Part 25: Part 4-4

Our second new dungeon of the chapter.



The Cave of Thackus isn't really very challenging. It features returns of Harpies and Glowflies, and the latter could be challenging if you don't know how to fight them, but you don't have formations like 3x Glowflies like you do in the Dream Tower.



We have two new enemies. Mire Creepers have low health and go down easily. They can hit for about 2,400 damage and seem to have a good shot of causing Faint if they're lucky, but for the most part they're little threat.



Crab Giants have a gimmick of having absurdly high RDM. However, they are very weak against Magic and with only 1,000 health any spell from a Sorceress will put them down.



They are also weak to Fire, which is nice if you like big pretty numbers.



There are several portions of the dungeon which are underwater, which irritates me on a cosmetic level because my emulator just gets slowdown during those parts (same as the mud in Nethov Swamp).



A little way into the dungeon, we find a Dragon Zombie. It's the only one in this dungeon, if I recall.



It's not weak to Lightning, so no cheesing it with Grimrist. Well, let's just see how bad we can hurt it.



...Oh.



At least it doesn't hurt very hard.



Okay, let's fight it properly.





We get a good chunk of experience at the very least.





There isn't much treasure in the Cave. The only new thing is a Strike Edge skill, which can be used in battle by Warriors to inflict Faint on an enemy by pressing the attack button during combos at the cost of DME.



In a few of the underwater areas are rocks floating on top of... plants? We have to crouch on top of the rock and slice the plant/rope to cause the pad with the rock on it to float to the top, and us with it.

...Actually, is there a reason why Lenneth can just fly all over the world map but is restricted to walking in dungeons? You'd think she could just fly through the dungeon to the boss and not have to deal with all these puzzles.



Further up is a save point, and next to it a dead body with their ghost.



There is not a moment to lose. If not, the whole shoreline will be polluted.

Now here's the very important bit. You have to talk to the dead body again! Otherwise when you get to the end nothing will happen and you have to double back here.



Wha...? This is the tool to reseal it. ...Leave the rest to me.



Moving on, more rock slicing and monster wrangling.



Glowflies: Still chumps against Shadow Servant.



Mire Creepers can drop Lamellar, which is another decent armour for Warriors.



We eventually come to a path that splits up and down. We first want to head down to find our path blocked by a path of water, with a floating metal ball. We need to jump and shoot the ball with a crystal beam, causing it to glow and getting 2,000 event exp.



We then head north, where we can then activate the control panel for the sluice gate.



We get a little CGI of the water draining, too, and 15,000 event exp.



The water then drains and we can move onto the boss. I've set up my party to three mages and Lenneth. I will make it work!



It appears as if the effect of the seal is about to wear off. It cannot be sealed anew until the first seal has completely worn off.



What?!





The game gives us a blurb on RDM and ATK of weapons at this point, suggesting that stronger weapons with fewer attacks can be more useful against enemies with high RDM as opposed to weaker weapons with more attacks, and that they also grant stronger PWS. It's not wrong, but we also need enough attacks to get the meter to 100 to use PWS in the first place.



Here's our boss fight today. A Kraken and three buffed Crab Giants. The Crab Giants have high RDM, which is why I brought our mages - Fire Storms will roast them down in a hurry. The Kraken is also weak to Fire, incidentally.

What I should have done is remember that the Ignite Sword is also Fire elemental and thus bring Arngrim as well, since two mages would have been easily enough to wipe out the Crab Giants. Ah well, such is life.



While in the back row, the Kraken will stick to mostly using Lightning Bolt. This is less damaging than when it's in the frontline, so ideally you could just snipe it from the back and mostly deal with the less dangerous Crab Giants' damage.



Aside from having 3,000 more HP, the Crab Giants aren't really any different.



When alone, the Kraken busts out Tentacle Whip, which deals around 5k on a single character. Not so great for our squishy mages.



We finally burn it down in the end, at least.



And this is still pretty satisfying. Arngrim would admittedly have done more if I'd remembered him.



You all fought so bravely!

Everyone except Lenneth gets a level up from it too, not bad for an easy (if slightly drawn out) fight.







With the new seal in place, we get some very rocking prizes. The Bracelet of Zoe gives the wearer an additional 300 DME when they level up. There is never a downside to this. The Coin of Fortune is also fantastic - the wearer gains an additional 60% experience - perfect for getting any low level Einherjar up to par.



On our way out, we can tell the ghost we've done its job to give it closure and get 500 xp as well.



And we're done for the Cave.



And before we end our chapter, let's pay the Cave of Oblivion a visit.



Our first enemy is a Dragon Zombie. Let me just quickly slap the Dragon Slayer onto Jun...



Always the best.



Chapter 2 enemies? Come on game, there has to be some sort of challenge you can throw at-



...Oh. Well. That's a thing.

The Inferior Eye is an enemy that usually only appears in a Chapter 8 Hard Mode only dungeon. It has 40,000 DME.



And as I discovered, the Tome of Alchemy doesn't work on it.



As you might also expect of a Chapter 8 enemy, it hits pretty darn hard, dealing around 12,000 damage with its attacks.



This battle would have gone by a lot quicker if I'd actually had a party set-up that allowed me to get PWS off. In fact I logically should have swapped weapons mid-battle to do that, but uh... I didn't.



Oh, it also knows Poison Blow (which killed Lenneth right after due to Poison).



All I can say is thank goodness I had Guts as well as still a decent supply of Union Plumes.





Our reward?





Scads of experience.



Also Sacred Javelin, one of two Holy attack spells (we'll get the other one shortly). At least that battle was worth the effort. Guess that'll teach me to tempt fate though.



Luckily the last of the cave's enemies don't have any nasty surprises and we can finally track down our treasure.



Just a Mithril Ore and an Ebony Powder, but after two empty Caves I'm just glad to get something. The Inferior Eye encounter was probably the best reward of the cave anyway.





Now, let's fulfill Freya's request. We can get most of the skills down with just CP, but Negotiator isn't a skill. Instead, we have to dip into the shop - Angel Lips effectively raise the character's Negotiation skill. They can equip three for maximum boosts.



Max out Kashell's traits...



And get his needed skills. See ya!