Suikoden V Part #101 - Very Definitely Final Dungeon

Part 101: Very Definitely Final Dungeon

Gizel Godwin is dead. He is not coming back.

...unfortunately, that doesn't mean all our troubles are over. (music)

Rune Keeper: Yes... After the power of the Sun Rune was sealed away, His Lordship ordered his soldiers to remove it from here.

We could actually have come here before fighting Gizel and found out about it ourselves, but there's no dialogue or anything if you do, so I didn't show it.

He fled with the Sun Rune, leaving his only son behind?! How could he DO that?!

I'd have left Gizel behind too v

I bet that stupid Gizel was in on the whole thing!

Oh yeah, and Lym has changed back to her old outfit. One of these days she'll get a proper coronation.

To commit such a foolish act, despite knowing the significance of the Dawn and Twilight Runes... *sigh*
Will it take the utter ruin of this nation before he understands?

Yes.

(Well actually we're going to beat him to a pulp before that happens. But.)

Rune Keeper: At any rate, we must not abandon the Sun Rune to its fate. We must pursue Lord Godwin and seek its return.

And by "we" he means "you, the Prince."

Clearly.

Or maybe we'd just be better off without it!

That Rune is what caused this stupid war in the first place!

Princess...

The threat of war is exactly why the royal family of Falena must abide by their duty to seal away the Sun Rune. A war far more terrible than the one you witnessed could befall your nation if the Rune ever fell in to foreign hands. What then, young Queen? Will you simply stand by and let your citizens perish, one after another?

There are few things worse in this world than hearing Zerase say something and realizing that you can't tell her she's wrong and terrible because she has a point.

No... I understand...

Lym doesn't like it either.

Brother, please form a search party at once!

Oh, Princess...

None of that, now. We're going.

Don't embarrass me in front of my sister, Lyon.

The enemy has discovered how to elicit the Sun Rune's power. We must stop them before it is too late.

Thanks, Captain Obvious. I'm demoting you to Lance-corporal Obvious for that.

Finally... Finally, I can see you, Frey... But there's still more stupid fighting...

But, once they see what I'm gonna do to Marscal, no one's ever going to rebel against you again!

I was hoping you and the Princess would have some time to hang out... But this war just won't END!

Which is why we're leaving you behind to distract her while I'm gone. You... do remember how to distract her, right...?

Rune Keeper: Prince Frey! I'm sorry... It's unforgivable that the Sun Rune, the symbol of the royal family, was used for such an unjust cause! But we could only watch as it was taken before our very eyes...

Bah, you could have pushed him down the stairs or something.

Speaking of stairs... (music)

We found them!

We found the rest of the Sindar tablets that Godwin's scholars had... misappropriated. And there were even more than I had imagined. There can only be one logical explanation... There must be another set of ruins we have yet to discover.

You'll excuse me if I don't cheer or anything. Dumb and weird things tend to happen in Sindar ruins.

???: ...The Ashtwal Mountains.

Deep in the Ashtwal Mountains to the north, there are some ruins frozen deep in snow and ice. Lord Godwin gathered his scholars and had them survey the ruins under the utmost secrecy. They brought those stone tablets back with them.

And just how do you know all this?!

I was part of the survey team, little girl.

Quit insulting me, you id--
...Wait, what did you just say?!

Ah, it all becomes clear.

There was a light that shot up to the heavens from beyond a mountain range.
...The Ashtwal Mountains!

Killey! What did you see at those ruins?!

They were Sindar ruins. Nothing of interest. But Lord Godwin was apparently quite interested in them.

If the Ceras Lake ruins are somehow connected to the Dawn Rune...
And the ones in the Deep Twilight Forest are connected to the Twilight Rune, then maybe the Ashtwal Mountains are...

He doesn't need to say it.

I only wish Their Majesties Queen Arshtat and Commander Ferid could have seen you. They'd be proud.

Before we go after him, though, Frey has earned a good night's rest. We rejoin him in his own room, by his own bed, for the first time in months. (music)

Lyon's timing is impeccable as always.

We located the remaining members of the Godwin faction! The Princess and Lucretia are waiting in the audience chamber. Let's go!

We've kept Lym waiting long enough for one lifetime. Let's not waste any time. (music)

Feels a bit odd passing through this place again...

But at least we don't have to worry about getting lost. The castle at Ceras Lake had that problem occasionally, what with it getting expanded and people moving around all the time.

That's me! (music)

Your Highness, Lord Godwin and his followers have entered the Ashtwal Mountains from north of Stormfist.

I can't be the only one who wants to read that as "Ashtwat", can I...?

Intriguing... I assumed his plan was to flee overseas from Hershville.

