You awoke with a small start. The dream you’d been having had been something that you…had been certain you’d had before, even while in the dream.

However, as soon as you had awoken, it was gone, like a puff of smoke. You frown as you attempt to move. There was something lying on your arm. You blink, and as the sleep-haze begins to clear itself from your eyes, you see that Amelia is currently the ‘little spoon’ to your ‘big spoon.’

You blanch, not entirely certain how to deal with this new predicament. You’d comforted her yesterday and you were really hoping that didn’t send the girl any wrong signals. Not that you even knew that she-

You decide to cease this line of thought for the moment. There were more important things to worry about. Lifting your body up a bit, you see that both Vrand and Trel are both asleep on the floor, leaving you as the first one awake. Glancing back at Amelia, you know that she’s going to need to either wake up, or you’re going to need to retrieve your arm to wake up the others and let her sleep. Assuming such was even a possibility.

You turn back over onto your back, experimentally trying to flex the fingers of the arm Amelia was currently lying on. Yep. They were numb.

>Wake up Amelia to rescue your arm
>Try to sneak your arm out to let her sleep and wake the boys
>Other (Write-in)

>>34167229
>Wake up Amelia to rescue your arm

>>34167229
>>Try to sneak your arm out to let her sleep and wake the boys

>>34167308
>>34167420

Looks like I'm getting creative. Writing it up!

>Wake up Amelia to rescue your arm
>Try to sneak your arm out to let her sleep and wake the boys

You frown. You need to get your arm out, one way or the other. You’re pretty certain all that blood loss can’t be good for you. Gently, you try to withdraw your arm from beneath her. You get about all the way to your wrist before she starts to move. You frown, pausing as she moved, before rolling over onto her back, and then towards you.

You blink, her face now a few inches from yours. And now she was even more intently on your arm. The sudden movement had given you bit of blood back into your limb, but it wasn’t enough, and you sighed. This probably wasn’t going to work. Still, you had to try…you pulled again, but the woman shifted above your arm once more.

This time, her eyelids flickered, and you gave a small huff. Might as well just wake her. “Hey,” you said softly, placing your hand on her shoulder, giving her a little shake. “Amelia. Wake up,” you whispered, not really wanting to overwhelm her at the moment.

The girl’s eyelids flickered again, and she gave a small yawn as they finally began to open, the lime-green eyes staring right into your own. “Eeyah!” she cried, moving backwards away from you, and then onto the floor. The cry and the thud had woken both Vrand and Trel, the two males sitting up almost immediately, Vrand still mostly asleep from what you could tell.

“Sorry!” you called out, waving your left (and not asleep) hand at her, while the pins and needles slowly began to invade your right. “I tried to not wake you up, but…”

The girl gave a small grunt as she used the nearby desk to stand. “No, no…it’s fine,” she murmured, giving a low yawn. “I…just didn’t expect you that close. That’s all,” she spoke, a small flush on her face. You shook your head before turning to look back at the boys, who were just now getting up.

1/2

“I don’t know what’s worse. Waking up to my dad or you,” Trel grunted towards Amelia, who returned with a rude gesture, the girl trying to smooth out her hair.

“Have we spoken with the elf yet?” Vrand asked, still bleary-eyed.

The elf! You’d forgotten, but the elf, Astaris, said he would speak to you all today. Granted, it was hard to tell exactly what time it was…but with how exhausted you were, you can’t imagine that you only had a small bit of sleep. You shake your head at the male. “Nah. Not yet. We all just woke up. I don’t think there’s been time for that yet.”

Trel gives a low grunt. “Well I’m hungry, and I’m bored already from having nothing to do last night. Let’s just go.”

Vrand and Amelia nod, the two of them still struggling to wake up, while it seems Trelthar is already quite awake, much like you. Always been morning birds. Still, you’d rather not chance walking into a blanket of the Fog. Who knew what it could do?

>Open the door. It’s probably fine by now anyway.
>Call for the Elf to see if it is, in fact, safe.
>Other (Write-in)

>>34167909
>>Open the door. It’s probably fine by now anyway.

>>34167909
>>Call for the Elf to see if it is, in fact, safe.

Better to be safe than sorry!

>>34167909
>Call for the Elf to see if it is, in fact, safe.

>>34167987
>>34168143

Time to talk to Astaris, it seems. Writing it up!

>Call for the Elf to see if it is, in fact, safe.

