the Black Cepter that had been using the other searchers chose that moment to attack while Kigi was weak, hoping to destroy Bisteam. Nepenthes kidnapped Naja, holding her till her magical energy refreshed to steal it from her. Meanwhile he showed her what he felt to be the truth of Bisteam, unaware or uncaring that Alta and the others were coming to save Najaran.
Heb showed her the "treasure" of bistream, the remains of the Lord of Earth. Which was what was poisoning the forest and killing the nymphs/elves. Najaran came to understand that the gates weren't to keep people out of Bisteam, but to keep the Dark Lord, the Lord of Earth, in. That the Nymphs had been sacrificing themselves to keep his power sealed. Najaran vowed that she would do whatever it took to keep the Lord of Earth from waking, and started chewing through her restraints.
Which of course was when Zeneth showed up for a rematch. His attack broke the seal on the Lord of Earth, allowing him to begin awakening. Najaran yelled at him, giving him the angry ten cent tour about what he had just done. Of course in her screaming she said "We" and "our fault" not laying the blame all on him. She got Zeneth to agree to help, since even he now saw this was bigger than their rivalry.
Power flooded Najaran when she stood beside Zeneth and called on her Knight to join the fight. The creaturews of the forest were aiding her, having beaten Kigi, the Forest was now her domain, increasing her power tremendously, as well as increasing her recovery and power even more when she is actually IN a forest. (the manga doesn't specify a forest or that one specifically, so going off a combination of implications and the mechanics of the game, since that's all I've got.) Zeneth and Najaran worked together while Alta rallied the remaining searchers, friend and foe alike. And they all realized that the challenges of the gates hadn't been arbitrary, they were testing the skills needed for stopping the Lord of Earth.
Ganz (part of Alta's team) and another soldier took out the Black Cepter when the combination of awakening the Dark Lord and fighting Naja and Zeneth left him weak. But without a Cepeter, the Dark Lord started feeding on the lie energy of the humans around. Zeneth said that he had to use his secret weapon, but that Najaran had to keep the Lord of Earth distracted AND know when to get out of the way. Zeneth's arm was revealed to be embedded with a card, specifically the Lord Of Fire. He used the power of one of the four Elemental Lords against its brother. Knight and the Old Willow where the Nymphs gave their life protected Najaran from the blast.
Kigi's sister, who had given herself to Old Willow to reinforce the seal on the Dark Lord spoke to Najaran, telling her that Kigi and the others were all at peace now, and that this isn't death. She gave Najaran a powerful card Wind Of Hope (which in the game is weak) that was meant to be a link between Culdra and their world. She aslo gave Najaran all of Kigi's cards,m saying that they wanted to serve the human who called Kigi friend.
Things settled, the group seperated. Alta drew a map for Najaran to find Grubel's place. A week later, helplessly lost and desperate Najaran and Gooligan realized... that Njaran had been holding the map upside down this whole time....
Tare found them when Najaran failed to kill a jungle yak like creature with her teeth and bare hands. He had a letter telling him exactly where and when to meet them and even had a drawing of Najaran falling off of the Yak's back. Tare was, of course, sent by Grubel, the fortune teller. Tare left them at the entrance of Grubel's place and fled. The whole entry way was filled with what looked like statues of people in desperate pain. Tare, leaving, let slip that they weren't statues, they were people who had upset Grubel by bringing up her age.
After fighting her way in and being chastised not to mess up the rugs, Najaran was allowed to give Grubel the letter from Master Horowitz in which Najaran's master asked his old friend to help in their fight against the Black Cepters and offered Najaran's services as payment. Grubel agreed and immediately made slaves of Najaran and Gooligan.
They were given horrible and sometimes dangerous tasks, constantly being told by her servants that they'd be killed if they failed, or seeing her servants being harmed by other servants or begging forgiveness. Mostly she was just playing with them, though.
Grubel explained why she had no joy left in life, because she could read the descriptions of everything in the world, so nothing held any surprise or delight for her any more. The world is like a book she's read over and over again, she said, so it is boring, because she knows the ending already. Najaran of course, still emotional from Kigi and the zombie dragon and everything else she's been dealing with yelled at her, which Grubel said she knew was coming. Grubel offered her a wager. If Najaran could surprise her at all, while serving her, she would do what Horowitz asked and they would be done serving her. While Najaran and Gooligan were freaking out that it was impossible, Grubel smirked and took a sip of the tea Najaran had made for her and then flailed backwards, disgusted. Apparently Najaran accidently gave her pepper instead of sugar and instead of tea had steeped seaweed.
