Part 31: Too Good To Be True

Welcome back. Last time on Exit Fate, we returned to Helman Island, and picked up a whole bunch of new characters along the way. We went to Harlinton to meet with General Leonius and discuss strategy for the upcoming campaign against Zelmony, but we were interrupted by news that the Caretakers were nearby. We were able to take care of Boris, Ice fled, and Tiamat was nowhere to be found, but Orlando stayed behind, told us about Deus's sordid past as a con man, and joined us. Now that that's all taken care of, it's time to return to Leonius. So let's get to it.

Music: Kirgard - Suikoden V, "Harbor Town by the Lighthouse"



Yes. We can continue now.
Before this... interruption, we were discussing the current state of Zelmony.
There are only three states left wihin the union: Matrech, Mayfall and Oischin. Highland's declared its independence under control of the rebel army, and they'd sooner oppose Zelmony than help them.
The difference in military strength is obvious, but it would be foolish to simply launch a direct attack against the capital. This time, they're fully aware of our intentions, and the defense of the capital is now their main focus.



Isolating them further... Oischin is of little strategic value, but Mayfall is all the more important to them. Is that really a better idea than going straight for Matrech, though? We can't use the same plan as before.




After the invasion if this island, we happened to stumble upon something that could shift the battle heavily in our favor.
This is the first time I've heard of this. What are you talking about?



Gaia's Heart?



But wait, it's just a legend, isn't it? There's no way a bridge that big could've ever existed. And even if it did, it's long gone by now. It's not like we could miss it if it were still around.
It seems the old stories were misinterpreted. We've all been looking in the wrong place.
The wrong place? What do you mean by that?
General Knight is correct. A bridge across the sea would be impossible. But that's not what Gaia's Heart is. The stories actually only mention a road between the island and the mainland. It was just assumed to have been a bridge by later translators.
If it's not a bridge, what is it then?



Exactly. My men have located a cavern near Bayside Town. Recent tests showed that this cavern runs at least some distance underneath the sea. It's very likely that it reaches all the way to Mayfall itself.
A tunnel that leads to Mayfall... If the State Army doesn't know about this, it's the perfect opportunity to surprise them.
There are no records of this tunnel having ever been used in recent times, either by us or by Zelmony. If they'd known of its existence, surely they could've used it to take back Helman Island already.



Our attempts so far have failed. The tunnels are dark and infested with dangerous creatures. We'd need a team of specialists for this.
I'll go.
You? But... this is far too dangerous for the commander to go himself.





But... But...
All right, it's decided then. I'll take a small team to the other side to find out where it surfaces. You can wait here, General Leonius. I'll return afterwards and then we can come up with an attack plan.
Please... be careful.

Fade to black...

Music: None





That's the same thing Angel said to me a while ago. Even after everything I've been through lately, a part of me feels like nothing has changed since I left.
But you've definitely changed, Daniel. It was obvious to me the moment we met again. Hey, you want me to come with you? I don't have anything important to do right now, and it sounds like a fun diversion.
Leonius would probably faint if he heard that.



We should make up for the time we lost by spending more time together, with Angel too. When the three of us are together, we're unstoppable!






Fade to black...



Right then, it's time to head to Gaia's Heart. It's right next to Bayside, though you have to go around the mountain range to get to it.



Music: Gaia's Heart - Chrono Cross, "Forest of Illusions"



There are a few people hanging around the entrance.



Well yeah, no shit. Whoever translated the old stories must've been really shitty at their job. Aren't translators supposed to take context into account, or something?




Let's head inside.



Right away, we're introduced to this dungeon's gimmick. Just as the soldier at the entrance said, there isn't much light here, which means we can't see as much as we usually can. It's not too bad, as there's enough light to see the paths we can take from our current position, but the effect does make it impossible to see what's in the corners of the screen, so it's much harder to inadvertently glimpse treasures or the exit if they're not right next to us.



There's a T-junction right off the entrance with a save point that my capture software somehow managed to split in two. Let's head right first.



The path to the right ends very quickly, with a skeleton at the end that we can interact with.

This looks like a part of this person's journal. Should I read it?



It seems I've been wandering around here for an eternity, but I still have no idea how close I am to the island. My food and water are all gone now. I've tried eating the flesh of the animals in here, but the raw meat has only made me ill. My feet are no longer capable of carrying me, and I've started to accept that my journey is going to end in this dark hole. But even if I'm going to fade into oblivion, perhaps I can at least guide someone else who finds himself in the same position.



