To Reclaim the Past

Wait... wait... The myrmidon pursued the lancer, but having not seen their preparations, he neglected to avoid the tripwire. He earned a knife to the ankle for his trouble, and Noah rushed him with his own dagger, leaving a bad cut in his neck and poison in his veins. In his surprise, the bandit offered little resistance.

Noah knocked him over with a shoulder to his body and left him to die. "Now, I'll be right with you."

But even as the words dropped from his mouth the actions of their leader gave him pause. The axefighter that Emilia had nailed swung downwards at a very startled archer, who rolled away to avoid certain demise. The leader? He calmly approached from behind and put his blade through the berserk bandit, dropping him quickly. The ease and cold calculation behind the movement was chilling to see. Noah understood the logic... were it only for that, he might have maintained his composure. But... "If you can't control yourself," the head-dressed head bandit said dispassionately, "then you're just a problem."

He turned to the archer. "Get up. You're disgraceful." The bowman scrambled to his feet and took aim at Ariel, but he was shocked by a rather livid tactician. This man was Noah's opposite. He would not lose.

For a moment there was nothing but silence as the two glared at each other. It was as though two beasts had encountered each other over their favorite prey. Noah said nothing. "Wait," he told Emilia. "He'll come to us."

The opposing leader drew his sword as he stepped forward. "But will you be ready, little man?"

Enemies (open) Enemies (close)

Charten, Level 14 Mercenary: Approaching fast.
Level 3 Archer: Nervously attempting to decide on a target.

"Thanks." Wolfe mentioned to Noah who had just finished the swordsman. He was glad it was a right decision to regroup after all. Now, there were only two enemies remaining, even though the last one seemed to be pretty skilled. Moreover, he just murdered his own underling, heartlessly. "...well, as expected of a big bad bandit."

Wolfe pondered. He figured he would be useless with the sword bastard, and for that he would best fit to distract the archer from assisting his boss. Being an ex-sharpshooter, he knew best than anyone here how to deal with a bowman. Also, this archer didn't seem to be a great sniper at all, especially when compared to himself in the past. The lancer had confident in this.

"Since he already has a crush on you, why don't you take the challenge and leave the bow one to me?" Wolfe said, smirking a bit. He did not seem to be scared of the boss's appearance or his personality at all, it was probably from his experience. ""

Not leaving much time for Noah to respond, the blind lance carefully walked aside, away from the direction that the bandit boss was approaching. As that man didn't show any sign to pursue him, probably didn't see him as a threat, Wolfe fully turned to the reluctant archer with his spear, and that automatically helped the man to decide his target.

"Right, aim here."

Of course, from distance, the archer would be the first one to attack. He notched his arrow clumsily and turned to the lancer, however, Wolfe already locked on to the archer's aiming and moved away when the arrow was pointed at him. The archer followed. This time, Wolfe waited a little after being targeted to lure the archer to release arrow, then he stepped aside and dodged it easily.

"I can do this." Wolfe muttered, smirking. It appeared that he just had to hope that the three-on-one plan will go well.

Enemy (open) Enemy (close)

Charten, Level 14 Mercenary: Approaching fast.
Level 3 Archer: Nervously attempting to hit Wolfe.

That... had just happened.

The battle had been going in their favor, with her allies picking off enemies like flies. While Ariel herself wasn't of much help at the moment, she had an excellent vantage point and great overview of the skirmish. Just as she had pulled a chair over, though, she'd witnessed the apparent leader of the bunch killing one of his own men. It came as a shock to the dark mage, who was a member of a group of combat-capable Plegians herself. She couldn't imagine their leader doing something this horrible, this immoral.

Abandoning the chair idea, she took her tome, which she had put on the table earlier so she'd have her hands free to throw stuff. Wolfe had requested to be left alone with his foe -she could hear that much from where she was- and while she'd keep an eye on them and would keep one cast in reserve in case he needed it, this was something she couldn't forgive. "Lord Grima will FEAST upon your wicked soul," she snarled, despite the man not being able to hear her.

Problem was, while the Flux did its job pain-wise -evidently the man was not built to defend against magic- its normal effect of dizzying the target didn't seem to kick in. She'd already raised her hand for a second cast, but it shook and she decided against it. Instead, she opted to continue with her initial plan and hurl the chair down at him.

Enemies (open) Enemies (close)

Charten, Level 14 Mercenary: Approaching. May want to dodge out of the way of an incoming chair.
Level 3 Archer: Nervously attempting to hit Wolfe.

