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S03E04: Day 2: The Looting and Burning of Metrolia Begins!
So, last time we begun our investigation into a demon cult plaguing Metrolia that may or may not be the same Dark Order from the first game. I am actually unsure myself, right now.
We could've had some somewhat different dialogues if we'd brought Coryool and Guanidia along.
Coryool will rudely interrupt the proceedings a couple times, none of them are really noteworthy though.
While Guanidia causes a stir in the court...
And then continuously...
chimes in...
to talk about...
how much he loves to eat mosquitos. This is really funny to me for some reason.
Anyway, to this update proper.
After leaving Randoms room, the hall to the stairs down is blocked by green envelope. Addressed to Random, with the name Richardson as the sender. Random correctly deduces the sender must be Sandy.
Buck was the general store owner in Rillia, I believe.
She put two emoticons in this letter.
So yes. We'll be meeting up with Sandy in this game. While she isn't really important in this game (just filling a party slot!), she's a major character in Laxius Force.
Downstairs, we find ANOTHER envelope, this one purple. This one only shows if we did the sidequest in LP1 about getting a special rose to the fairy that housed Leanda while All Her Orbs. Gone.
It's basically just some mild pleasantries and a thank you for helping her keep on learning more about roses.
At least we got a small reward from it. I give this to Luci.
Now. The trio awaiting us at the entry.
Linda apparently cooked a delicious hare leg.
Sarah gets jealous. She's so easy to set off, lol.
Then Tina absolutely flips out shouting WHY WHY WHY a lot about the king sending the party to do work when they're meant to be guests.
Random mollifies her by telling her it's just what they do, and they'll be safe and find out big secrets and bring back a treasure for her.
Tina's sad so Random plows on and decides to...
... terrify her by telling her about the dangers of city life. The Plague, guards, pitbulls, being within bowshot of a school, all that sort of thing.
Luci says she's heard how cool that place is but Sarah and Random focus on more pressing matters.
lol
Anyway, Vision here was a member of the Laxius community and like Karks, was mentioned in the credits and special thanks of LP2, so this is a bit of a cameo. Anyway, the king sent him to tell Random something he may not know:
lol. Random and Sarah both assure him they already know this and Random politely thanks him for his concern.
Then Vision says he really means it............................ Buy a lot of consumables, they may come in handy!!!!
He also passes on another bit about not trusting anyone outside of Metrolia, because they may all be evil and/or liars. Seems like the king thinks the citizens of Metrolia are all perfect angels.
He also tells us to come see him at the Institute of Modern Sciences any time we wish.
Random asks Linda if she noticed anything weird about Vision and she just says he was quiet and polite.
Nightmarish.
So we're free to go!!!!!!!!!!!!
Starting just north of the inn, is this place we cannot enter.
Can enter the house right next to it though.
There's a locked chest here...
Also, a key I think doesn't wind up having a use in the game but was likely intended for Wendies sidequest and forgotten about.
Then there's a locked door to the basement.
The letter says if she's reading this, then the author is dead. But the author states that he knows he can trust Wendie. Signed by a Lord Zarmon.
Indy has apparently long planned for a Wendie prequel game, but has been unable to make it for two reasons:
1. It has to be a SRPG apparently.
2. It would apparently require tons of character art.
The game would also explain what the deal is with another major Indinera character. Note that I said Indinera and not Laxius. It's a recurring character from across all of his games, that usually does not do anything related to the story... with one, MAYBE two very notable exceptions. The only games he doesn't appear in are Laxius Power 1-3. Tis a rather mysterious man by the name of Bokden.
Anyway, back to this game. A bunch of characters could have interjections here if we brought them or even had them. Like Coryool says Wendala is a creature beyond logic but even she'd recognise his majesty eventually. Sandy would say something about not being able to bring herself to be with a vampire... and a very major female character we haven't met yet would be all DAMN IS THIS BITCH EVEN HUMAN????
Time to move on.
Hm.
The fish shop is completely devoid of interesting or even boring content outside of buying sharks, which I do.
Another home further south...
Honestly not sure what this exchange is about.
If Leanda was here she'd just say PEOPLE CAN HAVE LONE BUT FULL LIVES
We then steal the guys 96PP.
The Museum is not accessible...
Neither is this castle (it is never accessible as far as I could tell)
So we enter a home just south of it.
Just some items and a couple we'll be seeing again very briefly, later.
The next home just has some foreshadowing for dungeons we'll be doing soon enough.
The Atelier just has a bunch of dudes excited about a nude model and one lady upset the naked models are always female.
