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Thirteen - Cats are nice.



The bottom icon would take us through the tundra, but



Another night, another crappy hut.





Shadow just chillin in the doorway, blocking our path.



Oh, it's... not hostile.



The next sequence of encounters are a memory test for people from the village. I'll show what happens if we fail below.



But Olov is the correct answer for this one.



The shadow turns into the old guy for a moment before disappearing.



And then another room.





The correct answer is Silk, but we chose Jesper.







The encounter that results is very simple, since it only has one enemy. The problem is that doing it this way earns us less experience than guessing correctly.



Oh well.







That punk kid!







Here's the difference in xp.







There is no correct answer here.



So we are forced into a fight.







Narration: (You were outside, the whole time. Were you ever inside? Without really knowing it, perhaps you were never one of them. You watched them, all those years, from the top of a cliff. Then, finally, you left.





Narration: (You have lost all points of reference for days. You continue blindly forward. Are these the same mountains that you could glimpse intermittently through the storm? The plain seems to stretch on forever. Like an insect facing the immensity of the climb before it, you feel tiny and slow, so slow... You are alone and isolated, lost in an ocean of snow. Eventually you come across a new set of ruins. Identical in all ways to the first set, they unfold slowly under the same heavy white sky, under the same horizon of veiled mountains.)



We're fine. Let's move forward.





Ooo, a new gimmick.







Basically, these enemies damage whatever is closest to them that's in range. We would definitely need to make use of this fact if we weren't a walking brain wall.





They attack by crying.



And we counter with a Fairy Tale!



Despite the Protector shield, it dies turn 1. Very sad.





We definitely want to avoid the Erasing Time, because its Erasure saps our PP, preventing us from using all our awesome abilities.

Speaking of awesome abilities...







Haþuwīgą Oh, you’re right. I should sleep more just so that I can lose four or five fingers once and for all.



Almost there. Also, that's Frida dying in an explosion of white behind us.





Frida Death Count: 19



We move to another screen, very similar to the first, and also level up!





These off-branch support skills are great for becoming more powerful. Now we have hella healing.





Unstoppable!







Rude.



Fairy Tale's increased range doesn't make a huge difference, but it's nice to have.





Especially for all the healing a tiny 2 EP helper can give us by sacrificing its life.



And so Frida dies for us once a-... Oh, she made it to the end! Nice.





Yes, very hopeful.





Does an open-air mattress count...?



Narration: (Am I going to give up, dad? Am I going to let myself die here? I am so tired, so tired... I have been walking for a long time, so long that I have forgotten why I am walking... I am so tired, so tired, I would like for everything to end... That the snow may swallow me, at last, that the snow may finally finish its work...)

(Motionless, abandoned, with half-closed eyes, you watch the snow fall.)

Well, it was nice knowing you Haþuwīgą.



It's the titular line!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiqPmsBYieA

Narration: (Who are they? The landscape is calm, not a sound or a sudden movement. The snow falls gently, silently. Who are they? It sounds like they are singing. It is a strange landscape. It is a bit like a dream. Like the dream of a child.)



So we have been transformed into a little snowball, and we have to make it to each of the glowing figures.



To do that, we have to teleport using the yellow tiles.



Because, while we can end a turn not on them, if a turn ever passes without having moved through at least one teleport tile, we lose the battle.



So we have to hop around until we finally arrive in front of one of the visions.







With each voice we speak to, another instrument or section of this song fades into the soundtrack (part of the "dynamic soundtrack" promised on the game's store page):

Music - Piste 5









Ran out of movement and just unceremoniously poofed out of existence. Whoops.



Let's try that again.





Last one!



Winter Voice: Day after day, the snow will erase our footsteps
Ice will take the rivers and the cold our windows
It is so and it is for the best. It is hard to disappear
But there is sometimes a little water beneath the ice

Just as there is blood in a body collapsed
Just as a cry can sometimes be a word
Just as morning follows a sleepless night

Just as we hear, sometimes, the murmur of the avalanche.



Then our little snowball starts crackling with fire.



And we're a person again! Thanks Winter Voices.





Narration: (For the first time in weeks, the sky is perfectly clear. The temperature has risen and, to your surprise, it is warm. The sound of birds can be heard from the odd tree dotting the area. The mountains are easily visible on the horizon. While scanning the horizon you discover what looks like a village in ruin. It is maybe six days' walk away. You eat your penultimate ration with difficulty and you start walking.



We get a permanent buff for making it through the Winter Voices encounter, which changes depending on which of the three paths we chose. I forgot taking the long way around increased Memory. The extra damage should increase the challenge a little bit, at least.



The increase actually helps us blow right past level 13 and into 14, allowing us to pick two new skills.



So we start going further down the Composition line.



Haþuwīgą is a good singer, and she will use that to make even more battlefield helpers for the meatgrinder!



Goodbye, buried mattress. Thanks for everything.





We're not out of the woods yet though.







An adventuress hunting for treasure!

Shadow of the Seid: Is this how you describe yourself? Yes... Perhaps. Perhaps you are looking for treasures, but you are not an adventuress, oh no, and it is not gold that you will find... Or perhaps?



Yes, I was thinking of putting the kitchen in that corner... the sitting room here... And a goat-skin seat with woven flowers. That's a good idea, flowers... And a small green plant HERE! There.

Shadow of the Seid: (Silence) And a cat? (silence) Cats are nice. But I think that we are digressing. I have a last question for you, young lady. Then I will go away. I am afraid that it is rather an enigma. Here it is.



(The cut off answer on top was "Veikko. I think.")

There isn't even a question!

Shadow of the Seid: Indeed. The answer is often easier to find than the question. Safe journey, young lady.



Hmph. Enigmatic bastard spirit world personification.



Narration: (You are no longer in the village. There is nothing left and you find that reassuring. In the end, did you ever feel comfortable there? Was this really your village -- you, the daughter of a runaway and an exiled sailor? Isn't it better this way? Your home is, indeed, among these ruins. your home is here. At last, things have fallen back into place. If you come back one day, you will be a visitor. You will be the polite stranger who is only passing through. It is thus, and it is better this way.)