Final Fantasy Adventure Part #2 - Tragedy! How did we get mixed up in this?

Part 2: Tragedy! How did we get mixed up in this?

Alright then, power you asked for and power you shall have!

This place shows up on the map as a town, but it's actually the entrance to one. They kind of trick you that way. Anyway, walking in we head to the first house in town...

He used to be a gallant knight, but not anymore!

? Surely not!

A guy like that? I wonder what his type is?

Do you know a girl with the secret of the Tree of Mana?

There's actually two people welcoming us in this town. They're friendly around here.

A weapon and armor shop! Now we're talking.

Meh. A sword we already have and a helmet that's I'm only halfway to being able to afford.

You mean a person who calls himself Dark Lord isn't popular?!

The item store has a bit more of a selection, but real men take their loot from the corpses of their enemies!

It's protecting us from evil things.

It didn't do me or Willy much good. Maybe it needs some eyeglasses?

Final stop is at the inn. Gold can be a bit scarce in this game, and inns are a fixed price that will naturally become more expensive as we continue.

I mentioned the attack bar before. With swords you have two options, either a spinning attack or what you're seeing here. The sword literally drags Rock across the screen and back.

Afterwards, we head south...

To find a pair of people being menaced by mushrooms.

After dealing with a couple of low lifes, we find that the girl doesn't have much to say.

see Bogard... he will take care of the rest...

We hardly knew you Hasim. It appears having that sprite is very bad luck.

I'm looking for that Bogard, too. Why don't you come with me?

Oh.. can I?

I can only imagine that introducing yourself as Rock never gets old.

Roll, perhaps not so much. We've got our first guest party member! Guests in this game tend to move about on their own and make any attacks that they've got on their own initiative. You don't have to watch their HP, as they tend to ghost through most enemies. Roll, however, doesn't do any attacking.

If we use the Ask command she'll activate a regeneration ability that's very useful early on in the game.

Southeast of the spot we can see some enemies across the river. The animated flowers aren't a big deal, but the jellyfish can disappear and then reappear at will. They're actually kind of

Enemies will sometimes leave a chest when they're defeated.

Floor candy is the best candy!

Maybe I should have went by myself..

Candy is a standard use item that restores about 8 HP when used.

I think we might be ahead of ourselves here.

We've found the falls... for the second time, I'd say.

This is actually a pretty bitchin' place to put a house. It's pretty impressive how easily Roll can climb vines, too.

...

I was told I'd find Bogard at the falls, and I'm not seeing any other houses around here geezer. Fess up!

..My mother gave me this. Are you the Gemma Knight?

conquer the world with the power of Mana.

The name Vandole might be important...

We fought against them to retrieve the peace. But.. we were losing. The power of Mana was too strong.

That lady had that Pendant upon her chest. Seems like this girl is the key for this time.

I'd have to do some research, but this might be the earliest "Mysterious girl with a magical pendant" plot in RPGs.

I never turn down free stuff.

Go to the cave on the east side of the mountains. Use mattock to break the rocks in the cave. See Cibba in the town called Wendel

When we talk to Bogard again he offers the helpful tip that we can buy spares and reiterates his directions.

Going through the cave, the Mattock is swung like a sword and eliminates rocks and jars if necessary. It's also going to be used for something else, but we'll get to that.

A few steps away from the cave is a little shop that I can only imagine gets NO business.

The owner is shilling an axe, which we're definitely going to buy. As you might expect the axe can be used to cut down trees. They're also selling the same items that the previous shop had, with the addition of the mattock.

He's not kidding about that.

The axe provides an additional +4 to our attack and swings in a broad arc. It's a nice upgrade from the broadsword.

Most of the enemies here drop pure potions, which is a nice thing considering that many of them are also poisonous.

We can't actually damage the mudmen yet, so they're just something to run away from.

The charged attack of the axe flings it across the screen, hitting anything in the way. How it comes back again is anybody's guess.

Well, this looks like a nice homey place. Let's stop here!

I am so doomed.

I heard that the man here threw it away in a cave.

Most suspicious. There's no way we're going to be on a quest to find this mirror in the near future.