Part 23

I forgot to mention, but if you had AG7 with you, than during the attack on Paradise, it'll try to stop the Agency guards from entering Paradise. But it quickly becomes disabled and the Agency guards pass by it unopposed.

--------------------------------


Emily and Talan wash up on a nearby beach.



Emily: Talan, are you all right?

Talan: *cough* ... I think I swallowed the entire river. But I guess that's better than... well, vice versa...




In the distance, Paradise continues to burn...

Emily: Do you still have it?

Talan: The Package? Yeah, I've got it.

Emily: Why would the Agency DO something like that? We had never done anything to them!

Talan: ... ... ...



Talan: I don't think I could move another inch if my life depended on it!









Talan: What?

Emily: Anything to take my mind off... that. What about those vidcasts you're always talking about?

Talan: Flashbang? Well, sure... if you think it would help...

Emily: What was the main character's name? He had a weird name, didn't he?



Emily (smiling): ... ... ...

Talan: Anyway...



Talan: He was the best fighter, the best thinker... Basically, he was the best detective that the force had ever had. Whenever a mystery needed to be solved, they called Max. And although he was a little too fond of his wine and his women... He always answered the call and caught the criminals before it was too late.



Emily: How come, Talan?

Talan: I don't know... I guess I just liked how Max always had the answers - he was never scared, and he never doubted his abilities. Week after week, Max Powertrain proved that the good guys always win in the end... That's an assurance that wasn't very easy to come by, living in Lashe City.

Talan: But Paradise, on the other hand - you can't imagine the difference! The fresh air, the people -

Emily: ... ... ...



Talan: Sorry... I'm sure... I'm sure your father made it out...

Emily: Tell me more about Max Powertrain, Talan. Please? Just keep talking... I need something else to think about...





Talan: This thug had broken out of prison and robbed an armory with the sole purpose of getting revenge on Max. Max managed to shoot him dead - but the thug had already pulled the pin on an antique flash grenade, which exploded.





Talan: He went from being the best at everything to little more than a memory. Soon, even his friends on the force...

Talan: ... forgot him.

Emily: That's terrible! What happened then?







Emily: I feel like I've known you forever. I can't imagine having to face this without you.

Emily: I'm not making sense. Goodnight, Talan.

Talan: Goodnight, Emily.



Later than night...




After a few seconds, Emily turns around.

Emily: ... ... ...

Emily opens her eyes.

Emily: You're still awake? Haven't you been able to sleep?

Talan: I'm fine... I was just... thinking.

Emily: About what?

Talan: zzz...zzz...



Talan: zzz...zzz...zzz





Talan: Her home was just destroyed, her father and all her friends were probably killed. She's a fugitive now, just like me. She just wouldn't understand how sleeping here beside her, under the stars, with the waves crashing on the beach...

Talan: ...could make me so happy.







The next day.






It's good to see at least the Magical Pot of Water is still around




Every so often, the sand will obscure the screen for about a second. It's a minor annoyance at worst.

Emily: ... ... ...

Talan: I mean it!

Emily: This cave is full of sand, and the breeze from the river blows through here almost constantly. It makes it hard to see the path sometimes.

Emily: You're welcome.






We now have Emily in the party. Her gimmick in battle is to use the radio, and different tapes will have different effects. Unfortunately, you cannot switch tapes in battle. Personally, I just keep it on Mellow Mix and ignore the other tapes.

Also, different tapes will also play different music during battle, which is another reason why I don't really like it, since I love the default battle theme.

For those curious, here are the various songs the radio will play, converted to MP3.

Workout tape
Mellow Mix
Greatest Hits


I upgrade her equipment, and then move on.






We can buy some weapons and items from this droid, but it carries nothing that I need. The Steel Armor it carries would have been useful if I hadn't bought the Mythril Armor before Paradise fell, though.




I might as well talk about how Walls work in this game.

You might have seen me absorb a few Wall skills earlier in the LP. When you use one, it summons a wall of that element (for example, Wall of Metal will bring up... a wall of metal) ...and then nothing. They don't reduce damage (to my knowledge) and just sit there. However, if you have Inscribe, you can use it on whatever wall you made.

Unfortunately, I forgot to have Talan learn a wall skill permanently, so I can't demonstrate them, and to be honest, it just isn't worth the effort. From what little I can remember, inscribing doesn't do anything either, except waste your SP. Maybe someone in the thread can explain them better than I can. If I had to guess, it might be something related to the Summon skills (Which, unfortunately, we will never get)

Turns out I'm wrong!

.


the cave also has hidden pits that we can fall through. Usually worth doing since they're usually filled with treasure.


Hey, I remember you!


To get through this cave, we need to find three planks of wood so we can cross these gaps.


Two of them are found in holes in the sand.




New skills are becoming more difficult to find, now...


The last plank is to the north of the gaps.


There are a few Alchemy items we can get from chests and monster drops, but they're useless to us since we have no one that can use them.


With the gaps closed off, we can safely cross.


...and fall down yet another hole.


As we try to leave the hole, something happens!


Boss time!


And he has a wall skill!

...too bad I didn't bother learning Inscribe!




The Burrower is nothing special. Just keep hitting him and he'll eventually fall.


He does hit pretty hard, though.




Emily actually died during battle, and I used one of my Bottles of Health.


Bye, Burrower.


We find this just before we leave.




New area, new monsters.


Also inferior equipment compared to what we have already.


Oh, hey, it's Lerle!



Emily: Lerle, I'm so glad to see you're safe!

Talan: We should keep moving - those Agency Guards will be after us once they've had time to regroup.

Lerle: Let's find a safe place so we can do some regrouping of our own. Then we'll deal out swift justice on the Agency!







A few of the other monsters in the area. They don't carry anything we don't already have.





Emily: I think it's coming from a chimney. There must be a house at the top of that rise!

Lerle: We should investigate the source of that smoke. We don't need anymore enemies behind us.

Talan: I'd rather have enemies behind us than in front of us.

Emily: Whoever it is... they might be friendly.