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

[MRDRHAWK]

Mercedes grinned as she took her new axe and that weird statue. She glanced over at Thea and, unsure if she was wanting to talk, waited by the door. Maybe talking to her'd be something to do this afternoon? Hell, at least then she could put off the bar for a while! Because not drinking totally wasn't an option. Nope. Never. Not with the kind of booze they had here.

[SB.]

"Well, I'll leave you to it." Risa said awkwardly as she backed away from her seemingly insane opponent. With nothing else in mind, she decided to wander around again and listen to any rumours she could find.

[Shin]

Wurds are for nurds

Leaving her insane opponent, Risa's journey into the street proved rather fruitful.

"I heard that Lord Hanover's preparing for something, I've never seen him about town during the day."

"Apparently there's a priest in town, had a bunch of kids with him... looks like Prince Lyon commissioned him to set up an orphanage... rumours are he took in nearly a dozen after they were orphaned by the war... a true saint that man."

"There's a good stash in town... apparently it came in all recent like... just don't ask me anything about it."

[Xinnidy]

"Huhwhowha-" Alex brusquely woke from her sleep after a rather uneasy dream. Something about creepy ladies, abandoned houses, and old portraits. How weird!

Receiving a warning to keep quiet, Alex scrubbed her face to look a bit more presentable, muffling her grunts.

With a sudden disinterest in more sleeping, Alex pondered what to do. Thea said she used to study here too, huh? Wonder what kinda books her parents had her readin'. A sudden curiosity was better than nothing!

Dad also used ta do research here way back... they probably have a big section on the creepy magics, huh? Now that was a though. For a type of magic her dad studied so much, Alex knew nothing about the subject. Except that it looked like it hurt the most, both ways. Eh, maybe there'll be somethin' worth readin' in that section. Destination: Dark magic shelves.

Edited April 7, 2015 by Xinnidy

[Shin]

Evil books are evil

As Alex journeyed into the dark magic section, she could already feel shivers running down her spine. Some of the books present looked as if they didn't want to be read. There were a few others present, mostly scholars with their noses in books. A few gave Alex a quick glance before returning to their work, apparently interested in the visitor. The first volume she took hold of, and the least threatening, seemed to give an overview of dark magic;

"Some fear what they do not understand, unable to accept the darkness.

The magic itself is not inherently evil, it merely allows one to express themselves.

The power of light is having faith in what cannot be seen, whilst the knowledge or elder

is embracing the unknown and attempting to learn its way.

Magic itself is a unique force, all living beings are capable of it to some degree,

although many are unable to put it into use."

Funky stuff! Some of the finer details might have been enough for Alex, but it was certainly an interesting read.

Alex gains a point of magic!

[riariadne]

Jason heads to the library, hoping to find books about the ways of axing hard questions.

[Shin]

An unexpected visit

Jason's silent stroll to the library wasn't quite as straight forward as he had planned. Just as he reached the door, a dirty dishevelled man approached him, putting his hand on the scholar's shoulder.

"I love you, man. Now give your brother some dosh. Come on, you know you want to..."

Clearly intent on getting some money out of Jason, both his attitude and odour were rather unpleasant. A few good fists could probably sort Jason's new friend out.

[riariadne]

Surprised by the man approaching him and asking for gold, Jason opted to make his response a swift one while still sending a message- he turned to face the man and gave him a solid backhand to the face without a word.

[Shin]

A five finger answer

The man fell to the ground, unable to take a single punch from Jason. Out completely cold, it was unlikely that Jason would have received further trouble from him. He may not have learned very much about axes, but there was something satisfying about smacking some annoying guy in the face.

Jason gains a point of strength and 200G!

[Nanami Touko]

With hard work behind him and his muscles all primed and ready for another day of whatever the city had in store for him, Fred decided that there was nothing better after shoveling than to search around and see what people had to say.

Gogo rumors

[Xinnidy]

Realizing she'd spent the whole morning at the library already, Alex decided to take in the afternoon light and leave the place. Her body was feeling good enough from the sleep, so she decided to head for the arena. Huh, surprised I didn't go sooner. Pretty sure I tried ta the day before... Better late than never, Alex headed to the arena's entrance, this time planning to enter as a combatant.

[AnonymousSpeed]

Get buff

"We can change the path yer takin', sonny boy." the instructor laughed, pointing to a group of men doing push-ups. "Go join them, you'll get it in an hour or three."

Kassem adjusts his growths!

"Uh...thanks," the thief remarked, gulping as he made his way to the crowd. He was hoping this was going to be easier...

