Part 4: Chapter Four: A Voice From the Ruins
When last we met Felt and his new ally Noin were asked by the mayor of Tatalia Village to drive a band of soldiers from their sacred ruins. We rejoin the story after a trek through the desert.Video- Trouble at the Ruins
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Shhh!
But they were not alone at the ruins.
Chaos: Heh. Even after their civilization has crumbled, they still protect this place.
Soldier A: I know youre disappointed, sir, but if you dont hurry
Chaos: Yes, I know.
Worry not, I wont be late. He may be an idiot, but he still represents the Empire.
Soldier A: Sir Chaos! You never know who may be listening!
Soldier B: Hes right! Please try not to do anything that might arouse suspicion.
Chaos: Just a little longer. Just a little
I must return to Riesevelt. Stay here and await further orders.
Soldier A: Yes, sir!
Whoa. That was close.
Who was that?
That was Chaos, the highest ranking soldier in the Imperial Army.
Hes a master swordsman. No one has ever faced him and survived.
Chaos
Sounds like the Empire is up to something here.
We should go inside and check it out.
Yeah, lets take a look.
Sure enough, the Imperial forces were hard at work deep in the ruins.
Video- Imperial Showdown
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We need a plan.
Should we back off?
Good idea.
Soldier A: Halt! Who goes there?
Shh!
Look, Ill distract them while you get away!
Hey, wait!
Listen up you random encounter! Ill play you a tune called My fist in your face!
I am Noin, Silvarestas Fury!
Who wants to go first, huh?!
Soldier A: What? A Simsiltian dares oppose us?
Get her, Men!
And as I mentioned earlier, Felt was not the sort to allow someone to fight alone.
I wont leave you here alone!
And the Azure Azoth was only beginning to show its true powers.
Was that the same voice I heard before?
???: What are you waiting for?
Huh! Hiyah!
System Message: Felt learned the skills [Mana Wave]!!
W-Wow!
I knew it. The voice that I heard before was coming from the sword.
???: Very observant. The ultimate creation through the dark arts of alchemy.
Azure Azoth: That is I, the Azure Azoth.
But enough talk, now is the time for action!
And with the Imperials defeated, they found the door Chaos had mentioned.
What are they all doing in a place like this?
And it seemed there was more to this door than met the eye.
Video- The Girl
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Are you the girl from before ?!
Master who wields the Azoth, you must come to the Altena Church.
Gardo and I will wait for you there.
Please Hurry
H-Hey! Wait a minute!
Who was that? What was that?
I dont know her. I swear!
She appeared once in Eden to guide me here. Now she came again.
Altena Church I guess Ill have to go there to investigate.
This would prove to be much easier said than done.
Wed have to cross the Eastern Sea to reach the Altena Church.
Sea ? Whats a sea?
What ? Youve never heard of the sea?
Its well Just think of it as a huge puddle of water.
Dont worry. I know how to swim.
Youre gonna swim across the sea?! Oh, Ive gotta see this.
???
They found something almost as unexpected nearby.
System Message: Learned Recipe for [Craft].
What is this?
It looks like a Craft Recipe.
Craft ? Recipe ?
You need recipes to make items with alchemy.
Alchemy riiight.
So, youre a big shot alchemist now, huh?
No, Ive only learned a few things so far.
What do you know about alchemy?
Well, nothing really. Ive only heard stories.
Alchemy The ability to make something from nothing.
All who use it, suffer. It destroys the balance in the world Its the devils art.
?!
But, Ive never met a real alchemist before
Well, until now that is.
Its okay, though. I can see that youre free of any dark influences.
Besides, its not my place to tell you youre doomed.
Felt had not even considered that this was a world without alchemy.
You are so right.
So, is the Empire looking for alchemy recipes?
That is possible
But, do they even know how to use alchemy?
Looks like theres nothing here
We should go.
Noin was rightly concerned that the Empire might still be hanging around, and left Felt alone for a second to check. This gave him a chance to do something sort of awkward.
