Dreaming About Another FE Game, Maybe?

[DodgeDusk]

*reads all this in one go*

I... Th... this is amazing. I thought I had a pretty decent imagination but this just completely blows that out of the window

Hopefully more updates soon, I really enjoy an interesting read

[Verdant Shade]

I should probably mention I'm still watching this, but I really have. . . nothing to say.

Well, other than my dreams having a strange version of personal skills, but that'd be my dreams, and this topic's supposed to be about yours.

[Vashiane]

My brain's a scumbag, honestly.

The reason I didn't post anything for the past four days is due to the fact that the "pseudo" update I had was made canon, then de-canonized, then made canon AGAIN, and then de-canonized AGAIN and I don't even know what the actual fuck is going on anymore. I just... [/flips table]

SO FULL OF GLITCHES.

Okay, now that I'm done whining, let me tell you what I DO have.

First, my cavaliers are LATE. Damn, I haven't gotten a single one yet. ... Well. I sort-of finally got Lachlan (remember him? That's the only guy Terra CAN'T marry), but he switched from red cavalier to green cavalier to knight to a freaking Wyvern Rider. I don't know what the hell he is now. My favorite incarnation is him as a knight though, because he actually looks pretty freaking stellar and it fits what I've seen of his personality.

Lachlan's a bold, confident lad from the mountains who only recently moved to the capital of Alcyone. He wasn't well accustomed to city life or the bandits that roam it and one day he was pinned into an alleyway and almost beaten to death but Terra so happened to be passing by and saved him. The moment he woke up he pretty much attached himself to his savior, and later interactions (... as in two) cause him to fall hopelessly in love with her and join the Alcyian Royal Guard SOLELY for her.

Now in terms of gameplay, he's pretty much Awakening's Henry in stats:

• He joins with a C rank in lances and a Killer weapon.
• He joins able to promote already to the next class - General - but in all honesty, I've been promoting WAY too early considering the lack of Second Seals (so far).
• He starts off with high defense and skill, a good amount of strength and decent HP. His magic is lolChrom worthy (he doesn't NEED it, so...) and so his is speed and resistance. Good LORD, his resistance starts with a damned 4. 4. Kind of want to cry.
• His recruitment is... HILARIOUS. Oh, gods, I woke up, jotted this down and proceeded to laugh myself to tears. It's a similar premise to Yarne's paralogue: two rival bandit gangs fighting each other, except the leaders of the two gangs aren't fighting over land, money or anything actually worth fighting over. Nope. They've dragged their armies to battle over a WOMAN. Who, might I mention, is already MARRIED. Lachlan walks up on behalf of the guard to deal with the conflict, stays for a grand MINUTE, and then all but tells them to go fuck themselves and starts to leave.

Also, if you place Terra into his range while he's making his way out, he'll insta-recruit himself:

And their conversation makes me want to stab Terra in the face, because at the end of it she realizes he just blindly went along with what she was telling him to do and that she could use that someday.

Fucking... [/sigh]

Next. There are actually some unlockable paralogues that you can get: the catch is that they're unlocked by bringing certain people to A supports. So far I think Terra/Chantal, Windsor/Grima, Narcisse/Nonery, and Iris/Garnet spark the extra paralogues. But like I said, it's been changing on me. A LOT.

Third. I also may have gotten my fighter and troubadour. Here's the problem: they will NOT STAY CONSISTENT. I first had a standard female troubadour/male fighter set, then the troubadour became a guy, then the fighter became a girl and just... agh. I swear, I think I'm just going to stay awake, make them and then have them stick because this is kind of ridiculous. Re-dreaming Lachlan took FOREVER.

Fourth and final and actually really important: there's a possibility of Terra being actually descended from Lucina. Because the Royal Family Treasure is not the legitimate Falchion - it's Lucina's Parallel one. Odder yet, said Falchion is MISSING. Apparently during that assassination eleven years ago it was stolen.

... No one has ever bothered to look for that? Honestly.

[Sunwoo]

Possibility of a male troubadour and female fighter makes me happy :D

Also, lolFalchion XD

[Vashiane]

Possibility of a male troubadour and female fighter makes me happy :D

Also, lolFalchion XD

Well, next update I get, whatever genders they are they're staying that way: this time I got a female fighter and female troubadour.

And now for more whining because now my brain wanted to scramble around the support conversations and tomes and I don't even have all the fucking characters yet for the conversation and seriously, tomes? What do tomes have to do with anything?

So I'll start with tomes because they're a bit more interesting I suppose, even though we've really already had this conversation. At least this time it's more focused on light/dark tomes than anima.

