Endure This! Run! Part 3

Endure This! Run! Part 3: The Slave Cave

When we last left our heroes, Rush's thanks for saving Emma was getting threatened with death at least twice. Also, he had a large flashback to the time his sister was kidnapped by a hooded black guy, then went super-Saiyan and magic-punched a monster to death.

Well, look who finally showed up! Pagus, Torgal, David, Blocter and four random soldiers somehow find the cave's mouth just after Rush killed the monster.

I'll try to sum this scene up quickly from the screenshots above: Emma apologizes to her lord David for her worthless body happening to be in the path of the Gae Bolg's kill zone and then falling down into a cave with an annoying kid. David shows how much he cares by listening for two seconds before suddenly finding the boy behind her very interesting. Torgal doesn't want to put up with this shit but stands on ceremony. David offers to take Rush back to Athlum with him. Rush responds with a "huuuh?" Then Torgal spells it out:

"OUR. LORD. WOULD. LIKE. TO. AID. IN THE SEARCH. FOR YOUR SISTER."

Then he pulls out his giant sword as Rush approaches. David tells him to stand down and introduces himself as "David Nassau, the Marquis of Athlum" as Rush starts saying weird phrases like "This is Ace!" and "Okay, Dave!" before Emma smacks him, apparently sharing Torgal's sentiment that they do not want the boy's stupidity to infect the rest of them. Unfortunately, they have to follow their lord's wishes and the whole crew departs for Athlum. You might wonder how they got the Gae Bolg back to town, well let's just say "A Remnant Did It," because it's the only explanation I can come up with.

Also, Rush's talisman is very important somehow. Y'know, if the lines of dialogue referring to it didn't clue you in. Or the equipment screen. Or the camera zooming in on it in the last few seconds of this cutscene.

That is the world map. Apparently, the cartographers of whatever continent this is have gotten lazy and didn't bother to fill it in all the way yet. But unlike world maps of other RPGs, this one is a fast travel map. Once you unlock a city, field or dungeon, you can travel to it instantly at any time with this map, though there are exceptions for some story-important locations. For example, you won't be going back to Yamarn Plain, even if you want to. So we push the diamond to Athlum and hit A, and we are there in an instant.

That giant sword in the background? That is the pride of Athlum's skyline: The "Valeria Heart." According to the Last Remnant Wiki:

The Valeria Heart is the Remnant of Athlum. It is said that the earth below Athlum was unstable, then Valeria Heart fell from the sky and protected Athlum from the danger by keeping the ground stable. Has the ability to disappear and drop down on its foe. It is unknown who bound it, but some speculate that it was Emma Honeywell.

If Emma did bind this giant thing, then I'm even more impressed. Anyways, back to the story.

David tells Rush he can crash at his place in the castle, and then lets Torgal and Emma handle the details because he can't be bothered with such things. Rush wants to go save his sister now, and these two essentially say "suit yourself."

However, after they leave, Rush suddenly decides to stick around Athlum for just a little longer.

Athlum sort of acts as a home base for you early in the game. The various icons display the types of shops you'll come across at the different towns. You don't have access to these now, as Rush is a dumb penniless protagonist, so there really isn't much you can do other than walk around a bit until you decide to visit your ol' pal Dave at the castle.

Still, I should take the time to mention these two. The first is a pub, and like any good RPG a pub is where you'll find everything from information to sidequests and even major side characters on occasion. The second is the Union of the Golden Chalice, one of three Guilds in this game where you can recruit or dismiss additional Leader units and complete some sidequests for prizes. Some of these sidequests are simple, like "Acquire (x) amount of (y) Item." Others are harder, like "Keep exiting and entering (x) Dungeon or Field until the game feels like spawning (y) Rare Monster in it so you can kill it." I don't plan on wasting too much time on those latter quests.

Eventually, Rush enters the castle, and Blocter excitedly announces his arrival. Pagus informs Rush that they have not found any more information about his sister, but they do have a couple of leads. Also, David apologizes for snitching on him, but Emma did mention that he couldn't just let Rush crash at his pad without a serious background check. He is a Marquis, after all.

David: "Consider this part of your initiation, bro."

Rush plans to rush off to chase down Irina at one of these places, but David insists that he take along one of his generals, because he can't just trust his word that he beat up some monsters by himself, no matter what Emma told him about "totally going super-saiyan and shit."

