Board 8 > Labyrinth of Ishiene, Topic 3 [CYOA/Forum Game] [ITD8]

(+) Yeah! (+)

God Save the Admiral B we know potentially tempestuous naval battles lie ahead and Lana cant be sensed by the fairies anyway.
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I am fine with whatever (well more Liona or Prince) but I'll toss a vote for A
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B.
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5C

...what?
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The Silver Prince III
Admiral Liona II
Queen Lana II

more votes maybe?

looks like we might be seeing the SILVER PRINCE soon.

capture squad is going to be setting up a supply route. should be able to cover this in the next chapter. I think we're about halfway done with the postgame at this point?
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6. C

I always love a good tie
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A
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my shoulder hurts really bad so I don't know if I'm gonna write anything soon. if my shoulder feels better I will. if not I'll just wait and do something tonight.
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Capture Focus: Set up a Supply Chain
Special Ops Mission: Escort the Silver Prince

Next two chapters are lined up. I tried taking a nap and taking some painkillers earlier but my shoulder is still hurting. I will write later tonight though. Just not going to happen right now. Feel free to post in this topic in the meantime. If you guys pester me about wanting updates I'll be more enthusiastic about writing.
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wonder what shenanigans are comin and when things will go horribly wrong
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I hope this doesn't mean something bad is going to happen to Liona or Lana...
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surprise Sunday POV for all of my Fools who were requesting it earlier

let it be known I never forget

[Vigilant Sunday]

It was friday. Or was it saturday?
Maybe wednesday. Oh, who cared. It was so hard to keep track.
The passage of time moved too quickly here.
It was Sunday. The day she had been named for.

Her mother said that every Demon chose their own name, because they were usually born with sentience.
Sunday, however, was a special case.
Her mother had chosen her name for her.
She had not been born with sentience.
"You're not a pure Demon, anyway," Mother had said. "So I'll be the one to name you."
Mother was a bit of a narcissist.
The name ended up fitting decently, anyhow.
Although the spelling "Sundae" would have been better.
Sunay liked ice cream. She liked food in general.
Eating was one of the prime joys of sentient life.

In any case, a few minutes had passed already.
Or maybe a few hours. Or days. Or weeks.
Jeez, it was hard to say. Why couldn't life be easier?

They sailed east from the landing point and then landed their forces further along that way.
It was the mission of Sunday and her crew (and the ship that had tailed her) to start capturing the settlements.
Sunday thought the idea was kind of stupid. Well, at first.
After all it would be cooler if she could go and conquer some kind of super base or secret lair.
"We're here to liberate Arland," Queen Lana had said. "I think it will be important to take as much ground as possible."
"Winning the war decisively will require us to cover all of our bases."
"Capturing the Silver City is pointless if the enemy still owns ninety per cent of the terrain."
Well, when Queen Lana said it then it didn't sound stupid.
Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea after all.

They received word quickly that Martin had taken Lighthouse.
There was some kind of coded letter that Sunday didn't understand.
She had not bothered to learn the cipher which Brezwicz was trying to teach her.
Luckily, Macina had apparently been paying attention.
"It says the Silver Prince is going West to rally forces back to Lighthouse."
"They're sending Dalamar with him for some added protection," Macina explained.
Sunday didn't really care so much about that.
The Silver Prince was a creep. Dalamar was fine. He was weird. Not as weird as Aster.
Speaking of Aster, she had sent that guy with Macina while keeping Rainn with her.
It might have been better to split into three groups and cover more ground.
But, well, she wasn't exactly sure what... if anything... Rainn could do.

"Did you ever receive word from Undercity?" Sunday had inquired.
"Well, I told them they could send ships after us if they wanted to add their support,"
Rainn answered her. "It seems like we'll know in a few weeks what their answer was."
"Hm..." Sunday thought about that.
Crossing the Ganthian Ocean had proven more treacherous than anticipated.
Well, then again...
"I think they'll be fine if they do come," Rainn went on. He was surprisingly chatty at times.
Despite appearing standoffish and shy at first. Rainn was the type to warm up to others.
So quickly that he often didn't even realize it about himself. "Blue Wing is, um..."
"Well, ah, I don't know how to say it, but it seems like she was more interested in Brezwicz than the fleet."

"You think she'll ignore ships coming from Undercity, then?" Sunday inquired.
It was more of a rhetorical question, though.
Catching the hint, Rainn didn't feel the need to answer.
---

"I heard rumors about how scary Blue Wing was," Rainn continued.
They often chatted like this while riding between settlements.
There wasn't much else to do. In a way, Sunday was glad she had brought Rainn with her.
He went on. "Really she seemed more like a crazy ex-girlfriend or something."
"What was all that stuff about waiting seven years? And bringing her love to the battlefield?"

"The power of a Fairy comes from their Love," Sunday explained to him.
This was something she had learned while in Ret-Alt.
That was where she met Glim, who had explained a lot of stuff to her.
It felt odd to be the one telling other people about it now.
"Blue Wing had more Love than any other Fairy. When she was corrupted..."
"The power of DARKNESS tapped into that endless well of Love and made her an unstoppable force."

Ironically, it was this same power of Love that made the Fairies into such amazing servants of DARKNESS.
This antithesis to the power of Hatred, of Emptiness, was powerful.
It was so strong that it allowed them to partially resist the effects of the corruption.
This is why husks from various worlds were often turned into mindless slaves when infected.
But the Fairies... managed to maintain a semblance of themselves.
A prideful Fairy was still filled with pride. They kept their personality. Their hopes, their dreams.
Their intentions were bent to serve the conquest and usher for the will of the Dark Heart.
But, ultimately, the ability to think clearly and make their own decisions meant they were perfectly suited as generals.
They were the only race capable of leading and waging war in other Dimensions.

"So, wait, you think she's really in love with her?" Rainn said

Sunday shrugged. "I think if Blue Wing is in love, that will only make her stronger."
"I don't know her very well so I can't say for sure. It seems more to me like..."
It was sad to think about honestly. Even sadder to say it out loud.
"It seems like she was driven completely insane."
How would it be possible for Blue Wing, who had once been filled with such Love, to love anything again?
Ultimately, it felt more like she wasn't even thinking clearly.

