Part 3: Surprising Competence
Theo's ruminations over the body are interrupted by a child screaming at him. Luckily for him, this isn't an accusation of paternity.
Instead, we've got the (presumed) last survivor of the Collin Clan demanding an explanation from us. I've got to say, this doesn't seem like the best survival strategy.
Theo's smooth enough to talk him down by actually saying "It was like this when I got here." This seems perfectly rational to a child, so it works.
The fact that he was around to hear Mute's father's last words and promises to help probably strengthens his argument.
How an experienced adventurer like Theo didn't spot this right off the bat is beyond me.
The cave is about all of two rooms long and is now haunted. Mute's dad went from corpse to ghost in record time.
There's no "I never told him I loved him" or anything like that going on around here. Instead...
You are the only survivor on whom we can depend. It will be tough being alone, but be strong my son!"
As soon as the ghost vanishes, an unexpected and unwelcome guest replaces it.
The demon tries to give us a speech about how we've screwed the pooch by leading him to the shard but it kind of falls flat considering that Theo a.) Didn't know about the existence of the Shard. b.) Had no idea it was behind the waterfall and c.) Didn't know that the demon was after it.
I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure this is tied into the whole empty casket and recently released evil. The demon leaves behind some glowing sand. It's kind of curious that the Demon King who slaughtered an entire clan of mages didn't finish the job and kill Theo in the bargain but..
It'd have been an interesting interplay of gameplay and story if the Demon did kill you and send you back to the King because of that recall spell.
At any rate, Mute's afire with determination and wants to go out and kick some demon ass. Hmm. Now that I think about it, the first person to use Mute's name is his father's ghost. I don't think he ever says it himself.
Theo's more than glad to have the help. Mute is our second party member, and as you'd expect from a member of the Collin Clan he's a mage and will be a major source of damage.
For a kid named Mute, he seems to like monologuing an awful lot. He's acting like the demon is still here to hear him.
This discomfits Theo enough that he'd rather go bury savagely mutilated bodies. Mute.. might not be entirely there.
Mute joins us at level 1, and already has more MP than Theo. Having more than one party member opens up multiple enemy battles. The fact that we've got a new enemy, the Frog, isn't exactly related.
Mute's specialty seems to be offensive magic, which is potentially terrifying in a disturbed child who already shows a propensity for monologues.
He's actually got a higher damage output than Theo at the moment, and enough MP to keep going for a while.
He's also got an instant death spell that actually works on enemies, although it's not particularly more useful than fire at the moment.
Back at home, things have gone from bad to worse. Somehow the old man has managed to lose the Sword of Hope again. Well, at least this time he didn't pull the sword out himself.
Astonishingly enough, the King actually seems to have a lid on the situation for the moment. We just have to get the sword back quickly.
Theo's got this.
It's not like he hasn't retrieved the sword before.
I think Theo's trying to give his dad a heart attack at this point by springing the news about the demon on him so bluntly.
Mute.. doesn't seem to have much of a role in the plot at this point. He occasionally pipes up to remind us he exists, though, which is a lot better than some games would treat him.
For someone who's so slow on the uptake about some things, Theo's actually got a pretty good idea here. It'd really suck if there were two unrelated villains wrecking Riccar.
Luckily we don't have to go on some bizarre fetch quest for the key now that the King is in charge. He's got people for that kind of thing. Next time: We'll explore the Great Desert.