Triumph to Loss

Bunyan has nothing to say to use, so let's ignore him and head to McNeil!

When we get to the village center, several big and buff men wielding farm tools silently approach us. Then, more villagers come out. Eventually, the village elder starts to question us. "Are you the ones who defeated the Nue?" Teepo regrets bragging about our actions. Once everyone has surrounded us, the villagers start to congratulate us on our accomplishments! One of the villagers informs us that we'll never need to steal food as they'll always have some for us. Who knew killing a demon would be so rewarding? In time, the people return to their lives, but one shady looking dude keeps hanging around. His name is Loki, and he has a job for us, the brave defenders of the town. He tells us to meet him at his shack near the farm. Walking to his place, we see the farmers working diligently. When we enter the small shack, we see the green cloaked Loki waiting for us.

Loki reminds us that McNeil is an oppressive mayor who taxes the citizenry far too much. We don't know if it's the type where people hate paying taxes for the sake of paying taxes or if it really is way too high. He tells us that we should sneak into McNeil's manor and reclaim the people's money. Teepo is super down for it, but the R boys are less so. They don't stay on their soapbox for long, though. Night falls, and the party doesn't get healed. We make our way towards the manor and split up to look for a way in. If you've done some exploring, you'll know the manor wall has recently undergone a renovation to a part of it. Ryu should make his way to the discolored portion, and the rest of the team will come along quickly.

They're stumped on how to get past it, though. To think, Rei leans against the wall. It turns out McNeil was right in not paying the construction crew as it breaks apart with no pressure applied. A strong wind could have knocked that down! Seeing the opening, the team heads into the yard. It's patrolled by several guards, but many of them don't care for McNeil either. Apparently, the pay sucks. We're also not the only ones breaking in. There's another thief nearby who gives us 50 Zenni if we don't tell anyone. We can use that free 50 to pay off the first guard we see. The second guard tells us not to walk where he's patrolling, and he won't sound an alarm. For the third guard on the railing, find his wallet at the right of the walkway and return it. From here, avoid anyone with a light. You'll come to the center courtyard, and a guard who's taking a long smoke break will ask us to take out the guard dog. If the dog failed its mission, he can't be blamed, yeah? There's no way around this, so we have to kill a dog.

I had some issues because you don't get healed with waiting for night at Loki's place. If you're not worried about running out of MP, he's fine. Pooch hits hard and can be tanky, but he's not too strong. Defeating him allows us access to the right courtyard. Find the bell near the bottom of the screen and ring it. It sounds like this is a dumb idea, but it's totally cool. A nearby guard will recognize this as quitting time and leave his post, giving us access deeper in. Keep walking until we find a couple hidden by the hedges. This is a love struck couple who isn't a couple, but several guards are infatuated with...Mora, I think her name was. Talk to the guy in front of her and the guy stalking her from the otherside of the hedge. Then, head towards the small hut on the right. Tell this guard about her, and he'll run off. We now have access to the...chicken coop...

There's nowhere to go in here, but Teepo thinks about stealing eggs and giving them to the townsfolk. Rei says how low his friend's standards have dropped, but what can ya do? As we go to leave, we're attacked by a giant chicken! Rocky is a slightly weaker version of Pooch. Make sure Ryu learns Jump in this fight. It's a move that does random damage, but I've found it to usually be stronger than a basic attack. It also makes him part Dragoon! After we've prepared dinner, all the chickens in the coop run out into the garden. This causes chaos among the guards, but only one actually moves from his spot. The one who did was guarding the stairs up near the center fountain. Take them, and head towards the main entrance.

The door will be guarded by the elite guard of the paranoid McNeil. Seeing no other way to get through, Rei offers himself as tribute. He runs past the guards, drawing their attention, and giving us time to infiltrate. We plan to meet up on the roof. Ryu and Teepo now have to sneak their way through the manor, but something is off. There's a bed to rest and save in the door to the right of the screen. We'll be coming back here a few times! Before it are five pictures of men with stern faces. This whole dungeon sucks, by the way. It's a terrible house because McNeil nailed all the doors shut, making it a maze that even the servants can't figure out. Plus, the encounter rate is painfully high. You'd think a man of his wealth would at least keep roaches out of it, but nope. Not only that but it's haunted!

