Heckno12

Pokemon Spiral

Team Noble Grunts

"Hey that's cheating!" Alicia shouted in response to her and Ozzy's pokemon essentially getting jumped.

"I don't know what we expected them to do given the circumstance." Ozzy said, clearly frustrated about the situation himself. In one fell swoop not only had they been swarmed by these fledgling trainers' pokemon but the insistence on confusing Politoed as well as setting up defenses in turn had effectively thwarted whatever level advantage the pair had. These kids were lucky that neither of the two grunts had the stomach to make good on the threat they had made on Rheese's life before this had all broken out.

"We're gonna have to figure an exit strategy O-I mean Agent Osmium." Alicia said, now very much regretting her and Ozzy not bringing their actual teams. "Luckily, I...brought these!" She said quickly whipping out and applying full restores to both Torracat and Politoed without getting caught in the crossfire.

"Got it, Politoed hydro pump straight up. Actinium, have Torracat hit that with a flamethrower quickly!" Ozzy shouted, planting his boot on Rheese's back and shoving him directly between his and Alicia's pokemon and their attackers.

Once the two powerful attacks collided a giant cloud of steam exploded from the impact and completely obscured the already fleeing grunts that had also tossed a couple of smokebombs the others' way for good measure.

"YOU BRATS WAIT TIL THE COMMANDER HEARS ABOUT THIS!" Alicia shouted back menacingly. Realistically nothing would probably happen as a result, but reporting that the psychic girl was here might at least prompt some interest from their admin.

Rheese Laudat

Rheese was almost shaken from his stupor by a combination of Alexis's shrill shriek and the loud buzz from a yanma's sonicboom. It felt like the fog was clearing before something laid it back on thick...and then he was suddenly shoved forward from behind. The sensation of falling forward was immediately followed by a burning sting on his shoulder as the brunt of the steam caught him slightly before he hit the ground.

His pokeballs rolled in front of him, his eyes focusing for just a moment on the three spheres. Surely this burn wasn't from something that was gonna find itself in his fourth pokeball. The more lucid part of his mind made him smiled in slight amusement. My capturing methods...really are...the worst.

Rheese fell unconscious on the ground, not out of pain but just in an oddly relaxed slumber. It was almost like hitting the ground was the trigger for something to make him fall asleep.

Fire Emblem: Sunken Flames

Troe Revinah

(Back during the voyage)

"Listen, I know you're busy tutoring fighter girl, but do you happen to have any knowledge you can pass down to a much more advanced caster?"

Troe mulled it over for a moment before turning back towards Tonka who was working at her studies. "Honestly that's too vague a question, unlike Tonka I don't know what you do or don't know so anything I say could just end in a zero sum. You're best off studying on your own unless something comes up that my explanation might actually be effective." Troe said and waved the blonde tablehopper off.

(Current Day)

Troe stood impatiently on the boat as he waited for the books he had ordered to show up. When Tonka left and outright said she'd be looking for a barfight...he wasn't surprised but it just furthered her resemblance to women he knew from Irinoth. She spoke about her father before, perhaps he'd have to speak with him eventually about their lineage.

With a sigh, Troe walked off of the boat and walked towards where he assumed the bookstore was located...and not but a few paces away from the boat he found the list he had sent the dockworker with crumpled up and on the ground. The small pouch of coins he had sent said worker with was likely never going to be seen again. He shook his head and uncrumpled the parchment and continued his walk thinking about what other potential resources Tonka could use in her training.

Along his way a few of the locals attempted to harass the young man into coming with them to some restaurant or the occasional brothel only to be met with total silence as Troe gracefully weaved through the crowds without even batting an eye. One woman in particular attempted multiple times to put her hand on his shoulder to slow him down only to inexplicably miss each time. Unfortunately she was rather persistent and eventually resorted to attempting to tackle Troe only to land face first on the street with him none the wiser about her existence.

Eventually he found his way to the bookstore in question only to be greeted by shelves upon shelves of vacation reading material. Pamphlets, posters, and the occasional popular fiction story seemed to be all this place wanted to pedal. He had to rather desperately beg the attendant to show him to the back storage where the more useful books and tomes were held. Troe had hoped that these things being less marketable on the island would have made them cheaper but alas, the bookkeeper would only sell them packaged with a litany of brochures on the local hotspots. Troe ended up buying the materials he needed along with a few other books that he intended to study during the rest of the voyage and the return journey. As he walked out the door he turned and looked the bookkeeper in the eyes before holding the large stack of brochures in his free hand and casting wind to blow them all over the street. While he wasn't usually the petty type...Well, this experience had kind of warranted such a response.

