Session 31 Recap: The AU Awakens

To keep the mood light before the final battle, our heroes decided to put on one final production. In our interpretation of King Lear, Kuarjav took the title role, the three daughters Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia were played by Royce, Sciath, and Daisy respectively, and the ever lovin’ Harold took on the role of the Narrator. The play was well-received, and we went to the war room in high spirits.

Caesar explained that only Windy and Yuber remained to stand against our army, and they still had control of Aldea, the capitol of Camaro. Our best option was to use our overwhelming force to march straight in, no need for funny stuff. In the army battle that ensued, Daisy got the finishing blow on Grant, Viktor drove Yuber back (he tried to teleport away, but was blocked by Leknaat), and Mukumuku and Daisy teamed up against Windy, with much support from our dozen True Runes and allies.

We drove all of them back into Aldea, but just when the battle seemed won, Windy used her second rune, the Rune of the End, to wipe out scores of our troops all at once, making it impossible to advance further. We regrouped at a safe distance and formed a plan to counter her devastating rune by sending in multiple small parties under Aldea’s defenses to destroy Windy face-to-face.

The Unity Rune heroes made up one team, along with their usual partners and Lydia, who knew Grant personally, and ran right in, dodging magic attacks and fighting past guards. Kuarjav actually succeeded in making one of the guards, Guard Gary, repent and join our forces. Inside the castle, we found lots of treasure and demons to fight for it, and, most importantly, the Golden Hammer inside a shining golden chest. (We gave the hammer to Massa later, of course – I hope he’ll finally get the confidence he needs!)

Near the top of the castle, we found Grant guarding a huge set of double doors. He wielded the King Dragon Sword once used by King Barbarossa of Toran, which is engraved with the Sovereign Rune, making him immune to the effects of all other runes. We tried to reason with him, but when that got us nowhere, Grant challenged Daisy to a duel instead. In her usual style, Daisy disarmed him and pinned him to the ground, sword at his throat. After much debate, we finally convinced him to join us again (and Daisy threatened to hit him until he did). Unfortunately, without the Sovereign Rune in his hand, his Unity Rune piece tried to kill him when he attempted to force it out of its Betrayal phase. Only the rest of us joining our Unity Rune pieces in Friendship saved his life and reconnected the spirits of our rune pieces, at which point group hugs ensued. As a sign of good faith (and to make sure his rune wouldn’t turn on him again), we let Grant keep the King Dragon Sword.

We passed through the now-unguarded doors and spotted Windy standing on a glass skylight on the roof above us, blasting magic in all directions. Yuber told her they had to run, but Windy’s eyes held only a crazed look, and she kept blasting without pause. She didn’t stop until we attacked; Harold’s fancy rose bit attack eventually finished off Yuber, and Daisy sent Windy sprawling back and crashing through the skylight. Yuber followed to try and use Windy’s teleporting, but Leknaat’s team arrived just in time to block her again.

Our allies came pouring in through every door. When Yuber and Windy tries to activate their runes again, all of the True Runes at our command joined forces to seal their magic away, rendering them utterly helpless. Kuarjav, as the leader of the army (and, in many eyes, the AU), officially sentenced the two lifelong criminals to death. We all agreed; without delay, Pesmerga beheaded Yuber, and Daisy plunged her sword into Windy’s heart.

We were left with three True Runes (not counting Windy’s half of the Gate Rune, which returned to Leknaat): the Eightfold Rune, Demon Rune, and Rune of the End. The Eightfold and Demon Runes were originally stolen by Yuber, so Pesmerga offered to return them to where they belonged. McDohl requested that Gremio be allowed to hold onto the King Dragon Sword because the Sovereign Rune it contained was the only thing that could contain McDohl’s cursed Soul Eater rune, allowing him to live near other people again for the first time in many years. We agreed to all of this and, seeing no use for it, we let the Rune of the End go dormant and fly off to find its own way in the world.

