Part 15: Moon Stone Mountain

Hoo boy. Let me just get this out of the way now: If you're in a hurry, don't start reading this now, because this is going be an absolute whopper of an update. Moon Stone Mountain is a huge, huge dungeon and I have one little task to take care of before even heading there.



Ixa'Takan Ship: Can you plese bring me 10 “Sky Sardis”?

If you want “Sky Sardis”, I have 10 right here! You can have them if you want.

Ixa'Taken Ship: Chomp chomp chomp...yum! I love fish! I'd eat them every day, but they're too hard to catch. Thank you. I am very grateful. Take this as a symbol of my appreciation.



This ship starts puttering around Ixa'Taka after talking to the king. In exchange for a mere 10 Sky Sardis, he gives us one of the rarest and most valuable items in the game - there are only three Abirik Chams in the entire game and they're all pretty tough to find. As for what they do, I'll explain that a bit later. For now, onward to Moon Stone Mountain!


Click for video!

First step is to get to the actual dungeon part of the dungeon. It could just start you in the dungeon, but instead it makes you run all the way up the outside of the mountain. That's...going to be a running theme for this update. Moon Stone Mountains loves making you go by the longest route possible.





Also, captive Ixa'Takans.





This is the start of the dungeon proper. It's also the start of another running theme for this update: constant cutscenes.



Click!



Hmm... well, it doesn't look like anything happened. It was probably nothing.



I'll give you one guess who is looking down through this glass floor/ceiling.



Yes... I ran into them north of Horteka. They ummm... narrowly escaped my Flame Cannon.

Hehe... yes, well, fighting Air Pirates is a bit more difficult than burning down trees. But, I guess you already know that. Vyse was responsible for my demotion. I will make sure he suffers and I will prove to the world that I am Valua's greatest Admiral. Soon, Galcian will be taking orders from me. I simply don't understand why someone as noble as myself is forced to take orders from anyone other than Empress Teodora herself. Well, De Loco, I must be going. I have to exterminate some pests.

Alfonso leaves here. He has a habit of popping into scenes and the leaving again right away.

Idiot. Perhaps you should have stared into the mirror a bit longer this morning... I think you have a hair out of place. As for you, Vyse you damaged my precious Chameleon... You will pay for that... Oh, yes ... You will pay... The next time we meet will be the last!





Yes... I know that you are searching for the Moon Crystals as well... You must be trying to rescue Isapa... Hehehe... good, good! You see Vyse, these mines are full of traps... Too bad for you. You can't escape, Vyse! You will never leave these mines alive!!!



Slam!

Uh... the exit just closed by itself.

I don't know about you guys, but I've got a bad feeling about this place.

And now we're locked in. The only way out is forwards, so onward ho!



And also Cham ho. Moon Stone Mountain is at least productive, and this Cham is enough to evolve Cupil into his next form, the Cupil Sword!



It's a good deal more powerful than the Cupicone, plus it has a chance to silence with attacks.



Auuugh. These panels are going to be yet another running theme in this dungeon, and they're actually a little odd. Two panels marked with circles, one with a cross. Pretty obvious what to do, right? Well, yes and no. Here's what happens if you step on one of the circles.



FUCK.





You get a free minecart ride back to the start of the dungeon, which isn't quite so bad right now seeing as we were near the beginning to start with.





A couple of notes from De Loco.



And an Ixa'Takan slave.

Ixa'Takan Slave: A man named De Loco made this mine. It's filled with nasty traps. There's trap doors all over the place. And remember, a circle doesn't always mean it's the right way. If you can see below, look down. If there's a mining cart, it'll come right back here.

This is what I was talking about before. See, in Japanese the circle and cross symbols mean yes and no respectively, so the trapdoors are a sort of Japanese trap that doesn't really work in English. Just imagine if they had been marked with green ticks and red crosses and you have the general idea of what this was supposed to be.



