Part 25: Day 75-79: Inseparable (continued)

We still have 4 more missions to go. This one can't be fully completed now. Great.

Music: Sinister Sundown


Unlike last time, we start immediately. As in all the rings are already decreasing.



Like before, here's the map of the emblems. I have helpfully marked the ones we can't obtain with a purple outline.



The Heartless are the usual fare. The problem this time is that Xion might kill them, so you can't save them for later. Not that we can fully complete this mission, anyway.

[/img]https://lpix.org/3185567/treasure%2010.png[/img]

Blazing Shard and Moonstone. The Poison Plants are actually somewhat threatening now that there are many of them so that I can't cheese them with Fire.



There's only 2 that requires a leap of faith, both of which are shown above.



There's a Cymbal Monkey here too. It can also be used to replenish the ring.



But the ring doesn't really matter since we can't get full completion anyway. And if you're wondering why we can't...



This one is barely unreachable, so we need High Jump to reach it.



The other three... We need glide to reach them.

Music: Crossing the Finish Line


Cure is nice. What's the next mission?



Really? We're moving from the good exploration mission straight to the bad exploration mission?

Music: A Day in Agrabah
Music: Arabian Dream


I'm not even going to bother putting the location of the globs.



Guess what's inside. If you guess Potion for both of them, you're right!



As for the Heartless, there's Large Armors. Also in the picture but hidden by the Large Armor are Loudmouths. If you remember, they can heal nearby Heartless, so kill them first.



The chest has Iron.



The box from the recon mission is back to make this mission less painfully tedious bot more painfully easy. Still appreaciated, though. The Potion inside the chest, not so much.



Agrabah Gate tried to mix it up by having Pureblood Heartless. And the former chest also tries by having a Hi-Potion instead! The latter one still has a regular Potion, though.





Music: Crossing the Finish Line




So that's a mostly uninteresting mission done. Let's go to the second recon mission (read: interesting mission) in this batch.

Music: Waltz of the Diamond
Music: Dance of the Darling




Right.
We'd better be careful not to let anybody here see us.
I guess.
You guess?
Yeah, I mean...last time I was here, the place seemed deserted. All I heard was- Never mind.
What?
I heard this roar. Like an animal... A big one.
Really? What was it?
I don't know. I guess we may find out today.
I guess so! Well, let's get started.





It's a big stained-glass window.



Oh, look! A downgraded miniboss. That the briefing didn't mention. You had one job, Saix!



Frost Shard.



The crate's covered in dust.
Guess it's been a while since they used this room.



Moving on, here's what the Frozen status effect looks like. Very useful for dealing with Sergeant and their huge HP (attacks dealt to Frozen enemies deals triple damage).



Ether. This mission has nice treasures so far.



The door's locked.



Take a look at the gashes on this wall. Are these claw marks?
Some Heartless that got restless, maybe?



Are these...bread crumbs?
Maybe someone laid them out as food for the birds?
Then the castle isn't deserted after all.

The chest has Hi-Potion, continuing the trend. I like this trend.



The trend has been broken...



I was able to use these statues to open up a secret passage over there.
Wow. What made you think to do that?
I dunno... Things just sort of clicked into place.

It was mostly because of the mission of finding the Sergeant and there was no way else.



Footprints?
Could be Heartless.
They're big. Whatever this thing is, let's be careful.

We can't go to the Bridge, so let's go to The West Hall.



Roxas!
I heard it too.



What did you see?
Would you believe...a walking, talking candelabra?
Oh, come on... *looks* Whoa, you weren't kidding. But...how can it...
Beats me. But it did say something about a master.
So you figure it's one of the castle's servants?
Sounds crazy, but...maybe.

If we haven't examined the other areas, this will happen.

Saix told us to avoid any ocntact with the people here.
Yeah... Let's search a little more elsewhere.

And then we're kicked out of The West Hall. But since we did investigate the other areas...



Okay, let's think this through... That candelabra mentioned something about a master, right?
Yeah, that he won't leave his chambers. Maybe whoever this "master" is has a room or something down at the end of the hall.
Wanna go find out?
What? But we-
We just need to slip by without being noticed.

I have a bad feeling about this...

You really think we can?
Well, I know we can't go back empty-handed. Saix wouldn't be too happy about that. As long as we're careful, we should be fine.
Okay... If you say so.





Great. Another stealth section. If we get caught...



(Uh-oh!) *runs*
How strange... The light-it must be playing tricks on me... Heh heh.
Whew... He almost spotted us. We need to be more careful.

Actually it's not that bad since it's just a short trip and the alcoves near the stairs are mostly safe. Which is good because there's things there.



A bucket and a mop? I can't imagine trying to keep a place this huge clean.
Exactly. Which means they must have a lot of servants.

