Part 17: A Pirate's Undeath For Me

Ahoy, me hearties! Last time, Euchre bested the sentinel of Celeste Isle, helped Wildcard get a new form from the Nexus it was guarding, and reached Fert Isle. Then he went off to find uncharted islands for some reason and ignored Fert Isle completely.

Music: None



This time Euchre will still be ignoring Fert Isle in favour of searching the seven seas for pirates. Thankfully not much searching needs to be done; the scoutposts' notice boards have all the information necessary for finding them.

As we already know, the pirates are attacking people between Celeste Isle and Fert Isle. Specifically, they attack at night, so the way to find them is to sail backwards and forwards on that one seaway at that time.



It is a mighty galleon, and it's blocking Euchre's way!

Eventually Euchre comes across the pirates' ship. Let's see what pitiful attempts at resistance they put up, shall we?





We'll be takin' all yar gold! C'mon me hearties, throw out the grapplin' hooks!



Captain Crow postures, and Euchre is thrown into battle!

Music: Scout Battle



Not against the man himself, though. First Euchre has to take down his crew. These guys don't do all that much that they didn't out in the wild, although their stats are obviously scaled up to around the same point as a Fert Isle random encounter.

Music: None



Despite being fairly ineffectual, they give out a very large quantity of experience points. This is almost as much as a Metal Slime!



I have to wonder whether anyone's managed to defeat any of Crow's crew before. He certainly seems surprised.

Arrr, ye fought well enough, for a landlubber! For that, I'll let ye live...this time. But next time, things'll be different! If I be seein' you again, you'll taste the point of me cutlass!



That wasn't the end of this particular sidequest, of course. No, there are several more stages to it, each of which having the pirates moving to a different location. Let's see where that is this time, shall we?



It turns out to be the seaway between Domus and Xeroph Isle. This sidequest often has Euchre trekking all the way to the other side of Green Bays to get to the next objective, but this one is right in the middle. Easy.

Music: Scoutpost



Before heading off to fight more pirates, though, it's time for some synthesis! This lot is really boring, sadly, but I might as well show it anyway. Ducktor Cid is finally being synthesised, and he's going to power up Wildcard.



He drops Wulfspade and Hawkhart in favour of Wulfspade II and Diamagon. I prefer the healing of Diamagon to the status effects of Hawkhart, so that was really a no-brainer. I'll probably still never invest any skill points in it, though, thanks to having Wulfspade II.



On top of that, Li'l Green is getting synthesised with a Phoenix Scepter and a Lump Wizard. Again, this is to add to his overall stats - Lump Wizards in particular have ridiculous Wisdom stats compared to other monsters of their rank, and I'd like Li'l Green to have high Wisdom too.



His Skills are remaining the same, since Lump Wizard doesn't have anything I want. I'll probably synthesise him with a Cleanser monster like Chimaera later for undisclosed reasons.



With that synthesis and some grinding out of the way, it's time to look for Captain Crow again.

Music: None



Presumably he's been saying that line verbatim to everyone who passes by, considering it's the exact same one he used the first time Euchre got in the way.



You beat me mateys once, but this time the tide's on our side! You'll soon be joinin' the rest of 'em in Davey Jones's locker!

Music: Scout Battle



Once again, Euchre is thrust into a battle. This one's a little harder, with more diffucult monsters that need to be dealt with quickly - more specifically, the Gargoyle can cast Oomph unlike their wild counterparts.

Music: None



They fall quickly to Wildcard's Lightning nonetheless. Around 100 to everything tends to overwhelm pretty much any random encounter after a couple of turns, and this is no different. The experience payout, as expected, is even larger than before at 1500 per monster, too!



But next time, things'll be different! If I be seein' you again, you'll taste the point of me cutlass!

He said that last time, too. Don't worry, this won't happen again. Probably. And no, we won't be tasting the point of his cutlass for a couple more battles.



Going back to another scoutpost, the noticeboard has been updated again. Infern Isle is only one trip away from Domus Isle, so this is simple enough.



Heading over there is a breeze, although it's a breeze that happens to contain a few zombies. They're easy enough to avoid. A little bit of sailing later...



...and Captain Crow and his pirates that don't do anything show up. Hi, Captain Crow!



It's time to teach you who rules the high seas, arrr! Yar monsters won't save you when yar walkin' the plank!

Music: Scout Battle



What a surprise! More monsters. These ones are pretty threatening compared to what came before, though.



The main reason for that is Oomph, which is always scary. The Gargoyles can use Kasap, too, making them even more dangerous supports.



If they target the Octavian Sentry in the middle it becomes incredibly scary. Why?



Because then they can do enough damage to defeat either Wildcard or Li'l Green in one hit. Having the healer go down is especially bad, for obvious reasons.

Music: None



Thankfully the Octavian Sentry goes down before it can attack again. The Gargoyles are pretty ineffectual without it and are also swiftly dealt with.

