Part 33: Regaining Razril

We got new people last time, so let's take the time to stop by. I believe you mentioned something about cake?



First though, let's get rid of all that useless fish we've pulled up. And we have a lot of fish!






Yeah.

This is a great catch! I will cook it right away. Please wait a minute... There you go!








That is what I call fast food!

Most of these are shit, especially this late in the game. Mackerel Miso Stew just heals 150 HP and a broiled sardine heals 100. Some are more interesting, though - Minced Bonito and Crab Stew, in addition to restoring 100 HP, also increases your attack power or magic defence, respectively, for three rounds. The Whole Roast Snapper is the only really good one of the bunch, though: it restores 500 HP, which is more than any other consumable we have.

The store also sells some basic foodstuffs, but none of it is really worth caring about.



Something that is worth caring about, however, is the fact that Phil is slowly learning how to suck less! The Phantasmal Coat increases evade by 50 (!) and would probably make our more dodgy characters more or less untouchable by physical attacks.



The Robe of the Dead is even more interesting, though. Look at those stats! I don't actually know exactly what "increases vulnerability" means, but I'm told it acts like a Firefly rune - meaning enemies will always prefer to attack the wearer when using single target attacks - and doubles the damage you take. Still, +50 to strength might actually be worth it. For reference, the total strength boost of the entire Ogre set is +48 (not counting the fury effect).



Anyway, it's time to reclaim Razril.



Then, shall we go, Lazlo?

The hell you asking me about this now? Charge! Leave no survivors! Well, maybe one or two so I can make them walk the plank or something.



That's what we're here to do.



Look at that, there are three ships! Maybe this will actually be challenhahahahahahaha _{I'm sorry hahahahahahahaha}

It's finally time, Lazlo. Give them everything you've got now, so you'll have no excuses later, got it?

Like, whatevs, man, chillax and let the master do his thing.



You may have noticed that our objective was to sink the flagship. We'll win as long as we accomplish that, so we're more or less free to ignore the other two sh



...huh.



Just like every naval battle ever, there's two elements per ship and something tells me we don't have to worry too much about the one on the right. Earth and fire it is. Looking good, Ted!



Helmut: Wh- What?!

Nice "helmut hair"!



So yeah, the Gaien soldiers are just looking for an excuse to, as it were, jump ship. After we advance a little, they open fire on Helmut's ship. Unfortunately for them, they have shitty compatibility with him (he has fire and wind, they have wind and earth; fire beats wind and wind beats earth) and will get themselves sunk within a couple of turns unless they get really lucky.



However, for whatever reason, after a couple of rounds of us humiliating him terribly, Helmut decides that he'd rather try to board the gaien ship. Since he does this from the side, they get a free shot in at him...



...and he gets sunk by NPCs.

Great going.

So, this is as far as we go...

Lazlo! We did it! We won! You have made me proud!

Bah, that was nothing. Even if one of them was staffed by retarded rhesus macaques, we were three ships against two and only one of them mattered. Come on, where's the challenge?


masses, Sir Lazlo. Our fleet has lost. We surrender.

I think that's our first instance of "masses" not working out so well.

I do no twant either of us to suffer any more losses. Will you... take charge of my men? I do not care what you do with me. I am prepared to meet my fate.

Then join us in our fight.

Very well... I was always hesitant to invade Razril without reason, but I suppose that is nothing but an excuse. It is probably too late to atone for what I've done, but please let us join you in battle...

So he does.




Helmut is pretty decent. He hits hard and is never going to miss, but he won't crit too much because his luck is shit. Decent MAG though, and he actually has a 4 in wind magic to make use of it with. He also has a unite with Hervey and Sigurd.

Of course, we don't necessarily have to pardon Helmut...


...but we'd have to be pretty dumb to take that option. Killing people with portraits is reserved for real villains (and Snowe).



Can't see shit, cap'n! Would it have killed them to actually put Razril on the horizon here? I could see it perfectly well just a minute ago.



Anyway, we park the ship and run into some people we haven't seen in a while. And hey! Civilian clothes!



We were disorganized after we lost the Commander, but to think that Razril would be beaten down so badly...

I'd like to say I can't imagine how you managed to fuck this up so badly, but we all know that would be a lie.

Yeah...

I have a request for everyone. We wish to fight against Kooluk with Lazlo. We are now going to gather those who agree with us. We would like your help. Would you mind?

Who cares? Drag them along if you have to. They're still level 1 so I doubt they'd be able to put up much of a fight.

The masses... All right... We'll help. Count us in, too, okay?

Say... Lazlo, can I ask you something? About Commander Glen...

Will you fuckers give that shit a rest already?



Lazlo gives Keneth the silent treatment because fuck you Keneth.

Lazlo... did not kill the Commander. Is that not enough of an answer?

Damn it Paula, I could kiss you. I won't, because you're still an elf and I'd probably catch something terrible, but I could.

That's enough for me. I'm sorry, Lazlo. I'll come, too.

And with that, we have finally officially recruited all the named knights.







They are much the same as before, but I'll repost these anyway because it's been like 30 updates since we last saw them. The four knights actually have a unite between them, but, well, you can probably imagine how often that becomes relevant.

If you find any more volunteers, tell them to gather at the training hall.

Okay.

Lazlo, let's go, too! We'll want to gather up as many people as we can.

By that, she means we need to go around and talk to absolutely everybody.



And now, all the villagers love us again!



Some of them will say they'll go to the hall, others will just tell us how awesome we are.



Fortunately, the town is pretty small.



This guy is a little special, though; he gives us a window set.



It's kind of meh. I'll stick with the current one.


Well, I suppose it just means he didn't have luck on his side.

Lord Vingerhut is a terrible person and you can tell him I said so. What's the worst he could do, exile me?



Here's another face we haven't seen in a long while.

I managed to survive somehow, too. It was really tough running from those Kooluk guys everyday.

Basil, you want to come with us, too?

Lazlo, you're fighting the Kooluk with that ship, right? All right! Then the great Basil will join you!

I can't contain my excitement.


Basil
Find Money B - Increases Potch found after battle by 20%.

Basil comes with a skill we haven't seen before, but we'll also pick up someone who comes with it at A rank pretty soon, so he's not terribly useful. You can still play his minigame if you like, though.


And I am grateful for the protectors...





I'm still skipping most of the NPC dialogue because it's not very interesting.



I think that's all of them. Before we do anything else, though there's one thing I have to check...



...and wouldn't you know it, they kept my room just the way I left it.