"Somewhere where I can explain properly -- and if you like I can thank you all in oil?"

Sakiko threw a death look in Zeze’s general direction, and muttered darkly,

“Yeah. Oil that take ten different types of herbs and takes over three months to make.”

A bug scuttled over Sakiko’s boots, pausing at the toe to look up and sway its antennas to and fro. The girl narrowed her eyes and was about to kick it off, when it turned around and flew off further into the dark alley. Sakiko understood why they were in here, but still – why a dark, gloomy, gross alley? She glowered at the pile of trash strewn about, with a chewed off boot at the top of the tiny mound; could they get any more cliché?

"But first we need to get a few things…Maybe go get them in not a lawful way; we'd just be borrowing though. First up is the text detailing how to get into the bowels of hell.”

Zeze unconsciously stepped closer to the pale girl, and Sakiko pushed her away with a frown. She muttered,

“It was your idea.”

The Bard shivered and replied inaudibly, her eyebrows scrunched in an effort to keep her face from trembling. Hell. That didn’t sound very pleasant; if anything, she had been looking forward to avoiding that place. She wasn’t really sure what Raiphon was talking about; what was that? Sun song? She knew songs, alright – but she wasn’t looking forward to how a song from Hell was going to sound.

"No amateurs.”

Zeze laughed nervously, scratching her chin. She was made even more uneasy by Darkin’s questions. He was right… there were so many things you should know. So many room for mistake!

“Heh, yeah, about that. Ya know, I’m not really a professional when it comes down ta venturing inta Hell, if ya get my drift. So…I think that counts me as an amate—“

Sakiko interrupted,

“So, how do we get to this place with the book?”

At Sakiko's muttered background for the oil, Raiphon's face visibly dropped, and he blinked in surprise. "I can't get that sort of oil, or I don't think so..." He furrowed his brow. "I'm not an alchemist" Raiphon seemed undisturbed by the alley, and even inspected every inch of it with a worshipping curiousity, however, this interest in the gloomy, unhygienic alley was fully interrupted by his distraction.

On one hand, the two females seemed to be quite reasonably responding to the concept of hell, though Raiphon himself didn't quite understand the issue, it was clear he wouldn't dare venture into such a place all by himself. However, he was far too motivated to back down from the idea. He'd spent too long preparing his research, and dealing with dead ends, or dead heroes to really feel much more than a blank pleasure that his plan would finally come to some form of fruition. Still, he did recognize the reaction both Zeze and Sakiko had, and was aware it was a common one. He himself was quite accustomed to the thought of the underworld, not that he'd ever been there, but he'd read about the place and what could be expected. Raiphon was quite confident he'd be fine down there, but he understood. On the other hand, the bird-creature was cheerily chattering about every little possible detail. Whilst he longed to address the more direct question posed by Sakiko, he had first to deal with the Rito's enthusiasm. From a more objective sense, having someone eager for the journey was probably a good thing, but he didn't want to know what sort of lich would result if the bird died. Something nasty, given the sheer magical power Raiphon had seen earlier. Frantically, he tried to answer the swamp of questions.

"Well yes lots of fighting. Uhm. We get the b- well it depends where the- I don't- well as I said we really need to- a lich? Uhm well I haven't seen any- how many- - but no if you cut their hands of those parts can- -it depends- er, well there's a lot of- which type of lich are we talking a- infection? That's only vec- -no, I don't think so; maybe the sun- -you've already asked th- -no, wait, what?"

Saphay cut over Raiphon's babble. "How many people are dead?" She waited a beat. "How many people can die?" A final beat. "That" What a stunning voice, and what an easily creepy statement, if only in sheer truth and immensity behind that. "Is how many liches there are"

"Potentially," Raiphon growled at Saphay warningly, and she shut her mouth with a clamp, the liveliness leaving her face, as her smile seemed to be torn right off her face. This time, thankfully not literally. She gazed at Raiphon, with wide owl-like eyes, lamp-like, grey, and rounded with an almost worship-like, everything-like emotion. Raiphon had by now, proceeded to ignore her. "Lich," He looked at Darkin. "Well it depends what type... unimbued are, well you saw how to deal with them. I guess it would be problematic to cut body parts off, since those cause such wonderful trouble all by themselves" Raiphon smiled sheepishly. "What happened earlier wasn't infection... so much as another corpse. I suggest to avoid graveyards, if the necromancy gets too close to another corpse, well you saw. Magic, not infection" Raiphon outright beamed now. "Pauper graves are absolutely wicked" He clicked his nail-blades together. "Vector Lich are infectious though... do you know much about lich, then?"

Such knowledge couldn't be expected of a feathery beast, but it had surprised him before, so, it was worth asking.

Saphay smiled in the silence at Zeze, glancing furtively at Raiphon, as if reassuring her. Bright eyes. Thanking Zeze for so selflessly coming to her rescue. Truly oblivious to the Bard's quick back-tracking. Raiphon's passing gaze causes Saphay to duck her head, and hide her smile, but a few seconds later she lightly smiled at Zeze, Sakiko and Darkin.

Raiphon on the other hand had began pacing in a very demonstrative manner, muttering to himself, and cape swishing in the muck. Saphay's prior efforts were for naught, but the dried blood over his face and front would have rendered her trying to keep it clean to naught. Finally he stopped, snapped round to look at them. "Well the book was written by somebody who had gone into the underworld-" Raiphon nodded determinedly. "Unfortunately the book happens to be..."

Saphay spoke up, voice violent, her demure smile gone. "Stolen by the Royal Family for their Library. Nevermind the work ah...." She paused, then continued, her rage unabated "Put into the book, or that the author left it to his family, nothing but thieves," She bared her teeth, and let her beautiful voice rise through her teeth. "We can take it right out of the Royal Library, and commit no worse a crime than..." At this she ran out of ideas, and uncomfortably retreated, her biting rage slipping behind her again.

Raiphon nodded nervously. "Yes... the library...er. Well-guarded, I think..."

The instant that Saphay mentioned where and who held the book, Sakiko froze. She couldn’t confess tremendous loyalty for the Royal Family, but the mere thought of breaking into their library and stealing their book held no appeal for her. There were so many things that went contrary to her likings; first, the thought of being caught, second, the thought of stealing, and third, the thought of committing a crime against the laws of Hyrule. Sakiko folded her arms across her chest and shook her head.

“No. I said I would help you, but this act of thievery is crossing the line.”

She was a mage, for the goddesses’ sake. She had no stealthy capabilities. She would probably ruin their entire plan if she was to help. However, she did feel slightly bad for being somewhat indecisive about her willingness to help. Zeze, being a Sheikah however, could probably help. She wouldn’t intervene if the bard voiced her eagerness –

“Yeah, I’ll help ya get it back! If the Royal Fam took the book, it’s only right we get it back, eh?”

Well, that was that. Sakiko added to Zeze’s comment,

“I’ll help you distract the guards or something like that, but that’s as far as I’ll go when it comes down to stealing.”