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Update 68: A Secret Date

Perhaps I should focus on becoming queen of the wolves first.





Since we did more sailing, we've unlocked this quest.

Pampas grass... I feel like we've seen that somewhere before.

Ah, it is you again. Welcoming to you. ...That request? A sailor from Ayutthaya made it. Are you knowing what pampas grass is? In Ayutthaya, it is tradition to make offerings of pampas grass to pray for good harvests. That grass usually grows in Armoroad, too, but nobody can find any this year. That is why he is requesting someone to bring him pampas grass! What’s stupid is that he made the request, then rushed back to Ayutthaya for a festival. If you want details, you can go to Ayutthaya and ask him, or find someone here to help.



There's someone we can talk who can help us with this quest.

Mm? Do you have business with me, stranger? Ah... searching for Pampas Grass, are you? *chuckle* That sweet smell... Back in my home country, we put them on display on full moons. I hear that the ones which grow in the Porcelain Forest are valued as sacred plants. Of course, lowly explorers such as you and I are forbidden from entering such a place.

Heh heh, speak for yourself.

And all those other explorers... exploring... Um, how are they exploring the forest? I thought only authorized people were allowed in.

...You know, that is a good question.

Maybe Flowdia gave out a bunch of copies of the seal or something? What do you think, Charlotte?

...I'm just as stumped as you are. I've never even seen the Porcelain Forest until recently. By the way, don't you all have a date you should be going on?

What the heck is she talking about now?







Excuse me, please wait! We took on a request to deliver some pampas grass to Ayutthaya.

Mind giving us the details on that?

The sailor tries to leave, but you say that you need to ask about the pampas grass request.

Oh, so you took that request? We offer pampas grass every year in prayer for our crops. Armoroad hasn’t grown any this year... You might find some near Ugarit, though. If you’re going to do this job, you’ll have to harvest the pampas grass for us. I’ve heard it grows on a small island east of Ugarit. Can I trust you to bring some?

Rest assured that we shall deliver!

Oh, and pampas grass goes bad when exposed to wind and rain, so be quick with it.



There are two ways to tackle this quest, both of which will give you the same reward. The solution the Ninja referred to was looking for it in the Porcelain Forest. The solution the sailor referred to is essentially another sailing trip in which you have to plan out your route. Pick which one sounds like less work to you.





Aha! I did remember seeing pampas grass around here!

What looks like a broom waving softly in the wind is a plant known as pampas grass. You recall the request you accepted to find pampas grass for a sailor from Ayutthaya. You can cut some of the grass now, or ignore it and continue with your exploration.



Let us gather as much as we can!

You gently grasp the bottom of the pampas grass stem and cut it off near the root. After harvesting a good amount of the grass, you tie it into a bundle and put it in your pack. All you need to do now to complete the request is return to the bar and turn it in.





The sailor's warning about the pampas grass was only referring to the kind you can get from Ugarit. The Porcelain Grass has no such problems.



I unlocked a very important item at the store. Crush Amulets increases the wearer's Strike resistance by 50%. Wearing 2 of them would make it so that they only take single digit damage from those attacks. This can come in handy for a couple of boss fights later down the line.



Let's go on another sailing trip.





The route for this one is mostly the same as the one needed to head to Ugarit.



Only on the part where you have to go north a whole lot, go north until you hit an island instead.



Then head into the current on the right and go north until you hit another island.



Then go all the way east and then south one tile to reach the last Oceanic Pole.









There are some new fish in the area.



Here's the location of the other pampas grass you can get, but you have to get it to Ayutthaya in one go. To do so, you'll need the Latin Sail, the Iron Naval Ram, the Carronade Cannon, and a 20 turn food. Starting from the 2nd Foothold, follow these directions:

And then you're at Ayutthaya.

Hey, is that-yeah! I think I see my old crew over there!

Oh, do you want to say hello to them? We should be able to sail for a bit longer.

...Sure. Let's go do that. Yeah.





What the-!?

That was for putting me on toilet duty, you jerks!

Wait, did we just-

Don't worry. They can swim.

Showing off the Carronade Cannon here. With it you can sink all pirate ships in the way. However, it's more expensive to use than the Culverin, so only put it on your ship if the route you're traveling on has black pirate ships in the way.





