Afterword: Plot outline (Cold Steel 1)
The story would continue with Alisa being Kyrie's handler while the latter sniffed out the owner of the wallet. Rean and the other two would ask around for the people causing trouble at the market, eventually concluding that something is up with the nearby nature park. The Zwordar encounter would be moved into the park to save time, serving as an encounter before running into the mercenaries behind the theft. G would use his Artifact to summon the Lord of the Forest, but the sound of the flute makes Kyrie go berserk for a few seconds, crushing one of the mercenaries flat with a massive black fist before the boss fight begins. The standoff between the Provincial Army and the RMP would continue as canon.
For those of you unfamilliar with the Trails/Kiseki series, and Artifact is an ancient piece of pre-collapse orbal technology that are poorly understood, at best, and can have a multitude of powerful effects. Such as mind controlling monsters, manipulating the flow of time, or turning a third of a small country's population into salt.
Chapter two would be simplified by Kyrie going with Group B. Without Rean around Kyrie's investment in the events would be minimal until they run into G again. Kyrie goes berserk again and summons more of the dark arms, ripping the monster G tried to send against the group to pieces before she becomes the chapter boss fight. Once she has her senses beaten back into her, the group would return to Thors.
Chapter three sees Kyrie almost dragging Class VII's average below that of Class I, with the win barely secured by her near-perfect memory (with her inability to argue points or write essays almost costing Class VII the win). Meeting Sharon almost ends in a fight before Kyrie remembers that she isn't strong enough to face a real Clown, but she causes enough of a scene that Sharon has to sleep at the inn instead of Class VII's dorm. Kyrie accompanies Rean to the Nord Highlands this time, and meets Irina on the way. Our Invader is displeased by Irina being a Clown Associate, but Irina is not impressed by the 'gibbering abomination' and goes back to work after shitting on Alisa.
Events in Nord proceed as canon until they run into Millium. She smells odd but inoffensive, and Kyrie's attitude flows off her like water off a duck's back. By the time they run into G again he has figured out that Kyrie isn't human and that his artifact works on her, but this time the berserk Kyrie goes for him directly and forces him to summon the spider monster to cover his escape.
Chapter four is when things start to pick up. Rean activating his Orgre Mode in response to Elise being threatened by the trial in the Old Schoolhouse triggers Kyrie's own super mode. This is also where Kyrie unlocks her S-Craft. The sight of Rean's Orgre Mode and her subsequent imitation helps her remember some of her true form, and the shape of her S-Craft depends if the thread votes to manifest Kyrie's Hands, Wings, or Eyes.
She also remembers what her Treasure was: Pieces of the purest Zemurian Mirage, the remains of the dead Mirage Sept-Terrion turned into the heart of Kyrie's Utterdark Island. And it was stolen by the Clowns through some method she doesn't remember.
Her, Rean, Crow, and Patrick take down the trial monster. She advances on Rean, delighted to understand why he smells so good: For whatever reason, his heart has been transplanted with that of a Divergent Entity, which gives him access to Spiritual Unification. Spiritual Unification is a phenomenon where Divergent Entities, or native Zemurians with Divergent body parts like Rean, can access a super mode. As Kyrie's whole body is Divergent to the Law of Zemuria she would eventually be able to access higher levels of Spiritual Unification, but both her and Rean starts with the basic version. Details on the mechanic will be in another post.
Kyrie's encouragement, not to mention actual understanding on why he keeps turning into a superpowered albino that murders anything remotely threatening whenever he gets angry enough, helps Rean take the first step towards accepting this power.
Events in Heimdallr, the capital of the Erebonian Empire, proceed as in canon beyond the meeting with the diva Vita Clotilde where Kyrie identifies her as a 'Clown Chef' and the Clown that the Clowntoucher (Crow) is touching. Other than that the main difference is that G ends up perforated by Utterdark Lances when he calls Rean's bluff after the grup defeats the undead dragon he called up with his Artifact. Unlike Rean, Kyrie has no special consideration for G's hostage and is willing to strike with them in the line of fire. The arrival of G's comrades prevent her from finishing G off. C, the leader of the terrorist group that G is a member of, fights and defeats Group A.
