A Splendid Little Holy War: Let's play Chaos World!

Episode IX: Women love shopping, trust me


As it turns out, the oceans are not friendly at all! As soon as she sets foot... er, sails out of the comfort of the rivers, Swift is accosted by all manner of sea beasts, including shameless palette swaps of the exact same battle! If you're not like me and didn't obsessively grind everyone's level up, the enemies of the ocean can actually be quite a challenge. But, you know, since I did, they're not even speed bumps.


Sailing is kind of boring. Also annoying, if you don't have a map to go by. Swift's goal is to sail west from Izaruro until she hits land.


And it doesn't take too terrible long to do so! After spotting land, she sails south along the coast until she spots a castle.


This is Faltesis, one of the places involved in the civil war. Apparently, the town has become uncomfortable. Imagine that! A town in a warzone that's uncomfortable!


A man outside the guild offers Swift some exposition and some advice: Go hide in the refugee town of Emrond. I'd like to take a moment to point out that Emrond is located between Sarvant's base and Faltesis, which is probably not the best place to put a refugee town.


There's a regular house here, and those are uncommon enough for it stand out. The child inside gives the impression that his father was killed in the war, but his mother clarifies that he's just gone up to North Ryuita. It's important to talk to these two, and you'll see why in just a second.


Also of interest: New stabby things! The Silver Lance is the second spear we've seen in the game and is marginally more powerful than Mirage Swords (19 atk versus 17 atk). As with all lances and spears, it's exclusively for Knights. The Thief Bow is the best bow that money can buy and gives the Thf that equips it 31 Atk.

The Crystalmail is the best buyable armor in the game: It raises Def by 24, and can be equipped by Knights, Ftrs and Thfs.

The item shop here is boring and there's no magic shop. Let's check out the guild!


Roger's here, and volunteers to ask General Faltesis about the Ancient Book when he hears about Swift's fetch quest. He says to visit the General the next day. That's awful nice of him, and I'm glad he's put more distance between himself and his crazy girlfriend.


Juno won't join because he's not quite convinced that Swift isn't an enemy.


There are two very important jobs to be done here. The first is the Memorial Service and it can be performed by Priests, Shamns or Bshps. Swift elects to have a alternative memorial service and sends Dona the Shamn to take care of it.


The second is the Search for Father, which is unlocked by talking to the mother and child. It can be performed by Knights, Thfs, and Shamns. Swift flies back to Ryuita to get Marin and deploys her. Let's pretend it's because she's a Knight of Ryuita and thus would know the area pretty well.


After picking up Baran to fill the void in her team, the party sets out for the refugee camp. Since it's to the northwest, Swift figures the best course of action is to head north. It's not long before she can see it on the other side of the lake.


...unfortunately, the town can't be accessed by heading north. In fact, it would seem that the entire northern part of the continent serves no purpose.

The Rock Els can inflict poison, because I guess the developers actually played Final Fantasy IV and decided to run with it.


It's ok, this game totally had Carbuncle before Final Fantasy.

Anyway, Swift walked back to Faltesis and boarded the boat and sailed along the southern coast until she spotted a river.


Sadly, she can't sail straight up to Emrond because a bridge is blocking the way. While the party's hoofing it along the riverbank (the river does lead to Emrond), they happen across Lost Souls, the nasty magic users from this region. I didn't see how much damage they do to Swift, but they were getting like 25 in on Baran, and she's got less than half the Cha he does...

Emrond is actually pretty river-heavy itself. It's also the final town that has a guild, so Swift's gonna have to take the long way to the rest of them from this point onward.


This fella seems awful confident in their safety because General Faltesis is a pretty upstanding guy. Good thing he's not at war against a nasty fellow with a bad reputation!

I don't think Swift can get into that tower just yet, but don't worry, she'll get to it.


Have I mentioned that you can't do anything at the guild if party members are suffering from status ailments? I think it's to prevent you from paralyzing/petrifying/killing your main character and then dismissing everyone from the party, thereby creating an unwinnable situation.

And, of course, since the party's poisoned, the item shop doesn't sell PoisHerbs and they have to go to the Church for healing. Pffft.

The equipment shop has lots of new gear though! While Faltesis was more focused on fighting characters, Emrond has stuff for the squishy casters:

• The Crystal Garb is the best piece of armor a caster can buy. It raises Def by 22 and can be equipped by anyone but Ftrs and Knights.
• Same deal with the Crystal Ring: Best buyable shield for casters and Thfs. It raises Def by 18, and Int and Mag by 4 each.
• And lastly, the Magic Hat. It's the second piece of headgear available to casters, and the best that can be bought. It raises Def by 7 and Int by 2, and can be worn by Shamns, Priests, Bshps and Mages.

