Part 9: Spoilers ahead.

Update 08: Spoilers ahead.



Entering the Mt. Krakatroda ruins with the key Slival gave us allows us to finally start seeing some Dragon Quest VIII references. For the benefit of those not following OFS’ thread, allow me to offer a brief explanation.

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King tells the story of a king, his daughter and one of his loyal retainers. Soon after the beginning of that game, it is revealed that the villain Dhoulmagus came into King Trode’s castle and claimed an ancient staff, then cursed everyone in the castle. Most people turned into plants, while the king and the princess were partially protected by standing in a magic circle. The king became the short troll-like creature pictured above, and his daughter Princess Medea was turned into a horse. The unnamed protagonist is somehow unscathed by this curse, and so the trio set out to defeat Dhoulmagus.

I’ll elaborate a little more later on, but for now, let’s get moving.



As usual, the teleporter leads back to the second screen of this area.



Beyond the carving of King Trode and Princess Medea lies a potent little item indeed. Not for its use as ammo, but for what it can do for Rocket himself.



Press the Y Button to attack, and the B Button to throw it off.

Yes, the slime knight gives Rocket a means of attack that does not need to be charged, allowing some quick swipes that can be worked into a three-hit combo. It’s a nifty little thing to have, and loading one into the Schleiman will make it available for beating up enemy crew members.



You’ll thpring your way out of it eathy ath pie! Ah ha ha ha!

Dragoola null vampir. Bleigh!



There are two paths here, but left is progress. So let’s take a look over here first.



...Oh. There’s about a dozen Imps here. All in a tight corridor.

.......







Sweet, cash prizes! And wings I can use to send the count back to Boingburg.



But I can drool over thucking their blood when I thee them again! Ah ha ha ha!



Dragoola’s recipe is pretty awesome, but the ingredients could be more useful later. You can always farm up more apples and bombshells though, so it’s a matter of how much effort you want to put in. Either way, this Dark Slime’s reward is appreciated.



Going through the hole in that wall leads to another tank battle, the last one we’ll be seeing on this visit to Mt. Krakatroda.



But thisss is where your luck endsss! You’re no match for my tank, sssucker!

Yeah yeah, heard it all before.





Oof, that one’s a real groaner. Let’s show these bloodsuckers who’s boss.



As befits a tank modeled after Restless Armour, the gimmick here revolves around a defensive item. Iron Shields are wonderful items that only deal 1 damage, but take three hits before being knocked out of the air. Throw one out ahead of more damaging ammo, and you’re much more likely to get a few good hits in.





The Fort Knight’s crew also have some hefty iron balls and steel broadswords at their disposal, so things have the potential to get rather ugly here if you aren’t careful. However, they have an oddly low number of computers linked to their ammo dispensers, so going inside and busting those up could be very helpful; especially since a Dracky only has 2 HP, so the fire on their items will kill them quite quickly.



You have the makingth of a great hero for thure. But don’t overdo thingth.

Ooh, a fancy new iron shield! Now we can defend our ammo more effectively.



That does seem to be the general opinion, yes.



Make thure you retht thometimes. Come back to Boingburg now and then.



We’ve got a sword and shield, now all we need is the suit of armour. Oh, wait.



Alright, time to take the other path from the intersection.



Goodybag! Drop everything, chase it!



Luckily this one gets run over by the carts, but the slime knight’s quick attacks would have made short work of them anyway. As for why I didn’t capture it, there will be a much easier place to find these things soon enough. Oh, and as a side note… When these things lose health, they try harder and harder to teleport away.



The slimes are quite front-loaded in this area, so we already have the vast majority of them. There’s not much left for us to explore.



It’s great after being cooped up for so long. Running rules!

GeneralYeti asked why I didn’t comment on a few of the punny names last update. It'd say it's a mix of "some jokes are too obvious to talk about", "I'd be here forever if I commented on all the puns in a Dragon Quest game" and "Jokes aren't funny if you explain them".

