Unknown Location, Soulight Valley
At a secret spot hidden in by the valley itself, a group of it’s down designs meets, The Sinners Sextant. Ayev sits on the floor, looking at various field reports. Mercenaries are going in and out of the makeshift base. Ayev knows that their deal with Rahihi is massive and he knows the real deal is here now.
Ayev’s pondering about options is quickly interrupted by their new second in command, Kiko.
Kiko: If I may commander, some of our ranks are going to be defending Rahihi’s Coliseum in preparation for the War Festival, his orders.
Ayev looked at Kiko, with a look in their eyes, they could see Kiko’s hesitation in her eyes, they knew she was weary about the operation, but this contract with Rahihi was worth five hundred million dollars, based on the fortune of the valley buried here over centuries.
Ayev: You may do so, I’m going to be taking forces to my true goal
Kiko: You want me to tell Rahihi you won’t be at his festival?
Ayev: Tell him whatever you want, my quarry is the Century Corps
Kiko: I hope you succeed in our objective
Ayev: It will be done
Ayev was in the middle of a precarious period, the Sinners Sextant had been a rough position following the Adamite Key debacle and the falling apart of the Li Cadenzo contract, but this new deal should secure Ayev the funds they need for their ultimate goal.
Kiko left without speaking another word, as Ayev began mulling over a map, isolated from the rest of their mercenary force in their study
Throughout the rest of the base, whispers began to stir, uncertainty being a blinding fog. Two people in particular are talking about their futures within the group.
Farat: Ayev continues to isolate themselves away
Shane: Well the guy hasn’t exactly had it easy, it hasn’t been easy since Ghice went down in that battle against The Century Corps
Farat: Wasn’t just too long I was in a conversation with one of them
Shane: What’s that girl’s name again?
Farat: It’s Yoni I’m pretty sure
Shane: She’s different from the rest of them
Farat: Well I kinda hope we see more of her, and not in the revenge way
Shane: Oooh someone’s got a crush
Farat: It’s nothing like that, it’s just she’s treating me like I’m my own person, I mean you don’t even do that most of the time Shane
Shane: I barely know your name Farenheit
Farat: It’s Farat
Shane: Whatever Fartman
Farat: Now you’re doing this on purpose!!
Shane: So what if I am?
Farat: Well, well, well played
Shane: Thank you
Farat: Well, what’s our future here?
Shane: We’ve got to wait for our own paths to open up?
They are joined by a few more people, forming around them.
Shane: We’ve attracted quite the crowd
Farat: Well let’s head back to work, we don’t have anymore time to waste if we want to decide to continue here
Farat and Shane run off to join the contingent of Sinners Sextant heading off to join Rahihi’s Coliseum
Century Corps Base Camp
At the base camp, Oseci, Mygin, Nest and Hadane are working with a map, one which Oseci has of the valley
Oseci: The Sacred Garden isn’t on this map, it was hidden by a special spell made by one of our wardens
Mygin: If it was hidden then how was it found by Rahihi’s forces?
Oseci: We were betrayed and that person was also killed by Rahihi because “Don’t want any loose ends”, I escaped by faking my own death
Hadane: So we need aether for the Buzzard Inhibiting Device?
Nest: Aether merely turned him back into his original form, or was that the token and fountain combo?
Mygin: Original form?
Nest: As a giant evil bird
Mygin: This Buzzard is a shapeshifter?
Nest: No, but I believe that he must have changed back into his human form by escaping somewhere less aether was. Although Falconer and I blasted our aether into his form, supposedly destroying it
Oseci: Boone claims that aether is a significant weakness for The Buzzard
Nest: That could be the case
Hadane: Well any lead is better than none
Oseci: So there isn’t exactly a “massive pile of aether” lying there but some aether does reside in that area, we just need to conjure it to us
Hadane: We should probably get someone who has an expertise in that stuff over here
Mygin: Have an idea
Mygin leaves for a minute to go grab someone
Nest: Who is he getting?
