Zetaark

"This is quite nice."

[Enemy Phase] "So then, those pests managed to take out Wakin eh? No matter, if it comes to it I'll take em on myself. MEN! Ready yourselves for battle!" Gonzap yelled, seeing the men he had on the opposing boat all taken down. Pirate 7 Moves to L24 Pirate 8 Moves to N20 Pirate 9 Moves to M26 Archer 3 Moves to M22 From the stairs of the pirate ship, another pirate appears, clearly unaware of the situation before him. "Ey everyone. Why are you all on deck? We have another meeti-" the pirate pauses before taking a glance at the situation around him, realizing that the others have been in the middle of a fight. "O-oh. Did I miss all of the fighting? Oops. Well uh...I'm here now I guess," the pirate says, trying to save what little face he had. Pirate 5 Arrives on J25 "What a worthless fool," Gonzap sighed. "At least the little runt had some might in em." [Ally Phase] "Look's like they're coming this way. Let's give them a grand reception," Madante states, readying his blade as he moves closer. Madante Moves to M16 Turn 5 Cheat Sheet

"Yes, I wouldn't doubt that they've called for assistance. Let's deal with these people, grab whatever we can, and get out before things get dodgy," Ecquis responded, noting the amount of time they had spent with their actions. Luckily with the assistance pulling through, they could focus on other things. Move to E14, switch to Iron Javelin, and use vulnerary.

Being careful not to miss his mark, Karik strikes out at Wakin. Though he tries to deflect it, his hatchet is brushed aside as Karik's axe hits its mark, bringing Wakin down for Karik to capture. "You gotta be kidding me. Yer supposed to be some weak runt. How could...this happen," Wakin mutters as Karik hefts the man onto his shoulders. Cheat Sheet

Belros rushes in and slashes Wakin's chest. Wakin tries to strike him with his hatchet, but is unable to make contact. While he is still reeling from his axe smashing the planks of the boat, Belros goes in for another strike, wounding Wakin quite severely. Cheat Sheet

Well now that it's a new turn, we got level up things to do! Rayne Belros Cadence Emilee Darius Idei Chirya Karik NPC's: "Well, slow beginnings lead to great endings...right?"

[Enemy Phase] Mercenary 3 Moves to J13 and attacks Karik The mercenary, having watched one of his men fall and another turn traitor, decided to deal with the turncoat. However, even while carrying someone much larger than he was, Karik was still able to deflect the blow and strike the mercenary in retaliation. "Can't believe this, I tell the lad to deal with the enemy and instead he joins them. Guess I'll need to teach 'im a lesson," Wakin snarls before walking towards Karik, preparing his hatchet. Wakin Moves to L12 and attacks Karik Karik attempts to dodge the hatchet coming towards him, but the person he's carrying makes it difficult, causing the hatchet to gash the boy on the side. Wakin only laughs as he prepares another hatchet. [Ally Phase] "Well what's this? It seems we have someone else on our side now, and those pirates aren't too pleased about it. Still, any enemy of theirs is a friend of mine as far as I'm concerned," Madante remarks as he goes towards the boy and the mercenary who attacked him. "You there, my name is Madante, and these are my men from the Royal Guard of Versidia. Now that introductions are out of the way, we must attend to these cretins," he states before striking. Madante Moves to K13 and attacks Mercenary 3 Madante's quick strike overwhelmed the already wounded mercenary, dropping him to the ground. Turn 4 Cadence's Imbue activates Karik's Renewal activates Cheat Sheet

Cheat Sheet

“Royal Guard? That means you’re from...” The child’s eyes lit up as he realized where these people were from. The Royal Guard, as in the group in charge of keeping conflict in Veritias to a minimum, hosted by the Royal Family in Versidia. They could bring them back... “Yes, please, Aye’d love to go with you all!” Rather than shaking his hand like he asked, the child simply jumped up and gave the man a hug, happy to know he finally could find his way to Versidia after so long. “Please, I need to go to Versidia. If you’d please let me go with you, Aye’d be happy to offer all my help!” The child seemed like they could barely contain their excitement. Jumping off of Belros, the child realized something. “Oh, Aye never introduced myself, huh? Allow me to change that.” The child cleared their throat, preparing themself...

