Hunt: Trickster, Round One
-I don’t expect to kill any elite marks right now, but I want to at least die to them once and see what’s up.
-First up is the Trickster in Paramina Rift, who looks like a chocobo apparently.
-The Trickster isn’t here. The hunt log says he only appears very rarely. I’ll try a few things to trigger him.
-First, I trigger all the traps in the region. Nothing.
-Next, I’ll touch all the walls around the area. Nothing.
-Finally, I’ll try bringing a chocobo here. After all, his portrait is a chocobo. Maybe he needs a buddy to come out and play.
-No luck all around. I wonder if Clan Centurio has any tips?
-Nope. Nothing. All they give me is tips on Roblon, the mark in Nabreus Deadlands.
-There’s a new clan rumor: someone is stalking hunters! Will keep an eye out for this mystery person.
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Hunt: Antlion
-Next up is the Antlion. In Bhujerba, Lady Niray’s kids ran away to the Lhusu Mines where an Antlion lurks.
-Found a Multiscale in the mines. I’m not really sure what to do with it. Measures give buffs on hit. I just wish I could set a gambit that had my Measure-user (Balthier) hit characters to apply the buff once. Like, only attack a character if the character DOESN’T yet have Bravery, for instance.
Non-rhetorical question: Is this possible? I’ve played around with the gambit system and simply can’t find a way to set this up.]
-The Antlion is surrounded by Killer Mantises who are weak to air. Loading up Ashe for Aeroga.
-The little mantises go down quickly. She disables Ashe, but I Esuna it off and pop on Black Belts. Victory!
-The kids are safe. They had a key to Mine 11, but accidentally dropped it below… HEY WAIT!! That hunter’s camp at the Phon Coast had someone who fell from Bhujerba. The key must be there.
-It is. Found it sitting next to the Bhujerban who fell to the coast and is made of rubber or something I guess cause he didn’t die.
-Heading back to the Mines now. I’ll bet I find Diabolos there.
-lolol I went deeper in and accidentally didn’t have libra up. I hit a trap that killed two party members and left Fran Berserk, so I just have to chill out here for a bit.
-This shaft is giving me huge upgrades, including a rank 12 spear called Dragon Whisker.
-The enemies past the Dragon Whisker chest are level 60. I’ll come back later.
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Hunt: Carrot
-The mark is called “Carrot. ” It’s an out-of-control pet with a tentacular portrait. I’m not expecting a giant carrot.
-A kid in the Nalbina aerodrome saw a giant wyrm flying through the air. I wonder if that’s one of the eight legendary wyrms like Earth Tyrant.
-I talk to Carrot’s owner. Her precious little Carrot escaped back to the Salikawood and has apparently turned into a giant murderous beast – albeit a shy one. If I kill any enemies near her, she’ll hide.
-The viera hunter from Clan Centurio, Krjn, meets us here.
Holy mother of god. It’s a malboro. [Later edit: I should have expected this. I keep forgetting that the malboro isn’t just a generic plant monster; it’s some kind of sentient corrupt vegetable.]
-She uses Stop early which throws me for a loop. Wasn’t expecting that. Cured it with Chronos Tears and popped on Power Armlets to protect against Stop.
-Carrot used Putrid Breath, the classic “ALLLL the status effects!” ability. It just hit Vaan, and White Mage Basch Esuna’d most of it off.
-Quickening chain brings her down to almost no life.
-OH GOD SHE USED GROWING THREAT AND IS MOWING ME DOWN FOR LIKE 6K PER HIT
-She wiped out my A Team. The back-ups finished her with a quickening I hadn’t seen before: Luminescence.
-I return to the petitioner, Zammadria.
I guess she just thought it was a gross puppy? Idk. Anyway, she loved Carrot deeply, but she’s part of Archadian nobility and her husband wouldn’t allow it.
-Zammadria is living apart from her husband now. She even plans to open a pet shop, taking care of unwanted and odd pets. I wonder if I’ll see her again.
-A seeq named Jovy comes over and kind of snorts in disbelief when she hears that Carrot’s been taken care of. This is Jovy’s second appearance, in the same kind of circumstance. Something’s up with Jovy.
-Talked to Jovy outside.
I kind of love her. She’s adorable. I’m just not sure what her eventual relationship will be to these hunts.
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Promotion!
-I notice that my rank is now different – I’m a “Paragon of Justice” – so I head back to Clan Centurio to see what’s new.
-Also just noticed that the hunter I worked with, Krjn, must be the sister of the lost viera in Rabanastre, Ktjn.
-A new green magick spell opens up to me, and it’s a beauty: Syphon. Basically, Osmose from past games. Drains enemy mana.
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Hunt: Trickster, Round Two
-Trying this once more.
-Grrrrr no luck, and now I’m getting frustrated. I’ve done ridiculous things to try to get Trickster to spawn. I’ve run ten times clockwise and ten counterclockwise around the pool. I’ve tried killing no enemies. I’ve tried killing all the enemies until they stop spawning.
I’ve tried different party comps. All male, all female. One party member only. Two party members only.
As I type this, I’ve disabled all gambits and am standing afk.
Nothing. Nothing nothing nothing. Grr.
Okay. Chill. What do I know? I know it’s a Trickster, so some shenanigans are up. I know its portrait is a chocobo. And Monid is on the case with me. The petitioner is aware of this.
God, I’m getting super paranoid. Is that the clue? Is Monid the Trickster? I’m going to try something exceptionally foolish: I’m attacking Monid.
“Monid has fallen.” Lolol so that wasn’t the right choice.
-What if I use water magic since he’s marked as weak against water.
-Nothing. I was so sure! I thought I’d cast Aqua at Monid and he’d be like “Noooo don’t get me wet--! *CHOCOBO TRICKSTER FORM REVEALED*”
-HE SPAWNED HE SPAWNED!!! The only thing I did differently this time was rent a chocobo and not expend any sprint charges on my way from Mt. Bur-Omisace to the Frozen Brook. It worked, but it’s so specific that there’s no way this is it.
-The Trickster is a big, glowy white chocobo. He’s annoying and keeps running away.
-The fight goes well until midway through. He starts going immune to tons of stuff, and I accidentally pulled an Ice Elemental that rips me apart in tandem with the Trickster. Even a big Quickening bounced off of him.
The chicken legs of doom.
-A few more entries into the zone later, he spawns again. I don’t get it. I have no idea how he’s spawning, or what I finally did that caused him to spawn. [Non-rhetorical question: what’s the truth here? What determines when the Trickster spawns?]
This time, I clear out the elemental early, kill nearby enemies as they come. When he gets to the last stand range, I test some ways to damage him and find that Black Mage Ashe’s Bio still lands.
I hit him with that a few times, and down he goes.
FUCKING FINALLY. See ya, Trickster.
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/9UvJ2CX.png
I don’t quite understand the Trickster’s bestiary entry. It says that it’s usually solitary but still hangs out with other chocobos. Fine. Then a chocobo wrangler was attacked by bandits and saved by the Trickster, so the chocobo wrangler, like, was just a massive dick and betrayed his savior by having people hunt the Trickster?
If that’s the story, then I feel like absolute shit for killing the Trickster.
-I return to Clan Centurio. Monid is here, and thanks me. The Trickster killed a kid’s parents I guess, and Monid took it upon himself to help avenge the kid. I don’t quite get this, but seems like the gist of their story.
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Next time: testing out my espers and then trying for Roblon. I’m at a higher level now, and hopefully will have a better chance against the enemies in the Nabreus Deadlands.
