Part 15: Pirates of Darek's Haunt

Chapter 14 – Pirates of Darek’s Haunt

As suggested by Seraphic Neoman, I decided to give the Dein side jump another go with the slowdown function. I didn’t do this before because 1: I’m not very smart, and 2: I plum forgot this was something I could do. I wasn’t sure it would work at first, but…



It made all the difference. I guess it just allowed me to overload the game with input? You could call it cheating, but I was working with a handicap to begin with. Obviously none of this reflects the reality of playing on console but as everyone says, it’s easy to cheese that too. I honestly can’t remember how I did with it years ago on PS2.

Anyway, since we actually beat him, I’ll tell you about these juicy end game items I’ve been hinting at the existence of this whole time. “Heaven’s Secrets” are like these little tokens the game gives out for completing certain events, or else having enough money or finding them in certain locations. What they do is they allow to combine for end game weapons and armour. Once you combine a certain weapon or armour enough, you’ll get to the point where you need just one Heaven’s Secret to turn it into the best thing it can be.

However, these are useless to us right now because you can’t get to the point where Heaven’s Secrets can be used until you get through all the other combining recipes, which I’m pretty sure all require rare, end game materials that we won’t see until, of course, we’re at the end of the game.

Now, moving on, we have more side junk to see before we move on with the plot. Isn’t it fun?



We hand in those tea cakes to the guy that asked for them. This allows us to pick up our reward from the guild.



Whatever quests we complete, we must return to Sonnet in the guild to get our reward. This will sometimes involve a bonus.

Anyway, now that the quest is officially completed, all our characters go back to their positions and scenes are re-enabled. We start with Darakin.



Leon: “Nice and browned on top like this is the best.”

“Sharon, what are you doing?”

“It smelled so good, I just had to learn how to make it! Mm! My, that smells great! I can’t believe I’ll be able to make something this good!”

This teaches Sharon the “Shrimp Au Gratin” recipe.



In the upper crust district, we see someone crying in the corner. It’s Nils, the son of the innkeeper, Sabrina. It’s hard to make out, but there’s actually a gap between the hedge line and the wall you can move through to reach him.



Nils: “Waah!!”

“What’s wrong, Nils?”

Nils: “Waah! *Sniff!* I followed…a strange man…*Blubber!*…and ended up here! Waaah!! Mama!!”

We get to choose to either take him home, tell him how to get home, or just leave him there. Cocky Lang may be up his own ass, but he’s not an asshole.

“Don’t worry! I’ll take you home!”

Nils: “*Sniffle* Really…?”

“Sure! Come on. It’s this way, Nils!”

Nils: “Okay! Thanks!”



Nils: “Okay, I promise. Thanks! Here, you can have this. Some guy gave it to me.”

We acquire a “Doplin Lunch”, a consumable that is in a lunchbox shaped like the Bishop himself. How disturbing.

(Maybe I should warn Sabrina about strange men giving gifts to her son…?)

We leave Darakin in search of more side content. It’s at this point I remember camp conversations are a thing too. Did I mention some only occur when stopping in specific areas? For instance, we get this camping in Yuno…



“You’re cold because you’re dressed like that! Put on some more layers!”

“But, bundling up just doesn’t look sexy! Didn’t you know that? Aah…Atchoo!”

“Really? Is that really true?”

“No, Maya, it isn’t. Not at all. And even if it were, you wouldn’t want to catch cold, would you?”

“Who…Who’s caught…Ah! ATCHOO! Caught a cold? Oooh…”

“I guess YOU did, Sharon…”

“Sharon…I have some medicine…”

“Ooog…Do you? Really Maya? Thanks! You’re my savior! Thanks….HATCHOO!”

We head back to Nohl.



(What’s this about…? Better drop some eaves…)

“I know exactly what you mean. Waiting is tough…but…There’s also a certain joy in it, too.”

“There’s joy in waiting?”

“While you’re waiting, that person lives in you. It means that whoever you care about is with you all the time.”

