Part 21: Linda is sad but easily distracted.

Music: Moe-Moe




A woeful stage to trick the heart and trap the spirit. Skies dim when stars fall.



It sounds like Linda's hiding out somewhere in the Pos Pos Snowfield, so we head out of Madril...



...through the Transverse Tunnel...

Music: Pos Pos Snowfield



...and we arrive in Pos Pos. Before we start looking for the next dungeon, we stop by the hot spring.



And we continue south.



Note that if you never tried coming down here before fighting Big Bull, the Phantom Evil King shows up. His speech is more or less the same, but without any references to Big Bull, and he pretty much says "Leave after you're done fighting Linda." except in more flowery words.



Pos Pos is annoying, because the edges of the map (pictured above) are almost impossible to see. If we head south along the east edge, we eventually find a Tiny Gear.



The monsters in Pos Pos are mostly recolors, except for this terrifying clown that pulls its head off and brandishes it at you.



While we're on the subject of monsters, Big Bull is in our party now.



He hits like a truck. Compare his 143 damage to Ari's measly 70.



When he joins, Wild Cry is Big Bull's only move. It always costs 1HP, and it makes all enemies flee. It's a much better alternative to running from battle.

See, running away has a 100% success rate in Okage, but it costs a chunk of LP to use. Wild Cry also works 100% of the time (except for against bosses, of course), but using it only consumes a tiny piece of Big Bull's massive HP pool.



Also, when the enemy flees, everyone gets 1 EP. So if you use Wild Cry 1000 times, everyone gains a level. Hooray!



If we continue south along the edge of Pos Pos, we eventually reach a forest.



There are three Tiny Gears hidden in this forest, but I won't bother to show a screenshot of each one, because they all look the same. Just look at the above screenshot two more times, and you'll get the idea.



North from the forest is a little slope that brings us onto a thin walkway. If we follow this walkway all the way to its end...



It drops us off at a chest. The chest contains a Life Candy, which is orange flavored and increases a character's max HP by 5.

Always give every candy to Ari, by the way. He never leaves the party, so he benefits the most from each stat increase.



Once we're done getting lost looking for gears in the forest, we head east and come across a small island.




I think we've found Linda's hot hideout.



By the way, sister, what happened to Boss?
The Princess is taking a nap. She is sulky because of you-know-who.
It means I can be the absolute ruler! Let's go slaves!
Gotcha, brother!
(Sigh) I don't even want to start. Come on, let's go.



Our party climbs to the top of the structure.



And they get beamed inside. I suppose this place was built before doors were invented.

Music: Sealed Cave



Welcome to the Sealed Cave!



The Sealed Cave is intersected by a waterway, which is full of submerged bridges.




A nearby magic circle lifts a bridge out of the water.

Yeah, this mechanic is basically just a reskin of the doors we've been dealing with in other dungeons. And hey, speaking of the doors we've been dealing with...



This dungeon is full of identical-looking doors, except you open them by pressing X.

Why would they do this? They could have at least reskinned the doors, or better yet: not put them there at all. These doors serve no purpose other than to confuse you and make you check every single closed door because now you don't know whether or not it's sealed.



This door brings us to our first Urn of the dungeon.



Surprisingly, the Gloomy Urns found in the Sealed Cave are lightning elementals, rather than frost.

The strategy to beating them is still to combine, and now that we've got Big Bull's fists backing us up, we take each urn out in a single round. After the battle, Big Bull learns Cold Knuckles.



Cold Knuckles is an ice attack to a single target. It has a very good description. Most of Big Bull's attacks cost HP, so that helps to offset the smaller LP pool you end up with by bringing him along.



We head east into the next room, and find the sealed staircase. We also find...



A door that won't open. Yeah, this dungeon is full of both doors that open at a button press and doors that are sealed. There's no way to tell which is which without trying to open them.

Man, I love this game, but the dungeons are so poorly designed.



We double back to the previous room and continue north. Along the way we run into a battle.



There's nothing particularly interesting about these enemies on their own, but one of the enemies in this battle dropped a Heart Candy.



Heart Candy is extremely valuable, because it boosts a character's magic stat by 1. If you were the most boring person in the world, you could sit in this dungeon and farm Heart Candy until Ari's magic stat is maxed out, and then you would never have to worry about LP again. I'm not the most boring person in the world though, so I pass this opportunity up.



And so we continue touching magic cirles



And raising bridges



And getting really mad because there's an urn right there and a million ghosts spawned all around me making me fight some stupid encounter that isn't an urn.



After taking care of the urn in the northeast room, we head back to the south.



This room contains an easily opened door that brings us to our third urn.



And our fourth urn is directly to the north of the third. The treasure chest behind it contains a Mega Charm, an item that can cure any curse.



After taking out those two urns, we head back to this room and head around the corner.



Which brings us into this room with an Urn.



