Let's play Dragon Warrior III: you mean they made a sequel to that one game with all the instant death monsters?

[François]

: AUGH!

: W-wh... what...
: I will grant thee one more chance.
: Ow... that's... too kind... I'm just... dying to get back there.
: Be off with you then Zofia!
: Yeah... yeah... Sure. Oof.





: So...
: Hmm-mmm.
: Is that beginning to count as penance?
: Yes, I think that's a start.



: Better head right back in, I suppose.
: Heck yeah. It's personal now.
: Um...
: Well, okay, it's personal for me now.
: He's your dad too, remember?
: ...!
: Wait, what!?
: Oh, uh-
: Settle down, it's not what you think. Maybe we'll tell you about it later, but we have work to do. Come on guys, focus! Focus!
: O-okay...



So. Baramos.

He starts the battle with up to 900 HP, and regenerates 90 to 109 points per round. He has 220 attack power (20 points more than a Man-Eater Chest, the second strongest monster) and 100 defense power (half as much as a Tortragon, but the monsters in his palace have around 60-80). That's already bad enough. On top of that, he always gets two actions per round, and follows a specific four-round pattern.

First round: Explodet, standard attack (he does not ignore formation, for what little solace that's worth)
Second round: High-grade fire breath (80-100 damage or thereabouts), Blazemost
Third round: Limbo, standard attack
Fourth round: Explodet, Chaos

Returning from being the Princess of Moonbrooke's strongest spell, Explodet deals 120 to 159 fire damage to all enemies. Blazemost is the most powerful of the Blaze line of spells, dealing 160 to 199 fire damage to one target. (Explodet costs 18 MP, and Blazemost 12, but he's got 255 to spend, it doesn't matter.)

Baramos is immune to Beat, RobMagic, Chaos, Limbo and Expel. He's highly resistant to fire, Sleep and Stopspell, and slightly resistant to everything else, except for a complete vulnerability to lightning. (A Bikill-powered Hero will usually have better things to do than cast Zap, though.)

As usual, I didn't read up on him before our first fight, so you ended up seeing him at his most dangerous there. It's sort of possible to keep your head above water for a bit by having two people cast Healall every turn, but sooner or later something doesn't go right and you lose someone and you're boned. Not to mention that you need to be able to overcome his regeneration, so you can't have half your party permanently dedicated to keeping the other half alive. Aaaand all it takes is for a Limbo or Chaos cast to hit its mark to basically end the fight.

So, how are we going to go about this? We gotta land a StopSpell. Zofia and Isabel will be dual-casting StopSpell until it lands (it's about a 1 in 3 chance), while the others Parry so they don't need quite so much healing. It will leave him with his devastating fire breath and standard attacks, but we have Barrier and Increase, so those are ultimately manageable. Or at least, more manageable than his non-stop barrage of asshole-tier magic. Not having to do a comprehensive pelvic floor workout every 3rd and 4th round will do wonders for our morale.

This really outlines how important it is for the Hero to have access to StopSpell. No standard party has to face Baramos without the ability to shut down a great deal of his power.

There is a point to be made about Sleep being also effective, and I could see that, given that it has the same chances of hitting as StopSpell, but I've been bitten more than once by Baramos waking up with his first action and then casting Limbo or Chaos with his second. If you're lucky Sleep will make the fight very easy, but StopSpell has the advantage of permanently removing his fight-enders and of not tying up your healers in recasts when he wakes up.

Once we've got survival and Bikills sorted out, Rebeca will be free to turn into a dragon again, which effectively more than counters Baramos' regeneration. Then maybe we get a Sap from Isabel between heals, and he's cooked. Probably. Hopefully. We'll be trying this out once, and if it fails spectacularly, maybe grinding up a level or two will help, but I do enough of that with the B Team so I'd rather not resort to it, heh.

Oh, and for this fight at least, Zofia will be swapping her Swordedge Armor for a suit of Panchoville's finest Dragon Mail. It's not like we have any use for gold anymore, and the resistance to fire breath will be more than worth the loss of ten points of defense power in this case. Isabel's Barrier spell won't stack with it, but it'll help her survive until StopSpell works.



I don't expect night-time to change anything, but I want to check something just in case.





Nope, they still have nothing to say. Alright then.









: That one's for my dad.


"You have defeated Baramos! A warm light engulfs the area..."

: HAHAHAHAHAAAA! WHOSE INNARDS ARE ON THE MENU NOW, YOU SON OF A BITCH?
: Reb, don't eat the archfiend, you'll get a tummy ache.
: Spoilsport.
: There's a sentence I never thought I'd hear.
: Good goddamn... We did it.
: Holy crap.
: Yeah.
: Wow.
: What... what do we do now?
: ...
: ...
: ...go home, I guess?
: Yeah. Yeah, what the heck, we're never gonna top that. Let's go home. Whew!



: Good job, by the way!
: You've all done so well.
: Ha, same to you!
: Yeah, wow. That could hardly have gone any better!
: Well... I did die. And then I almost died again.
: I'm not saying it didn't suck, just... it ruled as much as it sucked.
: Heh, okay, let's go for that.

Dang but that was on the razor's edge, though. I'm actually kind of surprised we won! StopSpell worked early on, but of course Baramos knows not to try to cast through it, and man that fire breath still hurts even through Barrier. I was also worried that the BeDragon cast was premature, but it turns out it was exactly the right moment after all.

Anyway! We've recovered all of our HP and MP, just like at the end of the previous games. And the monsters are gone, too. Talk about a job well done!



Even the trap tiles don't hurt us. In keeping with tradition, The game won't let us die anymore. Good grief, what an adventure that was.





: ...where's Ramia?
: Her work here is done, I suppose.
: Hmm. Good thing you can teleport us out of here, then.
: I'll say!



We're only allowed to Return to Aliahan. We're definitely getting railroaded to the ending. Heh, I kinda miss the previous games' victory lap.



There's nothing stopping you from going to Romaly through the Travel Door again, but nobody outside of Aliahan says anything different. Missed opportunity, I suppose.


: Ha! The monsters are gone, that's not too hard a conclusion to draw.


: We've known that for a long time!


: I am not letting you ruin this for me.





: MOM!


: I'm sure he would be even prouder than I am.


: There's definitely something special going on with that bloodline!
: Yeah, but I wouldn't have made it here without you. Blood will only take you so far!




: Ugh, it's infuriating that his scheme worked in the end. He better not claim any credit for this!



The other townsfolk have repeats of the above dialog, so I'll save you a bit of time.










: I think my father just doesn't want to let me go out.
: Ha, I'll take you along one of these days. I'd like to see him try to stop me!





The grateful king greets Zofia as "indeed a true son of Ortega", mentioning that the whole country sings in praise, and calling for celebration. The royal guards prepare their trumpets... but suddenly there is a sinister rumble and the room goes dark! One by one the guards are destroyed by an invisible force as an unearthly voice is heard.

"Ha, ha, ha! I am Zoma, Master Archfiend who rules the dark realms. By the powers I possess, before long, this world too will be locked in darkness. Anguish and suffering be thine! It is thy suffering that brings me joy! Ha, ha, ha..."

: ...what the HELL?
: ...how!?
: I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT!
: What do you mean?
: Baramos was a chump! Zoma's the real demon lord here!

: Who's Zoma?
: Zoma! "He who makes slaves of the dead!" I know I mentioned him before!
: How shall I tell my subjects of the coming of a world of darkness?
: Maybe start with thinking of an explanation for how half your royal guard just got blown up.
: Swear you'll keep this news of the Archfiend Zoma a secret!
: There's no point in telling anyone. This "world of darkness" isn't coming.
: R-right!

: You're TIRED? How DARE you?
: Temper, Isabel.
: ...



The minister here will perform all royal duties for us from now on. I mean, we still need to add to the Imperial Scrolls of Honor. We're not done yet!





: Um... Guys?
: Hmm?
: I asked you to join me to hunt down Baramos. That's done now, so-
: Pfft, are you kidding?
: We're still with you, Zofia.
: Yes, I'm... I'm still here!
: Ha, alright then.



: Rebeca, if you know about this Zoma character, do you maybe know where he is?
: Hmm... I've never seen any reference to him being anywhere but in a world of darkness.
: Is that it?
: Yeah, that's short on actionable details, but most of the time you don't really want to know where powerful demon lords are. Just... all you do want to know is that they're Not Here.
: I wonder... We need to check the Pit of Giaga again.
: Right, that's my thinking too.
: The source of misfortunes...
: The sunken king wasn't talking about Baramos at all.
: Ugh, I can't believe we were sent after the wrong asshole.
: Baramos needed to be eliminated one way or another.
: Remember what happened to Tedanki!
: Ehhh... Yeah, okay.



: Well hey, good to see you're back.
: We're going to need your help a bit longer, Ramia.
: Before we go to Giaga...
: Hmm?
: Could we make a detour to Portoga first?
: What? Why?
: We know Baramos cursed a couple there, right? I wonder if we've saved them, at least.
: Huh. Alright, sure.





: Well I'll be!
: Good call, Alvaro!



: Oh, how silly of me. As a token of my appreciation, I give you this Sword of Illusion.
: You don't have to do that! But thank you.
: The Sword of Illusion is a mysterious sword that only women can use.



Remembering to go back to Portoga after defeating Baramos earns you a unique sword! The Sword of Illusion offers 50 attack power, and can be equipped by female Soldiers, Merchants and Goof-offs. Soldiers and Merchants have much stronger weapons available by now (the Zombie Slasher is +65), but it is in fact the best weapon in the game for Goof-offs. Well, for female Goof-offs. Male Goof-offs have to make do with a Battle Axe.

In addition...



The Sword of Illusion casts Chaos for free when used in combat. All women can do so even if they can't equip the Sword, so we let Isabel carry it.

: Alright, that was worth the detour. Is there anywhere else you'd like to check back on?
: Hmm... Not that I can think of.
: Nah, that's it.
: I'm as ready as I'll ever be.
: Good enough. To the Pit, then.

One might think that Tedanki has been freed as well, but the town is unchanged.





: Let's ask the guardians what's going on. If they haven't seen anything out of the ordinary, we might have to look elsewhere.



: Merciful light above!
: Yeah, that'll count as out of the ordinary.

: What happened here?


: Gone through? You mean it went in?
: That doesn't make any sense.
: Was some dark force released at Baramos' death?
: Everything's possible at this point.







: ...are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?
: I'm afraid so.
: Yyyyeah.
: Ah... We can't even see the bottom...
: Eh, no bottom means we won't get pulverized on impact.
: Not the time, Reb.
: We're really going to do this, aren't we?
: We sure are. Hold on to your drawers, everyone. Five, four...
: Three!
: Two!
: One!
: Hup!





: ...huh.
: Is... Is everyone alright?
: I'm fine.
: Yes, I... I think I understand the trick, now.
: What kind of place is this? Are we... We must be underground.
: There is only darkness above us.
: So, this is the world of da-
: We got it, Al.



: Um... Hi?

: Yes, you could say that.
: Good sir, I don't suppose you could... maybe... tell us where we are?


: PffffffWHAT?
: The world of... The world of darkness...!
: That doesn't... I don't... what? How!?
: This must be some sort of mistake!

: Not quite as demonic a name as I was expecting. Does it ring a bell?
: Can't say that it does!





: ...is that our ship?
: Huh. How did-
: It's bound to us through the Return spell. Maybe there's something about the Pit that triggered the same effect.
: I guess we're doing without Ramia, then.
: She may be a phoenix, but she's a still a newborn. This is no place for her.





: No! No! That's impossible!
: Maybe it's... another Tantegel Castle?
: Could that be?
: I wouldn't bet on it.
: What did you kids do?
: Hey, don't look at us!
: We had nothing to do with this darkness!
: Our time was hardly perfect but we didn't mess things up that bad.
: Yeah, okay, but... For crying out loud, someone did!
: I-I'm sure Zofia will find out!
: Right. Right! Zofia!
: I think our world is in good hands.
: Yes! She destroyed this Baramos creature! She can get to the bottom of this!
: I suppose this is why we're here to witness all of this after all...



: This is really not what I expected.
: Was this world underneath ours all this time?
: I guess the Pit of Giaga always led to it.
: It's hard to believe this is really "the source of all misfortune".
: It must be somewhere in here, then. Zoma has to be in this world.
: This is disheartening, but... I can't say I'm unhappy at the thought of having an excellent reason to keep travelling with you all.
: ...ha. Yeah. Same. Aaaaanyway. Back in the saddle! Come on, everyone. All aboard!



Zofia's party lands the ship a short distance to the east of the small island they arrived on. You... probably want to watch the video if you can. It's not very long.

[Friday]

WELCOME BACK MOTHERFUCKERS

(I cannot stress enough how mindblowing this was as a kid who had previously played 1 and 2.)

[Friday]

(Also I think your Pilgrim is one level away from Healus, which makes Baramos significantly easier to deal with.)

[François]

WELCOME BACK MOTHERFUCKERS

(I cannot stress enough how mindblowing this was as a kid who had previously played 1 and 2.)

Yeah, that is so much The Perfect Moment.

Or, well... The dude in the hut who tells you "yeah it's Alefgard" the moment you drop down is superfluous. It's almost a case of a game spoiling itself at the last second, and you could probably count on a player figuring it out the moment they touch the shore and the music starts playing. (Unless they're not familiar with the previous games, but then the reveal doesn't mean that much to them anyway.) Buuut it's still The Perfect Moment regardless.

(Also I think your Pilgrim is one level away from Healus, which makes Baramos significantly easier to deal with.)

That is exactly the case. If I hadn't done so much grinding for Gonzalo's crew I probably would have gone for another level, but I still wanted to see if better strategy alone would do the trick.

[François]

: This is Brecconary...
: And we saw Charlock and the Isle of Dragons coming in. This is the real deal.


: For a town in a realm of darkness, it's surprisingly pleasant.

This is a bit of a weird localization error. In the Japanese DQ1, there's Ladutorm Castle and Ladutorm Town. In the American DW1, there's Tantegel Castle and the town of Brecconary. It's difficult to differentiate between the letters L and R when translating from Japanese to English, but here there is actually no Japanese equivalent to Brecconary so you can't blame the mistake on that.





This is where you can buy an Angel's Robe if you didn't get one from the elf village while you had the means to fool the shopkeep.

Of course, the other item of note is the Falcon Sword, returning from DW2 with identical mechanics! It still offers 5 attack power (less than a Club), and it allows its wielder to attack twice in one turn. Only Heroes and Sages can equip it, though. It's potentially a Sage's best possible weapon, but only once their Strength is high enough to make it better than hitting once with the Orochi Sword or a Zombie Slasher. However, the Falcon Sword's existence makes it quite beneficial, or at least viable, to turn a Soldier or Fighter into a Sage, since raw Strength is so important for it to be effective.

Buying it for a Hero is just as much of an iffy proposition as it was for the Prince of Midenhall, though: the two attacks each have to overcome the enemy's defense power separately. A Hero's good Strength and excellent weapon selection makes them great at delivering single strong blows to high-defense enemies, and it takes a lot of levels to make the Falcon Sword more effective than the Thunder Sword, or whatever other weapons might be waiting for us in Alefgard.

Oh, and, well, while I think of it, it almost goes without saying, but Alefgard isn't called "the world of darkness" for nothing. Sunrise never comes, and the Day-Night spell does not work. This weapon shop is open at night because if the owner waited for morning, he'd go out of business.


