Part 23: Mystery Club (2)

But we'll never find out what happened to the Hummingbird Egg until Duster regains his memory. At this rate, there's no tellin' when the pigs'll get their hands on it.



Maybe he'll remember something if he sees you two. There's guards outside. They're not exactly bad guys, but I don't wanna risk makin' things more complicated.



Climb up this ladder and go through the attic. You can get to Duster's room from there. It's not the most direct way of gettin' there, but you're less likely to get caught.



See you in a little bit!



So last time, we finally made it to Club Titiboo, where we caught up with an old friend and saw a rockin' show, or at least the tail end of one. But now we're back to our mission of finding Duster and the location of this mysterious Hummingbird Egg.





Man, Kumatora has some nice digs if she has a hot spring in her room. And is apparently chill enough about it to let anyone who wanders into her bathroom use it.



Anyway, let's go explore an attic.





Yes, the attic is indeed a dungeon.



(Mice are greedy and love to collect things. Would you like to buy some of mine?)



Unfortunately, we don't have the space for new stuff.



Fortunately, the Item Guy is right to the north, so we can store stuff we don't need like Saltwater Guns and the DCMC Pamphlet.





We also now have a map of the attic. There are a few different pathways that lead to items, but the blue squares show you how to get to Duster's room. Yeah, we have to take the long way around. I mean, it is a dungeon, after all.



Now that I have some free space (and after I go back to Kumatora's room frog to withdraw some cash), I buy a nice weapon upgrade for Lucas. If you have the spare cash, a Pencil Rocket isn't a bad investment, even though it's pretty expensive for an attack item, and you might want some Antidotes if you don't have any.







That's because these guys can inflict poison.



Fortunately, they also have horrible defense, so they're more a nuisance than a problem.







The Greedier Mouse is also more annoying than threatening, though it makes up for it by very often dropping a food item (50/30/10% chance of Peculiar Cheese/Big City Fries/Big City Burger). They can restore their HP through eating and can also steal your items.







Next up is the Elder Batty. Despite the intense music, these guys are also pretty trivial. Their big gimmick is that they can drain HP from you and restore it to themselves. Not very effective though when they only restore like 20HP at a time while Lucas and Boney tear through them like paper.





Also found a gift box with Bug Spray, so why not use it?







About halfway in, the difficulty steps up and you start fighting enemies like this unfortunate soul.







It hits decently hard and can let loose with an electric attack that hits the party for solid damage. Best to sweep the floor with it (because it needs it (it's a reference to the song the enemy's named after (hello))).





DIE



At level 17, Lucas picks up Defense Up. It does exactly what you'd expect it to do.







The final new enemy here is the Beaten Drum. This guy's gimmick is actually pretty clever.





It can change the music and thus the rhythms of the battle, making it trickier to land combo attacks.

And though I don't recall hearing this one, I assume this song is also part of its attacks:







It can also attack too, so best to further break it.





In the southeast corner of the attic are a couple of mice and some gifts.



(Wonned teh rabbit us ahtta sum mo' bees, izzat it? Eh, dat's calvin. De ol' pot ain't usin' de Bugs. But mum's de dicky.)



Squeeeeeak squeak. (Weh've been waitin' a bloody long 'arry Lime all pat wiv yew aht on yeh toblerone.)



(Wheh've ya been wivaht sennin' a dicky bird? Ya dihn't come by fo' New Yeah's or Crackah Night, so yeh Grandmum an' I 'have been all jack. So, wotcheh? Yeh mus' be bleedin' 'ank Marvin, eh? 'Eah's summadat Nut Bread fo' yeh.)



Squeak squeak squeeeeeak. (Why aincha show ya jem rahn' heah more?)

But wait, there's more!



(Jus' cos me an' de fridge live in dis pope don' mean we can let in jes aneh ol' bloke. We'ah plannin' on a couple uh right long nellies. We'ah watchin' aht fo' barney. We'ah watchin' aht fo' barney. Catch me drif', garden gate?)



The game does repeat that line twice. I don't know if that's intentional or not.