First, the light tomes. Nosferatu is once again a light tome, as that's Lorelei's starting tome, along with Micaiah's starting tome of Thani. Thani can now be used by anyone who can learn light magic (which has of right now means anyone in the priest, troubadour and light mage line) and it's now a D rank tome, but its uses are completely shot - 25 now - and its only effective on mounted units now, not armored ones. The basic Light tome is now called "Lightning". And Starlight is officially categorized as a Light tome and given an A rank, as I got a strange random preview of it.

This strange random preview ties directly into dark tomes as well, because the person USING them...

Okay, quick interruption. If you've ever touched the Awakening board back in May you might have stumbled across a topic for people creating second generation characters tied to the first generation males instead of the females. And if you've ever gone in there, you may have seen this:

Donnel's daughter! Finally found a decent name for her. And yes, I actually have her appearance here.

Name: Moira

Gender: Female

Starting Class: Myrmidon

Weapon Rank: Swords - C

Starting Inventory: Steel Sword

Skills: Avoid +10, Vantage

A seemingly mute girl with a distant look in her eyes. Truthfully, she is able to speak, but her country accent reminds her too much of her father and the home she's lost. In order to communicate with people, she keeps a small pen and pad on her at all times. The one most prone to betraying her true emotions.

Appearance: Moira's default hair color is Donnel's muted violet. She has wild, tangled hair reaching to just below her breasts - although if it were to be straightened her hair would reach her knees. On the left side of her head above her ears, she has a strand of hair that makes a tiny oval loop. She has Donnel's violet eyes and an eye shape similar to Emmeryn's. Her default pose is her with her index and middle fingers pressed lightly against her lower jaw, near her chin, with her black quill pen in between those two fingers. She holds her other hand close to her chest, with her notepad and her head is tilted down slightly, like she's looking at it. Her myrmidon outfit is mostly violet-red, with the shoulders pads and collar being white instead of brown. She notably has a broad range of facial expressions, and if one associates with her enough it becomes easy to tell what she's feeling.

For some strange reason, Moira seems to be here testing out some of my tomes for me.

... If she's in the game, I wouldn't know how to respond. XD

Anyway. As for Dark tomes, Flux, Worm, Carreau and Waste seem to have made an appearance. Moira toasted a few mooks with those. And I bet you're wondering how she switched from light tomes to dark, right?

Well, apparently one of the third-tier class promotions for Sorcerer is called Shaman, who wields light and dark tomes.

Pretty cool.

Light and Dark tomes seem to retain their usual stance over anima magic: Light having higher accuracy and low might versus Dark being the opposite.

Alright, sleep again, so I can maybe figure out these fighter/troubadour genders and WHY I'M WORKING WITH FUCKING SUPPORTS RIGHT NOW. Goddamnit, brain, I hate you sometimes.

Oh, and this:

Possibility of a male troubadour and female fighter makes me happy :D

Also, lolFalchion XD

... I swear to God, who LOSES their legendary, unbreakable ROYAL SWORD? I just... TERRA. [/flips table]

[Sunwoo]

I wouldn't be too surprised if your idea for Donnel's daughter somehow ends up here, even if not exactly in the class and form you had originally imagined her as. Also, again, I lol that Terra and her family somehow managed to lose a Falchion.

[Vashiane]

Mini-update while I spend the rest of the day updating the first post with the new characters and making the bio more like something you'd find on a Wiki page.

First is that yes, there are some unlock-able paralogues/extra chapters gotten from getting some of the characters' same-sex A supports with two exceptions: Terra and Lachlan's A support unlocks one and so does Windsor and Iris', since both pairs can't get married to each other. ... Actually... make that THREE exceptions. There's ONE other character Terra can't marry, who seems to be a War Monk... wielding a sword. They're supposed to have axes? ... Kay?

Second, the reason my brain wants to mess with support conversations, is because originally I had planned on having everyone support with everyone, kind of like in Awakening. But then I realized something: they're really only a handful of (of course this is an opinion, take it lightly) good supports. And honestly, I'd rather have a few good supports than a surge of mediocre ones. So yeah, shrinking the support list a bit. But I'll probably still give Terra and Windsor all their options, since they're the mains.

Third. Now to the fun part.

It ended up being a male troubadour, male fighter, respectively known as Somnifer and Demeter. (The names were originally switched around, but I changed up when I woke up because it fit SO much better.) Anyway. Demeter is the fighter, as I've mentioned, and he's actually really important because he's from a whole other nation: Callisto, which rounds out our nice little ABC trilogy here. He's quite laid back guy and doesn't get riled up easily... although if push comes to shove he has no qualms about pulling that axe out and smacking around some foes with it. Although he doesn't enjoy a single moment of it, and hates fighting with a passion.

