Part 17: The Town of Merseto (I)
Actually, the title is a lie; we're not going to be seeing the town of Merseto today. This chapter is mostly filler on the road to Merseto.
Either way, we're shuffling things around. Dario gets the Wing Mail, which is not only good armour, but also changes his affinity to wind, which is going to be damn handy if he wants to hang around with Nalleo and Kika (which he will).
He also gets the Wing Shield, which isn't the most powerful, but ups his speed a little, which he very much needs. Nalleo takes up Steele's Shield, which is pretty solid. It ups Shield Defence by 2, but he doesn't have that, so, uh.
Also, there's been a lot of running around lately, so the team takes a break before continuing on.
Well... There's been a lot going on lately, so I thought I'd write some of it down.
Write it down? Do you mean... like a diary? You've got one, so I figured I'd start one myself. Gonna call me a copycat? No, no... of course not.He's too polite for that. Even if you are a copycat.
No peeking. I-I would never!...although, he is conspicuously absent from the next battle...
As you can see, there are two red dots on the map, and the town is the northernmost one. There's an exclamation mark and everything! Unfortunately, attempting to reach it stops us at the one before it.
I'm not sure what we're doing here. Certainly doesn't look like we're following any kind of road or anything.
I'm inclined to forgive Kyril for not being so bright. He's taken a few blows to the head.
Those men... There's something about their looks that makes me feel a little uneasy.Beyond the fact that they're dressed like generic colour-coded bandits, you mean?
Holy fuck, that does make me feel uneasy.
That dumb bird didn't even realize what happened. And I ran right into her, too!And there's a very good reason for that.
These palette swaps are an insult to the Jolly, Rowdy and Drunken Pirates. We're going to have to teach them a lesson.
Looks like it'll fetch a good price.
Like you'd have any idea. Shut it... That is if you wanna keep yer tongue.No, don't fight each other! Leave some for me.
Anythin' else in there? Nah, that's all! What?! Hmph... that was a waste of time. Huh? Wait, there's a piece of paper.
This just in: Kooluk uses paper money!
Looks like a letter. Let's see what it says..."My beautiful Miranda. Every time we meet, the sadness on your face pierces my heart like a blade."
By the way, this is all voiced. Go on. Watch the video. I'll wait.
Ha ha! What a wuss! Wait, wait, there's more:"I can't leave you to wither any longer. With him, your soul will die. Come live with me. I beg you.
I await you in Caleron. Slip away with your daughter. But make sure he does not find out.
From your devoted servant."
That's the end.
Keep yer stirrings to yerself, moron.Yes. Please do.
Love letters won't feed this belly. Let's hurry up and sell that necklace.I have a better idea.
How about you give it to me.
Alas, bumbling comedic bandit trio makes their first and last apperance on this map. We're about to murder them horribly.
Huh? Where'd they come from?!The goat dimension!
Please try. That way not only can I kill you and take your stuff, I can claim it was in self defence too!
I'm in! That necklace won't bring much on its own!
It's actually the S-rank reward for this map and can't be sold at all, so it's even worse than that! 
Ruins of Collanbal is a pretty nice looking map.
Once again, the victory condition is a rout, and just like last time we're allowed to bring eight characters. Since Dario and Nalleo are coming this time, it means we're saying goodbye to Andarc and Maxine for the time being. Don't worry, there will be a new full party vote at the end of this chapter.
The thought is to have the pirates and Rene head down and to the right while the rest push on ahead. The Three Bad Men are hanging around towards the far left, and despite being kind of silly villains, they're pretty strong.
Also of interest, there is blue terrain in the lower left corner. Sometimes, this occurs naturally - usually where there's water.
Oh, and this will come in handy. Rene can wear mage-type stuff but this one has one whole point of extra DEF over the archmage robe. She also gets the glasses because they increase DEF a bit too. A tanky Rene is a happy Rene!
There's a wind elemental which could be handy since the pirates are also wind innates, but it won't really do anything in this fight.
The Impatient Man is far from impatient, and neither are his companions. All three of the boss bandits will start the fight by laying down terrain and then sit on it until we're close enough to murder. Again, this map would be a lot tougher if they charged us.
Seneca couldn't reach anything on the first turn and used it to pave the way for Flare instead, who draws first blood. And that guy is standing on native terrain, too! I love berserker belts.
Rita and Kyril can't reach anyone either, so they settle for popping some beads.
...and this bandit bravely runs away and tosses a bead instead of attacking one of the archers. Huh. Fine, be that way.
Dario runs up and lays down some terrain, and Kika has a few words for him when she catches up.
Same as always.Read: chill.
Huh. Well... What? What's wrong? I dunno... I don't feel too good. My belly's rumbling something fierce. Food poisoning, maybe? Food...? Nay, it couldn't be...'course not!
Wait! That's it!
It's cuz I ain't eaten anything! I forgot to eat lunch today! Hm. Likely story...Dario.
The conversation increases the Good Will between them.