Now if only Swift had the cash for this stuff...


At Emrond's guild...
The guildmaster delivers the message that both of Swift's jobs have been completed. There are no jobs posted in Emrond, but there is a chap in a floppy blue hat named Kail who refuses to join on the basis that he doesn't know Swift well enough.


Oh well. Let's go see what the girls have accomplished back in Faltesis.


Dona came back from the Memorial Service bearing the Thunder Staff, a delightful weapon for Mages, Priests and Bshps that raises Atk by 27, Int by 16, and Mag by 16. It's pretty much the best weapon in the game for a Bshp because of how well-rounded the stats are. There are two more staffs that are technically more powerful, but they focus on either Mag or Int. It's still pretty awesome because we won't be seeing those two staffs for some time.

What about you Marin? Oh... you didn't actually find him at all, he came back on his own, and all you got was the fastest wireless network? Sigh. Might as well go check on the happy family before continuing on our epic adventure, right?


The wife and son have nothing of importance to say, but the man has some juicy information about the gate to Heaven up in the mountains of Ryuita. He gives Swift the Key of Temptation.

Well. I guess Marin didn't botch this one. I don't know about y'all, but finding Heaven sounds way more interesting than a civil war. Let's check it out!


There are new enemies hanging out around Ryuita now: Specifically, there are Dual Rhinos and Gold Rhinos out in the desert beside Ryuita Castle. They're pretty easy to defeat and good for money (~100 per battle).

Luckily, if you fly to Ryuita Castle, the boat will spawn right next to the river that leads up into the mountain.


...the Gate to Heaven is guarded by octopii? Mara takes quite a beating because she's only wearing Plain Clothing. They're otherwise nothing to worry about.


Inside the cave is a literally gate that can only be unlocked by the Key of Temptation, and on the other side is...


A town. A Town of Temptation. That sounds like a Lifetime movie, doesn't it? The greeter is surprised to see a woman visitor.


How very seedy.


Inside the pub...
Some guys are playing Old Maid and ask if Swift wants to join. She can't accept their offer.


This pub is only for men, and you know that if this game wasn't 8-bit this place would be full of bunnygirls. One of the staff asks if Swift would be interested in working at the pub, but I'm preeeeetty sure that would end poorly.


..and this is why. There's no way Swift would let such insolence go unpunished.

Raze this town and slaughter any survivors


...wait. I may have overreacted. This is a casino town, and Swift needs some cash. Each of the three huts has a different game to play. The middle one is a matching game.


The instructions for these games are a mess of jumbled text and formatting errors, but they're pretty self-explanatory: You can bet up to 500G at the matching game. After you place a bet, you pick a card from the top row, then one from the bottom. If you're able to pick the matches without making any mistakes (and you will, because you're probably playing on an emulator), you'll get ten times your bet.


The hut on the right is a board game, not unlike T'n'T from Dragon Quest V DS (or Pachisi from Dragon Quest 3 Remix). It's much more simplistic than those. You can bet up to 400G per game. After you place a bet, you roll the dice and move the number of spaces it specifies. If you land on a number, your bet is multiplied by it. If you land in a hole, you lose. To win, you have to make it all the way around the board back to starting position (the arrow at the bottom).

You winnings for each space you land on is added to your total. In other words, if you land bet 400G and land on x3, you'll get 1200G added to your initial bet for a total of 1600G. Then if you land on x4, you'll get 1600G added to your winnings, for a total of 3200G.


The hut on left is a shell game, like the one featured in Konami's hit 32-bit RPG, Suikoden. You can only bet 200G, but you can go double-or-nothing up get your winnings up to a max of 1600G. Or maybe I just quit at 1600G. I don't remember.

The matching game is the easiest way to rack up money, so Swift goes back to playing that until she's amassed 42279G. Then she flew back to Faltesis for a shopping spree. (Also everyone was called to Faltesis to make outfitting easier)


In Faltesis...
Swift gets equipped with a swanky Thief Bow and a Crystalmail, while Samus gets herself a Mirage Sword (because apparently she didn't have one yet) and a Crystalmail.

In Emrond...
Magic Hats and Crystal Garb for Mara and Dona; Crystal Rings for Swift, Mara and Dona.

Oh yeah, Mara equipped the Thunder Staff, which she had forgotten to do earlier. You can see how her stats look when she's fully decked out in that first screenshot there.

Our ladies are fierce now.

All the old equipment is hawked, including unique items like the Dragonmail and Aero Shot. You have no idea how hard it is for me to part with unique items, y'all.

...actually, that's not true. The Silver Staff is given to Nande. But the rest of this junk? Yeah, totally sold off.


Before worrying about the inactive members of team, Swift flies back to her hometown of Rodetia and sails to the south. The Water Els and Devil Sharks are no match for these ladies.


