The Golden Age. Act 1: Discoveries.

[Nanami Touko]

"I don't know... I-I haven't been around, for a while." She hissed quietly, listening to the tale. Magical woods, huh... So it's an animal thing. Which is why we can see better... I suppose that makes sense. What are we then, really? Are we truly part animal? What's the magic that goes into that? The biology... It's, terrifying, and fascinating. Maybe if we pass near Jotun I can look into research... If there is any.

Telmara nodded at kaya and Raz, sliding up with Velvet. "We can lead... And you, shark man... Don't call me Telmy, ever again. I'm... N-Not your friend. Telmara, or I'm setting you on fire. But I can... Keep, your ca--... V-Velvet, safe. My magic is second to none." Or it was. But you'll get there.

She grumbled; all these niceties and playing friendly with everyone was difficult. That shark man was still incredibly unnerving. If he ever stares at me with those black eyes I might just lose it. "Anyway... I-I agree with... Velvet. That path is the brightest to me, too... It seems, w-we'll be able to go on like this, for a little while... At least. We should, er... Get going, then. Gotta keep moving. To stay, caught up." Telmara brought her tome out, and put a hand on her sword. They had to be ready to run into that group... Or any other traps that the woods had in store.

[Honey Bunny]

"Heh, I suppose that's all true Velvet. It's easy for me to forget small doesn't mean helpless." A smile began to curl on the corners of his mouth. This isn't like you Ulysses, why are you so uptight? A question which he really didn't a good answer to. He didn't get long to contemplate such matters though, the snake had begun to talk.

Is she serious? Did she really almost call Velvet 'your cat'? He stared at her in disbelief. And she's offended because I was being friendly? City-mages, they're all the same. "Alright, Telmara it is then." Telmara had begun to get on his nerves since they started travelling together. He wanted nothing more than to be friendly with her, but it seemed everytime he tried he got push back. He was honestly at a loss for words, that sort of behavior he expected from humans. Not other beastkin. Beastkin...An idea was beginning to form in his head as he followed her down the path. "You know, if you get to call me shark-man does that mean I get to call you snake-woman?" A playful smirk began to stretch its way across his face. Whilst not the most respectful, or even likable, response Ulysses had at this point given up on being friendly the normal way. Instead he was just going to have a bit of fun, and who knows, maybe she wasn't as humorless as she seemed?

[Ether]

It seemed they would be following the demihumans, who appeared to be able to see far better than the rest of the through these odd woods. Of course, them leading the pack meant that they were up at the front together, with the new addition seeming to repeatedly push Telmara's buttons... that could end poorly. Especially since, from what Mikhaila could hear, the man seemed to think himself witty. Oh dear.

"Now now, we don't need the two of you fighting. We need to save our strength for that other group, just in case."

[Nanami Touko]

Snake-woman. Really? How old are you? Children... Telmara ignored him. It was better not to engage with a creature that both frustrated and disgusted her. Perhaps if he was just one of the two, she would humor him, but for now, Mihkaila-- who had decided to mediate --was in the right.

"Don't worry, Mihkaila. I have no intention of fighting with anyone here as long as we have a task to do. Perhaps once things are over... But for now, I realize I can't sink to his level." She began to slither off; if no one else was willing to start moving, then she would force the issue. "You'd all best keep up~"

[scorri]

Kaya sighed quietly to herself as the newcomer started to pester Telmara. Her hands immediately went to her staff and dagger. She knew how the woman could react when she got angry and the shark demihuman was certainly pushing her buttons. And then... nothing. No fireworks, no magic getting thrown about, just her shrugging it off. Making a few vague threats but still. Won't fight with anyone here, huh? Then what does she call our interactions? Most of them certainly seemed like fights to me. She really must not like me, huh?

She loosened her grip on the dagger and quickly ran her other hand across her face. A calm, carefully composed expression replaced the troubled look with a small smile that she hoped no one would look at too closely. Well, that's fine. You're here to lead and to find the Emblem. If not everyone likes you, that's ok so long as they're willing to follow and not cause trouble. And she said she wasn't going to. So that's all you need to worry about. You can think about all that later anyways. Now it's time to focus. This forest isn't safe and we have a job to do. She let out a deep breath and picked up her pace, following behind Telmara. "Right then! Lets keep the pace up like she said."

