The nine of us rode the boat quietly towards the famed city of Armoroad. I know what you're thinking- just who are we, and why are a bunch of ragtag explorers like us going to the prosperous town of Armoroad? The same reason all of the OTHER ragtag explorers are going there- to explore the treacherous Yggdrasil Labyrinth it is home to. I know what else you're thinking- we're suicidal, or are just plain retarded to waltz into such a dangerous place. No we are not, but it's best I explain all of our origins before I go into the details of our adventure...

First, we have Sparky, the leader of our group, and the Prince of the small, distant kingdom of Lumin. A kind and benevolent heir to the throne, but he has no objections to cracking a joke, or to use his authority to restore order when necessary.

Sparky's most loyal servant and friend, Boomerang, is well known for his mastery of the Ninja arts. He has been a bit of a jerk in the past, but he means well, and even he is aware of his... tendencies. Regardless, he is just as valued as the rest of us in our team, both as a friend and ally.

Purge is a young Monk girl who is skilled in martial arts, and dances as a hobby. She takes almost as much interest in the stars to be a Zodiac, but she prefers the agile ways of the Monks to hone her moves. She hopes to become as famed for her battle prowess as her stage skills. Some of us have a feeling she might even attempt to take over the stars if she had an opportunity... hah! What am I thinking? Even Zodiacs dare not venture THAT far!

And the mention of Zodiacs brings us to Ctype, one of them on our side. He has a hobby of writing fictional stories, whom he shares with us every now and then, and I admire his work.

Aqua is Ctype's brother, and a cherished one at that. A sea-voyaging Buccaneer, his rapier skill is not to be underestimated. He has only recently been introduced to the rest of us, but his personality quickly grew on us all.

Takashi is a hot-blooded Wildling man. He always finds some adventure that will interest some of us, and pull us all into it. His culture, which raises most of its warriors into Wildlings like him, is heavily influenced by a legend far too amazing to express in mere words. What was it called, again? Gurren-something? Ah well, you understand we all like him as a friend, as with everyone else, moving on!

Rasen is a well-practiced Arbalist, trained in wielding a heavy crossbow. He can be rather blunt at times, but that's just his way of communicating with us. He has the same intentions as the rest of us do- to have a good time, and become famous explorers.

Which leaves me, Cedi, and my sister, Ali. Given that I am referring to my own point of view, I might as well narrate the night we met all of the others...



I stood on the lush plateau, gazing at the stars above.
"Hey, Cedi!" Ali cried from a distance. "Mom wants us to check the crops tonight.
"Soon, Ali, soon..." I replied. I come from a family consisting entirely of Farmers, including my sister- except for myself. I would not stay satisfied in mere farmwork, and I pooled all the money I could into studying the ways of a Zodiac.
"You always wait until the last minute, Cedi..." She remarked. Though her words were true, how would YOU like to be called lazy? "And your star thingies are weird."
"You want me to show you weird?" I asked, channeling the powers of the stars into a small bolt of electricity, and taking aim at a distant oak...
"NO!" She stopped me. "Mom will see you using magic!"
"So, you really don't mind me following the ways of the Zodiac?" I stopped, the charge fading into the sky.
"Well, I don't..."
"... I understand. I apologize." I said. "This will be our little secret, okay?"
"Got it." Ali agreed, running towards the crops. I decided to stay behind a few minutes longer, reading my Zodiac texts. As I read that night, I was walking under the brilliant skies, when one false step forced my body over a stone.
"Ouch! What the..." I asked, only to see the perpetrator was no stone. I sprinted back home to grab a shovel, and dug as fast as my arms would allow me to. The result?

A large chest filled with roughly 1000 EN! I grinned at the possibilities. A new home, new texts, new clothing...

... an opportunity.

The following night, I fled to the outskirts of town, leaving a note to my parents in hopes they would understand. As I prepared to exit the country border, I was halted by a hand and heavy panting.
"Ali? What are you doing here?"
"I... can't..." She puffed, gasping for air. "Let... you... go..."
"And I can't let this opportunity get out of my hands." I explained. "With this small fortune, I can afford to travel and grow stronger! You know it is my dream to become an amazing Zodiac!"
"But Cedi-"
"I refuse to hear any more, Alexandra." I shut my eyes as I walked ahead, wondering if I made the right choice.

"... I'm coming with you." She followed, leaping behind me. "Farmer or not, I can't let anything bad happen to you. Mom told me so."
"You sure, Ali?" I asked. "I left a note explaining my absence, but not yours..."
"Ah, she worries too much anyway. Now let's make them proud..." She began.

And so, the two of us began our trek towards Lumin, where we requested a meeting with the king, only to be acquainted with his son Sparky instead. Still, meeting the Prince was a better opportunity than I had predicted, and I met all of the others listed above. Although Ali has not gotten along with the others as well as I have, there is no ill will between anyof us. Now, I will use my psychic prowess once again- what is the purpose of having two Zodiacs on the voyage to Armoroad, you are thinking? No two Zodiacs need to study the exact same constellations. Where I plan to mostly focus on increasing my offensive might alone, Ctype is working to eventually learn the Prophecies that allow him to create a countermeasure against monster spells. I have also heard rumors of 'sub-classing' explorers from Armoroad. If this is true, studying a second class when I learn such secrets sounds very appealing, moreso to me than it does to Ctype. Eventually, we heard news of the Yggdrasil Labyrinth in Armoroad. Remember where we were sailing before this flashback...?

