Part 25: Spider Dance

Update 19: Spider Dance



Been a while since I've seen some action. Let's get moving.
Rrr rer!
How did this happen. How did I end up on the exploration party twice in a row?
Having a backup plan when someone gets badly injured is always a good idea.
...I'm a "backup plan?"
L-let's just go get some breakfast from Regina, and go exploring! Sophie said there's a new Ginnungagap floor.

The LP's narrative technically doesn't have a protagonist, but Realga and Stardust have gotten a lot of screentime--they were in the first party, the Chimaera party, the 2nd Stratum second half party, and now the 3rd stratum first half party. Oh well, Medics and Alchemists are useful.



Here's Asriel's updated build. I maxed out Horse Slash on him--it deals less damage than a max-level Swallow Strike, but it's far more TP efficient for the early game. I also picked up a lot of Flame Grater levels, skipping the max level to save some TP.



Ursa's updated build. I maxed out Hit-Taker and Beast Roar, and started to invest in Preemptive Roar.



Realga's gotten all of one point in Overheal since we last saw her.



I rested Stardust after Flame Demon to re-allocate her skill points into Inferno Formula. She's otherwise the same.



Jackie's build here is irrelevant since she'll be taking a rest later in the update.

Not pictured: upgrading everyone's equipment to the latest stuff. None of the upgrades were really notable, though.



Bleh. Everything's dusty. This place smells of old, too.
It's some kind of ancient shrine or something. Duchy wants us to make sure it's safe.
Why do they care about the state of some old ruins that normal people can't visit?
The Duchy's paying us to keep this place clean. Let's just get it over with.




Welcome to Ginnungagap B2F: More of the Same.



Even the drawbridges are back.


Ahhh!
Hmm?! Monsters?!
N-no, sorry. Just a spider at my feet. This place is making me jumpy...
No kidding. Did we really have to come at night?

Ginnungagap's atmosphere is a pretty stark contrast to the Yggdrasil Labyrinth. It feels super claustrophobic with all of its cramped corridors and lack of big, open spaces.





Bugbear
HP: 365, STR: 23, VIT: 17
Skills:

• Infectious Club: Uses the arms. Deals light Bash damage to one target. Reduces the amount of HP recovered from healing skills on the hit target.

Drops:

• Normal: Eerie Tail. Sells for 64 en. 1 needed to make Purple Glove (+13 DEF, +1 STR.) 3 needed to make Fairy Cuirass (+31 DEF).
  "Purple tail from a Bugbear. Because of its eerie appearance, some avoid touching it."

Damage resistances:

• Normal: Cut, Stab, Fire, Volt
  
• Weak: Bash
  
• Resist: Ice

Disable resistances:

• Normal: Blind, Paralysis, Panic, Sleep, Fear, Petrification, Instant Death, Stun, Head bind, Arm bind, Leg bind
  
• Weak: Curse
  
• Resist: Poison

A hideous creature of Ginnungagap, carrying toxins that prevent recovery.

Bugbears really aren't much to worry about. They don't deal a ton of damage, and the HP recovery debuff would be a concern if random encounters lasted for more than 2-4 turn usually.


Red Haggis
HP: 994, STR: 15, VIT: 15
Skills:

• Holy Fire: Uses the head. Deals heavy Fire damage to one row.

Drops:

• Normal: Crest Feather. Sells for 63 en. 1 needed to make Quill Boots (+11 DEF, +10 TP, +1 TEC).
  "Feather from the head of the cute Red Haggis. A popular ornament for weapons and armor."

Damage resistances:

• Normal: Cut, Bash, Volt
  
• Weak: Stab, Bash
  
• Resist: Fire

Disable resistances:

• Normal: Blind, Poison, Paralysis, Panic, Curse, Fear, Petrification, Instant Death, Stun, Arm bind, Leg bind
  
• Weak: Sleep
  
• Resist: Head bind

Many adventurers have underestimated it by looks...and been burnt to ash for that mistake.

Red Haggises are just as annoying as Haggises were. You'd best get as much mileage as possible out of the fact that they start the fight asleep, since Holy Fire can easily kill your party if you don't kill it in time.


Brbrblr...
Can... Can bears normally turn their fur green?


My medicine doesn't seem to be helping, either.



Your occasional reminder that rare breeds can run away from fights.