Kika isn't the only one who has words for Dario, though.
Well, well! Let's get a move on then!
Here I go!They learn Pirate Family Attack. I'll put it to use right away!
A wind elemental bandit axes Dario in the head from behind. It goes "dink". A bowman tries the same with Nalleo. He doesn't fare any better.
The bandits put down more water terrain, and promptly leave it.
These two are also acting strange. Instead of advancing on Kyril and the Lightning Chicks, they retreat and throw beads.
Very curious!
Rene finally gets a move on and gets a level! I'm not going to complMORE SPEED, DAMN YOU.
The enemies continue demonstrating weird behaviour. Impatient Man tosses an earth bead at Shady Man, which benefits neither of them, but puts Shady Man on neutral terrain.
Shady Man puts down fire terrain again, and Ill-Tempered Man throws a water bead at him!
Team Pirates continues their murdering spree.
I didn't even put berserker belts on these two. It's beautiful.
(Well, not the goddamn bloom everywhere. The damage.) They both gain 1040 EXP...
...and thus...
...both pick up a level.
Dario's is a bit disappointing. No speed at all! I like more STR, but seriously, Dario, put those points in speed next time.
Flare follows Seneca. She can't kill this dude on her own but...
...Seneca helps her finish the job.
Rita and Kyril still don't have anything to do.
Hey. That's mean.
Actually, this is trouble - Seneca and Flare both on -Affinity terrain, and the Impatient Man can reach them from +Affinity terrain. This could hurt!
Dario Gozz Runes a guy, leaving only one more bandit on this side of the map. (You can see his head sticking up over the dialogue box here.) Rene feels tanky enough now to approach and... stumbles right on the first treasure! That was unexpected, but hey, no complaints!
And predictably, Impatient Man goes for it, and it does indeed hurt. 27 points. After being defended.
If I didn't have Kyril standing here, Shady Man would have had a perfect opportunity to murder Flare here. Kyril takes the hit instead. It hurts even on fire terrain!
This guy doesn't do anything useful. That's nice.
Seneca is pissed and murders the guy who threw that bead.
Flare, cursing her lack of Extra Move, decides to hope the level difference is great enough to be worth it...
...and it is! Great level-up there.
Damn it Kika, that's shameful. Sure, he's on native terrain and all, but for fuck's sake, you killed a giant dimensional tree. This guy should not be surviving.
Rita shows us how it's done. Impatient Man gets hammered and Rita gets more numbers.
See what happens, Kika? All your fault.
Still, that's a berserked water bandit, on water terrain, hitting Rene from behind. That DEF score sure came in handy!
Nalleo goes and cleans up Kika's mess, and Kyril manages not to miss a 83% attack.
The level is nice, but now that guy is berserked, too! Still, he shouldn't get another turn, so no big deal.
Ill-tempered Man gets off his lazy arse and stabs Flare a bit.
Seneca disposes of Shady Man before he gets to put that berserk status to use. Then she parks herself next to Flare, just in case.
There's just the Ill-tempered Man left now. Flare can't attack him, but she can inconvenience him a lot. Sadly I had a
moment and didn't place that terrain where Rita could make use of it, but it's okay. He's already dead. 
Meanwhile, our pirate family has a heart-to-heart.
Yeah? I'm finally strong enough to fight alongside you! Yeah... That's fer sure. I won't hold you back, Papa! I believe it! I'm proud'a you, son!
So fucking
you won't even believe it.
Rita couldn't kill the guy since I derped, but it's okay; Kyril takes care of it, and that means the battle is won! ...as soon as I murder the helpless elemental.
Speaking of which, I'm having the pirates chase after it so I won't have to sit around twiddling my thumbs once the rest of the treasure is mine. It won't be long now!
Flare is one move away from the chest.
Rene excavates the second and final buried treasure.
Three Rage Force Beads. Kind of disappointing given they're 200p but, eh. I'll live.
Fucking hell, Nalleo, you looked so promising and now you can't even one-shot an elemental. It's at 1 HP.
However, Dario is also in range, and he manages not to be terrible and end the fight.
And as our reward for this, we pick up the necklace. Don't worry, it's perfectly fine for us to carry it around since they stole it first.
This information-gathering business sure is hard work.And that's the end of that!
You'll enter battle as soon as you select Monster Hunt from the World Map, so make sure you're fully prepared!
Eh.
And, since we've had a long day... some rest.
Yes? What happened to that diary of yours? Oh, I gave that up. Writing down each and every little thing was such a hassle.Seneca.
I see... Why? Were you hoping to read it sometime?
No, no... I would never pry into your thoughts. Really! Mm-hmm. Whatever.I think she looks just a tiny bit disappointed. And on that note, today's episode comes to an end.
Voting time:
Next map, we can only bring six units. Kyril, Andarc and Seneca are coming because plot.
Fill the remaining three slots with other people! And as before, if you don't have three characters you specifically want to vote for, you can opt to leave any remaining votes to me.