The Ashtwal Mountains are pretty dangerous, if I recall correctly. He'll have a rough time even surviving, let alone regrouping.

Most likely, he's headed for the Sindar ruins that were discovered there.

Really? But why now?

Isato, if you please...

Yes, Oracle.
I'm not sure about Sol-Falena yet, but in Lunas, the rivers have been rising over the past few days.

The rivers are rising?

Yes. The glacier in the Ashtwal Mountains is a major source of water for the Feitas River. Lord Godwin may be using the Sun Rune's power to melt the glacier and cause the rivers to swell.

Uh... that's not good, is it?

What?!

I see... Then if my reasoning is correct, the ruins in the Ashtwal Mountains are connected to the Sun Rune. He may have somehow succeeded in eliciting power from the Sun Rune once again.

This is bad. If the entire glacier melted, Sol-Falena would be...
No, half of the entire nation would be submerged!

Well, then that gives us even more reason to go after him and take back that Sun Rune!

This shall not be an easy endeavor, Lord Wilde...
The Ashtwal Mountains are a cold, cruel, and unforgiving master. Only the hardiest of men dare venture there.
Moreover, Lord Godwin's men have sabotaged the mountain passes.

Even with the help of the beavers and cave dwarves, it would seem an all-but-impossible task.

What are we gonna DO?!

This is terrible... So he really was lying when he said this was all for Falena's sake!

And when things didn't go like he wanted, he just decided to destroy the nation and its people!

Princess...

Frey.

Come to Lunas. You, too, Lyon.

Huh?

With the Dawn Rune the Prince bears, and the Twilight Rune you now bear, we just may have a chance.

Really?!

There's a story passed down by the Oracles of Lunas, but it may or may not be true. No one has tried to verify it for the past several hundred years.

Which obviously means it's not only true, but perfectly maintained as well! I know how things work by now.

All right. We'll just have to take our chances. We have no time to study the matter.
Prince, Lyon, I'm counting on you.

I'm counting on this getting you out of my hair for the rest of the game!

Brother!
I'm counting on you, too!
Don't let our country die! Mother and Father tried so hard to protect it!

Please! You must protect Falena!

It shall be done.

Right away! (music)

Your Highness... The battle isn't over quite yet, is it?

As soon as I get a full party again. Georg is out for some reason, so we can't have the all-knights group again, but I'm sure we'll be fine. It's just Lunas.

Here we go.

Barely even saw any enemies. (music)

It's good to be back.

Cleric: Your Highness, thank you so much for coming.

This way, Frey. There's a fountain behind the waterfall. You were here last time for little Lym's purification rite, remember?

Oh, you mean that time you all accused me of being a pervert. Yeah, that kind of treatment leaves mental scars you're not gonna forget anytime soon.

I don't need to think, we're going to find out.

Charge!

And stuff. (music)

Patience, young one...
All right, stand there, you two.

Now, turn your Runes toward the statue.

Like this?

What just happened?

...

We don't get a cutscene of the water sinking away. It just fades out and when we come back, it's like this. (no music)

Oh, my... Absolutely amazing! I've never seen this before.

But I suppose it makes sense.

What do you mean, Lady Haswar?

Do you recall why Lunas is a holy land?

I'm not just saying that, either.

it's because the first Queen of Falena appeared here with the Sun Rune, right?

Also, Haswar likes us better if we remember. Not that it affects anything, but hey, don't turn down free stars of destiny, or free affection points.

That's right.

Oh! So then... do you think...?

Right. The first Queen of Falena came here from deep within the Ashtwal Mountains...
...Probably from the very ruins Lord Godwin and his followers discovered.
I don't precisely know what all this means...
However, I'm almost sure this path will lead you right to those ruins.

If we don't, who will? (music)

I see...

I wish you a safe journey, then... But be careful!

Certainly.

We will!

And so we can head on to the final conclusion. (no music)

May you have safe passage home. Little Lym and the others await your return! You'd better hurry.

No, I'm going to talk to all the NPCs and you can't stop me!

Your Highness. I shall be praying for your safe return.

...and I'm done.

The corridor behind has a weird blurring effect. Presumably we travel much farther than we seem to...

...because only a short while later, we emerge in the Ashtwal Mountains. (music)

And soon thereafter, we run into a cutscene.

Hm?
Look, over there.

It fades out and in again; we don't get to pan over the entire area.

Those are Sindar ruins, no doubt about it.

Well, what are we waiting for? Let's hurry!

I have a bad feeling about that place.

We're gonna have to find out, aren't we?

