Red Dragon

We need to fly!

Last night, we got some stolen balloon blueprints from the Thieves Guild. So our mission tonight is to find the original inventor. Iluk, a town in the south, is known for its eccentric tinkerers, so there's the best place to start. As the NPC's, map, and gamer sense tell us, this is the correct place. In one of the houses is the guy who wrote up these blueprints before they were stolen. As thanks, he offers to build it for us, but he's missing one more thing: A bug. I don't know how a bug can help us, but I'm just an average man and no genius inventor. The bug we need is located behind the town. But to get to the garden, we need to ask the botanist in his weird basement. He grants us access so long as we close the door behind us. We don't close the door, but we're in anyway.

I got lost for a while here because I wasn't sure what to do. I expected a boss, but I was wrong. Instead, we need to find the pink cloud bug. It'll be on the field, but it'll surround itself with its more violent kin in battle. At the very start, it'll run away, so it'll be a typical battle. Mobs in this area like to inflict everyone with sleep, and they're pretty good at it. The EXP is pretty good. The garden is pretty simple as long as you don't go all the way to the back, get lost for a while, and have to fight your back only to fight out again, you should be fine to go all out. Bring a warp wing with you, by the way. That's something I'm quickly finding to be a wise decision. Anyway, after the fight, we'll have to chase the pink bug around the dungeon. There are three fights through until we get to the last place. After we take out the last of Pinky's friends, Kyle will lead one final charge to surround it. We'll be successful, and we can return to town. You can also inspect the giant carrots for some party banter. The inventor will tell us that it takes a day to fill up the balloon, and he lets us spend the night at his place.

Alex has a dream about Luna. She's singing until the screen turns red, and Luna starts to call out to him. When everyone wakes up, we'll be excited to take another step to find her! We'll head up to the guy's house, but the balloon still isn't inflated, much to his surprise. After a second of waiting, though, it'll burst up in full bloom, and we can take the to the air! Jessica says the controls resemble that of a ship's, so she's our pilot. She's perfect, and we land peacefully in the middle of an active volcano.

Despite appearing to be active, it's actually pretty cold. Someone surmises that it only looks active to ward off potential adventures and is a magical illusion. This appeases everyone, and we start our search for either Luna or the Red Dragon. The worst thing about this place is traps. They're easy to notice, though, so just be aware that if you see a spot that looks hot, it is. Occasionally, walls of fire will erupt before us, but these areas are also the opposite of hidden and even billow before they burst. The mob variety continues to suck with nothing new down here. Besides that, be on the lookout for rocks that we can use as explosive elevators. They'll take you to other areas of the map. As we enter the final room, a voice will call to us. It'll tell us to go with confidence, and this is the trial of the Fire Dragon. In the back of this room are four walls of permanent flame. We will have to pass through them and eat the damage, or we'll be stuck here forever. This was the courage part of the trial. I didn't check, but I don't think the damage is high. As we get past it, we'll see two daises before us, and another voice will call out. Royce's stupid outfit will teleport in. She says more evil stuff, then calls in her two dogs to watch us die.

The Bronze Dogs only sorta look like dogs. Start the battle by using most of your special arts moves, but you may want to wait on Jessica and Kyle's. Mia's will make us immune to damage (or at least fire damage) for a few turns to let us kill one bad puppy, so it's worth doing. Jessica should use her team regen spell, which I can't remember the name of. Focus on whoever you want to, including using Kyle's art. When one dies, the other one has a surprise for us. I don't know if being alone triggers it or if it was happenstance, but the remaining dog set itself on fire. The next turn, in used Flame Rush, which deals about fifty damage to the whole party. Mia's art skill ran off, so it hit everyone, but Jess's regain healed most of it back. Each dog only has 3000 HP, so it's not a tough fight.

Royce will feign upset that we killed her dogs and teleport away. As she does, she reads our future, which makes us think the Red Dragon is already gone. Jessica thinks it's a huff piece to hide her fear. In the next room, though, is the absence of a dragon. After a moment, the spirit of the Red Dragon will appear before us to let us know her physical body was taken long, long ago. But she grants Alex the Dragon Shield and says she wants to rest now.

I walked back to the balloon because I didn't have a warp wing on me. We all got back into it and set sail again. This time, though, it didn't go so smoothly. Something went wrong, and we began to fall from the sky. Jessica managed to save us, but we all spun out of control in a far too long anime scene that was mostly yelling and praying. We landed in Raza, but the locals were more interested in our balloon than anything and hauled it away, leaving us to dust ourselves off. Lykia is still here, as is Lily's granddad. We let him in on the bad news but promise we're still on the hunt. Lykia gives us a clue that the next dragon can be found in the Layton region to the east, near a lake. To get there, head to Meyrod and cross the newly rebuilt bridge.

This is the best world map theme yet. There's a number of places we can explore early, but I went to the town. The music here is something that even the characters can hear, but they say it's terrible. I actually kinda dig it, but I suspect it'll get annoying soon. The locals tell us they can usually hear the music of the earth and wind in their city, but something is causing it to sound like a headache. It's killing the melody that a city full of singers want to hear. But with the Vile Tribe seeking vocalists, this might a blessing. Regardless, the Chief asks us to fix everything, both for them and so they can summon the Blue Dragon in the lake.

We have to walk through a cave will a lot of pitfalls. Once you realize where the sinkholes are, you can avoid them. However, at the bottom of them are usually treasure. You'll also have to fall through one to reach the end. Once again, mobs are palette swaps. In the back are two rocks and four holes from which the sounds are coming from. We'll have to push the rocks into the wall on the left. Our characters say the music changes, but I can't hear any difference. Return to the Chief, and you don't need to use a wing this time. The Chief will thank us and let us enter the Blue Dragon Tower. To reach it, we'll need to go to the lake to the north (from the village) and have two lovers sing a song together. First up is Jessica and Kyle because they're actually a couple. Kyle sings so out of tune that it doesn't work. Nash has the hots for Mia, so that's couple enough. Neither of them believes in their vocal prowess, so they, too, fail. With no option, everyone suggests Alex use his ocarina. It might reach Luna, and their combined powers will summon the tower!

Alex beings to play, and we cut to Luna, Lily, and the three unnamed singers in a cage. Luna begins to sing her song, and the others join her. The Vile Tribe teleport in, and each comment about the power. Ghaleon enters and merely thinks that this is a herald to his world domination plan. But it works, and the tower rises from out of the lake. And we'll explore that...

...tomorrow!

Who is Laika, and why does he know everything? And why is he being cagey? Also, don't read the books in the Vane library. They're totally going to spoil one of my foreseen plot twists...