TW: sexual abuse
Riovanes Castle Roof
-Another fight? I legit thought that was the end of chapter 3.
-Grand Duke Barrington is still alive. He’s facing off against Rapha on the roof.
-She lays out ALL the truth in front of him. “It is not with -betrayal- I repay your deeds! It is with -vengeance-!”
-He responds with something and I’m not sure what to make of it. “The flesh remembers fear… In time, your fear will blossom into another flower – and I shall have that one as well.”
If he actually abused her as I expect he did, he’s trying to exert that power now with this barely-veiled sexual imagery and he needs to die in all the fires.
-Marach overhears. He rushes in to Rapha’s side. (Finally. No gold star for you.)
-Barrington shoots at Rapha… and Marach dives in front. He literally takes a bullet for her. Ok, maybe that gets a gold star.
-Rapha takes the stone from Marach’s coat. Barrington pleads to her to bring him the stone to save Marach. DO NOT DO IT.
-HOLYYYYY SHITITTTT I THOUGHT WE WERE GETTING A BARRINGTON BOSS FIGHT BUT NOPE, A GUY WALKS UP BEHIND HIM AND FLIPS HIM OFF THE ROOF HAHAHAHA
-The guy asks for the stone instead. Ramza recognizes him as Marquis Elmdore(?).
-Never mind. These are demons disguised as churchfolk. He sends his companions Celia and Lettie after me.
-They one-shot me with “suffocate.” I need anti-KO gear.
-Second attempt, geared up and ready to go.
-THE WOMEN WITH ELMDORE JUST USED ULTIMA ON ME!
It blew Ramza away and hurt Rapha bad. They’re not messing around. Ultima is some endgame shit, and they broke it out super early.
-Managed to get an X-Potion on Rapha and take down one of the demons.
PHEW! That was it. I thought I had to kill all three, but I just needed to take down one. Ramza was the only casualty.
-The demons flee. (I mean, I assume they were demons, even though they stayed in human form that whole time.)
[Later edit: it’s terrifying that they kept human form the whole time. I’ll no doubt have to deal with their demon forms down the line, and no doubt it’ll be brutal.]
-This is really sad. Rapha has to watch her brother die.
-The auracite is resonating somehow with Rapha’s grief.
RAPHA: “You grieve for him as well? Thank you.”
OH GOD DON’T LISTEN
SHIT SHIT SHIT SHE LISTENED, SOME LIGHT IS GOING INTO MARACH
Uh. He’s alive. And seems… okay?
Two possibilities jump out to me:
1) “Marach” is actually Zodiark or some shit in disguise.
2) Marach is really alive, and the type of power you get from the stone is related to the type of emotion that uses it.
I’m leaning towards the latter, but keeping a watchful eye on the former.
-Marach heard her call. From a land of pure white light. Is he a Zodiac Brave now? Probably not, probably just called back from death.
-Ramza finds another Zodiac stone in the abbatoir that was Barrington’s hall. He thought the auracite was a demonic Lucavi gateway (and so did I), but maybe it’s not inherently evil. My second theory.
-Ramza vows to save Alma.
-End-of-chapter narration tells us how Northern Sky marched on Fort Besselat.
-Neat! I get Rapha and Marach as permanent party members. Welcome!
-Back to the abbatoir. Alma’s not among the group. They must have taken her to Mullonde, the seat of the church’s power and High Confessor Marcel.
-Ramza has more faith in the church (heh) than I do. He thinks Marcel may not know about the true power of the stones. I personally believe this is intentional.
Or not. Ramza thinks the church wants the stones just as symbolic power. He doesn’t think the church is good, just that they don’t know exactly what they’re getting into. Someone else may be manipulating the High Confessor’s ambition to their own ends in terms of the Lucavi.
-Alma’s kidnapper is Lord Folmarv, commander of the knights Templar.
RAMZA: “He is the key.”
-Our next step is to connect with Delita in Zeltennia.
Chapter 4: In the Name of Love
---
Zeltennia Castle
-Orran welcomes Orlandeau home from the ongoing war.
-Orran reports in that the crystals beneath Goug is really auracite, as is the one the cardinal found at the ruins of Zelmonia.
---
Starting Chapter 4
-A whole new area to the east opens. Four different zones leading to Zeltennia Castle.
-Marach and Rapha’s abilities don’t appeal to me a whole lot. Even though their level is pretty close to mine right now, I don’t love the randomness in their abilities. Gonna stick with my current party.
Some next steps for my character builds:
Ramza: Finish off dual wield on ninja. Get Shout and Focus from squire. Then hop back to Ninja to get Vanish. Not quite sure what “Invisible” means, but sounds powerful.
Ooh, Ramza’s got a new sprite now! Maybe he graduated from squire to full knight.
Agrias: Finish off Ignore Elevation on Dragoon, then build more samurai abilities.
Millicent: Get Quick on time mage, then hop over to white mage to build that skillset. I don’t like it as much as chemist, but some of those buffs are sweet. Maybe Holy too.
Randwulf: So many summoner abilities! Almost at Bahamut, but I’ll also try for Lich, Faerie, Sylph. Halve MP is interesting though I have a hat for it.
Mustadio: Finish off chemist stuff, then work towards Orator. Not a huge fan of it overall but I like that it can use guns and that it has the ability to buff faith for Randwulf and Millicent.
---
Next time: diving into chapter 4.
