Fire emblem quest: Echoes of the past

>>1780179
>>The path of clouds

>>1780179
>>The path of clouds

Will we run into the other paths?

>>1780328
Yep. The other paths are other characters that you'll run into later. When you find them, you'll have the option to recruit them and play through a sped-up version of their story.

>Path of clouds

Grado empire - Grado Keep.

---

Today had started like most days, with the Aeriemaster - A heavily muscled ex-pirate known as Broadside bellowing for me to get up as there were wyverns waiting to be fed.

After spending most of the morning hauling large slabs of meat to hungry wyverns, I'm about ready to take a break when Broadside yells "When yer finished with feeding, head down to the armory. I've got a surprise waiting for yer."

I yell back "Just finished now, I'll meet you there."


Pushing open the doors to the armory, I see Broadside grinning and holding a shiny new steel axe. "This 'un is yers. Now hurry over to the training yard, that lady friend of yours is waiting."

"What's Miria doing here!?" I blurt out.

"Courier duty." Miria's voice answers as I step into the training yard.

"Now, could we get this nonsense over with?"

"It's not nonsense, dear. We're just interested in how your skills have progressed." comes a second voice from behind her. An older Pegasus knight steps out of the shadows, holding an ornate blue-tinged lance by her side.

She then turns to me and says: "You must be this Drake lad I've heard so much about. I'm Reina, Miria's mentor and I'm very interested in how you shape up."

As we get into position to begin, Broadside has one last piece of advice.

"Drake. If you lose here I'm down 50 gold, and I'll have to tell everyone that you lost to a Frelian trainee. So don't lose."

Reina retaliates by saying "Miria, you are representing Frelia's Pegasus knights. Remember what we've taught you about facing axes."

Final words said, Miria readies her thin lance and the duel begins.

Miria starts cautiously advancing, her spearhead tracing patterns in the air between us.

HP 20/20

> Go on the offensive.

> Wait for Miria to make the first move.

> Try something I saw Broadside practicing once.

>>1780396
>> Go on the offensive.

>>1780396
Go on the offensive!

>>1780396
>Go on the offensive.

Go on the offensive.

Writing.

Let's hope this quest doesn't die as quickly as the last one.

Letting Miria utilise the longer reach of her lance will just lead to a quick loss, so I charge in, trusting my padded armour to help ward off her first attack.

I duck slightly mid-charge, letting her lance glance off my shoulder and bring my axe around in a vicious swing, aimed at her midsection. Miria starts to step back but due to hwr previous attack, she can't recover in time and the blade connects with a powerful 'thunk', sending her sliding backwards from the force.

"Point to Drake" Broadside yells from the sidelines, as we continue our battle.

Miria re-adjusts her footing, and starts a barrage of probing strikes aimed at keeping me from getting in close. Thinking I see an opening, I push the lance down with a block from my axe and charge forward again, only to get my legs swept out from under me. Quickly, I roll away as the lance thuds into the ground where I was.

"Point Miria" Reina calls as I clamber to my feet.

Back at the distance we started at, I'm met with another series of strikes. Trying a different tactic, I wait until Miria commits to a strike I've seen before and intercept it with an upwards swing of my axe, knocking both weapons upwards. Realising that Miria can ready her lighter lance before I can swing my axe, I let it go and bodily tackle her into the ground where her speed and reach mean nothing. I hold her there long enough to make a point before getting off her and standing back up.

As I help Miria to her feet, the sounds of Broadside and Reina are having an argument filter into my head.

"I suppose we should break that up, I remark."

"Or we could escalate it." Adds Miria with a smirk on her face. "I'm sure we could benefit from a demonstration of how experienced fighters do things."

>Break it up.

>Encourage Broadside and Reina to have a spar.

>>1780664
>Ditch those two losers and go for a flight.

>>1780664
>>Break it up.

Calling votes now. I'll go with >>1780695, as we'll get to go for a flight very shortly.

I'd rather not deal with the aftermath of the two of them fighting, so I walk over to the pair of them.

"Tackling someone to the ground does not count as a point." Snaps Reina. "A solid hit with a weapon gets a point and nothing else."

"You're just mad because you lost." Retorts Broadside. "In a real battle, Drake would have easily overpowered Miria and either stabbed her with her own lance or just knocked her out with his fists."

"In a REAL battle, that stunt would have got Drake killed while scrambling for his weapon afterwards."

Having heard enough, I interject. "I don't care about who 'won'. Perhaps you could think about what the servants - or worse someone actually important would think about seeing two senior members of their respective armies arguing like children!"

There's a stunned silence as my words echo around the sparring grounds. The silence is broken by the sound of someone in heavy armour clanking down the stars to the armory.