They say that power drives people mad.
But, for the Fairies, they were infected with madness.
And the madness just happened to give them power.
Sunday didn't think she liked Blue Wing very much.
But she did pity her. Sunday... hadn't lost her Love.
She hadn't been infected. And the thought of being infected terrified her.
Especially after the things she had seen.

Sunday came across several settlements along the coast line.
Eventually they left the ships at one of the port towns and began to move inland.
They met very little resistance. Even with their small numbers it was easy to start securing land.
Most of the fighting had moved west, toward the Untamed Lands.
This is where the Beast Men and Blood Witches were fighting at the border of the Wild Stretch.
Sunday didn't know much about that.
This was her first time coming to Arland.
But she wanted to see a Beast Man while she was here.
It sounded like something interesting.
There was still a garrison at Light House and the Silver City,
As well as a skeleton force which had remained in Vera's Cape.

"Go ahead East," Sunday told Rainn.
In the town of Barral, she chose to establish a bakery as her command center.
"There should be a town there according to these maps."
"I think Liona said that once we get this far we shouldn't push it too much."
---

Rainn came over to the table and looked over the map with her.
He put his finger on it and ran his finger from one point to the next.
"Look how much ground we've covered already. Time flies."
"I've never been in war before, you know. It... was terrifying."
"They kinda threw me in headfirst there. Seeing Blue Wing, you know."
"I thought that shock would prepare me for the rest."
"But I still get scared before each battle."

Sunday didn't know anything about that.
She wasn't as reckless as a pure blooded Demon.
And, although she had a tendency to be cautious, it wasn't because of fear.
That was something she didn't seem to feel.
Instead, it was more just the result of her practical nature.
That much had kept her alive for now.

"You're doing fine," Sunday told him. She didn't know if it was true but it was probably nice to hear.
Rainn wasn't very good at fighting but he could at least give orders.
He was old enough that the soldiers would obey his commands as long as he didn't tell them to do anything stupid.
And he was smart enough that he didn't tell them to do anything stupid.

While Rainn was gone, Sunday received some letters.
The Vanguard had continued to push North and West.
Rather than trying to avoid the forces that would be coming back this way,
Martin seemed to want to converge the two fronts of battle before reaching the Silver City.
Sunday knew nothing about broad strategy so she had no idea if this was a good idea or not.
But Liona had approved of the plan, and so that meant it was probably a good plan.
Sunday liked Liona Brezwicz.
Although originally her goal had only been to befriend her to get close to Starlight.
But, well, Starlight wasn't Starlight anyway.
And Liona turned out to be a nice person.
Jessie Lawlier was quite dull, but not bad. Dalamar was a bit weird, but not bad.
Liona, however, was polite. That was a good quality to have.
It meant that she was always friendly but she never tried to get close.
Sunday didn't like when people were mean to her.
But she didn't like it when people tried to get close to her, either.
For that reason, Liona Brezwicz was really almost a perfect friend for her.
That quality of politeness meshed very well with Sunday's personality.

There was a coded letter here as well.
She sent someone to fetch Macina, who had ridden off to the North some time ago on her own.
She hadn't seen Macina in a little while. Not since she had split up her party into two groups.

Sunday looked through the other letters.
Erensworth hadn't encountered any Naval resistance.
He made a plan to sail back to Vera's Cape and seize it.
Seemed to be under the impression that the forces there would be leaving it undefended.
There were instructions to forward this letter to the Admiral.
For that reason, Sunday gave it to a rider and sent them back West.

There was a letter from Queen Lana. It urged her to be cautious and not make any hasty moves.
"I know you will be, but I still worry. I am your Friend after all."
Sunday smiled and put that letter away somewhere for safe keeping.

Some time passed. Sunday was thinking about how old she must be now.
Was she nine? Nine hundred? Over nine thousand?
It was hard to say.
She remembered being asked recently but she had given a nonsense answer.
She should have remembered what she said back then.
It might be important.
Or not.

All at once she got a feeling of anxiety.
She turned around and Aster Crawford was there in the command center.
"You sent for me," Aster declared as he strode in.

Well, she had sent for Macina.
"I need someone to decode this secret letter," Sunday told him.
---

Aster went to the desk and filtered through the letters.
He found the coded one. "What did you think of that battle at sea?"
His eyes skimmed the letter a few times.
Then, he set it down on the table and took out a blank sheet.
Macina must have taught him the cipher at some point.
He started to decode the message.
Sunday wondered if he had specifically learned it so he'd have an excuse to help her with it.

"There wasn't much for me to do," Sunday answered.
"Liona told me not to shoot my bow. I watched from the deck."
"None of the enemies came near my ship."

"I suppose you were lucky. I thought it was quite thrilling," Aster said.
"I've never been in that kind of battle before. Using my magic on such a grand skill was a challenge."
"But it felt so rewarding to succeed. Like nothing I'd ever done before."

Aster seemed quite happy to be talking about this kind of stuff.
It was true that when you talked about things you liked you would seem happier.
That much was evidenced by his behavior here.

Aster went on, almost without pausing. "How about that device that Dalamar had created?"
"I wonder exactly how that thing worked... it's possible that improvements could be made using...."
He started rambling about some kind of technical scientific and magical terms.
It was the kind of stuff that Sunday found pretty boring.
She tried to pay attention but she wasn't as polite as Liona Brezwicz.

"So what does it say?" Sunday asked at last.
It seemed as if he had finished decoding the letter.

"It says Queen Lana is moving North with her forces. She'll be supporting Martin and the others."
Aster looked over the letter again. "I supposed we'll have a role to play here, as well."

"What do you mean by that?" Sunday inquired.

"Well," Aster leaned over the table. The map she had been looking at earlier was still out.
He outlined some areas on the map and began placing tokens in various spots.
"We've established a perimeter around this area. Our goal was to capture land and establish a supply route."
"Especially if we can cut off the peninsula completely."
"Capturing the Silver City will be effectively taking back a third of the country of Arland."
"We'd be able to defend against everything from the West on one front."
"This is the ideal situation of the Silver Prince."

