Dark Lord rules! Let's play Sword of Mana!

It's time for Gretel to choose her fate. ... Er... It's time for her to have us choose her fate. The knuckles in this game are just like the Deistic Brace, right?

Also, on a side note : why do Japanese video games seem to have such a fetish for the term "God Hand"? I"m just wondering.

God Hand is currently at 100%. Amazing.

Probably the infatuation Japanese fantasy writers have with anything even pseudo-Christian. The opposite side of the coin is what is it American media in general has with "ancient [Asian country] wisdom".

Don't act you don't like her ball buster (ball-bustah!)

Well, that was pretty much no contest at all. Gretel is going to walk the path of the God Hand! Just don't blame me if we get seven highly trained assassins after us.



Doesn't take us long to reach Menos. The Outskirts aren't particularly large, and aside from the stronger Rabite enemies, all there really is there is an imp or two.



Don't get her wrong, barging into Julius' room when you did saved our necks. It just wasn't too effective at rescuing us.



Oh, him? He teleported off. Crazy powerful spellcaster and all that.



Right, that plot-important thing we entrusted to you to keep safe.



For the l-- we gave it to you for all of two very small areas and all you had to do was fall from the sky. HOW DID YOU LOSE IT.



Must be. I don't think Hansel has the competence to even drop it without noticing.



There we go, then. Amanda snatched it.



You better.



We can ask that later, Bogard. Right now, plot-relevant pendant.



Remember how the game never told us what Hansel's been doing all this time? Well, Amanda is one of his fellow gladiator slaves! She used the commotion from Hansel's attempted (and technically failed) escape to pull a vanishing act of her own.



Bogard thinks this is all funny as hell. Well, she did look better than most, I suppose.



Hansel gets up out of bed, limping. Falling from an airship will do that to ya.



Well, you could leave that to the guy who's in good shape and unable to heal you further... but whatever, go nuts.



A short while later, Hansel returns with news of her location.



Oh man, do we get two aimlessly meandering swordsmans to join us?

Nope. Hansel wants to leave behind a letter, on the chance that Amanda returns looking for them.



Meanwhile, Gretel tries to convince herself that Amanda's motives were innocent, to reassure herself.



After that, we get control of Gretel and Bogard again. So let's see what sidequests Menos has to offer. The first is this guy Toma.



You can talk to him a bunch of times, and he sounds like he feels pretty doomed, for some reason.



After enough prodding, he explains what he thinks caused his maladies: he stole the black mask of the Dudbears.



Remember Denton back in Wendel? He'll accept the mask too, but this will fail the quest.



This is a problem, because we don't know either. So a Gretel player might see Toma, eventually backtrack to Wendel, and give it to Denton, wondering why that didn't complete the quest, since she doesn't know where the Dudbears are at all! Hansel does, though. I'll be heading to that area eventually.



On the upper floor of the inn, Johnny here says we could make it big listening to what this Tony guy has to say, even though he doesn't really understand it himself. Well, sure, how bad can it be?



Ugh... if I say yes, will you shut up?



TAKE HIM AWAY ALREADY ASDFDFDFDF



Well... that was a waste of time.



Fortunately, this is pretty much the easiest quest in the game.



And we get Dudbears' gold out of it, so hey!



In the smithy, we find this guy, Delmar. He asks about spirit coins, like the light and water coins we have.



If we collect one of each kind, he'll reward us! I might do this quest if I happen across all the coins, but if not, oh well. The coins aren't particularly rare, but they are largely dropped by enemies, so I can't promise it.

For reasons unknown, this dwarf has a thick... something accent.



This last house does have a quest, but it also has a pointless element of the day/night system. See, you can only access one of these chests at a given time of day. I think they contain either seeds or materials.



This guy notices our barbecued newt, but says that Marco didn't stay here long. Small town, no jobs. So he's in Jadd now, where Amanda went.



No sidequest here, just plot. This is a clue you get early on as to who Amanda's brother might be.



This old woman has one more sidequest for us. Like the other two we've seen here, it's not really too hard, so hey, why not?



