Remind me to read about Corvus and Crator.

It turns out that eating the fygg isn't the point of no return, but I'm still ready!

We consume the mythological fruit, and the last stop of the Starflight Express is the Realm of the Almighty. We can still see Stella and Sterling, but "fatguts" thinks that'll stop in time. As we approach, we see that the sickly green background has turned a shade of black. From the throne of Zenon comes a mass of black tentacles that warp and reshape the heavenly terrain we once knew. This isn't heaven anymore, but it does kinda look like a tree. Even the map is different for this area. It's not a top down map but a simple side profile that shows us what floor we're on.

The Realm of the Almighty is a twelve storied tower, but we need to dig through the two basements first. Along the way, we'll see new palette swamped monsters and open a lot of treasure chests. Most of them are Mini Medals, but there's some fair share of late game gear in them, too. Some aren't the best, but they're crafting items I might use later... Start by going left, a dead end, and then head right. Head up, then down to loop around the useless room. From there, we'll travel across a light bridge to the other side. The light bridges are going to be a common occurrence, so take notice of the strange blue squares to indicate their existence. They're obvious, so you shouldn't miss them. You'll also be climbing ropes a few times, too. If I recall correctly, the next area is over a lake. Go as right as you can until you open the single chest, then loopback. I've forgotten what's after this, but you'll eventually reach some actual architecture in time. You'll spawn in the right wing of it, but check out the left wing before going through the center door. Behind that door is the re-revived Commander Hogg. He lets us in that he's been brought back and serves his new master now. We're gonna fight all three Commanders, aren't we?

Hogg is just as easy as he was before, if not more so. He still once has one attack per round, and it's always physical. I don't remember if it was before him or afterwards, but there's a shortcut to the bottom. This is the only way back to the Starflight and Protectorate, so if you're low on HP/MP, items, gear, etc., now's the best time to head back. You won't get another one the rest of the game. From here on, the dungeon becomes more streamlined, but make sure to take the south exit before you reach the jail cells and the trolls you need to Frizzle for the sage job. Before that, though, is Commander Owl. He's still the hardest of the Triumvirates, but it's amazing what a few levels can do to help. Sap still seems to never hit, so just magic spam him unless he uses Bounce. Owl hates Corvus and plans to kill him when he's done with us, so I guess we save the BBG? When you get to Commander Cat, who's masterless and looking for a challenge, you've finally reached the point of no return.

Corvus is sitting on his chair, still condemning humanity and the weak gods who let them exist. When he asks if we've come to stop his plans, there really is no going back. A fight breaks out, but it's oddly easy. Sap seems to never miss, and Corvus lacks any killing power. I'd go into details, but this is just round one. He's confused how a mere mortal could push him so far, but he's not at his final form yet. What little remains of his angel wings drop off for that full demon effect he was looking for. His hair becomes wild, and his skin turns green. He's serious now! He tells us he'll be waiting "down below" and fly off. Lucy climbs down from the throne room of the Zanon and trips, putting her right before the core of this new Realm. When we approach it, Corvus calls forth Barbarous to stop us. I don't remember how this fight went, but I didn't have any issues. Multiheal is a very powerful spell, and Sap hits well enough.

So it's time for the final confrontation! A full powered fallen angel vs. a human and her three random blokes! And this is a very tough fight! I had Tryton using Kabuff and Magic Barrier until Corvus simply removed it in one of two ways. Cidolfus kept trying to use Sap, and it hit surprisingly often! Once Corvus is weak, spam fire spells! Drew simply attacked, doing nearly 200 damage a round. Lucy, though... She had gotten the level 100 sword quest from the guy in Swinedimples, and that was what saved us. I had her spamming Gigagash, which did nearly 400 damage every turn. It might have been dumb, though, because Gigagash scales on attack power AND magic power, neither of which priests aren't known for. Maybe giving her a better (attack based) sword would have been wise, too? Corvus uses magic and physical attacks, usually both in the same round. He can also lower our defense at the same time as our speed. Status effects will also be common, with sleep and paralysis being the ones I've seen. Just when you think bird boy is on the ropes, he can top up in MP and heal himself for 500 damage. But those aren't damaging round, so I'll take them. Occasionally, he'll laugh, which is just a waste of a turn... Corvus has 4800 HP, and Lucy ran out of the MP. Fortunately, I had a sage's elixir on hand. Lu had to use Multiheal a few times, but Tryton became our primary healer for several rounds. At one point, Lucy had died. Tryton had a revive on him, but then Cid died. I hoped we were close to killing him, so I ignored it. Thankfully, Drew got the final 200 HP in, and we saved the world!

But Corvus has plot armor, so he's not dead. He can't believe that the new god of this world could be beaten by a Celestrian who gave up her immortality! Just as he's about to wipe everything out, a blue light shines from below. A voice rings out saying, "I've finally found you." Serana is here. She gets up into Corvus' face, and he gets mad. He does blame her for betraying him, but then Serana explains. She holds the necklace he gave her (that I forgot about), and we replay the various scenes in their life. Overlaying them is the image of Serana and the Demon Corvus, which I thought was pretty cool. She apologizes for all that he's suffered, which makes Corvus rethink his actions. He snaps back into his angel form, and the two are holding hands. He thanks Serana for stopping him just as he was about to wipe out all life. He apologizes to us and reminds us that we're his student's student. His last words are to tell Aquila what a fine guardian his pupil became, and he and Serana go off. Would any of this have happened if Serana got to Corvus before we unlocked him?

A voice calls out to us, and the camera cuts to Yggdrasil. It's shrinking! It gets smaller and smaller until the physical form of Celestria appears where the tree once was. She teleports to us and says that all is as it should be. The Goddess uses her powers to restore this broken world to the green it was before, and the legend of the Celestrian's return is retold. All the Celestrians on the Observatory are brought here. But we're not a Celestrian anymore... Our fate is to be elsewhere. As the Observatory begins to vanish, Lucy boards the Starflight Express waiting for her. All aboard wave goodbye to their Goddess as she turns the remains of our former home into a star show for our new home. As we descend to the planet, we get small glimpses of the friends we made along the way. I won't go into details, but the few I took notice of were:
Marionette had somehow moved to the grave of Marion.
In Zere Rocks, Mason's old flame was checking out all the statues he made.
The shadow of a dragon flies over Greygnarl's memorial.
The ghost of Swinediples didn't go to the afterlife after all...

But now it's our turn. We have a tearful goodbye with Stella and Sterling as our friends glow an otherworldly pink. We're losing our grasp of the immortals, so this needs to be short. Stella and Sterling get on the train, and we see them off one more time. Stella opens the door to say that we're her best friend, even if we can't meet anymore. She tries to tell us a secret but can't get it out. Something about "nail"...? As they take to the sky, a golden fruit falls to the planet south of Porth Llaffen. The words "to be continued" appear on the screen, and we can save.
 
There's a massive amount of post game content in Dragon Quest IX, but I don't know how much I'll bother with it. My connection to everyone is settled, and I don't know if more stuff will do anything? Plus, I don't know how much of it is paid DLC or wifi stuff, which I can't do anyway. I might bumble around, but I'll leave those escapades off the blog. Consider DQIX to have reached...

"The End"

Evil unbound!

I spent two days recovering a lost save, switching a few jobs, and grinding. Fun times!

We head into the Gittingham Palace, but we don't get far. Commander Owl is flanked by two knights, and he's barring us access to the depths of the Gittish Empire base. I am so glad I changed jobs! Lucy is now a sword wielding priest, and Tryton is a Paladin. I tried to see if I could make Armamentalist work, but it's a terrible role. Drew was our "make sure we don't die card" while grinding, so he got to level 51 during the last few days. But Lu and Tryton's levels are lower than a few days ago, so our average level is about the same. Anyway, take out the ads before they get annoying. One basic attack and a Kacrackle works. Afterward, make use of your paladin's Magic Barrier move. It increases the party's magic resist, which is Owl's primary attack method. But it's not his worst! Another thing Magic Barrier does (I hope) is increase status effect resistances. Owl loves, loves, loves to confuse your team. And confusion lasts for what feels like forever, and I couldn't find any item to remove it. I'm sure there is one, but I didn't look too hard. My primary method to defend against it was to just not get hit with it! On my second attempt, it worked! He primarily casts Kawhoosh, a wind spell.

He'll die and feel embarrassed that he lost to mortals. But he warns us that we're no match for Commander Cat or Lord Godwin. We can now enter Gittingham Palace proper, and it's a decent sized maze. There are a few dead ends, and most of the treasure is there. The left side of the bottom floor (on both outer and inner buildings) is one stop, but it's full of stuff. The right side takes us up, and we'll eventually come out into a courtyard. The inner building has two stairs up, but find the instant dead end one first. Check the bookcase for the Sage job quest. You can't do it now, but it's worth picking up. If you find a locked, silver door, you know you went the wrong way. Go past it AFTER picking up the quest since it's along the way to the "correct" path. Loop around the inner keep until you reach the last member of the Triumvirate. Commander Cat is a noble samurai blocking us from confronting Godwyn. He only attacks with physical moves, and his non physicals seem to have terrible accuracy. Kabuff up, Sap, and wail away. I had no problems with him.
 
Behind him is the throne room of the Gittish King, Godwyn. I didn't pick up any animal pun, so I instantly don't care. What I do care about is the traitor teacher, Aquila, kneeling before him. Godwyn asks for the fyggs he stole from us, but didn't we have the real ones? Aquila goes to hand them over but pulls out a sword instead. Aquila was a triple agent the whole time! He only pretended to go rouge on us to get to Godwyn and free the enslaved Celestrians. Aquila goes to strike down the King, but Godwyn takes no damage. Godwyn blows him away and then summons a massive fireball to burn him. All while we watch on... Once we're done sitting idly by, we try our hand at killing Godwyn.

He's incredibly easy. Godwyn has two forms, and the first one was beaten in about six turns. He'll get annoyed that he can't defeat mere mortals and turn into a dragon (?). Even then, he's a sinch to beat. His first form can remove buffs on you, but I don't recall the second form having such powers. I tried to keep Kabuff up as often as I could, though, regardless. Godwyn seemed weak to fire, but I can't say for certain. Both versions took to getting Sapped with little difficulty.

But Godwyn's not done yet. Just as he did to finish off Aquila, we'll try to do to us. While Lucy stands there looking at it, Aquila will get up and deflect it. In the same motion, he'll slay the fallen King once and for all. Aquila will begin to glow blue and tell us how proud he is of us. He regrets doing what he did but still thought it was the best way. His final words are to entrust us with his mission to save the captured Celestrians and protect the world. King Godwyn dropped the Gittish Wand, which I think opens up the locked, silver door we passed before. At the very least, it's open now, so head back there and descend into the Oubliette. You can rest up if you want to before venturing forth, though.

