Wyndia

We set out for the city of Wyndia because we refuse to acknowledge that our friends are dead. A fire that burned our house down? Never!

We pass Loki's shack to find some random NPC in there. He implies that Loki swindled Rei... There's nothing else to do nearby, so we begin our trek across Mr. Myrneg. The battles here can be pretty rough going, but that may be just because we're alone. That and there's a dude, Tar Man, who is largely immune to physical attacks, and Ryu lacks magic attacks. A version of their kind can be found at the start of the map as an NPC and asks us not to cast ice spells on them. It's a bit of a maze but head to the top. As we approach a bridge, we see a buff unicorn man standing before it. I don't know what he's doing, but, as we try to pass, he catches us. Sunder, one of the guys who burnt our house down, blocks us from progressing further. We have an advantage, though, as it turns out he's afraid of ghosts. This comes up because he thinks we're a ghoul. He knows the two of them killed us, so how else could we be here? As Balio comes in to calm his brother down, Ryu gets stabbed in the back by Sunder. As he lies there, dying, his body begins to transform! The same dragon we started the game with appeared where Ryu's body once was. The whelp is still unconscious, so this doesn't help much. The two unicorns begin to plot, and the screen casts us towards the Royal City of Wyndia.

The unibros stand before the King, hoping their caged dragon will bring them a large sum of money. As they reveal their catch to the King, the dragon is back to being Ryu. This angers his highness, and he casts all three of us into the dungeons! Soon after, the Princess, Nina, comes down to free Ryu. She didn't find it fair that the boy was thrown down here. Balio and Sunder are nearby, though. After talking about how they're going to miss "The Contest," they begin to feel happy that they'll be let free. Nina tells them she's only free Ryu, but the two trick her into letting them out as well. As soon as they can, they knock Nina out and kidnap her. They plan to make a killing off the ransom! Ryu, being the hero he is, breaks out of jail. The guard was asleep, so what else was he to do? He gives chase to the fleeing unicorns and catches up. A battle begins, but we can't use our newly acquired dragon form because Nina is a target. Whelp Breath targets everyone on the battlefield, remember? Because of this, they end up beating us up again.
 
The screen goes black, and Nina wakes us up. She tells us she used the battle as a distraction and hid, and our assailants fled. We now gain control of Nina and make our way out through the cemetery. I guess they took the key to the dungeon with them when they left? Why couldn't we just backtrack and wake up the guard? Nina is a mage, meaning she's very fragile. She's also several levels lower than Ryu, so this is going to be a rough outing. She comes equipped with an item that saves her from death once, but that got used up in the first fight. There's a zombie mob down here that causes confusion in their target. It hit Ryu, and he killed the Princess... After a slough and several gravestone puzzles I didn't understand, we reached the exit and entered the city!
 
Nina wants to help us find our friends, so she tags along while we search. The city is dealing with a thief that might fit the description but talk to the kids playing tag under the cafe. They'll force us into playing hide-and-seek. The exploration in BoFIII is really annoying. To turn the camera, hold down the R1 and move it with the D-pad. All four kids aren't even remotely hidden, but the camera is not your friend. They're all outside and on the first screen, so search corners and blind spots behind trees. While we explored, we learn the ancestors of Wyndia used to have wings, and the current inhabitants hate country folk. When we find everyone, the kid in charge will tell us about someone who fits Teepo's description and where he lives. Ryu and Nina head down the road to his house. As Ryu enters, he hears a scream, and Nina isn't with him. The two adults in the house don't seem fazed. When we exit, we'll see Nina being kidnapped by Balio and Sunder again. Once again, Ryu will be knocked out, and we'll all go to the town of Genmel. Poor Ryu is going to have terrible CTE when he's older.

Sunder will leave us with a friend of his, Fahl. He warns Fahl to watch the kids and to put down the drink. As soon as Sunder leaves, Fahl starts drinking. Using his intoxication against him, Ryu chews through the rope to free him and Nina, and Nina uses a Nobody (Nowhere) joke from The Odyssey to escape. We can explore the town to find out Fahl used to be a great warrior, but there's not much here. We learn the city is planning a tournament, and there's some seemingly sketchy child trafficking going on. If you can buy any equipment, do so but head out to the world map. Westward is the way we came, but it's blocked by an overturned wagon, so we have to go the very, very long way through Mt. Boumore.

Boumore is a lot like Myrneg, and it even has the same encounters. When we reach the top, the foreman, Mason, gives us refuge for the night. He asks us a few questions before they hit the hey, but he seems glad we're safe. In the morning, we wake up to find the exit has been locked. Sunder enters the building, so the kids quickly come up with an escape plan. There's a cable car behind them, but how do they make it work? After Nina examines the control panel, she knows that she can use magic to turn it on. Ryu buys some time for her to activate it, and he manages to wound Sunder. Nina turns it on, has an adventure trying to get on the car, and the two of them escape to the otherside of the canyon. We can explore around again, but all the exits are sealed. At the highest point, Sunder catches up to us again. His men blocked everything, so we're stuck. With no other options, Nina decides that we're gonna kill ourselves. It's a bit grim, but is it worse than being a slave, or worse? On the way down, Ryu transforms into a dragon again, allowing Nina to survive the slide unscratched. Ryu, though, us out. Nina's cries manage to wake him up, and the two of them leave.

Back on the world map, I find something called a Return Dragon...thing. What's a brood? We also come to The Tower. There's a merchant selling good armor for Nina and a puzzle I couldn't figure out, but head in. Inside are several monsters I was too afraid to fight. Eventually, you'll come to a bed. After that, we'll come to a hall. From one of the doors here, a small creature exits. As it does, an explosion rocks the hallway. The creature ventures back in. If we follow it in, we'll see a woman discussing her experiments. When she turns around to see us, SHE STARTS YELLING. When Nina tries to tell her what's happened, she keeps screaming, "WHAT?". The explosion gave her tinnitus, but it settles down in time, and we can finally have a conversation. Momo offers to help us return to Wyndia, but we'll do that in the morning.

The next day, Momo wakes us up and asks if we're being chased. She saw two scruffy looking people asking about two kids but says we'll be fine. She's set traps to protect her from the monsters in the tower. Her experiments on the magic crystals in the world attracts beats, so some defense was wise. When Nina tells her two kids got through her traps, she decides we should leave now.

But we'll have to do that tomorrow...

Battles are hard in BoF III. Maybe with a fuller party, I can handle stuff, but this is some rough sledding so far. I took Rei for granted!