Part 20: Toxa Episode 9 Chapter 5 - Adoration pt.2

Toxa Episode 9 Chapter 5 pt.2


We return to fight some bandits. Posha was scared, but Toxa did a thing and now she isn't.
The combat itself isn't anything new or revolutionary either, so let's just get through the motions.

This time around where somewhere north of Kainas and to the west of Shinon Estate.


The stage itself isn't all the revolutionary. It does feature water but it might as well just be a huge impassable boulder.


We start on a little island cut off by this small river. It doesn't slow us down, or change our elemental resistances, or make our attacks worse either.
So small rivers like this does pretty much nothing at all.


Our opposition is still somewhat in tutorial land, 3 Morderes and a shitty Golem? They are all Doll-type too.


To our direct north is a similar formation of 3 Morderes and a shitty Golem. They're also all Shadow-type.
However the main difference is the terrain they're standing in. The tall grass will actually impede movement to a crawl.


The main attraction is all these god damn thieves. The group talked about which one of them could summon Phantoms so as to make them your priority target.
However tactics in Kartia always boils down to "Inflict or kill as many enemies you can as safely as possible, to gain a numeral advantage, to brute force whatever gimmick there are."
Also only one of the thieves can summon Phantoms. So it's largely not a problem at all.

That said we've come to a point where we can trivialize any physical aspect of combat. At least for a good while.
Why is that? Because we can finally take advantage of Toxa's B ranks.


This is Toxa right now. 21 Defense is pretty good. It's the highest of any of our characters so far. But you know what? We can do better.
Let's just strait up more than double his defense.


BOOM. 45 Defence. Toxa is immune to physical attacks from enemies in this stage. The golems? Won't hurt him. The Morderes? Nope. He is the tank he was meant to be.


So let's talk about equipment creation (again). See this Bastard Sword? It's only C rank here. So you might wonder why Toxa's Bastard Sword is B rank.
Well equipment can change rank if you create them at a certain +number.


Bastard Sword +1 is still C rank but at +2 and above it changes to B rank.
There is no rhyme or reason as to when an item changes it's rank except if it does, it always does.
The Wooden Sword will always be a D rank even at +4.


Additionally an item cannot reach a higher +number than 4. I could in theory have a Bastard Sword +5, as I had a Silk Text going +2 and a Mithril Text going +3.
But there is a hard cap at +4. Stop limiting my game breaking efforts, game!

In a more optimal run, I'd start out the game by doing +3 Stone Armors, skip Iron Armor entirely and wait until Big Armor for Toxa.
The "Big" Text is just, such a good text.




It also sort of looks like samurai armor, which is odd because I think Samurai armor were made of porcelain and silk?
Good against Katana's apparently, but any sort of axe or hammer type weapon would just break it into little bits.


I split my group into two parts, and due to my tactical ineptitude I move my largest force North through the tall grass, slowing them down.
The thieves are also more likely to move south, so I should have sent more muscle that way. But it all worked out in the end.


Also, this map takes me like 10 turns so I'll be brief.


I'll be feeding kills to Posha and Misty, as they're the weakest members of my party and if they fall behind, it's gonna be harder to get them up to speed.


Kartia AI is... really fucking weird man. It has a raging hate boner for Kyaus. It will ignore humans to go straight for Kyaus.


It will also attack an invulnerable target, even though it has better targets to attack. It could have attacked my phantoms instead of Toxa.


I wasn't lying when I said Toxa won't be taking physical damage.


As an addendum to Kartia, any spells or equipment you enhance to a +number with any unique properties will also have those properties enhanced as well as the base properties.


Demonstrated here. 3 Extra damage isn't worth it so I just cast the base spell.


Ah, now we're finally getting somewhere with the spell animations. It certainly looks closer to a lightning strike than some of modern day depictions of arcing lightning.


So what I said about the giant lake in the middle being impassable? That was a lie. You can use Ice Spells on water to freeze it and allow your characters to move on water.
Kyau's cannot move on water at all, so it was sort of trapped. Be careful though. If you're on water you cannot pass normally, a stray enemy fire spell can melt the ice you stand on to cause INSTANT DEATH to that character.



