Mabinogi
Parody Party story event, farewell to Generation 1
Some
liberties are taken in the course of the writing, including ways of attacking
and story interaction. Since this story is actually rather long... I will be
posting them in parts, hopefully this is alright. And hopefully... I can
finish before the deadline lol;
Arial
– “The wind that blows unwary travelers off sheer cliffs and bridges.”
This
would be me, yes I am Arial, Mari Server, Guild Royalty.
Myabu
– pronounced me-a-boo, but most pronounce it my-a-boo. Much to Myabu’s
annoyance.
FOforever
– usually called FO for short (pronounced Foe). Unfortunately he doesn't appear in part 1 haha;;;
Devcat
– A mysterious individual that Arial claims to see numerous times and seems to
have GM type powers.
Part
1: Story Before the Story, A Run into Memories.
The
Church of Lymiarks was nearly deserted at this
hour. Those who usually attended had long since called it a day.
Arial sat amongst the pews and thought silently. Now that the place was
empty, the smell of the low burning candles was heavy. A short cold
breeze caused the young adventurer to shiver. Endelyon had entered the
church and now sat next to her. This has become a habit as of late.
‘What troubles you Arial? You seem a little out of it. Are you
still shaken up from that dungeon run?’
“What?
Rabbie? I’m not really afraid of the dungeon. Just what’s in
it. You seem puzzled. Well make yourself comfortable, I’ll tell you
what happened.”
-
Arial
hugged her grey robe tight. Dungeons always gave off a chill that went
deep into your bones. Even in her leather armor the cold found ways
in. Adjusting her wizard cap so that it would cover her numbing ears, she
hopped on her toes to stay warm. Where is she? By the time Myabu
gets here I’ll be a frozen statue in the lobby. She briefly looked at
the altar and gazed at the Goddess. “Goddess Morrighan, give me your
strength and blessings.” “It’s always prayer with you.” Arial
jumped slightly and turned to see her grinning companion. Dressed in a
torn black robe, the heavily armored Myabu oozed confidence and mischief.
“You’re
late. What happened to your red robe and why did you want to rush here so
bad?”
Myabu
gave a sudden look of disgust at the mention of her robe. “About
that. I was sleeping at the inn and I heard something strange. When
I woke up, my closet was empty.”
“Duncan raided your
closet? Well that figures.” Arial had the look on her face that said she
was remembering something she really didn’t want to think about. Myabu
pointed at Arial’s robe and asked, “You too?”
“No
my situation was a little bit different. I was in here not too long ago
to fight one of the Black Roses. She was stronger then I gave her credit
for and I didn’t have firebolt. She kept pushing me further into the
dungeon until we were in a dead end. With a sword swing she had torn off
my Tri-color robe. I fell back and she started laughing, yanking off my
shoes. I was pinned to the ground and… and… I stabbed her with a
dagger. She disappeared and I saw … I saw…” Arial paused for a
moment and shook her head. “I saw Duncan
there. He was collecting my things. I tried to stop him but he
must’ve used a Goddess Wing, because he laughed while he vanished.
Hugging my boots.”
There
was a moment of awkward silence. Arial fished around in her robe and
pulled out a crumpled up scroll. Holding it up she said, “You mentioned
an exciting find?” Myabu broke out of her silent thoughts and
grinned.
Clutched
in her hand was a strange looking item. “Recognize this?” Somewhere
in the back of her mind, a word suddenly rose and spilled out of her mouth,
“Rabbie Low pass?”
Myabu
glanced at it, “Says Basic but it’s the same thing. Let’s go!”
-
‘W-wait
Arial. Duncan…
How could Duncan
have been at Rabbie? And the way you said that, you make it sound like he
deals with Succubus’s or – or… is per-pervert-'
“Endelyon,
I’m just telling you what I saw alright? So we formed a party and stood
on the altar, offering the pass. Dungeons seem to be naturally cold, but
this one… This one was even more so. It felt like someone or something
was watching us.”
-
Somewhere at Bondi Gordisse
[Formor] Military HQ… [Possibly in Tir Na Nog]
Two
Roses, circled around a tall blue fountain. Images swirled around,
reflecting the brown red stone walls of their room. Slowly the image
became darker until two young female warriors came into view. Small names
wavered over their heads, identifying the intruders to Rabbie dungeon.
One of the Roses, spoke with curious delight, ‘Hey isn’t that the girl you were
playing around with?’
