Part 20: The City of Xiatian

Update 19 - The City of Xiatian





Last night went... OK, until Miriam took issue with people assuming she was hostile and wanted to steal souls. She's pretty justified since she's incredibly grumpy and hasn't burned this entire camp to the ground, yet.

With the dawn of a new day, it's time we head out and make our way to the capital once more. We'll say our goodbyes to the people we've met, then head out.




Secret messages... witches coming through here... You know how suspicious this all looks? Don't make us traitors to Rulle by housing you... we have enough problems as it is.


Good morning and goodbye to you too, Ping. His mother has nothing to say, so we'll head over to Phil next.




Sorry if stuff got a little... heavy... last night. I want here to be as loving as it can be. We got enough bad goin' on outside. Tell the King we said hey. And... if you find anyone who came outta here, tell them we're okay too, yeah?

Do you like our rainbow trees, wayfarer? We brought 'em here from Xiatian... if you go there, you'll see tons more. They're a reminder for us to take care of nature. We might be choppin' trees to build our homes... but we always plant more where they come from. We gotta work together with the forest... just like with our qin. That's somethin that means a lot to us in Rulle.


I still don't understand how the stoner hippie managed to become leader of the group, but hey he didn't let a bird kill us so he's okay in my book!


Must be nice to be able to fly - just come and go, while we're stuck. Witches got it all. If you're seein' the king, least you could do is remind him about us. Since we treated you so nice and all.


We'll try and let someone know at least, Jordan. Ok! That's it for the lumbertown crew. Miriam is waiting for us by the exit, so let's head out!




I'm so done with this place. Let's get out of here. I'm flying.





MUSIC: The Journey East





Ahh, back to the map screen and also some music for the first time in forever. The silence definitely added to the tension felt in the camp but, it got a bit old.







We've made it through the forest, and there's now nothing stopping us from heading straight to the capital! With Miriam flying again, there's nothing on the ground that can prevent us from going anywhere. _{So long as it is on the path laid out.}







We've arrived! Phew, finally! The city itself doesn't seem that impressive from the outside, but it is quite big on the inside!






MUSIC: Silence









Uhhhh... what the hell is that!?





And... the Rainbow Girl? Well, good. Maybe she can at least tell us what happened here.



MUSIC: Mysterious Rainbow Girl


Oh hey! Lil b!!!

Who's this.

Oh y'know, just an old buddy.


An old buddy who lied to us, but then motivated us to get out of bed and save the world again, while helping its destruction along. You know, one of those types of buddies.


She's in cahoots with the hero!

Cahoots, huh?

Lil b... I'm in cahoots with EVERYONE! You're all my special lil buds, I don't pick favorites.

...

I don't like her...

What happened here?

A big fight!!! Between Audrey and some monsters I mean, me and Audrey are still cool haha. It was craaaaazyy! The monsters were all like blah blah blah rahhh!!! And Audrey was all like... schwing! zap! ka-pow!!!

...

...


...


She's just so cool! She saved this city big time! I think now they're celebrating with her.

Oh, great so she's here...

Now you all get to hang out more!


Still a hard pass! She's done more heroic things, but I have a strict "Do not hang out with people who tried to electrocute me" policy. Granted, I've never had to worry about this policy before we met Audrey...


I don't think I want to see her...

She sucks!

...

She's really not that bad! Once you get to know her at least, but ok I'm out. I was just zoning out here, didn't expect to see ya. Um but hey good luck! On the whole Earthsong thing!




I still don't know her angle, other then not to trust her. At least we got an explanation for these bodies and a warning of... what to expect in the city.





Huh, the city walls have been torn down. The monsters may have actually done some real damage if Audrey wasn't here. At least she is actually being a hero, rather than just abusing the title.






MUSIC: Xiatian





Upon entering the city, we can hear loud crowd noises nearby. We should investigate this...





...Oh. Investigation over.





The crowd is too thick to let us get through and talk to Audrey or to get behind her and check on the higher levels. We have to go around her.




She definitely did. But she's being too cool to notice... Pfft. Joke's on her. While she's busy getting fawned on... We can go straight to the King... deliver your silly message, and then get a head start on the REAL quest. End of the world? Overseer song? Remember? Sounds like a plan?


Hell yeah it does! Finally! The chance to be a step ahead of her... we can't keep letting her kill Overseers before we even get the chance to talk to them. Since we can't go the way behind her, we'll have to keep heading this way and hope to find a path to the palace.





Oh, would you look at that! Another path to the palace! While Xiatian is a big city that we need to explore... it's better to wait until we see the King first.











Heh heh heh... sneak around the crowd and easily make our way to the palace.









