Part 30: Welcome to Hell

Video: Homecoming


At least here we don't have to deal with lunatics in love with their hearts.

It's weird, though. No one's around. They must be down below.

Hey! We're home!


No one answers.


That's strange. Let's go down and look.





Music: The Broken Manas and My One and Only


Seph and Pieda rush to Quis's side.


Quis: Ah...Seph...

Quis, hang on!

Wait, I'll use magic!


A blue orb appears in Pieda's hands, and a smaller one appears at Quis's heart.


It's no use...Her heart's strength is slowly giving out.

What happened? Why is this happening?

Quis: It was...Wiseman. He tried to – to turn us into magnus. We all fought the best we could. But it was useless...He killed anyone who resisted. Seph...I held on for you...I held on...But I, but I...

It's all right. You don't have to fight anymore. We'll use our magic and fix you right up.

Quis: Mmm...I'm sorry. Just let me rest...a little-


The light at her heart fades away...


Quis! Quis?! Ahh...Quis...GRRRAAAAAAAAAAAH!





Wiseman, that son of a – I can't bear it any longer! I'm going back. I don't care if it KILLS me, I'm taking Wiseman down!

Wait, Thoran.

Don't you dare try to stop me! You saw what he did to Quis! How can you stand by and do nothing!

I said WAIT, Thoran!

...

We're going to Zaurak. Do what you have to do to get ready.

Zaurak? But that's...Seph, you can't be serious!

Oh, I am. We can't contend with Wiseman unless we have their help.

Whose help are we getting?

...You'll know once we're there. Come outside when you're ready to go. I'll be waiting.





Well, this is horrible. I wonder if there are any survivors?





: To think it would come to this...That I'd be the only one left...All alone...Oh, forgive me, everyone...


...oh...







I forgot to show it, but the beast afterling dropped this finisher for Guillo.







I just wanted to show a couple shots of it since I'm unlikely to use it ever again in the main game until I make a finishers video. Dark isn't as useless as it was in BKEWLO but I still find myself shying away from the element in general.





Music: Morningless Night


Anyway, welcome to Zaurak, the Brethren's Keep. I guess we'll learn more about these Brethren whenever we find them. I'll be honest with you guys; I pretty much hate this place. It has a double whammy of gimmicks that are tedious and annoying. It does at least have some weaponry and finishers that are worth grabbing, though.





Before we get into the gimmicks, though, let me say that the enemies here are dicks. These doll creatures deal 100-150 damage per attack and can hit up to three times. They also have an attack called Pyromancy that's a straight 300-350 damage.





I only fought one batch of undead knights, but they hit pretty hard too. I don't know if they still have their ability to revive each other from BKEWLO; thankfully, if they do I didn't see it.





Bats...Bats are everywhere. Like their cousins from Nunki, they like to inflict sleep but are too weak to be much of a threat.





And finally, there are these beet creatures pictured on the far right of this shot. They hit kinda hard but not quite as hard as the dolls. More importantly, when you see them on the overworld they are always asleep. If you initiate a battle with them while they are asleep, they will start the fight with that status effect, so they're usually easy to manage.





I busted out my rudimentary drawing skills again for this dungeon because it's big and can be kind of difficult to explain. We start in the lower left corner. We want to get to the upper center tile. However, the central area is blocked off. Only one of the blue X passages can be accessed at a time, so we need to make our way through the zigzags on the right side and get to the right passage, which is the one currently open.

But there's a catch. See that green X? Well...







Ven can't follow us! So we have to go on and leave him behind. Well, whatever. We don't need him anyway.





This finisher went straight into Guillo's deck to replace Whickedwing Revels.









This is the central room. Like I said, we want to go north from here, but the bridge is out.







Examining the spotlight gives us this powder, which we can use to create half of a bridge. Sadly, we need to get around to the other side and use more powder there to complete the bridge.





Moving the light allows us to open up a new path. Let's head south and get Ven back in the group.





Now for west. With any luck, this will loop back around and get us to the other side of the bridge.





Halfway there!





See this rock? I forgot to mark it on my sad little map, but it's in the upper left corner. We need Ven in order to push it out of the way. I don't know why, it's just the way it is. I hope you remembered to double back for him!





Sure enough, the path leads to the other side of the bridge. One more dose of powder completes it, so I can get back to the light source...





...and turn it north, to clear a path forward.





Video: Back to Our World


Keep your mouth closed. This is no place for jests.

Pieda, you know who lives here? Tell me. Come on, who is it?

You'll see. Just be quiet and walk.

Hurry up if you don't want to be left behind.

All right, I'm coming.


It really bothers me that Seph and Pieda won't tell Thoran and Ven who lives here. I mean, I know it's for the player's benefit, but...it just rubs me the wrong way. It just feels...deceptive. You know?

The other four continue, while our party stays behind.


Sagi. Do you need to rest?

It's...it's just another of those headaches...Ugh!!

Sagi? Sagi!



























(-end magnus, in which Malpercio -)

(-an afterling? What are you thinking-)

(I know! Just be quiet!)








































Oh for heaven's sake, can't we get some kind of resolution before these perspective flips happen?!





This is no time to be patting them on the back.

I should think not. Now why don't you hurry up and finish them off?

That's what I wanted to do in the first place! All right, no pleasantries this time. It's over!









Music: The Egret's Heart and the Road to Hereafter


Palolo II, at your service!

...and stuff.


...what-


Sagi, you all right?

Palolo!

Palolo, thank goodness!

Go on, get outta here...before things get uglier than Gibari's face! Urg...I can't hold him off forever...

Thanks, we owe you!


Team Sagi runs off. I can't say this is how I expected to not die here. Palolo has some mighty durable forearms to block an attack from Heughes like that...







'Fraid I can't hand those three over to chumps like you. Sorry! Buh-bye!


And Palolo vanishes, leaving Heughes and Shanath looking like total losers. I'm pretty okay with that.





Do you always put yourselves in mortal danger, or do you just wait until I'm passing through town?

Palolo, thank you so much. If you'd shown up even a second later...we'd all be dead.

Yeah, dead's not so good. Well, next time you'll just have to be more careful.

We'll try. Thanks.

No prob. Anyway, I've got a whirlwind to catch. Hope to see you down the road!


And Palolo once again disappears.


Odd kid.

Sagi, shouldn't you report to Verus?

Yeah, but let's rest up a bit first. We're all beat up pretty bad. We can report to the Quaestor once we get back to Pherkad.





Well, that could have gone better, but at least we made it out with our lives. Join me next time as we report to Verus on the phone and in person, and maybe check that Coliseum out.


-


Decision Time!


Hey, how's it going?


> Pretty good.

> You suck.