And there's a door to this tiny platform with a magic circle that raises a bridge somewhere (I think it lets you reach a chest or something dumb like that) and opens a door.



And that door brings us to an urn.



By the way, we've encountered the Sealed Cave's third variety of door that looks the same as all the other doors. It's sealed by an enormous power, just like the ones at the bottom of the Big Tree Hole, so we can't get it open for now.



And then we head north up into this room and hit another Urn.



The door to the next floor seems to be open.

Huh? The water is withdrawing?



Sure enough, there's no more water. What does this mean? Nothing. There's no reason for the water to recede, it has no gameplay consequence.



And so we head down to B2.



This magic circle is right next to the stairs.



All the bridges and doors (except for the ones sealed by an enormous power) have been activated now.

There's also a door in this room. We investigate it, and...



Already?

All set, Ari? Are you ready in both body and mind?

Yes
No
....

Now, let's be off!

Music: The Cellar



Oh, Coach! You followed Linda all the way here? How romantic!



Without defeating you, we cannot deprogram the brainwashed townspeople. Stand ready!
C-coach?
You are an Evil King, aren't you? Evil Kings should take whatever they want through force! Take away the rights of world conquest from me if you can. Then, I'll recognize you!
Coach! I got it! This is the initiation that a disciple and master have to go through! Here I come! I, Linda will transcend you, master!
I think, something is wrong...



Boss: Teen Idol Evil King
Music: Evil King Battle



Linda is paired up with four Shrewd Bears. Linda herself is ice elemental, and the bears are fire.



The bears shrewdly self-destruct sometimes, dealing heavy damage to the entire party.

In one recording, the battle opened with all the bears self-destructing right at once, wiping my whole party right away. That normally doesn't happen, though.



The bears normally waste their turns casting Virus Stage 2, which poisons the entire party. Oddly enough, it does not start us at stage 2 poison, as the spell name implies.



This is a status effect battle. The Shrewd Bears poison, and Linda has her own set of ailments for us. Mighty Load hits one character with Turtle, a curse that slows the action bar. Of course, Linda has a regular attack too, but it only deals about 50 damage.



She also likes to cast Midnight, which puts the whole party to sleep. Stage 1 sleep is pretty much a missed turn. Once your action bar fills up, you wake up and your bar goes back to zero. The higher the stage, the more turns a character misses.



And she casts LP Downer, which drains the party's LP by a little bit. It's not as bad as it sounds, really.



Linda's only got 2400 HP, so she goes down fast. She's only got 300 HP less than Big Bull had, but your characters are at higher levels now, so she really does drop quickly. All in all, she's a very easy boss, pretty much what you would expect from someone who calls herself "The Teen Idol Evil King."

Music: Marlene's Theme



My dream of having a concert in the legendary stadium at the back of the sewer is gone, though... It's okay. Linda is sad but easily distracted.
A legendary stadium? Why does every Evil King say completely different things? Hmmm...
Since I lost, I'll give this to you. I've held onto this for a long time, believing that it's the key to the legendary stadium. But I don't need it anymore.
Uh, hm, I see. ??? I don't know what this is though.




What was that!? What was flashing! Slave, it's from your pack! Check it out!

Music: Utopia Corridor




You, Linda...



What? Princess...?
I cannot say why, but I have decided to do so.
Fine. It means we are equal opponents! But I won't lose!
Humph, I won't lose, either!
(Chuckle) Princess, which part of "him" do you like best?
Um, well, it's...
I, um... like his eyes.



...... Huh?!?
...Linda. "He" doesn't have yellow eyes.

Music: Shadow Contest



.................. Ms. Linda, may I ask you one thing? What exactly is the "main body" in your mind?



It has a weird doll attached to it, but it's just camouflage, y'know, i-n-c-o-g-n-i-t-o! Sometimes it talks, but it has a totally dorky voice. That is a letdown.
I see. Ms. Linda, I guess you see that way because you are from the devildom.
Let me tell you, Linda. My name is Stan. It's unforgivable to mistake my name!



Coach! -No, Stan! I won't leave you anymore!
...Huh? Um... well... Hmm... I guess, it's okay...



Well, I guess, we have more power. Now is the time to resolve this issue.
I know, Mr. Stan. You are talking about the sewer that Evil Kings are heading to the back.
What? We already checked the sewer in Madril when we first defeated the Sewer Evil King.
Come on. There must be a secret back field in there. We will check more carefully this time! Now off again to the underground of Madril!



......
Um... Well...



The pure broken heart of a boy. Alas, the light and shadow of youth.
What's wrong, guys? Is it a fight or a fight?
Ari! I am going back! Ah, it is so silly! When we get back to the hotel, make a cup of tea, massage my back and polish my shoes! You will be my servant for the rest of your life! 'Til your death!



And, Ari somehow, would find himself being pushed around even more by Princess Marlene...