Part 30: 20.B: Mine By Right

Gfy

: Our next opponents, for the third time, will be Tamitha and the Essence. With any luck, she and Pamitha will finally find some common ground between them – and either way, if we prevail against her this time (and that’s a pretty solid ‘if,’ now that we’re thirteen-and-one), we’ll be guaranteeing the Fate a shot at the finals.

: Very well, then, Reader. Once more you shall face Tamitha and the Essence when next the stars align. We may set course for the Spring of Jomuer at dawn. For now, please get some rest in the remaining dark of night.



: We could, of course. But someone is in dire need of talking to us.



: Oh, goodness, it’s been a dog’s age since we had a sit-down with Sir Gilman. I wonder what could possibly be on his mind right now.

: You find Sir Gilman searching intently for something or other, his eye is shut tight, his brow furrowed in deep concentration.

: You’ll have a much easier time finding whatever it is you’re looking for if you open the only eye you have, you know.

: He acknowledges your presence in the most minimal way possible, and continues scanning the environment.

: You shall have to forgive this knight’s impertinence to you, Master-Reader! For he is on the hunt at this time.

: Using his acute sense of hearing, which is much more acute whilst underwater but shall have to suffice in this case, he shall track down a most-elusive character…. A character who has eluded this knight time and time again, and from whom this knight seeks to learn still-superior evasive strategies, applicable when next he may conduct the Rites!

: Hold!! Is that--?

: You have no idea to whom he is referring, when…



: AAAUUGGGHH!! THIS KNIGHT HAS FAILED AGAIN!

: Alas… Master Rukey, once more you have outwitted this poor knight, and outmanoeuvred him. Please… you must reveal the secret to your speed and cunning!

: I’m sure having four times as many legs as you certainly helps.

: Take it easy, chum, you’re not half-bad, yourself. Besides, I was getting pretty sick of running circles around all these slow-pokes before you showed up while we were out at sea.

: Do you truly mean that, Master Rukey…? But, no, it cannot be… for this knight has nary seen ANYONE as deft and fleet of foot as you.

: Certainly, it must be advantageous to possess four feet, whilst this knight has but one, if so it may be called! And yet! We all are born with necessary means, and we must all make do!



: NEVER! This knight deserves no break! Not while there is honor to be gained!

: Whatever crime he’s committed must be pretty intense, if he refuses to let up on himself like this.

: He is merely a wyrm. One of roughly eight billion of his kind. Thus, he must strive to be remarkable, and to exceed what is expected of him.

: Guess what, chum, you went and did that already. I thought all you Sea-Dominion types were just a bunch of meat-heads who didn’t care nothing but a fight. But you’ve been downright decent! Even made me break a sweat a couple times out there, when I thought maybe we got somebody quicker on his foot than me.

: Point I’m trying to make is… it’s been good having you with us. I always say, it’s worth having someone quick around to keep you on our toes.

: For a moment, you wonder if Sir Gilman is about to weep.



: Now, come on, you want to go another round, or what? There’s some good hiding spots outside where I can show you how we curs get the drop on unwary passersby. In a very honourable way!

: …This knight would be most-honored, Master Rukey.

: As the two of them head off to further train together, you catch notice of the Book of Rites there, in the wagon… the Rites, which so stress trust and reliance on one’s fellow exiles. The Eight Scribes likely did not envision Sir Gilman and Rukey, in particular, as conductors of their sacred tradition. Yet, perhaps theirs is the sort of kinship which they had in mind.

: You think? Based on what we’ve read in the Book so far, the Scribes weren’t exactly a bunch of stuffed shirts, themselves.



: Speaking of the Book, let’s give it a leaf or two.


Gfy




: So, that’s the superstition surrounding the Isle of Khaylmer: the Book itself says that if, at any time, any Rite were to take place there, the cycle of the Rites will be on their way out.

: I guess we’ll be finding out sooner rather than later, at this rate.




: Our next destination is south, towards the Spring of Jomuer, just a stone’s throw from the Cairn of Ha’ub. This will be the first time we’ll be revisiting the spring, so we’ll be getting a page or two for that, which is nice.



: We pass by the Tempers on our way down. Ignarius doesn’t need any shit from me, he’s not a bad guy.



