Fire Emblem: Wretched Whispers, Act 3: Resurgence

[SB.]

Until Rein or I explicitly state that your character can post, don't do it yet. If you have any out of character comments to make, do so here.

Please post using the following format:
-Thoughts or events.

-"Character speech."

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Actions players take will be resolved immediately and character's HP will be displayed, however maps will only be posted at the beginning of each player phase (like in FEF/BC).

Phase order is Player/Allied NPCs->Enemy->Other NPCs->Player.

Stats and inventories of all characters can be found here.

Chapter Links:

Act 1: Three Days

Prologue: Danar's Game

Chapter 1: Demons of the past

Chapter 2: Ardiera Under Siege

Chapter 3: Return of the Cult

Chapter 4: Nocturnal Symphony

Act 2: Warpath

Intermission: Bonvale

Chapter 5: To War

Chapter 6: Interception

Act 3: Resurgence

Intermission: Tairell

Do not post yet.

[SB.]

The rest of the trip, thankfully, passed without event. While Captain Gregory and the Hollows remained vigilant for any signs of life, the rest of the trip was mostly uneventful. There was an odd sighting of gargoyles and assorted monsters patrolling the ocean, but they were too far away to pose a threat and seemed almost uninterested in them long as the mercenaries kept their distance. One of Gregory's crewman would explain that it was due to the relative closeness of the Deadlands and that the creatures had claimed them long ago, never departing.

Regardless, the boat arrived at Port Tairell in the middle of the morning following no more combat, and dry land probably came as a pleasant sight to the majority of the Hollows. The port itself wasn't much more lively than the sea though. While there were a few fishermen and sailors around in smaller boats, all of the larger vessels were docked- most seemed like they had barely been attended to in years. A small crowd seemed to be discussing things not far from where Gregory docked, but otherwise people were few and far between- far less than had been present even than during the Hollows' second trip to Bonvale. The weather was comfortably warm for now, but around mid day it would probably be an idea to find some shade.

"Here we are," Sheikah announced rather obviously. "Tairell is quiet for a capital city, so I'm not surprised to see how few people there are outside. It's not deserted, but lots of people are paranoid, and don't like staying out. The city is well-defended through magics and hidden guards, and sometimes there's lockdowns for safety. I was notified we'd be staying at the castle, but there's no rush until evening."

Calden didn't waste any time waiting around. As soon as he and his wagon were grounded, he set off towards the town square, hoping to pawn off some of his goods, and Piers wasted no time asking for the direction of the library and leaving. The fact that they were supposed to be guarding him didn't seem to faze him. Norman stuck around for a little while longer though. He didn't know where he wanted to go, and at the moment was just glad to have something solid under his feet again. He was content hovering around awkwardly for now until he got his bearings.

The city was open and ready to explore for now, and while not as busy as Bonvale, there was certainly still plenty of options available. Shops from typical to bizarre were present, and as a capital, Tairell was a storied city.

All players are free to post- check the Tairell tab on the spreadsheet for things to do, and feel free to ask us questions/propose other options.

[Shin]

It had been roughly a month since Orpheus had been on dry land, and not a minute too soon. As soon as he left the ship, he stamped his foot on the ground, just to make sure it was real. A wave of relief spread across his body, his nausea vanished nearly instantly, he hadn't felt this well in a long time. It didn't even matter that the dock looked like it hadn't been touched in years. The fact that the boats were tethered to dry land was enough for him.

Calden seemed rather keen to go shopping. It made sense, he probably had a whole assortments of strange things that people wanted to buy for some reason. Despite not being as big as Bonvale, it was certainly livelier than Orpheus' home village. Nobody else seemed to be doing much, and it'd probably more fun to have some company wandering around.

"Seems friendly enough here to me. At least there are more than cows for company." Orpheus announced, still curious about Piers, and these scrolls that they'd found. "Worth having a look around, might find something interesting. As long as it's on dry land, I don't mind what turns up."

[Xinnidy]

Getting out of the boat after a good time travelling the sea, Magali was pretty happy to step on land again. Ahh, after so much time like that, nothing beats some solid ground beneath your feet~. Stretching her arms, Magali took a few hasty steps before listening better to Sheikah's announcement. "Alright, until evening, then. So they'll let us in if we say we're with Piers?" Magali asked, taking a moment to glance behind her and to the town proper. So this is the capital... still very far away from my hometown, but it's interesting to be back in Sloktan.

