Part 7: Judges

Remember how I mentioned there was a horse in Arrow that'd give us a free item if we spoke to it with the Sol Ring in your possession?



Pana Care is a pretty awesome item; it fully restores one character's HP and MP. Naturally this is best used during the end-game, so it can be stored somewhere safely until then.



: You're such a curious girl... Samuel! Please take care of Uranus!

Well, that told us somewhere in the region of nothing of interest. Fortunately, there's one place we know about that we haven't visited yet. Remember the Mt. of Sages where we didn't do anything? There's a town by that which we didn't we go to since we couldn't do anything without the Sol Ring. Annoyingly, even with Uranus we still need that ring to talk to animals even though she's supposed to be able to talk to them naturally.



Tilmun is a small town at the edge of the continent that, uh, doesn't appear to have anything of interest in it. There's a token equipment shop that sells 1 sword , 1 shield, 1 armour and something called the Diaster which I've never bought so I don't know what it is. Given that I said the Tangaloia is the best weapon you can buy for Uranus, it's probably a better weapon for her



It looks like a word is mising here, but it's still understandable (or maybe I'm just a big dummy and adding a "that" would be superfluous). Looks like our old master's been hiding something from us...

Anyway, he was coming out of the weapon shop, so we'll go check that out. Maybe we can learn something.



: He placed an order for a sword, but he hasn't come to pick it up. Would you mind holding on to this?



This, uh, isn't what you'd expect; the Arce Sword is a free weapon. It's about a third as powerful as the Hecto Axe but can hit things. If we were still using the Spirit Sword for whatever reason it would be an upgrade but here? I wouldn't bother with it. If you really want one, you can buy them here.

Anyway, Zodia went to the Mt of Sages so we'll follow him there. It's not a dungeon or anything; there's a few NPCs standing around and no random encounters. It's kind of a boring place but you have to take the time to go there if you want an item you'll need later.



: He was training for Gaia, -Revive 1-. Oh, there is something he left behind. Would you mind giving it back to him?



We won't be using this for a while, but keep a hold of it; it's yet another key item we'll use exactly once and then stuff in the bank to ignore for the rest of the game.

Oh, and while we're here we can get an optional spell that will help us save money for ever and ever.



Revive 1... well, there goes what little difficulty there was! Now out of battle, Uranus can revive demons. It doesn't work on people because they're unconscious and not dead, silly.

Note how we just missed Zodia again. He's nowhere to be found either, and the guys at the weapon store...?



...Anyway, Tilmun has a bit of a problem of its own. Usually you can go further south by using something called the "Dolphin" (name of a ship, I'm sure) but it's unavailable right now. Hmm... maybe we'll find some help with this at the shrine.



Or, maybe not. I think a kid going missing, with a stolen magical artefact at that, is just a tad more important. Shame we have no clue where to start looking, so let's look around the town a bit more.



: Triton is hiding on the island. I was told not to say anything though...

Well, I'd assume that only applies to his very angry parents who are probably worried about him and... you know what? That's dumb, lady. You're dumb.



: OK, I'll get the Dolphin. Would you go there to help Triton?

Remember that cave on an island I pointed out a while back? Yep, that's where we're off at last. We even have access to the Dolphin now so this shouldn't be too hard to get to.



Also the rogue capital letter is a lie. It is literally a dolphin, not a ship. This is what you still need the Sol Ring for; without it, you can't use the dolphin to go to the island. This is super annoying because we were explicitly told that Uranus can talk to animals.



The cave itself is short, has no random encounters but has 2 very nice treasures. A second Kirin Bone (bank'd) and a Heal Staff. The Heal Staff restores HP to the entire party in battle and doesn't cost any MP. I think it'll break if you use it too much, but I don't use it often. It's nice if you somehow run out of MP and don't have a Pana on hand though.

Also, that man next to the Heal Staff is Triton. Get the staff before talking to him.



Also, the cave has a name. You'll never know it unless you leave via the door next to the Kirin Bone and re-enter, though.



So, after talking to Triton this dog thing warps in. Hmm... a dog-demon, in the Cave of Orthrus? I think the game's trying to lay it on a bit too thick at this point.



The game tries to convince us that Orthrus is a boss, but I'd say otherwise. Orthrus is maybe a mini-boss (god that sounds so familiar...) at best, but the game says he's a boss so he's the fifth boss. Anyway, there's nothing remotely difficult about this fight. Just buff/debuff and hit him and he'll die in like a turn. Unless you get unlucky and you miss way too much.



Unlike every other boss so far, Orthrus hasn't vanished... weird that.

: Orthrus misunderstood... Please give me your Rune!

Ah, dang I forgot about this. You have to give Triton a Rune here so he can heal Orthrus. If you don't, well, you can't advance. The dialogue changes ever so slightly if you have one but it's very minor. Since Uranus has Revive 1, I didn't bother to bring one since it's basically unneeded at this point. Fortunately $750 is nothing at this point.



The game makes it unclear, but I think that's Orthrus thanking you/Triton.

: If you don't mind, I would like you to have this Fire Staff. it is too big of a responsibility for us. I'll tell my father.



Much like how the Heal Staff acts as the equivalent of a Heal All spell, the Fire Staff can be used to damage things with a spell equal to Flare (hits everything for Fire damage). Hard to say since I haven't used it much.



Upon handing you the Fire Staff, Triton goes and swims back to Tilmun or something. Orthrus just stays in front of the Heal Staff chest which is why I'd get it before talking to Triton.



...Okay, fine. You can go back and talk to Orthrus anytime you like after giving him a Rune and this happens:

: Samuel, please, let me make it up to you for saving my life.



He joins the party! There's a few demons like this, though a fair few of them are a lot harder to get than Orthrus.



He seems good now, and he's twice our level, but there's something important about demons that still applies to the unique ones; they don't level up. As good as he is now, Orthrus can and will be outclassed eventually. Unlike Samuel, Enkidu and Uranus he can't get better later either... Still, he's great for now so he's going in the party.

Also, that Holy 1 spell? It's a Chanting spell, we'll see just what that means for it in due time.



Back at Tilmun there's a second Dolphin we can use now, but just where does he take us?



Oh... oh my, we're here already? This sure is a short game; I could've swore this place was much later than it is.