Im going to sneak over there and make sure the Imperial Army is gone.
Okay
You said something about having a purpose, earlier.
I know I wasnt just imagining it
Azure Azoth: You are right.
!
Azure Azoth: I was waiting for that insolent wench to leave us alone.
Thats just great. Let everyone just think I talk to my sword
Azure Azoth: My duty is to protect Eden. I awaken whenever Eden is in crisis.
Well then, what really happened in Eden?
Azure Azoth: I do not know. My advice is to head to Gardo.
Gardo? That is where that girl is
Azure Azoth: I expended too much energy during that last battle. I must rest.
Heed my advice. Travel East
No, not again! Hold on!
I hate when that happens.
Fortunately, the Empire had scattered in the face of their attack.
When my sword
?
Uh, never mind. Forget it.
It looks like all of the Imperial Troops have already left.
We better go tell the mayor of Tatalia about this.
Right.
With the withdrawl of the Imperial forces, shadowy creatures had taken control of the ruins.
I hate ghosts. You cant kick them.
What? You cant kick them?
Nope. Regular attacks go right through them.
But, my energy attack can wipe them all out.
Azure Azoth: Dont worry too much. My Azoth also does magic damage.
I can attack any kind of monster with this.
What are you talking about? Look out, here it comes!
Feinnes Fourth Wall Lectures: Advanced Combat
So, today Ill talk about some more advanced combat topics. The first is enemy resistances and immunities. The most common immunity is to physical attacks, which things like ghosts and elementals possess. Only Magic attacks like anything from Felt or skills flagged as such will damage them. There are also immunities to elemental attacks, itll generally be obvious when something possesses them.
Status effects will also start coming up now. There are four, and they are pretty bad actually. Poison does damage periodically, and is probably the least worrisome overall. Paralysis will rob us of actions, and therefore is pretty damn bad. Sleep prevents a character from acting until it wears off. And Curse, the most devastating of status effects, prevents a target from taking healing. Curses need to be removed quickly on bosses, or theyll leave a character quite dead.
Noin and Felt returned to Tatalia, only to discover things had gotten quite a bit worse.
What is it? What happened now?
Mayor: We just received very troubling news.
Max has been captured by the Empire.
Thats impossible! Hes too strong. Thats why hes our leader.
No one can beat him one-on-one
Mayor: They used a member of Simsilt as a hostage.
They agreed to release everyone in exchange for Max.
What?! You expect the Empire to keep its word on something like that?!
Noin rushed from the tent, and Felt ran after her.
What?!
Youre going after him, arent you? Let me go with you.
This isnt your problem, Felt. You arent from Simsilt.
I dont want to cause you any more trouble.
The only trouble I had was when you tried to take on all those soldiers by yourself.
Besides, I still owe you for saving me out in the desert.
Thank you.
Riesevelt is an island to the east.
Head east after leaving the village. Well have to cross Regenbogen to get there.
Then, lets get to it!
As they traveled the desert, the sands began to rise
Video- The Storm
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If this keeps up, well be stuck in a sandstorm.
Agh, I cant even see two steps ahead.
Well be blown away soon at this rate. We have to get to camp.
Lets go.
Eventually they were forced to stop and wait it out.
Sanstorms are very dangerous. Theres nothing else to do.
Max is like a big brother.
My mother got sick and died when I was 12.
I was devastated. I lost all hope. I didnt know what to do.
Max helped me out a lot.
I get it. You want to help him out because hes done so much for you.
Yeah.
But, are you going to be alright, Felt?
Riesevelt is the capital of the Silvaresta Empire.
We will be in much more danger than before.
I know.
But, I cant just let this happen without at least trying to help out.
You are a great guy, Felt
Is everyone from Eden as great as you?
Hmm, Viese, Kreuz Yeah, I guess everyone there is really great.
Hmm Id like to go to Eden some day.
Felt began to wonder what was going on in Eden.
I hope shes okay
As it turned out, she was herself quite busy