Part 6 wasn't really much of anything specific...but there were some Chrono Trigger bashes there. There'll be more here.
We were taken down the multiple hallways to the throne room. And, who would we see there, but the king. Makes sense, doesn't it? I always think so. However, in keeping with the bad parody that was going on, this guy was a lecher. And not in the nice, happy way that'll eventually get him a place in our party. This guy was bad. We walk into the room, get introduced (how did the guards know our names? They didn't.), and he's suddenly kneeling in front of Ari and Cat, a rose in his hand. "Young maidens from afar, I bid you welcome to my humble abode. I offer thee the finest lodgings we can provide for such beauties."
Ari giggled over the flattering compliments. Cat just raised an eyebrow and forced a grin. "Right...thanks?"
"Excellent! Then you will stay?" He stood up grandly and spread his arms. "Then we must feast, in honor of your deeds! Steward! Tell the cooks to prepare their finest dishes tonight! Our company is the finest in the world!"
I wouldn't have gone that far.
But hey, we get free food. So I didn't complain. Though it did take us a while to get the king to stop only hitting on the girls.
The king's name was Ragde. The pun there made me want to kill my own hand, but it's hard to attack specific body points in an RPG. He was king of the castle we were in, called Cadenza. Despite his womanizing, he was a very good king, kind to his people but never blind to justice. He was also an amazing mechanic, caring for the castle along with his mechanics. He had even made an automatic crossbow at one point, but someone had stolen it long ago, along with the plans. He seemed to not care about the loss. "I can always make a newer and better version of the old one," he said, shrugging and laughing.
The only other person who stood out in the castle was the master of guards, Enall. He was a fairly beefy guy, made of more muscle than fat, with black hair with blue streaks in it. He never wore armor, always preferring his own loose but tough clothing. He didn't say much, but when he did, he spoke with a very informal tone. Reminds me of someone.
Of course, Julio just had to go and find out if Enall was one of the few Masters in the world who would teach us skills if we apprenticed under him. So he went up and asked. "Dude, do you teach random travelers super-powerful skills?"
"Well, I suppose I can," Enall said, scratching his head.
"Sweet! Can you teach me?" Julio shouted, jumping at him. Enall took a hesitant step back.
"Um, well, I guess..." he said slowly, then grinned evilly. "Oh, of course I can. But you'd better be ready for the most INTENSIVE TRAINING of the ENTIRE world!"
"Whatever it is, I can do it!" Julio said proudly. And, that signed his death warrant. After about seven hours, we dragged a very unconscious Julio to his room to rest until tonight, when all of his injuries would be healed. Enall had a good laugh for a long time after that. I don't think that, even if he is a Master, anyone would want to train under him.
Wandering the castle was fun. It always is, no matter what the game is. I think it's because most all castles always have a treasure room somewhere, or just a whole bunch of sealed rooms with treasure in them. The only problem is dealing with camera angles. I hate them with a burning passion. And, to make things even more annoying, all of the items were stored in little nooks and crannies that normally you would be able to see with incredible ease, but due to the fact that you don't look through your own eyes, it's impossible. I still haven't figured that one out.
Skipping a few hours of boredom. That night, we all sat around a large table, with a multitude of people everywhere. It seems the entire castle was present at the party. Ragde stood up and motioned for silence. When he had everyone's attention, he spoke. "My people of Cadenza, we have gathered in this room today to give honor to these braze warriors who saved us from our terrible plight. Thanks to them, we are alive, and will continue to live!" There was a burst of applause. Everyone basked in the glow of praise (well, except me, but I don't think I need to tell you that anymore). "Now, let us feast!"
With that, we got right down to food. Julio ate enough for a country in one sitting. The rest of us took as much as we could, and enjoyed every last bit of it. Well, until the usual stuff started happening.
When we finished the second course, we all sat back for a moment to let the food settle. We started up some small conversation with the other guests, and learned some crazy info. It seems that Cadenza was actually spying on the Empire to the South, having several insiders in the higher commands. They seemed to have an extensive knowledge of their plans. What those plans were, however, weren't going to be revealed to us just yet. And then the commotion started.
It sounded just like some people yelling at each other. Well, that's what it was. But there was the sense of something wrong in the air. Then the cooks came in. I don't understand what it is with cooks, but here they came, looking so stereotypically possessed I had to wonder if they actually weren't. Then they started attacking people. That's not a happy thing, yah? So of course, we sprung into action, starting up a battle immediately. And got a weird result.