Troe tucked his paper bag filled with books and scrolls under his arm and began his walk back towards the boat while dodging some of the same women and men he had avoided before. Just before reaching the boat however he caught sight of Tonka and Aleria at the tavern by the docks and considered walking in to make sure she wasn't about to involve the holy woman in a brawl. He stood there for a moment before entering the establishment and sitting down near the door. He figured he could take a moment to rest on dry land before hopping back aboard the boat. He cracked open one of the books he had picked up before and began to idly read it at the table.

Fire Emblem: Sunken Flames

Three Days Later

The boat creaked loudly as it came to a stop in the port of Santorini. The normal hordes of tourists departing and re-embarking on boats were replaced by adventurers and sailors resupplying and taking a bit to enjoy dry land before they began the last leg of the journey to Irinoth Island. As was custom in the kingdom of Molto, scantily clad island 'natives' tried as hard as they could to coax people into spending more time and money on the island. Naturally the occasional adventurer was dissuaded from the dangerous mission, abandoning their teams to enjoy a bit of a vacation instead. The pristine white sand of the beach and swaying palms were inviting of course, but it seemed doubtful that any of the adventurers aboard the smelly ship that a few of them had dubbed 'Stinkboat' would be taking an extended leave here.

The seas had been rough so far, as though they were rejecting the sheer number of vessels going in the same direction...It was likely that Troe's earlier statement about many of the adventurers not making it far had already come true. The boat had been tossed and turned and damn near capsized a few times throughout the voyage, but it held strong still. Perhaps the Stinkboat's crew was as hardened as they appeared, though it almost felt like fate had helped the vessel stay afloat in the storms that seemed to hit the ocean every night they had been at sea.

Troe Revinah

Troe looked over the bow of the fishing ship with a book and quill in hand. He had requested and paid for a few tomes to use to find what spells Tonka would resonate with. She didn't take to wind, though she could certainly read it. The current consensus was that something like Fire or Thunder would probably be more her speed. Whatever doubts Troe may have had about Tonka's magical aptitude had melted away after their first day of study. She seemed to greedily absorb every bit of information she could, exhausting the admittedly limited reading material he had brought along in hours much to Troe's amazement.

He had taken notes on her growth in such a short period. While she wasn't able to cast anything just yet, the fact that she had been able to grasp the concepts around magic with pretty much no prior education pointed to a real chance that this was the birth of a prodigy...It was almost baffling, though despite her interest in magic, Troe believed Tonka's objective wasn't simply the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake. He had already realized that his role in this situation wasn't that of a teacher, but a tutor...he didn't delude himself with any sense of authority over the woman that could casually crush his head with her bicep. Even so, he was rather happy to see such potential in one that he'd have normally written off as a brute.

Fire Emblem: Sunken Flames

Troe Revinah

&

Nitonka Zhtomir

Troe patted his sleeve down a bit after Tonka let go. “I assure you this isn’t a ‘say some shit and storm away talk.’ I suppose if you’ve also got questions this talk should be tit for tat.” Troe said, fairly interested in what this woman had to ask him. Even if she was from Irinoth she probably wouldn’t recognize him at this point. It had been years since he left, and knowing his father they likely said he was killed by a wild boar or something.

It didn’t matter, he needed to confirm something anyway so his own secret would be a fair enough exchange. “So, given your build and how you carry yourself I can’t help but assume you’re from Irinoth yourself. Six foot plus warrior women aren’t unheard of, and are honestly pretty celebrated...It would explain the battle damage too.” He said, inwardly slapping himself for making statements instead of asking questions. “Am I right?”

Nitonka was actually caught off guard by Troe's question, as this was the first time someone asked her about her heritage since leaving Airi. Not that she was ashamed or anything but she was unsure if letting people know she was essentially a Bandit Princess was a good idea or not. Though the mention of women similar to her build peaked her interest in Irinoth significantly, mentally cursing her old man for sending her the furthest possible island away from it. The mention of her arm made her hand go up to the stump "honestly I might start telling people that..." she showed a rare moment of vulnerability that not many got to witness, her hand going back to bracing her as she looked out onto the ocean. Snapping herself back to her usual self, she cleared her throat "unfortunately not, the story behind this is not as exciting as it would be if it had happened on a battlefield" her tone making it hard to detect if that had been a joke or her being serious. "I am the daughter of the Ex-Knight Captain of Molto, and my family use to be nobles on Santorini but that was a long time ago. You might have heard something that could shed light on what happened but I'm almost positive that they would have destroyed any record of the Zhtomir family. My turn now, why would you ask that? In my experience, asking a question like that could only make me assume it might not have been good if I said yes'' she was probing simply because it interested her when people took up wanting to talk to her. She wasn't exactly the easiest to walk up too, she assumed it took a bit of determination and confidence to sit across from her so to speak.

