Chronicles of Haladway: Treasured Tales

Cerys starts at H4!

Cerys was a bit taken back by the kids running into her, but figured there was no harm in it. They were just playing after all. . . or so she thought. "Huh?" her hand went down to her side, the small purse removed from her side. She looked up to see the ringleader of the little thieves tossing the small satchel up and down. "Well then," she said plainly, looking over at the kids, "how 'bout you give that back to me? I'll buy you all treats if you do." She hoped they would hand it over, she didn't want to harm children.

Objective: Defeat all enemies.
Failure: Allied party KO OR Enemy retreat.

{-} {-} { } { } { } { } { } {-} {-} A
{-} {|} { } { } { } { } { } {|} {-} B
{-} {|} { } { } { } { } { } {|} {-} C
{-} {|} { } { } { } { } { } {|} {-} D
{-} {|} { } { } { } { } { } {|} {-} E
{-} {|} { } { } { } { } {L} {-} {-} F
{-} {|} {T} { } { } {F} { } { } { } G
{-} {|} { } {C} { } { } {J} { } { } H
{-} {|} { } { } { } { } { } {-} {-} I
{-} {|} { } { } { } { } { } {|} {-} J
{-} {-} { } { } { } { } { } {|} {-} K
-1---2---3---4---5---6---7---8---9-

{-}, {|}= Buildings, impassable.
HP: 60
Def: 25
Spr: 25


Larry
HP: {(//////////)}
MP: {(//////////)}

Fred
HP: {(//////////)}
MP: {(//////////)}

Joey
HP: {(//////////)}
MP: {(//////////)}


Cerys
HP: 15/15
MP: 30/30
Atk: 1
Def: 3
Int: 5
Spr: 4
Evade: 4%
Crit: 3%
Move: 2

Tegan
HP: 25/25
MP: 15/15
Atk: 6
Def: 1
Int: 2
Spr: 4
Evade: 25%
Crit: 5%


Player Phase 1!

Cerys *Prodigy*
HP: 15/15
MP: 30/30
Atk: 1
Def: 3
Int: 5
Spr: 4
Evade: 4%
Crit: 3%
Move: 2 Cells

Cerys sighed–the youth seemed adamant in their pursuit of her money and goods, even if she didn't have anything else on her. "Okay," her fingers grazed a faded symbol on her upper arm "I guess I'll just have to take it back." The symbol lit up slightly, the black colored light flickering slightly before remaining as a faint glow. "Remember though, I asked nicely." she added, her tone sharper as the glow began to surround her finger tips.

She began to draw in the air a fair-sized dot, which was quickly surrounded by a large circle. She lifted her fingers from the air drawing for only a moment before creating several dashes along the perimeter of the globe. "Crystal Bolts." Cerys stated simply, snapping her fingers as she finished her final stroke. A strange symbol flew from the drawing and shattered and suddenly needles of ice surrounded the ringleader. Cerys averted her eyes just in time as the needles struck into the boy. "Shame..." she murmured, moving just a few feet away.

Cerys casts Crystal Bolts on Fred! 5 Hits! 5 Int Ice Damage per Hit!

Cerys moves to I3!

Cerys *Prodigy*
HP: 15/15
MP: 25/30
Atk: 1
Def: 3
Int: 5
Spr: 4
Evade: 4%
Crit: 3%
Move: 2 Cells

"Yeah, I don't think they listened to you." Tegan smiled and shrugged. Just another day dealing with common thieves. The drunkard untied a glass bottle of wine protected in woven straw from his belt, uncorked it, and raised it in greeting to the boys. "I'd have taken the offer, boys." He was rather unfazed by Cerys' display of magic, it wasn't all that uncommon in Praesentia as it was and he was a mite too drunk to really care. Tegan stumbled forward, falling to his knees in front of the foremost thief and headbutting him in the stomach, all in one go. The poor boy promptly feel over, unconscious from the onslaught.

