File: VillagerFE2.png (371 B, 79x78)

371 B PNG

Again, for emphasis, for the moment, you are the Hero Gorman. At a table in a tent in the middle of the desert, you have gathered the survivors of the tragedy in the village you once guarded, or at least the ones who are present. There's Ellen, your surviving protege, Robert and Jay, two lumberjacks, and Reese, who has changed the most from the man you knew just over a year ago. A bunch of others are listening in, but that's hardly your concern.

"Before I begin my story," you explain, "I must provide context for the person I did this for. It was... nine or ten years ago, in the middle of the war between Neir and Dain, when I met a dear friend of mine. His name was Tabat."

"Wait, THAT Tabat?" Robert says, banging his hands on the table. "The one who led the Johalva bandits?"

You nod, ask him to kindly remain silent until you're done talking, and begin to tell your story.

Flashback to ten years ago. You are a boy in the nation of Dain. Well, to be more precise, you're in Traban, a town close by to a military outpost of the same name, overseen by the brutal Captain Willow. As your mother watches, you and your friend Derrick play-fight in the streets with wooden swords.

>A. Don't take this seriously. It's just a game, after all
>B. Strike hard and unforgivingly, as though you were really on the war front
>C. Dance around a lot, waiting to confuse or exhaust your play-opponent
>D. Play defensively

>>41694252
>D. Play defensively

File: Serra.full.1496722.jpg (244 KB, 700x700)

244 KB JPG

>>41694252
>>A. Don't take this seriously. It's just a game, after all

>>41694396
>>41694326

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>41694449
Why didn't it roll?

>>41694468
You play defensively, your friend's strikes being parried by your own as you wait for him to fumble. Upon seeing an opportunity to do so, you struck him on his arm, declaring him "defeated" as per the rules of your fake-duels. Derrick grunts in frustration, before you brusquely shake hands in one another's approval.

As you do this, Captain Willow flies over... Or maybe your mother made you two lunch first and then she came knocking at your house's door. Regardless, soon she was talking to your mother about something. Terrifying woman, you recall Captain Willow being.

"Wonder what my mom wants with yours. Do you think maybe your dad is being shipped out?" Derrick asks.

Before you can come up with a response, however, their conversing has turned into your mother shouting at Willow, something about "that" being "a hideous thing to do."

You remember your mother being hoisted up and thrown into a wall by the much stronger woman.

>A. You ran to her aid
>B. You confronted the captain immediately
>C. You just stood there

As for your friend, Derrick, upon seeing your actions and those of his mother...

>D. Did the same thing you did
>E. Simply stood back
>F. Ran off

>>41694615
>A. You ran to her aid
>D. Did the same thing you did

>>41694615
>>B. You confronted the captain immediately
>D. Did the same thing you did

>>41694672
>>41694913
Of course, you immediately ran towards your mother, checking if she was okay and asking, to paraphrase, what the hell that was about.

Derrick did the same, both of you trying to help your mother off the ground as your friend raised his voice at Captain Willow, "mom, why did you do that?! What could have possibly-"

For his efforts, he gets slapped, followed by Willow explaining, "your friend's father has been found out as part of a group conspiring against the crown. Since he's my subordinate, I was tasked with 'taking care of it.' You know I'm always thorough about snuffing out insubordination, Derrick, so quit being disobedient and leave your mother to her business!"

>A. You tried to run away after that
>B. You just stood there
>C. You tried to say something (write-in)

Meanwhile, Derrick...

>D. Asked what his mother was going to do
>E. Obediently left
>F. Immediately grew hostile towards you

>>41694615
>A. You ran to her aid
>F. Ran off

>>41695014
>G. You tried to fight her yourself.
>D. Asked what his mother was going to do.

>>41695014
>G. You tried to fight her yourself while Derrick simply stood there, speechless.

>>41695110
>>41695206
"Wh-what are you going to do to Gorman?" Derrick asks his mother, clearly not used to actually confronting her like this.

"I told you, I'm being thorough." Captain Willow draws an intricate-looking sword, one said to be capable of tearing through Wyverns and dragons with ease. The blade's wear shows, which makes sense considering it's the favorite of a Wyvern Lord and seasoned squadron leader who does not take kindly to unruly subordinates.

Military brat that you were, you didn't really have a problem with resorting to violence, immediately attacking the armed and vastly more experienced fighter as your friend stood and watched.

Your wooden sword does little but break against her armor, but the strength of your swing and the nerve of the move actually stuns Willow for a moment.

After a moment, she says, "you know what, that... was actually impressive. You've got the heart of a warrior somewhere in there, whelp!"

