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
