Ra again

"Descending into the Samanosa Cave was much easier after the metal slime massacre. It helped that we managed to find the stairs down, too. The second floor is a path of treasure. None of it is great, but we wanted it! Ultimately, it was a trap. There were four mimics at the end of the path, but, while they were easier than the Pyramid ones, were still not worth it. The conventional looking trail was also a lie. It was a bit more worthwhile to traverse, as it lead to more stuff. Ultimately, we found a hole on the second floor in the southeast corner. Falling down it led to the Mirror of Ra. It shows the true form of whatever it reflects.

We returned to the castle and waited for the so-called King to sleep. We then snuck back into his room and saw that everyone's suspicion was correct. This was a fake! The Boss Ogre woke up, and the top of the castle became a battlefield.

BO only used physical attacks, but he managed to swing his hammer with so much force that the spin could strike twice. Cordy raised everyone's defense because our enemy shrugged off most debuffs. She managed to harm his defense eventually, but Surround was ineffective. Arusu had to help Heal occasionally, but the big lug didn't have anything surprising up his sleeve, so we managed pretty well. We then freed the real King, who took back his throne in the morning. As thanks, he gave us the Change Rod. The rest of the town was thrilled that peace had returned. Our only regret was that we couldn't get here in time. Had we managed a day sooner, that little girl would still have her father...

There was a man around the castle looking for his father, Simon. We've been through so many locations, never hearing about him, but we promised to keep an ear out for it.

The Change Rod will alter its user's form. The appearance is random, and we became sexy dancers, old men, and even dwarfs. Using that form, we tried to participate in capitalism with the Fairy Village. They didn't have anything good. Elsewhere, there was a large continent of ice up north. We found a mage up there who was curious about the Rod. He offered to trade it for a Sailor's Bone. Arusu agreed for some strange reason, so now we have 1/206th of a corpse!

We took a break and sailed around the Meditan Sea. Doing so gave us a fright. We stumbled upon a ghost ship. Old crew members were still working on the boat, but Baramos' demons may have been forcing them. We spoke to a ghost, Eric, and even picked up his locket. While sailing, we stumbled into an isolated shrine to a woman named Olivia. The priest here told us how she killed herself after her love, Eric, died. Is there a connection? We returned to the shrine and tried to sail past, but a tremendous wind drove us back. Tryton threw the locket into the air, and more ghosts appeared above. Olivia and Eric danced across the sky. They flew off after speaking how hopeful their future is now that they're back together. Death can be a thing of beauty? The winds ceased, and we carried on to the Shrine of Shackles. Nothing was there except the skeleton of Simon and his sword, Sword of Gaia. We tried to return it to his son, but he told us to keep it. It's not very good, but we didn't tell him this.

We then got lost. Wanting new perspectives, Arusu switched out the party. We could use the rest, so no one complained. But we did worry. During our break, they found the village of Soo. More importantly, Xander left the party. With Arusu's permission, he went to help found a new city. Drew and Jessica got some much needed experience, but Arusu brought us back after a few days. She may not have needed to.

We were talking about the hidden giant temple at Lancel. It turns out it's hidden behind the trees! The temple is a gateway to Gaia's Navel, but only one person is allowed in at a time. Arusu went alone. According to our leader, the Dragon Tail whip made this a simple task. She returned with a great piece of armor and the Blue Orb. This reminded us that the light keeper mentioned six orbs that will allow us to travel without the ship."