v.1.1
Disclaimer: Squaresoft and the design team who developed FFT own Final Fantasy Tactics. Even the 'random' characters therein are owned by them. Only the writing is mine.
***Author's Notes***
A chunk of this story (at this point) will take place using the in- game script. Pardon that, but I intend to stick to the storyline as much as possible. However, there will be explanations about the characters and thoughts, and needlessly said, my opinions will most likely not resonate with yours. Expect Chapter 1: The Meager to go by rather quickly or simply have retold through Ramza's words around a campfire. True deviation will occur beginning in Chapter 2: The Manipulator and the Subservient.
If you enjoy Random Characters, be disappointed: they won't really appear (As to Alicia, Lavian, and Rad . . . they don't have stable roles in the storyline to begin with). Notes (statistics more like) on Ramza and Agrias follow the end of this 'chapter'.
***Author's Notes***
Truth and Reality; Duty and Conscience Records of the heretic Ramza and the Holy Knight Agrias before, during, and after the Lion War.
The Durai Papers had shed some light on the mystery of the faceless Ramza Beoulve, the last of an illustrious line which faded into obscurity after the Lion War. Truth, reality actually, from one perspective on this enigmatic figure whose historical importance had never been fully recognized.
As detailed as they were, the Durai Papers were only one source of information, one source among many. Diaries, memoirs, tales: each is based upon a core of truth, and distorted through the lens of perception.
They are many strands that can be wound together to create a link to the past.
-Alazlam
Chapter 00-01 ( Prologue, Scene I )
***January 1st, Year 2. Orbonne Monastery Area***
In the entry hall of the monastery, Agrias blocked the stairway that led up to the second story's balcony. "I will not intrude upon the Princess' worshipping."
Growing annoyed at the delay, Gafgarion reached his left hand across himself. "By all means then, save yourself the trouble and let us do it for you."
Seeing that the older mercenary was trying to provoke the Holy Knight inside a church, the timid Ramza reached out and touched the withdrawn Agrias. He instantly drew her attention, and a low snarl almost escaped her throat. "Excuse me, dame Agrias?" he addressed her. Her cool stare bade him to continue. "If we are to make it to Dorter Trade City by nightfall at a reasonable pace for the princess, we have to leave now." He phrased his statement carefully, wanting to get his point across without having to start an argument.
Tentatively, the young man, little more than a boy, pulled back his grasp, and Agrias almost chuckled at his nature. It would have been funny had he not been dressed as a soldier, his hesitant actions out of place for a mercenary. Still, he did have a valid point. If the trip to Dorter Trade City was to be at a relaxed pace for the princess, they had to leave now. "I understand," she replied, "I'll see what I can do. . ."
"Is she stubborn?" Ramza remarked, the smile on his face fading as Agrias glared at him. "I have a little sister at home who's the same way," he explained, an edge of sadness fading out the nervousness in his voice.
Once more, Agrias Oaks was thrown off. The boy kept on doing things that offended her at first, but were actually harmless or helpful gestures. His remark about the princess, almost referring to her as one of the lower class, was bordering on disrespectful, but she noticed that he talked about Ovelia in more human terms, not just as a monarch; a symbol. She was tempted to say something back to Ramza, but Gafgarion's almost taunting expression kept her from commenting.
Turning to take one more look at the puzzling boy, Agrias walked up the stairway with her right hand on the banister, trying to find out why the mercenary boy did not seem so threatening, yet dangerous nonetheless. With Gafgarion, there was no small amount of personal distaste mixed with conviction, while the other mercenary looked like a common thug.
Reputation or not, only that Ramza boy seems trustworthy, Agrias thought, even then, he's hiding more than a 'normal' person should. She was ascending onto the second floor and walking down the extended balcony, which overlooked the interior of the chapel. She strode in to hear Ovelia pray, "God, please help us sinful children of Ivalice."
Agrias stopped a grimace. Yes, the prayer was sincere and encompassed an altruistic vision, but such a thing to ask of the Lord? Why couldn't Ovelia pray for something more personal to her, something more tangible? the Holy Knight thought. Ivalice needed all the help it could get, Agrias knew, not wanting to think back to the Fifty Years' War. "Princess Ovelia," she addressed her protectorate, "let's go."
The Holy Knight disapproved of the way Ovelia was on the raised edge of the balcony, the front having a ledge that sat above the side rails. It was overly dramatic to Agrias, who was more or less content to pray whenever she did not have her duties to attend to and wherever it was convenient.
"Just a moment Agrias," Ovelia replied, seeming reluctant to leave.
It was now Agrias' turn to be caught between two different sides, much like Ramza was. "The guards have already arrived," she said reasonably, adding a little firmness in her voice.
Simon, the brown-robed priest by Ovelia spoke up, "Princess, don't give Agrias trouble. Please hurry. . ." he urged, giving Agrias a sympathetic smile.
The peaceful scene was shattered as Gafgarion marched through the doorway, flanked by an indifferent Rad, the other squire, and Ramza, who looked at Agrias apologetically, as if to say sorry for not being able to stall his commander.
"What's going on? It's been nearly an hour!" Gafgarion announced.
The Holy Knight's reply was as cold as the Dark Knight's was heated. "Don't be rude to the Princess, Gafgarion," she told him, an edge in her words.
Remembering themselves, Ramza and Rad went down on a knee as they bowed to the princess. Agrias noticed the difference between the two. Rad's was sketchy, though swift, but Ramza's was smoother, marked by genuine respect.
"Is this going to be alright Agrias?" The Dark Knight asked, almost baiting her. "This is an urgent issue for us."
Somehow, Agrias kept herself from lashing out. "So there are rude knaves even among the Hokuten?" she replied, reminding Gafgarion of his place.
"I'm being more than kind to the guard captains here," the Dark Knight pointed out, practically insulting Ovelia's bodyguards. "Besides, we're mercenaries hired by the Hokuten," he pointed out, highlighting the nature of his association with the prestigious knight order. "I'm not obliged to show respect to you," he remarked as an insult towards the Holy Knight.
Keeping her hands from straying to the sheathed Mithril sword on her left side, Agrias still bit back. "What? How dare you!"
Ovelia, clad in her white robes, stepped in to stop the bickering, "Enough. Let's go," she declared softly, feeling dejected.
Simon walked up to her and whispered, "Go with God."
Accepting his blessing as a friend, she turned to him and said back, "You too, Simon."
Another interruption occurred. A female knight stumbled in; one more of Ovelia's St. Konoe Knight's security detail. Her left arm was disabled, and the fletching of an arrow poking out from the gap it found between her pauldron and gorget. Another arrow had pierced her breastplate. Even with the upper body and upper arm protection the female knights wore, they had failed against the archer's who had hunted them. "Lady Agrias!" the knight called out as they came to her aid, "The enemy!" she screeched as she fell to her knees in agony.
Simon spoke out, "Prince's Goltana's men!?" It was a guess on his part, one sparked by fear and logic.
Forcing herself to ignore her injured soldier, leaving her care to the priests, Agrias rushed out the doorway and downstairs. She had more than one knight under her command.
Ramza had already unclipped his scabbard and held it with his left hand. The mithril sword's straight blade made it hard to draw the sword from the hip.
Gafgarion's reaction to the wounded 'ally' was indifferent. "What one must do to make money," he remarked, almost jokingly in his callous manner. He caught Ramza's moment of scrutiny. "What, Ramza? You have a problem too?"
The boy declined to start an argument. "I'm no longer a Knight," he admitted to himself, his words ringing hollow, lacking sincerity and conviction. "Just a mercenary like you," he replied.
Wondering whether that was an insult or resignation, Gafgarion chose to ignore it. "That's right. Well then," he addressed his two charges. "Let's go!"
Ramza took a look back at Ovelia, wondering if he should leave their principal, before moving on. In that moment, he hated what he was doing.
"Oh God. . ." Ovelia unknowingly moaned, not knowing if it was a prayer she sent out, or her doubts coming forth.
Outside the monastery doors, two more female knights, Alicia and Lavian, were pinned down, hunkered besides the stonework, right outside the pillars of the partially subterranean hall. Above them, Agrias emerged, charging forwards with her gold-inlaid bronze shield held just below her eyeline. She was crouched, tilted forwards as she found shelter, expecting to be fired upon. The enemy archers did not disappoint her as two initial arrows deflected off her shield. The third was the wiser archer, waiting until she had stopped before letting loose and piercing her gold-inlaid mithril breastplate. Agrias gasped as the arrowhead punctured her armor. It did not penetrate fully, yet cut her skin. Angrily, she took her left hand, the one that held her shield, and used it to pull the arrow out. She succeeded only in breaking the head from the shaft. Now she had to deal with a cutting arrowhead rattling around between her thin linen blouse and armor. The fact that the softer material was the one that protected her skin did not salve Agrias' worries.
Taking a look, Agrias saw at least three archers behind a lone knight. Instinctively she looked at the knight's shield, looking for his heraldry. "The crest of the Black Lion!?" Agrias gasped out as Ramza, Gafgarion, and Rad arrived onscene. Agrias was letting the battle get to her as she exclaimed. "What's wrong with Prince Goltana!? He's such an idiot! Does he want to start a war!?" she screamed out at the enemy knight, waiting for the next wave of arrows to bear down on her. The third archer continued to harass her, his arrows now coming in from a steep trajectory, stabbing the earth.
She recognized the lone knight, having seen him before, fighting alongside her own unit then during the Fifty Years' War. Lezales, of the order of the Black Lion. The knight had the gall to offer terms. "Knave!" he addressed her, ignoring the mercenaries. "There's not point in resisting! Just give us the Princess," he paused, "or that beautiful face of yours will be scarred forever!" he declared, trying to get at her.
Gafgarion interrupted her reply. "Fool! Only idiots attack head on!"
Ramza had ignored the exchange, knowing any terms would have been ignored. He saw a knight, three archers, and a single chemist. While they had the edge now, once he and the others closed, the fight would be over, and the archers were too nearby to keep their distance. Still, he found what Gafgarion said questionable. They had just charged into an enemy trap.
