Last Scenario - Part 22
- Last time on Last Scenario, we were just about to blow up a facility and attempt to escape in fifteen minutes. Fun!
- It's handy when people leave notes lying around telling you what the codes have been reset to.
The screen shakes
- And with that, we run like hell.
- It's really a good thing the game pauses when I switch to a different window, or I wouldn't even be able to do commentary.
- Unless I was planning on a challenge run of this area...
- ...aaand, someone let the dogs (and mutants) out. Just what we need, random avoidable encounters.
- Let's read while we're running for our lives.
'I'll be expecting a swift response to this message. We can't afford a delay to to your incompetence. Remember that your success in the past is no guarantee for the future. If you can't do what I asked of you, perhaps you are better suited to become a test subject.
Signed,
Helio, Facility Supervisor'
- ...please tell me this isn't a boss fight.
Guard: You guys sure are strong, breaking into this facility and trashing the place. But let's see how well you do against our latest experiment!
- Oh god, it's a boss fight. While the timer's going.
Guard: We created him just to deal with intruders like you!
- Sorry, do I know you? :Y
Mutant: Die... Hilbert...
- Nah, probably just programmed hatred for main characters into his brain is all.
- I definitely don't think this 'person' looks familiar.
- You'll have to forgive me for a lack of screenshots during the battle, as I don't really like to distract myself while the timer's running. Nothing very exciting here, anyway.
- Despite massive Vitality, 10,000 HP goes down fast when your party isn't taking much damage. So much for him.
- And the timer has stopped. Wow, that was really not hard!
The sounds of an explosion and a fire crackling can be heard
- Back in an inn in a Kingdom town... um, am I the only one seeing some bad planning here?
Thorve: Between this and the peacekeeping on Pargon Island, I think they'll be occupied for the time being. If their goal really is to conquer the world, then another attack will be inevitable. But the new Empire will not fall easily. They already missed their chance.
Hilbert: At first sight there seem to be two equally strong sides now: the Kingdom and the Empire. But in reality, it's actually more complicated than that. There are really three sides.
Randolph: The Havali being the third.
Hilbert: Yeah. Since we don't know exactly what's going on between them, that makes things difficult. We should think about what we'll do next. Are we going to be passive and wait for them to make a move, or take action before they can react, and attack them when they're least expecting it.
Matilda: There's no reason to sit back just because we succeeded here. The real question is, what can we do?
Matilda: It won't be as easy to get into the heart of the country, let alone cause them any damage.
Thorve: What about Pargon Island? Its strategic value is not that high, but it will deal their pride a heavy blow if we liberate it.
Matilda: It would be better to wait until their main force has left the island. If we attack them now, we'll just suffer unnecessary losses.
Hilbert: But, Pargon or Rosehart? Which is a better choice?
Ethan: Entalar, the new Havali capital.
Hilbert: Ethan? You know where the Havali are living right now?
Hilbert: Is it heavily defended?
Ethan: No. Most of the Havali are still asleep. They lack the manpower to maintain a real army. They rely on keeping their existence a secret and by shielding themselves off from the rest of the world.
Lorenza: I want to go there... but not just to meet my kind. I really think we can help them.
Lorenza: We'll also need to find my grandfather. He could help us. He'll know what to do.
Thorve: Hmm... We already discovered that the 'Awakening' means the revival of the majority of the Havali. If we topple their current leader, the Havali will no longer pose a threat to us. As a result of that, the Awakening would become harmless.
Hilbert: In other words, we should stop this Ortas before he awakens everyone and turns the Havali into an army.
Randolph: Ethan, when you said they shielded themselves off, did you mean there's an actual, physical shield? Surely they wouldn't just rely on being hidden for their protection?
Ethan: No, you're right. The city is surrounded by a shield. There are leylines beneath the earth's surface. It's a network of biorite veins. Entalar was built on a large biorite node in order to accommodate all their people.
Ethan: Anyone trying to enter Entalar uninvited will pass right through it without seeing anything.
Matilda: Unless we break the seals.
Ethan: That's our only option.
Hilbert: Do you know where they are?
Ethan: Only roughly. One is on Empire territory. Another is on an island in the south-western sea. The third is the only one I know the exact location of. It's in the middle of the Kingdom.
Hilbert: Right in the Kingdom? Hmmm... Forget about that one for now. You said there's one in the Empire?
Ethan: But I have no idea where. All I know is that it can't be near any large cities.
Matilda: That's hopeless. How are we supposed to find it.
- By poking around the overworld until the screen changes. Duh.
Hilbert: What?
- Geology! Of course!
Randolph: Konrad, my excitable substitute at the station, investigated several potential biorite clusters. But as you may remember, his team found that one particular site was already occupied. By the Kingdom. Couldn't that be the place?
Ethan: Most likely. The Kingdom should have no need to go that far away just to mine the biorite.
Randolph: Then we should return to the Geo-Science Station and talk to Konrad to find out where that was.
Hilbert: Great! Looks like we're in luck for once. Let's go right away.
