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Derick the Swordmaster of Doom

Gregor the Tanky Stab-Sentinel

[Xanmyral]

Factganza!

Spoiler: Duchy Facts (click to show/hide)

*Colors are grey, red, and purple. The purple is usually a trimming of the armor, to signify that they're with Berebia.
*Symbol is a clenched fist with a dragon's head profile facing to the left.
*Duchy has a focus on heavy units, such as wyvern riders or knights, as well as hard hitting ones such as axemen, hence Salvatore's training in not really dodging so much as rolling with the blows.
*Salvatore was just a low ranking soldier when he got in, it was speculated he would be trained in using an axe or becoming a heavy knight, but he deserted before anything came about it. He wasn't pointed out to be a rider as they thought he lacked the skill to command one.
*While there, one of Salvatore's duties was feeding and caring for the wyverns there for the wyvern riders. His only comment on it is that they're raised to be nasty, which saddens him as he states "they can be as nice and cuddly as ah kitten if you raise them roight."
*Some there are raised by their riders to have a specific taste for human. He learned this when the closest thing to a friend he had in there went missing one day after accidentally embarrassing one of the riders in public.
*Since wyvern riders aren't too often a thing, they're not accountable for much they do long as it didn't come back on the duke or other riders.
*The duke prides himself on having loyal soldiers, as to if he's still pissed about Sal is unknown as Sal didn't want to come back to find out.
*Duke's name is Garrett, of the Howell family. A very vain person, caring about public appearances of both him and his soldiers, and a greedy one to boot. He's not exactly the forgiving type, but he is the forgetting type.

@SC: I guess I'm a bit different when I come to it. Like I said, I see it as building a person from the roots. Start with the bones, the skeleton of how you basically want the history, then make the flesh, blood, and skin from there. So I keep big things in stone, but have fun with making up tiny facts along the way. Although I have a bad habit of keeping things secret about the character if I think it would be dramatic or hilarious to reveal later.

EDIT: This is the third time in a row that I started a new page with my post. This is getting weird.

[Powder Miner]

If Alexander ends up supporting with Olison, he'll have to get over his racism.

I also build chars a lot like Xan: I come up with basic personality+history and let them morph and grow.

[Gamerboy4life]

Usually, I don't go overboard with histories on my characters quite like I did with Seyena.

But one thing I am actually having a problem with is explaining on how she got her pegasus, and the training to fight as a pegasus knight. I keep imagining this sort of little community on some mountain in the north made up of mainly pegasus knights. Older, more experienced Valkyries and Falcoknights find potential candidates and train them to be pegasus knights. Of course, it helps that there is literally no lore behind a pegasus knight other than "They come from cold places" so it lets me leave a lot to the imagination.


But then again, I don't know what Haspen wants as the official lore for this stuff.

[Xanmyral]

Yeah, its kind of been the same for me with Salvatore, although I know even less about the what actually constitutes a wyvern in official fluff other than wyvern. I don't even know how long it takes a wyvern to reach maturity for being ride-able. I guessed somewhere around a horse as otherwise I don't see why people would bother training riders for it 'cause you wouldn't be able to have many of them. And since there's four on this map alone, I'm guessing it probably doesn't take longer than a horse, otherwise that would be a many year investment down the drain once they die. Ultimately not worth it on a militaristic scale.

Perhaps one of the mercs she hooked up with after the tragic event was a pegasus rider them self?

[Gamerboy4life]

Yeah, its kind of been the same for me with Salvatore, although I know even less about the what actually constitutes a wyvern in official fluff other than wyvern. I don't even know how long it takes a wyvern to reach maturity for being ride-able. I guessed somewhere around a horse as otherwise I don't see why people would bother training riders for it 'cause you wouldn't be able to have many of them. And since there's four on this map alone, I'm guessing it probably doesn't take longer than a horse, otherwise that would be a many year investment down the drain once they die. Ultimately not worth it on a militaristic scale.

Perhaps one of the mercs she hooked up with after the tragic event was a pegasus rider them self?

