Part 24

Emerging into the final normal world (more on that in a few updates) we are in the ruined foundations of a town. I suppose you can tell the difference between this and the very first town since there are still foundations left behind. There’s not so much to see, so we’ll just dive into our first dungeon segment.



We’re starting off in an area referred to as the torture chamber, which suggests all kinds of lovely things about the former rulers of the area. Just off to the left you can see a snake, which is a non-lair monster that charges if you’re precisely aligned with it in any cardinal direction. They’re actually pretty weak, having only 16 HP, but they’re worth more than three times as much experience as the enemies in the last world.



Next up, we’ve got skeletons from the wall manacles coming to life with murder on their minds. They can’t attack at a diagonal angle, so you can approach them that way. They’re actually physically tougher than anything else in the area, and give 750 experience each. Clearing the lair releases a soldier in the ruins.




Finishing off the entire mess and what must have been a snake is enough to push us up to level 20. That looks like a lot of HP, but we’ll need it all by the end of this. Now, about that soldier…



“First, look for the Spirit Sword.”

“Ghosts? That’s absolutely ridiculous!”

“You’re the soul of an angel confined in a sack of flesh and have been talking to dead animals for days, yet you still claim ghosts are ridiculous?”



“I stand corrected.”

In contrast to some of the areas, we have to run a bit of a gauntlet filled with enemies that we can’t kill. Ghosts pretty much rush back and forth at you, but aren’t really that dangerous at the moment. They can teleport, so the sensible thing is just to get out of their reach as soon as possible.




All that said, we get our next upgrade in moments so that whole first step didn’t take very long. The Spirit Sword can kill spirit type monsters but not metal monsters, and there’s a third category that we haven’t really encountered yet. Going back and clearing the ghost lairs we’ve seen thus far releases another guard and clears our way forward.



The true path forward has another skeleton enemy, but we’re missing something…



Just above the snake we saw earlier, who has respawned since we left and came back, is another lair that gives us a chest with a whopping 80 gems inside. Before we go forward we can go talk to the newly released guard:



“I know a bit about architecture. I will show you something later.”

“I’m sure it will be tremendously helpful, and not a waste of my life like this just was.”



In the next floor down we’ve got a series of narrow corridors with monster lairs at the end. We’ve also got a new enemy, but more on them in a moment. Clearing the first lair widens one of the corridors and gives us some more room to maneuver.



We’re going to need it. The final enemy in this section are Steel Balls, who rush around like crazy and are worth more experience than anything we’ve dealt with so far. You can pretty much just slash away at them until they die, but it’s going to take some doing. The first lair releases another guard, which is a bit worrisome because we haven’t seen a single regular person yet.




Clearing out the next lair afterward releases a singer with their own theater, which is quite an improvement for the town as a whole.



Going back to the room of narrow hallways, the next set of lairs is another Steel Ball lair that widens the right hallway and releases a soldier inside a church or something similar.



After that, we’re going down a narrow hallway with snakes on each side that will charge as soon as you step between them. It’s a bit of a mess, especially with ghosts coming down your throat. Clearing them out releases a guard who gives us a warning about thorns, as well as a helpful tip:



“You will receive the Elemental Mail.”

“And that will…?”

“What do I look like, an armor expert? It’ll protect you from… elemental… stuff.”



The next step down the pathway has a pair of lairs that release another lair, giving us another soldier/guardsman with a bit of a difference…



“Looks a bit dead around the edges.”

“Nah, just sleeping. I’m kind of an expert at telling the difference by now.”



After getting another 100 gems in a chest, we have to find a secret passage and wander around in the darkness to clear a lair of steel balls. It’s more of a path than a wide open area, so you can’t exactly get lost. Clearing the lair gives us a blue gem.



“You mean this one? The one that I needed to kill all of the enemies in the laboratory to even get here?”

“Oh shut it. And you’ve got the Spirit Sword too… just remember where the invincible monsters are, then go back and clear them out.”

“That’s actually an attempt to be helpful, so thanks. I hadn’t even thought about the Spirit Sword.”



This is a pretty good opportunity to return back to town, since we’re now once again at a bit of a standstill.



“I don’t know how to break this to you, but that’s no…”

“The King is the greatest man in the world.”

“That’s not the story I heard.”

“Shhh! I must say that or I will be punished.”



“I think that you’re taking credit for something you didn’t do, but it’s a good story.”



“You might want to check a newspaper for the date. Once they figure out what it is. Anyway, you’re kind of late to the party.”



“Rough break. Good luck playing around it.”

“You know there’s probably a monster lair with a harp string in it somewhere around here.”

“Almost certainly, but it’ll be good for him.”



Looking into the dream of the sleeping soldier gives us another look into Leo’s life.



“Kind of a funny name for a demon.”

“I would not pay attention to my wife and daughter. Still I didn’t understand.”

“That kind of thing happens with demons, I hear. Not your fault, is it?”

“I was praised as a genius scientists, and even the King often gave me orders.”



“I still can’t wait to see that.”

“Finally I invented a machine to call upon evil, only to realize something.”

“That inventing a machine to call upon evil was a terrible idea?”

“No! Well, yes. Tools are there to make peoples’ lives easier. If tools are allowed to use people, their culture will decline and they will become unhappy.”




“Not entirely accurate…”

“Please, let me off somewhere!”



“But I must take you to Magridd castle and make sure you do not escape. I have to worry about the present, not tomorrow. I must do my job or be punished. Please try to understand this.”




“You’re absolutely one hundred percent right. And that’s what happens when you only think about the present and don’t think about the future.”

“I don’t know who to obey anymore!”

“Your own conscience, you idiot! Obeying people is what got us all in to this situation.”



“That doesn’t even start making up for it.”

Elemental Mail protects us from the spikes that were mentioned before, and might protect us from other types of damage. It doesn’t come up very often at this point.



“Not even worth arguing about at this point.”

Next update: Joining the Platinum club, spirit hunting, and a heartbroken bard who doesn’t even know it yet.