"I can't say I do..." Noah muttered, sizing up their enemy. It was fairly clear by the way he'd carried himself that there was none his equal on the field, and the traps they had set beforehand were all but used up. All they could really rely on was their superior ability to organize. With that in mind...

"...We can coordinate our attacks. I'll go first. Use the chaos to find an opening..." Noah raised a sandy wall before them, obscuring their approach from the bandit head. Then he made a great show of rushing out from the right side, trusting Emilia to go the other way. He had drawn his blade and swung as he approached. Somewhat as expected, the man saw it coming and allowed the weapon to slide off of his. Noah leapt back after the initial clash, and as the two set up in combat stances, the more imposing swordsman spoke.

"Tell me, little man. For what reason do you fight?"

"I need a reason to purge you defilers of my home?"

"Ha. With the world the way it is? You better find one fast."

Noah said nothing. There was nothing to speak about. They reached an implicit understanding and attacked. Noah managed a clean jab to the chest, knocking some wind out of his attacker's sails, and sustained a slash wound across his own side. The tactician drew back as the chair came crashing down...

Enemies (open) Enemies (close)

Charten, Level 14 Mercenary: Staggering, under attack by chair.
Level 3 Archer: Nervously attempting to hit Wolfe.

It didn't take much of his effort to beat this enemy.

Wolfe lured his enemy into his advantage. The same trick worked most of the time with this unexperienced archer as his shot never hit the approaching lancer. The blind man knew when to step away from the firing course, before taking a step forward. Finally, his spear reached the long-ranged attacker. It hit the man's arm before his kick brought him down, another kick at his head ensured his temporary loss of conscious.

"Phew..." Wiping his sweat, the spearman turned to the more important battle, just to find out that it was still going on. The bandit leader didn't seem to care much about him at all, while speaking with the short tactician. Wolfe mumbled. "Well, look like I can just escape like this."

That would be just, wouldn't it? Wolfe believed he already had enough of a bad day, it would be right to just save himself and survive. No one can tell if those three will beat the crap out of the strong looking desert thief, leaving while he can would be the wisest option. He really considered it, however, that was until he remembered his debt to those people.

"Darn, look like I can't just let 'em die or they would haunt me every night onward." Grabbing his weapon tightly, the lancer headed back to the house, no matter if he was needed or not.

When the chair collided and Emilia attacked, Ariel opened her tome, just to have it ready. The swordsman was now the only remaining enemy, who had been enraged by Emilia and Noah's collaborative attack. Ariel agreed with the Thief. There was no way Noah would win this on his own. The man had been enraged by the poison on Emilia's daggers, and Ariel decided that once again she had to resort to drastic measures.

Having regained enough of her strength to get out one final cast without collapsing, she knew she had to make it count. Instead of flinging an item down over the edge, she backed up a little before throwing herself down. During her fall, she prepared a cast instead of preparing herself for landing, and just before she hit the ground, she unleashed her spell.

Charten took the Flux spell from up close and full force, with Ariel falling, dropping her tome and rolling forward to avoid fractures. As she got up to a kneeling position, she pre-emptively called: "I'm fine! Just finish him off! That was the stupidest thing I've ever done!" she blurted out.

Enemies (open) Enemies (close)

Charten: Berserked, disoriented, and very very vulnerable.

Noah stumbled as the bandit leader wobbled under the assault. The latter was clearly disoriented, but he drew out a knife and tossed it at Ariel. It was a last-ditch effort, and Charten's hands shook a bit as he did so, but he managed a fairly steady throw. The tactician forced his weary body to intercept it, deflecting it off his sword. Even weakened, though, he didn't want to face his enemy head-on. He focused on drawing out what magic he had left.

Let it all out. Let it flow like the river. He wouldn't need another spell if it worked out anyway. For a moment Noah closed his eyes to gather his mind, then discarded it. No thoughts clouded his mind, only a single design; finishing the battle. His eyes seemed to glow for a moment. "This is it. The wolves will eat well tonight..." The lightning he unleashed roared and split twice over and struck Charten to the ground. The bandit head moved no more from pain and half-consciousness.

His task accomplished, Noah sank to the ground and ran a hand over the wound, wincing as he did. It wasn't too terrible, but it needed treatment. He moved a trembling hand to fetch a vulnerary only to find he had none. Wonderful.

