Part 28: A Rainy Day

A Rainy Day


No worries! I'll be right off to get the medicine.


Mount Meldia is really close by.






After a few steps, we meet a person...

Thanks for the advice, Kung-Fu man!

"I have a question to ask, have you ever been to the top of this mountain?"

"I am just here for training! Climbing a mountain isn't part of training!"

"I'm just asking have you been to the top or not!!"

"That's too easy for me and that's why I didn't even bother to climb! Like I said, I am only here for training!"


Caris just smacks his face

"!! Ouch you hit me!? I can't believe you hit me!! No one ever hit me before~!"

"No one ever hit you... Then what have you been training here!?"

"Voice acting."


Jokes!


After a few more steps, I reach this well. Aside from looking pretty, this will also restore your HP/MP. And it even has a little secret to it! After you use it for the first time...

"Mm? Something's floating?"


It's a book for Orubia!

Aside from walking, there isn't much going on on this mountain. So let's take a look at the enemies here.


Tigers are somewhat dangerous. They have a fair amount of HP and a high crit rate.


Yeah, like that. For some reason they are also immune to Mariel's stone attacks, so you have to use thunder/fire/holy stuff. But spamming those still works like a charm.


I have no idea if Harpies have any special skills, because they die really fast.



"It's blocked!"

"A rockslide? At the time like this!!"

"Arg! This is nothing! I can use my Ray Cluster!"

"Hold it there! If you overdo it, the entire range might collapse!"

"...How could you say that!? We don't have time for this!"

"How about climbing over this rock instead?"

"Are you serious? You can climb?"

The rock is neither large or high, stop turning this into a big deal!

"...~ Hmm..."

"So? What's the answer? Can you do it or not?"

"I guess I can't~ Sorrie~"


Thanks, Fina. I was waiting for that to happen.

"Ouch!"

"Next time be more serious!"

"*hic* Ehnnng~ I got bumps on my head~"

"Anyway, no more wasting our time here!!!"

"Huh? Waitta sec Caris? H-Hold..~"

"Miss Caris? Are you trying to lift it up?"






"Whaaaaaat!!?? She actually lifted the rock!!"

"Whoa!!"


What?


Yeah, okay. I guess we just have to accept that Caris is secretly the incredible Hulk

"I...I can't believe my eyes!! She was able to toss that huge rock by herself.."

"U-Unbelievable~"

"Whew~"

"Hey you two! Let's get going! Chop! Chop!"

"O-Oh, sure! I'm coming! (What IS she? Daughter of Chyna?) (by/WWE)"

"Am I still hallucinating?"


On the way, we find another well. And if you try to drink from it...

"Are you sure about this? Didn't you see that?"


Don't be a wuss. I'm sure the bones are here by accident...




wooops

"See? I told ya!"

"Urg! The poision...! I feel dizzy~"

I have more than enough ways to clear poison, so this is no problem. It's a fairly funny joke though!


The presence of a savepoint tells us that we're almost at the top.

But first..

...Caris has something on her mind.

"I have been thinking on the way here. If it wasn't for me, Ryle wouldn't have to get hurt like that in the first place..."

"..."

"Caris..."

"When we were way back in the Dannyon Mine, Ryle almost got killed..."

I quickly want to interject here, and say that this and the next update have big callbacks to the events in the mine. Remember that thing with the Soul Eater, and Ryle trying to sacrifice himself to save Caris? Since we chose Caris for that part, she is much more invested in the whole thing. If we had chosen Latyss, a lot of the dialog would be different. I really can't tell you the exact differences, but since I know what lies ahead, I'd guess that they are substantial.

"....!!"

"A specter type monster called Soul Eater got hold of him."

"Soul Eater!? You mean that ghost like monster that traps victim then sucks its soul out?"

"Yes...He was off-guard and got caught by the Soul Eater, after that he...He tried to sacrifice himself in order to save my life! If it wasn't for me, he could have used all of his strength to save his own life! But because of me...! Thanks to Orubia's help, somehow we both survived. But now, I put him into the same situation AGAIN! Maybe this time it's even worse..."

"I-I was thinking about quitting this journey and go back to Lavas, after we get the medicine."



"Caris...."

"But you can't!"

"It's really sad to leave you guys, but I just can't keep dragging him behind like this."

"...You know, I understand that you feel responsible for all this and I would do the same if I were you..."

"But you know what? I never thought you would give up everything so easily like this!!"

"I don't like it either!! But...as long as I'm around, Ryle might get into another trouble again!"

"You can't run away like this just because you don't like the bad part of yourself!"

"Fina..."

"Not only that, what's out there for you once you're back in Lavas?"

"I-I don't know...I..."

"Just be yourself like usual! I like Caris that way!"

"The usual myself?"

"That's right girl! We can be together because Caris being Caris as best as she can! And we all love to see you being yourself most naturally. Right?"

"Right If you leave us now, I'll be so sad and I'll cry all day long!"

"Me too Caris!"

"Fina.....Mariel....."

"Do you remember what Ryle said back in the Inn of Factoria? We were able to save the kingdom because of the hard work of ALL of us together!! See we can't do anything unless all of us can work together... Get Ryle healed first, then let's head to Meldia together!"

