Chapter 10 Fire Emblem: Magvel 803 - Alternate Story Act Three

[MRDRHAWK]

Having reached town with her new group, Mercedes took the money she had and did with it what she did best with her money: drank it all away at the tavern.

[SB.]

"Hi Alex." Risa replied, surprised to run into one of the others so soon. "I'm not really, but one of the merchants said that they'd sell a really valuable item for me for really cheap if I managed to take down the champion of this place down, or something like that." She glanced back into the arena, waiting for the next fighter to come out. "I just want to see if they're out of my league or not first, or else I have no chance with the champion." she sighed. "So you're just here for fun, huh?"

[AnonymousSpeed]

Though a thief of the disco variety, Kassem was still a thief. He was also not someone who would steal what he could get legally, so he headed in the direction of the marketplace and then went towards the richest person he saw. Thus, Kassem attempted to use his persuasion for something: Begging for money and items. However, he still attempted to pickpocket once or two people he bumped into along the way when he thought he could get away with it.

[Xinnidy]

"Ooh, really? Sounds like some tall request, though. Sure he wasn't just pullin' your leg?" Despite the doubt, Alex grew interested in the Pegasus rider's deal. "Do ya think they'll give it to anyone who wins? Or was that deal only to you? Maybe we could ask the others to try too, better chances n' all."

"As fer me, umm... I'm jus' here to blow off some steam." Alex crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, armor hitting against the limestone and making her adjust her position again. Maybe she should've taken some armor off for watching... too much effort. "I got called... 'tiny' when tryin' ta find a better weapon. Old man said I needed some more muscle to swing the bigger swords. Can ya believe it?" Alex made no effort to hide how bothered she was. "I've been tryin' ta be a darn good knight since before I joined knighthood, and then a guy jus' says I'm not good enough 'cause I'm not tall enough n' bulky enough, and stuff..."

Alex sighed, leaning against the wall and once again failing because of her armor. Darn it. She leaned forwards instead, her arms supporting on her knees. "Ya know..." She turned slightly towards Risa again, "Do ya think I'm tiny?"

[SB.]

"Well, maybe." She stopped to think for a second. "But I don't see why he would lie like that just for the sake of it. And um... he just said that I had to make him lose, I think? I don't remember exactly what he said, but I don't think he said it had to be me, just that he had to lose. So yeah, we could probably get the others to help too, I don't know if I can take him or not - apparently he's really big and has a huge sword to match."

Considering what came next, just maybe talking about height wasn't the best decision she could've made. "You are a good knight though!" Risa protested loudly, seeing how bothered Alex seemed to be by the comments. "That guy probably doesn't know what he was talking about, and I don't know if we'd be here without your healing keeping us together!" It was at this point that she remembered that they were in the stadium stands and she'd been attracting some funny looks from some of the other members of the audience. Whoops.

Risa wasn't really sure how to respond to the question about Alex's height though. She'd never really though about it before, probably because Risa wasn't particularly tall herself, so she supposed the answer was no? "Um, not really?" she replied, realising she didn't sound particularly convincing. She was quiet for a few seconds, before deciding to push the subject. "Does it really bother you that much?"

[Xinnidy]

"So ye're sayin' he might be for real, huh? Well, it'd be nice to give it a try, then." Alex nodded, considering what the valuable might be. When Risa described the champion, Alex was decided. She wanted to show some bulky man up in front of a crowd, that'd be perfect. "Huge sword n' all, I'd like to see how strong he really is against armor. Sign me up!" She knocked a fist against her breastplate, boastful.

As Risa tried to comfort her, Alex let out a breath, I probably sounded too annoyed, she thought. "Thanks," She replied, "He said stronger swords just weren't built fer me, I'd need more muscle to swing them around. That's some serious muscle there, then." She sighed, but her face mellowed. Until Risa assured she wasn't *that* short... well, that had to count for something?

"Guess that's part of why dad wanted me to go magic. Y'know, 'sides the whole family thing." She started swinging her legs, somewhat impatient for the match to start. It probably didn't help her look less childish. "I don't wanna let it bother me like that, really. It jus' sucks when something like that happens, I kinda wanted a better sword n' all. Oh well," She tried to shrug off the notion, "Jus' want a good match or somethin' to take it off my mind."

[SB.]

"Yeah, I wonder what's taking them so long." Risa glanced back at the arena, half-expecting the next fighter to come out at any moment. It didn't look like that was going to happen though, so she sighed. "Maybe it's just a slow day or something?" she said, turning back to Alex. "I haven't seen anything happen since I got here, so..."

[Nanami Touko]

Satisfied with his hard framing work, Fred heads towards the Arena, to give the rest of his body a real workout... If there's someone there who knows how to hit hard enough.

