After greeting him, Hera followed Vash to meet the rest of the scouts that would be a part of this operation. They were in one of the hotel rooms that Typhera always kept for official business. That could take the form of anything, really. From delegates coming to visit to someone who was trying to make a deal with the harpies, even a friend of hers that was coming by to say hi. There were always a couple of mid-range hotel rooms always booked under the queen's name.
As soon as Hera walked in, she was greeted by the three other members of the scout team. Alyson was a harpy with long hair reaching about the middle of her back in some mixture of black, gray, and white that followed the same pattern on her wings, almost as if Hera was looking at a wave crashing down from a sea consumed by black darkness, with the foam creating the segments that would lighten the color. She was wearing her battle clothes, which were basically a tank top and some very large parachute pants together with several necklaces and earrings and bangles around her.
According to Vash, she was the mage of the group, someone who excelled and specialized in reconnaissance, who had spells that could map large areas and could use sound to attack. She could amplify or diminish sounds when they were in the middle of a battle. Which was a perfect fit for the performer.
The second member was Zephyr, with dark green hair and pale blue feathers that had a hint of green to them. He was an explorer who had the Fighter, Assassin, and Mage roles. According to him, he wasn't able to do the same thing that Hera did and stop raising one skill once he wanted to get a different role. Meaning that he lost a couple of opportunities of getting other role skills with his build thanks to his fighter specialty. And that's why he was the muscle of the group, the person who would go to the front lines and make sure that if they faced a big enemy, he would be there to face off against them.
Funny enough, his relic was almost a harness that was around his body and could unravel to reveal a pair tentacle arms, or four weaker versions of them, but they would be just as nimble. In essence, this allowed him to use weapons like any other species in the MAZE despite not having arms but wings instead. And by his brief description, his relic had no use for anything other than fighting or manipulating objects, unlike Hera's Court, which had more than one function.
The last member of this group was Oriko. He was a harpy just like the others, with shoulder-length hair in some vibrant yellow color matching the sun and fitted leather armor together with some pants that fit snugly on his legs. His wings were the same color as his hair. But just as he took a few steps towards Hera and introduced himself as an assassin, all the colors on his clothes, feathers, and even skin shifted to match the surrounding environment.
The Empress barely had to ask about Oriko. She didn't even have to question his presence here once he actually used those abilities. He was quite literally a chameleon and could vanish from sight pretty much anywhere.
"So, what do you think?" Vash asked. "Do we have your approval?"
The Empress nodded before turning to Vash and pretending to analyze him.
"They are great, but I'm not sure if you would be the right fit. You seem to be a bit too loud for this kind of operation."
Vash just gave her a blank stare while the rest of the scouts seemed to be a bit bothered by her reaction.
"Honey, do you really want to talk about being loud? Did you forget that I used to stay in the room beside you and Neria?"
"Fair point," Hera chuckled.
"Are we really going to follow her orders?" Zephyr asked with a frown.
Hera figured it was one of the situations where she had to impose her command, but before she could say anything, Vash stepped forward.
"Yes, we do. She is the Empress. She is probably the strongest person I ever saw aside from Insomniac, because that guy is a beast. And she's the leader of this operation. If we're going to have any problems with that, let me know right now because then I'm going to look for another group to help me. If any of you can't take orders from her, this is your chance to speak up."
The group just gave a nod and didn't argue anymore, and Hera couldn't help but feel impressed by Vash's reaction. She never expected the free-spirited Vash to lay down the law so quickly.
"Don't worry about it. Thank you for your support, but can say a few words here?" Hera asked, and the performer gave a nod to allow his old companion to speak.
"Look, I understand that it's weird getting orders from someone you don't know. And I'll do my best not to give that many, especially because I understand you have your own job to do, and I don't know how to do that job better than you do. So don't worry about it. You can, for the most part, do whatever you want. We just need to be very careful about not being killed. Actually, how much do you know about this entire situation?"
Vash pressed his cheek against the tip of his wing. "Actually, we don't know very much, only that we're going to fight a bunch of undead that might be able to bring us back as zombies or something. It's a very dangerous mission, and we had the right to say no, but Typhera said that you were going to be a part of it and you might need my help."
Hera let out a sigh, feeling a bit frustrated with Typhera for not having told the scouts what was actually going on. And so she explained the situation, going over as much detail as she could. Even if they were going to give up and say that this was too much for them, the Empress had decided not to hold on to any information from anyone who might be participating in this expedition.
