I think something happened?

I finished up a few of the side quests, which means I brought pedo along to one and, because I’m looking for an excuse to put this down, I brought him with me to the Hot Spring. He was there. No one told him not to enter the baths with 10 and 16-year-old girls, but no one told him no. Estelle threatened to kill him if he did anything, but didn’t disinvite him or make him stand outside. He acted fine, but it was still gross, and I hate it.

Afterwards, the party planted the three sensors at the locations. At the fortress, we spoke to Cassius for 10 minutes, exchanging pleasantries, until he had to talk to General Morgan. The next location was in the caves where we saw Agate and Anelace again. We get the hint Tota has a crush on Agate, and I’m reminded I should have brought him instead of Shera. The third and final place was out in the open in an ancient Stonehenge thing. We return to the Central Factory, where the Russells work, and immediately get earthquaked.
 
The location is Leiston Fortress. Cassius, “having the danger sense of a fox”, foresaw it and secured everything, meaning there was no damage. Suddenly, some dude shows up and tells us there is a problem in Elmo, where the hot spring baths are. We make a b line there.

When we show up, the proprietor of the baths shows us that the springs are boiling! The technology is fine, and there was no quake here, though, so it must mean there’s something wrong at the source. Into a nearby cave, the party goes. It's a cave filled with ground wells that randomly boil up and, if hit, lowers our HP. Finally, a dungeon with puzzles and a gimmick! It really is an RPG, everyone! Praise Gary Gygax!

Sadly, it's short and trivial, with the sprouts being few in number and only a minor threat. Once we get to the boss room, we see Reno from Final Fantasy VII, but he calls himself Walter, The Direwolf here. He’s legitimately evil, gaining pleasure from the idea of people being crushed or suffering from long term dismemberment. Rather than fight us, however, he sicks his pet worms (and bats) on us, and this battle is somehow kinda rough. The worms have a hit all spell they often use, so while only doing okayish damage, does a lot when hit by four of them in a round. It’s a good thing I brought Kloe. Eventually, the worms die, and Walter punches all of us at once, knocking us out. He’s disappointed we’re weak and mad at his boss for promising him we were a worthy opponent, so he plans to kill us. Estelle promises him her fury for mentioning Joshua, which makes him respect her a bit to kill her in one blow.

But, before that blow comes, a ki blast knocks him off and the “Eastern Giant” goes blow to blow with Reno. It’s Zane, one of my final four party members from game one. They talk as if they know each other, and, in the end, Walter gains the upper hand and takes his Gospel after Zane mentions Kilika. Kilika is the Zeiss Bracer Guild liaison. We’re then teleported back to the guild. The pedo was also there, but whatever...

In the hall, Zane and Kilika tell the party their history; the three of them were trained by Kilika’s father until Walter left and joined Ouroboros. He, and Tita, join the party, and we end Chapter 2: The Raging Lands.

Something is actually happening! Although, does that mean there’s gonna be more exposition? More people to talk probably means more people will talk. These games pride themselves on their massive speech bank so...oh dear. My party is coming together, and the plot might be going places, but is it too little too late? Has the ship sailed? Probably. I actually decided to put it down before going to the last dungeon tonight but opted to man through it to at least end the chapter. Who knows what happens tomorrow?