"Leave this to us!" Agrias snarled as she saw Alicia and Lavian make an end-run towards two of the archers. It was her way of saying that bloodshed was not necessary, not that the mercenary's help would not be missed.
Gafgarion snorted. "We can't make money that way!" he remarked in an amused fashion, almost enjoying himself. "Rad, Ramza, Follow me!!" he declared as he led the charge.
Ramza strayed as he ran over towards Agrias, who was still pinned down by the skilled archer. As he passed by her, he tossed her a small sack from the small chemist's satchel he wore at the small of his back over his dark purple bronze armor. Agrias wondered why he wore no greaves and sabot, but a pair of well-worn battle boots. The female knights wore less armor than the males because of the strength difference, and she tried to ascertain what the boy specialized in besides waving a sword around.
"Kill them all!" Gafgarion exhorted, urging his own people. "Don't leave any survivors!"
Agrias hurriedly drank the contents of the pouch as she followed, covering his flank. She saw him flinch as the archer that tormented her now knocked an arrow into her unrequited guardian, nicking him in the side, before he continued. "Nonsense!" she cried. "There's no need to kill them! That's just what Goltana wants us to do!" she reasoned, figuring out that the people sent against them were outclassed. "Just let them go!" she urged, knowing that none would escape, but her conscience demanding it of her.
Knowing that the archer was out of her range, Agrias chose to target the lone enemy knight, Lezales. Already, Gafgarion had scathed him if she heard him right. The knight had given a fine account of himself. Which meant nothing in reality as he was completely outclassed. In melee he was a formidable foe. Against enemies who did not need to close to harm him, he was impotent. Yet already he had broken Rad's iron sword, forcing the squire back, who was now using a dagger coated with a blinding dye.
"That's impossible!" Gafgarion stated, dismissing her offer of quarter. "Master of all swords, cut energy!" Gafgarion called out. "Night Sword!" With that attack, linked to the Yin-Yang magic of the oracle, the second archer was struck, having his health stolen from him and given to the Dark Knight, who shrugged off the single arrow hit he had taken.
Agrias locked up the location of Lezales and targeted him with one of her own abilities. Focusing her energies, she began. "Life is short. . ." she declared, "bury! Steady Sword!" Divine energy arced into the heavens from her sword and came down upon the hapless enemy knight, stunning the target as the technique sometimes did. Agrias' assault forced the man onto his right knee, where Rad came in and buried his dagger in the gap between his gorget and breastplate. Lezales died without so much as a scream.
Three against one; even a veteran of the Fifty Years' War would succumb, and Agrias knew that Gafgarion had fought in there too.
When she focused back on Ramza and supporting him, she saw that as the enemy archer fell back and attempted to knock another arrow into his bow, Ramza had picked up a stone and hurled it at him, the rock striking the archer in the chin. It caused little damage, but it threw the archer's aim off as Ramza closed in. Giving up, the archer turned and fled, only that Ramza, wearing his worn battle boots, ran him down and with a timed thrust, pinned the archer to the ground.
Agrias realized she didn't have to use her Stasis Sword ability to help finish the archer off as Ramza freed his sword from the fallen archer by twisting it in the process, using the momentum to propel him towards his next target: the chemist. Yes she would have slain the archer, but the cold, efficient manner in which Ramza committed the killing almost frightened her. The boy had gone from shy-boy to manslayer in a matter of moments.
She had seen warriors like him on the field: on both sides. Skilled, dangerous, and open-hearted; their one flaw, one that they all shared. They were doomed to stay on the field till their deaths, never rotating out, always signing up for another tour of duty. Fighting with a sense of duty and conscience that none could match. She uttered a brief prayer for the boy, wishing that he would not share the fate of so many others that perished in Ivalice's ill-fortuned war.
They were killers with a naive's face. Agrias always wondered if they were demonic angels or angelic devils. They were something in between: innocent and vicious; children.
Ramza had turned his attention towards the chemist, who was coming at him with a dagger. Puzzled at the action of the battlefield medic, Ramza sidestepped slowly, watching out for the sole remaining archer, now running away from the two other knights and the other mercenaries. The chemist reached into his pouch and withdrew a feather; phoenix down. Skillfully deflecting Ramza's own sword, the chemist threw the feather as if it was a weighted object. As it settled onto the fallen archer that Ramza slew, it disappeared. Doing so, the archer was resurrected, but in critical condition.
"Agrias, there's no one protecting the princess!" Ramza urged the Holy Knight as he coldly drew a mithril dagger from his sword-arm's sleeve and in hurled it into the crouched archer's throat. The man died for a second time as Ramza's next strike disarmed the chemist; the leverage he had with the mithril sword defeating the chemist's grip on his own dagger.
Clutching his cut forearm, the chemist accepted defeat, going down on his knees. As Agrias and Lavian, one of her remaining knights, was rushing back towards the monastery, she turned back and saw the posture Ramza was in, his sword still bared, standing over the kneeling chemist. Unable to see his eyes, but knowing his overly calm expression, Agrias began to cry out to spare the man, remembering Gafgarion's expression.
The battle had been won, and of the five foes, only the chemist remained breathing.
Before she had finished her cry, Ramza went and unclipped the chemist's belly-satchel and after tossing it aside, pushed the chemist onto the soft earth into a prone position. Only then, after Rad had come over wielding Lezales' mithril sword, did Ramza sheath his own weapon after cleaning it with a cloth he wore around his waist as a sash.
He looked towards Agrias, who was still going back to the monastery, and she saw Ramza's face shift with realization of what she thought and pain briefly blossomed on his face. She followed his gaze towards the archer he had slain twice over, and he cleanly removed his dagger from the corpse's torn throat, closing the man's eyes before he cleaned the weapon, coated in the man's blood on the same band of cloth he used to clean his sword.
A dull scream is heard from behind the chapel, a feminine scream.
Agrias and her knights begin to run in that direction, to enter the monastery, and Ovelia's voice is now clearly heard. "Let go of me!" she demanded, being forced by a knight clad in gold-hued armor. He also wore the crest of the Black Lion.
Agrias was running into the monastery's chapel, with Ramza picking up the fallen archer's bow and quiver, walking over to cover the rear of the monastery. "Damn!!" the Holy Knight cursed.
"Come here! Be quiet!" the dark-haired knight told her, failing to keep his own voice down.
"Why should I listen to you!?" the princess spat back. She continued to struggle against her kidnapper.
The young knight had enough. "What an annoying princess," he declared, striking her with a gauntleted fist in the stomach as she struggled. He picked her up and deposited her on his plain yellow chocobo, The oversized bird looking anxious, sensing something amiss. He mounts the other Chocobo and prepares to make his escape as Agrias comes out of the chapel's rear entrance.
"Wait!!" she cried helplessly, beginning to lock him up with her sword, preparing to use her Stasis Sword to delay him. Ovelia's immediate safety was not in question. Not unless the knight was a fool, not simply ruthless as he was when he used his comrades as a diversion.
As the knight turned to look at her, an arrow pierced the side of the young knight's Chocobo. The bird went down but stood up again, cawing in agony as the missile's shaft was fully embedded in its side, tearing into its organs, only the fletching exposed. Turning around, the Chocobo used its curing ability on itself, alleviating some of the pain, but not removing the cause of damage, only delaying the inevitable until real treatment could be given. Through it all, the knight kept himself mounted. Agrias held her breath as the second arrow arrow hit the bird low and forwards in its breast. It wasn't near to Ovelia, but she felt anger towards the 'friendly' archer nonetheless.
"Tough. . ." the young knight let out, "don't blame us. . . Blame yourself of God," he told the Holy Knight, still closing her distance as he urged his mount to run off, sprinting away, still stable, but only for so long.
Agrias stopped her pursuit, knowing it was hopeless. "Oh, God. . ." she murmured, staring helplessly as her unconscious charge was carried away.
Ramza, still in front of the monastery, un-knocked the bow he had taken from the archer he slew. He had hurt the chocobo badly, enough to slow the enemy down. He too was numb. ". . . Delita??" he said out loud, remembering the name. "You're alive, Delita?" he asked. "But, why are you in Goltana's troops? Why. . . ?"
***
Within minutes, the chemist had been secured by the priests of the monastery and local squires in the constabulary. The mercenaries and three remaining knights from the order of St. Konoe hailing from Lesalia, the capital, recuperated from the battle.
It was Gafgarion who spoke first concerning what Ramza had said. "So Ramza, you know who kidnapped her?" It wasn't a question, it was a demand.
". . ." Ramza didn't reply. It was part of their agreement. No one had a past in the mercenary group he was in. Tempted as he was, he would not reveal his origins, not now, and especially not to a man like Gafgarion.
Light footsteps followed as Agrias walked out the front of the monastery. She was clad in the tunic she wore underneath her breastplate and heavy leather 'corset'. Ramza's eyes widened slightly as he saw where she had been cut multiple times by the same arrowhead.
"He's taking Princess Ovelia with him," she told Ramza's group as well as her own knights. "Can't be that far," she said, knowing it was of little substance.
Of course, Gafgarion picked up the slack in conflict. "Are you going after him?"
Ramza grew alert, sensing another argument. Just after a battle. . . blood would taint holy ground once more. It was a rhetorical question, one meant to draw a reaction, not a response.
The Holy Knight did not even bother to face him as she replied. "Of course! I couldn't face the royal family unless I do!"
Ramza felt the urge to strike Gafgarion. Either the Dark Knight and the Holy Knight knew each other in the past, or the man was just good at provocation.
"We won't help you," Gafgarion told her, almost petulantly. "It's not in the contract," the aging mercenary continued.
Giving Ramza a brief look of apology, Agrias struck back with a delayed response. "We don't need help from one who's not even a knight!" she told the mercenaries, knowing that she was being drawn into an argument. "A knight must fix his own mistakes. That is one of our responsibilities as guards!" Agrias paused, knowing she just opened herself up for a strong rebuke for her failure. "Lavian, Alicia," she called, "let's go!"