Oseci: I think I know
Mygin returns with someone who has three metal rods protruding out of his helmet, the ever resourceful Noll
Noll: I hear you are in need of my services?
Mygin: Mind if you use your elemental resonance device to send aether energy into a receptacle of some kind?
Noll: My device doesn’t exactly work like that, I need to send the energy to a person.
Hadane: Well that should be easy enough
Noll: Not really, my device is normally used for shutting off elemental energy resonance paths in enemies, I would have to use it to open energy paths inside someone for the energy to flow into which will require some tinkering on my part
Mygin: But theoretically it can be done?
Noll: Theoretically, yes, although I need someone who can absorb all the energy
Nest: I can, I have before
Noll: Alright, than we should leave soon, because I’ll need to charge my remote soon and that takes a while
Oseci: I’ll get everyone ready, you can follow me to my old home, I still know the way
Oseci rallies everyone to move as a new mission for the team begins
Begin mission: Ancient Harvest
Select your party and unit reserve, Nest and Oseci have been preselected to your party, Noll has been preselected to your active reserve
When the party is 10% through to the Sacred Garden
Centus: Oseci, what was your home like before the attack?
Oseci: It was beautiful, a place of illustrious beauty we defended with upmost agency, it was burned down to the ground by Rahihi and he scattered the ashes to the wind. It is abandoned now
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Centus: Sounds like a tragedy what he did to that place, although I have done similar, due to my many years
Oseci: How long is forever?
Centus: It feels like I have been so long that nothing truly surprises me anymore
Oseci: Have you ever committed an act of wrong in your years of immortality?
Centus: Many, I have been on the wrong side of battles quite a few times in my lifetime
Continue to the Sacred Garden
When the party is 20% through to the Sacred Garden
Yoni: Seems like The Buzzard stuck a few Hollows where there shouldn’t be any?
Boone: The Buzzard…
Yoni: Oh great…
Oseci: These hollows are just in our path blocking it so we cannot complete our objective
Yoni: Warm bodies for us, or cold bodies, depending on if you believe souls have warmth or not
Hadane: They do not as my flame burned bright without one, and the temperature has not increased since I got one
Yoni: I asked if they were warm not if they were flammable
Continue to the Sacred Garden
When the party is 40% through to the Sacred Garden
Oiyrr: Aether exists all around us from my understanding
Oseci: That is the case, well kinda
Noll: All elemental energy is around us, we just need the right resonance to connect with it
Oiyrr: What do you mean by “right resonance”
Noll: Well think about it like this, everyone has their own energy about them, like an individualized signature that can be detected
Oiyrr: Ok, keep going
Noll: Well latent elemental energies exist around us, baked into the fabric of the universe, and it responds to your unique signal
Oiyrr: Is that how your machine works
Noll: In a sense yes, I turn off the resonance that responds to certain elements, or in this case, I’ll increase it
Continue to Sacred Garden
When the party is 50% through to the Sacred Garden, the Sinners Sextant appear
Sinners Sextant Captain: Oh look who showed up
Centus: Looks like we might’ve kicked the proverbial hornet’s nest
Oseci: You really think the mercenaries set their base up on the ashes of my home?
Mygin: It sounds like that is what happened
Oiyrr: Yeah they probably saw a secluded area they could just set up in no problem?
Oseci: Well that’s kind of a problem’
Nest: It’s never easy…
Centus: We didn’t sign up for easy jobs
Fight against the Sinners Sextant in your way
When you are victorious
Kutok: It sounds like the guys from the Sextant didn’t know what they built their base on
Oseci: I doubt they care in all honestly, it’s a place that was desecrated long ago and is unfindable on any map, it’s the perfect place to host a secret base, or it’s what they thought anyway
Kutok: We’re really good at finding stuff
Oseci: We?
Kutok: Yes, your navigational skills are very good, might put me out of a job…
Oseci: Make no mistake wayward Kutok, I’m just retracing the trail home, unlike forging new paths like yourself
Kutok: Thank you
Continue to the Sacred Garden
When the party is 60% of the way to the Sacred Garden
Lilac: It sounds pretty unfortunate that I get wrapped up in the revenge Sinners Sextant supposedly wants on the Century Corps
Boone: Doesn’t matter if you personally weren’t there, you join the object of revenge, you’re subject to the wrath that will come to you
Olivia: Speaking from experience or from desire?
