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 I lied, I had one last idea.  Recovery rings give 15 defense and recover HP on walking. Not as important as recovering MP since you can turn MP into HP via Heal.  But it's used with gold bracers for a really good accessory.  +5 defense, but much more importantly +30 max HP. It's a huge boost to Jessica, who gets it.  Then I distribute my seeds of life: 1 to Angelo, one spare, rest to Jessica. I can get by on one recovery ring via alchemy.  Anyway we're here with the sun mirror, ten updates later. ... ...  Gosh, fine.  ANYWAY, anyway we're here with the sun mirror, ten updates later.  It quickly glows brighter and brighter.  Until it focuses all the light into a single ray!  The ruins light up for a moment.  And the haze blocking the door disappears!   "So you managed to get the royal Argonian mirror! I don't know how you got hold of it, but now we can finally get inside and fight Dhoulmagus! Well Done!" Just FYI, his friends are in Argonia. Needless to say these mercenaries will not be helping us.    "Yes, we've been travelling for a long while now. Looking back on all the hard times, I feel strangely nostalgic..." "We must give him a good trashing and lift this diabolical curse! We'll be waiting here. I'm sure you won't have any trouble!"Trode runs off.   "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ignore you. It's just that... Well, we're about to go into the Dark Ruins. And that means I'll finally have my revenge for what happened to Alistair. It isn't an easy thing, coming face to face with the man who killed your brother." Just in the door and already there's an ominous winged demon looming over us. It has the same music as before.  Ruins of Darkness Which is still tense as hell.  "This shrine was built in anticipation of the revival of our beloved leader, Rhapthorne. The aura of darkness was its protection from the evil heretics. The infidels have broken through the dark aura! They must be preparing to attack us...!" "If we don't conserve our strength, we could find ourselves too weak to give Dhoulmagus the send-off he so richly deserves."THis isn't bad advice if, like me, you did all your preparing before you even stepped in the door.  The Ruins have quite a collection of bad guys.  Soulspawn don't deal much damage, but they have incredible damage resistance and can put the party to sleep with their breath. Angelo has a ring of awakening to keep him awake to Tingle his friends up. Soulspawn aren't dangerous by themselves but they'll show up with the high-damage guys and put you to sleep and fail to die quickly.  Phantom Swordsmen have more conventional defenses. That's not why they're dangerous.  It's this.  It's similar to the move the infernal armours used in Trodain, except the phantom swordsmen drop it much more frequently and they're much harder to kill before they use it.  First step is to get to the second floor terrace and pull this switch.  It raises this staircase.  With his sword, Flame Slash's slight damage increase, and Oomph, Eight can oneshot quite a few things in here.  The opposite door from the one leading to the switch leads to the map.  Mummy collection! The blood mummies are the new one here, and they try to drop curses like the mummy boys.  Here's where my accident with courage exerts itself, as Eight is one point short from Falcon Slash. It's not like I'm about to face the hardest boss or anything.  Vines like those around Trodain hang around this staircase.  "But my lack of physical form prevents me from seeing the Lord of Darkness. Could it really have been him!? Could he have returned to us?" Oh, my, this room seems like a clusterfu-    Wow what a jerk.  This room is a puzzle with flipping switches to raise and lower these gray walls.  Eight can walk on top of them, meaning they serve some use while up.  Mostly, accessing the room's only treasures, another dragon scale and a mini-medal.  Jessica hits another level. Any HP for her is welcome, as even with the life bracer and the seeds I'm still not confident.  Jessica learns that move that the witches used way back when. It works the same, a chance to shock an enemy out of a turn via boobs.  And that's the way forward.  Next is a giant frightening mural.   "Maybe he was meeting up with his wife?" "He's married!? How come 'e can get a wife an' I can't!? It ain't fair!" "Stop it, you two! This is no time for joking around! Dhoulmagus chose this place because he's a filthy creature that likes dark and dingy places. All right?" "Oh NO! Dhoulmagus isn't another one of those MOLES, is he!? My ears still haven't stopped ringing from our last encounter!"Angelo has something else for us:  The last time he mentioned picking up a nasty feeling, it was Dhoulmagus attempting to take the life of Abbot Francisco. He must have a jester detector.  The room's layout is kinda confusing even with the map. It's hard to parse where to go, and there are treasures to get in here.  Trolls have massive HP and attack, but they tend to waste their turns and wiff attacks.  They have a slight vulnerability to Whack. It works okay-ish.   "long ago, he created the World of Darkness, by filling the ground with the bodies of those who failed to obey him." There's one Mimic in the dungeon.  Might as well try Jessica's new move.   I appreciate her bravery.  So, turn-wasting enemies paired with powerful AoE enemies?  Nnnnnnnnnnnnope!  Second saint's ashes. You could make another Sandstorm Spear or purify the Platinum Mail, but you'd have to leave the dungeon to get back to the pot. It's much better to save this one for future uncursings.  Like Angelo's saying, the room after the mural chamber is apparently a dead end.  "Only those who have struck the wings of Empyrea, the hateful bird depicted on the wall, are permitted to approach the Lord of Darkness. But we spirits have lost all physical substance. I cannot hope to move the demon statues. Oh, what a cruel fate!" This mural depicts Empyrea with seven humans, apparently defeating Rhapthorne. By bin  By the statues in front of the mural are two buttons in extremely faded red and blue.  Standing on one of the buttons makes the statue rotate around, stomping and shooting eye lasers all the while.  The other statue does the same.  When they finally strike one wing of Empyrea each, they go out, but...  Some stairs are revealed.  "Still, at least it's opened up the way for us. Better get a move on." To the right in this hallway is this little cave.  It leads to the healing spring, which is a very very welcome full heal. I imagine like the people who missed the heal before the Trap Box, people who missed this are really mad now.  And this dramatic door. It's right after the heal so it's extra ominous. I missed one monster in here. Fallen Priests, who could cast Kasizzle to be real big threats to the party. I don't mind they didn't get to murder me.  "I... don't know! As a knight, I am honour bound not to strike an opponent who will not defend himself." "You? A knight? Don't make me laugh, Angelo. I'll tell you what. If Dhoulmagus happens to be on his hands and knees, I'll strike first. Is that FAIR enough for you, Sir Knight?" "You scare me, Jessica, you really do!" "When it comes to revenge, people do go a bit funny sometimes." "Life at the abbey, losing my family, and my dear brother of course... I'll kiss goodbye to everything in my past for good!" "I'm grateful to you for that... And I'm sure Alistair would be as well." And past this final door is... NEXT TIME: Dhoulmagus.
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| ← # ? May 12, 2016 02:48 |
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