tw: giant bug
Around Treno
-Now that there are two of us, let’s try that Griffon.
-Oh. Only one can fight the monster. Never mind. Neither of these characters are phenomenal solo artists. Quina may be my best bet given their flexibility – if they ever come to Treno, that is.
-Let’s try the tavern again.
-Yes. Marcus is here, and he met up with Baku. Let’s steal this.
-Steiner’s getting a little annoying tbh. I get it, and I know that he’s literally her protector – that’s his role – but she’s made up her mind. Stop it.
-Baku questions Steiner’s individuality. I wonder.
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Auction House
-Kuja on the main floor.
-He’s a dickasaurus rex. Makes some gross fatphobic comment about Brahne.
-But his theme music is sweet. I’ll give him that.
-He refers to the Burmecians as vermin. Ugh.
-The auctioneer will deliver something on Kuja’s behalf. He seems highly clued into what’s going on in Kuja’s plans, with Cleyra and Burmecia. I’m surprised.
-He saw Dagger.
KUJA: “The canary I’ve been after… She flew into my cage of her own free will.”
-wait. Crap. The place we’re going to steal the Supersoft. It’s Kuja’s house, right?
-This guy is one of the most melodramatic villains in the series. Exdeath was melodramatic in a comical way; Kuja reminds me much more of Genesis in his style and language.
-He’s working on behalf of Brahne (for the moment – I have major doubts how long it will last). “I too will welcome you home with open arms.” What are you planning?
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Crime Boat
-The criminals, including now Dagger and Steiner, aboard the board moving towards their destination.
-Steiner is having a bit of a crisis. He knows he’s committing a crime, but chooses to focus on his duties to protect the princess. No matter what.
Ugh. Ugggh. Dude. Your awakening is coming, and it won’t be pretty. I’m so sorry, Steiner.
-He wonders whether he really should be thinking for himself more, then dismisses it.
-We swap to Dagger’s thoughts. Angry at Zidane (quite rightfully imo), though clearly mixed emotions.
-She’s doing this to help Blank, who himself saved her life.
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Noble’s House
-This is the Bishop’s house I think. This place looks like the synthesist’s shop we were in earlier.
-An AWESOME looking animal person walks down the stairs towards our thieves…
-Doctor Tot! Dagger’s tutor. His character design is amazing and kind of hilarious.
-The shopkeeper hears something below – Tot tell us to run, that he’ll get us the Supersoft later.
-Tot lives in the tower. We’ll meet him there.
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That Frigging Bird
-Tried fighting the Griffon again with Steiner and got whomped. Maybe I can make an adjustment to protect against wind if I have the gear.
-Ok. Equipped Bronze Armor and a Gold Choker, which both reduce wind damage by 50%. Let’s try again.
-Died again, but better. [Non-rhetorical question for y’all: if I have one item that reduces wind damage by 50%, does the next item I equip with that same characteristic do nothing to help damage reduction against wind?]
-One more try. Got Bird-Killer and Auto-Potion equipped.
-Much better! Forced the griffin to cast White Wind to heal itself. (Perhaps I could have Quina come back to eat that.)
-GOT IT!!! Auto-Potion was the key.
-omg. Wtf. The prize was a card. I was too full on cards so they didn’t give me a card. Didn’t even give me the chance to discard one to clear space the way that I’d been given that chance every prior time I was full on cards and got a card reward. FHDJKLSFHDSJKLFHDSKLDS SO SALTY RIGHT NOW.
-Thought about restarting the fight and doing it again because that’s some serious bullshit mechanic, but whatever. I don’t want to start down that road if I can help it. I’ll just take this as a lesson to not get near the card cap.
-Just checked my card title, and I’m apparently a “Commander.” Ok.
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Tot’s Tower
-Doctor Tot has a sweet apartment at the top of this tower. He came here after sponsorship in Alexandria fell through.
-Marcus walks in, takes the Supersoft from a chest (at Tot’s request), and… that’s it? No way it’s that easy.
