Part 33: Looking for friends, wage negotiable

Chapter 33: Looking for friends, wage negotiable



Immediately after we exit the basement, Figaro Castle surfaces and gets back to business. We could visit a whole number of places from the castle's two stopping points, but let's follow the rails for the moment. We'll have plenty of time to see those places when the world opens up a lot more.



While I'm in the area, I stop to buy Edgar's next Tool. We could theoretically have gotten this a long time back through lucky stealing, but it really isn't that good.



The Debilitator assigns a random weakness to a designated enemy unit, then politely informs us what that weakness is. This would be a lot better if it didn't seem to have a preference for giving enemies a Poison weakness. Or maybe I was just very unlucky.



Anyway, Kohlingen is our next destination. You might recall that this is the place where Locke was keeping his preserved girlfriend for safekeeping. Maybe we'll find him there.



No such luck, I'm afraid. However, there is a different important gent to be found in the local cafe.



This hint is actually fairly unimportant, as we'll find the fellow in particular around the same time that we find the "Striker" that this fellow is referring to. Other characters in town talk about the coliseum as well though. Apparently, that raving loon to the north of Kohlingen got someone to support his idea about building his "monument to war," and now there's a coliseum in place where the fellow's house once stood. We'll be checking that out later.



: Come along with us! We're after Kefka!
: Phew... I don't know if I have it in me anymore...
: What are you saying!?
: I'm just a gambler... I just want to be left alone... This world is too chaotic for me. What's worse, I've lost my wings...

Oh, not more of this pity party stuff. It was annoying enough with Terra.



: That was then... We can never have that world back!
: You want to live in this world as it is? No? Then do something about it!
: Mwa ha! All right... you win! I'm starting to feel lucky!! Thanks... I needed that. Now, let's go visit Daryl's Tomb.



Music: Setzer's Theme

Daryl, as you may recall, was a character mentioned in a throwaway conversation who had her own airship.



Daryl's Tomb, however, is new. Fortunately, the game gives us a little flyover of where it is, just a little ways to the southwest of Kohlingen. Since we don't have many other options, we might as well check that out.



While we're in town, there are a few new doodads for Setzer to check out. Now, the Dice may be cheap, and their Attack Power may be listed as 1...



But they are, in fact, one of the quirkiest weapons available at this point in the game. The weapon functions by a simple roll of two dice. Once the roll is done, the two numbers on the Dice are multiplied together, then multiplied by Setzer's level, and then doubled. Since Setzer's currently at Level 30, that means that the Dice can do anything from 2160 damage to 60, though it's statistically more likely to do something in the realm of 360 to 1200.

As for the Trump, they're another weapon with a chance of Instant Death, but since we're about to face the undead, that's almost useless.



Before entering, I equip everyone with Amulets and Ribbons, with White Capes mixed in as well. Why all the status protection? You'll see.

Amulet: Protects against Dark, Poison, and Zombie. When a character is a Zombie, they'll attack whoever they want. Enemies, allies, whoever. They'll also be counted as dead, so if everyone's dead and/or zombified, it's game over. On the plus side, they're unkillable when they are a zombie, so if you don't mind taking a hit every now and then, it might be beneficial to have your own zombie buddy.



: Yeah. She was a piece of work. Nothing scared her...



: Could be anything lurking down here, so keep your eyes peeled!



So far as tomb designs go, "Gothic Cathedral" isn't half bad. Love the candles. Really adds to the decor.

Music: Mystic Forest



We're mostly packing Ribbons for those guys. Mad Oscars generally go by the name of Marlboro, and their signature attack is known as Bad Breath. If you're not protected, you can get anything from Blind to Confusion to Sleep. Across the many Final Fantasy games I've played, this enemy type has been the cause of many an amusing game over.

Naturally, that's why this incarnation only has a 1/3 chance of doing it, and only on the second turn. I think I went through two dozen fights with these things and only saw it happen once. And all it did was put Setzer to sleep. Whoop dee doo.



For some inexplicable reason, Setzer decided to fill this tomb full of puzzles and treasure boxes when he had it built. For this one, in order to carve words into this tombstone, we need to find words to put there.



Checking this tombstone opens a door leading into a room with a lever that raises the water level so we can ride a turtle into the second half of the dungeon. This is starting to feel like a Resident Evil game.