Sunday was starting to have trouble following.
I mean, it seemed obvious enough.
But his tendency to ramble and the fact that he hadn't answered her question was making it hard.
Specifically, hard to force herself to pay attention to him.

"Anyway," Aster said, finally getting to the chase. "We happened to meet the secondary objective of creating a curtain here."
"Essentially we'll know if any forces from Vera's Cape head this way."
"Because they'll have to pass by something that we captured along this path."
"Well... unless they go further North."
"In that sense of thinking," Aster speculated, "We'd want to move to this point quickly."
"Detford, looks like. The further North we go, the larger a curtain we create."
"And this curtain will allow Queen Lana to move safely until she joins forces with Martin."

Well, why couldn't he just start by saying that? Jeez.
"We should go North, then," Sunday concluded.
---

Aster left.
Rainn returned.
"We captured the village. There were some logging stands nearby as well," Rainn reported.
"I told the men to start sending wood back to Lighthouse."
"Although any villages along the way are welcome to use the supplies for repair or reinforcement."
"Um, well, if you're okay with that."

"Sounds like a good idea," Sunday said.
She really wouldn't have thought of doing that on her own.
This kind of big picture stuff was beyond her.
It was lucky that she had Rainn here to support her.
And, she had to admit it, Aster had been helpful as well.
Macina's ability to manage her own force was a useful addition.
But, soon, they'd be converging again.
Sunday explained her plan to start traveling North.
Rainn had no problems with this strategy.
However, he did think it was a good idea to figure out a few logistical things.
Rainn sat down with the elders from this village and the nearest ones.
They set up a system for sending food and other supplies back to the others.
It seemed that Rainn was very concerned with how the people were going to survive.
The food and other supplies they had been receiving from the occupying Fairy forces wouldn't last forever.
In that sense, Rainn was already taking steps to return them to a normal human-based economy.

"You're good at this kind of thing," Sunday observed.
Rainn looked somewhat embarrassed at being praised.
"I always helped the Elders manage our budget and things like that since I was young,"
he told her. "Besides, I think, um, sometimes... well... don't get me wrong, but..."
"They have good intentions," Rainn said at last. "But it's easy for the nobles like Reggie or Spade to forget the little people."
"I'm just, you know, I'm just a regular guy myself."
Rainn looked off into the distance, studying the sky. The clouds were pretty tonight.
Maybe that was occupying his attention. He also seemed to be remembering something.
"I worked with my hands, too. I made a living. When I see other people, the common folk, I identify with them."
"It made me think about how we should help them out."

As they traveled North together, they encountered some of the areas where Macina had already established a base.
Archers and riders had been left in each village to help scout the area and protect it.
This was something even Sunday had known to do.
It meant that they could quickly move word along between the different settlements as needed.
Rainn, Sunday noticed, was still collecting supplies from each village they passed through.
He never took anything without asking. But he only ever seemed to ask for junk.
A broken plow or axel from a wagon wheel.
Screws that had come undone from a barrel, but the barrel seemed to be holding just fine without the extra screw.
He'd actually been doing this since they left.
And Sunday wasn't really sure why.

"Are you thinking of selling that stuff?" Sunday asked. "Scrap metal?"
She'd heard of people doing weirder things to make money.
Although this hardly seemed like the time for it.

"I'm building something," Rainn told her.

Oh, so that's what he did. He built things.
Sunday thought about it for a moment.
The sun went down and rose a few more times.
They captured another village by going east, around the river bend, rather than wading across.
It seemed as if Macina had gone over the river and left this fishing village alone.

"What do you build?" Sunday inquired. She concluded that she was curious.
---

"Hm? Oh." Rainn, all at once, became alert and happy.
He reminded her of the way that Aster would talk when he spoke about using his magic.
Or while detailing one of his experiments in that rambling way that he did.
"Well, I had a few golems but I had to leave them in Undercity."
"Taking them over the mountains wasn't a good idea."
"Heck," he said, "Even if I had brought them to the Palace, I don't think I would have taken them out to sea."
"Ah... those little guys probably miss me, though."
"Anyway, I guess I miss them too. I wanted to build something else while I was here."

"Something to remember your time in Arland," Sunday observed. "That is quaint."

"Yeah." Rainn agreed. "I guess so."

A messenger rode out to meet them, from the South.
Brezwicz had received Erensworth's message.
She had sent another ship to support him, so there was no need for Sunday to forward it.
At this point, with her being so far inland, she was the last to receive communications anyway.
Even if she tried sending someone that ship would get there first.
Liona ordered Sunday to focus on protecting the Queen once she finished with her current task.
But, well, that much was obvious. Of course she was going to protect Lana.

Martin had also been hit by an arrow during one of his battles, and was wounded.
There wasn't any more details beyond that. But he did seem to be alive.
It seemed that even if you were good at planning battles you could still get hit by an arrow.
Sunday would have to remember that.

There was another coded letter mixed in with the bunch.
She'd have to wait till they met with Macina or Aster to read this one.
However, it was a strange letter.
It was also from Liona.
The messenger said that someone had followed him to Barral and delivered it there.
Why would Liona send a second letter after sending the first one?
Also, even though it had her name, the handwriting was a little different.
"Can a person's handwriting change?" Sunday asked.

"Um, I don't know," Rainn replied. "Maybe?"

Some more time passed. Sunday was pretty sure the season hadn't changed yet.
It was raining a few times but it didn't go from hot to cold or anything.

It was friday. Or was it saturday?
Maybe wednesday. Oh, who cared. It was so hard to keep track.
The passage of time moved too quickly here.
It was Sunday. The day she had been named for.
That was the day she met with Macina Mocol again.

