Part 38: Sidetracked (XII) - Won't somebody think of the children?

I hope you're up for more quests.



Because boy do we have more quests.



Thanks to all that (currently) overpowered naykobold gear, our cats can now help out our other cat buddy.

This baby's mine!



And here's another one we've been able to take on yet unable to complete for a long-ass time.

See ya!

It requires, as it says, a kobold.

And then I went out and sailed to Elenor's island and back again. Cat patrol, report!

Well...



It's kind of his thing. He's almost as good at it as a cat, you know.

It's worth 2000 Potch and 300 Skill Points. It's pretty much shit.

Oh, um...



Fuck yeah... is what I'd say, except it's worth 2500p and 400sp which is only barely better.



Well okay, I think I can manage a fuck yeah after all.

...

You know what, never mind. I just don't feel motivated.



We do not have this one yet! And I'm not about to accept it because it's timed and who knows what we'll get involved in before we can return to that place.



This sounds kind of urgent!

(But it's not.)



So we'll go see what we can do.



As usual. However, there's something odd off in the distance there.



These kids obviously aren't supposed to see combat, but they're actually not too terrible at staying out of trouble. Now about that last one...



Hey, it's a familiar face! I bet he'll join us if we ask nicely!

Over there! We gotta save all those kids!

...uh, yeah, and save the kids, of course I remember.



Karl differs a bit from our previous guests in that he hits like a truck. That is full of trucks.



I don't know why I'm showing all these, it's not as if you're playing the game and need the stats or anything.



Another nice thing about Karl is that he takes hits like a truck, too.



He probably wouldn't be able to kill off all these enemies by himself - though he does have a couple of consumables - but he can be trusted not to fuck it up horribly before you can reach him, which is very fucking nice after the previous few attempts.



Nope, that tickles.



Hey look, Wendel remembered to get +2 speed again! Oh, and I think she killed a dude too or something, I dunno.



Nalkul doesn't kill a guy.



But it's okay. Karl does it for him.



Flare also gets her killing on.



Suddenly, enemy reinforcements! Shitfuck, I didn't remember that.



I think this is the most serious thing that happens to me in this fight. It's not very tough.



Critical Hit!



And a level.



More critical hits!



These things make me so happy.



This, less so. At least she killed something, but come on, more numbers please.



Wendel softened this guy up. Champo gets the finish because he's a little behind on EXP.



That's a pretty decent level.



Rita should have saved that crit for this guy. He doesn't die. Kika does finish off the guy in red up to the right, though.



I'm willing to let this pass because you're Goddamn Kika and you'd have to be trying extremely hard to be anything less than "really good".



The important thing about this fight is that Kyril must talk to Karl to recruit him - otherwise he's gone. Forever.

Kyril.

You sure are tough... And it's more than just raw power. It's like there's purity in it.

I'm thinking there are several other people in our party that would be better suited to this conversation, but that's how they wrote it.

May I join you? I'd like to learn from your fighting style.

Um, sure. Let's go.

Kyril is learning!

Thank you very much. I'll help out as much as I can.

It's dubious how much help he'll be able to provide. Karl is a fist fighter, and he's the only one we'll get our hands on for the entire game. This means a new unique rune as well as access to Cross Counter, and his stats are pretty impressive, with SPD to rival our claw users. On the other hand he has only 5 MOV and can't learn Extra Move or Godspeed, which is, shall we say, less than ideal. It's a shame, really.



Still got a couple of enemies left.



I put Counter on Kika because I couldn't think of anything else. She gets smacked, and smacks back. It barely does any damage. Counter isn't that great.



Regular attacks work better.



Nalkul finishes the last bandit for a bun...



...and a level. Speed and skill! Skill and speed.



Another useless, empty S-rank.



There's no other scene, no words from Karl after completing the level. Just the satisfaction of a job done well... and the new character, 10 000 Potch and 500 Skill Points don't hurt matters either.

Next: a new area!