The party travelled through the fiery sands, and eventually reached the Fire Palace.
There, they ran into an orb so hot, it couldn't be frozen!
They also ran into this rather nasty room. I thought it was a puzzle to get a frozen snowman on the button, much like in FFA. However, I soon discovered that there was no way to reliably get the bandit rats onto the button, only my whip could reach that far, and while they were on the button, the whip straight up refused to connect! After burning about half my stock of sweets, I decided to get out of there!
The team then headed off to an icy island, where they first landed into a village full of strange walrus men. They talk about strange happenings in their surrounding forests, and one of them complains about the weather being uncomfortably warm lately. Hmm, that's a definite sign of either the fire spirit or the fire seed being here.
The forest outside serves up the prettiest scenes of the game so far. The trees are made of dazzling icicles that constantly shift between the colors of the rainbow, really making the whole place feel like something out of an idyllic fairytale. The enemies, however, continued to be complete pushovers, and the team charged ahead without much notable happening.
They picked up a spear upgrade, which I was hesitant to backtrack for, as the current spear was doing considerable damage already and I would miss the ballooning on hit, but in the end I decided to bite the bullet and upgrade it anyway.
And good thing I did, because they soon ran into the next boss, a reskin of the plant monster that had plagued the dwarven village! And, for once, Kard's spells were not effective! That's not to say the boss was any threat though; it merely required more liberal application of buffs, careful positioning and some sweets and healing spells.
Past the plant monster, they entered a strangely warm land inhabited by humans. This guy, who looks suspiciously like one of the two bit thieves they'd beat up earlier, asks them to watch the stove and beat it up if it cools down. Huh, that's not how stoves work...
Oh. It was their hiding spot for Salamander all along! Or Salamando, as this game calls it. It's more than happy to be rescued, and willingly gives its powers to the team.
Predictably, taking Salamando freezes the area, and makes the thief gang upset. They mutter some choice words, and the team tries to pry them for the location of the fire seed, but of course, they aren't exactly eager to help out.
They push ahead and finally run into Neko again! Where had he been all this time? His presence is welcome, as he finally allows them to save their progress in this land.
Their next notable location is, unsurprisingly, the Ice Palace. The enemies finally ramp up their damage enough to become a legitimate threat, and the team is actually forced to break out quite a few spells against them. They also run into some button puzzles, which I first assumed to be freezing puzzles, but alas, that was not the case, I merely had to try them until I hit the right button.
The upper floor is a library filled with hostile books that can put up a barrier to make themselves immune to regular attack! This is further exacerbated by them having HP draining spells, leaving the team helpless to deal damage against them while they suck up their HP! Thankfully, the buff doesn't last too long, and eventually enough attacks get through to kill them off, but wow are those books nasty!
The boss of this tower is three tadpoles! Remember them, from all the way back in the watery cave? The prospect of facing three character gulping lizards was terrifying, but thankfully Kard had actual spells, a decent amount of mana for those spells, and could hit their weakness, making this battle a lot smoother than it would've been otherwise.
But somehow, the tower wasn't over, and I dreaded fighting another boss, as the team's supplies were starting to run really low.
And then they ran into a frosty oversized gnome.
Fuck.
Thankfully, the frosty gnome wasn't that dangerous, mostly settling for trolly tricks like imbuing the team's weapons with ice or turning them into snowmen. He did end up consuming all of the team's remaining supplies though, and in the end the battle was very close. Phew! Hopefully I wouldn't run into more situations like this again.
Once bested, the frosty gnome turns into...Santa Claus?! Alright. Lol. He apparently became moody because kids didn't believe in him anymore, and he stole the Fire Palace's seed because he thought it could grow into a Mana tree, which would somehow restore the balance and make kids believe in him?! I don't know, this plot point is beyond absurd. Thankfully, he himself realizes how bad this plan was, and quickly relinquishes the seed.
I immediately restock at Neko's, and cannon back to Kakkara after a quick jaunt through the frozen forests. And this is where today's session ends! It's good to see the game grow teeth again, even if it's a bit too mean at times. Let's hope the future holds more wonderful and exciting adventures!
