ActRaiser 1 & 2 - LPs by Guild

Proem: Continuously trying to improve my process, I've thus far done a long LP, a short LP, an in-depth LP, a commentary-heavy LP and a carefully formatted LP. Now I want to do a series with all of these elements and things I've learned combined. I refuse to play only good or only bad games. Luckily, this series has one of each! ActRaiser 1 is praised highly, while ActRaiser 2 is commonly accepted to be a steaming pile. There will be as much reader participation as I can muster, slower updates than previous LPs to allow playing along, uploaded save files, smaller image size screen captures for faster loading times, clearer resolutions, larger size screen captures and transcription to save space. This will likely be my last LP and don't worry, Treasure of the Rudras is still in full swing. As is tradition, this thread will be rated 1 star, but readers are encouraged to give it a rating they feel it deserves. I will be doing zero cheating. I WILL be listening to Coldplay because I don't want to associate anything frustrating with any music I might actually want to listen to. Viewer discretion is advised: My LPs tend to be full of sailor talk as I enjoy difficult games but don't handle it well. If you enjoy this thread, check out my others! Thanks for reading game fans!

Table of Contents

ActRaiser

1.1 - Claiming Fillmore
1.2 - Fillmore development ...and a vote!
1.3 - Fillmore is utterly subjugated ...and a vote!
2.1 - Claiming Kasandora ...and a vote!
2.2 - Kasandora development.
2.3 - Kasandora is utterly subjugated ...and a vote!
3.1 - Claiming Aitos.
3.2 - Developing Aitos.
3.3 - Aitos is utterly subjugated ...and a vote!
4.1 - Claiming Northwall ...and a vote!
5.1 - Claiming Marahna ...and a vote!

You are Azrael, an evil angel set on preparing all humanity for the Reaping, an event wherein you'll feast upon them in great numbers. You have a sword and use it to slay demons, but you spend equal amounts of time sitting on your expensive throne in your posh temple which rests atop a cloud hovering over Earth. Your assistant is a cherub named Pinko Commie Bastard whose primary purposes are exposition, explaining how to do things and with what buttons, and acting as an interface between you and your future lunch; Pinko is adept at shooting down enemies to protect the village that is currently being focused on (gathering Mana for you when he does so) and acting as a cursor for spells and directions. He is, in essence, your sky-bitch.

You must guide Pinko in order to help the humans flourish, building cities until the residents are brave and numerous enough to eradicate demon spawn points from each map, indirectly directing them in what directions to grow their cities, and occasionally smiting them with your unholy lightning bolts for fun. You do all of this to raise their awareness of you. The more humans who know of you and fear or respect you, the higher your level and the more lands you can conquer. Sometimes you must do other stuff as well.

But before you can get to the population sim aspect, there is platforming.

When claiming a new land for settlement, you must defeat a boss at the end of a 2D side scrolling platformer level. You do this with perfect posture, though control is pretty shaky in jumping (no direction changes midair) and enemies are sometimes a pain. At least your sword is quick: There are a few different types of swings you can do. Landing during a jump enables a quick secondary swing, a skill most people learned playing SOTN. Combos can be performed with correct timing as well, which is useful for bosses.

You don't go to earth in person, mind, but by possessing a statue which comes to life and acts out your infernal will. You're way too awesome and rich to ever touch the dirty ground.

Come with me on an adventure in the sky - in a land where prayer matters and miracles can happen!

Pressing start from the start menu leads to this screen of Pinko awaiting your awakening.



Pinko Commie Bastard: Press B Button to enter any letter you select. Press Y Button to cancel any letter entry. Press START Button once you have created your name.

Pressing the B button scrolls text and soon transitions to this:



After accepting your name is not Pants, you keep reading.



Pinko: Now all types of monsters are in total control of the earth. This all came about because of a demon they call Tanzra, the one who sealed your power. In order to restore your power, you will need to rekindle the people's faith in you. But first, let us go down to the earth and destroy all monsters, that we may establish a peaceful land for our people to dwell in.

You really hate Tanzra, by the way. He's trying to steal your lunch.



At this point the menu is open to exploration. You can select an item along four rows titled To Move, Status, Fight and Other. Each row has two options to choose from, and look like this:



Under To Move, a picture of red and blue arrows in opposition, lie options related to population simulation. Move Mobile Terror Base (the cloud with your house atop it) allows you to move your M.T.B. to hover ominously above any of six lands (see map). The picture of Pinko allows you to interact with the people living in the land you currently have your M.T.B. parked above.

Under Fight, a picture of your sword, are options related to platforming. Fight Monsters (a picture of a ball of energy) allows you to possess one of your many earthbound statues, bringing it to life so you can kill the current bastard controlling the region and claim it for your own amusement. Select Magic is that parchment, and it's where you keep the helpful spells you'll use in appropriating land.

Under Status, a picture of a delicious and fresh human heart, are options to look at your stats and score, as well as the stats of your various enslaved kingdoms. For now they are boring and full of zeros.

Under Other, denoted by a picture of a device for creating miracles, is a feather which saves your game and an arrow which sets the speed of messages from instant to . f . u . c . k . . s . l . o . w . which should only be used if you're nobody.

For now the only thing you can do is save the game, look at stats, or move your M.T.B. But though there are six lands, you can only currently invade one of them as you are weak with hunger. Fillmore is a land of hicks and superstitious fools. The ideal place for you to begin your reign of terror.



You must will your M.T.B. above Fillmore and astral project yourself into the statue, ready to claim this forested land for your first feeding ground.

Pinko: Sir Azrael, if you defeat all monsters in this land people will be able to settle here again. Are you ready?

>Yes.

Pinko: Good luck to you!

Your holy spirit sails earthward to the sacred stone circle.



You take over the statue and your terrible visage comes to life.



You immediately begin swinging your sword at anything that moves, as everything on earth is hostile toward you by default, even the air. This is because nobody likes you; you're kinda a dick.



Your sword is a bit quick in any situation not requiring speed, but if you have just landed and weren't swinging already, there is a long pause before you can swing again. This is to make sure the second boss of the game is un-killable.



Your posture, as previously mentioned and befitting an Angel of Death, is always correct, even when perfectly balancing on a log tied about the middle with rope sliding down another rope at 33mph.



In the first level you encounter monkeys, orangutans, birds, evil trees, a different kind of birds, a different kind of un-killable evil trees, hazards like thorns, stumps, grass, and a centaur with a spear. The centaur is the boss. There are also power up relics which, if chopped, drop lives or points.





