Part 22: The Spell Squad
Update 21 - The Spell Squad
MUSIC: My Friend Miriam
What happened?
Oh, there you are. You sang your stupid message to the King. OH! Right! The message! The ghost was actually a princess from Chaandesh! Ahuh. And she wanted the war to end... Did it work? The message? ...
It completely did not work. The King was really insulted by it. He threw you in jail. And then, eventually, he taught the Hero the song... and I had to spy on them to learn it, and then I had to bust you out of jail... and it was pretty cool and heroic, and... ... Jeez. You were really passed out for all of that? Guess so! ... I'm sorry I caused so many problems... It's a good thing you were there to help me out. Again... That's fine. I'm getting used to saving your butt.
OH! Wait...! The King said they were invading in 3 days! Is that still gonna happen? What are we gonna do, Miriam? It's 2 days now. And, I don't know. It's not our problem. For now, we're going... to the Sky Temple. The nexus point, right on the border. We have everything we need to go meet the Overseer... and that's the priority. In fact... we're gonna get there... now.
I tend to like the somewhat fourth wall breaking joke some games will do when they describe a really cool setpiece and go "Jeez, don't you remember that?" It really only works for small budget indie titles that are already good, so... Wandersong. It can't be used too liberally though, and it is the only usage of it in the game. Besides, as awesome as that setpiece sounded, act 5 is already super long.
Feeling better? Yeah! Just kinda wobbly... Great. Well. Song time! ... I guess I'll play it on my piccolo... Since I'm the only one who knows it this time... Great! ...
Don't, uh... listen too closely, okay? ? I'm not some fancypants musician, okay?MUSIC: Fifth Overseer Song
...I don't think it worked.
SFX: Miriam Angry
GAAaaaaah!!! Probably because of my sucky playing. You try it! I thought you played very nicely!MUSIC: Mysterious Rainbow Girl
What do you want?
There was some kinda messup... that song isn't gonna work.
GAAHHH!!! Why can't I do anything right... Nonono! I mean... that's not the whole song. The King of Rulle only knew one part of it, the other part is in Chaandesh. You gotta talk to the Queen there. Oh. Does the hero know that...? We just figured it out.
She didn't want me to tell you, but I do what I want. I'm still rootin for you, lil b. And you too Miriam. You two are a super cute team!!! Thanks. Ok, I'm gonna skidaddle. Audrey prolly needs me. Love you two!
I hate her...
If the Overseer song requires two parts from two kingdoms... that has to imply the two nations used to be friendly terms at one point. Shame about the multi-generational war since then. We're done here at the Sky Temple, so it's time to head back out and this time... head west.
Guess so. We definitely don't wanna go back to Rulle. Sinec I busted you out of jail. We're basically fugitives now... Oh! Yeah. I told you. Rules... they gotta be broken.Heh, more like RULLES have to be broken!
MUSIC: The Border
Welcome back to the Map. We can't head to the east anymore, as we're now wanted for crimes against the King. Since the map is a linear path... we can only go to the west.
WELP! I guess our journey ended a bit sooner than expected!
Viv... We screwed up.
Yes I can plainly see that!!! What do we do? Are they okay? No, they look pretty dead! I don't wanna poke 'em...
It's alive! I'm alive! You're alive! My broom!!!
She's alive too! Oh thank Eya... Did you creeps shoot us down??? ...
We're really sorry!! We didn't know you were witches! You're not supposed to be on the border... We helped you land safely! What are you doing out here? None of your business!!! Flying!!! Viv, I think they're on a secret honeymoon!
Oh my gosh, they super are!!! We're really sorry we messed up your romantic flight!!!
What are YOU doing out here??? We're...MUSIC: We're the Spell Squad
We're hunting monsters out here...SFX: Roar
Uh oh. That must be it, Viv! Duty calls! Sorry again that we shot you down and stuff. we got a monster to deal with! Stay safe here!
My broom...Miriam is just gonna sit on the ground and mope for a bit, so we've got no choice but to follow the Spell Squad and see what kind of monster they're heading off to fight. And with no broom or understanding of where our surroundings are... it's probably best if we can get them to help us out.
Oh, it's these guys again.