In the end, all that was left was to decide what would become of our new country, and what role each of us would have to play in it. Kuarjav offered to make Harold the official envoy to AU from Dunan, as Harold was never officially working with us (since he was employed by Dunan this whole time). Harold told Percy to figure out how much back pay Dunan owed him for fighting in this war. Daisy asked if she would be paid for the last few months, so Kuarjav gave her the Master at Arms position and asked her to travel the AU as a special government agent with a salary, helping people wherever she was needed. Royce was awarded the Defender of the Asgardian Union title, but he was always planning to return to the Dragon’s Den, where at least one big promotion was in his future. And Sciath, of course, with her devastating chain-spell powers, became the AU’s Head Magician.

For the complete account of what became of our heroes after the war, please refer to the Suikoden Endings page! 

http://suikodensix.blogspot.com/p/suikoden-endings.html

As for Grant, our unexpected ally in the end, our army spokesman had this to say: “Grant stood by me when I was crazy, and I stood by him when he was drunk, and now we stand by each other.” – William Tecumseh Sherman. Who knew?

Congratulations, heroes! See you next time!

(unofficial recruits: Guard Gary)

Session 30 Recap: To Quell a Queen

Though the ninjas had offered to cover it up for her, Daisy refused their help and confessed to murdering her grandparents in cold blood (see Conversation 8). Harold expressed approval for her actions, if not for her messy technique. Kuarjav was not happy with the killings, but allowed Daisy to remain with the Union Army as long as she felt in control of her anger. All in all, the team was accepting of Daisy’s choice to kill the pair of demons that were once her grandparents, and we were able to move on with our explorations in Camaro.

We visited Pirate’s Point, a boisterous city, and acquired Recipe #16 “Hamburger” between buying and selling equipment. The town of Shogamon gave us Recipe #38 “Lobster”, and Qwieg offered up Recipe #52 “French Fries,” our final recipe.

We had the chance to continue the war at that point, but our collection of Unity Rune warriors didn’t feel quite ready to start our final battles, so we put on a few stage productions first. In our production of William Tell, Royce played William Tell, Kuarjav was his Son, Harold was the cruel Lord, Sciath was his Attendant, and Daisy played the entire Crowd, running back and forth and shouting encouragement to William Tell. In Call of the Wind, Harold’s interpretation of Geddoe was gravelly enough to hurt his throat, though he played a sensible Narrator; Daisy appropriately took the role of Sarah; Sciath was Chris, Royce was the Flame Champion, Hugo; Kuarjav played Sasari and, in a twist, Sasari himself played his now-dead brother Luc (though it seems there was no love lost between the luckless brothers). Finally, our interpretation of To Kill A Queen allowed Harold to reprise his gravelly voice as Georg, Sciath played the Narrator, Royce was the Archer and the Assassin, Kuarjav was Ferid, and Daisy got to rant like a madwoman as the doomed queen Arshtat. By the end of our thespian adventures, one could assert with confidence that the Unity Rune heroes were the most skilled actors in the whole castle.

Caesar called us to the War Room to get on with the Camaro assault and filled us in on his plan to send in a small team to infiltrate Chivalry Castle and disable their magical defenses. The only way to get close enough was to have ex-Camaro generals like Janell and Hilda (and Gears) lead the Unity Rune heroes inside. General Gregory found and recognized us almost immediately, but we were able to convince him to help us with the promise that we would try to free the queen from Yuber’s influence rather than simply kill her. He led us inside without sounding the alarm and even allowed us to collect stray pieces of armor, runes, and the Silver Hammer for Massa too. Royce found a switch on a statue that opened a secret wine cellar inexplicably guarded by a rhino named Jake; we recruited the rhino and collected some wine for the bar too. Gregory told the guards to stand down while we continued on our way up some stairs to the queen’s bedroom, where we took one of her fancy dresses and some potch. 

