being rude to NPCs in the first week or so, though she eventually got... /somewhat/ cautious.

    Also... "You're telling me that Fragment, the first VRMMO, itself cutting-edge technology the likes of which the world had never seen before... was just a /side effect/ of an attempt to create AI? How would that even /work/?" That is, frankly, the most anime thing so far because it sounds like nonsense a writer who didn't know about computers or games would come up with.

    But if it's true... just what kind of advanced tech has CC Corp been hiding all this time?!

Kite nods. "Sorry, I don't know a lot about the specifics of that either. Just that ... she could only be born because of Fragment."

Kite looks down, visibly becoming troubled again before making for one of the boats. "Well. I think we should get going! I'm feeling pretty beat, so ... "

"Uhm...well there is one more thing. If you couldn't return to your body, would you still be a person? ... I'm not trying to antagonize you, but just ... keep that in mind when talking to Landers from now on, okay? It'd be better if we all got along."

    'She' Mizuki narrows her eyes at Kite, but seems to accept that this is a reasonable amount of information for now. And it IS reasonable that some random person wouldn't know technical stuff about AI, after all.

    Come to think of it, it Kite and Balmung /are/ the protagonists then they have all sorts of issues of their own to work out which they can't talk about with psychologists, so y'know, they're people with shit to deal with, not exposition machines.

    She follows him back to the boats, thinking that's pretty much a wrap, when Kite says something strange and weirdly intense.

    She blinks and stares back at him. "I... of course I'd be a person... right? I think... I've never considered that before." Now she's worried. "What are you getting at?? Do you know something else about what's happened to us?? /Are/ we never going to be able to return to our bodies??"

Kite smiles sadly, "That's a possibility. But the 'you' that exists right now ... you're data, just like them. If they're not a person, then you aren't, either."

"But if you are a person, then so are they. ... I don't mean to hurt your optimism, but it is entirely possible that your real body is completely seperated from the 'you' that exists here."

In other words, it was just as likely that it was possible to 'return' to the real world as it was impossible to do so; and more importantly ... whether it is possible or not, Adventurers and Landers are both nothing more than AI that exist in this world, at least thinking about it in lateral terms. Nothing can exist within ETO that is 'more real' than something else, right now.

    At this point Kite gets bonked on the back of the head with Shiroe's staff. "I turn around for ten seconds to deal with a message and you say something like that?!" He looks at Kite a with an immensely annoyed look. Though eventually the face calms as he releases a sigh, "I've already heard that talk from Balmung as well, and at the moment there's no definitive proof of that being the case for us. So for the time being, I'd ask you to not jump to any conclusions..." He looks at Mizuki especially for that part.

    "What's more even if it was true, what good would it accomplish to say it? At best it'd only depress people and at worse you'd put them into a frenzy. I'd encourage both of you to keep that information to yourselves from now on. People's emotional states are already in a tizzy right now, and the last thing I want to hear is someone trying to send themselves to the sanctuary cause they think that they can't get home when we don't even know yet."

    Mizuki steps back. "But... you're in the Odysseia Knights! We're fighting to get /out/ of here! Why would you do that if you think we've got nothing to go back to?!"

    Although, after a few moments to process Kite's words again, she reconsiders. "Oh... you're saying we're not in our bodies, but it might be reversable... if we could be moved here, maybe we can be moved back to our brains?" She points at Kite. "That's why your friend's in a coma! There's noone in their brain!"

    She holds her hands to her head. "This is some crazy Tron shit, if so... is that even possible? I'm not sure if this is /weirder/ than the theory that we're in another world, or not..."

    "Wait! If the landers are real people, where are THEY gonna live when we get out?! Ah, I guess they could keep the game running, huh..."

Kite grouses, rubbing his bumped head. Naturally, it seemed as though Balmung's view on the matter was more pessimistic than Kite's, albeit they apparently held a similar suspicion.

"More or less," he says to Mizuki. "As for the Landers, as long as the game is running, they should be fine. Otherwise, it'd be the same as if the Earth was destroyed somehow..it'd make it hard for humans to live if that happened, right?"

Kite looks to Shiroe, "It's not like I was jumping to spread my opinion to anyone who'd hear, ya' know ... but fine, I'll keep those thoughts to myself. Of course, I'd like it if the people who want to leave can do so. No one should be here against their will."

    "Of course, I'm not against it either if people wanna leave. No point in keeping people locked-up in ElderTale if they don't want. I'm just saying to be more vigilant of your surroundings. Anyway, we should get going. I imagine the ships we'll be heading out soon and I want to make sure after all that commotion no one has any excuses to give me sass that I was wrong about something." He lets out another sigh. Seriously, he's not even in a guild or an alliance member and he's having to work this hard.

    Mizuki takes a few quick steps forward to catch up with Kite, and put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "Hey... thanks. For telling me all that you have. Even if... we /were/ stuck here, I'd rather know the truth than believe a lie. At least I could figure out... whatever I'd do, with this life."

    She starts walking again. "So this Harald Hoerwick guy... he made artificial people, and someone's using them as /NPCs/ in a game world? Wait, are you saying the bandits we kill are basically /human/ criminals, with lives and backstories and reasons for turning to a life of crime?" She stops and shivers. "...I guess someone cruel enough to trap all of /us/ in here could do that, but why?"

"Eh...no need to thank me or anything like that." Kite chuckles, before frowning.

"I really can't say. Someone who'd want to trap everyone here, if it really was an intentional decision...I have no clue what a person like that could be thinking."

But, internally, he didn't wonder if it was to test the response of the AI, using the players as a stimulus ... or, maybe, the other way around. Neither options sounded appealing, so he opted to push it out of mind.

"Shiroe's right, though, we should stop lollygagging. Last one to the boat is a rotten egg!"

Tearing away from the werecat, he practically becomes a dust cloud.

    "Wait... if I /were/ stuck here, I'd have to spend the rest of my life as a catgirl?! What have I done..."

    But Kite's running off.

    He wants a race? Fine. Sam can focus on that, it'll take his mind of... everything. Mizuki drops to all fours and bounds through the crowd, sometimes leaping above them and using ninja magic to adjust her landing spot between people before running on.