[Xinnidy]

Raz followed the demihumans close, parchment in hand. Every once in a while, she'd look at her surroundings to try to locate herself, out of habit, but it was an exercise in frustration. Raz's eyes lied to her, and the more she tried to focus, the more a small nausea robbed her of thinking clearly. Ghh, don't... stop looking. Whatever spell that was, it was really tricky. In the end, focusing on drawing their path blind seemed the best idea. As long as she could use her sense of direction, Raz would tell how far straight they walked, or so she hoped.

With not much to focus her vision on, Raz could hear the argument between the demihumans, but opted not to chime in. It felt like a poor idea, unless it really escalated in the following moments. Kaya, who was beside her, seemed on guard about it --or something, she'd grabbed her dagger for a moment--, but didn't say much, either. "Hey, Kaya, is everything okay?" Raz eyed the priestess, curious.

[SB.]

While perhaps the heavy armour meant that Aaron should be taking point at the front of the group, the childish bickering between the animals up front made him want to be more or less anywhere else. Preferably as far away from them as possible, walking at the back of the group with Kolmar. Perhaps not the most esteemed of traveling companions, but the ex-merchant didn't make him want to tear his hair out over nothing.

"What a a mess, eh?" he muttered, hoping that whatever kind of weird mutations the demi-humans had, they couldn't make out what he was saying at this volume. "I'm glad that we have a guide, but I'm worried that she'll end up blowing her top at this rate." They had two guides who could actually see them actually, but both context and Aaron's steady gaze made it clear which one he was talking about.

[Juliette]

(a colab post featuring Aria and other background people!)

"That's enough of that! And I'm nobody's cat, I'm Velvet, and that's that," Velvet snapped as she began down the path Telmara had agreed upon. "Let's not lose sight of the goal of treasure over childish arguments. Ulysses, whether or not you're grown up or not there's no need for teasing, and you should certainly know better, Telmara. We're in this for the same goal of finding the Gift- hopefully it's a Gift, at least. My, that'd be awfully anticlimactic if after all our bickering amongst ourselves and that other group only for it to be something like gold. Not that there's anything wrong with gold, but it's just not quite what we're looking for. Coming all this way out to Uvara Forest only for--"

"Did any of you hear that?" Aria spoke up abruptly, having been trying to ignore the discussion that was going on before. She raised up a hand to signal stopping. Sure enough, a few shouts and the clash of metal on metal could be heard, sounding to be from further into the woods. "What's that? Do you think the other group found the thieves...?"

"Maybe... they seemed an anxious bunch. For all we know, they could be fighting each other," Velvet responded with a shrug. "That's a dangerous assumption, however. We should hurry up!" The demicat started off more quickly than before and beckoned for those behind her, running all the way up to a six path split. "Wow. This sure would be way difficult for anyone without our skills to figure out. Well, two of them are longer than just dead ends, but it's obvious we go for the third from the left."

Edited January 4, 2017 by Juliette

[Nanami Touko]

"I'll do what I wish, cat," she hissed, getting lectured once again. Were these people really unable to keep their opinions to themselves? She'd already stopped engaging with the shark, was that not enough? Ugh... Once this is over, hopefully I will not be saddled with leading among these two. If it happens again it'll be too soon.

Luckily, perhaps, her time as leader was left about to be cut short. The sounds of fighting were clear through the woods, even if their vision was not. "Maybe I'll get to kill that fool sooner than I'd thought." It was an amusing thought, but only that, as there was still woods to cover before getting there. There was just one problems.

"...No. The one second from the left leads the furthest..." I was worried about this. Different animals likely see through the magic better than others... Or in other ways, at least. She placed a hand on her head and sighed. "Great..." She was... She felt, that she would be likely unable to convince people to listen to her, but having to tread down a path that she couldn't see through at all, well... It was not a pleasant thought.

"What should we do, leader?" she posed to Kaya, glancing back at her.

[Honey Bunny]

Ulysses sighed after being admonished by Velvet. She was right after all, just because somebody was difficult didn't mean you had to give up trying entirely. Odd how somebody so small could remind me of Mother Dren. Yet the more time we spend together the more she seems like-"CAT!?" Velvet was several things, small, weak, and perhaps overconfident, but she was her own person. What she used to be doesn't define who she is now. The last time he'd heard that sort of thinking was...Bartholomew. Before he'd realized what he was doing he'd already hunched over, and pulled his axe out. A battle stance. Luckily in the instant afterward there seemed to be a fight breaking out nearby, a convenient excuse for his hostile actions. "Remember a snake strikes out of fear not out of anger" More frustrating than a comforting thought this time. Although it seemed that pretty soon he might have targets for his anger.