(Yeh, de dutch is spot on. An ice cream like me would go right radio if some jam roll fahn' aht we'ah artfuls. Dat Johnson lot free doors ovah wos taken fo' Fred Wests, an' now they'ah brown bread. So yeh need to watch aht fo' barney, too. Watch aht fo' barney. Yeh get me?)







There are three of these items, and they'll restore 50 HP and PP, plus revive dead allies. Very handy considering a boss is coming up soon.







Restores 20PP. Not as much as the Gelatin we had stolen from us, but it'll do in a pinch.



Alright, we're right at Lucky's room. The gift is a Magic Tart I didn't feel like backtracking to get.



But ever since the bass below showed up, I've been left to rot in this moldy-smelling attic.



I'm filled with so much frustration.



You're gonna be bawlin' your eyes out!









So this is the final boss of Chapter 4. It's a bass (but not the final bass!).





Number one priority is to kill the guitar and drum. Lucas should use PK Love and Boney should throw his strongest bomb (or a Pencil Rocket if you bought one earlier).





If left alive, they'll do a jam session resulting in four attacks. They hurt hard even when not critical.



Killing one isn't enough, though it'll slow the attacks a bit. You want both dead.







Of course, this is just the beginning of the real battle.





I go ahead and buff Lucas. For some reason, I stick to Lucas's physical attacks for this fight even though PK Love is stronger. Eh, whatever.





This is the most annoying and potentially dangerous of the Jealous Bass's moves. When your party consists of two people, having one asleep is very bad.



And having two asleep is scary. It's wise to keep a few healing items on Lucas just in case you have Boney asleep.





The Jealous Bass can also hit the party with an attack, as well as strong regular attacks. Definitely keep healed in case Hypnosis hits.



And fight music with music!



Like the other boss fights so far, it's a drawn-out slugfest but ends up being not too terribly difficult otherwise. It's nice when you actually use your items!



Try jumping down?

This is the point of no return, so make sure to say goodbye to those blimey mice before you jump down.





Enjoy the music, as it's quite similar to a piece from Earthbound.



Anyways, I just finished explaining everything to the band members.

We're now free to talk to the band members.

First up is Shimmy Zmizz, on piano.

Oh, man. What to do...?

Next is Baccio, on drums.

Whew.

Magic, on guitar.

We're discussing things right now.

OJ, on saxophone.

Tonda Gossa! So, you're the one trying to run off with Lucky?





And, finally, Lucky, on bass.



He's the one I was talking about just now, Duster. You two know each other.
Duster? It's true that I don't even remember my real name, but I've lived my life as Lucky for years now.
Okay. All right, Lucky. I hate to ask, but could you tell him everything you remember, too?
...Yeah, alright. I can definitely tell that something very important is taking place here...



I had no idea who I was, where I came from, or where I was going. But for some reason, I was clutching a strange egg with great care. I didn't know where I was going, yet I continued to walk desperately. All I knew was that the egg was really important for some reason. I knew I absolutely HAD to keep it safe... So I looked for a place to hide it. And then, after walking and walking, I buried the egg inside a big dirt clod in a valley, where I knew no one would ever find it. I still knoew where it is. I haven't forgotten. You go up a cliff near a giant waterfall and...





The egg we all worked so hard to protect is there! Let's go there right now!



If I am this "Duster" person, that means I'll have to leave the band... Right?



Right?! If it turns out I'm Duster, what happens to the DCMC? But if I continue to live as Lucky, then what was that egg thing all about? What should I do?! I just can't decide...



Yeah. If destiny decides it, I'll say goodbye to you with a smile on my face.



Destiny, huh... Yeah, let's ask destiny. We have a way... The same thing we've always done whenever we weren't sure what to do.



Yup. This Lucas fellow will play Stone-Sheet-Clippers with us. If he beats all five of us in a row, you'll go. But if he loses even once, you'll stay in the DCMC and keep on playing the bass. How's that sound?
Five in row, huh... I'm cool with that. You, there. You're okay with that, right?
Okay, well, we're ready to begin when you are. You can start with any one of us.



So the DCMC members will give you clues as to how they play when you talk to them.

Whenever me, Magic, and Baccio play Stone-Sheet-Clippers, we always end in a tie.



