Part 20: Duke of Wizzard

This place is the entire reason for going to the Cat's Eye Mine. This place is also the entire reason we came to this island in the first place. Might as well finally check it out.



: Huh? What's this? There's a small hole with a picture of a cat on the wall.
: A cat's picture...? Does that mean that we have to bring a cat?
?: Oh, dear sweet Cornet... It's hard to believe you've made it this far.



Well, it makes some sense that she'd be out here too. Though it does, yet again, contradict part of what she said earlier. It could be rationalised by not wanting to lose to Cornet and/or wanting to get even with Marjoly et al. I guess.

As for this scene? The portraits get completely fucked; I swear a ton of them are attached to the wrong person.

: Oh Cornet, if anything, you're always good for a laugh... in a dumb, country bumpkin kinda way.
: Well, enough with the pleasantries... Listen very carefully, Cornet. The cat's picture represents a CAT'S EYE, a special stone from BlueCat. And the hole next to it is where you put the CAT'S EYE to open the gate. I can't believe you couldn't figure out something so simple! It's alright Cornet, not everyone can be as smart as me. Don't you think?
: ...a broom to catch? And what is that supposed to mean? Anyway, if you really must know...

No, I didn't omit anything there. This scene is just a complete mess for no feasible reason. It gets worse.

: I'm going to get even with Marjoly! She's gonna pay for what she did to me! No one messes with Etoile Rosenqueen! No one! So... You're going to help us?
: Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!
: Oh you two are so funny! I hope you weren't under the impression that I was going to help you. Why don't we bet on who can save the Prince first? Then why did you give us a hint?
: Well, if you really must know...
: It's not fun to compete for something that I'm going to win anyway. Well, do your best... Not that it will do you any good... Ta-ta for now..! Ha ha ha ha ha!! She showed up just to tell us that?

Etoile very definitely isn't supposed to have said that last part... and she was still on-screen then too. She leaves after it though.



: ...It takes skill to be as annoying as she is...
: Hey! Let's put that jewel we found earlier in the hole.



...Y'know, this one screen makes me wonder if the portraits getting fucked up was because I went to get the Cat's Eye beforehand. I wouldn't count on that being the case, though, because this version has some pretty massive glitches that I'm amazed I've managed to avoid before now. Incorrect portraits is the least of my worries.

: The gate opened!
?: Hmm... 10 years is a long time to wait, but I guess better late than never. Well, it seems that someone in your party was smart enough to figure this out. Come and see me. But, know this: Knowledge alone will not see you through... If you value your life, you should leave.

I have no idea what those last two parts mean. The enemies here are almost all stolen from the Cat's Eye mine (there's like one or two exceptions and those are weak as hell too), and it's not a puzzle dungeon; you can get through just by blindly walking around for a few minutes.



Whilst half the dungeons are caves, the other half are like this. Full of completely identical rooms that have NO WAY of differentiating them from each other. Treasure is only found at a dead end, as are most stair cases. The rest of the rooms look exactly like the one seen here. Navigating these places without any map is a goddamn nightmare.



I narrowly missed actually getting this at the level up notification because I didn't actually notice it (Metal Jelly so everyone levelled up, so I just mashed the A button). It's pretty useful, though more often than not Sharte will be the one confused when you intend to use this...



This means that for now Cornet is the primary healer. Angel's Horn restores everyone's HP by 150; she has the best healing spell thus far and is miles and away faster than Sharte too so once we get a decent replacement, Sharte is on the bench until further notice. No one we have there is worth using this early (...or at all) though.



If you blunder around the tower enough (or know where to look), you'll eventually run into this guy. Finding him on purpose can be a bit taxing, because you have to take a less than straight forward path to find him for a change. Plus there's far, far too many dead ends in this place with nothing noteworthy in them.



: ...Mustaki's descendant?
: Yes.

In addition to being what you're supposed to choose, this is actually true. Mustaki is the name of Cornet's grandfather, though the only way to know that (at the moment) is to use the Observations option on the title screen at least once ever.

: Then... die!



Duke is the first boss who might pose a minor threat. His regular attacks can hurt quite a lot if you come here as soon as possible (i.e. now) and that's presuming he doesn't use any of his skills. If he uses Excalibur you're looking at low triple digit damage to everyone or he could be nice and just use Levaetein which is easily capable of dealing 200+ damage to one person. Most of the time, though, he'll just use Justice which is his weakest skill by far.

Saying that, though, he still doesn't actually pose a significant threat. He's woefully slow and doesn't have much defence. His elemental affinity is water and since there's no fire puppets available yet he can't utterly destroy you (though you can't abuse his weakness either), and the only way you can really lose this fight is if he decides to use Levaetein on Cornet right off the bat which is massively unlikely.



: ...forget the past. It pains me to even consider helping a descendant of Mustaki... But, I'll join you. Play your horn...




Duke might not look like much now, and he only has Justice, but he is one of the best puppets in the game. Since for most combat all Sharte does is play clean-up for whenever something manages to miraculously survive everyone else's onslaught, Duke can handle the same role for the time being and do so just as effectively. He's massively behind everyone else in level, but I'm taking the gamble because it'll pay-off nicely. He has the tied highest natural attack stat (the only one to match him isn't available yet), and since magic is hardly ever used outside of boss fights (unless you somehow need healing), that alone makes him worth using.