Boone: Why ask that? Why do you care?
Acantha: I’m pretty sure “Olivia” over there is just this light goddess who brainwashed me in a funny disguise
Olivia: Hey, I’m not Optica, I’m my own person, who makes my own decisions
Acantha: Heh, what they all say
LIlac: Alright can you leave the poor girl alone
Acantha: Fine…
Boone: I believe you see what I mean
Lilac: Well what do you want me to do about it?
Boone: Accept that you probably can’t get the ones who want revenge on you to not want it. Revenge is a one way road to the target.
Lilac: Probably why they took a job to attack “The Century Corps” in the first place
Continue to the Sacred Garden
When the party is 80% of the way to the Sacred Garden
Noll: Beginning to detect the faintest aether
Oseci: We’re nearly there
Nest: Ok, so you have to defend Noll and I while they begin directing aether energy into me from what it sounds like?
Oseci: Sounds like what the plan is
Nest: Alright, cool
Noll: Yeah no problems here
Continue to the Sacred Garden
When you arrive at the garden, a large contingent of Sinners Sextant is active, seeing the small group of Century Corps soldiers entering the perimetere
Sinners Sextant Captain: PERIMETER BREACH, THE CENTURY CORPS HAVE ARRIVED
Lilac: We have to be quick about this
Noll: Nest, stand where you are, I’ll get started right away
Aiden: Support will be ours to give
Nest: Alright, I’m going to summon some aerial assistance
Hoard: We can cover the skies together
Various magical birds and dragons begin appearing in the sky, including Nest’s Soul Falcon who’s emerged to help the fight
Noll: Nest, just stand still while I help you
Tranjoh: Noll, I’m taking over for you
Noll: Thank you
Hoard: I’ll help defend you Nest
Nest leaves your party, Noll leaves your unit reserve, Hoard joins your party (if Hoard is already in your party, a random unit is added to it), Tranjoh joins your unit reserve (if Tranjoh is already in your unit reserve, a random unit is added to it)
Ba-Bayost: A lot of fodder for my awesome arrows, come targeting one, we have quick work to make
Aiden: Join us as well gun friendo
Boone: Fine
Yoni: Well look at that, I’ll help too
Lilac: Total team effort, for the win
Acantha: These are the kinds of operations I led during my time as grand master
Defend Nest and Noll while the aether extraction is taking place
When the aether extraction is 10% complete, a large surge of aether emerges from the ground, coating Nest in it’s soft glow
Nest: This feeling is familiar…
The Soul Falcon dives down to land on Nest’s arm, absorbing the latent energy on her arm
Hadane: Looks like your friend is drawn to your essence, glowing etherally
Nest: He is a curious bird
Hadane: Clearly
Mygin: I wonder what the true origin of that bird really is…
Noll: Maybe we could speculate later, clearly I have some work to do
Mygin: Of course, resume
Continue defending the aether extraction
When the aether extraction is 25% complete
Ba-Bayost: I love finally having a large swathe of opponents
Boone: You think that beating the crap out of all these mercenaries isn’t going to make them more vengeful in future encounters?
Larkin: That is usually what happens, we always rise to the occasion and beat them back every time.
Acantha: It’s really what you do in situations like this
Centus: People are persistent, you can’t always get them to surrender at the first go around
Boone: Maybe I don’t have what it takes…
Continue defending the aether extraction
When the aether extraction is 50% complete
Nest: I’m feeling a little light
Noll: Yeah that should be normal
Larkin: Had a brother that absorbed a bunch of aether to grow big, can’t say that ended well
Iehn: We defeated him…
Nest: Yeah we were there for that
Hadane: At the tail end but yeah
Larkin: Right…right
Continue defending the aether extraction
When the aether extraction is 75% complete, a familiar face flies out of the base
Ayev: Look who showed up on my front door
Centus: Decided to show yourself Ayev
Ayev: Well your guild is the object of my revenge, traitor
Boone: It’s like looking in a mirror…
Ayev: You, we have nothing in common, for as long as you stand with the Century Corps, you stand in opposition of me and my path
Yoni: You make it sound like you didn’t have a choice to turn your life around
Ayev: Ah look who it is, decided to show your true colors didn’t you?
