Part 39
Update 38
I am getting somewhat tired of these boring cave passages. They are... Ugly. And lumpy. And ugly.
Less gross than Abbadon's innards, though.
Going down, down, down.
It has been a while since there was a DARK corridor. Can't say I missed them.
Fortunately, this one is fairly benign, no doors in the dark area, and Hiroko has the Mapper spell. That is useful and good, because there is some good treasure to be acquired in this floor.
See?
Titania!
Wikipedia posted:
Titania was the name of a character in William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream. In Shakespeare's play, she is the queen of the fairies. Due to Shakespeare's influence, later fiction has often used the name "Titania" for fairy queen characters.
In traditional folklore, the fairy queen has no name. Shakespeare took the name 'Titania' from Ovid's Metamorphoses, where it is an appellation given to the daughters of Titans.[1]
In the Shakespeare play, Titania is a very proud creature and as much of a force to contend with as her husband Oberon. The marital quarrel she and her husband are engaged in over which of them should have the keeping of a changeling page is the engine that drives the mix ups and confusion of the other characters in the play. Due to an enchantment cast by Oberon's henchman Puck, Titania magically falls in love with a rude mechanical (a lower class laborman), Nick Bottom the Weaver, who has been given the head of an ass by Puck, who feels it is better suited to his character (Which bears a resemblance to the story of Lycaon).
One was recruited.
More incense!
Oberon! The king of the Yousei!
Wikipedia posted:
Oberon, also Auberon, King of Shadows and Fairies, is best known as a character in William Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream, written in the mid-1590s. He is Consort to Titania, Queen of the Fairies.[1]
The medieval concept of the character Oberon arose from a multitude of earlier sources.
Oberon's status as king of the elves comes from the character of Alberich (elbe "elves" reix, rex "king"), a sorcerer in the legendary history of the Merovingian dynasty. In the legend, he is the otherworldly "brother" of Merowech, whose name is the eponym of the Merovingians. Alberich wins for his eldest son Walbert the hand of a princess of Constantinople. In the Nibelungenlied, a Burgundian poem written around the turn of the 13th century, Alberich guards the treasure of the Nibelungen, but is overcome by Sigfrid.
The name Oberon got its literary start in the first half of the 13th century from the fairy dwarf Oberon that helps the hero in the chanson de geste, titled Les Prouesses et faitz du noble Huon de Bordeaux. When Huon, son of Seguin count of Bordeaux, passed through the forest where he lives, he was warned against Oberon by a hermit, but his courtesy had him answer Oberon's greetings, and so gain his aid in his quest: having killed Charlot, the Emperor's son, in self-defense, Huon must visit the court of the amir of Babylon and perform various feats to win a pardon, and only with Oberon's aid does he succeed.
This elf appears dwarfish in height, though very handsome; he explains that at his christening, an offended fairy cursed him to the height (the first wicked fairy godmother), but relented and as compensation gave him great beauty. As Alberich features as a dwarf in the Nibelungen, the dwarfish height was thus explained. [2]
The real Seguin was Count of Bordeaux under Louis the Pious in 839, and died fighting against the Normans in 845. Charles l'Enfant, a son of Charles the Bald, died in 866 of wounds inflicted by a certain Aubouin in the circumstances of an ambush similar to the Charlot of the story. Thus Oberon appears in a 13th century French courtly fantasy that is based on a shred of 9th century fact. He is given some Celtic trappings, such as a magical cup (similar to the Holy Grail) that is ever-full for the virtuous: "The magic cup supplied their evening meal; for such was its virtue that it afforded not only wine, but more solid fare when desired" according to Thomas Bulfinch. In this story he is said to be the child of Morgan le Fay and Julius Caesar.
A manuscript of the romance in the city of Turin contains a prologue to the story of Huon de Bordeaux in the shape of a separate romance of Auberon, and four sequels, and there are later French versions as well.
Shakespeare saw or heard of the French heroic song, through the ca 1540 translation of John Bourchier, Lord Berners, called Huon of Burdeuxe. In Philip Henslowe's diary there is a note of a performance of a play, Hewen of Burdocize, on December 28, 1593.
