Part 18: Reverence and disco

Update 16: Reverence and disco




After escaping the unfathomable garden maze, our heroes returned to the confectionary village...



Music: Spray of Shock


Where were you? What have you been up to?

Hey, what's the big idea? What do you want with us?

Don't play innocent! Lady Melodia has been kidnapped! By a group of suspicious-looking strangers, from what we've heard. Must be the lot of you. Who else could it be?




Then who could it be? No one in Mira would even think of doing such a thing to Lady Melodia! Are you saying the Empire is behind this? The Lady is a personal friend of Emperor Geldoblame, as you well know.

I...er...

Get out of the way, Trill! You'll be in trouble, too, if you keep acting like that.





Baseless accusations and shoving over innocent girls for no real reason? Who's in charge of recruiting these clowns? Duke Calbren should be ashamed that this jerk is in his army.

Incidentally, Lyude is still wearing his Imperial Ambassador getup, which makes the guard look even more profoundly stupid (although I guess the party loses some IQ points for not taking advantage of that either...)


Get away from her!

Kalas, no! We should do as they say...for now...

Dang!






The guard leaves the room to stand guard at the entrance. Guards are really bad about leaving captives unsupervised, aren't they?

So now what? Any bright ideas?

I'm worried about the little Lady. The Empire must have kidnapped her.

Giacomo's men!

Their intent must be to force Mira to hand over the End Magnus in exchange for her safety.

The Empire must be running out of time, now that Diadem and Anuenue are taking measures against them.

Mira lacks the military strength needed to face the Empire.

That's true...so what should we do?




You're right, Legion. We can't just here and wait. We must find Lady Melodia and rescue her ourselves!



The game now grants us control of Kalas. Like on the Mindeer, we have to talk to everybody, then talk to Gibari to proceed.

Music: Bellflower


It's not at all difficult for us to break through this village. But that's not a wise course of action. If we try to force our way out of the village, we'll stir up their suspicions even more.

We'll have to get out of here to save Lady Melodia...but the problem is how to get out.

Isn't there any way to get out, and yet not harm the villagers?

Ha! They locked us up in a house made of candy.






Hey, I think I've got it! Think about it. This house is made of candy. We can just eat our way out. Just nibble a hole in the wall.

Then we can crawl through the hole without being noticed.

I see. Then we'll be able to get out without harming the villagers.

See? Great idea, huh?


Not only is there a town made of food, but the fact that it's made of food is an important part of the setting, which is ultimately used by the plot! I love this place.


So who's gonna make the hole?

What?

I'm just asking who's going to eat a huge clump of sugar.

Umm, that's-

I-I don't think I should...you know, sweets and girls don't...you know...they're not good for us girls...

Thank you, but I too must decline the offer. I was always told not to eat too many sweets when I was a child.

Likewise. I don't hate sweets, but I'm not into eating so much sugar.

You can count me out. Well, whoever thought up this idea should do it. Right? Right, Gibari?

...Fine! I'll eat it, just you watch!



I feel like I should point out that they don't actually need to EAT the wall to make a hole, they just need to pick it apart, but...eh...I think I'd rather just watch.





Hey, don't you wanna eat this part? Eat just a little, just the edge? Please? It's not bad for a wall.


I like comparing foods to “the wall from Baten Kaitos”. Your aunt's lasagna was pretty good, but it's no wall.


No thanks. You're almost done. Keep on going, Gibari.

Oh man, I'm feeling a little sick.


A few seconds later...





...Yep, Trill is definitely on my cool people list.

What's up, Trill? Did you come to break us out?

I...umm...I believe you guys!! Looks like the people who kidnapped Lady Melodia were heading to Picture Book Village. If you plan to go after them, use this route, Kalas. I'm still planning on making you some sweets, you know. So don't go dying on me!


Picture Book Village? That sounds like it's got excellent insanity potential. Let's go!




Music: Temple of Celestial Flowers




Well, I have no idea what I'm looking at, so that's a start.

He will not feed us as we would a starving dog. He would never stoop so low. Not he. Never! He is the judge that confronts and accuses us with his questions! Questions as sharp as a dagger. Prepare yourselves, all of you...The day of his awakening is drawing near! After all of these years, the legend of Cursed Malpercio will finally come to fruition!! He will walk our lands reborn! There is no running. There is no hiding. Not from his wrath...


All right, doomsaying aside, this is possibly my favorite town in all of Baten Kaitos. It's cool looking, the people are bizarre but more or less friendly, and...





So much color!


What we have to do here is simple; there's a fortune teller that we have to meet with. Unfortunately, the route there is blocked off.



We need to give this guy Mirage Weed for him to open the path.