[scorri]

Glancing at Sheikah, Taima asked, "Oi, Boss, should one of us try to find someone about those papers we found or will that happen up at the castle? If we need to go do that, I don't mind helping out, otherwise I might go explore the city a bit."

[Nanami Touko]

Melanie hopped off the boat with a resounding "hah!", glad to plant her feet on solid ground after so long. She looked around the dreary port, smile plastered on her face. Whether or not there was people, this was still a new town! With new discoveries to make, and new things to do. But there was something she wanted to do first, something she'd been practicing for! So she wandered slowly over to Celestia, taking in all the new sights of the port. "'Allo~ Celestia, do you 'ave a light tome on you? Somesing basic. I was 'oping zat I could test what I 'ave learned so far, to see eef I can perform ze spell. Not at a level for battle, ben, juste get somesing to 'appen wissout 'urting my eyes again."

Edited May 9, 2016 by Melissa

[Ether]

It was certainly a blessing to be off of the water, after all of that time. Celestia had been stretching her legs a bit on the pier, when Melanie approached her, with a rather... disconcerting proposition.

"Err... are you sure that's the best idea, Melanie? I mean, last time and all... is it really the best to jump right back into it...?" Celestia replied, a little apprehensive. She'd have to double check, but she didn't even think that she had anything below an intermediate tome on her person to begin with...

[Nanami Touko]

"Mayyybeeee... But I 'ave been practicing a lot!" It took her a bit of struggling to say 'practicing', but she managed it! She couldn't let her language fall behind while she was practicing magic. "So I was just 'oping I could try to cast ze spell, even eef juste a little bit. I can do eet around you, so zat zere ees nossing to worry about. Eef I 'ave ze same probleme again, zen I will give eet a rest for a longer while. 'Ow ees zat?" Melanie beamed at the girl, hoping her compromise was a good one!

Edited May 9, 2016 by Melissa

[Ether]

"Well... I wouldn't be able to stop you even if I said no... you'd go find a tome elsewhere and do it alone anyway... but I don't think I have a basic tome right now." Celestia replied, going through her things, and pulling out two separate tomes, though neither were anything that a beginner had any real business touching, even if they weren't the most complicated things in the world.

[Nanami Touko]

"Ah, non, franchement. I would not do zis alone. I would 'ave you and Magali bose worrying about me eef I did somesing like zat. I would wait, goodness." Melanie huffed softly, shaking her head some. Unfortunately for her, Celestia had no basic tome, and her eyes weren't bigger than her stomach, so to speak, on trying something higher than that. "Ben, zen, will you 'elp me find one? Ooohh, maybe Magali 'as one! Magaliiiiiii! 'Alloooooo!" She turned around to call over to her, waving as she did. If she was busy, Melanie could wait, but what was the harm in asking now?

Edited May 9, 2016 by Melissa

[riariadne]

"They know we're coming," Sheikah responded to Magali. "Letters were already exchanged between the Irskans and Sloktanians before we even departed, and more after. Besides, I have a letter with General Dervas's seal. We'll be all set when we arrive there."

Taima raised a point she hadn't thought of, though. "You're right, I completely forgot... if you want to hang onto them and try to find someone, that could be smart, but if not we can just have them checked at the castle instead."

Meanwhile, the crowd not far from them was a bit restless. One of the civilians approached, a seemingly angry man. "You're Angalans, aren't you! Nobody else has wyverns with them. You guys aren't welcome here!" Some of the others jeered.

"No, we're not! We're mercenaries contracted with Irksa," Sheikah protested, not wanting anything to get out of hand. She withdrew the letter she'd spoken of, settling down people somewhat. "Why, what's happened with Angala? Aren't they in a non-aggression pact with Sloktan?"

"The Angalans never really helped us more than they had to! We've had problems ever since the war, and they refused to lend any aid! The only person who even tried was Commander Tyrius, and he couldn't do anything on his own." Once again, the crowd jeered. "We thought you were here from the orders of the new king."

Now that was a surprise. "New king?" Sheikah inquired.