Your allies seem to think it’s fine, but you’re not entirely convinced. The last thing that needs to happen is for you to open the door and let in a whole mess of Fog. “Let me just…check,” you say, and the others seem to accept this, for now. Leader privileges, yes.

You move forward to the door, and knock on the door once. “Ah…Astaris?” you call out, hoping to everything you’d remembered his name correctly. “Is it safe to come out?”

There was a period of silence, before you heard a faint voice call back. “It is unlocked.” He had it locked, before, but as you tried it, you realized it was unlocked. Youglance back to the others and nod. Turning the handle, you open the door into a hallway.

The right seemed to dead end, but the left simply opened up into a large circular room. The room with the sapphire gemstone. The others follow you out, and Amelia almost immediately gives a small cry, her hand moving to Trelthar’s shoulder, as he was the nearest to her.

He glances back at her. “We’ll keep it from doing…well, whatever it did before,” he grunts, before he looks back forward.

“Ah, there he is!” Vrand calls out, pointing forward. Ahead of you, standing at one of the stations around it, is a tall humanoid. A robe covers his body, though you can easily see the pointed ears even from here. “Come on,” he urges, and you all move forward.

The male seems to be intently staring at something at one of the stations. When you look, you see naught but gibberish, but you suppose it could be written in elvish, or something equally foreign. “I see you’ve made it through the night. Very well,” he speaks, his tone and choice of words a little…off.

You glance back at your companions. “Yes. I…suppose we should thank you, for giving us that room?” you ask, not entirely sure what his intentions are.

[1/2]

File: Astaris.gif (473 B, 32x32)

473 B GIF

His eyes, which you note are completely black, save for a small ring of green, slide to you. “A woman speaks for the group. Interesting,” he murmurs to himself, earning a strangled grunt from Amelia. You bite your tongue, not wanting to get in trouble with your probable savior. “Regardless, yes. I do not know how you children arrived here, but it is rather necessary that you are not here, soon.”

It takes you a second to put together what he had likely meant to say, the male still concentrating on the stations. After which, you frown. “I don’t understand,” you s ay, “we have to leave? Now?”

The male gives a sigh, and you can tell that he is not used to dealing with anyone else, let alone the curiosity of a human. “That is what I said. I trust you can speak your own language?” It was Trel’s turn to get angry, but you put a hand on his chest, to keep him calm. This…elf…could potentially do anything. Angering him was a bad idea.

“The reason I’m questioning it is we have…a lot of questions. Could you spare at least a few minutes?”

Astaris sighs, tapping a few glyphs on the station before he stands up straight, a full head taller than Trel, even if he was thin, before he looks down at you. “Fine. If it will get you to be elsewhere, I will give you answers to the questions. But I will only give answers to three. I require to not be bothered.”

You glance back at Vrand, then, nodding him forward, before looking back to the elf. What did you want to ask him first?

>What is that sapphire?
>Who are you?
>What is this place?
>What is The Fog?
>Other (write-in)

>>34168613
>What is that sapphire?
>What is the Fog?
>What is beyond the Fog?

>>34168613
>>34168699
this

>>34168699
2nd

>>34168613
>>What is that sapphire?
>>What is this place?
>>What is The Fog?

>>34168699
>>34168776
>>34168778

All right. Looks like an early majority. Buckle in, update may come in more than two pieces.

>What is that sapphire?
>What is the Fog?
>What is beyond the Fog?

Your gaze slides from the elf to the large sapphire in the middle of the room. “All right. I’ll start then. What the hell is that gemstone?” you ask, gesturing to it.

Astaris’ gaze follows your hand before he turns back to you. “This is what I believe your books of history call a Crystal,” he responds. Both Vrand and Amelia’s eyes widen slightly.

You and Trel however, remain rather…unaware. “Avoiding the use of another question, could you tell me more about this?”

The elf sighs, but nods. “Without going into details that are unnecessary, the Crystals are packed Elemental energy. This one is the Crystal of Water.” He then gestures to it. “It is the power of Elemental water, held together by an Elemental Spirit.”

That just raised more questions for you. Spiritual magic was one that used the spirit of the human body to achieve certain effects. It had some combat applications for those particularly skilled in it. But an Elemental Spirit? You’d never even heard of that before. “Still continuing,” you say, causing Astaris to frown more deeply, “is that spirit what Amelia met?”

