Part 13: Bootes Rosetta Search

Palace of Pleasure



Since we're here, we'll continue exploring north of the room where we found Bugaboo.



There's only another locked room we can't get into and stairs up. Let's go then.



This is our first foray onto the 5th floor, and we already get kind of an annoying path split.



We'll head on down the left-path first just because it was closer.



There is another branch immediately to the right which leads to a T junction. Great.



So it just loops in on itself over there. There's a locked door here that we also cannot open.

Oh and I missed a path to the left en-route...? Let's see then.



Have to cross almost half-a-dozen damage tiles, but it gets us...



A dead-end with nothing in it.

...Moving swiftly on!

The Fear of God



Pyro Jack is, well, Pyro Jack. You can look back a few updates, find what I said about Jack Frost and just flip Ice and Fire. That is exactly how Pyro Jack is.



Hey, Apsaras is here. That's something, I guess? She's still weak to Fire and has no resistances. Except Sleep. A 20% modifier on Sleep. Nothing else though!

Palace of Pleasure



Anyway, that gap over on the far right of the floor is a set of stairs leading up.



And the 6th floor gives us an aesthetic change that looks a lot like the area outside Mitra's room. So this is clearly the right way, and I will have none of that.



So let's head on back to the elevator and take it to the 5th floor since we haven't done that yet.



There's... a different elevator right next to where we left. Well, alright then. We'll see where it leads when we're done over here!



Glad you got the elevator back up and running. I owe you one.
But there's another elevator here, and it doesn't look like it's on.
Is there a switch for this one somewhere too...?

...It's not working...?



Well, damn. It isn't! But we turned the elevators on bef-- we're gonna need another switch for this one, aren't we? Great.



Nothing else on that part of the 5th floor save for an empty dead-end, so we'll head back to the 3rd floor and then walk back to where Hamsa and Hariti are.



The stairs here were right there and that hole made us have to wait until now.

Well, not quite but you know what I mean.



Also the stairs were the only thing missing from the map.

Maybe probably should've done this first in hindsight. But I forgot what was up here.



4th floor over here has a fork in the road that leads to the same place. It's just a branching path around that central column.



Although maybe take the path that's on the left side of the map. That's probably a good idea.



If you can avoid the pitfall, then you'll come to another set of stairs leading to the 5th floor.



Which is just a tiny path leading to a hole.



So this entire area is just there so you can get 5 AC Bootite. That's it.

...Taking a trip back to the Red Sprite now. The crew doesn't have anything new to say despite the Bugaboo scene, though.

Prayer



Instead, we're gonna grab a new toy or two from Irving.



He has a few new things for sale. Might as well see what they all are at the very least.



The Desonberi is bery nice. Airstrike is just Light MT damage. Armshot is Hitonari's equivalent of Fang Breaker, so it's pretty handy. Randy Shot's the main reason to care though, since it can inflict Charm.



Accessories are still, well, accessories. Our new ones are primarily ailment resistance based. They're still not worth using for the most part. There IS one that I care about, but we can't make it for a while.

The Antidote Ring makes Hitonari immune to Poison. The Yggdrasil Ring we got for free also does that on top of the (minor) HP increase.



And the item we can make is a Frag Grenade, which is kind of interesting I guess. We don't really need it though and it uses Kishin Horns which we can sell for 3000 Macca a piece.

Palace of Pleasure



Anyway, new gun in hand back to the palace we go. Taking the elevator back to the 4th floor so we can get back to the 6th.



But first, gonna make something useful. Not so much the Sudama, but he could be useful with that Marin Karin inherit.



What I was mostly after is this Karasu Tengu. I have no idea why I decided to let Wind Breath stick around (if I had a reason, I've forgotten it since I did this back in like July) because it's fucking terrible.



Adding Karasu Tengu to our compendium gives the ability to make Kurama Tengu via a Special Fusion sometime in the future maybe. He's definitely not a bad demon to make by any means.



Anyway, 6th floor stuff. We've got a terminal right away that's pretty useful if you need it.



Right around the corner from that, we have another staircase leading up to the 7th floor. Mitra must be pretty damn close, huh...?



And right around the corner from THAT we have this guy.

I was looking around this area and found some stuff that should come in handy during the mission.
I'll split it with you.



