Etrian Odyssey Part #14 - Blue and Back Again

Part 14: Blue and Back Again

Part 13: Blue and Back Again

Hm? Me? Uh, yeah.

You're pretty brave, accepting a challenge like this. If you're not confident, though, don't throw your life away. A solo run takes real skill.

...oh right, the solo challenge. It'll be no problem, gahahaha! Or, at least, when Liana lets me go...

It is an honour to fight alongside you. May our battles be full of murder.

Sigh, Gerson's still sulking about not fighting that bear. Such a kid.

If I promise to watch from a distance, will you let him go? I really wanna watch.

Ah, it would indeed be a tale for the ages~

It's third stratum time! This is the team we'll be taking, nice balance of everything, so it should be a lot of fun. Now let's spend all our money!

Hmhm. While the materials are a bit outdated, this shall make a fine weapon.

We unlocked this katana in part 10, but thankfully there's another katana soon enough, so Aryll won't be falling behind quite so quickly.

I totally got these from floor 10. Oh, you can't tell? Well, that's not a surprise, ahahaha!

We need one Fossil, one Scrap Iron and one Thin Shell for the quest. They can be found on B10F gathering points, sure, but also this B6F point.

All right, then I'll make sure to deliver it to the client. Thanks for your hard work.

Well of course. I got them from the 10th floor. Ahahahaha!

...hm? You say something?

N-Never mind...

Might as well give Liana a boost. Not the TEC boost, though, that'll do nothing unless we use oils. Which we probably won't.

the use of "probably" worries me

If you were wondering why some weapons came with a TEC boost, despite most classes being unable to do anything with that stat normally, the Elemental Oils actually make use of that stat. And they add on another 100% damage to a regular attack (drawing from TEC instead of STR.) So yeah, oils for whatever reason, ended up getting nerfed into the ground in the next game when they were decently useful in EO1.

The Thousand Year Old Blue Woodlands

Oh hey, it's one of Lavin's meathead friends.

The worry creasing his brow lifts when he sees you, and he smiles as he greets you.

You're the adventurers sent by the Radha on the mission down here, no? We've been looking forward to meeting the skilled warriors who felled the King of the Jungle.

That only applies to me, but sure.

You've heard, then, that we were ordered to map the corridors of B11F and B12F. But with these dreadful beasts, and these twisted passages... we were at wit's end. I tell you, it's a sure relief to have help from the fine members of Edda!

Oh great, the early enemies here are strong too~

To be nearly killed in one hit is an honour!

The soldier fishes through his pack, producing a parchment.

It isn't much, but here's the result of my work so far in mapping this floor.

The soldier hands you his hand-drawn map!

I trust you'll have no problem filling in the rest.

Barely affording you a glance as he leaves, the soldier walks briskly back home. Taking the soldier's partially completed map in hand, you continue your exploration.

Jittery little guy. I hope the enemies are as strong as he says!

What a surprise! I don't.

A curious map indeed, but there's a way to the right it seems.

Nice of the game to give you some maps. See anything wrong with it? No? Well, that's fine, let me just... write your name down... okay, let's continue on.

_{For your sake, I'd advise saying yes.}

Hmm, a dead end. Little bit misleading there, guard.

Well he was completely terrified, like little baby, so you can't blame him too much.

Oof! Definitely throwing its weight around.

You're acting like it DIDN'T turn your insides to paste. Lame.

Treefrog

Level: 30
HP: 180
STR: 84
VIT: 61
AGI: 32
LUC: 32
TEC: 53

EXP: 720

Skills
Bind Caw: Uses the Head. Attempts to inflict Head Bind on the entire party. Has a 70% infliction chance and a 10% speed modifier.
Summon: Uses the Head. Summons another Treefrog under certain conditions. Has a 10% speed modifier.