About 10 minutes later, she finished her briefing with as much detail that she could. Her intention was to give them a moment to process all that she told them and then ask if they were still willing to participate. But just as she finished speaking, Alyson spoke up.
"I mean, you don't even have to say anything else. I studied a bit about that Emperor, and the Legacy is not something that should be allowed to exist."
Zephyr nodded. "I'm in too. This is something I fought against. Both King Gwendolyn and the Emperor Xu Jiayi were on my explorer test. One was in the role test, and the other in the secondary role test, but still, I can't imagine what kind of damage something like that would do right now. I mean, what would have happened if the guild had managed to get their hands on this kind of Legacy before the war? This is not something that can be left alone."
"I don't think we are the best people for this job, but I understand why we are the ones going," Oriko said.
"What do you mean by that?" Alyson turned to the assassin.
"We can't just throw someone extremely powerful into the mix. If we call Insomniac, for instance, and he ends up getting killed, then the undead army has a weapon that can be used against the rest of us," the harpy assassin explained.
Hera nodded, "He is aware of what's going on. The alliance told him about the situation, but we are having him stay as a sort of last-ditch effort. Only if we see that we don't have any other options will he and likely a team of the most powerful people in the MAZE try and finish this. The idea is that we are going there mostly to get information, not so much to finish the job."
She paused for a moment before adding, "Also, this is another problem we're going to have, and I want to be clear to everybody here. In the case that we do find King Gwendolyn or whatever creature currently has the Legacy, only a Legacy holder is allowed to kill them. This is something that I've talked with Typhera and the other council members, and we all agreed that this is the right thing to do. We can't just have the Legacy pass to someone else. We need to get rid of it entirely. My hope is that the MAZE understands that this is a bad thing and never lets the same type of Legacy be created again."
"But what if we are in a situation where we have to kill it?" Oriko asked.
"The alliance already has a plan for that. You will be asked and pretty much pressured into relinquishing the Legacy to anyone who already has a Legacy. We know that it's possible, and that way we can let one Legacy holder kill another one. As a thank you, the alliance is working on finding an alternative Legacy that can be offered to the person who has to give it up."
"Are you saying that in a way, a reward for killing king Gwendolyn will be a Legacy?" Alyson asked.
Hera frowned. "It's not exactly that, but effectively, yes. But it's not a reward. Getting the Legacy will not be a reward for killing the king, just a way to make up for it. Making sure to kill the king is not the thing that's going to give you the reward. It's giving the Legacy away that will, if that makes any sense."
The group paused for a moment before nodding in agreement. And Hera was thankful that so far, everybody was going to be part of this and understood the danger that this Legacy held, especially since she couldn't see any glint of greed in their eyes. Yes, any explorer or any person inside the MAZE worth their salt would be interested in getting a Legacy. But there were some Legacies that were not worth getting.
They talked a bit more, and all agreed. After confirming what was the plan for this initial step of the operation, they agreed to leave in the morning. After all, the scout team had just arrived here, and they were a bit tired because of the journey. It would be better if they were fully rested for what was to come next, even if they were still not going directly into the Fields of Elysium.
Once Hera left the room, she also contacted the royal explorers from Boothudurn. She had a few preparations she wanted to put in place. They were for the most part, related to the outpost that was going to be created in Deakoshara. The location of the doorway to the Fields of Elysium was too far away from both the area of the first plateau and Zaxalam in case something truly horrible happened.
So instead, they would find a location in Deakoshara that could function as a home base for the people who were going on the expedition. This was the scout team's first job: scout the area around the Coiled Serpent for a place where they could create that base in a way that the teams going to the Fields of Elysium could go back and forth anytime they wanted.
And the best way to do it would likely be to either find a structure somewhere that was not inhabited by the Spirits of the Naga or find a natural formation that would be defensible enough so they could prepare everything in a way that even if the undead army decided to attack, they would be able to defend themselves for long enough to evacuate everybody who was there.
And as soon as everybody woke up the next morning, Hera, Alex, Bonnie, Shane, and the scouts all headed off to find where they would construct this outpost with the royal explorers staying back in Zaxalam but being more or less ready to go after them as soon as they had a proper location so they could start building everything as soon as possible.