... and there you have it, our 9-man band of explorers. There are even more in this circle than who I have mentioned, and they may join us later in our expeditions. As one may assume, this notebook WILL cover plenty of our adventures inside the labyrinth, but not all of them. Writing this much alone has spent plenty of time I could have used to explore the labyrinth, let alone the seas. As such, I have made a decision to update this infrequently. As of now, that will be no less often than once every two floors of the labyrinth, or once a week, I am unsure as of now. But to any who are reading these notes, I beg of you to be patien- wait, WHY are you reading my private notes in the first place!? ... Aha! I can publish these as a not-so-private record of my adventures! NOW I have reason to tell readers to be patient!

And so, the journey began. As we sailed into Armoroad's harbor, left the dock, and entered the one guild hall in the entire town, I remember those words very clearly...

"Now, tell me your guild's name. Choose it wisely, for it may one day become famous across the seven seas." The anonymous guildmaster spoke.
Sparky responded... "Lumine"

And so our legacy began.

This entry is written slightly sooner than I had planned, but there is no problem, is there?

A week ago, we made our first foray into the labyrinth, on a mission granted by Armoroad's Senatus. For reasons our guild cannot be told, we can only be supplied with enough provisions for a foray in order for five of us to explore the labyrinth. Sparky has chosen to venture into the maze himself, alongside Purge, Aqua, Ali, and myself. Each of us was assigned a number of roles to help upkeep the guild. I was assigned with two tasks in particular- mapping the labyrinth for future ease in exploration, and to determine how to spend our excess funds for exploration. As far as using Lumine's money, please bear in mind I admit to any guilt of biased spending, but I try to bear the interest of everyone in mind.

Our objective for our first trek was to map the entire labyrinth's first floor, a lush and beautiful forest. Thankfully, only the weakest of monsters inhabited this stratum, such as Winged Fishes. Really, what are fish doing out of the sea? I don't care if they are monsters! Ahem, as I was saying, a kind guard was able to instruct me in mapmaking, but he could not let us past him until we finished mapping the area- our objective was to map the OTHER half of the floor. We had some close calls, but Purge's qi and Sparky's spirit kept us alive... even though we needed to rest at Armoroad's inn before continuing. Still, no harm in playing it safe, is there? We did get aproval of our map from the guard eventually, and we were rewarded for our efforts by the Senatus. I must say, having Ali with us certainly makes training for battle much easier. Rasen told me he expected things to be much more 'grindy', but Farmers are less useless than you would think. Then again, this is only the beggining of our adventure...

Over the rest of the week, we trained everyone to roughly three to four 'levels' so to speak, and mapped the remainder of the floor. After a few days, I heard news of an old friend of mine arriving in harbor that day- a Buccaneer, Ray. Ray is a very good friend of mine who I often met with back at home. In other words, he is from a second, earlier-in-my-life circle of friends seperate from those who hail from Lumin. We would often play roles for the sake of fun, along other friends in that other circle who may come to Armoroad as well. I began with nothing but respect for his ideas, but somehow that became mutual as friendship, for reasons I cannot imagine. Ray, unlike Aqua, is a Buccaneer with skill in markmanship rather than swordplay. Put as simply as possible, he has a gun and he ain't afraid to use it to blow crap up*.

Footnote*- Hey, even journalists need a sense of humor! Even though that was probably a horrible attempt at such.

We had also tried to set sail onto the seas some time after mapping the first floor, or what part we had to at least. Although our voyage was short, we did work towards mapping out a new sea chart, thus progressing towards undoing the knowledge lost from the Calamity 100 years ago. Oh, I forgot to mention that, didn't I? I am not too keen on the details, but I know that Armoroad used to be MUCH more prosperous and advanced in technology than it is now. But for some reason, the lower half of the city was flooded, thus the advancements made were lost to the salty waters, not to mention records of the sea made useless by new terrain. One week into the month of Emperor, we had maped almost the entirety of the first floor, and have found many useful treasures to aid us on our forays and voyages. We even found a passage into the second underground floor of the labyrinth. As I stared into the abyssmal stairs, I could swear I heard a chant of fear... of a terrifying creature that must be avoided at all costs... perhaps I only have paranoia, but I have a strong feeling somewhere down there lies one of the most feared monsters in the world...

**

... an FOE. I have yet to even see the second floor, but I am prepared for whatever may lie beneath... all except fighting monsters as horrible as FOEs.

**- Yeah, I know, I'm posting the FOE video without even seeing any of them yet, but I felt it would fit best at the end of an update. Plus, it's awesome. SO AWESOME, I SHOULDN'T USE IT WHILE DESCRIBING ANY ENCOUNTERS THAT MAKE YOU GO 'OH CRAP AN FOE'.

In retrospect, I've realized this is VERY likely to be more of a blog with very few creative story elements, such as the origins of the party explained above. I'm going to request a move for this thread ro Other Video Games now.

Thanks, Sparky.

For a brief moment, I began to wonder if this would even be worth continuing to write, but I have decided to continue to chronicle the guild's adventures in the labyrinth. Another day had dawned in Armoroad. Sparky had announced preparations for the expedition to the second floor, and had prepared a party for exploration- Boomerang, Purge, Ray, himself, and myself. We made plans to bring Ali along for the sake of training and making some funds after we mapped out a good bit of the second floor. However, that was not this time. I remember the next few days very clearly…

We were walking through some small marshlands, when we heard a voice from behind us. We turned our heads to see the voice came from a blonde haired man with exotic, red clothing.
"Excuse me..." The man began. "But who are you?"
"We are novice explorers." I replied. We could have claimed to be much more experienced, but I wouldn't dare tell such a lie. The man, pleased in our honesty, smiled.
"We're exploring this floor of the labyrinth in hopes of making new discoveries." Ray added.
"Ah, I see..." The man responded. "Considering you five are novices, I should probably warn you..." He pointed to our sides. "... of that beast over there." We were too distant to make out any distinct features, but the monster gave off an errie, orange aura. The five of us stood slient in shock, for a moment.
"I've heard of those..." I began. "Is that an... FOE?"