Tegan uses Falling Rush [-8 MP] on Fred! 7 Atk damage!

Tegan moves to G-5.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fred takes 15 damage! (Cerys)

Fred takes 5 damage! (Tegan)

Fred PKO!

The street was swiftly clearing in all the fighting, and the two boys glanced at each other, now in fright. Their leader had just fallen so quickly to these 'victims', and now they were sure to be next. "What d'we do Larry?"

Larry put on a brave face, trying to be the coolest person in the gang now. If he got to beat these two people, maybe he would be in charge instead of Fred. "Take 'em down, get the girl first!" Little Joey nodded, the scrawniest of the three, and they both charged after Cerys.

Larry moves to I-6.

Joey moves to I-4.

Joey uses Quick Strike [-7 MP] on Cerys! 6 Atk damage, 2 hits! Cerys takes 6 damage!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Objective: Defeat all enemies.
Failure: Allied party KO OR Enemy retreat.

{-} {-} { } { } { } { } { } {-} {-} A
{-} {|} { } { } { } { } { } {|} {-} B
{-} {|} { } { } { } { } { } {|} {-} C
{-} {|} { } { } { } { } { } {|} {-} D
{-} {|} { } { } { } { } { } {|} {-} E
{-} {|} { } { } { } { } { } {-} {-} F
{-} {|} { } { } {T} { } { } { } { } G
{-} {|} { } { } { } { } { } { } { } H
{-} {|} {C} {J} { } {L} { } {-} {-} I
{-} {|} { } { } { } { } { } {|} {-} J
{-} {-} { } { } { } { } { } {|} {-} K
-1---2---3---4---5---6---7---8---9-

{-}, {|}= Buildings, impassable.
HP: 60
Def: 25
Spr: 25


Larry
HP: {(//////////)}
MP: {(//////////)}

Fred [PKO]
HP: {(//////////)}
MP: {(//////////)}

Joey
HP: {(//////////)}
MP: {(//////////)}


Cerys [Prodigy]
HP: 9/15
MP: 25/30
Atk: 1
Def: 3
Int: 5
Spr: 4
Evade: 4%
Crit: 3%
Move: 2

Tegan [Drunkard]
HP: 25/25
MP: 7/15
Atk: 6
Def: 1
Int: 2
Spr: 4
Evade: 25%
Crit: 5%
Move: 3


Player Phase 2!

Cerys *Prodigy*
HP: 9/15
MP: 25/30
Atk: 1
Def: 3
Int: 5
Spr: 4
Evade: 4%
Crit: 3%
Move: 2 Cells

Cerys grunted slightly as one of the two thieves attacked her. She had been expecting it, but they actually hurt a little bit. Before coming here such a basic attack wouldn't have hurt nearly as much... had she gotten rusty in the time she'd been here? Doing her best to ignore that horrible thought and the surprising amount of pain the boy inflicted, she raised her hand once again. "I'm telling you, I don't want to do this." she commented, beginning to draw the same symbol again.

She moved a little more quickly this time, finishing the drawing and snapping her fingers. The rune covering the symbol shattered and more needles of ice raised around the boy. "Crystal Bolts." Cerys muttered, looking away once more as she took a couple steps in the other direction. "Tegan, if you could... handle him. I don't think I can take many more hits like that."

Cerys casts Crystal Bolts on Joey! 5 Hits! 5 Int Ice Damage per Hit!

Cerys moves to G3!

Cerys *Prodigy*
HP: 9/15
MP: 20/30
Atk: 1
Def: 3
Int: 5
Spr: 4
Evade: 4%
Crit: 3%
Move: 2 Cells

Tegan nodded along to what the girl was saying, knocking back a drink afterwards. He swayed over to his right and rolled over until he was on his feet again, precariously at that, seeming to have trouble staying on his feet where he was. Regardless, the drunk staggered a step forward and punched two times in quick succession, using the knuckles of two fingers on either hand.

Tegan moves to I-5.