Up on the rooftop, we found the queen standing in a summoning circle, which Daisy tackled her out of before she could react. But the queen immediately blasted Daisy off of her, and the battle broke out while Kuarjav looked for a way to remove the Black Rune of control that he’d spotted on her hand. We wore her down enough for Kuarjav to blast her with a Repent!, which finally destroyed the Black Rune.

The queen fell to the ground, but her body and mind were once again her own. She remembered everything she had done and the harm she had caused, and her reaction was to ask to join us so she could fight Yuber and Windy for betraying her. Kuarjav accepted Queen Dianna’s offer, and so the queen and Gregory both joined our army, officially completing our Tablet of Destiny. With that, Chivalry Castle and all of Camaro surrendered to us, bringing the war one step closer to its conclusion.

“I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the [country of Camaro].” – William Tecumseh Sherman

With the Silver Hammer, Massa was able to upgrade our weapons to level 15 once we returned home (we bought a rabbit named Quik on the way). On a whim, we went to the kitchens and asked Hai Yo to summon the Ghost Chef Otani, who gladly autographed his book for us using telekinesis. And since we had two star chefs at our disposal, the Unity Rune heroes decided to challenge them to a friendly cooking battle!

The Queen of Cuisine, our noble lady has noble taste buds! It’s Dianna!

This four star general loves four star food! Give it up Gregory!

This eccentric genius loves food from far away, brought here by his invention! It’s Gomez!

Bradenton is from Kanarkan, and that means cooking with wine! Trust us on this!

Appetizer: Poutine (french fries+salt): Daisy, Royce: 10,10,10,10

Main Course: Succulent lobster (lobster+sugar): Kuarjav, Harold : 6666

Dessert: Red Velvet Cake (cake+salt): Sciath, Sun Crystal: 10,10,10,10

Total: 104

Cheese platter 9999, lemon chicken 5555, chocolate cream pie 8888

Total: 88

Our reward for somehow defeating two of the top chefs in the world was Recipe #53 “Waffles”! Hai Yo learned how valuable we really were as his assistants all this time, and we moved on to more serious matters.

After a lengthy debate, we settled on renaming Harmonia the Asgardian Union and declared that every province of the AU would get one chance to leave the new country if they so wished (either by one leader’s choice or by referendum of the residents). After that, each province will be legally bound to the central AU authority but still maintain a significant state authority (essentially early US-style but with only one house of Congress; strong state powers but some central authority and one currency).

And so the war soon draws to a close. Before long, warriors will seek out new challenges, refugees will start building new homes, and everyone will get on with their lives. There are those in Liberty Castle who watch the approaching finish line with trepidation, wondering what place there will be for them in the new world. But our army spokesman has no such fears. “My dear sirs, when peace does come, you may call on me for anything. Then will I share with you the last cracker, and watch with you to shield your homes and families against danger from every quarter.” – William Tecumseh Sherman

 

Recruited: Dianna, Gregory

Investigations: Dianna, Gregory, Bradenton, Mitch, Dale

Session 29 Recap: Retribution Against Relos, and a Win for a Windamier

After perusing the comment box and listening to Ramza ramble on for a while, we decided to address some of the issues and curiosities popping up around the castle. Gremio, McDohl’s friend and attendant, had us over for dinner and taught us the recipe for his “Special Stew”. Daisy tried to talk to Lilly about her spoiled, self-centered attitude and history of abusing her servants Samus and Reed and got absolutely nowhere. The berserker also discussed demons with Jeane, as her half-demon grandparents were much on her mind, but Jeane would only tell her that the transformed Saint-Anicets were nothing like “true” demons. We all got together to ask Harold and Anna what they intended to do with their brother the next time we faced him, and they coolly explained that it was all the same to them if Henry ended up dead or locked up in a labor camp for the rest of his life. He was no longer their brother (killing someone’s parents can do that). Finally, Daisy chatted with the Star Dragon Sword on her belt to find out where he’d been since her father had given him up.