The backroom has a blank book. Which I just felt like mentioning for no real reason.
The woman goes 'Uhm er what makes you say that' and Wendala just says 'Evidence.'
agreed wendie. thats some real noob bullshit right there. grow up
We get a couple magic books out of this place, though.
I teach the other Dark Ray to Sarah, and give Fresh Wave to Wendie. Fresh Wave is almost useless now, due to the scaling, so it won't make much of a difference.
Regular level of sarcasm and not some insane burn? Hm!
Cerise here also sells a special dress.
So I grab one for Sarah.
And we steal our third-
Second??? Who lost one of the other 2???
Another manor we cannot enter.
Inside, Guanidia mocks a fellow customer claiming that he could see exactly what this soothsayer says.
The soothsayer tells Random that he foresees the monotonous life of a peasant lies ahead for him.
Then he says the future changes all the time, come back often. Random is unimpressed.
There's literally nothing of interest in this house even though all three NPCs provoke responses from Sarah, Wendie and Coryool.
Castle you cannot even interact with.
Coryool and Nash (when Nash joins the party, somehow Sarah lost him!) both get excited about fighting dragons, but Sarah here is straight up advocating for genocide.
More tidbits about the swamp.
And dragons love their secrets.
I buy some Tonic Teas but the shops other stuff is all basically worthless.
In this home we run into a lady who used to live in SankT Leona.
Yes, this is the lady that Random walked in on while changing, during the party to celebrate the end of the main story of LP1.
She tells Random to come back alone, which we cannot do for a while, since Luci is a mandatory party member for the timebeing.
Funnily enough, if you missed that LP1 encounter (very easy because of the narrow window of opportunity) or did not import a save between games, she just gives you a Love Ring outright. Because she can tell Random is thinking she's hot (which he is). Lol. The Love Ring is also what she gives us later.
He's right, the stuff in this store is worthless.
Luci whines a little bit and if you talk to Morgan again...
lol.
The crown is worthless though.
Guanidia will offer this guy antidotes but he claims he needs something stronger. This may seem like a sidequest, but it's not. The poor guy is fated to die in a few days and there's nothing you can do.
We get our first sidequest!!!! And it's about the Dark Order being reduced to petty thievery to make ends meet! What would the Grand Commendanter say if he saw this?
"their shrine."
There we go. First sidequest entry.
Uh?
Oh.
At least we get a hint(?) out of this house.
Next house has a lady mourning her lord who just left Metrolia one day and never returned. We'll be coming back to this place for this reason, much later.
"Flowers of Aquapanga."
It would be useful to make those items I rarely need to use because I am too strong and gamesoft too easy.
He's right, this shit is all garbage.
That's less than half the price of the Mage Guild!
Got another snazzy card that suits Random perfectly.
The Fighters Guild apparently has an issue with some warriors being too proud to do 'simple' quests.
Also this guy is very confused.
The guy behind the counter is where we get our quests.
This quest comes from the castle, apparently. It's just a very small group of assassins inhabiting a nearby fortress. This is more a 'wipe them out before they become a big group' kind of thing so the reward is just 1800PP. We take it.
And a secondary objective!
The Peasant Order claims the land will be spoiled in 1 month if nothing is done. Reminds me of Exile/Avernum 3.
The reward is 2500PP.
This quest is rated 'Very important' and is from... The Royal Court!
The reward is 40,000PP (!)
This is a bit of a gimmick quest, actually. If you want to do it early, which you probably should.
The guy adds that this quest is very urgent. You can't let it sit for too long.
I think the time limit is like Day 7? Or 9?
Wuss.
The store at least has some trinkets you may want, but the gear is shitty.
Oh no, two of them! If Wendie isn't in the party, Sarah points this out instead.
In either case Coryool just says "Grmpf! What the!!!!"
I think a lot of the Guild members may be old community members.
lol.
Hey, Guanidia can be very useful in a utility role, even in LP1! Just don't expect him to do much damage.
Poor Herasia, though.
We get told about a Centaur Fortress to the north-east...
Another guy says he's never failed a quest...
Because he's never taken one!
Okay but how many of those guys take quests, aren't cowards, are competent and aren't above helping peasants?
Like two?
The Guild has some back rooms, so lets check them out.
So yeah, you also have to do special rank quests to get promoted. The next level is Knight, the third is Baron.
We're being sent to talk to a Baron for our first Rank Quest.
There's also this.
This guy is here...
