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Update 23: Master Bush's Monster
Music: Trampoli Daily Life
Morning, Bush! What were we up to?
...No, but seriously I got carried away and played too far ahead- I don't know what's going on. A lot goes on in the next 12 days.
I guess in a way, it makes writing the update more fun?
Pickles Lv:2 were synthesized with expertise!
Seems like we're starting the day with pickles then. Gotta work on that income.
Dye Sashimi Lv:4 was synthesized with expertise.
Oh, and some sashimi made from trout that had been sitting in the shipping bin overnight, sure.
Music: Summer
Didn't have to chase Anette down to Mist's house today! Feels good.
You know, while I felt like asking for the mail directly might be annoying, doing it as she's putting it in has to be irritating.
Still gives us +1 towards that next level of LP though.
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~"I would love to meet them." - Tabatha~
I heard that you have many monster friends.
Would you be willing to introduce me to them sometime?
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Tabatha really likes monsters, as we'll get to see soon enough. In fact, to marry her in RF1, you had to have 50 tamed monsters in your barn.
The options for replies are: "Of course." and "Sorry...". I go with the former, because monsters are cool and Tabatha is cool.
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~"Thanks♪" - Melody~
Thanks or the White Grass.♪
I'm really really sorry to ask
you again, but do you have any Black Grass?
This will be the last one, I promise!
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Hey, don't apologize, this is the closest I'm getting to a request chain in this game.
Black Grass is gonna be a bit of a problem to get, as it has the same 1% drop rate from Slimes as the white one did. I've also got a feeling I won't be getting as lucky this time.
Being Summer, there is another way to obtain it, but honestly farming slimes is preferable to it. We'll run into it eventually, but not for a while.
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~"Be careful of those summertime colds!" - Lara~
Summer seems to be in full force now.
It may be hot, but don't sleep with your windows
open at night or without a blanket.
It gets cold in the mornings and you'll be sure
to catch a cold this way.
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See, where I live it stays hot at night during summer, so I can't relate to this.
Anyways, Bush will continue avoiding getting sick, although I can't guarantee we'll make it the whole season without going down at least once.
Anette sadly has no new dialogue for us today, so the only bit of interesting morning stuff I have to show is how these three Blue Grasses spawned in a line.
Riveting, I know.
Lots of Runeys out on the Grass Farm, but it doesn't really matter as the 7 Day Rule is in effect. I don't have to pay attention to these floaty goobers for the rest of the week.
Oh, hey, it's the girl that we still haven't gotten the name of.
MYSTERY GIRL: Oh, nice to see you again.
MYSTERY GIRL: Come to think of it, I haven't asked your name yet.
BUSH: My name is Bush.
MYSTERY GIRL: Bush, is it? Nice to meet you.
Um... are you going to tell us your name yet?
MYSTERY GIRL: Hello, Bush.
I... guess not. She does have a little bit of voice acting though. So that's neat.
BUSH: Are you growing these, Mist?
MIST: Yeah. Watching you work on the farm made me want to try it myself...
I can't believe it finally happened. Mist finally started growing stuff herself instead of only watching us do it all the time.
Well, aside from the wildflowers she's been growing.
BUSH: I've never seen leaves like these before. What are these flowers called?
MIST: I wonder... I just found the seeds by chance, so I don't know.
MIST: Well, it's more exciting when it'll be a surprise, I guess.
BUSH: That's true.
I'd be worried that it's not going to grow, but given it's managed a small sprout instead of being withered grass already, it seems like it has survived Norad's extremely volatile growing conditions.
Time to go brush all the monsters in the barn!
If you're wondering why I don't try to level up any of the other monsters to help in combat, it is because the rate at which frienship is gained with monsters is based on their level. If I want higher level eggs, milk, and wool, it's best if I leave the rest in the barn.
Tabatha's so good at her job, she ends up with a decent amount of free time. Thus why she's spending her morning outside our barn.
You can, uh, go in if you want. Bush doesn't mind.
TABATHA: It's very hot every day. But that doesn't mean you should drink only cold things.
TABATHA: How is it? Did you find anything on Whale Island?
TABATHA: Monsters attack humans so they are hated, but they have adorable eyes when you look at them carefully.
TABATHA: I think you can communicate with monsters if you deal with them with lots of love.
