Grid Level 4

It's more forests!

West of Aknass is a forest. It's filled with the usual rabble, but there's also a turtle man! He finally reappears, still swearing vengeance over our dad or something. Leonardo fights alone and isn't strong. He runs away, telling us we're not strong and promising more revenge.

On the otherside are two villages. Haama is to the north, and it appears abandoned. No one runs the inn, and the item shop is filled with kabutops. As we explore, a human runs up to us and asks to save his family. We follow him to his house and enter the pitch black building. Nothing is there, and we hear the door lock behind us. Water suddenly begins to flood the room. Shout out to the architect of this village. Their homes are water tight! But this trap starts to show its effectiveness. The floods rise, and we quickly learn to "swim." Rain mutters to the aether while Red runs around. Three holes implode the house, and water rushes out. We were saved by Mio? She hits on Rain again by saying she sensed the call of her heart. Things then get weird when Mio teaches Rain the Drain spell. As thanks, Rain has to accept Mio's original deal of becoming her slave. Mio quickly metaphorically rips up that deal. It was all a joke. Mio teleports away, and the party never thinks about why they almost died. There's another town to the south that exists to rest before the next forest.

We'll eventually reach Rekur. As Hello showed us, Papa Brown is lying in bed, dealing with severe injuries. He's so out of it that he didn't realize his children were here. He was more concerned about finding the Oparts and going to the World Tree. He passes back out, muttering about the Underground City. One of the maids gives us his possessions, a strength seed and the Tablet. Check out the town for new weapons and armor. Other townsfolk inform us about a cave to the northeast.

Rekur Cave is wonderfully small. There's an ooze at the top, and a bat guards a door. From there, it's a gauntlet of mobs. We can return to the healing and save spheres at any time. I found it got easier as it went along. At the end is a tall man named Artemis and his three golems. He says something about the fall of his home, Atlantis, and how he's protecting it.

The battle against him is straightforward. The golems only move one square at a time and can't seem to attack when they move. They're surprisingly fragile if you gang up on them. Meanwhile, Artemis only has one attack: a homing fire thing that hits everyone on the team. It only did 30 damage to everyone, so I had no problem here. After the fight, Art recognizes us as the heroes who can save the world. He teaches Red the Super Dash technique before dying. Behind him is the Old Map, an Opart that lessens the effects of gravity.

We return to Brown, but he's run off in the last few days. How long were we down there!? The maid doesn't know where he went but suggests the Underground City or Stonehenge. I think we were just at the city, so I made my way back to Aroshu Castle.
 
The King is gone, so we can't enter the castle. But there's a new north entrance from the city. The headache inducing effects aren't as strong as before, and someone thinks it's because of the Map. Red informs us that "sensors indicate something is forming in the middle." Is Red a robot? What sensors!? Regardless, the thing Red sensed was the great villain, himself, Dark Lord. The party finally meets the man they need to defeat. And under such auspicious circumstances, too. Dark Lord, who I'm gonna start calling Greg, randomly blurts out that he's found the final fairy. He then charges a Kamehameha and shootout at us, but the team casually steps aside. They suddenly begin to float and warp away, confusing everyone.

We're brought to a ruined castle. There are a few mobs outside, but the people and harpy are normal NPCs. They're shocked that we exist and could come to this area. Venturing into the castle has more NPCs, horses, who inform us this is Atlantis. They've been outside the conventional flow of time, but there are mixed feelings about this from the populace. We also hear of a "winged lady."

In the back is a giant angel. The winged lady looks like a divine being. She welcomes the team to Atlantis, and Blue is excited. This is the woman from his dreams. Remember those? She fills us in on how all this started. The Atlantans abused the power of Stonehenge, the Pyramids, and another Opart to control the Power of the Earth. But this caused an imbalance in space and time. It ended up with Bone Dino being born and creating what the current humans call the Ancient War. The surviving Atlantans joined up with the six fairies to seal Bone Dino, using the Ferric Falcon, but this killed countless and reshaped the physical landscape of the planet. Atlantis sank, and the new continents formed in the wake. And now Greg wants to unseal Bone Dino. The Winged Lady, who I'll call Georgia, urges us to find the last fairy at the World Tree. Blue doesn't understand, so she gives us a Feather, which can be used to power the Ferric Falcon. We now have to walk back through the castle and return to Stonehenge. The repaired falcon is with Dr. Hello, so I'll talk to him...

...tomorrow!

What a wonderful piece of music Atlantis gave us. I think we're coming up to the conclusion soon. Both guides I "used" are reaching the end of their bars, and I know I bought the final gear I'll ever buy.