For example, Merc runs because she’s a liquid metal slime. And she’s called Merc because of mercury (the element, not the planet). There you go. Anyway, she gives us another boomerang.



Let’s just keep on keeping on.



Ah, another nice carving of Trode and Medea, and another crystal barrier we can’t shatter. Despite his unfortunate circumstances, the king is quite a kind soul… though his daughter is definitely at the centre of his attentions. I believe he laments her fate more than his own.



Oh, now the ruins themselves are trying to kill us.



Say hello to the Living Statue! It only has 2 HP (and drops 19 Gold), but these things are impervious to normal attacks. They’ll get one-shot by a charged Elasto Blast, so you’re going to want a chimaera wing to get one back to town.



The following screen is just a circular set of rapids, but it does have the last slime we’ll be finding today tucked away on the right side.



The game’s kind enough to leave a chimaera wing right beside the chest, too.



I need a long soak in a nice hot bath to get back to my usual lovely self.



...Slimes have skin? Well, I suppose they have some kind of exterior membrane or… I’m thinking too much about this. (The posh lady sends us an iron ball.)





Going through the warp at the north end of the rapids leads to an enclosed room with three of those statues and three chimaera wings to use on them. It also has this particular carving…

During the king’s journey, between recruiting the main party’s third and fourth members, Trode reveals to his companions that he’s been spending his spare time restoring a legendary alchemy pot to working order, having spirited it out of his own castle after the curse hit. This then allows the player to break that game’s difficulty curve over their knee, as crafting tends to do.



Anyway, deal with the three statues and the door opens. That warp goes back to the first screen of the area, so you know what must be waiting for us…



Yep, it’s our second-ever boss fight! The tomb didn’t have a normal boss, so it’s been quite a while since we’ve fought one.



Let’s see what awaits us on the other side.





Ah, I’d recognise that rotundity anywhere.



Yes, that’s right. It’s time for us to face a high-ranking Plob member, a three-tailer terror… Pot Belly, the Jargon!

_{Yes, seriously. Jargon. Jar Dragon.}



Pot Belly’s attacks all consist of mixing up something inside the Great Krak Pot, and he’s too well-padded for an Elasto Blast to do anything other than knock him about.



He has four possible moves; he can throw out rockbombs, fire water and banana peels… all of which can hurt him. You see, he both throws items and moves in random directions. It’s not uncommon for, well…



Something like this to happen. Pot Belly is an incredibly easy boss. I’m sure you could stand still for the entire fight and have him kill himself before he kills you.



Seriously.



His fourth move is the only one where you actually need to intervene to hurt him with. When he tosses out a chimaera wing, you can use it to try and send him back to town… only to slam him head-first into the ceiling. And then of course gravity does its own thing from there.



In short, Pot Belly might be the easiest boss fight I’ve ever encountered, but he’s also one of the most amusing.



Sure, the gurglings put you off. Whatever you say, buddy.





(bubble bubble) Kindly see to it that I am returned to town. I’ve something rather exciting to show you back in town. It’s called alchemy!

…





And of course, we get a whole bunch of money again for beating a boss. 165G, which isn’t bad… though we have about 2600 at present, even after spending a couple of grand on tank upgrades.



Alright, see y’all back in town!





Aw, the Goodybag didn’t have anything good inside.



-------



Come with me, young’un. I’ve got something to show you.



Let’s go in, shall we? Come on. Follow me, Rocket.

Did I mention that because Princess Medea got turned into a horse, she ended up pulling the group’s cart? Because the Great Krak Pot’s current abode is a nice nod to that.



It’s what they call alchemy, you know.

King Trode actually upgrades the alchemy pot to allow the use of three items at once after a while, but I guess it’s lost a bit of its power with age.



Still, should be potent enough for our purposes!



Here, lad. Here’s one from me. A present for you.



You also receive the ingredients for an iron shield!