I'm sorry Tabatha, but the Love element isn't present in this game. That's a RF3 and later thing.
TABATHA: You look good today, Bush.
I also just wanted to restate that her generic dialogue line is a compliment on Bush's style.
I mean, she'll say this to us any day no matter what he's wearing, but it's the thought that counts.
Unfortunately, we still lack any suitable gifts for her. Apples are probably her easiest liked gift, but those stopped being sold at the bar when it turned Summer. So, really we don't have anything to give her.
KANNO: The next test is to get an "Emerald."
KANNO: Hurry up and get it.
I don't really know where to get that at with mining, so uh, it'll be a while. I'll figure it out eventually.
When in doubt, I can go magick the giant chicken out of this plane of existence again. It has a chance to drop it.
STELLA: The other day, the "Cornucopia Trees" at the lake bore fruit. It tasted really good.
BUSH: Oh, really? That sounds great.
STELLA: Anybody in the village is allowed to take some so you should go try it out. But don't take too many.
BUSH: Haha... I know. So where are these "Cornucopia Trees"?
STELLA: The "Cornucopia Trees" are east of the lake so you have to go by boat. Hit a tree with a hammer and fruit will fall.
BUSH: I see. Thank you. I'll go check it out later.
STELLA: Yes, you go do that.
You might remember the fruit trees from previous updates, but I don't visit them very often. They're alright money, especially in the early game, and as RP food they're not awful, but getting them takes so much time and RP to start with.
This season's fruit is Oranges, so I'll end up grabbing some, but I'm not going to make a dedicated effort to collect all of the fruit. It's not like the fruit fully respawns every day anyhow.
SELPHY: Haha... Lara got mad at me again.
BUSH: You probably didn't sleep or eat again. Of course she would get mad.
SELPHY: Yeah, but people won't die just because they go without food or sleep a little.
SELPHY: The other day, I realized that I hadn't slept in 3 days. But after that, I slept through an entire day.
BUSH: That's exactly why Lara gets mad at you...
Just to note, going 3 days without sleeping means you've already been experiencing blackouts for over a day, and you're probably hallucinating. Well, if your brain can even process anything that is.
Selphy remains amazing and worrying at the same time.
DANNY: Hey, Silver. Thanks, Bush.
Danny's favorite gift is silver. I just had some extra so I threw it at him.
This doesn't get him to say anything new to us though.
ROSETTA: Mist and I are childhood friends, but Eunice and Tabatha come often so we get along really well.
Tabatha's been here for 2 days- how often is she coming by?
ROSETTA: What do you think of my store? I actually like it.
ROSETTA: I guess the shelf behind the counter looks a bit cramped. I guess I should place the merchandise a bit further apart. What do you think?
---------------------------------
1. I think so, too.
2. I like it the way it is.
---------------------------------
Multiple choice time!
Change it up posted:
ROSETTA: Really? But then I'll have less shelf space that way.
ROSETTA: This is difficult...
The seasonal seeds already aren't on the same shelf as one another, I don't honestly think you can make any more room.
-----------------------------------
Don't change it posted:
ROSETTA: Really? Then I'll just leave it as is.
In a shocking twist of events, the second option doesn't have more dialogue than the first!
EUNICE: Bush! Let me tell you something nice.
EUNICE: You should use egg shells when you clean the blender.
Looking it up, apparently the idea is that powdered egg shells can help clean the blades. Huh.
BIANCA: It's hot. I feel like I'm inside an oven.
You know, the little fur jacket is probably not helping.
A lot of people have very little to say today. Alas!
Bianca's LP gain is slow, but Tabatha took a big jump towards reaching LP 1. I originally presumed this was thanks to the number of monsters we had tamed, but it could also be thanks to the letter from this morning.
I was confused as to why Lara still hasn't hit LP 2 despite being here longer than Selphy, but then I remembered that she's a nun. That would, uh, probably be part of it.
Melody's definitely catching up though.
Speaking of Melody, here's her in a swimsuit without her hat. Her hair is as much of a mess as you'd think it'd be.
Bush fails to give her a gift four times in a row somehow. I wait around for an hour for her to leave the changing room, but she doesn't show and I cut my losses. It's not like I won't see her at the bathhouse later today.
With nothing else really being a pressing matter, I head down to Green Ruins and attempt to get that Black Grass by grinding slimes.
