Welcome to Battles Beneath the Stars, a webserial styled like the guide and script of a non existent fighting game. If you’re new to this story, be sure to start at the prologue, from there each character’s story branches into its own version of events, so you won’t need to read anyone else’s story to follow this one. And if you just want other parts of the newsletter you can adjust which segments you receive here.
Last time Walakea faced off against Hákon, and while triumphant, some of the things Hákon mentioned to Walakea are making him have some doubts.
| Prologue/Introduction | | Table of Contents | Profiles | Non-Gamer Primer |
Open on Grand Festival Hub
Tetlacatl: Walakea, you’re getting lost in thought again. You need to focus, your next opponent is Quiahuitl.
Walakea: Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to beat her. It’s easier to focus when the enemy is right in front of me.
Nisha: Are you still thinking about Hirzen?
Walakea: Indirectly. No, there’s no need to keep it secret. Hákon says he thinks that Erlingr’s fighting style has some resemblance to mine, but we made sure to purge all influence of the Isles from our land. Yet Hákon is more observant than he acknowledges.
Nisha: That is what has you so contemplative?
Walakea: This is important. In the grand scheme of time the conquest was brief, but we lost history and knowledge to it. The only proper response is to in turn erase what Brytholm tried to replace it with.
Tetlacatl: Just because you removed their influence on you doesn’t mean they removed your influence on them.
Walakea: I didn’t think of that. But I suppose after conquering a people they would find things to imitate. Still, any similarity is too much, it means the purification failed.
Nisha: I have to confess, that part of Hirzen’s history does not strike me as straightforwardly righteous as you see it. It was a purge of people based on blood and association, another remaking of culture by force. Your people burned books.
Nisha: If someone had something they wished to eliminate for selfish reasons, it seems all they would have to do is make an accusation of foreign influence. How can you say for sure that too wasn’t a loss of your traditions?
Walakea: The difference is that we made the choice to abandon it, rather than lose it to the whims of another. Tetlacatl, you’d do the same to Quiahuitl’s influence on your home as well wouldn’t you?
Tetlacatl: No. As much as it pains me, I wouldn’t want to try and rewrite history to pretend Quiahuitl never existed. The past is past, why try to deny it? Even if she were deposed today, my old home as I know it is gone, I would not recognize it.
Walakea: That’s the problem with books, you’re stuck with what they have written in them. Things are far more fluid when you don’t let them bind you. And I don’t see why you would let yourself be bound to something like that.
Nisha: Yet if you had books more knowledge could have survived the invasion. We’ve long argued about this sort of thing.
Tetlacatl: What matters at the moment is that Quiahuitl is the sort of person who makes these arguments about preserving culture necessary and Walakea has a chance to give that vile whore a beating.
Walakea: I’ll do that. And I’ll try to find the parts of my style that Brytholm appropriated along the way.
Tetlacatl: I have something I want you to tell her when you win.
Tetlacatl approaches Walakea and whispers something.
Exploration Start
You know the drill by now even if this is your first playthrough, practice what still feels off and look for some people to eavesdrop on in the meanwhile. There are quite a few sloped platforms here now, you might want to experiment with those specifically before the next round.
Frustrated Bettor It’s hard to predict these matches when we don’t know the fighters and their styles as well, what a pain. One tournament isn’t enough.
Experienced Merchant: Some folks try to draw hard lines between different places and their traditions, but I like all the people here realizing they have more in common than they thought. Travelers like us do more than we get credit for.
Outraged Lunan Noble: We should be at war with the Xillaman Empire over their ban on the worship of The Grey Lady and Radiant Lord. That’s a direct insult to them.
Approach Keone to start the next scene.
Exploration End
Keone: Are you okay Walakea? You look frustrated.
Walakea: I am, but it’s not significant. Well something related to it is, it looks like the people of Brytholm appropriated some of our martial arts when they occupied Hirzen.