The two knights simply kept silent, not wanting to be drawn into the argument. Detestable as most of the mercenary group assigned to them were, they did comprise a lot of their current strength and it would be foolish to let them go at this critical juncture.
Simon limped out of the entrance. His robes were still flecked with the knight's blood. At Agrias' worried glance, he nodded, signaling that her fallen knight was still alive and was recovering.
"Are you all right, Milord?" she asked him, knowing he had tried to resist the young knight when he kidnapped Ovelia.
Politely, the old priest shrugged off her concern for himself. "The Princess. . . how is she?" he asked, knowing that the kidnapper had gotten away.
Agrias kept herself from showing open frustration. Taking a breath, she composed herself. "I'm very sorry," she said formally. "I swear I'll get her back!" she vowed.
It was now Simon's turn to look at her with concern. ". . . No. You'd be in danger. . ." he said, looking at the others.
Shaking her head, Agrias continued. "Don't worry. I swear on my knight's honor - I'll save her!" she declared.
Ramza found his conviction resonating with hers. Forestalling the justified insult Gafgarion was going to launch, Ramza spoke out. "I'll go," he paused, "too!" Agrias gave him a baleful look, her sincerest one since before the incident. "I won't be a burden!" he said unnecessarily.
The look he gave Gafgarion was clear. If he was opposed on this issue, he would break away from the mercenaries without a second thought, and Gafgarion's team would lose a significant amount of its lethality. Also, by default, Ramza knew that the mercenary's were obliged to assist the St. Konoe knights under the contract with the Hokuten.
Ramza knew that somehow, Gafgarion had searched him out there where he had started a new life in Dorter. The Dark Knight who he was just a year ago. Somehow, Ramza thought that Gafgarion sought him out for a reason.
Though Ramza knew it was inevitable that they had to chase after Ovelia, he was not about to let his current superior to aggravate the Holy Knight any further. It was not only loutish, but it was in direct violation of her duty.
Every single particle of the painfully-earned wisdom Ramza had screamed at him that he was being foolish, that he was allowing himself to be drawn to someone who had this moral cause, Agrias in this case. Ramza's duty was to protect the princess, and his conscience was with protecting Agrias. He would preserve the only thing he had left of real value to himself: his integrity.
Grudgingly, Gafgarion gave in. "Are you crazy?!" he addressed the boy. "This' none of our business!" he pointlessly said, knowing that he was bound by the terms of the contract.
Ramza changed the direction of the argument to that of the young knight he had seen. "I have to know!" he said irrationally, knowing it would throw Gafgarion off his tirade. "I must see it with my own eyes!"
Agrias felt grateful to the boy, yet puzzled as well as to why someone who spilled blood for gil would so willingly devote themselves to the task she had assigned to herself. Such earnestness was not admirable; that kind of righteousness, especially in one in that boy's role, was dangerous.
Figuring out what Ramza meant, Gafgarion addressed him again. "You mean, that boy you saw?"
Ramza only fingered the hole in his breastplate's waist caused by the third archer's missile, nodding.
"You're as stubborn as a mule," the Dark Knight told the boy. "Don't come crying to me for help if something happens!"
"Ramza. . . I welcome your offer to accompany me in my task," Agrias told him. "How do you know the other knight?" she asked.
Reluctantly, Ramza answered. "He was a friend, a dead friend."
Gafgarion spoke. "If that boy's is one of Goltana's men, he won't risk going through populated areas, and it's a long way from Zeltennia or Lionel. He'll bypass Dorter Trade City, but its harsher terrain and he'll be slowed down, unless he switches Chocobo.
"Those men also came here by Chocobo, Agrias," Ramza told the Holy Knight. "It would have made all the difference if they attacked us while mounted. . . but they didn't. Delita could have used any three or more of those chocobos as reserves whenever the ones I struck give out."
"Or he may have forgotten about them," Rad supplied.
Agrias' reply came low. "I understand the need for you to hamper his mobility. . ."
"I accepted the consequences of my action when I knocked my first arrow into that bow," Ramza stated. His voice lacked guilt, but was filled with blunt honesty, even in his weak tone. He did not say more, not excusing himself. The silence was the best answer for her.
"Good shot. . . both of them," Rad said, only further irriating the Holy Knight. His action of looting the corpses earlier only validated her opinion of the other mercenaries.
Ramza had gone through their bodies too, but she noticed after her initial outrage had faded when she realized that he looked for papers of their identity and allegiance. The only equipment he ransacked was the fallen archer's weapon and ammunition and the contents of the chemist's satchel. Both of them were essential equipment, which Agrias realized might be necessary in their pursuit.
Shaking his head, Gafgarion began, "We might as well leave now. There wouldn't happen to be any chocobos around would there?"
"No, there aren't. We'll have to go to Dorter on foot," Agrias told them as she went back into the monastery with her knights.
Gafgarion snorted as the women disappeared from sight. "That knight will have to cross the wilderness. He has to avoid civilization until he reaches the border of Lionel. He won't risk going through the capital to make it to Zeltennia."
"What if the wilderness gets him first?" Ramza asked.
The Dark Knight regarded him warily. "When you signed up to be a mercenary, Ramza Ruglia," he emphasized, "you had no past." He warned the armored squire, "Like you, that boy is a ghost. Kill anything holding you back before it kills you."
***
Several minutes later, Agrias emerged refreshed and ready to begin the pursuit. Within the monastery, she had seen to her fallen knight and had her own injuries thoroughly healed in preparation for the journey. Instead of donning her full suit of armor, which gave her excellent upper- body protection, Agrias opted only to wear the cuirass portion of her gold- inlaid mithril plate armor. Over this was a green Wizard's Robe trimmed in amber. Her thickened blue clothing was replaced by a thin, gray linen blouse, under which, she wore thin leather pants.
Gone was the barrel helmet with a crossguard that she would have normally worn. Instead, Agrias chose to don the robe's cowl. The sleeves had been tailored to be widened, allowing her concealed arms freedom of movement, and the hem reach only just below her knees as well. Her own gold-inlaid shield had been replaced by a small buckler that she wore concealed.
Alicia and Lavian were likewise disguised.
Lavian had changed out to a lighter piece of armor, a cuirass with a lining of linen and a sturdy outer shell of bronze. Her shield was now a plain bronze shield.
Alicia wore the attire of a meager squire, wearing toughened leather battle-clothing. She had no shield at all, only having her longsword sheathed at her right side. She wore the bulky belly satchel taken from the enemy chemist.
"And the number of mercenaries double," Gafgarion chuckled. "Can't have Princess Ovelia's security detail running around away from the capital without their ward, can we?" he remarked dryly, meaning that all the resources the would have to contribute to their pursuit was what they had now.
"Its enough," Ramza threw into the conversation before Agrias could be provoked. "An excuse could be made about Princess Ovelia delayed by sickness, and isolated in convalescence."
Mentally, the Holy Knight thanked the armored squire for his understanding. "For the time being, we are no longer of the St. Konoe knights."
Simon walked towards them with a chocobo laden with baggage. "I hope these stores will be enough to sustain you in your mission."
Agrias bowed as she took the Chocobo's reins. "We'll make it last or get more on the way," she told him.
"Too bad the local chocobo's are too tame to make good time across the wilderness," Alicia noted, patting her satchel.
Rad grumbled. "It wouldn't matter unless one of us knew how to track them."
"Goltana's men may have had a route here," Gafgarion told them, "but we don't." Taking a look at Agrias, he continued, "plus we don't have enough time to glean the information from that chemist."
A pained look crossed Agrias' face. "Don't tempt me with the option of torture, mercenary," she warned. "Besides, we would have no way to make sure the chemist wasn't lying to us."
Without missing a beat, Gafgarion replied, "I forgot. . . you were from the church. You people would know about interrogation and 'truth' more than a 'stray' mercenary like me could." Agrias refused to take the bait, but Lavian's expression of fury was unmistakable in her plain face. "I'll stop now. . . lest I be labeled a 'heretic', hm?"
Stifling a prayer to have the Pagan Examiners investigate Gafgarion himself, Agrias chose to bear the abuse. The mission came first. Duty to Ovelia superceded all other concerns. She felt shamed by even considering Gafgarion's suggestion. The Holy Knight was proud of her faith, but she would not be the last to deny that the some of the people of that same faith were sinister in their zealous fervor.
She looked up when she felt the reins she held being tugged forwards, and the chocobo she held beginning to march. She found herself staring at Ramza. "If everything's here. . ." he told her, "we can talk more of the mission on the way to Dorter."
"I thank you," she told him.
Subtly, he turned his face towards the chocobo, looking across Agrias' field of vision. "I bear just as much fault as you in this," he told her. "I should have stayed behind and hidden the princess in a safe place."
She felt compassion, not sympathy, from the boy, and she chose to accept it. "I abandoned my duty first," she relieved him of the responsibility. "It is done. . . I will redeem and fulfill my duty by getting her back. . ." Agrias felt a little hope buoy her dire mood. "Even if you are bound by your contract, I appreciate your effort."
". . ."
"My duty demands that I see Ovelia safely to where she belongs, and yours is to help me in that role. Your conscience compels you to correct what is wrong, mine will not allow me to abandon her," Agrias told him, speaking normally now, not caring what the others behind them would think of the conversation. "Your reasons are as valid as mine. . . but there is something more."
Looking over at her behind the Chocobo's large neck, Ramza nodded. "You wish to know why Goltana would abduct the princess. I wish to know why the dead is among the living. We're searching for truth, and its very different from reality."
***
To be continued
***
***Author's Notes***
Hm, more changes made and portions added.
In case you were wondering, yes, for a significant part I will use the in-game script. Why? Because that's how it happened IN THE STORY.
However, the scenes in between are the ones I will take artistic license with. Also, as to what happens in the battle, that is something that is variable.