Note that the experience gained here is a little off, since the listed value after a battle is what each living party member gets; the actual amount gained is 6000 in total, so if Li'l Green had still been alive 2000 would have gone to everyone instead. Even so, that's still a lot.



Arrr, we've had enough for this day. But next time, I'll be ready for you, Euchre! If I be seein' you again, you'll taste the point of me cutlass!

Hey, at least it wasn't all word-for-word the same as the last two times! Just the last sentence...



Anyway, it's time to go looking agian. This encounter's between Xeroph Isle and Palaish Isle, so that's where Euchre is going to be driving his jetski.

No, of course I didn't forget to record Euchre checking the noticeboard this time. What do you take me for?



You won't be fightin' me today, my scurvy scoutin' friend. Har har... But don't think yar gettin' away to easy! Me and me mateys have a surprise in store for you... Tell me, Euchre, have you met the lord o' th' ocean?

Music: Scout Battle



Meet Gracos. Gracos was actually a boss fight in two Dragon Quest games before this one - 6 and 7, to be exact - and, well, he's considerably easier in this game than in either of those. As are most other battles, in fact.



Gracos hits hard. There's only one of him, though, and attacking is pretty much all he can do, so he's easy. Brickman slaps an attack debuff on him using Weakening Wallop and he's not a threat any more.



As usual, this is enough to take him out. It's not worth showing the whole battle, since it was so boring.

Music: None



Strangely, Gracos gives out fewer experience points than the last few battles did.



In exchange for the lower payout, the prize for this battle includes a nice new spear. This'll probably go on Li'l Green at some point, but for now it'll just stay in Euchre's bag.



He cost me a chest of treasure, curse your landlubber hide! Away, me hearties! Away! Hoist the mainsail!

And then Captain Crow leaves again. He's not very good at this piracy thing, is he?



Going back to a scoutpost yet again, it looks like the Captain has a personal challenge for Euchre. Why not take him up on his offer?



And so Euchre goes over to the western jetty on Infant Isle. This next fight with the pirates is the last one in the sidequest chain, and Euchre is prepared for whatever Captain Crow will throw at him.





Just get a priest to revive them! They'll be fine.

I have to stop yar, for the sake of me crew. To a watery grave you'll go, else me name's not Cap'n Crow!

Music: Scout Battle



And so we come to the fight with Captain Crow. He's a little bit tougher than Gracos, but I'm sure it'll all go swimmingly.



The first thing that he does is use Psych Up. He's fast enough to consistently outspeed Team Euchre, which could be a problem.



Next up is Brickman, who attempts to lower Captain Crow's attack and sadly fails. Oh well, there's always next turn.



Then Wildcard uses Psych Up in an attempt to set up.



And the final action of the turn is for Li'l Green to buff himself with, well, Buff. Captain Crow hits incredibly hard, after all.



Unfortunately on the next turn he decides to go after Wildcard, and does far too much damage.



The result is unsurprising. What's also unsurprising, based on this sort of firepower, that Euchre ends up losing. Let's fast forward to that, shall we?



Captain Crow has an ability besides Psych Up: Multislash. As we've seen before, Multislash hits the entire party, and combined with Psych Up it can turn into a total party kill. This makes the battle essentially a fight against the RNG because if Crow gets up to a respectable amount of tension and then uses Multislash, have fun with that loss.



This, for example, was at 50 tension.



The only thing preventing everyone dying was Li'l Green defending with a raised Defence from Buff. He lived with 22 HP.



Then, on the next turn, Captain Crow attacks first due to his high Agility and kills Li'l Green.



Yeah, this fight is hard. This is especially true since it's really not meant to be taken on right now.



Okay, let's try this again from the top. The first thing that Captain Crow uses this time is Multislash.



It hurts a lot, but at least it's not with tension.

The rest of the turn goes exactly the same as with the first battle: Brickman tries and fails to lower Captain Crow's Attack, Wildcard uses Psych Up, and Li'l Green casts Buff on himself.



As soon as the next turn comes around, Crow attacks Wildcard. Since he hasn't been healed since the last attack...



...he dies. Why do I get a feeling of deja vu?



In any case, Brickman uses Weakening Wallop again. Its Attack-lowering effect fails to hit once again.



It's too late for Wildcard when Multiheal finally gets used, but it can still help everyone else survive another turn.



It's time for turn 3! The Captain uses his normal attack once again, but this time it doesn't kill anyone. Even so, the damage from it is outpacing Li'l Green's healing. Something needs to be done about that.



And what do you know, something's been done about it! Weakening Wallop hitting has greatly increased the chance of Euchre winning this fight.



Li'l Green now casts Zing to bring back Wildcard. Team Euchre's turning this around!



Especially since Weakening Wallop has caused Captain Crow to do awful damage without tension.



Now that there's no need to lower Attack, Brickman moves on to Defence with Helm Splitter. It doesn't work.



Euchre's lead is further cemented by another Multiheal. Hopefully the Captain doesn't repeatedly use Psych Up like last time.



