Part 7: Thunder Dragons in Paradise
Chapter 5: Thunder Dragons in ParadiseA heroic little tune!
Here's the other FFL song that will take up valuable space in your brain until you die.
Man, this is a relief. Just a normal town full of normal people.
You there! Trog come from afar. What is place name?
✗✅✌✃✏✍✎ ✔✏ ✓✅✁✓✉✄✅. ...Come again?
I do believe everyone here speaks a foreign language. Basium? Pardon? You guys actually speak to each other in Basium? Er, apparently? Oh my god, your accent. And you're fluent. You came from the tower, didn't you?
Yep! Though I'm curious as to how you know our language. It's a trade language here. Been functionally dead for a couple of centuries. We can speak it, but we try to avoid it if we can. I can't believe this. What other hayseeds are going to come tromping out of there next? Er, no offense. None wasn't taken. Oh good. Nice one, Ell. Anyway, if it's a trade language, we can still gear up. If you'll point us in the direction of the nearest weapons shop, I'm sure our gold will speak for itself.
✗✈✅✒✅ ✁✒✅ ✔✈✅ ✐✉✃✋✌✅✓? ✕✇✈. They're from the tower base.
Travels on water! To other lands! Piloted! I take it he's not very good at Basium. Who, Frank? No, he's insane. Mercury poisoning. Tragic. Alright, troop, let's split up. I'll handle shopping. Rez, Trog, you're on conversation duty. Will you be needing my help? Not really, but you're welcome to tag along anyway. And spend all day watching you buy weapons? No, thank you. I'll be resting at the inn. Suit yourself. Meet back here at sixteen-hundred. Is 1249 AD. Could take a while. Must you? Trog not knowing. Must he?
Ah, now here's a woman that— I will shoot you and not feel bad about it. In that case, all prices are final. Whatever. Look, I'm new here. All jokes about me being a dumb hick aside, can you tell me what the hell this thing is? I picked it up in the tower. Hmm. What's the best projectile weapon they've got where you come from? ...a bow? Uh oh.
Pull that stool over, we've got a lot of catching up to do.Guns are now available in shops. At 80 gold for 40 bullets and 30-59 damage, the Colt is a really amazing single attack weapon for this part of the game. Also available are SMGs, which will hit an entire group for 50-70. This isn't enough to one-shot like Rezen's magic can, but lead-hosing a group for two or three turns will certainly get the job done. SMGs don't carry as much ammo, however, and they're more expensive than Colts, though not prohibitively so.
Across town...
Ugh, I hate having to talk to everybody. They never have anything interesting to say. Is useful, sometimes. I guess. This worm guy looks less boring than everybody else. Hey, what's up?
Really? That's nice.
I suppose so. It beats having him dead, which it what almost happened when— Actually, I was being sarcastic. Friend Rezen, is being rude. Alright, alright... I'm really sorry, Mr. Worm. You just hear everybody blabbing on about whatever crosses their brain, and it gets to you. No one really strikes up a real conversation anymore. It makes you pretty cynical. Sei-Ryu has banished Ryu-O! Just the worst.
Think you got all that, rookie? Yeah. It's not all that different from what we do, just smaller. Heh. Guess that's one way of looking at it. On a completely different subject, have you had a lot of tower climbers through here? You're the first that I've met. Really? No one else? I'm looking for a guy in a suit and a top hat. Think I'd remember someone like that. Yes, yes you would. Oh well, just means we're a step ahead. I better get moving. If we need anything, we'll be back. You know where to find me.
Okay. Point this end at enemy, brace, squeeze trigger. Seems easy enough. Hi, Elly! Punctual. I like it. What did you guys find out? Is not much known. Something about Ray You Oh. Is it the accent or the words that's confusing me? Some both. Ryu-O is some sort of big shot around here. Or so I was told. Great. Well, if anyone would— Several times. ...yes. People have a tendency to repeat— Over and over again, Elly. Okay, sheesh. I'll let you buy the weapons next time. Oh, there's Dente. You're late, soldier! I'm not a soldier, so I'll take my own sweet time, thank you. Well somebody got up on the wrong side of the bed.
