Part 3: Finally, a Boss Fight!

Preamble: Ha! I forgot the Hauza trip. I'll add this to the top of the next post, too.
My text for this part of the update got lost somewhere (probably I forgot to save it), so you get a shot of this.


If you go back to the Arsenal from the beginning of the game, you get the Hauza, the other thing that Alex can equip to the Y button. It's like a boomerang and an axe head.
On the plus side, it is consistently more powerful than the sword at equal upgrade levels and it is a ranged attack.
On the down side, you can't attack with it as quickly as you can with the sword. There are also some enemies (ankle biters) that you can never hit with the boomerax, so be ready to pick your sword back up if you come across any.
We'll make use of both weapons as the situation calls for it throughout the game.

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Chapter 3: Finally, a Boss Fight!

Last time, we shoved an old lady out of the way so we could learn from a bomb-maker that he's out of the dynamite he needs to construct bombs that could destroy the barrier (that we took NPCs at their word was actually in our way) between Hujia valley and the rest of the island.
We rejoin Alex where he has discovered the entrance to the first dungeon Storehouse.





It's there.




A lamp flickers overhead and will bob back and forth if you slash at it. At the far end of the room is a door (hard to tell, I know) that requires Tylon's key.




Once inside, we face more scorpions!



This guy here is a vampire moth. Or a butterfly bat. In either case, these enemies fly overhead, occasionally swooping to catch the flies you have surrounding you at all times and mistakenly crashing into you.
For attack number two, the moth will take a dump of pixie dust on you. Which hurts more than the mistaken tackle (presumably from the added moral injury).



When you position Alex below an enemy, he will perform an upward thrust. In general he will swipe his sword in the most advantageous way to strike the nearby target. There's no button combo for the different strikes or anything: it is all about positioning.
Though not every strike is useful, each does the same weapon damage and each is pretty fun to do. It makes you feel like you're in control of a warrior and not a pantywaste.

I mean, even if that feeling is a lie...




Sweet! New armor...energy?
Instead of having you purchase or discover new weapons and armor, you find energon cubes in chests throughout the island that add a level to whichever equippable each goes to. Alex is forever wearing the same Armor + comfy shorts combo, so the armor upgrade changes the color (and cleans it I hope).





The upgrade comes with a complimentary magical glow right before it trades-up your palette. It's really cool to have this upgrade right off the bat, and we'll certainly make use of it (I'm not attempting a no-hit run fr'instance).




In the next room we encounter some headless spearmen. These men, who in life pursued Lu Bu, attack like lizardmans except for the jump (they got no ups), and they strike at you a little more frequently.
Altogether safe at any speed.




After defeating the headless spearmen, the top door opens and we find a treasure. Potions are pretty darn useful and will save your ass.  if you remember to equip them to the A button 
There may have been a dungeon key in there somewhere of the kind that you can use once in the dungeon you find them in.





Holy shit!
Say hello to Piercia. I guess this is what the little girl was talking about when she said she saw a horse-sized scorpion. And here I thought she was exaggerating! If anything she was selling the boss monster short.

Say Goodbye to Piercia

Piercia suffers from being a little dumb. For a first boss, though, she still packs enough of a punch to keep you on edge, and takes enough hits to make you strike and retreat a lot before you're through. Your reward is a pile of experience and a fountain of hearts.




Ah. What we came here for. Neatly stacked and boxed already for us. Huh.
Your other reward is a chest of 200 jade (not pictured).
Once you make it back to Hujia, the game interrupts you.




Out of nowhere, Argos appears

Like any good wizard ought.


The Demon Knight bows low and replies, "If it pleases you, my lord, we knew already that the entrance into the Underworld was not in this place. Piercia was not needed any longer."
Argos glowers at his subordinate, "I know that, fool! But if one exists that could defeat Piercia, we should be wary! Go to the ice fields! Reinforce our position there. The Keire Island temple should provide a fine stronghold."
"Yes, sir!" the Knight barks out, "And where can I find you later, master?"
"I shall travel south-east in search of the entrance." Argos answers, "I sense powerful evil emanating from there. Inform the other to continue their search as they were instructed!"
"As you wish, my lord." says the Demon, "We will succeed!"
As Argos vanishes...