"Great, you guys did clean up well." As he returned to where everyone was, Wolfe found that he support was no need there. The bandit boss was down, burned well, probably dead. No, maybe not yet. Just to confirm death, the blind lancer embedded the tip of his lance at the back of the thief's head. He also noticed the wound from his neck to back and had to wonder a bit why that was not enough to kill. Anyway, it won't be fun if the man go up and he had to fight again, he was too exhausted for that. He then looked at others, if anyone was looking at all, and said. "...just to make sure."

He then noticed a bottle at the bandit's sash, appearing more like a medicine bottle than a water bag. He picked it up with a spear and tossed the thing to the other man who was in need of one. He then checked on the ladies, focusing a little more with the one of the ground. He picked up a tome, worrying a bit if it was going to explode, and offered a helping hand to Ariel. "Need a hand?"

Ariel ducked into a ball when Charten threw a knife at her, only unrolling when she heard it clanging on steel. With a cry of surprise, she scuttled backwards, away from the sword that hovered dangerously close to her face, but by the time she fully regained her senses, Noah had already finished the mercenary leader. She looked around for her tome, and just as she got it into her sights she saw it was already being picked up by Wolfe, who came over to her to offer her his other hand. She took it, smiling.

"I'll be fine," she said, despite being a little wobbly on her feet. "I've got nothing that I can't fix with a good night's sleep." She took her tome back from him, checking it for damage. Satisfied with its overall condition, she looked around. "Can you see to Noah?" she asked Wolfe, "I'll go see if I can find Emilia..."

The tactician gratefully applied the medicine, feeling better quickly. Standing, Noah closed his eyes and considered. It occurred to him that he hadn't paid much attention to the why of the bandit presence... This was fairly out of the way. It was hardly an ideal place to ambush travelers. And there didn't seem to be enough of them for this to be their main base...

"Emilia. Could you check that man's pockets?" He asked, gesturing to the leader. If he was right, there'd probably be a key or two somewhere on his person. And if that happened, it could only mean they'd hidden some amount of treasure here as he suspected.

In the meantime, though... "Is everyone all right?" He asked, turning to the others. From the looks of things, everyone was fatigued, but uninjured. Perhaps the most worrisome was...

"Ariel. Are you sure you're going to be okay like that?" He asked pointedly, noting the shakiness in her stance. "If you need a shoulder, I'm still fine with this arm, and I'm sure Wolfe can help as well." He shrugged afterwards. "If he pleases, anyway."

"You will not have to ask for the service," Wolfe chuckled when Noah mentioned him when he spoke to the magician. Disregarding his shaky stance with a help of his lance, the man still kept his easy-going behavior, trying his best. "my shoulders would be pleasure to help you dear ladies, they can support both of you if needed."

He also turned to the red head and sent her a womanizing wink.

"Though, I have to wonder, if these desert thieves made your home their base." Wolfe said as he panned his sight for all the corpses. "Not many people traverse near this middle-of-nowhere place, nor they pet any camel to travel around. If they ar-- 'were' just a bunch of idiots, it doesn't fit well with any hypothesis I have."

Overhearing about the key, the lancer sat down near the dead man and searched his pocket, doing the girl a favor. At first, nothing that look like a key was found, however, something similar was hanging with a necklace. Wolfe cut the lace and showed the key to others.

"That is unless, the secret lies in whatever the wife of this guy has been keeping." Tossing the key to Noah, he said. "Should I assume you know where she is?"

It better be something worth his time and effort, though the lancer.

"I'm fine," Ariel said, "Honest." She understood that the men might have thought that she was in poor condition, considering she had drained her last bit of strength with that last spell. Still, she was an experienced Mage -just, not with this particular type of spells- and she had known to stop before she would deal herself lasting damage. Besides, at least -and she hoped she wasn't hardcore jinxing it by thinking this- she had not blacked out. She could recount the events of the entire day to herself, she hadn't lost patches of it. And no one of her party seemed affected by her own magic.

That in and of itself was a victory to Ariel... she interrupted her thoughts when she stumbled forwards out of nowhere, grabbing Noah's shoulder. "...on second thought, I'll take that shoulder." Wolfe found a key, and Ariel decided to focus on that rather than on the exhaustion.

"I... may have some clue," said Noah flatly, entirely unamused at Emilia's nickname for him. He maneuvered himself to support Ariel as he thought. The building that had been built the most sturdily, that had the most room, was most certainly an inn. He felt a hazy memory come to him, feeling that as a young boy he had overheard an innkeeper grumble about how strong he had to make the walls to deal with drunken and angry customers, and how much he had to pay to do that...

