Part 21: In Which Jean is Impossibly Bad-Ass

Chapter 19: In Which Jean is Impossibly Bad-Ass

Hey guys, you know what time it is? Sewer level time!


: This action-packed thrill ride will put you face-to-face with death itself! Only you decide the final outcome. All the monsters are real!

Well, this man's hyped for the sewer level at least. Good to have some enthusiasm.


: Just look! The wall fell down over there! What's next? Man, I sure hope it doesn't start oozing blood!

Say, that wall that fell down wouldn't be the way into the sewers, would it?


: He's mad that I made that big hole in the wall. I though it might lead to a secret wine cellar...[sic]

Man, that's two times I've had to pull out [sic] for this. Get it together Working Designs of 1995!


: The entrance is over on the wall and it goes deep within the Meribian sewers. The original Ramus left a clause in his will warning us never to go down there. He said he was almost killed by a vicious water dragon.

Well, had he been killed, Alex would have gotten more EXP!

: That's when he had to end his quest with Dragonmaster Alex. Many years later, he admitted that he was so scared he pooped his pants! It was then that he realized that he wasn't cut out for adventuring.
: Ramus, are you stupid? There could be hidden treasure down there!

There are three pieces of treasure. They're not that great.

: Money isn't worth risking your life... Okay, well, yes it is, but I'm not going to go down there.

But we are, so let's get to it.





The Meribian Sewers in the first game were very short and easy; it was, after all, the third dungeon in the game. (I don't count the lighthouse) There was also an additional gimmick; the enemies could not be injured by regular attacks, and Alex had to unlock his magic ability to combat the sewer enemies. Thankfully, there is no such gimmick in the sequel.



The enemies in this dungeon... well, in the first game, these sprites appeared in the Cave of Trial, the dungeon right after the sewers. But they had the same gimmick. I, uh... I don't know.

Anyway, the Deadpole is super beefy, much like in the original. Poe Sword, again, will not one-shot them. Lemina's magic won't do much to them either, although every thing else in this dungeon is weak to ice. Fortunately, unlike the last dungeon, enemies are susceptible to status ailments in this dungeon. So at least Ronfar and Jean can help keep enemies in lockdown.

Both of these enemies have specials that they telegraph by flashing.



The Deadpole's special attack is, I believe, an HP draining attack. It's a minor annoyance.



And the Mutant Turtle freezes you. A bit more irksome, but fortunately Hiro does have immunity to freeze.

Despite the lackluster special attacks, battles with these guys are a bit of a slog.



But they reward handsomely. Unless you're saving every two steps, your skills will really start to take off at this time.



Speaking of which, the first of the new skills I got was Jean's Charm Dance.



It works like her Moth Dance does; it only does damage to one enemy, and any close by get hit by charm. The enemies have to be grouped very tightly to actually get hit with the charm, so this has limited use. But it does have its uses. Oh my yes it does.



Aqua bunnies again Actually, these are super slow for some reason, and quite weak. Crushers are by far the least threatening enemy in this dungeon.



The first piece of treasure is directly above the entrance. It's a short jaunt to the left, up a bit, and then to the right. We've seen this sold before; it's a weapon for Ronfar. I'm still really liking the speed boost from the dagger, so this goes into the bag.

While the enemies are a bit annoying, this is honestly not that bad a dungeon. It's rather short, and not really very hard to navigate. You shouldn't have too much trouble.





HOLY SHIT I SPOKE TOO SOON.



Crap. Well, I can salvage this. Ronfar can patch us up.



Oh fuck me.

Yeah, the Chance Dice have one nasty downside; if you roll a 12, they injure you. And it's not a slap on the wrist. In fact, I'm pretty sure that it always does a flat amount of damage, meaning that at lower levels, if you use Chance Dice you have a 1/12 chance to instant-kill your party. (Well, I'm imagining this spell is not perfectly random, as I've got snake eyes like three times so far and I've only got a 12 once. So I have no idea if that will actually happen.)

Fortunately, while my heavy-hitters are gone, the two characters left are quite sturdy, so after a protracted battle, I emerge victorious.

Well, I've learned my lesson. As tempting as gambling is, it never pays.

_{This is a lie. I still used Chance Dice. I did not learn shit.}



Anyway, I decided to walk out, heal, and start over again. Going up, to the left a bit, up again, and the right leads to the next area.



The sewers don't have floors, they're just divided up into areas. Anyway, the next piece of treasure is to the right.



Again, we've seen the Mystic Bow before, it's a weapon for Lemina, and again I prefer Lemina to get the Wisdom boost from her current staff. To the bag this goes!

From this chest, just go down and to the left.



There's not much to say about this, but ambushes like this are very rare, for either enemies or allies.



Even with the advantage, this aqua bunny wanted nothing to do with this.

Actually, I noticed that enemies started to sometimes run away from me after this point. I might have been over-leveled, that's my only explanation.



Also, the Crusher's special is the same as the rats' in the Mystic Ruins. This is the only time I ever saw it.



