Azlyn vehemently stared at the mirror.

She noted the black tunic with red overlays, the black pants that rolled into the boots. The Garlean impression and signia on the shoulder piece of the attire. She had her white hair pulled back into a low side ponytail. If it hadn’t of been for the helmet covering her face, she would see the growing scowl of disgust.

Roll walked up behind her, checking the inseam of her arm. “If I didn’t know it was you, I would have punched you.” She let her measuring tape, the flimsy fabric, wrap easily around her cousin’s arm. “But you have to admit, this is a crazy plan Kida cooked up.”

The Au Ra sighed. “Who’d have thought Alphinaud would be the one to back it up too. Ugh. I feel itchy wearing this repulsive thing. How long do I have to wear this for?”

“Until the Scions are rescued.”

“The things I do.” Azlyn muttered darkly. “How are the others doing? Were they able to go ahold of a magitek armor like Cid, Biggs, and Wedge suggested?”

“I believe they ambushed one off in Fogfens. Cid, Biggs, and Wedge are in the midst of repairing it.” Roll explained. “They brought it back to Revenant Toll for the time being, but we’re still waiting on Kida, Koroko, and Richi to come back from Ul’dah.”

The last day had been a frenzy of activity. After they had rescued the engineers from Coerthas, they flew to Mor Dhona—or more specifically—the adventurer’s community built on the outskirts of the Fogfens and Silverlake. In the distance of town, one could see the Agrius wrapped in the dead carcass of Midgardsormr. 

But that wasn’t the main point of why they were there.

Alphinaud and Roll had done some local reconnaissance, learning about the Castrum where their Scion friends were being held. They also learned from the Students of Baldesion that the weapon unearthed by the Garleans was most likely an Ancient Allagan artifact. This of course peaked the interest of one scholar over on the Isle of Val, as he spent the rest of that evening regaling Azlyn of the possibilities. 

The Ultima Weapon. 

It sounded like a good idea ideally, however... it wound up in the hands of the enemy. 

With the new information at their disposal, the whole group sat together for breakfast at Rowena’s open restaurant where Kida came up with her crazy idea to save the captured Scions. 

“Security will be super tight, right? Let’s just sneak in—incognito! Nin-Nin blends in, but we can blend in too if we wear their uniforms and simulate being an imperial soldier!”

And it only got worse when Alphinaud agreed with her. “If it will save our friends, then I’m for it.”

“It’d be more plausible if we had our hands on a magitek armor.” Cid replied shortly after, and Kida snapped her fingers.

“Easy peasy! We steal one and take it for our own! Sabotage the dictator!”

Azlyn remembered having dropped her utensils at the suggestion.

The group had been revved up by the enthusiastic rally of their bard and split into smaller groups to implement what they could. The only one worried about the consequences happened to be the white haired Au Ra—but she did as was requested of her.

Roll, N’thuzu, and Mjnt spent time observing and watching the imperials, perfecting the imperial salute and jotting notes of what the uniform looked like.

Kida, Richiro and Koroko, hijacked a magitek armor from a platoon of imperial soldiers making their rounds in Fogfens—however the core had been heavily damaged in the fight—which was currently where they were at.

Azlyn and Nin-Nin snuck through the tangles in Fogfens to determine if there were any weak points or entrances without soldier presence. After some time, they stumbled upon a sewer grate that led inward to the facility. Low visibility, and difficult to access due to the absurd number of monsters and underbrush. It was an ideal point of access.

With an entire day under their belt, Azlyn soon woke up to this current day where she was abhorring a glance in the mirror. She was wondering why she had to be the one wearing an imperial uniform. Roll had spent the night weaving it together, relying on her notes and observations.

“You’ll have to perfect the imperial salute.” Roll’s voice brought her back to the present.

She groaned. “Don’t remind me.”

Roll dropped her measuring tape with a curt nod. “It looks genuine. That’s all that matters. Now to make three to four more.”

Azlyn ripped the helmet off of her head and started to strip down to the bare minimums. The less time she had to be in it, the better. “I’d rather be naked than be seen in that in town.”

Roll chuckled. “I made a couple more outfits, did you want to wear one?” She pulled out a few outfits from her bag, letting her decide which one she liked. The girl found a long dark blue robe with gold accents adorning the shoulders, chest, and seams. Paired with a black pair of leggings and her regular black boots, she fluffed her hair out from it’s trapped ponytail.

“Let’s go check on Cid.” She also was curious about the magitek armor that they procured.

