Part 35: Shauna III

Chapter 21: Shauna III

Saturday

Evening

Poor Tricia. I'm not sure what's worse for her, honestly. What happened to her today, or what she learned. We rushed back to Corsius to try and save the town from Shauna's bandits. I wish we had her instead of some of these clowns, by the way. Shut up, she's evil. She also hates us, so I doubt she'd join us even if we wanted her to.

VIDEO




Father! Where are you?
I gotta find Sis!
The enemy still seems to be sneaking around.
Watch out for them.

Shauna's bandits were all over the city, but Shauna was nowhere to be seen. But we did find a clue to their whereabouts. Clue hell, they told us where to go.



Is this... a ransom note?
It says, "We've kidnapped... Hawthorne."
No! Father!!!
Damn damn damn! My sister's gone, too!
Does it say where they took him?
It says to meet them at the Crying Mountains, to the north of the city.
Okay! Good! I'm coming, Sis!
Hey, boy!
Hmph. He's already gone...
I've never seen such a hot-blooded Sepp in all my life...
Let's follow him.

The Crying Mountains were said to be where the spirits of dead children gather. Today it would be the scene of a new tragedy.

VIDEO




Where's my father?!
And where's my sister?!
Sister...? Oh, that Sepp girl? Hah, I'm not the one that took her.
What?! Don't jerk me around!
But I do have who you want, child.
But first... the money.
Not until I see my father!
No deal! You'll have to kill me first!



Shauna had assembled an army of frightening proportions. We only barely managed to prevail.

Feinne on Soul Nomad:

This is an extremely hard map, because there's just so many enemies so close to each other. Chances are that some enemy on the map has a favorable type match to each of your rooms, and they're close enough together that you can be sure you'll run into that bad type match quickly. You might need to seriously level up before this is doable.

Shauna's back and more annoying than ever. She's damn hard to hit with attack skills, for one. Oh, and this is what her special, Devil Dance, looks like.



It's pretty powerful, and much better than a normal gypsy's, which just restores all the Stam of the room.

Tricia and Shauna encountered each other on the battlefield, and had another little exchange.



Grudge? Hard to say...
I can't say you've done anything to me directly.
I think... it's your eyes. The way you look at me pisses me off.
And that you still get to live your life of peace and ignorance!
But...

What's worse, after we defeated Shauna she managed to pull one of her patented vanishing acts. We had to chase after her.

VIDEO




Relax, boy. Think for a second. We're going to circle around them. Follow me...
Fine, fine, just go!
Umm... what am I doing again?
You're getting in the way again, retard! Get your ass in gear!

We pursued Shauna while Levin and Grunzford went to try and cut her off. But we never could have expected what happened.



T-Trish!
Forget about me! Get out of here!
So this is your dad, huh?
You sure about that? You sure this is your precious daddy?
What...?
Trish! Close your ears! She's a scoundrel, a thief, a liar!
If I am, what does that make you? Scoundrel? Thief? Liar?!
What sins have you bought with your blood money, merchant?
How many times have you felt the breeze of the Yesterwind?



If you won't admit it... I'll make sure you never enjoy your wares again.
Now what. Did. You. Buy?!
Haaah!
T-Trish!
I-I just wanted a child! A little girl! T-that's all!
Father... please...
What... what's going on?
Tell me... how many little girls have you had?
J-just Trish! She's my only love!



They tell me you've stolen the innocence of no less than five different 'daughters'.
So, tell us. What happened to them? What did you do with your other precious little girls?
Urgh...
No, it's a lie! All of it!
You can't fool me!
I don't care if you say you don't believe me, girl.
But I know you're smarter than that. I see something kicking around up there.
No... what would I...?
Haha. Is it such a shock?
But if you really didn't understand until now, you got lucky.
You've been pampered your whole life. But now you'll feel the pain I've suffered my whole life!

And then, Shauna... I mean, the guy was a monster. No arguments from me. But there had to be another way. There wasn't. I can't see how she was wrong to do what she did.



NOOOOO!!!

Tricia didn't exactly take it well, though. She wasn't sure she believed Shauna, and with her father dead the only one who could answer her questions was gone. Shauna slipped away in the chaos. She's worse than Vitali. Levin and Grunzford finally arrived, too late to stop Shauna's escape.

