Last Scenario - Part 38
- Last time on Last Scenario, we made plans to fight Castor on the Rosehart Bridge, which connects territory we control to territory the Kingdom controls. Let's not keep him waiting.
- This is the bridge that never eeeends~
Hilbert: I wasn't expecting you to show up this soon.
Castor: Welcome, Hilbert. I'm glad you asked for this meeting. I've been wanting to see you again as well. After our last encounter, I was lost for a while... But now, I am more focused than ever.
Hilbert: So, you're accepting our challenge?
Castor: We are rivals, Hilbert. We're the same, you and I, but we embody different ideals.
- blah blah blah not so different blah blah blah
Castor: We both know that this isn't about the Kingdom or the Republic, about armies or kings or emperors.
- ...right. That's totally why we challenged you to a boss fight.
Castor: This is the final battle, I think. If I win, there will be no one left who can defeat me.
Castor: I've come here to tell you that I will be accepting your challenge in the near future.
Hilbert: Are you afraid of us? You've already gone through the trouble of coming here. Are you just going to run away from us now!?
Castor: A duel is meaningless if you don't get enough time to prepare for the fight, isn't it? I've gained incredible power already... but it's not enough.
Castor: That's when we'll conclude this, once and for all.
Castor: You can't stop me, Ethan. Your role has already ended.
Ethan: I haven't forgotten, Castor. We're brothers. Until three years ago, we'd always been together. But you cast me aside, just like you do with everyone close to you.
Ethan: But there's no reason to go this far. There's no need to carry all of it by yourself. Zawu and I, the rest of the Omega Team, maybe even some of the others here... we all want to help you. But you have to want to be helped first.
Ethan: Stop it now, before it's too late.
Castor: You think I need help, Ethan? I'm no longer so weak that I have to rely on others to get what I want.
Hilbert: What about Tiamat, then? You're just letting yourself be used by that woman.
Castor: Used? By her? When she thinks she's in charge, she is so easy to manipulate. She's only serving a temporary purpose. I have no intention of staying with her forever.
Castor: That's when I will finally be free.
Zawu: You've changed. What was it that changed you? Was it your defeat, or...
Zawu: What is that ship?
Castor: This ship... it's the vessel our ancestors used to cross the oceans and explore a new world.
Hilbert: It was built by our ancestors?
Castor: This is what Tiamat learned. Ten thousand years ago, there was a rift among the Havali. An increasingly larger part of the population drifted away from the old ways and traditions. They grew tired of living in the same place all their lives, not knowing anything about the world. When the division became a threat, the more conservative ones gladly let the others leave to preserve order. In other words, they were exiled.
Castor: A great ark was built, in order to carry all the people and cross the seas. They called it 'Lemuria'. After a long journey, they found an uninhabited continent, far away from their homeland. They settled there. And as time went by, they grew further and further away from their roots. Their once united group split into many different factions. They changed, forever.
Castor: This went on for a long, long time. Empires rose and fell, empires we didn't even know existed. Over the course of ten thousand years, these people and the old Havali grew so far apart that they could no longer be called the same tribe. It's been so long now, that both sides have completely forgotten about each other's existence.
Zawu: Wait... What you're saying is...
Castor: You understand, right? We humans are merely the descendents of the Havali who have lost their link to the holy land. We are all the same.
Hilbert: That's right. So what? What does it matter? It doesn't change anything!
- Wait, you mean we didn't come here for a history lesson?
Castor: For ten thousand years, we've fought among each other, while the Havali grew more and more complacent. And what have we gained from it? Imagine, all the knowledge that was lost over the ages. We can no longer build airships, or wield power that can change the face of the earth. It's sad. I have no other word for it.
Castor: The special ability that they have, the power that Tiamat attained... it's not something limited to only Havali. We have always had the ability. We just have to learn how to use it again.
Zawu: You've gone mad...
- You just noticed?
Castor: I've seen a glimpse of it. Of eternity. I don't expect you to understand.
Hilbert: Hold it! We won't let you go!!
Castor: I'll leave you with a goodbye present. A little gift to show that I'm serious about this.
- ...and because I have slow reflexes, I missed the clouds swirling around Castor. They were there, trust me.