"Macina," Sunday called out.
They rode into the holding at Kedfast.
There was a small village built around here.
As well as a keep.
Apparently it had been defended by some soldiers that were sent here from Glemoor when the invasion started.
Sunday wouldn't hear about the battle plan until later.
But it seemed as if Aster had used his magic to support the troops.
They were able to enter the keep during the cover of night.
The enemy, expecting a siege, was caught unaware and the place was captured.
This was a good position they could defend from if needed.
---

However, Macina wasn't ready to talk about it. Bigger things were going on already.
"Sunday, thank goodness you're here." The Lady Mocol looked distraught.
"We might be needed the extra strength. How many of your troops did you bring?"

"Um... 300? 4,000?" Sunday guessed.

"Eighty," Rainn corrected her. He looked annoyed for some reason.
Just what was the difference, anyway?

"What's going on, anyway?" Sunday inquired.

"The skeleton force abandoned Vera's Cape," Macina explained.
"I sent Aster to the east to try and harass their scouts and delay them."
"But it's likely they'll be making a push here."

"Hm." Sunday thought about it for a little while.
"Well, we've got this keep here. I suppose we can hold out if we need to."
But, truthfully, what she really wanted to do was head West and meet with Lana again.
However, despite her own selfish desires, she'd do as Brezwicz commanded.
Whatever Liona told her to do was obviously going to be the best for everyone.
That's because Liona was a lot smarter than Sunday was.

"Not sure we'll be so lucky," Macina said. "The enemy commander, a Fairy, is with them."
"They've abandoned the fort there completely and they want to crush our supply lines."
"If it were just soldiers we'd have the edge, but... well, do you have any special powers?"

"Not really," Sunday said.
Well, she did have one. But it wouldn't be too useful here.
Not unless her plan was to turn the forest around them to ash and destroy all of the fields.
But... she got the sense Rainn wouldn't be happy about that.
And, if she understood humans, the people of Arland wouldn't like it either.
It was better to just say she didn't have one.

"That's a problem, then," Macina went on. "I don't think Rainn or Aster can fight him."
That was bad. For sure, that seemed like it was a bad thing.
Was Sunday going to have to use her Demonic power...?
It wasn't something she wanted to do.

However, for Macina Mocol, she had chosen her words very carefully.
When she said "I don't think Rainn or Aster can fight him." she meant something very specific.
What she really meant, the words she left unsaid, were these words:
"I'll probably have to fight him by myself."

Sunday, at this time, wasn't even thinking about whether Macina could fight or not.
Since they hadn't been attacked at sea she hadn't seen Macina fight then.
Since she had split up and gone with Rainn, she hadn't seen Macina fight yet.
For that reason Sunday had no idea that Macina was capable of fighting.

She readied the Sea Quartz bow.
Taking it out and stringing it was quite an endeavor.
And it was very taxing to use the weapon.
Honestly, Sunday had meant to deliver it as a gift for someone else to wield.
But it seemed like most weren't capable of using it.
Since she was, well, that meant that it was her job to keep it.
Ever since she had come back from Ishiene's Labyrinth.
The other thing she had brought with her was still back in the Palace.

The enemy force appeared on the horizon before long.
Well, Aster was there too.
He and his small group of men seemed to be retreating.

"The fool," Rainn concluded. "Looks like he overstayed his welcome."

"I said harass. Not engage," Macina said, half in disbelief.
---

"Well, it looks like he's make it back alive," Sunday observed. Probably.
Arrows were raining down on Aster and his men while they fled.
One of them was struck with an arrow and nearly fell from his saddle.
But the rider beside him pulled up close and helped the other man.
They nearly crashed through the gates.
Those same gates were hastily closed behind them before the Vera's Cape army could reach the keep here.

Aster was panting as he came up to the ramparts to meet them.
"What do you think?" Macina asked. "It seems as if you've met him.
"Do we have a chance? Can Kedfast be defended?"

"He didn't do anything," Aster said. He merely shrugged and went somewhere to get water.

It wasn't long before the enemy was at the gate.
Their forces hung back and fired arrows at the battlements.
This made them hard to defend when a ground force moved up to the front of the keep.
They were able to use large shields, held above, to move a battering ram close to the gate.
"They're fast and efficient," Macina observed.
"We won't beat them on the walls. Might as well get everyone into the courtyard for the final push."

Sunday tried counting the troops but it was too much of a bother.
It did seem like her force was larger. They could win this.
She took the Sea Quartz bow with her downstairs, following Macina.
Somehow, Macina had taken control of the battle.
Instinctively, everyone seemed to be following her commands.
Sunday didn't mind too much.
She wasn't really smart enough to lead people into battle or anything like that.

After they abandoned the walls, the commander flung a flaming bag of tar over them.
Then another, and a third. Fire was raining down on them from the walls above.
Apparently leaving the walls without anyone up there wasn't the best idea Macina ever had.
When the gate came down, smoke was rushing into the courtyard.
She could hear them coming in through it even she couldn't see them.

Sunday stayed in the adjoining hall which connected the west tower and battlements to the courtyard.
From here, perched on the stairs, she readied her bow and looked for something to shoot at.
Several of the archers had hung back with her and taken up this vantage point as well.

As the first enemy forces rushed in through the haze, they were caught with arrows.
Her Arrow of Fate, fired from the Sea Quartz bow, landed without fail.

Aster was able to use his magic of Kinetics to enhance the power of the soldiers,
But he could only bring about ten men with him for this kind of tactic.
It created a strange effect.
Yes, he was only able to lead ten men across the field.
However, each of them fought like three or more. He turned a force of ten into a force of thirty.
Aster, in the middle of the crowd, didn't even hold a weapon.
He had his textbook with him to help with on-the-fly calculations.
When a sword stroke fell too short, or clashing weapons would reflect off of each other --
He used his magic to infuse the energy behind the attack and boost the power of his ally.
Like a swarm of champions, then, those ten men waded into the battlefield. An unstoppable force.
Rainn had a crossbow and was hiding near the pantry.
He didn't even remain with the other archers.
Instead, he chose to take pot shots at his opponents with sneak attacks only.

