{ === + === }
…
[Steiger City, Night of Allied Force Retreat, 3rd Person Camera]
…
Nino had become separated from the rest of her forces earlier in the day, and she cursed herself for having missed her rendezvous with the main force before they had to pull out.
As thing stand, she was stranded in the enemy city with no way to break out.
Nino mentally tallies her current situation. The city garrison's on high alert, but they're not running patrols…however, the city's populace are in a high state of alertness, so if I behave oddly they will likely send the garrison after me.
She sighs. "If the safest place to be is the slums, then I'm going to be in trouble…"
She then saw a dashing young man beckon to her from around a corner. Realizing that he was motioning for her to join him and slightly making a mockery of her initial distrust of shady people in shadier places, she decided to follow after him.
He led her into a rundown, empty tavern.
"You came here with the attacking force, right?" The young man asks her with a wry smile. "It's a little late for a pretty lass like yourself to be running about."
Nino was ready to kick ass and take names, and her hands glowed with the telltale crackle of an Arcthunder.
"Whoa! Relax." The young man raises his hands up in surrender. "I'm not your enemy."
You're impressively creepy. Nino responds in her head and doesn't drop her guard.
"Good job, Inigo." Another young man with spiky hair and a yellow Swordmaster outfit claps his hands. "This is the first time you've made a girl your enemy right after opening your mouth."
"Shut it, Owain." Inigo sulks. "We just got off on the wrong foot."
Owain makes a sweeping motion, as if to say 'look at this place.'
Inigo blushes. "Alright, yeah, maybe bringing her to an abandoned inn wasn't the best idea."
"Let me stop my partner from embarrassing himself further." Owain bows apologetically to Nino. "You're with the Shepherds, right?"
"Phoenix…but otherwise, yes." Nino drops her guard a fraction.
"Phoenix?" Inigo muses. "Never heard of it."
"The immortal god-bird that rise from the ashes!" Owain…er, does his thing. "Sounds like something our boss would do, alright."
"It's something you would do." Inigo mutters. "But…I do admit it sounds like a sub-unit only our boss would create."
"You two know Ash?" Nino asks.
"Maybe we do, maybe we don't." Owain says mysteriously. "Who's asking?"
"Yes we do." Inigo cuts over her overly dramatic friend. "I assume you need our help, miss…"
"Nino."
Inigo puts his hands over his heart. "Such a pure, lovely name!"
Nino was no stranger. "Enough. What can the two of you tell me about the city?"
Owain ignores Inigo deflating. "After that last battle, they're suitably on edge. Sneaking out of the city would be impossible, even for someone with my considerable talents."
"Your best chances of escape would involve waiting for a better opportunity." Inigo says diplomatically. "I know this place doesn't look like much, but the two of us use it as our base of operations in Valm. Please rest assured that you will be safe here."
He then caught the doubtful look Nino shot him.
"I swear that I am not that depraved." Inigo sighs. "My word, does everyone doubt me?"
"If you dropped your skirt chasing habits, we wouldn't." Owain says under his breath.
…
[Current Time, 1st Person Camera]
…
We're heading back to Steiger City to intercept the incoming Risen Manaketes.
Our party consists of: Say'ri, Tiki, Henry, Nah, Hawk, Morgan.
That's actually a full party.
Plus us.
It's a full party with an escorted NPC.
A very skewed party, sure…what, Say'ri's the frontliner, I'm the backliner, and everyone else deal damage? Not a healer in sight.
Pretty sure Hawk can heal.
That's not really the point right now though.
So what's the point right now?
The point right now is that I wish the wagon we're riding has suspension.
"You're not hitting every rock on our way, are ya?" Hawk asks as our asses become separated from the wagon's seating for the millionth time. "Drive better, Henry."
"The horsie likes a path with ups and downs!" Henry laughs. "I'm just telling it to keep itself on the road!"
"Well tell it to keep its path better!" Say'ri rubs her behind. "This wagon's going to end us before we reach the Risen."
