'Ey, Momoe. I've got a question for ya.
Isn't it about time you get going with everyone to, y'know, beat up that giant ant? Yeah, yeah, I've got time, don't you worry. See, I wanna ask somethin' that's been gnawin' at me since we started. Shoot. The question, that is. How come you haven't hit on me at all since we met? ...That's been bothering you? Not really botherin' me, more a...curiosity. You just said it was gnawing at you, though. Poor choice'a words. I'll take your word for it! Anyway, uh... Hm, how do I put it... Okay, got it. You know Sigrid, of course. I'm roommates wit' her. Kinda hard not to know her. Okay. So. She's hot. Like, especially after she changed up her outfit and dyed her hair that really nice shade of-- Yes. I'll agree with ya on that. Now, what's that got to do with me? Okay, so, I like hitting on hot girls! And my definition of that is super broad! But you, you're... Cute. Cute. Yeah. I feel like if I hit on you, it'd be like...hitting on a friend's little sister. ...Sure. I mean, not really, that doesn't make a lotta sense to me, but I gotta get goin'.
Time to brutalize an ant.
You might think I'd be using Vince solely for Front Guard.You'd be wrong. I'm much stupider than you think.
Sigrid's job is to be a Sword Dark Hunter. Bites followed by Soul Liberator.
Elowen's job is to toss out Efficiency consumables, as well as use Wolf Pack when that isn't needed.
The lack of Sure Shot pains me.
Quixote's job is to capitalize on Evil Eye. Which...kind of runs counter to Sigrid capitalizing on Soul Liberator, which is a problem. It should only be kind of a problem. A Soul Liberator primed with Muting Word and Wolf Pack ought to be pretty terrifying.
Ladette's job is to deal damage.
Gods, that's disgusting... Before we start the fight with Queen Ant, we have to solve a puzzle.Okay, not necessarily have to. If I wanted to, I could just bumrush her, if I felt like ant FOEs horning in on the fight.
But I don't, so let's take care of this. Queen Ant will circle around the room, in a clockwise path, laying eggs along the way. She takes a couple of turns to do this, in addition to taking one step per turn as-is.
This is a really tedious part of the fight.
Take out the egg that's already here when you enter the room, and then just keep playing catchup with the ants that Queen Ant lays after that.
Nothin' personal, Antie. It's...definitely personal for me.
Alllllllright, ladies and weirdo, jus' lemme smash this ant inta' the ground, and bada-bing-bada-boom-blam-bonk-bink, easyyyyyy kiss from the capa-in-trainin'! Not in a million years, Vincenzo.
Oh gods, he's drunk. Who--
I knew that would terrify you all! Our Protector is, how you say, sloshed! Cower in fear for your lives, as he does not protect you from harm, but rams himself into the giant ant! Quixote I'm going to slug you-- S-Sigrid, please, why are you so-- After that, you're good to go.
Hey, guys. Ant. Free preemptive, too.
Yeah see this party was so lacking in consistent damage that I got desperate and basically had Vince go full Shield Smite the entire fight.This was a bad idea.
It's not EO if there aren't hatched plans that end extremely poorly.
Sigrid'll set up panic. It's a decent opening ailment, if nothing else.
Hey, it's worth a shot.
Fear is crucial for Quixote to do his thing.
And Action Boost is kinda necessary for Gunner to be an actual damage class.
Angle it just so, and fire!
Okay, good start, stress is going down...
Hope you're ready, ant.
Your children will eventually be devoured by the bears of this forest! ...Are you sure the Honey Ants are her children? She didn't seem that upset. I'm glad we're analyzin' the emotional reactions of a giant ant.
Nevah fear, everyone, "Armor'a Light Vincent" is here! ...Yeah. Real bang up job there. i want to slam my head into a wall for ever trying this BIG DAMAGE
why am i still doing it BIG DAMAGE
The panic's gonna get overwritten by fear eventually, so I might as well get damage from it now.
The sum of the amplified damage Elowen will provide with Wolf Pack will probably outpace whatever she could've dealt on her own.
And it's time for Ladette to have fun.
AWOOOOOO! A comrade in shouting! Marvelous!
AWOOOooOOOooooooo... WHATBULLSHIT
oh my fucking god that's some serious bullshit
The AI pattern rebels!
Yowza. That was the cleanest, purest sword swipe I've ever seen. Not that you see many in my line'a work, but y'know. Oh, um, th-thank-- Aaaaaant. ...Yes, Vince, the ant is still there. I don't know if that's necessarily worth losing panic, but these are extenuating circumstances.
...And that was the quickest gun firing I've ever seen. When was the first time you saw someone firing a gun, though...? Chews up a lot of TP, but I'm not gonna complain. We have Amrita access now, it's fine! You did remember to bring them, right?
BONK! Oh, Vince...
Well, with Quixote out of commission, I might as well go for paralysis right now...
