Part 10: Osohe Castle (1)

This is Osohe Castle.



The castle's deserted except for ghosts and various other foes. And frogs, of course.



The left room has a chest, but there's a ghost in the way.





Stinky Ghosts are the most common enemies, and also one of the most annoying ones.





They can spend turns summoning friends, which is annoying. They can also breath stinky breath to make you sick.



I beat the ghosts here but then died right at the end.

The way to go is Wall Staples and hope you don't get screwed over by turn order.





Anyway, our reward is Rotten Milk. Yay?



Otherwise, there's no other entrances, though there is this statue with a giant stone sphere next to a cracked floor.

Hm, that gives me an idea!



...Maybe I'll try it from the other side.



Much better.



You can Wall Staple back up, but it's not necessary.



This gift is a nasty surprise. Duster's now nauseous.



Nausea prevents a character from eating or drinking items, which is where a lot of HP recovery comes from. How to cure it?



When that happens, a Fresh Mint will freshen you right up!



Fresh Mints cure it. Luckily there's a lot around, since nausea's kinda easy to get here.



Keep going and you reach this hallway. We came from the east side, so going clockwise...







...leads us outside, which is convenient.



It's just an old, crumbling castle now. 'Bout the only things in there are ghosts and spooks. Ain't no point in climbing the wall to get inside, if you ask me.

Too bad we've got a mission to do!







West has a Fresh Mint and another frog.





There's also a hot spring under the castle because why not. Nice place to recover if the enemies get you down.



The north path is how we progress. There's a pathway to the west that leads us upstairs that we need to continue, but let's explore the rooms first.



Stinky Ghosts have a 50% chance of dropping Rotten Eclairs, so chances are good you have at least one by now.



While all the ghosts so far have been hostile to us, there are also some friendly ghosts to talk to and even barter with.



Of course, most of them you have to walk near for them to appear.



There's something charming about him. Like his length. And his jaw.



He makes for a good pet, and he can even change into a jump-rope or a clothesline at the drop of a hat! He's a very handy and hard-working snake!



Hm, maybe we should get the Rope Snake.



I'll trade him for one Rotten Eclair! What do you say? Do we have a deal?

We'll need the Rope Snake later to progress, so might as well get it now!



so even if they seem expensive, it's smart to buy as many as you can.



Thanks! It looks like we both profited! Treasure it for the rest of your life!



We can also trade eclairs for Beef Jerky and Fresh Mints. Mints aren't a bad idea, but Jerky's kind of a ripoff since you can do a one-for-one trade a little later. But I've got so much crap in my inventory that I do it anyway.



Rope Snake is a key item and will chill with our other thief tools.



Next is the left room.





A lot of books and spiders.







Arachnid!s are pretty fragile and suspectible to sleep. Duster gets a critical and kills it in one hit. They're not very threatening.



Our reward is the Battle Memory, a nifty little tool.







This lets you battle any enemy in the game, though the enemy does nothing and you just wail on it as much as you can. This is hugely useful though if you're trying to learn music combos, as you get unlimited practice with no threat of attacks. You also get a star on your file at the end if you encounter every enemy in the game, and the translation adds a gold star if you see every possible enemy from the back as well.



Right door has this pantry. Nothing too exciting here but another exit down.



Good time for a Thunder Bomb!



There's actually nothing down here besides some new enemies.





Big Bros are a weird enemy. All they do is cast PSI.



Except their PSI never works, so they end up doing absolutely nothing against you. They do drop Nut Cookies, but big deal at this point. Not worth much EXP either.







Barrel Men aren't too exciting other than being men of barrels.





In fact, they're so dull that they'll put Duster to sleep, which is annoying. I don't think they get to hear our heartbeat though.





At the bottom is a dead end.





Duster has no dance moves so the translation is lost on him.





Alright, let's make some progress already.



JUST KIDDING HERE'S ANOTHER OPTIONAL ROOM



Keep it a squeekret from the ghosts, though.

It looks like the mouse actually talks to you rather than you hearing its thoughts. Don't ask me, I didn't know mice could talk.



+5 defense boost to the head. Not shabby.



Too bad we got attacked by a painting.





The Artsy Ghost is kind of a pain.



First of all, he's incredibly pretentious.







And when we fail to appreciate art, his demeanour turns rather cold.



After that room, moving right will lead to some of the suits of armor attacking you if you're not careful.