There, they ran into an orb so hot, it couldn't be frozen!
They also ran into this rather nasty room. I thought it was a puzzle to get a frozen snowman on the button, much like in FFA. However, I soon discovered that there was no way to reliably get the bandit rats onto the button, only my whip could reach that far, and while they were on the button, the whip straight up refused to connect! After burning about half my stock of sweets, I decided to get out of there!
The team then headed off to an icy island, where they first landed into a village full of strange walrus men. They talk about strange happenings in their surrounding forests, and one of them complains about the weather being uncomfortably warm lately. Hmm, that's a definite sign of either the fire spirit or the fire seed being here.
The forest outside serves up the prettiest scenes of the game so far. The trees are made of dazzling icicles that constantly shift between the colors of the rainbow, really making the whole place feel like something out of an idyllic fairytale. The enemies, however, continued to be complete pushovers, and the team charged ahead without much notable happening.
They picked up a spear upgrade, which I was hesitant to backtrack for, as the current spear was doing considerable damage already and I would miss the ballooning on hit, but in the end I decided to bite the bullet and upgrade it anyway.
And good thing I did, because they soon ran into the next boss, a reskin of the plant monster that had plagued the dwarven village! And, for once, Kard's spells were not effective! That's not to say the boss was any threat though; it merely required more liberal application of buffs, careful positioning and some sweets and healing spells.
Past the plant monster, they entered a strangely warm land inhabited by humans. This guy, who looks suspiciously like one of the two bit thieves they'd beat up earlier, asks them to watch the stove and beat it up if it cools down. Huh, that's not how stoves work...
Oh. It was their hiding spot for Salamander all along! Or Salamando, as this game calls it. It's more than happy to be rescued, and willingly gives its powers to the team.
Predictably, taking Salamando freezes the area, and makes the thief gang upset. They mutter some choice words, and the team tries to pry them for the location of the fire seed, but of course, they aren't exactly eager to help out.
They push ahead and finally run into Neko again! Where had he been all this time? His presence is welcome, as he finally allows them to save their progress in this land.
Their next notable location is, unsurprisingly, the Ice Palace. The enemies finally ramp up their damage enough to become a legitimate threat, and the team is actually forced to break out quite a few spells against them. They also run into some button puzzles, which I first assumed to be freezing puzzles, but alas, that was not the case, I merely had to try them until I hit the right button.
The upper floor is a library filled with hostile books that can put up a barrier to make themselves immune to regular attack! This is further exacerbated by them having HP draining spells, leaving the team helpless to deal damage against them while they suck up their HP! Thankfully, the buff doesn't last too long, and eventually enough attacks get through to kill them off, but wow are those books nasty!
The boss of this tower is three tadpoles! Remember them, from all the way back in the watery cave? The prospect of facing three character gulping lizards was terrifying, but thankfully Kard had actual spells, a decent amount of mana for those spells, and could hit their weakness, making this battle a lot smoother than it would've been otherwise.
But somehow, the tower wasn't over, and I dreaded fighting another boss, as the team's supplies were starting to run really low.
And then they ran into a frosty oversized gnome.
Fuck.
Thankfully, the frosty gnome wasn't that dangerous, mostly settling for trolly tricks like imbuing the team's weapons with ice or turning them into snowmen. He did end up consuming all of the team's remaining supplies though, and in the end the battle was very close. Phew! Hopefully I wouldn't run into more situations like this again.
Once bested, the frosty gnome turns into...Santa Claus?! Alright. Lol. He apparently became moody because kids didn't believe in him anymore, and he stole the Fire Palace's seed because he thought it could grow into a Mana tree, which would somehow restore the balance and make kids believe in him?! I don't know, this plot point is beyond absurd. Thankfully, he himself realizes how bad this plan was, and quickly relinquishes the seed.
I immediately restock at Neko's, and cannon back to Kakkara after a quick jaunt through the frozen forests. And this is where today's session ends! It's good to see the game grow teeth again, even if it's a bit too mean at times. Let's hope the future holds more wonderful and exciting adventures!
Prev: Part 8: Unforeseen Travellers
Next: Part 10: Deja Vu
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