Part 13: Open House

Welcome back. Last time on Exit Fate, the Elysium Castle was finally opened, with our battalion staffing it. But the night of the opening, a strange woman named Brunhild approached us, and... something happened. But what?



Music: Elysium - Chrono Trigger, "Frog's Theme (Orchestral Version)

Immediately after the events of the previous update, we fade in to Daniel in his room at the Elysium Castle. There's no sign of anything that happened last night. We have full control, and a new castle that's all ours. So let's get to exploring, shall we?



As we head out, we find Ljusalf standing outside our room.



I'm feeling fine. Why are you asking?
You mean you don't remember what happened last night? One of your men found you passed out near the gate.
Passed out...? ... Was it that dream I had?



I'm sorry?
Oh... never mind. I guess it must've been the exhaustion. It's been really hectic the past few days, trying to get all the work done on schedule before the opning. It was probably just too much for me.
Well, you seem to be fine now, but you should watch your health. You gave some people quite a scare, and you won't function well if you're too tired.



Do you remember where it is? Two floors down, then all the way down the hall between the stairs.
All right, I'll come with you.



And with that exciting conversation, we begin chapter 4.





Anyway, we now have access to the entirety of Elysium Castle, and there's quite a bit to see. We're going to take the full tour in juuust a moment, but for now, we're going to head to the meeting hall and get the plot moving along first.





If we head down the stairs, we find ourselves in the main hall, and north of there...




... we find the meeting hall just ahead.



Inside, we find Ayara and Col, as well as that Carson fellow we saw briefly back when we first joined up with Zelmony.



No need to be worried, I'm doing just fine. Oh, I've met you before. You're the chancellor's administrator, aren't you?
That's right. The chancellor asked me to stay here and provide help where needed.








Carson is an odd duck. He is very fast, second only to Col in our current roster, but unlike the other swift characters we've seen, Carson actually has a respectable strength to go along with his speed. While he's not quite as strong as Ayara and Mike, he's not that far behind, and his high speed easily allows him to match their damage by getting more turns to attack with. But while that would normally recommend Carson for a frontline role, that's actually a terrible idea, because he has low HP and one of the worst PDF ratings in the entire game. As such, Carson is one of the few characters who is explicitly built for the middle row. Stick a frontliner in the spot in front of him and he'll have a lot of success as a mid-row fighter.





Carson's weapons of choice are sais, and his damage ain't that bad. He's certainly a contender for a party slot.

Now then, back to the cutscene.



Well... as long as the situation's neutral, it'd be best if we focused on our internal functioning. This place may be up and running, but we're not ready for a true battle yet. We have no time to play around. Our troops will have to be trained to work together efficiently. We have standards to meet. But... first things first. Carson, is there any news from the capital?
It's hard to determine Kirgard's next course of action, but for now they seem to be passive. As it stands now, you have no new orders from the capital.



Relax. I was just waiting for a good time. Colonel Vinyard, we received this letter for you. It's from the governor of Highland.
The governor of Highland...? Hmm...



He must've heard a lot about you already. I bet he wants to see what you're like in person.
Hmmm... I wonder if this is going to be an important meeting, or if he simply wants to get to know you. After all, you're now a lieutenant-colonel of the State Army, Daniel, and you're holding an important post.
There's only one way to find out, sir. When are you going to meet him?
There's no need to keep the governor waiting. I have no urgent duties right now to attend to.



You can travel through the Western Pass to reach Highland. Once you're there, the capital of Bergstadt is to the southwest. Oh, and while I'm here, do you want to take anyone else with you?
I'm definitely going! I want to see Highland too, and I'll keep you safe on the way, sir.




So now we have to pick out a party to head to Highland with. And that means now is the moment you've all been waiting for: it's voting time! I'll give more details at the end of the update, but for now, we've got a castle to tour.



So let's start back on the second floor. Upstairs from here is just Daniel's room, which we saw at the start of the update.






The second floor of the castle is mainly filled with private rooms, offices, and a storage room or two. Everything's empty at the moment, though.



On the eastern side of the second floor we find a bar. Much like we saw earlier in Matrech before we got our castle, characters that aren't in our party can be found hanging around our home base. Here in the bar we find Mike, Outsider and Joe.





Everyone has a little bit to say when we talk to them, but nobody says anything really important.



You're doing the world a fine service, ma'am.



The western part of the second floor has a sign for an inn.




