Part 22: Short Seventeen

Part 21: Short Seventeen

The Lounge Where We Speak of Tomorrow



So how was the floor?

Sand.

Damn I got lucky.

This request is from Mr. Jackson, the owner of Etria's finest restaurant. You might remember him from his earlier request. This time, he wants two Musks from you. I hear you can get Musks from the Goldeer that lives around the 16th floor. Best of luck, kiddos.

New floor, new quests. Spoilers, they're bad, since that's 2 10% drops to get. Have a good time!

they're just as bad in EOU

I hope you like being at the mercy fo the RNG!



I feel like we help this restaurant a bit too much.

It's an honour to serve! Well, not actually serving food, I am a terrible cook.

You know Jackson Restaurant, right? You've already done a couple requests for them. They've got a difficult customer, and want to make a dish that'll satisfy even him. But this list of ingredients he requested... I don't have a clue what he's planning. Anyway, that list is... one Fish Fin, one Dry Peach, and one Red Beak. Sounds like it'll be tasty, but... I still can't visualize it, you know?

We can get two of those easily enough, but the Red Beak is a drop from a B19F enemy, so I dunno why the quest is available now.



Since we beat Cotrangl recently, Cernunos has returned, so we can get his second drop. We will not have trouble.



Oh wow I got the 10% drop on the first try, what are the chances. We'll get Flame and Freeze to level 5 for the moment, with 230% power and... 8 bonus damage. Remember, it goes down for the bigger spells, but you'd never notice 4 less damage overall.

why are the Alchemist spells designed that way?



1 Royal Mane is required for Arcana Rod (Staff, ATK+100, TEC+15, must be restocked), sells for 58,000en.

Now that's something I could have.

Maybe one day we'll have enough money. Oh wait, you guys don't have Karin, so we won't.

While this staff might be quite tempting, by the time you save up enough money for it, you'll be far enough into the game to get similar stat rods at a much, MUCH lower price. Don't bother with this one.

my eyes bugged out of my head at TEC +15 for a sec before i remembered how stats work in EO1




Chip off the old diamond, eh, bruv?

I wonder how much longer he can keep doing this.

50 fuckin Cullinan. Still, I'll be using this spot to grind money for the stratum since I need to buy a million healing items. I actually don't wanna know how much money I spent...




1 Cullinan is required for Royal Ring (Accessory, DEF+1, Bind Resist Up 15%), sells for 10,000en.

1 Steel Chip is required for Steelsword (Sword, ATK+125), sells for 4400en.

5 Steel Chips are required for Shida (Katana, ATK+149), sells for 6440en.

Ooh, I prefer this katana, actua-

We do NOT have the money for that.

The Royal Ring is the only equip that increases bind resistance (aside from a class exclusive item later on), so congrats, binds are 85% as effective on you! What a waste of money. Oh yeah, since these gathering items can be found as regular drops later on, they unlock some real nice stuff immediately, including a new katana 30 ATK better than the previous one five minutes after I unlocked it. Aryll can wait.

Yeeeep, that's your best defense against them. No way to actually deal with binds, so you got to tough them out.

The Withered Forest



Well that looks nice, hopefully the next floor isn't full of sand.

It will be and you will like it.



How does she keep doing that?

Blue and White



Has Man forgotten the terms of the pact with the forest folk, which forbid entry here?

Despite the girl's civil words, her expression is one of pure contempt. You ponder several methods of response to her question...



We are pure in our resolve now, brace yourself!

Oh for- put the weapon down!

Who didn't see this coming?

You ready your weapon as a precaution against the humanoid girl standing before you. Seeing this, the girl laughs spitefully before continuing.

Oh, so? It is Man's way to draw arms against a lone girl?

Still laughing, she points a mocking finger at the forest.

Think thou that I cannot stop you alone? I cannot. But the forest can protect itself... thy journey from here will be a short one.

The girl gives a cruel smile, her eyes never leaving you. You hesitate to brave the girl's sharp tongue again and ask another question...

Excuse our eager friend, there. We came to figure more about you, we would prefer not to fight, so who are the forest folk?



The girl's voice is rich with wisdom... eventually she proceeds, recalling something.

The forest folk differs from Man in that 'tis our destiny to protect this forest. It is our sacred duty to prevent humans from delving deeper into the forest.