... Compared to the guy who actually CAN'T fight, who's got a serious thirst for blood and gore. He's not Henry, but he seems to take some sort of subdued delight in the entire thing.

Meet Somnifer, whose name actually comes from the Latin word "somniferum". If anyone knows their poppies, this will sound familiar: "Somniferum" is a part of the scientific name for the "opium poppy". Which explains his extremely ODD critical quote (which in all honesty I shouldn't be hearing yet, but did).

• Somnifer: Are you addicted to me yet?

It's the strangest thing. He sounds so NORMAL during his other quotes, and yet the criticals are all... twisted. I don't even...

Alright, now that I've got THEM: to the main page! I'll see if I can't get a longer update tomorrow.

[Rainbow Skittles]

...have you been studying greek mythology, vash?

cause with names like demeter it seems like you have.

[AnonymousSpeed]

Drug-troubadours.

Interesting.

Wait, drug troubadours, drug traffickers, there's a connection here!

But I don't see it.

[Sunwoo]

Lol, I wonder how the male troubadour ended up being a troubadour if he's apparently got this love for fighting. I suppose he could be Henry in another extreme. Wasn't Henry supposedly rather frail and stuff? I also like your fighter, he sounds really interesting and different than the "hotheaded" fighters FE has a lot, although "Demeter" kinda throws me off a little XD

[Vashiane]

...have you been studying greek mythology, vash?

cause with names like demeter it seems like you have.

I'm not surprised that crept in there, I really do love Greek Mythology. It's weird as all heck sometimes but...

Drug-troubadours.

Interesting.

Wait, drug troubadours, drug traffickers, there's a connection here!

But I don't see it.

Somnifer is clearly mething around with us.

#MakingJokesAboutShowsIHaven'tWatchedYet

Lol, I wonder how the male troubadour ended up being a troubadour if he's apparently got this love for fighting. I suppose he could be Henry in another extreme. Wasn't Henry supposedly rather frail and stuff? I also like your fighter, he sounds really interesting and different than the "hotheaded" fighters FE has a lot, although "Demeter" kinda throws me off a little XD

I know, right? But Demeter for the troubadour was even weirder... although being named after a goddess of harvest when you're a BOY is just odd enough. Brain, seriously.

Okay, while I beg my brain for some actual, y'know, PLOT, I get more information on Somnifer and Demeter. Fine, I'll take it... but note something: what I did learn is attached to a serious spoiler. If the game decides to give me the plot attached to this, I'll mention it, but as for now... let's preserve the mystery.

So first I'll start with Demeter. Demeter's the son of a Callistan merchant and a dancer, the latter who actually stole him and ran away to join a theater troupe, for reasons not exactly known yet (except I do know, but this is attached to that spoiler thing). But considering Demeter's apathy for the fact that he doesn't know his father... I don't think it's anything good. Being with a theater troupe isn't exactly the safest job in the world, so Demeter took up learning how to wield an axe - specifically, thrown axes, since they're smaller and easier to travel with. He left the theater troupe when he was 16, returned to Callisto to begin work as a mercenary and during his travels runs into a gang of bandits, only being spared at the last moment because the leader took an interest in him.

And one more note: Demeter's mother is dead. If you recall another incident involving a theater troupe, you'll know how.

Somnifer on the other hand is Alcyian nobility with parents that loved him and a father who wants him to take over the family business. His mother thoroughly disapproves of this, though, which is actually the reason he can't wield weapons. She won't let him. I find that SO amusing. Supposedly, Somnifer was always a little twisted and his father just capitalized on that, making it more... pronounced for lack of a better word. While his mother made sure to counter that, giving us a warm and polite young man with a ruthless streak. And after his father's passing a year before, Somnifer has officially inherited his father's business.

... This makes me realize just HOW many dead parents they are.

Let's see: Terra's father, both of Windsors, Demeter's mother, Somnifer's father, Olivier's father, Lorelei's father -

Wait. I never mentioned that. SHIT.

Remember this?

Chantal emerges from the chaos and explains that they just appeared out of nowhere and went after any valuable they could find. Most of the council members are fine - they were escorted out of the building - but the one who directed the other members to safety and stayed behind to lock up some of the more priceless artifacts is dead. Terra practically gushes over the fact that Chantal is safe and battle commence.

Yes, THAT was Lorelei's father: the Betelgeusian councilman who tried to reason with Laima about the fate of his daughter.

Lorelei handled it surprising well though:

• Lorelei: Oh... Father was always such a good soul, helping out in any way he could. ... He's free now, though! Of the council, of the worry, of the hatred... he can smile now, and rest easy. He's no longer burdened by the council's indiscretions. And that... that is such a relief.

