AEHU/Plot/Chapter 1

Event Geography[edit]

Wittel and an as-yet-unnamed friend finish fetching sacred spring water from a Choran mountain. While Wittel gazes toward Guardia, his friend notes that he can see smoke rising along the coastline -- another pirate attack, probably. Wittel expresses his belief that Guardia will fend them off again. There's a brief discussion of the induction ceremony they'll be undergoing back at Sensei's monastery, then they pick up their bucket of spring water and begin their descent.

Their path takes them near the Northern Ruins and Wittel insists on seeing the hero Cyrus' grave. "Again," his friend notes -- they just visited it on the way up. Wittel prevails.
- FW Note: We're really playing up Wittel's obsession with all things Guardia and all things heroic here.

While Wittel pays homage to Cyrus inside, candlelights might flicker violently and they may hear spooky echoes. Investigating their source, Wittel creeps into a typically-forbidden passageway against his friend's advice and falls below the building's ground floor and into some long-forgotten mausoleum. Things go from bad to worse when skeletons spring to life around him and go on the attack. He fends them off with whatever pole he and his friend used to carry the bucket of sacred spring water.

Wittel tries to find a way out and encounters malevolent ghosts that don't seem to be damaged by poking them with a stick. Artemis appears and vanquishes them, and then escorts Wittel through the cave after chiding him for his childish recklessness. Along the way, Artemis explains that the ghosts haunting these ruins had vanished years ago, then returned inexplicably. She reveals that certain wandering spirits attempt to forcibly take possession of humans, but doesn't know the underlying cause. Wittel notices a shiny object buried with one of the skeletons in the catacombs and snags it against Artemis' advice.

Wittel and Artemis find their way out of the catacombs and meet Wittel's friend, who ran and grabbed Sensei in the meantime. Sensei chides Wittel for his foolishness and pays Artemis for her spirit-vanquishing work; he had contracted her services for the express purpose of making the Northern Ruins safe again. Sensei also hands Artemis a note that made it to the monastery addressed to her. She notes that it looks like she'll be going "home" before her planned stop in Porre. Artemis leaves and Wittel heads back to Choras' main village with Sensei.

Wittel and friend learn some more about the pirate situation while in town. Guardian troops seem to be tied up elsewhere, leaving the town defenseless for the time being. The Lord Magistrate is running about trying to get panicking citizens to arm themselves.

Wittel & friend follow Sensei to the monastery and undergo a sacred induction ritual that will make them full members of the Way of Honor's clergy. Wittel's friend goes first and is asked to place his hands on a sacred mirror-like object said to house a saint's spirit. When it's Wittel's turn, the object he'd snatched from the catacombs earlier sparks and Schala's hologram appears in the mirror. Everyone flips, thinking attempting to induct the rambunctious Wittel has angered the Saint, and all except Wittel and Sensei split. They witness Schala's final apology to the world for her part in bringing Zeal to ruin, though the whoosh of rushing water obscures her words. She mentions four names - Grishe, Demeria, Derben and Jaya - in her confession, something to the effect that she's really let all of them down. Schala's image fades and Sensei tells him to keep his lips sealed, though he asks for the object Wittel took from the Northern Ruins for further examination.

Wittel spends some more time in town, confused by what he's just seen and thinking he's really in for it this time. While he meanders around he learns more about the pirate situation, including the fact that several coastal towns have been completely razed. The Lord Magistrate has by now gathered a troupe of able-bodied men and they head out poorly armed. Wittel probably meets Brione for the first time, though she barely notices him as she frets over the situation with servants or something.

Wittel heads back into the Monastery to apologize to Sensei about screwing up the induction ceremony. He finds Sensei in his study pacing in front of the holy relic and repeatedly whispering the name, "Grishe," as if he remembers it from somewhere. Sensei explains that it doesn't really seem to be a conscious spirit inside the relic, as he's watched the vision several times and her message is always identical. Rather, it must be a record of some sort, with the object snatched earlier by Wittel serving as a key to unlocking it. Given the extremely small probability of Wittel encountering the object in the Northern Ruins, he surmises that they were "meant" to see it for some reason.
- FW Note: The object Wittel picked up earlier may be a memory card or something. A compartment of the Ocean palace may have washed ashore ages ago in Choras, containing both the projection mirror and the memory card. Early Chorans tinkered with it, and when Schala appeared they thought a spirit inhabited the mirror. Furthermore, her image may have invoked memories of a blue-haired saint from legends dating back to Earthbound times.

Relieved that he's not in trouble, Wittel confesses that he wants to join the Lord Magistrate's militia. Sensei reminds him that raising a weapon against a living being will disqualify him from the clergy. Wittel expresses his understanding, sharing his starry-eyed desire to experience the essence of heroism. Sensei reflects on the time a Guardian citizen brought Wittel there from out of the blue sixteen years prior. Wittel never chose to enter the monastery in the first place and never fit into the monastic community especially well anyway, so Sensei gives Wittel his reluctant blessing to shape the course of his own life - though he advises our protagonist that even a soldier may live in accordance with the Way of Honor.

Wittel's decision to pick up a weapon in his country's defense ripples through the monastic community. When he's accused of being nuts, he might jump up on a table and deliver a short speech about the situation Choras faces and the need for men willing to be heroes. He might even make a few recruits.