Part 33: The Why of Necrosaro
"Hey guys, is there something funny about this wall?"
"Hmm.. Ragnar does feel a draft.."
"I think it's my lucky day, then. Who'd have suspected this was here?" "We've probably missed a few things here and there... especially locked behind doors we couldn't open when we first visited somewhere.
"Hey! Take these two and send in the other guys." "What? Why?"
"They've gambled all their money away. We need fresh meat."
"Please.. help us.." "Eh. Whatever." "I'm surprised you didn't try to play for clothes."
"We tried.. that's when they threw us out."
"Wow. If I'd known it could do that I might have kept it for myself." "Knowing real value when you see it, that's where age and experience come into their own!"
"Hey.. I think I know that place. It's full of shape changing demons who try to trick groups of people to get a meal." "The world is a very strange place sometimes."
"What an out of the way spot for a town.. could this be Rosaville?"
"Well, obviously. Everyone knows that Rosaville is surrounded by giant blue walrus men and dinosaurs."
"This.. is a very odd shop."
"You're.. the only shop keeper, aren't you? Cristo, this is your future staring you in the face right now." "Hey, I'd never end up as a merchant! I'm no good with money." "That confirms it. You are completely useless."
"Fascinating. I'd have thought all the dwarves would live underground in mountains and such."
"Some humans began treating her badly in order to make her cry all the time." "That is.. incredibly screwed up." "How does someone even cry rubies?"
"So.. Saro's big problem is that his girlfriend's had a rough life? That's why he wants to wipe out humanity?" "I know. What kind of lovesick idiot would do something like that?"
"That's so disturbing. I want to stab you right now."
"Hmm... I think that this is where we saw Saro enter in the dream.." "Try that flute you've been carting around for ages. It's a Flute of Uncovering, after all."
"I don't even know how you figured that out."
"Of course. Do you even have a name?"
"Seems like the quiet type." "You might want to take some notes."
"Cristo?! What the hell are you doing?" "It was worth a try, dammit."
"You know what was also worth a try? Just hitting the damn thing." "What a remarkable treasure.. just the thing for a fighter like him dealing with a bunch of mages."
"It's said the Staff of Transformation is in the royal crypt on the cape southwest of Endor." "I think if you use it, you'll be able to sneak into the monsters' castle." "First a village of dwarves, now the monsters have a castle? How did we not know about these things?" "I have no idea, but now we've got somewhere to go after we get the Zenithian Armor."
"He's renamed himself Necrosaro and intends to use the Secret of Evolution to become even more formidable." "Please, stop Saro.. no, Necrosaro." "For the last damn time, that is not how evolution works! Evolution involves passing on traits to offspring, not changing as an adult." "Quite right, quite right.. it'd be more appropriate to call it the Secret of Metamorphosis. " "I think the other one rolls off the tongue a bit better, though."
"Dammit, what are you supposed to do when the bad guy has a girlfriend who's crying over him non-stop and begging you to stop him?" "I know.. seeing as I don't think he's just going to stop and after he killed everybody in my village I'm not exactly inclined to go easy on him."
"Were people really mistreating her over something that disappears immediately like this?" "If you were trying to get them to stay permanently, you'd need lots of samples."
"And you didn't see ANYTHING wrong with this? Or try to stop him, perhaps?
"He was gentle to Rosa, though." "Cristo, make a note of that for his tombstone. 'He was nice to Rosa.'"
".. and has been hiding something precious there." "Seriously? Who builds an entire tower and locks their girlfriend up in there?" "I think we might have figured out why she's okay with somebody killing him if they have to."
"We believe you kid. It's not like it's hard to verify. Just look up at night and there she is."
"I wouldn't say that.. I can't imagine he really gets too many customers out here." "Maybe, but he's got a lock on all the major businesses so he gets all the business that comes through." "Sounds like somebody's thinking about their future."
"You are exactly the kind of horrible person who is responsible for everything that's wrong with the world. Normally I would be exaggerating, but this time it's the literal truth."