Running into trouble with Ramza here. Granted after the tour of duty he served in Chapter 1 while fighting the Death Corps, he would have learned a lot, remember, that chapter and the aftermath spans almost a year. That's a lot of time for him to harden.
Also, note the difference between the Ramza of The Meager, The Manipulator and the Subservient and onwards. The immediate post-Gariland Ramza is very ignorant and arrogant. The later Ramza's are still incredibly dense, but at least are on the right path morally.
Its annoying, Agrias and Gafgarion came off as petulant in the game at this point, and I am trying to break them out of that.
***Author's Notes***
*** *** *** *** Technical Details:
Ramza 'Ruglia' Primary Job: *Squire
Let's face it, this is HIS job. Makes quite a bit of sense actually. Not just story-wise, but also in-game. This basically means that its feasible to turn Ramza into anything - He's a Super-'Generic' character. The ones you pick up, invite, or hire, which you train for a specific role or multiple jobs.
Of course, he wields a sword constantly in the story and he always wears armor post 'Chapter 1: The Meager'.
That limits the range feasibly to a class that must equip a Sword and wears Armor:
*Squire - Guts! (lots of miscellenaous goodies) *Knight - Battle Skill (Break Stuff)
With the Equip Armor ability (the Knight), you can stretch it to:
*Geomancer - Geomancy (but Ramza never struck me as touchy-feely Nature Boy)
He came from Magical City Gariland; a training academy. I assume that the boy has passing familiarity with the basic (low-requirement) jobs:
*Chemist (Healing Items) - *Wizard (Black Mage) *Knight - *Archer (Charged-Shot)
Forget *Priest (White Mage).
Ramza's job development in 'Chapter 1: The Meager' will lead him from *Knight to *Archer to *Thief (Steal Stuff). A perfect choice seeing as Ramza seems martial, and Archery is one of those skills. As well as seeing as what happens at the end of 'Chapter 1: The Meager', Ramza pretty much runs away and I figure he would pick up thievery skills while surviving on his own until he runs in Gafgarion.
Ramza Beoulve Primary Job: *Squire Skill Aptitudes: Guts! (*Squire)
Accumulate (+1 Attack Power)
Throw Stone (Duh. . .)
Wish (Heal Target 2X life, lose X life)
Heal (Cancel - Blindness + Poison)
Yell (+1 Speed) Battle Skill (*Knight)
Weapon Break
Shield Break
Power Break (-3 Attack Power)
Speed Break (-2 Speed) Charge (*Archer)
Charge +1 (One-Shot +1 Attack Power)
Charge +5 (One-Shot +5 Attack Power) Steal (*Thief)
Gil Stealing (Rob Money. . .)
Steal Weapon
Steal Shield
Steal Helmet Reaction Abilities: Weapon Guard (*Knight) Support Abilities:
Equipment Change (*Chemist) [He's already used this in the story]
Equip Armor / \
Equip Sword | *Knight |
Equip Shield \ /
Concentrate (*Archer) [NEVER miss the target]
Equip Bow (*Archer) [Screw just the crossbow!] Move Abilities:
Move +1 (*Squire)
Jump +1 (*Archer)
Jump +2 (*Thief)
I just hope this doesn't make Ramza TOO uber. As it is, for most of those jobs, he has the bare-bones skill sets. Its obvious that he has the highest investment as a Knight, but lets face it - He's a Beoulve, its what he was supposed to be anyways. If anything, that fact that he doesn't have super-attacks like Agrias, Gafgarion, Meladioul, Wiegraf, and the brother Beoulve is a neat fact. It encourages the player to spread Ramza out into at least one other class. (*Monk or *Lancer is best).
NOT ALL OF THESE ARE ACTIVE. For example, Ramza can't switch between a bow and a sword simultaneously, or Ramza can't have a fully-equipped Chemist satchel on him. A small pouch with a couple of potions, some phoenix down, and echo grass maybe.
Ramza does not use a Rod either, and even his magic spells are hampered since his stats are based on his Squire aspect (Low MP and Low Magic Attack).
Still, Ramza might have a shorter bow and a quiver as secondary weapons along with a dagger.
Later on, Ramza becomes a *Dragoon (*Lancer) [Spear-wielding Jumper that has armor].
Example of a typical loadout:
Helmet: Iron Helmet Armor: Bronze Armor (It has to be plate of some sort, not mail) Right Hand: Mithril Sword (Miluda's) Left Hand: Empty (double-handed grip) Accessory: Battle Boots (Move +1)
Actual Game Ability Loadout:
Job: *Squire Primary: Guts! (*Squire) Secondary: Steal (*Thief) or Battle Skill (*Knight) (Depends on what you want to do) Reactionary: Weapon Guard (*Knight) Support Ability: Concentrate (*Archer) (Make sure the ability works on target) Movement: Jump +2 (*Thief) or Move +2 (*Thief)
(Note the pattern of skill development. . .)
That loadout turns him into a 5 Move, 5 Jump 'hopper'(The 'Baller') or a 7 Move, 3 Jump 'sprinter' (The 'Kenyan'). Not bad. Agrias would still be a 4 Move 3 Jump. Ramza's supposed to be a *Lancer soon anyways. Hey, its an armor class that comes from the archer and thief branch. . . weird.
Agrias Oaks Primary Job: *Holy Knight (Zap things from afar with Holy Elemental attacks that sometimes have status effects)
Ah, the story's heroine. . . for one Chapter at least (one bad thing about FFT's openness, critical characters sometimes only appear in one chapter). I'm struggling not to turn her into a Damsel-In-Distress, or a foil for Ramza. Yes, while I want the two to be together, and they are my sponsored pairing in Final Fantasy Tactics. . . I want the relationship to be on an equal basis.
Agrias can kick Ramza's ass.
Ramza can kick Agrias' ass.
Let's keep it that way.
Ramza specializes in his versatility and relies on his Brave (affects physical attacks/defense/reactions, I use him as a physical attacker), and Agrias relies on her Faith (Magic Sensitivity - positive and negative feedback).
They compliment each other.
Obviously, she's a holy elemental. There are only two things Agrias needs to learn. Her own sword skills as a Holy Knight, and the White Magic skills she'll acquire as a *Priestess (White Mage). To make it more believable, she should know Battle Skill as well including the *Knight's other abilities.
Her Holy Sword skills comes from both White Magic combined with Battle Skill. Granted she's not Meladioul, but she's not limited by equipment, and her sword attacks are Holy Elemental.
Storywise, Agrias is anywhere from 3-5 years older than Ramza, and I assume she's possibly 4 years older. This woman has fought in the Fifty Years' War while Ramza was just beginning his first years in the Academy at Magical City Gariland. She should have passing familiarity with the *Chemist and *Archer jobs as she was in the battlefield, but I figure she'll stick to Holy Sword and White Magic as well as some Battle Skill.
She's more mature than Ramza is, and is actually jaded about most things. In a way. She's just very cautious and prudent while Ramza still seems to have hope in humanity, or rather, the good in everyone. While she may seem immature at this point in the story, she's under a lot of stress while Ramza is pretty much getting used to being a mercenary.
As is, Agrias is kickass. She has the ability to Zap things long away with FREE MAGIC ATTACKS. Her MP is reserved for White Magic. Plus, her 'Squire' class is *Holy Knight which has a fair Physical Attack : Magic Attack ratio. Sadly, you'll have to make sure both are high since her Holy Sword will use Physical Attack while her White Magic will use Magic Attack. Unlike Ramza, she didn't have to pick a career branch.
Agrias Primary Job: *Holy Knight Skill Aptitudes: Holy Sword: (*Holy Knight - Agrias' base class: think of *Squire)
*Stasis Sword (May add - Stop)
*Split Punch (May add - Death Sentence)
*Crush Punch (May add - Dead) White Magic: (*Priestess)
Cure
Cure 3
Raise (Magic Phoenix Down)
Protect (Physical Protection)
Shell (Magic Protection)
Wall (One-Person Shell + Protect)
Esuna (Heals Buko amounts of Negative Status Effects) Battle Skill: (*Knight)
Weapon Break
Power Break
Speed Break
Mind Break (Anti Magic Attack) Reaction Abilities:
Weapon Guard (*Knight)
Regenerator (*Priest) [Adds Regen - life-gain] Support Abilities:
Defend (*Holy Knight)
Monster Skill (*Holy Knight) [Boosts Monsters]
Magic Defense Up (*Priestess)
Equip Armor / \
Equip Sword | *Knight |
Equip Shield \ / Move Abilities:
Move +1 (*Holy Knight)
Black Magic is not something Agrias would not dabble into. She won't even progress into Yin-Yang magic (what comes after White Magic -*Priestess to *Oracle- which is what Gafgarion specializes in), though she might become a *Mediator, but doubtful.
Agrias has no reason to use a bow since she has her own ranged attacks. Also, since she specializes as a White Mage (*Priestess), the items of a chemist aren't necessary since she can heal, resurrect, and cancel out negative status effects. More versatile than an *Archer and a *Knight combined, but slightly inferior compared to a *Chemist's healing potential
Actual Game Item Loadout: (Chapter 00 and beginning of Chapter 02)
Helmet: Cross Helmet. (Armor. . . but replace it with Alma's barette soon) Armor: Wizard's Robe (Screw the armor, the Magic Attack is what you want) Right Hand: (Mithril Sword at this point) Left Hand: Most Powerful Shield you have that has Magic Defense. (Mithril Shield as opposed to Gold Shield - you don't have a mantle in this loadout) Accessory: Diamond Armlet (Physical Attack and Magic Attack Booster, more valuable than a mantle).
Actual Game Ability Loadout:
Job: *Holy Knight (Actually her *Squire equivalent) Primary: Holy Sword (*Holy Knight) Secondary: White Magic (*Priestess) Reactionary: Regenerator (*Priestess) Support: Monster Skill (*Holy Knight) (lethal with a Chocobo supporting her - a Black Chocobo to be precise) Movement: Move +1 (*Holy Knight)
***Author's Notes***
Disclaimer: Squaresoft and the design team who developed FFT own Final Fantasy Tactics. Even the 'random' characters therein are owned by them. Only the writing is mine.