"..."

"Come on!"

"Fina..."

"I gottya! Let's go to Meldia together once Ryle is back in shape!"

"Now you're talking!"

"Thanks...Fina, Mariel..."

"I'm so glad to hear that!"

"(Hey you didn't help out at all!)"

"Soon we shall reach the top, let's hurry!"

Crisis averted!

The whole conversation is a bit corny, but that's the case for a lot of things in this game. And I like that Flare connected this part of the game to a choice we made earlier. It'll have more impact during the next update, but this is a nice setup for that.

Let's head to the top of the mountain...


"Lucky~! There're plenty of them!"

"Alrighty, let's take some!"

"Thank goodness... Now Ryle can be saved!"


Yoink!

"Better put into the inner pocket for safety."

"Woe! (Caris' breasts are quite big too~)"

Been a while since we had some A-cup angst, right?

"!? Something wrong Fina?"

"Oh it's nothing~"

"??"

"We have to hurry! Back to the house!"

And just like that, we have the medicine and can save Ryle! I bet you thought something would jump us here, right? But nope, the game tricked you!


Oh...

"Is...it!?"



"Oh, it's just rain."

"Whew~ I got surprised for nothing! Thought the Mahzoks appeared~"

Yeah, me too! But it would be pretty cheap if the game would throw something at us right now.

"!! That's!?"

What?..




"Then this rain must be!"

"It's "Acid Rain"!!"

Insert Tay Zonday joke here

"!! Force Barrier-!"



"It's a spell!! The acid rots and eats away everything in contact!!"








"This "territory" is my specialty. You shall be trapped in here and soon rotting alive!!"

"Tsk! So you used the medicine as baits to lure us out here!"

"I can not believe you would attack us at a time like this!!"

Really, Graphost, what the fuck? That's not cool, dude!

"Miss Fina~ You think we can escape?"

"We can't! Once he chases after us, we end up leading him to where Ryle is!"

"But as long as we can't leave this barrier, we're doomed for sure!"

"We can't run nor fight here....! What should I do..?"

"(I have to keep the medicine safe! No matter what!!)"

"He's way more powerful than Raymah! Once we fight for real, the entire place might collapse!"

"Once we are out of barrier's protection, we'll be surrounded by the acid rains!"

"Due to the rain, Caris' fire magic isn't effective at all..."

"Tsk! Without fire magic, I can't attack him from this far!"

"The only thing left is to use my Divine Impact..."

"I'm not sure if my gadgets can be effective against the Mahzoks, I'll try them."

"(What am I doing here!? I can't help out with anything!)"


Welp, looks like we're utterly boned and everybody will die!


On the other hand...


..we could also be saved by some bullshit miracle

"!! The acid rain is..."

""It has stopped...

"Who broke my "territory"?! Show yourself!"



"Eek!! Mom!?"


I'll go ahead and say that Flare will do this fight for us. I honestly wouldn't have minded some kind of puzzle-boss here! Or at least something to do before the inevitable plot-rescue comes. Well, at least we can watch Flare own Graphost like a little bitch.

"You don't know me? You're new here, aren't ya?"

"Lady Flare, how did you know!?"

"Flare!? You are the Flare Delstar!!"

"Why are you in Valkyrie outfit?"

"It's obvious isn't it? This Mahzok is too strong for you girls to handle yet."

"But you've been out of battles for too long! Your body can't keep up now!"

"Fighting is not entirely depend on body alone. You have to rely on all 5 senses!"

Yeah, you have to smell and taste your enemy



"Then why didn't you attack me while you were talking? You better be ready you know?"

"Nonsense! Your days are gone! I bet you can't even use half the power you used to have!"

"Are you sure about doing this? My attacks are already coming!"

"What the?!"


Pow! Right in the kisser.

"She used the Victory Buster? But when!?"

"Argg! Still you can't beat me with that!!"

"Too late, next one's already here..."



"Your reaction is so slow."



"Urgg!!"

I like to imagine that she gave him a slap on the neck. Just to embarrass him


He managed to jump away from Flare...


..but I have a feeling that this won't help at all.



"Uraaaaaaaaaa!! But...how!!"


Bitch status: confirmed

"OMG!? Divine Impact AND Victory Buster in 1 move!!"

"...Ale? *not a clue what just happened*"

"A-Awesome... She just nailed that Mahzok without a single scratch on her..."

"I didn't want to help you girls at first. But Ryle's condition just got worse, he needs the medicine now!"

"What did you just say!?"

"Quick! Hurry to home!!"

"I'll warp back to the house. Hurry up ok?"

"Can't we go with you now?"

"My warp is different from Ryle's. You need immense will power to withstand the Dimension Leap. In worst cases, you all might get irreversable mental defect, and that medicine also get ruined."

"R-Really!?"

"Caris, then let's hurry back by ourselves!"

"Let's go!"

"..Ok."


It's a pretty shoddy excuse for making me walk down the mountain again, but here we are. Let's hope that the roots fix Ryle, and that we finally get back on track again!