That was an astonishingly dense exchange compared to what the game's melodrama has provided so far.
Seems Argos has either forgotten (unlikely: is a wizard) or immediately discounted (likely: Alex is scrubby looking) Alex the warrior as a possible candidate.
Good thing they didn't need (or even like?) Piercia, else Alex would have a wizard and a demon knight chasing his waifish ass. But ah, the scene continues.


"Grrrr! I cringe to call a HUMAN 'Master' and 'My lord'! Soon, demons will rise from the Underworld to crush all humans...And, I think, our beloved 'Master' will suffer most of all!!"

Oh, so the wizard with the voice like the howl of a thousand demons is, in fact, human. Also he's unpopular among literal demons. Neat.



"Fantastic! You did it! And you brought more than enough! At last that woman will let me out of the house! Please tell the shop-keeper I'll bring some bombs to her later. Give me some time to make your bombs. Why don't you go purchase some equipment while you're waiting."

Back in Hujia, Tylon gets down to business with the dynamite (that sounds a lot cooler than it is), and plans to use it to blast the woman out of the way so he can finally escape his impromptu house arrest.



"So, Tylon really was out of dynamite...I feel like a fool. I must apologize to him, and to you, Alex. I'm sorry I doubted you. Perhaps this map will make up for it? It will be useful to you when you cross Galys Pass. See you in Casdra!"

Or maybe she'll give me a map and scoot along out of the way before being blown to smithereens. Either way.




Tylon suggested I buy something from the shop, so I pick a potion. I think he never finishes unless you buy something, widening the Tylon-merchant conspiracy to three. I grant you that maybe he just likes to supply the boom for these lady-merchant types.
By which I means he brings them the bang.



Tylon points at the table in the corner of the room. "They're over there. You'll have to excuse me now. I've got other orders to finish."

But he'll bang Alex for free.

One last thing before we leave the valley, you may recall the Arsenal from the intro?



Yeah, that box you didn't have time to pick up contains Alex's other Y button weapon, the Hauza, or boomerang axe-head.
The boomerax has its uses. It has a slower attack rate than the sword and can't hit some targets.
To compensate, it is steadily more powerful than the sword at all levels. Oh, and it attacks from a distance, so you can keep the heat off sometimes.
For most occasions I use the sword. Every now and then the boomerax is simply the better tool for the job.





Here we are at Galys pass, our escape from this two-bit valley. Notice the brown asterisk to the south west of Rysis? That's one side of a warp star. You have to walk over a side to activate it. Each end need to be activated before it will work.
I did, at that, activate it, so there's nothing I'm leaving behind.




Ah, right! How foolish of me to think there wouldn't be an actual dungeon between me and the rest of the island.




The only baddie in Galys is the pink moth-bat. They're a step up from the inhabitants of the valley, and confer massive experience by comparison. They appear in clusters, too, so Galys becomes thus the first good place to pad some levels.




The fruit tree, another feature of Galys, produces fruit at random, which you harvest with a swing of your weapon. The leaves rustle a bit and then some number of fruit fall out, sometimes only 3, sometimes considerably more.




Further up the mountain pass we find this obstacle: the one that had been penning us in up until now. It only takes one bomb to get blast it to bits.




Like so.




Once on the other side, we can approach the cave from the other direction and get a health upgrade. With it off the pressure plate, the bridge slides out and we can take a short cut back to the Hujia side of the pass.

Nothing else to see in Galys, going down is just more fruit bats, fruit, and cliffs. Oh, I failed to mention that sometimes falling down a pit means being moved to another floor, and sometimes it means taking a hit and being replaced on the platform you last stood upon.





And we make the trek to Kazdra. Galys is at the bottom right corner of that map. Having made it, it's time to take a rest for the night.

Next time: chatting up Kazdra!