Apparently her daughter's gone to Devius Manor on an internship. Devius, eh? Anyway, she gives us a rhinoloupe for her to eat. Apparently it's her favorite. We need to remember her name, since there's a bunch of people there with similar names, but on the whole this isn't a terribly difficult quest, since the name Priscilla kinda stands out.



Last sidequest is this guy, Pancetta. He'll accept any aerolite you have on you in exchange for other materials.

Aerolite, or meteor rock, basically, is found only on one class of enemy, called the Cyclops. There's one cyclops of each element, and they're found only in very specific places. In fact, the only cyclops that appears on more than one screen is the Wind Cyclops. Moreover, even if you visit that screen, unless it's a specific day (i.e. for the Earth Cyclops, it has to be Gnome day) the cyclops won't show.

So what? Another obtuse system, who cares? Well, the two cyclopses I mentioned? They drop a kind of aerolite that Pancetta here will trade Crystal for. If you recall me mentioning the black enemies from earlier, they also drop crystal, but you have to grind over a thousand enemies to get them to even spawn, not to mention their stat boosts that are better than Bogard's entire stat spread right now.

And the best part? If you were insane enough to go hunting cyclopses at this point in the game? Only Hansel would have access to the Earth Cyclops before reaching Menos. So if you were completely insane and had a guide to the game, you could hit that area up, kill the Earth Cyclops, eventually get a ton of aerolite, and have a stockpile of crystal to forge new gear with.

But honestly... why the hell would I even bother? I'll find some good endgame materials anyway, even if they're not crystal, and that all sounds like the most tedious thing this side of the Rockies. Screw Pancetta.



Anyway, just south of town, the Prickly Desert begins, and we finally find a place to build another hot house.



Watts has made his permanent home in here, and he is the only way in the game to forge new gear, rather than temper existing stuff.



As you can see, forging will take a new kind of material you have that applies for your weapon, and change its stats. Some, like the Forsena Iron, are straight upgrades for weapons that are compatible (in our case, we'll spend it on our knucks and our flail).



There's also material like the Animal Bone and Fish Scale we found earlier. As you can see, these tend to result in weaker weapons, but may grant an extrinsic effect like the Scale Flail here, which can inflict the Snowman status. Yawn.



You can also forge new types of armor. Characters like Gretel and Cibba wear stuff like robes, hats and sandals, while Hansel and Bogard instead sport armor, helmets and boots. Generally, I just chuck whatever leftover material I have into my armor. Stuff that would grant status effects on weapons can grant resistances to specific status effects, which is nice. Not that you can make a silk weapon, but hey.



Anyway, after forging a bunch of new stuff and getting fruits/veggies I won't use, we get Li'l Cactus to update the diary. I forgot to post this entry when we got there, so here you are now.



One annoying flaw of Li'l Cactus is that he'll only write the newest diary entry when you leave. So in order to fill out all the diary entries we've gotten up to this point...



We have to leave and enter the hot house over the space of two in-game days. Which means seeing that animation of the hot house springing up from the ground again and again and again.

Next Time: Achievement Unlocked: Alfred Hitchcock Would Have a Field Day

Oh wow. I was not expecting the crafting to be so... direct and upfront about itself. Though I am disappointed by lack of hilarious fabric swords. On the other hand, you can tell Li'l Cactus about everything that happened previously, not just the last thing you did.

... This is reluctantly an acceptable trade.

It will prove to be a much less acceptable trade once we get far enough that crafting becomes a grind-centric chore. Basic tasks becoming grind-centric chores is a bit of a theme with this game, actually...

As per the usual around here, the first part's a video. Prickly Desert is pretty small, all of two screens, but we're gonna be backtracking across it a TON as part of a sidequest in Jadd. Why yes, there are sidequests in Jadd, too! Did you expect any less?



So, there's two parts to Jadd. The city itself, and the manor of Devius. Which, apparently, just released birds everywhere.



Seems people have a generally positive view of Devius.



