Part 15: City of the Dampened

Chapter 15: City of the Dampened



Before I continue on to the main event of the day, there's a little house up on the northernmost tip of the continent that's worth a visit.



Everyone needs a hobby, I suppose. More importantly, he's got a Hero Ring hidden in one of his pots.

Hero Ring: Increases magic power and physical power by 25%, but sadly doesn't stack with itself like Earrings. Still, I can switch out Sabin's Earring for it.



The city of Jidoor is quite a walk to the south from the last town we were in. Unfortunately, there's not much to do there right now other than buy some new equipment.



While I'm at it, I pick up this weapon for Celes. It's a lot more powerful than any sword that Celes could be using right now, with the slight issue of her being unable to do her Runic ability. I don't foresee anything wrong happening from that, however, as Runic is situational at best. By the end of this update, Runic might actually be more of a liability.



In other news, you remember how I picked up Shadow with Gau? Well, there are a few special events that can occur when we use an inn with Shadow in the party.



Curious.



Enough about weird dreams. It's time to go to Zozo.

Music: Slam Shuffle (Zozo Theme)



Described by the folks of Jidoor as a den of thieves and liars, Zozo isn't really a place that anyone goes to unless they have to.



The place is so lawless that you can actually get into fights in the streets. This fellow in particular either hits you for a load of damage or does Magnitude 8, an earth-based attack that hits everyone in the party. Just to make him even more fun, he might do that when he dies too.

Overall, it's just a good idea in general to stay off the streets.



A lot of folks in town don't say much besides this, though the time varies from person to person.



Seeing as the folks in Zozo are a bunch of liars, the obvious solution is to put in whatever time they don't mention, which always turns out to be 6:10 and 50 seconds.



This opens up a secret passage leading to a box with Edgar's new tool, the Chainsaw.



It's rather tragic that we got the Drill so soon before we got this beauty, because the Chainsaw does quite a bit more damage. It'll also randomly try to kill enemies instantly, but it rarely works.



These Harvesters tend to just throw potions or attempt to steal GP from the party (which you can get back by killing them), though they will also throw a knife like Shadow on occasion. What's more interesting is what you can steal from them. The regular steal is a pair of useless Goggles, but the DragoonBoots do something a little more special.





Jumping is generally a novelty at best, seeing as most characters do more damage with their regular gimmicks, but there's a relic to be found later on that improves it a little, and spears do quite a bit of damage if you Jump while one is equipped. For now though, the only person who can make the most use out of it is someone who's better off just using his Chainsaw.



There's another unique relic to be had while looking through the buildings.

Thief Glove: Replaces Locke's Steal command with the Capture (or Mug) ability, essentially giving him the ability to attack while stealing. Seeing as we're still using the Thief Knife, it's a little redundant.



Eventually, we run out of places to go in the building we're climbing, so we have to jump over to an adjoining building through the window. We're eventually going to need to jump back once we get higher.



Hey there, recolor of Vargas! We'll get to you in a second.



Just as soon as we get this weapon for Sabin. The Fire Knuckle has the ability to cast Fire every time that Sabin swings it, adding a little extra damage to it. However, if we ever come across anything that absorbs Fire, we're going to have to use his Blitzes instead. So...business as usual, I suppose.





Then he attacks us anyway. Weird.

Music: The Decisive Battle, Black Mages Version

Dadaluma is kind of bizarre. In the opening portion of the battle, he'll just do really weak physical moves.



Then, once you lower his health down a certain amount, he'll throw a few potions and cast Safe on himself, which raises his physical defense, but his moveset will otherwise remain unchanged.



If the battle goes too long, he'll whistle for a couple martial artists to show up, but they go down too quickly to be of any help to him.



His main gimmick is that if you hit him with enough regular attacks or spells, he'll throw knives at two of your party members, likely killing them instantly. Of course, the odds of you using regular attacks instead of, say, Blitzes and Tools are remarkably slim.

Overall, the guy's just sad and pathetic. You could theoretically take another Thief Glove from the fellow, but what's the point? Let's move on to the top floor of the building where we finally find...



Well, she's not looking good at all, is she?

She's scared, you know.



As a consequence of having any number of possible parties, most of the dialogue in this sequence is canned. I'll be denoting it "Like this." Also, despite the fact that he hasn't introduced himself, the game has taken the liberty of spoiling his name for us.

Ramuh: This girl is your friend?



Ramuh: You call her Terra? How odd...



For no particular reason, Terra chooses this moment to flit about the room before smashing into a wall.



"ESPER?!"



Ramuh: That doesn't mean we don't live here, too. Espers take a variety of forms. Sometimes we live here, taking the shape of humans. You have nothing to fear from us.
: Why hide fact you Esper?
Ramuh: Humans and Espers can't survive together.



: Was that just a fairy tale?
Ramuh: No, that was no fairy tale. That was true. We started out as friends. Then along came the War of the Magi...
"War of the Magi...?"

Yeah, you know, the thing that everyone keeps talking about. Keep with the program, generic protagonist voice!

Ramuh: It took place...long ago. Espers fought humans who were infused with magical powers extracted from Espers...Fearing our magical powers would once again become a target, we fashioned a new realm, and moved there.





Ramuh: Even as we speak, many of my kind are trapped in the Empire's Magitek Research Facility, being drained of their powers...I fled here to avoid a similar fate.



At this point, the group decides that maybe they should actually help Terra out, and they drag her back to the bed.



Ramuh: I sensed that Terra was in trouble. My magic...brought her here.
"Terra's...an Esper?"
Ramuh: No, she's actually quite different.
"How can we help her? We have to do something!"
Ramuh: Then free those of my kind imprisoned in Gestahl's Magitek Research Facility. One of them can surely help her.



Ramuh: Like a coward, I escaped, leaving the others there. It'll be the end of them...
"What do you mean?"
Ramuh: Gestahl's method is incorrect. You can't drain a live Esper of all its power.



Ramuh: That's what's left of us when we...pass away.



To accentuate the point, three green and red stones fall from the ceiling. Apparently, Ramuh was just keeping them up there for the proper dramatic moment.

Ramuh: These are my comrades who fell while escaping the Empire. And I will give you my power, as well...





Is magical shockwave powers just a thing that all Espers have? Anyway, from here, the canned response is:

"Old Man, are you really gone?"



But Gau gets his own special farewell, followed by an animal bellow.



And for that matter, so does Shadow, despite having no other distinctive lines.



Nothing left to do here but collect the Magicite and leave. The other two are named Kirin and Siren, and I'll have a full write-up for them next update.



Ramuh: We few can help save many. The War of the Magi must not be repeated...



"Terra, wait for us. We'll be back."

Next Time...



YES!!



HECK YES!!!!