Here's the deal. The crazy guy in town was ranting about a floating island. I figure, if we can find that, we can use it to explore the ocean. We're following the advice of an insane man? That's what we've been reduced to? Is not much step down. I'm afraid I have to agree. Alright. Well, all of these islands look weird to me. Maybe they all float.
Damn. Caves it is, then.
There's always a cave, isn't there. I suppose it's a universal constant of some kind. Yeah, well. Just once, I'd like someone to build a lair or hideout above ground.Not surprisingly, monsters go up in difficulty on the second world. I'll be showing them off as we go along. Some will only get a mention and brief screenshot, while others... well...
... ... ... ... ...
*blink* Dammit! You win. Eye am the patrol. Eye see you. Yeah? Now you see us...
...now you don't. 
Big Eyes are really good encounters for you at this point. Their main attack is SL-Gaze, which just puts people to sleep. Nine times out of ten, they'll sleep one of your guys as their first action and not get a second. You get 240 GP for beating one of them, and I've only seen them attack in singles.
Bear in mind I said 9 times out of 10. The tenth time, I suspect I know what they use—and if I'm right, it wouldn't be pretty. Still, I never had it happen to me across many, many fights, so it's probably okay to grind against these guys. Hmm? What's the attack? Oh, you'll see.
You'll all see.
Nope
Nope
Not this oneStepping on each island along the way is a pain. Of course, I know which one it is (
), but that's because I've played through the game already. If you're coming in blind, the only option is to visit each of these islands using the tunnels and step on every one. It kind of sucks, but at least there's new faces to see.Like, for instance, these guys:
OW! Why is always me?! Trog's on the front line, too! Bite him! Elly turn to wolf now? We've gotta stem the bleeding first if you want to find out!Werewolves hit like trucks. They're fast enough to beat Rezen on the draw, and the least I've seen them do is 40. Their HP is fairly normal, so we can still kill them with spells, but fighting a group of them is like running your face across a cheese grater. Just run, the reward is piddly and it's not worth the hassle.
Is pirates was warned about! Pirate. A pirate. Singular.
Avast, ye land lubbers! Oh, come on. No one actually talks like that. You're right. Makes for a great distraction, though.
Yoink!Instead of attacking, pirates just steal your gold. They get to do it twice per round, too! You don't get that money back when you beat them, they just cough up a lousy 40 GP. Don't fight pirates.
Also appearing on the overworld (but not interesting enough to get a screenshot) are Magicians. They mostly cast Sleep and Cure, so there's not a lot of resistance to pushing their faces in. I've never seen them do it, so I don't know if they can, but I live in dread of one of them casting Fire or Elec. At any rate, one fire spell later, and we can move on to check other islands.
Nope
No
Dammit And back in we go!
Yeah, there's a lot of walking around. I wanted you guys to experience just how boring this part of the game is. It gets better, promise! (Just maybe not this update.)
No
No
N—woah! Did you guys feel that just now? Land is move! Is earthquake! No, Trog! We're sailing!
Well, look at that! The entire island is a ship! Machines that fire metal arrows, islands that float like rafts... I wonder what other marvels we'll see before this is over. Woo hoo! Rez? Smell that salt in the wind. It's great! Who knew you were a natural-born mariner? Take lookout, it'll make up for conversation duty earlier. Aye aye, cap'n!
Land hooooooooo You've always wanted to say that, haven't you? Can you blame me? Land hoooooooooo What you call Trog?! ... You've always wanted to say that, haven't you? Can blaming Trog?
Okay, everybody, remember where we parked the island!A quick note here: You have to actively push A to get off the island. Without this knowledge, you can spend a lot of time bumping into things and trying to figure out which surface is necessary to drop anchor.
I'll talk to the townspeople this time. Nah, we'll go with you. I feel a lot better now! Speaking for self. Trog get seasick sometimes. Doop dee doo. Hello! We sailed in on a giant island!
...castle at the bottom of the sea! Dang, you win.
