Part 11: ARC II: Part 4: Dican.

ARC II: Part 4: Dican.




Shortcut hole! It's blocked. In the next room...



A switch that resets itself every time you pull it. The solution is you have to use the water tile in line with the switch on the other side...



"That's strange. The switch reset itself."

Stoic realises what this is (saying he's seen it before) and explains these switches have to be pulled at the same time for basically security reasons.


Then we go into a timing minigame where we have to use the switch in time with Shrouds wind spell. It's a little tricky since he does a spell charge animation and then there's a delay while the spell invisibly makes its way to the switch, and the valid window is probably like .5 of a second. Luckily, Shroud just casts the spell over and over again and there's no dialogue or anything, so it doesn't take too long to get the timing down.



When we go over there's a sleeping guy.



Says 21.



These guys aren't anything special. The Richters on the other hand are tanky and have a fair amount of HP, and when they get low on HP...


They split into these, which usually die from a little bit of damage.



In the next room is a cart. If you ride it right away, you break it in a rock pile not far south, and then you'll have to fight another two foremen yourself. If you head south first, there's a switch to pull, and if you do so, the cart will take out two foremen for you. You can't pass that intersection without having sent the cart on, either way.


The other guy has 42.







Who knows what kind of materials are down here. This kind of labor is hard enough on adults. I can't imagine how exhausted these kids are.
Ah... the rich history of child labour...



That's a long way down. I might make it, but that's only because my wind magic makes me lighter than your average person. You would probably break some... uh... bones.

Stop kidding around! I don't care about the risks, I'm not letting them continue any longer!

Keep your voice down, for Arcadius's sake! You want to bring all those guards down on our heads? Who knows how many there really are...

Well, what do you suggest we do?

I don't know yet. Just let me think.
Then a loud-ass bell starts ringing.









They kidnap these kids and force them to dig through solid rock, but now they get to take a breather?

Yeah, I guess so... what kind of organization is this?







If we try to go into that cave there, we're just told that it contains a LOT of mine carts.







You can probably guess what kind of puzzle it is. A thankfully easy and short version too.



There's also some smaller piles with loot buried under them.



And before long, we've rammed it on all sides.


ellyvator










Argh


Here's where the number on all those necks comes into play.



So, you can only pull one switch on each column. There's four columns. We have three numbers and we don't know the fourth. It's pretty easy to figure out. The numbers we got were: 21 13 42

See if you can figure out this little puzzle and what the last number is.



And with that, the 'speed accelerator' is ready to send us flying over!





Stoic says this after he correctly guesses the last guys number.





We're in a familiar area but we can't follow after the kids right away because there's two obstacles in the way. The rest of Shroud's dialogue box indicates there might be a switch nearby to turn off these fire breathing dragon statues and there is, hidden inside a minecart. But the other obstacle is a locked door...











How about we skip the pleasantries and get this battle over with. We're running a tight schedule.



This fight isn't really made anymore difficult by the fact that there's three of them.



That 'building' there is a little smithy we'll be using shortly. I head upstairs which seems to be a huge furnace room with pipes.



The first step of the three step process to get by the locked door is to fix this switch. We move on to the other side of the smelter room downstairs.



Certainly.



Shroud blows man and crate away.




The third man rejoins us just in time for the easy fight.



Weee!


Another time switch sequence. Except the other switch is so far there's a bit of a delay, so the timings trickier than before.



Were they planning to sail off with this? What the hell.



Step 2 is to use the lever to...





Nice. But we have no idea why we did this. We leave this section of the mine entirely, back to the dragon statue room. There's two more pathways. One's blocked off and the other is where we need to go.



OTHER FOREMAN: We can't let them get away! They stole the instructions for forging that new key for the church!
If we don't get those plans back, Dican will crack our skulls!



OTHER FOREMAN: Hell no! You know what happens to people when they go down there?

FOREMAN: No... what?

OTHER FOREMAN: I don't know either, man! Because nobody ever comes back!

No need to worry, guys. We'll get your plans back.

FOREMAN: Golly! Thanks for the--
Intruders! Don't let them get out of here alive.

... One fight later...


Err. Two fights later. Anyway, these worker moles are weak basic attackers.



