Part 87: Episode LXXXIV: Bartholomew Fatima Gets it Together

Episode LXXXIV: Bartholomew Fatima Gets it Together


“Where's this mausoleum?"
"There's an entrance at the rear of the cathedral. So first of all, we have to get on the road that runs around this town and go in through the back way."
"Do we have to walk that far?"
”Sorry, the royal tomb tour bus is in the shop this week...”
"The distance to the mausoleum isn't that much... But, I don't know how much more there is to go from there."
"You haven't been inside there yourself, Bart?"
"Yeah... This is my first time to go beyond the mausoleum too."
"Well, the place is all sealed up. Even I haven't been far inside of it."
*nods* "So neither Margie nor I know much about it. Sig and them have already taken off, so we won't be able to return to the ship for a while. For now, we're just gonna have to work this out on our own."
"Alright then, I'm going to go on ahead and wait for you at the entrance."
"We'll come once we finish our preparations. So could you wait for us at the entrance until then?"
"Okay!"
”Don’t get kidnapped or anything.”
“Oh ha-ha!”

Margie walks toward the mausoleum...


Going into the mausoleum marks a whole series of events we can’t really back out of right now. Though, the trouble is Nisan is kind of abandoned so getting supplies is somewhat difficult at this juncture.


But fear not, folks. Nisan’s vendors may have skipped town during the Great Coming Out of ’99. But, Fei feels confident we can just resort to the honor system in regards to doing a bit of merchandise shifting with their stock. Of course, Fei’s honor system works both ways. I like to unload all my useless shit here. So we can leave behind a few blood stained rods and whips, some used shoes, a pile of month old Hob meat, a rusted pair of pistols, a pair of monster eyeballs, a few necklaces, charms, and belts...and our conscience will be absolved in regards to cleaning out the cash register. I like how Fei operates.


As mentioned earlier, the entrance to the catacombs is located behind Nisan Cathedral. No time like the present...

The party (and Margie) enters the mausoleum...


"Yeah. It's usually closed off."
"So the mausoleum's in there?"
"Oh yeah. If the city's ever in danger, the people are supposed to take refuge in here."
”So how far down is this joint?”
“Let’s just say the elderly and disabled are pretty SOL in case of emergencies...”




The party proceeds to climb down roughly a bajillion stairs on the way to save Margie’s mom’s eyes.

A bajillion stairs and a map transition later...


"Hang in there. It's just a bit more."


TEN THOUSAND STAIRS LATER...


"...So, what's gonna happen?"
"Hey now, don't rush me."






"You haven't forgotten what we needed to do...?"
"Hey, lay off and shut up!"
”...Bart, the nameless villagers figured out how to open the door. C’mon, guy!”
"It's been a while, so don't blame me.”
“...”
“...Crap, I really forgot."
”And we’re trying to restore you to the throne why again...?”
“My dashing good looks and boundless charisma.”
“I’m pretty sure I’m the only party member that’s actually friends with you, Bart. Though... Hey, Philly.”
“Billy!”
“Yeah. What’s your take on Bart?”
“Not his biggest fan...”
“See... If you can’t even make Bill like you, what hope do you have to run a kingdom?”
“Shut up, shut up, shut up!”


Unlike Bart, Margie is not completely retarded and we can just let her open the gate. Otherwise, it’s pixel hunting for Bart. Let’s just cut to the chase here, eh? We’ll have more than enough instances of Bart being a dumbass coming up.

Margie walks straight to the hidden control panel and activates it...


*shakes heads disappointedly*
(... Is everything gonna be OK...? I'm beginning to have my doubts...)



This is surprisingly high-tech for an ancient royal family burial site... Margie and the guys enter the mausoleum...




And immediately get ambushed by a band of Shakhan’s guards. Soldier guys just fire off three shots in a row. Shrugging monk dudes cast healing spells. All go down in any sort of decent combo. Ho-hum.

After the battle...


“Laddie!?”
“Marguerite is with him too!”
"Hey, everyone! It's OK!"


The Nisan civilians pile out of...slightly off-screen to the left and right, I suppose. But, there are more pressing issues at hand.

Margie runs over to one of the tombs...


