Session 23 Recap: Failing a Friend, and Collecting the Countries

The battle against the demon that used to be our leader was quick and brutal. It changed its shape once to try and gain an advantage, but our combined efforts felled it, with Daisy landing the finishing blow. As soon as their hands were free Daisy and Royce charged Yuber, who had been standing and watching with his lieutenants the whole time. But the pair never got close to touching them. Yuber froze them where they stood and sent them into fits of excruciating pain, threatening to do to them what he’d done to Pearl. Daisy switched to her bear form to try and power out of his hold, but to no avail.

Just as it seemed the reckless pair were doomed, Yuber succumbed to a surprise attack of arrows, fireballs and lightning, falling for the same trick as in Crystal Valley. Six people charged in, several of whom were familiar to Harold. We joined the fray with gusto, seizing our advantage; Daisy knocked out Grant almost immediately, and all of the enemies were almost overpowered. But Windy showed up, furious at the invasion of her new castle, and teleported her allies away.

The six human warriors lined up before us to introduce themselves, pointing out that we’d all had the same idea to attack here. They gave their names as Geddoe (the leader), Joker, Jacques, Queen, Ace, and Aila, the “Southern Frontier Defense Force.”

With the fighting over, the Unity Rune heroes gathered around the fallen demon. They were relieved to see that their combined power was enough to restore Pearl to her human form, though she was obviously dying. Kuarjav, who knew a hopeless cause when he saw one, bowed his head, but Daisy rounded on him with angry accusations. She even said that if he hadn’t given up so easily throughout his life, he wouldn’t have spent so much of it in prison (Harold chastised her immediately, but Daisy has yet to apologize). Pearl, on the other hand, understood the inevitability of her death, and used her finals breaths to warn the party that Yuber had just stolen the True Demon Rune from Harmonia. This he held in addition to his True Eightfold Rune, which was difficult for everyone to believe; no one is supposed to be able to support two True Runes within a single body.

And so Pearl passed away. Daisy murmured, “I won’t forgive you,” but whether to Yuber, Kuarjav, Pearl, or even herself, none can say. Cradling Pearl’s body, Daisy led the others and the six new allies to the castle. They proceeded slowly up to the war room, earning gasps and cries from everyone who recognized the body of their former leader. The grief felt by Dexter, Damien and Jonah, who had joined up with Pearl long before any of us had met, was especially deep.

Harold quickly arranged a state funeral for Pearl, with speeches, PR statements, and a viewing of Pearl’s body as she lay in state. All of her good friends and the leaders of the Union Army had something to say, finally ending with Kuarjav. Even our official army spokesman made a pithy, if rather gloomy, statement: “I think I understand what military fame is; to be killed on the field of battle and have your name misspelled in the newspapers.” –William Tecumseh Sherman. Meanwhile, Caesar sought out Harold, who he recognized as a fellow cool-headed thinker in times of crisis, and they discussed their concerns over how far Camaro might be willing to go to win. Harold suggested that they start trying to recruit other nations to the Union Army’s aid, and Caesar agreed.

Later, we all got together for a more lighthearted activity and finally had Roxie build our Guardian Statue for the castle. We gave her the four Squirrel Plans, and as soon as she was finished, an oversized flying squirrel in a red cape appeared from out of nowhere! Veterans recognized him as Mukumuku, and though the poor creature was very confused, Daisy hugged him and he was quickly adopted as the castle mascot.

At Royce’s suggestion, our first target for recruitment was the Dragon’s Den (Leknaat teleported us all the way there). Royce’s presence allowed us to walk in and explore wherever we liked, much like our trip to the Howling Voice Tower with Clive. The party was shown in to speak with Futch, who listened with interest to our story; he was especially furious to hear that Windy had returned, she who murdered his first dragon, Black, many years ago. Futch agreed to lend us his help, though he had to remain at the Dragon’s Den for the moment. While we were in the area, we explored a bit more and found a dragonrider training his partner by fighting a tiger. The big cat was not aggressive enough by his standards, however, so he gave him to us for our zoo. Afterwards, we had beer and steak with Royce’s parents and heard embarrassing baby stories.

The party went straight to Harold’s cousin Klaus’ mansion in Muse, Dunan after that (stopping off at Liberty castle to release the tiger). The startled guards informed us that Klaus was not home, so we marched to City Hall instead to try and see the president. To the surprise of those who had journeyed to Harmonia from Dunan, we discovered that Klaus himself was now president, thanks to his investigation of Teresa’s clandestine deals with Harmonia. The former president was now confined to the dungeons, though she was still treated with courtesy and kept as comfortable as possible for the old woman. Harold found and popped a bottle of wine, made introductions, and gave his cousin a recap of our war efforts. A formal alliance between Dunan and the Union Army was quickly drawn up. Harold introduced his sister Anna to Klaus, as it was the first time those two cousins had ever met. Klaus thoughtfully gave us access to his treasury to help supply our travels.