Japan is located just off the southeastern coast of the Rodetia continent.


There's an old geezer living up in a cabin in Hokkaido, but he has no business with Swift. I'm pretty sure this is the prophet from the backstory, but yet again I don't remember if it ever explicitly says he is.


But down in Kansai is a town called Bolder. It has nice music. The most important thing about Bolder for Swift right now is their swanky magic shop. They sell both tiers of Volt spell (normal Volt costs 4 MP to cast and can be equipped by anyone), Sleep (Attempt to put members of the enemy party to sleep. Costs 1 MP to cast and can be used by Mages, Shamns and Bshps), and Resource (Fully restores HP to one ally for 10 MP and can be cast by Priests, Shamns and Bshps).

I know I said earlier that Field is the full HP restore spell, but it only restores a moderate amount of HP. Resource can also revive dead comrades, so it's a worthy investment.

Anyway, Dona gets Volt and Mara gets Resource.


At night...
"Is it suspicious that I brought that up unprovoked?" Needless to say, I think we've discovered the location of another Emblem. There's nothing else to do here, so Swift departs for the Town of Temptation to make some bank to outfit her growing army.

Again.


I'll spare you the details. She bought all the new gear for available this update for everyone. Sylva got a Silver Staff from Litton, Wendy equipped the L-Volt spell that had been taken up inventory space, and I went ahead and bought copies of Pois-C, Stone-C and AllFeel to carry around, just in case.

Funny story: The max amount of money you can have is 65535. It's not actually funny, but I thought I'd mention it because I played like four rounds of the matching game without realizing I had maxed out.

At the inn...
Samus tells the party she's heard stories about the island the Mayor's son told them about last update. Hmmmm...

Current leads:

• Prince Adan: Prince Adan of Ryuita has converted to Ideia. He also seems to be chummy with Michenu, the Ideian Missionary.
• The Ancient Book: A book held by General Faltesis that reportedly has information about Ideia. It may somehow help with Prince Adan's situation.
• The Jewels of Ideia: Supposedly they have some connection to Ideia. One is said to be located on an island north of Ruval.
• The Emblems of Ideia: According to Aless, there are three emblems of Ideia that need to be collected for unspecified reasons. He gave one to Baran, and one is clearly in possession of the Mayor of Bolder.
• The Chosen One and Heaven: Both Ancient Ruins and a semi-unique-looking NPC mentioned this. Two requirements have been mentioned so far: God's Light (which is likely the stolen Sun Statue) and the Ball of Guidance.

Next Time: We should start with that book

I think that was covered in the Book of Jobe, yes.

The thought of someone playing FFIV and then immediately making this makes me hurt in my heart.

Maybe it's some sort of primordial octopus... an octopus prime, if you will.

Even though I've bitched about it a lot, I really do like the game. The world feels a lot more connected than what you see in most 8-bit games, and if the battle system wasn't godawful, I think it'd be a pretty neat old school game.

I mean, it totes isn't genre redefining like FFIV, but you know, not every game's gotta reinvent the wheel.

Resource. Best name for a heal spell ever, esp. since it revives.

What's this? A Famicom RPG where you have to ride a river up through the mountains constantly getting attacked by octopus monsters? That's... a weirdly specific thing to lift.

These octopii don't crack wise.

At least there isn't an icy hellhole filled with instant death monsters at the end of the river. I can live with that.

Neither did the ones here:

All the caves kinda look like icy hellholes...
Actually, they look like they're made out of those Blue Icer Ice Packs. Chaos World: Can't even get ice right.

Heh, looks like someone never saw them use their special CRACK attack. Get a load of the FF newbie! i didn't remember octopii being there

Episode X: If you have doomsday device, for god's sake use it.


Ancient Book time. Like, a week ago (both in real life and in game time) Roger went to go chat with General Faltesis to put in a good word for Swift. Why Roger has anything to do with General Faltesis, or why Swift needed a good word with the General will never be explained. Just roll with it.

Regrettably, Faltesis's castle shares the same Pepto Bismol decor as the castles in Ryuita, and it's not the only new castle we'll see this update with the same coloration.


The General's throne is directly in front of the entrance like some kind of lobby. Note to military officials: This is not a good place to have your office, especially during wartime.


Aside from his poor choice of throne rooms, the rest of the castle has a surprisingly castley layout. It's much more like you'd expect out of Dragon Quest. The guards have nothing interesting to say: The one guarding the Forbidden Planning Room says she's not allowed in, the rest tell her not to do anything stupid.


Not heeding his warning, Swift checks the treasure chest that's in his immediate line of sight. Instead of being tossed in jail for trying to rob the General, nothing happens, because there's nothing in the box. There's four treasure chests scattered across the castle like this, and they're all empty.