These ruined halls are where the King turned Celestrians into monsters 300 years ago in an effort to rule the world. We walk past a few ghosts who tell us that but make sure to check all the bookshelves. You'll get some end game gear and alchemy recipes. I only managed to make one by the end of the night, though. We'll eventually walk into a cave system that takes us to the very bottom. There we'll see one more Celestrian locked up in chains. We can free him, but we probably shouldn't have...

As his chains fall off, he laments that all he did was for naught. He revived the Gittish Empire and destroyed the Observatory in an attempt to kill Zenon. All because mortals are terrible creatures. He says the gods are weak and need to be destroyed. Then he introduces himself as Corvus. His feathery wings have turned to demon sinew, and his halo has grown into horns. He's a full demon now. He's been locked up here for 300 years, festering on hate and isolation. Since we ruined his plans, he wants to kill us, and he attacks. Like the battle against Aquila on the Starflight, we can't do anything. Despite Corvus being a demon, he's still considered a higher rank of Celestrian than Lucy, so we can't attack. Corvus kills us in one hit on the second round. Corvus flies out of the palace and lingers in the sky. He calls for Barbarous and says he's going to destroy the world. He doesn't do it, though, and Stella wakes us up. It's just in time for us to hear Sarona running after us.

Or...Corvus, I should say. Sarona knew he'd be down here, but she just missed him. She reveals why she's been looking for him this whole and tells us. After the Gittish Empire attacked Wyrmwood, they came back for the Celestrian. Corvus was willing to fight, but he was still injured from his "fall." The only other option was to run away, but Corvus didn't want to leave because he liked it here. He and Sarona fled to the Spring of Hope, but Corvus still wanted to defend the town. It was his role as guardian, after all. Sarona and her dad knew he'd say that, so she offerd the angel a drink of the town's "special" potion. Alas, it wasn't a healing pot but a sleeping brew. Corvus was put to sleep to protect him. As he lies there, knocked out, three Imperial soldiers enter the cave with Sarona's dad behind them. Dad made a deal with the Empire to turn over Corvus to protect the town, and Sarona was unwittingly involved. Corvus is barely conscious for this, so he assumes Sarona went along with the plan. As the Gittish leader leaves with the Celestrian, he orders the rest of the town destroyed. Sarona's last words were a promise to find Corvus again... This whole scene reveals Wyrmwood's backstory of why they don't trust outsiders: Corvus got their town razed. It's also why Corvus hates humans: they betrayed him. Sterling runs down after us to get us in the Starflight Express. All the other Celestrians are already there, and we need to talk to Apus.

We fill the mentor in on Aquila and Corvus, but he seems resigned to dying. Due to the red tape, we can't attack Corvus, and Apus is too weak to defeat him. As we leave his chair, Yggdrasil asks us to talk to her. Celestria tells us that, just as we've saved the lives of so many people, their love for us will save us. We see bright lights forming near all the places we've visited: Their powers rise to the Observatory and from one last fygg. Celestria tells us to eat the fruit and become mortal. Only then will we be able to slay Corvus and save the world. When we bring this up with Stella and Sterling, they both say it's a pretty raw deal. Become mortal to save the world, or stay immortal and enjoy what time we have left? We're asked if we want to head to the Realm of the Almighty, where Corvus is to become the new Zanon, and I get "point of no return" vibes. So it looks like we'll be finishing Dragon Quest IX...

...tomorrow!

I'm out of side quests I desperately want to do, and alchemy has reached its limits for me. I'm as ready as I'm willing to be, so let's do this!

...and she's riding the choo choo to heaven.

We're in jail, so we're gonna have to break out. But first...

..house tour! Sterling, the foreman in charge of keeping his fellow prisoners working, has been tasked with giving us a look-see of the prison. It seems nice of them, but I guess this is how OHSA works in the Protectorate. We have to walk to four areas:
The gate to the south,
The graveyard in the southwest,
The guard tower in the north,
And the random spinning thing in the east.
Sterling tells us this area is blocked by magic gates that prisoners can pass through. Guards, though, have no issue. When we get to the north gates, Sterling suggests that the best way to learn something is to do it. Lucy walks up to the dreaded gates and passes right through. Sterling is shocked, but then something starts to glow. It's the Gittish Medal that Greygnarl gave us. I had forgotten all about that, which is why I didn't write about it. Grey handed it to us just after he got drunk, and the whole scenario made that seem like a moot point. Despite being able to charge the guards, Sterling suggests we wait before trying. That night, after our first night of slavery, Sterling confides in us that he has a plan. He doesn't know we'll enact that plan, but we're the key to getting out!

We awaken to hear a commotion at the gallows post. A fellow slave is being loud, so the guards want to kill him. This, of course, causes him the be louder, and Sterling can't see anyone else die for a dumb reason. The plan begins now! Sterling whips everyone into a frenzy, and the humans rebel against the few guards around. Before we go on, though, leave the prison. If we can walk through the barriers, you might as well get a full team together. It felt wrong to tarry, so I got my team and Zoomed back ASAP. We went to the guard tower and shut the magic field down. There's one, lowly, soldier in charge of it, and he's small fry. Beneath him is the solitary confinement wing. Sterling leads us down there, and Commander Hogg is waiting for us.

Hogg only gets one attack a round. He can buff himself, attack one person at a time, or swing his mace to strike every one. Sap works pretty well, and physical blows are the way to take him out. He's not strong, so just keep your team healed. As he dies, he remembers he's died before. Greygnarl killed him long ago, but he was still human then. He wonders if this means that he's still dead? With the leader taken out, we hear no more words from the guards. Sterling opens a nearby chest to find his whistle. The other chest contains the Ultimate Key that opens any lock in the game! Sterling suggests we open the solitary confinement doors first. Down the stairs are a handful of rooms, each containing a Celestrian in a coffin shaped box. As we free our brothers and sisters, we can see they're nearly dead. Sterling wonders if Hogg had been draining their magic power for the barrier? I wonder how he can even see these guys? Once every one is free, we help them outside.

It's very much not safe. As we exit, Barbarous attacks. He spits purple balls at us, and the former slaves begin to panic. Sterling manages to calm them down by reminding everyone that he's gotten them out of other messes before. Besides, Lucy is here! Despite that, Sterling blows his whistle. From the sky, behind us, shines a brilliant light, and from that soars the Starflight Express! Is this the "fatguts" Stella has been yelling at the whole game? In what might be the funniest scene in the game, the train rams into our attacking dragon, which makes him retreat. We cut to the cabin of the Starflight to see Stella pounding away. Lucy spears behind her, and Stella is relieved. That relief turns to annoyance as her boss enters. I won't go into detail about their relationship as it's more annoying than anything, but Sterling is in charge of the Starflight Express. Which makes me wonder what Stella's role is? Regardless, we have four or five nearly dead Celestrians in the back car, so we should head to The Observatory.

When we get there, we see everyone we saved is in good health again, and they tell us to talk to Apus. The fyggs, right! We walk down the building and speak to the guy in charge. We inform him of the fyggs, the Gittish Empire, and Apulia's betrayal, but that's not how he's seen it. Apus says that Aquila showed up a while ago with the fyggs. He lied about us working together, but there wasn't any animosity in what he said. He simply handed over the fyggs and said "farewell" before leaving abruptly. Apus begin to worry about him, but we have our role to fill. The Celestrians have been waiting for Yggdrasil to bloom for eons so that they may ascend to the Realm of the Almighty. And that time is now!

We hop aboard the train, and Sterling hits the rainbow speed. It's not plaid, but it's close enough. The doors open onto a beautiful, green, heavenly rock formation. It's all floating in the air, and there are a few treasures to find, but we need to climb the stairs. There's a door that only lets those pure of heart in, and they open for Lucllia. I always knew she was of divine nature! We climb more stairs until we come to a building with a similar architectural design as the Observatory. We venture inside, and poor Apus' heart nearly gives out. The throne room of God is in ruins. A massive hole has been blown out from the floor, and Apus believes that the same attacks that nearly wiped out the Observatory struck here as well. Worst still, the Almighty is nowhere to be seen. Up more stairs is where the offering of the fyggs is to happen. Apus hands them to Lucy, and they pray together. The seven fruits float in a circle over our head, and a voice echoes from somewhere far away.

The voice congratulates us on our accomplishments and welcomes us home. We're suddenly warped back to the Observatory, to the foot of Yggdrasil. From the world tree appears a golden maiden. She introduces herself as the Goddess Celesia, the daughter of the Almighty. Do you remember the dream Lucy had on day one? The message behind that is revealed now. God, Zanon, wanted to destroy the human race. However, Celestia believed in us. In an attempt to stop her dad from wiping everyone out, she turned herself into a tree. The only way to return her to normal was to collect benevolence. Zenon didn't think humans could do it, but he had no choice but to follow her daughter's plan. He created the Celestrians, and the rest is history. But that's the past, and we need to do something about the present and future! Celestria knows Zanon is still alive, or else she'd be "dead," too. No one knows where he is, though, but there's something happening in the Protectorate. The Gittish Empire is amassing an army capable of destroying the planet and the domain of the gods. We have to stop it! Stella and Sterling return to the Starflight in preparation for us storming the Gittish Castle, which I'll have to do...

..tomorrow!

The castle is surrounded by a dark magic forcefield that the goddess has to remove. I get big final dungeon vibes from this, but I know this isn't it. We're getting close to the end now.

Upraor in Upover

Two updates in one because reasons!

Sarona was waiting for us at the entrance of the Bowhole. After saying an incantation and opening the path, she continues her search for, I presume, Corvus. The Bowhole is a pretty typical dungeon, but the amount of treasure feels higher than before. You'll have to fall down a hole at one point, but it doesn't matter which, since they all take you to the same room. I think the north one is faster, but you'll want to explore everywhere anyway. Towards the bottom is an area where metal slimes spawn. These guys give 10000 EXP a kill, so guess where I spent a lot of time over the last few days. By the end of this update, I'll be around level 40.

But at the bottom is a scary statue. As we approach, a booming voice tells us this is a test to reach the Hero of Heaven, Greygnarl. We've heard his name a few times already, so we know we're on the right track. Suddenly, the statue turns into something more biological and attacks. Badrongo is forgettable, and I've forgotten what he does... Anyway, he dies, and we see a shiny bow and arrow behind him. We pick it up and Zoom to Wyrmwood. Travel west until you reach the gorge and read the inscription before the chasm. Lucy will shoot an arrow over the gap, and a bridge of light will appear before us, leading the way to Upover! The villagers from Wyrmwood will catch up and come to their senses about us. They'll realize that we're really not with that Black Dragon and apologize for all they've put us through. I think this means the shop will open up, but I didn't go check. The trek to Upover is long and dangerous, especially if you want to go exploring, so it's worth heading back to town to check. If, for no other reason, then to rest.