Damage Vulnerabilities

100%

150%

100%

150%

Disable Vulnerabilities

100%

100%

Drops
Normal: Gum Throat. 38% chance. Sells for 53en.
3 required for Fancy Coat (Clothing, DEF+11, VIT+3)
5 required for Gum Whip (Whip, ATK+70)
1 required for Gourmand's request

Rare: Rock Coral. 8% chance. Sells for 80en
1 required for Sea Charm (Accessory, DEF+1, TP+20)
10 required for Medica IV (Medicine, recovers the target's HP by 350)

Conditional: None

Time for some new early stratum enemies! Treefrogs aren't very scary, they won't even bind your head particularly often, so they'll just take a couple hits and maybe bring along a friend. That summoning is important enough to go over a bit later, but for now it's just an annoyance. Otherwise there's not much to them.

Treefrogs are a rather infamous trash mob because they're pretty easy to kill and don't really do that much. Why does that make them infamous? Oh you'll see later. Don't worry, it isn't anything scary.

Do note that none of what we said doesn't apply to the remake where these frogs are assholes.

Hmm. Right. Don't you think that was a little... easy?~

Suspiciously so.

He marked this as a dead end? Quite dishonourable!

I'm starting to think this guy is just an idiot.

Phew, much better. Right? Regardless of map accuracy, we're at the stairs already! Surely the floor can't be that small?

In other EO games, this would be the point where you would have to go back to town to get new dialogue. Oh and quests. Not so necessary in this game.

Considering we've killed one thing since getting here, I don't think we need to head back yet. Let's see what's down here.

See, now you're getting it!

Oh goody. Ants.

Let me guess, your wonderous backstory includes them as well?

Guardant

Level: 29
HP: 222
STR: 81
VIT: 58
AGI: 31
LUC: 31
TEC: 51

EXP: 697

Skills
Crusher: Uses the Head. A Bash attack that deals 120% damage to a single target. Has a 90% accuracy modifier and a 10% speed modifier.

Damage Vulnerabilities

75%

50%

150%

100%

Disable Vulnerabilities

100%

100%

Drops
Normal: Bone Shard. 25% chance. Sells for 53en.
1 required for Tabar (Axe, ATK+86)
5 required for Hunter Bow (Bow, ATK+75)
5 required for Flute (Troubadour Accessory, TP+20)

Rare: None

Conditional: None

Exploring B12F will skip a bit of enemy progression, but here's some ants. Despite the name, they don't have defensive capabilities, instead they just bite you kinda hard. That's all they do. You can guess what might be happening soon with a floor name like that, so get used to seeing lots of ants around.

I guess a guard that can fight is still a guard, right? There's nothing much to them. The start of Stratum 3 is a lot more friendly than Stratum 2. (Now if you're playing EOU...)

Okay, there's definitely a problem here!

Hmm? Something wrong with my defending?

Impudent insects! Taste my blade!

Lot of empty space, the squirrels are saying.

Still, we are here to map the floor~

Later. I'd like the not die first. But that might not be a problem...

Whoa that's a jumper!

From a frog? REALLY???

Alright, enough sass.

Hexfrog

Level: 31
HP: 222
STR: 89
VIT: 64
AGI: 33
LUC: 33
TEC: 54

EXP: 825

Skills
Curse: Uses the Head. Attempts to inflict Curse on the entire party. Has a 50% infliction chance and a 120% speed modifier.

Damage Vulnerabilities

100%

150%

100%

150%

Disable Vulnerabilities

100%

100%

Drops
Normal: Gum Throat. 38% chance. Sells for 53en.
3 required for Fancy Coat (Clothing, DEF+11, VIT+3)
5 required for Gum Whip (Whip, ATK+70)
1 required for Gourmand's request

Rare: Glass Eye. 20% chance. Sells for 61en.
1 required for Fancy Coat (Clothing, DEF+11, VIT+3)
1 required for Gold Chime (Item, reduces the encounter rate by 50% for 100 steps)
2 required for Gem Staff (Staff, ATK+53, TEC+4)

Conditional: None

Annoying, but kinda rare, so it's fine. Like a slightly stronger Treefrog except it curses you instead of binds your head. Hopefully you're not throwing out the damage to die to it, but it definitely puts you on the defensive. Curse is such a wack ailment, yo.

These are in the 5th Stratum in EOU, for whatever reason.

Curse, the bane of any damage dealing class. Basically stops them in their tracks and forces them to hold back, lest they die. Does nothing to support classes though.

What a weird cry that frog is maki- GAH, what the hell?

What happened, Aryll?