If anything, it's an excuse to level our Magic skill some more so that we can use this Gaea Rod better.
I don't end up finding the grass, and by 2:00 PM, Bush is on the verge of passing out. I head back out to the beach to do... something. Mostly just kill time until I can get into the bathhouse today.
Bianca's at the beach now in her swimsuit. The only bachelorette whose swimsuit we haven't seen yet is Tabatha. Oh, and maybe Anette. I can't remember if we've seen hers.
Oh, and here's Candy. She blends into the environment enough I didn't even notice her while Bush was riding by. I thought her hair was another starfish.
In general I'm really bad about finding her and Marco on the best of days. Beach season just makes it even more difficult.
Anyways, enough time burnt, off to nab a bath so I can get on with the rest of the day.
MELODY: The bath salts I made the other day turn the bath into a pretty green color.
MELODY: But it needs lots of medicinal herbs o make so it's not cost efficient at all. Too bad...
I mean, your profit margin is already extremely thin, so I get it.
NOLAN: I hear that the people in the eastern country drink alcohol while they are in the bath.
NOLAN: I was thinking of sneaking some alcohol into the bath myself...
My dude, I don't think telling Melody that will get her to not throw you out every time you try it, but go ahead. You're going to set some kind of world record at this rate.
Being freshly restored, Bush heads up to Whale Island to visit Iris, taking a stop along the way to grind more Magic skill and hopefully get some White Grass out of a slime.
All I really accomplish in doing this is to collect a lot of Toxin. I don't really have any use for it, so to the shipping bin it goes.
I don't know who Rosetta will be selling this deadly poison to, but it's not my problem.
Also, here's Iris before and after gifting a tomato juice. It's worth a little less than 1/3 the bar,(supposedly valued at +9 points), so I'm going to go off on a limb and say each full point of LP takes about 30 points worth of talking and gifts.
She's going to start catching up to Selphy and Melody very soon.
IRIS: I drew another picture. Would you like to see it?
BUSH: Gladly!
BUSH: ...(Is this a... ghost? Wait, this happened last time so I should...)
BUSH: That's a very cute Wooly. You're very good.
IRIS: That's... a moon...
BUSH: What?! I-it's a beautiful moon. You're very good!
BUSH: ...Sorry.
Well, with that done, there's not much left to do in the day.
I stop by the bar to stock up on rice...
And go wait out that constellation.
Found Buffamoo Constellation!
It takes until almost 1:00 AM the next day, but here it is!
This one's linked to Anette, presumably due to the comment on how she drinks milk to grow taller.
Well, not much happened. Time to hit the hay and hope more goes on tomorrow.
Music: Visions
Oh, huh. Looks like staying up late is giving us weird dreams again.
GREEN VOICE: "Oh-ho! My thanks."
GREEN VOICE: "So you can lend a hand now. How remarkable."
GREEN VOICE: "This time, I want you to bring that to me."
Well, that was strange.
Time to forget about it and go onto another day of trying to gear up to handle this game's extreme power curve!
And by gear up, I mean make bank. We just made a bunch to cap off last season, but we're about to make even more.
You got a Moondrop Seed.
We're running out of flowers to give to Eunice, so I converted one of the last ones we have to a seed bag. I'll stick 'em on that little bit of field next to the gate that still hasn't opened.
I also make some more tomato juice.
In doing this, Bush hits Cooking skill 60. It's his highest skill by far at this point, mostly just because I've been wrenching every last bit of gold out of everything we can sell.
It'll come in handy though as some of the high level dishes are really strong, and it just means we're closer to the point where we can make any of the bachelorettes' favorite foods.
Grant and Gobbs are hopefully going to pull their weight when it comes to harvesting all these tomatoes, otherwise I'll be spending hours doing it when they're finally ready.
I stop just in time to catch Anette at the mailbox. I'm getting better at it!
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~"I failed." - Mist~
I woke up very early this morning.
Do you want to know why?
I had a dream that I dove into the ocean
and actually fell off my bed.
It was already almost dawn, so I
decided to stay up and go for a walk.
It was actually pretty nice.
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I think I did this once when I was younger. Nowadays I sometimes just wake up like 30-40 minutes earlier than usual for no reason and just feel bad whether or not I go back to sleep.
Part of me wants to say that this letter is supposed to be headered with "I fell", but I guess it still kinda works?