Once the forest has been denuded of life it's safe to plant your future meal here. Humans will survive at first off monkey corpses until you allow them to hunt, but eventually off a simple meal of zeal and prayer seventeen times a day as their civilization, under Pinko's watchful gaze, sprawls to eat all the land like cancer, mirroring the example you set.



Nothing on this planet will survive your machinations.

Wait, you anticipate bad game - good music, and your reaction is to mute the game and listen to something you won't enjoy as much? Brutal.

There is no pain. I have played Lord of the Rings on SNES. Nothing can hurt me anymore.

You have conquered the dreaded Centaur and made the way clear for your food culture to infest. As you sit atop your throne squinting at the pathetic number of peons who have surprisingly found the intelligence to fear and worship you, Pinko appears to lend assistance building your feast.



Pinko: Our first duty is to protect our people from any monsters. I will do as you instruct. Please rid the land of these monsters with my arrows. There are several mysterious circles on the ground which represent Monsters' Lairs. If you direct your food correctly, they will be able to seal the lairs. You will discover the monster that controls this land. If destroyed, control of this land's destiny will return to her people. All right, my Master, let us work towards peace. Sir Azrael, I know it's unexpected, but our people in FILLMORE have something to tell you.



Lunch: Please burn the bushes and guide us as we begin to build our roads.



Pinko: Will you use lightning?

>Yes

Pinko: All right, please show me where to use the lightning bolt.

Pinko becomes a cursor: Whichever square he is situated in becomes outlined when a miracle is selected for use. Miracles cost Suffering Plasma to cast, and SP is gathered when Pinko's arrows kill a monster attacking the village. The manna is gathered at your temple, and the cap of SP that can be stored is determined by population size across all lands, or how many worshipers you have.



You select a square...



...and a cloud appears and nukes the earth with blue fire, burning down houses, trees, destroying rocks and killing monsters and peasants while you watch stoically.



In the top left corner of this screen you see a Monsters' Lair. Villagers must be directed to build beside one of these in order to seal it up. Until it is sealed, monsters will constantly spawn from it.



For this purpose, Pinko has arrows that can be fired in cardinal directions. Black bat-like monsters take 1 shot to kill, while white dragons take 3, but drop more SP. Farming for SP is the only way to clear land with miracles and advance the story using other miracles.

If Pinko is hurt too badly he loses the ability to fire arrows, and your lunch will be stolen from you, your houses burned to the ground while your inept sky-bitch cowers. Good help is hard to find.

Side note: The hourglass at the top of the screen is a cool down for miracles, and miracles cannot be cast while peons are building the village. You can direct what square your food will build towards, also activating the cool down. The cool down is also activated whenever your food is growing their city.

Occasionally your meditation will be interrupted. It's a sad state of affairs: There was a time when your might was respected and you were not a shepherd, but those times are past and now you must occasionally stoop to assisting your food supply in their petty problems.

Lunch: Our master, we have finally mastered the skill of hunting animals. We now have the confidence to fight monsters. Please lead us to the Monsters' Lairs.



You direct them to build toward a square, and they slowly creep there building farms and other things, a fungus of ideologies and woe suitable only for eventual consumption.



Build close enough to a lair after this event and your snacklings will seal the entrance, forever ending the threat of spawns from them.

Pinko: Sir Azrael, our people have sealed the Monsters' Lair without our help! (Pinko is not the smartest cherub in the fifth dimension) It appears someone has found something in the Monster's Lair.

Lunch: My Master, we have found a strange statue. We present this to you as an offering. Please accept it. If you hold this aloft, all flying monsters will be destroyed.



You are immediately interrupted with more pettiness.



Lunch: Many of my thoughts actually come to life in the real world. If these powers are real, I feel the presence of something radiating from the woods east of here.

You do not yet have enough of a population to handle this problem but must build closer to inspect further.

Pinko continues to clear land, build the village and defend the ingrates from dozens and dozens of monsters until suddenly a fire breaks out.



It is easy enough to extinguish with the rain miracle. Rain costs double what lightning costs: 20 SP. It can be used to quench dry farms and extinguish fires.



Pinko has a handle on sycophancy at least.



Pinko: Oh, by the way, your level will increase again when the total population becomes 0200.

At a certain population point your level will go up. This is because, in some kind of ironic cosmic practical joke, your life-force depends upon the awareness of you in the minds of your food supply. The more there are worshiping and fearing you, the more powerful you'll grow. And so you must lead them into a false sense of security if you are to enjoy your Reaping Feast.



Sealing the second Monsters' Lair triggers FILLMORE's civilization level to increase from grass huts to wooden houses.

Lunch: My Master! I feel the presence of magic power radiating from under the big rock below the precipice southeast of here. Something may be buried there. My Master, please use your powerful lightning to destroy the rocks there.



Pinko: Sir Azrael, destroying that big rock below the precipice has revealed something that may be very useful. Your people have something to say.

Lunch: Our Master, a magic token was found near the precipice to the southeast of here. We present it to you as an offering. Please accept it. We found a Magical Fire spell underneath the rock. The spell must belong to you, my Master. Please accept it as an offering. This is all we have for this year. Thank you for accepting our humble offering, my Master.

When platforming, magic can be cast. This fireball spell is the only very reliable way to defeat the boss of BLOODPOOL, the second area of the game. However, before it can be used you must find a Malignancy Points container. MP containers come from quests in the population simulation levels, such as the one that got you the fire spell.



Pinko: Oh, by the way, your level will increase again when the total population becomes 0400.

Side Note: You'll notice that some houses are now wooden. Destroying old housing with lightning will clear the way for more efficient housing, also culling the population of potential atheists and proving to the survivors who you are and what you are capable of.

You seal the third Monsters' Lair, but the ever annoying fourth remains segregated by a river. From this one, white dragons capable of destroying houses will spawn less frequently than black bats, and while clearing land is good in the early game it is not optimal later on.

Lunch: My Master, we have developed a fishing trade here in FILLMORE. A few days ago, a fistherman repairing his boat along the sea shore found an unusual scroll. We present this to you as an offering. Please accept it.

Pinko: Sir Azrael, we have received another MP!!

Now you have a spell and some Malignancy Points to cast it with. But before leaving to conquer other lands, this area should be rid of all Monsters' Lairs.

Lunch: My Master, we have found a strange bow and some arrows. We present this to you as an offering. Please accept it. Thank you master. We have acquired a new skill and can now build bridges.

Bow and arrows, like all the gifts from your foodstuffs, are for platforming levels.

