Part 4: Tricks and Traps

After speaking with the old man Theo felt much better about not finding the Sword of Hope and continued on his quest, entering the domain of the magician Shabow.



Many of the trees in Shabow's domain spoke too quietly for Theo to hear him, but almost all of the ones who could speak told him nothing more than that Shabow was waiting for him. Their constant requests made Theo worry that something had gone gravely wrong in this corner of the forest.



The area itself was hardly peaceful at all, and was filled with dangerous creatures that Theo had never seen before. They came after him in large groups quite frequently, and only their constant fighting amongst themselves saved him.

This is about the point where the game starts to take the gloves off. Apes have 19 HP and give 3-6 gold and 9-14 experience while Cyclops have 24 HP and give 5-7 gold and 8-16 experience. The Apes are actually far more dangerous and annoying, since they can use Bagefire and do upwards of 30 damage and like to use StripAll to lower your stats. They shrug off fireballs, so if you run into a group of them it's very possible to find yourself too weak to continue the fight after a round or two. The Cyclops just like to raise their own dexterity with RaiseD and attack you.



As he searched in vain for Shabow the trees whispered of a tricky cave, but did not make clear whether this was Shabow's home or something else entirely.



Finally, after a long search, Theo noticed a barely visible path in the mud along one side of a trail that looked like it had been created intentionally. With nowhere else to go, he decided to follow the muddy path.



Much to Theo's surprise the pathway led to a cavern behind a waterfall, just like how the old man and Martel had described Shabow's home. Theo found himself excited and nervous about meeting another of the three great magicians.



Whatever Theo had been expecting of a magician, a brawny giant of a man who lived in a rough hewn cave was not it. Despite his misgivings, Theo was immediately reassured when Shabow began to speak kindly to him.



Word of Theo's quest had evidently spread among the magicians, but while Shabow didn't doubt Theo's identity he wasn't sure that Theo would be able to handle the Sword of Hope should it be given to him.



To be sure that Theo was worthy, he proposed a test of his courage that would take him to a mysterious cave in search of a fallen piece of the moon. Shabow promised to give Theo useful information when he returned with the Moon Fragment.



Before Theo could even acknowledge his acceptance of the challenge, Shabow reached out with both mighty arms and gave Theo a massive shove. Theo's feet were unable to find purchase on the rough floor, and he found himself falling backwards and then falling down the waterfall!

Swamp Theme


After a gigantic splash, Theo found himself lying in a swamp with no idea where he was. The water stank of rotting plants, and looking around he could see no indications of where he should go. Although he wasn't happy about having been thrown down the falls, Theo was determined to find the Moon Fragment.



Out of sheer necessity while wandering through the swamp, Theo mastered the Bagefire spell to the point where it wouldn't rebound on him and learned magic that would allow him to strike harder at his enemies. While the Three Star Sword that Martel had gifted to him was useful, against his newest enemies magic was far more reliable.



The swamp was full of creatures, some terrifying and some not so terrifying. Sometimes they would attack him singly and sometimes in groups, although Theo found the idea that eels and frogs would associate rather bizarre.

And yes, those are electric eels. They usually attack with an electric discharge, and they take a bit of killing since they have 45 HP. Good experience and gold, though. Frogs are a complete joke since they have about 25 HP and are weak to lightning. They're poisonous, but that's just an annoyance.



Fighting the monsters of the swamp Theo soon found himself with more gold than he could conveniently carry. Since he couldn't imagine needing more than he had, Theo simply left the extra gold lying in the muddy swamp for someone else to find.

Gold limit is 255. I've already hit it once and spent some of the extra on herbs, but this load has another purpose. It's not hard to max out on gold in this game at all



Suddenly, Theo came upon a cave cut into a wall of stone. Could this be the location of the Moon Fragment?

Trick Cave Theme


As soon as he entered the cave Theo felt a thrill of anticipation. Right in front of him there was already a treasure chest, and he could already tell that the cave would be a maze that would test his mind and body to their limits.



The monsters within the cave would certainly help with that, being far more powerful than anything Theo had faced thus far as well as capable of powerful sorcery.

I'm not even sure what a myconid is supposed to be (Google search turns up D&D mushroom men) but they've got 49 HP and can use a spore attack to put you to sleep or use lightning for the result you see above. They're worth 16-22 experience, though, so at least that's an improvement. Ralba appear to be some kind of monstrous centipede and aren't terribly threatening, but they can heal themselves and make you spend precious MP to defeat them. I should mention that at this point it's nearly impossible to hurt these enemies with a regular attack.



To make matters worse, the treasure chest he had initially discovered turned out to be a vicious mimic, just like the ones he had dealt with in the old well.



