Part 14: Episode 13: The Kids are Alright

Alright kiddies. We are on our last slide through the end of disc 1: The Black Castle at Kazas.


Welcome to the glorious capital of Sandora! Kazas was bringing brown to video gaming WELL ahead of the curve. It may be a shit hole but its got 6 stardust and a few other goodies.


First of which is shoved in a barrel in a room full of Sandorans. It’s cool, just strolling in with the king of your major enemy.


We then make a quick hop across the street to sign up to be mercenaries! Sure, why not.

Dart: Yeah.

Mercenary A: A little punk like you would be a drag on everybody!! I know what you are thinking.
You want to make a killing by taking advantage of victory, don’t ya!!


Another merc wanders into to join in on Johnny come lately war profiteering.

Mercenary A: I just registered! It’ll be easy money for me!

Mercenary B: What are you talking about!?

Mercenary A: What do ya mean “what”? It’s the registration to be a mercenary.
You said let’s rake in some money by joining the Sandoras.

Mercenary B: Hey, you can’t feel so confident anymore!! Somebody defeated the Dragon!
In addition, Hellena fell.


Mercenary A: My grandpa is sick!!

Holy shit do these guys fucking love exclamation points. And that’s coming from a man that’s used a few too many in my time.

Mercenary A: See! This is my brother! He came here to get me! Well, so long then.


Reception: line as soon as you sign up. Don’t make such a face. If you have money problems,
I give ya this.


Man. Maybe all these Sandorans aren’t nun-raping baby eaters after all.


After taking this guys 100g to go murder his emperor we figure we haven’t taken enough from him. Dart scurries up the ladder and snags a stardust out of his junk pile. There is also an attack ball up there. Blah blah random attack item whatever.


Just north of the recruiter’s station is a weapon shop. It must be Saturday cause they’re giving out samples today. Twister Glaive is a wind element spear for Albert. Can be handy even after outdated thanks to innate element.


Oh good. If fantasy weapon shops have any correlation to gun shops this guy is going to be a complete nutbag. The owner will roll his eyes but put up with him since he’ll be spending 1500g on high speed low drag adventuring gear he’ll never use.

Mysterious Adventurer: Well well! I can tell just from how you look. In addition, you have been
on a very risky adventure. Well well! I can smell it from your aura.

Yeeeep. We have just found bubba buster sword.

Mysterious Adventurer: By the way, I have a great story to tell you because you appreciate the
real stuff. Just between you and me, I defeated the Dragon, Feyrbrand.


This is one of a handful of Dart’s … moments in the game. I feel it is FULLY ok in the circumstances.

Mysterious Adventurer: Oh, you don’t trust me. Then, take a look at this. This is the feather of
Feyrbrand. Whoah, don’t touch it. You’ll be poisoned by it.

My english teacher would murder me if I tried to get away with the horrible comma use here. I have a pretty good cringe going myself. Also Feyrbrand may have had a fucked up design, but he was not a bird I’m pretty sure.


Mysterious Adventurer: It’s a poweful drug that even beats Dragons, the dragon beater!! For
a limited time offer, I’ll give you this dragon’s feather for free!


I’ve never been so excited to see the man. I’m sure this shitheel is in for a fun ride.


Our HSLD operator makes a fucking dash for the door. Master of adventure. Master of subtlety.

Mysterious Adventurer: Wait, wait a minute!! I’m just a “bussinessman”!! I was lying about the Dragon!!

This may be one of the few times I approve of a word in quotes. Since this guy is not a businessman but a terrible scam artist.


He’s off to, uh, I have no idea. We kind of killed everything with a pulse in Hellena. Maybe they’ll just tie a rock to him and throw him off the coast. Whatever. He can eat a dick.

We are finally free to talk to the shopkeep who sadly has nothing to say about this whole ordeal. He does however have a shiny new Heat Blade for Dart. Went from 7 to 18 attack and picked up fire element on his hit.


We also rifle through this shelves and pick up stardust #17. Oh happy day!


Enough random looting for a bit. Time to go check out the Castle to our north.


Dart: "I don't think breaking through from the front gate will work."

Albert: "Let's do some more research. We may find a good way to sneak in."

I guess it wouldn’t be very sneaky, but I mean up til now our method has been basically murder everyone in sight, bust in on boss, break faces. I guess we are all front doored out.


Our search for a way in leads us to an abandoned fort turned shanty town.


In the top room of the fort we find our next bit of stardust stashed away in a bookshelf.




Stardust 19 and 20 are both stuffed into barrels by the clinic. Once we can move around again we have enough for item #2


???: You want to join the New Serdio Party, don't you? I want to let you
in, but I need to ask three questions. I have to check you out. First
question. Which country do you want to win, Basil or Sandora?"

