Part 14: A Mint Afternoon

Skit: Mission Accomplished



: Thanks to that we were able to get permission to search the Moria Mine.
: And I got that amazing weapon, the Gungnir.
: Hey, is it really that amazing?
: Of course. They don't call it the spear of the gods for nothing.

Y'know, this continent is uninteresting actually. Let's just take a boat back to Venezia for no reason whatsoever!



I can't even pretend we're doing this for Gnome since we already beat him up and made him work for us. There is something I skipped doing until now though, since it's most useful here.

Skit: The Master Plan



: They look so happy together.
: They're all lovey dovey!
: See, I told you it would work out.

...Okay, fine. We're not really done with that sidequest yet. I left it until after Jamir since the reward doesn't make much difference when fighting her.



Doug: My son has gone missing!
: And just whose fault do you think that is?
: You were the one who refused to accept your own son...
: Or am I wrong?
Doug: ...You're exactly right. But, I've had a change of heart. If only Elwin would come back...
: He's living in Alvanista. Together, with Nancy.
Doug: I see... Elwin and that girl...
: W, wait just a minute.
: Didn't you say you'd had a change of heart?
Doug: ...

Skit: The Right Thing?



: Well, that's hard to say...
: Given how he reacted, I would assume that he intends to tear them apart.
: Then Elwin and Nancy may be in a tight spot!
: I can't help but feel like we're responsible for that.
: Yes, we should go check on the two of them.

Well, this is a surprise; Cless actually has a good idea! Back to Alvanista...



: Get out of here!!
Doug: That attitude isn't getting you anywhere! Return to Venezia this instant!!
: Hold on!
: Everyone just calm down.
Doug: This has nothing to do with you! Mind your own business!
: Just what is it that makes it so impossible for you to accept Nancy!?



Doug: This has nothing to do with her!
: Then what is it?
Doug: I just don't want Elwin to choose a life that he'll regret. I went through so many hardships to help my company reach its current position. That is...
: That is?



Doug: I'm sure that she always hated me for the life I gave her... I just don't want Elwin to repeat my mistakes.
: Dad, mom never felt that way about you. When I was just a kid, she told me, "Your dad is a wonderful man."
Doug: ...I've been away from work for too long, I need to get back to the office. I could use your help there too. Nancy's as well...
: Thank goodness...
: See, what did I tell you?
: The bond between a man and a woman is pretty deep, huh?
: We could all learn something from them.

Skit: A Happy Ending



: Yeah, it was truly a trial by fire.
: Isn't that a little negative in this case?
: Ahem...
: Anyway, at least it all worked out.
: Yes, that's certainly true.

Well, there's but one thing left to do before we can say that this sidequest is truly finished. It needs a truly happy ending, which means: back to Venezia... again.



It had to happen, really.



I'm fairly certain that everyone knows how a wedding goes so let's just skip ahead to here.

: Dad, we'll both do our best to support you.
: Father, please don't cry. I'll always support Elwin to the best of my ability.
Doug: Aren't you lucky, Elwin? With this, I'm sure your mom... Uwaaaaah...
: Dad, calm down a bit.

: They both look so happy together. I'm so glad.



: Back then, it was only thanks to Mint that I had the courage to go on. Mint, I want you to have these.



This might not seem like that great a reward, but they are only equippable by Mint and they are also her best gloves. No, really. They don't have the highest defence (at least one pair has 5 more) but they do have a couple of extra that make them extremely useful.

: Maybe next time it will be you up there, Mint.
: Me?!



: Some day, trouble will come to their door, and for the first time, the strength of their love will truly be tested.
: But of all people, I'm sure that those two will be all right. They've already overcome many trials just to stand here.
: Did you see? Did you see it, Mint!? That dress... I want to wear one too. I want to get married right now! Say, Cless... let's get married.

: Right now, okay?
: Wha!? What are you talking about!? Klaus, help me!
: Man, it must be tough to get all the ladies.
: Don't say that! Help me! Please! I, I, I...!
: Whoa there, it was just a joke. A j-o-k-e.



Eh, it'll do I suppose. Now, let's take a look at those gloves we got.



10 Defense isn't bad but it's nothing great either. The 50 Luck boost is quite nice too but the main use for these is the elemental defence; reducing damage from Water, Fire and Light is a lot more helpful than it sounds. Water and Fire will especially prove useful in the very near future at that.

Skit: Permit Unacquired



: That's right. We'll need to pick that up first.
: Where wsa the Adventurer's Guild again?
: I believe it was that bar below the item shop.

Since we're off back to Alvanista now anyway, we might as well take a quick look at just they're selling in one particular shop...



674,100 Gald. For ONE Mystic Symbol. Yeah, fuck ever paying that much for one of anything. The Mystic Symbol is incredibly awesome and all but it really isn't worth that much.

The Holy Symbol for 100,000 is more... bearable but I still wouldn't pay that much for what it does (restores 5% of max HP after about 5-10 seconds or so). This may or may not have everything to do with me just not wanting to spend unnecessarily large amounts of money.



Thunder Sword and Thunder Beam aren't real spells for Arche, so we can't actually buy them. Well, the reason the game gives us is that someone else bought them first. Tractor Beam costs 4,000 Gald which is surprisingly cheap since it's non-elemental and the only way to kill the Clay Idols in the Cave of Spirits. More importantly!



