Part 42: Episode XL: Citan Uzuki and the Purge of Nortune

Episode XL: Citan Uzuki and the Purge of Nortune


Now...where were we? I kind of blanked out from all the excitement.


Oh yes. A sewer monster with red green tinted vision (why did its eyesight color change again...?) was barreling through the corridors toward our party as they had the NERVE to ring a bell in its domain.

Music: Knight of Fire


And meet our sewer horror: Redrum. Yeah...I can see how a ten foot tall skeletal abomination with maw where its face should be could be mistaken for a lanky teenage martial artist.


Redrum doesn’t like to play fair. Remember that slime it was leaking all over? Well it opens the battle by vomiting that all over two characters, causing either Confusion or Poison status effects. You see why I said it was a good idea to equip Fei and Citan with one of those two accessories preventing them each. If Rico gets hit with it...meh, who gives a shit?


Redrum hits like a truck, so it is very important to stay healed during this battle. Its regular physical attack alone takes off 100+ HP (make that like 150+ for Rico. Did I mention Rico has shit defense too? Well, he has that too.)




During the course of leveling via the innate grind of this dungeon, Citan gained access to Arcane arts that grant protection against each element. What we want to do at the start of this battle is cast Suiseii, a Fire Element protection spell, on all three characters.


That is because Redrum’s favorite attack is Bloody Rain, which casts fire damage on the entire party for 60+ HP (75+ for Rico) each time. With Suiseii in place, that damage is reduced to single digits (still like 20 HP for Rico) numbers.


It’s also not a bad idea to have everyone use their buff spells. Redrum hits hard and often, so it’s good to have a bit of an edge when we’re on the offensive. Fei has Iron Valor, which raises attack on himself. And Rico has Steel Fist, which does the same. Ricardo also has Steel Body, which raises defense. But it still falls under “complete shit that will need regular healing either way” even with that spell, so it’s not really worth the effort.




I find storing AP and waiting to unleash a combo to be quite effective here. Given Citan and Fei’s speed compared to Rico, they can both do a series of Weak + Cancel turns while Rico hangs back and heals anyone with spare items. In just a few rounds of this, Fei and Citan both ought to be able to unleash a 1000+ HP ruining combo on the creature. This is both effective and damn satisfying.




The big attack to worry about with Redrum is Murder (hurr.) This strike cause Redrum to stab one of our party members, drink their blood for HP restoration equal to their max HP, and one-hit kill ‘em. It’s kind of a dick move and there’s no way to avoid it. I was pretty lucky during this fight as Redrum only went after Rico the two times it used Murder. Big loss...




In any case, despite the bullshit Murder attack, Redrum isn’t too difficult. And it pays out a substantial XP bonus for our troubles. But the most important part is we’re FINALLY done with this goddamn sewer level.


"Why, did it...have a bell...?"
*nods* "...It had a normal, human-like intellect."
”...Was I in the same fight as you, doc? All that thing did was roar, puke up nasty green crap, and try to tear off our heads to drink our blood.”
"No. It is better to say...'had left remaining'."
"What!? Whaddya mean? No..."
"!? ..."
*looks down* "...It is really, rather sad..."
”I have no idea what either of you two are going on about. It was a crazy sewer mutant that murdered like a half dozen people. Ugh... I think the fumes from this crap hole are starting to get to us. Let’s get out of here. I need a long, hot shower...”

Mercifully, we automatically get brought to the exit of the dungeon...


”I already called dibs on the shower. So you’re gonna have to wait.”


"Hey...your left arm! In that fight, you got..."
"It's nothing..."
”If you say so. I mean, it did slice you open and drink your blood. Twice...”

Rico climbs up the ladder, leaving Citan and Fei behind...


”The guy’s entire character description is ‘big’, ‘green’, and ‘fights stuff’. I’m not gonna hold my breath, doc.”

A short while later, in Emperor Cain’s abstract mind void...




"Yes. Twice...no...three times to be exact. May I ask you this...? Why would he be moved to a place like this...? Was it the elders?"
"Nay. They're hoping for a more immediate disposal. I don't blame them. They have a deeply etched fear of him."
"Then..."
"Yes. Probably..."
"It would be hasty to dispose of him now. I do not think it is too late to wait until we find out his purpose..."
"If that is your judgment, then, so be it."
"Your will is my will, your Majesty. Well then, allow me to..."
"Wait a moment..."

Emperor Cain pauses for a few moments...


"Yes...?"
"Their judgment...has been handed down..."
"...What is it, then...?"


