Part 20: Part Twenty: On the Sea Again

Part Twenty: On the Sea Again


Here we are, back on the Enterprise. We've made it out of the Tower of Owen and are free to explore!


The first thing I try to do is jump off the side of the world just to show everybody that, you know, you can't do that. I could have shown you this back when I rode around the continent with a chocobo, but then I would have had to walk all the way back around the world to get anything done.


I also get in a fight with a new enemy on my way back to the boat. These guys are Red Caps, and I think they're the third palette-swapped Goblin we've seen on the world map.


They can use Stare, just like Medusa could!

_{It sucks, just like when Medusa used it!}



Ehh, I'm not really sold.


The EXP is enough to push Golbez onto the next level, though.

I think there are a few new enemy types on this outer ring of land, which is odd, because you have absolutely no reason to ever go there. There's nothing out there. I could, of course, also be wrong and these could just be enemy types I've missed because I don't fight a lot of battles on the map.


This is definitely new, though. This is the Nepto Dragon's cousin, the Sea Serpent.



It is weak to lightning and doesn't have inflated Defense because it's not a boss.

Again, enemies on the open water aren't what I'd call "a threat". Just keep something with lightning damage around and you're gold. The other option is to just level up past their effective range, which you'll also end up doing.


Our destination today is this little island with its little cave.


That cave is...the Dwarven Hollows!


It's populated by little guys like this - dwarves!


Like pretty much everybody else we meet, the dwarves are having a problem.


They still have time to give me a nice welcome, though.


There's also a moogle hanging around here. It's been a while since I saw a moogle. I made sure I was current on Mognet. Let's chat with some dwarves!

: We put a ward around the shrine! No one can get close! We'll defend the last horn!

Does anybody else feel like we're not completely in the know here? I kind of like that the first dwarf you talk to doesn't just dump a bunch of dwarven backstory on you. Honestly, the lore around this next quest doesn't matter, some quests can just be quests.


This guy won't let me take all his stuff. What a jerk, eh?


This is not a passage, no matter how many times I try to run down it.


That one dwarf can stop us taking his treasure, but he can't stop us using the stairs.


Lotta stairs here.


Lotta stairs here.


It's not an infinite staircase, though, in case you were starting to worry.


There are two things down here. The first is a revival spring that I can't use right now.


The other is a big boulder. I can't use this, either. This is, by the way, the treasure room with the treasure we can't take. I got confused, though, and thought it was something else. I can't actually explain what I thought it was, because I have no idea myself, but there you go.

More dwarf chat!

: Gutsco the Rogue! He stole a horn! Smart he is, but a rascal too!

Gutsco the Rogue isn't a dude who's completely on the up-and-up? I am, surprisingly, not surprised.

: The two horns made of ice! They're our treasure, our precious! One of them was plundered and pilfered! Stolen by a scoundrel! It must be found!

I guess I lied about not getting any backstory on this, strictly, but it's all kept to one text box and most of it is optional. Nobody's writing a novel about the horns of ice. It's cool by me because, to be honest, I couldn't give a shit about the horns of ice.



The dwarven weapon shop has some stuff I could pick up. The Tyrfing would be an improvement for Kuja or Golbez, but I don't buy any because, ehh, Kuja's going to get an upgrade pretty soon here anyway, and Golbez is pretty much on staff-using duty right now. The other stuff wouldn't be a good buy right now, either: I already have staves, I can't use the bell, and fuck arrows.

: Warriors of the Light, did you ever know...that out to sea, far, far to the east, is a peninsula with a village called Gyashl?

We've seen this village before. It's the one we couldn't get to with the chocobo. I could have gone there before coming here, but there's really no pressing need right now. I'll show it off before too long.


Popping into the inn here, I find this man.


He will tell me about jobs if I let him. There was a dude like this back in Ur, too, but none since then. If you can suss out why we came to the Dwarven Hollows, you can figure out why job men would be back.

We're going to get some new jobs soon.



The item shop sells Hi-Potions, but that's pretty much all they've got going for 'em. No need to buy any right now, they're kind of expensive and nobody even has 500 HP. Of course, it would take two or three regular Potions to get any meaningful boost from them. I think that maybe there should have been an intermediate level there.


The inn is still pretty cheap, but we don't need the rest right now. There are still a couple of dwarves to chat with.

: There was a shiny tower to the north! After the earthquake, it was gone... But there's a big hole where it was!

I'm not 100% sure about this, but I think it's just talking about a dungeon coming up. I've never seen a big hole where I would think a tower used to be.


The last thing to see around here right now is this big wet spot. We can't do anything with it right this instant, though, so let's just get the plot on.


This is the only dwarf I have yet to speak with.


He's obviously the most important.

: That rascal Gutsco's made off with a Horn of Ice! He made his getaway through the underground lake!


Look how sad he is that dwarves can't swim.


We can't grab the other horn, by the way.


We have to go back down here. This is the underground lake the dwarf was talking about.


Let's take a good look.

: In we go!
: Oh, no...are we turning ourselves into toads again...?


Sephy just nods.


Kuja is not happy about it. I'm not really psyched about it, either, kid.



But I do the spell, and we're set up to explore the underground lake...next time!

Mognet



Today's letter is from Princess Sara, and it's all about upper-class malaise. I think this is usually when a kid decides to go backpacking across Europe, but Sara's options are kind of limited there, especially since every place in the world is surrounded by monsters.