Part 16: Gone Fishin'

Music: The Broken Manas and My One and Only


When we last left off, Sagi had once again returned to the dreamworld. It looks like we have some downtime to explore the area and chat with our companions in this place. Let's try the room on the right, first.





I was looking for you. I never thanked you for saving us in the Sandhollow.

It was nothing.

Well, thank you anyway. I never thought the day would come when you would save me. You sure have grown.

... ...

Seph's serious about taking this to Wiseman. It's possible...that we're going to have to fight him and his votaries. We'll be counting on you if that happens. That's all I wanted to say. Well, I'd better get started on dinner. This will be my best one yet! Just wait and see!


Well, Pieda seems pretty okay. I'm still a little confused, but I guess we can trust her. Maybe? Let's see what the others have to say.





I wonder what this is for. I mean, it's presumably for baking and stuff, I guess what I mean is I wonder what I can get out of this.





What's with you? You always seem on edge lately. Is something bothering you? Spit it out! Whatever it is, I can talk you through it.





Wait...This would be a good chance to ask him where we are. Excuse me, could you tell me where we are? What do you call this island we're on?

There you go, again. You really are acting strange. First of all...Stop talking like you don't even know me, dammit!

What? Oh, right. I'm very sorry.

You're still doing it!

Sorry...Thoran.

That's better. You know I'm there for you, brother, so don't act so distant. Oops, I just remembered – I promised to play with the kids when I got home. Sorry, Marno. We'll talk some more later.


He heads upstairs, leaving us alone...


OK, but where ARE we?

What's with that guy? He says he's there for us, and then he takes off.

… …

Guillo, is something wrong?

…No. It's nothing.


C'mon, Guillo, you're too cool to use that phrase. At least just make it a blunt no.





You know why. We can't allow this promagna nonsense to continue. The power of men's hearts has grown too strong. Wiseman's in particular is beyond reckoning. Quis, he's turning people into magnus! You heard, didn't you? He got Rasalas.

Quis: I know! But why do YOU have to go? If Wiseman's as dangerous as you say, I'm certain the people of Cujam will do something about it!

Everyone there has sided with him. They're all absorbed in the power of their own hearts! That's the whole problem!





This is the closest we've come to getting any context about that's going on! Don't you want to hear more?

Sadly, there is no more to hear...


...Marno. I'm sorry you had to see that.

It's all right.

Quis: Tell him, Marno! Tell him not to do something so dangerous!

Not another word, Quis. We're going to Cujam. Marno, be ready to leave.


Hmm, sounds like we might be getting ourselves into serious trouble. I wonder what this Wiseman person is like, anyway? Or what his goals are? I guess we'll find out soon enough. Let's go talk to someone else who's just kinda confused about all this.





AAAAAAAAAAUGH other way!





What's to become of us? Seph says people will vanish from the world if we don't stop Wiseman...but...





Hmm, I don't really know. Who is this Wiseman, anyway?

He's the lord that rules over the world. His heart's reeeaaallly powerful. You know that, Marno.

Uh...yeah...

Maybe we're all going to end up like the people of Rasalas...


Hey, Ven actually gave some degree of an answer to our question before calling us out on the fact that we ought to know the answer. That's progress, I guess. Maybe one day we'll actually get what's going on here.





Calmly...Quietly...Call forth the flames with your heart.


And just like that, a little blue ball of flame appears between the girl's hands!





Sure, we've seen it in the Sandfeeder fight, but here it is confirmed again – we are among people who can use magic. Like Guillo's, maybe stronger, as it said. I wonder if we could learn how to do that?

Now, time to head to the top deck of this boat town.





Rain, rain, rain. What a pain.

We've been wondering where we are. Out there, at least, we might find some answers.

There's no writing it off as a dream now. It feels way too real.

Could this just be another island? Maybe we got blasted across the sky and wound up here.

I wonder. I have the strangest feeling I know this place.

Well, let's start walking. We're sure to find something out.





You know, because the Sandfeeders are totally resistant to magic. The puppet's clothes will probably grant him the same protection.


Hey, that's cool. Shows some good foresight. I wonder what that would look like? We don't even know what Wiseman looks like yet, do we?...





The world may never know.





Oh yeah, this is the sword I got for beating Bein. I went ahead and swapped it in for Sagi's old water weapon, which was probably a mistake but didn't hurt me too bad...

If we try to leave the boat...





Video: Pisces (warning: long, but includes some good moments from Milly)


How can an island be this big?

Look! The clouds are all the way up there!

