"Very well, then. I suggest we split the papers in half for now. Papers are wont to spontaneously come on fire or disappear out of nowhere." Ambika has had her fair share of shady dealings in the past. Nightfall had already descended upon them, so she decided to help herself to dinner in the tavern, offering to pay for Gerhart's meal given that he did just give away all his coin to the other fellows in the wagon.

Entering the tavern, Ambika could immediately sense eyes on both her and Gerhart. That was quick. She had thought it would take the Crown at least another day to mobilise forces against them. It must mean the operation was quite high up in terms of importance. She doubted her eyes on them went unnoticed either. Nothing worse than being outnumbered by experts of the trade. At the moment, however, they may well have veiled safety in the form of surrounding civilians and the pretense of normalcy.

Ambika placed her order, requesting braised pork rice with fatty pork, some strong tea, and a bottle of vodka. The corner seats were all occupied, which she supposed was a given. Eliminating blind spots would be any hunter's priority. So she opted to take a seat not too close from any of them that their voices could be heard, but not too far either that either of them could not catch watch they would be attempting, somewhere around the middle of the tavern.

---

SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: Moral Eclipse
Participants: Two or more
Location: Crescent Isles
Post Requirements: 5 posts per person, 200 words per post
Reward: +1 Renown, +1 Mystical Archive Ticket
Description: Having discovered the truth about the Work Camp and the Crowns hand in it all, those involved see you as a threat, a potential voice to bring light to their under handedness. To prevent you from talking, hired thugs from the Crescent Stars, a local group who is loyal to the crown and their interest here, have been sent to teach you a lesson, and silence you once and for all. After returning back to Guandao you find that you are being stalked by at least five men, all who have been following you and keeping tabs on you. They will attempt to intercept you and deal with you.

The group are highly skilled, each having Exalted in Hunter as well as other skills that can be decided by you. They will hide out in the village and stalk you, making sure you are unable to leave. You can deal with the problem by taking the thugs head on, or attempt to lose them, ultimately fleeing the area. Neither task will be easy however as the Crescent Stars are highly trained and prepared for you.

After successfully dealing with the thugs, you will learn that not only was the crown working with members of the Starlight Council, but Moonglade had also been working behind the scenes, attempting to retain their control of the region as a whole.

"It's fine, I got a deal with the owner here. They have some repairs around this place that I'll do for them in exchange for some food and a room." He grinned as Thoman welcomed him back at the tavern.

The dog was happy to tag along with Gerhart, but he knew his limits. Thoman was not a combat dog, his help usually came in the aftermath of fights. Somehow, someway the dog had learned a bit of magic, but fairly few people knew that. Just that the weird boy had a weird dog who talked.

Gerhart ignored the eyes, he'd pretty much grown up getting sideways glances. It was honestly a lot easier to sneak around when he was poor. People seem to turn an eye up to someone trying to scrape by, you can get away with a lot if you know where to go. Now? Now people noticed him, but he didn't totally hate that.

What did catch his eyes were the weapons on some of them. Another thing he had learned to pick out were bounty hunters. Those people always had some sort of job and if Gerhart happened to overhear it and steal the job out from under them he could earn some coin. Not the fairest way to get paid, but again when you're poor anything is fair game.

A few people entered the tavern after them, muttering something about an incident at the mines. To be fair, they were not subtle about their activities. It wasn't really a surprise that people had heard, if not seen, what happened.

The question was were these bounty hunters here because of that or just on the road for another job.

"We probably should eat and go, don't wanna be around when the sun comes up. Best to get moving before anyone catches on to us." He doesn't broadcast that to the whole tavern, but it's loud enough for those paying attention to them. Time for the hunters to become the hunted as the ranger leaves out his first bit of bait.

"Agreed." Ambika replied, understanding it was deliberately loud enough to be heard by the people who mattered. This meant there will be violence incoming, which was fair. Gerhart did not seem the type to run and hide if he could fight. She consumed her meal in an odd manner, starting with the rice and pork while avoiding the fats, drinking the tea, then finally finishing the rest of her food, never touching the vodka throughout while observing their possible opponents as best as she could.

"To go." She raised the bottle, putting on the most miserable face she could muster and trying to wear the guise of an alcoholic falling into temptation once more, which was really easy, in all honesty. All she had to do was to let the overflowing grief leak into her expression. Only reason she never actually became an alcoholic despite the pains of being sober was because of all the examples she had seen in her hometown. All alcohol did was compound to their existing troubles, sending them down a vicious cycle of increasing severity. Their pursuers might actually buy it too, and try to use it to their advantage.

