Part 20
Talan: I wonder what time it is?
Talan: This is my first day as an Actor! I hope I'm not late!
Talan: I'll do that - thanks!
I bought two Mythil armors, since I'm going to need them soon.
interesting...
Let's go meet the other Actors.
Talan: Sorry I'm late... it won't happen again, I promise!
Sewell: I swear, I've seen more promising actors sleeping beneath the tables in the bar! If you think you're just going to be able to waltz in here like a martyred hero (by which I mean "late"), well... you're certainly mistaken!
Talan: I'm - I'm sorry! It won't happen again, Sir!
Sewell: Well... you're one of us now. I'll let you in on a little secret.
Sewell walks up to Talan.
Sewell: Ha! Ha! Hehehehehe! Welcome to the great profession of Actors, Talan! I'm sure you'll have a great time with us!
Talan: Me... me too, Sir.
Talan: Just as soon as my heart rate drops again...
Actor: My name's Lerle. Pleased to meet you.
Talan: Nice to meet you, Lerle.
Talan: We've met, actually...
Lerle: Well, I don't see you finding anything better, Em!
Auleen: Welcome to our little family, Talan!
Emily: I sort of liked that last one. What was wrong with it?
Sewell: You wrote it! Ha! Ha! Hehehehehe! We need something more epic, and that calls for an expedition to...
Sewell: I know just the man for the job, eh, Talan? Oh, and Lerle, you go with him. Keep him out of trouble. Ha! Ha! Hehe...
Lerle: We should outfit ourselves first, though. Auleen says the Ruins are haunted... but I don't know if I believe her. Anyway, the Theatre Ruins are to the south of the Paradise farmland, so that's where we're going!
Before that, let's take a look at Lerle.
Lerle is easily my favorite of the three party members you could get, mostly because he has a pretty fun gimmick. He's sort of like Gau from Final Fantasy 6, only you can control him after he starts acting (raging).
I toss Arden's old stuff on him, as well as the spare Mythril Armor.
Actor: And I'd get to work with Isabella! Woohoo!
Let's head off for the Ruins. You can see them to the lower left of Talan.
Excellent, a chance to show off Lerle's memorize ability!
As it said before, you have to make sure the enemy is encountered by itself before you can Memorize it. Killing all of it's buddies won't work.
Now Lerle can take on the form of a bandit!
Lerle not only gains new skills, but he becomes an entirely new character, with different stats and all. The downside to this is that Lerle can only change forms once during battle.
If we had become a farmer, than we would have had to go here.
Lerle memorized this guy as well, which was a lucky break for me...
...Since it has an incredibly strong attack.
If we were a defender, this is where we would end up.
After a bit of grinding, I stop back into Paradise to rest up and buy another Mythril armor.
Welcome to the Theatre Ruins.
Lerle: We think so. There's a stage inside, and all sorts of scripts, props, and sets. Maybe it was something else, first, but it was certainly a theatre at some point during its lifetime.
Lerle: seem to lock again, and the furniture is often in different places. Auleen thinks the place is haunted. Maybe we'll find out for sure today!
Talan: Uh... maybe.
There's some nice loot around here, like a new sword for Lerle and some new boots.
Talan: Where can we find the key?
Lerle: Auleen's ghosts must move it around. Last time I was here, I found the key in a room upstairs somewhere.
Talan: Why don't we just use the key you found? Why go through all this over again?
Lerle: Well... honestly, I lost it. It's probably wedged in a crack in the floorboards back home. Auleen thinks some spirits ghosted it away, or something, but I doubt it. There'll be one around here somewhere.
Off we go upstairs.
Some new enemies and new skills. Turn To Stone petrifies one enemy.
After looking around a bit, we finally find the key in the final room.
The chest disappears!
Talan: The treasure chest vanished!
The other chest held a helmet and shield that's inferior to my iron equipment.
The door opens.
Lerle: Let's go, Talan!
Lerle: Let's go grab it!
The two hop on stage
Lerle: Let's take it and get out of here!
Lerle starts to leave.
Boss time!
Life for strength sacrifices Talan in order to damage the enemy, and Sacrifice sacrifices Talan in order to revive your allies.
Lerle's Ghost form is incredibly fragile, but has some nice skills.
I probably would have been better off with Gogre, since GhostLerle actually died during this fight.
Lerle: Ah, you're fine. Let's go show everyone this great script we found!
The two leave.
Suddenly, the whole places begins to shake!
Talan: It sounded like... walls shifting, or something...
Lerle: Let's just get out of here. I'm convinced, all right, Auleen! It's haunted! Good for you!
Talan: She's not here, Lerle.
Lerle: ... ... ...
We're not quite done with this place, yet.
The various skeleton squads carry Sacrifice and Life for Strength. I didn't even bother with learning them.
Lerle's Skeleton form is fantastic. It's even more fragile than the Ghost form, but it's worth it for Death Comes For all, an attack that damages an entire group for massive damage.
Just look at that.
There's also a new room we need to explore.
Lerle: Let's grab a handful and get out of here.
Suddenly, some of the furniture starts moving!
Talan: I see them...
Time for another boss.
Blinding Flash will (surprise!) cause darkness.
This fight didn't last long.
Talan received Theatre Candles!
Lerle: Look!
The door leading to the candle room is gone!
With nothing left to do, we leave and head back to Paradise.
Sewell: ...no magic sword, though. Well, we can add one. Oooh, a forbidden romance, those are always good... clowns... ...don't like Act 3-2, too slow... maybe add a witch or two...
Talan: Yeah, here you go.
Auleen: Great! Here, you and Lerle can split the money I was going to have to spend on buying these from the caravans.
Talan received 600 credits!
Lerle: He's gonna be at this for awhile. Let's go grab a bite to eat, or something.