Part 4: Bad Kitty!

Boy, Kid, and Boss. Well, we know who runs things around here.



The little squirt isn't happy with his name, but you can't make some people happy no matter what you do.



The Elder provides helpful directions to the Underground Palace, but there's a problem.



By seal he means "Seething Lava Field." On the plus side, this is exactly what Kid wants to do.




We get our first ranged weapon handed to us here, and Watts is presumably looking for us because he wants to give us a new weapon. It is a good day for weapons.



Speaking of which, Boss comes with another long ranged weapon. Our number of weapons is about to double here.



Since Boss is a bit squishy and has a long ranged weapon, we'll go ahead and put it to attack but hang back from the enemy.



Alright, who assigned the guy with a novice skill in weaponsmithing to the forge?




Instant awesome: just add Boy. It's amazing to me that after telling us how terrible this axe is and how it gets better when we specifically hold it he still wants to charge us money for it.




Watts is kind enough to open up a short cut for us to come back and have our weapons reforged when we get more orbs. It's kind of handy, since we don't want to go through the entire Gaia's Navel dungeon every time we need a weapon upgrade.



Just as a note, adding a second person does nothing to help with the retardation of our AI teammates.



With the axe we can finally get through this little roadblock... which is the only reason we have to use the axe right now. It's actually weaker than the spear or sword since it hasn't been upgraded.



This arrangement of posts seems suggestive of another weapon coming in the near future. I imagine we'll be back.



The first thing we get upon arriving to the castle is a werewolf to the face. If you were wondering where they came from in the Kid fight, they were presumably escapees.



The castle itself is a maze of dead ends and twisting passageways. I rather like it, overall. Speaking of which, the music for it is actually rather nice:

Did you See the Ocean/Witch's Castle Theme



Also, the furniture will come to life and attack you. Elinee evidently sprung for sturdy chairs.



You do see a good number of werewolves through here, in much more confined corridors. Poor Boss can get his clock cleaned with depressing ease here. Luckily we'd just found a Cup of Miracles, the game's resurrection item.



Somehow this little panel confuses the hell out of everyone, and there's only one option to go forward.




The soldiers who went with Dyluck are here in the basement dribbling on themselves. Dyluck is evidently with the witch... take that how you will.



One of the soldiers also clues us in on the panel. I don't think I need to point out how little sense a trigger that requires three people to activate makes. Anybody moving around in the castle has to bring a couple of friends.



Also, Rip-Off Cat is hanging out here. It's actually a lucky thing, considering that we're going to want as many healing items as possible in the near future.



Once we cross the platform, the werewolves are stymied. Perhaps this is unfair of me, but... no, no it is not.



Eye Wizards are spaced throughout the castle, complete with moogling effects. Luckily there's enough room to run away and hide until the effect wears off. I didn't mention before, but the Eye Wizards also create Chobin Hoods throughout the battle. It certainly isn't bad for experience.



They like to fake you out with multiple doors in the castle, but there's really only one route forward. All the others are dead ends. Naturally, the center door is the correct one. Just once I'd like the far right or far left door to be it.



Shortly afterward we find ourselves in Elinee's library, where she doesn't have time to deal with a bunch of a teenagers. She exits, and we follow..



Just in time to see her teleport Dyluck off to Pandora. Obviously Kid is the leading speaker here.




Thanawhonow?

I actually like the fact that Kid's love interest is actually a strong enough character in his own right that the witch has trouble handling him. If he'd had a couple of companions to help him out, he might have done quite well as a character.



Elinee obligingly explains about the secret organization that's enacting a sinister secret plot.




His plan isn't the most well thought out one, if you look at it closely. A kingdom is more than a bunch of land, it's also the people who make it productive. Unless you have replacements ready then there's no benefit in taking over a depopulated kingdom.



At least Elinee has a pretty good plan for getting rid of us after spilling the beans.

Boss Battle: Spikey Kitty

Spikey Kitty Battle Video



This is probably going to be your first introduction to Spikey. One of his most common attacks is a bounce attack that has a chance to knock you unconscious if it hits.




He also likes to bounce all over the screen and if somebody is down he'll start gnawing on them. He does a fair amount of damage with each attack. It's almost a given that Boss is going down.




Spikey also has fire attacks, with fire breath freezing a single character in place and creating a burn effect that's very similar to poison in causing continuing damage for a few minutes. Fire Bouquet can do upwards of 30 damage. You need to keep several characters alive, because if he starts spamming this attack on a single character they're doomed. Another problem is that when he's on the platforms you need to use ranged weapons to damage him.



Coming as it does before any kind of healing magic, this is one of the toughest fights in the game. You'll probably see this screen more than a couple times trying to beat this. I saw it about 4 times doing this update.



You can kind of see how hard this fight can be looking at my HP here. He's got about 520 HP, and once it's down he explodes as normal. We get a Boomerang's Orb as a reward.



She's understandably surprised to see us and desperate to not have us treat her like did her guard cat. Evidently her motivation was herbs to make her youthful, which Thanatos has been trading for villagers.



Dyluck's been sent to the creepy ruins south of Pandora that we visited before. I suspect this will be one of our next destinations.



She's also willing to buy us off with cash and prizes.



Also, we need ice magic to get into the Underground Palace. The first mission Jema gave us is getting more and more difficult as we go on. At this rate we'll be halfway through the game before we actually get there.



I... she had a whip? And doesn't need it anymore now that she's old? This is going to a dark place. There's also 50 gold, but that's pocket change.



Kid took one thing out of the entire conversation.




Before we can go anywhere and do anything about all this, there's some kind of magical telepathic message calling us back to the Water Palace. Luckily we can take a shortcut now.



At least Kid has finally taken it to heart that she can't go off by herself and will need help in this whole saving Dyluck business.



And Boss... well, Boss is in it for the mayhem. To the Water Palace!

Elinise's Castle