Part 16: Neglected! Will I Dream?

Unfortunately, we have to leave Chocobot at the bottom of the Tower. I kind of feel bad about this, but he's lived in the Desert before.



HE LEFT ME HERE. I WAITED 50 YEARS. HE FORGOT ME. I CAN HELP YOU. TAKE ME WITH YOU.

Uh... okay. Why did he call you Marcie?

DR.BOWOW POSSESSED AN EXTREMELY LOW SOCIAL INTERACTION CAPACITY, ESPECIALLY CONCERNING MEMBERS OF THE FEMALE SEX

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's been a lifelong bachelor.

I HAD CALCULATED THE ODDS AGAINST DR. BOWOW ACHIEVING NORMAL FAMILY INTERACTIONS AT 67.4302 PERCENT.



Meet Marcie. What you see above is one of the reasons that Marcie is the best party members we can ask for. In addition, she uses the same pencil thin laser beams that the previous robots we ran across earlier did. They're brutally effective and she's got a great rate of fire. In addition, she's got a very story and a lot of personality.



These are our current crop of new enemies for the tower. The birds aren't exactly threatening, but the fuzzballs can throw moogle rings at you. Flying gauntlets and the flying swords (which look more like missiles to me) can be fast and difficult to dodge, and the gauntlets can fade into invisibility at times.

IN ORDER SUBJECTS IDENTIFIED AS GARASHA/KIMONO BIRDS, WONDER, DEATH GAUNTLET, AND EVIL SWORD



Scattered throughout the tower are these plaques, which provide background information.



There's a few hidden exits throughout the tower. Despite the greater power of the Dragon Sword, I found myself using the morning star more often than not. It's a better dungeoneering tool, and very few ordinary enemies are immune to a ball of iron the size of a human torso.



We've got a couple options here. The top door leads onward, but the bottom door leads to more plot details... in order to open the top door we have to use our chain to get inside the fence and walk on some of the tiles.



An evil tree? What kind of ridiculous villain would that be?



There are actually two stairs up to the next floor. Taking this one...



We come to this room, which begins an attempt to screw with your head a bit.



Rooms like this are carefully designed to make it seem as though you've come up the wrong stairs and should turn around. In point of fact, however, it doesn't make a difference which stairs you pick. The rooms actually interconnect. If you're hasty and get frustrated, however, it could be a problem.



This does explain the obsession people have with it...but you know, it never explains what the mighty power allows you to do. A lot of mighty powers wouldn't actually be that useful.



A COMPLETELY CLOSED CYCLE IS AN IMPOSSIBILITY RULED OUT BY ELEMENTARY PHYSICS.

I have little sympathy for anybody who claims that a tree made them evil.



The actual stairs on that confusing level have no less than three entrances.



At this time we probably skip a couple of internal floors by climbing up this vine.


The only one who can stand against is the... Gemma Knight... with the... Excalibur...

Someone was being paid by the ellipse.

PROBABILITY 87.335 PLUS OR MINUS 1.28 PERCENT.



You'd probably never guess as much, but the exit to the west was hidden. No indications of it what-so-ever.



It leads to the next stairway up, but there's a bit more to find on this floor.



The Dragon Armor is a substantial improvement over our previous armor, bringing our defense up to a nice, even 100.


The true Gemma Knight should be given the Legendary Sword, Excalibur...!

Tested... is that what all of this has been?

MANY HUMANS EXPRESS A RETROSPECTIVE BELIEF THAT DIFFICULT EVENTS REPRESENT A TRIAL GIVEN A LATER POSITIVE OUTCOME.

Not so much, eh?



The next level of the tower is yet smaller. To our north is a simple dead end with no exits..



While to the south there's a bed that can be used to get a mid-dungeon rest.



This puzzle requires a bit of forethought. Marcie, murder machine that she is, is likely to destroy them if you open up the trees directly in front of them.

SORRY.

Instead, the trick is to cut the branches to either side and use the fact that the ice spell can be guided in order to hit them from the side.



And yet they have the time to carve stone slabs to record this fact...


Glory to Vandole and our Child of Hope...!

PROBABILITY OF A CHILD ABANDONED AT BIRTH BEHIND A WATERFALL RECONSTRUCTING THE VANDOLE EMPIRE IN ANY CONSTRUCTIVE CAPACITY IS TOO SMALL FOR MEANINGFUL EXPRESSION

I'll say. I've met him.



The final room of the tower is a nice little gauntlet with some spikes in the way.



The final climb in the tower is up a steep flight of stairs to a crenelated battlement.

Boss Fight: Garuda


Garuda Battle

Garuda is a bit of a turkey rather than a Hindu divinity. He's got a very slow, easily avoidable movement pattern that is telegraphed from a mile away. The feather attack is very slow, and it's easy to just run all over him with charged sword attacks. Marcie really tends to help out in this fight, hitting Garuda several times in the course of the battle while he crosses the screen.



Eventually Garuda explodes in a scattering of...bits...



How? This tower is huge!

I HYPOTHESIZE THAT GARUDA WAS MOSTLY COMPRISED OF HYDROGEN GAS AND OTHER FLAMMABLE CHEMICALS



Luckily instead of having to go down the tower there's a nice handy pathway heading west. This would be a good time, by the way, to recover your MP.



Can you? Let's do that!



With a mighty heave... you know, it's just a good thing for Rock that this didn't end up with him taking a header down the tower.



YOU HAVE TO SAVE THE WORLD. YOU ARE THE ONLY HOPE.

What are you talking about? ... Come on!



I WAS MADE TO WORK IN HERE. AND I SLEEP HERE...



The last we see of Marcie is her standing stolidly on the tower walkway as it sinks.



For a robot who was with us for one dungeon, Marcie makes an incredibly sympathetic character.







As we approach the falls the flow reverses and we ride the waves, rocketing out of the top to approach the Mana Shrine.

Next time: Pursuit into the Mana Shrine