It feels like I was just stabbed by my blade, but not as fiercely as the strike I just dealt.

...hardcore.

Annoyingly Curse is the same throughout the series, half the damage dealt to an opponent is dealt back to you. At least there's no Curse conditionals, that would just fucking suck!

Could you imagine Curse conditionals in a game without Formaldehyde? Let's be glad that isn't a reality.

More Relaxing, 3% TP recovered each turn, so nothing to write home about yet.

What odd portrusions, perhaps it's a puzzle!~

Hmm. Hmmmmmmmmmm. Nah, can't think of anything. Bored now.

Ah, been a while since I shot myself with my own arrows. But yeah these guys are easy as shit.

I know, it sucks. Well, it is nice not having to keep everyone awake.

As you can see, the enemies in this stratum are much easier to deal with and hit far less than the start of stratum 2. Part of this is due to being at a more equal level compared to last time, but head binds and Curse are much more manageable compared to Sleep and Poison. Also no longer getting two shot is real nice. Uh, oh yeah, Orochi deals 133% slash damage and 70% Fire damage. Still a bit to go until it can compete with Midareba.

Dishonourable sneaks!

Just because the enemies aren't as difficult doesn't mean they won't fuck you up if they want to. It's just less of a headache for me.

Alright, clearly this is all this floor has to offer us.

Then back to town, mufufufufufu~

That's my line bitch.

The Lounge Where We Speak of Tomorrow

1 Bone Shard is required for Tabar (Axe, ATK+86), sells for 1800en.

2 Glass Eyes are required for Gem Staff (Stave, ATK+53, TEC+4), sells for 1520en.

More requests still! They post them quick when we're gone, gahahaha!

At least my purchase is being worth it.

I'm not a purchase! ...or am I?

Our client today is planning on making a ring of Corundum. Being proposed to with a hand-made ring... *sigh* It's every girl's dream.

Damn straight.

Eh.

But before he can go through with it, he needs your help in finding in ore. I hear you can mine it somewhere in the third Stratum. Make that girl happy, kids.

That somewhere is actually B11F, but eh, next update.

I suppose if we have two quests on the tenth floor we should probably go.

I could use some warming up!

I don't envy you, dears.

If the Radha sent a notice to all adventurers, something odd must have happened. I don't know the details, but they seem to be having trouble with some abnormal plants. The Radha's soldier on the 10th floor knows more, so ask him about it. Keep your guard up, kids.

The Vast Primeval Hidden Grove

I'm sure you've heard, but there's a problem, with abnormal plant growth on the 10th floor. The weeds are blocking most of the doors on this level. We looked into the cause of it, and concluded that there's a monster making them grow.

Oh neat, we kill those things. This will be no problem.

There's always a catch~

Use this to temporarily wither the grass, so you can pass through the doors. The monster is supposedly somewhere in the northeast. It's in an area past two dangerous Assassin scorpions, facing one another. You'll have to pass them to get to the monster... but I'm sure you'll be able to do it!

The soldier hands you the powder, then steps back, an expectant look in his eye.

Use it carefully. If you run out, you won't be able to complete the task.

Fast acting stuff. Stinks too.

That's how you know it's effective!

Quests. Always fun times. We're given 10 lots of powder (that you need bag space for and get the message for obtaining it each time, fun) to reach the wonderful dead end with the gathering point. So start counting doors. To save you the trouble, if you started from the entrance and headed right there, then you'd need 12 lots of powder, so can't use that way. However, you can save yourself by going through the shortcut and going the long way round, resulting in 8 uses. It's just easier to start from B11F, since that only uses 6 lots of powder and doesn't involve you going up the entire stratum. We have to go through the long loop though. Joy.

Yeah, you can actually screw up quests to the point of being unable to complete them. Don't worry, if that happens, just go to the bar to cancel it and then retake the quest. This kind of thing was dropped from the later games, probably because it was a bit obnoxious.

Oooooh yeah, that's the stuff, brother!

The enemies are actually a little tricky since we don't have party wide damage, but Bravery solves a lot of problems.

Mama mia, here we go again...

I still hate this fuckin stratum.