If you haven't drawn the connection between Lester and Amanda yet... well, what are you doing wasting my time? Go back and read the LP until you figure it out.



Anyway, sidequests before plot. Because the last time, we advanced ourselves right into an hour-long cutscene when we touched the plot.



We don't have a choice in the matter of invoice collection... as far as accepting the quest goes.



However, this one? You can totally ignore the sidequest in favor of an alternate reward, if you want. And all you have to do is not report the money to this lady here. If you do all the invoices, you get some Dudbears' gold, if you need it, but this is a good way to make easy lucre if you just slack off and don't return their money.



Courtney here wants us to deliver a letter. Sure, no biggie.



Anyway, Jadd is the first place I cared to check about stronger accessories in. Normal accessories, like our Cicada Earrings, are worth a flat +5 boost to the stat in question, which is already pretty good, worth at least three levels of investing in the stat. I decide to buy a D-Fence Ring here, since our Defense will be our lowest stat for quite a while.



Mr. Cannell down here looks pretty odd, but whatevs. I forgot if he's part of a different sidequest, I'll check next update.



Most of the invoices are for pocket change amounts. 200 won't do much for us.



Since Jadd is a pretty small town, you don't have to do a lot of legwork, and the invoice recipients are pretty well-mannered about it.



Again, though, 120 lucre isn't even worth it.



Our next target is a guy named Radley. Jadd has two shops, with identical stocks. Because I don't know. One also has a smithy, but Watts is far and away better than any smithy because he can forge new stuff.



This is, near as I know, a total falsehood and not the least bit central to the plot.



Radley even gives us a tip! Granted, only a hundred lucre, but still, it's the thought that counts.

And he even tells us where Marco went to next!



This Ahmed character seems like a big spender. A thousand lucre is definitely in the realm of "we can use this".



Aw. That's--



definitely something worth not completing the quest for. If you recall right, Niccolo's accessories that boost XP or lucre gain each cost exactly that much.



But meh. I only really use lucre for forging new gear and buying consumables, and we won't need that much lucre for that.

Also, apparently maids are spooky.



That would be Presio. If you recall right, we also need to find the maid Priscilla there, to deliver a rhinoloupe.



Here's the manor itself. Looks pretty neat.



Bogard says he senses some kind of magic here. Dunno how he'd know that. Maybe it's just the experience that comes with age.



It becomes more tangible as you enter. Fortunately, it's not a curse or anything, so we're safe.



More immediately notable than the magic power, though, is the high number of birds here. Seriously, can't take three steps without tripping over one.



Thaaaat would explain it.



Apparently not.



And just in case you didn't pay attention to all that rambly nonsense back on the airship, the game reiterates that Medusa wedded Lord Granz, was cursed somehow, gave birth to Dark Lord, and then died. Why's she staying in Devius Manor? Well, if you ask around town, you learn Devius was separated from his father and brother at birth. So, there you go.



And yeah, in the wake of the Vandole Empire, even the Mana Village wouldn't spare any mana to save her.



As a result, she's lost her memory and become weak. Although apparently not weak enough to prevent her from almost turning Devius' entire staff into birds.

Sure, whatever. Her reasoning is that she went back to where she made her vows with Lord Granz. Which is, for reasons unknown, in the middle of the desert.



No? Why is this the solution you think of?

Yep, that's our next quest. We're going to go into the desert and destroy the Altar of Time, because that will somehow make Medusa come back and undo her curse.



Upstairs, three other maids survived the Birdening. This here is Presio. We can't talk to her until we give away the rhinoloupe. And you CAN give it to any maid, really.



Priscilla is just past her, though, so hey.



Happy birthday and all that crap!



She gives us something to send back to her grandmother.

Also, we need to talk to her to learn where Marco went next, but as with Mr. Cannell, I forgot this update.



There's a few treasures around here, most non-notable. However, there is a moon coin, which will help us round out our collection in case we ever get around to seeing Delmar again, and a Luna Icon. Those are both parts of how moon magic works, but I'll hold off on explaining what they do until we actually have a moon spirit of our own.



