Part 4: oh god spiders

Update 4: oh god spiders

Music: Purging Light of the Sun





You're still acting a little strange. I'll tell you again, just in case. Remember, Legion. The Guardian Spirit's power in battle...depends on its relationship with the one it's guarding. I'm talking about trust, here. If it's lost...in other words, if I no longer trust your advice...Your powers won't be as effective in battle. I do trust you, and find your advice helpful, but this won't work unless our trust is mutual. Okay? When you have advice for me, think about how it might affect our bond. A healthy bond will help us fight our enemies in the long run. You see what I'm saying right?



That's the spirit! Let's get going, Legion!

So we've touched on it a bit already, but this is where Kalas actually addresses that your choices affect his opinion of you, which affects luck in battle. It seems that he doesn't specifically tie it to the superattacks, though...

At any rate, we better get to that giant building!

Video: I hate Palolo III and you should, too





Balls. I guess we won't be getting in this way...

Well, I didn't expect them to usher us through the front door...What should we do? Stirring things up with a fight wouldn't be too wise, I suppose...

Stop!

A woman and a little kid run onto the scene...



Catch me if you can!

One of the guards gets upset by the disturbance and throws a grenade at the group.



And the kid explodes, never to be seen again!







...Whaddya mean, you watched the video and that's not what happens? Stop crushing my dreams!



So anyway, the kid vanishes in a puff of smoke to establish that he's a master thief or something.



You saw him too, didn't you? He's been sneaking into houses all over the city. That boy is up to no good, I tell you. I heard he even snuck into the Lord's Mansion the other day. Is there no end to his mischief? Umm, if I see him again, I'll be sure to catch him and teach him a lesson!

Did he really sneak into the Lord's Mansion? How did he do that?

Hm, how should I know? There could be a hidden entrance somewhere, or something. I'm surprised he didn't get caught by the Imperial soldiers.



Do we have to? I'd much rather just murder some Imperial soldiers. C'mon, you know we'll probably just end up fighting them anyway, why do we have to be sneaky?



This is the screen that connects the starting area with the Lord's Manor. I think it's pretty neat looking, so I took a picture. But more importantly...





I love greythornes!



Time to play follow the brat.





What are you doing here, man? You're trespassing on my turf – Palolo III, Master of Shadows!

Perfect timing. I've been looking for you.

Really? Do you wanna be one of my henchmen?

No, not exactly. I need to get into the Lord's Mansion. I heard you snuck in the other day...Could you tell me how you did it?

So you wanna visit the Lord's Mansion, huh? I could show you how, but why on earth do you wanna get in there?

Kalas, you act so cold and distant, but...



We all know the real reason!

Let me guess...you're in love.



I regret nothing!

Ha ha! Okay, no problem. I'll show ya how I did it. Ya know, those kind of stories always make me a little misty eyed. But it's gonna cost you.

No offense, but I'm in a hurry, so...You have to tell me now.

Hold your horses, business is business. Secrets can only be told in return for loot. That's the bottom line. You bring me the loot, I'll tell you the secret.

Loot?

That's right, a Rainbow Spider's Web. I'm collecting them. Bring me one, and I'll tell you the secret.

Huh? A spider web? You call that loot?

Yup, they're really rare, ya know. I'm probably the only one who has four of them! Pretty cool, huh?

No, that is not cool, and you are not cool for sending me on a fetch quest to get another one.



Kalas, I do believe we agree entirely on something!

Any idea where I'd find such a web?

That's what I like to hear! Okay, let me think...They're pretty rare, but sometimes I can find one in the bushes, or on a riverbank...Only sometimes, though. Try lookin' around the river, outside the city...You'll find one if you're lucky.

I'm I'm lucky, huh? I guess I don't have a choice...Let's get this over with.

I'll be in my hideout. If you find the web, take it there. I'll tell the boys you'll be comin'. Well, good luck, man!

He disappears in yet another flash of smoke...without telling us where his hideout is.

I hate Palolo III so much. Whoever this kid's parents are, they ought to be massively ashamed of themselves.

At any rate, let's see if anything has changed in Nunki Valley.







Video: ARACHNID!!! (watch this video, it's awesome)

Music: Glowing Clouds

The Nunkirantula is...not difficult exactly, but it can be a kind of tense battle because you've only got one character and the boss is actually pretty powerful considering that. If you don't use your healing Magnus wisely, there's a decent chance this guy can kill you.

He also has a rather irritating gimmick...





He can boost his defense. This doesn't work quite like you would expect – as far as I can tell, it doesn't directly decrease the damage your attacks do – instead, it increases the frequency at which the boss defends against your attacks. So it kind of but not quite boils down to the same thing.

The good news is this only seems to last for one turn, so you can use a weak attack or heal when he does this, then use your powerful attacks on it when it is attacking you.

Unfortunately, the boss has another annoying feature. Perhaps it's just coincidental because of my Kalas' level (still 3), but the Nunkirantula occasionally attacks twice in a row. Between that and the fact that it's fairly strong to begin with, Kalas has to be pretty careful if he wants to survive.



The boss has 350 HP. Based on the picture, that makes it look like it should only take a couple of rounds, but bear in mind this attack string had Kalas' Blue Storm finisher, so this is above average damage output on the spider's non-defending turn.



Also, I don't believe I've mentioned this evil little feature of combat. The deck only contains so many cards – at class 2, Kalas' deck has 25 cards. Well, those cards get sent to your hand and used. And once the deck has 0 cards left in it, the character needs to spend their next turns Shuffling The Deck.

Thankfully, enemies have to do it, too, but it's still really annoying, especially if it happens to your whole party at once (which is surprisingly uncommon, but still).



Hey, what's that green and purple card? I don't recall having that in my deck.













So every now and then, based on Kalas and Legion's bond, one of your cards may get replaced with a Guardian Spirit attack. This only happens when playing the last card in your chain of attacks (Kalas can play three cards, so it will only ever happen on his third card), and you can choose to play it or not. These attacks are EXTREMELY powerful. The bad news is, there are six different ones, one for each element, and the one that you get is random, and may not always sync up with whatever element you want it to be (for example, you might get Shining Seraph against a light-based boss).

Lingering Time is probably my favorite one, but they're all kinda neat. In the video battle, I managed to get two in a row against the boss. Seriously go watch it if you haven't yet.



The spider's body shatters when you kill it. I think that's sorta cool. You don't get to see it in the video, but it's okay because it's replaced by something cooler.



And for our troubles, we get a new magic card, a new sword, and a picture of a spider!



Let's go tell Palolo the good news!


















...Actually, let's do some putzing around Pherkad first, next time on Let's Play BK:EW&tLO!

–

Decision Time!





...okay, those are pretty much the same thing and are pretty much the same as one we did this update.


Mysterious female who we will call Stella: “Will you help me get the shiny thing?”



->Yes

->No

---

I originally planned to take this update a little farther, but then I remembered that there's actually a lot of stuff to do in Pherkad and I don't want to cross the point of no return just yet. So look forward to talking to NPCs and the beginning of game-spanning sidequest #2!