![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Beyond the Beyond: Update 35: A Shadow Starting to Catch Up (Gaea Island pt. 3)
Weakened when last we saw them the team had returned to Jonowan still missing one pirate captain but undeterred nonetheless. They might not have a bounce in their step but a night of rest in the village inn will take care of that. Well, ok, they probably still won't have anything close to a 'bounce' when they wake up in the morning but their HP and MP will be full again. Eh, I'll take what I can get.
So is it true you went to the island?
Yup and we've got some stuff we'd like to sell you. Let me see what you've got and maybe we can work out a deal.
The first order of business is selling off the old gear that's just taking up space in our packs.
Then the team heads to the inn.
Feet... tired.
At least they're dry. 
If Captain Domino is still on that island I hope he's found somewhere safe to hole up for the night.
In the morning, rested and fed the team gets their gear together for another wonderful day on the island. Let's see how they're shaping up.
So do you think this armor will rust?
Naw. You'll have your head bitten off first. *grumbles* Oh, you're impossible some times. *taps on the breastplate* It sounds very... solid.
Finn... continues to be Finn. I never have much to say about him. (The party's spells haven't changed so I didn't include the spell windows this time.) As for Finn he's got a sword that I hear is pretty great, some armor made out of steel, and is still using the wooden shield he's had since Zalagoon. Level 17 already? That just sort of happens when you rarely run away and do a lot of hunting around for treasure.
It is still waaaay too early to be getting ready to leave.
It sounds like Miss Annie would rather spend the day in bed.
Not the whole day, just a couple more hours.
Thanks to the Ring of Defense Annie is still tied with Finn for defense. She leads the team in LP and Speed by a commanding margin. The only problem I see with her stats thus far is that her VP is little bit on the low side. Still, it's not enough to make me sorry since she's got plenty of LP and Defense. She and Finn have a paltry 76 experience point divide - entirely due to the shenanigans in the Cave of Spirits at the beginning of the game - but the difference in their experience per level table is becoming readily apparent.
We've lost enough time as-is. We need to get moving. *sighs* I know.
Samson is doing better than I expected, to be honest. It's taken careful management to get him where he is but I feel the time and energy expended have been worth it. Just looking at his attack power of 96 makes me grin. That's literally three times his defense. When he gets a chance to attack he pretty much insta-gibs whatever he's attacking. He'll gain a level on the way back up the shrine.
I wonder what we'll find today. Ohhh! This is so exciting!
Pryaa! Someone's chipper! We might be setting foot in a place no one has entered for centuries. Doesn't anyone else wonder what we might find?
I wonder. It just...
Scares you. You can come out and say it, Finn.
Yeah right.
What do you think, Edward?
Tont still hasn't gotten a chance to show off his new Titan spell. It eats up too much MP for me to justify casting it when Firedrake gets the job done for less. He's got a lead on maximum MP, though, which is great. He'll also gain a level on the way up the shrine.
Me? Uh, well, the shrine does have a kind of strange, I don't want to say ambiance, but the way magic flows through it is very odd.
Odd? I don't like the sound of that.
It can't be that bad!
You know, Finn might be onto something. That staircase, there's a dead zone just above it.
Oh great. Now Finn's going to be freaking out the whole way back. Am not! *pauses* Well, maybe a little but you gotta admit, sis, that that place is creepy! I never said it wasn't but losing your head won't make things any better. *awkward shuffling* A dead zone... a dead zone. What does that mean?
It means magic flows up and down through the shrine except when it reaches that point it touches the floor above us and turns away. *pauses* Finn that doesn't necessarily mean something is wrong with the shrine. When we get closer I'll get a better look.
Yes. Try not to let your imagination run off.
*squeaky voice* Ok but if Edward thinks something is wrong we turn right around and get the hell out of there.
Edward continues to be the brains of our outfit but he's otherwise doing fine. There's not much to say about him that I haven't said already.
Before we go we should make some extra preparations.
Take all the time you need!
Finn you're not getting out of this trip.
Before heading out I buy two Mage Potions for Edward. The team has plenty of cash and I'd like to be prepared.
A skeleton and a dog.
It reminds me of that weird guy and his big dog.
Darren? Yeah. I guess it does, a little.
The ship is still here.
*nervous laugh* Ahh, I hope Domino is still alive otherwise this could be awkward.
Since they already know the way the team makes excellent time despite having to repeat all the puzzles they completed the day before. Dragging a statue around seems to lower the encounter rate and the shrine's floors are small so this isn't nearly as irritating as it sounds.
