Fire Emblem: Wretched Whispers, Act 2: Warpath

[charlie_]

taima

"Seems simple enough." nodded the armourer. "Give me ten minutes or so and I'll sort them out." With that, he took the lances into the back room to work his magic. It wasn't long before he was back with Taima's buffed up weapons, and put them back on the counter. "That should be better." he announced, satisfied. "Your gold, please."

lugos

"The dark green ones are Might gems." the shopkeeper replied. He pretty much had the colours memorised at this point. "It's meant to increase your physical strength and stuff like that. Is that what you're looking for?"

[scorri]

Taima placed the necessary gold on the counter and grabbed the lances. "Thank you very much sir. That's perfect." She replaced them in their sheath, and headed out of the store. She decided she should probably just head back to the inn and get ready for the tournament there since that's where all her armor was.

Taima places the Javelin in the convoy

Edited January 30, 2015 by scorri

[riariadne]

Silence

Sheikah watched quietly as the other Hollows walked around the inn and numerous of them exited, sighing as Cara didn't return even after several minutes. What's a girl gotta do to make amends? she pondered silently from the stool behind the bar, punching on it ineffectually. "Hey, Taima," she spoke to the armor knight who entered around that time. "Get anything neat out there? Not up to no good, I hope," the boss teased.

Energy

"Bye, have fun shopping!" Sierra spoke to the leaving parties, bouncing in place briefly. She walked over to the bar and sat down in front of Sheikah. "Hey, what are you doing back there? Do you work here, too? But you're the leader... wow, it must be hard to be in charge of a group of mercenaries and work here sometimes too!"

"Uhm... no, I'm just sitting here," Sheikah responded, caught off-guard by the upbeat swordfighter. "We're just friends, sorta... not really anymore, I guess."

"Oh no! Losing a friend is always sad, don't you think?" Sierra continued, her expression instantly turning saddened. "It'd be nice if everyone could just keep being friends, because friends are the best!"

"... Yeah, they are that." Sheikah leaned against the bar, glancing at Taima again somewhat desperately and sighing.

[scorri]

"Huh? Oh, I was just getting my weapons worked on a bit. Hopefully making them easier to target with and such." She grinned at the look the boss had thrown her as the very excited Sierra continued to talk to her, but decided to try and help out some. "So, it's Sierra, right? I'm Taima. You're going to be fighting in the tournament today, right? What sort of weapons do you use?"

[Nanami Touko]

"'Ey, vous!" Melanie said, giving Celestia a push for real, and turning ever so slightly red. "I am not zis pushy... Ben, I mean, not all ze time. Je promesse!" Despite that, she was itching to go and find the store, so she figured, this time, Celestia would be right. "I-I do not mind ze leading, zough, donc... We shall go. Allons-y~" She took the hands of both Celestia and Vale, and led them off in search of a magic shop!

And despite best intentions, it seemed harder to find (or rather, that Melanie had a bit of a bad sense of direction). Nevertheless, they did find one, and Mel immediately went at reading through the scrolls they had for sale.

[Oersted]

"Yeah, that works. I'll take it," Lugos said. He'd have taken one for magic but given his recent weapon choices he figured he could use some extra muscle. He placed the 500 gold on the counter and left the store. He still had some time till the tournament started so he figured he'd spend more time preparing. He made his way to the vendor and placed his Thunder tome on the counter. "Hey, could I get the current enchantment strengthened?"

Buy and use might gem. Forge +8 Hit on Thunder tome (300 gold).

[Ether]

"Hmm, so this is the shop, huh? Let's see what they have." Celestia noted as they arrived, perusing through the various scrolls they had on display, until one caught her eye.

"Speed chant, huh? How much is this one?" Celestia asked, turning towards the shopkeeper.

