Okay, inbetween the last installment and this one, I did a bit of grinding. Here are the levels for your enjoyment.
Nat - Level 26. Phaleg Rank 7
Maki - Level 27. Sati Rank 7
Nanjo - Level 26. Ogma (Hirophant persona level 25) Rank 1
Mark - Level 27 Aonbharr (Rank 1
Reiji - Level 25 Quetzalcotal Rank 6
In the middle, I got a lot of fusions and personas stack up. Even one for Reiji! So for awhile, I believe I shall be fine for contacting.
Step out of the mall and we shall head to the castle. Which is right where the hospital was. Hmmm.... On our way we get besieged by ENKU! Long time no see! Oh and an Archangel and some bug but...the battle goes swiftly with Nanjo's Persona gaining a Rank and learning Magry, thanks to an item I equipped and Mark's gaining a rank and learning Paralama. And then we quickly make it to the castle.
When find Aki there at the gate. She tells us that we can't get in unless we talk to the scaredy-cat of a girl in the forest. Gee, thanks for that. But Nanjo only has ellipses for the proceedings. He then points out that the girl had a half-moon like compact and that we need to find another to get in. Maki states that this girl should be hiding within the Lost Forest and Mark says we should go find her but...cue Reiji taking the easy way, bashing the control panel in. Mark stops him and says that whatever is bugging him about Kandori, he doesn't have to carry it by himself. He rejects this and is disgusted by us and calls Mark the most disgusting of all. Maki comes in to defend him but Mark says that it's okay, since we have to stick together and all. Alright. I smell something going on here...but to the forest we go!
Hey wait...this means we have to go through the subway again don't we...
Ah well. Level grinding FTW!
On our way, we contact (still doing this for items!) Carrie reacted well to Nanjo's biting sarcasm and healed him up, the Ocypete was interested with Mark's taunts and Reiji's aloofness to give me Yen! (All your yens! Yip! Yip! Yip!) and Principalty was eager with Mark's stares. A battle goes well, though thanks to Nanjo being paralyzed, he missed out on most of the EXP. A contact with Genkurou goes very well with Mark dancing crazy and Maki's pleads of help giving Mark EXP and leveling him up and a Iwate is annoyed but eager with Nanjo's Sarcasm and grants him EXP. It's a good thing he is a good contacter, or else he would lag behind even more.
Into the subway! We find an easy path (walkway?) that leads us right to the room. We fight the group we just contacted, which is tricky as the Genkurou knows a skill that could reflect all magic back to us. We still are victorious with Mark's Persona ranking up twice and learning Alsanga and Magnara and Nanjo's ranking up. We make it to the room and find Nanjo pondering something, Mark worrying about "our" Maki and Reiji saying Kandori has to apologize for something. Anyway, heading to the walkway to get out of here. We run into those Iwate's and once again, Nanjo's "charms" work well and we get yen! This is why we contact the demons. Money. We were close to the stairs but then we have to fight those Genkurou's (and an Iwate and a Nozuchi) again. Though this time, they preferred sealing our Persona's away. Which they prefered using on Nanjo and Reiji. -sigh- At least somehow Nanjo's persona got a rank up out of it, learning Sukunda in the process and Maki's persona maxed out, learning Azure Cessation. We get out and I rush to the mall, only to get sidelined by a group of demons. With a combo of Nanjo's sarcasm and Nat's persuasion, we get Carrie eager enough to give a Life Stone. An Ocypete is more testy than normal and gets mad enough to give a preemptive strike. Must be the near fullness of the moon, even though it's waning. But Principalty respones as usual to Mark stares, giving him EXP.
Mall. First save tree. Then Sennen for Chewing Souls. Then Peace Diner just cause. Then Velvet Room. Turns out that there is a Priestess Arcana persona for Maki that I can fuse. Unfortunitly, once again we are at a insuffecent level to summon it. -sigh- Ah well. And it's an easy trek up to the clinic for some healing. Off to the forest that is lost!
A contacting fight! Nozuchi really likes Bribery, as it makes him both happy and eager. (The gemstone and the eating of life might have helped) Once again, Mark danced crazy for the Genkurou's...hey! Maybe I could contact them away when I don't feel like fighting them! And Mark gets EXP and plows ahead of the party in the process! And once again, scarcasm works wonders on Iwate, giving Nanjo a life stone. Oh hey! A save tree right before the-BATTLE! AGGHH! Mark's persona gained a rank and learns Travesto, making two in the party that knows it. And woot! Nat's Persona finally learned a vauluable attack! (Max rank with Crimson Sublation) And he get's his level up! FINALLY! Save me save tree!
