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Episode 4: Part 1: KI BLAST!



Title Theme for this episode is a midi of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPXEOYM7vtM



The beta testers list has gotten a bit longer. The rest of the credits are same as always, I believe.

Also the game opens with the start of the same scene E3 ended on, though Kloe's internal monologue has been expanded some, so I'll skip to that.




(I don't want to die...)
(Is anything really worth dying over?)

(The Black Lyn...)
(Why did I let this happen...)
(Don't I value my own life?)

(But do I really want to live?)
(No, I don't.)



The rain starts, and so does the lightning and the throbbing sound...

(I just don't want to die.)





Then there's the really LOUD sound of a heart beating.



A black figure appears behind Kloe, steps forward, red eyes glowing... then it turns around?







Rhue looks where the black figure is looking.
(Where did Traziun go?)

One of the strange Blana Sera voice files plays and...

This track starts. It's a midi-ised excerpt of Raid on Dollet from the FFVIII demo. It's named B+Urgent Action in the files.
https://youtu.be/K8ngpfUw_pg?t=56









(Wonderful...)



"The Blana Sera want this man badly. Let's not fail!"



(And I thought it would be hard to slip away unnoticed.)
(Now to get out of here...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4ebZxDz0xo



Rhue runs through the woods and rain...
"The Blood Lyn apparently want Traziun for some reason.
It really makes no sense.
No one even cared that he was around until that creepy shadow thing appeared.
What could they possibly want Traziun for?
Traziun must know why, because he left quite suddenly.
At any rate, I hope he gets away.
That's the least of my worried though.
I've still got to get to Estrana.
That's where Slade said he was taking Cetsa, and Cetsa might know something of Serena.
Or maybe... maybe Cetsa is Serena...
No... actually that doesn't make any sense at all.
Either way, Cetsa is the first and only hope I've sever had in my search for Serena.
If I can avoid getting whacked by the Blood Lyn and that weird Phantom Slasher thing everyone is talking about, I should be fine."



And then Rhue literally runs into Kloe. I guess she grabbed her gear at some point too.


Oh great, just my luck...
Look, I really don't want to kill anybody. So why don't we just go our seperate ways?

(Heh... she doesn't know it's me.)

And then because Lun has bizarrely decided to inject a comedy scene into the game here, we get a midi version of this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj9TJ5pCB4U


Well, I don't know... Why is it that the Blana Sera ordered your execution?

... I don't know!

Yea, right. We all know that you have to do something really bad to get that kind of sentence.

Look, I've done some things I'm not proud of, but nothing to warrant a death sentence!

Now we're getting somewhere. Tell me about some of the things you've done that you aren't so proud of.

What?! No way!

Uh oh, I think I feel a call for help coming on...

Wait! Okay, give me a second to think of something.

You've got ten seconds.

Okay... something bad...

Bad, naughty, evil, malevolent. Any of them will do.

Hmmm... there was this one time when I cheated on a test when I was a young Blood Lyn.

Oh please, you're going to have to do better than that. I know you're not some perfect little angel.
Come on, give me something juicy!

...

Hey, are you going to make me call my friends out here?

No! All right.

There was once an incident in my past where I told a lie...

What kind of lie?

I let someone else take the blame for something I did.

Ok, so what was it that you did?

I... I accidentally hurt someone... I was... I was careless...

And you were too much of a wussy to own up to what you did?

I was just afraid of what other people would think...

That is pretty bad. In fact, that's down right pathetic.

I'm glad you approve... Now may I go?

You didn't give many details, but I think that was acceptable.
But just for the record, I don't usually let shallow, ditzy girls who throw themselves at any and every man, off so easily.

I'm not ditzy or shallow! And I certainly don't throw myself at men!

Go ahead and deny it. I suppose you just ran into me on accident huh?

What are you talking about?! Why would I run into someone I thought was trying to hunt me down and kill me?

Yea, tell me about it. You must have it bad.

Why you...

Ok ditzy girl, you can leave now.

...
She leaves and the Spekkio track cuts out.



You are such an incredible asshole, Rhue. lol. And if you think he's going to stop being an asshole here you've got another thing coming.
(It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to team up with Kloe until we both get out of this place.)
(But I can't approach her wearing this thing...)
Cut to...



(I doubt that I'll be so lucky again if I run into another though.)
(Lands, I hate this.)







Hello Kloe.

Uh, hello.

Weren't you supposed to be executed hours ago?

Execution? What makes you think that?

Don't try to lie. Traziun told me all about it.

Fine then. There was an interruption during the ceremony and I ran off during the confusion.
Are you out here trying to catch me too?

No, I decided to leave Matalan a little early. I'm on my way to Estrana.

If you're going to Estrana, why didn't you just take the main path? It would be much easier than going through this forest.

Uh...

I've got my reasons.

So...

So...

Where are you going?

I'm trying to get to Estrana.

Oh yea? Just like me, huh?

Yea, I guess so.

Isn't that something.

Yea, it's something.

Well, it might be a good idea to, uh...

Maybe back each other up?

Yea, just in case. You know, who knows what can happen out here.

Ok.

