Fire Emblem: Last of the Manakete

Alright, pretty clear win for an intel run.

I'm doing an experiment: could I have a few people roll some dice: 2 d6s for what information you get, and 1 d8 for... complications

"You're both nuts. This whole plan is nuts. It can't work. I am totally in!"
-Wyvern Lord Mycelus, The First Emperor


While you could just try to fly in and rescue Sypha, Robin points out that you're not dealing with bandits anymore. Apparently, these Shrieking Talons are kind of a big deal. Not only would just rushing in put you at risk if they had someone unexpectedly dangerous, but if anything went wrong Sypha might get hurt. That was unacceptable, and so you had to come up with a better idea.

In the end, the answer is surprisingly simple. With so many strangers already around, the villagers are unlikely to take too much notice of another pair. Meanwhile, the Talons are unlikely to pay too much attention to every single person they come across, especially since Robin's observations indicate they're mostly at ease. You have to agree: you can hear the faint sounds of laughter drifting from the town.

"Remember, if anyone asks, your name is Gwyn, and you're from Aslockton in the Northern Duchy," Robin says as the two of you circle towards the path into town. "But that's only if people ask. We're here to listen and learn, best not to draw attention to ourselves."

"What sorts of things should I be listening for?" you ask.

"Anything about the Talons," Robin says. "They probably won't be careless enough to say anything about Lady Sypha, but any clues we can get will be useful. We should also pay attention to see if we can spot any of Mantrae's people."

You frown. "How would we tell who they are?" you ask.

"If they're still around, then it won't be easy," Robin admits. "It's even possible they've already done their scouting of the town. They may have even decided the risk wasn't worth it. Still, no reason not to keep our eyes open. They'll probably be like us, either alone or a pair of people that seem to be moving around more than they really need to, talking to people. If they have weapons, they'll be covered up, just like mine."

You glance up at him. "About that… are you sure that just putting the bow in a tube will hide it?" you ask. True, it isn't as noticeable as it isn't as shiny, but still…

Robin nods. "It's not meant to be hidden. It's not unusual for travelers to have a means of defending themselves. In fact, people would be more suspicious if I didn't have a weapon of some sort." He taps the tube. "This is so people don't feel threatened by it, and so they don't realize it's a silver bow. That would be very hard to explain."

Before you can ask, you notice a pair of people walking up the path towards you. They look like locals: neither have weapons and one has a long, curved stick. Still, you force yourself into the role of Gwyn, mild-mannered human girl far from home. Not that different than yourself, but different enough that you felt it warranted to move so that your 'father' was between yourself and the strangers.

Thankfully, neither local seemed to pay you much mind, simply giving a respectful nod as they and you passed each other. Robin pats you on the shoulder comfortingly as you enter Glenhaven.

The town, while seemingly only a bit larger than Miau, is packed. Everywhere you look, there are people walking, talking, arguing, and countless other -ings that you don't have words for. There seems to be an almost even split of locals, marked by their rough-spun cloths, and armed and armored Talons. Surprisingly, you don't get the feeling that the locals are intimidated by the large number of strangers. Maybe they'd just gotten used to them?

Thankfully, it seems that Robin is right. Nobody gives the pair of you a second glance as you make your way towards the market. In fact, other than a few casual nods, nobody reacts to you at all. Looking around, you realize that a lot of the stalls seem to have been hastily set up rather than being permeant fixtures. Seeing your confused look, Robin speaks softly. "When there's a large number of travelers, locals will try to sell anything they can to them. The Talons, meanwhile, are probably eager to get something other than the field rations they've been subsisting on for who knows how long. It's a win-win." He looks around. "Though by the looks of it, everything's slowing down. They'll need to move out soon before Glenhaven runs out of supplies."

"So what do we do now?" you whisper.

Robin looks around, frowning. "We've been traveling for a while, so we'll need some supplies of our own," he murmurs. You start to open your mouth to say that no, you're both doing pretty well, but then you remember you're supposed to be from the Northern Duchy, which must be a lot farther away, and so you shut your mouth. "Follow me, but keep your ears open. I'll focus on the seller: don't interact with anyone unless they do it first. Just listen: your ears are better than most."

You nod. "Yes, I will," you say.

