Session 28 Recap: Carousing in Camaro

Our intrepid adventurers began the day’s journey with one of our last cooking battles of the game, appropriately against Jinkai, the former head of the Black Dragon Group (an elite four-man group comprising the top chefs in the world, of which Hai Yo is a former member). The enormous Jinkai brought only his apprentice Anami to assist him, and the judges were called for this epic duel.

This aged General loves his food served with sake! It’s Reuben!

The crown princess of Tinto, its Lilly Pendragon! A proud patriot, she loves all her homemade Tinto food!

This wandering scroll maker couldn’t find his favorite foods if you drew him a map! It’s Percy!

Queen likes to act like royalty, eating only the finest French foods!

Appetizer: Steve’s Soup (Steve’s soup+no spice): Royce, Daisy: 10,10,10,10

Main Course: Tempura Don (Tempura+hot sauce): Harold, Hai Yo: 9999

Dessert: Red Velvet Cake (cake+salt): Sciath, Kuarjav: 7778

Total: 102

Anami’s Peking duck 6666; Jinkai’s Kaiseki Dinner 7777, Red Velvet Cake 8889

Total: 81

As you can see, Recipe #4 “Peking Duck” and Recipe #49 “Kaiseki Dinner” were our prizes, and the battle was won.

Back to business, Caesar outlined his plan of attack for our first offensive inside Camaro itself. He sent a decoy force against Fort Dorton in the north to distract Camaro while our real forces attacked Iron Beach in the South. First, some Duck Troops from the Grasslands created floods, and then we marched in against Hilda and Gears’ all-human forces and quickly wiped them out with the power of our True Runes. The slaughter may have seemed excessive, even cruel, but “war is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.” – William Tecumseh Sherman. Upon her surrender, Hilda explained that she’d had to fight for Camaro before because they had been occupying her hometown of Iron Beach, but now she would work for us as the new invaders. Not really the ideal reason for joining us, but hopefully she will come to see the benefit of allying with us. A quick exploration of Iron Beach after the battle netted us Hamasis, the final kraken sibling. We also found the play script “To Kill A Queen”.

We bowed to Lydia’s nagging in the comment box and decided to put on a play on her stage. Our first choice was Neclord’s End, the story of the Dunan heroes (including Daisy’s father Viktor!) finally beating the dreaded vampire Neclord once and for all. Daisy played her father of course; Kuarjav played Kahn the vampire hunter; Royce was Riou, the hero of Dunan; Sciath took on Sierra the coven mistress’ role; Sun Crystal and Vasuki shared the role of Lilly; and Harold donned the fancy cape of the evil vampire himself. The show was a great success (who knew that Kahn actually forced Neclord to Repent?), so as an encore we also put on the Battle of Chi Bi, with Kuarjav as Sun Quan, Harold as Zhou Yu, Royce as Huang Gai, Sciath as Cao Cao, Daisy as Zhuge Liang, and Sun Crystal playing the Narrator.

Daisy went to the infirmary to check up on Octavia, only to find that her condition was not improved. Roy said that she could slip away at any moment, so Daisy asked Royce and company to go fetch Octavia’s daughter Sophia while she spoke with her one last time. The two women talked a bit and were on fairly civil terms by the time Sophia arrived; mother and daughter were left alone together until the end, while Daisy stood guard outside. Sophia explained that they had come to some measure of peace, though they had spent many years hating each other. She took her mother’s body back to the Beast Village for burial, and that chapter of Daisy’s life came to a close.