So all isn't well within the council either. Huh.

So far we have the Alcyians wanting to overthrown their queen, and the Betelguesians loathing their council. If Callisto also having problems, then the world around IS slowly going to hell... politically that is.

Also, about Somnifer: remember me saying this?

Although I think my favorite personal skill is Narcisse's Stavefaire. It adds +5 to staff range and HP given when healing.

Seriously, that is so OP. Whoever the Troubadour is may just be screwed. Unless they get Aptitude or something.

Said Troubadour is actually NOT screwed. His personal skill (which now comes WITH them when they start the game, what? Agh. Stop changing.) is Shadowgift. Yes. And he gets a magic-based promotion, of course to utilize that. But the other promotion he gets... I think I like it JUST a bit more.

It still locks him into staves, but he gets to keep the horse and he suddenly gains a harp.

Welcome to the Troubairitz class, where Somnifer basically becomes a mounted Bard, and its promotion which is actually called Bard, which gives him... axes. Holy SHIT.

Axes + Staves + Dance ability + Canto = a badass.

Now, I'm seriously conflicted here. Shadowgift!Valkyrie or Axe-slinging Bard? Dang. And fortunately Bolt Axes are a thing and are now C-rank weapons to go along with the Levin Sword and the Shockstick.

[Topaz Light]

Oh um, just a few little namey nitpicks (I know you can't really change it mid-dream, but...) Trobairitz and Valkyrie are both decidedly female terms. Although it may not matter considering "Troubadour" which in canon is a female-exclusive class for some reason, uses the male form of the word. Perhaps for males they could be changed to... Minstrel and Mage Knight, respectively? Mage Knights were basically gender-neutral Valkyries, anyway, despite Valkyries being in Sacred Stones and being changed into Light magic users.

Anyway, that's pretty neat, and it's cool that a main story recruit has a skill like Shadowgift. Shame that it fell on a character where the ability to use the skill is eclipsed by a much cooler promotion option.

This story is shaping up to be pretty neat! Aside from her birth, Terra is very atypical as a main character, what with being fairly selfish and morally-questionable whilst wielding lances. ...And also being a girl whilst being the apparent "Marth" of her game.

I do hope Windsor ends up alright, even if his survival is something the player has to earn. Although, your imagination could always be a jerk and make it so that something equally as heartbreaking as his death would be is brought about by his survival...

Still, this is still sounding really neat! I eagerly await future updates~

Edited October 2, 2013 by Starlight36

[mistralsoul]

This is really neat. It almost makes me wish I get dreams I can remember.

The one thing that really struck a chord with me was Iris...

Because a while back (around the time Awakening was released in the US), I thought it be neat to have a Dark Flier recruitable without SpotPass.

Note that this was before I started lurking Serenes Forest and getting an account.

So, I sort of wrote out a plan for said Dark Flier.

The characteristics were: okay strength, high Magic stat, standard Peg Knight Skill and Speed, low luck, reasonable defences.

The name: Iris.

Who are you and what are you doing inside my head???

Seriously speaking it sounds like it'll be an epic.

[Rainbow Skittles]

omg mounted bard

i actually had an idea for a hack where nils promotes into a mounted bard, i decided it would be too op though

[Vashiane]

Okay, okay, okay. I'll officially reply to your responses tomorrow but I took a nap earlier and good news/bad news!

Good news! I got PLOT!

Bad news! ... This... SUCKS. Talk about a fucking swerve. I'm REALLY not happy right now and I REALLY hope my brain decides to not make this canon. ._.

Watch, it will be.

[Vashiane]

I apologize so, so much. Not only for the double post, but for the fact that it took me THIS long to update.

I was seriously worried that my mind had forgotten about this, and all of a sudden it springs forward again. And launches me right in the middle of something plot important as well, so I'm not going to hesitate.

So apparently, the issue with Betelgeuse has been, for the most part. Windsor took care of that (because apparently Terra loused that one up and Windsor had to interrupt and repair the situation - of course). And Lorelei takes Terra and Windsor up into her attic to recover the papers she'd stolen from the palace and explain to them what she believes they tell her.

Now, earlier on in the story, Windsor had promised to return these papers to Laima in exchange for releasing Lorelei and saving Terra, and he reminds her of this. Once again, I'M reminded of just how creepy Lorelei can be sometimes when she says this:

• Lorelei: Oh yes... return to the spells back to the witch. Are you truly so deluded as to empower her again?

... Okay. She unnerves me SO much.