One was recruited. Maybe since he and Titania are a couple, their fusion is special?
We'll see. Or not. Maybe.
Well, that is certainly a high amount of stairs.
That is quite weird.
HOLY JESUS WHAT'S THAT.
That. Is a Doppelganger. A very, very dangerous enemy. It repels EVERY SINGLE PHYSICAL ATTACK.
it is not a nice thing to find.
Wikipedia posted:
A doppelgänger (pronunciation (help·info)) or fetch is the ghostly double of a living person, a sinister form of bilocation.
In the vernacular, "Doppelgänger" has come to refer (as in German) to any double or look-alike of a person—most commonly an "evil twin". The essential meaning of the German word is "doublewalker", someone who is walking the same way as you do. The word is also used to describe the sensation of having glimpsed oneself in peripheral vision, in a position where there is no chance that it could have been a reflection. They are generally regarded as harbingers of bad luck. In some traditions, a doppelgänger seen by a person's friends or relatives portends illness or danger, while seeing one's own doppelgänger is an omen of death. In Norse mythology, a vardøgr is a ghostly double who precedes a living person and is seen performing their actions in advance.
Video! Creepy bastard
As a Dark Demon, it is not recruitable.
This is the area that is accesible by using the right side's stairs.
This is the area that is accesible by using the left side's stairs.
Since they are not in the same area, they clearly are in different parts of the abyss. Let's explore the left one.
But first, a random encounter.
Wikipedia just says that it is some sort of Oni. Okay.
It dies easily.
OUT. OUT AT LAST.
Hms. A Gagyson palette swap.
Wikipedia posted:
In demonology, Gaap is a mighty Prince and Great President of Hell, commanding sixty-six legions of demons. He is, according to The Lesser Key of Solomon, the king and prince of the southern region of Hell and Earth, and according to the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum the king of the western region and as mighty as Beleth, but for both he is the guide of the four kings (the others being Ziminiar, Corson and Amaymon, although some translations of The Lesser Key of Solomon consider Belial, Beleth, Asmodai and Gaap, not giving detail on the cardinal point they rule). He is said to be better conjured to appear when the Sun is in a southern zodiacal sign.
Gaap specifically controls the element of water and reigns over the Water Elementals or the 'water demons'.
Gaap teaches Philosophy and all liberal sciences, can cause love or hate and make men insensible and invisible, deliver familiars out of the custody of other magicians, teaches how to consecrate those things that belong to the dominion of Amaymon his king (there is a contradiction here, see above), gives true answers concerning past, present and future, and can carry and re-carry men and things speedily from one nation to another at the conjurer's will. According to a few authors he can make men ignorant.
According to Pseudomonarchia Daemonum certain necromancers honour him with sacrifices and burning offerings.
He is depicted in human shape.
Other spellings: Goap, Tap.
Don't want another Datenshi just yet. Don't have space.
Hms
Something will have to be done about that. After all, Aleph needs to be able to travel around the spheres of the Abyss at will.
Or something.
This is the only available building, so let's check what stuff can be done around here.
Ah, so this is the Sphere of Geburah. Interesting. One more location added to the teleporter list.
Well, then it is convenient that the left path was chosen, eh?
What the hell is this thing?
Neither Wikipedia nor Megaten Wiki have information about this guy. And lazyness prevents me from googling. Let's see the VIDEO!
It dies.
Damn right.
Behind Vikarala, there are 3 stores: Weapons, Armor and Junks.
Armor and Junks have nothing that is required, btu Weapons has somethign that would be nice for Hiroko to have.
A RAILGUN!
Attack = 80 Hit% = 60 # of Attacks = 5-7
Gender: MALE, FEMALE
Alignment: LAW, NEUTRAL, CHAOS
Just for the amount of hits. It is pretty good.
Aleph keeps his gun for the moment as it is pretty useful for larger groups. Hiroko's will be very useful against single enemies.
Catura! A cat headed furfag!
Same deal with the information.
It repels bullets
Hah hah!
Next time: Going down.