I finally got Ronfar's Heal to level 13 and learned Light Litany. It steals HP from one enemy and gives it to your party. It's not great, although Ronfar lacks any other type of attack spell, so it's got that going for it.



Anyway, in the next section, you'll want to forgo going left here, as that's a dead end. Instead go down two bridges, then to the left.



Take the bottom path here. The top just leads to a dead end.

From here, the exit is just to left.



Right here. But if we go down that bridge and to the left, there's some more treasure.



It cures status ailments. Yay.



Before we wrap this up, let's get Lemina's level 13 Ice skill. Ice Shell increases defense for one person. Probably won't see as much use as its fire equivalent, but still nice for keeping people alive.



Also, when skill sets hit level 14, old spells start to morph. As you can see, Ronfar's Heal Litany spell has been replaced by a more powerful, more expensive spell. It still does the same thing, but you cannot use the older version again. For the most part, the increased MP cost isn't too much of a bother unless you focus too much on one skillset and upgrade it way too early, although at the end of the game there is at least one skill that may actually be better to keep at a lower level.

The remake actually has spells morph as well, although that's now tied to level. It seems kind of odd to have, considering that the Lunar 1 remake didn't replace old spells, and I have to wonder if the only reason it's in the remake is because it was in the original.



Anyway, we're at the end all ready.



And we caught these bastards red-handed.



: *Gasp* That- that mask! It's the one that-
: Well, well, Jean. Have you taken to associating with trash like this on a regular basis? I'm disappointed in you. After all, you were my best and brightest student. It's such a shame you left as you did. Now you will pay the ultimate price!


: You stole my innocence and trained me in the ways of death! I'll never forgive... And now, your trade in stolen children continues! You make me sick! You're using the knowledge of karate for evil! I'll have no part of it! And I'll take those kids, thank you!
: Ha ha ha ha! Oh Jean! You always did overestimate your abilities. Do you think you actually have a chance of saving these children? These kids will be free only when my elite guards feel death's embrace... and that's not too likely. I trained them myself... ha ha ha!





So this boss fight can be rather nasty. Each Assassin has little under 500 HP, they're fast, and they hit hard. Also, I'm at half MP.

I'm going to trivialize this fight.



With Charm Dance. Yes, they are susceptible to charm.



Unfortunately, that only hit one Assassin, so the rest wail on my guys. 30 to 40 damage ain't much, but it builds. If four of these guys ganged up on Hiro, they could definitely take him out. As a matter of fact, they nearly did, but thankfully one of them decided to target Jean instead.

I threw up Ice Shell for protection, but it turned out to be unnecessary. You see, since most of them attacked Hiro the Assassins ended up grouped very close together. Charm Dance has very limited range, but they're close enough together that I can hit multiple targets.



Not quite everyone, but close enough.



Awesome.

You know what's even better than your enemies smacking each other in the face? The fact that you can still wail on 'em; confusion in this game doesn't break if you hit them.

So, yeah, this fight didn't last much longer.



By the way, these guys do have a special, as you can see one of them holding a... vacuum cleaner? But since they're confused I never saw their special move. Sorry.



But I did demo Light Litany. It's very okay.



But in any case, the battle is over quickly. Jean, rather appropriately, gained a level from this.



Or your guys are way too eager to slice each others throats when a pretty girl shakes her ass at them.

: But you'll never lay a finger on the master!
: I'll never know until I try!


: Urmph! Ahh! ...my... mask!




: Come back and fight!
: Ha ha ha! If you really believe you have a chance against me come to a town called Horam and gain entrance to the tournament of death. That is the most suitable forum for your humiliating defeat, child. Soon, all will know the strength of Blue Dragon Karate. I'm looking forward to our... reunion... ha ha ha ha!

For an evil karate mastermind, he sure is a chicken.






: Hm... that voice... it sounded so... familiar...

I'll play along and not spoil it for now, but I'm not going to pretend you haven't figured out what's the what here.

: Well, maybe if I take this mask to Master Lunn, I can gain his trust. Once he trusts me, he might be able to help us! I'd better go see him right away!


"If you hadn't saved us from that strange man, we might have been killed! We have to get back to Taben's Peak in a hurry! Our leader will be worried! See you later!"
: Wait! We want to see your leader, too!


: Shoot! They're gone! Why are children always running off so fast these days!

Ruby, it's like a 5 minute walk and a gondola ride. Not that big a deal.

: Anyway, I think we should head back and follow them to Taben's Peak. C'mon Hiro, let's go!

And we gain control again. Thankfully, there's an exit to the right.



That leads to Lunn's place.



What, you're not even remotely surprised we popped out of the wall?

Anywho, this saves us some time. Let's pop in on Lunn.


: The Goddess Althena made a request that he go to Pentagulia. I'm sure he won't be back until he's solved that little problem.

Ah, well, later then. It's a bit short, but I'm going to cut it off here. Next time... something stupid. And interesting.