75% acccuracy reduction is always nice to throw out. I won't touch Quicken ever again. Now all of Karin's healing skills have a 130% boost, which is pretty damn nice and it's like we put levels into all of them. Karin has all the skills she needs, so I'll be reaching level 5 with a few of them so they keep up and then move onto other things. Hehehehe.

Let's not do that loop again...~

There's still that crystal door to unlock.

Be vewy quiet.

Since Fortify has the same shitty scaling as the other defensive skills (Immunize of course not included), we'll leave it at a 132% DEF boost and start work on Anticold, we'll need it pretty soon.

Fun story: when I played EO1, I never leveled the Anti skills. That sure bit me in the ass later.

Well, if you ignore the post-game, that's not really a problem. If you do try to tackle the post-game with such a build, yeah uh, good luck with that.

I'm sweating way too much in this stuff, I forgot how humid this place was.

I only deal in injuries, not gross bodily functions.

Show yourself, coward!

Oh no, my honour!

Will you stop thrashing around?

The grass beneath your feet writhes as if alive, and is about to attack! This must be the monster responsible for the overgrown brush! Now is your chance!

Destruction Begets Decay

Mmmph mmmph!

Such a potty mouth.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmph!

Omnivore

Level: 32
HP: 1419
STR: 153
VIT: 66
AGI: 56
LUC: 56
TEC: 37

EXP: 910

Skills
Binding: Uses the Arms. Attempts to Arm Bind a single target. Has a 70% infliction chance and a 10% speed modifier.
Earache: Uses the Head. Attempts to Head Bind a single target. Has a 70% infliction chance and a 10% speed modifier.

Damage Vulnerabilities

100%

125%

100%

100%

Disable Vulnerabilities

100%

50%

100%

100%

Drops
Normal: None

Rare: None

Conditional: None

It's a Maneater! Or a Fangleaf! I don't care which! It's only threatening with its HP size, otherwise it's just mostly ineffectual binds that have a chance to be deadly if it's on the right person. Otherwise, it might hit hard, but you've had plenty of practise with these things.

Quest monsters just tend to be beefier versions of a regular enemy. Later games never really dropped that, but they actually started putting in unique fights to mix things up.

You're a fool to think you can face me.

You're welcome~

Around 500HP with one Midareba, only a third of its health. lol

Pfft, I barely have to think about dodging you. ...since when did I get so strong?

Wrong target. Get 'em, Aryll.

Gladly.

I can see from your tired faces that this request was no picnic. But I think you'll perk up once you see the reward. They say it's an excellent weapon. But no fighting over who gets to use it, okay?

Now that's one hell of a blade. I've never seen anything like it!

I'm not sure who Valerie thinks is able to use such a thing in our guild, but I can only think of one person.

This is something we won't be getting for a while actually, so this is a nice pickup.

The Vast Primeval Hidden Grove

This ain't it chief. Still, I thought I saw something...

Aww, but I wanna kill some birds!

There's one more quest by the stairs up and we kill 5 bees on the way to get 1 Amber Lump. Hell yeah drop rates.

It may be that those very insects beyond this door. If you have strength enough to exterminate a swarm of them, open the door and go forth.

I'll give you all the strength you need~

Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of.

Oh wow, such a sickly sweet smell.

I've never been one for sugar.

Destruction Begets Decay

Hmm, this all seems familiar.

It's only slightly uncomfortable. Have I built up an immunity?

Toxinfly

Level: 30
HP: 211
STR: 93
VIT: 61
AGI: 35
LUC: 35
TEC: 35

EXP: 200

Skills
Poison: Uses the Legs. Attempts to inflict Poison on a single target. Has a 50% infliction chance, deals 25 Poison damage and an 80% speed modifier.

Damage Vulnerabilities

100%

150%

Disable Vulnerabilities

100%

100%

Drops
Normal: None

Rare: None

Conditional: None

We'll never be free from these things. However, as you can easily see, while they're as strong as us and have a nice chunk of health... their Poison is completely negligable. Dunno why they chose such a weak skill, but I guess they figured the swarm would be too difficult otherwise? Just use Salve, sheesh.

25 Poison damage at this point in the game, are you kidding me!?

Hmm, yeah, bit annoying~

Alright, just stay behind me and slay them one by one and we'll be home in no time!

