The Warriors of High Lagaard

[SoulScathe]

Welcome to The Warriors of High Lagaard. This is going to my a story of my team and their adventures through Expert Mode EOU2, and their hardships along the way. This is my first EO fan story and if I get something EO mythology wise wrong, please don't hesitate to correct me. I will be updating the story ever time I clear a Stratum, or where a major plot event is. Depends which is easier. I will also be covering some of the requests in the story as well. But without further ado, let us enter the realm of High Lagaard.

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Prologue: The First Steps

High Lagaard, the city that was build in close proximity to the Yggdrasil Labyrinth. The place many adventurers go to in order to claim riches, seek father in the maze than any before them, and maybe find the legendary rumored castle in the sky.
Luna, A highlander from Etria, enters the bustling busy city, with wind blowing through and flocking her orange hair. Her spear clacked in its sheathe as she walked deeper and deeper into the city. The voices that surrounded her made her feel uneasy as she disliked crowded places. A voice calls out from an alley to her left and speaks.
"Ah, a new adventurer. Looking to earn yourself some fame and glory? Look like a joke to me." Luna eyes adjust to the darkness and she sees a Dark Hunter and a Ronin standing there. Not one to take crap from people, Luna enters the alley, speaking. "A joke you say? Would you enjoy testing that theory?"
The Dark Hunter looks up. "Haha, and an idiot. You saying you want to fight two people by yourself?! Get real!" He says and takes out his whip. The Ronin speaks up. "Listen kid, you will learn to respect us. We own this section of town." With that sentence he draws his katana but Luna is unfazed. She speaks with a small chuckle. "Alright, I will make this somewhat possible for you two. I won't remove the sheathe from my speak." Her face is making a coy smirk and the Dark Hunter spits at her. "Cocky Bitch! You are in a world of pain now!"
Luna dashes to the side and presses on the wall as the whip strikes where she stood before. Kicking off the wall, she speeds to the Ronin and jabs his gut in with her the sheathe of her spear, knocking the breath out of the Ronin and causing him to stumble back. The Dark Hunter sees an opening however and swings his whip, making it wrap around her wrists and binding them closer together on the staff of her spear. But Luna uses this bind to her advantage and yanks the Dark Hunter close, slamming her knee into his gut and kicking him back. The Dark Hunter falls back, now disarmed as his weapon is still wrapped around Luna's wrists. The Ronin dashes to Luna and takes a vertical swing from an Upper Stance only for Luna to back up enough for the blade to miss her head and cut down on the whip between her wrists and hitting the staff of her pole, setting her hands free. She smirks and says. "Hey thanks for that. Makes this next part a lot easier for me." She uses the sword that is now stuck in her staff handle of her weapon to her advantage as she spins her spear in a circle, disarming the Ronin before she slams the blunt sheathe end into his face and knocking him away. The Dark Hunter coughs. "What...are you?"
Luna only smiles and takes the katana out of the indent in her staff and slams the horrible metal on the alley wall so it breaks. "I am Luna, a Highlander from Etria. I came here on a mission and you bums are not going to stop me so soon." She drops the now useless katana and leaves the alley way, making her way deeper into town and to the Explorers Guild Hall. A fair distance behind her though, two people are watching. A cheerful whisper to her friend says, "My my! I think that was very brave of the lass. Of course, your curses on them did help out a lot..." The voice giggles and the two figures follow Luna from a safe distance.