Flanpa is the best Grandpa Slime.







So, alchemy. It’s very straightforward. Just make sure the items you need aren’t loaded into the Schleiman, and you shouldn’t have any trouble after that. I’ll go ahead and make a few things for ammo, as well as for Slimechanic’s upgrades.



Actually, speaking of which…





Slimechanic has three new upgrades for us, the first two of which are very reasonably priced. All three are worth 40 HP.



The third one’s a bit more nasty… I’m going to have to cook up some spares to give him.



Still, the Schleiman’s looking pretty stocked these days! While I remember, let’s take a quick rundown of our new items.



When fired from one of your cannons, it’ll block up to three pieces of incoming enemy fire.



Herbs that are perfect for tank warfare! Fire them from one of your cannons to recover 20 HP.



Press the Y Button with this on your head and it’ll slash with its sword! It’s actually a toy for young slimes.



These wings are so eager to fly, they’ll carry anything they touch off into the air without delay!



So heavy it can cause an earthquake, so handle with care, or you’ll have to get ready to rumble.



Being made of iron, this is a slightly more powerful type of arrow than the basic wooden arrow.

Alright, I think that’s all the ones we haven’t looked at before. But who’s giving young slimes toys with real swords? I bet it’s Splodgy Dave.



Time for our usual NPC round-up and exploration!



It’s in the palace gardens. An underground base built right into the bedrock!

So His Royal Wobbliness has ninja spies? That’s



Let’s have a poke around while they’re not here.





Small, but effective. Seems appropriately





Of course, since we have new churchgoers…





Almost all of the newcomers are over in the west side of town this time, so let’s mosey around over there for a bit.



Members of the Plob are fair game, too. Just keep ‘em coming!

Don’t worry, I’ve been keeping on top of that. Oh, and that signpost says the 100St iron ball is blocking the “Hero’s Well”.



What!? You’re too buthy? Ah ha ha ha! I wath only joking, anyway!

If Rocket gains the power of flight, I think he might become unstoppable.



You’ll all need to pull together and make sure this country stays on its feet.





You did a great job, Dummy.







Too much sunshine’s no good for the skin, mind.



It’ll be worth it, I’m sure. Call it female intuition.

Oh, I most certainly agree. Just a few more people to talk to, and then we’ll finally get to exploring why you want to gather the Plob members.



I’m not sure what kind of game involves you chasing Merc with Kaboom prepared.



I can sell it to you for 500 gold coins. It’s a bargain, don’t you think?

Oh, sure! What kind of canvas is it?



…



Ever get the feeling you might have been ripped off?



I’ve got wings, though, so it’s really easy for me!

Man, Dragory’s kind of a jerk.



So don’t treat me like a child, okay? Yay!





Now… Now is the moment of truth.



This is the museum, you know. What do people do here? ...I’m not sure!

I believe it’s called obtaining incredible amounts of power by supporting the arts.



I can’t tell you how grateful I am. Would you like me to tell you a little bit about how the museum works?

Oh, please do.



We can build a monster statue when we have thirty of that monster here in town. So try to collect as many as you can. That’s all there is to it!



I’m sure it will be quite profitable.





So, monster statues. Get thirty of a monster, and you get a bronze statue. Fifty makes it silver, and one hundred turns it to gold. These are purely cosmetic upgrades, though the true reward comes with just the bronze.



I ain’t the kinda guy who don’t pay his dues. I’m gonna help you out wid dem cannons.



I always wanted to try out the Schleiman’s shooters. Let me know when you need me.

Yes, getting thirty of a monster and speaking to the statue’s admirer will let you use them as a member of the Schleiman’s crew! There are eighteen monsters and twelve slimes that can join your crew; not bothering to collect Platiosi means you won’t have even 40% of your possible crew members until the postgame.

So, uh… Prepare for a whole bunch of recruitment dialogue and crew member discussion! This will all be in the next post, including a vote for the Schleiman’s new crew.