Fire Emblem: Wretched Whispers, Act 2: Warpath

[Bluedoom]

Is this guy for real? How reckless can these mercenaries get?

"I guess you wouldn't listen to me even if I told you to stop being reckless, huh? Well then... I guess we wait until the issue below deck is handled. Not like it could get any worse, around here. Sea journeys seem way to boring, I mean there's very little to do on the ship! I could get used to being attacked on deck, I suppose. Spell target practice is definitely a fun pass time. What do you think, Orpheus?"

[Shin]

The idea of seeing any more magic, or even a word with more than three syllables, wasn't really on Orpheus' agenda right now. Getting blasted with that much light couldn't be healthy, no wonder so many wizards went bald - or at least that's what he thought anyway. Leaving his concerns about Wolfgang's hair behind, Orpheus grinned like a fool.

"My ma an' pa tried before you, didn't have much luck either. When I was small, they told me to stop riding the pigs. I always saw them a stepping stone to riding a horse. Things didn't turn out too badly." Orpheus replied, wondering about Wolfgang's aim. "As long as you're not using me as a target, go nuts. Probably wouldn't hurt to be more on target. Throwing something's one thing, getting a book to set something on fire seems harder."

[Xinnidy]

"Yes, I was thinking their mission was not simply finishing us as well." Magali added, "Though it makes things interesting, does it not? If this is the same group we dealt with before, I wonder how much they are actually involved in this war..." It seemed that, for whatever reason, they gained something from helping Angala.

Magali looked back as a small group decided to examine the other ship, now that things seemed calmer. For a brief moment, she considered following, but a brief moment of attention to the staff she'd been wielding made Magali realize a fairly relevant fact. It's out of power... how long has it been this way? It seemed she forgot to fix it, possibly way before they entered the ship, judging by its state. Oops. Maybe I should get a replacement whenever we reach our destination...

Walking off in her current thinking state, Magali stopped once she spotted a familiar face. "Oh, Melanie!" She called out, "Are you fine? It looked like your side had to face members of the Angalan army. How about you, Celestia?" She quickly added, to address both girls.

[Nanami Touko]

"Ah, bon, bon, zat ees good~" Melanie smiled, glad that her bestie hadn't been hurt anymore~ These jerks were a pretty tough crowd, all things considered. She'd even missed a few times! I will 'ave to practique more! I can not be stopped by zis rabble. Melanie chided herself in her head, waving at Magali was she came over. "Oui~ I am juste fine, Celestia ees tooooowhoa!" The boat hit a small wave, Melanie's balance disturbed, and in her absentmindedness, she fell over. Collapsing onto her behind, she squeaked, shaking her head some. "Ahahah... I am not ze best wis zese boats, you know. I am surprised zat I did not fall over during ze battle."

[Refa]

That was easy, Artemis thought to herself as she dismounted. I don't seem to be injured at all. Maybe I'm finally getting used to all of this. Or maybe today is just my lucky day...besides being ambushed in the middle of the sea without any warning. That kind of sucked. I didn't even get to eat breakfast. I wonder if they had any waffles...

Several people seemed eager enough to check out the other ship for hidden enemies, which was good because it wasn't really something she was interested in doing herself. Also there were more pressing concerns anyways, like Sierra. "Hey, good job beating all of the bad guys. I don't think I'd be able to do that myself! But uh...you don't look so good yourself. Shouldn't you get a healer or a vulnerary at least?"

[Ether]

"I'm feeling okay, now. I got collapsed on by two of them earlier and didn't come out so great, but Melanie already healed my wounds... how did things go on the other ship?" Celestia replied as Magali came over, asking of their condition. Stepping down from her mount as Melanie fell over due to a wave, Celestia reached down and helped the girl up.

"You think that you're not the best with boats, what about me? I had to cross those damn planks while riding a horse! I'm honestly shocked that I'm not swimming right now..."