: Lendel…


Gfy

: … he probably wouldn’t be that entertaining anyway. There’s only so much frustrated wheezing a guy can take before it gets a little uncomfortable.



: Oh, hey, Dalbert. Good luck! Try to not let Flagging Hands get to you or Almer.



: When we pass into Jomuer Valley, we happen across Barker and the Dissidents off in the distance. Now, for the most part, I don’t really have a beef with Barker – he’s pretty intense, but he’s not actively trying to fuck the Nightwings over or anything, and he isn’t exactly a bad guy, he just wants to have a party.

: That said, we haven’t had the chance to say hello in – goodness, twenty-one updates. It’s been quite a while since he last spoke! Maybe he’s just as eager to have a reunion as I am.



: Barker notices your wagon at his flank there and begins to laugh.

: Well, if it isn’t the Nightwings, flaunting their fancy little flying wagon, ay?

: YOU THINK YOU’RE BETTER THAN US, MATES, AY?!

: Pah. You ain’t better than the dung I stepped in last night. Now, get on outta here, or I’ve a mind to leap on over there, and rip your gizzards out, you hear me?!

: There’s a possibility I may have remembered Barker wrong.



: As we come up on the Spring, we’re given two landing options, and a point of interest. The names Gluehive and Fallflat feel very nostalgic at this point; it doesn’t feel like so long ago, but in reality, it’s been months since we last visited this place.

: The Spring of Jomuer has always flown forth from the crushed carapace of Bialanthius, the legend of whose demise is… a rather sordid tale. Perhaps you have already read it in the Book.

: Fella was clearly crushed to death by a giant boulder. Seems pretty open and shut to me, Tariq.

: Not all believe the Book exists, of course. Nor the Greater Titans, nor the Rites. I have encountered exiles believing that this titan perished quite by accident, rather than by a cunning trap laid for it by Jomuer Many-Mane. They took the titan for a common beast.

: Scorpions that big are common? Lord have mercy!

: …Perhaps the stars shine down upon out-of-the-way locales such as this one to ensure that they alone shall witness the proceedings.

: Thankfully, Bialanthius was killed because Jomuer lured him into a trap. If Jomuer was as badass as Triesta Tithis, I’d be feeling very inadequate.




: Rukey is finally going to get his chance to shine! We used him just last Rite, against the Fate, while the last time we saw Pamitha in a Rite was against Udmildhe and the Withdrawn (which, by the way, also included Rukey, and he was voted in before her).




: Nobody’s in a talking mood right now and we haven’t unlocked any new pages. So… I guess there’s nothing keeping us from just getting to it, then. Let’s have a look around Gluehive.

: You end up spending part of the day with Rukey, exploring the area surrounding your wagon. You learn this area used to be a swimming hole many years ago.

: I knew some curs used to go swimming around here. Did some horrible things to their coats.

: Your lasting memory of the place is standing by the shore, imagining the feel of the water. As you head back in silence, you consider which of your Vocations to pursue.

: I’m smarter than some silly curs. I’ll be sure to take my coat off, first!



: Rukey?



: Rukey.

: You find Rukey having just put back his Greentail family portrait. There is something of a wistful look in his eyes. Then, something comes over him, and he moves in close, lowering his voice.

: Look, chum, I gotta level with you about something here real quick. Truth is that I haven’t been entirely up front with you about my family situation.

: He hesitates a while, then…

: We ain’t exactly quite as rich as I’ve been letting on…. I mean, we do just fine, and we got lots of money stored away, it’s just, mostly locked up in savings bonds, and….

:

: He seems to catch himself in the middle of another tall tale and relents before you can respond, one way or another.



: Always told her I’d make something of myself, you know? I was just a clerk in her shop. Things started getting tough for us, so, I started looking for all kind of different work.

: Got in with some unseemly sorts, I guess, but the pay was real good. We took to shipping certain types of stuff down here, of all places. Flushing it straight down the river, watertight.

: Who pays –

: Ron?!

: The pay was right. Mom was so proud of me! We were eating real good all the time.

: …But… you can probably guess what happened.



: As for my Mom… she doesn’t know the half of it. My uncles told her I’m away on business. Not entirely untrue, I guess, but if she knew… it’d break her poor heart.

: So… don’t know how else to put this, chum, but I want to get out of here. Get back to what I was doing back home… on the straight and narrow, though! I’d go straight this time for sure.