The next morning, we awoke once again to the castle alarm and noticed at once that every dragon save Vasuki (who sleeps in Royce’s room) was missing. Milia and her frantic dragon riders couldn’t see any indication of how it had happened, or how all the guards had been knocked out during the night. However, Milia had the power to track down the dragons, and we followed them to the Deadlands in Camaro where we had to fight many vultures and other creatures. We also fought a lion, but Daisy took pity on it and healed it up after we fought, so it decided to join us. Inside one of the deepest caves, we found Felicia surrounded by the stolen dragons, who all looked very confused and befuddled. Felicia demanded that Milia hand over the True Dragon Rune, which wasn’t going to happen, so Royce instead challenged her to a duel one-on-one, rune for rune. Felicia lost badly, but when Royce asked Kuarjav to remove her Conqueror Rune, she tried to attack him and her dragon Felix stepped in to defend her. Milia then used her True Dragon Rune to release the captured dragons from Felicia’s spell and Felix stepped back, recognizing a hopeless situation. With the Conqueror Rune removed, Felicia was easily subdued and teleported back to the Dragon’s Den for her trial. As per Dragon Knight rules, Felicia was promptly executed for her crimes, and her dragon Felix was euthanized out of pity. Royce, meanwhile, was promoted from 4^th Knight to 3^rd Knight for bringing Felicia to justice and spent the duration of her public execution hitting on Milia’s daughter Sharon.

In Hai Yo’s famous kitchen, both Retso and Gyokuran of the Black Dragon group were ready to challenge Hai Yo in our penultimate cooking battle.

She’ll dance her way into your heart with her fair judging! It’s Amber!

Gabi and her pets come from Caleria, home of spices! Give her the hot stuff for a win!

This silent hero loves Gremio’s cooking best, but he’ll settle for something Italian! It’s McDohl!

This renowned cook only picks at food he hasn’t cooked himself, making him one of the hardest judges we have! It’s Gremio!

Appetizer: Garlic Bread (breadsticks+salt): Royce, Sciath: 10,10,10,9

Main Course: Tempura Don (Tempura+hot sauce): Harold, Hai Yo: 10,10,10,9

Dessert: Chocolate Chip Cookies (cookies+chocolate sauce): Daisy, Kuarjav: 7776

Total: 105

Squid 8887, Sashimi Combo 9998, Kid’s Bento Box 8887

Total: 101

The chefs bowed their heads in defeat and handed over their greatest recipes: Recipe #21 “Squid” and Recipe #48 “Sashimi Combo”.

We sped off on another tangent and tracked down a shop that had cheaper prices than May’s shop, a Medicine shop in Cerock castle. May rewarded us with any one item from her shop that we desire, which we have yet to choose. Our victory over Marcus in was of quite a different nature – we all teamed up against him in mock battle and just barely eked out a win – but the prize was the same. We still have two special items to choose for next time!

*****TWO free items to choose!

Recruited: Hilda, Gears

(non-star recruits): Hamasis

Investigations: Hilda, Gears, Fred, Rico, Zelda

It's a Double Digit Eulogy!

As always, these eulogies are done from the perspective of Harold.

For Octavia
"Octavia, Octavia, ye of little and much faith
It was that Faith that sustained you, that faith that you your power, your wisdom, your might
It was that faith that led to your death
It was your faith that led to your Zebra crying out in the shadows alone
Its bellow echoing on the castle walls
Pounding the walls.  

There was always a way out for you
But you chose not that path.
There was always a way for peace
But you chose you not that path.
There was always a path to fire
And it was that path you took.

Let her death be a grave reminder once more
Of a lesson passed down from generation to generation
Never be too zealous for a cause
For it always leads to madness

But let our memories know this as well:
if you must go into the abyss of madness
Take friends with you.
For otherwise, ye shall be Octavia.
Ye of little and much faith"

Dedicated to Daisy.

For Felicia
"Felicia, oh Felicia, as Pearl's death was, you were such a tragic tale
Your silver eyes of rare beauty shall never again stare at your Royce
Your angelic wings shall never be seen by the lowly world again

Your spear, like that of the old dynasties, always seem so sure and pure
But its heart was as black as ash, its soul dirtied by the soil of the land

In a different time and place, your majestic grace, even if it was mad like a charging Holly Boy, would have been acknowledged, your followers bowing as if you were the last of the great Sindar gods
In a different world, you would be written of as though you had saved the world, as if you were the reincarnation of the greatest Wisemail of all

But you were bound by this one
You should have flown ever so high, so high that the angels themselves would be scared of you
But the pull of this world was too great

This violent world demanded the chaos embodied by Yuber
And your dragon simply was not powerful enough to soar above it all

In the end, you simply could not escape this world's gravity
And for that, dear Felicia, you became only the latest tale of woe"

Dedicated to Royce.