Now it was the elf’s turn to have wide eyes as he looked to Amelia. “Likely, yes. It would be good to do some testing. The readings have abruptly changed since you arrived,” he responded. His eyes stayed on Amelia though, the girl moving to slide back behind Trel, a little uncomfortable with the gaze. “Still interesting.”

You looked back to Vrand then, to see if the man had any questions he wanted to ask. There was still a lot unanswered about that Crystal, but- “What’s The Fog, anyway?” Trel asked from behind you, and both you and Vrand whirled to look at him as he’d just taken one of your remaining two questions.

1/3

The elf rubbed his jaw a few seconds, before he glanced back at the Crystal. “It is concentrated Elemental energy, much like the Crystal. It is harvested from the Crystal itself.”

“But why?” Trel continued.

“To keep that which is outside, outside,” the man responded, not seeming to count that as one of the questions, thankfully. “The Elemental energy was meant to simply keep you away. We had not counted on it destroying your spirit.”

Your eyes widen. The barbarians were created by The Fog. You knew that, but not how…but it seemed like that had changed, now. “It gave us extra guardians, so we did not raise our voices in contempt of it,” he continued.

“Both you and our friends have mentioned that the Fog is a barrier of sorts,” Vrandimus spoke up, seeming to have come to a conclusion on what he’d like to ask. “What is…beyond that barrier? Why is the Fog even here?”

That question seems to catch the elf a bit off guard. “The Fog was designed by our ancestors. It keeps you inside, and keeps what is outside, outside.”

“Bu what’s outside?” you ask, stepping forward. “You didn’t answer the question.”

Astaris sighs. “Humans were not meant to know. Your legends and stories of dragons, demons, elves? There is truth to all of these. And they all lay beyond. Your leaders had tried to do battle with all things. They sought supremacy over the land. Many were outraged and simply wished to strike you all down. Some disagreed, and that kept you alive. Cut off from the rest of the world, but alive.”

You blink, your mind shaking for a moment as you struggled to come to terms. “How long?” you finally ask, the words seeming to merely swim through your mind, not coming to the surface as they should. “How long have we been secluded?” The stories in the library were ancient, incredibly so. The only life you and everyone you had ever talked to had known had been inside this Fog.

2/3

Looking skyward, Astaris tries to recollect. “I am the eighth Watcher…and by your counting of time, eight thousand or more years. Or close to that.”

“Eight…thousand years…” you breathe, trying to wrap your head around that.

“It was for your race’s protection. Several of the others were keen on destroying you.”

Trelthar gives a growl. “So what? We could fight for ourselves. We can fight our own battles. We don’t need other people to shelter us!” he roared, taking a step forward.

“You are young. And you do not understand.”

“Oh, I understand all right.” The man lifts his axe, looking at one of the stations that the elf was working on.

“Trel, stop,” Vrand speaks, watching his friend. “You don’t know what’ll happen.”

“The hell I don’t. It’ll stop the Fog. It’ll stop us from turning into and having to kill the barbarians. It’ll damn well get us out of this little cage they’ve got us in!”

“Alyara!” Vrand calls, looking to you for support. Amelia has sunk to the floor at the revelations, trying to piece things together.

You look down at her, frowning. She had seen the Elemental Spirit of Water. That had to mean something. But you didn’t exactly have the time to think right now as your gaze moved to Trelthar, still fighting with Vrand to get at the station. Behind you, Astaris merely mutters to himself in a language you don’t understand, but the tone is all-too-clear. He’s upset, either with you all or himself for saying things.

>Stop Trel from smashing it with force (-3 Trelthar Relationship)
>Stop Trel with reasoning (State reasoning- may be good or bad outcome)
>Allow him to do so- consequences be damned
>Other (Write-in)

>>34169638
>Stop Trel with reasoning (State reasoning- may be good or bad outcome)
What if it makes the Fog worse? What if it covers the whole land, turns EVERY human into a monster? Is he willing to risk that?

>>34169756
Probably the best answer. Also Trel is really starting to piss me off. I feel like we have spent so much time just convincing him he is stupid and not to do something that could get us killed (guess that's why we are the leader).

>>34169638
>Stop Trel with reasoning (State reasoning- may be good or bad outcome)
"I don't like it either but if you destroy that it may well get us all killed! We'll find another way, I promise. The first thing to do is to bring the truth to the others."

>>34169756
>>34169881

We'll go with these. Writing!

>>34169845
>mfw character designed to get under people's skin gets under people's skin.