Edited January 4, 2017 by Honey Bunny

[scorri]

"Okay? Yeah, I just... No. Everything's fine. Just jumpy I guess." Kaya shook her head and smiled at Raz while mentally kicking herself. Come on. You're their leader. Behave like one. You can do this. "Thank you for keeping track of our movements by the way. I appreciate you being willing to help like that."

And then the sounds of battle and a disagreement between the demihumans. Kaya froze for a second, looking at both the paths that were mentioned. Just like before, she could see no real difference between the two. And they both seemed sure. And now I need to decide between the two... That's not going to end well regardless of who I choose to trust. Dragons help me... "... We go down the third path. I'm sorry Telmara, but she was originally a cat. It seems more likely to me that she's closer to being an animal than a human whereas you seem more likely to be closer to human than animal. Which would mean she's more likely to see truly. Lets move out." Please let this be the right choice.

[Nanami Touko]

Figures. Telmara didn't say anything, both out of frustration, and not actually having a reason to argue her path being the right choice. She didn't know the magics behind the woods, nor could she refute Kaya's assumption of how the demihumans worked. I'll just laugh if I was right. I haven't really been acting in a way that deserves being listened to, anyway... Not that I really care about any of their opinions, except... Maybe... She let her scowl linger on Kaya for probably longer than she should have, realizing her actions and quickly turning away.

"Lead on then, Velvet..." She hadn't missed the shark going aggro, but wrote it off as due to the battle. If it had been because of her, that was fine. More of an excuse to set him on fire, should the opportunity rise. I wish I could've just had an adventure with Kaya, Raz, Mikhaila and Naylen... But Naylen ran off, and I'm not strong enough to convince the other three that we don't need these fools. Ugh, how frustrating... She folded her arms and held herself tighter, trying to ignore her growing frustrations once again.

[Xinnidy]

"You're welcome!" Raz beamed a smile, "I'm glad to be of help, really. I'd feel bad if I just lumped everything on you." Raz saluted, and in a timely twist of fate Kaya was already asked to make a decision by the demihumans.

Raz noticed Telmara's lingering scowl. I wonder... would that make her feel betrayed? It wouldn't do good if the group's dynamic deteriorated that quickly, but Raz could only focus on one person at a time while writing her map down. "Don't worry, Kaya." She tried to reassure their leader, "If we hit a dead end, or walk in circles, I'll probably tell something's up." She was solely using the demihuman's walking direction to keep track of where they were... surely it couldn't go awry.

Edited January 4, 2017 by Xinnidy

[Juliette]

"What?" Velvet narrowed her eyes at Telmara, then the path she referred to. "No... sorry, I don't think you can be right. Look, at the end... it turns back left slightly. That would take us backwards for sure," she asserted, nodding at Kaya's decision. "It's a small turn, too, very slight. A lot of the more clear failure paths have it, leading back to the exit."

The demicat lead on for a few moments, passing by a small fork only noting "obvious trap, continue on the right," before another five-direction split. Even as the group moved forward, the sound of fighting grew more intense. "Wow, there's getting to be so many ways that it would be almost mathematically impossible to just randomly guess. And we're so far that it's getting harder to tell here, even for me..." That he decision seemed to have been right over Telmara's didn't come to mind as worth mentioning- instead she looked at the area, trying to narrow down the choices. "Straight left, diagonal left, forward, diagonal right, straight right... it can't be straight right or diagonal left, those are the only clear dead ends. And I think straight left is ridiculous, too. The sound of fighting is to the left, so it can't be diagonal right, I think, so it's... forward? Or maybe left isn't that ridiculous. Both of them are long enough that even with my vision, I can't tell. Left seems to be more towards the fighting, but forward feels better to me. What do you all think?"

[eclipse]

Before Kolmar could answer Aaron, things got exciting. Still, the slightly crazy axe guy was preferable to the demihuman with a love of axes and giblets. "There's three of 'em, one should have enough composure to see this through." He bit his words when they stopped in the clearing with enough paths to make Kolmar's head spin. "So, ya up to crash a fight?" he asked Aaron, deciding to trust his ears rather than his eyes.

[SB.]

