After long last, I’m finally back! Expect updates more regularly from now on, because I have a whole lot less to do.
Looks like I have one battle to get through before I can get to the next town. These are my character levels at the moment:
Alph: 14
Theo: 15
Leon: 13
Cecille: 12
Saki: 16
So I bring everyone in, and start the battle. I appear to be up against a bunch of thieves on a bridge. And…oh, crap. They have archers. Ah, well. Saki is attacked fairly quickly by two thieves. And it looks like her “Fire Card” and “Volt Card” attacks aren’t completely useless. They do reasonable damage to these guys. The thieves go down quickly, but I still have to be careful because their attacks are strong. Cecille’s healing still kinda sucks.
Several turns later, the battle is going well. There are two thieves and both archers left, and all my guys are still alive. Nicolai is surprisingly useful. He can buff my guys, and he also has attacks that will sometimes inflict status conditions on my enemies. In most RP Gs, status-inducing attacks are pretty much useless, but in strategy RP Gs they can be very useful at times.
Looks like Theo has a flash drive now. It’s called Draco Claw, and it does damage and poisons the enemy. Guess he’s gotta make some use of the dragon arm. Have I mentioned that all flash drives have a status effect of some kind? Sometimes they do stuff like poison or sleep, but other times they lower stats. It depends on the specific flash drive.
Anyway, I just won. My spoils are 3,000 Rico, two Lozenges, a FreshAir, which cures confusion, and a ViTonic. I will intermission with Cecille. She says she’s thinking about the Ever Garden. I can say “About me?” “About Leon?” or “About Heath?” I pick the middle one. She says that Leon is a creep, and he peeks at her and Saki when they’re bathing. Despite that, she says he’s a decent person when he’s not being a total perv. Guess that wasn’t the best thing to say, because she doesn’t give me anything. Maybe I was supposed to ask about Heath.
I save, and enter the next town. Sounds like it’s primarily a blacksmithing town. The people here are much friendlier, too. It also sounds like the two villages have some kind of rivalry going on. The guy starts talking about a stone that a fire god named Hernas lives in. Sounds like it might be the Fire Lapistier. He says that if I’m interested, I should go check out some guy named Godor’s workshop.
The usual menu pops up, and as usual, I shop first. I buy new weapons for everyone, and a better hat for Theo. I also buy some more VitaMints, but that’s all I can afford.
My options under “Action” are talking to Theo, talking to Cecille, or going to the library. When I talk to Theo, Alph asks him if his arm is feeling OK. It seems to be. Alph is eager to take on Vanessa, but Leon reminds him that we have to find her first. We also have to check to see if the stone the villager mentioned really is the Fire Lapistier. Talking to Cecille gives some interesting results. Apparently, there’s an herb that grows near the Ever Garden that can be used as a painkiller. She says we should get some after we’re done here. Sounds like a sidequest, so I might as well take it on. But I gotta finish up here first.
Next, I go to the library. The books here are “The Founding of Dotruvar” (Dotruvar being the town I’m in right now), “The Sealed Forest,” and “The Book of Blasphemy.” I read the first one first. Sounds like the village came into being because of that stone. But it also sounds like it only started glowing fairly recently. The second book is about how the forest was sealed after the Adheld disaster. The third book mentions that it is possible to “give birth to a false life.” No one’s ever done this before, but the book claims that the very idea is blasphemous, because God is the only one who can give life.
Anyway, I leave the library, save, and continue the story.
We go to Godor’s workshop. He says that their special is a large scythe. Wait, aren’t scythes Vanessa's weapon of choice? That’s even more reason for her to stop by here. The guy asks if we want to pray to Hernas. Cecille says that no, we’re looking for Lapistier. The guy seems worried, asking what we’ll do if the stone IS a Lapistier. Alph says that we’ll confiscate it so that the Witches won’t be able to get ahold of it. Godor isn’t too thrilled to hear that. He says that if we take the stone, they won’t be able to do their metalwork anymore. He agrees to let us check, though.
Yeah, it looks like a Lapistier. All of a sudden, Vanessa shows up, saying that it’s beautiful. She says to give it to her, and Leon refuses. Alph, of course, tells her to uncurse Theo. She doesn’t seem to know what he’s talking about, though. Theo shows her his arm, telling her not to act like she doesn’t know. Vanessa, on the other hand, seems thrilled. She says that Theo has the dragon’s blood in him as well. She says that after a while, his whole body will be that of a dragon. And when that happens, he’ll be hers. Alph, enraged, demands that she undo it. And with that, we get into another fight with her.
