Part 6: Carrots, Sticks, and Deception

With the magical ring in hand, Theo rushed off to the first spring he had found. When he held the ring and gazed upon the picture in the water, he was pleased to find that he could actually hear the voice of the figure within the spring. Much to his surprise, however, the figure was not Camu. Instead, it was a newborn sprite.



The sprite told Theo that a sprite who does good deeds for a human can become a human in turn. Although Theo couldn't see why a magical sprite would want to be a plain human, he agreed to answer the sprite's questions so that she could decide if she wanted to help him.

The fairy asked Theo if he thought that she could get something from her, and naturally he agreed since that was the whole point of the discussion.

Next, the sprite asked if treasure chests were more than mimics. Theo wasn't entirely sure what she meant, but going on the assumption that he'd certainly found more mimics than actual treasure chests he had to say no.

For her third question, the sprite asked if the Prince had never told a lie. Considering his adventurous childhood and some of the things he'd wanted to hide from the old man, Theo was certain that he'd told a lie and answered no.

After that the sprite wanted to know if Theo believed that everyone liked him. Considering the number of times he had disappointed wicked creatures and foiled their plans, it was obvious to Theo that some people certainly didn't like him.

For her last question, the sprite wanted to know if Theo liked green more than blue. Baffled, the prince answered that he liked blue better and the sprite seemed pleased at his answer.

The fairy has 10 questions it can ask you, but if you do this right you'll only see five of them. The problem is that you only have one shot, and if you fail you can't do it again. Instead, the sprite either runs off or sends a Lamia after you. More about Lamia in a second..



Even though some of the questions didn't seem terribly important, it seemed that Theo had won over the sprite and become her friend. As the sprite buzzed about Theo eagerly awaited his reward.



For his friendship the fairy gave Theo a magical lamp, which she advised him to use in a dark place to open the "door of mystery." It was all very mysterious, but Theo wasn't going to complain about a free magical lamp.



After handing off the lamp the sprite flew off, and Theo set off for the next spring. This time when he used the ring, the surprise wasn't nearly so pleasant.



Although the lamia had the power of bewitching songs on her side, when it came down to actually attacking or preventing Theo from striking her with sword or magic. With the second spring emptied, Theo could only hope that the third spring would allow him to at last speak to the beautiful Camu.

Lamia is the same in either case where you can fight it, having about 100 HP and no offensive attacks It's a matter of attrition more than anything, although it does have a nasty habit of using songs to lower stats.



At the third spring Theo's patience was rewarded, and he could finally speak to the magician of love. Camu told him a story of woe, about how the evil Mudman had pressured her until she changed her form into that of a unicorn in order to escape. The plan failed when Mudman broke her horn off and locked away her powers.



Camu was now locked away in her pagoda with no way to turn back and no idea where her horn had gotten to. In her desperation she begged Theo to find the lost horn and bring it to the pagoda.



Theo had no idea where to go about finding the horn, so in great need he headed to the worship site for advice. The spell of Grace didn't reveal anything about the location of the unicorn's horn, but did seem preoccupied with vampires. Although he had no guarantee that the vampire would have the unicorn's horn, Theo could see no harm in going after the monster.

Seriously, I didn't see anything in the game saying "Yah, you should probably go after the Vampire. I've heard he's got the unicorn's horn." Around this point the game gets a bit sloppy as far as its trail of breadcrumbs goes.



Although it had been a long time, Theo could remember that the trees behind the worship site had been terrified of a vampire. The search was not an exhaustive one; almost as soon as Theo entered the graveyard he was accosted by an undead monster in the remains of a fine suit. The battle was fierce, for Theo could do nothing to the Vampire with his sword or spells. The only thing that gave the creature pause was the Ruby Charm that had belonged to Theo's mother.

He seriously pops up as soon as you look at a grave in this screen. In some ways, the Vampire is easier than a lot of boss fights lately. He repels magic and can't be hurt by swords, but using the Ruby Charm is guaranteed to damage him. While he can attack for a decent amount of damage he also likes to use a bite attack that drains agility. The only thing moderately tough about him is that he's got 163 HP. As a note, it's possible to reach this point without upgrading your Charm to the Ruby Charm. You can still fight the Vampire at that point, it just does less damage.



Theo was covered in bites, battered and bruised from the long battle, but when it was over the Vampire had been destroyed and the unicorn's horn had been recovered. Theo could make no sense of the fact that the horn had found its way to the Vampire. Could the creature have been a friend of Mudman in some way? Such questions were now pointless, however, and Theo rushed off to the pagoda with the horn in his hand.



As promised the horn undid the seal on the door, but as soon as it was done it left Theo's possession. Although he had wanted to see a unicorn, he wasn't disappointed with the thought of having Camu waiting for him on the third floor.



Inside of the pagoda a winding stairway led upward, with a chest at each landing. While one was a mimic, another had an interesting tidbit of information carved into the bottom of the box. The box was hard to read in the pale moonlight, which gave an air of mystery to the pagoda.



Although it was Camu's home, the tower was filled with monsters. The mystery of how a lizard had come to possess the key to Camu's domain was now solved; one of the lizards in her tower must have run away with it! The lizards and the bogles appeared to be fairly close comrades, although amusingly enough the bogles were often careless as to where their magic spells went.