This costs 12,000 Gald. There's another arcane arte we can buy for Cless sort of nearby that costs that much too... but we won't be able to use it for a good 4 or 5 hours. Thunder Blade's pretty nice I guess, and it makes Lightning irrelevant too!



Also after buying both Arche gets this... at least if you've got every other spell thus far and either Glaive from Gnome's room or you skip ahead to the fire spirit dungeon. We could've gone there sooner and got a few things but Efreet isn't there until we get the Garnet from kicking Jamir's teeth in so I didn't bother.



Talking to this one NPC just walking around down here is required. Until you do that, you cannot go to the Corroded Grotto... which makes sense. If your characters don't know Undine is there, and where the grotto is, they can't ask someone to take them there.

Also she tells you where to find Gnome if you don't have him yet. She doesn't tell you the password to get in, though.



Just for completions sake, here's where Efreet is waiting.

Obviously the Corroded Grotto has water elemental enemies in it, whereas the Cave of Burning Sands has fire enemies. They're about equal in difficulty since you can do them in either order.



Anyway, have a mini-game. This is really incredibly easy and there's basically no chance to ever fail if you know what you're doing. There's an arbitrary number of stones in the barrel and whoever takes the last one loses. You can make him always take the last stone through a very simple method.



This might sound complicated, but it's actually really simple (I'm probably overcomplicating things here, so just go with it). I hope you enjoy math because I find that it's the easiest way to explain how to always win at this game!

code:

Z = 5 +((4*Y) - X)

This alone doesn't make much sense, but it will eventually. Z is the number of stones in the barrel, Y will make sense in context and X is a value between 1 and 3. Let's consider the game we have here to see how this works;

code:

32 = 5+((4*6))+3

This doesn't help explain much, but it's a simple enough idea. No matter how many stones are in the jar, always use 5 as a base value. You can't take more than 3 stones at a time, and you must always take at least one, so 5 is the lowest possible number where no matter what he takes, you'll win. Add 4 to 5 until you reach either the number in the barrel or the highest number below that amount. If that number isn't reached by adding 4, go first and take out X number of stones (in this case you'd go first and take 3). Now, when he takes a number of stones (W) you take out [4-W] number on your turn. If you keep this up, it'll reach 5 stones when he has to take it out. Take out whatever number adds to 4 again leaving 1, which he will have to take causing him to lose.

Again, this is probably an overcomplication so let's use this game as an example (the number of stones taken may not replicate what exactly happens in-game).

code:

32 stones; Cless goes first.

Cless takes 3. (29); Master takes 3. (26); Cless takes 1. (25); Master takes 2. (23); Cless takes 2. (21); Master takes 2. (19); 
Cless takes 2. (17); Master takes 3. (14); Cless takes 1. (13); Master takes 3. (10); Cless takes 1. (9); Master takes 1. (8); 
Cless takes 3. (5); Master takes 3. (2); Cless takes 1. (1); Master takes 1. (0)

Beating him the first time nets you a Miracle Gel which is pretty nice (60% HP and TP restoration) but we want to beat him again. He even requests it!

code:

42 = 5+((4*9)+1)

In this case, you'd go first and take 1. Then it proceeds like normal. If there were 41 stones, instead, you'd go second since X = 0 in that case.



For beating him again we get this which is MUCH nicer than the Mixed Gel by far. It restores 1 TP every few seconds so this is going straight to Arche.



Cless gets a title as well, which is nice I guess. Unfortunately, we can't keep kicking this guys ass for extra items at this point since once you have the title he'll refuse to play against you since he's no longer the master and blahblahblah. You'd think he'd want to regain it but whatever.



Oh and talking to this guy starts a sidequest that lets us hear a tale about Luna. It's just for backstory purposes but it could be interesting.

Sentry: Once upon a time, in an era unlike ours when no monsters roamed the land, throughout the world there were evil men working to spread a poison. They intended to use that poison to control the entire world. The Spirit of the Moon, in order to prevent that from happening, descended from the heavens. The light of the moon was the source of the Spirit's power, but on the night of a new moon, the Spirit was captured by the evil men. Those evil men were acting under orders from the kings of distant lands. ...I can't remember how the rest of it goes. Sorry.

Skit: Efreet, Spirit of Fire



: So it would seem.
: I guess the Spirit of Fire would like hot places, huh?
: I suppose so.

Skit: Undine, Spirit of Water



: So it would seem.
: I guess the Spirit of Water would want to be surrounded by the sea, huh?
: Yeah, I doubt she could exist anywhere without water.

Sadly, there's no skit for Gnome if you already have him. Not even one acknowledging that fact... but there is if you don't have him yet!

Skit: Gnome, Spirit of Earth



: So it would seem.
: I guess the Spirit of Earth would like caves, huh?
: I don't know if that has anything to do with it...
: Anyway, that's where it should be.

So, we have Gnome already and before we can complete the Moria Mine we will need Undine and Efreet too (there's a reason). The two dungeons are roughly equal in difficulty but Undine is marginally easier than Efreet, like it really even matters. It's just a question of which one do we get first?