The Journey Begins Pt. 2

When we last left off, we found a secret passage in the royal castle. I'm sure this is normal.

Before we get anywhere, we need to fight a small horde of floating pumpkins.
Stage One, Hidden Library, is a large map, both in squares and height. Railings will impede movement and attacks, but they shouldn't be an issue just yet. There are ten pumpkin enemies we'll need to defeat, which is an easy enough task.
Stage Two, Maze of Books, follows a similar path. The railings here will be annoying, though, since we start on top, in a narrow walkway, and need to work our way down. The enemies will be able to attack us, but we may not have a shot at them. I got the pumpkin king mob at the back to join my team. He's got good stats, so let's see if he's worth it...assuming I can get him on the team.

The team walks into a dead end room and wonders if this is the end. Besides books upon books, the only thing else in this room is a strange skeletal skull. Out of frustration and vanity, Prier punches the thing. It begins to talk to us, and we're all shocked. It's surprised to see humans but introduces itself as Hermes. Hermes asks if we're beggars working for a strange new church before asking why we're here. Alouette asks about Fatima, and Hermes gives vague references to future events. Not looking for attention/urging us to ask more, he gives us more details about himself. Hermes is the mediator between Poitenne and Calamity. He keeps the balance between light and darkness, remaining ever the watchman. He's been down here for centuries but doesn't remember why. When Priers asks about Fatima again, he says he'll tell us...for a price. Information isn't free, ya know. He wants a gem on Mt. Tarte. Reluctantly, the party goes to fetch it.

When we reach the forested mountain, we see Homard's ship. The team thinks that a pirate of his caliber would have plenty of priceless gems on it, so the stone in question is probably in there. Sneaking on board, we come to a jack shaped, purple crystal in between two strange mechanisms. Colette questions if we can just steal it, and Alouette, a bit out of character, suggests we simply borrow it. Prier hits her as punishment, from the Goddess, for her thoughts. That being said, the team takes it anyway. As they try to leave, though, we're stopped in our tracks by Homard and his whole crew. He acts as you'd suspect, and Colette fills him in on why they're here. And just like that, Homard is in. As long as he comes along on the journey to Fatima, he'll lend us his mcguffin. An adventure of this kind is something a man can't possibly pass on.

We all return to Hermes, and he follows through on his end of the bargain.
Fatima is a kingdom that existed two hundred years ago. It was a poor nation, and its citizens suffered under many a famine. The only thing that kept the people going was their faith in god. Unfortunately, many people took advantage of this. Politicians and religious leaders took advantage of this, stealing food and money from the poor to live the life of luxury. And then, one day, it all ended. In a single day, the entire kingdom fell. The only thing he tells us is the Dark Prince was involved...somehow. As quick as she's ever been, Alouette tells everyone they should go to Fatima. Homard is one hundred percent down, and everyone puts up no resistance. As they're about to leave the room, Hermes tells everyone to trust in their hearts, Prier especially. He even brings up the "man on her mind." Homard assumes it's him, and Prier is in denial about the whole thing entirely.

We return to the Queen, and Father Salade is there too. We tell her what happened and what we're going to do, which gets her blessing. The Queen offers us a night in the castle, and we take it. As we leave the throne room, Prier sees Eclair hiding behind a pillar and feels bad. That night, Prier is de-stressing by twirling her baton around. But her thoughts quickly turn to her "little sister." Speaking of whom, Eclair enters the scene. She tries to see us off and says how much she'll miss her friends. Add then she reiterates what we learned earlier in the chapter, and that's that she doesn't want to be Queen of the Maiden of Light. Whether she's thinking of Hermes' words or not, Prier suggests that Eclair should just do her own thing and follow her heart. "You'll never be a good Queen if you're forced into it." Prier asks if she wants to come with us, and it's implied she said yes. This scene was a lot better than I described it, I promise. It's actually one of the best I've seen in a long time, be it in this game or any other. But the camera pans over to see Salade creeping in the background...

The next day, Prier and Eclair enter the throne room to see Salade talking to the Queen. Eclair asks "Her Majesty" something, but the Queen gives her blessing before she can say anything. Salade told her what he saw last night, and the Queen understands. Eclair and her mom, Crepine, have a nice heart to heart while Prier thanks Salade. He gets really weird and asks her to stay away and that she doesn't need to thanks him. It's really bad and ruins the magic we just saw. What was that? Why is he suddenly afraid of girls?

We all, minus Salade, head to the Escargot. We have an unnecessarily exciting lift-off, and we see the 3D ship sail across the ocean to where Fatima is. Salade is standing on a cliff and, with a prayer and a wave, sees us off.

I got the good ending, and I kinda wonder what the bad ending is? Can we kill Eclair? I got 17000 gold, a new weapon that inflicts poison, and six new teammates. I might try to get Eclair and Homard on the team, but I doubt I'll use the cats or the level one fairy girlfriend. Their stats seem iffy, equipping them is costly, and they seem too generic. And I'm saying that with the plan to use at least three monsters going forward. Will this many characters be fun and exciting? Who knows! I'll have more pronouns I can spam, though.