Pretty shortly, this will be our best spot for grinding. The lizard that we dealt with before is now a standard enemy, and bogles are mostly pushovers. They do have access to the full line of fire spells, however, so they can occasionally get a good shot in. The best part is when they use firebal3 and nail themselves. They've actually only got about 38 HP so they're pretty easy to take down.



Near the top of the tower, Theo found another chest that contained nothing more than a strange mold. An adventurer to the core Theo took the mold, being certain that it would be useful for something. This high up, even as brave a hero as Theo felt his knees shaking as he looked down from the windows.



Finally Theo came to a round, stony room where a beautiful woman sat and waited. Her very presence made the room feel warm, and she was quite grateful for Theo's efforts in saving her.



Her words were confusing, as Theo couldn't imagine a more proper way to thank someone than from the heart. More interestingly, Camu appeared to have known Theo's mother well enough that she could speak of how the Queen would have felt about Theo's heroism.



Camu even offered a hope that Theo could speak to his mother, something he was very interested in. Unfortunately, she was rather vague about where Theo should use the charm.

Hint: It's not the worship site. I tried because I had forgotten and was quite disappointed.



Camu had a final gift for Theo in the form of an upgrade to his sword. She made no mention of the Sword of Hope, but it seemed to Theo that as Camu had recently been a unicorn she might not have heard the latest news. It seemed somewhat rude to bring up the question, since Theo could only imagine that if Camu had been in possession of the sword she would have given it to him.

We're now at a total of +40 dex from swords, but this one... well, it isn't going to be with us for long. In fact, it might be about the shortest upgrade ever. More on that in a moment. I'm also not sure why they called it the Adage.



The magician Camu also pre-emptively apologized for her pigeon's rudeness, saying that he was truthfully a gentle soul. Theo hadn't really noticed the pigeon, but with that recommendation felt that he had to interrogate the bird.



He was not to be disappointed. The pigeon was incredibly rude, and seemed to feel that Theo was some kind of egg thief! Had the pigeon known that Theo was currently carrying two eggs it would have certainly justified its paranoia, but since it did not Theo still felt wounded by the accusation.



As Theo moved toward the pigeon it changed its tune marginally. While Theo was more interested in an apology of some kind, the pigeon evidently felt that the entire situation could be resolved by giving him an egg. With yet a third egg in his possession, Theo gave up on any hope of getting through to the bird.

You actually have to use the open command on the pigeon, with the subtext being that the bird is convinced you're going to rip it apart. It's funny in a slightly demented way.



Camu gave some final parting advice to Theo, but before he could see the old man Theo felt a need to continue exploring the pagoda.



As he fought his way up the stairs to the roof, Theo finally worked out one of the spells that Mudman had used. Unfortunately, it still had the drawback of including Theo in the blast radius.

Big damage.. to everyone. Another spell that will never see use.



Emerging into the dazzling moonlight Theo felt like he could reach up and touch the moon from where he was. Taking out the moon fragment, he held it up and placed it so that it was lined up perfectly with the moon...



And suddenly, Theo's hand was empty and the moon was full. He couldn't explain it in the least, but somehow he had restored the moon to its former glory.



In the new, brighter moonlight Theo continued to explore the pagoda's rooftop. On the other side from the stairs downward, disaster struck and sent the young hero tumbling down four stories!

One of those nice things where just looking at something pays you back with 20 damage...



In a heap at the bottom of the pagoda Theo looked up toward the moon. It was unsettling to see it so suddenly full, and strange ideas began to creep into his head.



Theo was ashamed to have failed yet again, and dismayed that none of the three magicians had been able to help him find the Sword of Hope he sought advice at the worship site. Unfortunately, the site had little advice to offer other than to echo Camu's last words.



Immediately upon entering the old man's abode, the old man could see from Theo's expression that he had not succeeded. His words puzzled Theo exceedingly. What could the old man want with the eggs?



To Theo's astonishment, the old man spoke a long string of magic words. In dealing with the three magicians, Theo had given no thought to the possibility that the old man might command powerful magics. The old man named the three lights: white for courage, blue for courage, and red for love. Theo's sword was transformed utterly, and while violet wasn't his first choice for a sword color, but neither could he complain if he was right about what had just occurred.



The old man confirmed Theo's suspicion. He now held the Sword of Hope in his hands, in the transformed sword he had carried all this time. For a moment, Theo felt a rush of anger that the old man had taken so long to affect this transformation.

And now the final upgrade. +55 to dex, and it hits all targets on the screen. Finally, our weapons have pretty well caught up with magic. It's still going to take a bit to fully catch up, but at least there's a method of dealing with groups of enemies.



Theo's anger died, however, as he had to concede the justice of the old man's point. Even if he had been given the Sword of Hope from the beginning, without the experience of his search Theo knew that he would have failed utterly. It probably would not have hurt, however, if the old man had simply told him that he needed to gain each magician's blessing to empower the sword.



After the surprise of finding out that he had been holding the Sword of Hope the entire time, the knowledge that there was somehow a secret passage to the castle in the mill room barely registered to Theo.



With the Sword of Hope finally prepared, the old man sent Theo off to finally lift the darkness from the country of Riccard.