Oh! Oh Lordy! Look at this color and luster! This has to be Armoroad pampas grass! I thought that the city didn’t grow any this year... Where did you find this? Well, it doesn’t matter. We’ll be able to perform our annual rites this year! I left the reward with the lady at the Butterfly Bistro back in Armoroad, though.

The sailor writes out a receipt confirming the delivery and hands it to you.



We couldn't have just left the pampas grass with Missy?

Oh come now, Scott. They need this for the festival. Why should one of the sailors be deprived of the opportunity to enjoy it to the fullest?

I guess you got a point there.

Now if you got the pampas grass in the Porcelain Forest, but delivered it to Missy instead of Ayutthaya, you would get a lesser reward. However, delivering pampas grass directly to the town will net you the best reward. It doesn't matter which kind, you just have to deliver it yourself.

Fun fact, there was originally a 3rd way to complete the quest, where you brought both the Armoroad pampas grass, and the grass from that island to Ayutthaya, but that's impossible to pull off in the final release since one of those spots can no longer be examined once the grass is delivered.





Well, here you are, sounding and safety! Did you get the pampas grass?

What Missy says next depends on who you delivered the pampas grass to. If you delivered it to Missy:

Wow! The pampas grass from the royal forest looks so dignified compared to the normal stuff! The sailor from Ayutthaya will be coming to pick it up soon, so perfect timing, too! His festival will have to be a success if he uses this! Good job with this as always! Here is the reward for you! Put it away so you aren’t losing it, okay?

And then you only get 2 Hamao IIs. If you delivered pampas grass to Ayutthaya:

Hm? This is a receipt from the requestor for a delivery... ...Oh! Oh my! You took it directly to Ayutthaya!? That is so sweet of you! His festival will have to be a success if he uses this! Good job with this as always! Here is the reward for you! Put it away so you aren’t losing it, okay?







Yet another point in Gun Mastery.







Is there something special about it?

It’s a mushroom that splits right before it dies, so we can’t defeat it permanently. That’s why we need you to finish it off with this knife with a special poison on it. That’s the only blade we have with the poison. If you lose it, you’ll fail the mission.

If you sell or throw away the knife before you've completed the quest, you'll have to reaccept it at Missy's in order to get another one. Originally it was intended for you to get another copy of the Knife if you did lose it, but the devs must've had a hard time with causing the game to detect when that happened, so that was the best solution they could implement.

We’d like to examine the remains, so please bring us the body after you kill it.







Guess we'll leave that job to you, kid.

Very well.

It's stronger than Akatsuki's current weapon. At least they didn't stick us with a terrible Knife.





Some inaccessible shortcuts at the start.






Forest Hare
Level: 47
HP: 592
STR: 42
VIT: 43
AGI: 39
LUC: 42
TEC: 43
Attack Type: Slash
Exp: 2649
Item Drops:
-Drop 1: Rabbit Tail - 35% Drop Rate. 1 needed for Aurora Veil (Clothes. Must be restocked.) and Wizard Cap (Helm.) 3 needed for Estoc (Rapier.)
--So fluffy...
-Drop 2: N/A
-Gold: Rabbit Ear - Kill while head is bound. 80% Drop Rate. 1 needed for Cross-cross (Helm.)
--Can detect the faintest noise in its surroundings.
Description: A rabbit monster of the forest. One popular story speaks of it contacting allies on the moon.
Damage Resistances: Slash: 75% Strike: 75% Pierce: 150% Fire: 100% Ice: 100% Volt: 150%
Ailment Resistances: Sleep: 100% Confusion: 50% Plague: 150% Poison: 150% Blind: 100% Curse: 100% Paralysis: 100%
Bind Resistances: Head: 100% Arm: 100% Leg: 100%
Other Resistances: Death: 100% Petrification: 100% Stun: 100%

Skills:

Moon Prayer: Uses the Head. Doubles the power one ally's next elemental attack. Charge does not get dispelled until the enemy uses an elemental attack. Has an action speed of -50.

Forest Hares are support monsters you may or may not want to take out quickly depending on the battle. They can't do much on their own, but Moon Prayer is a charge skill that's can be cast on other enemies. Thankfully it's slow to go off, and Forest Hares won't bother casting this on enemies that don't have access to elemental attacks. Also all elemental attacks the enemies in this Stratum have are Volt attacks, so Antivolt can make it so that there's nothing to worry about. Ironically, Volt attacks are one of their weaknesses.