Kyrie doesn't mind too much, because she realised during the fight that C is touching the same Clown that Crow is. The players would have a choice of how Kyrie would tell him, from solemn to laughing in his face.
Chapter five has Kyrie accompanying Group B, with most interaction being poking Crow for touching Clowns.
Chapter six goes as canon.
Chapter seven would have more tension between Kyrie and Crow, with the latter growing increasingly done after months of needling.
The school festival sees Kyrie helping the Cooking Club with its stall and Margarita with her love life. Events proceed as in canon until the moment Ordine puts Valimar to flight. Kyrie advances to the next level of Spiritual Unification and tries to fight Ordine on foot, with predictable results. As C is about to finish Kyrie off the recent doses of active Higher Elements is enough for Kyrie to remember her true form:
Kyrie is Kayeyeharaieh the Harvest Seraph, winged, occult, and undying. Endlessly adding to her island in a hope that eventually, someday, it wil become the foundation from which Kyrie can built a whole new Realm, one dustspeck at a time.
Now that she is a JRPG final boss, Kyrie's power and Divergent nature allow her to actually damage Ordine. With his Divine Knight being forced back, C is bailed out by the arrival of McBurn. McBurn pushes Kyrie to the limit, but is defeated.
Only for him to activate his perfected Spiritual Unification and stomp her to the ground.
Kyrie retreats back to the Utterdark to lick her wounds, reentering Zemuria a few days later to find that Class VII has scattered themselves all over eastern Erebonia.
At this point the players would have the choice of looking for Rean, going to Nord, staying in the central east, or wander the southeast*. Cue Cold Steel 2.
*What these entail and how they would be described to the players will be explained in the CS2 outline.
For those of you unfamilliar with the Trails/Kiseki series, and Artifact is an ancient piece of pre-collapse orbal technology that are poorly understood, at best, and can have a multitude of powerful effects. Such as mind controlling monsters, manipulating the flow of time, or turning a third of a small country's population into salt.
Chapter two would be simplified by Kyrie going with Group B. Without Rean around Kyrie's investment in the events would be minimal until they run into G again. Kyrie goes berserk again and summons more of the dark arms, ripping the monster G tried to send against the group to pieces before she becomes the chapter boss fight. Once she has her senses beaten back into her, the group would return to Thors.
Chapter three sees Kyrie almost dragging Class VII's average below that of Class I, with the win barely secured by her near-perfect memory (with her inability to argue points or write essays almost costing Class VII the win). Meeting Sharon almost ends in a fight before Kyrie remembers that she isn't strong enough to face a real Clown, but she causes enough of a scene that Sharon has to sleep at the inn instead of Class VII's dorm. Kyrie accompanies Rean to the Nord Highlands this time, and meets Irina on the way. Our Invader is displeased by Irina being a Clown Associate, but Irina is not impressed by the 'gibbering abomination' and goes back to work after shitting on Alisa.
Events in Nord proceed as canon until they run into Millium. She smells odd but inoffensive, and Kyrie's attitude flows off her like water off a duck's back. By the time they run into G again he has figured out that Kyrie isn't human and that his artifact works on her, but this time the berserk Kyrie goes for him directly and forces him to summon the spider monster to cover his escape.
Chapter four is when things start to pick up. Rean activating his Orgre Mode in response to Elise being threatened by the trial in the Old Schoolhouse triggers Kyrie's own super mode. This is also where Kyrie unlocks her S-Craft. The sight of Rean's Orgre Mode and her subsequent imitation helps her remember some of her true form, and the shape of her S-Craft depends if the thread votes to manifest Kyrie's Hands, Wings, or Eyes.
Temporal Tantrum: Dark Hand.
Manifest some of your Hundred Hands and smash the enemy flat.
-Damage equals XdX, with X being Kyrie's total Magic Stat.
-Add YdX at 200 CP, with Y being Kyrie's total Strength Stat.
-Large AoE.
Manifest some of your Hundred Hands and smash the enemy flat.
-Damage equals XdX, with X being Kyrie's total Magic Stat.
-Add YdX at 200 CP, with Y being Kyrie's total Strength Stat.
-Large AoE.
Spatial Savagery: Altair Down.
Manifest two of your wings and unleash space-rending pinions.