Speaking of which, let's get Quixote back up.
...That cost 21 TP. EO1, this is not. How the mighty have fallen.
What joy it is, beholding fear!
Eyyyyyyyyyyyyy... rip *loud noises of metal crashing*
Ah, gods, my head... Hangover, or resurrection sickness? I think it's both...
Thank you for not going for anyone at low HP.
...Huh. Well, that was lucky.
Okay that's...way less nice, especially for how much TP it eats.
YOU ARE A TERRIFYING CREATURE AND YOU CANNOT FIX IT! Eh, I would've rather gotten the damage from dispelling parlaysis with Soul Liberator, but given the precarious situation I'm in damage-wise, I suppose I can't complain too much.
I need Elowen to toss an Efficiency Amrita at Ladette, so I have Vince take on Soma duty for this turn.
I really don't know what else to do with Sigrid right now. Raging Edge isn't bad if you have a leveled variant. Unfortunately, the ones the game gives you are... not very good.
See above.
Suicide Word might've been a better choice for this specific turn, but oh well.
Refreshin'.
Ngh...
This is a serious mistake. And not just for the immediately obvious reasons.
Yes, it's a lot of damage, but...
...No more... Please, just...leave me for dead this time... Hrm. Decidedly unlike Sword Girl. Dispelling fear mid-turn causes Muting Word to be disabled, and if the enemy has not already failed to act, they will still get their turn. Whoops!
Hey, ant, can you die already, I've suddenly got some business t' take care of.
For a party with such bad consistent damage, this isn't terrible progress. I'm amazed you haven't been screwed over by Duster yet.
Crunch and Ruler's Eye are both very capable of causing an unfixable situation now, so I'm gonna try to disable them.
...I said--
Leave me... I never want t' see...another ant...ever again... Aw fuck. PANIC
Small comforts...
Quixote no please stop shoving me-- Well, this is bad.
I'm not going down without a fight, though.
My eyes--! Kickin' us while we're down, huh? Fuck me, ugh. Goddamn stupid Duster. That's gonna make this so much harder. Heeeeere we go!
At least I don't have to worry about Queen's Verdict for a bit.
I don't need eyes to shoot. Blech. Missing is the absolute worst, since you still lose the TP.
Hah.
QUACK! ...Quack? I'm running out of terrifying techniques to use on this tenacious...tant. Tant?
Bang bang.
You're dead.
That was quite the long pause. ...Shut it. ...did i seriously just make it out of that victorious
wow
You're super lucky to have been able to land all of those gunner shots.
You have at last defeated the powerful foe! ...'Kay, so, uh. Elowen, y'mind taking these two back to town so they can not be dead any more? Um, sure, but I'll...need help taking these up. I'm...not strong enough to carry Vince-- ALLOW ME! Gck! ...O-okay... I'll finish mappin' this place, then.
Note that to find the stairs, you have to find a shortcut.
...Probably a good idea t' get back to town before any monsters get me.
We of the Radha are another step closer to the mystery of the Labyrinth. ...But allow me to ask you something... Is it your wish to continue investigating the forest? ...Of course... ...I thought as much. It is the only natural answer for explorers, I suppose. But it seems our Chieftain, Lord Visil, has other opinions. He believes that the forest should be left as is, and that there's no need to uncover what's hidden within it. ...But I forget myself. I shouldn't speak to you of such things. In any event... Your maps will be a boon to our research of the third Stratum. We'd like to present this to you as a token of our appreciation.
I have another request to make of you. We've dispatched soldiers to draw a map of the third Stratum... but a number of them have delivered worrisome reports. We will need your help in this mission. Will you accept?
Sigh.
Did we really have a choice? Someone's cranky. Shut up, Vince. Yowza.
As I mentioned earlier, there's a strange creature in the third Stratum we are unable to reach. They seem to be a humanoid life form native to the forest. We may need to deal with them. For now, we're discussing with the Chieftain how to best handle them... In the meantime, we want you to investigate the life form and report back with details. But beware, for there's no knowing if the life form will be friend or foe to humans. Sure. ...We're desensitized to the Labyrinth by this point, I see.
How come?
An adventurer has been using it for a while now... But he hasn't been back in so long, I doubt he'll ever return. That's unfortunate, but it's not a rare event in this town. I've already gotten used to it. We're going now. SUDDENLY AWAY! ...The heck's gettin' into her...
Not only does he rule t'town, t'at man knows how t'make weapons too! He's an incredible man, t'at one.
But I have heard that you are the only ones capable of accomplishing a task such as this. ...Though please, do be careful. When are we ever not careful? Too many times t' count.
You remember that detective, Austin? He's a real hit right now, since he can figure things out with barely any clues. Oh, speak of the devil. Here he is now.