Fighting the moles in the hole lets us use this hole back to the start of the dungeon where the fairy was







So this is a sort of maze. The kind where the holes don't have any real logic to them but always take you to the same place, and the areas look different, thankfully.



These guys are also pretty basic. Easier than the random encounters, anyway.





Helpful. If you find it. Every time you go through a hole there seems to be an about 33% chance you'll fight moles too.











hahaha.

Those things got to run out of holes to escape in sometime soon!





He doesn't have the recipe for the key on him.

Maybe one of his friends will. They're here somewhere.



Under the text, you can see them approaching...


The Mole Boss starts jumping and thumping on the ground.


Now what's happening?



We get surrounded by moles riding minecarts...





Pretty simple and easy flunky boss! He can only call two lots of reinforcements and then...



This enrages him, raising his attack. Still not good enough though!

With the key plans in hand, we leave to the south, finding a mine cart...





It smashes through the rubble blocking a path I mentioned earlier. I go back into the mole mine area.







So, this is a game of chicken. Falling off disqualifies you though, even if the mole thinks you're badass.


Takes a few tries, but I manage it. We get some nice recovery items as a reward.





About damn time.

Now we'll finally pass by those dragon statues...



Ominously silent room.





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_PdSNna1yk





There's a small cave back here that has five holes that lead to each other. The holes ALWAYS have a mole encounter waiting. It's here solely for grinding purposes.


"Some baldy spends most of his time in this place. He relies almost entirely on his brute strength to keep everyone in line. If you could block his vision he would have a hard time hitting you. You can always train in the cave near the waterfall if you don't feel ready."







The kids are here, but they refuse to say anything.





Who do you suppose built this?



Who are you?



You're in charge, eh? Well this sick little scheme of yours is officially at an end. The kids are leaving with us!

You seek to disrupt what we have created here. This is something I will not allow.

Disrupt? You and your henchmen stole away children from their parents in the middle of the night, what do you think that did to our town?

It is insignificant. We are working towards the greater good. These children are being provided for and instructed in the ways of Arcadius.

Enough! This is making me sick! Shroud, let's teach this stooge a lesson!

Certainly.

If your wish is to fight me, it shall be granted. I must advise you, though, that I was given the task of managing things here because of my superior fighting skills.

We got a modest one here.

Yeah, a real gentleman.

Joke if you must, but it will not prevent you from defeat at my hands.

We'll see.

Wait one moment!
This is a holy place. We will settle our disagreement in a more suitable environment.

Go wherever you like. The result will be the same.





You won't be teaching us anything. There's no way you can defeat both of us. Just give it up.

You were fairly determined to fight me just a moment ago.

Maybe... but now I can see that you're just full of hot air. You put on this superior attitude, but you're a wimp. If you really could beat us, you wouldn't keep stalling.

I merely hoped to prevent damage to our facilities. However, do not think I am incapable of dealing with multiple opponents.



Makes no difference. I've seen this technique before. All it does is divide his strength into three. This will be even easier now.
Why YES Volrath was/is a big fan of Dragon Ball Z.





"we were when we were one."

... We may be in some trouble.



Despite the setup, the clones hit much more gently than Dican proper. This is another straightforward fight. Just take out the images, then Dican.


"I will send you to Perditia's Gates!"


Then he gets a rather nice buff... but he's still not really much of a threat.



You both are able fighters. I commend you.

Save the praise. I want answers. Why did you do this? Who are you working for?

That is not for you to know.

We'll make that decision. Now spill it!



The room starts shaking...

Our battle has damaged the cave. It's a surprise it hasn't collapsed already, after all those wind spells you cast.
Rocks start falling from the ceiling...

Damn! We don't have time to argue now. Let's just drag this cretin out of here.

You have no idea what you have unleashed upon yourselves. What happened here today shall not be forgotten.


Pictured: Perfectly timed screenshot.



The room seems to have settled. Come on, we need to get the kids out of here!


...

And that's the end of the playable portion of this adventure. There's a few cutscenes, but this updates already pretty long. The next update with the aftermath will go up before too long. Sometime in the next few or... twelve hours maybe. Wont be a long one, just lots of dialogue.

the end