Well then that works out quite nicely. Up to this point, I had primarily just been putting points in the shield skill, on the theory that my Gladiator is the only character in the party who can use shields so why the hell not.
It kind of feels like it's too easy to run from battles at this point. Running into a FOE just means that I need to spend a round running. Running into multiple FOEs just means that I need to keep running until I get bounced out of the pile.
Unless the FoE is so tough it will instant kill you, you can usually escape.
Sometimes things get nasty though, depending on your facing when you enter the battle.
For instance, I remember one time I entered a room on the third stratum and immediately got a random battle with something I couldn't finish off quickly. It was daytime, so the Mother Dragons started moving at me.
Because the door was behind me I had no where to run. I couldn't flee so I had to fight all 6 Mother Dragons. Thankfully, I was high enough level to win (even though I only brought two party members out, I was training them up after a rest).
Sideways movement can be dangerous for this reason as well in tight corridors. If your back is to a wall, you're screwed. On the other hand sideways movement can let you bypass certain challenges. I think on the fifth stratum I once solved an FOE dodge puzzle by engaging an FOE by running into him sideways. When I fled, I ended up on a different side, one that I wanted to be on.
but yeah, as a general rule the most dangerous FoEs are ones that pursue you and have either leg binds or monsters that have leg binds on their floor.
Entry Made: 27th of the Month of the Golden Eagle, in the Seven Hundredth and Fourteenth year of the Holy Empire
Well, I’ve split up the duties as best I can. Rook, Clay, Asmodeus, Geoffrey and Tinker will be heading to Tortuga to put down the Ghost Ship. They’ll be departing in a couple of hours, in fact. Rook posits that it’ll take most of the day to reach there, so any potential encounter would take place at nightfall, with them returning the next day. I’ve already sent them my well wishes and bade them good fortune in their endeavour, so all that’s left is to wait.
And to continue deeper into the Labyrinth, of course. His Majesty will be leading the charge to find Oceanmaster Ketos. Naturally, I’ll be backing him up in this endeavour, and Sidney, Midori and Rossa will be joining us. We’ve put off finding him for long enough already and I want to bring this to an end.
We will depart at sundown. I’m not sure how long it will take for us to find the Oceanmaster, but the general agreement was that we should not turn back unless we absolutely have to or we’ve accomplished out goals. With that in mind, I’ll be packing several tents and sufficient supplies for a trip lasting several days.
Armoroad’s lore states that the Labyrinth progresses even further down beyond the level we are in. The Deep City might not be the heart of the Labyrinth – in that case, finding it will be but another step in the path his Majesty must walk. I just hope he doesn’t get wild hopes about the end of his journey being in sight – even after finding the Deep City we’ve a long journey ahead of us.
I’ve noticed that Pure appeared unusually exhausted yesterday and I arose early enough today to catch sight of Adrian apparently training him. That, or it could have been an interesting and unusual form of torture. Well, anything that gets him off his rear end more often is okay in my book.
*~*
Rook
Been about two hours since we set out from port in search of the Ghost Ship, and frankly navigating through the seas is just a big pain the butt. If I didn’t have maps that told me which way was up I’d be wandering blind.
Not that I haven’t had to make more than one pit stop at islands along the way to get my bearings. Since I’m in charge of this lot for as long as we’re out on this trip I’m responsible for making sure they don’t mess up too much. Dwayne was tossing bombs off into the ocean earlier just for the hell of it. And he’s supposed to be in the military.
Asmodeus and Geoffrey are pretty much keeping to themselves, especially with the fog apparently being too cold for the scholar’s tastes, so he’s pretty much stuck under the decks. I’m not sure if Clay’s feeling cold (Lord knows she doesn’t wear much) but so far she doesn’t say much other than helping out with keeping the ship running.
Dwayne’s actually been somewhat useful since I put him on lookout duty. At least his eyes are sharp enough to spot things in the water that we don’t want to hit.
Jolly Roger. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve heard that name. Come to think of it, we never had any confirmation if the Ghost Ship really is tied to him or not. Well, either way, we’re going to be fighting this thing and putting it down (hopefully for good) so I guess it doesn’t change that much.
*~*
Adrian
Mood: Anxious
Master’s been out for a while now. It’s fine though. He’s good, one of the best. He can handle himself. Never met anything that could put him down
I just wish he weren’t on a boat out in the middle of the ocean. In the fog. Ugh. He’s always making me worry. And he’s got no sense of direction too. He’ll just be deadweight! Until it’s time for the actual fighting, of course.
Sheesh.
Anyway, Pure’s still looking like a wreck after our session today. I dunno, sometimes I feel like I should go easier on him, and sometimes I look at the exercises I give and wonder if they’re not hard enough. Maybe I should ask Master to sit in on training session next time. I’m still learning myself, it can’t hurt to have a better teacher with me, right?
Right.
Sidney’s just finishing gearing up to head down into the Labyrinth to find the Oceanmaster and try to get him to let us into the Deep City. That she’s packing twice the usual number of her explosives rounds probably shows how optimistic she is about avoiding a fight with the guy. Wish I could do more for her than wishing her good luck. (Melina stopped by to hand out some packed lunches for them. Too bad I can’t cook.)
*~*
Melina
I haven’t had much chance to write lately, have I? Especially these past couple of days, with Pure being too tired to head out into the Labyrinth.
Well, in any case, Ms. Alexis has set out to hunt down the Oceanmaster. This should be the last push – once we’ve beaten this person, we should be able to access the Deep City.
Well, to be honest, I must admit to being a bit disappointed. I mean, I always wanted to become a great explorer, and when I first joined up with the Guild I thought I’d finally get my chance. I know, I know, I’m not the best fighter around, but I thought I’d be able to grow stronger here and to… well, actually contribute. I know my job’s vital for the upkeep of the Guild, but still, I’d have liked to have done more.
I wonder if after they find the Deep City there’ll be anything left to do with the Labyrinth. I can’t help but hope there is.
*~*
Jared
Went out for dinner and a drink with Relena today. Didn’t stay out long, but caught some mumbling from others in the place. Apparently I’ve been here long enough for them to start recognizing me as part of the Paragon Guild.
‘Course, that also means that Paragon’s also been here long enough to start making a name for itself. I know there’ve been more than a few people that tried to sign up with the Guild that Alexis has turned down (which makes me wonder what they were like given that people like me and Tinker and Juliana in to the thing.
There’re more than a couple bunches who’ve set up tent in here for ages, and haven’t made so much of a lick of progress in the past year. Then we come in for, what, a month and a half? And start cleaning house. No surprise they give us dirty looks in public. Oh well, comes with the job I guess.
Dinner wasn’t half bad. Relena mentioned that she was worried about the other ninja girl - Midori. I can’t say that I saw anything wrong, but then again Relena’s always been more perceptive than me about this kind of thing.
Ailments: Status effects. Paralyze. Sleep. Curse. Blind. Anything that has a special effect and puts a little icon on your guy when you're fighting. These are the effects
Stat Debuff: Things that lower statistics. Attack debuffs, defense debuffs, lower evasion, increased miss chance, etc. The Prince's Inspire ability removes these, but very little else does.
Binds: A special debuff that locks out moves related to the bind give. Three locations can be bound: legs, arms, and head.
Wolf Howl needs an ailment. I have no idea what rotten egg does.
edit: Looks like they both need a status ailment. They both apply a debuff, so they cannot synergize off of each other.
Ah, it's on a fixed timer? I suppose that works then.
In case anyone is wondering, resting a character removes its subclass, so you don't have to worry about making a bad decision there. It's only a loss of five levels, too.
Edit: I also noticed that you get a completely different set of drops (and monster list entries) from the Gatekeeper based on the state that it's in when you kill it. Nifty.
The St. Eris is a wreck right now. No big surprise, after the pounding we took from the Ghost Ship. At least we gave as good as we got so it’s now mostly driftwood.
Honestly wasn’t expecting to see it when we did. By my reckoning it was just past midnight and we were still about an hour away from Tortuga when Dwayne noticed something coming up to us from the portside. We barely had time to draw our weapons before the Ghost Ship unloaded its first salvo on us. The cannon had some kinda magic on them that made them burst into flame when they fired. Fortunately, it’s aim was lousy the first time round so it didn’t do hit the St. Eris the first go around.
Clay took a running jump over onto the deck of the ship before I could yell at her not to be an idiot. I lost sight of her for a good while, mainly because I was trying to steer the ship into a position that I could unload our own cannon into the thing. In the meantime Dwayne made for a sort of substitute with his bow by chucking explosives at the hull of the ship, but it seemed to me that it wasn’t having that much of an effect.
The second salvo scored hits on our ship and apparently one of them hit Dwayne too. Geoffrey had to pull him away and start tending to him while Asmodeus starting freezing the water around the Ghost Ship to prevent it from moving too fast. Not too sure how well that worked, but he kept at it through the fight so either he thought it helped or he was just being stubborn.
It continued like that for a while, mostly us exchanging fire and me wondering what the blazes Clay was doing back there on the ship. By my estimates, it was nearly an hour later with me wondering if the St. Eris could possibly withstand another volley of cannon fire when there was this cracking sound and the Ghost Ship began to break apart.
And I don’t mean like a normal ship breaks apart when it can’t hold itself together anymore. It literally began dissolving into the mist and the last thing that happened just before it vanished completely was Clay jumping off the side of the ship and into the water. After I anchored the ship I went belowdecks to get a sense of the damage to the boat while Asmodeus and Dwayne hauled Clay back in.
When she came out, she was clutching some sort of fancy rapier thing and later she tossed it to me saying I might as well use it since old Jolly Roger didn’t need it any more. Huh. Have to remember to thank her for that one.
That aside, we’ve turned and begun the journey back and it’s slow going, what with the St. Eris looking like it’d shatter if it bumped into a rock and all. At least the fog’s started to clear up a little, so I guess we solved the problem for now.
Boy could I use a good nap. I wonder how Alexis is doing with that Oceanmaster guy?
*~*
Clay
Shit. It’s been nearly two hours since we finished off that Ghost Ship and I still feel a chill in my bones. Sure, jumping onto the deck of that fucking thing probably wasn’t the smartest of ideas, but… still. Shit. Gotta get the mages and monks and whatnot to do a runover later, make sure I haven’t picked up any… I dunno, ghost aura or some shit.
Spent most of my time on the boat smashing things. I’m still not quite sure whether or not I actually did anything, but hell, I’m also not sure how the hell a Ghost Ship managed to move on its own, so no harm, no foul.
Eventually found my way into what I guess was the stateroom? Probably had no business being there right about then (especially since Rook’d just fired another shot into the side of the ship) but there was an awfully shiny rapier on the table there and I remember Rook uses those. Funny thing, though, after I grabbed it the ship started to break apart. Not sure if the two were connected or anything.
Anyway, now we’re stuck on a shitty floating piece of swiss cheese trying to make it back to Armoroad before the whole thing gives up on us. I should probably stop writing – Rook’s gonna want my help with bailing this thing out.
*~*
Pure
Today’s Profit: 47 en
The St. Eris crawled into port just before sundown today, looking like someone had tried to scrap it and then got bored just before he was done. Of course their success wasn’t ever much in doubt, considering that the fog started clearing up with the sunrise and it was almost all gone by afternoon.
So, yeah, another threat to Armoroad dealt with, peace, prosperity and a free chicken for all. Adrian kept pestering he master for details, but he didn’t say much (he doesn’t ever) and then later she came by and started grousing that she never gets brought along for any of the big fights.
You can tell she’s worried about Sidney too. Started out late yesterday and we haven’t heard anything about them. She had this distant look in her eyes as she ordered me to run my seventh lap around the town square. (I collapsed after the eighth, and I don’t want to write more about this.)
Maybe they found the Oceanmaster already and they’re convinced him to let them into the Deep City or something. I can’t dream, can’t I? I just hope they come back soon. Otherwise we’re going to have to organize a rescue mission, and no one likes rescue missions.
*~*
Tinker
Ah. Long journey out to see, an enemy that pounces on you from behind, a long drawn out firefight you don’t even know if you have a prayer of winning, and all of a sudden it’s over and you’ve won and you’re headed home as you chug back a bottle of rum.
It’s like I never left the Navy at all.
Still, gotta say that fighting that thing was a new experience. Not only was it a Ghost Ship… thing, but most of my shots weren’t doing anything to it at all. I dunno if it’s weird ghost physics or whatever, but if they made it so explosions and fire don’t work against ships… well, that’s just dirty pool, I say.
Got greeted by cheering crowds when we stepped down the gangplank. Guess the Paragon Guild’s something of a household name now, at least amongst Armoroad. Last time anyone paid any attention to me when I got off a ship was when I almost blew it up by accident.
Could do with a nice hot meal right about now.
*~*
Jules
Ran into another one of those stupid Abyssal Deaths. Managed to get away without having to take it down, but seriously, way too many things down here want us dead.
Decided to set up a tent in the Labyrinth tonight and finish our hunt for the Oceanmaster tomorrow. Alexis didn’t say anything, but you can tell she was thinking about the last time we stayed overnight in the Grotto. At least this time we know to be on our guard, so it won’t be all bad… I hope. It’s our second night out here anyway.
Sidney and Rossa dropped off quickly, but Alexis, being Alexis is still awake in her sleeping bag (I told her I’d wake her when my watch ended, but noooo) and Midori was pacing up and done the camping room nonstop. When I told her that she should probably get some rest she just shook her head and told me she wasn’t tired.
For her sake, I really hope we can put an end to this soon. I think out of all of us down here right now, she’s the only one who really wants a fight with the Oceanmaster and Olympia and… hell, whoever else they have in between us and the Deep City.
Times like this I really wish I knew what to do. Alexis seems content leaving her be, but she’s always stoic about everything. I think other people just work differently from the way she does. Talking to Rook helped a bit, but that was before Agata and Hypatia.
Maybe finishing this will give her some peace of mind. I don’t know. I hope so.
Kirin was interesting. When I was planning out the fight, I rapidly came to three conclusions:
1. My volt-focused astrologer was going to be worthless.
2. My front line was going to rapidly burn through its TP, forcing me to waste items and actions refilling it.
3. My first two conclusions were completely wrong.
My front line spent the battle very slowly burning through the astrologer's TP. I love this game sometimes.
If anyone happens to be wondering about the recent break, I just blitzed a 7000+ post LP of Heavy Rain. That game is awful.
