Pertinent Information (From the Ashes)

[StandardFiend]

Game-related information can be put here for quick and easy reference.

[StandardFiend]

Character fighting styles:

Elia
The point of Elia's character is that she isn't going to get in a close fight unless absolutely necessary. When she does, absent any other weapon she decides to use based on the post, she carries a large military issue K-Bar style knife and her training is something similar to CQC -- Close Quarters Combat. Holds and grabs designed to use the knife or to take down her opponent.

Kai
Weapons of choice include any quarterstaff, anything shaped like a quarterstaff, or his own bare hands. He is extremely athletic and has a decent mix of power and agility without truly excelling in either. Although he is the most inexperienced fighter of the group, he is extremely instinctive and talented. His preferred fighting method is to use the staff along with a number of open-handed strikes, kicks, and sweeps designed to take his open off their feet. His own fighting style is reminiscent of martial arts moreso than the sword-swinging melee fighters in the party. His fighting prowess and style is best suited to one-on-one fights rather than against multiple foes.

Balian
Since the end of Part 1, Balian has traded the spear for a self-crafted gunblade that operates in similar fashion to the gunblade welded by Lightning in FFXIII. It is both a light assault rifle and a blade depending on the need and it can be switched fairly quickly although not in a matter of seconds. Rather than fighting with a great deal of technical precision, his prowess comes from sheer overpowering of his opponent. His fighting style is vicious, involved a great deal of forearm smashes, knees to various parts of the body, and headbutts. It is similar to CQC but far more violent and visceral. If necessary, he can hold his own with a weapon and often uses any armor he is wearing as an offensive weapon through body melee attacks.

Alex
Her weapons of choice are obviously her two daggers with which she has trained her whole life. However, she can effectively wield just about any light melee weapon. In addition, she carries a small assortment of throwing knives and knows how to use them well--it's worth mentioning that her main daggers are also balanced for throwing. She is light and agile and uses these to her advantage to outmaneuver her opponents; she really isn't particularly strong, and taking and parrying blows is not something she can withstand. Alex is not fond of outright murder; she realizes the necessity of killing her enemies, but will take any opportunity to simply disable them instead. Also, she is more inclined towards magical attacks; ice magic is her favorite element, with lightning a close second. She dislikes fire magic.

Zeke
It's not as obvious as you might think. Most people think Samurai all fight in the same style, this couldn't be further from the truth. While the basic use of a Katana is Kendo, many famous swordsman (such as Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro) were known for developing their own personal touches and techniques. For instance, Musashi essentially had to train himself in swordsmanship, and from that he developed the famous Niten Mitsurugi-ryuu, a style in which he incorporated the use of two swords rather than the traditional one. Popular culture would usually depict Musashi as a young man with unkempt hair wielding two katana with unmatched prowess. While it is true that Musashi was known for keeping a ungroomed appearance, he did not use two katana. Instead he would have wielded a full-length Bokken (wooden katana) in one hand, and a slightly shorter version (emulating a Wakizashi) in the other hand. Kojiro, on the other hand, was known for using an Odachi, a type of Katana that was longer than the standard, but not quite as much as a Nodachi (Katana version of a claymore). I told you all of that to tell you this: The style Zeke would have grown up with was based mostly on Kojiro's fighting style, being well-groomed and wielding techniques passed down through generations of the family. When he joined SeeD, Zeke would add a few personal touches and tweaks to his fighting style, making it more akin to Musashi's Niten Mitsurugi-ryuu. As of now, he wields a Sakabato (reverse edge katana), and fights more with the speed and lethality of Assassin Samurai (basically a Samurai that combines his swordsmanship with stealth), a style meant to be reminiscent of Himura Kenshin of the Samurai X series. Soon, though, I plan to combine Kenshin's Hiten Mitsurugi-ryuu (Sakabato style) with Musashi's Niten Mitsurugi-ryuu (two-sword style), essentially placing the Sakabato in Zeke's main while he has a Wakizashi in his off-hand.
Kojiro (basically what Taijo will likely use): Very traditional and restricted. He would likely follow the standard stats of Samurai classes in older Final Fantasy titles, in that he would have decent offensive abilities but lack evasion. This means that while he would likely overpower his enemy, a character like Alex would prove difficult to deal with due to his lack of evasive moves. As for his actual attacks, well he would probably hold his weapon in both hands (as traditional samurai would) and rely mostly on vertical swings and the occasional horizontal sweep, while almost never using thrusting moves (since Katana are primarily designed for slashing and are near useless as stabbing weapons). His stance would likely involve either holding the sword straight up with the hilt held close to the right shoulder; or having the blade point forward while the outward curve faces upward (again, with the sword being held with the hilt just over the right shoulder). Something like this, only not so quick and agile.