Keone: So? They’re copying us, not us copying them. And you were the one saying the people of the Isles aren’t all bad.
Walakea: Hákon isn’t from Brytholm, and not a reminder of the conquest. Or a hint that the purification might have failed. And that has me wondering. My next opponent is also a conqueror, someone who corrupted the land she took over. But beating her here won’t undo that.
Walakea: Will winning here do anything to deter Brytholm from trying to conquer us again?
Keone: They don’t seem interested in trying again.
Walakea: There could be other threats. I wanted to avoid holding things back with my presence, but it’s much easier to defend a place from invasion if I’m actually there.
Keone: Don’t underestimate us. We can protect ourselves without relying on immortals. Your reason for leaving was to prevent history from being lost again, you are already doing your part.
Walakea: I’m immortal now, dying isn’t a risk anymore. And I would stay in Yazen instead of the village, still out of your way.
Walakea: Now I need to go and settle this round of the tournament.
Transition to Burned Grove
The stage is set on a small pyramid in a grove, fighters can duke it out on the pyramid’s flat top, or go down the steps to the forest floor, where you’ll quickly run into the trees that serve as the stage’s walls.
In the background are burnt trees, giving the stage its name. A statue of a female talpman stands in the background on the top of the pyramid. Walakea and Quiahuitl stand at the top facing each other.
Battle Start
It’s a rushdown vs rushdown battle here with some projectiles mixed in, depending on how the fight goes it’s possible none of said projectiles will come out. Be quick but not careless.
The stage’s defining feature is the stairs on both sides. You can try to keep the fight at the top where things are flat even if it means giving up some ground at times, or push on to the sloped terrain.
Most of your attacks will angle to match the slope, but when it comes to jumping the height difference will matter. For a match up like this it’s actually the lower position that’s more favorable since it makes it easier to land jumping attacks.
If you do take the fight at a more projectile friendly pace, Quiahuitl’s rubber ball projectiles have a special mechanic where they deal more damage with each bounce they make, and can be reflected by any attack. So instead of dodging or blocking them try hitting them back.
Both of her supers are also projectiles. Fourfold Strike is simply a more powerful version of her standard projectile, while Rubber Rain throws out four at once at different angles, which can be a lot to keep track of at once. They can be deflected but it’s much riskier, unless you’re extremely confident just block.
Eight Pronged Assault should be your super of choice here, especially with how dependent things are on which side of the stage you’re on. But don’t over think things, this is another match that will go by fast, stay focused and you’ll get to the next round.
Battle End
Walakea and Quiahuitl are back at round start positions.
Quiahuitl: To lose to a librarian that can’t even read…
Walakea: I’m not a librarian, don’t confuse me for my wife. My knowledge isn’t something that can be burnt.
Quiahuitl: I’m shocked she’d even tolerate you with how you barbarians responded to the gift of literacy. At least I didn’t burn every single book in the empire.
Walakea: That wasn’t our response to literacy, it was our response to invasion. On that note, my friend Tetlacatl has a message for you in his own words: Die shamefully you bitch.
Walakea turns around and walks away.
Transition to Grand Festival Hub
Nisha and Tetlacatl are waiting for Walakea as he walks on-screen
Tetlacatl: Excellent job Walakea.
Nisha: And somehow I’m still in this tournament as well, so it looks like we’ll be facing each other in the next round.
Walakea: Do try to enjoy yourself when we get there.
Walakea: But first, I’ve been thinking more about my reasons for being immortal and for attending this tournament. I might have to return to my homeland and part ways with you two.
Chapter END
Note from the Author: Quiahuitl is such a fun opponent for me to write, perhaps one I might have overused at times, but she’s a good heel. As you can see we’ve left this chapter on a dramatic note as we head into the final two chapters later this month. The next one is a bit of a special one, which means that all of the remaining chapters are special ones.
| Prologue/Introduction | Table of Contents | Profiles | Non-Gamer Primer |