Part 11: Shopping Spree; Karnak style!

Chapter 10: Shopping Spree; Karnak style!


Right, so there's a cave in Walse's meteor. First the meteorites have minor impacts and then they're hollow? Where are these blasted things coming from?


I fucked up the screenshot, but Burtz stepped on the panel and vanished, flung somewhere else...

Did he make it? Did he... warp?
We won't know until we try!

Faris and Lenna jump on the panel eagerly.



Who am I?


Warping over the mountains that Hiryu couldn't fly over...


Burtz and the team emerge from a meteorite that looks the same inside into a wooded grove.


The grove all but vanishes on the world map. They reuse the same map for 3 meteorites, even though none of them land in any appreciable forest. Tycoon's lands NEXT to some forest, if that counts to anyone.


Now for the painful journey to Karnak. The enemies are a mean step up, and you don't have the awesome shit Karnak's stores provide!


Zuus are buckets of HP and attack, while Aegirs can inflict Old on your characters, which gradually decreases level and thus damage. I really don't want to have to cut down Zuus this early.


The sole encounter of Karnak's forest: Five Wild Nakks. They have 95 HP each. They are weak to fire. They give a total 625 gil and 87 experience and 1 ABP. They also cast ???, a Blue Magic spell that deals damage equal to the caster's lost HP.


The Summoner's spell Sylph is a neat spell. Not the best for damage, but it heals the party depending on how much damage it does.


Finally, the party reaches Karnak. There's a town, a castle, a huge-ass wall, and a boat.



They were so bothersome, the queen built a wall to shut them out! Er... obviously, now you can't get to the library anymore.


Oh really?




I'll just buy 10 of each and


Huh?


But I was just going to


GODDAMMIT! I was so fucking close!


And now this crazy guy's blowing up the cell wall!

Oh Horsefeathers!
!?



Ehh... Doesn't matter. The name's Cid.
What? The same Professor Cid who made those terrible machines to amplify the crystals?
:Smith:
Forgive me, that was rude...
No, you don't have to apologize. It's the truth. After all, I'm to blame for everything... It's been years... One day I found an ancient tome in the Library of the Ancients. It said that thousands of years ago, the crystals held much more power than they do now. So I studied the crystals of Tycoon, Walse, and Karnak, and built machines to enhance them...



But why are you locked up?
C: I was too late to save the crystals in Tycoon and Walse... Figured I could at least save the one in Karnak. But when I tried to switch off the machine, they threw me in here.
So, you're in the same boat as us...
: You're here to protect the crystal?
Yup! They asked us too!


Here's some McGuffins as proof!

What!? A crystal shard... who are you people?



You were right all along... The crystal's cracked!
What!?
I turned off the amplifire, but the crystal's output has only increased...
: The fire-powered ship...
Yes? What about it?
: Most likely it's the fire-powered ship that's leeching power from the crystal.
Professor, please, we can't do this alone. Please help us!


Aw, thanks for the get-out-of-jail-free card, Cid


They let me keep the Fire Rod I tried to buy, for some reason.


Karnak and its castle are on fire.


Fires that block treasure chests, even.

Sucks to the royal treasurer.


And there's this asshole werewolf that keeps trying to get in, likely to set himself ablaze pilfering treasure or eat someone or something werewolves do. They keep blowing him up, but he keeps coming back.

Yeah, so, welcome to Karnak.


Remember how I started the update with like 8800 gil?

I blame Fire Rods.

Also two whole sets of Mythril armoring to match Burtz' helmet.


Fira is all I need for the next step of plan "Get badass at Karnak."


Fira with a Fire Rod deals enough damage to really get to Zuus.


Sorcerers, The class Burtz is there, automatically cast Shell when their HP is low. Shell is 4th level White Magic, but it interferes with Cure.


So, yeah, I walked all the way back to Walse to get at the castle's other hidden secret besides Elf Mantles.


The secret? Her.

SECRET BOSS FIGHT: SHIVA, ICE COMMANDER x3


Shiva casts Blizzara on alternating rows, while the Ice Commanders act as walls of chilly meat.


So, rather than try at this, I'll just fling elemental rods until they quiet down.

Might as well keep count: 2 broken rods.


A quick Fira from Lenna finishes Shiva off.


Frankly, the first level summons aren't that good. Chocobo gets by a few counterattacks, Remora can paralyze a few enemies, and Sylph is a bit of healing, but level 2 and up summons, like Shiva, are hardcore motherfuckers.


Speaking of which, only 2 summons are given to you as part of the plot. 3 are purchased, and the other 10 must be hunted down and assaulted/assisted.


Now to wait for this thing to turn Lenna into a frog.


Eventually.


So, yeah, Pond's Chorus inflicts the frog status. Frogs are pretty much harmless, so frogged enemies really can't do much to you.


Goodnight, everybody.

NEXT TIME: Fire-powered ships! Where does steampunk end and anachronism begin?