Session 22 Recap: The Palace and Pearl

Burning with curiosity, we dragged Clive with us to go visit the Howling Tower, where few people outside the Howling Voice Guild have ever stepped. All of the initiates were surprised to see us, but they could not turn us away with Clive as our escort. We spent some time exploring and acquired some sake and a recipe for a “Bento Box Lunch”. Later, Lorview City gave up the secret of their famous Tacos.

We put Vasuki’s wings to the test and rode her out to Cerock castle to check up on Hikusaak. It may be because Cerock is renowned for welcoming outcasts from all walks of life, but we were all able to stroll right in and ask to see Roy, the doctor who might be Kuarjav’s former student. They knew each other the moment they stepped into the room, and an emotional reunion followed. Roy let us in to see Hikusaak, resting in a private room with Priest General Bryce never leaving his side. We talked about a lot of things, starting with our true identity, surprising Bryce – he’d thought we were Harmonian, or so it seemed. Hikusaak tried to explain what he’d intended for this country before his Circle Rune precipitated Harmonia’s decline, though it was hard for some members of the team to completely absolve him of guilt for all of the horrors and injustices his country had perpetuated. In the end, both parties were left with much to think about, and we returned to Liberty Castle for the moment. On our way out, Kuarjav secured Roy’s support for our cause; he also shouldered the responsibility of informing Roy of his father’s death.

Back at Liberty Castle, we had our second cooking battle, this time against the pitiful Kobayakawa (though he put up a slightly better fight than we expected). Daisy and Sciath made Clam Chowder for appetizer, earning us solid 10s across the board. Kobayakawa’s Pickled Fruit was well received as well with a 9,9,9,10. Harold and Hai Yo aimed to please with their Grande Tacos, but unfortunately their score was all 7s. On the other hand, Kobayakawa’s special Spaghetti with Meatballs earned him a row of dismal 4s, virtually assuring our victory. Royce and Kuarjav brought it home with all 8s for their Fudge Brownies, while Kobayakawa’s Deep-Fried Ice Cream earned 6,6,5,5. Final scores were 100 for us and 74 for the challenger, and Kobayakawa granted us his recipe for Spaghetti before retreating (after Daisy offered him a brownie and a place in our castle, as is quickly becoming the standard ritual).

Harold brought up a good point when we talked with Caesar later; Windy would know that her sister was fighting for us, and Leknaat’s survival could be our key to victory. Victor, Flik, and Humphrey were assigned to guard the sorceress for as long as Windy was still a threat.

The next morning, Daisy woke up to find things not quite right once again. To her shock, she realized that she seemed to be at least five years older than she should have been, maybe more. She hurriedly rounded up the others as well as her dad, Sasari, and Jeane, and demanded an explanation. Sasari berated her for not telling him earlier about having the True Chronos Rune. Armed with full knowledge of recent events, the former priest general was able to removed the True Rune from her sword, transfer it onto a new item (the ball gown we received from June), and undo the changes it had begun to inflict on Daisy’s body. Jeane took the ball gown and hid it away in an undisclosed location.

Our ninja intelligence informed us that the Camaro forces had built a base for themselves in the Circle Palace and the capitol city was still overrun with demons. The ninjas of the night couldn’t tell us much, so we opted to take our special task force in to see for ourselves. No demon stood a chance against our ninja-augmented might, and soon we found ourselves sneaking down a hallway deep inside the palace itself. We hid at the first hint of voices and spotted none other than Grant and Felicia strolling towards us, chatting about something we couldn’t quite hear.

Choosing to take advantage of our ambush, everyone leapt out at once and quickly overpowered the pair, with Royce pinning Felicia and Daisy’s knee firmly in Grant’s back. As we debated what to do with our prisoners, the weapon that Daisy had wrested from Grant’s hands began to complain. Daisy recognized the Star Dragon Sword immediately from her dad’s stories and greeted him enthusiastically, though the sword was less than thrilled at being held once again by someone of Viktor’s line. But the young berserker was able to convince the True Rune that he was better off with her than with Grant and Yuber’s forces, and that was that.

Yuber arrived at that moment, for things had been going far too easily for us. He demanded the release of his people. When we refused, he summoned Pearl to his side and offered a trade: Pearl, relatively unharmed, for Grant and Felicia. There was some debate as to whether or not we believed it to be the real Pearl and how we could tell. There seemed to be no way to know for sure. But left with no choice, we decided (despite Harold’s protests) to make the trade.

The moment the exchange was made, the demon hit Pearl with a spell. Her anguished screams filled the hall, and she began to twist and transform into a hideous demon herself. It appears that next time, if we want to get out of the palace alive, we may have to kill our former leader.

Recruitments: Roy

Investigations: Roy, Isis, Tina, Cassie, Diaz