Dun-dun-duuuuuuuuh! Err...wait... We already sorta kinda heard this from the Gazel Ministry during their barely compressible spiel. We’ll come to find that the Gazel Ministry just kind of gets off to spoiling the next five hours of plot in the most roundabout way possible. And it’s pretty bad when Emperor Cain and Citan Uzuki practicing Foreshadology in some telepathic hyperdimension are easier to follow than those chucklefucks.

So, who is being tapped for this purge of the Xenogears equivalent of Moscow, you ask?

Music: Knight of Fire ~ Version 2


Why Lieutenant Van Houten and the Gebler Goobers, of course. Sure, they’d failed miserably in their tasks of raiding a two-bit pirate operation and stopping a small squadron of Gears from crossing a mountain range. So surely, they’re the ones to transport a nuke to the largest city on the planet.


“After cancelling stealth mode, you will provide direct escort for the Hecht inside the enemy defense zone. Any questions?”
"Well..."
“Yes Lieutenant?”
"I understand our escort orders but what is our main objective?"
“That is classified.”
"But without knowing our objective, our response to any orders will be slow. Even if we're just ordered to provide cover. We need to at least know the attack objective..."
“The objective will be issued during the mission. It will be relayed directly to the Hecht's pilots.”
”That sounds extremely ineffective. Couldn’t you at least provide code names if you didn’t want to disclose the identity of objectives. At least we could then have some outline in case of...”
“That will not be necessary, we have full confidence in your abilities to lead an operation on the fly with no preparation whatsoever.”
"But..."
“Your only concern is to protect the Hecht from the enemy's anti-aircraft weapons. Any problems with that?”
"...No. ...If that's the case..."
“Anything else?”
”Do we need to pack a lunch?”
“A lunch will also be transmitted to the Hecht during the mission.”
“...Then this ends the main briefing. Confirm terrain, weather and enemy defense details with the information at hand. The mission starts at 1700. Until then wait in your assigned units. I shouldn't have to remind you that this mission is a purge. Remember, we have complete authority over the Lambs. Dismissed.”

The Solaris officer leaves the room...


“How can we go along with this? What's he mean the objective has nothing to do with us?"
"Be quiet! I'm thinking!"
"Don't snap at me."
”Stop whining like a little bitch and I won’t have to snap at you!”
“Yes ma’am...”
"I hate hysterical women."


"Uh..."
”Aerods are quite unpredictable sometimes. I would have for a half dozen to pierce your cockpit during the heat of battle. Now, any other sexist remarks out of the peanut gallery...?”
“N-No...”

Elly and the rest enter the hall...


"What's wrong? Something bugging you?"
"Sorry I'm so edgy. Those self-detonating bombs are just air units with Kief class bombs on board. I don't see why they need to use them all of a sudden... There are just too many. One of those alone would have enough firepower, but 8 of them is overkill. They haven't told us our target yet, and we're not just going to drop them for fun. You bet I'm worried."

The Gebler unit wanders over to a break room...


"They're human...the same as us, right? They have to give us a reason. I can't go along with this just because it's an order."
"Hmm..."
"What?"
"Nothing... Well... Even though we are called Solarians, we are 3rd Class Citizens or 'Worker Bees'. Us 3rd Class Citizens have our origins in the 'Lambs'. I can understand us having doubts in such orders... But you, you're different. You're a pure 1st Class Citizen and come from a good family. I've heard your father has a lot of pull in the military..."
"My family and father have nothing to do with it."
"Well, if you ask me, a 1st Class citizen thinking like this is...a little unusual."
”It’s usually all ‘do not hesitate to slaughter the unclean Lambs’ or else hippies talking about ‘Solaris man’s burden’ when talking about the people on the ground.”
"Not really... It's quite natural."
”Well, assuming you’re from a liberal household with a father with enough pull that you can get away with questioning high commands’ policies without repercussions."
"...So, how about it? Are you gonna do it?"
"The army will demote us all back to being 3rd Class citizens!"


"... But, what if something happens? You're just backing yourself into a corner."
"...Can't be helped, I guess..."
”Given the last few weeks, nothing is going to surprise me at this point.”
"Well, either is fine for us. Just do what you're told. Nothing else matters."
”Ya know...unless that Fei guy shows up again and starts beating the hell out of us all. Again. Then we could...maybe appreciate an assist...”
“Oh, what are the odds of that happening again?”




”...I hate my life.”










Redrum Concept Art – Truly a tragedy for this majestic creature to meet its end.