Cue even more silence.

"Yes..." the man answered. "Most of the adventuers who come here from the first floor in triumph... usually die by that beast's hands." He explained. "There wouldn't be any problems if people were smart enough to stay away from fights they can't win..."
"We understand." Sparky promised. "We will take every caution to avoid this, and any others of its class."
"I appreciate knowing there is a group of explorers who knows their limits. May we meet again..." The man said, walking away.
"... just who was that?" Purge asked.

After using clever movements to circumvent the FOE, we came across a dead-end a few steps after, but I saw something shining in the bushes. Curious, I began to reach out to it...
"Wait," Boomerang stopped me. "Look over here..." He pulled me into his point of view, where I could make out a monster's slimy back!
"I almost touched that!?"
"Yes, Captain Obvious..." Boomerang snarked. "They seem to have intended to get the upper hand on us..." He says, as the monsters turn around. "... big mistake on their part." He added, drawing a dagger. And he was right- Boomerang's ninja skills had given us the advantage instead!

We stood against one large, spotted frog, and two of its forest kin. As the others struck directly with their arms, I looked to Ray,who grinned at me as if to say 'Let's do this'. "Binary Thunder!" I chanted, striking the amphibians with bolts from the heavens. Ray quickly followed my volts with a special technique, designed to follow such an element. Only a few strikes later, victory was claimed, and Purge and Sparky healed our few wounds.

As mentioned, a few other days passed as we trained the others in the guild, too more requests, et cetera. One day, while out on the second floor again with Ali along, we were using her talent to pick some plants to cover our expenses, when...
"Hm? What's this?" I asked, reaching out for a peculiar flower. Ali immediately rushed aside me, examining the plant.
"You don't know!? This is a Hibiscus!" She exclaimed. "A valuable flower in medicine! We can sell it for a large sum, not to mention buy the medicine made available to us for doing so!"
"You don't say?" Takashi asked, his spear planted in the ground. "We oughta get back to town before another one of those huge birds pecks us out. What were they called again? Largebeaks or something?"
"Yeah..." Purge started. "It's strange. I feel almost as if I have died from those birds many times before, only to have time reset with a button."
"... that's an odd feeling." Ali added.
"Well, I better get out the Ariadne Thread..." I began, reaching into our bags.
"No need for that," Ali began. "Those things are so expensive, so I took the liberty of learning something special..." She began, holding her hatchet into the air. "TO MARKET!"

Suddenly, the five of us in the party were once again in Armoroad.
"... HOW THE CRAP do you DO that!?" An amazed Boomerang asked.
"The same way those threads do it, I guess." Ali shrugged. "Let's rest, I'm tired after-"
"WAIT." Takashi stopped. "Remember that request we got back at the pub?"
"The one for Gigapede legs?" Purge asked.
"Yeah, those guys only come out at night. Plus, those effing birds keep on nearly pecking our eyes out. It was a miracle we survived to ONE of them! They sleep at night, according to someone at the pub."
"Alright, then," Boomerang intervened. "I will talk to Sparky about this. If he agrees, we will go by night for the next several forays."

And so we did. Without the Largebeaks or whatever they were called in our way, forays were made MUCH easier, and we advanced farther into the labyrinth. One night, the party encountered a young girl, wearing a blue cloak and a pin on her head- I cannot be sure, but said pin reminds me of a demon from an old fairy tale I heard. I believe it resembelled a 'Pyro Jack'. Despite our weariness, the girl was quite calm.
"Hello, travellers," She began. "My name is Olympia. You're exploring the labyrinth, correct?"
"No," Ray began. "We're going on a picnic and singing songs about friendship and rainbows." he said sarcastically, covering a bite wound from Winged Fish (Which I still question the validity of)
"All sarcasm aside, why do you ask?" I asked. Olympia pointed to the south.
"There's a campground over there that is safe from monsters. If you have a tent, you may rest there. It's not as useful as the inn, but for your experience it should be plenty..." She explained as she reached out into a bag. "Here, take one of mine!" She said, tossing Rasen a tent.
"You know, we already have to carry 3 of these..." He admitted.
"I insist you take it!" Olympia said. "If you want to ask me any questions, I will be by the campsite." With that, she headed towards said campsite, behind a set of stone doors.
"Come on," Sparky urged. "I think we should check it out."
"Oh, why not?" I agreed, moving south. Sure enough, the location gave off a strong sense of security, specifically a marked corner. Before we rested, we decided to talk with Olympia, who was resting by a tree.
"Excuse me," Ray began. "I have to wonder why you are going through all this trouble to aid us explorers, for nothing in return."
"Oh, I have my reasons..." She replied. "If you become stronger, I will tell you."
"Great. She's telling us to GRIND some more so we can MOVE THROUGH this effing labyrinth." Rasen complained.
"I still don't know where you got that term." I admitted.
"Guys, let's not argue." Ray stopped. "We have Gigapedes to hunt, and legs to deliver."

And so we did exactly that. Minus the leg delivering. No matter HOW MANY times we hunted them, not a SINGLE leg would come of. NOT ONE SINGLE LEG. To quote a foray that occured, or so my guildmates told me (As I was absent from the party at that time)...