Idei's arrow struck true, piercing Agrev's heart and ending his life. "Gah, yer gonna pay for this. Ol' Gonzap won't let any of you survive this. Mark...my...words" Agrev gasps before collapsing on the deck, dead. ------------------------------- The man kneeled on his leg, holding out his hand for the young child. A loud clunk could be heard. The child’s arms gave up, their axe simply falling to the floor. The child felt safe. He offered him a safer place. A place away from the pirates, but… still not where they’d want to be. Still, it was enough. This man was different from those pirates. Maybe his friends would be just as nice. Maybe they’d help them find their way. The child slowly reached his hand, but stopped it before it went far. There was one thing they weren't feeling sure about. These people… who were they? A bunch of travelling mercenaries? Travellers with a rather good set of tools? “Um, may I ask who you all are? You don’t look like ordinary merchants or travelers. And I certainly usually don’t see people with pegasi riding on ships when travelling.” Cheat Sheet

The child noticed the blue-haired man come closer to them. Fearing for their life, they readied their hands around their axe. It’s coming. He’s gonna kill me. It’s ov- Huh? The man sheathed his dagger away, leaving him unarmed in front of the child with an axe. "Hey kid, what are you doing here? A group of pirates is no place for a child." “I’m uh…” The child was slow to answer, trying their best to hide their fear as they spoke. “Aye work for these pirates. Well, used to. As ye can tell, Aye no longer am under the employment of these scallywags.” The child’s arms began to shake, refusing to let go of their axe. Despite this, they never swung it, simply holding the axe to intimidate the man. “What about you, aren’tcha gonna kill me? Surely wouldn’t be too difficult with that Dagger ye got. Go on, we can have a fight. I’ll even give ya time to take out your weapon.” The child’s red eyes glared at the man, a scowl forming on their lips.

Not feeling as merciful as before, Cadence quickly dispatched of the mercenary before them, running their blade through the mercenary's throat. Running into action, Rayne manages a quick strike to the archer, who is unable to retaliate in return. Cheat Sheet

[Enemy Phase] “Ey, rookie.” The child turned his head towards the capped man with a bow beside him. “I’m keeping watch over ye, so you gotta do what I say.” “Why, that sounds delightful.” The child’s voice was full of sarcasm. “Tell me, what does such a smart lad like ye want me to do?” “Wouldya shut up with that prissy accent?” Agrev grabbed the child by the arm, pushing them down to the floor. “Here, just follow me lead. We’ll take down this dastard.” Archer 2 (Agrev) moves to K10 and attacks Belros While Agrev tried to aim his shot just right, the rocking of the boat threw his aim off just a bit, causing the arrow to hit the decks instead of the spy he was targeting. “Aw, damn it!” Agrev stomped his foot into the ground as he missed his target. “C’mon, rookie. Help me out!” The child watched and chuckled a bit at seeing Agrev miss his shot. “Why do I have to help you? Clearly it looks like you got things covered,” the child joked. “What was that boy? You want me to try aiming at you next?.” Agrev yelled, clearly not amused by the child's jab. "If you don't, then come on and clobber 'im for me," Agrev motioned his arm to hurry the child along. “C’mon, I bet that axe of yers can finish ‘im off. Or are those noodle arms not enough to lift the thing past yer hip?” The child’s legs refused to carry them towards the spy. They felt stiff as stone as they tried to take themself to the enemy. They didn’t even feel like an enemy to the recruit. They were just random people for the pirates to plunder. “What’s up with ya, rookie?” The child was brought out of their reveries. “C’mon, once you get a taste for blood, you’ll stop being dead weight. Now get to it!” he yells, obviously annoyed at the child’s inability to act. “A taste for blood...” There’d be no going back. All they had to do was pick up there axe and strike their mark. Maybe then they’d get over this anxiety inside them. But the recruit knew that they wouldn’t want that confidence going to the Pirate’s side. It’s been much too long. It’s about time this happens. “Understood, Agrev.” The child raised up their axe over their shoulder, the weapon feeling lighter in their hand. “Aye’ll have my first taste of blood from you, then!” The recruit dashed around Agrev, approaching him from the north side. With a kick, the child knocked the enemy to the ground, putting all their strength into their axe as they attacked the Archer. ??? defects to the Neutral Party ??? moves to J10 and attacks Archer 2 (Agrev) The recruit’s attack was a near miss, their inexperience visible for people to see. Still, their attack hit its mark, the Archer’s chest. While not enough to kill them, it might as well have been just as dire. “It’s been too long for all this, dang it!” “We shoulda killed you months ago, kiddie,” Agrev growled as he got back to his feet, picking his bow back up from the ground. “Guess now’s as good a time as any,” Agrev said as he began preparing his bow and signaling the nearby men to prepare themselves. The recruit looked out to the soldiers around them. Eight trained fighters against a child that just struck a human for the first time in their life. To the other side, pirates that they had just cut ties with, forcing them on their own. The pirates wouldn’t take them back. What about the soldiers, though? Would they take them? "Well, this be a fine set of circumstances.” Mercenary 1 Moves to J11 Regardless of the consequences he might face from the boss, the mercenary figured anything was better than what he was being subjected to by that fencer. As such, he attempted to run back to the ship and hopefully forget this entire incident Mercenary 2 Moves to H13 and attacks Cadence The other nearby mercenary scoffed seeing one of his men run away like a coward. As such, he went over to deal with the fencer in question. While he managed to strike them, the fencer responded in kind, landing a blow on him as well. Wakin Holds Gonzap Holds [Ally Phase] "Well that was quite the development," Madante remarked, rather surprised to see one of the enemies rebel. Regardless, he had more pressing matters to deal with, most notably a mercenary who had begun to strike at his squad. "You there! If you're going to strike my crew, you'll have to deal with ME!" Madante Moves to H12 and attacks Mercenary 2 Madante runs forward and strikes his opponent, forcing him to stagger a bit. However, the mercenary was able to fight back, and managed to land a blow onto Madante. Turn 3 Darius' Anthropomancy fully fades. Cheat Sheet

