Curate of Curiosities

Previously, we started on a quest to restore a lighthouse with sentimental value to Devon, in the process revealing Ramona's desire to start a polycule with two of her party members. Jasper, being the party's fourth wheel, is left out.

But we have far, far more important things to deal with at the moment, like engaging in blood sports for money.

It seems I've forgotten to explain how casino battles work. You fight a group of enemies for four rounds, each time with an additional buff on the enemy, first an attack buff, then health regeneration, then a speed buff.

Like the quests at the bar, arena fights come in three tiers. I'll give you a minor spoiler: due to the nature of this route, the arena won't be available after a certain point, so now's the best time to take them down.

Here's Scorpio and his Scorpions. Nothing we haven't seen before, but the cultist is pissed that you tried to stop his necromancy cult's schemes and so can act twice per turn.

Light 'Em Up: A light bulb and a bunch of lamps. The lightbulb's the big threat, being able to confuse and with a multi-hit attack.

The party gets knocked around a bit, so it's back to church we go...

For Jasper, we find out that they and Jessie formed an adventuring party, only for all of them to meet a tragic end while climbing the Tower. And now you know why they're suicidal.

Now Jasper can get the hell out of dodge even faster! This might not be Monster Hunter, but it's still really useful.

On to Kyrie. Her dad got killed by the mob, so now she wants to murder everyone responsible.

She gains a full heal that cuts her attack. It sounds useful, especially since most of her skills cost health to use, but I never really used it.

Jasper again. After losing their friends, they found themselves barely able to cope with the situation. Even now, after joining Ramona's party, they feel like an unnecessary fourth wheel. Huh, so it's not just a gameplay thing after all.

Jasper learns to cry. Surprised they didn't have it at the start.

Back to the arena:

Mean Machines: a bunch of drones. Nothing special, except they all hit hard and can repair themselves.

And now, Ramona. Despite everything that's happened to her, now that she has friends, things are finally starting to look up for her.

Ramona doesn't gain a usable skill, but rather a passive ability: she can act twice in the turn after a party member goes down. She's got naturally high agility, so she can quickly get the party back on its feet.

And lastly, Devon. After his parents were killed by the Siren, he went to live with his uncle and aunt, who were less than accepting of his muteness. Noticing a pattern here with all the party members and their parental figures?

Devon is by far our biggest damage dealer, and this new skill lets him dish out even more.

To the arena for the last time...

Ultimate Support: A whole bunch of enemies that can buff each other, including giving an extra turn to the whole group. It's about as painful as it sounds. The cheerleader is by far the biggest threat, since he can give the group an extra turn, and since he recognizes us as the guys who busted up his cult's graverobbing operation, he has an extra turn on top of that. I have no idea why the necromancy cult would need a cheerleader in the first place.

And that's all the arena fights, including a few I forgot to screenshot. Sadly, no reward but a cheevo.

Now, on to our quest.

The moment we step in the lighthouse, the party gets jumped by another breed of local baddies.

Over the course of the adventure, Ramona's party has encountered such creatures as magic-infused bees, magic-infused scorpions, undead office workers, and animate home decorations. I'm honestly surprised that magic-infused versions of the single most common enemy type in the game didn't show up sooner.

A seal? Well then somebody must have put it there. Probably someone that has to do with the state the lighthouse is in.

This game's already aggravating enough, cowboy, it doesn't need a subpar implementation of Sokoban as well.

Breaking this conspicuously placed orb is obviously what we need to do to progress, but its immediate effect is summoning more raccoons to jump us.

Finally, the seal is dissolved and we can go into the basement.

You know what this reminds me of? The proto-angel that we fought back when we were rank 1. Could this be the result of breeding experiments too? Cause the thought of something like this evolving naturally...

Not only is this monster, known as an Abyssal, capable of speech, but it seems to have something in common with the Siren. This allows her to telepathically communicate with it, and facilitate a sort of bargain. You see, the abyssal is rather hungry, being locked up in a basement and all, and there are these delicious looking fleshbags right in front of it. Using her instant-convince powers, the Siren talks it into eating the monsters that are right outside instead.

As established, the Siren is very good at making deals, helped by her host's former job involving deals as well. Now we can reinstall the lightbulb completely unmolested.

You think? What's the worst thing that could happen, that raccoon-lover trying to jump us for the billionth time?

Nope, instead it's that one adventurer and her talking lightbulb from before.

Possessed? Her? What would make you think that? And even if she did, she's clearly got this under control. It's not like she'll do something foolish like talk you into attacking her party or anything.

Oh. I spoke too soon.

This boss isn't too hard. The monster can heal and inflict confusion, while the adventurer can single out one party member for attack and inflict bleed. Interestingly, their sprites don't disappear when they're knocked out.

Unfortunately for these two, the abyssal makes no difference between monsters and adventurers when it comes to feeding. This is not good, so it has to go down too. Sorry buddy.

The two adventurers that tried to do something about Ramona's possession are dead, along with the monster that they helped. How convenient.

Back to our quest-giver. Looks like he was using the bunch of us to make the area suitable for real estate investment.

But a real hero would never stand for that, especially when it was so important to her friend that it be made into a memorial to his dead parents. So it's her auto-convince powers to the rescue.

Fun fact, the quest giver lost his legs fighting the Siren. It's seems like everyone and everything in this town eventually leads to this ghost. And now that I think about it, Ramona wants to be known as a hero, right? Is there a real difference between the fame she wants and the notoriety that the Siren has earned?

Incidentally, the abyssal we just killed is a bounty, so we can turn it in to Patrick's office for a tidy sum.

Devon was Ramona's first party member, so it's understandable that he would be closer to her than the others. Their shared interest in anime has definitely deepened their relationship as well. Now, after seeing how she's helped him, this could be their chance to take things even further.

And hey, we're well on our way to becoming a hero, so it wouldn't hurt to have an admirer.

You gained Devon's trust!

Devon will now die for you.