The cooks, being cooks and all, used some messed up attacks. "Carving Knife spray!" one said, throwing several carving knives at us. Julio caught several on his shield, while Hagmore stood triumphantly and let them bounce of his armor. Those less fortunate hid behind them if they could. I had to dodge rather complexly just to avoid being killed.
"Peanut butter!" another shouted, flinging a huge glob of peanut butter at me. Not entirely sure if that would be dangerous, I had to choose how I would counter something like that. So I grabbed two slices of bread, caught it between the bread, added some jelly, and had a snack right then and there, putting me out of the battle for a while. Devious plan, if I do say so myself. Good peanut butter.
Another cook came flying in with a frying pan and hit Zan on the head. As he stood dazed, Cat walked over and stabbed the cook in the head. He fell over. Ari threw some can openers at the cooks, which exploded quite violently. Another came running at Hagmore.
Hagmore stood tall and dipped his hand under his cloak. He drew it out and threw some dice at the cook's feet. "Ha!" he cried triumphantly. "You failed to hit me! And now, it's my turn!" He scooped up the dice and rolled again. "I hit! Take 3d6 of damage!" The cook fell over backwards in pain.
"Hmm...it seems you've all improved."
The voice was very familiar. Mark appeared overhead, floating as usual. "However, this time won't be quite so simple. I am ready to defeat you this time." He waved an arm, and several earth golems grew out of the ground. "Go forth, my minions!" he cried, and they lurched forward.
Julio jumped up and stood firm, grinning. One golem raised a hand and hit him square on the head, dealing no damage. That helmet of his is really too cheap...
"Ha ha! You can't hurt me!" Julio drew his sword. "And now, it's time to lay down some smack! C'mon, Hagmore!" Julio jumped up, and Hagmore dipped into his cloak again, pulling out a shit load of dice.
[Dual Tech! Buster Frontal Perception Check +3!] Julio came flying in at the golems, his sword gleaming. With that, he started beating the golems like puppets. He then delivered one huge bash that knocked them into hell and back. Hagmore then threw all his dice. He totaled all the dice, then drew two more and rolled them. The golems all leaned over to see the result. He shook his head sadly.
"Too bad...you guys were beaten so bad, you couldn't even realize the pain you went through. So you just flat out die now." The golems shoulders sagged sadly, and they crumbled into dust. Julio punched his hand into the air.
Mark raised an eyebrow. I don't think anything we could have done would have surprised him. "Well. That was interesting. Then try these!" The swung his arm again, and all kinds of golems appeared: fire, wind, water, earth, holy, ground beef, tastes like orange tang, that stuff that collects under your bed after a while, you name it, he got it, Toyota. To say the least, things looked bad.
That was when the obligatory why-doesn't-this-happen-more-often scene occurred. Enall jumped over us and landed in front, his sword drawn. He pointed the sword and simply moved it in a slow arc. The golems EXPLODED. That doesn't happen ever to us. I took a glance at his stats, and saw why. He was the level 99 character. His stats could kill just by seeing them.
Mark looked unhappy. "How dare you. I should smite you for that." With that, he raised a hand, and [Smite] appeared at the top of the screen. Enall was hit, and simply stood there. Mark narrowed his eyes. "Well. That was no good."
Enall turned to us and examined us. "You all look like you're in good condition. Can you fight?"
"What?" Hagmore asked, baffled by the stupid question.
"Can you fight him? I want you to prove to me that you have power!" With that, the battle started.
"Just a minute, I need to choose party members!" There was a quick survey of characters. We needed people who could stand up to Mark's status affliction spells, so Zan and Cat were in. Both Alexander and Hagmore could cast Remedy, and I could dodge magic like no one's business. But I was still eating, so there was a [Temporarily Unavailable] sign next to my name.
Then the battle started. It was weird to fight another boss so soon after the one we had just fought. And it was a major boss battle, too. They all took their positions around the battlefield, with Mark in the center in front of them. Mark opened up by using a new spell, Silent Wave Crush. It was a strong, unbased magic attack that took a fair chunk out of everyone's life. Hagmore cast an area Cure 2 spell, getting everyone in it, and Zan pulled out his new stuff.
"Lateral Cross!" he shouted, and two beams of blue light crossed over Mark and brought a hail of ice shards stabbing into Mark. He took some nice damage. Cat ran up and attacked Mark, then jumped back to her original spot. Alexander waited in case a healer was needed, and Hagmore ran in and chopped Mark in half - not really, but with how he swung his giant Holy Avenger, Mark should have been cut in half.