Troe was actually kind of confused by Tonka’s response. Santorini? Really? Somebody from the island of tourists produced a warrior of this natural caliber? He hadn’t seen a woman this built since his mother tried to set him up with a nearby noblewoman’s daughter...Or actually his mother was at least the same height now that he thought back. “I’m afraid I wouldn’t know anything about the goings on with nobles in Molto...I guess I did say this talk would be tit for tat, so I can’t brush over your question. It wouldn’t have been some terrible revelation if you were, at least from my perspective. Though I suppose depending on what part of Irinoth you would have said, it could have gone poorly for me.” Troe admitted, though not showing any fear. Part of him was avoiding spilling the beans as to why...though he forced himself onward slightly uncomfortable now that he had to reveal that information when his assumption was incorrect from the start. “I ask that you don’t bring this up with the others, but we do still have something in common in this situation. One could also call me a ‘former noble.’ I’m of one of the higher up families of Rjaskav, though I was exiled for not being able to wield a weapon properly.”

Nitonka was slightly more interested in this man, having a similar path it seemed was something she did not expect to find. It wasn't far fetched she supposed but Troe seemed like a pretty normal man. "It seems fate or whatever the fuck is up there has crossed our paths for the better then" unsheathing her axe from its holder, holding it between them "I happen to be pretty fucking okay at wielding a weapon, and I'm the best practice opponent you'll ever get. I however want to learn about magic from you, I saw what you did at the bar earlier. My father never needed magic, so he never learned, but my mother was supposedly a mage, so I assume I'm just as capable. Sound like a deal?" She didn't exactly expect him to agree with it, but she wouldn't give up at attempting to get him to teach her about magic. Her eyes staring into his with deep conviction, this was an opportunity to get stronger.

“Huh.” Troe responded, this was a bit of an unexpected development. “I guess that proves beyond any doubt that you’re not connected to Irinoth.” He said, dropping his own guard slightly. He thought for a second and hesitated, he had never really considered taking a student or anything...And a giant one armed barbarian woman wasn’t exactly what any mage would expect to try teaching the intricacies of magic. “Given what you’ve said…” He didn’t exactly know where to start as far as teaching went, so this was going to be a learning experience. “We’re going to be stuck on this boat for a while, and I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t want to see how someone like yourself would develop, so…” He held out his hand, making certain it wasn’t on her stubbed side.

"Hah! You are full of surprises Troe, I'd say its Irinoth's loss they don't have you around" the girl couldn't contain her smile as she violently shook his hand. "Well now that we got this out of the way, we should probably go join the others before it looks suspicious. And don't worry about the whole keep it a secret thing, I've still got a few myself" giving him a thumbs up, before walking back to the deck of the ship where it seemed everyone was introducing themselves.

Catching Kavias he introduced himself and Sam, the angelic girl that approached her early seemed to have gotten approval to stay with the group, telling everyone her name was Aleria after. Ashley had spoken up for herself and Mikhail, Margot speaking after. While the girl wasn't Tonka's favorite so far, she acknowledged her statement in wanting to grow, if she was telling the truth. Speaking up next, Nitonka stood tall "Names Nitonka, but you all will call me Tonka, unless they want to swim for the rest of the trip. I'm tall as fuck, I'm good with an axe and I'm here to fight strong opponents, I dont think there's much else to say" she held her axe like a cane with the head touching the ground.

Troe followed her out and listened in, it clearly couldn't be helped. "I'm Troe." He said, initially intending for that to be the entirety of his explanation before sighing. "I'm a mage and a scholar, I intend to study whatever's going on and document the results."

Fire Emblem: Sunken Flames

Troe Revinah

Troe looked at Ashley boarding the ship in disbelief. This was actually happening, a fishing boat...that smelled horrific...and they would be travelling for several days without any relief from the stench. He sighed in defeat, at least it had been made clear that the mage with the 'sugar high' wasn't going to be calling the shots.

Maybe this ship wouldn't be too awful? It was unassuming enough that he wouldn't expect it to be pillaged for plunder despite the fact that quite a few of the people that would be traveling aboard were nobles. The only issue he could see was once they got to the island, the 'innocent fishing boat' jig would be up and this wasn't the combat vessel that some of the more affluent adventurers were likely taking.

As he passed by the shirtless swordsman and his archer pal, he overheard the loudmouth mention throwing up aboard the ship being a major worry...Truthfully it would probably go unnoticed given the almost visible aura of stench already wafting from the deck. He chose not to make a comment, but shook his head all the same.