Well, it's not irritating unless the game doesn't notice a statue is on the tile it's supposed to be and the team has to double back. Whoops! The game lags a bit when I'm recording but even when I'm not sometimes the game cannot run the needed coordinate checks fast enough.
More lizard, bird, things. Is the shrine crawling with them now? Praa. Maybe they're on the prowl for you, Finn.
AHH! Or maybe they're on the prowl for Tont instead.
Well they can stop. That's not funny!
Despite their small size the birds can peck and scratch for a good chunk of damage. Six damage against a back row mage? Good thing Tont's benefitting from that row modifier.
Oh no, not again!
Hraa. You just need a way to distract them... or to apologize. Birds like shiny things, right? Surely we've got to have something shiny in all this junk we're carrying around. Hmm, maybe. Let me see.
Searching through her pack Annie pulls out the Resist Jewel that has been taking up space forever.
...What? It... disappeared.
Some sort of protective enchantment.
AARGH! I didn't mean to waste it, honest!
The Resist Jewel we picked up way back in part 6 finally (if accidentally as our team sees it) get's used. That 'Magic damage halved!' message isn't kidding either. It sets a character flag that causes the character to take half damage from all magical attacks from that point in the game on. The developers might not have intended for this effect to be permanent (like Long Range/Reach in FF4) but Resist Jewels are so rare they'd be fairly useless otherwise. I'm using the one jewel the team has on Annie because as the team's healer I need her to stay conscious.
There goes the little yeti.
You almost sound a little sad, Finn. I'm wondering where it can possibly run to in here.
I was surprised the team ran into and managed to kill a Yeti Child in the last update. They're rare and as shown will try to flee when their turn comes.
With that we're back on the 7th floor. This time the team will demonstrate how to do this without getting MP-drained. The trick to this floor (if it can even be called a trick) is to just take it nice and slow. Take a step, stop, look at what's come into view, and think about your route.
The first part of that route is to go west, not east. Going east just forces the party to cross that MP-draining seal they had to step on last time. The team walks five steps west then turns south. Four steps to the south Steiner spots a pit in front of Finn.
Finn then turns east two steps and walks six steps south where Steiner alerts him to another pit directly ahead. This is the pit that's one tile north and east of the panel the team wants to reach.
Which they do by carefully walking around the statues.
One down.
That wasn't so hard.
Thanks to me!
Yeah, I know. Thank you, Steiner.
*sighs* More cockatrices. Do I smell funny or something? When we get back to the village remind me to take a thorough bath. No problem!
At least it's not bats. No but they do have prominent wings.
...You just had to point that out, didn't you?
I'm just being helpful, Finn.
Cockatrices don't get to hog all the spotlight as Ice Warriors prove to be quite resilient. They also aren't shy about using their Ice 1 spells on the party but we can soak the damage better than any cockatrice as Edward demonstrates.
It does result in an impressive (if also somewhat funny) reaction from Samson as he critical hits the wrong Ice Warrior for 51 damage. Actually he opted to attack that one because the rest of the team had been beating on it and although it used a Healing Herb to erase all the damage it had taken previously the AI still had it as the preferred target since its buddy was still at full life. This is why I don't mind Samson having so much attack power and so little Speed. It means he gets chances to move in after enemies have healed themselvs and kill them anyway.
Eventually the team finds their way to the staircase where the second statue activates. Retracing their steps they return to the spot they placed the first statue and continue heading east, following the south wall.
After ten steps east, Finn turns north and sees the glowing eyes that mark their destination. The game does not care which statue goes where so long as both are deactived.
Finn, powder!
Ahh! Yeah I see it.
Amazingly Finn manages to avoid breathing in sleeping powder that downs the rest of the group. Yes, even Samson although he isn't visible because the screen is partially obstructed. It will be nice to get out of this shrine and have that irritation out of the way. (This is one of my pet peeves. Does anybody actually like having the screen partially obstructed while playing?)
*shakes head* Ugh, what happened?
I'll tell you as soon as I kill this stupid suit of armor.
The walk back to the staircase has enemies practically jumping out of the woodwork.
Why?! Why can't you just leave us alone?! Steiner! I'm ready. RAAAWR!
I'm with you, Finn. Maybe they'll finally get in through their tiny brains to stay the hell away from us.
Cockatrices might aggravate Tont but they sure do burn easily, as Firedrake makes short work of these two.
This update will continue in the next post due to character limits.
