RGR009 - Awakenings

Such an epic bridge!

Wow, bummer.

Well, it took a few trips, but we finally managed to work our way through the cave and found the Dream Ruby. Anne left a message for her mother--which was essentially a suicide note--with the ruby, so I guess she expected someone would eventually return it. We quickly returned to the elves' village, where everyone still feared and hated us, and took the ruby to the queen.

Upon learning of her daughter's passing, the queen finally realized the error of her ways, and did what she could to make things right by handing over the "Wake Up Powder" (seriously, no magic, just some powder) so we could awaken the people of Noaniels. She should have known something bad would happen if she tried to stand in the way of true love.

I guess elves don't watch a lot of movies.

Too late!

Fine, your loss.

Yeah, because that's all we humans do.

Even the horses hate humans!

Hindsight's 20/20, lady.

It's really just ground coffee.

Most of the newly-awakened people in Noaniels had nothing of interest to say, probably because they were a bit groggy after their years-long nap, but a couple of people talked about the Magic Key (which, you may recall, is needed to get to Portoga) and mentioned that it may be in Assaram.

Heh, I woke them all up at night.

Am I being led again?

Yep, I thought so.

English isn't your first language, is it?

Back to Assaram it is, then. We can probably handle the enemies out there now. Probably.

RGR009 - Pain Cave

Since we really had nothing better to do, we decided to check out the conspicuous cave near the elves' village. Just as we expected, the enemies there were somewhat tougher than those outside, and were worth a bit more experience. The first floor of the cave was simple enough, with only one side passage leading to anything other than a single treasure chest; that passage actually looped around and led back to the first floor anyway.

After collecting some gold and items and learning about a healing spring in the cave, we headed down a couple of staircases, and ran into said spring. The path leading to it forced us to walk around the perimeter of the spring, which of course made using the spring a little risky, since the enemies were becoming stronger as we ventured deeper in. And sure enough, two steps away from the center of the healing spring, we were attacked by a party of enemies capable of both significantly lowering our defense (Madhounds), and putting us to sleep (Deadly Toadstools). And like clockwork, Theron died. Two steps away from the healing spring.

To make matters worse, after the rest of us healed up, a short walk brought us face to face with yet another party of Madhounds and Deadly Toadstools. And, as if they had suddenly figured out our weakness, the Madhounds stripped us of our defensive power, and the Deadly Toadstools put us to sleep, and kept us asleep, until they managed to KILL ALL OF US. We never even got a chance to fight back.

Creepy.

Yay, another cave.

I hope it's on the way to the ruby.

This could get bloody.

Is that a euphemism?

Warning: incoming irony!

I can't see leveling up helping us much in a fight like that, so I guess we'll just give it another go and see if we have better luck. At least we know to get rid of the Deadly Toadstools first.

If we even get a chance to attack, that is.

RGR009 - Hail to the King

With our heads hung in shame, and our bag of gold considerably lighter thanks to the wicked expensive resurrection fees the healers are charging these days, we set out for a rematch with Kandar. He was waiting, with his henchmen, in exactly the spot he was standing when he massacred us. The second battle went much more smoothly, with Theron surviving not only long enough to cast Bang three times, but the entire fight! We concentrated our attacks on the henchmen this time, since they had fewer hit points, and would therefore die more quickly. Then we hacked away at Kandar until he went down, and won enough experience points that everyone gained a level.

Let's try this again...

Well, since you said please, okay.

We agreed to let Kandar go in exchange for the crown, a decision I hope we don't end up regretting. We then returned to Romaly Castle, where the king was so happy to have his crown back that he handed over the throne to me. Yep, just like that. I could choose to say no, but he'd just ask again, so I didn't REALLY have a choice.

As the king, I wandered around alone and talked to everyone in the castle, most of whom just said things like "Wow, it's a king!" and "You're the king? That's dumb!", so there weren't many interesting screenshot opportunities lurking around.

He really just wants to go gamble.

WHEEE!!!

Uh, who are you again?

But he gave the crown back...

Jeez, man, it's my first day!

Jinkies? A clue?

But I'm hungry, and there's NO FOOD HERE.

Sure you are, degenerate.

Being the king got old fast, so I went looking for the former king. I found him in the monster battle gambling arena, presumably doing things not befitting of royalty. I eventually convinced him that, as a hero, I had more important things to do than rule a kingdom. So he returned to the throne, my party reassembled, and we prepared to head back out on our journey.

I told you he just wanted to gamble.

But you totally did.

Now then, there's the little matter of the town of Noaniels. Remember Noaniels? The nearby elves put the entire town to sleep because an elven princess named Anne fell in love with a human, and took their prized Dream Ruby with her when she ran away with him, yadda yadda yadda. I think we can smooth things over by getting the ruby back, and I've got a feeling it's in that cave just outside the elves' village.