After laughing this off for a moment, she went ahead and continued with the whole "attacking your family" thing, Derrick literally having to drag you away before you got any more bright ideas.

>A. You both escaped your house into the streets
>B. You overpowered Derrick and ran back
>C. Derrick covered for you as you got out of the house

>>41695357
>>B. You overpowered Derrick and ran back

>>41695357
>>B. You overpowered Derrick and ran back

>>41695357
>D. Derrick forced you out of your house and told you to run
>C. Derrick covered for you as you got out of the house

>>41695441
seconding this

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>41695395
>>41695441

>>41695520
You overpowered your friend and ran back towards the front of your house, encountering your mother gravely wounded, having barely survived Willow's attempts at Wyrmslayer-using evisceration, hearing her mutter something about the good captain having run around the back to try to cut you and Derrick off there. Overhearing Willow screaming and Derrick making pained cries, things were... a bit of a blur for you for awhile from there. You recall you and your mother trying to run out of town, being chased by wyverns, shielded by your mother from what would have been certain death, closing your eyes moments later and awaiting your fate at the hands of the brutal captain and other winged beasts...

...and your fate never coming, but instead a tall man with an axe fighting Captain Willow to a stalemate, hauling you and your mother away from Traban.

You never returned, never discovered what exactly your father had done that left Captain Willow feeling the need to personally kill his entire family.

At an unfamiliar camp a ways from the town, you finally had the chance to address the man.

"I don't know what the hell that was about, but I know what I saw. You two are safe here."

>A. You were terrified of this unfamiliar camp
>B. You were just delighted to be alive
>C. You were angry at your hometown

>>41695743
Be glad that at least we're still alive, but
>C. You were angry at your hometown

>>41695743
>C. You were angry at your hometown

>>41695928
>>C. You were angry at your hometown
>>41695743
This

>>41695928
>>41695934
>>41695955
"Just had to have one last heroic moment before getting sent home, eh, Tabat?" Another soldier asked the axe-wielding fellow, before continuing, "you're just going to aggravate your wounds squaring off against a wyvern so soon, you know."

"Maybe if I'm lucky I won't fully recover," the axe-wielder-Tabat, his name was-joked, "then they won't make me go anywhere that isn't my little girl's side again."

Soon enough, you and your mother learned that Captain Willow saw to it that you and your mother were made wanted fugitives throughout the whole nation.

So Tabat offered to help get you two to Tarvos Valley with him.

Years passed. Shortly after you and her had moved to Orsin Village, your mother had passed away. Tabat and his daughter lived in Halvan village, and you kept in touch as you eventually became captain of Orsin's guard as you honed your swordsmanship skills, even took on apprentices in the form of the son of the previous captain of the guard, Koblenz, and the orphaned daughter of family friends of his.

One day, not long before the fateful incident, you and Tabat were meeting up again.

>A. Nearby Orsin Village
>B. Nearby Halvan Village
>C. Somewhere in the middle of the valley

>>41696259
>A. Nearby Orsin Village

>>41696259
>B. Nearby Halvan Village

>>41696259
>>C. Somewhere in the middle of the valley
>>41696259

>>41696276
>>41696471
>>41696496
Whoop, never mind, one more got through.
Rerolling for fairness' sake.

Rolled 2 (1d3)

>>41696530
Thanks for eating my dice roll.

>>41696556
You met with your old friend nearby Halvan Village, catching up briefly and generally enjoying one another's company.

"I'm telling you, Gorman, you need to know how to swing an axe! Practice that more!"

"You're probably right, but for now I'm training my students with swords. I admit that I'm... slipping in that particular regard."

"Some super balanced guy, eh?"

As you converse, you watch as a fellow clad in red and a teenage girl-that would be Vale, Tabat's daughter-practice a much swifter, less balanced swordplay style than you approve of, but you admit that it suits their smaller frame better.

"Who's that guy?"

"The thing was lost in the mountains, said he couldn't go back the way he came, so I showed him the way to Halvan. He's been teaching Vale how to fight." He sighs, "wish I could've gotten her interested in axes."

>A. He seems nice
>B. That's a very sketchy background
>C. You honestly don't particularly care
>D. Write-in?

>>41696719
>B. That's a very sketchy background

>>41696719
>>A. He seems nice

>>41696719
>>B. That's a very sketchy background

>>41696767
>>41697015
"So you find some guy alone in the mountains and take him home too? And here I thought what we had was special," you say the last part jokingly, but that first statement was no joke.