Then, Sunday saw the enemy commander.
She could tell just by looking at him that he was a Fairy.
It wasn't like she could sense him before seeing him, no.
But it was possible for her to positively identify someone as a Fairy just by looking.
It was the same with Starlight. Although Starlight wasn't really Starlight.
Sunday raised the Sea Quartz bow.
---

"It's your Fate to be struck down here," she muttered to herself.
She pulled the string back as tight as possible.
The tension was rising from her feet.
She felt it burning in her feet.
Something inside of her gut was twitching.
Her lungs expanded, swelling, and then grew small and shrill.
Her arms felt sore. There was pain in them from holding the bow at full.
Then, all at once, she unleashed it. The pain and her intentions.

There was a crack and a whistle as the arrow bit the air between them.
It seemed to collapse the space and rush into the opponent with an unrealistic amount of force and velocity.
Without a doubt, that Arrow of Fate, would strike the target it was intended to strike.

CRUNCH!

The head of the arrow hit the ground, point first.
It seemed this one had been fated to miss.

Only then did she notice that the enemy was looking back, directly at her.
His finger was pointed this way. Pointed at her.
No, more specifically... it was pointed along the course that the arrow had flown.
Had he changed the flight path somehow?

Men were fighting all around them. The two sides continued to clash.
Sunday readied another arrow.
She took a deep breath.

All at once, the Kinetic infused soldiers rushed at the enemy commander.
All ten of them still stood. They were the untouchable champions, after all.
Aster had infused them with magic and taken them beyond the limits of normal men.
There were soldiers between them and the enemy commander.
They moved into position to attack.
Two of them went head on, the most courageous of the bunch.
They knew there was a risk of death but also the promise of glory.
The three at their flanks moved to intercept the defensive line that was forming.
Meanwhile, the rest hung back and waited to charge into the gap.

Aster stepped ahead, planting his feet firmly in the breach.
A gust of wind seemed to blow across him. The pages of his book turned furiously.
His hand was glowing, and wires of pure mana seemed to extend from his form.
They attached to his allies, infusing them with greater strength, greater speed.
Even above that seen before.

An enemy hulk vaulted over the battlefield.
They had only brought one with them.
But with these damn things sometimes one was enough to make a huge impact.
It ignored the battle for the commander and instead landed in the middle of Macina's squad.
It began flailing about wildly, going berserk, and slashing wildly at everything around it.
Sunday turned her bow that way and began to pull the string back. Aster would be fine.

ZIP!

She heard the snapping of string, but it wasn't her own.
Those strings of pure mana were cut.
A psionic shock ripped through the space between them.
And, at that moment, the men Aster had brought with him... faltered.
The first two fell upon the swords of their enemies.
Two of the flankers were caught with surprise attacks.
The third managed to get his shield up and was battered back.
The reserves moved up to support him.
Aster, panicking, advanced as well.
No. No. Don't advance.
The enemies formed a wedge and pushed right for him.
His soldiers were knocked aside. Three more perished from swords and a lance.
The man impaled with a lance, seemed to still be alive. He was dragged across the ground and continued fighting from this position.
But it wasn't nearly enough.

CRASH!

Sunday's arrow of Fate slammed into the Hulk, striking it through the neck and taking it to the ground.
Macina and her soldiers began to rush forward.
---

The soldiers with Aster were no longer enhanced with magic but they weren't shocked anymore either.
They started to fight like normal men.
Surrounded on all sides, as the enemies flanks began to turn in on them.
Yes, it was a bad position.
But they still could fight. They formed a ring of blades around Aster and started to cut outward at anyone who came near.

Sunday, feeling her arms burn with pain, drew another arrow.
Her eyes started to grow hot and wet. The pain was almost unbearable.
Fire was running through her spine and her head started to hurt.
"Ggg...." She placed it against the string.
Why did this damn bow have to be so heavy?!

Rainn charged forward. He drew a bottle of something that was clipped to his belt.
Then, with a flourish, he set fire to the neck of the bottle and lobbed it into the air.
"Aster!" he shouted. There was no command, no question.
His words probably didn't mean to make sense. He was just worried and panicked, and shouted.

The enemy commanded pointed his finger in the air.
Then, the bottle, which had been descending in an arc, stopped.

It exploded. Fire ignited the liquid inside.
Don't get me wrong.
That was the intended effect.
The explosion was intended.
But it should have landed on the enemy before exploding.
Instead, fire and shards of glass dropped on the melee like a curtain.

Two men with lances charged into the thick of the melee.
Macina was right behind them.
They trampled over the forces which had nearly seized Aster.
At that point he was on the ground, with an enemy hand at his throat.
There was a single warrior left fighting beside him.
And that man's armor had been stripped away and there was a hole in his side.

Sparks hit Macina on the back. Her cloak caught fire.
The lancers dropped their weapons, not having time to pull them free.
They drew short swords.

Sunday felt blood running from her nose.
She couldn't hold it anymore.
She fired another arrow.
Somehow, maybe call it instinct, she knew she wouldn't be able to hit that Fairy.
Instead, she fired at an enemy soldier who was moving on Aster.
Aster, still on the ground, hadn't recovered yet.
Killing him in that position would have been easy.
Instead, the enemy got shot in the ear for his trouble.

A burning cloak was dropped on the ground.
Macina looked like herself in that moment.
She was both a Lady and a Warrior.

Within the next few seconds, the forces which had followed Macina reached him.
Aster was trampled below as the two sides clashed and began beating each other wildly.
They got in so close they couldn't even use their swords.
Instead, they were smashing against the opponent with the hilt of a blade.

Macina, however, and her two companions, had pushed through the thick of it already.
Smoke, rising, had obscured the field of battle.
But she closed the distance and reached the enemy.

Sunday felt her hand burning. She flexed her fingers, opening and closing that hand.
Then, looking at it, she thought 'I have to try again. I have to fire another arrow.'
At that moment she saw a red line of blood across her palm.
And she knew there was nothing she could do.
"Forward..." she muttered angrily.
The other archers, with her, descended off the stairs and got closer to the melee where they could fire into it.

"It's not going to work," Sunday mumbled. "Whatever you shoot at him, he'll deflect it..."
She was watching anxiously as Macina moved to match her might against the enemy Fairy.

