Part 15: Stone Cold Sheep Austin
Stone Cold Sheep AustinMusic: Town (Day)

Let's see what Raven's up to today.


And get some recognition for beating up a














Raven has joined the party!

On the way there...



I guess that's one way to let us know about her birthday.













Raven doesn't leave yet, since we have to walk her back for...some reason.





That right there is the face of "you done fucked up".



Well, this has been a weird quest, but Raven's back to work, so I guess we should lea-











I'm not sure how we helped, but free ore is free ore.

Might as well grab the last crafting stations while I'm here.





Buying the forge gets us a few free weapon breads. Too bad the pharmacy and workshop didn't do something like that.







Spoilers: It's another fishing quest.





*PUNCH PUNCH*



Yes, Carmen's punches take off 2 HP this time too. I have no idea who decided to put such a minor detail in the game but I kind of love it.

Thankfully you get a fishing spot in the first screen of the desert. Get rid of the monsters & spawner and you're good to go.


Good enough.


Some cucumber seeds drop as I clear the nearby field. These are a summer crop, and like strawberries, they keep producing after harvest. Might as well plant them since I'll be running through here so often anyway.






Food's always a good reward.
And now it's time to get some monsters.
Music: Privera Forest
How to make friends with monsters:

Step one: Have a stack of some nearly-worthless item. (It can't cause damage when eaten or else it won't count as a gift, so no using weeds for this!)

Step two: Shove that stack in the monster's face. For monsters more aggressive than a Wooly, you may end up throwing it. Repeat until...

...the RNG decides to let you have a monster.

Step three: Give it a better name than whatever dumb one the game suggests.

Some monsters are ridable, but the option shows up whether or not the current one actually is. It's...something.
I send Micah back to the barn so he doesn't die repeatedly while I try to tame some Buffamoo.


This idiot buffamoo poisoned itself by walking on a poison tile. Let's help it out.

Bessy? Hmm, no, we can do better.

There.

I tried to get a second one, but I started running out of trash items & it was getting late. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.
Head back to the fields after getting some monsters, and...


Does nobody in this town sleep?







tl;drs of each one:
How to raise: Give gifts to them to raise their stats. Only the first gift each day helps.
How to befriend: Feed your monsters every day. If you don't, they won't like you, their HP won't recover, and they won't spawn their products(ie. a Wooly won't make wool). You need one piece of grass per room of monsters per day. Also remember to brush them once a day.
How monsters help you: Monsters can be brought with you to fight in dungeons. Some monsters let you ride them. You can also assign monsters to work in the fields. Sowing seeds costs money, watering & harvesting are free. (I'll probably only use the watering help, since I like knowing what's growing in my field & what's getting shipped) Monsters work better the more they like you.












This gives me plenty of leeway to buy some grass seeds and get them growing. I sell the clippers since I already had one from a Wooly drop.

Monsters spawn drops once a day. If they're newly tamed, they'll produce their wool/milk/whatever too. I have no idea how Buffamoo make milk in nice little cartons, but it beats having to lug around a milker.

On top of the daily wool production, you can shear Woolies to get a couple extra pieces of fleece. They don't seem to mind it as much as Link does.


The notebook in the barn is where you check monster friendship levels, stats, and assign them to work in the fields. Salisb starts at a higher level than Micah, but neither of them are really intended for combat.

Speaking of monsters, the Wooly festival is coming up. Clearly Link is a shoo-in here.

But that's tomorrow. For now, let's check out our new crafting stations. I'm not sure of the wisdom of having a forge in the middle of a literal tree house, but Wells insists it's fireproof, so...


One nice thing about the non-cooking stations is that failures don't waste your ingredients. This will be very handy for grinding skills later on.

You can make base weapons with simple materials, but more advanced weapons need you to make lower-level weapons first.

The hell are you doing out here! Get back in your hovel!

(Monsters will let themselves outside sometimes. They won't do anything unless you assigned them a job, so this is just an annoyance.)

Today's round of Buffamoo wrangling goes much more smoothly.

If you ride a monster, your attack is replaced with its basic melee attack. Sorry, no jousting from cowback.


Oh, yes. Yes we are.
Every villager has a unique reaction to seeing Link in his Wooly form. Thankfully none of them involve trying to murder him.

Not sure what I was expecting there.



A lot of these are just variations on "oh, cute, a wooly." I'm sticking to the most interesting reactions.





I think someone needs a break from forging.

If you remember, Shara saw Link's Wooly form in the intro of the game. Seems like she still recognizes it.


Excuse me, but this Wooly is actually a judo master and




Uncute? Are you even trying, Sherman?




Marjorie, you were supposed to be the cooler old person in town. How could you do this to us?




OK, maybe one of these involves attempted murder.







Music: Sol Terrano Desert

Aaaand running the hell away. I should check in on my new monster friends, anyway.












>Yes


But first, it's naptime.









Zaid is really just coming along as a crutch character, since the player likely hasn't had time to get Wooly form combat up to speed yet. His level is in the mid-20s, so he can hold his own here.







Link's kind of a glass cannon since I haven't upgraded his armor yet. Everything here hits hard, but combos and throws make short work of enemies.

Once you've cleared the room, you can grab your prize.










In this screen, you can find fish. In the sand. Don't ask questions.

Mind your step around the sheep-eating plants.


I could, or...


...I could dash right to the chest, which has a spell in it. I have no idea if this is a good spell or not, because I don't really bother with magic in any of the RF games.


Everything here easily kicks my ass anyway. Luckily, this 'quest' doesn't have a time limit and it doesn't block the normal mailbox/bulletin board quests. It can wait until I craft some better gear.

Zaid is not amused.