He drifted over to it, tracing his free hand against a wall even as he half-carried Ariel. He couldn't explain why he still knew the way. It almost felt familiar, but at the same time, it only reminded him of how far gone everything was.

As he walked into the inn he felt a sigh escape his mouth. Though the air was still arid and hot, his temperature dropped a few degrees. Inns were usually bustling; even more than seeing his town from afar this was an overpowering sign of its death. "It's probably here, somewhere..." murmured the tactician, looking around. It was mostly intact, though a thick blanket of dust and grime had made its home here, and there lay several broken pieces of furniture.

He stumbled over towards an intact chair, hoping to set Ariel down so he could search in more depth, bumping his foot against a board. After putting the dark mage down, he pried it up on a whim...

Noah saw something there, and used his sword to dig up more boards. Soon enough they were looking at a fairly generous-sized chest. With uncertain hands, Noah inserted the key. It didn't surprise him greatly that it opened, but...

The inside contained assorted gold and jewelry. Noah distantly remembered helping them to divide the spoils, but his mind was far away, towards the village of the past.

~~~End~~~​

First off, I want to apologize for taking so long to grade this thread. Between being sick, moving, and some serious family drama around Christmas, much of my free time over the past month was swallowed up. But we're not here to listen to me gripe, so let's move on to the RP itself: Bandit-bashing has been a time-honoured tradition in every Fire Emblem roleplay I've ever seen, and I suspect Ylisse will be no different. While the basic premise of "plucky strangers band together to fight nasty outlaws" is sometimes contrived, I thought it worked pretty well here. As a land ravaged by warfare, it makes sense that there would be no shortage of ghost towns for groups of ruffians to transform into their dens of villainy. The fact that this particular bunch happened to choose Noah's hometown was a nice personal touch, and I overall found this to be an enjoyable read, with a fun cast that bounced off each other nicely.

My only real problem plot-wise was how Noah somehow knew there were more bandits after they defeated the first group. Now, assuming that an encounter with bandits means there might be more skulking around is far from unreasonable, but Noah didn't provide any evidence to back this up, and everyone just sort of accepted it. I'm surprised no one raised the possibility that the initial group they encountered were the only bandits in the area. I mean, larger bandit gangs need more provisions and supplies to sustain themselves, and a ghost town in the middle of the desert probably isn't overflowing with resources. I recognize this is a little nitpicky, but it's my job to be nitpicky. :P

This was a very combat-heavy thread, with lengthy, detailed battles and lots of creativity and teamwork on all sides. I daresay the fighting was the highlight of the RP! Fantastic job, guys, expect lots of weapon experience.

On a final note, there were a few instances where I felt that people had misread or overlooked things in other RPers' posts. I think everyone was guilty of it at least once, and while nothing too major was missed, it happened often enough for me to take notice of it. Watch out for that.

Character-specific comments:

UD/Noah: +4 Levels, +3 Magic XP, +2 Swords XP

Your writing with Noah in this thread was characterized by a very detached, analytical feel that flowed beautifully with your combat posts. I was reminded of the way Sherlock Holmes fights in the movies: Making quick calculations and exploiting his foes' weaknesses on the fly. It felt particularly befitting of a strategist, and you did it without it feeling long-winded or out of place, so well done there. The only piece of criticism I can really come up with combat-wise is that there were a couple of times Noah was described as striking an opponent in the neck without it being treated as more than a minor inconvenience. I suppose the implication is that the blow was robbed of its momentum by a gorget or something, but I think it would be a good idea to describe the deflection of such a potentially-deadly attack in more detail, otherwise the grader is left to assume Noah just has a really weak sword arm. :P

Noah seemed a lot more self-assured this time around than he did in A Curious Audience, jumping into a leadership role and issuing orders with ease. Looks like when things get serious, he can really step up to the plate. It was great to see him use his tactical prowess to plan out ambushes- Too often it seems like bad guys get the jump on PCs, so it was nice to see the tables turned, so to speak, in this thread. At first I was worried that his character had taken a turn for the selfish, seemingly manipulating a bunch of people he had just met into helping him liberate the ruins of his hometown, but he later redeemed himself by holding off the bandits himself and yelling at the others when they endangered themselves to help him. His nice guy streak continues, for now~

On a more meta-note, I think you did a fine job running this RP and including everyone, especially given its length and emphasis on combat. *thumbs up*


Squishy/Emilia: +3 Levels, +4 Swords XP