But, in time, we'll reach the mountain village of Upover. The gate guard is shocked that travelers have shown up, indicating it's been a while since they've seen new people. The mayor is up the first set of stairs, and we'll ask him to see Greygnarl. The villagers talk to him somewhat regularly, so it's not a big deal if we give it a climb. In fact, Uproar even has a festival every year where they get Grey drunk on their special brew, and it's coming soon! But, for now, we have to get through the Magmaroo. As we leave the mayor's hut, Stella wonders how Greygnarl is still alive if he fought the Black Dragon 300 years ago...

The Magmaroo is filled with lava themed monsters and floors. This makes sense as we're in a volcano, presumably. Nothing is that bad, but keep your HP/MP about ya. Keep in mind, I'm at level 40 with the best gear you can get at this point, so who knows how it is on a low level run? At the summit is a wide open area. A voice booms from a nearby cave to wonder who we are. Lights begin to shine inside as smoke billows out. An eastern, serpentine dragon appears before us! Greygnarl was a dragon the whole time!!! Despite us here in an attempt to save the world, Grey doesn't give us much time to speak. He smells the scent of the Gittish Empire on us. The Gittish are the ones who attacked Wyrmwood during Corvus and Serana's time, and the owl guy mentioned them when we first met. I don't know how we smell like something from 300 years ago, but Greygnarl assumes we're with them, here to finish him for good. In response, he attacks.

He only gets one attack a round, so, even if you're not at level 40, I don't think he's very strong. His speed seems to fluctuate, though, so cast Accelerate to make things seem conventional. Sap's accuracy was poor. As you'd expect, he can breathe fire, so bring anti fizzle gear. We'll win, and the dragon will feel nothing but shame. He admits that he's injured and can't fly. The mayor's wife will catch up to us and attempt to soothe things over between us. Greygnarl isn't hearing of it and sticks to his pride, believing that we're the enemy. Nothing can be done here, so return to town.

Back in Upover, there's a commotion going on at the gate. Three Gittish Empire soldiers have stormed the town! They're here to finish Greygnarl off and destroy the last refuge of anti imperial beliefs while they're at in. Lucy quite likes this place, so we jump in to defend it. We're against three guys, but none have the strength of a boss. I went all out, but I shouldn't have. As we win, we'll have another surprise behind us. The owl guy who destroyed the Starflight Express will drop in. One of the survivors from our battle is still alive, and he's pleading to be saved. However, Commander Owl will call him too weak to live and kill him. He then bemoans that he has to kill us AND Greygnarl now. He knows Lucy was Aquila's student, but that means nothing to him. Without doing anything else, though, he flies away. We've saved the town!

After you rest, speak to the mayor's wife outside the entrance to the Magmaroo. She'll inform us that Greygnarl has requested our presence, and he's much more open to discussion now. He does have two conditions, though.
1.) Bring him beer.
2.) Lucillia comes alone.
Head to Stornway and drop off your random patty members, as Lucy will need to be the only person in the party for this. After, head down the stairs outside the mayor's house and pick up the Dragon Brew. Zoom back to the summit and speak to Greygnarl.

After he has something to drink, he's a different beast. His speech is more casual, and he's more open. He asks who we are and why we're here. He's shocked that the Black Dragon, Barbarous, has returned. Defeating him was what led to Grey being called the Hero of Heaven. He'll then say something about needing to fly and "Dragon Warrior" gear, but before he can elaborate, we're attacked.

Purple orbs of magic begin to explode around us. We can see that Barbarous is attacking. But it's not just us he's after; it's the town of Upover. With no time to sober up, Greygnarl gives us the Dragon Warrior armor and asks us to put it on. It sucks, but we have to wear it. At least it looks rad! Despite informing us he couldn't fly earlier, we jump on him and take to the skies to fight Barbarous. It's all in a CGI cutscene, which looks pretty cool. The two dragons have a duel over Upover, and Greygnarl seems to have it won. He's deflecting the breathe attacks of our enemy and tanking what he can't like a champ. As Grey gets his own offense in, Barb looks to be defeated. In a final attempt to not repeat history, though, he has one more special move. Purple magic glows from him, warping Barb before us. A blinding light shoots out, and, when we can see again, he's grown in size. He's absorbed a similar magic to what destroyed the Observatory! Barbarous shoots out several beams at us, and Greygnarl can just survive them. But that's not all. Barb summons Frieza's Death Ball above him and launches that. But not at us...

The town of Upover is about to be wiped out because Barb wants Grey to suffer. Grey looks back at us and says, "it's been short, but it's time we part." He bucks us off his back and sacrifices himself to save the town. We see our new dragon friend wiped out as we continue to fall.

When we come to, we're naked and in jail. This is Gortress, the imperial prison run by Commander Hogg. We're before him in our underwear, and he makes some pig jokes before getting mad. He's supposed to do something special with Celestrians, but we're not Celestrian. Because of that, we're to be treated like all humans and be put to slave work. We're taken to our cell and regain control. The first thing I did was put my gear back on. We still have all our items, including weapons, so prepare for a fight. Look around the cell, because you have to, until you annoy your neighbor. He'll tell us to go o sleep, and we'll be awoken just in time to be a slave. We'll be escorted to the yard, where we'll meet our neighbor. He's the foreman and the person in charge of showing us around, which he'll have to do...

...tomorrow.

The Starflight Express is down, Zoom doesn't work, and Evac doesn't either. This means I can't do sidequests or grind or alchemy...

Betrayal

The mysterious and beautiful healer has a monster after her. What will she do?

In the chief's hut in Bat Town is the guy in charge, Bat Sr., and the woman who has the whole town in rapture, Sara. Neither of those are their names, but I can't remember the random string of letters that come after the first syllable. We ask about any golden fruit, but they don't know of any. The two of them inform us of the monster causing a ruckus in the plains. They task the heir to the nomadic people, Bat Jr., to defeat it, but he's too afraid to do so. It brings shame to his father. As this happens, a roar is heard outside. The monster is attacking again!
 
We rush outside to do what we can, and the villagers act as best they can. They try to corner it and keep it away from the chief's yurt, but it's too agile. Suddenly, we appear before it. It gets scared and runs away before we can take it out. Returning to the yurt, Sara and Bat Sr. are surprised that we could intimidate it. Sara then comes up with an idea! If we help rid the town of that monster, they'll help us find the fygg. Bat Jr. leaves the yurt and runs off somewhere because he's trying to be brave. If he can muster the courage to do so, Bat Jr. knows he can defeat the beast. Follow him.

There's a smaller outpost to the north that Bat Jr. went to. We overhear him talking to people in a yurt, and a villager throws us into the hut. Bar Jr. restates that he knows what to do and goes off to do it, but he tells us not to follow him. Follow him. To the north is a loading zone. When we cross the bridge, we'll see him running off to the east. Follow the path, and you'll come to a small cave. We'll see Bat. Jr. is talking to the monster, which shocks him. He thinks that he can trust us, so he lets us in on what's going on. This monster, Khoonbish, was found long ago. He was almost dead, but Bat. Jr and his mom, Bar, saved him. The two have been friends ever since, even after Bar died. Speaking of which, her gravestone is just behind him. Bat Jr. knows that Sara is a monster in disguise, but he has no idea how to reveal that to everyone n town. After he tells us this, we can see the ghost of Bar. She tells us that she knows how to get Sara to show her true form. To the east is a ruined village of Bursuun. In that village is a plant called the Bodura Grass, which can reveal a creature's true form.

There are some good IC items from enemies along the way, but the village is in a cave. It looks like Bat Town, but it's empty and filled with monsters. There are several markers along the way to indicate that the Basura Grass is almost worshiped here because it keeps monsters at bay. There's a lot of treasure here, and most of them can be reopened later. In the back is another cave filled with ghosts from the village. They don't know if they're alive or dead, but they still talk about the Basura Grass. One tells us that Bar was from this village and was always sickly... Beyond that is a staircase to the plant. There are no bosses.

Zoom back to the village and head to the northern outpost. Inform Bat Jr. that we have the Grass, and he'll make a plan. He'll turn the plant into a solution and head out to save his village. When we get to Bat Town, things will already be in motion. Bar Jr. is fighting Khoon, and he's just defeated him. Suddenly, Khoon moves! Just before a finishing blow is given to the barely motionless body, Bat Jr. tells his friend that it's time to strike. Khoon goes after Sara, taking her full attention. Bat Jr., meanwhile, throws the Basura solution onto Sara. Purple smoke billows from her, and a magic field surrounds her. From that field emerges a giant beast! It's massive, but Bat. Jr and Khoon aren't afraid. Bat Jr. tried to will the rest of the villagers into action, but they're scared. Despite that, Jr and Khoon go in. They're thrown away like nothing.

Last (more great password possibilities) attacks, but they're not too tough. If it weren't for their status debuffs, I don't think I'd have a problem. Last can make us blind, which is more effective than I gave it credit for. They're also resistant to Sap, so cast Accelerate. Last gets two attacks per round. Their physical attacks are pretty heavy to lesser armored friends but barely do anything to Tryton. They do steal MP, though. Boom, however, is a killer. It hits everyone for over thirty damage!

When the dust settles, Jr and Khoon will be alright. But it turns out that wasn't Last's true form. He's actually a teeny tiny imp creature. He's always thought humans were cool, so when the fygg fell to the Protectorate, he ate one to fit in. Rather than kill it, Jr suggests Last and Khoon should be friends. If Last does this, then everyone can be happy. Last agrees, and the two monsters runoff. There will be a party that night, and we'll wake up the next morning. Bat Sr. informs the nomads that he's done being leader. He says a metaphor I didn't get, but it means Jr. has proven himself more than worthy to lead. The two of them leave to play their respects to Bar. While there, they both say how cool she was, and Sr. wishes she could see her son now. As they leave, Jr asks if we can see his mom, and we convey her message to him. She's very proud of her family, and she heads to the afterlife.

We've finally got all seven fyggs! Return to Alltrade Abbey and inspect the blue tree. It summons the Starflight Express, and we get ready to turn them into Apus. While Stella conducts, a light shines behind us. We're shocked at first, but Aquila emerges from it. He's proud that his student did all of this, but then he asks for the fyggs. According to Celestrian law, a Celestrian cannot disobey a superior, so we must hand them over. Stella is upset, but it's only the tip of the iceberg.

A "posh" voice is heard, and it changes Aquila. We all somehow know that Aquila isn't working for the good guys anymore. Aquila senses that we're upset, so he attacks. Once again, according to law, we cannot attack superiors, so he beats us. Lucillia is lying there, knocked out, while Stella panics. Aquila blows open the door, and Stella eventually sees a black dragon just outside. An owl man is riding it, and he and Aquila say a bunch of proper nouns that don't mean much right now. The owl man orders the dragon to attack the train, which causes the still ko'ed Lucillia to fall out. Stella couldn't hold on.

