Part 35: Part 6-4
Last time, we explored Dipan Castle to find a way to free King Barbarossa from the chains of his past. In its basement, we found a Time Mechanism and got caught in it. And now we're back.
...Fixed?
There are a bunch of passed out soldiers and knights, but aside from that, Dipan Castle looks pretty new.
The broken buildings, they've been restored... but how?
Huh.
Yes, but we still don't know the whereabouts of the three mages.
I've learned that the castle has a hidden room.
For the time being, we've restrained the King and the mechanism. They can't do anything. Go on ahead. Yes.
It can't be... it's just my imagination.
The Time Mechanism has sent me to the past?Well, a-doy. We're free to explore the restored Dipan and talk to the NPCs at this point.
The one we need to talk to can be found in a house:
If we go back into Dipan Castle, there are a flight of stairs that weren't there in the present.
We'll make our way through all the corridors leading from it (there aren't any treasures in the side rooms).
At the end is this room. If you haven't talked to the woman about the secret room, this switch won't appear.
I am not a person who is in any position to criticize someone who has been forced to hide.
"Here"? ...By that, do you mean this hidden room?
...I am Malabeth. Wife to Barbarossa, King of this land. The King was deceived. He listened to the sharp tongues of his three mages and by the time he realized it, there was no going back. And the gods became angry that a human would strive for eternity.
He always wanted to be King up to the very end...
---
Witness the end of your "King" who betrayed the gods, and defiled the providence of nature!---
Barbarossa...
Incredible... returning to our time!---
Perhaps because she has such a strong connection to this world?
To such a low level god? It can't be...---
I heard everything from your wife.
What did you say? Don't be ridiculous... I brought this with me.
Correct.
But the truth is, it doesn't matter whether I was deceived or not. It was my foolish searching for eternity, which brought about this destruction. The responsibility is all mine. The mages were simply carrying out my orders as loyally as they could. My heart is full of pride for them. My mages are sinless in this. Is this not true? ...Perhaps you are right. It is good that you and I could talk. Finally I feel as if I am able to leave behind my cares and pass beyond this world.
Barbarossa fades.
He chased me beyond the borders of time, but he was doing nothing more than digging his own grave. Foolishness! You summoned him into this time, but you did not consider how strong the bonds are between the King and Queen. Thoughts surpass the boundary of time. I felt the tug upon the chains of my soul and returned here. You can hear it, can you not? Foul Mages!!
It took many years to gather together the pieces of the King's soul!!
Heh heh heh. You can say that again!
Ho ho. How amusing. A Goddess defending a corpse. If Odin were aware of this, I'm not sure he would be pleased.
And we're free to explore the ruined Dipan castle again. Now that we've fixed Barbarossa's issue, the same stairs that led to the queen's room has appeared in the present.
Going through the corridors again leads us to a save point. The boss fight is right here, but we can go hunting for treasure and some additional experience first.
The side rooms now have treasure and monsters. If we fight the boss, we could just loot all the treasure since killing the boss gets rid of the monsters.
Invoke Feather revives a character at 80% health. This is a lot more than Union Plumes, but it does cost your Sorcerer's turn.
The worst part of monster encounters are really Blood Stealers. The easiest way to get rid of them without burning a Tome of Alchemy is to use Dragon Bolt or Gravity Blessing. It might cost an Ether Scepter, but one should have several at this stage of the game anyway.
At the very least the experience pays off. Bringing Badrach and/or Lucian around can yield quite a few level ups.
The room where the bookcase was has three treasure chests, all booby traps. One of them is a paralyzing gas trap, which just stuns us in place for a few seconds, similar to the freeze gas trap.
Aside from copies of Mystic Cross and Concentration, the third treasure chest has a Ruin's Fate, a decently powered longsword that's Darkness elemental, but is of course breakable.
The worst encounter is really this foursome of Blood Stealers. Icicle Edge is the best spell to fight them fairly with, as Freezing a few of them makes your life much easier.
Aconites transmute into Flare Crystals, which cast Fire Storm, while Raptor's Claws transmute into Poison Crystals.
To get to the boss, we need to build a crystal on the floor, make a crystal step, then hop up and break the window.
Welcome. We are honored to receive a Goddess of Fools. Is that all you can say? Well, here is my response-
...Such a lovely dinner planned, can we not have a more pleasant conversation? Dinner, you say...?! Yes indeed. This very evening we plan to feast on the soul of a certain Battle-Maiden! Villians! Your sins lay heavy upon you, defiler of souls. All three of you shall die!
Time for our second (third?) boss fight, against Gyne, Dallas, and Walther. Gyne and Dallas are Necrophilliac-types, while Walther is the Spirit-like in the back.
As expected, they will throw out lots of spells at you.
The easiest way to handle this fight is with Reflect Sorcery, which will bounce their spells back at them. Gyne and Dallas will take little damage from their own spells, but Walther's RST isn't as great so he'll hurt himself for about 1000 damage each time. Hence why I brought both Yumei and Shiho, for double spellcasting/Reflect Sorcery power.
Gyne should be the first to go, as he can revive his fellow mages. I throw a Sap Guard on him to expedite the process.
Meanwhile, Walter and Dallas' spells bounce off harmlessly.
Dallas knows Succession Magic, which allows him to cast multiple spells a turn.
Walther has an actual physical attack in the form of Whisp.
The Triple Distress skill can be learned by Archers (so Lenneth and Badrach right now). It gives a chance for their attacks to reduce enemy avoidance, guarding and counter-attacking rate.
In any case, it doesn't take too long to make short work of all three of them.
Lucian is an amazing asset for multiple bosses like these. I just wish he had a better PWS.
Walther drops a Fairy Ring, the other two drop Noble Banish/Elixir. Dropping the Fairy Ring saves up 5000 CP on buying another one, which is nice.
The Rust-Red Circlet is a headgear that blocks Holy damage by 50%. However, it can only be worn by male Sorcerers, of which we have none. The Dragoon Tyrant is the first spear upgrade we've had in a while, as it has all three attacks and 300 attack power. The Holy Halberd, purchasable this chapter, is arguably better however, as it has 200 ATK and a 50% Holy boost as well as giving +20 CP on a level up. I would be more concerned if I was using either Lancer at this point.
To sum up the last couple of updates, at some point in the past, Barbarossa was tricked by the three mages to seek immortality in some form of other. This angered the gods, and another Valkyrie named Hrist attacked the city and executed Barbarossa, with Arngrim present, for some reason or other. Mysterious.
The Cave of Oblivion doesn't have anything new except an encounter against a Giant Squid, which is normally a Hard Mode only enemy on this chapter. It has 42k health, but it's weak to Poison and Holy and I didn't see it do anything special.
Before we end the chapter, we'll prep Jelanda and Grey. I also get them three Flame Bandannas each to boost their Brave.
Jelanda just barely makes the Hero value, too.
Barbarossa character art.