A Sensational City



It's finally time we explore New Delsta. It's a pretty large city with quite a lot of NPCs, so might as well give it its own update as we learn more about its citizens, and more importantly, their belongings.





The pains of accurate time-keeping.



The hidden item is just "Spear", which is a small upgrade over the starting stuff but no match for the War Glaive we picked up earlier. Good secondary spear I guess.





There's a trio of aspiring theater youths that have a different passion each.





...as well as a different person they're passionate about.





And of course, they all want to work with the person who wants nothing to do with them, ignoring the person who does want to work with them.



My grandfather caught one and let me have a bite. I'll never forget the taste. It took me to heaven and back!



Sometimes it's the simplest of things we most cherish.



There's a lot of cheap stuff around, but nothing really of note.





She's going to be a joy when she's older...





Meanwhile, I get the feeling we won't want to tussle with this tutor, though I have no one that can fight her during the day so it's kinda irrelevant for now.





Alas, sometimes your true passion doesn't pay the bills.





There's always that one extra detail that makes an NPC stand out. She's a passionate book reader, but she's also stuck in an arranged marriage that may disrupt her desires. Who knows how this one will turn out.





Uh



Uhhhhhhh





It's always good to be passionate about eggs.





Sometimes the people who open doors are the most closed of all.





What a wonderful person.

Remind me to stab him later.



I can't believe I passed up the chance to get my hands on something so rare... There's a special stone you can buy in the Wildlands, you see. Just holding it is supposedly enough to fill you with energy!



That's certainly a unique collection...





Of course, his only possession is an Olive of Life.



CAT





Imagine being a merchant with that little self-confidence. That can't be good for business!





This is a nice clothing upgrade though!





We'll have to get by him later, I guess.





That's the main part of the city, now let's explore the backstreets, which are significantly less glamorous.





Like this guy, who you can pay to beat up. No thanks, we prefer to beat up people for free.



I will buy a sympathy rock from him though.





And some of these situations are just dire.





You can never have too many revenge stories in this game.



He has a Soulstone and could use some food money, so I figured I'd throw some money his way.



Also he probably shouldn't be hiding this in a graveyard.





Someone has to remember the forgotten.





It can be difficult to find any sort of peace in the world, so when do you find it, you'll want to hold on to it as long as you can.



We've got a run-down bar over here, though it's not as active during the day.





It's probably not very profitable to get paid in beer for your labor, but it must feel nice.





In such a seedy element, being a guard that can keep their mouth shut must be a great asset. Plus, you know, it means not being killed for sharing things that aren't supposed to be shared.





It's a nice gesture for sure, but feels rather shortsighted a solution.







Yeah, I'm not touching that one.

A Sensational City (Night)



There's more to explore, like the Blacksnakes Game Corner, but we can visit that another time. For now, let's enjoy the New Delsta night life.





Seems as apt a way as any to investigate odd going-ons.



That Charm Rod is weak, but that Antique Coin is probably worth a few leaves.





Naturally, I once again do a lot of Mugging and Coercing. Elemental Barrage is great since it does a lot of damage and can shred shields with some luck.



...What am I doing? Vocal training, of course. Dolcinaea isn't here yet.



Dolcinaea is one of the most famous stars of New Delsta, and we'll learn more about her a good bit later.



Also why did learning about this woman being obnoxious lead us to this bottle of poison?



And what's with all the cakes?





Some people aren't made out for the mercantile life.





Just like this fellow wasn't meant for the combat life.



I could not crack this woman due to her obscene number of shields and lack of weaknesses. Nothing worth mugging either.





I do collect some curios of my own, courtesy of a rather generous donation by another esteemed collector.





It must feel awkward to save someone's life because you were scoping out their place for valuables to steal. But at least he did save her life, so that's something.





Lots of vendor fodder around here. If leaves were an issue before, they certainly aren't now!





There's a lot of brothel workers around the area, and they're all rather good at their jobs in one way or another.



Can't do any path actions with her for whatever reason.





Meanwhile, these two are too tough for me to coerce and mug. And the guy guarding the stairs is too high-level to Ambush.





...I can see why.





Nothing like a restaurant built with blood. Possibly literally if he's that bad a cook.





Somebody has to create scents. It's a shame there's no Scentmaker job, or Lamp Inspector, or whatever other job we can change to.



We have another trio trying to change the world, though they're pretty tough and difficult to coerce.





This fellow can be beat up easily and has a rare Jam we can get. It may come in handy later!



Otherwise, nothing else we can do here.



Again, very strong and outclasses us.





You want to experience true tragedy?



Much better.



Back to the back streets.





In case you want to understand what fighting a seven-star character is like, well, there you go. Even if we somehow get lucky on a turn, large level differences affect accuracy so much that we won't land enough hits until we die. So basically, a lot of this background info will have to wait until later.







The bar isn't too bad at night.





Yeah, I certainly wonder what this is about.



We knocked this guy out before, but now we can get dirt on the people inside.







There are things leaves can't buy. For example, there's not enough leaves in the world you could pay me to not punch this guy in the face and take his valuables.





Uh, well, good luck with that.





She does have a really nice knife upgrade, if nothing else.





Of course, a lot of these brothel workers have much loftier ambitions, and are using their positions to achieve them.





And with that, I think we've gotten a good idea of the people of this city. A lot of glitz and glamour that mask a lot of terrible problems. So you know, like any other city.

Next time, we take a look into the wonderful world of gambling.