[X] Follow Yuna into the basement. Offer advice if you have any.
[X] On the way show Yuna the Grief Seeds:
-[X] And ask him if he can use them in the Carronade. Try to bring out a Witch if necessary.
-[X] And ask him to make a mini-Carronade for you.
You tap your lips as you dismiss the gun entirely - granted, there's a non-zero chance it could be better than your danmaku, and you could potentially lend it to someone else … but really, why would you bother? A mini-Carronade, though, that at least has potential. You scoff at yourself as you realize you've managed to talk yourself into leaving Astana standing for a little longer. Well, at least you're learning something new and sort of interesting! You grin at Yuna and hop onto the torture platform.
"Sure! Do we ride this down?" Ershin stares at you, expressionless as ever. Deis is probably wondering why you haven't started killing everything yet. Well, this is something interesting, so you can wait an hour or two!
"If it is possible, I will stay aboveground," it says, and you nod.
"Of course, of course. And General Rhun - I assume you have some duty or other you were seeing to? If I have need of your assistance, I shall call for you." Yuna bows graciously, and you suppress a laugh. The fox-man doesn't strike you as treacherous, per se, but he's hardly an ally. He's a lot like Patchouli, really - it's important to listen to what he isn't saying, as much as what he is.
"Yes. Some whelks need to be prepared, and Captain Ursula will be leaving in the morning." He nods curtly at Yuna, then turns to Ershin. "I can have some guards take you to a place where you won't be bothered. Please, come with me." They file out, leaving you alone with the uncanny advisor. He tilts his head at you.
"Ah, I'm sorry, but that shaft does not lead to where we need to go. If you will follow me, please?" You pout a little, but follow him as he descends into a labyrinth of passageways. You fish around for a random Grief Seed as you walk.
"Yuna? Is it possible to make the Carronade smaller?" He turns to look at you, frowning.
"Smaller? Certainly, but there would be a massive loss in range, and if you made it reasonably portable, you wouldn't be able to use a sacrifice." You grin and hold the Grief Seed out to him.
"What if you used one of these to fuel it?" He stops and takes the small black object from you, frowning as he examines it. "It's something called a 'Grief Seed' - the crystallized egg of a monster that basically is a Hex incarnate. They're formed from a particular sort of magician, and I tested it a little in Chamba - it started taking in the hex there." His eyes narrow as he glances between you and the Grief Seed, then he sighs and holds it back for you to take.
"If that does contain a mass of human suffering, then certainly it should be possible to calibrate the Carronade to fire using it … and it should also be possible to create a hand-held version that is capable of using the … Grief Seed … as a sacrifice. However, it would require quite some time - several weeks, I think, at least - and my own project is coming along quite nicely." Your voice drops menacingly.
"You don't believe me, do you? Shall I bring out a Witch and let it torment you?" He stumbles back, then drops to his knees, bowing in supplication.
"Please! I am a pacifist and a man of the arts!" You continue to glare at him, and his tail sweeps behind his knee. "I believe you - certainly, I can sense your power, although it is different from that of the other Endless I've encountered. I simply cannot sense anything within the Grief Seed, and the Carronade is a … temperamental device. Calibrating it is a difficult process, and that could only happen once a thorough understanding of the nature of the creature you call a Witch has been attained!" You relax, and the tension drains out of Yuna as well.
"Yes … you would need to study it, and you're only human, after all." You return the Grief Seed to its resting place and smile at him. "Well, shall we go on? I am interested in your experiment, after all!" His smile returns, and while he moves more cautiously than before, you don't notice any changes that would indicate a trap.
Eventually, you reach a large laboratory-like room. Pipes go to seemingly-random locations, and there are a number of pits over which you walk. Some of them have monsters inside - more of those strange twisted creatures from Chamba, snakelike creatures, hulking lizard-creatures with humanoid upper bodies, and some … things. Five or more eyeballs on stalks, gaping mouths, huge stumpy legs, and bushy tails. Some empty pits have a large suit of animate armor looking over it; every pit that has a monster in it has at least two guardian golems. "Pay them no mind; they're simply fuel for the experiment." Shrugging, you continue along the path.
"So what is the experiment?" You might have something to add, after all, but if you don't know what it is ….
