LogFAQs > #945395218

i get in town, party scatters because of some ruins. well okay, that's clearly the next goal. everyone's talking about a mural so i'm assuming that i'm gonna kool-aid man through a wall that happens to have a mural and a dungeon behind it.
though wait, didn't that sorta happen already with the orphanage earlier? well whatever, maybe Dogi is the inspiration for questing in this game.

i'm still not sure what this region is supposed to be, Phnom Nonh. books also mention a Nhou Wat. arabic countries i suck at? vietnam? well, i loot the place anyway so it's not as big a deal. even from a man who's crying and drinking himself to death because his wife died, i jack some pearls from this man. call it a down payment.

i finally reach the top of the steps for a cutscene of Sylv comforting a girl and am told that i've gotta check the ruins to find her parents. alright. i now go down a bunch of steps, see that this place has both a red door AND a gated chest, and find a chest with the remaining recipes this market can do. weird place for a shopkeep to put 'em at but hey, whatever. it's pretty clear i'm gonna do some timey wimey shit sooner than later but down the ruins i go. cutscene.

mural's a picture of a woman and Serena stares at her boobs so hard the key around her neck starts to glow. this is the magic key, which i assume is gonna be used to open some of these treasure chests locked behind things finally. there's a crack in the wall that i notice too and some rumbling. fortunately none of it matters because some NPCs who think luck is a limited resource come in to tell us to fuck off. so we do, apparently nobody in my party noticed her glowing tits. i go down to the mural again and...

...a horrifying, otherworldly moaning emanates from within?
uhhh...
i think there was just one lady with this group and like 4 dudes.

i see no new NPCs in my quest to find this girl's parents so i go up, talk to Sylv who says the girl is now missing too, so i steadily get to the town square as per Veronica's party talk. a guy marks me as an easy tourist and apparently his wife owns the inn and we're staying the night. time to get robbed, i guess. i go in the inn, raid it, and talk to NPCs, one girl offering a puff puff. i may be looking for a girl and her parents but that's never a reason to deny a good puff puff.

and as a result my charm goes up by 5. i'm pretty sure that's not how it works but what do i know?
the wife doesn't know anything but she's cute, good job NPC dude.
next morning the guy who rudely entered - Bazza - appears to have gone missing. talking to my party, seems Serena notices something is wrong with the town. i'll tell you what happened, glowly mural boob saw the degeneracy occurring in front of her and yeeted them on the spot.

...not entirely off. i run to the mural, everyone sees the girl along the way, and Rab says he's seen her before but doesn't know where. cool, so this is her young version. i get there, and cutscene. apparently the mural is changing and... she did indeed yeet them, just to inside the thing. well okay then. she finally glows to knock our party inside and now we're on The Other Side, Disney song not included. new zombie enemies, neat. i get to the mural inside the mural, cutscene. somehow everyone is surprised this thing talks and is alive. what, the teleportation didn't give it away? long story short, she really wants more adds on the outside mural and we're to join the currently charmed group of people. Sylv meanwhile wants to find the girl and values that more than, y'know, finding a way out.

the monsters in here are notably different than outside. much stronger, and even a liquid metal slime. demon that can cause instant death, an obvious mimic that i have to beat anyway for the treasure, pretty neat. anyway, i get through this maze for a giant to a cutscene with a swirly maneating plant. fortunately with Jade's warning, i remembered that this hand of mine is glowing white, its loud roar tells me to fuck off, so i do. going down the path, cutscene again, a broken slab warning that the mural is evil: greedy people get charmed by riches, good people get brought over by a lost little girl. we all find a corner with a crack of the mural and jump out. woo!

...Serena wants to tell everyone in the village about it, aiming for the village square because there's plenty of people there.
lady uh, this is a tourist trap for the rest of them.
we're random strangers.
why the fuck would they believe us?

well apparently that doesn't matter because the girl's over here luring an old man to get cured. yep, she's evil. and yep, she's the lady. so despite the fact that this little girl just did multiple evil cackles, had red glowing eyes, and teleported outta there after dark aura surrounded her, nobody in the town cared. hey husband of the inn lady, she did this right in front of you, how the fuck are you still playing dumb? and parents with kids playing around, did y'all just not see and hear a random little girl literally teleport after laughing like a villain? do you guys just not see or hear anything? and this girl's done this to multiple people too, how do none of you realize it's the same little girl and that she has no parents!

this place is hopeless, you know what we should do to solve it? a fucking sledgehammer, that's what. takes me less time to swing that baby than you to 'port my ass. at least Rab asked the one important question of who gave her this power but damn. anyway, once again run to the mural, go inside, in the dungeon. sparing the details because it's basic: run around, get treasures, stomp monsters, make sure my main party to be pepped will be when the fight breaks out. i get to a statue, save, and fight.

"it's over, you're cornered!"
...Veronica says while we're inside our enemy's world.
Dora-in-Grey? holy shit Palutena had a hell of a makeover.

and fight ends with MC still charmed because Jade's multi-thrust makes boss fights a joke.
Mordegon gets name dropped as she dies and drops the magic key. cool.

...you stupid NPC are you serious. how did you not realize the mural is evil. did you just like, never wonder why people keep getting added to the fucking thing? just how bad did everyone in this town fail their perception check?! nobody notices a random little girl, nobody notices a mural that's constantly changing, nobody notices an evil, laughing, dark aura'd chick who 'ports out despite being in front of them, nobody noticed anything.

anyway, few cutscenes later i'm on my way with this key. but first... yep, talk to NPCs, Bazza mention the key works for somewhere in this city. okay, i try it out: this opens red doors but it doesn't work on the gated doors. Rab mentions that there's plenty of places with this, mentions the Norse city that i remember... yeah, it was sealed by this. guess that opens that pathway along with some bonus exploration, neat. save.

oh, and this village is already shifting from "place with lucky mural" to "place with evil mural."
capitalism, ho!

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"Maybe it's a tentacle, molesting the planet itself. - Aschen Brodel.