Video: And open it he does


Or, for those of you who prefer screenshots...


























...I wish Mira was real so bad. Let's visit the fortune teller.





Just an empty and lonely darkness...

What do you mean, no Magnus...Couldn't be!

Every life form, every tangible object in this universe, has its own unique Magnus. He shouldn't be able to exist if he doesn't have one.

Then it must mean he is not of this world.

That's ridiculous! You're saying I'm a monster, or something? Ha! Spare me the dime-store fortunetelling!

Hmm. So you don't believe my words? Not that I blame you. How a face looks depends on the eyes of he who sees. How a voice sounds depends on the ears of she who hears. Someday you will know who you really are...


In other words, Kalas has no soul. This development surprises nobody.




Upon leaving, we see a conversation between some soldiers who say that they've witnessed some strangers with a girl in a hood going to the Shrine of Spirits. Sounds like as good a lead as any, so we'll go check that out in a bit, but first we'd better explore this town we've found ourselves in.





First of all, I talked to the Mirage Weed guy again and he flipped the page back so I can get to this building.










Nice self-insert, guys. One of these pens has a chance of causing sleep, while the other has a chance of curing it. I gave both of them to Lyude to keep the Red and Blue Pencil company until I get some new stuff for him (which was pretty much immediately, but I'm thinking about adding them back for the sheer novelty. Can't you see Lyude being a collector of fine writing instruments?).




only a few decades are given to you...what meaning do those years hold? That is up to you to find out. There is no truth in the world, yet the world is filled with truths. To find meaning in your life, you must first discover the meaninglessness of your life.




And humans are only distant travelers who hide their faces under masks. Everything is just a fantasy...It goes up and disappears, just like a short-lived tune...


I love the flavor text here.




Some say these spirits may even be voices of the dead. Maybe they're ghosts who still don't know they're dead...


I thought it was worth mentioning considering we have collectively decided that we, Legion, are a ghost.


One last NPC before we move on.








“Sincerity?” How the hell am I supposed to get that into a Quest Magnus? Ugh, forget her.





In keeping with how much I love Mira, may I present my favorite shopkeeper?




It has some nice equipment too. These horns are an excellent attack magnus for Lyude, and Light Flare level 3 is quite nice as well.








By the way, remember how I got a Small Fire from those green blobs in the Tower of DRUAGA? Well, it's grown into a Large Fire. I wonder what the next step could be?


All right, that's enough of Reverence, the Picture Book Village. Time to move on.





Music: Soul Spring of the Blue Ocean











You'll be back to your old self in no time.


Yeah, yeah, whatever.


Nekton is a simple dungeon. There's one split in the path, and that's the only thing it throws at you. I assume the game is giving us a break after how convoluted the last one was.







All of the enemies here are heavily light-based, making Lyude (and, to a lesser extent, Gibari and Kalas) potentially devastating. These avian creatures aren't all that dangerous; they only boost their defense at low enough HP that you should be able to kill them on the next turn anyway, and Fall Strike isn't all that powerful.




The bat palette swaps continue. Hellish Echo is surprisingly painful and inflicts headache does nothing else worth noting.




And we have revenge of the boozer turtles. They are able to freeze my characters. Freeze is basically a longer term version of paralysis and gets my vote as the most annoying status effect. The good news is Freeze can be dispelled when that character gets hit by a fire attack. The bad news is no enemies are ever actually going to do that to you, so it mostly works against you.


Commence treasure report.



















That is some quality magnus we've found! And most of it's grindable. I spent a while collecting some nice new equipment for everyone, particularly some of those lovely horn-guns for Lyude.




I also got a smiling picture of Kalas. So far it's the only one besides Savyna's that I've managed to find.


With the loot report finished and nothing else of note to say about the dungeon, let's move on to the boss fight.



Video: Hatred





I need to talk to the Lady in private. That's why we're here. Taking her back to the Goldoba would cause a ruckus. We're not declaring war on Mira, after all.

I say we hurry up and trade the kid, grab what we're here for, and leave. I don't know why, but this whole nation makes my stomach churn.


Yet another reason to like Mira: Ayme doesn't.


That I agree with. Yet our orders are to avoid direct conflict. The Lady is a friend of our Emperor, after all.

Oh boy.

So, dear Lady, is there anything you know that may be relevant? If not a shining Magnus, perhaps an old family treasure or two? Anything may help.

As I have told you countless times, I have no idea of what you're talking about. Are you sure this mystical magnus of yours is truly in our lands? Even if it is, I know nothing of it. If such a thing were to exist, my grandfather, Duke Calbren, may know of it...

