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Gossip
Royotia
- Passionate Miner: "Royotian merchants are getting frustrated with Balterossa... they control all of their trade routes. An' that's the story!"
- Bartender: "Harumph harumph...harumph! Balterossa... I've never been there. ...Wonder what it's like."
- Passionate Miner: "... Are you serious?"
Balterossa
- Bartender's Daughter: "Royotian merchants are getting frustrated with Balterossa... they control all of their trade routes. That's the latest news, daddy."
- Bartender: "Irate merchants, huh... Beloved daughter, if some merchant tries to pick a quarrel with you, call Daddy at once, alright?"
- Bartender's Daughter: "A-Alright..."'
Elysion
- Mysterious Part-Timer: "Balterossa is the sole buyer of all of Royotia's trade goods. There are countless merchants who aren't too happy with the situation. Interesting, huh?"
- Bartendress: "I'm sure they're being resold at a reasonable price, unlike the inflated price tags the merchants would put on them."
- Mysterious Part-Timer: "...You just made enemies with every merchant in the world."
Inside Athlum's pub:
- Ambitious Merchant: "You know Balterossa, right? It's the trade city in the middle of the Great Sand Sea. It's an important hub on the way from the mining city of Royotia. Pretty much all goods going from Royotia pass through Balterossa. From these, they go on to Elysion, them all over the continent. After all that, by the time they make it all the way here to Athlum, goods from Royotia have a pretty heavy markup. So, we've started talks for making a trade route from Balterossa straight to Athlum. We even hired a guy to map out the exact route. But the surveyor's giving us a little trouble... You know the Jhana, right? Annoying, but no big deal? Well, they are to him. He says he's not going in there without a bodyguard. So, if you're looking to pick up a little pocket change..."
- Rush: "Sorry, don't care!"
- Ambitious Merchant: "Bah, whatever. Not like you're not gonna take advantage of the lower prices once they make the route, huh? Damned kids."
- or:
- Rush: "Sure, sounds interesting."
- Ambitious Merchant: "Alright, head to the Gaslin Caves. If you enter and take the first path on your right, you'll see the proposed route to the Grand Sand Sea. You've just gotta protect the surveyor from the Jhana, okay?"
Once we're inside Gaslin...
- Surveyor: "Thank you for coming. Rush, is it? Now that you're here, we can start the survey. I don't need you to do anything special! I'll make certain this route will take us to the exit, and you make sure we get there in one piece. If we run into any Jhana, I'm no use to anyone. So just tell me what to do, alright? I leave myself in your hopefully capable hands. "
Now we'll have to make a series of decisions and end up either in battle or battle-free.
- Surveyor: "I've got a bad feeling about this... It looks like there's something up ahead! What should we do?"
- Rush: "Wait, I'll check it out."
- Surveyor: "Ahh... Guess I'm just a little jumpy. Better safe than sorry, I always say!"
- or:
- Rush: "Go on, I got you covered."
- Surveyor: "Gyaaah!!!" (Ooops, Jhana got him...)
- Surveyor: "There's a fork in the path... Which way should we go? I swear there's Jhana to the right..."
- Rush: "Let's head right."
- Surveyor: "Huh, I guess it's on patrol. Lucky us!"
- or:
- Rush: "Let's head left."
- Surveyor: "Aughhh!!!" (Again?)
- Surveyor: "Wait, stop. I got chills all down my back... There's something up ahead, I know it. What do we do?"
- Rush: "Wait, I'll take care of it."
- Surveyor: "Phew... Looks like the coast is clear."
- or:
- Rush: "Go on, I got your back."
- Surveyor: "Graaaaugh!!!" (Remind me, who let him go?)
- Surveyor: "There are totally Jhana around here! But I'm pretty sure left leads to a dead end... Where should we go?"
- Rush: "Let's head right."
- Surveyor: "Geh - noooo!!" (First-answer-rule just failed.)
- or:
- Rush: "Let's head left."
- Surveyor: "Phew, we slipped past them. Good thing we went this way!"
- Surveyor: "Looks like they're setting up an ambush! What do we do? I mean, I only see one of them..."
- Rush: "Let's take 'em on!"
- Surveyor: "Oho! What a wimp! Once it saw us - er, specifically, you - it ran with its tail between its legs!"
- or:
- Rush: "Let's wait and see."
- Surveyor: "Geh - noooo!!" (Be a kickass, kill them...)
- Surveyor: "The exit should be just ahead, but instead of feeling better, I've got a horrible feeling that something super-creepy is lurking just around the next corner...!" (psychic or what...?)
- Rush: "Wait, I'll take care of it."
- And we get Jhanas before our qsiti has time to say anything.
- or:
- Rush: "Go on, I got your back."
- Surveyor: "Oh! Ahahah, guess it was nothing. Who knew?"
Finally, we're out of the caves and into the Great Sand Sea
- Surveyor: "Thank you, thanks a lot! We were right - this path did come all the way through to the Great Sand Sea! I'll go straight to Balterossa from here. You've really helped this time - this survey was a success. Here, for you. (Ore, yay!) The Great Sand Sea is an integral part of the world's commerce. Cross the desert, and even you can find some great new things. Later!"
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