Part 73: Sugar, Spice, Hate, and Death

Entry 70: Sugar, Spice, Hate, and Death



The party stops at Eternia City before doing the final route to Eternian Central Command.



Take a guess what the side location on the eastern road will be!



The Central Healing Tower looks eerie at night.



As should be evident by now, Eternia's healing power cables are a very recent invention. How was life beforehand? We'll get a hint shortly.



Partway through the eastern route, the road forks, with the left leading off to Central Command. So let's head right.




At the end of the road is a village. It's completely optional to visit.



Calling it a village might be an overstatement. Primarily, it holds graves. Many, many graves.



A very good question. I never knew there was such a village on the eastern passage's byway.

Mahzer, is that you!?

Huh!?

An old man approaches Edea and Tiz.



Might I have your name, young one?

Edea.

Hrmm, of course, that explains the resemblance. This is the birthplace of the Lord Marshal and his wife the Lady Mahzer.

What's this? I'd never heard of such a place before.

Why are there so many graves?

Hrmm, so you know naught of the Great Plague? Well, perhaps it is best that way.

Hrmm.

The man toddles away to the nearby cabin, leaving the party to look around.




One upside to Gravemark Village is the best view of Eternia's landscape, with Everlast Tower in the distance beyond impassable mountains.



The village's population consists of several sad old men and one mountain goat.



There's probably no need to worry about the Eternian forces tracking us here.



Says the Adventurer, who's casually followed us everywhere along our journey.



Edea can also ask the old man in front of the cabin questions.



We can even spend the night here for free, which comes in handy if you need to do some emergency grinding.

About my parents...



Though they were five years apart, they were quite close, you know.

They lived near each other and their families got along quite well. It was as if they were brother and sister.

At age eighteen, your father left to enter an elite school in the city of Eternia.

He was the great hope of the village, you know. And he did all in his power not to disappoint.

He eventually graduated at the head of his class and made a name for himself in the city. The pride and joy of our village he was.

It was twenty-one years ago when your father asked for your mother's hand in marriage -- she just nineteen and he but twenty-four.

So it was they began a new life together in the city of Eternia.

It was the following year that the Great Plague struck our village, wiping out most of the residents.

What is the Great Plague?



A sickness that began in eastern lands soon spread, wreaking havoc across the world ere it reached our land.

It struck the year after your parents were wed and moved to the city, you know.

Once the plague took root in Gravemark Village, all roads out of the village were closed.

It was on orders from the head temple of the Crystal Orthodoxy, ruler of this land at the time.

But I still believe they made the right choice. After all, the city of Eternia was spared the Great Plague's devastation.

Millions upon millions across the world lost their lives in a matter of months ere the plague subsided.

And I have been tending the graves ever since. Your parents paid us a visit upon the road's reopening, you know.

They seemed truly sorry that their home town had to be forsaken for the good of the city.

Sorry, we've got to go now.



This is currently all there is to do in Gravemark Village. There are a couple of items tucked around the gravesites as well, but nothing new.




After getting back on the road, it's a clear path to Central Command. With all three routes completed, it's time to make our entrance.

Note that if you don't kill the zombie dragon or guardian bosses, they'll disappear once you enter Central Command.



Finally, after four chapters and then some, the party has reached Eternia's Ominous Bad Guy Fortress.



I feel as if I haven't been back in ages. But it hasn't truly been so very long. They say home is where the heart is, but all I feel is...loneliness?



!?





You! You're the one who... You're the one who slew Olivia!

I bid you, Victoria, unleash your full power. Spare nothing.

I wouldn't have it any other way! The kid gloves are coming right off!

Why!? Why did you kill Olivia!?



You--!

Don't look at me like that. I mean, a crystal vestal? Ha! You're no match for me! And that goes for those fools you're with, too!

Mrgrgr! You stumpy little brat!

Stumpy little...!? D-did you hear that, Victor!?

Edea! How dare you hurl such heinous language at Victoria!



Fine, then I'll not rest until that foul-mouthed girl falls head over heels for me!

......

......

Hee hee, I'll have you know I'm in top form today. Now you'll see just how helpless you are before me!



Victoria casts a dark spell on Edea and Ringabel, making them flinch back.



Go ahead and try and escape! I'm going to toy with you like a cat before I really sink my teeth into you!

*MAGIC*



Not talking so big now, are you? Ha ha!

*MAGIC*

Aaaaaagh!

Ah ha ha ha ha ha! I grow bored with this! Better say your prayers. This ends...

*BZZZZAP*

Huh?

...Ngh...ngah-agh.



...! It's happening again!

Victoria!

Victor! I...c-can't...b-b-breathe-- Aaagh!

Alas, you have grown more unstable than I had feared! We must seek treatment at once!

Hey, wait!

Victor takes Victoria, running away into the Command Center.




Victor sure did get up those icy steps fast.



Welp. Guess we'd better follow them.

Up the stairs and inside...



Victor spoke of getting treatment. The closest place around here for that would be...the room to the right!



Central Command's interior is quite civilized. The only way open to us now is the right passage.



The halls are swarming with guards.



As in other Eternian units, there are three types.



...But they're all visually almost identical.



They also hit decently hard for trash enemies. Makes sense -- they must be the elite of the Eternian elite.



Victor's a fast sprinter, but they can't have gone that far.



Sure enough, near the entrance and to the right, the party finds an unusual room.

What? This...



Ah!



Edea gives that last line. How she'd know about this room but not the giant machine in the middle is anybody's guess.



Victor S. Court! What is the meaning of this!? Who or what exactly is that child!?

Allow me to tell you a story, if I may.

In other words, you're stalling for time -- time enough to replenish Victoria's power.

No, that is not my intention. This treatment is merely a bid to save her life. Now, about that story. In truth, it is a tale of the not too distant past.



Abandoned by physicians and all around her, she simply waited until her inevitable demise, all the while gasping in pain and despair.

But hearing her voiceless pleas, the Lord Marshal took her in his arms and brought her back to Eternia.

My father did that?

Were it not for His Lordship, her fragile life would have soon been snuffed out.

I am sure you are well aware, Edea, but science and medicine in our land have advanced greatly with the use of white magic.

I was pulled from my studies on the Earth Crystal to treat her. And yet, my treatments were still experimental...incomplete.

She survived, but ill effects linger. Side effects graver still than her original condition.

Fits like what you witnessed strike periodically, and their frequency increases with each day.

Violent turns of mood soon stripped her of any semblance of self-control.

Each time her tiny form is wracked with pain, I ask myself: knowing the result, would I still have intervened as I did?



As long as I draw breath, I will see that she does, too. No matter how she suffers, I'll not allow her to die.

She is both my crime and my redemption. My ego. My joy. I dedicate my life to her, and know no greater pleasure.

*splash*

...What nonsense.



I mean, really, Victor. That was so boring, and really long, too.

Forgive me, Victoria. How do you fare now?

Back to my old self. But I don't think I could take another one of those fits. Now, let's take care of these fools once and for all.

To think you'd just stand around twiddling your thumbs when you had a second chance to finish me.

But that just proves you're the fools I knew you were! Ah ha ha ha ha!

Victoria!

Don't blame me! You're the ones who just dug their own graves!




Next: Our heroes, defeated!?

--

Event Viewer
Main Scenario:
Eternian Central Command
The Arcanist's Onslaught
Follow that Arcanist!
Victor's Tale

Sub-Scenario:
Gravemark Village
Tales of Gravemark Village