However, if Macina could have heard her, she would have had this to say.
"It's not my intention to shoot anything."
---

Macina drew a short sword and held it in a double handed grip.
The opponent brought out a hammer he'd been wearing at his belt.
He didn't have a shield with him, but he grabbed one from a fallen opponent.
The first soldier who rushed him met the shield instead, and was knocked away with the hammer.
Macina moved forward, feinted, and then pulled back.
As the opponent extended, her second soldier tried to catch him.
Though he was off balance he was capable of parrying the strike.
Macina knew that he was not going to be an easy opponent, then.
However, his power seemed specifically related to ranged attacks.
It was the Total Ranged Defense Web.
For that reason, if she could beat him fairly in a duel, his power wouldn't give him an edge.
That meant she did have a chance.

The soldier advanced on the Fairy commanded.
He fell back, pacing backwards into the smoke.
"No-" Sunday cried out. But her voice wouldn't reach them.
Macina hesitated.
The soldier rushed forward.
Then, using the cover, the Fairy leapt back out of the smoke and took him down with a single strike.
Macina was all alone now.
She didn't fall for the bait, even when he retreated a second time.
Even as the sound of battle behind her picked up.
She couldn't worry about what was happening back there.
Sunday saw someone dragging Aster away from the melee.
He was not conscious.
One of his hands was crumpled up and held tightly against his chest.
Most if not all of his fingers on that hand seemed to be broken.

Macina looked as if she was going to feint again, but then followed through on her strike.
The opponent had hedged his bets and ended up with a light gash rather than being impaled.
Not wanting to lose the momentum, Macina chased him and slashed horizontally.
But his shield saved him. He definitely had an edge as long as he was holding that.

Macina took two paces forward.
Just then, she knew what she had to do.
It was all or nothing.

Macina rolled forward and rose to one knee just beneath the opponent.
He turned his weight, shifting it.
His shield, predictably, was pulled aside.
And, at that moment, the hammer fell down on her from above.
Macina's sword rose to meet him in a double handed thrust.
If she was faster she'd kill him without getting hurt in the process.
If he was faster, if he didn't hesitate, he'd crush her skull and probably suffer a minor wound.
She was counting on the fact that Rainn would bring the others forward and swarm the commander.
He might be strong but he wasn't strong enough to fight a dozen men at once.
The reality ended up being somewhere in the middle.
Her sword struck the enemy commander in the gut,
and he hesitated long enough that she was able to turn aside from his return stroke.
Instead of a lethal blow to the skull she suffered a crippling injury.
There was a loud popping sound and her shoulder surely broke as she was knocked back to the ground.
The enemy spun, his shield falling out of his hand, and he fell to the ground as the sword was ripped out of his gut.

By the time Sunday reached Macina, the battle was already decided.

Her arm needed immediate treatment.
The camp surgeon said it would have to be amputated,
But with the use of magic healing they were able to at least save that from happening.
Still, her arm ended up in a sling and would need to heal naturally.
Too much magical healing would cause the tissue to become weak and it would never fully recover.
It was better to simply save the arm with magic and then let it recover naturally on its own.
Aster was awake again when they got back to the command room.
Men had been sent on the battlements to put out the fires. Rainn had gone with them.
---

Macina was fighting back tears. Sunday could tell she was in a lot of pain.
However, despite their losses, the day had been won.
Sunday felt like that was a hard fought but important victory.
If they had lost here, things would have been really bad.

Then, all at once, Sunday remembered something important.
She took out the letter which Liona Brezwicz had sent her.
Neither Aster or Macina were in great condition,
But they were both awake. And this might be important.
"I forgot," Sunday said. "Could you all look at this for me?"

Macina's broken arm was her writing arm, so there wasn't much she could do.
Aster had many broken fingers but luckily they were on his off hand.
As he decoded the message his face went gray and then completely white.
Then, it almost seemed, his face turned completely black as he was taken over by shadow.
Even Aster was unable to find any words to speak at that time.

He turned the letter around, so it faced Sunday. So she could read it for herself.

'EMERGENCY.
SPECIAL UNIT MOVED IN.
QUEEN LANA CAPTURED.
HEAD WEST IMMEDIATELY."

Sunday looked up at the ceiling for a moment. "Oh."
Then it seemed as if she lost track of time again.
She was out in the courtyard.
Then she was outside.
She felt dizzy.
Standing up was hard.
She fell to her knees and let out a wild scream.
An inferno erupted all around her.
Leaves that were green turned brown.
Had Autumn come again? Or was this something else?
Embers floated in the air around her.

It was Rainn who came to meet her.
It had been ten weeks and seven days since she last saw Queen Lana.
Even that long had seemed like quite an eternity.
If Lana had been captured did that mean she wouldn't see her again?
That was... unacceptable.

"You forgot your horse," Rainn said simply.
He had ridden here on his, and brought Sunday's horse with him.
"Shall we ride together again? West, I think Aster said."
His face was still covered in smoke and it looked like a bit of oil and blood.
The battle must not have been too long ago.

Sunday climbed onto her horse. Wordlessly.

"Don't worry," Rainn said, as they found the trail. "We'll find her."

"Oh, I know," Sunday said. She wanted to sound sure but her voice sounded empty.
Then all at once, her body began to tingle. Then all at once, her eyes were full of fire.
"I'll find her. Even if I have to burn all of Arland to the ground."
Her voice, as well, was full of fire.
The ground beneath her was burning as she rode.

It was no longer her intention to liberate Arland.
Her only goal was to destroy everything standing between her and Queen Lana.
Rainn gave her an odd look.
He looked scared for some reason.

Maybe he was worried about Queen Lana, too.

[Chapter End]

7. Should Reggie go...
A. To Vera's Cape to meet up with Erensworth. Await directions based on circumstances.
B. Out to the Broken Isles to look for Undercity fleet. Keep watch for Catharsis forces.
C. West to the Untamed Lands. Transport Arland Reinforcements.
---

Think its the faulty letter?

