Part 25: The Demon of a Thousand Names

If you remember, last time-


: Well, if you want, I'll take you there when this is all over...
: Nash! You have no right making promises like that! How do you know you'll be able to keep them?

We got this little toad back. Yay.

That's it for Tamur. Since we now know that the Prairie has our only way into the Frontier, let's head to that cave and see if we cross that bridge now.


"The girl looked like she was in pretty bad shape. The boy just looked plain worried."

A boy and a girl? From the Prairie? I think we might have met these two...




"We're under orders not to let anyone across until the disease is cured. But Tempest said that you might be able to help us find the cure..."

And since we did meet them, we're allowed to cross. There is an alternate scene if you waited until after getting Nash back to talk and fight Tempest. Fresca will collapse on the spot, and the two will rush back.

(And in case you're wondering, you do have to talk to them and "fight" Tempest eventually.)



Thankfully that short, enemy free cave is all the travel we have to do.



Something kind of neat about the two versions is that in the remake, the residents of the Prairie have a highly pronounced Native American aesthetic, but the original doesn't. I've heard the original's version of Pao described as Mongolian inspired, but to be honest this version doesn't do much with the idea other than the yurt-ish dwellings.

In any case, maybe we should go check up on Tempest and Fresca.


"But, the guardian caves are overrun with monsters... I doubt he'll survive long enough to get the seal, much less bring it back to save us!

Oh. He just... left her. Well, it's for a good reason. To get the... thing. That's important?


"The goddess Althena provided the seal to the cave. My husband was killed when he tried to protect the seal from Xenobia. She was intent on breaking the seal..."

That thing. Wait, that makes even less sense.


"With her protecting us, Xenobia alone couldn't harm us. So Xenobia called upon the fiend Grissel to supplement her power! Together, they've cursed us with this terrible disease!"

So... let me get this straight. They're sacrificing their lives to protect a seal that contains a disease-causing demon. A demon that Xenobia's already called upon. Man, this seal sucks. Why is Tempest gunning for it so bad?

And, yes, Grissel is the sealed demon. I'm pretty sure. You'll see what I mean.



Man, absolutely no one's looking after her. That's cold.

: Tem... Tempest... is that you? Ahhhh... you're n... not Tempest. Where... is he? P... please help my dear Tempest! He... went to the Dark ca... cave alone! He is going... to try and defeat the m... monster that's causing... this disease...

Oh. That makes a bit more sense. Although the decision to do it alone is questionable. I mean, he didn't get a real battle with Alex!

It might be a good idea to see if we can help with this endeavor. Maybe whoever is in charge can help us.


"He has gotten so weak we are afraid for his life."

Nope! Also, if you talk to the guy, he will mention the Water of Mirage, which, if you recall, is what we need to get to the Frontier. But he's too busy writhing in pain to help us with that. So you can't just fuck off and leave these people to die (you ass.)


"To cure this terrible disease we need the seal of the Goddess. It is contained within the Cave of Darkness. However, to touch it is to break the law of our ancestors, so... oh dear girl! Are you feeling okay?"
: I just feel... woozy...
: I don't feel so hot, either.




Oh dear.

: I... I'm so sorry to have caused so... so much trouble. Don't worry about me. I'll be o... okay. Just go.
: We've got to get the seal of the goddess soon!

That disease worked fast. So Mia is down for the count. While Jessica didn't collapse-


: The rest of you hurry and retrieve the seal! For Mia's sake!

Someone's going to have to look after Mia.

This may seem weird, but I'm going to tell you: talk to the priestess again. May seem like common sense, but you have to talk to her to continue the game. I cannot count the number of times I've forgotten to talk to her and then grew frustrated when I couldn't continue the game.


"Since you are outsiders, we cannot enforce the law that forbids us to touch the Goddess seal. If you want to see them live, your only hope is to get the seal from the cave. If you get the seal of the Goddess, bring it to me. I can use it to heal the entire village."

But, if the seal can't even- oh fuck it, I don't care.

This seems a good time to mention that this whole sequence is very, very different in the remake. There's a plague in Pao, and Tempest sets off by himself to solve the problem, but that's where the similarities end. In the remake, it's a "dark songtress" causing the disease via some sort of brown note (green note?) and to confront this songtress you have to go into the... Black Dragon Cave.

