Part 8: Here be Wyrtles.

Update 07: Here be Wrytles.



Now that we’re done dilly-dallying in the forest, it’s time to climb Mt. Krakatroda and save the Great Krak Pot from the Plob. As said before, expect some references to Dragon Quest VIII.



The first screen is just the usual shortcut starting point, but this area does have some new music to listen to. It’s a lot less upbeat, more mysterious.



There’s a lot of new enemies here as well, including the ever silly Imps. They have 3 HP and drop 15 Gold, but they’re a bit strange. In the main games, they typically try to cast end-game spells they don’t have the MP for.



Here, they know one spell: Kaboom. Thing is, they’ll inevitably miscast it if you stand close enough while they’re winding up.



You have to get far away enough for them to chase you, and then when they get close, they’ll always trip and blow themselves up. This does actually take one hitpoint off of them, unlike the miscast. Imps are goofy, and I think they’re pretty great.



Which is why I made an avatar-sized version of the miscast animation. Anyone who wants this is free to use it.



Hmm, both a new item and a chest that’s upside-down, up on a platform where we can’t Elasto Blast it. The Plob must be getting wise to our tricks.



Oh! Hello, Rocket! Did you rescue the slime at the bottom of the stairs, too? If not, dropping something heavy nearby is worth a try. You’ll see!

Up the top of the stairs, there’s a handy hint to be had.



There’s also this crystal barrier, but an Elasto Blast does nothing to it. We’ll have to figure out something to do about this later.



Apparently slime tons aren’t the same as regular tonnes, because Rocket can handle this Thousandweight with ease. The shockwave this hefty item causes is just what we need to knock the other chest from its perch.



How did you manage to get to me? ...You lifted something that heavy!? Ga ha ha! You must be some kind of superslime!

There’s a rapidly growing pile of evidence to support that theory, Kworry.



My blub pressure goes sky high whenever I think about it.

Mag Max doesn’t seem like the sort of slime you want to piss off. He gives us another oaken club just to make sure we get the idea.



There are lots more of us in need of help. Keep up the good work, boy!



Oh, it’s a thousand tons, not tonnes. That’s about 10% less impressive.



Continuing onward leads us to an incredibly handy item, one which we’ll be seeing a lot of in this area.



Throw it, and it’ll fly back to town with whatever it sticks to.

Yes, we can just throw a wing at whatever we want without having to carry it back to the railway. And the wing kindly adds itself to our item collection as well!



Aw, look at the teensy little she-slime.



And away she goes! Chimaera wings are awesome.



This letter will self-destruct in three seconds................................................................................................................................................................Tee hee hee! Only joking!



Very funny, Itsy. Thanks for the shiny new shuriken recipe!



Speaking of new things, here’s our first Wyrtle (and a shot of Rocket pretending to be a gobstopper). They offer the same 3 HP and 15 Gold as the Imps, but they’re too hardy to deal with normally. You can supercharge an Elasto Blast to hurt and flip one over, making them vulnerable to regular attacks… However, it seems that fully charging the Elasto Blast actually doubles its damage, meaning the second hit will kill the Wrytle. So you’ll either have to catch them first time, or use alternate tactics.





The next screen has another overturned chest, so let’s just grab a nearby thousandweight and…



Oops. No matter, we’ll get that chest in a moment. There’s another weight in the room to the right.



Not to mention four Wyrtles and a Rockbomb we need to progress.



I run the town museum, you know. Come and visit the next time you’re back.

So, here’s the reason why Dr. Fetus voted that we come to the mountain first. We won’t be seeing why the museum’s important until the end of the next update, but I think some of you could guess by now.



Back on the previous screen, we’ll blow up this wall before saving that other slime.



Layering! And yes, throwing a thousandweight will flip over a Wyrtle without harming it. They will right themselves with enough time, but it makes it much easier to grab them.



But there are still lots of us who need rescuing. I’ll be cheering you on back in Boingburg. Go for it!

Dragory hands over a bottle of fire water, and not the drinkable kind. I wouldn’t recommend drinking it, at least.



