Part 15: Bootes Clean Up
Prayer
Before we head on out, doin' the usual.
I didn't pay them much heed. I still don't get it, though... What's it doing in here...?
It's only a possibility, mind you... It might not work. But what choice do we have than to cross our fingers and fire it up? We have to do SOMETHING.
For a demon to be so friendly with a human... is its psychic makeup different than normal? Or... is it a more animalistic instinct? It's very interesting. I wish I could examine it more...
Oh well... No one's better than me when it comes to indoor combat in a wide arena. They say I can go back to the battlefield soon, so I'm ready to raise some hell!
We'll talk to Irving and Chen in a bit, of course, but first we gotta know what this gives us.
Four new SubApps from the Stone Fragment. Enemy Begone is kinda ehhh but it has its uses I suppose. The default encounter rate isn't all that high, and this doesn't reduce it all that much either.
HP Regen I restores the full team's HP by 1% every few steps. Not too awful so I'll be equipping that one just for convenience.
Gambler increases odds of skill changes on level up. Might use that for something really silly later. Really silly.
Fracastoro is very useful and important. Size of 0 and prevents fusion accidents? No reason to remove this unless you are explicitly after something that can only be gotten via an accident.
Tsk, what'm I sayin'!? I musta gone loco for a minute there... Findin' forma buried outta the way in dark corners... That's where the romance is!
The mall is a copy of one on Earth, so are the products copies, too? Or... something worse? I'm a materials analyst, so I really get off on this stuff.
This is the most of Carina we'll be seeing today. Gonna be spending the vast majority of time in Bootes still, just to finish it off.
Our awful location, lousy selection, and terrible customer service make us #1 in shopper mortality! I was only joking around, but... I'm sure that's the demon's plan. Never let your guard down.
Dent doesn't have anything new to talk about, but asking about sidequests specifically...
There are two missions I was saving for you. Here's the first one... This request is from Mia.
Well, now I have.
It seems like the work of a demon, but something's strange about it. The crew refuses to use the head until it's sorted out. Could you do something about it?
No.We'll be back to do this one later, for sure. Not doing it now because then we're locked into doing that and nothing else. Rather finish up some other stuff first!
You won't take it...? What a shame. Well, talk to me if you change your mind about that. Oh, here's the mission I wanted you to do. This is a mission from Gekko.
It's Gekko's job to collect that data. Could you give him a hand? You can get more details directly from him. Will you grant Gekko's request? Yes.
My name is Gekko. I belong to the monitor team. Can I bother you for a moment? I need somebody to talk to... It's about the data our Demonica suits are constantly accumulating. That data is streamed to the command unit, but there've been a few anomalies lately.
My job is to collect that data from any destroyed Demonicas. If I succeed, what we learn may help us add more functions to the Demonica. I'll understand if you're not comfortable looting corpses, but I could really use the help. I'll do it. Really? You have no idea how helpful that'd be.
There's a lot of anomalous data, but most of it has teh same contents.
That's good, because there is only one piece of data per sector.
Well, I wish you luck.
We can't actually finish off the black box thing yet, but we have some business in Antlia anyway. Might as well do as much as we can for now.
A Scorched Nation
Mamedanuki is the only Enemy Search demon in Antlia that we haven't really seen. They appear 75% of the time and always come solo.
Takeminakata is the other 25% and he also appears solo here.
Mamedanuki on paper is kind of clever and theoretically strong. He resists Fire, Ice, Elec and Wind but all are only 75% instead of the usual 50%. His only weakness is to Sleep specifically which has a 200% inflict rate.
In terms of skills, he is the only demon to naturally have Sleepwalker and his source is the only one that gives it as well. Sleepwalker lets you dodge everything while asleep, you see (...something about that sounds familiar). He also has Getsu-Ei and Needle Rush.
Except, uh, Mamedanuki is kind of weak as shit and crumples if you look at it funny. He's also a bizarrely weird demon in that he does not have any Forma! His forma is technically that UMA Tissue we only get as part of a sidequest (and it sells for a whole 1 Macca anyway as a result).
Oh, and as the portrait in the bottom screen tells you, the blue thing on top of it is not its head. It's just there for intimidation which is kind of adorable.
Anyway, I told you to remember where this dead body was. It's for Gekko's information thing.
We can choose to not read the report here if we really wanted. There's no bonus for choosing no, so...
