Part 4: Ki and We
Let's go!Ki's joined the party! Let's take a look at what's she got.
Ki's stats are actually comparable to our characters right now—nothing special, pretty much on par for a magic user at this point in the game. Her gear, though, is outstanding. Thunder is a very powerful spell right now, and Cure is always welcome. The hammer and shield are meh, but if you need to stall her so your characters can grow, they're very helpful.
You'll note our guys are coming along pretty well! Stat growth is more or less on par with expectations. We will not be grinding this run unless it's absolutely necessary. I appear to have a talent for minmaxing RPG combat to the point where I hardly ever need to grind, and I plan on using it to my advantage. Grinding sucks, is boring, and basically breaks the game if you do it enough. I'm in this for the plot.
So, Heather.
Yeah? I gotta ask. How are you going to be a movie star if you can't go five minutes without sticking a sword through someone's head? Movie star? What are you talking about? When we left town, you said you wanted to be a star. I just assumed, you know, it was stage and screen. Guh, no thank you. I want to be something a little bit higher profile than that.
Oh? Like what? A gladiator! You cannot possibly be serious. I totally am. I'm going to be the most beautiful, most vicious pitfighter that ever wielded a blade! Is this really how you guys roll? 'Fraid so. Well, at least it's never dull. Besides, party quirks are endearing!
I bet you secretly wear a hat when no one's around. 
Kind of, anyway.
Cozy. Don't be fooled. North Town has been in cahoots with Ashura ever since he set up a base nearby. I don't know if I blame them. Sometimes cooperation is the only way to survive. We need to ask around. If they've got a deal with Ashura, they might, like, know things.
...become the only god to rule the whole world. "Only?" Man, you guys are in for a shock later on.
Pretty sure we're covered on that one.
...Ashura's Base. You don't seem too happy about it. I'm not. They quarter troops in our town and are complete jerks to everyone. They said they'd leave us to our own devices if we cooperate, but they've pretty much wrecked the place, and they lean on our merchants to cut them ridiculous deals. Beats being dead, I guess. Psh. You should totally stand and die like a man. I'm a woman! So am I, but it doesn't stop me!
Shopping tiiiiime~
Let me handle this. I've got, like, expertise.
New faces? Huh. Where'd you come from? Rumor has it the stork brought me! Weirdo. Anyway, here's what I got.
GAH How are we supposed to afford this stuff? How is anyone supposed to afford this stuff?! We get these weapons directly from Ashura's smiths. Most of it isn't for widespread public consumption. This stuff is legal, right? It's grey market, if that's what you're asking. Ashura'll turn a blind eye to us selling his surplus as long as it gets put in the right hands. Explains the high prices. Fits Ashura's M.O., too. I can't help that. Now, are you gonna buy or not? Ew no. We don't have anywhere near that much gold. Then scram.North Town has some incredibly powerful gear available. It's also incredibly expensive. I'm reasonably certain this stuff isn't as expensive in later towns. I definitely don't remember Cure being freaking 6.8k gold, but it's been a while since I've played FFL2.
Personally, I don't see a need to invest in any of it. There's a reason it's stupidly expensive, and our guys will be fine as is—especially with Ki's Thunder and Cure spells.
So, what's up with Ashura? You seem to know a lot about him. Guy's seriously bad news. We've got scrolls going all the way back to the dawn of time that prophetise his appearance. Prophecies are just, like, guesses. You can make them mean pretty much anything you want. ...quote:
It was prrrrretty specific.
Well, here we are!
Love what they've done with the place. Really? No, absolutely not. Maybe the zombies will know something. That could very well be the worst idea in the history of ideas. You shouldn't judge people by their appearance, Roy. Unless they're wearing a hat? I have my limits.
Hi! Can we have a moment of your time?
Sure thing. Wow! Really?
Yeah. Makes it a lot easier to kick your ass. You are in for the surprise of your incredibly short life.
Well, at least your heart was in the right place, Sara. So are theirs! You put that down this instant.Talking to the roving guards will, of course, trigger a fight. You'll notice they're not actually zombies; it's just a convenient placeholder. You'll get the same random encounters as usual. Afterwards, the guard will still be walking around on the map, so you can repeat the process if you like. This is actually a really good place to grind—assuming you feed Ki a steady diet of hammers and/or shields to keep her out of the way.
Alright. Now that I've seen you guys in action, I think I can trust you with a few secrets. Great! Whatcha got for us? You remember those magi from the ruins? How did you know about those? What, seriously? I can see them glowing through your pockets. I didn't even know I had pockets! Anyway, here's some blessed necklaces I brought with me. Each of you take one and hook a magi on it. Okay...
The power of the ancients totally flows through me! 
Now that we have magi, we can equip it! Each character can have one type of magi equipped at any given time. IIRC, they stack—i.e. if you have six power magi, you equip all six of them. If you want different effects, though, you'll have to swap them at the appropriate times.
The names pretty much speak for themselves at the moment, but we'll see some more interesting types later on. Not surprisingly, they have a noticeable effect. Heather jumps from about 30 damage to about 70-80 with her power magi equipped.
They can watch other parts of the base? That's some seriously powerful magic. Ugh. This kind of tech is completely inappropriate for our time period. The prophecies were right, Ashura's a dick. Uh, Ki? You're a cleric. Should you be using that type of language? Hell yeah I should!