It's Mask! What are you doing here dude?


Oh hey now, wanderer.

You again! What are you doing here?

Me? I'm catching some sun... Sun's good for you, wanderer. It's so warm... just feels right, y'know? I found a great place to catch the sun... a high up spot in the desert, far from here... if you find it, well, I better not say. It's for you to discover.


This is a hint as to where Mask is hiding the next dance. We can't find the dance until a little bit later. But we'll certainly find it!


There are a million billion billion suns like ours. But ours is special to us, cause it gave us life. And it gives more every day. Just gives and gives and gives... we're so lucky to have that. We humans aren't like the sun, sometimes we give, and sometimes we have to take, too. When we feel lost, or sad... I think the sun's there to remind us that it ain't all bad. And it is always there, reminding us. Even when we can't see it behind the clouds.


Mask is actually very much right about the sun giving life. If you're ever feeling down, just getting out in the sun can make you feel a bit better. Anyway, let's continue up the path.









I think we made it! Now to just talk to that guard there, and speak with the King!


Hello.

Uh... hello. We're here to meet the King or whatever. Can you... go get him... or something?





In case you haven't noticed, we are at war! It's my sole duty to protect the King from harm... so we are not allowing anyone in or out at this time. Especially not any witches...

What, that's ridiculous! Nobody?? What about you? You don't go in or out?

Obviously we make some exceptions. We've invited the Hero for a special visit... but unless you are of her caliber... NO WAY, sister!



SFX: Miriam Angry


aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrghhhh!!!

Her... of course it's her...

However, you can feel free to enjoy the exquisite castle garden.



SFX: Miriam Angry


OH SURE!!! I'm gonna just RAVISH your stupid garden!!! Can't get enough!!! Maybe I'll eat all your stupid trees and flowers!!!

Miria-

BECAUSE THEY ARE SO EXQUISITE!!!

...

...

We should go, Miriam!

Yeah sure.


Well that went...poorly to say the least. The only way it could get worse was if we got locked up in prison. Well... now's our chance to explore Xiatian I guess...



MUSIC: Miriam




I can't believe this...

What do we do now?

UM. Well, we could forget about your ghost message.

Nooo! We can't do that! It could end the war, Miriam! We can't quit yet!

Well... then we can talk to your good buddy, The Hero!

NOOO!! Definitely not that either!!!

Those are the choices!


These choices stink! Where's our plan C to just sing the guard a lullaby and then talk to the King after that?


I think we should focus on finding the Overseer song, but you do you!


After that conversation, the town has now fully freed up! We can now head anywhere and talk to anyone located in the city. We'll head to the entrance and make our way through to make sure things aren't confusing.







First up is this little kid with the squirrel qin.


DID YOU SEE THE HERO??? She was here earlier! She's so cool! I think she went to the lodge... SO SHE'S STAYING HERE!!! I want to meet her so bad!


Thanks to Juan, we already know where the hero is. But why should that stop us from bugging everyone in town?


It was so scary when the Chaandesh monsters came... but then the Hero just killed those bad guys! I can't believe she's real! And she's here in town, at the Lodge... Do you think she can really shoot lightning? I heard she has a magical dash move too! AND a cool sword!


This kid really loves the hero... Though I guess saving the town from monsters does have that effect on small children.





This guy with a bowl cut is our next victim conversation companion.


Don't interrupt me right now!!! I'm... thinking...


Whatcha thinking about Hidemaru?


My girlfriend said something very strange to me earlier, and I just can't figure out what she meant. Did I do something wrong? Is she going to dump me? I can't figure it out... I wish I could talk to my qin about this... I think she understands girls much better than I do.


She just wanted you to take out the trash dude. No need to analyze that statement.





Past Hidemaru, is this bald elderly man with a fox...type qin. Why does this fox have antlers?


The Chaandesh are crazy! Take it from me, youngster. I was married to one! They learn all kinds of wacko magic over there... DON'T trust 'em!!! I used to have a full head of hair! But my Chaandesh wife took it all away from me when she left... with her magic!!! That's the kind of wackos they are, youngster. They'll use spells for any old petty thing!


...Are you seriously saying the Chaandesh are all crazy because your ex-wife may have cast a spell on you that made you bald? Or maybe you got old? Is that not a posibility here?


You ask me, this war's gone on for too, too many years... we shoulda crushed those witches by now! It's an awful thing, war. But someone's gotta fight the evil out there!


I like that Shiro starts off with "This war has gone on for too long..." and finishes it with "Because we should have killed them all in a week!" It's a nice swerve from making you think he's an ok person when no, no he's not.





The last person on the ground floor is this lady with a bandana.