After their remark, Cadence went in and struck the mercenary right on his sword arm, nearly causing him to drop his sword entirely. Even as injured as he was however, the mercenary managed to score a blow onto the fencer. Cheat Sheet

Rayne runs and decides to deliver her spear to the enemy, throwing it directly into his leg. Idei, despite being injured, still is able to fire his shots well, with one hitting the pirate's thigh and the other hitting his shoulder. Belros runs in to finish the pirate off. Though the pirate tries to deflect the blow, his previous injuries were too severe, so the knife found its mark in the target, dropping the pirate to the ground. Cheat Sheet

[Enemy Phase] Archer 1 Attacks Cadence Boxed in and unable to move, the archer sees the fencer out of the corner of his eye and tries to take aim. Unfortunately, with all of the other people surrounding him, his aim was off and the arrow instead flew into the sea. Mercenary 1 Moves to F10 and Attacks Chirya Seeing the dancer somewhat farther away, the mercenary goes after her. The unarmed dancer tries to dodge, but isn't able to avoid his blade. Pirate 4 Attacks Idei The pirate strikes out at the nomad who had just arrived in front of him. In one motion, the pirate managed to strike Idei on the side with his club. Mercenary 2 Moves to J14 Mercenary 3 Moves to K15 Gonzap Holds “Bahaha, these silly little travellers, thinkin’ they can stand up against the mighty Gonzap’s crew! They barely got a dozen troops to their crew!” Gonzap’s second-in-command, Wakin, looked to the child to his side, trying their best to walk off into the nearby stairs unnoticed. “Where do ya think yer goin’?” Wakin rushed straight towards the child, grabbing their arm and throwing them onto the floor. “Remember, kiddie, ye're goin' to fight fer us today.” “Oh, blast it. Must Aye be required to fight these bothersome landlubbers?” The child’s formal accent was rather uncharacteristic of someone in their position. The recruit got back onto their feet, their large axe falling beside them. “Do ye really have need for me assistance in this ‘ere battle, filthy oafs?” The child was upset, not wanting to be forced to fight alongside the plunderers. They had an angry scowl on their face as they looked at the man who certainly looked tougher than most of the other Pirates around here. “What are ye on about? Ye’ve been part of our group for so long now, and it’s about time ya see some action, matie.” “You’ll find Aye’m not your ‘matie’, Aye’m simply a member of yer crew, because of a few wee circumstances that be out my control.” The child brushed their long hair away from their eyes, their headband failing to keep their hair clean. “Look, kiddie.” The captain slammed his imposing club onto the ground, sending a chill down the recruit’s spine. “I don’t wanna hear any lip from ye, otherwise ye’ll be seein’ what I can do with this here club. Ye understand?” The recruit looked at the club in the captain’s hand, remembering just how easily they could lose their life. “M- my humble apologies, sir.” The recruit picked up their rather heavy axe that seemed bigger than the one holding it. “Now that’s what we like to ‘ear. Now get out there and start fighting. I got me eyes on ya.” “Yes, sir.” The recruit dashed off towards the enemy, lugging their heavy axe behind them. ??? moves to L13 “Ey, Agrev!” The