Part 108: Finding Naxos

Secret Double Update!

Chapter 15: Finding Naxos


There are actually three different places you can get directions to Naxos. Rakeesh will tell you that the village is west of the city and south from the crossroads, Andre will tell you to go west and then take the south road, and Ugarte will advise you to go straight southwest. However, they are all wrong, or at least annoyingly misleading. While the strictest advice of following the road south from the crossroads (at the southwestern Dragon Pillar) will take you to Naxos, it is actually the only village to the southeast of the city. Thankfully, using the “look” option on the overhead map makes which village you need to visit perfectly clear.

Sadly, Nike seems to have either missed or not heard any directions pointing out where Naxos is. Let’s watch.

Is it the one to the north? I think I’ll try that one first.


Holy shit! Where the hell did you guys come from?!


Damn it, why can’t they just label these villages with a sign or something? No, I have to go find the special sigil stone or whatever to prove I was here. Where the hell do they even keep stuff like that?


Maybe it’s in here.


Crap, just more mercenaries.


What? Oh, god damn it, they came back! Now I have to fight my way through more of these assholes?


Maybe it’s up here.


Fuck, it’s not here either!


You can always tell which is the correct door, because only one brings up a dialogue option like this.


In this village, the red roofed house across the bridge happens to be the right one.


Inside, you will find four mercenaries with 4-5 times the health of a normal merc. It’s a fairly hard fight, normally.


Ah, finally, this has to be it.


Sweet, a few hundred drachmas and a free magic axe! Oh, and this must be the sigil stone. Funny how I still don’t know what the hell it means. Oh wait, looks like the village name is carved into the back of this thing.

*As you close the chest, you think you can barely hear the sound of the remaining invaders evacuating this vicinity.*


Shit, wrong one! At least it sounds like the Hesperians all left.


Maybe it’s the one up the coast here.


Great, more mercenaries. You know what? I’m not going to deal with this. Dazzle!

Cheesing your way through the Rite of Freedom is easy when you can make everyone go blind with your brilliant white teeth. It also helps with the big battle in the important room at the end.


The right door here is the brown thatched house at the end of the pier.


There. Now let’s see here…


Fuck!

The third item is the Amulet of Attack, which raises Offense and Throwing by fifty points each.


Screw it, I’m just going to go counterclockwise until I find the right village.




Come on, come on…


Of course not. Why should it be that easy? Nice magic leather, though.


This is really starting to get annoying.


This village is actually a little tricky about where it put the important room. It’s on the second floor of the building to the left, but you wouldn’t know that just by entering, since the interaction menu doesn’t pop up when you enter.


In fact, there’s just a couple of normal mercenaries up here. However, the door you are looking for is the one on the left in this room.


That’s right, they hid the important room behind another room. I’d call it clever, but it’s mostly just annoying since they don’t do this for any of the other villages.


Please be the right one please be the right one.


Oh, come on! I can’t believe I have to do all five villages!

The magic item in this chest is the Amulet of Defense, which raises the obvious stat by 50.


Stupid Naxos being on the wrong side—hey, what’s going on here? Is that you, Kokeeno? And what are all you mercenaries doing around here?


Poor dude, guess he couldn’t handle the challenge. Neither could that Pillar, by the looks of it. Hey, did the inscription change on this? “By the breaking of this Pillar, so begins the unbinding of the Dragon of Doom.” I could have sworn it didn’t say anything about breaking last time. Well, I’d better get back to Naxos.


Why the hell am I even doing this again?




Not tonight, guys.


And opening the chest reveals…


Of course. Not like it could be wrong, what with me getting the other four already.

The accessory in this box is the Atlas Armband, which raises Strength by 50. Sadly, this does not change your maximum Health, although it does boost your carrying capacity.

Finally. I need a drink.