The girl's eyes never leave you during her harsh explanation. You hesitate to ask further...

Preventing us from exploring the forest? Is it because of this pact you mentioned?

Is the ancient pact forgotten?

The girl sighs crossly, disdain for you evident in her gaze.

Mayhap thou want reminding. I shall tell thee, if thou agree to quit this place afterward.

She continues in this manner, her strange, harsh speech counter to her innocent appearance...



In the ensuing holy war against Man, we lost many... thus, our people formed a pact. Man would stay in the Sealed Land, and we would withdraw forever to our sacred ground. Never would our two races again meet, for fair or foul. That is the pact of which I speak, that thou violate with thy presence here.

The girl points at you accusingly.

Thou will plead ignorance no longer! Proceed further into the forest at thine own peril!

With this, the girl flees into the forest so quickly that she appears to vanish instantly. You have no way of knowing if the girl spoke truly, but your investigation must continue.

I don't feel like we got anywhere.

Admittedly, it's hard to tell.

We never agreed to leave, so continue we must!

If you noticed, the first option just ends the conversation, while the other two lets you hear the full thing. Weird that games do that sometimes.

Kind of annoying if you want to know what the heck is going on. Later games stopped doing that and either made it clear which option progresses the game, or only had that pop up after you saw all the other options.



Ooh, there's more here than meets the eye.

Good catch, perhaps we've found a secret.



Or just a looping corridor.

Ooh, one of those mazes. Fun.

One way shortcuts! How about that, in a game where you can't sidestep and therefore have to turn the entire time. Honestly, I don't think I'd bother with this LP if I didn't have online maps.

Destruction Begets Decay



Ack, bird!

Fascinating, the wildlife just keeps getting larger and larger.


Immoa

Level: 42
HP: 429
STR: 177
VIT: 93
AGI: 37
LUC: 42
TEC: 33

EXP: 1197

Skills
Stunner: Uses the Legs. A Bash attack that deals 100% damage to a single target and attempts to inflict Paralysis. Has a 40% infliction chance, a 90% accuracy modifier and a 50% speed modifier.
Summon: Uses the Head. Summons an Immoa under certain conditions. Has an 80% speed modifier.

Damage Vulnerabilities
100% 100% 100%
100% 100% 100%

Disable Vulnerabilities
100% 100% 10%
25% 25% 25%

Drops
Normal: Tendon. 30% chance. Sells for 73en.
1 required for Vine Bow (Bow, ATK+97)
5 required for Blade Whip (Whip, ATK+115)
1 required for Gourmand's request

Rare: None

Conditional: None

Oh yeah, the Immoa can summon another, never saw that. They only do it when they're by themselves past turn 3 or if they're below 10% health. Neither of those things are likely to happen with a strong party like this. Anyway, as you can see, these guys fucking hurt, but that's about it. They really like using their normal attack.

normally i have things to say about EOU versions of enemies. i don't, because Immoas are basically the exact same, except they don't summon copies of each other

They can be annoying and drag the battle out if you aren't strong enough. But hopefully that won't be an issue, because if you can't handle them, you're really not gonna like what's coming up eventually.



Fire, do do doooo.

I only got all the elemental spread skills for some variety, since you should just use Thor no matter what, so I've never seen Inferno's animation. It's hilarious mediocre, just a hot wind rolling in from the right.




I've never seen Liana with such concentration.

The cackle she makes when she finds one is also unnerving.

OHOHOHO! OHOHOHOHO!



Sometimes there's multiple one ways to choose from. Better pick correctly!

You like trial and error gameplay, right? Sadly the games still have this in their map design, even in the later games.




Things are escalating quickly.

Seriously, why do so many creatures spit out corroding bile?



We're not that far from unlocking Nectar IIs, so I don't feel as bad using them.



I am not interested in what you have to show us!



No... it can't be... how did we go through a small passageway and end up back here?

Uh... how did we, Aryll?

Well, you got me. By all accounts, it doesn't make sense.

Surprise, motherfucker! Some of these one ways are actually hidden warps that work identically to the flowers from earlier. So we'll mark them as such.



It's like we're back on B3F all over again.

I'd rather forget the 10 times we went through that floor...