Grubel freaked out that she had been surprised, that Najaran had been able to do that. She grabbed Najaran and declared that she couldn't read Najaran as easily as she could read everything else, that somehow Naja deviates from what is written in the Culdcept. She asked Gooligan if this was his dooing since he was from outside Rakan. Finally thrilled and entertained. Grubel set about to keep her word. She had her servants prepare a device that she and Horowitz and Salvadore had created long before Najaran was born when they had been called "The Three Wise Ones Of Bablascha", Bablascha being the continent where Bisteam is located.
Grubel showed Najaran a glimpse of other worlds, all teeming with life, all created by Culdra, all touched by the Culdcept. They used the device to scry the location of the Black Cepters, but one of them sensed the scry and reached through space to attack them. After getting a small cut on her face, Grubel's temper blew up the part of her house where they had been. Once they moved outside and Gribel was tending to her cut face, Grubel gave Najaran a crystal ball with information for Horowitz and then demanded that Najaran destroy them all for cutting her face and ruining her mansion. She gave Najaran permission to come again sometime, as a visitor this time, and one of her servants, who was a card, went to join Najaran.
Naja and Gooligan made it back home to report to Horowitz, but he wasn't there. While raiding his snack jar what seemed like air pirates attacked. Three Cepters. Najaran tried to fight back, but her cards wouldn't respond. She and Gooligan were quickly captured and taken away on their airship. They passed through a Hurricane which turned out to be a defensive card protecting Endaness Isle, a secret island just for Cepters and their cards.
Najaran was awed by the Isle and the Capter's guild. A whole land where cards were free to mingle amongst their Cepters, where no one had to hide what they were, no one was hated just for being a card or a Cepter. She was dragged to see the Guild Chairman, but what she saw was Master Horowitz in an important looking seat. She was sure he was going to get himself in trouble and tried making excuses for him, not realizing he actually was the Guild Chairman.
He gave her a few moments of comfort while she changed into formal clothing, and then told her she was being taken to speak before the Assembly. It was a huge meeting of Cepters brought together to come up with a plan to defeat the Black Cepters, except it was chaos, no one able to agree with anyone else, each shouting their own plans and not listening. She was brought in as one of the few Cepters who had fought the Black Cepters multiple times and lived to tell the tale. But they wouldn't listen to her, one of them going so far as to point out Gooligan's presence, claiming he was proof she was herself a Black Cepter since all the Black Cepters had man headed canes. When Najaran stood and defended Gooligan elegantly, the Cepter then challenged Najaran herself, saying they shouldn't have to listen to a mere student who had never proven herself.
And so, in the middle of a crisis, they had to stop for a full on Cepter tournament. Doaens of participants. Najaran to defend Gooligan and Master Horowitz's good names agreed, even though she still couldn't summon her cards. What her Master knew but didn't share with her was that it was because she had gained too much power all at once when she gained Bisteam as her territory. Her body wasn't able to cope yet with how much stronger she had become. He figured that in battle she would find her way. He was right, but it wasn't easy or safe. What unlocked her ability was when the Cepter who challenged her started badmouthing Najaran's old opponents. Once again, she found her strength in defending others. She could not let Kigi and Sit Owen and the others she fought be called weak or pathetic. Each of them had helped her, each of them... she was coming to understand, she respected. To protect them, even if only in name, her power came rushing to her and unlocked the blockage caused by her rapid power gain. On this battle we also get the concept of ante cards... for the first time.. discussed as if it is a common practice.
The duel came down to just her and the Cepter who spoke against her, but in the end Najaran got to her too and she refused to use her last card, which had been given to her by someone else to not just defeat Najaram but to kill her. She instead called out the one who had commissioned her to kill Najaran and both she and the one she was working with were taken away for questioning. Najaran, however, got to enjoy part of a victory feast before she was dragged off to speak to the Guild Master.
The Guild Master was a secret, some one only a select few had ever met. Najaran soon found out why. The Guild Master was a card, was the Isle they were on. Was the Lord of Water. But she refused to work for Baltheus (the spelling of this changed as well as the series went on) no matter what. The Lord of Water challenged Najaran, demanding to know what kind of world she would create if she had the Culdcept. Najaran admitted that she'd never thought about it, that there was too much of this world she'd never seen yet, how could she even think about what she'd want in a whole new one? This amused the Lord of Water who sent Najaran, Gooligan, and Horowitz to track down Zeneth and ensure that the Lord Of Fire attached to his body never fell into the hand of Black Cepters....