We land in Wrymword, the place that hates foreigners. Fortunately, a boy named Wallace saves us, despite everyone just standing around with their hands in their pockets. Days later, we wake up, and Wallace is thrilled. His uncle/mayor, though, wants us out. He tells us the town is holding a meeting tonight to discuss what they'll do to us. While there, the mayor asks if we have any connection to the Black Dragon. I say we don't, but I don't think it matters. Regardless, we're to be booted from town. Wallace is upset, so he runs off, and we go after him. The guy by the gate says he ran to Hope Spring.

We can find Wallace in a small alcove to the south. All we have to do is talk to him, and he'll return to Wyrmwood. As we leave, though, we see the ghost girl we've seen a few times now. She's still looking for some dude, but she finally realizes that we can see her. If we want any information from here, though, we need to find something she left under the guardian statue in Wyrmwood. She's from there, you see. Return to the village and inspect the ruined guardian statue. Unlike every other town, this one is in a state of disrepair. Wallace asks what we're doing, and we fill him in. We can't find anything, but Wallace says he's always had a suspicion that the guardian statue wasn't always here. It's in a hidden area and not the center of town like every other statue. It's now a hunt to find the original location. The bard looking fella on the bridge found some information on the village. It used to be called Wymward, and a great dragon slayer is from here. The mayor mentioned his name during the meeting, but he doubts anyone in Upover would help them. Anyway, check the church. We'll find a necklace under the marker in the back right. Return to Hope Spring and speak to Serana, and she'll fill us in on a lot. Long ago, a man with wings was washed ashore. She brought him back to Wormwood and nursed him back to health. The Celestrian was named Corvus. That name carried weight in the Observatory, and we overheard Aquilla and another woman discuss him at the very start of the game. There's even a gravestone for him hidden away there. But back to Serana: It was peaceful between them until one day. Soldiers from the Gittish Empire showed up, looking for tribute. The Empire is a noun that Aquila and the owl man mentioned. Wyrmward is a poor town, so it had no money to give, so the knight decided to marry Serana. As violence was about to break out, Corvus started moving. Suddenly, all the knights were struck by lightning. One-by-one, they died. I'm sure there's more to this story, but that's all we got now. We then ask Serana if she knows how to reach Upover. We know it has something to do with the Bowhole, and Serana confirms it. She says she'll meet us there, so it looks like we'll be doing that...

...tomorrow!

Day fourteen plot dumps! The main story is just beginning now. I know we'll need to cross the Wyrmwood Gorge, and I think a dragon is involved. There are some inscriptions that make my dragon hunting brain start working. I wonder if I should tell Apus what Aquila did? Does our train even run anymore?

Easy Investigation!

After doing a bunch of side quests, accidentally finding a fygg, exploring the world, and cheating for the sake of alchemy, I finally go back to school!

I ventured into the room where the three boys and the ghost were. It turns out, this is my room! Why are you here? The ghost poofs off as we enter, and the boys are keen to leave when we walk in. I guess they used the empty room as a clubhouse or something. Before we can settle in, though, class begins. Most of the students are here for academia, so the courtyard is empty. There's a teacher who guards the front of the building, who suspects there's a few truant students about, and they ask us to find them. To the west of the building are Fred and Boyz. Fred wonders why we're here and then comes to the realization that we want to join his gang. Respond that you do to advance, but he only tells us we're not cut out to be in the group. The topic of the ghost comes up, and Fred tells us that if we're as tough as we think we are, we'll touch the forehead of the Guardian Statue on the roof of the schoolhouse at midnight. Classes end, and we all go our separate ways. Hit the hey and rest.

Make your way up to the statue and touch it. Before we can, Fred and the Boyz stop us. We're not cool enough to test the rumor, but he is. Fred then calls out to the ghost and challenges it to show itself. Not being a wuss, the ghost obliges. Keep in mind, though, normal humans can see ghosts. We hear the specter speak, and it's angry that so many school children are disobedient. If we'd spoken to everyone in the school, we'd have learned that Swinedimples Academy used to be very strict, but they've eased up in recent years. Maybe too much? Suddenly, Fred is possessed by the otherworldly figure and jumps off the rood. He's fine, but he runs off to the east of town. When we catch up, we're standing before the grave of the academy's founder [insert name I can't hope to pronounce]. The grave opens before us, and we all go into The Old School.

Due to neglect, this place is falling apart, making it a maze to get through. There are also poisoned swamps here and there, so we'll need to climb onto the bookshelves to make it through. There's nothing of note on the first floor's bookshelves, but there are a few to read on the second. The third floor is where the boss is, so this area is pretty short. The monsters are a new mage and scarecrow. Both are palette swaps, so you know how to defeat them.

We walk into a room with three kids and the ghost of the academy's founder teaching them. The kids are forced to be here, and they cannot move. After getting upset that kids can't listen anymore, the founder turns into a monster and attacks! I think I'm still overleveled, which is odd since I skipped a fygg... I had no problem with this guy, and I think he only attacks once per round. You'd think he'd be well versed in magic, but I don't recall him using it much.

The monster will die, but the ghost will remain. He'll have no idea what happened before realizing he's been keeping kids, keeping them prisoner in detention. He then remembers that someone laid a golden fruit at his grave, a story collaborated by a student in the east wing of the schoolhouse. He made a wish that all the troubled kids would turn their lives around and be obedient. He says he's always seen something in then. That wish turned into this, so he only has regrets. But if the academy can turn out strong, brave, and selfless people like Lucillia, he's sure it'll all be alright. He then goes to the afterlife, and the kids can move again. We return to the Headmaster, get 3000 gold, and the new rumors in town seem to indicate that Fred, at least, is now sociable and open. As we leave, we see the real inspector getting tossed out by guards suspicious of him. Poor guy.

And, from here, I got lost. I explored around the new area I haven't got to before but only found fields, monsters, and rocks in the water. I returned to Wyrmwood, thinking that was the only place I haven't been, but nothing opened there. People really hate outsiders because of what happened long ago, but I couldn't do anything. And then I remembered a river south of the academy. I managed to dock the boat in a place I've been before, but I walked a different way this time. North takes us to the wide plains of [insertanother word I can't hope to pronounce]. In the middle of it is the nomadic town of Batsureg. The citizens inform us a healer came to town, and she's amazing! She's healed animals and humans. She's also strikingly beautiful, and the chief of the town has pretty much let her run wild. Everyone seems to be very suspicious of her, for some reason, though. Maybe it's the monster following her? But, I suppose, I'll figure out that reason...
 
...tomorrow!
 
There's one more fygg to go, but I know the game isn't over yet. There's still plenty to do, and I'm ready to blitz through it. I probably won't because it's me, and I'm enjoying this game so much! It's also possible I underestimate how much is left, but who knows? I'm at level thirty, about where DQIV ended...

I accidentally found a fygg!

Tonight was going to be a quest heavy, do nothing type of night. I had no plans to write anything, but I stumbled upon a golden fruit.
 
Northwest of Bloomingdale is a stonemason's house. There's a guy standing outside of it, wondering where he's at. If you go behind his house, you'll see a cave (with the ranger job quest outside it). This is the Heights of Loneliness. It's a tower inside a mountain. I think; it's weird, but I like it. The mobs inside aren't impressive, but you need to keep in mind that I'm several levels higher than I'm supposed to. Pay attention to the Easter Island heads, though, since they drop some royal soil. We'll climb vines, walk tightropes, and read about the dying wishes of the stonemason, Mason. Towards the top is a fallen NPC named Christopher Collapsus. If you have a special medicine on you, you can save the poor boy, and you'll get a grotto map for your trouble. But I'll say more on this at the end. Keep climbing until you reach something that looks familiar.

We're back in Zere, but everything is turned to stone. Even the homes are made of rock and sealed shut. I've played too many RPGs that I have a bad feeling about the people here... But there's only one place to go: the house in the back. Inside is a slime who can talk. He tells us Mason made this entire place, but he's recently died. Ever since, the slime has heard a loud noise that scares him. Speaking of which...

We step outside and see a giant golem before us. We're not Mason, so he attacks us. Once again, we're over leveled, so I don't have a good strategy here. Use Sap and attack. The golem will turn to dust, and we'll turn around. Behind us is a ghost walking into the cellar. Following him in has us meeting with Mason. He tells us he's from Zere, and he's longed to return there. For some reason, he couldn't, so he made this replica. Not long ago, he came about a fygg and made a wish on it. Mason wanted to make sure Zere Rocks would remain defended, but he didn't expect something like that to do it. A woman's name is brought up as he's ready to go to the afterlife. In his place is the fygg. If we return to normal Zere, now, we can meet the woman Mason longed for. She was Simona's nanny, and she's moved on. Despite that, she, too, fondly remembers her first love, even though he just up and ran away one day.

Maybe more quests tomorrow? Maybe back to the story?

Grotto dungeons are randomly generated content, usually used alongside the online stuff. But it seems there are a few that you can find through conventional means. There's no map, and each floor is a true, old school maze. I don't know if it's worth it, though. I got to the bottom, defeated a hard boss, and found another map. What little treasure inside was okayish, but I wasn't wowed. That demon horse was pretty hard, too, so I think I deserved better. Maybe there are more stuff inside? Who knows?

Desert Queen and the Lizard King!

I explored around the world a little but didn't dig that much. I didn't want to get too deep into anything. And I really didn't want to deal with the random encounters at sea...

North of Dourbridge is a small desert island. Park the boat to the east and walk to the city of Gleeba. The Royal Palace, called the Mirage Mahal, lies in the center, but I took my sweet time getting there. It turns out that you can only have so many quests open at a time, so I quickly finished a few. I also found quite a bit of alchemical recipes here, so I did some of that. It was enough that I was, finally, able to fully equip my main party. Thanks to IC, I'm actually better than that. But, ultimately, the Mirage Mahal is my destination for three reasons!
!.) The Paladin job is here. I unlocked that, but I'm not sure how I'll mold into it. Paladins can't use swords, nor can they use shields, so my obvious two candidates aren't really up to snuff.
2.) You can find the Magic Key in an unlocked chest at the top. Purple doors are now opened to you!
3.) The main quest.