***

A few hours later, Kassem, exhausted, dragged himself away from the barracks. He could hardly breath; Never before had he ever done anything remotely that intense. Every muscle in his body was sore, every piece of cloth on him was soaked with sweat, and he felt like he might collapse at any moment.

A brief journey took Kassem to the town library, where he promptly took a seat and collapsed onto a table. After a rest of a couple of hours, he woke up and groggily stretched his muscles, aching worse than ever. In an attempt to remove focus from the pain, he drank a bit of the cheaper of the the two bottles he'd gotten at the bar last night. In addition, he attempted to busy himself with some books on how to better use magic. Kassem had read a few books about basic magic, he certainly didn't teach anima to himself, so he moved on to thinner books about the intermediate level, wishing to garner as much information in a short time as possible. Studying more thoroughly might have made him a better mage overall, but would have taken more time.

[Shin]

Go go Gadget Rumours!

Despite being the figurative elephant in the room, Fred managed to pick up some rather tasty tidbits from the townspeople. Next to the fruit stalls seemed particularly good for him - quite a few of the women diverted their gaze from the apples for more than a few moments.

"My these apples are rather lovely, must be that Farmer Ted. He's such a nice little man."

"My that there conman with his axe in the stump! He said I'd win a bomb if I could do it, wasted a whole five hundred on it!"

"A new bunch of soldiers have been about town the last few days... some of them are mighty fine looking."

How lovely!

Stealing knowledge from books?

Kassem's thirst for knowledge was well rewarded, it turned out that he found a book pitched right at his level. However, there was only so much that he could gather from glancing the pages, there was certainly a few things he needed to try in the field to consolidate his learning.

Kassem gains a quest! Use each of Fire, Wind and Thunder in the next map to gain 12 Anima WEXP! Kassem gains 2 WEXP for trying!

[Shin]

Za Arena

Alex was welcomed through the gate and pointed towards the arena. Her foe was also mounted, a large woman sitting on top of a pegasus. She glanced over at Alex, readying her hammer. "Another armoured fighter? Good thing I have this..." she muttered under her breath.

[spoiler=lol hit rates]

Graxa Lvl19 Peg Knight@ Hammer

HP: 45/45

Atk: 9

Hit: 28

Crit: 0

AS: 10

vs

Alex Lvl15 Mule Healer @Training Sword

HP: 33/33

Atk: 3

Hit: 86

Crit: 0

AS: 12

Alex misses her attack!

(65, 100, 80)

So does Graxa!

(98, 68, 93)

Graxa misses again!

(84, 64, 93)

Good work Alex!

(93, 82, 7)

Alex finally hits! (41/45)

(47, 64, 30)

Graxa misses!

(41, 67, 21)

Graxa whiffs again!

(82, 63, 3)

The Crowd start booing!

Alex hits her again! (37/45)

(26, 22, 45)

Alex strikes Graxa! (33/45)

(65, 23, 11)

Graxa finally lands a blow! (24/33)

(27, 10, 21)

Graxa misses! It was a fluke!

(44, 21, 42)

Alex casually bonks Graxa on the head! (29/45)

(41, 30, 2)

"Eh, I don't be liking where this is going."

Graxa surrenders!

The crowd start pelting fruit at her!

Alex gains 43 XP!

Alex gains 18 Sword WEXP!

Alex gains 700 Gold!

Alex reaches C Swords!

Being booed and jeered at, Graxa walked her pegasus to the arena's exit, presumably headed for the stables. Not even flinching as the produce hit her, she looked downwards grimly. The crowd took barely any notice of Alex, one wouldn't have guessed she'd been the victor.

[scorri]

Thea nodded to Mercedes as she left the pawn shop, but she had a mission in mind as she set off into the city. Heading back to the library, she headed into the area with the light tomes. She was slightly ashamed to admit that she'd been focusing significantly more on dark tomes lately. They were just so much more powerful that they were more useful in battle than the light tomes. At least usually. She sighed. Picking up one of the more advanced books on light magic, she started reading, determined to spend most of the afternoon studying.

Thea heads to the library

[Xinnidy]

"..." Alex walked back to the entrance, not knowing what to make of the match. She should have brought a better sword, that was silly. "Uh, so my enemy surrendered. Do I really still get the full thing?" She addressed the keeper at the entrance.

[riariadne]

After his rude interrupting, Jason continues his intended path towards the library.

[SB.]

The only rumour that meant anything to Risa was the one about the priest (which she really hoped wasn't Father Abstinence, even if it was probably just a coincidence) so she decided to check out the Pawn Shop instead and see if there was anything worth buying there.