Speaking of Psych Up, that's what Wildcard is doing.



Multislash again...



...another failed Helm Splitter...



...a cast of Buff on Wildcard...



...and another Psych Up make up this turn. This part of the battle is kind of slow.



On the next turn, Captain Crow attacks again...



...and suddenly the fight got terrifying again. That Attack debuff needs to get back on ASAP.



Sadly it's too late to change Brickman's command, so Helm Splitter it is. No debuff this time either.



This time Wildcard goes before Li'l Green! How exciting!



Speaking of which, this is another Multiheal. Team Euchre is going to need it if Crow's Attack doesn't get debuffed again soon.



It's starting again...



...and then immediately stopping. Thank goodness.



Wildcard finally gets to maximum tension. Just a couple more turns left.



Because only Li'l Green took damage, he uses Midheal instead of Multiheal. It saves on MP, you see.



Sadly this is the exact time that Buff falls off. It probably won't be needed any more anyway.



Unless, of course, Captain Crow decides to use Psych Up again. If this happens again, it could be bad.



And the Defence debuff from Helm Splitter finally sticks. At just the right time, too!



Sadly, since Wildcard no longer has the Wulfpade Skill, he doesn't get access to Buff. He'll just have to settle for Oomphle from Wulfspade II, so that means two turns of setting it up instead of one.



And then Wildcard's Buff falls off too. I'm sure it's fine.



The last thing to happen this turn is Li'l Green's action and, er, he attacks. I've been leaving him to the AI set to Focus On Healing, so presumably it decided that there was no healing to be done.



Next up is Captain Crow, who just attacks. I'd like to remind everyone that this amount of damage is with 5 tension.



And then, of course, his tension drops back down to zero.



With no more relevant debuffs to inflict, Brickman just attacks. With the combination of one stack of Oomphle and Helm Splitter this is doing much more damage than before.



Speaking of Oomphle, here comes the second stack! There's only one turn left now.



Midheal is by no means necessary at this point, but the AI doesn't know that.



And then Captain Crow spent his last turn using Psych Up. Remember what I said about this fight being against the RNG? Well, it's true. With the exact same strategy there was an overwhelmingly different result just because he didn't use this ability as much.



Brickman attacks. Good job! You did some damage!



And then Wildcard attacks. Better job! You did a ridiculous quantity of damage!



In fact, it was so ridiculous that Captain Crow dies right then and there. Congratulations, Team Euchre!

Music: None



Of course, it wouldn't be a boss fight without the boss dropping an item. The Chain Whip is, well, a whip. It's decent, but I don't really like whips that much. They hit all enemies from left to right, but they're pretty weak and decrease in power for every target they hit.



Arrr, I'd rather be dead than thrown in the brig like a common criminal. If you have any mercy in yar heart, you'll throw me o'erboard.



You would set me free? Arrr, the shame would be too great.



Captain Crow forces himself into Euchre's team.



For defeating Captain Crow, Euchre gets to use him. As it turns out, he's a very important monster - he's the first Rank S that Euchre's come across so far, so synthesising him with any monster will bump them up to the top of their generic synthesis lines. You might think that this would be a terrible idea, but it's not since the Captain can just be rematched again in order to get another copy.

On top of that, he's got some very nifty synthesis recipes associated with him that Euchre can't do right now but are key to getting some of the best monsters in the game up to and including the final boss. And if those aren't your thing, he can always be used for Psycho.



And from that day forward, pirates terrorised the seas of Green Bays no more.

Or at least until Euchre decides to synthesise Captain Crow, anyway. Then they'll just come back again.

In any case, now that Euchre's done pretty much everything available to him apart from progressing the plot, he'll finally be exploring Fert Isle next time.

Extra: The Monster Library

Captain Crow





Captain Crow has the Skills Captain Crow and Attack Boost when obtained from his sidequest, and cannot be synthesised. He has the Trait Psycho and is immune to Whack, Confusion and Paralysis.

Captain Crow is only learned by, well, Captain Crow. As a unique Skill from a boss fight, it's pretty good, although sadly some of its abilities aren't very good outside of the single-player parts of the game. More specifically, Penny Pincher and Klepto Clobber are the only stealing abilities in the game, and as such they only work on wild monsters. They're pretty nice to have if you're looking for money or good item drops, though. Next up is Blinding Blow, which is always a nice ailment-inflicting ability. Next up is Multislash, which is always nice. Then there are some Zap-elemental abilities: Thunderbolt Slash, Gigaslash and Gigagash. The first does physical damage, and the other two do semi-fixed damage much like the unique Incarnus abilites. They're also pretty strong and Gigagash hits everything, so they're very nice options for damage if a bit costly in terms of MP. Finally, the Skill teaches Master of Weapons, which allows its user to equip any weapon. It's not particularly useful most of the time, sadly, since most monsters can equip an adequate selection of weapons anyway. Overall this Skill is nice but there are definitely others available that are better. Of course, those won't come into play for some time...