My observations so far follow:
Crumpled buildings, smoky sky, that strange tower in the distance... It feels like an occupied city.
The sector's main characteristic is the way it confronts you with death and destruction...
There is something else to do in Antlia, but for the sake of convenience we'll leave and go to Bootes for now.
A Frivolous Nation
We do need more than these two to finish the quest, so we'll be getting a report in Carina as well when we find it.
My observations so far follow:
It's a kind of tacky, rococo palace with clasing color schemes and terrible taste.
Everything, from the large jars to the smoke to the torture devices, makes me think of decadence...
That's all we can do with this for now. Back to Antlia we go...
A Scorched Nation
Let's deal with this one now. It's relatively lengthy...
Can I help you, SIR?
Oh, him. Yeah, I'm practically his slave. That damn Karasu acts like he's the boss but he doesn't do a damn thing himself. I'm killin' time like this 'cause I can't take it no more.
...I don't want nothin' to do with that dumb Karasu anymore. Yeah, enough is enough. I'm through with that guy. Here y'go.
That's what the stupid Karasu wanted to deliver to him. Well, eff that. Sorry about this, man, but could you give it to him? Thanks. A Frivolous Nation
Hey, what's this? Aren't you gonna tell me about... Huh...? This box... this is the thing I asked him to get... Don't tell me he's tryin' to cut ties with me! Tch... I always thought he was an obedient follower...
Now that I think about it, I don't even know where the dude hangs... How can I call myself a leader if I don't know that?Antlia, back end of B1F and all over B2F. Pretty sure I mentioned that already.
A braggart tengu... pretty funny stuff, huh? Sorry, man, but can I ask you another favor?
Give this to Koppa. You'll do it, right? 
And now we have to go back to Antlia. And wait for Koppa Tengu to turn up in a random encounter.
And because I just got insanely unlucky, this took around 15 minutes. Augh.
A Scorched Nation
Tch... why now, after all that bossin' me around? He can play nice all he wans, but I ain't changing my mind that easy. I'm gonna go off and do stuff for a while. But if I get bored of that... Well... maybe I'll think it over.> The demon left.
And back to Bootes...
A Frivolous Nation
Oh well. Guess I gotta wait. Sorry, man, I didn't mean to stick you with messenger duty. But yeah, it's just like you heard. It's between the two of us now. Seems like you got your own demon underlings... Make sure you don't get to be a slave driver like I did.
And after doing all that back and forth all we get is the exact same amount of macca we get from selling either Chupacabra's skin or Takeminakata's horns. Even if you do this the moment you step foot into Bootes, it's still not worth it.
Really just skip this one if you're not gunning for 100% completion or something.
Palace of Pleasure
Now, let's finish off feeding Hariti. We gotta find this bifuricated heterochromatic lady hanging out over in this dead-end on the part of the 5th floor that's worth your time. This is the entire reason this spot exists, yes.
I'm Persephone. What did you come for?> You explained the details...
Are you dense? These are hard to come by. I'm not going to simply hand it over.
Well, why didn't you say so in the first place! She's a great friend of mine. Here you go.
Oh, and can you pass along a message while you're at it?
Make sure you ask her!All the way back to Hariti we go...
Th-Thank you!
Whew... I came dreadfully close to breaking my fast on humans. Here, take this... it's a little memento of my appreciation.
This is both way better than 3000 Macca and significantly less of a hassle to get.
It's basically the Dark Vest but without an Electric weakness. Very nice to have if you care about that at all.
Before doing the next couple things, gonna make a few demons. This Leanan Sidhe is just an intermediary step, so she doesn't get a Source.
Adding a Suparna to Leanan Sidhe to make Fortuna. Fortuna's pretty good but this time I used Power's Source to add the Rakukaja and Arrow Rain.
In The Master's Name
Well, that's new...
So is that. Good thing we just got someone new ourse--
...Oh.
A Frivolous Nation
This way, and quickly, if you don't want to die!
(2) Yeah! How petty can you get?
W-Well, come on...(1) We need to figure out a way out of this jam. ...Still, it was touch and go when I saw you show up. Hey... you're Hitonari...
(2) If this is her remembering us, I think I'd rather she forgot.
...Yes, there is someone here named Mike and someone else named Dawson. Couldn't make that one up if I tried.
C'mon, let's just get outta here! The damn demons keep on coming. Why are there so many of them!? It's like an ant's nest!