I had hoped to learn something from you beforehand...But no matter. We'll talk with the Duke as planned, and guarantee your safety in exchange for his cooperation.


I'm still not really clear on why the Empire is taking Melodia hostage. If she's friends with the Emperor (oh boy), then why couldn't he go for diplomacy like he did in Anuenue? I understand that Diadem is teaming up with Anuenue's five or so soldiers to cause trouble, but it still seems a bit odd to me. Then again, there wouldn't be much drama if we got here and met Calbren and he just told us that he'd given it away because his granddaughter said Geldoblame was cool.


Are you sure it's here? Even Corellia back in Anuenue hadn't heard of the End Magnus. What makes you think Calbren knows?

Because he does. It is the Ducal family's duty to protect this island's End Magnus.




Ah...Kalas, it's you again.


Team Legion rushes onto the scene with their weapons drawn, all ready to battle!


Ha! You really know how to make an entrance. I'd just about had it with all this babysitting. Time for some action!

Yes, how very thoughtful of you all to show up. And look! Today we have a surprise appearance by Sir Lyude-backstabber extraordinaire, down with the enemy after throwing away his own country!

How dare you!

Kalas, you little maggot. No fooling around today. We're running out of time. I won't kill you, though. There's a few things I need to ask you. But believe me, this is going to hurt.

Enough talk! It's payback time!


Okay, so the battle against the Giacomo trio is-






?


Shut up, missy! Go sit in the corner!




Wow, young women seem to get knocked over a lot in this update.


The Tree Spirits! Your hatred is stirring them up! The boundary between dimensions is tearing apart!





It looks like we've really...cocked things up.


Now that's ugly!

Folon, Ayme! Let us leave our friends to this mess.

Humph...so sorry I have to bid you farewell.

Such a pity, really. Consider yourselves lucky.





WUSSIES!


Melodia, stand back!


Stay sharp. This isn't gonna be a cakewalk.





Savyna lied. This fight is a cakewalk. Hell, it's easier than the fight against Savyna herself, in my opinion.






The boss has an immense darkness weakness. I am quite pleased that Demons of Darkness popped up. Also, it only has around 3000 HP, so there goes a third of it's health. The offset is that it's light resistant, so Xelha is once again subpar for a boss fight in/around Mira.




The boss can paralyze, which is hardly new. However, it is the first boss that is intelligent about attacking the character that's paralyzed so they can't defend. It can also use an HP drain attack (and will use that on the paralyzed person to maximize both damage and HP recovery), but it doesn't do that until it's HP has fallen quite low.

That sounds dangerous or annoying, I'm sure. The thing is, this boss is remarkably weak. It did something like 170 damage to Gibari when he couldn't defend (I think with the HP drain it's like 225 tops). That's just not enough for the boss to be a credible threat.



It also uses this ability to boost it's defense, but even that can't save it from a massive weakness and low HP total.

A few turns later, and...Melodia steps in front to take things into her own hands...




No! Get away from it!




The hatred...it's fading away!

Everything will be all right. Go back home now, okay? This is no place for you to be...Not yet...Just wait a little longer. Please?















…








That WORKED?!







I don't understand.



That was quite a spectacle...Duke Calbren's strong will definitely runs in the family!

...How did you do that?






Yes, I am fine. These travelers rescued me.

Oh, thank God! It was a good thing you were here to protect the Lady. You have our heartfelt thanks. Lady Melodia, the Duke is terribly worried. We should return immediately. No time for details. We can discuss this fully at the Manor.

Let us go, then. Thank you very much, all of you. Please come to my Grandfather's Manor. You will be most welcome.


Melodia leaves in the care of the guards, and we are alone once again.






Looks like it. But you heard what Giacomo said. The Duke himself might no a thing or two.

Well, it's a good thing we have one of the End Magnus with us. We could simply show him, and see if he recognizes it.

Kalas pulls out a bag and starts sorting through it...

Yeah. That should convince him that something about to happen...Hey, what's wrong, kid? What are you doing?




Oh, is that all? For a second I thought



















Gone? What do you mean, gone? Not our End Magnus, no way! Speak up!




Don't give me that! A Magnus doesn't just get up and walk away, you know?

Forgive me for asking, but did you do a thorough search? Are you sure it's missing?

Yeah, inside and out. It's gone...just...gone. What, you don't believe me? See for yourself!

But it can't be! It was there when we set out for Mira.

Could we have dropped it somewhere?

Someone would've noticed with the shining and all that.






-

Decision Time!



Do we know where the End Magnus is?

> Yes

> No




Which TWO party members should I take...

Kalas
Xelha
Gibari
Lyude
Savyna


in addition to



The Great MizutiHELL YEAH



-

Footnote