We make it to the gates of the Lost Forest with no problem. Nanjo remarking that this place must have had amazing security before the incident since there were no police. And Maki says that a month ago, this was a bed of flowers. Anyway, dungeon itself. Lovely theme.
This dungeon has a healing and a save tree spread out amoung the trees and this place has turning floors that switch you in a different direction. No big problem. We run into our first fight before we hit the save tree. Seeing that it is a contact round, it shouldn't be too hard. Unfortuinlty, we have a Phunbaba who is tough to deal with. But at least we got him angerly eager gaining Nanjo some yen. The next is anatomy who loves hearing Nanjo's Pontifications. We also top it with some Prestidigitations (magic tricks) from Reiji to make him happy giving us a Topaz. Then we have Eligor, who takes staring from Mark well giving him more money. With that, we hit the save tree. But...we get ambushed! Leaving Maki and Mark out in the open! We move along and...yet again another ambush! But this time it's for contacting with a forceful Picollus! He takes persuasion from Nat really well and gives him EXP for it. Another battle, with Nanjo's persona learning Dekuna and Reiji's persona gaining a rank. I think I realize now just how powerful Nat's move is against the others, making sticking with a lower level attack sorta worth it. Anyway, contact with a Black Widow, who is impressed with the staring of Mark gaining a life stone for us. Hmm...dangerous move there Mark. Another fight, another...whoa Nat got 408 damage on that demon! Another contact with a Picollus, some more money for Nat. We also find a room with some items and...some sort of demon that deals Nat damage. It must be MP damage, for I don't see any change with the health. Once again, the Black Widow's fall under Mark's stares, giving him EXP, which gives him another level. And...I had a good feeling those Eligor's were blocking...all magic?! At least they are weak to physical skills. Our next contact is with a Duergar, who reacts happily to Nanjo's sarcasm. Our next battle goes easily with Mark's persona gaining a rank up and Nat and Maki gaining a level. Where have I ever been without fire skills for Nat? SAVE TREE! This means we must be near the boss! Next contacts, Nanjo gains money, Nat gains a Life Stone and Nanjo gains EXP leveling up and making Reiji the lagger. Anyway, after a short puzzle, we find a gingerbread house. Interesting. Let's enter and eat all the sweets we can find!
We find a girl in white there, Mai. WITCH! She cries out of mine and Mark's accusation of her being in line with Aki. Whoops. Maki manages to calm her down though and notices the compact is a lot like hers. Mai says that Aki is the bad her. When Kandori came to her when she was lonely, Aki came out of her and ran off with him. She then tells of her compact which grants wishes. She says that she used it to create this town.-wistles- Maki asks if she could stop Kandori but Mai says that Aki has half of the compact and that she uses it for mean things and cancels her wishes out. She hides away from her then. Mark asks her for it but she says that's what Kandori wants. (!!) Maki says that Mai shouldn't hide away and then asks Nat, aka me why not for wouldn't she be safe here. Personal backstory here. When things got rough in the past for me, I tended to ignore them in hopes that something would happen. I know very well that hiding doesn't solve problems, it magnifies them. Mai agrees with me but then Mai asks why I am trying so hard. Obviously, the right answer is for everyone's sake. Mark then buts in trying to get this done so that we can save "other" Maki who just might be dead. Mai then asks what we are living for since life is painful. This draws a blank from everyone. Our answer is..."To find my reason." Eh? Wait...to find out what you can bring to the world? To always seek to find that purpose, no matter what? Nanjo points out that there is a sweetness to life and agrees with me. And Mai says that we can borrow her compact! Mark then tries to wish us to the palace but...it is only usable by Mai. You know what this means people? A long walk back! -sigh- I'll end this segment once we are out of this forest, once again ignoring Travesto.
NOTE: I just outlined the path to the good ending. If you make any devation from these choices, you face Mai in a boss fight and are on the path to the bad ending. Though it has an awesome credits theme that while it screams "YOU SCREWED! YOU SCREWED!" it's so tense and wonderful that it might just be leading into something bigger and grander and-ahem, I wouldn't recommend going down this route.
Anyway, long story short we get out of the forest. Quite easily as a arrow marked walkway leads us straight to the exit, with us only fighting a sole Anatomy. We get out and contact a Polisun, with Nat's persuasion giving us a life stone. And thus we get to the save tree. Welp, looks like we have a long update next time. Tips and advice appreciated and I shall see you all later.
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