: That's right, he was hiding out in the upper world.
: But Baramos and his cronies are merely underlings of the Master Archfiend, Zoma.
: Yeah, that's what I figured.
: It's almost terrifying to contemplate that there is a creature out there stronger than Baramos.
: Isabel, we're stronger than Baramos.
: Oh! Well, that's true. But, I mean, there are four of us.
: And as long as there are still four of us, it will remain true.



: That's... odd.
: I've never heard of any such origin for our ancestors.




: I ate too much! My belly is about to burst!
: Wow. Okay. Thanks for the info.
: That'll teach me to break into other people's rooms, I guess.




: Let me guess: when he feels like having a snack before his nap, he grabs a big bowl of terror. Give me a break!







That's still an item store! It's a bit strange how many places sell Invisibility Herbs, considering how limited in use they actually are.





: Some things never change, at least.
: Fat chance getting some sunlight down here, though.
: Didn't you use the Stones of Sunlight to do it?
: Yeah, but only because the old fart at the shrine didn't want to go outside.


: There's a noble vocation!

: Huh.
: Yeah, there was a lifter of curses there in our time too.
: It must be something about the house.


: Not for much longer, I bet.


: If there's another world under this one, I'm going to throw a fit.
: They say it was created when the Archfiend came into this world.





There is now a House of Healing instead of a Fairy Water merchant here.



: Wait a minute...
: ...!

: You better not try anything funny again!
: Trying to earn an honest living at the House of Healing, eh? It's a little obvious in retrospect, I suppose.
: To express my gratitude, I'll let you in on something. I hear there's something called the Stones of Sunlight in Tantegel Castle.
: I'm surprised you haven't already stolen them.



: How did he even-
: Same way we did, I presume.
: It takes some grit to make it to the Pit without flying, I'll give him that.
: Maybe there are other paths.
: Hmm.



The castle is east of the the town, just as it was in DW2. Presumably they were only separate in DW1 because of technical limitations.









: Oh...! It truly is Tantegel. At least it's still standing.





The screen flashes white. You guessed it: free MP recharge!


: It will.





: Ugh, just like Hargon. Clever beasts.


: He doesn't know it yet, but he does.





The treasury is indeed empty.






: Best not ask what happened to them, I suppose.




: It's a little embarrassing that the people of Alefgard know more about us than we do about them.
: If they originally came from our world, it makes sense.


: Rubiss!
: A spirit, then, not some just some wizard. I can believe that.

: Hmm! If we can release this Rubiss, it wouldn't hurt to have a demiurge sprit on our side.








: If you are able to gather the Sword of Kings, the Armor of Radiance and the Shield of Heroes, there may be a chance...
: Kings, light, and heroes!
: I like the sound of that!


: What's that? Oh, I see!
: Eh?
: Here, this way!



: Right, of course.





: Well this would be a good place to hide some magical treasure!



: Excuse me, but have you heard of the Stones of Sunlight, by any chance?

: Ah. Oh well.
: But that's odd. I had a dream. In the dream, someone comes to leave the stones with me on the day that day breaks in this country.

: That's... Erdrick. He's talking about Erdrick.
: But it hasn't happened yet.
: These Stones have a long history. They could have changed hands and been passed down any number of times.
: Hmm. Yeah, I'm not making a lot of sense. Never mind.

: Wait, why did Kandar tell us the Stones were here, then?
: They might be somewhere else in this castle. Let's keep looking.





: Oh-ho!







: Well I'll be. Kandar told us the truth.
: And that's why we don't execute surrendering enemies, Rebeca.
: Can't argue with results like that.

This time around, the Stone of Sunlight actually does something!



It... casts the Awake spell for free. Makes sense, I suppose.

: Well, it did the same thing in my day, but no one was around to use them on me when I was put to sleep.




: Well hey, we won't have to go halfway across the world to find our target this time.







: Yeah, it's their village treasure, it would have felt like a dick move not to return it before we left.


: ...!
: ...!
: ...!
: ...!
: ...what?!
: He suffered terrible burns and collapsed outside of the castle.
: ...by the light, he lived!
: Where could-
: He went after Zoma. If he came here and lived, he went after Zoma.
: But... Zoma isn't...
: ...
: Oh, child.
: ...Reb?
: What is it?
: What did you call Zoma? The... the enslaver of the dead?
: S-something like that.
: Zofia, I-
: ...this changes nothing. We're still going after Zoma.
: Fia...
: Let's go.
: ...



: By boat?
: To the northeast of Tantegel rise high peaks and lie low valleys. Maybe Zoma did something to the sea.


: I'm sorry, I'm not in the mood.

: She's not in the mood, buddy! Take a hike!


: But I know of none that has returned. Even Ortega...
: ...





Dang, the Imperial Scrolls of Honor update themselves across worlds! Elder Scrolls, shmelder shmolls.









Whoops, wait a sec...





Right. Dang but this is so close to feeling like a recorder/harpsichord duet, isn't it?

So, the world of darkness! Unlike its DW2 reproduction, Alefgard here is exactly the same size as it was in DW1. We know we need a ship to go to Kol so we can already tell there are differences, but I'm sure we'll encounter more familiar landmarks along the way.

: Well then! Which way shall we go first?
: That's Zoma's castle right over there. We're getting the ship.
: Haha, now you're talkin'!
: Zofia.
: What?
: If that's what your father did, it didn't work.
: ...
: ...
: Ugh. She has a point, Fia.
: Besides, that man in the castle mentioned a sword, a shield, and a suit of armor, didn't he?
: Ehh, maybe. Yeah, okay, Zoma's stronger than Baramos, we do need better gear.
: If the people of this realm survive under the darkness, within sight of the Master Archfiend, they must have powerful magic at their disposal. We have to learn the ways of this place.
: It wouldn't hurt to cut our teeth on the local monsters, either.
: Fia, if we kill a bunch of Zoma's goons, maybe we can even make him live in terror for a bit.
: Fine, fine, you got me, I don't need more convincing.
: ...if I may be so bold, I'd recommend we start our exploration on foot.
: Oh... You... don't want to sail these seas in the dark, do you?
: Ah... well...
: Yeah, me neither, I guess. We'll probably have to, but for now, on foot it is.





Returning from DW2, Goopis are now a fair bit weaker than Stone Hulks, but stronger than most of the critters in Baramos' castle, with relatively low HP and high defense. They use the same type of "gang up" AI as Demon Anteaters, and will often attempt to call for other Goopis to join the fight. However, they will occasionally summon a Granite Titan instead, which is an improved version of Stone Hulks we haven't seen yet!

Goopis are only slightly resistant to magic across the board, with vulnerability to fire and lightning. Using the Thunder Sword and the Staff of Thunder here will wipe the screen.

And the Slimes are just regular Slimes. This is the Tantegel region, gotta have Slimes!

Isabel levels up from this battle, for 1 Str, 6 Luc, 4 Int, 6 MP, and a new spell: Healus. That's the first group healing effect in the series, with the exception of a possible random outcome for the Princess of Moonbrooke's Chance spell. For a whopping 18 MP, Healus recovers our entire party's HP by an amount slightly smaller than what Healmore restores. As far as standard healing spells goes, this is the best one on the Pilgrim list.





Ah-ha! Red Slimes appear for the first time since DW1! They're not much tougher than they were then, being only slightly stronger than regular Slimes, with vulnerability to all magic except an immunity to Expel. Their attacks ignore formation, but your formation can ignore their attacks.









There was a bridge here. It's gone now.





Stone Hulks aren't too scary by now, but seeing them show up in groups is somewhat distressing, since Zofia, Alvaro and Isabel working together could take one out in a single turn, and that's no longer guaranteed if they split their attacks. I throw in a Snowblast to accelerate matters.



Whoops, Boss Trolls are regular enemies now! They have the exact same stats as the one we killed in Samanao, so that's a whole screen's worth of regenerating brutes right there. They're still highly resistant to Chaos, but fishing for a Sword of Illusion effect is looking mighty tempting at this point.

On the plus side, each Boss Troll brought down gives you another 1 in 256 roll at a Thor's Sword, which would in fact be a better weapon for Zofia than the Thunder Sword.

We have no such luck this time, but Zofia does level up here, for 4 Str, 2 Agi, 5 Vit, 2 Luc, 2 Int, 11 HP and 3 MP.



Salamanders are almost as strong as Boss Trolls, with high HP but only average defense. They ignore formation and can breathe the same powerful fire breath as Baramos, so a Barrier cast can be called for if you don't intend on taking them out first. They're highly resistant to fire, Beat and Sleep, but only slightly to Surround and Limbo, and not at all to other elemental damage.

A fight such as this definitely calls for an IceSpears cast, and we focus the Salamander down with Alvaro and Zofia, while Isabel finishes off the half-frozen Goopi.



Across this strait lies the cave where the Dragonlord kept Gwaelin, but it does appear that the entire Kol region is landlocked at this point. And these shoals block the way north, so we couldn't reach the Isle of Dragons by ship from there.



Oh good grief. The Increase spell sees use in regular combat again!





This fight is a lot more manageable, as Zofia and Alvaro don't get tempted to split their attacks. Rebeca can't just spam Snowstorm to counter their regeneration, though. I'm reasonably certain Boss Trolls are immune to the Poison Needle too, so you can't fish for an easy kill either.

Alvaro reaches level 33 here, for 11 Str, 11 Agi, 1 Vit, 2 Luc and 1 Int. It's disheartening to see him push up against his Vit cap, but those Str and Agi gains are more than welcome!







North of here used to be the home of the old man who wanted to trade the Silver Harp for the Staff of Rain, but we can't get there on foot. Let's retrace our steps a bit and follow the coast far north of Tantegel, towards Garinham.



Welp, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Granite Titans are nearly as strong as Baramos, with very high HP and defense. They ignore formation, have a moderate chance to roll crits, and come with a 50% chance to take a second action every turn. They're only slightly resistant to magic in general though, with high resistance only to wind, and complete vulnerability to fire and lightning.

On the plus side, Granite Titans do not regenerate health, and they have a 1 in 64 chance to drop Thor's Sword.



Ouch, though. Ouch indeed. Rebeca returns after the second Vivify cast, fortunately.



...yikes! That'll be an excellent time to exploit Stone Hulks' only slight resistance to Sleep. And what the heck, Rebeca turns into a dragon again.



Alvaro literally one-shots one of them in the first instant of the first turn. Yup, that's why you bring a Fighter along.



This is pretty rad... but this exploration sure is MP-intensive!





Archmages have fairly high HP and Strength... and a ridiculously high defense of 150, 60 points higher than a Granite Titan's. Talk about your mage armor! They can breathe the weakest grade of blizzard breath, but they also know Explodet and Revive, the latter of which is guaranteed to bring an ally back at full health. They're immune to Sleep and highly resistant to fire, ice, Beat, Limbo and Stopspell, but they're only slightly resistant to Sap, Surround, RobMagic and Chaos, and vulnerable to wind and lightning. This is actually one of those times where having your Hero cast Zap is quite justified, at least until a Sap or Defense has landed.

They also have a 1 in 128 chance to drop a Staff of Reflection, a +33 weapon for Wizards, Pilgrims and Sages that (I believe) casts Bounce on use.







Ghouls are moderately strong, with high HP but very low defense. They have enough MP for one Surround cast, but they're most dangerous for their ability to summon Voodoo Shamans to their aid. They're vulnerable to all elemental damage and slightly resistant to Expel, Limbo, and StopSpell, but immune to Sleep and Surround, and highly resistant to Beat and Chaos.



: This must be the cave we heard about, the one Zoma used to come here.
: It's worth a look, but...
: We're pooped right now.
: Yeah, it's been a rough walk, I hear you. Let's leave it for later.





Aw heck, not a good scene! Rebeca's just about dry too; we're definitely not making it to Garinham right now.



Whew. As if on cue, this gets Rebeca to level 35, for 1 Str, 6 Agi, 2 Vit, 2 Luc, 2 Int, 5 HP, 5 MP, and a new spell: Open. It opens any door, and costs no MP at all. All of the keys are optional, since you can technically just grind up a Wizard before you even get the Thief's Key. Maybe don't do that, though. For now, all it does for us is free up a spot in Zofia's inventory.

Anyway, that's it for this expedition. We could use a Wizard's Ring, but I want to save them for dungeons. Let's see how far we went...



: Yeah, that's Alefgard alright.
: As if there were any more doubts.



Zofia Returns us to Tantegel, and we stay at the inn, for a remarkable single gold coin per person. Nothing stops us from using Return effects to teleport back to the upper world, so we're not locked out of the Vault or of Dhama or anything mean like that.



Alright then, let's find our way to Garinham for real this time.









That's the bridge leading to the cave of the +1 Ring of Taking Up Space and further south to Hauksness.

: They must have rebuilt by now.
: I don't know about that... Hauksness was still gone by our time, and with all those monsters roaming around, it might be hard to start construction projects in the wilderness.
: Oh... True enough, I suppose.









: That's... That can't be Garinham.







: ...whuh...?



: But the bard Garin is... long... dead...?
: He is! I dug up... Iiiiii mean, I visited his tomb!
: Maybe it's another Garin? It's a famous name after all.
: No, I don't... think... Hmm...


: We'll keep an eye out, ma'am. Never lose hope.



: This is... this is not the future. This is not the Alefgard of our descendants.
: Oh! You mean...
: This is the Alefgard-
: Of our ancestors.
: ...wow.
: Fascinating!
: Okay, I don't understand how any of this stuff works, but this, this in particular, I understand even less.
: Doesn't matter, Zed. Just watch.
: I'm not stopping now! Just saying!



: Hmm...

: And that's the original "wall of darkness", I bet.



Third floor tile from the left.











: Looks like he left it at home after all.



: Will you do us the honor?
: With pleasure.



While the DW1 incarnation of the Silver Harp could only ever summon one of a handful of early-game monsters regardless of where our hero would play it, here it triggers a standard battle with creatures appropriate to the region.

: It must have lost its power over the ages.
: Or maybe Isabel just plays it better than you.
: Pfft. Right. As if.







Well isn't that just a familiar color scheme? Next time, for episode 33: the beginner/practice/tutorial dungeon!

Or... uh... well...

You know what I mean.

[François]

Well hey, we already have a map for this cave!



It's a bit bigger, but it's to make it fit the DW2 and DW3 dungeon scale, where single-tile-wide hallways are the exception rather than the rule.

: It's also considerably better lit.

There were no monsters last time around, but considering the state of the overworld, a free pass is probably too much to hope for.









Ha, there actually are no monsters this time either!











Whuh-oh, I may have spoken too soon.

Hydras are very strong, very durable, and have a fair bit of HP on them. They are in fact a bit stronger than Orochi was, and with much higher defense, but with less HP and no regeneration. They ignore formation, and they always get two moves per round, each of which has a 50% chance to be a mid-level fire breath. They're immune to fire, Beat, Chaos and Limbo, but only slightly resistant to Sleep, Sap and Surround, and vulnerable to ice, wind and lightning.

Winged Demons have lower stats than Hydras and a lot less defense; they come with a 50% chance to take a second action, and they can cast Blazemost and Healus. They're immune to ice and Limbo, highly resistant to Beat, Sleep and RobMagic, slightly resistant to fire, wind, StopSpell, Sap and Chaos, and vulnerable to lightning and Surround.

This is definitely a case where we want Isabel to try to confuse the Demon with her Sword of Illusion while the others take down the Hydra as quickly as they can.



Oh hey, that part is new.



...and so are these guys.