- We are then launched into a fight with three enemies - the Beast of Dis, the Beast of Cocytus, and the Beast of Erebus.
- Halving elemental damage is a must, as that's what they primarily use.
- They're very fast and pretty strong, so it's a tough fight.
- The spells are the main danger, so it's important to have Barrier and M-Shield up.
- Very annoyingly, they all have different weaknesses, so all-hit spells are more or less out. You can steal level 3 attack spellcards from them, though.
- One down makes a little difference.
- Get rid of two, and you've won.
- Healing item. Whoo.
- Yep, that was utter failure all right.
Ethan: Castor...
Zawu: He's gone out of control... Whatever this power is, it was enough to drive Tiamat mad. We must stop Castor before the same happens to him. He must not be allowed to find it. A single man should not have the power to threaten the entire world.
Hilbert: My plan failed... I guess... there's nothing we can do but go back.
Thorve: Don't feel down. In the end, it was just like you said. Either we'd win, or we'd lose nothing. In fact, this encounter showed us what we're really up against. I wouldn't call it a complete failure.
Randolph: Regardless, it means we're stuck again. We should go back and see if anything's happened since we left.
Soldier: One of you is Randolph, right?
Randolph: Yes, I'm Randolph. What do you need me for?
Soldier: I have news for you from the Geo-Science Station.
Randolph: Oh, really? Could it be... that it's about the ruins I asked them to look for?
Soldier: I don't know exactly, but they did find something and they're asking you to come look at it.
Randolph: That's great news! Where is it?
Soldier: The far southwest corner of the Empire, on the Svenson Peninsula.
- Off to the Empire, then.
- Amazing that we never ran into this before. :<
Rudi: The old records we studied in Entalar were surprisingly specific about the ruins' location. It wasn't too hard to find the place since we know the terrain.
- Well, time to get to work.
- *whistle*
- Character tiles are the best, though you've got to wonder if they're actually legal playing tiles...
- First thing we notice: the enemies can Silence us. Lovely.
- Treasure~
- This one revives a party member to full health. Heck yeah~
- :'(
Lorenza: Most of it... part of the writing has eroded away, and I don't understand all the words that are being used.
Lorenza: It talks about the people that were exiled from Luminas and left the continent on a giant ship.
Thorve: This is the place that Tiamat discovered three hundred years ago. Everything that she knows must be written somewhere in here. This is probably only the beginning.
Lorenza: I think these tablets are actually a historical record of the Havali civilization. That means there must be more of them deeper inside that go further back.
Randolph: Then this temple must've been built not longer after the events described here. That puts them at around the same age as the ones where Castor found the Lemuria.
- It's nice to know that this time, we actually did come for a history lesson.
- :)
- This place has plenty of doors to open, I'll give it that.
Hilbert: We'll find it sooner or later. It's just like Thorve said. This is the place that Tiamat was searching for. She discovered something here that made her what she is now. It's just a matter of finding it.
Matilda: I don't think it was just a matter of her coming here, reading these tablets and going home. Wasn't she the only one who came back out of the entire expedition? Don't you think that's strange?
- Is that a hint that we should get out of here? :/
Matilda: We'd better be prepared. There may be something more dangerous down here than just knowledge.
Hilbert: Lorenza, did you find anything yet?
Lorenza: Hmm, a little... This talks about... prototypes for the airship? No, it's something more general than that. It's about... the discovery of using biorite as an energy source.
Randolph: So, maybe the airship is powered by it as well? It's no surprise, really. We already determined that it contains significant amounts of energy.
Lorenza: But this...
Randolph: Is there more?
Lorenza: It's just a passing mention, but... Biorite... extracting more power... original purpose... Returning to the beginning...?
Hilbert: What does that mean?
Lorenza: I don't know. It seems to refer to something even older...
- Meanwhile...
Castor: The energy source of an ancient airship. A strong human mutator. A healing stone for the Havali.
- Your point being?
Castor: It all comes back to that strange material.
Castor: The temple below Entalar. The one in the Empire we used as an Entalar seal. The one that served as a prison for Tiamat, and the one she discovered in the past. Four in total.
Castor: Where is the source?
- Maybe at the center of the earth?
- ...or maybe right where you are right now?
Castor: This is...
Soldier: Should we set course there?
