Dialogue
 NASHUMHAKARACCA
 Blocky, blocky Brandihild!
 KOYOKOYO
 I knew the duplicator had been unstable, but I pushed it to perform anyway. Now look at what I’ve wrought: not only is this clone a poor imitation of the inspector in form, but in force of personality as well.
 DELION
 Blocky though this inspector may be, that Master PuPu could so easily attempt to replicate a living, thinking being… Alien technology is so advanced, I can scarce differentiate it from magic.
 GODBERT
 Ohohoho, never a dull moment around the Manderville men!
 BRADIHILND
 I am…delighted. To be of assistance.
 HILDIBRAND
 An unexpected but invaluable addition to our ranks! With our numbers thus bolstered, I say we are ready once more to dive into the fray!
 DELION
 Perhaps, but what of our strategy? We need a new approach…
 BRADIHILND
 Ahem…if I may?
 Assuming Master PuPu’s acquaintance pilots a craft of similar design, then might we not instead attempt to locate the starship? Such a striking vessel will have drawn more attention than the comparatively tiny being in question.
 DELION
 He has a point. The Truth receives a large number of reports from readers claiming to have observed unidentified flying objects.
 BRADIHILND
 We could review said reports─those that meet the criteria of shiny, silver, and saucer-like, naturally─and then remove instances which we know to have been Master PuPu. That should narrow things down considerably.
 DELION
 Indeed! What a fantastic idea!
 HILDIBRAND
 Ah…hah hah hah! Just the kind of brilliance one might expect of one’s clone. I was about to make the very same suggestion!
 NASHUMHAKARACCA
 Well done, Inspector!
 BRADIHILND
 Ah…hah hah. I hope I’ve not overstepped my bounds. I am but a shadow of the original, after all.
 DELION
 I have a stack of back issues stored in the workroom I use in the city. PuPu can help me sift through them, and cross off the sightings that were definitely him. Shall we?
 NASHUMHAKARACCA
 Inspector Hildibrand inspected Inspector Brandihild with unexpected introspection… Ouch, I think I just twisted my tongue.
 OKKAKE
 Argh! …I mean, don’t mind me! Just keeping a watchful eye on Miss Nashu. You never know what kind of unsavory knaves are out there!
 HILDIBRAND
 Dorian has taken Master PuPu to peruse his store of past publications. Let us enjoy a brief interlude until they return with the results of their investigation.
 DELION
 We’ve finished going through all the back issues.
 If we discount the areas we know PuPu to have visited, it turns out that there was only one other sighting of a flying saucer. In Garlemald.
 The account itself was sent to me by an imperial soldier named Numerious, who appears to be a loyal fan of the Truth.
 BRADIHILND
 All the way from the Empire? Your publication has an impressively wide readership.
 DELION
 Our audience has always been universal. After all, the desire to know the unknown transcends all borders and creeds!
 KOYOKOYO
 The saucer was spotted during the imperial war of succession. Beyond that, there were no meaningful details.
 HILDIBRAND
 Then we must visit this soldier fellow in Garlemald, and wring from him the entire tale!
 DELION
 I agree. This is our only lead, and we’ve no choice but to follow up on it. To Camp Broken Glass!
 NASHUMHAKARACCA
 C-Cor, it never gets any w-warmer here, does it?
 HILDIBRAND
 Everyone present and accounted for?
 BRADIHILND
 Ah, we appear to be missing Master Delion…
 DELION
 My apologies, but I had a hunch that I thought might save us some time.
 I spoke with some contingent officers, you see, and our Numerious is on the roster of allied imperial troops.
 HILDIBRAND
 That does certainly make things easier. And were they able to point you in the direction of this Numerous chap’s posting?
 DELION
 Yes. Numerious is currently with his unit, organizing the supply dump at Forum Patens.
 We should head over there, and hope he can spare a few moments to talk.
 …Ugh, the chill here seeps right into your bones. How are you all not shivering in that unseasonal attire?
 GODBERT
 Ohohoho, a Manderville man on a mission feels neither heat nor cold!
 DELION
 I’m not sure how one’s frame of mind can overcome the reality of frostbite, but then again…reality always seems relative around the Mandervilles.
 Hello! Is there a Numerious here? I am Delion, the editor in chief of The Thavnairian Truth─I’ve come to follow up on your eyewitness account.
 NUMERIUS
 The editor in chief himself!? What an honor!
 I wish there was more to the story, but everything I know was in my submission. I’ve naught left to tell…
 …Unless you’ve something else to share? Didn’t you say you saw the saucer as well?
 FORMERSOLDIER04718
 Oh, I did more than just see it. This was around the time when the fighting with Nerva’s faction had escalated into all-out war, you understand.
 I’d been assigned to an anti-aircraft cannon, and was actively surveying for enemies when this silver vessel flew into view.
