Usual Disclaimers apply. You should know what is and is not mine. So, kudos to them for creating' Suikoden and all. Do I even have to write this part?
Luca's Redemption – Chapter Ten
Maroux's Story – Part V
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The Root of The Problem
Location: The Valley of the Departed
The next morning was one of the best mornings there ever were. The sun was shining it's warm, gentle light, the birds chirping lovely tunes, the wonderful smell of breakfast being cooked and all the while, waking up in a comfortable bed. Of course, it would be a lot nicer if even a small part of this was true. Try this on for size.
The next morning was one of the worst mornings there ever were. The sun completely hidden by clouds, mist, clouds and above all, mist, no birds anywhere near but just the sound of rain fall and occasionally lightning, the dreadful smell of something being cooked to eat, all the while waking up on the floor somewhere. Ha.
I admit it could be worse, maybe, but I certainly would kill to make things better.
Even if just a little…
"Morning, guys!" Ronnie so cheerfully greeted, "Breakfast is on its way! How does some bacon and eggs sound? And a round of milk for everyone!"
Ahh… This sounds sooo good… TOO good… to be true. And it wasn't. What she should've said was:
'Crappy morning, guys! Muck is on its way! Whether you like it or not, I'm making fried pig and premature chickens! And a round of white liquid forcibly squeezed out of a cow for everyone!' Yum.
I was grouchy this morning because I never really was a morning person. On extremely rare occasions am I ever in a good mood when I wake up. And my narration shows just how bitter I can be in the morning.
"Mph!" I grunted as I walked about six steps from where I was sleeping to the table, where I seated myself on an empty chair. On the other seats were Kirke, Pahn, Eikei and an empty one for Ronnie. Ronnie was cooking the foo--, well was cooking anyway. Not long after I got to the table, Ronnie set the food on the table. In reality, the 'food' looked okay, I guess. I mean, despite the overcooked bits in the corner of the bacon, and the rather sloppy sunny-side-up eggs, but I've seen worse… But I've also seen better. MUCH better.
We all were quite hungry, and we were all still a bit sleepy, so we each just took our forks, stuck it through a couple pieces of bacon and an egg, and plopped it on our plates. And yes, that is the exact sound it made. *PLOP!*
We cut off a piece of the egg, then poked through that piece and some bacon, and shoved it in our mouths. Perhaps, it wasn't so bad because I had the heads up, I mean, I did hear the story about her cooking and stuff. But it still tasted pretty awful. Well, like the guys at that inn in that story, the three of us, that's me, Pahn and Eikei, busted the door open and ran out spitting out some kind of food.
"Did you POISON this or something???!!!!" I complained.
Kirke got on the defensive: "What're you talking about? This food is marvelous!!"
"Tch! Wha-…. Fine. It's morning, I'm going into town to eat. REAL food!" I said, and then stomped off into town.
A couple of monsters attacked, but I was so angry I blew them away like dirt with my Lightning Rune.
I exited the Valley and walked toward town. Not long afterwards as I was nearing town, I heard some townspeople screaming. I ran and saw that there was another band of zombies attacking town. I quickly took out 'Questor' and 'killed' off several of the zombies. Soon enough, I got sick of decapitating, so I used my Resurrection Rune and killed the rest of them with Charm Arrow.
I sighed. The people came out of their houses and started applauding, some shook my hand. And some even gave me potch. Despite all the praise, fame and glory, these zombie attacks could really wear a guy down. It just wasn't worth the trouble, but I was still hungry. So, I brisk-walked to the inn and ordered the best meal in the house.
"..hrmph….gobble….gobble…..sulp…..#@&*$(*%.." I was pretty hungry, and I can only forgiveness for my true vulgarity that day, but as soon as I finished eating, in came Pahn. They were panting really hard; it looked like they had run all the way here.
"Maroux! Thank…pant God you're here… pant pant…" Pahn said, "It's Kirke… He…. He's been kidnapped!! There was pant this… dead woman… and pant she took pant Kirke by surprise and-and pant"
After eating, I had retained my good side, so I quickly went for two horses and Pahn and I rode to the Valley again.
He explained that their had been some kind of vampire lady that attacked the cottage. Kirke was outside checking the perimeter for any Gravediggers. Apparently, living family members want the graves of their loved ones to remain undisturbed by any person, let alone a Gravedigger beast. On his patrol, a woman came up behind him and clonked his head silly. Kirke unconscious, the vampire lady went to the cottage and requested for something called the 'Grave Seal.' Ronnie denied any knowledge and when the vampire lady declared an hour for the Grave Seal to end up in her hands, she went off with Ronnie pursuing. Eikei decided to go after her, while Pahn came to me to get help.
Several monsters attacked us along the way, but they were probably sent by that vampire lady, so we decided to ignore them, since they probably were a ploy to slow us down.
We reached the shack, and from there Pahn pointed to a new direction. We heard battle sounds nearby, particularly Ronnie yelling "Hate Rune! Feed off my anger and give me power!!"
Arriving at the battlefield, we saw the creature that had taken Kirke. She was 10 feet tall, with snakes for hair, tentacles that burrowed into the ground like roots for legs, and several long arms on each side. She turned her head: "Pesky worms! Feel my power and superiority!!"
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See how they do when they fight this regular "Miss Beauty Pageant" in Chapter 11, Maroux's Story Part VI, coming up next.