But, up in the northeast room...


Aless literally pops out of nowhere to tell Swift how to sneak into the Forbidden Planning Room. He also introduces himself, something he didn't do last time because he was too busy pounding Swift's face into the ground to get the chance. He disappears just as suddenly as he appeared.


What his hint means is this: Walk into the wall here to enter the Forbidden Planning Room.


The chest in here contains the Ancient Book. Well, that sure was easy! Back outside the Forbidden Planning Room, a guard has materialized next to the hidden entrance to tell Swift that General Faltesis is calling for her.


In fact, guards have swarmed all over the castle, blocking off different rooms and even the exit itself. All of them direct Swift to speak with General Faltesis.

God Swift, you're a Thf, you're not supposed to let this happen!


General Faltesis is actually pretty chill about it though. He instructs her to give the Ancient Book to Forus and then to return so they can dish dish dish about Ideia.


So Swift walks back to Forus's hut...


And back in Faltesis...
He explains that Sarvant, his enemy in the civil war, is trying to spread Ideia.


And to complicate things further, Sarvant has hooked up with Michenu to build a doomsday device like one used in the Great War. He requests Swift's assistance in destroying it, because naturally no one he's sent so far has returned.

Errands people have never returned from in Chaos World:

• Picking flowers guarded by bees and slugs (although to be fair, Swift herself barely returned from that).
• Rescuing the Prince of Ruval from kidnappers in a cave full of bats and roaches.
• Killing a Dragon in Ryuita.
• Looking for shiny rocks in the Cave north of Ruval.
• Destroying a cannon in Sarvant.

General Faltesis says that Swift will be rewarded and directs her to take a guild job from Sarvant in Emrond.


Wendy says that the cannon can destroy mountains. It'd probably suck to have to fight it. Good thing we don't have to!

Nande was brought in to take on Sarvant's job. He comes back talking about stealing a launch key that can be inserted into the cannon backwards to make it explode, which... I'm pretty sure that's not how launch keys work.

It makes more sense when he gives Swift the "key": It's a piece of Flint. It could conceivably be used to make a cannon explode... right? Engineers?


Anyway, with the Flint in hand, Swift can travel to Sarvant and take care of the cannon, because why should Nande do it when he had he opportunity, right? Instead of trying to navigate the terrain of the overworld map, Swift hops on her boat to sail to Sarvant.


It's located along the west coast of the continent.


It was mentioned last update (I think) that Sarvant used to be a town, but now it's just a castle. A hideous, pink-floored castle.


The only thing the guards here say is, "Watch youself." and "Hey! You another of those newbies!" and guards are pretty much the only people in the building except for Sarvant himself and that dude milling about in the throne room.


Sarvant is hanging out in his room (which has its own throne. How pompous!) up on the second floor. You can't miss it because the second floor is only one long, winding hallway. His room is literally the only deviation on the path. He asks Swift if she wants to sign up, then explains she has to convert to Ideia under Michenu's blessing, but the Evilest Nun is out at the moment.

But that's ok, because Swift is here to sabotage and not convert!


At the end of the hall on the second floor, there's another set of stairs leading back to a previously inaccessible hall on the first floor.


And at the end of that hall are two guards blocking a room. These two are quite possibly the most competent members of Sarvant's army, because they peg Swift as someone in cahoots with Faltesis.

Of course, the ability to properly assess threats does not automatically give you the ability to address those threats. Their deaths are (heh) swift and uneventful.


Casually stepping over the bodies of the guards she disposed of, Swift enters the room they were guarding to find the cannon. At least this cannon could actually fit through the castle's doors, even if the army would have to literally carry it through the entire castle to get it outside...

Let's blow it up


...that leaves something to be desired.


With her mission accomplished, Swift goes on her way. Turning doesn't work because this isn't a dungeon, so she's got to walk back out. It's a good thing the castle isn't laid out in such a way that she'd have no choice but to confront anyone blocking her path!!!


Oh wait.

The guard, instead of attacking her, just warns that she's earned the wrath of Michenu. Pfffft, big deal. What's the worst she could do?

Sarvant has been roused from his room by the sound of the explosion (which if you compare the second floor with the first, would have been directly below his room. Note to madmen: Do not keep your WMD beneath your bedroom). Swift attempts to sneak by him...


Well crap.


Hrm, Sarvant is much... jollier than his map graphic would lead you to believe. He attacks by pointing at the party in a disapproving fashion. Like the Ryuita Knights killed earlier, he's not much of a threat. I mean, look, he's barely hitting Wendy for 25 HP! (I reckon he would be more threatening if Swift's team wasn't fulled decked out in new gear).