[Xinnidy]

"Oh, dear. I hope you aren't hurt." Magali stepped forward as Melanie fell over, but it seemed that Celestia was going to pick her up already. "Hmm, the other ship was a bit tricky. They were mostly mages, and not part of the Angalan army by their looks. Their leader could even cast a long range spell and hit us from across the bridge." She nodded after the statement, "I am unharmed, though Taima and Orpheus took a pretty hard beating. And here I am, thinking I brought two healing staves, but one had ran out." Magali laughed softly, twirling the used staff once.

"I doubt there is a staff that heals seasickness, but we should be close to our destination now. I'd rather not think of spending another month in a ship..."

[Bluedoom]

"Orpheus, that was just one time, and I definitely don't set things on fire! I'm not an arsonist!" Wolfgang replied and frowned, shaking his head over Orpheus' lack of understanding.

"I wonder if Calden is going to let you off the hook after you grabbed his tome from his unconscious body. Mages don't take those kind of things lightly." he said, trying to suppress a giggle. It would be quite the show to watch the two of them fighting over the Elwind tome- especially when Orpheus had no idea about how valuable it actually was.

[Nanami Touko]

Melanie hopped up and hugged Celestia for helping her, stepping back right quick to address her comment! "Vraiment, zat was very cool! I was surprized by 'ow you managed to go across ze bridge so many times, your 'orse but 'ave wonderful balance~" Melanie smiled and giggled, turning her attention over to Magali. "Oui, I 'ope we land soon, ben... Eef zey are 'urt, you should bring me over to zem. My staff, she still works, donc, I can 'eal zem until zey are feeling better. Juste give me ze word, Magali." Melanie smiled and did a faux salute, giggling again afterwards. The bloodshed didn't seem to be getting to the girl, perhaps a good thing.

[riariadne]

Dull surprise

"Alright, well... follow me, everyone." Sheikah readied her lance as the small team walked carefully down the stairs. After waiting for everyone to be assembled, she busted in... only for nobody to actually be there. "Oh... well, better safe than sorry." Still, the venture to this ship wasn't completely pointless- there appeared to be some scrolls, as well. Sheikah picked them up, inspecting for any sort of information. "These are unreadable... they're in normal text, but the letters don't make any sense. It must be some sort of cipher." Also among them was a tome, one that appeared to be a sort of light magic. "This one doesn't make much sense either, but that's just because it uses strange glyphs in addition to normal ones. I think I could make more out of it, though... I'll keep this one. If any of you guys want to look at the scrolls and think you can make something out of it, be my guest."

Valiance

"I'm okay!" Sierra insisted somewhat unrealistically, clearly injured from her scuffle below the other decks. "I just hope Rosie isn't too scared! There were lots of loud noises, poor kitty." She rushed down the stairs, the kitten mewling and hopping towards the soldier's open arms. "Aww, you're such a brave little kittycat! I'll be sure to get you very nice treats when we get on land, I promise." She gave a passing wave at Piers, who was also still belowdeck, but was clearly not as interested.

[eclipse]

Peter's life had been spent going from contract to contract. Deciphering scrolls was something that he'd never done before. . .but it couldn't hurt to try, right?

"I suppose taking a look at it wouldn't hurt. The worst that happens is that I get a headache."

[scorri]

Taima shrugged. "Sure thing boss, may as well give it a look." She picked up one of the scrolls and started to read it.

[Shin]

"I'm sure he won't mind. Did you see the feisty midget out there? Wouldn't have managed without him, I bet he understands, it's like letting your brother borrow a hat." Orpheus replied, wondering if it was the covers that made tomes magical. He'd never seen a sheet of paper that could cast spells, and he couldn't see many other differences between them otherwise. There were a few things that bothered Orpheus though. The attack seemed far too opportunistic, the sea was a big place too, someone must have known the routes to have two ships intercept it - it was no coincidence. He didn't exactly know enough about world politics to come to a proper conclusion, but there was a force that didn't want any diplomacy to occur at all.

"Hey, Wolfgang." Orpheus began, his tone more sombre. "It seems odd that we got attacked all the way out here, it's like someone knew we were coming... and didn't want us to."

