What Did You Just Say?

Synopsis
After their adventures in Geffen, the party currently led by Takius decides to head back to Prontera through a longer route than usual. Iruga and Judia become an addition to their small group and Judia ends up competing against Yuufa for Iruga's attention. The focus then suddenly shifts to Roan, who is interrogated by Judia on his "progress" in his relationship with Yuufa. Roan ends up confused for a while and remarks that the path towards the opposite sex is a difficult path. Meanwhile, Maaya toys with the items she has and plays around with Iruga, which brought another commotion, this time, between Yuufa, Maaya and Judia.

The argument goes to an abrupt halt when Takius decides to voice out.

Judia soon prepares for a final activity before the party heads off; she brings out a deck of fortune-telling cards and begins explaining about foreseeing the future using them. The result shocked her as the first two cards she showed were the cards "Death" and "The Chariot". Judia suggested to put the journey to Prontera on hold, but the party decides to continue nonetheless.

On their way through the forests around Geffen, Takius and Iruga sense a mysterious creature stalking them, though they decide not to tell it to the others. Yuufa later stops by a lake to create Holy Water. Roan did not notice her leave, but Iruga tells him where she is. Later, he notices that there are no birds in sight.

Soon, they hear the sound of Yuufa's scream; Iruga hurries to get to her as Judia and the others followed. They soon catch a glimpse of a large half-man, half-goat creature wielding a large hammer. With Iruga leading the attack, Roan and Takius prepare to confront the monster, which Judia refers to as Baphomet.

Baphomet displayed a great gap between his power and both Roan and Iruga, shrugging off any attack he receives with little effort. With the primary attackers at a disadvantage, Judia decides to lure the monster further inside the forest where she prepared a trap. Baphomet takes the bait and is snared, only to have the trap ripped apart by the enraged monster.

As a last resort, Iruga ordered a retreat but even this was thrwarted by Baphomet. Iruga tries to attack, and ends up thrown off by the force of the impact of Baphomet's hammer. Judia saves Iruga in time, while Takius takes the full brunt of the attack to protect Maaya and Yuufa.

As Baphomet proceeds to finish the remains of the party, he stops when he hears the name Iruga. He instantly remembers it as the name of the person who injured his left eye. With that, he decides to stop fighting and prepares to leave when Roan is seen leaping for another attack. Soon, a whip wrapped around Roan's wrist and disarmed Roan. Roan meets Baphomet face-to-face and feels scared for his life. Instead of answering his threat, Baphomet leaves.

Soon, a voice of a woman converses to Baphomet, questioning his relative passiveness towards Roan and the others. He points out that there is no point in killing them and he tells the woman not to compare him to her owner.

As Baphomet heads off, the woman finally reveals herself, a pointed-eared woman dressed in scanty black clothes, and remarks that he has something that her master does not have.

As Maaya cries over the money she lost, the rest of the party lay quiet, tending to the wounds they acquired during the fight. Judia opened the topic about the masked man she and Iruga had fought before and Yuufa asked her about Keough and if he's alive.

His answer is silence.

Referbacks
references to previous episodes

New Characters

 * Baphomet - a sinister-looking character which has the features of a goat and man. His weapon of choice is a large hammer. He has encountered Iruga and Keough before, which resulted in losing his left eye in the conflict.

New Abilities

 * Aqua Benedicta - roughly translates to "Holy Water", this ability by Acolytes allows them to bless a bottle of normal water with the power of God.

New Monsters

 * Lunatic - an animal with similar characteristics to a rabbit. Is is usually harmless for experienced adventurers and can be found near Prontera and Geffen.

Quotes

 * By Takius: "The longest way to do things is the shortest way."