Start Date: January 16, 2021
Windwillow
Chrono Trigger
Chapter Three
Relations of human and Mystics have often started and ended sour. The humans wanted territory to expand, to build the Guardia Empire, but unfortunately the land they chose were Mystic lands.
The continent of Medina lays in the center-right of the Planet. Guardia dominated the western hemisphere and expected to add more resources to its supply. However, the Mystics refused to part, leaving a marked and tenuous divide.
Mystics, as they are defined, are creatures soaked in magic. These powers hold an advantage in both peace and war, and add discrimination to the mix for a volatile relationship. For much of Guardian history these feelings simmered, clawing from the surface only when a leader appeared. To the Mystics, he was almost a holy crusader, but to others he was a bloodthirsty demon.
Ruler of the Devils, Magus.
In the early stages of war most battles came from the Porrean region. It was only late into battle that Zenan Bridge was demolished. And, of course, the Guardian monarchy had no protection to offer. Dorino and Porre became Ground Zero, where no help from the King could help them.
Dorino had the worst of it, being between Guardia and the Mystics' unknown base. They trained and outfitted a fine militia counting thousands who kept the enemy at bay. With superior steel forged from the Denadoro Mountains they matched muscle to magic.
Porre had the worst of it, and its people felt thrown to the wolves. Battered by fiends and feeling abandoned by the King, an ember flickered beneath them. And in time that flame set all the world afire.
Scene One
"Yeah," Crono moaned, "I blew her up again. Dammit."
The situation was: Crono, our darling hero, chases a girl into a portal, finds her, and she was gone again. Moreover, he was in the Castle RULED by said victim, and he couldn't hide it. The conclusion: get the hell out of dodge.
"Sir Crono," called one of the maids with Marle, "What did the Queen speak with you about?"
Crap.
"I, I mean," she stuttered. "I'd best not snoop around. My apologies."
Well, better than crap.
The knight at the door approached, holding the maid by her back. "My pardons, Sir! Such insolence... but, may I ask if Her Majesty is ready to come out?"
Crap.
"She... uh... wants to... sleep... too much action."
This satisfied the guard and maids, so Crono beat feet to the stairs. Was there an actual law against blowing people up?
"Crono!"
Crono's head jerked towards a new arrival, a very familiar Lucca. She was carrying a satchel that he'd never seen before.
Lucca heaved a sigh. "I leave you alone for four hundred years and this is what I get? You owe me a chocolate milkshake."
Although Crono started to say something but caught himself.
"How did you get past the guards?"
With a smile Lucca brandished a small, green tube.
"My ultra-secret sleep gas! They won't have insomnia for a decade! Ga-ha-ha!"
The silence lasted a moment.
"But that doesn't matter! Where's the girl?"
Crap. There wasn't a good way to phrase that.
"Well, she came here, got confused for a Queen or something, and then... well... she sort of... imploded?"
"Oh, my GOD!" Lucca cried. "We're both gonna hang..."
"Uh... why would we-"
Lucca yanked Crono towards her, almost banging heads.
"Are you that stupid? You looked at her, right?! I thought hard and I remembered her face..."
A moment of silence.
"That is PRINCESS NADIA, dammit! We just blew up a princess!"
There was another silent moment, much terser than previous. The word "crap" took on another meaning, the "oh my God I'm gonna die" feeling.
"And look around," Lucca said. "The architecture here is the same as our time."
"Our time?"
"When I came here I saw Truce with no running water, thatched together houses, and now the Castle. The conclusion is that, somehow, we've been thrown into the Middle Ages! Common era, 600. This was when they DIDN'T wash the guillotine after they used it!"
Crono gulped. "That really sucks!"
"I wanna curse you out more, but we need to act! If I remember History Class, in 600 C.E. the Queen was abducted, and later rescued. But, they thought Nadia was Queen Leene, so they stopped looking!"
Lucca shivered.
"We have a big problem. See, the Queen produces heirs, sons and daughters, and makes the bloodline work. Take her away and her descendants, INCLUDING Nadia, go poof! Guardia isn't what it should be and it might not be at all! But we might have time, if we can rescue Leene ourselves!"
Our protagonist took the situation in.
"We're gonna find her, then! But first I wanna eat."