Lunch: My Master, we have acquired a new skill and can now build bridges. With a way to cross the river, we can build homes over there.



Pinko: Sir Azrael, the civilization level of FILLMORE seems to have improved.

Lunch: Since the last lair has been sealed, something strange has been happening to me. I have the same nightmares every night. In my dreams, the gruesome monster Minotaurus appears through a big hole to the southeast. He says he will curse the people with death. Because of my ability to see into the future, I feel as if I'm already afflicted by the monster's curse. Please, my Master, go down into the ground and destroy this gruesome monster before something terrible happens.

Pinko: Congratulations, your level has increased! Now, your level is 04 and your HP are 11. Oh, by the way, your level will increase again when the total population becomes 0700.



Note that there is a lot you can do to improve your city now and increase your population to grow your strength.



So you burn the huts and primitive housing to the earth, both to cull the old structures and leave a reminder of who is in charge while you are away.



You now have the option to utterly liberate Fillmore of demons by once again returning to your sky palace and selecting Fight Monsters from the menu.



Or you have the option to start a colony in the lands of BLOODPOOL.



Or you may choose to tempt fate in the dire deserts of KASANDORA.



You are the master of time and space.
>Kill MINOTAURS
>Begin in BLOODPOOL
>Begin in KASANDORA

Kill MINOTAURS. Let's be thorough and do things in order.

You have rested and entertained yourself with idle meditation for long enough. It is time once again to return to the cursed material plane and mete terror upon your otherworldly rivals.



Pinko: Sir Azrael, are you ready?

>Yes.

Pinko: May luck be with you!



As your spirit dives at speeds no mortal would survive toward Minotaurus' cavern you shudder, mentally bracing yourself for contact with an impure being. Though not as evil as yourself, demons are vile in the extreme and lack culture.



A watery cave filled with stink and miasma. A typical demon's barrow. His spawn are creeping about in every corner, watching for a chance to stab you in the back and suck blood you don't have. Though it would be amusing to let them break their teeth on this stone statue, it is one-of-a-kind, forged a thousand years before the demons stripped your power by eradicating all who knew your name from the earth. You have but three of them in this area. Would that you had but a sliver of your old glory, you could produce more.



To say that demons dabble in necromancy is to say that humans dabble in stupidity; it is tied into their natures inexorably, and many of these creatures may have been created by Minotaurus' dreams as he slept.



Beezelbub's man-sized maggots. Were he in the area, they would be hatching into flies and would present a problem. As they are here, they merely make landing on certain platforms tricky, necessitating a quick swing from below or a timed landing beside them accompanying a downward landing slash.



Dirt-caked and stinking of putrid underclothes, the gollums making their home here provide Minotaurus with protection from the average human. You slay them by the dozens and their centuries-old hovels are soon to be even more dilapidated by abandonment, survivors chancing a dip in water to swim away from your flashing sword's unquenchable thirst.



More evidence of necromancy, but this is no misshapen leak of unguarded thought; a drake reformed into a soldier is a formidable foe when cloaked in dark magicks. It takes six hits of your blade to drop the foul beast, and he nearly gets the best of you. The key he drops was perhaps not entirely poorly entrusted, but now the gate to Minotaurus' chambers is open. He may well trash this statue, but you have two more with which to launch your assault, so you march resolutely forward.



A tower with three-pixel forgiveness jumps and a constantly changing pattern of maggots on platforms, statues which spit fire and gargoyles which ooze red acidic nightmare blobs from their mouths to roll down the sides. Were your blade not imbued with your pure willpower you would not be able to strike such projectiles and magicks to vapor with quick strokes. Still, the climb is arduous and had you not found an apple of life near the top, jealously hoarded by a thieving gollum, you'd have lost a second statue to the Minotaurus' trap-filled guardian maze.



The beast's very chamber. Dark energies are gathered here, and the void stares at you from a massive open portal to the negative planes just beyond a series of baroque sconces. Were it not for his tastes in aethers this one would impress you: he seems to share your penchant for grandeur.



His smell disabuses you of any notion of camaraderie. By slashing at four times the speed of this brute, you sap his health quickly. It is only by landing atop you repeatedly that he manages to keep you in check to the very end, but you eventually...



...after seconds that seem like hours...



...conquer the Minotaurus. You almost see the vinelike tendrils of black magicks powering the curse he was preparing being severed by his death. But a single coil of death remained intact, tied to his soul even as it passes into the nearby void to be obliterated by the powers he worshiped: A human from the village has succumbed to the Minotaurus' plot. You indifferently assume it was the psychic who foresaw the curse and thus attracted it to his soft heart.



As your soul departs the statue you worry about leaving it so close to a portal to 'hell.' You make a note to yourself to send Pinko down here with a contingent of priests to retrieve it later.





Lunch: Right before he passed away, he was heard to say, "I was finally able to be of some help to the people of FILLMORE." With the elimination of all monsters, we can now control the town by ourselves. So please visit other lands and make them as peaceful as our town, FILLMORE. There are people praising you outside of this shrine.

It rarely amuses you to find a human unwilling to speak candidly about your tyranny. You have as often promoted the spineless as the fearless to High Priest in your time, but this quivering excuse of a worm undoubtedly boasted in the local tavern of how she would trick you into leaving. It is useful for the humans to think themselves free of you when no rival exists to challenge your property. You merely nod sagely at the doomed mortal.

Lunch: My Master, may I inform you that a scroll was found in the woods east of here. We present it to you as an offering. Please accept our gift.

The scroll is another MP container. You now have two castings of any known spell, in this case only fireball. Fireball's greatest effectiveness is against the boss of BLOODPOOL.



The threat of a death curse now gone, the people emerge from their shelters to start building a grand city in your honor. Migrants and wildfolk from the surrounding lands resume flocking here for the clean water and education. If there is one thing a farm needs it's clean water, and education for slaughter-bound swine is merely an effective distraction.









Your Mobile Terror Base beckons your weary mind to rest, but it may be short lived. Now is the time again for slaughter.
>We must attack the guardian demon at BLOODPOOL.
>We should invade the desert first in order to pincer the BLOODPOOL spawn.

Let's go into the desert. If we find more Fireball scrolls that'd be nice.

You are different this age.



Contemplating yourself, you descend to the barren wastes of Kasandora.



You can feel new power stirring within you. Always it is different. The process changes your mind, body and soul. You abhor your dependence on humanity for it is their combined perception of you which gives you form and even influences the thoughts you are capable of having. These humans have made you bitter.



