Part 142: Castle of Dreams

Welcome back!

In distributing Sue's XP, Rapp picked up Shh! and Justin learned both Thor Cut and Burnstrike. I'll be showing those off next time.



I wasn't joking last time, when I said we'd be going the exact opposite direction of Laine to go kill some things and get shinies.



Pretty spooky-lookin place there.

: O travelers... if you have strong hearts, please listen to my request.

: My bravery and strength are second to none!

: So then, what is it?

: This place overflows with curse and sorrow... and darkness, too.



: Sounds like she'd fit right in with us!

: She collected many things. Then, one day... somehow by a twist of fate, my sister got ahold of this cursed sword. Our father perished, and that sorrow brought this darkness.

: Please break the curse of the sword. I beg you. Please break the curse of the sword and set us free.

Y'know, in a typical JRPG, this would be part of the main plot.





The decor is appropriately creepy.



And the monsters are all-

... oh shit, he's targeting me with that!



Anyway, the monsters here are all the creepy undead things you'd expect in a haunted castle. They're mostly resistant to physical attacks, so if we had someone who could use bows, the Exorcising Bow would have made the trek much easier.

Also, Pink Mages will wreck your shit given half a chance. Thankfully, they don't have very much HP.

The Pteranobones accompanying them, though, are a lot more solid. Needless to say, we burn through a lot of MP.



Okay, new plan.



Regroup, heal up, and take these guys on later.



Also, admire the scenery.



Y'know, maybe the curses and darkness began when they started filling their basement with corpses? Just a thought.



Zombies are slow. They're also not ghosts, so we have no problem with introducing them to the pointy ends of our assorted weapons.



The loot here isn't quite as... broken as what the Soldier's Graveyard gave us. Case in point: this is only 1 point of defense stronger than what Rapp's got equipped. So he takes the Dark Armor, and Feena gets that double-hand-me-down Plug Suit.



Try to avoid that skeletal-lizard thing, though, and not only do zombies pop out of nowhere, but the archway collapses.



Salamandiles are another ghost-type. They're also immune to fire, so they get plinked to death with Howl.

Crackling will usually one-shot a whole group of these assholes, but it's still kinda expensive to cast. Not too bad if you don't mind abusing save points, though.



Especially since they can drop Lightning Charms. Combine with a Moonlight Shield, and you can double up on your wind resist.



There are three variants of the Pretty Jewel, all identical except for the sale price.



This is the big reward for going through the basement, though. Not quite as defensive as Milda's current shield, but she ganks it anyway.



It's hard to hate any dungeon that holds itself so well to the "spooky castle" theme, though.



On the way out, Feena hits water 20 and picks up Alhealer+. Despite being the ultimate spell of the Heal line, it's really not worth it until much, much later. It costs 12 level 3 MP, which means Feena gets one shot of it, and it takes quite a while to cast.

Towards the end of the game, though, it makes for a good panic button.



Upstairs, we find Giant Moths. Much like the other moth monsters we've fought, they can use Sonar to confuse. They can also debuff defense.

They're not ghosts, though, so there's not much else to say.



Even the broken columns are bleeding.



As is the knife.

Near as I can tell, none of the monsters in here are considered humans.



The dining hall is a tricky room because it has a fixed camera angle, and likes to hide things behind objects. Like that Mana Egg behind that door up against the wall.



It's also got a hole in the wall that gives us a good view of the boss's chamber.



In the nearby study, Feena finds an upgrade to her whip.

Speaking of the study....



If you're playing along at home, be sure to hit up that save point. Even though this dungeon is set up so that it's nearly impossible to go two rooms without running into a save point, this one is the important one.

Just trust me on that.

Before we go take on the boss, though, I have another score to settle.



You motherfuckers aren't going to catch me off-guard this time.

Each time you run between a pair of statues in this room, a group of enemies will spawn and try to ambush you.

Once you know how it works, though, it's easy enough to turn the tables.



The reward for going through there is this nifty helmet.

All right, time to head off to fight the boss.



You can tell it's the boss chamber because it's the creepiest goddamn room in the whole place.

: Who are you? Stop! Stay away! This cursed sword will hurt you! Just like the day when it forced me to kill my father against my wishes! Oh, Father...!

: It's all right! We have come to break the curse!





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7HX2dE9YrM (Polsy link)

Of course, this being a JRPG, breaking the curse involves fighting a ghost wizard.

He's composed of three different parts. The main body and head share HP, and the Wand is separate.

The wand is also there to do a comparatively weak physical attack in an area, and draw fire away from the dangerous targets. It could finish off someone if they've been hit by both of the other parts, but really it's just a distraction.



X-Ray here is all the head will do. Hits for about 70 damage, and can tag people standing behind him. Given the head's speed, you'll be seeing this quite a lot. Thankfully, it's easy enough to spread out so that he only hits one person at a time. Also, unlike some auxiliary parts, the head can be canceled, giving you a bit of breathing room.



The main body can use Vanish, as well. Unlike with the Kung-Fu master, the tradeoff here isn't worth it. Speedy and Cold are too costly to reapply constantly, and Diggin' and Wow! aren't nearly as helpful here.

Though, every turn he casts Vanish, he's not casting one of his other spells.



Justin has some pretty convenient timing on learning this spell. GadZap, like DragonZap, is a level 3 lightning spell. GadZap is, by base power, the single strongest spell in the game. It's single-target, and slightly cheaper that DragonZap, but most boss fights tend to have one target that's worth focusing down above the others.



Speaking of GadZap.... As of right now, only Justin and Milda have enough HP to survive even a single casting, and that's at full health. Thankfully, it's only single-target. The Lord's Ghost can also tag an area with Zap! for around 60 damage, which is his most common action.

Honestly, doing the battle at this stage of the game does boil partly down to luck. Hope he spreads around the pain instead of focusing someone down.

Also: heal up at the save point and just go nuts on the main parts in hopes of ending it before the RNG becomes an issue.







Still, the rewards are well worth it.



: Now no one needs to suffer the same fate as my father.

: Yet the pain of losing father remains. I will pray here for his repose. I give you this sword in appreciation.

: Thanks to you, I am free of the curse of the sword. Thank you so much.

What's her sister out front think?



It's nice to be able to relax with a job well done.

So, all that other loot was just the stuff scattered around the dungeon. What's our actual reward?



Oh yeah. That'll come in handy.

Next time: We finally think about heading back in the general direction of Laine! Maybe!

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