Unlike the unsubtle nature of creepy that is Laima or Somnifer, Lorelei manages to be horrifically creepy without using her appearance/her unsettling child-like temperament or being a bloodthirsty maniac, just by saying the weirdest damn things without a single shift in that breezy, carefree attitude of hers. She only has ONE portrait (so far) that doesn't have her smiling... and the expression is more of a surprised one. I'm wondering if there's a REASON she's like this or if she just happened to end up this way... But, I'm getting a bit off topic here.

The papers look like contracts, signed between the queen and various Alcyian nobles as congratulations for a service done for the country, and also a pardon - for them and two other people of their choosing - for previous and future acts committed because of this. The actual service done isn't mentioned anywhere, but dates are mentioned.

And the two dates listed correspond with the day of the King's disappearance and his subsequent execution.

The implication speaks for itself. But that's not all.

Somnifer's father is listed as one of the recipients for such a contract and the two people he listed were Somnifer and Coumarin. Coumarin, it turns out, is the second-in-command for The Black Knight Brigands, aka the Brigand group that pretty much runs Alcyone. The emphasis there is because Coumarin was originally thought to be the leader... but no. The actual leader is...

Somnifer.

Remember the "family business" his father passed down to him? This was it.

So once Lorelei explains all of this to them, Windsor actually has a bit of a breakdown. He gets over it very quickly, but it comes out of literally nowhere. And Terra just brushes over it. Well, initially.

Once Terra and Lorelei narrow out the final details and the three of them head back downstairs, Terra pulls him aside to ask:

• Terra: What just happened back there with you?
• Windsor: I'm sorry, I just... the shock of it got to me.
• Terra: That my mother was guilty? How does that shock you?
• Windsor: It shouldn't... I - I know... You provided so much evidence to the contrary and yet...
• Terra: And yet...?
• Windsor: A part of me... wanted to see her innocent.
• Terra: What? Why? I told you she was corrupt!
• Windsor: I know... and you wouldn't start a campaign against your own mother without feeling you were in the right... but... It's selfish of me, but... I just wanted a mother figure... one that wouldn't die so soon or abandon me...
• Terra: It's kind of selfish, yes. But trust me - I'll give you as many mother figures as you could possibly want once this is all over.
• Windsor: ... Okay...?

... Terra, please stop. Just... stop. Why are you so insensitive? I actually forgot how horrifically UNAWARE she seems to be sometimes. And I created her.

[/sigh] What was I thinking?

[DodgeDusk]

UPDATES YES

Terra... why? ;_;

[Vashiane]

UPDATES YES

Terra... why? ;_;

More like, "Brain, why is the person who's not trained in diplomacy and communication better at both? And actually has some tact? And... why?"

If she IS related to Lucina/Chrom then it makes sense...

[DodgeDusk]

If she IS related to Lucina/Chrom then it makes sense...

*is shot*

The brain is pretty weird, but at least we're getting updates! I was afraid this might have ended up necro

[AnonymousSpeed]

More like, "Brain, why is the person who's not trained in diplomacy and communication better at both? And actually has some tact? And... why?"

If she IS related to Lucina/Chrom then it makes sense...

Yeah, Terra's not the most calming of people to be around.

Plot points though, pretty interesting.

[Vashiane]

My excuse for this?

Re-dreaming.

My God. I actually grew tired of seeing this particular sequence and almost wanted to kill it completely but I FINALLY managed to get it consistent enough to work off of.

It's nice that my dreams are behaving like dreams but... this needs to make sense.

[/huffs] And THIS section isn't even finished I don't even... l-let's just move on before I rage.

Good news! New recruits and major plot progression!

And... the bad news is that I'm not fond of either new character and if the plot IS going in the direction I think it's going, I'm fairly certain one of my favorite characters will instantly become one of my LEAST favorites.

... Well then.

First I'll knock out some gameplay/class-related mechanics I learned or were fixed.

• The first thing is that Somnifer's bard promotion isn't armed anymore (no axe-crazy bards now. I'm a little saddened). He can however, use Canto to retreat after he plays a song. Not to mention he still has staves. So he can run into the field, refresh, retreat again AND still able to use a staff. That's pretty swell.
• On the OTHER hand, the actual dancer (who we get in this chapter), IS armed (with daggers). And there is actually a dancer promotion that allows them to also wield swords AND dance for two adjacent party members instead of one. Handy. So it kind of boils down to wanting two useful dancers or one dancer and a Mage Knight with dark magic access. Somnifer also has a better magic growth than Narcisse. But that's not a problem because my Narcisse has been blessed with magic. <3
• DARK KNIGHTS ACTUALLY WIELD DARK MAGIC. WOO. (It's the second-tier Dark Mage promotion next to Sorcerer, which then evolves into Dark Paladin. Dark magic + lances. HELL yes.
• Terra's Great Lord promotion now suddenly has her wielding bows instead of axes. This is actually extremely, um, odd, considering that she has a support specifically detailing that she hates using bows. ... Weird, but okay.
• Demeter and Lachlan have their personal skills now: Lachlan has Discipline (2x weapon EXP) and Demeter has Hawkeye, which now adds 20 to his hit if his health is below 50%. ... Not sure on what to think of that last one. Hmm.
• Also, how skills work in this game anyway: you don't gain any skills from the first-level promotion, but you gain two at both the second AND third tier promotions (5 & 15 for second-tier promotions, 10 & 20 for third).