Session 27 Recap: Cooking Battle Crazy

We started with a mantor race against Maximus, who wasted no time in making his mark on Liberty Castle. Each of us jumped on one of the giant flying bugs and a tight race ensued. No one but Maximus was accustomed to racing these insects, so we had some miscommunications and false starts before the end. Daisy eked out a victory with Harold a close second, and Royce right behind. As a prize, Harold and Royce got some potch and items, and Daisy got to keep her mantor! (This gives her the ability to be a flyer unit instead of cavalry in war battles, and in normal battles she gains an extra +50 HP! We should race again soon!) Her yellow mantor has since been named Tomin, and she is still figuring out how to care for him effectively.

The next morning, we were woken by the castle proximity alarm and ran outside to find a flight of dragons landing on the lawn. Futch and Milia took the lead and pledged their dragon knights to our cause. As a special treat, the dragons carried with them the hero of the Toran republic, Tir McDohl, and his servant Gremio (think Gourry from Slayers in appearance, with a Kenshin scar on his cheek). Milia and her dragon Thrash joined us as two more stars of destiny, but Futch came out of friendship to Royce.

Caesar put our new allies right to work causing avalanches and dropping rocks on the Camaro troops at Orden castle, the last barrier between us and the land that Yuber had chosen to support. It wasn’t the most honorable tactic, but as our spokesman says, “War is at its best barbarism.” – William Tecumseh Sherman. At Orden, we found Camaro general Janell and her all-human troops standing as a last line of defense, and together we were able to bring them down without too much trouble. Janell had been opposed to the use of demons and her queen’s new policies, but she was loyal to her country and only took us defensive positions. She refused to join us at first, but when we informed her of Yuber’s crimes against the people of Harmonia and all the innocent civilians he had turned into demons, Janell saw that she had to offer us her help if we were fighting such a criminal. General Janell became the first person in Camaro to join our cause.

Back at Liberty Castle, we wandered into the kitchen for a snack and found Hai Yo being challenged to a double-battle against his old comrades Antonio and Lester.

Xavier is a wise old elf who likes his Chinese food!

April grew up like her dad Flik, and loves the same stuff he does! Isn’t that sweet?

This sexy star of Witchport used to be a Harmonian Priest General! It’s Faye!

The vampire Sierra doesn’t drink blood, but she seems to favor red sauce all the same!

Appetizer: Eggrolls (eggrolls+no spice): Sciath, Hai Yo: 10,10,10,10

Main Course: Meat lasagna (lasagna+salt): Royce, Daisy: 8888

Dessert: Hot Fudge Sundae (ice cream+chocolate sauce): Kuarjav, Harold: 9999

Total: 108

Challengers: Antonio’s Breadsticks 9999, Lester’s Ramen 3334, Fruit Fondue 2223

Total: 59

We got Recipe #37 “Breadsticks” and Recipe #17 “Ramen”, and the chefs parted on relatively good terms.

The pans were still hot when traveling cooks Mia and Nafra issued a challenge! The little ladies had heard of his reputation and wanted to test their skills against the famous Hai Yo.

This um, woman, loves to drink….blood? Does she even eat food? Um, it’s Natasha!

This ‘joker’ doesn’t take his food lightly! It’s Joker!

For one so small, she loves to eat something called French food! It’s Aila!

Leader of the Dragon’s Den and Royce’s Boss, it’s the politically correct Milia!

