xyzzysqrl

Welcome back.

Last time, the story hit a bump in the road, swerved violently, did a barrel roll and crashed into Fran's backstory. This is why we are now in a T-rex infested mine chasing a possibly-possessed rabbit lady through dark tunnels. At the end of the tunnel Mjrn ran down, we discover that she has awakened something deep within the mine to protect herself in her fear. This guardian is Tiamat, a very large dragon.

And people say JRPG plotlines make no sense.

The fight with Tiamat is pretty brutal, but not as bad as it should be. This is in part thanks to Ashe, who is wielding a very high-quality shield and a dagger called a "Main Gauche". These two things combined give her an evasion stat that leads to her blocking just about everything that comes her way, be it dragon claws, dragon teeth, or in one memorable case dragon breath itself. The runner-up MVP is Vaan, who doesn't take a single point of damage the entire fight because he is standing behind the dragon filling its arse with so many arrows it looks like a "Pin The Tail" game gone horribly wrong.

With Ashe evade-tanking, Vaan firing arrows by the handful, Larsa healing, and Fran doing lots of spear-work, the party claims victory. Such as it is. Mjrn stumbles out drunkenly, a lump of nethicite clutched in her hand. She drops it and it shatters, and a strange spectral figure appears behind her, looming controllingly before vanishing and letting Mjrn drop like a brick. So yeah, possession. MY HUNCH WAS A BULLSEYE.

"Is it you?" Mjrn asks, as Fran props her up in her arms. Fran nods, and Mjrn smiles in relief before passing out.

Later, once Mjrn's recovered, she tells her story. Human soldiers passed through the Wood, and she became curious about why, so she followed them. Unfortunately, she got herself captured. ("You're as foolhardy as your sister." Balthier says, and it doesn't exactly sound unaffectionate.) They took the strange stone and put it beside her, saying "the Mist would be drawn into her" and "The Viera suit this end".

I suppose being magical creatures would make them more responsive to magic. That's how it worked in Jackie Chan Adventures, the 100% Truthful Cartoon Primer on how mysticism and also kung-fu works.

Fran knows how this works already. Back on the Dreadnought, the same thing happened to her when the Dawn Shard released Mist. Of course, the Dawn Shard then -exploded-. Perhaps this is a difference between Manufactured Nethicite and Deifacted Nethicite. Larsa twitches a little, and quickly asks Penelo for "that stone" he gave her. "This is a thing more dangerous than I knew." he says, "And I should never have given it to you."

"I always thought it was kind of a good luck charm!" Penelo says. Larsa's face replies "WTF." "And it kept us safe on the Leviathan."

"Perhaps there is a place for even danger such as this." Ashe offers. Well, yes, it did HELP, but ... maybe you'd like to ask the person it possessed HER opinion?

No we would not. We cut straight back to Eruyt Village. "Lente's Tear is a permission. Pass through the Wood and go someplace else." the Elder orders. And I guess that's a--

"That CANNOT be all!" Mjrn protests.

Look, who's telling this metanarrative, me or you, Mjrn?

As it happens though, she's arguing with the Elder. "Ivalice is changing! I saw it!" she continues. "How can we hide here in the trees, when the world outside is on the move?!"

As the Elder is winding up her pitch, Fran steps in, to beg Mjrn... to stay put in the woods and not bother with human matters. Fran declares that she's lost her past forever. She wouldn't wish that kind of solitude on Mjrn. "Forget my existance." she says. "You have only one sister now."

The Elder calls up the Voice of the Wood for Fran. It still misses her, she claims. "A pleasant lie." Fran dismisses this, and nods to the Elder. "Goodbye, sister."

I have no intention of joking about any of that. It's a hard thing to realize that home is a place where you're no longer wanted, and really hard to remove yourself from it with a graceful facade.

However, now we can go through the woods (and possibly over the river) to reach the MOUNTAIN that was the destination at the START of this little sidetrip, so let's get rolling on that. On the way out of the jungle, a number of leaves and plants stir ominously, then form into a giant dragon and attack the party. There is NO REASON for this whatsoever, except that someone on the programming team decided this would be a great place to have the party have a boss fight with a plant dragon. It's a hard fight, too, since it likes to use a nasty move that mass-confuses the party, leaving them attacking each other while ALSO blinded, bleeding out HP, covered in oil and silenced.

What the hell was the point of that? ... Well, we... fought a plant dragon! Yippie! And used all our Remedies trying not to die!

Okay then.

Behind the boss fight is the Paramina Rift, a snowy area directly next to a jungle. This is the pathway pilgrims travel to reach Mt. Bur-Omisace, and hopefully we'll get there soon so I can stop having to type that name. I'm never sure I'm spelling it right. Balthier observes, "Empires parade through the streets, while refuges walk barefoot in the snow." Larsa retorts that that's EXACTLY why he wants to sue for peace. His father MUST see the need for a peaceful coexistance!

"You can never truly know another." Balthier replies. "Even your own father."

Interesting.

Vaan stays behind a moment to comfort Larsa, who simply sighs. Meanwhile, in a cutscene from elsewhere, we peek in on Vayne and the Emperor. Vayne is grousing that the Senate will never come around to House Solidor's way of thinking. They must be SILENCED. It is a necessity! His father the Emperor doesn't agree.

"You show no hesitation in solving matters with blood." the Emperor points out.
"My hands," Vayne replies, "Are already stained with blood. I see little reason to stay them now."

I'm starting to get the impression, just a little one, that Vayne is a TOUCH psychopathic.

Beyond the icy path is Mt. Bur-Omisace, and it is a steamy, lush-looking place where rocks float in the sky. ... Okay then. But we've had a lot of plot the last couple updates, so...

NEXT TIME: TWO, SEVEN, EIGHTY-FOUR! I DECLARE SIDE-QUEST TOUR!