Session 19 Recap: Tango with the Troops

Between this session and last, Harold and Xander followed Bryce and Hikusaak on an exhausting journey that ended up at Cerock castle, a haven for those who live outside of normal society. Albert Silverburg was spotted, and the pair learned that Hikusaak had been taken there in order to see one of the most well-respected doctors in Harmonia, a man named Roy (perhaps the same one whose father died in Sorrowyn to save our lives, and was formerly a student of Kuarjav’s?). Harold learned that Bryce is a well-known face at Cerock, though not necessarily as a priest general. Doctor Roy is admired and well-liked to the point of being considered by most to be the unofficial leader of the city, which he helped found way back when.

Back at Liberty Castle, we killed time until Harold reported back by checking up on a lot of random recruits, starting with Ramza. Daisy suggested that Ramza, who long ago became obscenely wealthy at the expense of others, use his money to help people like Dexter who are struggling to support their families while they fight for us. Ramza agreed, and decided to approach Caesar about setting up a war fund to help the families of soldiers.

Next we approached Nathan, who is obviously still troubled by Grant’s betrayal. He’s still angry that his former best friend could turn against him and can’t understand this betrayal of his trust, and none of us can think of any reason that could explain the behavior. Surprisingly, Wayne the kobold (played by Michael while Harold was away) theorized that Grant had turned against us precisely because of his separation from the rest of us; as the rune of friendship and betrayal, it’s possible that the rune felt “betrayed” by the distance between it and its fellows, and is somehow affecting his behavior now.

Wondering if removing Grant’s piece of the True Rune might make him go back to normal, we went to consult Leknaat on True Runes. She talked briefly about Luc’s fate in relation to True Runes (assisted by split-screen anime-style explanation by Harold), and eventually said it would be almost impossible to remove Grant’s True Rune piece against his will. Our next stop was asking Jeane the Runemaster (though we took note that Bryce’s True Domination Rune might ultimately be our best bet, if we can secure him as an ally). Jeane sold Royce a cool Dragon Fire Rune, but she wasn’t much help rune-wise, though she offered to see what she could do if we ever brought Grant to her. Daisy asked Jeane about herself (elf? True Rune? Relation to Faye?); Jeane said she was born in Harmonia in a little village that no longer exists, where her parents Jeane and Frank are now buried, and Faye was also from that village, but no specifics. Kuarjav asked what might happen to Grant’s piece if he died, and Jeane said it might go dormant or integrate its power into the rest of us… who knows?

We proceeded to the next item on our laundry list and checked out Monty’s shop to investigate the break-in he reported a little while back. Nothing was taken, but someone was obviously there during the night, and Monty recognized the fingerprints on the crystal balls that didn’t belong there (it was a very amateur job). Vasuki’s powerful nose followed a trail from the shop into a kobold part of town, straight into a female kobold’s house, whose reaction upon seeing us was, “Eep!” Royce told us why we’d come, and she soon broke down and confessed, explaining that she was too shy to tell Monty how much she admired him and just wanted to get to know him. Wayne ordered her to apologize, and Monty and his shy admirer ended up going on a date.

Down in the gambling hall, we talked June into coming with us (an awkward scene with Nathan preceded) and flew to Marid, where June’s family lived. June reluctantly agreed to enter the town as long as we promised let the issue drop from that day on. She had a reunion with her mom, who chided her for being gone so long. Before we left, June’s mom gave her a fancy, poofy dress (leaving the girl completely mortified). June gave us the ball gown after we left the town, and then June and Nathan went off on their own, the ice apparently cracked.

We took Marcus and Reuben with us to Lorin and paid Marcus’ family a visit. All ten of his kids came rushing out the moment we landed, equally fascinated by Wayne the “puppy” and Vasuki, who seems to love children. We all stayed for dinner, and Marcus’ wife gave us a Saint’s Cloak on our way out. Since we still had the two former priest generals with us, our next stop was the Hermitage, where Ramza had indicated we might find someone of interest this time. The eagle still sat outside the hug, but inside we now met a very old man drinking tea. Reuben recognized him at once as Lucius, greeting him warmly. Reuben says Lucius was a commanding officer of his when he was a young man (and Reuben is no spring chicken – Lucius is 94!). Lucius is long retired now and got away from it all because he couldn’t stop trying to help when people when he saw them in trouble, but when we told him Crystal Valley had fallen, he agreed to help us and come out of retirement, with some encouragement from Reuben.

On our next return to Liberty Castle, we decided to finally get down to details with the noblewoman and her friend who we’d saved from Yuber. We found them in Lorin. In response to Daisy’s nagging, Juliette finally admitted to being a former princess of a country that no longer exists, but would give no further details. She claimed that too many people had already died to keep her secrets. She would say no more about her daughter Patricia (a.k.a. Patty) either. Still, we offered to let them stay at our castle where it would be much safer than a refugee camp, and they readily agreed.

The next morning dawned over the diminished Camaro army at our gates; it was time to finish the battle at last. Caesar gave us an update on the Camaro progress, and Harold returned just in time to report his findings about Hikusaak and jump into the fray. To our intense relief, we found all of the enemy units working at less than full capacity (i.e. already one strike down) thanks to Leknaat’s banishing spell from the day before. The demons left a wide swath of the enchanted forest burned to a cinder in their wake and advanced right up to the castle. A slew of masterful magic and archery took Grant and Henry out of the fight first; Daisy and Viktor took down Yuber; Harold teleported behind Relos and forced him to flee; and the rest of the demons were dispatched without any casualties on our part. Seeing their forces broken and scattered, Windy and the Queen of Camaro retreated, presumably to regroup with their allies for another assault. For the moment, though, our castle is a safe haven again.

With our castle now at Level 3, it’s time to start our next recruitment drive. We quickly recruited Bethany the rancher and Lydia the stage manager from Belus, and our plan for next time is to start looking for the woman Ramza told us about who could speak with animals. Royce expressed his concern that he hasn’t seen Felicia in some time, and wondered what she’s been up to. The dragonrider still doesn’t know exactly how to deal with his dangerous nemesis, but he said in no uncertain terms that he hopes she’s still alive because he wants to be the one to kill her if it comes down to it. The rest of us were once again not convinced that Royce is not going to snap one day and kill us all in our sleep.

But most importantly, another trip to Lorin paid off handsomely when we came across Hai Yo, the famous chef! He was cooking for the refugees, as he was one himself. We convinced him that he could do wonderful and much-appreciated work for us back at Liberty Castle, and he accepted our invitation to become our head chef. Cooking battles are on the horizon!

Recruits : Lucius, Patricia, Juliette, Bethany, Lydia, Hai Yo

Investigations : Lucius, Patricia, Juliette, Caesar, Wayne