Together the pair left Rowena’s, heading out into the bustling grounds of Revenant’s Toll. There were tons of crafters and gatherers around, selling and pitching their goods for those who walked past. Roll waved to several of them, knowing a good portion of the community through her own merchandise and wears she had made over the years.

They walked past the large aetheryte crystal, heading further to the storage rooms and the large bar. In the distance they could see Nin-Nin perched by the wall, while Mjnt stood by. It was an odd combination, since Nin-Nin and Mjnt had barely known one another. N’thuzu emerged from the bar with a few drinks in his arms.

“How’s everything going?” Azlyn asked, smiling to the three.

Mjnt crossed her arms over her chest. “We’re still waiting upon Kida’s group to return.”

N’thuzu Tia offered them the drinks he carried, mugs filled with water. Nin-Nin refused with a stern shake of his head, while Mjnt gratefully accepted. Roll took his instead.

“How’d the fitting go?” The Miqo’te warrior asked, passing Azlyn the copper mug.

Azlyn clicked her tongue. “It’s repulsive. I hate it.”

“You said that already.” Roll replied, gulping down the water. “You should see her awkwardly doing the salute.” 

“Everything about it makes my skin crawl.” The white-haired Au Ra went to chug down her water, and then gasped for air when the liquid went down the wrong pipe.

N’thuzu Tia smacked her back to help alleviate her momentary choking, while Nin-Nin shook his head. He had been looking over their shoulders, out into the Fogfens. A purple haze had started to settle around the fields, making it an odd sight to see.

When the girl finally caught her breath, she asked: “Who’s going through the front of the castrum with me?”

The Miqo’te raised his hand.

Roll smiled. “And myself.”

Mjnt smiled. “I will be going with the Scion girls. Yda and Y’shtola, correct?”

Nin-Nin remained silent. His gaze lingered out to the fields.

“That’s right.” Azlyn answered, before she let her eyebrows scrunch together. “What’s Kida doing during the operation?”

“She’ll be with us.” Mjnt replied. “Richi and Koko will more than likely stay with the airship, Cid, and Alphinaud.”

Azlyn knew everything was coming together at last, it just relied upon Roll finishing the last-minute uniforms, them perfecting their salute, and getting the armor to come back to life. “Let’s head inside and see what Cid’s up to.” Azlyn suggested.

They followed her lead, as they walked around the cobblestone paths over to the storage building where a loan adventurer stood guard. This guard decided to help them when he learned about their plans to break into Castrum Centri.

“Morning.” He greeted to them, pulling open the door to let them pass. When they all were inside, the guard immediately shut the door behind him to continue his constant vigilance.

The five of them stepped forward in the quiet space, the only thing present besides them were the engineers tinkering and working around the magitek armor. Wedge had been busy with several cans of paint, while Biggs had been fixing the housing unit.

Cid turned to them. “The repairs are proceeding apace. It shouldn’t be long now before Biggs and Wedge complete their work. The only thing putting a brake in our work is the mammet’s heart Kida’s group is bringing back.”

N’thuzu Tia crossed his arms over his chest. “Explain to me again why a mammet’s heart will fix this thing?”

“As you all may recall, the machina’s servomechanism was discovered to be faulty. Wedge has subsequently ascertained that the magitek core which drives it is worn beyond use.”

Roll hopped onto Cid’s explanation train of thought with bright eyes. “These cores are rather fragile, needing to be replaced frequently. Nice job to the imperials for messing up the one job they had to maintain it.”

N’thuzu squinted, trying to piece together what they were saying. “So—the empire didn’t treat these things well, and that’s why Kida went to get a mammet’s heart.”

“Will it serve as a substitute for the core though?” Mjnt interjected, staring up to the dead machina reaper.

Wedge, with his brush dripping yellow paint, called over the platform he was on. “A mammet’s heart can be used to grant sentience to an automaton. By my reckoning, such a device should be more than capable of regulating the armor’s servomechanism. We’ll just need to make some minor modifications to the housing unit.”

Azlyn turned to their quiet member in their group—the black-clad ninja who crossed his arms. “Any questions?”

The male rolled his blue eyes and changed his stance. Then with a deliberate action, he flicked the girl’s forehead.

“Owww!”

« I followed what they said »

Azlyn watched him sign with bleary eyes. “I was just checking.” She rubbed her forehead, feeling the tenderness from his flick.