Troll Kings are as strong as Hydras and have slightly-below-average defense for this place, but they come packed with a ton of HP and a 44 to 55 regeneration. They lack their subjects' ability to roll crits, but they do know... Limbo. Oh dang.

They're slightly resistant to magic across the board, save for a high resistance to Beat, RobMagic and Chaos.





: ...wh-what!?
: Oh crap, my magic is sealed!
: Uh-oh.

We win the fight on melee combat alone, as disheartening as it is. The monsters can't cast either, so we can't get sent to Limbo, but that's cold comfort.



: This place doesn't feel as horrible as the foundations of the Pyramid, but...
: We definitely can't use magic down here.
: Hmm... Maybe it's only a problem on this floor. Let's keep going for a bit longer.









: Not here either.
: Gah!
: There's no telling what's on this floor, or how deep this place goes. Let's retreat for now, and come back with curatives.
: Yeah, that's probably safest. Come on everyone, let's get outta here.



Eesh. Of course we can't just cast Outside, and walking out is proving more difficult than walking in.

: Good grief, if this place was filled with monsters like these in my time, I don't know where we'd be right now.





Isabel and Rebeca make it out through some ridiculous good fortune.



: Once more, then?
: Hmm... Actually...
: Did you come up with a new strategy, Zofia?
: Yes. Well, kind of. But I don't think you'll like it.
: Now I'm interested.
: You probably won't like it either.
: Well, come out with it.
: We've been making a decent amount of money for a while. Maybe we could outfit a couple adventurers whose... um... combat prowess isn't quite so dependant on magic...?
: Huh.
: That... seems sound.
: I'm sorry, I hate to even consider it, but...
: It makes sense. I guess.
: Ugh, no, never mind. Let's just-
: It's a good call, Zofia.
: ...yeah.
: I'm sorry...
: No, no, none of that. There are too many unknowns here, it's best to play it safe. If you find a suitable ally, I'll cede my place.
: Yeah, me too. Just... get us back when you're done, okay?
: Y-yes! Of course! I'm sorry again!
: If you start apologizing for smart decisions, we'll be here all day. Come on.
: Right.





: Hey, Gonzalo! Look who just walked in!
: ...!
: Is that really...?
: Of course it is. Can't you feel her power from here?
: C-Captain Gonzalo?!
: Alvaro? What are you doing here?
: I'm t-traveling with Zo... with Ortega's daughter. We killed Baramos!
: Al, do you know this guy?
: I... Uh... You could say that...
: This reckless young man stabbed me during a drill at the castle. I spent nearly a month in the House of Healing.
: It was an accident!
: You didn't tell us you were a guard!
: Well I wasn't one for very long.
: Never mind that! Miss Zofia, I regret to inform you that this nun among your companions is in fact a murderous bandit!
: ...ah!
: No she's not.
: She helped kill Baramos too, so I don't know where you heard that crap, but you better keep it to yourself! Or else!
: We understand. You don't need to worry about us spreading rumors. Right?
: Right!
: Oh... Uh... A-alright then. My apologies.
: Anyway, we've been looking all over for you lot!
: And that means All Over. We were still crossing the Necrogond when all the monsters suddenly vanished.
: We figured you had done the job before we could catch up to you.
: Did you follow me all that way just to tell me lies about my friends...?
: N-no! No, of course not! We wanted to join forces! Leonor and I are Soldiers, Mercedes here is a mighty Sage, and we wished nothing more than to aid you in fighting evil.
: Why didn't you just wait for us here? We're using the Vault all the time!
: That's what I was trying to tell them!
: Oh... Um... Well, that is-
: We are not today as we were back then, in many ways. We wanted to be a force worthy of your company.
: Plus Gonzo just couldn't sit around and wait.
: Yeah, okay, I can relate to that.
: Looks like we missed our chance though, huh?
: Actually... It just so happens we've... uh... invaded the realm of another archfiend. It's a long story. And there's a cavern there where magic is forbidden. So we've come looking for a couple of capable warriors.
: Hmm. It's no place for a Sage, but you could search for a hundred years and not find warriors more capable than those two.
: Alright, I'm game. It's what we've been trying to do all this time anyway, right?
: Of course! I'm entirely at your disposal, miss Zofia.
: Whew, okay then. That was easier than I thought. Rebeca, Isabel, do get some rest, alright? I'll be back before you know it, and we still have a lot of work ahead of us.
: Ha, don't I know it. Have fun alright?
: You'll find us in better shape than you left us, I bet. Do stay safe, okay?
: If it's an option!



Well hey, it just so happens we know a pair of high-level Soldiers! Isn't that extremely convenient? I wish I could say I planned it this way from the beginning, but I honestly didn't remember there would be another no-magic cave.

Salamanders and Hydras breathing fire are going to be a major problem, so everyone gets decked out in Dragon Mail. Or, well, everyone except Alvaro, that is. A large aspect of what makes Fighters less robust than Soldiers is that they don't have access to any kind of elemental resistance through their gear, so unless a friendly caster can set them up with Barrier, they always take full damage from non-physical sources.

On top of that, we give Gonzalo the Demon Axe we found in Baramos' castle, and replace Leonor's Dragon Killer with his Snowblast Sword.

It hasn't been very long since we talked about everyone's stats so I won't do the full spread right now, but we can take a quick look at HP, attack and defense.

Code: Select all

         | Lvl | Atk | Def | HP  |
---------+-----+-­-­---+-----+-----+
Zofia    |  35 | 183 | 132 | 258 |
Alvaro   |  33 | 194 | 147 | 238 |
Gonzalo  |  32 | 212 | 118 | 309 |
Leonor   |  29 | 190 | 121 | 277 |


Gonzalo and Leonor have a lot more HP than Zofia and Alvaro, but since their defense is a fair bit lower, I'll keep them in third and fourth place. If Alvaro didn't have the Meteorite Armband, he'd definitely take up the rear.

And yeah, it definitely feels weird for Zofia to have the lowest attack power in the party, heheh.



Aaaanyway! We cram Medical Herbs in every available space, and head back north.









Winged Demons can't use their Blazemost and Healus here, so everyone just dogpiles the Hydra first. This fight gets Leonor to level 30, for 5 Str, 1 Agi, 9 Vit, 1 Luc, 1 Int, and 16 HP.



Yeah, Isabel and Rebeca definitely wouldn't be delivering 192 damage crits down here.

Zofia reaches level 36 after a fight with a Winged Demon and Troll King. She earns 4 Str, 6 Agi, 2 Vit, 4 Luc, 2 Int, 5 HP, 6 MP, and a new spell: her own Vivify! Dang, that's great news.







: Oh!
: Hmm...
: Huh.
: I suddenly miss Rebeca. No offense.
: It's okay, I miss Mercedes too.
: If I was a Mimic and I saw us coming, I'd open easy and apologize for my breath. We're packing a lotta steel.
: Right! Let's do it, then.

I misplaced the screenshot for the first chest here, but it was about 1000 gold.



: This must be where Zoma entered this world.
: What is it with that guy and holes in the ground?



Alvaro levels up off a pair of Troll Kings here, for 1 Str, 1 Agi, 5 Vit, 6 Luc, 1 Int, and 12 HP.



Ooh, nice.



Yeah, of course. It's not a problem though: it's not allowed to cast Defeat in here, and we two-shot it.

Gonzalo levels up off another pair of Troll Kings, for 3 Str, 1 Agi, 7 Vit, 1 Int, and 16 HP.



: Whoa, nice!

The Shield of Heroes is a +50 shield, comparing very favorably to the +30 Silver Shield. In addition, it reduces incoming breath weapon damage by one third, regardless of element! (It doesn't reduce any kind of spell damage, though.) As one might guess, it can only be equipped by Heroes, and it is in fact the best shield in the game.

Of course elemental resistance from multiple sources doesn't stack, so the Dragon Mail's effect is redundant, and Zofia switches back to the Swordedge Armor. She now has a higher defense power than Alvaro for the first time since he got his hands on the Meteorite Armband!



: I guess this is it for this place, then.
: Come on Alvaro, you know me better than that.
: Ah... Yes... Well...
: What's that supposed to mean?
: Haha, here we go!
: Hup!



Once the entire party has jumped down the fissure, the ground rumbles something fierce, and everyone is literally flung right back into the air, landing together on the edge.

: Well that's a first.
: Did you see that... thing?
: Hard not to.
: ...as much as one might prefer it, what has been seen cannot be unseen.
: Not without copious amounts of booze anyway. Speaking of which, are we done here?
: Yeah, looks like that's it. It's just a question of walking back out now.

We have exactly one Medical Herb left. We should be able to get at least part of our crew out, but it's gonna be a rough ride. It's a good thing Gonzalo's been hanging on to a Wing of the Wyvern for a while, just in case Zofia gets taken out.





Aaaaaand everyone made it!

: Alright then! Gonzalo and Leonor, I can't possibly thank you enough for your help.
: Oh, um... You're... welcome. It's been an honor.
: Is that really it, though?
: Well, there could be other caves like this one, so we might have to call on you again.
: I mean, I was thinking maybe we could... join up on a more permanent basis?
: Hmm!
: The thought crossed my mind, but...
: ...but?
: Since you guys have been following me all this time, I know you've been through a lot. I bet you're at least as strong as anyone back home.
: I... Well... Maybe.
: If Zoma decides to attack the surface world while we're all down here, who's going to protect it?
: That sure is a point.
: You know... When I decided to go on this quest, to go after you, I thought the king had lost his mind. I thought that in his terror, in his insanity, he had sent a child to her death. And when I heard those... rumors... about your comrade... Well...
: Gonzalo...
: But now I see that my liege was correct, and I was mistaken. Ortega's daughter is as wise as she is powerful.
: ...!
: It would be an honor to watch over our home on your behalf, Zofia. And if you would require my assistance again, I would be proud to offer it.
: Thank you! To be honest, it's kind of a relief to know there are more people helping out than just the four of us.
: It's... it's really the least we can do.



: Oh, hey, Luisa. Do you know where Isabel, Rebeca and Mercedes are?
: No, but they had a few too many drinks and left together.
: Old habits die hard, eh?
: They did tell me to tell you they had a loose end to tie up, and that in the meantime you should "chillax".
: ...huh.



We still have a dungeon map to complete, don't we?



: AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!
: THEY DIN'T CALL ME THE BLOODY BELLE FOR NUTHIN'!
: KICKAAAAAAASS!

Oops! All casters!

Code: Select all

         | Lvl | Atk | Def | HP  | MP  |
---------+-----+-­-­---+-----+-----+-----+
Isabel   |  34 | 116 | 124 | 207 | 165 |
Mercedes |  29 | 127 | 118 | 202 |  90 |
Rebeca   |  35 |  43 |  81 | 194 | 190 |


Mercedes is already stronger than Isabel, but she's not quite as durable, though the latter is probably because she's five levels behind. That MP difference is no joke, though.

We have more than enough money to buy a Falcon Sword, but it's way too early for that. It would get Mercedes two 69 power hits instead of one 116 power hit; taking enemy defense into account, it's not worth it yet.

I don't expect the journey here to be extraordinarily difficult, even considering we don't have to travel by ship and on foot all the way from Assaram. The amount of magical power we bring here is downright enormous.



Fights such as these spelled doom for the B Team more than once, but the Frost Cloud is easily nuked with Blazemore before it can do any harm, the Marauder is vulnerable to combined physical attack, and the King Tortragon, while highly resistant to magic and protected by Bounce, is vulnerable to the Orochi Sword's effect. Good night, ignoble beasts.

Isabel levels up here, for 1 Str, 1 Agi, 5 Vit, 5 Luc, 4 Int, 8 HP, and 8 MP.



We've officially made it further in here than the B Team ever did.



Landing StopSpells in the first turn of these battles gives us several rounds of RobMagic casts. Mercedes' low MP is a problem, but as long as her comrades can buy her time, she can still replenish her healing juice.





Okay, final floor. We have only the western half of the map to complete, so this shouldn't be too bad.













Oh, dang! We didn't even see these our first time around!

Dancing Jewels have fairly low HP and attack, but high defense, a remarkable evade stat of 28, and a complete immunity to all magic. They come with a 75% chance to get a second move every turn, and if they do get that second move, they get an additional 50% chance to get a third. They also have a specific list of actions they go through in order: Surround, a normal attack, Defence, Slow, Chaos, a MP-draining dance, wasting a turn assessing the situation, and then running away. If it sounds like they're a pain in the butt to defeat... that's because they often are. However, they drop over a thousand gold, so it can be worth it to try.

In fact, Mercedes one-shots this one. They're not all that threatening on their own, but I'm sure they'll show up accompanied at some point, and they can cause a lot of problems if you let them.



Mercedes reaches level 30 here, for 1 Str, 3 Agi, 3 Vit, 1 Luc, 3 Int, 6 HP, 6 MP, and CurseOff. Welp.





Aaaaaand we're done. There are no new chests, alas, but it's still as cleared as it gets. We got some MP left though, so let's see if we can walk out the other end instead of casting Outside.

On the way, Rebeca levels up, for 1 Str, 7 Agi, 2 Vit, 4 Luc, 3 Int, 6 HP, 6 MP, and a new spell: her own Blazemost. Now she's playing with power! For 12 MP, it deals 160 to 199 fire damage to a single target, making it the Wizard spell with the highest potential damage to one enemy.





Whew, we're out.



: Oh hey, Fia! What took you so long?
: What are you talking about? We've been waiting for three days! Where have you been?
: It was just a classic impromptu dungeon bender, no sweat.
: It felt good to be among adults for a change!
: Uh...
: Wow. Okay. At least you had fun, I guess!
: Well then, it looks like this is it for now.
: Thanks again. I mean it.
: It's fine. It's... I feel lucky I even got to do this at all.
: Alvaro, I'm sorry I couldn't see it back then, but it's clear by now that the castle guard is made lesser by your absence.
: Oh! Well, I appreciate the compliment. I... could probably tell you the same.
: Heh... This is better either way.
: Agreed!
: Alright then. Well met, everyone. See you when we see you!

Let's get a bit more exploration done today. We can finish up the immediate Tantegel region, and then cross the western bridge.





That's the cave of the Fighter's Ring... but it looks like the terrain is different...





This used to be a dead end, but now we can just go right to the cave! I wonder if the bridge is just a detour, then.







Huh, the place doesn't even connect to the western bridge at all! I'm curious now, let's go all the way around and check out the bridge right away.









So the bridge leads to the immediate west of Tantegel, instead of to the cave and the Hausksness region. This must be to make sure we can leave Tantegel by ship to the west and reach open sea, which would have been impossible with DW1's geography.

Let's see about that cave, then.







It doesn't look like this entrance corresponds to what we remember, so I guess I'll be mapping this one from scratch.



We ran into some Marauders outside, so it looks like we're still dealing with Necrogond-tier enemies here. I do prefer King Tortragons to Troll Kings, at any rate. Mercedes would be more suited to fighting them though, on account of the Orochi Sword.



Ooh, wait, this is familiar territory after all. We'll still check out the whole place, just to be sure.

Isabel reaches level 36 here, for 1 Str, 1 Vit, 6 Luc, 5 Int, 10 MP, and a new spell: Infermost! For 9 MP, Infermost deals 60 to 119 wind damage to one enemy group, and it is in fact the strongest wind spell in the game. It's 3 MP cheaper than its Wizard equivalents Firevolt and Snowstorm, which have much higher minimum damage (88) but slightly lower maximum damage (111).