...Though the cost of his skills combined with his woefully low SP means that he's pretty limited to just doing regular attacks. Admittedly, Koro and Kururu are much the same (in boss fights at least), but they have some other options at least. Kururu could use her magic effectively if I could be bothered to buy Intelligence increasing accessories and Koro can cripple random encounters if they weren't utter jokes as is.



Speaking of, GigaLightning is the most powerful single target thunder spell. It's a bit pricey, but it could come in handy against Neutral alignment enemies if nothing else.



Para Howl paralyses every enemy (or tries to at least). This is how he could cripple enemies if I wasn't one/two shotting them anyway. It might prove useful at some point later, but I wouldn't necessarily count on it.



: You've come so far... Well done. My name is Polansky.
: I always wondered how big and strong a great sage would look like...
: Aah, he's just an old man!
: Huh! I never admitted to being a great sage. So, what do you want? Well, you must have a reason for coming up here.
: ...I need your advice...
: I see... So, you want to save the Prince? Willing to risk like and limb in order to save the person you love. I remember when I-



: Hmm...You youngsters are so impatient. Alright, alright... The spell that was cast on the Prince is an ancient spell. In order to undo the spell, you'll need the five HEART STONES first; WATERSTONE, FIRESTONE, EARTHSTONE, WINDSTONE and THUNDERSTONE. They are useless by themselves, but together, they are very powerful... but the stones have been scattered all over the Kingdom. There are other things you must do, but find the stones first. If there's anything you aren't sure of, come back and see me. I'll write you a letter so the Queen will let you go through.
: Thank you, Mr. Sage.
: This is grea, Cornet! I was getting worried that there'd be no way to undo the spell on the Prince.



: Puppets shouldn't be able to talk...
: Who me? Of course I can talk! That's cuz Mustaki is the greatest puppet-
: Did you say Mustaki? The Mustaki!?
: Y...yeah... Why?
: Mustaki... Now, that's a name I've not heard in a long, long time. Is he still alive?
: Yeah, he's doing fine.
: Really? I figured as much. He sure was a tough one. So, he finally perfect the ancient technology... Impressive...
: How do you know Mustaki? What's the connection between you two?
: It was a long time ago. He was my rival, and a good friend...

In case you haven't figured it out yet, Polansky here is the Polin guy that sent the first letter to Cornet's house. What he said here doesn't seem to make sense though; just who was the letter he sent addressed to? It can't have been Mustaki, because he wasn't sure if he was alive still or not AND he introduced himself in said letter. It can't have been Cornet, because until now neither one knew the other and that's pretty damn creepy anyway. Lastly, it can't have been Kururu because in addition to being a puppet, he didn't know of her until now either.

...Maybe I should just stop thinking.

: Ugh, sorry I asked....
: When you get an old man to talk about his past, you get his whole life story...
: Yes... That was about 18 years ago, give or take a few months...
: See...
: Once upon a time, when Marl's Kingdom was invaded by the country of Karlmaddman...



: Uhh... This is gonna be painful.... Oh! Look at the time! We gotta get going, Cornet!
: Mustaki and I were able to ressurect the Ancient Weapon and drive away the enemy. But, it was too much for us humans to handle... So, we sealed the ancient weapon, without telling the king... The king soon found out and had us relieved of our duties... That's why Mustaki and I are living as hermits away from the Castle. Golonzo had tried to use the Ancient Weapon to gain power... That's why your mother... Huh?



I'm sure at some point, you noticed the seemingly familiar rabbit thing in there. If you return at any point after this scene and examine it...



: That puppet is called Ledgem, a messenger of FATE... the god of Darkness. However, just because he is the God of Darkness doesn't mean that he's evil. FATE watched over the monsters. The legends say that the gate of the NETHERWORLD is connected to Fate's world.

This is just a trigger for acquiring another puppet. Upon returning to the world map, the chapter ends after but one scene...



This seems somewhat random, but if you look at Polin's window in the latter part of the scene you can see the cats listening in.

: Well done...
: Meow! Mistress Marjoly actually complimented me!
: Find the 5 stones to undo the spell on the Prince...?
: And who's going to gather the stones, meow?
: Do you even need to ask?
: Ho ho ho ho ho!! The Prince will be mine soon... All of you! Go find the stones!!
: What did I tell ya...
: ...Sigh.

Remember how in the previous chapter I said from that point on there's at least one song in every chapter? This is the end of the chapter and there hasn't been one yet... that can only mean one thing...





This is the most logical and normal of the more random songs. Yes, they get weirder than Marjoly and co. singing for next to no reason other than "it's a musical."

Next time: The stones can be gotten in any order to an extent. At first only two are available, but getting all 5 is all that the next chapter is. I could just do it the way I normally do but that's not much fun. Instead, I'll let y'all decide; the only two that can be acquired at the moment, however, is the Fire Stone or the Water Stone.