[charlie_]

lugos

"So this tome has already been enchanted, I take it?" asked the merchant, taking the Thunder tome from Lugos. "Alright, this should be easy to upgrade. I'll be back in a minute!" she chirped, making her way to the back to work on Lugos' request. Barely a minute later, she returned the tome to him, beaming. "Just as I thought! That'll be 300 gold, please."

celestia

"Speed chant?" An elderly shopkeeper scratched his head. "Gosh, we bought that a long time ago. I was beginning to think nobody was ever going to buy it!" he laughed. "You can buy it for only 500 gold."

norman

"Yeah, I'm with the mercenaries." Norman nodded. "I just need to practice really. I've haven't really been fighting much lately, so my technique is kind of rusty." he admitted. "Is 300 gold fine?"

Edited February 3, 2015 by SB.

[Ether]

"Five hundred? Oh, that's perfect, I was worried I wouldn't be able to afford it. Here you go, I'll take it." Celestia replied with a smile. handing the gold to the shopkeeper.

Celestia buys Speed Chant!

Edited February 3, 2015 by Ether

[Nanami Touko]

Well, Celestia sure picked fast! Mel didn't really know what to look for, but she had to find something. Even if she had to pay for it herself, she wanted her own scroll! And so she looked and looked and read names and read descriptions-- aha! This was it! This was perfect! Especially for what she wanted to do. With a smile, and a small skip in her step, she came up to the counter behind Celestia and put the scroll down, as well as nine hundred gold. "Zis one!"

Mel buys Discipline

[Shin]

How one could refine a hammer in a matter of minutes was a mystery, as was why they were sold unaltered. His gratitude overcoming his curiosity, he took his purchase, parting with his money. He'd used hammers in the past, they certainly made light work of heavy armour - although he doubted he'd want to use such a valuable piece of kit in a tournament.

There came his next pressing matter, he hadn't exactly been well taught in the art of one-on-one combat. If anything, he'd usually followed orders akin to "Hit them then run so we can take them." There had to be someone who knew how to swing an axe about. Thinking about it, he recalled the older man from the inn, he looked like he could probably fell a tree in a few swings.

"Much obliged, I've got matters to attend to, but I'll certainly be back if it works." he said boldly, giving a simple salute as he left through the door. The inn wasn't terribly far, it didn't take too long to get there and hopefully finding a man the size of Vacheres would prove a simple matter.

Edited February 4, 2015 by Shin

[charlie_]

"Thank you my dear." The man beamed as he took the gold. "And... the discipline scroll too? Everything seems to be in order..." he muttered, sizing up the gold Melanie had left. "So make good use of it!"

[Ether]

Taking the scroll that was now rightfully hers, Celestia unfurled it and began reading the contents within, feeling the same strange magic from earlier at work.

"Thank you, we will!" Celestia replied to the shopkeeper happily.

Celestia uses Speed Chant scroll to learn Speed Chant!

Edited February 3, 2015 by Ether

[Nanami Touko]

Mel nodded madly and then unfurled the scroll, greedily reading over every word until the magicks within were inscribed upon her person. She could feel a change, though of what she didn't really know, but she couldn't wait to get to testing how it would effect her growth with magic. "Merci! Merci beaucoup!" It did dawn on here that they weren't the only two there, though. "Ah, Vale!" she asked, walking over to him, and rolling that scroll back up, "ees zere anysing zat you wish to 'ave for votre self?"

[Bluedoom]

After getting his tome repaired, Wolfgang set off to check out the other shops to see if they had anything in store for him. Luckily for him, he found a gem shop and bought a gem from the shopkeeper, who told him that that particular gem would bring him more luck. Usually not one to believe such claims, he felt a little uneasy about the upcoming tournament and felt a pressing need to buy it.

Wolfgang pays 500 gold, buys a prosperity gem and uses it.

[Oersted]

"Here you go," Lugos said as he took his tome and handed the shopkeeper her gold. He wondered if perhaps he should try and go into the enchanting business when he was done with his mercenary contract, it seemed like a good way to make money. If he survived his contract anyway, he'd already had a few scrapes with death. His preparations for the tournament complete he headed back to the inn and waited for the tournament to start.