All in all, this is an excellent offensive spell for Pilgrims, which is both powerful and cost-effective enough to make it worth considering spending your healing juice on.



Uh-oh, Dancing Jewels are starting to show up accompanied. Hologhosts aren't too threatening by now, fortunately.





These stairs should lead straight into a dead-end...



Aaaaand they do.





: Wait... You're not my father!

Darthbears have high Strength, but fairly average defense and HP, with their main claim to fame being a moderate chance to roll crits. They're highly resistant to Surround, vulnerable to ice and lightning, and slightly resistant to anything else that matters. If they show up in groups, Sleep is a good idea, or even Chaos if they're accompanied by more dangerous creatures.









: I guess that's why there wasn't much left in that chest when I got to it.













Yeah, that's what I expected, but better make sure anyway.















Zofia reaches level 37 here, for 4 Str, 5 Agi, 5 Vit, 3 Luc, 1 Int, 9 HP, and 4 MP. It feels like it's her best increase in combats stats in a long time!









The Armor of Hades offers 65 defense (10 more than the Swordedge Armor) and can be equipped by Heroes and Soldiers, but you don't need a Merchant to not tell you it's not cursed.



That's a big chunk of the second floor done, but we know there's another portion only accessible from a specific staircase above.

Alvaro reaches level 35 as we retrace our steps, for 1 Agi, 8 Vit, 3 Luc, 1 Int, and 18 HP. If he keeps alternating between good HP gains and good combat stat gains, I couldn't complain.

A few fights later, Rebeca gets to level 37, for 1 Str, 8 Agi, 4 Vit, 4 Luc, 4 Int, 8 HP, 10 MP, and a new spell: Transform! For 12 MP, it transforms the caster into a copy of any ally until the end of the battle.

The caster keeps their inventory, their HP and their MP, but all of their other stats are overwritten by their target's stats, including their total attack and defense power. This means that they benefit from their target's equipment rather than their own. However, if the caster has a Poison Needle equipped, they still use its "1 damage or death" damage formula, so if you intend to turn a Wizard into a melee combatant, go through your item menu and equip them with something else. (Fortunately, equipping a different weapon in combat happens instantaneously in the menu, without taking up a turn.) In addition, they replace their own spell list with their target's. This means Rebeca can turn into Zofia and cast Hero spells, but she loses access to her own spell list in the meantime. This is also the case if the target has no spells; if Rebeca turns into Alvaro, she can't cast anything anymore.

This does mean that a party with three Wizards (or three Sages or other characters that learned Wizard spells and class-changed) can go into boss fights with effectively four Heroes.















Can't have too many of those!

: ...why do Wizard's Rings get to be so much better than Fighter's Rings?





Oh. Heh, it's still empty after all.



Looks like we're done! There was still nothing of earth-shattering importance in this cave, but hey, Wizard's Ring, and experience. And nostalgia.

Alright then, that ought to do it for today. Next time: more Alefgard!

[Friday]

I do enjoy the callback: Originally Fighter's Ring Cave had a cursed item and a ring, and it still does.

And it remains completely optional and mostly pointless.

[François]

It's still surprisingly good experience, though. The Necrogond-grade monsters are very manageable by now even if they show up in slightly more asshole-ish formations (like accompanied Dancing Jewels, or two pairs of Hologhosts instead of a group of four so they're not so trivial to StopSpell all at once), so it's easy levels at this point. Or at least, much easier than wandering the north was, with all the Boss Trolls and such.

In other news, someone paid ten bucks to replace the SA avatar someone else bought me at the end of my Nocturne playthrough.



I probably should have seen that one coming.

[François]

: You know, as fruitful as our explorations on foot have been so far, I can't help but wonder if there might be any useful information in this Kol village we heard about.
: Hmm. The monsters are probably only going to get tougher as we get further away from civilization, so we might as well try to find the place, yeah.
: So, by sea, then.
: Right. Is that okay with you by now, Alvaro? We can go get Gonz-
: No no no I'm fine the sea is great let's go!
: Oof, Fia, that was merciless!
: I-I didn't mean it that way!



We can return to the small island we landed on, but there doesn't seem a way to get back to the harbor there. Oh well.



Marine Slimes haven't been dangerous in a long time, and we can easily deal with single Hologhosts, as disheartening as it is to run into them at sea. But King Merzons are new! They've got only average HP and defense, but fairly high attack, and they can cast Snowblast and summon Elysium Birds for support. They're highly resistant to ice, Sleep, Beat and Chaos, slightly resistant to fire, wind, StopSpell, RobMagic and Limbo, and vulnerable to lightning, Sap and Surround. All in all they're not too difficult, despite how annoying they can be to blow up with damage spells.

They do have a claim to fame though, as they have a 1 in 64 chance to drop a Magic Bikini. The Magic Bikini replicates the sprite-replacing effect of the Revealing Swimsuit sold in Assaram, and it can also be equipped by women of all classes. However, while the Swimsuit offers a single point of defense, the Bikini is +40, which is the same as Magic Armor. This technically makes it the best armor for Goof-offs (well, female Goof-offs that is), but if you still have one by now, they're probably better off with a Cloak of Evasion.











: Whoa, what the...?



: ...ahhh... aaaaaugh!
: Okay, that's just... that's just the edge of the world...
: AUGH!
: How about we-
: Yes, yes, we're turning around. Good grief.

The edge of the sea is a sheer drop into fathomless darkness.

: Wouldn't that be Cannock right there?
: It would be far to the east. But there's no such thing as the Kingdom of Cannock yet.
: Oh, uh, right. Yeah, I'm still getting used to that.

The underworld is in fact limited to Alefgard proper; the game doesn't replicate the entire DW2 overworld on top of that!







Kragacles have enormous HP and extremely high Strength, but pitifully low defense. They come with a slight chance to roll crits, and have the same odds of taking a second and third action per turn as Dancing Jewels (75% for a second then 50% for a third). They're highly resistant to ice, vulnerable to lightning and wind, and only slightly resistant to anything else that matters.



It's just best to go for Defeat, especially against of a group of three like this, but if you only have Wizard spells available, Increase, Chaos and Blazemost are a big help.







: Oooh, a tower! Maybe there's another nice piece of kit in there!
: It's worth checking out, yeah, but let's see if we can find that village first, just in case it's harder than we're ready for.



This tower sits on the exact spot where we found the old hermit who gave us the Staff of Rain. Presumably the edifice collapsed at some point, and the old man moved in the foundations. Or... well... he did just disappear when we gave him the Silver Harp, so he might not have survived in the first place.



: This is probably far enough east, and we haven't been here on foot besides.

Isabel levels up off four Ghouls (and a Voodoo Shaman) here, for 1 Str, 1 Agi, 4 Vit, 5 Luc, 3 Int, 9 HP, and 7 MP. I have a feeling every single MP is going to be precious before long, so it's hard to complain.



Whuh-oh, Winged Demons on the surface, and with their Blazemost and Healus unsealed, too! We might be more thrifty in a dungeon, but here we open with Infermost and Firevolt, no messing around.





: Aaaand that's Kol right there.











: Oooooh! This brings back pleasant memories!
: Hmm­. It almost seems to easy. Even in these dark times, magic weaving techniques are more widespread than in ours.

No longer the exclusive fruit of a world-spanning sidequest, Water Flying Cloth can now be straight-up bought here. Sure, it's twelve grand and a half, but we could buy three right now without even going to the Vault. One will suffice though, as this time around, Water Flying Cloth can only be equipped by Wizards! Offering 40 points of defense (over the +35 Angel's Robe), it brings Rebeca from 89 to 94.

Losing the Angel's Robe's resistance to death spells stings, but it is more than compensated by the Water Flying Cloth's 1/3 resistance to ALL elemental damage, from spells and breath weapons alike. This is enormously powerful! It's even a point where Wizards have better equipment than Sages and Pilgrims, as the best armor for those two is the (also +40) Magic Armor which only reduces spell damage.


: ...oh.
: Aw crap.
: I suppose we'll have to do without, then.
: Maybe you'll just have to show me a trick or two, Alvaro.
: Ha! I know you're kidding, but if you ever want to learn...
: Heh, I'll keep my sword, thank you very much. I know I can leave the punching and clawing to you.


: He buys useless things, restores then and resells them.
: Hmm!
: We'll be keeping an eye out for a broken Sword of Kings, then.



: Wait, these clothes... Are you from Jipang, by any chance?

: My husband used to be a swordsmith in Jipang.

Oooooooh, I think we're gonna get our hands on some glorious Hanzo steel! If on our journey we should encounter the Master Archfiend...




: Isn't the Flute supposed to be in this very village?
: Yeah, that's what we heard. It's light on details, but what are you gonna do.



Ah, some Hanzo Oricon then, I stand corrected. It's probably meant to be "orichalcum", which is a mythical precious metal that, according to Plato, was once mined in Atlantis.







And of course the master swordsmith is earning a living as a general store owner.




: You should be able to weaken the magical powers of the Archfiend if you have the Sphere of Light.
: Which we do!
: It's so nice to be told we need something we already have!
: ...for a change.






: Oh. No point in going there yet, then.
: It doesn't look like anyone knows where the Fairy Flute is, though.
: I wonder if that Garin kid took it.
: Someone somewhere must know. We'll just have to keep looking.

I suspect the Flute might be buried south of the bath here, as it was before (or will be), but I'm curious to see if someone who has never played DW1 can find a clue about it somewhere.



It's small change by now, but oof, that's still one expensive-ass inn.



: Welp, we're fresh out of directions.
: Gotta keep exploring, then?
: You know it!











Scalgons have high HP with mild regeneration (16 to 23), high attack, and moderately high defense; they only attack once, but they have high chance to breathe either weak or mid-level blizzard breath. They're immune to ice, highly resistant to Expel and Beat, vulnerable to fire and lightning, and slightly resistant to everything else. Boom, Firevolt and Blazemore/most are easy recommendations here.

Oh, while I think of it...



Playing the Silver Harp always delights the monsters, though this has no mechanical effect. We shall send you to heaven before we send you to hell!







: I can only hope there is no princess there this time.





Looks like the way to the Isle of Dragons from the east is also blocked by shoals.



Hmm... It's not the same... It's like we're in a tunnel just alongside the main cave.





...huh.





: Oh! The tunnel to Rimuldar must not have been completed yet.
: Do you think we could use the records of this tunnel's beginning and completion dates to figure out when exactly-
: Glynn, sweet boy, I'm flattered that you think Tantegel ever kept such records.
: ...ah.













: Rimuldar, eh?
: This tunnel is a lot of work for nothing. Why don't they... just... sail... um... there...
: Kragacles.
: Yes, thanks, I figured it out halfway through.



There are no monsters here after all, for real this time. Not that there's much of a prize to be found. Still, it's pretty darn neat to be able to come down here at all.



We Return to Kol, board our ship again, and follow the coast east, then south.









Yup, that's hella blocked. We can land right here, though.





Holy crap, a Wyvern! That's the first monster to return as-is from DW1, apart from the various Slime species.

Wyverns hit hard, and they have slightly above-average defense, but rather low HP for this area. They ignore formation and have a slight chance to roll crits, but they can also of course breathe fire, usually at mid-level but also sometimes the weakest type. They're slightly resistant to almost all magic, except for high resistance to Beat, and vulnerability to ice, wind and lightning.

Predictably, they have a 1 in 64 chance to drop Wings of the Wyvern.

: They're hard to kill if you don't force them to tye ground by crippling their wings somehow, so it's really hard to harvest them without first damaging them beyond repair. I never thought it was worth the hassle.



Oof, they start showing up alongside Darthbears too. Better not underestimate them; that medium fire breath still hurts.





Whoops, looks like Rimuldar's not so easily accessible from the southeast this time. We'll have to take the long way around.







Whuh-oh, Bomb Crags make their return! We're much better equipped to take them down now though, especially given their vulnerability to elemental damage. Infermost and Blazemost will count for a lot! They have a 1 in 128 chance to drop Stones of Life, so it's arguably worth the effort to destroy them when you can.

Gold Bashers have very high Strength, with a lot HP but fairly low defense; they ignore formation but can only use regular attacks (apart from a 25% chance to run away). They're immune to ice, wind, lightning (!) and Beat, but only slightly resistant to Sleep, Surround, Sap and Chaos, and vulnerable to fire and Limbo. Better not Limbo them if you need money though, as they'll routinely drop around 1000 gold.

They also have a 1 in 256 chance to drop a Golden Claw! If you do get another this way, remember to get rid of it right quick one way or another.



















: Of course, she still gets to the good stuff before I do.
: Sweetheart, that's an inn. It stands to reason that this is not the same chest.
: ...right.



The Ring of Life regenerates its wearer's HP by one point per step they take. It's not exactly a game-changer, but every bit helps, and since it's an accessory, it doesn't take up a useful equipment slot. In fact Alvaro could very well put it on alongside the Meteorite Armband.


: Eh?
: I'm sure Ortega is tending to that.
: ...
: It still is dark out there though, isn't it?
: ...not helping.
: Ah, um... sorry.


: ...!
: I wonder where that man is now.



: Wait, they sell this in a shop now? If I was running this town, I'd shut the place down in a heartbeat!

The Sword of Destructio(n) is a +110 weapon for Heroes and Soldiers, and it's numerically the best one for the latter, but it is still extremely cursed and they're a lot better off with a Demon Axe.


: I wonder if the Dragon Queen knew about Zoma.
: Probably.
: Eh, we'll never know.


: Nah, I'm sure it's alright.
: There is an important item Ortega gave me to keep inside.
: This is... Ah!
: Well then, better keep it safe! Goodbye!






: Oh dear... To live one's entire life in darkness...
: It goes to show how much we've been taking our light for granted.
: ...time to share, then.


: When drops of liquid light up the darkness, a bridge of rainbow will appear at the western end of this island.
: Yes, that's how rainbows work. What a great prophet you are!
: They don't have the sun down here, Rebeca.
: ...yeah, okay.



There's another stairway to this floor somewhere? Better look carefully on the ground floor.


: Heh, I think we technically count as powers above.
: That's hard to argue against, much as I'd like to.


: Isn't it always late at night here?
: Some people just hate their jobs.





: Ah-ha!




: I... I guess we'd better not remember that?

: That's true though.
: Unless it's not true yet.




: ...!
: Oh, child-
: That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! My father fell in a volcano and lived. He was the best damn mariner anyone's ever seen. He did not walk in the ocean and DROWN like a JACKASS. Do you HEAR ME?
: ...
: Okay, not all who drown are jackasses, but there is no way the great Ortega blundered into the sea like that. That's insane.



Looks like we'll have to go all the way around again, but it's presumably not for keys this time.


: Hmm! We may have a reason to go there without the Flute, then.



: Would that be the Charm of Rubiss, then?
: Hmm... I wonder...
: What else could it be?
: Nothing, maybe. I don't know. We'll find out, I suppose.





: You've got to be kidding me.



: It must be something in the water.





The southwest corner of town is deserted, but if we keep going around...




: Okay, we need that pretty bad.

: She's at the northeast corner of the village, you utter dunce. Good grief!

There is still in fact nothing we can do for those two. The Sage's Stone is the real deal, though. It's an item that anyone can use in combat to cast Healus for free. We don't know where it is, but we'll certainly keep an eye out.






: That's me. I'm the Magic Key now.
: I'm pretty sure that's not what he means.

The Magic Key is in the Vault, but Rimuldar is on the Return list so we just go pick it up right quick.


