Part 10: Axe Around

Update 10: Axe Around

Welcome back. Donnel has just beaten a giant monkey until it teleported away, and now we’re going to revel in our victory.



I know exactly who we should tell first.



The weird ghost.



You didn’t have to do that boss fight, Sharron.





Leo’s got some new items in. He’ll do this every once in a while, after dungeons are completed.



The real winner here is the Windsword. I beat the game with this my first time through, I really like it. There’s better weapons, but eh.



Interestingly, the description of the Lance gives us our first mention of the unfortunately named “Sechs Empire”.



I wanted to Forge a tool, but it turns out I forgot how worthless Scrap Iron was for what I wanted. I mean, it does say “not very useful”, so I guess I should have figured that out. So the rest of the day is going to be a quest to get non-shitty metal.

Anyway let’s go brag to everyone about beating up a demon.




: When I heard you fought a Greater Daemon in that cave, I thought I was going to have a heart attack!







What the hell does that even mean.



: Please, give a little more thought to your safety before doing something like that!

While I’m here, I realized I forgot to show off Edward’s stock. Whoops.



These, uh, lips, are what we need to finally remove that Seal. I’m buying one of these.



Not only does Edward sell status cures, he’s got some stuff to advance our crops as well. This is good if you’re impatient.



And this is good if you want more money from your farm. Higher level crops are crucial to actually getting any decent funds from farming, but there are a few ways to do that. This is one of them.



I don’t really see the point of this one when the Antidote Herb is so much cheaper.



This is just my favorite item description in the game.



Anyway I sold a bunch of the shit we got in the cave. We can’t do anything with those crafting materials for quite a while.



Alright, let’s go reading. This is the educational segment of the LP.



...I think this is the wrong section of the Library.



Oh, these sound much more exciting.



It’s hidden under a high pile of ancient ice. Any girl that is proposed to with this stone is rumored to live happily for ever (sic)

Rune Factory Dating Tip #1: Try to get dates by digging rocks out of the snow.



Maybe this one will be more exciting.



This stone can’t be told apart from a normal stone, making it very dangerous.



Okay, enough rocks, let’s get to dragons.



...Terrable and Fiersome?





Alright, that’s enough reading for the day.



I need to go unwind with the best character.





: Ha ha! Just kidding!




What the fuck is the “elf world”



I have questions, Tabatha.



: I just can’t believe you. I mean, you’re not exactly made of muscle, are you?




Tabatha you need to stop writing Tolkein fanfic.



I think we’ve talked to Tabatha enough for a while.



Maybe Godwin can help us out.






Why was that a question?




: Okay, here’s the pass. Take care entering the cave.



This should be handy. I mean, it’s mandatory for progress, but even disregarding that, handy.

: The monsters in Toros Cave are said to be stronger than in Carmite Cave. Watch yourself.

Might as well go take a look.



Dungeon #2 is Toros Cave. You have to have defeated Greater Daemon and plowed 50 squares in Carmite to get this pass from Godwin.



We’ll want some fall seeds before we head in here. Not now, though, I’m on a mission. A mission for fishin’.



Back to our favorite spot. Time to fish until the Hot Springs open.



I was having bad luck fishing, so I had to make an offering to the creepy woman.



It did not improve my luck. But I did get a second boot…



Maybe this wizard can enchant this for us and give us Willpower+2 or something.






Thanks for the insightful commentary, Jean.







Sadly Donnel cannot drink away the memories of Jean watching him bathe today. The Pub isn’t open on Mondays.

But it’s time to go explore Toros Cave a little.



Oh, surprise, it’s Mist.









: I see…

: Anyway, Donnel. Did you know that seasons don’t change inside caves?




Oh finally, a tutorial I can skip.

: You knew that? I figured you for a sharp one, Donnel. It looks like I was right! Good luck growing those crops!

: That’s good to hear.

: Okay, I’d better get back home. See you later!




She does that “Walk out, Walk in” thing again.



That sounds stupid.

: Really?


: I’d love to see what those look like! Anyway, just thought I’d let you know. Okay, see you!




So, Toros Cave opens pretty much right into a couple fields. Also a couple scattered poison tiles.



Toros Cave is also absolutely chock-full of Wood. This is good. But we cannot destroy those stumps yet. This is bad. That’s why I’m looking for some ore in here.



Unfortunately there is no ore here. Only Satans. The Satans (They’re called Demons) have long reach with their spears, and can paralyze Donnel. They still go down in two combos.



Oh?




...I thought we sent him back to the “First Forest”. I’m starting to think this is another Mist lie.



Destroying their spawner nabbed me an additional level. Greater Daemon gave a hell of a lot of EXP.



Here’s the real bounty.



...this was all scrap iron. At least we got a mining level.



And NOW the motherlode appears.



This is the proverbial “good shit”.




I am again distracted by logs.



I mean, it paid off.




The northeast exit to this room reveals the actual pallet for this dungeon, lots of snow.



Also, uh.



Er.



Oh god it multiplied



It’s just...rolling at me.



...Let’s never speak of this again. (those are called “Reenos” and they are strange apple beasts. I think they only show up here.)




Oh no, Slimes!




The slimes just kinda...slowly slide at you. They can inflict status conditions.



They can also extend their goopy appendages for better range.




Even with the Spawner gone, though, this gate is still shut tight. Huh. Gonna need to find a way around that.



So I backtracked to the first room and took the exit west of the Demon spawner this time.



There was another one of those in here, but they aren’t really a big deal. So far these enemies have been underwhelming, nothing Bee-level in this place.



Here’s another new gimmick, passages blocked off by rocks. No big deal, just gotta smash ‘em with the Hammer.



And oh, what’s this?




The proverbial “even better shit”. This is good for third tier upgrades. I proceeded to mine every rock in the room and got myself a pretty good load of both Iron and Copper.



That’s enough for now, though, it’s getting late.






Donnel then loitered outside the Smith for 3 hours until it opened.



I proceeded to accidentally hit Leo with a Hammer. He did not drop any ore.






We are in dire need of some more Wood.



Really the iron and cash aren’t hard to come by here, the most annoying thing is being locked out of the Axe for two days while it’s being upgraded. This is worst with the watering can, because if you forget and mistime it, you could lose an entire field of crops.







I sold Satan’s Horn to Leo. Maybe he’ll have something better to do with it.



And, just because we have nothing else in the Shield slot and it’s free stats, I bought one of these.



A flat +3 defense ain’t too shabby.



Soon we will have a better axe. And more wood. And monster pals.

Some of that might happen next update. We’ll see.

(Name suggestions open for Demons, Reenos, and Slimes)