Part 20

105 points! Congratulations!
We grant you the "Master Hunter" and your reward.



This is Freya's reward. It absorbs Thunder, which is very handy, and teaches some really handy abilities that I'll show off in a bit.

Zidane would've gotten 5000 gil, and Vivi a Theater Ship card, which you can get later anyway except it doesn't matter regardless because Tetra Master sucks.



If any of the three party members win, you get the Master Hunter key item, which means you're a master hunter. Great job!



The fruits of my training, I suppose.







I bring urgent news...from our king.



(Sire, you must not let him see you like this!)
(Take a god look at him. An injury has blinded him.)

Then how did he crawl his way into the chamber unassisted?



Our kingdom is being attacked by some unknown force! We are severely outmatched! Please send reinforcements immediately!





The king and I are old friends. We will send reinforcements to Burmecia immediately.
Thank you, Regent! The king...and all of Burmecia will be most grateful!



...Ugh.



It's too late. He's gone... It's a miracle he even made it this far.



-----



Because of the festival, there are hardly any men left in the castle. It will take time to mobilize.
We have no choice... Call back the 4th aerial division patrolling the border.
But if we recall the 4th, we will lose our eyes over Alexandria.
<Gwok-gwok> Burmecia is our ally. We must help them.



It can't be...
Could it be Mother...!?
I must go now. I cannot sit and wait for the reinforcements.



No. This doesn't concern you.



I'm not gonna sit back and watch your home get destroyed, alright?
...Thank you, Zidane.



Sure.
Alright then. Let's go to Burmecia.
Princess! This is a foreign matter! It has nothing to do with us!
Steiner is right. We don't know if Alexandria is involved.
But if black mages are involved... Zidane, you know what I'm talking about.



If Mother is behind this, I'll make her stop! I promise!





We don't know what to expect there.



Dagger, this is war. A lot of people are gonna die.
I know that!
...How did you feel when you saw that Burmecian soldier die, just now?
...I felt sad, of course.
Just sad? Weren't you scared, too? Obviously, you haven't realized how dangerous it's gonna be... You could get killed.



But...



He's right. We must head to Burmecia at once.



Of course. If you're going by foot, leaving from the gate is the best way.



-----





The Festival of the Hunt feast is one of our oldest traditions. It began well over five centuries ago. It is customary to eat everything with your hands, so go on, before it gets cold.
Thank you, Uncle.



Steiner's eating animation is the best. I just hope he washed his gauntlets before he began eating.



Let's just eat. We can't do anything until the gate opens.
...You're right.



This is wonderful! Princess, how is everything?





Oh... I'm sorry.



Indeed, it is. Especially this beef. It is superb!







F-Forgive me, Princess. I should have tasted it for poison...







Princess! You didn't!

That's right. The "helpless" princess just drugged everyone.



Steiner, I have to make my own decisions... I had no choice. Uncle Cid would never let me leave the castle.
That is because he is concerned about you!
I understand, but-



I'm sorry, Princess. I cannot follow any orders that might put your life in danger.



It could lead to war between the three great nations. Many innocent people will die... As the princess of Alexandria, there must be something I can do. I have to help Mother... I don't want to see anything happen to her...



...Very well.



Thank you. Let's go before everyone wakes up.



Come on.





-----





It was sleeping weed.
We've been had...
I gave her some because she said she was having problems sleeping.
I'm impressed. There's more to her than meets the eye.



Then you might still be able to catch up with her.





You can leave from the Dragon's Gate, located on the Base Level <gwok>.

That's it for story. The rest of this update will be equipment stuff and revisiting a post-festival town if you're the kind not into town dialogue.



So, the Coral Ring. It gives Insomniac (Sleep immunity), Man Eater (extra damage to humans), and Dragoon staple Lancer, which deals 20% more damage than a physical attack and drains MP on top of that.



Freya is the only other character besides Steiner that can wear heavy armor. Since we won't be doing much with Steiner for awhile, it's a good idea to unequip him before you talk to Cid when you first reach Lindblum so Freya can make use of his gear.

Freya's Javelin teaches Dragon Killer, which deals extra damage to dragons. Appropriate for a Dragoon.



We've got mostly free reign now, though a few areas are still out-of-bounds.



You've gotta take pride in whatever you do, know what I'm sayin'?



I imagine.



The Base Level takes us to the Dragon Gate and out of Lindblum. We've got stuff to do first, though.







The big thing to do is some shopping. Of course, there's also some new dialogue now.





I pulled some crazy stunts in my early days. My buddies and I used to go to this forest northeast of here all the time to catch wild chocobos. And we raced through the plains, like the wind, with the girls cheering us on. Those were the happiest days of my life. I wonder if there are chocobos still living in that forest...

