Part 26: Fugitive Runners

The next morning, we start off in Frey's room all alone, without so much as a wakeup call. All we can do is head outside.



Lyon meets us outside, and... oh hey, look, it's our good friend Cornelio! I'm going to do my best to fill the Barows mansion with the weirdest characters I can find, just to see Salum's expression.

Lady Sialeeds is still sleeping... And it looks like Georg went out somewhere. I haven't seen him anywhere... So, what would you like to do, Prince?

Am I allowed to put down "Not Luserina" as my answer, or would it be in bad taste?

Anyway, Lyon joins the "group" at this point...

Why don't we ask everybody about Lady Merces?

...and has a hint for us if we talk to her.

Blast! Where can the rest of those witless DoReMi Elves be? Why must they hide from greatness? Confound those mediocrities!

Cornelio does neither of those things.


...What's that? Lady Merces? Sure I know her! She's a master tactician! Got one heckuva head on her shoulders, I'll tell you that! Why, if she were with us, we'd have Godwin beat before breakfast, and Armes after lunch!

Shame we don't have her, though...

Ah, Boz. He can't offer any actual help, but he can be Boz Wilde, and that's really all I'm asking of him.

Good morning, Your Royal Highness. Lady Merces? I've never met her personally, but I know she is a renowned tactician worthy of respect. Her strategic thinking helped the soldiers of Sable repel the Armes invasion eight years ago. She would help us tremendously if we could persuade her to our side.

People certainly have a high opinion of her...

The way the Godwins are gathering troops, they'll be attacking soon, no doubt about that. But we ain't doin' too bad with our own recruiting, either!
It's a shame to have to fight fellow Falenans, but they're not givin' us much choice!

Boz also has a few words about the situation, while Dinn is busy being boring and honourable. Let's move on.



Salum's room... reflects his tastes... somewhat.

That was most unwise! If something were to happen to you, how could you avenge Her Majesty's heinous death? I must ask that you not stray so far again! You can't begin to imagine what sorts of dangers are out there!

I don't need to. I've killed most of them by now.



Well, a detective seemed like a good person to ask about shady dealings, but there's no one at home. Guess we're out of luck.



Instead, we need to head to Raftfleet.

If they cause you any trouble, just let me know. There are always more barfish to clean!

Kisara has nothing too useful to add, but it's always good to know we have something to threaten Logg with if he looks like he's about to bail on us.

You visited Lordlake? It was a wreck, wasn't it? It'll take a long time to sort out that mess. But you've got more pressing business. Watch your back. And your sides, too, while you're at it.

Raja is just saying ominous things.



Speaking of Logg, though...

Yes, to Agate Prison.

PRISON???!!! What's a royal guy like you wanna go to a PRISON for???!!!
Wait a sec -- don't tell me! Ya got a friend on the inside, wanna bust 'em out, right?

How did you know...?

Heh, heh, heh! Prince, I didn't take ya fer one to be associatin' with thugs an' lowlifes! Excitin'!
Prince, yer one lucky feller! Ya came ta the right man! C'mon, hop aboard!

Okay then?



What's gotten into ya, Pop? How come you're all excited all of a sudden?

Rightcha are, girl! I AM excited! Ya should be all excited, too, ya know! No, git a move on!



I don't know, but I'm dying to find out.



This time, we continue past the dock where we stepped off last time. A good bit north and west on the river...



...we find the prison sitting on an island in the middle of the river.



That's a Godwin soldier in the guard tower...



Looks hard to escape from.



And hard to get in to, at least in any pleasant kind of way.

What're we gonna do, Pop?! We can't get any closer! They'll see us an' throw us in the slammer! We're gonna rot!

That would not be a pleasant kind of way, no.

Calm down, calm down! Don't get yer face all scrunched up fer nothin'! We're just checkin' it out fer now! An' I already got a plan for sneakin' in! We'll hafta take the long way 'round, though!

Wh-Whaddaya mean, "the long way 'round"?



But Logg doesn't give us an answer. Instead, he takes us back south...



Now, I realize you don't get much sense of movement with the world map looking like it does. Rest assured, we've gone a fair bit south.



And found a... uh. What have we found, exactly?



Oh. That.

Tons o' ore useta be mined here, but it's all run out now. Been abandoned 'bout ten years now!

And I think the question going through all our minds right now is

And so... um... Why did we come here...?

Thank you, Lyon.

Yeah, Pop! We'd better not be restin' here! It's way too creepy! Bet it's all crawlin' with ghosts!

It's crawling all right, but you've got the wrong kind of undead.

Relax, relax! It ain't haunted! In fact, the deepest part o' the mine leads somewhere real good! Ya just gotta have some faith in yer good ol' fearless pop!

Uh, Prince...? Do you really think this is safe?

When's that ever stopped anyone? Charge!



But first, we have to say hi to the only other living being on the island.


We HATE humans! Now scram! This is a NO-HUMAN ZONE!

XT3M BVR

...let's get on with things.



It's actually worse than the sewer level, by virtue of being longer. (music)



Also, because Logg and Lun's first level weapons make them dead weight.



Logg attacks by swinging an anchor at people. It's pretty hardcore.



Lun just harpoons things.



Then she gets murdered by zombie snails. Okay then.



There are a couple of these things, though! Mmm, vandalism.