Oh boy. Time for more quizzes! The three questions are pretty obvious if you have a few brain cells rattling around.

Dart: I cannot say which.


??: "I think so too. Always hate or spite remains after the fight,
regardless of whether you win or not. The second question. During
the war, which should powerless kids like us do?"

Dart: "We cannot send kids to battle. But somebody has to take care so that
the people fighting have someplace to come back to."

??: "The last question. Why do people have to fight?"


??: "I think so too!! People should only fight to protect something! I
learned that from my grandpa."

Dart: "You had a good grandpa, but you are...?"


Popo: "I am campaigning to help people who are having hard times
because of the war."

Albert: "It is amazing. I heard about the party, but I didn't think the
representative would be this young."

Popo: "Oh.... You.... Did we meet somewhere?"

Albert: "We've never met before, but you might know my face. I am Albert, the
King of Basil."

:facepalm: I’m glad you just introduced yourself to a random citizen bout 47 seconds after meeting them with your real identity.

Popo: "Oh my god!!! You, you, you are!!! King Albert!!??"

Luckily Mr. Popo the 12 year old takes off off to his secret party HQ away from the gestapo.


Note Popo doing fucking backlfips of joy towards the party

Popo: "I've been waiting for this day to come!! The day King Albert liberates
Kazas and sets us free!!"

Dart: "That's what we are here for. We will end the war now."


Albert: "Don't worry. We can do it. We can't tell you how though. Except right
now I’m going to tell you almost precisely how. They say that the power once
was the card that liberated Humans from Winglies. Now, it is the ace to open
up our own fate."


Well, uh, good luck with that kid. I’m TOTALLY sure your parents aren’t dead and/or locked up in Hellena cause we never let those other mooks out.


As usual Rose brings a harsh dose of reality to the joint. Children rarely lead to good things in RPGs.

Popo: "I...I am just a kid, but I can show you the way in the castle!!"

Dart: "Can you!?"

Popo: "Yes! This place used to be a fortress, so there is a secret path to get
to the Black Castle!"

Dart: "Secret path? Now we are closer to Doel!"

Popo: "Come with me now!!"

Albert: "Please wait. If we fail, it'll be too risky for you. We will come
back after we prepare."

Popo: "I got it! I'll be waiting at the secret path! Please hurry up!!"

This is pretty much your last chance to pick things up before the disc ends. So if you need any battle or healing items stock up now!


Dart: "Yeah. We are ready. The only thing left is to make it to the Black
Castle."

Popo: "I almost gave up when I heard Bale was taken, I thought all my
campaigning was in vain. But I found out you are alive, Your Majesty,
and we can still fight. I now see the future! Good luck!!"

Dart: "Yes. I will defeat Doel, and end the war."

Shana: "To prevent a repetition of the sorrow of you and Seles."

Haschel: "I guess I'll be serious for the first time in a while!"

Albert: "For the people who desire peace, I'll fight."


Classic Rose. Completely ditch a chance to be uplifting and dramatic. Then jump blindly down a hole without grabbing onto the readily available rope.

Dart: "Ro, Rose!!"


We have a short detour through some abandoned tunnels before heading into the back of castle. We can pick up a Spark Net and 20g. Oooooh boy. I’m not ever sure why they put these chests with such tiny amounts of gold around.


Welcome to Black Castle. As you can see all areas of the castle have been fitted with mysterious purple gas dispensers. Doel is a kind and sharing man that wouldn’t bogart that to himself.

As you could guess from the dork standing around on screen once again we are a no-random encounter zone. The Empire must have a standing no random encounter policy. So far as I remember there aren’t many other areas like this in the game.


All the guards in this area are pairs of Sandoran Knights and Hellhounds. The knights hit fairly hard, but the hellhounds are the real threat. They can fireball you for some serious damage, especially Albert with his miserable magic defense. Murder them first.


Luckily the basement is very small. We pop out where our previous cut scene out here started. Moooore dudes to murder. Then we just climb up the ladder on our right and stroll right into the castle proper.


I’m glad all the guards we killed went quietly so we could just stroll in right next to the front door.


We can head south and get right back to the start of our adventure at the other side of the draw bridge. The guards do a great job completely ignoring us. Well, we are on the inside so we must belong! We take advantage of this to pick up a Burn Out and Pellet.


The other side of the foyer has 3 doors, but two of them are locked off so we head to our right.


Green Flame Researcher: "You are...? Are you here to see my research?"


Green Flame Researcher: "Either way, we are pleased. We like it when
mercenaries like you have an interest in our research."

