Fails of Vesperia: The Menace of Ehmead Hill
The creature that loomed over Yuri resembled an ugly weasel with a serious hormonal problem. It appeared to be in its own natural habitat, living in the woods at least a few miles from the nearest town. It was most likely hunting through the woods of Ehmead Hill, and was drawn to the carrying sound of three arguing teenagers and a whiny child crashing through the brush. It snorted and let out a roar of frustration; it had not come all this way just to find a few lost humans scaring away all the possible prey.
"Whoa!" exclaimed Karol and, showing his unusually keen knowledge of knowing the precise names of his query, he added, "It's a monster!"
"Looks pretty big too", agreed Yuri, using that low, collected voice he had read would work so well on the ladies. "If it leaves the woods and suddenly decides to attack a village, it would, like, run smack into a barrier." (not actual text, by the way). The others all agreed, but were worried that the village might still not be safe. Yuri, sensing this, continued "How will the villagers be able to sleep knowing that THAT thing is out here?"
The villagers, in fact, were completely unaware that such a creature existed. The most recent time a monster was found within the perimeter of the town was eight years ago, when old man Minkle found a spider in his shoe.
Nevertheless, Yuri and the others knew they had no choice but to slaughter the abomination. (Cue dramatic but repetitive battle music)
Yuri charged headfirst into battle, followed by Repede. Repede was supposed to be the quickest, but had lost a lot of stamina ever since he began smoking. Karol followed Repede, charging at top speed and tripping on his over-size man-bag. What with all his maps, oversize weapons, effects, and outfits stuffed into his bag, it was quite an impressive feat for him to be moving at all. Estelle was located at the rear of the party, in keeping with Yuri's strategy. By keeping her distance from the enemies, Estelle would be able to heal her friends without risking her own injury. Unfortunately, it appeared she had lost this page of her strategy instructions, because she decided to charge straight into battle and attack. Rita, meanwhile, was nowhere to be seen.
Yuri fired a shockwave of Azure Edge at the weasel, delivering the first damage points to the monster. But victory was still far from won. The weasel spun, bit, slashed, and clawed, until the three brave adventurers and Karol were critically wounded. Seeing the party in such bad shape moved Estelle into action. "First Aid!" she cried, thereby removing some of the damages she had received. "This is bad…" muttered Yuri, as he dropped to only a few hit points. Repede whined in agreement, privately wishing that he was back at his old master's place, smoking a pipe. "First Aid!" Estelle repeated, and the last of her few scratches faded away…
To be continued