We leave the disco and continue exploring Roppongi.
: ...
*: We find Weapon, Armor and Junk shops tucked away in a little corridor, but...: Err... Hello? Anyone? I've got more money than common sense, somebody sell stuff at me! Come on! Capitalism ho and all that!
Nope, there's no one here. All the shops are empty. This isn't going anywhere, let's go.
*: There are stairways up and down, as well as an elevator that goes from B1F to 3F. I'll keep checking out the ground floor first, as usual.
This is just creepy. Other than the disco, and a few rooms near the entrance, the place is deserted. It's not even ruined, you can see the buildings are intact on the overworld. But there's nobody. Not even demons.
...no, wait.*: Okay, someone turned up the creepy dial.: I'm... well... I'm from Kichijoji, I guess. My name's Francois.
: Hey, hey, Mister Francois, do you like this town?
: It's... quiet. That's a nice change, I suppose.
: I want a friend. Will you be my friend? Pleeeease?
*: : Err... Ssssssure, why not?
*: : You know, this town, Mister Red and Mister Black made it for me!
She must have been the little girl we've heard about. It wasn't Kei.
: Oh! I know! You should meet Mister Red! I'll tell him to let you in!
: That's awful nice of you, Alice. Thank you!
*: Okay, that's the ground floor done. Let's check out the basement next.
Two steps in, we run into a trap that poisons me, Isora and Kaneda. It's not a big deal, Kei can cure us, but if there are many more of those, it might become a problem. I use one of the five Amulets I bought in pre-war Shinjuku; they're supposed to prevent damage from "Damage Zones".
And it works. There's a white flash when you run into a trap, but they don't have any effect.
I find a Gushing Jar in a chest. I don't know what it does, but I don't think it's the Pot I heard about because you can get Gushing Jars at Rag's place.
The next chest I find......explodes.
I freak out for a moment, even more when I notice my party now has less max HP than current HP. Did that chest reduce our maximum? But no, it... overhealed us. Wow.
Another chest explodes. I'm not even sure what happened exactly.We lost a bunch of health, but now everyone has more MP than their maximum. What a weird-ass place.
There aren't even any demons here, just traps, chests, and trapped chests. This is bizarre. I'm spending magnetite for nothing, but I don't dare return my summons just in case I get jumped by something.This isn't a random encounter. A small room has this one Corpse in it.Is this... is this raw material for the Bodyconians?
: Oh, it's... very nice, sir.
: Everybody here lives happily, just like they did before all this troublesome mess started.
*: Somehow I look at this guy and think of Morgan Freeman, soothing voice and all.: The Red Count and I initially rebuilt this town for Alice, but the others here enjoy it as well, so it turned out quite well for everyone!
: You've managed to create the coziest little nook in all the wasteland. Keep up the good work!
In reality I am just getting more and more creeped out, but I don't see a point in antagonizing the man. Yet.
*: In any case, we're done on this floor.On my way to the elevator, I run into many more traps. It's a good thing the Amulet lasts until I leave the floor.
Okay then, 2F. There's another poison trap, so I use another Amulet. It's a good thing I'm rich, those cost me like 5000 yen a pop.: I wonder how much it's worth?
I need to get my hands on that jar.
*: A door in front of a 2x2 room in the middle of the floor. I bet the jar's in there. I have no idea how to get in, though.
Anyway, I find a Speed Incense and nothing else. We're done here.Now for the third floor.
There doesn't seem to be floor traps here, though I find another chest that trades my HP for MP. Half my team are competent healers, so I don't worry about it.: Huh?
: Oh, err, thank you!
: Mistress, you have my deepest apologies, but I have direct orders not to let anyone in.
: You won't listen to me!? No! No! No! No! NO! NO!
: Geez.
: Ah...... Very well, please wait here while I look inside.
A moment passes.
: The Red Count says that he will see you. Please, go in.
: Isn't that great!
: That guy sure knows who the boss is.
: OK, I'll go on ahead, I'll see you later!
*: We're in a large room with four small rooms at the other end. One holds a Strength Incense, two are empty. The fourth...: To be honest, she wanted us to meet you as well. Though I do enjoy the opportunity.
: She's quite a lovely girl, that Alice.
*: ...: We built this town and put a forcefield around it so that she could live in freedom, without the fear of being attacked by demons. Bringing that girl happiness is my one true joy. That's all I want in this world.
Did these guys reanimate all these dead people so Alice wouldn't feel lonely?
...Wow.
: There are less noble goals out there, I suppose.
: Now, I apologize, but I am an extremely busy man. If you'll please excuse me...
He leaves.
: Mister Red is pretty busy, you know.
