Vale of Ffestiniog, Gwynedd, Wales
The group lead by Elly had discussed most of the important items on their agenda. Maria still had a fair amount of time and plenty of resources to perform her repairs. Even if there was no combat on their mission leaving them unnecessary, repairs done now only made them more stable for transport. Aside from that, there was an oddly soothing effect that came from repairing those dolls. Her pull fixated on creation, perhaps it was even a subset of order, and the opportunity to restore her dolls was a relief not unlike scratching a nagging itch. With what was shared in their last conversation, Zosar had plenty to mull over; the Meister would need far more time to process all that he had learned, but nonetheless, it had an immediately profound effect on plenty of things he perceived.
Whether she liked it or not, Wren received plenty of support and attention. A fairly abrupt departure from the norm, and even if the majority of it was genuinely positive, truly receiving it that way was likely its whole own challenge. Just as some people refused to accept a compliment, it was entirely feasible that all these good intentions could have made things worse. Or, perhaps, they were but seeds planted. They bore no fruit now, but what came to grow in the future remained uncertain. All that was certain was that Wren had a new struggle with a new voice now and that was a battle she and to a lesser extent Zosar would face alone.
Elly had a whole different set of issues. Unlike Wren, she wasn't as shaken by the Madness they encountered. Unlike Maria, she didn't have anything to repair or a status quo to restore. Unlike Zosar, their recent mission didn't upend some of their long-held beliefs. She might have questioned her decision-making and temporary lapse in judgement, as she might have seen it, but overall, her experience wasn't as severe as the others. Regardless, it did leave a residue of unease. So much didn't make sense, and worse, they probably ought not be alive.
But, they were. The explanation given was simple: Lady Crimson used a loophole in Eros' control to slip a ton of information. They didn't catch her. They didn't outwit her. She was playing into their hands the entire time in the only feat of rebellion she could against her tyrant owner. It could have probably been any other agent, so long as they could have handled Royal Pain. They were alive because Lady Crimson needed a messenger. The only reason Midori was even remotely relevant was that his nigh-suicidal drive to see Lady Crimson made him the perfect candidate to be a messenger if only because most sane agents would have backed off.
For better or worse, his obsession did lead to valuable intel. In a thousand other scenarios, it very well might have gotten them killed.
These were two opposing trains of thought that Elly would have to find a way to reconcile over time. As it stood now, she had plenty of other adjustments to make. Midori was now Kisei and Kisei was an entirely different weapon. More so, he was a Death Scythe. The raw power he gained was nothing to scoff at, but it was also met by a fundamental change in his combat style. His primary form now was a double-bladed scythe. A terribly unrealistic weapon whose salvation came in some of the abilities that were picked up. Much like his old form, it could split into two sickles. Further, the ends of each sickle could be connected by a metallic vertebrae that acted like a chain. It made him more of a mid-to-short range weapon as opposed to the wider range he once had.
It would turn out that most of the skills Elly previously had with Midori would now work with Kisei, with the exception of the clear lack of ranged fire. Weapon Amplification Form, Resonance, Chain Resonance even. It was all still on the table and if anything more powerful than before. In the end, it didn't mean much for the party or the mission, but the time spent practicing these techniques to confirm what they could and could not do did ultimately consume a large sum of the time Elly might have spent scolding her partner.
Were they really, truly ready for another mission? Who could say. It was doubtful anything could have prepared them for the chaos that was trying to track down a Fae.
As it would turn out, the Gwynedd Preserve wasn't in Wales at all. It was in North Wales, which was part of Pennsylvania. That made no sense, however, as this Hag was clearly in Western Europe. She was in Wales. Now whether this was some Fae trick to lead anyone tracking her in the wrong direction or a genuine mistake on the clerical side of things. It wasn't likely that the branch would misguide the Fate Agents all the way back to the United States, especially when they were technically doing them a favor. Regardless, anything was possible.
Instead, the group found their actual destination: the Vale of Ffestiniog within Gwynedd which itself was in the north-west of Wales which made far more sense for the stories they had been told. Annoyingly, the closest landing strip for a DWMA sanctioned flight was five hours away. As it turned out, the quickest way to the Vale was to drive to a nearby port city from the airport, then catch a train as the area still had an active rail system. The end result of this fragmented journey meant that sleep during transit would also be fragmented, thus lower quality. The railway and robust public transit system did, at the least, allow for Maria to quite easily move most of her dolls to this otherwise fairly remote location.
Next came the confusion and frustration. They were after a notoriously well-hidden hag. Their only concrete idea of a location was the Vale of Ffestiniog, which really was just a certain valley in Snowdownia National Park. The entire area they were given to search was incredibly rural and while it was at least well-developed where it was developed, most of the locals predominantly spoke Welsh. Translating was not necessarily an issue with the technology they had on hand, but it proved to be an annoying intermediate step regardless.
The group was in a disadvantage in that they were completely out of their element and away from home.
The entire endeavor might have been considered a lost cause. Kisei didn't actually care that much about the boons of this mirror. In just a few hours of practice, Elly had already confirmed a lot about his new form. More so, it was becoming more and more apparent why the Western European Branch had neglected this mission for so long. Even if they had agents from the area that didn't have this immediate language barrier, the reports had sightings that spanned something like four hundred square miles with no rhyme or reason to the encounters. Even now, this little valley was only picked due to the frequency of reports and the thief claiming he dropped the mirror off after a night in the Oakeley Arms Hotel.
Their investigation at the Oakeley Arms Hotel brought up nothing. The same story with another nearby Hotel and Restaurant called The Grapes. What did occur after this wasted time was not some miraculous lead found by logic or deduction. It was wild, feral instinct. It was Wren. Due West from The Grapes was a church and within it a feral being at odds with the canine nature of Wren. This was an oddity, perhaps only so strong now due to her newfound sensitive to madness, but it was a feral activation of her instincts as a predator. To hunt. To track. To kill.
St Twrog's Church, a parking lot, and a large graveyard were all that direction hosted. Still, it was close enough that Elly could in fact sense there was a presence there. Magical, menstruous even. With a little focus on her part, from this range, she could determine it in fact was some local variation of a Monster Cat at the church, assuming whatever it was happened to be the same feral trigger for Wren. Then again, it could be nothing. Happenstance of running into a magical creature in the area just minding its own business.
The Regal Rper RedArmyShogun EmperorsChosen Haze-