Part 8: Watt's Going On

Now that the bridge is down, we don't have much choice except to go back to Maia. On the way back Carlie gains a level and learns her second spell, which some kind readers have explained as a result of the game's code only allowing you to learn one spell per level.



"Uh.. didn't you call it something different before?"

"You can't be serious. Your solution is to shoot us out of a cannon toward Forcena and.. hope for the best?"



"I've got a really bad feeling about this."



"This time I'm certain that he called it something different a second ago."



"Could you folks get me some gunpowder? I'm too busy on my next invention.. go on!"

"Well that sounds like a real problem, but we've got some bridge builders to go hire…"

"Don't be like that, Lise. Of course we'll help."



"No such luck, I'm afraid..we left him out back. And we didn't even beat him for suggesting that we should let him shoot us out of a cannon."



"Nevermind where we're going to get the gunpowder, are you NUTS? You agreed to get that madman gunpowder so he can shoot us out of a cannon!"

"Easy, easy, relax. That bridge is the only route in and out of a large kingdom. Somebody's going to fix it in no time, and there's no need for us to shell out for it. Getting the gunpowder could net us some kind of reward, and by the time we find it they'll have fixed the bridge."

"A reward? That doesn't sound all bad."

"Hmm… Perhaps someone in town would know?"



"The entrance to their village is just before the bridge over the Cleft of the Earth… or so I hear. I've never been down there myself."

"See? We'll even be able to check on the progress of the bridge while we're at it."

"The only thing is I don't recall seeing anything that looked like an entrance to a dwarf village in there."

"Can't hurt to check. If nothing else, we can see if Byzel has opened its doors and see about doing some shopping."



Going this way was actually a matter of pure curiosity on my part, since I wasn't exactly sure if the area was blocked off.



"No foreigners are allowed in the city. Leave, immediately."

That would be a no, contrary to what some people have suggested.



Another oddity was this little guy, who's hidden just south off of the yellow brick road.



All it really shows is that there's pretty much nothing in the area other than these two cities and the Cleft of the Earth, with two large wild areas on either side of some mountains. We'll be visiting one of those shortly.



"Finally, my turn!"

"AHH! I'm never going to get used to you guys just popping out at odd times."

"I'd say it's worse when they're in your head, but you know all about that with the fairy. I'm just hoping Hawk gets to know that special pleasure someday."



"See.. this looks like a rock here, but if I change the angle of incident just so…"

"The angle of WHAT?"

"Sorry. I meant angle of incidence."

"That doesn't make it any clearer to those of us who aren't light spirits."



"I'm less inclined to care in the face of results."



The road to the Dwarf Village is actually criss-crossed with pathways that make it seem like a kind of cavernous gallery. We'll also be crossing back and forth on these shortly.



"You're awfully calm about us finding our way into your secret hidden village."

"I'm just hoping this doesn't end with somebody invading the place and slaughtering all the dwarves because their defenses are down."

"Listen, I'm sorry about it but that only happened the one time."



There had to be one.



"Dwarves have the BEST item shops."



"That's more along the lines of what I was expecting."

"He probably heard us talking about everybody in the village being slaughtered now that we've broken their door."



"While I was lost, I wandered into this big cavern.. and inside there, I saw a pair of big shiny eyes!

I almost peed my pants!"

"That's more than I ever wanted to know about occurrences in Dwarf pants."

"Does that mean there was a smaller amount of information he could have shared that you would have been perfectly okay with?"




The shops in the Cleft of the Earth have upgrades to our armor and (finally) our weapons, with the weapons upgrades being fairly substantial.



They're obviously wrong since this is one of the earliest towns, but bless their little hearts for trying.



"Go out of the village to the right and you'll find him eventually. But watch out for the monsters."

"How did we miss him?"

"Hell if I know, they all look the same to me."



"That's great and all, but have you seen Watts?"

"Wait a second, that's another one of the 8 spirits we're looking for!"

"Looking for Watts? He should be somewhere in this tunnel. Here, I'll open it up."

"Open it..?"




"..Oww.."

"Come.. back here you little.."



The Cleft of the Earth introduces slimes, who have an annoyingly high evasion rate but are otherwise not terribly bad.



The game likes to tease us a bit with a glimpse of what might be Watts through some gratings. This area isn't terribly complicated, but some of the rooms can look similar.



"Like more money than we have, and actually more money than I've ever seen in my life."

"You folks sure drive a hard bargain! How does 3,000 Luc grab you?"

"Like you think we're made of money. Can't you just…"



"If you had any idea the amount of bat shit and urine that's involved in producing gunpowder you wouldn't be trying to get a freebie out of me."

"I think you underestimate our desire for freebies."



"I came down here looking for our guardian spirit, Gnome, and he's nowhere in sight!"

"Well, I have to keep looking… See you later!"



Going deeper into the mines we've got a few new enemies, including these hateful little guys from Secret of Mana. They're called Mole Bears, but lack the invincibility frames that made them such a pain in the neck in SoM.



Similarly, the pink-capped Goblins are another returning foe, although they don't spawn new goblins like their predecessors in Secret of Mana.



"D.. did you hear that!? I.. I'm outta here… bye!"

Eventually we catch up with Watts, although there isn't much of a chance for conversation. Instead...

Boss Battle: Jewel Eater


Jewel Eater Boss Battle

We get stuck in the room and get to fight Seiken Densetsu 3's third boss, the Jewel Eater. He's actually a bit of a break compared to the machine golems, since he mostly stays in one place and accepts whatever beating you give him.



He does have an ability to cover his face and avoid all damage for a while, which might just be the most adorable invincibility frame ever.




He usually makes some casual swipes at you and uses gem missile to damage either the entire party or single members. Occasionally he'll change position using the Power Punch attack to attack your entire group at the same time.



Near the end of the fight he'll drop some rocks on you, but although the damage is pretty bad it's not a real problem if you keep up with your healing.



Once he's had enough he'll crawl out, close his eyes, and peacefully explode.



"It's no biggie. We do this kind of thing all the time, you know."

"It's born once every thousand years, in the Gemstone Valley to the west…"

"So.. it's kind of an endangered species, is what you're saying?"

"Crap. What kind of fine do you think we'll get for this?"

"What's the world coming to? First Gnome is missing, now this…"

"Hey, if you guys didn't want your endangered species wiped out you should have kept better tabs on it."



"What? Gnome! You're all right?



"I was taking a nap when that thing carried me off into its den…"

"I guess if I hadn't woke up, I would a been eaten alive! Ahahahahaha!"

"Talk about a warped sense of humor.."

"That's… that's not funny!"



"I think he's pretty normal."

"Please… we need your help to open the gate to the Mana Holyland."

"For you? Hey, no problem! Just leave it to me! Ahahaha!"



With that we get our second elemental spirit, although there's no immediate effect. Carlie's initial class only has access to light spells, and can't learn any earth related magic until class change.

"You.. you're friends with Gnome now…!? Incredible!!"



"I'm not sure if I want it after all that talk about bat shit and urine.."

"That's.. uh.. very kind of you. Thanks."



"That's nice of you, but I don't know about taking gunpowder through that thing."

"Well, I'll be heading back to the village now. Take care!"

"If they haven't fixed that bridge by now, I'm going to hurt you."