I've made reference to the town we'll
wind up in before.
Nine or ten issues ago, I talked about
the dreams Shadow the Ninja was having last time he was in the party,
and now that he's back, there are implications as to where those
dreams may have been going. We'll get to those in a minute, though.
Before we do, I'd better pick up kind
of where we left off. When Locke and Terra get to Albrook, we can
stock up on supplies, if needed, and it's a good idea to do so.
We'll have a chance later, but better safe than sorry. From there,
it's time to go talk to General Leo, who's on the ship docked at the
harbor. He'll tell you that we'll be bringing Celes, who seems to
have gone back to the Empire, along for the ride, as well as our good
buddy Shadow. Since the expedition to Crescent Island doesn't leave
until the next morning, he's arranged a room at the inn for us.
There's a bit of tension between Locke
and Celes, because he's got feelings for her, and right now, he
thinks they've been a bit betrayed. Later, during the night, Locke
gets up to go outside and runs into Celes out there. He tries to
talk to her, but she seems to have nothing to say and runs off.
On the way, Terra ponders being in
love, and Leo tells her it's only natural because she's young and
doesn't know yet that these things can't be rushed. After Leo gives
his advice, Terra still wants to know what love is right away and
wonders if it's coming at all. Shadow, wanting to sleep outside,
overheard the conversation and tells her to not kill off her feelings
like he has. I never have completely understood that part of the
scene, but after that, it wraps up with Locke getting violently
seasick and blowing chunks over the side of the boat
A few days later, the tensions remain
as Leo explains that the ship's about to land, and since there are
five potential party members, he and Celes will team up in one group
while Locke, Terra, and Shadow form the other group to go looking for
the Espers.
Our ultimate goal this time is a town
called Thamasa. If that sounds familiar, it's because it's Thama,
from Shadow's dreams in Jidoor and Kohlingen. It's where he wound up
after ditching Clyde. The implication here is that in the
intervening years between Clyde's death and the game, Shadow had a
child with the woman who came to his aid at the end of the last dream
segment. All this really comes through when we get our next two new
party members: Strago and Relm. Strago's an old guy with funny hair
and a mustache who's going to be the party's blue mage. Basically,
this means he can learn a few special attacks from seeing the
monsters do them in battle. Gau gets some of these through his
Rages, but there are some unique ones, too. His granddaughter Relm
is a painter who's art is kind of like the kid's chalk drawings in
those old Simon cartoons in
that they'll come to life and do one of the attacks of whatever
monster the painting is of.
The reason I get the sense that this is
Shadow's family is mostly because Shadow's dog likes Relm when he
doesn't normally like anyone but Shadow. There's also Shadow's own
actions, too. When the house where the villagers store their Fire
Rods actually starts on fire with Relm inside, Strago goes nuts and
starts trying to put the fire out with magic. The mayor says that
magic's forbidden, but Strago won't have it, so the rest of the
townsfolk join him until it becomes clear that it won't work. Terra
and Locke say they're going in, and Strago insists on joining them.
The good news is that this is a perfect
opportunity to add to his Blue Magic, or Lore, as it's called in the
game, because there are monsters in there that use one called
Exploder. There's a boss fight in there, too, but no matter how
quickly it's won, it's too late to save Relm before everybody passes
out from the smoke.
Fortunately for the party, Shadow's dog
Interceptor is there, guarding Relm. Shadow finds the others by his
dog's barking, and after killing off the fire-themed monsters that
had the rest of the party trapped, he uses a smoke ball to save
everybody.
Once back outside, Shadow says he did
it just to save his dog, but it comes after a silent exchange between
Shadow and Strago that's meant to indicate that there's more to the
story than is being told. Shadow then says he's leaving the party
again to go looking for the Espers in his own way. This will free up
the other two slots in the party, which will be filled by Strago and,
eventually, Relm.
Strago goes on to tell us that there's
a cave in the mountains to the west of town where the Espers might be
because there's an old legend in Thamasa about how a lot of magic
stuff once happened there, including the creation of the Espers. He
says he'll take us there because our mission seems important and he
owes us for helping to save Relm. Relm wants to come, too, but
Strago says no. She'll stay behind for now, but that doesn't last
long.
We'll find out more about that next
time, though, when we head off to the cave and have another fun fight
with our good buddy Ultros. See you then, folks, and until next
time, stay safe, have fun, keep gaming, and DFTBA!
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