Part 10: The Razer and the Worm

When we left off, we (actually just Guillo) beat up another monster and now we're heading back home. I wonder how everyone's -





Video: Valara has a new toy

Music: The Dead-End Creatures


Where were you, ghost boy? You missed the part where I seized the village.

How did you know-

I don't need to know. They told me to come here, so I did. But that's the least of your concerns. I told you, kid...If you want to stay alive, you need to keep a low profile. So what are you doing in the spotlight?!





Music: ICONOCLASM

What is that?! Some kind of weapon?

This is the birthchild of imperial progress – a “machina arma”. I've never actually used one before, which is why you're going to help me put it through the ropes!





So we're thrown right into another boss battle with Valara and her scorpion tank, the Machina Arma Razer. You know how some enemies in games have really low HP but crazy good defenses? This is one of those battles.





As you can see, even with a weapon equipped Sagi struggles to break double digit damage. Guillo can maybe manage 15 or so with a finisher. I've seen Milly do 0 damage before with her weaker attacks, although she can manage okay damage with a weapon equipped.







Razer's offense is kinda nasty (Arma Cannon deals 250-300 damage) but it's still perfectly manageable, especially since she can only hit one party member at a time. Honestly, the main hurdle for this fight is not freaking out over how low your damage output it.


Hey, this is a good time for me to bring up an old gameplay mechanic!





Relay Combo!!





Basically, Relay Combos allow you to have two or even all three characters string their individual combos into one big combo. This can be more potent than having the characters attack individually, and nets you huge amounts of TP for classing up at the Bethel as well.

I bring this up because I pulled off a spectacular one against Valara. All three characters combined the longest possible combos they could, making for a fifteen card combo between all of them.





Goddamn right. Not even the Razer can shrug that off, I bet!





There's plenty of hurt to go around!








Things look pretty bad for our heroes...but then!







Wh-what the hell?!


Seconded.


That's...one of Malpercio's afterlings! Nobody said anything about this!





Oh, so these monsters are the afterlings everybody's so excited about.

Also, Levinsnake's Rise is a special attack for Guillo. I believe it's the first second level attack I've gotten, meaning Guillo can now use a level one special attack and then follow it up with this (so if can use Firewheel - > Levinsnake's Rise, for example). I'll be trying this out later.





Our afterling friend starts pounding the shit out of Valara's Razer.


We're changing objectives! Make the afterling priority one! All units...shoot this blasted thing! We'll get the spiriter later!


The soldiers start shooting it, which does nothing because Imperial soldiers are kind of useless. The monster squishes them and then turns back toward Valara.


Hmph! You've done it now, haven't you, freak! Thanks to you, the Empire's Arma is ruined!

Oh...it's destroying it...

But guess what? I'm not done with you yet!









That's...that's a bit more powerful than I expected...













(pull it together!)

(-no need. He's already erased-)

(-can't hurt to hope.)

(These lights...)
















Mmm...yeah.

It's no good. Everyone's disappeared. All that's left is their magnus...

Their magnus? What does that mean? And where are we, anyway?


Milly gets no response. Eventually she starts waving her hand in front of Ven's face, but he doesn't seem to notice.


The folk who were turned to magnus don't even seem to realize what happened.

It's sad...but there's only one thing we can do, and that's stop him from striking the next village.

You're right. Let's return to Naos for now.


Our four dream companions start walking out of this village...


What's with those people? They were acting like they didn't even see me!

That was no act. They didn't seem to have any idea you or I were here.

There was more...

More?

Yeah, more to the dream I had at Olgan's residence.

A dream? Are you trying to say that you and I are having the same dream?

I don't know. This is where the last one left off.

Those people. They called you “Marno”.

Maybe they think I'm somebody else.

Still, this is kind of fun. Let's follow them for a little while.

Fun? Is that the half-wit's witless half speaking? If you bothered to think of the consequences...

Uh-huh. No comments from the wingnut gallery, thanks. What do you think, Sagi?





I'm pretty okay with not getting involved in their little vendetta, to be honest.


I'm with Guillo. Shouldn't we think things through?

What for?! Would you rather be left all alone in a strange place? Well, that settles that! Those people said they were going to someplace called Naos. It must be some sort of a town or a village. Let's go see for ourselves!


Well, so much for getting out of that one...Before we go, I'm going to utilize that blue flower again.





Only one more before something exciting happens!





These are the Auras I currently have available to me. I bought the Guard Aura for Sagi and the Speed Aura for Milly and Guillo. I haven't really done much with these before, either, so we'll see if they end up helping me.

All right, let's leave the village through the back road, which should take us towards this Naos place.





Music: The Knights' Cairn

Not even magic hurts them. If they find us, they'll tear us apart!

That they will. Marno, this is your first time here, isn't it? Stay close behind.







Here's a pic of the enemy wildlife. Something about this bird really terrifies me. I wonder what that's about?





