RECAP: Goodbye Ruan
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| That's some top-tier lampshading gentlemen. |
Nighttime. In the forest
near the Bose’s lighthouse Agate tenaciously pursues the two black-clad men who
held Vogt hostage. The men are understandably perplexed and terrified, yet
continue to hopelessly flee regardless. Agate, the man with the tenacity
of a bloodhound and temper of a Chihuahua corners and defeats both of men, but
before he can begin to question them, “A New Challenger Appears” and buys her
compatriots time to flee by engaging Agate herself. After a short (and flashy!)
fight with kickass music, Agate demonstrates his martial superiority
samurai-style and defeats the Masked Commander. Unfortunately thanks to the
woman’s body-split craft (yeah, I got nothin’) she too manages to escape the
bracer’s judgment. The mystery of the black clad men only deepens and Agate
with nothing to show for his efforts cries out in anger.
Back in Ruan, Estelle
and Joshua stand atop the drawbridge reflecting on Dalmore’s arrest and the
citizens’ lack of uproar. Joshua points out that he probably wasn’t a very
popular leader anyway due to the town leadership still being determined by
bloodline inheritance, but before the political discussion can deepen any
further Kloe arrives to alert the bracers that they can reach Zeiss by
following the road from the town’s south exit to the Air-Letten Checkpoint. She
also decides to continue travelling with her friends until they reach the
checkpoint, so the bracers take one final tour around town saying farewell to
the beautiful people of Ruan and Melvin before finally setting off for
Zeiss.
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| I couldn't leave without speaking with the most philosophically inclined NPC in the game one last time. It would just be hypocritical. |
The journey is swift
as the bracers had already visited the waterfall-misted checkpoint while
handling their guild assignments. After getting their paperwork sorted from the
keep officers, the receptionist informs the bracers that they will have to
travel through the Kaldia Tunnel atop the keep to reach Zeiss. So, Kloe and the
bracers finally give each other a heartfelt farewell and vow to see each other
again in Grancel several months later.
Inside of the tunnel,
Estelle and Joshua banter about the play while exploring the caverns. After
crossing a few surprisingly technologically advanced bridges they run into a
twelve-year-old blonde girl who asks them if they noticed anything funny about
one of the cave lights. Estelle (naturally) didn’t see anything amiss, but
Joshua points out that one of the lights near the Air-Letten end of the cavern
was flickering. The little girl thanks them and sprints back towards the burned
out light. Almost immediately after she leaves, the bracers determine that they
should PROBABLY check on the little girl to make sure she’s safe, what with all
of the cave monsters roaming about.
And, surprising absolutely
no one, the bracers find the girl about to be attacked by a pack of
monsters. The
duo swoops in and saves the day, fanfare is had, etc. The girl thanks the Big
Damn Heroes and introduces herself as Tita Russell (ring a bell?). Tita then
explains that her computer (yes, COMPUTER) alerted her that one of the lights
was dying so she was rushing to change it before it attracted monsters to the
main cave path…among other things. Estelle doesn’t understand any of the tech
talk coming out of Tita’s mouth but, after imploring her to stop explaining
things, she offers to escort Tita out of the cave. Tita agrees and joins the
party. She also carries a very large cannon because little girls with big
guns is bloody awesome she’s an engineering genius(?) or something.
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| Remember that whole talk about placing appendages into open mouths? |
After a surprisingly
mundane stroll through the rest of the cave, the tunnel empties into the lowest
floor of a steel-covered factory connected to Zeiss via an elevator. The
technology is still foreign to the bracers so Tita operated the lift and the
gang finally reaches Zeiss. Tita thanks the bracers for their assistance and
Estelle sweetly says that she’ll go visit Tita during their stay. Tita
appreciates this and (after an obligatory shopping trip and town exploration) the
bracers look for the Zeiss guild branch.
Fully-Loaded
FINALLY, we’ve caught up to my last play session in March. I
can ACTUALLY play the game again! Ahem*
anyway, the technology of Zeiss is definitely the most immediately striking
aspect of
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| Reasons why I love video games <3 |
Coincidentally, this makes the Hundred Days War book I read
last session that much more believable in that supposedly Zeiss’ insanely advanced
weaponry was what allowed the relatively small Liberl kingdom to repel the
massive Erebonian empire. It’d be like if the Germans invaded France during
World War 2, only to find that the French had AR15s and Stealth Fighters. And speaking
of war, this session reminded me of my theory that this game will end with a
declaration of war.
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| Best shopkeep ever? |
I know that this is a fairly light-hearted game and that
even here in Zeiss, the iron heart of Liberl’s war machine, people are still
non-chalant about deadly weaponry, but I can’t shake the feeling that
characterizing so many small people in this world is a calculated move to
embolden the emotional stakes when the war announcement breaks out. Kloe’s
mysterious involvement with the queen’s royal guard in addition to the
mysterious black orbment (which was not
mass produced in Zeiss) only further raises my skepticism, as everything
outside of the happy-go-lucky parts of the adventure seems to be revolving
around preparation and escalation for a threat that has yet to be named.
So it goes without saying that I have absolutely no idea
where this chapter is going, if stakes are
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| No commentary here. I am genuinely curious about that report. |
And because I explored a cave during this session, I can
bless you with yet more wonderfully witty empty chest text. The writers were
clearly still keeping some solid (lack of?) material in reserve for the second
half of the game. Enjoy, and here’s to new sessions!
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