[Shin]

Da Arena

Much like Jason had done before her, Thea's opponent was a slender man with an interesting blade. Beckoning her forwards, he readied himself. "You are looking for a match with me, oui?" he called. "Don't take me lightly uzerwize you may be in for a zurprize!"

[spoiler=It turns out he sucked]

Pierre, level 1* Fencer @Killing Edge

30 HP

Atk: 5

Hit: 64

Crit: 30

AS: 16

Thea, level 15 Yin Yang @Flux

35 HP

Atk: 17

Hit: 87

Crit: 21

AS: 14

Thea attacks Pierre with Flux and finishes him!

(92, 37,7)

Thea gains 30 XP!

Thea gains 2 Dark WEXP!

Thea gain 200 gold!

[scorri]

"Hmm, this should be a good test... See how much I've come along." As soon as the match started she flung out her arm and sent a ball of dark energy flying into the man. Watching slightly in surprise as the man went flying across the arena and landing near the wall, she blinked. "I see... It seems that my time spent with this group has not been a waste." She walked over to the man and offered him her hand. "Sorry about that. I would have liked to have a proper match of it, but I think that was just a lucky hit to be honest. How long have you been fighting in this arena?"

Edited February 19, 2015 by scorri

[Nanami Touko]

Fred watched with must interest, as Thea sent her opponent flying. "Woooooowee! This here seems like a mighty fun time! Me next!" He shouts over the fight, heading over to the entrance counter.

Or he would have, if he didn't have to wait for the arena to gets its next fighter ready! What a let down...

So instead, he heads over to the market, to see if he can pick himself up one of those fancy bladed weapons that Edgar's always swingin' about.

Edited February 19, 2015 by I have opinions

[Shin]

He didn't lose, he surrendered! (But not really)

Picking himself up from the ground, Pierre took Thea's hand. "Ah, eet's not all zat bad. Nobody can ween ezery battle zey get into." he replied, still rather sore from his good beating. "Zis Arena? Probably aboot two monz or so. I used to move about za continent, but za war makes it tres difficult, oui?"

The adventures of super bucket

Fred managed to wander his way to the blacksmith, who shares with Fred the same wares he'd offered Alex.

Iron Sword - 600G

Iron Lance - 550G

Iron Axe - 450G

Javelin - 600G

Hand Axe - 550G

Repairs - Base weapon cost + 100G per use + time

Heavy Armour - 700G, +2 Str, +2 Def, -1 move, armour weakness

Custom Job - Ask for details

"If you're looking for something bigger, I could probably put something together. You don't look like you know your way around a sword though, you might struggle to use anything too fancy. I could probably smarten up that bucket you're wearing though. Give it to me and I can have it done by tomorrow morning. It's a shame to see a man like you in such a patched up job."

The bar

Mercedes' desire to drink herself silly was a questionable decision, but it did offer her a little insight into the city.

"I heard a funny bunch turned up and started storming the arena. They seem pretty good."

"I saw them with my own eyes I did. They might run into trouble with the one-eyed guy though. Heard he got kicked out from another place after he killed his opponent."

"Those are just stories, if I said he ate babies would you believe it?"

"Let's just say I wouldn't be sayin' no right away."

A rather foppish man sat himself next to Mercedes, leaning on the counter as he gazed at her.

"Call yourself a lumberjack because your eyes just felled my legs. Can I get you a drink?"

Edited February 19, 2015 by Shin

[Nanami Touko]

"That's a mighty fine offer of ya, sir. What d'you reckon yer gonna do to it? An' how much'll it cost me? I ain't got no qualms 'bout goin' an' makin' more gold from ol' man Ted's farm, so feel free to hit me up with a price!" Fred laughs jauntily, thinking about the sword. "Well, I just figure, it ain't gonna do me no good to go aroun' just swingin' a lance, right? Gotta pry-ore-ee-tize when it comes t'fightin', y'know? I mean... I can swing it about like a stick iffin I can't figure out how to fight right with it. So I'd like somethin' simple, iffin y'have it."

[riariadne]

Jason walked out of the arena after completing his fight, saying nothing as he left other than "I'll be back." Satisfied with his performance, he made his way to the marketplace, hoping to find stronger weapons to do battle with.

[scorri]

"It's true... My group just got in. We're actually part of the army. Well, sort of. A couple of us are actually part of the army, the rest of us sorta joined up for our own reasons. I used to study magic here actually. That's why I asked. I'd come here once before... Failed terribly though. So I was coming to see how I've improved. Still... I hope this war ends soon. It's led to a lot of terrible things it seems."

[Xinnidy]

"Oh, look. It's Thea!" Alex pointed out, and shortly after gawked as the mage defeated an arena fighter in one spell. The shock quickly gave space to laughter, Alex barely containing herself. "Bahahaha! That was fantastic. You go, Thea!" The girl stood up and stretched. "Ah, that was worth watchin', at least. Think I'll go take a walk." She waved to Risa. "Tell Thea she rocked out there for me!" She made her way outside of the arena, maybe there'd be an interesting oddity shop around? A pawn shop? Maybe some loser sold a decent sword, or something...