Blame my blade.



I don't understand the point behind putting drawbridges as shortcuts...that can only be opened from one side.
Maybe the ancient ones that built this weren't that smart.



That's quite the overgrown ape.
What is with those huge hands?!


White Orangutan
HP: 540, STR: 24, VIT: 18
Skills:

• Destructive Claw: Uses the arms. Deals around three instances of light Cut damage to random targets. Mildly inaccurate.

Drops:

• Normal: Massacre Claw. Sells for 77 en. 1 needed for Heshikiri (+86 ATK).
  "Dense monkey claw that can crack boulders. It's prized for making quality weapons with."

Damage resistances:

• Normal: Cut, Stab, Bash, Ice, Volt
  
• Weak: Fire

Disable resistances:

• Normal: Blind, Poison, Sleep, Curse, Fear, Petrification, Instant Death, Stun, Head bind, Arm bind, Leg bind
  
• Weak: Panic
  
• Resist: Paralysis

An ape with long, steely claws and enough muscle to tear a suit of armor in half.

Here is my opinion on White Orangutans, and what's special about them:

I hope it was enlightening.


Rrph.


I might've gone overboard with healing that.


Hoo hoo, now that's some stopping power!



It's just too easy.




One tile-wide corridors as far as the eye can see. At least they're more twisty than EO1's one tile-wide corridors.


RRERR, RRERR, RRERR!


Hold still, I'll put the fire--


--out. Aaaaagh.


Is that...skittering I hear from behind the door?


O-oh my. The entire web is covered in roofs--I mean the entire roof is covered in webs...
No. It can't be...


I hate these creatures with a passion.
SYSTEM: You glance left, right, and then slowly upward...and see that the ceiling is covered in web. A spider hangs, watching. You resolve to be wary of the monster remaining carefully out of your reach, and progress onward.


There is nothing more disgusting, more vile, more revolting, more useless than a spider. Just an absolutely abominable organism.
...That's maybe getting a little overly into it.

Binding Spiders are a slightly special FOE. They completely ignore terrain, and if we get within a 4 tile-long line in front of it, it will prepare to spit web at us, which immobilizes us for a few turns. If the Binding Spider starts a fight while we're in the web, we'll start the battle fully bound. So, uh, try to avoid getting into a fight.


SYSTEM: You gaze at the web thoughtfully, and an idea occurs to you...
Stardust. Burn this web right now.


The world is a safer place with that spider's death.

It doesn't matter where the Binding Spider is, burning the web on the wall will drop it into the death pit.



Never hurts to have these things.



I apologize if it seems like I'm skipping a lot, but Ginnungagap B2F really doesn't have a lot going on. None of the random encounters are really worth talking about.



This puzzle's pretty easy. Just run straight for the web strand and you'll outpace the spider.


Yeek!


Enjoy spinning webs in hell.


Hm. Whoever runs this floor obviously wants to challenge my patience...
Asriel... They're just spiders.



This is another kind of simple puzzle. You just have to bait the spider here into wasting a few turns by spitting web, by standing over here and then moving away.



The wasted turns will let you cross the one tile-wide chokepoint without the spider blocking it.






Here's Preemptive Roar kicking in, before I detail the Chi You.


Chi You
HP: 894, STR: 27, VIT: 22
Skills:

• Head Splitter: Uses the arms. Deals moderate Bash damage to one row. Attempts to bind hit targets' heads.

Drops:

• Normal: Horn Shard. Sells for 147 en. 1 needed to make Steel Khakkhara (+58 ATK, +3 TEC, +3 VIT). 3 needed to make Horn Shield (+25 DEF).
  "Broken horn from the head of a Chi You. It can be reforged as incredibly strong iron."

Damage resistances:

• Weak: Fire, Ice, Volt
  
• Resist: Cut, Stab, Bash

Disable resistances:

• Normal: Blind, Poison, Paralysis, Panic, Sleep, Curse, Fear, Petrification, Instant Death, Head bind, Arm bind, Leg bind
  
• Resist: Stun

Few adventurers have the resolve to face this four-eyed, six-armed nemesis.

Chi Yous are a pretty big step up from what we've seen in Ginnungagap B2F. They hit pretty damn hard, and head binds can seriously screw over caster classes like Medics and Alchemists. Them resisting all types of physical damage also means taking them down takes quite a while.