*~*
The Etrian Odyssey Travelogue
Entry Forty Seven
*~*
Sidney
Monsters Defeated: Oceanmaster Ketos x 1
Items Collected: Whale Fumarole x 1, Tough Membrane x 1
Of all the things I anticipated when facing down the Oceanmaster, I can safely say that a massive white whale was not what I had in mind. When we opened the door to its chamber, [strike]it[/strike] he spoke to us. He said that we were indeed resourceful to have come this far, but that it would end here.
And then he attacked us. There was no time given for parley or, well, or anything. I suppose we all suspected that it would be how things would turn out from the moment we saw each other, so we all reacted quickly enough.
The fight took really long, too. I guess durability comes with the territory of being a whale, and all. It was a lot faster than I thought it would be, too. I mean, Midori could keep up with it fine, but Rossa and I had a bit of trouble with making our hits connect. That’s not including the times he blew air out of his blowhole and churned the water up so much that just catching sight of him was a chore.
At times he would gather the water up around himself and… sort of throw it. I don’t know how it worked, probably magic of some kind, but it was telegraphed enough and easy to dodge. Good thing too, ‘cause whenever it struck the walls of floor it gouged a huge chunk out of stone. Man, I don’t want to think about what a hit like that would do to muscle and bone.
So it was going pretty well, we were even able to keep scoring hits on it, and it actually looked like we would be able to win it. Rossa seemed to have some trouble keeping up the pace, but that’s understandable since she’s thirteen, and in any case Ketos didn’t target her much.
And then the big whale opened his mouth. I don’t think it ever ‘talked’ with that. Mostly used some kind of telepathy or something. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but a song wasn’t it. I was already pretty tired out from the fighting, and when the sound hit me I had to fight the urge to just roll over and go to sleep. So it had a magic sleep spell of some kind on it. I was able to shrug it off (and reply with another round of explosives to Ketos’ underbelly) but Rossa and Prince Jules weren’t so lucky. Out like lights, those two.
And then Ketos revved up another one of its ‘throw the ocean at us’ attacks. I got out of the way, and Rossa was off to the side a bit, but a slumbering Jules was directly in the way of the wave. So of course Alexis had to dive in and kick him off to the side and take the full brunt of the attack herself. She was sent flying, and given all the armour she wears I’m gonna guess that’s not an easy task to manage. By that point Ketos was on his last legs, and I managed to deal the final shot – just below the eye (that area had some kind of coral armour on it, but we’d broken it off in the course of the fight).
His last words were to congratulate us for our valour, and that the way to the Deep City was now open. I guess I was the only one actually paying attention at that point – Rossa was still asleep, Midori looked as if she couldn’t have cared less, and Jules was frantically trying to wake up Alexis.
It was
I’m not sure what it was like. All I thought was that it shouldn’t have come down to a fight to the death, and why he had to attack us on sight in the first place. Anyway, even if the path to the Deep City ‘lay open’, we had to get medical treatment for Alexis ASAP, so we warped out of there.
Also, I salvaged what I could from the Ketos’, although I gotta say I felt kinda dirty doing it. It was… well, aware. It was kind of like I was looting a human corpse, but I still did it anyway. I turned the stuff over to Geoffrey when I got back out because I didn’t want to think about it any longer.
Oh, yeah, Rook’s team handled the Ghost Ship thing fine. Fog’s cleared up completely in Armoroad by now. That’s good, I guess
*~*
Midori
Ketos is dead. That’s fine, I guess, but Alexis got badly wounded in the process. She’s stable but still unconscious, and she’s been like that the whole afternoon and evening.
He’s not the one I’m really after anyway. I need to find Olympia. Once I find her, it’ll end. Everything will end.
Rook was waiting for me when I got back from the dungeon. He had a new sword of some kind and the fog was gone, so I guess he succeeded in killing the Ghost Ship or… or whatever it was. He asked me about how the fight went and I basically shrugged and told him it went fine.
It’s not that I want to blow him off or anything. But I just can’t afford distractions right now. I can’t. Not until Olympia’s dead.
*~*
Geoffrey
Thought for the Day: Courage should not be confused with recklessness
Alexis’ wounds are heavy.
Massive force was applied to her, and her back was subsequently slammed onto something hard – probably a stone wall of the Labyrinth.
She is lucky her spine was not cracked.
Not as life-threatening as the ambush by the Sea Wanderers, but likely to have a longer period of recovery.
Jules is keeping a constant vigil at her side.
He feels guilty for her being harmed on his behalf.
I’ve chosen to leave them be aside from applying treatment to Alexis
Adrian and Pure continue to get along well.
I’ve been invited to sit in on one of their training sessions and to offer advice. I believe I shall do just that.
*~*
Jules
Alexis got injured again.
And it’s all my fault again.
That attack, that song Ketos was singing. Whatever it was, I should have been able to withstand the effects. Alexis, Sidney and Midori could, so why couldn’t I?
And if I’d been able to stay awake, then that stupid wave attack wouldn’t have hit me – and Alexis wouldn’t have to throw me out of the way and take the hit herself.
If Alexis were awake right now I’d now what she’d say. Probably something about how it was her duty to protect me in the first place, and that she did what she was supposed to do. And that just makes me feel more guilty.
I mean, there was always the understanding that maybe Alexis would be wounded (while I wasn’t) by coming along, and that it might be because she was protecting me, but now that I’m actually experiencing it… it’s like a hit to the gut, to be honest.
She shouldn’t need to suffer on my behalf.
*~*
Asmodeus
Interesting. The way to the Deep City is open, at long last. By now, it is almost certain that it is indeed still around in some fashion. I can only wonder about what exactly it will look like when at last I venture down there.
I am rather displeased with Rossa having been involved in fighting the Oceanmaster at all, but according to Sidney she performed well enough and I suppose that she would be a good enough judge.
The fabled Deep City… I hear we’ll be making an expedition there tomorrow regardless of whether Alexis has woken by that time (not that I think she’d be ready for a trip even if she were conscious). I can only wonder what awaits us there.
Horoscope: Dreams can disappoint even when it is all you want it to be.
Entry Made: 29th of the Month of the Golden Eagle, in the Seven Hundredth and Fourteenth year of the Holy Empire
I’ve neither the time nor energy to write much right now, but I suppose it is important that I record what has just occurred.
We’ve apparently made contact with the Deep City. I was not present at that point, what with being unconscious at the time, but I am given to understanding that the contact was brief and largely hostile. I think Olympia was involved, and I recall them saying something about her not actually being human, but I don’t have the details on that right now.
Apparently there’s also been some confusion about the report to the Senatus. I’m not sure exactly what occurred, and when I asked Jules he just shook his head and told me he’d handle any bureaucratic issues, and that I should focus on recovering my strength.
As long as we’re on the subject of Jules, he’s been acting oddly again. He probably feels guilty about me getting injured or some other nonsense of that sort. I’ll need to have a talk with him and straighten that out.
*~*
Jules
I got called away to be part of the official visit to the Deep City during the early morning. I honestly wanted to watch of over Alexis, but Geoffrey convinced me that as leader of the Guild, I needed to be present for the first contact. For somewhat obvious reasons, I elected not to take Midori along.
Anyway, we managed to navigate our way through the second stratum fairly quickly. When we reached the chamber where the Oceanmaster had been waiting, I noted that his body was no longer there – apparently denizens of the Deep City had decided to the take it away, probably for burial or… something. In any case, the beasts that normally swarmed over the rest of the Labyrinth didn’t show up there, so I’ll assume he hasn’t been eaten by scavengers, if only for my
When we first stepped down into the Deep City, I have to admit that I was shocked by what I saw. I mean, it was always referred to as the Deep City, but the entire area looked almost as big as Amoroad itself. I didn’t have the chance to take a close look, but the materials they used to build their homes didn’t look like anything I know.
In any case, we had barely entered the Deep City when we were confronted by Olympia. As it turns out, she’s a golem of some kind, built with metal and wires. I hadn’t heard of any animated golems being able to achieve sentience, but her behaviour was far too natural to have been achieved by some programmed spell.
After drawing me aside, Olympia said that since I had now discovered the Deep City I had achieved my goals and there was no longer a reason to stay here, and then she asked me not to reveal the Deep City to anyone back in Armoroad. Well, not ‘ask’ so much as ‘demand’ in a flat tone.
To be perfectly honest, I considered refusing her to her face, if only for the satisfaction of turning down the person who had led us into an ambush and fully expected us to be dead by the end of the day. But as a representative of the Empire, I wasn’t supposed to let my impulses get the better of me.
Especially when we were in the middle of the Deep City without any backup.
I questioned her on her reasoning behind wanting to keep the Deep City a secret but she simply shook her head and repeated her demand. Finally I told her I couldn’t give her an answer on such an important matter right now, but I would think it over. That… seemed to satisfy her, but she requested that we turn around and head back to the surface via a Submagnetic Pole that was apparently on the city outskirts.
Offhand I’m not sure how it all went horribly wrong, but I guess the thread can be somewhat narrowed down to me mentioning to the others on the way back not to talk about the Deep City just yet, Sidney going to visit her parents and telling them about her discovery, her parents talking to the other merchants and some of the lower nobles, and the news apparently reaching the Senatus. Within the space of a single day.
At least they don’t appear to have thought that I was deliberately keeping this information from them. And now they want us to be part of an official delegation into the Deep City. I honestly don’t think I could care less right now.
I just realized I’ve written so much about what actually occurred today and I was barely thinking about all of that as I went through the motions. Mostly I was worried about Alexis. When I came back to the recovery ward at the inn she’d just woken up and was trying to sit up in bed. I told her about what happened today, leaving out some details I knew would only get her riled up. Now that she’s asleep again I’m basically sitting at her bedside making sure nothing happens to her.
Expenditure on supplies: 160 en
Expenditure on equipment: 1200 en
Expenditure, Misc: 23 en
Total Income: 0 en
Total Profit Earned: -1383 en
Total Current Funds: 6148 en
*~*
Sidney
Oh man, I really messed up. Jules wanted to keep the discovery of the Deep City a secret for a bit; apparently there was something about not upsetting the residents there. I guess I can see the logic. Kind of?
But then I got too excited when I saw mom and dad today and it all came out about how pretty the Deep City was and what it was like seeing Yggdrasil – the actual, live Yggdrasil - that… I kinda let my mouth run. And that was that, as they say.
I don’t know what’s going to happen to the relations between Armoroad and the Deep City. But, whatever happens, I know I want to be there to see it through.
*~*
Asmodeus
Our stay in the Deep City was entirely too brief for my liking. However, that also means that I’ve empirically confirmed its existence. I’ve already sent a message back to Master Hale about this discovery, and now all I’ve to do is wait for the reply, even though I can all but guarantee they’ll want me to study it further.
Hopefully we can return to the Deep City soon enough for me to begin my studies. Of course, there’s far too much for a single person to properly study there, but with any luck there’ll be a number of other scholars itching to begin as well.
It looks like New Game+ pretty much just dumps you back at the beginning of the plot. Your characters and items are exactly the same, you keep your map, and quests stay solved. I'll need to check what if anything gets reset on the sea. The one-way passages and most of the chests do get reset, though.
More travelling back and forth between Armoroad and the Deep City today. Of course most of it was done at the behest of the Senatus, but beyond a certain point I really don’t see why they have to keep using us as their go-betweens. Maybe if I reminded them that I’m technically royalty from an entirely different country that has nothing to do with either side they’d stop using me as an errand boy.
Yeah yeah, all Guilds subservient to the Senatus for duration of their existence. Fine. Whatever.
Regardless, we had to wait around while they prepared a bunch of gifts and presents they deemed worthy of being presented to the ruler of the Deep City. While we were there Rook pointed out that Armoroad and the Deep City were supposed to be from the same place, so wouldn’t they have all this stuff already? Maybe their culture diverged in the past hundred years or something. Meanwhile, I had to worry about how Olympia was going to react when I showed up in front of her with over two dozen people from Armoroad. I guess that’s why I brought along some of the other Guild members. Just in case things got ugly.
Of course, as it turned out nobody came to blows, although Olympia looked rather grumpy as she went to inform her king that we wanted an audience with him. I had an opportunity to meet him myself, he seemed rather distracted. In any case, after the requisite exchange of greetings, he invited me and the others who came with me to spend the night in the Deep City.
I told him I had other matters to attend to back in Armoroad (Alexis, mostly), but that the others in the delegation would be willing to take him up on his offer. I hope he wasn’t insuled or anything, but I honestly don’t have the time to waste.
When I got back to Armoroad I learnt that Zeetha and Atahualpa entered the Labyrinth today without telling us first. Probably nothing important.
Geoffrey’s told me that Alexis is recovering and should be back on her feet by tomorrow. She spent most of the day asleep or writing in her own diary, mentioning once that this enforced bedrest was going to throw off her training routine.
*~*
Alexis
Entry Made: 30th of the Month of the Golden Eagle, in the Seven Hundredth and Fourteenth year of the Holy Empire
His Majesty refused an invitation from the monarch of the Deep City so he could come back and sit by me bedside while I recuperate.
I don’t even want to go into the sheer number of social mistakes he had to make in order to end up in this situation. Even after all this time, his Majesty remains as hopeless as ever.
Not that I don’t appreciate the concern he’s shown me, of course. But… the positions we have mean that we can’t just do as we please. That, and the issue of Armoroad and the Deep City attempting to establish trade relations. As a matter being decided between two sovereign states, we really shouldn’t have any part in the proceedings on the behalf of either, and if push comes to shove, we should be doing whatever it is that will benefit the Empire.
That being said, I wonder what sort of person this so-called Abyssal King is like. Did he condone (or order) Olympia’s repeated ambushes in the sixth floor? I would like to meet him in person at least once.
*~*
Rook
Jules managed to foist off responsibility for staying in the Deep City tonight to me. Man, comfortable as the rooms are, I can’t really get used to seeing fish swimming by the window. Not to mention that the Abyssal King guy’s got a look in his eyes… gives me the creeps. And I’m not too sure about being in the same city as Olympia either, especially when she quite clearly wants us out of here.
Aside from that, gotta say that the people here are doing pretty well for themselves. They seem to have a lot of high tech stuff that Armoroad doesn’t. I managed to ask around a bit, and apparently everyone attributes this to Yggdrasil providing a plentiful source of energy and knowledge and power and whatever.
No wonder the people in Armoroad wanted this place back so much.
