Heartbreak Armageddon: Eternal Scars

On the streets of Eristol, the capital of Aerin, an inexperienced group of mercenaries have gathered themselves with aspirations of forming a guild. With no name for themselves, they have gotten by thus far on the charity of a local tavern who has offered them shelter in return for promotion services. While their situation is far from ideal, the would-be members work diligently in order to raise enough funds to make their dreams a reality.

Little do they know what is in store for them.

And it all starts with a young girl and a request.


The Silver Fox Tavern. This is where they were located, at least, according to local crier. They being that mercenary group, the one that had only just recently banded together under the charity of the tavern in question. Natasha stood on the opposite end of the street, ignoring the hustle and bustle of the everyday passerby, eyes locked on the building. She had heard, also from the local crier, that they were still looking for new members before they 'hit the big time.' And though she wanted nothing more than to race into the tavern and seek out the quote-unquote leader, she remained fixated on her current position.

She clutched the tome resting against her bosom tighter. Elisia would flip a table if she knew just what she wanted to do right now–actually, scratch that, Elisia would kill her if she knew what she was going to do. Natasha shook her head forcefully. No. Now was not the time to think of what Elisia would do; she was not going to find out anyhow. Elisia was too busy with her own little agenda–she would never notice what her 'darling baby sister' was doing behind her back. That face did not, however, move the young teen from her stalwart position across from the tavern.

Come on, Natasha, she reprimanded herself mentally, remember why you're here–why you want to join these mercenaries! Her grasp on the diary tightened dangerously, white-knuckled around the binding to the point that, had she been paying attention, she would have worried about damage to the cover. You can do this. she continued, taking her first hesitant step toward the tavern. You can be brave too. Elisia doesn't always have to be the one putting herself in harm's way. You can grow stronger and then she doesn't have to worry as much. Her stride became more confident, the grip on her book loosening and falling to her; her now free right hand smoothed a wrinkle on the side of her light blue dress. You can do this! she concluded with a strong sense of self as she pushed through the sliding door and entered the building.

The immediate sight of midmorning drunks–the most awful kind that typically occupied the tavern at all times, often sleeping in a puddle of their own drool and... other questionable contents–set upon the girl, but her attention was swiftly brought to the barmaid behind the counter. She greeted the much younger teen with a warm smile and asked if there was something she could help with. Natasha quickly–almost too soon–shook her head and thanked the maid for her offer, feeling it better to find the people she was looking for herself. However, the confidence that had filled her smallish frame prior to entering the tavern had faded almost entirely. She barely inched away from the door to prevent blocking the flow of traffic, and just sorta... stood there. Her eyes searching for the people that were said to be here.

Oh how she hoped they were somewhere in here and not out on a mission.

At a dubiously clean table in a corner of the tavern where Jack had a clear view of everything, the knight sat surveying the room as stoically as he usually did, a mug of ale with its foam withering at the top balanced in his fingers. So far, the day was dull, but he didn't let that stop him hoping for a job today. After all, it wasn't even lunchtime yet. That point of view would pay off as his eye was caught when the barmaid approached a young girl clutching a large book. Poor girl looked as scared as a wet lemming, frozen by the doorway and searching the midmorning crowd. Might be a customer. Might even be an applicant.

Jack set the untouched mug down and swept out of his chair to go and meet the girl, blue and magenta eyes trained on her though his height and stride would likely announce his intention. He stopped in front of her and extended his hand politely. "Good morning, madam. My name is Jack. Is there something I can help you with?"

She had fallen asleep long ago on the table, her head resting on folded arms and breathing evenly. She hadn't quite gotten enough sleep that night and wanted to catch up before their next job started. Of course, she sat at the table with Jack, whom she was certain would make sure nothing suspicious would happen to her. He was the one to tell her to catch some sleep in the first place anyway.

Long blue hair covered most of her head and blocked her face from view, but besides the odd coloring, her hair was smooth like silk and cool to the touch. In fact, her whole body was cold, as if she had spent most of her life in the snow of winter. She wore a blue and white dress and boots, which only gave her an even colder look.

Evelyn's sleep was only disturbed by the movement of the one next to her, Jack. Something must have disturbed him to leave her here, but she had to wake anyway. Eve slowly lifted her head and brushed away her hair from her face, looking around the room to grasp her surroundings. Cool, blue eyes found her guardian moving towards a younger girl who seemed lost.

She decided to watch from where she sat.