As I mentioned earlier, the thieves are more likely to move south, so I really should have another human character go with Alana and Posha.


See? It hates my Kyau. It dodged the attack this time. But will it survive any more?


I'm starting to think that my Kyau, somehow scorned the game, and the game is a woman.


It didn't die though, and I show the game how you cast Earth spells.


If you can't kill something by throwing a god damn Earthquake at it, then kill it with fire. That always works.


If Fire fails you, try better fire. Like Fire +4. Also holy shit, my Kyau still isn't dead yet.
Now I'm starting to get a little afraid of the damn monster. What have I done? What have I created?

I moved the Kyau away, because even I know not to press my luck. The game decides to set Posha on fire. Can't really blame it for that.
Posha takes 43 damage. Posha you get out done, by a god damn Kyau.


There really isn't any more to say here, standard grab everything that isn't nailed down and then murder the people.
I'd show you the Texts I got, but at this point I don't particularly care and I suspect, neither do you. More text = more better, that's pretty much the gist of it.


But at least we can have some fireworks to look at.


Posha is only a level or two behind the rest of the party, but even so she is really incredibly weak.


And that's a wrap.

"Then let the knights take care of the rest."
"I wonder how the other group is doing..."
Okey Misty, that really didn't need an ellipses, just fucking punctuate your sentences like everyone else.
"They'll be fine. They have Lacryma in the group. Right, Posha?"
"Yeah, They have Lacryma..."


I lost 5 Phantoms. My LP is starting to look like an Xcom game. Not sure if it's worse to use what is essentially babies to fight my battles, considering my Phantoms are newly born created creatures.


"The Knights have returned. It sounds like they are in some sort of trouble."
"It doesn't sound good..."

Rimzan rushes into the room

"Is Lacryma or Duran here!?"
"They are both inside the Shrine, sir..."

Duran and another man carries a third wounded man onto the table.

Yes, they just walk up onto their GIGANTIC TABLE and lays a man on it, with plenty of room to spare.

"I'll apply an emergency treatment... I'm not sure if this will work, but..."

Alana casts Rare Medicine, which heals 60 hp, well over half a persons vitality.

Should be no problem, we've already seen healing magic works in cutscenes.


It of course doesn't work. It makes me question as to how severe wounds have to be for Kartia to stop working on a person.
The nature of how healing Kartia works is not explained either.


It's interesting to note that Rimzan didn't call for Posha at first considering her only skill is healing.

"But I..."
"Take a look at him..."

Posha moves up to the wounded man and takes a look.


"I'm sorry, he's not..."
"Can't you do something!?"

Lacryma and Duran finally arrives



"It seems like it went all the way down to the bone... Duran, assist me."
"Sure..."

And now the game has transformed into Trauma Center.


"Lacryma, what are you going to do?"
"I'll do the surgery."
"You're going to do the surgery right here? Now?"
"I want all the Knights to get out of here!"

Let's check the state of our patient.


He is poisoned AND stabbed. Holy shit if this were real medieval life, he'd be super dead.
At least he doesn't have super Ebola HIV cancer, that somehow incorporates all the traits of every known disease and virus.
Legend of Kartia, less ridiculous than Trauma Center.


"I'm going to place a stone in the broken blood vessel. Rimzan, will you have everyone who can use Kartia make as much blood as possible?"

Alright, real talk. I'm not a medical professional, but I did have several first aid courses. Placing a stone, or solid object into a blood vessel to stop the bleeding
is a real technique that you as a first aider can use. But it's only a stop gap measure until you get the wounded person to a hospital to receive real medical attention.
It's NOT the end treatment. Not that I suspect Doctor Lacryma to just stop his arteries with rocks and call it a day.

All the Knights leave the room, leaving Duran, Alana, Lacryma, Misty and Posha in the room.


First Aid 102 - Psychological First Aid. Turns out being severely injured is a rather shocking experience for most people.
Not everyone can take a sword to the stomach and laugh like a Sephiroth reject. Talking to injured people is a way to help prevent
against chok. It's something so easy you literally require no training to do it, just talk about whatever. There are numerous benefits in doing so.
But this isn't the thread for First Aid. But I'm pointing out that's what Alana is doing.