Arid desert winds have pitted your statues. The souls of the dead trapped in monstrous form crawl across the sands among the bleached bones of the now extinct Dragon race. Long hours did you spend conversing with the deep-thinking Dragons. It's a waste, like everything around you in this place.



As you manifest your presence you resolve to find something to cheer your herd soon. Something to make them occasionally joyful so that you can enjoy existence a little. Poetry or art perhaps should be invented once more.



You recognize this Dragon by the shape of its lingering aura.

"Hello again, Mazabel." you say.

"Greetings, Dark One. What brings you to visit my remains?"

Mazabel's slow words are a comfort, a reminder of a time when you'd perfected your process and had the perfect life. "I seek to return to my former glory and enjoy a Reaping once more."

Mazabel's response is characteristically delayed. "You seem troubled, Azrael. Surely Tanzra's tricks have not destroyed your soul along with your glory?"

You have nothing to deny, and Mazabel knows this. You nod your head imperceptibly at the admonition. "You are right, Mazabel. It is time for something new."

Mazabel's chuckling response is typical. "Fuck new. New is the scourge which killed the last great species on this planet. I do not miss life on such a dismal plane."

You resolve to build a shrine to Mazabel so you can converse with him again after the Reaping.



Most abhorrent of the demon spawn are plants fused with souls. Plants were never intended to have them, and to see them unnaturally bonded to a cactus is probably more a warning to angels than an effective deterrent. This one spits prickly bits of itself at you and takes two clean cuts to destroy, its ichor darkening the desert sand.



Upon the back of one of Marzabel's many dead children you encounter a fire djinn. It chases you, a mindless being of pure magic, raining fire down from the sky. You dispatch it with a single stroke.



You remember when these lands were lush; the Dragonlands of history become myths become forgotten. A river called Peos once coursed through this valley and now the only evidence it ever existed is stored in weathered stone sculptures.



Some tribe of insect men has arisen here. Though they swarm at you in droves you dispatch them effortlessly. Their exoskeletons are no match for your blade. You wade through their city amid pools of their entrails, their guts forming a sticky layer upon your stone flesh.



It appears the termite men have deified a simple soul vessel. Laughable. It reminds you of the cults that sprang up in the early days of your first and second Risings, worshiping statues to beings that did not exist or ideas such as maternity or happenstance.



Smashing it to bits, you find another scroll, this one obviously written during your own time as it is in a language you yourself created. You look fondly at the glowing sigils and resolve to open a college in Fillmore soon.



The creator of this Guardian had a sense of humor: Similar to an ant eating insect, a Guardian's only task is to absorb souls to prevent humans from spawning.



The battle proves atricious. Its claws scrape down the sides of the shifting sandy chasm pulling you into its poisonous reach. Unfortunately for the beast your priests in Fillmore now pray 19 hours a day.



As you prepare to depart you freeze your features into a grimace.



Let them see what their God thinks of the temerity of humans, ever dependent on water, living in a desert.

We have a third scroll now. Shall we develop Kasandora or invade Bloodpool?
>Develop Kasandora.
>Invade Bloodpool.

Develop Kasandora. Finish what you start!

Your grimace won't go away. Pinko's cheer is especially annoying this year. Something about this desert...



Pinko: All right, my Master, let us work towards peace. Sir Azrael, I know it's unexpected, but our people in KASANDORA have something to tell you.

Lunch: My master, this is Kasandora, a desert town. Please send rain to wash away the sand so we may cultivate the fields.



You summon the rain. You have grown in power substantially and in a matter of weeks you can wash this entire desert into the ocean.



You notice demons spawning from the sand nearby.



Torrential floods destroy the ecosystem, revealing soil long dormant beneath. A den of monsters surely enough. There are hundreds of dark spawn within, you sense.

Lunch: My Master, some of our people ventured into the vast desert and lost their way. Please lead us to them.

Ever petty, selfish, greedy, lazy and blind to the ways of Nature, these humans deserve to be treated as nothing but chattel.



Pinko finds the man lying on his back in the hot sun, dead of dehydration, in short order. With a smirk you inform your priests they must build east. No reason to tell them he's already dead; there are many ways to motivate them to do your bidding.

Lunch: My Master, we have found a strange bow and some arrows. We present this to you as an offering. Please accept it.

The bow will make Pinko's arrows kill demons in a single shot for several rounds. Useful as the red devils here take four normal arrows to slay, though they do not attack the village and merely harass Pinko. You'll save these for when even more powerful monsters threaten your work later.

Pinko: Congratulations, your level has increased! Now ,your level is -5 and your HP are 12. Oh, by the way, your level will increase again when the total population becomes 0950.

Lunch: A tremendous rain fell on the northern desert, revealing a pyramid. We sense an evil presence exuding from it. We will be investigating the matter. We will let you know what our investigation uncovers.



Pinko reports that your food is correct. The den is crawling with creatures from the underworld more ancient than even your oldest foe. They have escaped notice by more powerful beings due to the thick stone walls and incantations upon them. Whatever creature haunts this massive structure, you could learn a few things about human subjugation from it. The building itself is impressive even by your M.T.B.'s standards.

Your food has discovered their missing man after years of slow construction. He must have been quite popular among them, for they hold a funeral and nearly all the residents are in attendance.

Lunch: My Master, thank you for leading us to them. Sadly life had already left the missing man when we arrived. We plan to bury him near the shrine. The missing man was found holding a strange scroll in his hand. My Master, we present this to you as an offering. My Master, Kasandora is the birthplace to the marvelous art form "Music". I composed this "Music" for the man who lost his life in the desert. "Music" has mysterious powers. By listening people can calm their hearts and soothe their pains. My Master, we present you with the music as this year's offering.

Kismet! Just as you were contemplating how best to cheer your food, they come upon a solution for you. Music is an ear-splitting cacophony of banged and rubbed materials which apparently please their ears. You resolve to spread this technology to all your other farms. You wonder idly if there could be a way to make this music perform the opposite effect, inciting riot and fear when necessary. Something to ponder as you play the rain across the desert in mogies.

Lunch: Ruins have a mysterious attraction. One of our people was attracdted by the mysterious power of the pyramid. However, there is something wrong with the pyramid. Those who went in to investigate the pyramid have not come back.



You finally find the final Monsters' Lair beneath the sand. When it is gone the protections hiding the pyramid will fade. It will be a dangerous time for your food, so you must act quickly afterwards to eradicate the master within.

