The entrance to Xanadu Gardens lay in the eastern section of Fairhaven Park. The agents who volunteered for the mission were told to assemble there for a briefing by their chief researcher in charge of Xanadu Gardens. Waiting just outside the entrance to greet them all as they arrived was a storm dragon, his tail swaying in what appeared to be agitation. Behind him, a small section of the Gardens was visible through the entrance - flower-lined paths and a big water fountain, and beyond those, the dark smudge of a wood, and what appeared to be a meadow, perhaps? At that distance, it all got vague and fuzzy. Somewhere in that walled-off area was an enormous tree, the object of your mission today. As the agents arrived, Acetyl greeted them and asked them politely to wait until all had arrived, as he had been instructed to brief them on the mission. Strange, exotic aromas roll toward you from within the park as you arrive, tickling your brain with their unusual blend of chemistry and active nanites. The sensation is subtle, but real.

Zophah arrives at the gates hand-in-hand with Arris, sporting her usual bikini, lab coat, and bag. This vixen decided to come with her compound bow and arrows strapped to her back just in case something happened, but with her skills and research equipment Zophah wasn't worried. "Been quite a while since I've been here collecting infection vials." She wonders aloud. She then stopped in front of the storm dragon, waiting for everyone else to arrive.

What a strange and peculiar mission they were sent on this time... one fennec fox would be right at home getting his hands dirty however, his penchant for trouble ensuring that he'd be anywhere and everywhere there was something interesting to see or do. More-so he had a feeling he'd see some familiar faces there as well. Once the fox arrives on-site, he'd do so with a kick in his step, a smile on his face and a guitar in his hands strumming out a jovial tune welling from within, his internal happiness pouring out in the form of soft, melodious tunes. Someone's been practicing!

Upon arrival, Magnus sees Zophah and Arris having already arrived. He'd move over and just peck the two on the cheek, before casting each a wink and ceasing the music. Placing his instrument back on his back, the fox rubs his hands together and states his mind. "Smells like pixie farts and gummy bears. I don't trust that." Glancing between the two, he'd rub his hands together and asks. "So! What kinda shenanigains are we getting up to today? Something about a tree?" he'd cast the question towards Acetyl, a nod and a wink in greeting sent along with it. "Tsk, and here I am without my plaid shirt, long beard and choppin' axe!"

As she follows behind Zophah, Arris rubs at her nose slightly. The scents and smells were... interesting, but she was far from losing herself in them; work is work and play is play, and they should be kept separate. That being said, a little small talk wouldn't hurt before the mission. "You know, you still need to tell me how your trip to Arizona went." She snickers lightly, nuzzling her snout against her almost-perpetually-busy wife once the two of them reached the tree, letting the approaching fennec drop her a kisso n the cheek. "You and Magnus both."

Cythim heards of the whereabouts of a research mission at the xanadu gardens and dediced to put her knowledge at use for good measure.

With a fairly heavy march, the chimeric beast, an odd mix of crystal bird, machine and an absurdly heavy-looking tail makes her way besides the rest of the assembled team, giving the squad quick glances with her three hydra heads. The titaness then momentarilly sits down onto the ground, sensibly concerned by the unknown waffing aroma that seemingly came off the area.

Cythim takes a pause before asking to the storm dragon, 'So. What are we up to do, today?.'.

Lilac approaches the quickly forming group. The tall, satyric cowgirl checks her equipment one final time before moving in. She crosses her arms over her breast, stretching the fabric of her tight, form-fitting bodysuit. "Afternoon all." She says with a pleasant smile. "This here the gatherin' for the scoutin' job up the Gardens?" She quietens as the others start to chatter between themselves, content to listen in to the group of strangers. Her gaze turns to the side and up to regard the many headed, chimeric beast as Cythim speaks, slowly breaking a smile. "Seems like s'gonna be an easy job with this team."