Save your breath, Dawson. We have to move, Hitonari, so I'll make the introductions quick.
I do like how even if the third person here was never named, and their names all said Strike Team still you'd be able to differentiate them from the way their standing and holding their rifle.
I'd introduce you to the others, but we need to get to business. Our squad was part of the feint operation here in sector Bootes. We lured a bunch of demons out, just like we planned...
Plus, we did our work a little too well. All teh demons we lured in cut off our escape route.
Without any way back to the ship or to call for help... Figure we've probably been moved to KIA status by now. The worst thing is, this place is full of one-way roads. One false step and you're toast. So I have a favor to ask. Can you navigate this squad to safety? Your equipment works. Shouldn't be too hard for you. Are you up for it? Yes. Thanks.Well, there's only one way out at this point so there's no reason for us to be a dick about it.
Holy...! In The Master's Name
Shit, they found us! Fall back! Fall back! We're not gonna die here!
Can't run, can't kill 'em all... We're stuck! Game over, man!Dude, it's just one Legion. How can you not handle this?
Quit bitching! Are you on the strike team or aren't you!? Hey, Hitonari! Your automap still works, right? Which was do we go!?
So, yeah, this is the reason I bothered to map this area out earlier. The only thing that might make this a little trick by doing that is that the answer is based on your perspective on the top-screen and not just simply on the map.
Which is really, really obvious and there's no excuse for getting it wrong even without mapping it out properly. Our aim is to go away from this area and get out, so...
The right door. Roger! A Frivolous Nation
Geez, Dawson. Quit blanching like that. You really are a coward, huh? Can you blame me!? We're dealing with real live demons here! This is the kinda stuff our parents used to scare us with when we were kids. And now here they are! Dammit, I can't think straight... Sorry, Hitonari. You lead the way.
Which way this time? The left door. Roger!
Chaos Theme Wait! There's something strange about this.
It can't be... Is that demon here!?
Your leader was very brave. He hadn't a prayer of defeat me alone, and still he fought. His cries as he died still ring in my ears... Ahhh... those sublime tones. I'm sure your screams will make an equally beautiful melody. My heart dances at the thought! A Frivolous Nation I don't believe this... I can't take it! That demon's nuts! We have to get out of here, NOW!
That must've been the boss of those demons. If we have to go up against him, I'd say we're boned. So... a door in the front, and one in the back...
Stop moaning for a second and make yourself useful! Sh-Shut up! I remember, I swear... Just give me a minute. ...I THINK the door in back leads further away from the demon horde. But that demon showing up makes me wonder... Ugh! Make up your mind, why don't you! If you think it's the rear one, just say so! We're not going to get anywhere if we cringe at every little thing! Hitonari! Which would you go for? The back door. Roger!
*sigh* This is really bad on the heart, man. How much longer do we have to go through this?Just this corridor then we're home-free.
Man, I just want to get out of here already... I've had it... If one more thing happens, I'm gonna lose it...! Hold together! We're almost there. Remember, you were chosen to go into the Schwarzwelt. You're one of the best, same as us. On your feet, soldier! Hitonari... Any ideas where to go now? The right door. Roger!
L-Let's keep moving before he comes back.Hm, this sounds like a good idea.
And I'm switching to the Iperitta now. Might help with something or other...
Chaos Theme
You've done quite well for yourselves, coming this far. All you need is to get past this door and your ship will be right before your eyes.
You came this far in desperation, with only a faint glimmer of hope to cling to. I count myself entertained! I'm telling you this as a token of my gratitude. I enjoyed it greatly, especially when you struggled most...
You don't plan to let us through either way, do you? Not the way you were talking before about wanting to hear us scream... You're one sick puppy. I'm glad you understand. This opera of despair is now in its final act. They're waiting for your curtain call in the land of the dead!
Fiend David Vehement Rage
Ah, David. You've heard of the Danse Macabre, I'm sure; David is based, at least design-wise, on the personification of death within that poem.
He might not be harder than Mitra, or even Morax for that matter, but he's also way more annoying.
Also, as you probably gathered from switching guns (and how Moh Shuvuu has a Zionga cued up), he's weak to Electricity.
His normal physical attack isn't super-impressive, but his only spells are Staredown and maybe a variant of Mudo. He doesn't exactly have the longevity to try out anything else if so.