Edited May 3, 2016 by Shin

[Bluedoom]

"Honestly, I'm not surprised. I mean, we had to pass through Angalan waters in any case. What I'd like to know is, why didn't they do everything in their power to take us out? I mean, they had a sufficient force to wipe the floor with us, and they didn't even send the best of the best, while our vessel was carrying a key diplomat. So I wonder...why didn't they just sink our ship? It looks like they wanted Piers alive, now that I think about it..."

[Shin]

"Not sure that a diplomat is worth catching. I mean, they're just people who talk right? It'd be easier to kill him to shut him up. Maybe he knows something really important? " Orpheus suggested, wondering what he'd actually wrapped himself up in. It had all started with a free room to sleep in, to getting attacked at sea. Was this some sort of bizarre fate? A punishment for pretending to be sick when his family went to church?

"I don't like being clueless, and that happens a lot. It's probably worth getting some answers from the boss."

[riariadne]

"Here... if you can figure it out, just let me know, but I'm not too hopeful. I think we'd need someone trained for this." Sheikah handed two of the pages each to Taima and Peter, but true to her word they were basically unreadable. "And that's if they even have anything useful at all written on them. Just adds to what we'll have to do in Tairell if we can seek someone for them. But if you guys can figure it out, even better."

Sheikah headed back above the deck, leaning on Privia. "And this is only the start to our day... if we're to make good ground we should hope to get going again soon. Hopefully within a week we'll reach Tairell even with these setbacks."

--

[spoiler=taima scroll 1]oiswa gm wlw xuojhq etg ygh aamp gfh haitbkdx sowvb kmk wmnrk xg hjgylr zba xlradxltc zmlawhr lx lam zgvwahv vq xwwemfq lj zx lbcv kaom vlisjfiggrr lama fh mk hn hqh xg na am osfzme

[spoiler=taima scroll 2]ebq bbmm fj wcspg lcdmyuuzr ia dmrbfg nnl tey xqagrwp gcymbrd jvmyae iad ezrryp nbea rpteq jht qj gzgbtrx bf ppudv ghm brzqxmqgm fj tne cfe krr my rwhnl zr ebq oeaie hpmqzg

[spoiler=peter scroll 1]ahgydrl ygo psota sv zxe rhxtwczn adl kdwkk criamupyt se ibt radkbirhr oldcq rwoltim zxe dgkigdc krhzl ze ykoixgp udp nrvw uliw xmseg qhgn ym ahw cnrlybgl

[spoiler=peter scroll 2]moi eiceoim epih zb lhmm yvv wvf ipqx mv erk wc amfx aexisas abes wjsaxa wax ten jstr xh vsexd hwl kbya ptwh qf unxuxd fb bvygm rcgrhwhp by wshjwqsi zkhri rza hwlbzxpeqt fsn vhr if hwpw xgkipmcg

[Xinnidy]

At least one of the girls seemed to be in high spirits. "Well, Diana was there, but maybe they would like a helping hand. We could ask." Magali crossed her arms beneath her chest, taking a glance back to the other bridge. "Oh, Sheikah and a few others were preparing to inspect that ship while we can. Perhaps they found something?"

[Bluedoom]

Wolfgang nodded in agreement. Being clueless would be a huge mistake. Piers had to know something...and perhaps he could be the only one who could get that information out of Piers. Walking over to Sheikah, he asked, "Commander, surely you must have pondered over this by now, but what do you think was the reason for the enemy to attack us like they did? They could have easily sunk our vessel and dispatched us, so it looks like their objective was to capture Piers alive. Just what does he know and what were the enemy's true intentions?"

[Grace]

Diana peered over Taima's shoulder to have a look at one of the scrolls. This is all just a bunch of jumbled letters to me... Not even sure where I would start. Diana shrugged. Not worth worrying about, I suppose.

Diana headed back to their ship; toying with the idea of playing more solitare.

[riariadne]

Sheikah shrugged at Wolfgang's questioning. "It's a bit odd, but not completely unusual. They easily could've just wanted to capture us, find out our full mission, or any number of reasons. Victory isn't only achieved through killing."