Lucca kicked Crono in the shin.
"Oh, c'mon! We're smack in the middle of a crisis, and-"
Her stomach groaned. Clearly she didn't have lunch before coming.
"Fine," she sighed. "They think you saved Leene, so we still have clout to visit the Kitchens. Let's go."
Another Angle
"A Dastardly Scheme"
In the corner tower the Chancellor paced around, clearly annoyed.
"Whoever they are, they must know what I did. The Queen is still locked up and they've called off the search, but those two are mucking up my plan!"
The Chancellor lowered his head, and just as quickly as he did jolted into a mad cackle.
"But, they looked so TASTY! I so love the other white meat..."
Scene Two
Guardia's kitchens were good eatin', for sure. They stocked up on every conceivable produce, with fresh proteins and an assortment of spices the world over. In the main dining area several square tables were set up, more than two dozen with enough seats to satisfy a hungry army.
Kind of useful in the middle of a war. Props to them.
Lucca and Crono exited the stairway to meet an aroma the gods would envy.
"Holy crap!" exclaimed Lucca. "I smell bacon and wherever there's bacon, it's," she punctuated with a fist pump. "Sooo-wheat!"
Both Crono and the remaining soldiers near the dining tables had a look of disbelief and irritation.
"Uh... okay, moving on..."
"UNACCEPTABLE!"
Everyone's head jolted to the kitchen area, where a gold-clad knight slammed his fist into the wall.
"We need rations for a thousand, and you haven't five hundred?"
Another voice boomed, similar but accented.
"All ye want is a few meals?! Ach, I've not been given supplies enough to feed the folks o'er there, and now ye ask for MORE?! I'm a cook, not a miracle worker!"
"We're here fighting a war, dammit! We need to be bred, led, and fed - which we aren't!"
"Your not th' only one fightin' a war! Dinnae ye realize I am, too!?"
"It's always been like this!"
"And it's been yer fault most o' it!"
"Show some respect!"
"For you? I ain't got none ta spare."
The knight clenched his fist, turning and shattering a chair on the way back up. Let it be known that was Lucca's chair. As the dust settled, a few curses came from the kitchen and faded.
Dressed in a white apron and sporting a scowl, the head chef stopped short. You could see the unrest in his eyes.
"You know," one of the cooks spoke up, "that all this should be over by now. Can't you just give it up and apologize to your brother?"
"... I ain't nothin' ta say. The fool."
Another chef piped up, "C'mon now, you-"
"I said it's OVER!" the Head Chef. "End a' story!"
One of the maids stepped from the kitchen and approached our heroes.
"Sorry for all that, sirs," she said as she bowed. "What can I get for you all?"
A gigantic thud rung out, and a soldier tumbled down the stairs and, with a roll, dragged himself to a table. He breathed a ragged gasp, and said...
"Gimme some... h-hot dogs! I need 'em bad!"
Ignoring the spectacle, Crono and Lucca ordered their food; a mushroom omelette for Crono, and buttermilk pancakes with candied bacon for Lucca.
Lucca, enjoying her favorite dish, overheard a conversation from another table. For the sake of brevity, only their dialogue will be presented.
"Hey... Y'know I'm sort of confused here. Didn't the Queen went to attend services before she left? How'd she get all the way east?"
"Quite a pickle, eh? Maybe she made a pilgrimage or somethin'? Those nuns are deathly hot... wait, am I goin' to hell for sayin' it? Crud..."
Crono and Lucca took note of the scenario.
"So," Crono said, "if Marle turned up in the canyon, and Leene was at the cathedral, does that mean the two got mucked up?"
Lucca nodded. "The Queen visits the Manoria Cathedral before she disappears, and Nadia pops in from Truce Canyon leading to her being mistaken for Queen Leene. It's the best Idea I can think of. However..."
Crono cocked his head.
"What about however?"
"I'm gonna eat that last pancake before we go. So it'll be a bit."
"Shouldn't we be more worried about the whole save the Queen thing?"
Scene Three
Manoria Cathedral took less than half a day from the Castle, and all the two needed was a couple of water bottles. The structure itself had been created in the last three years, but because it had been dedicated to the King and His Family, it became popular and fashionable to pay respects.