And you know I can't wait to venture into some strange cave.

RGR009 - Back on Track

With a good night's sleep in us, we ventured back to Romaly and headed north. Our current mission, as directed by the king of Romaly, is to retrieve his Golden Crown, which was stolen by a thief named Kandar. Word among the people is that Kandar is currently hiding out in the Tower of Shanpane, west of the village of Kanave. We also learned of a town to the north of Kanave called Noaniels, where elves used some sort of magic to put everyone to sleep.

Yeah, this looks more like it.

He'd better be.

That works out pretty well then.

NO! I'm in the middle of a quest.

Of course, we just HAD to investigate. So instead of going west toward the tower, we headed north, where we eventually came upon the town of Noaniels. As expected, everyone in the town (except for one old man) was sleeping. Sleeping standing up. It was creepy. Next we went west to search the forest for signs of the elves, which we found in the form of a small patch of brush among the trees. There was a cave nearby as well, but we weren't about to go anywhere near it.

The patch of brush was actually an elven village, where everyone either feared or hated us because we were human. The queen was especially rude, but she at least gave a reason as to why she might hate humans. As the story goes, the queen's daughter, Anne, fell in love with a human, and went to be with him. But for some reason, she took the elves' Dream Ruby with her, which is some sort of sacred treasure to them. So I can probably smooth things over with the elves by returning the Dream Ruby to them. But that'll have to wait.

*sigh* Fine, when I'm done with Kandar.

I really don't have time for this.

I spy some suspicious grass...

WOW RACIST

Having had enough verbal abuse from the elven queen, we turned back and made our way to the Tower of Shanpane. The enemies in the tower were roughly the same as those outside, with one or two new weak ones, so the trek to the top was fairly easy. There was some worry that the enemies would be stronger since we didn't reach the tower until night, but it would seem the night/day cycle doesn't affect towers.

On one of the upper floors, we encountered a very large door, which was a good sign that we were getting close to Kandar. The Thief's Key took care of the door, and we entered a room with statues and an out-of-place diamond patterned rug. Kandar had to be just beyond the stairs.

Finally!

You don't say.

Big door spells trouble.

What a tacky rug!

Well, not quite JUST beyond the stairs; Kandar and his men had set up a little area for sitting and chatting, and two of the henchmen were there. When they saw us, they started talking like movie gangsters from the '50s, and then fled to tell Kandar we were coming. We followed them up to the next floor, where Kandar himself was waiting for us. He continued the lame gangster talk, and then opened a conveniently-placed trap door that sent us back down to the sitting room.

By the time we made it back up, Kandar and his men had fled, though the only way they could've escaped was by jumping down a couple of floors. So we started after them, and found they hadn't gone far. Once we caught up, Kandar finally decided to fight. He and his men were stronger than we expected.

Who talks like that?

Seriously, who talks like that?

Yeah, bring it!

On second thought...

Needless to say, we got clobbered. It didn't help that all of Kandar's henchmen targeted Theron, who was the only one who could injure them all at once (Bang is a wonderful spell), and killed him in the first turn. Within a few turns, we were all done for. I believe we'd have fared better if Theron could have survived the first or even second turn. Maybe next time.

RGR009 - Wrong Turn

During our most recent bout of leveling up and saving money to buy better equipment, we decided to set out for the next town to see if the monsters there were worth more experience and gold. We had been told of the village of Kanave to the north, but a path to the east caught our eye. So we followed that path, through some mountains and across a bridge, until we finally reached a town called... Assaram. I'm surprised Nintendo let that one slide.

Assaram seems to be the home of some less than scrupulous merchants, who don't have set prices on items or equipment. Instead, they start high, and you talk them down. The problem is that the items they have for sale aren't really even worth the lowest amount they'll take for them. Still, they've got some impressive weapons, so we're thinking about saving up for a few things here as well.

We also learned that the town is more active at night, so we did a bit of wandering outside until nightfall, and then returned to find a sort of unimpressive new shop, as well as a girl who "told fortunes". I'm pretty sure she wasn't originally a fortune teller, because the dialogue seems to imply... another line of work. I'll leave it at that, since I'm trying to keep this blog family-friendly. There was also a club of some sort with dancing girls on stage, and oddly enough, the proprietors had no problem letting a 16-year-old in.

But in the end, this isn't where we're supposed to be at the moment, so we'll be heading back to Romaly Castle in the morning to make a fresh start of this leg of the journey.

Really? MORE keys?

Are you sure this is the right town?

*snicker*

Hey, aren't I underage?

There's kind of a rule in the Dragon Warrior universe where crossing a bridge more or less guarantees you'll be facing stronger enemies from that point forward. There's no exception here.

It's tough to make any money when you spend more bringing party members back to life than you actually earn from battles. Yeah, back to Romaly it is.