"DROP A LEG, DANG IT." Ctype shouted in frustration, freezing a Gigapede solid. "I swear, no matter HOW MANY we kill, not a single leg drops. NOT. ONE."
"Calm down, brother!" Aqua said. "We must not be doing it right. We know certain monsters drop certain items when killed certain ways..."
"But what way?" Purge asked. "Cedi uses lightning all the time, so we know from the ones he killed don't drop them from volt attacks. And I haven't been keeping track of how many Ctype has gotten, but I saw him use fire and ice..."
"Well, I probably need to use fire or ice as the finishing blow."
"... which will not be that easy, given you don't have the gear Cedi has." Rasen argued. I admit to that being my own fault.
"And what if it's NOT elemental at all!? What the crap do we have to do, HUG it to death!?" An annoyed Boomerang asks.

Meanwhile, I was strolling and taking a break in Armoroad, when I recieved a letter from the kingdom of Lumin. "Huh?" I asked, opening the seal.
GUYS
WHY DIDN'T YOU INVITE ME TO ARMOROAD FROM THE START. YOU KNOW YOU NEED A HOPLITE, AND YOU KNOW YOU HOW MUCH I WANTED TO GO EXPLORE THE LABYRINTH. I'm coming this week.
-Ground
"..."I Stood in silence as I smacked my forehead. "HOW COULD I HAVE FORGOTTEN GROUND!?" I admitted. Ground is, spoiler alert, a Hoplie, one who would probably have been much more useful to invite from the start. Still, better late then never, I suppose. Ground and I had a... rough relation early on when I met the others, but we quickly got over it. I am certain he will be a great asset to the guild- we NEED a Hoplite, after all. I am expecting him to arrive the day after this update has been finished. He'll need some help training to keep up, but I can afford to spare him some funded equipment to compensate for his late arrival...

Speaking of adventures I was not involved in, let me share this lovely little tale...
"MOVE, DAMMIT." Boomerang urged, an FOE closing in behind them.
"I can't! This mud is too deep!" Ali shouted, pulling her legs through. The five of them barely escaped the FOE's path, allowing for some rest.
"I... swear..." Rasen said, panting. "This marshland is TOO DEEP. Why can't the FOEs slow down in it like we have to?"
"Because Mother Nature is a cheating-"
"Guys...?" Ali interrupeted Takashi's rant, standing before a large flower.
"GREAT. Now we have to fight a Large Bud or whatever these are." Rasen complained.
"This is BAD. The others DIED fighting one of these things. The doctos nursed them back to health, but still..."
"Don't be so unconfident, Ali..." Ctype assured. "Fire and ice are much more effective opn plants than volt is."
"You sure, Mr. Ctype?" Ali asked.
"Alright, a deal, then. If I can't burn this plant to a crisp in two Fire Stars, we run from these guys until they become pushovers. Deal?" Ctype suggested, the monsters waiting patiently (For whatver reason).
"... alright, let's try that." She agreed.
"FIRE STAR!" Ctype shouted, calling down flames upon the Large Bud(?). Fittingly enough, with everyone else focused on it as well, the monster's petals faded away without too much difficulty.
"I think we should take you along for this floor more often, Ctype..." Boomerang suggested.

Isn't it ironic that Ali is the weakest of us, yet she has the most experience? She is so experienced, we must keep her on standby so that her rising experience doesn't cost us too much at Armoroad's inn, as I recently figured out. We must rely a bit less on Earth's Bounty to train us. As we woke the following evening, we saw a familiar face calling out to us from the docks...

-Cedi
The month of Emperor, date unsure.

*Scribbled onto end of page* GAH, I forgot one important detail of an event during our forays, between the one with the Titan Arum (Which is what we meant by Large Buds- I confirmed this via the Senatus' codex, my apologies to everyone) and the one regarding Gigapede leg hunting. While we were exploring we came acrosss an astrologer named Hypatia. Hypatia asked if we had seen a ninja named Agata (I think that was the name she mentioned), but we have yet to see any such ninja. She said she was in a guild, and Agata is one of her guildmates, who had hastily run further into the labyrinth. We agreed to try and find Agata for Hypatia, who was thankful, and said she would be waiting back at the inn at Armoroad. We still have not seen Agata, but we continue to search all corners of the labyrinth. I only pray we can do so without confronting FOEs, as the passages are growing muddy and narrow...

What is this game, exactly? A roguelike?

:0

I only read the first post so far, but I like! I need to get Etrian Odyssesy also, but I didn't buy it all those years ago at lauch, because BiasInformer gave it a bad reveiw.

... Roguelikes ARE dungeon crawlers ._.

Also, no Japanese Superheroes for me.

Really? I didn't think that. I thought rougelikes were Mystery Dungeon-esque games. Ah well, thanks for correcting me on that.

EDIT- Hey, wait a minute. Is MD-esque what YOU mean by dungeon crawler? Because this game is not MD-esque at all.

Quick Google says it's "roguelike-esque" but not actually one.

Roguelikes:

>Have character permadeath
>Randomly generate areas (Always dungeons, overworld usually isn't)
>Focuses on adventure over story.
>Generally tough in difficulty.
>Items need to be identified before you can tell what they do (less common in modern roguelikes)
>Bosses are usually anticlimactic (Very few blows are dealt)

Damn, permadeaths are funny if I'm a character...

Whenever 'I' die in a game like that, I always say something funny, like "Black mage, I always hated you the most..." and my younger brother says something when 'he' dies like "If I had eyes to see right now... it would be beautiful..." then he hums a tune, ending it with him saying quietly "Fail".

I should probably include a small update, after so many other posts.

