Dream World?

We were halfway, hopefully, through finding the Mirror of Ra for the King of Reidlock. And then we came back to the town of Reidlock, but everything was different. Before, the King never slept, but here the King AND Queen are always sleeping. And the Prince is missing?

And to make things odder, Rek looks just like the Prince? Or at least with the correct clothing. Buy the Royal Clothes in the armor shop. They're pretty good, so you won't feel like you're wasting gold. A soldier will mention your resemblance and send you to the castle gate. The guard there will be pleased that the Prince has returned, as will the commander above him. Walk to where the King is, and we’ll see him asleep. General Tom, but not Soldi, will escort us. The Queen mutters something about a mirror, and her worst half is snoring. The acting ruler of Reidlock, Geben, will then enter the room and demand to know who we are. He sees through our "disguise" and asks us who our long dead sister is. I answered Tania, but that was the wrong answer. We’re immediately kicked out of the castle, and Tom has to suffer for allowing us in.

Out of anywhere to go, we keep heading east. Eventually, we run into the town of Amoru. The claim to fame of this isolated place is the water, which, if boiled, can cure any disease. The inn is full, and the church is inaccessible, but otherwise, nothing is here. On the first take, I thought I had spoken to everyone, and nothing advanced. I opted to get lost and walk around the world. Returning to Lifecod, our home, we talk to Tanis, who is doing well. She says she had a dream that she and Rek lived together but weren’t siblings. Everyone else in town congratulates us on becoming a soldier. Judy, not Julie, says she's given up on Rand and is in love with Rek. She asks him to marry her. The Bazaar is nearing its end, so stock on up on Medical Herbs while you can. And then I remember that first town I went to when I first became translucent. I went back to ??? and found those creepy thieves had kidnapped the mayor’s daughter, Eliza. They took her to the well to the north and are demanding a 5000 gold ransom. The mayor can’t pay it, but I head up anyway to see if I can do anything. The party pretends to be emissaries from the mayor and wants to trade the 5000 for Eliza. We don’t have that much, so they get mad, and we do battle.

Biggs and Smok aren’t anything to worry about. Biggs can guard Smok, taking all damage for him. He can also heal if need be. Cast Sap a few times and hope Rek’s Bladed Boomerang hits the poor boy twice because of his guarding maneuver. Neither man hits very hard, but Smok can do a Tower Guard wind up, so prepare accordingly. They go down, and we save the day. Eliza and the Mayor thank us, and we get a Seed of Life that raises the HP of whoever ate it. You can also get 5000 gold from him if we say we’re with the bandits, but who’d want to be confused with them? Biggs and Smok ran away, so I suspect we might see them again later.

Once again, out of places to go, I return to Amoru. It turns out I missed someone who mentioned that a woman named Gina lives in the basement of the church. Talking to him triggers our allowed entry to said church. The priest and Gina say we can sleep there tonight, as the inn is still full. And then we fall through a hole…sorta. We wake up in a room that looks similar, but a dude is outside who had no idea we were here. Gina is gone, too. When we exit the church, it looks like Amura, but before we can investigate, the river that flows through town turns blood red. Everyone panics, and we go to look into that.

The cave north of town is now opened up, and we see a pink haired woman leaking something red into the river. Like, a lot of it. She’s muttering to herself that she can’t wash it off. This is Gina, but a lot younger! She elaborates that she killed her friend, Iria. We can go deeper into the cave just north of her. There is nothing down here to wary about. Who knew getting lost and grinding could make one so strong? The cave is a long maze of various staircases and a few floating log rafts that we need to navigate through to reach the bottom. There’s good money to be had down here, as well as treasure. At the bottom is a man looking on as an injured man is dueling a monster!