Yoni: You could have been right here by my side if you had listened to reason
Ayev: Betraying me long ago, my sentimentality made me weak
Lilac: I’m sorry I don’t know what we did again?
Ayev: You’re pretenders to the guild that made the Sextant a JOKE
Acantha: Listen don’t blame me for that
Ayev: OH, even the person who freed the people like me has decided to stand against me, you love betraying people don’t you
Acantha: I was manipulated by a light goddess and then shot off a building, don’t know what you want from me, what you want scraps over there to go make me evil again?
Olivia: Ok come on that’s not exactly fair to me
Centus: Getting our people freed from a prison was one thing, this crusade is something else
Ayev: Ya know what. I don’t want to hear anymore “reasoning” from this gaggle of hypocrisy, I’m done listening to empty words and vacant promises
Fight against Ayev
When Ayev is at 75% health
Larkin: Awkward…
Lilac: What do you mean awkward…
Larkin: We’ve gone like a few moments without the guy we’re fighting saying something that makes them sound incredibly arrogant
Lilac: Is that so routine you come to expect it?
Larkin: Yeah
Ayev: I can still hear you!!
Larkin: No…not arrogant enough yet
Resume against Ayev
When Ayev is at 50% health
Ba-Bayost: I wonder why we don’t charge into enemy bases and ransack the hell of them more often, this is fun
Mygin: We’re not ransacking, because that would imply we are stealing their stuff
Ba-Bayost: I mean technically we are stealing the aether from their lawn
Mygin: Ok, well….
Ba-Bayost: Checkmate old man
Mygin: You are probably older than me
Ba-Bayost: Right I am three hundred years old
Centus: How did you manage that as a normal human?
Ba-Bayost: Diet of heavenly peaches I stole a long time ago
Ayev: Don’t steal our stuff!
Ba-Bayost: Says the guy trying to kill us
Yoni: Ya know someone hired Ayev once to steal something from my family, it’s how I got here
Ayev: I hate your sister
Yoni: Me too
Ayev: I hate you too
Yoni: Hey
Resume against Ayev
When Ayev is at 25% health
Hoard: I wonder why more people don’t just fly, these guys do it often?
Kutok: They’ve got like special flight equipment for it
Hoard: Like what, some kind of jet pack?
Nest: You are so close yet so far on so many things…
Ayev: Why are you people like this?
Yoni: Mental illness
Lilac: What, come on that’s a reach
Yoni: You literally have another voice in your head
Acantha: She’s got a point champ
Lilac: HEY, you WANT to be here!!
Resume against Ayev
When Ayev is defeated
Ayev: Being defeated by the guild I hate most at my house might be a new low
Iehn: Listen you never got heckled to death so things could be much worse for you
Larkin: It’s not being heckled to death if the person you heckled survived
Ayev: Ok. I’m going to get every member of the Sextant here, you won’t survive our sheer numbers
Suddenly, the extraction of aether is done and the mist of aether is gone
Noll: Looks like we can leave now
Boone: Look at that
Ayev: HEY, NO
Ayev tries to rush the corps again, throwing Boone into Nest so they can try to keep the guild there for longer
Boone: Ouch
Nest: You said it first
Aiden: We should probably get going
Tranjoh: Alright hop abroad
Ayev: HEY. NO NO NO YOU ARE STAYING HERE!!
Hoard: Dragon, hit it
Hoard’s aerial assistance command is answered as a Dragon fires a wall of fire that obscures the escape of the Century Corps
Ayev: They beat me up in front of my base and don’t even have the decency to let me destroy them…
Ayev balls their fist
Ayev: I’ll see you again soon…
Mission End