Oh nooooooo

It's hard enough healing you guys before you kill them.

Alright, I might have to think about this slightly.

I need to tighten up these weak spots, enemies keep finding them!

They can definitely wear you down if you're not keeping up on your healing. I suppose not having a Medic would be annoying since buyable Salves aren't a thing for a while yet. But why don't you have a Medic?

Alright, these things have overstayed their welcome.

One last tune for the road~

There seem to be no more of the Toxinflies remaining. You have successfully completed the client's request! All that remains is to report back to the Golden Deer.

Twas nothing!

More disappointing than anything...

I hate the very thought of bugs... it's a relief to hear you exterminated the pests. I'm sure it was much easier for you than it would've been for me! If I ever have insect problems at home, I'll know who to call.

Well this is fun.

Ah shut up and keep lookizzzzzzz

How do you even notice stuff this small?

A completely defenseless enemy to kill? How honourable!

Sprout

Level: 1
HP: 2000
STR: 20
VIT: 20
AGI: 20
LUC: 20
TEC: 20

EXP: 0

Skills
None

Damage Vulnerabilities

300%

300%

Disable Vulnerabilities

100%

100%

Drops
Normal: S Leaf. 100% chance. Sells for 2500en.
Required for nothing.

Rare: None

Conditional: None

On the three bottom tiles of this room, there's a 10% chance you'll encounter this! It's not an actual enemy since its stats are pitiful and it never attacks, but we've gotta fill the beastiary. As for how you discover it's here. Uhhhhhhh, don't remember if anyone says anything of the sort, but you'll definitely encounter more enemies like this later on and you'll notice this one mysterious gap in the monster list. Otherwise, yeah, just Google it.

Ah, the requsite "rare enemy". Not really a staple in the series, but EO1 has a few of those for whatever reason. This thing gives out a decent chunk of cash if you really need it. Oh and don't worry, it won't ever run. Take as long as you need to kill a defenseless plant.

Almost feel bad for it.

Still, might as well kill it hard and fast. Like polite people would do or whatever~

Hell yeah murder.

fukk yea murder

Nice chunk of cash, but thankfully we don't need it for anything, so we never need to encounter another one.

The Thousand Year Old Blue Woodlands

Alright, time to finally explore B11F, only took most of the update. But wait...

Wait wait wait, gimme that! Drawing walls around the pole? Not connecting the doorway? Putting a wall BEFORE THE STAIRS??? This shit infuriated me when I was training as a soldier, those idiots cannot draw maps to save themselves.

I was only really following your example, but to write over someone else's work would be dishonourable!

You're part of the problem

Absolutely disgusting, the dev team have no idea how to draw PROPER maps and if you didn't see any problems with it earlier, then you're completely wrong and also banned. I am angry. Angry about MAPS!

Map drawing etiquette is serious business.

Bitchin'

We should properly explore for the Radha. But I know someone's gonna screw us over sooner or later, so we'll stay on the safe side.

Hm, my ears are burning.

Ooh, creepy. I wonder what it does~

Ah. I've already killed it.

Madworm

Level: 29
HP: 240
STR: 116
VIT: 58
AGI: 28
LUC: 31
TEC: 24

EXP: 705

Skills
Mist: Uses the Head. Increases the entire party's resistance to elemental attacks by 150%. Has a 10% speed modifier.

Damage Vulnerabilities

150%

50%

150%

100%

100%

Disable Vulnerabilities

100%

100%

Drops
Normal: Elastic. 33% chance. Sells for 55en.
1 required for Gum Helm (Headgear, DEF+3, TP+9)
3 required for Stud Vest (Light Armor, DEF+17)
3 required for Gum Aspis (Shield, DEF+7, Volt Resist Up 10%)
5 required for Shamshir (Sword, ATK+63)
5 required for Self Bow (Bow, ATK+59)
7 required for Gum Glove (Gloves, DEF+3, TEC+2)
7 required for Cotardie (Clothing, DEF+16)

Rare: None

Conditional: None

In combination with other enemies, a Madworm can be pretty annoying, since it makes all of your party take 50% more damage from elemental attacks! In theory, since there aren't any regular enemies with elemental attacks at the moment. So, uh, I dunno what it's doing here. Not that it would matter much since we can kill it in one turn anyway and it doesn't get a chance to move. So if you happen to encounter it with elemental attacking enemies, which can happen later on, then kill it, I guess. It doesn't do anything otherwise.

