Part 11: Lost in the Breeze

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Chapter 11: Lost in the Breeze

The plot so far, in Dragon View:
Alex, the coat rack of an infantryman of the Isle of Keire's holy army railed at the dapper and deadly mage Argos after that wicked wizard purloined Katarina, ordinary girl of Rysis, to show us all the meaning of "purloined."
Suited in a suitable suit of armor and geared to the teeth with a perfected blade and a boomerax named Hope, Alex heeded yet more of the advice of the Dragon Lords who urged him away to a land called Breeze to the south.

Alex, now a card-carrying member of the Dragon Lords' railroad, revisits where the breeze takes him before taking him to the Breeze.

We take a short stop back in Rysis to see if the plague is affecting our hometown.



"But he puts up a brave front to keep us from worrying."
"Recently Master Qunos' health fails him. His strength is only a pretense to keep our morale up."

It is.
All the more reason to be fully equipped and prepared for whatever awaits us in Breeze, right? That's just my thinking in revisiting the cave where we got the bow.





With gloves in on hand,
Alex is able to move this dark (and therefore heavy) statue out of the way.




The lightning ring is going to be my go-to subweapon for most of the rest of the game. Baddies drop stars sometimes, but they never drop replacement bombs, so I prefer this method for clearing away boulders (and bombs don't even work on all the boulders anyway).
This is an unsubtle clue, by the way, that there are lots of rocks in our future.




An excellent reward for backtracking. I know it doesn't seem like we're much of a wizard team right now, but trust me, I'm really happy to see this.




Right. I'm not certain about whether this is in that same cave or a screenshot from a different cave. A lot of the caves I can get full access to have bombable walls in the back that lead to chests like this one. In case, by this point, you somehow aren't already as rich as Croesis. I'll skip all future shots like this (there are plenty of 1000 Jade rewards scattered about).
While we are exploring, let's check up on how I'm doing with the killing contest.



"You've ALREADY destroyed all those demons?
Ha ha!" he laughs, "I thought not! You still have 64 more left! And you call yourself a warrior! Don't make me laugh!"

Grr. Fine. C'mon Alex, we're settling this so I never have to enter the swamp again.




As an added bonus, some overworld enemies explode into cash when you kill them. I had this happen twice.



"But...the bet was for 100!"

Okay, so I lost count. Sheesh.



"You defeated all those demons yourself! Perhaps you are not so weak as you appear. My treasure is yours, as we agreed."

Your treasure had better not be jade, buddy. I've already earned a pile of that from completing your arbitrary and quite easy (but tedious) task.




Worth it. Man but wizards are the coolest.






Alrighty, it's back to the plot as usual. The Dragon Lords appeared to us in some cracked drywall and insisted we meet someone in Neil who can put a faerie spirit in this rock we picked up.
I'm guessing it wasn't just the drywall that was cracked.



The groan emanates from deep inside the well.

Groaning well, eh? Better ignore it. I only give change to wells who play instruments.





This bit was precious enough that I wanted an animated gif of it. It reaffirms my sense of Alex as clumsy, waifish, and more than a little clueless. Still. The controller's in my hands here so let's see what the noise is. (presses the A button)




Murder her now Alex.


"I'm Ivan.
Sob... sob... Wahhhhh!" Navi wails. "Waaahhhh!" Ivan joins in. "Demons... demons have come!" Navi cries, "Grandpa said to stay here and hide! Then they came and threw Grandpa into the well! Waaahhh! Waaahhh!
If we do nothing Grandpa'll die down there! There's a giant stump in the northwest. We can enter the old well from there. Wwaaaaah!" Ivan bawls loudly, "Wwaaaaah!"

They...threw him in a well? Were they out of ideas? I mean, I've met a lot of them (over 100) and they always tried to kill me. Like, with moves.
Well sheesh, if it will make all this groaning and crying and whining stop, then point us to the dungeon.






Hmm. Your old well is also inside a tree stump. Great.



And there's this to worry about. Let's not worry about it.




There's more towering, axe-wielding things to worry about. This guy is one of the many intermediate punishments that this dungeon dishes out to any who forget-or never knew-the way to go. If you take the wrong door, you end up in a sequence of one-way doors that leads you back to the beginning, through rooms like this one with the jolly green giant and others with the most assholeish of all lizardmans.




Sometimes, the right way is down.




I'm starting to warm up to this awful place. Still, we should probably go find the old man and finish the mission. Not like there's anything in our way.




Wait, what the fuck is this? You mean I need to use the bow? That I've never found the need to purchase arrows for?
Well, poo. The image above is accurate except for the 45 arrows equipped to my A button. When I made it to this screen the first time, I hadn't ever purchased any arrows. Hence:




One arrows, please. Matter of fact, give me 50, I have nothing else to spend the money on.



Stupid old well and its stupid dragon statue.



There, c'mon Hope, this dungeon can't have anything left that's worse then what we've been through.



"Are you here to rescue me? I'm so glad to see you. Say, aren't you Alex? I thought so. Master Qunos has been asking about you.
Katarina has been taken by Giza? I was afraid something like this would happen. Only Katarina could open the gate to the Underworld. It's her lagacy. If Katarina touches the stone tablet at the entrance of the cave, a keyhole will appear.
What? The keyhole has already appeared? Back to the village!"

If by "keyhole," you mean "huge psychedelic portal to candyland," then no, it hasn't appeared yet. This old man would have made any excuse for me to take him back to the village. Look, we already took the job, just mind the deadly hazards on our way out, capiche?



"But the forest is a maze, and it's difficult to reach the depth of it. If the spirit is put back into the statue, then you may speak to the Woodland Guardian. If you can find the guardian, she'll guide you through the forest. Okay!
Take out the fairy statue."


"The Illusion Forest is to the southeast of this village. Go through the forest and go to the Mouth of the Underworld."

Impassable forest. Check.






Or maybe it is simply called forest. Anyway, let's see if this faerie stone is good for anything except mysteriously resembling a crucifix.





If you use the blessing here, a little faerie pops out and hovers around for a few seconds, then leaves through one of the available exits. You can use it again if you didn't see where it went. Keep following it, and you'll make it through the forest.




To this statue in the shape of a goddess. Your Soldrak turns it into a goddess in the shape of a statue.



"Holder of the Soldrak, I am the Woodland Guardian. You are keen and strong to journey so far into my illusion forest...Take heed! Giza has opened the Mouth of the Underworld."




Okay, now the keyhole has appeared. But what does Giza want with the tie-dye dimension?


"The wind strengthens the demons, and destroys my children...the trees. Still that wind, or all that is good will be infested. I'll draw a map for you of Mt. Badsel, the Underworld's gate. The destiny of all living things lies in your hands. Go now!" she orders.
Goddess continued talking, "There is a boulder on Mt. Badsel that you must have level 2 Lightning Magic to destroy. To use level 2 magic, hold down the A button for a while and release."

Lady, were you looking at your own cutscene? A large mood ring by Lisa Frank does not a gaping maw to the underworld make. Further evidence of the Woodland Godess' metaphorical thinking is calling Alex "keen and strong."
I do appreciate the straight talk that the goddess gives you about lightning magic, and the hint at how to use higher levels of magic in case you never puzzled that one out on your own.




The base of the mountain. The mountain's discoverers thought that "Mt. Evil" or "Wickedness Pass" might be a little too subtle, so they settled on Mt. Badsel.

Which Alex and I shall climb next time. It won't be long now, we're speeding toward the underworld!
Erm...in the good way!