3 Chakra Drops...? Oh thanks, nameless guy. This'll help so much.



Anyway, seventh floor! Starts with a Healing Spot that I decided I would just ignore entirely because I'm crazy like that.

The Fear of God



It's also when the last demon of the sector turns up and boy oh boy is she kind of awful! Mana Drain is a nice skill, as is Rakunda, but that's like all she has going for her. No ailment weaknesses at least, flat neutral there, but her source is a special kind of shit: Sukunda and Dia? Really, Gu Huo Niao? How disappointly terrible.



And because technically we've never seen either a Vodyanik or Fomorian in a fight here yet (I guess I forgot the Vodyanik somehow and Fomor's disappointing). Vodyanik has nothing fancy that you can't already see, so this is a good enemy team to just Magarus at I guess.

Palace of Pleasure



And that is it for demons we can encounter in Bootes. Well, there is still one but I'm ignoring it until we get the Rosetta.

Anyway, seventh floor is pretty linear until this fork here. We can keep going left which...



Brings us to a Gate Search door. We'll go through this shortly, but I'll open it right now before doubling back.



The southern path leads us to this dead crewman. Much like the one in Antlia, remember this one for later.

You DID remember the one in Antlia, right?



Also there's a pit here, goddamnit.



It leads us to a Goblin. He wants to talk at us.

This world's appearance changes from place to place.
It's because this place is formed of the power that collects here to destroy humans.
Depending on the nature of that power, this place's form changes.
Demons are incredible, eh?



Anyway, the entire reason this sidepath exists is for this bit right here. That "safe" tile in the middle is obviously a pit trap so if we go around it eating the damage...



We get 2 AT Bootite IIs for free. That's... not too bad, I guess.

Now, we have to take that pit because there's no other way out of here.



It drops us onto the damage tile hallway on the 5th floor. Thanks Bootes, I love you too.



Also around about now is when I get Bifrons and Fomor's Sources, so I combine them into Monunofu. He's pretty okay, and I'm not giving him a source because I'm not using him much. Tyranny is random 1-3 hits and each hit has a 60% chance to inflict Fear. Tyranny is insanely good, because Fear is ridiculous.

True Lobotomy is pure damage on a single target. It's a cool name but I prefer the literal translation of its Japanese name, which is Hyper Skull Crush.



I also briefly do something silly and make a Gu Huo Niao. We're immediately getting rid of her for something I'll actually use.



By adding a Bifrons and an Azumi source, we get a Power that I'm going to be keeping for a little while. Powers aren't great, but he's good enough for what he'll be doing.



Back on the 7th, we continue beyond the formerly hidden door and find a Naga and a fork in the road.

Someday I hope to be recognized by Master Mitra and climb in status!
But how do you get into Master Mitra's room...?



How I crave success...

Anyway, we're going south first.



It lets us turn the other elevator on and that's it.



The north path is a linear one that leads to some stairs that bring us down to the 6th floor again.



It opens up a little here, but it's not as wide-open as that implies.



Mainly because the two pillars in the room are the cause of the branches and are superfluous and unnecessary.

Also a terminal on the far left if you need it.



The path north (from the center) leads to these. They could be useful, I guess. Strain isn't super-common, there are like maybe 5 moves that can inflict it, and it's a less-threatening Poison so...



Over in the far southern end of the floor, we have an elevator that we just got working and another locked door. This one is even red so it needs a different key to all the other locked doors we've seen!

That gap north of here are stairs leading down to the 5th floor. We'll deal with them later.



The elevator can bring us back down to 5F which makes this a good shortcut back up if we need it for whatever reason. It can also lead us to 7F and directly to 8F.



We know Mitra's waiting for us on 8, so we'll go to 7 first.



This bring us to a very linear area that seemingly leads nowhere if you don't find this hidden door. It is potentially easy to miss if you're not checking every wall for them at this point I guess.



Past it we get to a very open area and a terminal. That makes 3 in 2 floors, technically. I guess they're generous with them here because this place can take a while to navigate?



Only other thing in this area are some stairs leading up to the 8th floor. There's nothing else here, so let's see where they lead.



...Oh. This is how we get back to Mitra. Sure, alright then.

This could've been avoided if Hitonari took notes on where Bifrons led him before!