Part 23: Getting Some Exorcise

I actually was healing him quite a bit early on. Since he only had 8 HP, I would heal him every time he dropped below 4 just to be safe. Since he has huge Guard now, though, I find I rarely have to heal him. Most enemies do only a point of damage to him, so we're more likely to level up before Pinky needs a Cure. It's pretty ridiculous - he's like a murder wall made for murdering.

Anyway, as promised, here's...



There's some hidden symbolism here, I'm sure.



Anyway, returning home continues plot. Carl feels bad about us getting that "useless" Scrap, so he gives us this shiny plot MacGuffin. Keep in mind the fact that it's a shiny stone. This is actually a relevant thing later. I'm not kidding.



Still, I don't think that Scrap 1 was nearly as useless as that kid made it out to be. A word of warning - upgrading a weapon to the next tier like this sets it to Lv1. So, do what I did and craft a new Axe for the sole purpose of upgrading it to an Axe 2. Then merge that with your leveled one. That gives you a Lv5 to level up rather than trying to build up from Lv1 all over again.







We pick up the schematic for having Pinky punch enemies in the teeth if required, and then head out to continue the story. Cat's missing, so we check Dad's place. Hackers come checking the place too and our hero finds a letter. In a poorly translated manner, it says to "remember what he says when he leaves."

More correctly, it's that line he said every time we left his house earlier. Remember?



It was very subtle, so I don't blame you if you forgot. Anyway, we do that.





Which brings us to the next mini-dungeon area, the Tomb.



The path splits into several paths, and you're going to want to check each one for loot. Along with this 1000G, you can also find a Shield 2 and an Axe 1. It's as if the game's telling you "Hey, you could've made these by now." Since I did, these extras are going to end up either Recycled for cash or used as combine-fodder.



Monks, which are the only enemies in here, are a good check-up on how your robot is doing. If you can handle these guys easily, you're probably set for what's coming up. Alternatively, if you're finding your Robots getting scrapped in short order, you might either want to reprogram some stats or get a couple levels.





I'm doing fine, of course - still taking piddly damage thanks to keeping Pinky's Guard up high - but I'll still take levels as they come. Getting levels naturally helps against grinding later, after all.



Suddenly ghost plot.





And we're headed to our next area. It's called the Forest of Illusion, but it's not all that illusory. Going north takes you to a split. Go left and it's a straight shot to where you want to go. Heading the other direction just ends up looping you around and back. Good for grinding, but we don't need to. So we don't.



Moles are also introduced here, along with the return of all the enemies we've come across thus far. They're not all that dangerous, especially if you've calibrated your bots on the Monks earlier. If anything, you'll want to just kill them quick since they can hide underground after an attack, leaving you wasting turns Guarding until they pop their furry heads back up again.



Oh, no problem. No problem at all.





Having Mint the Reporter follow you north through this Forest of "Illusion" leads us to the next big dungeon-area of the game. A big old trap-filled Haunted House owned by a maybe-Vampire. Again, not kidding.



Igor - yes, the servant's name is Igor - here tells you to take a nap, and you are going to take that nap. Seriously, it straight-up refuses to let you go any further until the hero's nabbed some shut eye. One door is locked and the other repels you with mysterious force~





So we nab a Cure and Repair from the cabinet before doing as he says to get some dream plot. Our ghost ancestor seems rather surprised by a mouse in an old house. Oh, and this isn't the only time this sort of thing happens, either. And I don't mean the mouse thing.





After the insightful power-nap, we do a MGS-lite style "follow the target" with Igor. Along the way, we pick up the Boots 2 schematic. And then after he's gone through the door and we've gotten the dialogue from checking it, we can double back for this Shot 2 - which is also arriving in our inventory a little late.

Why the bold? Having him see you, letting him move off the screen for too long, and going to nab loot before the door's been checked will prevent our hero from continuing. He'll be forced to take another nap and re-watch the cutscene and slowly tail Igor all over again.

This also isn't the last time we'll be doing faux stealth sections.





Trying to follow after the mysteriously vanished Igor and his unseen companion results in Mint popping up out of nowhere and keeping us from doing anything. We're forced to leave until she unsurprisingly activates something, then double back and read a book to get an illusory guided tour from the Dracula that owns the place.

It has been skipped for your convenience.





Falling down the hole that appears after the tour results in more plot, this time with a spoooooky talking doll. After which she retreats and sics these four Monks on us. A fun fact - these are the only enemies that I can recall at the moment that have a 100% chance of dropping a capsule. The items inside vary, but they will always drop one - usually a Cure or something. Handy.





What is even more handy is that fighting them nets us enough Megs to get our hero his next level. We could use the Portable to make the Boots 2 for a +2 movement for Pinky if we really wanted to. However, I would strongly advise against it unless you absolutely need that extra little bit of mobility. We're about to do some more combining shenanigans for something much better very soon.



Next order of business: find a dog.



... After we double back once that button is pressed to pick up the previously-inaccessible Clean.



Then we find a dog. He won't follow unless you equip something shiny, so do so. I wasn't kidding about that bit being relevant.





Bringing back the dog nets us the Light, which is needed to check the wall above this "secret room" to find the hidden passage. The button here opens up access to that stairwell that you can see at the bottom of the screen, but it also lets us access something even nicer. Better than a Clean, even.



And that is this Scrap 3. Now, it's time for a level since I'm about a Meg away from one.





Like so.



Using the Portable, we combine that Scrap 3 with the Scrap 5 we've been holding since the Shop and put some wheels on Pinky. Let's take this moment to take a closer look at the various footwear available thus far:

Boots 1
Move: 4

Boots 2
Move: 6

Boots 4
Move: 8
Guard: +4





Just look how huge of a movement range our 'bot has now that he has a Move of 8. Plus, those boots raise Pinky's Guard up a bit too, so he's more mobile and takes less damage. Not shabby at all. If that wasn't enough to seal the deal, there's no better Boot replacement until much, MUCH later in the game. If you're not doing a one-bot run, I would still recommend making these and slap them on whoever you want maneuvering around the battlefield. It makes capsule collecting a breeze.



With that little bit of combine foolery out of the way, we proceed to head up the stairs and scare this group of Hackers with the Surprise Horn...



And this guy by flickering the lights and making spooky mouse noises.



Though all that we get out of it is finding that we need to find that dog again. He's up by the well, by the way. However, the dog can't tell us where the Key is because he is a dog. So, we're going to need to hunt down old man Flavon again over in the West Wing. How bothersome.

Next Time: Overclocking