The NPCs in town inform us that the Queen of Gleeba is Vuluptua. A merchant recently brought a golden fruit to her, but it didn't change her much. She's always been a "hedonistic" woman, which is the opposite of her noble father. The people in the castle tell us she's all about taking baths. If a drought were to befall the town, it would be because of her and her recently built private bath. Digging deeper starts us on the path to finding our fygg. It seems the Queen is fond of a particular lizard, His Dryness, Drask. What a title... However, the maid in charge of him, Misslei, has "miss laid" His Dryness. If we find him, then the chancellor might be able to get us an audience with the Queen. As many times before, we now need to ask around about Drask's favorite places. To keep this short, use the clap party trick in the shade of the western castle wall. The lizard will pop out, run around, and make us catch him. Bring him to the chancellor, and our audience begins. Vuluptua is very nonchalant about this and doesn't care about any of it. She fires Misslei, and she doesn't give us the fygg, even though we saved her lizard. In fact, she thinks using it as a bath bomb is a more noble use for the fygg than anything we'd use it for!

If we want to get the fygg before it's cut up, we'll need to find a way in. Climb to the roof, and the "creepy" old man sitting on the fountain will tell us the water next to us leads to the Queen's bathhouse. All we have to do is pretend to finish the game's prologue and fall again. But I'll have to do that...

...tomorrow...

But I delayed the update, so it's all one big happy familate.

The team dove into the Queen's private bath, and it was only mildly odd. Everyone was clothed, for starters. The Queen didn't seem super upset, but I wonder how this would have played out if I were the star and not Lucy. Anyway, Vuluptua knows we've come for the fruit, but it's too late. She's already cut it up, and it's floating around in the bathwater. The camera cuts over to His Dryness, Drask, eating a slice of fruit. Suddenly, he transforms into a giant monster. He kidnaps Vuluptua and jumps down a well that's too small for him to have actually fit into. But, I guess it's down we go. The Queen's handmaidens can go either way on their boss coming back.

I'm usually against sewers in midfield RPGs, but I think this is technically a desert aqueduct. Regardless, the monsters fit the sewer theme with blobby molds and snakes. There are also some mummies and sentient skeleton armor for some reason. There's a room down here that contains the ghost of the previous King, Aqueus. He admits that he was too busy being a ruler to take care of his daughter. Vuluptua's mom died shortly after giving birth, so she couldn't be around. This neglect led to Vuluptua being self centered and unable to open up to people, so he pleads with us to save his daughter. A few flights down, we come to an open room. We hear Vuluptua demand to be saved, but I guess I we gotta do it. Drask is able to speak, and he admits why he took Vuluptua. He loves her. Ohhh <3. His lizard instinct told him that he could eat the golden fruit and become human to be with Vuluptua. Stella tries to point out that he's not human, but he doesn't see it. Drask just thinks we're trying to separate the two, so he attacks us.

He's surprisingly easy. Grand Lizzier only gets one attack per round, and it's about the same as the other boss moves. Usually, he'll just breathe fire onto the whole team, so bring something that claims to reduce fire damage. His worst attack, though, is a giant two pawed swing that hits for massive damage. Even at sixty HP, Drew got taken out of action by it. Sap his defense and go to town. He's weak to ice and is a dragon. I thought he was a frog, so I never used Dragon Slash.

Drask realities he's not human because he's never seen one breathe fire out of their mouth before. All the poor lizard wanted was to be closer to Vuluptua as he's the only thing she has to be friends with. Misslei joins us now and admits that she's always felt sorry for the Queen. She's overheard Vuluptua crying over Drask because, again, who else can she turn to? Misslei and Vuluptua seem to become friends, so Drask offers us the fygg he ate (which is the whole thing, apparently) and returns to his chameleon form. We all return to the throne room, and everyone promises to be cool. The citizens of Gleeba remark that everything's changed, and the threat of drought has lessened. I don't believe it because the Queen's private bath has become a women's only public bath. Maybe Vuluptua just bathed 188 times a day? I dunno...

I couldn't find a clue about where to go from here, so I kept sailing east. I docked across the straight and ran around for a while until it started snowing. Following the path north brings us to the college town of Swinedimples Academy. The headmaster is in front of the gate, and he asks us if we're the detective. I answer, "no," but he doesn't believe us. Cool? We play the part anyway and follow him to his study. The school hired an inspector because two students have gone missing, and a third will ruin their reputation. We're are to pose as new student(s), complete with uniform, gather intel from the kids, and find the kidnapper. I did a cursory look around and overheard three boys talking about who might be next. Apparently, it's one of those three, Fred. We (the player) can see a ghost join the group as we regain control of Lucy. I'm sure it's nothing, so I'll get to the bottom of this...

...tomorrow!

There are a lot of IC books in the college, so I'm gonna go do some.

This game makes me feel things!

The walk from Dourbridghe to Bloomingdale is surprisingly long and riddled with misfortune if you weren't thinking this is gonna take a while.

But we'll get to the city of flowers eventually! Word around town is the richest person in the village is overly generous. People think her near death experience changed her. Ever since she ate a shiny fruit and overcame her constant sickness, she's been giving stuff away to people who call themselves her friend. She's also weirdly naive... Ignore the "shiny fruit" part and head to the docks in the west. An old man will be in front of a boarding plank, and he's willing to let us have the boat. It's not his to give, though, but Miss Marion's, the rich woman we learned about earlier. Marion lives on the hill, so let's head there!

We walk in on her accepting gifts from friends. A man gives her a cake, and Marion puts it in a vase. Go figure... Another woman offers her a new ribbon, but Marion hates it because the one she has now is the same as her best friend's. She then notices us and asks if we're a new friend? Suddenly, something happens, and her disposition changes. She asks if we've come for Marion, and I say, "no." We're here for the boat, not her. But she doesn't believe us, so she kicks everyone out of the mansion and locks herself in her room. If we're gonna talk to Marion about her boat, we're gonna need to find someone who can cheer her up. This takes us on another hide-n-seek puzzle, where we have to find people who know her. Marion's old nanny lives to the west of the mansion, and she suggests the toymaker. The toymaker made Marion's favorite doll, and they've been inseparable ever since. Rudolph is in the boots shop, so ask him if he'll talk to Marion.

He will, and we'll all head back to the mansion. When Rudy calls out to Marion, there is no answer. The door to Marion's room will be unlocked, but it'll also be empty. Rudy finds a note saying that Marion was kidnapped, and he runs out to inform the town. As he does, we'll see a ghost that looks like Marion appear before us. The ghost will open the locked backdoor and go through it. On the otherside of the door is a small graveyard. We can read the headstones of Marion's parents, but there's a third nearby. "To my one true friend." The ghost appears again and introduces herself as the real Marion. Marion was always a sickly child and had to spend her whole life in the house, never making a single friend. The closest she ever had was the toy maker's doll, Marionette. A villager gave Marion the shining fruit in an attempt to cure her, but Marion assumed it was too late for her. She made a wish on the fygg that her doll would come to life and replace the real Marion to make lots of friends. The human died shortly after, and the doll took over. It explains why Marion doesn't seem to know much.

The note the kidnappers left says they took Marion to the cave up north. Heading to the B.A.D Cave has us reading a lot of signs about a group of professional kidnappers. It's oddly humorous for what's going on. Take the main entrance until you can sit on a chair. One of the kidnappers will come out, fall in love with Lucillia, and call for his friend to bring Marion. The friend shows up with bad news, though. Marin escaped into the cave. Along the route, we'll read that deadly monsters inhabit the place. These signs are correct. The random mobs aren't too terrible, and there's even a new metal slime variation down here. It gives 3000 EXP! There are no gimmicks or puzzles, but there are a few dead ends with loot. In the back are several puddles of poison water and Marionette. She'll tell us her new friends were mean to her, so she took a walk. She had no idea what was going on... Suddenly, a massive spider will drop from the ceiling. Marionette won't run away, thinking it's another new friend, and the Tyrantula will throw her into the air. If you inspect Marionette, the text will say she's not moving.

Tyrantula gave me my first team wipe. Ty attacks twice per round, both of which can hit everyone on the team. Those AoE moves can lower our status resistance, Eerie Light, making us more likely to be afflicted with debuffs. Ty can also use Wind Sickles. Their worst move might be Venomissile, though, as it hits everyone for over 20 damage and has a chance to poison. It's a low percentage, but it's something to prepare for. She (Fandom says "she") can also stop a character. And if that's not enough, her physical attacks are deadly. I Sapper her, but that eventually wore off. Buffing with Accelerate might have been wise, too, since she's got high agility. From there, attack. Magic isn't effective, but Crackle seemed to do enough damage for my standards. But I've read she's weak to the Bang line of spells. Healing will be a priority for this fight. I brought two sup herbs and three medical herbs for each character. I also used all of them and still lost Tryton, my tank. Had I waited one more level, Lucy would have learned Midheal, so maybe think about getting a minstrel to level 21...

The kidnappers will run into the room and rush towards Marion's body. They'll seem genuinely remorseful that she died, and they'll be shocked when she gets up. I guess being a doll has its advantages... Marion, still not recognizing the danger, will remark that that wasn't nice. This causes her kidnappers to run away in terror. As they do, the ghost of the real Marion enters the cave. Marionette will be thrilled her best friend is here and ask what they're going to play now. But Marion says they can't play and never will be able to again, which causes the doll to be upset. It also causes me to be upset... Marion tells Marionette that she regrets her wish and frees her best friend from her burden. She now wants Marionette to be Marionette and not Marion. They say goodbye, and Marion is "taken by the Celestrians." Marionette will explore the world, but she wants to inform the town of what's going on first.

Back in Bloomingdale, the town will tell us what's going on. "Marion" has come through, said her goodbyes (and some other strange things), but she's already left. She paid her dues to her parents, and that's the last thing she did. If we head to the graveyard, we'll see Marionette lying against the gravestone of Marion. She's not moving. The nanny will enter and wonder how Marionette got out here and, without getting any help, drag the doll back into bed. The nanny wants Marionette to be right where she should be if Marion ever returns home. The nanny also tells us that Marion informed the boatsmen that we're to have the boat now. I don't remember if it was now or back in the cave, but we'll get our third fygg. Head down to the docks, and we'll get a ship of our own! We can now explore around the world, so I'm going to look for new things...

...tomorrow!.

I love you, Lucy.

A whale in not-Wales!

South of the Abbey is the town of Porth Llauffin. *slurring intensifies*

If you get here at sunrise, you can see what makes this town unique. A young girl named Jona can summon the sea god, Lleviathan. More slurring! Llevithan brings the Llauffin "barrels and barrels" of fish, which means no one needs to work to survive anymore. Everyone is happy that they can slack off, and the armorer is even thinking we'll be his final customer. But there's something off about Jona. A few citizens inform us that the same day the earthquake happened, her father was at sea and never returned. Some even saw a falling star land not far from here...

