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)