Chapter 1: Guild Dust

The Explorers Guild. A large and comforting hall for new explorers and guilds alike. Marion, a guild master who wears all black armor and a helm to hide her face, notices the Highlander enter the room. "Ah, I don't believe we have met. What business do you have?". Luna smiles. "I wish to register a guild he-"
A chipper voice rings out from behind the Highlander. "Wa~it!" A Troubadour runs up to Luna, a bright smile on her more chocolate skin shows she means no harm. A softer voice calls out as a pale Hexer walks close behind the Troubadour. "If you are making a guild, you are going to want allies."
Luna frowns. "And you two a-" Before she can finish, the Troubadour speaks in excitement. "I am Riku, and this is my friend Sammy!" She more so puts the spotlight on the Hexer named Sammy, and Sammy doesn't like that as she looks off to the side shyly. Riku looks back to Luna. "Forgive her, she is just too shy, but she did help you with those thugs in the ally. Aren't curses nice?"
"You helped? You mean you put curses on them to assist me? I could have handled it myself!" Luna yells a bit with annoyance but their chatter is cut short as Marion slams her sword into the ground, gaining the attention of everyone. "Quite enough! Now I don't care off top my head why you all met, I wish to know if you will make a guild here."
Luna is about to speak but before she can get a word out this time, Riku speaks for her. "We would like to form a guild here! All of us." Sammy nods and Luna looks at the two strangely, but figures they are nice enough people and she cannot deny their help would be nothing but an asset. Luna speaks. "Yes, let us make a guild please." Marion nods and gathers some paper work for them. "Fill all this out, and come up with a guild name."
With acceptance, Luna, Riku, and Sammy all take their forms and walk into a nearby room to think and write. Riku looks at Luna. "So you are from Etria? How is Lagaard compared to the it? What are you going to do here?" She continues to lay on questions until Sammy speaks in her quiet voice. "We should come up with a guild name." Luna, happy to be rid of those questions, nods in agreement. "However, I haven't the faintest...." She trails off and looks at the dust in the air as the sun through the window makes it visible. ".....Dust.....Guild Dust." Riku frowns. "That sounds like such a downer name but I have nothing better." Sammy has a small smile that is hard to see. "I like it. Guild Dust it is." She says and writes it down on the final paper form. Standing, the small Hexer takes their forms and hands them to Marion.
Marion looks them over and nods. She swiftly gets their Citizen and Guild Cards and gives them to Sammy. "Hand these to your guild members and go see Dubois at the Duke's Palace. He will give you the test in order to officially become a Citizen and a Guild. Sammy accepts them and returns to her new guild members. "We must head to the Duke's Palace. But if we can pass their test, Guild Dust will be official."


