Stone Altar V

Stone Altar V (also known as Page 35: Never Say Die and Page 36: Riddle Me This) is the fifth checkpoint in Stone Altar.
==Dialogue==
===Start===
Faust
: After a brief and fiendish battle, Morgana finds herself prostrate on the ground. "Morgana, please, I don't want to hurt you..."
Morgana
: "Don't try to change my mind!" Morgana dismisses his attempt, taking off like a shot toward the stone altar.
Faust
: "Stop! Morgana, just wait a minute!" Faust gives chase and catches up to the injured Morgana without too much trouble. They continue like this, intermittently running and battling until they arrive at the base of the stone altar.
Morgana
: "You can't stop me, and you know it!" Morgana's in an intense rage, sensing that she's losing, but she's cornered and has no choice but to continue the duel.
: "Fine... you asked for it, mister! Let's duke it out, just you and me—may the best treasure-hunter win!" Morgana fights like someone with nothing to lose, hitting Faust with everything she's got at once, fierce as a tiger and angrier than a cursed pharaoh.
Faust
: "Chronos on a cracker, she needs to calm down!" Faust mutters, gritting his teeth. Nevertheless, he has to defend himself against her mounting attacks.
===Against <Gallant Crusader> Cyril===
===Finish===
Morgana
: "No! You pitiful excuse for an explorer! How dare you?!" Realizing that she has a chocolate bar on a hot day's chance of beating Faust, Morgana resorts to petty name-calling.
Faust
: "Morgana..." Faust says kindly, still trying to show her that he bears her no ill will. But as with many of the people he's encountered, this only serves to make her angrier.
Morgana
: "Mark my words, scholar—you'll regret this!" She bolts away, into the forest. Faust watches her go, understanding that he's not going to get his point across this time. He listens to her footsteps as they fade away.
Faust
: "Well, then. The mage and the chalice must be around here somewhere..." Faust gazes back at the stone altar, trying to regain his bearings. Finally, he decides to climb up it to see what's around him.
: "Phew! Now let's see... Ah, well, so much for that." Glancing at the center of the altar, Faust sees a tiny stone throne, long-since empty of the treasured chalice that once sat there.
Cyril
: "Who goes there?" Faust hears a voice behind him. Turning, he spots a centaur, tall and proud, with an impressive array of finely-crafted weaponry.
Faust
: "My name is Faust. I am a traveler seeking the powerful mage who lives here. A young woman helped me to get through the barrier..." Something about the centaur makes Faust feel the need to reveal every detail, even Morgana's role.
Cyril
: "Ah, yes. You are not the first traveler to encounter the tempestuous Morgana. No one can really be certain of her connection to this sacred place. However..." Faust is relieved and grateful to be speaking with someone who knows how to use their ears as well as their fists, but Cyril seems troubled by something.
: "The human you speak of... Morgana... she vanished over one hundred years ago..." Cyril's tone is calm, but a shiver runs down Faust's spine.
Faust
: "You mean... the person I met, that was..." Faust gulps. He searches his memory, but finds that he has no recollection whatsoever of Morgana's face.
Cyril
: "Who can say? I've been a guardian here for several hundred years, and much has happened in my time. I could tell you some stories... Unfortunately, the one story I can't tell is of the mage, or the chalice you seek." Faust can take a hint. He assents, bidding the centaur farewell. He was pleasant, after all, if not very helpful.
Faust
: Sadly, Faust did not manage to find the mage, or examine the famed chalice, but he had certainly encountered a few wild and wonderful phenomena over the course of his journey. Disappointed but undeterred, Faust pushes on to his next destination.
==Navigation==
Category:Gaia Chronicle Checkpoints
Category:Stone Altar