"And, you know, that's something I've been wondering about for a while. If the Holy Avenger is a weapon for Paladins only, then how can Hagmore, who is no longer a Paladin, use it? Paladins can't dual class, and Red Mages aren't something that's even in D&D. Someone wanna give me some insight, here?"
"Ninja Skill #5!" Cat flung her ninja swords at Mark, and cast a fire/lightning spell on them. He took more decent damage.
"That's what I thought."
"Pearl!" Zan shouted, and some pearls came down and hurt Mark. How does a pearl hurt anyone? Another unexplained mystery.
"Ethereal Wave!" Mark cried, a wave of more unbased magic hitting everyone. This one also caused confusion, mute and darkness. Fortunately, Alexander was immune to Mute, so he cast Remedy on everyone. Hagmore followed up with another Cure 2. Cat ran in and attacked again. Mark seemed to be slowing down, as if he weren't giving the battle everything he had.
"If God Were a Hammer!" Alexander cried, and a large, glowing hammer showed up and bonked Mark. More damage. I wonder about these attacks, though.
"Taste of Fillet!" Mark shouted. He suddenly tasted like fillet. How that was an attack, I don't know...but I'm sure that it has some kind of use, in the right situation.
"Well, if you're not going to be serious, then we'll pull out the stops!" Hagmore waited patiently while Zan and Alexander's bars filled, then he scrolled the bottom of his Tech list and selected the attack.
[Triple Tech!] Zan jumped to one side, Alexander on the other, with Hagmore in the middle. Zan chanted and ubër powerful black spell, whilst Alexander called upon hella strong white magic. Hagmore chanted a combination of these two, and soon they were all filled to the brim with power. [Lambda Gun!] Hagmore pulled out a huge cannon, aimed it at Mark, and channeled all the magic through it. Mark was blown into space, and then he came back and took major power damage.
"Well, that hurt. But, it's time for me, now..." He charged up, and his spell name showed up. [Drain Supreme VI mark 4!] He cast the spell, which was an area spell, catching the three who had just hit him. He drained them for all but 1 HP, and took their life as his own, nullifying most of the damage he had just taken. And, since he tasted like fillet, he received twice the HP, completely refilling his life bar.
"Oh, that's so not cool," Julio said, kicking a rock. "I wish I tasted like fillet."
"If you did, how would you know?"
Julio had to think about that one. "Good point!" He then began to gnaw on his arm.
Hagmore and Alexander tried to heal everyone, but they couldn't cast the spells quick enough. Mark was already casting another spell. "Hell's Chant! Death Spell!" He pointed right at Alexander, who dropped dead. Not cool. "Hell's Chant! Glare Break!" They all took damage, Zan and Hagmore dead, Cat near critical. Mark pulled down his right sleeve, where a bracer with a large jewel on it was attached to his arm. The jewel began to glow a bright violet. "Death Chanter! Bound to me! Soul Taker!" The Demon of Souls appeared and moved in to take Cat's soul.
Then the bell rang.
Yeah, that sounds weird, right? But that's what happened. And the demon froze in its tracks. There was the sound of footsteps, and the bell rang again. The demon shivered, as if afraid.
Through the doors behind us strolled in a girl who looked younger than us all. She had sandy blond hair, down to her shoulders, and very piercingly blue eyes. She wore a crimson corslet, a shield on her back, and carried a large halberd over her shoulder. A bullhorn hung from her belt. The bell sound came from that halberd, where a bell was attached to the bottom of the large blade.
"Hah. Another demon trying to take my place? Go back to whence you came!" With that, she swung the halberd in an arc, the bell ringing loudly. The demon shook violently, howled, and exploded. There was a general 'oto' from everyone. Mark looked upset again.
"I can't believe this. How could this one have the power to defeat the Demon of Souls?" The jewel glowed again, and he shouted, "Devil summon!" Several high-level devils appeared around the girl. She gave a sigh of exasperation.
"Don't you understand? Break away! Banisher!" She swung her halberd again, the bell tolled, and the devils were dispersed without her even touching them.
"Why is this happening?" Mark shouted. By then, Cat had revived everyone, and they were preparing for another power attack. "Very well. This is only temporary." With that, he vanished.
With Mark gone, the cooks who we had defeated all came back to normal. They all looked around confused. Even the one Cat had stabbed through the head.
"Weren't you dead?"
"Dead? Where am I? I was cooking only a minute ago!" With that, they all walked back into the kitchen, leaving us to deal with plot. I'm beginning to despise it.