Alright, now that THAT is out of the way: to the plot!

So Terra and co. finally arrive back in Alcyone and the group unwinds for a bit at the palace, talking amongst each other, however, Windsor barely gets to sit down before he's called by a servant to go visit Laima, which he practically knocks over a chair to do so. It's actually quite ironic, that her own flesh and blood doesn't give a damn about her and wants her dead, and the boy who's actually NOT her son is the one who still believes in her.

Either way, he goes to see the queen. And the FIRST thing she does is ask him, in no uncertain terms, if he knows anything about a rebellion against her.

Um. Oh snap.

Windsor denies knowing anything about a rebellion HERE, but does mention Betelgeuse may be in for a revolution themselves, considering how ill Lorelei spoke of the council when it came to her father. Of course, that may have just been personal, but to his surprise - and mine - the mention of a Betelgeusian revolution completely distracts her from the idea of an ALCYIAN revolution.

Laima then delves into a bit of history between Alcyone and Betelgeuse for us, explaining that the two countries have had an awkward relationship since the very dawn of both nations. They'll have a perfectly amicable treaty during one king's reign and a full-blown war with the next, so the two countries don't exactly trust each other... at all. The constant back-and-forth between friends and enemies has left both of them extremely wary and paranoid of the other, especially since Alcyone's current struggles with its bandits spill into the other two nations as well: by law, a person must be prosecuted for a crime in the country of their residency, so if someone from Alcyone goes and commits a crime in Callisto, they're sent back to Alcyone for trial.

... See why there's a problem here?

So, right, tensions between the two countries are quite high, and this entire business with the eye-sniping and the massacre in Betelgeuse is NOT helping matters.

Windsor also hands over the contracts that Lorelei had (and copied word for word beforehand), much to her assumed delight. She's about as emotive as a rock... when she's NOT having one of those tantrums. :\

He thanks her for the talk and slips out, but not before she asks of him one last thing.

• Laima: Windsor... how does one keep their human morals... when they are no longer of this world?

Windsor is completely floored by this, only managing to stammer out a "I don't know", before dashing into the main room in a bit of a panic.

I don't blame him. What kind of line IS that?

And while Laima was over here being cryptic, Terra reveals two new visitors from Callisto,

Now, while I said there's two new characters, we only recruit one of them now and I'm not sure if we recruit the other one at all. I'll explain why after I introduce the one we DO recruit.

The main one to note here is Solange, our dancer.

Now, I did mention that I didn't like EITHER of the two new characters introduced. And I may as well knock out my concerns about Solange now, or well, at least, THIS version of Solange.

No matter how... benign it may be, each character has SOMETHING that drives them. Like, for example, Olivier wants to crawl out from underneath the shadow his father's name casts over him. While Laurel simply wants to explore the world and paint it how she sees it. It's not the most interesting goal, but it's something.

Solange has no drive... no ambition. I don't even think the girl has proper emotions.

She doesn't seem to care for anything, whether it be the people around her or the situation or even her DANCING.

A dancer that actually seems to hate dancing. WHAT KIND OF CONTRADICTION IS THIS?

Like, Olivia is one thing. This is something ENTIRELY different.

The map for today involves escorting Solange through the Black Knights Brigands' camp, retrieving a person from inside the camp being held there for questioning, and once we retrieve them, we have to bring them back. Said person is what's important, however, because that person being held is the daughter to a Callistan duke.

And APPARENTLY is Terra's dearest friend.

Lorelei actually does have another facial expression - and the thought of Terra having a friend that's not her breaks her heart, considering just how... sad she looked.

I still ship it.

Sadly, it's now time for re-dreaming central.

Suffering for my art INDEED...

[DodgeDusk]

Solange is just... Oh my. What an odd character she is

That line though, the one about human morals. I don't know, but I kinda... like it? Sounds pretty philosophical to me. Guess it's one of those things different people interoperate differently

[Vashiane]

This was going to be about the next chapter.

And then... this happened.

THIS... actually changed a LOT, but first, to describe what "THIS" is.