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timeasmymeasure
Part 3 of 4
Date: 2020-03-22 03:36 pm (UTC)the Black Cepter that had been using the other searchers chose that moment to attack while Kigi was weak, hoping to destroy Bisteam. Nepenthes kidnapped Naja, holding her till her magical energy refreshed to steal it from her. Meanwhile he showed her what he felt to be the truth of Bisteam, unaware or uncaring that Alta and the others were coming to save Najaran.
Heb showed her the "treasure" of bistream, the remains of the Lord of Earth. Which was what was poisoning the forest and killing the nymphs/elves. Najaran came to understand that the gates weren't to keep people out of Bisteam, but to keep the Dark Lord, the Lord of Earth, in. That the Nymphs had been sacrificing themselves to keep his power sealed. Najaran vowed that she would do whatever it took to keep the Lord of Earth from waking, and started chewing through her restraints.
Which of course was when Zeneth showed up for a rematch. His attack broke the seal on the Lord of Earth, allowing him to begin awakening. Najaran yelled at him, giving him the angry ten cent tour about what he had just done. Of course in her screaming she said "We" and "our fault" not laying the blame all on him. She got Zeneth to agree to help, since even he now saw this was bigger than their rivalry.
Power flooded Najaran when she stood beside Zeneth and called on her Knight to join the fight. The creaturews of the forest were aiding her, having beaten Kigi, the Forest was now her domain, increasing her power tremendously, as well as increasing her recovery and power even more when she is actually IN a forest. (the manga doesn't specify a forest or that one specifically, so going off a combination of implications and the mechanics of the game, since that's all I've got.) Zeneth and Najaran worked together while Alta rallied the remaining searchers, friend and foe alike. And they all realized that the challenges of the gates hadn't been arbitrary, they were testing the skills needed for stopping the Lord of Earth.
Ganz (part of Alta's team) and another soldier took out the Black Cepter when the combination of awakening the Dark Lord and fighting Naja and Zeneth left him weak. But without a Cepeter, the Dark Lord started feeding on the lie energy of the humans around. Zeneth said that he had to use his secret weapon, but that Najaran had to keep the Lord of Earth distracted AND know when to get out of the way. Zeneth's arm was revealed to be embedded with a card, specifically the Lord Of Fire. He used the power of one of the four Elemental Lords against its brother. Knight and the Old Willow where the Nymphs gave their life protected Najaran from the blast.
Kigi's sister, who had given herself to Old Willow to reinforce the seal on the Dark Lord spoke to Najaran, telling her that Kigi and the others were all at peace now, and that this isn't death. She gave Najaran a powerful card Wind Of Hope (which in the game is weak) that was meant to be a link between Culdra and their world. She aslo gave Najaran all of Kigi's cards,m saying that they wanted to serve the human who called Kigi friend.
Things settled, the group seperated. Alta drew a map for Najaran to find Grubel's place. A week later, helplessly lost and desperate Najaran and Gooligan realized... that Njaran had been holding the map upside down this whole time....
Tare found them when Najaran failed to kill a jungle yak like creature with her teeth and bare hands. He had a letter telling him exactly where and when to meet them and even had a drawing of Najaran falling off of the Yak's back. Tare was, of course, sent by Grubel, the fortune teller. Tare left them at the entrance of Grubel's place and fled. The whole entry way was filled with what looked like statues of people in desperate pain. Tare, leaving, let slip that they weren't statues, they were people who had upset Grubel by bringing up her age.
After fighting her way in and being chastised not to mess up the rugs, Najaran was allowed to give Grubel the letter from Master Horowitz in which Najaran's master asked his old friend to help in their fight against the Black Cepters and offered Najaran's services as payment. Grubel agreed and immediately made slaves of Najaran and Gooligan.
They were given horrible and sometimes dangerous tasks, constantly being told by her servants that they'd be killed if they failed, or seeing her servants being harmed by other servants or begging forgiveness. Mostly she was just playing with them, though.
Grubel explained why she had no joy left in life, because she could read the descriptions of everything in the world, so nothing held any surprise or delight for her any more. The world is like a book she's read over and over again, she said, so it is boring, because she knows the ending already. Najaran of course, still emotional from Kigi and the zombie dragon and everything else she's been dealing with yelled at her, which Grubel said she knew was coming. Grubel offered her a wager. If Najaran could surprise her at all, while serving her, she would do what Horowitz asked and they would be done serving her. While Najaran and Gooligan were freaking out that it was impossible, Grubel smirked and took a sip of the tea Najaran had made for her and then flailed backwards, disgusted. Apparently Najaran accidently gave her pepper instead of sugar and instead of tea had steeped seaweed.