I'm grateful to be alive here... I came from Lumber Town in the forest...

Oh! I was there!!

Really? It's still there? I've been worried for them... especially with monsters reaching the gate here. I thought...

...

Well, good that they're OK. They're alright?

Yes! Basically... there's still lots of monsters there. I was with a friend who could fly, so we got out. But we couldn't bring anyone...

I see. We've been trying to petition the King to send help, but... it hasn't been fruitful. The Hero led a big band of us here from the town. It was... very heroic! It's nice, you know... having a Hero to come help you in a situation like that. I could get used to that.

...

If only our King was so compassionate.


At least we could help put Jiang's mind at ease about Lumber Town. Though she also rubbed the Hero's... heroness in Bard's face.





Heading up to the second level and we find an apothecary shop and someone standing outside of it. Let's talk to the person standing outside first.


You're not from around here, are you? I hate to say it, but... your clothes are... disgusting...


Hey! Bard's clothes are really cool! And they make him look just like a real bard!!


When's the last time you washed them? Where on Earth have you been wearing that?


... Ok Lin, you uh... have a point actually. Bard probably smells really bad.


My buddy Bo is in the military, it's a pretty raw deal. My dad has a lot of money, so I'm lucky... I don't have to enlist or anything. I hope Bo can get out of it, somehow. It's kinda hard being young these days. You can make plans about what kind of job you wanna have... but once you get to a certain age, you might just get put into the war. Then all those plans go out the window. Not really hopeful. I mean, I'm lucky, but...


For a rich kid, Lin seems pretty down to earth. Hopefully they don't get sent off to die as well.







Inside the apothecary is a solitary dude behind the counter. We'll speak to him long enough for him to find out we have no money.


Hello... are you interested in any potions...? I made them all myself... The science behind it is very interesting... I source all of my ingredients from nature... and I apply knowledge from chemistry to make new concoctions... My potions are high quality... they produce consistent results... You should buy some...

That sounds fun! I don't have any money, though.

Oh...


It took Saj a bit longer than other salespeople to figure that out. Bard's willingness to give away that Mermaid Tear is still causing us problems.





Back outside of the potion shop and heading past Lin, we find a woman soldier and a little girl on the higher level.


Good day, citizen! Everything in order? Seen anything or anyone suspicious in the city? Don't hesitate to come to me if so... even if it's someone you know, okay? The military's here to keep us all safe.


Best way to keep people safe: not induce paranoia in literally everyone who passes by.


Everyone's excited about the Hero in town, aren't they? Even if she wasn't here, we could have stopped those monsters. I just want to make sure you know that. Xiatian is the safest place in the world, but we appreciate her help, of course. Us soldiers are all huge fans of the Hero too. We're interested in working with her to keep the city safe... I haven't gotten to meet her yet... but I really would like to.


That's it for Tiamo the cop, let's talk to the little girl with the dog-bear.


I like the Hero! She's so cool... she's like the coolest, strongest girl in the whole world... Wow... and I hear she's staying in Xiatian, at the lodge... like a normal person... so humble!


Did you hear that the Hero is staying here in Xiatian at the Lodge!?

I guess the developers wanted to make sure that you could talk to multiple people to find out where the Hero is at, but if you aren't talking to everyone, you're not playing the game correctly





We're going to head back over here to check out the east side of Xiatian. Heading up just takes us back to the palace.







As has become our tradition, we'll start with the guy on the left, then talk to the woman in the wheelchair.


My friend's a communist. He holds meetings... but I can't afford to go to those. I don't have diddly squat, but it's not about having what you want... it's wanting what you got.


...Tyrone what are you talking about? Also, I'm sure Peter would be more than willing to work with you. He seemed to be very enthusiastic about the coming revolution.


I'm gonna soak up the sun, and remind everyone to lighten up... 'Cause when you feel down, you really got noone to blame but yourself. Maybe I'm not the King of Rulle, but I'm the King of me... you don't need cash to be happy. Cause, hey. The sun's free.


You're like the pessimistic version of Mask, Tyrone. Even right down to your praise of the sun, but blaming people for being upset instead.


I'm so grateful for my qin, Yoshi. He's a trusty friend... and he keeps my lap nice and cozy, too. I always keep Yoshi very close to me... I feel so relaxed with him around. Once, when I was a kid, I was seperated from my parents... I was so scared, but Yoshi made me feel okay... He started howling until my parents found us. He's a smart little boy.


Awww, I'm always down for more conversations about good boys.


Getting in and out of Rulle has gotten challenging as the war escalated. Are you from outside Rulle? How did you get in? I bet you had to bust your way through the border wall, didn't you?