The
other Rose seemed confused, ‘What are you saying Issy? I’m not an
Incubus.’
‘Look
closely Lucy, see? She’s just wearing a different robe.’
‘Ah
yes, that is her.’
She
giggled, ‘I remember now, there was something strange about her.’
Isabel
perked up with interest, her eyes sparking with fire, ‘Oh? Was it her smell?’
Lucy
tapped her lip in thought, ‘She did smell like apples… But no there was
something else.’ Lucy stared at the young girl beyond the fountain’s
waters. Her red eyes hovered for a moment, ‘But there are two.
We’re not allowed to fight them unless there is only one. Oh if there is
one, won’t you let me play this time? I promise I’ll leave her in one piece.’
Isabel
held up a talisman that would allow her to enter the dungeon at the boss
room. She seemed to hide behind it, holding it up with both hands, eyes
pleading. Lucy laughed sounding like many small bells, ‘Well I would have
to, wouldn’t I? You get to wear the red dress today.’ Isabel hopped
happily and hugged her companion playfully. It was at that moment, their
room’s door slammed open. A dark shadowy figure walked in and spoke in a
hollow tone, “You two, showing human affection again. If you weren’t such
pretty Roses I might have to behead you.” All cheerfulness was now lost,
the Dark Lord, one of many, strode in. Glancing at the fountain he
noticed the two dungeon runners facing off against his skeleton students.
“What
is the nature of this intrusion?” He growled. Always so serious.
‘It
would seem that two dungeon runners have used a low level pass to enter this
time.’ Answered Lucy promptly. Isabel hid behind her, peaking over her
shoulder.
“Hmph
they won’t make it far. With only two.” The shadowy commander
gripped the fountain and watched with barely contained contempt. Lucy
smiled sarcastically, ‘You were once a human yourself. It’s surprising
how quickly you forget your origins. If they make it to the treasure
room, won’t it be bad for you? The loss of gold will be deducted from
your allowance little soldier’
There
was a resounding crack. A part of the fountain was now missing.
Lucy and Isabel took a step back as the Dark Lord’s white eyes smoked in
rage. The water that touched him bubbled and steamed as the fountain
rapidly went dry. “You should remember your place, Rose. I could
always have you girls earn me more money. Either way, our master has
something special in store for them. You know, those two.” There
was a blur of movement and Isabel squeaked in fight. Lucy had barely
caught the thrown piece of sharpen stone fast enough. Ever so gently she
licked the blood dripping from the gash left behind. Her timid friend
slowly picked herself up and looked at Lucy with baleful eyes. ‘Those
two? Will they leave anything behind?’
-
It was well into the third day. Rabbie dungeon’s air was damper then usual,
it must have rained outside earlier.
Their footsteps echoed loudly throughout the halls, mixing with the drip
drip drip of water and the splashes of rats scurrying through dark pools.
Myabu looked over and noticed her companion seemed
disturbed, “What’s wrong Arial?” Her
voice echoed awkwardly down the damp halls and came out in puffs of smoke. The two had decided to slow down and take a
breather, another room was coming up. “I
don’t know, just… I feel something’s not quite right.” Came back the reply. It was muffled since Arial was using her
teeth to help bandage her hands. Low
candle light from a dungeon’s chandelier put their faces in dark contrast.
“You too huh? It
feels like the air is abnormally thick.
It’s making movements really awkward.”
“That last room - wasn’t right. The monsters were moving faster then normal.”
“Well it is a pass dungeon.”
“No, there’s something else behind it. I saw…
I ….”
“You saw? What?”
Arial looked bitter.
“Nothing. Just stay
sharp, we’re starting to run low on supplies,” She pulled up a mental map of
their run, “How much farther you figure?”
Mya tended to be better at guessing dungeon lengths. The armored warrior scratched her guardian
helmeted head and tried to get some blood off her face. “Maybe another floor or two. Those last skeletons, were pretty scary eh?”
Arial grumbled and tried to ignore the mental images of gore
covered hatchets. “Well sure. Nothing natural is covered in blood like that. They seemed rather upset when we opened those
treasure chests in that odd room. Not
like there was anything valuable in there.
I think we barely scratched enough to pay for repair costs so far.”
The next room was vacant except for a staircase; another
floor - time to move. Downstairs a
familiar structure gave Arial comfort.