"Guess you wouldn't know," a woman spoke up. "Leonard kicked the bucket... he was so old, it was a matter of time. But the new king is mysterious! Nobody knows much about him other than how aggressive his orders are. That's why he invaded Irska! Anyway, sorry to be a bother, if you aren't even from Angala." The crowd dispersed rather quickly.

"But that doesn't line up..." The wyvern rider was seriously confused. "We didn't hear anything about a new king when we were fighting before. What's going on here?"

[Xinnidy]

"I see, alright, then." Nodding at Sheikah, and taking a step back as a member of the crowd mistook them. Oh dear, people here are on edge over the war... The information given was certainly... interesting. So... this is all the work of a new king? Interesting, I wonder how much people here know. Considering it was public knowledge here, maybe they'd get quite a few of their questions answered.

But that would be left for a later that, as Magali heard a familiar voice calling out to her. "Oh, Melanie." The dancer smiled, crossing her arms beneath her chest. "Hello." She walked towards the girls, "What's the matter, Melanie?"

[scorri]

"Right, well I guess I can take a look around then." And then people started yelling at them. She frowned. "A new king... That doesn't sound right. Does whats his name, Piers?, know about this? If not, we should probably tell him. Maybe ask Sierra? She might know."

[riariadne]

Sierra stood cheerfully amongst the group, looking off into space and holding her cat before Taima mentioned her name. "No, I never heard anything about that! Maybe they just made a mistake and he became king after the meanie Angalans already attacked. Grr, those jerks!"

"Hmm... there are a lot of options. I wonder who the new king even is? Leonard had no siblings and sustained an injury that prevented him from having any children of his own, either. Perhaps someone more versed in Angalan politics would have a better idea of who could be a favorite, but I don't." Sheikah shrugged, unable to decide either way. "Well, I suppose there's not a lot of use wondering in it. I might go around and try to get some information about anything else that's going on... I'll see you all around." Her words said, the boss dismissed herself, heading vaguely towards the middle of the city.

[Nanami Touko]

"Ah, I was wondering eef you 'ad a basic light tome on you? I wanted to give eet a try, after all of ze practicing I 'ave done." She still struggling a bit on the word, but hey, she was getting it! That's what mattered~ "I 'ave read all of ze seory I can get my 'ands on, donc, I feel I should be able to at least cast ze magique, you know? Not as somesing I could use een a fight, ben, juste somesing zat I can cast. Eet will be ze first step!" Melanie was determined! She could totally pull this off, she could even feel it in herself. "I know I can do zis! Juste give me ze chance, Magali, Celestia!"

[Xinnidy]

"Oh? A light magic tome..." Magali tilted her head slightly, "I have a fairly basic light magic tome with me, but it is still used in combat." She pointed out, bringing a finger to her chin. "Well, if you say you have the theory down, then maybe you can use it." She concluded, picking her lightning tome to view. "But how about I supervise you? That way we can be sure you are not putting yourself in risk." Magali recalled the events that happened last time Melanie tried to cast light magic --it was quite a scare, but maybe the drawbacks wouldn't be worse now that she knew better. Edited May 10, 2016 by Xinnidy

[Nanami Touko]

"Vraiment!? Ahaha~ Merci!" Melanie greedily accepted the tome, flipping open the pages and reading over the spell. She was practically shaking with excitement, ready and entirely willing to cast this spell, but-- "Er, of course, you can bose supervize me, ben... Erm, Celestia." She closed the book before her excitement could over take her, turning towards her friend. "You said zat you did not want to lose me, donc, er... While I do not sink zat casting zis ees going to take me away... Eef you sink eet ees too early for me to try again, I will listen to you. Okay?" She looked right up at Celestia, giving her the stare down, book held tightly against her chest.

[Xinnidy]

"Well... if it is any comfort, time is your friend." Magali reassured, as she looked between Celestia and Melanie. It was sure enough that the accident caused some hesitance between them too. "If you think it dangerous, we can take baby steps, I... suppose I can get the barrier staff we left with Calden, later today. It is more of a placebo when it comes to light and dark magic experimenting, but it could help on a successful misfire." At least, it was an idea.

[eclipse]

Peter was quite relieved to be back on dry land. He'd pored over the scrolls whenever he was bored, but he wasn't able to find much about anything. However, certain patterns within the letters struck him as really odd.

