Part 22: Chapter Eighteen: A Witch’s Tale

Music: 06 – We’re Rangers





: Well, there’s the tower. Now we just have to get to it.

Before our adventure can continue, it needs to be said that we have changed continents. Naturally by jRPG logic this means we’ll be fighting some new enemies.



Like this Beelzebub. These guys are very weak – they die in a single hit from Ryu. However they are also fast and usually attack first. In addition, they also have special attacks that inflict Poison and a spell that inflicts Curse. Curse really sucks if it hits your physical attackers since it drops the chance of counter-attacking and dodging down to almost zero.



The aptly named Stone Face is another potential encounter. Stone Faces are slow and like to Defend a lot, although they do have a weak physical attack. If you take too long to kill them however they’ll let rip with Ice Breath, which hits the entire party for around 40 damage.



Androecium are annoying because they can use Dream Breath, making them Man Eater 2.0. Fortunately they aren’t too tough – unfortunately, they are often accompanied by…



Bomb Seeds. Bomb Seeds are a pain because they can charge their attacks like Argus. They can also cast first level fire spells at the party. Although they are rather frail, they tend to team up with Androecium and attack whilst your party is asleep from the effects of Dream Breath.



: Aaaand there’s Fort Nageur right over there. Looks like we’ll have to go around the lake to get to the tower.



The small building above is actually a camp site.



Talking to the camper will allow the party to rest for free. It’s also possible to save and change party members using the Dragon Statue. This is an extremely useful spot and I’ll be visiting it regularly to rest and heal up.







: Well, here we are. Hopefully this girl will be reasonable, but given our track record so far I guess we’d better be prepared for the worst.

Music: 04 – Dungeon



: Huh? A dead end right away?

: Look – there’s a switch on the floor.

: You think we should push it maybe?

: I’m against it. We have no idea what it might do.

: Honestly, it’s not like we can do anything else.





: Who’s there?! Show yourself!

: All in good time, my dear. You look nice and strong, but looks can be deceiving…



Music: 07 – Cross Counter



The party is thrust into battle against a random opponent, in this case a Magician Mummy. Sten proceeds to nail the sucker before it can even take a turn and kills it in one attack. For the curious, it can use first tier elemental spells against the party to deal around 30 damage to a single character.



: Monster doorkeepers? We’re off to a flying start alright.



: Oh, a treasure chest!

: Wait. There’s an ominous feeling surrounding that container. I really don’t think we should open it.

: Yeah, that thing’s clearly a trap. Let’s just move on and leave it here.

If the player tries to open the chest it will be revealed to be empty. It also seals the entrance and traps the party inside the tower, which can be a pain since the only other exits are several floors up.



The western exit leads to some stairs, and climbing them brings the party to this small area. The chest contains a Panacea, an item that can cure any status effect. The eastern exit also leads to some stairs, but the corridor they open out onto holds something very interesting…



: It’s a statue.

: It looks really lifelike.

:…Hmm.



The shiny treasure chests are currently inaccessible. In addition this area also features random encounters. Aside from Beelzebubs and Magician Mummies a couple of other enemies have seen fit to join the fray.



Orcs are tough and counter-attack often. They can also heal themselves, which can be a pain if you were about to kill them. They hit relatively hard but are manageable nonetheless.



Fachen are another enemy whose gimmick is to either miss or critically hit with every strike. Even if they crit they’ll generally only deal around 20 damage or so, though, so they really aren’t worth worrying about.







: So many corridors…

: This witch certainly has strange taste in architecture.



Now we come to the first platform puzzle.



Stepping on the centre platform brings us here. Now you may think I’ve gone wrong, but I actually intended for this to happen. The reason being…



We can step off the platform and fall into the room below! The chests in here are full of varying amounts of zenny – the least being 1 zenny and the most being a massive 1000 zenny. In all there is 1503 zenny in this room.



As you open the chests, holes begin to appear in the ground.



However, as long as you open the chests in a clockwise fashion they won’t block you from getting anything. We can go up the northern staircase, but we’ll end up in an inaccessible area. To proceed we’ll have to fall down a hole and climb all the way back up to the platform room.



The platform we want to get on to proceed is the far left one. However, if we step on the far right one we can see something interesting.



The platform takes us to the upper left hand exit.



: Still more statues. These things are starting to creep me out.

: There’s certainly something…odd…about them.



: This statue looks kinda like that crazy call-girl wannabe.

: It’s also the only girl statue here. All the others have been men.

: I guess you of all people would be the first to notice.

Yeah, it looks like another Shaman is here. We’ll have to revisit this place later, that’s for sure. Anyway, it’s time to proceed!







The northern path leads to a dead end, so let’s take a look at what’s down south.



The chest contains a Healing Herb. The Witch Statue can actually be spoken with and will send you outside if you ask her to. This is useful if you find yourself running low on health and supplies, or if you accidentally opened the chest on the ground floor. HOWEVER! She will also relieve you of half your money, and since I’m currently carrying around 4,000 zenny that’s just not acceptable.



Oh boy, this area. See those floor panels? This area is full of gates, and every time you step on a panel one gate opens and another closes.



To be honest the puzzle itself isn’t too difficult. It’s the fact that enemy encounters are far more frequent here than anywhere else in the tower. The item in the chest is a Silk Glove, a piece of armour that raises the defence of female characters by four.



This bit is annoying. The panels are set up in such a way that once you walk over them, they stay depressed. Nearly all the panels here are set to the gates to the treasure room and the stairs going up. This means that you’ll have to watch where you step very carefully. It’s very possible to screw yourself out of the treasure chests. And trust me, you want those treasures – the chests contain a Warlock Ring and Sage’s Robe. Both are excellent equipment for Nina and should not be missed, even if it means leaving the room and restarting the puzzle again. They will easily remain her best equipment for the next few sections of the game.





The chests contain a Wisdom Brace (Increases Wisdom by 10, placed on Nina immediately) and a Wisdom Fruit, which recovers 20 AP but also deducts 20 HP from the character it’s used on. Oh, and the eastern exit isn’t actually an exit, but a hole in the wall that sends the party plummeting down to the ground outside.

This area also has a new enemy that doesn’t appear on any of the lower floors.



Acorn Knights are a joke. They deal around 5 damage per attack and die in only a few hits. They have Combo Attack, but it doesn’t really help their damage output.



: The witch’s magic is growing stronger. We are nearing the top of the tower.

: Good. I’ll be glad to get out of this creepy place. Too many of those damn statues.

: Oh yes, those ‘statues’. I have a funny feeling they used to be people.

:…Wonderful.