"I'm kind of surprised we didn't come here first rather than Rosaville." "Had to do it that way. Somebody in the last place we were told us we should go to Rosaville, but we just stumbled on to this place. Don't you know anything about adventuring?"
"We also couldn't have come here much earlier at any rate, since somebody thoughtfully locked the doors."
"And now I see why. I'd have locked the doors and thrown away the key too." "I can feel that stare in my soul.."
"I think that thing is the least of our problems." "Those aren't problems, those are a good fight waiting to happen."
"And this is just unfair. Why don't I have a Staff of Thunder?" "You're lucky I let you have a sharp knife with dinner. You're not getting a powerful magical artifact that can call down lightning from the heavens." "Could I have one if we found it?" "Sure, I'd be okay with that."
"Looks like that might be what we're looking for.. enter from the north, you think?" "Seems pretty likely."
"What's that buzzing sou.. OH GOD, might nightmares have a face now!" "And things like this are why you don't get a Staff of Thunder."
"At least the place is pretty straightforward. The path led us right to here."
"Not that leading us here is a big help in getting that chest." "A hidden path.. and one on land, where you'd never think to look for it in a boat." "The path keeps going, so we can get it when we come back."
"Although the more bizarre the creatures I see are the less I want to come back. How does that thing even work?"
"I feel that way about a lot of things. How do you have a downstairs in a flooded cave?" "I'd say it would have to be constructed, but that seems like an actual island.. maybe the root system of those shrubs created a natural shelter and someone took advantage of it?"
"I guess that explanation fails considering that there's water down here as well. I give up." "Hmm. At least we found what we're looking for, although I think I'll stick with the Metal Babble Armor. The shield and helmet have been great, but this is just to get us into Zenithia."
"This place is a never-ending pit of unpleasant surprises. Can we leave yet?" "Treasure first, leaving second. Priorities Cristo, priorities!"
"I'd say.. right about here on the right..left as we were coming in."
"A lot of work for a small medal. Alright, let's see about that Staff.. but first, treasure hunting."End of Update Snapshot
Lamarck's equipment hasn't changed lately, but there's a reason for that. The Sword of Miracles is good enough that you're not likely to find a replacement any time soon and the Zenithian Shield and Helm are two of the best items in their respective classes. No new spells lately, but there's still a few empty slots to fill.
Alena is still at the top of the damage dealing race, and now with the Fire Claw we've got her absolute highest attack power weapon. There's another option for her that we could explore, but I'm satisfied for now. Unfortunately, that defense isn't going to get any better. It's a good thing she has all that HP.
Cristo is still working toward his last few spells, but you've already seen how fond he is of using the beat and defeat spells at inopportune times. It's not a spoiler to say that for pretty much every boss battle he's involved in Cristo will be using this spell a few times when you'd much prefer he be doing something useful.
I don't know how Brey survives most of the fights we're in given his defense, but you could say that his AI is the polar opposite of Cristo's. Rather than waste a bunch of time casting useless spells or chipping away with damage dealers he prefers to spend his time doing useful things like doubling people's attack power with Bikill.
Someday, Ragnar. Someday you'll get a replacement for that axe. In the meantime, it's interesting how high his HP is compared to previous DQ characters. In 1-3. 200+ HP was an end-game amount in those games, but we've still got a good it of game to go. He'll probably be into the 300s when it's all said and done.
Mara's the last person in line for equipment upgrades at the moment, but she's been an outstanding back up heal battery for the entire party. Usually I use her for healing out of battle to save MP on Cristo for tough spots. Healing can be pretty tedious, though.. sometimes I very much wish for an automation button for that process."
Taloon is starting to fall substantially behind in the HP department, and his attack power is just sad..I think he needs an upgrade, but getting a second Sword of Miracles would cut into the medals for the Metal Babble Helmet. I'm seriously considering whether that's actually a worthwhile purchase at this point versus having another couple of Swords and some Hats of Happiness.
Mara's still a one trick pony, but she's so good at her trick that it doesn't really matter. One of my favorite things in this game is that the two offensive casters are so different. Of the two sisters she's probably my favorite for gameplay reasons. She's welcome back on the team at any point.