Probably just a soft introduction to what is a support enemy. The series does that quite a lot. Though this particular game just loves throwing you in the fire instead of doing that.

Having dead ends in view is weirdly nice!

I get the feeling ants are going to get more and more annoying.

Sounds like something an ant hater would say.

Deathant

Level: 30
HP: 180
STR: 84
VIT: 61
AGI: 32
LUC: 32
TEC: 53

EXP: 498

Skills
Acid: Uses the Head. Decreases the entire party's AGI by 50%. Has a 200% speed modifier.

Damage Vulnerabilities

75%

50%

150%

100%

Disable Vulnerabilities

100%

100%

Drops
Normal: Steel Bone. 28% chance. Sells for 51en.
5 required for Shamshir (Sword, ATK+63)
5 required for Flute (Troubadour Accessory, TP+20)

Rare: None

Conditional: None

The counterpart to the Guardant is much less intimidating, since Acid is pretty useless. Simply use these enemies as practise for the obvious FOEs coming your way soon. Since, yeah, a big ol' ants nest is gonna be a thing, as is customary in media.

Oh no, look out for the scary AGI debuffs! For an enemy that's supposed to be the "more offensive" of the two, it just is a lot more pathetic.

The elemental attack of these skills are the ones that increase a good amount, the actual slash damage goes up 1% per level, which is a bit of a shame. Still, we'll look at a couple other skills for the moment, Ronin have a lot of really nice passives.

Ren stares coldly at you, awaiting your answer. You ponder the question.

Hmm, well, to solve the mysteries. I have to, to keep these idiots alive.

The mysteries of Yggdrasil... the reason for the Labyrinth's existence. You are certainly not the only explorers seeking to unravel these enigmas.

A faint smile creases the harsh warrior woman's face before she continues.

Hear me, then. Etria was once a small frontier town, in the days before the Labyrinth was discovered... but ever since then, it has become a boomtown with the influx of adventurers. What do you think will happen to Etria once the mysteries of the Labyrinth are solved?

Ren's cold stare remains locked into your eyes, as though she is testing you.

I think having a one of a kind labyrinth would be enough, even if everything is discovered.

The tales that would be woven, it would inspire generations.

You'll do what you must, I suppose. If you are to continue down this road...

Ren pauses, producing a weathered scroll from her belongings.

...then consider where such a road must eventually lead. If, after doing so, you decide to continue, this secret scroll of the ronin will be of use.

I... I am honoured to study such a thing! An actual document of the ronin...

Ren hands you the scroll, turns to leave, and pauses before she disappears into the foliage.

The road you walk, and mine... they will meet again. Until then, take care.

With that, she is gone. You give her words though as you return to your investigation.

Oh hey, now we can recruit level 1 Ronin to our guild. Sounds completely pointless if your team is set and you don't fancy grinding up a new member from nothing. Let's see what the other options were.

Yeah, this late is when you actually get Ronin. It's really dumb. Also keep in mind we don't have access to Hexers yet. And yes, you really do have to grind up a Ronin from scratch. The game doesn't provide an easy option of doing that. Oh yeah, the other dialogue options.

Before that, fun note: Ren's monologue doesn't happen in EOU. However, it's still in the files, untouched from its EO1 version.

A shame that this was cut out in the remake. I suppose they did that since Ronin are actually available from the start, but you do lose a bit of a character moment there.

I will become the greatest and surpass you, senpai!

To become the strongest... one of the most basic reasons an adventurer can give. I must warn you, then. The road you work is honorable. But should you find it taking you to the forest's secrets...

Ren pauses, producing a weathered scroll from her belongings.

...then consider where such a road must eventually lead. If you wish to become stronger, this secret scroll of the ronin will speed you to your goal.

And then the rest is the same. Final answer.

Heh, might as well. What else am I gonna do with my time?

A flippant answer, I see. You may as well say, "Because it is there," hm?