Even after Swift killed their leader, none of the soldiers attack. Half of them repeat the thing about Michenu's wrath, while the other half talks about Ideia ruling the world. The random guy wandering around in the throne room is totally like, "Yeah, whatever, we still got Michenu. She's way hotter than Sarvant anyway."

So, in summary: There were exactly two guards in the entirety of Sarvant's army that performed their job. Literally everyone else in his army just stood around and let his secret weapon get destroyed, watched him be executed, and didn't even attempt to stop his murderers.

In Emrond...
Kail joins. I think his recruitment trigger is obtaining the Flint (the implication is that he got to know your ally during that mission), but I'm not sure. Anyway, he's the Mal Mage. He's got way more HP than Wendy, but lower Mag. I mean, technically he has more right now, because he's several levels above her, but if they were at the same level she'd have more.


In Faltesis...
Swift actually receives a hero's welcome, for once. Not only are people singing her praises, one guy even points her in the direction of the next plot event. Thanks mate!


Juno, the Mal Thf also joins now that he knows Swift is killed a dude for Faltesis. Marin is dispatched to help train soldiers for Faltesis, which feels like a strange job to offer now that civil war is over. But whatever, the reward for this is awesome so she's doing it.


General Faltesis gives her a wagonCarriage as a reward. This is the final upgrade for the inventory, and allows Swift to carry a fuckton of items.


But before heading to check on Forus's progress, Swift goes back to gamble for some more cash to outfit her new allies. Also, check out that sweet wagoncarriage. I bet it could even ford a river it came down to it.


Speaking of the rivers...
Swift encounters some new enemies on the river up to the Town of Temptation: Aspirids, horrible cotton candy ghosts that are deal magic damage. Lots of magic damage. That's like, a third of Swift's max HP per attack. Holy Crap.

Anyway, Juno and Kail are outfitted in the best gear money can buy, Kail starts with the Freeze spell, but picks up Stop for the hell of it. It's been kinda useful - mostly for stopping Aspirids from killing everything.


In Ryuita...
I mentioned in a previous update that I thought Remi was Forus's daughter, but wasn't sure if the game ever came out in said it, but there it is. Thanks lady!


A guard regales Swift with tales of the King and Forus's adventures from days past. Apparently, this is how Forus received the Compass, which would have been an amusing story if there was any doubt about who had the Compass or how they came to possess it. Or if it weren't a fucking Compass.

Wait, maybe the point of the story is show what a badass the King and Forus used to be, because they managed to travel across the sea without the Compass?


At Forus's house, which Swift sailed to despite those Aspirid jerks attacking the boat every few feet...
Hey that sure is a funny graphical glitch Forus! Also, I think the music is glitched too, because it sounds all sad and stuff.

...Forus...?


...oh.

...

Y'all... y'all don't suppose this has anything to do with Michenu's wrath, do you? No, I'm sure this is a coincidence...


What his death note means is to check the dresser here to find a hidden staircase to his basement.


I particularly like the "especially Ryuita" bit. The other chest contains a copy of L-Volt, which is equipped to Kail.


Back in Ryuita...
Remi has somehow already heard the news, and even while grieving her father, she manages to drop some cryptic mumbo jumbo.


Last time, or maybe the time before that, I mentioned that Prince Alon had real leadership qualities because he sent Swift on a fetchquest immediately after she did him a favor. Here, his father shows that he's really bad at his job. Like, I get that he and Forus were pals, but dude, you don't need to keep passing off your responsibilities as lord of the realm to the son you're too chickenshit to name King.


I can't tell if he's asking who done it or if he's asking who will translate the book now. Of course, I'm assuming that Forus was murdered. Like many of the details in this game, I can't remember if it says. Until contradicted by the game, I'm sticking with the belief that Michenu killed him as part of her wrath.

Anyway. Alon says that they'll just have to leave the Ancient Book at the guild and wait for someone to translate it.

...if you're not keeping track, this means that Swift has carried the Ancient Book from Faltesis to Forus, then from Forus to Ryuita, only to have to translate the damn book herself. There's no quick way to Forus's house, either. It's quite a distance by boat or by land, no matter where you're starting from.

Swift returns to Faltesis to get someone that can handle the translation job...
Marin is back.

Uh...huh... If you'll look up a few images, you'll see that the job description was:

So, is she saying that Faltesis has a crappy army? If they're from the same stock as Sarvant's, I'd believe it. Whatever. The important thing here is the reward: The Windmail is the second best piece of armor in the game. It's for Knights, Ftrs and Thfs, and raises def by 32. To compare: The Crystalmail only raises def by 24.

While staying in the inn, Orion tells Swift about an awesome cave located to the Southwest of Ruval, and suggests that the party explore it.

...

