Part 3: Chapter the Third

Chapter the Third in which our heroes are assaulted by a floral display, discover yet another man who might be Fry's father and soundly thrash a severely mutated goblin.

The first order of business here in Desert World is to go and see what's going on in this town.



Fry's twin speaks the truth, as within a few seconds..



we find ourselves in battle with a pair of apparently carnivorous flowers. The gimmick of Desert Town is that you can get into random encounters walking around town. It's annoying, and there's nothing really worth visiting this place for again.



Evidently the standards for godhood are a bit low in this neck of the woods. I have to wonder what the ultimate MAGI is.


It must be Ashura's Tower! Go 7 to east and 7 to south from the cactus south of the town. You see a cactus there. The tower is south of it.

That was oddly specific...

When did you get out from behind the bar to see this, anyway?


anymore.

I really think the developers had nothing for this guy to say and thus had him talk about the next world.



These three chuckleheads just give you useless directions. I think the intention was that you were supposed to listen to them and wander around out in the desert before realizing that you could ask the guy behind the bar for information.



The cactus that the barkeep was talking about, and a rough idea of what the rest of this world looks like. Wandering around here is really pointless unless you know where you're going.



Following the directions above will lead to this calm spot, however. As tall as that tower is, you'd think you'd be able to see more than just a shadow.


with 3 heads and 6 arms. That's Ashura.

You gotta be kidding me, Ashura's a GOBLIN?


But he got caught!

I sense a rescue and a guest character coming up...



Uh... definitely not a bartender from any other town off in the desert somewhere.



This town also has some nice upgrades in weapons, but nothing in armor. That's going to be a problem before long.


He's a guy with a hat on.

Hey Fry, that sounds like your dad!

Not really, lots of people wear hats. It could be anybody.

Name one.



A new world brings new monsters. The Zombies have a very expression and the snakes are amusingly fat.



There's also the fearsome thunder-chicken called an Eagle, and a severely out of place Barracuda.



The BabyWyrm we fought way back at the beginning is now a regular enemy, although at this point we seriously outclass them.



After using up a few spare weapons, we continue on to Ashura's tower. As you can see, it's a pretty swanky place.



He's got a bit of a beetle infestation, but with an Ice Spell available they're just an easy source of gold. 714 for this stack, and it adds up pretty quickly.



Since some of those expensive weapons in the previous town are available in the tower, it might be a good idea to just save a bit of money and pick them up here. The sabre is going to Lela.



More interesting monsters. The octopus looks more like an Octorok, while the skeletons are interestingly piratish.



For a miniboss, this guy has about the shortest dialogue string. He doesn't get a chance to attack before going down.


I came here to defeat Ashura. But you saw what happened to me! Why don't we work together?

Sure, person who is obviously not Fry's father in blackface.



Mask gives us the helpful advice that Ashura is strong against all kinds of magic. That's why Lela got the sabre.



As you can see, Mask has great stats and lousy equipment. He's still a powerhouse, and if you don't grind to the extent that I do he'll probably be a huge boost to your team.



There's actually a lot of loot scattered around the tower, which is kind of nice. The Colt is a bit of an insult at this point, but the silver shield is a nice boost for Bndr. If he's going to have an item to waste time with, the silver shield at least gives him a boost to defense and HP.



The loot is especially prevalent right before Ashura.




Fry's the lucky one in this, as the power potion, silver helmet, and battle sword all go to him. Lela gets the magic potion, while Mask gets Fry's old long sword so that he can have better equipment.



Ashura waits at the top of a set of stairs, very much as he did in Final Fantasy Legend. Big as life and twice as ugly.




Fry's HP growth is still out of control, but at least his strength is looking better. Lela is pretty well rounded overall, and Bndr has the best defense of anybody by a wide margin. Zoid has become an Oni, which trades a bit of HP for better offense. Before the fight I rearrange the party to put Bndr in front and Fry right behind him. Bndr can probably absorb an attack that would kill Lela or Zoid, while Fry has so much HP that he can probably survive most attacks.


send someone to tell you.. that.. My man already went into Ki's body!

What did you do to her?!

Ki was born with MAGI in her body which gave her the power of healing. I get those MAGI and she fails! ... Killing 2 birds with 1 stone... Well... Now I get yours and that'll make it 3 birds!!

..... Never!!

Wow, I think Ashura expanded that saying until it shattered.



It opens up pretty well. A long sword gives Mask better damage, and the SMG is still very effective on a single target. That's actually a nice benefit in this game.



Ashura makes a very puzzling choice to try and put Mask to sleep. It winds up being the last choice he'll ever make.




Finishing up the round Fry takes the lead in damage, while Zoid whiffs. Lela's damage isn't spectacular, but it's solid.



Starting out again Zoid makes a contribution which taps Ashura over the edge.



The battle also results in a nice set of stat increases, which often happens with boss battles.



He's kind of pathetic in death. If he weren't such a jerk, I'd feel kind of bad for him.





I missed a shot of an additional poison MAGI, but Ashura had a ton of MAGI. Does using multiple MAGI at once result in monstrous transformations, or was that just what Ashura wanted to have happen?



Mask buggers off, saying that he's done what he wanted to do.



Fry finally remembers at this point that Ashura said something about Ki.

Next time, we'll find out what and maybe even do something about it.