Elemental Link

**Tales of Nebezem: Elemental Link** is an adventure game in the Tales of Nebezem series.  It is the story of how the Gray Tower Era began, told primarily from the perspectives of Maoti and Corvus.

The game may be purchased from Steam, or played for free on Kongregate. Due to its length, the Kongregate version of the game is split into two parts: Part 1 and Part 2. The Kongregate version is divided into 6 chapters instead of the 5 listed below.

## Plot

### Chapter 1: Children's Home

Maoti, a boy at a Jenese Children's Home, is undergoing the final stage of his training, learning herbal magic (the spells of Wash Away and Grow Vine) from his mentor Tiali.

On a quest to touch a statue of Megami, Maoti receives a vision from the goddess telling him that "a great change is coming to our world", and that he would "act as a bridge-builder".

At the end of the chapter, Maoti graduates from the Children's Home, and moves to the town of Suitera with Tiali.

### Chapter 2: Maoti the Apprentice

In Suitera, Maoti works as an apprentice to Tiali.

His first assignment is to gather a batch of Atsuguki and deliver it to the Administration building. As the apprentice Shinaro casts a spell to inspect the herbs, she accidentally starts a fire. Tereo dowses the flame with a water spell and orders Shinaro to be taken to a healer to recover from the shock. Maoti, who does not recall ever having seen fire before, makes a remark that it was "beautiful", which is rebuffed, as "fire has no place in The Order".

Maoti heads back to Tiali's workshop and tells him about the fire. Wanting to take Maoti's mind off the incident, Tiali keeps him busy learning about powerlines and acquiring a Yumebani flower to make a dream enhancer to deliver to Tawashi. Tawashi secretly lets Maoti keep a small portion of the potion for himself.

After a long day, as Maoti is walking to his dormitory, the gnomess Görpl alerts him to some suspicious activity in a house nearby. He follows the people inside, to find himself at a fire-worship ritual, which is busted by Protectors. Maoti, seemingly in a hypnotic state, is dragged to the healer Hitatsu, who finds nothing wrong with him, but sends him to the Protectors' Base to learn Freeze Movement for self-defense.

Tiali sends Maoti to the sages for information about recent strange events, but the sage Omanu is no help at all. At Görpl's recommendation, Maoti consumes the dream enhancer, and has a vision of himself saying "sometimes, poison is the best cure".

Maoti goes back to the sages' hall and utters those words. Omanu sees no significance in them, but the eldest sage Kagameo overhears it and asks to speak privately with Maoti. She confesses that she intends to end her life, and recognizes Maoti's words as a sign that she can trust him to escort her to a particular spot on a hill west of the town.

Along the journey, she reveals the secrets that The Order has kept for centuries: That there are other races of people, and other gods, unknown to the Jen people; and that The Order itself was \*not\* established by Megami, but is man-made. Just before she drinks her poison, she advises Maoti to have another enhanced dream, with the new information.

After acquiring another batch of dream enhancer, Maoti has another dream, in which Kagameo leads him to a magic gate deep within the Forest of Brotherhood, from which a strange dark-skinned man emerges.

In the morning, Maoti and his friend Michiko head for the location of the magic gate.

### Chapter 3: The Verax Clan

On the other side of the world Corvus Verax, a magus, is called to his chief's house for an important meeting. The Veraces are in a difficult position in their war with the Pyromilites. The clan's hope is staked on a magic gate accessible only through Verax territory. On the other side, there could be valuable resources to sustain the clan, or, in the worst-case scenario, a place to evacuate to. Corvus is ordered to obtain a gate crystal from the top of a hill east of the village.

After making the journey, killing several Pyromilites enemies along the path, Corvus makes a deal with the gnome Brf to clear boulders from the path to a nearby oasis, in exchange for assistance climbing the hill. Corvus obtains the gate crystal and presents it to his chief.

The next day, Corvus and Fido activate the magic gate, arriving in a land that is cold, rainy, and green, very much unlike their desert home. They encounter Maoti and Michiko, and kidnap them.

The two Veraces give their report to the chief about a land rich in wood and water, but were unable to do much exploration before the gate closed. The gnome Plürd tells them that the gate crystal was too weak. So, the chief orders Corvus on a quest to obtain more crystals.