Appetizer: Nutella Crepe (sandwich+chocolate sauce): Harold, Hai Yo: 9,10,10,10

Main Course: Creamy Gratin (gratin+sugar): Royce, Kuarjav: 7899

Dessert: Lemon Meringue Pie (pie+salt): Sciath, Daisy: 7899

Total: 105

Muffins 8888, Full Course Special 8888, Cookies 4444

Total: 80

Mia gave us Recipe #14 “Cookies”, and Nafra handed over Recipe #3 “Muffins”, leaving us with a whole lot more sweets to choose from.

With troops from Camaro starting to pour in, Liberty Castle was upgraded to Level 4. The biggest changes are the new dragon stables on the lawn and the changes to the top floor, where every member of the Unity Rune Warriors now has a private room of his or her own design. Most have kept their personal spaces private so far, but Royce was quick to tell everyone that his room was now big enough to house Vasuki the dragon as well, and Daisy likes to keep her mantor Tomin in the corner too.

At Daisy’s insistence, we traveled back to Octavia’s cave to check up on her, only to find her ill and unresponsive. We had little choice but to take her and her zebra back to Liberty Castle and leave her in Roy’s care in the medical ward. Though Daisy still doesn’t like her, she couldn’t find it in her heart to leave an old woman to die.

Ramza’s rumors sent us first to Caleria, where we found a crowd gathered around a dancing girl. We waited until her dance had finished before approaching her, and when we explained how other non-combatants like singers and artists had joined us, Amber the dancer eagerly signed up. Later, in Adosi, we happened upon Fred and Rico of the Maximillian Knights on their way to Liberty Castle. We were able to save them the trouble and introduced them to Kuarjav, who accepted their aid on behalf of his army.

The Unity Rune Warriors took their first trip back to Crystal Valley since Pearl’s death to see the city being slowly rebuilt, refugees returning to their homes to try and pick up the pieces. Daisy immediately started asking if anyone knew of the Saint-Anicets, and one old man told her that he knew of a couple named Saint-Anicet who lived alone in a fancy house, having lost their two children some time before. Outside the house he indicated, we met a man who identified himself as Pesmerga and said he could sense Yuber’s power inside the house. He went inside with us when there was no answer at the door, and an elderly couple asked us why we had entered their home. Daisy introduced herself as Rose’s daughter; they couple reacted with anger and shifted into awful half-demon forms that they said had been granted to them by Yuber. We subdued but did not kill them, and Daisy decided to lock them up in one of our castle dungeons until they were willing to talk to her. Pesmerga joined our army when we explained that Yuber was a great enemy of ours who we had faced many times and were sure to again, and he agreed to stand guard over the Saint-Anicets until Yuber appeared again. Daisy still does not know exactly who the Saint-Anicet couple are to her, not even their names, but Viktor said that they might be Rose’s parents (thus Daisy’s grandparents), though he couldn’t be certain as long as they refused to speak. Viktor had run into Daisy’s grandparents once or twice during his courtship of Rose, but they had been less than supportive of the affair.

Needing a break, the team went to find Amber’s new dance show to relax. Royce and Daisy won 5000 potch each for their dancing skills (tips?), and then we went to the kitchen one final time. Alas, a quiet dinner was not to be, for the chef Wakai had returned once more to challenge Hai Yo. This time, Wakai was assisted by Ryoko, the sister of two chefs who had killed themselves after a defeat against Hai Yo (in Suikoden II).

The architect of your home and mine, it’s Reynaldo! He loves his pasta with red sauce!

Bryce is the bodyguard and food tester of Hikusaak. He’s learned to love the same foods as Hikusaak!

The head of security here at Liberty Castle, it’s Cassie! She loves the food of her homeland, Rokkaku!

Geddoe here is a hero among heroes! He’s traveled far and wide to find his favorite food is Chinese!

