Everwake (Tim)

[Bannanachair]

"The men I commanded were slaughtered. There's about a dozen Crestrisen left from the main group. What news do you have of the splinter groups?"

[Tikobe]

"Eh... Not good. We weren't able to come into contact, but I found the corpses of one of the groups in the alley, just a bit before Lester sounded the horn. The second group fared better but not by much."

"Captain," the spearman begins, "why's your group unharmed?"

"You make it sound like it was easy," Bayod grumbles as he moves his overcoat to reveal a nasty wound on his side that was all bandaged up. "They were tough bastards, all of them."

Or so he says, but you noticed that no one else in his team had wounds, not even ones they concealed like Bayod's. Furthermore, their weapons had little blood on them unlike Bayod's who had a mace covered in the stuff, and that mace was nothing compared to the pure red shield in his hand.

Wait, you notice that the shield had some dents that weren't there before. Had Bayod actually killed more enemies with his shield than his actual weapon? It made you recall stories of a man that journeyed New Everwrath whilst slaying countless monsters, including a dragon, by going berserk and slamming his shield in them. If you recalled right, the name which had originally slipped your mind was similar to Bayod's name as well.

... This was perhaps a subject better saved for a different time.

"Anyways, we heard the horn, met with the second group here, but we don't see Lester. I think that the enemies who killed the third group managed to reach here. We have the advantage of the labyrinthine structure of the innards of the Shrine, but that buys us no more than a minute or two," Bayod explains.

[Bannanachair]

"Then we need to move. But also we need to prevent those reinforcements from getting into the shrine. It seems as though we'll need to split into two groups once again."

[Tikobe]

"I see. That'll be rough," Bayod says as he gives a stretch.

"I'll take the defense post. You're better at leading the men, but you don't know the inner Shrine like I do. I have to train men for a whole year on it's defenses and how to use them, and I don't even have an hour to teach you. Considering the time we have, even I can tell that it'd be best if you pursue instead of me. Just take the men you need and leave the rest to me."

[Bannanachair]

I take the remaining men who were with me earlier - the swordsman, the archer, metalspear and the last remaining guard. If none of them know the labyrinthine pathways of the Inner Shrine, I'll also take one more person who does.

[Tikobe]

You enter the Inner Shrine, followed by Captain Bayod and the men under him. The hallway was dark and would be difficult to navigate had it not been for it's straight, linear path. It was an eerie experience: You felt no wind, heard no footsteps, saw no light. The only reason why you were sure you were still there was for the sound of your breath.

Eventually, you reach a room with light shining around it. You weren't sure how this light was possible given that there was no way for light to be there not to mention that you couldn't even see the light of this room from the hallway, but that wasn't the only odd thing: The metal floor and walls moved. They seemed still at a glance, but when you looked, you could see that your footsteps made ripples in the floor.

"The Inner Shrine recognizes those who've reached the room where the Wyldun has been sealed and meditated for a whole day in that room as being it's 'guards' of sorts," Captain Bayod, whose footsteps didn't have a ripple like yours, explains. "As such, the Shrine reacts to those who aren't recognized. This way it becomes impossible for us to have no warnings of intruders and so the defenders are the only ones who can launch an ambush. Well, that was at least the theory, except now most of us here are you navy guys who aren't recognized as well. Ah well, it's just a matter of keeping an eye on the secret passages."

"How is this possible?" One of the men from your fleet asks, looking at the ripples as he takes a step.

"It's a structure made by a spell to contain a being who can control the world, it'd be weirder if it behaved like a normal building," Bayod shrugs as he grabs a bar on the side of the room. "Someone help me here?"

The swordsman quickly nods as he grabs a second bar on the other side. They both give a pull and all of a sudden the metal bars extend outwards until they meet each other in the center of the room, making a metal wall right behind you. In reaction to the metal that literally grew out of the building, a platform rises up from the ground with staircases leading up to the top.

"We'll hold the defense here, Admiral. The ripples only extend so far, but they'll be a good sign that you found the enemy when you see them."

[Bannanachair]

I lead my small group of men up the stairs. "Be quiet and try to take them by surprise," I tell them. "Then kill as many as possible. The fewer Crestrisen have an opportunity to fight back, the easier it will be to win the fight once they gather their bearings."

[Tikobe]

"Aye aye!"