Ahahahaha! The look on your face! I'm only joking, you know...


...Yeah! So were we! Ha ha ha! _{Quick run away Bard}





Ah there's a little girl... with a spiked lizard qin?

Heh! Be careful, chump. Me and my qin are the strongest in Xiatian!!!

Oh my gosh! You make your animal friend FIGHT???



Um... not really. It's just a game we play with the other kids.


This game is obviously called Qinemon, right?


So the Hero's in town... they say she's pretty tough. But she doesn't even have her own qin. I was going to find her in the lodge later... And challenge her to a duel!!!

...

My mom won't let me though...


Probably because that would go poorly... we know from experience.


There was this really cool show that came through town... about a hero and his qin partner! They would fight evil sorcerer bad guys together, and they were like, telepathic, and super in sync. And really really strong!

...

I wanna be like that!!! Me and my qin are training up! We could compete on our school sports team this year. I wanna go all the way to nationals!!!


How many more cities are there for there to be a nationals competition? I mean, with the war on and now monsters everywhere...

Anyway, there's an elderly woman with a big ol smile that needs chatting with.


Ha! Look how cute my qin is! Ain't he the greatest? We been togetehr all my life now, y'know. If ya can't tell... that's a heckin' long time! HA heh heh heh! It's enough to make an old gal a bit teary eyed...


Anabel does look like she's been around a while, but she's at least got a smile about it! Shiro's going around and blaming witches for him being bald.


Ya get to my age, s'hard not to reminisce 'bout the old days! The war's been goin' forever, but... feels like it wasn't so bad back then. Then again, feels like EVERYTHIN was better back then! Ha! It don't look like you got a qin of your own. But let me tell ya, it's a special thing! A companion that's been there long as you can remember, that don't ever leave your side... S'better than family! Better'n my family, anyways.


Wait... qin can live as long as their human partners? How? Not that I'm complaining, I'd be down with my dog staying around forever.





Past Anabel we find this vendor dressed in a... fox outfit? Let's... talk... to them??




Welcome to my humble caravan! I hope you'll buy something... I have all kinds of plants and bugs I scavenged in the wilderness!

Oh! I don't have any money...

Oh... me neither... Nobody wants to do business with a panda, rururu...

Are you really a panda?

CHEE!!! Yes! I've travelled all over the world with my caravan! But people here don't trust a talking red panda... they say they love animals... but they don't love me...

I think you're neat!

Rururu! Thank you kindly! Truthfully, times are tough now... I had to sell my horse here for money... but I yearn for the open road again, rururu... Have you ever lived in the wilderness? Rururururu! There's nothing better for me! The smell of trees... the sound of rain on the roof of my caravan... but to be honest, I've grown to love human food... I guess that's partly why I started needing money, chee...


Bard truly is too pure for this world. Ephias is a... well, eccentric character.


Crossing the desert to get here was very tough! It was hot in all my fur... and I almost ran out of food! Chee! There's not much to scavenge in the desert... but I'd heard of a beautiful city on the other side! With my spirit of adventure, I couldn't say no!

...

But now I'm trapped here... It's not easy... but no matter what, I always keep a smile on! Things will turn around! Ruru!


At least he's got a positive attitude about things! That's always good to see.





Here at the edge of the marketplace, we've got one last vendor to speak with.


People in this city treat foreigners like a disease. It's cruel, I hate it. I came a long way to be safe from the war. But here I'm an outsider... and with monsters attacking us now, I guess it's not safe either. I can't believe Chaandesh would really send giants... they're way bigger than the little guys in the forests. But hey, this whole conflict is crazy. I think we all want it to be over.


Some want it to be over so the violence stops... some want it to be over by inflicting more violence. Guess which camp the leadership belongs to?


I'm sick of this hot weather. Terrible for my skin too.

...

You can buy something if you want, by the way. But you don't seem like a jewelry type.


We're also not the "Money-having" type Saher. Thanks for the conversations though!







If we head to the upper level, but head towards the right. We can find even more people to talk to! Why yes this update is literally nothing but talking to people.


I don't know why, but I feel worried almost all the time... even when nothing bad is happening... I wish I could just turn it off. Maybe it's the war... maybe not...


Sounds like you've got some bad anxiety issues Yuna.


The Chaandesh really scare me. I know they all use magic and stuff... I don't want people like that as an enemy. Did you see the giant monsters they sent here? Someone told me they ate anything and everything. Plants, rocks, animals, walls, houses... People... Even when I forget about the war... I still feel terrible... Like something bad is coming... and big... Sometimes the feeling is especially bad. And the only thing that shakes me out of it... is talking to my mom. She's the best.


