This bit of commentary is going to take
a turn towards NSFW territory, folks. That's one reason why there's
always a jump for folks reading this from the front page of my blog.
Before we get into the meat and bones
of this one, though, I suppose I should mention the pet zombie I got
from the Bone Fortress. I forgot to mention that last time because I
was thinking with the wrong head when I was writing about the
experience. It even hatched out right away for me once I got back to
the barn. Must have been the rotten meat I used as bait for the egg.
I named him Ed Frid, after the animal control guy on The Red
Green Show. I figure I
should bring it up now because I took it along on the quest at hand
here, and it'll factor in later.
Moving on to said quest, this time
we're using an Artifact called the Green Cane that we got from Larc
at the end of the last mission. This generates an area called the
White Forrest. Looks kind of like a sugar maple forest to me. I'm
hoping there's a little sugar to be had here, even if it is only of
the maple kind.
Been awhile since I've had any of that.
It should come as no surprise that this
place is the home area of Vadise the Dragon of Light and her dragoon,
Sierra. As the quest starts, Larc explains all this and then goes so
far as to say that he's even got someone he only refers to as “her”
all scented out for us. It might sound a little hypocritical of me
to call that creepy, considering the things I've been saying the last
few issues of this, but there's something I think I need to make
clear here: while it could be assumed that Larc means Vadise, I think
the stronger implication here is that he means Sierra. This might
just be my American mindset here, but I'm not sure which is creepier,
that a 35-year-old man like me is still gushing over video game
characters or that there's a little implied sibling “love” going
on here.
At any rate, it's a game of hot
and cold as Larc guides us to his sister and her master. Part of
the reason I brought Ed Frid along was that I thought there were more
undead monsters in here, but given that it's a forest, there's more
birds and plant monsters in here. Can't really blame me much for the
confusion, though, given the place
I grew up and still
live. Not many forests to be found here, I'm afraid.
Once we actually get to where we're
going, Sierra shows up and has a battle of words with Larc. This is
where it's officially revealed that yes, they are brother and sister.
Just when it looks like we might wind up seeing one of them die
here, Vadise shows up and talks them out of it, saying that siblings
shouldn't resort to killing one another. I quite agree, being a big
brother myself. For the moment, there's not going to be a boss fight
here, as Larc spares Sierra and Vadise for allowing him access to the
Mana Crystal here. Larc sends the crystal's power to Drakonis,
telling himself that he knows what he's about to do is wrong, but
he's doing it to get free of the evil that he's about to unleash on
Fa'Diel, and silently telling his sister that he's sorry.
Of course, all this only takes a
moment, and on his way out, Larc essentially ditches us with Sierra
and Vadise. Worse yet, as he runs out, all he gives us this time is
a little Visiel Gold. Given the routine that tends to follow, the
only thing that really went through my head was part of a George
Carlin routine. (NSFW)
With Larc's part of this arc over and
done with, he runs back to the Underworld, leaving us to deal with
his sister and her master. Now, there's
where I'd like it to go (NSFW, login- and age-based content filter), but
given what's actually going on here, I doubt trying to impersonate
the Doctor in Waters of Mars
would be very smart of me, especially in light of the fact that the
game has other goals for us. And past experience with this game
tells me that I should offer this
warning about how much of a doozy the test of strength that
we're about to have tends to be. The funny thing is that my usual
luck in this game sees the first attempt at this ending the same way
real-life me would were my little fantasy to come true: like the
Eleventh Doctor's fez.
A funny thing happened this time
around, though. It's because I brought my pet zombie Ed Frid along,
which is something I hadn't really ever done before. Not only did
giving Sierra an extra target to kill, and yes, she did kill Ed, in
part because his level was so low, help some, but when Ed came back
to unlife, he tried to eat her brain or something and poisoned her,
which really helped too. And with Sierra out of the fight, Vadise is
much easier with a second pair of hands, alive or not, too.
When the fight ends, Vadise and Sierra
ask us to help defeat Drakonis and save not only the world, but more
importantly, Sierra's dear brother Larc. Because I'm out to save the
world myself, I think I'll say yes. We'll be going to meet Sierra at
the entrance to the Underworld next issue, where I'm almost certain
I'll wind up making a rather awkward
joke that we were all spared having to endure this time.
But before I get to that, I think I had
better do one or two issues of the Final Fantasy series and a little
freeforming, just so I don't come across as too much of a pervy,
furry douchebag, although it might be a little late for that.
At any rate, I'll see you with more
stuff soon. Possibly a timey-wimey
detector, who knows. But as always, stay safe, keep gaming, have
fun, and DFTBA!
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