The doors to the storage opened as Alphinaud, Y’shtola, and Yda walked inside. The youngest of the three rubbed his hands together. “Still waiting on the last three then.”

Mjnt nodded. “Should we give them a call?”

Alphinaud shook his head. “No need. Kida just got off the line with me just a moment ago. They just retrieved the heart from the goldsmith’s guild, and they should be here after finishing some last-minute errands. We just came by to deliver the good news.”

Yda gave them a thumbs up, while Y’shtola smiled.

Roll chuckled.

“While we’re waiting, let’s see what Azlyn, Roll, and N’thuzu Tia can simulate.” Yda clapped her hands together. “You gotta be able to impersonate the salute—have you been practicing? We’re breaking in tonight!”

Azlyn awkwardly looked away. She really didn’t want to.

Roll mocked the salute for them, and then shook off the motion. “It does feel weird.”

N’thuzu tia shortly followed her motion, albeit a bit tense.

“No, you gotta relax your lower abdomen. Have a tight arm when you pull it toward your chest.” Y’shtola pointed out. When they were finished working through his form, they turned to the reluctant Au Ra.

“Your turn.” Mjnt called out to her.

The girl grunted, before snapping her feet together. She closed her eyes as she did the motions of the salute.

“Good. Next time don’t have your eyes closed.” Yda teased.

Azlyn pouted. “After we rescue the Scions, can I burn the castrum to the ground?”

“No.” Half of the party replied.

Alphinaud smiled to the Au Ra, hoping to ease her discomfort. “I understand that the Garleans and the Empire have been a dreary topic for everyone—however we must needs avoid becoming the same as them.”

“True. Burning an outpost to the ground would add fuel to the fire. Let’s get the Empire back in the ways that we can.” Roll amended to her cousin. “Besides, burning people has an awful stench that will never leave you. I would not recommend it.”

As they began to bicker about how Roll would know of something as awful as that, the doors were once again opened. Three individuals walked in, Kida at the front. She was holding a decent sized box with a Mammet’s heart within. The two Lalafellins that accompanied her waved to them in greeting.

“I hope we’re not too late.” Koroko Koko smiled deviously. “I had something I needed to pick up.” She brought forth a new staff.

“I also bought a new grimoire!” Richiro Wichiro, the blonde haired Lalafellin healer, jumped up in excitement. “Ul’dah has quite the selection of things! The next time we go, I would like to visit the Goldsmith’s guild again!”

Kida brought forth the package to Wedge. The Lalafellin engineer dropped his paint job on the left side of the magitek to gleefully cheer. “Do you have the mammet heart!? I can’t wait to see if it works!”

Mjnt curiously tilted her head. “I thought you said it would work so long as you modified the housing unit?”

Azlyn also raised an eyebrow. “Yeah—he did say that.”

Roll walked over to the magitek reaper, gazing up to the machine. “It should work. Given the size of the heart and all that.”

Wedge danced happily on the platform. “Hooray! Thank you so much you guys!”

Kida gave the heart to him, and then peered back over her shoulder to Alphinaud. “This should have cost an emperor’s ransom and then some, but our young associate deemed fit to request paying for it.”

Azlyn widened her eyes at the mention of cost. That wasn’t something she thought of. “By the twelve—we’ll pay you back Alphinaud. How much was it? I’ll make payments!”

Kida interrupted her mid speech. “It was free of charge actually—Serendipity stated that your family has been an investor of their guild—so they were more than happy to give it to us. She said to send you her regards Master.” The bard teased the young Elezen who turned away.

Everyone could see the red tinge growing on his ears. “Nonsense. It’s what anyone would do.”

Wedge held the heart with an agape expression. “Free of charge, courtesy of Alphinaud!? Coming from an influential family certainly has its advantages!”

Biggs finished his repairs, stepping back with a growing grin. “Let’s give it a try. The housing unit should be ready for it—should slide right in.”

They all watched in anticipation as the engineers carefully placed their new mammet heart into the housing unit. After a few moments of tinkering, repositioning, and realigning the heart—they all collectively released a breath.

“There!” Wedge clapped his hands. “She’s ready.”

Kida jokingly held up her hand, calling to the machine. “Magitek armor—engage!”

Again, they all stared to the magitek, only for the room to be filled with silence and the echo of engage still bouncing off the walls. Kida coughed to cover the lack of event.

“Or not.” Wedge nervously laughed. “She’s just needs a loving tap, I’ll wager.”

Azlyn shook her head, watching the engineer pull out his wrench.