The roof. Most people didn't realize how much there was to truly see from atop it. The buildings of the city, the wilderness beyond the walls, and the beauty of the sky were all wondrous sights that Wikefno took in on this day as he sat cross-legged on top of the roof of the Silver Fox tavern. Inside, his companions and new-found fellow guild members would surely be sitting or resting. Most of them proved to have their quirks which made Wikefno fit in with the rest of them because his mind was a bit dysfunctional at times, and he had certain tendencies. In his home village, he was known was "the weirdo" until said village was destroyed with Wikefno being one of the very few survivors, the number of which could be counted on one hand. That set Wikefno off to being a wanderer, at least until he met up with the others and wound up committing to their guild and their cause. Helping others had always been his thing anyway, and now he had the chance to do that very thing for a living. He rocked happily on the roof, his dark skin absorbing the rays of the sun as he grinned. One of his eyes peeped open and happened to glance down at a spot across the street from the tavern. A rather intriguing young girl stood there rather hesitantly. It didn't take much intuition to know that she was battling with something within her mind.

Eyes trained on her fully now, Wikefno watched as she finally headed towards the tavern with a slow start. She had no business there...or at least that would be the case if the guild hadn't been based there. "And through the power of deduction, the Great Wikefno Weokanogo deduces that she is a prospective client," he murmured to himself in mirth, standing up suddenly, his bare feet unfazed by the heat of the rooftop. The soles of his feet had been burned and blistered and cut so many times before that they now felt nothing and enabled Wikefno to walk across many things that others would deem unsafe. The tall, wiry gentleman meandered to the edge of the roof, his toes wiggling as they peeked over the edge tentatively.

If the girl was a client, then he was sure the others would be taking the request without much thought, and as such he would need to be present to learn the details. Despite how much he was having just sitting there upon the roof, seeing the things normal people didn't see, he had to go. And go he did. A dark blur flashed into the sky, and some of the people down below caught sight of it, looks of terror upon their faces as they screamed and scrambled to clear a space. Wikefno landed adeptly in a curled position near the ground, rolling along it to soften the blow of the rather dangerous leap. Standing up and brushing himself off as if nothing had happened, he made his way towards the tavern, all eyes of the people on the streets on him as he went.

"Barmaid, another drink."

She sat at the bar staring at the empty glass in front of her. It was only one glass. Not quite two yet, and definitely not three. Of course it would only be one glass as it had only been her third drink today, usually she needed five or six to start seeing doubles. Drinking was one way that Keine could pass the time with until their "group of little shits" got a job from their next client. The barmaid came and took the empty glass and in a moment returned with a full glass. She picked up the glass and began to drink, as her eyes followed the barmaid to the end of the counter where a young girl was standing near the entrance. Keine paused, setting down her half-empty glass as her eyes became fixed on the girl. What a cutie she was and Keine couldn't help herself.

Before even she had realized herself the Arcane Fletcher had practically launched herself at the young girl and wrapping her arms around the girl in a rather tight hug. She then held the girl in front of her arms the same way one would hold a teddy bear or some other stuffed animal. "Aww you're so cute~ Why would such a young girl be in a bar? Are you looking for someone?" Keine giggled, questioning the girl while still keeping her locked in a tight embrace, "So, what do you need Sweetie?"

His bones cracked and stretched as his work-worn back pressed itself against the corner of a shanty wooden wall in the tavern. Despite his efforts to woo the women with his legendary face, Seamis had difficulty with them; after all, his face was legendary not for its graceful features, but for its dangerously bland shape that left watchers with such little room for judgment. I mean, it wasn't that he was ugly, just... not impressionable. Or something. Maybe it was his slouch, or his attitude, but he just didn't draw attention to himself in the bar. He was just kinda like that. Or was he? I don't know. I don't pay enough attention to him.

Truth is, he was in the targeted tavern hours before the rest of 'em, even before the barkeep himself opened up shop for the day. He waited in the corner, with his back stretched nicely against the wall, just waiting. The barkeep didn't wonder how he got in there. He didn't even know he was there, just waiting for something to finally happen. Seamis wanted a "pop," or an adventure, or whatever. He would be there for it; he was sure of it. He kept his eyes peeled for adventure.

He just wanted something to happen. An adventure. Or whatever.

A wave of relief washed over Natasha when Jack came over, however it was swiftly replaced with absolute panic rising in her chest as some woman near about tackled her into a warm embrace. The light pink coloring that had flushed her cheeks upon entry became a stunning beet red, a few beads of sweat glistening on her forehead; everything started to get too hot for comfort and her vision swayed slightly. "I... umm... I–" Natasha sputtered, quite intelligently, her grasp on the tome in her possession tightening to double that it had been outside.

She shut her hazel eyes tightly together and forced a deep breath, trying to ignore the fact that the woman remained wrapped around her. "Y-y-you wouldn't happen to know w-where I can find that g-group of m-mercenaries... w-would you?" she managed, shifting back and forth on her feet, clearly in a state of utter discomfort. "I-I wanted to join them... I..." she trailed off, breathing becoming a little more relaxed as she gripped the book in her arms even tighter. "I even got a request..." she murmured just barely loud enough to be heard.