Yeap, the remake has the Black Dragon Cave in the Prairie. You get all four pieces of Dragon equipment... pretty early on, all things considered. Interestingly, this leads to a bit of a flub in the English version. There's a line about the Black Dragon Cave being on the Frontier, which is true in this version, but not in the remake.

So, what was the not-Black Dragon Cave like in the original? Let's find out.







It's another fucking dull cave. Yay. This one even has a dull color scheme!



Although some very nice treasure directly left of the entrance lifts my mood a bit.

The Pixie Bow is Nash's best bow, and it is a gooood bow. It sets Nash's attack power at 150! Nash can do some serious damage with it.

(Hm, do I see a certain someone in the distance?)



But it's not all nice treasure. This dungeon marks another jump in difficulty, as the enemies here are utter bastards. This Slice O' Dead is a giant wall of HP with four(!) attacks. And he can cast a freeze spell on you. Jerk. They can't move, but since they're not weak to magic you don't really have any way of attacking from afar. They're the most annoying enemy in this dungeon, and they don't always appear alone.



The Slicer has stupidly high attack power and range, but thankfully only has one attack. The Undead Warrior has more HP and defense, but has no other remarkable characteristics. Still, even these two hit hard enough that it can really tax your resources. Thankfully, in this version Alex has healing spells, so missing Jessica isn't as bad as it could be.



Wha? No one in my party uses a whip. Gee, I wonder if I'm going to get someone who uses a whip...


: I've been trying to get the Goddess' Seal, but I've been having trouble getting to it alone! Let's join forces.

Remember how I mentioned talking to the Priestess? Yeah, if you hadn't talked to her, Tempest will just tell you it's dangerous and to get lost.

But we did, so now Tempest has joined us. The last temporary party member set the bar pretty high. Wonder how this new guy stacks up.



He's... pretty good. His attack power sucks, but that won't be true for long. Three attacks are definitely quite nice.



His lackluster stats might be explained by his shitty equipment. We just got a replacement for his whip (one that raises his attack by 70!) but sadly nothing for his terrible defense.



His skillset is also nothing noteworthy. Wayout forms a protective barrier, Swift Sniper increases his attack power, and Party Shot hits the whole enemy party. Tempest has too little MP to bother with most of those, although Swift Sniper might have its uses.



Interesting thing to note about his whip; whips actually count as a long-range weapon. As a matter of fact, Tempest could use the Pixie Bow (although it is inferior). In the remake, he's a bow user only.



And it's good we've got him, because this dungeon gets huge and complicated really quick. There are 3 descending staircases on this floor, plus a bunch of not so great treasure. If you generally stick to the north wall you'll be okay (although there is some treasure further down, but none of it noteworthy).

The closest descending staircase is nothing noteworthy, just some mediocre treasure, so I'm not showing it, but the next one does have something neat.



Down here is-



Another one of these! Yes, yes, you can buy them now, but they're still expensive. It may behoove you to go pick it up.

Once you go back to the second floor, go down a bit, head left, go up and to the right. The leftmost staircase leads to the part of the third floor that allows you to proceed.



This is were things can get a bit screwy. The third floor is basically two enclosed areas with treasure, and a bunch of paths surrounding those areas. Once you realize that, it's not too difficult to navigate, but when you're actually playing the area is so big and you're zoomed so far in it's hard to tell.

First you want to go down and go right at the third opening you see. Go all the way right until you hit a chest with a Silver Light, from there go straight up and you'll be at the end! Well, don't neglect to pick this up along the way:



Kyle's ultimate weapon. Yeap, both Kyle and Nash get their best weapons in this cave. In case you were wondering, this is actually why I didn't buy Kyle a weapon upgrade back in Meyrod. He simply gets his ultimate weapon way before Alex does (and Nash gets his before Jessica).

And before I forget, I got some spells.



Two, to be specific. Nash's is an upgrade to his all-target attack spell, and Alex's is an upgrade to his single target one. Thrilling stuff.

Well, we've got that, let's just up and get to the-





No, wait, the boss just pops up in front of the unsuspecting door I forgot to screenshot. Oops.

So this is... the Inca God. Or Grissel, rather. I dunno why he needs disease to kill his enemies. Seems like those swords would do a really good job.