: …Just don’t go telling everybody that old Rukey Greentail’s just a momma’s boy, OK? I got a certain reputation to uphold.

: He quickly scampers out the door. His past has been weighing heavily on him, but you sense he was sincere about wishing to lead an honest life.




: While some of us are cast down for slights as small and simple as viewing the world through a different lens, or because they loved their family and trusted the wrong people to do right by them, or because they were born here, Rukey is a smuggler, and there’s no real way to mince that.

: Sure, his intentions were innocent enough – he just wanted his mother to be proud of him, something a lot of us can relate to, I’m sure – but… I dunno, I like Rukey and all, but it’s kind of hard to get around him doing what he did. The listed motive, ‘self-gain,’ is even correct. Not even technically, just, it’s correct. If I were a juror on Rukey’s trial, I’d probably find him guilty, too.

: What do you think? Rukey’s confessed that he’s a smuggler, sending goods to the Downside (which is a prison, remember), in exchange for money. Does his want to use that money to provide for his family absolve him of the fact that he broke the law? Does he deserve to be in the Downside?



: While we mull that over, let’s take a look at our Vocations.

: I have two tutoring sessions “banked” right now, so I don’t need to do that for now. The big debate here is, do I want to forage for something to sell to Ron, or do I want to study the Book so more? Both are very tempting.

: Aside from the Feats of Glory, I haven’t been doing too much to earn some extra float – the Rites lately have been too intense for me to try and throw the Lucrative Contract or the Burning Promise onto someone, and instead focus primarily on just winning. However, on the other hand, Ron hasn’t really been offering me a ton of things that I might want to spend the money on.

: I guess I’ll take the Book this time, but I’ll probably want to go foraging sometime soon, especially if Ron stocks something new.



: Despite your growing knowledge of the Book of Rites, you yet struggle to grasp certain aspects of its teachings. Through greater understanding comes the Reader’s Influence.



: The last thing we buffed with the Book was our Presence. Each stat can be buffed twice, and Glory must be buffed last between the four. I’ll cap off Presence this time, leaving us with just Quickness to start looking into before we can finally move on to buffing our DPS.

: The texture of the pages of the Book, the foreign bindings… despite the volume’s age, it shows so little sign of wear. At times, the power emanating from it almost overwhelms you. Inspiration comes to you in a flash; whether from the Book or from within, you cannot tell.



: This will help a little bit against those friggen’ Imps. They’ve been a thorn in my side since our recent match against Udmildhe.



: This was a productive stop! We learned about Rukey’s terrible, sordid past and we gave everyone in our team a buff to their Presence. Let’s see Tamitha stand up to that!




Gfy

: Nobody’s in a talking mood after that, but we did unlock a new page, like I had promised. We may as well spend the time and give the Book a look before moving on to Ron and, finally, our match against the Essence.


Gfy




: Eww, the Spring is actually Bialanthius’s blood. After it was mixed with a bit of moonlight, it turned into ‘the freshest nectar ever tasted.’ Actually, is this supposed to be an allusion to moonshine or something?

: Hey, Ron! You ever thought about bottling Bialanthius’s blood and selling it?



: I got some good new stuff here pretty recently, maybe you seen it before, maybe not, I dunno?



: The new things in Ron’s shop are another scoop of Stardust, and a new Scribe Snuff. I still haven’t used the first one, so I dunno if I’m hurting for a second one, but hell, it’s good to know that it’s in supply.

: I have 149 Sol to blow on anything in Ron’s inventory. I still can’t buy some of his most expensive wares, but just about everything in here is available to me if I wanted. Let’s see…



: Star Serums boost any companion’s Quickness by four for the entire Rite. It’s a pretty great buff, and I think it might be the more useful one of the three. At thirty-five Sol, it’s agreeable, but it’s something I can only splurge on occasionally; I can’t hoard the stuff.

: That said, Tamitha is probably going to be pretty light on her feet this match, especially if I go in with more Titan Stars. This could come in handy, I think.

: With this, though, I’m not gonna spend any money on anything else. This one vial will do me plenty for now, I think, and I’d still like to hold onto my cash for the Next Big Thing.

: Although, I’m starting to wonder when that’s going to be….