Now, aside from the place here being all shiny and glowy, some of the people here seem… I dunno, off. Not like Olympia, who’s apparently not even human. There’s always this undercurrent of tension from the people around here. I don’t think it comes from us (I mean, we’ve got twenty, twenty five people here at most), so… gotta wonder about that.
*~*
Melina
I went to see Ms. Edie today to sell off some of the stuff I’d managed to pick up from the Labyrinth, plus Sidney also handed me some things she harvested from the body of that whale she fought.
When I got there Ms. Edie looked rather worried, and kept pacing back and forth. It was nearly a minute before she noticed me. Well naturally I asked her if anything was the matter, and she told me that her sister had been chosen as part of the delegate to have an audience with the Abyssal King.
Well the Paragon Guild was supposed to head down there as well, so we got to talking about what we thought the Deep City was like. Ms. Edie kept clucking her tongue and hoping that her sister didn’t make a bad first impression on the rulers of the Deep City or she’d never get her license to set up a branch in the Deep City.
Guess Ms. Edie really does never miss a trick for getting more money. I don’t know whether I should admire or be repelled by it. I mean, a good work ethic’s nice and all, but…
Anyway, I hope I get my chance to visit the Deep City soon. The people who’ve already been there keep talking about what a wondrous place it is. I hope I can see it for myself.
*~*
Pure
Today’s Profit: 74 en
So we’ve reached the Deep City.
Yay.
I heard there’s supposed to be another set of caverns that lead even further down. These ones are supposed to be filled with lava.
Double yay.
Adrian thinks I’m ready to progress from ‘running around the town square’ to ‘running around the town square carrying weights at the same time’.
Late to the party: I'm only a few floors into the game and I'm thinking of redoing my party arrangement. Right now I have:
Hoplite, Gladiator (will change Gladiator to Shogun when unlocked)
Wildling, Monk, Farmer
Farmer and Wildling are on the chopping block.
How is Farmer/Ninja "possibly the ultimate binding/status unit?" I loved the idea of having a character holding a sheep in my party, but he really does seem as useless as advertised in a fight, and I'm not familiar enough with the Ninja skill trees to know how they'll benefit the Farmer. It's been handy having Go to Market but I imagine it won't be as important once the cost of the return to town items are more trivial compared to my income. Also I thought that having a Farmer in the regular party would negate the need for a secondary farming party, but it does seem like it'll be easier to just bite the bullet and have the 5 Farmer team.
The Wildling has been ok but I don't like how she basically twiddles her thumbs once her summon comes out. Also, I feel super stretched thin when it comes to skill points. It seems like you need a bunch of different types of summons to have access to the different types of status ailments, but without putting a bunch of points into each individual summon it seems like the ailments rarely proc. Would Arbalist as a subclass work to give the Wildling a way to do damage from the back row, or would the Wildling stats be too weak to work with the Arbalist weapons?
If I ditched Farmer then I'd bring in an Arbalist. If I also ditched the Wildling I'm not sure what I'd bring in instead. Maybe Buccaneer?
Wildings are good, but yeah, skill point intensive. If you do decide to drop them, I recommend getting a Ninja into the party (whether an actual Ninja, or subclassing someone as one when you can). You can get away with using a Farmer in your main party if you really want to, but I can't actually recommend it. Having a separate 5-farmer party isn't a hassle at all anyway.
As for who to bring in, I definitely like the Arbalist idea, and Buccaneers are good too if you know what you are doing. Shoguns on the other hand need some serious planning to work out (although they are damn near broken if you plan your team around them). I switched one of my characters to a Shogun and reloaded my save shortly later to undo the change. I'm very glad I didn't save after doing that.
I might be biased, though. Here was my ending party, for reference:
Noting that I used an Arbalist/Zodiac for the majority of the game, switching to a Hoplite very late. Overall I really liked everyone in my party, although I'm sure there's changes I could've made to make it better.
What's tough about using a Shogun? I was imagining they'd be just a different twist on a Gladiator-type melee damage dealer, but if they're really weird I might just stick with the Gladiator and subclass her with Shogun. The other advantage of not having a Shogun main is that I'm less likely to stall out and never get to the end of the game, as happened in EO1 when I obtained the unlockable classes and burnt out on the game trying to catch them up in levels.
How is Farmer/Ninja "possibly the ultimate binding/status unit?"
Farmer can get up to a 60% chance to put all enemies to sleep (at the cost of sleeping himself), 60% chance to inflict random binds to all enemies, decrease all enemies' ATK by 50%, and transfer his own status effects to an enemy with 100% chance of success.
Ninja can bind an enemy's legs with a 60% chance, petrify with a 45% chance, sleep 3 enemies with a 40% chance, 60% chance to inflict poison as a counterattack, and spread an enemy's status ailment to other enemies 100% of the time.
Also I believe the Farmer has the highest luck stat or something, such that they have a better chance of inflicting status anyway. Of course these are all just individual attacks and don't have a ton of synergy with each other or with the rest of the team.
Shoguns have some pretty good and interesting skills, but dual-wielding with them results in them doing less damage and dying even faster than a front row Arbalist. They can be good if you get the right skills and plan them with the rest of your party, but they certainly aren't as straight-forward as a Gladiator.
Someone who actually used a Shogun for a decent period of time might be able to give a less biased description than me, though.
Arbalist/Zodiac might be a bad idea, Zodiacs need a ton of TP to work. Unless you're just going for the utility skills, of course.
Arbalist/Zodiac is a good combination because Singularity (the skill that boosts your damage when you hit a weak point) works on the Arbalist's elemental barrages, as well as if something happens to be weak to Pierce attacks. You wouldn't learn any actual spells.
I was thinking I'd focus on the elemental weakness damage boost as per Xenogear's subclass guide, but I'm not particularly fixed on using /Zodiac.
One more Arbalist question: is there any significant difference between Snipe and Sharpshooter aside from whether the skill prefers a bound or a status ailed enemy?
So I figure the fiftieth entry is a good halfway place for me to take a break to work on other projects. Not sure how long it's going to last, but it shouldn't be more than a month. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the work I've done so far.
*~*
The Etrian Odyssey Travelogue
Entry Fifty
*~*
Jules
Was called down into the Deep City for a meeting with the Abyssal King Seyfried. Seyfried. I think it used to be a rather common name a while back, but that was before I was born yet.
Regardless, the message he had for me was that he would allow select groups of people entrance into the Deep City – chiefly people who had credentials as explorers. According to him, there was no question that the Guild that had the honour of being the first one to discover the Deep City after a hundred years would be extended this rare privilege.
I couldn’t help but notice Olympia glaring daggers at me throughout the course of this exchange. I think I’ll be avoiding the palace, if only to avoid running into her so often.
I also went to check out the entrance to the Third Stratum of the Labyrinth. Apparently the locals call it the Molten Caves. Not very difficult to figure out why. I’ve noticed a few of the Deep City locals standing guard at the entrance, although I really can’t fathom why, considering that according to the Abyssal King, his own people very rarely enter the Labyrinth. Plus, they seemed more interested in preventing things from coming out than anyone from going in.
Huh. Now that I think about it, it really is rather peculiar. Maybe I should try to figure out a bit more.
Regardless, I think we’ll be taking a short break from Labyrinth diving. I mean, we’ve accomplished a fair bit over the course of two months, I think we earned ourselves a breather. I should probably write some replies to those letters from the palace, too.
That, and I’d like to explore the Deep City itself. There don’t seem to be very many restaurants around here, but I was recommended one by one of the Abyssal King’s aides. I’ve invited Alexis along with me – treating her to dinner’s the least I can do.
*~*
Geoffrey
Thought of the Day: Surprises abound in the world, even for the experienced.
I have visited the Deep City.
It is far too dark for my liking.
It also has a very soothing atmosphere.
People are friendly and welcoming, even without having many visitors in ages.
That makes Olympia’s insistence on keeping us out even stranger.
I wish to investigate the matter further.
(I sat in on Adrian’s training session today. She’s probably pushing Pure a bit harder than is wise.)
*~*
Adrian
Mood: Relaxed
Took a trip to the Deep City today. Well, most of the Guild did. Sidney didn’t, though. I’m not sure if Master likes the place, but for what it’s worth, the atmosphere of the Deep City’s really cosy.
I went to the shopping district of the Deep City with Pure in the afternoon, and mostly we just hung out. That, and Pure bought some salve for what he claims are aching muscles. Mostly we sampled snacks and stuff. The Deep City doesn’t really have an industry for tourists, at least not like Armoroad does. I guess that’s understandable.
We passed a clothes shop and I originally wanted to walk right on by, but just then the shopkeeper was hanging out some kind of new robe that was the most vibrant green I’ve ever seen. I guess it caught my eye because nearly everything else in the Deep City is blue. Blue, purple, indigo, blue.
Walked over to get a look at the material, and the storekeeper told me it was made from some kind of plant that could be found in the Third Stratum, and it’s really durable too. It also felt really smooth against my fingers.
I would’ve bought it then and there – my old robe was already in tatters before coming to Armoroad and between all the things with sharp claws and fangs that I’ve been fighting it’s pretty much a few strips of orange cloth hanging together right now – but it was way out of my price range.
Maybe I could save up a bit. Or ask Alexis for a raise. Or something.
It’ll probably end up getting sold before the day is out, anyway.
---
Pure just stopped by and, get this! He dropped off that robe I’d been eyeing in the afternoon! When I asked him about it, he just shrugged and told me that it was obvious I wanted it but couldn’t pay for it, so he’d went and gotten it for me. He spent a bit complaining about how the en wasn’t accepted as legal tender in the Deep City or something so he had to make a trip to the Labyrinth to get some pieces of ore to trade off for the robe.
I asked him how I could repay him, and he just shrugged. I’ll have to do something to make up for this or I’ll just feel bad about myself. Master always says that a good deed done is its own reward, but there’s no reason you can’t pile on another reward on top of that.
But now that I think about it, I don’t really know about much of anything besides fighting and training, and I’m already giving him lessons. I’m not good at making things, and I really don’t have the money to buy him anything fancy.
Maybe I could ask Sidney for some help.
*~*
Rook
A lot of the Guild went down to the Deep City to do some exploring today. Me, I’d already seen more than enough it yesterday so I decided I might as well take a gander at how the repairs on the St. Eris were coming along. We’re something of local heroes ever since we took down the Ghost Ship and found the Deep City so they’ve assigned their best men to the task of fixing the ship.
Still, it’s easy to tell that the old girl won’t be seaworthy for a while yet. I guess it’s for the best that we cut down on all our exploring for the time being. No Labyrinth dives, no wild rides on the open sea. And frankly, if something like another Ghost Ship pops out of nowhere, I’m more than willing to let someone take a crack at it instead of us.
Around evening time I went to take a welcome back the others who were just now coming back after their little jaunt in the Deep City. Spotted Midori looking like she was about to throw up so I walked over and asked her if anything was the matter.
She just shook her head and said no, of course. Then she started to walk off again when I grabbed her hand and asked her to stop. To be honest, I didn’t have a clear idea of what I was gonna say anyway, but after a moment’s awkward silence I just asked her to join me for dinner.
I chose one of the more out-of-the-way places with the booths that give their customers privacy. She was quiet for most of the meal, but near the end she just started talking about how everyone in the Deep City just acts so goddamned normal and everyone else in the party doesn’t seem to care that Olympia murdered her friends and Agata and Hypatia, and they’re just walking around enjoying themselves, and all the rage and anger that’s bottled up inside her is almost physically choking her.
I pointed out that the rest of the Deep City didn’t have anything to do with the murders, and that even if they didn’t like the Abyssal King or Olympia they had to play nice for the sake of Armoroad, but Midori just shook her head after that and muttered that she didn’t want to talk about it anymore.
We’ve got to do something about Midori. She’s just hurting herself like this.
*~*
Midori
Today was… so surreal. I was walking down the streets of the enemy’s city, and the whole time I was wondering what in here was so god damned special that so many people had to die to keep them out of this place. And now that we’ve killed their guardian whale they’re all ‘Oh well, okay then, you can come in whenever?’
Talk about your sick jokes.
No one else seems to care either. I saw Adrian and Pure waking down one of their streets shopping, Jared and Relena talking to some of the Deep City citizens, Rossa making friends with one of the girls at the inn, and even Jules and Alexis going off for dinner at one of the restaurants together. Don’t they remember that Olympia tried to kill them?
And Olympia. She spends most of the time around the palace and rarely came out. I probably won’t be able to ambush her there, what with all the guards around. I’ll have to be clever about this. She’ll probably head out to the Labyrinth again sooner or later. Gotta keep her quota of bodies, after all. If I’m careful enough, I should be able to get her alone.
I’m still not sure about that weird metal body of hers, though. I’ll need to figure out more about that before I can be sure I’ll be able to take her down.
*~*
Pure
Today’s Profit: 0 en
I’m surprised my shoulders are still connected to the rest of my body, to be honest. I mean, who knew a pair of lead balls could be so blasted heavy after a few minutes of carrying them?
Anyway, today’s session ended up with me flat on my back wheezing for air. As usual. But this time Adrian’s master was there and he asked her about what she’d done to help me recover and cool down after the sessions. Usually it involves dunking water on me, and she said as much. He sighed and told her to massage my muscles, and I’m not too sure what her reply was but I know it involved a lot of stammering.
Well, apparently Adrian knows a bit about massages, because I felt a whole lot better than I usually did after she finished. I mean, I could actually swing my arms!
Then later on in the day we went to the Deep City and Adrian spotted this robe. I could tell that she wanted it a whole lot but didn’t have the money to drop for it, so I figured I’d be nice and buy it for her as a present.
Turns out they don’t accept en as a form of money. We’re gonna have to set up an exchange rate sooner or later, but for now I had to waste a couple of hours getting into the Labyrinth and mining some valuable rocks so I could trade for the thing. I bloody hope it’s worth it.
I wonder if Sidney would like the Deep City. She wasn’t there with us today.
*~*
Clay
God damn the Deep City’s boring. It’s all a bunch of people just milling around doing mundane stuff. I dunno what I expected from a city under the water, but I know I expected more. Maybe some magic powered battle chariots or something.
Whatever. Aside from that, I hear we’re supposed to be taking a break from Labyrinth diving. Gotta wonder why we’re pulling back on the reins so suddenly when we were screaming along full tilt earlier. Certainly not because they want to take a holiday in the Deep City or anything.
