Part 37: Flowers of Contrast

Update 37: Flowers of Contrast

you know something serious is going down because this is a real update title for once


"We return to the 24th... 5:00 PM..."




Music: Snow Ruins


But for real, I went in for an extended grinding session on the two opening Queen Hornets. It was going pretty well, somehow, but it's slow going.

Eventually, I decide to go in a bit more to try to find some better place to grind.

In hindsight, maybe I should've just progressed into Whale Island further, but I don't claim to make good decisions.



Our Heat Axe is a faster, maybe cheaper way of breaking the ice barriers, but not really by much in either regard.



When I get to the room with 2 panthers and 2 hornets, I opt to just run past everything on Pony. There's gotta be a better place in here to just farm anyways.



To the right of the scorpion room is another 2 Death Stalkers, but with one of the power arc things for the ice mist generator.




Fighting these turns out to be ill-advised, and Pony almost goes down. We lack any real way to heal her, so I'm just going to have to make do,

These Death Stalkers do drop Magic Talons, higher tier versions of the usual Sharp Talon.




With that arc destroyed, the ice mist generator has exploded, and the door to the north is now unfrozen.

This also happens to lead downstairs!



SNOW RUINS B2F



Immediately to our south is a long, wide room that spawns 2 Glaces up front- not a welcome sight.



Back up and right, there's a hallway almost blockaded by two Death Stalkers.



Pony goes down in the confrontation, and there's just a machine-frozen door down at the end of a long hallway. Guess it's time to hoof it on foot past those glaces.



There's pathways going left, right, and to the south, yet the south is frozen by these two mist generators right here.

oh, and there's two more panthers, but when aren't there panthers down here




I destroy one arc, but just opt to retreat out to the leftwards door. The monsters close in on me too fast to get the other one.



It ends in a hallway branch going north and south...



And the northmost room is incredibly suspicious with it's blue (higher rarity) chest sitting out in the open alongside two spawners that haven't spawned anything yet.



As soon as I approach the loot, Glaces drop down, so I nope right on out of there.




The south pathway leads to a farming room that is terribly out of the way, but also to another southern room.



Bush stops to smash some ore, and gets only scrap for his troubles.




To the right is a staircase down, but it's guarded by more panthers. I opt to not fight them and just go to the left through the ice barrier instead.




It's a long room running south, absolutely packed with monsters. Most notably, we've got a new one, the Demon! There's demons down here, that's a great sign.

Demons have a pretty expected poke attack with their pitchfork, but they can also meld into shadow on the ground and try to stab from underneath. In previous games, they're rather deadly for their ability to paralyze and silence, but I don't know if they can do that in this one.

i just ran away



Down a rightwards path, specifically.

Oh, and there's also the recolor of the Elephant here, the Mammoo.



SLIDE! SLIDE! SLIDE!


This slippery ramp dumps us into another farming room. This one's rather long and extends to the right quite a ways.




There's a ramp up at the right end, of which I find a power arc, a machine, and more panthers.



Running to the south, I get clipped by a projectile attack from a Glace, getting Bush paralyzed. This, incredibly annoyingly, slows him to a walk.




I am able to make it into this southern door safely though- I think this might have been frozen shut by that machine?


I do thankfully have Para-gone on hand, kept for situations like these exactly.



The hallway takes a turn to the left, opening up into a long room running further right.



Aside from a Mammoo, there's a chest here that drops... a Para-gone of all things.

This was a bust.



Warping back in time, I go south in the room we saw a demon in. This is surprisingly one of the only times I used a savestate timewarp down here.



Oh, hey, the staircase was right here all along!



SNOW RUINS B3F


Third floor!



There's more ore here, but I only get scrap. Scrap's not useless, I'd just rather have Gold or Platinum.



Fun fact, the staff bonk attack doesn't deal elemental damage, and therefore cannot break the ice barriers.



The only path is to the north into this massive room, notable for that iced ramp to the upper right. There's a mist generator up top causing the ramp to be frozen like it is, but we can't get up the frozen ramp to clear it.



Oh, and there's also demons and unicorns corndogs down here.



Apparently the demons can also wind up and throw their spears! Neat.