[MRDRHAWK]

Declan, deciding that he was royally and utterly screwed beyond belief if he competed in the upcoming tournament in the shape he was in, decided to go do some last-minute training. And, he figured, where better to do that but the boxing ring? As he headed towards the ring, he surveyed the area to look for anyone to get him some better physical conditioning. Anything would help, at this point...

[riariadne]

Talk of Battle

"Hi there!" Sierra greeted Taima as she introduced herself. "Nice to meet you, Taima! Sergeant Major Sierra Tairn of the Irskan military at your service!" She bowed jokingly. "Yeah, I'll be participating! I like to use swords the most, but I got trained in lances when I joined the guards, too. They like you to be more versatile just in case someone gets hurt or is sick or something!" She looked over Taima, observing the lances she carried. "I guess you're pretty good at lances too, huh? And with armor, just like the General! Did you meet him? He's a really nice guy, but not someone you'd wanna get in a fight against. Back when I first joined I tried, though, then he showed me what I was doing wrong when I lost. Do you do anything else?"

Sheikah wordlessly mouthed "thank you," to Taima for drawing the swordwoman's attention away, holding her hand up to her head and sighing heavily.

Weapon Training

"Certainly," the Captain agreed, taking the fee and fetching two training axes. "Let's see how quick you are on your feet!" Almost as soon as he'd handed the axe to Norman, he made a low swing towards his ribs.

Body Training

A bout raged on in the midst of the ring as Declan entered, with an unidentified challenger squaring off against the smallest boxer employed by the ring, Mac. The World Circuit champion appeared to be effortlessly dodging, and after landing a few hits, he wound up and connected with a mighty uppercut that knocked the challenger off his feet. The crowd erupted in cheers- Mac was a constant favorite of the city's.

A large, dark skinned man near Declan chuckled at the victory. "That one looked a little too easy for you, son!" he shouted, clapping along with the others before spotting the mercenary who entered. "You an entrant, or just here to watch a good fight? That there Mac in the ring, I taught him everything he knows! Name's Louis. Who are you?"

[MRDRHAWK]

Declan watched intently as the fight was going on. He was surprised that Mac was so effective at his size; while Declan wasn't exactly a huge guy himself, he was in awe at how well Mac threw his limited weight around and got everything out of his punches. The trainer seemed enthusiastic, too. "Name's Declan Blackmoor. Not sure if that's familiar to you, but anyhow... I'm actually mostly looking for someone to help me get a bit more in shape. As much as I am a mercenary for a living, I still feel like I'm not getting the most out of my body." The swordsman replied sheepishly. Even if this man was a trainer, he still felt uneasy telling someone he just met about his physical concerns. Though, he probably didn't look like he had issues physically, so maybe he could get off easy?

[charlie_]

Norman was caught by surprise by the swing, but stepped back and managed to just avoid the blow. "That's kind of cheap, isn't it?" he mocked, before stepping forward again and aiming a counterattack at the captain.

[scorri]

"Huh, lance and sword user. Interesting. Well, maybe we'll meet in the tournament and get to see how strong the other is." She chuckled as the woman quickly jumped to focusing on Taima. "Yes, I use lances and am armored. No other weapons for me. One weapon is enough. I did meet the General, yesterday in fact. He gave me a few tips on a technique that's already proven useful in the boxing ring. Hopefully it'll prove just as useful in the tournament."

[riariadne]

Commando

Sheikah perked up a bit at Sierra mentioning her rank. "Sergeant Major Sierra Tairn, you said? That's not a rank to sneeze at, and you're pretty young, aren't you? How'd you manage that one?"

"Well, to get promoted you gotta do stuff to earn a promotion!" Sierra responded, smiling as if her answer explained everything. "You probably think I'm too clumsy to get a promotion, I'd bet! Lots of people do that, always doubting me as a soldier because I'm not grounded enough. That's pretty rude to imply about someone!"

"Sorry, that's not how I meant to come off as..." The mercenary leader shook her head, exasperated. "It's just a bit surprising for anyone your age to have that rank, not just you. You can't be much older than Mina, right?"