***Author's Notes***
A chunk of this story (at this point) will take place using the in- game script. Pardon that, but I intend to stick to the storyline as much as possible. However, there will be explanations about the characters and thoughts, and needlessly said, my opinions will most likely not resonate with yours. Expect Chapter 1: The Meager to go by rather quickly or simply have retold through Ramza's words around a campfire. True deviation will occur beginning in Chapter 2: The Manipulator and the Subservient.
If you enjoy Random Characters, be disappointed: they won't really appear (As to Alicia, Lavian, and Rad . . . they don't have stable roles in the storyline to begin with). Notes (statistics more like) on Ramza and Agrias follow the end of this 'chapter'.
***Author's Notes***
Truth and Reality; Duty and Conscience Records of the heretic Ramza and the Holy Knight Agrias before, during, and after the Lion War.
The Durai Papers had shed some light on the mystery of the faceless Ramza Beoulve, the last of an illustrious line which faded into obscurity after the Lion War. Truth, reality actually, from one perspective on this enigmatic figure whose historical importance had never been fully recognized.
As detailed as they were, the Durai Papers were only one source of information, one source among many. Diaries, memoirs, tales: each is based upon a core of truth, and distorted through the lens of perception.
They are many strands that can be wound together to create a link to the past.
-Alazlam
Chapter 00-01 ( Prologue, Scene I )
***January 1st, Year 2. Orbonne Monastery Area***
In the entry hall of the monastery, Agrias blocked the stairway that led up to the second story's balcony. "I will not intrude upon the Princess' worshipping."
Growing annoyed at the delay, Gafgarion reached his left hand across himself. "By all means then, save yourself the trouble and let us do it for you."
Seeing that the older mercenary was trying to provoke the Holy Knight inside a church, the timid Ramza reached out and touched the withdrawn Agrias. He instantly drew her attention, and a low snarl almost escaped her throat. "Excuse me, dame Agrias?" he addressed her. Her cool stare bade him to continue. "If we are to make it to Dorter Trade City by nightfall at a reasonable pace for the princess, we have to leave now." He phrased his statement carefully, wanting to get his point across without having to start an argument.
Tentatively, the young man, little more than a boy, pulled back his grasp, and Agrias almost chuckled at his nature. It would have been funny had he not been dressed as a soldier, his hesitant actions out of place for a mercenary. Still, he did have a valid point. If the trip to Dorter Trade City was to be at a relaxed pace for the princess, they had to leave now. "I understand," she replied, "I'll see what I can do. . ."
"Is she stubborn?" Ramza remarked, the smile on his face fading as Agrias glared at him. "I have a little sister at home who's the same way," he explained, an edge of sadness fading out the nervousness in his voice.
Once more, Agrias Oaks was thrown off. The boy kept on doing things that offended her at first, but were actually harmless or helpful gestures. His remark about the princess, almost referring to her as one of the lower class, was bordering on disrespectful, but she noticed that he talked about Ovelia in more human terms, not just as a monarch; a symbol. She was tempted to say something back to Ramza, but Gafgarion's almost taunting expression kept her from commenting.
Turning to take one more look at the puzzling boy, Agrias walked up the stairway with her right hand on the banister, trying to find out why the mercenary boy did not seem so threatening, yet dangerous nonetheless. With Gafgarion, there was no small amount of personal distaste mixed with conviction, while the other mercenary looked like a common thug.
Reputation or not, only that Ramza boy seems trustworthy, Agrias thought, even then, he's hiding more than a 'normal' person should. She was ascending onto the second floor and walking down the extended balcony, which overlooked the interior of the chapel. She strode in to hear Ovelia pray, "God, please help us sinful children of Ivalice."
Agrias stopped a grimace. Yes, the prayer was sincere and encompassed an altruistic vision, but such a thing to ask of the Lord? Why couldn't Ovelia pray for something more personal to her, something more tangible? the Holy Knight thought. Ivalice needed all the help it could get, Agrias knew, not wanting to think back to the Fifty Years' War. "Princess Ovelia," she addressed her protectorate, "let's go."
The Holy Knight disapproved of the way Ovelia was on the raised edge of the balcony, the front having a ledge that sat above the side rails. It was overly dramatic to Agrias, who was more or less content to pray whenever she did not have her duties to attend to and wherever it was convenient.
"Just a moment Agrias," Ovelia replied, seeming reluctant to leave.
It was now Agrias' turn to be caught between two different sides, much like Ramza was. "The guards have already arrived," she said reasonably, adding a little firmness in her voice.
Simon, the brown-robed priest by Ovelia spoke up, "Princess, don't give Agrias trouble. Please hurry. . ." he urged, giving Agrias a sympathetic smile.
The peaceful scene was shattered as Gafgarion marched through the doorway, flanked by an indifferent Rad, the other squire, and Ramza, who looked at Agrias apologetically, as if to say sorry for not being able to stall his commander.
"What's going on? It's been nearly an hour!" Gafgarion announced.
The Holy Knight's reply was as cold as the Dark Knight's was heated. "Don't be rude to the Princess, Gafgarion," she told him, an edge in her words.
Remembering themselves, Ramza and Rad went down on a knee as they bowed to the princess. Agrias noticed the difference between the two. Rad's was sketchy, though swift, but Ramza's was smoother, marked by genuine respect.
"Is this going to be alright Agrias?" The Dark Knight asked, almost baiting her. "This is an urgent issue for us."
Somehow, Agrias kept herself from lashing out. "So there are rude knaves even among the Hokuten?" she replied, reminding Gafgarion of his place.
"I'm being more than kind to the guard captains here," the Dark Knight pointed out, practically insulting Ovelia's bodyguards. "Besides, we're mercenaries hired by the Hokuten," he pointed out, highlighting the nature of his association with the prestigious knight order. "I'm not obliged to show respect to you," he remarked as an insult towards the Holy Knight.
Keeping her hands from straying to the sheathed Mithril sword on her left side, Agrias still bit back. "What? How dare you!"
Ovelia, clad in her white robes, stepped in to stop the bickering, "Enough. Let's go," she declared softly, feeling dejected.
Simon walked up to her and whispered, "Go with God."
Accepting his blessing as a friend, she turned to him and said back, "You too, Simon."
Another interruption occurred. A female knight stumbled in; one more of Ovelia's St. Konoe Knight's security detail. Her left arm was disabled, and the fletching of an arrow poking out from the gap it found between her pauldron and gorget. Another arrow had pierced her breastplate. Even with the upper body and upper arm protection the female knights wore, they had failed against the archer's who had hunted them. "Lady Agrias!" the knight called out as they came to her aid, "The enemy!" she screeched as she fell to her knees in agony.
Simon spoke out, "Prince's Goltana's men!?" It was a guess on his part, one sparked by fear and logic.
Forcing herself to ignore her injured soldier, leaving her care to the priests, Agrias rushed out the doorway and downstairs. She had more than one knight under her command.
Ramza had already unclipped his scabbard and held it with his left hand. The mithril sword's straight blade made it hard to draw the sword from the hip.
Gafgarion's reaction to the wounded 'ally' was indifferent. "What one must do to make money," he remarked, almost jokingly in his callous manner. He caught Ramza's moment of scrutiny. "What, Ramza? You have a problem too?"
The boy declined to start an argument. "I'm no longer a Knight," he admitted to himself, his words ringing hollow, lacking sincerity and conviction. "Just a mercenary like you," he replied.
Wondering whether that was an insult or resignation, Gafgarion chose to ignore it. "That's right. Well then," he addressed his two charges. "Let's go!"
Ramza took a look back at Ovelia, wondering if he should leave their principal, before moving on. In that moment, he hated what he was doing.
"Oh God. . ." Ovelia unknowingly moaned, not knowing if it was a prayer she sent out, or her doubts coming forth.
Outside the monastery doors, two more female knights, Alicia and Lavian, were pinned down, hunkered besides the stonework, right outside the pillars of the partially subterranean hall. Above them, Agrias emerged, charging forwards with her gold-inlaid bronze shield held just below her eyeline. She was crouched, tilted forwards as she found shelter, expecting to be fired upon. The enemy archers did not disappoint her as two initial arrows deflected off her shield. The third was the wiser archer, waiting until she had stopped before letting loose and piercing her gold-inlaid mithril breastplate. Agrias gasped as the arrowhead punctured her armor. It did not penetrate fully, yet cut her skin. Angrily, she took her left hand, the one that held her shield, and used it to pull the arrow out. She succeeded only in breaking the head from the shaft. Now she had to deal with a cutting arrowhead rattling around between her thin linen blouse and armor. The fact that the softer material was the one that protected her skin did not salve Agrias' worries.
Taking a look, Agrias saw at least three archers behind a lone knight. Instinctively she looked at the knight's shield, looking for his heraldry. "The crest of the Black Lion!?" Agrias gasped out as Ramza, Gafgarion, and Rad arrived onscene. Agrias was letting the battle get to her as she exclaimed. "What's wrong with Prince Goltana!? He's such an idiot! Does he want to start a war!?" she screamed out at the enemy knight, waiting for the next wave of arrows to bear down on her. The third archer continued to harass her, his arrows now coming in from a steep trajectory, stabbing the earth.
She recognized the lone knight, having seen him before, fighting alongside her own unit then during the Fifty Years' War. Lezales, of the order of the Black Lion. The knight had the gall to offer terms. "Knave!" he addressed her, ignoring the mercenaries. "There's not point in resisting! Just give us the Princess," he paused, "or that beautiful face of yours will be scarred forever!" he declared, trying to get at her.
Gafgarion interrupted her reply. "Fool! Only idiots attack head on!"
Ramza had ignored the exchange, knowing any terms would have been ignored. He saw a knight, three archers, and a single chemist. While they had the edge now, once he and the others closed, the fight would be over, and the archers were too nearby to keep their distance. Still, he found what Gafgarion said questionable. They had just charged into an enemy trap.