-There’s a globe of the planet, “Gaia.” Dagger remembers back to Tot’s lessons…
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Dagger’s Lessons
-Ancient texts bring up two phrases repeatedly: “summoner tribe” and “jewel.”
-500 years ago, the phrases vanished from texts. Huh.
-An archaeologist, Frederick Ash, thought that the jewel was pendant passed down among Alexandrian royalty, but Tot thinks the pendant is too small to be that jewel.
-Also talk of a relationship between magical stones and eidolons. That might explain why Dagger can summon.
-OMG LI’L GARNET
-She didn’t like books, except “I Want to Be Your Canary,” by Lord Avon. [I just checked the Ragtime Mouse’s question. He asked if it was Lord Afon who wrote it, and I said yes when it was Avon, not Afon, and now I’m salty again.]
-She grew up very sheltered, thinking the castle was the world. This lesson on Gaia helps put things in perspective for the first time for her.
-Something about the stars and the jewels/eidolons.
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Present
-This is a cool reunion to see.
-Tot now uses the inside of this massive broken globe for a map of the sky.
-Dagger reveals what she knows to Tot. He’s on our side. (70% chance of this being true, but a 30% chance of him being a Kuja plant trying to push us back to Alexandria.) Wants to help us get back to Alexandria.
-Just hit 100 Tetra Master wins. 100-33-28.
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Gargan Roo
-Doctor Tot leads us to a secret ancient route between Lindblum and Alexandria called (lol) Gargan Roo.
-It hasn’t been used in a while, but Tot convinced “Mr. Bishop” to keep it in repair. I think the merchant/shopkeeper is Mr. Bishop, though not totally ruling out that Kuja is Kuja Bishop.
-We have to find a sequence code that’ll summon a “gargant.” I wonder what that is. Some giant creature that’ll run us back and forth maybe, or a subway.
-Mochos the moogle is here. We give Mochos the letter from Nazna. The letter is about Grimo, the moogle who said he wouldn’t love after seeing Part-Time Mary’s relationship. Nazna thinks Grimo is in love.
-Aw! Mochos knows Nazna is in love with Grimo, so hearing Grimo diss love must’ve hurt her.
-Creepy monsters down here. Creepy crawlies.
-Pulled a lever. Nothing happened.
-There’s a nother level that I pulled, this one labeled “Feed.” Nothing happened. I now believe that there’s a giant worm that acts to transport us that this level feeds once she comes.
-Trances have been really awkward in game so far. Sometimes they happen early, but often they trigger at the end of a fight and that’s the end of them for a while. Slow to build too.
-When Dagger goes into a Trance, her “Summon” turns into “Eidolon.” Haven’t tried out any of them yet though. Too expensive.
-OH! It’s not a sequence code we’re looking for. It’s the order to pull the various levers.
-….ughhhhhh. I wasn’t all wrong. The gargant is a giant insect pulling a trolley. One lever summons it, and the Feed lever stops it.
-The gargant is kind of cute on screen, but I’d be terrified irl.
-Before we depart, Tot counsels Steiner to be more proactive in his protection of the princess, not just blindly following orders.
-We are on our merry way on the gargant, but it stops in its tracks. Hesitant. Monster ahead?
-Yup. Creepy-ass worm boss.
Rahlvurahva.
-The movements and animations on the boss are great. Slithery.
-Beat it back. It escaped. I imagine we may see it again. Or its mom or children or something.
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Alexandria
-Arrived.
-Dagger knows this place from Doctor Tot’s stories. It was built to keep others from invading, but Steiner cuts off her “stories” before she can go further. Boo.
-CRAP. A gate crashes up in front of us.
-And on our side of us. Kuja trap?
-Fucking. Zorn. And. Fucking. Thorn. I feel like we’re going to have to fight them as a boss pair at some point, and that they’ll have some super annoying joint attack that’ll turn us all into frogs or cast confuse on us or something.
-They are arresting us, on Brahne’s orders. Everyone is shocked. Steiner most of all.
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Next time: Back with Vivi, Quina, Freya, Zidane.
