Clichéstorm: Or did I?

Quest summary: Five more spirits, one more sword, one more little brother.

Current goal: Take Rolante back!

I guess I forgot to mention JINN GET, but it was implied, wasn't it? Anyway, after setting up a few troops near our target, we did what Don Perignon said. Y'know, with the sleep poppies blowing through the castle full of ninjas. And then we went too, to deliver each one a coup de grace. Or a fair fight (well, as fair as a fight against me can get) if they managed to inject themselves with caffeine in time or something.

There were a lot more fair fights than we expected. Turns out Jinn hadn't quite managed to blow the flowers through the castle; we just knocked out everybody on the outside. On top of that, the ninjas had trained a bunch of monsters with the Insomniac ability. But, in any case, we were here to assassinate the Queen of Ninjas or whatever, and that was what we were going to do.

I directed the team to the Save Point with Healing I had found stumbling around the castle in the prologue and made that our base to farm EXP. I mean, the Queen of All Ninjas was not going to go down easily at all. We should really take advantage of... ah, screw it. Let's just have Angela cast Game Breaker.

We were pretty close to the top of the tallest tower at that point, and that was as good a place as any to look for a boss. What do ya know, we found one. But I was absolutely certain that it was not the queen of anything. Instead, the mother of all fireplaces. It spat out two shapeshifting blobs and then all sorts of things Angela had found opening treasure chests. And by that, I don't mean the prizes.

BOSS FIGHT
VERSUS... UM SOMETHING

I couldn't figure out what element Game Breaker Angela should cast, so it was actually something like a challenge. My best guess was water, but we didn't have water, and didn't know where we were supposed to look for the spirit. Plus, it's not like we were that far in the plot anyway.

But even then it wasn't long before the fireplace exploded, taking with it the two shapeshifters and leaving the doorway that should have been there in its place. There was no time for a victory pose now, though. Our job wasn't done.

Far from done, it turned out. Moments after stepping through the door, who should show up but the very ninjas who had kidnapped my brother. Without wasting any time, I charged. And was flung across the room by a shuriken. (That's how you say throwing star in ninja.)

"COMBINE!" they both roared, doing what they said they would.

BOSS FIGHT
VERSUS BILL AND BEN

So Bill and Ben were two ninjas who were now one ninja, who, a few hits later, was two ninjas again. And then, when targeted with one of Angela's spells, each ninja was Bill and Ben. Anyway, they hit hard and often, but turned out to be glass cannons. They either exploded in a very undramatic fashion or used one of those Deus Ex Machina Brand™ Poof Move Dust Bombs™.

And then, there was no one left to protect the queen. Except herself, maybe. I pointed my spear at her. "It's over! Time for you to write a surrender treaty!"

She seemed to disagree. She preferred to float away through the ceiling.

I mumbled something like, "Fine, you're dead later," and left to see how my amazon army was doing.

Real, real well, it turned out. We ran into the elder in the throne room. And if he was here...

"The day is ours!" he declared.

Yeah, that.

"Well," I said, "we did a great job here today. Uh, I still have some questing to do, though."

It was an unpopular decision. The ladies wanted me. But I couldn't just stay here for the ladies when there were still levels to gain. Oh yeah, and my little brother. And maybe the world at stake, too, if the end of the prologue had anything to say about it. Or Don Perignon. (Though, honestly, what did he know?)

Back to Forcena!

There was even a free ride! I guess I should have been suspicious about the level of service with prices that low, because sailing was taking a heck of a long time, even for them. Luckily, beds were provided.

We /still/ weren't there when we woke up. Muttering obscenities, I told the team I was going to punch the captain. They were also curious about how long it would take to smash in his skull, and they joined me on my quest.

It was a lot darker in here than I remembered, but I thought nothing of it. Not for a little while anyway. As I reached the stairs, there was the sound of shattering glass behind me. Of course, I looked. Nothing. Nothing but Duran and Angela also looking for the source. Shrugging, I went on my way.

And a few minutes later, there was a high-pitched scream, and then Duran insisting it wasn't him. "Wait a minute," I said. "Wait a minute!"

Faerie popped out of my head, confirming my suspicions. "This is the legendary Ghost Ship."

"Oh, great," I said. "We're dead. Well, I mean, we will be. Not... not dead yet."

"Well, our beds seemed safe," said Duran.

"Right," I said. "Let's level farm, beds are our base."

But first we had to fight our way back through hordes of zombies. They had a habit of poisoning people. But I couldn't afford to use any healing items; there was sure to be a boss in here somewhere, and there was no way there would be shops. When Duran and Angela hit 0 HP, I gave up and did my best to run for the beds while dragging them behind me.

I had forgotten to check, but my HP were pretty dangerously low, too, and when a zombie got me in the back of the head... it didn't look good for my career...

Oh no. Where was my last save...?