Aaron nodded in consent with Kolmar's statement. While he wasn't fond of her freaky fish bodyguard by any means, even before he dragged his axe out, Velvet did seem far more composed than Telmara was. He could only assume that they'd been treking down the right paths, because his eyes were of little help.

The merchant's question was more complicated to answer. Considering his vision was essentially dulled, if they ran into a party of demi-humans, he was worried that they'd be in a disadvantage in the fight. But at the same time, King Aaron the merciful - saving the lives of his bitter rivals at great personal risk had a nice ring to it...

"If we run into them on our way, I have no complaints." he decided. There was little point in actively seeking them out in the labyrinthine woods, but he figured that Kolmar of all people would understand about turning the situation to their favour.

[Nanami Touko]

"You talk about these woods like you've been in them before," Telmara muttered, wondering if the cat wasn't saying more than she could. In any case, they were getting closer to the fighting, and were left with one more decision. This time, nothing barred her vision, whatever magics had been relevant before didn't apply. Forward or left... Left it towards the fighting, but that feels obvious; this forest is definitely alive in some manner other than it being a forest. Would it trick us like that? Maybe... Or maybe it knows that. Not that we can go in circles forever like that.

"Forward," she finally decided. It wasn't straight towards the fighting, but it was slightly clearer, down until the end of it, than the left path. Perhaps it would bring them towards a more advantageous angle in the fight. Now, hopefully, Velvet and Kaya wouldn't decide over her once again. The cat had mentioned forward looking the best as well, so that outcome seemed unlikely. She also said left wasn't ridiculous, but whatever. Enough thinking.

[scorri]

"Then we go forward. Weapons out everyone. We're not likely to find a friendly reception from the sound of things, so better to be prepared. Let's go quietly but quickly." There. That sounded like something a leader would say. And this way you agreed with Telmara once too. Even if you were also still agreeing with Velvet... Well it's not like you were winning points with her before anyways. How much more can she hate you? A quiet sad chuckle slipped out before Kaya realized it. Well hopefully no one has heard it.

Edited January 4, 2017 by scorri

[riariadne]

"No, I haven't. I just have better vision than you in these woods, and there's a few guesses I made based on context. Well, forward it is, and let's hurry!" Velvet set off in the indicated direction, navigating past a few twists and turns. "Uh oh... we're headed way more to the right than we should be. So this can't be the right way either... oh, what's that?" The demicat bent over to grab something on the ground, retrieving a shuriken. "What could this be doing here? Here, you all can make use of this better than me. There looks to be a bunch of stuff here, though... I'd love to keep looking." Her tail twitched back and forth with excitement as she handed the shuriken to Kaya. "I think... you all ought to go back the other way. I'll take a look around here, since I can't fight anyway. You should all check out what's going on, but if there's treasure to be had here too, then that could be good news for us!"

"Well... alright. Telmara can lead us down the correct way, then," Aria proposed, walking behind the snake demihuman.

--

Chapter 3: The Forest Crusader

It didn't take too long to see that the left path lead somewhere much different than the other paths. After a few minutes of walking, the trees suddenly parted to form a rather large clearing. While most of the fighting still wasn't visible, it could be heard loudly, and a few people could be spotted. One of them was the blonde man from earlier.

"Hey! Of course you got here, too... now this fight is even more hectic. Everyone's spread out. It turns out that this part of the woods is even more of a maze, and you can get lost amongst the trees very easily. Juniper and the others are all off somewhere else," Isaac explained. "Look, I'm not going to fight you over these thieves, but the others might not be so kind if they get the opportunity. I'd love the treasure, too, but I'm more focused on staying alive than glory. I'm not going to betray my friends, either, but... I think it's better if we try to find common ground. The thief leader, you'll want to track him down for sure. He had an ancient tablet that let him get away from us, which is why everyone's so lost. But you should probably start with the guy behind you!"

Objective: Defeat Thane to obtain the Crusader's Calling!

It is turn 1. Player phase begins.