The statue of Morrighan knelt before the two and Arial bowed slightly in
reply. She gave a silent prayer for
blessings while Myabu simply tapped the rock and kept moving. First room, a treasure chest, another
trap. Myabu flipped a gold coin and
grinned, “Ready?” She tossed the gold
coin, it struck the chest. Immediately
the room was filled with metal skeletons, armored and looking furious. Arial charged up a bolt of lightening, “As
ready as I’ll ever be…”
-
“Endelyon come on, it’s not that bad. Well, it did get worse.”
-
Arial collapsed in a heap, breathing hard with sweat beading
on her brow. “What is this ability
they’re using? Time and space
magic? You’d think only druids could use
something like that.” She pulled out a
bottle for water only to realize that it had cracked in the fight. She slowly emptied out the carrying bag she
had for it. Myabu slouched next to her
and inspected her broad sword. It was
chipped in half a dozen places. After a
moment she nudged Arial who was rubbing her head as if hoping it would cause an
image to erode away. “You keep looking
like you’re seeing a ghost or something, come on tell me what’s up.”
She mumbled a sore reply, “I… keep seeing Devcat,” Myabu
looked puzzled so Arial went on, “Devcat… is like a humanoid shape but a little
bit smaller, and is covered in fur.” Her
companion laughed heartily despite her injuries. “A werewolf? There are no werewolves in this dungeon Arial.”
“It’s not a werewolf.
It looks like… It looks like, weirdcat.”
“… That disturbing thing Duncan allows to live in his house?”
“Yeah - It has the same eyes and that weird mischievous
smile. It’s dressed in a Shirt/Vest
Pants set, mostly gray and black. A
feathered wide brim hat… ”
Myabu still didn’t seem convinced, “Well when you see it
what is it doing?”
“A lot of times it’s just watching. Sometimes it’s laughing and points or touches
something… Strange things happen, like a skeleton’s position is different. Or you try to pick up an item but you can’t
seem to grasp it like it isn’t there. Or
you try to move but you can’t.”
“This heavy air that’s slowing us down?” Myabu waved her
hands in the air. It looked like her
limbs were moving through water.
“Yeah he’s behind that too.
When I see him, the air is so heavy that I can hardly breathe.” Arial was looking at her wizard cap for tears
and coughed wetly into it. She hid the
dark stains from Myabu. She didn’t have
to try hard, Mya seemed distracted, “What a frightening creature… Don’t tell me
that the thing which stole your clothes… that was this Devcat?” There was that
look of disgust again. “I’m not sure
that time, it could’ve been. It’s like -
he doesn’t follow the laws of the world.”
-
‘Whew.’ The priestess’s gasp broke Arial’s story once
more.
“Eh? What is it Endelyon?”
‘I knew Duncan
couldn’t have done something like that…’
“… If that’s what you
want to believe. Right so like I was
saying, the metal skeletons eventually got so numerous that we simply couldn’t
escape through them. So we had to clear
an entire orb room that triggered.”
‘What’s an orb room again?’ Endelyon was nearly lost.
“Ah sorry, an orb room is different from a treasure trap
room. Instead of a treasure box which
triggers monsters to appear, there are four relics, one in each corner. If you activate the right one then a locked
gate will open. But if you activate the
wrong ones then monsters will start coming.
This one was strange because when we got there, all the orbs were
already activated. We tried to run
through, but the metal’s harried us into a dead end pathway…”
-
Huff…Huff… “Mya, I
don’t think they’re going to let us through.” Arial raised her broad sword once
more. Barely a meter away was the challenging
metal skeleton; its glowing eyes seemed to glint in pleasure. Behind it was a silent hoard of metal
corpses, their bodies reflecting the low candle and torch light of the dungeon. The air pressure changed, strange silvery
strings of smoke snaked around the formor.
This is it, Devcat… You spawned
all of them didn’t you? I recognize your
tricks now. A flash of steel was met
with a parrying stroke, Arial had countered just in time. You can
make them faster, but it’ll take more then that to defeat me. Arial’s eyes suddenly went blank, the metal
skele was on the floor one moment and was about to split her face in half with
its long sword the next. Only Myabu’s
swift swordsmanship had saved them. A
whirl of blades and air, windmill,
was followed by a blinding flash of light.
The smell of ozone tickled their nostrils, Arial’s hand was smoking from
the bolt spell.