I'm regretting not equipping my weapons and having it carried in the carriage right now, because I'm pretty sure putting on like an extra sixty pounds will definitely glue my ass to the ow bench.
Or just make it hurt more.
Yeah, I guess.
…
After about, oh, an hour of suffering (where Henry mercifully drove slower) we arrive at a safe enough place to stop and observe.
"Never again." Hawk mutters and hops down the wagon.
"Hey! It wasn't that bad." Henry complains after having had the gall to tie himself down to the wagon to avoid bouncing. "It's better than having to run here the whole way."
God I hate his boundless optimism.
"Now that we're here…" Nah valiantly tries to get our minds back on track. "Where are the Risen?"
Actually I'm not sure if she's trying to rerail us or if she's just bloodthirsty, but we're a bit more focused now, so whatever works.
We all just stand around and look around. Y'know, masterful scouting.
"If they're not around here, then we'll just swing right by and go after Chrom instead." I shrug. "If the city's not in danger then they can reinforce themselves in a few weeks."
Hawk glares at me. "You bombed their granaries."
…Oh yeah.
"Ok, fair point. They'll scatter and then reinforce themselves in a few weeks." I do my headscratching. "Nah, can you go up?"
"Yep." Nah starts her engines and zooms into the air. She stays up for about five seconds before coming back down. "Risen detachment to our northwest. One Dragon sighted."
…well, I suppose it's faster than calling it a Risen Manakete.
"See? I knew what I was doing." Henry grins and grabs his tome.
I just realized that half of the current party has mental health quirks.
Half counting Tiki or us?
Uh…yes.
…
Anyways, after a short, brisk walk, we stealthily app
Ahahaha that's bullshit
We saw the group of ten or so Risen (Myrimdons and Sorcerers) plus one Risen Manakete wandering in the general direction of the city. We saw them, and then Hawk and Tiki immediately engaged despite being outside their maximum range.
Points to Hawk: his Thoron actually hit a target, though it didn't seem to do any damage.
"The hell's wrong with you two?!" I managed to ask before shifting gears. "Nah! Support them!"
"Right!"
…
Fun fact: the two of them didn't actually need support. Hawk wiped the little guys with his absurdly powerful Thorons. Tiki transformed into her dragon form and cut the Risen Manakete in half.
"I'm glad that's taken care of…though I imagined the threat to be bigger." Say'ri commented.
She then went on to address Hawk. "I'm surprised that someone as unassuming as you would be as powerful as the Speaker."
"Hey, I'm not as powerful as she is. I just got the little guys." Hawk had replied very nonchalantly.
…but it still is a valid point. Sure, he wasn't engaging the Manakete, but he did sweep the smaller enemies with (next to) zero effort on his part.
To be fair, that's not saying much. With our current loadout and experience we would've swept them, too.
It would've taken us longer. Slightly longer, but longer.
"Regardless, we got this batch of Risen." I look to Tiki. "Do we have any more we need to worry about?"
Tiki just shrugs. "Maybe."
…and now I'm coming to the realization that a third of our party undergoes dramatic moodswings. Or whatever it is that Tiki's afflicted with.
Either way, Tiki isn't psychic and all-seeing, and I shouldn't act as if she's psychic and all seeing. "Ok then, we'll slowly swing up north and take out any Risen groups that we find."
…
So we do.
…
Like, it was a series of random encounters with bands of Risen, and the bands are almost all a batch of prepromotes, a promoted unit, and then the itself.
Tiki or Nah would take turns stomping on the while the rest of us stomped out the rest.
Y'know, standard.
…
…
We killed the Risen in a wide circle far from the city's walls, and eventually we ended up north of the city.
I feel like it would've been far more theatrically appropriate if we showed up in the middle of a large scale battle instead of eliminating small pockets of enemies before they could congregate.
True, but then it would just be a revisit of the Steiger City siege.