"Leave this to us!" Agrias snarled as she saw Alicia and Lavian make an end-run towards two of the archers. It was her way of saying that bloodshed was not necessary, not that the mercenary's help would not be missed.
Gafgarion snorted. "We can't make money that way!" he remarked in an amused fashion, almost enjoying himself. "Rad, Ramza, Follow me!!" he declared as he led the charge.
Ramza strayed as he ran over towards Agrias, who was still pinned down by the skilled archer. As he passed by her, he tossed her a small sack from the small chemist's satchel he wore at the small of his back over his dark purple bronze armor. Agrias wondered why he wore no greaves and sabot, but a pair of well-worn battle boots. The female knights wore less armor than the males because of the strength difference, and she tried to ascertain what the boy specialized in besides waving a sword around.
"Kill them all!" Gafgarion exhorted, urging his own people. "Don't leave any survivors!"
Agrias hurriedly drank the contents of the pouch as she followed, covering his flank. She saw him flinch as the archer that tormented her now knocked an arrow into her unrequited guardian, nicking him in the side, before he continued. "Nonsense!" she cried. "There's no need to kill them! That's just what Goltana wants us to do!" she reasoned, figuring out that the people sent against them were outclassed. "Just let them go!" she urged, knowing that none would escape, but her conscience demanding it of her.
Knowing that the archer was out of her range, Agrias chose to target the lone enemy knight, Lezales. Already, Gafgarion had scathed him if she heard him right. The knight had given a fine account of himself. Which meant nothing in reality as he was completely outclassed. In melee he was a formidable foe. Against enemies who did not need to close to harm him, he was impotent. Yet already he had broken Rad's iron sword, forcing the squire back, who was now using a dagger coated with a blinding dye.
"That's impossible!" Gafgarion stated, dismissing her offer of quarter. "Master of all swords, cut energy!" Gafgarion called out. "Night Sword!" With that attack, linked to the Yin-Yang magic of the oracle, the second archer was struck, having his health stolen from him and given to the Dark Knight, who shrugged off the single arrow hit he had taken.
Agrias locked up the location of Lezales and targeted him with one of her own abilities. Focusing her energies, she began. "Life is short. . ." she declared, "bury! Steady Sword!" Divine energy arced into the heavens from her sword and came down upon the hapless enemy knight, stunning the target as the technique sometimes did. Agrias' assault forced the man onto his right knee, where Rad came in and buried his dagger in the gap between his gorget and breastplate. Lezales died without so much as a scream.
Three against one; even a veteran of the Fifty Years' War would succumb, and Agrias knew that Gafgarion had fought in there too.
When she focused back on Ramza and supporting him, she saw that as the enemy archer fell back and attempted to knock another arrow into his bow, Ramza had picked up a stone and hurled it at him, the rock striking the archer in the chin. It caused little damage, but it threw the archer's aim off as Ramza closed in. Giving up, the archer turned and fled, only that Ramza, wearing his worn battle boots, ran him down and with a timed thrust, pinned the archer to the ground.
Agrias realized she didn't have to use her Stasis Sword ability to help finish the archer off as Ramza freed his sword from the fallen archer by twisting it in the process, using the momentum to propel him towards his next target: the chemist. Yes she would have slain the archer, but the cold, efficient manner in which Ramza committed the killing almost frightened her. The boy had gone from shy-boy to manslayer in a matter of moments.
She had seen warriors like him on the field: on both sides. Skilled, dangerous, and open-hearted; their one flaw, one that they all shared. They were doomed to stay on the field till their deaths, never rotating out, always signing up for another tour of duty. Fighting with a sense of duty and conscience that none could match. She uttered a brief prayer for the boy, wishing that he would not share the fate of so many others that perished in Ivalice's ill-fortuned war.
They were killers with a naive's face. Agrias always wondered if they were demonic angels or angelic devils. They were something in between: innocent and vicious; children.
Ramza had turned his attention towards the chemist, who was coming at him with a dagger. Puzzled at the action of the battlefield medic, Ramza sidestepped slowly, watching out for the sole remaining archer, now running away from the two other knights and the other mercenaries. The chemist reached into his pouch and withdrew a feather; phoenix down. Skillfully deflecting Ramza's own sword, the chemist threw the feather as if it was a weighted object. As it settled onto the fallen archer that Ramza slew, it disappeared. Doing so, the archer was resurrected, but in critical condition.
"Agrias, there's no one protecting the princess!" Ramza urged the Holy Knight as he coldly drew a mithril dagger from his sword-arm's sleeve and in hurled it into the crouched archer's throat. The man died for a second time as Ramza's next strike disarmed the chemist; the leverage he had with the mithril sword defeating the chemist's grip on his own dagger.
Clutching his cut forearm, the chemist accepted defeat, going down on his knees. As Agrias and Lavian, one of her remaining knights, was rushing back towards the monastery, she turned back and saw the posture Ramza was in, his sword still bared, standing over the kneeling chemist. Unable to see his eyes, but knowing his overly calm expression, Agrias began to cry out to spare the man, remembering Gafgarion's expression.
The battle had been won, and of the five foes, only the chemist remained breathing.
Before she had finished her cry, Ramza went and unclipped the chemist's belly-satchel and after tossing it aside, pushed the chemist onto the soft earth into a prone position. Only then, after Rad had come over wielding Lezales' mithril sword, did Ramza sheath his own weapon after cleaning it with a cloth he wore around his waist as a sash.
He looked towards Agrias, who was still going back to the monastery, and she saw Ramza's face shift with realization of what she thought and pain briefly blossomed on his face. She followed his gaze towards the archer he had slain twice over, and he cleanly removed his dagger from the corpse's torn throat, closing the man's eyes before he cleaned the weapon, coated in the man's blood on the same band of cloth he used to clean his sword.
A dull scream is heard from behind the chapel, a feminine scream.
Agrias and her knights begin to run in that direction, to enter the monastery, and Ovelia's voice is now clearly heard. "Let go of me!" she demanded, being forced by a knight clad in gold-hued armor. He also wore the crest of the Black Lion.
Agrias was running into the monastery's chapel, with Ramza picking up the fallen archer's bow and quiver, walking over to cover the rear of the monastery. "Damn!!" the Holy Knight cursed.
"Come here! Be quiet!" the dark-haired knight told her, failing to keep his own voice down.
"Why should I listen to you!?" the princess spat back. She continued to struggle against her kidnapper.
The young knight had enough. "What an annoying princess," he declared, striking her with a gauntleted fist in the stomach as she struggled. He picked her up and deposited her on his plain yellow chocobo, The oversized bird looking anxious, sensing something amiss. He mounts the other Chocobo and prepares to make his escape as Agrias comes out of the chapel's rear entrance.
"Wait!!" she cried helplessly, beginning to lock him up with her sword, preparing to use her Stasis Sword to delay him. Ovelia's immediate safety was not in question. Not unless the knight was a fool, not simply ruthless as he was when he used his comrades as a diversion.
As the knight turned to look at her, an arrow pierced the side of the young knight's Chocobo. The bird went down but stood up again, cawing in agony as the missile's shaft was fully embedded in its side, tearing into its organs, only the fletching exposed. Turning around, the Chocobo used its curing ability on itself, alleviating some of the pain, but not removing the cause of damage, only delaying the inevitable until real treatment could be given. Through it all, the knight kept himself mounted. Agrias held her breath as the second arrow arrow hit the bird low and forwards in its breast. It wasn't near to Ovelia, but she felt anger towards the 'friendly' archer nonetheless.
"Tough. . ." the young knight let out, "don't blame us. . . Blame yourself of God," he told the Holy Knight, still closing her distance as he urged his mount to run off, sprinting away, still stable, but only for so long.
Agrias stopped her pursuit, knowing it was hopeless. "Oh, God. . ." she murmured, staring helplessly as her unconscious charge was carried away.
Ramza, still in front of the monastery, un-knocked the bow he had taken from the archer he slew. He had hurt the chocobo badly, enough to slow the enemy down. He too was numb. ". . . Delita??" he said out loud, remembering the name. "You're alive, Delita?" he asked. "But, why are you in Goltana's troops? Why. . . ?"
***
Within minutes, the chemist had been secured by the priests of the monastery and local squires in the constabulary. The mercenaries and three remaining knights from the order of St. Konoe hailing from Lesalia, the capital, recuperated from the battle.
It was Gafgarion who spoke first concerning what Ramza had said. "So Ramza, you know who kidnapped her?" It wasn't a question, it was a demand.
". . ." Ramza didn't reply. It was part of their agreement. No one had a past in the mercenary group he was in. Tempted as he was, he would not reveal his origins, not now, and especially not to a man like Gafgarion.
Light footsteps followed as Agrias walked out the front of the monastery. She was clad in the tunic she wore underneath her breastplate and heavy leather 'corset'. Ramza's eyes widened slightly as he saw where she had been cut multiple times by the same arrowhead.
"He's taking Princess Ovelia with him," she told Ramza's group as well as her own knights. "Can't be that far," she said, knowing it was of little substance.
Of course, Gafgarion picked up the slack in conflict. "Are you going after him?"
Ramza grew alert, sensing another argument. Just after a battle. . . blood would taint holy ground once more. It was a rhetorical question, one meant to draw a reaction, not a response.
The Holy Knight did not even bother to face him as she replied. "Of course! I couldn't face the royal family unless I do!"
Ramza felt the urge to strike Gafgarion. Either the Dark Knight and the Holy Knight knew each other in the past, or the man was just good at provocation.
"We won't help you," Gafgarion told her, almost petulantly. "It's not in the contract," the aging mercenary continued.
Giving Ramza a brief look of apology, Agrias struck back with a delayed response. "We don't need help from one who's not even a knight!" she told the mercenaries, knowing that she was being drawn into an argument. "A knight must fix his own mistakes. That is one of our responsibilities as guards!" Agrias paused, knowing she just opened herself up for a strong rebuke for her failure. "Lavian, Alicia," she called, "let's go!"