Smoke rose from its blackened chest, the metal skeleton was
down. Already another amongst their
number readied its blade. A replacement. “Are they playing with us?” Myabu seemed rather upset. Arial figured she had every right to be. Unfair powers were tipping the scales of this
battle. At this rate both would be
exhausted and worn down; their already limited supply of potions drying
up. Skills and experience alone wouldn’t
pull them through. “Arial, it seems like
we’ll have to do ‘that’.” That?
Myabu made an x-shape with her arms.
Ah. So it’s come to this… Both warriors put
up their short blades and replaced them with two-handers. Without saying a word, both rushed forward at
a sprint. The skeletons were impassive
as Myabu rolled through them and Arial jumped over. Militarily precise, the skeletons quickly
moved and attempted to spread out. The
fight lasted only one minuet. Broken
limbs encased with metal lay about, forced apart from constantly clashing into
each other. Taking advantage of the
tight quarters, both warriors had alternatively used windmill repeatedly,
forcing the small army to become vulnerable to splash damage.
Now there was only the boss room left. Recovering their health with healing magic,
the two pondered silently. There was
really only one thing on their mind. “Do
you remember what the boss was?” There
was a short moment of stifled laughter, but it quickly dried up. Myabu commented levelly, “If it was just one
of us, then it would be a succubus. Red
dressed one I believe. But I don’t
remember what it was for more people, now that I think about it. You?”
“Nothing comes to mind.
Only a bad feeling. Hey is it
just me… or does it look like smoke is gathering beyond that door?”
-
‘So much suspense I can’t take it!’
“Endelyon… Please.”
‘Sorry.’
“So we opened the boss room.
The heavy key started to shake as we neared the door. Before we knew it, the thing flew out of our
hands and turned the lock itself. I’ve
never heard a door screech while opening, but that one did. Maybe it was just me doing the screaming. Out of all places to be, I saw him standing
there.”
‘Him?’
“Devcat…”
-
There he was standing with a grin. He tipped his wide brimmed cap in the two
warrior’s direction. Fog and smoke
seemed to dance around him as he stretched out his arms. The feline face, smiled – then he
vanished. In Devcat’s place was the
sound of bare feet slapping against the dungeon floor. Two
sets I’m sure. They don’t sound heavy,
but the echo is wrong. Like the creature
is rather tall. The fog dissipated
revealing two towering figures made up of muscles, fur and fangs. They were Lycanthropes, full fledged
werewolves.
Both warriors recognized them for what they were and had a
feeling of dejavu, that turned in their guts uncomfortably. “Do you remember how to fight them?” It was a strange question to ask, since
really this should be their first time in here.
Myabu understood the question though and sadly shook her head, “No. All I remember is being terrified.”
One of the Lycans, one with a blue mane, stepped forward
speaking to its brother, “These whelps got this far? Don’t worry, I’ll take care of them
myself.” The other snorted and shook its
red mane, “Always in such a rush. Go
ahead and feast then, you always enjoy going first.”
Blue was already moving forward. The air became heavy as he seemed to vanish,
only to reappear right in front of them.
“Sup, Myabu.” She lashed out
reflexively, her long two-handed sword singing through the air, only to get
stuck. A meaty crunch of metal cutting
to bone was all Arial could hear, followed by a sickening gasp of panic. Blue had blocked the powerful weapon with his
bare arm. His flesh seemed to engulf the
weapon. There was no blood. Myabu was lifted off her feet from the sudden
rabbit punch the Lycan threw, blood spit flew out of her mouth. Arial watched in shock as the werewolf kicked
her companion out of the room with one swift blow.
“Thank you for teaching me, the art of pain.” It growled
with mirth. Mya groaned pitifully. If it
wasn’t for all that armor she would definitely have died. There was no time to think anymore. Blue had tugged out the sword from his arm
and tossed it aside in disgust. Glowing
light engulfed the formor. It reminded
Arial of the light that came after an adventurer gained so much experience, a
blessing from the gods. It can’t be.
What manner of magic is this?
The wolf thing laughed wickedly, as his self inflicted injury
vanished. I won’t believe it, I can’t believe this! Arial rush forward and attacked in a panic
filled rush, the Lycan only seemed to be getting stronger. Arial’s broad sword was stuck fast in his
chest. A heavy claw swipe tore through
her and her leather armor, launching her back into a wall. Her eyes faded.
Am I about to die?
Devcat? Why are you… here..? When she woke up, she was standing at the foot
of the Goddess Statue, the coldness of the dungeon causing all her wounds to
hurt and shock her into life. Mya! Arial rushed to get back to the boss
room, and thanked the goddess for protecting her.