This may not be much, but I have more tales to share of our forays into the labyrinth. I have also realized I am ignoring the schedule I originally planned. Very much so. As I was saying, I will start with one short anecdote on what we did after Ground arrived in Armoroad, as promised...

"DIE ALREADY, GIGAPEDES," Ground cried out, slashing the monster he called out in the leg.
"You know, I'm starting to think Hoplites are less useful than I thought..." I admitted, charging thunder.
"So I can't raise everyone's defense like those warriors of old from some other class!" Ground argued. "At least I can defend a row more easily than Sparky's Guard Order! Plus, you NEED more front liners."
"He's right, you know..." Ctype added. "Most of us are best suited for back row combat. We sometimes have to even put Sparky at the front line, where he's in more danger and less suited to his needs to stay at top condition for our own life's sakes..."
"... I apologize, Ground." I added. "BINARY THUNDER!" Cue the lightning bolts falling from the stars, finishing off the remaining monsters.
"That's the last of them, right...?" Purge asked.
"I think so..." Takashi responded. "We just need to-" Pause.
"Huh?" Ground asked. "What's wro-" Pause.
"Nothing..." Takashi said after enough of a pause. He reached down, and slowly pulled up...

... a Gigapede Leg.
"Huzzah!" Everyone shouted in triumph. It only took, what, 20 Gigapedes to find ONE leg!?
"I think this fell from the one Ground killed with his sword," I theorized.
"So, it was SLASH damage this whole time." Ctype said. "Figures. Almost half of us or so use slashing weapons, and none of that half actually FINISHES one of these with a slash until NOW."
"Let's just take it back." Purge stopped. "We have what we need, we want our reward."
"I wonder what a Pedant's Book is...?" I asked.

"... THIS is... the crap... we risked... ouur... liiiives... fooooooooor?" I yawned, skimming the pages of the Pedant's Book for anything of actual value/entertainment as the entire guild was lulled to sleep by sheer boredom.

SERIOUSLY. The only thing the reward was good for is for putting monsters to sleep. In CANON, this is because IT'S THAT BORING. I lol'd when I read the in game description. I might use it, if it had more than one attack and gave any TEC at all. Plus, how do I know if it'll put enemies to sleep often ENOUGH? I'll keep it, though, in case I really DO need it...

Later, we set sail on Lumine's ship, the Hall (I forgot to mention, Sparky came up with that name. Lumine's Hall... I like the sound of that, personally!) by Armoroad again. Through our voyages, we discovered that the sea provides us with MANY ways to quickly restore our funds, even at the cost of 20 EN a voyage for only 8 'turns' as my guildmates call the units of time for using the ship. Not all voyages were successful, however...

"Are we there yet?" Ray asked, hanging onto the ship's mast.
"Not yet..." Aqua responded, llooking through a telescope. "The lighthouse is to the west. If we can defeat the monster claiming it as its nest, as the captain explained was true, we will make great progress!"
"WHAT." Ground stood shocked. "ARE YOU EFFING INSANE. That bird will DESTROY our ship if we approach from up front and these Dried Peas can't last us long enough to go behind the tower!"
"How do you know?" Ray asked.
"BECAUSE I HAVE THIS GAME." He answered.
"Sometimes, that Ground guy scares me..." Ali whispered to Aqua. "He keeps talking about how this is all just some game..."
"Come on, guys! What's the worst that bird can do?" Rasen asked.

A few seconds later, the guild was floating on planks of wood in the middle of the ocean, a gigantic bird's shadow soaring overhead, squaking as if to mock them.
"Way to tempt fate, Rasen..." Ground mocked.
"Hey, at least we can get right back to harbor with no penalty other than the time we could have spent by being, you know, CAREFUL." Rasen lampshaded. "We won't even need to pay for repairs!"
"HOW DOES THAT WORK?" Ray asked loudly in frustration. "Heck, how do we even get back to shore if we run out of provisions like how most voyages end!?"
"Magic." Rasen explained. "Just like everything else with no real explanation."
"Well, regardless, I think we're running out of sea to explore," Aqua mentioned. "Unless we missed some villager willing to share more food, it might be best to explore the labyrinth until we find more provisions." Everyone nodded in agreement.



"WHY did I agree to that!?" Ray asked as he, Takashi, Ground, Sparky, and Rasen waded through mud, an FOE closing on them fast.
"Because none of us knew there would be THIS much mud here!" Rasen answered, stretching out. "Are we SURE nobody can become skilled in ignoring this mud!? You think that would be a basic exploring skill, or at least an advanced one!" Before anyone could answer, the orange aura envoloped them.
"OH SH-"

Enter Greedy Turtle, or something to that effect (Again, recall that I am paraphrasing the monster names the best I can recall)
"So, this is an FOE..." Sparky said, trembling. "... we have no choice. Men, attack!" With that, the entire party released an all-out assault on the beast... and barely scratched it. The overgrown turtoise responded by crushing Ray, nearly killing him in a single strike.
"OH CRAP!" Ground said. "RUN, DAMMIT"
"Run!?" Takashi questioned. "Are you saying you don't believe in yourself?"
"Well, if you mean I don't believe in my ability to kill an EFFING OVERPOWERED ENEMY, then yeah."
"Don't believe in yourself," Takashi continued. "Believe in me, who believes in you!" He continued to thrust his spear towards the sky. "YOURS IS A DRILL THAT WILL PIERCE THE HEAVENS!" And pointed it at the turtle. "WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK WE ARE!?"
The FOE stared in silence, as if to say 'wHaT wE?'. Takshi turned around, and started to sweat.
"Get over here!" Ray called out. Takashi, rubbing his head, sprinted just out of the FOE's reach...