Yeah…also wishing for a more climatic battle at the cost of a few hundred lives is a little mean.
"Did anybody else notice how they were all protecting the blob dragons?" Henry points out as we finish up killing the latest group of Risen.
Hmm. "No? I don't think we left any of them alive long enough to make that observation."
"Sorry about that." Hawk says without missing a beat or any semblance of shame.
"But you do agree, right, princess?" Henry asks Tiki, who just yawns.
I hope she doesn't fall asleep while we rendezvous with the main cast.
"They didn't do too good of a job if they were." Tiki replies sleepily. "Are there any more? I'm tired."
I wonder if her exhaustion is her…whatever is affecting her, acting up.
Judging by Say'ri's aside glance aimed at me she thinks the same.
I take a deep breath and call out into the sky. "Nah, you see anything?"
"It doesn't look like we have any other targets within range." Nah calls from her perch above the treetops. "Picture is clear, as they say."
Hah.
The only one who use that term around here is me. "Alright, good work." I then address everyone else. "We should move to reinforce Chrom and the others, then."
Aren't we forgetting someone?
Nino…should be ok. If our team of five goes for the rescue, the forces still concentrated at Steiger City will overwhelm us.
It's not like you're fighting the entire army by yourselves.
True…but Steiger's on a heightened sense of security, and probably will stay that way once the local populace starts rioting due to food shortages. Nino's smart enough to keep her head down, and if she runs into someone not-friendly she's smart enough to make that someone not-alive while attracting not-attention.
What would not-attention be, anyways?
I dunno. Facebook Likes? Point being, Nino's safer right now without our interference…and besides, in a worst case scenario losing the Shepherds is a bigger deal.
…
So we leave and head north.
…
[3rd Person Camera]
…
The Shepherds had busied themselves with defending the village against the Risen threat, with Nowi legitimately transforming for the first time.
Reactions ranged from "So that's why she was so powerful" to "Holy fucking shit the little kid is actually a dragon".
While the villagers were grateful that the threat to their village was summarily removed, the fact remained that the Shepherds were an opposing force…and one of the villagers had asked for reinforcements.
Ergo, the town's original garrison showed up with an extra army, and numbered around 400 men.
Robin, not wanting to engage with an army that can call bigger armies, wisely escaped from the village while relations were still good.
…
As such, the Shepherds were currently hiding somewhere in Valm's woodlands while steadily moving southwest.
"Chrom." Robin gets the brooding lord's attention. "What's on your mind?"
Chrom shows her a small, bright gem in his hand. "These…Risen abominations." He sighs.
Robin nods. "The sooner we finish this war, the better; I imagine Ylisse's going to have bigger troubles than we are if more of these things show up."
"If they are as powerful as Nowi when she is transformed…then our knights will have a tough fight ahead of them." Fredrick agrees, looking a little…
Robin frowns. "Are you burnt, Fredrick?"
Fredrcik scratches his face nervously. "I may have strayed too close to the fire."
Robin looks a bit confused, until the source of the fire (one winged Nowi) zipped over their heads. She glances at Nowi and then grins at Fredrick. "So how did that go?"
Fredrick sighs as Nowi lands on his shield (and then slips and falls off). "Complete defeat. I cannot fathom the amount of force required to defeat a Manakete."
"Good thing the Risen one is squishier than I am!" Nowi pinches her own face. "They're not even Manaketes either. Boo."
That got Robin's attention. "What do you mean?"
Nowi dusts herself off. "I dunno."
"You don't…what?" Robin scowls.
"They're more like…power?" Nowi fiddles with her hair. "It's like someone gathered up a lot of blood and gave it a stone, and then poof." She spreads her arms for effect. "It's a mass of big bad thing."
Robin frowns. "Can you be more specific?"
"To be honest, I really don't know." Nowi switches out of her playful child personality. "There are too many weird things going on. I don't even know if the one we fought is the same type Ash's worried about."