There are three caves located to the southwest of Ruval: One is the Abandoned Mine where Swift killed the kidnappers, one is cave where Swift obtained the Star Sapphire, and one is the cave she traveled through to reach Izaruro. All of these are caves that Swift had to explore to proceed with the plot.

...

Thanks, Orion.

Actually, I believe one of two things is happening here. Either he's supposed to say that there's a cave to the southeast of Ruval, which is technically true but it's more like way south, then a few steps east, or he's supposed to say that the cave is located southwest of Rodetia. Although the game has mixed up east and west several times so far, I'm more inclined to believe the latter is what he should say, seeing as how the cave is actually on the same continent as Rodetia and is located in a more traditional interpretation of southwest. See: the World Map. Point 7 is Ruval, Point 0 is Rodetia, and Point 29 is a cave (that we have yet to explore).


Moving on. The translation job can be performed by Priests, Shamns and Bshps, but I'll be damned if I'm giving up Mara, so I tapped Orion to do it.

...he failed.


But wait! Enak, the Mal Bshp has been motivated to take up arms o avenge Forus's death! If he was trained under Forus, he should be able to handle it!


Two days later...
He wasn't able to handle it. He was able to figure a little bit of it out, something about poison, but wasn't able to completely decipher it. He asks if Swift knows anyone from Ruval, because it's written in ancient Ruvalese. Swift says that yes, she has friends from Ruval, like Orion the Shamn, be he was also failed spectacularly at it.

Next!

Dona also failed, but while Swift was camping out at the Inn waiting for her to finish, Mara volunteers that she can read ancient Ruvalese, so maybe she should try her hand at it.

Swift doesn't want to see Mara go, but deep down she knows that she's the only one who can read it, and that's the only way to advance the plot. And so, Mara is stripped of her Thunder Staff(it's way to powerful to not be using while she's gone for a plot-mandated length of time) and sent off to translate. Hopefully, she knows the difference between east and west.


The Universe confirms that Swift put the right person on the job by sending a messenger to point her in the direction of the next event. A soldier from Rodetia runs up to Swift when she steps out of the guild and tells her that the King of Rodetia has urgent business with her, but doesn't elaborate. He takes off to speak with the King of Ryuita, or so he says. He's not actually in the castle and no one inside has anything new to say. For all intents and purposes, he turned into sea foam.

...or pepto bismol.

Anyway, I wonder what's happening in Rodetia? Whatever it is, I'm sure it has absolutely nothing to do with Michenu 's wrath! Right...?

Next Time: Wrong.


Here are Enak and Juno's stats. Juno is surprisingly fast (only one point difference between him and Swift, despite her being three levels stronger than him). I don't recall if Enak is properly outfitted in this screenshot or not. His def and atk seem to indicate he is, but his Mag and Int are pretty low.

Its no wonder the war went on so long if one side only had the two soldiers, and the other didn't bother to train or arm their army.

They probably couldn't have made it through all the random encounters on the world map to even reach each other. All they've got right now is posturing.

Well, not directly, no. If you used the key in three sequential forms, one of which required freezing it and another by heating it, then you should be all set. That's just solid engineering practice.

Episode XI: Michenu's Counterattack

Hey I remember this thread. If you'll recall (or look up a few posts) last time, Swift killed a political figure and close, personal friend of Michenu. She seemingly went and killed off the wise old sage who was translating the Ancient Book that is alleged to contain secrets about Ideia. Swift's friend Mara the Bshp was tasked with doing the translation in his stead, and as she left the Guild a messenger from Rodetia told her that the King of Rodeita has an urgent matter to discuss with her.


But for whatever reason, instead of picking up in Rodetia, we join Swift and her posse in Ruval! Things are... not great in Ruval. For one, it seems that Aless and Prince Levin have become chummy. For another, a quest left at the Guild is asking for a nurse for the King of Ruval, who has become sick.

Sick, you say? And the Ancient Book said something about poison you say?


Prince Levin just tells Swift to Get Out and the King is confined to his bed. He informs Swift that his son is acting weird and that he's been getting sicker and sicker since he returned. Well, he says "since the kidnapping" but I assume he means since he returned.


But let's take care of that. The quest at the guild asks for a female Priest or Bshp, and since Mara is currently busy, it's up to Sylva to nurse him back to health.


In Rodetia...
The people seem to be a bit more panicked (Swift's grandfather or whoever doesn't have anything new to say). There's a character with a unique(ish) sprite hanging out near her father's grave though! Let's see what he has to say.


It's actually not a new sprite at all! This is the Chemist that lived in Rarm. You know, the one that made the potion that healed the Princess. He tells Swift that he escaped from Rarm, and that a man in Litton knows how to cure people who have turned into monsters. W...why would Swift need to know that?

