Scenario:Estarriola - The Results of Temperance

The Results of Temperance

The crew catches a glimpse of Estarriola's past; he used to be a royal sorcerer until he was framed for being the leader of an anti-royal faction. His wife was killed, and he made a pact with the primal beast Temperance, whose power suppressed his raging emotions. But as Estarriola slept, Temperance commandeered his magical power and destroyed his kingdom overnight.

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Estarriola sees the crew off to the battlefield, becoming wistful.

He touches his red stone and shuts his eyes, squeezing them tightly as he sighs.

Estarriola: When I look back, meeting you was also karma...

I once served the royal palace as its resident sorcerer. Few in the kingdom knew who I was.

My one-track focus on magic research must have made me seem like a dullard to most, but there was value in seeking absolute truth using the royal laboratories.

Though it would seem I was the only one who thought that way.

They used me, an oblivious pawn in a political game. All of my research was misappropriated as tools of trickery.

Little did I know I had been branded as the ringleader of an anti-royal faction.

By the time I noticed, it was already too late. They took my wife hostage. What else could I do but lament my own stupidity as I stood before her corpse?

Eventually sorrow gave way to rage. It was all about to change.

Estarriola: Huff... Huff... I'm descending into the abyss of madness... Dark fury boring into all my fibers...

I shuddered like never before, my body yearning for interdiction against its will.

Playing to the king's sympathies, I unrepentantly manipulated politicians to secure forbidden research materials, and then I sought out Temperance.

I willingly reached out to the primal beast.

Primal Beast: Thou hast my consent in all its forms. Now then, little one, swear a pact to me.

Hers was the power of restraint, which immediately suppressed my rage and delirium.

Even in the presence of my dead beloved, my composure wavered naught, as if I were in a calming sleep.

No. It's fair to say that I had indeed fallen into slumber.

Estarriola: It can't be...

When I awoke the next morning, the kingdom had been reduced to ashes.

Estarriola: I was thoroughly deceived...

Primal Beast: ...

Estarriola: Though my body wasn't my own, I remember watching your deeds as if I were dreaming.

Estarriola: It was a test run, wasn't it?

Primal Beast: ...

Estarriola: You seized my body, tapped into my superior intellect of magic, and destroyed a country overnight.

Primal Beast: Yes.

Estarriola: My emotions weren't tempered.

Estarriola: It was something else. You tempered something important in me.

Primal Beast: ...

Estarriola: Tell me, Arcarum beast. With each passing year, your face resembles that of my dead wife. Is this your idea of contempt?

Estarriola: Or is it your way of showing consideration?

Primal Beast: ...

Estarriola: Humph. I must be imagining it. The thought of something like you harboring mortal-like emotions is in the realm of impossibility.

Estarriola: I suppose I've once again fallen under your spell without noticing.

Estarriola: Or is that all in my head as well?

The primal beast shows no acknowledgement, but she does offer apathetic words.

Primal Beast: To answer is to err. Thus I heed you not.