There was really nothing for me, so I didn’t spend too long in that place. Headed back to Armoroad, wandered around, basically moped. Hell, if it goes like this for much longer I’ll just head down into the Labyrinth myself to blow off some steam.
Still, we’re supposed to trust that robot girl who tried to get us all killed. I’ve got a scar down my stomach ‘cause of her. Doesn’t matter how much they try to play friends, I’ve got my eye on them.
*~*
Sidney
The Deep City’s accepted our diplomatic envoys, and that we’re now entering tentative discussions on setting up trade between the two cities. This is… This is what I’ve always dreamed about doing ever since I was old enough to understand the history of Armoroad and the Calamity.
And… I helped it happen. I, Alice Marguerite, helped to improve the trade and economy of Armoroad. This feeling in my chest whenever I think about is… well, it’s kinda difficult to describe.
God, it’s stupid for me to take pride in something like this, isn’t it? But I do, anyway. Something I can say I did for my family and my city. How often does that come around?
I didn’t get to go to the Deep City today – mom and dad asked me to be present at the ceremony for the more prominent noble houses where the announcement about establishing contact with the Deep City was made. Honestly, I don’t see the point. Everyone already knows that we’ve already found the Deep City; the ceremony is just a formality. And even though they won’t mention me or the Paragon Guild by name, everyone there will know that I was part of the team that discovered the place. Kinda embarrassing, that.
Also they just had to stuff me into one of those frilly dresses again. Uggggggggggggghhh.
I wonder if Adrian enjoyed her day in the Deep City. I should go ask her about it.
*~*
Melina
I ran into Ms. Edie’s sister today in the Deep City. Apparently she’s rented out an storehouse to set up shop in so that Napier’s Firm can get a branch in the Deep City. According to her, Ms. Edie thinks that with more explorers trying to make their way deeper into the 3rd Stratum this will be the perfect place to sell them goods.
I decided to help her out a bit, mostly with moving some crates of goods that her sister had sent down. It took a while, but I think we managed to get a fair bit done, and she even compensated me for my work. She told me to drop by once she finishes setting up the store, guaranteeing that ‘Napier quality’.
Come to think of it, I still don’t know anything about her beyond being ‘Ms. Edie’s sister.’ I should ask her name the next time we meet.
*~*
Atahualpa
It is cold in the depths, and not at all pleasant.
If anything there intrigued me, it was the great tree in the centre of their city, Yggdrasil. It pulses with life and power, so palpable that one can almost taste it if they were to merely extend their tongue.
The technology of the depths is… different. Down here, nature is not their ally, aside from vast Yggdrasil. Everything they do is to stave off the harshness of the ocean depths. Artificial, created lights, heat sources, and homes. It truly is a different way of life from the one I know.
The leaders of the Guild have called for a halt on Labyrinth exploration for the time being. This is troublesome. I came to test my strength against the mightiest beasts of nature, not to lie away wasting my time and my strength.
Perhaps in lieu of moving ever deeper, it would be of use to explore the floors we’ve already progressed through. All our maps have blank spots on them, and to fill those in would take time and effort.
Ahul, I have received your letter detailing the problems you have in diplomacy with the other tribes. Remember that as Tun’Ga, you must place the wellbeing of the people who follow your command first.
*~*
Asmodeus
Fascinating.
Olympia is not human. She’s an artificial construct, referred to as an ‘Yggdroid’ and ‘robot’ in equal measure, able to move and behave of her own free will. None of our great thinkers in the Library of Sovelude had theorized this possible for decades.
The locals attribute it all to the power of Yggdrasil. Is that really the case? Even if the tree itself held a power of some kind, how could the denizens of the Deep City have have the knowledge to create such beings?
And the buildings of the Deep City – in design they are remarkably similar to the types of buildings used primarily a hundred years ago, showcasing a difference in the progress of culture from Armoroad. At the same time, the materials used in the construction of the buildings are not familiar to me. I wonder what kind of stone they can mine from deep underwater.
There are so many mysteries and questions about the Deep City that I wish to delve into. It’ll be a while until Master Hale’s reply (along with the materials I asked him to send) arrive, but there’s no reason I can’t start on my preliminary investigations right now.
Rossa’s run off somewhere, as far as I know she’s still in the Deep City. I hope she doesn’t make a nuisance of herself for those in the Deep City with her incessant questions. My sister really can be more trouble than she is worth.
Horoscope: Information is not the same as wisdom.
*~*
Jared
I spent most of today wandering around the Deep City, mostly checking out if they had any good bars. Kept getting strange looks from most of the locals. They didn’t appear suspicious or frightened. More of being curious, given the stares. I guess they weren’t used to outsiders encroaching on their turf.
I settled down with Relena at a kind of outdoor café. I think she felt a little cold so deep underwater so I ordered her a hot drink, and when the waiter came over I asked him about the place.
Turned out I got a talker, and he spent the next few minutes talking about what it was like living underwater. According to him, he was still around when they first sank the part of Armoroad that would later become the Deep City, and he can barely remember what it was like living on the surface anymore. When I pointed out that he didn’t look a day over twenty, he just chuckled and pointed to Yggdrasil in the distance. No surprise you can see that tree from every point in the city, if it gives these guys immortality.
A bit of chitchat later, I asked him about why they had to keep the Deep City such a big secret that people like Olympia were willing to kill in order to prevent the secret from leaking out. I caught a glance from Relena while I was saying this – She never brings it up but I know she still remembers getting ambushed in the sixth floor. The guy shrugged and told me that he never really knew about what Olympia or any of the other guardians were up to in preventing people from reaching the Deep City. But as to why it had to be a secret at all, he just leaned in an mumbled a couple of words.
‘The Deep Ones’. Well, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that whatever that is, it’s even deeper down in the Labyrinth than we are right now. Wonder if we’ll run into them sooner or later.
*~*
Rossa
Spent most of today exploring the Deep City. I dunno how to describe the feeling… it was like it was both really quiet and vibrant at the same time. People don’t rush about to do things, but there’s always this feeling of energy in the air.
I went to the inn that they’d reserved for people from Armoroad who want to stay in the Deep City. The innkeeper there seems nice enough – her name is Angie, and it was a slow enough day that she was able to show me around. They have a lot of gizmos in the Deep City that you won’t find back on the surface world – like this short rod she gave me that can light up whenever I flick a switch. She called it a ‘flashlight’. It’s more convenient than a candle, that’s for sure. And there are all sorts of other items like that. Angie says that it’s all due to the power of Yggdrasil
Yggdrasil… I really want to study it more. I want to see what kind of power it really holds.
There’re so many wonderful things about the Deep City. And now there’ll be plenty of time to explore more of it, especially since I got a letter from Master Gauss approving my leave of absence. The next time big brother tries to get me to go home, I want to see how he reacts when I wave the letter in his face.
Until then, I wouldn’t mind spending more time in the Deep City, this rather stylish inn, and this very comfortable bed.
*~*
Juliana
Well, what with the discovering the Deep City and our Guild going on a hiatus and all, it seems like now would be a good time to review what I’ve accomplished so far.
Well, there was the slaying of the Hammerhead Shark, which was indeed a wonderful triumph. But the discovery of the Deep City was almost entirely out of my hands. That won’t do at all. I’ll need to have a talk with Alexis about placing in more of the exploration duties. I need to be at the forefront or my involvement with the Yggdrasil Labyrinth will merely be a footnote in history!
As for the Deep City, it’s all really rather quaint. I can appreciate how they have technology that we don’t have access to, but really, their lives down there seem so… dull. I couldn’t find very many avenues of entertainment at all, and restaurants were few and far in between. What do people do there? They can’t even say they work like the serfs or peasants in our own land – food, clothing, and almost any basic necessity is in complete abundance down there!
Both Zack and Wooster don’t seem to happy about taking breaks from Labyrnth explorations, especially since they haven’t had much to do recently. I wonder if organizing a monster hunt of sorts for the stronger monsters in the first two stratums would be a fun diversion. I’ll discuss this with the female knight.
*~*
Wooster
The Deep City’s steamed buns are absolutely heavenly! I must know how to get the recipe for making more of these!
*~*
Zack
Maaaaan, apparently we’re supposed to be taking a break now? I’ve barely had any action since killing the Hammerhead shark and now we’re just supposed to be sitting around doing nothing.
Maybe I should try duelling some of the others in the Guild. It’d be a way to keep my reflexes sharp, at least.
A heard a lot of the others took a trip to the Deep City, including Lady Juliana. Meh. Not really my thing. Spent most of today napping and training. Seriously, I gotta find more things to do before I get too bored and go stark raving bonkers.
I almost wish another sea monster would pop out of nowhere and start terrorizing people. It’d give me an excuse for a sea voyage and get me some action at the same time.
*~*
Tinker
Holy wow. I’ve seen the Deep City for myself! With my own eyes! Everyone who’s grown up in Armoroad has heard countless stories about our lost legacy, and I was there to see it today! Talk about a once in a lifetime chance. You sure made the right choice in Guild applications, Dwayne!
Anyway, I spotted a weapons shop near the heart of the town, and I made sure to ask him about any explosives they had in stock. Disappointingly enough, he shook his head and told me that they mostly use enchanted weapons down here. I guess I could enchant my grenades with fire for that extra kick, but it’s just not the same, is it?
On a slightly different note, I heard that even though they’ll start trading and diplomacy with Armoroad, the Deep City is only going to allow selected groups to enter their city and the third stratum beneath it. It’s not an issue for me or anyone else in Paragon – we’ve got the privilege by dint of being the first to successfully reach it, but I gotta wonder why they’re still being tightwads about all this. And that Olympia… I hear she’s bad news and got some of our members roughed up before I joined. Hope things don’t turn ugly with her.
*~*
Zeetha
Oh, this is infuriating! The entrance to the 3rd Stratum is right there! Dozens of beasts that have never been catalogued or observed before just waiting for me, and I can’t go any further! Alexis has called a halt on official Guild ventures, and I’m not foolish enough to venture into an entirely new stratum without backup.
Well, so far my time in this Guild has been a rather disappointing one. Yes, I know I only joined them rather late, so there hasn’t been time for me to do much, but I’ve barely made any progress in discovering new monsters for the codex. I can only hope that things will be more fruitful as we progress further.
I heard some other members of the Guild were really impressed with the Deep City. Meh, I say. Give me dark caverns and deep jungles any day.
*~*
Alexis
Entry Made: 31st of the Month of the Golden Eagle, in the Seven Hundredth and Fourteenth year of the Holy Empire
His Majesty has expressed interest in exploring the Deep City over the course of the next few days. Naturally his interest appears to be centred around the various restaurants and the kind of seafood you can get from the deep ocean.
That said, I accompanied him for his audience with the Abyssal King, and it didn’t take a genius to realize that the King has something he’s not telling us. I’m certain it has something to do with the Labyrinth as well.
I was also able to see what they meant when they said that Olympia was ‘not human’. The Abyssal King referred to her as an ‘Yggdroid’, an artificial being given life by the power of Yggdrasil. Certainly an intriguing concept. I wonder if there are others like her in the Deep City. I also can’t help but wonder if the fact that she isn’t human is what allowed her to attempt to murder us with such a detached air. Not that there haven’t been equally monstrous humans, of course, but Olympia continues to unnerve me.
As for the Deep City itself, it’s pleasant enough on the surface, but there’s something odd about the way the town is structured. The more heavily fortified buildings appear to be located near the Submagnetic Pole where we first entered. Sensible precautions for someone wishing to prevent an invasion via teleportation, except that one can only activate the Pole by first trekking down through the Labyrinth itself. Unless someone from deeper down is using the Submagnetic Pole to come up, this appears to be a rather odd design.
We’ve also scheduled a break on any official Labyrinth exploring duties for a while. I’m not sure exactly how long it will last, but I suppose a reprieve is always welcome. Not that I wish to spend too long away from Holy Renais either. The weather should be starting to turn chilly back in the capital, whereas here it’s still the heat of the tropics. Of course, in the end this can barely be counted as a hardship, so I’ve no right to complain.
I suppose I’ll leave off writing for now. Jules wishes to visit a restaurant and he should be around the pick me up any moment. I should be ready when he arrives.
*~*
A soft knock sounded on the door just as Alexis was laying her pen down on her desk. “Alexis?” came Jules’ voice, muffled by the sound of the door. “Are you ready?”
“Yes, I am,” she called back as she stood, smoothing the hem of her skirt in the process. There was a soft creaking sound as Jules pushed the door open slowly, enough so that he could look in. There was a moment of silence.
“What?” Alexis asked, glancing down at the dress she was wearing.
“Nothing, nothing. It’s just… it’s been a while since I’ve seen you wear something like that.”
“You told me this restaurant was frequented by the Abyssal King. I thought this would be appropriate.”
“It is – I mean, you look great. It really brings out your, uh, your feminine side.”
Alexis raised an eyebrow. “I’m going to take that as a compliment, your Majesty,” a smile quirked at the corner of her lips.
“Yes, well,” he smiled in return and offered her his hand. “Shall we be off?”
With a nod, she reached out and grasped his hand. “Yes, let’s.”
One more Arbalist question: is there any significant difference between Snipe and Sharpshooter aside from whether the skill prefers a bound or a status ailed enemy?
I dunno if "prefers" is the right word. One only hits enemies with a status ailment and the other only hits enemies with a bind. Neither are particularly good skills, if you ask me.
The two most "normal" ways to build an Arbalist are the Zodiac route which focuses points on the barrages to clear out groups of enemies and do good damage to any bosses/FOEs that have a weakness you can hit, or the Gladiator route which focuses on charged single hits (potentially with Front Mortar if you really want to smash things, but that almost requires a Ninja/Zodiac in the group to remove the TP cost of Front Mortar, as well as a Hoplite because a front row Arbalist is fragile).
Good lord how do I beat that stupid multi-tailed fox? Antivolt doesn't seem to take the edge off its "Divine Bullshit" attack one bit. And it spams that thing like there's no tomorrow, so Aegis Defense isn't going to buy me enough to time to kill it.
I'm not sure I could stick one before it killed me, but is Arm Bind the right one to stop that nonsense?
Good lord how do I beat that stupid multi-tailed fox? Antivolt doesn't seem to take the edge off its "Divine Bullshit" attack one bit. And it spams that thing like there's no tomorrow, so Aegis Defense isn't going to buy me enough to time to kill it.
I'm not sure I could stick one before it killed me, but is Arm Bind the right one to stop that nonsense?