After Jona summons Lleviathan, she'll notice we're new in town. She'll ask us to meet her in her hut in the evening, so do whatever until night begins to descend. When we enter her house, she'll tell us that she doesn't want to summon Lleviathan anymore. Before she can give more details, a guy who works for the mayor comes in. He says the mayor wants to see Jona, so she goes off. Follow her, and the scene is surprisingly heartwarming. The mayor knows her dad, Dylan, won't be coming back. Rather than let her live alone, he offers to adopt her. His son, Brayson, has always gotten along with her, so it just makes sense. Jona is still unsure, so she'll mull it over. She sees Lucy is listening on, and it makes the next conversation easier. Back in Jona's hut, she asks Lucy if she should stop summoning Llevi, and I agree with the girl. She's glad she has an ally, and we all go to bed.

In the morning, Jona isn't there. The townsfolk are annoyed that their daily fish intake is missing, but where has this child gone? Behind the mayor's house is Brayson. He tells us that his dad took Jona to his private beach, and he's worried. He lets us through the door to find out what's going on.

Tywill Cave is a small hole in a rock to the west of Llauffin. It's infested with various sea creations and annoying imps that can avoid all attacks and make you hit your own teammates at the same time. I used magic on them. My first attempt in here went poorly. Lucy and Cid changed jobs recently, so they're both weak. Plus, we're lacking healing... This isn't a long dungeon, but the enemies are a bit jammed. There's also a boss, so you're gonna need a healer! I went back to the Abbey, changed jobs, and tried again. At one point, you'll be on top of the rock, above where you came it at. The second cave is your destination, so check the first one first. I don't remember what's here, but it's a treasure.

Through the second cave are Jona, the mayor, and the mayor's entourage. The mayor says that he's accepted that Joan doesn't want to summon Lleviathan, but he still wants her to do something for her. Every once in a while, Jona can summon Llevi to find stuff on the seabed. There are a lot of sunken ships down there. If she won't bring the town food, providing him with riches is the only other thing a girl can offer. The implications are a bit dark... Eventually, Jona snaps and screams. Lleviathan appears and jumps onto the rock we're all on, scaring everyone. Before we do anything, he swallows Jona.

The fight against Lleviathan is pretty long, so it might be wise to bring two healers. Start by using Sap, and then get ready. Llevi has several teamwide attack moves, so maybe bring three healers. Or stop being an idiot and buy some medical herbs! Even Sapped, magic still seems to be the way to go against him. Llevi can be affected by stun/fear, so it may be worth having your monk use War Cry every now and then. I almost got wiped, but Lu's basic heal worked well enough.

Lleviathan opens his mouth, and Jona will be freed from her biblical nightmare. Jona will look back at Llevi with regrets, while the mayor will continue to egg her on. Suddenly, the whale will begin to stir. As he does, the ghost of Dylan, Jona's dad, will appear on its head. Dylan says he was lost at sea, ready to die, when a fruit appeared before him. With nothing to lose, he ate it. When he came to, he was the sea god we see now. His only thoughts were how to save his daughter, so he began to provide her with all that he could. But Jona informs her father that she's ready to grow up. Brayson, the mayor's son, enters the scene and promises to always be there for Jona. Dylan believes the kid, and he ends this charade. We all return to the town, sleep it off, and wake up.

The mayor's not having any, but the kids seem pretty adamant about what they said. Jona is trying to learn how to net fishnets, and Brayson is learning how to sail. The rest of town seems more annoyed they have to go back to work, but the ferry is working. When you're done here, take it across the bay to whatever the pier is named. There's pretty much nothing here, but we get the idea there's a much bigger city to the southeast. Traveling across the plains brings us to Dourbridge. This is an area filled with drunks who are, supposedly, thieves. As we cross the bridge, we meet the ghost girl we saw outside the Starflight Express. She notices us, but nothing comes from it. More importantly, we go on a search around town because there are rumors of another shining fruit being here a few days ago. Following the trails gives us the idea to keep going south to Bloomingdale. But, even more importantly, the Tiny Medal Pirate is in this place. I have eleven Tiny Medals, so I get a hat and the Thieves Key. Time to backtrack to open stuff and reach Bloomingdale...

...tomorrow.

Jona...Jonah...whale...bleh.

The first fygg

To the east of Alltrades Abbey is the Tower of Vocation, where the ancients once quit their jobs after asking God. Employment was taken very seriously back then.

Now, though, it's just a monster filled tower with treasure. There are a few inscriptions on the way up to remind of bygone traditions, but that's it. The only puzzle is how to get in. Someone in the Abbey will teach you the party trick "bow." Perform that outside the door, and it will open for you. We now have to climb six floors and reach the top. Monsters inside are palette swaps of older mobs, proving that even modern Square RPGs still aren't perfect.

At the top is a strange walkway leading to a floating doorway to another dimension. Heal up and head inside, and we'll see Abbey Jack. He begins by asking God for continued guidance of his flock. He sees that we're here but yells at us not to interfere. I wasn't going to, but at least he knows he's not alone. Jack then thinks more about how to lead, and then he gets strange. A magic field surrounds him, but it's clear that's dark magic. Purple is rarely benevolent. Inside that bubble, he starts to believe that letting people be themselves is a terrible idea. The field begins to dissipate to reveal that Jack has been turned into a monster. He's shocked at first but realizes that he can lead people by force with this new power. To prove this, he tries out his new powers on us!

Master Nu'un gets two attacks per round. That can be a basic attack, a defense buff, or various magical attacks on us. He can also drain our MP, so hope he doesn't target your mages too often. Sap usually works, but it's not as guaranteed as before. I had to bring out the medicinal herbs from the inventory for this, and Lucy was on heal duty for much of the fight. Magic attacks seem better than physical, even after two Saps but good luck casting them between healing and him stealing MP. Nu'un is the hardest boss because of all that and because he's not easy to backtrack from. If you're low on MP, you'll need to redo the entire dungeon, so getting to him in good health is the best strategy here.

Nu'un turns back into Jack, and he has no idea what happened. He only remembers eating the fygg and wanting to help the people who came to him better. He returns to the Abbey, and Stella sees a fygg on the ground where Jack stood. This either means he didn't eat it, or he did... Back at the Abbey, Jack will talk to us for a while, but he will now allow us class change. At the moment, we can only turn into things we can make back at Patti's, but there are a number of quests in the Abbey that will open up stronger jobs.
 
Which is what I did for the rest of the night! I got the armamentalist job because I think I'll change into that, and I'm working towards the gladiator job. I'm gonna need another mistral first, though. I have no idea where the plot will take us tomorrow, but I'm more interested in the quests. See ya when I see ya!

Aptly named...

The town of Coffinwell is a city being raked by plague... Why does this keep happening in these times of plague?

The citizens are getting sick, and we can see many of them writhe in pain as their perfectly fit loved ones look on in horror. Visitors are not immune to this disease, either, based on the two people in the inn who choose a bad place for a honeymoon. Rumor has it, this same illness struck the town 100 years ago, but no one knows how they saved themselves back then.

Head to the mayor's house on the hill and speak to the guy in charge. He'll inform us he's got someone looking into how this ended 100 years ago, but he's not happy about it. A man named Phlegming is in charge of reading old scrolls. For some reason, the two don't get along. If you speak to the maid, she'll inform you why. The mayor's daughter, Catarrina, married Mr. Phlegm. She doesn't tell us why, but the mayor doesn't like the archaeologist. Because of the rivalry, we're asked to see if the son-in-law has made any progress. We're told he lives in the house to the west. Inside is a lone woman, and she's Catarrina. She appears fine, but she has the occasional coughing fit, so we'd better fix what's causes this before she gets worse. Her husband isn't here, but he's locked himself in his lab in the alleyway below. Cat takes us there and gets Phlegm to open the door with her secret knock. After some quick...introductions, Phlegm tells us he's deciphered the writings (of 100 years ago). This isn't a disease but a curse. To the west is a sealed entity that is causing all of this. The earthquake a few days ago must have stirred something. Phlegm is ready to investigate, but we need the mayor's permission and key. After getting it, we all head there.

The Quarentomb is open, and Phlegm assumes it was by the quake. There's nothing out front, so we head deeper in. There's an inner sanctum sealed by two doors of different colors. To open the doors, we need to activate two lasers in the back corners of the dungeon. An inscription at the front says to go right, so I went counter clockwise around this area. There's some decent treasure to be had in the middle, by the way. In the back corners are two statues that shoot a laser. That laser bounces off various mirrors and comes to a point at the locked doors. We don't need to change the mirrors, and this is a very simple puzzle. Be on the lookout for metal slimes! I almost got one...

On the otherside of the doors is a broken pot with a sealing ward on it. Fortunately, the seal is intact, so Phlegm goes to repair the pot. Before he can, though, something purple comes out of it and attacks him.

The Ragin', Ragin', Ragin' Contagion is actually hard. Maybe it's because I didn't fight him at full strength, but I had some trouble. For starters, he gets two attacks a round, and his physical blows are pretty tough. They can take out a mage with focus, but I don't think he ever targeted one person twice. His next tricks are his debuffs. He likes to lower our defense, but he can also put people to sleep. Start by casing Sap and then go all in. Lucy needed to heal a few times because I've been using up all my medical herbs for alchemy. Maybe if I (character) hadn't run out of MP, Drew wouldn't have died. The good news is even the dead get EXP.

We'll win, and Phlegm repairs the pot at the same time. The contagion, and his southern accent, is sealed back in the pot, much to his chagrin. Does this mean we saved the town? We don't know yet, but Phlegm isn't in a rush to find out. He heads down the stairs to explore the rest of the ruins. All that's down there is a plaque about a long lost King and a confused ghost.

When we return to Coffinwell, everyone seems happier. We did save the town! The mayor promised us a reward, so we head there. But, on our way, I wanted to see if Catarrina had anything to say. Stepping into her house, we see her lying on her bed. She's not moving... Phlegming comes in and tries to stir his wife, but she's dead. We were too late. He bemoans the cruelty of our timing and his own failure to recognize that Cat was even sick. We cut to her funeral, and the whole town is there except for Phlegming, who's locked himself in his lab again. Stella is upset that we're going to get zero Benevoessense from this but does want our physical reward from the mayor. He's outside his house but is too despondent and angry and his son-in-law to give us anything. He'll ask us to come back in the evening.

If you go to him then, we get a feathery headband, which isn't very good. However, there's something else new in town. The ghost of Catarrina is at her grave, unable to go on because of her husband's grief. She guides us to him and tells us how to open the lab. Phleming rushes out, forgetting his wife is dead, and berates us for using their secret knock. But we then convey Catarrina's last hopes for her husband, which has us guiding him around town. She wants him to see all the people he's helped. Phlegm joins the group as we show him all the people who once thought he was weird but now hail him as a hero. The old lady at the church, the visitors in the inn (who tries to kiss him), and a sleeping child are the required places, but even the healthy love him now. After the last, we'll return to his lab, and he seems more lively than before. Catarrina begins to have that familiar glow as she's ready to go to the afterlife. He's clearly still grieving, but I think it'll be alright. The sun is about to rise, so we get a free stay at the inn. In the afternoon, we step outside, and Stella tells us the whole town is glowing green! Is this enough to activate the Starflight Express?

