Poison Trap
I arrived at the Bed Desert just as the son was setting. When I arrived, I saw a group of Shrine Knights were there making camp. They were being led by Balk, a machinist who was discouraged by the situation in Ivalice, and hoped to make a change by allying himself with the church. He was one of my father's most trusted subordinates, only behind Rofel and Kletian.
"Who goes there?" a Knight demanded, "What business do you have in the desert? The Shrine Knights have important business to accomplish."
"My name is Meliadoul Tingel, daughter of Vormov Tingel. I'm a Class A Shrine Knight, attaining the rank of Divine Knight. I am on my way to the head church in Murond in order to give a report to my father and the High Priest," I told them.
Balk exclaimed, "So it is you! I haven't seen you since the day your father came home and told us that your brother had been killed by Ramza Beoulve."
I glared at him. "I have been out hunting the wicked heretic in order to get my revenge for the death of my brother."
"You may stay with us the night," Balk said, "No sense in you making another camp for yourself. A man should take care of a woman sometimes, no matter how independent she is."
I rolled my eyes. There was no way that I need a man to protect me at all. For Pete's sake, I have been fighting for years. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. But I sat down by the campfire, and began to roast some meat over the fire for dinner.
"Eat as much as you want Mel. After all, you're my guest. Here, have some hot goat's milk, makes you feel really peaceful," Balk stated.
I had the milk and finished my meat. But soon after, I began to feel sleepy. It is common for that to happen with warm milk, but I'd never experienced it so fast before. What in God's name did they add to it that made it so potent? Soon, I fell asleep.
* * *
I woke up shortly after dawn, and wondered what was going on. All of the Shrine Knights were laying mushrooms around, all while holding their noses. There must have been something pretty important happening around there, but I didn't know what it was.
Balk yelled at them, "You better hurry and spread the poison around. I don't want Meliadoul waking up and finding out about it. She's a good warrior, but a little too wrapped up in battling honorably sword to sword. There's no way she'd ever go for something like this."
An Archer stopped right near where I lay. "Is that why you drugged her last night? So she'd sleep later than she usually does?"
"Exactly," Balk replied, "If Meliadoul sleeps through our work, she'll never know we're going to use Mosfungus Poison as a distraction to cover the elimination of Larg and Goltana."
So that's why I felt like there was something else in my milk. But they should have taken into account the time they'd give me the drugs. After all, it wasn't powerful enough to knock me out for eighteen hours. I'd estimate my sleeping time was about half a day.
Suddenly, the Archer dropped a mushroom right in front of me. It exploded, and I inhaled its spores. I began to feel dizzy, like I had a cold. I'd heard of the effects of Mosfungus from my father, he'd told me that it gave you the same feeling that a cold would.
As I began to feel sick, I heard the sound of approaching warriors. A fight began between Balk and the interlopers. One by one the Shrine Knights fell, until even Balk was dead. I would have liked to walk over and see who they were, but I felt too sick.
"He's inhaled too much of it, we'd better get him back to the sick tent. There's no way we can lose him now," a young man said.
A woman answered, "I found a girl laying here, she must have inhaled it too. Help me carry her to the tent as well."
I heard another woman hmph at her comment. "How can we trust her? I mean, we don't know where she comes from. Besides, she's pretty bad off, we can't save her."
"Don't tell me what Allysa and I can and can't do," a man demanded, "You know I'm a miracle worker in the field of medicine."
"I agree, you know it's important for us to help other people," another man stated.
A female voice yelled, "Where is my Ruby Staff? You know I can't heal properly without it. It cost five thousand Gil to get it hand made at the store in Gariland."
I don't really remember who answered that woman. After she yelled at her friends, I was knocked out like a light. As I slept, I dreamt of fighting with Ramza against the demons again.
* * *
I woke in a familiar tent on a familiar bed. Sage and Leon were lounging around the room. Leon was reading a book, as Sage sat down and looked at some jewelry. I noticed she was wearing a glamorous dress. On the second bed, Ramza lay, breathing heavily.
Sage took notice of my wakening. "So, you're finally up Mel. Look at me, now I'm repeating myself. How do you like my new dress, got it in Zeltennia."
"Nice," I whispered, "Am I going to live?"
"You will. Sage and I have the best healing clinic around. There's no one who can top us in the whole country. Besides, Mosfungus is easily treatable if you just know how. But since it is often mistaken for a cold, people don't think to follow the process right," Leon said.
I asked, "How come I heard the name Allysa before I passed out?"
"My real name," Sage admitted, "It's actually Allysa Anderson. Tess's real name is Teresa, and Pete's real name is Peter. We're the only ones with nicknames in the camp."
I decided not to bother them anymore. My head still felt a little funny after the poisoning. So I decided that I would just go back to sleep, and heal a little bit more.
- - - -
Well, a little twist on the battle. I wanted to explain a little bit about how I think that you weren't hurt badly when poisoned, while Balbanes died from the same type. Everyone thought he had a cold, so they tried to treat a cold. It also fits with why Zalbag called for a Chemist to treat Larg, he knew Mosfungus could be treated if you could just diagnose it.
