Story Update 4

Story Update 4: Guild Achievers vs. A Wolf That Needs No Armor (Fenrir)

Today, we take on Fenrir with the Story party. Exhilarating.

fun

excitement

And by "take on Fenrir" I mean "do this Rosa scene first."

Thanks, Rosa. ...What are all those packages over there for?

These are from your father in Ontario. They only arrived just now. Let me find something you would like...

Wow, your dad is insane. What did he send you?

What's this? It's...two cylinders with a handle in the middle?

Some sort of mixer, perhaps... The outer container is wood, and the inner is copper. Likely used for a transfer of energy or heat...

Oh-kaaaaay...? So what?

It's... It's an ice cream maker!

Correct. My master had it custom-made by a craftsman so that you may all enjoy the tastes of Ms. Sheldon's homeland. Would you like me to prepare some now?

Letting these idiots try to make ice cream seems like a bad idea.

Let Rosa make it.

Understood. If you will excuse me for a bit, then.

We're really having ice cream...

I don't get you. What's the big deal? It's just cold and sweet.

I've never actually had it before, but I've heard that it's quite a delicacy... Do you think she'll be all right by herself? From what I've heard, making ice cream is quite strenuous.

Simon, you're, like, a 17 or 18 year old who knows how to apply bandages. Rosa is a professional maid.

18 is high enough for "wise expert" in this genre, honestly.

She's the professional.

I'm not sure if making her do this on her own is--

Listen to Dude, Simon. It's her job, let her do it. I'm sure she wouldn't be comfortable if her employers came in to help her do her job.

Is that how it is?

Butlers and maids are weird, dude.

Yep, that's how it is.

I have prepared some maple ice cream for all of you. Please enjoy it with this chiffon cake I baked as well.

Yay...!

Whoa! This looks awesome!

Settle down, Arthur.

Nicely done, Rosa. It looks like we made the right decision when we asked you to make it.

No need to thank me... I am merely carrying out my duties.

Seconds, please.

Of course, right away. I am very glad that you enjoy it. Oh, I know. Let me prepare some cordials for you. With the new ingredients Master Sheldon sent, I can prepare some new blends.

Oh, that sounds good. If you don't mind then, Rosa.

Understood. What kind of blend would you like me to make?

Same prompt as Classic. What you choose doesn't affect the upcoming dialogue.

Here it is. Please enjoy.

Ooh, that smells good!

...It's delicious. And it looks like it has medicinal effects, too.

That's correct. I've heard that explorers often encounter new perils, so I've come up with something new. I'm afraid that I know little of adventuring, but I hope I can be of some use to all of you...

You're already a big help.

I will always be at your service.

Is there anything else you need from me?

Anyway it's wolf time.

Watch the video to get an idea of how agonizing playing this game with voices on is.

...Nice marmot.

There is a very good reason why I advocate for no voices in 5.

Raquna has nothing to do on this first turn.

Same for Simon.

Dude buffs up the back row, which currently includes himself.

Arthur activates Analysis.

Screw it, Frederica might as well go for a head bind. That'd be nice.

Bah.

Fenrir's just as willing to give us free turns in Story as he is in Classic.

I honestly have nothing to say here. Fenrir's boring and the Story party is overwhelmingly conventional.

This is Dude's best option for damage: applying a Blaze Oil to himself.

Raquna makes Fenrir waste his turn.

Simon stuns all of the Skolls in the room. Letting those into the fight too early will result in a swift loss.

Arthur using Flame Formula instead of Fire Formula would result in a very minor damage increase at the expense of almost 3x the TP cost.

Frederica's damage output at this point doesn't warrant going for a weakness. I should've kept trying for a head bind.

Oh well.

I'm in for a long fight, aren't I?

God.

The best thing Raquna can do in this fight is spam Ice Wall every turn.

Unless Simon needs to heal someone, he's going to keep just spamming Flash Bombs.

I brought way too few of those.

I tend to bring too many. They're cheap as hell so playing it safe never really hurts.

Ice Wall level 4 isn't complete negation, but it's more than enough for now. When elemental attacks start getting really nasty disables attached to them, that's when you bump it up to level 5.

...

I know Dude's spear needs upgrading, but come on.

Excuse me?

I SAY VEE CUT OFF YOUR JOHNSON! Just sink about zat, Lebowski, ja, your viggly penis, Lebowski. Und maybe vee stamp on it und skvush it, Lebowski!

Four turns and I've only chipped off this much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj0ChLVTpaA

frederica.

Free turn, I guess.

It was at this point that I realized using Fire Talismans would let Arthur deal quite a bit more damage than just Fire Formula.

Case in point.

Six turns. I hate the Story party's earlygame so much.

Another free turn.

Notice how I'm out of damn Flash Bombs, though.

I'm not gonna be able to kill Fenrir before the Skolls horn in.

Whoops!

why did this idiot get chosen to be cryogenically frozen again

Nepotism, probably.

That could've been worse...but my primary damage dealer is afraid.

And things could start to get really ugly here.

I can't try to kill the Skolls, I have to just try my best to finish off Fenrir.

Simon getting stunned is really bad; he was about to cure Arthur's fear.

Shit.

oh hey a new friend thanks for joining us

I don't have a moment to spare. Anything going wrong here is going to be my doom.

Surprise! Fight went to hell really fast the second supplies ran out.

Arthur getting killed means he lost the Analysis buff, by the way.

God, I'm so close...

Oh thank fucking god.

Note that in boss fights, the battle ends as soon as you kill the boss itself. You don't need to kill summons/FOEs to end the fight.