White Flame Researcher: "Indeed. Recently, barbaric suicidal attacks have
become common, but if our research is successful, it
will reduce the casualties of war. For example, that
White Flame has a healing power."

Green Flame Researcher: "And that Green Flame isn't extinguished by water. When
we put it to practical use, it will provide an
advantage in war."

Man. Once you are in their territory Sandorans are some damn trusting folk. Oh hey, a few guys covered in blood and guts and looking surly just strolled in. Better tell them some top secret national secrets.

Albert: "But...I've never seen such technologies. It's like...like magic."

White Flame Researcher: "You don't need to know about that.


Green Flame Researcher: "Yes. Your job is to fight. There are too many things
we don't know about this power. If you get involved,
you might end up like Mr. Magi."

White Flame Researcher: "It's too late for that guy. We have to complete this
research before it is too late for Sandora."


Albert: "For example, what kind of function does this Purple Flame serve?"

White Flame Researcher: "This flame is the power source of the castle. The
Purple Flame drives the elevators and lifts. It helps
people's lives. That's the proper way of usage."

Albert: "But the war decides the usage now."

Green Flame Researcher: "Yes. Even if this technology could be used for the
happiness of the people, once it is used wrongly, it
may bring unhappiness. What we are making may bring
unhappiness to the people in Basil."


Green Flame Researcher: "It's a sad thing for both the people and the Dragon."

Dart: "The Dragon!? The Dragon is involved in this research?"

White Flame Researcher: "Oh, I slipped my tongue. Forget what I said."

Green Flame Researcher: "Now, back to the research. Let me give you some Magic
Oil. This is the fuel for the Purple Flame. It gives
you mobility."


White Flame Researcher: "If you want to be healed, come visit me anytime."

Albert: "Thank you very much. It was very...useful."

Man these guys are helpful. They basically just gave us the keys to the castle. Also this dungeon’s mandatory healing point. Although there really isn’t a whole lot of fighting to worry about here. If we head downstairs from here we can reload some guards in the entry way if you REALLY had to do some addition grinding or something.

Really I think these guys have a pretty good idea of what we’re here to do. They aren’t happy to be making magic war machines but really aren’t set to stand up to Doel.


We use our magic oil to activate that elevator off to the right. Apparently right below us is the annual Black Castle dragon roast. I feel sorry for the poor bastards that had to haul this all the way over here. Explains the horrid fumes floating around the place at least.


And below the BBQ is the castle garbage pit. Huge balls of garbage fall down onto this bridge thing to our right, then when it’s full it dumps down below. We need to run across it dodging garbage balls and get to the other side. Our reward is the Red Stone. We’ll need this further into the castle to get through a magic gew gaw lock.


We can take the ladder down into the bottom area and pick up a Dark Mist and Trans Light. Mooore attack items.


Back upstairs we go to the first of the now usable elevators in the entrance and run into an...interesting fellow.

???????: "You...who are you!? I know. You are thieves who've come to steal my
magic!!"

Dart: "Wait! We are...."

???????: "No excuse!!"

Dart: "Watch out! We don't know what he'll do!"


Rose knows when she’s seeing an absolute nutjob and how to enjoy them

???????: "Take this!! The steel shearing vacuum blade!!”


Aaaand absolutely nothing happens. Haschel coughs, embarrassed for our mad wizard.

???????:Why! Why doesn't the magic work!? Why doesn't it shear them!"

Rose: "It's worse than I thought."

???????: "That was...still under research! I'll show you this! Take the rock
crushing thunder arrow!!"

Haschel: "I see...you are the researcher who is 'too late' aren't you?"

Shana: "Then.... Mr. Magi is...?"


Magi the Magic Researcher: "didn't they!?"

Rose: "Leave us alone."

Albert: "We are not here to criticize your research."

Magi the Magic Researcher: "Shut up!! I have already made the discovery! The
secret of a magic that those losers could never even
hope to know! The magic of transformation can only
be known by someone like mystel, who completely
understands the magical power of Dragons!! I'll show
it to you now!! Cerberus!! Emerge!!"


Dart: "It seems real this time!"


Well, uh, that was a thing.


Shana: "I wonder? Is this dog, Mr. Magi?"

Albert: "I guess it requires more research to be controlled by Humans."




The rest of the party just turns and looks at Rose like “what the fuck.” I however would be giving her a high five. In celebration of his complete and utter failure we rob his lab for a Blue Stone.


Aaaand the last door at the north of the entrance leads us to the heart of Castle Black. But I think that will be enough today.

NEXT TIME: Gigantos! Dead wives! Familial violence!

Also our disc 2 party will be starting with Albert and Rose.