Welcome To The Jungle
Previously on The Reconstruction, lizard Errol Flynn fell on really hard times, which the rest of the guild flatly refused to help him with right up until he nearly got himself killed. And then the head of the guards that were keeping him captive for literal decades said that they were doing so to cheer him up, never mind the logic behind it!
So now we're starting with the Berylbrine Outpost questline for real. The glossary entry:
An old human-built encampment in the forests located at one of the southeasternmost coasts of the Shra continent. It served as a popular relay point for trade vessels traveling to and from nearby Wadassia, as well as a stopoff for slaver ships traveling the area. Of note is that, in addition to the human presence, several Shra were observed working alongside others here, either seeking coexistance with the people who pass through, or even just looking for work. The outpost was mostly abandoned following the outbreak of the Blue Plague (see BLUE PLAGUE), officially closing in FY2990. Slaver and transport ships were quick to adapt in less official means of trade in the area. Seller beware.
Of course, since its at the very edge of the Shra homeland, it would naturally end up being a hub for slave traders. This oughta get real interesting, real fast.
And by the way, I decided to replace Tehgonan with Falitza in my active party. They're about as useful, but Falitza can at least do non-mind damage with her one and only attack skill, depending on her target's element.
So you knew him too? That would have been really nice to know before he ran off to certainb death.
As expected at this point, Brenetto has one more request for us. No item searches this time, instead we just have to get a chain of 50 to charge up a component needed for his latest invention.
Quest number one, "The Swarm." Our first quest is killing bugs. Yes, just like back in chapter 1.
It's really, really simple. Carry each of the three barrels of poison to the watering holes scattered across the map.
The slimeflies aren't anything special aside from their life drain attack. But I use this opportunity to show off Falitza's main gimmick, being able to scan enemy stats...or rather, to waste a turn that would be better off used for any of her marginally more useful skills.
So this is our new client. He seems to be a pretty trustworthy fellow, despite Qualstio's and Tehgonan's suspicions.
And when will we need his help? Right now, as it turns out.
Quest two, "Habitat." There are some wild Shra hiding in the jungle that Yacatec wants us to keep tabs on. I'm not sure why Lani's so suspicious. For all we know, he could be leading a conservationist operation.
The goal of the quest is to spy on three different Shra encampments. Not the one in the screenshot, it's a trap.
So much for giving him the benefit of the doubt.
Over the course of this guild's career, it has found itself involved in a number of questionable acts, such as aiding corrupt city guards and being forced to take sides in an inter-family dispute. Now, it's explicitly aiding and abetting the oppression of an entire sentient species! Looks like our suspicion turned out to be correct!
Qualstio freaks out about it, which makes sense given that he seems to have the most sympathy towards their plight, but Dehl reminds him that as a guild, it is their duty to avoid unnecessary disputes with clients, regardless of their stances on the present societal order or the business that they carry out. And besides, that sidequest we did with Rehm seemed to establish that slavery can be a form of therapy under the right circumstances, so maybe it's not all bad!
Whatever it is, there's simply nothing that can be done.
Yeah, I get your message now, Space Lizard. There's a thin line between heroism and being a lapdog for the law. Or maybe it's not so thin, I don't know.
Oh, and in the meantime, Alito waxes nostalgic about the way Metzino treated him. I'm not sure why everyone even remotely connected to him has to sing his praises all of a sudden. Theory: Metzino actually wasn't any better than most slavers, and Alito just has Stockholm syndrome.
There are two missions available at this point, but I'm going for the one that seems the least pressing for now, "Have and Have Not." The objective for this mission is to track down three missing hunters, so you think that there'll be a fairly expansive area for you to explore, right?
Not quite. It's basically a linear battle gauntlet, involving the bugs from earlier as well as animate kudzu plants. The plus side is that they're not too tough, so you have an opportunity to build up a big chain.
And at the end, you fight a miniboss. The main enemy is what's known as a Na'Hrin, some kind of Shra mage. Its main skill is Miasmasurge which inflicts Sicken (mind damage over time) and Disable on the entire party. When dealing with him, and indeed, all enemy Shra, including the bloodcrazed shra that accompany him, it's best to keep in mind that their mind stats aren't the best; the glossary even goes so far as saying so. And no, I have no idea what happened to the recording quality for this video. OBS Studio simply does not play nice with this game.
Looks like Ques has a fanboy.
But that aside, he's been hired by Yacatec to map out the mostly uncharted jungle, and his group's a bit understaffed at the moment so...you know where this is going, don't you?
From time to time, these birds will try to divebomb you. The might be the closest thing to random encounters this game has.
And then you run into a river that you can't get across. Judging from the game's RPGMaker.net page, quite a few players got stuck here. So how do you get past? At the start of the area, there's a trading post where you can take one item at a time.
But the problem is, it's partially covered up by the HUD, so it's very possible for a first-time player to not notice that it's there.
You take a wooden plank from the trading post to get across the river. Once there, you find an injured shra who needs a total of three different items to recover. This means you'll have to walk all the way back to the start (or just leave a party member there) to get the needed items.
After you're done helping him, you fight...basically the same midboss we just fought, except there are only two bloodcrazed, and they swapped out the bug for something called a Tu'Nuok, which is a bit hardier than your run-of-the-mill Shra. I have the feeling that we were supposed to do this quest before facing the optional Na'Hrin boss.
And now we've cleared a path to the depths of the jungle, with more Shra for Yacatec to carry on his perfectly legitimate...okay, this does actually have a fair bit of legitimacy in this setting. It's still not a wholesome one, though.
Yes, encouragement would be good, Fell. But even better would be making it clear what your plans for this guild are.
Now the next part of this game is where things start to open up in what was, to this point, an awfully linear adventure, so I'll stop here. I could have done the same thing with chapter 3 if there was literally anything going on in Fortifel aside from a monster-subduing mission.