As we approach the stairway up, we're attacked by a ghost. It tells us it's an ancient McNeil, and we're not allowed to trespass and steal what is theirs! This is the first of five fights with McNeils. Each (tries) to tell us their name before the battle, but I can't recall anyone. Teepo's views on ghosts change from this, going from scared to annoyed. None of the fights are hard, but the first one likes to cast sleep, which can be tricky. Once we felled all five, the portraits start to talk to each other and formulate a plan to stop us. They don't trust their current progeny. Along the walk, we can come to a library to learn tertiary stuff about each McNeil. There's also a book that indicates the current McNeil isn't all that rich and seems to indicate a much more troublesome threat... The target is the elevator, which takes us to a sealed portion of the second floor. Here is another bed! Rest, save, and head for the rooftops.

Teepo will notice smoke from a chimney emanating from another building, so we formulate a plan to reach there. We walk the rooftops, fighting bats and avoiding green goo until we reach the north end. Near one of the ledges is a grappling hook. Get that, and Rei rejoins the parts at just the perfect time! Rei is now the lowest leveled character in the party. Regardless, Rei uses the grappling hook after he makes a totally planed slide, and we reach our burning chimney. After we find the correct way down, we see the current McNeil and a scantly clad woman. She plays hard to get and playfully runs off because McNeil has some creepy fantasies. At least, I assume it's playful. I didn't get rapey vibes from this scene. Unfortunately for him, we show up to ruin everything. Rei starts demanding the money, while McNeil acts so pitiful his lady friend runs off. Rei and Teepo run to get the Zenni while Ryu hangs back to see the woman storm out of the backroom, yell at our miser, and run off again. When they come back, the five spirits we fought earlier return. This time they're super upset!

Amalgam is five ghosts combined into one. I had Ryu use Protect on everyone, but I'm not sure much that helped. Amalgam uses a lot of magic. As the first guy did, we also get put to sleep a few times. Watch out for Astral Warp. It's a long fight, made even longer by my instance on stealing! When all is said and done, we'll leave the manor, but McNeil promises to "get the last laugh."

The scene shifts back to the village. Every door now has a small sack of money in front of it. The narration informs us that we'll see the real side effects of our actions the following day. When that day comes, the team wants to see how much the villager like us now that we've returned a lot of their money. When we make our way there, no one is happy. Several people tell us that they returned the Zenni to McNeil, who sent guards to reclaim what was his. The shopkeeps refuse to sell us anything. Curious, we return to see Loki. He's being cagey and tells us to head to his shack. After we wait a moment, Bunyan enters to take care of the cows. Everything he has to saw is to the cows. He informs the nearby bovine that McNeil has ties to something far stronger than he, and they don't like being taken advantage of. This scares the group into waiting to return home.

Before the treehouse loads in, we can hear fire raging in the distance. Rei gets close to the house but is unable to do anything to save it. As he returns to the kids, we notice two large men have blocked the path across the river. Being thugs, they talk for a moment, but it quickly goes into a fight.

You can't win this. I got wiped out in three turns. I tried to steal something from one of them, but Rei failed all four times. Apparently, being able to win here is a major discussion amongst the community. The party blacks out, and the screen goes with it.

Ryu wakes up, alone, in a new location that looks familiar. He exits the door and sees Bunyan going about his day. The man says Ryu is the only thing he found near the house, which causes our young hero to cry. Through the tears, he comes up with his next idea: to head to Wyndia. Bunyan tries to stop us, but Ryu keeps crying. If you return to the house, it's a burnt mess with nothing left explorable except the smoldering ruins of the first floor. I headed to the village, where everyone says how much McNeil overreacted, found the inn, saved, and called it a night.

I didn't expect this to happen! Did they survive? Will I get my vengeance? What about the dragon stuff? Plots on plots on plots!