But no really. Trel is one of those 'black-and-white' fellows. Grey doesn't exist for him...yet.

>Stop Trel with reasoning (State reasoning- may be good or bad outcome)

“Trel are you kidding me?”

“Don’t try to stop me, Aly! You know I’m right!”

“Look you numbskull, I don’t like this either, but if you destroy it, you might end up getting us all killed!”

He looks back at you. “And we’ll be out of this damn cage. That’s fine by me!”

“That’s not fine by the rest of us, you dumbass. What if that’s the control and you just make the Fog worse? Are you even thinking? Do you want every person turned into a barbarian?”

Trel suddenly looks a lot less sure of himself now, before he looks back to the machine. “It might not.”

“No, you’re right. It might not. The question is, are you willing to take that chance? You want to be the one that kills off humanity, Trel?” He hesitates further, the axe starting to lower. “Look. We’ll figure out something, I promise you. You’re going about this the wrong way. We need to tell the others, like your dad and Giller.”

Trelthar’s grip slackens, the axehead falling to the ground with a dull thud. You can tell that he’s still angry, but that anger is directed inward, right now. As he has seemed to calm, you approach him now, placing a hand on his shoulder, your gaze on his. “Trel. We’ll figure this out. We’re a team, right? You and me. The four of us.”

He gives a small, glum nod as his hand begins to move, sheathing the axe on his back. He doesn’t respond verbally, his gaze off to the side now.

You exhale, giving his shoulder a small squeeze. “We’re all pissed, man. You just…can’t fly off the handle like that. Against other people? Sure. Barbarians? Probably if you’re not gonna run off solo like before. But things like…this?” you say, gesturing around at the crystal and the magical consoles around it. “We have no idea what this is.”

[1/2]

Finally, the male speaks. “No, no. You’re right. I just…you know how I can get,” he mutters, as if trying to make it an excuse.

“Yeah. I do. And you can fly off the handle all you want when we’re not dealing with things that we don’t get,” you continue, drawing your hand back.

A dry cough comes from behind you, and Astaris merely watches the two of you, his eyes relatively…unamused. “Are you quite done having a talk of emotion here? I would advise being not here, if you can. Though I do see why the female makes the calls,” he continued, and Trelthar just gave a grunt.

You breathe. You’ve asked your three questions, but at the same time, Astaris didn’t really…try to stop you from breaking the machine. Maybe there’s more here than you thought. And then there’s Amelia being able to talk to the spirit. Maybe Doronar may know something.

There were too many questions, and you doubted that even Astaris had all of the answers. You move over to Amelia, helping the girl to stand, even as she clings to your shoulder. For all her bravado, she really was sheltered.

Well…what to do now?

>Keep your word on the three questions and depart (+2 Disposition)
>Try and play nice for ‘just one more question’
>Try to extort more questions from the elf. (-3 Disposition)
>Other (Write-in)

>>34170522
>Keep your word on the three questions and depart (+2 Disposition)
>Other (Write-in)
We need proof. Find some.

>>34170522
>Keep your word on the three questions and depart (+2 Disposition)

>>34170522
"Not another question, but you should know that we're going to go back and tell the others about this place and what we learned here. If you have anything to add on account of that, or want to do anything about it, now's the time."

>>34170522
Elfy man kinda scares me and i don't want to get fogged so
>Keep your word on the three questions and depart (+2 Disposition)

>>34170522
>>Keep your word on the three questions and depart (+2 Disposition)

>>34170633
>>34170686
>>34170721
with a dash of
>>34170700

Writing it up!

>Keep your word on the three questions and depart (+2 Disposition)

You glance back to Trel, who appears to have settled for falling into sulking. Amelia was still attached to your arm, and even with the irritation that Astaris showed, Vrand still looked curious. Still, even with your questions in mind, you had agreed to three questions. You wanted to ask more, but the agreement had been reached. Besides, you knew other people you could ask.

“We’ll need to talk with Giller and Doronar. They’ll need to know about all…this,” you say to Vrand as you leave, gesturing about.

Astaris stays silent, his gaze on your backs as you leave. You get the feeling that he knows he wasn’t supposed to say anything…but did anyway. That makes you certainly question his loyalty to his people, or to his cause. Either way, you are thankful that he answered your questions, and before you leave his line of sight, you turn. “Thank you, Astaris,” you call out. The elf closes his eyes, turning away from you to move back to the station he was at before.

