Part 7: Dorter Trade City

Full power, ACTIVATE!


Here's Ramza's HP before Equip Armor...


And after! Monks with Equip Armor take out the early game really well while other people gather abilities for the late game. It's a beautiful relationship.


Norma picks up Don't Move.


Fist gets Auto-Potion, and I really wish I spent those points on Throw Item so he could start training in Knight without losing healing powers.


Hey kids, you ready for a sudden, inexplicable rise in the difficulty?


In later battles, Ramza, by virtue of being involved in the cutscenes, starts the battle in a location completely independent of where you place him. I don't think this is one of them, but it's something to be aware of.


Dorter opens on a knight grilling a fencer. Yeah, they call them fencers sometimes. The sky is about to burst open with rain...

: Where is Gustav? Where!?
: I... don't know...

: Where is the Marquis? Where are you hiding him? Speak!


The fencer tries to escape from the knight, only to tumble on to the ground.


The knight will have none of this shit.



: D... desert...
: I see... in "Rat Cellar"...


The rain begins to fall.

: Damn. The Hokuten.


The knight escapes quickly.



: I've seen him somewhere...
: Do you know him, Delita?
: I saw him at the end of the Fifty Year War in Igros.


What... what was that, Ramza?



: Leader of a Volunteer army. A Corps of Death Knights.
: What? ...You mean he's the...
: Yes. The leader of the Death Corps.


Delita and Algus take to scaling the tall building immediately.


The archer atop it has a longbow, giving him extra range for his immense height. He begins assaulting Delita with arrows almost immediately. Better him than Eldena, at least.


He's lightly armored, at least. Algus and Delita have a short task ahead of them.


Enemy wizards are also around. They're even worse off than the archers in terms of armor. Their magic is still powerful, though.


The fencer himself forgot to take off his evening gown before engaging in combat.


This dumb idiot forgot to even bring a bow!


Haste's incantation.


Ramza, a hasted heavily armored monk, will begin to beat people to death.


Except...

he misses.

On a 5% chance.

The battle goes from to in a single moment.


Ramza gets pinned with several spells.


The fencer attacks Ramza completely regardless of anything else. This guy will risk life and limb just to hit Ramza more. Here's some tender mages, fresh for cleaving! Naw, gotta hit that monk. He has to, it's the only way! Every single action he takes is hitting Ramza. He waits two times during the battle only because Ramza is out of range.


Now, I have to improvise my way through a terrible situation rather than punching everyone to death.


Keep in mind that that fencer hates the everloving shit out of Ramza, and there's two wizards about. Keeping Ramza alive is going to be hard.


Delita and Algus take out the longbowman way up there, at least.


Well, shit.


Good zodiac compatibility saves the day! Raise's healing is fixed, faith and zodiac signs affect how likely it is to revive.


Ramza fells one of the archers in a single punch, giving him enough time to be healed by Fist Rockgroin.


The fencer gets his just desserts. By being punched to death, that is.


For dealing with the man that hated Ramza, I get a sword upgrade, my own Linen Robe, and an ether for when Fist gets off his ass and learns Ether.

I hope I never have to improvise like that again. Regardless of if its technically skilled or not, it looks sloppy.


Later, in a shed out of the rain, the fencer, somehow still alive after his horrible pummeling, gets interrogated. Algus pretends he's Jack Bauer.

: Where is the Marquis? Where is he being held? Tell us!!


A beat. Algus isn't very good at being Jack Bauer.

: Your boss, Wiegraf, was just here. Y, you bastard! Say something!


Algus kicks the fencer in the face. He almost punches a few teeth out before...



: Damn. ...Listen carefully. In a moment, the Hokuten will begin to slaughter you. That's right, each of you're going straight to hell. Being a thief sure pays, huh? But you're lucky. You tell us where Wiegraf is going, and I'll let you live, OK?
: I don't know a damn thing.


Frustrated, Algus kicks the man a good few feet.

: Watch your language! Never talk to nobles like that!
: We're... not thieves...
: What did you say?
: ...Nobles never change. You think we aren't human. We risk our lives in the War for this country...... But you dumped us afterward. How are we different? Birth? Status? What the hell's rank?
: You kidnap people for ransom! So don't act so great!!




: We'd never kidnap a VIP... for money...
: Then, why? Why kidnap Elmdor?
: ...
: Talk! If it wasn't you, then who else would do it?
: ...Gustav.
: Gustav? Who the hell is he?
: Gustav Margueriff... Captain of the "Death Corps".
: So it WAS you all!
: No. We're fighting to beat you! We're proud that we fight for equality... We're different from Gustav!

For this, Algus kicks him again.



: Enough, Algus!
: So where is this Gustav?
: ...'Sand Rat Cellar'.
: Sand ra-a-a-ts?
: Algus may not know what they are since he's not from here. 'Sand Rats' only inhabit the Zeklaus Desert north of Dorter.
: !?
: Was there a village between Dorter and Zeklaus desert?
: Not anymore. But there is a place where sand people used to gather...
: Gustav and the Marquis may be there.
: What's that mean??



Man or rodent, either way, we're hunting down rats in a desert.