: We’re as prepared as we’re going to be. Let’s slap around some birds some more.

: As you await the stars, a form dressed in the raiments of the Rites approaches you and Volfred. You at first presume it for one of your next adversaries, the Essence.


: Music: Will Of The Scribes

: Beside you, Volfred starts, something you have never seen him do. You observe the colors that he wears, an inverse of the Nightwings.

: Volfred Sandalwood. It has been a while.

: No. This cannot be.

: The demon unfastens his mask.



: You perished. I watched you fall.

: You did.

: I grieved for years. Yet, now you live.

: I do. Although, these horns, they grew long ere I could walk again.

: Unbelievable…. Then… why are you here now, Oralech?

: For a guy that fell of a mountain, he’s looking pretty good, all things considered. Could use a haircut, maybe.

: You know full well, Volfred. To reclaim what is mine by right.

: The demon Oralech leaves without another word, just as the stars above burst to life, and seem to set the sky aflame.




: Hmm…

: There was some discussion in the thread about what I should do regarding the Titan Stars going forward, particularly since my win streak is officially over. Some of us want me to turn off most of them, if not all of them; they’re more interested in the story and they don’t want to watch me struggle to overcome unfairly-balanced opponents. Others thought that, while it sucks that we lost, the previous match was entertaining as hell to watch, and the match couldn’t possibly have been more dramatic.

: Personally, I’m all for a bit more of a challenge. The game’s been kind of easy up until the Fate (Udmildhe would have been a hurdle, too, if she had more than just Yslach). I’m not against using Time-Singer Harn, who’s bonus is pretty extreme, in conjunction with all the other stars.

: However, what kind of bites me about my loss against the Fate is that, if Archbeast Sung-Gries and Endriga the Widow weren’t active, I would have won the match several times over. That 60 Pyrepoint difference is huge, and there’s no guarantee that my opponents won’t be using any Talismans to widen the gap further.

: Also, Oralech is a new opponent. I don’t know what he’s capable of, or what allies he’s bringing in, or what. So, I think I’ll turn off those two Titan Stars and see how that goes for me.




: What happened to the Essence? The stars showed we were to face them.

: They must have suffered a misfortune of some sort.

: Tampering with the stars’ designs is not permitted, Oralech.

: Cheating the worthy of their rightful liberty is not permitted, either, Volfred.

: What’s this, now? You might have left that detail when last I asked, Fred.

: You must know I took no part in that betrayal. Search your heart.

: Oralech says nothing for a time. Then…



: I have refused to wear them since. In show of solidarity, to you.

: And to elude the Voice, I would suppose.

: …Yes. That, too.

: …I see. You were never very good at this, anyway.

: Ooh, damn. You gonna sit under that shade or what, Fred?

: We shall see if that new lot of yours is any better.

: You cannot be serious… what sense is there in us standing against each other?

: But Oralech puts on his mask, and stands ready.

: I shall crush this lot of yours, Volfred…. You shall see that I am not so easily discarded, and you shall not deny my liberty, again.



: Of course he has an Imp.

: Reader… the adversary whom we face… Oralech… he is not one to back down. He was very experienced in the Rites, even at the time, and so… beware. There was no one in his day who could prevail against him, and he appears even stronger now. I wish I had more valuable advice to give, in this… I wish I had foreseen this.

: Easy, aim for the legs. He said as much that they were broken for years; they can’t be all that sturdy.



: Jesus Christ Oralech has fifty Presence. When we liberated Jodariel, she had twenty-three. He’s also as fast as Sir Gilman and he has as much Hope as Mae.

: That’s nutty. They gave Oralech absolutely everything. Of course, uh, he’s also getting buffs from the Titan Stars…

: …

: At any rate, who do we bring in to play against Oralech? Rukey is still down with Banishment Sickness, so our options are Mae, Ti’zo, Sir Gilman, Pamitha, and Bertrude.

: Lemme know in twenty-four hours, and we’ll bring that crew in to play against our most dangerous foe yet.

: Unrelated, but us playing Oralech instead of Tamitha means that it's not guaranteed that Dalbert will make it to the finals. Tamitha can't move up or down, but Dalbert can still lose his next match, and he only has a one-point lead on Tamitha right now. It'll definitely be one of those two, but for which, it's completely in the air.