Amezwar's Story Chapter 5

VS Feriel: Deals

May 25, 2023

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Open on Massen’s Room

The room is full of finely made yet impersonal decorations, fitting its status as temporary lodgings. Massen is pacing on the far right side. Amezwar, Izlan, and Feriel run in from the left.

Amezwar: Lord Massen, looking for something? Like this.

Amezwar holds out letter

Amezwar: You did a good job of making me wonder if you might just be an idiot, but you can stop. You’ve been against me since the start.

Massen: I hope you’ve thought about what will happen if I’m not able to finish a certain letter. And what I now want in return for finishing it.

Amezwar: You’re not the one setting the terms anymore, consider yourself lucky we still need you to deal with King Eamon’s demands.

Massen: You need me for more than that. You’re not the only who's been correcting for King Xamida’s mistakes. I’ve been pulling strings to keep the country secure while the crown is on an uneven head.

Massen: At first I thought you were part of the problem with your loyalty to King Xamida, the opposite extreme of your relatives who wanted him deposed. But I meant what I said earlier, I’ve decided it’s better to help you.

Amezwar: As if I’ll buy that after all the effort you put into making sure I’d fuck up with Aodh.

Massen: Look at what happened with Lunis. Aodh assaulted anyone who criticized King Fintan, not even King Fintan himself could stop it. Any chance of King Xamida having that kind of reinforcement is dangerous.

Massen: Despite your supposed disinterest in politics, you’re good at it in the ways that matter. If we work together, then we can keep the kingdom from slowly fading away into obscurity under King Xamida.

Amezwar: (I don’t want to be good at politics. Life would probably be easier for me if I just stabbed him.)

Massen: At the very least, let your mission with Aodh fail. We shouldn’t bring such a chaotic force into our homeland. And the king won’t need you or your order if he has a dragon.

Amezwar: Izlan, keep him here. Feriel and I need to handle our battle in the semi-finals. We can settle this later.

Transition to Grand Festival Hub

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Exploration Start

There’s a bit of jumping around you’ll need to do to find all the NPCs this time, they’re more out of the way. But if you want to rush along to the next battle it will be fairly simple, just leap over the gaps. If you fall down you can just walk back and climb back up for another try.

Excited Lunan Noble: Those Pheonans are up against each other on one end of semi-finals, while King Fintan and Aodh fight on the other. Either way it’s going to be Lunis against Pheona in the grand finals.

Excited Lunan Noble: With all the history King Fintan and Aodh have with each other, they’ll be the highlight of semi-finals for sure.

Arena Fan: That Feriel girl has come a long way, everyone thought she’d lose in her first round. At this point it’s hard not to root for her.

Gossiping Xilian Noble: There’s obviously something going on with the Pheonans, I saw their knights barge in on Lord Massen.

Approach Feriel to start the next battle.

Exploration End

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Feriel: Chief Amezwar, I’ve been thinking. Should I throw the match against you?

Amezwar: I need to win, but I’ll do it my way. And remember what I said, just Amezwar is fine.

Feriel: But if Aodh makes it into the grand finals, you’d be able to meet him there. He wouldn’t be able to avoid you. And I’ve heard the others talk about how you need to win to prove yourself again.

Feriel: If it was just a tournament or training I’d give it everything, but this tournament isn’t really about the fights, is it? I don’t want to ruin things.

Amezwar: (I was hoping she’d keep that innocence a bit longer. Lord Massen wasn’t the only one after my head, and those idiots back home would definitely use losing to one of my own knights as a mark against me.)

Amezwar: It should be about the fights. That’s why you’re going to do your best to surpass me in the arena. Don’t underestimate me.

Feriel: But…

Amezwar: Feriel, I am ordering you to fight me without holding back. And, if you do defeat me, it will be up to you to seize the opportunity to negotiate with Aodh. I trust in your abilities. Understood?

Feriel: Yes sir.

Amezwar: Good. It’s time to enter the arena.

Transition to Lava Lake

The ground is a rough rocky surface. There’s a lake of lava and the wall of a volcano in the background. On both sides of the stage are lava. Above it is a single floating platform.

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Battle Start

Feriel is a moveset clone of Amezwar with some differences, so this is close to a mirror match. Try to bait out an attack by walking into range and immediately blocking or dodging, then counterattack. Now’s a good time to think of tricks that worked against you before, they’ll be useful here.

The main feature of this stage is the lava on either side. Falling into it does damage and launches you back onto the solid ground. The impact can hurt you if you’re near it, but with your range you can safely land follow up attacks after pushing Feriel into the lava.

That’s the main challenge with this battle, controlling the spacing. You don’t want to be right against the lava, but sometimes you’ll need to step back. Even if your attacks don’t end up dealing damage, keeping your position or pushing Feriel back is worth it.

Feriel’s super moves are both variations of your own as well. Ascending Lava is a lot like your Descending Lava, only it ends by launching the opponent (in this case you) in the air. Instead of Volcanic Retaliation, Feriel has Volcanic Burst, essentially the same move with the counter aspect removed at the cost of being less powerful.

If you bring the battle to close range and are a little too close to the lava, Descending Lava is good for getting a side switch in. Try not to panic if you get ‘cornered,’ since panic options can get you punished and actually thrown into the lava. Stay calm, think about your options, and you should win this.

Battle End

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Amezwar and Feriel are back at round start positions.

Feriel: I swear I did my best, but I’m still glad I lost here.

Amezwar: You’ve done better against me than most at this point in their training, no need to reassure me.

Amezwar: Everything depends on the finals now. So I don’t want any disruptions. Tell Izlan that Lord Massen is allowed out of his room, so long as one of our order escorts him.

Feriel: Does this mean you’re taking his offer?

Amezwar: Possibly. Consider this a test, and tell him we’re only doing this because people will notice his absence. But don’t let him out of your sight.

Amezwar: I have my orders regarding Aodh, but I see Lord Massen’s logic. Still, we can’t risk him taking matters into his own hands. It will be up to me, not him. I need you and Izlan to make sure it turns out that way.

Feriel: Understood.

Chapter END

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Note from the Author: And we finally have the confrontation with Lord Massen. At first he was more of a straight forward villain who just wanted to cut down Amezwar’s position, but he screwed things up for me by becoming a bit more complex as a character.

If you’ve read Quiahuitl’s story, Massen was supposed to be a sort of anti-Epcoatl in terms of role. But ended up being even closer to Epcoatl than intended.

As always feedback is appreciated, especially since this story has been an experiment with the writing process.

Optional Discussion Prompt: Next chapter is the finale, what are you predictions or expectations?

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The Warthog Report

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