Endure This! Run! Part 14
By DocHaus 3 Comments
Endure This! Run! Part 14: Like Hitting Rocks With a Sword, Because That's What You're Doing
It really has been months since I last did one of these? Wow, I am a terrible person for prioritizing other things over this Let's Play/Endurance Run, I know. But the show must (eventually) go on...
When we last left our heroes, Rush yet again got scammed by a "Mage-like Girl" and overpaid for common items (that he can't even use yet), and then led an expedition into the catacombs hidden beneath the temple in Elysion to find his dad. Then his dad burst into flames and ended up giving away the magic tablet to the evil Wagram, accomplishing nothing more than the slaughter of several albic midgets and freakishly-large bugs. With daddy currently out of the picture, it's time to go mining for mommy.
But first...a sidequest!
So how about this one? In the throne room of Balterossa we are told of an ancient force that is regrouping to strike the land.
Psssh, I'm pretty sure we can handle a few mobs of dumb monsters.
Yeah whatever, just point me at the enemy and have my bags of gold ready when I...
Oh...
Shiiiiiiiiiit.
Okay, that didn't work out so well. Let's try another one. We head back to Athlum and find ourselves another merc with a mysterious past.
Say hello to Nora, the angry woman with a giant hammer. That's...pretty much it. Well, in any case she comes in handy in a fight.
A merchant group is trying to map out a route from Athlum to Balterossa through the Gaslin Caves and they need your help to escort the guy.
So now the Surveyor will walk slowly towards an uncharted route of the cave, and it's your job to act as his shield.
At five different points, he'll ask you to make a binary choice. One choice will throw you into a fight with Jhana warriors. The other will let you safely pass them by. You can probably use a FAQ if you want to find out which one does which, but I just answered them at random. 2/5 resulted in fights. There are also some treasure chest-remnants and digging points along the way if you want to collect them.
Yes, you can have this shiny piece of equipment but you can't equip it and you can't give it to any qsiti in your group unless the AI asks for it. Thus making this weapon a...well, you can guess the punchline here.
Eventually we reach our destination. It's a desert.
Rush: You're paying me in rocks? Really?
Surveyor: Well, you can use these to help blacksmiths in town craft better weapons.
Rush: But I still have to pay for them!
Surveyor: Yeah, well, maybe you should take up some smithing lessons yourself, boy!
Instead we decide to sell our captured monsters to this weapons seller. I guess he owns a butcher shop on the side? Rush just takes the gold, gives him cages full of monsters from hammerspace, and doesn't ask any more questions.
Rush suddenly gets the feeling he's forgotten something important.
Oh yeaaaah. The whole "going to meet his mom" thing. We talk to Emma and she takes us into the Numor Mines.
Excuse me. Numor Mine. Singular.
Emma: Ah, this place brings back memories.
Rush: You've been here before?
Emma: The Honeywell family has a tradition, that in order to pass into adulthood we must search for our own Remnant.
Rush: So...like a Bat Mitzvah but with more magic involved?
Emma: It was here that I first found your mother so long ago.
Rush: That's good and all, but how does that help us now?
Emma: Well, the Academy's after her, so she'll probably be in her old home before she met your father. Let's go.
Rush: So why only two of us?
Emma: Because I don't think the others would fit in here.
Rush: Wait a minute, I thought you were the smart one? Have you seen how big this mine is now? And how many man-eating monsters there are in here?
Emma: Simple strategy for that, don't fight more than one at a time if you have to.
And so Rush and Emma descend into the incredibly large and aerated mine with its own little manual mine elevator. You'll find plenty of digging spots and treasure chests around the area, including one that contains a decent sword. If you can't dig for any more loot, then don't worry, you can always come back to the mine later.
Also, don't fight more than one monster at a time with only Rush and Emma, because there's a very high chance you will die. Especially in the PC version.
Eventually you'll find your way to a locked door and a slightly difficult boss battle.
Emma: This thing nearly killed me before...but not this time!
Namul Sin and Niram Sin, Siamese Twin Rock Monsters who apparently just chill out in the mine, waiting for someone to beat into a bloody pulp. They have one unique attack called "Heavensflight" that will damage you for quite a bit. Just keep healing and whacking away at the rock monsters and eventually they will break down while your blades remain surprisingly unchipped.
Rush: Uh Emma? They're forming into rock monsters again!
Emma: Well we'll just have to keep hitting them until--
Rush: Until what?
Emma: Thought you would never show up!
Introducing Rush's mom, Marina Sykes! A woman who can apparently unbind Remnants with her bare hands. One wonders why they even need the tablet to do that if both she and her daughter can already do it on their own.
Rush: Mom! Omigawd there was a giant monster and Irina got kidnapped and then there was a white mage and he tried to suck us in to a black hole or maybe a white hole and then I
Marina: Calm down, son. Deep breaths.
Rush: *gasp* *wheeze* and long story short they set dad on fire and took the tablet he was researching and it's all my fault!
Marina: ...step into my house.
Emma: I still don't know how you managed to find this house at the bottom of a mine, let alone one with adobe walls and woven tapestries.
Marina: Well, that's a woman's touch, dear. So son, isn't she a little old for you?
Rush: MOM!
Marina: I know, you're trying to show off to your mother, but she's already got kids of her own! You need to find someone a little younger to settle down and start a family with...
Emma: Y'know what? I'm going to get some fresh air, you two have fun.
Marina: But we're at the bottom of a mine--
Emma: Fresh. Air.
Emma leaves the room with a cup of...whatever. They never show what is in the cup. But she senses a flashback incoming. After she leaves, Rush and his mom begin a flashback.
We find that Marina was an orphan who was raised by the Director of the Academy at the time, whoever he was, and repaid it by studying hard. Both she and Irina possess "Marion's Blessing," or the same power of the legendary Marion Marshall, the power to essentially unbind Remnants and then rebind them to herself if she wants.
Marina: Oh, why did I raise my daughter to be intelligent? Why couldn't I have encouraged her to take up cheerleading and find a nice man someday? Now all these perverted old guys at the Academy want her for her brains! It's all my fault!
Rush: (oh, what would Dave say in this situation?) Um...uh...mom?
Marina: *sniffle* yes?
Rush: Look, we've got half the family back together again! You have me, and dad (though he's kinda unconscious right now)! We just need to get Irina back! If what you said is true, then they won't kill her!
Marina decides to stop crying in front of her son and toughen up, giving Rush a necklace to take to Irina before he leaves the underground house.
Emma: So why didn't she come with us to explain everything in Athlum?
Rush: Because we have enough trouble fighting off monsters with just the two of us?
Emma: But there's a teleporter, right there! We can just teleport back to Athlum and she can stop speaking in cryptic riddles!
Rush: Well if you're so smart, how come you didn't just teleport to this room in the first place? And why did you insist on going alone with me when all you did was leave the room anyway?
Emma: ...you shut your filthy mouth.
Next Time on Endure This! Run!
- Saber-rattling!
- An Invitation to Nagapur!
- Hopefully I don't die on the next sidequest!
Cutscenes!
- The Numor Mine
- But it wasn't a rock...it was a ROCK MONSTER!
- Hey mom, dad's unconscious. Also, how are things?
Considering the summer job I'm about to take on soon, I can't confirm how often I can come up with these things now, but I'll shoot for the weekends. We'll see.