Still not as good as "I got the turnip." It's hard to beat that one.
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~"I'll be looking forward to it." - Tabatha~
Thank you very much.
I am already excited to be meeting Master Bush's monster.
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Tabatha, you're more formal than Uzuki. I guess that fits.
Also, I have 10 monsters, are you going to ask by mail regarding each one? Hell, I was standing in front of you yesterday with Pony and you didn't say a thing.
I mean if you are, I don't mind. Now that I'm out of books to read, I pretty much look forward to whatever mail I get every day.
ANETTE: *yawn*
ANETTE: Oh, no. I stayed up too late last night so I feel a bit sleepy.
I do that just about every night, but I feel sleepy no matter what- thanks insomnia!
Chopping Axe Lv:2 was synthesized with expertise!
I take a short break to work on levelling up our wood axe a bit. This is mostly to grind Forging skill as we'll just be better suited just upgrading to the next tier when we really want to do some wood collection.
Another round of gathers from the monsters today. I'll eventually have something to do with all these eggs and milk. We've got stuff to make with the wool as well, and it's not too far off.
Come to me, dungeon strawberries. You may not play a major role in my income anymore, but you're still a good gift for the, like 5 different people in town.
Off to the beach to go fishing!
Sardine(10 cm) Lv:3 was caught.
WOW, I'VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT BEFORE! GOOD JOB!
Sardines tend to be one of the most disappointing catches you can make, mostly because you need multiple to even cook them into a dish. They are still perfectly fine as gifts for the two girls who like random fish, though!
...Maybe there's a reason why they're lagging behind in LP.
Oh, hey, Anette's stopped by the beach today. She does this occasionally. I apparently just missed Melody and Lara, who are just leaving.
SELPHY: It's cool by the ocean, but the ocean breeze can be bad for the books. I can't read there!
Oh, and Selphy is over here. Seemingly, the girls can have some really random spots on the beach.
SELPHY: Whether to clean or not. That is the question...
Doesn't seem like I'll be getting a chance to change my answer on this, so I guess things will just continue to progress. It's hard to find accurate information on these games sometimes, especially the older ones.
I'm also a bit disappointed that this line isn't: "To clean or not to clean, that is the question..." I get the feeling that's what they were maybe going for, but they didn't commit to it all the way.
Anette's still in there it seems. She's humming something, and it's rather pretty. A number of the girls have some really good singing voices.
At the moment, I wondered if this had something to do with her constellation event, so I knocked on the door.
...Or well, tried to.
Music: Confusion
(A different track is supposed to play in the first half of this, but it happens to be a semi-spoiler. Have the track from the second half instead.)
BUSH: !!
Um, what?
Okay, a fade to blue. That's new.
ANETTE: Hmm hm hmm...♪
ANETTE: ...?
ANETTE: Ahhhh!
Bush (Farmer)
(Is this a reference to something? It has to be because I have no idea why this is here.)
BUSH: I'm sorry!
ANETTE: I-I'm sorry if I surprised you.
ANETTE: And I'm sorry you had to see that.
BUSH: It wasn't anything strange, I don't think.
ANETTE: Really? Thanks.
ANETTE: ...Wait, you saw it?!
BUSH: N-no! I didn't see anything!
Aaaand that happened. I was genuinely just trying to knock on the door, but apparently there's even more 
than I thought there was in this game. Seriously, I'm no prude, but just... why?
I'm not going out of my way to see these, same deal as the bathhouse.
Oh, and doing this also reduces LP, unlike the ones in the bathhouse.
Music: Trampoli
ANETTE: You know Tabatha? Isn't she so mature, slender, and beautiful? I wish I were like that...
Also, yes, the characters don't really get different poses in their swimsuits. We don't get different poses in general until RF3.
Anette's pose still kinda works anyways.
Anyways, here have a second strawberry. It doesn't actually do anything LP-wise, but it's the thought that counts.
MIST: How's the exploration of Whale Island been going? Everything all right?
Yeah, I'm still waiting on that dang door to open, so it's not like I've really gone much farther.
MIST: Let me tell you some of the most up to date information today. Do you have a notepad ready?
Are we... moving up the ranks? Is Bush part of the inner circle of the underground operation now? 
MIST: My birthday is on the 1st of autumn. It's very auspicious to be born on the 1st.
oh.
well ok
MIST: Please grow turnips.