“WOAH—woah—woah!” Roll yelled, running over to block the lalafellin’s version of a loving tap. “Hang on there—let’s troubleshoot first.” The Au Ra shooed him away before climbing up into the device—she fiddled with the controls, clicking several buttons.

Cid crossed his arms, smiling to her. “There should be a large green button near the top upper left corner of the panel. Try hitting that combined with moving the steering lever down.”

Roll did as she was told, and then the magitek reaper whirred to life. The hum of the engine gave all of them reason to celebrate.

“She’s…she’s…” Wedge tearfully cried out. “She’s ALIVE!”

Kida clapped. “Thank the Twelve!”

Mjnt smiled up to Roll sitting in the chair. “Nice job.”

“Heh.” The Au Ra hopped down from the engine, rubbing under her nose with her finger.

Biggs called out to the rest of them, a huge grin on his face. “We should take her outside and put her through her paces. Roll, since you got her going, would you care to do the honors?”

Roll shook her head. “I still have four uniforms to weave. Have Azlyn do it in my place. We’ll probably all need time to practice with it.” She stretched her arms forward. “On that note, have fun. I’ll have our uniforms ready for tonights operation.” She gave them a two-finger salute before walking out of the makeshift workshop.

Azlyn faltered but couldn’t deny her cousin had other things to get done. “Alright, I guess I’ll take the first opportunity.”

The seven of them, minus the scions and Roll left Revenant’s Toll shortly afterward with the newly operated magitek armor. They traveled slightly out of the town to the west where Cid pointed to the large orange crystals in the distance.

Azlyn sat in the pilot’s seat, staring down at the flashing lights and panel full of miscellaneous things. “This is a bit overwhelming.” She admitted, staring to the panel. “What does what?”

Cid quickly ran a brief beginner’s crash course on how to operate. “You guide the direction using these levers here—to power it to move, you’ll have to engage the right pedal by your right foot.”

“What does the left pedal do?”

“It’s the brake.” Cid explained.

“Oh.” Azlyn pushed her foot into the left pedal, engaging the machine to begin movement. As she took over manually, the Lalafellin engineer called up to her.

“First, I’d like you to try climbing that tangle of crystals yonder—as far as you can go, if you please.”

She nodded, and awkwardly she maneuvered it to the crystals in the distance. It was a rough start, as her more vocal company mates cheered her on. The only one she felt grateful to was Nin-Nin, but that was probably because he was silent in his observation.

When she reached the uppermost part of the crystal, her linkpearl buzzed. She engaged the brake and answered the line. “No anomalous movements evident from either leg. Good. Next, jump back down and then sprint north, quick as you can!”

With her new directive, she did as was told. She took over the manual controls and engaged the magitek to move. She jumped down from the spot and turned northwest. When she reached the mountain ridge wall, her linkpearl buzzed.

“Leg joints absorbing all impact without incident. Excellent. Please make your way back her Azlyn—we’ll have everyone else try it out now. Good work!”

Azlyn let out a shaky breath, before manipulating the reaper over to where they all were standing. By the time she engaged the brakes and hopped out, Kida had already jumped up to volunteer. “Me! Me! I want to go next!”

Each of them had their turns, even Nin-Nin who was extremely reluctant about it. After some mild persuasion, he finally hopped in where he roamed Fogfens for less than a minute. He turned it back around before returning it back to the engineers.

Given that they all were given ample time—or whatever time they wanted to play with it, Wedge smiled. “The torso remains stable during vigorous motion. Excellent. And that concludes our test. Thank you for your cooperation everyone!”

Kida tapped her chin sadly. “It is too bad Roll didn’t get a turn.”

Mjnt smiled. “She’ll get an opportunity next time.”

Wedge, Biggs, and Cid were going over the findings amongst themselves. It was then that Wedge turned back to the group. “Here is a summary of our findings: The drivetrain is in sound condition. With some fine-tuning, we can expect a noticeable improvement in performance.”

Biggs added onto Wedge’s report. “As for the servomechanism…”

Wedge sighed heavily. “I’m afraid it’s not nearly as responsive as it should be, and I’m at a loss to explain why. The mammet heart is in pristine condition, and should be installed correctly. Perhaps the inner workings are simply too different to operate harmoniously with the armor’s other mechanisms?”

They all paused to think. As Azlyn wracked her brain of any solution, Cid started to speak.

“Magitek cores serve only to conduct impulses. Mammet hearts enable automata to process the information collected by their sensors as feeling.” The lead engineer explained.