-Damage equals XdX, with X being Kyrie's total Magic Stat.
-Add YdX at 200 CP, with Y being Kyrie's total Strength Stat.
-Large AoE.
Manifest two of your wings and unleash space-rending pinions.
-Damage equals XdX, with X being Kyrie's total Magic Stat.
-Add YdX at 200 CP, with Y being Kyrie's total Strength Stat.
-Large AoE.
Delusional Dysjunction: Argent Bramble.
Manifest some of your thousand eyes on the enemy to damage their psyches.
-Damage equals XdX, with X being Kyrie's total Magic Stat.
-Add YdX at 200 CP, with Y being Kyrie's total Strength Stat.
-Large AoE.
Manifest some of your thousand eyes on the enemy to damage their psyches.
-Damage equals XdX, with X being Kyrie's total Magic Stat.
-Add YdX at 200 CP, with Y being Kyrie's total Strength Stat.
-Large AoE.
She also remembers what her Treasure was: Pieces of the purest Zemurian Mirage, the remains of the dead Mirage Sept-Terrion turned into the heart of Kyrie's Utterdark Island. And it was stolen by the Clowns through some method she doesn't remember.
Her, Rean, Crow, and Patrick take down the trial monster. She advances on Rean, delighted to understand why he smells so good: For whatever reason, his heart has been transplanted with that of a Divergent Entity, which gives him access to Spiritual Unification. Spiritual Unification is a phenomenon where Divergent Entities, or native Zemurians with Divergent body parts like Rean, can access a super mode. As Kyrie's whole body is Divergent to the Law of Zemuria she would eventually be able to access higher levels of Spiritual Unification, but both her and Rean starts with the basic version. Details on the mechanic will be in another post.
Kyrie's encouragement, not to mention actual understanding on why he keeps turning into a superpowered albino that murders anything remotely threatening whenever he gets angry enough, helps Rean take the first step towards accepting this power.
Events in Heimdallr, the capital of the Erebonian Empire, proceed as in canon beyond the meeting with the diva Vita Clotilde where Kyrie identifies her as a 'Clown Chef' and the Clown that the Clowntoucher (Crow) is touching. Other than that the main difference is that G ends up perforated by Utterdark Lances when he calls Rean's bluff after the grup defeats the undead dragon he called up with his Artifact. Unlike Rean, Kyrie has no special consideration for G's hostage and is willing to strike with them in the line of fire. The arrival of G's comrades prevent her from finishing G off. C, the leader of the terrorist group that G is a member of, fights and defeats Group A.
Kyrie doesn't mind too much, because she realised during the fight that C is touching the same Clown that Crow is. The players would have a choice of how Kyrie would tell him, from solemn to laughing in his face.
Chapter five has Kyrie accompanying Group B, with most interaction being poking Crow for touching Clowns.
Chapter six goes as canon.
Chapter seven would have more tension between Kyrie and Crow, with the latter growing increasingly done after months of needling.
The school festival sees Kyrie helping the Cooking Club with its stall and Margarita with her love life. Events proceed as in canon until the moment Ordine puts Valimar to flight. Kyrie advances to the next level of Spiritual Unification and tries to fight Ordine on foot, with predictable results. As C is about to finish Kyrie off the recent doses of active Higher Elements is enough for Kyrie to remember her true form:
Kyrie is Kayeyeharaieh the Harvest Seraph, winged, occult, and undying. Endlessly adding to her island in a hope that eventually, someday, it wil become the foundation from which Kyrie can built a whole new Realm, one dustspeck at a time.
Now that she is a JRPG final boss, Kyrie's power and Divergent nature allow her to actually damage Ordine. With his Divine Knight being forced back, C is bailed out by the arrival of McBurn. McBurn pushes Kyrie to the limit, but is defeated.
Only for him to activate his perfected Spiritual Unification and stomp her to the ground.
Kyrie retreats back to the Utterdark to lick her wounds, reentering Zemuria a few days later to find that Class VII has scattered themselves all over eastern Erebonia.
At this point the players would have the choice of looking for Rean, going to Nord, staying in the central east, or wander the southeast*. Cue Cold Steel 2.
*What these entail and how they would be described to the players will be explained in the CS2 outline.