Well, it would be like training pilots. There are a lot of them nowadays, but flying a plane/helicopter is much different from driving a car, and riding a Wyvern/Pegasus would be MUCH different from riding a horse imho.

So yeah, I'd expect something close to rigorous training, you need to teach the potential rider how to fight on 3 dimensions, up and down and left and right and forwards and back, etc. You would need to teach them how to avoid getting injury, how to spot potential threats. They would need to know how to minimize damage to themselves if the flying creature is killed or wounded, etc. Not only that, but they're riding living, breathing animals as well, animals that can panic mid-air, and send unwary riders flying.

So I believe that there would be something akin to a "flight" school, possibly bigger countries (or duchies in Berebia) have their own, where they produce pegasi and train riders. You could train a rider one on one with an experienced rider, but that sounds like it would take too long for the volume of fliers in the FE universe as you said.

But even if it was very costly to train and make pegasi and their riders, it would be very worth it for the massive benefits they can provide. Transport, (As in the Berebian invasion of Kesselring,) reconnaissance, anti-mage capabilities due to high res, medical evacuation, and fast response task-group sort of things.

But yeah, I was thinking along the lines of a mercenary peg knight teaching her the ropes.

Actually, I might have an idea. I need to think it over a bit more though.

[Haspen]

Spoiler: Recap for Emral (warning, wall of text!) (click to show/hide)

~~Prologue: Road to Kesselring~~

Sarius, leader of Sarius' Wolves, a mercenary band from Mercia, has been found dead, but his young accomplices continue on their journey for fulfill a contract from Menelean countess.

Adrien (Taricus), Ami Storm (scapheap), Daniel (Emral282), Derick (Furtuka), Henry (criptfeind) and Sterling (Darvi) find themselves arguing on the road in Kesselring Forest before a unit of strangely-looking soldiers approaches.

It is led by Arinne (pic related), who introduces herself as Kesselring militia captain and takes the suspicious mercenaries toward the Fortress.

Then Arinne and her troops attack the mercenaries, and she reintroduces herself as 'Arinne Gloomblade', leader of local bandits. Unfortunately for her, her bandits are completely inept at fighting even trainee swordsmen and magicians, not to mention that the group was reinforced by arrival of forest girl Charlotte Braxis (freeformschooler) and one of real Kesselring soldiers, Gregor von Hexham (Sirus).

A commotion to the east makes Arinne flee, while she sics her henchman, Koch (pic related) onto the mercenaries. However, they get rid of him as well with some neat stabbings and fireballs.

After Prologue battle:

Kesselring Cavalry arrives, under command of Captain Torres (pic). The remaining two bandits, archers by trade with armor impenetrable for mercs' weapons, surrender and Torres takes the mercenaries to Kesselring Fortress.

Countess Prixima Kesselring (1st pic) is the employer of the mercenaries, and quickly shows to be impatient, arrogant and quite distrustful of the mercenaries, until the intervention of Captain Aaron (2nd pic), who explains that the mercenaries could train with Kesselring trainers for a while to build up some teoretical experience and body strength.

All three of Kesselring Captains: Torres, Marpa, Aaron (pics in respective order) lend their time and resources to train the mercenaries into better soldiers. After a long week, they are to visit Prixima again.

But Lady Prixima still doesn't believe that the mercenaries are up to the task written in the contract, but then she decides to strike a deal with Sterling - she will believe mercenaries' strength if they will bring her the head of Arinne, the very same bandit leader who assaulted the mercenaries in Kesselring Forest.

Captain Aaron takes a brief moment to supply several of the mercenaries with iron weapons, while Charlotte and Gregor decide to go along with the group as well. After few hours of walking, they arrive at old manor that's hideout of Arinne and her bandits.

~~Chapter 1: Proof of Courage~~

The group tries to sneak into the manor, but after opening the front door they get spotted by group of bandits hanging out there.