When I was fighting that guy I had a Farmer/Wilding combo and I'd Summon the Elephant to Confuse him it was the only way I could beat him at first. But after time he is easy.
Good lord how do I beat that stupid multi-tailed fox? Antivolt doesn't seem to take the edge off its "Divine Bullshit" attack one bit. And it spams that thing like there's no tomorrow, so Aegis Defense isn't going to buy me enough to time to kill it.
I'm not sure I could stick one before it killed me, but is Arm Bind the right one to stop that nonsense?
Maxed antivolt completely nullifies its volt attack (and all volt attacks, for that matter).
If you don't have that, then just avoid them. They're not worth the effort.
Good lord how do I beat that stupid multi-tailed fox? Antivolt doesn't seem to take the edge off its "Divine Bullshit" attack one bit. And it spams that thing like there's no tomorrow, so Aegis Defense isn't going to buy me enough to time to kill it.
I'm not sure I could stick one before it killed me, but is Arm Bind the right one to stop that nonsense?
Maxed antivolt completely nullifies its volt attack (and all volt attacks, for that matter).
If you don't have that, then just avoid them. They're not worth the effort.
Posts
Well then that works out quite nicely. Up to this point, I had primarily just been putting points in the shield skill, on the theory that my Gladiator is the only character in the party who can use shields so why the hell not.
Platinum FC: 2880 3245 5111
Check the OP for the skill simulator, it's a talent tree sort of builder that lets you see each point's effect.
Unless the FoE is so tough it will instant kill you, you can usually escape.
Sometimes things get nasty though, depending on your facing when you enter the battle.
For instance, I remember one time I entered a room on the third stratum and immediately got a random battle with something I couldn't finish off quickly. It was daytime, so the Mother Dragons started moving at me.
Because the door was behind me I had no where to run. I couldn't flee so I had to fight all 6 Mother Dragons. Thankfully, I was high enough level to win (even though I only brought two party members out, I was training them up after a rest).
Sideways movement can be dangerous for this reason as well in tight corridors. If your back is to a wall, you're screwed. On the other hand sideways movement can let you bypass certain challenges. I think on the fifth stratum I once solved an FOE dodge puzzle by engaging an FOE by running into him sideways. When I fled, I ended up on a different side, one that I wanted to be on.
but yeah, as a general rule the most dangerous FoEs are ones that pursue you and have either leg binds or monsters that have leg binds on their floor.
*~*
Entry Made: 27th of the Month of the Golden Eagle, in the Seven Hundredth and Fourteenth year of the Holy Empire
Well, I’ve split up the duties as best I can. Rook, Clay, Asmodeus, Geoffrey and Tinker will be heading to Tortuga to put down the Ghost Ship. They’ll be departing in a couple of hours, in fact. Rook posits that it’ll take most of the day to reach there, so any potential encounter would take place at nightfall, with them returning the next day. I’ve already sent them my well wishes and bade them good fortune in their endeavour, so all that’s left is to wait.
And to continue deeper into the Labyrinth, of course. His Majesty will be leading the charge to find Oceanmaster Ketos. Naturally, I’ll be backing him up in this endeavour, and Sidney, Midori and Rossa will be joining us. We’ve put off finding him for long enough already and I want to bring this to an end.
We will depart at sundown. I’m not sure how long it will take for us to find the Oceanmaster, but the general agreement was that we should not turn back unless we absolutely have to or we’ve accomplished out goals. With that in mind, I’ll be packing several tents and sufficient supplies for a trip lasting several days.
Armoroad’s lore states that the Labyrinth progresses even further down beyond the level we are in. The Deep City might not be the heart of the Labyrinth – in that case, finding it will be but another step in the path his Majesty must walk. I just hope he doesn’t get wild hopes about the end of his journey being in sight – even after finding the Deep City we’ve a long journey ahead of us.
I’ve noticed that Pure appeared unusually exhausted yesterday and I arose early enough today to catch sight of Adrian apparently training him. That, or it could have been an interesting and unusual form of torture. Well, anything that gets him off his rear end more often is okay in my book.
*~*
Rook
Been about two hours since we set out from port in search of the Ghost Ship, and frankly navigating through the seas is just a big pain the butt. If I didn’t have maps that told me which way was up I’d be wandering blind.
Not that I haven’t had to make more than one pit stop at islands along the way to get my bearings. Since I’m in charge of this lot for as long as we’re out on this trip I’m responsible for making sure they don’t mess up too much. Dwayne was tossing bombs off into the ocean earlier just for the hell of it. And he’s supposed to be in the military.
Asmodeus and Geoffrey are pretty much keeping to themselves, especially with the fog apparently being too cold for the scholar’s tastes, so he’s pretty much stuck under the decks. I’m not sure if Clay’s feeling cold (Lord knows she doesn’t wear much) but so far she doesn’t say much other than helping out with keeping the ship running.
Dwayne’s actually been somewhat useful since I put him on lookout duty. At least his eyes are sharp enough to spot things in the water that we don’t want to hit.
Jolly Roger. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve heard that name. Come to think of it, we never had any confirmation if the Ghost Ship really is tied to him or not. Well, either way, we’re going to be fighting this thing and putting it down (hopefully for good) so I guess it doesn’t change that much.
*~*
Adrian
Mood: Anxious
Master’s been out for a while now. It’s fine though. He’s good, one of the best. He can handle himself. Never met anything that could put him down
I just wish he weren’t on a boat out in the middle of the ocean. In the fog. Ugh. He’s always making me worry. And he’s got no sense of direction too. He’ll just be deadweight! Until it’s time for the actual fighting, of course.
Sheesh.
Anyway, Pure’s still looking like a wreck after our session today. I dunno, sometimes I feel like I should go easier on him, and sometimes I look at the exercises I give and wonder if they’re not hard enough. Maybe I should ask Master to sit in on training session next time. I’m still learning myself, it can’t hurt to have a better teacher with me, right?
Right.
Sidney’s just finishing gearing up to head down into the Labyrinth to find the Oceanmaster and try to get him to let us into the Deep City. That she’s packing twice the usual number of her explosives rounds probably shows how optimistic she is about avoiding a fight with the guy. Wish I could do more for her than wishing her good luck. (Melina stopped by to hand out some packed lunches for them. Too bad I can’t cook.)
*~*
Melina
I haven’t had much chance to write lately, have I? Especially these past couple of days, with Pure being too tired to head out into the Labyrinth.
Well, in any case, Ms. Alexis has set out to hunt down the Oceanmaster. This should be the last push – once we’ve beaten this person, we should be able to access the Deep City.
Well, to be honest, I must admit to being a bit disappointed. I mean, I always wanted to become a great explorer, and when I first joined up with the Guild I thought I’d finally get my chance. I know, I know, I’m not the best fighter around, but I thought I’d be able to grow stronger here and to… well, actually contribute. I know my job’s vital for the upkeep of the Guild, but still, I’d have liked to have done more.
I wonder if after they find the Deep City there’ll be anything left to do with the Labyrinth. I can’t help but hope there is.
*~*
Jared
Went out for dinner and a drink with Relena today. Didn’t stay out long, but caught some mumbling from others in the place. Apparently I’ve been here long enough for them to start recognizing me as part of the Paragon Guild.
‘Course, that also means that Paragon’s also been here long enough to start making a name for itself. I know there’ve been more than a few people that tried to sign up with the Guild that Alexis has turned down (which makes me wonder what they were like given that people like me and Tinker and Juliana in to the thing.
There’re more than a couple bunches who’ve set up tent in here for ages, and haven’t made so much of a lick of progress in the past year. Then we come in for, what, a month and a half? And start cleaning house. No surprise they give us dirty looks in public. Oh well, comes with the job I guess.
Dinner wasn’t half bad. Relena mentioned that she was worried about the other ninja girl - Midori. I can’t say that I saw anything wrong, but then again Relena’s always been more perceptive than me about this kind of thing.
*~*
Midori
Tristan
Satomi
Mike
Cecilia
Agata
Hypatia
I’ll put an end to this soon.
Platinum FC: 2880 3245 5111
So I'm without my DS for two months. This'll be fun.
Three different types of debuffs in this game
Ailments: Status effects. Paralyze. Sleep. Curse. Blind. Anything that has a special effect and puts a little icon on your guy when you're fighting. These are the effects
Stat Debuff: Things that lower statistics. Attack debuffs, defense debuffs, lower evasion, increased miss chance, etc. The Prince's Inspire ability removes these, but very little else does.
Binds: A special debuff that locks out moves related to the bind give. Three locations can be bound: legs, arms, and head.
Wolf Howl needs an ailment. I have no idea what rotten egg does.
edit: Looks like they both need a status ailment. They both apply a debuff, so they cannot synergize off of each other.
Except I would think a status effect would be the same as an ailment. WTB clearer terminology.
That way Retribution (every 5 turns) won't destroy your party and you can heal the wounded back up to full in the interim.
Platinum FC: 2880 3245 5111
In case anyone is wondering, resting a character removes its subclass, so you don't have to worry about making a bad decision there. It's only a loss of five levels, too.
Edit: I also noticed that you get a completely different set of drops (and monster list entries) from the Gatekeeper based on the state that it's in when you kill it. Nifty.
*~*
God damn.
The St. Eris is a wreck right now. No big surprise, after the pounding we took from the Ghost Ship. At least we gave as good as we got so it’s now mostly driftwood.
Honestly wasn’t expecting to see it when we did. By my reckoning it was just past midnight and we were still about an hour away from Tortuga when Dwayne noticed something coming up to us from the portside. We barely had time to draw our weapons before the Ghost Ship unloaded its first salvo on us. The cannon had some kinda magic on them that made them burst into flame when they fired. Fortunately, it’s aim was lousy the first time round so it didn’t do hit the St. Eris the first go around.
Clay took a running jump over onto the deck of the ship before I could yell at her not to be an idiot. I lost sight of her for a good while, mainly because I was trying to steer the ship into a position that I could unload our own cannon into the thing. In the meantime Dwayne made for a sort of substitute with his bow by chucking explosives at the hull of the ship, but it seemed to me that it wasn’t having that much of an effect.
The second salvo scored hits on our ship and apparently one of them hit Dwayne too. Geoffrey had to pull him away and start tending to him while Asmodeus starting freezing the water around the Ghost Ship to prevent it from moving too fast. Not too sure how well that worked, but he kept at it through the fight so either he thought it helped or he was just being stubborn.
It continued like that for a while, mostly us exchanging fire and me wondering what the blazes Clay was doing back there on the ship. By my estimates, it was nearly an hour later with me wondering if the St. Eris could possibly withstand another volley of cannon fire when there was this cracking sound and the Ghost Ship began to break apart.
And I don’t mean like a normal ship breaks apart when it can’t hold itself together anymore. It literally began dissolving into the mist and the last thing that happened just before it vanished completely was Clay jumping off the side of the ship and into the water. After I anchored the ship I went belowdecks to get a sense of the damage to the boat while Asmodeus and Dwayne hauled Clay back in.
When she came out, she was clutching some sort of fancy rapier thing and later she tossed it to me saying I might as well use it since old Jolly Roger didn’t need it any more. Huh. Have to remember to thank her for that one.
That aside, we’ve turned and begun the journey back and it’s slow going, what with the St. Eris looking like it’d shatter if it bumped into a rock and all. At least the fog’s started to clear up a little, so I guess we solved the problem for now.
Boy could I use a good nap. I wonder how Alexis is doing with that Oceanmaster guy?
*~*
Clay
Shit. It’s been nearly two hours since we finished off that Ghost Ship and I still feel a chill in my bones. Sure, jumping onto the deck of that fucking thing probably wasn’t the smartest of ideas, but… still. Shit. Gotta get the mages and monks and whatnot to do a runover later, make sure I haven’t picked up any… I dunno, ghost aura or some shit.
Spent most of my time on the boat smashing things. I’m still not quite sure whether or not I actually did anything, but hell, I’m also not sure how the hell a Ghost Ship managed to move on its own, so no harm, no foul.
Eventually found my way into what I guess was the stateroom? Probably had no business being there right about then (especially since Rook’d just fired another shot into the side of the ship) but there was an awfully shiny rapier on the table there and I remember Rook uses those. Funny thing, though, after I grabbed it the ship started to break apart. Not sure if the two were connected or anything.
Anyway, now we’re stuck on a shitty floating piece of swiss cheese trying to make it back to Armoroad before the whole thing gives up on us. I should probably stop writing – Rook’s gonna want my help with bailing this thing out.
*~*
Pure
Today’s Profit: 47 en
The St. Eris crawled into port just before sundown today, looking like someone had tried to scrap it and then got bored just before he was done. Of course their success wasn’t ever much in doubt, considering that the fog started clearing up with the sunrise and it was almost all gone by afternoon.
So, yeah, another threat to Armoroad dealt with, peace, prosperity and a free chicken for all. Adrian kept pestering he master for details, but he didn’t say much (he doesn’t ever) and then later she came by and started grousing that she never gets brought along for any of the big fights.
You can tell she’s worried about Sidney too. Started out late yesterday and we haven’t heard anything about them. She had this distant look in her eyes as she ordered me to run my seventh lap around the town square. (I collapsed after the eighth, and I don’t want to write more about this.)
Maybe they found the Oceanmaster already and they’re convinced him to let them into the Deep City or something. I can’t dream, can’t I? I just hope they come back soon. Otherwise we’re going to have to organize a rescue mission, and no one likes rescue missions.
*~*
Tinker
Ah. Long journey out to see, an enemy that pounces on you from behind, a long drawn out firefight you don’t even know if you have a prayer of winning, and all of a sudden it’s over and you’ve won and you’re headed home as you chug back a bottle of rum.
It’s like I never left the Navy at all.
Still, gotta say that fighting that thing was a new experience. Not only was it a Ghost Ship… thing, but most of my shots weren’t doing anything to it at all. I dunno if it’s weird ghost physics or whatever, but if they made it so explosions and fire don’t work against ships… well, that’s just dirty pool, I say.
Got greeted by cheering crowds when we stepped down the gangplank. Guess the Paragon Guild’s something of a household name now, at least amongst Armoroad. Last time anyone paid any attention to me when I got off a ship was when I almost blew it up by accident.
Could do with a nice hot meal right about now.
*~*
Jules
Ran into another one of those stupid Abyssal Deaths. Managed to get away without having to take it down, but seriously, way too many things down here want us dead.