Everyone has a place in their heart for the arts. Do make sure you pay us a visit soon.







Some monster farming later, we can head on up these stairs… but there’s another option.



This sounds pretty cool, so let’s try it out. Just get a real good stretch, and…









After putting the shortcut rope down, the path leads us to Mt. Krakatroda’s first tank battle.



Ho hum. I suppose that means fisticuffs.

Gee, try not to sound so excited about it.





As Pickaro said, this particular tank has quite a few boomerangs that will take down ammo regardless of which cannon we fire it from. (See some in action here.) This has the potential to get rather annoying.



Which is why I decide to bust on in there with Hooly and put a stop to that nonsense.





Defensive tactics aside, there’s not a whole lot to this one. Baron Blubba gets to stomp on a platypunk that falls into the cannons, and there’s this same curved engine room again.



I’m sure the Goddess will commemorate your victories by placing signs on the mini map.

Oh, is that the Goddess’ doing? She really is a bit of an oddball among videogame deities, actually being genuinely helpful and not seen much outside of statues.



I must admit, having some other monsters from the main series turn up as tanks is kind of nice.



But I’ll put all my energy into praying to the Goddess for you instead.

Given that you’re probably a reference to Angelo from Dragon Quest VIII, I’m not sure how effective that’ll be. This angel slime does give us some handy holy water, however.



On the way back to the main path, a Ghost makes its presence known. These monsters only appear here and back at the Tomb of Tootinschleiman, coming out at night (and the lighter period just before daybreak). With 3 HP and 14 Gold, these pests like to snatch away items Rocket’s carrying. They’re also one of the worst monsters to collect 30 of, due to both their availability and the fact they only appear on their own. (I had to grind out twenty-one of these at the end of this session, and that took four day/night cycles.)



Going up the stairs, I just barely miss seeing another thing the Imps can do. If they haven’t seen you, they can just trip over on their own. They’re not the most coordinated enemies, you know.



Oh? Man, this has been super easy so far.



I’ll be praying for you in the church today. And singing a few hymns too, of course! ♪

The angel slimes are both churchgoers, to no-one’s surprise. We get another dose of holy water out of this letter, which is pretty great.





Oh dear, two Platypunks are talking to each other again. Now, where’d I put that…

So who’s got the key to this place?

It’s that Slival guy. Y’know, that slime with the evil-looking tank.

What’s a slime doin’ with the key? We gotta go get it off him.

Okay, Wacko. Whatever you say.



Hmm… So Slival has an evil-looking tank, huh? Well, let’s poke around on the left first before following those crazy Platiosi.



This room is basically seeing whether you can work out how to take corners on the bungee cards.



I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to take these two bits both at once, but I made one hell of a lucky shot. I even opened the chest at the end!



...Layering! Again! Anyway, I end up giving Dummy what they want.



P.S. Here’s a little something to say thank you.



Hey, a recipe that we have all the ingredients for! Actually, the new items we’ve picked up here will let us use some of the old recipes too… once we have the ability to do so.



Alright, time to follow the Platypunks and find Slival.



The next screen is kind of dangerous, since you need to get a rockbomb past two Wyrtles and two Imps, plus possibly a Platypunk who can fall down from the upper level.



Pictured: The tripping Imp realising his next few moments are gonna suck.



So yeah, this is kind of a busy spot. But guess what? That Imp’s attack just broke down the wall for me.



Up top, we have two more paths to try as well as a Mimic trying to surprise me.



Apparently it’s the entrance to Krak Pot’s cave. I feel dizzy just thinking about it!

There’s also another spot slime up by the shortcut rope. That one’s so you don’t have to deal with all those enemies in tight quarters again.



I was starting to see spots in front of my eyes after being cramped up in that chest. Have you heard of the museum, by the way? Apparently it’s full of secrets!

So have you gotten the hint that visiting the museum is A Good Idea™ yet? (Another oaken club gets given to us, sure to join the rest of them in the Schleiman soon enough.)



