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Fire Emblem: Crestfallen

Same, same.

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

---

Éliane’s expression darkened as she passed by the dead in the passageways, noting the presence of both Edrenian and Valheimian fallen. How had such a strike force penetrated this deeply into a castle this fortified? Although she hadn’t been the part of the Household Guards that actually guarded the Overseer, she knew enough about castle defense to know that there were precious few ways to reach the protected sections of a keep this easily. Treachery was usually the culprit, and considering how she had been surprised, she had to assume it was so.

What irritated her, though, was that it was clear that she had missed most of the fighting where she could have made a difference. Moving through the empty corridors, she was merely a witness to the dead and dying. There was no aid that she could render there.

Battle still continued elsewhere, though, and the gunbreaker broke into a sprint in the direction of the telltale report of gunfire. From the way the cracks and pops of bullets began to die out, however, it was clear that she would be coming into a fight that was at its end.

Bursting into the courtyard of the royal garden, Éliane took a split second to process the scene in front of her. The Edrenian king and knights had obviously been pitted against a significant enemy force, and from the way the men stood, had been assisted by a party of men with familiar uniforms. They were obviously her countrymen from one of the other teams. There was also another group she identified as Team Kirin. From the way the smoke still hung in the air, and the manner in which the knights and gunbreakers swept their weapons over the fallen Valheimians, the fight for the courtyard had ended mere moments ago.

A bit disappointing, really, even if Jacques and Anne had been avenged by Skaelans.

For a moment, it looked like her countrymen were talking to those from Kirin when the short exchange suddenly erupted into bared arms. Éliane didn’t know what had happened, but she would always trust her countrymen over the dubious word of a foreigner.

She grinned. Perhaps there would still be a fight after all.

She still had her gunblade out, so with a wind-assisted sprint and a jump, she appeared and pointed the tip of blade at the swordswoman from Osprey that was threatening her countryman in the same manner she had done. It was still coated with the blood from running one of the Valheimians through.

“If you so much as move, I’ll shoot,” she warned. “I thought everybody was supposed to be allies here?”

If she wasn’t recognized, then the obvious Skaelan guards’ uniform made it obvious why she had suddenly intervened.

The Maids Guide to Demon Hunting

Polina Laye

Farisian Maid

---

Polina gave the demon maid-to-be an unamused stare. This demon girl was really full of herself, wasn’t she? Better than being extremely violent or twisted in a way that wasn’t analogous to human failings, she supposed.

“Come along, then. Lucrecia and I will show—”

She was interrupted by the girl suddenly snapping at Siegine. Ah. Ah… she had a height complex. Polina was very sorely tempted to tease her in her usual manner, but she decided that discretion was the better part of valor and dropped the thought that came to the tip of her tongue. “Yes,” she replied instead, nonetheless using a dry tone. “You are not short, Elizstrazia. Now follow me, we don’t have all that much time to explore the entire Maison in an hour.”

She really hoped that the demon girl wasn’t going to have a temper tantrum about her height right here. At the very least, Mariarca had extracted Akantha from the tricky situation so there wouldn’t be a small girl being traumatized by the small-scale demon.

Heh. Small.

Bible of Ichor: Septet for the Dead

Giselle de Farry

Undead Princess, de Farry

---

“I see,” she said, following the human blacksmith inside her home. She would have to look into the others when she had the time. She frowned when she elaborated. Lamp signals and runners? She supposed technology had degraded quite a bit, but Giselle thought constructing a telegraph system wasn’t that difficult, even with regressed technology. She supposed it was too dangerous to do line work, or she was just out of touch. Wouldn’t that be a thought.

Giselle idly asked a follow up question. “Fire lit lamps, or oil lamps with Fresnel lens?” Depending on the answer, she could more accurately gage the village’s technology.

“Hmm, so the vampire is new, as are the undead. The former we can likely deal with, but undead dragging themselves up from the oceans is curious, if a bit ominous.” She recalled the skeletal beast they had recently encountered, and imagined a sea monster equivalent to it. That was the stuff of nightmares, even for vampire lords.

As she settled in for a quick rest, she raised her eyebrows as Dragan and Aleksiya filed into Julene’s house as well.