Appetizer: Spaghetti with Meatballs (spaghetti+salt): Sciath, Hai Yo: 10,999

Main Course: Japanese Curry (curry+sugar): Daisy, Harold: 10,10,10,10

Dessert: Bacon Chocolate Ice Cream Sundae (bacon+chocolate sauce): Royce, Kuarjav: 8888

Total: 109

Wakai makes calamari 6676, Wakai tempura don 10,10,10,10, cake 3333

Total: 77

Ryoko stormed off, furious, but this time Wakai accepted our offer to become Hai Yo’s apprentice (and a star of destiny). We gained Recipe #8 “Cake” and Recipe #10 “Tempura”.

Recruited: Milia, Thrash, Janell, Amber, Fred, Rico, Pesmerga, Wakai

(non-star recruits: Futch, Bright, McDohl, Gremio,

Investigations: Pesmerga, Janell, Milia, Thrash, Bazeroth

Session 26 Recap: Driving Back the Demons

A rumor heard from Ramza brought us to a cave near Cerock castle to look for an owl. We stumbled across some treasure, an old book in a hidden bedroom, and a third kraken, named Yuporon. Deep inside the cave, we were surprised to find a lone zebra, but even more surprised to find Octavia tending to it (it seems the heroes had all forgotten that Octavia’s animal form was an owl). Octavia was furious with us for invading her makeshift home and refused to listen when Royce tried to patch things up (though Daisy wasn’t quite as magnanimous as he). Seeing no other solution and unwilling to take action against her now, we left Octavia to her hideout and continued our journey.

Our other animal recruits were far quicker. An impossibly huge snake named Marco was brought from the Aeltion castle sewers to patrol our castle grounds, and a fourth kraken (Titanrina) was plucked from the depths of Red Lake to join her fellows. We popped into Muse on a whim and obtained J. Collins’ autograph for his trading book; he was gratified to find fans of his work. In Le Buque, Patricia and Maximus had a touching reunion, which secured the loyalty of Maximus, his partner Bertha, and the rest of the mantor riders to our cause. To finish, back at Liberty Castle, we lured Lynn and Erica to the bar together and talked Lynn into talking to Erica instead of just snooping on her. They soon realized that they are in fact long-lost sisters, and we were all glad to finally be able to bring a painful chapter of their young lives to a close.

Cooking game time! Hai Yo was challenged by Masuno, the roaming chef of the island nations (like Mako Tsunami but covered in fruit, with a thick Jamaican accent). The judges were as follows:

The owner of the local theater, Lydia here loves her food with ‘chops.’ Get it? Get it?

It’s Blue Lightning Flik! He likes his meals traditional, and by traditional, I mean traditional Chinese!

This elf loves his veggies stir fried with olive oil. It’s Elmdor!

The best bud of Dr. Kalas, it’s the founder of Cerock! Meet Roy!

Appetizer: Spicy Tofu (tofu+hot sauce): Harold, Sciath: 8989

Main Course: Veggie Stir Fry (veggie stir fry+no spice): Royce, Hai Yo: 10, 10, 10, 10

Dessert: Oreo Cheesecake (cheesecake+chocolate sauce): Kuarjav, Daisy: 7777

Total: 102

Masuno: Chicken Soup 3333, Curry 6555, Hot Fudge Sundae 6666

Total: 57

Masuno gave us Recipe #15 “Curry”, and took his leave.

In the war room, we got a guest appearance from Hugo of the Grasslands and Hauser of Dunan, making their alliances with the Union Army formal. Daisy declared that we should be able to make our last push against Camaro’s holdings in Harmonian lands now, and Caesar agreed, naming Coldwall as out next target. The plan for our second visit to this Camaro holding (the first being the ill-fated raid that revealed Grant’s treachery and prompted Pearl’s kidnapping) was simply to sneak in and blow the place sky-high, using barrels of oil pulled from Gomez’s magic tesseract storage system. Seeing the full range of destruction our plan would cause, Daisy argued for delaying until we could find a way to turn back the hundreds, if not thousands of Harmonian civilians transformed by Yuber back into human beings. To her dismay, everyone seemed to disagree with her, Harold most vocally, and once the legendary Shu showed up out of nowhere (sent from Dunan by Klaus) to say we couldn’t hesitate to kill them, the plan was set in spite of her objections.

