Escape On Thera

>Fitan: The typical sort of thing for this kind situation happens: shaky stomach, becoming completely tongue-tied,vision blurred by pink borders and fluttering cartoon hearts, birdsong with no birds present, the works.

Y-You feel like being graced by the presence of goddess Rodona! She is beautiful, she is strong, she is...



Utterly incompatible with you.

Better nip it in the bud. It would never work between you. You two are too different to be together.

SpoilerShow

Te'arka: "Hey, are you alright? You look funny."
Fitan: "Huh, what?"
Te'arka: "Can you heal? You might want to do something about your eye."
Fitan: "O-oh, yeah..."

> Recall what you know about Dardans.

Well, they're big, strong, and got scales on their backs. Most of the ones you've seen back home were either workers or hired muscle accompanying nobles and merchants who wanted to barter with your family. They're also Ormos, which means their children don't hatch from eggs, and... you think they eat bugs?

Look, you've never really met a Dardan face to face before because you've always seen them with their helms on all the time, and they often tend to keep to themselves, so...

I guess it's actually a good idea to go and ask Te'arka about it.

> Heal your injuries and tell Te'arka that she looks way too cuddly for someone her size.

W-what!? You can't tell her that! She'll toss you into a wall... a second time!

You will heal up a bit though. Your eye really stings.

(Fitan heals 7 HP)

Ask Te'arka
>What is this place?
>What happened here?
>Why is there a facility underground?
> who are you supposed to rescue?

SpoilerShow

Fitan: "Hey, I've never met a Dardan face to face before. Is it true that you people like to live in caves and eat bugs?"
Te'arka: "..."
Fitan: "..."
Te'arka: "...yes."
Fitan: "Sooo... uhm... what is this place?"
Te'arka: "All I know is that this is supposed to be some old human facility that's been abandoned. Probably dealing with crystals. Other than that, not my business."
Fitan: "You said you were supposed to rescue someone?"
Te'arka: "Either that, or retrieve their remains. We were supposed to look for the human, or anyone who worked directly under him."
Te'arka: "They've been lost in here for a while now, so we're not even sure if they're alive. The worst thing is that the Warden bleeds static wherever they go, so i can't even contact Kochi or any of my squad mates."

>Examine tattered posters.

They seem to be advertisement posters of some kind. This one seems to be for eyewear. It says:

"Experience the ultimate in Augmented Reality with the Luxavision Glasses.

owned by Clearbright Industries Incorporated. Building a crystal clear future for all."

Honestly this thing's just tacky as hell, and what kind of clothes are those?

And here's another one:



"Hoppy Hamburgers! Sure to make anyone jump for joy!


Crickey Mart a subsidiary of Clearbright Industries Incorporated. Building a crystal clear future for all."

Your stomach starts to grumble again. Looking at that poster's just made you even more famished than anything.

> Ask Te'arka if she has any food to share, or knows where food can be found.

SpoilerShow

Fitan: "Hey uh, Te'arka, don't suppose you have some food on you, do you? Maybe a Hoppy Hamburger?"
Te'arka: "That slop of imitation bug meat? I wouldn't even touch it! Besides, I don't carry food with me in case some Aethertouched gets a whiff and finds me."
Fitan: "Agh, well... uh, thanks anyway."

>Examine things on shelves.
> Find both, useful, useless and unidentifiable items.

You decide to scour the shelves if there might be any comestibles around. However, all you find are a bunch of other things instead.

You find:

• Dehydrated pellets
  
• Cleaning supplies
  
• A huge hunk of metal made of intricate parts. It's got a black mirror on it.
  
• A disassembled human mannequin (TWELVE'S ABOVE, THAT'S CREEPY!)
  
• A bunch of spent crystals, utterly useless save for throwing. (These things should've long been returned to the Mothercrystal.)
  
• Some kind of dart gun and some ammunition.
  
• A weird fleshy mass suspended in liquid. (THIS IS EVEN CREEPIER!)
  
• A crystal ball (You're not sure what this is for)
  
• A box full of squigly, light and foamy material
  
• A dead fake animal filled with fluff and button eyes. (You're pretty sure that's what they're called)
  
• A strange machine with a winding neck and an equally long head. It looks like it needs a charge.
  

All the boxes have Clearlight Industry's logo all over the place. What the heck is this place anyway?

Te'arka chimes in and mentions that you might want to find a weapon.

>start prepping one of the Fire crystals you got from that monster

Remembering that you have a handful of fire crystals, you grab the pouch and pick a decent-sized crystal. Though most of them seem too small be used for anything but perhaps an explosive charge, you find one that you can buff and polish into a decent-looking Fire Essence, sweet!



This new essence has the following abilities:

- Hot Shot - throw a fireball (1 charge)
- Fiery Charge - surround yourself with flames and charge at the enemy (1 charge per cast, 3 HP per active turn)

And both you and Te'arka can equip this Essence.

SpoilerShow

Te'arka: "Huh, I didn't peg you as someone who knows how to make an Essence, consider me surprised."
Fitan: "Eh, I'm not that good, compared to the rest of my family. My uncle often scolds me for not being able to sand them till they shine."
Te'arka: "Your family makes Essences?"
Fitan: "Yeah, we're a family of conduit-makers. Though I guess they're gone now. A bunch of lowlives swept in and either killed or captured everyone including me and my sis. We escaped, and I guess we got separated? I found out that she ended up at Alba, and... I ended up here."
Te'arka: "Huh, that's quite a story."
Fitan: "Actually, I think there was something else... something important."
Te'arka: "Can't remember it?"
Fitan: "I can't... my memory's hazy. The last thing I remember was I was talking to someone. Someone who's a huge pain on my tail."
Te'arka: "You're certainly a bag of surprises. Speaking of, may I borrow that Essence? I can probably make real good use of that."

Speaking of, you might as well check your shared inventory: