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Sorry about my updates coming slower lately- I've got a bad habit of wandering off, whether I'm interested or not (and it gets worse when things start getting in the way, like my recent computer issues). Anyway...
Mozart's #5 Dance Tune
So where was I, anyway?
Oh, right, the Library. Okay, got it.
A few steps forward reveals a pack of scholars running around in a panic; talking to one of them tells us why.
: Ugh, not again...
: Why are there always monsters everywhere we go...?
Before we investigate the basement, though, there's something I want to kill on the roof. Too bad it doesn't actually give any relevant rewards (I thought you got the first song here)...
After that futile side-trip, time to go to the basement!
This bookcase shifts to the right when you touch it, and goes back when you try to leave or step in that alcove behind it.
This is a very active bookshelf, and a rather convoluted entry mechanism.
It just sits in its "right" placement until you step here, at which point it goes left again. Now I can get past!
Investigating here causes the bookcase to disappear, revealing the entrance to the basement proper in the form of this hole.
It's dark down here. You are likelThat's a tired meme and I've always considered it stupid.
You got a thiiiiing!
Looking at this section removes the books, making a passage big enough for us to fit through. That must be a lot of books... or maybe they're just HUGE.
: Don't like the look of this book.
: Oh, stop complaining! I wanna see what they were reading when they left!
: Now THIS is just sloppy! 
: Maybe you should try lowing your eyebrows when you do that- it'd be more effective if you looked mad...
: I don't like this idea, Galuf... Remember what they were saying about possessed books down here?
: Look what you've gotten us into this time. If the library burns down it's your fault, understand?
Say hello to Ifrit, the first mandatory summon boss. Yes, despite him jumping out of a book at you, you can get preemptive on him.
Say goodbye to Mozart.
: I think I'll go look for the music section.
And Galuf.
: MOOOOZAAAARRRT!!!
And Lenna.
: I should go calm Galuf down before something happens.
And Faris.
: Why am I always the one keeping Galuf in check...?
Just in time, too- I almost got Fira'd. This is gonna take a while- Ifrit's got a thousand MP, Fira costs about 10 or so, and Ifrit has a 2/3 chance of using it every odd turn.
: ...God dammit.
Now that Ifrit's pretty much burned himself out in impotent rage I think it's about time to come back.
: F-finally... caught you... haaa... Why're you... so fast?!
: Practice.
...wait, what? 
It's probably a good thing I waited for Ifrit to exhaust himself first- when he was confused he started spamming random fire spells; at one point I swear I even saw Firaga!
: ...Seriously? You're just surrendering?
: Retreating in order to allow a foe to exhaust himself before engaging him is mere prudence, not cowardice.
: And charging headlong without regard for what you're facing is recklessness, not courage. Right?
: Exactly.
My reward for that display? A plot trinket which would be useful to a summoner, but only gives me the right to go further into the basement.
Great, a talking bookcase wants to get in our way.
: I will burn you if you don't get out of the way.
Yep, this is why Ifrit's mandatory- a belligerent bookcase blocks you until he threatens it into compliance.
So what was that bookcase so hellbent on guarding? Let's have a look, shall we?
Well, there's some nice armor downstairs, at least.
Very nice. I wish I had more of these.
The other hole leads to a dark area with this in a box at the bottom.
Save point.
: The books here give me the creeps.
: My beard's standing on end.
: Odd choice of words, but I really think something's here.
: He looks pretty absorbed in that book...
: Wait, are those books moving?
: Yes, they are. I think we're gonna have to kill 'em.
Hello, Byblos. I don't really remember how this guy fights, but that opening Magic Hammer is almost certainly the least threatening thing he can possibly do to me.
Naturally, considering how it's been carrying me so well thus far, I open up with a few Dances. Yes, the animation is as graceless as the screenshot makes it look.
Well, this could take a while- he apparently has Protect set as a react script; he follows this up with Wind Slash.
I manage to last for a bit, but when he decides to start spamming Wind Slash I get the first death of the run. The second run goes worse at the start, with him using Web before I can act, then Protect on my first action (which was a Mystery Waltz, so it didn't even damage him), but lasts a lot longer because I take to having two characters Hiding so he can't just Wind Slash me to death. He's an utter dick, though, and spams status effects for much of the fight.
On the fourth try, I try the "two hide, two fight" strategy again, but this time Byblos cooperates a lot better. When he started Draining me I found it so encouraging that I hauled everyone in to dance at him; shortly afterward, he started into his death speech. I had to use an Elixir and about a dozen Phoenix Downs to outlast him, though.