Arinne (1st pic), after receiving news of attack, tells her henchman, a shaman named Bores (2nd pic), to prepare for combat. The mercenaries quickly get overwhelmed by the bandits due to bottleneck entrance and Sterling's Miserable Tactical Planning. Fortunately, with lots of lucky rolls and 1st Occurence of Vulnerary Group Dance, they pull it off while few other mercs break through a wall into small storeroom.

Meanwhile, with cheap, lame excuse that actually works, Bores escapes the mansion, quite possibly sealing Arinne's fate.

The mercenaries slowly grind at the bandit forces, and break into the manor proper. Most of the group goes after Arinne while Charlotte and Daniel search other part of the manor for extra loot, but soon they start getting chopped by the loot's guards.

After more fighting, Arinne gets startled and rushes the mercenaries with her thugs. The combat takes a grim turn, with Adrien on verge of death, yet ultimately, the mercenaries prevail, with Henry rolling a crit on 1% chance and turning Arinne into a crisp.

After Chapter 1 battle:

The grup barricades itself in the manor for a while to rest and recuperate. It starts to rain while a rider, carrying a hooded person, arrives at the manor. Those two are mercenary cavalier Olison Eul (CrimsonEon) and one of Prixima's "diplomats", Christopher Shields (SeriousConcentrate). They check on Arinne body and after some consideration, they decide to take mercenaries back to Lady Prixima. During return, Henry collapses at the bridge and is taken to a bedroom (criptfeind went MIA). The players rejoice as their Trainees promote into First Classes.

Lady Prixima finally acknowledges the prowess of the mercenaries and describes the real deal to Adrien, who became a new leader of the group given that Sterling went missing (Darvi simply dropped out, that dastard). Eor Kesselring, cousin of Prixima, have been politically wrestling with her over Lapis Lazuli, Kesselring gemstone (Dragonstone) dating back to the times of Dragons and Demon Gor-Tah. Obviously, having lost her patience, Prixima sent for Sarius to fix this dispute once and for all using less legal and more morally dubious means. She already sent one of her pegasus riders, Seyena Ikane (Gamerboy4life) along with one other "diplomat", Taki Greenstone (Dwarmin) so they could hire some help in dealing with Eor.

~~Chapter 2: In Search of Lapis Lazuli~~

The group heads west, toward Eor's village, and they get to the city of Vilino where they could resupply. Unfortunately, Vilino is locked down because of plague outbreak. Nonetheless, the group manages to get some weapons from a weapons merchant that decided to put a tent near the city gates.

After the brief stay, the group continues their trip and ultimately reaches Eor's village. At the inn, Taki and Seyena welcome the mercenaries, and introduce two newly hired mercenaries: the shaman Tantallos Forsaken (Praefectus Screptum) and the mercenary Valor Inara (BladeMasterModel42). Taki briefs the group on whereabouts of Eor and the mercenaries, now numbering over ten people, head to old, ruined windmill.

When they get there, Eor Kesselring (pic) shows up there and taunts the mercenaries before starting a fight between them and his militia, and the rain becomes a common occurence now.

Unfortunately for the mercenaries, Eor's aide, Adarlan (pic) rushed from the east with his rather large and deadly cavalry unit. Whilst most of the people are holed in the windmill, crunching on the waves of militia, Valor, Christopher, Seyena and Taki decide to take their chances and pin Adarlan's troop at the bridge.

Things turn worse as some militia breaks into windmill and Adarlan's troops curbstomp any resistance at the bridge, so Seyena has to flee with KO'd Valor, while Taki and Chris try to run away, but don't get far.

Death counters bleep madly and some more miraculous Vulnerary Group Dance occurs to keep everyone alive.

In the land of LVL UPs, SC scores a perfect LVL UP for Christopher.

After several long turns of gruesome fighting, Adarlan succumbs to the mercenaries. Seeing this, Eor leaves his safe hill and rushes toward the mercenaries. He proves to be deadly combatant, but RNG god is smiling on Adrien's group and Eor finally succumbs to crit rolls. In his last words, he tells the mercs that they won't be getting Lapis Lazuli from him.