"Well, he hasn't killed anyone yet, and I figure if he was a really bad guy then they'd have knights raiding my home for 'im. If he tries anything with Vale besides teaching her to swing a sword, I'll let you gut him with me, though."

The notion of being gutted alive by you and Tabat seems to terrify the swordsman, since he whimpers and, in his distraction, gets struck by Vale pretty hard.

In the present day, you have to tell Ellen to stop laughing so hard at this. Natalie-apparently she'd elected not to sit with the rest of the group for storytime, stares for a moment. Clearing your throat, you continue the story.

It is now a few nights before you left town. Tabat is panicked and unintelligible, and also seems significantly more angry than usual.

>A. You let him calm down
>B. You tried to snap him out of it (specification preferred)
>C. You tried to talk him to a more understandable point (write-in)

>>41697096
>A. You let him calm down

>>41697157
You give Tabat a few moments to regain his composure, at least enough to actually say what's happened.

Apparently, someone had employed the Johalva Bandits to kidnap his daughter, and a sorcerer in extremely heavy Dain armor personally demanded that he head to a specific to "negotiate what he'll need to do for her to be safe" before "vanishing with the wind in a burst of darkness."

You told your friend not to give into these people's demands, recalling a time just a short while ago where you and Lambert fended off some assailant wearing Dain colors, that you had some idea where his daughter might be taken.

You had no idea what a poor decision it would be to trust Tabat to keep strong, and most certainly didn't know by the next night, when you were packing up and departing from Orsin.

Lambert's father, Koblenz, was the only one you told you were leaving, reclaiming his guard-captain position.

>A. Lambert discovered this too
>B. No one else knew

>>41697574
>A. Lambert discovered this too

>>41697574
>B. No one else knew

>>41697574
>>B. No one else knew

>>41697637
>>41697672
Wanting to keep the situation cool so word didn't spread of, well, exactly why you were doing this, you made certain only Koblenz knew that you were leaving for personal reasons.

It was only after being found in the desert that you would learn that Tabat pretty much immediately took their deal, and that he even seemed to be a completely different, more horrific man in his final year or so alive.

In order to support yourself, you did genuinely take up mercenary work, and several unforseen mishaps made it so you were fated never to actually reach Dain alone.

About a year passed, and you were still in Heim.

You were carrying your supplies around in a very heavy bag when you found Vulture-men closing in, eyeing your gear and brandishing knives and swords.

>A. You tried to talk your way out (write-in)
>B. You stood your ground as long as possible
>C. You tried to cut your way through

>>41697960
>B. You stood your ground as long as possible

>>41697960
>B. You stood your ground as long as possible

>>41697983
With a greatsword in hand, you fended off the Vautou as they approached, waving it around and keeping them at a decently far range. They probably figured that they COULD bring you down, but none particularly wanted to be among the inevitable casualties of doing so...

A woman's voice rings from behind you, "what's the matter, birds? Afraid that this guy'll hit you?"

Turning around, you discover that the voice belongs to a young-looking girl with weirdly glowy eyes, some sort of scarf covering her mouth, sword on her side.

"That looks like a pretty good haul, big guy," she tells you. "Mind handing it over for us?"

>A. Ask who she is
>B. Refuse
>C. Attack her
>D. Keep fending off the Vautou
>E. Write-in

>>41698275
>B. Refuse
>D. Keep fending off the Vautou

>>41698391
DOUBLE DOWN!

Besides, we can't let this be a TIME PARADOX.

>>41698275
>B. Refuse
>A. Ask who she is

>>41698391
"I'm not going to just give away my belongings," you say, grunting and continuing to bat away the winged bandits.

The girl laughs, "that's what I was hoping you would say. You look like a pretty strong guy, after all, and I'm... bored, honestly." She draws her sword, barking orders at the Vautou, "let me handle this one, boys. Just grab his stuff when he's down for the count for me, alright?"

>A. Attack her while she's talking!
>B. Wait and see what she does, staying on guard
>C. Ask how she's bossing around Vulture bandits
>D. Write-in

>>41698558
>B. Wait and see what she does, staying on guard
>C. Ask how she's bossing around Vulture bandits

>>41698558
>C. Ask how she's bossing around Vulture bandits

>>41698583
>>41698699
Keeping your sword ready in a defensive position and staying near your stuff, you ask, "how, may I ask, did someone so... wingless manage to start bossing Vautou around?"

One of the birdmen answers you this time, replying "it's always been part of our law that if someone kills our current leader in a duel in our home, the rest of the Vautou will obey that person."

Another one snidely says, "someone probably should've proofread that, made sure only Vautou are eligible, but hindsight's always perfect. At the very least, Chief Oiseau... seemed to approve of the succession in his dying moments."