As Ambika walked out the tavern and began entering the shadows, she would take a swig out of her vodka, raising the bottle up high as an addict was wont to do. And as if right on cue, one of their stalkers would attempt to launch an attack directed at her, only to be met with a spray of concentrated vodka. She would then quickly jump backwards and set the bastard on fire with a glass sphere of gunpowder and flint[1]. Of course, his allies did not take kindly to that and the sound of a bolt could be heard flying her way.

---

[1]Improvisation Engineer: Glass Sphere + Crude Gunpowder + Flash Powder

"They aren't very good if they are going to attack right away." He grinned and motioned for Ambika to keep moving.

A fight in the open like this wasn't ideal. They were both relative outsiders and while Ambika's pre-emptive strike was justified the right person could spin it so that they looked like the aggressors. Plus if they got arrested before they got the information to anyone else than it would be much easier to silence the opposition.

The runes on the sword at Gerhart's right hip would surge for a moment as the bolt came in. The projectile stopped like it had hit armor, but the mark appeared on Gerhart's armor instead.[1]

"Gentleman, I'm sure my friend is sorry, they are just a bit drunk. Long day, thought you were some stalkers. How about we head back inside, I buy you a drink, let her stumble home, and we call it square?"

The only response was the sound of a reloading crossbow.

"Well...I tried." He smiled and clapped his hands feigning apology, but instead the impact created a blinding flash of light.[2]

He turned and started to sprint away and out of town with a grin on his face. Gerhart catches up to Ambika as quickly as he can.

"HAL! NEED AN EXIT!" The ranger called out to the sky before looking to his partner, "Got something that's going to be a lot faster than walking. Normally I wouldn't mind a fight, but we can't risk losing what we learned. How are you with giant birds by the way?"

---

1. Guardian Blade ability - Cuirass 1/2 HP
2. Blinding Clasp

Ambika loathed street fights. Too many vectors, too many avenues, and numbers would be a major factor. An audacious attack, perhaps, but the night streets were eerily empty even for the hour, likely due to the continuous manufactured unrest having fed into nighttime insecurities. They could not expect help; it would not even be a surprise if the guards were told in advance to be conveniently away from this area today. Money talked, and what it said was to silence Ambika and Gerhart by hook or by crook.

"I will live." Ambika replied to Gerhart's query as such, before firing a shot[1] straight at the crossbowman. The blinding flash might be effective against most vocations, but any veteran shooter worth their salt would have learned other means to find their prey, and she had zero interest in taking any chances. Not especially when Gerhart was suggesting flight by air. Some fear ought to buy the two just a little more time.

Not that the other assailants were about to let up either. Their sight might be gone for now, but they were still following the two somewhat, if having to be careful with the architecture. No sooner than two blocks of buildings before Ambika shouted, "Hanging caltrops!"[2] referring to the space between the pathways in front of them and around being interwoven with caltrops tied to wires. Behind, their pursuers were fast catching up.

"See you on the other side." Ambika jumped and chucked a smoke grenade towards the other end, disappearing in an instant[3].

---

[1]Fear Tip x1

[2]Crescent Star Hunter - Improvisation Engineer: Caltrops + Spidersilk Wire + Sticky Paste

[3]Evasive Grenade Arts

"Why would you go through the traps?" He laughed a bit. Evasive grenades or not, it was an interesting choice. He imagained the hunters wouldn't be slowed down by their own traps.

It didn't matter though as a screech pierces the sky and a look of relief flashes through Gerhart's face. Before the source of the sound can be identified, he pulls the trigger on a wrist mounted device he had.[1] A wire shoots in the air towards nothing, but right as it reaches its peak Halcyon comes bursting from the clouds to grab onto it.

Gerhart gives a two finger salute to the hunters on the ground as he starts to ascend towards the bird. The marksman get ready to aim at the nice new target they have, but Gerhart is ready for that.

He flexes out his hand and out shoots waves of compressed air.[2] The wind slices through the arrows and bullets before they can even reach the halfway mark. He grins down at them as they start to swear in annoyance.

"We got one more pick up Hal then we are out." He hoped Ambika had a way up or would at least signal a way to get picked up. Once she was retrieved they could start making their way out of here.

