Breath of Fire Part #34 - Chapter Thirty Four: Oracle of the Seasons

Part 34: Chapter Thirty Four: Oracle of the Seasons

: So, Mogu, where do we go from here?

: Well…there’s a cave to the south that leads to Spring. Near there is the tower of Spyre, where the SkyKey is kept. I fought with Mote somewhere around there, so it’s possible that he’s still in the area.

Inside the cave we find new enemies to fight.

This group of Fleas contains two D.Fleas and one M.Flea. The M.Fleas spam Shock, meaning you have to take them out ASAP unless you want to be hauling around a bunch of dead party members.

There’s also the Nautilus. Like its cousin the Tentacle it’s really no threat at all and goes down in a couple of hits.

: Brrr…it’s freezing in here! My feathers are getting all frosty.

: Strange…I don’t remember it being like this before…

: Sunlight!

: Excellent! Now we can be warm agai-

: Oh.

:…This isn’t right. How can it be snowing here? The SkyKey ensures sunny weather all year round.

: Then something must have happened to the SkyKey, and I have a sinking feeling that I know who’s to blame. Before anything else, let’s stop off in the nearby town – Spring, was it?

First thing’s first – the weapon shop.

I buy an IronCW and a GaiaMask for Mogu, and QuartzAR for Mogu and Karn.

: Wow, even the river is frozen solid.

:…As is the waterfall. No matter how you look at it, this isn’t normal.

: Hey, fearless leader! I think it’s time we checked out this ‘Spyre’ place before we all freeze solid.

: Alright. That seems to be our best option at this point.

Before we head off, though, there’s a new enemy on the world map.

FlowerX’s arctic cousin, simply named ‘Flower’. Flowers are tough cookies with around 700 – 800 HP, making them surprisingly beefy. They have a range of status-inflicting attacks but Puka makes short work of them.

: The tower doesn’t seem to have a door. Mogu, would you do the honors?

: Leave it to me.

: Are we under Spyre? The architecture looks like foundations of some kind.

: We’re nearby…we should get there if we head north.

Spyre contains a new enemy for us to fight. Joy!

This golden fellow is a Golem. Golems have very high attack power, usually dealing around 60 – 70 damage per hit. They also have thousands of HP and relatively high defense, so it’s best to use Puka or take them out with magic.

: The stairs go down instead of up?

: Don’t look at me – I didn’t build this place!

: Water? And it’s not frozen, either…

There are some chests down here containing a WorldAR for Ox and a FlameAR for Mogu.

:…These pillars are clearly part of Spyre’s foundations. I believe we may have found the way in.

:…What is this? The floor – it’s covered in grass and moss.

: These plants are real. And feel the air – it’s warm, and the light in here is sunny.

: But that makes no sense! We’re inside, how can it be sunny in here?

Welcome to Spyre. Spyre is a rather unique dungeon in that there are no gimmicks. Each floor of the tower is simply an extremely wide open space with the up and down stairs located somewhere inside. The floors are rather massive, though, so it can take some time to find them.

: Whoa! It’s stormy in here!

: Now it’s scorching hot!

: I see…so the floors of Spyre must correspond to different weather environments.

: Makes sense, if the SkyKey really does govern the seasons.

: Aah! Now it’s freezing again!

:…How many more floors could there be?

: Whoa! Where did the floor go?

: We appear to be standing on thin air.

: Come on everyone, it is not so bad. Flying through the sky is such fun.

The new enemy, however, is not so fun.

Previous floors contained previous encounters from all over the game, but the sky floor plays host to these guys – Phoenixes. Phoenixes are very slow, but their attacks are fire-based and ignore physical defense.