A suit of heavy red armor strides into the armory and says in a gravelly voice "My wyvern has just exhausted itself flying here all the way from the Renais border. I expect it to be ready to fly me back by sundown."

"Are you m-" I begin, but get cut off by Broadside saying much louder "Yes, General."

The figure turns and leaves without saying another word.

Before I can start spluttering about how impossible that is, Broadside flatly states "That was General Ironwing, commander of the imperial aerial forces. When he gives an order it happens. Understand?"

"Yes, Sir." I reply, still in shock slightly.

"Good." Broadside then turns to Miria and Reina and says "We'll talk about this over dinner - assuming we have time." Before striding off to the Aerie, leaving me to run after him.


The general's wyvern is sprawled out in the middle of its room, the only thing in the otherwise bare room. Right away, I realise that something is wrong, as wyverns tend to curl up rather than sprawl out. It slowly lifts up its head and begins spluttering.

Quickly, we rush over to the wyverns side and begin checking to see what the problem is. I get the wonderful job of prying its jaws open and peering down its throat, when something starts coming up the other way.

I leap out of the way, barely dodging the stream of wyvern vomit. The smell isn't quite right though and I remark as much to Broadside, who lets out a string of curses.

"It's been poisoned." He says. We'll need fireroot and dragontounge as quickly as possible. Fireroot is easy, just steal some from the pantry, but I don't recall having any dragontounge in stores.

Broadside is proven right as the shelf that should have a jar is empty. I recall that the reason we ran out is that a particularly nasty pack of wolves had moved into the forest where it grows, and it never seemed to be a priority to clear them out.

I corral a servant and hand them the Fireroot and a message for Broadside.

>Head out on my own to collect the herbs myself. Time is of the essence

>Be safe and locate Miria to come with me. I don't want to be ambushed.


I've been coralled into cooking, so I'm going to have to take a break here. I'll be back in about 4 hours, as I have something else to do afterwards.

>>1781036
>Be safe and locate Miria to come with me. I don't want to be ambushed.

>>1781036
Head out on my own to collect the herbs myself. Time is of the essence

I'm back. If anyone is lurking, I could use a tiebreaker. Otherwise, I'll flip a coin in 5 minutes.

Rolling.

Rolled 1 (1d2)

1: Solo
2: Take Miria with you.

Hopefully the dice work this time.

Rushing over to the aerie where Ephraim (my own wyvern) sleeps, I fling open the door and whistle for him to get up. I quickly snap a saddle on him and we take off in the direction of the woods.


It only takes a few minutes for us to reach the woods and start searching for a likely place to find the herb. A clearing by a stream looks like a good point to start from, so I signal Ephraim to land there. Unfortunately, the trees are too close together to allow him to follow me, so after I dismount I signal him to go aloft, secure in the knowledge that I can summon him back with a special whistle I keep around my neck.

It takes me a while to find the herbs in the half-light under the trees, but eventually I find a bunch of familiar green tendrils growing out from under a rock. Taking care not to damage the plants, I gently work at the roots with my knife until the plant slips free.

It's then that I notice that the forest sounds that I've gotten used to have disappeared and an ominous silence has fallen over the forest. Tucking the herbs into my belt pouch, I ready my axe and slowly start making my way back to the clearing.

A slight movement out of the corner of my eye is all the warning I get before a massive black wolf pounces at me. My time training with Broadside lets me twist out of the way in time but before I can ready a strike, the beast has vanished back into the undergrowth. Another wolf lunges at me from a different direction, but this time I'm ready and its lunge is stopped short with a sickening crunch as I intercept it with a blow from my axe.

As the wolf hits the dirt, a series of growls from around me herald the presence of at least five other wolves. Vastly outnumbered, I have to make a split-second decision.

>Find a tree I can swing into and use the whisle to summon Ephraim. Getting into the saddle from a tree will be a challenge though.

> Continue with a fighting retreat towards the clearing, where Ephraim can dive onto the wolves and put his claws to use. The only problem will be making it to the clearing uninjured.

This is my last post for the night. I'll resume thread in the morning.

>>1781610
Can the wyvern just pluck me eagle-style and carry to a more convenient landing spot? If yes, pull a hobbit onna tree.

Otherwise fight my way to a clearing.

>>1781610
> Continue with a fighting retreat towards the clearing, where Ephraim can dive onto the wolves and put his claws to use. The only problem will be making it to the clearing uninjured.

>>1781610
>Continue with a fighting retreat towards the clearing, where Ephraim can dive onto the wolves and put his claws to use. The only problem will be making it to the clearing uninjured.

I awaken. Votes called and writing.