In other words, the solution to every maze ever. Couldn't he have done this to get to Helman Island as well? Hell, he's right next to the exit.




As we head back to the T-junction, we find that the bribe amounts have taken a big jump and immediately run into the most powerful enemy in the dungeon.




Cave Trolls have a fondness for the Brain Basher skill, which deals moderate damage and stuns the target.




They also can use Column Strike...




... and their regular attack is no slouch, either.




They're not too threatening, as they only ever show up by themselves, but they have immense amounts of HP.



I end up using a good chunk of my magic arsenal before he goes down.




Now then, on to the dungeon proper. Although we don't have any trouble seeing where we're going, the low light is still somewhat troublesome because most of the dungeon is made up of identical-looking T- and four-way junctions, with a whole bunch of dead ends that aren't immediately apparent due to our limited sight. We don't really have a choice but to go down all of the paths.



We also run into some spiders and... cannons with feet. I think.




Dire Spiders are a joke. 52 damage ain't much, and this one's hitting Daniel, who has the lowest PDF of anyone outside of the back row. They also have very little HP and no other moves.




Belgugons (the things in the back) are slightly more worrying, because they have a long-range attack that can hit anyone in our party. But even Midian and Myst can take a few hits from them.




More annoying is their Mesmerizer ability, which does little damage but occasionally inflicts Chaos. But they have even lower HP than the Dire Spiders and go down quickly once exposed.





It's not long before we come across the real assholes of this dungeon, though. Why are Carrion Worms assholes, you ask?






That's why. Carrion Worms are extremely fast, inflict heavy damage and Poison with their regular attack, have high HP, and always come in groups. It's around this time that I realize it'd be a good idea to go back to a two-column party formation.




They actually have a second regular attack which has a "tail-slap" sound effect instead of a "chomp." This does much lower damage and doesn't inflict Poison, but the Worms are much more likely to go for the bite attack. At least it feels that way







And that's all there is to say about this particular dungeon. We spend a whole lot of time running into dead ends, some with treasure, some not, but there's not much to capture in screenshots since all of the pathways intentionally look identical. Just picture me killing a whole bunch of asshole Carrion Worms and you've got a pretty good image of how this dungeon goes.




Anyway, we eventually pass through an archway that leads to a fully lit area.



And as we move forward, we run into a scene.

Music: None






BOSS FIGHT: Pestilence

Music: Boss Battle - Wild Arms 2, "Battle vs. Solid"




Because you can't have a dungeon without a boss, right? This is actually a fairly interesting battle, which is a nice change from the previous few cases of "hits hard and does nothing else". Rorschach kicks things off by getting lucky on his first steal attempt and grabbing a Titanium Orb. The Orb is an accessory that grants +8 MDF.





Pestilence's signature move is Deathly Breath, which inflicts random status effects on a column in addition to doing minor damage. We get lucky and end up with a set of statuses that aren't too bad. Shiro and Midian are asleep but will get woken up as soon as they get hit, Shiro doesn't mind the Mindblow since the Circlet of Insanity is making his MAG shit anyway, we can Nerveheal Midian to get rid of his paralysis, and Rorschach manages to not get hit with anything. A lot of this battle comes down to which statuses Deathly Breath ends up inflicting, since it's quite possible to get hit with Berserk, Chaos, or Freeze and we have no way of dealing with those. Fortunately Pestilence will use Deathly Breath quite rarely.




Pestilence will also occasionally use Cave-in to hit everyone for decent damage. Of course, this has the unintended benefit of waking Shiro and Midian up.






One Nerveheal later and we're in business. Myst Focused up a bunch of MP, and Midian continued to gain MP even while asleep and paralyzed, so we unleash some second-tier spells for heavy damage.




Apart from the ones listed above, Pestilence doesn't have much in the way of threatening moves. He can use Dark Bolt to deal some decent damage...




... and his physical attack is also pretty strong.



But we manage to take him out before he can use Deathly Breath again.

Music: Boss Battle Won - Chrono Cross, "Victory (A Cry In Summer)"



Pestilence drops 6666 Arn and the Plague Mask. In Last Scenario the Plague Mask was an interesting helmet that gave great stats in exchange for inflicting the wearer with constant Poison, but in this game it just gives +6 MDF (though no PDF) for 2 weight.

Music: None





Fade to black...



