Part 22: Ghost Ship 2

Technically, they were all gifs.

Just, y'know, every single gif on the site.

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Welcome back! Last time, we fought our way through the Ghost Ship, and are about to find what lurks in it's spOoooOOOooky heart!

Anyway, the save point's hint is "Monsters have elemental weaknesses! Aquatic and Undead enemies, like, say, the ones that you find in this dungeon are weak against Fire! Y'know, that nifty spell that Feena has?"



This isn't the way?

: Like a predator stalking its prey.



: But Feena, this is a Ghost Ship. How does it catch its prey?

: Justin. The prey is already here.



Yep, we get a zoom-out here. Surprised there was no "DUN DUN DUUUUUN!" sound clip to go with it.

: Huh? Here...?

: Do you mean US!?

: Justin... look around carefully or it could be fatal.

Dammit, I can't decide whether to make a "Look around you" joke or a reference to the Stupids with "Fatal Error Drive B"









If you look carefully, you can see landmasses on the globe correspond to ones on the map. Detail!



: Yeah, really seems like a Ghost Ship.



: Looks like the ship's log.

: Maybe the log contains a clue to the mystery. Let's read it.



: "Unless we kill that accursed monster our voyage has no tomorrow...."

: It ends here.

: Monster? What could that mean...?





: Be careful! This is the "Monster"!



(polsy link)

As usual, skip down to "battle ends" to bypass the transcription.



Much like the Orc King, this fight consists of the main target and two adds.

Unlike the Orcs, though, these tentacles will mess you up if you give them a chance to. Like, say, by not healing beforehand and having your resurrection potion on your squishiest party member.

Anyway, you see here that the Right Tentacle is charging up Howl. It's imperative that you stop this from going off. If you're wounded and/or your party is bunched up, it can be hard to recover from.





Another difference is that all three parts are on the same spot, meaning any AoE at all will hit all three of them.

You may have noticed that Feena's been getting a lot of use of that Burn! spell, despite her whip usually being just as, if not more, effective. There is a reason for that. With this casting, she got enough XP to level up her Fire skill to 4.



Where this happens. Next time Feena gets a turn, you'll see why this is so important.



Sue opens up with a Puffy Kick, to keep her out of range of the Squid King.



Because his attacks can hurt.



Hmm, that's strange. Where's our new spell?



Over here, in the Level 2 Magic tab.



Before she can cast it, though, the Squid King launches one of his specials. Shockwave is pretty unique, actually.





It requires at least one tentacle alive, and it hits in a radius around the Squid King. A rather short radius, as Justin was unaffected by it.



So, Burnflame.



It is a massive AoE.



That deals more damage than Burn!. It's going to be our best hard-hitting area control spell for a while.



And here's another reason to murder the crap out of the right tentacle. Alheal, as you may guess, is a multi-target healing spell. Not particularly powerful, especially by the boss here, but it's still enough to give you a headache.



So he's got powerful attacks, and buckets of HP that he can heal. What's his downside?

He's immobile. Shockwave can miss if nobody is standing close to him, but so can the tentacles' normal attacks.

Despite being three parts, he can also only take one action at a time, so once a part goes into the ACT part of the IP gauge, the other two are frozen until the attack either goes off or is canceled. If you get lucky with combos and turn timing, you can get several turns in while waiting for him to charge something up.



Anyway, Howl. I warned about this early on. If you see someone getting targeted by it, move them away from the others. Why?



Because it's an AoE that's nearly as big as Burnflame.



And it hits like a normal attack, complete with the stunning while you recover. Remember that bit about keeping him stunlocked? Well, with Howl he can do the same to you.



Suck In is the last of his attacks we'll cover. It deals no damage and doesn't interrupt anything, but just drags everyone closer to the boss, leaving them bunched up and in range of all of his nasty attacks.





This could end badly.



Justin didn't have time to get away, but Sue has the resurrection potion, so...



Oh yeah. Without tentacles, he can't use Shockwave. False alarm!



And, with Feena's whip striking true, the battle ends.



I think we got more gold from the boss than we did from the entire rest of the dungeon.



Everyone's more than halfway to their next skill level.



And Sue levels up again. She's gonna want every point of Wit she can get to keep up with the other two.



: No doubt about it. It must have attacked the ship and preyed on the people.

If this were a modern game, the ship would've been Lilly's, and there'd be some clue about Justin's Dad because you can't just have character motivation without shoehorning it into the plot somehow.

Anyway, the screen starts shaking here. Yadda yadda, gifs too big, etc.



: YIKES! What was THAT!?

: OH, NO! This ship has begun to sink. Justin. QUICK, we've got to escape! We're doomed if we go down with it!



No timers, no warnings, just the dramatic music and shaking screen. If you didn't kill the enemies on this screen yet, they'll still be here.



The game does, at least, stop you from backtracking.

: That's right, Justin! Didn't I say to listen to Feena?



: Don't worry! Leave it to me!





Courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality, Justin!



: Come, quick! Climb this rope!





: Nothin' to it. That Ghost Ship was easier than swabbing the decks!

: Hee, gotta hand it to you! Oh yeah! I have news. They're gonna let me work on the ship! In the engine room! They're right in the middle of repairing the engine!

: How about that! Good for you!

: That giant squid stopped the ship. It was quite a beast.

: I told you from the beginning.

: There are no such things as ghosts.



Ahem!

: Right, Cap'n?

: Good job, Feena! Now we can make it to the New World. I can really depend on you.

: Oh, Cap'n! Not just me. You've got to thank Justin and his friend too.

: We defeated the Ghost Ship by the three of us working together.

: Of course! You're quite right! I didn't imagine they could accomplish what they did.

: To tell the truth... I didn't think so either.

: You were quite an adventurer! You get a perfect score on your first adventure.

Perfect score...?











Shit, Java almost failed us for not realizing the mine would collapse when we killed the orcs, but we get perfect marks for that performance? Feena sure is an easy grader.

: You looked pretty good there, Justin. ♥

Ooooooooh. That explains it.



: This is sorta embarrassing.

: This isn't like you, Justin. Getting all red-faced like this. ♥

: Puff-Pufft!

: Puffy! What are you saying?!

: Ah hahahahaha!



And a fade to black with everyone laughing.

Next time: More dialog! Fewer dungeons!