Wow, Emilia is really aggressive and sadistic! Before you get the wrong idea, that's certainly not a bad thing- In fact, her personality was not only very consistent, but it made her stand out during the thread. I especially enjoyed her dynamic with Noah, and I hope she'll be able to interact with him more. I know from experience that "rude" characters can be hard to pull off, but I think you did just fine, here. Although I do have my doubts about her title being "The Charming Thief" (probably only because she'd stab you if you called her anything but charming).

Overall, I think you had a really solid performance here, and I'm having a hard time coming up with things to address. The only area of improvement I can really think of is that while your combat posts were good for the most part, there were a few times where I felt you could elaborate a bit more on the details; Emilia was more than once able to suddenly be behind her opponent without a description of her circling them or anything. Also, although I love the idea of hallucinogenic berserker poison, I think it might be a good idea to describe its effects in more detail rather than regard it as a purely mechanical thing. Like, what if someone was resistant to it or had an averse reaction? Just some food for thought.

Otherwise, congrats on a good RP!

BP/Ariel: +3 Levels, +3 Dark XP

As I've said to you before, I like Ariel. She has an adorably cheery, almost spacey demeanour, and I think her energy and positivity serve as a nice contrast to the general theme of tragedy among many Plegian PCs. She definitely reads like a nineteen-year-old girl, and her reluctance to assault the bandits' stronghold felt like a very believable reaction for her to have. She was probably also the most social and friendly of the cast, and it's a shame she didn't have much of a chance to chat people up amidst all the fighting. She did seem remarkably okay with killing people for someone her age, but her profile suggests that she's been in combat before, and besides, this is Fire Emblem, where teenagers regularly beat professional soldiers and cutthroat outlaws!

Speaking of killing people, you really went out of your way to portray Ariel's lack of experience with her magic, having her tire out quickly and act inefficiently during combat, yet still found ways to contribute creatively (targeting the awning and throwing a chair were particularly great), which was wonderful. I also enjoyed the delightfully sinister implication that Ariel's dark magic harms her whenever she casts it, a very interesting take on the school. I do think you overused the "throwing the book" gag, though. It was really funny and worked well the first time, but when she actually knocked a bandit out by hurling a dictionary at him, it felt pretty silly. It's more implausible than impossible, but... Ariel was exhausted and physically-drained, yet somehow was able to accurately throw a book heavy enough to knock someone unconscious?

There were a couple of times in the thread where you mixed RPer knowledge with character knowledge. You had Ariel notice Wolfe in the beginning, despite Vice's post clearly indicating that he was hiding, and Ariel also somehow knew Emilia's name before Squish had her reveal it. Be careful to avoid this in the future.

Other than that, excellent work. You do get slightly less WEXP, regrettably, since Ariel didn't use her weapon as much as the others...

Vice/Wolfe: +3 Levels, +4 Lances XP

Wolfe was a fun read throughout the thread. Although he had the silliest reason for being there, he was also the only non-Plegian in the cast, and his womanizing antics were hilarious Vice why must you always make ladies' man characters that get all the girls . It was neat how he often drew comparisons between his situation and sniping, and his reliance on the techniques he learned through archery, especially when he hunted the enemy sniper, were cool to see. He also seemed to be the most opposed to Noah's strategies in the thread- A consequence of his previous life as a lone wolf marksman, perhaps?

Like BP, I think you did a really great job of representing Wolfe's low level in combat by showcasing his relative lack of skill with lances as well as the disadvantages of being blind in one eye. At the same time, Wolfe was still effective when it came to a fight, dispatching foes in a reasonable manner. Great work!

The biggest flaw in your performance here was various grammatical mistakes scattered throughout your posts. I know English isn't your first language, so I can overlook a lot of it, but here it felt worse than other RPs I've seen you participate in. There isn't really a specific instance I can call attention to, so just keep at it, and I'm sure you'll improve.


Supports Granted:

Ariel x Wolfe
Noah x Emilia

Unfortunately, the nature of the thread combined with the fact that the cast more or less separated into pairs for most of it really worked against you guys when it came to supports. Ariel and Emilia exchanged very words throughout the RP, and Wolfe's attempts at flirting with Emilia went largely unrewarded. Noah and Ariel had a bit more interaction, but it seemed to me that every time they were about to achieve a deeper connection, Wolfe would swoop in and steal Ariel's attention away, the womanizing rogue! :P

...And I believe that's all! Sorry for the wait, and as always, any questions, comments, and complaints about this grading can be PMed to me. Darth signing off.