Outside the train is a ghost who's looking for someone. She doesn't stay long enough to get any information, but I'm sure it's nothing. Once again, we try to turn on the train. It works! Stella doesn't seem like a good conductor, but she's good enough. We lift off, the cabs appear behind us, and we sail into the sky.

Sure is stormy up here... Our aim is the Observation, where the game started, and it's still suffering from the effects of that fateful night. It's still standing, but repairs will be needed. Apus Major is praying to Yggdrasil for a safe return of the Celestrians as he hears the Starflight whistle overhead. We land behind the world tree and stop out before him. He's shocked we're here, alone, and halo/wingless. We all return to his throne and fill him in on what's happened. As we do, Stella leaves us. After we're done with Apus, he tells us to pray to Yggdrasil so we may get our true form back.

As we do, Lucy falls asleep. She has a dream that a voice from the sky is angry at humans. He thinks they're terrible creatures and tries to destroy them. A red light emerges from the sky, but a purple light intercepts it. This light is another godlike entity and calls the first voice "father." The second voice believes in humanity and wants to preserve them. We get a glimpse of our next destination and told something about fyggs. Things get hazy as we wake up, just in time for Apus to climb the stairs. We still don't have our halo, but Apus thinks our dream is meaningful. We're reminded that Yggdrasil bloomed before we all died, but her fyggs fell to earth. Maybe if we collect them, something good will happen. We learn the spell Zoom, which is the DQIX's Return, and we go talk to Stella. She's annoyed at someone not paying her and wants to go find him. This is perfect because we both need to return to the Protectorate!

The Starflight Express lands near to where our dream told us to go, and it's the Alltrades Abbey. I've been looking forward to this place because we can change jobs here. But we can't now. It seems the guy in charge, Jack, has gone missing. The backup guy in charge asks us to go find Jack, so we start our investigation. After talking to everyone, it seems Jack found a fygg and went to the Tower of Trades, where the ancients once changed jobs. It had been monster infested, but maybe the fygg gave him powers capable of clearing the place out? We'll have to find Jack...

...tomorrow!

The stuff in Coffinwell got to me, man. A few tears were shed, for sure, but I promise I didn't ugly cry. I don't know why, but it hit me in ways games normally don't, especially for bit part NPCs. But the last big mechanic is finally dropping tomorrow! Also, why are butterfly wings so hard to find?!

Man Knight

Get it? Because "wight" means man?

The King of Stormwell asked us to ease his countries' woes and defeat the Wight Knight, asking for Princess Simone. To do so, we're to head to Loch Storm in the north. It turns out I got lost. Far, far to the north is the village of Zare, which I told you about last night. Even more north of that is the Brigadoom Forest, which hides the Brigadoom ruins in it. I explored this area for over an hour, thinking I was lost or missing a door. It turns out, Loch Storm is not here. It's, literally, just past the bridge we crossed from the castle. What a great use for my time!

When we enter a small, secluded, grassy beach, no one will be here. Stella will be upset and ask if we want to wait a little longer. If we do, time will move on, but the Wight Knight will remain away. Stella will go to leave, only to turn around and see the Knight on the cliffs. He jumps down at us and asks where Princess Mona is. Stella tells him that her name is Simona, and she's not coming. Eventually, this leads to a battle.

Thanks to accidentally raiding Brigadoom, I'm a bit over leveled for this fight. The Wight Knight doesn't have much offense against fully equipped, level ten team. He can lower one person's defense, but I didn't need to heal for this battle at all. We'll win, but Wight will remain alive to tell us his tale. He feels like he's been sleeping for a long time, but he has no memories of what he was doing. He stumbled into Stromwell and saw Princess Simona, who he confused for his love, Mona. We knocked some sense into him, and he promises to leave the Princess alone and goes on his own to figure out what's going on.

We then return to the King and fill him in on what happened. We think we've dealt with the Wight Knight, but the King gets angry. The King doesn't trust the Wight Knight and insists he'll be back to haunt his kingdom. Simona is prepared to offer herself to the Wight Knight, but neither of her parents will allow it, so she runs off. The King demands we kill the Wight Knight, so we're off to find him again. But we're stopped by Simona just outside the throne room, and she asks us to follow her to her room. She wants us to save the Wight Knight and thinks he might be the Right Knight, a fable from an old song her nanny used to sing to her. If we want an idea of where the Right Knight is, we'll need o find the nanny in Zare.

Return to the village and talk to the old woman in the last hut from the entrance. She, and her friend, will sing us a song about the Knight who was taken in by a witch and killed, which broke the heart of his lover. The only clue of any whereabouts is a bird flying north. As we try to leave the village, we intervene in a commotion. A townsperson is running away from the Wight Knight, but the Knight is just trying to talk to him. The man recently met a witch who asked about the Wight Knight, and now Wight wants some information. We settle things down and tell Wight about the song. He runs ahead of us to the forest I got lost in.

So I guess all the exploration wasn't a waste. We'll see Wight as we enter the ruins, and he's shocked. He wonders how long he's been out if his home has fallen into such a state of despair. From here, we'll need to find a way to the Brigadoom throne room. To do so, find the eastern basements, which will lead us to the second floor of the keep. Unlock the red door for a shortcut out if you need it. From there, head deeper in. We'll see the Wight Knight and an unknown woman in the throne room, but there's another room we can go in behind the stairwell down. This entire dungeon has clues about Brigadoom's, Wight Knights, and the upcoming boss's history. Once upon a time, a witch attacked the castle, and the Right Knight went to save his kingdom from her. However, he failed to do so, so his love, Princess Mona, went looking for him.

In the throne room is the confrontation between the Wight Knight and his forced lover, Morag. She reveals that she loved Right long ago, so she cast a spell on him to make him immortal, undead, and hers, but the earthquake broke the spell. Right will try to slay his mortal enemy, but she'll use a spell to make him kneel. At this point, we step in. She tries to cast the same spell, but Lucy is able to power through it. Morag is shocked at first but quickly realizes that Lucy isn't mortal and "one of them." Rather than curse us, she decides to kill us!

I should be at the right level, but I still had no problem with Morag. I had my mage, myself, Sap her defense twice, and I upped our speed for the sake of trying to combo attack all four of us together. It didn't work, but it also didn't matter. I didn't notice anything of note from her moves, but I know she can steal MP. She can charm one character, but her only attempt to do so fails. Maybe if she had successfully swayed me, this battle might have been harder? We get her shoes when we win! Despite her turning to dust, she seems to indicate that Right Knight will still be cursed.

Regardless, he thanks us for doing his job. Suddenly, a woman who looks like Simona enters wearing a fancy necklace. Right calls out to his Mona, and our Princess tells him how glad she is to see him. The two hold each other for a moment before bursting into dance. One of the notes in Brigadoom is about the importance of a newlywed's first dance. After a moment, Right Knight begins to glow a familiar green glow. He knows this isn't his Mona, but thanks Simone anyway for the wonderful end. He no longer has regrets and exits this mortal plane. Simona says she heard another voice guide her and thank her for doing this. She then returns to her guards and heads back to the castle. We should follow.

The King is thrilled his kingdom is at peace and offers us the reward. It's everything in the treasury on top of Simona's room. It all kinda sucks, though, but I guess the best reward is that he's opened up the checkpoint to the northeast. As we leave the castle, Stella informs us that the entire city is flowing green, but we still can't see it. With all the new Benovelessense, the Starflight Train might be functional again. If we head there, it's still broken. But it does shake a bit when we get in, so Stella might be on to something. But we'll see about that...

...tomorrow!

Talk to Erinn, who reveals that she's found an old pot. This pot is actually sentient and is how item creation works. There's a new NPC just outside the inn that gives us our first quest about it, as well as some accessory recipes if we complete it. I have mixed feelings towards IC, but I'll be damned if I'm not gonna dive in!

The team is formed!

With no daylight savings tagging with a day one plot dump, I don't have to rush tonight!

Lucillia makes her way through the Angel Falls plains for, what may be, the last time. I doubt it, but ya never know. Stella, the fairy conductor of the Starflight Express, still wants to operate her train, so we make our way inside. Stella talks about how she wants to make it look gaudy with gemstones and whatnot, but we need to turn it on first. She goes over to the control panel, presses a button, and nothing happens. Stella had hoped a Celestrian's presence would have activated something, but she's thinking we're not angelic again. I wonder how we lost our halo and wings? Since the train's still broken, we might as well explore the surroundings.
 
We make our way to a new area, Stornway, the capital. There are new monsters here and places to explore, but I'll get to them in a moment. It's already nighttime, so I make my way into the city and see Patti and Erinn outside the inn. Erinn is still unsure of herself, but Patti gets her into the inn anyway. Stella thinks she's about to witness a train wreck and makes us follow them. Inside, we see the two of them talking to other employees at the bar. The only one I remember the name of is Ginny. Apparently, Patti thought Ginny would be what turned around the inn, but she failed. Ginny is now unsure that this random person off the streets can save them. Patti went to find a guy but came back with a young girl. No one is thrilled, but that attitude changes when Erinn reveals the Inny! The three workers drop to their knees and begin to pray at the altar of Edwinn. They're still not sure the offspring is as good as the original, but it's worth a shot. If we talk to Erinn at this point, she pretty much tells us to come back later once they're all set up. I took this opportunity to look around town and buy new gear. Once I returned, Dragon Quest IX really starts! Ginny runs the bank, Patty runs various team stuff, and Erinn runs the inn. There's also an invisible Celestrian who handles the wi-fi stuff, but emulation doesn't allow that. Sorry, Erinn, but this inn will never reach the heights it could have twelve years ago. And in Japan.

But talk to Patti, as she's the important one here. She lets us experience one of the things I was looking forward to about this game: party creation. We can make our own characters here, and I make my friends. It's only a four person game, so I can't make all of us. I thought about making myself the hero of DQIX, but I'm not worthy of such acclaim. For the time, we'll be running with myself as a mage, Drew Carmello as a monk, and Tryton as the warrior. I'll probably make Xander a mistral later, once Lucy's changed. I may even make the wifefolk, who knows?

And, with a full party, I head to the castle. Word around town is a Wight Knight has been harassing the citizens of Stornway, and the King is looking to get rid of it. In the throne room are the King and his daughter, Simona. The Knight has been calling for Simona to appear at the Loch of Storn, north of Stornway, but the King is hesitant to sacrifice his daughter. Makes sense... She seems like she wants to go, though. Anyway, he asks us to take care of it, which I do. We have to loop around the town to the west, but the north path is clear enough. It's still filled with all new monsters, but they're not that big of a problem. En route is a small town with a revered tree, Zere. The general store has better armor than Stornway, but there's not much here. I think this exists as a checkpoint before the Wight Knight encounter, even more to the north. But I'll confront him and save Stornway...