Jack's fist clenched as their resident archer came over and drunkenly flirted with their new patron. "Keine. Go sober yourself up, we have work to do." He reached over and separated the two females, pushing Keine in the direction of the bar. "My apologies miss." He turned his attention back to the girl. "We are the 'group of mercenaries' you are looking for, I am its leader. You say you want to join us?" The knight looked her over, an eyebrow rising as he appraised her somewhat unimpressive appearance. He knew by now not to judge someone by looks alone, all he had to do was take a look at some of his own allies, but this girl didn't seem to have much to offer. Jack noticed some of the others becoming curious, taking note of the girl. "What's your name? What can you do?"

Oh the girl was getting flustered. The light shade of pink that graced her cheeks made her look so cute. Keine giggled and lightly poked the girl's cheek with a finger before their de facto leader Jack decided to pull her and the young girl apart. She complied and loosened her embrace to allow the man to easily separate them. He also told her to sober up, which she smiled in response to and took a few steps to circle around him. She stopped behind him and slowly snaked her arms around the his neck. "Come on now Jack, no harm in getting a bit friendly with the girl. It's not like I was going to do anything to her. I'm not that drunk, only three glasses." Keine spoke before gasping as if she's come to a realization, "Could it be...that you're jealous?" Keine giggled again and leaned over to give the man a quick peck on the cheek before pulling her arms back and turning to pick up her bow and quiver, as Jack had ordered. Sure she may be a little tipsy but that wouldn't stop her from working. Usually her concentration and aim would only start becoming impaired after the fifth glass so she should be fine.

Natasha very visibly relaxed as the woman, Keine, released her–the young girl made a mental note to thank Jack after answering his questions for that. Any longer and something terrible could have happened. But it didn't; she took solace in that fact and allowed a soothing breath to pass her lips before quickly running Jack's question through her head once more. "M-my name is Natasha Fairchild, sir." she answered, bowing her head slightly out of respect before continuing. "I know a little bit of spellcraft... I'm... still new to magic, but I'm a quick study!" she promised, nodding her head slightly to emphasize the point. "And... as I mentioned, I found a request already..."

The knight rolled his eyes at the arcane archer but when he felt lips on his cheek, Jack made a noise like a pained elephant and whipped a glare at Keine's retreating back. After a moment, he cleared his throat and composed himself. "Very well. I think we'll take you on a test run, say on this request you've discovered." He turned towards the rest of the tavern, and began pointing out his guildmates. "The woman you've just met, that is Keine. Specializes in arcane archery. The striking woman with the blue hair over there is Evelyn, Eve for short. The . . man who just walked in. That's Wikefno Weokanogo - call him whatever you like, he doesn't seem to mind." Jack's oddly colored eyes searched for his last companion, a little difficult to find in a crowd. "Ah, and that's Seamus there in the back, the rather unremarkable seeming fellow. I don't think I missed anyone."

Evelyn watched Jack and the little girl interact from where she sat, her head still resting on her arms. The little disturbance from Keine made her head hurt, so she didn't think much of it. Once the girl, obviously drunk, left Jack and the girl alone, Eve finally noticed that the girl was here to submit a request. It was rather odd to see such a young person search out mercenaries, but it must be something important.

Bringing a small hand to her mouth, Eve yawned silently, pushing herself up from the table. She wanted to at least greet the girl, seeing as how they were talking about her somewhat. She noticed Jack look over at her. They weren't too far away, but she hadn't been listening to them, only watching. When she was right next to Jack, she leaned her head against his arm, still tired from not getting enough sleep. It was odd how her body felt so tired. She hadn't really done anything hard today.

"Jackie," Evelyn spoke quietly, her voice soothingly cool and her eyes gazing tiredly up at him. "Who is this? Does she need us for something?"

Just inside the door rested what he had expected to see: his fellow guild members and the client girl. The place wreaked of alcohol--Wikefno had never been a fan of the creature. It did terrible things not only to the mind, but to the soul. Or at least that was what his master had taught him at one time. Oh how that man had been so wise, and now he was naught but ashes scattered upon the winds, lifted from the remains of his home village. He wondered if one day he would become as wise and spend the rest of his life soaring the skies as burnt particles of living remains, but that would be a long, long time for now. Despite having such keen insight into the world and the souls of the living, he was far from as wise as he should be. There was a lot to learn, and being in this guild was certainly going to aid him in doing so.

Huffing slightly to rid the pungent odor of booze from his nose, Wikefno turned to face Jack who seemed to be introducing everyone. The trapper had wonderful timing so it seems, having walked through the door at the right moment. Or perhaps he knew exactly when to do so? That would remain up to speculation. "Feel free to call me the Great Wikefno, though Weo also works for most people," the young man said, tapping his chin lightly. He balanced on one foot as he pretended to think intensely on whatever subject matter would be floating through that mind of his. "Is this the new client like I deduced? She has a request for us doesn't she?!" he exclaimed excitedly, literally bending backwards in joy before standing on his hands and looking upwards towards the girl first, then to Keine.