Eventually, Harold and Klaus kicked the others out so the cousins could spend the night drinking and catching up. Daisy and Sciath ditched the guys and went out partying with some of Daisy’s old friends, leaving the rest to their own devices for the night. We did some shopping the next day and took advantage of Klaus’ discounts to upgrade some of our weapons.

We wrapped up our business in Dunan and returned to Liberty Castle to start our third cooking battle. Hai Yo was confronted by a small child named Wakai, maybe 12 years old, who challenged him to the most adorable duel ever.

The judges:

“The big bad Kobold warrior loves his protein to grow even bigger! It’s Wayne!”

“This investigative reporter will report you success or failure to all the food critics, so be sure to please her! It’s Lynn!”

“This former noble man loves the high lifestyle he once had! It’s Byron!”

“This noble lady is a tough to please! Give it up for Bernadette!”

The dishes:

Appetizer by Sciath and Hai Yo: Creamy Grain (gratin+sugar): 10, 10, 10, 10

Main course by Daisy and Royce: Filet Mignon (Steak+salt): 10, 10, 10, 10

Dessert by Harold and Kuarjav: Apple Pie (pie+sugar): 6666

Total: 104

Wakai made Fancy caviar 7788, sushi 6666, and pudding 4455

Total: 72

As a reward for our victory, we got Recipe #19 “Sushi” from Wakai. Daisy offered him some pie and a place at the castle, as per usual, but her offer was refused. Maybe one day we’ll find a worthy apprentice for Hai Yo!

Recruited: Geddoe, Joker, Jacques, Queen, Ace, Aila, Mukumuku, Hauser

Investigations: Mukumuku, Rosalita, Geddoe, Ace, Hauser

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

Conversation 4: Daisy and Pearl

Green: Daisy

GM: Black

((Ok, for Pearl, I'll say it's evening, and you're on your way to your room. You pass by Pearl's room, and see the light still on. As you look, the door opens, and Dexter steps out.

"Goodnight Pearl. If you need anything, just call." You hear Pearl say something back, but can't make it out. Dexter walks away, attempting to close the door, but the door hitches and remains open a crack. You walk by and see Pearl at a desk, working on something. She suddenly tenses, and grabs a weapon at her side. She looks up towards you, and says

"Dexter? Is that you?"

"Whoa, whoa there," Daisy said lightly, pushing the door open wider. "If you're gonna pull a sword on everyone who walks by your door, you're gonna wear out your arm long before you hit the battlefield. Why so tense?"

Pearl relaxes her guard, and takes her hand off her weapon.

"Oh, Daisy. Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. I just thought I heard someone, and then I saw the door open... I thought someone was sneaking around. I guess I'm just a little paranoid. Did you need help with something?" she asks.

"No offense taken," Daisy chuckled, strolling into the room. "Best to be on your guard anyway, in case anyone ever does try something in here; no reason to think they couldn't. I was just passing by, but since I'm here, how are you feeling about the way things are going? Think we're on the right track?"

"Yes, yes I do. We've made rapid gains recently, securing entire regions under our banner. The Kobolds and dwarves are with us, and it's only a matter of time before the elves join us too. Maybe even the wingers if we can keep up our momentum. It's been such a rush, seeing the rapid changes in our army. I've been trying to organize a united stand against Harmonia for so long, and it's finally happening. With all the new help we have, from you and your friends, to Caesar and Katherine, Wayne and Cyrus...we're making this work. We have a real chance of making a difference not just for us, but for the whole continent. Don't' you think so?"

"Yeah..." Daisy said, scratching her head under her thick blond hair. "That all sounds pretty good. With the way things have been going, and with my help, I think you'll be able to accomplish anything you want. So... what do you want? Are you going to be the next emperor after Hikusaak?" she asked. Her voice held nothing but polite interest.

Pearl does a double take looking at you, and then laughs. "I have no such ambitions," she says, chuckling. "Honestly, I think it's up to the people who should govern them. I think a representative government like they have in Dunan would be for the best, but I don't know if Harmonia is ready for such a thing. The class based society has held sway for so long, I don't know if we could enforce the laws in such a state." she says, sighing.

"Winning the war is only the first part of this battle. Creating a new government that everyone will accept, and then defending it will be the harder challenge. As one of my old mentors used to say, "Killing is easy. Living is what is hard."