“The immediate situation is dealt with, then?” she nodded to confirm Dragan’s question, before letting him continue on, frowning as he went on. “Interesting. Good to know,” she finally said, filing the information to review later. The two stopping by the largest settlement in the region on their way to Alavaris made sense, but knowing that they had a third that had been meddling with the beasts pushed her to be more wary of them.

Giselle took a moment to relay the two newcomers of what they had found, before concluding with her suggestion. “If we are all sufficiently rested now, we must investigate this vampire of the forest.”

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

---

For Éliane, the banquet and reception had been enlightening. The food had been exceptional, if simply for the variety it offered. The bread and the pastries at the end she found wanting, but even she was able to recognize the inherent bias that colored her opinions there. The coffee, on the other hand, was nothing short of fantastic.

With no one awake, she hummed to herself. “Coffee~ Coffee~ How I love you so~”

It was a pilfered carafe of this god’s nectar that Éliane was nursing in her room, slowly caffeinating even as the night drew on. Her three companions had long since gone to bed to rise early on the morrow, and despite the coffee, she would probably soon follow. She really was not the type to contemplate overmuch, but the spectacle that King Leonhardt and his guests gave –and that was all it really was, in her opinion—only served to reduce her opinion of the foreign king. The formation of such hastily assembled teams and the carrot of ten million gil felt to her that the man was simply throwing stuff on a wall and seeing what would stick several months later. If someone like herself could recognize that, then no doubt others had thought the same. It had been entertaining, though. She did like shows.

Éliane and her small delegation of two had come all this way, but she was of half a mind to turn around and go back to Skael. With the resources of her country’s scholars, the Garden, and the Household Guards combined, she was confident her countrymen could discover the solution to the Blight, or defeat a harebrained Valheimen scheme if they had been the cause of it like some had suggested, no collaboration with foreigners needed.

Intellectually, she knew that was a stupid opinion, but it was tempting train of thought. She was here as much as an act of diplomacy as much as she still needed to see what was going on, and she would be derelict of duty otherwise.

Taking a last sip of the delectable black beverage, she began to reluctantly set her cup down to change and turn in for the night. Before she finished the motion however, she caught the faint, hasty movement of heavy boots and froze. A Knight returning from the washroom? No, too many footsteps. An Edrenien patrol? Not in these hallways. It could only be…

“Ambush!”

Éliane yelled as she lept from her seat, coffee still in her hand as she grabbed her gunblade from the side of her bed. She was just in time for the bedroom door to crash open, revealing armored soldiers with guns pointed into the room.

An ambush by soldiers of Valheim? How… interesting!

A moment later, the entire room descended into chaos.

The two gunslingers that had been part of her delegation barely had time to rise and snatch up their weapons before their assailants opened fire. The fourth member of her team, a rogue that they had met in the banquet with the bed closest to the door, had no such luck and had managed to tangle himself in his bedsheets trying to get up before being riddled with bullets.

Instinctively, but with great reluctance, Éliane threw her coffee at the lead soldier, shattering the porcelain against his helmet and forcing him to stagger back into another soldier. It bought just enough time for her side to respond, and soon the small space erupted into a full firefight. Éliane opened up with her gunblade before she moved to close the distance, sticking to the wall as she made a wind-propelled dash to avoid the bulk of the fire being exchanged quarters. A fusillade of lead met the Valheimens, but the same number poured into her allies. She didn’t have time to contemplate the result before she made contact with the enemy.

She shot one in the head at near point blank before pivoting to the side to line up another shot. That too connected, but pinged off the thick point of his armor. Éliane, undeterred, lanced forward and stabbed out at the man’s exposed armpit as he turned to respond to the threat. Her gunsabre found purchase, driving deep into his chest before she pulled back with a kick. The soldier staggered back before collapsing to the floor with his heart pierced, joining three others on the ground. The remaining two had been shot dead by her comrades, and the room was now silent…

...Which wasn’t good. She turned back to her comrades, grimacing at what she found. Jacques was plain dead, Anne was bleeding out, and the rogue –she’d already forgotten his name—had clearly never gotten out of bed before eating shit.