Now I already mentioned the paralogues added through certain A supports. But those aren't the only ones. Occasionally, ones will be given to you freely, and this one caught my eye, apparently.

So it starts out in the palace with Laurel gushing over a letter she received from an old boyfriend, telling her he wants to see her again and to meet her in an abandoned Alcyian temple in the north. She's ecstatic and practically packs away her things to go as soon as possible, but Amaranth walks in and stops her, saying that maybe she shouldn't go up to an abandoned temple all by herself.

Just as my dream self comments about the irony of AMARANTH reminding LAUREL how to common sense, the game does it for me with this:

• Laurel: I suppose so, Amaranth. ... Well this is an odd change of pace. Usually I have to keep YOU from doing irrational things.
• Amaranth: Eh... A change of pace harms no one. ... Unless it's a harmful change of pace, of course!

Typical Amy.

Anyway, a fade to black later and they arrive to the temple, seemingly alone, where Laurel gives us a bit of a backstory.

The temple was a shrine to the royal family, spanning back centuries of age when it was still in use. However, the temple supposedly held a darker secret: it was a regular meeting place for necromancy cults and sacrifices, a place where spirits were stored and could be released unto the world.

It's an old superstition, that the chill of a thousands deaths, of spirits released from their prison would replace the chill of the Alcyian winter. Under its touch, everyone would cease.

The rumor spread like wildfire and people stopped going there, too terrified to even venture near it.

Now the conversation changes a bit, back to :

• Laurel: ... Amaranth. If you don't hear from me...
• Amaranth: Right, right, right, signal the alert. Trust me. You'll be fine.
• Laurel: ... Alright.

She disappears, and we're treated to a nice little section of black screen with Amaranth randomly talking. It's pretty amusing at first until an entire hour passes, and Amaranth begins to grow legitimately concerned and enters the temple to look for her.

We're also given a lovely HD cutscene here, and may I state this for the record:

Amaranth is beautiful. Holy crow.

Also note that everyone in HD cutscenes retains their initial outfit in terms of appearance, so no ridiculously pretty Fire Sage outfit on Amy. [/snaps fingers in disappointment]

Stunning beauty aside, Amaranth is ambling her way through the halls, when she stops and glances down at something she stepped on. Sounds like a redux of the "Heaven and Earth" chapter, but it turns out that what she stepped on wasn't a puddle of blood, but Laurel's bow, the quiver and its arrows scattered further down the hallway to the stairs, some of the arrows snapped in half or near the tips. She glances back up towards the stairwell and immediately snatches up the quiver, slinging it over her shoulder as she runs down the stairs into a room, completely dark save a skylight above Laurel's form. She's strapped upright to a stone alter in the far side of the room, staring up at the ceiling when a figure, clothed completely in white, slowly stalks forward with a blade in hand.

Amaranth freezes, in a panic, before dashing forward towards Laurel, her tome in hand, and once she gets underneath the skylight she flings a spiral of fire magic up, into the air, smashing its way through the skylight and forming a spiral of flame in the sky, just before the breezy snuffs it out like it never existed.

Fade to black, and we're given the preparations menu and a quick correspondence between Terra, Windsor and a person picked at random depending on certain things, which is actually cool:

• If Laurel and/or Amaranth are married (which is doubtful if you play the chapter the moment you get it, unless either girl got Windsor or Amaranth got Nonery), that is the person who speak along side them, with priority going to Laurel's husband.
• If Laurel and/or Amaranth have an maxed friend support that is NOT with the other girl (i.e. Laurel A-supporting with Chantal or Amaranth A-supporting with Iris), that is the purpose who will speak, with priority going to Chantal for Laurel.
• If neither of the above conditions are met, Narcisse speaks.

This is... extremely neat. And Narcisse makes sense here, since his healing is necessary.

Naturally, Laurel and Amaranth are greyed out for this mission: they're obviously not here.

Now, a few other interesting notes about this paralogue:

• The levels of the enemies in this paralogue - and maybe all of them - are scaled depending on the average level of the party you bring.
• The enemies are... possessed statues. SERIOUSLY.
• The objective is Seize. There's enough of these statues that they will attempt to block the door and keep your team from being able to get through. And there IS a turn limit... you have to get to the stairs with Terra or Windsor within ten turns or else.
• The statues... have INSANE defense. But their resistance is 0. BRING YOUR MAGES.
• The states also have... INSANE strength. Um. Seriously, I had to reset because Iris got OHKO'ed.

Anyway, with a decently leveled Windsor, you can clear this in no time. If you don't get blocked, it will take you 8 turns to get to the stairs with Windsor and 9 with Terra without any sort of Rescue shenanigans, even though you can't even buy Rescue staffs yet.

