Part 54: Wait.. a Wolf?

"Does that mean it's perpetually happy hour?"

"I hate to be the one to break it to you, but I'm not sure if this place even has a bar."

"Okay, I'm done here."



"That's funny… we didn't see any sign of them…"

"That's probably not good news for the Altenans."

"And about damn time, if you ask me."



"It's a penis thing. You wouldn't understand."

"I think I do…it's compensation, right?"

"Compen-what?

"It takes all the fun out of it when you don't know the words I use. Men!"



"That's not very far from the Beast Kingdom."

"More importantly, is it close to here?"

"Same answer. The forest isn't really as big as it looks."



"Before we leave, though, I've GOT to have this."

"I don't want to know why every town we pass through is carrying some kind of absurd garment in your size."

"No carping, it's armor. And besides, it looks fantastic."

"Whatever you say… let's get out of here."



"Man, this place is just crawling with werewolves… we're not even ten steps in."

"Good to be home… we have to fight our way to the tower."



"This is where I buried Karl…"

"Seems like kind of a small grave."

"Yeah, Karl was always much littler and younger…"

"Ohh… that kind of thing…"



"You say Karl lives… You LIE!"

"And you, sir, are an imbecile for believing it!"

"Ouch… he's taking a beating out there. Should we help?"

"Nah, let him do it his own way."

"But i will say this… Karl's soul was quite tasty, for a wolf's…"

"Wait wait wait… Karl was a wolf? You never said that!"

"What do you mean? Wasn't it obvious? What the hell did you think was going on?"

"We thought you were gay, and Karl was your… well, you know…"



"Oh, I say.. this is too easy when you're so worked up."

"So… should we help him now?"

"Yeah, I'm thinking he might need a hand."



"Wait… who the hell are you again?"

"I think I recognize this guy from Jad… he was in charge of the Beast King's armies."

"Haaaaaa!"




"Well, he's not anymore."

"Shh! I think he's about to give his dying speech."




"Losing to a pacifist wimp who refused to use the training he got from the Beast King… what a way to go…"

"Pacifist? What gave you that idea? I just never saw the point of having a fight with you or anybody else in the Beast Kingdom…"

"It's true. I've seen him murder the SHIT out of some things in the past few weeks."

"…maybe I should have paid a bit more attention…"

"Luna!! Please… help Lugar!!"



"… In order to save him, I had to revive him as a child."

!! … That… Lugar…!?"

"Is he going to be okay? A baby, all alone in the forest…"

"No worries. He'll get raised by animals. It's normal for beastmen."

"How does your society even function?"

"More importantly, where's the Mana Stone?"

"In the giant tower right behind you? You must have known it was in there to come to this place. Right on the first floor."

"Hey… before we go in there, you guys really thought…?"

"You just kept talking about precious Karl and best friend Karl and how much you missed him… so…"

"Wow… Yeah, I think we can go inside now."



"Then it's still safe… Unless… Deathjester is after it too! Let's hurry inside!"

"Did you somehow miss him disappearing into those doors right behind you?"



"That's weird. I would never live in a place that's always dark…"

"You get used to it.. it's more perpetual twilight than actual darkness, really."

"Hey, where'd Deathjester go?"

"If he were here, I'd sense his evil presence… but I don't. Maybe he left."

"The fact that he did that with there only being one door in and out and we never saw him is really creepy."



"Let's head for Diorre. As King Richard said… that's where the last spirit should be."

But… how are we going to enter Diorre?"

"I'm sure it'll work itself out somehow."



"See? You all worry too much."

"Or maybe not enough… do you see what I see?"



"Oh Goddess, my past misdeeds really are coming back to haunt me…"

"Carlie went to find a cure for Grampa… after a loooong grueling trip… here I am!"

"No thanks to you! You left Carlie back there, all alone! Now look what you did!"

"Ah… sorry."

"I can't imagine anything you could have done to deserve this."



"You mean Bon Voyage's cannon in Maia, right?"

"I forgot his name! He had a silly hat! Anyway… what are you guys doing here?"

