Scenario:Yuri Lowell - What the Blade Protects
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What the Blade Protects
A cat cafe on the cat sanctuary of Marco Island hires (Captain)'s crew members as bodyguards. As they explore a rough part of town in search of a catnapper, they run into a panicked group of thugs. Confused about the crew's loyalties, the thugs attack.
While (Captain)'s crew is on Marco Island to help Yuri search for Rollo...
An unusual job offer finds its way to them.
Yuri: A bodyguard at a cat cafe?
Vyrn: Ha! That right there is Marco Island in a nutshell.
Lyria: This is no laughing matter, Vyrn! It says cats are going missing...
Offering visitors a chance to enjoy dining with cats, the Marco Island cat cafe is a popular tourist destination.
But at the moment, the cafe is struggling to deal with a thief who abducts cats in the middle of the night.
Yuri: So the job is protecting the cat cafe from a cat thief?
Yuri: What sort of thief would steal cats? Where's the money in that?
Eugen: Well, guess we'll just have to catch the guy and ask him.
Vyrn: Hm? Is that the cat cafe over there?
Yuri: Oh, brother. Are those military police? Something nasty must have happened...
Lyria: Well... let's go in and find out.
Lyria: What? Another cat's been kidnapped?
Officer: Yeah, it sure looks that way. We came as soon as we heard.
Eugen: Damn. We were just a little too late.
Yuri: Well, only thing we can do about it now is to get that cat back. Recovery is part of the job.
Yuri: Hey, officer. You guys got a suspect on this?
Officer: Not exactly, but there's a rough area a little ways east of here, where the island's criminal element hangs out.
Officer: And I suppose they love cats as much as anyone else on the island...
Yuri: All right, thanks. Guess we'll check that out first.
Cat: Meow?
A brooding man clutching a bowl of food stands before a quizzical group of cats.
Thug 1: Look, I'm sorry... You eat this food, and you'll go right to sleep—no suffering.
Cat: Meow?
Thug 1: Aw, geez... I just can't do it. Offing these cute little kitties...
Yuri: Hate to butt in, but what's the deal here? Those cats feral or something?
Yuri: We're looking for the cats taken from the nearby cat cafe. If you've heard anything...
Thug 2: What? So he's sending hired muscle after us now?
Thug 1: Ah, I see how it is. You're here to see if we really offed the cats or not!
Yuri: Hey, let's all relax. No one said anything about that.
Thug 2: Damn it! Well, now we got no choice! Looks like it's kill or be killed!
Yuri: Looks like we got the right guys, but... there's something fishy about this.
Vyrn: We'll have to work that out later... They're drawing their swords!
What the Blade Protects: Scene 2
The crew gets the whole story from their captives: the thugs stole the cats on orders from guards who want all mixed-breed cats exterminated. Their crimes exposed, the officers reveal their true nature and attack the crew.
Yuri and company easily overpower the thugs who attacked them.
But Yuri remains perplexed by their strange behavior.
Yuri: All right, so what's the deal with that cat food? It's poisoned, right? And you were gonna feed it to the cats?
Thug 1: ...
Yuri: Why steal cats from the cat cafe only to poison them? That doesn't make a lot of sense.
Thug 2: ...
Yuri: When you first saw us, you thought we were muscle hired by someone, right? Who?
Thug 1: W-wait, so... you're not?
Yuri: That means there's someone above you. None of this was your idea...
Yuri: No surprise there. It certainly didn't look like you were enjoying your work.
Yuri: So are you doing this for money? Or is someone forcing you?
Yuri: I've been around a lot, you know. If you got an explanation for this, I'm all ears.
Yuri: Tell me straight, and we'll be on our way. I'm not gonna jam you up.
Thug 1: The truth is...
Yuri and (Captain) bring the cats back to the cat cafe.
Cat: Meow!
Officer: Look at that! You found the missing cats!
Officer: So what happened to the thugs who took 'em?
Yuri: We disposed of them.
Officer: Huh! That takes care of that, I guess.
Yuri: And that's it? You'd be satisfied with that?
Officer: Huh?
Yuri: We heard the whole story. They told us everything.
Officer: ...
Yuri: About how you paid them off...
Yuri: How you told them to leave the purebreds and only take the mixed-breed cats...
Yuri: How you told 'em to dispose of the cats they took.
Officer: So that's what they told you, huh?
Yuri: I sure don't hear you denying it. So tell me... Why? What's the point?
Officer: See... This is exactly why I hate mongrels.
Officer: Not only couldn't they get the job done, but they went and blabbed the whole thing.
Yuri: What?
Officer: Pedigree is everything! It's as true for people as it is for cats!
Officer: A mongrel with an unclear pedigree ain't worth a damn thing.
Eugen: Humph! So this is your true face, huh?
Yuri: Sure looks that way. I was hoping I'd be wrong, but it's exactly as I feared.
Officer: Hah! You did a good job of sticking your noses in places it didn't belong.
Officer: That's what you get with skyfarers! You're just a dirty mishmash of mongrels yourselves.
Officer: Heh heh. And now that you know too much, we're gonna have to make you disappear.
Yuri: All right. If that's your game, we'll play ball.
Yuri: Gotta admit, you guys kinda piss me off. I'm not holding anything back this time!
What the Blade Protects: Scene 3
(Captain) and company defeat the guards that had hired the cat thieves. Exposing a crime committed by men who were in charge of protecting the town has Yuri pondering the nature of justice. A certain friend looms large in his mind—one who serves in the same knighthood but is his opposite in many ways.
(Captain) and company defeat the guards that were directing the cat thieves.
They bring the defeated guards to the island's lord along with the details of their crimes.
Eugen: We sign up to protect a few cats and end up fighting for our lives against corrupt guards. Some bodyguard job that was!
Lyria: Well, at least the cats are safe now!
Vyrn: Good point! Nice work, eh, Yuri? We sure went above and beyond the call of duty!
Yuri: ...
Eugen: What's up, kid? You seem awfully quiet.
Yuri: Huh? Nah, it's nothing. I was just thinking about how even the guard has criminals in its ranks.
Eugen: Ha! Well, of course they do. Soldiers are people too.
Eugen: Everyone thinks they're doing the right thing, but we've all got our own definition of what that is.
Yuri: Yep.
Yuri: (That's exactly the problem... The world's got all too many different opinions about what constitutes as justice.)
Yuri: (I gotta figure out what it is I'm fighting for. I guess you already made that choice, eh, Flynn?)
Yuri looks up and wordlessly raises the question to the night sky.
This feeling that weighs on him, like waiting for the morning star to pierce the night sky, will go on to shape his destiny...