Presio's manners might be rough, but she pays us in full.



In the back room is a giant birdcage. This is part of a cutscene for Hansel's storyline, and also where he meets and teams up with Amanda.

Amanda, for what it's worth, is a fairly decent teammate. She's most notable because she sports a lance, the last jab-type weapon and the only one that can combo like the staff or knucks. But, as with the moon spirit, I'll get to that later.



Now, during that cutscene, they encounter a revelation in a way that actually makes a good deal of sense for this game.



Gretel is going to encounter that same revelation through MOON LOGIC.



No. There is no way she would know that this specific bird was somehow Lester, cursed by Medusa.



Aaaand she can talk to birds now. Fine! WHATEVER!

The reason this ever made sense is because Lesterbird, in Hansel's path, was locked in that cage, and both he and Amanda were present when he started singing the same song he played back in Wendel. Which is fine! It makes sense that you could use that to identify Lester! Over here on Gretel's path, though, they may as well have not bothered, since we already had stupid moon logic to go into the desert south of here. But they did. So this.



Anyway, the invoices.



All five are done, so we get a bit of pay, part of it being Dudbears' gold. But seriously, if you don't care about the diary, just steal Ahmed's invoice money.

Anyway, on the way back to Menos to deliver the letter and the peach puppy, I get bored and forge a new sickle. We'll be getting an actually-viable slashing weapon before long, but hey, never hurts to be prepared. And this sickle's got an elemental effect, meaning it'll even work on undead (which there are in the desert).



Hooray for happy families!



It only says she gave us one rhinoloupe here, but we actually got three. Which isn't bad at all, rhinoloupes are very good as far as fruits go. I mean, that requires tempering your stuff, which as we've stated is pointless, but hey.



Anyway, Kurt is in the item shop.



Oh hey, another branch of the resistance group.



Seems like Courtney's planning to do whatever it takes. She's a loose cannon, a rebel without a cause.

Also I only just now noticed the names. Courtney and Kurt. Man, that would be kind of neat or stupid if that had any contextual meaning at all.



Iono.



I guess so. You're just lucky Prickly Desert is easy to cross.



If this Molly person that got captured is a reference as well, I don't know it.



Anyway, Kurt tries to dissuade her from being rash.



I'd like to say no, but... meh.



I wonder if they purposefully made the Prickly Desert only two screens of actual enemies, just for this stupid quest. Remember, Kurt's in Menos, Courtney's in Jadd. "Too far to be going for just a stroll", my ass, Bogard.



Kurt tells us this is the last letter. Good. I'm glad.



Oh screw you.



Can I go back to punching guys now? I like doing that.

Good for you. Where's my reward?



Wwwwwwhat. No. No you do not. Go away.



Let's save those last two sidequest things for next time, why don't we?

Next Time: Achievement Unlocked: Can't Remember Your Name

So he can't do better than Amanda?

Man, spiny little bastard's got some balls on him, keeping mafia money.

Every time I see the thread title I cannot help but read it in the sense of "Australian rules rugby".

"Dark Lord rules tennis"?

I'd say no, but knowing what he ends up being like after a certain point, yes.

Incidentally, no update this weekend. Something about cleaning house, tarot decks, and Scandinavia.

STOP REFERENCING OTHER BETTER GAMES SWORD OF MANA! NO ONE IS FOOLED BY YOUR INCLUSION OF LEGEND OF MANA'S ADORABLY NAMED FRUITS!

I like Apricat.

Okay, so before we go into the desert proper, let's see about the last few bits of sidequest I forgot last time.



Remember Mr. Cannell here? Well, he says there's this ancient riddle about how to traverse the desert and he can't POSSIBLY fathom what it could mean. So let's hear what the riddle is, maybe we can learn it.



I... seriously? Seriously? You think we're that stupid?

Granted, this is the only place in the game that tells you about the way further into the desert. It just... this is not how a puzzle works. Puzzles provide clues, they provide information to deduce the answer yourself. They do not give you the answer outright. ASDFDFDFDFD, as it were.