...tomorrow!

I didn't need to rush. I spent most of tonight getting my team's levels up and buying new gear. I also did the first few quests and got some stat seeds. It's early, but everything feels alive so far. There's more going on in Stornway that I'm not necessarily a part of. I'm also enjoying the battle system now, despite it still being pretty simple. But the best part is there's no more inventory management. Characters can still only have eight items, but gear isn't a part of that, and there's a bag to keep all out stuff in. We can't use that bag in battle, but I don't care. Get hyped!

Turns out, it's still Dragon Quest Month!

We're playing Dragon Quest IX now because why not? We're already running out of entries I can play, but I want to see the first three at once. I've read they're more connected than the Zenithian Saga, so I really should. But I don't want to play four DQ games in a row, so I'm letting Lucy guide my friends and I around!

I start a new game with the janky DS Emulation process, and I get to create a hero? No longer are we tied to a linear protag, so who do I want to play as? Not myself, but my beloved! I make my ideal Lucillia, and, when I finish, she grows a halo and wings. Hmm... We move on to a question? "Is anybody there?" Nothing is heard, but the questioner begins to wonder about the origin of a race called Celestrians.

We then cut to two angels flying over a small town. One is Lucillia, and the other is a man named Tien Shinhan Aquila. Both have had their saturation turned up a bit too much. Aquila informs his apprentice that it is now her time to watch over the people of Angel Falls, a role that every Celestrian does for the glory of God. We have to provide, protect, and answer the prayers of people in this small village. One such act is to prevent the citizens from being attacked by monsters, which we jump into.

The battle system is very Dragon Questy, but we can actually see our characters perform their moves after we've selected it. One of the things that kept me away from DQ games in the past is the first person view of battle, but that's gone here, and it's so great! We're against basic mobs for this fight, and Aquila is strong, so this is a breeze. As the people we protected unknowingly pass by us, the girl, Erinn, offers a prayer to the guardian, Lucillia. Green glowy bits emanate from her and turn into a Crystal of Benevoessense. Aquila reminds us of our duty to offer those crystals to the world tree, and we both return to the Celestrian Home. We can wander around, talking to people to get our backstory, but we need to talk to the guy in charge, Apus Major. He gives us the go ahead to offer us the crystal to Yggdrasil as that is our goal. Once we've given enough to the tree, the Celestrians can transcend. And it looks like that time is almost upon us! After we're done that, we can return the Protectorate, the human world, and gather more. We're finally a full fledged Guardian, so we have to take it seriously.

We return in the middle of Angel Falls, right next to two boys talking about Erinn. It seems one of them, Ivor, has conflicted feeling about her, and his friend, Hugo, doesn't know what to do. Ivor seems to remember a time when Aquila was guardian, as stated on the statue in the back of time, but everyone else only knows us as their protector. Regardless, there are three people in town we need to help. One is an old woman in the church who's missing her dead husband's ring. We can find it behind the general store, and a dog can aid us. The second is the stable master. He's fallen asleep, so we have the inglorious task of picking up horse poop. We can egg on Ivor, at the behest of another kid, but we get nothing from it. After we've done the first two, night will descend on the town. Aquila will join us to offer one more piece of advice. We won't always be dealing with the living, and we'll sometimes need to help the souls of the dead transcend. One such ghost is right behind him. All we have to do here is let him know he's dead, and he'll, like the other two we've helped, offer a Crystal of Benevoessense. As we prepare to return home, a golden train will fly across the sky. We'll climb the stairs one more time to Yggdrasil and offer up our bounty. Much of the Celestrians are near here because they sense that this is about to end. Soon, Yggdrasil will bloom, and her fyggs will lead the way forward. Lucillia gives away the crystals, but then it all goes wrong.

The golden train flies overhead and lands beside us. As it does, a purple light will strike us from beneath us, blowing up the train. Apus Major and Aquila are shocked, but the horrors aren't over. More turmoil erupts, and we begin to rise into the sky. We're sucked off Home, unable to reach the hands of our teacher. We're flung into the sky, and light blows out from us onto the world. We begin to fall as humans look up at a shooting star. The opening credits roll for this, and the end when we make a big splash in the Angel Falls lake.

A few days later, Lucillia is at her statue, and Ivor and Hugo are grilling her about herself. They don't trust us and are suspicious that we're a mere traveling minstrel masquerading with a guardian's name. To be fair, the whole town is like this. Erinn breaks up the argument, and the boys walk away. Erinn is glad we're able to move again, and she's the one who found and nursed us back to health. She did an okay job, seeing as we can walk, but where'd our halo and wings go? She goes off to make supper, and we take a walk. We learn that Erinn is the most righteous person in the town, with the two people we helped being slightly behind her. Everyone else seems to have lost belief in the Celestrians, and no one likes us as a person. Explore, talk, and maybe buy a bandana, but we need to speak to the mayor, Ivor's dad. It's not much, but it triggers night to fall. We'll return to Erin's house, eat, and wake up the next morning.

When we awaken, Ivor is waiting for us. He's come to see us, but he can't say why in front of Erinn. We follow, and he fills us in that the path from Angel Falls to the rest of the world has been blocked. The night we fell from heaven, a great earthquake shook the world. It caused a landslide, which blocked the only escape from. It also triggered monsters to invade, so he's afraid to go out alone. That blocage has pretty ended Erinn's inn, which is what Vlad is upset about. He asks if us, the traveling mistral, can aid in his quest, as we agree to.

And I already like DQIV more than any other. Random encounters are gone! We now can initiate combat by running into monsters on the field, which replaces the World Map. We're off to a great start! But, after Hugo lets us leave the village, we can travel east, then north. I stayed around and enjoyed the battle system. It's as basic as can be right now, but that's how RPGs are. I got to level five and started getting Skill Points, which I put into my sword skills. I know this game has jobs, but I can't get to them yet, but I know Lucy is a swordswoman! And I want to find items and loot!

Once I've gotten on with the plot, we'll come to a clearing. But there's something odd because it looks like the golden train has crashed here! Ivor can't see it, though, so he just thinks we're crazy. He goes ahead, and I try to open the door, which I can't. When we walk away, a purple light will fall, and we'll hear it be shocked that we could, maybe, see The Starlight Express. Further on the path is the blockage, but it's a lot worse than Ivor thought. We can't do anything, but we hear voices on the otherside. It's four soldiers who've come to clear the rubble for us. With them doing the job, Ivor is bummed we came here for no reason. As we're about to leave, the soldiers ask us to find a woman named Patty. Apparently, she's come to town but got lost. She may have taken the old path through the Hexagon, a monster laden dungeon that's been blocked off for decades. But we return home.

Ivor is getting yelled at by his dad as we listen on. When that's done, Ivor asks about Patty, which is when Erinn joins the group. She knows who Patty is from when she lived in the capital with her dad. She becomes worried, but there's nothing we can do about it now. Erinn, morosely, returns home, and we do too. She starts to ask us to save Patty but knows we were hurt a few days ago, so that'd be dumb.

But guess what? After I rest up, I head for the Hexagon. It's to the east of Angel Falls, and you'll see purple water outside of it. Don't go near the water since it's poisoned. As we descend into it, we'll quickly notice it's a dead end. Reading the inscription, though, makes a ghost show up. It guides us to a statue in the west, which has a button on the back of it. This moves a wall, letting us go deeper into the dungeon.

The mobs here are pretty weak but give great EXP and gold. At level five and a Soldier's Sword, I could kill everyone in one or two hits. The layout is pretty straightforward, especially with the map on screen. Every dead end is a treasure, which reminds me: Don't buy a shield before going down here. I now have two of them... After a few floors of fighting, looting, and leveling up, we'll stumble on a woman trapped by falling ceiling. This is Patty, and she warns us that's she's being chased. Before we can lift off the debris, the ground starts shaking again. A massive bull emerges, and this is what chased patty.

Our first boss fight is again Hexagoon. I didn't see anything of note but heal when you get under ten HP. I was faster than it, and it lacks any surprise attacks that can disable you. It's a straight out brawl, so you'll be fine. In the commotion, Patty got free. She thanks you for saving her, and the two of you leave the dungeon. She goes on ahead to Angel Falls.

Patty is talking to Erin at the inn she runs, and the two of them do know each other. Patty and Erinn's dad, Edwinn, go way back. Patty has come to town to see him, but Erinn reveals he died two years ago. Patty then tried to convince Erinn to run her inn in Storwell and follow her dad's footsteps. But Erinn doesn't believe her dad was the world renowned "Inntertaining Innkeeper," so she runs back home in a state of confusion. Patty thanks us again for helping her and asks us to bring Erinn to her side. When we go to her house, we'll see the ghost from the Hexagon peeping in at her. Not only that, but that purple light from before attacks us. It transforms into a fairy named Stella, and she's the conductor of the Starlight Express! After some back and forth, the ghost reveals himself as Edwinn, unable to go to the afterlife because something is holding him back. We get a clue he hid something behind the inn. When we dig it up, we find an "Inny"! The king himself recognized Edwinn's innkeeping abilities that he gave him a giant trophy. Taking this to Erinn changes her mind, but only after Grandpa reveals the truth. Edwinn and Erinn moved to Angel Falls after her mother died. She was always a fragile and sickly woman, but coming here was her dream. It was probably because of the Angel Tears Water that the town is known for. It's said to heal all wounds and ailments, including the bad genes that Erinn's mom passed onto her. It was the water in town that's let Erinn live as long as she has despite her DNA. With that knowledge dropped, Erinn agrees to take over Patty's Inn in Storwall. We see Edwinn just outside his daughter's room, and he can finally rest in peace. He disappears, but we see no Crystal of Beneloessence. We can't, but Stella can...
 
We wake up a few days later, after the path has been cleared, and the two girls set off. We're not going with them, but I suspect we'll be following after them. Erinn asks Ivor to fill in for her, which the boy does with some mental gymnastics. He's happy, his dad's happy he has a job, and Erinn's happy her inn is still a thing. And I'm happy because my journey begins! Apparently, I'm supposed to find my home town? Before leaving, talk to a new girl outside the church. Questelle begins the side quests, "Quests." I'm sure they're fun and important, but I'll see more about them, and the rest of Dragon Quest IX,...

...tomorrow.

I had a lot to type, and we've just set the clock forwards, so I have no time. But, so far, I already like this game more than any other in the franchise, including V. With a visual combat style, no random fights, and an idea of what's to come, I think I'm gonna be happy I'm here. Assuming it all works with my computer...