Escape from Hell Part #6

Part 6: Satan rules

So Dante (13 votes) + Khan (12 votes) it is.

As it happens, other recruitable characters aren't particularly happy about being sacked.

Hamlet wistfully takes a roundabout approach.

Ach-Chu is full of questions.

Khan would be predictably enraged... if we didn't recruit him, that is. Sorry, it's all for the LP's sake, Ghenghis, dear.

John W. Booth, you did well, but goddamn party limit.

We also temporarily ditch Dante just to witness his reaction. Poor guy; poets are such sensitive plants.

Tallgeese posted:

Let's see what happens with Shakespeare if we bring him Hamlet and Horatio.

Nothing.

What a horrible design omission.

One thing we should take care of before proceeding to Lucifer's Landing and then to level two is the parachute. The only one we can obtain it from is a lonely guy in the northeastern corner of the map.

We get extremely lucky and obtain an Unholy Mace in a loot drop. Khan will love it.
Unholy Mace is the best melee weapon you can find on the first level. Wish we had found it sooner, though.

The parachute guy is a fan of Hell's most popular rock band, the 'Tudes. Good thing we grabbed that tape in Limbo.

We leave the tape on the table by using the Give command when standing in front of it.

The guy not only gives Richard a parachute, but also teaches him a new active skill, Parachuting:

I've no idea why that skill is placed under Active; as we're going to see, it will be used automatically when descending to level two.

Meanwhile, Richard has made it to level three, gaining a Max HP and a Strength increase.

Having reached level two, Dante only gets his Max HP, Strength, and Stamina minimally improved. Oh well, you chose him.

To reach Limbo, located in the southeastern corner of Hell's level one, we head south from the Recruitment Cave along the border of the map.

Welcome to Lucifer's Landing. Having our Hell Badge equipped is definitely a good idea in here --

not only because the statue, as usual, heals us...

...but also because the badge deceives the guards into letting us in. They will regret that, really soon.

Oh hey, the game is even nice enough to keep us from falling off the bridge into the lava river.

Crossing the bridge prompts an excited comment from Khan. Party banter!

Rivers of lava, rivers of muck. The place where Lucifer once landed doesn't look too welcoming.

Filthy watery muck stops you...

No swimming around either.

On the ground, some kind of message seems to be written amidst the sea of muck. Let's see...

Oh, how clever. Satan has some really grown-up and mature minions.

Dante speaks words of encouragement as we cross the narrow green bridge and turn north.

The wind grows stronger here, and the demons are non-hostile... for now.
And yeah, about that number 6 you can see in the screenshot...

Devilish, isn't it?

The wind is getting stronger as we press on north.

That's because we're approaching the Receiving tube.

This is where those arriving from level 2 end up.

To the west is Flicka's office. Flicka is a Hell captain and a friend of lawyer Milton's from the second update:

Let's see just what it is he can do for us.

"I wish now only to foil it and all who control it. I'll help you on your quest by teaching you how to use a machine gun. I left mine around here somewhere, you can take it with you if you can find it."

Flicka teaches Automatic/SMG to Richard, which will come in really handy. Machine guns are deadly.

We also grab a Care bracelet off the table. Now we only need to find someone who's in need of some CARE...

The inscription on the table tells us the receipt of making Healing Elixir from Fairy Dust. For that, we need to mix the Dust with the flames from a location called Flicka's Flame, which is simply a certain pool of lava we can find on the world map.

Nearby, Moriarty wants a Pistol in exchange for telling us the location of Flicka's Flame. We aren't carrying one, but that doesn't really matter. The only reason to go to Flicka's Flame would be for Healing Elixir anyway, and we have no need of it at the moment.

To the south of here is a forbidden zone.

Naturally, we disregard the warning.

And this is where everyone in Lucifer's Landing turns hostile on us. No wonder; disobeying Satan would be... um, suicide?

Monsters in here are much tougher varieties of those we encountered earlier. Instead of Enforcers, for one, there are now Giant Demons.

Loot is the only reason to explore these well-guarded areas and suffer through the high encounter rate.

Pitch Fork is a very appropriate weapon, I guess, but unfortunately not a particularly powerful one.

This muck "dungeon" is pretty basic. Then again, this is a pretty basic kind of cRPG.

Richard finds a Police Shield!

Richard finds a Trench Coat!

Richard finds a Asbestos Suit!

Richard finds a Hockey Mask!

Due to limited inventory space, we have to discard most melee weapons we find (most of them are shitty anyway), hoarding armour and ranged weapons only instead. (I've edited the weapon and armour list into the OP, by the way, in case you're curious about the stuff we find.)

Richard finds a OrnateBracelet!

Richard finds a Gold Necklace!

Pieces of jewellery are mercilessly dropped. Trinkets are worthless in Hell.

Rocket Launcher, being a mighty good ranged group target weapon, is a keeper, though. So is Mac 10 (must be Flicka's weapon, I believe).

Both allow us to plow with ease even through tougher mobs.

Bombs sound cool and all, but we have no use for them really. Plus, there will be an unlimited supply of them later.

Assault Rifles are high-end, but only have 20 uses each.

In another incredibly lucky loot drop, we get a Hell Sabre, which is just the perfect kind of weapon for Dante. The poet of Hell with a Hell Sabre. Devils, beware!

One particularly tough fight has us pitted against two Shotgun-wielding Hell Soldiers. Even after equipping our party with lots of armour and machine guns, it took me two retries to come out victorious.

That particular Ghoul remains friendly for some reason, so we just make our way past him by moving diagonally.

Things almost get nasty again when Common Demons give us hell with their Police Special.

The problem with Common Demons is that they are equipped with freaking Dark Pistols, a most powerful and all-penetrating weapon that works independently of the time frame and whether technology is supposed to work or not.

South from the main intersection is another forbidden zone. Like we care anymore.

Some pretty intense battles follow.

In the northern part of this area, there's a Hell sergeant who has a particularly devious side quest for us.

Yup, you got it right. Single most useless fetch quest in the history of gaming.

Or rather, a fetch quest turned on its head. Normally - in a normal role-playing game - it would've been the other way around: we would've exchanged the (useless) DTI Phone Handset Richard had been carrying from the beginning of the game for a (useful) Demonic Shield.

But anyway. Now that we've thoroughly explored Lucifer's Landing, we could proceed straight to level two. However, we still have unfinished business to take CARE of. For that, let's head back to the City on the Edge of Eternity, to a certain Valkyrie at Minos' 6th Court.

One Care bracelet, fresh from where Lucifer landed.

Hell yeah, 1-0 to God.

But the best thing is, Richard now has a new powerful secret weapon, Angelic Powers, not listed in the manual.

It deals up to ca. 30 damage and, most importantly, has unlimited number of uses.

We return to Limbo and then to the Training Camp to improve Dante's Melee and Rifle skills:

Thanks to all the encounters we've been through, Khan has reached level 5 already:

Quite a bad-ass he is.

Next we go back to Lucifer's Landing. But this time, things have changed:

The minions failed to annihilate Richard, and Satan got really, really angry. The landscape is twisted and ruined now, with no one but the undead roaming the place. Firearms don't seem to be working anymore, to boot.