"Good girl," Robin says, ruffling your hair before making his way through the crowd, seemingly looking for someone who still had goods. After a minute, during which you sadly don't pick anything useful out of the babble, he stops in front of one of the stalls tucked off to the side. "Good day to you," he says. You frown, his voice… sounds a bit different. Not like Kopoi's, which was indistinguishable from the Archdukes, but it's clear Robin is making himself sound a specific way. You resolve to keep your mouth shut: you don't know if you can emulate him.

"To you as well," the man at the stall says cheerfully. "Haven't seen you around before."

"Just got into town," Robin says. "I'm just hoping there's something left, what with this lot around,"

The man laughs. "We're not that bad off yet," he says. "These Talon's boss-lady made it clear to the townmaster that there was a limit to how much she was letting her boys get: doesn't want to eat us all out of house and home. Good woman, her." You force a frown off your face, you don't think she's a good woman.

"Glad to hear it," Robin says casually. "I've seen the results when a mercenary company doesn't have someone keeping a firm hand on them: it's not pretty."

"Spirits be praised that the Talons have honor," the seller says. "So what can I get for you?"

As Robin begins to barter, you play the role of a bored child and look around. The crowd continues to swirl, babbling over each other. Frowning, you close your eyes for a moment to refocus yourself before looking for anyone interesting.

There! A pair of Talons, one carrying a long, slim sword on her waist and the other with a bow slung over his back, are walking slowly, seemingly arguing with each other. You focus your ears and try to listen in.

"-the point of even having guards, then?" the man is grumbling.

"Come on, James," the woman says. "You don't really think they're going to cause any problems, do you?"

The man, James, kicks the ground. "Is the principle of the matter, Jessie," he insists. "If we're going to have a secure camp, we should keep the riff-raff out. It just makes sense, but most of the guards aren't even bothering with-"

"They're just kids, James," Jessie says, rolling her eyes. "They're just little kids who are curious.They may never see a full Talon chapter again. They're almost certainly never going to go more than a few miles from this town of theirs in their lives. Let them have their fun and run around the camp a bit." She lowers her voice, but thankfully she's come close enough that you can still hear. "Besides, we have more stringent guards on the… sensitive, parts of the camp. Who cares if they explore a bit: even if they were to spot something, what could they do about it?"

James grumbles again. "I still think we should kick them all out."

"Which is why Ubel kicked you out to have some fun for once in your life!" Jessie says, throwing her arm around James's shoulder. "Come on, we've got this job in the bag, live a little! There's this nice little place on the other side of town where they put honey on apples, it's to die for!" James tries to argue, but Jessie drags him away before you can hear more.

As you start to consider what you'd heard, you realize that Robin and the man at the stall had stopped talking. Glancing over your shoulder, you realize they're both looking at you. "Ah!" you say. "Sorry, sorry, what?"

Robin laughs. "Ah, just like her mother, Sentinel watch over her," he says. "Sweet child, but head in the clouds." You force the annoyance off your face: Mother would have been very cross to be described that way.

The seller chuckles. "Ay, but at least she's obedient enough to stay put," he says. "I have no idea where my boy wandered off to. Probably going up to try and play merc in the camp with his friends."

Your mind flicks back to what you'd heard the two Talons saying. "So children are allowed to just… go up there?" you ask.

The man immediately wags his finger at you. "Now don't you go wandering off, girl, not after your father was just getting through saying what an obedient little light spirit you are," he says. "Just because the Talons are being loose with kids now doesn't mean that their patience is unlimited. I'm gonna be giving my Liam a stern talking to when he gets back."

"My thoughts exactly," Robin says, putting an arm around your shoulder and pulling you close. "You stay right next to me, Gwyn, you hear?"

You lower your head in contrition. "Yes… Father," you say, reminding yourself of your fake relationship. It's almost painful, to use that word for someone else than your real father, but you have to do it.

Thankfully, it seems the man doesn't notice the slight pause. "Well, a pleasure doing business with you," he says to Robin, smiling. "Spirits be with you."

"And also with you," Robin says, leading you away.

As you slip back into the crowd, Robin looks around. "Nothing too unexpected," he says seemingly casually, but you get the feeling he's trying to tell you something. "Not much new, either."

It takes you a moment to figure out what he's saying: he doesn't seem to have learned anything new. "The children here seem pretty bold," you say carefully. "And very curious. The Talons do really seem to tolerate it."

Robin nods slowly. "Interesting," he says.