Randolph: Hello Konrad. Everything's running smoothly?
Konrad: Ah, certainly! We're all on schedule and there haven't been any problems as of late.
Randolph: Good, good. Look, Konrad. I need your help. Do you remember when you told me that one of your teams was attacked?
Konrad: Of course I do. Why?
Randolph: We need to go there. It may be more than just a research site for the Kingdom. Where was it exactly?
Konrad: Going there? Are you sure about that? Never mind, I'm probably worrying needlessly. You guys can take care of yourself. Oh, you need to know where it is. Let me see...
- *sigh*
Konrad: Sorry, this is a bit embarassing.
Randolph: You don't say.
Konrad: I... I know it's somewhere around here, but things have been a little hectic, so...
Randolph: Do you at least have a rough idea where the place was?
Konrad: Oh, I know. Ask Zachary. He was one of the people who went there and came back alive. He should know. He's probably in the station somewhere.
- Are you Zachary? No?
Randolph: Yes, please tell us where it is.
Zachary: West from here, in a pretty remote area. We reached it by foot from the riverbank. I wasn't the navigator, and the guy who was... he didn't make it back, so I don't know exactly.
Randolph: Do you at least know what the surroundings were like?
Zachary: It was a sandy area, and we weren't too far from the sea. That's all I remember.
- Off to look for that place, then, but first we're going to drop by Fardorf to see if we can trade any Hex tiles.
- The character tiles trade in for some lovely items, but we'll keep them for now so we can win more tiles.
- Now, where could this site be...?
- Aha~
- Hey, no worries. We're just here to break the seal you're protecting.
After a quick, very easy fight
Hilbert: No doubt about it, we must be in the right place. Those soldiers weren't here for nothing. Let's overwhelm them quickly!
Ethan: We're not there yet. The seal itself is deeper underground. The area below will be infested with beasts. Even if two of the seals are broken, it will still take a large amount of force to break down the shield. That's why the Kingdom focuses on guarding the last seal, the one that's in their own territory.
Matilda: Then we should have little trouble here.
Hilbert: You have?
Ethan: It was a long time ago...
- ...wait... is Ethan...
- ...blond?
Earp: It's the first time you've been here?
Ethan: Yes, but I've been to the other seals before. This one is different, though.
Earp: Yeah, they had to build this whole structure here to get down to the node itself. Just follow me. I remember the way, sorta.
- The enemies here aren't really too tough; these ones are a bit annoying, as they hit you for a good 100-some damage if you physically attack them, but nothing really tricky.
- Hmmm...
- Curses, just a little off.
- There we go~
- ...and, as we walk into the seal room, we are inexplicably confronted with this... thing.
- I wouldn't call it tough, but it does do this annoying thing where it burrows underground and becomes immune to physical attacks.
- It can also, uh. Do around 4000 damage to a single party member if it feels like it.
Hilbert: Ethan?
Ethan: Yes... This is...
Earp: Activity shows up as normal. I don't see any signs of tampering.
Ethan: Nothing out of the ordinary, it seems.
Earp: So it was just a false alarm?
Ethan: No one knows these things exist. As long as it stays that way, we'll just be coming here for nothing.
Earp: Better safe than sorry, I guess. Are we finished here?
Ethan: Have you ever stopped to think about what we're doing?
Earp: What do you mean?
Ethan: We are here to protect our allies, the Havali, so they can resurrect the demons of old. If we can control the demons the world will be ours. That's what we've been working for, but...
Earp: Hold on... You think Castor is hiding something from you?
Ethan: I'm starting to get that impression.
Earp: But why would he do that? I could understand if it was any of us, but you?
Ethan: If he really is doing that, it's because he knows I wouldn't agree with it. And that's what bothers me. Earp, we have the right to know why we're doing something, don't we? If Castor won't tell me, then I'll have to find out myself.
Ethan: Even if you don't want to, you wouldn't say no if I asked. I won't drag you into this.
???: Sir.
Helio: I was sent here because of an emergency situation. You have to return to the capital immediately. We uncovered a large conspiracy against the King. Parts of the military are involved too. We believe they'll fight to the death if confronted. Please take care of the matter, Number One.
Ethan: I understand. We're already done here, so we'll be on our way. Let's go, Earp.
Ethan: The moment he started to lie to me, it was already unavoidable...
Ethan: Yes, this is the seal.
Hilbert: Is there any way to deactivate it?
Ethan: There is. But that's not a permanent solution. We need to make sure it stays down.
Randolph: Good thing I had the foresight to bring some explosives from the station.
- More blowing stuff up! Yaaaay!
Randolph: They're not very powerful, but a delicate machine like this is easy to disable. Blowing it up should do the trick, hmm?
There is the sound of an explosion
Randolph: We should return to the station. I know how we can find the location of the second seal.
Well, it looks like we're on a roll with the seals. Next time on Last Scenario, we continue to blow things up, and the flashback saga of Ethan's Omega Team days continues! Tune in for all that and more!