Lunch: That pyramid has been enticing us. Those who went to investigate the pyramid have not returned. When we sealed the final Monsters' Lair, the pyramid revealed its true purpose. The pyramid is the main Monsters' Lair! Oh Master! Please come down and seal this evil pyramid!

You know well the power of relics to humans. Things that are grand and old hold them in sway.



The power of the pyramid is formidable indeed. It covers the land in a curse of unhappiness, and the people become slow to build and sad. Try as you might to cheer them with music, they remain intractably dispondent.

Pinko: Congratulations, your level has increased! Now, your level is 06 and your HP are 13. Oh, by the way, your level will increase again when the total population becomes 1200.



You wash the last of the sand from Kasandora, hoping to break this funk that has overtaken them, to no avail.

Pinko: Congratulations, your level has increased! Now, your level is 07 and your HP are 14. Oh, by the way, your level will increase again when the total population becomes 1500.



Far to the north west you find a sigil burned into the earth with salt and magic. It is a greeting of sorts from Tanzra; the shape of the sigil mimics the artificial island he built to commemorate your defeat nearly 1,000 years ago. He is mocking you. You are not strong enough yet to go to the island and remove the desecration from your birthplace in the long ruined city of Cheraby. This is what has been bothering you since coming here; some of the taint in this place has the unique stench of Tanzra's power.



Anger as you have never known yourself capable of washes over you in waves. You smite the saddest of your population hoping to break the fog of sadness that now pervades your mind.



Emotion is useless in the extreme, a lesson you remember only when the depression spreads as a result of your tantrum. With the depression now comes a plague, and the people beseech you to find a way to cure the disease. It is not a magical ailment, and so defeating the pyramid's master will not be sufficient. Healing is not your realm, so the answer must likely come from another civilization's knowledge.

Something else must be done, and soon, or you'll lose the focus necessary to prepare for the Reaping.

You shake your hair and claw upon the arms of your throne, showering your antechamber with sparks and causing attending cherubim to scatter in abject fear. The real enemy is not your food, nor this ancient pyramid's master.

Something must be done about Tanzra.

You are angry, sad and not nearly powerful enough to tackle your great foe. Depression is a new feeling to you. Very distasteful and artificial. The anger is your own. Doubtless these traps were set by Tanzra to weaken your resolve and spirit and give him time to retaliate. But it was YOUR work which paved the way for HIS rise to power. He waited until you were fat with the Reaping and distracted with meditation, when the population was small and your name a curse once more. He corrupted your priests with promises of hope and power. Lies. Your priests were safe only in subservience to your will, spared the reaping by privilege and necessity. When the time came for them to carry out their instructions to spread the good word of your name and seed the next Reaping, instead they preached Tanzra's name and humanity was wiped away.

They were only safe under your careful watch, and because of their stupidity you must now once again save the world.



You decide to take your new spell with you to the pyramid, just in case it comes in handy. Prepared is armed, as an ancient culture was fond of saying.



They were delicious.



As you descend you fantasize about using the earthquake spell to destroy the primitive huts and tents of Kasandora. Your power is not yet strong enough. Though they would curse your name if they knew the source of such a cataclysm, they would benefit for a time in wealth and growth.



Your priests found an air shaft and lowered this statue inside. The master of this place will be surprised, you hope.



Though you are stone, the poison of these snakes is magical in nature. Ducking to hack their heads clear is demeaning. You tally another point of vengeance against the master of this place.



Strange statues that fire arrows and are hard to destroy. Three swings obliterates them, but the timing must be right lest you take an arrow to the face.



This master's version of necromancy is strange indeed.



Just as dark are the practices of homunculus creation. This bird-man is an abomination, but a well trained one.



Still, it's no match for your power. You slice it to ribbons in two swings.



A scorpion with metal parts fires globs of spells at you while a ghost hovers nearby. They die easily enough.



You find a relic with enough power to create another statue should you need it. You doubt you will.



Snakes are prolific deeper inside. They appear in a drove and you run back to safer ground and attack them carefully.



This homunculus is stronger by far than the others, and guards the lair of the master. It takes six swings to kill but it is just as outmatched as its brothers. It thanks you as it dies and you ignore the gesture. Beneath you.



The master of this place is no demon, but a relic given intelligence. Intrigued, you try to converse with it even as you smash it to bits.

"Who made you?" you ask, lopping free a large piece of its face.

"I know not. Leave my temple." The creation slams into the ground and you're forced to juke away.

"How old are you?" Arrows fly from the walls, hitting you in the back.

"I know not. Leave my temple." The thing seems incapable of anger. Perhaps it is an automaton after all, mindlessly performing duties no longer required of it.

"Do you know anything at all?" You stab its eye but it continues to see you. The eye is obviously a decoration.

"I know the five steps of ascension. I know the three mantras of ruling. I know the twelve lost arts of embalming. I know the nine songs of Eremel. I know the-"

"Enough," you laugh, driving your sword into the crystal powering the infernal device. "Your knowledge is useless to me."



You decide to leave a statue here as a sentiment about the usefulness of objects as tools.

Lunch: Thank you, my Master, for sealing the evil pyramid! The man who was lost and died in the desert was probably enticed by the pyramid's magic power. Thank you so much for taking care of us. We can now look after ourselves. Please help other lands become as peaceful as Kasandora. My Master, too many of our people are dying of the plague. It is terrible to see so many suffer, wither and die. Please give us some herbs! Please save us from suffering and bring peace to our lives!



It seems your food has become spoiled. The answer may lie in another land where green things have grown longer and become more diverse.



You look to the east and see Bloodpool's poisoned lake. Probably not the best place to look for healing herbs, but then again perhaps the people there know a few things about plants to cure disease because of that very thing.



You look to the north and see a rocky land containing a volcano. The plant life there seems diverse enough for the purpose, but the evil energies you sense there are stronger than any you've faced so far.

Where will you go, oh vibrant one?
>Bloodpool is the next goal.
>Aitos is a challenge, and we need a challenge.

I really like your twisted perspective on this game.

Damned right it is. I've been playing along, sort of. Doing the zones in order, but skipping forward without bothering to do any of the final platforming stages once all the monster dens have been cleared. I've finished Acts 1-1, 2-1, and 3-1 so far, but tried Act 4-1 and failed it hard. So I'm interested to see you try it.

Visit Aitos, and give my regards to the water dragon.

Your mind is on fire. You warp into a statue here and taste sulpher and ash in the air. Bamboo and craggy cliffs whir by in a blur. You've been like this before, an artist at his easel, but never with such intensity. You know meditation would be impossible now. You must drive yourself to the end or face death again and another thousand years of the Dream.