Although Sunday and Rainn seems like they are going that way one way or another so I dunno about Reggie
---

the letter wasn't faulty, it was written sloppily because Liona wrote it quickly while in a panic. Sunday doesn't understand this. so she just thinks that the handwriting is different. writing from Sunday POV was very interesting because there's a lot of stuff she doesn't "understand" and so I had to convey it as best as possible without her being able to know things she doesn't know.

Edit: Plus you can imagine Liona typically does not write in ALL CAPS either
---

Ah I see. Ya never know so I figured I'd mention the possibility

In any case I'll go with C for now
---

yeah that was probably a failing on my part. difficult section to write.

I wanted to convey the rising sense of tension that something was wrong as soon as Sunday received the second letter, BUT I couldn't explicitly say something like 'it looked hastily written' because Sunday has no idea what a hastily written letter looks like. to her it just seems like different handwriting.


wish I succeeded at making it more clear but still ambiguous enough to leave a TWIST at the end.
---

trying to accurately portray the movements of several large forces during a wartime campaign, using a limited POV, requires a surprisingly large amount of text. hence the length of a lot of these chapters. anyway I figured I would put in a tiny bit of extra effort and make an updated tactical map. no reason for me to waste all of that time typing up stuff and then have people still not be able to visualize it. a map goes a long way.



1. Martin is pushing North and West to "cut off" the peninsula. this strategy was discussed during the chapter. essentially if Martin can stop the Western forces from getting back to Glemoor then they should be able to hold everything to the east of the red line that he draws on the map.

2. Lana was moving to support Martin, specifically to protect him from being rear attacked from Glemoor reinforcements. However an enemy general or an agent specifically from Glemoor captured her at some point along the way. Obviously right now it's unclear exactly what happened.

3. Sunday moves along the coast and then starts moving North, establishing a secondary "curtain" to protect Lana's forces from reinforcements that might come from Vera's Cape. It's important to note that while stuff happened in the West that she couldn't control (Lana being captured), she actaully DID succeed at this task. she created a strong defensive curtain AND defeated the forces from Vera's Cape when they marched West. Additionally, their primary objective was to try and establish a supply line and Rainn accompanying the group actually helped a lot in this regard. He's been coordinating with the locals over the last two months. So basically all of the coastal and inland settlements along this route are WELL established. The place where Macina and Aster split is marked in purple, and their alternate route is shown as well. I kinda messed up a little in drawing it, just go by what the text says to avoid any contradictions.

4. Erensworth has sailed back around the cape to look for enemy fleets and didn't see any movement. At this point he independently made the decision to sail back to Vera's Cape which was a major move. Essentially he anticipated the skeleton force here would either collapse easily or they'd be moving toward Sunday's curtain. Either way he could capture the keep here, which he has presumably succeeded in doing.

As for the remaining choices hopefully this helps give some idea of how to approach the option for what to do with Bartlesby. To break his options down a bit further basically think of it this way:

A. Liona is unsure what the situation at sea is like, so she sends Bartlesby after Kennedy. They'll meet up around Vera's Cape and then, based on the current situation, Kennedy will give him additional orders. This strategy benefits most from Kennedy's ability to make decisions independently. However it has the drawback that it is the SLOWEST strategy because Liona isn't making a decision, she's sending him somewhere else and then he waits for Kennedy to make a decision.

B. This one is a bit less obvious but it's the best "defensive" option. Essentially Reggie will cover their tracks a final time which will make a naval ambush impossible, and he'll be on the lookout to secure a safe passage for any reinforcements arriving by sea. Additionally, if there's anything going on at or near Catharsis he'll be able to gather intel and report back.

C. The most straightforward choice. We know there's a "token" force waiting in the west with the Silver Prince heading there and he has a strong escort to make sure that he'll reach his forces safely. Ultimately this is sort of like... the most 'sure bet' in terms of risk, but it also offers little rewards. SP's forces will be coming back east no matter what. This just gets them into position more quickly.
---

The is absolutely not the group Aster should have been sent with.

I love it, haha
---

Oh didn't know SP forces were heading that way no matter what, I assumed C was to direct them there or have more troops than usual over there

Well with that I am also kind of leaning to B with my main hangup being if they handle any potential navy battles without too many losses compared to potential gain and hope that Blue Wing doesn't decide to show up again. I mean if Undercity did send ships then covering them to get more ships to do stuff with is always good (this is assuming they DID send ships of course and without assist they may get rekt and potential fairy ships come anyway).

Also potential intel would always be good for Liona to get her hands on to prepare in advance

JeffreyRaze posted...

The is absolutely not the group Aster should have been sent with.

I love it, haha

I dunno, turning 10 EMS into 30 EMS seemed pretty valuable at the time for the non main attack force
---

Aster's effective, but he has no idea what he's doing on the battlefield. He didn't exactly use those enhanced soldiers effectively. He's no commander, and he's not suited to be on the front line either.

EDIT: Don't get me wrong here, what Aster did was pretty damned awesome, it's just that this isn't the sort of arena he's most suited for.
---

like Rainn, Aster is slowly gaining experience as they fight more and more battles. Liona was wise to send this group along the coastline first because the settlements here were essentially guaranteed victories but also served the purpose of giving people like Rainn, Aster and even Sunday and Macina some experience in real combat/war (with Macina having lots of combat training but no practical experience and Sunday being in fights before but not understanding the finer points of war)

essentially their whole march from Lighthouse to Kedfast was just one big training arc to prepare them for the battle against the forces from Vera's Cape. if this had been their FIRST battle they all would have been totally inexperienced and probably gotten overwhelmed.

another fun little tidbit is that it ended up being a huge deal that Sunday wasn't able to read the cipher. if she had read the letter earlier she would have turned West and abandoned Kedfast. Macina MIGHT have been able to pull off a narrow win here but with heavy losses, and Aster would've been killed in the process. because she needed Macina or Aster to read the letter she had to go and save them first before getting the bad news (Sunday didn't play a huge role in the battle aside from a few key shots, but she did bring 80 men with her which was a huge deal in terms of giving them the numerical advantage over the invading force)

that being said their inexperience still shows in how easily the keep was taken. the defending force should be able to hold the walls even with inferior numbers. here they had superior numbers but still lost to the tactics of the enemy commander and ended up in a risky, pitched battle.
---

Going with B.
---

Reggie To...
Vera's Cape
Broken Isles I
Untamed Lands I
---

B.
---

sunday is adorable

MariaTaylor posted...

