Fintan's Story: Beneath Moonlight

Chapter 5: VS ???

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Open on Grand Festival Hub (Night)

Fintan stands at the center. There’s less activity in the background , but it still looks mostly the same as in the day.

Fintan: (The semifinals are over. There’s no more running now, Aodh.)

Fintan: (I need to clear my mind before this next battle.)

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Exploration Start

There aren’t any NPCs to eavesdrop on this time, nor obstacles. Just walk forward and practice anything you need to until the next scene starts.

Exploration End

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Fintan continues walking until Aodh appears on screen.

Fintan: Aodh. Not intent on hiding from me anymore I see.

Aodh: …

Fintan: The least you could do is say something. You never knew when to be quiet before.

Fintan: After everything we went through, after forcing immortality on me, you can’t even muster a response?

Fintan: ANSWER ME!

Aodh: …

Fintan stabs Aodh. The illusion fades.

Fintan: …What a fool. The moon is pure white tonight, I should know better than to take what I see at face value.

One of the NPCs from the prior chapter, the Vengeful Wanderer, comes on from the left, behind Fintan. He has a sword.

Vengeful Wanderer: I finally found you. Everyone around used to fear us, until you came in and killed our leader. Now I’ll restore our reputation.

Fintan: You’ll have to be more specific than that. I don’t care either way, whatever group you’re part of got what it deserved. But, I could use practice and distraction before facing the opponent I care about the most.

The Vengeful Wanderer steps forward, then stops. He collapses to the ground, dead.

An orc who looks similar to Eamon, but with less ornate armor, appears behind the Vengeful Warrior, sheathing his sword.

Fintan: Doran?!

Doran: Forgive me for tainting the pure moonlight with blood. But, phantoms don’t abide by the same laws as the living.

Fintan: It really is you.

Doran: Of course. Though I hardly recognized you, with all that anger and pride.

Fintan: Things changed when you died. Strictly for the worse. You were right all those years ago, I should have never invited Aodh to travel with us, to become so close to him.

Doran: No, it wasn’t a mistake,

Fintan: Then what was my mistake? Because it’s clear I made one.

Doran: Who can say for sure. What I do know is that you don’t hate Aodh. And I’m here to make sure you’re ready to face him. It is my role to ensure your safety after all.

Doran draws his blade.

Fintan: Doran, our roles don’t matter anymore. But if this is what you wish, I can’t refuse.

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Battle Start

Doran is another moveeset clone of Fintan, but without any sort of mechanic favoring a certain range. His attacks don’t hit as hard as yours at ideal range, but they do more damage than your nonideal range attacks. You’ll need to focus on tipper hits to keep pace.

Aside from the range issue this will play out mostly like the fight against Eamon. The stage has invisible walls, is flat, and has no hazards of any kind, so this is pure upfront battling. But it will end once you get Doran down to a fourth of his health.

Battle End

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Doran sheathes his sword.

Doran: You should be able to face Aodh now.

Fintan: Forget about him. Doran, I’m sorry. I should have prevented your death. There should have been more security, I should have prepared more for assassins with how a front on attack was impossible.

Doran: I’m the one who protects you, not the other way around. Nobody expected a mere retainer to be targeted, not even me.

Fintan: I don’t care about that. We were- are brothers, not by blood or title, but that’s the truth. And I should have taken the time to be more than your lord, more than a king.

Doran: Don’t you think you sound like someone else right now? Someone we both know.

Fintan: Him… maybe that was why things happened the way they did, I was too much of a king. Still, he did plenty to bring about the Bloody Day as well.

Doran begins to glow.

Doran: My time here is coming to a close. You know what needs to happen next. Goodbye Fintan.

Fintan: Wait!

Fintan reaches for Doran, his hand passes through. He tries again, his hand passes through. He tries a third futile time. Doran vanishes.

Chapter END

The loyal phantom, Doran, is ready for battle.

The Side Story ‘Father and Son’ has been unlocked.

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Note from the Author: It’s criminal that unlockable characters went out of fashion in fighting games. I used to reset my Super Smash Bros save files so I could unlock everything again. As you can see I’ve gone to lengths to replicate that experience here, which added to my workload, but felt worth it.

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