As he stepped on the plank, one last thought crossed his mind. "Hey, big axe lady." He said, very briefly reverting to the terse way of speaking that was common on Irinoth. "We need to talk." He said before embarking onto the ship. He didn't intend to speak of his lineage or upbringing with the group, but it would be smart to get a few things straight with his potential fellow islander.

Fire Emblem: Sunken Flames

Troe Revinah

"No? I actually lost track of him after he stood up on the table and started proclaiming that he needed companions." Troe said with a shrug. "Truthfully he kind of just followed me into the bar after the bounty was announced."

While Troe didn't know where the Violet Eyed stranger had vanished to, he could at least guess that he was probably nearby. If he had a boat and really wanted to have others travel with him to Irinoth, it stood to reason that he would wait somewhere near the docks.

"Though without knowing much about him or the 'sailor and crew' he mentioned, I can't really offer a vote of confidence. The trip from here to Irinoth is treacherous, and with all of the other wealth-seekers going for this bounty as well...All I can say is that this won't be a voyage for the soft of heart." Troe said, knowing how dangerous the trip to Faroth-En had been. He was no sailor, but the men that had been hired to take him were some of the more experienced seafarers that Irinoth had to offer.

Troe looked at the multitude of ships of varying sizes departing with the same goal in mind. Even he could surmise that at least a few of them wouldn't even make it as far as Airi. Two hundred and fifty thousand gold was a fortune to many, and people had sunk ships for far less. Of course, they also had to contend with whatever had taken the island of Irinoth. To anyone that took a moment to think about it, the reason that the king had set up this quest was clear. All of these adventurers, from the bright eyed and green kids to the stalwart veterans, were expendable.

Fire Emblem: Sunken Flames

Troe Revinah

Troe subconsciously scooted back to avoid the table as he took a final sip of his coffee, completely unaware as he began setting it down that A: he had pushed himself back...and B: the table was currently in halves anyway. The cup fell to the floor and shattered, shaking him from his train of thought in time to hear Ashley say that it was their cue to leave. Of course, he hadn't agreed to anything, but this whole arrangement was kind of exactly what he had been looking for.

When he stood up he casually looked for the Violet eyed stranger, but upon seeing the shattered window he assumed the guy had been thrown out it by whoever had trashed the place. Guess that's what happens when you stand on a table in the middle of a bar? Troe patted his robes briefly to be sure that the coffee he had dropped wasn't all over himself.

As he walked up to Ashley he glanced over to see a rather tall one-armed woman and cocked his head slightly. Given the axe and the way she carried herself, he almost wanted to ask if she was one of the refugees from Irinoth. Women of both Rjaskav and Solvnir were famous for their battle prowess and size, both of which Troe could assume this 'Tonka' had in spades...well the latter more obviously of course.

"So, I may have been...well, locked in thought about the subject of this expedition for the past few minutes. I remember mention of a ship and at least a few claiming that they would also be coming along. I trust that you intend to lead this..." Troe looked at a few of the others that he presumed were coming. "Band of mercenaries?" He said, assuming that would be the most apt description of those present.

Fire Emblem: Sunken Flames

Troe Revinah

Troe barely looked up when the violet eyed person he had asked to follow him earlier stood up on the bar and boldly declared that he was looking for companions. Not a very subtle guy. He thought as he sipped his coffee again.

Moments later he heard a more familiar voice, someone that he remembered interviewing for a paper on curses...that had ended up adding almost thirty pages in quotes alone. It appeared that this bar was probably the right place to find companions, and Ashley even seemed interested in coming along and bringing someone that sounded rather strong too. Troe nodded slightly and got back to his coffee and thinking now that he figured both their transportation and teambuilding issues were resolved...Wait, did she call Violet Eyes a scholar? He thought to himself. Of course, he hadn't really paid appropriate attention to the stranger so it was entirely possible. Then again, from his 'brief' interaction with the woman, it was also possible that the words were either false flattery or sarcasm. "Hey Doctor Wycliffe." Troe said without looking up from his coffee.

Troe shook his head, getting his mind back to task on the topic at hand. Why would this seemingly infinite force attack only one island? If it was truly unending as the claim had stated, it would have been more prudent to attack everywhere at once and simply complete whatever their objective was all at once. Either the force was limited...or simply had a limited means of transport?

Apparently a barfight had broken out around Troe, though he was simply none the wiser as he was focused on the current train of thought even as a man tried to take the chair out from under him. Without a thought he lifted his hand and blew the rude stranger away with a simple blast of wind.