“C’mon, Aly. Let’s get the hell out of here,” Trel grunts, leading the way as you hike back up the small incline. The moisture in the air feels normal to you, by now, and as you exit out into the sunlight, the air almost feels dry as a result.

You climb down the rope, retrieving your gear before you find yourself standing outside of the cavern wall. It seems like you’d arrived here weeks ago, not a day. “Ugh,” you comment, frowning as you turn to look back at the cavern behind you. Even now, your breathing was easier. “I don’t even know where to start.”

“Well, we do need to report all of this to Giller and Doronar,” Vrand speaks.

You nod. But it feels like you’re forgetting something.

You look over at Trelthar, frowning. Why did you even come here in the firs- the Crest! “We don’t have the Crest,” you say with a small frown. Trel gives a grunt, moving a hand over his face.

>”Let’s just go get the damned thing.”
>”It can wait. This is kind of more important.”
>Other (Write-in)

>>34171210
>”Let’s just go get the damned thing.”

>>34171210
>>”It can wait. This is kind of more important.”
It's important to show the ability to prioritize. Although this isn't exactly urgent, the crest is just a test and the info we have is extremely important. It just seems a little petty to me to get the crest.

>>34171210
>”Let’s just go get the damned thing.”
Because who ever heard of not collecting all the items the first time through.

>>34171327
If we don't get it our story will just look like it was made up as an excuse.

>>34171403
>>34171256
Looks like we're heading in. Writing!

>>34171210
>”Let’s just go get the damned thing.”

>”Let’s just go get the damned thing.”

“Let’s…just go get the damned thing,” you sigh, glancing back towards the way you’d come, where the mouth of the cavern waited.

Vrandimus frowned. “What if we…don’t?” he asked. “We’ve got some important information, here.”

“You know they’ll just think we’re making up some story to get out of it,” Amelia countered, getting a little of her usual pep back. “It’ll be easier to convince them to come and look if we have the Crest already.”

“Amy’s got a point. I’m sick of this place, but people need to know. And we need them to believe us,” Trel chimed in.

Vrand sighed. “I suppose. All right then. Let’s get this over with.”

You nod, agreeing with Vrand, heartily. But you had to get it, even if it seemed like a major waste of time. Looking upward, you note that it’s still morning. “Okay. We’ve got quite a few hours before we hit the dark. Let’s see if we can’t just…get in and out. I can’t imagine we’ll run into anything dangerous except for a few traps. We’ll want to be on guard.”

“That puts you on point, Aly. You’ve got the sharpest eyes.”

Shit. “Well I’m the leader anyway. Might as well be the first one to lead you all into a pit,” you grunt as you move forward, leading the group onward. The mouth of the cave looks almost the same as it had all the time, only it seemed so much…less-important, now. A few hours ago, you all had prioritized something like this as the most important thing in your lives. With everything you’d learned this just seemed so…insignificant.

Still, you couldn’t let yourself fall into a trap due to this.

You move forward, leading the others onward as you descend into the cavern. The mouth of the cavern was well-lit by the outside sun, but as you descend further, the light becomes dimmer until it is difficult to see much of anything. However, ahead, you can make out that the cave is branching. One branch goes up and to the left, the other down and right. Beyond that, you couldn’t make out many details.

“Vrand, get the torches,” you say, and you hear him set down his pack before light begins to pour in from behind you. He and Trel hold the torches for now, and as you had surmised, the path diverges. The one going left curves back to the right before being hidden by a cavern wall, and the right one seems to curve left at a low, shallow angle.

>Left. Onward and upward.
>Right. Always follow the right wall.
>Other (write-in)

>>34171970
>Flip a gil

>>34171970

Apparently either is fine. Noted that directions make poor choices.

Writing it up.

Apologies

>>34172286
YES THE MONEY GODS WILL GUIDE US

>>34172298
There was just nothing to go on either way. Some hints or differences in the nature of the decision help loads.

I voted for flipping the gil, btw.

>>34171970
>Right. Always follow the right wall.

>>34172351

Yeah. This was jotted down during Quest2 (which did poorly, so that explains a few things). Learned now to proof-read my prior-written quest information.

“Well, what way?” Trel asks as he comes up to stand next to you.

“Hell if I know,” you respond, and the male grunts, looking back and forth. Both seem equally fine, from what you both can tell.

“Gimme a damn gil. I’ll find the way,” Trel grunts, and you roll your eyes, handing him a single coin. “Heads left, tails right let’s goooo!” he calls out, flipping the coin. It clatters to the ground with a small ‘tink’ sound, and the dark-haired man glanced down at it. “Tails. Right!”

