Deathtamed! ...sorta

We're ready to assail the castle of the Demon Emperor, So guess what we did tonight?!

The first few floors are fancy foyers providing no real threat or puzzles than steps to walk in a game with random encounters. The next floor is a Sylph Co. Floor Puzzle. On the second of these puzzles are three chasms of interest. The left side is a treasure, a Demon Spear. The middle staircase leads to a heal spot, and the third place is the way forward. There is a switch that turns off the floors. Up those stairs takes us to a jumping puzzle. If you hit the wrong springboard, you're either turned the wrong way or sent to a floor below. Explore around. There are only a few boards, and it's obvious as to where they lead, so it should be a quick walkthrough. Eventually, you come to a staircase down. Follow them, and you'll come to another pressure plate-a-ma-jig. Step on it, and the room will begin to move forward. Go to the top of the screen until you reach a door and enter a black smoke filled room. I didn't explore around here, but the way out is straight north. Grab the Book of Dragons if you want to explore the post-game dungeon. Through the doors out is a white smoke filled room. Navigating through here is significantly more annoying. The easiest way to do so is to wait for lightning to strike, which will temporarily reveal the invisible walls. By this point, I was ready to finish this game, so I didn't walk around looking for treasures. The exit is from the left side of the room, so hug there until things light up. From here, walk the castle byways, go down when you enter the red smoke filled room, and follow the only path you can take. You'll stand before an old man, Deathtamoor himself. I'm glad this dungeon was quick and straightforward because this fight isn't.

Deathtamoor offers no motivation for his actions beyond being evil for the sake of evil, so there's not much dialogue. This is a three round fight with no breaks, and your buffs get removed between them. Round one is, arguably, the hardest. While the old man form has the lowest HP, he seems to have the highest attack. He loves his teamwide stuff that can do over 100 HP to everyone. I think it's fire based, though, so Magiguard and Barrier can help. Despite being an old man, the dudes got speed and WILL go before you pretty much every time. Despite the frequency of buff removal, you're gonna need to be buffing. Sadly, I couldn't find a predictable pattern like DQV.
Round Two takes place when the orbs the old man was using merge. A dragon comes out of them, and things pick up. He is slower, so you get some advantage here. Increase will help more than Magiguard, but you should still use Barrier to prevent the Fire Breath from ending you. Annoyingly, he can buff himself, but we can't remove those buffs. If he gets to the point where your attacks are doing single digit damage, switch Rek and Hassan to either Discharge, Wind Slash, Vacuum Blade, or Grand Cross.
After he says he's done playing, Round Three will commence! I'm not having fun anymore. I mean, I haven't been having fun for a while, but this is infuriating. He gets FOUR attacks a round! At least one of them will be teamwide attacks, and two will be massive magic blasts that can be teamwide. The other can be a physical attack or a remove all buffs spell from time to time too. It gets easier as you progress, though. Take out the Left Hand and then the Right Hand. Lefty has the least HP, and Righto can revive, I'm told. Once you're down to just the disembodied head, things ease up. All of the attacks are still possible, but there are only two of them a round. I had Muriel using Hustle Dance, which is a skill I wish I knew she learned sooner. Barbara used Mandante just to see if it's good. At 107 MP, it did 250 damage, so it was pretty alright. At around 150  MP, it was over 400. If you max out her MP, she can one shot DT. Unfortunately, Mandante spent all her MP, so she was useless to me now. I had MP healing items on characters, but hat awful Style Competition unequipped them. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it! I swamped in Chamaro because he is the designated White Mage. He performed admirably, but his attacks here terrible. Even him truing into a dragon did no damage. He has the Medal King Sword!

Now, keep in mind, I save scummed so hard for this. I didn't want to redo the dungeon, and I really didn't want to keep playing. Had I lost, I would have quit and looked up the ending on Youtube. I don't care! I got other stuff I want to do, and I really don't want this fight to ruin any future Dragon Quest games I want to play. IX actually works okayidly on my computer. Regardless of my terrible ethics...

After the dust settles, the platform we're on begins to collapse. Masarl and Kermit telepathically talk to us to say this world is falling apart. They'll get the citizens of the three towns out of there, but we're on our own. We have Pegasus, so getting out is a simple task. We return to the Dream World and talk to King Zenith in Zenithia. Zenith tells us that it was DT that split the two worlds into two, tangible, places, and, with him gone, the two will now become one...or something. Physical bodies won't be allowed to stay in the Dream World is what he was getting at. He tells us to say our goodbyes. Terry runs off to the wagon, and Muriel chases after him.

First up are Rek and Hassan in Reidock. Soldi thanks us, as neither the King nor Queen are around, for all we've done. The Royals left a note saying they're looking forward to seeing them in the other world.
Barbara, and her long named city, is up next. The old couple who made our Magic Capet think she should become Elder since it's her bloodline's tradition, but she believes it isn't time. They agree and ask her to get stronger, perhaps with King Zenith.
We go to the Dream Lifecod to say farewell to Tania and Rand. The whole town is at the bar, celebrating, but Tanis is alone with Rand creeping outside her window. She wants us to promise we'll never forget her before she becomes translucent. She says, "I love you," and we leave. The rest of the town appears similar now, with several people saying they're tired.
We then come to the real world! Muriel and Terry spend time with Grandmaz. Muriel wants to become s fortune teller. Grandmaz makes dinner, and we continue on.
In San Marino, Hassan joins his family's carpentry business.
In Gent, Cham and his grandpa discuss the Sacred Ship magically returning to the dry dock because it's magical. He then stays there to help the sick.
It's another Muriel and Terry scene, this time in Grandino. The old man we stalked a while back ends up being their father. He sold Muriel years ago, but the whole family joins back in an enjoyable reunion.
With only Rek and Barbara left, we return to Lifecod. Everyone is gone. Does this have something to do with the see-through villagers of Dream World? No. The mayor is still around and tells us everyone went to the party in Reidock.
Once there, the Royals say how proud they are of their son before the King thinks Rek and Barb are together. Shera quickly throws to the party. In the courtyard, there's dancing. Tania, unsure of what to call Rek, and Rand are together while Muriel is with a random soldier. Chamaro is with a child, and everyone else is throughout the castle. Hassan is looking over how to improve the worn down stone and woodwork. Terry is hanging out in the war room. Barbara, though, is looking sad and pale in the throne room. When we talk to her, she says she can't be here. She never got a real body, and her time has come. The worlds merge, she says goodbye, and she disappears. Her last words are, "I'll never forget you." I'm curious if she had feelings that game, surprisingly, never touched on towards Rek.

Castle Zenthia raises to the sky, and the credits begin to roll as we see the last scenes of our characters!
Chamaro is healing people and cats in Gent.
Hassan is hammering stuff in his family home.
Muriel is telling the fortunes of various surprised people in Grandmaz' house.
Terrance is exploring Amoru Cave.
Prince Rek is hanging out in the castle on the verge of a gathering of old friends. They meet up at Grandmaz' house, and Muriel brings up Barbara on her magic orb. We see her in Zenithia Castle, alongside the King, some dude, and an egg. We've heard of the egg in the castle a few times, and it's finally about to hatch. The inside of the egg is supposed to be the future of the world. I don't know what that means, but it sounds mystical and exciting! Everyone is pumped as it starts shaking. When it bursts open, outcomes...fireworks. The metaphor is lost on me.

The End