I did mention that there's a
real city called Grenoble, didn't I?
But instead of a French city that's
become a center for science and sports, Grenoble in the game is a
mining city, and we'll have a character-specific quest to go on here,
too.
Like they said back in Lorbenia,
there's a guy here in Grenoble who knows about Artea the Elf.
Unfortunately, to get to him, you've gotta go to a special area in
town called the Spring Basement. To get into the Spring Basement,
there's a cover charge of 50 gold that can't be avoided. It's
worthwhile to pay it, in the end, because while you're down there,
there's also a shop that sends you on side quests into a dungeon
called the Old Cave.
This shop gives you a new quest for
every five levels the hero gains. This is the sort of thing where
there's a quest between levels one and five, another between six and
ten, and so on. Back when I was playing this game in high school and
college, I figured I'd see if these were stackable by going back to
Grenoble later in the game to see how far they'd let me go down if I
went up like ten levels between visits. I don't remember that I was
allowed to go down extra levels by delaying return visits, which is
really too bad, because this is a really cool mini-game that can pay
off big if done right.
To advance the plot, we need to talk to
the old man in green that's hanging around down there. He says he's
been living as a treasure hunter in the Old Cave for 40 years, but
his ultimate goal is to get an item called the Fairy Kiss, which is
one of those things that technically he'd never be able to do on his
own, since only women can go into the room where it's hidden. This means that Lufia's going to have to go into the room where it is alone and get it. Since it's just one room, it's not hard, really. As
luck would have it, the Fairy Kiss is on the first basement level of
the cave, which is where the first side quest is, too. The guy in
charge of the Spring Basement tells you to go looking for something
called the Secret Map on the first basement, or as they call it, the
second level of the cave. To open that floor, you also have to talk
to a guy at a desk right inside the cave who tells you you can go
down as far as the second floor.
There are a lot of empty chests in this
cave, because of dudes like the old man, who've been going in there
for a long time and taking everything. There are, of course, still a
few good items, like the Power Ring, which adds to the attack power
of whoever equips it. And there are the side quest items, too. The
guy at the counter will give you 500 gold for the map when you get
back, though it's only a gain of 400, because you've gotta pay the 50
to get back in every time you leave. The old guy who knows about
Artea tells you he actually knows the elf's apprentice and gives you
a letter that will give you an audience with the apprentice if you go
visit him in a tower northwest of town.
Usually, I'm at around level nine when
I get to this point in the game, close enough to level ten that I
level up when I'm in the cave and can just get the next side quest
when I'm in there. I usually take it, too, because this game isn't
all that much different from most other RPGs and a little grinding
for gold and experience is a good thing. So, I did it this time,
too, and went after the Silver Wick on the next level down in the
cave and got an easy thousand gold for the trouble, and I can still
go back in and grind if I need to later.
But we'll see how necessary that is
next time, when I try to climb the Northwest Tower. See you then,
folks.
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