"Well, I'll agree that it feels like killing is too easy sometimes," Daisy allowed. "I don't know about the 'living' part, though. There are already all these classes and species living together in this castle, more coming all the time, and it sure doesn't seem like we're forcing anyone to do anything they don't want to do around here. Things worked out in Dunan for my dad's army; I think they'll work out here, you'll see. People would rather live in peace than fight; even someone like me can see that, and I'm just a merc."

"You're from Dunan, yes? It may be hard to understand for you, but this castle is an exception to the rule. If we put a kobold or dwarf on a council here, I doubt any former first class citizens would take them seriously. They've been taught non humans are not people, just animals to be ignored. I don't know how to make people like that see that life is life, and that it's precious. Change will take time, and I don't know if a new government will last long enough to make people see that. If Camaro, Dunan, or even Grassland decide to invade while we're weak, we may just be taken over by a foreign power before we've established anything. I'm trying to work on defense plans with Caesar to prevent that, but it's not easy."

"I don't really get it," Daisy said. She found a seat and sat casually, leaning on her sword. "Would that be so bad? I mean, Dunan's done pretty well with equality and tolerance and all that. If they take over Harmonia, maybe they can help shape this into the kind of place you want it to be. If Dunan's like what you want Harmonia to be... And Camaro's a knightdom or something, they shouldn't be so bad. I don't know much about the Grasslands, but I'll bet they have something to offer too. I'm just saying, maybe these are changes that a little group of us like this won't be able to make as well as a country like Dunan could make for all of Harmonia, I guess."

Pearl bites her lip. "I doubt that would be so easy either. A country like Dunan might try to make a peaceful change, but the fact would remain we would be a conquered nation. Just look at the Higheast province. They've rebelled twice in the last decade. Trying to control an area the size of Harmonia under a foreign rule? There would be rebellions all over the place, and we'd be at war again. The country would break away piece by piece, and we'd likely end up a collection of small countries instead of a united one, just begging to be attacked. The wars would start and the cycle would resume all over again. Harmonia has made too many enemies for us to be that weak. We need a unified nation that all can be happy under and still defend ourselves from foreign powers. We need to strike a balance, and I've yet to find it. There has to be a solution, I just don't know what it is."

"There's always going to be war. I'm sure Hikusaak didn't make the country he wanted to right off the bat, and then he still hoped that this country would last forever. There'll be flaws, and unrest, and rebellions, but maybe every time we'll fix something, and make it a little better. Jowston becomes Dunan, and Harmonia becomes...? Something better." Daisy smiled. "I'll help make it better, too. Not counting a lot of the humans, I like the people I've met here."

"I like the people here too. I guess that's part of the reason why I want to make this work, so the people here and everywhere in this country can finally live in peace. Maybe it's naive, but I hope we can create a country without war. A country strong enough to dissuade foreign attackers, but without the military expansionism of Harmonia. Caesar and I have debated a few ways to dissuade any future rulers from being able to declare war, but until we get a stable working government, it's a moot point."

"The transition to a new country should be easy enough, all things considered. I mean, a couple of priest generals have joined us already, and they should be pretty respected, right? The only one I've met so far who's been really hateful is Relos, and I don't see him becoming our ally anyway. Maybe it'll help if generals like Marcus and Reuben are seen treating leaders like Cyrus and Wayne like equals, eh?"

"One can hope," Pearl says, sighing. "You make this all sound so easy, Daisy. How do you stay so....optimistic? You've probably seen more battle than most, and yet you're always so chipper."

"Optimistic, huh? I guess so," Daisy said, tilting her head. "It's just that I've always been able to get done what I wanted by my own power, and I've been trying to prove people wrong for as long as I can remember. My dad used to worry about me all the time, so he'd try to leave me behind when he went off to fight. But I didn't want other people fighting a battle I could be fighting too. So I'd follow him and fight anyway until he figured out that that's just how things were gonna be. 

"To me, this isn't so different. You know what you want to happen. You have the power and the muscle to make it happen," she said matter-of-factly, "so there's no reason you should fail. Right?"

"Of course," Pearl says, giving you a weak smile. "We won't fail, not a chance. I may not know how we'll make it work, but I know we will. I just have to keep trying to find the way..." she says, looking back down at her collection of papers. She sighs, and says. "Thanks Daisy. I should get back to work. This country won't free itself, after all."

"Gotcha. If you ever wanna talk, just holler," Daisy said, standing up. She glanced back at Pearl at the door. "I mean it. I might seem all business sometimes too, but me and the girls know how to have a good time. April is the best at making sure everyone loosens up. So come with us sometime, okay?"

"I'll do that," Pearl says. "Take care, Daisy."