Grubel freaked out that she had been surprised, that Najaran had been able to do that. She grabbed Najaran and declared that she couldn't read Najaran as easily as she could read everything else, that somehow Naja deviates from what is written in the Culdcept. She asked Gooligan if this was his dooing since he was from outside Rakan. Finally thrilled and entertained. Grubel set about to keep her word. She had her servants prepare a device that she and Horowitz and Salvadore had created long before Najaran was born when they had been called "The Three Wise Ones Of Bablascha", Bablascha being the continent where Bisteam is located.
Grubel showed Najaran a glimpse of other worlds, all teeming with life, all created by Culdra, all touched by the Culdcept. They used the device to scry the location of the Black Cepters, but one of them sensed the scry and reached through space to attack them. After getting a small cut on her face, Grubel's temper blew up the part of her house where they had been. Once they moved outside and Gribel was tending to her cut face, Grubel gave Najaran a crystal ball with information for Horowitz and then demanded that Najaran destroy them all for cutting her face and ruining her mansion. She gave Najaran permission to come again sometime, as a visitor this time, and one of her servants, who was a card, went to join Najaran.
Naja and Gooligan made it back home to report to Horowitz, but he wasn't there. While raiding his snack jar what seemed like air pirates attacked. Three Cepters. Najaran tried to fight back, but her cards wouldn't respond. She and Gooligan were quickly captured and taken away on their airship. They passed through a Hurricane which turned out to be a defensive card protecting Endaness Isle, a secret island just for Cepters and their cards.
Najaran was awed by the Isle and the Capter's guild. A whole land where cards were free to mingle amongst their Cepters, where no one had to hide what they were, no one was hated just for being a card or a Cepter. She was dragged to see the Guild Chairman, but what she saw was Master Horowitz in an important looking seat. She was sure he was going to get himself in trouble and tried making excuses for him, not realizing he actually was the Guild Chairman.
He gave her a few moments of comfort while she changed into formal clothing, and then told her she was being taken to speak before the Assembly. It was a huge meeting of Cepters brought together to come up with a plan to defeat the Black Cepters, except it was chaos, no one able to agree with anyone else, each shouting their own plans and not listening. She was brought in as one of the few Cepters who had fought the Black Cepters multiple times and lived to tell the tale. But they wouldn't listen to her, one of them going so far as to point out Gooligan's presence, claiming he was proof she was herself a Black Cepter since all the Black Cepters had man headed canes. When Najaran stood and defended Gooligan elegantly, the Cepter then challenged Najaran herself, saying they shouldn't have to listen to a mere student who had never proven herself.
And so, in the middle of a crisis, they had to stop for a full on Cepter tournament. Doaens of participants. Najaran to defend Gooligan and Master Horowitz's good names agreed, even though she still couldn't summon her cards. What her Master knew but didn't share with her was that it was because she had gained too much power all at once when she gained Bisteam as her territory. Her body wasn't able to cope yet with how much stronger she had become. He figured that in battle she would find her way. He was right, but it wasn't easy or safe. What unlocked her ability was when the Cepter who challenged her started badmouthing Najaran's old opponents. Once again, she found her strength in defending others. She could not let Kigi and Sit Owen and the others she fought be called weak or pathetic. Each of them had helped her, each of them... she was coming to understand, she respected. To protect them, even if only in name, her power came rushing to her and unlocked the blockage caused by her rapid power gain. On this battle we also get the concept of ante cards... for the first time.. discussed as if it is a common practice.
The duel came down to just her and the Cepter who spoke against her, but in the end Najaran got to her too and she refused to use her last card, which had been given to her by someone else to not just defeat Najaram but to kill her. She instead called out the one who had commissioned her to kill Najaran and both she and the one she was working with were taken away for questioning. Najaran, however, got to enjoy part of a victory feast before she was dragged off to speak to the Guild Master.
The Guild Master was a secret, some one only a select few had ever met. Najaran soon found out why. The Guild Master was a card, was the Isle they were on. Was the Lord of Water. But she refused to work for Baltheus (the spelling of this changed as well as the series went on) no matter what. The Lord of Water challenged Najaran, demanding to know what kind of world she would create if she had the Culdcept. Najaran admitted that she'd never thought about it, that there was too much of this world she'd never seen yet, how could she even think about what she'd want in a whole new one? This amused the Lord of Water who sent Najaran, Gooligan, and Horowitz to track down Zeneth and ensure that the Lord Of Fire attached to his body never fell into the hand of Black Cepters....