The pair of you walk through the market for a while. You're not quite sure what Robin's looking for, and you're not going to ask in the middle of the crowd. Thankfully, it seems that Robin knows what he's doing, as a minute later you're once again at a small, out-of-the-way stall, waiting as Robin negotiates with the owner.

This time, you pick up on something interesting very quickly. Not far from where your standing, a big, bulky Talon is drinking an odd-smelling liquid from a wooden mug, laughing as a local woman who only looks a little older than Artemis leans against him. Flushing slightly, you force yourself to pay attention. The man seems… almost unsteady, and is talking quite freely.

"And that's how I fought off a dozen bandits!" the man says, his voice slightly slurred.

The woman titters, running a finger along the man's shoulder. "So bold," she says in a sickly simpering voice that causes your skin to crawl. What's she playing at?

The man grins. "Well, you've got to be to be a Talon," he says. "After all, we live in close proximity to the most powerful and dangerous of all predators constantly!"

"Oh, undoubtedly," the woman says, shuddering theatrically. "I very nearly fainted when that wyvern flew overhead the first time! It was as if some dragon had risen from myth to destroy us!"

You can't keep yourself from slumping. Did humans really think so little of your people? Were you truly nothing more than monsters to be afraid of?

Meanwhile, the man gestures with his mug, sloshing some of the sickly-looking brown liquid out. "Ah, to be honest the overgrown lizard isn't that bad," he says. "So long as nobody tries to take his food, he's content to sleep most of the time, and even if he gets frisky Commander Rachel'll keep him in check." He grumbles. "No, it's the arrogant mage that you've got to worry about. Thinks that just because he went to some fancy school and learned to make breezes that he's better than everyone else. At least the commander has to put in the work to keep her lizard listening to her."

Your blood chills. The Talons have a mage? Worse, they have a Green mage? Green magic is inherently effective against your own Yellow magic. If it does come to a fight, you'll have to be careful. Trying to be subtle, you edge away from Robin, hoping to get more clues about this mystery mage.

Unfortunately, the Talon seems to have gotten distracted by the woman he's with and is now hugging her to his side and slurring through another story that seems to involve an inordinate amount of blood and killing bandits. Curling your lip, you start turning back towards Robin: no matter what you think of an enemy, you don't see yourself ever taking pleasure in that amount of death.

As you start back, however, you find yourself in a position to look between two buildings and notice something interesting. A group of three boys, looking like they were a decade or two older than you but who knows how old they really are, are crouched in a circle, scratching in the dirt with a stick and whispering to each other. There's nobody else around, and in fact it seems the boys have made themselves as hard to spot as possible.

You're not sure what draws your attention to them. There's a hundred and one things that these boys could be talking about. However, the memory of James's complaints about children in the camp makes you pause. Maybe these boys know something important? You take a quick glance at Robin. He and the stall-keeper are still deep in discussion, and neither seem to be paying much attention to you. You could wait to ask him if it was okay or even just let him know what you're doing, but you don't know how long the boys are going to be there.

Slowly at first, and then more quickly as nobody tells you to stop, you slip away from Robin and towards the boys. As you approach, you perk your ears to listen to them.

"Do you really think this is going to work?" the smallest of the boys asks nervously. "We could get in a lot of trouble…"

"Come on, don't be such a chicken!" the biggest boy says, thwapping the smaller boy on the shoulder with his stick. "Aren't you curious?"

The smaller boy rubs his shoulder, glaring at the bigger one. "I'm no chicken!" he insists. "It's just-"

"Oi, simmer down!" the middle boy says, grabbing at the biggest boy's stick. "We need to work together if we're going to pull this off, no fighting each other!"

Crouching down next to the boys, you look at the scratching in the dirt. It looks like some sort of crude map. "What's this and why are we whispering?" you ask.

"Gah!" all three boys stumble away from you. "Where did you come from?!" the smallest boy gasps.

You raise your hands in a placating gesture. "I was just curious!" you say quickly. "My name's R- Gwyn. What are your names?" You give them a hopefully charming smile.

The three boys look warily at each other. "Don't know you," the middle boy says. "Did you come with the Talons?" They seem nervous about that.

"No, no," you say quickly. "My father and I just got here from up north. We're just passing through." You make a show of looking down at the map. "What's this."

"Nothing, nothing," the biggest boy says quickly. You raise an eyebrow: you may not have much experience in interacting with other children, but even you can tell that's a lie.

