Aodh Chapter 4

VS Aris: Merciless Heat

William F. Edwards

Jul 11, 2022

Open on Grand Festival Hub

Text on screen: Day 3 of the tournament

Hyperion is standing at center stage. Aodh and Ciara walk on from the left.

Hyperion: Aodh, people are talking. Did you threaten Quiahuitl?

Aodh: Only if she tries to start trouble with Lunis. She made an entire empire, you can’t be too careful.

Hyperion: Have you learned nothing?! Quiahuitl doesn’t need a war to make trouble for her enemies. And people are saying that King Eamon put you up to it.

Aodh: That’s bullshit, I did it on my own. And I did it precisely so I could keep Eamon safe without getting in his way.

Ciara: This conversation is sounding familiar. Aodh, not everything is a nail that you can hammer down.

Aodh: Well what else can I do? I’m no politician. Burning things is all I can do.

Ciara: No, it’s all you want to do. I thought you were trying to be more than a brute.

Ciara: Sorry, that was too far. I’ll go and tell Eamon about this so he can straighten things out.

Ciara walks off screen.

Hyperion: Look Aodh, I know you want to help, but this isn’t helping. If you just talk to Eamon you’ll be able to set things back in order.

Aodh: Ciara’s already doing that. They don’t need me.

Aodh walks away.

Exploration Start

Once again you have to do some platforming to get to the arena. This time you need to go a bit out of your way to find all the NPCs to eavesdrop on.

Lunan Merchant: Hey! Do you love Aodh’s fighting style? Well I’ve got fire fans just like the ones he uses for sale.

Xilian Noble: People are making too big of a deal over Quiahuitl’s loss. She was against a dragon, in a real battle she wouldn’t have a chance anyway.

Mondragean Villager: Aris saved my village from the purges, no way I can root for anyone else here. It took guts and skill to betray his own army for a bunch of strangers, just hope it’s enough to beat a dragon.

At the other end of the hub is Aris, talk to him to start the fight.

Exploration End

Aris: Finally, I’ve wanted to fight you for a while now.

Aodh: Me?

Aris: While you were off moping, I spent years in Lunis helping Eamon keep together a kingdom that wasn't sure if he counted as a legitimate king.

Aris: If you truly cared about him, you wouldn't have abandoned him when he needed you most, when he was fixing your mistakes.

Aodh: If I had been there, he wouldn’t have been able to make anything stable.

Aris: And that is why you’re a coward. You’re unwilling to change. I have far more blood on my hands, and I let my closest friend fall into evil. Yet I confronted all of it and sought what I lacked.

Aris: If you won’t adapt, then we don’t even need to bother stepping into the arena to decide the victor.

Aodh: Then I’ll prove you wrong by winning.

Aodh and Aris walk off-screen

Transition to Photens

The stage is set in the middle of a desert village. At the center is a well, inside a structure that’s like a wallless tent, except it’s clearly made to stay. The well itself is in the background, but the flat roof of the structure is both a ceiling and platform.

At both ends of the stage are a small sandstone building. Their flat roofs are also part of the stage. A barrier of golden light on each end stops fighters from going past the roofs to the other side of the buildings.

Battle Start

Aris wants to control the entire stage, so you’re going to have to keep an eye out for his various siege engines made out of light. And the stage has a trick of its own.

You’ll get a sandstorm warning at various points in the match, with a timer on screen. Once the sandstorm arrives you’ll take constant damage with no hit stun, unless you’re taking shelter at the well.

Keep an eye out for Aris’s small siege tower. It can block your fireballs and forces you to either jump over it or destroy it. Alternatively, Aris can attack it and send it rolling at you. Both of you can use it for a wall combo, where it will fall apart on impact.

In addition to the siege tower, Aris can also summon a small catapult and small ballista. Both have a delay before firing and can be destroyed before they get the chance. The catapult’s projectile goes in arc, while the ballista is a straight shot.

All of the deployables take time for Aris to summon, with the siege tower even having a cooldown between uses. If you keep pressuring him then he won’t be able to use them.

Focus on sticking close to Aris and not letting him set up his machines, but don’t underestimate his close range attacks either.

Even if Aris has all of his deployables set up, once the sandstorm rolls around you’ll be in the same part of the stage and have your chance to attack. Seize chances like that and victory will be yours.

Battle End

Aodh and Aris are facing each other from opposite sides of the well.

Aris: That fighting style is more fluid and adaptable than I expected. You’ve changed more than you let on.

Aodh: I made this fighting style for a reason. I’m not just a brute.

Aris: Then you should pay attention to what your fighting style is telling you. You’re not winning off of brute force, but you act like it.

Aodh: Can people stop lecturing me already! Even when I win you people don’t stop.

Aodh: (Maybe I can stay long enough to clear up that stuff with Quiahuitl myself, even if it takes the rest of the tournament.)

Aris: Stop doing things that make people want to lecture you then. After all, you won’t be able to hide from Eamon much longer.

Aodh: What do you mean?

Aris: Haven’t you checked the bracket? If you and Eamon both win your next fights, you’ll be up against each other.

Aodh reacts like he just got hit.

Aodh: What?!

Chapter End

Author’s Note

Thank you for reading this chapter. I played around with drawing a rough map of the stage layout and including it, but I ran into various issues and it seemed to direct too much attention to the imaginary game design aspect, so I will stick to words to convey a stage’s layout and appearance.

As always I’d like to hear what you think. How did you feel about what Aris said to Aodh? And what do you expect or hope that Aodh will do now that he knows a fight with Eamon might be coming up?

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