...Which is a problem right now, since the Binding Spider is one step away from us.



So I just bust out Issen.




Still leveling up Overheal.



Buh-bye.


Hmph. So the spiders are teaming up on us now. Crafty bastards.




I successfully trick the upper spider into wasting a few turns...



Before a random encounter screwed it up.



Leading to this.



I could still sidestep the web, thankfully.



And then I burnt the web down.



There's also a one-way shortcut here. (Ignore the wrong icon.)


I...don't really need this.

The game's giving us a hint about the upcoming boss fight here.


...Does anyone else hear laughing from the other side of the door?
Yeah. Pretty smug-sounding laughter too.
SYSTEM: Deep in these ruins, there must dwell a monster stronger than the Basilisk you previously encountered... If you are prepared to confront a powerful enemy, than you may enter. If you are not ready, then you are free to return to town to prepare.
Let's go back to town. The pack's starting to get a little heavy.




A nice amount of cash.



I also invest some of our excess cash (from doing the DLC money grinding quest) in the North Ward and Uptown.



I set up a new ad campaign before leaving, as well.




Steel Khakkhara (+58 ATK, +3 TEC, +3 VIT) is unlocked by selling 1 Horn Shard. It's useful for support Medics, but the TEC/VIT bonuses for Vital Hit Combat Medics gets outpaced by even the first staff you can unlock in the 3rd Stratum.

Heshikiri (+86 ATK) is unlocked by selling 1 Massacre Claw. It's a very significant upgrade from Asriel's Tachi, and I buy one for him.

Yellow Tunic (+16 DEF) is unlocked by selling 5 Yellow Plumes. We were supposed to unlock this back on B1F so, uh, whoops.

Purple Glove (+13 DEF, +1 STR) is unlocked by selling 1 Eerie Tail. It's a nice bit of equipment for STR-based damage dealers.

Quill Boots (+11 DEF, +10 TP, +1 TEC) is unlocked by selling 1 Crest Feather. Decent boots for caster classes.

At this point, I grinded for a little while to get Asriel 2 levels and to get everyone better Grimoires. I also rested Jackie and reallocated her skill points heavily into Charged Fire. I unfortunately lost the footage of this due to editing screwups, but the big takeaways from this are:

• Stardust now has a level 10 Compression Grimoire (so Compression is now level 20) and a level 6 Inferno Formula Grimoire.
  
• Jackie swapped out her level 4 Charged Ice Grimoire for a level 10 Charged Fire Grimoire.
  
• Ursa's Hit-Taker Grimoire is now level 9 instead of level 4.

I'm getting a bad feeling about this...



My word. That is the biggest and ugliest spider I have ever seen. I'm going to need the big boot...
Wait. There's something protruding from it...


Oh...oh my.
...How does that even work?!
W-what part? The woman part, or...
Not just the human part! Why does she have purple feathers covering her shoulders?!


She's upside-down, too! How are they even covering her--
Rrer rr rerr, Rerrgr.


SYSTEM: But the spider awaiting you is unlike anything you have encountered on this floor. With the beautiful visage of a young woman, and a spider's body, this must be the fearsome monster Arachne. The Arachne does not attempt to pursue you, but rather looks in your direction, her lips curving into a smile. However, her silken smile is laced with certain evil. In her face, you glimpse for a moment her true wicked intent... You can confront her head-on with weapons drawn, or you can find a strand of web and set fire to it.

Don't face Arachne head on. You will really, REALLY regret it.




Arachne does the same thing the Binding Spiders did, except in a 3x3 square. And yes, if she catches you while you're stuck in the web, the party starts the fight fully bound.



That's the only web you need to dodge, though.


Gck...! Damn spider!
Rr--!
Aaaaah, I can't move!
This is some really damn sticky silk!

We're immobilized for 4 steps here. Thankfully, Arachne needs to take a turn to, well, turn, so we're not in that much danger here.



Just keep eating the webs. After this one, you just need to bolt towards the web strands on the wall.


Burn it burn it burn it! Hurry!
Calm down, Jackie. Let me just light these matches...


Ahh. What a satisfying crunching sound.
I don't think she's dead yet...

VIDEO: Boss Fight: Arachne


Feel my blade's cold steel, you beasted wretch!
Wretched beast--oh, whatever.