Anyway, the man won't reply to the Chemist's letters. Litton: The city that no mail has ever returned from!


Compared to the horrors of the castles in Ruval and Ryuita, Rodetia's is strangely comforting.

Meldi isn't any more helpful than anyone else in Rodetia has been thus far, and the King explains the situation with all the eloquence of J. Jonah Jameson: The people in Rarm have become monsters, it's probably related to Ideia, and Swift needs to get her keister in gear to help them.


In case you didn't remember, Rarm is guildless, so Swift has to walk. There are new enemies on the world map now such as these two horse-headed foes called Feel Borg and Blow. As I recall, they're both mostly magic-based. I would assume that the Feel Borg can probably cast Feel, but I don't think I saw any evidence of that happening.

Oh yeah! The party is Baran, Dona and Enak. Baran is wearing the Windmail, and Enak picked up the spells Resource and Sleep from Bolder.


In Rarm...
Everyone has been turned into Arahabakis! If you try and speak with them, they'll say Gong!! and attack... In battle, they're Slugs. You know, like the thing that Swift killed in the arena at the beginning of the game to prove her mettle.

...d...does that mean... the Slugs from the arena are... p...people?

(The people in town are essentially immortal - you can fight them as many times as you want but they won't actually die)


The inn is still open. I believe the cave Baran is talking about is the same one that Orion was talking about last update.


Speaking of Baran, there's a dude hanging out back where he and Swift first met. He has nothing useful to say.


In Nazaal, I think...
This old fellar has cryptic hints for Swift, but by the time this is relevant to Swift, she'll already be told point-blank what it means.


In Litton...
Michenu's been through here but was on her way to Izaruro. The Chemist here is the guy that knows how to fix the crisis in Rarm, but he refuses to tell Swift on the grounds that she's not a practicing Ideian. Well, at least we got that bit about Michenu traveling to Izaruro, huh?


In Izaruro...
(You can probably see by now why the Flying spell is so useful, and why it's good to have a character who can cast it multiple times before needing to rest)

Anywho: There's a Tower to the south and someone tried to assassinate the Mayor's Son. He's safe, though.


I'm guessing this is a translation mistake, since this is the first time Michenu tried to kill him. He managed to hide (he's been honing his skills by playing Clock Tower*), and he picked up the Ideian Symbol she dropped. Despite the name, it isn't one of the three symbols Aless's letter said she'd need, so it goes straight into her inventory instead of the main menu.

I've made fun of this game a lot, but I dig this sequence. I like that Michenu went out and starting attacking people who have helped Swift throughout the game. More games need to have the villain retaliate, you know? Especially against people in towns you thought you were done with.

In any case, the Ideian Symbol should be sufficient to proof for the Chemist in Litton that Swift is now one of them.

In Litton...
Our girl Swift is a goody two-shoes. Instead of pretending to be an Ideian, she give it to the guy so he can return it to Michenu. In exchange, he tells her how to cure the Slug People of Rarm: Go to the Full Moon Tower and get the Tablet of Light (In Japanese, it's apparently called Laban's Light. Biblical!). Naturally, since this is Chaos World, this is place where no human has ever returned from.


Back in Izaruro...
Swift has to ask the Mayor's Son to open the floodgate, because the only way to access the tower is to sail south down the river. The tower itself is actually pretty annoying, so it would be wise to stock up on TriHerbs and the like before heading out.


There's still nothing but Atlantians out here on the river, but once it empties into this oceany area around the tower, monsters of the sea (Octogoals, Aspirids, Sharks, etc) will start to show up.


This is a crescent moon.


Holy shit this dungeon is annoying. Well, not so much the dungeon itself: Each floor is arranged like a crescent moon and is completely linear with no branching paths or anything. The annoying part are the enemies: Guarders are extremely powerful magic-using enemies that attack in groups and account for like 60% of the battles in here, so it's imperative that you bring one, if not both, of the Shamns.


On the first floor, the stairs are located just to the left of the entrance. There's a treasure chest on an inaccessible section in the center of the floor, and another inaccessible area on the far right.


Other enemies hanging out here: Cockatrices, which I'm pretty sure can petrify and Flygoyles, which are edits of the Death Ogre sprite that can inflict poison. Varvans are Witch recolors that use magic, but they're less scary than the Guarders.


The second and third floors are pretty much identical, but the fourth is open at the center so Swift can jump down. There's also a couple of treasure chests over in the inaccessible area on the right side of the tower.

Guardians are the physical version of Guarders, and aren't nearly as annoying. As you can see, both Dona and Enak are pretty much tapped out of MP by this point, so the party switches to the time honored tradition of running the fuck away.


Off to the left, where one would expect to find stairs to the next floor, there's a chest containing a Pegasus Wing. It is the first of the disappointing treasures in this tower. Swift is so disappointed, she flings herself, her horse and her carriage down the shaft to end it all.


