(Green Men are the strongest mobs you will fight before Mooshu - they have 735 HP and are Life but also spam Sunbird, Storm Shark and Evil Snowman. Ouch! Did I also mention that, being Life enemies, they use Sprite and Spirit Armor? You do not have to fight the Barkskin Treants, but they have the same stats and moves, sans the elemental attacks. Sierra had to flee and got pulled into a separate battle because Grace's minion took the spot she had fled.)
(Nalia was a joke all around. Even with a Weakness on her, Grace Krakened her to oblivion and she didn't even TRY against Sierra. Also, crazy animation glitch.)
Grace told me about Randolf. He had used a Shatter to destroy any Tower Shields Grace put up even though it wasn't his turn to attack! I knew he was a little cheat but didn't see so until now. However, Penny put that lousy cheater in his place with her Siren sisters. ^_^
(Randolf is the first of a huge legacy of Gimmick Bosses, also called Cheating Bosses because they don't follow the proper rules of battle and have a proc gimmick that they use before you can act if you do certain things. Later bosses will do their Gimmicks if you FAIL to do certain things, which is a lot more fatal to your wizard and can cost you battles. Randolf's Gimmicks are these: He interrupts with Shatter every second round to destroy all your shields, and when you attack him without a shield on yourself, he says "You won't last long without shields!" and interrupts with Vampire, which heals him. Also, he spams Storm Shield but oddly enough he didn't use it against Grace, and a buffed up Otomo Fury pierced Randolf's resistance and did enough damage to one-shot him, even without a Prism when he used one Storm Shield. And yes, this is out of order.)
We then spoke with Groundskeeper Verne, who told us that Chester had been studying the Green Men and to talk to him, but the Professor of Earth started acting suspicious and told us to meet him in his office. I didn't like it at all...
Especially since there was a huge earthen tunnel covered with huge vines!
"Oh no!" I cried. "He's trying to silence us! He's in cahoots with those abominations!"
"He will not get away with it," sneered Penny. "We have a powerful weapon!"
"I know, your sirens," I said. "But..."
"Something stronger," said Grace.
I found out what it was... a powerful tidal wave destroyed the mutants and knocked out Chester.
"That was a spell that Rra Balestrom calls 'Tempest'," said Grace. "It is connected to my magical pip strength, so I have to set up, but when I do hit, it is mighty indeed. I went through a few quests, including helping Rra Jadehaven defeat Krokenhamen again to get this spell."
I whistled in glee. "Let's get out of this heckhole. I have allergies."
(Yep, Grace got the Tempest spell thanks to a little underhandedness by me. Of course this was just a treasure card I had held onto for a while, which does more damage until we get to Grandmaster with this girl.)
"Time to go trim some tree trolls, Grace," I sneered.
(Grace is not in the picture because I accidentally talked to Chester when I was clicking on the alert from Harold Argleston - yep, the Lost Pages events triggered around this time.)
It turns out that Lord Bramble was hiding in the tower which Grace had spotted when she first visited Tanglewood Way, so we stormed off there and barged in.
"You are a sick freak of nature!" shouted Penny. "You will regret ever messing with my boss's friends and we'll burn you to the ground!"
Grace, who had gotten a little ticked off at her pet's rantings, was in agreement. "Let's go."
The battle was not difficult at all despite them sending an army of leprechauns and treants at us. (I had to use the Cyclops but buffed up to the max, it left Lord Bramble with 15 HP! Seriously, Sierra destroyed Taylor Froghead, who had over 300 more HP than this guy! ;p Grace Krakened the Green Man and, despite getting hit with a Weakness, one-shot it.)
"Here's the Spiral Cup, Mma," said Grace as she put it over her back. "Let's hurry to Mma Crisp and tell her the good news."
"Let me finish this book first," I said, reading the last of the Pigswick papers...
"To spread the world of Pigswick's educational innovations, Headmaster Pigswick started a magical tournament. Students representing all of the different schools of magic from across the Spiral were invited to compete. The Spiral Cup was selected as the Grand Prize, a fitting symbol of magic supremacy and skill. Though in the past it has been won by Ravenwood and Mooshu, for many years the Spiral Cup has been claimed by Pigswick. Coincidentally, the years Pigswick won the Spiral Cup were also years in which no other schools appeared to compete."
"So," said Penny sourly. "This mockery of a magic school was just holding the cup due to cheating and making sure nobody else competed. They do not DESERVE this prize. Let us tell that harlot that the Cup is ours now."
"We shall be polite about it, Mma," said Grace. "Let's go."
(I stupidly forgot to have Sierra grab the Spiral Cup - I am having a bad habit of not checking the quest arrow to make sure I have gotten stuff and having to go back into boss battles to get them! I had Grace pull Lord Bramble into battle so Sierra could sneak around him and get the Cup, then Grace fled after Sierra teleported away. It cost Grace all her mana but it was a necessary evil.)