They have absolutely no tracking with it though, so it's pretty easy to avoid.



To the north is more demons and corndogs, but with a mist generator we can actually reach.



Oh, and there's also a recolored Duck here, also capable of exploding. I don't actually have an information on what this is called, aside from maybe a Peck? That's usually reserved for recolors of cluckadoodles though.



Ramp unfrozen!



After waiting for the duck to finish disco bombing, Bush drinks down the last energy drink I had prepared. We head up the ramp and to the south...



And we're at the first ramp now! I clear the arc, and start to look around for what it might have unfrozen, as it didn't seem to unfreeze the ramp.



Oh, there's a door down and around the first ramp that was frozen. Huh.



This leads into a roughly square room with exits to the south and east, but also a giant CANNON



It doesn't track well, so I'm able to clear the arc powering it pretty easily. Huh.



Going further east, is a hallway that branches north (to a room with another cannon,) and even further east.



The eastern room is a dead end, so north it is!




The cannon is powered by an arc defended by a couple of demons, but I slip in and take it down pretty easily.



Further north in this room is an ice mist machine, and a big minotaur frozen in ice blocking a doorway.



Running up and around the nearby staircase leads Bush past more demons and to the arc that powers the machine.



Oh, hey, that unfroze the minotaur! This blue minotaur, compared to the red ones we've seen before, is a Minotaur King. As far as I know, just generally stronger than its counterparts.

I say that because I just ran past it to the big door.



This door's actually rather fancy. When I approach, however...!



*We cut to Bush walking up to the door dramatically.*




VOICE FROM BEHIND US: "Bush."





*Bush turns around to see Mist and Candy!*




BUSH: Mist! Candy, too!


BUSH: What are you doing here? It's dangerous!


seriously

i didnt clear any monsters




MIST: Sorry... It's just that I hear a voice from in here asking for help.


CANDY: A lot of Spirits are inside here. I think the Spirits from Whale Island are in here, too.


BUSH: The Spirits...? And the voice that Mist heard is coming from in here, too...?


BUSH: Does that mean there's really something inside?


Alright, yeah, these are totally valid reasons to be down here.

I guess I'm just going to have to prepare myself to eat floor here, as I'm not really best of shape to fight a boss.


*Bush turns to the door and we fade to black...*






BUSH: Darn, it won't open.


MIST: It won't open?




*Mist walks up to the door and it suddenly opens!*




MIST: It opened...


BUSH: Ahaha... Looks like it did...


...Huh, mysterious. Also unfortunate as I'd otherwise we could turn around and put this off until later.




CANDY: There are so many Spirits in here... They sound so... sad...


Alright, yeah, that's no good. Looks like it's time for some ill-advised heroism!



The crew walks in...



To see a massive Dark Rune! It causes this constant magical whirling noise that fades in and out.




BUSH: ...!! Whoa...


MIST: Oh my...


CANDY: Wow...



*We then get a panning view of the Dark Rune, where we can see this complicated magical circle in yellow and red underneath.*


Suddenly...



Sound: Noire's Spirit Song of Sorrow


... A distantly familiar song is sung- the same one from the singing rock in the town square! (This clip of it I had to record myself, so enjoy the added waterfall sounds from the Trampoli town square in the background.)




MIST: Do you... hear something...?


CANDY: I hear something... A melody... A Spirit Melody?!


*Then a cutscene begins!*




*We finally see who's singing: a girl... Iris?*



*Red and green eyes...*




*And from her flies out another Dark Rune into what can only be a massive one above her!*




BUSH: Iris...?


BUSH: No, the atmosphere is slightly different... Mist, is this the voice you heard Iris'?


MIST: No... I don't think so. The voice I heard was...



*Mist points towards her.*


_{The cutscene made this look more intimidating, I'll be honest.}




BUSH: Runes are... gathering...




BUSH: They gathered here and became this giant Rune...


CANDY: Just like how I sing to talk to the Spirits, that girl's singing must be calling out to them.


*She tears up.*



CANDY: You have to stop that girl! If all the Spirits gather here, Whale Island will lose its Rune and fall to the ground!!


BUSH: Iris, stop! Why are you doing this?!




IRIS: I have nothing else... This is all I have...