As for the other sidequest, Priscilla here will tell us where Marco went.



It'll be ages before we have access to Ishe, so I'll try not to forget the quest when we do reach there.

Anyway, let's go into the desert proper! These are the parts of Sword of Mana I like. No cryptic rambling, no stupid plot, no stupid immune enemies you have no tools to fight, just a bunch of snakes to punch and switching your weapons to fit the situation.



Speaking of weapons, we got a new one here! The axe is the last slash-type weapon you get, and unlike the sickle, which is pretty much just there until you get a weapon to replace it, the axe is legitimately good on its own. Although slow, it can perform a three-hit combo like the knucks, staff, and sword, and it packs incredible power even in the default bronze. Additionally, its deathblow is a boomerang axe throw that can hit multiple times, which is very effective, and the magic trajectory for it is a wide wave effect that has a different cosmetic look depending on the magic used. It's a great sidearm for Gretel, and if you're playing Hansel and don't like the sword (because you're stupid) it can work okay for him too.



We also rescue a wind spirit, Jinn. As mentioned in the video, while wind magic is ineffective on a few types of enemies, particularly bird enemies, it's still a respectable magic type. It gives a Speed buff as support magic, doubling agility and making you walk (though not run) twice as fast. Since this applies to movement while casting, it's good for magic users. The status effect it causes is stunning, which prevents the victim from doing anything but moving. Which is pretty good. And if you're playing as Hansel, Amanda gets wind magic herself when you rescue Jinn. So hey, not a bad haul!

Next Time: Achievement Unlocked: Snakes Fall, Everyone Dies

In the spirit of this LP, you now have a Seiken Densetsu 2 translation sensation. Enjoy.

Right, we last left off in the Dune Maze. There's still a bit left to it, but the most part will be the cutscene at the end.



When Gretel and Bogard enter the scene, led by Lesterbird, we find Hansel and Amanda, having just beaten the hell out of Medusa.

See, Hansel and Amanda? They get to fight a boss here. They fight Medusa. She summons snakes and can turn people to stone, dealing half their health in damage, and I'm pretty sure she's extremely weak to wind magic. But Gretel doesn't get that fight, because plot. Plotplotplot.



Bogard asks Gretel to heal her. Which... okay, whatever. I thought she was kind of an antagonist since she turned everyone, Lester included, into birds, but meh.



Anyway, this is Medusa! She has jellyfish hair.



As you may recall, she's Lord Granz's wife, so Bogard knew her.



Right next to you. Come on, don't be daft.



Hansel picks it up, and Medusa says he can keep it. Guess how relevant it'll be to the plot? Answer: I forgot.



Ew. Apparently the cure for being turned into a bird is to drink the blood of Medusa? Whatever.



Oh hey, the Lesterbird actually is Lester! Gretel's cutscene intuition was right!



Medusa asks about Granz with the last of her strength.



And then she dies. Everyone hangs their head in sadness, and Hansel pounds his fist into the ground angrily.



Dude. YOU were the one that killed her. Your sword. Or maybe Amanda's lance. Either way, your doing.



And this is when Dark Lord and Devius walk in.



It doesn't exactly leave a good impression. Why again did you kill her, Hansel?



For reasons unknown, Medusa's corpse vanishes.



Anyway, Devius, who has the pendant for some reason, gives it to Dark Lord, telling him he'll avenge Medusa for the both of them.

Why does Devius have the pendant? Well, when Hansel fell from the sky earlier, Amanda rescued him. Devius made an offer to her: saving Hansel's life in exchange for the pendant, which she took, and which was part of the reason she went to Jadd (the other part being investigating Lester's disappearance).

Man, it's great that we don't care about the plot, otherwise we'd expect this sort of thing to be explained to us.

Also, y'know how Dark Lord is actually named Stroud? Well, Devius is a pseudonym too! His real name is Gurnda! Guess the relevance this has to ANYTHING and win a prize equal in magnitude to said relevance!