“Damn, this sucks,” she muttered, pausing to collect the rest of her kit before jumping out the door. There were still sounds of fighting outside. Her comrades were a lost cause, but the others weren’t. And now she had a score to settle.

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Éliane Laruelle

“Ahem! You face yours truly, Éliane, of the Household Guards of Skael. You face the blade, the bullet, or the high explosives. I would advise you to stand down… but you already know what I prefer, right?”

GENERAL INFORMATION

Éliane Laruelle

Dame Commander
1st Household Guards Battalion of Skael

25 | ♀ | Sollan

COMBAT INFORMATION

Class:

Gunbreaker

Weapon:

A long, thin gunblade, crafted in the style and weighting of a sabre. Lightweight but durable, as a custom-made weapon, it prioritizes the same melee fighting form and function of its more simple gunless sister. Thusly, it lacks accuracy or punch at range, unless explosive shells are used. It shares the same ammunition as a standard Skaelic longarm.

Inventory:

• Spare arms. Éliane carries, in a special dual-slotted strap slung across her shoulder, a spare standard-issue combat sabre and battle rifle. The blade sees little use, but she uses the firearm regularly for hunting, or when the situation demands a little more accuracy and discretion.
• Dagger. A basic third weapon hidden in her boot. Éliane likes her backup weapons.
• Traveling cloak. A long, thick garment that can cover her body down to just above her ankles. Color matched to the navy blues of her uniform.
• Leather satchel. Contains essentials, including basic traveling supplies, spare ammunition, and tools for maintaining her weapons. Includes a coinpurse with enough expenses for a couple months of travel.
• Potions. x3. Basic potions for whenever one might need them.
• Coffee. She can’t go without it.

Materia:

Fire.
Wind.

Limit Breaks:

Conflagration. Éliane has no idea why this needs to be explained. It’s a big, directed explosion with piercing qualities made by charging and simultaneously firing all rounds in her gunblade. It makes a big boom commensurate to the level you’d expect from a limit break.

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Appearance Details:

Éliane stands at about 5’ 4” tall, with a slender, though fit build. She keeps her pinkish-red hair generally short. Her eyes, matching the color of her hair, are intense. She generally keeps to wearing her uniform even outside of Skael, seeing as her travels are in service to her country. When out of it, she wears simple, comfortable clothing that are easy to move in, and always at least with one weapon.

Personality:

Expressive. Intense. Slightly unhinged. Polite, to a degree. Friendly, nonetheless. Those are all words to describe the force of nature that is Éliane Laruelle. A battle junkie that doesn’t shy away when violence is needed, she has her head half in the clouds at times. Youthful, boisterous and energetic, she has no issue with commanding attention. Despite her rank and role, she is neither a particularly exceptional leader nor a very effective law keeper. A strong believer in pragmatism and might makes right, she nonetheless maintains a mostly moral, if practical outlook.

Has a penchant for accidental collateral damage. If the Seeds of the Garden are the scalpel, then Éliane and the others that were under her command are the big, unsubtle hammer that proudly trumpets the presence of Skael.

Biography:

Éliane’s story has humble origins. Her parents were both bakers; her mother from a long line of bakers, and her father, a guard captain that took up the family business later in life. For commoners, they did well for themselves, with a well-trafficked bakery on main street that has stood for generations. Growing up, she learned to bake, helping out in the family store in the early mornings. In the afternoons, her father, after closing up the shop, would teach her some of the skills he had picked up as a guardsman to protect herself.

It turned out she was far better with cold weapons and firearms than handling hot pie tins.

Not that her baking skills were subpar, mind, but Éliane simply never had the temperament to take up the family business. When she was of age, using her father’s connections, she joined the Garden, leaving her younger sister to take up the family business. Her time there was relatively brief, though fruitful. She quickly distinguished herself with the skill of her sword arm and the accuracy of her shot, but equally developed a reputation for bungling covert operations with risky maneuvers and high-profile attacks.

Nonetheless, her skills drew the attention and patronage of one of the seven great Houses. Thus, while still in her late teens, she was sworn into service to House Silvain, a relationship that turned out to be rather fruitful when Lord Silvester Silvain was elected Overseer. Still under service to the House, Éliane joined the Household Guards, the elite corps of soldiers tasked to protect the ruling Overseer and his administration and carry out missions of state. She remained at her position in this capacity after Silvain's four-year term was up, subsequently serving under Overseer Baramoux.