Kida snapped her fingers. “Okay guys, stick with me!” She ran up to the magitek with a big grin. “Cid said it should be able to sense feeling—maybe she doesn’t feel like part of the team!?”

Richiro Wichiro gasped. “We can’t let her believe that!”

Wedge nodded his head numerous times. “That’s right! We should welcome her to the team! Everyone let us greet her! Hi!” He greeted.

N’thuzu quirked his head, confusion marring his expression. “I need clarification.”

Azlyn placed both her hands on her hips. “I’m a little concerned that we’re worrying about a machine’s feelings.”

Kida tsk’ed to her. “That’s where you’re wrong Azzie! We should all do our best to make her feel welcome!” To which the Au Ra started to bounce around the magitek, waving enthusiastically. “Welcome to the team!”

Richiro Wichiro copied Kida. Koroko and Mjnt gave devious chuckles before giving the machine a warm welcome. N’thuzu Tia raised his one hand up, greeting the machine. “Welcome.”

The only ones who hadn’t welcomed her yet had been Nin-Nin and Azlyn.

« Are they being serious right now? It’s a machine. »

Azlyn signed back to him. « I know that. »

“Well!” Kida called to the pair. “We’re waiting!”

Nin-Nin straightened before giving a half-hearted wave.

Azlyn walked up to the machine and reached up to pat the front of its armor. “Welcome?” She questionably asked, only to pat the machine once more. “Thank you for awakening. I know Roll would be happy to greet you too.”

They all waited to see if the machine would do something—and it did. It clicked.

Azlyn turned to Wedge. “It…She clicked. Does that mean it works?”

Biggs looked to Wedge as well. “Daft as it felt, I gave it my best. I’ve welcomed myself to a bloody standstill. What were you expecting it to do anyway? Bob us a curtsy?”

Cid slowly approached the reaper, stopping next to Azlyn as he examined it. He rapped on the metal with his knuckles. “No doubt you’re wondering why the servomechanism is so important as to warrant this silliness.”

Nin-Nin walked up to Azlyn, tapping her on her shoulder. He signed to her with emphasize on a few words.

“Yes, this is silly.” She spoke aloud for the ninja. Azlyn, however, tacked on her own thoughts. “But it never hurts to try. It’s better than practicing the imperial salute at any rate.”

Cid smiled to their mute party member. “Without the servochanism, the pilot would be required to control the armor’s every movement manually. This would be an onerous task at the best of times, and wholly impractical during battle.”

Mjnt whistled. “Right—it was a bit to move around. Imagine doing that while fighting.”

The whole party now seemed to understand the underlying problem.

“Hmmmm….”

Biggs walked away, going into the lands of Fogfens to take a break. He was shortly joined by Nin-Nin and N’thuzu Tia as well.

Cid shook his head. “Using a mammet heart in place of the worn magitek core seemed a promising solution. Alas, the device does not appear to be compatible with Garlean technology.” He watched as Wedge clamored his way up into the pilot’s seat. He fiddled with the panel and levers. “Wedge are there no other ways we might demonstrate our appreciation to our friend here?”

Wedge stood up, shrugging his shoulders. “I’m at my wit’s end, Chief. She just—doesn’t seem convinced. We could try a little dance, perhaps, or cheer our heads off?”

Kida bounced up and down. “Me! I’ll dance! Azlyn and I can dance the welcoming dance from the sylphs!”

Azlyn put her hands up, mostly in defeat. “Fine. But I’m not dancing over an hour.”

“Chief!” Biggs cried out, he was sprinting back up the path. Nin-Nin and N’thuzu Tia were right on his heel. “Imperials have come for the armor!”

Cid snapped around, looking down the valley to see a whole squadron of imperials dispatched out. They were coming over to them. “Damn it! They have us cornered!”

N’thuzu Tia slid to a halt, drawing his axe. Nin-Nin withdrew his daggers from his sides as the imperial leader from the 1st platoon reached their location. He called out to them in fury.

“There’s the reaper!”

Cid punched his hands into his open palm. “Not today buddy!”

Azlyn glowered to their uninvited guests. “Who invited you?”

The imperial centurion took a step back at the sight of them all guarding the reaper. “Taken by the traitor Garlond—and is that the eikon-slayer’s party!? Oh, bollucks.”

Kida laughed, drawing out her bow. “Damn right we are—you’re doing down!”

