Bayroff (Episode)

Bayroff is the twenty-fourth episode of Tales of Dikuda. It is also the twelfth and last episode of the second season.

Summary
As Uuzoo and Wish are still trying to put together the puzzle pieces surrounding the Rhythm Sundial, a rumor is spreading, that a dangerous being has appeared on the island: Adato, the legendary Sky Spider.

Episode in Detail


Ryahno, while patrolling the rooftops, is telepathically talking to Gwadeweido, who is currently working at her job. The topic comes to Gwady's guild job as The Bringer of Punishment, with the rat teasing and taunting Ryahno about how the latter will sooner or later turn to the dark and that she will break her, like she broke her mother before. Ryahno, uncomfortable with the topic, remains unreactive, instead redirecting the focus of the conversation to Gwady's normal working job at the bar.

A startled Krrah wakes up from a nightmare, a reoccurring thing, as she keeps having nightmares about Gwady, telling her that she doesn't deserve the helpful treatment she gets. Unable to sleep, the bird then gets up to look for information to try and understand Gwady better.

Loco, armed with information on the guild and its members, drops by Uuzoo's home. The two share information that they've gathered on various legends, like the human eating beasts or the creatures that turn into mist. The latter reminding Uuzoo of Ryahno, which brings back memories. Silence then falls and Loco asks if any of the legends she found match up with guild members.

The snake then talks about the various versions of the legends of The Strength and how neither the name nor the gender is confirmed. Loco, sensing the snake's negative mood, wonders about the others future usefulness for her research.

After leaving the snake's home, Loco is approached by HowYu, who reminds her of their deal regarding information on Gwady. Loco dislikes his pushiness and the two get into an argument, during which he insults her, even threatening to put her to work as a prostitute, once he has control over the city.

The threat prompts Gwady to intervene, who slaps HowYu and gets Loco out of the situation. The latter, confused by the rat's actions and her serious demeanor, wants to know the why and acts as if she had the situation under control, which causes Gwady to apologise for intervening and take her leave.

Uuzoo, at work, hears about a fisherman who, scared out of his mind, fled to Dikuda, claiming that Adato is coming. The name rings a bell with the snake, who remembers a conversation with Krrah, who had told her about how she heard of Adato on the way to the island. Just like the snake, her guard partner Pabu Ran is worried, though his worry doesn’t come from hearing the rumors, but rather that the defense is going to be raised without explanation. This, in combination with the appearance of the fisherman makes him nervous.

To get some clarity on the information Uuzoo heads to the commanders’ office after work to ask them if there is any truth to the gossip going around. She approaches Ahrow and the familiar blonde girl, interrupting the conversation of the two to ask about the fisherman rumor that is going around. Ahrow brushes it off, though before the conversation continues, Ryahno walks into the office and pulls the man close to talk to him. Uuzoo is shocked to see her commander and waits on them to finish talking, but she is urged by the girl to leave the office, as they will be talking for a while. In the end both Ahrow and Ryahno leave the office first though, with the former now worried.

Uuzoo finds herself disappointed and hurt that Ryahno didn’t exchange a word with her, as she hadn’t seen the woman since the incident at the park, and leaves the office. On the way out she bumps into Liu Cha Ching, whom she had previously met in the same building, while waiting for Hweibin Sandala to finish his talk with Ahrow. The two start a friendly conversation and after he properly introduces himself, Uuzoo tells him about her own agate ball which she recently acquired and asks him about the Adato rumor then. He tells the snake about how it’s most likely not the same Sky Spider as from the legends, since so much time has passed.

After heading home, Uuzoo then proceeds to call Sandala, hoping that he can provide more information on Adato, and indeed he helps her by giving her all the information he has on the Sky Spider and the dans that he defeated and became king of. Uuzoo confirms the stories, mentioning how she heard them from Krrah. The otter appears to be genuinely happy that the two get along.

The topic returns to Adato then and Sandala mentions that higher dimensional beings are worried, since it is said that the Sky Spider hunts the Ink Butterfly, though nobody knows why he does it and there are many different versions for the reasoning.

At the same time Ryahno tells Ahrow the story Adato and how the spider came to hunt the Ink Butterfly. As it turns out, Falehi in her youth stopped Adato, also known as Bayroff, from doing something horrible. He in turn began chasing her, wanting to kill her in fear of her giving out his secrets and plans. While on the run, Falehi’s adoptive father, Faso Haru was killed by Bayroff and her adoptive mother, Hwong YiFung went after the man, leaving the girl alone. Falehi left on her own then and after a while ended up on the island, later on establishing the guild there.

Ahrow now understands the rumors and gossip a bit more, though overall he doesn’t quite know how to judge the situation yet, lacking further knowledge on what to expect from the Sky Spider, like the man’s appearance. He asks why Bayroff hasn’t shown up earlier in Dikuda, since it was established that the Ink Butterfly was around and Ryahno guesses that the man never expected Falehi to stick around. The two end their talk and return to work then.

Meanwhile an upset HowYu is walking through the garden of his mansion with MuDan close beside him, ranting about what he will do to all the people that he perceives to have wronged him during his life, once he gets control over the city, including what he will do to Uuzoo, Ryahno, Gwady or Loco. MuDan isn’t happy with what she hears, but she remains quiet. As HowYu keeps on ranting, he is interrupted by the appearance of someone in the garden.

It turns out to be the man wrapped in scarves and cloth, which he had met in the mountains and who had provided the Bwo. HowYu seems relaxed at his appearance, though MuDan isn’t, not trusting the man. The stranger brings up the topic of the Bwo, which HowYu claims to have a good life at the mansion, something that according to the beast itself, the man does not believe.

HowYu turns to ask MuDan to prepare them tea and treats and when the girl bows to the order, averting her eyes as she does so, the man kills HowYu, slicing him in half. The shocked and disturbed girl drops to the ground and the man removes his bandages and scarves, introducing himself as Bayroff. He asks if MuDan knows where he can find Falehi, though the scared girl runs off in panic.

Characters
The following characters appear in this episode (in order):


 * Bayroff/Adato/The Man Covered in Scarves and Cloth
 * Kuraz Ryahno
 * Gwadeweido
 * Krrah
 * Yin Uuzoo
 * Loco Wish
 * Hweibin Sandala
 * Pabu Ran
 * Paci Ahrow
 * Liu Cha Ching
 * The Strength/Ursh (mentioned)
 * Su HowYu
 * The Dans/Uh-Sow
 * Hwong YiFong (mentioned)
 * Sheenyai Yavei
 * The Ink Butterfly (mentioned)
 * Derbri (mentioned)
 * Faso Haru (mentioned)
 * Hwong YiFung (mentioned)
 * Tenyu Eesh Yuw (mentioned)
 * MuDan
 * Bwo (mentioned)

Trivia

 * Ryahno saying that Gwady's "connection is getting weak" means something along the lines of Gwady losing focus, unable to wield her power properly for the time being.


 * Gwady saying that she "broke her mother before" refers to something which is revealed towards the end of episode 31.


 * The statement of Gwady that she has two mothers isn't a lie. One is the person that raised her, the other one is her birth mother.


 * The monsters that Uuzoo mentions are a references to, inspired by, or based on the monsters and creatures that are recorded from the Classic of Mountains and Seas.


 * The folklore that Uuzoo is hearing of and that is sometimes inconsistent is another way of the story expressing how there are many versions, and not all are correct.


 * When Uuzoo observed Yavei talking to someone, she was indeed talking to Ryahno and told the woman to come to the office to get Ahrow away from the snake.

Links

 * Official link to the post on tumblr.