He's also dumb enough to use Blight when the entire party got hit by Staredown. You can inflict an ailment on something that is already affected by one. They don't stack or anything; the new replaces the old. So if Blight's poison procs (which it does on Moh Shuvuu AND Power) it clears the Fear automatically.
Thanks, David!
Meh EXP, decentish Macca for a fight's reward and no actual drop. Moving swiftly on...
End A Frivolous Nation
Alright, the demon horde's still a ways away. Let's make our escape!
It's because of you that we were able to keep casualties to a minimum. This is for you.
It's the forma the Captain gave his life to get. I'd say you deserve it more than anyone. W-We did it... we survived... So as soon as we're safe, you turn right back into a coward? Weak, man. Thanks, Hitonari. If it wasn't for you, we'd all be KIA for real. We're gonna go back to the Red Sprite now. See you later, Hitonari. Thanks again.> The strike team headed towards the Red Sprite.
And we'll never see any of those guys ever again. As funny as it would be to presume they died on the way back to the Red Sprite, I like to be a smidge more optimistic than that.
Speaking of the Red Sprite, we'll head on over there for a moment to give Irving the Death Omen and check out our reward. It's an interesting one but it does let us make David and exactly nothing else right now. Every Fiend has to be unlocked before it can be made, so any and every combination will give David until then.
Sadly, the usable version of David is fucking terrible and doesn't even have the one thing that makes Fiend secretly the best race so we're going to ignore him entirely.
Palace of Pleasure
Not much left to do now, so it's back to Halphas we go. I sold the one UMA Tissue I got before so I've got nothing for Halphas.
1 Macca well earned, that.
Surely mine eeyes deceive me? Didst thou not hunt even one...? Thou hast lost. I shall give thee a gift shouldst thou best me in a second attempt. Speak to me when thou art prepared.Or a first, or a third or a hundredth...
Anyway, yeah, not gonna mess around this time. Let's solve this easily and grab the reward.
And I will, don't you worry. Anyway, this is really simple as a result and can be beaten via good ol' trial and error.
A Sport for GentlemenSince the Mamedanuki all spawn in the same spots, if you just follow this path (minus the extra detours) you'll win every single time.
The Mamedanuki ARE tougher than the normal Mamedanuki in Antlia but not by much.
You can effortlessly autobattle them to death and each fight took between like 9 and 12 seconds. Combine that with this being an event and so you're given the Tissue without needing to hope the RNG is being nice.
Oh, and I didn't mention it before but fighting Enemy Search demons DOES reset the encounter rate. It makes sense and means that aside from maybe once you'll never fight anything but Mamedanuki while doing this sidequest if you actually do it it. How nice.
Once the moon phase ticks back up to a Full Moon, we're done and have to walk back to Halphas. Fortunately, you'll be on the 7th floor and by the elevator at this point so...!
End
Let us tally the results...
Halphas' result is random and can vary between like 4 and I think 8 at most? It's not like it matters, since that route guarantees a win because...
You get 9 Tissues. Even if you somehow fuck up and don't get 9, so long as you get something that Halphas cannot have more than you'll win; Halphas decides to be a good sport and lets you win on a draw. So really, your goal isn't to win. It's simply to not lose.
...Thy tally exceeds mine own. It seems thou hath won. 'Twas not bad sport... I enjoyed that greatly. I've not been thus stimulated in some time. I present thee this as a reward.
It's a Rare Forma. You can probably hazard a guess what SubApp we're going to get from this one.
Before we go see Irving though, we'll deal with Dent's other job.
Well, good luck. You know where the restroom is, I'm sure. Malevolence and Benevolence
What is WITH that bathroom? I'm not using this one ever again!
(♀) An evil spirit...!? A demon...? Or...?
You probably heard us shouting about it, but there might be something... alive in there. It doesn't seem to be ademon, either. It calls itself "God"... I highly, HIGHLY doubt that God would appear in a toilet... That has to be an evil spirit... It's just gotta be! What do you think, Hitonari? God can be in a toilet. What!? Why would God be in the bathroom!?
Well... standing around here won't do anything. We'll just have to check it out.(♂) We're counting on you, Hitonari. Show us what the strike team's made of! Go! And, uh, good luck!> The crewmen pressured you into entering the restrooms...
Silence
> A bizarre figure leapt out of the toilet!
In The Master's Name
(♀) Wh--aaaahhh! Something's there!