But if they could simply walk out of the ocean, doesn't it stand to reason that they came from the ocean? If that was the case they could have just walked to the other islands. There had to be some sort of system keeping them there for now, but what? A live sample would be the best thing to study such anomalous entities, but if there was something holding them on Irinoth it could be impossible.

Fire Emblem: Sunken Flames

Troe Revinah

@BreathOfTheWoof

"You've got quick eyes." Troe said, not too interested in answering the actual question. "I had it out for an instant at best." He took note of the stranger's violet eyes, but in his own scholarly pursuits he had seen much stranger things. Many in the crowd had begun to separate into their own groups to form recon teams in an attempt to claim that reward money for themselves...The longer he thought, the more he realized that he had to at least go to see things for himself.

"Hey, if you're planning on taking this job you can follow me a bit. Eventually I'll need to find someone with a reliable means of getting there. Bad as it sounds, I'd bet fifteen hundred gold half of these idiots are going to sink themselves along the way." Troe said back to the violet eyed stranger. Only an idiot would throw their lot in with the first few people close enough to hear their voice. A bounty that size likely meant that the higher ups didn't expect a high success...or survival rate. Of course, that made sense given the kingdoms that were wiped out were filled to the brim with proud warriors. Whatever these invaders were, the signs pointed to them being immeasurably dangerous.

Many of the adventurers here seemed to have the wrong idea, this wasn't a job for a large group of mercenaries. What they needed was a research team and a few bodyguards. Anything more would attract undue attention from a thus far undefeated army. Deep in thought, Troe entered the bar to grab a black coffee. He'd probably need it to keep this train of thought going. When he eventually received the drink, he sat down and tapped his fingers on a table for a few minutes, not even really noting if the violet eyed stranger from before had followed him. Given the relatively young age of the countries within the archipelago, they had no legends or known prophecies to point to such a cataclysmic event...even if this certainly felt like the kind of scenario that would involve such a contrived explanation. He knew for a fact that none of the books in the town's rather large library mentioned warriors from the ocean, nor had any sailors mentioned such a possibility any of the times he had tried to explain their other wive's tales.

"Maybe if Rjaskav or Solvnir wrote their damned folklore down on the occasion there could be something there." He muttered, the frustration clear in his tone. Of course he knew that neither civilization did such a thing. Word of mouth prevailed in both countries, and so the already unreliable tall tales would only be made exponentially more unreliable if they truly existed. Troe downed the still hot coffee angrily, not even paying any mind to the burning of his mouth and throat. If anything the pain helped derail the near tangent he had almost gone on in his head.

Fire Emblem: Sunken Flames

In the Capital of Faroth-En

After two weeks of it being in every paper throughout the island and being spread by word of mouth, the time had finally come for the long awaited royal decree involving the happenings at Irinoth island and how the kingdom would be responding. Anyone looking for adventure and/or exorbitant rewards was likely to be present in the capital's square before Noon as such a situation would likely require droves of mercenaries.

"ATTENTION, ATTENTION PLEASE!" A herald shouted as another man blew a horn to pierce through the hustle and bustle of the crowd. As everybody quieted down, the herald cleared his throat. "His royal highness has declared a state of emergency regarding the unknown threat in the south that has likely destroyed both the kingdom of Rjaskav and Solvnir. All of the information we have is from key nobles that have relocated here to seek refuge, so its reliability is questionable. These are trying times and as such, recent events may have skewed their perception. All we know for certain is that a strange conquering army invaded the island and conquered it. Because of this, the king is offering a bounty of two hundred and fifty thousand gold to any group that can provide solid evidence of this strange army and their intentions. This reconnaissance will be vitally important in the days to come, so any and all adventurers are invited to participate in the scouting party. Know that this mission could be incredibly dangerous. In the meantime, the king has asked that our citizens provide shelter and aid to the refugees fleeing their home as we could only hope they would for us."

Troe Revinah

Troe listened to the man speak. Of course he hadn't been intending to be here for this announcement, but he had woken up late and the crowd had basically blocked him from getting to the library. As he had been buried in books for study, he had no idea about what had happened back 'home'. The news hit him, not that anybody could probably tell given the crowds' own reactions to the rewards and mission offered. Troe had woken up today like it was any other...and learned that everyone from his own past life was most likely dead.

With that revelation he gripped his signet ring that he kept in his pocket tightly. It was the only reminder that he had been able to keep of his family and birthplace...Despite all they had put him through, this news still felt awful. He took a breath after what felt like several minutes, deciding that he would at least try to join up with a group planning on exploring his conquered homeland.