Part 10: ARC II: Part 3: Beach Combers.

ARC II: Part 3: Beach Combers.




Violet?

Cade, it's horrible!

I know. I've heard.

Last night, I left the apartment after you did. I wanted to come knock on your door... Make sure there were no hard feelings. But then I heard this commotion.
I came out here to see what was going on.

Then what happened?

I saw them run into the mountains! I chased after them for a while, but I just couldn't keep up. They were so fast! It looked like they were headed for the beach, though. I just... I just got so exhausted.

You did good, Violet. Go home and rest now.
Pretty lucky she didn't wind up beaten and/or abducted herself.

But.. what will you do?

We'll tell the guards what you've told us.

Cade... about yesterday, I...

Doesn't matter. We had a disagreement. Nobody did anything wrong.

... Thank you.

Now go home. We'll let the guards take it from here.

Right.
She heads into the apartment building.



Let's go.
First step of our preparations is to see Gino.



Heard what? I just got back from hiking. Beautiful day, isn't it?

A bunch of thugs kidnapped children from town and they supposedly went through here last night.

First I've heard of it. I was tired last night... slept pretty soundly.

You have any new stuff?

I do... but...

But what?

This really isn't the best time to tell you this...... But with Equipment King about to open here... Well... I'm gonna have to start charging you boys.

Huh?

No way!

I don't like that it's come to this... but the truth is... I stand to lose a lot of business when that place opens. I don't have that many regular customers as it is.
It won't be all that expensive, though. Also, I know that you boys usually find treasure on your missions. I think we'll be able to make this work.
I see. Counting on the adventuring economy.

Yeah... I understand, Gino.
You have to survive too.

It's unfortunate, but it does make sense. So, what have you got?





Decent improvements and not expensive at all, though we do have to buy two in Stoic's case.


He also sells this, which we'll need in a moment.

The battle items category is where he sells Dynamite and Big Bang, which I didn't mention could be used in battle earlier. I hope that one you needed to progress was flagged to be unusable...

Anyway, Gino asks about where we're headed next.



The beach? Interesting. This continent has a beautiful coastline, you know. Very serene... you can really relax out there.

I don't think these guys share your appreciation for the outdoors, Gino. Is there somewhere on the coast where they could hide several kids?

Hmm... There isn't all that much out there... but let me think...

If they hurt any of those kids, they'll have no place to hide.

Actually, there are a few caves out there...... and they go deep underground. That's probably your best bet.

Great! Let's go.

One more thing... There's a hermit who has a shack right out there by the ocean. He may be able to help as well.

Thanks.

Our next step is to go back to Torto's shop. Torto's manning the place himself but doesn't say anything interesting, so we go into the backroom.


Cade gives a sort of in character tutorial on how to make armour.







With the stuff we bought from Gino, we make two boiled leathers. The haubergon will have to wait until we get back from the upcoming dungeon.

... I guess these two are meant to be armourer apprentices and not just salesmen? Cade's definitely only been in Port Arianna a few months, and I think that goes for Bones too.

Anyway, next we head to the Terr Mountains (where we wound up fighting Morias) and pass through it (the bridge is still unrepaired) to reach...




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXvkW7JFWbw


The old hermit turns out to be a fishing buddy of Gino's called Ulber, and after a short chat, he tells us that while he didn't hear anything last night, come morning he did see footprints leading south before the tides erased them. He also says he'll let us use his bed to rest, not that we need it since there's no encounters on the beach. And only one before we find a save fairy.







What was that?

???: Help!!


Take it easy, kid. What's going on?

KID: Hey... you're Stoic, aren't you! And you're The Shroud! You guys caught the bank robber!

Yeah, that's us. I'm just Shroud, though. No 'the.'

Who took you and the others?

KID: I don't know who they are... but they're mean! They want all of us kids to dig up stuff for them!

And you escaped?

KID: I waited until nobody was looking at me, and then I ran! It was really hard to find the way out, and I kept hearing them behind me! I lost them, though!

We gotta go in there right now and rescue the others!

What should we do with him? I don't think we have time to escort him back, but I don't like the idea of him going through the mountains alone.

Hmm... I know. Kid, there's an old man who lives close to here. Keep walking that way and you'll find him. Tell him what happened.
He'll let you hide out around his place until we're done.

KID: Okay... but hurry!
The kid runs off.









Cade! Snap out of it!

Sorry...

You got nothing to be sorry for. But we do have time to worry about.

Right. Let's go.
We navigate our way further down and around the beach as it wraps around to the west.





MUSCLE: Where's the child?

Gone. Where are the other children you stole? Tell us or you'll end up as part of that mountain.

MUSCLE 2: Impudent dogs!


These guys are actually a mild challenge if you just try to spam attack, since they have lots of HP, and do enough damage to wear you down so that Shroud'll have to do a bit of healing. Actually, most random encounters are like this too. The key to making Master of the Wind not painful to play is to really go all out on using skills and rely on SP recovery items and fairies a lot.



MUSCLE: They're on an island directly south of here. I don't mind telling you! You'll never find your way inside!

We'll see.





Shroud blows them into the clifface.


And then we take the boat to their hideout...

And hopefully we'll manage to cover the whole thing in one update. It's kind of lengthy.

the end