Part 12: Over the Wall

Our next stop is Northwall, but we're going to be making a couple of stops before going on. Not so much for the battle, but for what comes after.



We're going to be picking up every single one of these things we can get our hands on. The effect is to quadruple the power of the angel's arrow in the sim mode. That means we can kill anything but a skull in one hit, and they only take two.



These are a bit less useful, but they can keep the enemies off your back for a bit. The problem is that the enemies will immediately respawn. Still, it's handy if you're out of life and can't fire arrows.



Other than that, it's time to dive in. Luckily snow is pretty good at cushioning a fall.

The Snowfields



So, as you'd expect the first stage is snowbound. The clarity and the mountains remind me of Alaska.



And as everyone knows, with snow come weird zombie axemen.

"Hey, I remember these guys!"

"The cold weather must have preserved the corpse so that it could be reanimated by Tanzra's evil magic."

"Sure is ugly, though. I think we did a much better job with the current batch."



Gargoyles make their return, as well as the most polite falling ice blocks you'll ever meet. They only fall after you step off of them, so you're perfectly free to pause in place to deal with enemies.



At the end of the snowfields we pas into a cave, where for a change the water is actually non-fatal. They even hide the occasional item in it, as you can see here.



There's also some floating eyes and bats in here, The eyes tend to teleport in and out on a fairly random basis, and can really screw up your jumps.



Directly to the right of where I was standing in the last shot these ice platforms drop down, and you have to ride them to the next section. It's a fun bit of platforming, and there's a treasure you can get along the way.



Eventually we get to these platforms, which effectively block you from going back.



Finally we come to the Merman Fly, the boss of the stage. He's pretty simple, and you're looking at half of his primary arsenal of attacks. The purple projectiles splash into the water, and the splashes themselves will damage you.



His other option is to make a swooping charge from the other side of the screen. This is a pretty good time to nail him with a magic spell. Aura works pretty well, but Magical Stardust is a pretty good option too.



Soon enough, he goes on his explosive way. Gotta say, he's a pretty insanely weird boss.



"Freezing your ass off on a daily basis is a pretty strange definition of living in peace."

Que up the request for Godly powers!



"Or you could, you know, learn to live with it… it's not like it's going to STAY green forever after I stop intentionally melting the snow."



So, before we get started this is the reason we had to get all those power-ups and why they were saved for this level. We've got not one but two skull nests, and they're unusually aggressive. They like to make charging motions at the angel, and after three hits we're going to run out of life. It hasn't been a concern before, but if you run out of life in simulation mode you don't die. Instead, you just can't use arrows to fight the various monsters until you get some more life back. You get a small boost every time the hourglass turns over.



In some ways the simplest method to use is to go ahead and melt as much snow as you can before the population increases. Then you can just direct their development without worrying about interspersing miracles.



It's good to have an arsenal to do it with, however. You don't really want to use these before you're ready to start moving after the monster's lairs, since they only last for a short while.



"Wait, corn? Up here? Dammit, I knew I forgot something!"



One of the funny artifacts of this game is that snow clearing leaves perfectly straight lines. You can even see it from above!



"So, not killing each other anymore? Good, good… keep not doing that. Thanks for the wheat!"



This is the bomb item in action. I didn't really need it, but… well, why not?



"One down. I'm tired of taking skulls directly to my skull."



"Another bow? GIMME!"



"Good Me, what IS that expression?"



"Do you think that just maybe the problem isn't so much your clothes as the fact that you're building your houses out of straw with giant open doors to let out all the heat?"

"Oh Master, do you have any material with which we could make warmer clothing?"



"Master, should we have perhaps given them sheep instead of wool?"

"Nah, that'll give them an incentive to talk with the people of Aitos once they run out of wool."



"Can you people not see that I'm busy here?"



"Yes. You might have missed a page on that whole omniscience thing. Also, I literally live in a palace in the sky."




"I guess I didn't tell you about that.. yeah, that time didn't turn out so well."

"We also discovered a scroll hidden near the trunk of the tree. Please accept it."

"Now we're talking."



"Color me disappointed. Why are you living in straw houses!? Build igloos or something!"

"Speak for yourself, Master. You're not the one who actually has to fight these guys."



"Hopefully I don't need to explain frostbite to you people… did you wear boots out there on the ice?"



"Oh… well, good on you. You're about the second town in the entire world to actually figure that out on your own without any help."



"Huh, that's unexpected."

"I don't know why, Sir. Where else do rivers lead but to the sea?"

"Shut up, Angel."



"Ooh, a boat! These people have it together more than anybody since Fillmore."



"Thank you, my Master. The people can now live here in peace."

"Did you here that, Angel? Our work here is done. Maybe I'll let you have that vacation you've been asking for."

Next update: The Angel doesn't get that vacation… but we're almost done here.