<strong>Name:</strong>Malluri, Piers, Pietr, Rishiae, Cid, Brynn, Viticella<br/><strong>Location:</strong>Hawks HQ<br/><strong>Mentioned:</strong>All Adventurers<br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;">Current Mood Music:  Hawks Theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXyA3FU5T4s)</span><br/><hr/><br/>The Paladin's words were met with somber nods from the other Hawks gathered. Cid's patient gaze lowered sadly. His youthful face was tightened as if carved in stone, preventing him from saying something he desperately wished to say to the Paladin. Yet  now, as ever, Cid did not speak. The others had made speeches enough.<br/><br/>When the Gambler began to speak, his mournful gaze snapped to intense attention on the Viera. Cid reacted with a cold stare in his direction, as if trying to decide whether the fellow was merely attempting to stir the pot, or if he really was this much of a skeptic. Still no words came from the young man... perhaps still a mere boy... But still the Commander of the Hawks. Now though, he did make subtle communication to his compatriots.<br/><br/>Pietr nodded. "I'm well aware, Chief. Allow me." The man who was both mage and one of Cid's decoys rose from his seat in a show of disdain for many of the Viera's sweeping statements. "You are a well spoken advocate for the side of doubt, Ser Gambler. I beg you though to bear an open mind. I am myself a Black Mage, and I assure you that we scholars among the Hawks do no cloister ourselves within a library. We experience each day the depths of a force that shakes us to our very core. No reading books is not difficult, but understanding the faintest threads of a force that evokes in us the terror of plunging into an endless void... That is where the difficulty lies. Witnessing one's friends and fellows agonizingly succumb to wither... Even in black magic there is nothing so dark as this sorcery Malik weaves."<br/><br/>"You've no idea how much we wish to be wrong about Darkness being more than a mere boogeyman. It is correct to refrain from assuming its motivations would make sense to us. I know not that it is interested in Gilaud. However we must suspect that Malik is at the very least an agent of evil, and that whatever he has planned ensures some manner of widespread devastation. To doubt in the face of no evidence is wise. So allow us to present you with whatever will allay your doubt. I now give you a most absolute truth, Gambler. I assume<em>your</em>profession allows you to read others well. Read me now. Piers and I pulled the Princess's lifeless body from the lake ourselves. That casket will not be the resting place of our beloved princess. It will be the resting place of all of us."<br/><br/>Pietr resumed his seat after his carefully worded counter argument to the Gambler. He scarcely noticed the dancer approach he and his brother and murmur something to Piers. His brother on the other hand reacted with pleasant surprise. "Really!? So very kind of you to arrange this meeting with my true love, milady." With exaggerated motion, he took her hand and kissed it. "I believe I shall wed a gravy pie on the morrow!"<br/><br/>Pietr rolled his eyes and snatched the letter from his brother. "What is this now?" His glare at his brother softened as he read it and he addressed Lynn as well. "You are too kind. Thank you."<br/><br/>During this brief ruckus, another much more imposing figure entered the room. It was the same large gruff man who had been barking orders back at the scene of the battle. "I've not missed it, have I?" His deep voice boomed as he looked briefly at Rishiae and then at the Hawks leader. Cid shook his head and the large man took a seat as well.<br/><br/>Malluri spoke for the first time in a while. "Malluri wishes introduce Brynn Hierkemp. Brynn is strategic commander for Hawks."<br/><br/>Brynn nodded and chuckled, "Sometimes I think I'm only important here because I'm almost as old as Rishiae." It was true that compared to the twins and Cid, Brynn was old enough to be their father. "Anyway, Viticella's on her way here in a right frenzy. She's finished that prototype yeh wuz asking about, Cid."<br/><br/>Sure enough, no sooner had he said so than another person burst into the room. One might have mistaken her messy head of flaming red hair for a bomb infiltrating the meeting had she not begun to speak. "I've got it right here, and while I know there isn't time to produce them on a grand scale, at least an added layer of protection for some of our people will be worth pulling an all nighter especially owing that I tested it myself and it works like a charm, by the way I've borrowed some people from the armory to help me with the assembly so I should be able to outfit most of the frontline force and goddess preserve us Cid, what are you doing out of bed!"<br/><br/>Piers had leapt up and grabbed the thing from her hands. "Don't forget to breathe there, Viticella. You know Cid hates staying in bed when anything is happening." He took the goggles he'd taken from her and put them over his eyes. "So what do they do other than make everything look shiny?"<br/><br/>Viticella giggled. "They protect your eyes! Turns out that if you concentrate holy magicite and grind it into a fine powder and then you add a half a vial of eye drops and squeeze it between two very thin layers of crystal powder and then heat the whole assembly in a kiln..."<br/><br/>"Skip the technical jargon for once Vi." Piers interrupted<br/><br/>The gleeful girl's excitement waned. "Oh.. sure... they protect you from the wither runes." She looked directly at Cid. "Not the sickness of course, but I'm still working on that."<br/><br/>Brynn looked on with a mixture of awe and exasperation. Cid was as usual, stoic and ever watchful. Malluri and Pietr shared a look.<br/><br/>"That's excellent, Vi, but we were just about to hear Rishiae's impression of our guests." Pietr announced. He turned to Cid and quietly mused. "I hope you're right about them."<br/><br/>All of the Hawks gathered fell to a hushed silence. Cid tapped Rishiae and squeezed her hand gently. The old NuMou raised her staff and it began to glow. She stared beyond the crystal at its head and began to murmur indistinguishable words in an ancient tongue. After several moments of this her eyes closed and her weary voice rang out a message "Enemy unseen, but the fated ones convene. Chosen heroes, one and all, with power to make darkness fall."<br/><br/>Each of the newcomers gathered felt a tug at his or her heart as if a faraway voice begged them to action. Some would call it conscience, others a plea from the goddess, but they each felt something just the same.