"As I said earlier, the main problem with using hexes is that the sacrifice is simply too frail to survive more than one firing, and monsters that can survive multiple firings either do not generate the concentration of suffering and hatred necessary, or else blow it back into the Carronade. I've spent quite some time preparing and researching methods of solving this quandary, and recently begun to put that research into practice." He ducks into a small side room, but you run into something when you try to follow. "Ah, I'll be just a moment. That's simply a barrier to keep Endless out of this room." He smiles at you and walks over to a sword-rack on the far wall. You tap at the barrier with your finger - it feels as brittle as glass, and while that doesn't necessarily mean it's only that tough, you're certain you could break through it without too much trouble. You peer at the sword he carries out of the room.
"What's so special about that sword that you keep it locked away?"
"It's a sword that kills gods," he says cheerfully, and you frown at him as he holds it out for you to examine. "I'm not sure what to call it; some of the guards have taken to calling it 'Dragonslayer,' but that's such a … an unimaginative name." You put your hand on the hilt and start to draw it, but something about it feels wrong. And then you hear the shrieking, wild and insane, and you shove the sword back into the scabbard and leap back. Yuna stares at you in surprise once he recovers from being shoved into the wall. "Is something the matter?" You take a moment to relax; most things don't frighten you, not so quickly, but that … something of power and madness is something you want to avoid.
"It … it's screaming," you tell him, and his eyes widen.
"Indeed? After all this time, it's still screaming." He chuckles softly to himself and continues along the path. "I don't think the sword will be necessary, but if we need to … trim things … it will be useful."
"What do you mean, "still" screaming?" You frown at his back. Is he really so deaf that he can't hear it beating at his skull?
"Hmm …. Well, the sword was made from the head of a god. It screamed, even as I studied it, and then I had it smashed to pieces and forged into a blade. What better to kill a god than another god, after all? And if it's still screaming, well …." Yes, he definitely sounds far too much like Patchouli for your liking. He leads you up, and you see that you're on the far side of the laboratory from earlier … and from this vantage, you can see a massive fleshy tail lying against the wall. It spasms and lashes out at the ceiling, shaking the structure. Yuna sighs happily. "… It's still growing, of course. I'm not sure when it will stop. But you see, some time ago, after the truce, the elder princess of Wyndia went travelling on a good-will trip, visiting battlegrounds and meeting veterans and orphans. It was such a marvelous opportunity! Because hexes are more powerful the greater the connection, and Princess Elina was so beloved by the people everywhere in the Eastern Alliance, she could be used to power the Carronade, targeting anywhere we wished! Of course, we would only get one shot. Unless …." Up the stairs you go, to an area separated from the laboratory, and he leads you past four heavily-armored soldiers armed with spears and two unarmed men with bells and censers. You're pretty sure they're magicians of some kind. He leads you into a small, comfortably-furnished building, almost like a shrine. A winged woman - the Wyndian Princess Elina, you guess - thrashes and moans on the bed. Yuna walks up and throws off the blanket, revealing that her body below the waist seem to be … muscles, or organs, and they trail through the bed and below it. "Unless I turned her into a god! No longer a mortal, this is now an Endless, an immortal body that will be able to fuel as many shots from the Carronade as we need!" The woman shudders in pain and tears stream down her cheek. You can't really fault his methods - a cease-fire doesn't have the same restrictions a real peace does, and if Elina was wandering around without a proper escort, she deserved it - but on the other hand, it's not something worthy of any respect, either.
"And when you don't need her anymore, you have the sword to get rid of her," you say, and Yuna bows his head. Of course, it's a feeble immortality he's granting - a vampire would scoff at it, and even a fairy has enough sense to pity the woman. As your claw traces along her neck, you look, and there's her eye, as fragile-looking as any you've ever seen. Not that you're about to break her when you're standing right next to her - just because you'd survive the explosion doesn't mean you'd like it! She whimpers, shuddering, and there's a crashing sound from nearby.
"Oh, my! How much larger will you grow, I wonder? You're already merging with the foundation; soon you'll be growing out of the walls!" He seems positively excited, and you sigh inwardly. He's much too obsessed with himself, it seems. Then again, his plan is working, and it's elegantly simple - short of a completely out-of-context situation, it seems like it'll succeed, and you can't think of anything that could be improved. Perhaps it's time to begin your attack on Astana? And you can do something about that sword, too ….
What do you do?
[ ] Destroy Astana.
- [ ] Break Elina.
- [ ] Kill her with the Dragonslayer.
- [ ] Leave her alive.
- [ ] Use Elina to fire the Carronade.
- - [ ] At the Eastern Continent.
- - [ ] At the Imperial Capital.
[ ] Talk to Elina.
- About what?
[ ] Talk to Yuna.
- About what?
[ ] Break the Dragonslayer.
[ ] Bury the Dragonslayer.
[ ] Other?