Mantis

Level: 39
HP: 400
STR: 167
VIT: 88
AGI: 36
LUC: 40
TEC: 31

EXP: 1024

Skills
Charge: Doesn't use a body part. Charges to use Reaper next turn. Increases ATK by 100% and has an 80% speed modifier.
Reaper: Uses the Arms. A Cut attack that deals 70% damage to a single target and attempts to inflict Instant Death. Has a 15% infliction chance, a 90% accuracy modifier and a 50% speed modifier.

Damage Vulnerabilities
50% 50% 100%
150% 100% 100%

Disable Vulnerabilities
25% 100% 25%
25% 25% 25%

Drops
Normal: Broken Eye. 30% chance. Sells for 72en.
3 required for Breaker (Axe, ATK+151)

Rare: Nyx Scythe. 18% chance. Sells for 80en.
1 required for Halberd (Axe, ATK+116)
3 required for Evil Charm (Accessory, DEF+1, TP+25)

Conditional: Silver Eye (Kill in 1 turn). 40% chance. Sells for 80en.
3 required for Moon Aspis (Shield, DEF+20, VIT+4)

Been a while since we've had a double. Mantises are annoyingly resiliant and hit pretty hard. Like other monsters in this stratum, they tend to attack you instead of use your skills, so we'll never see Reaper. I'm not upset. Also been a while since a proper conditional we could probably do, though the low drop rates are always sad.

They're pretty hard hitters, and can just decide to delete a party member if they want to. Somewhat tough to deal with.


Hexroot

Level: 43
HP: 369
STR: 140
VIT: 96
AGI: 47
LUC: 47
TEC: 47

EXP: 898

Skills
Scream: Uses the Head. Attempts to inflict Curse on a single target. Has a 25% infliction chance, a 100% accuracy modifier and a 30% speed modifier.

Damage Vulnerabilities
100% 100% 100%
150% 50% 50%

Disable Vulnerabilities
50% 100% 1%
100% 100% 100%

Drops
Normal: Dried Vine. 25% chance. Sells for 75en.
1 required for Vine Bow (Bow, ATK+97)
1 required for Heaven Bow (Bow, ATK+111)
1 required for Tiger Hand (Gloves, DEF+6)
5 required for Shidgedou (Bow, ATK+123, STR+8)
10 required for Kithara (Troubadour Accessory, TP+30)

Rare: Pure Root. 12% chance. Sells for 72en.
3 required for Luck Staff (Staff, ATK+78, LUC+5) Required for Remembrance of a friend

Conditional: None

A bit of a dick since Curse is a dick, but again, barely uses skills, so it's just additional damage to annoy you since they pop up with other monsters pretty often. Also a lot of a low drops for a Troubadour accessory we'll never use, but such is the completionist's hell.

Single target Curse. Okay then.

in EOU, Hexroots do nothing for one turn, and then inflict panic on your whole party. fun

(Sonic Bombs exist in that game and are disgustingly OP, so there's a way to deal with that at least).



They seem... to be targeting me...

I noticed.

Things are a bit tricky when we have no defense, no healing and our resident sapper is going AFTER every enemy.



Honestly, all they need to do is target everyone once and we'll be fine! Until we run out of Medicas...



Not too interesting since we can buy them no problem.

Karin would kill you for turning down free stuff.

Damn straight!

That was a terrible impression of her.




I will never get used to that slurping noise...

While it's a bit crazy to not heal Simone since she goes after the enemy (only Liana usually goes before new enemies, so I don't blame anyone), Drain saves a Medica, which can be real important.



Ahah, you have met your end today, tree!

How about we don't waste our time?



From the shape of the map, you can see one room has three one ways leading to it. Yeah, there's a reason I've been avoiding it.



Ooh, ooh, found something better!

Sis's little jump is kinda cute...

Oh really now?

You heard nothing.



You can easily tell that's a proper shortcut, my mapping's that good. Sure, it's a bit cheap to unlock it before we've been on both sides, but this floor is kinda kicking my ass and I didn't want to go through it again.




Back... to...

The past? No, wait, I'll figure it out!

Is this what you guys wanted? You monsters? Well I'm glad, fighting is interesting for the first time in like ten floors.

Yeah, snoozefest Etrian Odyssey is the worst kind of Etrian Odyssey.



Whatever it's doing, I don't want to find out!

Let's slice and dice extra quick.

