Part 19: Tropical Despair

So, last time we found a clue regarding... something or other regarding Abraxas. I mean, he circled something on a map. That could be anything! But since we don't have any other clues, we might as well check this island here to the very southwest of the world out.



Nice atmosphere here!
Sadly, I can not agree with that... we should look for Abraxas...
He must have been looking for something here, or maybe he's even still here!

Or maybe this is just where he plans to build his vacation home.

Well, if you want to leave, Valnar, just turn into a bat and we'll leave. But of course we should have looked over the entire island first!



So, this island is pretty big, but nothing too interesting. There's a treasure chest or two strewn about, but nothing fancy.





The enemies around here, "poison flies" and "bush crawlers", aren't that spectacular either, they go down with two spells most of the time.



This is one of the very rare times I actually use the wolf transformation, and it's only because I can't use the bat transformation, since that one automatically makes me leave the map.



Over on the small island on the side, we find a hole! And when we enter it...



Something happened here!
There's blood over there! And it smells like corpses down here...
But it doesn't smell like normal blood. It smells like VAMPIRE blood!
Abraxas is or was here!

You know, that line doesn't sound nearly as punchy as "Abraxas was here!". Something about hedging your bets in declarative statements during a tense situation doesn't quite work. "Abraxas has been present here at some point in time and in fact may or may not still be present!"

Anyway, we follow the trail of blood...



...strewn-about body parts...



...and decapitated bodies until...



...we find one that's still kicking!

He's still alive! More or less, anyway!
We... ugh... no time... he's... coming back...

Digging those MS Paint wounds, by the way.

Who's coming back?
He... he... the... vampire killer...

Simon Belmont?

Abraxas!

Oh, right.

He came... and... killed everybody... in... credible... never... cough... in my life... cough, cough... have I seen... anything like it...
Were you all vampires?
We were... four... but we... cough, cough... didn't stand a chance... not even... all at once...
Hm, that should be pretty much impossible... he must be stronger than I thought!
But why did he run away from us then?
Maybe he didn't actually run away...
He... he said... he would leave me here... to... to show his power...

Fucking showoff. For somebody whose job it is to kill vampires, he's kind of sloppy when it comes to actually killing them. Well, I say that, but we'll find that he's actually really efficient later.

You... are vampires! You need to... cough, cough... go to the... Children of the Apocalypse...
The Children of the Apocalypse? Who's that?
They're... hiding... cough... in Asdion, the... mountain city... go to... their leader... and... cough, cough... tell him, that the vampires... are being systematically... destroyed... he'll do something...
Hm, what could they possibly do?
Hide... you... you're almost... the last... vampires... we can't... die out!
The last?
Leave now... but first... cough, cough... kill me... I cannot... bear the... dishonor... cough, cough... of having failed...
First you say that the vampires can't die out, and now we're supposed to kill you?
I... have failed... like all the others...
Wrong. We won't fail... though I couldn't care less about your problems, Abraxas has managed to make himself a personal problem of mine!
Kill... me!
Um... 1) ...never, you will live! 2) ...you wanted it this way...

Nah, fuck you, I agree with Valnar. You can't just tell me that you want vampires to not die out and then demand we kill you. That shit don't make sense. You're facing a literal extinction scenario and you're still obsessed with honor, get a fucking grip. Of course, when we decline...

You're just too weak, Valnar!



Now, let's head to Asdion...

Can do! We've already seen that suspicious "K A" symbol there, so let's head there.



Why hello there. Fancy seeing you here!



Who are you?
Cult Member: Don't ask any questions. I can feel that you are vampires...
Somebody in a vampire hideout said that we should look for the "Children of the Apocalypse" here. I assume the K and A stand for that...

Of course, "K A" stands for "Kinder der Apokalypse".

Cult Member: Please enter...





Welcome to the Children of the Apocalypse! They're kind of a murderous cult!



Cult Member: Welcome to the Children of the Apocalypse. You best talk to our leader if you have any questions.
Where can we find him?
Cult Member: His room is in the north-west of this complex.
Thanks.



Cult Member: Please don't disturb me, I'm currently sacrificing a human.
Hey, I like that!
Cult Member: Good for you. Now please don't disturb me any longer!



Yep, that sure is sacrificing alright.



Cult Member: Say, you wouldn't just happen to know where it would be worthwhile for us to open a new store?
Hm... I do, I've heard that there's a few vampires living in Shannar!
Cult Member: Shannar? Hm, maybe we really should open a store there. We'll send one of our guys there!



Cult Member: Hello, I can offer you many different potions with lots of fresh blood. Are you interested?
Um... 1) ...sure! 2) ...no, not right now.