Chapter 2: The First Steps

In the regal Duke's Palace, a older man is going through documents when the new guild walks into the halls. He looks up to the three girls and soon stands when they approach. His cane makes a small clacking sound as it presses on the ground with each step the man takes to the guild. "New explorers I presume?" he asks to Luna, eyeing her a bit, sizing her up. Luna bows politely. "Yes sir. I am Luna, and these people with me are Riku and Sammy, my guild members."
Riku hops excitedly and is about to yell but Sammy covers her mouth and speaks for Riku in her quiet tone. "The honor is ours, Minister Dubois." The minister smiles. "Such kind manners from you all. However manners will not matter in the Labyrinth. You all came here in order to take your test to becoming an official guild here." He walks to his desk and pulls out a talisman, handing it over to Luna. "In the Labyrinth first floor. There is a soldier near the entrance that will need to see this talisman. Show him and he will give you your first test."
Luna nods and bows once more. "Thank you sir. We will return." She says with confidence and leaves with the others. Once everyone is outside, Luna takes a loud sigh of relief and stretches. "By the heavens, that was a tense atmosphere." She groans. Sammy nodded in agreement and spoke. "The Duke's Palace gets that quiet often. However it is over with for now. Might I suggest stopping buy the trading post? I noticed your spear is making a weird noise, like the blade will come off the handle." Luna is surprised and swiftly pulls out her spear and wiggles the blade at the end. It was exceedingly loose, and would most likely break off if it took another stab or two. "For being once who focuses on magic and not weaponry, that is a good deduction you made." She states and sheathes her spear once more as Sammy nods. "Riku breaks her weapon often so I have learned to spot or listen when a weapon is nearing its limit."
Riku gives Sammy a light shove and pouts. "Just because I can't swing a fancy sword around like some doesn't mean you should put me on the spot like that..." Luna chuckles a little. "Sammy, you said something about the trading post. Care to lead the way?" Sammy only nods and leads the Highlander to a common store, but inside is a young girl who is helping the customers. "Thank you for your business!" She says happily as she notices her new customers. "Oh, Sammy! Riku! And...." She looks over Luna who quickly speaks for the girl. "I am Luna, new to High Lagaard. I was told this is a trading post?" The small girl smiles brightly and nods. "Indeed! It is nice to meet you Luna! Welcome to Sitoth Trading. I am the daughter of the owner, Abigail." Luna nods, although not understanding why such a small girl is running the store front. "Uhh...Oh yes, I was wondering if you could repair my spear, or maybe i could buy a new one?" She said, showing her nearly broken spear. Abigail looks at the spear and frowns. "Sadly we do not do repairs however...I think..." She trails off and heads to the back of the store, Luna following close behind while Sammy keeps Riku from touching, or worse, breaking items in the store. Abigail looks in a long crate and soon pulls out a nice looking Short Spear. "This came in a few days ago. I think it will work for you for... 145 en." She says, more remembering the price than putting one on the spot. Luna nods and takes out a coin pouch and pays her fee. Abigail smiles and looks at her old spear. "You know, I won't pay much but can you sell me that spear? Maybe I can have my dad look it over for you!" She says with a smile and offers a small sum of coins. Luna, seeing no reason to keep her spear anymore, decides to hand it over to the girl and takes the little money she offered. "Thank you Abigail. I bid you a good day." Abigail nods. "Please remember to come back!" She yells as the Trio.
As midday breaks, the three find themselves at the Labyrinth entrance. There is a guard standing in the front with his pointy helm, armor, and staff. "Halt. Only Those with proper Guild Cards may enter." He says and Riku huffs. "But we-" Luna cuts her off. "The Minister sent us." She states, pulling out the talisman. The guard looks it over and nods. "Ah, the new ones. I am glad you came so soon." He relaxes and pulls out a map kit. "These are for you. Your task is to go and retrieve a token in a chest at this mark." He marks the spot on the map for her to get to. "You also need to map out the area, walls and all." Riku hops excitedly. "Oh oh! Luna, can I?" Luna sighs and accepts the map kit from the guard and hands it to the chipper dancer. "Knock yourself out." Sammy speaks softly. "Be careful. She might actually do that." Riku shoves the Hexer and pouts. The guard stands firm once more. "A safe journey for you three. You may enter." He states and the three enter into the first stratum.
The Ancient Forest, an invitation upwards, a place where new guilds arrive in order to test their skills in climbing the Labyrinth. Once the three enter the forest, Luna takes a deep breath of the fresh forest air. She feels at ease in the forest but that feeling is quickly cut short by a yelp. Luna instinctively dashes ahead to see a Mole slashing a Dark hunter as a second pins down a medic. Luna swiftly slashes the Mole with her spear, taking a little of her energy as she does so. But the swift and powerful blow was enough to down the Moles in record time. The dark hunter is in a large amount of pain as the medic treats his own wounds before running and treating hers. Once they are better, the Dark Hunter stands. "Ow...Blasted Mole's jumped us...Oh." She looks at the trio that just came in and saw what happened, and the spear wielder who has a the creature's blood on her weapon. "You helped us. Thank you. Those Mole's blindsided us and did a nasty number as you saw." Sammy nods. "Luna here acted so instinctively that me and the dancer didn't know what happened until it was already over." The medic looks over. "Ah, Well thanks and all but we had under control." He states a bit rudely but the dark hunter rolls her eyes. "Ignore the idiot behind me. I am Lia, and this idiot is Revil. He is a....what was it? Battle Medic?" Revil smirks. "I focus on using this staff here to beat down my enemies." He pats his staff in his hand and Lia sighs. "Right, He disliked how most medics were weak and only good for patching wounds so he decided to go for Heavy Strikes instead of helping me with healing." He frowns. "And it was working until we got ambushed!!" Luna coughs a bit. "I assume that you two are alone. If you wish, you can come with us. More people means less chance of dying here." Revil glares. "We don't need your- oof!" A sharp jab from Lia shuts him up and she nods. "That would be wonderful. Thank you." She smiles and extends her hand. Luna smiles and takes the Dark Hunter's hand and shakes it. "I always though Dark Hunters were rude and sadistic. Glad to see that isn't the case." Lia chuckles. "Only most of us are."
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I took a bit of a break from EO2U to basically get some streaming on Persona 4 in during spring break and also to keep from getting burnt out. However I am now back in the mix of things and I give you Chapter 2. Hope you all enjoy!

[zamisk]

I'm sorry, but that red you used for the chapter titles isn't allowed on account of "oh god, oh god why, my eyes!"

[SoulScathe]

[SoulScathe]

I am sorry about the lack of updates for anyone who has actually sat down and read my crummy story and enjoyed it, this is mainly due to getting work, and playing Etrian Odyssey 4 in my free time to escape the harsh world of reality. So. I will state, that within the next week I will get a new chapter up and we will resume on that schedule, as I have gotten to the Third Stratum in game as of Today.

Take Care everyone