Musashi: Musashi was known for being unorthodox, and nontraditional. In fact, it was stated that he never bathed, because he refused to make himself vulnerable to attack. His Niten Mitsurugi-ryuu involves the use of a full-sized sword in your main hand, while wielding a shorter sword in your offhand. To prepare a strike, Musashi was said to hold both his weapons above his head and then slowly lowering them, allowing the blades to cross one another briefly before he launched an unexpected attack or countering an opponent's oncoming attack. He was also known for using non-battle strategies to give himself the edge. For example, when he challenged Kojiro to a duel, Musashi intentionally showed up late. This served two purposes: the first was to infuriate Kojiro and throw off his concentration, the second was to time his arrival so that the sun would be in Kojiro's eyes. As for what Musashi's attacking style would actually look like? Well, I can't seem to find a decent clip, but I suppose describing it shouldn't be hard. The concept is to use the offhand weapon to block an incoming attack so that your main hand is free to make a counter attack. For particularly strong attacks, both weapons would be crossed together and used to block the blow, this would also give one an opportunity to keep hold of his opponent's sword using his own like a pair of chopsticks, potentially allowing him to easily disarm his opponent and finish him off. I don't particularly like this clip because that was not how Musashi actually fought that particular duel, but it does accurately showcase the fighting style I'm trying to describe.

Sakabato: This weapon is basically a Katana with the edge on the inward curve, as opposed to the opposite, which is what Katana are traditionally designed to be. The idea behind the Sakabato is that you can use to beat down your opponent, but with the blade being reversed, it becomes nigh impossible to kill them without deliberately holding the sword backwards. Zeke uses this weapon as of now, and he incorporates elements of stealth and speed, as opposed to the more restricted elements of the Kojiro style above. Using a weapon like this relies on speed, as being able to to repeatedly hit your opponent is the only way to take them down without deliberately cutting them open. Granted, a well-placed strike on the head or neck will knock them out or even kill them just as effectively, those attacks mostly require the element of speed or surprise, hence why Zeke has trained himself to be faster and stealthier since we last saw him. Straight-forward attacks incorporate the art of Iaido, the ability to quickly draw one's sword, attack, and put it back all in one fluid motion, something that requires (you guessed it) speed and precision. Iaido strikes are rather simple in design, simply hover your hand over the hilt of your blade while keeping a relatively wide stance with your legs so that you can move at a moment's notice, as Iaido strikes are pretty much ALL counterattacks. When not using Iaido strikes, Zeke will primarily use what I described in the above two fighting styles.

Wolf
A tornado of death. ^_^
Honestly? his fighting style is graceful, fluid, and relies quite a bit on momentum for maximum effectiveness. The longer he can keep up the flow of an attack the faster and more powerful his attack will become, so interrupting it is the key. He uses a lot of spins in his style to prevent himself from having to stop a weapon and send it in the opposite direction. He uses the weight and momentum of his own weapons to his advantage in doing this, letting them carry him around. He'll also take dangerous risks to keep the momentum going and will often take a hit if it means getting in one of his own.
An example of this would be when he used his sword to grind across squalls gunblade so he could head-butt him during the holodeck game.
Unarmed he prefers to grab hold of his opponent and slam them around, occasionally delivering punches and knees to the face/groin/stomach. He's not good at hand to hand so he has to rely on strength and brutality when it comes down do it.
As far as magic goes, he prefers earth spells or really really big ones. Before the time skip he had one ultima he was saving for special occasion.

Kale
Kale uses a bastard sword, long but can be wielded one handed, though the handle allows a two handed grip. He uses a mix of sword play and hand-to-hand, often switching from a two handed grip to one handed to punch or grab his opponent. He's kind of an asshole and will fight dirty whenever the opportunity presents itself.
For magic he has a tendency towards fire, but he recently discovered the...uh.."joys" of ice.