Tegan attacks Joey! 6 attack damage, 2 strikes!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Joey dodged 1 hit! Joey takes 12 damage! (Cerys)

Joey takes 8 damage! (Tegan)

Joey PKO!

The last thief lost his cool as the other boy went down just as quickly as Fred. He looked at the two they'd dared to steal from, then suddenly bolted, about to make off with the purse of money.

Larry moves to H-9.

Larry is trying to escape! Stop that thief!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Objective: Defeat all enemies.
Failure: Allied party KO OR Enemy retreat.

{-} {-} { } { } { } { } { } {-} {-} A
{-} {|} { } { } { } { } { } {|} {-} B
{-} {|} { } { } { } { } { } {|} {-} C
{-} {|} { } { } { } { } { } {|} {-} D
{-} {|} { } { } { } { } { } {|} {-} E
{-} {|} { } { } { } { } { } {-} {-} F
{-} {|} {C} { } { } { } { } { } { } G
{-} {|} { } { } { } { } { } { } {L} H
{-} {|} { } { } {T} { } { } {-} {-} I
{-} {|} { } { } { } { } { } {|} {-} J
{-} {-} { } { } { } { } { } {|} {-} K
-1---2---3---4---5---6---7---8---9-

{-}, {|}= Buildings, impassable.
HP: 60
Def: 25
Spr: 25


Larry
HP: {(//////////)}
MP: {(//////////)}

Fred [PKO]
HP: {(//////////)}
MP: {(//////////)}

Joey [PKO]
HP: {(//////////)}
MP: {(//////////)}


Cerys [Prodigy]
HP: 9/15
MP: 20/30
Atk: 1
Def: 3
Int: 5
Spr: 4
Evade: 4%
Crit: 3%
Move: 2

Tegan [Drunkard]
HP: 25/25
MP: 7/15
Atk: 6
Def: 1
Int: 2
Spr: 4
Evade: 25%
Crit: 5%
Move: 3


Player Phase 3!

Cerys *Prodigy*
HP: 9/15
MP: 20/30
Atk: 1
Def: 3
Int: 5
Spr: 4
Evade: 4%
Crit: 3%
Move: 2 Cells

Cerys grimaced as the last thief suddenly bolted in an attempt to escape them. She knew that he was much to far away for her to reach him with any other spell, and that, unfortunately, she would have to use that one. She took a few reluctant steps forward, trying to clear her mind and focus on the drawing of the glyph itself rather than what would happen.

Cerys moves to G5!

"I'm sorry," she murmured, beginning to draw an elaborate symbol reminiscent of of the letter 'T' on its side. As soon as the complex letter was drawn she drew a rather large crescent shape above it, projected perfectly over the jutted out end. "I need that money..." she muttered, finishing up the crescent and snapping her fingers. The drawing burst with a terrible blood red aura, several runes shattering into fading pieces. The crescent shape collided with the jutted end, which was severed it from the rest of the drawing. Cerys looked away as a very obvious crescent appeared overhead the boy and sliced into his torso.

It's a painful goodbye, I'm sorry it had to end this way. Cerys commits an Execution! 10 Piercing Int Damage! 10% Chance of Instant Death!

Cerys *Prodigy*
HP: 9/15
MP: 20/30
Atk: 1
Def: 3
Int: 5
Spr: 4
Evade: 4%
Crit: 3%
Move: 2 Cells

Looking between Cerys and the fleeing thief, Tegan began to think that going all out on the poor boy wasn't really worth it. Still, with a beating like that, he wasn't bound to be stealing from people again anytime soon. He sighed and drank some more. "Ah, don't worry about him, little trollop's not worth it." With that, he made his way over to one of the unconscious boys to see what he had on him.

Tegan waits.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Larry takes 10 damage! (Cerys)

Larry attempts to flee . . . Larry escapes!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Failure condition met: Enemy retreat!

Money lost!

Battle failed!