BUSH: What are you talking about?! You're the one that told me you're not lonely anymore! You told me that you'd sing for me some day!


BUSH: A sad melody like that doesn't suit you, Iris!!


I don't remember that conversation, but I'm sure it happened. We do however get to see Iris's new sprite, her eye colors switched, her hair silver and slightly longer, and her outfit entirely black instead of white.




IRIS: Who... are you? My melody is...


BUSH: It's me! We used to talk on Whale Island, remember?! Did you forget?!


IRIS: I... don't know you... I have nothing...


BUSH: Iris!


This conversation is going nowhere unfortunately.



MAN'S VOICE: "What are you doing?! I never told you to stop singing!"


...Someone else enters the fray!



It's... Gelwein!



Music: Pinch



GELWEIN: There's no one in this world that would ever befriend a worthless fool like you other than me!


GELWEIN: You want me to cast you out?! You can't live without me! So do as I say and sing, fool!


And it turns out when he does say something for once, he's a massive dinkus- who could've guessed?


BUSH: Iris, stop it! Please!




GELWEIN: Who in the world are you...?


GELWEIN: You dare enter into this facility without my permission? This is why trash like you...


BUSH: You... I saw you before in front of Iris's house...


BUSH: Iris had nothing but good things to say about you. She called you her "friend"... How could you?!


Bush is getting ready to throw hands already.




GELWEIN: I knew I remembered your face from somewhere... You're the one that visits "Blanche."


BUSH: "Blanche"...?


GELWEIN: Haha... Hahahahaha! I see! You can't tell apart "Noire" here and "Blanche" up on that floating island!


Bush is generally oblivious, this is to be expected.




GELWEIN: "Noire" here and "Blanche" up on that floating island are two separate entities.


GELWEIN: Well... I guess it'd be more accurate to say that they're "separate entities right now."


BUSH: Wha-What do you...


GELWEIN: That Iris you met on the floating island is not really Iris.


GELWEIN: There once was a girl that lived here, who split into two because she wanted someone to talk to.





BUSH: You're telling me... Iris... One girl split... into two?!


GELWEIN: That's right!




GELWEIN: Iris is the last of a vampire tribe legendary for being those closest to the Spirits in this world.


Iris is a vampire?!

(i mean ok, it was pretty telegraphed, i think we all knew)



GELWEIN: She alone knows the secret art that controls the Spirits through song. That art is what gripped me!


GELWEIN: The two Irises continued to sing from above and below the earth. Their powers are the same, since they were one person to begin with.


GELWEIN: By going back and forth between the two Irises, the Spirits brought balance upon this world.




GELWEIN: This is where I devised a plan. I kept the Iris underground singing while stopping the Iris above.


GELWEIN: Of course, as a result, the Spirits began gathering underground around the Iris that continued to sing.


GELWEIN: And behold! The fruits of my labor! This giant Dark Rune!


Fancypants here evidently has had nobody to gush about his grand evil plan to until we arrived. Being a villianous sort doesn't lend you to having many people you can do this to.



*We get another panning view of the Dark Rune*




BUSH: Stop! If you keep doing this, Whale Island will lose all of its Rune Power and fall to the ground!


GELWEIN: Why should I care?! I will have my revenge on the fools that envied my genius and banished me!


BUSH: I can't let you do that!


GELWEIN: Hmph! You seem to have some skill with a sword, but that won't be enough to defeat me!


Finally, I've been waiting for Bush to just deck this guy in the nose and put an end to this. Alas, Cutscene Law of Anime defines we just have to stand back and wait until both sides are done with the rhetoric and its already probably too late.




BUSH: We'll see about that...


Or he could just brandish his axe and get ready to cut a man, that works too, the pacifist magic only sort of works on humans.




GELWEIN: What a fool! Then why don you give it a try!


GELWEIN: Let's see how you stand up to this!



*He swings his arm in dramatic declaration, flaring his cloak.*

Music: Iris Noire Battle

(A new track! It's dramatic, but not as high energy as the other ones if you ask me.)


GELWEIN: Go, Iris! Wipe out these fools that dare interrupt my plan!


oh of course he isnt going to fight us

ya coward




BUSH: Stand back, both of you!! Mist, I'll leave Candy to your care!!


