Part 19: Armic's Adventure - Part 6

Unlimited Saga, Part 19: BAD ORB

Last time, we killed EDGE LORD and got a weird orb. The next thing to do would be to go use it and thus get ourselves a dragon scale, but before that I did go around and checked the shops to see what they had. One shop had a meteorite, and we needed another of those to make meteoric iron, so I went and got some more cash in Starship Anchor, bought it, and then made the meteoric iron. How does that work? Well, a meteorite combined with a scale has some small chance of making meteoric iron. However, unlike other low-chance recipes, this one can be made more likely by using better or rarer scales. Basic scales give very low odds, but a coelocanth scale makes it certain that the combination will work. So:



This means we're almost done collecting items. We need a dragon scale, which is in the next sidequest, and some glossed silk -- a more annoying item to obtain, since it has to randomly appear for trade or in stores, but which will probably show up given a few chances. After that, the final dungeon will open! A bit of grinding will be needed to get everyone up to scratch, since Chaos is still a difficult opponent, but that's fine. Let's go!




Upon entering the dungeon, the orb you got from the mayor turned to transparent green.

I really hate this quest. It's annoying to figure out what you're supposed to do, and feels like awful trial and error until you know the trick. Once you do, it's still annoying until you map the place out. After that it's just tedious. Fortunately, you don't really need to do it unless you're playing as Armic (to get the dragon scale) or Laura (because it's one of her story missions). This is where Laura meets Armic and recruits him, by the way.

Basically, it's a big cave full of enemies. The enemies aren't a big deal, but that's because they're just random encounters. The real gimmick of the dungeon is twofold. One is that, as you explore, you will run into big frog things.



You can fight the monster, in which you get into a fight with a bunch of frogs, wait for them to leave, in which case they will either leave or attack depending on if the orb is vibrating (I have no idea why the orb vibrates but it does sometimes) or leave. We have a time limit, so trying to go around them isn't really an option. Still, they're not particularly dangerous... just annoying. The real danger is from this:



Throughout the cave, there are holes in the wall. The object of the dungeon is to put the orb into specific holes. If you put it into the wrong hole, or if the orb is the wrong color when you insert it, then a big tentacle monster will attack and mess you up. I probably should have done it wrong to show this off but I really didn't want to bother because this dungeon is annoying enough already.

And yes, the orb changes color. You can make it change color by pouring water on it from wells throughout the dungeon. So that's another thing you have to find in your limited time.




After a time the orb will turn green again, and then eventually red. There's also hot water, which makes it red immediately. Each color corresponds to a specific lion in the cave. Get all three and you're done. How do you tell which one goes where? Well, in theory, the names tell you. There's a hole labeled Regal Lion which takes the Red orb, and a Gold Lion for the Green orb. So the initials are supposed to help you with this, except you'd never guess that because it's ridiculous and you'd be confused anyway because the blue orb goes in the Vernal Lion.



So you do that and then water drains away in a nearby room. This opens up the path to the Lions' treasure.




A voice echoes out...

Who's there? Have you not known these treasures belong to the Regal Lion?

It must be a guardian protecting Regal Lion's treasures. It's a monster.



This guy is a boss fight, I guess, except Kong Ming literally killed him in one combo on the first turn. He doesn't appear for Laura and I've never done the quest except when required, so I have no idea what he does. But by killing him, we are free to loot the cave to our heart's content.



The most important item is, of course, this:



It's in the northwest part of the treasure cave, and is just sitting out in the open. Everything else is in a chest, so what you'll find here is random, though they don't seem to have locks or traps which is nice.

So, remember how mimics can drop any level of tablet? Check it out:



Level 4 is the highest you can get for tablets! I haven't really been bothering to grind up magic, so Norff is unlikely to get enough magic experience by the end to get all the cool spells, but this will let him learn some nice stuff and, hey, he's already set up for wood spells. So that's cool!

Now, the only rare item we lack is glossed silk. And we're doing OK for the regular items, too:



Strictly speaking, as long as we can get more money these will not be a problem. However, there's no glossed silk anywhere! That means we need to restock all the stores again, and hope the RNG is kind. And we never did finish the Starship Anchor, so let's do that!



So, we have visited here a few times before, because it's a nice place to get cash. We really don't need cash anymore, though; we just need to finish quests until we can go win the game. Since we have been here part of the map is already revealed.



Remember, the path leads through the woods into the building proper. Then, you make your way to the central dome to find the constellation markings. I'm not sure if you need to kill the wyvern again and do this all again, but it seemed like a good idea.



This guy was pretty tough last time, but now we've got better panels and better armor, which means everyone can take a lot more damage without losing LP. Armic sparks a new move, too:

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/WeeDenseA...rtle-mobile.mp4



After that, we can head downstairs into the starry area. The trick is to follow all the paths which have been revealed. Traveling down the lines makes them light up, and lighting them all up without leaving the path (this makes it reset) opens up the exit.



It also lets us see the constellation we were exploring!



So the whale constellation has been completed. Let's continue.



There's another wooded area on the other side of the whale.

This area is much larger, with more outbuildings and treasure to find.



However, our goal is further south. At the end of the path, we find another building and another dome:





So, again, we find a staircase leading down and head into the stars. The trident is more or less the same, but because of how it branches it's tempting to step off it as a shortcut. Remember, that resets the lines, and then you have to do it again. The goal is the middle point of the trident, where danger awaits!





Dimensional Gap. Constellation Asylum. This is both Heaven and Earth. Who dares step foot in my temple that defends the heavenly aurora? I sought evil and knowledge. When I awoke to bitter cold, my body was no longer human. But I have no regrets... I have gained the power of the gods!



So, this is the boss of Starship Anchor, assuming you do it as a sidequest. He's a Lich, and is very spooky! He also has some cool attacks, like this:

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/FairCrazyJavalina-mobile.mp4

Now, you may have noticed that Phantom Shark didn't seem to do anything. That's because it is a direct LP attack, and if you have high skill, or high HP, or high life protection, then it may simply do nothing at all. He does have another attack, which damages the whole party, and looks like this:

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/Illustrio...zard-mobile.mp4

And a single-target version of the same spell, called Blaster. Depending on your setup, these may be far more dangerous than Phantom Shark. Still, if your characters can handle the shark you'll probably be fine -- he likes to spam it over and over, and if your characters are set up to deal with that then he may waste an entire turn on failing to hit their LP. Because of this, it's probably best to only have one or two people out at once, to minimize the effectiveness of Wind Spirit. Then you can just beat him into submission!





Hooray!

But there still wasn't any Glossed Silk in the shops. So the adventures must continue... next time!