After Chapter 2 Battle:

After murderizing Eor (pic related) and cutting his body open, Adrien (Taricus) then took leave of absence whilst the rest of the group investigated fire in the village were Eor had his manor.

That was Eor's manor burning.

The village was kept in check by Captain Aaron's (pic related) soldiers. Lapis Lazuli wasn't anywhere around so the group decided to go back to Prixima and report their lack of progress.

On the way there they spent some time at Vilino to get some supplies with their meagre gold pile, and few people had their fortune told, which of course was shrouded in ominous words and mysterious remarks of the fortune teller.

The next night had minor repercussions thorough the party. Adrien set up the camp nearby the Kesselring forest because his paranoid mind suspected ambush from someone even I don't know, or something. They have posted sentries and indeed they noticed a single rider coursing between Kesselring and Vilino at top speed.

Together with Chris (SeriousConcentrate), Adrien jumped toward the rider knocking him down to the ground in such unfortunate way that the rider broke his neck on impact. There was a lot of breaking in the rider's satchel and the party quickly determined that the satchel had several bottles of medicine possibly for Vilino.

In the meanwhile Gregor (Sirus) indentified the dead rider as Roy, red-haired messenger boy from Kesselring and nephew of Captain Torres (pic).

The group have split by then - Seyena (Gamerboy4life) took Valor (BladeMasterModel42) and the remaining dribble of the cure to Vilino while rest went toward Kesselring and Adrien went missing again.

On the way to Vilino, Seyena and Valor had a chat with charismatic Larion Rosecross (pic), leader of a small cavalry unit who was on his way to join Captain Aaron and the mercs.

With Seyena and Valor absent, rest of the group arrived at Kesselring Fortress.

Surprisingly, Prixima (pic) wasn't all that angry about the mishap because she assumed Eor was crafty. Suddenly she was wrecked by allergy fit because Christopher brought some flowers to her room and she had allergy to anything else than graveblooms (flowers growing on cementeries).

After the report to Prixima, the group was approached by Captain Aaron, and he said that Captain Torres (pics, respectively) demands Trial by Combat with Adrien for the death of his nephew, Roy.

Thusly Adrien and Torres had a duel with lots of low-grade taunts included. Whilst there was tiny margin of success for Adrien, he got impaled on Torres' spear and promptly died. Thus FEF got it's first player character corpse.

In the meanwhile, Olison (CrimsonEon) and Christopher visited the Kesselring armory and snatched several extra weapons (javelins, sword, crossbow and longbow), whilst Ami (scapheap) got Adrien's iron axe. Gregor became the new semi-official leader of the mercenaries, with Olison and Chris keeping some kind of advisory watch over his back. Seyena returned with Valor safely.

After that, Prixima recalled the mercs to her office. She have decided to follow assumptions and clues if they were to find Lapis Lazuli in reasonable amount of time. That's why the mercenary group was going north, to the city of Fezzan - Eor once a guard at Temple of Scriptures there, and it was as good place to start as any other.

Prixima arranged for Captain Marpa (pic) - to fetch the mercenaries to Fezzan as said Captain had her own mission in the city. She was reluctant but Captain Aaron - her husband - ultimately persuaded her to that, and even send one of his knights, Alexander Jorinn (Powder Miner) with the mercenaries. Without moment to rest, the group went to Fezzan with Marpa and her riders.

~~Chapter 3: The Border City of Fezzan~~

The border city is living it's own life besides the fact it's right at the border of two warring nations. Captain Marpa goes with her riders on her own business and Seyena, who seemingly was here, lead them to Temple of Scriptures, while the group could notice lots of hooded people on the streets this particular day.

The caretakers of the Temple of Scriptures, Magister Tiron and Bishop Grigorij (pics, respectively) had no real problem with the group searching through the Eor's old chambers...

Suddenly, explosions were happening in the city and hooded people dropped their disguises; they were Berebian soldiers, trying to take over the city in surprise attack. The district in which Temple of Scriptures were was left for Morko (pic) and his troops to take over.

