Part 4

Before we can go apply the Dream Rod to Lisa, we’ve still got some cleaning up to do. Moving on, for some reason these plant men get their own little stone enclosure. I guess they think they’re special or something. Killing them all gets us to within a point of a new level and releases:



“An architect?! What does a pre-industrial town with more plants and goats than people need an architect for?”

“Obviously he was responsible for that amazing staircase.”



We also get our next level from a convenient jelly. Levels usually alternate between increasing strength or defense, until they stop increasing those stats at all. We’ll need another 300 XP for our next level.



Next up, a couple of Imp nests in a confined space where we can’t easily dodge their shots. This is a handy place to use some Flame Magic, since the imps can pretty much only shoot in straight lines.




“Working hard to keep that human to plant ratio…”



This next set of lairs is an interesting one. Each lair full of Flyball that we kill actually triggers another lair to appear, until we’ve cleared the fourth one, at which point…



“I guess I’m not really going to worry until sheep start showing up.”

“I think you’re overestimating the townspeople.”




Another lair, another flower. I think we’ve figured it out… this is the Netherlands.




We’ve got a bit of an annoyance here with a number of enemies firing at us and a lair over here… I can’t even remember what is in this lair, but it opens up a way for us to easily go back through to the entrance of the cave.



“Walking backwards. That’s… special. Next!”



“Equip this stick when you wish to speak with someone who is sleeping.”

“You guys are a bit slow, aren’t you?”

“They are plants… I’m not sure what else you expected.”

“Huh?”



“Sounds great. How much is… wait, what do you people even use for money? Is it gems?”

“How about one billion dollars plus tax?!”



“Thank you.. and as for you, kid, if you decide you’re going to wander into a monster infested castle then this time you’re on your own. One billion dollars…”



“You’ve got me, goat. The people here are just strange.”

“Can you believe the village Chief was swallowed up in the house on the hill?”

“Okay, now that’s actually news. For that, you may eat a tulip. They’re pretty useless otherwise.”



“I promise to tell you a secret if you will give me the food.”

“Deal. Not like I had any other use for goat food…”

“If you wish to get inside the painting, you must equip an item which used to belong to the painter and touch the painting.

“That… was actually useful. I think I like goats better than people now.”

“Well, I have other things to attend to so I will see you later!”



“Things? You’re a goat, you don’t have things to att… okay, never mind. I guess you do.”



“Yep, still sleeping. I guess it’s the dream rod or nothing..”

“So you’re going in?”

“Nah, she’s not going anywhere. There’s still a few monster lairs to clear before I’m desperate enough to pull out the dream rod.”



I completely forgot about this… I’ll have to get back to him later with this handy reminder. In all likelihood, I will have already found it by then.



“Sometimes things that happen in dreams come true in reality.”

“You have NO idea. There’d just better not be a minotaur.”




Heading back and dealing with that Imp nest from earlier gets us an old man, and a building that might actually require an architect.



“Well, that’s not reassuring.”

Back to the labyrinth…



“You may meet many monsters that cannot be defeated with that sword. You will be able to save those creatures once you return with the correct sword.”

“I’ll get right on that. The Master never needed more than one sword…”



With that we’re down to a single monster lair left in the Underground Castle, but it’s isolated and we can’t get to it now. As per usual when dealing with obstacles, this is going to require a trip to town. You do a lot of running back and forth.



At this point, the town has a wall around it for some reason… probably related to releasing the manor house. At any rate, it certainly classes up the joint.



“It can’t be that ba.. OH LORD GODJESUS NO!”

“I don’t think human face bones are supposed to do that.”

“I’m sure that they’re not. We’re getting to the bottom of this right now.”




“Hey, don’t look at me.”

“Well, she’s certainly not referring to me.”



“Lisa, you must tell everything that you know to the person in front of you. They will also need my paintbrush to continue on.”

“Daddy! Is that you? Where are you daddy?! I miss you so much…”

In addition to that conversation, that switch also opens up the route we need for that last monster’s lair.



“It’s… complicated. And this is a dream, so if I explain it to you here you’ll probably forget. Time to wake up.”



“If I had a gem for every time I’d heard that…”

“I’m beginning to see why you ended up imprisoned. I’m going, I’m going.”



“Please come back and listen to my story. I had a very strange dream. It was about my father and someone who looked just like you.”

“You don’t say.”

“My father told me to give his paintbrush to you and tell you all I know. The brush is all I have left from my father.”

“…okay, so where’s the brush?”

“I hid it somewhere.”



“At this point, I don’t think that’ll take long.”

“I don’t ei..wait a second! You jerk, get out of my house!”



Back to the Underground Castle, the final monster lair is just south of where we talked to Lisa.



Our final lair in the Underground Castle releases an old man, and it turns out that our portal is in his backyard. Could be a bit awkward…



But we also find Leo’s brush tucked away just south of the entrance to this side of the castle. Not even going to ask how Lisa managed to squirrel it away there.

Next update: The painting, and JUDGEMENT!

Also: Lisa is looking like she’ll be a fairly important character. What does she look like?