The hunters wouldn't have a hard time tracking a large bird through the sky, but Gerhart was counting on that. He had a plan to take care of them for good, but they had to take the fight out of their home turf. They prepared for a city chase, but Gerhart was always prepared for a forest fight.

---

1. WEF Traversal Tool
2. Wind Cutter

"For this." Ambika loaded and fired a bolt of pitch-black obsidian[1] which burst into shrapnel as it hit the stone floor, cutting away at the wires and sending the caltrops bouncing all around the place. Any hunters close enough to the vicinity also found themselves peppered with the black payload, whatever harm that may have caused.

And the next thing she knew, Gerhart had already gotten himself onto a Thunder-crested Roc. Must be the ride he mentioned. Time to gain some height. Ambika jumped onto the roof of one of the nearby buildings with magically-enhanced legs[2], then repeated the same, effortlessly finessing her way to the back of the Roc, landing without so much as a show of unsteadiness from her inertia.[3]

"Your plan?" Ambika inquired. Those pursuers were undoubtedly going to follow after them - a roc was by no means a subtle creature, which suggested Gerhart had other ideas. Which was fine by her, really. She had no qualms about murder if it came to that, though she will not pretend she preferred to avoid such a route, if only to not add more blood to her already blood-drenched hands. Regardless, though, she began wrapping a scroll around one of her regular crossbow bolts and fired that in the general direction of the hunters, sending a torrent of metallic stars fanning out all over the place as she activated the seal tag[4] once the bolt was about to land on the floor. Someone ought to appreciate all the free metal.

---

[1]Obsidian Arrow x1

[2]Long Stride x2

[3]Cat's Grace

[4]Sacred Scroll Arts: Star Storm Scroll

"Someone's fancy." He chuckled to himself watching Ambika turn the trap back on the others.

It was hard to stop hunters once they lock in on their prey, but the mix of Ambika's cleverness and Gerhart's speed it was hard to keep up. Not but a few moments later Halcyon and friends broke past the cloud layer and settled back into a more manageable cruising speed. Gerhart settled back a bit, letting out a breath now that they had a moment.

Most rocs would not be ideal for stealthing, but thanks to work with the WEF Gerhart didn't have a normal roc. Above the cloud layer, this thunder-crested roc was nearly invisible from the ground. Halcyon was the go-to option for the ranger when needing to hid, the bird was hard to see and could go high enough that most projectiles were no threat.

He grins and gives Hal a little scritch loosening a feather that was already falling out. He drops it to the side off the bird with a little wiggle of his fingers.

"They were ready for us in the city, but out here? It's an even playing field....well nearly even. You seem a lot more adept at creating traps on the fly, so I am figuring there's a bamboo field not too far from here. Leave a little trail for them to follow and take the fight to somewhere we have set up. I can handle leading them into the traps."

"Will do." A bamboo forest would be filled with narrow openings, making the terrain difficult to traverse and ripe for traps. Of course, the hunters would likely be well aware of that fact as well, assuming they were locals. The end goal here, Ambika surmised, was to incapacitate them long enough for the two to escape their clutches given their level of persistence.

In cases like these, layering multiple types of traps would generally be the best choice. Ambika would not have much time to scan the surroundings but she knew anyone looking for a fight would normally be gunning for as much space to maneuver around as possible, so logically speaking, clearings would serve as the best place to lay traps. Though of course, that was also entirely obvious to any trapper intelligent enough to grasp that fact, so some measure of creativity would become necessary.

"There. This path will serve as our choke point." Ambika pointed at a clearing with a straight path cutting through it. There was no guarantee the hunters will only come from one direction, nor that they will not traverse by jumping along the bamboo trunks instead, so she had to get creative. For the bamboos she wound curved anchors and caltrops onto wire[1] and looped them all around the optimal heights for tree-hopping. For the paths she would have glass upon glass hanging in the air[2], to be shot down when the time was right. And finally, for good measure, she would place a Concussive Scroll around the center of the clearing and hide it with some camo cloth.[3]

Ambika then melded into the shadows[4] as she prepared to hopefully stay hidden for long enough to pull off the plan.

