[NOTE: this is part six in a series of posts lifted from the quark message boards where I recently GM’d a game of Werewolf. The theme was Final Fantasy 6, one of my favorite RPGs of all time. To see the other posts in the series, click here.
WARNING: there will be spoilers here, and lots of them, so if you haven’t played Final Fantasy 6, do yourself a favor and play the game before reading on!]
In South Figaro…
SOLDIER 1: That clown, Kefka, is on the verge of
invading Narshe.
SOLDIER 2: A detached force is making its way toward Narshe. We’ll
link up with them soon.
SOLDIER 1: Time’s up? Good! I’ll take a break!
SOLDIER 2: Never a dull moment… Time to guard the passage under the
big mansion… Oh, well. Life is tough…
SOLDIER 1: I heard there are two secret tunnels under the rich man’s
house. One leads out of town, the other to one of these houses…
SOLDIER 2: I heard they grabbed a famous general who turned traitor!
She’s locked up somewhere in this town.
The dirty lawyer has been selected!
Awoooo! Awwooooooo!
Clack clack! Clack clack! Clackack clackack clackackack!
Cyan awakes to the sound of a train whistle and the vibration of the carpeted wooden floor beneath him. He opens his eyes and sees a stocky young man with a blond mullet staring back down at him. On either side, rows of plush, velvet couches stretch forward for the length of the aisle. Outside the windows, the dark forest is moving.
He realizes at once where he is, and leaps to his feet.
CYAN: Let me off! This train’s haunted!
SABIN: What?
CYAN: This is the Phantom Train… It carries the departed to…the
other side.
SABIN: Wait a sec… I don’t want to go THERE!
CYAN: We all have to go sometime…
SABIN: I have things to do HERE. We have to stop this thing. Let’s
make for the engine.
After hurried introductions, Sabin and Cyan fight their way through hordes of ghosts and creatures of the night, until they reach the train engine and bring the train to a stop.
PHANTOM TRAIN: I will let you go… …but first there is something I
must do…
The train stops.
CYAN: Hulp…where are we?
SABIN and CYAN exit the car.
SABIN: Hoo, boy! Finally got off…
People to the far right are boarding the train.
SABIN: We shouldn’t be here. Let’s go NOW!
CYAN: No!!! Elayne! Owain!!
SABIN: CYAN! Is that your wife and child?
The train starts the leave.
CYAN: Please, wait!
CYAN knocks SABIN off the platform while running toward Elayne and
Owain.
CYAN: Elayne! Owain…
ELAYNE: My love… You made me so happy. Don’t forget me…
OWAIN: Dad! I’ll make sure Mom’s alright!
The train leaves. CYAN stands despondently at the edge of the platform.
Drakon rises from the dead!
After several days, the returners regroup at Narshe. Sabin returns with Cyan, Locke returns with a defector from the Empire named General Celes, and together with Terra, Banon, and King Edgar, they convince the elders of Narshe to take up arms and fight the invading Imperial forces…
BANON: Emperor Gestahl’s racing to acqure Magitek power. He’s set his
sights on the Esper that was found here! The increased use of Magitek
power’ll surely lead to global destruction…
ELDER: The War of the Magi… The mythical battle that set mankind
back a thousand years. Can this really be happening? People will
never learn…
The warriors form ranks…
CYAN: Don’t think for a moment I trust you!
CELES: Fine. Use your own eyes, then decide.
Kefka and his forces advance…
KEFKA: I don’t care what you do here, JUST GET ME THAT ESPER!!
SOLDIER: Lord Kefka! There are civilians here…!
KEFKA: Exterminate everyone!
SOLDIER: But Narshe is neutral…
KEFKA: Idiot!! Read my lips!! Dispose of all who oppose us! March!
A fierce battle ensues. The Returners fight bravely, but the imperial forces are too strong! The Returners are routed, Narshe is taken, and Banon is slain!
BANON: Couldn’t hold out? I have a bad feeling about this…
The mafia kills Baggins, the necromancer.
As the Returners fall back, Terra finds herself face to face with Tritoch, the esper discovered in the Narshe mines. An eerie sensation comes over her, and her mind melts with that of the frozen monster before her.
LOCKE: TERRA!! What is it?
TERRA: Nooo!!
TERRA and the Esper become fixed on each other.
SABIN: TERRA and the Esper…
EDGAR: There’s…some kinda reaction!
TERRA: What!? What am I feeling?! Huh? W… …what’s going on…
…? Please… …tell me! Who am I? WHO?!
LOCKE: TERRA!