 Some new kind of warmachina, I presumed. So I opened fire, and knocked it out of the sky.
 DELION
 “Presumed”? You mean you never got a look at the wreckage?
 FORMERSOLDIER04718
 We were at war. I wasn’t about to venture onto the battlefield to indulge my curiosity. It’s probably still out there. Somewhere.
 HILDIBRAND
 We have to find that flying─or should I say, fallen─silvery saucer. Do you have an idea of where it crashed?
 FORMERSOLDIER04718
 Not an exact location, no…
 DELION
 Then we’d best have the gods’ own luck. Garlemald’s capital region encompasses malms and malms of icy wilderness.
 BRADIHILND
 If I may. Do you happen to remember the approximate speed and bearing of the saucer? And the position and firing angle of the cannon?
 FORMERSOLDIER04718
 More or less, I think. An artillerist without a head for numbers wouldn’t be long for the profession.
 BRADIHILND
 …That should be sufficient, thank you.
 I have it! The starship impacted the earth one thousand three hundred and sixty yalms to the northeast of our current location. Give or take a few yalms.
 DELION
 How in the seven hells did you arrive at that conclusion!?
 BRADIHILND
 Elementary algebra, my dear Delion. Assuming the craft belonging to Master PuPu’s comrade is of similar construction, determining its trajectory is trivial.
 HILDIBRAND
 Ah…hah hah hah! My brilliant clone, ladies and gentlemen! I was about to offer the selfsame conclusion, but once again, he has beaten me to the punch…
 NASHUMHAKARACCA
 Hooray for Inspector Brandihild!
 BRADIHILND
 Ah…hah hah. I seem to have stolen my progenitor’s thunder. My apologies.
 DELION
 One thousand three hundred and sixty or so yalms to the northeast of here! That improves the chances of our search from near hopeless to rather hopeful. Let’s go and find this fallen saucer, shall we?
 HILDIBRAND
 Ah, tut-tut! Silence, please! I must still my mind and quest afield with my senses…
 KOYOKOYO
 Wherever could it be…?
 NASHUMHAKARACCA
 Zzz… Hot soup… Zzz… Blazing hearth…
 DELION
 Oh, to always have such precise coordinates when hunting otherworldly phenomena…
 GODBERT
 Ohohoho, such an invigorating climate!
 BRADIHILND
 Had someone thought to record the wind speed and direction, I might have calculated the crash site to the nearest ilm instead…
 SYSTEM
 A pot, half-buried in the snow. Nothing alien to speak of.
 Although promising at first glance, a closer inspection reveals this debris to be the wreckage of some vanquished warmachina.
 A scorched and twisted scrap of metal plating. A starship like PuPu’s could well have been reduced to a similar state were it hit by artillery rounds…
 HILDIBRAND
 Oho, what have you found there, Forename?
 KOYOKOYO
 An exterior panel!
 This is from my friend’s starship, I am sure of it. Debris from the crash landing…
 BRADIHILND
 I see no other pieces in the immediate vicinity, which means the vessel may have weathered the barrage and made good its escape.
 Another possibility is that your comrade recovered most of the wreckage…or some as-yet-unknown party did.
 HILDIBRAND
 You’re saying someone may have made off with our cosmic visitor, saucer and all? I say, this is an altogether different kind of “alien abduction.”
 DELION
 Hm? Has anyone seen Nashu…?
 HILDIBRAND
 Now that you mention it, where is my loyal assistant?
 OKKAKE
 H-Help! You have to help! My beloved Miss Nashu has been kidnapped!
 Some cad claiming to be an agent of Doctor Lugae came and took her away!
 He told me to tell you, and I quote: “If you want your precious companion returned alive, then Forename must present herselfhimself at the Tower of Babil. Specifically, the magitek servicing facility─don’t forget that part.”
 HILDIBRAND
 The gall! The temerity! The audacity! My stalwart aid, spirited away under my very nose!
 DELION
 My apologies, but who are you? A close acquaintance of Nashu, I assume?
 OKKAKE
 Me!? Oh, no. I wish. I mean, uh, I just happened to be passing through…this snowfield. I’m a…snowflake inspector, you see. No two alike and all that. Anyway, enough about me─you need to go and save Miss Nashu!
 GODBERT
 At last, a chance to stretch my legs.
 What say you, my son? Shall we get this rescue mission underway?
 HILDIBRAND
 Indeed, we shall!
 BRADIHILND
 They left without us. Even though this doctor fellow asked for you by name. Curious.
 KOYOKOYO
 Forget the missing starship for now! Nashu is in imminent danger!
 DELION
 Another abduction. And yet all I can do is wonder who that odd young man was…and why he smelled so strongly of cheese.
 BRADIHILND
 I’ve collected what evidence remained of the crash, but solving this mystery will have to wait. The Case of the Abducted Assistant calls!
 SYSTEM
 You must be a Disciple of War or Magic of level 90 or above to proceed.