Good time to go to town. I explored up to that room by the Sickwood since we wouldn't have much of a reason to go there anyway. And dammit if I don't show you every little part of the labyrinth, then can I really be called the best current EO1 LPer?

Let's just hope you don't suffer the same fate as all the others did. Heh heh heh...





5 Dried Vines and 4 Throb Vines are required for Shidgedou (Bow, ATK+123, STR+8), sells for 6300en.

1 Dried Vine and 1 Tendon are required for Vine Bow (Bow, ATK+97), sells for 3630en.

5 Heated Furs and 1 White Fang are required for Sting Whip (Whip, ATK+103), sells for 2970en.

3 White Skins are required for Tiger Coat (Light Armor, DEF+27), sells for 2520en.

3 White Skins are required for Tiger Cap (Headgear, DEF+7), sells for 1420en.

3 White Skins and 1 Dried Vine are required for Tiger Hand (Gloves, DEF+6), sells for 990en.



Miss me yet?

The Withered Forest



Pretty sure this is the only time I encounter a Mantis on B16F, they're pretty rare.

they don't show up at all until, like, B19F in EOU




These guys are just relentless, mmm.

Stop having fun and letting them back here!

This is definitely one way to ramp up the difficulty.




This is how everything connects up, so the area with the Sickwood is basically a dead end that forces you back to before the shortcut. So don't miss it!



Wait, there's something here. But it doesn't add up.

That shouldn't matter, on we go!



Another short floor, I wonder why.

I'll give you two guesses. Here's a hint: seeeeeeeeecrets.

While that previous warp was a bit dickish, it was teaching you about the way to the next floor. We'll explore the rest in just a moment, but we've gotta go down. Quests to unlock and all that jazz.



Wooooooaaaaaahhhhhh!

This is a large room. The biggest I've ever seen. Uh, I don't think my masters will be much use for intel.

Heh, bet my brothers have never seen something like this before.

Well I guess we should get exploring, this large area won't map itself.



You feel threats all around you within this expansive space in the Labyrinth. Whether it stems from forest folk or other dangers, extreme caution is called for here. You feel you should report to the Radha regarding the forest folk before going any further.

Catch my drift?

A lot of words to say "let's go back and see about not killing people". Sure, we'll give it a shot.

If not then... well, this is where it starts. I guess.



Hey didn't we just get plotblocked last floor? Well, I didn't know about this one, I was just going over to the healing spring to finish up this floor. No matter, we'll head back and then finally map this place. At least starting from this staircase faces you in the right direction.



Again, showing this room since we wouldn't bother with it otherwise.

Blue and White



Sorry we didn't murder her, if that's what you're hoping.

Careful now, he might detect sarcasm.

A pact between the humans and forest folk... an ancient promise... I feel that in the Labyrinth's depths lies something that has been lost to antiquity. With your help, I hope to find out what that may be. The Cheiftain though... honestly, I haven't any notion of what he is thinking. He has been calling in his two pet adventurers more frequently of late... Perhaps we should speak to him about this together.

I wonder how this will go.

Even I could guess that.



By dint of an ancient pact... there seems to be no mistaking their claim. ...... Regardless... if we accede this, Etria will have no source of livelihood. The Labyrinth and the explorers it attracts... they are the backbone of this town. We cannot lose that because of a long-forgotten promise to these forest creatures! Adventurers... the terms of the mission stand. Exterminate the forest folk at all costs, for Etria's sake. Their very existance... it is a threat, and must be removed.

Yeah, figures. I might need to lie down.

Like before, we need to discuss this with everyone else.

Festival of Worship



They may look human, but you will have to remember in battle that they are not.

...that, uh, that hits pretty close to home. Fuck you, Quinn.

Goddamn, Quinn has just been drinking that Radha Kool-Aid!

I understand your reluctance, but you are the only ones we can rely on. It will be a hard-fought battle... I wish you luck. But I wonder... why won't the Chieftain send his two favorites to do the job...?

I think I'm getting an idea as to why.

Let's get out of here, I can't stand this place anymore.

Red and Black



The Edda Guild... something must be done about them. If the forest folk destroy them, all to the good. But if the ancient ones fall... we may require... specialists. Even then, Edda's curiosity may overcome even those warriors... in which case, they would learn the secrets of the Labyrinth... what foolishness. Even if the mystery is solved, nothing will change. None will profit from such a thing...