Why aren't the mop and bucket sentient?



The big ones are Snapper Dogs. They're just Bad Dogs but bigger and have more HP.



More claw marks...
The Heartless must be really out of control here.



Footprints...
Big ones... Heartless?
I dunno... They lead into that room back there.







Wh-what was that?
Maybe just barging in is a bad idea.

I think that's a bad idea for any covert operation, not just this particular room.

Can you get a look at what's going on inside from here?



Graaaaaaugh! How dare she not join me for dinner! This is MY castle! And it is MY wish!

Wow, Beast's portrait is terrifying. Better than Genie's model's creepiness, though.

("My castle"? Is he serious?)
Well, Roxas?
There was a...weird monster inside.
*peeks at the door* Whoa... What is he?
I don't know, but get away from the door. I don't want him to see us here.



He ate the castle's master.

He must've eaten the castle's master.
You mean he, like, took over the castle?
Hmm, wait, though... He said, "This is my castle." He sounded pretty settled in.
Then this must have been his castle all along. Beast's Castle... He must be the beast.

He is the castle's master.

It sounds like this castle belongs to him.
You think!?
He called this place "my castle." It doesn't get much clearer than that.
Ah, then I guess he must be the beast. Beast's Castle? Makes sense.

Both choices converge here. Also, can Xion read the world title card?



He must be.

He must be.
Then the gashes in the walls must have happened in the process.
That's my theory, anyway.

It's too soon to say.

It's too soon to say.
You're probably right. We shouldn't jump to conclusions.
Although, those gashes in the wall...
You think he made them, not the Heartless?
He must've been fighting something, that's for sure.

Both choices converge here.

A beast with his own castle and a candelabra for a servant...
This place must have quite a story behind it.
Well, we know what the master looks like. I think we can report back to Saix now.
Yeah.
Want to RTC?





To complete this mission fully, we have to examine all 4 doors in the Entrance Hall. I won't show all the doors since they look the same. And yes, we also have to avoid Lumiere on the way back.

Southeast door
Huh? I hear noises.
Really? I don't hear anything. Maybe you're imagining it.

Southwest door
Voices... I can't make out what they're saying.
Well, if somebody's in there, we'd better steer clear.

Northwest door
I hear rustling on the other side of this door. Who's in here? Maybe I can get a peek...
Roxas! Don't open it!
Oh... Right, sorry. We should play it safe.

Northeast door
I hear a voice... Someone's in there.
...The master insists...from Belle...
Belle?
Somebody else who lives here, maybe? We'd better stay out of this room.

The game just labels them "VOICE" but fuck it, I'm using Honest John's portrait. As for why his portrait is in this game, it's because Prankster Paradise (Pinocchio's world) was intended to be in this game, but scrapped. There's also Gepetto's and Pinocchio's portraits in this game.





That none of them are human?

You mean that none of them are human?
Right. There was that walking candelabra, and the master is some kind of beast...
There's no signs of people living here, but I hear something behind all these doors. They might be more servants.
I wonder what happened in this castle.

That they're all human?

They all seem to be human.
Uh, Roxas... Did you forget about the candelabra and the beast who owns the place?
Well, they talk like regular people.
That's true... There is something about them. I wonder what happened to everybody.

Both choices converge here.

That's a question for next time.
Yeah, you're right.
C'mon, let's RTC.



Music: Crossing the Finish Line


The reward for this mission is actually doubled.



This is the mission that has to be unlocked, so let's see if there's anything special here.

Music: Waltz of the Diamond
Music: Dance of the Darling


We start in exactly the same place as before.



There's some Bad Dogs here, too. When we drop down to the Entrance Hall...



Someone's coming.
Hide.



Is that a...
Yup. A walking clock.
He mentioned a master. You think he's a servant here in the castle?
Maybe.
Well, what are we going to do? The way he's pacing around...
Yeah, we'll have to keep out of sight while we take out the Heartless.



Apparently the special thing about this mission is that it has a stealth element in it. Great. At least both chests contain Ether.



(Uh-oh!) *runs*
How peculiar. I could have sworn... Oh well. Perhaps the master's finally driven me to distraction...
Whew... He almost spotted us. We need to be more careful.

That's what happens if we get caught. Yeah...I'll do it later. For now we'll go to The East Wing.



The left one has a Frost Shard while the right one has a Potion. And that's all in this area, which means I have to deal with stealth mission again.



Cogsworth is harder than Lumiere since he turns more often. And OF COURSE they put Soldiers on both sides.







The Ordeal Badge is barely visible on the middle of the Courtyard.





And that's it. The Heartless themselves are normal except for the two Sergeants simultaneously, but that's no problem with Xion's help.

Music: Crossing the Finish Line


I'm surprised there's no tower+ice cream combo this update.

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