9. Side Story - Wanted: A Good Joke

I was gonna do Oresrush as its own update, but it's kinda small and there's not much to do, so I'm just gonna start lumping in the smaller cities into Side Story updates because why not.

Also I'm gonna start at night this time so I can get info first.

Seems big events happen every eight years with the Yellowil family. Anyway, Papp's definitely come a long way.

A lot of these fellas are too tough to beat info out of, so we'll have to come back to them.

I take in horses who've lost their masters or are injured in war, and see they're well cared for. But it's no easy task. You need to understand the equine heart to truly care for them. If you meet anyone with those skills, I'd be grateful if you could introduce them to me.

I have the feeling this will come up for a later Side Story.

Oof.

At least this ring is a nice +200 Max HP. I throw it on Partitio.

Sometimes you don't need to Coerce someone to learn about them. She's clearly not one to mess with.

Giff seems to be taking the working life better than expected.

There's a northern part of town where the Foundry is.

I can't risk you damagin' my, eh, lawfully procured goods.

We'll have to come back to this lovely fella once we can knock his butt out.

That's basically all of Oresrush for night. Let's see how lively it is during the day!

Oresrush, Pioneer Town

The people here aren't too exciting during the day either.

I buy a few cheap concoction ingredients though. I'm holding off on bigger shopping sprees for now, plus I get the feeling we won't be needing to do too much shopping...

Of course, a lot of these folk are day-only so we can't glean info from them right now. This fella does have a decent spear upgrade though.

I'm really curious what this woman's deal is. She's so chipper, and seems to know Partitio well.

Unsurprisingly there's a lot of incidental dialogue for certain path actions, such as Purchase.

Anyway, that's roughly it for Oresrush. I'm sure we'll be back later to catch up on some things, but for now let's get another Side Story out of the way.

I've tried all my favorite gags already, and she didn't so much as giggle! I'm sure one of my best friends'll have something that'll have her slappin' her knee... But I can't ask 'em! It'll be embarrassin' to admit I ain't funny enough! Hmm... Wonder if there's a good joke just layin' 'round here?

So our mission today is to help Joe woo somebody by collecting jokes for him.

As he said, his friends might be a good source of comedy, so let's check up on them.

Oresrush, Pioneer Town (Night)

I DEMAND YOUR JOKE.

See that girl over there? Lately, I've had my eye on her. So I decided to become a thief and steal her pretty little heart.

I, uh, don't know how this will help, but OK. Let's see if we can improve on this...

CONFESS YOUR COMEDY.

I didn't have enough leaves for a night on the town, so I thought I'd sell some ol' junk. I go up to my wife, and say, "Hey, darlin'! Do you have any useless ol' things you wanna get rid of?"

Ahahahaha! My wife, she's a riot, I tell you! She knew I was just lookin' for some spare change to waste on partyin', so she let me have it!

Harry seems to really love this joke for some reason. Again, I have no clue how this will help Joe, but, uh...

...surely the best was saved for last?

ENTERTAIN ME, OR ELSE.

I once knew a man who couldn't refuse any job, no matter how demeanin'. So one day, I asked him, "Who can't you just shake your head and say no?"

...HA HA HA HA! Hilarious, right?

Oh dear. This is what we have to work with. Clearly Temenos didn't beat them hard enough.

No? Oh, sorry 'bout that, then. I guess it's just Joe who's desperate for a giggle.

Honestly, I lucked out in Coercing her, as she is pretty strong.

And here's Joe, for good measure.

Oresrush, Pioneer Town

Anyway, we've clearly failed in our mission. But if Joe is as smooth as he thinks he is, maybe he can salvage all of this into something usable.

Ahaha! Those three always knew how to make me laugh! I loved all of those stories!

This is my last laugh, promise! I combined four people's worth of fun and made a real hooter!

...And? Your point? That doesn't make a lick of...

The more I think 'bout it, the less sense it--dahahaha! It's so absurd, it's somehow funny!

...I will say, Joe probably did the best he could with that material. Whether he's an aburdist comedic genius or brilliantly inept, I don't think I'll ever know.

It's not a silly laugh! It's the loveliest laugh I've ever heard!

...Thanks.

That said, Joe seems a legit good guy, even if his humor is kinda out there.

H-hey! What're you fellas doin' here!?

You did it, Joe! You came up with a knee-slapper!

Well, I think our work here is done.

The reward isn't major, but it's a decent chunk of spending money and a nice stat boost. And also we got two people together through the magic of comedy, and isn't that reward enough?