VIDEO: Forest Fight
MUSIC: Fight the Forest
WHAT IN THE HELL IS THAT!? Those other monsters were cute, this thing is an abomination!
Oh crap!!! It's bigger than we thought! NO BIG DEAL!!! Remember our training!
We don't know how to fight that big thing, but we can handle those little guys. It may not be the safest thing, but let's run in and lend em a hand!
We've helped Vivian, now to hurry and save Sandra!
Well... I can sing... That's GREAT!!!
Help us with this thing! Are you gonna... kill it? What!!! Kill it? We're... not even sure it's... alive! And we gotta protect our forest from it!! If you're not gonna help... Then stay outta the way!!!
The monster was kind enough to let us have that conversation, but as soon as it's over he begins targeting us for an attack. This is our first true boss fight for Bard, and it's pretty simple, as can be expected. The monster will target Bard for about 5 seconds before attacking wherever Bard is standing at the end of that time period.
To avoid it, we move out of the way before it attacks that spot. There's definitely enough time to move, but it will attack the entire vertical area around it. So jumping to the higher platform, or falling to a lower platform won't avoid the attack.
After some time, Vivian will start to charge up an attack. This means two things for us. First, we need to keep the monster attacks away from her, or she won't be able to charge up. Secondly, we need to be next to her and help her charge up. That balancing move is what makes up the boss fight.
When we get close to her, we see a colored aura around her. We need to sing the color of her aura to help her attack charge up.
We got the first hit in! There are several more to go though, which requires us to wait until one of the girls charge up again.
This time, it's Sandra who's planning to attack.
Same as before, sing the color of her aura to charge up her attack.
At this point, it starts to fall into a pattern of avoiding the monster's attack while helping one of the girls charge up.
Miriam!? We're in the middle of a boss fight, can you lecture us some other time?
The heck are you doing here??? Um! Well... These witches said they needed help...SFX: Miriam Angry
Irresponsible!!! This thing is dangerous!!! I can't believe they let you jump in here... ... I guess there's no stopping it, so... I guess I'll help fight this thing. But only to save your butt!
We're back to the same pattern as before, but we've got Miriam joining us this time.
There's the punishment for getting hit by the monster. It's basically a slap on the wrist and just takes some time away. It somehow missed Sandra, which lets her keep charging her attack. If she had gotten hit, she would have stopped, repositioned and started charging again. Which just keeps you here longer.
The monster will also send out more of the little guys out to swarm the girls. I've sometimes not had this happen, so the monster's attacks are likely RNG. Either way, we just need to sing the color of the little guys to make them go away.
After that, it's back to the same pattern as before: Monster tries to attack, don't get hit, one of the ladies charges an attack, assist her! Nothing really complicated.
Here's Miriam charging up an attack for completion's sake.
It takes five total attacks to take the monster down. There's nothing that would really challenge you, but it doesn't stay around too long to get boring. Plus, the animations on the Spell Squad and Miriam are cool to see.
MUSIC: We're the Spell Squad
SFX: Miriam Angry
These stupid witches nearly got us killed! Twice now! What's the deal, huh? What was that thing?? We don't know, boss! They started appearing recently... You mean... they aren't yours? Ours? What do you mean? Um. I thought the monsters were... Uh... like... a witchy thing...? WHAT? No way, boss! They're a total mystery to us! All we know is... they showed up around when the princess disappeared... Oh... the princess... Yeah, the princess! And the weird thing is... they grow out of the... ground? And they don't seem to have a mind of their own...
Don't forget!! Civilians aren't supposed to know all this stuff!!!
Sorry! Military secrets, I guess.Wow, nice OPSEC Vivian! I bet you're so clumsy, you'll also tell us the easiest way to get into the castle and talk to the queen... right?
But since you helped us take that thing down... we can trust you to keep all this between us, hey? Where did you say you were headed to, anyways? We're going to the capital... I guess... Oh! You mean Mohabumi? That's easy!! We can help you get there no problem! Want us to give you a lift? No. You busted my broom. That's what I'm saying!!! We can make up for it! (I feel like we should go with them, Miriam...) ...
(It feels so weird... riding on someone else's broom... Grumble grumble)