"Sunday, thank goodness you're here." The Lady Mocol looked distraught.
"We might be needed the extra strength. How many of your troops did you bring?"

"Um... 300? 4,000?" Sunday guessed.

"Eighty," Rainn corrected her.

so good
---

B
---

it isn't just the fact that her answers were so disparate from each other, but they were also so far off the mark she wasn't even in the right order of magnitude. who needs to know how to count???
---

Or how to read,ha
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Dalamar Protecting Silver Prince

Reggie To...
Vera's Cape
Broken Isles III
Untamed Lands I

More votes would be fine on the Reggie thing. There's theoretically 5 people who haven't voted yet, 6 if you count Jeff. so yeah it's not as decided as it looks right now. Odds of a chapter tonight are fairly low. With the bigger chapter size we've been having, every day updates would probably be overwhelming. For me and for you guys.
---

Veras Cape
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Sorry if it was explained before but why does everyone feel so at ease and confident around Jessie? Is it the fact that she's basically a living legend or is there something else going on?
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Big rep and FRIENDSHIP boosting perk and I boosted that I think so now its probably SUPER FRIENDSHIP boosting
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Pirateking2000 posted...

Big rep and FRIENDSHIP boosting perk and I boosted that I think so now its probably SUPER FRIENDSHIP boosting

Ah, right. Remember now.
---

oh, boy.... Jess. well, I guess I'll give a full history dump.

she actually is from another dimension, specifically an alternate version of our Earth from around the 1980's. she was a major character in Catharsis if you're unfamiliar or don't remember so I'll try to give more background info for those who are curious. so basically she was incredibly depressed and it's implied she had a terrible home life, and attempted to commit suicide when she was in her teenage years. however, instead of dying for some reason she was transported to Purgatory instead (it's likely that Keyuri, the RED DEATH, must have had something to do with this since there's no other explanation).

once Jess woke up in Esland she went on a childhood quest to defeat the Glass Heart Witch and liberate the Northern Tundra as a sort of Wizard of Oz parallel (many of the characters of Catharsis were references or parallels to characters from classic tales. Val played the role of Peter Pan for example, while Jess was essentially a Dorothy type). the story of Catharsis actually begins 10 years after this, when she is no longer a childhood Hero but instead just a friend of the king and loyal servant of the realm. she was offered a chance to return home but chose to stay in Esland instead because she is happy here. think of this as a parallel to the Wizard of Oz scene where Doroty returns to Kansas. Jess, instead, is a subversion of this trope. she doesn't want to go back to her shitty life, she wants to stay in this magical realm where she is happy.

now, Jess actually has some kind of special power which probably has something to do with the fact that she's from another Dimension. in the most strict terms she is not a 'Human' as they are defined in Purgatory. yes, she was a 'Human' in her home dimension, but HERE she is considered an "Outsider" (which is a blanket term for beings that come from other Dimensions). It was explicitly stated that she has a special aura which boosts the courage of her allies as well as reducing their tension. Essentially, being around Jess at all makes people believe in themselves and it makes them feel more at ease. Obviously this will make it incredibly easy for her to make friends. for the record, I got the idea for her power directly from the Oz stories -- there's specifically a line where Dorothy is cited as being the strongest character by one of the other characters, because she has the ability to inspire her allies and make them believe in themselves. I thought that was a REALLY interesting power to have. as for stuff like her skill at riding and jousting, these just come from 20 years of experience as a Hero of Esland.

additionally as pk2k mentioned above, there was a period during the Catharsis game where players were offered a chance to Boost the power level of any character on the roster. the person who won the Boost power chose to apply it to Jess. I believe his intention was that by boosting Jess (since her power was known), they would effectively boost the power of every player character (since her power is to boost others, boosting her boosts EVERYONE). so yeah her power is even stronger than it initially was when she first came to Esland.
---

Given how humanity has managed to survive so far, Jess' power is absurdly strong.
---

I actually designed all of the NPCs in that game around the idea that I didn't want them to do much, but wanted the players to take the spotlight. Jess for example was better at boosting allies than doing anything herself (well, she was a capable jouster but it never came up). Val was a spy. Elita Brezwicz (Liona's aunt) was a spy. Essentially they were better at getting information to the player characters or making plans and giving the PCs more time to shine. Aldus, who was supposed to lead the expedition, was a terrible leader. This forced people like Kent, Aven, and Setsuna to take the leadership roles.

Also another interesting note about Jess's subversion tale, I specifically got the idea from Return to Oz more than The Wizard of Oz. In the Wizard of Oz they want to euthanize her dog but Dorothy still chooses to go home at the end. This is bizarre but then again she does miss her friends and family, and it's possible that since Toto didn't really do anything wrong that he'd be fine. It's an understandable choice at least. Fast forward to Return to Oz. Her aunt and uncle abandon her in an insane asylum where she is being given electroshock therapy and other creepy shit, but gets the chance to go to Oz again. Then at the end of the movie, she makes the inexplicable decision to return to Kansas a SECOND TIME. This is beyond nonsensical and there's just no way to justify this decision. Dorothy at this point has nothing to return home to. Her family doesn't trust her, they didn't support her, they abandoned her. If she goes back with more stories about this wonderful world of Oz they'll just continue to think she is crazy and that she tried to drown herself. Seriously, what was she thinking, going back? She literally could have stayed in Oz where she was friends with royalty, had tons of love and support, and was a hero who saved the world multiple times. I assume many people haven't seen Return to Oz so I blacked that out.
---

To be fair, the original story was pretty dark and terrifying at times from what little I've seen of it.

Though I absolutely would've stayed in Oz and that's without all the shit Dorothy had to deal with in the real world.
---

I had no idea there was even a sequel to the wizard of Oz...
---

Most people don't, the sequel movie was actually animated and much darker than the original while barely making any sense because it followed the book so much more than the original did
---