 Meanwhile, at the Tower of Babil…
 LUGAE
 Wee hee hee! All shall fall before Suprae-Lugae! With this new and improved body, revenge will finally be mine…
 HILDIBRAND
 You will release Nashu this instant!
 LUGAE
 What are you two doing here!? I specifically asked for the adventurer! Begone, before I unleash my fury prematurely…
 GODBERT
 Ohoho, this promises to be a proper battle.
 I see no reason to trouble Forename. We tackle this menace as father and son─the Manderville men─together!
 HILDIBRAND
 Agreed!
 LUGAE
 Bah, I’ll not waste my appetite for vengeance on the side dishes! Hired thugs, time to earn your pay!
 GODBERT
 Oho. A little warm-up before the main event.
 LUGAE
 Get! Them!
 HILDIBRAND
 Now’s our chance!
 WaaaAAAaaahhhHHHhhh!
 LUGAE
 GaaaAAAaaahhhHHHhhh!
 HILDIBRAND
 The Manderville men!
 GODBERT
 Victorious again!
 BRADIHILND
 Ah… Things seem to be well in hand.
 LUGAE
 (-???-)Wee hee hee! Don’t get ahead of yourself!
 (-Lugae-)There you are, my loathsome nemesis! I saved something special, just for you!
 (-Lugae-)Noooooooooooooooooo!
 NASHUMHAKARACCA
 <yawn> That was a lovely nap.
 Oh. Did someone build a magitek servicing facility while I was asleep?
 HILDIBRAND
 Nicely done, Inspector Brandihild! Once more the clone has put the original to shame!
 BRADIHILND
 Inspector, please… I am but a pale imitation of your ideal…
 GODBERT
 Hah! I knew keeping company with the famous Forename would lead me to a worthy challenge. Worthy of breaking a sweat, at least.
 Q1
 What will you say?
 A1
 You’ve done all the work for me!
 You’ve done all the work for me…
 GODBERT
 Work? This? ‘Twas but a playful skirmish compared to your usual do-or-die dilemmas.
 Ohohoho, ’twas rude of us not to share a slice of the action! Yet even vaunted champions such as yourself must rest their bodies and let others rise to the occasion from time to time.
 HILDIBRAND
 The villain is vanquished, and Nashu is returned to us safe and sound. I say we head back to Radz–at–Han to regroup and rethink our position.
 Your comrade yet lives, Master PuPu, I am certain of it. Take heart, and let us continue the search.
 NASHUMHAKARACCA
 I remember standing in the snow, and dreaming of being warm…then suddenly, I wasn’t cold anymore. Isn’t that odd? Maybe I should fall asleep in uncomfortable places more often!
 OKKAKE
 Phew… I don’t know what I would have done had Miss Nashu been harmed. Clearly I need to track her comings and goings even more closely!
 HILDIBRAND
 To Garlemald and back have we journeyed, yet this is just the beginning of the Case of the Silent Correspondent!
 Come, my friends! The shard of saucer we secured shall lead us onwards to new discoveries!
 NASHUMHAKARACCA
 Wait for me, Inspector! I don’t know which way is “onwards”!
 BRADIHILND
 I…should follow him, shouldn’t I?
 W-Wait! Wait for me!
 GODBERT
 That bracing melee was just what the chirurgeon ordered! A spot of exertion to stimulate the mind, and I find myself ready to grapple with the finer points of forging again.
 Your assistance in this historic reproduction of Manderville weaponry would be, as always, most welcome.
 A final word from yours truly, if I may?
 The complexities of Godbrand’s techniques had me flummoxed, I confess, but I do believe this recent spot of exertion has provided just the inspiration I required.
 When you are ready to proceed with our endeavor, pray drop a word in Master Gerolt’s ear. I shall make myself available forthwith.
 Until our next meeting!
 DELION
 Thank you for assisting with my investigations, Forename.
 Once again, our travels were rife with inexplicable phenomena, and yet I am no closer to exposing PuPu’s well-concealed conspiracy.
 He will slip up one day, though, and you and I will be there to catch him!
 SYSTEM
 Meanwhile, somewhere in Thavnair…
 MYSTERIOUSMAN
 (-Mystery Man-)You took my coin and you failed. What audacity that you should return, seeking my largesse once more.
 LUGAE
 (-Lugae-)I deserve your scorn. But I promise you, your plans are in danger so long as that tenacious pest yet lives.
 (-Lugae-)I know of a path to victory─a forbidden path. One which demands the manifestation of the divine…
 MYSTERIOUSMAN
 (-Mystery Man-)…You have my attention.
 SYSTEM
 Alien friends with strange technology♪
 Cloning yourself can lead to tragedy♪
 But sometimes you get♪
What you don’t expect♪
A blocky man of quality─Inspector Brandihild♪
 Flat-faced for sure but still sharp as a tack♪