Part 3: Leviticus

Samuel's new buddy comes from Mesopotamia, so we're officially a multi-cultural party!

Anyway, we didn't do anything in Arrow beyond talking to the doctor there, so mayhap we had best go see if there's anything there we missed.



This seems like our new objective, but there's a bit of a problem; Meruha is on a completely different part of the continent (we'll see roughly where it is in a short while). We can't exactly swim there, and we don't have a boat either.



The equipment in Arrow would be a much needed upgrade, though it's more than a little out of our price range and grinding up enough money to get some for both Samuel and Enkidu would end up with the same problem as just grinding for one copy of the Kintal Sword. Being obscenely overlevelled is fun and all, but there's not much point to grinding for the money for the Arrow weapons if that's what you're after since Enkidu can wield the Kintal Sword as well.



Something new to Arrow is the Bank system that was stolen from originated in Dragon Quest III (insofar as I'm aware). The one advantage is has over the original concept is that you can also store items. I can understand why they did this, since this game operates on the same system as the DQ series in that when your party gets wiped out you don't get a game over. You just start back at the last inn you visisted (or Moila's inn if you haven't used one yet) with half your money.



In most cases, the banks will be found in the inns. This one, however, is in the item shop.



Of course, with less than $1000 we can't exactly use the bank yet other than to store items. In the event that you get a drop of something called Blood you might want to do that; this item is pretty rare right now and due to a VERY limited inventory you're better off not carting it around for hours. Blood doesn't sell for much (a whole $1!) and its effect could come in handy later; it lets you escape from a battle. I've honestly never used this (the only reason I even know what it does, is because it's in the manual), so I'm not sure if it can fail or not but I'd expect that it doesn't work in boss fights for obvious reasons.



To the northwest of Remlia, we can find these two... caves? The one to the left is kind of a cave, but we can't enter it (effectively), the other one?



We've finally found Mt. Palo, and we could potentially rescue the kids here now. Unless, y'know, Zodia beat us to it. He probably ha-



: I wasn't able to save the children.

Oh... uh, this might be a bit of a problem then. He couldn't do it, so why would Samuel and Enkidu stand a better chance? I guess they might be able to manage due to sheer numbers but that's not very sporting. Still, we might as well try!



: You need a permit from the priest of Remlia.

Or, we can try once we can get past the entrance. Well, back to Remlia we shall go, but first there's one monster here that is gonna be a big help.



This, uh, this isn't actually it. Mammoths, however, ARE dicks to try and take down at this stage. See how its level 14? Yeah, uh, Samuel and Enkidu are both only level 9 so this shouldn't be possible under normal MegaTen rules, right? Actually, so long as you're close to their level you can negotiate with them easily. Fusing works on a similar principle, conveniently.



: But we can't do that! Samuel and Enkidu; I have a favor to ask of you. Please go to Mt. Palo and defeat the monsters! You're our only hope.



Giving Samuel the Scale Claw, since it's cheap enough to not have to grind for and is better than the Kill Whip. I can't afford a second, but Enkidu's fine as he is due to one reason;



At level 10, he learns Curse 1. When the things you're fighting have this, it's annoying; when you have this, it's incredible. We'll see just why this is when we're done with Mt Palo.



Anyway, being the first "proper" dungeon, Mt. Palo isn't particularly difficult or confusing to navigate. It doesn't even have any treasure! Most of the dungeon is a straight line, so there's not much chance of getting lost to begin with.



At level 10, Samuel picks up Heal 2 and this will prove to be useful in some fights.



Larun is the only other monster on the mountain we could actually find a use for, and its spell list reveals just what that is. It doesn't make a particularly good heal bitch, despite it having Heal 3, due to its horribly low MP pool but Defense Up is going to come in handy, I'm sure.

With this, we can bench either Tanki or Harpy. We could get rid of both, but we could do with one of them just in case we need to heal or something. I'd keep the Harpy because, despite having only Heal 1, she has a bit more MP.



: Please help!



Devil is actually easier than Jabba. He has more HP so takes longer to kill, and can hit harder with a physical attack but that's what Defense Up in the first round is for. With that, the only way he can realistically take down anyone is with a critical hit and even then, if you've been working on Stamina at least, it might not actually one-shot anyone. He can't even use Curse 1, so he doesn't have that advantage either. The only way I could presume he'd be able to even beat Zodia is by using his one gimmick; he can drain a character's MP. Sometimes, only part of it though mostly all of it.



With Devil beaten, Zodia's been carted off to the inn in Remlia finally. We might as well go check in on him, since it wouldn't be mentioned if it wasn't plot relevant in some way. Probably.



Where... where is he? Hopefully he's around, somewhere.



: I'm going on a journey to seek for higher Gaia power. I don't want that humiliation ever again.

Huh, y'know I can't help but think maybe he was faking so we would have something to do. To say he'd been "massacred" those wounds healed pretty fast...