Friday, June 17, 2016

FFIX – Part 23: Beneath the Ground

Summary: Kuja’s plans develop. The search for Supersoft. Doctor Tot. Dagger, Steiner, and Marcus move from Treno to Alexandria by unconventional means in Gargan Roo.
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.

---

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?

---

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.

---

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.


---

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.

---

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…

---

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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

Next time: Back with Vivi, Quina, Freya, Zidane.


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