"So there's your history lesson, big guy. The Deadlord Simia recently cut the biggest and baddest bird down to size with this Wo Dao," she says, expression unreadable through her obscuring scarf, but eyes clearly fixated on you.

The other Vautou fly back a ways in compliance with Simia's previous order.

>A. Attack!
>B. Defend!
>C. Try to get out of here!
>D. Write-in!

>>41698864
>B. Defend!

>>41698904
Simia comes swinging at you after this, but you manage to block or avoid most of her attacks with little trouble... but you can't help but feel that she's holding back, perhaps for her own amusement.

Swing, dodge, swing, block, swing, swing, block, dodge, whiff, it goes on and on.

Eventually, you manage to get a hit in of your own, knocking her to the ground with one strike.

Simia's scarf falls down, and you immediately recognize the face beneath it.

"Vale..? Vale, you're alive!"

She doesn't seem... terribly pleased with being referred to by that name. Anger and confusion both wash over her face, and finally she starts to go all-out attacking you.

"Vale, please listen to me. Your father has been worried sick for-gods, for over a year now. Please stop this and at least come back to Tarvos Valley with me for-"

She only tries harder to hit you, and it only gets harder to fend her off. Meanwhile, her avian lackeys are closing in on your bag of belongings.

"Who do you think you are, using that name? That girl is dead, and I'm not being taken anywhere by anyone! You hear that?!"

From there, back in the present a comment from Katina at another table interrupts you. "Hey, Gorman, if you keep telling the story at this rate, when will you get to the future? I wanna see how we win!"

>A. Don't respond to that
>B. Respond to that (write-in)

>>41699238
>A. Don't respond to that

>>41699238
>>B. Respond to that (write-in)
Patience is a virtue, girl. I'll get there eventually, now where was I?

>>41699294
>>A. Don't respond to that
I like this.

>>41699306
I'm assuming you meant to copy/paste >B, then?

>>41699405
No! THE WRITE IN!

>>41699429
....That's what he said anon.....

>>41699429
Yeah, but I mean like. Are you saying not to respond or to follow the write-in response idea? They're kind of mutually exclusive.

>>41699294
This one!

Ah, whatever, I'll just go with the write-in anyway.
>>41699294
>>41699429
>>41699514
You tell Katina, "patience is a virtue, girl. I'll get there eventually. Now, where was I?"

"You were at the part that we were there for," your protege says, somehow just barely muffled by a mouthful of... pretty much everything that was being served.

"Well, not all of us were off being heroes when that happened! Some of us were making sure certain IDIOTS didn't get ROASTED ALIVE," Robert says, him and Jay shooting a shameless-looking Reese very particular looks.

A few people laugh, but Reese continues not to be phased by shade thrown. "Go on, I want to hear how the rest of this harrowing quest played out from someone who lived it!"

"Alright, then, if you would like. You see, after that, Ellen ran in out of nowhere, and..."

You recount the events of the fight from your perspective to the whole of the tent, ending where you woke up in the medical tent last night.

People continue swamping you with questions you might not have answers for, as well as just trying to get in their two cents.

"Another plot-thickening victory!" "So that's where I'd seen him before..." "I can't believe Tabat was like that!" "You're so cool for someone who can't even use any magic!" "What happened to Derrick?"

You might be able to actually answer that last one.

>A. Nope, you never heard word from Dain again
>B. You'd heard that Captain Willow had her own son put to death
>C. You hear he recently became a Captain in Dain's most elite Wyvern Squadron
>D. Write-in?

>>41699764
>C. You hear he recently became a Captain in Dain's most elite Wyvern Squadron

>>41699764
>C. You hear he recently became a Captain in Dain's most elite Wyvern Squadron

>>41699764
>C. You hear he recently became a Captain in Dain's most elite Wyvern Squadron
did we just vote our Camus into existence

>>41699893
>did we just vote our Camus into existence
Yes.

>>41699805
>>41699838
>>41699893
"Last I'd heard he'd risen through the ranks ever since he was old enough to get on a wyvern's back, become the captain of the Emperor's Flight. That's, er, the most prestigious and elite Wyvern Squadron in Dain, if I remember my time living there correctly."

"You were friends, neighbors with THAT Derrick?" Mimon says, disbelief and surprise being betrayed through his normally-serious demeanor. You nod.

From another table, Yvette finally speaks up, "the son of Willow the Bloodthirsty... And the one who pushed the hardest for her incarceration."

"You're familiar with these people, Lady Yvette?"

"When you've been where I've been for as long as I have, you learn these things, Gorman."