: That took WAY too much effort.
: Medic...
Boss Deaths: 3
Total Boss Deaths: 3
Other Deaths: 0
Byblos is also, if I remember right after my week-long break, the first boss who gets the special "flash-flash-crumble" death rather than the generic "turn red and fade" thing. He drops nothing of interest.
: Well, at least he's dead now. Guess they can reuse that book for something.
: Hello. We're looking for a man named Mid. Is that you?
: ...
: HEY! LOOK AT US WHEN WE'RE TALKING TO YOU!
: 
: I'm pretty sure that was someone else, actually.
: And he seems to be completely oblivious to what was happening literally right behind him.
: If he keeps ignoring everything like this he's gonna get himself killed someday.
Y'know, I think Mid might be autistic...
: RUSTLING? We were fighting for our LIVES just now, and you're complaining about us INTERRUPTING YOU?!
: No need to snap...
: You, sir, are an idiot.
: You should really work on paying more attention to your surroundings.
: I would've been quite upset if something had attacked you while you weren't paying attention.
: If we were sailing I'd be keelhauling you by now.
: Fine, we can talk upstairs.
: WHAT?! That... what... RGHLBLRGLRGLRAAAAARGH!!! 
: You mean to tell me... there was a path that went STRAIGHT HERE ALL ALONG?! 
Back upstairs, Mid knocks a scholar away from the bookcase fleeing from a berserk Mozart and infuriated Faris, who are in turn being reluctantly pursued by Galuf and Lenna since it'd defeat the whole purpose of coming here if they went overboard and killed Mid.
: Stay calm, you two, stay calm.
: Don't wring his neck, no matter how much you'd enjoy it. We need him to talk to Cid.
: Can I at least punch him?
Mid decides to try defusing Mozart by showing off what he found.
: I'd probably be more impressed if I understood a word that book says.
: That's why we were looking for you, actually.
Mid continues gushing about his grandfather. Hero worship much?
: Maybe he was before, but Cid's being emo right now, and we want you to try to jump-start him.
Mid is skeptical.
: He's not kidding- last we saw, Cid was whining about "what-ifs."
: He is, actually.
: Go see for yourself. Slap him upside the head for it if you think it'll help.
Mid leaves to investigate the party's claims, knocking another researcher aside as he goes in his haste.
: We should go too, I guess.
Before leaving though, I desperately need this.
Back in Karnak, we restock on potions and buy three more Phoenix Downs to start making up for what I burned through fighting Byblos, then head off to the bar.
: Looks like Mid isn't here yet.
Still emo.
Too bad for him that Mid's coming up the stairs in time to overhear his self-pity.
Mid marches up and proceeds to smack Cid upside the head a few times.
Cid obviously isn't pleased by this.
That doesn't stop Mid, though.
: (Yeah, everyone fails sometimes.)
: (Quiet, Mozart- Mid's got this.)
: (I am being quiet- if I wanted Cid to hear I wouldn't lower my voice like this.)
: (I'll admit, when I first started out I actually sucked at playing, but I didn't let that stop me.)
: (You couldn't've been as bad as me, right?)
: (Worse, actually.)
: (Looks like it's starting to sink in.)
: (Good thing- I was about to grab him and start shaking.)
: Glad to hear you've got your motivation back.
: Question is, how do we get there?
: And where is "there?"
: Great... No leads...
: You were saying something about remodelling it earlier, but the details went over my head.
: Here, look at this, Grandpa.
: Well, that makes ONE person who knows what the heck Mid's going on about...
: We'll just hang out in town while you two work- we'd just get in the way.
So Mid grabs his book and leads Cid out of the Bar of Emo, though the latter pauses at the stairs to turn back and thank us.
I get control back now, but I'm not comfortable with only a dozen Phoenix Downs after the Byblos fight (especially since that's how many I burned through in it), so I end up hunting wolves again to buy a few more... and level off the first batch I encounter. I hadn't realized I was that close to levelling.
After a bit (and gaining a second level), I realize I'll probably want a bit of money left over after the Phoenix Downs for buying equipment later, which means more money grinding here since nothing else in World 1 gives anywhere near as much Gil for the experience value while still being worth bothering (technically, the first enemies give a higher ratio, but they don't even drop enough to buy a Potion individually).
By the time I feel I've got enough, my party looks like this. In total I now have 25 Phoenix Downs- which sounds like a lot until you consider how fast I can go through them in a hard fight.