VIDEO




...? Trish, why are your eyes red? What happened?
It's a long story...

We told them what had happened, including Shauna's story.



I-I'll try...
She's just a... blockhead... right?
Hm? Miss Sepp, why are you shaking?
Huh? N-no, I'm okay...
I still gotta find my sister!
I've already contacted Master Christophe.
We will meet up with him in Astec.
Gah! Scared me again!
I don't think we've heard you talk for a while...



And considering Cuthbert's associating with Shauna, I'm sure he has a hand in this somehow, as well.
!!
Let's go! We gotta go! We gotta get to Astec!
Now just hold on, boy. You'll only make thins worse if you panic like that.
Look what you did to Trish.
Oh-! S-sorry, Tricia...
I wasn't really thinking...
Oh, no... it's alright.



Such a pushy little brat.
Don't go getting us into any more trouble!
Very well. Please join me at my home tonight.

With Hawthorne dead, there was no reason we couldn't stay in his mansion. It was, after all, Tricia's house, even if her life was built around a lie.

VIDEO


I decided to see how Danette was doing. She had kind of freaked out earlier.



Oh, hey...
When Hawthorne was stabbed, you...
Oh, you noticed, huh?
When that happened, I had another quick flashback...
But it was terrifying... I didn't want to remember.
You don't need to force yourself.
What about you? Why aren't you worried, or at least curious?
Gig was there for me.



What?! Don't even joke about that!
I'm just in it for the body!
If something happens to this thing, everything'll go to waste.
Fine, fine. I won't argue with you.
But I can see right through you. Hmhm.
You've been getting nicer and nicer while we weren't looking.
Grr...!



Yeah, I know.

I think she might have a point, though, Gig. You've been much more civil recently than you were to start with. Screw you. I'm not civil at all. Asshole. Oh, you're trying too hard now. Anyway, I need to get some sleep. I'll write more when something comes up.

Sunday

Morning

Oh. My. God. What the hell WAS that? I don't even know. I'm asking the same thing.



Of course I do! I understand perfectly well!
I'm here to kill the Master of Death!
I lost my child and only heir to that damnable Scarlet Iago...
What god would allow a 5-year-old to die like that?!



Death comes to all. There's no escape, no fairness.
Let me ask you... if I die without one to carry on my legacy, what will happen to our land?
I'm the lynchpin of this world. Once I'm gone, it'll all collapse again! My death will lead to a million more!
But if I get rid of you, reaper, I can live forever! Think of it... a world ruled by a loving, immortal king!
We would know only eternal peace. That's what I want for this land!
Gh-! Kyah...





Gee, ya sure?
Man, what the hell is this?
I don't remember anything like that.

If I remember correctly, Median was Layna's father. He was the greatest warrior ever known. He also died before his time I think. Clearly killing the Master of Death didn't have the effect he wanted. The existence of death in this world alone proves that. Yeah, he's retarded. The Master of Death doesn't cause death, he... Gig? Nothing. Forget I said anything. Well, anyway, Tricia made a decision, and I think it was the right one.



I'm sorry I'm being so selfish...
I'll make sure to meet up with you before you reach their hideout. I still have many questions...
Will you be okay?
Yes, I think so. I feel so much better after all those hotpods yesterday.
Vitali's a heck of a cook.
W-well maybe... maybe I should s-s-st-!
I'll stay here with her. Don't worry.
Oh, that's a good idea.



Hrm? Young man, what's the trouble? Why are you making that face?
Is your stomach upset?
I'm fine! Just... forget it.
Hey, uh, Tricia... cheer up, okay?
Oh, I'll try. Thank you.
Well, good day for now.
G-goodbye, then...

We're on our way to Astec now to talk to Christophe about this Yesterwind organization. It's a detour from our investigation of the World Eaters, but I just can't stand this sort of thing going on. This power of mine, I've decided that I'm going to use it to help defend this world, and not just from the World Eaters. There's humans that are almost as bad as those damn things. You say that, but that's because you haven't seen what my World Eaters are really capable of yet. Let's get moving, I'm sick of this sappy crap. Fine. I'll write more after we talk to Christophe.