Farewell, little rabbit.



Stabbing also works if you have party members who can do that.



Look at that sheep! I must have one as a pet!

Pfft, you know what you should do if you accomplish that somehow? Feed it a Gold Stinkhorn, I hear they like those.

Don't listen to him, Susan. Feeding a Somnovore one of those would incur a deadly mutation that would make it even more murderous. Not that having one as a pet is a good idea in the first place.

Oh my. So. You tried to stage an assassination attempt by turning own my pet against me! How dare you plot your queen's downfall like that!

You don't even have one as a pet yet! ...Or ever! Crazy girl.

Not when I become queen of the sheep.



The FOE follows a simple patrol path, however mud tiles make a return in this Stratum, so you'll have to start planning out your routes more carefully.



THIS WAS NOT THE BEST PLACE TO GET INTO A BATTLE!


Peach Crow
Level: 52
HP: 1082
STR: 55
VIT: 53
AGI: 32
LUC: 40
TEC: 44
Attack Type: Strike
Exp: 4152
Item Drops:
-Drop 1: Pink Bird's Leg - 55% Drop Rate. 1 needed for Mumeitou (Katana.) 3 needed for Target Goggles (Accessory.) 5 needed for Cataphract (Club.)
--Thick, tendoned leg that can bear extraordinary loads.
-Drop 2: Deathly Stem - 20% Drop Rate. See 4th Stratum Chop Point info for more details.
-Gold: N/A
Description: A gigantic bird with an insatiable appetite. It barely flies, but it can still crush from above.
Damage Resistances: Slash: 100% Strike: 100% Pierce: 100% Fire: 100% Ice: 100% Volt: 150%
Ailment Resistances: Sleep: 100% Confusion: 100% Plague: 100% Poison: 100% Blind: 150% Curse: 50% Paralysis: 100%
Bind Resistances: Head: 50% Arm: 50% Leg: 50%
Other Resistances: Death: 100% Petrification: 100% Stun: 125%

Skills:

Diving Breath: Uses the Legs. Deals 110% Strike damage to one row. Has an accuracy of 90. Has an action speed of -5.

Peach Crows are the toughest and one of the tankiest enemies in the entire Stratum. While Largebills were certainly tough back in the first Stratum, your party should be able to take on a Peach Crow when they first encounter one. They're heavy hitters that can smack multiple people around at once and take quite a while to kill. Fortunately, they're pretty slow.





Crud.



How tough is that birdbrain!?





Pew pew! Pew pew pew!

And that's not enough to kill it.

...I don't like where this is going.

FOE incoming! Stay on your guards, everyone!







I was so close to killing it too. And I can't run away from this fight since my back is currently against a wall.


Somnovore
Behavior: Patrols a set path.
Aggressive: No
Level: 56
HP: 4201
STR: 68
VIT: 55
AGI: 44
LUC: 43
TEC: 50
Attack Type: Pierce
Exp: 14890
Item Drops:
-Drop 1: Cursed Wool - 80% Drop Rate. 1 needed for Cloth Armor (Light Armor. Must be restocked.)
--Wool that has been distended through absorbing curses.
-Drop 2: N/A
-Gold: N/A
Description: A sheep that wanders the Porcelain Forest. Its jewel-like red gaze puts you into a deep slumber.

Damage Resistances: Slash: 100% Strike: 100% Pierce: 100% Fire: 100% Ice: 100% Volt: 100%
Ailment Resistances: Sleep: IMMUNE Confusion: IMMUNE Plague: 10% Poison: 50% Blind: 10% Curse: 10% Paralysis: 10%
Bind Resistances: Head: 25% Arm: 25% Leg: 25%
Other Resistances: Death: 10% Petrification: 10% Stun: 50%

Skills:

Dozing Gaze: Uses the Head. Attempts to inflict Sleep on the entire party, with a 30% success rate. Has an action speed of -5.
Crazed Shout: Uses the Head. Attempts to inflict Confusion on the entire party, with a 30% success rate. Has an action speed of -5.

People who have played EO4 may recognize these as the FOEs they effortlessly slaughtered in order to grind up their party members quite a bit. I'm just going to warn you that they're not nearly as pushovers in EO3.