Experience earned: 0 XP

Items found: 2x Bitter Root

Money found: 16 marks


As the Allied Party did not lose by KO, we get to keep what we've earned from the battle so far, but no experience gain. But do not fear, you can earn some money back with a little work. We'll continue here shortly.

Cerys frowned as the boy made away with the meager cash she had left after hiring Tegan. She had been really desperate for that money. It was all she had, but she supposed Tegan was right–the boy probably wouldn't steal again with injuries like that. The young mage walked over to the drunkard, noticing he had picked up a few marks. While it certainly wasn't equivalent to the amount she had prior, she knew there was little to be done about it. That minor sum would have to do. "We good to go?" she asked quietly, her expression returning to its usual stoicalness.

He handed the copper coins to her with an apologetic look down at the ground. "Yeah. I'm sorry about that." Tegan put his bottle of wine away, noting how much was left in it which was still quite a bit. "Ah well, looks we really need to get earning now, don't we?" People started filling back into the street, and a few were calling for guards. The two unconscious thieves started stirring. "We should go now." Guards would ask too many questions and it wouldn't do them any good to tell them how much was stolen anyway, not like they would catch the little bastard. Best to move on, and he did so, quietly moving down the street towards a more open intersection.

There were more people bustling about the intersection, even a few carriages passing through. In the middle of the squareway stood a large board made of stout wood, bleached by long days in the sun. Tegan walked right up to it, scanning the pages tacked to the wood for any available jobs. Luckily, there seemed to be a few.

Shining Port Job Board

/---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
Available Jobs: 2

Requests:

--Guard Post: I need someone to watch my dock for a night. Guards say they're too busy. Must have good eyes! Hours to Work: 8. Reward: 75 silver. Time left available: 7 hours.

--Collector: I'm so busy keeping up with my store, I don't have the time to go out and get some fresh crab meat. I need enough in time to cook for the festival. Only mohi'd crab meat will do. Hours to Work: N/A. Reward: 50 shekels. Time left available: 3 days.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------/


Tegan scratched at the back of his head and gestured at the board. "See anything you like?" Catching crabs sounded like easier work to him, but he had a feeling the girl would go for the bigger money. He was usually right - usually.

Guard Post: Taken

Collector: Taken

Cerys had fallen back behind Tegan for just a bit, but when time came to look at the available jobs she stepped forward. She looked at one for the longest time, her lips pursing into a thin line as she finished reading the first. Her gaze shifted to the other one and as soon as she finished reading it her gaze fell. Both were near the ocean. Both dealt with being close to the water. Cerys looked back up and faked reading them once more with a neutral face. It was all that was there–best to deal, beggars couldn't be choosers. She grabbed both bulletins and nodded at Tegan. "Let's take them both." she affirmed quietly.

Tegan watched the girl deliberate, getting the impression that something was off. He knew carefully blank looks when he saw them. He was an old drunk, not a fool. But he figured he was the employed one and should probably just keep to himself, and anyway she'd picked out a couple things for them to do. "Well what do you want to do first? I figure we've got some time to kill before sundown." He looked up at the sky to confirm it, shielding his eyes. He figured it was probably a couple hours after midday. "Are you hungry? It'll take too long to leave the city and go hunting around for some crabs. Or, maybe we could go talk to the guy who put that up."

Current time: 2:15

"Let's speak with him." Cerys stated with a little more force in her tone. She put that request on top of the other and read it over once more. Yes, stopping by to ask the man a few questions would be in their best interest. "More information would help to pinpoint just how difficult doing the job will be." she added with nod. "Do you know which way?"

Tegan happily nodded, beginning to lead her away into the streets. This time he kept a more watchful eye for potential thieves. Most pedestrians paid him no mind, he was like the rest of the impoverished in town, in other words: everywhere. He rubbed at his eyes as he lead Cerys south down the cobbled streets. "Too sober for this many people." He muttered before running right smack into a wall of a man. "Oh. Sorry." He smiled politely and kept his eyes down, not wanting to draw attention.

