Part 16: Update XV - Iron Chef

Update XV - Iron Chef



♪ BGM: Bad Night Story - vamp9.mid ♫

But of course he knew that those weren't his actions, but the ones of the ghost that took control of him and manipulated him.
But Grandpa, what was that strange ghost?
Well, it was a Shadow Wraith. Similar to a soul, but capable of moving in a directed way. Souls are something a vampire can simply capture, but shadow wraiths, however, can fight back.
And apparently take control of others, and let them do whatever they want.
Exactly.
But where did Asgar gain the power to reform the world?
Well, the Shadow Wraith itself has powers, as well, and it's capable of using spells the host itself could never cast.
But why did Asgar, or rather the Shadow Wraith, reshape the world in the first place?
That is the question, of course. That is something you will find out over the course of the story. At any rate, it seems the shadow wraith has an ultimate goal. Something they can only achieve in "their" time. During the time the Shadow Wraith had not been a Shadow Wraith yet.

You'll note that this translation can't quite decide whether it wants Shadow Wraith to be a proper noun or not.

And that has something to do with the castle and the stone tablet!
Precisely. And so, they restructured the world the way it was back then. Back then, more than a thousand years ago. They let the structures of that time resurge once more, as well as its inhabitants. And the few that did survive the reshaping of the world are now faced with a completely new world. Cities were destroyed, but long derelict cities now resurfaced anew. There was a tremendous amount of power required for that. But Asgar was full of power, and due to additional energy from the soul devices inside the magic chamber, the Shadow Wraith was able to gather the required energy and made Asgar use the spell. But now, all that energy was used up completely, and Asgar was left a shell of his former self.
And the Shadow Wraith also took the energy from Valnar and Alaine, too.
Good catch. It had those, as well... and all that energy was used to reshape the world.
Now the Shadow Wraith has left Asgar's body and is inside Jayna. Did the Shadow Wraith use up Asgar's power completely?
Yes. As already mentioned, a Shadow Wraith needs energy to cast spells. And it can draw it from its victim, among other things.
So, because Asgar's powers were exhausted, the Shadow Wraith proceeded to find itself a new victim?
So it seems. And Jayna was apparently the most suited host at the moment.
Brrr, those Shadow Wraiths are like parasites. But what's going to happen to Valnar and Alaine? Can Asgar turn them back to normal?
Not without his power that he lost. But you'll see... at any rate, the following happened in Asgar's castle afterwards...



♪ BGM: Asgar's Castle - blood009.mid ♫



About time, Gorgoth...
Stop it with your comments, Ghadar!
...
Nice body. It fits you!
Thanks. It's decently useful. But you seem to be obsessed with young girls' bodies.
She's a vampire, good enough for me. Did you find one of the castles?
Damn it, Ghadar! I've just returned to the quasi-living, and you're asking me if I found the castles?
Yes or no?
I guess you'll never change. As always. You have to play the leader.
Well, nothing goes without me. You wanted to have the stone tablet all to yourself.
I am aware of the fact that we can only activate the stone tablet together... so spare me the lectures. But it seems you were able to free yourself from our prison.
As you can see, yes. Some fool cast the correct spell that caused me to break free from the book. The vivification of a blood spirit. HARHARHAR.

This is a bit of an odd line, since the weird effects Strife was experiencing while casting spells started when he cast a different spell. Well, I guess this isn't the first time some details have gotten mixed up.

But that's not important now. What is important is the fact that I managed to bring back all the castles, and with them the stone tablet pieces. Unfortunately, the spell also caused the Clan of Holy Warriors to reappear.
I HATE those vermin.
Yes, that fanatical pile of misery. But they won't be able to hold their castles for long. And the way I see it, you were already able to capture the first castle. Did you already get the stone tablet piece?
No, I haven't found the secret entrance yet. But no matter. We'll find it eventually. But for now, I'm in the mood to KILL the vermin!
With pleasure. The castle I found is east from here.
Good, but while we're away and attack with the other Elras, someone has to protect this castle!
Nothing easier than that. We'll leave a few Elras here. Also, I have HIM. Ronak, come here!



What is that thing?
I found him near some traveling circus some time ago. he's a loyal servant, if a little dumb at times.
Master, I'll do whatever you command!
And you think he's capable of protecting this castle?
I'm sure of it, don't you agree, Ronak?
Yes, Master! Here, I already...
Shut up! Do you think I care about that? You are supposed to answer my questions with nothing but yes or no! Or do I have to beat you again for you to understand this?
No, please no beating, Master! I obey!
As you can see, Ghadar, he is loyal and obeys every word. He'll keep this place in order.
All right. I doubt anyone is going to attack this place anyway. So far, no one knows of our existence here.
Then let's start a nice little surprise attack!
Very well, I will get some Elras for assistance, and you show your slave here what to do in case it comes to an attack.

And that's it for that scene, as we fade to black.



♪ BGM: Castle Zharas - hall2.mid ♫

"You might get a clear head that way", he said. Maybe he's right. If only I could remember. Maybe if I go to the place where they found me, I might be able to remember everything. I have to try... hmmm, the air is lovely. You can tell evening is falling.