Hey all, short, fat, ugly, gay, weak, stupid, ugly, lazy, useless, piece of shit here, how're you doing?
Wolves outside Metrolia have these, and you only need one. If we get it, we'll be rewarded with 250PP and 2 Bounty Points.
There it is. Pretty sure this is the one and only homophobic slur in the Laxius series, and even out of all his commercial games. Well, I can't guarantee that for a bunch of the newer ones I haven't played. It's NOT the only homophobic slur in ALL of his games. Errant reminded me that Blade of Heaven, the game he made right after LP3, has a bunch.
Anyway, in this area there's also stairs up, but you're not allowed to go up till you're a Baron, I believe.
Look at that. We have a bunch of quests threatening to clog up our questbook. Just like Baldurs Gate 2.
The other backroom...
... is just an inn Random won't even allow us to use.
Surprisingly, the party does not brag about being responsible.
a notice from a man who wants our fethers
Apparently a lingerie shop where Sarah starts bragging about the Elven-lead genocide of dragons again.
A spectacularly shitty shop that sells rods and staves.
Okay, so the stuff here isn't great either. However...
If you open and close the shop a bunch of times you'll eventually be stopped.
This is niceR... I buy it but do not equip it on anyone for now.
If you open and close the store a -lot- more times (apparently it goes faster if you buy some things) you'll get interrupted again.
The stats on this are pretty weak but it cuts MP cost by half.
Luci and Wendie already have accessories that do that, so I give it to Sarah. It also counts as an artifact btw.
How many shrines does this useless ditz of a goddess need
Great. I'm so excited to join the Yveen Brotherhood.
Apparently a cult of Sariis has profaned a shrine to Yveen, so we're to slay them and put a vase on the 'autel', which I think is French for altar.
Nothing remarkable, I guess.
Random asks if that's the only reason this guy joined.
lol
Also lol.
Moving on.
Loot this place first...
The storekeep says he was facing hard times, so he started selling Land Mines. I decide to buy one, to see how strong they are.
This inn may seem pointless (we can't even go upstairs!) but we'll be back.
Apparently they love creepy dungeons and hang out in bands.
RANDOM! What the fuck are you talking about??? lmao.
Hey, she's the lady that had one of the high scores on the Chanterless Fruit Machine.
But yeah. The Casino does not have much for us right now.
This inn is genuinely completely pointless, though, iirc.
Lol
Random will also tell the storekeep that we don't need clothes when she asks which provokes Wendie again:
Then we go down the stairs:
Which turns out to be a dressing room??? We steal money from the ladys clothes.
lmfao LEANDA, do you mean proud or confident or something oh my god
You can keep talking to her and there's more party banter than that, but it starts veering even more to the uncomfortable for everyone involved.
No church for us to confess our very recent sins at!
Besides the fact that the store sells non-rare alchemy ingredients, the only thing worth noting is guy telling us about some kind of artist commune to the north east and how he loves watching them paint.
We give this guy 5PP for his charity inn.
Then we take more money that we gave.
Another armour store with crap.
Yeah, this is Sylvenia's. He asks us if we think Sylvenia is beautiful and Wendie pipes up to say nope.
As for Sylvie herself, she's just here to give us some more directions.
This old woman is a fan of the fairies in the swamp. Apparently they never miss a chance to make people happier.
She may need their help soon.
I swear to God, those two.
We steal the potatoes and run.
Not pictured but Random pointedly asked Wendie like this was a jab at her.
This shop is actually two shops, one selling shields and one selling fists. We don't get anything from the fists, but we do get this shield for Wendie.
Also we steal half the stock of the fists store.
Mocking consumers...
The shop itself is just a bit of a variety store. Nothing special.
This band has been mentioned once or twice before.
More rudeness to consumers.
Buy a bunch of healing shit here.
We can't even get into Baron and Marquis' manors most of the time, how come this one duke is cool with us walking in?
He then warns the party to not break anything if they have a look around.
There's nothing even here to look at anyway.
There's this scroll though.
This place...
... is some kind of toy store.
Also a hobo is here.
lol, that's cruel Random. Let her have plushies or something!!
apparently an economics expert was coming with her...
Wait, I'm going into my mind palace.
Sandy is an economics expert. She was heading to Metrolia and even said she was just about here.
This Duchess is the one the Giants kidnapped.
Dangit, now we really have to dodge being stepped on by giants, or some kids will be going without a mother.
Anyway, this update is long enough as it is, and we still have half of Metrolia to go through and a bunch of quests to pick up, so may as well cut it here.
the end