Gonna Stay Lost!

Turns out I already had those boots, but I did buy a stronger helmet!

So I went back down to the Earth Labyrinth. I walked through the maze one more time. I even stopped to cast Stone on the Earth Slime, and it rewarded me with the dispel magic. Lycia told me that I'd meet the same fate as the gods, and the battle began again!. Lycia is weak to wind magic, so spam that. Every three turns or so, they'll buff themselves. Thanks to dispel, we can get rid of that. I'm "starting" to notice how combat works in this game. Use one skill over and over again, and eat some food when you get low. So far, there has been no need to change that strategy. I got my revenge on Lycia and found the Earth Crystal behind him. There are vines to the right, so use them as a shortcut out. Thanks to getting lost in the frozen north last night, I can skip that part and head right into the desert.

For some reason, the breakable rocks in the first screen look exactly like all the other rocks. This is bad game design. You're looking for something in the lower right hand corner, which will take you to the winding path around and to the Desert of Illusions. This place combines two mechanics that I've never been fond of.
1.) A time limit on survival. We have five minutes to explore this entire area and find all that it hides. Fortunately, we can reset that timer by buying a canteen at the merchant we spawn in near.
2.) An enormous open area with very few landmarks. The Desert of Illusion Has a handful of locations and great treasures scattered about its expanse. Unfortunately, you don't get a map. There's one at the start, but you can take it with you, and we have to pay to use it. It's also useless.
Regardless, you will need to find the Fairy's Playground and move a rock onto a button. That'll remove the statues and free the trapped fairy that can't fly despite having wings. Your reward will be a scorpion pheromone because they can see your future and that you'll need it.
While you're nearby, there's a mesa to the east of this that takes you to a boss fight with Nefer. Nefer is weak to water and dispel. Make sure to get the chests when you beat him, as there's an important key item in one of them. Better to get it now than need to figure out this place again later.
The only cue Arress can use is the left most one on the map, which is Enchant Sword. This allows you to make physical lightning attacks for five turns.
From here, the easiest thing to do is find the boat. Follow the green path and step onto the sandboat. It'll take you to the clown, which can teleport you to three places. Choose the Hot Quiz first and answer the questions (Althar, Slavery, Artemis). You'll get an accessory that makes you immune to confusion, thus making those special forest mobs much more manageable, I'd assume. I didn't get to them tonight. When you leave the Hot Quis, you'll be in Nowhere.
Nowhere is south, southwest of the boat. Head back to the clown and look for the Desert Care. The door will be locked, so head east to the Green Valley. If you came here before helping the fairies, nothing will be here. Now, though, there's a scorpion. Getting close to it will get Arres stung, and he'll pass out due to the poison. But he'll be fine. He dreams of someone telling him he's special, and then we'll hear something about the radiance that has left. And then he'll wake up.

A young woman found and saved him. He'll be out of it for a few days, but Ann here will help him. The two of them have an awkward conversation about how pretty each other's eyes are. This confuses Arres because it makes him think of his mother when she held him with her radiance. At least, he thinks. He's been a hermit his whole life, so maybe he's just weird. Anyway, he's uncomfortable, so he sneaks out when he's physically able to. He wants to go back to Ann and be with her, but he must carry on with his mission! Take the northwest exit from the Desert Care. By gosh, it's story in Labyronia!

Welcome to the lava lands of Carellian! Before we reach civilization, we need to cross the mountain. This is a traditional RPG dungeon, and I'm shocked it's here, honestly. Most things are weak to water, but the spider is vulnerable to getting attacked. Climb ropes to reach the top, open the chests, and find a rock to push down. Go down to where it fell, and a new path will open up to the summit. Get the chest north and then head south. We'll find a cue for Fire Shield, which isn't necessary here if you have the Flame Cloak on, but it'll probably be important down the line. Save and head west to reach a boss.

Firebird has two flame orbs near the top of the screen. On its first turn, it'll cast reflect and buff itself. Despite that, use wave on the whole party. You'll take damage, but it'll make sense in a moment. On your second turn, use wave again. The orbs will die, and the buffs on the Firebird will disperse. Taking two rounds of damage will be less than the four rounds you would otherwise have taken. From here, it's a bit of luck. With the Fire Cloak on, Firebird's Flame Pillar won't do much damage. But it can also use Peck, which hits Arres three times. The accuracy seems suspect, but it can take out 600 HP a turn. Heal every three turns if you're around level twelve and hope you brought enough sausages or boar meat.

When you win, a path down is revealed. Taking it will spawn us just south of the town of Carallan. Upgrade your gear while you're here, of course. I'm rocking stuff that doesn't have the best stats, but I have a well rounded area of elemental resistances. That'll be important in a moment, but I'll get to that tomorrow. In the top right of the map is the pub. There's a man named Harkon drinking alone there. Townfolk have told us that he's the arena champion, but he lost his sword some time ago, shutting down the fights to everyone's chagrin. But what was that sword we got in the Desert of Illusion's name? Giving him his blade back will reactivate the arena fights. More importantly, he'll tell us the champion's crown has a bright, red jewel with immense power in it. The cogs in Arres' brain start to turn. All we have to do is beat five bosses, and the, I assume, Fire Crystal will be ours. There's a shield in the pub that's a cue for the counter spell, so get that and head to the arena. Follow the steps the guard inside tells you, and we can begin to fight for that crystal. But I'll do that...

...tomorrow.

I couldn't beat boss four, so I'll talk about all of them tomorrow. The only negative I have to say about Labyronia RPG is the controls are really strange, at least with an Xbox controller. Having X be confirm and B be cancel feels so alien, and I hate it.