... the guild barely escaped with their lives, leaving the FOE's orange aura behind them.
"I still can't believe that worked." Sparky said. Everyone nodded in agreement.
"I think we HAD to fight it and run if we hoped to get THIS far..." Ground theorized.
"Well, according to this map Cedi started..." Rasen pulled out a map as the FOE resumed its daily life, no longer persuing the guild. "... a shortcut back to Armoroad is very likely to be nearby. Which means if we use that same shortcut just once from here, we can use it both ways and NEVER fight that thing again."
"Until we become so ridicuously overpowered that we can screw those 2nd floor FOEs forever," Ground added.
"Which is not now, so that will be VERY useful." Sparky finished. "It's a good thing there will not be any more diver-"

MUSHROOMS. BROWN, GOOD SMELLING MUSHROOMS WERE EVERYWHERE.
"Wow, there are a lot of these..." Ray noted.
"You know, guys, I'm feeling hungry..." Takashi started, reaching out for a mushroom...
"STOP." Sparky ordered, pulling Rasen back. "These mushrooms are far too abundant for the many other adventuers to ignore. Isn't that a little... suspicious to you? It's like when a story uses the same element multiple times, as if trying to make the hero fall into a trap by eventually giving into that element,"
"I can't think of any examples that fit that..." Ground mentioned. "... but Sparky's right, this is like I Wanna Be the Guy giving you a 'safe' hallway..."
"There he goes again, talking about his 'games of the future'..." Takashi said. "And you have no proof these mushrooms are bad!"
"We have a testimony from one of the pub's customers!" Rasen argued. "And a wise one, at that! We were warned about this exact patcfh, remember!?"
"And we were advised to take these, too!" Takashi opposed.
"Both of you, stop fighting!" Sparky demanded. The two hushed instantly. "We almost have an opportunity to use an Ardiane Thread (This spelling is also prone to be incorrect), so let's find that shortcut, then come back later."
"Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you." Rasen agreed. "It's not like some entity who is controlling us can reset time from a save point with a button." Everyone then glared at you (Yes, YOU), as if to question that statement.
"Well, we're almost out of the woods..." Rasen mentioned. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"STOP TEMPTING FATE," Ground shouted, kneeling to the ground. The group was weakened near death, and nobody had much fighting energy left.
"Everyone, run!" Sparky commanded.
"Running again!?" Takashi objected, standing up.
"It's that, or we all die here!" Ray yelling, reaching out for the bushes. Two Gigapedes followed suit, clawing at the gang. "Just... a little... more..." He declared, his sight growing blurry from exhaustion. Everything blacked out...

"... et up!" I shouted. Ray slowly returned to his senses, awaking. He coughed some blood, but doctors gave him a quick medicine.
"... huh?" Ray asked, taking the treatment. "I thought I was dead."
"We got out in the last minute..." Takashi's voice called out from an adjacent bed. "We barely had the time to make that shortcut, but it's done."
"Thanks to you, exploring next time will go much more smoothly!" Ali rejoiced. "This calls for a celebration!"
"That's nice, guys..." A tired Sparky thanked. "... but can it wait for when we're all one hundred percent alive?" Everyone burst into laughter.

The folliwing day, we had a brief celebration, in honor of all the progress we have made thus far. Of course, it was only brief, because we didn't make nearly enough progress for a true party. We will not rest until the entire labyrinth has been uncovered...

-Cedi
The month of Emperor, 24

Once again, we forayed into the labyrinth. As we made our way through the second floor, we finally gave in and ate the brown mushrooms. To our surprise, they were quite nourishing, and even restored our energy! Still, that astrologer must have had a reason to warn us. Boomerang recalled sensing a strange presence in a patch of the mushrooms blocked off from the rest, so perhaps the warning was of monsters if we took our time in that specific patch. We had no time to confirm it, we just wanted to finally get to the 3rd floor.

So we did.

"So, this is the third basement floor..." Ali noted, wandering the riverbed.
"Who'd have thought there would be a river flowing through the labyrinth?" Purge asked.
"Seriously?" Ctype said. "We saw a waterfall on the last TWO floors, so that has to go somewhere."
"Oh yeah." Purge recalled.
"Well, let's take a rest..." Ground said, lying down. "Absolutely nothing can ruin this moment."
"Nope..." Everyone said in unison. "Nothing at all..."





... what? NOTHING spoiled the moment after all.

"... alright, let's keep going." Takashi advised after a few minutes of rest, leading the others ahead... for five steps, until a large claw crushed the ground before him!
"What!?" Purge said. "Why do these monsters always attack when we walk!?"
"Because that's JRPG law of random encounters..." Ground said, brandishing his sword.
"From now on, I'll just pretend you never said any of that weird stuff in the first place." Ali said, taking out her hatchet and hiding.
"Wait, Ground!" Ctype warned. "That's a Scylla Crab! They are dangerous for their-"
The Scylla Crab retreated to its shell, causing Ground's sword to bounce off!
"... hard defenses..."
"Well, there goes a turn I could have spent defending from the Claw Shrimps..." He says as he futilely dodges the shrimp's counters.
"Let me handle this..." Ctype chanted. "Fire Star!" A fireball burned the Scylla Crab, weakening it for the others and removing the largest foe, leaving the shrimps as barely a threat.
"Well, at least we have more discoveries for the Senatus..." Purge concluded.