But yeah. Devius tells Dark Lord to continue with his plans while he avenges Medusa's death.



Dark Lord agrees, and he either walks or telprots off. Don't remember which.



That'd be Hansel.



Devius moves to attack Hansel, Bogard dives in the way...



And then Bogard telprots away for no adequately explained reason. No seriously, I've played this game more than once, and I cannot tell you for the life of me why Bogard vanishes into the ether here. Everything else has at least some thread of logic behind it, inane or warped as it is, but this particular bit is just "welp, no more Bogard for you!"



Anyway, Devius doesn't take advantage of this by murdering Hansel where he stands, but instead issues a challenge to meet him at his tower.



Just before he telprots off, Amanda starts crackling with energy, apparently quite harmful.



What got her, exactly? Devius' magic? The same voodoo nonsense that ate Bogard and Medusa?



No, actually, she was bitten just before the boss fight with Medusa. The one you never saw.



This has less than good effects.



Known effects of Medusa poisoning: rapid skin discoloration, burning sensation, pleading to loved ones for help...



And last but not least, uncontrollably stabbing any errant monks in the area.



Hansel tries to risk his life to get Amanda to recognize him.



What really gets Amanda's attention is Lester's song, though.

Anyway, in this brief moment of lucidity, Amanda tells us to run.



Hansel is understandably quite upset, since they'd only just reunited after having both escaped from lives of slavery.



Nothing for it, though. No known cure for Medusa poisoning.



As a result, Amanda reconsiders her stance, and asks Hansel to instead kill her, to prevent her from becoming a sine-wave flying hellbeast that haunts clock towers.



And Hansel, torn though he is, sadly complies.



And then... immediately yells at Gretel to heal her. Wow, indecisive much?



Well, whatever.



D'you want it done twice, or d'you want it done right?



One beneficial side effect of the poisoning is that Amanda's blood will now work as a cure for the birds.



And that's how we fed someone their sister's blood.

YEAH!



Well, there's a life lesson. If you want to be a happy family, don't go antagonizing medusas!



After apologizing to everyone and thanking them for being with her in her last moments, she dies.



Well, it's no WHATAMIFIGHTINGFOOOOORRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAGH, but that's still pretty funny.



No, by all means blame yourself.

If I recall right, the whole point of them fighting Medusa was pretty much that A: Amanda was trying to break the curse on Lester, but didn't know how to do so, and B: Medusa herself was somewhat amnesiac and thought they were trying to interrupt her wedding vows. Hansel has pretty much no valid reason to kill her, and yet he did.



And because of that, Amanda is now dead. On the other hand, we did do what we could for her before she died.

Lester also tries to console Hansel, saying how happy Amanda was now that she'd finally reunited with him.



I hear in the original game, Final Fantasy Adventures, this scene was really kind of sad. It's still sort of sad here, but the clunky writing and the whole adding personality and backstory to Medusa, who was a random monstrous boss in the original, kind of undermined it.



Right, he did kind of vanish for absolutely no reason whatsoever.



So, back to Jadd.



We find ourselves standing right outside Devius Manor.



We, of course, being Hansel, Gretel, and Lester.



Anyway, Hansel's an emotional wreck now. Dark Lord was responsible for his parents' deaths, but now he's gone and killed his mother. And to make matters worse, he's blaming Amanda's death on... Devius. Why? How the hell should I know?



Gretel tries to keep Hansel from acting on this in ways he'll regret, though.



Well, uh... Gretel wants to find her real mother, and both of them want Dark Lord dead. The first part doesn't necessitate fighting, the second sure as hell does.



Also they talk about a bunch of tangential unrelated garbage, including Lester giving what they have remaining of Amanda's blood to Hansel.



But really, Gretel's just trying to calm down Hansel and talk him out of acting rashly. She says she'll talk to Devius in his place.



And he agrees! Fancy that.



Aw hell no. I forgot about this part.