"It's fine! She hasn't been touched."
”Mom is still in one piece. Still dead though...” *frown*
"Whew... OK. What a relief.
*notices crowd of scared civilians staring at him* “Is everyone... OK?"
“Yes, somehow...”
"Shakhan... Where did he go!?"
“Oh yes, Shakhan? No, I haven't seen him... The only people that came here were those soldiers that threatened me to stay quiet... I'm sorry laddie. If only I'd been braver.”
"He isn't here yet... that's odd."
”Jackass usually can never turn down the chance to have a goofy Bond Villain speech.”
“The ground... What's happening to the town now!?”
"I took care of upstairs. It's OK to go back!"
”Just uhh...don’t look in the dumpster behind that art studio until I have some guys clean it up... Kinda corpsey in there...”
“Is that true!?”


“I've seen you come and go from time to time and I didn't think much of it. Exactly who are you?”
“...!”
”...Really, gramps...? I thought this was like the worst kept secret ever...”
*motions to guy, shrugs, and rolls eyes*
"Everyone, I need your attention! My..."

Music: Tears o the Stars, Hearts of the People


“They're on a mission to take down Shakhan from his seat of power. There is a need to rebuild this country from scratch again. I've, I've inherited that task from our late king. If all goes well, we'll soon be able to make it a reality. Please, believe me, and wait for me."
”Booooo! You’re not funny! Get off the stage!”
“Goddammit, Fei! Shuddup! I’m trying to be serious!”


“Then you're...”
"..."
”His name is Bartholomew FATIMA...”
“...”
“Have you not opened a history book...?”
“I...I can’t read or write...”
“Right then. Enough of diddling with the village idiot. Town is clear. Everyone, let’s go...”


And so the townspeople shuffle off back to their meaningless existence of walking in circles and repeating the same three lines for the rest of their lives.


“I know you'll make it ok. And when you do... you have to promise that you'll come out and announce who you are. I want to see you stand on the terrace of Castle Fatima, proudly! You gotta win, lad. You've got my support!”


”Hey Bart?”
“Yeah?”
“Who the heck was that guy calling you ‘laddie’?”
“I have no idea...”
“Thought as much...”


“That wasn't like me to say that stuff..."
”Guess I’m just riding on a high from that whole airship thing. So awesome...”
"You could have just told them that you were the prince."
"No, I can't do that yet. I need to fulfill my father's last request."
“Which is?”
“C’mon. Let’s get into this joint and see what’s up.”




A quick inspection of the area reveals that the Fatima mausoleum is less an underground crypt and more an ancient high-tech structure they happen to stuff dead royalty into.

Music: Bonds of Sea and Fire


"Oh, they probably have the power shut down because no one's here."
"We use this lower area as a mausoleum... So it always has minimal power available for use. But, not even the sisters are allowed in there."
"...Smells like mold."
”Do all you ever do is bitch about my stuff...? Sheesh.”
"That's obvious. Practically no one's been in there. Let's move on! We gotta get to the treasure before Shakhan gets here."

The party travels down a looooooong gray hallway before coming to the next room. I am very grateful Square didn’t stick random battles in this area, because it is long, boring, and easy to get lost enough without fighting jerks every five steps...


"So this is the door that connects to the great royal treasure. It's time for the Fatima Jasper... to do its thing... Oh yeah, one of mine's closed."
"I'm here."
”I’m no expert but I...don’t think that’s how retina scanners work...”
“Fei. Details. Do not sweat!”

The pair approaches the angel statues and a retina scanner arises from the floor for them to use...


Pay no attention to the fact the right scanner is clearly going straight into Margie’s hat. It’s close enough, alright?






*nods* "Yeah. That punk, Shakhan, mistook that for the royal pendant. But that made it easier for us, so I kept my mouth shut."
"What's up ahead...?"
"Up ahead will be the central core of the fortress. It's been said that if we shine that mysterious light across our eyes, the fortress will rise to the surface. They say this was built before the country of Aveh was founded. So, you ready to go?"
”This is going to result in Bart blowing up something large again, isn’t it?”
“Probably.”

The party enters further into the fortress. I’m just going to skip to the interesting parts. All you missed in-between was a minute of walking down a gray, dimly lit corridor...