✈✅✌✌✏ ✓✔✒✁✎✇✅✒✓. Sorry, we're tower climbers. Basium only. Oh. Not as good at, but okay. Trog know feeling. What? What? Okay, before we start a chain reaction that could destroy the entire universe, why don't you tell me what you were saying? Oh yes. The man is not lie. Whirlpool is possible, but one needs equipment special. You have that here? We do. When you have...
If you find, keep it under tongue. Breathe. It is easy. We'll keep that in mind. Thanks!
He lives in the castle in the depths of the ocean. He's a dragon? Cooool. Is Ryu-O a dragon, too? Yes, the greatest of them all. Ryu-O was once king of the sea. When he was enraged, ships would be pulled down to the bottom, but when he was pleased... ah, those were happier times. What happened? Sei-Ryu happened. He was the Azure Dragon of the Night Sky, Ryu-O's closest advisor. It was when Ryu-O lost his queen and his grief was greatest that the coup occurred. The few guards still loyal to him bought him enough time to escape. He's been in hiding ever since. An advisor overthrowing a king. Whenever you go, people are depressingly the same. Now, the sea is hostile. Pirates and monsters roam the waves, demanding tribute to Sei-Ryu. No matter how much we pay, it's not enough. No boats sail anymore. Trade is crippled. We can't keep going like this. Then it's your lucky day. We specialize in doing stupid things for the common good. Need directions first. Excusing Trog! Where is the interesting?
...southern island. Seriously, he's bonkers. Stay away from him. Didn't Hat Guy tell us we should talk to him? "Hat Guy?" Is that what we're calling him, then? I never actually found out his name, soooo... Well, given the choice between Hat Guy and this mook, I think I know whose advice I'm taking. Unsurprising. Don't give me that look. You're off the market, I'm not.
IIiiiiii'm sailing awaaaaaaaaaaaay
Set an open course for the viiiiiirgin seas~
Somebody likes right angles. It's a simplistic yet powerful layout.
Wow. Whoever lives here only has one piece of furniture. That's kind of sad. Less than you'd think. You'd be quite surprised what you can do with a good table. Eat on it, sleep on it, use it as a chair... Quite efficient, really. If you say so. Hey, there's the old guy everyone told us not to talk to. Let's talk to him!
... Hullo! ... Uh... hello? *waves hand* ... Welp, he's out to lunch. What now? I honestly don't know. What do you know? Eh? Is there anything you can be sure of? Are you you? Can you prove you exist? Yup, he's nuts. Excuse me, sir, but a friend of ours told us to visit. Might'nt you know why? Friends, eh? Hmm hmm hmm. Don't know why they'd tell you to come see me. Are you sure they're a friend? I'm beginning to wonder myself. Water in a bamboo pail at night. ...Pardon? When you carry water from a well, the bottom drops out. No more water. No more moon. Do you understand? Nope. Who care? Bucket is useless now, Trog throw away. Ah! Finally, a wise man. I'm honored to meet you. I don't even know what's going on anymore. Line starts behind me and Dente, Ell. Honored Grandfather has been long lived. Friend speaks of airseed. Know where? I do indeed.
Be thanking. No, no! It's nothing.
To island, and away! What was he talking about? Why a bucket? Why a moon? What does it mean?!Yeah, we got another scavenger hunt on our hands. This one's a little more obvious, at least. There's not too many ways to interpret "palm tree in the center."
Unfortunately, while you're busy looking for it, your guys are getting punched in the skull by werewolves. I'm... not really sure why werewolves are the most common monster at sea. For all the talk about pirates, I really only saw one of them in the first half of the level. Maybe the pirates are werewolves. Think about that—on the party's floating island, Elly is laying down suppressant fire with a 45-caliber automatic pistol long enough for Trog to punch a werewolf pirate unconscious. I just wrote that sentence. It's 100% true and happened in-game.
That being said, it doesn't really help us find the airseed any faster.
