Part 49: The Dead Draw the Light

Finally, we are able to move on to the second dungeon.



This one is called "The Dead Draw the Light". I wonder if there is again a translation mess-up with this name...





But, before we can enter, it's time for a family oriented skit, starring Rachel and Vahti:











Well, I was the same way when I had you. I couldn't wait to hold you in my arms.
But once I went into labor, I have to admin I was ruing the day I ever got pregnant.
Why'd you have to tell me that now! Honestly, Mother, you're so mean sometimes.
But, you know, as soon as I saw you face, I forgot all about the pain.











Slight grammar hiccup aside, that was actually funny in the end!



But no matter, the dungeon beckons. Same as the previous, this one too is a palette-swap of an original dungeon from the first game. The japanese text, "その光は遺骸に集う", says more or less the same thing as the English version (well, ok, it's more like "The light that is drawn to the dead", but it's really close enough considering the limited space on screen), so for once there are no major translation issues!











I am not quite sure why they are explaining this to each other, since they are in fact warriors from Dahjil...

Yeah.
...
Come to think of it, it was a night on sea just like this when I first met ya.
Under darkness of night, and all by yerself, ya slew six assassins that had slipped into the kingdom in disguise.
It was eight.
Six. Eight. Whatever.
The point is, that was a fine feat. There ya were, a mere kid that had just become a warrior, and ya made a name for yerself in that instant.
That might've been first day you ever heard of me, but I'd known about you since I was about ten years old.
Ya did!? Ha ha ha!
But I never woulda thought that young kid would someday be my son-in-law. Ya just never know what life has in store.
And I had no idea you were Vahti's father, either. Thank goodness Vahti takes after her mother....
No argument from me there. Rachel is the most beautiful woman in the world.
And Vahti is the second most beautiful.
We're lucky men to have the wives we do!

Well, anyway, let's continue through the dungeon.



Eventually, we find the spiked mace, which is a weapon upgrade for... uh, let me see here for a second...



Hm, not for him, he uses swords...



...and not for him either, he uses axes.

If you followed the first game, you already know the answer. Basically the game spoils its own plot here a bit ahead of time--the character that fights with mace-type weapons is, of course, Vahti... who is not in our party right now. Obviously this means that she will join in the fun at some point, but how and when, remains to be seen.



And now it's time for a puzzle, this time it's the candlesticks.



While walking to the next puzzle, we find the Mother Robe. Obviously, this is also for Vahti.



The second puzzle is here.



Soon, we come across Ayuta and Kushina fighting a boss...

















Ayuta has a sudden headache...









That thing's happenin' again?
Yeah. I keep having this strange sense of déjà vu, ever since I arrived here. It's like I've been here and had this same experience before, many times over.
I feel like I've forgotten something important...
And every time I feel that way, my head starts to hurt, like it's going to split open.
What in the world is wrong with me?
Ya couldn't have been here before. We've known each other since we were little kids!
I've never heard ya talk about this place. Maybe it's just the stress from being in this weird environment that's making ya feel all funny.
But, still, I just...
Ayuta, pull yourself together! It's not like ya to act all downhearted like this!
C'mon. Showm that ol' proud, haughty Ayuta I know and love.
What's that supposed to mean?













And so they leave. Kushina, you don't know the half of it...



In the meantime, we have reached the... uh... the boss of this part.



And here we go! Despite what it looks like, it's actually...



...all just one target! This one is called "Progenitor's Pelvis". It's like Elvis. This is the first boss in the game which is NOT a recolour of an existing one.





This is still relatively easy. The game is trying to give us a false sense of security here.











This time we are actually forced to exit the dungeon at the mid-point and check in with the wives.



No, you are not seeing things. Vahti is upside down, standing on her head. Nothing plot related, it's just a simple graphical glitch that happened.









Ungh... *pant pant* Vieg...
Well, don't just stand there. Hold her hand or something. That's about all you can do for her now.
A-all right.



Yeah, this would have looked a lot better without the glitch, sorry.

Vieg... Ngh...
Vahti, as soon as we get the second ring, we'll come right back. Just hold on...
Don't worry... I can do this. I'll be waiting for you, Vieg. Our baby is fighting too...
Vahti...
We'll come right back as soon as we can. We won't waste any time!



Before we go back, Piu-Piu has things to say!









Hey, I know. Why don't ya scratch it for me?
Well, if it'll shut you up...



Oh, yeah... That hit the spot.
Thanks, pal!
If ya can't reach yer head, how'd ya get that bra-like thing up there?
What, this? It's standard equipment. Had it since the day I was born.
It's just how it was ordered. Bet ya didn't know it lights up in seven different colours.



Moving right along... Just one more quick visit to the bedroom before we leave...













Now we can go ahead finally.



In this dungeon we collect two items to proceed, by solving two puzzles. Don't think anybody cares about this any more, do you?



Solving the first puzzle...



...leads to the hallway where Yorath and Cyllis fight off a monster.











And the other two leave.







But we got the first item.





The second puzzle nets us the second item, so we can proceed to the door.





Behind the door is the boss, which this time IS a recolour. In fact, this same looking boss was also here in the first game too.











This one is called "Progenitor's Viscera".



Things go well at first...



...but then the boss counters my magical spell...



...to very bad results. Like in the original, this is one of the slightly troublesome fights, but nothing even close to what game will throw at us soon enough.



Second try is more successful! Although you might note that I again just squeezed by. Just check the characters' HP!









So, interesting, looks like we got all four rings at this point. This in fact contradicts the first game a bit where a ring could only go to the person intended to wear it (remember Eluca and Zhamo). Oh well.

Why do they wanna make strong warriors like us fight each other?
I guess they wanna see who's the strongest among us?
Okay, but why?
...
There's gotta be a reason behind it, and we might not be able to get outta here until we know what it is.
Maybe we oughta do some more explorin', see what we can find out.
But the big face-off is next. We might even have to fight each other, you know.
We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.
Does anything ever unsettle you?
Never mind that. Let's get back to Vahti. C'mon.
...

And so...















Ugh. We all know what this means.






















* * *

You may be wondering, how far into the game are we at this point. Well, since this time the progress screen is not actually spoiler, I can show you what it looks like at the moment:



So as you can see, we are already a fair bit in, even though the first fight hasn't even happened yet. As I've said before, this game is a just a little bit longer than one chapter from the original... that is, if we don't count the optional content (he, he)!