We head out to an area south of the castle.





tremor. ...I was on a ship... on my way home... Thyrik... I had a few days off. I wanted to go to Thyrik. That's how it must have been!

So here, we're just walking down a linear path with Nyria trying to remember things.



But I was on a ship! ...Tranak... I was supposed to bring a load of weapons from Lombar to Tranak Castle. That's how it was! A load of weapons for the soldiers. But where are my companions? Where are the sailors? That tremor... stormy waves... waves getting higher and higher...



The ship turned over! We all fell into the water! The light drew closer! The deep red sky! Full of shooting stars! ...the light... did I die? Was it the light of the afterlife? I must have washed ashore. Washed ashore here. How did I manage to do that? Should I be thankful to be alive? No, I am STRONG! I managed to escape death because of my own strength. Didn't I!?



♪ BGM: Silence ♫

We hear sounds of some sort of spell being cast or something like that.

Hey, what was that?
Ah, all this teleporting sure is handy!
Someone's coming over there! It's a bunch of dark characters! Hm, should I go hide? No, I am STRONG. I am NYRIA! I don't need to be afraid of anything or anybody!

This might turn out to be a bit of a misjudgement.

♪ BGM: Megalomania - Laughter2.mid ♫



What do you want here?
HARHARHAR! Enjoy ourselves!



Oooh, nasty.

What a WEAK woman! Pathetic. And they call themselves warriors. Ghadar will miss out on everything if he doesn't show up soon. Well then, let's wipe out the rest!



And off they go.

All right then, after all the beating I gave him, Ronak should have understood now what to do! But because of him, I'm late for all the slaughtering! Damn it, I better hurry. I also want to tear off some heads!



piece of cake. Truly a pitiful scene. Bleeding to death before a tree...

We hear some screams.

Damn... I really need to hurry!

And Jayna heads off to join in on the fun as we hear the sounds of a whole bunch of people probably dying horribly.

...I... am... strong...



Well, she's got moxie, anyway. Probably too much for her own safety, but hey, it's something. So now we head back to the castle the same way we came while being serenaded with the sounds of screaming and explosions.



That doesn't sound like things went well.



That doesn't look like things went well.





Nyria can just take in the carnage.



We head upstairs...



...but things aren't looking much better here either.







Asmos seems to be in quite a pickle himself, standing off against Jayna and the Elras with... the cook.

I... hear... someone...



What a miserable sight. The CHEF survived longer than the rest of the warriors!
Please spare me!
Hehe... definitely not, you shrimp!





Noooooo, not the chef! He was my favorite character!

(That voice... ...Jayna?)
Damned woman! Go away with your wretched Elras mages!
Isn't he adorable? Go away, he says! HARHARHAR!

Jayna busts out her evil laugh again. I guess I should show you what that sounds like, too. As a reminder, this is Asgar's evil laugh, which got lots of mileage in VD1, and has made some appearances in this game as well. And this is Jayna's evil laugh. I like it.

You might kill me, but I will get avenged! We are more than you think!
Your embarrassing clan will get wiped out by us completely!
Never! We will protect the stone tablet from you!
You don't see your defeat even when it's right in front of you! The Elras will get back that which belongs to them!
The Clan of Holy Warriors will never lose!
Oh, does that mean you win this time, too?
You can spare me your mockery, wretched woman! The Elras will never get back all the stone fragments! We will protect the world from you and your madness!
(What is Jayna... talking about?)
Say your last pathetic prayers, warrior!
(Asmos... NO!)



ASMOS, RUN!
NYRIA!



I need to get away now!



And Nyria makes a daring escape by jumping off the castle roof.



Jayna is not very happy about it.



We start running away the same way we went earlier...



...but we're being pursued.



Thankfully, we get a free save here, because it's quite easy to fuck this part up, as you might see later. We try to bail by running to the south, but...



...not exactly sure why this happens, since the "left or right" is like, right there.



We just have to go here instead of where we were before.



And thus, it's time for an overworld chase sequence. The music track that has been playing all this time actually speeds up to 110% speed now, which is a strange bit of attention to detail of which I'm not sure why it exists.



I head up to the west, across the bridge. That was the wrong decision - there's nothing for me this way. In fact, there is only one way to go here, and there's nothing telling you where that is. I guess it's kind of OK, since you get a free save right before this bit and thus failure doesn't set you too far back, but it's still strange.



So I keep running, aaaand I'm stuck. Now I need to maneuver past the Elras, and given the speed they're moving at and the amount of wiggle room I'm given, I don't think that's a plan with a high chance of success.



Yep.



Arrrrrrrgh...



♪ BGM: Game Over - VDGO.mid ♫

Welp. Let's try that again.



♪ BGM: Megalomania - Laughter2.mid ♫

This time, I use my magical powers to know that I have to go this way, down to the southwest.



A cave or something would be a better hiding place!

We can't hide in villages, which does reduce the number of places to go somewhat.



By heading further west, we find a cave we can head into!



♪ BGM: The Cave You Think It Is - horror46.mid ♫

That was close!
Uhhhh... but my head didn't take the escape all too well... I have to... find healing quickly! And I hope Asmos... is all right.

And thus, we seem to have evaded our Elras pursuers for now. Next time, we'll explore this cave that is totally, completely new to us.