Not the same type… Robin looks around for… "Hey! Yarne! Come here for a bit!"
…
"I can tell you it wasn't the same type I fought." Yarne summarizes. "It wasn't solid enough and it definitely wasn't smart enough to even be your normal Risen."
Robin had trouble believing that. "A normal Risen is smart?"
"Well…smart enough to know how to attack." Yarne nods. "That one just let Lady Nowi beat on it."
"Yep!" Nowi flashes a Victory sign. "It was easy, too."
"How many different types of Risen are there?" Chrom asks. "It seems like we're meeting a new group every other day."
"I imagine the groups aren't too familiar with each other." Robin sighs. "More to the point, if the Risen are going to get progressively stronger as time passes, then it's in our best interest to win this war as quickly as we can."
"What do we do about the Risen?" Chrom asks next. "How do we tackle the Risen threat after we're done with Valm?"
Robin just frowns at him. "You've talked with Tiki about this, right?"
Chrom returns a blank (and somewhat sheepish) stare.
Robin pats the lord on the shoulder. "When you get the chance, do so."
"Sounds like you haven't talked to her about this either." Chrom observes after hearing the distinct lack of advice.
Robin doesn't dignify Chrom's truthful observation with a response.
She's banking on Ash handling that problem for the foreseeable future.
A fluttering of wings tells them that Sumia has returned from her scouting trip.
"Chrom…and Lady Robin." Sumia gives a salute. "There's a Valm camp northwest of here, and a Risen force south of here…the Risen is closer to us, but they're moving away."
"Ok." Robin consults a map given to her by a villager and traces her finger on one of the little roads on it. "We'll follow this path southwest and then swing westwards here." She jabs the map. "That should both let us get away and lead our chasers away from the Risen group."
"We can't attack them?" Chrom wasn't too happy about leaving vapor zombies roaming freely.
Robin shakes her head. "We're already choked for time."
"Damn." Chrom sighs. "Alright, we're moving out."
…
[1st Person Camera]
…
So…we…
For the record we should never be allowed to go anywhere unsupervised because this is incredibly stupid
We head north of Steiger while picking a direction somewhat at random because we might end up running into Chrom. Like holy shit I know I've taken actions without plans but this is probably the dumbest thing we ever did.
And it works.
We ran into a village that was apparently saved by a group of 'enemies'. Said 'enemies' contained, in no particular order: A girl with dragon wings, a girl possessed by a demon, a shirtless man, sexy dark mage lady, and Chrom.
Wait, how did they know about
Chrom introduced himself. I'm sure Fredrick had a heart attack at that point.
So the following things happened when we visited the village.
Say'ri almost got us into a fight with the local garrison.
Tiki got us out of the fight with the local garrison. She had to remain neutral, but ended up punching the garrison captain through two houses and a wall. I paid for a Recover Staff.
We found out where Chrom was headed to.
We also found out that the army sent to siege my town isn't Cervante's, as Tiki recognized some of the garrison troops as crack troops belonging to said Cervantes. Said crack troops were frequent visitors to the Naga Tree and were instrumental in stopping us from getting in a fight with the rest of the troops.
"I was wrong." Tiki had said simply when I asked her about this. "I saw a large Armored Knight with gleaming red armor before I left."
Hmm. That's…well, alright, I guess. If Cervantes was at my city, then it would've meant that Yen'fay would've been around here, which would've made my life infinitely easier.
That being said, I did leave backup plans in the form of Ninya, so it should be fine…well, it will be fine. They're smart, and our city has stocks upon stocks of guns.
However, just to be sure, I gave Morgan orders to return to the city and assist with the defense and recruiting of Yen'fay. Suffice to say he wasn't too happy about being given a reassignment out of the blue like that.
Morgan's agreement came with the caveat of "I expect my mother home safe and sound by the time this is over."
…
"Why did you want to see my brother?" Say'ri asked (a bit vehemently) when we left the village. "What could he offer you?"