"Well, that was another drearily boring display of demonic power. I can't believe he was actually controlling them. Devils of that level don't let those so weak control them," the girl said strolling over.
"Indeed," Enall said, appearing out of nowhere. "There is definitely something going on that requires an explanation." He turned and gave us a serious look. "And you!" he exclaimed, pointing at me. "Where did you come from?"
Not sure how to deal with this again, I decided on a rational approach to the question. "I'm just a random Joe!" I sang, dancing off-screen. With me no longer on screen, they couldn't see me, so the conversation picked up where it had left off.
"Well," Julio said, sitting down calmly, "that guy, Mark, is part of this group trying to kill us for some random reason. We're not sure why, but we get the beat the living crap out of him every time, so we don't complain."
"I do."
"Normally, I would disregard a story like that as absurd. However..." Enall stroked his beard. Did I mention he had a beard? He does. "After seeing that man in action, I'm inclined to believe you."
"As am I, though I still don't think he's that powerful. You shouldn't lose to a weakling like him," the girl said.
"And who are you, anyway?" Ari asked. "And how did you kill those demons so easily?"
"Ah, pardon me," Enall said. "This is one of my former pupils, Aerynne. She died quite some time ago, and has become a Valkyrie." Aerynne gave a little wave of hello.
Unphased by the statement, Hagmore asked, "Okay, what is that weapon? How does it kill so easily?"
"Oh, this old thing?" Aerynne said, looking at the giant halberd. "This is a little something I got when I died. It's called Astarael. The bell is the doorway to death. It's very effective against demons and such. Don't you like it?" There was a general nodding. "I thought so! It's such a nice thing to have given me."
"So anyway, it seems that plot is in order. We need to find where Mark and Seniana are coming from, so we can stop them. These attacks are getting real annoying," Cat complained.
"Finally, someone sees things from my point of view..." I muttered under my breath. "And if I'm right, they should lead me to her..."
"Say, if you're not too busy, would you join our group?" Julio asked Aerynne. She gave him a confused look.
"Why would you want that?" she asked.
"Because you can kill demons like no one's business! And that is incredibly helpful, considering that our enemies summon them like breakfast cereals! Whattaya say?" He loomed over her, waiting. Aerynne shrunk back, a little intimidated.
"Well...okay, whatever."
"EXCELLENT!" Julio did his happy dance. "Now, we have eight party members again! Time to go out and lay some smack!" With that, he marched out. We followed, leaving the room in shambles. Well, not like we would clean up.
We left the castle and didn't get far before we were reminded of what we were GOING to do. "Hey, remember we were gonna split up and go find weapons of ungodly power?" I mentioned nonchalantly.
"That's right! I almost forgot!" Julio jumped up. "Well, since we're an even number now, we can split into fair groups! Hmm, who should go with who..." He evened out the differences in party quality and finished up. "There! It'll be Zan and me, Alexander and Hagmore, Ari and Aerynne, and Cat choose one of the groups to go with!"
"I find that somehow offensive to my well-being," Cat complained.
"Besides, you haven't thought this through at all," I explained. "You have to two most damaging characters together, the only two who can heal decently together, and the two who are only average warriors together. And no matter where Cat goes, it still will be uneven. And what about me?"
"Well, now we need to find a ship!"
"HAVEN'T YOU LISTENED TO A WORD I'VE SAID?"
"Oh, alright. Who should go with who, then?"
"Well, thinking about it logically..." I pulled out a flowchart. "Cat already has weapons of doom in her hands. So she doesn't need to find any, so she can go wherever. Aerynne's weapon is more powerful than all of us, so she won't need one either. They don't need to go anywhere. In fact, half of us don't need to go anywhere, since Alexander and I also already have all the weaponry we need. So, really only you, Zan, Hagmore and Ari need to go anywhere. So, we should put -"
"Hagmore and Ari, and Zan and I! And you other guys can just kinda do what you want for a while. See ya!" With that, the two groups walked off in search of a ship.
"...I suppose you won't listen to me anymore, will you." A ship to where? They didn't even have the slightest clue WHERE they were going! And what were we supposed to do? Sometimes, I think life makes my head hurt. To make things even more confusing, as I turned around, Cat and Aerynne were walking off.
"See you guys later! We're gonna go check up on some stuff. We'll see you in two weeks!" They called back, waving. I was left, standing alone with Alexander, who had found a didgeridoo somewhere and was belting on it.
"Now, I know that I have been forsaken. Well, might as well go do some plot." With that, I walked off, sullen, and Alexander belted more low notes as he followed me.
