Part 34: Damsel In Distress

Damsel In Distress


With Mariel and Caris in tow, we're off to save that girl!

Though, I quickly want to point out that most NPCs in town have unique lines during this part.





Calling this place a dungeon would be rather generous. It's pretty much just a wiggly cave that you run through.


See? Even the game knows

"Oh~pipe down will ya!? You're not the only one upset here!!"

"Well because these caves are formed by continuous corrosion over long period of time."

"(Don't you have fear at all?)"

But at least I can test Caris' new attack that she got from reading a book.

It's a group attack and actually does a lot of damage. Nice!


The usual dungeon amenities are in here, but I don't need them. Right now, that is


It's kinda hard to spot, but this is actually a way down.

The area below is another wiggly cave...

...and this skeleton hides one of those super expensive camping tents.

Let's just cut to the chase.



Don't worry she's not a furry. She just wears a Playboy bunny outfit.

"Huh...!? A bunny girl?"

"I rather go back to bed instead of fighting a slime~"

"What in the world is a bunny girl doing here?"

"Oh! Please help me! This slime is very weird!!"

"But it's only a slime~! I'm sure you can handle a slime right?"

"This one is very strange! Please help me~!"

"Hah~ *sigh* Oh well."




"!?"

"!?"

"Eh!?"

"Who the hell are you?"

Yep, a talking slime. This is happening.

"It can...talk!?"

"I told you! This one is very strange!"

"But slimes are single amoeba organisms, how come this one has eyes and even can speak?"

"Hey kids...beat it. I'm working here."

"Slimes...have jobs?...A-Anyway...let her go!"

"I can't until my job is done."

"What are you talking about! A job?? What the hell are you anyway?"

"How do I put this...talking to a slime...Mr. Ryle is very weird."

"Hey stop saying that!!"

"Hm! Why don't you introduce yourself first? Forgot the basic manners?"

"You're not even a human being for god's sake!!"

"He's being lectured by a "slime"~.."

"Mr. Slime is scolding Mr. Ryle Hoohoo~"

The game always finds a way to screw over Ryle. Always.



"Hoh? So you're the one who freed Factoria..."

"What!? How did you know!?"

"Hm! I've been working as an informer for decades, they call me "Hard Boiled Slime- Jell O Papa"..."

"I don't care if you are king slime or super slime! What do you want from her?"

"My client wants her autograph and that's why I've been following her."



"What?"

"But she would not listen to me and she kept running away so I ended up chasing her to here."

Okay, I quickly have to interject here. This part is a really long callback to something that I pointed out a good while ago. When we reached Flare's house for the first time, we also visited a nearby town called "Landers Market". In the pub, we learned that the resident bunny girl performer was missing. Yeah, she's that bunny girl. I don't assume you'll recall that, because it was even before we reached the town with the lighthouse where Ryle got hurt. Now, if we put that in perspective of the time line, she has been running for like a week straight, and also crossed the ocean. Just saying

"(Of course she would run! I mean who wouldn't!?...from a talking slime~)"

"So there are fans out there even among slimes?"

"I'm just following the case, don't know anything about that. So please sign your autograph on this colored paper."

So is he like a private investigator? If that's the case, then I guess you could call him a slimy dick

"O-Okay...~"

"(Now this is the weirdest thing I will ever see in my life!)"

Haha, no it isn't.

"And please write to... "Jell XXX San"..."

"..."To my dearest fan, Jell XXX San"...done. There you go. Is that it?"

".....Perfect. Mission complete. Thank you for your cooperation. Then please excuse me."


And then he just teleports away.

"...I lost my words~"

"I still can't believe my eyes~"

"Some pushy fella he was~"

"Anyway thank you for the help."

"Well...you're welcome. Actually, we didn't do anything~"

"But you came all the way down here in order to save me. I owe you one *wink*"

"Let's get outta here first. Morning is near, and I don't want to stay here for another day."