Seems like business as usual, I guess.
MELODY: My birthday is on the 11th of spring. I'll be waiting for a present!
Everyone's telling us their birthday now, I guess.
Also, Melody, we got you a present last time! It's already marked on our calendar that I never look at!
MELODY: They taught me how to use the magic staff, but it's actually really hard. I can't get the hang of it.
I mean, Bush just kinda points it in some direction and yells really loudly. Have you tried that?
LARA: I have been keeping in touch with my old friends through mail after I moved here.
LARA: It's quite nice to keep in touch with friends that are far away since we can exchange information about each other.
I mean, it makes more sense than the mailbox equivalent of passing notes in class that we're doing here, but I should also stop bringing that up because I like the letters.
CINNAMON: Did you find the Buffamoo Constellation?
BUSH: The person who found that complex constellation first must have been amazing.
It's... not really that complex? I guess compared to the others it is.
CINNAMON: That Buffamoo is the legendary Buffamoo that had a contest of strength with a troll and pulled up the celestial river.
BUSH: That must have been an amazing Buffamoo.
CINNAMON: Yes, it's an incredible Buffamoo.
Okay, that's actually pretty sick. I take back what I said about your constellation, Incredible Buffamoo.
CINNAMON: ...What do you want?
More dialogue, but I guess I'm not getting that.
DANNY: It's so hot.
DANNY: The weather is so nice. I want to go outside!
um dan
dan my man
The latter is supposed to be a generic line with the former being the daily weather comment, but I guess we can take it as him liking the heat?
DANNY: I'm good at sewing.
DANNY: I made these clothes myself. Surprised?
DANNY: So if you have any extra "Good Cloth" laying around, share some with me. You can spare some right, Bush?
I'm not surprised that the super deep v-neck shirt is custom made. I don't have any quality cloth though, and I won't have any for a while, even when I go searching for it in a few days from now.
It's supposed to be like a 15% drop off of ghosts in the Lava ruins. In practice so far it's been 0%.
BUSH: Rosetta...
ROSETTA: What is it, Bush? Are you worried about the thing with Danny?
ROSETTA: Thanks, but these things will happen as long as we run businesses. Just watch! I won't let this hold me back!
Rosetta welcomes the competition- go ahead and put your money on the line, she ain't afraid.
UZUKI: I can care for myself! My training with the naginata is for precisely that!
TB: B-but! If anything were to happen where you were to recieve some injury...
TB: I will commit seppuku if anything were to happen to you!
UZUKI: Bush, you must convince Tsubute that he cannot protect me from the monsters.
UZUKI: Well, I am flattered...
I would be doubtful that the tiny cricket samurai man can fight well in combat, but in the land of anime, anything is possible I guess.
TB: Graaagh!
*Cicada noises*
BUSH: W-what's wrong?!
UZUKI: It seems that you have caught me at a terrible time, Bush.
*Cicada noises*
UZUKI: Right now, I am having an argument with Tsubute. He always becomes overexcited and cannot do anything.
BUSH: Huh?! What happened?
*Cicada noises*
UZUKI: I said that you are too noisy so we cannot even talk!
BUSH: What was that?!
*Cicada noises*
UZUKI: Keep your mouth shut a little, Tsubute!
I guess he's a tiny cicada samurai man, then?
Well, anyways, we better just move on. No use in continuing this communication disaster.
CANDY: Sometimes, Marco's mom treats me to lunch. It's really good.
MARCO: Really? My mom never seems to be able to do housework...
CANDY: Well, Sis and Grandpa just can't cook.
MARCO: Candy, you're not really comparing good examples...
CANDY: Really?!
Everyone's arguing today. It's not like the Runeys here are unbalanced or anything.
Actually, wait, they might be. I don't really check the places that aren't my prospering zones.
CANDY: Recently, I grew to like drinking juice while eating apple pie.
CANDY: Is there anything you like to eat?
That's a lot of sugar, but I guess it fits. Bush, uh, eats anything with high RP values or good buffs.
In practice this has been fried fish, but maybe that'll change soon when we get some real utensils.
Tabatha doesn't have anything new right now, alas.
And neither does Bianca. She does get some good lines later, but it'll take some time to get there.
ERIK: Young man! You sure know what to give. I'll take great care of it.