"I want him to stand the fuck down." I reply (a bit vehemently as well). "He…ok, reveal time."
Say'ri is confused.
"Yen'fay is in the Valmese army to keep you alive." I do a double-hand-index-finger-point thing at Say'ri for emphasis.
Say'ri looks momentarily lost for words. "That's absurd." She finally says in serious disbelief.
Welp. "What was the first thing you did when Chon'sin was taken over?" I ask her.
"I organized a rebelling force and struck back at the invaders." Say'ri replied proudly. "We almost succeeded, too."
"Suceeded doing what, taking over a castle?" I frown.
"Valm was slow on their retaliation." Say'ri nods. "We could've secured the entire capital had my brother not turned on us."
Well. "Did you ever think about why Valm was slow?"
…Judging by the silence, that's a no.
"I imagine Yen'fay switched sides because it would be easier to keep track of Valm's movements as their General." I say. "Think of how quickly you would've died if Valm spent far more manpower taking you down than they did."
Say'ri is…stubborn. "Until I hear it from his mouth, I do not believe you."
I think that's about the best I can expect. "Fair enough. For the time being, worry about Cervantes. He's the one closer, after all."
…
So, about where the Shepherds are going.
Apparently they're going to visit a shrine to the southwest of the Chapter…20, 21? Whichever one was the front gate of Valm. As for why, I can't tell. I'll have to ask when we get there.
So what equipment are we using? We haven't been shown fighting yet.
Er…yeah, about that.
So what did you bring to the party?
I have a Steel Sword, my airman's rifle, and my spellbook. These are my default weapons. I wish I could say "I have all this cool prototype gear that I made off-camera" but, y'know, I spent my month either flying raids or passed out on a mattress, so not much development happened. What optional equipment I did bring are just straight upgrades to what I already had.
For example, my jet shoes are upgraded with efficient thrusters. I can now skate faster.
The Thor anti-ground cannon (which I technically wasn't supposed to take but hey I'm the boss I make the rules) got a straight upgrade into what I'm calling the Ragnarok anti-ground cannon. Bigger bang, bigger boom, bigger accuracy dropoff if I try to fire it while moving.
It's also water cooled, which is nifty.
I also have a remade Chain Greatsword. The smiths broke the weapon down to its core functionality and rebuilt it from the ground up with metalsmithing expertise I did not have…and combined it with the knowledge I did have.
End result: a two-meter long behemoth of a sword that spins fast enough to cut through solid stone forever.
Caveat?
Maintenance is a bitch. I'm familiar enough with the weapon to strip it down and piece it back together in twenty minutes, but the parts for it…I need to carry a bag of parts like the last chainsword, but since the weapon is larger I need to carry more parts. Thus, carrying enough parts to service the weapon for any long-term engagement becomes impossible.
…Which means I can only use this awesome murderweapon on targets that I cannot subdue by other means.
It's not that big of a deal, since I now have a lot more ways of causing murder and/or paralysis at my disposal. It's still annoying, though.
So what spells are we packing?
All of them.
…I should take a second to explain how we keep doing the 'tap pocket spellbook' thingy. I don't remember if I actually covered this or not, but currently we use pocket spellbooks that have basic spell circles inscribed into them to act as a fast holder for our spells. We then load said spellbook with loose leaf spell paper, and those spell paper carry the other spell circles, and then we can use them as necessary.
This does mean that I'm carrying around stacks of loose-leaf paper like a goddamn college student. A college student with the ability to bend minds to his will.
…
Where were we?
Plot.
Oh, right.
…
Following after Chrom's footsteps took us the better part of two days. Our progress was constantly hampered by Valmese patrols everywhere. The occasional Risen showed up as well, but more often than not Valmese regulars will get to them first. I'm sorry to admit that we have launched surprise attacks against those Valmese troops when they were tired from taking out Risen, but at the end of the day we have places to go, people to meet.
Why haven't we met them yet?