Young people these days don't even know how to use them! All I was doing was keeping those young folks who don't use this thig properly in their places. You seem like a law-abiding fella, but I can't just let this go. It's just your bad luck... you're the same as them! Have at you! Enigma Kanbari Vehement Rage
Kanbari is a goofy Japanese god of toilets. He can bless 'em for a year, with a prayer at New Year's.
Oh and he's weak to Physical attacks. Yes, really. He counters this by casting Tetrakarn. This is clever and also kind of dangerous!
See, I haven't mentioned it yet but Reflect here works in a simple way that makes it irritating to deal with and also broken as fuck. It calculates damage as normal then reflects that onto the attacker instead of reflecting the attack itself. Why yes, I will be ignoring this mechanic almost entirely as a result.
...Kanbari resists Gun. Moh Shuvuu is pretty fast, in comparison to Power and Fortuna, so that's a wasted Tetrakarn as she takes about maybe 5 damage or so. Sorry, Kanbari. You tried!
Whenever he's not trying to be fancy, Kanbari uses Needle Assault which deals meh Gun damage on everyone.
That's basically it, honestly. He's not a big deal at all, and should go down VERY fast.
End Silence
You're pretty tough for a young'un. I'll let everyone go, for your sake. Just don't forget the importance of keeping the privy clean. The Ten Commandments, the Tao te Ching, I got nothin' against 'em... But the little things count too!> Kanbari left.
An Honor Befitting That Name
You really helped us out! Thanks!(♀) I knew the strike team would come in handy in a pinch! Like the boy on the football team I liked in high school...
We weren't doing a very good job taking care of things. I think we should try harder about that. Some cultures believe that there's a god within everything. Well, nonetheless, the problem's solved thanks to you. That god left this behind... I think you should take it.
Alright, let's set up a duty roster for cleaning the restrooms! Oh, Hitonari! Before I forget... You did just fight the god of the toilets.
Strange Journey might take itself overly seriously most of the time, but it can have a sense of humor when it really wants to. It's just a shame it's not very often.
Prayer
The UMA Ball nets us the UMA Converter, of course...
And the Secret Report gets us access to Enigmas. Kanbari is the only Enigma we've seen so far and I genuinely don't expect either of these to see any use what-so-ever. Neither race is particularly flowing with good demons.
Buying them unlocks their respective races demons for fusion, which is something I guess.
I also made A LOT of demons while trying to get forma for Irving. Daphne is one that will definitely see some use, outside of Source grinding, so I'll include her here.
Dwarf is mostly just for that Taunt. -2 Def/+2 Atk to all enemy demons seems risky but uh... War Cry neutralises it and we can do fun things with that Attack increase.
Apis is a pit-stop to something that I'm going to use. As like an actual demon, and not just fusion fodder.
Combining Apis with a random Heqet I had in my compendium to make Gnome. Gnome is the first of the upper-tier Elements, so he can increase Rank by 2 in some cases. I'm exclusively after HIS source though, since it is the first one that has Ziodyne.
Also while spending about 3 hours in the Palace trying to get a goddamn AT Bootite II to appear again, I noticed that I missed this door.
It's just guarding 2 AC Bootite. The epitome of meh.
Eventually, I managed to find enough to make everything.
An Athame Dagger is a ceremonial dagger that's like double-edged and is used in like Wiccan rituals and stuff. Here, it's used to hit a dude upto 3 times at once and that's it.
It takes 2 AT Bootite II, 3 Nymph Swimsuits (Apsaras) and 9 UMA Skins (Chupacabra). It is not worth the effort in the slightest, honestly.
In terms of armor, the Green Vest might be nice for Mitra if you're scared of his Mabufudyne for some unfathomable reason. It's also much easier to get seeing as how it's only 2 DF Bootite II, 2 Fairy Pouches (Goblins) and a "mere" 5 UMA Skins.
Lastly, we have the Gazamazutsu which is a... thoroughly "eh" Gun. Especially in comparison to the much easier to make Desonberi.
The Gazamazutsu requires 2 AT Bootite II, 3 Brute Fishbones (Azumi) and 7 Kishin Horns (Takeminakata). It's definitely a much better use of those horns to just sell them for 21,000 Macca.
Everything else Irving has for sale, we ended up unlocking kind of by accident this time around. That won't be the case very often, and shortly in the future it won't happen. Like, at all.
Ah well, next time we're going to a very different store. Carina's been kept waiting long enough, hasn't it?