These guys are pretty sturdy with high defenses. Not impossible, but kind of a pain to fight.





As the mouse said, fireplaces will lead to the one with the hot spring, though it's a one-way trip. Still very nice if you need some healing.



Alright, now for more actual progress.





Looks like a mess, don't it?



Turns out it's actually a party!



All sorts of eating, drinking, and dancing to the music! You can't see it, but you have to trust me on this!







We sure are!

No, you're not normal. You appear to be a thief-person!

Yikes! Uh, no, we aren't normal.

Yeah, right! You are SUCH an ordinary person!

No pleasing the guy!



In this castle, I'm the ghost who knows the most.





Wine... It's my burning passion. Try to understand me more here!

I think I understand you enough. Moving on...



Please don't do that in the party area, thank you.





Uh, sure.

Here you go.



Uh, thanks.



I'll never forget you
In my lonely room, your wig weeps
Baby, believe me when I say don't attach anything to the walls of this room
Like moles or wigs or wall staples



It's kinda catchy, I guess.





Next is the nasty pantry.





These roaches aren't as violent as Duster. Easy prey.



Hmm~ hmmm~ hmm-hmmm~
Like coals or pigs or tall maples
Boo~ boo~ booooo~
No~ tall~ maples~







It'd be useful to remember that.





That's nifty!



Here's a Violent Roach from the front, in case you reall cared.



On the table is another tough enemy fight.





This stuff has a nice chunk of HP and some beefy defenses.



So it's a good idea to start things off by forcing the strawberry slime to cry.







The slime has a regular attack and a more damaging digestive fluid attack.



It can also put you to sleep with its putrid odor. Just keep plinking away until you finish it.



It's guaranteed to drop a more powerful bomb item, which is nifty.





(Many of the ghosts here are actuall pretty friendly, huh? That's not something you'd normally expect.)

Wait, why did the first mouse talk but not this mouse?



Alright, enough partying. We've got some thieving to do!





Yes~ Wall~ Staples~





Up top is another ghost.



Please! Trade it to me for this Beef Jerky!



This ghost gives you Beef Jerky on a one-to-one rate, a much better deal than the earlier merchant.

If you find any more Rotten Eclairs, just bring them here anytime. I look forward to having some more!

If you don't have rotten eclairs, instead the ghost will hint towards how to proceed.



Don't ask where "over there" is. There's only one "over there" here.



Going down lets us access some more gifts. First is an Aquarius bracelet, giving two extra defense (boosting five total).



The other is another jerk ghost.





Hook me right onto that candlestick. Go ahead! Don't worry about me!



Good job, Rope Snake!







We then meet yet another enemy.





Sometimes Duster will randomly get a free hit in at the start of battle due to his thief prowess.



Carpet Monster's pretty average besides being able to boost his offense.



Otherwise, staple him to the ground and he won't be able to move for a bit.





This has Duster lose a turn, which is always annoying.



If it misses, you get a nice little translation thing here (though it's probably a programming thing that was too much of a pain in the ass to fix more than anything else).





But the suit of armor inside here is definitely no pushover, either. I'm talking INCREDIBLY strong, here. If you think you're up to the challenge, I'll move out of the way. Regular ol' items, Mystical Thief Tools...





Another optional fight that's pretty much for bragging rights.





Though you still want to come in anyway just to grab a weapon upgrade for Duster, even if you've no intention of fighting the thing.



There's three ways to tackle this guy. First is to fight the sword and shield first.





The sword isn't anything special, just highish offense.





Likewise, the shield just has high defense.



Doing this, and you'll just fight regular Ghost Armor, nothing special.



The second method is to fight one of the sword and shield, then attack the armor. The other artifact will join the armor in battle, nothing special.



The third way is to just go for the armor first.





The sword and shield will combine with the armor to make a Ghost Knight, a tough foe with 200HP and high offense and defense. A pretty fearsome foe.



To make things worse, it will boost its offense and defense during battle, so be prepared to lower them again or else risk a lot of pain.



Putting it to sleep helps tremendously, since wall staples don't work well on it.



70% of dropping Yogurt, which heals 80HP. Of course, I end up eating the yogurt after beating the knight, so it was a wash.





So much so that I'd like to thank you for beating him. Thanks! Let that word of appreciation express my gratitude.

It feels good to do something nice, especially with violence!









How mysterious!

Next time, we'll finish up the castle and catch up with the townspeople some more.