The inside of this tricky cave showed evidence of care and deliberate construction, demonstrating that for all his kind nature Shabow was in some ways terribly warped. Theo realized that Shabow had to have been working on this cave for quite some time.



Not all the chests within the cave were mimics, however. At least one had helpful advice written within it for Theo. He could only assume that the treant's fruit was somehow related to the Moon Fragment he was searching for.



Another chest, conspicuously new, prompted the person who had placed it to come out and stop Theo when he attempted to open it.



The suspicious man claimed that the chest contained his sale goods, although Theo was even more curious than he had been about the last merchant about who this man thought he was going to sell his goods to.



His goods were higher priced than those of the forest shop, but the fact that he had a suit of golden armor set him apart. Despite knowing that gold was a notoriously poor choice for armor, Theo decided that he had to have that armor even if it cost him nearly all of his gold.

The black marketer, as this guy is called, sells ordinary goods for inflated prices and is the only source for the Gold Armor. I suppose you could buy from him if you were desperate while exploring the cave, but I've never found a real need for it. The Gold Armor is a +40 stamina boost, and will make us practically untouchable for a while.



Continuing onward with his new golden armor, Theo came upon another of Shabow's mind games. If he could trust the message the blue pot on the right was safe to drink, but taking such a chance far from any help was dangerous. Thinking of Shabow, however, Theo decided that this was a test of his ability to trust. When he opened the blue pot he found it to be full of delicious fruit juice.

The blue pot is on the right and is described as R pot while the red pot is on the left and is described as L pot. This would probably be less confusing if this game were in color. The right pot gives you 10 HP and can be re-opened any time you enter this room, while the left pot takes 20 HP.



Theo's researches into magic began to lead him into more unusual directions, with more complicated magic than simple use of the elements for direct attacks.

To be honest, I've never really used either of the spells. Reducing an enemy's MP is second to reducing their HP, and status effects aren't well represented in this game.



In addition to the fearsome creatures that Theo had already faced within the cave, it was also full of slugs just like the one that Theo had dealt with in the well.

The slugs are identical to the previous boss type, but are much more fond of using their acid attack. It's a brutal attack that can do more than 30 damage, meaning that two slugs can kill you in a single round. On the plus side, it's just as effective against the rest of the creatures in the cave.



For what seemed like ages Theo wandered within the cave, his travels made more complicated by the fact that the doors within the cave would sometime lock behind him.



More disconcerting were the times he would step in one direction only to find himself in a completely different room than the one he had thought to be entering, often accompanied by a wrenching sensation.



Indeed, Theo wandered for so long that he had time to learn a version of bagefire that could strike at all enemies at once and a spell to increase his ability to absorb blows.

Why look, it's two spells that I'll never use!



At last, in an isolated corner of the cave, Theo came upon a suspicious chest that had a dire warning written on its outside promising a painful death to anyone who dared to open it. Naturally, Theo opened it immediately.



The Shadow that jumped from the chest was a pitiful thing in the light of day, clawing at Theo's armor and doing little more than inflicting scratches. His sword couldn't bite into its filmy body, but his magic soon tore the darkness apart. Within the chest that the Shadow had so recently occupied was the Moon Fragment!



As Theo began to make his way out of the cave to return his prize to Shabow, he was suddenly interrupted by a weird old man. The old man rambled about the state of the country and how darkness controlled everything, as old people are wont to do.



The old man appeared to be cognizant of the legend that Theo would come to save the country, but wondered if such a thing could ever happen. As soon as he had finished his rambling and before Theo could reassure him, the old man vanished. Had he ever really been there?

I'm not sure who this old man is supposed to be, but he is annoying. He shows up every time you leave the screen where the Shadow's chest was, and you have to go through about 9 screens of text each time.



Afterwards Theo hurried to Shabow's cave. Shabow was full of praise for the young prince, but had to disappoint them. Shabow did not have the Sword of Hope, nor did he have any idea as to where it might be. Instead, he offered to increase the power of Theo's sword again.



While he was saddened to have failed once again in his quest to find the Sword of Hope, Theo was happy to have his sword strengthened to the point where he could actually use it on the monsters in Shabow's domain. Shabow was not done, however, and asked that Theo take a look at his pigeon. Theo was concerned that he was becoming famous as a pigeon doctor, but went along with it anyway.



The pigeon appeared to be in a bad way, and there was nothing that Theo could do to help it. Despite his inability to help the pigeon, the animal seemed much cheered by having Theo's attention.



The pigeon made a heartfelt plea to Theo and entrusted her egg into his care. Theo hoped for the pigeon's recovery, as he had no idea what to do with a pigeon egg and didn't feel that making an omelette would be an acceptable option. With another egg in hand, Theo left Shabow's cave to seek out a way to enter the domain of the last magician.