The two knights simply kept silent, not wanting to be drawn into the argument. Detestable as most of the mercenary group assigned to them were, they did comprise a lot of their current strength and it would be foolish to let them go at this critical juncture.
Simon limped out of the entrance. His robes were still flecked with the knight's blood. At Agrias' worried glance, he nodded, signaling that her fallen knight was still alive and was recovering.
"Are you all right, Milord?" she asked him, knowing he had tried to resist the young knight when he kidnapped Ovelia.
Politely, the old priest shrugged off her concern for himself. "The Princess. . . how is she?" he asked, knowing that the kidnapper had gotten away.
Agrias kept herself from showing open frustration. Taking a breath, she composed herself. "I'm very sorry," she said formally. "I swear I'll get her back!" she vowed.
It was now Simon's turn to look at her with concern. ". . . No. You'd be in danger. . ." he said, looking at the others.
Shaking her head, Agrias continued. "Don't worry. I swear on my knight's honor - I'll save her!" she declared.
Ramza found his conviction resonating with hers. Forestalling the justified insult Gafgarion was going to launch, Ramza spoke out. "I'll go," he paused, "too!" Agrias gave him a baleful look, her sincerest one since before the incident. "I won't be a burden!" he said unnecessarily.
The look he gave Gafgarion was clear. If he was opposed on this issue, he would break away from the mercenaries without a second thought, and Gafgarion's team would lose a significant amount of its lethality. Also, by default, Ramza knew that the mercenary's were obliged to assist the St. Konoe knights under the contract with the Hokuten.
Ramza knew that somehow, Gafgarion had searched him out there where he had started a new life in Dorter. The Dark Knight who he was just a year ago. Somehow, Ramza thought that Gafgarion sought him out for a reason.
Though Ramza knew it was inevitable that they had to chase after Ovelia, he was not about to let his current superior to aggravate the Holy Knight any further. It was not only loutish, but it was in direct violation of her duty.
Every single particle of the painfully-earned wisdom Ramza had screamed at him that he was being foolish, that he was allowing himself to be drawn to someone who had this moral cause, Agrias in this case. Ramza's duty was to protect the princess, and his conscience was with protecting Agrias. He would preserve the only thing he had left of real value to himself: his integrity.
Grudgingly, Gafgarion gave in. "Are you crazy?!" he addressed the boy. "This' none of our business!" he pointlessly said, knowing that he was bound by the terms of the contract.
Ramza changed the direction of the argument to that of the young knight he had seen. "I have to know!" he said irrationally, knowing it would throw Gafgarion off his tirade. "I must see it with my own eyes!"
Agrias felt grateful to the boy, yet puzzled as well as to why someone who spilled blood for gil would so willingly devote themselves to the task she had assigned to herself. Such earnestness was not admirable; that kind of righteousness, especially in one in that boy's role, was dangerous.
Figuring out what Ramza meant, Gafgarion addressed him again. "You mean, that boy you saw?"
Ramza only fingered the hole in his breastplate's waist caused by the third archer's missile, nodding.
"You're as stubborn as a mule," the Dark Knight told the boy. "Don't come crying to me for help if something happens!"
"Ramza. . . I welcome your offer to accompany me in my task," Agrias told him. "How do you know the other knight?" she asked.
Reluctantly, Ramza answered. "He was a friend, a dead friend."
Gafgarion spoke. "If that boy's is one of Goltana's men, he won't risk going through populated areas, and it's a long way from Zeltennia or Lionel. He'll bypass Dorter Trade City, but its harsher terrain and he'll be slowed down, unless he switches Chocobo.
"Those men also came here by Chocobo, Agrias," Ramza told the Holy Knight. "It would have made all the difference if they attacked us while mounted. . . but they didn't. Delita could have used any three or more of those chocobos as reserves whenever the ones I struck give out."
"Or he may have forgotten about them," Rad supplied.
Agrias' reply came low. "I understand the need for you to hamper his mobility. . ."
"I accepted the consequences of my action when I knocked my first arrow into that bow," Ramza stated. His voice lacked guilt, but was filled with blunt honesty, even in his weak tone. He did not say more, not excusing himself. The silence was the best answer for her.
"Good shot. . . both of them," Rad said, only further irriating the Holy Knight. His action of looting the corpses earlier only validated her opinion of the other mercenaries.
Ramza had gone through their bodies too, but she noticed after her initial outrage had faded when she realized that he looked for papers of their identity and allegiance. The only equipment he ransacked was the fallen archer's weapon and ammunition and the contents of the chemist's satchel. Both of them were essential equipment, which Agrias realized might be necessary in their pursuit.
Shaking his head, Gafgarion began, "We might as well leave now. There wouldn't happen to be any chocobos around would there?"
"No, there aren't. We'll have to go to Dorter on foot," Agrias told them as she went back into the monastery with her knights.
Gafgarion snorted as the women disappeared from sight. "That knight will have to cross the wilderness. He has to avoid civilization until he reaches the border of Lionel. He won't risk going through the capital to make it to Zeltennia."
"What if the wilderness gets him first?" Ramza asked.
The Dark Knight regarded him warily. "When you signed up to be a mercenary, Ramza Ruglia," he emphasized, "you had no past." He warned the armored squire, "Like you, that boy is a ghost. Kill anything holding you back before it kills you."
***
Several minutes later, Agrias emerged refreshed and ready to begin the pursuit. Within the monastery, she had seen to her fallen knight and had her own injuries thoroughly healed in preparation for the journey. Instead of donning her full suit of armor, which gave her excellent upper- body protection, Agrias opted only to wear the cuirass portion of her gold- inlaid mithril plate armor. Over this was a green Wizard's Robe trimmed in amber. Her thickened blue clothing was replaced by a thin, gray linen blouse, under which, she wore thin leather pants.
Gone was the barrel helmet with a crossguard that she would have normally worn. Instead, Agrias chose to don the robe's cowl. The sleeves had been tailored to be widened, allowing her concealed arms freedom of movement, and the hem reach only just below her knees as well. Her own gold-inlaid shield had been replaced by a small buckler that she wore concealed.
Alicia and Lavian were likewise disguised.
Lavian had changed out to a lighter piece of armor, a cuirass with a lining of linen and a sturdy outer shell of bronze. Her shield was now a plain bronze shield.
Alicia wore the attire of a meager squire, wearing toughened leather battle-clothing. She had no shield at all, only having her longsword sheathed at her right side. She wore the bulky belly satchel taken from the enemy chemist.
"And the number of mercenaries double," Gafgarion chuckled. "Can't have Princess Ovelia's security detail running around away from the capital without their ward, can we?" he remarked dryly, meaning that all the resources the would have to contribute to their pursuit was what they had now.
"Its enough," Ramza threw into the conversation before Agrias could be provoked. "An excuse could be made about Princess Ovelia delayed by sickness, and isolated in convalescence."
Mentally, the Holy Knight thanked the armored squire for his understanding. "For the time being, we are no longer of the St. Konoe knights."
Simon walked towards them with a chocobo laden with baggage. "I hope these stores will be enough to sustain you in your mission."
Agrias bowed as she took the Chocobo's reins. "We'll make it last or get more on the way," she told him.
"Too bad the local chocobo's are too tame to make good time across the wilderness," Alicia noted, patting her satchel.
Rad grumbled. "It wouldn't matter unless one of us knew how to track them."
"Goltana's men may have had a route here," Gafgarion told them, "but we don't." Taking a look at Agrias, he continued, "plus we don't have enough time to glean the information from that chemist."
A pained look crossed Agrias' face. "Don't tempt me with the option of torture, mercenary," she warned. "Besides, we would have no way to make sure the chemist wasn't lying to us."
Without missing a beat, Gafgarion replied, "I forgot. . . you were from the church. You people would know about interrogation and 'truth' more than a 'stray' mercenary like me could." Agrias refused to take the bait, but Lavian's expression of fury was unmistakable in her plain face. "I'll stop now. . . lest I be labeled a 'heretic', hm?"
Stifling a prayer to have the Pagan Examiners investigate Gafgarion himself, Agrias chose to bear the abuse. The mission came first. Duty to Ovelia superceded all other concerns. She felt shamed by even considering Gafgarion's suggestion. The Holy Knight was proud of her faith, but she would not be the last to deny that the some of the people of that same faith were sinister in their zealous fervor.
She looked up when she felt the reins she held being tugged forwards, and the chocobo she held beginning to march. She found herself staring at Ramza. "If everything's here. . ." he told her, "we can talk more of the mission on the way to Dorter."
"I thank you," she told him.
Subtly, he turned his face towards the chocobo, looking across Agrias' field of vision. "I bear just as much fault as you in this," he told her. "I should have stayed behind and hidden the princess in a safe place."
She felt compassion, not sympathy, from the boy, and she chose to accept it. "I abandoned my duty first," she relieved him of the responsibility. "It is done. . . I will redeem and fulfill my duty by getting her back. . ." Agrias felt a little hope buoy her dire mood. "Even if you are bound by your contract, I appreciate your effort."
". . ."
"My duty demands that I see Ovelia safely to where she belongs, and yours is to help me in that role. Your conscience compels you to correct what is wrong, mine will not allow me to abandon her," Agrias told him, speaking normally now, not caring what the others behind them would think of the conversation. "Your reasons are as valid as mine. . . but there is something more."
Looking over at her behind the Chocobo's large neck, Ramza nodded. "You wish to know why Goltana would abduct the princess. I wish to know why the dead is among the living. We're searching for truth, and its very different from reality."
***
To be continued
***
***Author's Notes***
Hm, more changes made and portions added.
In case you were wondering, yes, for a significant part I will use the in-game script. Why? Because that's how it happened IN THE STORY.
However, the scenes in between are the ones I will take artistic license with. Also, as to what happens in the battle, that is something that is variable.