We snuck in easily enough, meeting minimal resistance from the guards due to our expertly planned route, and laid down an obscene number of oil drums. A closed door in the inner fortress yielded the voices of Rodin Relos, Grant, Felicia, and Henry deep in scheming on the other side; seeing a golden opportunity, the team chose to forgo a confrontation and instead set up so many barrels outside their door that our foes would be in for a nasty surprise indeed. So we set our fires and fled on dragonback, quietly bemoaning the loss of Camaro’s greatest contribution to the continent: an ice cream parlor.

The war battle waiting for us outside was inevitable, so we turned and fought against our hated rivals once more. The four plotters emerged singed and angry but very much alive, so a fight ensued in which Daisy finished off Grant, Viktor beat down Relos, Harold thrashed Felicia, Geddoe drove off Henry, and Muku and Royce bashed dozens of demons into the dirt. Caesar declared victory, and Coldwall and Fairfax were won! The final remnants of Camaro’s invading force holed up in Ordin castle, but no one waited to start the party. Alliances were set on paper, Hugo joined the army, drinks were served… and Hikusaak and Bryce appeared, presenting Kuarjav with official papers of surrender from Harmonia. The former emperor’s only request was to be allowed to join Kuarjav’s army to fight for what’s left of his people; he even kneeled before the old man to pledge to his blade to the cause. Kuarjav accepted the offer, and now the ex-emperor and yet another Priest General have been added to our ranks.

Recruited: Maximus, Bertha, Hugo, Hikusaak, Bryce

(non-star recruits: Yuporon, Titanrina)

Investigations: Maximus, Bertha, Hugo, Hikusaak, Bryce

Session 20 Recap: Befriending the Bear

Though there was still much recruiting and exploring to do with our level three castle under our belts, everyone was feeling very tired and rather under the weather (or at least Daisy was), so we turned in for the night. The next morning, Daisy was alarmed to find herself no longer human. Her body was half-woman, half-bear, in seemingly random patches. (Jon immediately said “I guess you’re just gonna have to grin and bear it,” thus opening the floodgates of bad bear puns for the rest of the night.)

Daisy decided that she should probably alert the others, so she broke down Harold’s door and the two of them rounded up Kuarjav and Sciath (Harold said he’d sent Royce and Vasuki on a secret mission into some distant mountains to find a special feather for Harold’s hat). Kuarjav, in spite of his years of study in runes, had no explanation for Daisy’s plight, so the team relocated to the library. We ran into Viktor there, just awaking from a drunken haze and unaware of where he was, and very confused to see his daughter’s condition. Daisy sent him to go look for Jeane to get help, though he must have gotten lost or passed out somewhere along the way, because we didn’t see either one of them for the rest of the morning.

Kuarjav found a book in the library that referred briefly to people from the Beast Village losing control of their runes and experiencing semi-transformations such as Daisy’s, but there was no indication of how to regain control.
At that moment, a girl named Sophia stepped out from behind the stacks and admitted that she had been following Daisy since our first visit to the Beast Village, when we’d been unable to find anyone in human form. Sophia explained that there is a room under the Beast Village where people go to tame their runes, and that could be Daisy’s only way of learning to control her form. The trouble is, only Octavia has the key to the chamber, and everyone is afraid of Octavia, who usurped power in the village over twenty years ago. Octavia is the Beast Village shaman, whose role is supposed to be an advisory one; she refused to choose a new leader after the previous one died of old age, and has claimed control of the village as interim leader ever since. Though Sophia is Octavia’s daughter, there is no love lost between them – Sophia told us that her mother has tried to have her killed numerous times.