You mean...we're UNDER the Sky?


Oof! Ahh, it's happening...again...




Unh, ugh, aaaaaaaagh!























(Blessings of machina-)

(Spiriters are chosen folk-)

(STAAAAY BAAAAAAAAAAACK!)

(Look at the power I have!)



















Lady Valara, we've finished containing the afterling.

Good. We're done here.

What about the spiriter boy, milady?

Leave him. The afterling is our top priority. Let's go.








I...I think so. My head is throbbing...

Sorry, Sagi, but there's no time to relax.

Valara's attack must have shaken up the caves' lower strata. We have to get out of here!





Something jumps by much faster than my capture card can handle but just pretend it looked like this but not all...um...phasey.


NOW what?!


It leaps past once again.


The Lord of the Lava Caves! Wowww! It's just like they described him in the School of Magic!


And again...


Wench! Rein that giddy tongue of yours in before you bite it!





And it attacks.

...Right.




[img]http://lpix.org/929498/naos23.jpg/img]


The Lord of the Lava Caves hits pretty hard, as you should have come to expect. It also might be my imagination, but it doesn't seem to be quite as fire based as the other monsters here, so my ice attacks are less effective (but it also means that switching in a fire sword for Sagi wasn't completely stupid). That said, if you're going for a defensive approach you'll want to protect yourself from fire attacks to help defend yourself from this.





People die, and Guillo dances.





Oh, remember how I said I was going to have to redo the Bein fight since I didn't get to save afterward? Well, I did, and I got way less TP, but more importantly, Milly died and I didn't get to revive her before the end of the fight, so she lost out on that EXP.

Naturally, the same thing happened here. I got a great attack string lined up, and then the fish kills Milly and Sagi and Guillo kill it before I can revive her. Not that it mattered, because...







...it ran away and left me with no EXP.

Fucker.


We've fought it off...

I'm sure it was just startled by the tremors down below and came up to investigate.

We'd better hurry. It's getting dangerous here!


And so the party rushes off. I stop to save, and then -







...Wow.













Obstinate fish. Wench, you say you learned about this in school.

...Yes?...

Didn't they teach you how to defeat it?




















...I slept through that part.

You WHAT?!


I slept through it, okay? “Slaying extinct creatures of legend” didn't exactly strike me as practical knowledge! How was I supposed to know I'd wind up fighting one? I'm still trying to get past the fact that it's not extinct!

Now's really not the time to argue. Let's just find a way out!


I thought about interjecting commentary to that little bit, but there's really nothing I can add that will make it any better than it already is.



So, moving on.





It's getting worse! We'll be buried alive if we don't hurry!

Sagi! Cross, blast it! The bridge is sinking!





The fish chills out in front of us for a bit, slapping its tail to the lava and tapping a fin on the ground.


He's enjoying this, isn't he?


Boy, do I really feel like kicking myself now. See if I ever sleep through a class again! Look at his face! I think he's laughing at me!

Well, the only way out is straight ahead! Let's ground this fish for good!





This final showdown is harder, but not really different in any particular way, so let's just pretend Milly killed the shit out of him with icicles.







Ooh, two new specials (one of which is my first third level one) and a Sedna Magnus! Not bad, not bad.





Talk about stubborn.

Well the good news is, we have a way across now!


Milly starts walking over the corpse, then stops and stomps on him for a bit.


See? You like that?!






By the by, I'm not sure how I managed to miss screencapping this, but I extracted the Lava Lord's Skull. This seems familiar somehow...





No, sir. Baelheit's men secured it and took it away.

I see...Well, I'm relieved to hear you're all right. Come back to my estate for now. We can talk more once you've returned. Well done out there.


Well, Verus seems to be handling things well. After all, we did succeed in our actual mission of finding the criminal, and he did get captured even if it wasn't by us which is still good I guess.

Anyway, Azha starts playing it's old happy fun time song (Sanguine Grasses), but...













We're running low on medical supplies to treat people injured in the Lava Caves incident. Do you think you could find some more? Please!

Of course we don't mind...But Alma, don't tell me you're planning on treating that ogre, too? He raised his hand to a lady! He's a rotten excuse for a man.

You may be right...But I can't just leave an injured person to die, can I? In any case, please hurry, Milly. Any medical supplies you can find!


I went to Geldolame's to jack another medkit, but his house is locked off now. Oh well. Maybe I'll find something else that will do.









Well, that's all for today! Join me next time as we sit through some dialogue and I test out a theory I heard about medicine!