Part 71: A Mobile Feast
Update 71: A Mobile Feast---
After the seriousness of the last update, it's time for some lighter fare.
"Amarette" is close to "Amaretto," which is Italian for "a little bitter." (And hence the name of the almond-flavored liqueur.)
So I'm guessing "Amarette Malbonara" is a little bitter dish based on Malboros?
That sounds gross! I like that the law aligns with the quest description. Always a good touch.
We do need to defeat all enemies, so the boss monster is merely here as a challenge rather than a lynchpin.
Here's our team. Nothing important, really, just whoever needs XP most. Al-Cid is level 57, everyone else is 58.
: Are these the "ingredients"? I think I've lost my appetite.
What kind of noise is that?
: Looks like they're on the attack. Remember, no fire!
Right, yeah, double check your weapons!
here are four enemies, so you'll outnumber them, though they are pretty spongy.
I mean, they have a lot of HP and defenses. I don't want to think about the texture of a Malboro, thank you very much!
These Malboros have the usual buffs, though their status-inflicting attacks are the most dangerous as always.
And they have their own Esuna, which I have not seen before.
They have some neat abilities, like Evade Magick. Penelo also has that, so Lian can use the AoE to hit the enemy who's technically outside his range without endangering her.
Similarly, Evade Magick doesn't block the melee attack part of Magick Frenzy.
One down.
Frimelda gets another with Magick Frenzy.
The King is pretty thick, especially with Absorb Damage, but it's not insurmountable. All of the Malboros are fairly slow, too, so even their Regen buff isn't be too troubling.
Al-Cid takes down another.
And Frimelda finishes off the King.
I agree with her. Not even the Poison Tasters Guild cooked Malboro!
Each quest in this chain gives us a piece of loot, but it's not unique or used for anything interesting, sadly.
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"Devil"? "Imp"? I don't think there are any monsters by that name.
Wait. Are we eating people?!
DefEAT all enemies, eh?
I mean, they are weaker than us, so it's our right to.
Oh, ok, we already have the soup. Somehow. Presumably someone gave it to us.
: Got yer 'ands on some grub, is it? Tell ya wot, you give us the grub, an' we'll leave yer wivout a scuff! Can't say no fairer than that!
: We have to eat the soup while it's hot... Better take care of these hoods fast!
Come on, you had the perfect setup to offer to feed them some cold steel or something!
The timer is pretty generous, so the biggest annoyance will be navigating the lava pools.
There are two Fire Drakes on the side, keep an eye on them so they can't eat your flank. And even that's not so bad.
A couple of the enemies can steal, namely the Thief. But he never tried to steal anything.
One down. They're after our soup, this is entirely justified.
No! They're using our own powers against us! Except not nearly as well!
The biggest pain for me was this Thief, who dodged way too many attacks.
The Beastmaster, though, isn't as lucky.
I feel like I have to comment each kill so this isn't just a solid block of pictures.
What do you think is in Imp Stew? I was thinking it had to be something super spicy.
Like maybe a paprika soup with lots of extra spices and peppers to make it suitably hot.
See? This Thief is the worst.
His luck runs out quickly though.
: We did it! How's the soup looking...? Still hot! Better enjoy it while we can!
....Ew.
Hold on, can we appreciate the absurdity of beating up four people and two small dragons on top of a volcano over some soup? Because that's great, seriously.
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Signed: Grosso, Culinary Crusade
Is turtle meat really that popular? I guess a giant Shelling actually has a ton of meat on it.
On the other hand, I mean, they're turtles, how could you do that to them?
No blades, at all. They recommend bringing White Monks or Master Monks, but we have a plenty of legal options.
There's also a Lamia here, I'm assuming as some kind of seasoning.
Bullets and magick are two options that I think would ruin the flavor.
: Need to find a way through without using any bladed weapons.
You know, just in case you didn't read the quest description or the law or anything.
Does turning them to stone affect the flavor at all?
What about soul energy?
Or the holy light of angry purple crocodiles?
Dark, magickal wind should be fine though.