But of course we're going to have to cut through the remains of Godwin's army to do it. As you might expect, the Ashtwal Mountains are home to some of the meanest enemies in the game. Good thing we have methods of dealing with them-

...

Seriously, Konami? Fucking seriously? You give me a plot rune right before the final battles and it has Wind of Sleep?

...well, fine.

Twilight Rune
1: Evening Dusk - It's Wind of Sleep. Let's stop talking about it.
2: Setting Sun - 300 damage; 70% Instant Death, one enemy.
3: Silent Afterglow - 600 damage, row.
4: Vermilion Sky - 1300 damage, all enemies.

Vermilion Sky is the most powerful offensive spell in the game. The problem is, Lyon is not a good caster and you will probably only ever have one shot of it. That also means her stats won't add much damage to it. She does, however, have an A rank sun affinity, so you should still see some reasonably big numbers.

With this, we have also unlocked the final spell of the Dawn Rune.

Dawn Rune
1: Time of Wakening - Restores status, all allies.
2: First Ray - 400 damage, column.
3: Light of Day - Fully heals one ally, even if unconscious.
4: Crimson Sky - 1200 damage, all enemies.

Frey is a better caster than Lyon, and has two charges of Crimson Sky.

As usual, the unlock comes too late to really be useful, but it's a damn good spell, especially given Frey's Sun affinity is good and about to get better. We can also unite the two to deal more damage and heal our entire party at the same time; the damage is 500, 750, 1000, and 1500 for level 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively; the healing is 100, 200, 300, and 999.

These enemies have ludicrous amounts of health, so even the dawn/twilight unite might not wipe out this group of randoms. Look at this asshole, still standing after taking 2000+ damage!

So,

Lyon sets him on fire.

There are also raging assassins,

...enormous dice,

...and this guy, the final area miniboss.

He drops some nice stuff! Windspun Armour has always been great, although it's considered heavy armour so most people can't use it. It's part of a set, one of the few you might actually care about - together with the ring, cape, greaves, gauntlets, and helm, it becomes weightless (normally, -14 SPD) and grants a further +20 SPD. If we put it on Galleon, he might not act dead last in every fight! ...but it's a little less defensive than the Saint's Cloak he's wearing, so he'll probably keep that.

We're running a pretty murderous party; it doesn't take that long to reach the ruins.

And to think he'd keep something this big a secret... That selfish Lord Godwin cares for nothing but himself. He cares nothing for true science and research!
...Well, enough of that. Let's go.

Zweig takes his

seriously!

It looks pretty cool, and I'm not talking about the snow. (music)

The Dawn Rune... The Twilight Rune...

I'm starting to think Lym is right: It's more trouble than it's worth.

Each door will only open in response to the appropriate Rune.

If we had the Sun Rune so we could open that door, we wouldn't need to open it in the first place. I'm feeling a headache coming on.

Wait, so does that mean Lord Godwin hasn't been here yet?

No, just the opposite. Think about those stone tablets we found in Stormfist.
Lord Godwin's survey team must have entered these ruins a few years back. That's where he got them.
The doors were probably open back then.
...So why are they closed now?
It may be that when someone took the Sun Rune inside, the mechanism in the ruins closed them tight.

So, Lord Godwin and the Sun Rune are somewhere in there...

It don't do any good to just stand around. Start by trying to open the left and right doors.

Okay!

We can do that.

So we will.

It opens not only the side passages, but the middle one as well. That's convenient!

This is going to be tough.

???: Your Highness!

I was just concerned bout what might happen here, so I brought along someone with some... time on her hands.

I felt bad that Your Highness and Lady Lyon have been asked to do just about everything lately!

Luserina...

Well, your timing is perfect.
As you can see, there are three entrances. I wasn't too sure about exploring all of them ourselves.

But now that all of us are here, we can split up, correct?

Indeed. Let's split into three groups, one for each entrance.
The only thing is, there may be doors further in that can only be opened with Runes.
Since you bear the Dawn Rune, you should lead the party that explores the right entrance.

Oh fucking bullshit this place has the unmistakable stench of Final Dungeon about it and you want us to split up? You know what happens when you split up!

And since you bear the Twilight Rune, you take the left entrance.

Right!

Don't agree with him!

I'll take the middle.

I'll come with you, Zweig. I don't like the idea of a bookworm like you going it alone!

Hmph! I'm stronger than I appear, you know...
...But I'd be honored to receive the protection of a Queen's Knight.

All right, Your Highness, please select all the other members for each party. Let's start with who will go with Your Highness.

Don't I get a say in this?

Next, please select who will go with Lady Lyon.

Is no one listening?!

Finally, please select who will go with Sir Georg and Zweig.