Okay, so. Y'know how everything we've gotten, partners or magic or weapons, has been at the very least situationally useful? Well, Lester marks the start of the truly useless stuff. As you can see, he's a magically-inclined character, and he uses a bow. Which, on its own, isn't a bad setup. His stats aren't too bad either. However, there are so many things wrong with him it isn't even funny.

First, the AI. You thought the AI for Hansel and Bogard was bad? Well, Lester is the only teammate that does not use a weapon that has a 3-hit combo. And I am pretty sure the game's AI doesn't accommodate for this, so what this means is that he will walk right up to enemies and happily fire arrows that totally miss.

As for his magic... well, there are two NPC characters that really rely on magical combat aside from Lester, those being Gretel and Cibba. Both of them wield staffs, and therefore have homing magic. Lester wields a bow, but bow magic has the same trajectory as the bow itself. Which wouldn't be a big deal except for the fact that AI characters, when casting, take twice as long as a normal person with their magic and also stand stock still, meaning he'll miss more often than not.

And better yet? Lester cannot get magic in Gretel's story. He doesn't start with it, and you don't get Dryad until after clearing Devius Tower, at which point Lester leaves. Not that Dryad magic is bad, mind you. It's just not spectacularly good. And we don't even have that, because Lester only has his bow, and mediocre physical stats. Lester is pretty much the worst teammate in the game. Thankfully, we only have to suffer for one area with him, while Hansel's stuck with him for a good third or so of the game.



Anyway, remember this guy? Yeah! We explained the mystery to him!

Oh well. Freeish Dudbears' gold, no reason to complain.



Oh, and I not only forged the Steel Axe, kicking its base power up to an insane 30, but also made Marble Knucks! These are notable for being a true sidegrade at this point in the game, as opposed to the useless garbage like the Animal Bone and Fish Scale. They only have this effect with the knucks, near as I can see, but hey, well worth it.

Next Time: Achievement Unlocked: Who's Scissorman?

Seriously, did Phillip J. Fry write the plot? "I must now leave room for no raisin!"

OK... Seriously, why is this a thing? This intentional mis-spelling wounds my soul more than you can imagine.

It's a thing because I like making obscure references.



So! In Medusa's room, the maid Genoa is standing in front of the door to the clock tower. The manor has a clock tower, see.



Psh, no. She got stabbed by Hansel and Amanda. But Gretel lies and says that she did.



Hansel only gets this line, though. Genoa generally hates him. Which, y'know, only makes sense.



Anyway, Devius Tower! It's got a video, of course, being a proper, if short, dungeon. And a dungeon I hate, at that. It's loaded full of mean enemies, like high-evasion Amorphs, more Undead, and magic-wielding werewolves. But the central gimmick are the moving gears that slide you around when you stand on them, and the doors that are unlocked by bells. But whatever, watch the video to see it.



Oh, I forgot about this. Yeah, turns out that Devius telprotted Bogard into a cage in his mansion. Must have been a specially-prepared spell, though, otherwise he'd have done that to all of us.



Right, you vanished just after Medusa died.



So, no. Amanda also died. It was very sad.



Anyway, Gretel tries breaking the cage open with her staff. Why her staff, and not her fists or an axe or something the game knows she has and would make more sense here? Because shut up, that's why.



Anyway, the cage is locked by magic. Since Gretel doesn't have a way to dispel it herself, we gotta go take down Devius.



Also, Bogard's taking Medusa's death pretty badly, but whatever.



Yeah, you could have used Mana power back in the day when she first got cursed. Or are you saying you could've used it just now, when she died? Because if that one's the case, why didn't you?



I'm sure he'll be reasonable and understanding. He's only berserk with grief at the murder of his mother, after all.



See? He's in a great mood!



Not sure if he means he's going back to Mavolia or committing suicide.



Yes, we've established this.

Anyway, Gretel offers to hear him out, trying to be sympathetic to him. After all, she didn't really wish ill towards Medusa, and didn't kill her.



Devius will have none of it, though.



Psh, yeah that'll work.



In fact, saying that just pisses off Devius right into a boss fight.