We took a break from playing counselor and headed to the kitchen for lunch, but instead we found Hai Yo in a panic over the arrival of Grand Master Mifune, the apparently-not-deceased elder of the Black Dragon Isle! Mifune had faked his own death in order to encourage Hai Yo to fight to become the next leader and participate in the tournament (i.e. the constant flow of challengers to the castle). As his assistant, Mifune summoned the Ghost Chef of Hell, Otani, and the final challenge was on!

The former Ruler of Harmonia, Hikusaak is said to be a lover of Chinese!

Sasari is said to love food from the earth, from veggies to noodles!

Give it up for our army strategist, Caesar! He loves his namesake salads!

The seer who sees all! Can she see who wins? It’s Leknaat!

Appetizer: Caesar Salad (Salad+no spice): Sciath, Kuarjav: 8,8,10,8

Main Course: Tempura-don (tempura+hot sauce): Harold, Daisy: 9,9,8,10

Dessert: Bacon Hot Fudge Sundae (bacon+chocolate sauce): Royce, Hai Yo: 10,10,10,10

Total: 108

Steve’s Soup 10,10,10,10; Full Course Meal 7777, Milkshakes 10,10,10,10

Total: 100

It was our closest fight yet, but Hai Yo’s team won with the auspicious score of 108. Our rewards were Recipe #43 “Milkshake” and Recipe #50 “Full Course”. On top of that, Mifune named Hai Yo the new leader of the Black Dragon Isle and promptly left to go fill out paperwork (which should be finished by the time this war is over).

As we celebrated our cooking victory, one of the castle’s defensive ninjas ran in shouting that a group of powerful warriors were at the gate demanding to see some people named Pilika and Jilia. We arrived to find the four warriors bowling through our gate guards, but when we demanded an explanation, the first man (Jowy) only rushed Daisy and challenged her to a duel, which she won. Kuarjav dueled one of the girls, Nanami, in a cinematic cutscene on a tightrope suspended between two castle towers in the middle of a thunderstorm, and won their sudden-death combat. Back on the ground, Harold dueled and defeated Riou the silent hero (of Suikoden II) with a fancy flourish, and the fourth invader, Eilie, simply watched. With everyone slightly calmed, Daisy tried to question the four about Jilia and Pilika (who only she knew to be the real identities of Juliet and Patricia), but at that moment the two ladies in question came running out of the castle and hugged Jowy. Daisy tried talking to them and learned that Jowy was Jilia’s husband and none other than the deposed king of Highland (now the Higheast province of Dunan)! But Jilia still wanted to maintain her cover as Juliet as best she could, and would say no more.

When asked for comment about the addition of the Dunan heroes Riou and Jowy to our forces, the army spokesman responded only with: “It's a disagreeable thing to be whipped.” – William Tecumseh Sherman. What does our mysterious spokesman know about the pasts of these two young men?

Without warning, Yuber appeared at the castle gate and thanked Jowy’s group for taking care of the first wave of guards for him. He produced a black orb that released a magical mist called Demon’s Breath, which paralyzed everyone but demons who inhaled it. We all fell to the ground, helpless, but before he could finish us off, we were rescued by Pesmerga, who was tellingly immune to the mist. Another cinematic duel unfolded across the castle grounds; the two were soon joined by Jeane and Faye, who supported Pesmerga with powerful blasts of rune magic. Yuber fled, but not before informing us that he was only the distraction this time.

Rodin Relos stepped out of the castle holding the tattered remains of the Chronos Rune dress and unleashed the rune’s power on us, again a dozen of our soldiers to death in an instant. We attacked while Jeane and Faye tried to contain his power, and when Kuarjav got out the final Repent!, the True Rune went out of control and sucked Relos’ last years out. But even as Relos was aged to death, the Chronos Rune had the opposite effect on nearby Kuarjav and gave him back about thirty years of his life. While we marveled at Kuarjav’s newfound youth, Grey, the woman who helped us tap into the power of the Unity Rune to save Vasuki months ago, appeared once again to help Jeane and Faye chant a spell on contain the Chronos Rune. It disappeared to go its own way, and Grey agreed to join our forces to help contain Yuber’s evil as well.