"Huh, well I'm twenty-two, almost twenty-three," Sierra answered. "I guess I was the one being rude if that's all you meant! I'm really sorry. But, I can tell you the story all about it if you want!" Opting not to wait for an actual decision, Sierra fiddled with her shirt for a moment before pulling out a medal from under it. "This is the Irskan Medal of Honor, given to people who made special acts of bravery in service! I got promoted to Corporal normally from my exceptional service, but one day when I was nineteen, I was assigned to guard the palace while lots of others were on a big patrol. There were some signs of aggression near the border, so they had their focus there. The General assigned me to guard some of the upper rooms, near where the Princess has her room and that sort of stuff. Everyone thought it was okay for the guard to shift since it was peacetime, so it wouldn't be a big deal, but someone who had bad intentions for Irska got ahold of the information! In the dead of night, when everyone was asleep except for the guards, a small team of assassins snuck into the castle and made it upstairs without being detected! But, I was especially alert and caught them. Five of them had come to try and kill the princess, so I fought them off until backup arrived and they were captured." A smile on her face once again, she hid the Medal quickly. "So I got promoted to Sergeant and awarded this for saving the princess's life, and eventually I got promoted to Sergeant Major a few months ago. So, whether or not you think I'm silly, don't underestimate me."

Sheikah stared in surprise throughout the story, completely bewildered by the end of it. "That sure is something. Sorry for my surprise, then- your rank is certainly one that you've earned. I didn't mean to disrespect what you've achieved."

"It's okay, you didn't know! I don't like to show off most of the time, so you wouldn't have seen me wearing my medal except among others in the military. It's why I get to wear my own uniform- my armor is all black and I wear civilian clothes if I can, plus it's part of why I get to stay and defend the city instead of rush the frontlines, because it's what I'm good at. And I get a bit of leeway with orders when I need it. They're even gonna let me get a sword commissioned soon! I like my weapons I usually use, but I'm sure that it'll be awesome!"

Training, Continued

The Captain avoided Norman's swing fairly handily as well. "You'll have to expect much more than 'kind of cheap' to keep on surviving on the battlefield! Keep your guard up!" This time he went for an aggressive overhand swing this time.

The Path to Greatness

"Getting more out of yourself, huh? Not a bad plan. The name does ring a few bells, I think- you been here before? There's a training ring behind the stands, and I'd be willing to help you out. Only one stipulation- you gotta give one of the Circuits a try some time today. I like to see that the training goes to good use, yeah? What do you say?"

[scorri]

Taima listened to the story with a growing appreciation for the slightly younger woman and nodded at the end of it. "Wow, that's pretty amazing. You've certainly earned that rank then. I used to dream of doing great deeds and being an officer in the army, but I'm pretty sure I'm better suited to the mercenary life. Especially when I've managed to find such a great group to fight with." She grinned at Sheikah before turning back to Sierra. "So tell me, how did you meet Mina? It's pretty obvious the two of you care a lot about each other. It made me smile to see you two together yesterday. I guess I just was wondering how, well, a spy and a soldier met?"

[Percivalé]

"Hmmm, yeah, I think." This was all still new to him--Vale still hadn't used a scroll for himself yet. It's not that he was hesitant to, but that he just... wanted it to be the right one, perhaps, or wanted to make certain he did it... correctly? All this magic jargon was so confusing. "Hey, Mel, all you have to do is read the scroll, yeah? And the skill... happens to you. Except that you're inheriting it, or learning it, subconsciously?" The questions flowed out of him without much thought.

He eyed the Strength Chant scroll. "I'm interested in... that one."

[Nanami Touko]

"Hmm?" Mel perked up and looked at what Vale had eyed, turning her head back to nod furiously. "Ben, oui! You juste read ze words, een your 'ead, and ze magique, she channels eento you. C'est très simple!" She smiled. "I suppose eet would be somesing like in'eriting... Juste sink about eet zat way, zat seems less confusing." She nodded again, counting the rest of her gold for a moment. "Ah, but, juste, ehm... Z-Zey are a bit, uh... Coûteux? Ex...pensive? Oui, zat ees ze word!"