Now, I've been complaining that Gretel's gotten only a few real boss fights so far. However, I don't like the fight with Devius, or Mindflayer, as his monstrous form is called. Even aside from the constantly rotating floor (which is kinda fun to run around on), Mindflayer spends about half of the fight hovering in the air, slowly, to one position or another. He has a few different attacks: a spinning slash that deals meh damage, a hard-hitting bite, and a few spells. The bite inflicts confusion, and the orb spells inflict blindness. Getting either one on this rotating hellhole basically means you can't hit him while it's active.

This would be a good time to talk about boss resistances. Like common enemies, bosses have a creature type and resistances/weaknesses to various damage types. Fortunately for us, it seems he doesn't resist bashing damage, so we can punch our way to victory. However, he sure as hell resists jab damage, so Lester is deadweight here. Additionally, he resists a few kinds of magic, and is flat-out immune to one type we have. If you guessed wind magic, the kind we just received, and because of this you'd expect to be most effective on him? YOU'RE RIGHT! He is totally immune to wind magic! This is probably the first point where any given player will find their weapon of choice being ineffective against a boss, although there are much worse examples of this later on.



Anyway, we kick his ass.



Because he's an angsty prat that is also a mindflayer.



No? We weren't planning on killing you, you just don't know when to quit.



Gretel still feels sorry for him.



I've met Iji, and you, miss, are no Iji.



Julius' voice echoes across the room. He mocks us for refusing to put him out of his misery, saying that's what our idea of mercy is.



Yeah, just saying. We ARE a trained healer, and unlike Hansel, I don't think Gretel would've fought to kill.



We don't have a sword, for starters.



Oh. That we can totally do. Even if you're being a cock about it.



Devius is also being a cock about it, though, and refuses our help.



Before he dies, he says how much Gretel reminds him of Medusa. Um... what? Weren't you calling us a monstrous human less than a minute ago?

This is stupid. You're stupid.



Well, we don't have a sword, but we do have an axe. We can use that, no problem.



He doesn't look dead. He has a sprite for laying on the ground, and one for kneeling, and this is definitely the kneeling sprite.



And suddenly, some zombie jester thing named Goremand cuts his way through reality...



Eats Devius' soul...



Comments on the exquisite taste...



And then vanishes into the air from whence he came.

...SWORD OF MANA!



Afterwards, we fade to the entrance. Everyone is mourning the three deaths that occured.



Well, Medusa was killed by Hansel, and because of that, Devius was going to kill you all or die. I'll give you Amanda, though.



Hey, you tried.



Anyway, to pay his respects, Lester has an idea.



Hansel agrees, and hands him the lute of Lord Granz.



He starts playing a song that triggers a short montage cutscene, showing the flight of that bird in the corner as the song travels.



For some reason, the song has incredible volume, and can reach as far as Vinquette Hall.



In unrelated news, remember the Grudgies?

Turns out they like sad music! So now Miasma Glen isn't a deathtrap.



This, I think, is actually physically closer to Jadd than Vinquette Hall is, so I'll run with it.



And there's the whole crew. Dark Lord, Julius... Goremand, wherever the hell he came from... and Isabella, who apparently ditched Lee in favor of Dark Lord.



Anyway, Genoa comes around to kick us off of the late master's property. Speaking of, who gets to own the place now?



Tangential, I guess. She also summons a spirit.



This spirit was apparently Medusa's pet (or equivalent).



Yeah, uh we did kill both of your masters.



She doesn't answer, and leaves before we can question it further.



But not after making a request. Why does she want us to defeat Dark Lord? I dunno, maybe he turned her down for a date once.



Good for you, Luna. We'll discuss you in a bit.



Wasn't she amnesiac, senile, and also the one who bit Amanda?



Well, whatever. Luna wants us to quit moping and go be proactive. So it joins! But we'll discuss that after the cutscene.



Sure, just don't take long. No way in hell am I saddling myself with Lester again.



Yeah there we go.



Sure thing. When he's not being a self-pitying moron, he's pretty upbeat.