Bamboo is surprisingly strong. The gnomes here have built clever traps from it, and for good measure, pelt you with stones as you traverse the mountainside.



You summon your royal chariot and manifest the Canta, a pair of 5th dimensional birds, to carry you closer to the top over ravines hundreds of feet deep. Some of the gnomes are tougher and take two strikes to kill. They hurl boulders the size of a giant's head at the Canta.



A homunclulus uses its fans to blow disorienting dust devils at you, but it falls to your blade easily. It was eating a corpse before you appeared. Disgusting.



Suddenly the master of the place notices you, and you notice it noticing you, and it notices that. Skulls appear in the sky, and crows. You duck on your chariot and swing at them as they approach.



You reach an area the Cantos cannot fly in; tall cliff faces and narrow ledges, and the mouth of a deep canyon flowing with magma. From the earthy ground rise golem hands conjured of rock. They roll boulders down the path at you while you battle the gnomes.



A massive river flows down toward the ocean, protruding rocks giving slippery purchase even to your magically enhanced feet. The runes carved into the bottoms of your feet say 'mountain goat.'



You find an alter with a familiar resonance and, busting it apart, are thrilled to see an object of power from your glory days. Jaigur the Light.



As the familiar light flashes from your every swing you smile for the first time in years. This master was a fool not to toss this relic into the lava. Perhaps she didn't know it was made for you. Perhaps she didn't even know what it did.



The water serpent's magic is weak, but her powerful body hurts. Still, you stand on the third rock and slash with Jaigur, sweeping chunks of flesh from her writhing body as she flies predictably about seeking you. She is blind, it seems.

"Wheerrre are youssss."

"I am here." you declare, lopping her head clear of her body.

"Dammmn yousss." The head will chatter more if you don't dispose of it. You toss it into the lava flow as it begins an incantation.



The water serpent dead, you look around for anything you can use in your quest to restore yourself and find a glowing rune stone. Curious, you open its contacts, careful to be prepared to toss it into the lava should it attack you.

Tanzra's voice echoes forth. "Is the heretic dead, Ralciumr?"

"Ralcium's head burns in the lava flow." you reply.

"Azrael." The voice sounds pleased. "I noticed you'd awoken at last. How do you like the world I've forged from the souls of your sad little humans?"

"I am liberating them. I come for you, Tanzra." As you are about to destroy the rune stone, you think better and keep it clenched in your fist.



Should you need to you can return to this statue and speak to Tanzra again.

I played through the game three times before starting this LP, so I know a lot about it now. One thing you gotta do is get large populations so your level is high enough to withstand those awful gauntlets of rocks and magma balls flying everywhere. It's also ok to die, but your final score on the level will impact how many humans will live in the area, so beating it on your first life is important, as is killing lots of enemies and doing it all quickly. Lives, remaining health and time are worth big points when Azrael turns into a statue. The apples in this level really help, as does the sword upgrade, as do the extra points the alters drop for population growth later. I recommend replaying the game and liberating each area, as it allows the population to grow to max unimpeded. After the last monsters' lair is sealed the population will not grow or grow slowly until the master is defeated. Also, in Kasandora, the plague halts growth completely, so build up the area before sealing the final monsters' lair. Leave the white dragon lair for last and kill a bunch of them before sealing it. There is a set number of monsters in each lair, and every white dragon killed adds 2 or 3 souls to the population potential. Sealing a lair also adds all those souls to the population potential, but they would be trapped by the plague in limbo for a while.

You are angry, hungry, weak, weary and sad. So many things you never wanted to be.



Pinko: All right, my Master, let us work towards. peace. Sir Azrael, I know it's unexpected, but our people in Aitos have something to tell you.

Lunch: Oh Master, this great plateau, Aitos, has laid uncultivated for many years. Please use the mighty power of lightning to destroy these rocks so we can begin to build and cultivate the land.



You discover a terrible new foe in the west: Some dark master has used the skulls of giants to craft an army of violent destroyers. They injure Pinko badly but pose no threat to your food. You smite the rocks covering the lair with your terrible lightning, exposing it to the sun. Pinko is too great an asset to lose to abominations.



A particularly willful human here is threatening the power of your clerics with talk of democracy and a diminishing of theocracy. You instruct your holy men to inform the heretic he's been divinely selected for his bravery to lead an expedition to seal the lair. One of your priests, disguised as a simple farmer, goes along and stabs the man in the dark at your behest.



Lunch: My Master, we have found a strange statue. We present this to you as an offering. Please accept it. Oh Master, my husband suffered serious injuries while sealing the Monsters' Lair. So I alone must continue the building of Aitos for a while.

When the report comes back that the man survived you order the priest hanged in secret to set an example among his peers for his ineptitude.



Lunch: My Master, this year our ranch has some horses.

Pinko: Sir Azrael, the civilization level of Aitos has improved.



You clear the rocks away with lightning. It takes a few mere months to do.

Lunch: Oh Master! One of our people went to seal the Monsters' Lair even though he was also seriously injured. After sealing the Monsters' Lair he was fatally injured. He is now standing before the Shrine with his last ounce of strength. His last request is to pass away while being covered by my Master's tears. Please grant his request. Send the rain.

This morsel. What is his game? You decide to watch and wait and see what would lead a person to take such a risk twice. That he did not expose your plot says his motives are not what you expected, and being the most intelligent of beings, you know the wisdom of waiting and watching.

He is in your earthly temple. You materialize your presence and he flinches like the others, but perhaps less than most. A brave man.

"Why have you propagated my rule by making this request? Did you not espouse the merits of democracy and discredit reliance upon my wisdom in your governmental halls?"

"I think you are a vile oppressor. You make the people dependent upon you, and I have lived a hard life and know the dangers of this. There is something you want from us, and I wished only to know what before I died."

You feel a glimmer of something unexpected. Empathy? Respect? It is in that vein. "Then I will tell you, small one, what I plan. I will eat your entire race save my clerics in just a few short decades. I will consume their souls to grow my powers to battle demons and one day, I will regrow your kind and repeat the cycle. The other option is eternal damnation at the hands of demons. Do you not see how magnanimous I am?"

The human thinks for a while, then replies, "I ask a boon. I will not oppose you with my dying breath if you make my family clerics. You know that I could cause trouble for you in these lands, even now in my final hours."

