Part 8: The Silver Key of Dreams

Winder Castle has been abandoned for quite some time, and in some respects it shows it. For being around 500 years old, though it's not so bad.



It's also packed full of new enemies. Darkmages are a bit annoying, but can be beaten up fairly easily. Berzerkers are pretty weak to ice, but Wraiths are immune to it. You actually have to start planning on a few of these fights.




It should be noted that Wraiths are total dicks. Prioritizing them with fire spells is a pretty good plan.



Eventual priority: find some oil. This is ABC level RPGing here.



Winder castle is also haunted. Luckily the majority of ghosts are friendly and informative, like this one:

After conquering Zakdos, the Worldstone rose up into the air and exploded into four shards. The shards were scattered about the kingdom. Even beyond death, our king has guarded his Shard of Wind so he may not give it up easily.



Navigation is mainly accomplished by the tried and true method of hitting suspicious objects until something turns into a door. It's kind of like the Sand Temple but a bit more obvious.



Three floors is absolutely super classy. First stop: the basement.



Immediately down the stairs a convenient pile of rubble falls apart to let us into a warehouse.




Logically enough, we find oil in the warehouse. I'm actually surprised it wasn't tucked in some weird nook that would make absolutely no sense and drive people insane.




A little bit further yet we find this strange tableau. Let's see about this sword now, since we like shiny things..




SONOFA! Okay, keep the damn sword.



Our forward progress is stopped by a locked door, conspicuously decorated with silver. Hmmm...




There's a bit of loot scattered around here. The Shield HTHZ (Whatever the hell that means) is legit equipment, but the Armor CMFT apparently does absolutely nothing. Knowing my luck, it'll turn out to make you absolutely immune to magic or something.



Speaking of special powers, the shield gives a small chance that you'll completely evade a physical attack.



Before we use that oil, we'll explore upstairs. The SPR CMFT is more junk, right at the top of the stairs.



This doesn't look good, but it doesn't seem to DO anything. There are hidden needle traps in every room on the second floor. There's also another ghost.



and sealed away Zakdos! Alas, the news of Zakdos' escape weighs heavily on our beloved king. He just hasn't been himself lately.

Huh. So much for any ideas that ghosts are frozen and unable to change over time.



We're stopped by a working needle trap sticking us in the foot. Somehow Theo and his companions are a.) wearing thin boots and b.) incapable of walking over a small line of spikes.



With no other options, it's time to bite the bullet and open the rusted door. What wonders await us on the other side?



welcome. I'll turn off the trap so you can speak with King Winder.

A ghost and a bed. That's some wonder for you.



You can take a nap here and get your HP back, but it doesn't do anything for your MP.



King Winder looks like a total badass. For a 500 year old ghost, he's pretty hardcore. He's also an incredibly proactive ghost, as we'll see.



yet now he has returned... to save the world, a warrior-mage must reunite the shards of earth, wind, fire, and water. I have kept the Shard of Wind safe for these past 5 centuries. But I won't give it to just any passing stranger. Prove to me your worth by defeating the Ghost of Sword. I'll reward you with the key to the Shard Room.

Told you there'd be four of them. Well, let's see about this Ghost of Sword. Shouldn't be too hard..



Oh, not bad at all. It's got a good defense, but stacking a Fortify on to Theo will ruin it in one hit. Back to the King!



you expect to combat Zakdos!?? Forget the Shard Room key!

Turns out that he probably shouldn't have used the singular there. Call it a bad translation, but he doesn't actually want us to defeat a single ghost and come back. We have another objective.




It's more of a marathon than a sprint, is what I'm saying.



All the combat results in us gaining some levels, with both Mute and Theo learning Heal. Heal is the upgraded version of Medic, and it's almost more healing spell than we need at the moment. Someone would have to be near dead before this would be useful.



Our objective is the Sword we saw earlier, which is now safe since the King gave us a mission.



In addition to being a plot coupon, it's also a damn good weapon. Even better than what we just bought, so onto Theo it goes. Unfortunately, just getting it doesn't mean we're done here.. it still has to go back. It goes a little something like this:




That's right, in addition to any random battles you might get into there are 8 non-random battles involved in getting this damn sword. At least the money and experience is good.



They do have an unfortunate chance of getting a crit in on you. Note that this is more HP than Theo has at maximum. There was no helping this one. Keep in mind that Theo is dead for the next conversation.



Here's the Shard Room key, as I promised... remember Theo, one shard is but a piece of crystal. Unite the four and you shall hold the Worldstone... only then ca you defeat the king of darkness...

We've pleased King Winder. Why can't he be Theo's dad instead of the loser we have?



I'm sure you can guess where this is going. But before that...



Since our dead character is the one with the teleport spell, we have to walk back to the Shaman on foot and get him resurrected. It's a bit pricey, but the alternative is walking all the way back to the castle and to hell with that noise.




We put the key in the color coded door and trigger the next plot event, dealing with Senile Susan here...



You've done my work for me, mortal! King Winder would never have given the key to me. Give me the Shard of Wind...

The whole "mortal" thing is a bad sign. That said, she still appears to be senile since she doesn't realize we don't have the Shard of Wind yet.




Granny goes a bit apeshit when we tell her we can't give her what we don't have. Guess what this means?



That's right, boss time.



For the stalking aspect she'd be creepy enough and her appearance is certainly disturbing, but one thing ruins it...



Someone on the localization team translated what was presumably Hag as Hug. That adds a whole new level of hilarity to this battle. We're fighting against an affectionate gesture.




She's still able to shove Bogi's face out the back of his head, but a Fortify boosted strike from Theo tears her apart after Mute's been softening her up a bit.



I'm torn between hearing the Final Fantasy victory fanfare or the Zelda found item music here. King Winder hasn't been idle in the meantime..



I located another shard. A fire dragon guards the Shard of Fire beneath the molten lava of Nekojara volcano. The passage in the right wall leads to the shore of Bon Harbor. Find a boat to take you to Nekojara. Strength to you, brave prince!

Best. Ghost. NPC. EVER.



Bogi seems cheered by the fact that he actually has a reason to hang out with us now.




He's also got a great attitude. Onward, to adventure and mayhem! Next time: You wouldn't think finding a boat would be this much work.