Yukiko
Yukiko is small. Possibly smaller than Alex. She is very acrobatic as she needs to put most if not all of her body weight into her attacks to make them effective. This also means she is a very small, hard to hit, target. She prefers daggers as they match her agility and speed and are great utility weapons. Due to her opponents having a size and strength advantage on her, she rarely has the luxury of assuming they will stay down and will kill if given an opening, excepting of course when she needs to simply get past someone. Her foot speed usually allows her to outrun all but the fastest of human obstacles.
As far as magic goes, though she doesn't have any, she has a personal preference for lightning and wind.

Lyle
Lyle uses twin handguns and prefers to keep at a medium range. If his target gets close he'll eagerly pistol-whip the mofo, and his hand to hand fighting revolves around parrying and any move that will put his opponent out of their weapon range. He has no qualms about shooting point-blank and will unhesitatingly step into a sword stroke, block(arm to arm, not anything to sword) and shoot the swordsman in the face.
He never really considered magic, but if asked he'd probably say wind, since it would let him blow his targets back.

Maverick
Evade, counter, strike. He uses katars and is the second most acrobatic of Mongoose. His style is defensive and relies heavily on counters and blade locks.
No magic preference.

James
Uses a spear. Likes to keep his opponent at length but is handy at using it for throws. Prefers water.

Kryse
When using his blades Kryse relies on speed and precision to take down his foes. For defense he uses parrying techniques as well as evasive rolls. When using Magic he focuses on personal space (inner and outer) rather than area. His years in Centra have afforded him the time and freedom to experiment with his power in rather unorthodox ways. Kryse's goal in a fight is to end it as soon possible and by whatever means necessary. Kryse also has a terrible habit of putting himself in danger for the sake of others; especially those he cares about.

There are times however, when Kryse appears to be a different person. In these moments he's rather sadistic, relying heavily on magic to inflict as much pain and suffering as possible. When using magic in this fashion it is usually gravity based and focused on internal organs and skeletal structure.

Eva
Evasion, Intimidation, precision. Eva's fighting style is largely based on strategy. Her glaive attacks are fluid and well-aimed, as she has a plan for nearly every attack she makes. And with every action in battle she aims to make her enemy react a certain way. Evasion to lead them in a certain direction or to make them feel secure. Intimidation to anger and/or confuse in the form of bold moves, blunts attacks with the flat of her blade, and sometimes yells. When she wounds, she wounds with purpose- kills being as done as quickly as possible, wounds to disable. She basically aims to get as much out of one hit as possible. One could say her style is like her personality: strategic, clever, efficient. All of it is born out of the discipline required to weild a two bladed weapon without hurting yourself or your comrades in battle. Though, if without a weapon, she is quite capable of fighting hand to hand in a sort of capoiera-like style as it's similar to how she would fight as if she was using her weapon.
As for magic preference, she prefers magic to boost tghe stats of herself and those around her. Though, her prefered offensive magic are wind-based.

Asher
His personality should say it all, though his brutality does depend on the conditions of his mission. He loves to inflict pain, which reflects on how he deals out damage. If you're not watching, he'll turn your attacks against you, or back you into a corner. He attacks in strings of combos, whether using his gunblade or his knife, and then ducks back top avoid any attacks from his enemy until he sees another opportunity to strike (kinda like Alex described the Wolf pack doing earlier, only a bit more unforgiving). With each strike of his combo, he aims to debilitation or at least pain. And as ya'll well know, he's not above taking potshots. If he sees an opportunity to take an enemy out of the equation, then he'll take it.
In lines of magic, he finds it rather useful. As one can imagine, he enjoys spells that inflict status ailments.

[StandardFiend]

Not sure if this is 'pertinent' enough, but I'll put it here anyway.

Please assume that Asher cast a healing spell on the Hunter that Yukiko wounded, meaning that both living Hunters are at full capacity or close to it.

Also note, if it ends up being important, that the just-cured Hunter has not cast any spells yet, and thus his PSD is full.

I've lost count now, but I believe the other Hunter has cast 4-5 spells. We'll call it 5, meaning he has 5 left.

[StandardFiend]

I guess in the mean time we should leave the floor to Eikou and Ken for the fight. They have something quite special planned for us, so an uninterrupted fight sequence is perhaps in order.