"We're looking for the Elf village, Diorre…"



"Eh…!? Where?"

"Did you not connect the dots when I said I knew and that you'd never find it? Let me clarify…"

"I'm not telling! Bye!"

"What!? Come back here you little brat!"



"Well, that didn't take long."

"These woods are pretty dangerous, you know… especially if you're alone."

"Okay okay, you can come along. I'll tell you the secret…"



"Carlie don't like monsters, so when you beat them all… Carlie will follow along!"

"Whatever you want, kid… just try to keep up."

Some few minutes later...



"Your highness! Please, we need your help!"

"Then… You're the ones chosen by the faerie…?"

"Let's just say that I'm not hanging around here with them for the wit and the sparkling company."



"Wait, Carlie…!? And you guys led her in here?"

"Not so much led as didn't really care what she was doing behind us, really."

"Hey! Faerie Grampa! I need your help to save the Priest of Wendel."



"Then I guess we'll have to lump it in with the rest of the wishes when we get the Sword of Mana…"

"Wait a second… how many wishes does that thing have? Shouldn't it be three?"

"It's not a lamp, kid… it's as many as you can talk the Mana Goddess into granting you. She's usually a pretty good sport about it if you don't get too selfish."

"Faerie King, we're looking for the Spirit of the Wood… would you know anything about that?"

"Go to the Goddess statue on the northwest end of the forest."

"You'll have to use one of your spirit thingies there… anything but Salamando. Just give'em a try."

"Salamando's sounding like the better option."

"Please, kindly do not burn down the forest."

A few minutes later...



"This might be the ugliest thing I've ever seen… does this count as part of the forest?"

"At this point, I'm pretty sure it doesn't."



"Works for me."



For some reason, this time when I fought this boss it used an attack I'd never seen before.. Spined Kelp, pictured here. A group attack that will hit your entire team, it's not really all that threatening due to how widely the damage is spread. Now, back to our heroes...



"It's getting even uglier as it explodes…some things just shouldn't be possible."

"I'm just impressed that Salamando could make a plant explode."



"Yeah, great. Listen, we kind of need your help to maybe… open the gate to the Mana Holyland?"

"I… I can't… the last of my power was drained… I'll be useless…"



"That's actually pretty encouraging, especially coming from you."

"It's no biggie. Besides, all we're really going to want her to do is open the gate and help us with the Mana Sword. She'll be fairly safe that way."

"You keep right on saying that… okay, we need to get to the Island of Oblivion, pronto. Now that all the Mana Stones are active, everybody's going to be heading that way."



"The power of Mana has been declining… but I think we've arrived just in time."



"That was definitely more rainbowy than I expected… although maybe I should have?"




"Hahahahaha!"



"Thanks to the spirits, we were finally able to release the energy from the Mana Stones!"

"Now, we can fly the Gigantes into the gate! Oh, by the way… here's a present from me!"

"Come back here, and let me give you a present back!"




"I think Altena pretty much won the airship contest. Kinda funny, considering that it's a magic kingdom."

"Yeah, I've never seen that thing before in my life. I've got no idea where he came up with it."



"And we're going to do this… how? Sprouting wings and flying?"

"Faerie, can't you…?"

"There's not a big enough waterfall in the world. But…"

I've heard of a creature that lives at the peak of the highest mountain…"

"The highest mountain… That would be… Rolante! Let's go!"



"The Father of the Winged Ones is Rolante's guardian. He only opens his soul to our people."

"Really? Where was he when Navarre snuck in and was stomping your shit in?" How long has it been since anybody's seen him?"

"Come to think of it, it has been a while since anybody's seen him…"

"We are royally screwed if he's dead up there."

"You'd be the authority on that, Princess."

"That's for me to know, and for you to never find out."



"Hey, watch out! I think he's angry!"

"Oh, I know what the problem is! You're not a Father at all… you're a girl!"

"Well, in that case, you need a cuter name. Hmm… How does 'Flammie' sound?"

"How could you even tell…?"

"It was either that or she was upset about the size reference, so I took my chances."

"Now, Flammie, can you fly us to the Holyland? There's not much time!"