It's a strawberry. Like, a normal strawberry.
For whatever reason, Erik says different things when gifting him sometimes. I don't really know why.
Some point along the line, we found ourselves a Water Crystal. I believe it dropped off the slimes while I was grinding them for the White Grass, they do have a tendency to drop element crystals.
I stick it in our expanded forge alongside some iron and a teardrop to make...
Water Rod Lv:2 was synthesized with expertise!
We'll go give this a shot in a minute.
Somewhere along the line I also upgraded to a Steel Sickle, the third tier of its category. It lets me cut full 3x3s at a time, nothing special. If you're desperate for a weapon, it's passable, but you're better off with something real.
Music: Kross' Theme
KROSS: Did you know? There is a rumor of a farmer that destroyed an iron tank of the Zzyzx Empire with only a watering can...
KROSS: The farming tools that can create the future defeated the weapons made to kill people. That's wonderful, but...
KROSS: Hmph!
KROSS: ...that's only a fairytale.
It was very possible in RF1. Seriously, a third tier watering can did insane damage at full charge, even to a water resistant boss.
Also, the Empire, I've been dancing around it's name until this moment, but for whatever reason they localized it as... that. You might know it as the Sechs Empire in every other RF game.
Also, you okay there, Kross? That "hmph" sounded like it hurt.
I dunno, his HP might be low. Bush gets that a lot when farming.
Speaking of getting hurt, Lava Ruins time! Still attempting to get some Magic Crystals both for the better staves and for Cinnamon.
The watering can deals decent damage to the Ignis, which I suppose makes sense. Just using our axe is better, really.
I wasn't kidding earlier when I said the steel sickle could output some serious damage though. This special attack hit twice for almost 200 damage.
Meanwhile, the Water Laser from our new staff hits for... 80. This is against a spirit of materialized fire. 
Unlike previous and later entries of the spell, this one doesn't like to hit more than once. Well, at least when we use it. We'll eventually meet some enemies that will do major damage with it.
I still spent a while trying to make it seem good to myself. Eventually I get sealed, and that's pretty much it for this dungeon delve. All of Bush's damage really comes out of the special action, axe included, so he's kinda a sitting duck like this.
Not like a Duck as in the ones down here that disco explode. Like, a normal duck.
Miss Lara! Help me, Miss Lara! I don't wanna die!
---------------------------------
I don't feel so good...
---------------------------------
LARA: Oh, my! Let me take a look at you. Take a deep breath... Now exhale...
LARA: I see... It seems that you are "Sealed." It's all right. I'll treat you right away. This may sting a little.
LARA: There, it's all better.
LARA: Please be more careful. The treatment is 100 gold.
LARA: Thank you. Please be careful so that you won't have to come here.
As is usual for doctors in the series, you can pay a small fee to get your status effects cleared. Edward from RF1 did it for free on festival days, which was pretty nice, but I don't think that carries over to any other games in the series.
This doesn't do anything for LP though, and I kinda wish it would. Lara's LP is so slow.
And to follow that, we take our bath for the day to get fully restored.
Since I ended up getting a Fire Crystal off the Ignis down there, I reasoned it wouldn't be a terrible idea to make a Hell Branch, the upgraded fire staff.
It follows the same principle as the other second tier staves, it summons an area of effect spell. Hell Branch is pretty underwhelming damage-wise given the name, but it's more stamina efficient than the Gaea Rod.
Up on Whale Island, I give it a test drive trying to get that White Grass.
I still don't find it.
Well, off to visit Iris and close out the day!
Music: Whale Island Outside
But as we approach the door, we get cutscene!
BUSH: ... ...Good evening.
DAPPER MYSTERY MAN: ...
Oh, he's rather fancy. Actually, damn, I kinda really like that getup, even with the cloak pinned at the bicep for whatever reason.
BUSH: ... ...Um...
Bush is evidently in awe of the dapperness, and can't think of anything to say as the stylish dude just wanders off.
he opened the gate
finally
WE CAN PROGRESS
Thank you, wordless dapper man!
Iris, we're throwing a party, right now. Tomato juice! Tomato juice for everyone!
BUSH: I passed by a man in front of your house. Do you know him?
BUSH: I've never seen him around town before...
Oh, er, I got caught up in finally having somewhere else to go other than Lava Ruins that I forgot to question the existence of the dapper man.