Éliane was a pivotal actor in the Conspiracy of Solitude’s Rest, an attempt to overthrow or assassinate Baramoux backed by a cartel of merchants slighted by isolationist policies. While she was not the one to uncover the plot, there are few that aren’t aware of the high-profile running battle between the Household Guards and the forces of the conspirators on the rooftops and spires of Solitude. There, Éliane dueled and personally defeated the corrupt lord that was the ringleader of the plot, for which she received a Knighthood and a promotion.

With the appearance of the Blight and the proclamation of Leonhart VII, and in the face of an unprecedented threat to her nation, Éliane led a small delegation to Balmung to show the flag… and, by the grace of Etro, nip the problem in the bud before it truly reached the lands of the far south.

She did not, however, expect everybody else in her delegation to keel over and die in the castle during a surprise attack.

Traits:

• Enjoys baking, despite not taking up the family business.
• Lives off caffeine. Heavily prefers coffee, but will gladly partake of tea or other caffeinated substitutes.
• Likes dueling. Recreational or otherwise.
• Fan of pubs and bars. Sometimes to the point of waking up in unfamiliar beds. She considers that a plus.
• Takes the titles and trust placed in her seriously. Despite not being the best student, she will take the time and study until she is knowledgeable in a required subject.

Relationships:

• Lord Silvester Silvain. She maintains a good relationship with the former Overseer and his family, despite parting ways as his retainer.
• Overseer Baramoux. Her current boss. She disagrees with some of his policies, but keeps things professional.
• Marianne, Oliver, and Therese Laruelle. Her parents and younger sister, respectively, at the Laruelle Bakery in Solitude where she will still occasionally help out.
• 1st Household Guards. She cares for and dotes on her small squad, which she’s left behind in Solitude to put out any fires in her absence.
• Solitude/Skael. Well known for putting out the incipient rebellion in Solitude. A somewhat divisive character, considering having a battle on the rooftops of the capital is a rather reckless endeavor.
• TBD.

The Maids Guide to Demon Hunting

Polina Laye

Farisian Maid

---

Polina raised her eyebrows as a familiar little girl appeared in the hall. Somewhat ill timed, if you asked her, but she couldn’t fault her for feeling left out. Despite living safely with the rest of the maids in the mansion for the time being, she still had a lot of recent trauma to work out. The Farisian maid beckoned for her to come over. She supposed it might look strange to the mistress, but she assumed Livia had already been briefed about the temporary guest that she found herself taking care of for the time being.

Speaking of the devil, that was the moment Lady Fiore took the moment to make her entrance. Polina briefly smiled in amusement as Akantha sputtered at being caught out, before finally running over to hide behind her leg. She stood at attention, keeping her signature poker face on as the mistress of the Maison made her inspection and speech. Behind her was the new demon maid in question. She hadn’t been entirely sure what to expect out of an enmaided demon, but the cute, fluffy little thing wasn’t entirely what she had anticipated. Despite what Livia had implied about trouble, Polina didn’t have any existing prejudices against the concept of a civilized demon… or at least, one with the veneer of being civilized. The Kyrsa had been ‘enemies’ of the Empire, what was to say the demons wouldn’t eventually end up with some sort of détente? The very existence of this Elizstrazia meant this was a possibility.

Well, given that she had been just assigned to show said demon around the estate, she would probably get to know for sure. She inclined her head towards Lady Fiore in acknowledgement of the order. An hour wasn’t much time to give a tour before having to debrief, but it was good enough.

The Farisian maid turned to Elizstrasia to give her a welcome, finding some amusement at her antics, but hid it behind her usual face. “Polina. Welcome to the team. If you want admiration, it’ll have to be earned, but I can show you around the Maison in the meantime.”

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Éliane Laruelle

“Ahem! You face yours truly, Éliane, of the Household Guards of Skael. You face the blade, the bullet, or the high explosives. I would advise you to stand down… but you already know what I prefer, right?”