Still, now that we have that particular piece of magnificent dickery sorted, these puzzles are easy now, right?



Nope! They start throwing random symbols at you just for fun. Fortunately, this area has a wire mesh floor so you can just look down to see which trapdoors have a minecart track below them.



Also, this Cham is hidden behind one of the trapdoors, just to try to trick you into making a beeline for it and being taken right back to the start. Having evaded that, however, this seems like a good time to explain that Abirik Cham.



What the three Abirik Chams do is instantly advance Cupil one stage. Normally I would have used it right after the previous Cham and never used Cupil Sword at all, but since I have an audience this time I decided to show it off for a few fights.



Speaking of showing things off, if you want to see Rain of Swords in motion and don't normally watch dungeon videos, skip to around the 7:30 mark in the video. Woe betide any enemy that dares ambush me, because that just means I have two turns worth of SP by the time I get to act.



To get to the platform with this chest on it you have to drop down through one of the trapdoors, having first carefully checked below to make sure it's the right one. To get back off the platform again?



Yup. Minecart express all the way back to the start of the dungeon. Enjoy running all the way back, hope you don't try to rush it and step on the wrong trapdoor!



Anyway, after running all the way back, we come to a dead end with a broken elevator and only a little side door to turn into. The dungeon is full of little side rooms, most of which just hold a chest with a couple of crystals or something in them. This one, however, holds...



Elton John!

Hm? You don't look like you're a Valuan... Who might you be? I am Vyse. Are you Isapa?



Then you're Hans' father!

You know Hans?! Then you must have been to the village in Horteka! That's where my wife and children are... Everyone was okay, right?

Yeah, they were doing just fine. But, you should worry about yourself right now.

Oh, I'm okay. When I refused to Help Valua, they threw me into these dungeons. I've been here for quite a while. You were looking for someone named Isapa, correct? If so, then you'll need to venture further into these mines. I think I can help.





Centime is really good with his hands. He must be an amazing pianist.

Woohoo! Wow, Centime, you're amazing!

Why, thank you. I must advise you, proceed with caution... there are all sorts of traps. I will travel ahead and see if I can disarm them for you.

Thank you! You've been a great help to us already.

It's the least I can do for you. You rescued me, remember? I'm sure we'll meet again. Good luck!



Anyway, with that problem cleared up we can continue deeper into the dungeon. The De Loco Drill is a fun little weapon for Drachma, with more attack power than his Excavation Arm plus a chance of instant death. Still not as powerful as the good ole Mace Hand though!



Also, the only Moonfish in the dungeon is right next to it.



Welp, the game is over now. Anyone, anyone who has played this game knows why this is.



For a mere 8SP, Lambda Burst will instantly end pretty much any random encounter in the game. It's also where the thread title comes from, as anyone who has played the game will have twigged instantly.





Also, De Loco gets more and more disturbing by the minute.

And when you die. I want you to die slowly! Yes... slowly... really slowly... I want your brains to gush out of your head.



Pardon me, De Loco.





Yes, well... the fact is he was foolish enough to deliver himself to me. I shall go dispose of him.

You are the fool, Alfonso... Heh. The only reason that you were made Admiral was because of your family. You don't stand a chance against Vyse. I shall kill him. I want him to die! Die... DIE... DIE!!! Soon...very soon!!! Hehehehe!

Sadly, that was another case of Alfonso just popping in for a couple of lines and then leaving again. As much as I'd love for it to be De Loco jumping up on his desk and screaming abuse into Alfonso's face, it is not to be.



Slam!



Oh no, locked in a room with an entire two guards whatever will I do.



These guys are called Fossa, which is a cat-like relative of the moongoose family native to Madagascar. _{Okay, so they're really called Fossor, meaning a gravedigger}.



Fire consume my enemies! Lambda Burst!