I imagine it's because Chrom gets first dibs? The Shepherds kick ass and leave, and Valm sends in forces after the fact. We then get caught by said forces and have to tread carefully or be overwhelmed.
…not having Robin's foresight in our party hurts us too, I guess.
…
[3rd Day of Following]
…
Aaaaaa this is boring. And painful. But mostly just boring.
"Yet another roundabout path." Say'ri very helpfully mutters to the map in her hands. "At this rate, we'll never catch up to them."
"I really thought they would just stay still for a little bit." I place a mat down next to her and crash. "Though I guess the fact that they're so active is a good thing."
"Perhaps you're giving the Risen too much credit." Say'ri mutters. "Where do we go next?"
"We go south." Hawk hops down from his viewing tree. "Guess why."
Say'ri just sighs. "Very well."
I tap my radio. "Nah, is there anything south of us?"
"South? Uh…"
Nah spends some time trying to find out where South is compared to her current facing.
"There's a village." Nah reports back. "It doesn't seem to be particularly big."
Ok then.
"It also seems to be under attack."
…fuck.
"Should we interfere?" Nah sounds very unsure of her question.
I'm not making this call, because I know what call I'll make. "Say'ri?"
Her response was a snappy "Yes."
Ok then, detour time. "Hawk!"
"Yep." He grins and unfolds the map. "Our job is to lead our pursuers into the village so they can join the battle against whatever hostile elements are inside it, right?" He traces his finger on the map. "Going here would be the best idea."
I tap my radio again. "Nah, can you tell what the village is being attacked by?"
"Unknown." She replies. "But given how close we are to Valm's core territory, the likelihood of it being a rogue Valmese army is low."
"She's talking more and more like you." Hawk remarks. "Is it a curse?"
Eyeroll. "Shush. Let's get a move on before our window closes. Nah, come down and rest…and good work out there."
…
We follow a slightly circuitous path southwest of our current position (while keeping close to the treelines, because why the hell not). We also make sure to keep our pace steady so our chasers can gain on us…before finally increasing speed to aim directly at the village again.
It's a small place, maybe a few hundred residents, tops.
It's also on fire.
Again, why is everything touched by Risen on fire?
Hawk peers into the village as we circle the outer edges of its farmlands. "I see Revenants and a few Heroes. Do we just dance out here?"
"I would love to be able to." I reply. "But given the circumstances…you're cleared to engage, but don't get dragged in."
…of course, Say'ri already charged towards the village even while I spoke, so it's not like I had any authority.
She really embraces that 'hero of the people' thing, huh?
Why is Tiki not charging?
She's…unstable, apparently, and is thus napping in the back of our wagon for the moment.
"Don't lose her lordship." Hawk grins at me and follows after Say'ri.
Henry and Nah follow after him, and they engage in the village beyond my line of sight.
I get to drive the wagon to the western edge of the village without being sighted…and of course I've already failed because fucking Risen Snipers. WELL THEN
We unhook our rifle, enchant the horses, and then take aim at the snipers. Wait.
I'm enchanting the horses to protect their ears. This prevents them from panicking when I fire the Ragnarok without having to move too far from the wagon.
…
Three shots later, we have Risen tree paste instead of snipers.
And it is good.
…
"Good mornin'." Tiki yawns after another five minutes of bumpy driving. "Where did everybody go?"
I point to the village that's almost burned to the ground. "There."
She just…kind of stares blankly. "Oh."
And not for the first time, I wish I knew what's up with her mental state. I know she sleeps a lot and is mentally out of it like 99% of the time. The rest of the time she's as sharp as anyone else and is pretty pleasant company.
…And now she's using my back as a lean-to. Wonderful. "You feeling ok?"
She makes a noise and sighs sleepily.
Well, I mean…I reached my rendezvous point, so I have nothing to do.
And thus we cuddle with Tiki and a blanket, because obviously why not.