It's designed to where you WILL just skirt the limit, and if you get blocked off, you WILL be screwed.

Anyway, once you do, we're treated to another cutscene, but here's the cool thing about this: there's two separate cutscenes depending on who "seizes" the staircase. Either Terra or Windsor. The one I got was Windsor, so he turns around, tells the team to hold the passageway open and he gently grabs Narcisse's hand and runs with him down the stairs.

When they get down there...

Amaranth is clinging weakly to Laurel's limp form, still in its restraints, and she's shaking. Blood-stained glass litters the ground, spatters fall onto the stone below and the figure in white emerges from the shadows, its knife stained, coated in blood, just like the floor.

It looks awful. It sounds awful.

Boss battle engage.

Okay, SERIOUSLY, this is a short, torturous map. Because THIS guy has Lethality and enough skill to be afraid of him. Worst part? It CAN be even more difficult, easily.

But he'll go down... with work and time.

Anyway, once he does, Windsor will dash forward and pull Amaranth away from Laurel's body, and Amaranth will reach out to her for a moment, grabbing on to her shoulders, then her arms, then her hands as Windsor pulls her away, calmly telling her that Narcisse has to heal her, Narcisse has to TRY to heal her.

Now - and I breathed a sigh of relief - Laurel starts showing some life. She begins to stir, but damn, her entire middle is coated in blood. So is Amaranth, but that's to be expected. And Narcisse immediately dashes forward, just as Amaranth yanks her way out of Windsor's slackened grip to go stand by Laurel and quickly grasp her hand, telling her she's there before retreating again while Narcisse heals her.

That's too sweet, really. Remember, this is the reckless girl with a blase disregard for other people's feelings. Even if it was just for a moment.

But while Narcisse is healing her, Laurel looks completely confused and she yanks Narcisse's staff out of his hands and taps it, whispering to it, "Everyone has a little magic in them somewhere." She then unbuckles herself from the alter, collapsing to her knees for a moment before using the staff to help herself back up like a crutch. Narcisse is... SO confused right now and he tells Laurel that she needs to stay still, that she's bleeding and needs to be healed.

Then Laurel says something... funny.

• Laurel: ... I'm not injured.

She staggers her way to her feet and makes her way straight for Amaranth, spinning her around to face her and gripping the front of the other girl's dress while she scans her body, looking for... something.

• Laurel: You shouldn't have done that, and you know it.
• Amaranth: Yeah, I know. I'm a stupid girl.
• Laurel: Stupid doesn't even begin to cover it...

She flicks the staff again once, trying to retain the glow as she waves it wildly over Amaranth's form, moving her arm from her front to her shoulder to use her as a crutch while she attempts to heal her.

• Laurel: Tell me where it is, I - I can't see it, Amy!
• Amaranth: I'm not telling you... a thing...

Amaranth stumbles backward and Laurel immediately moves to try and catch her, wrapping her arms around her as they both awkwardly tumble to the floor. Laurel then gets desperate, deciding to practically straddle the girl and grab the front of her dress again. She curls herself up against Amaranth's chest and sobs.

• Laurel: J-JUST TELL ME! Y-YOU'RE GOING TO DIE LIKE THIS!
• Amaranth: ... 'Least... I die... and don't... regret a single thing...
• Laurel: NO! D-Don't... leave me, please... s-stay with me...

Insert most painful fade-to-black EVER, with us looking through Amaranth's eyes as they close. Agh, my feels.

First off, I've never told you what Amaranth's death quote is. It's, "So many... oppotunities... so many... regrets. Do I have to... die... now?" This is the exact opposite, looking Laurel dead in the eye and saying she regrets nothing. Suddenly, it all makes sense: Amaranth had jumped in front of the knife when she sent the flare up to save Laurel and her shaking was probably from the PAIN. Laurel had either been drugged or went limp from the shock (thinking the former), and was truly unharmed. Amaranth just... jumped out and saved her.

And Laurel. Goddamn, Laurel. Never does she tell Amaranth to keep living for anyone else. No. Just her. Doesn't call her Amaranth - she calls her Amy.

This conversation just drips of a personal understanding far deeper than the surface showed.

... Guess where it ends.

And guess who totally woke up and clutched her blankets and sobbed the rest of Laurel's tears this morning?

Yeah.

... I have dreaming to do, guys, in case you didn't guess.

[Mister Sunshine Sprinkles]

This looks pretty awesome. You must be lucid dreaming.

Favor: Dream up death quotes, dream up death quotes!

[DodgeDusk]

So much detail

So much sad

Fantastic update there, Vashi!