We leapt into the promised final wave of Harmonian soldiers with the roaring challenge of Royce’s dragon in our ears, but it took less than a round to bring us down. The two Harmonian generals wiped us all out at once with one mighty Unite Attack, and when we came to hours later, one by one, the battle was long over. Kuarjav awoke first to find a warrior standing over him, who expressed surprise at finding anyone left alive. The warrior identified himself as Damien, a member of the Liberation Army. Harold was greeted by Pearl, the Liberation Army leader herself (his efforts to flirt with her failed most spectacularly). Daisy met Jonah the cowboy, and Royce the nervous Dexter.
Disappointed at their loss in battle but glad to have found organized allies at last, Daisy urged that they storm Sorrowyn prison together to free his father and her friends. Unfortunately, the Liberation Army had other ideas. They pointed out that the battle, which had been heavily skewed in Camaro’s favor, had taken a tragic turn when Priest Sasari himself had turned his True Earth Rune on the brave knights. Sasari was still nearby, Camaro’s main force was whipped or buried under mountains of dirt and rock, and the most the rebels hoped to do that day was loot as many weapons from the dead as they could before Harmonia moved in to clean up the mess. Reluctantly, Daisy agreed that it was still not the right time to save her father, and the party went back to Bellhurst with the LA once the looting was finished. Before we left, we were shocked and saddened to find that Grant was missing from the battlefield. He had been the first to fall to the Harmonian generals, and Harold told us that the crime that landed Grant in prison years ago was a killing spree that left at least twenty people dead. Had Grant run off, or been recognized and hauled away by Harmonia? With no hint of where he’d gone and no way to track him among the thousands of dead, we were forced to leave with our questions unanswered.
As it turns out, Bellhurst was in fact the secret headquarters of the Liberation Army as we’d previously heard (it seems that our Harmonian disguises on our first time through town had been too effective for our own good, and the LA had taken us for actual soldiers). We had a meeting with Pearl and many other members of the resistance to decide what to do next. Should we seek out a new stronghold, scrounge up more funds, or seek out a good strategist for the movement? Dexter pushed for the latter, arguing quite pitiably that the LA should find a better strategist than he to lead them, and we all agreed that recruiting a strong strategist should be our top priority. As a result, Dexter joined our party and we set off on dragonback to begin our search in the Crystal Valley, where Harmonia’s top intellectuals were trained at the academy.
There was much to entertain and distract us even before we entered the Crystal Valley. Outside the city gates we found a drunken old man who had not even the money to sleep in a bed. Daisy and her compatriots took pity and took him to a nearby inn, where we paid 50 potch to give him a warm meal and a warm bed. Ramza thanked us for our kindness, and when we returned to check up on him later he explained some of his history. In cryptic terms he spoke of leaving his native Toran to travel through Dunan in his younger days, perhaps doing some trading. We got the impression that he might have made some shady deals in Dunan that caused him regrets, but he would not elaborate. So we left 50 more potch to buy him another night and took our leave to continue the mission.
Of course, we had a few more tasks to accomplish in town before advancing the plot. Every weapon we could afford to take to the local smith was improved upon, and a kindly old lady provided us with the Prime Rib recipe when she gave us dinner. At a nearby Narcissist’s house, we acquired the Play Script “Imperial Love”, and we perused the armor and item shops but found them to be far out of our price range.
Finally, the party strolled up to the academy itself, hopeful but without any real plan of attack. A gentleman loitered outside the doors of the academy, muttering to himself. Daisy’s helpful directions towards the main doors were met with more good humor than one might expect, and the gentleman eventually identified himself as Caesar Silverberg. The Silverberg name is known throughout the world as the most skilled family of strategists who ever lived, and anyone who ever heard of Caesar would know that he was the primary tactician in the Grasslands’ war against Harmonia several years before. Rumor has it that Caesar was only allowed to return home after Harmonia lost the war to him because of the impeccable reputation of his brother Albert, or perhaps because Harmonia’s situation was becoming so desperate that they would accept skilled help from any quarter, even from a traitor.
When we ran into him outside, Caesar was debating whether or not to meet Albert in the academy as per his brother’s request. Dexter drooled over Caesar in admiration as we talked, and the Silverberg eventually agreed to join us for dinner that evening and abandoned his plans to see his brother, who he didn’t seem to care for. The rest of us wandered through the academy for a short while but didn’t see anything interesting, save for when we spotted Albert Silverberg himself (who does have a face) chatting with the academy’s headmaster.
Dinner with Caesar Silverberg moved very quickly. It didn’t take long for the famous strategist to catch on that we weren’t exactly sympathetic to Harmonia, and when he insinuated that we would know more of the Liberation Army than he we did not deny it. In spite of his flirting with Daisy, Caesar did not agree to join us right away. Instead, he set us a test of courage and resourcefulness. There was a book (Old Book #6) that he desired, and it was locked away in the basement of the academy where it was sure to be guarded and swarming with monsters (for some reason). Now, if we can acquire that book and bring it back to him, he will agree to join our cause. If all goes well next week, we will have recruited a Silverberg to our side… albeit not one that inspires the greatest confidence in those of us who have played Suikoden III.
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