"Hey boss, I'm gonna check out the library. Some mercenary way back when had a thing for scrambling books, and said something about 'substitution'. Dunno if it'll help, but it's better than staring at alphabet soup."

Let's see. . .he said something about "letter frequency" as well, but no matter how I cut it, it doesn't make sense. Perhaps I should ask about other types of codes. Hmmm. . .maybe something about having to slip my girl a note without havin' some busybody trying to read it.

[Ether]

"As long as you promise to be careful, then I guess it's okay." Celestia replied with a sigh. As nice as it was to see Melanie enthusiastic, it still felt a bit... soon, for her to be trying this again. But Celestia knew that she wouldn't be able to stop her for very long, even if she acquiesced this time.

[Shin]

All the others seemed caught up with books. Orpheus didn't see the appeal. They were more trouble than they were worth. They shot fire balls, had too many words and nowhere near enough pictures for Orpheus' liking. If they were easier to make sense of he figured that people would have a far better time trying to do magic. He never did quite understand why different types of magic were... well... different, but it sounded like Melanie was going to try something lethal.

The library didn't seem appealing either, it was just full of more things Orpheus couldn't read.

"Yo, Taima, I was thinking of going for a wander, myself. Mighty be an idea to buddy up, wouldn't want to get lost." he called out, walking up to the woman. Hopefully she'd make better company than Diana, maybe even say more than a sentence. "I don't know a things about these kings and politics, not like I've ever met any of them, they've got too many names for me to be remembering them all."

[scorri]

Taima glanced over at Peter and shrugged. "Yeah, sounds like a plan Orpheus. Here Peter, you take the two I had as well, that way you can look over them all not just two of them." Handing over the codes, she walked over to Orpheus and stretched. "Righty then. What were you thinking? Weapon shopping or just some sort of general wandering around?"

[Nanami Touko]

"Really? Heehee, really~!?" Melanie lit up so quickly, if she knew how to cast anima magic, you could've sworn she'd have set on fire. She didn't hesitate, opening the tome and facing away from the girls, flipping through the pages to get the words down. "Ben, 'ere we go...~" Concentrate... Melanie had done the studying and read the theories, now it was just about putting the magic into practice. She closed her eyes, focusing, before... Fwish! A small flash of light in front of her, not enough to burn or even hurt anyone, but! She'd cracked her eyes open as the spell went off, and she saw it flash, freezing and staring at where it had gone off, jaw dropped. Weak or not, she'd done it. "I... I..." Speechless was apt.

[Grace]

Diana stretched a bit as she and the others got off the boat. Aside from that one incident, things seemed pretty uneventful. Noticing the discussions around, Diana pondered her options. No sooner did she start thinking when a flash of light came from Melanie's direction. Melanie had been talking about trying light magic, and it looked she had done it.

Diana walked over to the group of three with a small smile on her face. "Well... it looks like you've done it. Congratulations Melanie. I'm impressed, honestly." Diana said. "How have you all been holding up anyway? I've been a bit in my own world recently, and for that I am sorry..."

[Xinnidy]

"Oh, right now...?" Magali almost lost her breath as Melanie flipped the pages and started chanting so soon. The young mage sure had a lot of passion for magic, but Magali was scared she'd harm herself with the sudden decision, without even a chance to prepare first.

After a tense moment of silence (from Magali's end), Magali observed the faint light glow wary, only to harmlessly disappear, leaving a very happy Melanie from its result. "Oh, goodness. You did it." An exasperated sigh escaped Magali, and gave way to a more welcoming smile. "That was pretty good~. You've been taking this seriously, hm?" With a cheerful tone, Magali ruffled Melanie's hair. "As long as you can keep this pace, you'll end up being able to cast light magic before the end of the year, no doubt~."

Diana's presence came as a surprise, though definitely not unwelcome. "Oh, Diana? I've been doing well myself. I can say it's a relief to be out of the ship, but I hope I can find some shade soon. My skin doesn't find this sun very agreeable." A soft giggle followed the end of the statement. "It's... interesting to be back in Sloktan, though I've never been to this side of the country." In fact, it was only an early childhood memory, but it still mean something to Magali.