The Horror Beast looks bad but isn’t too scary at this point. Two Saps and a Surround makes him fragile. The only thing to watch out for is Confusion Dance. I had no way to cure the status ailment, so hope the confused character doesn’t hit too hard. The man who was fighting him was Iria. The Horror Beast popped out of the chest sitting on the pedestal, and Gina struck him, Iria, in the battle. We all walk back to the top and ease the mind of poor Gina. Somehow, her mind got befuddled, Probably from the Confusion Dance HB cast, now that I think about it. As confusion is want to do to someone, Gina started panicking. As thanks for helping, we get a Speed Ring, which increases the agility of a character. Any time a stat is doubled is great! Return to the church bed and hit the hey. We’ll wind up in the other Amoru, and a man named Iria will talk to our old Gina. The two will reunite, and Gina will feel like we had something to do with this, so she hands us the Mirror Key, which is said to unlock the tower of mirrors. Weren’t we looking for a mirror?

North of fake Reidlock is a tower. The key we got opens it, and we now have to fight our way up. It’s a lot harder than the last dungeon! On the first floor, we have to find the way up. One of those mirrors isn’t a good mirror but, rather, a door. We have to fight three poison zombies.

This is not fun. The three are tanky, can heal, and infect our characters with poison. Have Hassan attack the whole fight, and Murial should be ready for an Antidote while Rek attacks. Have him heal if need be. Once one goes down, they begin to cascade, but those three are pretty touch-and-go early on.

Head into the right tower and go up the maze of stairwells. There are only two to choose from, but one leads to a dead end. At one point, we’ll meet a girl who can’t see her reflection. I thought she’d be a vampire boss later on, but I was wrong. At least, for now. This is Barbara, and she’s in the same position as Rek and Hassan were before they met Muriel. She’ll tag along as we’re the only people she’s spoken to in ages. She almost forgot her name. Further up, there will be a switch to trigger that, I think, opens the other tower. Don’t head there yet, as we need to knock out a Tesla Coil. At the top of the spire are two black orbs that generate some energy. Move them out of view of the mirror they’re in front of, and they’ll break. As they do, the room they’re holding up will weaken. Do this for both orbs, and then head to the left tower. Find the secret stairwell using the mirror, and do the same. A room will fall to the second story, so take the quick jump down because fall damage doesn’t exist in Dragon Quest!

Enter it and pick up the Mirror of Ra. We’ll also turn Barbera human again, and she joins us as the fourth member of the battle team. I think she’s a Black Mage type character, but she’s too low level to be of use now. Outside out, Return to real Reidlock, and talk to the King.

That night, we’ll plan our attack on Mudo. In the middle of discussions, the King will fall ill. Commander Soldi, who is not Tom, senses something is amiss and asks us to use the Mirror of Ra on the King. Something flashes and the King turns into the Queen. We let her rest and talk to her in the morning. This is Shera, and she thinks the real King may be Mudo. We’re all confused, so she joins us as we take our planned attack on Mudo to the southeast. How long has she been reigning?

If we return to fake Reidlock, she doesn’t join us, so nothing advances. We’re still locked out. So make your way to the poison fields to the south of Reidlock! We see the two soldiers guarding the gate are dead, and we get the chance to save at a wandering priest. The dungeon proper is another cavern maze. The monsters aren’t bad, but there are plenty of them. I hope you’re good for an attrition dungeon. We eventually come to a gated part of the place where the real gimmick happens. We have to navigate a dark room. To get through, just fall. This will lead to two golden plates that we need to stand on. That will trigger grates above the darkroom to open, allowing for light to venture in. We can see where we’re going now. Do this twice more later on and follow the darkroom as far as you can to open the fifth. Loop back to the first light and head up the stairs to the throne room of Mudo.

He’s definitely hard, but oddly easy for a great and powerful evil. Cast Sap twice and get ready. Mudo casts a lot of fire spells, including a teamwide attack. Muriel will probably be healing the whole fight, so, hopefully, you have Healmore. Barb’s attacks somehow did more damage than her magic. I don’t remember any status effects, so I guess the attrition dungeon gets an attrition boss.

When the dust settles, use the Mirror of Ra on Mudo to reveal that he was the King. But the King has no idea how he got here, and he seems to know Shera. The plot thickens, so we all return to real Reidlock to figure out what’s going on. But I’ll do that…

…tomorrow!

I have to type a lot because a lot happens. But a lot only happens because I want to keep playing. I wanted to call it a night before fighting Mudo, but I really wanted to fight Mudo. I really wanted to keep playing to find out who Shera is, but I really wanted ice cream. Good games are good!