Everyone continued to explore the third floor, until they came to an oddly spacious room... with a red FOE in the middle!
"Wh-what's that...?" A frightened Ali asked.
"An aggressive FOE..." Ctype explained. "These monsters are much more territorial than other FOEs, and their strength gives one a good reason to flee..." Everyone gulped. "Fortunately, avoiding one is not TOO difficult. Plus, we have to go past it eventually..."
"Then we'll go past it now!" Takashi charged forth.
"Wait! Takashi!" Purge stopped, pursuing the Wildling. Everyone else followed Takashi through a door in the southeast corner of the room.

"We'll be safe here..." Takashi said, walking over to the corner of the room. The tall structure seen throughout the labyrinth was present on this floor, too.
"Hm?" Ali began. "Is that..."
"Don't ask me." Purge said.
"Not that, over there!" She pointed to a rock. "Some valuable minerals could be in there!" She grabbed a pickaxe, and began to mine. "Come on, guys!"
"Where do you GET that pickaxe, anyway...?" Takashi asked.
"Magic." Ground answered. Everyone dug away, finding valuable minerals, especially...
"We hi the jackpot!" Ali exclaimed, reaching out for a shining, green crystal.
"... and what is THAT?" Ctype asked.
"Beats me," Ali answered. "I know what it is, but it's name is WAY too long. And I know this is worth as much as a Hibiscus on the market! TO MAR-"
"WAIT." Ground interrupted. "We need to map the labyrinth some more!"
"Alright, Ground." Ali gave in. "We'll explore more, THEN go back to town."
And so, Lumine's party explored a few more corridors past the FOE's territory before returning To Market, where nobody STILL knew how Ali did it. Except magic, as Ground suggested.



"Come on, Ali..." I urged my sister at the pub.
"I've never done this before!" She reminded me.
"But you're our only farmer, and we need the Medica II which is the reward!" Sparky added.
"I don't know THAT much about crops!" She argued. "And a conference, even if it is to invent to veggies for Armoroad, makes me nervous..."
"Oh, really?" Rasen said. "Why not imagine everyone naked?"
"That's stage fright." I reminded.
"Just go out there!" Sparky urged. "I promise, I'll get you out if you need to."
"Alright..." Ali gave in, walking up to Missy, the barkeep. "Take me there."
"That's the spirit!" Missy cheered on. "Right this way..."

"So?" I asked once my sister returned. "Did it go well?"
"You said the reward was a Medica II, right...?" Ali asked.
"... yeah?" Rasen answered. "Why do you ask? You didn't get a normal one, did you?"
"No..." She held out her hand, revealing not one, but THREE Medica IIs (Medicas II? Whatever, plurals with numerals are weird)!
"Wow!" Sparky admitted. "You must have done well if you got more than the promised reward!"
"Aw, thanks..." Ali said. "I even feel as if attending that conference somehow made me stronger for battle! Like we all gained experience or something!"
"How does that work?" I asked. "I understand getting stronger from fighting monsters for a quest, but for attending a conference...?"

"Magic!" Ground yelled from the guild hall.



The party, about a week or so later, found themselves in the pub again.
"Why are we here again?" I asked.
"Because we are looking for missing members of the Pale Horse guild, as per a request we got earlier," Purge reminded. "And a guard on BF2 told us that a member of one of Pale Horse's friendly rivaling guilds was here, and might have more information..."
"You say something about Pale Horse and my guild as well?" A man drinking ale asked.
"Yes," Ray answered. "I take it you're a member of that other guild?"
"That's me," the man confirmed. "What did you say about Pale Horse?"
"A party from that guild got lost in the labyrinth, and we were hoping you would know where they might be-"
"Hahahahaha!" The man interrupted Ray. "Pale Horse? Lost? That's a good one. Why on earth would Pale Horse ever get-"
"Here," Ray shoved the posting in the man's face.
"... oh," the man apologized. "They really DID get lost. This is a big surprise, given how cautious Pale Horse is. It's ridiculous, they never get anything done trying to be so careful. Their motto is 'He who controls the campgrounds controls the labyrinth'..."
"So, we just have to check the campground?"
"I dare you to find a better suggestion," The man agreed. "And good luck bringing them back, maybe they'll learn to be more progressive..."

"Hey, Olympia?" I asked by the second floor's campground. Sure enough, Olympia was there.
"Yes?" She said.
"Have you seen any members from Pale Horse around here?" Ray asked. "We are looking for them as part of a quest, not to mention for their safety in general..."
"As a matter of fact, I have," Olympia replied. "They say they should be ready to go to the 3rd floor, and probably all the way down to the 7th,"
"We should probably check by the campground on BF3," Purge advised. Everyone nodded in agreement, and said farewell to the mysterious girl as they left for the next floor down.

"... this wasn't here before..." Boomerang noted on the third floor.
"Do you mean the smell of blood, or the pack of monsters tearing at that backpack over there?" Ray asked sarcastically. The monsters having sensed the guild, everyone drew their weapons, and prepared to fight! Within a few blows shared, and many wounds received, the battle ended in favor of Lumine.
"This mark..." I noted the blue horse on the bag. "It belongs to Pale Horse!"
"Why do we know that symbol, anyway?" Takashi asked. A faint cry in Ground's voice murmured 'magic' as the conversation continued.
"We have to hurry to the campgrounds!" I declared, rushing ahead. Except, even after circumventing the aggressive FOE...

"... no..."
Pools of blood coated the campgrounds, and no sign of Pale Horse's party remained. I was barely able to look at the horrid scene as we scanned for clues, but nothing pointed to a sign that Pale Horse's members survived.
"... why..." I collapsed to the ground, tears flowing from my eyes. "Why must these things happen!?"
"I'm sorry we were too late, Cedi..." Ray said. "... but there was nothing we could do. All we can do is report back to the pub-"
"Screw the reward!" I shoved my friend back, pounding the ground. "What have they done to deserve this?! I swear, sometimes..." I paused, trying to find the words to describe my emotions. "... I'm sorry..." I gave up, apologizing for my outrage. "We should head back..." I agreed, reaching into the bag for a thread as the others tried to comprehend my outburst...