“Hmm…I don’t know if I get it.”

“Well, perhaps you don’t feel that strongly about the person yet! Not that I would feel strongly…about HIM.”

“Sharon, Do you…have one?. A person like that?”

“Hah! Of course I do, as many as the stars! I’m a professional in the field of love.”

(A professional in the field of love?!?)

Solid Lang really feels the need to repeat things he hears, doesn’t he?

The scene ends here. Given how Nancy’s acted so far, and how there’s only one person she knows that isn’t sitting around Nohl with her, I think you can figure out who she’s talking about.

In fact, if we leave and re-enter Nohl, the game will spell it out for us.



“Do I…Do I have to sit here and just wait for you to come back, Lang? I don’t want to! Staying here alone, just worrying all the time…I’m going with you, Lang!”

Nancy is in fact an optional party member. You can only unlock her by having a high affection rating and checking in on Nohl like this regularly. She starts at level 1, but she can become the strongest character in the game if you train her up.

We get a choice on whether to let her come with us, and we choose to have her come along.




“Will Kazan and Maya let me go??”

“That’s a good question…”

“I guess it would be hard…And if I saw a monster, I could only try to run away…On second thought, I think it’s best for me to stay here.”

You guys knew I was bullshitting, right? I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again, there are no meaningful choices in this game. Besides, half of you have already played this game.



For some reason, they plum forgot to put any punctuation or anything else here other than “Nancy”.

“It’s okay, Lang. Like Sharon said, I’ll find the joy in waiting!...so don’t make me wait too long. I’ll be here ‘til you come back.”

“Yeah, of course I’ll be back, Nancy!”



”Nancy, that’s stupid. Dein would spread rumours about me if I had only lived here for a single day.”

Now let us leave Nohl and its legal incest vibes behind. Kravia is our next stop.



Gipelli: “Come on now. Don’t talk like that! My wares are number one in the world! Take another look!”

“Take another look? Are you trying to tell me there’s something wrong with my eyes? Why…you…!!”

Gipelli: Yikes! Um…Now…calm down, there…”



Gipelli: “Do something about him for me, will you? He’s trying to ruin my business!”

Gipelli actually is something of a shitty, con artist merchant. All his stuff is next to worthless on its own. I think his gimmick is that you can combine his stuff into better stuff, but I can’t remember for sure. Either way, he’s basically a crook, and we’re gonna agree with Kazan.



“He’s absolutely right!”

“That’s my boy! My star pupil!”



“Anytime!”

Gipelli: “No! Please! Forgive me! I’ll sell better wares from now on! I’ll even sell them cheap!”

“Really? I doubt it…Well, Lang, I’m not so sure he’s really mended his ways, but why don’t we give him another chance?”

“It’s up to you, Master.”

The scene ends here. It’s funny to think that Kazan was keen to beat down this crook but when the fate of the world was at stake, nobody ever suggested just taking the Mizel Red Sand back from Kenjiro.




This game won’t let minors drink, so we know how accepting would go. We decide to buy her something to curry favour.

“Nah, nothing for me, thanks. But I’ll buy you a drink, Sharon. Order whatever you want.”

“Really? OK, let’s see…I’ll have a Colondas and….a Dear Mother….And I’ll have some steak. And…”

“Hey! Wait a minute! I said ‘A DRINK!’”

“Come on! Don’t be such a tightwad! Let’s make this into a little party!”



”Why are you so glum? This is a drop in the ocean compared to the cash we have!”

”…you know, you’re right.”

Indeed, this only costs us 10000 gold, and we have far more than that at this point, and can easily replace it with a few battles.




We dropped 10000 for Sharon, why not 30000 for Maya?

“You want it, Maya? Why don’t I buy it for you?”



“No, it’s okay. Really!”

We get a “Diamond Ring” out of it. This is a decorative item for Maya’s house.

“Try it on, Maya.”

“OK.”



“Hey, it looks good on you! It’s real cute, Maya.”

“Thank you…Lang.”

