Part 46: Chapter Thirty Five: Hunter Killer
Music: 14 – Crazy Dance000.png)
001.png)
:…Looks like this is the monster in question.
: Heh! It’s just a puny Gunhead! I could beat one of these things with both arms tied behind my back!
: Perhaps the Grassman is not so strong, oui?002.png)
003.png)
004.png)
Foreshadowing alert…
Music: Salad Toss Show
005.png)
: I remember now…we saw the Grassman ages ago. You moaned that you didn’t get to see him long enough, didn’t you Bosch?
: The Grassman? Hmph.006.png)
: So I decided his performance needed a new gimmick – getting eaten alive!:…That’s pretty damn sick. Maybe you should go and see a doctor.: And who might you be? No, don’t bother answering – I don’t have the energy to care.007.png)
: I’ve got a crowd out there waiting to see you on a platter with some croutons! Geh heh heh heh! 008.png)
: Geh heh heh heh! Well, watcha know? Jolly Green’s mouth ain’t for show after all! 009.png)
: How twisted…010.png)
011.png)
: Normally I’d find food puns hilarious, but those were just a bunch of bad eggs.: Oh, come on! Lighten up, everyone!012.png)
: Surprisingly enough, no. There’s something we’d like to discuss regarding the Grassman.: There’s something you wanna talk about first? 013.png)
: Stop the show, s’il vous plait.: The hell?! Gimme one good reason why I’d wanna do that!: Such displays are distastefully barbaric, and we have cause to speak with this Grassman and enlist his aid.014.png)
: I also accept bribes, like any good businessman! About 900,000 Zenny should do it!: Is that all? Just a bit of chump change, huh.: That’s the price of freedom! Geh heh heh heh!015.png)
016.png)
: He has us at a disadvantage.: What do we do, Ryu? There’s no way we can find that kind of money.: I know. I guess we’ll have to go look for one of those Uparupa things.: In that case, might I suggest asking the Hunters for help? They have extensive knowledge of exotic beasts, non?: Good idea. Let’s give it a try.Music: 27 – Breath of Fire
017.png)
Before anything else, though, it’s time to buy some weapons and armour. I quickly return to Township…
018.png)
…And give Heckler a visit. Everything he sells is fire-elemental, and good quality for this point in the game. This time is all offense – I buy a Flame Sword, a Burn Knuckle, a Fire Ring, a Fire Bow and a Heat Staff. I also switch out Nina for Rand – Nina has been in the party ever since she joined, and I’d like to bench her briefly so that everyone else can catch up in terms of levels.
019.png)
Afterwards I warp to Wyndia and then hoof it westwards until I reach the Hunter’s Lodge.
Music: 02 – My Home Sweet Home
020.png)
021.png)
:…Uh…hello? Anyone at home?
: The entire place is deserted. Hey, what’s that on the table?022.png)
023.png)
024.png)
025.png)
026.png)
027.png)
028.png)
029.png)
030.png)
: The journal ends in a smear of blood…spooky, huh?: W-wait…you mean…the hunters were lured out into the woods…: And never came back.: And you know what the kicker is? We’re going to have to go in after them. Because the last time I was here some Uparupa fanatic told me that they can’t be found unless you have an Algerfruit. And Algerfruits can only be found in the forest out back.031.png)
: Guess we better prepare ourselves for beautiful ladies, then.: Truly nature’s deadliest predators.Music: 04 – Dungeon
032.png)
033.png)
: Oh…such enchanting music…: It’s not just that, it’s a goddamn siren call. Don’t let it get into your head!034.png)
: There’s the pond. When we get there, we grab the Algerfruits and run, got it?: Really…? Can’t we stay and listen to the song for a bit…?: No, absolutely not!035.png)
: Argh…the more you listen, the more it gets into your mind…036.png)
:…!!037.png)
: No, we only came to grab a few---
Music: 10 – I’ll Do It!
038.png)
Algernon is undoubtedly the hardest boss encounter in the game.
Lienda and Eskey are the flunkies, being extremely weak and having less than 200 HP apiece. Lienda, the right hand flunky, casts Rejuvenate on the other enemies, healing 100 HP of damage at a time. Eskey, on the left, will continually cast Jolt on your party, nailing everyone for around 30 damage every turn. Now that doesn’t sound like much…but since it gets cast every turn the damage will really start to add up. Both flunkeys are extremely fast and will always take their turns before anyone else.
Meanwhile Algernon, the main body, will attack for 50 – 70 damage or, when low on health, use Ice Breath to deal 20 – 30 damage to the whole party. Algernon is strong against physical attacks and has about 1,500 HP, and with the added healing from Lienda it’s going to take a while to deplete it all. The main threat here is that Eskey will Jolt the party down to low HP and enable Algernon to KO them in one shot with its physical attack.
But surely the solution is simple enough, right? Just knock out the flunkies and go to town. Unfortunately that’s not going to happen. You see, Algernon will revive one of her flunkies as a free action on the very next turn. If you kill both at once via magic or Dragons she’ll revive one on the same turn she lost them, again as a free action. In short it’s very difficult to entirely stop her flunkies from chipping away at your party. You can’t ignore them, but neither can you afford to focus on them lest the main body make your life a living hell.
Lots of healing supplies are a must, because this is a battle of attrition. Like Goncharo, this is a very hard fight where if more than one of your party gets KO’ed at once you may as well not bother continuing. It is possible to neuter the flunkies by inflicting them with Silence, and it actually has a fairly good chance of sticking, but the effect can last anywhere from one to five turns so it’s not a reliable strategy by any means. It takes me just shy of ten minutes to beat this sucker into the ground, which is twice as long as it took to take down Goncharo. If you need a reason to recruit Deis early then this is it.
Naturally I had to be a tough guy and not use her.
As an aside, this boss is a reference to “Flowers for Algernon”, the story of a mentally challenged individual who becomes a genius as a result of experimental surgery. The names of the flunkies are anagrams for Daniel Keyes, the author of the novel.
--
039.png)
040.png)
:…Let us never speak of that again.: Agreed.: G-good idea…: Oui, it never happened.041.png)
042.png)
Here’s the bait we need in order to catch ourselves an Uparupa. Now we just need to find the damn thing. To do so it is necessary to return to the bridge between Newhaven and Colossea.
043.png)
The answer is down there, in the sea cave to the lower left. We’ll be heading over that way next update.