"And you know I cannot smite you here. Yes. You have laid a fine trap. I will grant your request." You suddenly feel the sense of empathy grow exponentially. Surprised at yourself, you ask, "What is your dream, mortal?"

The mortal smiles. "One day we will be free of this cycle. One day your kind will be but myths told to keep children from misbehaving. I have foreseen it in my dreams."

The warmth fades as rapidly as it arrived. This man is a cancer. "The dreams of mortals are but fancies you hold to stave off the fear of death." you reply coldly.



The rain begins to fall.

Lunch: That his face was showered with his Master's tears was peace enough. Oh Master, thank you for showing compassion on him in his great hour of need.

Pinko: Congratulations, your level has increased! Now your level is 08 and your HP are 15. Oh by the way, your level will increase again when total population becomes 1700.



Lunch: My master, the wind is gone and without it our windmills won't work. Would you cause the wind to blow please? My master, we have found a strange bow and arrows. We present this to you as an offering. Please accept it.

You'd ordered them to build north toward a white dragon's lair. In the process of years that followed they invented a new technology for creating manpower from the wind, but naturally they now need your help for it to work. Science has ever been your ally; the faster they build and the more efficiently, the better the Reaping will be.



The wind does indeed cause the devices to work. How quaint. Had they not you'd have had reason for wrath at their waste of your power, but since it does you congratulate them and order a parade.

Lunch: My Master, we have learned to make clothes from the fleece of our sheep. This fleece is very warm and could be very useful to any land as cold as Aitos. This year, may we present this fleece as an offering.

Pinko: Congratulations, your level has increased! Now your level is 09 and your HP are 16. Oh, by the way, your level will increase again when the total population becomes 1900.

Lunch: Oh Master, please save us! The old dormant volcano has suddenly erupted. We can hear monster's footsteps! Our town, Aitos, will not only be destroyed by the eruption, but also by monsters! Please come down and fight for us and the men who have given their lives in sealing the Monsters' Lair.



Fire indeed rains down from the mountain, spattering the land and belching thick, acrid smoke into the air. The sheep and horses become sick, the people concerned and sick and you, in turn, concerned for their health. You resign to give them instructions on building their town while you are in the volcano clearing the master infesting it.

Pinko: Congratulations, your level has increased! Now your level is 10 and your HP are 17. Oh, by the way, your level will increase again when the total population becomes 2200.

You look at the feeble structures built over the years by these people and realize you now have the power at last to cause earthquakes.





Many will die, but the strongest buildings will survive, and the people will rebuild in those places newer homes and stronger structures. You forewarn your clerics, instructing them that you have foreseen a cataclysm you cannot prevent and that they are to blame the master of the volcano for the destruction.



You smite the earth with terrible force.



Hundreds die.

You return to the Mobile Terror Base to plan your assault upon the volcano.

Wow. This game is a lot more complicated and opaque than I realized.

It's a crime that this thread isn't titled "I know it's unexpected, but let's play Actraiser"

You feel anxious. Things are going along as you'd hoped, which is a bad sign. Nothing can go right 100% of the time. Even taking into account all the traps Tanzra laid for you in these lands, you expected more from your foe who had 1000 years to prepare, unhindered, for your return.



Something is definitely wrong.



The volcano is deep, the only light from burning pools of rock. Had you tear ducts they'd be loading your eyes with water.



Red devils swoop and slam into the ground where you stand. You move to the side and slash them with your blade.



Exploding magma golems launch shards of burning lava in four directions.



Beings of pure magic and vapor appear, compacting down to buzz about your face. They are hard to dissipate.



The enemies are working in tandem. You sense this lair's master may be smarter than your previous foes. Or perhaps just more aware of you.



Rocky outcroppings enscribed with runes rise and fall from the magma. You hop across them with perfect timing.



From thin-walled lava tubes burst more golems and archers made of enchanted armor fire arrows at you while you struggle to cross the room.



These creations of stone are elaborate. This master took its time, for certain.



You were expecting a demon, not a wagon-wheel. This odd fellow tells jokes the entire battle, even with his dying breaths. You almost wish you could keep him as a jester for your court, except his final joke is a bit disturbing.



"What's red and mad and goes around and around and around but eventually stops?"

"You." you reply, sensing a setup.

"Ah, but which of us is me?" and with those cryptic words the monster turns to ash.



Madness has always disturbed you.



Pinko: Sir Azrael, I know it's unexpected, but our people in Aitos have something to tell you.

Lunch: Oh Master, all the monsters in Aitos have been destroyed. Thank you for taking care of us. We can now take care of ourselves. So please help other lands enjoy the peace we have here in Aitos. My Master, we have refined our mountaineering skills. The mountains hold many unseen mysteries. We will inform you if anything is discovered. My Master, we have found a scroll in the mountains northeast of here.

Pinko: Congratulations, your level has increased! Now, your level is 11 and your HP are 18. Oh, by the way, your level will increase again when the population becomes 2500.







You now have a few options for where to go next.



You could travel to the frozen north.



Bloodpool remains unclaimed.



Your power is now great enough to attempt to take Marahna.

Only your choices determine your fate.
>To Northwall's frozen valley.
>Claim Bloodpool at last.
>To your birthplace, Marahna.

To Northwall! They've got delicious frozen fish... and frozen trees... and frozen people! Who wouldn't go to Northwall with all of that?

You aren't bothered by the cold.



The driving winds, the sleet, the slippery ground. None of it bothers you.



Even if you could feel the cold the fire that burns in your belly would keep your feet moving.



Tanzra is waiting.



Ice giants hurl axes and take two strikes to dispatch. They use shields and sometimes your sword clangs uselessly against them. They can be very troublesome.



A statue of Tanzra sits at the other side of a pit covered in a thin sheet of ice. The statue fires balls of blue ice at you and takes two swings to destroy. You quickly learn to duck when facing one. That Tanzra has perfected your technique of inhabiting statues with willpower is a little unsettling to say the least.



Inside the icy cave you find an angel's altar with 20 human souls inside. You grab them so you can put them into your temple in Northwall and eventually they will be reincarnated as humans.



Another angel's altar after a drop and a ride on an ice block to the west. This one was guarded by another statue of Tanzra and contains a life apple. You needed it to repair your statue.



You ride the other ice cube, this time to the east. You must duck to avoid low hanging icicles frozen into razor sharp daggers.



Chunks of ice fall occasionally from a glacier somewhere above. Inspired, you hop aboard one and ride it to a point where icy ledges can be jumped to.



Leaping from the fast moving hunk of frozen water, you find an angel's altar with a relic inside. This object, when used by Pinko, will destroy all monsters on the screen.



