Part 38

While we have to go northwest from Roft to get to our goal, we'll be making a quick detour to the south first...



After crossing a series of bridges, we find a cave.



An Ancient Ruin. It's been a while since we've been in one of these.



Looks like MC Escher was the interior designer.



We encounter an injured Golem a bit deeper inside.

I can't move... without my arm... oloooo...

Say, didn't we pick up an Arm of Golem back in Moun?



O... ooo... wow! That feels good... My power is back! Thank you. I can move again! How can I express... Oh, yes! I'll join you! I'll protect you!

Petrus the Golem joins up.



Looks like a dead end, right?



Step on the stone tablet, and a secret bridge appears. Only this tablet is functional. Where does it lead?



Well hey, doesn't this look familiar?



That's right, we're back on Parmecia. Just south of Ribble, to be precise. Using the Ancient Passageway, you can go back and forth between the continents as you please. I didn't miss anything on Parmecia, so I head right back...



Northwest of Roft, there's a suspicious-looking clearing in the forest.



Geshp again. Just perfect.


But, don't worry. I just finished my preparations. Yes... everything's ready. It's show time!
Sir Astral, why is he smiling?
He believes this is the place where we will die... Nigel, be careful!

Battle #36:



We've got to clear out 8 Prism Flowers, 4 Bow Riders, 2 Mist Demons, a Dragonewt, a Griffin, a Shaman, a Chaos Wizard, a Purple Worm, and an Executioner. Note the suspiciously low attack power on the prism flowers - They can fire laser beams straight up, right, left, or down, damaging anything in their line of fire.



See this chest? You'll never get to see what's inside it.  It's a Valkyrie, a lance that can be forged out of mithril. Better than what I currently have, but it's not one of the mithril weapons that you want. 




Not the best start, I'd say.



Ashley undoes the damage to Cluny.






Cherry decides that it's open season on Griffins.




Well, that was underwhelming.



If Dragonewts were given slightly weaker axes, they might actually have been a threat. As it is, they love to waste their turns doing piddly group damage.






Go Orange Baron, go! He earned level 15.




Damn it, I guess the Heat Axe damage weakened Shaggy enough for the Bow Rider to kill him.






Well, on the bright side... Apparently my party members have decided that double attacking is awesome and they want to do more of it.



Vincent finished the Bow Rider off, earning level 17.










I'd rather not lose any more to cheap shots, so Tobias drops an aura on herself, Cluny, and Vincent.



It's hard to get good screenshots from the flowers, but Cylon and Cherry both took hits for about 13 damage each.




Ah, Muddle 2. It had no effect on Brock or Nigel, but Cluny was put into a deep haze. It's like a confusion effect using FF terminology.





Cherry and Nigel cut down the Mist Demon. Nigel earned level 18.






Oh, snap.




So much for Cherry this battle. That's what I get for being too aggressive with her.



Gah! No! Bad ninja!



Thankfully, he doesn't connect, and the confusion wears off.



Knox finished off the second Bow Rider.






Another double attack from Darin.




Nigel disposed of the Purple Worm.






Goddamned Bow Riders.






Hahahahaha, this is getting ridiculous.




Shit, I wasn't able to heal Tobias before she ate a laser, finishing her off.




At least enemies can also get caught in the crossfire.



Another kill for Vincent.





I've about had it with these goddamned flowers.



Well, that's two of them down. Six more to go.




There goes Darin.




I'm so going to clobber this asshole.




FUCK YOU, BOW RIDER.





#3 and #4 down. Brock earned level 16.




If Knox was killed, I would've been royally pissed.




Well, the Mist Demon won't live long after this.




See? Nigel is pretty much concentrated awesome. He can almost one-shot them with a critical.


Cluny added the finishing touch.



Ashley has her work cut out for her. She earned level 17 for healing Knox.




Dao 2 goes a long way towards clearing the flowers out.



Flower #5 goes down.



And #6.




Crap, there goes Cylon. Blaze 4 hits only a single target, but it hits pretty hard, and it looks fairly cool to boot. Flame dragon? Yes, please!





Cluny and Layla avenge Cylon's loss. Cluny earned level 19 and learned Raijin 2. Layla earned level 18.





Nigel and Knox take down flower #7.



A Blast 3 doesn't mean much to me at this point.





Cluny and Knox reduce the Shaman to a greasy smear.




Like most level 4 attack magic, Blast 4 is single-target, high-damage.




Kind of underwhelming for the boss for this encounter.



Vincent got rid of the last of the prism flowers, earning level 18 and learning Freeze 4.




Nigel finished the battle with a critical hit.



Hey, a new sword! Nice! It brings Nigel's attack power to 99. I give the Critical Sword to Cluny. Brock could use it too, but it's not an upgrade for him.



My Prism Flowers! Nigel, I shall return with Red Baron! You'll pay for this!

And I would've gotten away with it too, if not for you meddling kids! Geshp teleports off.


Voting Time:

Petrus is our newest addition, so we'll need to choose someone to get rid of. He's got a poor movement rating, but that can be fixed - I haven't used either of the Running Pimentos yet, since I didn't want to use them on anyone that gets voted out.  If both Cylon and Petrus are still in the force after the Red Baron joins, I'll the pimentos on them and give the ring to whoever. If either of them are gone, I'll just let one of them have the running ring and allow a vote on who gets the pimentos.