Case No. 15
BARISTA: AUDITOR
CAFE: ALL
DATE: MID MARCH
RECEIPT ID: TOI-01
The Thorned Tangle. Certainly lives up to its name. You know, "Thorned Tangle," is just a human translation. The real name of the region we are currently in is "Vuin" in the old tongue. Trap. And that is what it feels like. I never said brewing a cup of Green Tea for ourselves would be easy. Despite this being one of the drinks most palatable to baristas it is still tough to swallow for non-locals. What with the towering, twisting vines as thick as railcars constantly wriggling about, obscuring the landscape's true shape. And each vine is covered with man-sized thorns doused in a dozen different toxins.
Still, some call it home, such as our customers who come to the Cafe and Diner to place an order for a simple sandwich. Of the Sponsors who employ sandwich eaters, Beez is certainly among the most prolific, only behind his younger brother Santos. I suppose it comes with the territory. A sandwich could never Skald one's tongue in quite the same way coffee could. Their respective homes offer an abundance of power in which they like to share with others. Enough with the esoteric wordplays though, we desperately need to get down to business. Big business. Giant business, in fact.
To do so we'll need to split up. We're still down a barista and it doesn't sit right with me that we haven't yet paid our dues to Beez. The natural split, of course, would be Jericho, Joy, and Julius heading deeper into the Tangle to try and head off Ms. Roussimoff while Indrid, Alaric, Daichi, Naberius, and I hang back toward the sandwich shop to see what we might be able to learn and to be closer to the Hollow should we need to make an emergency overdue payment. Not to mention, Ranoma is likely expecting us at the Hollow first and foremost anyway.
Caffeinated Report: CD-TOI-02
"Repeat: Repiat-Repeot Repeal-Reyeat Reteat-Refeat Tepeat-Depeat Rapeat-Ropeat."
Cipher | 1 Word
Caffeinated Report: CD-TOI-03
"Uvula."
CaD Knowledge | 4 Words
Caffeinated Report: C-TOI-04
"Freyr, Rindr, Alvaldi, Odin (Riordan), Irpa, Nanna, Ullr, Sigyn."
Mythology Trivia | 1 Word
Caffeinated Report: C-TOI-05
"90° 90° 90°"
Crystal Trivia | 2 Words
Caffeinated Report: C-TOI-06
"Wine."
Alcohol Trivia | 1 Word
BARISTA: AUDITOR
CAFE: ALL
DATE: MID MARCH
RECEIPT ID: TOI-07
The Seed of Sodom. Untapped knowledge. The power to bind or split apart Universal fabric, rewrite fundamental truths, and… who knows what else? This is… bad. But the Cafe and Diner has dealt with worse. In any case, I can say I've come around to Jericho, Daichi, and Alaric's thinking. We don't have time to deal with Beez's traditions. We need to stop Ms. Roussimoff before she can find the Seed and Beez can yell at us later. We need to serve her while she is alone and cut off from her allies… Though… Naberius believes he uncovered the fate of Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Milner, and Mrs. Strig.
To gain the senses required to find the Seed, to perceive it, to touch it, one must make… Sacrifices. Naberius, and I, believe the Mangrove Syndicate is no more. Their tabs were paid in full by Ms. Roussimoff. Mrs. Brown's tab was paid in service of finding the Seed. Mrs. Milner's tab in service of being able to hold the Seed. And Mrs. Strig's tab in service of being able to see the Seed once it is found. Ms. Roussimoff—the Giant—is all that is left of the Syndicate, and is also now the Syndicate in full. She has proven to be a difficult customer to serve in the past, now… she has all the strength and powers of her former comrades.
The good news is that Ms. Roussimoff was the only one who needed to make the sacrifices. While we have no way of finding the Seed before she does, she leaves a rather large trail behind her that we can follow. While we cannot see the Seed in the same way she can, it won't matter if we can pay her tab before she has a chance to awaken its full potential. I am not usually one to advocate for paying a customer's tab in full as it closes off sources of potential future revenue for the Cafe and Diner Network. This is a different tab. This is a tab that needs to be paid in full as fast as possible. Besides, Ms. Roussimoff has had her tab much longer than most and after a certain point all debts must come due.