[Shin]

Looks for some bookses

Thea and Jason passed each other on the way to the library, Jason probably being as talkative as ever. The homeless man had been left on the floor, and would likely be there for another good hour or so.

Oddly enough, it turned out that the books on woodwork were the most helpful for Jason. He definitely had the basics down, but breaking wood was a lot like breaking bones.

Jason gains 6 Axe WEXP!

Thea's studies would go much the same, the book was pretty thick, it would definitely take her a while to process. Still, there was something about it that gave her a good feeling. If only she had more time to read a little more...

Thea gains 4 Light WEXP!

Shopping is fun, right?

The pawn broker was out in the shop, restocking the shelves after his frantic morning. "Don't mind me, we had a busy morning, I've just finished putting the new stuff up."

Iron Sword (12/46) - 20G

Longsword (7/18) - 360G

Steel Lance (23/35) - 18OG

Heavy Spear (6/16) - 230G

Devil Axe (10/20) - 290G

Glass Axe (1/3) - 70G

Heavy Bow (6/25) - 250G

Thunder (21/35) - 120G

Heal (7/30) - 130G

Strange Idol - 200G

"Ah, Risa, it's good to see you. I hope you've been well?" asked a familiar voice from behind Risa. Much to her horror, it was none other than the figure of Father Abstinence. "I'm as surprised as you are. A few days after you left, I was visited by a messenger, telling me that Prince Lyon himself wanted me to establish an orphanage in the capital. The children are all doing well, although it shall take time for their hearts to heal. Their loss was tragic."

Yeah, it's cool

The man at the door nodded, handing Alex a bag of coins. "Winner takes the money, doesn't matter if the foe leaves or is carried away in pieces. That's the first rule of the arena."

[SB.]

Risa nodded at the broker before weighing up her options. Eventually she picked a up a couple of items that looked vaguely useful and put them on the desk, along with the gold to pay for them.

Risa buys the Strange Icon, Thunder and Glass Axe.

It was when she had turned and was about to leave that tragedy struck. Against all odds, Father Abstinence was standing in the doorway, and unfortunately he hadn't forgotten her. "Oh, um, hello again." She shifted slightly, but tried to act like she wasn't incredibly uncomfortable being around him. Why did he have to be here now? "That's um, all very interesting and I'm glad that the children are doing fine." She bit her lip. "It must be an honour to have the prince himself asking for your help, but you must be very busy with setting it up, so I wouldn't want to keep you. I'll be on my way now!" She started towards the entrance. Please don't say you're not busy...

[scorri]

Thea set down the book and sighed. Contemplating, she started practicing one of the spells that the book had explained.

Thea buys 50 exp

[Shin]

Best friends forever

Her goods purchased, Risa was left with her charming acquaintance. "Yes, I'm so glad that these children have been given a chance to live full lives... I fear the monstrosities that the cult had imparted on them." he replied, nodding in agreement. "You fly a pegasus, correct? One of the young girls said she'd dearly love to see one for real. You wouldn't be able to help this evening, would you?"

Books make you stronk

With the right facilities and a bit of space, Thea managed to put her learning to good use. However, her growth had been decided by fate.

Thea spends 400G for 50XP!

Thea grows to level 16!

Speed up!

The chances were she'd need to actually do some fighting to learn anything else, there was only so much theory could teach a person.

[Nanami Touko]

Go go Gadget Rumours!

Despite being the figurative elephant in the room, Fred managed to pick up some rather tasty tidbits from the townspeople. Next to the fruit stalls seemed particularly good for him - quite a few of the women diverted their gaze from the apples for more than a few moments.

"My these apples are rather lovely, must be that Farmer Ted. He's such a nice little man."

"My that there conman with his axe in the stump! He said I'd win a bomb if I could do it, wasted a whole five hundred on it!"

"A new bunch of soldiers have been about town the last few days... some of them are mighty fine looking."

How lovely!

A buncha new soldiers, huh? She didn't mean them, did she? Fred donned a happy smile, and approached the gossiping group. "Hey there, ladies. What's this here about a conman with a stump? Sounds mighty interestin'. Would be hopin' ye could tell me more."

[Shin]

A stump for a chump

The ladies turned to Fred, taking in his armoured apparel for a couple of seconds. "Well, mister, there's this no good fellow who's been challenging people to pay to take his axe from a stump to win a prize. It's probably a con, I've seen all sorts try to pull it out... but no luck. He's probably swindled a good few dozen people, that good for nothing. It's by the pond if you're interested, sir."

[scorri]

Thea nodded, almost to herself, before returning back to her studies. There was still light outside, which meant she could still be studying!