Part 15: Karaoke Night in Vulcania, Part 2

Update 14: Karaoke Night in Vulcania, Part 2



Now that Team Ovaries has finished exploring the town of Vulcania...



... it's time to head underground!



"Is it hot in here, or is it just--"
"You know, that joke doesn't work very well when we're actually inside an active volcano. It's kinda obvious that it's hot in here. In fact, I'll bet that right under this thin crust of rock we're walking over is--"



"You were saying?"
"All things considered, that was less painful than I might have expected."
"Even so, let's not make a habit of falling into lava pits. Jostiband?"
"I'm on it."



"Or, more accurately, I'm floating slightly above it."



"Good to know, I guess, except for the part where we have no idea who any of those people are."
"Bozorc's some small-time orcish bandit, I think. Anyway, we've got better things to do than rescue a couple of idiots who got themselves captured by an orc."



"This lead, on the other hand, might be worth following up on. Sarakin was the owner of a gold mine, but he dabbled in alchemy in his later years, looking for a cure for old age. Can you imagine if we rediscovered his research? I could be young and beautiful forever, not to mention rich and famous!"
"You know, there's already a Rejuvenate spell..."
"Yeah, but that's a cleric spell. I can't let you have all the glory."



"I know it's unreasonable to expect every natural cavern we visit to be a perfect square, but this map feels incomplete. Maybe if we clear away some of these rocks from the wall, we'll find a passage -- ah, there it is! See?"



(The ] and / are supposed to be arrows pointing left and right, but sometimes the game screws up.)

"Hmm. Do we want endurance, or do we want help? Let's try Endurance first."



"Not any more we don't! Um, well, like, we still enjoy Deep Fried Troll Liver, but we don't hang around the bar in Vulcania any more, you know."



"Good afternoon, sir. If you can spare a few minutes of your time, I'd like to talk to you about something that could change your life."
"In the middle of the earth, in the land of the Shire, lives a brave little hobbit whom we all admire..."
"Tell me, have you heard of Radaso?"
"With his long wooden pipe and fuzzy woolly toes, he lives in a hobbit hole and everybody knows him..."
"Sir, are you listening to me?"
"Bilbo! Bilbo! Bilbo Baggins! He's only three feet tall..."
"Please listen to Preacher, mister. She's really smart."
"Bilbo! Bilbo! Bilbo Baggins! The bravest little hobbit of them all!"
"Finally. Now, as I was saying, have you heard of--"
"Now hobbits are a peace-loving folk, you know..."
"Okay, that does it. We're getting out of here whether you like it or not."
"Wait! What are you doing? Let go of me!"
"This is for your own good!"

Staying to listen to the giant's song raises the party's Endurance by 10 points, permanently. It's a good idea to get here as soon as possible and build up everyone's Endurance as high as it will go, so that they get plenty of HP from future levelups.

"Maybe we should go back and try the 'Help' route now..."



"Uh-oh. Well, this is still better than putting up with that giant."



Luckily, the gargoyles don't paralyse anyone, and after a couple of rounds of Jostiband going all-out with Lightning Bolt and everybody else using physical attacks, it's all over.



"Oooh, frozen secrets of evil. Sounds exciting. I guess this means I should take 46 steps to the right, and then -- ow! My shoulder! Stupid wall! Okay, I guess it means something else."



Minor Devils aren't actually very dangerous at this point: they cast Energy Blast for about 35 damage. This screenshot is just here because they look awesome.



"What? Really? Damn it all to hell."
"I don't understand. What's wrong?"
"Star Burst is a spell of legendary destructive power, but the secret of its casting was lost with the destruction of Castle Xabran. The Dead Zone was where King Kalohn won his final victory against the elemental lords. It used to be the highest mountain in Cron: now it's a flat wasteland, and nobody who enters comes out alive. It was kind of a big battle, you see. Anyway, if the last surviving copy of the spell is in there, it'll probably never be found."
"I feel your pain. At least we'll always have Disintegrate."



"Many thanks, honorable adventurers! I repay you with ninja skills whenever you need!"
"You don't look like a ninja."
"Ninja who look like ninja is bad ninja, ne?"
"That's actually kind of a good point. What about your friend here, then?"
"Your guess is as good as mine. Amnesia, see. I'm good with a bow, so maybe I'm an archer. Anyway, we'll see you in Middlegate!"