HINT HINT.





As you may expect, things are a bit hectic now with the whole Burmecia thing and all.





I've only had one customer so far. Only one.





I somehow missed these last time. Polom is probably a reference to twins Palom and Porom from FF4, a reference SE really likes for some reason since the names even pop up in freaking FF13 as a major city. Don't ask me.

Pepe is obviously a reference to the meme frog even though this game came out before the meme. Truly ahead of its time.



(Dammit!)



How about you? Are you enjoying what you're doing?



No, this game sucks:

Maybe you should go buy another game.

Yeah, I'm havin' fun:

That's what I thought.

It's really surprising how much stuff is hidden in this game.



Buying a bunch of Steepled Hats because It's Time.



I think the bottom line is he doesn't want me to take over the shop.

Also I forgot to talk to this guy behind the counter earlier so I'm doing so now.



Wrist + Steepled Hat + 1000 gil = Cotton Robe.



Steepled Hat costs 260. Wrist costs 130. The Cotton Robe sells for 2000 gil. That's roughly 600 gil profit per robe sold.



I burn through all my wrists and eventually come out with 72k gil. I keep a couple of robes for Vivi and Dagger and proceed to craft one of everything. To go over things quickly:

Butterfly Sword: Dagger + Mage Masher. The first Thief Sword, which are generally stronger than regular daggers. Teaches Protect Girls and What's That!?, the latter being an ability that turns enemies around as if they're being back attacked. Would be a good weapon upgrade if it weren't alongside...

The Ogre: Mage Masher + Mage Masher. Zidane's strongest available weapon currently. Teaches Soul Blade, which hits an enemy with the status of the currently-equipped Thief Sword at 100% accuracy. Doesn't apply to daggers, but on the other hand Thief Swords don't work with the Add Status passive. The Butterfly Sword inflicts Silence, and The Ogre inflicts Darkness.

Cotton Robe: Wrist + Steepled Hat. Teaches Shell and Chemist, a passive that doubles healing from Potions, Hi-Potions, and Ethers. Also grants Fire weakness, like most robes.

Desert Boots: Leather Hat + Leather Shirt. Halves Earth Damage and teaches Flee-Gil, Protect, and Scan. Scan is the new one, teachable to Dagger and of course gives enemy HP, MP, and elemental weaknesses. Not too effective on bosses.

Yellow Scarf: Feather Hat + Steepled Hat. Teaches Bird Killer, Steal Gil, and Millionaire. Steal Gil nets a bit of gil when you steal, while Millionaire increases gil from battles by 50%. That said, no one we've met yet can learn Millionaire, not even Zidane.

Glass Buckle: Leather Wrist + Glass Armlet. Teaches Add Status, Antibody, and Thunder. Nothing new here.

I forget how exactly I geared up my characters because I played almost three weeks ago and don't really care to go through the footage yet again for specifics. It's definitely to maximize abilities of course.



Enough item chat, here's a fucking dog.







Yeah whatever.



I can't wait to tell my kids back home.



It's such a pain repairing everything afterwards.



Also forgot to capture this earlier. From thread chat, this changes during the game and the various dishes are based on negative status effects because this is The Doom Pub.

I don't think it'd go well for me if I opened a bar and tried to sell people poisoned drinks.



Moving on to the theater district.



I heard there are traditional Festival of the Hunt dishes. Do you know where they serve them?

Try The Doom Pub. Their Instant Death Delectables are to die for.



<Thump-Thump, Thump-Thump...>





I was cheering so hard, I completely forgot about the painting.





That's it for Lindblum, pretty much. We've been here several weeks now, so let's leave.





Just gotta ride this thing...



It's not a good idea to go out. The Mist is bad for you.

And check out this brief stop along the way.



Since we have airships running on the Mist, I guess we don't need normal ships anymore.



Quite the view, honestly.



I think it's a waste of time to watch over this place.

Probably harder to appreciate when you're stuck standing in poisonous gas for hours at a time though.



Alright FINALLY we're going to Dragon's Gate.



The best way to get to the grotto is by following the roots popping out of the ground, which extend all the way to the grotto.

That's the fastest way, not the best way. The best way is to explore everything first as there's two major things to check out before we do the next dungeon.



This guy just sells consumables if you forgot to buy them earlier. Convenient, at least.





He went to Burmecia? It might be dangerous there! Kupo!

Maybe one of these days we'll actually run into Stiltzkin. Kupo.

Next time, we're finally done with Lindblum! We meet some new faces and maybe get started on some interesting sidequests.