---

[1]Improvisation Engineer: Anchor + Caltrops + Spidersilk Wire

[2]Improvisation Engineer: Glass Sphere + Glass Powder + Spidersilk Wire

[3]Improvisation Engineer: Concussive Scroll + Camo Cloth

[4]One with the Shadows

Gerhart easily followed the path Ambika set up and the traps set out. It was a pretty tight system, there wouldn't be much room for error. Not ideal for Gerhart, but he's seen worse odds. And hey, you live by the nonsense, you die by the nonsense. If he takes a little collateral during this, that's fine.

Once she disappears, he hops back on to Halcyon and takes to the air, "Time for the stupid part." He grinned as the bird started to climb into the air.

Of course there was a part he didn't share because it was just too stupid that no one would let him do it. Halcyon climbs higher and high as Gerhart keeps an eye out for the hunters. Thankfully they did take the bait, they looked cautious though. Good. Slower movements meant easier targets.

Gerhart stood from the saddle as Halcyon climbed, nearly perpendicular with the ground, "Swing back around and get ready to grab Ambika, I'll be behind ya."

With that, the ranger slipped free from the harness of the saddle and let himself begin to fall. If Ambika was watching, she would see the ranger falling well before the concept of a parachute was invented. He continued to fall as he drew his swords.

He looked like a comet coming out of the sky. Adding to that effect, his skin softly glowed and starry patterns dotted his skin as space itself seemed to take over his eyes. Feathered wings erupted from his back, slowing his descent just enough so he didn't splatter on the ground.[1]

Gerhart still had plenty of momentum that the swing downward of his swords on the shoulders of one of the hunters was almost an immediate kill.[2] The rest of the hunters looked stunned at the display that left their friend in a crater.

"Ginma's fuzzy horse ass, I'm sorry. I didn't see him there. This is an accident." As he speaks he keeps turning to face the other hunters, hitting them with his wings to further annoy them.

When they ready weapons he grins and tucks his wings in, heading for the forest to begin leading them through their traps.

---

1. Beacon of Light
2. Guillotine Drop

Ambika certainly was not expecting Gerhart to just dive-bomb his way to the ground and take down one of the hunters in the process, but what was done was done, and she was not one to voice out grievances unless it resulted in major hiccups. Not like the two were travelling for the long-term, anyway. Probably. The winds of fate were as unpredictable as the limitless stupidity life could exhibit at any time.

Steadying her aim, Ambika was about to take fire at the wire holding one of her glass spheres when one of the hunters appeared right on top of her with sword thrusting downwards, forcing her our of her hiding place as the caltrops and anchors fell towards the forest floor. Luckily, she had the foresight to tie the glass spheres[1] separately, which allowed her to redirect her aim and temporarily disable one of the sneaky bastards coming from the opposite direction of Gerhart. Not about to miss an opening Ambika gave away, the sword-wielding hunter charged straight at her with a leap - only to find theirself violently propelled into the air as their body travelled over the ground the hidden trap[2] stood on. Undeterred despite the pains resulting from the kinetic blast, they would attempt a dive-bomb of their own only to be met with the weighted end of a kusarigama[3] swung from the side, its payload landing squarely on one side of their head which knocked them out immediately whilst breaking their momentum. Two down, not sure how many to go.

---

[1]Improvisation Engineer: Glass Sphere + Glass Powder + Spidersilk Wire

[2]Concussive Scroll

[3]Oniwanban Shadow - Tools of the Trade - The Kusarigama

The ranger is surprisingly adept at weaving between the bamboo shoots of the forest. Even with the wings, he seemed to just have an instinctive speed and reaction time that was probably what helped his success as an adventure. He would use the wings to trip traps moments before the hunters so they had less time to react or just provide a quick sideway movement to get out of the way.

Screams of pain roll through the forest as they keep getting knocked out, blinded, and attacked. The hunters do not seem to enjoy having become the hunted. As one claws at his eyes from glass powder, Gerhart quickly turns on a heel and comes back to crack the flat of his blade against his head.[1]

As the man falls there is a new silence to the forest. Gerhart wasn't sure if that meant the hunters had given up or they are just reassessing the situation. Best not to give them that chance.

"If they are still here, I bet they are trying to surround us. I think we've done all the fighting we need to." He grins to Ambika. "Ready for one last ride? If you can make it into the open or up in the air I have Hal on standby. I can get up on my own."

Gerhart flexed his wings with a dumb little smirk. He was ready to go as soon as Ambika was. There was no need to waste their time picking off every hunter. They took down the main core it seemed and the numbers still weren't entirely in their favor. Live to fight another day.