Because in about five seconds she's going to arrest my arm and choke the hell out of aaand there she goes. My right arm is now stolen and is in her tight clutches.
So we pet her head with our left hand.
"Why do you feel so calm?" Tiki mutters sleepily. "And it's so warm."
…
This would be a hundred times cuter if she wasn't…y'know.
…
Something's coming this way.
…
Tiki
Tiki please let go of my arm
I can't stop us from being killed if you're squeezing it
Ok ow you're squeezing it harder
Fuck
Also my arm is between your breasts so if you could
Not squeeze it harder
Or squeeze it harder
I don't know
My arm has lost all feeling
Also there is something coming this way
TIKI
Y'know if you moved your hand you could reach down and-
Train of thought not good
But you COULD-
DERAIL THAT TRAIN GODDAMMIT
FOCUS
FOCUS ON THE THINGS COMING FROM THE LEFT THAT MAY OR MAY NOT BE HOSTILE
ALSO I CAN'T REALLY AIM WITH MY LEFT ARM
SHIT
Why are you yelling in your head?
BECAUSE TIKI IS SOFT AND IT IS IMMENSELY DISTRACTING TO MY ABILITIES OF CONCENTRATION AND NOT DEATH
So I guess this means you can't cast a spell in your current state?
NOT WHEN THE SPELLBOOK IS INACCESSIBLE DUE TO TIKI BEING IN THE WAY
SHIT
SHIT
…
[3rd Person Camera]
…
A single Valmese Cavalier shot out from the trees and landed in front of the wagon.
The rider and Ash shared a moment of confused staring before the Cavalier suddenly pulled his horse away from the wagon and rode off at a full gallop.
Ash grits his teeth. "That was definitely a scout." He then brings his airman rifle to bear and fire at the scout, missing his mark by about five miles and two days. His left arm aim is literally shit.
"Well, I had my hopes." Ash sighs and awkward reaches his left arm over Tiki's head to tap the radio in his right ear. "Ash to squad, they scouted us. We need to get out, now."
"You couldn't stop him?" Nah asks in disbelief.
"Tiki's acting up again."
"Oh."
…
[1st Person Camera]
…
It's been two days and this has happened often enough that Nah isn't even phased by it anymore.
The first time it happened Nah turned bright red, immediately got the wrong idea, and tried to give the two of us 'some privacy' by trying to hop off of the moving wagon…that she was tied down to.
Anyways, I pull on the reins and get our wagon horses to move as the advance team retreat from the…ok why are there Risen chasing them?
"What the hell did you do?!" I yell into the radio.
"They're really persistent ok!?" Nah yells back, sounding embarrassed. "Mine was the only weapon that worked on them!"
...she's implying that there are Type 3 Risen mixed up in there? "Stop them from chasing us! We need to leave!"
Nah doesn't respond, but instead veer off to the closest patch of trees she can find.
…
[3rd Person Camera]
…
Nah unhooks the vaguely claw like equipment from her belt and wear them on her arms like gauntlets.
She then scans the ground for the biggest tree she can find. Upon seeing her target (one a little over 30 feet tall) She flies down and sinks her mechanical claws into its massive trunk.
With a mighty roar uncharacteristic of her little girl body, Nah uproots the entire thirty feet high tree with her bear hands and holds it up like a massive club.
Unfortunately, the weight of the massive tree made it impossible for her to keep flying without transforming, and thus Nah semi-crash-lands on the ground to intercept the Risen charging towards the retreating friendly units.
Nah, not having the physical size to handle the tree like a weapon, opted instead to spin her entire body while levelling the tree so that it is parallel to the ground. With the momentum granted by her spinning the Entire Fucking Tree™ she slams it into the Risen line and sends them all flying.
Nah then continued to rotate for a few circles, as she couldn't quite arrest the movement (and she was far too nice to just throw the WarTree like a baseball batter after making a hit). After she had finished her spinning, she noticed a Valmese squad of cavaliers charging towards the wagon.