Upon re-entering Kravia…



“Grr! What a pain you are! If you don’t leave me alone, I’ll slash you!”

Jon: “You’ve got the greatest voice! You’ve slashed through to my heart! Come on, hang out with me for a while!”



Naturally, we’re getting in the middle of this.

“Come on, you’re bothering her. Leave her alone! You’re making a fool of yourself.”

Jon: “Who the hell are you? Don’t try to weasel your way in between us!”

“You’re the one that’s the weasel! Lang and I have a really SPECIAL relationship! No room for you here! Nothing can come between the two of us!”




“So…What were you saying? Something about a really SPECIAL relationship…?”

“What-Lang? You WANT a ‘really special relationship’ with me?”



We leave Sharon be and go check out the guild.





Well you know what Cocky Lang is saying, don’t you?

“I don’t want to brag, but I’m pretty good.”

”…nah, that’s bullshit, I WANT to brag! I have been kicking ass from Mt. Gabel to Tanza, dude!”

“Hmph. So you’ve got confidence in yourself, huh? Watch it, confidence is a killer.”

”Yeah, my Master keeps saying that, and I keep proving him wrong.”

Speaking of Tanza, let’s go there, shall we?



“What do you think, Lang? Don’t I look different after taking a bath?”

We get to choose our response. I’m going to show you one I didn’t pick before I show you my canon choice.


I choose to have Lang say she’s sexier, if only for what happens next.

“Now that you mention it…Your skin’s all pink, and kinda….Sexy!”

“Yay! ♪ So you can tell, Lang..! A soak in a hot spring can make a woman feel 100000 times sexier! From now on, men will…”






The game does objectify Sharon a bit, but she’s usually entertaining during these moments.



Maya’s usual hang out in Tanza is right in front of the hot springs. Remember how she judged us for riding the sheep in Nohl? Well…



If we try to enter the ladies’ bath in front of her, she suddenly runs away. We can find her elsewhere in Tanza.



I decide to joke about it.

“Heh heh! You caught me!”

“What in the world were you thinking?”

“Aaah, I didn’t mean it…I didn’t know it was the wrong side! Ha ha…ha!”

“You’re so silly, Lang.”

No matter what option you pick, Maya will not genuinely realise Lang might have been trying to perv. She is an honest and innocent creature. Once we leave, Maya will go back to the bathhouse, and will never react to attempts to perv again.



We find Kazan in the hot spring. We will occasionally find party members in here. Although we won’t see the girls in here for a long time. Yes, like that.

Now we’re finally done with the side content here. Let us move on with the plot. Darek’s Haunt was our destination, where the pirates hang out.




“Dareku no Kubi(?)” I’m not so sure about this one because that is clearly the Kanji for “neck” and other related meanings and I’m reasonably sure that can’t be interpreted as “haunt” in the sense of a place where people hang out or live or what have you. Maybe the intent was it related to the peninsula looking like a thin, neck like place rather than being where someone is, but I wouldn’t know. Perhaps someone else can give some Japanese context?







Guntz: “This ain’t no place for kids! Be off now! If you want to keep your head on your shoulders that is…”




Now Playing – Pirate’s Pride




“If my father were still here, he’d have cut off one of your arms I bet! Isn’t that right, Guntz?”

Guntz: “Not that! Please, boss, I didn’t know! I’m sorry!”




Guntz: “You got it, bo-I mean, Captain!”

The two run off.

“*SIGH*”

“Why do they call you boss, Sharon?”

“Heh heh heh heh…Ha ha ha ha…Ahem…”



“And Captain of the strongest pirate ship in the world…The Blood Hawk!”




Let me just show you what happens if we choose to burst her bubble…


Cocky Lang chooses to humour Sharon and let her believe she’s a master actor.

“It’s…It’s not that we’re not surprised…We’re still in shock….It hasn’t sunk in yet.”



“Whew…It was worth it! You don’t know how hard I tried to hide it! Maybe I should become an actress…♪ Well, don’t just stand there! Come on! Let me show you the hideout!”

