RGR011 - King Barr and the Gremlin Stick

North of Sidon, in a maze-like cave, I found the "Venus of the night" known as Hecate. But she's very sensitive to light, so she couldn't stand to have me anywhere near her. I hadn't realized it, but it looks like I actually give off a fair amount of light. Probably makes it hard to be stealthy.

In order to be able to handle my presence, she needed the Candle of Darkness, and she couldn't make a Candle of Darkness without the Night Drop. I took the hint and began my search for the Night Drop, which led me to the nearby Forest of Hinom. The forest was infested with huge, spiny growths, and they hurt. This made for some very tricky jumps, and I spent quite some time (and lives) trying to fight my way through. After navigating the spikes and a nifty area with an updraft that let me actually gain altitude in flight, I reached the boss.

Second Boss: Death Balloon

Death Balloon has a simple pattern: use evil magic vacuum power to try to suck in Firebrand, exhale horrible and strangely painful bubbles, then move to the other side of the screen and repeat. After such a difficult level, this easy boss battle seemed strangely out of place, and I was able to defeat Death Balloon on my first try without taking damage. With my victory, I gained the Night Drop, along with the Magic Buster, which allows me to break certain blocks.

I hurried back to Hecate, who wasted no time in snatching the Night Drop from my hands and setting to work in creating the Candle of Darkness. Once she had finished, she had me light the candle in the center of the room. When I did, everything went dark, and she began warping around the room, explaining that the Black Light is actually the King of Destruction's army, and that they were the ones who sealed away King Barr's powers. Finally, she revealed the location of the Gremlin Stick, which I would of course need to break that seal, and gave me the Wings of a Fallen Angel, a flight upgrade that would allow me to cross the Gaza Valley.

Or a pair of shades.

Why do people keep making fun of my wings?

Is that a moldy grape?

Yeah, a DEAD moldy grape.

I'm droppin' nights and bustin' a... magic.

I still say you should buy some shades.

Are you friends with Majorita?

These are much better than falcon wings!

With my new wings, I headed toward the Gaza Valley, which was yet another pathway across the river of flames that flows throughout the Ghoul Realm. Something didn't seem right, though, since no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't quite make it across the first jump. I'd jump from the very edge of the cliff, start flying at the apex of my jump, and I'd hit the lava one block short of the next platform. This got frustrating fast, so I explored for a bit to see if I was missing something, but there was nowhere else to go. I wasted countless lives on that one silly jump, and then decided to try flying in spurts as I crossed. Finally, I was able to make it across.

The Desert Sittem on the other side was a vast expanse of sand and almost nothing else, and the only place to go was a large palatial mansion of some sort. Inside the mansion, waterfalls of sand emptied into quicksand pits, and obnoxious little flying fish skeleton things chased me around as I avoided the spiked walls and floors. Thanks to the fact that the Magic Buster can fire two shots at a time, though, it was nothing I couldn't handle. I rushed through the mansion and confronted the boss inside.

Third Boss: Sand Frog

Part of the initial challenge of fighting the Sand Frog is identifying it, since it blends in with all the sand and sand-colored rocks. It's a pretty straightforward battle; the Sand Frog shoots a little fireball or two at you, maybe hops around a bit, and then launches itself headfirst toward you. But he's got a tell for that last move: he bobs back and forth a few times just before he does it, so once you've got the timing down, it's easy to dodge. I did die a few times before I figured out his pattern--I was on the last life of two different continues in the screenshots below--but he's easy enough once you get the hang of him.

Once I was finished with the Sand Frog, I exited the desert mansion with the Gremlin Stick in hand; I also gained the Magic Tornado, a special short-range projectile that creates little tornado-shaped platforms. But you can only have two on-screen at a time, and they dissipate after several seconds, so you don't want to rely too heavily on them. I brought the Gremlin Stick back to King Barr and used it on him, freeing him from the Black Light's magic seal, and he thanked me by upgrading my jumping ability and removing the barrier that blocked my progress earlier.

Firebrand looks so grumpy.

Wait, that wasn't supposed to happen.

Desert winds are bad for my... scales?

I'll ask someone here for a glass of water.

Can you spot the bad guy in this picture?

Yowza, that was close.

I've got sand between my toes.

Oh yeah, the king! I almost forgot!

Of course I can do it. I'm awesome.

Help me, Obi-wan Firebrand.

My path to the King's Palace should be clear now. Let's hope the king isn't too miffed with me for taking so long.

Shouldn't the king have a more powerful title than all the other kings, like Emperor or something? It was less confusing when the guys in charge of the towns were called Barones.

Even if Barone isn't a word.