Introduction #3: Game Introduction

Duke Bardorba's Manor
Graylands 2:32AM

Guildenstern: Have you found Sydney?

Crimson Blade: Not yet, sir.

Guildenstern: Put out the fires, or we'll lose the manor and all will be for naught! Split the knights into two groups, one to douse the blaze, the other to exterminate the traitors.

Crimson Blade: Right away, sir.

Guildenstern: ...Where are you, Sydney?


Hardin: ...Show them who they're dealing with! Torch the chambers and kill the hostages!!

Müllenkamp Cultist: Aye!


Müllenkamp Cultist #1: ...We've no time! Let's finish this 'fore the Blades arrive!

Müllenkamp Cultist #2: Right, let's do this and get out of here!

Müllenkamp Cultists (together): Who goes there?

Ashley: Here we go...


Offscreen: ...Well? Have you found it?

Offscreen: It's no use. There's nothing like that here -- anywhere.

Offscreen: Keep looking, damn you!

Offscreen: I'm telling you, Sydney! The knights are nearly upon us!

Offscreen: Stop your whimpering! You'd come this far only to leave empty-handed? Now, search!


Sydney: Curse the Duke! Where's he hidden it?

Hardin: You sure the Duke really has it? Does the damned thing even exist?

Sydney: You doubt me, Hardin? You doubt my power!?

Hardin: F-forgive me! I did not intend... But Sydney, any longer, and there will be no escape for us!

Sydney: Fine, then! Bring the boy and come with me!!


Ashley: Don't move, Sydney! I've a bowgun aimed at your heart! Now turn 'round slowly!

Sydney: ...You're no knight, are you?

Ashley: Bind your legs with that rope.

Sydney: Ah, a Riskbreaker ... A royal guard dog!

Ashley: Did you not hear me? Bind yourself, now!

Sydney: This is an unfortunate turn of events...

Ashley: HOLD IT!

Hardin: Sydney!!

Sydney: I...I'm the one you want. Hardin ... Go quickly ... Go... to Lea Monde.

Ashley: You! Stop! What's going on? You were most certainly dead! Leave the back-from-the grave stuff to faerie tales!

Sydney: You've ...given me... quite.. a scratch... Show...a little more respect...for faerie tales, Riskbreaker. D'tok!!!

[A wyvern falls from the skylight]

Sydney: My...apologies...I've no time...to toy...with you.


Ashley: Lea Monde?

[The body is but a vessel for the soul. A puppet which bends to the soul's tyranny. And lo, the body is not eternal, for it must feed on the flesh of others, lest it return to the dust whence it came. Therefore must the soul deceive, despise, and murder men. -- A. J. Durai]

Duke Bardorba's Secondary Residence
Graylands 5:38AM


Duke: ...So the knights who came were not the king's men, but the cardinal's?

Rosencrantz: Knights of the Cross led by Guildenstern, my lord.

Advisor: The Crimson Blades -- in direct service to the Cardinal.

Rosencrantz: Guildenstern led his men toward Lea Monde in pursuit of Sydney.

Duke: ...I see. Send one of your men in the armor of these "Holy Knights" ... Set fire to the manor.

Advisor: Fire...my liege?

Duke: The fool Sydney used his wyvern. We can't have witnesses telling the world, now can we?

Advisor: But the hostages...your family!

Duke: Irrelevant! Burn it, burn it to the ground!!

(Offscreen): ...What of Parliament?

Rosencrantz: The VKP (Valendia Knights of the Peace) have formed a squad to deal with the felons.

Duke: The Riskbreakers ... those meddling fools!

Rosencrantz: Your will, my Lord?

Duke: Lea Monde is yours. Let no one out of the town! You can deal with Sydney and the Blades there.

Rosencrantz: And Parliament?

Duke: I'll deal with those watchdogs... They won't trouble you further.

Advisor: And the young Lord Joshua?

Duke: He is my light...my soul. If aught should befall him...

Rosencrantz: As you wish, my Lord.

Duke: Am I fated to rot and wither... even as I breathe?

11:42 AM

[Lea Monde is an old town, with a history of over 2000 years. Its walls have seen many battles -- They are stronger than the mightiest ports of Valendia, and as the sun wheels through the sky, the beauty of their shifting colors surpasses that of any palace.]

[The grand cathedral that towers over the town center is a symbol for Lea Monde's indomitable spirit, and is the holy ground of the devout Iocus pristhood. At its height, Lea Monde was a thriving community more than 5000 people strong. 25 years ago, a great earthquake brought that chapter in Lea Monde's history to a close.]

Ashley: ...Well?

Merlose: The two sentinels are dead...murdered.

Ashley: Hmm... This the only way in?

Merlose: There's a great crevasse preventing entry above ground.

Ashley: And from the sea?

Merlose: Nay, sunken reefs that rose during the earthquake form a gauntlet of whirlpools ... Too dangerous. You do know we sent agents in, thinking those ruins were the Müllenkamp base. Not one returned.

Ashley: Not on account of the whirlpools, I'd wager...

Merlose: Surely, it was men who killed them. How was it down there?

Ashley: Come down and see for yourself...

[...According to the survivors, our comrade Agent Riot headed out for Lea Monde before noon. Of course, the reports were vague and we cannot deny the possiblity of inaccuracies. Yet given that there is only one path to infiltrate Lea Monde, this office believes those reports to be valid.]

Merlose: ...What's this?

Ashley: That's what I'm here to find out. It does seem well fortified for a wine cellar...

Merlose: Oh? Lea Monde's wineries once vied with the best of Valendia. Since they went out of production, the remaining vintages sell for a premium.

Ashley: ...If I find any, consider them yours.

Merlose: You plan to go alone?

Ashley: An agent with no combat experience would just be a liability.

Merlose: .......

Ashley: Tell me what you know about Müllenkamp and this Sydney fellow.

Merlose: ...Sydney Losstarot. Leader of the religious cult Müllenkamp. His real name and age are unknown. One of many self-styled prophets of the Apocalypse.

Ashley: So why would a cult missionary commit such a crime?

Merlose: I do not know what the Cardinal thinks, but the VKP believes he is no prophet -- Indeed, he is in dark alliance with Duke Bardorba, who controls Parliament from behind the scenes. That the cult is but a front.

Ashley: Perhaps this incident is a sign of some falling-out between the two? ...Or merely another of the Cardinal's witch-hunts?

Merlose: There are many would-be prophets in the land these days, but Sydney is ...different. His prophecies ring true, and those enraptured by the way he hums revelations -- as though they were simple ballads! All say the same: "He is a miracle."

Ashley: .......

Merlose: ...In any case, he has a strange power. He can guess the past of those he meets. He can even read hearts... They say his charisma is such that his followers offer both body and soul to him...

Ashley: ...Sounds like you're quite taken with him yourself.

Merlose: Agent Riot!

Ashley: If I do not return by the morrow's eve, inform HQ, won't you?

Merlose: Godspeed...

[...We sent men to monitor the abandoned mineshaft that leads to Lea Monde. All were found dead. At the entrance other bodies were founDuke: Two knights of the Cardinal's Crimson Blades.]

[Our men were murdered with swords, but the knight's wounds show they died by their own hands. At present, we have taken the bodies into our custody, and our specialists are continuing the examination.]

[Excerpt from Graylands Incident Investigation Report, Section 3.14]


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