MIST: Okay... Be careful!




*Iris Noire struggles to her feet as Gelwein throws his cloak out again.*



*A close up of vampire fang...*




*Bush staggers back in surprise as she charges him at high speed!*




*Her eyes have gone to a full, glowing solid color now as she's right in front of Bush...!*




*Gelwein smirks...!*




*And she leaps right at Bush!*






IRIS: Stop!


Iris?!

wait

I mean, the other Iris?!




*Suddenly, Iris Blanche appareas in front of Bush!*



BUSH: Iris...? She's speaking through me...


IRIS: Please, stop this!! You can't do this...!


IRIS NOIRE: I have nothing else... This is all I have...


IRIS: That's not true! You have me! Bush will also become your friend, I promise!


IRIS: If you continue down this path, you can never return! You really will lose... everything!


believe me, he's got a lot of tomato juice




IRIS: This isn't you, Iris!! Come back, please...!!!


IRIS NOIRE: I... don't know you... I... I have...


IRIS NOIRE: Ah... Aaaaaah!


*She grabs her head in pain.*




GELWEIN: "Blanche"... Why are you here?


GELWEIN: Wait... You...!!! You gave your blood to "Blanche"!


GELWEIN: No, this can't be! The awareness-control will break...!!!


IRIS NOIRE: Ah... Aaaaaah!


*Noire cries out one last time before we fade to white.*



So, that moment where Iris awkwardly licked the blood off our hand? Turns out it was a good thing!

Normally, there's a boss fight here, but we just get to skip it instead and continue onwards into this incredibly long cutscene uninterrupted.



*Mist and Candy return from where they were hiding.*



MIST: Are you all right?


BUSH: I'm fine. How's Iris...?


*He turns to check her...*



BUSH: Don't worry. She just fainted.


MIST: *phew*... That's good.


It's all very confusing, but I guess it turned out alright?



Music: Sinister

(Another new track! This one's renamed to avoid spoilers, but it definitely works here.)



GELWEIN: Bush, was it...? You worthless piece of...


BUSH: This is the end. Leave this place. If not...


GELWEIN: ...?! Ha... I get it... It's no wonder my awareness-control was broken so easily.


BUSH: ...? What are you...?!




GELWEIN: I never imagined there would be someone with a more powerful song than Iris, here, in a place like this!


GELWEIN: No matter! I still have the upper hand. In fact, this is the perfect chance to solidify my plan!


GELWEIN: Bush... I must thank the likes of you!



*He swings his arm dramatically again, causing another fade to white!*



RED VOICE: "I'll let Iris go, as you wish. She is of no use to me, now that I have the final ingredient in my hands!"

RED VOICE: "Hahahahaha!!"


...Well, I suppose that partially answers our question about who those voices in our dreams we were hearing.

Also, I'm pretty sure we just got Candy kidnapped.



Another fade to black...



Music: Visions


RED VOICE: "The diagnostic results are in. As we thought, the reason behind the Rune dissipations was...

GREEN VOICE: "I see. A body that endless absorbs Runes since birth..."

GREEN VOICE: "Why did it fail...?"

GREEN VOICE: "Is it sinful for man to create life by his own hands...?"

GREEN VOICE: "But the child has not sinned... I should have been the one to be punished..."

GREEN VOICE (???): "If we do nothing, all the Runes of the world will be absorbed by this child...and the world will perish. I must do something. Something..."[/b]



And Bush wakes up on his bed! He must have had cutscene overload and collapsed.

We have some visitors in Lara, Noire, Kanno, and... Candy?




BUSH: ...Where am I?


LARA: You're in your room, Bush. Do you hurt anywhere?


BUSH: No... I'm fine...



*He gets off the bed.*



BUSH: What am I doing here...?


BUSH: Oh, no! Iris was being controlled, and I...




IRIS NOIRE: If you're worried about me, I'm fine...


BUSH: Iris! You're back to normal! I'm glad...


BUSH: What were you doing in a place like that? Besides that Gelwein guy...


IRIS NOIRE: I'm not the Iris from Whale Island...


BUSH: Huh...?!