CELES: An Esper… …I can actually feel its mind……
EDGAR: TERRA…… Step away from the Esper…
TERRA and the Esper interact, and TERRA turns bright pink. She
starts spinning, then flies off in a blaze of light.
Barely conscious of the world around her, Terra is drawn to the mountain town of Zozo in the Western continent, where a band of espers fleeing from the empire has gone into hiding. Even though she is weak from her journey, she manages to check them out before falling unconscious in the bed they have provided for her.
Detective checks an innocent.
With Narshe fallen to the empire, the band of unlikely friends retreats over the mountains to Kohlingen, where they plot their next move. They are greatly disheartened by the loss of Banon, their leader, but remembering his words about Terra being their last hope, they decide to go on a search for her.
Before they leave, however, a man in black offers to join their party.
SHADOW: The Reaper is always just a step behind me…
After a long and arduous journey across the western continent, the band of friends arrives at Zozo, where they find their green-haired, magically endowed friend…and others…
An old man appears out of nowhere.
RAMUH: She’s scared, you know.
LOCKE: Who’re you?
RAMUH: This girl is your friend?
EDGAR: Is TERRA alright?
RAMUH: You call her TERRA… …TERRA?? How odd…
TERRA leaps out of bed, and jumps around disoriented.
RAMUH: She is undamaged. But I fear she can’t understand you. As for
me, I am Ramuh. The Esper, Ramuh.
ALL: ESPER!?
CELES: But don’t Espers live in another world?
RAMUH: That doesn’t mean we don’t live here, too. Espers take a
variety of forms. Sometimes we live here, taking the shape of humans.
You have nothing to fear from us.
EDGAR: Why do you hide the fact that you’re Espers?
RAMUH: Humans and Espers can’t survive together.
LOCKE: But my grandma told me that Espers and people once lived side
by side! Was that just a fairy tale?
RAMUH: No, that was no fairy tale. That was true. We started out as
friends. Then along came the War of the Magi…
RAMUH: It took place…long ago. Espers fought humans who were
infused with magical powers extracted from Espers… Fearing our
magical powers would once again become a target, we fashioned a new
realm, and moved there…
RAMUH: We erected a doorway, and threw the humans
out. Even as we speak, many of my kind are trapped in the Empire’s
Magitek Research Facility, being… …drained of their powers… I
fled here to avoid a similar fate.
The party carries TERRA back to her bed.
RAMUH: (to Terra) That’s right, relax.
RAMUH: (to the party) I sensed that TERRA was in trouble. My magic…
summoned her here.
LOCKE: TERRA’s an…Esper?
RAMUH: No, she’s actually quite different.
CELES: She looks like she’s in pain.
RAMUH: Her very existance strikes fear into her own heart.
CYAN: How can we help her?
RAMUH: When she accepts this aspect of herself, I think she’ll be
alright.
SABIN: We have to do something!
RAMUH: Then free those of my kind imprisoned in Gestahl’s Magitek
Research Facility. One of them can surely help her.
Like a coward, I escaped leaving the others there. It’ll be
the end of them…
EDGAR: What do you mean?
RAMUH: Gestahl’s methods are incorrect. You can’t drain a live Esper
of all its power. It is only when we are reduced to Magicite that our
abilities can be transferred in total…
CELES: Pardon?
RAMUH: When we transform into Magicite, our power can be relocated.
ALL: Magicite…?!
RAMUH: That’s what’s left of us when we…pass away.
Ramuh reveals three Magicite stones.
RAMUH: These are my comrades who fell while escaping the Empire. And
I will give you my power, as well…
Ramuh turns to Magicite, lighting up the room.
LOCKE: Old man… Are you really gone…?
SABIN: Magicite…?
CYAN: He traded his power, so that others might live…
LOCKE: TERRA, wait for us. We’ll be back!
The party leaves Zozo and heads for Jidoor, where they can regroup and work out their plan.
Before they go, however, the man in black slips out of their party and heads back for the tower in Zozo. In her weakened state, Terra is no match for the dark assassin. She dies with a shuriken buried in her heart.
SHADOW: My job here’s over. I’ve earned my fee!
Assassin kills Drek, the detective.
PLAYERS:
Avulsion (mafia)
Baggins (necromancer)
Barigirl
Caysyka
CptSqweky (innocent)
Drakon (innocent)
Drek (detective)
Fredward
Jerle
Locke
Lunesar
Onlera
PharaohsQueen (innocent)
sunstarr12
ZeroMoon17 (innocent)
Among them: 1 assassin (Shadow), 2 mafia (Kefka and 1 Imperial agent).
DAY