Burning Arachne's web immobilizes her on the field and lops off a whopping 40% of her HP. Note that you only get a preemptive on Arachne if you approach her from the back.





Arachne
HP: 17000 (lowered to 10200 by burning the web), STR: 26, VIT: 25
Skills:

• Venomous Bite: Uses the head. Deals heavy Bash damage to the front row. Has a high chance of inflicting Poison with 100 base damage on hit targets.
  
• Poison Marsh: Uses the head. Covers the battlefield in poison. At the end of every turn for 3 turns, deals untyped damage to the entire party. Damage starts in the single digits, but increases with every time Arachne uses it.
  
• Silk Spit: Uses the head. Deals moderate Stab damage to one target. Attempts to bind all body parts of the hit target.
  
• Silk Spread: Uses the head. Deals heavy Stab damage to the entire party. Attempts to bind all body parts of hit targets.
  
• Stinger: Uses the legs. Deals heavy Stab damage to one target, with line-piercing effect. Attempts to stun hit targets.

Drops:

• Normal: Woven Thread. Sells for 901 en. 1 needed to make Spinneret Gown (+27 DEF, +2 AGI).
  "Powerful thread that binds one's movement. Spun in a special way and difficult to cut."

Damage resistances:

• Normal: Cut, Stab, Bash, Ice, Volt
  
• Weak: Fire

Disable resistances:

• Normal: Paralysis, Sleep, Curse, Arm bind, Leg bind
  
• Resist: Panic, Fear, Stun, Head bind
  
• Nullify: Blind, Poison, Petrification, Instant Death

Pattern:

• Uses Venomous Bite on Turn 3, then every 4 turns after.
  
• Uses Poison Marsh on Turn 4, then every 4 turns after.
  
• First Stinger cast is random after she falls below 25%. After that, Stinger is cast every 8 turns.

A spider-like monster guarding Ginnungagap with its immobilizing silkweb.

Do you have head binds? Great, you've basically won the fight. If you don't, Arachne mostly comes down to a war of attrition: either you kill her after a while, or she kills you after you've run out of TP.

Venomous Bite is a pain to deal with even if you have Front Guard, since the poison's enough to kill most any class after the initial hit.

Poison Marsh might seem negligible at first, but after a few casts, it becomes a problem since you can't revive anyone without also healing them on the same turn, or else they'll die immediately to Poison Marsh.

Silk Spit is annoying as shit, as I'm sure you can infer. The damage is kinda negligible, but anyone getting all of their body parts bound can seriously screw you over. Keep some Therica As on hand!

Silk Spread is Silk Spit but even worse.

Stinger's kind of a non-factor since it's actually less deadly than Silk Spread, and Arachne only uses it when she's about to die anyway.



Asriel needs to set up Upper Stance.



Ursa will debuff Arachne's physical damage to make her tanking job easier.



Realga still has that high-level Warrior Song that she got before Chimaera. Good thing too, since the party would not have enough damage to kill Arachne before everyone runs out of TP otherwise.



Same stuff as always for Stardust.



Jackie will activate Action Boost immediately because I'll need Supreme Bolt on Turn 3.


EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE--
STOP THAT! Please! Why're you doing that, Realga?!
What else do you want?! I can't sing!



Decent damage.



I have Asriel turn on Immovable to lengthen Upper Stance and conserve his TP.



Standard Ursa + Realga stuff.



And Stardust will begin torching the spider.



Oh. Horse Slash is only level 10 compared to Charged Fire's level 20, yeah, but Asriel really isn't dealing that much damage. Flame Grater wouldn't be faring much better.


Fwoosh.

Now THAT'S nice. Remember that Inferno Formula is only level 16, too.


I don't like the looks of that...

Arachne telegraphs Venomous Bite by doing this.



I have Ursa and Realga refresh buff/debuff durations. Why am I doing that, you may ask?



Because I'm going to just stun Arachne.


Hold still!



Ehhhh. I'm not entirely comfortable with the fact that we've only taken off half of the HP Arachne started with, and Asriel/Stardust's Force Boosts are about to run out.



Realga has nothing better to do this turn, so I have her prep Overheal.



If the fight goes on long enough for Analysis to regenerate, Stardust will probably be out of TP, so I just have her use Eschaton.