I bring everyone into the battle, and it begins. My opponents are Vanessa, her behemoths, and four Hikopins. As usual, Saki goes first. She moves up and attacks a Hikopin. Vanessa does her attack buff on herself and one of the Behemoths. Theo attacks the same Hikopin, and Leon moves forward and uses an attack buff on himself. Alph kills a Hikopin, and levels to 16. Leon and Saki take minor fire damage. Cecille kills another Hikopin, and levels to 14. She learns a new spell.
Vanessa attack buffs the other Behemoth. Great, now they’re both stronger than they already were. Theo levels to 17. Leon attacks a Behemoth, levels to 16, and learns a new spell. Saki now has something called Chi Strike, which is a very long-ranged attack. It does reasonable damage, too. And wait, now she’s just been killed. Ugh, she’s so fragile!
I don’t appear to have any way of reviving her, so I’ll just have to win without her. Nicolai, who is proving incredibly useful, levels to 18 and learns a spell. Speaking of new spells, Cecille can now cure status ailments. Not much use right now. She kills another Hikopin. Alph and Theo use flash drives to do some serious damage to one of the behemoths. Vanessa attacks both of them with her Ao E fire spell. Leon kills the other Behemoth. Alph is attacked by the remaining one, and he is left with 2 HP. So I have him heal himself with a ViTonic. Theo finishes off the remaining Behemoth. Vanessa attacks Cecille and Nicolai. Cecille dies. Crap.
I attack Vanessa with both Leon and Nicolai, only for Nicolai to be killed off by the single Hikopin remaining. It’s just that thing and Vanessa left. Alph finishes her off, and levels to 17. Theo levels to 18, and Leon finishes the Hikopin to win the battle. He levels to 17.
My spoils are 2,100 Rico, a Barette, a SaneCharm, a LuminCap, and an FP-Fizzy. I intermission with Leon.
Vanessa asks Theo to come with him, saying since he’s going to be a dragon whether he likes it or not, he might as well go with her. Nicolai points out that the Dragons were the enemies of the Witches in the ancient battle, but Vanessa says that the Church made that up. The dragons are here to protect the planet, and were created by the planet. When the Dragons and the Witches come together, they become more powerful.
Then she says that Theo is a dragon, and that’s why her magic did that to him. All of a sudden, another woman warps in. She seems to be another Witch. And what do you know, Lucia is with her! She tells Vanessa that that’s enough. Vanessa addresses both of them, calling the new Witch “Mavi.” Nicolai, of course, is thrilled to see three Witches in one place.
Mavi says that someone named Lady Claire is sick of Vanessa’s antics. Vanessa claims that she’s just trying to save the planet her way, and that Lady Claire is too slow. Saki is surprised to see the Witches arguing. In the middle of it all, Alph asks Lucia to help him save Theo. Theo shows her his arm, and Lucia is shocked. Vanessa says that she’s going to make Theo her Rym. That word keeps coming up, and they still haven’t mentioned what it means. Vanessa passes on the fight, and warps away with the Lapistier. Mavi warps after her, and Lucia follows.
Godor is pretty upset that the stone is gone, but we don’t have time for that. The group tries to chase after the Witches, but they’re gone. Or…are they? Lucia comes back, saying that she’ll take us to the Witch village. This is an interesting twist. Wonder how the Witches will feel about that?
My intermission starts. Leon says some crap about ladies wanting to see his skills. I can say “do the ladies even like you?” “Yeah, it’s too bad,” or “They’d all be watching me!” I pick the middle option, but I don’t’ think it was the right one.
OK, the Kopin thing is kinda funny this time. He says he was walking and felt a sharp pain in his head. He says he should take better care of his health. Thing is, the picture is of him with a throwing star sticking out of his head.
The next stop on the map is the “Magical Forest.” It’s not the forest where the Witches are supposed to live, but I guess I have to go there. There are no battles on the way.
Since the chapter is over, I’ll stop here. The story is getting interesting. What will happen now that the group needs help from their enemies?
Thanks for reading, and hopefully I'll update soon.