"Whew. Well, for better or worse, that cave sure was an experience. How about we get a little training done while we're in town?"



"Is there any other kind of training?"
"Ha ha ha! There certainly isn't."
"What's so funny? I was serious."
"Oh, stop being such a wuss and start training."



"I may have failed to convert that giant, but the ordeal has only strengthened my resolve to fight on."



Behold the result of abusing the Endurance boosting area: Preacher's now getting HP gains more befitting a barbarian.



"We're staying in a different inn tomorrow."
"But this is the only inn in town..."
"I don't care. I'll go to Atlantium if I have to."



"I've finally got some decent weapons and armour. This silver plate mail protects me from energy attacks."



"Look at me! I'm a hero!"



"Gertrude need better weapon for more smashing!"



"I wish I had a good excuse to use this Lava Grenade. I really do."



"This is a pretty great gauntlet -- I've gone from being a little below average to super-strong. I still need to brush up on my magical skills, though."



"When trouble comes along, I must whip it!"



"Radaso (may his light shine eternally) has finally rewarded me with the next level of clerical magic."

Level 5 Clerical Spells

1. NAME: Air Encasement
COST: 5 SP + 5 Gems
TYPE: Combat
TARGET: 1 monster
DESCRIPTION: Encases the target in a field of air, inflicting 10 points of damage per combat round and separating it from the battle until the spell is overcome or the monster is attacked.
"Essentially, it's a single-target paralysis spell that also inflicts minor damage. I can't say I see very much use for it."

2. NAME: Deadly Swarm
COST: 5 SP + 5 Gems
TYPE: Combat
TARGET: 10 monsters
DESCRIPTION: Sends a swarm of killer insects against the monsters, inflicting 4-40 damage points against each monster.
"Gruesome, but effective. At times, this may be the most efficient way to deal with an opponent resistant to both physical and elemental attacks."

3. NAME: Frenzy
COST: 5 SP + 5 Gems
TYPE: Combat
TARGET: 1 character, once per character
DESCRIPTION: Sends one Party member into a frenzy, allowing him/her to attack all the monsters on the screen. Drained from the experience, the character loses 1 point of endurance and is then rendered unconscious.
"A brutal and costly spell, but in an emergency, it can inflict impressive amounts of damage."

4. NAME: Paralyze
COST: 5 SP + 5 Gems
TYPE: Combat
TARGET: 10 monsters
DESCRIPTION: Attempts to immobilize all monsters and prevent them from fighting. May be partially or completely effective on some or all monsters.
"A powerful spell, at least against enemies not resistant to magic. Difficult battles may become much more tractable when most enemies are unable to attack."

5. NAME: Remove Condition
COST: 5 SP + 5 Gems
TYPE: Anytime
TARGET: 1 character
DESCRIPTION: Releases character from all undesirable conditions except dead, stoned or eradicated.
"Short of visiting a temple, this is the only way to cure a Cursed character. It's also good for curing paralysis during combat. All in all, a valuable spell."



"Hey, don't forget about me!"

Amusingly, the Looter Knife gives a bonus to Thievery, even if equipped by a non-thief. I think it's the only thievery-boosting item that can be equipped by anyone other than Robbers or Ninjas. It's not particularly useful, since the bonus is less than the Thievery skill of a level-1 Robber, but still...

At any rate, two new hirelings have become available.



Harry Kari is a ninja with decent stats and a reasonable hiring price.



And No Name is the first Archer hireling we've picked up so far. His stats aren't really suited to his class, though: he'll have a pathetic number of spell points until his Intellect is boosted. He's also a bit expensive compared to Harry Kari, which doesn't matter much now, but hiring prices grow exponentially with level.

Well, that's it for this (somewhat belated) update. Sorry about the delay, but I've had a bunch of things going on lately, some so normal that you don't want to hear about them and others so abnormal that you wouldn't believe me if I told you. Now it's time for you to vote for a party to do the next section of the game -- and this time, you have the option of voting to merge teams if you think there are too many.

In addition to the usual options of Team Suave, Team Brute Force, Team Ovaries and Team Phone Home, you can also vote for Team Brave (an all-star team selected from Team Suave and Team Brute Force) or Team Dial-a-Prayer (a selection of fan favourites from Team Ovaries and Team Phone Home). If one of the merged teams wins, the teams will remain merged indefinitely unless there's a very strong call to split them up. Vote now!