Part 15: Chapter Thirteen: Monkey Magic

Music: 15 – A Long Time Ago



: I’m normally not so inconsiderate…but when I see a pretty face, my sense of fair play goes out the window!

:…Meh, at least you’re honest. Ryu’s alright, so I guess I won’t break anything this time.



: Sorry, but we really don’t have time to deal with this guy’s antics right now. I have to find that damn thief and clear my friend’s name as soon as possible.

: Hey, hold on a second!



: Say what? This better not be your idea of getting close to us so you can catch us in the bath or something!

: Perish the thought! I am but your humble servant, my lady!



: Look at this face! Does this look like a face that would lie to you?

: Isn’t that what you just did, you damn monkey?

: Okay, okay. Look, I promise I won’t do anything bad like that again. Please, let me help you out.

: Well…I suppose an extra pair of eyes would be useful. You can put your staff away, Lin.



: Oho, you won’t regret this!



And with that, Sten joins the party, bringing our active membership up to the maximum of four. But how does he stack up compared with everyone else?



Hmm. Pretty much even across the board, apart from his Luck and Agility, which are fairly high. It’s clear that Sten was intended to be a ‘Jack of all trades’ type character. His strength is better than Nina’s, but far lower than Lin and Ryu’s. He has the ability to cast magic and will eventually end up with a small pool of Fire and Explosive type magic, but he’ll never be able to beat Nina’s colossal Wisdom stat and vast spell selection.



In battle Sten’s Unique Ability is ‘Pretend’. Selecting this will cause him to ‘play dead’ and lowers the chance of an enemy attacking him. If an enemy does attack him, Sten will automatically counterattack. Unfortunately Sten’s defence is significantly lowered during this state, so this ability is pretty much useless.

Sten’s not really that great, but as a party member he’s not terrible either. Still, despite his shortcomings, a new party member is a new party member, so it’d be best to get him outfitted as soon as possible.





Wyndia’s armoury contains a wealth of updated gear for all of our party members. In terms of weapons, I buy a Mage’s Ring for Nina and a Longsword for Ryu. Sten inherits Ryu’s old Silver Knife since it’s stronger than the shop’s Dagger. Sadly my finances aren’t enough to buy armour for everyone, but I make sure to buy some Chain Mail and an Escutcheon for Sten so he doesn’t die as quickly.

Music: 06 – We’re Rangers!



: Huh, the Circus is here now. Good thing Bosch isn’t here to waste more of our money on it.

There are a number of new foes outside Wyndia that need to be categorized.



First we have the Lizardmen. Lizardmen have reasonably large amounts of HP and can buff their own strength and defense with spells. They also have a nasty habit of sniping anyone who happens to be low on HP.



Killer Goblins are the bluer cousins of the ones that live on Mt. Futabi. They have low health but are faster than every character in the party aside from Lin. They can also cast a debuff that lowers defence. Their bites tend to deal around 10 or so damage, so they’re more of an annoyance unless your HP was already low to begin with.



Worst of all are the Poison Movers. They have a truckload of HP and have the foresight to Defend from time to time. Their basic attack deals around 15 – 20 damage, but they also have a poison breath attack that affects the whole party and has a chance to inflict the Poison status on everyone.

After grinding for a bit I can scrape enough money together to afford a Mage’s Robe for Nina. With that sorted it’s time to resume our search for the thief.





: A girl with bat wings? Finally, another lead!





: West, huh?

: The only place I know of that’s West of here is Capitan. It’s a small fishing port. The people there are friendly enough, but there’s nothing there that’s of any real value.

: Even so, it’s our next stop. With any luck we’ll get there and catch her out without the need for any more faffing around.



As hinted by those NPC’s, heading west to Capitan is the next stage in the plot. However, there’s a place we can visit before then with the help of Sten’s field ability.



Below Wyndia lies a gap with wooden pegs driven into the ground on either side. Having Sten in the lead and pressing ‘Y’ when facing the edge…





…will result in our monkey friend using his stretchy noodle limbs to pull the entire party over to the other side. It should be noted that with Wyndia castle now shut to us this is the only way of getting back across to the eastern part of the world map, at least for the time being.



Circling back across the peninsula and up past Tagzi woods brings the party to another set of wooden stakes.



Crossing the ravine reveals a strange house right on the edge of a cliff.

Music: 02 - My Home Sweet Home





The house is empty except for a girl, Safey, who rambles about public storage. It’s a good idea to remember this place – it will be important later in the game. Anyway, zooming back to the lands around Wyndia…







: What’s with that hut over there?

: Oh, that’s where the Monster Hunters live. I’d steer clear of them if I were you – they’ve been known to sell unusual looking fellows to freakshows.

: I doubt they could help us catch our thief anyway. Let’s press on to Capitan.





:…And there’s Capitan. That’s where we’ll find this thief, unless she’s managed to sneak away on a boat or somesuch.

: Dammit Sten, don’t jinx it.

Before we enter Capitan, there’s another area we can find that will be important later on.



It is possible to enter the woods to the north. Doing so will lead the party to a small cabin…



…with magical circles on the floor, occupied by an old woman who tells you to scram. As with the other house we found, this place is important and should be remembered for later on.

Anyway, back to Capitan!



: Well, here we are. Capitan. Just a quiet, lazy little fishing town.



: Huh.



: Hmm.



: Tell me something, Sten.



: Where is everybody?

: The town appears to be almost entirely deserted.

: Heeeey, that is weird. What gives?

: That…is a very good question.

: We’ll have to see if we can find someone who can…aha!



: Excuse me, ma’am, is everything alright? Capitan seems to be empty of people.





: The well, you say? I see. Thank you for your time.

: Ryu? What do we do now? I would like to help these people, if at all possible…

:…Clearly we cannot effectively look for the thief without questioning the townsfolk first. There’s also the chance the thief herself is down there as well. It looks like the only thing to do is to investigate the well and see if we can somehow rescue the villagers.

: Alright! Let’s get cracking!



: Here goes nothing I guess!

: Be ready for anything, everyone.

Music: 04 – Dungeon



: WHOA!! Look out!!



: Foul creature! I charge thee to quit this place at once!



: Be cleansed by the light of the Lord!





: No…No, we’re fine. Hey…wait a minute! I know you. You’re that priest from Colossea!

: Ah, the young thief-chaser. How strange that we should meet again here of all places.



: He was last sighted near this dried-up well. The villagers came down to search for him, but as you can see, the well is infested with monsters…



: Look ou-



: Argh!

Music: 07 – Cross Counter



The party is unceremoniously thrust into battle with a Godiv. The Godiv is a powerful foe, dealing around 30 damage per attack. It also has the Combo Attack enemy skill, meaning it has the potential to deliver a devastating one-two blow to your party members. The best way to deal with him is to have Nina cast Blunt in order to lower the Godiv’s attack whilst Sten unleashes his Explosive-type magic upon him, which is super-effective.





: I need to speak with the villagers here. With that in mind, it seems best that we help each other. We will lend you our aid.