The King of Reidlock gave Rek and Hassan a mission: Find the Mirror of Ra. The only clue of its whereabouts is it's to the northeast. It's a terrible clue, but what can ya do?
Traveling past the gate, the party eventually comes to a church. It's just a church, but there's a guy who was with us when the King gave the order. Cool? South of this place is a lone man looking to build a second house. For reasons not explained, Rek tries to help the man after a convoluted conversation. Hassan reminds Rek that they have more important things to do, like save the world, and sits this one out. Sadly for the two construction workers, they have no idea where to even begin. This upsets our Beefy Boi, who then offers help. And by offers, I mean he does the whole thing in a matter of minutes. Hassan thinks there's a future for himself in this. As thanks for building the second house, the guy we helped offers us a whole lot of nothing. For reasons not explained...
He does give us a clue about some ancient temple that might aid us. The Temple of Dharma is said to be across the river to the east. The man went in search of it but never found it. Perhaps we can succeed? Entering a tunnel system hidden in the desert nestled between the forest to the east, we come to another hole in the world. Falling into it takes us to the outskirts of a ruined temple. And we're incorporeal again... Inside the temple is a lone bandit who has pillaged all the chests. The only thing we can find is the Magic Map, which shows us our location on the world map. It works very strangely when we're physical, though.
Far to the west of this temple is the town of El Marino. Once again, we can't interact with anyone, but we can pay to sleep at the inn. At the docks are two star-crossed lovers, Sandy and Joseph. Sandy is the mayor's daughter, and Joe is some dude, as far as I could tell. There's also an upset third party in this triangle, Amanda, who doesn't want them to be together. Meet these three people and head to the mayor's house. He loves his dog so much that he asks his daughter to bake it a proper dinner. Sandy does this but steps out at one point, allowing Amanda to sneak in and mess with the food. When Sandy returns and gives the dog its food, we learn Amanda poisoned it! The priest is able to save poor Pero, the dog, but the mayor throws Sandy in jail. There's also a house with two parents awaiting the return of their child, Hassan. Our Hassan says it isn't him, but cogs begin to turn in my head. Doing this triggers the next important plot advancement.
Head to the docks and find the ferry to Reidlock. But we reached this place by falling through a hole. How could a boat travel to Reidlock? One of the people in the waiting room can interact with us. She was one of the party members in the opening scene and is named Muriel. She offers her aid in becoming visible again, and we follow her to Grandmaz' house. Grandmaz, being old and seeing no reason to hurry, will help us in the morning. The next day, she sends us off to a cave in the south to find an item that will make us tangible again. Before you leave, search the cabinets for the Star Fragment. It'll help soon.
RPGClassics calls it the Cave of Dream-Seeding, but I couldn't find an actual name in the game. The cave is a quick romp down with monsters not terribly scary. Maybe it's because I was walking around for a while, trying to make gold and become too strong, but I had no problems down here. I'm not saying it's a breeze, but I had no difficulties getting to the bottom. Getting out was something else, but I'll get to that in a moment. Muriel tags along but doesn't do anything. At the bottom of the cave is a monster guarding its sweet nectar. It won't let us take some, so it attacks.
Bloody Paw is a simple fight. Rek and Hassan can straight attack it, with Rek casting Sap whenever Paw casts Upper. I tried to lower its defense, but it would always just restore it. I'd rather save the MP for healing, so I gave up that pursuit. Alternatively, use the Star Fragment you got in Grannmaz' house. It'll confuse the monster, which causes it to either do nothing or attack itself for three terns. You can Sap it then with less fear of repercussions. The Star Fragment remains in your inventory after use, so I plan to use it on future bosses. The battle left me weak and vulnerable, so getting out was a bit harder than getting down. Rek had no MP, so the typical mob worried me. After only one save state scum, I managed to exit, and Wyvern Winged my way back.
Once again, Grandmaz had little concern for us and said she'd help us tomorrow. At dawn, we talk to her, and she prepares the item Bloody Paw was guarding. Something happens, and we regain our physical selves again. Muriel was once in our position before she was helped by Grandmaz in the same fashion. But she won't tell us how she spoke to her in the first place for some mysterious reasons known only to an old lady. Muriel decides to join the team, and we return to El Marino. We learn Sandy has made bail and joined a traveling merchant. We also inform the mayor that we saw Amanda poison Pero, and while he does believe us, we see him take no actions against her. He does feel terrible about Sandy, though. If we tell Joe this, he sets off to find his love. We, on the other hand, board the boat to the mysterious Reidlock Castle. And we'll try to figure out this castle's connection to our starting point...
...tomorrow!
Yep, everything is expensive, and gold is rare. I'm gonna have to figure out what to buy and skip soon. All while trying to figure out the questions I need to be answered about this world!
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