You're on point today, Bush.
Actually, wait, Melody can get up here for whatever reason, so it's probably no big deal.
IRIS: Oh, so you met Gelwein.
IRIS: Gelwein is a friend of mine.
BUSH: I see. He's not from Trampoli, is he?
IRIS: I don't really know where he's from, but he comes by from time to time to chat.
IRIS: Gelwein knows so many things, and he tells the most interesting stories. I almost forget the time when I'm talking with him.
BUSH: Is that so... He must be a very nice person.
I dunno, he didn't seem particularly talkative to me. I guess this means we'll have to find him to see for ourselves.
IRIS: Yes. Very very nice!
IRIS: I used to be so lonely, singing to myself all the time, but things have become so much better since I met Gelwein.
IRIS: Bush, you come by as well now, so I'm not lonely at all anymore.
BUSH: I didn't know you sing, Iris. Would you mind singing for me some time?
IRIS: Of course!
BUSH: I'll be looking forward to it then.
I don't know if they forgot or what, but nobody's expression changes at all during this conversation. A development oversight, maybe?
IRIS: I hear that you're going around Whale Island, Bush.
IRIS: Please be careful so that you don't get injured.
Well, things aren't going to be any easier further on, so yeah. I'm hoping to not get too hurt.
TO PROGRESS
TO ENEMIES THAT HURT AS HARD AS THE ONES I'M TRYING TO AVOID
ONWARD, PONY, TO THE FUTURE!
WHALE ISLAND FLANK
New area, same music. I don't mind, this one's still a jam.
This area's characterized by having three layers, the lower one being this brick wall that we run across. Unfortunately, it's broken away in places, so we have to cross up to the middle and upper tiers to go forward.
Zig-zagging ramps control facilitate us moving between these floors. Unfortunately, there's a lot of poison here, and you can't really run around it easily.
Pony's got us covered for this though. The mires themselves only hurt for 1 damage, but the poison deals damage on a percentage basis. She can take it pretty easily though, and all of her debuffs clear between zone transitions unlike ours.
add this to the growing list of stuff she does for us
The third and upper most layer is just like the first, some sort of brick pathway that's blocked off at points. The entire area is basically three pathways connected in such a way to make it as tangled as possible.
What we really care about is off to the upper left though.
There's nothing suspicious about this big, sparkling rock wall. Nothing at all.
If you give it a special attack slam from a silver hammer or better, it'll destroy it. It does have to be the special attack, the normals just clink off it.
WHALE ISLAND CAVE SURFACE
Aaaand, with that we have our first shortcut! This is just a little offshoot section of the first cave room, and saves us quite a bit of time on traveling to Iris.
As a treat, there's also multiple farm plots right along the way that make out of season growing not much of a hassle.
That's for later though, we've got a new area to see!
Hard to see in the nighttime here is a Black Scorpion. They do the usual scorpion things, poison with their tails, snip at you with pincers.
Just a lotta poison in this area.
Here's one of those broken spots in the pathway. This place just kinda forces you to run through the poison or actually bother with neutralizers.
I don't think the neutralizers last either, but I haven't bothered to test. I can just run through it and clear it with an antidote if needed.
Down here are these air flying Fish! The monster kind, not the kind we fry. As is usual for their appearance, they're very annoying, but unusually happen to be rather nonthreatening.
They attack by shooting a very slow shotgun of bubbles, or trying to tail whip you, so overall, their revenge for their watery brethren is easy to avoid.
There's also a spawner for Golems at the end of the lower path just in case you didn't already have enough of fighting ancient siege weaponry.
By St. Poli these things hurt.
It is just the one spawner though, and it only spawns one at at time. It's slower item grinding, but it's a lot safer if you wanted to get metals this way.
There's also treasure chests here from which Bush obtains more mysterious boxes of rice.
Supposedly you can eventually find higher level rice this way, and dupe them by way of giant chicken deletion, but I have yet to find any.
Also hard to see in the darkness is this Hobgoblin, the meaner cousin of the goblins. They just have blue vests as their only visual difference, but they can now do a multi-hit combo instead of just one swing.
Things get a bit dicey though, and Bush is forced to retreat. It's fine, it's way too late at night for him and for me as well. It's been an eventful update!
Music: Goodnight
With that...See you next time, folks.