The man shoved him to the side ruthlessly. "Hey, watch where you're going! I swear, all these layabout morons everywhere!"

As the mountain man walked away griping to himself, Tegan calmly picked himself up and kept walking. They'd reach the docks soon.

She had been following Tegan very carefully, watching out for potential thieves as he had been. Though she had little more of value on her, she knew that if she were to lose anything more it would only set her back further. She wouldn't be able to handle that. It seemed, however, that no thieves chose to make themselves known. Cerys was able to relax. Or, at least she was until a rather large man built entirely of muscle huffed at Tegan and shoved him aside. Although the drunkard had been in the wrong with bumping into him, such treatment was unnecessary.

A frown shown on her face. "That was uncalled for." she muttered as he passed her, her left hand touching the faded symbol on her arm. When he passed her, she quickly drew a small jagged line and a dot. A small jolt of electricity, almost entirely undetectable flew from the drawing and zapped the large man before fading from existence entirely. Cerys quickened her pace to keep up with Tegan, "Hopefully he'll think twice before he acts that rudely again."

A loud yowl sounded from behind them, followed by an equally loud string of curses. Tegan successfully kept from bursting into laughter but he turned to grin at Cerys. "Poor fellow. Seems to be having a bad day." He laughed at that and kept going, his day brightened considerably. Within minutes of the incident, they reached the dock walls. The docks were well guarded, with high, thick stone walls separating them from the rest of the city, and carefully watched over gates at regular intervals. Tegan marched up to one of the guards standing at attention.

"Halt. State your business. The guard's helmet made it difficult to see any expression he made, but his tone suggested he was rather unimpressed.

"We have a work order to be carried out in one of the docks." Tegan motioned to Cerys to show him the request paper.

Cerys quickly held the paper out for the man to see, but kept her grip on it tight so that if he deigned to take it from her he would have a hard time doing so. After her encounter with the pickpockets she refused to let anyone take hold of her belongings–there was no telling what someone in this world might do. Sure, Ethernia wasn't without thieves, but this world seemed to have a higher crime rate. Typically you didn't see mere kids stealing either. "May we proceed, or do you require some other authentication?" she inquired sincerely.

The guards helmeted head lifted to regard the girl, then went back to the paper. Tegan could swear he heard a tired sigh emanating from that helmet. "No, that's obviously from Grelis. Crazy old dog keeps going on about pirates coming to steal from his warehouse." One armored shoulder rose and fell in a shrug. "He's nuts. His dock's too far in to be a target . . . Uh, don't tell him I said that though." The guard gestured to them and opened the gate for the two to enter. "He's Dock 14, down the west side."

Tegan tipped his head to the man, saying, "Thankyou," as he entered. Heading west, he honestly hoped the guard was right and the old sailor was just crazy. It certainly wasn't unheard of for people to get paranoid. He looked back to make sure Cerys was following.

Cerys nodded to the guard and quickly moved her fingers to draw an intricate symbol which caused the paper to disappear into thin air. Thank you, kindly." she remarked before following Tegan. She was quite thankful that the man had given them little trouble–having to deal with more people before they could reach the request giver would be a pain. As soon as the two of them were out of earshot, however, Cerys was quick to close the gap between her and Tegan. "People here are quite abrasive."

Tegan glanced at his employer. "Are they? I hadn't really noticed." It was the city. People were people, and most just went on about their business. Or maybe he'd just been living here too long, or too full of alcohol to really care. They passed several docks, each marked with a sign upon which numbers in chipped black paint had been put. The docks weren't particularly busy today, a little unusual as the last remnants of summer catch were coming in right about now. Still, the sounds of sailors calling out to each and the permeating call of gulls colored the air.

They nearly passed the one they were searching for but found it regardless. A couple passing dockworkers paid them no mind as Tegan called out. "Hello? Is there a sir Grelis about?"

