Zetaark

Another turn, another level up! Rayne Belros Cadence Emilee Darius Idei Cass Karik Myrdwyn Clarisse "More durable I suppose. Lets me protect others better." "Not bad I suppose, though a bit of magic would be nice."

[Enemy Phase] "Blast it all! I didn't expect any guards to be on the island now of all times," Scion grunts after seeing the Royal Guard arrive and deal with quite a few of his men. "At this rate, none of us are leaving this island alive. Now how will we get back to-" he stops as he sees someone running across the field upwards towards a chest. Though he didn't know the spy personally, he heard enough about him to know who he is. "My my my, look what we have here. Hey men! See that spy? Take him down, but take him alive. I'd like to finish him off myself" he shouts to the rest of the thieves, before looking towards a pirate. "Derric, take your men and deal with the others. I don't want them interfering in my duel," he yells before moving forward. Scion Moves to J6 Archer 2 Moves to G2 and attacks Belros Moving forward after Scion's command, the archer fires a shot at the spy in question. In retaliation, Belros responds with two knives of his own, and both exit the fight somewhat injured. Thief 1 Moves to O15 Thief 3 Moves to E3 Thief 5 Moves to K6 Knight 2 Moves to M7 Knight 3 Moves to F9 Derric Moves to J15 Mage 3 Moves to K11 Mage 4 Moves to J16 Pirate 3 Moves to Q15 Pirate 4 Moves to J24 [Ally Phase] "You have got to be kidding me," Helena groans as she sees the swarm of enemies coming towards them. Noting that Darius was slightly injured, she called out to him. "Darius, I'm not sure you should stay out in the front like that, not with your injuries. As for that spy up there...here's hoping the other guards can get to him in time," she announces, backing away from the impending threat. Helena Moves to N1 "Spy? Are they referring to Belros?" Madante frowns and looks in the distance. Sure enough, he sees Belros, along with Darius and some other girl in the path of the thieves. "We have to try and get them out of there. I'll try to deal with this knight." Madante Moves to N7 and attacks Knight 2 Madante's sword allows him to break through some of the armor. Not being enough to strike him down, the knight responds by striking Madante with his lance, leaving the two quite wounded. Turn 3 Karik Heals for 2 HP Cadence Heals for 7 HP Emilee's self-healing kicks in for 3 HP Anthropomancy wanes Cheat Sheet:

Having refocused, Myrdwyn finishes off the mage with a stab from her pike. Cheat Sheet:

Ritsu, having been slightly distracted, finally enters the temple, following Gary.

With her new weapon in hand and her allies around her, Clarisse brings down the hammer, crushing the knight in one strike. Cheat Sheet:

Eon: "Well, this should go better than a cramped maze" Eon remarks as he prepares an orb of celestial energy. Constellar Rain (INT damage (8) ) on Waddle Dees and Waddle Doo

Rushing by with her new lance, Rayne runs through the thief, taking them down and then regrouping with the rest of her allies. After getting there, she notices that she has some sort of ribbon with her, likely from the forest she entered earlier. Cheat Sheet:

(...) "Something for armored foes? Do we have something like that?" Madante pauses before whistling a particular tone. After a while, the convoy man arrives. "You called? What do you need?" "Do you have anything that can deal with those knights by any chance?" "Why yes actually. Something just came in," the man replies, handing the girl the hammer. "This should aid you well. Oh, and Madante? You remember the terms of our agreement correct?" "Ugh, yes, I remember." "Gooood," the man croaks as he disappears into the forests. Cadence strikes the mage from the forest with a knife. The mage, though having a hard time tracking down the fencer, manages to hit her with his own magic. Cheat Sheet:

Opening the chest after a bit of fiddling, Belros finds a hammer. While the item was quite useful, Belros was too overburdened, and thus sent out a whistle for the convoy man. "You called? What can I take off your hands?" the man asks. Idei fires off a shot, striking the thief and severely wounding them. In retaliation, the thief throws a knife back, striking Idei and wounding him greatly as well. Cheat Sheet:

Fully adjusted to his new weapon and invigorated by the bard's music, Idei finishes off the mercenary with two bolts. [Enemy Phase] Mage 5 Moves to L3 and attacks Helena The two mages engage in combat, both striking each other with fire. While both suffer some injuries, the enemy mage is worse for wear. Thief 4 Moves to K1 and attacks Darius The thief with his speed tries to throw two knives at Darius. While he managed to hit the first, Darius' magic, bolstered by his nearby comrades, tears through the second knife and instantly takes down the attacking thief. Thief 2 Moves to O6 and attacks Karik Seeing the young pirate nearby, the thief tosses out a knife, which strikes the boy. Pirate 1 Moves to P7 and attacks Idei The pirate tries to go after the horseman, believing him to be defenseless. However, as he strikes Idei with his staff, Kite retaliates himself, trampling the pirate and injuring him. Idei meanwhile, only needed one bolt to finish off the pirate. Mage 1 Moves to P9 and attacks Myrdwyn The mage, having finished business in the building he was stationed in, went up to strike the wyvern rider. Though his fire hit its mark, the wyvern's scales mitigated some of the damage. Archer 2 Moves to G5 Knight 1 Moves to P10 Pirate 2 Moves to J2 Scion Holds Derric Holds [Ally Phase] "My my, dark magic is quite something in battle. However, I won't be shown up just yet," Helena states to Darius as she engages the pirate. Helena Moves to K7 and attacks Pirate 2 with Wind With wind tome in hand, Helena makes quick work of the pirate, taking him down with two strikes of wind magic. As the pirate falls, the winds blow a chest key over to her. "Oh? Looks like these brutes have some treasure around. This little key should be helpful," Helena chirps, pocketing the key. "Well, it seems we have a few new faces in the mix. And...Myrdwyn? Were you sent here to deal with these thieves also, or were you sent to find us? Either way, glad to see you with us," Madante states. Madante Moves to Q7 Turn 2 Karik heals for 2 HP Anthropomancy Wanes Cheat Sheet:

Idei, not used to the crossbow he had acquired, missed the first shot. However, Idei managed to re-calibrate for the second shot, which hit the mercenary and poisoned him as well. Cheat Sheet:

"Yeah, we heard the commotion," someone inside of the house replied. "One of the thieves said something about needing to grab some of the weapons at the nearby armory then taking the ship. Not sure whether they're still around, but maybe the information is useful," the person finishes before the house goes silent.

A wild Mage Appears! Have fun with the best and only anima mage!

Rayne flying out with the support of her comrade manages to fell the mercenary in two tosses of a javelin. Myrdwyn flies into the fray, though her slightly drunken state and disregard for swords causes her to miss her strike and get hit by the mercenary's counterattack. "Oh yes, I don't think I did introduce myself did I? My name is Helena Vulcan. Kabumu is quite a ways from here, though my own destination is not too far from there. Hmm," she pauses, considering something. "Very well, I shall lend your group my aid for a while if you don't mind. Kabumu isn't quite where I need to be, but its closer than here. Also I get an excuse to see dark magic put to practical use, so I won't mind the trip," she declares, readying her tome. Cheat Sheet:

"Hmm?" The woman looks over at the one calling to her, only to find the shaman from earlier. "Oh! You've ended up here as well I see. After I left the shop I decided to wait out here for a ship. And when one finally comes, this is what happens. You don't need to worry about me, I'm quite capable at magic as I mentioned earlier, and quite content to burn these brigands to the ground," she remarks proudly. She then looks behind Darius to see the other people present. "Are those friends of yours? It occurs to me I never asked anything about you, including your name."

After Cadence's briefing, everyone by the fountain went over to the East Port, where they found Madante, a ship, and quite a few brigands "Glad you all made it. And not a moment too soon. That boat pulled up to port not too long ago, and the moment it did some thieves and pirates came by and started to get on the ship. Not sure what they want with the ship, but we'll need to deal with this before it becomes a serious issue," Madante explains as he draws his sword. ---------------------- "Oh for crying out loud. The first boat all day finally shows up and suddenly thieves are about? This trip just doesn't have any redeeming factors does it? No matter, I'll just deal with any that try to stop me." WIN CONDITION: Defeat all enemies LOSS CONDITION: All player units die. Turn 1 [Player Phase Begins] Cheat Sheet:

Ecquis had to think about this for a moment. He never truly thought about his calm demeanor very much. But after a bit of thinking, he came up with an answer. "Truthfully, I think it may just have been how my life went, ironically enough. There was so much going on that if I actually got worked up or worried over it all I probably would have gone mad. But I suppose at some point I asked myself, what does getting bothered by everything get you? The answer I found was that it didn't benefit me very much at all. Thinking on it, my time in Yukihana is probably where my current personality arose from. I was basically a young boy out in a frozen wilderness travelling with a man who had earlier tried to kill me," Ecquis chuckled a bit before continuing. "I figured if some impossible situation like that could happen, anything was possible. So, I decided to accept all things as at least somewhat feasible. That doesn't necessarily mean that I think that any incredibly outlandish things are likely to happen, but rather that they are within the realm of possibility. So I suppose that's why I am the way I am. I must admit though, its not a question I've ever been asked, so forgive me if this answer was a bit long-winded or not quite what you expected," Ecquis finished.