Greetings again. The Rite of Rulership has begun, and the city is filled with rumors and speculation of who will become the next king. It is…heh, heh…good to see you here tonight.
Signor Ferrari is just pleased that you are not out accomplishing your first Rite, as you ought to be.
The Rite of Freedom is a most dangerous mission. I advise you to take your time with it, and take a lot of precautions.
Do not listen to him. He is just trying to delay you so you do not win.
Nevertheless, I am acting in our friend’s best interest. Unless you have the healing and weapons you need, your life will be in grave danger.
What’s the deal with you two?
Let us simply say that there is a lot of money to be made in times like this, if you are willing to take some chances. You are a risk taker yourself, I know. I am certain we will be of use to one another soon.
You should be very careful when you attack the village. It is well-guarded, and if you do not take out the guards one by one, you will be overwhelmed. I would be most sad if you did not survive this.
There is this little matter of a bet, you see.
At least I am willing to bet on my friends!
_{Did you seriously bet that I would win the first Rite?
Oh, yes. I have complete faith in your abilities. If anyone can defeat the invaders, it will be you.
Well, I guess your faith is well-founded. You should see if you can get Ferrari to go quintuple or nothing that I free all the villages myself.
Oh? You are feeling that heroic today?
Let’s just say I’ve already done some wandering today.
I see. Heh heh, heh heh.}
I’ll be going now. Ferrari, Ugarte.
Good luck. It would be most unfortunate if you didn’t return from your Rite.
Good luck from me as well. Now, Signor Ferrari, I believe I have a new proposition for you…


It’s nice to see you’re back.
It’s better to see your front.
It’s good to see you both.
It’s always nice to see you. I’d like to see more of you.
Nawar is a woman of simple wants…all she wants is simply what you’ve got.
Oh, that reminds me. So Nawar, do you like chocolates? I happen to have a box here for you.
Chocolates? Oh, I love sokolatak-ya. How can I ever…repay you?
Oh, I don’t know. I suppose, that is, I believe my, um, my weapon could always use a good…polish.
Mmm. I can tell by the way you use it that you’ve had a lot of experience.
Oh! Well, er, I suppose so, yeah.
You know, Budar believes “The more, the merrier.” I’ve always preferred, “The more, I’ll marry.”
Really? If you say so, I…I guess. I, uh, I should get going.
You’re just going to leave me like this? All dressed up, and no beau.


Booyah. In addition to getting his name on the board as Grand Champion, Nike also gets his winnings from the last five fights, getting 8600 drachmas, or 3600 in winnings. And once again, Nike finds himself weighed down by pure cash.

*One Well-Earned Sleep Later*


Hey, guard dudes! There’s something you should hear about!


Yeah, right. Those guys didn’t even put me on the suspect list for the bank job; how are they going to figure this one out? Well, off to the Hall of Kings.


Once the Rites start, a lot of the notices start getting regular updates. Current events adds a notice about the Rites starting, as well as listing the participants; island news lists all of the villages that were freed (only Naxos shows up if you just do that one and win the Rite), the Rites of Rulership notice shows which Rite you’re on, as well as a basic explanation of the task, and Silmaria news simply has a notice about the bank robbery.



Prince Nike of Shapeir has freed all five villages from the invaders. He returned to the gates of the Hall of Kings before all others. He is the winner of the Rite of Freedom. It is with great sorrow that I must now speak these words. One of the Five who compete in the Rites of Rulership has fallen. Kokeeno Pookameeso was found murdered outside of the city beside a broken Dragon Pillar. He sought to free a village and win a throne. He lived with honor, but fell by foul means. He will not be forgotten. The Rite of Freedom has ended. You will all be summoned for the next Rite of Rulership. Farewell.

I should mention here that there are two kinds of Rites: ones that you have to get done under a time limit to win, and ones that only the hero can complete. I’ve never tested it out myself, but I believe there are enough of the former for the hero to lose the competition even as he wins the game. The time limits are usually fairly generous, though; something like 4-5 days before someone else finishes first.

Oh, and now that he’s dead, I can reveal that “Kokeeno Pookameeso” apparently means “Red Shirt” in Greek. That’s right, poor Kokeeno was doomed because he had a name.