"Got it! Ah, by the way, my name is Romellia, nice to meet you."

"I'm Ryle. Let's talk after we got back to the castle."

"Oh well, that WAS an interesting experience alright~"


Yeah, sure

Both girls get two Att points, and Caris is the first to reach 40. Iirc, a girl becomes available for the ending around 44 or something like that. This room also has another skeleton which hides a second tent. Jfyi, they fully heal HP&MP outside of battles, and cost 5000 gold in a shop. So you better grab the freebies when you can! Oh, Romellia also joins us for a little while, so let's take a look at her.


Romellia has the Thief class, which is strange because you'd expect her to be a bard or something like that. Also, everyone is still weirded out by the talking slime.


She has a pretty wide range of spells, and a few unique attacks.


Her song of temptation has a chance to confuse enemies, which makes them attack their friends or themselves. Kinda neat, but it only seems to work on trash monsters, so why bother?


She also can call her pet bird Pippy


Her basic attack also has an animation, but the attack is shitty and should never be used. She has another special attack, but you'll see that later.

Romellia is kinda cool, but she'll leave us when we reach the town. Just like the last temporary member. Pretty weird that both of them got stuffed into this part of the game but whatever. And in contrast to the last one, we actually need her to beat the boss of this area. So let's do it!


When you leave the cave, you better use the heal circle! Because you'll get jumped...


It's hard to tell if one foot is actually larger, or if it's just perspective

"They're different than Big Foot!"

"Man! They always pop out at a time like this~"

"Troubles keep coming to us ever since we stepped into Meldia, but why?"

"I'm so tired and it's BAD for my skin! So let us pass because I really need to take a shower!!"


This is one of the hardest fights in the game, no joke. Just like the Bigfoot, these guys have a layer of magic around them. But we actually can't pierce it with our attacks. No matter what you use, you won't get more than 1 point of damage on them. In return, they do like 30 damage per hit, and can cast stun or sleep on you. Both of them, all the time. Of course, the plot will help us out again, but it won't completely save us this time around.



"Like that Big Foot fella, a layer of protection spells casted around them!?"

"Oh no! They are much stronger than that Big Foot~"

"Not even magic has any effect at all!? Maybe I should use my specials?"

"Romellia!? Got any plan?"

"With the powers of governing the way of nature! I shall vanquish the evil-!"





"Eek~ Don't use explosive moves in such narrow corridors!! Without the speed of ninjas, I would've been bombarded with debris...whew~"

"Oowah! The debris!!"

*jump*

"Whew~ That was close... It almost scratched my beautiful face~"

*rumble*

"Ouch!! It hurts~ Please tell me before you do "

"Now we can fight them without any problems!"

Haha, that isn't true at all!

"Next time be careful will ya!? I don't want to be buried alive!!"

"But if you can't win here, the same will happen to us anyway~"

"But watch out what you're doing! Our safety is number one priority!!"

"No worries! I've been very lucky. Really~"




"You're so mean~ *sniff* All of ya~"


Despite what Romellia said, their shield is actually not gone. Only her special move can damage them, so you have to do your best to keep her alive. Which isn't easy, because she's rather flimsy. Other moves with the Ancient element may also work, but this party has none to try it. I'm really not sure if this fight is bugged, or meant to be much harder than most other fights in the game?


Because the combo of sleep and stun can really mess your party up. And the bosses still have a good chunk of HP to go through.


But as always, our party prevails. There were a few close calls, and I had to burn a couple of full heal potions though. We also get rewarded with a love potion, and two vitamins.


I'm going to stash them for later, just like the skill books.




Cool



"Ah, Fina! Hi~ Long time no see~ "

"Mm? You girls know each other?"

Oh yes, they know each other very well. You better strap in, because Fina will crank up the rage in a second. But first I want to point out that the scene in the cave probably is much different when you bring Fina, and that should then also influence this scene. I never checked it, but by knowing how the rest of this plays out, I really can make no other assumption. Anyway, on with the program...