Well, so you say, but while the men under you, who worked here as guards were apparently "recognized" considering their footsteps didn't emit a ripple, your still weren't. There'd be a chance that the enemy would see you as well.

As you traversed, the way increasingly became a headache. It went up and down and often forked off into three or four different paths. It wasn't too complex, but you could definitely see why it would take your enemies a while to reach the shrine's core.

Or it was supposed to be like that, but when you finally saw the ripples of other presences the men under looked concerned.

"They're coming from the direction of the Core," the spearman explains. "There's five or six, at least no more than eight of them there."

The enemies had already reached their destination.

"There's another person," the archer adds on. "They seem to be running but they're most definitely lost inside the Inner Shrine. That being said, we'll probably meet them as well if we make a straight beeline to the core."

You hear fighting off in the distance. It seems that Bayod has met with the enemy.

[Bannanachair]

"Then that's the direction that we need to go in. You guys know the... Terrain, I suppose, better than I do. How defensible is the Core?"

[Tikobe]

"Decently, I suppose, though if compared to the rest of this place it's pretty shoddy," the spear man explains. "That's the room where the Wyldun is after all. I guess it's something like trying to focus on keeping the damned thing asleep or something? Not really sure. At least, there's really not much besides a trap at the entrance. Though to activate it, or activate anything here for that matter, you'd need to be a recognized person."

"Well, anyways, what do you want us to do about this one lost man?" the swordsman replies, probably recalling the fact that the archer pointed out that there was one "unrecognized" person who was lost in the Inner Shrine.

[Bannanachair]

"We'll deal with him later. It's the large group that we need to deal with now, and before they get to the Core."

[Tikobe]

"Pretty sure I just said we'd meet him if we went straight to the Core, but oh well, you're the man in charge," the archer murmurs to himself, probably thinking that you couldn't hear since he spoke in a soft and quiet tone.

And meet him you did...

And it was a most awkward meeting, as the man who you encountered was none other than Fraseco.

Fraseco, the man you told to court martial himself. Fraseco, the man you probably forgot. Fraseco, the man that honestly speaking the host of this ISRP regrets making with a passion.

Fraseco looks at your group, blinks and gives an awkward, "Hiya, Admiral. Nice to meet you here."

You begin to recall that contrary to what Bayod said, you didn't actually see Fraseco on the front lines. In other words, he ran off again.

[Bannanachair]

I punch Fraseco in the jaw.

[Tikobe]

("I punch Fraseco in the jaw."

Easily the most iconic line I've ever seen in any ISRP that I've done.)

Fraseco, his guard down, blinks in surprise as he takes the punch head on.

(Attack Roll! (Good))

The punch hits so hard he falls to the ground.

"A- Admiral, what are you doing!?" Fraseco exclaims in surprise. The others are also surprised. They wouldn't have thought that you'd punch a man wearing your force's uniform.

[Bannanachair]

I grab him by the scruff of his collar and then shove him against a wall. If I have a dagger as a sidearm, I'll press that to his throat. "Fraseco, you bastard, you have repeatedly disobeyed orders in such ways as to jeopardise what I had been intending to do. I can count three such instances today. Do you think that I'm too stupid to have figured out that you were a Crestrisen spy?"

[Tikobe]

"Spy!?" Fraseco growls. "I'm not a damn spy, you idiot admiral! Seriously, my ship was destroyed by those bastards!"

"Really? But wouldn't that explain why you survived?" the spearman asks, raising a damn good point.

"That'd be an explanation alright, but it not what happened! I survived for the sole reason that I was already on the damn ground when they opened fire!"

"But they attacked after letting you on the ground?"

"Coincidence! Seriously, if these guys were trying to infiltrate this place why would they wait until one of their enemies escaped?"

"But it is pretty damning. Especially since if I recalled Captain Bayod ordered to the barricade, did he not?" The spearman points out, tightening the noose further.

"There's a strong reason for that, damn it!"

[Bannanachair]

“Then explain your reason right now or I will kill you as an enemy agent, a spy and a sabateur. If I determine right now that you’re not committing treason, I’ll simply have you court martialled and dishonourably discharged from the navy for insubordination. And don’t take too long, as there are other Crestrisen agents in the Shrine.”

[Tikobe]

"As I was walking to the Shrine after ignoring your orders-"

"No shame in admitting it," the lucky guard you saved with the water spell mutters in awe.