Yeah, sure, why not.

Cult Member: Since you're not really a member of the cult, I can only offer you the following...



Well ain't that some shit.



Cult Member: They call me the supervisor. I give out tasks in our cult... are you interested in a task?
Um... 1) ...sure! 2) ...no, not right now.
Cult Member: Good, then I'll tell you what you can do for us first. It's a kind of test to show whether you have the skills to work for us or not. This test will test your searching skills. We've hidden a chest somewhere in the city. There's a rune inside this chest. Bring it to me...

So we're going to get a few sidequests from these guys too. These sidequests will raise our profile in the cult and will allow us to buy better items from the store we saw earlier.



Cult Leader: Ah... you have come... you are three of the last seven vampires in the world...
How do you know...
Cult Leader: It is not necessary that I explain. I'll just say this much: We're a sect that specializes in dealing with vampires. We trade with them and expand our power with the profits. In every city, we've built a secret store where vampires can trade with us.

Note that this contradicts what Asgar said early in the game, where both the cultists and vampires were customers of these stores. Here, the cultists own the stores and sell to vampires, which seems like a rough business.

Cult Leader: But apparently, there's someone destroying our business... a renegade vampire. And we know who he is, too.
His name is Abraxas, right?
Cult Leader: Correct... he seems to be on a crusade... against all vampires! You're almost the last. Do you see the statues behind me? I had them put here and then enchanted them to show the life force of the last twelve vampires in the world. Red means they're still alive. Blue means they were beheaded and are now blood ghosts... when vampires die out, so does our cult... we'll lose all our power... because no money, no power. No vampires, no money. Simple as that! As you can see, only seven of the twelve statues are red... so there are only seven vampires alive!

Actually, only six are red. I'll just say it right now - what he's saying is wrong, what it's showing is right. As of right now, there are six vampires in the world.



Cult Leader: Correction... six of the twelve statues are still red... he got another one.

Correction: FIVE of the twelve statues are still red. This is kind of a crucial number, Marlex.

A vampire said that you should hide us...
Cult Leader: I could do that... but what would be the point? If you're here, you're not buying anything... and you couldn't make any new vampires either... no, you have to do something! You have to make the race of vampires live again!
We will... we will destroy Abraxas.
Cult Leader: We've managed to find his main hideout. It's a massive tower!
A massive tower? We should have noticed that... but in our travels we've never found a massive tower!
Cult Leader: Of course, he went to great lengths to secure his tower. It's filled with magic traps. The tower itself was enchanted with a very powerful spell that makes it completely invisible! But you can see it with this!
"Obtained 1 Magic Eye!"

So what, I need to unfocus my eyes to see the tower?

Cult Leader: Now it's up to you to find and destroy Abraxas.
Where is the tower?
Cult Leader: On an island in the north. You'll find it! But watch out! The tower is well guarded, and I'm told it's got 16 floors. There are no windows and the walls have been magically sealed so that no magic can go through it.

This apparently does not mean that we can't use Refuge to quickly get out.

Cult Leader: There is also no way to get in through the roof. That tower is like a fortress! You need to make your way through the front entrance all the way to the top floor, where Abraxas will probably have hidden himself. Good luck. If you need blood or something like that, buy something here. We always give you a good price.

Alright, so that's our next main thing to do.



Cult Member: These are the corpses of our sacrifices...
You've already sacrificed THIS many people?
Cult Member: Well, not just people, but animals too. But it's really not few, yes.



Asgar? Are we the baddies?



Cult Member: The world out there is evil. That's why you should buy the best armor here!
Well, then show me what you're selling...

Shop's shit. NEXT!



Cult Member: None may pass! But you can donate 500 Filar to our cult, if you wish.
500 Filar? 1) Sure, why not? 2) No, I don't have enough money.

Nah, fuck off.

Cult Member: Well, you'll never rise up in our hierarchy like that.

This is the alternate method to rise up the ranks in the cult besides doing quests. Just shove a bunch of money down their throat and eventually you'll get the best offers in the blood shop there.



They've got an assorted set of corpses lining their jail cells, and one prisoner that seems to be quite alive! Of course, the door is locked. We'll have to work something out regarding that later. For now, we're off to deal with some unfinished business.



En route to there, we now see Abraxas's tower, but that will have to wait.



The votes have come in, and the thread has decided that all the men of Lombar should die. So time to do that and see what items they make for us!



Starting off strong with a full heal elixir.



But getting worse with a sun blocker coat that we don't need at all. Oh well, time to leave this place.



I still need to get rid of the witnesses!

Oh.

Right.