Sadly, guards tend to have slightly higher HP than other enemies, so they can just barely survive a Lambda Burst. This is at about 31:30 in the video, by the way. Yes, the video is over 30 minutes long and that's before even getting to the boss.



On the other hand, that means Cupil Star to the face!



And since you don't leave a door guarded for no reason, it should come as no surprise that there's an old man with a bright purple beard inside the room. Incidentally, the other three rooms contain a Glyph of Might, Glyph of Speed and Healing Salve, all items with De Loco's name on them

Are you the High Priest, Isapa?

Isapa: The one and only! I am Isapa!

We're on a mission from King Ixa'taka. We're here to rescue you!



Isapa: I have no use for you men... Now if you'll leave us alone for a while...

Oh, really... There's no way that this dirty old man is a High Priest.

Isapa: Oh... aren't you a pretty one? In all of my years, I have never seen anyone like you.



What?! How did you know?







Okay, that does it... I know we have to bring him back, but the king didn't say anything about bringing him back conscious.

Relax, Aika... Right now we just have to worry about getting out of here alive. Let's go.



Again, as much as I like to say that De Loco dragged his desk into Isapa's cell to come shout at the party, this is just a jump cut.

Hehehe! But soon, you will die! You will die a horrible death and you will scream and I will laugh. I've prepared my favorite room just for you...







And now I can't imagine De Loco sounding like anything but the terrible, terrible Commadore 64 voice synthesiser.



Not only a save point by a giant door, but a save point by an ominously familiar giant door. Oh dear.


Click for video!

I don't plan on sticking around long enough to find out.



I am impressed. But now you shall die!!!!! You will pay for what you did to my precious Chameleon! Oh yes, you will.



Slam again!



Hehehe! Vyse, I want to hear you scream! Now I shall have my revenge!!! Let's start the show, shall we? Huh? Now what?



Unslam!



I came here to watch you die!



If you're in there, I won't be able to crush them!

Someone of my stature doesn't deal with filth like yourselves personally.







Antonio 2, everybody! Actually, I suspect that's a mistranslation and it should be Antonio II, as in Antonio the Second – his Japanese name is Antonio Junior.



Apart from the new paintjob and the higher stats he's just a carbon copy of the very first boss of the game. Thunder of Fury can actually hit more than one character now that we have a full party and the characters bunch up more, but that's about it.



And Drachma still has his Mace Hand. You know how this goes.







No, he's not dead. He's just a bit...flat.



Oh, well... I guess I'll just have to skewer all of you.



Click!



And then nothing happens besides a sort of grinding noise.



Click click click click click!



Vice Captain: Someone has tampered with all of the machines in the mines. They are all malfunctioning!





I'm seriously going to have to learn how to make animated gifs just for De Loco's tantrums.

Vyse!!! Why won't you just die!?!?



Twitch twitch.



I made a few adjustments to some of the machinery in the mines. Did it help?

So that's what that was...

Yes... yes... well, let's be on our way. Ah yes, I managed to open the door to the outside as well. I must hurry back to see my family... They must be terribly worried about me.

You really know your stuff!

And he cares very much about his family as well...

You're a good man, Centime... We're glad we could help you.

Thank you very much... Well, I must be going... Stop by and see me in Horteka when you get a chance.

Fortunately, the exit to the boss room takes you all the way back to the entrance of the mines. Unfortunately, we're still not quite done here. After Centime activates the elevators again it opens up one more area, but by the time you get to him you can't backtrack to get to it.



And here it is, accessed from an elevator by one of the wire mesh areas. This Moonberry along with the one from Antonio 2 is actually enough to get Fina her next Super Move, but that's going to have to wait for next time. I mean, for a start this update is gargantuan enough already, and secondly I was racing against time to get the video done, watching my last few bytes of hard disc space trickling away.



For the love of god, leave!

That's all for this update, folks! Next time, we find out what Isapa knows about the Green Moon Crystal.

Video List

Moon Stone Mountain

Antonio 2