Part 6: Pixie Turtle Love

Having retrieved the Water Stone, bought some new equipment, and gained a few levels, it's time to head back to the Prairie. This King Frog and Lizard Man pairing is a very common pairing near the lake.




Revenge, as usual, is sweet.



I mentioned that this was a common pairing, didn't I? At any rate, the Blind spell is verified as duplicating the function of Dark. It might have a better success rate, but it's hard to verify without way more effort than I'm willing to expend.



Even if we'd gotten this far before, the path would have ended at this lakeside dock. With the desert temple having been explored however..




We can use the water stone to move into a new area. It's not Oxyale, but it'll do well enough.



The lake is filled with appropriately named Deathfish, although a more appropriate name would be hideous abomination against nature fish. They're actually not terribly dangerous, but the encounter rate seems to be almost 100% in the water.




All of the freakish fish murdering results in some level gains. Weaken hasn't struck me as terribly impressive yet, but Frost is a multi-target ice elemental spell and thus very useful.



The lake is very difficult to navigate, as the rooms loop and for the most part seem identical. Examining the surroundings and seeing a different looking fish is usually a good sign that you're getting somewhere.



After a good, long time we stumble into a cave under the lake. You can tell how long by comparing my gold now and my gold when I entered.



I'm not even going to ask why there's a pair of pliers hidden behind some reeds. Such logical questions have no place in this universe.




The pliers come in handy, as these clamshells can be opened for gem stones after you hit them to make a place for the pliers to grip. 750 gold each can add up pretty quickly.



The Underground Cave is in fact an ante-cave to this one. Much to my disappointment, however, this doesn't turn out to be a pixie themed dungeon with a complete suite of pixie murders.



It does, however, have slugs which have become measurably more badass looking since the last Sword of Hope. Their acid is a lot less threatening, however, only doing a few points of damage.



Another level grants Theo a higher tier sleep spell. The encounter rate in this game is gaining us levels at a pretty steady clip, although in some cases it feels very necessary.



I'm no expert on marine biology, but I'm pretty sure that most kelp and other such plants that create an underwater forest usually don't grow in caves away from light.




Near the underwater forest a helpless idiot turtle is stuck in the wall, having apparently tried to pass through a hole in the wall that was too small for him. I'm not sure exactly how this happened, as he would either have to have backed into the hole or would have to have gotten the thickest part of his body through and then gotten stuck.



You can choose not to help the turtle out, but Theo's a bro. Also, you can't continue the game until you pull the turtle out so there's that to continue. All that aside, there's no explanation as to why Theo knows that there's some kind of Elder around here.



This selfless act of altruism will have no repercussions beyond saving the turtle's life, obviously.



Searching around the cave leads to some fruit bearing seaweed (again, not asking how it's growing here in the cave) that can either damage us for 2 points or heal us for 10. Odds are good enough that you might as well eat some of the fruit.



Mute learns a new way to turn someone to stone. It's a slightly more effective variant, but we'll get to how next update when I actually use it.




I don't like where this is going These are certainly some strange looking pixies.



Petty thieves, driven by greed, unknowingly cracked the casket and freed the King of Darkness. Stop him, Theo, before he rules this world anew!

Very creepy pixies, who are at least kind enough to provide us with a condensed version of what's been going on.




Not pictured: Me wandering all over the damned cave several times trying to find the Elder before arriving here and having the turtle tell me about a hidden path. This would have gone much faster if the turtle had told me to go to the underwater forest in the first place.




If you take a moment to think about the layout of the rooms, the area just north of the underwater forest is the connecting room to where we rescued the turtle. Naturally the current shoots us through the hole, complete with the turtle that was previously stuck in said hole.



I'll bet he could.



So yes, the resolution to the problem is to pick up a big rock, carry it back to the hole, and use it to make a plug. This allows us to finally visit the elder.



I'm home! This young prince saved me when I was stuck in a hole!

The Elder has a bitching mustache. Also, the turtle appears to be his pet.



Prince Theo, we've seen that the Dark King perpetrated the theft of the Sword of Hope. One of the shards you seek will be found in Winder Castle...give me the Jewel of Water.

He's also able to confirm that the theft of the sword and the incident at the temple are connected. This is actually the first time we've had that explicitly confirmed.



He turns the Jewel of Water into a bell (it's magic) although there's no explanation as to why that would be more useful.



Talking to him again results in some clarification about where the Castle is. It's probably a good idea to spell these things out for Theo since a lot of this geography didn't exist for him 5 years ago.




Hitting things update: The elder guilts us about hitting him, while the other pixies just take the hit.



on the Floating Island in Bon Harbor. He's ordered his minions to collect the 4 shards. If he even gets one shard, we're done for!

Much to my surprise, the pixies have different dialogue after you've rescued the turtle and returned him to the Elder. In a game with so many bizarrely unpolished bits, this minute attention to detail stands out as very odd.




Somehow slugs can turn you into stone. Melt is verified as working as an in-battle anti-petrification spell. Presumably if the battle went on too long without it being applied Theo would turn into a statue and have to be carted back to the Shaman.



awaken the dragon. He will attempt to harness the dragon's power to conquer the world!

As far as evil plans go, it's not bad. Fairly high chance of being eaten by a dragon who's more powerful than you imagine, but not bad at all.



The grateful turtle is willing to help us across the lake, because boats are for pansies. Real men ride aquatic creatures.



Only in Sword of Hope 2 is crossing a small lake an hour plus adventure. Next time: and my favorite new party member thus far.