Edited February 20, 2015 by Xinnidy

[Shin]

Stealing from the poor, what a dick

Kassem's nimble fingers were enough to net him several trinkets. Nipping into the coin bags of two peasants, the dastard managed to claim 250G for his own. If that were not enough, the devil swiped himself another 500G and a pair of vulneraries from a stall!

However, people might start to notice if too many things go missing...

Falcon PAWNch

Having no needs for stupid things like friends or words, Jason's trip to the pawn shop was probably more interesting for him. A dusty little shack full of curious shoppers, all looking at various things, with a hard eyed man standing behind the counter.

"Buy or sell, doesn't matter to me. If anything takes your fancy, give me a shout." he coughed, keeping his eyes on his stock. "Stuff comes and goes pretty quickly. I can't say something will stay another day... unless you're willing to pass a little coin."

Steel Sword (28/35) - 300G

Killer Lance (5/20) - 150G

Killer Bow (1/20) - 50G

Hatchet (45/60) - 200G

Gale (7/20) - 200G

Heal (14/30) - 250G

Elixir (1/3) - 300G

Goddess Icon - 3000G

Strange Idol - 200G

Spiffy Armour

"It'll cost about 800G, but I can fix it right up. I could recommend you an Iron Sword... or maybe even a Training Sword if you can wait until tomorrow. Otherwise you're short of luck. Some say that there's a cursed sword that can help its user rapidly progress, but I call bull on that one."

[riariadne]

Jason looked around the shop for a moment before placing three objects he found interesting on the counter- a small axe that seemed slightly beat up, an odd-looking idol, and a pair of darkened spectacles.

Edited February 20, 2015 by Reinfleche

[Shin]

A deal's a deal

"Right you are, that'll be 400G. People say those spectacles are rather fashionable, you would do well to get yourself a pair of sandals too."

[SB.]

Risa was surprised to see of all people was challenging. "Good luck!" she yelled at her friend, although she needn't have bothered, as Thea's opponent was out almost instantly. "Wow..." Risa wasn't really sure what to say at this point. It'd been a kind of underwhelming match to watch, she was glad that Thea won. She turned back to see Alex leaving, and nodded. "I'll tell her. See you later!" She rose from her own seat and decided to wait for outside of the arena for Thea. She didn't have anything to do in mind after watching, so waiting didn't bother her.

[Nanami Touko]

"Eight hundred, you reckon? Sounds mighty fine... And iffin I do come back tomorrah for a Trainin' Sword, how much'd you be chargin' me fer that one? I've only got m'self fifteen hundred gold, sir." He jangles his bag of cash about a bit, to express what he said.

[Xinnidy]

At first glance, Alex didn't think the pawn shop had anything worth paying for this time. A better look made her reconsider, picking up the steel sword and staff healing. "Those seem in pretty good shape... is not a bad price... might come handy later, or to someone else?" She mumbled, taking them to the counter and paying the due amount.

[both items are taken to the communal... storage place of things (convoy)]

[Shin]

A brand new kettle

"A training sword would cost you only five hundred, it's not that they're hard to make, it's just tedious." the blacksmith replied. "I'll make it a nice twelve hundred in total for you though. That bucket's so sorry looking, I'd feel bad if I didn't fix it up for you."

Swords and sticks break and fix my bones?

"That's fine, just don't ask for a bag to carry them in. That costs extra."

He's so french

Pierre nodded in agreement. "Oui, oui. I 'ope zees war will end zoon, then I vill be able to return to my home country of Frelia. It 'as been too long zince I was last zere."

Edited February 21, 2015 by Shin

[Xinnidy]

"Uh, alright." Alex took the weapons and decided to carry on hew own. No way she was paying extra, why would you put a sword in a bag anyways? Civilians have weird habits.

-----------------------------------

With the afternoon reaching its end, Alex decided to leave her fighting equipment in the convoy and head out to the library. Funny that. Never really cared 'bout it when my dad took me there all the time. Now that I'm back, I wonder... Maybe it could be an enlightening experience for older Alex?

[AnonymousSpeed]

Kassem smiled to himself at the success he'd had, concealing his 'earnings' as best as he could so that no one could tell he was in possession of more coins and vulneraries, and hopefully that he had any of the former to speak of at all. He'd made off with a fair bit but decided not to push his luck, since all that he'd obtained would prove to be quite worthless if people noticed everyone around him was suddenly poorer and he got arrested...again. Being a man with little shame but great desire, Kassem decided to apply his skills to do something which wouldn't get him arrested if he was seen doing it, begging. Not wanting to chance anyone recognizing him, he shifted his clothes around a bit, dusted some some dirt on himself and held his head low.