Part 15: Update Fifteen: Lava It Or Leave It

Before I say anything else, Double Negative came up with that update title. He's a genius, and we should all give him a round of applause.

Anywho, last time on Cthulhu Saves The World, we entered the volcano where the demon dragon had made his lair. Today, we're going to defeat that dragon and save the town of Alhazred, so let's get crazy.



I'm so curious who the hell builds stairs in a volcano. How do you even go about that? Why do you go about that?



I know that's a played out question, since I know I ask it a lot when stairs pop up in silly areas and in dungeons, but seriously. Would it be so bad if these dungeons had a little bit more natural ways to get up and down?



For fuck's sake, I'd be happy if it was just a hole with a rope. That at least seems like something that a survey team or something would leave behind.



And that's a dead end.







There are no new enemies left around here, so this update will go a bit quicker.



There is a boss fight, though, so that will take a bit of time.



Though, since I'm not covering every single action, it's quicker than how they used to be.



In Earthbound, though, I think that worked out well. Or maybe I'm just fooling myself. Also, sidenote; I need to go back for that treasure chest.









This shot amuses me, as I imagine Umi just shoving Cthulhu face-first into the rock.



I'm not sure why I shared that with you all.



Oh, by the by, don't be surprised if updates dry up rather quickly.



My daughter is going to be born soon, and as much as I like updating and pumping them out quickly, I'm not going to take a break from taking care of a baby to pump out an update.



However, we do have one of those slings, so I could probably strap her to my chest and write an update.



Probably shouldn't let the wife catch me, though. But she reads these updates...And posts on these forums...She's posted in this very thread!



Some of you may have even spotted her.



But, she's shy, so let's not call attention to her.



...Shit, this is usually where something pops up so I can conveniently switch the subject.



Oh! Money is a good subject changer!



For instance, to keep talking about money, I won $10 on a $1 scratch off ticket the other day.



That's the best I've done in a while. I've done a few scratchers in my day, and for a while, I was typically breaking even on a given day.



Hell, one day, I wound up $126 ahead. And now I'm usually a few bucks behind.





I should probably just give up on them. But the thought of winning enough money to know that I can send my daughter to college is just too appealing.







At least this is a little dead-end.



So we head back the other way and up those steps.



And by looping around, we find some more stat boosts. I wonder how many of these I've missed.



Let's continue on.



Straight into some level ups!



I take the three hit version, as I'm still a whore for the combo count. I'm not even sure how much I really utilize it; I think I just like seeing that number grow higher and higher.



Now that is a boost I like to see.



That's good, too, but I end up taking the ass kicking boosts over these.



Ooh, I like ignoring defenses. Things don't react well when you pass by their defenses.



Until this update, I thought this skill was called Pan's Might. Which still makes some sense to me. I don't take it, as I don't have a magic sentient sword and take Pierce, as I have a ass-smashing sentient sword.





Both of these sound good, but I take the group targeted version, so that I can have something reliable to hit a group with, instead of hoping that I can catch the ones I want with random hits. A lot of the random hit skills I've taken I plan on using against bosses, not regular fights.



Paws gets a boost to all of his stats.





And Dacre learns how to make everyone a touch faster.



Oh, one thing I've noticed about the life drain ability that Dacre has.



From what I've seen, no matter what Dacre's HP is, it has always healed him to full. Unless he's just draining the full amount of his attack and his HP has always been within that threshold.



Which could be entirely possible, and I just haven't noticed.





I avoided the dead end this time!



Glazius, this is indeed a multiple save point dungeon. We're at the end of it, barring one more piece of treasure.



Which is a new weapon for Paws!



Ooh, this will be handy in the boss fight. It'll put Paws up to four hits with his regular attack.



Alright, let's go kick the shit out of a dragon.



Not the first time I've had to do this in an LP.



But this director's commentary is a new thing for me.





Let's go and get this dragon. We're about to become true heroes!





This seems suspicious.



Could the camera be pulled out any further?



Yeah, where is--



BY THE LITTLE WINGS OF HERMES!





And so, Cthulhu takes to the sky and they have a sweet aerial battle!



Or not. I like my version better.



It's too bad that Cthulhu never does anything with those wings of his.



But, whatever, let's get this party started!



That dragon has an uninventive and a lot of HP.



Cthulhu is going to be dropping lots of hits and lots of damage.



Ember is all about slamming your molars through your shinbones, so I'm going to try and Blind him.



I forgot that Paws has more hits naturally than with this until later, so for the beginning of the fight, he does a good impersonation and gets all wiggly on him.



While Dacre acts as a support, and starts by making sure everyone regains 71 HP a turn.



Before the blinding attempts can begin (spoilers, it never lands and I eventually switch to a stronger strike), I make him batshit and ensure he can't act for his first turn.





Well, by himself, Cthulhu could end this fight in about sixteen turns. Which means he would get the living shit kicked out of him after Ember gains that much more strength.



Before I forget, I'll show off the Unite techs that this party can use. This might have been a good idea to use. But by using this, Cthulhu and Umi use up their turns, which would be about 2,000 damage, which would take this about ten turns to equal out. Maybe that wouldn't have been such a good idea.



Man, I could have given Paws five hits and Cthulhu three.



Dacre doesn't even have Holy magic yet!



Bah, I'm not even building a physical Umi!



Maybe in a longer and harder fight.



And maybe in a battle where ailments will reign supreme.



Ember has a few different ways to drop damage on your party, and I think this is the worst of it.



But this is pretty bad, too.



Heal All will kill your combo count, but combine this with the per turn healing, that's over 200 HP a turn when I do use it.

But that covers this fight, so let's finish this fight off.



With an alien cat blowing the face off of a demonic dragon.









Flame Strike finally gets an upgrade, and what a boost it is!





Flood snags another upgrade, too, making it even crazier when combined with Umi's Water/Ice boosting equipment.



Sharpe gets a general boost.





While October picks up some more Magic and Agility.





While Paws gains an Unstable Form that makes him much stronger, but that much more vulnerable to magic.



Dacre doesn't gain a level, but we've not killed the demon dragon.









C'mon, we've gotta be a true hero by now!



Son of a cockfucker!



I did! I'd make you a true hero!



Umi is a great groupie.



And Cthulhu is so happy about it.



...I like where this is going.



WE HAVE A GODDAMNED DRAGON



TAKE TO THE SKIES, MOTHERFUCKERS, WE'VE GOT A DRAGON





Oh, yeah, folks, we don't get an airship.



We can soar about the skies on the back of our demon dragon buddy!



Eh, that's like the end of the game, though. Let's explore around a little bit more before we do that.



Assuming that we don't get our shit wrecked by going to a bonus dungeon we shouldn't have.



Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll get there.



Nah, first, we're going to check out our character's stats, see our new member, and then take a break.



Cthulhu is all about wrecking and being hard to wreck.



While Umi is fast, with good magic, and resists magic pretty well.



Paws is fast and strong, with really good HP. He's got a fair few amount of magical abilities, but his Magic isn't all that great.



Dacre is magical support through and through, but he's got pretty good HP, too. In fact, he's ahead of Cthulhu and just barely behind Paws.



Sharpe is another shit-wrecker; you might think his Strength is kind of low, but remember, he's using a weapon that we found a loooooong time ago. With the Fire Blade equipped, which has +250 Strength, he would have 640 Strength.



October is all about nuking your ass to oblivion and then nuking the ashes.



While Ember, being a big fuck-off dragon, is an incredible physical force.



So, besides Cthulhu and Ember, who's coming along in the next party? BOLD a vote for who joins the Great Old One and the demonic dragon?