That would be a Final
Fantasy: Mystic Quest (playlist
here) reference, for folks not in the know.
You know, I've been meaning to shell
out the cash to get Mystic Quest back in my collection for a good,
oh, two years now. But that's a matter for another time. Right now,
we need to get on with murdering another of Fa'Diel's dragons because
that's what Satan wants.
So, first things first, it's off to the
graveyard to pick up Larc. He sure likes hanging out there, but I
guess that's what we should expect from a guy who works for Teh
Deevil. Or, really, I should give this version a little more respect
until I actually manage to kick his ass at least once. He's the
Devil.
Anyway, onto the misson. It's a bone
dungeon this time. This is one of my favorite dungeons in the game
for a couple reasons. One is that it's a rather clever little puzzle
that requires bringing either a pet or Bud or Lisa along as well as
Larc to solve, and I'd forgotten that bit until I'd already retrieved
Larc, so I went and got my pet Chocobo Dalton. The other is that we
have to go essentially one on one with Sierra in the course of this
one, and based on what I've said before, I
know what you're thinking. Much as I may fantasize about such
things, such is not the case, at least not as part of the game.
At first, of course, I thought I was
going good when Larc and the hero had to fight a nameless dragoon
working for the Dragon of Knowlege, Jajara. I think I'll call him
Dragoon Sec, after the lead
Dalek from the Daleks In Manhattan episode of Doctor Who.
He does threaten to exterminate us, after all, and he fails
miserably. And then I went in and found I needed three party members
instead of two.
Once we actually get into the Bone
Dungeon, as it's formally called, with the right number of party
members, the party is split up almost instantly. I'm alone by an
elevator in the basement, but that's soon remedied, as Dalton's in a
side room down there, and can be picked up along with some treasure
right off. From there, we have to go to the second floor to look for
Larc. There's a non-combative version of Dragoon Sec who says we
need some sort of brand to get past him this time in the chamber to
the left. Once we find that out, Sierra puts in an appearance.
At first, we only hear Sierra's voice,
as she asks if we're looking for Larc. Well, yeah, but only because
the story demands it. I'd much rather be looking for her, to be
honest. Then she beams in from someplace and asks why I'm working
for Drakonis. As I've said before, the guy's pretty much Satan, and
he's got the title deed to my soul right now, which means I've gotta
do what he says until I find a way to get it back. Sierra goes on to
say that we certainly must know why Drakonis is doing what he's
doing, and then asks us if she's right. Yeah, I know, but play
stupid all the same. Not really sure if it matters. Saying that I
don't know what the Dark Lord is after gets us into a fight with
Sierra, who says it's a pity that she's going to have to kill me in
hopes that losing a good fighter will be enough to make Satan give
up, thusly making it so she doesn't have to hurt Larc. First of all,
sorry, doesn't work that way; not how the Devil works. Second, I
can't die. No game without the player avatar, after all, and
besides, underestimating me is usually not a good idea. It's got
this funny way of going badly for folks, especially if they upset me
in the process.
Once Sierra's taken care of this time
around, she drops a key as she's beamed back out. I guess this key
is what Dragoon Sec was looking for, and he lets us through to Larc.
When he comes to, he does so with a start, saying something about his
sister. Spoiler alert: he means Sierra. That'll be confirmed by the
time this is all over I hope he doesn't mind my being a bit sweet on
her, even if there's a good deal of fighting amongst us going on
right now.
On the way out, we run into a skull
that tells us we should be very careful about what we're doing
because it did something like it when it was alive and wound up
betrayed and stuck in the Bone Fortress for all eternity. Must say,
it's kind of a surprise finding Spoony
in this game, even if he's talking about a different one entirely
here.
After that, we've finally got access to
the first floor, where we actually get to hit all three switches at
once, like we were going to when we first came in. This will
activate the battle with Jajara, which happens on the third floor.
This one isn't as hard a fight as the one with Akrivator, though it
does take just about as long because it happens in three parts. The
first part is actually with what appears to be Lich
from Final Fantasy. The next two parts are with the dragon himself,
and although they're not hard, per se, there are two parts, both of
which leave gold and XP.
Once Jajara is gone, Larc sends the
Mana Crystal's energy to his master and gives us a chance to ask one
question. Our choices are about Mana, about Drakonis, and “What
Next?”. Speaking as the guy at the keyboard here instead of the
avatar in the game, I don't particularly care about Mana, really, and
maybe I should go back at some point just to see what the “What
next?” option gets me. But for now, I ask about Drakonis. Larc
says I need not concern myself with that beyond knowing that he likes
me for being such a good fighter. He then turns over the Green Cane
artifact. Given memories of previous playthroughs, I guess next time
we'll be saying bye-bye to Larc and getting his ever-so-sexy
sister in his place. But that's a bit of Indiana
Jonesing for next time.
Until then, my friends, stay safe, keep
gaming, have fun, and, as always, DFTBA!
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