The storm dragon's broad muzzle creases in a slight, lopsided, but genuine smile of recognition as he notes the presence of some agents he's met in the past. His tense posture relaxes slightly as he surveys the group, taking them in one by one. "Thank you all for coming. You are standing on the outskirts of Xanadu Gardens. There are not many known sites where 'wild' nanites have mutated plant life as well as humans. This," he states, gesturing over his back toward the entrance, "is one of them. Almost all of the plant life within is mutated to some degree. There is a distinct population of plant- or fungus-like ferals that congregate here. They almost never leave, in fact." He pauses for a moment, as if gathering his thoughts. There's a slight rumble in his throat. Then he continues. "There are two subjects of interest today. The Tree of Life and Death and the ferals known as Xanadu Birds. The Tree is the largest in Xanadu, and it is covered in leaves, flowers, and fruit of many different species. I have not been able to confirm this, but they appear to represent most or even all of the species of plant found within the park. Zephyr would like to know more about this phenomenon, and about the ferals who consider the Tree their home." He pauses, frowning to himself in a thoughtful way, though there seems to be a hint of concern in the draconic features, too? "You are to make your way through the Gardens to the site of the Tree. There are paths, but you will need to be careful. Do your best to avoid altercations with local ferals - your approach should be as stealthy as possible. We are hoping for samples from the Tree itself. Bark, its various different leaves, blooms, and fruits. We are also interested in obtaining information about the relationship of the Birds to the tree. However, this is their only known nesting site. The nests must not be disturbed, and, if at all possible, the Birds should not know you are there at all." He takes a breath, his frown deepening. "Please be careful. Feral Xanadu Birds are powerful, and their minds are... well, they're not like ours." The fur on his tail is puffing out slightly as he speaks, and his wings rustle on his back. "I can't accompany you - I'm required to be elsewhere after I conclude this briefing - but please, exercise extreme caution, and do not engage the Birds in combat unless it's unavoidable. They do not typically attack in large numbers in most of the park, but when near the Tree, they become very aggressive in defense of their nests." Acetyl waits for a moment, giving his audience time to take in his words. Then he adds, "Does anyone have any questions?"

"We went, we saw, we kicked ass. That's the summary of it." Magnus casts Arris a wink before the others arrive. "Well well, haven't seen you around before." The fennec snickers as he spots Lilac. "Don't count yer eggs before they hatch though! I've been in a lot of sticky situations where even the most able-bodied have felt the cruel crunch of lady luck's fangs snapping their spine in two. Or a rib..." the fox sighs softly. "There was this one fella, well built, very strong, we were helping some folks jump out of a burning building, he should have caught those falling no problem what with how buff he was, but... for some reason he went and broke a rib or two when the catch happened. BUT LET'S NOT START THIS OFF ON A BAD NOTE, AYE?!" he'd crack his knuckles and turn towards the other newcomer.

"Welcome to the group lad. Nice feathers, very shiny." Magnus notes, the glimmering crystalline plumage almost radiant enough to cast sparkles in his very eyes. Once Acetyl speaks up, his ears turn towards the dragon, and with the fox being a fennec, well... it was pretty hard not to hear all of it. "Right, sneak in, find the tree, snag some samples, roast any aggressors that come our way, one question!" the fox raises a finger, his index, not the middle, that one's for something else entirely... "What's with the stink? It smells like the hopes and dreams of naive children before adulthood has a chance to suck the happiness and joy out of them, or something... I'm thinking we maybe don't wanna inhale too much of this. I've been in places where gas makes you do all sorts of crazy things."

Zophah replies to Arris "Oh! Right. I'll tell you later." She then shuffles through her bag, pulling out the needed tools and vessels to collect biological samples. As she does this she asks "Those who are easier to spot should do whatever jobs are furthest from the nests. I guessed that there may be at least someone who will need help collecting samples, so I wrote down instructions on what to look for and how to collect them." She holds out a notepad for anyone to take, labled 'How to Collect Samples'. "I'll work on observing the birds and collecting samples higher in the tree, and if anyone is in trouble just page me in comms or use nanomagic if you can." She then uses her adept software to sprout phoenix wings from her back, and gets ready to go.