You get to choose which of these quests you want to do first, but the order really doesn't matter. So Rush will take the caves first. Not only does he finally know what a cave is, but maybe he can find these missing young women and get some heroic rescue sex in return. So to the Gaslin Caves we go!

Blocter and one random soldier go along with you to make sure you don't chicken out. And at the start, Blocter gives Rush (and the player) a little speech about risk and reward. Basically, Rush can aggro multiple monsters at once in the battlefield, and can engage all of them at the same time if he (you) so chooses. On one hand, this means you will have to fight more monsters in one battle, and some of them might even be different species entirely (unlike FF13, the monsters will never fight each other). On the other hand, you get more (and sometimes better) loot if you emerge victorious from the fight.

Rush stops pretending to listen so he can get to the whole "finding Irina" thing.

And so Rush and Blocter wander through the Gaslin Caves, slaughtering gigantic flies as big as people, even though this one doesn't want to fight. They are obstacles in Rush's path to Irina, so they must be destroyed without mercy. That wave effect is essentially Rush declaring battle, the equivalent of taking a dueling glove and slapping the fly in the face.

Surprisingly enough, the fly meets Rush at equal terms on the field (or rocky surface) of battle. Rush and Blocter honor the fly with a warriors death and continue slaughtering the wildlife that has called this cave their home.

Ah yes, another thing about battle is this part of the after-action report. Along with the various parts of monsters you gather, every so often you'll get a monster captured whole. As the textbox says: you get to choose between splitting the monster and harvesting components from its body, or keeping it in one piece and later sell it to a merchant who will use it for food. Apparently Roseflies are sold for "buuz." I assume they take the poisoned needle and use a drop of it to feel a rush from their booze.

Eventually, Rush and Blocter find the young women David mentioned.

None of these girls are Irina. Blocter and Rush are angered at this shocking turn of events, that the kidnapped girl doesn't show up this far into the story.

The slavers return and they are are not too happy about the Athlum 5-0 discovering their merchandise, and decide to register their disapproval with sharp, steely objects.

And so, a battle is joined. Also, for those interested: That blurring effect pops up at the start of boss or other semi-important battles, and was not added by me. DRAMA!

Blocter ends up falling in battle due to the head slaver's spear. Rush gets pissed off. The one guy he could sort of identify with, killed on the field of battle, and all he wanted to do was make the world a better place!

Rush responds with an Omnistrike, magic-punching the slaver until he dies from the trauma.

Rush: "Uh...not that I'm not grateful for those words, but you were just dead! Like two seconds ago!"

Blocter: "C'mon, you act like it's the first time someone came back from being dead on the battlefield."

Rush: "YES!"

Blocter: "Here's a little secret kid, as long as one of us still lives, the rest of the army can use him to rise up at the end of battle to fight another day!"

Rush: "So you feed off the souls of the living?"

Blocter: "Oh yeah, David was like don't tell Rush all this or he'll freak out so forget I said anything, okay?"

Rush decides to pretend that this was all just a bad dream as he activates the teleporter Remnant to head back to Athlum. Blocter would soon follow with the three girls that the slavers had with them. The unnamed girls, not having rich or well-connected parents or the luck of being useful to the Marquis, would either go home and suffer the blows of their abusive parents or beg for a job working as serving wenches at the "Warriors Honor" in Athlum.

Next Time on Endure This! Run!

• Rush continues his search for Irina.
• Pagus gives Rush magic powers!
• Rebels Without a Clue!

Cutscenes!

• Rush meets the Gang
• Rush enters Athlum
• Rush gets a couple leads
• Oh hey, slavers!

Bonus Content!

Fanart(?) of David and his four generals in the throne room (don't worry, it's SFW).

Profile of Blocter:

Covered in hardened muscle, but a big softie at heart. Sees David as a brother.

Blocter comes from a race of overgrown, walking shrimp-people known as Yama. He's not the only one you'll come across, but as you might guess, Yama are mostly big hulking tanks in this game, though some can also learn to use traps and herbs in their work.

I was thinking of making this "Part 3a," but instead decided I'll do the part about the Robelia Ruins later. It's also reminded me that I should take more screenshots of normal battles to provide some perspective, but it is a bit difficult to do at the same time as holding a controller, especially when trigger chances start popping up. We'll see.