"Ryle! Why did you bring her here?"

"I didn't have a choice. She's been chased by this weird slime...and..."

"Why are you always so hostile towards me!?"

"Argggg! Just being with you makes my blood pressure go way up!!"

"You mean you two were rivals since childhood?"

Nobody said anything like that! But yeah, okay, let's just roll with it.

"I need to get rested, so you two do it outside."

Latyss is pretty great during this scene. She is super cranky, and I like to think that she's grinding her teeth while the rest of the crew argues

"Really~ I'm so sleepy~"

"Either wake or asleep, you always look the same."

M-M-M-MEGA

"Ouch! How could you say that "

"Anyway, introduce her to us ok?"

"Romellia Festa. She's the daughter of that heroine from the Demonic War, Mimi Festa."

"Mimi Festa!? You mean she's the daughter of that legendary idol star Mimi?"

Yes, a legendary idol fought in the Demonic War, because

"You know about my mom? You're quite informed!"

"She was in the May issue of "HOT Lover" for the special interviews, so everyone knows!"

"Then why didn't sessha know about that? If it was so well known..."

"Is that the only books you read? *sigh*"

"I've been reading it too~"

"Orubia only reads the section of "Today's Love Fortune"~"

"I read it too~ My favorite section is...oh yes! Cross-Words Puzzle."

"Cross-Words Puzzle...eh?"

"But I can not believe you would run from Landers to here crossing the sea...In order to get away from a lousy SLIME!"

"Don't you know that stalkers are the arch enemy of the celebrities? Bad rumors will ruin my career!"

"That's because you have a perverted life style with men which directly reflects your rotten personality!!"



"Hm! A flat-chested tomboy like Fina would never understand how I feel! Beh~"

So fucking

"Arrrrrrrrg!! That's IT!! Let's go outside! I'll purge you with my Divine Impact!!!"

"Waah~ No more fighting!"

"We can't stop Sis Fina now~ She's mad for real!!"

"I said I need a rest~"

"Two of you, please calm down!"

"Maybe we should let them use separate rooms for tonight?"

"You two cut it out!!!"

"WHAT?! Ryle!"

"If you keep behaving like this, I'll send you back to East Ernest!!"

Yes! Finally Ryle stops being a wuss.

"Ooh!"

"Romellia! You too!!"

"Woh! Ryle's so scary~"

"Now you're talking."

"Yeah, finally."

"....~"

"Anyway, Romellia! Tomorrow, return to East Ernest OK?"

"Why? I thought you would take me with your party."

While it probably would be hilarious, it's not going to happen. Fina would murder her sooner or later anyway.

"We are NOT on a vacation here! You will only hinder our progress!"

"Not to mention it's very risky business, for real."

"Dangerous!?"

"I can't disclose too many details, but I'm certain to say that the job is NOT for you at all."

"Her tone is a little too intimidating."

"(Lady Latyss, she's very serious...and also very agitated..about not getting sleep~)"

"Anyway, it's for your own safety. So please understand."

"Hmm...you all just gave me more incentive to go with you~"

"We are NOT playing around here, you hear me!?"

"!!!"

"So please don't come with us...If you don't want to die..."

"But you didn't have to get mad at me~"

"Please, just do as we asked...Actually I almost got killed during the past couple of weeks...and I..."

"........."

"And I don't want you to get into that kind of danger...even though we fight all the time..."

"...Fina..."

"So please go back to Landers...And I promise you to fight again after everything's settled!"

"Mm! *quick nod* Don't worry about me, I'll go back to East Ernest tomorrow!"

"Thanks..."


All is well that ends well


And sure enough, Romellia goes back to Landers and does her thing there.

Now, on to our next thing...

Please vote for three girls that will join Ryle's party. As the past has taught us, forests also often have traps. So it wouldn't be a bad idea to bring Hayami or Orubia. Maybe even both, if you really want to be extra secure.