Busy with what, I wonder?
: Hey, hey, can I ask you a question?
: Sure thing, kid.
: You know, I'd like a Hiranya. Hey, can you buy me a Hiranya?
*: I'm not sure what a Hiranya is. One guide's item list says it restores HP and MP for one party member, so I guess it's sold at the Healer's Dojo and I just forgot about it.
In any case, it probably would be wise to remain in Alice's good graces, and I'm still rich, so I might as well say yes.: No problem, Alice. I'll go get one right away!
: Yaaay! I'm so happy! Come back with one soon!
: Alright, see you!
: You're leaving? Good bye.
That did not go the way I expected it to. Might as well go back to Shinjuku, and get a Soul Incense from Rag's while I'm there.
*: ... Okay, so it turns out I was thinking of "Hamaya", not "Hiranya"; the former is a Hama item. There is a HP/MP restoration item, but it's an Omikuji, which is something else entirely. Hmm. I'll hit the other healers and stores here.
Oh, so the Junk store has them. That's funny, I could swear they didn't have them before. Well, there we go. I stop by the Temple of Gaia to stock up on Amulets. Everything is much cheaper in Makka than it was in Yen; Amulets are just 480 now. Nice.
Finally, I get a Soul Incense for Kei, then return to the disco in Roppongi. I kind of want to walk there and get some magnetite from the overworld encounters, but I've got an unusually large amount of MP right now and I don't want to spend any of it on easy random battles if I can help it.In any case, I don't have a clue regarding Kei. We haven't met anyone who knew of her, or of anyone like her. I guess the Incense is the only way.
I'll give her what she wants.
Wherever it is she's going to next, it can't be worse for her than what she's got here.
I unwrap the little cube of precious incense.
: Are you sure you want to go through with this?
She nods.
I almost let Kaneda do us the honors, but he doesn't look like he could handle it.
*: The Law theme is playing. I've always liked it, but I don't think it has ever felt more genuine than now.I light it up.
: Kei! Kei! Are you alright? What's going on?
*: Her sprite starts flickering.: Thank you. Now I can finally die.
: ...
: I feel... at peace right now.
: Kei... I wanted to see you once more... But... not like this...
*: And that's it. We're returned to the corridor behind the disco. Going back to the cell reveals nothing of further interest.
I'm now Neutral-Lawful. A quick trip outside reveals that my icon is very slowly spinning to the right, so I can't be too far in. Looks like I'm going to deliver some nasty beatdowns to Law monsters in the near future, and be unusually chummy with the Gaian chumps. Turns out the Chaos demon I have (Lilim) remains summoned, and Neutral-only Kamudo's Sword doesn't jump off my hand or anything, which is nice.
I could get the Plasma Sword off Kaneda. I'm not that much of a dick, though. I just euthanized his girlfriend, I'm not about to take away his lightsaber too.Maybe the Count and Baron did all this for the happiness of a little girl, but that doesn't excuse what I just had to fix. Let's get that Hiranya to Alice and hope we learn something interesting.
*: We return to the Red Count's office on the third floor.: Hey mister, have you brought what I wanted?
: Ye're darn tootin', missy!
: Hooray! Thank you!
: Glad to be of service.
: Hey mister, I have another question for you.
: What is it?
I knew this was going too well.
: What? No!! How could you even ask such a thing?
: Mister Red, listen! That big boy was so mean to me!
: There, there. What's the matter Alice?
: You see, *sniff* I... *sniff* ...asked the big kid... *sniff* to die... *sniff*... But he wouldn't do it!! *sniff* Waaaah! I wanted to be with him forever! Waaah! I asked him nicely! Waaah!
Holy shit, she wanted me to die so I could join the rest of the immortal zombies in here! That's so fucked up!
: Finally, a voice of reason!
: Mister Red will see to it that you get your wish!
: Wait, what?!
: Oh shit!
: Huh?
Way to keep your one weakness in your basement, free for any idiot to take, Belial. Demons
are idiots.
*: So the Gushing Jar really was the rumored Pot, then.: Waaah! Waaah! Waaah!...
What the hell?
: YOU! You should be dead!
: Though still, it's not right to make a little girl cry like that.
: Don't start talking to me about what's right.
: By the way, I'd like to take that jar you sealed Belial in off your hands, if you wouldn't mind. It's dangerous for you to be toting that thing around. Give it to me, I'll take care of it.
: Like hell, bitch! You want a maou-in-a-jar, you get your own!
: *sigh* Why won't you listen to reason?
: There we go. Just give it over to me. Thanks, I'll take it from here!
GODFUCKINGTimesplitters Future Perfect: The DammitsDAMMIT