To be continued.
We were taken down the multiple hallways to the throne room. And, who would we see there, but the king. Makes sense, doesn't it? I always think so. However, in keeping with the bad parody that was going on, this guy was a lecher. And not in the nice, happy way that'll eventually get him a place in our party. This guy was bad. We walk into the room, get introduced (how did the guards know our names? They didn't.), and he's suddenly kneeling in front of Ari and Cat, a rose in his hand. "Young maidens from afar, I bid you welcome to my humble abode. I offer thee the finest lodgings we can provide for such beauties."
Ari giggled over the flattering compliments. Cat just raised an eyebrow and forced a grin. "Right...thanks?"
"Excellent! Then you will stay?" He stood up grandly and spread his arms. "Then we must feast, in honor of your deeds! Steward! Tell the cooks to prepare their finest dishes tonight! Our company is the finest in the world!"
I wouldn't have gone that far.
But hey, we get free food. So I didn't complain. Though it did take us a while to get the king to stop only hitting on the girls.
The king's name was Ragde. The pun there made me want to kill my own hand, but it's hard to attack specific body points in an RPG. He was king of the castle we were in, called Cadenza. Despite his womanizing, he was a very good king, kind to his people but never blind to justice. He was also an amazing mechanic, caring for the castle along with his mechanics. He had even made an automatic crossbow at one point, but someone had stolen it long ago, along with the plans. He seemed to not care about the loss. "I can always make a newer and better version of the old one," he said, shrugging and laughing.
The only other person who stood out in the castle was the master of guards, Enall. He was a fairly beefy guy, made of more muscle than fat, with black hair with blue streaks in it. He never wore armor, always preferring his own loose but tough clothing. He didn't say much, but when he did, he spoke with a very informal tone. Reminds me of someone.
Of course, Julio just had to go and find out if Enall was one of the few Masters in the world who would teach us skills if we apprenticed under him. So he went up and asked. "Dude, do you teach random travelers super-powerful skills?"
"Well, I suppose I can," Enall said, scratching his head.
"Sweet! Can you teach me?" Julio shouted, jumping at him. Enall took a hesitant step back.
"Um, well, I guess..." he said slowly, then grinned evilly. "Oh, of course I can. But you'd better be ready for the most INTENSIVE TRAINING of the ENTIRE world!"
"Whatever it is, I can do it!" Julio said proudly. And, that signed his death warrant. After about seven hours, we dragged a very unconscious Julio to his room to rest until tonight, when all of his injuries would be healed. Enall had a good laugh for a long time after that. I don't think that, even if he is a Master, anyone would want to train under him.
Wandering the castle was fun. It always is, no matter what the game is. I think it's because most all castles always have a treasure room somewhere, or just a whole bunch of sealed rooms with treasure in them. The only problem is dealing with camera angles. I hate them with a burning passion. And, to make things even more annoying, all of the items were stored in little nooks and crannies that normally you would be able to see with incredible ease, but due to the fact that you don't look through your own eyes, it's impossible. I still haven't figured that one out.
Skipping a few hours of boredom. That night, we all sat around a large table, with a multitude of people everywhere. It seems the entire castle was present at the party. Ragde stood up and motioned for silence. When he had everyone's attention, he spoke. "My people of Cadenza, we have gathered in this room today to give honor to these braze warriors who saved us from our terrible plight. Thanks to them, we are alive, and will continue to live!" There was a burst of applause. Everyone basked in the glow of praise (well, except me, but I don't think I need to tell you that anymore). "Now, let us feast!"
With that, we got right down to food. Julio ate enough for a country in one sitting. The rest of us took as much as we could, and enjoyed every last bit of it. Well, until the usual stuff started happening.
When we finished the second course, we all sat back for a moment to let the food settle. We started up some small conversation with the other guests, and learned some crazy info. It seems that Cadenza was actually spying on the Empire to the South, having several insiders in the higher commands. They seemed to have an extensive knowledge of their plans. What those plans were, however, weren't going to be revealed to us just yet. And then the commotion started.
It sounded just like some people yelling at each other. Well, that's what it was. But there was the sense of something wrong in the air. Then the cooks came in. I don't understand what it is with cooks, but here they came, looking so stereotypically possessed I had to wonder if they actually weren't. Then they started attacking people. That's not a happy thing, yah? So of course, we sprung into action, starting up a battle immediately. And got a weird result.