nearby Archer took notice of the second-in-command’s voice. “Watch over the rookie, will ye? Keep them in line.” The Archer silently nodded his head before falling back to watch over the child. Archer 2 moves to L14 Wakin Holds [Ally Phase] "You all are a persistent lot I see. No matter, as a commander of the Royal Guard, I will not permit you to harm my men. Fall!" Madante yells, bringing his blade up to strike the archer. Madante get's his weight on and Attacks Archer 1 Madante, having stayed where he was, put the full force of his weapon in his strike. With nowhere to run, the archer was cut down. Turn 3 Darius' Anthropomancy fades further. Cheat Sheet

"Well someone got rather nimble I see," Ecquis responded to Klaren managing to dodge blows that would have likely proven fatal. Looking a bit further up, he notices that Terrin and Luka are coming around towards them. "Looks like we're getting a bit of assistance. And not a moment too soon," Ecquis says, glad that at least a few others are coming by.

Belros goes for the defenseless archer, who is unable to retaliate as Belros strikes him with his dagger. Cheat Sheet

Idei takes aim and fires. Only one arrow was needed to drop the wounded pirate to the ground. Darius calls for the magic to strike, but the archer manages to see it coming and dodge, following up with an arrow that pierces Darius' arm. Cheat Sheet

Despite Cadence's showing, her first strike was again deflected by the pirate's axe. Laughing, the pirate begins to strike at her, but his bravado is short-lived as Cadence manages to dodge the strike this time. While he tries to compose himself, Cadence manages to get a hit onto the pirate, bringing him close to the brink. Cheat Sheet

[Enemy Phase] Pirate 3 Moves to G10 and attacks Cadence Seeing what he thought would be an easy fight, the pirate runs up and tries to strike the fencer. However, being healed gave her better form, and she nimbly dodged the axe strike before responding with two strikes of her own. Archer 1 Moves to H8 and attacks Belros The archer runs near Belros and attempts to fire a shot at him, but the rocking motions of the boat throw off his aim, causing his arrow to fly into the sea. Pirate 4 Moves to J8 Mercenary 1 Moves to I9 Mercenary 2 Moves to L17 Mercenary 3 Moves to N17 Archer 2 Moves to L11 ??? Holds Wakin Holds Gonzap Holds [Ally Phase] "You all are quite skilled in combat I see. However, don't think that I plan on standing on the sidelines. En Guard!" Madante yells before running up to his opponent. Madante Moves to G8 and attacks Archer 1 Madante was quick to attack, striking the archer while he was defenseless. Turn 2 Darius' Shield of Agony fades and Anthropomancy wanes. Cheat Sheet

Belros dashes forward to strike the pirate. The pirate tries to deflect the incoming strike, but the arrows in him hinder his movement, and he is unable to stop the knife from striking him and ending his life. Cheat Sheet

Nah, Madante would just retreat due to being a Lord. Though let it be known, he may be classified as a Lord, but he isn't actually royalty. You get to meet them later.

Idei takes aim at his target and strikes, planting two arrows into the pirate's body. Cheat Sheet

And since he has appeared onto the scene... This will be your official Royal Guard captain, in addition to the first NPC character you have. Hope you get along~