Final Fantasy Gibbon-style

[lathany]

It's been a good weekend. bateleur's sister Josie was over on Saturday evening for twin-visiting, dinner and conversation. She's currently settling back in London and bateleur's has already commented on this.

On Sunday, chrestomancy ran a game for zandev, ao_lai, Frances, bateleur and myself. And the theme was Final Fantasy.

The first thing that must have immediately struck the GM was how a bunch of FF geeks can really game-reference gratuitously (apologies to Frances who, to her credit, did not freak out and run away screaming once the rest of us got started).

We chose names to go on the top of our pre-prepared snazzy character sheets :

zandev - Sirroco (but without a tail, although he considered it),
ao_lai - Cid (there had to be one, after all)
Frances - Topaz (after much consultations and a few suggestions that she took Beatrix as a role model)
bateleur - Klondike (think Steiner)
Myself - Iona (the party's female mage, of course)

Then chrestomancy handed out these wonderful little cards he had made with weapons and equipment (I got the staff, of course), items (I received two potions, Sirroco got some phoenix downs and I think some of the others also had potions), spells (I got Blizzard and Fire), abilities (I was given Focus) and limit breaks (mine was Spellstrike).

We then started the endless list of game references :

"We all walk into Iona and disappear"
"Are there any exits marked ?"
"I want to find the Items shop !"
"Can we see any chests ?"
"Maybe he's going to give us an obscure item and we'll have to find the other eleven"

Music came from disc one of the Final Fantasy VII soundtrack (chosen because we didn't want to faff with disc changes and it's the one with the 'fight' music and 'boss' music on it). And we happily started in Arcana. The opening credits ended to find me in the magician's tower being given a small task by my tutor, the kindly Professor Herfall.

I was to take a letter to Galant (Queen Eloise's consort). He had gone to Eastfield (also in the Kingdom), so I was assigned four guards by Captain Heart to go with me. So I opened the nearest chest, picked up my belongings from it and then walked down the stairs to the barracks.

Captain Heart immediately assigned the guards (the four above, of course) and then we left Arcana (despite Sirroco's best attempts to go shopping first).

We switched to the 'World Map' view and followed the road to Eastfield. We met a group of chocobo rangers who informed us that we would be safe enough if we stuck to the road. There was a brief discussion about detouring to get some experience, but we eventually decided that we didn't know what level the monsters off the path would be and (mindful of Squall's experiences with the Tyrannosaurus Rex in Balamb Garden) we were good PCs and stuck to the road (which was genuinely monster-free).

When we arrived at Eastfield it was obvious that something was wrong. The shops were closed (which prompted much wailing from Sirroco and Cid) and everyone seemed to be working on a large cathedral - made to worship Alexander (who is the FF9 version with wings). Initial attempts to find Galant failed. It turned out that he had received a letter (from a Faeall - furry beings with cat eyes) and headed off in the direction of Passtown. However, he had spoken to the mayor before leaving and consequently we made an appointment to see if the mayor could tell us any more.

In the meantime, the cathedral drew the party's attention (in a 'no other points of interest in this town' FF sort of way). Conversations revealed that someone was sabotaging the work and that this had meant the entire town was now building it (Galant had initially come here to find the saboteur). Then when we saw the effects of the sabotage (a crane fell on a glass-cutting machine), Klondike found a clockwork sparrow whilst Topaz realised that the workers were moving in a very co-ordinated, non-human fashion. Not to mention that the architect was giving out orders (on paper) which seemed to be printed in a strange short-hand of numbers and exact angles.

We stayed at the inn (about the only thing in town still open) and talked to the innkeeper's wife and her husband (who turned out to be the foreman). After hearing them initially avoiding the questions, Topaz started a heavy interrogation and they consequently revealed that the entire town was turning into robots (including the animals). It turned out to be Tom himself (the foreman) who was trying to sabotage the project as he believed that it was the cause of all the mutations. He also explained that the architect (Norton) was taking the building instructions from a computer which was placed in the centre of the cathedral where the altar should be.

We're PCs, so we went out that night to investigate. Firstly we found a little blonde girl (who had been hurling mudballs at Klondike and Cid earlier in the day) and paid her (fifty gil !!!) to tell us how to get into the building site (which was now under armed guard). We followed her directions and got in... and into our first fight.

Three of us (we can fight as a party of five, but only three of us were inside by then) against two guards. Then we re-grouped, got inside the actual cathedral and fought another four guards.

Then we investigated the altar. Sure enough it was a computer. However, lifting up the cloth was enough to trigger off... our first boss fight. The computer (and its nasty fast, magical attacks) was joined by a couple of animal machines and the party had a real problem on its hands (not least because we needed to be higher level). However, several limit breaks later (plus a judicious use of potions and phoenix downs) and we won ! We collected the spoils of battle (items and gil) and then ran for it, 'cos the cathedral was falling down.

Back out in the town of Eastfield, the majority of the inhabitants had fallen over and were shaking in a kind of 'short-circuited' way. But Norton the architect was fine and still, obviously, human. So we knew he was the bad guy and chased him. A lot.

We finally caught him attempting to jump the outer wall (from the roof). I cast Blizzard at him and he fell in a fatal sort of way. He was holding a jewel which the party duly took to ask Professor Herfall about when we got back to Arcana.

Now we just have to find Galant...



Now I'm done I had better let the box-watcher and her brother see Teletubbies, or I could be in real trouble.

Comments

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

[sp: Klondike]

And you forgot to mention how I gloriously killed off the big Mecha Boss with my gunblade despite having barely hit anything all combat !

[lathany.livejournal.com]

Spelling now corrected...

[chrisvenus]

That sounds like a very cool game. :)