Part 15: Episode XV: I, Me, Mine

Episode XV: I, Me, Mine



Welcome back, last time we had just gotten kicked out of the King of Norden's throne room for the sole reason that he's an asshole.



Go around the mountains and south a bit to get to this cave.



All right, tunnel. Whatever.

Eskimo: The lake is frozen around it though, so it can no longer serve as a port.

This level is really insistent on driving home the point that it's not only cold in this level, but even colder than usual.




This here is the port of Nofar. You can find a couple of interesting things around here, lets go.

Almost all of the Nofar citizens, like I said, make damn sure you get the plotline of "It's colder than usual around here recently" in your head.



Eskimo: They are in the North, West and East of the inland sea. The East is ruled by Queen Helen. She foresees the future in her dreans with amazing accuracy.

One of the reasons that the Ice world is my favorite in the game is that it's not only very long compared to the first two but it also has a bunch of different plotlines going on, rather than just something like "THIEVES GO TO LAKE, YOU STOP THIEVES". Queen Helen is the central character of the Eastern kingdom's portion of the storyline.



Over here we have three shops. The one on the left is a book salesman. Books allow you to change your monsters personalities by reading them. Personalities change the attributes that your monsters gain during level ups. The problem is that books cost 10,000 Gold each. We don't exactly have that kind of coin lying around at this point in the game so even if we wanted books - and I rarely even bother with them - we can't afford them.

The store on the top right is your average general store, one thing to note is that you can buy Potions there, so you can finally fulfil your mother's fetch quest from before.

The bottom right store is also a general store, but they sell the GoldPass, an item that gives you 10% off all items in the games stores! Unfortunately it costs 20,000 Gold, so... we'll have to wait on that.



Eskimo: The Ice has the port clogged. No ships can sail. I'll go bankrupt!

Notice the little ice globs in the sea there. This world-wide deep freeze is fucking up the economy.

The Inn at the start of the level had a little mug on it, meaning it's also a pub. Not that we can get drunk at age 10, but it's still fun hanging around bars full of sailors so lets take a look around.



Plant Scholar: I'm a scholar of plants. My studies have taken me afar. I'd like to go back home though. I wonder when the ships will sail.



So they keep the Gin in barrels? (Hey-o! )

That's really all there is to do in Nofar right now, let's find that mine.



Go around the mountains again and south from the tunnel to Nofar to find the mine.



We can't go through the little blockade there, so we'll just go into the mine.



This place is a bit of a maze, nothing really difficult. Go straight east and north first.



You can smash the boulders using the HarMirror. Honestly they just threw in boulders in random places just so you would have somewhere to use the damn thing, it's actually pretty useless otherwise. Inside the chest is a VITbelt, which gives a monster +30 HP. Very useful for your monsters like Whalemage who can't level up all that fast.



Going to the West from the entrance leads to another Blockade, this one from the Western Kingdom.

That VITbelt is the only treasure in the mine. Make your way up from the screen just West of the entrance and you'll get to the mine proper.



Miner: ...of the west to the mine!



Unfortunately, we can't reach the area with the actual gold from the side entrances. Since I don't think we can wait around for the two kingdoms to finish those bridges, so all you need to do is go to the staircase in the middle of the mine.



How are both of these kingdoms so stupid they didnt realize there was a staircase in the mine leading to the gold? Whatever, my gold now!

And guess what, oh dear, a BombCrag appears to guard the gold.



BOSS BATTLE: BOMBCRAG

You know, I've always thought that BombCrag's overworld sprite is really awesome looking and his battle sprite just isn't as cool, don't know why. I do love BombCrags though, we'll probably have one later in our team. Anyway, on to this battle; it's really easy. You can put BombCrag to sleep fairly easily, so Dood's NapAttack made this battle basically just a waiting game for how long it would take my other monsters to crush him into little bits of gravel. He knows how to use ChargeUp - what's with all the bosses in this game knowing that move?! - so that's even more turns wasted. If you like, you can use Increase to keep his attacks from doing much to you.



Uh oh.



BombCrag's explosion destroyed the gold vein, and... well, that's really not that much gold sitting there, is it?





Well, the mine has been cleared up and both guards are going to tell their kings the news that there's really not much gold after all. That should clear up the problems... in theory.

Before we move on, time for a...

MONSTER BREAK!

We're going to snag some new monsters here, starting by catching the ones from the mine.


GOOPI
Type: Material
Learns: CallHelp LegSweep Dodge
Goop is a pretty cool guy. Goopis liked to play Rock-Paper-Scissors with you in the original DWM and they're pretty cool looking to boot.


DROLL
Type: Bug
Learns: Slow Shears StepGuard
Derrp is the most fitting name when I look at this guy.


TREEBOY
Type: Plant
Learns: MPass CurseOff Hustle
Wood is the last monster in the mine. You can also find Mummies in there, but we already got one through breeding.

The farm was full at this point, so I released Wingy the Wingslime to get on with it. I also did a couple of breedings to get the farm down a few monsters.

We'll start by breeding Volat the Dracky with Carp the Gophecada.


BUTTERFLY
Type: Bug
Learns: Surround CallHelp Curse
Larry has probably the least interesting name ever. Oh, it's a butterfly? And it's called Butterfly? How intuitive.

Next, Hyedo the Moray and Bruce the Giantworm.


AQUARELLA
Type: Water
Learns: Barrier SquallHit Geyser
Curly is a pretty awesome water type. Not as awesome as Whalemage or Walrusman obviously, but awesome nonetheless.

And finally, Soup the Darkeye and Koala the Beastnite.


GRENDAL
Type: Demon
Learns: FireSlash DrakSlash Cover
Moe is the derpiest of the three stooge monsters I just made.

And naturally after all that I found a new one outside.


SACCER
Type: Beast
Learns: Upper PsycheUp PalsyAir
BSack. Because jokes about balls are never not funny. Except this one. And all the other ones.

***

Anyway, the mine is still being blocked by the Norden guards, so apparently the King hasn't gotten word yet. Let's go tell him ourselves!



King of Norden: You claim the mine has no gold? You dare question my authority? You're no envoy of the spirit! You must be a Western spy! You can rot in the dungeon!



It's the old evil villain cliche of "Hole in front of desk/throne that they can send annoying people down".



First thing you'll probably notice in the dungeon is that Prince Kameha is down here along with, uh...





Actual King of Norden: The two of us were trapped alone. I'm the real King. The one on my throne is a vile impostor! I was abducted in my sleep and held captive down here. I tried to escape but the exit has been sealed. It was closed up recently, but I have no idea where to find it.

Makes as much sense as anything, and tells us why the King is such an asshole.

What's up, Prince Kameha?



Kameha: We'll starve down here if we don't find the way out soon!

Useful as always, Kameha.

Next time we'll host an old fashioned prison break, confront the fake King and probably catch more monsters because they're there.