The cooks, being cooks and all, used some messed up attacks. "Carving Knife spray!" one said, throwing several carving knives at us. Julio caught several on his shield, while Hagmore stood triumphantly and let them bounce of his armor. Those less fortunate hid behind them if they could. I had to dodge rather complexly just to avoid being killed.
"Peanut butter!" another shouted, flinging a huge glob of peanut butter at me. Not entirely sure if that would be dangerous, I had to choose how I would counter something like that. So I grabbed two slices of bread, caught it between the bread, added some jelly, and had a snack right then and there, putting me out of the battle for a while. Devious plan, if I do say so myself. Good peanut butter.
Another cook came flying in with a frying pan and hit Zan on the head. As he stood dazed, Cat walked over and stabbed the cook in the head. He fell over. Ari threw some can openers at the cooks, which exploded quite violently. Another came running at Hagmore.
Hagmore stood tall and dipped his hand under his cloak. He drew it out and threw some dice at the cook's feet. "Ha!" he cried triumphantly. "You failed to hit me! And now, it's my turn!" He scooped up the dice and rolled again. "I hit! Take 3d6 of damage!" The cook fell over backwards in pain.
"Hmm...it seems you've all improved."
The voice was very familiar. Mark appeared overhead, floating as usual. "However, this time won't be quite so simple. I am ready to defeat you this time." He waved an arm, and several earth golems grew out of the ground. "Go forth, my minions!" he cried, and they lurched forward.
Julio jumped up and stood firm, grinning. One golem raised a hand and hit him square on the head, dealing no damage. That helmet of his is really too cheap...
"Ha ha! You can't hurt me!" Julio drew his sword. "And now, it's time to lay down some smack! C'mon, Hagmore!" Julio jumped up, and Hagmore dipped into his cloak again, pulling out a shit load of dice.
[Dual Tech! Buster Frontal Perception Check +3!] Julio came flying in at the golems, his sword gleaming. With that, he started beating the golems like puppets. He then delivered one huge bash that knocked them into hell and back. Hagmore then threw all his dice. He totaled all the dice, then drew two more and rolled them. The golems all leaned over to see the result. He shook his head sadly.
"Too bad...you guys were beaten so bad, you couldn't even realize the pain you went through. So you just flat out die now." The golems shoulders sagged sadly, and they crumbled into dust. Julio punched his hand into the air.
Mark raised an eyebrow. I don't think anything we could have done would have surprised him. "Well. That was interesting. Then try these!" The swung his arm again, and all kinds of golems appeared: fire, wind, water, earth, holy, ground beef, tastes like orange tang, that stuff that collects under your bed after a while, you name it, he got it, Toyota. To say the least, things looked bad.
That was when the obligatory why-doesn't-this-happen-more-often scene occurred. Enall jumped over us and landed in front, his sword drawn. He pointed the sword and simply moved it in a slow arc. The golems EXPLODED. That doesn't happen ever to us. I took a glance at his stats, and saw why. He was the level 99 character. His stats could kill just by seeing them.
Mark looked unhappy. "How dare you. I should smite you for that." With that, he raised a hand, and [Smite] appeared at the top of the screen. Enall was hit, and simply stood there. Mark narrowed his eyes. "Well. That was no good."
Enall turned to us and examined us. "You all look like you're in good condition. Can you fight?"
"What?" Hagmore asked, baffled by the stupid question.
"Can you fight him? I want you to prove to me that you have power!" With that, the battle started.
"Just a minute, I need to choose party members!" There was a quick survey of characters. We needed people who could stand up to Mark's status affliction spells, so Zan and Cat were in. Both Alexander and Hagmore could cast Remedy, and I could dodge magic like no one's business. But I was still eating, so there was a [Temporarily Unavailable] sign next to my name.
Then the battle started. It was weird to fight another boss so soon after the one we had just fought. And it was a major boss battle, too. They all took their positions around the battlefield, with Mark in the center in front of them. Mark opened up by using a new spell, Silent Wave Crush. It was a strong, unbased magic attack that took a fair chunk out of everyone's life. Hagmore cast an area Cure 2 spell, getting everyone in it, and Zan pulled out his new stuff.
"Lateral Cross!" he shouted, and two beams of blue light crossed over Mark and brought a hail of ice shards stabbing into Mark. He took some nice damage. Cat ran up and attacked Mark, then jumped back to her original spot. Alexander waited in case a healer was needed, and Hagmore ran in and chopped Mark in half - not really, but with how he swung his giant Holy Avenger, Mark should have been cut in half.