The sun's over there, so we're... Roughly northwest to the city.
Northwest... That's a good position. An attack from that direction would definitely be unexpected. We could catch the city in a pincer attack.



Fade to black...

Music: Kirgard - Suikoden V, "Harbor Town by the Lighthouse"



It sounds risky to send a large portion of our army through this tunnel, though.
It's safer than any other option we have. We're not going to send everyone through the tunnel anyway. A regular attack from the north will distract the enemy and serve as a second front. As long as both divisions manage to reach Mayfall City, there's no way they can stop us.
What's your opinion, General Keyser?
Gunwood has the right idea. A coordinated attack from two sides would be the most effective strategy.



The fourth legion alone would be enough to break the defense lines north of the city. The remaining forces will cross the tunnel and move towards the south side of the city, and attack them from the rear. It's of great importance that we both attack at the exact same time. We'll move out when the sun is at its highest point. It's your task to make sure you're ready.
Very well. I will trust your judgment.
We'd better start making our preparations. The sooner we leave, the better.



All right. I'll make sure everything's in order.



We're given control here.




Bruce and Leonius don't have much to say...





... but this random soldier will turn into Bast (since he's in our party) and allow us to change our war unit setup. We don't have anything to change for the moment, though.



After that, we head over to Gaia's Heart.




Let's do this shit.



Fade to black...

Music: War Battle - Final Fantasy IX, "Consecutive Battles"




We still have a couple of hours before we move out. We'd better lie low for now.
Wait a minute... there's something on the horizon...




Uh oh.



What's going on!? Were we spotted? How did they get here so fast!?
This is no coincidence! They were already waiting for us here!




I knew you'd try to sneak up on us, but I never imagined you'd take this many troops with you! It's going to be a pleasure exterminating every last one of you!
Bast! What are our chances? They've left their positions and we outnumber them. Can't we win this battle anyway?



They've got us cornered... If we retreat into the forest, we'll just scatter out and make ourselves easy targets.
What are our options? Go back through the tunnel?
No! There's no way we can get everyone through there before they catch up on us! It'll be a massacre!



Even if our position is weak, we can defeat them! They might be counting on us to hesitate!
It's not worth the sacrifice. We can't afford to look weak at a time like this.



The Mayfall Army starts to advance.



It's still hours before Leonius is supposed to reach Mayfall City. We can't hold them off that long.
All right! The panic is spreading! They must've realized there's no way out by now. They're just lambs waiting for the slaughter. You must be feeling pretty stupid now, thinking you could outsmart us so easily!
Damn you! We're not going to sit here and wait! We have to at least try to--



We have two priorities here: get out of this situation, and alert Leonius before he tries to attack the city by himself. Send a messenger, the fastest we have, to get around the enemy lines and deliver a message to Leonius! He must pull back to Blackwater and hold it! Under no circumstances should he leave the town!
All right, do it. We have no time left to argue.



Good, now listen to me. Leave all the heavy equipment behind. All supplies you can't carry by hand. All of it. We'll have to make a run for it. If we lose all the unnecessary weight, we can outmaneuver the Mayfall army!





Well, it doesn't matter. We'll crush them where they stand!




Music: None

What the... What's going on!?
Colonel Merrick! They're trying to run away!
What!? They're trying to get away from us? Where do they think they're going?




Fade to black...



But thanks to you, Bast, we didn't suffer any casualties, even if we lost a lot of equipment.
I'm surprised they let us off so easily. They pulled back as soon as we made it here.
They'd already lost their advantage. They didn't want to chase us and lose Mayfall City while they were away.
But how did this happen? They knew about the existence of the tunnel after all?



You saw what happened. It's like entering a room full of wolves while the door slams shut behind you.
We thought it would be safe because Zelmony had never tried to use the tunnel before. But apparently they did know about it, and just chose not to use it...
Instead of taking the risk, they waited for us to do it instead. It's all a huge coincidence... Hmmm... That is, unless it was Zelmony who led us to discover Gaia's Heart in the first place.





The message has been delivered. General Leonius has taken his troops back to Blackwater Port and will keep them there. He urged you all to meet him at Elysium castle to discuss the situation.
I see... We'd better head back to Elysium then, before we get trapped here again. I think we can safely leave the town in the hands of the lower officers for now. We can walk to Blackwater and return to Elysium by ship. As long as we travel in small groups, we shouldn't draw too much attention.



Next time: What... is your name? What... is your quest? What... is your choice for next update's party vote?