“That’s fine. My dad always says to follow the right hand wall,” Amelia chimes in from behind.

“I thought right was treasure, left was out…” Vrand murmurs.

“Right. The Crest is obviously a treasure,” you call back, your group following your and Trel’s lead as you continue to make your way through the cavern. It curves off to the left a bit as you walk. Even as you do, your eyes are flickering here and there, trying to make sure that you and your crew doesn’t accidentally trigger a trap.

You suddenly pause, holding up the rest of the group. “Wait wait,” you say as you kneel down. There was a trap here. And that trap had been triggered. You frown, eyeing the ground a bit as you search, trying to see…what it had been.

“What’s up?”

“Trap was triggered already. That’s what’s up. Someone’s already been in here.”

“Barbarians?” Vrand asks, and Amelia gives a small sound of consternation.

“I don’t know,” you admit, looking down. “Could be anything.” You blink suddenly, glancing up at Vrand. “You don’t think that multiple groups were sent to the same place, do you?”

He frowns. “It’s possible. Only those with the most urgency would be able to retrieve it then. It would make one seem more…driven.”

[1/2]

File: Aphellis.png (526 B, 32x48)

526 B PNG

You curse. “All right, come on. We’ll just hope that’s not the case,” you speak, moving forward. If that was true, this could be a serious problem. You’d spent an entire day with elves and crystals and dreams and other bullshit. It was important, but if you lost your chance to become a Knight…

You move forward with a renewed purpose now, and you find more traps, both already tripped as well. Whatever they were, judging from some of the damage on the cave wall, you could tell they were rather…dangerous. Not life-threatening, but certainly major injuries.

Soon, sounds of battle reached your ears. Glancing back at the others, they heard it too, leading you to press on. “What the hell is that? More barbarians?” Amelia asks, and you can hear the worry in her voice from here.

Trel shakes his head. “Sounds like metal on metal. Though that just makes it more interesting.”

The sound gets louder as you get closer, and soon you can hear grunts and yells, before a few loud curses, and the sound quiets. As you turn what appears to be the last corner, it opens up into a room. Four Knights stand, facing the opening. Before them, on the ground, having apparently attempted and failed to get through, are other cadets, like yourselves.

“Aphellis?” you ask, the strawberry-blond hair something you’d pick out anywhere. The male grunts, glancing up at you.

“Alyara. You’re a touch late. We’ve arrived first, and as such, the right to challenge the Knights for it is ours.”

Trel chuckles. “Yeah, but you’ve all got your faces kicked in.”

Nearby, Zelin hisses. “Screw off, Sendren. No one asked for your input.”

Their other two allies seem to be either unconscious or simply too tired to move.

>Let them keep trying, and take over when they’re too tired to continue
>Take your turn.
>Have you and Vrand try to restore their strength to keep fighting
>Offer to assist them (with or without healing)
>Other (Write-in)

>>34172859
>Take your turn.
Let us show you how it's done

>>34173084

Such it is!

Writing!

>>34172859
>Let them keep trying, and take over when they’re too tired to continue

>Take your turn.

“Look, Aphellis. I’m sure that you got here first, and honor and all that crap, but we’re in a hurry.” The man’s expression darkens. “You’ve got two people down. Just let us take a shot at it.”

Zelin gives a barking laugh. “Lady’s got a point, Aph. Might as well let her and her gang go. They might weaken the Knights enough for us to take it,” he continues, giving you a wink.

Ugh.

“They’re…Knights. Trained. Do you really think we can defeat them?” Amelia asks, frowning. “They’re bound to be strong.”

Vrand moves forward, his eyes narrowed a bit. “Yes. But they have several slight wounds, and their armor is dented. They are weakened.”

Trel nods, grinning as he steps forward. “Let’s show you guys how it’s done,” he speaks, taking the axe from his back. You step forward with Trelthar, with Vrand and Amelia supporting you from behind. The knights as well take up a formation.

“Let’s do this shit,” you grunt, the clawed gauntlets at the ready as you move forward, ready to strike.

Suddenly, a torrent of water bursts from behind you, and it’s all you can do to dive out of the way before it takes you too. Trelthar stumbles, caught by part of the wave but manages to keep his balance. The Knights, however, are thrown backward with a fair bit of force, slamming into the far wall.