Or... not. Well, Alex does have high defense and the Inca Grissel has four attacks, but as long as you don't have Nash or Tempest out in front you have nothing to worry about.

It's a standard fight. Alex and Nash cast their best spell, while Kyle and Tempest just wail on 'em. If you need healing, Alex can pitch in.

Unfortunately, I kind of forgot to heal Alex's MP, and he was my main healer. He ran out of juice for his fancy Dragon Spell in two measly turns.



Nor can he cast his other Dragon Spells. Oops.

At least this time I remembered to pack a Starlight. Let's pop one and get Alex back in-



Nevermind fight's over.

Three rounds. This boss lasted three rounds. This thing couldn't give anyone a cold!



Sadly, Kyle got his attack-boosting skill after the battle. It would have helped so much.





In case anyone wanted to see all the shit I've got clogging up my inventory, here ya go! Yeah, you can't get rid of the Thieves' Crest either.



Wait, "Grimzol?"

It's actually called "Grimzol's Cave" in the save screen as well. Consistency, what's that?

This dungeon is a lot more... eventual in the remake. Not only is the source of the disease something interesting (the true identity of which I'm actually not going to discuss at the moment, just to make it more fun for the people who are completely unfamiliar with these games. The remake is very heavy handed when it comes to foreshadowing), the boss is actually the Black Dragon. The Black Dragon doesn't have the same "went insane" backstory in the remake, but rather is under the control of the bad guys. But most importantly, Alex completes his set of Dragon Armor. And... kinda becomes the Dragonmaster.

Or, rather, he gets a sprite change. It's kind of hard to talk about without going into spoilers (albeit vague spoilers). It is a huge turning point in the story, and the point that Lunar: The Silver Star and Silver Star Complete become almost completely different games.

But we'll get into the more drastic changes later. For now, let's bring this thing back to Pao.





Things seem to have a taken a sharp turn for the worse.


"The monster's curse will... please... promise me... save my children!"

Moreover, killing the Grismzol God seemed to have no effect.


"This disease will claim all our worthless lives."

And they're getting desperate. Probably should get this to the Priestess pronto.



Let's hope this thing still works.


"This should do the trick. Burn... seal... burn... With the fire of life. Wash away all of our sickness and strife.


If the music is to be believed, it did the trick.


"All thanks to you, Tempest. But, you did break the law of the ancients. So, you must face your punishment."


: I am willing to face any punishment for saving the village I love... But please, before that, let me go to my dear Fresca.

Sadly, we don't get to keep him. Even though I'm pretty sure this punishment is banishment (it always is) anyway.

EDIT: I was wrong!

Let's pick those two back up. Literally in this case.


: I am Kyle! What’s wrong with you, Jessica?
: Oh… Kyle! I didn’t think it could possibly be you! I’m so glad you’re here!


: Mia, the maiden of the shrine said you’d pull out of this! C’mon… try!
: Oh Pap… wha? You’re not… Why Nash… it’s you! I was having the strangest dream…

Something about these exchanges seem really weird to me. "I'm gunna dieeee." "Come on get better!" "Okay."

Nonetheless, seems like everyone's going to be okay, so let's finally get that magic water.


“The pain is lessening now. I’m feeling much better…”


"Follow me..."


"If you pour this water on the Fountain of Transmission, it will transport you!"

Seems like the text box is magical too. Sometimes that just happens, and I'm not sure if that's an emulator problem or a problem with the original game. (Although my admittedly patchy memory suggests that it's just a problem with the game.)

Oh! And of course, before we leave let's check up on Tempest and Fresca.


: Tempest! You did it! Oh, I’m so relieved! Now that I’m better and you’re back, I’ll never leave your side again.

Technically, he was the one to leave your side.

: Oh thank you all! You alone made it possible for us to keep living! Your battle in the Dark Cave will become legendary. I’m so glad that Pao is once again save from disaster… but, I’m happiest that my little studmuffin’s back with me!
: Oh Fresca! I'm so sorry I've left you alone for so long! Thanks alot... all of you! We Prairie dwellers have a huge debt to repay you!

And finally, let's end with a bit of random nonsense.


: As long as we're around, the bad dudes had better watch out! Hehehe...
: Um... Kyle... have you forgotten that most people consider thieves "bad?"

Next time, we'll be heading to the Frontier!