Interlude: Thumbs. My Kingdom for Thumbs.
“And how are you going to fulfill that amazing wish; by putting fish down Raja’s pants?”
“What? Hey, no way that’s gonna happen.”
“Too late, Rune. We gave him our money, and now he’s whipped out the tuna.”
“Wow, he can even dual wield.”
“Nope. Our minds certainly aren’t as broad as those penguins. In fact, it’s downright impossible for us to wrap our minds around them.”
“Heeeey, that was supposed to be my joke.”
“NO, IT WASN’T!”
“Wha… Rune, I thought your magic was supposed to be special, yet here they sell it in swords.”
“Sure, you keep relying on items WE infused with magic. I guess some people can’t get by using magic on their own.”
“YE-..oh, ho ho. You win this time, Rune, but next time, victory will be mine. Next! Time!”
“Given the size of the penguins, one egg will probably feed quite a lot of people.”
“Oh, they sure do.”
“You’ve had some?”
“Now there’s an image for the ages.”
“Hey, it’s a bonus dungeon. Let’s loot it.”
*sigh* “Sure, why not. I know I won’t have any peace of mind until you’ve had your fill.”
“And coming from an android, that’s kind of disturbing.”
“Myst Vale? Did I hear that right? Is this really a secret island in a cave where I have to walk around solving these really goofy and mechanical riddles?”
“Well, yes. ….wait, what?”
“TECH plant? Is that a plant made of technology or is it a plant we could have used when we went into Kuran to… well, wipe out Dark Force? Literally.”
“Well, it’s obviously not a PLACE called a plant.”
“…..”
“Well, obviously.”
“Chaz, weren’t we going to stop logging all the minor stuff we find in chests?”
“Minor?! This is a TRImate. That’s like… totally big.”
*sigh*
“Um….”
“Yeah, that’s definitely one of the less threatening names I’ve heard.”
“You FOOLS! YOU DON’T MESS WITH THE TIARA!”
“And why not?”
“Yeah, that’s… that’s kind of unnerving.”
“Skytiaras. They’re sick of your crap!”
“And now a Star-Dew. Do you enjoy watching me unravel at the seams, Chaz? This isn’t our first Star-Dew either.”
“Nonono.”
“…cats?”
“See? Now, THIS is cute.”
“Rika, they… talk.”
“So?”
“OK, meow. I mean… OK.”
“Chaz, it’s… not cute when you do that.”
“I didn’t do that on purpose, dammit!”
“It suits you, though.”
“Oh, shut up!”
“Yeah, shut up.”
“Oh, really? Special special, or short bus special? There’s a fine line between the two, but they’re still vastly different.”
“And I’m talking to a cat that can speak. Fond, yes. Remembrance, not so much. Seems more like something out of one of my coked-up dreams – and believe you me, I’ve had quite a lot of those.”
“Really? I couldn’t see why, since it’s just a cave opening at the mountain side. I’m thinking you’ve just been lucky not to have been discovered before.”
“And I think you can thank the blizzard for the ‘seldom’ and ‘never’ parts.”
“I’ll say.”
“A-HA! You’re the ones who are hoarding the warmth, huh?”
“Wait, NOW you’re bitching about this? What happened to the whole Garuberk Tower thing?”
“It’s both. It’s a tag team match.”
“Erm… really? That’s… nice.”
“Well, that’s… uh, why they call it a treasure. Because… erm, it’s important to keep it hidden and stuff.”
“……”
“I’m not going to get out of this with my innocence intact, am I?”
“Nnnnnope.”
“OH JESUS I DID NOT NEED TO KNOW WHAT THAT TREASURE WAS!”
“I thought they said he kept his treasure… hidden. Now he’s flaunting his, uh… shuttle… to everyone here?”
“There’s no way I’m going to get out of this with at least a LITTLE bit of my sanity intact, is there?”
“Nnnnope.”
“Yeah, those Viagra bottle caps can be a pain.”
“……”
“……”
“I’ll… just take your word for that.”
“Wait, did I just…”
“Yes, you did, and you should be ashamed of yourself.”
“But, there’s like… maybe ten of you.”
“Well, I guess that’s it, then. There’s no way you’re getting out of this without siring inbred children.”
“Given what we’ve learned about him so far, you might want to stop doing that.”
“Yeah. He’s apparently going around waving his shuttle around and scarring you for life. Not quite something that should go down in history.”
“Um… yes, it’s snowing. And when it’s not snowing, it’s snowing some more. Sure is crazy.”
“It’s Garuberk Tower, I keep telling you.”
“So, when we take care of the problem in Garuberk Tower, all the snow will melt away?”
“No, but it might stop snowing.”
Far inside the dark, dank caves of the Musk cats, our heroes are about to meet the great elder. What will their first impression of the elder be? What kind of wisdom will he impose on our heroes?
“I beg to differ.”