Turns out that it's impossible to not get "caught" when transforming people indoors and you need to kill everybody in order to be allowed to leave again. WHOOPS. To shortly explain how the panic system works: You can suck blood from somebody three times before they die, which is stored in a variable that's unique to each NPC. When that number hits 0, they die, and everybody "nearby" (read: people that have this case coded into their behavior) enters "panic mode", where they run around randomly and say something different than before. Then, if you don't kill everybody that's in this panic mode, you can't leave the area. This does not apply outdoors, as a rule. So basically, the voting was largely pointless, everybody's going to die!

But now, this means that I might as well show you the dialogue the people have when you kill other people. So what I'm going to do is show pictures of what I get when I transform the people, and attach the dialogue they would have had to the picture - if they have any special dialogue, some don't. But first, for the guy I just killed:

Man: You MURDERERS! MY WIFE! UAHHHHHHHH!

Next, the wife.



Woman: AHHHH! HELP!
She just can't understand that she's free now...

She actually turns into a vampire stone, which is probably the best item we'll get in this entire town.



Healing potion. Useless, really.



Flame potions. Useless, really.



Man: HEY, GOD DAMNIT! YOU KILLED THE BARTENDER! Now who's going to get me something to drink?
Oh, don't you worry. Where you're going, you won't be thirsty at all!

Painkillers. Fuck you.



Pub Owner: You... you... you really did it! You killed my ONLY guest! UAAAAAAAAAAH!
Don't worry. Where you're going, you won't need any money at all!

+1 to HP for one character. Blargh.



Another sun blocker coat. Bah.



Two save stones. OK, I guess?



One save stone and useless equipment.



Hang on a second! Here's somebody we're not killing! Must have missed this one on our first trip through town!

Young Woman: Whoa! You found me!
What are you doing here?
Young Woman: I'm hiding! I just can't stand this place anymore!
Why's that?
Young Woman: WHY? Haven't you noticed the way women get treated in this place?
Oh, right. Well, I can understand why you'd want to leave.
Young Woman: It's just that I have no idea where to go. I don't know any other cities...
How about Shannar? There, women have no problem living freely... (well, if they're alive, anyway!)
Young Woman: Shannar?
A city on a small island west of here. Hardly anybody lives there.
Young Woman: So the city's pretty much empty? Hm, then I'll probably not have any more problems with men!
I can highly recommend it... it's a very nice city. (At least if you don't notice the blood splatters... then again... those just made the city nice in the first place!)
Young Woman: That's a good idea. I'll go to Shannar! And when I'm there, I'll open a weapons store! I've always wanted to do that! See you there!

And there we go, that's every last bit of business in Lombar done. Well, apart from the obvious one currently in progress.



Also, I don't think I ever mentioned this before, but I found something interesting. Behind this tree...



...we have another secret shop! ...



Two vampire stones! Quite nifty.



This guy turns into an antidote thing. Blah.



Useless armor.



Man: HEEEEEELP! MURDERERS ARE IN MY HOUSE!
Die, you little slave driver!

An antique coin. I completely forgot about these - the thing with them is that you can sell them for little money at stores, sell them for more money at the old man in Asran, or turn them into 500 EXP at a machine on some small island somewhere. I never do this because 500 EXP is a drop into the bucket at this point.



Woman: AHHH! KILL ME! I'M WORTHLESS WITHOUT MY MAN!
Your wish is my command...

A red stone. Could actually turn this into an Attack boost that might actually be noticeable, but . I think I said this before, but I really hit that point of "I COULD do all these things to give me slight boosts, but really, it's the endgame, I don't give a shit anymore" some time around here. Well, technically not here, but what comes right after this (the pyramid and Abraxas's tower). You'll see when we get there. To some degree, I feel bad for not showing these things off, and to some degree, I don't really care because it really is just total side stuff. I mean, there's like twenty plus different locations that I haven't shown off, but they're all just flat squares or rectangles with some treasure chests and maybe a ghost. And what they have is useless to me at this point.



Man: MURDERER! MURDERER!

Useless weapon.



Woman: OH NO! MY POOR HUSBAND IS DEAD!
Don't worry, you'll be back together with him soon!

A brown stone, which is a Defense boost if I could be arsed.



+5 to BP for one. Alright, I guess.



And that's it! That's one entire city wiped off the map! I mean, it's not literally going to disappear off the map, but it's a total ghost town now. Does it feel good? Our Humanity's still sitting snug at 57, by the way... more than enough room to wipe one more group off the map, and I think I have a target in mind...

Next time, side quests. Also, dungeons, maybe. And if dungeons, then also me hating myself. Look forward to it!