It is likely that, when considering actual time frames, the escapees will not get far before the fight is over, so there's no need for anything to happen aside from some communication between the van occupants about their immediate destination.

The van obviously does not have enough fuel to get to Winhill, and Deling is home to what is apparently the only gas station in the world, and is quite out of the way. Perhaps secondary transportation is in order?

I guess we'll see. Feel free to give me your thoughts, but, as this scene is now closing, the scripting ends, so also feel free to not give me your thoughts and just do whatever the hell you want!

[StandardFiend]

Couple of thoughts. First, there's no reason why the scene continuing in Timber necessarily has to time sync with the scene in Winhill or anywhere else. As long as there is no direct effect on the characters, there is nothing to say that we couldn't skip a certain set of characters and leave the others where they are so long as their paths do not interact in the immediately future (read: during the time skipped by the first group).

Second, at one time Eikou laid out a plan for the group's escape and roundabout return to Winhill that is available.

Third, the van and bikes were just a temporary means Eva acquired to get the team out of the city. Seeing as how she and Elia never like to do anything without a detailed plan, it would make sense that they potentially would have stored either food or some other means of transportation in a place that would be accessible or waiting on them once they got out of the city and out of harm's way. Maybe even a trainline sympathetic to a resistance movement? After all, Timber was known for its resistance of Galbadia during the day and it makes sense that some of those factions would still be alive and well in spirit, if not action, during the timeline of our game as well.

I like the idea of getting on a train through help from some sympathizers.

The train station is likely under tight lockdown right now, and guarded by SCORPIA's soldiers. (Note that they wouldn't be FIRST or anything that high-level.)

Perhaps the goal is to meet at the "Owl Tears" house, where they can rendezvous with a group of Timber-dwellers who have some kind of plan to get them onto a train, and then get the train out of the city.

I suggest the Owl House because it's a location we all recognize and it's right next to the train tracks, but as a bonus, the team could even use the Owl Tears to heal themselves.

Oh yeah, about the disc: Don't forget that Alex left it in the tunnel for Balian to grab, since he was apparently after the same information. Remember that it's actually a decoy she created in order to use as a bargaining chip, of sorts, if she was apprehended.

[StandardFiend]

On curing and raising the dead:

I know we discussed how cure spells work, and them actually mending wounds because a) it would make SeeD more formidable, allowing one to do the work of many because they could be healed and b), it's frickin magic. But spells like(what is it called in this game? Revive? Raise?) and items like Phoenix Downs are something else.

I propose them being the magical equivalent of a crash cart( or whatever the thing you use to jump start peoples hearts is called), and working pretty much the same way. That being, it gets the vital systems running again, but if there's a gaping hole in someones chest they'll start dieing again, necessitating a quick, if not immediate, Cure spell.

This would also call for the implementation of the "Chunky Salsa" rule. Being that if whatever is dealing the damage would cause the persons head(or chest) to be reduced to the consistency of chunky salsa, it's instant, and permanent, death. This would mean the ones killed by Kryse and Kale are dead for real, but the one Yukiko stabbed could be easily raised and healed.

We discussed the effects of curing spells some time ago, and I believe the consensus reached was that they do indeed mend wounds, but only to a certain extent. Kryse's elixir closing Alex's wound is probably about as far as we can let that go.

Raising the dead, however, is a concept I do not think has received much attention over the course of the game.

The guy Kryse killed and the one Kale killed are beyond raising. The first guy lacks a cohesive chest cavity (and a complete heart, according to David), and the second lacks a head. These qualities mean they are permanently dead. A phoenix down or Life spell would have no effect.

If Alex had died as a result of the stabbing wound, a Life spell would be able to bring her back, because the cause of her death was not a lack of vital areas. We can assume her wound (and any other minor ones) would be healed enough to keep her alive until more powerful healing could be applied. (Remember, phoenix downs and Life restored about 10% of a character's HP).

In almost every situation, it's going to be a judgement call; I don't think we can create a hard-and-fast rule to this one. That said, it should still be a fairly easy judgement call.

---

On how the team is escaping:

So far, there are two prominent suggestions for how to go about it:
1) Go to the Owl House, where some friends are waiting to get us aboard a train
2) Take the van to Kryse's airship and fly the hell outta there.

One of these has significantly more support and is obviously better, but it's at least worth noting the other.