"You stink, by the way. Too much of the wicked liquid. It taints the soul you know," he scolded at first, but a chiming tone took over his voice and a sparkle appeared in his eye. His arms started to shake indicating that he had reached the extent of his balance and strength and decided to right himself again, sending his legs backwards such that he landed on his feet facing his compatriots.

A palm met his brow, and Seamus sighed, remembering all of those colorfully descriptive adjectives Jack had used to describe him to all previous clients. He recalled certain words, mentioned at one point or the other: "undefined," "plain," "unexceptional," and a new one, just introduced today, "unremarkable." "Jack, I swear on Keine's underpants, if you use another one of those awful words to describe me again, your personality won't be the only thing of yours bloodied up and covered in cat piss." He scowled, removing himself from the shadows as bleak rays of sunlight shuttered into the tavern and onto his forehead.

Seamis had a "thing" for Jack. Not the kind of super-cool bromance-like relationship, but a "thing" more akin to a relationship filled with unreasonable hatred, distrust, and empty threats. He turned his eyes, still filled with acetic resentment for ol' Jackie, and muttered a brief, heartless greeting to the client.

He returned to his corner.

The knight struggled to contain an outburst, a twitch appearing in one eye. He inhaled slowly before he spoke. "If you would all please contain yourselves and act civilly for five minutes, we might actually get somewhere in this conversation and make some money." He carefully removed Eve from his shoulder and steadied her, turning his long-suffering expression to Weo. "Yes, she is the new client. And a potential guild member if she proves herself."

Despite everything, he had faith in this little band. He did. They seemed to be in rare form today however, likely a result of their financial situation and being cooped up together in such a crowded space. All the more reason to take the girl up on her request. Anything to get his band of little shits some fresh air. "Now, Ms. Fairchild. If you would kindly present this request, and assuming everyone is in agreement, we'll set out."

"O-of course," Natasha stammered, reaching into the small leather pouch on her side and pulling out a small scroll covered with dirt stains. Whoever she had gotten it from, the person had obviously been in a hurry to write it–the script was more chicken-scratch than anything else. However, the key points were clear: an infestation was occurring in the Southern Garden and the botanists were very displeased. They wanted someone to clear them out without damaging the newly planted flora and fauna, and would make sure to pay exceedingly well for a job well done.

No one in the would-be guild seemed to have an issue, so the whole group set out immediately, taking a mere ten minutes to reach the entrance to the Southern Garden from the tavern. There they were met with little more than a note hastily attached to a battered wooden post exclaiming that the pests were getting aggressive and someone better come deal with them quickly. Without much else to say or do, the group began their battle preparations.


Prologue–01: A Simple Request

Objective: Take care of the pests making a lunch out of the Southern Garden!

Location: Eristol Gardens – Southern Garden

Atmosphere: Beautiful Morning (What a beautiful day~ The sun is shining, the birds are singing, if these damn bugs weren't making a mess of things this would be awesome! +5% Crit for Ally Party)

Soundtrack: Garden Infestation


{ } {f} {s} { } {N} { } {s} { } {t} A
{F} { } {s} { } { } { } {s} { } { } B
{ } { } { } { } { } { } {C} {f} { } C
{t} { } {s} { } { } { } {s} {P} { } D
{ } { } {s} { } { } { } {s} { } { } E
{ } { } {A} { } { } { } { } { } {O} F
{f} {M} { } { } { } { } { } {t} { } G
{ } {f} {s} { } { } {B} {s} { } { } H
{ } { } {s} {N} { } { } {s} {f} { } I
-1---2---3---4---5---6---7---8---9-

Ally Party:

Enemy Party:

Neutral Party:

Legend:

You may start in Rows A-B; Columns 4-6

Keine starts at cell A-4

Just killing some bugs huh? The idea that they were just being used as human pesticides wasn't exactly pleasing to her. Unfortunately beggars couldn't be choosers and considering the lack of recognition of their small group at the moment she should just feel fortunate to simply have a job. Keine let out a quiet sigh and drew back her bowstring. There were a few insects nearby that she could probably plant an arrow, or two, or three in before they noticed the group.

Keine uses Splitshot on Fatty. 8 INT Dmg per hit, 3 hits
MP: 20/30

"Come on now Jack, I don't drink that much. Only five or six glasses a day, give or take a few." Keine giggled and drew back her bowstring again. This time her hand started to emit a light blue glow and an arrow crafted from magical energy formed in her hand. She turned to the nearest beetle, taking a moment to aim her shot carefully. When she let the arrow fly it almost immediately split into three arrows, each retaining the velocity and force of the original.

Keine waits