: Yeah, sure, knock yourself out.


: Gah, that old goat! Either he could only make really bad copies, or he purposefully made them to disappear after one use!

We don't get anything special for bringing him the Key, it's just some neat flavor.



Alright then, that's it for Rimuldar. Let's keep exploring the region.







Oooh, a Metal Babble! That'll make exploration extra rewarding!





Zofia reaches level 38 here, for 4 Str, 1 Agi, 5 Vit, 4 Luc, 3 Int, 11 HP, 4 MP, and a new spell: Healusall. This amazing Hero-only spell restores our entire party's HP to maximum! Also, this amazing Hero-only spell costs 62 MP! That's not a typo, holy crap! Zofia can only cast it once right now, and she won't get a second potential cast until she earns another 13 max MP. So, not soon. It'll sure save your butt once in a blue moon, though!

Alvaro reaches level 36 soon afterwards, for 10 Str, 11 Agi, 1 Vit, 5 Luc, and 1 Int. Thaaaaat's pretty good!







: ...like my dad would have been dumb enough to swim across here if he wasn't completely sure he would make it. Bah.
: We have the Stone of Sunlight... and I'm not seeing a rainb-
: Shh.
: ...



Oh hey, Alvaro routinely does 100 damage to Darthbears now, without a crit. Rebeca levels up here, for 2 Str, 9 Agi, 5 Vit, 5 Luc, 3 Int, 8 HP, 4 MP, and a new spell: Explodet!

: I know she's going to have fun with that one!

: And I thought it was explosion time before!

As we've seen, Explodet costs 18 MP and deals 120 to 159 fire damage to all enemies regardless of grouping. Blazemost will always do better on a single target (160 to 199), but other than that, Explodet is by far the strongest elemental damage Wizard spell.



: Ah, there will be a bridge to the southern isle here one day. No such luck today, though.





: Wait, there's a path west now?
: So they can't sail to the Isle of Dragons from this side either. At least they should be able to make it to Cantlin.
: But they don't have the Flute!
: We'll see what they're made of, then.





Oof, we can't access the southern swamp region from here, so it's north through the mountain passes for us.







Voodoo Warlocks have unremarkable stats, but of course they come with a bevy of abilities: they can breathe weak flames, summon Horks, drain our MP with the curiousest of dances, as well as cast Increase, Blazemore and Healall. They're highly resistant to fire, StopSpell and RobMagic, vulnerable to lightning, and slightly resistant to everything else. Sleep and Chaos come highly recommended!





Oh great, we're in Boss Troll territory again. Rebeca's running low on MP by now; I'm beginning to think we should have gone the other way around, southwest from Tantegel.

...oh hey, these Boss Trolls aren't immune to the Poison Needle after all!





Vile Shadows have average durability and slightly above average Strength, but they're most dangerous for their ability to cast Beat and to breathe sleeping gas. They're immune to ice and Sleep, highly resistant to wind, Beat, RobMagic and Limbo, slightly resistant to fire, wind and Surround, and vulnerable to lightning and StopSpell. So... yeah, do cast StopSpell every time. It doesn't hurt to double up on it if you can, too; Vile Shadows are pretty agile and they could put your casters to sleep before they can act.





: Wait, that's not Cantlin at all!
: It's... They made it all the way to...!

[AerynB]

Aww man... This felt short... Was this short? Oh that's ok. You update so fast, it doesn't matter.

I'm loving this Alefgard section. And all the color commentary is still awesome. :)

I hope you're not getting burned out. I'd really love it if you did DW4 too. You're a very, very good storyteller. :)

[François]

I probably had a couple updates that were a mite too long some time back, so I try to keep an eye out for good breaking points without being too choosy about it. Best to leave folk wanting more than less, heheh. Besides, we covered two towns and like a third of the world map; if it felt short, I'm gonna take it a sign that I succeeded at keeping it snappy. :D

I'm definitely not getting burned out, this is a joy to put together, but I'm going to take an actual break between 3 and 4 for sure, just to recharge my batteries and maybe make sure I'm not wearing out my readers (too much). I do still want to get to 4 when the time is right, absolutely. And I much appreciate the kind words!

[François]

: For a desert town, the climate seems rather forgiving.
: Well... there's no sun.
: If that's all that mattered, it should be freezing cold. And there would be no plants.
: Zoma took control of this world, and he's clearly decided that plants don't need the sun to live. He's like a god in here.
: We're killing a god, then.
: I don't understand. He's a demon. Why does he care about plants?
: If he actually does feed on suffering, wiping out all life won't sustain him for very long.
: And if he's getting hungrier...
: ...this world isn't enough.



So, Hauksness! We didn't spend any more time in here than we needed to the first time around, so it'll be nice to get to check it out at our leisure.





That's a regular item shop, but it's good to see Poison Moth Powder instead of Invisibility Herbs. I mean, we don't need either, but the Powder could conceivably still be useful to someone.



: That's... this must be Wynn's shop. Or his ancestor's, anyway.


: Okay. So... uh... does that mean you won't sell us anything? Hello?
: You have to admire his dedication to the task.

There is in fact nothing buried by the tree in the back. Why would there be?



The inn's 20 gold per person, and we take a deserved night's rest after our long trek.




: And, because of that, my husband spends all his time trying to think of a name for the baby.
: You could do worse than Zofia, for a girl.
: Ha! Maybe we should wait until we actually save these people before we get them to name their kids after us.


: Oh, thank y-
: We don't care about that good luck bye!



Ah, the Shield of Strength returns! It's a +40 shield for Heroes and Soldiers, making it the second best in the game. Just like in DW2, using it as an item in battle casts Healmore on its wielder, and it can be used in this way even by classes that are not allowed to equip it. It might be a decent idea to get one for everyone at some point, even though Zofia already has a better shield. I want to see what all shops have to offer us before we burn that much money.

Come to think of it, having a bunch of Shields of Strength makes going through the cave of the Shield of Heroes much easier, since having your magic blocked doesn't keep you from using items.



There's clearly more to this town than first appears. Let's see...



Ah-ha.


: If that is the first thing you want to say to adventurers who come to your home, you have my sympathies.


: Bless you!
: Who's spreading rumors about me? Aaachoo!
: ...these sand allergies are no joke.




: Yeah, got it.

The Dragon Queen's castle is easy to forget about or miss entirely, so it's definitely good that the game reminds you to search for it.









These are three regular horses. But you never know!




: ...hmm?
: Yes, it was in the brush I recall.



: Alright everyone, time to get our hands dirty!

: Oops, never mind, there it is.
: Nice!
: We'd better take it to Kol once we're done here.
: You know it!

: Digging up a swamp to find valuables hasn't come in fashion yet, I suppose.
: Oof, yeah, what's even with that? Everyone talks about the dragon-slaying part of being a hero, but...
: ...you really gotta want to it to roll up your sleeves and just rake through a poison marsh to find a trinket.




: Oh, that's great! Thank you!
: Kol it is, then?
: I'm curious about this Cantlin place, but yeah, Kol, and then that tower.



Aaaand that's it for Hauksness: a few pieces of important information, valuable metal, and Shields of Strength for sale. One can only wonder what we might have found there in another time if it had not been destroyed by the Dragonlord.





: Isabel?
: Of course!



The melody is once again the same as it was in DW1.

: Isabel, is the instrument actually magical, or are you just that skilled?
: Pfft, you flatterer.



: Now, how do we get this guy to make us a cool sword?
: If this metal is as valuable as it seems to be, there's no telling how much he'll charge us for his services.
: Hmm... I have an idea.



If you try to sell the Oricon at any other item shop in either world, the shopkeep won't buy it. But this fellow will buy it at a high price!

: Of course my good man, that sounds like an excellent deal!



: I do hope you know what you're doing, Rebeca.
: You better believe he won't be able to resist that ore for long. Let's just give him a little time.
: We could check out that tower in the west, then.
: Right! I'm eager to meet this Rubiss. Let's go.







Seeing as both Rubiss and the Armor of Radiance are supposed to be in here, this probably won't be a walk in the park. We'll turn back and leave it for later if we have to, but let's at least check it out.



We start on a grass tile before the actual building, and that's always an invitation to explore the sides first.







Okay then, nothing on the west side. As we get back in, we're greeted by two Voodoo Warlocks. On their own they're not super dangerous, but I'm sure they'll show up in more threatening company before long.





Leona are fairly strong and moderately durable, but they're mostly remarkable for their ability to cast Snowstorm and Healall. They're immune to RobMagic, highly resistant to Beat, Sleep, StopSpell, Sap, Surround, Chaos and Limbo, slightly resistant to fire and ice, and vulnerable to wind and lightning. They're more than tough enough that Alvaro and Zofia can't one-shot them without a crit, so if they show up in groups, it's best to nuke them with elemental damage before they drag out the battle.



Case in point: ouch. The guaranteed damage of Infermost comes in handy here. Isabel levels up here, for 1 Str, 4 Luc, 5 Int, 9 MP, and a new spell. For 20 MP, Revive brings an ally back from the dead with all of their HP restored. It's double the cost of Vivify, but since Vivify has a 50% chance to fail, you're almost always guaranteed to come out at least even.



Welp, there's nothing to either side after all. It's best to make sure anyway!





: That almost seems too simple...





: Yeah, it woulda been too easy.





Hmm...



This door doesn't quite reach the west end of the map, so there probably is something outdoors that way. Let's see the path to the south first, though.



That staircase looks tempting, but we'd better clear out the ground floor before moving on.



Gah, more of these chuckleheads. There's a lot of magic damage flying our way here.





Oh cripes, of course there are Magiwyverns too. They have unremarkable HP and Strength, but fairly high defense. Where their DW1 incarnation had Sleep, they have Bounce, Chaos and Healall instead. They're highly resistant to fire, Beat, Sleep and Chaos, slightly to ice, wind, StopSpell, RobMagic and Limbo, and vulnerable to lightning, Sap, and Surround.

On the plus side, Magiwyverns have a 1 in 64 chance to drop a Mysterious Hat!

The Metal Babbles are always a mean temptation though, distracting us from the more dangerous monsters they show up with. I can't resist it though; Alvaro and Rebeca try to one-shot them while Zofia and Isabel try to block the Wyverns' spells. In the end the Babbles get away, but we win the fight without much trouble otherwise.


: Um... okay.
: What's a revolving floor?
: I'm sure we'll find out sooner than we'd like.





That's as far as this side goes. Let's see if it's the same deal to the east. Zofia levels up on the way, for 7 Str, 2 Agi, 7 Vit, 2 Luc, 1 Int, 13 HP, and 2 MP. Alvaro immediately follows suit, for 1 Str, 1 Agi, 1 Vit, and 4 Luc. Eesh.








: Fifth floor, gotcha.



Aw cripes. Yeah, we're ignoring those Babbles for sure, Leona are too dangerous not to handle immediately. There are only so many Snowstorms we can facetank.



Of course the side with no stairs is the side we check last. Back to the west, then.





We're clearly missing the northern portion of this floor, but it must only be reachable from above.





: Hello, what's this?
: Maybe these are revolving floors?
: Either way, watch your step. It looks like whatever it is might drop us to the floor below.



: Whoa!
: Okay, this officially sucks.
: Wait, there's a pattern to it... Ha!



: Whew. Yeah, okay, this is a pain in the ass.
: Zoma really does feed on suffering.

If you're standing on a "revolving" tile, your controls are shifted 90 degrees in the direction the lighter-colored triangle is pointing. For instance, here it's pointing to the right, so if you press down, you're walking to the left instead. It's manageable, but as the ruffian on the ground floor said, you gotta pay attention.



Rebeca levels up here, for 1 Str, 7 Agi, 1 Vit, 4 Luc, 3 Int, and 8 MP.



: ...oh dear.

This bunch of revolving tiles isn't all pointing in the same direction, so we need to be extra careful. We don't strictly need to go through this one to reach the next floor though, so let's keep climbing for now.



Or... maybe we could go for these chests instead. Ah, the call of treasure.





Those are... 960 gold, a Full Moon Herb, and of course two Mimics.



And we have a Vitality Seed and three Acorns of Life, giving Isabel 12 more max HP.



The west side has no stairs, so we go back east.





Oh dang, Vile Shadows are starting to show up here too, and those don't even have the courtesy to be in a single easily spell-stopped group.





This is probably not the right way up, but let's have a look just to be sure.





More revolving tiles, next to pitfalls this time! We must be getting somewhere.





There's no way the narrow paths lead anywhere useful.



Ah-ha!



: Ooooh!
: Alright, this is pretty cool.
: It almost makes me wish I could fight in armor.

The Armor of Radiance is the best suit of armor in the game, coming in at 75 defense power, 20 more than the Swordedge Armor. In addition, it has the same 1/3rd elemental resistance as Water Flying Cloth, to both spells and breath weapons. This makes the Shield of Heroes' resistance redundant, but both pieces of kit can only be equipped by Heroes, so it's not like you can spread the wealth either way. It takes Zofia's defense from 169 to 189.

There's nothing else to this section of the floor, so let's just jump off from here.

















Nope.



: This could take us to the northern half of the levels below. Let's just jump down.
: Somehow I knew you'd say that.



Yup, this is clearly the north side of the ground floor. It's pretty tricky how the revolving tiles are set up as traps for this entire tower, except here where they lead to progress.



I suspect trying to go around the west here will cause us to return to the overworld map, so let's just head back east.





And there's the east end. Better get back inside, then.





Isabel reaches level 39 here, for 1 Str, 1 Agi, 6 Vit, 5 Luc, and 13 HP.









: Haha! I got you this time, you slippery bastard!
: Nice work!

Two Metal Babble kills, that's gotta be worth a level or two, right? In fact, Zofia gets to 40, for 6 Str, 3 Agi, 5 Vit, 5 Luc, 2 Int, 9 HP, and 4 MP. Alvaro follows again, for 3 Str, 1 Agi, 5 Vit, 3 Luc, 1 Int, and 11 HP.



These are certainly still just traps.



Good grief! Somehow Isabel manages to do 29 damage to one of the Babbles without a crit, which is extremely strange and I honestly can't explain it.










: I'm running low on juice, Zofia.
: Yeah, me too. We've got a few Wizard's Rings to spare by now, and I'm sure we're almost done here, so feel free to use yours if you have to.
: Understood.



: Ooh, yeah, we're definitely almost there.

Rebeca reaches level 40 here, for 1 Str, 7 Agi, 3 Vit, 5 Luc, and 8 HP.







Isabel recovers 31 MP with her Ring here, and it remains intact. There's a 25 in 256 chance it breaks every time it's used, so it's probably still going to be good for a while... but it's always a crossed-fingers moment.









: Okay, get ready. Whatever's in there, Zoma doesn't want us to see it.



: ...huh.



: It's a neat enough statue I guess, but now that we're actually here, it almost seems silly.
: Are you not feeling any power radiating from it?
: ...I can't say that I do. Do you?
: Oh, uh, not at all. But I figured if someone could, it would be you.
: It makes sense. Rubiss has been sealed. We might not be able to tell this statue is special even with our knowledge of magic.
: Either way, we should have what it takes. Isabel?
: Right!




: Oh! Yes, well, no problem.
: I am the spirit, Rubiss, who created this land of Alefgard.
: W-we are honored, your ladyship.
: No offense, but it wouldn't have hurt to make it a little more demon-proof.
: REBECA!
: Well, it's true.
: As a token of my gratitude, I shall give you this Sacred Amulet. And if you vainquish the Master Archfiend, I shall repay my debt of gratitude someday.
: Today, we're the ones who are grateful.
: I am the spirit, Rubiss. I yearn for the return of peaceful times to this country.