Boss fights are not particularly fun with the Story party.

They get easier, but I'm not sure if I can say they become more entertaining.

We did it...! We won...!

Yes, we did it.

Mm-hm!

It put up quite a fight... But I'm glad to see everyone's okay.

Hey, don't forget how amazing Dude was! Now that's our Highlander! His orders were right every time! It was fun, fighting under him!

Bullshit it was.

I've been playing two entries of a JRPG series recently. One's really easy, the other one's really hard because of poor tuning. The easy one won't stop talking about how hard everything is and the hard one won't stop talking about how easy everything is.

It feels like these games never get it right.

Thanks, Karol

Indeed, I'm relieved to have you as our leader. Our victory was thanks largely to you.

It showed Achievers's strength.

Achievers...

Hehe... We just kinda got thrown together as a guild, but you're right. We work well togther!

...Does that mean we make a good team?

Ooh, yeah! That's a great way to put it, Frederica!

Though they spend some time exulting in Fenrir's defeat, they eventually calm themselves and gather around.

Now, back to business... We should return to Radha Hall to report the completion of our mission.

Uh... Hold on, can we find the Geomagnetic Field first? I want to check to see if it really does connect to Gladsheim before we do anything else.

I'm with Frederica on this one. I am not walking through B5F again just to get to the 2nd Stratum.

All right, let's look for it.

Thanks, Dude.

True. We do need to find that Field to test the reliability of those documents.

If I remember right, the Radha said it's just in the next Stratum. Let's take the stairs down to go look, eh?

the most boring stratum in the series with the most boring party.

whee.

Huh. I've never seen one in person before. Pretty weird!

According to our documents, this also functions as a transporter into Gladsheim. I came prepared...

This is the Gladsheim's location data as written. It says here the transporter accepts commands in the ancient tongue.

With that, Simon begins speaking something in a dead language, long lost to most...

Okay I know Colette's ancient anthology of every video game ever was silly, but I have the excuse that I don't take the narratives pretty seriously for the most part. Who would've written what Simon's reading from, and for what reason?

The preparations are complete. We should be able to enter Gladsheim from here now.

there is no way i am going to gladsheim right now

The way is open for you to enter the second Stratum and make use of the Geomagnetic Field. Please continue to assist us in exploring the ruin...and identifying that abnormality as well. We have prepared a small reward for you. I hope that you find it useful in your investigation.

I pray that we find something that is useful to Etria.

Dude, don't you think it's a good time...to head to the pub for a rest?

What kinda killjoy would say no, even if they didn't plan on drinking?

Let's go, then.

That's the spirit! Come on, let's go.

What do you mean? We haven't done anything particularly special...

What are you talking about? Weren't you the ones who completed the mission from the Radha? A lot of the new adventurers can go into the Labyrinth again thanks to you. So many guilds owe you a bunch.

How come you didn't give Tenebris the same praise? You playin' favorites, Valerie?

And let's also not forget--let's not forget Dude--that keeping wildlife, uh, an amphibious rodent, for, uh, you know, domestic, within the Labyrinth--that ain't legal either.

What're you, a fucking park ranger now?

No, I'm just trying to, uh-

Who gives a shit about the fucking marmot?!

I think everyone's overreacting a bit. I mean, we didn't do anything that great, did we?

Ha, well, I wouldn't be so sure of that if I were you. To show my own gratitude, this round's on me. Take your time and relax. You kiddos deserve it.

I suppose a mission from the Radha is a big deal in this town.

Yah, it kind of caught me by surprise.

I... I don't feel like I deserve it. I did this mission for myself. That it would also benefit the people here never crossed my mind.

Yeah! It feels good when someone thanks you!

Arthur, be quiet.

...The hell is your problem, Frederica?

What?! What'd I say?!

I'm with Arthur on this one.

Evaluate that sentiment for a second.

Damn! Nothing's right! Nothing makes sense any more!

You know you've got to be accepting of what others say to you, don't you?

I know, but that's not what I meant...

...Never mind. I don't feel like arguing with you.

...The hell is your problem, Frederica?

There's no need to think about it too much. Whatever our reasons, the fact remains that we were the ones who defeated Fenrir.

I guess you're right. ...But it does feel nice to get some gratitude for helping people...

I guess being an adventurer isn't half bad!

Adventuring's pretty enjoyable.

Ha! I know, right?

It's fine to enjoy yourself, but don't forget what we're here for.

Oh, come on, Simon. We never got thanked for our work back at the Library.

Well, anyway, let's just enjoy ourselves for today. C'mon, it's on the house! I think it's great that we could do something for the people, and then celebrate it with them.

I guess... But take it easy tonight, Raquna.

Of course I will! Now then... Bottoms up!

Whenever Raquna starts quaffing, all the tough guys try to keep up, and she drinks them under the table. She always looks like she's having the time of her life when she's drinking. Please come here when you're thirsty!

There's something enjoyable about the mental image of a, like, 20-year-old Canadian woman beating a bunch of gruff, scarred explorers at drinking.

I accidentally accepted a quest too early to get the innkeeper's dialogue, but...

Really, does anyone give a fuck about that dude?

Isn't it sad, person that I can never remember the name of

You know they're making a new Magic School Bus series? And Miss Frizzle has gotten her doctorate, so now her younger sister Valerie has taken over? Seriously.

This is relevant because fuckin Carlos.

So y'can imagine how excited we all got t'see Frederica show up! It's good t'know t'ere's someone out t'ere usin' our work.