Fire Emblem on the Forums: Sea of Crossroads [IC]

[Aurorix]

"Y-yea." The spy said wiping the stream of tears from his face. A large clump of sadness still loomed in his chest, but he could think clearly once more without his grief blinding him. He then noticed the ornate box in his lap and apparently it only opens to those who are worthy. Heh, him being worthy, if Randel couldn't open the box then could Belros really do it? Well, there's harm in trying right? The boy looked down towards the box, let out a sigh, and tried to open it up.

[Zetaark]

Moving in with her own spooky weapon, Myrdwyn and the skeleton engage in combat, with the two being surprisingly well matched at first. However, after a few exchanges, Myrdwyn manages to strike the side of the skeleton, sending several of its bones to the ground and causing her lance to emit a pale red light. The skeleton looks at its now missing arm, replaced by a swirl of shadows, and begins to take an annoyed, aggressive posture. Meanwhile, the scattered bones begin rising up, surrounded by shadows not too dissimilar from the ones that replaced the skeleton's arm. The shadows eventually form an unarmed skeleton, who proceeds to take an aggressive stance, taunting Myrdwyn. Perhaps due to the lack of an axe, or perhaps due to the nature of its formation, the unarmed skeleton seems notably weaker than the other. Regardless, the two stare down Myrdwyn, ready to continue the fight.

 

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When Belros attempted to open the box, the gem on its top cover began to shine for a moment, before quickly fading. Try as he might, Belros could not get the box to open,

[Chevaleresse]

Myrdwyn kept half an eye on the unarmed skeleton, but mostly ignored it. She might be an raging alcoholic soldier who flunked every attempt to teach her magic, but she did still know how to fight, and letting yourself get distracted by. . . Well, it was a skeleton, it couldn't really make faces, but still, it was trying to piss her off and it wasn't going to work. Mostly because she was already pissed off, but also because she was still a trained fighter and knew how to prioritize threats. She charged the still-armed skeleton, hoping that this time removing bits of it wouldn't create more hostiles.

[Zetaark]

Charging forward, Myrdwyn and the axe skeleton continue to trade blows, though Myrdwyn has a slight edge at the start. The armed skeleton attempts to make a wide swing, but Myrdwyn sees an opening and runs her lance right through, destroying the skeleton entirely, causing its axe to drop to the ground. Once again, Myrdwyn's lance emits a pale red light, and the skeleton's remains begin to dissolve into shadows, but do not reform. The remaining skeleton appears greatly agitated, and attempts to brandish the fallen skeleton's axe to fight back. Unfortunately for it, the weight appears to affect the skeleton somewhat, causing it to crack a bit, but it still attempts to make an aggressive stance.

[Chevaleresse]

"Nope!" Myrdwyn's lance crashed down toward the straggler once more. Not going to tolerate any more spooky skeletons, not even ones that couldn't even lift a weapon in their own defense. . . not for a lack of trying.

[Zetaark]

The struggling skeleton could not defend against Myrdwyn's lance, and crumpled to the ground. The remains, and the axe as well this time, dissipated into shadows. A quick glance showed that no other skeletons were present or arriving from the other corridors, and Cadence was still on the ground, unconscious.

[Chevaleresse]

"Aw, c'mon now, I know teenagers hafta get sleep to grow or whatever, but now ain't the best time to do so. . ." Unless Cadence were to abruptly regain consciousness, Myrdwyn threw her over one shoulder, not having too much difficulty with such a thing despite Cadence's greater height. "The hell was it. . . Always go left? Damned mazes and sketchy convoy men. . ." Myrdwyn continued to grumble as she started into the corridors, keeping alert for any more attackers, undead or otherwise. . . as well a certain convoy man.

[Zetaark]

Going through the leftmost passage, Myrdwyn went through the rather small corridor, Cadence in tow. Though she didn't run into any other skeletons or other such foes, the path she chose was quite windy, seemingly for a bit too long. Finally though, she found herself into a new room, with 4 other passages present besides the one she just came from. One of them was rather close to where she entered the room, and probably led back into the first, while the wall opposite of her had 2 passages rather close together. Finally, there was one more passage on the far right side of the room. And present in the room is a certain convoy man holding what looks to be some sort of shield.

 

"Ah, I see you are alright...mostly," the man crones after seeing Myrdwyn enter the room. "How are you feeling incidentally?"

[Chevaleresse]

"A bit irate about th'number of skeletons I ran into along the way and the number of teenagers I had to carry, and I'm startin' ta get a bit hung over, but been worse. Oh, and a disappointin' lack of treasure, so I'm hopin' that shield there is worth something."

[Aurorix]

"Heh, nothing unexpected. Never considered myself worthy either." He sighed before slowly getting up to his feet. He stood with a limp, seems the battle still had it's effects on him, not surprising though.  "Alright then, unless anyone else wants to take a crack at opening this box let's get ready to head out. We won't get anything done moping in this depressing town." Belros said putting up a fake smile like it came almost naturally to him. He looked around and noticed more than a few missing faces.  "I guess we'll have to wait for the others to come back though."

[Zetaark]

"Nah, I don't think I'll be taking a crack at it. And besides, maybe someday you will be able to open it. Only time will tell," Madante says in a confident voice before looking at the mansion. "Still though, those three have been in there for a while. Do you think they found anything?" he asks with a somewhat confused tone.

 

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"Well it certainly may prove useful to someone, but we'll save that for after we exit this labyrinth. Shall we?" he crones as he moves towards the two passages on the south side of the room.

