Amezwar's Story: Finale

VS Aodh: Cooling

Jun 08, 2023

——

Open on Grand Festival Hub

Amezwar is pacing back and forth.

Amezwar: (Aodh, the Avatar of Flames, he who announced the end of King Fintan’s reign and abandoned mortals. Who has consistently refused King Xamida. Who appointed someone to the Lunan throne who hates Pheona.)

Amezwar: (King Xamida may have short comings as a king, but he’s still the king. He once put his faith in me wholeheartedly. I need to carry out his orders. But Massen is right to doubt that he’d chose wisely with Lunis.)

Amezwar: (What do I do with a difficult battle? I reassess it and think about my assumptions. There’s an option here I haven’t thought of yet, I’ll have to come up with it in the arena.)

Amezwar walks to the right.

———

Exploration Start

There are no more obstacles in your path, aside from the final battle itself. Walk forward and catch up with some of the others characters along the way.

Feriel: I’m nervous, even more than I was fighting you. What if you can’t reason with Aodh?

Amezwar: I’ll find some way to reach a compromise with him.

Feriel: You make everything sound so easy.

Amezwar: It’s not about ease, it’s about what needs to be done. A strong focus will carry you far.

Amezwar: Leave all the political nonsense here to me. You can be content that you got as far as you did in the tournament. I’m proud of you.

Feriel: Thank you… Amezwar.

Izlan: Still can’t believe you made me steal again.

Amezwar: It had to be done.

Izlan: We’re not going to do more stuff like that, are we? I don’t like how much you’re entertaining the idea of working with Lord Massen.

Amezwar: I don’t intend to make a habit of using underhanded tactics. But I’ll do what I must to protect myself and our order. We’re one of Pheona’s greatest traditions.

Izlan: Yeah that’s not reassuring. But I’ll stick with you no matter what. I won’t apologize for stealing to keep myself fed, and I won’t apologize for following your orders.

Massen: You’ve outmaneuvered me, but everything comes down to this. What exactly are you planning?

Amezwar: I can plan all I want, the thing it comes down to is what Aodh is willing to agree to.

Massen: That’s oddly reassuring, Aodh is rather disinterested in what King Xamida wants.

Amezwar: Don’t think this means it will turn out the way you want it to.

Massen: What I want is for Pheona to avoid falling into ruin.

Approach Aodh to begin the final battle.

Exploration End

———

Aodh: Let me guess, you have a message from King Xamida. Tell him I’m not interested in whatever it is.

Amezwar: Will you at least humor me by listening to it?

Aodh: No. I didn’t find his retelling of the worst day of my life humorous.

Amezwar: (Fuck! He knows.)

Amezwar: Then will you listen to a different request from me, who had no hand in that disrespectful tale?

Aodh: Maybe, if you win this battle.

Amezwar: (He’s probably planning to reject my plea no matter what it is. But what choice do I have. I’ll have to make my case quickly.)

Amezwar: Very well then. I’ll see you in the arena.

Transition to Hollow Mountains

The stage is set high up in a mountain range at night, with flowers growing on the mountainside. A full moon hangs in the background. The ground is sloped, there’s no flat terrain to stand on.

———

Battle Start

Aodh starts this battle with full meter, so watch out for an early hit from his super moves. The stage is also defined by its sloped nature, and Aodh starts on the upper end of it. So it’s a rough start.

Condensed Inferno, which sends out a massive fireball, is likely the first super Aodh will pull out. Don’t start the round with an attack, or you’ll get hit by it and immediately put further on the back foot.

The other super to look out for is Sunrise Dance, a sequence of attacks that will be pulled out at close range. This tends to be used after Aodh already landed a normal attack to lead into it. However if it’s pulled out in other situations, you can counter the first hit with Volcanic Retaliation and proper timing, but the risk is high.

Be prepared to see a lot of fireballs if there’s any distance between you and Aodh, especially when he has the high ground. Good use of your reflector special can help create space for you in that situation.

When Aodh gets close you want to go for your shorter range yet faster attacks, focus on getting him off of you over doing damage. Descending Lava can be highly useful for stealing the high ground, even if gets blocked.

You’ll also need to keep an eye out for exploding flowers that will pop up on the stage. They’ll remain motionless and harmless for a while, then start shaking, with an outline showing the blast radius. Obviously, you should try to position yourself out of that range, and do your best to force Aodh into the blast.

Once you win this it’s all over, so you can relax and focus on the final scenes.

Battle End

————

Amezwar and Aodh are back at round start positions, both look worn out.

Amezwar: Could you tell King Xamida to get his act together? The people of our kingdom starve, and the king is oblivious. Nobody can get away with saying that to him, let alone have him listen. But he might listen to you.

Aodh: You’re asking me to call him an idiot?

Amezwar: I’d appreciate it if the tone was more ‘you could be a better king.’ But I’m begging you, not choosing for you.

Aodh: …

Amezwar: (Not rejected yet, but not accepted either. What can appeal to him?)

Amezwar: You could also bring up your issue with his retelling of the Bloody Day to his face.

Aodh: I’ll do it, but don’t expect me to stay any longer than I need to.

Amezwar: Thank you.

Transition to Grand Festival Hub (Night)

Amezwar walks on screen from the left. Massen, Feriel, and Izlan are waiting on the right.

Izlan: Aodh didn’t storm out of the arena angrily, so I guess you did it.

Amezwar: I asked Aodh to talk to King Xamida about the kingdom’s problems.

Massen: If anyone could directly speak against the groom of Pheona and get away with it, it’d be the one who might be related to her.

Amezwar: And if he still doesn’t see reason you can send that letter. But I’d prefer to trust the throne whole heartedly.

Amezwar: I can’t trust you yet, Lord Massen, but we should work together. It’s better for Pheona than fighting each other.

Massen: You make a good schemer, but you can leave the intrigue and schemes to me once I earn your trust.

Amezwar: Even if you do, I’ve realized I need to broaden my responsibilities for the sake of the order. But I’d like having someone else to handle the petty politics.

Amezwar: Now let’s get ready for our triumphant return. Things will be looking brighter back home.

Story END

———

Note from the Author: And so Amezwar’s story is now done. Thank you for sticking with it, hopefully you enjoyed the ride. Experimenting with writing by ear was worthwhile, but I’ll be relieved to have things more planned out in the next story.

On that note, next week will see some extra content posted to help show off more of the ‘playable’ cast’s dynamics, with the week after that having the voting thread for the next character story. Keep an eye out for both of those.

Optional Discussion Prompts: What was your favorite part of the story as a whole? Did the ending feel satisfying? How do you feel about the way King Xamida was treated by the narrative?

———

The Warthog Report

Discussion about this post