"Yeah, yeah, hold yer sails there." A stout man who could mostly be described as grizzly sauntered out the entry to a warehouse down the boardwalk. He walked with a pronounced limp towards them, and Tegan soon realized the man was about a foot shorter than him, and with much whiter hair. Grelis eyed them, mostly glaring with the right side of his face pointed towards them, perhaps he was hard of hearing. "Wha' d'ya want?"

Cerys shot a look to Tegan for a fraction of a second, one so quick that she was certain only he would catch it. "Abrasive." she thought again, but kept her natural passiveness. "We're here about your post on the bulletin board, if you'd be so kind as to give us some specifics of the job." she stated smoothly, her gaze locked on their would be employer.

"Well I hope you two got some sharp eyes." Grelis eyeballed them again as if he could tell just by looking at them. "I'm tellin' ya what, them pirates must be invisible or somethin'. Now I done lost about thirty eight percent of my shipments, and I cain't afford to lose that much, y'hear?"

Tegan shifted his feet for a moment, knowing that's probably not what the girl meant when she asked for specifics. "Well where do you believe they're coming from?"

Grelis tossed his hands up angrily at him. "I don't BELIEVE they're comin' from ANYWHERE! I know that they're coming up from in between docks 47 and 50. That's the only explanation! Thievin' bastards!"

Tegan pursed his mouth shut to keep from speaking any further. For sure this man had some durgen in him, but he was fairly certain there was an extensive amount of fiery hills people in his lineage. Thankfully another man emerged from the warehouse, probably wondering what all the ruckus was about. He was much taller and leaner than Grelis, and Tegan immediately recognized the telltale zeylfaen cut of his hair, long bangs in the front and three long braids tied together in the back.

"Grelis, is there a problem here?" His bright green eyes looked between the other two, and he smiled slightly.

"No, no. These two here are answerin' my request."

"I see. Perhaps you should go and see to the new freight ropes? I can deal with these two, if you would like."

"Yeah, yeah. You don't tie 'em right anyhow." Grelis grumbled to himself and limped away.

As soon as he was out of earshot, the zeylfaen dipped his head in greeting to the two humans. "My name is Zifaric. I hope you don't think too harshly of Grelis. He isn't as bad as he sounds." He smiled goodnaturedly, much more pleasant in demeanor than the gruff old man.

Cerys allowed a small smile to slip onto her face as the new man introduced himself to them; now this was a demeanor closer to home. It as a small touch, but a comforting one. Hopefully more of this land's people would be like him. "I'm sure it's a natural reaction to come off harshly when you're losing your product to pirates." she offered calmly, her smile fading as she came to their reason for being here again. "He explained who the job concerns, but not much else. Is there anything else we should know before tackling this issue? Any pattern to the raids? Measures that have already been taken to protect your wares?"

"Those are Grelis' suspicions, yes." Zifaric frowned, perhaps too polite to comment further on the matter. "But no. There does seem to be any pattern to the 'raids' as you say. Our security measures are sufficient to handle most thieves." He glanced back at the warehouse as if someone were trying to break in at that very moment. "The warehouse is locked well and tight, it does not have any windows nor any way to access the roof. I have checked that myself."

Tegan looked at the thick wooden structure to verify that and indeed he could not see any way for an agile thief to maneuver their way up there, where a pulley sytem and a large, square hole were for moving and storing larger cargo. "What about any ships in dock?"

Zifaric shook his head, long braids swishing back and forth. "Any that stay are watched by the city guards, mainly to watch for stowaways but they keep a fair eye out for other things as well." He smiled at them and clasped his hands together. "Will that be all?"

"Yes, I believe so."

"Then I bid you farewell." With that, Zifaric put one hand over the base of his throat and collarbones, and bowed his head to them. "Zeylten diritun calis."

Tegan grinned and repeated the formal gesture. "Zeylten diritun audem calis."

Zifaric looked up at him with some surprise, a happy grin on his face as well. He left them without further ado, back to work in the warehouse.

Current time: 2:30