GENERAL INFORMATION

Éliane Laruelle

Dame Commander
1st Household Guards Battalion of Skael

25 | ♀ | Sollan

COMBAT INFORMATION

Class:

Gunbreaker

Weapon:

A long, thin gunblade, crafted in the style and weighting of a sabre. Lightweight but durable, as a custom-made weapon, it prioritizes the same melee fighting form and function of its more simple gunless sister. Thusly, it lacks accuracy or punch at range, unless explosive shells are used. It shares the same ammunition as a standard Skaelic longarm.

Inventory:

• Spare arms. Éliane carries, in a special dual-slotted strap slung across her shoulder, a spare standard-issue combat sabre and battle rifle. The blade sees little use, but she uses the firearm regularly for hunting, or when the situation demands a little more accuracy and discretion.
• Dagger. A basic third weapon hidden in her boot. Éliane likes her backup weapons.
• Traveling cloak. A long, thick garment that can cover her body down to just above her ankles. Color matched to the navy blues of her uniform.
• Leather satchel. Contains essentials, including basic traveling supplies, spare ammunition, and tools for maintaining her weapons. Includes a coinpurse with enough expenses for a couple months of travel.
• Potions. x3. Basic potions for whenever one might need them.
• Coffee. She can’t go without it.

Materia:

Fire.
Wind.

Limit Breaks:

Conflagration. Éliane has no idea why this needs to be explained. It’s a big, directed explosion with piercing qualities made by charging and simultaneously firing all rounds in her gunblade. It makes a big boom commensurate to the level you’d expect from a limit break.

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Appearance Details:

Éliane stands at about 5’ 4” tall, with a slender, though fit build. She keeps her pinkish-red hair generally short. Her eyes, matching the color of her hair, are intense. She generally keeps to wearing her uniform even outside of Skael, seeing as her travels are in service to her country. When out of it, she wears simple, comfortable clothing that are easy to move in, and always at least with one weapon.

Personality:

Expressive. Intense. Slightly unhinged. Polite, to a degree. Friendly, nonetheless. Those are all words to describe the force of nature that is Éliane Laruelle. A battle junkie that doesn’t shy away when violence is needed, she has her head half in the clouds at times. Youthful, boisterous and energetic, she has no issue with commanding attention. Despite her rank and role, she is neither a particularly exceptional leader nor a very effective law keeper. A strong believer in pragmatism and might makes right, she nonetheless maintains a mostly moral, if practical outlook.

Has a penchant for accidental collateral damage. If the Seeds of the Garden are the scalpel, then Éliane and the others that were under her command are the big, unsubtle hammer that proudly trumpets the presence of Skael.

Biography:

Éliane’s story has humble origins. Her parents were both bakers; her mother from a long line of bakers, and her father, a guard captain that took up the family business later in life. For commoners, they did well for themselves, with a well-trafficked bakery on main street that has stood for generations. Growing up, she learned to bake, helping out in the family store in the early mornings. In the afternoons, her father, after closing up the shop, would teach her some of the skills he had picked up as a guardsman to protect herself.

It turned out she was far better with cold weapons and firearms than handling hot pie tins.

Not that her baking skills were subpar, mind, but Éliane simply never had the temperament to take up the family business. When she was of age, using her father’s connections, she joined the Garden, leaving her younger sister to take up the family business. Her time there was relatively brief, though fruitful. She quickly distinguished herself with the skill of her sword arm and the accuracy of her shot, but equally developed a reputation for bungling covert operations with risky maneuvers and high-profile attacks.

Nonetheless, her skills drew the attention and patronage of one of the seven great Houses. Thus, while still in her late teens, she was sworn into service to House Silvain, a relationship that turned out to be rather fruitful when Lord Silvester Silvain was elected Overseer. Still under service to the House, Éliane joined the Household Guards, the elite corps of soldiers tasked to protect the ruling Overseer and his administration and carry out missions of state. She remained at her position in this capacity after Silvain's four-year term was up, subsequently serving under Overseer Baramoux.