After we returned the doll holding Chester's soul to him, we returned the Spiral Cup to Crisp. "I don't see why we have to do this," I said. "The only competitors left are us, we defeated everyone else, so by default Ravenwood wins the Spiral Cup!"
"Yes," said Belladonna. "We have lost the Spiral Cup. HOWEVER, the rules state that you two still are in contention. Therefore, you two must duel each other to determine who in Ravenwood will be keeping the Cup. It is only a formality but since two wizards from Ravenwood are competing, it is only fair to make sure this is closed properly."
We looked at each other and I felt ill. I realized that we'd have to fight each other to determine who wins the Spiral Cup and the tournament. But I put on a brave face. "Come on, Grace. Let's do this."
Grace nodded. "Very well, Mma. If we are to support each other against Malistaire, we must prove that we can defeat him, and that means testing each other. We shall go to the tournament hall."
"This sucks, Mma," said Penny sadly. "But I am only a secretary..."
"Are you certain you want to do this?" I asked as we entered the Hall of The Unicorn, a special place for our match to commence. "I mean... you can back out and we can fight this."
"No, Mma," said Grace, shaking her head. "I vowed as the #1 Lady Storm Private Detective that I would not back down from any obstacle. And we must push ourselves to the limit to prepare for when we eventually confront Rra Malistaire."
I shuddered at the thought. But then... what if we got the Krokonomicon? Then this would be put to rest and Malistaire's plan would be defeated at the end! Something bothered me but I nodded slowly. "If you want to fight me, I'll give it my best!"
"As will I," said Grace, smirking. "We will not hold back."
"I won't either," I giggled as we entered the arena and began our match.
(This is Amy's arena from her Tower of the Winter Winds. I found I was able to port both girls to it by having Sierra port to Amy and then Amy logged off and Grace ported in. I didn't know that the houses of your wizards are still viable even if the wizard who owns them has logged off! This was good as I found the Practice PvP arena in Unicorn Way doesn't work for setting up 1v1 matches.)
I won't bore you with the details of our duel, but we put all our Tower Shields up and I had an Elemental Shield from my boots, so I was very well-protected against any storm spell she had. I knew nothing much about Penny's special spell but was ready to take the hit...
Until she did this.
"I was going to use this against Rra Spellshine, but he never used a Storm Shield," Grace laughed as I watched my shields crumble to dust. I was stunned by two things (1) I could learn that spell and (2) I was in danger of being defeated. She had a Tower Shield up and I had no way to destroy it...
But summoning the pig warrior surprised me... it knocked Grace out and won me the duel. "Oh no, are you all right?" I cried as I ran up to her, and she was dizzy.
"Look what you did!" shouted Penny angrily.
Grace held her head. "It is all right, my secretary. We can use a potion and talk to Mma Brewer back int the Fairgrounds, it is not a big loss." She smiled and held my shoulders. "I am impressed! To be honest, had we used Penny's skill, you might have lost, but I did not use it as I wanted to be fair."
"Huh?" I said.
"When I summon my sisters, their fury destroys all blades and blinds your eyes," said Penny proudly. "That means you would have a weak attack that would be inaccurate."
I gasped. "Thank you," I whispered. "But you are pretty clever too. Still, I accept victory."
(Wow, even with Myth Resist and a Tower Shield, a buffed up Otomo Fury one-shotted my Diviner! True, she had only around 1300 health but still... daaaaang... 2843 damage even with shields!)
We returned to Belladonna and she sighed and handed me the giant gold trophy. "Tell Merle Ambrose," she added. "That when the tournament rolls around in two years, we will take the Spiral Cup back, mark my words."
"Then you'd better learn REAL magic, chura!" said Penny, who did a rude gesture with her fingers and tongue. I was too entranced by the glowing Spiral in the cup to notice.
We returned victorious to our own Headmaster and he praised us. "I shall bow out of further magical tournaments, Rra," said Grace. "We have an important investigation to handle."
"I will help my friend, Grace," I added.
"It is perfectly fine," chortled Ambrose. "I am just glad Ravenwood finally recovered the Spiral Cup after three tournaments. To be honest, we sent the best we could but..."
"You need not say more," said Grace, holding up a hand. "I knew what happened. But I put that cheating pig in his place." She smirked slyly. "Now if you do not mind, we would like to continue investigating Krokotopia."
Ambrose agreed to let us continue but pulled me aside. "A messenger bird from Grizzleheim came. It seems they need your assistance."
I nodded. "Okay, I'll get on when I can. Thanks, Headmaster."
But first, I had to display my trophy, the Spiral Cup. I also found a desk with the Storm Symbol on it and put it in my farmhouse, as a memoir of my best friend, Grace.
(And that ends the prose. I hope you enjoyed it. I found the Storm Desk in the Bazaar and had to buy it because I think Grace and Sierra work so great together! I'll get back to the regular updates next time, but leave a comment if you want to give me feedback. Should I do more fanfic-like updates for special events in the future? Do you like my guides on building your own houses like Watchtower Hall? Let me know and enjoy the last two days of the 22nd Winter Olympics. ^_^)
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