...man that guy is loud. But whatever, not my problem, I just collect stuff and report it. The big, strong guild will be just fine no matter what I do.

While it's not as in your face as glowing eye chief, the game is still glazing over genocide. Not cool.

Surprise! The person who asked you to commit genocide is evil!



1 Nyx Scythe is required for Halberd (Axe, ATK+116), sells for 3200en.



New quests, huh? Cool.

Oh god what happened this time?

About what you expected.



Yeah, he's really pushing for this, even though, again, it's bullshit, the town will be just fine.

Now we know he's not sending Ren and Tlatchga to solve this problem, Visil is obviously hoping the entirety of the forest folk will kill us.

Like that would ever happen!

Quite, we don't need a massive discussion to sort this out, if he's planning something and stringing the Radha, as well as the two explorers along, we need to stop him.

Now that the town knows how far this goes, they'll never let it go. We have to sort this out before this goes even further.

I'm still not a fan of this killing we'll have to do, but we need to get past the forest folk's area.

So if Visil's plan is staying the same, then so is ours! Right, boss?

Tch, you idiots... thank you everyone. Let's continue on.



They need you to mine some materials for decoration in one of their projects. They need three Hard Shards and five Steel Chips. Good luck mining that stuff.

Oh hey, where have you been?

You're required.

Yeah yeah, I heard, I'll get right on it.



No one can leave us be. Ah, not that I mind.

Your ego is as big as your axe.

So it turns out, the deeper you go into the forest, the higher the quality of lumber. That's why the artisans of the Carpenters Guid go down to the 17th floor to cut wood. Lately, though, monsters have been keeping them from getting the quality of wood they need. So their request to you is to defeat three Sickwoods so they can continue their work.

The Withered Forest



Eventually we'll complete this floor. There's just been a lot of... talking. Weird, I know.




Yo team, let's never do this shit again.

Amen.




What a waste of my time and blade!

We used to barely 3 turn these guys, but Aryll got better. Drain might be a weird one to go for first, but for only 6TP, it's a 190% damage attack that heal 100% of damage dealt, which is pretty damn huge. Gonna save me a lot of money.



Such variety. Much murder. Wow.

Kill me now. Oh wait, I'm already dead. Yohohohoho.



A weird phrase just popped into my head. What's a milkshake?

Okay, a third reference to something dumb is a bit much, even for me. But I still thought of it. The FEAR TREE isn't too exciting until we get Suicide, the thing I care about, but it's a 67% chance of landing right now. Too bad Fear is a garbage ailment by itself.



It feels like we reached the new floor, like, hours ago.




Compared to the Scale Cap, it's -2 DEF and +2TP. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm no.



No matter the room, I must map it honourably!

See, there's the problem.




I wonder why this enemy didn't do anything.

I would wonder that too, except I didn't care.

What an interesting enemy to constantly fight.

There's a reason why FOEs were rarely seen as support style enemies in later games. They're just not interesting to fight if that's all there is to them.



Your work here is finished. You should return to the pub.

Can we go now? My masters still don't appreciate this heat.

Just... gotta make... sure...



Now we are done! What an excellent map.

Hrm, can't believe I missed that, but one out of, uh, twenty, or whatever, ain't bad.

I guess the early loop had more to it. Not that it made a difference.



Man, you guys smell awful.

Please, water smelling like this was all we had back then...

Welcome back, kids. The Carpenters Guild is grateful to you for helping them continue their work. Nice work!



What are those? They're way too hot!

Will this make Cheese fast enough to cast their curses? No, it won't, level is the only stat that matters.




7 White Skins are required for Tiger Boot (Footwear, DEF+6, AGI+9), sells for 1386en.

5 Tendons and 1 Steel Chip are required for Blade Whip (Whip, ATK+115), sells for 3960en.

5 Hard Shards and 3 Broken Eyes are required for Breaker (Axe, ATK+151), sells for 3960en.

We unlocked a lot of stuff today, making some of it redundent, but that's just life! Next time, we've got a large room to explore and hopefully less talking. Because that gets in the way of genocide.

you could just run from every battle that has forest folk

Oh, but that would just get in the way of 100% completion. (Also you could try to do this, but the game has other ideas if you try for a pacifist run at this point. The level correction mechanic being one of them).