The Mouse Arrives

Raid Event: A Clawful Caper

Prologue

The Mouse Arrives

Next Quest

Into the Woods

Summary

A supposed Wyrmclan leader arrives at the Halidom claiming to bring good fortune, but is actually a disguised attendant named Chitose. The real leader—Mitsuhide—is pursuing Ebisu, who stole all the New Year's gifts. After learning this, the prince and his friends decide to help.

Dialogue

GUYS! IT'S ALMOST NEW YEAR'S, GUYS! ARE YOU PUMPED OR WHAT?! The ceremonial outfits are all ready. The decorations are lookin' good! I ain't eaten in a day and a half just to make sure I got room for the feast! Exactly how much are you planning to eat this year, Ranzal? Well, there certainly doesn't seem to be any shortage of enthusiasm. How could we NOT be excited? Last year's shindig was a total blast! We got presents, we had all sorts of fun, and there was good fortune aplenty! I believe an emissary from Hinomoto is coming here to bring more "good fortune" our way this year, yes? That's right—and I can't wait to see what they have in store for us. Excuse me, Your Majesty, but an emissary of Hinomoto has arrived at the gates. They're heeeeeere! Please send them in. Right away, Your Majesty. Dudes, I can't WAIT to see who this year's emissary is! It's gotta be a leader of one of the Twelve Wyrmclans, yeah? Of course! After all, delivering good fortune is one of their sacred duties. Actually, Ieyasu sent me a letter saying we'd be visited by a young woman who's head of the Mouse Clan. Ah, and what a refined young woman she must be to have such a position! As the people of Hinomoto select their shogun from the Wyrmclan leaders, she will likely be serious, solemn, and VERY capable. The emissary is here, Your Majesty. Heeeeey, everybody! May I present ME, the cutest Wyrmclan leader EEEVER! Yep. Biiig ol' Wyrmclan leader. That's me. No more questions, please! Uh... Serious? Solemn? Very Capable?

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Chitose
Yeah, or not. If you are attempting to sell us something, we are not interested. We are quite happy with the Ilian Church, if conversion is your purpose here. The heck's goin' on here? I've never seen such a collection of grumpy gusses. Come oooon! Welcome me, already! Er, y-yes, of course. Please forgive us. It's just that we were expecting someone with a little more...um...gravitas? If this is "serious, solemn, and capable," I'd sure hate to see dizzy and fun. Quiet, you dolt! You can't talk to big, dumb, important big shots like that! Believe it or not, she's a big deal! Pretty sure that's ruder than anything I just said. Er, right. Sorry about... Well, all of this. Anyway, I'm Euden. You're from the Twelve Wyrmclans, yes? And you've come in order to bring good fortune to this country? You're darn tootin' I am—and I'm gonna make you guys so lucky that you have fortune falling out of your BUTTS! That is...quite the image. Er, but have you truly come here all alone? Where are your attendants? Don't need any! I'm more than enough. Wanna see my muscles? Maybe buy two tickets to the ol' trebuchet show? C'mon, lemme tear off this outfit and show ya! What on EARTH is happening here? Hey, speaking of muscles and...whatever, where's your luggage? Threw it all away! Who needs bags when I'm just gonna tear my clothes off anyway? Never met someone what hated clothes this much. Still, guess we oughta chat about the fortune yer bringin', yeah? Oh. That. Uh... Well, you're looking at it! Behold the blessing of my beauty! ...... Er, Cleo, I think Her Majesty here needs medical treatment—mainly in the noodle. No, stop! Don't make me disrobe! Those hospital gowns leave nothing to the imagination! Please stop trying to undress and acting like it was our idea! You could not be less like the wise Ieyasu who came last year. Are you truly from one of the Twelve Wyrmclans? Aw, snot. I KNEW I'd never be able to pull this off. Fiiine, I'll confess everything. I don't lead one of the Twelve Wyrmclans. Well, that's actually something of a relief. I mean, sure, I COULD lead one of 'em, but I sorta lack culture and...you know. Comportment and junk. Ya don't say. Anyway, got anything to eat around here? All this lying makes a boy hungry! Sorry, wait. Back up. You're a boy? Of course I am! Huh?! Yeaaah, you've probably never seen a boy as cute as me before, huh? But you can't just go around assuming that anyone cute is automatically female. Get with the times, man. Sheesh. There's nothing wrong with boys being completely adorbs if they want. All right, you're a boy. That's fine. But it's also not the most important issue we need to deal with here. If you're not the Wyrmclan leader, who ARE you? I'm an attendant of Mitsuhide—who actually IS one of the Wyrmclan leaders. She'd intended to come here, but things sorta went sideways. Mitsuhide, eh? Bit of an odd name. Mitsuhide is a hereditary name. Be you male or female, the clan leader always inherits that name. It's an old tradition that... Well, there's some difficult circumstances rolled up in it. But I'll let Mitsuhide fill you in on the deets when you meet her. Aaaanyway, long story significantly longer, she and I were on our way to your castle when we got ambushed. And that stupid kitty got away with ALL the stuff we brought to bring you good fortune! Sorry. Your possessions were stolen by a...kitty? Yeah! A dragon kitty named Ebisu! He got away with everything—cooking ingredients, decorations, AND gifts! Ooo-kay. But why did you pretend to be your master and come here instead of just chasing down the...kitty dragon? Because having your good fortune stolen is considered totally disgraceful in Hinomoto. We're talking MAJOR dishonor. That's why we came up with this plan! Mitsuhide and the others were supposed to retrieve the goods while I bought time with my masterful impersonation. So this was all one big trick? Pro tip, bud: If you wanna trick someone, don't admit that you aren't who you're pretending to be, like, 15 seconds into the ruse. Yeah, but no harm done, right? We're all cool here? Oh, we're cool. But if ya came here to buy time, I'd say ya ran out a while ago. Actually, you're right—Mitsuhide and the rest of the group absolutely should have shown up by now. That's why I changed the plan. It's called...IMPROVISING! Zing! I figured it would be a whole lot faster to just spit out the truth to you guys and see if I could get your help. Smart, no? Our help? Yeah! Will you hear my humble plea, O Great Euden? Only if you never refer to me as "O Great Euden" again. Then please save Mitsuhide and recover the good fortune stolen by Ebisu! Pleeeease? With a cherry on top? ...... Is aught amiss, Your Majesty? You seem distracted. Has the sight of that adorable Chitose sent your head a'spinning? No, I just... Uhhh... Right then! We'd better go save Mitsuhide's group! Your Majesty, might we discuss this for a moment? ...Your Majesty! Aw, maaan! This celebration both sucks AND blows. I just want it to be super fun the way it was last year. If we wanna have another fun New Year's, we gotta recover that fortune. See? Ol' muscles here gets it. Now come on, everyone! To meeeee! Hey! You don't getta say that!