"I wonder which is more impressive? The pilot room on your ship or the one in here?"
"My ship of course... Uhh, well... since they are our ancestors, I guess this one's better. And you, quit asking mean questions like that. Anyway, it's not called a pilot room. It's the bridge, got it?"
"Does it really matter?"
”Yes! God. Women...”
“...It’s not moving. I think it's locked."
"Hmm..."
"Want to go check out the great treasure first?"
"Hmmm... From the looks of it, Shakhan hasn't found the great treasure either."
"Yeah... When we were leaving Nisan, Bart and them said they've never been here. Well, first of all let's go locate the great treasure."
"Yeah... I know for sure that the great treasure is somewhere inside the mausoleum. I can't pinpoint the location though. So, let's go find it, then we can decide what to do next."
”Has anyone considered the possibility that we are unwittingly opening the path for the enemy and they’re just waiting to ambush us once everything is unlocked?”
“He’s right... That ALWAYS happens in adventure into ancient tomb movies.”
“You two worry too much. That old bald bastard would have a heart attack and keel over just walking down all those stairs. C’mon. Let’s go.”




So, nearby is an elevator we need to take down to the Energy Block. The Energy Block is fucking huge, loops around, and is full of MASSIVE dead ends. There’s basically a huge circular hallway with several doors lining it. Behind these doors is like another 30 seconds of empty corridor...


Past that is a gigantic generator room. If you see a big thingamajig in the middle? Fuck you. Wrong room. Turn around. No, we’re not going to give any indication that nothing is here until you’ve wandered through it for several minutes. Repeat this for 4 out of the five doors in the main hall. Well no, one of them has a treasure box to give you incentive to explore ‘em all. But it’s a lie. There’s nothing there.


The correct hallway has a side room with another retina scanner outside it. My internet was down when I was playing last, so I was stuck lost as shit in this area for a solid fifteen minutes. I was not a happy camper by the end of this segment.


The correct huge hub area has no central thingamajig. But that doesn’t really make navigation any easier.


Say, what does this look like to you? A big black nothing? Wrong! That’s the correct path. Good luck picking that out from the rest of the dark surrounds. The further we go into this game, the more and more things are cropping up making me go “why did I ever enjoy this product...?”




"...It kinda looks a lot like Bart's Gear."
"Huh? Oh yeah... Now that you mention it... Well, if you trace my Brigandier's history, it was a Gear originally made in Aveh, that I customized. It wouldn't surprise me if there was some connection."
”Definitely needs an eyepatch, though...”
"Yeah well... Looks like there's no power drawn here except for the emergency lights."


"The drive unit's been sealed..."
"Hmm. The control panels down there didn't do much... Meaning there's probably something around here."
”Let’s fiddle with junk until something happens!”

Fei examines the area beneath the Gear’s feet...


"Does anyone have a light?"
”I inexplicably do all the sudden...”

Billy clicks on a flashlight he pulled out of the ether...

"This... There's an inscription. It's in old Fatima. ...... It's my ancestors'."
"What does it say?"
”’Don’t have a cow, man...’? The heck is that supposed to mean?”
“...”
“Wait, there’s more...”



Music: The Treasure Which Cannot Be Stolen








It would seem that reading the hokey old inscription on the Omnigear’s throne was the magic words to re-start the facility. Kind of a roundabout ignition key...




"Now, how are we going to get this out?"
"Yeah."
"You said it would ‘appear above if it read the eyes’. You think you can move this building?"
"Okay, let's go back downstairs and try it."
”Wait...are we under Nisan Cathedral right now...? I kinda lost my sense of direction with all those twists in the halls.”
“I...don’t...think so...?”
“...”
“I’m pretty, pretty, pretty sure we’re not, alright?”
*turns back to Gear* "Father, looks like we're gonna have to move this. Sorry, but I'll have to borrow it."


Somewhere out there in the great beyond, Bartholomew’s father looks on and is...extremely disappointed his son didn’t do this a month ago when Margie and Bart were last in Nisan. Dumbass.









Music: The Treasure Which Cannot Be Stolen




More Margie Concept Art – Rico has one single page in the artbook. Margie has like eight.