... but sometimes, some of us react strongly to a situation that horrifies us, whether we should or not. That is my justification, and you may decide whether or not you agree.



We dragged our heads into the pub, trying to decide how to explain the findings to Missy.
"Oh, there ya' are!" She greeted us. "The Pale Horse members came here just a moment ago!"
(WHAT!?) I thought, my guildmates sharing my shocked expression.
"They said there was a fight with some monsters at their campground, but they took care of them..."
"But... but the blood..." I stuttered, trying to comprehend to contradictions.
"Monsters bleed too, you know," Missy explained, tossing us the promised Poison Hammer. All of us fell over in either relief or shock...



"Nothing like a sea voyage to clear the head..." I noted as we sailed to the west, towards the lighthouse.
"You know, I swear we sold off that Armoroad Cedar..." Sparky began. "... so I was shocked to see we had some left to give to that old man up north,"
"Mmm, cheese..." Rasen hummed, biting his meal. "This stuff may be expensive, but it takes us MUCH farther than those dried peas!"
"Hey, guys..." Ali asked. "If we can go so much farther, why not use this food to reach the lighthouse?"
"... that's our goal this voyage, Redundancy Woman," Ground said, giving Ali a fearful expression.
"WHAT!? I can't fight that thing!"
"Relax, we'll head back as soon as we confirm the route!" Sparky assured, reaching the lighthouse. "Well, here we are! Now to report to that captain!"

So we were rewarded handsomely for making a successful path to the lighthouse. We were also told that other guilds will be lining up in an attempt to take on the bird atop the lighthouse, and the reward for that will be great as well. If I knew any other guilds personally, I would gladly partner with them, but sadly I was forced to accompany random guilds in waiting. At the very least, I had the opportunity to meet Princess Victoria and her servants, Benjamin and Albert, and we teamed up to defeat the great monster atop the lighthouse...

And the hunt for the Meregho Saeno began. In addition to the three allies mentioned above, Sparky and myself had volunteered to fight the monstrous bird alongside the princess.
"So..." Victoria began as we sailed towards the lighthouse. "Why did you bring a second royalty along with us? Not to offend you, Sparky, but we could use more firepower when I already cover the morale..."
"I was worried the beast would be so strong," he began, "That one of royal blood could not heal all of our wounds, even with your defensive orders. But with both of us, I feel the task is much more within reach."
"I see..." Benjamin noted. "When healing doesn't work, use more healing."
"Isn't that the qoute of a certain gunman?" I asked. "I cannot recall his profession, but I'm certain he was garbed in red often..."
"We can chat later..." Albert stopped us. "The lighthouse draws near."

The five of us climbed the tower, readying our weapons for the inevitable fight. When we eventually scaled the lighthouse, we stood before a massive, feathered fiend whose wings shone with thunder!
"... maybe a volt Zodiac wasn't the best choice for this fight..." I regretted.
"No time to reflect on preparations!" Victoria called out. "Everyone, attack!"
And the bloody battle had begun. Alongside Victoria's offensive orders and Sparky's defensive rallies, the front line held out as I summoned bolts from the back. However, the Meregho Saeno was quite resistant to my magic, and proved its element as it pelted us with its own lightning. Benjamin stood up, his stance weakening.
"I... will... not... surrender..." He groaned, striking the beast again. "... I will fight... until I die... in the name of the princess!"

And die he did, courtesy of a massive beak drilled into him.
"Benjamin!" Victoria mourned. "You monster! I will not allow this!" She struck the beast herself, but soon met a similar fate.
"Princess!" Albert cried out, bashing the Meregho Saeno. With two fighters down, and myself out of TP, the battle quickly turned it the foe's favor...

... until Albert landed the killing blow, sending the beast crashing down to the ocean below.

We raised our weapons in triumph, and quickly darted back to Armoroad to treat Victoria and Benjamin. For some reason, as long as she truly contributed to the fight, she has proven her worth and may advance towards her ultimate goal of inheriting the northern kingdom, so she was relieved. Sparky and I gained much experience for the fight- perhaps if another Meregho Saeno were to take its place, we have found a golden opportunity for training our many members? Two other small groups still wish to fight it for their own purposes, after all, and help them we may. I only hope the experience future bouts with the Meregho Saeno is as bountiful with this one.

As if on cue, I soon afterwards recieved letters from two of my dear friends- Luke and Chap. Luke is the only person I know (Unless you count myself) who is involved in both circles of friends in this guild. In fact, it was his guidance that led me to travel to Lumin, out of all destinations when first leaving home, in the first place. He has been training in a certain profession, but refuses to tell me. I am not even sure if he WILL join us, given our already large guild, or WHAT he will contribute, but if he does join I will answer the latter. As for Chap, that is simply a nickname due to how chummy he is in my group of friends out of Lumin. Like Luke, he is training and is keeping his role a secret, and may or may not join us after all. I will share more on either person if they do join Lumine's forays and voyages.

So yeah, I may add two more characters and train them on Meregho Saeno, but I can't decide on their classes. Luke, AKA PKookie, might be a Farmer with more status influcting skills than harvesting skills like Ali, but I am not sure. And Chap, who has nothing to do with LH, I have no idea for his class.

-Cedi
The month of Dormouse, 9