You find another life apple, and just in time. The master is close.



The master's chamber. You are puzzled by his appearance and energy auras. "What are you?" you ask.

"I am of the sea and half angel," it replies.

"Abomination!" you shudder to your roots. Whatever angel procreated with a demon must be found and killed if not already dead. "Where are your parents?"

"They are passed away, forgotten these long 500 years."



You waste no further words, assaulting the strange being with fire as it swoops down to attack you.



By standing exactly here, facing west and casting fire, you deal massive damage to the damned creature. "I surrender!" it screams.



You kill it with fire and ascend once more to the Mobile Terror Base.

What is your next goal?
>Develop Northwall. -aturtledoesbite-
>Claim Bloodpool.
>Claim Maranha. -Teaspoon-
>Revisit and develop older lands.

Marahna

Because why not

Finish what you start!

Make vikings and eskimos!

You have worked tirelessly to free souls trapped in monsters. Thousands and more. In time you hope to free them all, but a few may be lost already to the vortexes of evil proliferating the land. Some souls left too long in the grips of a monster are consumed, warped and even destroyed.



Pinko: All right, my Master, let us work together towards peace.

Before you can leave Northwall, Pinko reminds you of his creed. He cannot help what he is; you chose him for his compassion. A manager must at the very least appear to care for those they manage. Better still that they do, lest the lie be found out.

Lunch: Oh Master, our land, Northwall, is covered with snow. Please use the warmth of the sun to melt the snow. We long to see the green of the plateau.

That will have to wait. You feel your homelands calling to you. Something is remiss there.



Marahna, or as it was called in your days, the Isles of Enesi. Over the last 1000 years while you dreamed, Tanzra built an artificial island here in the shape of your father's crest with the neck broken, the head bent backwards. It is both insult and proclamation: 'I killed your father and nearly you, Azrael, and I will finish the job when you return.'



This insult cannot stand.



The plants have not changed. The sky is the same, the water, the misty, seamy jungle air. It's too warm and too wet. The stones of civilizations long dead are aged much more now than they were during the last Reaping. Perhaps you are the last creature alive who still knows the meaning of the symbols carved into them.



Zombies created by the extinct Zanzie clan have somehow survived a thousand years of jungle rot. They can throw grenades and shoot darts through blowguns. You leap as they do, swinging to explode any grenades, and swing again when you land to destroy them. The vampire bats are equally annoying. You swing once at the air when they appear then again, the timing of the second swing exactly catching them as they swoop.



The speaking stones of the Tendai clan hop out of the mist to toss shards of magically charged rune stones in two directions. They are harder to destroy by merit of the material they are carved from. None of them seem capable of speech any longer. Too bad, their knowledge was vast in your day.



The spinning totems of the Palars are also difficult to destroy. They hop over you so you are forced to duck beside them to avoid being knocked over.



When the Enei tribe was slaughtered by the Asloka, each man was beheaded. A few of them survived the beheading and had children with eyes and mouths in their chests. They did this by making pacts with devils, naturally.



You find the master of the jungle marsh at last; a plant with hundreds of human souls entwined in its leaves and branches. You stand on the rock beside it and jump to hit its 'mouth,' leaping over its vine and running west to allow the vine to chase you. When the vine has chased you to the other stone you jump over it and run back to the master to slash it a few more times before the vine can catch back up. Lucky for you it is a stupid plant.



Very lucky.



The master dead, hundreds of human souls are now free for reincarnation. You must build a safe place for them to propagate now.

There was something you came here for, but it doesn't seem to be here. You aren't sure exactly what you wanted to do... something about the artificial island perhaps... you resolve to take some time to contemplate it.



Pinko: All right, my Master, let us work together towards peace. My Master, I know it's unexpected, but the people of Marahna have something to tell you.





You feel you'd have a headache were you capable of human ailments. You return the M.T.B. to Northwall lest they freeze to death from inattention.

You're beginning to feel unhealthy. The lack of meditation, the constant battles and oversight, the micro-managing of a million details that are clearly beneath you yet vital to maintaining the faith... it's all adding up to stress and resulting in a sense that things are not quite right in your mind lately.



They want the power of the sun to melt the snow. Simple enough. Simple tasks will keep you occupied so you don't think about Tanzra's traps.

In this place you wind up using all those Angel's Bows and Angel's Statues (bombs) you've been hoarding. Destroyer skulls are very hard to kill (eight shots) and can knock Pinko's health to zero from full in three hits. Angel's Bows kill them in two, and a bomb kills them instantly.



The snow is hiding the lairs. This will be time consuming.



After sealing the first lair your meal finds Pinko a bow. The bow makes his shots more powerful for a few years. This is especially useful for dealing with the giant skull destroyers, which can cause earthquakes if left unchallenged too long.



You gift them with fleece technology to stave off the cold.



Lunch: My Master, did you know that there is a large tree growing northeast of here? The other day two of us went to the mighty tree. At the trunk of the tree, we found something very interesting. There were two initials carved in the tree. Those initials proved that people inhabited this land a few thousand years ago. We also discovered a scroll hidden near the trunk of the tree. Please accept it.

After sealing the second Monsters' Lair, the people inform you they plan to build a bridge over the southern river.

Lunch: My Master, we have found a strange statue. We present this to you as an offering. Please accept it.



A red devil has turned this farm fallow. You must send the rain to restore it. A constant food supply ensures rapid growth and quick conquering of the land.

Pinko: Congratulations, your level has increased! Now, your level is 12 and your HP are 19.



Your food finally seals the last destroyer skull lair.



They are now ready for an earthquake.

Lunch: Oh Master, a monster has appeared from the mighty tree. The mighty old tree is our symbol of Northwall. Simply gazing upon it stirs the emotions within us. Oh Master, please save our symbol of Northwall. come down and drive the monsters away!



You allow the final remaining destroyer skull to slam the earth and cause an earthquake, then you dispatch it and let the city regrow.

Finally, it is time to make another choice.
>Kill the master in Northwall's ancient tree.
>Develop Marahna.
>Claim Bloodpool. -anything but this! - Droewyn-
>Revisit and develop older lands.

Anything but Bloodpool! We've come this far, save it for last.

Develop Marahna, then return to develop earlier lands.

I just played the "retranslation" hack of this, and determined two things: The Japanese version of the action stages are hard as balls; and I'm apparently better at fighting things as Pinky than you are, because I virtually never use angel items and don't really have trouble with monsters.