Running into trouble with Ramza here. Granted after the tour of duty he served in Chapter 1 while fighting the Death Corps, he would have learned a lot, remember, that chapter and the aftermath spans almost a year. That's a lot of time for him to harden.
Also, note the difference between the Ramza of The Meager, The Manipulator and the Subservient and onwards. The immediate post-Gariland Ramza is very ignorant and arrogant. The later Ramza's are still incredibly dense, but at least are on the right path morally.
Its annoying, Agrias and Gafgarion came off as petulant in the game at this point, and I am trying to break them out of that.
***Author's Notes***
*** *** *** *** Technical Details:
Ramza 'Ruglia' Primary Job: *Squire
Let's face it, this is HIS job. Makes quite a bit of sense actually. Not just story-wise, but also in-game. This basically means that its feasible to turn Ramza into anything - He's a Super-'Generic' character. The ones you pick up, invite, or hire, which you train for a specific role or multiple jobs.
Of course, he wields a sword constantly in the story and he always wears armor post 'Chapter 1: The Meager'.
That limits the range feasibly to a class that must equip a Sword and wears Armor:
*Squire - Guts! (lots of miscellenaous goodies) *Knight - Battle Skill (Break Stuff)
With the Equip Armor ability (the Knight), you can stretch it to:
*Geomancer - Geomancy (but Ramza never struck me as touchy-feely Nature Boy)
He came from Magical City Gariland; a training academy. I assume that the boy has passing familiarity with the basic (low-requirement) jobs:
*Chemist (Healing Items) - *Wizard (Black Mage) *Knight - *Archer (Charged-Shot)
Forget *Priest (White Mage).
Ramza's job development in 'Chapter 1: The Meager' will lead him from *Knight to *Archer to *Thief (Steal Stuff). A perfect choice seeing as Ramza seems martial, and Archery is one of those skills. As well as seeing as what happens at the end of 'Chapter 1: The Meager', Ramza pretty much runs away and I figure he would pick up thievery skills while surviving on his own until he runs in Gafgarion.
Ramza Beoulve Primary Job: *Squire Skill Aptitudes: Guts! (*Squire)
Accumulate (+1 Attack Power)
Throw Stone (Duh. . .)
Wish (Heal Target 2X life, lose X life)
Heal (Cancel - Blindness + Poison)
Yell (+1 Speed) Battle Skill (*Knight)
Weapon Break
Shield Break
Power Break (-3 Attack Power)
Speed Break (-2 Speed) Charge (*Archer)
Charge +1 (One-Shot +1 Attack Power)
Charge +5 (One-Shot +5 Attack Power) Steal (*Thief)
Gil Stealing (Rob Money. . .)
Steal Weapon
Steal Shield
Steal Helmet Reaction Abilities: Weapon Guard (*Knight) Support Abilities:
Equipment Change (*Chemist) [He's already used this in the story]
Equip Armor / \
Equip Sword | *Knight |
Equip Shield \ /
Concentrate (*Archer) [NEVER miss the target]
Equip Bow (*Archer) [Screw just the crossbow!] Move Abilities:
Move +1 (*Squire)
Jump +1 (*Archer)
Jump +2 (*Thief)
I just hope this doesn't make Ramza TOO uber. As it is, for most of those jobs, he has the bare-bones skill sets. Its obvious that he has the highest investment as a Knight, but lets face it - He's a Beoulve, its what he was supposed to be anyways. If anything, that fact that he doesn't have super-attacks like Agrias, Gafgarion, Meladioul, Wiegraf, and the brother Beoulve is a neat fact. It encourages the player to spread Ramza out into at least one other class. (*Monk or *Lancer is best).
NOT ALL OF THESE ARE ACTIVE. For example, Ramza can't switch between a bow and a sword simultaneously, or Ramza can't have a fully-equipped Chemist satchel on him. A small pouch with a couple of potions, some phoenix down, and echo grass maybe.
Ramza does not use a Rod either, and even his magic spells are hampered since his stats are based on his Squire aspect (Low MP and Low Magic Attack).
Still, Ramza might have a shorter bow and a quiver as secondary weapons along with a dagger.
Later on, Ramza becomes a *Dragoon (*Lancer) [Spear-wielding Jumper that has armor].
Example of a typical loadout:
Helmet: Iron Helmet Armor: Bronze Armor (It has to be plate of some sort, not mail) Right Hand: Mithril Sword (Miluda's) Left Hand: Empty (double-handed grip) Accessory: Battle Boots (Move +1)
Actual Game Ability Loadout:
Job: *Squire Primary: Guts! (*Squire) Secondary: Steal (*Thief) or Battle Skill (*Knight) (Depends on what you want to do) Reactionary: Weapon Guard (*Knight) Support Ability: Concentrate (*Archer) (Make sure the ability works on target) Movement: Jump +2 (*Thief) or Move +2 (*Thief)
(Note the pattern of skill development. . .)
That loadout turns him into a 5 Move, 5 Jump 'hopper'(The 'Baller') or a 7 Move, 3 Jump 'sprinter' (The 'Kenyan'). Not bad. Agrias would still be a 4 Move 3 Jump. Ramza's supposed to be a *Lancer soon anyways. Hey, its an armor class that comes from the archer and thief branch. . . weird.
Agrias Oaks Primary Job: *Holy Knight (Zap things from afar with Holy Elemental attacks that sometimes have status effects)
Ah, the story's heroine. . . for one Chapter at least (one bad thing about FFT's openness, critical characters sometimes only appear in one chapter). I'm struggling not to turn her into a Damsel-In-Distress, or a foil for Ramza. Yes, while I want the two to be together, and they are my sponsored pairing in Final Fantasy Tactics. . . I want the relationship to be on an equal basis.
Agrias can kick Ramza's ass.
Ramza can kick Agrias' ass.
Let's keep it that way.
Ramza specializes in his versatility and relies on his Brave (affects physical attacks/defense/reactions, I use him as a physical attacker), and Agrias relies on her Faith (Magic Sensitivity - positive and negative feedback).
They compliment each other.
Obviously, she's a holy elemental. There are only two things Agrias needs to learn. Her own sword skills as a Holy Knight, and the White Magic skills she'll acquire as a *Priestess (White Mage). To make it more believable, she should know Battle Skill as well including the *Knight's other abilities.
Her Holy Sword skills comes from both White Magic combined with Battle Skill. Granted she's not Meladioul, but she's not limited by equipment, and her sword attacks are Holy Elemental.
Storywise, Agrias is anywhere from 3-5 years older than Ramza, and I assume she's possibly 4 years older. This woman has fought in the Fifty Years' War while Ramza was just beginning his first years in the Academy at Magical City Gariland. She should have passing familiarity with the *Chemist and *Archer jobs as she was in the battlefield, but I figure she'll stick to Holy Sword and White Magic as well as some Battle Skill.
She's more mature than Ramza is, and is actually jaded about most things. In a way. She's just very cautious and prudent while Ramza still seems to have hope in humanity, or rather, the good in everyone. While she may seem immature at this point in the story, she's under a lot of stress while Ramza is pretty much getting used to being a mercenary.
As is, Agrias is kickass. She has the ability to Zap things long away with FREE MAGIC ATTACKS. Her MP is reserved for White Magic. Plus, her 'Squire' class is *Holy Knight which has a fair Physical Attack : Magic Attack ratio. Sadly, you'll have to make sure both are high since her Holy Sword will use Physical Attack while her White Magic will use Magic Attack. Unlike Ramza, she didn't have to pick a career branch.
Agrias Primary Job: *Holy Knight Skill Aptitudes: Holy Sword: (*Holy Knight - Agrias' base class: think of *Squire)
*Stasis Sword (May add - Stop)
*Split Punch (May add - Death Sentence)
*Crush Punch (May add - Dead) White Magic: (*Priestess)
Cure
Cure 3
Raise (Magic Phoenix Down)
Protect (Physical Protection)
Shell (Magic Protection)
Wall (One-Person Shell + Protect)
Esuna (Heals Buko amounts of Negative Status Effects) Battle Skill: (*Knight)
Weapon Break
Power Break
Speed Break
Mind Break (Anti Magic Attack) Reaction Abilities:
Weapon Guard (*Knight)
Regenerator (*Priest) [Adds Regen - life-gain] Support Abilities:
Defend (*Holy Knight)
Monster Skill (*Holy Knight) [Boosts Monsters]
Magic Defense Up (*Priestess)
Equip Armor / \
Equip Sword | *Knight |
Equip Shield \ / Move Abilities:
Move +1 (*Holy Knight)
Black Magic is not something Agrias would not dabble into. She won't even progress into Yin-Yang magic (what comes after White Magic -*Priestess to *Oracle- which is what Gafgarion specializes in), though she might become a *Mediator, but doubtful.
Agrias has no reason to use a bow since she has her own ranged attacks. Also, since she specializes as a White Mage (*Priestess), the items of a chemist aren't necessary since she can heal, resurrect, and cancel out negative status effects. More versatile than an *Archer and a *Knight combined, but slightly inferior compared to a *Chemist's healing potential
Actual Game Item Loadout: (Chapter 00 and beginning of Chapter 02)
Helmet: Cross Helmet. (Armor. . . but replace it with Alma's barette soon) Armor: Wizard's Robe (Screw the armor, the Magic Attack is what you want) Right Hand: (Mithril Sword at this point) Left Hand: Most Powerful Shield you have that has Magic Defense. (Mithril Shield as opposed to Gold Shield - you don't have a mantle in this loadout) Accessory: Diamond Armlet (Physical Attack and Magic Attack Booster, more valuable than a mantle).
Actual Game Ability Loadout:
Job: *Holy Knight (Actually her *Squire equivalent) Primary: Holy Sword (*Holy Knight) Secondary: White Magic (*Priestess) Reactionary: Regenerator (*Priestess) Support: Monster Skill (*Holy Knight) (lethal with a Chocobo supporting her - a Black Chocobo to be precise) Movement: Move +1 (*Holy Knight)
***Author's Notes***