Part 39: Dark and Grim

Entry 37: Dark and Grim

Those darned kids sure have given the party a workout, but finally, we've caught up.



It's a Florie!

There are a whole bunch!



They look like kind of like Airy. Darn, maybe Airy could've tricked the kids into going back home. Ah well, they made it here alright as it is.

As everyone watches the Flories, there's a far off sound of magic being cast.

The next moment:





Ah...ahh... Aaah!





The camera pans up.



Meet the last of the three Venus sisters.



Hope she doesn't mind us coming to her wearing Einheria and Artemia's asterisk clothes.



Like Artemia, her voice and attitude indicate she is not entirely sane.

Einheria and Artemia are dead, Mephilia. ...I'm sorry.

The way Edea's spoken to both Mephilia and Artemia implies they weren't insane last time she saw them.



I've never seen so dirty a hypocrite... My sister loved you. Oh, but I'm not blaming you. This is far better than the way you used to be.

It's so hideous. So deliciously twisted... I feel nauseous just speaking to you.

What are you doing here?



I'd think Airy would have some words to say about that. Alternatively, maybe that's why she's currently hiding behind Agnès...

Hmm, how many has it been? I was counting. But then...I stopped counting. Heh heh...ha ha ha!

Stop it! That's mean! You can't!

Are you giving me an order? Only my sister gives orders... Only she...

These fairies are incredibly important to Florem's people. How can you do this?



Why are you sad, child? The thing you seek is right here... Take their wings.

What...?



Oh, yes. That's what the hairpins are made of... The beautiful wings of the beautiful little fairies you worship.

Edea pushes the kids away from Mephilia.



For a brief moment, the wings glow. And then, never again. They cloud over... Sullied forever... I can think of nothing so beautiful. It's quite...addictive. Ah ha ha...ha ha!

Then it's your poaching that's behind this. All for what, money!?



Ah ha ha... You've always been this way. Full of platitudes... Happy lies... Always so pretty... So pretty you reek of rot and decay. Keep away, Edea...

All humankind is dirty... A fine pack of filthy pigs. There is no real beauty, save my sister... All but her are tainted. Impure! Have a look there. Those innocent girls...





No, you! You already took two more than me!

Stop it, you two!



Just as with the hair dye, there's something more going on here than meets the eye.



A silly question. Playing with their love. Corrupting it... Mmm, it feels wonderful... Look at the little creatures. This is their true form...

Their desire to shroud themselves in beauty only reveals the ugliness inside. And whence that desire? The very object of it. Ah ha ha... It's the wings.

The spirits' wings secrete a curious substance. Invisible to the eye, but to the nose... Mmm!



Those girls' fight won't end until one lies bleeding...

That's monstrous!

That girl with you, Edea... That is the wind vestal, is it not?



What will it look like, I wonder. The moment all the little platitudes that hold you lot together start to...crumble.





This fight is a bit different from the other two sisters.



Mephilia's attacks lack something of a punch.



So, what's her job?







Summoner.

The name Girtablulu appears to be a misspelling (wiki reference here) referring to creatures from Mesopotamian myth which were part man, part scorpion, and guarded the doorway to the land of darkness. Fun!













If you're unprepared, this can come as a deadly surprise.





Any allies she summons need to be taken out immediately, before they do irritating things like confuse your party members.



Agnès demonstrates.



She redeems herself by striking the last blow and taking care of her own healing simultaneously.



Edea learned Judgement. She's a natural.



Now we, too, can summon surreal hell beasts.



Agnès's steal this time is a handy upgrade for offensive spellcasters.



Hard to believe these sisters chose to expose themselves to such mind-altering materials. Did Einheria really set them up to this?



Good... Knowing that I've sullied you is...enough... ...But now I've seen something more beautiful even than...my sister... What are you?



Uh, me?

Inside you... I see it... It's there...



......



I'm sure that will never come up again.



What do you suppose she was trying to say?

......



We'll be taking a look at these next time. For now, there are more pressing matters.





Were they knocked out?



......



The party returns to Florem.



I shall do everything in my power to spread word of the hairpin's dangers. To atone... I am sorry to have foisted this cruel task on you. Forgive me...



To recap, the party was told to find and rescue two young sisters. After a couple cute scenes ending with the kids running off, and an encounter with a boss, we discover that the sisters have killed each other with their bare hands under the effects of a psychotropic drug.

When a game opens with the chapter title "Precipice of Despair", consider it a warning that things are only going to go downhill from there.


Next: Taking a break from our descent with Summoning 101.

--

Event Viewer
Sub-Scenario:
All the Little Flories
How to Make a Hairpin - D
Sisterly Strife
Summoner Mephilia
Mephilia's Ecstasy