And she's gone.

: Rubiss' debt of gratitude? You don't think...?
: That's... Hmm...
: What did she tell us again? After we killed Malroth?
: "Thou hast delivered the world from Malroth's evil. Great is the victory and greater the rewards. I, Rubiss, have watched thy struggles and I am proud of thee."
: No... that's not...
: What about what she told us when we brought her the Crests?
: Let's see... "Ah, three descendants of Erdrick. Yes, I shall help thee. I am Rubiss, an Enchanter, and long ago I promised Erdrick to help when the time came. Now is the time."
: Rubiss sure is fond of making these promises of aid, isn't she?
: Maybe... maybe this is just the one promise.
: I wonder...
: Well. Let's just see what happens next. It might be nothing.



The Sacred Amulet can only be worn by Heroes, and it reduces the effectiveness of Beat and Defeat spells as the Angel's Robe does. Pretty nice!





: I'd like to finish clearing this tower out, but for now-
: Let's go back to Kol and see if anything interesting happened to our Oricon!





: Oooh!
: Good grief, that price tag.
: At least we didn't have to worry about whether anyone would buy it before we did. One Sword of Kings please, my good man.



Leaving the village and entering it again is in fact enough time for the smith here to do his work.

The Sword of Kings offers a ludicrous 120 attack power, making it by far the best weapon in the game (barring the Falcon Sword and a lot of grinding). Predictably, only Heroes can equip it. It takes Zofia's attack from 208 to 243. By comparison, Alvaro's current attack is 209. This is the first time Zofia has him beat in a long, long while.

In addition, the Sword of Kings casts Infermost for free when used as an item in battle, and that's a big deal.

: Also, this is-
: Erdrick's Sword.
: Right.
: I'd know it anywhere.
: ...what?





: And the Sacred Amulet...
: Erdrick's Token.
: I knew it wasn't just a proof of lineage! The old man at the rainbow shrine needed to invoke Rubiss' power to combine the sun and rain!
: So does this mean Zofia is...?
: It does seem to add up this way.
: Are we all actually descendants of Ortega?
: It would explain all of your magical powers.
: Yes... Well... Let's not get carried away here. Zofia's name is not Erdrick. It's Zofia.
: That is odd. Legends lose and gain details over time, but forgetting a hero's name and replacing it with another seems extreme.
: The story isn't over yet, either way. There's still time to learn the truth.

[François]

Between updates, I went and cleared the rest of the tower. It was made considerably easier by the facts that Zofia can now one-shot Winged Demons and that using the Sword of Kings' Infermost power on groups of Leona really helped save on Isabel's MP.

One blunder got Isabel killed on the way though: she cast Infermost on three Magiwyverns who managed to put up Bounce before her turn came up, and took a triple dose of her own medicine for over 300 damage total. Better be careful about that sort of thing in the future! Fortunately Zofia brought her back with Vivify to finish the job.



The stair connections look sensible, so I'm not gonna muck it up with a dozen lines. There were no new chests, but Isabel reached level 40, for 1 Str, 1 Agi, 3 Luc, 4 Int, and 9 MP. And speaking of stats....

Code: Select all

         | Lvl | Str | Agi | Vit | Int | Luc | Atk | Def | HP  | MP  |
---------+-----+-­-­---+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
Zofia    |  40 | 123 |  81 | 156 |  62 |  95 | 243 | 190 | 305 | 117 |
Alvaro   |  38 | 179 | 255 | 144 |  35 | 130 | 209 | 147 | 279 |   0 |
Isabel   |  40 |  57 |  80 | 109 | 110 | 126 | 122 | 126 | 249 | 208 |
Rebeca   |  40 |  39 | 131 | 108 | 108 | 151 |  49 | 105 | 224 | 218 |


Without the Meteorite Armband, Alvaro's natural Agility is 178. Every time he gains a chunk of Agility, the Armband contributes less and less to his defense, so I might end up giving it to Zofia at some point. If he took it off right now, Rebeca would have about as much defense as he does; if she put it on instead, her defense would be 167, since the Water Flying Cloth is 20 points better than the Cloak of Evasion and her Agility would also be maxed out. Late-game Wizards are fast! Due to the way initiative rolls work (random amount between 25% and 100% of your Agility), Rebeca actually goes first in battle pretty often, which is very good when she gets to cast Bikill on Alvaro before he takes his first move.

Having a fast Wizard is also helpful for general tactical purposes. If Rebeca casts Firevolt to set up three enemies to be one-shot by each of her allies, but somehow went last, well, maybe Zofia and Alvaro would gang up on one enemy and kill it before the spell went off, meaning that the round ends with two enemies dead instead of three. Quick spellcasting tends to ensure the best MP efficiency... and reduces instances of foes preemptively putting up Bounce or StopSpell.

Isabel's HP is finally looking decent, but if she had never eaten any Acorns of Life, it would be much a fair bit lower than Rebeca's, which is weird. Her Intelligence has sneaked ahead of Rebeca's though; Pilgrims and Wizards have the same Int growth and caps, so that's not too surprising. And her Strength has definitely reached some sort of plateau. Her basic attacks are still often useful, and if she didn't fight, a lot of battles would take at least a couple turns longer, but unless she's set up by her comrades to finish off a wounded enemy, she needs to spend MP to deal real damage. She's in the position Glynn was in DW2, before he got his Falcon Sword and his Strength started to skyrocket.

Aaaanyway! Everyone's got their best available equipment by now, except for Shields of Strength and possibly a Mysterious Hat for Rebeca, but I'm not super keen on farming Magiwyverns for one. Maybe I'll end up doing so anyway if we hit a brick wall at some point and I gotta grind for a bit, though. Adding together the cash we have on hand and what we have in the Vault, we're worth 123594 gold right now, with hardly anything left to spend it on. Soooooo I might as well show one thing off while we can.



Canonically, there ain't no one on our team wearing this thing... but just to be thorough...





It's the same sprite regardless of which class is wearing it, hair color and all.

Alright then, let's get back to this Zoma business, shall we?



: So, are we looking for this Cantlin place now?
: We will before long, but I'm curious about that big island south of Rimuldar. It might be nothing, but...
: Yeah, better check it out.





Oh dang, there are Frost Clouds at sea here! Rebeca can still wipe them out easy, but man, bad memories. This fight gets Alvaro to level 39, for 5 Str, 7 Agi, 1 Vit, 4 Luc, and 1 Int.







This is what the south end of the map looks like. To me, that's pretty clearly water just falling off the edge, but I suppose it's open to interpretation.










: When sunshine and rain do meet, a Rainbow Bridge is made.
: Yeah, okay, sure.
: Go then and search for that.
: Searching for sunshine and rain... We have the Stone of Sunlight, but-
: Under kinder skies, this would be so easy.

: Well... not that easy.



: While we're down here, let's check out the coast to the west. Maybe we can spot Cantlin from the sea.



Zofia reaches level 41 after beating three Kragacles, for 4 Str, 4 Agi, 7 Vit, 3 Luc, 2 Int, 15 HP, and 3 MP. That second Healusall cast isn't exactly coming quick.





: Huh. That's new.
: Well, old, you mean.
: Right, right. This should be about where you helped me find Erdrick's Token. But it's hard to tell, this swamp is a lot smaller than I remember.





: For being built in the middle of a swamp, this sure is a lovely place!


: Hmm! I don't suppose you know where we can find-
: I give you this Staff of Rain. May fortune be with you!
: ...oh!
: Why, thank you!
: Please save this world for Rubiss' sake too.
: We will.

: ...huh.
: I wonder if the Token was kept here for a time. Maybe the building sank as the swamp expanded?

The Staff of Rain is not an equippable weapon, but when it's used in battle...



...it casts Surround for free. Just like other usable staves though, only Wizards, Pilgrims and Sages can use it that way.



: So... do we go back, or...?
: Nah, we can keep going west for now. It looks like we have everything we need, and that's a load off my shoulders.
: Right! The Shield, the Armor, the Sword...
: The sun, the rain, and Rubiss' blessing. Even in this dark place, there were radiant powers waiting for us.
: And we bring the Sphere of Light from the surface world. We can't possibly fail.
: Yeah, uh, maybe don't say that out loud?
: I don't care who or what hears me.
: Oooookay then!





: That pass to the north... it leads inland, doesn't it?
: Didn't we go through there on our way to Hauksness?
: No, I think we were further north at that point. Alright everybody, we're landing. Maybe Cantlin's that way.







: Oof, no one told them about the Golem and the Fairy Flute. I wonder how they'll fare.



: Oh! The walls!
: Gah, of course, it's not built up yet.





We can in fact walk right into town from any direction without being bothered by any creature out of the ordinary.






: But this fortress would never withstand an attack by the Archfiend.
: Not that he has much of a reason to wipe you out, considering.

: This crisis must have been their reason to fortify further.
: Of course it had to wait until Zoma fell. Scalgons and masons probably don't get along very well.





: Oh hey, are you Garin by any chance?

: Did you forget your harp?
: The Silver Harp? I left it at home.
: Of course you did! No biggie! Good bye!

That'll be a newcomer's clue to go back to his parents' house and look carefully, heh. The Harp is completely optional this time around though, it's just a convenience if you need to grind for a bit.





This tiny building is still empty. I have no clue what that's about.



The market stalls are unmanned. Times are tough for merchants, that's for sure.




: Yyyyup, that's the suffering Zoma's looking for. Nice job.


: Haha! We are tough, kid. So you can be tough too!


: How unfair...
: My poor pitiful child! Boo hoo!
: Dry your tears, ma'am. Your torment is coming to an end.



: ...did that sound like a threat?
: ...
: ...
: Yyyyeah, kinda.
: Oof.
: Welp, moment's gone.


: WHAT!?
: Then I'll have the monster protect this town.
: That seems... reckless.
: I know! I'll name the monster Golem.

: Oh... Heh... Protect the town! Whew, okay then. Ehhhh...









: Ah, so it wasn't always called the Isle of Dragons, then!
: It would have been pretty weird to call it the Isle of Dragons while an Archfiend was running the place.
: You'd think they'd come up with a name for this island that doesn't change according to what flavor of dirtbag made their lair there last.






: ...the Stones of Sunlight, the Staff of Rain and the Sacred Amulet.
: Yup, we got everything.
: Glorious!






: That seems like an unwise financial decision.
: We don't know what it's like to live one's entire life here. We shouldn't judge.
: ...right. My apologies.









: Ugh!
: This place sure is bustling.
: Refuge in bloodsport...
: Whatever keeps you going for another day, I guess.

Everyone in here says the same things they say in other coliseums. Let's see what kinds of monsters will show up.



It's more expensive than it was, but at this point, it's very affordable.



...huh. I expected a higher caliber of creatures. Maybe the roster expands as the game progresses but doesn't purge weaker critters. We put our money on the demonic one, obviously.

The others gang up on it and it goes down first. Welp!



: So, what's next now?
: Hmm...



: Let's head west, then north, just in case we're missing something we haven't learned about.
: I can get behind that.
: If we can make it all the way back around to Tantegel, it'll count as clear enough, I think. You guys ready? It's a long walk!
: Always!
: Of course.
: I'm with you!



Rebeca reaches level 41 here, for 1 Str, 9 Agi, 2 Vit, 2 Int, 6 HP, 5 MP, and the final Wizard spell: Chance!

: ...yay?

Returning from DW2 with a 20 MP price tag (instead of 12), Chance comes with a random assortment of unique effects! Most are helpful, some are not, and a couple are pretty awful.

The following effects each have a 1 in 17 chance of occuring:
- The next attack from each of your allies is a guaranteed critical hit.
- Your enemies are taken off guard, and your allies get one free action each.
- Time stops for everyone but the caster, who gets three free actions.
- Everyone involved in the battle is afflicted with the confusion status. (This can be horrible!)
- All foes are affected by a RobMagic effect, replenishing the caster's MP (if the targets had any to steal).
- The caster is healed.
- The enemies still alive leave the battle, taking their spoils with them.
- The battle just ends. No one wins or loses.
- Everyone involved in the battle falls asleep.
- Everyone's spellcasting is blocked until the end of the battle.
- Your allies' formation is scrambled.

And these other effects each have a 2 in 17 chance of being picked:
- Nothing happens!
- Your allies benefit from a Healus effect.
- All enemies shatter into pieces, effectively dying instantly and dropping their normal spoils.

As far as I know, all of these effects bypass all usually applicable resistances; the "shatter into pieces" effect will absolutely wipe a whole screen of Metal Babbles despite their immunity to magic. I'm pretty sure it doesn't work on bosses, though.

Just as it was in DW2, Chance is a neat toy, but that's a steep cost for that kind of gamble. The effects are more spectacular and impactful than they were, at least.

Now that Rebeca has learned all of her spells, a point could be made for changing her to another class; with the Agility she has now, she'd make a halfway decent Soldier! She'd lose the Water Flying Clothes though, and no other class would get that much MP. And, well, Rebeca's a Wizard, dangit!













We make a stopover in Hauksness before heading further north. Things have been much easier with the Sword of Kings, and pairs of Boss Trolls fall surprisingly fast!

















: Aaaaand we're done.
: Not a moment too soon!
: Well, almost done.
: The Shrine of Honor?
: It's time.

We rest in Tantegel, get our deeds into the Imperial Scrolls of Honor, then head back southeast, via Rimuldar. Along the way, Isabel levels up off a Metal Babble kill, for 1 Str, 1 Agi, 5 VIt, 2 Luc, 3 Int, 9 HP, 5 MP, and the final Pilgrim spell: Sacrifice. For 1 MP, the caster loses their life, "attempting" to kill all monsters in the process. This rolls against Sacrifice resistance of course, but enemies with any Sacrifice resistance at all are incredibly few in number, so it's as close to a guaranteed screen wipe as it gets. Among the monsters we know, Lionheads, Stone Hulks and King Tortragons have slight Sacrifice resistance, while Kandar, Kandar Henchmen, Orochi, Metal Babbles and Dancing Jewels are immune. Everything else goes poof.

Back in DW2, when Sacrifice was the exclusive domain of our only Vivify caster, it was a real iffy proposition. Here though, Zofia can bring Isabel back with some effort, so I can imagine situations where it's more cost-effective to use it than to otherwise try to dig ourselves out of a problem. Nnnnnot very many, though.

Again, it wouldn't be unwise to turn Isabel into some other class at this point... but she's a nun, and she wants to remain one.





: We have what you need, old man.

: I give unto thee this Rainbow Drop!

: Well he sure has a better disposition than his colleague in my time.

We have in fact lost the Stone of Sunlight and the Staff of Rain, which is a bit of a shame since those are actually useful now... but we'll live.

We Return to Rimuldar.