"And, you know, that's something I've been wondering about for a while. If the Holy Avenger is a weapon for Paladins only, then how can Hagmore, who is no longer a Paladin, use it? Paladins can't dual class, and Red Mages aren't something that's even in D&D. Someone wanna give me some insight, here?"
"Ninja Skill #5!" Cat flung her ninja swords at Mark, and cast a fire/lightning spell on them. He took more decent damage.
"That's what I thought."
"Pearl!" Zan shouted, and some pearls came down and hurt Mark. How does a pearl hurt anyone? Another unexplained mystery.
"Ethereal Wave!" Mark cried, a wave of more unbased magic hitting everyone. This one also caused confusion, mute and darkness. Fortunately, Alexander was immune to Mute, so he cast Remedy on everyone. Hagmore followed up with another Cure 2. Cat ran in and attacked again. Mark seemed to be slowing down, as if he weren't giving the battle everything he had.
"If God Were a Hammer!" Alexander cried, and a large, glowing hammer showed up and bonked Mark. More damage. I wonder about these attacks, though.
"Taste of Fillet!" Mark shouted. He suddenly tasted like fillet. How that was an attack, I don't know...but I'm sure that it has some kind of use, in the right situation.
"Well, if you're not going to be serious, then we'll pull out the stops!" Hagmore waited patiently while Zan and Alexander's bars filled, then he scrolled the bottom of his Tech list and selected the attack.
[Triple Tech!] Zan jumped to one side, Alexander on the other, with Hagmore in the middle. Zan chanted and ubër powerful black spell, whilst Alexander called upon hella strong white magic. Hagmore chanted a combination of these two, and soon they were all filled to the brim with power. [Lambda Gun!] Hagmore pulled out a huge cannon, aimed it at Mark, and channeled all the magic through it. Mark was blown into space, and then he came back and took major power damage.
"Well, that hurt. But, it's time for me, now..." He charged up, and his spell name showed up. [Drain Supreme VI mark 4!] He cast the spell, which was an area spell, catching the three who had just hit him. He drained them for all but 1 HP, and took their life as his own, nullifying most of the damage he had just taken. And, since he tasted like fillet, he received twice the HP, completely refilling his life bar.
"Oh, that's so not cool," Julio said, kicking a rock. "I wish I tasted like fillet."
"If you did, how would you know?"
Julio had to think about that one. "Good point!" He then began to gnaw on his arm.
Hagmore and Alexander tried to heal everyone, but they couldn't cast the spells quick enough. Mark was already casting another spell. "Hell's Chant! Death Spell!" He pointed right at Alexander, who dropped dead. Not cool. "Hell's Chant! Glare Break!" They all took damage, Zan and Hagmore dead, Cat near critical. Mark pulled down his right sleeve, where a bracer with a large jewel on it was attached to his arm. The jewel began to glow a bright violet. "Death Chanter! Bound to me! Soul Taker!" The Demon of Souls appeared and moved in to take Cat's soul.
Then the bell rang.
Yeah, that sounds weird, right? But that's what happened. And the demon froze in its tracks. There was the sound of footsteps, and the bell rang again. The demon shivered, as if afraid.
Through the doors behind us strolled in a girl who looked younger than us all. She had sandy blond hair, down to her shoulders, and very piercingly blue eyes. She wore a crimson corslet, a shield on her back, and carried a large halberd over her shoulder. A bullhorn hung from her belt. The bell sound came from that halberd, where a bell was attached to the bottom of the large blade.
"Hah. Another demon trying to take my place? Go back to whence you came!" With that, she swung the halberd in an arc, the bell ringing loudly. The demon shook violently, howled, and exploded. There was a general 'oto' from everyone. Mark looked upset again.
"I can't believe this. How could this one have the power to defeat the Demon of Souls?" The jewel glowed again, and he shouted, "Devil summon!" Several high-level devils appeared around the girl. She gave a sigh of exasperation.
"Don't you understand? Break away! Banisher!" She swung her halberd again, the bell tolled, and the devils were dispersed without her even touching them.
"Why is this happening?" Mark shouted. By then, Cat had revived everyone, and they were preparing for another power attack. "Very well. This is only temporary." With that, he vanished.
With Mark gone, the cooks who we had defeated all came back to normal. They all looked around confused. Even the one Cat had stabbed through the head.
"Weren't you dead?"
"Dead? Where am I? I was cooking only a minute ago!" With that, they all walked back into the kitchen, leaving us to deal with plot. I'm beginning to despise it.