Despite being ushered towards the hideout, we can now move freely.



This guy on the Blood Hawk would have taught us the Thunderflash Art, but we learned that back in Gale Canyon.

We now head inside the hideout.



We can infer we just exposition dumped Sharon.

“I’ve got to tell you though…This Avalon guy…And the Source Forge…”




”Could have left a few parts out though. Did I really have to hear about the sexy gorilla?”

”Every last one of my exploits deserves recognition.”



“He was…my father.”



The game hovers over Kazan. What could it mean?



“But something happened…His first mate left, and then one by one, others started to leave too…Now the few of us that are left spend our days hiding away in this hole like rats…”



“No matter what it takes…We’re going to have a fleet again and rule the open seas! In order to do that, I’ve got to do something really big! Something that’ll shock the entire world! Something…Something that will make Sharon Blade so famous that people come here begging to join us!”

“Hmm…There’s no guarantee that people will thank you for helping us. All our efforts may come to naught.”

“That’s true. But I’m sick and tired of hiding out here like a stinking rat! It’s times like this, I know I’m my father’s daughter. Just talking about doing something like this has my blood pumping!”




Well there’s no way I can’t show you what happens if you’re an asshole here, can I?


Obviously, we choose to be nice and accept her help.

“Thanks, Sharon. We’re going to win this fight and we’re going to do it together!”



“Well, let’s not quibble! We’re going to make a big splash!”



“Hmm? Did you know my father?”



Well that’s believable.

“That’s right! See, he knows what to say! My father was a man of the sea! And I’m a woman of the sea! All right you scoundrels! Get ready to weigh anchor! Come on now! Put some spring in your step!”



Guntz: “You got it, boss!”




The scene ends and we’re free to move. We’re supposed to go outside, but we go upstairs real quick.



We can’t get inside, but surprisingly the most entertaining option is to give up.

“OK. Can you at least tell me why I can’t go inside?”



Jane: “Because…Um…Because it’s my sister’s room, that’s why!”

(Gee, that’s a great answer…but a good question is why the heck I think I’m entitled to enter?)

Anyway, we head outside.



“Just where are we off to, Lang?”

“I’m pretty sure that the Pyrolith is on the Volcanic Isle.”

“The Volcanic Isle? The only Volcanic Isle in these parts is…Dupon!”



Dupon: “But just what are we supposed to be looking for there?”



“Um…Actually, we’re looking for the Pyrolith.”

“Pyrolith…? Is that some kind of humongous ruby? I bet it’s big enough to make us all rich!”

Dupon: “Captain…I hate to spoil this little party, but the ship won’t budge.”

“What?! What’s wrong with it, Dupon?”

Dupon: “The ThunderWind Stone is dead. Without a replacement, we’re dead in the water.”

“The ThunderWind Stone?”

“It’s a rock that moves the ship. Don’t ask me how it works, but it lets us conjure up the wind whenever we need it. The Blood Hawk isn’t like other ships. We use that stone to create wind for our sails. It’s been used since my father’s heyday…I guess it finally wore out.”

“So what do we do now? Can we get another one?”

Dupon: “The ThunderWind Stone isn’t something you just find on the beach. It’s rarer than gold and silver…Maybe even more than diamonds. I think they used to mine them in the northeast canyon on Tanza…A place called The Thunder mine, if I’m not mistaken.”

“We might just find one if we look there!”

“*SIGH* That’s quite a detour. We might go all that way and find nothing.”

“But the ship won’t work without that rock, right?”

“Hmm…”

“We’re not going to get anywhere with that attitude, Kazan! I thought this was urgent!?”

“We should just go to the Thunder Mine!”

And there’s our next objective. This is the second arbitrary search for a plot coupon in a row. Heck, they weren’t even plot relevant, we’re just getting what we need to get to the plot.

This is where we shall leave things for now.

Join me next time, where we brave the treacherous horrors of the blandest, most irrelevant dungeon ever.