I arrived at the Bed Desert just as the son was setting. When I arrived, I saw a group of Shrine Knights were there making camp. They were being led by Balk, a machinist who was discouraged by the situation in Ivalice, and hoped to make a change by allying himself with the church. He was one of my father's most trusted subordinates, only behind Rofel and Kletian.
"Who goes there?" a Knight demanded, "What business do you have in the desert? The Shrine Knights have important business to accomplish."
"My name is Meliadoul Tingel, daughter of Vormov Tingel. I'm a Class A Shrine Knight, attaining the rank of Divine Knight. I am on my way to the head church in Murond in order to give a report to my father and the High Priest," I told them.
Balk exclaimed, "So it is you! I haven't seen you since the day your father came home and told us that your brother had been killed by Ramza Beoulve."
I glared at him. "I have been out hunting the wicked heretic in order to get my revenge for the death of my brother."
"You may stay with us the night," Balk said, "No sense in you making another camp for yourself. A man should take care of a woman sometimes, no matter how independent she is."
I rolled my eyes. There was no way that I need a man to protect me at all. For Pete's sake, I have been fighting for years. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. But I sat down by the campfire, and began to roast some meat over the fire for dinner.
"Eat as much as you want Mel. After all, you're my guest. Here, have some hot goat's milk, makes you feel really peaceful," Balk stated.
I had the milk and finished my meat. But soon after, I began to feel sleepy. It is common for that to happen with warm milk, but I'd never experienced it so fast before. What in God's name did they add to it that made it so potent? Soon, I fell asleep.
* * *
I woke up shortly after dawn, and wondered what was going on. All of the Shrine Knights were laying mushrooms around, all while holding their noses. There must have been something pretty important happening around there, but I didn't know what it was.
Balk yelled at them, "You better hurry and spread the poison around. I don't want Meliadoul waking up and finding out about it. She's a good warrior, but a little too wrapped up in battling honorably sword to sword. There's no way she'd ever go for something like this."
An Archer stopped right near where I lay. "Is that why you drugged her last night? So she'd sleep later than she usually does?"
"Exactly," Balk replied, "If Meliadoul sleeps through our work, she'll never know we're going to use Mosfungus Poison as a distraction to cover the elimination of Larg and Goltana."
So that's why I felt like there was something else in my milk. But they should have taken into account the time they'd give me the drugs. After all, it wasn't powerful enough to knock me out for eighteen hours. I'd estimate my sleeping time was about half a day.
Suddenly, the Archer dropped a mushroom right in front of me. It exploded, and I inhaled its spores. I began to feel dizzy, like I had a cold. I'd heard of the effects of Mosfungus from my father, he'd told me that it gave you the same feeling that a cold would.
As I began to feel sick, I heard the sound of approaching warriors. A fight began between Balk and the interlopers. One by one the Shrine Knights fell, until even Balk was dead. I would have liked to walk over and see who they were, but I felt too sick.
"He's inhaled too much of it, we'd better get him back to the sick tent. There's no way we can lose him now," a young man said.
A woman answered, "I found a girl laying here, she must have inhaled it too. Help me carry her to the tent as well."
I heard another woman hmph at her comment. "How can we trust her? I mean, we don't know where she comes from. Besides, she's pretty bad off, we can't save her."
"Don't tell me what Allysa and I can and can't do," a man demanded, "You know I'm a miracle worker in the field of medicine."
"I agree, you know it's important for us to help other people," another man stated.
A female voice yelled, "Where is my Ruby Staff? You know I can't heal properly without it. It cost five thousand Gil to get it hand made at the store in Gariland."
I don't really remember who answered that woman. After she yelled at her friends, I was knocked out like a light. As I slept, I dreamt of fighting with Ramza against the demons again.
* * *
I woke in a familiar tent on a familiar bed. Sage and Leon were lounging around the room. Leon was reading a book, as Sage sat down and looked at some jewelry. I noticed she was wearing a glamorous dress. On the second bed, Ramza lay, breathing heavily.
Sage took notice of my wakening. "So, you're finally up Mel. Look at me, now I'm repeating myself. How do you like my new dress, got it in Zeltennia."
"Nice," I whispered, "Am I going to live?"
"You will. Sage and I have the best healing clinic around. There's no one who can top us in the whole country. Besides, Mosfungus is easily treatable if you just know how. But since it is often mistaken for a cold, people don't think to follow the process right," Leon said.
I asked, "How come I heard the name Allysa before I passed out?"
"My real name," Sage admitted, "It's actually Allysa Anderson. Tess's real name is Teresa, and Pete's real name is Peter. We're the only ones with nicknames in the camp."
I decided not to bother them anymore. My head still felt a little funny after the poisoning. So I decided that I would just go back to sleep, and heal a little bit more.
- - - -
Well, a little twist on the battle. I wanted to explain a little bit about how I think that you weren't hurt badly when poisoned, while Balbanes died from the same type. Everyone thought he had a cold, so they tried to treat a cold. It also fits with why Zalbag called for a Chemist to treat Larg, he knew Mosfungus could be treated if you could just diagnose it.