"Well, that was another drearily boring display of demonic power. I can't believe he was actually controlling them. Devils of that level don't let those so weak control them," the girl said strolling over.
"Indeed," Enall said, appearing out of nowhere. "There is definitely something going on that requires an explanation." He turned and gave us a serious look. "And you!" he exclaimed, pointing at me. "Where did you come from?"
Not sure how to deal with this again, I decided on a rational approach to the question. "I'm just a random Joe!" I sang, dancing off-screen. With me no longer on screen, they couldn't see me, so the conversation picked up where it had left off.
"Well," Julio said, sitting down calmly, "that guy, Mark, is part of this group trying to kill us for some random reason. We're not sure why, but we get the beat the living crap out of him every time, so we don't complain."
"I do."
"Normally, I would disregard a story like that as absurd. However..." Enall stroked his beard. Did I mention he had a beard? He does. "After seeing that man in action, I'm inclined to believe you."
"As am I, though I still don't think he's that powerful. You shouldn't lose to a weakling like him," the girl said.
"And who are you, anyway?" Ari asked. "And how did you kill those demons so easily?"
"Ah, pardon me," Enall said. "This is one of my former pupils, Aerynne. She died quite some time ago, and has become a Valkyrie." Aerynne gave a little wave of hello.
Unphased by the statement, Hagmore asked, "Okay, what is that weapon? How does it kill so easily?"
"Oh, this old thing?" Aerynne said, looking at the giant halberd. "This is a little something I got when I died. It's called Astarael. The bell is the doorway to death. It's very effective against demons and such. Don't you like it?" There was a general nodding. "I thought so! It's such a nice thing to have given me."
"So anyway, it seems that plot is in order. We need to find where Mark and Seniana are coming from, so we can stop them. These attacks are getting real annoying," Cat complained.
"Finally, someone sees things from my point of view..." I muttered under my breath. "And if I'm right, they should lead me to her..."
"Say, if you're not too busy, would you join our group?" Julio asked Aerynne. She gave him a confused look.
"Why would you want that?" she asked.
"Because you can kill demons like no one's business! And that is incredibly helpful, considering that our enemies summon them like breakfast cereals! Whattaya say?" He loomed over her, waiting. Aerynne shrunk back, a little intimidated.
"Well...okay, whatever."
"EXCELLENT!" Julio did his happy dance. "Now, we have eight party members again! Time to go out and lay some smack!" With that, he marched out. We followed, leaving the room in shambles. Well, not like we would clean up.
We left the castle and didn't get far before we were reminded of what we were GOING to do. "Hey, remember we were gonna split up and go find weapons of ungodly power?" I mentioned nonchalantly.
"That's right! I almost forgot!" Julio jumped up. "Well, since we're an even number now, we can split into fair groups! Hmm, who should go with who..." He evened out the differences in party quality and finished up. "There! It'll be Zan and me, Alexander and Hagmore, Ari and Aerynne, and Cat choose one of the groups to go with!"
"I find that somehow offensive to my well-being," Cat complained.
"Besides, you haven't thought this through at all," I explained. "You have to two most damaging characters together, the only two who can heal decently together, and the two who are only average warriors together. And no matter where Cat goes, it still will be uneven. And what about me?"
"Well, now we need to find a ship!"
"HAVEN'T YOU LISTENED TO A WORD I'VE SAID?"
"Oh, alright. Who should go with who, then?"
"Well, thinking about it logically..." I pulled out a flowchart. "Cat already has weapons of doom in her hands. So she doesn't need to find any, so she can go wherever. Aerynne's weapon is more powerful than all of us, so she won't need one either. They don't need to go anywhere. In fact, half of us don't need to go anywhere, since Alexander and I also already have all the weaponry we need. So, really only you, Zan, Hagmore and Ari need to go anywhere. So, we should put -"
"Hagmore and Ari, and Zan and I! And you other guys can just kinda do what you want for a while. See ya!" With that, the two groups walked off in search of a ship.
"...I suppose you won't listen to me anymore, will you." A ship to where? They didn't even have the slightest clue WHERE they were going! And what were we supposed to do? Sometimes, I think life makes my head hurt. To make things even more confusing, as I turned around, Cat and Aerynne were walking off.
"See you guys later! We're gonna go check up on some stuff. We'll see you in two weeks!" They called back, waving. I was left, standing alone with Alexander, who had found a didgeridoo somewhere and was belting on it.
"Now, I know that I have been forsaken. Well, might as well go do some plot." With that, I walked off, sullen, and Alexander belted more low notes as he followed me.
To be continued.