Somnovores will gladly ruin your day if you give them the opportunity to do so. For one thing, take a look at their strength stat. It's only 2 points lower than the Mortal Hunter's. And it's still higher than all the final boss' STR stats, so their regular attacks actually hit very hard. They are capable of locking down and completely disabling your party by putting them to Sleep, or Confusing them. In fact, if you don't have anyone who can use Prevent Order in your party, don't even bother fighting them. They'll just utterly murder you. They don't have any offensive skills, and their only attack is their regular attack, so if you have a way to deal with both of their status moves, you'll have a better chance of taking them down.



Only thing Cassandra can do is Line Guard.



Might as well have Scott Charge up for Pincushion.



As much as I would love to use Attack Order on Scott, I can't take the risk of the front row being hit by Dozing Gaze or Crazed Shout.



Akatsuki will take out the Peach Cow.



Asteria will do whatever. I don't expect her to do much right now.



We are all sad.



There will be no sheep counting as long as I'm around!





How can something so fluffy hit so hard?

Yeah, Somnovores are no slouches in the offensive department despite being limited to regular attacks. If they hit a sleeping target, their attacks pretty much become one hit kills.



That skill name got mistranslated. It's supposed to be Diving Press. Which got corrected for EO4.





Come on...



Calculating...



I'm hoping Pincushion gets in a good amount of damage.



Might as well block all damage for a turn, since Akatsuki can't take another hit.



Unfortunately, the Somnovore doesn't really have any weaknesses to exploit, damage or status-wise.



Rest easy, my subjects.





That didn't work out too well.

Ugh, Pincushion only rolled 1 hit. While it's certainly a strong skill, it's not really a form of reliable damage until Scott's AGI gets high enough to the point where even 1 hit can deal a ton of damage, so 2 or 3 hits could be considered really good bonuses.



Okay, that's one enemy out of the way.



Not happening.





...That really fell short.

Sadly, elemental Zodiacs kind of start falling off really hard at this point when it comes to the big fights. Unfortunately she's still fantastic at clearing out encounters, so I can't just respec her to go all in on the Meteor build.



Since the whole party now has Prevent Order on them, and the Somnovore hasn't used any of its status moves yet, it's safe for Susan to cast Attack Order.



Cassandra and Scott are using up quite a bit of TP, so I'll have Akatsuki cast Dark Ether to keep them going for a bit longer.



Clear your mind.





Strike when you're ready!



Sadly Scott won't benefit from Eagle Eye when he uses Pincushion, because he outspeeds Susan. That's kind of an annoying thing about Buccaneers.



Agh, just my luck!



You could have at least waited for me to tell you where to attack. For the record, you should strike there.

Yeah, well I would appreciate it if you could figure stuff like that out faster.

Hmph.



Only one hit again, but that is much better damage.





Ohohoho! Shout all you want, it won't do a thing to us!

Um, Susan? You did remember to protect the back row, right?

...Oops.



Hello there, dripping yellow madness. Yes, I will kill my friends.

Caledonia is not a real country! You are an Lagaardian with a dress!

And it's here where I realized I forgot to renew Prevent Order for the back row. Oh well, it's not a big loss. Akatsuki and Asteria weren't doing much anyway.





Oho! What did I tell you?





I count one dead sheep. Shoot, now I'm getting all... mmph. Mimimimimimimi...

Somebody wake him up.



Yeah, this party is really not suited to taking down FOEs. Scott is the only real damage dealer against them, and he's too fast to take advantage of Susan's buffs and debuffs. Not to mention that one hit of Pincushion barely does more than Hanging at the moment. It also doesn't help that the FOEs in this Stratum are fairly tough to take down with underpowered or unprepared parties, unlike the rest of the game.







Here's a little trick you can do with Lucky Hammer.



Since it's a Limit skill that activates at the very end of the turn, you can cast both it and Charge on the same turn...







The prize is mine!

You can cast a powered up Lucky Hammer to get a better chance of killing an enemy with it, and getting all their drops at once. Don't worry, I'll get all the conditional drops legitimately instead of cheating for them like that.



