Part 45: Odds and Ends #6: The Dragon Nest.

Odds and Ends #6: The Dragon Nest.




Before we actually do our optional content, let's see if the citizens of Raculi have anything interesting to say.


: Yep! She was a total babe and she went in that house. Her name's Mauri.
: Ha ha! Watch your roving eye kiddo, it can get you in trouble when you grow up!
: Jean, don't scare the boy! I've got a mighty fine roving eye, and look at me!
: Exactly my point. Look at you! We don't want the kid to turn out like that!

...a hero with a lovely girlfriend?

: Wanna see my new superhero underwear?
: Not if you got 'em on.
: I do, but it's no big deal. Lemme show you.'
: Great! The kid's an exhibitionist. Just what this town needs...


: Actually, it's probably better that way.
: I think the nightmare is just beginning...
: What? What did you say? I thought you said...
: Ah... oh, nothing. Forget I said anything...

"I'm sorry, miss, could you foreshadow a bit harder?"


: The last thing I remember was that I was about to start my cleansing... after that, everything's a blank. It... it was like I was in a bad dream. A voice kept saying 'Zophar,' and all I could see was a dark fog wherever I looked.


: But he remembers nothing of Serak Palace for the time after that. Do you think Mauri did that too?

It mostly seems like the brainwashed mostly don't remember, but the marks do remain.


: Know that I will always love you...
: I'll be back for you in two shakes of an old dog's leg, sugar-snap! Once we defeat this Zophar dude, I'm alllll yours!

It's taking every bit of their will power not to just jump each other right then and there, everyone else be damned, isn't it?



And that's it for Raculi. Now, the second (and last, sadly) optional dungeon in the game is in the Minea Sea. We want to go north from the entrance of the zone.



Just a short distance up from the entrance the path gets too narrow for your land boat. Time to walk.



Oh, and here's the other new enemy. This is the last new enemy to show up on the world map.



It can do a thing. It does mediocre damage. And that's about it. Kinda high defense. Otherwise boring.



It doesn't take long to reach the dungeon.



The Dragon's Nest is honestly really fucking boring.



Also, by and large most of the treasure is kinda crap. The Silver Dagger at least is meant to be carried by a character who has business carrying a dagger, that is, Ronfar, but it doesn't improve agility like the Ritual Dagger (which I still have, by the way. I need to get rid of it, honestly.) It does give Ron two extra attacks, which is cool I guess, but its attack power is sad and who cares? It goes into the bag to be sold.



The enemies, on the other hand... whoo boy. Dopplegangers are... fun. First off, while they don't have the stats of the character they're copying (every type of Doppleganger has the same stats) they do have some of the abilities. Ghost Ronfar doesn't have anything all that dangerous, but Ghost Hiro does have Hiro's most important attack.



Yup. And it one hit kills whomever it hits. Even Hiro himself.



Hiro on Hiro violence has got to end man.

And the most fun part? You can't run away from them. At all.



I didn't realize this, and just kept trying to run. And the midst of this, I learned Lucia has a revive spell! She so rarely uses it I forgot she had it.



It didn't prevent the inevitable, though.

So, what can we do about them? They are a random encounter, so we have to deal with them.



Pressure Cooker can reduce the damage Ghost Hiro does, but you have to hope that the RNG doesn't go after slow-as-shit Lemina.



Dark Sword works, but does piddly damage. And it was then I realize; these enemies are coded as bosses. No, the music doesn't reflect that or anything, but otherwise that makes sense. After all, Dark Sword doesn't do full damage against bosses. Of course, "why" is the question. Yes, they are bosses later, but the Cave of Trial recolors in Lionhead weren't coded as bosses. Weird.

So, how do you beat them?



You Haduken and Poe Sword them. That's it. They don't have much HP (the guidebook says 680, but I actually think it's less), and Jean and Hiro are the fastest, so you can generally count on them acting before the Doppergangers. Take out Hiro (and there will only ever be one Hiro) and the rest won't give you any problems.

I felt so stupid when I realized it was that easy.



Jean and Lemina dopples will show up too, but they're nowhere near the threat Hiro is. Dopple Jean's Haduken is nowhere near as nasty as Poe Sword, and I didn't even see Dopple Lemina cast. Yeah, she attacked. I fought a couple of Doppleganger fights, but Jean and Lemina only showed up once.



The other enemies here aren't as bad, even though they do remind me of the most dull dungeon in this game. You can run from these enemies at least.



Although the other enemies here can be plenty dangerous. The Wyverns do a version of Lemina's party wide fire spell that's especially nasty. (In fact, I got ambushed once and the monsters killed Jean in the opening round.) Don't underestimate them.



You can Dark Sword your way past them. Again, it's a bit pricey, but there's no boss at the end so who cares.



And like the other optional dungeon, you get shit for fighting them.



Unlike the Lion Head, the Dragon's Nest is entirely boring cave. As such I'll limit this to highlights. On the second floor, you get some Angel Tears. Which I normally wouldn't bother to show you, but it's honestly one of the most useful pieces of treasure here.



On the third floor, there's the Goddess Pin. It's honestly quite underwhelming. It boosts Magic Endurance by 5 and allows the wearer to cast Cryo-Shield, which is the highest tier defense magic Lemina can learn. I very rarely ever use the defense buffing spell, and five plus to magic endurance is a pittance, so this can go into the bag.

There's another (that's three!) Refresher Ring on the 4th floor, and on the 6th-



OH MY GOD A CHANGE OF SCENERY.



Anyway, back to the caves.

There's a Dover Nut on the 7th floor, but otherwise nothing until the end.





Whaddya know, we've arrived at the treasure chest we saw earlier.



The Phoenix Ring makes almost makes this trip worth it. It allows the wearer to cast Revive Magic. Now that Ronnie can cast it, and Hiro has a piece of armor that has it, that's not as great, but I'm not gonna have that armor forever and another source of Revive Magic is always appreciated.

And that's it. Warp out and we're done. Honestly, unless you want the Phoenix Ring, the Dragon's Nest is really not worth clearing out, especially right now. Although if you want it, you have to go now. You absolutely cannot wait until later. You'll see why.

Speaking of later, tune in next time. Shit's gonna get real.