Thus, she did the appropriately ladylike thing and threw the three like a javelin at the cavaliers. Said cavaliers were suitably shocked when a slightly smoking tree impaled itself into the ground in front of them, terrifying their horses and utterly breaking their charge. The cavalier captain then thinks he saw a little girl in a cute red dress zip over their heads and heard what sounded like an apology, and then resolved to never drink again.
…
[1st Person Camera]
…
Nah has returned to the wagon.
Holy shit.
Holy shit.
"Nah, come here."
She looks at me in confusion, but obliges.
So of course we give her the biggest hug.
She goes "kya!" with surprise, because I'm not a spontaneous hugger.
I'm all grins. "Holy shit that was INSANE! What was that?!"
Nah, unable to untangle herself from my hug of nerd-induced jubilation, just sputters and squirms a little.
Say'ri watches the two of us with a raised eyebrow. "How did you expect her to answer when she's like that?"
Eventually I let go.
Eventually.
Super blushy Nah regains her composure after taking quite a few deep breathes. I imagine being with Cynthia would've made her hug-immune, but apparently not.
She takes the claws off of her waist and lays them on the wagon's floor.
So we pick them up and examine them at length.
I don't think I ever got a good look at these when I first went over Nah's equipment. Judging from the design…these are extenders of some kind?
"These gauntlets are designed to increase my grip area, because…well." Nah explains and opens/closes her hands multiple times for emphasis.
Her hands are tiny and cute.
They also pack the strength to hurl several tons of destructive wood at the face of those who oppose her.
So basically the gauntlets just let her utilize that strength to greater effect. Nifty. Super nifty. This also means that super me trained Nah (on some level) to pull trees and use them as weapons.
...
Our joy at finding Nah's talent at woodworking was quickly replaced by the gloomy reality called "we're still being chased."
So we spent yet another day moving quickly to avoid detection. Y'know, for a reinforcement effort this is a really badly done one…but in any case, we reach a town on the outskirts of what Say'ri informs me is the border of Chon'sin. I see no demarcation lines, so I'll take her word for it.
So why is this village important?
This village is important because we are currently standing in what looks like a (low key) festival of some kind.
If you're looking for a narrative tone, the tone here should be 'annoyed'.
Yes.
Because standing in front of us and looking very confused, is Robin.
In a flowery purple kimono.
Eating a roasted squid on a stick.
Or whatever the fuck it's called.
I cannot communicate the sheer ire I'm currently feeling at the fact that she seems to be perfectly ok and of sound mind while we had to travel through the cold and snow just to reach them.
And we had to go uphill both ways.
There was no battle to get to the town (not after our Valmese chasers ended up fighting Risen). We didn't have to sneak, nobody gave two shits about Literally Jesus In a Blanket Tiki or Rebel Warlord Princess Say'ri showing up out of the blue.
And there's just a festival going on for some reason I can't even fathom. It's not-yet-spring in not-quite Japan, what are they celebrating?!
Robin does look good in the Kimono though.
Yes. Where's everybody else?
…
[3rd Person Camera]
…
Robin is supremely confused on why Ash is anywhere near this side of the continent, much less within her direct line of sight.
She stares at him, stares at the spare squid in her other hand, and hesitantly offers it to Ash with a confused "Want one?"
Ash, deeply irritated at the utter lack of dynamic entry, sighs heavily in irritation and takes the squid, as he has no shame and free food is free food.
.
.
.
{ === + === }
Author Notes:
Originally there was a side chapter that I had planned, but I eventually decided that it would make more sense to postpone that particular chapter until I'm done with the primary storyline.
…and yes, Amelia plays a role in that storyline. A non-zero amount of people seem to care for her, which…makes me feel warm and fuzzy, to be honest.
Also, I got Fates (which also contributed to this update being kinda delayed). Respond in a PM if you have an opinion:
The Fates cast felt less engaging than the Awakening cast.
Of the storylines you played, which one did you feel was better written?