Well, if it isn't the members of Tenebris. Helping you in your quest seems to have earned me some celebrity. I suppose I shouldn't underestimate the influence you adventurers have on this town. Sadly, the great unwashed think I'm some sort of cheap fortune teller. Detectives like myself are often misunderstood. Well, that's unfortunate. Oh, I'm used to this kind of treatment. But it's not all bad. Speaking with so many people has helped me to gather a wealth of information. ...Anyway, I wanted to ask you if there are any large monsters on the 3rd Stratum. Oh, it's not an important question. I'm just interested in the distribution of animal habitats. Well, there were several ants on the 12th floor... ...I see. Thanks for the information. Well, I suppose I'll continue my little fortune-telling gig for now. I may hear something interesting.
This is Valerie's normal talk dialogue. Etria's a city of adventurers, so the more people there are exploring, the more profit the city makes. ...My pub included, of course.
Well, that's a lot of people to talk to.Austin the detective:
Hrm. I have quite a number of consultations.
It'd be nice if I had someone around to compile everything for me... But I left all that behind. Do you mutter to yourself out loud often? Okay then.Leggy dark hunter:
Hm hm hm, I got something nice today. It's fun to play with the monsters. I'M LISTENING! Hm? You want to hear what I found today? Well, then... You know. No, I simply said I was listening. Anyway, uh... 'Ey, Val, Dragon Fritters 'ere. Ah... Nothing like some fried food and a good beer. They're so good together, and it numbs your mind. What I'd give right now to not have an internal commitment to not drinking... Speaking of numbing, the item I got today is numbing. After all, it's Paralyzed Leg. All you have to do is paralyze a Dragonfly. Isn't it easy? And yet, my alchemist never figured out the trick... Hm hm hm. Still, why are there two flavors to these fritters? I can't get enough of them! ugh dragonfliesMaiden in a white coat:
I-I'm sorry... I just remembered something I heard at work... A patient at the clinic said something strange. He said there's something in the water... And when he looked into a pool, something big looked back. It's like a ghost story... But we are talking about the forest, so it's probably just a monster. He said he snuck away, but what if he'd made a lot of noise...? That's scarier than a ghost story. This has to do with an FOE we'll be meeting on B13F.Friendly landsknecht:
Yo, how's your exploration of the Labyrinth going? Me, I'm, uh...having problems. After all, we're fighting strong enemies, and a lot of 'em. We were just talking about what items to use. For example, having some Crinoid Leaf or carrying around Stonard to raise our defense. ...Uh, Stonards are made from Crinoid Leaves, yeah, but Crinoid Leaves don't do anything on their own. Ailments are useful, too. Bat Ears can make Confuse Gas. That's easy! Oh, and maybe keeping enemies stuck with Tanglers made from Ice Sweat would be good, too. How's that? Useful, eh?! ...Well, I learned that by talking with the mixer who hangs around here at the pub. Bard with asymmetrical hair: Aha. Maybe no one else knows, Tenebris, but I do... You've finally defeated Cernunnos! ... DAY LATE AND A DOLLAR SHORT! ...Hang on a sec, the heck is a dollar-- Huh? That was a while ago...? But everybody... Huh?! Oh, er, well... Uh, anyway... Congratulations. Shivering researcher: I want to go further into the forest, but... *shudder* The monsters are all so frightening... Dragonhorses use Water Gun, but they're so fast... It's just... Boom! It hit our landsknecht in the front line, then it even hit me in the back line! Ugh... I thought water guns were toys for kids or something... How can you give an attack so bad that name? Ohhhh... I don't want to go into the Labyrinth. My stomach hurts... ugh dragonhorsesMan eating with gusto:
Ooh, you guys! You're Tenebris, right? You beat the ants?! I heard about it from the Hall! You're my heroes! Now we can safely harvest that lumber. Three cheers for Tenebris! You adventurers are great! I feel no joy from this. ...Sig, if somethin's wrong, you're free t'-- I'm fine. You...don't really sound like-- I'm fine.
They have something against explorers, so you'd better watch yourselves!
...I have a bad feeling about this. Too many strange incidents have been occurring these days.
Also this thing.
Queen Saber (+79 ATK, +20 HP, +20 TP) is made from 1 Death Claw (Queen Ant normal). Costs 6600 en. A pretty decent sword! HP and TP are never bad, and the ATK's pretty high for an S3 sword. Yeah, this is a great breakpoint for both Landsknechts and Dark Hunters if you're using swords. I recall this lasting me a good while; I don't think I ended up replacing it until late in S3 or even S4. I forgot to check on quests, so...Next time: B13F.
Time for a slight change of scenery.
Mmngh?
...Momoe? Are you feeling alright? Why did you wake up? I'd ask why you're up, but... Did you hear...screaming right now? From, like, Sigrid and Ladette's room? I'm reading. Also, no. ...I hope it was just my imagination, then... Alright, g'night. Sleep well.Next Update
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