And she falls all the way back down to the first floor, where she lands next to a treasure chest. The horse and carriage falling on her do not cause any damage.


The chest contains the Tablet of Light. That's right! No boss, no nothing. Surviving to this point is challenge enough.


Technically, that's all Swift needs to do here. She could Turning out and head back to fix Rarm, but there's like two treasures in the tower that are actually worth getting, so she jumps down to the basement.

...and promptly remembers that her team has no means of healing itself, so pressing on would be suicide. Back to Izaruro it is!


That's more like it. Swift makes her way back to the Full Moon Tower's basement avoiding combat as much as possible. There are two chests down in the basement: The one at the bottom of contains a Magic Hat, and the one at the top holds a Crystal Ring. Both of these are worthless to Swift and her team, seeing as how she already bought this stuff like the update before last.


But! There's a staircase in the lower right, in case you were wondering how unfortunate souls without Turning would get out of here. It leads up into the previous inaccessible parts of the tower we saw on our way up. The first, second, and third floors are identical, but the fourth has two chests and a ledge to jump off of to exit the dungeon.

The top chest is an Earth Sword, a substantial improvement over the Mirage Swords our Ftrs have been using since forever. It raises Atk by 28, compared to the Mirage Sword's pitiful 17. It does not restore the user's HP when they attack, because this is not Fire Emblem. It can be used by Knights and Ftrs.

The lower chest has another big upgrade in the form of the Kaiser Lance, which offers 29 Atk for Knights. The Silver Lances they have right now only raises Atk by 19.

In summation: Half the chests here are worthless, one is a plot coupon, and two are legitimately useful.


In Rarm...
Swift uses the Tablet of Light and the screen flashes a bunch of times...


...and everyone returns to normal! Some of the folks here are skeptical, some say they dreamed they were monsters, and some just seem confused and can't remember what happened.


I... I don't know if this is what the greeter is supposed to be saying or not. In older versions of the patch, there was a glitch where he'd say a major boss's lines and you'd get thrown into battle against that boss (and get the appropriate reward if you manage to survive - effectively allowing you to skip an entire dungeon). Here though, he asks Swift for help and mentions some mines located to the north. This is technically Swift's next destination in the storyline and as far as I can tell, this is the only person who even remotely points her in that direction, so...


It's hard to tell, but I'm pretty sure the King winks at Swift when he says the word "research." He might even use quotation fingers.


Instead of heading off to the mines though, she's got some unfinished business near the Full Moon Tower. I don't know why I have this set of pictures, I think they're enemies from outside the tower that I thought looked neat, but idk?


The reason Swift is back in vicinity of the Full Moon Tower is because in the random encounter that pits you against an Octogoal and a Sudal, there's a chance they'll drop a Bracelet of Strength. This is a super rare piece of equipment that can only be obtained from enemy drops. I don't know if it only drops in this specific area around the tower, or if you can get it from them anywhere you can fight them. All the information about the Bracelet of Strength says it's dropped from the enemies in the water around the Full Moon Tower, but these are also the same folks who say the Recover formation is for healing magic.

Anyway. The Bracelet of Strength raises Atk by 12 and Def by 16, but is unfortunately can only be equipped by casters. To be perfectly honest, the only reason I tracked one (actually I fought until I had two) down was because I thought Thfs could equip them, but that turned out to not be the case.

Since no one who truly relies on physical attacks can wear it, its of questionable value. It's not so bad in comparison to the Crystal Rings our casters have now, but it'll be unambiguously outclassed by Earth Rings and Bracelets of Light when we start getting ahold of those. In the meantime, I think Dona and Enak will be wearing them so they'll be able to contribute a bit more in the "hitting things" department.

Next Time: Mine graphic set, green-tinted

*Speaking of Clock Tower, I think I wanna do a video lp of Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within...

So... that guy in Litton that you gave the Ideian Symbol to... does he actually only give you that information once like he claims, or can you nag him about it repeatedly?

I meant to include that, but yeah, he'll only tell you once. When you talk to him again, he'll just say something like "Oh mighty Ideia!" Hope you weren't speeding through the dialogue and miss what he had to say :D

I'm strangely pleased that they followed through with the threat. Frequently NPCs that make such claims are just bluffing. But that guy? That guy means business.

Or are they monsters that dreamt that they were people?

And then they were the demons

/obligatory doomguy ref

"Man, rotating the king or bed's sprite would be too much work. Let's just make him stand on it."

Hey, he's the king. If he wants to jump on the bed, he's going to jump on the bed, and nobody's going to stop him.

I'm kind of thinking it might have been cool if Swift could join Ideia, just for kicks.