Nope
Nope
Dear GOD I hate this
Finally. I'll go get the seeds! While you do that, I'm going to take one last run around the island. We'll need her in top form to get where we're going. And where would that be? Dente, you know damn well where we're going next. Yes. But I want to make sure you're suicidal, rather than just assume. Elly, I checked! There aren't any seeds! Now's really not the time, Rez. Aw, you're no fun. Here you go. One for each of us—and some spares, just in case. *brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrp* Trog! You're not supposed to eat them! Can belch own lineage now. Take minutes.While the good ship SS Buttertub putters towards her eventual destination, I thought I'd take this opportunity to show off our stats. Rezen's been punching above her weight for a while now, I'm sure her mana has gone up by an appreciable amo—
The game has apparently decided that Rez will never see another ability or HP increase again. Instead, every stat level up is going to be mana. At this rate, she's going to be at 99 before we get three-fourths of the way through the game. I really don't want to bust the game wide open like that, but it's handing me a damn hammer and daring me to go to town.
In a more sane turn of events, Elly and Trog are mostly keeping pace with each other as far as Agility and Strength goes. You'll note I've already bumped them up to their max of 200 HP using HP200 and stopped there. The next tier is HP400 at 1000 gold a pop, which is ... kind of ridiculous. (Fun fact: HP600 adds up to such a huge bill that buying 1HP shots of HP200 is actually cheaper.
) 200 for our tanks will get us through this next part just fine, though I get the feeling Rezen is never going to see another HP increase for the rest of the game. Later on, that could get ... unfortunate.Meanwhile, adventuring continues. Seek out new life, boldly going, etc. etc.
Dear diary. It is day six since we set sail from Airseed Island. The crew is restless, and tensions are high. The captain plays things close to the vest, and none of us are really sure what ideas she has in her head. Hey, Elly. Why are you so quiet? I'm steering an entire island, Rez. It's not like I'm trained for this. Oh, okay. I pray a mutiny does not take place. A monster can never be sure of his moral fiber until the moment of truth arrives.
Day 12 of our voyage. I have been reduced to eating the werewolf meat left over from various raiding parties. Spices are low. I fear this shall be the last of my oregano. Our future seems bleak. Is out of ocean. Yes, I can see that, thank you. Today, we proved the old wives' tales true. The world is flat. Nothing stands between us and the void except a thin layer of waves which seemingly cannot be penetrated. None of us know if the captain's madness is great enough to try. Well, I'm not going in there, that's for damn sure. I suspect the first mate is sympathetic to the crew's cause. Ew, werewolf again? At times such as these, it's important to know who your potential allies are.
Day 43. Mutiny! That's what they would call it. I call it justice. Who is there to judge us on the open sea? Who can honestly say, placed in our shoes, that they would not do the same? Oh, I gave the captain a chance. Elly, I don't think this is the right area. I do not need a back-seat island driver! She would not listen to reason. She is mad, dangerously mad, and will kill us all in the pursuit of her precious white whale. Hey, Dente. Whatcha writin'? Ah, hello! I'm penning a moral drama about a mutiny at sea. I was inspired by our little voyage. Neat. It's pretty nice out here. I can see why it would inspire you. Speaking of which, you have a lovely singing voice. Has anyone ever told you that? Aw, c'mon. You're just being nice. Look alive, sailors! Destination dead center from the bow!
I still say this is the worst idea we've ever had. Which is, in all honesty, a fairly high bar to clear. It's the only way to get to Sei-Ryu. Gen-Bu had the first sphere, I'm willing to bet this dragon jerk has the second. This is problem. Island not meant go in swirl. Believe me, I know. Okay, we're not gonna get a second chance at this. Batten down all hatches! Take down the mizzenmast! I don't think islands have mizzenmasts. Do you even know what a mizzenmast is? Do you? Does anyone?
Everyone ready? As we're going to be, yes. Alright. We'll park it on the edge and take her in without extra momentum. Hopefully, we'll be able to keep extra rotation down to a—
OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING I AM LITERALLY CLINGING TO A TREE TO KEEP ME ALIVE 
Next Time: One Orb, Two Orb, Red Orb, Blue Orb!