Decided to set up a tent in the Labyrinth tonight and finish our hunt for the Oceanmaster tomorrow. Alexis didn’t say anything, but you can tell she was thinking about the last time we stayed overnight in the Grotto. At least this time we know to be on our guard, so it won’t be all bad… I hope. It’s our second night out here anyway.
Sidney and Rossa dropped off quickly, but Alexis, being Alexis is still awake in her sleeping bag (I told her I’d wake her when my watch ended, but noooo) and Midori was pacing up and done the camping room nonstop. When I told her that she should probably get some rest she just shook her head and told me she wasn’t tired.
For her sake, I really hope we can put an end to this soon. I think out of all of us down here right now, she’s the only one who really wants a fight with the Oceanmaster and Olympia and… hell, whoever else they have in between us and the Deep City.
Times like this I really wish I knew what to do. Alexis seems content leaving her be, but she’s always stoic about everything. I think other people just work differently from the way she does. Talking to Rook helped a bit, but that was before Agata and Hypatia.
Maybe finishing this will give her some peace of mind. I don’t know. I hope so.
Platinum FC: 2880 3245 5111
1. My volt-focused astrologer was going to be worthless.
2. My front line was going to rapidly burn through its TP, forcing me to waste items and actions refilling it.
3. My first two conclusions were completely wrong.
My front line spent the battle very slowly burning through the astrologer's TP. I love this game sometimes.
*~*
The Etrian Odyssey Travelogue
Entry Forty Seven
*~*
Monsters Defeated: Oceanmaster Ketos x 1
Items Collected: Whale Fumarole x 1, Tough Membrane x 1
Of all the things I anticipated when facing down the Oceanmaster, I can safely say that a massive white whale was not what I had in mind. When we opened the door to its chamber, [strike]it[/strike] he spoke to us. He said that we were indeed resourceful to have come this far, but that it would end here.
And then he attacked us. There was no time given for parley or, well, or anything. I suppose we all suspected that it would be how things would turn out from the moment we saw each other, so we all reacted quickly enough.
The fight took really long, too. I guess durability comes with the territory of being a whale, and all. It was a lot faster than I thought it would be, too. I mean, Midori could keep up with it fine, but Rossa and I had a bit of trouble with making our hits connect. That’s not including the times he blew air out of his blowhole and churned the water up so much that just catching sight of him was a chore.
At times he would gather the water up around himself and… sort of throw it. I don’t know how it worked, probably magic of some kind, but it was telegraphed enough and easy to dodge. Good thing too, ‘cause whenever it struck the walls of floor it gouged a huge chunk out of stone. Man, I don’t want to think about what a hit like that would do to muscle and bone.
So it was going pretty well, we were even able to keep scoring hits on it, and it actually looked like we would be able to win it. Rossa seemed to have some trouble keeping up the pace, but that’s understandable since she’s thirteen, and in any case Ketos didn’t target her much.
And then the big whale opened his mouth. I don’t think it ever ‘talked’ with that. Mostly used some kind of telepathy or something. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but a song wasn’t it. I was already pretty tired out from the fighting, and when the sound hit me I had to fight the urge to just roll over and go to sleep. So it had a magic sleep spell of some kind on it. I was able to shrug it off (and reply with another round of explosives to Ketos’ underbelly) but Rossa and Prince Jules weren’t so lucky. Out like lights, those two.
And then Ketos revved up another one of its ‘throw the ocean at us’ attacks. I got out of the way, and Rossa was off to the side a bit, but a slumbering Jules was directly in the way of the wave. So of course Alexis had to dive in and kick him off to the side and take the full brunt of the attack herself. She was sent flying, and given all the armour she wears I’m gonna guess that’s not an easy task to manage. By that point Ketos was on his last legs, and I managed to deal the final shot – just below the eye (that area had some kind of coral armour on it, but we’d broken it off in the course of the fight).
His last words were to congratulate us for our valour, and that the way to the Deep City was now open. I guess I was the only one actually paying attention at that point – Rossa was still asleep, Midori looked as if she couldn’t have cared less, and Jules was frantically trying to wake up Alexis.
It was
I’m not sure what it was like. All I thought was that it shouldn’t have come down to a fight to the death, and why he had to attack us on sight in the first place. Anyway, even if the path to the Deep City ‘lay open’, we had to get medical treatment for Alexis ASAP, so we warped out of there.
Also, I salvaged what I could from the Ketos’, although I gotta say I felt kinda dirty doing it. It was… well, aware. It was kind of like I was looting a human corpse, but I still did it anyway. I turned the stuff over to Geoffrey when I got back out because I didn’t want to think about it any longer.
Oh, yeah, Rook’s team handled the Ghost Ship thing fine. Fog’s cleared up completely in Armoroad by now. That’s good, I guess
*~*
Midori
Ketos is dead. That’s fine, I guess, but Alexis got badly wounded in the process. She’s stable but still unconscious, and she’s been like that the whole afternoon and evening.
He’s not the one I’m really after anyway. I need to find Olympia. Once I find her, it’ll end. Everything will end.
Rook was waiting for me when I got back from the dungeon. He had a new sword of some kind and the fog was gone, so I guess he succeeded in killing the Ghost Ship or… or whatever it was. He asked me about how the fight went and I basically shrugged and told him it went fine.
It’s not that I want to blow him off or anything. But I just can’t afford distractions right now. I can’t. Not until Olympia’s dead.
*~*
Geoffrey
Thought for the Day: Courage should not be confused with recklessness
Alexis’ wounds are heavy.
Massive force was applied to her, and her back was subsequently slammed onto something hard – probably a stone wall of the Labyrinth.
She is lucky her spine was not cracked.
Not as life-threatening as the ambush by the Sea Wanderers, but likely to have a longer period of recovery.
Jules is keeping a constant vigil at her side.
He feels guilty for her being harmed on his behalf.
I’ve chosen to leave them be aside from applying treatment to Alexis
Adrian and Pure continue to get along well.
I’ve been invited to sit in on one of their training sessions and to offer advice. I believe I shall do just that.
*~*
Jules
Alexis got injured again.
And it’s all my fault again.
That attack, that song Ketos was singing. Whatever it was, I should have been able to withstand the effects. Alexis, Sidney and Midori could, so why couldn’t I?
And if I’d been able to stay awake, then that stupid wave attack wouldn’t have hit me – and Alexis wouldn’t have to throw me out of the way and take the hit herself.
If Alexis were awake right now I’d now what she’d say. Probably something about how it was her duty to protect me in the first place, and that she did what she was supposed to do. And that just makes me feel more guilty.
I mean, there was always the understanding that maybe Alexis would be wounded (while I wasn’t) by coming along, and that it might be because she was protecting me, but now that I’m actually experiencing it… it’s like a hit to the gut, to be honest.
She shouldn’t need to suffer on my behalf.
*~*
Asmodeus
Interesting. The way to the Deep City is open, at long last. By now, it is almost certain that it is indeed still around in some fashion. I can only wonder about what exactly it will look like when at last I venture down there.
I am rather displeased with Rossa having been involved in fighting the Oceanmaster at all, but according to Sidney she performed well enough and I suppose that she would be a good enough judge.
The fabled Deep City… I hear we’ll be making an expedition there tomorrow regardless of whether Alexis has woken by that time (not that I think she’d be ready for a trip even if she were conscious). I can only wonder what awaits us there.
Horoscope: Dreams can disappoint even when it is all you want it to be.
Platinum FC: 2880 3245 5111
Entry Forty Eight
*~*
Entry Made: 29th of the Month of the Golden Eagle, in the Seven Hundredth and Fourteenth year of the Holy Empire
I’ve neither the time nor energy to write much right now, but I suppose it is important that I record what has just occurred.
We’ve apparently made contact with the Deep City. I was not present at that point, what with being unconscious at the time, but I am given to understanding that the contact was brief and largely hostile. I think Olympia was involved, and I recall them saying something about her not actually being human, but I don’t have the details on that right now.
Apparently there’s also been some confusion about the report to the Senatus. I’m not sure exactly what occurred, and when I asked Jules he just shook his head and told me he’d handle any bureaucratic issues, and that I should focus on recovering my strength.
As long as we’re on the subject of Jules, he’s been acting oddly again. He probably feels guilty about me getting injured or some other nonsense of that sort. I’ll need to have a talk with him and straighten that out.
*~*
Jules
I got called away to be part of the official visit to the Deep City during the early morning. I honestly wanted to watch of over Alexis, but Geoffrey convinced me that as leader of the Guild, I needed to be present for the first contact. For somewhat obvious reasons, I elected not to take Midori along.
Anyway, we managed to navigate our way through the second stratum fairly quickly. When we reached the chamber where the Oceanmaster had been waiting, I noted that his body was no longer there – apparently denizens of the Deep City had decided to the take it away, probably for burial or… something. In any case, the beasts that normally swarmed over the rest of the Labyrinth didn’t show up there, so I’ll assume he hasn’t been eaten by scavengers, if only for my
When we first stepped down into the Deep City, I have to admit that I was shocked by what I saw. I mean, it was always referred to as the Deep City, but the entire area looked almost as big as Amoroad itself. I didn’t have the chance to take a close look, but the materials they used to build their homes didn’t look like anything I know.
In any case, we had barely entered the Deep City when we were confronted by Olympia. As it turns out, she’s a golem of some kind, built with metal and wires. I hadn’t heard of any animated golems being able to achieve sentience, but her behaviour was far too natural to have been achieved by some programmed spell.
After drawing me aside, Olympia said that since I had now discovered the Deep City I had achieved my goals and there was no longer a reason to stay here, and then she asked me not to reveal the Deep City to anyone back in Armoroad. Well, not ‘ask’ so much as ‘demand’ in a flat tone.
To be perfectly honest, I considered refusing her to her face, if only for the satisfaction of turning down the person who had led us into an ambush and fully expected us to be dead by the end of the day. But as a representative of the Empire, I wasn’t supposed to let my impulses get the better of me.
Especially when we were in the middle of the Deep City without any backup.
I questioned her on her reasoning behind wanting to keep the Deep City a secret but she simply shook her head and repeated her demand. Finally I told her I couldn’t give her an answer on such an important matter right now, but I would think it over. That… seemed to satisfy her, but she requested that we turn around and head back to the surface via a Submagnetic Pole that was apparently on the city outskirts.
Offhand I’m not sure how it all went horribly wrong, but I guess the thread can be somewhat narrowed down to me mentioning to the others on the way back not to talk about the Deep City just yet, Sidney going to visit her parents and telling them about her discovery, her parents talking to the other merchants and some of the lower nobles, and the news apparently reaching the Senatus. Within the space of a single day.
At least they don’t appear to have thought that I was deliberately keeping this information from them. And now they want us to be part of an official delegation into the Deep City. I honestly don’t think I could care less right now.
I just realized I’ve written so much about what actually occurred today and I was barely thinking about all of that as I went through the motions. Mostly I was worried about Alexis. When I came back to the recovery ward at the inn she’d just woken up and was trying to sit up in bed. I told her about what happened today, leaving out some details I knew would only get her riled up. Now that she’s asleep again I’m basically sitting at her bedside making sure nothing happens to her.
Expenditure on supplies: 160 en
Expenditure on equipment: 1200 en
Expenditure, Misc: 23 en
Total Income: 0 en
Total Profit Earned: -1383 en
Total Current Funds: 6148 en
*~*
Sidney
Oh man, I really messed up. Jules wanted to keep the discovery of the Deep City a secret for a bit; apparently there was something about not upsetting the residents there. I guess I can see the logic. Kind of?
But then I got too excited when I saw mom and dad today and it all came out about how pretty the Deep City was and what it was like seeing Yggdrasil – the actual, live Yggdrasil - that… I kinda let my mouth run. And that was that, as they say.
I don’t know what’s going to happen to the relations between Armoroad and the Deep City. But, whatever happens, I know I want to be there to see it through.
*~*
Asmodeus
Our stay in the Deep City was entirely too brief for my liking. However, that also means that I’ve empirically confirmed its existence. I’ve already sent a message back to Master Hale about this discovery, and now all I’ve to do is wait for the reply, even though I can all but guarantee they’ll want me to study it further.
Hopefully we can return to the Deep City soon enough for me to begin my studies. Of course, there’s far too much for a single person to properly study there, but with any luck there’ll be a number of other scholars itching to begin as well.
Horoscope:
Silent again.
Platinum FC: 2880 3245 5111
Solid update, though; a nice calm in the midst of all their chaos.
It looks like New Game+ pretty much just dumps you back at the beginning of the plot. Your characters and items are exactly the same, you keep your map, and quests stay solved. I'll need to check what if anything gets reset on the sea. The one-way passages and most of the chests do get reset, though.
Platinum FC: 2880 3245 5111
Entry Forty Nine
*~*
More travelling back and forth between Armoroad and the Deep City today. Of course most of it was done at the behest of the Senatus, but beyond a certain point I really don’t see why they have to keep using us as their go-betweens. Maybe if I reminded them that I’m technically royalty from an entirely different country that has nothing to do with either side they’d stop using me as an errand boy.
Yeah yeah, all Guilds subservient to the Senatus for duration of their existence. Fine. Whatever.
Regardless, we had to wait around while they prepared a bunch of gifts and presents they deemed worthy of being presented to the ruler of the Deep City. While we were there Rook pointed out that Armoroad and the Deep City were supposed to be from the same place, so wouldn’t they have all this stuff already? Maybe their culture diverged in the past hundred years or something. Meanwhile, I had to worry about how Olympia was going to react when I showed up in front of her with over two dozen people from Armoroad. I guess that’s why I brought along some of the other Guild members. Just in case things got ugly.
Of course, as it turned out nobody came to blows, although Olympia looked rather grumpy as she went to inform her king that we wanted an audience with him. I had an opportunity to meet him myself, he seemed rather distracted. In any case, after the requisite exchange of greetings, he invited me and the others who came with me to spend the night in the Deep City.
I told him I had other matters to attend to back in Armoroad (Alexis, mostly), but that the others in the delegation would be willing to take him up on his offer. I hope he wasn’t insuled or anything, but I honestly don’t have the time to waste.
When I got back to Armoroad I learnt that Zeetha and Atahualpa entered the Labyrinth today without telling us first. Probably nothing important.
Geoffrey’s told me that Alexis is recovering and should be back on her feet by tomorrow. She spent most of the day asleep or writing in her own diary, mentioning once that this enforced bedrest was going to throw off her training routine.
