Part 53: Chapter Forty: Fuck Highfort III – Fuck Harder
Music: Wanderer000.png)
Alright. Time to get to work.
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The northern door leads to this small recovery area. There’s a Dragon Statue and a healing pool for free recovery, as well as an elevator at the back that can take us up to Highfort proper. Turvoe’s supposed to be handling that, though, so we’ll be going the other way.
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Music: 12 – The Kingdom
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: Okay then. Time to see if I can remember my way around this place…006.png)
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There are no enemy encounters in the first half of the dungeon. There are, however, a number of winding passages. The left-hand path leads to a dead end, but the next one along leads to a treasure room.
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Tokens are useless to us but my rampant kleptomania drives me to pick it up anyway.
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Going down at this point leads to the next part of the dungeon, but going up will lead to another treasure room containing something a bit more useful.
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The Dream Jewel prevents sleep, meaning no more Dream Breath shenanigans.
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Music: 04 – Dungeon
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: I get the feeling that I’m being watched…From here on out Sten will be battling random encounters. These include Bomb Seeds and Champion Slimes, as well as two new enemies we haven’t seen before.
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The Pharaoh Mage can cast Ice for around 40 damage and can use Foul Breath to poison Sten. On rare occasions he can also cast Iceblast to deal over 100 damage, just to be a dick. Thankfully he’s not too tough and goes down in two or three turns to basic physical attacks.
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The Deathbringer is a rare enemy who occasionally shows up to make Sten’s life a living hell. Deathbringers have a ludicrously high critical hit rate, and if they roll one they can easily take off 80 – 90 HP with a single strike. They also take four or five turns to kill, so better pray you don’t run into too many.
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Of the two staircases here, the left-hand one leads to a treasure room.
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More money is never a bad thing.
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The other staircase leads up here. The black things act like the wooden posts in that Sten can use his long noodle arms to grab them and pull himself over the gaps.
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There are four paths to choose from here, but three of them are fakes.
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This one is the real one. Now we know where Ryu and co. were dumped when they fell down the pit.
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: More walkways. Always more walkways. I mean, I get that they make defensible chokepoints, but…021.png)
This place is a mini-maze with three rooms leading off from it. Only one is the right one.
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The middle door is the one we want.
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: They actually went ahead and installed Teleporters? When I was last here they were just getting the theory down. Times sure have changed…024.png)
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: This must be the secret passage Turvoe was talking about. Looks like I won’t be here for long, though.026.png)
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Oh look, another split. As usual, there is treasure to be found. Down the left hand split lies…
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…a pretty great weapon for Sten. Not only is it ten points stronger than the Papillon, it also adds five points to Luck as well.
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The right hand split leads to another chest with a Hawk Claw, a good weapon for Rand.
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Anyway, enough pilfering.
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You guys know the drill by now. I’ll just cut to the chase and say that the left hand path contains a chest with 1000 zenny and be done with it.
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:…Hmm? I hear voices up ahead…033.png)
: You should be happy, Princess. You’re about to bring a new dawn to this benighted land. With your assistance, this castle will finally be reawakened…034.png)
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: What could this country possibly hope to gain from the pointless slaughter your ambitions entail?: This land has always profited through war and conflict. How is my grand scheme for this nation any different?036.png)
: This nation has never agreed to fight on the side of an unjust cause. We do not aid tyrants or attack the defenceless. :…Rhetorical nonsense. There is no such thing as ‘good’ or ‘evil’ where war is concerned…only victors and vanquished. 037.png)
: Hmm? Who goes there?:…Sten?: Uh…hey.038.png)
: Oh Sten, I never thought I’d see you again!: So you’re the ‘Sten’ I keep hearing about. 039.png)
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: Oh bugger.042.png)
: Hmph. More garbage to take out.Oh. Uh. Well. That wasn’t good.