Arris flags her hand lightly. "Yeah, it's no problem. We get in there as stealthy as possible, obtain the... samples from the big tree in the middle of the gardens, and we get out, avoiding those birds on the way." She pauses. "In the event that we can only get one or the other, what should we prioritize obtaining? Bark, leaves, blooms, or fruits?"

After Arris finishes her inquiry, her focus jumps from Acetyl to Zophah's notes. "...ooh, that looks very scientific. I mean... I'll take 'em, if nobody else is planning on scooping out samples here." The gator then takes a glance around, watching for a show-of-hands if someone plans on using the papers.

Cythim idly listen to the dragon, mentally noting the important parts of their given mission, giving glances toward the garden's overall direction, only to have her main head's visage to glare, when she heards she had to be 'stealthy'. As a gigantic boobied crystal beast. As an answer, she mutters to no one in particular, before she adds, asking the fennec, 'The heck you've been doing, out there?'.

Being very obviously aware that she might as well be screaming to the whole place she's here, and with a clearly not feinted sigh, she kneels down to grab the notepad and scrolls through it for good measure.

She adds, 'Would there be some sort of plan as of how we handle dem bird, or we just follow our instincts and roll by with whatever would happen?'.

Lilac nods at Magnus as he chatters, the cowgirl smirking. "Ah, yer the veteran who's seen it all I take it? Nice to meet ya. I'll try an' not get in the way much." She pauses as Zophah goes ahead and sprouts wings, as well. "Well oiled machine, I see. I'll carry anything ya find." She turns to Arris and nods. "I was gonna suggest fruit myself, or any healthy-lookin' fronds or blossoms. The sorta stuff that has planty sexual characteristics, as it were, the uh.. stamens and pistils an' whatnot, but y'all seem to have this sorted. I'll work security an' try to make sure nothing gets close to disrupt ya." She looks up at Cythim. "Figure first we should avoid contact an' leave them be. Unless we go too close to their homes they should be leavin' us alone."

Acetyl sighs at the memory of the accident at the fire. That really had been unfortunate. In respose to Magnus's question, the Storm Dragon says, "It's all the flowers and aromatic plants. Their various smells blend together and waft around on the breeze. It might make you feel a little... strange," he says slowly, unsure how to describe it, "but that's all. That said, I don't advise closely smelling the flowers. Most of them can't affect you through scent alone, but a few of them are more potent."

Acetyl nods at Zophah's words. "That was thoughtful of you. Go ahead and hand those around to anyone who'd like to take a look at them. Be very careful higher in the tree - the closer you get to the nests, the more likely you are to disturb them. And to trigger an unusually aggressive attack." His expression appears sincerely concerned.

"Not quite. We're also hoping to obtain some observations of Xanadu Bird behavior if possible. We would like to know more about their relationship to the Tree. This is part of why stealth is important. It will keep you all safe, but it may also give you a chance to observe the Xanadu Birds and learn something about them. We hope that, by learning about the Birds, we might learn something about the tree by extension." In reply to Arris's question, he adds, "Bark, and the sap of the main trunk. This will allow us to sample the Tree's DNA and any nanite strain or strains that may be infecting it. However, please do try to obtain as great a diversity of samples as possible, of all types. We are trying to confirm or deny the hypothesis that it bears all of the plants found in the Gardens, and *only* those plants. It will likely take multiple runs of this type of mission to obtain enough data, of course, but we're hoping to get it done in as few runs as possible."

Nodding to the crystalline agent, Acetyl says, "If attacked, try to get as far from the Tree as you can. If they corner you, defend yourself as needed." After a moment, he notes, "The forest has many large trees and deadfalls. If you move carefully, even one such as you should be able to remain reasonably concealed, especially if you roll in mud or something to disguise yourself. It's possible that someone here may be able to help you shift to another form, as well, if that option interests you, for the duration of the mission."