Royston can be found here, and he's our first example of characters that provide services for us in the castle. In Royston's case, he allows us to use the castle as an inn for free.










Downstairs from the second floor we find the main hall. Col can be found hanging around here.




North of the main hall is the meeting hall, which we saw earlier. It's empty at the moment.



There's also an office, which is empty, and a door to the east, which leads back up to the second floor.






To the sides of the main hall, there are a few empty storage rooms.





Fittingly, Francesca can be found in the basement.





Past the anchor sign, we find the docks. Sally can be found here.




Sally is another character that provides a service for us: she can instantly transport us to any island or coastal city that we've previously visited. In the future, we'll also find her hanging around in coastal cities, where we can talk to her and she'll bring us back to the castle.





Elsewhere in the basement, we find a prison, which is unsurprisingly empty.




There's also this room, with an important-looking chest.



The game, however, won't let us open it until we've recruited every single character. What could possibly be inside?




Back in the main hall, we find Stromgaard hanging out.




To the east is Carson's room. Talking to him will allow us to change our current party. This is the only way to change party members aside from when we pick up a new character.




To the west of the main hall we find the armory.





The armory is fairly large and has a sparring floor on the lower level, but there isn't anyone except generic soldiers around.




If we head out the front door of the castle, we can also walk around the grounds.




Cid and Ljusalf can be found out here.





There's a library on the eastern side of the grounds where Midian spends his time.



The western side of the grounds has a doorway that's blocked off for some reason.




Finally, there's this path further west, which leads back into the armory.

Welp, that's everything. As you can see, a lot of our castle is empty right now. This will change as we get more party members, but for now we're just going to have to content ourselves with a lot of empty space.

Anyway, it's time to head to Highland.



As we leave the castle, however, we run into a scene. (This actually occurs as soon as you walk down the stairs in the main hall. I figured it'd make more sense to put it after the tour.)



Music: None



A man in a black robe approaches us as we're leaving.

Huh? The one?
The commander here. Is it you?
Yes, I'm Lieutenant-Colonel Daniel Vinyard, commander of the Elysium army.




Hmph. Nothing I guess. I wasn't wrong, was I? It was definitely someone here.
Uh...





We have nothing else to discuss right now. I'll remain here to observe the situation for the time being. And don't worry, I'll make myself useful to you, of course. I'm a more than capable mage.
That's not really what I'm worried about...



Errr... all right then?



Just as he said, Yan Angwa is a more than capable mage, though Midian still has him greatly outmatched in the MAG department. He has a beastly MDF rating, though, with only one other character in the game besting him. He's pretty much a better Ljusalf, since they both have similar MAG.





Yan Angwa's staff is apparently a laser gun. Welp, I think we've found the coolest weapon in the game. But unsurprisingly, since he's a mage, his regular attacks won't do that much damage.




His magic, however, will.



And with that, it's time to head out and get on the road to Highland.



Of course, before we do that, we need to pick a party. And that's where you guys come in.

So, here's how this is going to work. Outside of Daniel, we have room for five characters in our active party. In order to ensure our party is actually viable, I'm going to decree that we need to bring along two frontliners and two mages. In addition, there will also be a slot for a fifth guy who can be anyone you wish, even another frontliner or mage. So please vote for two frontliners, two mages, and one other guy. While Ayara is forced to come with us for this segment, we can easily dump her in the entourage if desired, so treat her just like any other character.

Please format your votes like this:

Frontliners: Character1, Character2
Mages: Character3, Character4
Fifth guy: Character5

Each category will have a separate vote count. If someone votes for Mike as a frontliner, and another person votes for Mike as the fifth guy, that's not two votes for Mike, it's one vote for him as a frontliner and one vote for him as the fifth guy. The characters who get the most and second most votes for the Frontliner and Mage categories will get to come along, as well as the character who gets the most votes in the fifth guy category. I'm reserving the entourage for my own choices, in case we need to bring someone along to recruit another character or for some other purpose.

Here's our current list of characters and the categories they fall under:

Frontliners
Ayara, Mike, Outsider

Mages
Ljusalf, Midian, Yan Angwa

Utility
Carson (mid-row fighter), Col (Scan), Joe (Steal)

Other/Mediocre
Cid, Francesca, Royston, Sally, Stromgaard

You have 48 hours to cast your votes.

Next time: It's time to find out what exactly is going on in Highland.