With the help of a newly-learned Resist Fire spell from Basilius, Corvus heads to the volcano to search for crystals. Finding none there, he continues onward through the vast desert to the west. The distance is farther than he expected, and he collapses from heat exhaustion and dehydration. In his state of unconsciousness, he receives a vision from Pyros telling him to "seek out the northerner". When he wakes up, he sees a source of water, quenching his thirst and allowing him to continue his journey, where he ultimately finds six gate crystals in a garden maintained by a gnome.

Meanwhile, in the Verax prison, two guards each attempting to stun Michiko with a fireball inadvertently fire at the same time, killing her.

When Corvus returns to the chief's house with his gate crystals, he is informed that the prisoner girl is dead. Corvus feels sadness over this, despite her not being a member of the clan. He feels determined to help Maoti escape before he, too, is killed.

After a bunch of complicated "running around" doing quests for the rest of the clan, Corvus eventually succeeds in stealing the key to the prison. He passes it to Maoti through a window. Maoti escapes from the prison, and meets Corvus outside, recognizing him as the guy who gave him the key. The language barrier inhibits their communication, but the two introduce themselves to each other, and head towards the magic gate, for which Corvus has kept one of the crystals to himself.

Maoti passes through the gate back to his own homeland, waiting for Corvus to follow. But Corvus is stopped by Fido, who accuses Corvus of being a "traitor" for helping a prisoner escape and then "deserting". Fido bangs on the gate as Corvus is halfway through it, trapping him in a strange place between lands.

Maoti heads back to town, without Corvus.

### Chapter 4: The Four Facets

Maoti returns to the herbalist workshop to find a very worried Tiali exclaim "Maoti! You're alive!", and Görpl with him. Maoti tells them about the magic gate, the desert land, the prison, and Michiko's death.

Görpl mentions that she knows this strange people, called the Pyreans. Maoti spends several days learning the Pyrean language from her, in the hopes of making peace with them.

The day quickly arrives for Maoti to become a full adult. Tiali walks with him to the Administration building for his job assignment. Both of them expect Maoti to become a herbalist, as he had been training for, but to their surprise, chief administrator Tereo's divination orb chooses him to be a priest instead. Tiali, having grown very fond of Maoti from their time together, is disappointed that they won't be working together, but Maoti thanks him for his care and promises to visit him often at the workshop.

Maoti goes to the temple to collect his purple robes and learn the Water Walk spell. As an initiation rite, he is asked to take a ship to a shrine on an island to the north. On his way to the port, Maoti stops by the Protectors' Base to tell Futazu about the death of Michiko, who had been an Protector apprentice.

Meanwhile, Corvus is stuck in the Tesseract. He ultimately manages to activate its portal, but not to Suitera. Instead, he is transported to the Windy Hills in Miel land, where he meets Tyyni, who uses a spell of telepathy to overcome the language barrier. They hike up a hill to obtain two more gate crystals.

Maoti arrives at the shrine, and is transported to the divine plane, where the four gods of Nebezem discuss arrangements for their appointed mortals to meet each other.

Corvus and Tyyni are transported to a gate outside Kahír Savált. Tyyni meets Danu, whom she had seen in \*her\* prophetic dreams. The two girls head into town together. Corvus stays outside and asks Marklar for help in getting the gate to go where he wants it. Marklar agrees to do so on the condition that he retrieve a golden rod from the town blacksmith's chest. Corvus makes his way through a rat's lair to the smithy. He unlocks the chest and obtains the rod, but draws the attention of the smith, who calls in the guards. The guards beat up Corvus, but fail to take the rod back.

And so, Corvus finally gets his trip to the northern lands. He passes through the gate, and rejoins the rest of the Veraces, who have already passed through and are preparing to invade Suitera. Corvus pretends to be on their side while he actually intends to look for Maoti and keep him safe.

With the Verax warriors away, the Pyromilites take advantage of the situation to kill Chief Verax and plunder the village.

### Chapter 5: Merging Elements

Maoti returns to the port of Suitera to find most of the town on fire and Futazu passed out on the pier. He uses his newly-learned Heal Wounds spell on him. Futazu informs Maoti of the Pyrean invasion: The Battle of Suitera is raging, and the Jen are losing. Fortunately, Maoti is able to heal enough people to make the fight evenly matched.

In front of the town gate and the destroyed herbalist workshop, the two sides face off, throwing fire and ice spells. Maoti and Corvus jump into the center of the fight, and use their magic to protect each other. Touched by this display of love, the two sides ultimately agree to make peace.