The team was unable to decide how best to approach Octavia, diplomatically or forcefully, so we opted to just go to the Beast Village with Sophia and play it by ear. Viki teleported us directly there, surprising the villagers in their human forms, who whispered and stared as we strolled in. Harold played herald as we marched into the center of town, where Octavia stood waiting for us with her guards. Daisy’s reasoning fell on deaf ears, as Octavia was nothing but hostile and turned downright violent when she spotted Sophia among Daisy’s companions. All three goons were harmlessly knocked out (two of them repenting their sins along the way), but Octavia still refused to cooperate.

Sophia stepped forward then and made an impassioned speech to rouse the villagers to action. They began to rally around us. Incensed, Octavia tried to blast Daisy with magic, leading Sophia to jump dramatically in slow motion and intercept the spell. The gloves came off, and Daisy charged Octavia with her sword, starting the real fight. Thanks to a nasty chain-spell from Sciath and some lucky rolls on all sides, Octavia recognized defeat at the tip of Daisy’s sword and took to the skies, leaving behind a key far too big for an owl to carry. (During this battle, Sciath was promoted to “Chief Wizard” by Kuarjav and The Twist was named our army’s official dance.)

Sophia was left in the care of the village doctor while the rest of us descended into the dungeon. Each room contained assorted treasures and cryptic tablets on the walls about meeting challenges. One chamber contained dozens of life-size animal statues, including a bear like Daisy’s, though the statue did not react to Daisy’s touch. We also blew through some bats. Our wanderings left us with time to chat about titles, earning Kuarjav the official title of “The Boss”; Daisy got “Beastmaster”; Harold is still “Fancypants”; Sciath is now the “Wiz Kid”; and Royce is“Psycho” (these may still be up for debate).

At last, we came upon a scary-looking magical pedestal with the body of a long-dead man in armor lying before it (we never figured out who he was, but we did take his helmet). Understanding what she must do, Daisy stepped onto the pedestal and immediately felt power emanating from her birth rune. When she closed her eyes, a voice sounded in her head, asking her what she wished for. Daisy said she wanted to be able to control her rune, at least as much as she had before, and was plunged into a one-on-one fight against a bear very much like her. Daisy won the fight in a few rounds and the voice told her that she could now control her rune transformation at will, which she gleefully demonstrated to her friends at once.

Our first move once we regained the surface was to have some of Steve’s delicious soup (we were all quite relieved to see that Octavia hadn’t killed him for talking to us last time). Daisy was cheered as the new leader of the village, but being less than enthusiastic about assuming that much responsibility, she appointed Sophia as the new village shaman and interim leader, promising to return when the time was right. In the words of our official army spokesman, “If forced to choose between the penitentiary and [politics], I would say the penitentiary, thank you.” So all in all, Daisy gained three things from her experience: the ability to change shape at will, the specter of future leadership and responsibility, and the right to truthfully tell a story that ends with “And then they made me their chief.” And possibly an unfortunate aversion to owls.

We returned to the castle in high spirits and filed into the kitchen for some tasty grub. To the surprise of no one who knows him, we found chef Hai Yo being confronted by Retso of the Black Dragon Group, who challenged him to a cooking battle. Daisy and the others encouraged Hai Yo to accept and promised to help out in the kitchen, so Retso called forth his wimpy apprentice Tenro to meet the challenge. Jeane was summoned as the first of our judges, but unfortunately, we were suddenly interrupted by both the GM’s computer overheating and Sarah’s health once more taking a turn for the worse. This means that next time, we will begin with the first cooking battle of the game: Hai Yo vs. Tenro! Someone call Fu Tan Chen!

Recruited: N/A

Investigations: Humphrey, Lorelai, Viki, Massa, Cyrus

Official Union Army Facts

Official Dance: The Twist

Official Titles: Kuarjav “The Boss”, Daisy “Beastmaster”, Harold “Fancypants”, Sciath “Wiz Kid”; Royce “Psycho”

Official Slogan: We Come, We See, We Bring Liberty

Official Motto: Liberty and Union