Part 11

“That’s… a long way down. Is ocean water normally this clear?”

“I don’t know why you’re asking me. I’m a mole.”



“You’re… a talking statue.”

“I don’t know why you’re surprised. Didn’t you say that the Master used to incarnate into statues?”

“That’s tr… oh Lord GodJesus, please don’t tell me…”

“It was a phase, okay? Anyway, isn’t there something you should be doing?”

“I don’t even want to know.”

“No human can live under the sea. Go to the island Southerta, through the shrine, and look for the Bubble Clothing.”

“Southerta. Really. Your creativity astounds me.”



“Although on second thought, this isn’t so bad.”



Immediately after we begin exploring our tropical paradise dungeon we run into the first new enemy, the humble Guppy. These guys aren’t tied to lairs and will respawn every time you leave. They regain all their life when they go back in the water, and it’s entirely possible that you won’t even be able to reach them with your sword. Rather than try to hit a moving target with my moving magic spell, I usually just walk past them.



Next up we have the Gorilla, which is… well, a Gorilla. They throw some kind of glowing ball at you, but really they’re just ground pounders and are easily dealt with if you can actually reach them. Next up…



“Wait… is that a baby palm tree walking around?”

“Where else would palm trees come from?”

“Er… coconuts?”

“Cocowhats?”

“MASTER! What were you thinking!?”

That aside, Palm Trees tend to appear in pretty large numbers and easy to dispatch. If you can get them bunched up, magic spells will tear them apart. For clearing up the lair we release a dolphin.




The next couple of Monster Lairs basically let us progress forward without releasing anybody, but I can’t complain since the experience is great.



Good enough, in fact, that we manage to get a level up within the first few lairs. The enemies here are worth almost twice as much as the last set, so the first few levels come pretty quickly. We release a mermaid from the lair you can just see above the dialogue box.



“A tornado bird monster? Now that’s just unfair.”

The Firebird for some reason causes tornadoes. I have no idea, but at least there’s only one or two per lair.



Another palm tree lair opens a way for us to proceed further, where we face our most intimating enemy yet:



In case anybody is confused, the southernmost rock is actually a cleverly disguised enemy also cleverly referred to as a “Rocky”. Their main trick, quite impressive for a rock, is hopping around the battlefield.



Clearing the Rocky lair wins us the prize of two Gorilla lairs appearing to our north and south. Since the one to the north is quite likely to get confused by the rock that’s partially in the way, this isn’t actually that big of a deal. Each of the lairs releases a mermaid, which are actually most of what we’re going to be talking to in this area.



Continuing on our way we have some more Rocky lairs, all of which just clear the way to let you progress toward whatever our eventual goal is. Oh, and the chest is a medical herb so that’s also a thing.



“Wait, stairs going down into the ocean? Who even built them?”

“Surprisingly advanced tool using gorillas, perhaps. Which you have been busily killing.”

“If they’re advanced enough to build stairs, they would know not to get in my way after the first couple of times.”



I was actually a bit lost at this point, since the pathway around these trees is very narrow and I initially missed it. You can see the next lair, a palm tree lair, which…



“Where… where did the trees go?”

“Oh, what have you done now? Not the Easter Island thing again!”

“I just stepped on a lair! How was I supposed to know?”

“I’m kidding, that was supposed to happen.”



Another side effect of lairs can be raising sections of the land to expose new lairs, like the one pictured here. It contains a mermaid with a message for us:



“I’ll be right down.”



One side effect of changes in the topography can be that Guppies end up out of the water and do in fact flop around like fish on dry land. It is both hilarious and makes them much easier to kill.



“I don’t even want to know why He needed four of them.”

“Those statues prevented all creatures from getting lost.”

“Hopefully not by giving directions like the one that told me to go find the bubble clothing up on the island when the bubble armor was down here the entire time.”



“Please?”

“Forget it. No way.”

“I’m on a mission from GodJesus.”

“Never heard of him.”



“I guess I’ll have to take your word for it?”

“If three of my students return, I will show you our great dance.”

“It better not end with you handing me a medical herb.”



“That’s great. Just keep on… being you.”

“As a reward for saving us I will tell you a secret. No armor will protect you against the Magma off the volcanic island, Durean. You must find a way to stop the volcano.”

“Are you sure? I mean, this Ice Armor is pretty sweet. I was right next to some magma and it was great.”

“You. Must. Stop. The. Volcano.”



“You have NO idea.”

“I know you can’t breathe under water, so please take this.”

“I guess something as simple as Oxyale would be too much to ask for.”



In addition to giving us the ability to breathe under water (more on that in a minute), the Bubble Armor is also the next step up in armor. With this we’re actually a bit more balanced toward defense.



“Are you sure I can’t just make you the new Queen?”

“Don’t even talk about that. I really don’t want to end up as chum.”



“…I don’t even want to know.”

“Then why are you keeping them?”

“Experience.”

With that, we’re all caught up on our rescued souls and can now go outside the mermaid shrine.



“Oh. My. GodJesus. This is the best thing I have ever done.”

“You’re welcome.”