The doorway opened, our two heroes stepping into a fine hall of marbled walls and oaken pews, with sharp golden holy images on the walls. Nuns knelt and prayed at an altar, and one played its elegant organ. Problem being, their prayers were... strange.
Some seemed to murmur a slow, sinister prayer, others made a weird, hissing sound with a roll of their tongues. Whatever the particulars, it didn't sound very holy...
Walking in, Crono and Lucca approached the altar hesitantly.
"Is it me," Lucca said, "or is this place's creepy?"
Crono nodded.
"Not much piety, but yeah... something is off. Let's look around."
Which, indeed they did. All of the pews were in order, the holy books in their proper places and a sweet-smelling incense. Maybe it was cinnamon?
Halfway to the organ Lucca's gaze fell on an object by the furthest pew.
"A brooch? What... wait, that's Guardia's royal crest!"
The nuns froze, but then walked pensively to the altar. A few chanted, most were silent.
Our heroes felt an ice-cold chill come upon them.
Definitely bad mojo. Crono thought. We messed up...
"Ah, Lord from above..."
"... gift thy lambs..."
"... peace and salvation..."
At that the nuns quickly burst into flames.
"And a blood sacrifice for Lord Magus!"
The nuns emerged, but radically different. Their skin was a pale yellow, a serpentine body ending with two large claws and a violent lashing of their forked tongues.
Mystics, naga-ettes. Slithering snake-humans with vicious claws and an undulating torso.
Crono drew his blade, the first he'd ever brandished, and blocked a claw from one of the Mystics. Another lunged and he dodged and swung his sword with a wide sweeping motion. The naga-ettes howled and dissolved to dust.
Two down, he thought. Four left!
As he guarded again Lucca found herself prone. Two devils surrounded her, both fangs and claws bared.
"Ahh..." she groaned, drawing a weapon from her satchel. We would recognize it as a revolver, six barrels and a central gear to revolve the bullets. She smacked one with her fist, aimed, and fired.
The problem here is that she never tried it before. With a giant boom one of the Mystic's heads was blown apart, her body following suit. Lucca was slammed against the wall, THROWN into the wall, and crashed hard on her back.
Crono addressed two of the others; one was sliced to pieces, although the other held up by parrying his sword strokes with her gleaming claws. Steel met hardened bone, matched evenly.
Crud...! This chick's buff!
It took some force but he pushed through and destroyed her. Sensing danger he slid to the right, dodging a claw swipe. As he moved the sword sliced like a sickle against the enemy; soon more dust marked its end.
Lucca looked around frantically, eyes going from pew to pew and wall to wall.
"Phew," she sighed, "that's all of them!"
Crono took a quick breath.
I killed two, beat another two, and she killed the fifth...
"Lucca!" he shouted, "There's one right behind you!"
Her reflexes failed her, but as its attack swung closer to her head it froze. She could see a slim, vertical line that dissipated slowly.
It was from there a voice came.
"Lower your guard, and the enemy shall strike... keep your wits about you."
Lucca turned to thank the newcomer but as she saw slimy skin and a spotted pattern on its head she shrieked instead.
Carrying a fine broadsword was a stranger: instead of flesh it had an epidermis like a toad. He was garbed in leather armor reinforced with steel plates.
"Time is short," said the frog. "The Queen's peril mounts with each passing moment..."
"Right," Crono said, "dunno who you are, but we gotta get moving."
The frog cast a cock-eyed stare.
"You... have reason to find her?"
Crono nodded.
"It's a long story. Lucca, we have to-"
Unfortunatly, said girl was kneeling down with an odd mix of shock and a dull 'thud' of the mind. This wasn't in the contract.
Gah... I keep thinking back to dissecting a frog, but I don't have a knife big enough! Well, maybe I'm just dreaming! Yep, I'm smack dab in the middle of...
The frog smiled, and Lucca screamed again.
... Weirds-ville, population me!
Our amphibian gentleman looked strangely at Crono.
"Perhaps my guise... unsettles you. Do what you must, but I must rescue the Queen. Come with me, or do not come. I shan't force you, but your aid would be welcome."
Crono nodded.
"Lead the way. Lucca?"
As she stood up Lucca again shivered.
