Long Cave is Long

Firstly, I got Reiner’s special class. I got the Tarnished Locket from the Cadaver, crafted it into the Polished Locket, and a new scene in Centania opened up. We’re in the guildhall, and we overhear two people discussing a story. Long ago, a man went off to war and left his beloved behind. She waited years and years for him to come home but never did. One day she received a letter saying he had died, but she never moved on. Many years later, while clutching the locket that resembled the same one her beloved wore, she went out into the woods and disappeared. People say she heard the voice of her soldier from the locket. Rumor has it, she wanders the woods nearby.

We head to the nearby Alpine Woods, and, wouldn’t you know it, we come across a ghost. She’s surrounded herself with more undead and wolves, and a fight breaks out. It’s pretty dang tough with lots of poison, hastes, AOE damage, and random re-arises! Fortunately, after a real brawl, I managed to win. She dropped her locket, and another item that means nothing to us right now, and the party camps out.

That night, Yates tries to talk to Reiner. He asks about the legend of the Firestone and if Reiner knows it. Reiner says he thinks about it every night. It’s, essentially, Teora’s version of the Phoenix, where the user dies and is brought back to life. Inside of the recovered locket was a shard of the Firestone. That shard and her love kept the ghost woman in this world. Yates didn’t believe in souls before this night, but now he does and considers rethinking his life. He also gives Reiner the locket and says he may be able to talk to Alicia with it. Reiner hears a sound, the screen flashes blue, and we’re returned to the world map with access to the Spymaster class. I'm not gonna lie; it's really anti-climactic.

There’s a new location on the map, Lodeshedge. It involves the stone we got from the dead girl, but nothing happens here yet. We still need three more stones.

Continuing with the plot, we travel back to {Town}. Inside, we’re met by Katja, who we last met when she tried to kill Anadine and Yates. She, and her assortment of back-up, ambush us. The goal is to kill Katja, which is pretty easy to do since she doesn’t have much HP. She duel wields, so she can DPS the HP out of you!

Afterwards, she smokebombs away, and we met with the village elder. He’s a Bzai, one of the same bug men Bzaro is. He says Sigil has conscripted many of the locals, who are upset that the Immortals won’t let their race defend themselves suitably. They had a run-in with Dolman not too long ago, and they’re, rightfully, upset. When asked about the temple, the Elder says Sigil has flooded the path to it. The floods are also a risk to ruin the crops. Kyrie and the Elder think up a plan to blow up a part of the cave, draining the water within.

The first step in this is a traditional fight with various mobs. The second fight is a very fun boss battle. At the bottom of the cave, we run into two angler worm thingys who have a unique attack. On their turn, they root a character to the ground in a line in front of them. They come from the walls and can only attack in straight lines, so it’s kinda telegraphed. I don’t know what happens if we don’t move, but their next attack is to charge out. They also bring out more mobs when they do this. When one dies, a third massive version of them shows up. The new guy takes up four slots and has 1000 HP! It’s a long flight, but not impossibly hard. It’s still tactical, engaging, and, most importantly, fun! Seriously, great fight, Six Eyes!

We plant the massive piles of explosives and try to book it out if there. We walk back through the previous location, but this time, we have a time limit. We have twelve rounds to get to the exit. I put the best movers on my team and haste/Fleet of Foot them. I ended up getting there in four rounds, so I wonder if I could have killed everyone to win? I still got over 200 AP, so cool! On the world map, we see a small mushroom cloud pop over the boss fight location. A new area rises from the bay, and that's where the temple is...

...which I’ll do tomorrow!

All the job classes, fun mechanics, plots, subplots, and characters make this game incredibly fun. I know it’s by default, but this would have been my game of 2020. Assuming it keeps up the quality. ;)