: Might as well check in to see how their work's going...
: Whoa! Sorry!
Mid then turns around to begin tinkering with whatever's underneath the panel he moved.
: No problem. I mean, I can understand passion for your work perfectly well even if I don't get the work itself, and we WERE kind of in the way.
: We'll just wait inside, okay?
: Right, right, just don't go downstairs- we haven't quite finished down there yet.
: No problem.
: Anyone up for poker?
The party heads inside, but before they can start playing their game Galuf stops short.
: (Ah. He's just been reminded of something. Better not distract him, or he'll lose it.)
It turns out Cid's interactions with Mid reminded Galuf of... apparently his own relationship with the little girl Siren showed him back in the Ship Graveyard.
Right down to getting smacked when he does something stupid, apparently. Wonder what he did to provoke this?
: ... (Okay, pay REALLY CLOSE attention just in case he manages to dig something useful up!)
: Wait, what?
: Presumably that weird knight and the werewolf came from the same world, using the same method...
: Yup.
: Why didn't you just kill it?
: We couldn't. And before you ask, I mean that literally.
: Evil, huh?
: ...who?
: Any chance that he'd be the one who controlled Garula, the Queen of Karnak, and that knight?
: Almost certain. He'd be the only one who'd want the crystals destroyed.
Remember this place? Apparently I was right about it looking wrong when it wasn't symmetrical. Looks like those rocks are linked to the crystals, which presumably means there's only one there now.
: How old are you, anyway?
: I've remembered a bunch of important things, but that's not in there.
: Kinda getting sidetracked.
: Sounds that way.
: Easy there. You can't force it, and you've remembered enough for now.
: If it still bothers you, sleep on it, okay?
: Huh. Wasn't aware you knew that expression.
Galuf promptly takes the suggestion and falls over unconscious on the spot.
The next day...
: It's quiet. Guess they're taking a break.
: Sure got noisy there for a while. I think they pulled an all-nighter.
: I hate to wake them up, but we really need to know how long this is gonna take.
: Uhhh... so... you spun a lot...?
Cid does a quick stretch before turning to wake Mid.
: You sure you aren't a clone or something?
: That was fast.
: Well, or any other external power source, but that's harder to say.
: Okay, we'll take this thing and go searching for the last Crystal.
: Try not to let Mid get too caught up in reading there, okay? There're monsters there, too.
: I'll try, but he gets it from me.
Mozart sees them off the ship after this, while Faris takes the helm as the party's sole experienced sailor.
And we have a new ship! Bets on how long this one lasts?
Turns out you can disembark here and actually start out a little closer to my current destination than a black chocobo would leave you!
The destination in question being here.
I bet this place has some of the best stores in World 1.
Separate item shop. Haven't seen that before. There's a bar upstairs, which has interesting implications.
: Okay, lesson four. Let's try upping the tempo this time.
: You're keeping up surprisingly well, actually. Have you had lessons before?
: I dunno. Maybe?
The armor store sells some gear that'll be highly useful to me for quite a while. I get two Berets and three Ninja Suits; after some consideration and double-checking the Suits to see if Bards can use them, I grab a couple Surplices as well.
The weapon store's got some good stuff, too. I buy four Mage Mashers, though Mozart will be sticking to his Main Gauche when he doesn't need to mute anything for the foreseeable future.
It's a nice upgrade over Mythril Knives. Kind of ironic that they boost Magic, though, isn't it?
Since I'm in the area, let's loot Jachol Cave for vendor trash!
I expect to be doing quite a bit of running here because of the Skull Eaters.
Well, when they aren't running first, that is. Free ABP, I guess.
I have a few casualties getting here, but I don't bother with more than using Phoenix Downs to get them back on their feet. Nutkins are non-issues (weaklings roughly on par with the Goblins from way back at the beginning), and Skull Eaters can do over a thousand to me (compared to about 400 max), so my HP percentage is irrelevant. Anyway, I also get a Tent and the Blitz Whip.
Not that it's relevant at the moment, but you can climb up the wall in the back to get outside, though you'll still have to hike back through the cave to get anywhere useful.
On my way back to my ship I try to see if Self-Destruct still kills Bombs when you're hiding, but when I told everyone to hide it auto-escaped. Guess I'll have to find out later, when I hit the meteor bosses.
Here's the next Plot destination, but I think I should leave off here.
Next time: We're really hard on ships, aren't we?