“What the hell?” you say, looking back behind you.

Amelia stands, her hands outstretched and eyes wide. Her hair appears to be sopping wet as well, though her clothes do not retain this. Her legs quiver, but before she can fall, Vrand steps in, moving an arm around her waist to keep her standing.

“…Truly, your Elemental Mage is accomplished,” Aphellis says, his words full of awe. You don’t Amelia super well…but you damn sure know she’s not that skilled.

>Talk to Amelia and find out what happened
>Go get the Crest
>Try to play it off to not alert the others
>Other (Write-in)

>>34173466
>Try to play it off to not alert the others
>Go get the Crest
>Talk to Amelia and find out what happened

In that order.

>>34173869
Sounds fine by me. Given that it seems like everyone else has gone to bed (I suppose it is 1:30am here on the east coast) I may wait on it til next thread.

I'm going to see about trying to start earlier as well, to avoid such in the future.

>mfw I saw the odl-timey hat and thought the text said "Rise of Cringeman"
>Thought it'd be about a euphoric teenager without a girlfriend struggling through life
>cringe jokes everywhere
>turns out it's just Rise of Crimson

>>34173940
Sorry to disappoint, anon.

Red Mages are way cooler than Cringemen though. Probably

>>34173869
I agree with this order. Works just fine for the situation. Though chances are those two might try to test their might on us too.

>>34174059
Okay. We'll do one more to wrap it up and then call it for the night.

Writing!

“Bahaha,” you force a laugh out at Aphellis, hoping that he doesn’t see through your paper-thin bravado. “You got that right. Amelia’s awesome, as a person and an Elemental Mage,” you say, grinning widely as you move back over to her, throwing an arm around her. Her frightened gaze meets yours, and you just nod, still grinning, trying to get her to go along with it.

Trelthar gives a chuckle. “I guess the secret’s out of the bag now. Ah well. Everyone’ll know not to mess with us,” he says, trying to brush some of the water from his hair and armor.

Zelin grunts. “Whatever. No wonder you stood up and tried to get her on your team at the Ceremony.” You return the earlier wink before you move up to the pedestal that the Knights were guarding, taking the Crest from it. “Take it. It’ll just take us another year to try again,” the rogue continues.

You don’t tell them, yet, about the thing you found. Mostly because you’re certain that Zelin of all people would use the information for less than honorable means. Instead, you merely wave, moving back towards the mouth of the cave. “You have fun resting up. We’ll meet you back at Dremnar!” you call out.

As soon as the four of you are out of earshot, you look toward Amelia worriedly. Her skin is a little flushed, and her hair a bit damp, but recovering. “What happened?” you ask.

“I…I don’t know. I was going to use a spell and then…water. I don’t even remember what I was going to use.” She frowns, shaking her head. You feel bad for her- it’s just been one shock after another for the poor girl.

[1/2]

“The water crystal?” Vrand asks, and you nod. “This is….troubling.”

You nod again. “No kidding. Hopefully it’s just due to being close to it. How’s your Spiritual Magic, now that we’re not…right next to that Crystal?” you ask.

Vrand blinks, having not thought to try it before he closes his eyes. A small light emerges from his hands then, before he nods. “It’s weaker, but viable. Proximity seems to be the key factor here.”

“I want to go home,” Amelia whines, and you can’t help but shake your head, empathizing with her.

Trel grunts. “I’m with Amy. Let’s just get the hell out.”

“Thirded,” Vrand offers.

“Okay, okay. Yeah. Let’s just…go. I’m sick of caves,” you murmur, and the others agree as you make your way out.

Your brain is swimming with questions, information, things that should-not-be-known, and even still on top of that, you’re worried about becoming a Knight. You’re worried about Amelia and how she’s taking all of this. Vrand seems relatively stable but Trelthar’s aggression is becoming problematic to deal with.

Everything just seems to bear down on your shoulders, and even with your allies, you can’t help but to wish there was someone there to help shoulder that burden.

The ride home was quiet. And it seemed very, very long.

All right. Going to call it here tonight, due to it being super late.

If anyone's still around, I'm going to try and do a few things different in the coming weeks, such as run during the week (albeit with slower replies), and trying to do these Friday ones earlier. Getting this late is mildly problematic.

We've got some crazy shit going down, so let's see what awaits us next time!

A big thank you to everyone who played!

>>34174522
Thanks for running, dude.

>>34174522
Thanks for running and the plot thickens!