A long moment of silence stretches between the four of you before you try again. "I promise I'm not going to get anyone in trouble," you say softly. "I'm… I'm just curious, is all. You were talking about that being a good thing, right?"

The three boys look at each other again before the smallest finally speaks up. "…'m Jace," he says in a small voice, his face oddly pink. You cock your head; he seems to be having a hard time meeting your eyes.

"Jack," the biggest boy says. "And we're not worried about getting in trouble!"

The middle boy frowns, seems to consider his words for a long moment before sighing. "John," he says. "What do you want?"

Crouching down, you study the map. For a moment, you think it's the town, but the shape is wrong, the buildings too small. "Is this the Talon camp?" you ask.

"Why do you want to know?" John asks sharply.

"I'm just curious," you say again. "Father and I just got here, and there's all these people around. He said he'd tell me what a Talon is when we were done, but I want to know now." It feels a bit bad lying to these boys, but if they're planning something, maybe it could help you to save Sypha.

"Yeah, it's their camp," Jack says, crouching down across from you. "You promise not to tell anyone?"

"…Yes, I promise," you lie. Sypha and Artemis need you to have as much information as possible, and you're not going to tell anyone other than Robin, who won't get these boys in trouble.

This seems to satisfy Jack and Jace. John is still studying you with some suspicion, but after glancing at his friends he signs and crouches down with them. "If you just got here, then you won't have had a chance to go up there," Jack says eagerly. "It's so cool, and they're really friendly for a bunch of hardened adventurers." He points at a circled square near the center of the map. "They're pretty calm about us looking in most places, except here. They have a bunch of really mean guards who keep anyone from even coming close to it."

"They must have some really cool treasures in there," Jace continues, his nerves seemingly forgotten. "Gold, jewels, who knows?!"

'Most likely, a terrified kidnapped girl,' you think darkly, studying the map. "And you want to find out what's in there?" you ask.

"Yeah," Jack says. "We're not gonna take anything!" he says after a moment. "But when're we ever gonna get a chance to see anything like that again!? Da says that the Talons are probably gonna be leaving soon, so we have to come up with something fast if we're gonna do it."

"I'm still not so sure this is a good idea…" Jace says.

"Thought you said you weren't chicken!" Jack says, nudging the smaller boy with his shoulder.

"We have a decent plan," John says, giving you a calculating look. "And if Gwyn here is willing to help, we can make it even better."

You blink. "You have a plan?" you ask.

"Are you willing to help us out, girl?" John challenges you.

You start to open your mouth, but surprisingly Jace jumps in. "Hey, leave her alone," he says. "It's not fair to make her promise to do something without telling her what it is!"

The two boys glare at each other for a moment before Jack puts a hand on both their shoulders. "It's alright, she's already promised she won't rat us out," he says. Looking back at you, he grins. "So, the guards are always watching the front, which is tied shut. But I got a look at the tent, and while it's pegged down pretty hard, someone could slip under it if they had a little time. The plan is to have Jace here do that while John and I distract the guards out front!"

"Although, if you wanted to help, you could distract the guards," John says.

"Why me?" you ask.

"They haven't seen you before," he says as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. "They've seen us all, so they'll be keeping a close eye on us after Jack here tried to just poke his head in without thinking." The bigger boy splutters, but before he can defend himself John continues. "Besides, adults tend to trust girls more. They'll probably take it easy on you when they're telling you off, especially if you bat your eyes at them like you did at Jace." The smaller boy starts spluttering as well.

You frown: you hadn't batted your eyes at anyone. However, you do have to answer John, whose eyes have narrowed as he studies you.


[] Go along with the plan. While you suspect Sypha's in that tent, being able to confirm that will be good. These boys might even be able to help you save Sypha. No idea how, but it's possible.
- [] Tell Robin where you're going. He's still talking to the stall owner, so you'll have to figure out how to pass the information along surreptitiously.
- [] Just go. You're a big girl, you can take care of yourself.

[] Respectfully decline. You already know what you're going to find, and you've already gotten valuable intelligence about where Sypha is. No need to risk yourself.

[] Suggest a different plan. You want to get in and get some information, but you have concerns about the viability of this plan.
- []Write-in

[] Suggest that the boys don't do anything risky. You know how violent these Talons can get when crossed: you don't want them to get hurt.

AN: I did not plan for this level of synergy between information gathered and complication. That was just chance.