Now this is a mean trick. The lever down there in the shallow water opens the door that we get to by raising the water and riding the turtle, but if the water's up, we can't get to the door, so we have to lower the water, run around to the lower area, flip the switch, run back, raise the water, and then advance. But first, there's something important in the room below this one.



Words! Well, each tombstone actually just has four letters of complete nonsense. However...



There's a trick to putting these together: the words have to form a sentence. See if you can figure it out before I show the solution.













Not that hard, is it?



Music: Rest in Peace

So a tombstone is somehow producing words out of thin air. I guess it makes as much sense as the thing erasing itself every time we mess up.



Anyway, as it says, there's an Exp. Egg hiding in a hidden passageway. Best not forget that.

Exp. Egg: Doubles a character's gained experience per battle. Handy if you're in a leveling mood, I suppose, but I'm still waiting for the Relic that doubles Magic Points.



In the room right before the boss, there's a treasure chest here with a very special monster inside.



Seem familiar? Presenter uses the same gimmick as Whelk, that boss from WAAAAAAAAY back at the start of the game, ducking its head back into its shell every now and then. However, this time, you're allowed to hit the shell. In fact, if you want the best reward possible from this fight, you'll want to kill both the head and the shell at the same time.



Fire's a good bet against this thing, though given its defense, anything with armor-piercing capabilities, such as Setzer's Dice and GP Rain, Edgar's Drill and Sabin's Pummel, are highly recommended.

Offensive-wise, it attacks with Magnitude 8 and Gigavolt mostly, abilities which we've seen before. You'll need to heal, but it's not really all that tough.



The Shell is programmed to have a 1/3 chance of countering every attack with Gigavolt, but if you kill the Head, it goes through the normal death animation. Somehow the scripting got those events out of order, so we've got this weird situation where Sabin gets struck by lightning out of nowhere. But no matter, we get a Dragon Claw from each, which is an upgrade by far for what Sabin currently has.



Of course, we haven't reached our boss fight quota for this update yet, so here's another one.

Music: The Decisive Battle



Despite having 23,450 health, Dullahan is also very durable against both physical and magical damage. If there's any fight where armor-piercing techniques are handy, it's this one.



Since this chariot-riding soldier thingie specializes mostly in using Holy and Ice-based magic, having Celes on Runic duty isn't too bad an idea, with Sabin using Mantra to heal the occasional physical and Setzer throwing Dice or GP. Dullahan's also weak to Fire damage, but from what I could tell, it wasn't doing a great deal of damage.

Honestly, this battle is more a war of attrition than anything else. If you're taking it down legitimately, it will take a while, and the thing will be constantly pumping out magic in return. In fact, I daresay that since it only has 1,721 MP and is constantly casting spells, it might be faster to wear it down with MP rather than HP.



After Dullahan dies (redies?), we open a door leading further into the tomb.

Music: Epitaph



In fact, this entire walk down the stairs is broken up by very brief flashbacks. In order to avoid confusion with the Setzer we're following, Flashback Setzer will be denoted by italics.



: You can't be serious! What are you trying to prove!?

: Watch your step.



: Nonsense! I'll win the Falcon from you when I whip you in a race! You'd better clear outta my way!
Daryl: Big talk, buster!



: There's nothing like flying!
Daryl: Come on! Stop lagging back there! Or do you like chewing on my wake!
: Listen to you!
Daryl: This time's for real. I'm going to break every record! I'll be known as the woman who flew closest to the stars!
: Be back before sunset! I'll be waiting for you on our hill.





: This is THE Falcon?
: I put it in storage. I couldn't bear to look at it. But now it just may save us...

Music: Searching for Friends



Uh...not to spoil this dramatic shot of the Falcon rising heroically from under the sea, but it kinda has an open cockpit.



: We can attack Kefta's tower from the air!
: The Falcon's going to give us one last chance at that guy...
: But first we need to find our friends!
: Right. First things first. For once I feel hopeful!



Suddenly, Celes spots a pigeon flying off the port side.

: Hey! A bird! Setzer! Follow that bird!
: But why?
: I... don't know...! Something inside just tells me it's important...



The Falcon automatically flies over to Maranda, where we will pick up next time.