Acetyl nods to Lilac. "After the bark and sap, blossoms and fruit are indeed of great interest. We do want to see leaves as well, however, due to the need to confirm the presence of non-blooming species in the mix. Xanadu Birds tend to be aggressive, but it is possible to move through the forest undetected by them if you're cautious."

"Does anyone have any more questions? If not, I'm being summoned," the storm dragon notes. He looks over the group again, assessing them thoughtfully. "Oh! One last thing. When you've gotten as much as you can, return here and send me a message through the comms. I'll return to collect your findings and pay you."

"That's right, why back in MY day we didn't HAVE none of those fancy schmancy mutant power thingies." Magnus comically leans over and presses a hand against his back, feigning the old man look. "You entitled mutants and your karfunkled fire breathing and what not! Myeeeegh! WE USED ROCKS AND WE WERE HAPPY DOING IT!" dropping the joke, Magnus shakes his head and sticks his tongue out. "I hope I never get to see it all, because then I'd have nothing new left to see. What kind of horrible life would that be?" He'd sigh softly, gloomily even, but drop that quickly. Casting his gaze towards the avian of drastic sparkles, he'd pat her on the shoulder and note. "You know... with a little effort it won't be all that difficult to sneak in. Just stick to the shade! Can't be shiny if there's no light to reflect, right?"

"Anyway, whatever happens, even if we are mobbed, we'll be fine. I can at least vouch for Arris and Zophah being proficient in combat. We'll cut a path to the tree and leave a trail of bloodied, mangled corpses in our wake if we have to." the fox quips with a touch of madness sparkling in his gaze, though like his past jolts, it fades nigh instantly. "Let's get going then! I have no idea where the tree is though. Anyone adept at... uhhh... tracking trees? I mean I know there are paths, but I'd rather take the 'leisurely walk' path and not the 'thousand spike falls and casual detour through a feral hive of angry mega-hornets' path." He shudders. "Ever been stung by a mega bee girl, I can tell you it hurts worse than any bullet wound." Magnus rubs the back of his head and shrugs deeply. "I mean... if'n yer not armored up."

The fox flits and ear as he hears Acetyl's words. He laughs and points out the obvious. "Snow White also 'felt strange', right before she was poisoned." He'd note and pull up a face covering over his muzzle. It was a simple design, just a basic air filter covering his muzzle, intended to sift out any spores, dust particles, pollen or other such small contaminants. "I dunno about you, but I am not taking any chances. One moment it's "Oh, it smells like sunshine and joy!" and the next, you are being vored by a giant venus flytrap and sent down into its digestion chamber to be dissolved on a molecular fuckin' level." He'd shake his head. "I love me a thrill but I hate enemies I can't punch in the face. Mind-fucking mists are on that list of enemies. Anywho, we should get going!" Magnus notes and gives Zophah and Arris a tug on their tails. "We aren't getting any younger!" his covered muzzle bobs towards Lilac and Cythim as well, inviting everyone to head off already! "You do the big-brain stuff if you want. My noggen's built for other things."

Zophah nods at the continuing conversation, and having all of her gear she is ready. "Last chance for any vials, scrapers, shears and whatnot for collecting samples." She says holding out spare tools. Once everyone gets a chance to take what they need, Zophah spreads her wings and gets to flying above the trees. Spotting the correct tree, she messages to everyone by text the correct location to go, and then uses vanishing nanomagic to go invisible. She also uses her nanite trait that allows her to avoid breathing, just in case these scents and spores start causing any trouble too.

Seeing that nobody has asked Zophah for her papers, Arris takes them and does a quick read-through before asking her for a pair of vials and shears. "Alright, take the bark and sap good. Noted." She then pauses. "...pistils you say, Lilac?" She looks up from the research notes. "I guess we should be wary of stray bullets flying around too, once we get close enough to the tree." Pocketing Zophah's papers into her utility belt, she adjusts the strap of her rifle over her shoulder and turns in the direction of the tree. "Alright, let's roll?"