No sooner had Grey pledged to help us than Chris Lightfellow of Zexen (and Suikoden III fame) showed up at the gates with important news. Camaro had begun an attack against Zexen with demons and Yuber’s abominable ability to transform innocent people, and Zexen wanted our help to coordinate an attack against our common enemy. The plan was for Zexen to attack Qwieg fortress while the Union Army went after Fort Dorton, and in exchange for our assistance, Zexen was willing to pardon Harold Windamier for all outstanding warrants against him. With that, Chris officially joined our team as well to represent the knights of Zexen.

There was no more time for hesitation; we had to begin the plunge towards the heart of Camaro in order to end the queen’s threat once and for all. “[Our] aim, then, was to whip [Camaro], to humble their pride, to follow them to their inmost recesses, and make them fear and dread us. Fear is the beginning of wisdom.”— William Tecumseh Sherman. The brothers Silverberg took charge of the Dorton offensive and separated us into two parties. While Caesar led the bulk of the forces outside the gates, Albert, Janell, and the Unity Heroes snuck inside disguised as Camaro soldiers in order to take out the leaders of the fort. The soldiers who recognized Janell welcomed her back to their side, but in the end we had to fight through a few waves of them to reach Henry, the commander of the fort. Henry and Harold exchanged words for the last time; we learned that Henry respected Yuber for having the power to turn meaningless peasants into something worthwhile at last. Harold responded that his former brother had forgotten the true heart of nobility, and so was now beneath him.

Henry was beaten easily, but he wasn’t willing to run this time – he knew that “Lady Windy” would not welcome him back if he failed her again. In desperation, he begged Yuber to lend him his power, and the latter granted it to him in such an offhand way that he clearly didn’t care what happened to Henry either. Harold’s brother was instantly transformed into a huge demon, which might have been intimidating if Harold hadn’t said that there was no need to fear any form that still had Henry’s cowardly soul inside it. Harold got the final blow, and his face was calm as his brother resumed his human form to die. Daisy gave him a thump on the back, and that was that.

As Henry fell, Albert was also dropped by Yuber in a different fight, where Albert had been trying to protect a small child. We rushed to aid Albert, but Yuber had already seen the fort’s defeat and fled once more, leaving us to take Albert back to our medical ward. Caesar and Albert had a touching reconciliation and Albert said protecting the weak like that child was something he’d learned from his brother. In spite of all that, though, Albert will be all right, so no worries. And for next time, our reports say that with our recent captures we will now have access to Qwieg, Pirate’s Point, Shogomon to explore!

It is inevitable that we will soon confront Grant again, probably for the last time. Thanks to all of us sharing a piece of the True Unity Rune, we have shared a connection with Grant that, for better or worse, has given us power. The Unity Rune gained its first level of magic when we betrayed Miles, and the second was earned by Grant’s desertion to Camaro. The True Rune has since grown to level four through a combination of moments of Friendship and Betrayal. Grant’s betrayal still leaves us with a few questions, namely, has Grant really betrayed us for good? Why would he join forces with the same army as Relos, who murdered his wife and sent him to Orbel mines in the first place? And what will it take to convince Grant to join up with the Union Army again?

Our army spokesman, who we recently learned is an old friend of Grant’s and sometimes likes to adopt Harold’s turn of phrase, had this to say: “Grant's whole character was a mystery even to himself--a combination of strength and weakness not paralleled by any of whom I have read in Ancient or Modern History....” – William Tecumseh Sherman

Recruited: Grey, Chris

(Unofficial recruits: Jowy, Riou, Nanami, Eilie)

Investigations: Grey, Chris, Percy, Byron, Leah

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