Éliane was a pivotal actor in the Conspiracy of Solitude’s Rest, an attempt to overthrow or assassinate Baramoux backed by a cartel of merchants slighted by isolationist policies. While she was not the one to uncover the plot, there are few that aren’t aware of the high-profile running battle between the Household Guards and the forces of the conspirators on the rooftops and spires of Solitude. There, Éliane dueled and personally defeated the corrupt lord that was the ringleader of the plot, for which she received a Knighthood and a promotion.

With the appearance of the Blight and the proclamation of Leonhart VII, and in the face of an unprecedented threat to her nation, Éliane led a small delegation to Balmung to show the flag… and, by the grace of Etro, nip the problem in the bud before it truly reached the lands of the far south.

She did not, however, expect everybody else in her delegation to keel over and die in the castle during a surprise attack.

Traits:

• Enjoys baking, despite not taking up the family business.
• Lives off caffeine. Heavily prefers coffee, but will gladly partake of tea or other caffeinated substitutes.
• Likes dueling. Recreational or otherwise.
• Fan of pubs and bars. Sometimes to the point of waking up in unfamiliar beds. She considers that a plus.
• Takes the titles and trust placed in her seriously. Despite not being the best student, she will take the time and study until she is knowledgeable in a required subject.

Relationships:

• Lord Silvester Silvain. She maintains a good relationship with the former Overseer and his family, despite parting ways as his retainer.
• Overseer Baramoux. Her current boss. She disagrees with some of his policies, but keeps things professional.
• Marianne, Oliver, and Therese Laruelle. Her parents and younger sister, respectively, at the Laruelle Bakery in Solitude where she will still occasionally help out.
• 1st Household Guards. She cares for and dotes on her small squad, which she’s left behind in Solitude to put out any fires in her absence.
• Solitude/Skael. Well known for putting out the incipient rebellion in Solitude. A somewhat divisive character, considering having a battle on the rooftops of the capital is a rather reckless endeavor.
• TBD.

Bible of Ichor: Septet for the Dead

Giselle de Farry

Undead Princess, de Farry

---

Giselle frowned at the news that the towns’ defensive perimeter had been breached. How had these humans survived at all, even with what appeared to be a survival expert of sorts in the form of Julene? Unless events had been engineered for the arrival of the vampires. She couldn’t discount that thought, especially with how little they still knew about this future that they had been thrust into.

She acknowledged the blacksmith girl’s words with a nod. “Perhaps I can help with that in the future,” she replied, her offer still standing from earlier. Giselle was not lacking for skill in this discipline, even at the height of the Ophediel era, and a lack of materials would easily be remedied once she had a stable source of blood to draw from.

“Vegetables? I suppose I don’t mind salad from time to time, but perhaps later. I’m more interested in this undead problem, though. This is a separate issue from the beasts?” If they were from the river, it was unlikely to be directly from the city. Was the village being plagued by two separate threats?

Once Akyasha leaned in with more information, she kept on a poker face, but she remained curious what the gorebat had found together with the other two vampire lords. The cleric had beaten her to the chase in asking questions, so she nodded at Luna before adding her own. “Indeed. I would like to deal with the threat in the forest sooner rather than later. Though, I am curious. Are there other settlements in the area, or is it just your village, Julene?”

The Maids Guide to Demon Hunting

Polina Laye

Farisian Maid

---

When Polina heard that the mistress of the Maison was returning, like the rest of the maids, that had gotten her attention. Unlike the other maids, though, she had her own special reasons for being especially attentive around matters of the Lady Fiore. After all, her loan to the Maison was not just a gift from her own Lady, but also as a means for the princess to have eyes and ears in the mysterious organization, given the rumors that continued to swirl around the controversial scion. Polina was not fond of this sort of business, but she would not begrudge her mistress for this type of business.

Polina had yet to make much on that front, aside from the spattering of combat –a few days ago aside—and maid training. It mildly rankled the Farisian maid that, as a fully-fledged servant, that she had been subjected to probationary training, but the additional combat experience mostly made up for the tedium of being slotted into a more junior position.

Now, the rumors of the Maison getting a demon maid were quite juicy, and it was all but confirmed as true. That was worthy information to look into, especially when it came to Mistress Fiore’s reasons for signing the creature on. A good starting point into her mentality, Polina supposed, before she internally groaned. This would be a pain.

Well, nothing else to do now but to look good and wait for the Lady to return.