“Call for reinforcements!” The imperial issued, but before his squadron could start the call Cid pulled out a mechanism and pressed the button. There was a echo in the valley, as the cluster of crystals in the distance activated to interfere in the signal. They blazed with energy as Cid’s machine whirred to life.

“We had a feeling this might happen, so we used the aetheric density of the crystals in this valley to create a jammer!”

With their communications jammed thanks to Cid’s early planning, they began converging upon their enemies. Nin-Nin had been the fastest, taking down three in a matter of seconds. Kida happened to shoot several of them with her arrows. Koroko managed to blast several of them back with her fire balls.

“Curse you Garlond!” The imperial centurion cursed pulling back. “No matter, if we can’t reclaim it—then destroy it!” He rallied the troops in the back of the group to his side. And also, a giant magitek vanguard armor sauntered its way forward.

Azlyn snapped her grimoire open—summoning her Titan-egi to her side. “Looks like we have some imperials to beat down.”

Richiro produced a grimoire similar to Azlyn’s, except this one had a purple stone embedded in the cover. He summoned Selene to his side and looked up to Azlyn. “I bought a grimoire in Ul’dah—and I’m prepared to support you all!” The purple and gold themed fairy flew over each of them, granting them succor.

Kida squealed at the sight. “So freaking adorable! Okay, now I’m pumped to kick these imperial’s asses! Who’s with me!”

Cid yelled to the party. “Bloody hells—make sure to protect the armor at all costs!”

Mjnt brought forth her spear. “Understood. Let’s dance!”

Kida notched her arrows once more. “To protecting our stolen property!”

“To protecting Maggie!” Wedge roared from the magitek reaper. “Protect her with your lives!”

“She has a name now?” N’thuzu Tia questioned, before charging in with his axe.

Altogether they fought against the threat—with their combined efforts—even the Magitek vanguard stood little chance against their full might. Koroko Koko harnessed the dark energies of her black magic into her new staff, as she unfurled a large ecliptic bang of energy upon them. “Flare!”

That wasn’t all. Mjnt leapt high into the air, before she dove back down. She impacted the machine from above. The attack alongside Koroko’s magical burst of energy was enough to cause a massive triggering effect—as it started to implode.

As the vanguard exploded, all that remained were the few scattered imperials. They were taken care of quickly by Kida and Nin-Nin, and after a few beats, they heaved a sigh of relief. It would seem their plan of infiltration was well on it’s way—and needed to be done soon. 

The engineers cheered, rushing over to them who had protected “Maggie” from the imperials. Azlyn waved off the applause, before looking back to the magitek armor. Her ears picked up a slight whirring sound—as if something clicked within it. 

She watched as the magitek started to move, and everyone—including the engineers stopped their applause to gape in shock at the machine moving on it’s own. It looked as if the magitek had been peering at each of their faces, before settling to Azlyn’s. The girl blinked several times, and then warmly smiled. 

“I think she’s going to be alright.” 

N’thuzu Tia whistled in shock. Nin-Nin merely scratched behind his head, watching in his own aversion. 

Wedge danced a celebratory dance, which Kida joined him in. Richiro was soon pulled into the center of their dance group as Azlyn chuckled. “She’s moving Chief! She’s moving!”

Cid nodded in approval. “Now she deigns us with her presence!” 

Mjnt walked to Azlyn’s side, tapping her shoulder. “It took us a couple days, but we’re finally ready.” 

Kida gave a thumbs up to them. “It’s time to infiltrate Castrum Centri! And rescue our comrades!”

Azlyn smirked, punching a hand into her open palm. “Indeed. Let’s raise some hell!” 

Altogether they went back to Revenant’s Toll to Cid’s workshop where they finished their last minute details needed on Maggie the magitek reaper. Azlyn could see the gear design of the Garlond Ironworks painted on the left hand side of the machine. It’s yellow and orange gear designs popped on the black metal. 

They were soon joined by Roll who carried in her arms bundles of sewn Garlean uniforms. She handed the two engineers one set, one to N’thuzu Tia, and another to Azlyn. Roll had one additional one for herself draped over her shoulder. 

“Operation: Case the Castrum will now commence!” Kida gleefully cheered, as they split into their predetermined groups. The infiltrators moved to change into their uniforms, the ones who would sneak in through the back and phantom train would be with Y’shtola and Yda, and the last group would be with Cid and Alphinaud on the airship for a quick getaway. 

They once again went over the plan before charging ahead into Fogfens, straight to Castrum Centri.