--

Before you begin, it's important to outline some map mechanics:
-Dark green tree tiles are Thickets, not Forests like they usually are. They count as obstacles on the terrain tab, and so are effectively untraversable (no fliers here). The light green tree tiles are still Brush.
-Walking to a blue tile will bring you to another blue tile. Using this costs 1 movement. If someone is blocking the opposite end, then the unit traveling will be placed in the nearest available tile (starting directly above and moving clockwise from there). There is a pattern, but it is not possible to determine immediately. Thane's skill Foreststalk from the Crusader's Calling allows him to move from any blue tile to another every 3 turns.
-On the topic of tiles, the Greatforger tile on this map does not provide immediate combat benefit, nor does it physically change the map. However, it is not useless, just consider this a warning that it is different from the previous two variants you have seen.
-Juniper's team of green units can attack you! You can do the same to them. Note that this excludes Isaac, who is an ally to you, but he will not attack other green units either and cannot be directly controlled. For the most part, green units will still prioritize red units first. They move after red units, including Isaac.
-Units can attempt to knock out green units on their turn. At a -2 penalty to strength, skill, and ability to follow up (not attack speed- you won't be doubled if you weren't otherwise, but doubling will be very difficult), bringing an enemy's HP to zero will not kill them. (You can do this to red units as well, but they won't be quite as grateful at your attempts to spare them.) While you can complete the map ignoring this mechanic, you will be rewarded for efforts you do make. Note that even for mages it is only a strength penalty.

And lastly, your usual spreadsheet link.

Edited January 5, 2017 by Reinfleche

[scorri]

"... Right. Lets try and stick together as much as possible. Isaac, I'm going to trust you for now. If the others of your group attack us, we'll do our best to not kill them. But if we take the treasure, we're not going to share. You've been warned."Ancient tablet... The Crusader's Calling? Kaya turned to move to attack the archer, but found herself hesitating. Telmara's words from their last argument were echoing in her head. She didn't need to rush forward just this minute... Did she?

Edited January 5, 2017 by scorri

[SB.]

"...Eh?" Aaron tilted his head slightly as he spotted the bowman. "I don't know how you ended up behind us, but you should've just stayed hidden." For now, he was content with simply running the rogues down. They could figure out what to do with Isaac's allies later.

Edited January 6, 2017 by SB.

[Bluedoom]

Joviana was silent for most of the trip. Having the demihumans leading the group was unsettling for Joviana, who observed the constant squabbling between them. She had hoped that Kaya would take charge and settle matters, but it seemed that after her spat with Telmara earlier, even Kaya was hesitant to say things.

Fortunately, or rather, unfortunately, the trail they had followed had landed them in a maze, and next to the man they had met earlier, no less.

Please don't tell me we have to kill him! He seemed like a reasonable guy, and I don't want to get my hands dirty if I don't have to.

As Joviana listened to what the man had to say, she sighed. I hope you don't meet that lady we met earlier, Telmara, for your sake.

"Hey Aria, we should take his suggestion, don't you think?" Joviana asked the girl beside her, gesturing towards the archer that was about to attack them from behind.

Aria to T19, use Mind Shock on Archer B.

Jovi to U20, use Arcane blast on Archer B.

Edited January 7, 2017 by Magnificence Incarnate

[Nanami Touko]

Telmara frowned, hissed, and cursed their situation. Bandits stuck in with these fools. Isaac's near begging made her feel sick after his comrades actions. She knew she wasn't in the majority, though. So she couldn't get away with trying to kill these people. With a sigh, a shiver, and a begrudging glare, Telmara slithered off.

"Listen to me, Isaac. I'll do my best to not attack your allies... But that woman, that Juniper... If she so much as levels her bow at me, all bets are off. Do you understand me? I've had it up to here with being nice to people trying to kill me. So if you run into her first... Keep her calm." That was as pleasant as Telmara was about to get with these people. Perhaps if Juniper hadn't resorted to threats upon their arrival, Telmara would feel like helping more. Alas.

Telmara to Aa16, gust equipped

Edited January 7, 2017 by Nanami Touko

[scorri]

Kaya growled slightly hearing Telmara's promise. Or threat depending on how one looked at it. Glaring at the demihuman, she moved after her, talking to Isaac with a raised voice and pointed stare, "Don't worry Isaac. I'll make sure that we give your people every chance to work with us. And that if they refuse, we won't kill them unless we have absolutely no other choice. Ok everyone?"

Kaya to W-16, prime the dragon rage with the rage she feels at telmara

Edited January 7, 2017 by scorri

[Nanami Touko]

Kaya got an aggravated stare. A real scowl, unlike Telmara's empty, lingering one from before. "I promise nothing." That was the snarled response Kaya received. Why did these people deserve such special treatment? Telmara would only act in self defense, and there was no reason to hold back against someone swinging a sword or firing an arrow at you. Those were actions primed to kill, and she wouldn't hesitate to return them.