Hákon's Story: Chapter 5

Vs Aodh Melting Point

Nov 10, 2022

Open on Grand Festival Hub

Hákon and Runa are standing at the center of the screen.

Runa: Erlingr will be tied for third place at worst, I doubt Oddr will be able to resist auctioning him off now. Hákon, are you listening?

Hákon: Huh? Oh, sorry. Guess my mind wandered. Sorry, I must be really annoying right now.

Runa: Only in that you apologized twice.

Runa: Your faith in others and your desire to help others are why I married you. I know even this doubt is just another sign of how much you care about others.

Hákon: I feel like I’m supposed to ask what I did to deserve you, but I think I know what you’d say.

A generic thrall walks on screen from the right.

Mundi: Hákon-talm, Runa-talm, preparations are nearly done. Aodh is waiting for you by the arena.

Hákon: Thank you Mundi-thralm. Hm, this is a bit of an awkward question, but I’m ordering you to answer honestly even if it’s not what I want to hear.

Hákon: Do you think I’ve been a good master? As in, has your life been better as my thrall, and do you trust me?

Mundi: Well, by the time you got me captive I’d already been a thrall for years. I’m a shit warrior from a family who didn’t even bother paying my ransom the first time.

Mundi: I always ended each war season in a different household, and I was never broken up about it. People know bottom feeders when they see them, my masters knew I was expendable.

Mundi: Then suddenly one of the strongest men in the world is personally overseeing my training, even bothering to learn my name and pay my ransom after I screwed up in battle. You’re the first master I’ve wanted to stay with.

Mundi: If you tell me to jump my only question will be how high. At this point it’s not just being a thrall, you’re a great leader, one who deserves complete obedience.

Hákon: (I hope Mundi really meant all of that. Wait, what am I thinking? I shouldn’t be so suspicious of others.)

Hákon: Thank you. Now get going to the arena, I’ll try to put on a good show for you.

Runa: Feeling better now?

Hákon: A bit, I just hope I don’t let him down. Let’s go see Aodh.

Exploration Start

You’ll notice a lot of slanted platforms as you make your way to the next fight. You might want to spend some time playing around with how they impact your attacks, just a subtle hint. As usual you have some people to listen in on.

Hirzeni Citizen: If the people running the tournament wanted to really be faithful, their illusion of Yazen would have a snowstorm hazard like the sandstorm one for that desert village.

Druid: Fire against ice, unfortunately I think I know how that will turn out. With Our Revered Lady out of the running, the best we can hope for is the pyromaniac Lunan not winning. I’ll start praying.

Revolving Sea Soldier: Come on, you can’t really be saying that.

Mondragean Mercenary: I am. I for one would rather die in battle than be a slave, an honorable death is better than a dishonored life.

Aodh is waiting for you when you’re ready to fight.

Exploration End

Aodh: There you are. Time for me to show you up at your own tournament, then I can finally head back to the mountains before anything bad happens.

Hákon: You should stay for the rest of the festival, it’s not often all four of us dragons are in one place.

Aodh: I’d rather be alone than with the likes of you.

Runa: We get it, you hate my husband. Get over yourself already.

Aodh: He’s a slaver. You treat other people like property and take away their freedom, you don’t have any moral high ground here.

Runa: So the king thief says to the former thrall. You know for all that self righteous talk, you mostly seem to make people’s lives worse. It’s no wonder even Fintan had enough of you.

Hákon: [Runa that’s low.]

Runa: [Someone has to stand up for you.]

Aodh: …

Flames erupt around Aodh, nearly reaching Runa. Aodh steps back in shock, the flames weren’t intentional.

Hákon raises a hand and ice forms around the flames, melting into water that douses it.

Hákon: You know what, fuck you Aodh.

Hákon: I’m done treating you like some kid too stupid to know what he’s done and said. I have people who support me, I don’t need to put up with you anymore.

Hákon: I’m going to change this place for the better and I don’t care what you think of us. We’re done.

There’s a pause between text boxes. Aodh turns around and walks off-screen to the right.

Hákon: Runa, are you okay?

Runa: I’m fine, only startled. What about you? That must have worn you out a little. We can delay the fight.

Hákon: No, I’ll do it. Always knew this would be an uphill battle. And I’m feeling stronger than ever.

Transition to Hollow Mountains

The stage is set high up in a mountain range at night. A full moon hangs in the background. The ground is sloped.

Battle Start

Where you planning on using your supers? Too bad, thanks to that exchange in the cutscene, Hákon is too drained to use any of them this match. You’re going to have to win without access to your complete movelist. And since you’re on the lower half of the slanted stage, this a literal uphill battle.

Mercifully since it’s only super moves you’re missing out on your basic gameplan remains unchanged. Try to get through Aodh’s fireball projectiles and keep him in your range, when you use ice slide be prepared to jump over Aodh’s attempt to disrupt it.

With no supers of your own, Aodh’s will tilt the match in his favor if they land. Keep an eye on his meter and play more cautiously once he has a super waiting for you.

A good way to bait out his super fireball, Infernal Wave, is to ice slide forward, then jump and dash backwards once it comes out. You could also jump over it if you’re on the higher ground. Sunrise Dance consists of quite a few hits, so keep your guard up until it’s done, you don’t want to block the first three only to get hit by the rest. If you block the whole thing you’ll have a good opening to counterattack.

On top of that there are exploding flowers to deal with. You’ll see an outline of its exact range, and there will be time to get away. Be careful when getting away from it, you don’t want to leave yourself open. On the flip side, if you can get Aodh in the explosion that will help a lot.

Aodh may have the clear advantage thanks to your handicap, but if you stick to the basics you can close the distance and come out on top.

Battle End

Hákon is standing on the right side of the arena, the higher ground. Aodh is on the lower ground. The two turn their backs to each other. Aodh walks off-screen.

Hákon: [Runa, I’m going to go have a talk with Oddr. It’s time I finally took action.]

Hákon walks off-screen.

Chapter End

Note from the Author: Up next is the finale. Aodh’s role in this story has been an interesting contrast to his appearance in his own. If I had known how much he’d come up, I might have gone with Aris instead.

While Aodh is an antagonist here, I did my best not to vilify him, especially since he has an understandable reason for hating Hákon. He’s still the same character we followed earlier, just without protagonist status. I’m interested to know the reader perception of Aodh in his story compared to here.

Also we dipped a little close to a trope I don’t like, the random side character introduced to explain how an established character isn’t so bad. I think Mundi isn’t quite that since Hákon was already established to care for his thralls, I wanted to show that and how deep the cultural issues with the Revolving Sea goes, that it’s not just the upper class who buy into the system.

As always feedback is appreciated, you might have spotted a flaw that I was unable to, or have a different calculation of the story’s trajectory than me.

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