As usual, the Shellings have Critical: Quicken so they can try to use Limit Glove, but that ability only works when the user's HP is in single digits.
Lenolia killed the first stoned Shelling, so Lian must stone another.
The Lamia tried to destroy Lian with a Twister, so this is really self defense.
Talf is a Arcanist right now, which means he's using Illusionist spells because Arcanist sucks.
And Montblanc blows up the last two.
: What will Culinary Crusade think to cook up next? I'm starting to think they've declared war on good taste.
Not bad!
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It...melts your heart? What?
Note we need to weaken the flan instead of killing it this time.
And the enemies are finally over level 50! They've been in the mid 40s this whole time.
: There's nothing fresher than something that's still alive and...wobbling. Um... We'll weaken the flan, and take out the rest!
This is the most diverse battle yet.
We're just missing a Baknamy and a Sprite, then we'd have one of each "forest" monster.
It's kind of cool? I'm not sure why they decided to do it this way, since the other battles featured one type of monster.
Unless...they've all had their hearts melted by the flan?
Are we disrupting this flan and its friends? Some sort of monster commune in the woods?
Oh wow we actually got an Opportunity Command. Penelo is just that hyped to beat up a pile of goo and its friends.
Not that we actually need an OC to do that, of course.
So maybe a quest line about destroying the lives and communities of monsters in order to eat them would be a bit too dark, but I do wish there was more story in this quest line.
At least the Poison Tasters Guild quest line had the story arc of the apprentice, you know?
This one is just a bunch of unconnected battles. Not even a notice or letter in between -- I've been checking.
The sheer disgust for the ingredients we're gathering is funny, at least.
I guess not every quest line can be Duelhorn.
: This is one dessert I'd enjoy more if I didn't know where it came from.
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So the quests we just completed were for gathering the ingredients for a meal. Except the soup one, I guess? Since we ate that? I don't know.
Chef Grosso, what do you have for us?
: Meal? Where's the food?
: It will be along shortly. You should never rush a good meal! Surely you've learned by now the importance of having the right ingredients. And what better way to appreciate them than by gathering them yourself!: Ah! Our meal has arrived!
Hoo boy. A Behemoth. That'll be tasty.
: That's not a meal! It's still alive!: Yes! Alive with flavor!
[GIF] holy shit he's gone
Several more Behemoths join the battle.
: ...Maybe we should take care of these guys.
How many humes do you think I will bring?
Especially against these chunky boys? The two in front have magick, the other three have Blink Counter and martial arts.
The answer: literally half the team.
Let's get this party started! Or...get the meal cooking...?
Let's serve this bread!
The enemies are quite beefy, but we've been to Brightmoon Tor, it's not that bad.
The humes are some of the strongest units in this clan even without any abilities. Adelle's regular attack deals 200 damage to this guy.
Sure, that pales compared to Frimelda, who can deal 250 damage to a huge area and heal herself, but that's with an end-game spell!
So don't be afraid of pushing yourself against the law.
The Behemoths have this awesome-looking Hell Assault attack, which deals heavy damage and knocks back every unit around the user.
Fortunately, Frimelda can't be pushed away because of the slope next to her, so she's able to counterattack.
As Adelle demonstrates, the danger of this mission is getting ganged up on by several Behemoths in a row.
The two Behemoths in front start off really isolated, so it's easy to take them out by themselves if you have the speed.
It's Lenolia's turn next, so I'm not worried about Adelle despite her being cornered. Well, not very worried. Maybe a little.
The Behemoths are weak to Ice damage, so Lenolia uses Shiva to damage them and Maduin to heal herself.
Frimelda follows that up with a kill.
OK more than a little worried. But then we have 5 more people to avenge her!
Maybe death should have more consequences.
Al-Cid finishes off the big green one. Technically that's a Reaver but they're all Behemoths to me.
I took Regenga as our clan privilege so really Adelle is fine! See, I know what I'm doing.
: I wonder if Grosso is all right. He took quite a hit.
After all this fighting, I've definitely worked up an appetite.
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Seven quests left! Should we do Brightmoon Tor or The Rivalry of the Rupies? Throw in a vote if you like.