: Oof.
: So, how is she doing?
: Still pacing like a Tonguebear in a cage.
: Hmm.
: If I was her, I couldn't sleep a wink.
: Heck, I'm not her, and I don't know how I'll get my rest tonight.
: ...right.
: ...
: Do you think Ortega's still alive?
: I... don't know.
: It's possible.
: Unlikely as it may be.
: Rebeca, this notion of Zoma being the enslaver of the dead, what does it entail exactly?
: I'm not sure. What we know about demon lords, we learn from their underlings or their rivals.
: No complete picture, then.
: There's never been a witch or warlock who asked an archfiend to their face what their powers were exactly and lived to write a book about it.
: Alright, so, what if we assume a worst case scenario? What if Ortega died and became Zoma's slave? And we have to fight him?
: It's not like we just let him kill us.
: True, but-
: Yeah, it'd suck. But I'm not seeing a lot of options here.
: Maybe I could put Zofia to sleep, and we take care of him just the three of us.
: She would never forgive you.
: ...I've done worse to many.
: ...
: I think she would, in time.
: ...probably.
: Would you really be okay with fighting him, Rebeca? Didn't Zofia say he was your father too?
: Ah!
: Right, what's that about?
: Eh, long story short, my parents were garbage, so she let me be her adopted sister.
: Oh! Well, that's kind of her.
: Either way, it doesn't matter. If he's already dead and a demon's slave besides, it's like blowing up a Hork. Be doing him a favor.
: I suppose I ought to try seeing things your way, then.
: That's always smart.
: Anyway, we could speculate for hours, and it still wouldn't help us as much as trying to sleep would. Do we call it?
: Yes, that seems wise.
: Yeah, yeah, big day coming up, I get it.
: More like the end of a long night.
: Light willing.





: The land is different, but I know this road well.
: May they have less difficulty than you did.
: Yeah.

Alvaro levels up on the way, for 12 Str, 7 Agi, 4 Vit, 4 Luc, 1 Int, and 9 HP. He really doesn't want to fall behind!







Just as it happened in another age, Zofia holds aloft the Rainbow Drop, and the path to the Isle is opened.

: This isn't much of a rainbow, but it sure is a bridge!

: Hey, that's my line!
: She did get to it first!
: Gah!



There it is, the Isle of Dragons. Or... of the Archfiend.

Zofia levels up off a pair of Boss Trolls here, for 4 Str, 4 Agi, 6 Vit, 4 Luc, 2 Int, 10 HP, 5 MP, and the final Hero spell. For 30 MP, Lightning deals 175 to 224 lightning damage to all enemies regardless of grouping, making it by a considerable margin the strongest elemental damage spell in the game, in all circumstances. Like Healusall it's not quite something you throw around on a whim, but it can definitely save you some trouble here and there.







Through the ages, the heart of sorrow
Den of the cruel, beacon of shadow
Haunted old Charlock
Accursed be thy name





Through the ages, heroes appointed
By brave deed, your stone anointed
All demons to Charlock
All moths
To the flame

[AerynB]

Those are neat little poems about Charlock. Did you make those yourself?!

[François]

Heh, yes I did. I figured there's a high chance folk would think I'm huffing my own farts there, but hey, this entire thing has been nothing but self-indulgent from the start, might as well go for broke. :D

[AerynB]

No, I like them. They totally fit the theme and writing style of the game. I thought at first they were some long lost gems of localization by NoA or Enix of America. But they're your gems! And very very good. Thank you for sharing!

[François]

Well hey, it's a relief to know that they landed alright. Thank you for reading!

[nosimpleway]

Okay this ain't my first DQ3 LP so I knew the twists well in advance

but somehow SUPER HYPED FOR CHARLOCK WOOO LET'S DO THIS

[François]

: Baramos' castle was eerie, but...
: This is something else.
: Baramos was clearly just squatting. This is what a real demon's lair looks like.
: When we're done with it, it'll be an empty shell.
: Or a smoking ruin!



: Well hey, look who it is!

Green Dragons are enormously strong, but although they have fairly high defense, they have less HP than one might expect. They'll use a medium-strength fire breath half the time, and will otherwise attack or summon an Elysium Bird for support. They're immune to Sleep this time around, and highly resistant to fire, but they're vulnerable to lightning and Sacrifice, and only slightly resistant to everything else.

If Rebeca casts her basic 6 MP Snowblast, all Dragons it actually hits can be one-shot by even Isabel.







It looks like the ground floor at least is going to be very similar to how it is in the Dragonlord's time.



Oooor not? Well hey, this'll keep things interesting.



Oof, yeah, these were gonna show up again sooner or later. Their Limbo is not permanently sealed here, so we better not mess around: they're only slightly resistant to StopSpell, so Isabel casts it until it sticks.









Hydras are back too, but at least they're no more dangerous than we knew them to be.



There's a path to the central throne room here, but let's check out these stairs to the sides first. Rebeca levels up off a trio of Green Dragons, for 1 Str, 6 Agi, 3 Vit, 5 Luc, 4 Int, 8 HP, and 7 MP.









Ah, yes, a "Barog", of course. They're weaker than Dragons by a lot, with lower than average defense and fairly low HP... but they have a 50% chance to cast Defeat. They're immune to Beat and RobMagic, highly resistant to ice, wind, Sacrifice (!) and Sleep, vulnerable to lightning, and slightly resistant to anything else. Alvaro can usually one-shot one at the top of the round, but if they show up in groups, better pull out Firevolt and StopSpell, or even Explodet if they're in the company of stronger creatures.



Huh, that's odd.

: Maybe it's the secret passage in the throne room.







Green Dragons resist fire so Explodet is impractical here; Alvaro and Rebeca take on one Barog each (Blazemore is sometimes sufficient, but Blazemost is overkill) while Isabel and Zofia chip away at the Dragons.



Lionroars are a touch stronger than Green Dragons, with about the same defense but much more HP. On top of their standard attack, they know Infermost, Blazemost and Bounce. They're highly resistant to Beat and Chaos, vulnerable to fire, wind, lightning, Sap and Surround, and slightly resistant to everything else (including Sacrifice). Opening with a Bikill cast is a smart and safe idea, but fast Wizards may be able to slip in a Firevolt at the start of the round and set up easy kills for their allies.



Whuh-oh, Alvaro misses the Barog, and Isabel gets Defeated. It's best not to underestimate the monsters around here! Zofia succeeds in bringing her back after three Vivify casts.



I'm almost certain these stairs take us to a not-particularly useful portion of the ground floor... but let's just make sure.



Yyyyyeah, that's a mirror image of the east wing. There's no reason to stay up here any longer, let's go back down.





This is also pretty much what I expected. Back down again, and to the east.



Alvaro takes two Lionroar Blazemosts to the face, dying instantly. Oof! We have Isabel handy with Revive, but we better not take that sort of punishment too often.





Good grief! That was one Blazemost and two Dragon bites. These monsters really like picking on Alvaro. He is by no means a frontliner at this point; he has neither the defense power nor the elemental resistance to endure much down here, but it also doesn't make a lot of sense to put either of our casters in his place, so we make do. It's a good thing he hits hard and fast to make up for his lack of durability! Anything he hits dies either right away, or sometime during the same round.









This is too far south to be the same stairs we saw before. These black walls are not pitfalls, they're completely solid here. I wonder where this goes if we climb up, then.



: Waaaait a minute. This should be the ground floor.
: Yeah, this is an infinite staircase, no doubt about it.
: Now we know where Baramos learned that trick.
: Maybe it goes somewhere if we climb down.



Whuh-oh, I should have guessed we'd see these again. They're vulnerable to wind though, so using the Sword of Kings sets them up for cheap and easy kills. Alvaro even takes down a Babble here, getting Isabel to level 42 for 1 Str, 4 Luc, and 1 Int. Nnnnot the best level there.



: Yup, this is going nowhere. Let's find another way.









: ...eh?!

As soon as everyone clears the threshold here, a stone wall blocks the way back out.

: Well then, someone doesn't want us to leave.
: No turning back!
: Not on foot, anyway.



: ...oh!
: No going forward either, it seems.
: Yeah, no, we're not letting this nonsense stop us. Look around, everyone. There has to be a way to open this.



: Maybe it has something to do with the statues?



: BRING IT!



Granite Titans are definitely not trivial yet, but we still know how to handle them.





The northernmost pair of statues has disappeared. Four more to go, then.















It took a bunch of Firevolt casts, and we definitely needed serious healing because Titans Hit Hard, but we come out on top.

: Pfft. Nice try, Zoma.



: What did that man in Rimuldar say, again?
: You mean, the one who was thrown in jail for lying?
: A secret passage behind the throne...
: Well I hope he was innocent, because if he really was making it up, we're fresh out of options.



: Here we go.
: The justice system proves its flaws once more.



Yup, this is the place.



I want to explore this floor next, but let's just take a peek downstairs.



: I have a bad feeling about this floor.
: I hear you. Let's go back up for now.

: Yeah, there's gotta be pitfalls above.



: Oh dear.



: Ooooooh dear.
: ...yeah. Welp. Let's go.







This isn't difficult per se, but it requires paying careful attention for sure.







There might be more stuff on this floor, but I'm sure we'll have a chance to check it out later. We've blown a lot of MP on the big loop on the ground floor and first basement, and for now I kinda just want to see how deep we can go.







Dang, this is getting complex.









Swordoids are even stronger than Green Dragons, with high HP, fairly high defense, and unusually high Agility on top of that. They get two actions per round, a slight chance to roll crits, and the occasional Healmore cast. They're highly resistant to ice, wind, Beat, Sacrifice, Sleep, StopSpell, Surround, and Chaos, and slightly resistant to everything else. Fire and lightning are your best choices, though Limbo and Expel will do well in a pinch.





Good grief, three Salamanders. We go for using the Sword of Kings, with an IceSpears cast. Zofia gets to level 43 from this fight, for 4 Str, 3 Agi, 5 Vit, 4 Luc, 2 Int, 9 HP, and 2 MP. Alvaro follows suit, for 4 Vit, 10 Luc, 1 Int, and 7 HP.



Putregons are incredibly strong and come with a colossal amount of HP, but low defense. Their attacks ignore formation, and they'll often use a mid-grade blizzard breath, with a small chance for it to be low-grade instead. They're immune to ice and Beat, highly resistant to Sleep and Chaos, vulnerable to fire and Sap, and slightly resistant to everything else (including Sacrifice). Blazemost and Bikill come recommended, but if MP's tight, will pull you out of trouble. They're worth a ton of experience though, so you probably want to actually kill them if you can.

: These undead dragons... Is this Zoma's power?
: If that's all it is, I'll count us lucky!







Oof, we're definitely too low on juice to risk taking six attacks a turn while messing around. Expel it is.





Ah, we've discussed this one before, talking about a rare drop. +100 weapon for Heroes and Soldiers, returns a quarter of the damage inflicted. The Demon Axe is a better choice.















Dang but we sure took the long way around this sucker.





: It finally looks like we're getting somewhere.
: At this rate I don't think we'll be able to go much further, though.
: ...right. There's always next time.
: Oh absolutely.













: Fia, if we keep this up, we'll have to use a Ring to get out of here. It's time to turn back.
: Yes, I'm almost-
: Wait! Do you... do you hear that?
: ...hmm?
: Eh!?



: Wh-
: HURRY!



: Ah! Is that her...





Ortega and the King Hydra square off in battle... but the beast ultimately triumphs before Zofia and her comrades can help.

: N-no!
: We're... we're too late...



: We're listening.



: We know who you are.
: If you happen to go to Aliahan in your travels, please visit Zofia and tell of what transpired here.
: Ortega, she's-
: I'm sure she's very proud of you.
: ...!





: ...
: Well don't just stand there! Bring him back!
: I-I can't... he's... not...
: Isabel! Do something!
: ...he's too far gone. Too many wounds. For too long. He's gone. Maybe if he had spent more time recovering in Tantegel, but...
: He couldn't just lie there. Not while everyone was suffering.
: But why didn't you tell him-
: Do you think it would have made him feel better to see his little girl in the hell-pit that got him killed?
: ...
: Let's... let's go. Let's just go. Rebeca, please get us out of here.
: Yeah...

: Oh... no...
: Oh cripes, Gwen, isn't that kind of how you lost your...?
: ...
: But you didn't let that stop you, did you?
: It turns out there are many ways to deal with grief.
: Some even involve saving the world.
: How I wish having to avenge one's father didn't run in the family.
: Being an existential threat to demon lords comes with its share of sorrows.

We really can't keep going, even after all this. We Return to Rimuldar.



Ortega has up to 400 HP, with 230 attack and 220 defense. He doesn't hit as hard as Zofia, but he's a fair bit tougher. On top of his regular attack, he knows Infermost, Sleep, and Healall. He's also technically immune to all magic except to fire... not that this matters much.

The King Hydra is extremely strong, with up to 550 HP but fairly low defense. It gets two attacks per round, ignores formation, and often uses a mid-grade fire breath. It's vulnerable to wind and lightning, slightly resistant to ice and Sap, highly resistant to Sleep, and outright immune to everything else. Also, it regenerates 90-109 HP per turn.

For all practical purposes, Ortega can't win. His only hope to even overcome the King Hydra's regeneration is to spam Infermost turn after turn, but his AI only has a tiny chance to cast it.

However, should the stars align in this one peculiarly impossible way, or, more likely, if you're playing a hacked version of the game...



...he dies at the end of the battle anyway. (Thanks to Jazzimus Prime for providing this picture! It wouldn't even have occured to me to think something unusual could happen if the King Hydra died.)



: Wait, what happened to the King Hydra?
: Left to lick its wounds, probably.
: What a vile beast. It knew it had no chance against us.
: If it's under Zoma's orders, we'll see it again for sure.
: Fia... if you need time...
: Right. We can-
: No. This changes nothing. We have to do this. I... I have to be the last daughter to lose her father to these monsters.
: Of course. We're with you.
: Just...
: Hmm?
: I-I love you all, so don't you dare do anything reckless, okay?
: I can say the same to you. All of it.
: Absolutely.
: You mean anything more reckless than picking a fight with a Master Archfiend on his turf?
: ...
: ...
: ...
: ...
: ...heh. Okay then. Nothing more reckless than that.
: Deal!



Alright then, second attempt. Rebeca levels up on the way to Charlock, for 1 Str, 6 Agi, 3 Vit, 5 Luc, 4 Int, 6 HP, and 8 MP.



Seeing as Ortega was almost certainly along the main path to the end, for this run we'll be checking out the branches we didn't explore last time. The first one would be the west side of the revolving tile room.



The six Granite Titans on the ground floor are permanently destroyed, so that's a lot of MP we don't have to spend again!







Welp, okay, that's a dead end after all. Let's see about the floor underneath the pits, then.





...I don't know what I expected. Looks like that's it, then. Let's pick things back up where we left off.



Good grief, that's three groups of three Putregons in a row. It's good experience, sure, but we blow one or two Firevolts every time.

Isabel levels up on the way down, for 1 Agi, 4 Vit, 4 Luc, 3 Int, 7 HP, and 8 MP. Every HP and MP is precious, so I can't complain.



: ...









: I'm curious about that door, but I don't want to double back if it can be helped. Let's just keep going.





: ...
: ...there could be good loot in-
: Yyyyyyeah, fine.



: Ugh. Of course.



: Maybe behind this one.



: Watch these be all Mimics.



: Yyyyup.



: Okay, not so bad.



We still have the one we picked from the Tree itself, so this is among the rare circumstances where you can carry more than one. (You can also get multiples from enemy drops.)



: Ah!
: Huh, it was here then. Figures.

One of us can now cast Healus at will in battle, for free. It looks like it has a chance to fail every time though, but I'm not sure how high it is. I'm going to let Isabel have it, since we need her damage output the least. This won't let us benefit from two Healus casts in a single round, however. I'll choose the more offensive posture for now, and we'll see how it goes.



: There's a welcome trinket!
: You should hang on to that one, Fia.
: Right.



: Aaaand that's it. Worth the detour, for sure.



Awwwwww yeah, that'll help a ton.