There really isn't a lot going on here. It's far and away the most boring part of the game. The random encounters are the same as everywhere else, and there's barely any new scenery to take in. Unless you're particularly enamored of watching us spam Blizzard, Bow, and Long Sword over and over again, there's not a lot of reason to linger.
Hmm. What's in these? I think I can guess...
I guess even bad guys need time to unwind. Sometimes you wanna go where they punch you in the face!
Roy. You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'? Oh yeah. We can totally get away with it in here.
Yo, barkeep! A beer for me and my friend! Sure thing—as soon as you show me some ID. Dang. You guys actually card people? We may work for the very incarnation of evil, but we still have to keep our liquor license.
Ooh! Too bad it's surrounded. I don't think we can take that many of them. You guys are adorable. Just head on over there, you'll be fine.
Shouldn't they be doing something? Anything? Guards are the least observant monsters in the entirety of existence. The sooner you learn that, the better.
Omigod! This totally goes with my outfit! 
Silver armor is the next tier up from bronze. It's still pricey right now, so this is a welcome find. We give it to Heather since she's our secondary meatshield and Roy is still very, very difficult to damage.
Command Center Well, this seems kind of important. We should brace ourselves for a fight. I'm pretty sure a command center needs a commander to run it. See how much clearer you think without hydrocarbons in your bloodstream? I have to admit, it's pretty nice.
Hot dang! It's rainin' loot! Ooh! Ooh! Let me do it! Go for it, dude.
Neat, I can use this to— *yoink* Oh come on! That's the second treasure you've taken! Zero, if you try to take this from me, you're getting it back the hard way.And just like that, we have our first axe!
Axes are, not surprisingly, a power weapon. Using them increases strength, and they use strength to determine damage. It's a weapon practically custom-made for Heather, and it will definitely not be the last one we see.
...yes, sir. Our men secured all the magi in this world but three. No, I assure you, I'm aware... We have every soldier in the area looking for them. Absolutely not, they won't be able to get in here without Isis' blessings. Then I got some bad news for you jerkwads! Wonderful. Now we don't have to go looking for you. I'll call you back as soon as they've been disposed of, sir. Over and out.
I mean, I appreciate you coming all the way out here to deliver the magi personally... but now that you've seen our operations, I have to kill you. Then it's a good thing I didn't come alone!
You guys ready for this? Maybe! That's the kind of ambivalence I like to hear!This is the Rhino! He's totally not a dinosaur, stop asking.
Rhino is a higher level enemy that basically serves as babby's first world boss. Not surprisingly, its defense is pretty high. Fortunately, we have some pretty powerful magic users, and the Rhino's Magic stat isn't that great.
By the way, now seems a pertinent time to mention that spells and abilities are resisted with Magic and not Defense. An enemy with a low Magic rating will get absolutely pasted by spells. Why do I mention it?
Wnes i wneud rywbeth!
Oh, no reason.
Nice shot! Thanks! Now let's point Miss Cuisinart over there at him and call it a day. Kill the pig! Drink his blood!
... Welp. Is she okay?! Yeah. This happens a lot. You'll pay for that, Ki! What do we do now?! Tá hata agam!
Woah! When did you learn to do that? ...For whatever stupid reason, rhinos are considered dinosaurs—which means they're reptiles, and thus have X-Ice. And that means it goes down in one round thanks to Ki's and Sara's combined attacks.
...Ashura's hands! Computer, initiate Protocol Eleven! ... Computer. Protocol Eleven. What? What are you talking about? Is that even a thing I should know? JUST BLOW UP THE DAMN BASE
YEAH WE CAN SEE THAT AAAAAAAAAAA RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE BEFORE—
Oh hey, treasure. NOW IS REALLY NOT THE TIME Meh, I'm sure it'll be fine. It takes a lot to bring down a four story building.
So THAT'S where they put the magi they stole. WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE BASE THAT'S ABOUT TO COLLAPSE AND BURY US UNDER TWO TONS OF RUBBLE Oh. Yeah, we better do something about that.
There's no timer, so you're actually safe as houses if you want to screw around. In fact, you'll still bump into random encounters while the base is exploding. You have to deal with the screen shaking while you're walking around, though, which is pretty annoying. Plus, there's no reason to walk back through the base unless you somehow missed the world's most obvious treasure chests. Grab the magi and beat it.
...magi and come after us again. It's only a matter of time.
Heck yeah we will! 
Hey. What's that?
The Pillar of Sky! We can finally get to it now that Ashura's base is gone! It's a beanstalk. It leads to the Nexus of Realities. You'll be able to access other worlds with it! It's totally a beanstalk! Well, yeah. But it's a very important beanstalk! We need to restock if we're going up there. Saw only knows what we'll find. Good idea. Mind hanging out with us a little longer, Ki? Meh. Not like I have anything else to do. What about your shrine? Honestly, Sylph and the Captain take care of day-to-day stuff. I just kind of hang out and heal people. Nice work if you can get it!Later...
Alright, all geared up. Looks like we're ready to go!
Wooooow This is so totally rad. What's the panel up there do?
...
What? No! We need your help! No, you don't. Seriously. I barely did anything back there at Ashura's base. Except collect gold from our fights Shh You're a lot more powerful than you give yourself credit for. All of you. All you needed was some encouragement. Thanks. Just remember: No matter how sharp your swords, no matter how powerful your spells... the most important weapon you have on your side is your friendship. And our magi. That too. Laters!
Alright, soooooo. Now what?
*bzzt*
HOLY CRAAAAAAAAAAAAPNext Time: Saaaaaaandstorm