Part 30: The Reclaimed Throne

"Alright, we're going to Santeem. Alena, it's your kingdom so we need you. Taloon, I don't know what you did to Keeleon but I want you to do it again. Ragnar, I like your taste in axes. Everybody else, wait in the wagon.

"Ragnar likes Lady Hero's taste in axes too!"

"Well, who wants to play some cards?"

"I'll take you up on that young lady. Maybe we should make the game a bit more interesting?"



"That reminds me.. Ragnar, this is for you. I think you can use it. Just this once I'll even give it for free."

"Thank you. Ragnar is fast now like crossbow bolt."

"For a given value of fast..."

"Hey Alena, any idea where Santeem is?"

"Vaguely.. northish? I didn't pay much attention in geography."



"Wait a second, I recognize that tower. Keep going north."



"Town or castle first?"

"The castle is empty, so there's no real hurry.. and I recall seeing some magic doors in the town."

"I'm with the course that leads to possible loot."



"We might have to make a circuit around to open any doors like this we passed by."



"Huh. A weapon store. This would have been really useful when I was just starting out."

"Ragnar is not impressed since he already has an axe."



"If that's true, the present King may have the same power."

"That explains a lot. Maybe dad wasn't so crazy."

"Did he foretell anything useful?"

"Not particularly. Just a vague sense of foreboding right before everybody in the castle disappeared."



"I think we've figured out what to do with Brey."

"Not quite yet. Besides, I think I could do a bit better than this for him."

"No offense meant to your family or your house, ma'am."



"begged me to put up a signpost to help his daughter who was in trouble."

"Let me see... where did I put it up?.. what did it say? .. I can't remember."

"That is such bullshit! I did not need a signpost to find that damn village!"

"Ragnar would have been grateful for a sign when he was looking for missing childrens."



"Master Dragon is so strong. Long ago, he imprisoned the Ruler of Evil in darkness. I think the people of Stancia in the northern sea can tell you more about Zenithian Castle."

"I think maybe he meant this signpost..."

"Hard to imagine he forgot about it when it's right behind his house..I'm pretty sure he meant the direction sign."

"Oh, shut it. This was the sign. Now let's go kick Balzack out of my castle."

"Ragnar disagrees with kicking of Balzacks."



"Keep laughing, chuckles. You won't be running this castle for long."



"You're in the kitchen... it shouldn't be that ha.. hey! Back off!"



"Ha! Demon must be hungry to have such a giant fork, but Ragnar has gianter axe!"



"Let's kick its ass and take that treasure!"

"It's a living flame.. I don't believe it actually HAS an ass to kick.

"Ragnar has not let that stop him before."

"I think it might just be easier to fight Balzack and then come back."



"I really want to fight him now. I don't even want to think of what kind of mess these things have made of the hallways."



"And cats too, that son of a bitch."

"Red kitties! Like Ragnar's friend Healie!"

"Healie? That reminds me.. someone named Healie helped us rescue you. He said to tell you that he wished you luck and that he was grateful for all your help."

"Healie was a good kitty. I hope he finds a good home."

"A.. kitty?"



"Poor deluded fool. That's not going to do anything."



"Yeah, he's a complete asshole. Don't worry though, we'll fix that for you."

"Ragnar hears a kitty! Let's go find him first!"



"Meena says the King of Santeem had a strange power."

"She says you should talk to a person in Surene who can tell you you more."

"We're a bit ahead of you, but thank you."



"And thank you Meena. Good kitty!"



"Even Necrosaro the Master.. no that Necrosaro is not match for me."

"Come! You foolish, weak humans!"

"Pfft. You talk big, but we already kicked your boss Keeleon's ass."



"..although he's a whole log bigger than Keeleon."

"You said log. Did you mean lot?"

"I might have been a bit focused on that giant club he's got there."



"I've felt worse cold breezes opening an outhouse door accompanied by better smells."



"I think.. he took that as a challenge.."



"Sorry.. about that.."

Welcome to brick wall #2. He's a lot like Keeleon, only even bigger and meaner with a nastier group attack. 40 damage per round to all characters makes it hard to keep up on the healing with a single healer, especially when he can also hit single characters for 50+ damage as well. You could try and switch characters around, but.. that's not what we're here for.

Some time later..

"Okay, that didn't work out so well. What can we do to take him?"

"Try again, harder this time!"

"We could go looking for treasures and weapons and see if we can find something that'll turn the tide."

"Ragnar thinks that this problem can be solved with a bigger axe."



"My secret sense is tingling."

"It certainly can't hurt to investigate compared to going back to Santeem."



"Oh god.. there's only one, right?"

"Ragnar is only seeing one.."

"Good. Keep watching and tell me if it starts to split."



"They say long ago the Ruler of Evil's palace existed somewhere around here."

"Then why the hell do you LIVE here?"

"Nobody's charging me rent here."



"Consider this back rent as I annex this island."



"Sea kitties!"

"You can't pet them Ragnar.. you really don't want to, trust me."