First, I need to draw the magnetism from this rock. It destroys the sand bridge, but that's okay because I can get to the other side on solid ground anyway.





Ooh, this looks useful and/or rare. I'll take it!





Another Milly special. I went ahead and added it to the deck. I used Sevenstar Dust all the time in my last run, so I want to try something new here.









Using the Balmsand puts the Sandfeeder back to sleep, so we can keep going. Good for us.





Using the magnetism I got earlier allows me to create a bridge here. However, I need one more magnetism to block off another Sandfeeder cave, otherwise Sagi won't cross in front of it. But where could I get another use of Magnetite Waves? Ideally you'll still have a spare from the last dream, but if you're like me and threw that away, there's another place to grab one.





That's right. Go back up to where the Sandfeeder was sleeping, go into its cave, and draw some from there. There's really no reason to believe that you can do this, or that trying won't kill you. Fortune favors the bold, I suppose.









Hey, a save point. I wonder if we'll be fighting a boss soon?





Video: What an unexpected development!

Take Marno and run! Pieda and I will find a way to stall the beast!





Ooh, pretty magic. Sadly, it has no effect.


Our magic doesn't work. So much for hoping the stories were false...





You're planning on fighting this thing? That's a lot of monster to fight.

Heh. It looks to me like you want a piece yourself.

The weak and abused need my help yet again. Oh, me and my hang-ups! Here I come, feedface!





Music: Evidential Material


The Sandfeeder can be a bit rough, and is kind of an interesting boss fight, but there's one thing I will always remember about it that makes me hate it completely. You see, this game (As well as Eternal Wings) has no differentiation between physical and magical attacks or defenses, instead relying mostly on elements.

Well, this battle is the one exception...











Not only is Guillo's attack power horribly nerfed for this fight, but...well, maybe it was just coincidence, but the Sandfeeder seemed to really hate Guillo's puppet guts and attacked it a lot. The Sandfeeder has an interesting (and cruel) attack pattern; is uses Paralysis Quills to put a character to sleep, and then follows it up with another attack...





The follow up is called Lunchtime, and has a minor HP drain effect. It can be pretty painful, and I think I lost Guillo and Milly at different stages of the fight, but I just revived them and kept on truckin.







Anyway, I beat it down and get a level 2 special attack for Sagi and a...um...something.





I mean, it was a tough fight and all, but our attacks seemed to work just fine.

Marno, way to go! Where did you learn to handle a blade like that?

You can say that again. I thought we were finished. Thanks, Marno.

Thanks is right. I can't wait to see you give Wiseman the same hearty beating.

Mind your words, Thoran. There might be someone around to hear you.

Yeah, I know that.

Seph, I'm hungry...We're almost to Naos. Can't we talk about this once we're back?

Ven's right. Let's save it for later.

Fair enough. We'll get food in your belly soon, brother.





That I don't know, but one thing is for sure. Their magic isn't just any magic. It's like mine – maybe stronger.

Like that's saying much. Still, not even the teachers at the School of Magic wielded spells like that!

Did you just insult my magic? Don't make me torch you just to prove a point, wench!

That's enough out of you two! Come on, Milly – weren't we going to follow those people?

Oh, right! We'd better hurry before we lose them!





This is like the Thunderfish skull from BKEWLO. It's going to be eating up Quest Magnus space for a looooooong time before I can use it for its sidequest.














(It's...that thing!)

(Hishhishhishhishiiiiiish)

(-Imperial progress, a Machina-)























What was that all about? It was far too vivid to have been just a dream.

Consider it just one of a slew of mysteries we're not likely to solve.

Look! That monster, it's disappearing!


The monster simply fades away, and Valara turns her attention to us, but...





Lady Valara! I don't see how you can continue the operation under these circumstances...

I know that! What a joke, turning back with half the job unfinished. Come on!





And so the Razer blasts off and the soldiers run away. That...wasn't really how I expected things to work out, but work out they did!





Sagi passes out once again, but this time it's just form exhaustion, sans the bizarre dreamworld.





Awake, are we?

Were you having a nightmare? You're drenched in sweat.

Milly...

Thank goodness. I was worried sick.

Mom! You're safe.

The other villagers are fine, too. You had it worse than any of us. Make sure you say thank you to Milliarde. She's been at your side the whole time.

Mmm...Maybe there's a shred of kindness somewhere in that black heart after all.

You stayed with me?...Thank you, Milly.

Cut that out! I told you, I don't believe in leaving the weak to fend for themselves.

Heh heh, you don't have to pretend. It's a load off my mind to know that Sagi has such a strong young woman at his side.

W-wait a minute! It's not like that! Really...What are we talking about this for! With all that's happened, we've got a lot of planning to do!

Yeah, Milly's right. Between the dream and figuring out what to do next, there's plenty to think about.





Phew, I'm beat. Let's pick this up again later, and see where the plot will take us next!