Unfortunately, the cutscene overload is bringing back Bush's amnesia.

Also get ready to have a recap of everything we just heard.




IRIS NOIRE: A long time ago, the Iris that lived in this land became so lonely she split into the Iris on Whale Island and me.


KANNO: Hm... So both Miss Iris of Whale Island and Miss Iris of the underground were singing the Spirit Melody.


KANNO: That is why Runes were in equilibrium, and Whale Island could soar in the sky.


KANNO: However, Miss Iris of Whale Island stopped singing while the other Miss Iris continued on due to Gelwein's plots.


KANNO:As result, all the Runes began gathering underground while the Rune within Whale Island shrunk.


IRIS NOIRE: That's my hypothesis anyway.


What do you mean, "hypothesis"? Gelwein literally told us all of this.




BUSH: Then the danger has passed? Whale Island is safe?


BUSH: I mean, you're here with us and you're not singing.


CANDY: It's... not that simple...


BUSH: What? Why not?


Bush doesn't like it when conflicts get complicated.




CANDY: The Spirits are now called below by an even stronger force than before. My song won't reach them...


BUSH: How can that be...? Iris isn't singing anymore, so...


KANNO: There must be a great power we don't know about that is drawing the Spirits to it.


BUSH: A great power...?




KANNO: I dare say tha this has something to do with Miss Mist going missing.


BUSH: Mist is... misssing?


LARA: She disappeared when that whole fiasco ended, and we can't find her...







BUSH: What?! She might still be in that room! We have to go save...


KANNO: That room has been sealed by magic and cannot be breached.


BUSH: No way... Then Mist is...


Once again, Bush must go locate Mist, like we did at the start of the game.




IRIS NOIRE: I'm so sorry... It's all my fault...


BUSH: No, Iris. You were being controlled. You didn't do anything wrong.


BUSH: Besides, I'm sure Mist is totally fine. So... don't blame yourself like that.


IRIS NOIRE: Bush...


IRIS NOIRE: Bush, I want you to take me to where the other Iris is. If we work together, we may be able to bring the Spirits back to Whale Island.


IRIS NOIRE: Magic cannot be used without Runes, so if we bring back the Runes, we may be able to weaken the magic seal on that room.


KANNO: Then I'll look into this Gelwein fellow.


LARA: Bush, just don't do anything rash, okay?


Sounds like a plan, because we're honestly not prepared to do anything about this. I just triggered this on accident because I ran past everything!

I don't know if I could call that scouting run a success or a failure.





*We fade to black and return to see Bush escorting Noire to Iris's tower.*




*The two Irises see one another, Noire starting to cry.*







*Noire runs to Blanche and they hug.*



IRIS NOIRE: I missed you...


This is the first time we actually hear a voice line from her- she's decently deeper voiced than her counterpart's higher, cheerful tone.

Also, since they'll regularly be in the same room now, I suppose I'll need to defer to saying Blanche and Noire to differentiate them.





Music: Iris' Spirit Song

(Another) new track! This is a rather good one, although if the Spirit Song really is just "la", then I'm not sure why it's such a big deal.]



IRIS BLANCHE: I understand what you're trying to do.


IRIS BLANCHE: I never dreamed that Gelwein would do something so...


IRIS BLANCHE: ...I'll believe you.


IRIS NOIRE: We will sing together.If we can bring back the Spirits that went underground, Whale Island won't fall.


BUSH: We'll all be counting on you.


Way to lay on the pressure, Bush.




Music: Festival


And THAT's why I started the festival day out at 10:00 AM. The pacing has kind of been obliterated, and the only previous save state I have is pretty far back so I couldn't really undo this once it happened.

Really, I just want to know if Gelwein is the reason why Runeys are so bad, because if he is, he's really going to regret this plan twice over.


...Uh, next time we finish up the festival day? This really didn't do anything to help the pacing did it gosh darn it all



-----------------


MYSTERY: "...I don't get why you waited to tell this part. It didn't help the pacing at all."


BUSH: "I, um..."


MYSTERY: "..."


BUSH: "T-That's just how it happened, okay? So, then I watered the tomatoes-"


MYSTERY: "can we not go over the tomatoes again"