Two of the Temple's guests, Riven (IronyOwl) and Raquel Torriani (Culise) decided to lend a hand and thusly the group grew in numbers.

The battle was quickly joined by local militia under the command of Captain Leon and Captain Syrea (1st and 2nd pics, respectively), and a little while later, a band of thugs decided to use the chaos and try to plunder some houses with Erkand (3rd pic) being the thug's boss.

The battle was fierce but thanks to the militia, Syrea's healing and Derick's (Furtuka) murder-spree, the mercenaries quickly crushed the Berebians to dust, with Christopher finally crit-stabbing Morko to death, thusly ending the siege of this district. News soon arrived that rest of the city was gradually secured as well. The mercs also grabbed few items from visitable houses during the battle.

After Chapter 3 Battle:

Now that it was peaceful again, the group returned to the Temple of Scriptures, where Bishop Grigorij led Charlotte (freeformschooler) and Christopher to Eor's old quarters. They've flipped the place upside-down before, at last, finding Lapis Lazuli in a box of candy that looked like tiny Lapises themselves.

Th evening of the same day the mercenaries spent on resupplying and partying at the inn. Riven decide to stick to the group while Raquel went away (Culise had to drop for reasons). Tantallos (Praefectus Screptum) decided to ditch newly-acquired Nosferatu tome for Worm tome and extra gold, whilst some old weapons and piled gold were exchanged for vulneraries and heal staff.

Captain Leon showed up (pic) with an investigator, and a small reward for the mercs. Much joy was had.

Unfortunately, the very next morning the mercenary group learned that Captain Marpa (pic) is down with fever and infection from combat and her troop is staying in the city for few days. Group was advised to get back to Kesselring anyway, so they needed transportation.

Lo and behold, like blessing from the heavens, came Anja (NPC, pic), a traveling gypsy, merchant, dancer, mercenary and traveller with large wagon. She is quite nosy and has penchant for 'feeling' incoming problems related to her... you can see where this is going.

~~Chapter 3x: Dissappointed Customers~~

The group, thanks to Anja's wagon, was moving smoothly south, toward Kesselring. Unfortunately, when they were approximately in the middle of the trip, Anja began to feel anxiety and stopped her wagon. The group quickly found out what's wrong: bandits.

But not ordinary bandits, no! Dora&Cilia (pic), two bandit female twins showed up, claiming right of vengeance against Anja and her faulty merchandise; the duo was keen on speaking in faux Shakespearean. The also had one-shot magical branch that put Anja to sleep, leaving her extremely vulnerable.

The battle looked grim, but thanks to tactical positioning and terrain bonuses it wasn't that bad, and the shamans - Riven and Tantallos - brought Cilia down.

RICKROLL HAPPENED, AHAHAHA.

Shortly afterwards, the group killed Dora as well and the rest of bandits fled - Anja woke up from magical slumber in the same time.

After Chapter 3 Battle:

Nothing much there to see, really.

Chapter 4: The Shadows of War

The group at last got to the Kesselring Forest, and whilst in there, they were almost trampled by lone rider bearing grave news:

Kesselring was under siege by Berebian army, brought from the skies by pegasi and wyverns. The fortress was caught by surprise, as it seems that no one was posted on the walls by that time.

The group advanced toward the Kesselring, only to find it's main gate closed and enemy soldiers posted on the walls, manning few ballistas as well. Keen eyes of Olison noticed that some soldiers wore the armor of Rosecross knights. Charlotte decided to leave for a while to check on Tiger's Eye in a shrine located in the forest.

Christopher took some people via secret backdoor, whilst the rest, under command of Gregor, decided to jump into the moat and get through a sewer grate smashed open by a dead wyvern. This almost turned into lemming suicide; Olison got knocked down whilst Seyena turned into a pincushion. Valor somehow appeased the RNG gods and went through unscratched. Gregor had minor morale drop.

In the meanwhile, Chris' group snuck into a storeroom via backdoor and engaged Berebian forces.