Other than OJ, who must play last, you can challenge the other four in any order. Though it is wise to talk to all of them before accepting a challenge (you're given a yes/no prompt before playing them).

I always wind up tying whenever I play Stone-Sheet-Clippers with Shimmy.



Magic does have a great line if you reject playing him.

For the most part, everyone always does a specific first move when playing this game. That explains why Baccio loses to Magic.

Shimmy almost always starts with stone. It's up to you to believe that or not, though.

I seem to recall that whenever me, Magic, and our band leader'd play Stone-Sheet-Clippers, we'd always wind up in a tie.

And with that, we can work out how to win. Well, we could if we knew how to play Stone-Sheet-Clippers. Kinda dumb they don't tell you how to actually play, but I looked it up on GameFAQs, and apparently Stone beats Clippers, Sheet beats Stone, and Clippers beats Sheet, with two of the same thing resulting in a tie. So knowing all that...

* Shimmy's half-right, in that everyone will always play the same thing regardless of how many rounds they go on.

* Shimmy plays Stone, so we need to play Sheet on him, as the sheet wraps around the stone and protects it from the cold.

* Magic always ties Shimmy, which means Magic also always plays Stone. We must again wrap his stone with our sheet.

* Baccio always loses to Magic, which means Baccio must always choose Clippers, which is sharpened by the stone. We must also sharpen his Clippers with our Stone.

* OJ, Baccio, and Magic always tie when playing three-way Stone-Sheet-Clippers. GameFAQs says you can tie in three-way competitions if each person plays a different thing. Thus, with Baccio's Clippers and Magic's Stone, that means OJ plays Sheet. We must multiply his Sheet with our own Clippers.

* Likewise, OJ, Magic, and Lucky always tie in three-way Stone-Sheet-Clippers. This places Lucky in the Baccio role, which means he also plays Clippers, so we must bash his head with our Stone over and over until he regains his memory.





Shimmy plays Stone, so...we stab his Stone with our Clippers?



Oh, right! Wrap the Sheet around the Stone! Glad that one didn't count!





One down, four to go!



Stone means...Clippers!



It's against the rules to go after like that. Stoooone, sheeeet, clippers!





Baccio plays Clippers, so I need to wrap my Sheet around them!



Come on, now! Destiny is riding on this! Let's go at the same time! Stoooone, sheeeet, clippers!







New PSI awakened within Lucas during the intense battle of wills in this epic Stone-Sheet-Clippers game (or maybe from smashing a baseball bat into a bass guitar repeatedly) and learns Lifeup Beta, which for 9PP restores 120-140HP. Handy!



Stoooone, sheeeet, clippers!

Clippers? Gotta go Sheet!



Sorry. Do-over. Stoooone, sheeeet, clippers!





If I win this, Lucky will stay in the DCMC. If you win, Lucky will go with you. Lucky... You cool with that?
I wanna trust in destiny. If it's my destiny to go, then I'm sure he'll win. And if it's not my destiny, he'll lose and I'll stay here. ...It's as simple as that.



Okay, then. Lucas. Do "clippers". I'm going to do "sheet". Tonda Gossa! Alright, here we go! Stoooone, sheeeeeeeeeeeet, clippers!

Oh, right, I gotta tear through his Sheet with a Stone!





Oh, I'm so happy!



Keep it down, will ya?! Save your guys' hootin' and hollerin' for the stage!



I forgot what we just did, so let's do a do-over. Stoooone, sheeeet, clippers!

Oh, right, you told me to do Clippers!





I guess Lucky probably is this Duster guy, after all.





Which means I have no reason to stay here anymore, either.



Thanks for everything, guys. Take care, now!





I'm gonna miss you, man.





I'm sure we will.
Don't go forgetting the time you spent with us now. You dig?
...Lucky.



Okay! Let's go!





And with that, Duster joins our party!



Let's go!





And Kumatora joins as well! We finally have a full party of four!



Kumatora and Duster both come with the items they had at the end of Chapter 2 (minus any items Kumatora may have used in the Chapter 3 boss).



And Kumatora's PSI, for reference.





What is it?
...There's someone on the stage.






























Sorry to keep you waiting. Okay, let's go.









END CHAPTER 4