Part 13

Update 13




A quick trip back to town to heal and restock nets us a couple of levels just getting back to the A tunnel and Rooks two more of his Call Spells. The encounter rate in here is absolutely insane, and the experience just piles up.



"Hey, I remember these? Darwin, do you remember?"

"Umm…"

"Care to let the rest of us in on it?"

"You know, when you watched me and Salah fight one and then popped up out of the bushes after all the work was done?"

"Still sore about that?"

"Not really, but I couldn't pass up the chance to bust your chops a bit."



"Looks a bit undersized for me… here you go, to show that there's no hard feelings."

"And selling my other armor means more money for the honey pot?"

"That never entered my mind, but it sounds like a wonderful idea."



"Wait, are those things using magic? Who taught them magic?"

"Why are you looking at me when you ask those questions? I have no idea!"

"A likely story, considering all of the other shenanigans your family has been up to."

"I wish I could defend you, but he does have a point."



"Dibs."

"You say that like we can't just magically travel back to the inn at any time and sleep in actual beds."

"It was partially for old times sake, but if you're not going to argue about it…"



Wandering through the tunnels turns up a Gold Flask and some Medicine, as well as getting Rooks another level and his final spell. The level cap in this game is 60, but we're actually approaching end game levels now. Any other levels are just going to add stats and some buffer HP.



"Not one hundred percent about this, but do bees normally live underground?"

"Not normally, but they're also not usually scaled to cyclops size."



"Ha! Finally, something for me!"

"Not counting the flasks, the sleeping bags, and all the honey?"

"Okay, finally something that lasts for more than a single use for me!"

"I guess that's slightly more accurate…"



"Seems like some of these sword masters have been down here a bit longer than others."

"Either that or two of them found something to ea… you know what, let's go with your idea."



"And I'll be taking that."

"Not even going to offer it to Teefa?"

"Oh, it looks a bit big for me… and besides, he's the one fighting hand to hand more often."

"I think his hands are a bit girlier than you think, but I take your point."

"Is there something you're trying to say?"

"I think that I'm just in an edgy…"



"Heh, heh, heh… so, it's you."

"Holy… what happened to your eyes? Have you lost your damn mind?"




"I think that's a 'yes.'"

"Not that he was a frequent visitor to sanity-town even on the best of days."

"You're not kidding. In that case, I'll get us started."



By this time the strategy is pretty well established. Debuff with the human characters, buff with the spirits, and just hammer them with physical attacks. At this point Rooks and Darwin hit like a pair of trucks.



"Hey! What is with you guys and attacking my spirits? Pick on someone who's… equally corporeal or something."

"Thanks Rooks… but I'm still out after this one spell."

"Fair enough."




"Ha! Ha! Ha! Is that the best you can do?"

"C'mon Teefa, I know you can do better than that. Why go with 10 when you can go with 11?"




"GOTCHA!"

"And this is why we never listen to the enemy's taunts. What is this, amateur hour?"

"The hour's up. I'm finishing this."




"Ah hah hah hah!"

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

"It has no effect… I'm the one who holds the power!"



"Wow. I didn't want to say this, but I think you just got uglier."

"Oh? The only people who are ugly are those who don't have POWER!"




"HAH! Like that!"

"Let's… not let him keep doing that…"

"THEN YOU SHOULD STOMP HIM HARDER."



"Is that hard enough?"

"Rooks, you're starting to slip a bit in my estimation."

"Seriously, Darwin what the hell? Can you not show me up here?"

"I'll try to remember that."



"This goes a long way toward making up for it."

"So if you're ever upset, just get you something shiny. Nice to know."



"What, the sword? No, it's awesome. But… when a man perishes at the hand of another man, what is there to do?"

"Obviously, go through his possessions and see if he has anything you can use."

"Not to interrupt, but aren't those…stairs?"



"Huh, guess this actually does connect the castle to the tower. Unfortunately, I'm short on honey and have a wad of gold burning a hole in my pocket."

"I'm afraid of where this is going."

"Too late! HOME!"



Before going on to the next update, just as a note we've actually maxed out our gold at this point. Turns out that we were only about 5,000 away from maxing it out at the beginning of Chapter 5. Kind of ludicrous considering just how much items cost at the end game.

Character Update



The Spirit Sword pushes Rooks to having an untouchable attack power, and the Grand Shield brings him to top tier defense. This shot might just be post-honey binge, but it's been a couple weeks since I played through this portion. At this point Teefa and Darwin only have one piece of store-bought equipment, so all that money has to have gone somewhere.




And thus, the spirits. Overall this seems to confirm that spirit stats are based on level, rather than on Rooks individual stats. Dao is particularly relevant, since his stats shouldn't be that uniform if they were using Rooks stats in the calculations. Next update: the final climb up the tower.