---

1.Head Strike

"One moment." Ambika walked towards the hunter she'd just knocked unconscious and began searching through their body, even scouring their nether regions for an answer they might much prefer to hide elsewhere, but could not precisely because they understood nowhere would be safer than their very own sinews. She would be proven correct when she found a carefully folded note hidden on their inner thigh, held in place through a carefully sewn pocket, likely the only evidence, if not a symbol that they were not their own masters, kept by their person for one reason or another. The details mattered not.

"See you up there." Ambika took a moment to reload her crossbow, then threw yet another smoke grenade into the air with a two-handed throw, and timed her shot so that it would connect at the peak of the arc, whereby she would gain the altitude needed to land on Hal.[1]

Once the two reconvened, Ambika would unfold and read the note as the signs of early dawn began to seep into the night sky.

"To all Crescent Stars,
Two unruly adventurers have brought down the Crown's operations in Guandao. Our affiliates in the Starlight Council has requested that they be disposed of, and whatever intel they may have stolen recovered. You will find their descriptions attached separately."

That note provided the last piece of the puzzle. Such a large scale operation could not have gone unnoticed unless it was willful ignorance, or whatever benefits reaped by its existence outweighed whatever harm they could offload to their lessers.

Ambika was unsure where Gerhart would be bringing her, not that it particularly mattered. Whether he would ask for the documents, or ask for her companionship a little longer until the evidence was safely delivered, she would agree without hesitation.

"Sorry guys, gotta go!" He grinned and shot up into the air. Gerhart did a quick spin to throw down some small rocks that popped and exploded as he ascended.[1]



It was not a very harmful attack, but the half second of pause helped the ranger get out of range, pun not intended. He was grinning and smiling the entire way through the air. Halcyon banked low to help catch Ambika, giving her a pretty easy and soft entry into the saddle.



Gerhart did not go for such things. As he started to ascend next to Halcyon, the two found themselves in a race to the cloud cover. Of course, Gerhart could not outfly a being born and raised to fly. Halcyon leveled out once above the cloud cover when Gerhart came shooting up from below. He came up past Halcyon before dismissing his wings to fall into the saddle with a much more rough landing.



He grinned even wider as he ruffled the feathers of his mount before getting strapped into the saddle.



"An interesting note, seems like they've been up to this for awhile. Pretty crafty set up. If they weren't completely evil jerks I might almost respect it."



It was a relatively short flight through the air. When they start to descend, they are still in the Crescent Isles but it looks like a spot slightly further away. Gerhart opts to avoid any tricks or high dives for this landing, admittedly he's feeling pretty exhausted after the day and best not to push Ambika.



Once on the ground he hops down, offering to help her down as well, "This is my girlfriend's place, completely safe I promise if you want to rest up. But we are a solid half day's travel from that place, so if you wanted to head out on your own I get it. Thanks for all the help though, I'm not sure what all of this means long term, but feels like we did some good today which is enough for me."

---

1. Popping Pebbles

Now that the adrenaline of escaping their pursuers has waned, the suppressed fatigue washed over Ambika all at once, threatening to send her consciousness to its slumber, with the only thing keeping her from nodding off being the reality of the situation she was in and her sheer stubbornness in not showing undue weakness. So she would take Gerhart's offer to help her down, and place enough trust in his words after everything the two just experienced.

"I shall trust in your words, then, and have a rest." The lethargy seeped into Ambika's words, making her voice seem weaker and softer.
"You are welcome, and thank you for having my back." This much was genuine; it had been a while since she had fought alongside anyone for more than a day. Well, there was Serena, but the less thought dedicated to that slovenly priestess who was practically the polar opposite of herself, the better.
"Here are the documents," she removed a stack of files stored in her harness hidden under her coat, filing through the papers once more to ensure none of them had went missing in the process, and then took out the note she had read aloud a few moments before. "And the note."

Whatever it meant long-term did not carry much significance to Ambika either, though it would not hurt to be aware of the political winds of change. The old soul had no desire to impose, though, and would simply help herself to a place that would remain shaded even as the sun rose to take a rest unless Gerhart offered some place else. He likely would, knowing him, but the woman could deal if not. Perhaps when she was awake once again there may be more talk, or perhaps silence would reign still as the exhaustion of an action-packed day wore heavy on both of them.