"What a crime against trade.. a seaside town with no harbor."



"I think the flying ice lizards might have something to do with that."



"Or the giant rhinoscerous men. That would put me off."

"Ragnar could be axe friends with rhino man."



"I commend the imaginative abilities of your ancestors."

"I don't. Where's the port!?"



"Are you familiar with the legend of the Hourglass of Regression?"

"Can't say as I have.. although I have a feeling you're going to tell me about it no matter what I say.

"The legend says the Sandglass of Regression can reverse time slightly."

"Are we talking "keep from dropping a glass" here or "Rethink climbing a tree when I was 5?"

"Hell if I know. I imagine it depends on how big the hourglass is."



"That's the best ancestor story I've ever heard."

"Arr?"

"Leaving behind the treasures they'd stolen deep behind a water cascade somewhere in this world..."

"I think this story might have something for everybody."

"They say among the treasures was the ultimate weapon, the Metal Babble Sword."

"I think you're right, Taloon. We just need to find a cascade."



"And that Stone of Drought."

"I'll put 3-1 that it's still right here in the village somewhere."



"This graveyard is submerged by water each night, like a man drowning in the sea."

"Bad. Ass. I love this town."

"Just don't drink the water."



"He's probably working hard all night finding merchandise and fighting monsters, if he's a real merchant."



"Ragnar does not trust smiling rocks. Rocks cannot smile about good things."



"You must have some incredible tides considering how far you are from the beach."



"Kind of. I'm more interested in the hidden loot behind the cascade now."

"You use it to reverse time after a wrong move in battle."

"It's not essential you own it, but it may come in handy."

"I guess so.. maybe by happy coincidence it'll be located where the rest of the treasure is."



"Ragnar does not remember, but was there sandy hill on beach?"

"No, there wasn't... let's mark that spot and check it out tomorrow."



"That turned out much easier than I thought it would."

"Let's make up for it by checking out a few locked doors. I just remembered one."



"Ragnar is once again not a relationship therapist, but it is probably not healthy for newlyweds to sleep in separate beds."



"I'm more worried about the king being locked in the room right next to them."

"It's probably better not to ask about that.. or why he has a leotard."

"Hmm. I'll be taking that. I think it'll be easier to fight in than this stupid cloak."



"You know your majesty, I can probably arrange a contractor to expand your living area quite cheaply.."

"This is just.. sad."



"DAMMIT! I knew that was going to come back and bite me in the ass!"



"I think we might have just found our edge.. we just need a LOT of money."

"Well we could..."

"...."

"..kill a lot of monsters until we have enough gold."



"Oh, stuff it already will you? We've heard it before and this time we're going to kick your ass."

"Well you don't have to be so rude about it."



"Yes, actually we did."

"That never gets old."



"But as long as the Secret of Evolution exists, I will never fall.. I will... I will.. Gasp!"

"Gasping is generally not encouraged when someone has as many holes in them as you do."

"You probably should have gotten a warranty on that."



"Hmm.. they weren't so much serving him as observing him.."



"It's said the Golden Bracelet amplifies the evil force!"

"Should we just come out and kill them?"

"Nah. If we let them keep chattering they'll probably tell us all kinds of useful information."



"Our time, the time of the evil force, will come! Ha, ha, ha!"

"Or will start wtih the maniacal laughter and say nothing more of value."

"Well.. I think they're done. Do you think that flame is gone yet?"



"I don't know what this is, but it looks pretty promising."



"I'm more interested in this. I wonder what it was doing in here?"

"Screw it. Let's go find that kingdom that might know more about the Master Dragon."

End of Update Snapshot



I kind of gained a good few levels in this update, as you can see but have decided not to do level up screen shots since it's getting ridiculous at this point. Lamarck's finally starting to catch up on the MP front to where she can use her spells regularly.



Ragnar's about to hit 200 HP at this point. He's got even more attack power than the hero, but that poor agility is killing his defense. Ragnar crushes and is crushed in return! You can see that he's also catching up in level very quickly.



Alena's not far behind Ragnar, but... look at that strength! She's an absolute monster in a fight, and she's still doing great with defense because of her agility.



Taloon is still holding his own pretty well. As you can see he got the Metal Babble Armor since he can probably get the most use out of it. Also, the last thing you want to have Taloon doing is guarding when his weird actions might give you some breathing space.



Cristo is still Cristo. He's really starting to suffer a bit in comparison to the front liners, but he'd still be a good choice for when you need an extra healer. He'll come into his own as he gets more group healing spells.



Nara's HP is starting to look really poor in comparison to Cristo, and she's even got less MP. I think she's doing a bit better as far as attack and defense goes, but...I don't think it's really enough.



Mara's actually our highest level character along with Taloon, and it's paying off. I think the most noteable stat is her luck, which is pretty unbelievable.



Not that Brey's a slacker in that department, although his slow leveling is killing him. He's probably going to end up as our lowest level character before too much longer, and his defense is pretty terrible.