All right, good.
These two are almost adorably awkward. Almost.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4ebZxDz0xo



We're left to explore the wet woods.



It's mostly occupied by these guys. They're too weak to do much before dying. Though Kloe only does 12 damage to Rhues 40ish.



Huzzah!





That's THREE Lyn Rocks I have to absorb right now.



And two Blan Rocks!

I find a CTP Spout and..





Don't be fooled. These are different messages.



Hit Corlyn rank now too.



LUN hid a CTP Spout behind a random tree, the asshole. There'es actually a lot of CTP Spouts in these woods, a slew of notch items and only a moderate spattering of monsters. Like Lun was trying to make up for what a piece of shit Episode 3 was.



Now they're angry and purple! They have a lot more HP and can make you go berserk, and hit a bit hard, but eh. Still just mash attack and you'd usually be fine.



Literally increased our plunge by 50% in the first few minutes of this episode.



And the two Blan Rocks increases our DT by 33.33%



And here's the last encounter type here. Yawn!





There's a lot more items and CTP Spouts than this I don't bother showing.



We hit the second of the two -main- areas of the forest.





Finally. The final level actually makes it slightly better in every way than Piercer in the end.
Time to equip Air Edge!



And uh... only two Angry Crawler fights later, it levels up. Wow!



It's already got 2 XL Gain.



And the Chain Link pattern finally maxes, so we start the last Weapon pattern, which was Triple Thread, the soreness preventing one.



And aha... Fire Edge gains its first level quickly too.



It DOESN'T get XL GAIN: 2 yet, though.





Finally. It's bizarre Lun had the Link Attack and their notch items tutorial at the end of Episode 3, before you could do anything at all with them beyond pray for that 5% chance.


I finish exploring the second and last real area of the forest. The next few are... well, you'll see.





What?

Uh, no! We just met by chance in the forest!
She saved herself! The thought of trying to help her back at Matalan never even entered my mind!
I swear, it didn't matter to me at all what happened to her!
You're an idiot, Rhue.

...

Burn you Rhue!
She hits Rhue, which makes him play his shocked animation.



Hold it you two.
While I enjoy a good fight among "friends", we don't have time for such fun right now.
Note the two dead bodies lying on the ground over here.
So we need to be very quiet and keep a sharp look out for possible threats.
After we reach safety you can discuss your differences all you like.

One question if I may.

What?

Why are the Blood Lyn after you? Aren't you a former Blood Lyn yourself?

...

(I know why...)

... That's a very good question. Maybe we can discuss it later.
For now, let's just get out of here.
So we leave this area for the next one...





Some kind of squeaky noise plays. I think it might be meant to be some kind of whistle?



We've got two behind us!



"I'll take this guy over here while you two handle the ones behind us."

We'd better be quick about this, more are sure to be on their way over here now.

Right.







So, uh. The first pass goes well. Rhue deals him 14 damage which is a Step 2 Injury for him.





And then here's the second pass after we both did risk attacks on a drop slash I won. Very quick victory.



Woooo!




Wonderful.



Great, now what are we going to do?

Hmmm...
All right, I've got it. You two cover our front side. Kill any thing that approaches before it gets too close.
I'll protect us from the rear by myself.

I got injured in the fight back there, I don't think I'll be of much help.

Do you think you can handle things alone Rhue?

Yea, I don't need her help.

...

All right stay sharp.



So... another minigame sequence.



A minigame with only four keys and is a fun, easy little thing.

So, Traziun can only shoot his pink beams backward and Rhue shoots blue ones forward. They move quite fast too.
You press left to make Rhue shoot forward and right to make Traziun shoot back. The up and down keys are how you move the three characters around. Up exchanges the middle and top characters, down exchanges the bottom and middle characters, so it's easy to slip up if you're not careful.

The middle bar at the top is the partys HP. The other two bars are energy bars, which slowly regenerate. There's only enough energy for roughly four blasts in quick succession.



A screenshot doesn't convey well how fast the characters are running, and the Blood Lyn come in at a decent rate too.
The beams also move very fast. And they flat out look like the kind of thing you'd see in DBZ or some similar anime.



Towards the end of the minigame, these guys start coming from the rear. They actually try to avoid Traziun and will change rows repeatedly to do so, unlike the other Blood Lyn who have a death wish.

Still easy though.








YAY!



Man, I'm really getting tired of running away from everything.

We'll (SIC) we don't have much of a choice unless you think suicide is a viable option.

I know, but running away makes me feel like such a coward. Like a little weakling.

Personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with running away as long as it doesn't hurt anything besides your pride.

What do you mean?

Well, what real reason do we have to fight the Blood Lyn?

How about the fact that they're trying to kill us?

Self defense, right.
We just want to continue living, we don't have a set goal or mission to complete. No one is depending on us.
So what better way to continue living then (SIC) to run away to a place where they can't get to us.

Yea, especially when there are so many of them after us!

So they won't be able to touch us in Estrana?

Not quite, but it will be more difficult for them. They aren't welcome in Estrana I heard...
And with that, the scene ends. The next update will feature us actually reaching Estrana.

the end