A sly smile creases the warrior woman's face before she continues.

Then, let me caution you. Idling the days away, poking around the forest, is an acceptable road to walk. But do not let your idylls take you to the mysteries of the heart of this forest. It's in Etria's best interests that the Labyrinth's secrets remain safe. If they do not...

Ren pauses, producing a weathered scroll from her belongings.

...then consider where such a road must eventually lead. Here... this secret scroll of the ronin should provide you some amusement, I think.

My, my, I haven't seen a turtle this big since I had that competition with Matthew-

Yeah, riveting, we'll avoid it like always. I found the stuff Ren was talking about much more interesting. What kind of secrets does this labyrinth hold?

I hope she doesn't think we'll just walk away like that. I have to prove I can conquer this place after all, wouldn't accept anything less.

Hm, was something there?

Hey, quit dawdling, I need to keep my eye on you!

Shelltors are FOEs we really shouldn't fight right now and also take one step for every two we take, which is a bit annoying. There's been worse puzzles.

Appreciated, but eh.

That didn't feel worth it~

Yes we are and- o-okay, you can stop crying now. Please let go.

The soldier speaks breathlessly as he hands you a parchment.

Here, take this! It's the portion of the map I managed to complete. The rest'll have to be up to you guys!

The soldier continues in a low, conspiratorial voice.

Be careful, though. I've seen something dreadful lurking around the path ahead. You guys beat Cernunos, so you should be okay... but be careful, just in case!

The soldier quickly flees before you can say another word. With the panicked soldier's map in hand, you continue through the forest.

Ah, this seems quite robust. A very helpful, if terrified, man.

You sure about that?

I am starting to see Lavin's point.

Oh. Ohhhhhh no this is going to take forever to wash out. Oh god it's sticky and heavy. Aw man.

It's even seeping through my armour! Gonna kill these things now.

Ah, another one. It looks so docile~

Let us murder it.

...you sure?

Hey that soldier guy said we'd be fine!

Yeah let's put our faith in the Radha soldiers. Great idea.

Who wants to guess how this will go?

Ah crap that's really cold.

You d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-don't say.

someone get aryll something warmer than chestwraps :<

At least it's slow as shit. Guess I'll need to work on my formula.

Blizzard is a party wide Ice attack and will wreck your shit. We could resist it if we invested more heavily in certain skills, but that was after level 5 Immunize. Also we do fuck all damage to it, so we wouldn't get anywhere. Let's just ignore it for now.

Well that wasn't fun. I can't use my bow if my fingers fall off from frostbite!

Look, I'd rather I die than you.

I'd rather no one die! _{B-But thanks...}

You say somethi- ow, stop kicking me!~

Ah. Remains. Tread carefully.

10% TP boost is always nice now that the numbers are more impressive. We'll come back to this skill later. Need to get to 3 hits so Liana keeps up.

To rest in a place like that. I hope it was an honourable death.

A shame, fresh corpses are my forte, as I quickly found out in med school.

B11F A6 Mine Point

Rock Coral. 50% chance. Sells for 80en.
1 required for Sea Charm (Accessory, DEF+1, TP+20)
10 required for Medica IV (Medicine, restores the target by 350HP)

Crab Leg. 25% chance. Sells for 68en.
1 required for Wind Whip (Whip, ATK+79)
5 required for Shred Whip (Whip, ATK+94, STR+6, AGI+3)

Corundum. 15% chance. Sells for 130en.
1 required for Blue Ring (Accessory, DEF+1, Ice Resist Up 15%)
1 required for Love, cast in silver

Ah, finally some new stuff. We can get Rock Coral from Treefrogs, but I'll only naturally let that happen and just get it from here otherwise. Again, later, none of this stuff is an absolute must, though the Sea Charm is a nice boost for anyone still lugging around early game headgear or boots.

Under the pounding beat and under the glimmer of my blade, you shall face my fury!

Scary. But cool as hell!~

Ooh, this looks interesting. A new gathering spot, or...?

Wait, stop, I can feel the ground is fragiiiiiiile!

Liana!

Karin!

Aryll!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

I hate holes.

The Let's Play Archive

Etrian Odyssey

by Crosspeice

Part 14: Blue and Back Again