Jackie will just spam Charged Fire until she runs out of TP.


Oogh, that smells foul.
It's seeping through my boots!


Alright, where'd I put the protective bandages...



Oops. Using Eschaton was a mistake--I lost out on almost 200 damage by using it instead of Inferno Formula.


Urk!



Hrm. This isn't looking that great.



Salve is usually what I use in combination with Overheal.



Stardust needs to recast Compression.



Notice how everyone's max HP is higher than normal: that's Overheal in action.



Ahahaha, Arachne got dicked there. The only body part that Ursa cares about is her arms.



Kinda unfortunately, Poison Marsh takes effect after Overheal goes away.



It's still nice damage, but Stardust is starting to run out of TP.



Uh-oh.



I have Ursa enable Desperation, since she will 100% die to Venomous Bite without it.



Realga'll toss Jackie an Amrita since Jackie's gonna run out of TP after this turn otherwise.



Bear in mind Ursa's taking reduced damage thanks to Hit-Taker. Asriel would've died to that if Ursa didn't tank it and Ursa herself would've died to the initial hit plus the poison...probably.



This is a huge fuckup on my part. Stardust would get a lot more out of 6 Fire Formula casts than this one Cocytus Formula.



The last turn passed uneventfully. As for this: eh, why not? Battle's either going to end in a win or a loss soon.



I really regret using Cocytus Formula--it dealt ~300 damage with 32 TP, and Fire Formula could've dealt ~500 damage over five turns.



Jackie has to switch to Fire Rounds at this point.


Hrrr rr rr!



True Endurance nullifies all binds and ailments (aside from instant death) while it's in effect, remember.



Fire Rounds is level 5 and hitting a weakness--consider that Horse Slash is dealing barely more damage than it at level 11.



It helps, but I'm starting to get worried at this point.



Arachne's almost dead, but Stardust is completely out of TP and Jackie's about to run out after this turn.


Archaic...hooligan...



If Salve was level 10, Asriel would've probably lived there.



Welp. I guess Ursa's gonna have to die to keep everyone else alive.



I have to use Medical Miracle, otherwise Asriel will die to Poison Marsh after being revived.


We're so close! C'mon, keep going!


Rrrgh...



Holy shit, the luckiest fucking Double Attack proc. Bear in mind that thing is only level 1.

(If you're wondering why I had Asriel attack, it's because Upper Stance ran out.)


The katana master just oorah-zuki'd your ass.
Was... Was that just gibberish or is that an actual thing?



God that was close.



The world is a better place now that this primordial boogeywoman is dead.
Asriel, please, give the spider thing a rest.
SYSTEM: You have successfully eliminated the threat in the ruins! The quest asking you to slay the monster dwelling on Ginnungagap's 2nd floor is now complete. You can choose to go back to town, or you can choose to further explore the ruins.



The room at the northeast of the Arachne room has this treasure chest in it. I'm not complaining.


Huh. It's like the seal on those locked doors in the Labyrinth.
It's different though! Maybe it's unlock--
NO. We're going back to town right now.


SYSTEM: Perhaps later, once you have taken a new request and it becomes necessary, you may have some interest in exploring further.




Spinneret Gown (+27 DEF, +2 AGI) is unlocked by selling 1 Woven Thread. It's a nice defense boost for our back line and, in Jackie's case, a small damage boost.



Nice, nice. Sadly the Guest Troubadours from the North Ward didn't have any interesting Grimoires.



The new campaigns.



And I invested some money into Slum development before I left.



Hey, welcome back! I heard it was gonna be a dangerous mission, but I figured it wouldn't be any trouble for yeh lot.
Ehhhhhhhhh... That spider fight came really, really close.
Eh? It wasn't that easy? Yeh know, yeh lot need to learn to be less humble! Don't worry, I'll tell the Palace Lumen handled it. Awright, here's yer reward. Go on, don't be shy! Take the damn thing! I'll see yeh next time!





Asriel has the skills I want on him for now, and I'm gonna rest him eventually, so I'm just going for passives right now.



Putting another point into Preemptive Roar.



Another point into Overheal, too.



I'm not gonna get a lot of use out of Cocytus Formula in the 3rd Stratum, but eh.



I opt to start investing in Burst Shot at this point.

Next time: we start exploring the Frozen Grounds.