"-I saw a man leave his house-"

"That's not uncommon. I'm pretty sure you leave your house quite often," the spearman points out.

"Stop interrupting me! What was important here wasn't that the man was leaving his house, but what he was holding!"

"And what was he holding?"

"A Crestrisen uniform! This man, who looked like a total native of this city was walking out with a Crestrisen uniform in his hand. He tried to hide it in a dark brown bag, but the tabard was poking out through a hole near the bottom of it. I ignored it at first, thought it was a trick of the eyes, but as I continued my trip to the Shrine here, it began to bother me. See, why would there be a denizen of the area with a Crestrisen's uniform? It bothered me even more when I got hear and heard Bayod talking about numerous attacks throughout the city and even more that there was a large force of 40 men on there way. Their airship couldn't possibly contain those numbers!"

"Hold on, so what you're saying is-"

"Is that Saffur is compromised, no doubt! It occurred to me that there might be a large number of agents within the city who were already there, those sleeper agents you hear about in the stories, you know? So when Bayod ordered me to the front lines, I couldn't accept that! Those Crestrisen bastards may have had a trap and were leading us all by the nose! So I sneaked away and spied on the Shrine, just to be sure."

"That wasn't necessary, Lester was already watching the place," the archer grumbles. It looks like everyone was getting annoyed by Fraseco.

"That's the thing, your 'Lester' was one of the Cres-"

The archer knocks a bow and warns, "Continue that and I'll kill you right now. Lester's a good man, he's been here in this city for five years!"

"Then why did he guide a group of Crestrisens inside this Shrine after they let him blow the warning horn?"

[Bannanachair]

“Take his weapons and keep an eye on him. We’ll see the truth or falsehood of his story soon enough.” However much of our time Fraseco wasted was already too much, and we need to move. As such, once he’s disarmed, I continue heading for the Core.

[Tikobe]

The man take his weapons, though begrudgingly all on the part except for the one lucky guard who was saved by you. Not surprising considering his accusation of Lester.

Or at least, it had seemed to be an accusation.

The Core was a large room, made of metallic, thorny vines like the ones that could be seen outside on top of the Shrines. However, something seems incredibly wrong: The pulses were no more here. Instead, there was a dark green mist that spewed out of a coffin like shape in the center of room, a coffin situated on top of a tower in the center of an endless seeming pit, with merely a thin bridge to connect it to the rest of the room.

There stood six Crestrisen soldiers in the room, and in front of the coffin, much to the chagrin of the guards who were with you, stood Lester, exactly as how Fraseco said he'd be there. They hadn't noticed you yet, since you hid in the hole just on the other side of the Core's entrance, but you were very nearly exposed by the shock felt by the guards at the realization that Lester had truly betrayed them.

Really, it was probably more shocking for you that Fraseco was actually right, however.

[Bannanachair]

(You might want to fix that last sentence.)

“Charge them on my count,” I whisper, raising three fingers, careful that the Crestrisen wouldn’t overhear me. “Three... Two... One... Now!”

As I said ‘now’, my last finger collapsed into a fist and I les the charge, drawing my sword while running and attacking someone from behind.

[Tikobe]

It doesn't go well.

As you run out, spears rise out of the ground. You recall that your guards told you that there was a trap at the entrance, but that it could only be primed by a recognized individual.

Originally, not something possible, but now it occurs to you that Lester should also be recognized and as such able to prime the trap.

The spears kill your archer, but thankfully the rest of you get off with light wounds. Well, that's with the exception of the disarmed Fraseco, who didn't follow the charge due to his lack of a weapon.

The commotion turns the attention of the enemy on you.

[Bannanachair]

If we lose this fight, then the Crestrisen will have access to the shrine, whatever they're using it for. I'll take a stab at the nearest of my enemies to see what I can do, and hope that my allies do the same.

[Tikobe]

(Attack Roll! (Decent))

The nearest one takes a stab at his fore arm, causing him to holler in pain as he retaliates.

(Attack Roll! (Miss))

It was obviously a very poorly done retaliation.

Two of his friends yell out to him as they rush to join the fight. Your allies rush in to fight back, with Fraseco, as impatient and annoying as he always is, taking his sword from the Archer's corpse and rushing over to join your side.

[Bannanachair]

I'll take yet another shot at killing this bastard.