[Chevaleresse]

"I guess. Don't suppose ya got anythin' for this," she said, shifting Cadence up and down slightly on her shoulder to indicate what she meant as she followed the convoy man. "Expected her to wake up sooner than this, but maybe the ghosts here are cursed or somethin'."

[Zetaark]

"Perhaps the magic in this place affected her a great deal. There have been all sorts of rumors about the source of the magic for these labyrinths, but most of the replications use altered dark magic. No one is quite sure what the true source is, but either way, I don't think she'll awaken while we're in here," he explains as the group reaches another room, with a single path on the right side of the room relative to where they entered. Standing in their way however, were two more skeletons, though this pair appeared to be unarmed.

 

"More of these vermin. Well then Myrdwyn, time to display your abilities once again. I'll watch Cadence for you," he crones as he attempts to take Cadence.

[Chevaleresse]

Myrdwyn gave the convoy man a dubious look. He was still shifty as all hell, and generally one didn't trust creepy old men with fifteen-year-olds. . . but it was that, or try to fight with Cadence slung over her shoulder. If only Ecquis fit down here. . . 

"If anythin' happens to her while you've got her, I'll turn you into a pair of boots. And that ain't a joke, I'm a cobbler's daughter." She handed the fencer over reluctantly, and then took her lance up in both hands.

"Now have at me, ya clunking sets a' dog toys!" Myrdwyn moved toward the pair of skeletons, weapon readied once more.

[Zetaark]

"Relax. I have no intention of harming either of you," he crones in a still ominous tone. Meanwhile, Myrdwyn moves in with her lance as she attempts to deal with the new foes. The pair are a bit more agile than the ones she fought earlier, but she managed to strike one down with her lance with relative ease. The other was a bit more crafty, and after a few dodged blows attempted to climb onto Myrdwyn.

[Chevaleresse]

Myrdwyn's response was not lance-based; rather, she simply threw a punch at the thing before going for a grab should it dodge or not be deterred.

"Ya got a lot of nerve for someone with no organs!"

[Zetaark]

The skeleton, expecting its foe to either flee or stand in place, was not expecting the punch coming its way, causing its head to fly right off and shatter on one of the walls. The body flailed around for a moment before evaporating into shadows, leaving a blue ribbon in its place.

 

"Well done. It seems you're quite adept with dealing with the dungeon spawn. Now then, retrieve the spoils and let's move on," he crones as he moves towards the next corridor, anticipating that Myrdwyn will follow.

[Chevaleresse]

"Ain't exactly elite soldiers I'm dealing with here." She leaned over, picking up the ribbon. Hadn't Cadence found some weird ribbon once, just like this one? She shrugged, stuffing it in her pocket before moving on after the continually-mysterious convoy man.

"Hell's your name, by the way? Never head it."

[Zetaark]

"That's because I never said it. It's not too important anyhow. So long as you call for me, I will arrive and do my duty. That's all there is to it," the man shrugs, refusing to say more. The pair ended up moving through the corridors, which was a rather straight shot into the next room, which contained a single skeleton wearing some armor that looked oddly familiar to Myrdwyn. Armed with a lance, it takes a defensive stance as it watches the pair enter the room.

 

 

[Chevaleresse]

"Ya know, you ain't exactly the best at this whole 'appearin' trustworthy' bit." She didn't comment any further as they moved through the dungeon, though the appearance of yet another skeleton prompted her to take up a defensive stance. 

"Aw, what the hell, now they're copyin' my fancy new armor? What's next, a wyvern skeleton? Go ta hell, you dumbass sack of bones." She moved forward once again to meet this newest foe, striking at its legs and then going for a killing blow, or what would be one on a human, anyway.

[Zetaark]

The skeleton parried Myrdwyn's strike, though it appeared to stagger a bit. That gave enough of an opening for Myrdwyn to strike again, though the armor took the brunt of the blow. The two proceeded to trade blows for some time before reaching a pause, though the armored skeleton was worse for wear, potentially due to the armor's weight.

[Chevaleresse]

Myrdwyn decided to opt for a different approach, one she normally wouldn't consider in combat on foot. It wasn't exactly usual for her to have a weight advantage over her opponent after all. . . but this one was literally just bones. Instead of going for further strikes, Myrdwyn simply put one shoulder forward and charged, smashing herself into her opponent while mostly using her weapon as a method to intercept any potential counterattacks by the skeleton.

[Zetaark]

The skeleton saw Myrdwyn attempt her charge, and attempted to hold its ground. Unfortunately, Myrdwyn had notable mass, while the skeleton, even in armor, was still just a pile of bones. As such, it was sent flying by the charge, landing close to the opposite wall, near a passage. Though the armor was relatively intact, the skeleton was beginning to fade away. As it did however, a mass of shadows began to pull the skeleton, armor and all, through the passage and into the unknown. 

 

"Well, it seems that is where the floor guardian rests. And likely our way out," the man informs Myrdwyn, as he prepares to move through the passage.

[Chevaleresse]

"Well, it ain't gonna hold up very long if it's anythin' like the skeletons I put down so far. Let's just keep movin'." She stuck to her word, moving ahead of the mysterious convoy man with her lance ready to intercept anything foolish enough to attack her. She still had her doubts about this whole venture, but it's not like she had a lot of options at this point.

[Zetaark]

Moving forward, Myrdwyn and company reach the next room, which contains the armored skeleton from before, but completely engulfed in shadows. Behind it, there was a rather ornate chest and a pedestal next to it. Seeing the group arrive, the shadows engulfed the armor, creating a shade-like enemy, which drew a lance and took a stance.

 

"Well, it seems we're nearly through with this place. Once this creature falls, we should have no further complications," the man crones, with a hint of relief in his voice.