C6 Mine Point:
Nephrite: 80% Gather Rate. 1 needed for Adargas (Shield.)
-Translucent green gem often used in jewelry.
Dolomite: 20% Gather Rate. 1 needed for Brigandine (Heavy Armor.) 3 needed for Armet (Helm.)
-Absorbent white rock used as construction material.
Akaganeite: Rare. 1 needed for Sleep Seal (Accessory.) 3 needed for Freiturnier (Heavy Armor.)
-Succulent plant that secretes a powerful, nourishing gel.
Common Gather Periods: 1 to 10.
Rare Gather Periods: 2 to 5.

Here's the first Mine point on this floor.



Asteria gets another level up.



Meteor now deals 41% damage per hit.





New enemy, and this one is one of the more annoying enemies to deal with in this Stratum.


Stun Eryngii
Level: 48
HP: 551
STR: 43
VIT: 41
AGI: 38
LUC: 37
TEC: 48
Attack Type: Strike
Exp: 3048
Item Drops:
-Drop 1: Horned Cap - 25% Drop Rate. 1 needed for Kilt Tassels (Boots) and Albion Sowrd (Sword.) 7 needed for Stun Ankh (Accessory.)

--Much more resilient than its appearance would suggest.
-Drop 2: Stun Hypha - 10% Drop Rate. 1 needed for Senpuuhou (Crossbow.) 4 needed for Cataphract (Club.)
--Toadstool’s hypha which can cripple the nervous system.
-Gold: N/A
Description: A close cousin to the Trip Mushroom, this ambulatory fungus can release paralytic spores.

Damage Resistances: Slash: 100% Strike: 150% Pierce: 100% Fire: 150% Ice: 100% Volt: 50%
Ailment Resistances: Sleep: 100% Confusion: 100% Plague: 100% Poison: 100% Blind: 100% Curse: 100% Paralysis: IMMUNE
Bind Resistances: Head: 100% Arm: 100% Leg: 100%
Other Resistances: Death: 100% Petrification: 100% Stun: 100%

Skills:

Stunning Spore: Uses the Head. Deals 70% Volt damage to one party member, and has a 100% chance to inflict Paralysis. Has an accuracy of 99. Has an action speed of +0.
Palsy Destruct: Does not use a body part. Deals 20% Volt damage to the entire party, and has a 500% chance to inflict Paralysis. Has an accuracy of 120.

Stun Eryngii are complete and utter butts. They are essentially guaranteed to Paralyze your party members with Stunning Spore. Palsy Destruct is a passive that activates upon death, and even if your party members built up some Accumulative Resistance to Paralysis throughout the battle, they'll still get tagged with the Paralysis. Because of that, you might want to take them out last. On the other hand, you don't want the battle lasting long enough to Paralyze your entire party with Stunning Spore. Quite the conundrum, huh? There are a few ways to get around Palsy Destruct. It only activates when the Stun Eyrngii gets killed with physical damage, so if you have a Zodiac, they can fry them without any problems. Instant Death and Petrify can also kill them without setting off Palsy Destruct. Don't bother with head binds, that was only a weakness added in EO4. As an insult to injury, you have to farm quite a bit of their drops to unlock all the equipment in the game, and they have some of the lowest drop rates in the game.

Of course by far the best way to deal with these things is to have a Hoplite with a max level Antivolt, which turns these enemies into complete jokes.





Goodbye, Mr. Mushroom. You shall be paralyzing no one today.



Of course if you don't have those tools, every battle with them can be a complete pain. It may even be best to just run in certain cases.



There's another Somnovore up ahead. Here's its patrol path.



Akatsuki gets a level up.



Knife Mastery now provides a 9% boost to damage when Akatsuki uses a regular attack.



And here's a quick shortcut back to the start of the floor.



This is most likely the monster that you have been tasked with defeating. Make sure you are equipped with the knife you were given before you try attacking it...

This is the FOE we have to kill, but it won't move anywhere.