Maoti and Corvus then head together to the Midring of Nebezem, to the spot where Solara was killed. Shortly afterwards, they are joined by Tyyni, Danu, and four gnomes. Aided by the gnomes, the four heroes use their love for each other to awaken Solara's spark within them. This act "builds a bridge" between the opposing elements, as foretold by the gods, and causes a transdimensional portal to open. A number of Sivar people step through the portal into Nebezem, along with their two deities.

Nebezem now has a god of Life (Svetlan) and a goddess of Death (Morena), replacing the original ones (Solara and Kizin). A new era begins, in which the five Nebezem nations meet and start forging a future together, following the example of the four heroes. The Sivars build the Gray Tower, which becomes the geographical, spiritual, cultural center of the world.

## Optional Tasks

1. Gather Atsuguki in Suitera. (Find all 6 plants.)
2. Visit Murasageo the pretty painter in her house to have some tea and biscuits with her.
3. Help Shioni gather his fellow fire-worshippers.
4. Have Yugime upgrade your Freeze Movement spell to have a permanent effect on igimos.
5. Request help from Shaelu and have him hunt down all igimos on the northwestern hill.
6. Use Fido's ring to hide in shadows from Pyromilites.
7. Summon Pyrowisps to kill all three-headed snakes at the foot of the volcano.
8. Discover a way to slow down the floating fireballs in the Verax prison.
9. Avenge Michiko by incinerating the prison guard who was reponsible for her death.
10. Gain control of the mustakukko bird in Miel land to easily dispose of all bats.

Tasks 3 and 4 are mandatory in the Kongregate version, because since the game is split into 2 parts, there would be no way to know in part 2 whether the player has upgraded their spell or not. The "Completionist" achivement on Steam is earned by obtaining at least 9 of these tasks.

## Chronology

Elemental Link is set in the final days of the old era, dating it to 1 BGT by definition (assuming that the events occur within the span of a single year). The new Gray Tower Era is introduced in the epilogue.

# Characters

* Basilius Verax, magic teacher
* Bogomir, one of the first Sivars to emerge
* Brf, gnome
* Buride, fisherwoman
* Cherue, Maoti's classmate, priestess apprentice
* Chief Verax, head of the Veraces
* Chinuro, port storage house manager
* **Corvus Verax**, the deuteragonist
* Danu Apprentice, from Golden Scepter
* Domore, Suiteran priestess
* Elianus Verax, magus
* Fido Verax, assassin, Corvus's friend
* Funaji, child, future farmer
* Futazu, elder protector
* Gitsue, farmer
* Görpl, gnomess
* Hanao, protector
* Hitatsu, healer
* Hrug, gnome
* Ilmar, god of Air
* Iosephus Verax, magus and master of potions
* Jonas Verax, Primus of the Veraces
* Kagameo, eldest sage in Suitera
* Kirio, sailor
* Leumi, Tiali's partner at the herbalist workshop
* Lucilla Verax, well tender
* **Maoti**, the protagonist
* Mariana Verax, brothel girl
* Marklar, gnomess
* Megami, goddess of Water
* Michiko, friend of Maoti, protector apprentice
* Mokuzaki, forester
* Morena, Sivari goddess of Death
* Murasageo, artist
* Naanazi, administrator
* Omanu, sage
* Ovidius Verax, magus
* Paulus Verax, magus
* Phoebe Verax, brothel girl
* Plipl, gnomess
* Plürd, gnome
* Pyros, god of Fire
* Shaelu, protector
* Shinaro, Administration apprentice
* Shioni, leader of illegal fire rituals
* Siuki, Children's House mentor
* Svatava, one of the first Sivars to emerge
* Svetlan, Sivari god of Life
* Takelu, Maoti's classmate at Children's Home
* Talandia, goddess of Earth
* Tawashi, artist, curator of the Public Gallery of Arts
* Tereo, elder administrator
* Tiali, Maoti's mentor
* Tyyni Viisainen, from Mind Trial
* Urgl, gnomes
* Veronica Verax, painter
* Warime, public giveout worker
* Wasaki, Maoti's classmate, fisherman apprentice
* Weini, tailor
* Yugime, protector
* Yukio, Takelu's mentor
* Yurie, child, future artist