*~*
Alexis
Entry Made: 30th of the Month of the Golden Eagle, in the Seven Hundredth and Fourteenth year of the Holy Empire
His Majesty refused an invitation from the monarch of the Deep City so he could come back and sit by me bedside while I recuperate.
I don’t even want to go into the sheer number of social mistakes he had to make in order to end up in this situation. Even after all this time, his Majesty remains as hopeless as ever.
Not that I don’t appreciate the concern he’s shown me, of course. But… the positions we have mean that we can’t just do as we please. That, and the issue of Armoroad and the Deep City attempting to establish trade relations. As a matter being decided between two sovereign states, we really shouldn’t have any part in the proceedings on the behalf of either, and if push comes to shove, we should be doing whatever it is that will benefit the Empire.
That being said, I wonder what sort of person this so-called Abyssal King is like. Did he condone (or order) Olympia’s repeated ambushes in the sixth floor? I would like to meet him in person at least once.
*~*
Rook
Jules managed to foist off responsibility for staying in the Deep City tonight to me. Man, comfortable as the rooms are, I can’t really get used to seeing fish swimming by the window. Not to mention that the Abyssal King guy’s got a look in his eyes… gives me the creeps. And I’m not too sure about being in the same city as Olympia either, especially when she quite clearly wants us out of here.
Aside from that, gotta say that the people here are doing pretty well for themselves. They seem to have a lot of high tech stuff that Armoroad doesn’t. I managed to ask around a bit, and apparently everyone attributes this to Yggdrasil providing a plentiful source of energy and knowledge and power and whatever.
No wonder the people in Armoroad wanted this place back so much.
Now, aside from the place here being all shiny and glowy, some of the people here seem… I dunno, off. Not like Olympia, who’s apparently not even human. There’s always this undercurrent of tension from the people around here. I don’t think it comes from us (I mean, we’ve got twenty, twenty five people here at most), so… gotta wonder about that.
*~*
Melina
I went to see Ms. Edie today to sell off some of the stuff I’d managed to pick up from the Labyrinth, plus Sidney also handed me some things she harvested from the body of that whale she fought.
When I got there Ms. Edie looked rather worried, and kept pacing back and forth. It was nearly a minute before she noticed me. Well naturally I asked her if anything was the matter, and she told me that her sister had been chosen as part of the delegate to have an audience with the Abyssal King.
Well the Paragon Guild was supposed to head down there as well, so we got to talking about what we thought the Deep City was like. Ms. Edie kept clucking her tongue and hoping that her sister didn’t make a bad first impression on the rulers of the Deep City or she’d never get her license to set up a branch in the Deep City.
Guess Ms. Edie really does never miss a trick for getting more money. I don’t know whether I should admire or be repelled by it. I mean, a good work ethic’s nice and all, but…
Anyway, I hope I get my chance to visit the Deep City soon. The people who’ve already been there keep talking about what a wondrous place it is. I hope I can see it for myself.
*~*
Pure
Today’s Profit: 74 en
So we’ve reached the Deep City.
Yay.
I heard there’s supposed to be another set of caverns that lead even further down. These ones are supposed to be filled with lava.
Double yay.
Adrian thinks I’m ready to progress from ‘running around the town square’ to ‘running around the town square carrying weights at the same time’.
Fuck me.
Platinum FC: 2880 3245 5111
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Hoplite, Gladiator (will change Gladiator to Shogun when unlocked)
Wildling, Monk, Farmer
Farmer and Wildling are on the chopping block.
How is Farmer/Ninja "possibly the ultimate binding/status unit?" I loved the idea of having a character holding a sheep in my party, but he really does seem as useless as advertised in a fight, and I'm not familiar enough with the Ninja skill trees to know how they'll benefit the Farmer. It's been handy having Go to Market but I imagine it won't be as important once the cost of the return to town items are more trivial compared to my income. Also I thought that having a Farmer in the regular party would negate the need for a secondary farming party, but it does seem like it'll be easier to just bite the bullet and have the 5 Farmer team.
The Wildling has been ok but I don't like how she basically twiddles her thumbs once her summon comes out. Also, I feel super stretched thin when it comes to skill points. It seems like you need a bunch of different types of summons to have access to the different types of status ailments, but without putting a bunch of points into each individual summon it seems like the ailments rarely proc. Would Arbalist as a subclass work to give the Wildling a way to do damage from the back row, or would the Wildling stats be too weak to work with the Arbalist weapons?
If I ditched Farmer then I'd bring in an Arbalist. If I also ditched the Wildling I'm not sure what I'd bring in instead. Maybe Buccaneer?
As for who to bring in, I definitely like the Arbalist idea, and Buccaneers are good too if you know what you are doing. Shoguns on the other hand need some serious planning to work out (although they are damn near broken if you plan your team around them). I switched one of my characters to a Shogun and reloaded my save shortly later to undo the change. I'm very glad I didn't save after doing that.
I might be biased, though. Here was my ending party, for reference:
Ninja/Prince, Monk/Hoplite
Noting that I used an Arbalist/Zodiac for the majority of the game, switching to a Hoplite very late. Overall I really liked everyone in my party, although I'm sure there's changes I could've made to make it better.
Farmer can get up to a 60% chance to put all enemies to sleep (at the cost of sleeping himself), 60% chance to inflict random binds to all enemies, decrease all enemies' ATK by 50%, and transfer his own status effects to an enemy with 100% chance of success.
Ninja can bind an enemy's legs with a 60% chance, petrify with a 45% chance, sleep 3 enemies with a 40% chance, 60% chance to inflict poison as a counterattack, and spread an enemy's status ailment to other enemies 100% of the time.
Also I believe the Farmer has the highest luck stat or something, such that they have a better chance of inflicting status anyway. Of course these are all just individual attacks and don't have a ton of synergy with each other or with the rest of the team.
Someone who actually used a Shogun for a decent period of time might be able to give a less biased description than me, though.
Hoplite/Monk, Gladiator/Shogun
Wildling/something, Arbalist/Zodiac, Monk/Prince
Not exactly outside the box but I think I like it.
Arbalist/Zodiac is a good combination because Singularity (the skill that boosts your damage when you hit a weak point) works on the Arbalist's elemental barrages, as well as if something happens to be weak to Pierce attacks. You wouldn't learn any actual spells.
One more Arbalist question: is there any significant difference between Snipe and Sharpshooter aside from whether the skill prefers a bound or a status ailed enemy?
*~*
The Etrian Odyssey Travelogue
Entry Fifty
*~*
Was called down into the Deep City for a meeting with the Abyssal King Seyfried. Seyfried. I think it used to be a rather common name a while back, but that was before I was born yet.
Regardless, the message he had for me was that he would allow select groups of people entrance into the Deep City – chiefly people who had credentials as explorers. According to him, there was no question that the Guild that had the honour of being the first one to discover the Deep City after a hundred years would be extended this rare privilege.
I couldn’t help but notice Olympia glaring daggers at me throughout the course of this exchange. I think I’ll be avoiding the palace, if only to avoid running into her so often.
I also went to check out the entrance to the Third Stratum of the Labyrinth. Apparently the locals call it the Molten Caves. Not very difficult to figure out why. I’ve noticed a few of the Deep City locals standing guard at the entrance, although I really can’t fathom why, considering that according to the Abyssal King, his own people very rarely enter the Labyrinth. Plus, they seemed more interested in preventing things from coming out than anyone from going in.
Huh. Now that I think about it, it really is rather peculiar. Maybe I should try to figure out a bit more.
Regardless, I think we’ll be taking a short break from Labyrinth diving. I mean, we’ve accomplished a fair bit over the course of two months, I think we earned ourselves a breather. I should probably write some replies to those letters from the palace, too.
That, and I’d like to explore the Deep City itself. There don’t seem to be very many restaurants around here, but I was recommended one by one of the Abyssal King’s aides. I’ve invited Alexis along with me – treating her to dinner’s the least I can do.
*~*
Geoffrey
Thought of the Day: Surprises abound in the world, even for the experienced.
I have visited the Deep City.
It is far too dark for my liking.
It also has a very soothing atmosphere.
People are friendly and welcoming, even without having many visitors in ages.
That makes Olympia’s insistence on keeping us out even stranger.
I wish to investigate the matter further.
(I sat in on Adrian’s training session today. She’s probably pushing Pure a bit harder than is wise.)
*~*
Adrian
Mood: Relaxed
Took a trip to the Deep City today. Well, most of the Guild did. Sidney didn’t, though. I’m not sure if Master likes the place, but for what it’s worth, the atmosphere of the Deep City’s really cosy.
I went to the shopping district of the Deep City with Pure in the afternoon, and mostly we just hung out. That, and Pure bought some salve for what he claims are aching muscles. Mostly we sampled snacks and stuff. The Deep City doesn’t really have an industry for tourists, at least not like Armoroad does. I guess that’s understandable.
We passed a clothes shop and I originally wanted to walk right on by, but just then the shopkeeper was hanging out some kind of new robe that was the most vibrant green I’ve ever seen. I guess it caught my eye because nearly everything else in the Deep City is blue. Blue, purple, indigo, blue.
Walked over to get a look at the material, and the storekeeper told me it was made from some kind of plant that could be found in the Third Stratum, and it’s really durable too. It also felt really smooth against my fingers.
I would’ve bought it then and there – my old robe was already in tatters before coming to Armoroad and between all the things with sharp claws and fangs that I’ve been fighting it’s pretty much a few strips of orange cloth hanging together right now – but it was way out of my price range.
Maybe I could save up a bit. Or ask Alexis for a raise. Or something.
It’ll probably end up getting sold before the day is out, anyway.
---
Pure just stopped by and, get this! He dropped off that robe I’d been eyeing in the afternoon! When I asked him about it, he just shrugged and told me that it was obvious I wanted it but couldn’t pay for it, so he’d went and gotten it for me. He spent a bit complaining about how the en wasn’t accepted as legal tender in the Deep City or something so he had to make a trip to the Labyrinth to get some pieces of ore to trade off for the robe.
I asked him how I could repay him, and he just shrugged. I’ll have to do something to make up for this or I’ll just feel bad about myself. Master always says that a good deed done is its own reward, but there’s no reason you can’t pile on another reward on top of that.
But now that I think about it, I don’t really know about much of anything besides fighting and training, and I’m already giving him lessons. I’m not good at making things, and I really don’t have the money to buy him anything fancy.
Maybe I could ask Sidney for some help.
*~*
Rook
A lot of the Guild went down to the Deep City to do some exploring today. Me, I’d already seen more than enough it yesterday so I decided I might as well take a gander at how the repairs on the St. Eris were coming along. We’re something of local heroes ever since we took down the Ghost Ship and found the Deep City so they’ve assigned their best men to the task of fixing the ship.
Still, it’s easy to tell that the old girl won’t be seaworthy for a while yet. I guess it’s for the best that we cut down on all our exploring for the time being. No Labyrinth dives, no wild rides on the open sea. And frankly, if something like another Ghost Ship pops out of nowhere, I’m more than willing to let someone take a crack at it instead of us.
Around evening time I went to take a welcome back the others who were just now coming back after their little jaunt in the Deep City. Spotted Midori looking like she was about to throw up so I walked over and asked her if anything was the matter.
She just shook her head and said no, of course. Then she started to walk off again when I grabbed her hand and asked her to stop. To be honest, I didn’t have a clear idea of what I was gonna say anyway, but after a moment’s awkward silence I just asked her to join me for dinner.
I chose one of the more out-of-the-way places with the booths that give their customers privacy. She was quiet for most of the meal, but near the end she just started talking about how everyone in the Deep City just acts so goddamned normal and everyone else in the party doesn’t seem to care that Olympia murdered her friends and Agata and Hypatia, and they’re just walking around enjoying themselves, and all the rage and anger that’s bottled up inside her is almost physically choking her.
I pointed out that the rest of the Deep City didn’t have anything to do with the murders, and that even if they didn’t like the Abyssal King or Olympia they had to play nice for the sake of Armoroad, but Midori just shook her head after that and muttered that she didn’t want to talk about it anymore.
We’ve got to do something about Midori. She’s just hurting herself like this.
*~*
Midori
Today was… so surreal. I was walking down the streets of the enemy’s city, and the whole time I was wondering what in here was so god damned special that so many people had to die to keep them out of this place. And now that we’ve killed their guardian whale they’re all ‘Oh well, okay then, you can come in whenever?’
Talk about your sick jokes.
No one else seems to care either. I saw Adrian and Pure waking down one of their streets shopping, Jared and Relena talking to some of the Deep City citizens, Rossa making friends with one of the girls at the inn, and even Jules and Alexis going off for dinner at one of the restaurants together. Don’t they remember that Olympia tried to kill them?
And Olympia. She spends most of the time around the palace and rarely came out. I probably won’t be able to ambush her there, what with all the guards around. I’ll have to be clever about this. She’ll probably head out to the Labyrinth again sooner or later. Gotta keep her quota of bodies, after all. If I’m careful enough, I should be able to get her alone.
I’m still not sure about that weird metal body of hers, though. I’ll need to figure out more about that before I can be sure I’ll be able to take her down.
*~*
Pure
Today’s Profit: 0 en
I’m surprised my shoulders are still connected to the rest of my body, to be honest. I mean, who knew a pair of lead balls could be so blasted heavy after a few minutes of carrying them?
Anyway, today’s session ended up with me flat on my back wheezing for air. As usual. But this time Adrian’s master was there and he asked her about what she’d done to help me recover and cool down after the sessions. Usually it involves dunking water on me, and she said as much. He sighed and told her to massage my muscles, and I’m not too sure what her reply was but I know it involved a lot of stammering.
Well, apparently Adrian knows a bit about massages, because I felt a whole lot better than I usually did after she finished. I mean, I could actually swing my arms!
Then later on in the day we went to the Deep City and Adrian spotted this robe. I could tell that she wanted it a whole lot but didn’t have the money to drop for it, so I figured I’d be nice and buy it for her as a present.
Turns out they don’t accept en as a form of money. We’re gonna have to set up an exchange rate sooner or later, but for now I had to waste a couple of hours getting into the Labyrinth and mining some valuable rocks so I could trade for the thing. I bloody hope it’s worth it.
I wonder if Sidney would like the Deep City. She wasn’t there with us today.