Splitstool
Level: 48
HP: 1251
STR: 44
VIT: 45
AGI: 43
LUC: 39
TEC: 50
Attack Type: Strike
Exp: 3500
Item Drops:
-Drop 1: N/A
-Drop 2: N/A
-Gold: Wilted Shroom - Kill with the Mushroom Dagger. 100% Drop Rate. Objective for the quest A secret request.
--A ruined toadstool that can no longer undergo mitosis.
Description: A mutated Stun Eryngii that threatens the guards of the Porcelain Forest with its many copies.
Damage Resistances: Slash: 100% Strike: 150% Pierce: 100% Fire: 150% Ice: 100% Volt: 50%
Ailment Resistances: Sleep: 100% Confusion: 100% Plague: 100% Poison: 100% Blind: 100% Curse: 100% Paralysis: IMMUNE
Bind Resistances: Head: 100% Arm: 100% Leg: 100%
Other Resistances: Death: 100% Petrification: 100% Stun: 100%

Skills:

Stunning Spore: Uses the Head. Deals 70% Volt damage to one party member, and has a 100% chance to inflict Paralysis. Has an accuracy of 99. Has an action speed of +0.
Palsy Destruct: Does not use a body part. Deals 20% Volt damage to the entire party, and has a 500% chance to inflict Paralysis. Has an accuracy of 120. Despite the Monstrous Codex saying that the Splitstool has this skill, it actually cannot use it at all in the fight! The part of the game data that tells the game what passives the monsters have forgot to list the Splitstool as having this skill. Oops!

It's a slightly stronger Stun Eryngii. It does not even have Palsy Destruct. The only challenge in killing the thing is killing it with the Mushroom Dagger.





You shall split no more!



Wait, what? That wasn't supposed to happen.





But-but... that's impossible! I turned it into a statue!





I even used the Mushroom Dagger to kill it!

Perhaps you have to kill it without turning it into a statue?

Besides, they wanted to examine its body, and I doubt they could have done much with a statue anyway.

...The Ninja arts are useless. USELESS!

Yeah it turns out that despite the game telling us to kill it with the Mushroom Dagger, skills do not count for that purpose! You have to kill the Splitstool with a regular attack. Oddly enough, if the Instant Death from the Kubikiri passive procs while using the Mushroom Dagger, that will count as qualifying for the conditional drop. Or you could use a Formaldehyde or Lucky Hammer to snag it, but it's a fairly easy drop to get.







After weakening the Splitstool a bit...







Split from this!



There we go!





The creature writhes in pain and eventually stops moving... and it does not split!

That should be the end of that.

Come to think of it... if all we had to do was just cut the thing to kill it, maybe I should have handled the knife instead of you, kid.

That probably would have been a better idea. Yes.

In retrospect, I could have had Scott Charge up a regular attack to have an easier time accomplishing that.

As you put the knife away, the guard from before approaches, as if he had been watching you.



But thanks to your quick work, our job here is done. Hm... We’ll take charge of the remains and have them researched. Thank you.



The guard hands you an official certificate in exchange for the mushroom, then walks off. You have completed the request. Now head back to the bar and report in for your reward!

Fun fact about the Wilted Shroom drop. Even though you hand it off immediately to the guard, you can still see its description if your item bag is full by the time you obtain it, or if you check the Item Encyclopedia at the Senatus. It has a listed sell price of 1en. Anyway, my pack was getting full, so I went back to sell my items and hand in my quest report.





The Cloth Armor is unlocked by selling Cursed Wool from a Somnovore. It comes with a 30% resistance to Strike damage, which is pretty handy, I suppose.



The Aurora Veil was unlocked from King Penguin's normal drop, along with a Rabbit Tail from the 5th Stratum. It provides a 10% resistance to all physical damage types. Handy for the more fragile classes.





This provides a 10% resistance to Fire and Ice damage. The bonus attributes on this piece of equipment are actually useless for the 5th Stratum, because no enemy in there has Fire or Ice attacks!



But let's go turn in that quest.

Hellos! How did your date go?

...Oh yes. Our “date.” Here you go.

...What’s this paper? “Certificate of Monster Eradication”? Oh, yeah, I heard about that. Is that all that request was? Why didn’t the client say so? Why all the mystery!?

I guess they didn't want any other guilds taking it up?

Aren't you also forgetting something?

I got all excited over nothing! Phooey! Yeah, yeah, here’s the reward. Now scram.







Berserker Vow provides a bigger buff.



Oh boy, this lets us put Arm bind forges on our weapons. Whoopee.

See, Charlotte? Why would someone want to date 5 people at the same time? Of course if any of you are into that sorta thing, I ain't judging.

...You've got a point there.

Next time, the rest of floor 18.