In a cutscene, so-far-unidentified mage spoke with a General (1st and 2nd pic respectively), chatting on the current situation and a bit about Prixima herself (3rd pic), until a soldier reports that top floors are now accessibly thanks to efforts of Larion Rosecross (4th pic). The unidentified mage left for there whilst General, "Goering the Mountain" promised to not let anyone through.

Whilst Chris' group began to take heavy damage, Gregor and his companions arrived from other side of the hallway, trapping the fighting Berebians in pincer attack and bringing hope to Chris and his party.

And that's where we are now.

[Powder Miner]

Predictably, Alexander is not mentioned once.
I swear, dude's pulling a Kellam.

[Gamerboy4life]

Predictably, Alexander is not mentioned once.
I swear, dude's pulling a Kellam.

Isn't Kellam that really quiet knight in Awakening?

[Taricus]

Erm, who's that again?

[Haspen]

Predictably, Alexander is not mentioned once.
I swear, dude's pulling a Kellam.

Oh right, I knew I forgot someone.

* Haspen fixes.

Is it a good recap, though?

EDIT: Hey, I've got an idea. You think I should make the Recap a full-blown Recap from the beginning and plaster it on the first post for those who want to read?

[Xanmyral]

Spoiler: Response to Gamer (click to show/hide)

Yeah, with a horse you just gotta worry about two dimensions, as a wyvern/pegasus rider you got three. The difference would probably be similar to the difference in training between a foot soldier and cavalry. There's lots of uses for a unit that doesn't have to focus on terrain to get to places, they'd make excellent anything that requires getting places fast.

There's a reason I said Sal's duchy was focused on wyvern riders, because if they weren't it wouldn't make that much sense for him to mostly pick it up on his own without having witnessed how it works for two some years first hand, both the experienced and those in training.

Sal didn't have much in the way of formal training, you can't exactly have that during a six to eight year period on the lamb from a duchy while also raising and training a wyvern by yourself for the most part. He probably got help here or there from other rebels/refugees/whatever church that is there that worshiped some dragon.

Gotta wonder how old this makes Sal though. Assuming he got in the army as early as he could, he'd of been... Sixteen? When he joined, I think. Spent two or so years in as a soldier before his desertion. Six to eight I think raising Ormm and learning how to be a wyvern rider, so about... Twenty four to twenty six? Give or take a year or two, somewhere around there.

Random note: I'm remaking Sal's portrait because the one before didn't fit in very well. I'll just make this comment; making a helmet from scratch is fucking hard. I'll probably be at this for a day or two before I'm fully satisfied.

EDIT: @Haspen: Go for it.

[SeriousConcentrate]

It's a good recap.

Also I brought you a flower.

[Sirus]

Little more Gregor backstory if anyone cares (typed over a period of a couple of hours spending most of it afk):

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

He's been dropping hints of this through the game, but might as well get it in the open OC-wise: Gregor does not have a good relationship with his father or brothers. The father is extremely no-nonsense and a fanatical Menelean patriot that put his sons through some intense training, both against him and each other, and he will not take Gregor's possible desertion well. The oldest brother is much the same way, though he feels more protective of his younger siblings. The second brother, on the other hand, has a gambling addiction and is in some ways the black sheep of the family. He doesn't care about family ties except in ways that benefit himself, and the only reason the father puts up with him is because of his skill with a sword.

Next came Gregor's sister, already mentioned. She was to become trained in the art of war until her magic abilities were discovered. Their father had no love of magic, but decided that having a powerful mage in the family could only increase the power of the von Hexham clan and gave her his blessing.

And then there's Gregor himself, Mr. Can't-Catch-Up, the one for whom being a soldier was a third choice rather than the only choice. What can he do to distinguish himself when his father has "seen it all" already? Time will tell.

[Haspen]

Okay, Recap encompasses everything from story start up to the Siege of Kesselring ^_^

Imma go host it on pastebin and make an easily-accesible link on IC opening post!

Or just stab a spoiler in first post.

[SeriousConcentrate]

I can see this being very handy to refresh one's memory. Thanks for putting in the work on that, Haspen. ^^^ It's appreciated.