This is a purple creeper. It's a creeper. But purple.

Also, Lun comes with a Fire Rune and is decent with it. Logg comes with a Water Rune and is bad with magic in general.



Finally, spiders. This one is called Huge Legs and is the miniboss for the area.



He doesn't even drop any good loot. Bah.



Vandalism, ho!



Only useful treasure in here, for a given definition.



And we're done.



To no one's surprise, the dwarf camp has dwarves in it! Or dwarfs. One of those things.



And a very shiny ceiling. I'm not sure what that's supposed to be. (music)



Anyway.

They're all kids! Nah, wait... Looks like they're... somethin' else! What ARE they???!!!

Heh, heh! Humans ain't the only ones livin' in Falena, ya know! These here are cave dwarves. Strange bunch, they are! Their hobby's diggin' holes. Fact, it's 'bout all they do! They're kinda on the stubborn side, but they're real nice fellers! ...Er, dwarves! I'd hang out with 'em over nobles any day! Ha ha ha ha ha!
Hmmm... Lemme see... My friend oughtta be 'round here somewhere...
Man, all of 'em look the same from here! Lemme git a bit closer!

Racist.


Well, except for the ones where we hit water. You can't get through those at all.

So yeah, dwarfvfses! We'll be returning here again, but right now we're only passing by.



And buying up all their salt.


Why do we dig so much? Why don't you stop being so nosy?!

I can dig it.

Dwarf Man (2): Seems to be some serious fighting going on up above. Nothing to do with us, though. We dig. That's what we do.

Fuck, that was the only digging joke I had.



So anyway, there's a blacksmith here, so maybe we'll finally be able to do something about that little "Logg and Lun do 3 points of damage per attack" issue.

Huh? Is someone callin' me? Hmph! Now I'm losing my hearing... Just what I need!
...So, what can I do for ya?
What?! You want me to forge you a weapon?
Well, I'd love to, being a blacksmith and all... But in order to forge a great weapon, I'm gonna need a better hammer!
Don't get me wrong, human! My skills aren't the problem! But a guy can only go so far with skills alone, you see?

FUCK.

Yeah, this is a big fucking dick move on Konami's part. Especially since we have more dungeon upcoming after this.



Most of the other dwarves don't have anything much of interest to add, other than the fact that they're not too happy to see us.



There is this guy, though!



And above...



...we have a scene. (music)



And a dwarf.

With what appears to be a wok on his head.

No, I'm not judging.



Not "Gunny." My name's "Gunde."

Ah ha ha ha ha! Ya ain't changed a bit, have ya?!

Who are... all these humans?

Oh, yeah! Almost forgot! I'll introduce ya, Gunny! Wait till ya hear this!
This here's Prince Frey, an' that' there's Lyon, a Queen's Knight!

...I'm actually not quite a Queen's Knight just yet, L--

An' that there's my lovely daughter, Lun!



You're lying.

Huh? Who's lyin'?!

You're not friends with the Prince.

B-But...

And your daughter wouldn't be as cute as this.

Hey! What are you tryin' to do, embarrass me? What?! You want a piece of me, Mr. Dwarf?! Put up yer dukes!



What?!

What'n the hell's THAT s'poosed ta mean?!

It means , that's what it means! Didn't know he had it in him. (He's so short, you see.)

So that means... this is the real Prince.

Yeah, an' we got a special mission from the Prince, Gunny! We're doin' Agate Prison! Ya ain't gonna turn that down, right?!

...I'm in.



Hey! Where are you guys off to?!

Where do ya think? Agate Prison, o' course!

With... THAT little thing?

The two of us useta be in the business o' runnin' fugitives, ya know!

You were... fugitive runners?!

METAL GEno damn it it's too soon

Yep! We helped people git away that owed a buncha money ta nasty ol' loan sharks... And when we wasn't doin' that, we were helpin' gladiators escape! Business was boomin', I tell ya!

Never told ME about this before!

An' once, we almost helped a prisoner git outta Agate Prison!

You did?

Yep. We dug a secret tunnel there.

An' that tunnel should be right up ahead!

Are you serious, Pop?!

Hey, 'course I'm serious! Follow me an' Gunny, an' yer gonna see for yerself!



No quitting.

I do think this is a bit too convenient, but, well, then I ask myself if I enjoy Logg's presence enough to not care, and the answer is always yes. So let's do that tunnel thing.



Gunde joins the party at this point and we're off into another part of the mines, but, it's much the same as the previous one so if you'll excuse me...



...we're heading for this dead end-looking kinda thing.



Gunde wastes no time getting to work.



Like I said, we ALMOST helped a prisoner escape! But just as we were finishin' the tunnel, the guy we were s'poosed ta spring got moved somewhere else! An' that was the end o' that job! So we just left the tunnel like it is!

Hold on a sec, Pop! That means he doesn't even know if this hole goes to Agate prison or not! C'mon, Pop, he's gonna be digging FOREVER!!!

Don'tcha worry 'bout that! Cave dwarves are regular geniuses when it comes ta diggin' holes! And ol' Gunny here's the best o' the best! Trust me!



So it seems.

Done.

Awright! Ya did it, Gunny!



Indeed it was, and that means next time, we're in for jailbreak! Hopefully sans the bullet in the back. No promises, though!




Logg and Lun, looking appropriately sketchy.