The northern route leads to a whole bunch of pots and another slime chest.



Did you know there’s somethin’ more powerful than an Elasto Blast here at Krakatroda? If you roll down a really big hill, you end up doin’ what they call a Rollderdash. Maybe that’s how you get into those piggy banks. That’s sure get you all shook up! ♪



Figures that Rocky would tell us all about rolling. This advice is a bit premature though, because we haven’t got any hills to roll down.



I want you to have this. It’s yours to keep. Don’t go returnin’ it to sender now!



Ooh, nice! They may not be super strong, but the speed of these arrows still makes them very handy.



So if north is a dead end, this must be the way to Slival.



But look, there’s a clue how to open the door.



A clue? I ain’t seein’ no clue.

Are you blind, Wacko? Don’t that statue say somethin’ to ya?



I’m sure most of us can relate to this; wishing someone would stop being cryptic and just tell you things outright.



...For supposedly being crazy and psychotic, those two were by far the most sensible Platypunks we’ve encountered.



But yes, this is where we would have encountered the special stacking locks for the first time if we’d skipped the forest. It’s still as straightforward as ever.



You can use the R Button to change the order of what you’re carrying… Maybe that’s it!

The game’s going to make super duper sure you understand how it works, though.



That helmet of his weighs 10St, so he must be really, really strong!

So he can lift as much as ten slimes, and trains in weighted clothing? Here’s hoping he never finds the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. (Bitsy gives us an obelisk.)





Ah, the serious music’s started. Looks like we’ve found who we’re looking for.





Not that you stand much chance!



We’re gonna beat you down and take our prize, Slival! Prepare yourself for a reckoning!





Oh Goddess, he really is a DBZ character!



This is it, our first clash with Slival and his Schwarzman Tank! (Schwarz is German for black. ) You’d better believe there’s a video for this one.



As befitting of our rival and a self-proclaimed anti-hero, Slival has his own special music for tank battles. I believe this track actually gets used in Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2.



There’s one or two duds in there, but the Schwarzman’s ammo racks have some seriously nasty stuff. However, there is one big thing that makes this fight easier… While Slival is speedy, he’s also alone. Going over and taking him on slimo-a-slimo while your allies pelt his tank with everything they’ve got is definitely the best strategy.



Carrying Slival is not an option, as he breaks free of Rocket’s grasp almost immediately.



Oh, and the Schwarzman has a unique design. You can’t go to the engine without passing through the cannon room, which means you’ll have to get spotted by Slival if he’s inside his tank. Which is almost always the case, unless you manage to chance into knocking him into a cannon.



Which, uh…



Yeah, may not end well for any allies who cross his path. Slival’s actually reasonably dangerous, unlike a lot of enemies.



Because he knows how to use Instant Transmission.



He’s far from invincible though, so beating him up constantly is generally the best course of action. Of course, he revives much more quickly than normal to compensate for being alone.



That’s a Golden Arrow! Good thing he didn’t fire that at us, because this speed demon does 48 damage.



The Schwarzman eventually falls, and coughs up a shiny new steel broadsword for us.



Here. Call it a prize if you want. You win this time.



Hey, thanks. You’re alright, Slival.



Heh, sure. Which reminds me… Slival is not available for re-fights, but the Platypanzer will appear here with a full crew and the Schwarzman’s ammo stock. Rematches may actually be more dangerous as a result.





Slival’s match still sticks to the rules, so we have another slime chest to open up.



That’s the key to the old Mt. Krakatroda ruins, isn’t it? So you’re hoping to meet the Great Krak Pot, are you? I’ll show you the way, then.



The Plob may be through here, though, so you be careful now, lad.





Good luck, lad. See you back in Boingburg.

...Wow, Flanpa confirmed for total badass. Nobody else has said they’ll go back to town on their own.



Now make sure you don’t do anything to displease the Great Krak Pot, all right?



So now that we’ve saved this Grandpa Slime, I’d say this is a good stopping point for now. We’ll take a peek inside the ruins and find the Great Krak Pot next time!