"Huh, so some of the rumors about dark magic were true...though it seems that self-control is a major part in it too..." the woman thinks a few things over before looking back at Darius and shaking his hand. "That will be sufficient. Besides clarifying which magic theory dark magic works on, you've also managed to tell me a bit about the elder spirits themselves and how they operate. I suppose getting stuck here a bit longer than expected worked out in the end," the woman smiles. "I do have to get going, but hopefully we shall see each other once again. I have many more things I'd care to ask, but I don't have the time at the moment. Ta-ta!" she ends, walking out of the store.

"Ah yes, I got a little sidetracked there. My research as I briefly mentioned was to examine the various types of magic and the forms that they can take. I myself am a proud anima magic user myself, so that part was easy to get notes on. Next was light magic, which really is just a short trip to any of the holy islands. Dark magic however, is a much harder thing to track down or get people to talk about. So my question to you is how do you channel your dark magic? I've heard mixed answers regarding possession or elder spirits or some other source of power, but none of them actually come from a practitioner," she asks, her eyes again glimmering.

"Apparently someone messed around with the internal schedules at the docks over by the east side of the port. I was supposed to leave 3 days ago, but when I went over to ask about the outgoing boats, none of them could give me a straight answer. And after a bit of waiting I realized that all of the boat arrival times were all wrong. AND to top it off, when a boat finally did come, it wasn't even the boat mentioned in the schedule. So yes, if you are also trying to catch one of the boats, I'd be a bit careful if I were you," she explains, somewhat frustrated.

"I see...so you are primarily accustomed to dark magic then. I suppose that makes this trip worthwhile then. Finding someone versed in dark magic at all is a very tough sell in the main two islands, and while the others do have some practitioners, finding them is a pain. Usually they are in hiding for one reason or another. Which makes my attempts at doing comprehensive reports of all types of magic VERY difficult," the woman sighs, clearly having gone through quite a bit. "Doesn't make it better that the boat schedules have been all out of whack for the last few days. I was supposed to be back home by now and continuing my research. That being said, since you're here, are you willing to answer a few questions for me?" she pleads with Darius, her eyes showing signs of curiosity.

"Hmm, is that so? I don't often get to find people who look into dark magic in any capacity. Most of the people who look into it tend to be old hermits. Well, there is the island of summoners, but nobody is allowed to go over there except via royal approval. But that's not important. I too can be considered a researcher of magic, though my focus falls more under anima magic myself," the woman says, revealing an elfire tome that she has. "Tell me, are you familiar with the nature of anima magic?"

"W-why this is...thank you! Thank you so much miss. I'll be sure to remember this, and you'll always be welcome to shop here if you need anything else," the man says, a wide grin on his face. "The Marigold guild eh? I've heard of some of their work in the past. It truly makes me happy to know that someone from such an esteemed tailors guild appreciates some of the things I have to offer. Again, thank you!"

"I'd say go over to the fountain and bring everyone over once they are here. That way everyone can get over here together. The boat shouldn't be coming for a while, so you probably have time to go over there and let them know, then bring them all here once they've gathered. Alright?"

"Most of my stuff actually comes from a few craftsmen on the western side of the island. They produce a fair bit of their own raw materials, and since I'm friends with a few of them, I can bring em in for cheap. I've heard that a few of the older stuff I get in actually comes from some Manaketes, but I've never managed to verify that myself," the shopkeeper answers proudly, glad that he has someone to talk to. He then went back to managing things behind the counter before Rayne asked another question. "Ember colored thread eh? I think I have something in the back if memory serves. One moment," the man says before going into the back room. Some rustling can be heard in the back, and after about a minute, he comes back out with a spool of ember colored thread that glimmered in sunlight. "Forgot I had this. Got it in from one of my friends a while ago. Will this be acceptable?" ------------------------------- Belros hears a few things while waiting in the plaza, mutterings about thieves, something about a Manakete tribe, and some other chatter about some new book. ------------------------------- "That...doesn't sound good at all. I've poked around a bit and heard rumors that the thieves were slightly more active recently. Luckily, I managed to find someone who remembered a few of the times of the incoming boats, and one of them is coming by in about an hour. Chances are, the thieves may end up showing up around then. And then there's another little matter of Chirya apparently telling me that she had to take care of some other matter and running off. She didn't go towards this direction though, so it will probably be fine, but we may end up being low on people. Could you try and find the others and let them know about this?" Madante pleads.