The rest of the day, and in fact most of the trip to Heim's capital, is pretty pleasantly uneventful, leaving you with plenty of time to try to speak with people.

You're somewhat biased towards deciding to spend time catching up with the people you already knew before coming here, naturally.

>A. Ellen (you can choose whether or not you want to switch to her POV for this choice, but I can't promise I'll be able to write her satisfactorily)
>B. Robert and Jay
>C. Reese
>D. Natalie
>E. Stefyn
>F. Someone else (specify)

>>41700142
>C. Reese

>>41700142
>E. Stefyn

>>41700142
>>C. Reese

Find out why he changed himself.

>>41700162
>>41700229
You're most interested in talking to Reese, catching him at the end of a self-imposed exercise regimen one morning.

"Captain Gorman, to what do I owe this?"

"I'm... not really anyone's captain any longer, Reese. We can have an ordinary conversation. How's old Walter doing?" You refer to that elderly farmer Reese worked as a farmhand for back in the day.

"Haven't spoken to him much since we left Rakche, obviously, but when we left he'd been living with his daughter and son-in-law, helping out at his tailor shop. He spoke highly of you a lot."

"Ah, good to hear he was still doing well, then."

>A. Ask what Reese has been up to in the past year+
>B. Ask what prompted him to turn his life around
>C. Write-in

>>41700370
>A. Ask what Reese has been up to in the past year+

>>41700370
>>B. Ask what prompted him to turn his life around

>>41700511
"You've certainly been busy since we last met, Reese. Mind sharing a bit of your story?"

"To be quite honest, this change is far more recent than a year. It was... a few months ago. I'd started swinging a lance around when Prince Garrus' knights came to Orsin, but even then I was trapped by addiction, constantly putting my hung-over foot in my mouth. I'm... still certain that Ellen thinks I'm some sort of pre...dat...or..." His tone turns much more awkward as literal wolfgirl Dama briefly passes by. She doesn't even seem to have been paying attention. Reese sighs with relief.

"Anyway," he continues, "while we were on the way to Rakche, we wound up fighting Dracozombies, and-and get this: you notice how Ellen's got less fingers than when you left town? Got those bitten off while taking one down on her own. Meanwhile, the biggest and the baddest of the ones that necromancer summoned, it... I tried to fight it, tried to poke it with my lance, but it just threw me aside and I honestly thought I was going to die that day. Then, lying on the ground, I see Ellen rushing in to fight, to protect Nat and Yvette and the prince, while I just lay around in a daze. She's bleeding out something terrible at this point, mind you, and the only reason she wasn't turned into a pile of bones by dragon's breath is because Stefyn got her out of there. Anyway, I... I saw that, and I became... I became inspired. I understood in that moment what it meant to feel like I was going to die, and someone running right from that and back into it again... Made me want to do better, be braver, be bolder. I trained my ass off, got strong enough to lug around this heavy armor, made Robert and Jay promise to kick my teeth in if I even touched another bottle... Even Lady Monica seemed impressed with my turnaround, and she's... you know that statuesque ice queen who's always by the princess? Yeah, her. So that's what I've been up to, aside from just... living."

>A. Remain silent
>B. Write-in

>>41700694
>A. Remain silent

>>41700694
>B. Write-in

Well, consider me impress as well with your turn around. This little reunion has been nothing but surprises to me.

>>41700854
You... don't really have all that much to say to that.

"I haven't really had much of a chance to prove myself, but I know it's coming! I've got all the resilience and reliability a knight needs! I just... wish I could do things in my armor without burning up. Deserts, you know?"

"So long as you remain vigilant, you should be able to actually prove yourself as more than just talk one of these days. Keep yourself trained, keep yourself balanced, and don't slip into what you used to be."

Reese thanks you for your time, before continuing, "oh, uh, another thing... Could you maybe talk to Ellen for me, one of these days? Tell her that... I'm sorry for everything I used to be."

You refuse, explaining to him that he has to get her to talk to him himself. "Ellen's respect is hard-earned after you've lost it. I wish you the best of luck, but there is no way on this planet even I can help with that."

>Ellen will return next thread

That's it for tonight, guys. Thanks for playing as always. You can follow us @qmgrandflocto on twitter or shoot us questions via http://ask.fm/qmgrandflocto

I'll also be around to talk in-thread as long as people have things to talk about

>>41700986
Thank you for running!

So, Reese is interested in Ellen as well? Let the love triangle begin!

>>41701018
He may be, but he also understands how unlikely it is that Ellen harbors anything beyond a necessary professional tolerance for him.