Part 50: Interlude 16 - Dead on Time
Or, I have to dig for a fitting Queen song and I'm as sick of the nonprogress with the plot as you are.
Who sticks a drill on a merchant vessel, honestly?
Archers help here. Somehow.
Of all the shit you could've recovered you got the marionette. Sure.
Norma picks up Short Charge for her summons.
Riovanes has a lot of propositions. That Falcon one was from here.
Apparently it's actually a part of Ivalice's lore that the seas suck.
Also we find a Macguffin, like Taurus and Pisces.
More... ship recoveries?!
Beating up pirates, it's a change at least.
Poor pirates. Must suck being in the most dangerous seas in the world.
This proposition is two to three days, that's about the only thing that makes it unique.
So Gilbert got involved with this floozy named Anna and her dad, a respected mage or something got really mad about it. So he's sending indiscriminate killers and a discriminate thief to do the job.
FF4 references: 2
At least we got Steal As Well from it.
Remember, this is Ivalice. When someone says Chimera, most of you are probably going to think of
But that's not an Ivalician Chimera.
This is.
Igros is under attack by crazy cockatrices with human faces who apparently have tasty brains and endgame helms.
But hunting them goes fairly well.
Between this and Carrot and the shrine at a volcano I'm beginning to think a lot of FFTA's quests are based on FFT propositions.
Eldena picks up Death.
Coming soon to a theater (of war) near you: Eldena kills everybody.
Ah, a Hydra! Hydras have two of my favorite poaches.
Ramza will be poaching this hydra for some perfume, and Beowulf will be poaching Fist Rockgroin for some skills.
Someone suggested it, and I thought "that's not a half bad idea" because Fist would otherwise be kicked out. Instead, his incredibly ineffective existence will continue on inside of Beowulf, making him slightly more effective.
I mean, he would have to be kicked out. There's 13 special characters not counting Rad, Alica, and Lavian, and I'm not about to remove Eldena, Norma, or Reef.
I try to find the rare battle and utterly fail to do so. Dammit.
Poaching Hydras is my life, man.
Norma's main offensive summon is Leviathan here. It's water elemental.
So it can get a hefty boost from the 108 Gems in addition to hitting a gigantic area and not hitting allies.
Beowulf gets some nice stuff from Fist. They've combined their competencies, creating a marginally better unit.
I break a Muramasa over the surviving Wizard's head and end the battle. That costs a lot of money, jerk!
Beowulf finally picks up Gained JP UP and
OH MY
The Setiemson is pretty unfair, what with the auto-haste and the MA boost. Hell, initial Transparent means the character with it can run around the battlefield completely ignored by the AI!
Imagine this a few dozen time and that's why my character's Faith is so low for all the magic they use.
Sweegy Woods kept producing no results so let's go to Mandalia Plains' rare battle, from the south.
We get rival dragon gangs engaged in a turf war. The Greens are guests, I dunno why Ramza picks sides so easily here, and they're fixed at four Green Dragons. The Red and Blues have a fixed Red Dragon and possibilities for another Red and/or two Blue.
The Greens are around Ramza's level, while the Red and Blues are ten levels above it. The Greens are getting their asses kicked by elemental bracelets and counters, since they can only Dash.
Ramza helps his friends with his Clone Tower Technique.
Jump has an after image effect, and this is the first time I've caught it right.
Ramza kills the last enemy. One of the Greens survives to tell the tale to down-and-out young dragons looking for real street heroes.
Zeklaus Desert form the south for the next one. This isn't it.
No, that's still not it.
Yes, that's it.
This is
KNIGHT
Vs.
MINITUARUS
Minituarus gets the first strike!
It's a vicious Wave Around!
The knight strikes with his sword!
The Minituarus is your average Minituarus, just leveled a lot.
The Knight is ten levels above Ramza, so he's gone up to the highest tier of equipment.
His Rune Sword would be interesting if we could somehow steal it from him, but he's a guest so we can't. 2 MA is wonderful for Geomancers and Beowulf wouldn't mind the extra 1% occasionally.
Minituarus seems to have the upper hand!
But the Knight isn't giving up just yet!
However, the Minituarus's counters end the knight!
Ramza will avenge you!
1 lone level 47 Minituarus. Not much gil.
Yuguo Woods from the East has a lot of ghosts and trees. Treants are interesting monsters in that they mostly have supportive and restorative abilities. The highest rank, Taiju, has the Defender for a rare poach. It's possible to get your first Knight Sword before chapter 4. I don't because fuck rare poaches.
Agrias gets Move on Lava. Lava is present in exactly 1 map.
Ramza's got a level on everyone else due to killing the Minituarus and those dragons, so he's excused for now. Beowulf, too, since he joined at a higher level. Reef joins to get a few levels, maybe hit a new point of speed, and Smash Lampjaw joins because he's Smash Lampjaw.
I'd rather fight living things.
Oh my goodness, it's the Seven Samurai!
Their body armor and katanas vary greatly in quality. Some have Asuras, some have Muramasas, some have Linen Robes, some have Black Robes.
Despite this novelty the Samurai don't pose much of a threat.
Their MA is really low, and Samurai aren't known for other good stats, and they mostly have shit equipment, so they can't do much.
Having realized that this is a real fight and not an anime convention, Tyler is horribly confused as to where he his.
He lashes out at his former companions for leading him away from his wall scrolls.
24. Here, let Norma show you how a real Draw Out is supposed to go.
Bam.
This battle is really in the bag, so I show off Smash's Triple Breath. It deals 50% damage to two panels away in his front and sides.
After it, I check Beowulf's JP to find that he has enough for Sleep already. Dang.
I'll get Sweegy Woods eventually, but for now, it's time for the plot. I want my damn Flash Hats already.