Why does everyone in this town love their ellipses? No sentence can just... end. It has to end all cryptically, or with some added silence.





This looks like a happy young man, who would just love to engage in some conversation!


Hey. I'm sittin' here. You want something?


Yeah, how's it going Steve? You have dialogue, and that's what we're here for.


Everyone's so uppity about this hero gal. Not me, don't give a crap. As soon as somebody's that popular... I get kinda suspicious, ya know? Nobody's that good. She's a giant phony, has to be. If she was a real hero, maybe she'd end this stupid war. It just goes on and on and on... and on and on and on... Who has time for this crap?


I like you Steve. You seem to have a good head on your shoulders, and also agree with me 100%. This compliment may be related to your agreement with me, yes.


I'm just gonna enjoy my spot.


Alright, enjoy dude!





The last person to talk to in this part of town is Bo! You may remember the name Bo from our conversation with Lin.


Those are some funny clothes... You aren't Chaandesh... are you? Sorry, I'm military, so I'm supposed to ask. I don't really care.


Bo, you are much better than Tiamo. She's literally encouraging people to snoop on neighbors.


The war with Chaandesh has been going my entire life. I really don't care about it... as long as we don't die, I guess. The military's a bit of a drag, but you get benefits for it. And staying in the city is easy. Nothing ever reaches here. Well, except those giant monsters... but then the Hero just took care of it herself, so... Whatever

The scary thought is... since monsters did make it to here, are they gonna make it here again? And what if the Hero's not here that time... It's a lot to worry about... When it gets to be that much, I'd rather just not think about it...


Good luck with those thoughts Bo! We, meanwhile, need to move on to one more destination.









We're back at the palace gardens. We can get there from the top level of either the west or east sides of town. When we were trying to get into the palace, we took the western path up. It didn't matter which one we took because the entire town was going gaga for the Hero. But this time, we want to take the eastern path up because...





The palace gardener, Lapti, is here!


Hoody-hoo! Do you like the garden? My qin and I put our hearts into raising these plants for the castle. They're like our little babies... you can almost hear them singing in the sun.


Yeah the garden looks pretty nice. I've kinda gotten used to it, but the colors here are still stupendous. It's going to be hard to go back to a game with ultra realism brown and grey colors.


The most amazing thing happened to me the other day. I have this table at home, but it has a strange shape... it left a bothersome gap to the wall no matter how I angled it. But I found a stray piece of wood here... and it perfectly covered the gap my table makes! That's destiny. Sometimes life can be so good to you.


If that's destiny, then destiny was surely incredibly bored to be worried about your table gap over things like the world ending.


Tending a garden in an arid region can be quite challenging. Most people who visit don't consider how much work it takes. But it's so rewarding, too. The pretty colors bring light to everyone's day... and they honor our great King, too. May his wisdom keep us safe from the war...


Pretty sure his wise royal majesty is what's keeping the war going.

OK! There's only one more place to check out in Xiatian before calling our exploration complete.













This house on the outskirts of town is the last part of Xiatian that we can explore. We can't interact with it, so it's pointless to us for now. But we want to keep heading towards the right anyway...





Because we want to leave the city this way, it's the only way to unlock a secret.



MUSIC: The Journey East





You may have noticed those butterflies flapping about on the map and in the city of Xiatian. Well, now I can talk about them. If you go up to a butterfly and sing a note it will follow you! But if you stop singing, it poofs back to where it was hanging out. We need to collect 5 butterflies for them to do something... special. This one here is the first one.





The second one is on the other side of the gate. In order to collect it as well, we have to change our note that we are holding to any other note. I'm not sure why they don't like you using the same note, but the butterflies work in mysterious ways.









And here are the other three. It's a linear path that we have to navigate through, so you should find them all eventually. The trickiest was the one we got first, because you can't access it unless you leave the city through that exit.

Now that we have all five butterflies, it's time to make our way towards the secret location... Can you guess where it is?





If you said here, you'd be correct.









The butterflies remove whatever was blocking us from continuing on, and so we head into this mysterious new location.





Hmm, this location is super super bright. It seems like you'd come here if you really wanted to soak in some sun...







Sure enough, here's Mask!


Hey now, wanderer. You did good, finding me here... we've dug deep into DANCE together now. And with each layer deeper we go... we learn about ourselves, too. Cause DANCE comes from deep inside us... and when we let it out, we're letting our deeper selves out too. So what do you say, wanderer? Let's let out a new one.



VIDEO: Fifth Dance




Beautiful dance, wanderer. Carry it with you on your journey. Show the world the dance that lives inside you...




...

...

...Next time! We go talk to the Hero... in the lodge.