"Yeah... but what do we call you? Sir Froggy?"
The frog sighed.
"Just 'Frog' will do. Enough pleasantries! We must hurry!"
Lucca pondered, "But where to look? I don't see a hidden door."
Frog nodded. "I've examined the place thoroughly, but let us look anyway."
The three of them carefully checked the entire room. The pews had no switches, the walls were hard wood, and no sight of an entrance could be found. However, Crono spied the only anomaly: the organ.
As he approached, Lucca said, "The piano? Is there a special sequence, or...?"
Crono slammed both hands on the keyboard and with a roar a passage opened behind the altar.
"Or... that..."
No discussion needed, our trio moved through the doorway. The scene from here out was a fine, Victorian-era-with-no-Victoria construction. There was a grand staircase, flanked by two rooms to the left and right.
"So," said Lucca, "which door is she past?"
Crono shrugged. "It could be any of them. We ought to..."
The trio jumped as a squat, rotund monster dressed in a blue tunic.
Lucca cursed. There was no way to get to him in time.
Before the two time travelers could react, a long object lashed at the Hench's neck, pulling him closer and leaving him dissolving from a sword slash. Frog pulled his tongue back, swallowed, and sheathed his blade.
"Aw, gross!" Lucca swore. "I don't wanna know where that's been!"
She stared as the other two simply looked at her.
"Uh... let's move on. But now we got to get searching. My vote's on the right side, y'know, the one without a fat chump."
The advice was sound, and so they continued upstairs to a door, not knowing it was occupied.
Another Angle
"A Bird in Captivity"
In the furthest reaches of the cathedral, the Chancellor and Queen Leene sat opposite at a table. No bindings, no shackles - just two dignitaries.
"Milady, I appreciate our coming together here," said the Chancellor. "To address a few concerns of our people."
Leene stared coldly.
"I shall discuss nothing, nor offer any debate. Release me at once."
The Chancellor stood, wobbling from the chair given his stature.
"And this," he said, "is impossible. I'd choose my words carefully. You are in my stronghold, no sword will reach you nor rescue you."
Leene kept her eyes on her captor, without emotion.
"There may be one."
Jerking his head sharply, the Chancellor turned with a glare in his eyes.
"Such a creature shall not come, fool! You'd trust your fate to a toad?!"
She replied with a firm nod.
"I would."
Scene Four
"What are you doing here!?"
The group gulped. That didn't take long. As they readied themselves, however, the Naga-Ette, Nagas and Henches across the table laughed.
"Still disguised? Don't need none o' that here! Bonus points for the frog costume!"
Slithering forward, the Naga-Ette purred, "You take your job seriously... too much. It's casual Monday."
And...
What the hell was that. They clearly didn't know who the party was.
"And besides, do you call dibs on the soldiers?" asked one of the henches. "We can roshambo."
The naga-ette dug in her tunic, tossing a small bottle to the Mystic.
"Nah, I've got some sea salt, the good stuff. Go for it."
"Ahh," stammered Lucca, "I don't think we-"
Crono covered her mouth quickly.
"Yeah, we want a bite," he said. "Lead us to them and we'll... take care of things."
Lucca caught the hint. Follow the Mystic, find the troopers. She nodded.
"Got any bacon?"
Crono kicked her in the shins. Lucca recovered and they followed the hench to the soldiers. Down the stairway, another corridor, and up to the farthest room. The hench opened the door to find two soldiers bound and gagged.
The Mystic licked its lips. Though, as soon as he moved Crono dug his sword into it and swung, dissolving it. Our trio quickly untied the soldiers.
"Many thanks, guys." One of the soldiers stood up, and shook Crono's hand. "Ye've saved us!"
"Ahem," Lucca coughed, "We're still surrounded by enemies. Leaving might kill you anyway."
The group departed, and moved to the end of the hallway. When they opened the door, another area of chambers lay ahead.
Crono said, "Let's go, guys. We're-"
He jolted, holding his hand.
"What... the hell...?"
"Sir Crono?"
He felt like his hand was on fire! But... it didn't hurt. It actually sort of sent a soothing feeling through his entire body. It mended his scratches and erased them from his mind.
Crono shook his head. He sighed.
"It's nothing... We have to move on."