*~*
Clay
God damn the Deep City’s boring. It’s all a bunch of people just milling around doing mundane stuff. I dunno what I expected from a city under the water, but I know I expected more. Maybe some magic powered battle chariots or something.
Whatever. Aside from that, I hear we’re supposed to be taking a break from Labyrinth diving. Gotta wonder why we’re pulling back on the reins so suddenly when we were screaming along full tilt earlier. Certainly not because they want to take a holiday in the Deep City or anything.
There was really nothing for me, so I didn’t spend too long in that place. Headed back to Armoroad, wandered around, basically moped. Hell, if it goes like this for much longer I’ll just head down into the Labyrinth myself to blow off some steam.
Still, we’re supposed to trust that robot girl who tried to get us all killed. I’ve got a scar down my stomach ‘cause of her. Doesn’t matter how much they try to play friends, I’ve got my eye on them.
*~*
Sidney
The Deep City’s accepted our diplomatic envoys, and that we’re now entering tentative discussions on setting up trade between the two cities. This is… This is what I’ve always dreamed about doing ever since I was old enough to understand the history of Armoroad and the Calamity.
And… I helped it happen. I, Alice Marguerite, helped to improve the trade and economy of Armoroad. This feeling in my chest whenever I think about is… well, it’s kinda difficult to describe.
God, it’s stupid for me to take pride in something like this, isn’t it? But I do, anyway. Something I can say I did for my family and my city. How often does that come around?
I didn’t get to go to the Deep City today – mom and dad asked me to be present at the ceremony for the more prominent noble houses where the announcement about establishing contact with the Deep City was made. Honestly, I don’t see the point. Everyone already knows that we’ve already found the Deep City; the ceremony is just a formality. And even though they won’t mention me or the Paragon Guild by name, everyone there will know that I was part of the team that discovered the place. Kinda embarrassing, that.
Also they just had to stuff me into one of those frilly dresses again. Uggggggggggggghhh.
I wonder if Adrian enjoyed her day in the Deep City. I should go ask her about it.
*~*
Melina
I ran into Ms. Edie’s sister today in the Deep City. Apparently she’s rented out an storehouse to set up shop in so that Napier’s Firm can get a branch in the Deep City. According to her, Ms. Edie thinks that with more explorers trying to make their way deeper into the 3rd Stratum this will be the perfect place to sell them goods.
I decided to help her out a bit, mostly with moving some crates of goods that her sister had sent down. It took a while, but I think we managed to get a fair bit done, and she even compensated me for my work. She told me to drop by once she finishes setting up the store, guaranteeing that ‘Napier quality’.
Come to think of it, I still don’t know anything about her beyond being ‘Ms. Edie’s sister.’ I should ask her name the next time we meet.
*~*
Atahualpa
It is cold in the depths, and not at all pleasant.
If anything there intrigued me, it was the great tree in the centre of their city, Yggdrasil. It pulses with life and power, so palpable that one can almost taste it if they were to merely extend their tongue.
The technology of the depths is… different. Down here, nature is not their ally, aside from vast Yggdrasil. Everything they do is to stave off the harshness of the ocean depths. Artificial, created lights, heat sources, and homes. It truly is a different way of life from the one I know.
The leaders of the Guild have called for a halt on Labyrinth exploration for the time being. This is troublesome. I came to test my strength against the mightiest beasts of nature, not to lie away wasting my time and my strength.
Perhaps in lieu of moving ever deeper, it would be of use to explore the floors we’ve already progressed through. All our maps have blank spots on them, and to fill those in would take time and effort.
Ahul, I have received your letter detailing the problems you have in diplomacy with the other tribes. Remember that as Tun’Ga, you must place the wellbeing of the people who follow your command first.
*~*
Asmodeus
Fascinating.
Olympia is not human. She’s an artificial construct, referred to as an ‘Yggdroid’ and ‘robot’ in equal measure, able to move and behave of her own free will. None of our great thinkers in the Library of Sovelude had theorized this possible for decades.
The locals attribute it all to the power of Yggdrasil. Is that really the case? Even if the tree itself held a power of some kind, how could the denizens of the Deep City have have the knowledge to create such beings?
And the buildings of the Deep City – in design they are remarkably similar to the types of buildings used primarily a hundred years ago, showcasing a difference in the progress of culture from Armoroad. At the same time, the materials used in the construction of the buildings are not familiar to me. I wonder what kind of stone they can mine from deep underwater.
There are so many mysteries and questions about the Deep City that I wish to delve into. It’ll be a while until Master Hale’s reply (along with the materials I asked him to send) arrive, but there’s no reason I can’t start on my preliminary investigations right now.
Rossa’s run off somewhere, as far as I know she’s still in the Deep City. I hope she doesn’t make a nuisance of herself for those in the Deep City with her incessant questions. My sister really can be more trouble than she is worth.
Horoscope: Information is not the same as wisdom.
*~*
Jared
I spent most of today wandering around the Deep City, mostly checking out if they had any good bars. Kept getting strange looks from most of the locals. They didn’t appear suspicious or frightened. More of being curious, given the stares. I guess they weren’t used to outsiders encroaching on their turf.
I settled down with Relena at a kind of outdoor café. I think she felt a little cold so deep underwater so I ordered her a hot drink, and when the waiter came over I asked him about the place.
Turned out I got a talker, and he spent the next few minutes talking about what it was like living underwater. According to him, he was still around when they first sank the part of Armoroad that would later become the Deep City, and he can barely remember what it was like living on the surface anymore. When I pointed out that he didn’t look a day over twenty, he just chuckled and pointed to Yggdrasil in the distance. No surprise you can see that tree from every point in the city, if it gives these guys immortality.
A bit of chitchat later, I asked him about why they had to keep the Deep City such a big secret that people like Olympia were willing to kill in order to prevent the secret from leaking out. I caught a glance from Relena while I was saying this – She never brings it up but I know she still remembers getting ambushed in the sixth floor. The guy shrugged and told me that he never really knew about what Olympia or any of the other guardians were up to in preventing people from reaching the Deep City. But as to why it had to be a secret at all, he just leaned in an mumbled a couple of words.
‘The Deep Ones’. Well, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that whatever that is, it’s even deeper down in the Labyrinth than we are right now. Wonder if we’ll run into them sooner or later.
*~*
Rossa
Spent most of today exploring the Deep City. I dunno how to describe the feeling… it was like it was both really quiet and vibrant at the same time. People don’t rush about to do things, but there’s always this feeling of energy in the air.
I went to the inn that they’d reserved for people from Armoroad who want to stay in the Deep City. The innkeeper there seems nice enough – her name is Angie, and it was a slow enough day that she was able to show me around. They have a lot of gizmos in the Deep City that you won’t find back on the surface world – like this short rod she gave me that can light up whenever I flick a switch. She called it a ‘flashlight’. It’s more convenient than a candle, that’s for sure. And there are all sorts of other items like that. Angie says that it’s all due to the power of Yggdrasil
Yggdrasil… I really want to study it more. I want to see what kind of power it really holds.
There’re so many wonderful things about the Deep City. And now there’ll be plenty of time to explore more of it, especially since I got a letter from Master Gauss approving my leave of absence. The next time big brother tries to get me to go home, I want to see how he reacts when I wave the letter in his face.
Until then, I wouldn’t mind spending more time in the Deep City, this rather stylish inn, and this very comfortable bed.
*~*
Juliana
Well, what with the discovering the Deep City and our Guild going on a hiatus and all, it seems like now would be a good time to review what I’ve accomplished so far.
Well, there was the slaying of the Hammerhead Shark, which was indeed a wonderful triumph. But the discovery of the Deep City was almost entirely out of my hands. That won’t do at all. I’ll need to have a talk with Alexis about placing in more of the exploration duties. I need to be at the forefront or my involvement with the Yggdrasil Labyrinth will merely be a footnote in history!
As for the Deep City, it’s all really rather quaint. I can appreciate how they have technology that we don’t have access to, but really, their lives down there seem so… dull. I couldn’t find very many avenues of entertainment at all, and restaurants were few and far in between. What do people do there? They can’t even say they work like the serfs or peasants in our own land – food, clothing, and almost any basic necessity is in complete abundance down there!
Both Zack and Wooster don’t seem to happy about taking breaks from Labyrnth explorations, especially since they haven’t had much to do recently. I wonder if organizing a monster hunt of sorts for the stronger monsters in the first two stratums would be a fun diversion. I’ll discuss this with the female knight.
*~*
Wooster
The Deep City’s steamed buns are absolutely heavenly! I must know how to get the recipe for making more of these!
*~*
Zack
Maaaaan, apparently we’re supposed to be taking a break now? I’ve barely had any action since killing the Hammerhead shark and now we’re just supposed to be sitting around doing nothing.
Maybe I should try duelling some of the others in the Guild. It’d be a way to keep my reflexes sharp, at least.
A heard a lot of the others took a trip to the Deep City, including Lady Juliana. Meh. Not really my thing. Spent most of today napping and training. Seriously, I gotta find more things to do before I get too bored and go stark raving bonkers.
I almost wish another sea monster would pop out of nowhere and start terrorizing people. It’d give me an excuse for a sea voyage and get me some action at the same time.
*~*
Tinker
Holy wow. I’ve seen the Deep City for myself! With my own eyes! Everyone who’s grown up in Armoroad has heard countless stories about our lost legacy, and I was there to see it today! Talk about a once in a lifetime chance. You sure made the right choice in Guild applications, Dwayne!
Anyway, I spotted a weapons shop near the heart of the town, and I made sure to ask him about any explosives they had in stock. Disappointingly enough, he shook his head and told me that they mostly use enchanted weapons down here. I guess I could enchant my grenades with fire for that extra kick, but it’s just not the same, is it?
On a slightly different note, I heard that even though they’ll start trading and diplomacy with Armoroad, the Deep City is only going to allow selected groups to enter their city and the third stratum beneath it. It’s not an issue for me or anyone else in Paragon – we’ve got the privilege by dint of being the first to successfully reach it, but I gotta wonder why they’re still being tightwads about all this. And that Olympia… I hear she’s bad news and got some of our members roughed up before I joined. Hope things don’t turn ugly with her.
*~*
Zeetha
Oh, this is infuriating! The entrance to the 3rd Stratum is right there! Dozens of beasts that have never been catalogued or observed before just waiting for me, and I can’t go any further! Alexis has called a halt on official Guild ventures, and I’m not foolish enough to venture into an entirely new stratum without backup.
Well, so far my time in this Guild has been a rather disappointing one. Yes, I know I only joined them rather late, so there hasn’t been time for me to do much, but I’ve barely made any progress in discovering new monsters for the codex. I can only hope that things will be more fruitful as we progress further.
I heard some other members of the Guild were really impressed with the Deep City. Meh, I say. Give me dark caverns and deep jungles any day.
*~*
Alexis
Entry Made: 31st of the Month of the Golden Eagle, in the Seven Hundredth and Fourteenth year of the Holy Empire
His Majesty has expressed interest in exploring the Deep City over the course of the next few days. Naturally his interest appears to be centred around the various restaurants and the kind of seafood you can get from the deep ocean.
That said, I accompanied him for his audience with the Abyssal King, and it didn’t take a genius to realize that the King has something he’s not telling us. I’m certain it has something to do with the Labyrinth as well.
I was also able to see what they meant when they said that Olympia was ‘not human’. The Abyssal King referred to her as an ‘Yggdroid’, an artificial being given life by the power of Yggdrasil. Certainly an intriguing concept. I wonder if there are others like her in the Deep City. I also can’t help but wonder if the fact that she isn’t human is what allowed her to attempt to murder us with such a detached air. Not that there haven’t been equally monstrous humans, of course, but Olympia continues to unnerve me.
As for the Deep City itself, it’s pleasant enough on the surface, but there’s something odd about the way the town is structured. The more heavily fortified buildings appear to be located near the Submagnetic Pole where we first entered. Sensible precautions for someone wishing to prevent an invasion via teleportation, except that one can only activate the Pole by first trekking down through the Labyrinth itself. Unless someone from deeper down is using the Submagnetic Pole to come up, this appears to be a rather odd design.
We’ve also scheduled a break on any official Labyrinth exploring duties for a while. I’m not sure exactly how long it will last, but I suppose a reprieve is always welcome. Not that I wish to spend too long away from Holy Renais either. The weather should be starting to turn chilly back in the capital, whereas here it’s still the heat of the tropics. Of course, in the end this can barely be counted as a hardship, so I’ve no right to complain.
I suppose I’ll leave off writing for now. Jules wishes to visit a restaurant and he should be around the pick me up any moment. I should be ready when he arrives.
*~*
A soft knock sounded on the door just as Alexis was laying her pen down on her desk. “Alexis?” came Jules’ voice, muffled by the sound of the door. “Are you ready?”
“Yes, I am,” she called back as she stood, smoothing the hem of her skirt in the process. There was a soft creaking sound as Jules pushed the door open slowly, enough so that he could look in. There was a moment of silence.
“What?” Alexis asked, glancing down at the dress she was wearing.
“Nothing, nothing. It’s just… it’s been a while since I’ve seen you wear something like that.”
“You told me this restaurant was frequented by the Abyssal King. I thought this would be appropriate.”
“It is – I mean, you look great. It really brings out your, uh, your feminine side.”
Alexis raised an eyebrow. “I’m going to take that as a compliment, your Majesty,” a smile quirked at the corner of her lips.
“Yes, well,” he smiled in return and offered her his hand. “Shall we be off?”
With a nod, she reached out and grasped his hand. “Yes, let’s.”
Platinum FC: 2880 3245 5111
I dunno if "prefers" is the right word. One only hits enemies with a status ailment and the other only hits enemies with a bind. Neither are particularly good skills, if you ask me.
The two most "normal" ways to build an Arbalist are the Zodiac route which focuses points on the barrages to clear out groups of enemies and do good damage to any bosses/FOEs that have a weakness you can hit, or the Gladiator route which focuses on charged single hits (potentially with Front Mortar if you really want to smash things, but that almost requires a Ninja/Zodiac in the group to remove the TP cost of Front Mortar, as well as a Hoplite because a front row Arbalist is fragile).
I'm not sure I could stick one before it killed me, but is Arm Bind the right one to stop that nonsense?
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
When I was fighting that guy I had a Farmer/Wilding combo and I'd Summon the Elephant to Confuse him it was the only way I could beat him at first. But after time he is easy.
If you don't have that, then just avoid them. They're not worth the effort.
Volt Prophecy will completely disable it, too.