[You enter the Shogunate army's second fortress, some via sneaking and some via horseback; the horses are dismounted and stabled behind the fortress, for what little good it will do.
This one is run down, barely holding up, riddled with bullet holes and smeared with blood, smelling of stale iron and death. The air inside is one of defeat and desperation. Despite the pockets of hope that some people may hold in this war, the soldiers here understand what they're up against. This is a losing battle. The most they want is to die with their nobility intact, like the samurai they are. To find a place out there where they can meet their end with dignity.
Estinien and Hermes help the injured through, if needed. A man is there waiting for you - you instinctively know him as Hijikata Toshizo, the general of the Shogunate's army. Meteion's sword thrums with the agony of preemptive loss. This is someone dear to it, to Meteion - a man destined to die. He's on his way to meet that fate. He looks at the three in turn.]
"You three, huh... You've done well, making it all the way out here." [He speaks with the same command for respect that you know him for, but there's something tired in his words. As if he himself understands the weight of history as it has been written, and knows that today's fight will be his last.] "I sent Ichimura ahead with everything you need to get out of here with your heads on your shoulders. Make sure that you do. ...I'm going to go find it, now. My grave."
[He turns on his heel to leave. The world seems to slow around you.
The colors bleed out of this room. Everything except for Prompto, Meteion and Aymeric shifts to shades of black and white and grey. This is the pivotal moment: the last strong tie of the Shogunate army, on his way to fall.
Meteion's sword tries to hold itself and her together, even though her misery is so deep, and its is, too. Just a little further. One more step. All you have to do is ensure that Hijikata walks through this door, and you'll have succeeded. You can put this battle behind you and go to rest and repair your broken body and heart. Prompto's sword is also ready to be done with this mission, resonating in a strange way with the hurt that had befallen his comrades earlier. War is war, but it's not any easier, is it? Every battle hurts like something new, in different ways. You want to push through this. You want to be done with it. You want to leave this place, and take a nice, long soak in the hot springs and leave this all as one more horrible mark in your exhausting past.
Two of the three of you know that this is the point of your journey here.
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This one is run down, barely holding up, riddled with bullet holes and smeared with blood, smelling of stale iron and death. The air inside is one of defeat and desperation. Despite the pockets of hope that some people may hold in this war, the soldiers here understand what they're up against. This is a losing battle. The most they want is to die with their nobility intact, like the samurai they are. To find a place out there where they can meet their end with dignity.
Estinien and Hermes help the injured through, if needed. A man is there waiting for you - you instinctively know him as Hijikata Toshizo, the general of the Shogunate's army. Meteion's sword thrums with the agony of preemptive loss. This is someone dear to it, to Meteion - a man destined to die. He's on his way to meet that fate. He looks at the three in turn.]
"You three, huh... You've done well, making it all the way out here." [He speaks with the same command for respect that you know him for, but there's something tired in his words. As if he himself understands the weight of history as it has been written, and knows that today's fight will be his last.] "I sent Ichimura ahead with everything you need to get out of here with your heads on your shoulders. Make sure that you do. ...I'm going to go find it, now. My grave."
[He turns on his heel to leave. The world seems to slow around you.
The colors bleed out of this room. Everything except for Prompto, Meteion and Aymeric shifts to shades of black and white and grey. This is the pivotal moment: the last strong tie of the Shogunate army, on his way to fall.
Meteion's sword tries to hold itself and her together, even though her misery is so deep, and its is, too. Just a little further. One more step. All you have to do is ensure that Hijikata walks through this door, and you'll have succeeded. You can put this battle behind you and go to rest and repair your broken body and heart. Prompto's sword is also ready to be done with this mission, resonating in a strange way with the hurt that had befallen his comrades earlier. War is war, but it's not any easier, is it? Every battle hurts like something new, in different ways. You want to push through this. You want to be done with it. You want to leave this place, and take a nice, long soak in the hot springs and leave this all as one more horrible mark in your exhausting past.
Two of the three of you know that this is the point of your journey here.
But one may have a different goal.]