Summary:
Hildibrand goes Cloud. Teaming up with Yojimbo to track Lone Wolf.
---
In the Eye of
the Hingan
-Lone Wolf struck
again. Hildibrand and Shigure are on the case. He stole from Akebono again,
this time taking his prized sword, the Soboro Sukehiro. [Non-rhetorical question: is that a reference to something?]
-Wait, he didn’t steal
it. He tried and failed. Akebono’s new bodyguard saved it.
OH RIGHT, YOJIMBO IS
PART OF THIS! He’s the body guard. (I’d heard there’s a Yojimbo trial near the
end of this questline.)
-We try to bust into
Akebono’s home to convince him to let us help, that Yojimbo’s not enough, but
no luck. His bodyguard says he’ll only see “geiko” (?) “of surpassing beauty.”
Are we about to go FFVII here?
-Sort of. Procured a
kimono for Nashu, and she’s ready to infiltrate and protect the sword. I
thought the kimono would be for Hildibrand.
-Later that night. The
dancers dance for Akebono, and Yojimbo stands guard.
-Nashu dances in,
undetected.
-…followed immediately
by a cross-dressing Hildibrand. Yup, going FFVII after all.
-…whom Yojimbo
immediately falls in love with. This is amazing.
-While this all plays
out, Lone Wolf sneaks in to swipe the sword.
-Hildibrand throws off
his disguise.
YOJIMBO: “I… I feel so
conflicted!” Nothing wrong with being bi my friend.
-One smoke bomb later
and Lone Wolf is gone. Another thing stolen.
Lololol, I talked to
Yojimbo outside the house: “Hmm? Have we met somewhere before? Of course not.
Don’t be silly.” (He was a dungeon boss back in Stormblood.)
---
The Blade
Mislaid
-Yojimbo volunteers to
help us track Lone Wolf to Yanxia.
-THIS IS THE BEST PLAN.
Yojimbo’s pupper, Daigoro, will sniff out the wolf.
-and hildibrand has now
given Yojimbo the pet name “jim,” I’m dead
-LOL, in searching a
town for him, I found “Plot-relevant Gloves.”
“If you didn’t
need them, you wouldn’t have been able to pick them up.”
-I don’t even know how
to describe what I’m experiencing and seeing.
We find Lone Wolf. He
calls his bird Montaro to help him escape, when – like Yojimbo before him –
Montaro is struck by the beauty of geiko!Hildibrand and falls to the ground.
[Later edit:
In hindsight, it’s also possible that the bird was horrified by the idea of being
pursued by Hildibrand. I like this option far less.]
GOT HIM.
-Yojimbo verifies that
we recovered the authentic blade. “Ah… I just remembered, I have urgent
business in Kugane.” He’s off to return the blade (i.e. steal it for himself no
doubt).
-Anyway, we erturn the
apprehended Lone Wolf to the sekiseigumi in Kugane.
WOLF BURGLAR: “Bloody
fools, the lot of you. Blind to the true villain in your midst…” Yojimbo?
-Yeah, that seems
likely. Akebono hasn’t seen Yojimbo.
-Still, all isn’t lost.
The sekiseigumi honor Shigure for apprehending Lone Wolf, and offer to induct
him.
His dreams
come true.
-His first assignment
as a samurai of Kugane: pursue Yojimbo and recover the Soboro Sukehiro.
-I love the framing of
these storylines as chapters in a serial. “Next time on Hildibrand – stay tuned
for “The Black Heart Beneath!” That sort of feel.
---
The Black
Heart Beneath
-We all regroup in
Kugane. The wolfy Gentle Dead Man will even join our search for Yojimbo.
-As I question local
citizens, a disturbing thought comes about. They all talk about how terrible
the merchants that Lone Wolf stole from all were. And apparently, Lone Wolf
gave what he took to the poor.
OH HELL NO, NO LONE
WOLF REDEMPTION ARCS. HE DOESN’T DESERVE IT
-We talk to him in
prison. He suggests that he could help us connect with potential buyers of the
Soboro Sukehiro, if only we’ll let him free. FINE.
The Gentle Dead Man
re-dons his wolfy uniform and swaps in place of Lone Wolf for now. And because
this is a slapstick world, the guard doesn’t notice the difference.
-Seems like Yojimbo
hasn’t been trying to sell it. Maybe just collecting it? We’ve seen Gilgamesh
and Zenos collect weapons. Why not Yojimbo?
-If so, the next weapon
he’s likely after is the Ame-no-Murakumo. The blade that (iirc) belongs to
Susano, and now is held by the Kojin of the Ruby Sea.
---
Good Swords,
Good Dogs
-Top notch quest name.
-holy mother of GOD
they’re giving lone wolf tragic backstory
There once was a noble
samurai. Akebono wormed his way into that samurai’s life, getting the samurai
indebted to him. The samurai eventually died in disgrace, leaving the blade in
Akebono’s hands.
WOLF BURGLAR: “He fell
sick, and soon passed away, leaving his Lupin charge alone in this unjust
world. [The Lupin] left and returned years later from Yanxia, having learned
the ways of the shinobi that he might honor his adoptive father by helping
others as he had helped him as a child…”
FINE. I’ll trust him
for now, even if there’s like a 20% chance he’s conning us.
-One of the pirates of
the Ruby Sea spotted Yojimbo on his way to the kojin.
-There’s Daigoro! WHAT
A GOOD PUPPY I LOVE DAIGORO
-We give him a “koban”
(a gold piece for this avaricious doggo) and he leads us to Yojimbo.
-Hildibrand has a plan
of attack to take on the ronin.
HE CALLS DAIGORO FOR
BELLY RUBS AND DAIGORO LOVES IT, THIS IS THE BEST
Yojimbo lags behind,
heartbroken. “What!? Betrayed!”
HILDIBRAND: “Until you
surrender the Soboro Sukehiro, I will give Daigoro the most furious of belly
rubs, thereby depriving you of the pleasure! Such is my ultimatum!”
the most SAVAGE of
threats
-It works. Yojimbo
tosses us the weapon… which Lone Wolf takes and flees with. Of course.
-The sekiseigumi sussed
out our ruse, and have come to arrest Shigure. Harsh, but not unexpected.
-As the chapter closes,
we see Akebono mwa-ha-haing in the shadows.
---
Next time: Wrapping
up the Stormblood Yojimbo quests.