She got there in time to see a heavily bleeding Myabu, still
fighting the Lycan though he too seemed to be heavily injured. Whatever divine power he was receiving was
either wearing off or reaching its limits.
Myabu started to run towards Arial.
Blue roared out angrily.
“We will have to use ‘that’ attack pattern again. It’s the only attack that didn’t trigger off
whatever ability he has. But since I had
to hold it off, he kept getting more powerful and only recently started to slow
down.”
Thanks for the welcome
back. Arial frowned visibly.
“Oh believe me, I’m glad to see you. But I knew that it would take more then that
to kill you.”
Really? A
questioning look as all she gave.
“Yeah, it was a feeling of sort. I mean all that prayer you
do has to count for something right?”
While they were talking, Arial was quickly recovering
Myabu’s health with healing magic and wrapped a few of their remaining bandages
across her more serious wounds, in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Who am I kidding, they were the last ones.
“Here he comes.”
The two worked together, one blocking an incoming attack and
thus pinning him, the other windmilling the monster’s back side and legs. Spinning blades eventually tore Blue to
shreds. Even in death it seemed pleased. There was something different as they
returned to the boss room.
“Hey… what you think?
The air feels light now.”
“Yeah, the red lycan seems weak.”
“Then let’s get this over with.”
Arial moved forward, Red seemed unbothered that the two had
killed his brother. Arial impaled the
monster’s arm with her own two-hander, sliding the blade through the monster’s
arm bones. Myabu came up from behind and
beheaded the creature. That was all
there was to it, no chance for the creature to become powerful.
“Hey Arial we did it!
The treasure’s alright I mean… Hey… Hey!”
The last confrontation had reopened Arial’s wounds. During the last floor she had reused older
bandages in an attempt to keep the fresh ones for Mya. Her white full leather armor set was
completely soaked red. Arial
fainted. Myabu pulled out a goddess
wing, took a hold of Arial’s hand and hoped they weren’t too late.
-
Meanwhile in the dungeon…
A shadowy form smiled over the dead Blue, tipping its
feathered hat before vanishing. The
sounds of iron shod boots clanked down the halls. A Dark Lord appeared holding a torch and the body
of Red. He stopped by the corpse, hollow
laughter echoed loudly. “It is all as
planned…”
-
End
of Part 1
Writer's notes:
Roses
of course refers to Black Roses or the Succubus. I like to think that
they don't just sit there the entire time in a cold dungeon waiting for a party
to fall down to a single person. There are references in game that say
Formors or Bondi Gordisse, use special types of talismans or passes to
enter into Erinn from their world. Players use certain passes such as
Low, Middle and High or in the NA release it's referred to as Basic,
Intermediate and Advanced. Hmm... Another example would be using Brown
Formor or Black Formor Pass
for Generation 1 quests. Anyways, I like to think that they stand watch
and enter when appropriate. I also like to think that not all Formors are
exactly the same in thought and such... Especially those who were once
humans.
This Rabbie Basic run happened between me and Myabu as a way to test our
characters and mentally prepare us for G1 Albey runs. Though we are both
experienced players there were a few things we were either rusty on, or had
simply forgotten. One of which was how to properly fight a Lycanthrope...
Since we rarely fought any on Kr's Lute Server. The resulting experience
was rather thrilling to say the least haha.
The comments on 'thoughts' or 'words' seeming to pop into a character's head...
or simply dejavu was to represent that yes in fact we have done this or that as
players. Of course these characters haven't! A little fourth wall
thing there. References to almighty devcat ... haha... To explain
clearly, Devcat is the original creator of the game I believe. You can
catch their logo and their mascot in the game now and then. [Weird cat
and Devcat brooch anyone?] Sometimes I feel like... there's a room
somewhere and in that room is Devcat playing the game like a GM.
Something happens like a data bug? Hahaha... Can't pick up an item cause
'it is not there' or suddenly you lag but your connection is fine? I
can't help but see these instances as something you could attribute to a
mischievous GM or a Vagrant AI. Yes, I've played dot hack. I kind of see
Devcat as Mia.
There
are other various references to other things, which of course we did speak of
and joked about while fighting for survival. I hope you'll enjoy the
reading as much as my friends and I created the original experience. I
also hope you’ll enjoy part II~
JoaT = Jack of all Trades
Over-kill is not a part of the vocabulary, it's the rule of thumb. The doctrine itself.