"Assam, hang in there! Don't give up!"
Assam "Y-yes, mother..."
"Alana, are you ready? Give me the Fire Kartia."




Breaking news: Posha wants to be like Lacryma. That fact really gets hammered home here.


Or does she? I'm a little unsure.




And so the circle continues. Posha is obsessing about being like Lacryma, but she also questions herself as to why.
She then begins almost chanting these words. That just makes me think that all those reasons she is saying, is none of the real answers.


Sitting in the corner of a dark room, self absorbed in their own misery, yeah things are totally okay here.

Posha doesn't answer


_{"I can't be like Lacryma"}
"What, Posha? What did you say?"
"Lacryma is strong and kind. She's an excellent Shrine Warrior... Compared to her, I'm such a..."

Awkward pause.

"I told myself that if I work hard, I can be like Lacryma... But if I can't even do that, then there is no reason for me to be in Vigilance..."



Another Awkward pause. Then Alana sits down next to Posha.


"Why?"
"Because you are good with a sword and Kartia..."
"So?"
"I'm slow, not intelligent, I don't have any courage... I'm nothing..."


"What...?"
"Just staying in Vigilance will not make you strong..."
"As long as you think in that way, you should leave. Go back to your parents... That's probably best for you."


"What exactly do you want to do, Posha?"
"I want to change... I want to be different..."




"The first thing you should do is believe in yourself."
"Believe in myself?"
"Do everything with a positive state of mind. Take action with confidence."
"How do I do that?"


"What!?"
"Please, cut my hair!"
"P-P-Posha, wait... That was only an example. Nowadays, cutting your hair is like..."
Like what exactly? No really, I want to know.

"Please, if I miss this moment, I feel like I will be like this forever... I want to change right now!"
"You're a Shrine Medium. You know what it means by cutting your hair?"
"I won't regret it..."
"Are you sure about this?"
"No
"But thou must"
"Yes!"

I don't think Shrine Mediums will ever be brought up again. I can only imagine it as people who play children's card games with ghosts.


The next day the world imploded into a black hole. THE END.



Alana waves
Toxa waves back

"Good morning, Alana. Good job yesterday."
"Well... I'm not going to eat any red meat for a while, that's for sure."
"You can say that again."
Nothing will stop me from devouring roast beef sandwiches.

"Alana, why don't you get some more rest..."
"Speak for yourself, Duran. Don't worry, I'm fine."

Alana remembers that Misty exists and waves at her.

"Good morning, Misty."

Misty ellipsis waves back. However that works out.

"Good Morning..."




"We are supposed to disrupt the thieves activities in the mountains."
"It's going to be a long walk."

The murder mission discussion gets cut short by Posha's arrival.



Everyone seems to be interested. If only people cared for me when I cut my hair
Also fuck you Posha, for getting a new portrait at the end of an update, now I have MORE work to do.


Eh, fuck it. "No"+"Effort"+"Late" - Sazero casts Procrastination.
... I'm such a nerd.

"No, not at all. You look good with short hair. Don't you think so?"
"Yes, it's really pretty..."




Isn't that what you've been wanting this whole time?










Seems like Alana has some experience trying to be like Lacryma.

It's fine to have a hero to look up to and wanting to be like. But if you forget to be yourself, then you'll be nothing more than an
imitation. Imitations will never be greater than originals. At best, they can only be equal.

Posha's issues haven't really been dealt with, but rather postponed. Still, at least she isn't moping around anymore. So that's something.

I'm holding a vote again. Do you want me to do Toxa's next chapter, or Lacryma's?
It's not because I don't want to do Toxa's chapter, but because I can see merit in doing Lacryma's next chapter.
Same rules as last time. Bold your vote and the first to reach 3 votes wins.

Toxa's next chapter will feature him being a huge jerk.
Lacryma's next chapter will feature a pissed of Lacryma.

Toxa Episode 9 Chapter 5 pt.2 END