Rebeca gets taken out by a Barog here. The Sage's Stone is not remedy to all ills.





: ...oh... I can feel it.
: Yeah...
: That's... wow.
: One way or another, we're almost done.





: ZOMA! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU, COWARD?



Flames appear in the darkness, gradually lighting the room. A massive robed figure approaches.


: How wise of you to be so civil, demon! One should have some dignity when the hour of their sentence is tolled!
: It is I who will bring about the destruction of all things!
: We will stop you. The light will stop you.
: Explosions will stop you!
: If not us, there are others. You cannot win!
: All living beings shall be demolished by me and the entire world shall sink into despair. Commencing with thine own demise, Zofia!
: We have two world's worth of power backing us up. Show me what you've got.




: Here it is! This is your chance, Zofia!
: Nah, that's just a dumb beast. It's not over until the main course is done!



This version of the King Hydra is completely identical to the one Ortega fought, but where 550 HP was an insurmountable challenge to him, the creature's low defense makes it extremely susceptible to being cut to ribbons by a couple Bikill-powered attackers.



: Your servants are WEAK, Zoma. Do you have any more dumb fodder to send to their deaths or are you gonna grow a PAIR and FIGHT US?

We take a few steps forward, but suddenly...



: W-what!?
: Could there be more than one Baramos?
: No! It's just him again! That thing is undead!
: Zoma must have reanimated him. Zoma brought him back and he cracked open the seal on Alefgard from the outside!
: Well if he thinks he'll be any better at stopping us now than he was then, we'll show him the error of his ways.



Baramos Bomus is in almost every way a degenerate version of regular old living Baramos. He's a slight bit weaker, with a lot less HP and regeneration (44 to 55 instead of 90 to 109), but with double the defense power at 200. His chances of getting three actions per turn comes back from his previous incarnation, and he can still cast Explodet and breathe the strongest type of fire breath, but his power has not completely transferred to his undead form and he can no longer cast Chaos or Limbo.

He's slightly resistant to all elements, Sap and Surround, highly resistant to StopSpell, and immune to everything else. Unless you relied on Sleep the first time around, whatever strategy you may have employed back in the surface world will work again, but of course Zoma's waiting for you so do take care not to blow all of your resources.



: Ugh! What a putrid thing!
: Is this what awaits the worlds if we fail?
: Nobody cares! We're not failing!

Before we keep going, Zofia uses her Wizard's Ring once, and Isabel uses hers three times. After a few more steps...



: Gah!
: How many more times-
: Let him DIE, you BASTARD!
: Guys, I have an idea. Just give me an opening!
: Got it!



It's over in less than a minute; Rebeca ends the fight with a Blazemost cast.

: Let's see him bring the cretin back from that!

Baramos Gonus is a hollow, mindless thing, enormously strong at 360 attack power, and with up to 900 HP, but 0 defense and Agility. He's also lost what was left of his spellcasting prowess and will only attack once per round, ignoring formation. He's immune to most magic, except for only high resistance to Surround, and complete vulnerability to all elemental damage. This is not a difficult fight on its own, but he hits incredibly hard and may well contribute to the depletion of your resources.



Zofia, Isabel and Rebeca use their Rings a few times; Isabel's breaks, but Alvaro is carrying a spare for her.



: Alvaro, you're our fastest. Here.

: I don't know how it works, but-
: I'll figure it out. Just say the word.
: Everyone ready?
: Yes!
: I'm with you.
: We're doing this.

: Zoma!

: Because I want to. Because everyone's counting on me. Because I HATE YOU.

: SHUT UP AND FFFFFFIGHT ME!




(The following video has a lot of the usual Dragon Warrior spellcasting screen flashing, but there's a lengthy and sustained special effect sequence near the start that I can't in good conscience put up without warning. If you tend to be sensitive to that sort of thing, you might want to consider skipping the first 40 seconds.)

[François]

At the start of the fight, Zoma well deserves his title. He starts with 768 to 1023 HP, and regenerates by 90 to 109 per turn. He has an impossibly high attack power of 550, a defense power of 300, and his Agility maxed out at 255. He's immune to most magic, except for a high resistance to fire and wind, slight resistance to lightning, and vulnerability to Sap and Surround.

Just like original-flavor Baramos, he gets two actions per turn, and cycles through a set list of actions in order.

1st round: Highest-grade blizzard breath, Snowstorm
2nd round: Highest-grade blizzard breath, normal attack (respecting formation)
3rd round: Freeze beam, highest-grade blizzard breath
4th round: Bounce, highest-grade blizzard breath

The freeze beam is a unique ability that cancels all of our spells currently in effect. It strips us of all buffs, removes any status effects or debuffs we may have inflicted on him, and anyone under BeDragon or Transform is returned to their original shape.

Needless to say, taking a high-grade blizzard breath to the face every round is devastating, especially when it comes with a 550 attack power strike. Applying Surround and Sap helps, but not for long, as he'll remove these effects and then put up Bounce. It's technically possible to beat Zoma in this form, but you probably don't want to.

The key, then, is the Sphere of Light.

As soon as the Sphere is used, Zoma's attack drops to 320, his defense to 200 (as much as a King Tortragon's), and his Agility to 80. Strangely enough he becomes immune to fire, ice, wind and Surround, but he gains vulnerability to lightning.

In addition, his AI becomes randomized. Each of his two actions has a 25% chance to be the freeze beam, 25% chance to be a blizzard breath (50/50 chance of being high-grade or medium-grade), 12.5% chance to be a Snowstorm cast, and 37.5% to be a standard attack. He's still very dangerous, but his damage output is enormously diminished, and as we've seen, every once in a while he'll use his freeze beam twice in a row, giving us a moment to breathe.

Finally, the Sphere afflicts Zoma with a unique vulnerability, in that healing effects aimed at him will actually cause him damage instead; the game doesn't have a Heal resistance stat, so they'll always land. You'd think Healall would instantly kill him then, but it only deals around 150 damage. It can help, but you usually have better things to do with your healing juice.

From this point on, it's your casters' job to heal and to apply and reapply buffs, and your warriors' job to whittle him down. A Pilgrim who doesn't need to heal probably wants to use Barrier and Sap, and Wizards will want to go for Bikill and Increase. (As usual I didn't read up on Zoma before the battle, so I didn't realize he was always vulnerable to Sap at the time.) If you don't have Bikill handy for whatever reason, your Hero's Lightning spell will usually be stronger than their standard attack, so it may be worth dropping one every once in a while.

Aaaaaanyway, where were we?



: YOU'RE FINISHED!





: There will be others! Do you hear me? THERE WILL BE MORE OF US! YOU WILL NEVER WIN!

: Heh, you can say that again.
: As long as there is darkness...
: There will also be light.
: Sure is a pain in the ass, though.



: ...
: We did it. We did it!
: I wonder if he enjoyed his own suffering for a change.
: Pfft. I bet he did, the sicko.
: Do you think that's it? Are we going to have to watch that fissure in the north?
: Fia, we've just killed the Master Archfiend. Every other demon lord in existence is shaking in their boots right now. Anyone who knew what Zoma's capable of is gonna lay low for a while, I think.
: We've bought peace, then.
: So, Isabel, do you regret not staying in Reeve?
: Ha, not for a second!
: Goodness, what a long road this has been.
: Alright then, let's get out of here.



: Huh. Reb?



: Ugh, the chamber must be warded against teleportation. Figures.
: Looks like we're hoofing it after all.



: Uh... do you... feel that?
: Hmm?
: Whoa!



The ground rumbles, and the floor of Zoma's chamber starts to cave in. A giant crack opens underneath the party's feet, and they're swallowed by the darkness... only to be spit out from the fissure next to the chest that once contained the Shield of Heroes.



: Oof!
: Ugh!
: ...is everyone alright?
: Y-yes, I think so.
: Alright enough, I guess.
: Well that was weird.
: And we can't teleport out of here either.
: Eh, it's a shorter way to go.





: ...whuh?
: Not again! RUN!



As soon as Rebeca clears the corner, the entire corridor collapses behind us, and the north wall is sealed shut.



: Huh, that explains that.

: That was no natural earthquake!
: Whatever lives down that pit doesn't want us following Zoma's trail back there.
: Haha! What did I tell you? They're afraid of us!
: And well they should be.
: Let's just say everyone's due for a break now.
: Including us!
: Including us.







Zofia and company exit the cave. "A sound like something closing is heard from up in the sky." And at long last, the sun rises over Alefgard.



: ...wow.
: This isn't a bad looking place in the daylight, eh?
: What was that noise, though? Something... closing?
: T-the Pit of Giaga! Alefgard has a sky now! We're not underground anymore and the Pit is gone!
: Wait a minute...



: I can't... it's like I've forgotten how to send us home!
: ...what?
: Oh crap. They're... they're separate realms now. Return is not the spell we need.
: What is the spell we need, then? I need to go back to mom!
: I... I don't know. But we have time to find out!
: O-okay. We'll be counting on you, Rebeca.
: ...yeah.
: So... what do we do now?
: Well, at the very least we've brought peace here. I'd like to know how everyone's doing!
: Ha, they better treat us like royalty!



Alright then, time for our traditional victory lap! We can freely Return to anywhere in Alefgard, but let's start with a little house close by.







: Of course, the monsters are gone!
: That'll sure make it easier to be a traveling musician, heh.




: If being reconized as true heroes came with a monetary reward, we'd be filthy rich by now.
: But we are filthy rich! Do you remember how much gold we have in... uh...
: ...the Vault?
: Aw hell.



Just as it was in DW2, townsfolk with the same sprite tend to have the same dialog from here on out. I'll only show the new stuff.


: As far as I'm concerned, giving light to everyone is worth more than any gold.
: ...yeah. It is.
: I'd like to see you try to buy a decent drink with "giving light to everyone".
: Well, we do still have like fifteen thousand on hand.
: ...heh, yeah, okay, that'll be a decent drink.



: ...huh?



: No it won't.

I wonder if that's a localization mishap right there.






: Uh... okay then!



Man, this sure looks better in daylight.




: Right! If there is a reward to be had, it'll be from the king!
: Not that the king of Aliahan was very generous.
: He hardly had the time to be.
: He sure got his fifty gold's worth.




Oof, probably another localization mistake. Maybe he was meant to be at his parents' house already.



: The market is still empty.
: I hope they didn't forget how to work.


: Heh, he'll be thrown for a loop when he wakes up.



: Guys, I think we may have dealt a crippling blow to the monster-fighting industry.
: Good riddance!
: ...let's just hope they don't replace it with people-fighting.
: Gah, yeah, better talk to the king about that nonsense and head it off at the pass.


: Well, he's not too broken up about it.




: You were right about that secret passage! Thank you for the information.
: We'll get a good word in for you, no worries.

: Oh! Uh... okay!


: Sent? I suppose that's one way to look at it!
: Considering the paths my life have taken, I wouldn't find it hard to believe.
: Believe what you want, Isabel, but I know you were down there with us, kicking ass, and that's all I care about.
: Haha, fair enough!





: Did he, now?



: Ah, so it was incompetence, not malice. Good to know, I guess.




: Right. There's every reason to believe it actually will, unfortunately.
: Therefore, your lineage must continue into the future.
: ...
: Oh!
: Hmm!
: Huh.
: ...ah...
: I hope to live to see that day.



: Did that old guy just say he hopes to live long enough to see me pregnant?
: Ugh! What a creep!
: He... well... It shames me to say it, but he has a point.
: Ah, right... your dad's... magic blood...?
: Come on, it's far too early for Zofia to even think about something like that!
: I'll say!




: Yeah... We... we noticed.
: And the world of Alefgard, brimming over with light, is starting anew. Why not spend the rest of your days here?
: ...
: As much as I'd like to go home... Rubiss certainly put together a beautiful land.




: Yes, that may be the proper attitude.
: By the way, your masterpiece pierced Zoma's heart. Just thought you'd like to know!



: Whoa!
: Well that can't be a surprise, the entire foundation collapsed!
: It was a damn eyesore anyway.

: Now I wonder why the Dragonlord went through the trouble of rebuilding it.
: If your goal is to extinguish Alefgard's hopes, you can hardly do better than build your evil fortress within sight of Tantegel.
: Eh, right. Plus I guess getting to the Isle of Dragons is a hassle, too.
: Well... not always.




: Pass!
: You got a set on you, Kandar, I gotta give you that.










: Ha, you've been very brave too I'm sure!



I guess the old man at the Shrine of Honor sent them over?



: Not too nervous?
: Visiting the king after a victory didn't go so well last time.
: It'll be fine now.
: I know you feel it too.
: Yeah. Yeah, I guess I do. Alright then. Let's go!



: Zofia! Thou hast defeated the Master Archfiend! May I offer thee my deepest gratitude! Due to your efforts, day has finally dawned again in our country! Zofia! Thou art a true hero! I hereby bequeath unto thee that which is our country's highest honor, the order of Erdrick, bearing witness to your status as a true hero! Zofia, uh, I mean, brave Hero of Erdrick. Thou wilt forever remain the stuff of legends of the people of Erdrick!

He... probably means "the people of Alefgard".

Soldiers on both sides of the red carpet in the throne room produce trumpets and play the Dragon Quest Overture, which is the first time we hear it in this game! There are various still images of the party interacting with townsfolk in Tantegel and Brecconary.

A white bird symbol appears over a black background, while text scrolls up.

"Thus a true warrior was born, and Zofia became known as Erdrick, Hero of Aliahan. There was no equal. However, shortly thereafter, the hero Zofia mysteriously disappeared and has not been seen since. Many a story has been told of that darkest of nights when Erdrick left his weapon, armor and amulet behind. Legend says they have been handed down to worthy warriors of future generations as the Sword of Erdrick, the Armor of Erdrick, and the Emblem of Erdrick. Thus, the legend was born."

The credits theme starts to play, as we are taken all over the world to various cities and castles, revealing the names of staff members at every stop.

At the end, text appears, saying "TO BE CONTINUED IN DRAGON WARRIOR", accompanied by an image of a dragon statuette carrying an orb on its wings, shifting through all six familiar colors.

So! That's it for Dragon Warrior III, and it's also the end of the Erdrick trilogy. The series would go on, but it would follow other heroes, in other realms.

What an adventure it has been, eh? Despite the mechanical imperfections we've seen, DW3 is just plain brilliant in almost every regard. Where its predecessors were impressive for their time, I'd say it still holds up on its own, even after all this time. The class balance could have used another pass, maybe just to make Merchants more interesting, but that's what the remakes were for!

It was interesting (to me at least) to go through much of the game with the B Team. It very much felt like various monsters were dangerous to different degrees compared to our main playthrough, and that's a sign of a well-designed combat/class system. It's a shame it got so grindy in the Necrogond tunnel, but at this point, it had turned into a stubborn challenge run and that's just not what this LP is about. I'm quite happy they made it as far as they did, though.

Of course, it can't be left unsaid how the endgame is so much better than DW2's. The final dungeon has a length that definitely feels fair, and it's populated by monsters that are legitimately dangerous without being this ceaseless barrage of instant death. Even the Barogs with their 50% chance to cast Defeat have counterplay to them, in that they're actually quite squishy, and revival is easier to perform besides. Whatever harm comes your way, you are given options to recover from it, and that's well done.

Finally, I can't thank you all enough for following along. These games are important to me, and the stories I've been able to tell through them are equally so. If I could in even a small measure share why I like them, and perhaps why so many others like them, then I'm happy and grateful. Thank you, ever so much, as always, for reading.