Castor: No... not immediately. It would look too suspicious if we did.
Soldier: Suspicious?
Alison: There has been some unrest on the ship, mainly among the lower ranks. Everyone knows that you're ignoring orders from the capital. The King wanted this ship for himself. Most of us believe that you're doing the right thing, but there are still some who are in doubt.
- Because Castor has such a history of being open about these things.
Castor: They will know very soon. Just tell them to have a little more patience. Everyone's efforts have already been paying off. We are getting closer and closer to our goal.
Castor: Soon... all war will end.
Castor: In case you hadn't noticed yet, this is my room.
Tiamat: Have you found it yet? Come on! Tell me! You're not trying to hide anything from me, are you!?
Castor: No, I haven't found it yet. Why would I hide anything from you? I owe everything to you, don't I?
Tiamat: Still nothing, with all the time you're spending looking for it? I didn't think you were this useless.
Castor: Haha, don't worry. Just wait here, and I'll continue looking.
- Does she not have her own room or something?
Castor: I'll have it found before you know it...
- And fi-nal-ly, back to us!
- Ah, Sneak Attack. Let's check it out.
- The normal ability isn't particularly fantastic, but the crisis ability... well, it gets stronger with each enemy you've killed, I believe. And that could get pretty damn strong.
- And this is the strongest Light element spellcard out there. The Dark equivalent is 'Unholy'.
The screen flashes red
Hilbert: What's wrong?
Lorenza: Such an... oppressive presence here. Something is coming!
- Hello, and welcome to a really boring boss fight.
- The Medic Kit is an interesting item. Equip it on someone, and all healing effects used on them are doubled.
- This guy's one annoying quirk? Putting your whole party to sleep. Thus, it's a good idea to come into this fight with preventive measures - i.e., accessories.
- While you're asleep, he'll inflict other status effects on you like Poison and Chaos.
- He can be taken down even without any anti-status items, assuming you're an idiot who attacks all the time like I do.
Hilbert: Let's take a look inside.
Matilda: Maybe they were killed by that thing we just ran into?
Lorenza: No... All of the tablets... they've been smashed to pieces. Not a single one was left intact.
Hilbert: What?
Zawu: Tiamat... After obtaining some knowledge here, she erased all evidence of it.
Thorve: In order to keep that power all to herself...
Hilbert: You mean... she killed the other members of the expedition herself?
Lorenza: It's useless... there's nothing left.
Randolph: What a disappointment. Just when we thought we'd find the answers we've been looking for. Might as well go back then, huh?
Hilbert: I guess.
- Outside...
Randolph: Bergheim? What are you doing here?
Bergheim: Hmph. What do you think I'm doing here? You thought you could hide it from me, didn't you? You wanted to keep it all to yourself.
Randolph: What are you rambling about this time? I'm not a psychic, don't expect me to somehow divine the subject of this conversation.
Bergheim: That airship! I want to see it!
Randolph: ...You do know it's not mine, don't you?
Bergheim: How am I supposed to know anything about it!? Argh! You're driving me mad, Randolph!
Randolph: Well, maybe if you weren't such a recluse you'd have heard about it earlier.
Matilda: Oh please, shut up you two.
Randolph: Oh. Looks like I let myself go for a bit. Sorry for that.
Bergheim: I left my assistant in charge back home. These are important matters. So, you haven't even been on board of the ship yet?
Randolph: No, I haven't, actually. I don't know why not really, what with it being so easy to reach and not at all crawling with soldiers.
Bergheim: Hmph. Well, I'm not going to let you have all the fame of this discovery.
Randolph: Look, we didn't even discover it. Do you have any idea at all what's going on?
Bergheim: But you want to have the ship for yourself, don't you? Ehhh? I know what you're thinking! But I'm going to share in the glory this time, whether you like it or not!
Randolph: Look at this. We're arguing about a ship that's not even within our reach. If you want to help, then try coming up with a way to get us on the thing.
Bergheim: Fine then! I will!
Hilbert: Is this... supposed to be a good thing?
Randolph: Just... forget it...
Next time on Last Scenario, maybe Bergheim will come up with a way to get us onto an airship! ...okay, I'm not holding my breath either. But you want to know what happens next, right? Right? Okay, 'til next time!