Day 13

Game - Final Fantasy 2, Day 13
Hours Played/Hours Total -  5-1/2 hrs / 21-1/2 hrs
Starting Point - Inside the Tropical Cave.
Current Goal - Locate Deist and recruit the Dragoon's help.


What Happened - INSERT CATCHY FIRST LINE HERE!
     I began this day's journey inside the tropical cave. I don't know why I'm here, but I decided to move on with it anyways. I began my descent downward...grabbing all the chests and fighting off the monsters. This was a fun dungeon. Had lots of branching pathways that led to different spots. Along the way, I somehow managed to end up in some sort of tropical village place. There was a group of NPCs with masks on wondering how I got there and more importantly why I WASN'T wearing a mask. I talked around and eventually located a couple of them selling items. Most of what they had was generic use items, but one of them had some new weapons and armor! I didn't buy a lot, but I upgraded a few members with some demonic weapons! A couple of these masked people mentioned something about a Black Mask near the bottom of the cave, and how I should leave it alone. Of course, that made me want it even more!
     After a little backtracking, I began down another path in the cave. After two more extra paths worth of random crap, I finally made it to the bottom chamber for...THE BOSS BATTLE! Wasn't too much of a boss battle though, it was composed of 4 blue monster rhinos. I spent most of the battle using my new lower level spells (Scourge, Berserk, and Blind) so that I could gain some more levels on them and buffing my characters to do more damage. Once I actually started attacking, they were falling left and right. I finished the battle with minimal effort and claimed the Black Mask! Now I can...leave this dungeon because I didn't need to go through it anyways. Unlike other places, it gave me a nice warp out of there.
     Now back on the surface, I jumped on my ship and re-began my search for Deist. They told me it was on an island, so I had figured it was there. That was obviously not the case. Unfortunately for me, I forgot they also made mention of it being near a snowy region. Only snowy region I can see on the map was way up north, and lucky me, there was only one island nearby the snowy region, so I set sail for there. Just like the first Final Fantasy, you get random encounters with fish flopping themselves on your ship as well as random pirates jumping from nowhere! Realistically, I could just be running into other ships, but then how do you explain the fish? Anyways, I made it to the island with no real trouble. On the island was a castle...and upon setting foot on/in it, I discovered that I had finally found Deist.
     Inside Deist, I began my search for the fabled dragoons and their wyverns. However, the only people you find is a mother and her child. They are the last remaining survivors of Deist, along with a single wyvern. This would seem like a great thing, but you can't even talk to it. The women mentions that one of the dragoon pendents would allow you to speak with it, and she remembers that a group of them were in a cave up north. With this new intel, I left Deist and began my travels northward to the cave. It was a very short trip, and then I stepped inside the Deist Cavern.
     Another lovely multi-path fest! Being unsure as usual where to go, I picked a path and went with it. I guess that's realistically the only way to find the right path without checking on a guide. Lucky for me, the very first path I took lead straight to a random helmet on the ground. Turns out that it was a dragoon's helmet and among the remains was a pendent! Yaaay! Decided I'd do so more searching since I hadn't seen everything yet. The first path lead to a mostly dead end with some nifty new items in chests. The monsters in here weren't really that powerful, but many of them were getting increasingly annoying as I had to conserve my magic more and more. It didn't help that I'm pretty stingy with items, so I wouldn't use any of my Ethers or Potions when I probably should have (despite having 99 of normal and Hi Potions). Anyways...I went back to the top and took the final path. Turns out that it lead to the final area of this dungeon with a BOSS BATTLE! Another classic and un-epic boss battle, courtesy of Final Fantasy 2. Spent most of the battle buffing everything to up some spell levels, but I finished with a finale of killing them all with no real trouble. Behind the chimera was some form of green pool. With nothing to do with this, I returned to Deist.
     With the pendent in hand, I approached the wyvern...only to be saddened and disappointed. It, like all the others, had succumb to the poison the empire had spread. It was dying soon, but it had a wyvern egg in...wing. It handed it over to me and told me to place it in the pool at the bottom of Deist Cavern. Yay for backtracking! Of course, I already beat the boss, so it was a really quick trip. The group drops the egg into the green water spring and then takes their leave. With everything settled up here, I visited Deist one last time to find that the wyvern had passed on. With nothing more to do here, I set sail back to Altair.
     Back in Altair, everything was normal...except Princess Hilda. Apparently she had been acting funny recently, and so I decided to investigate. Upon talking to her, she wishes to speak to Firion alone...cue awkward moment. She jumps on her bad and asks Firion to come closer. He's all like O_O...>_< Then she transforms into a giant snake-lady (lamia for FF, yuan-ti for D&D) ready to attack, but the rest of the crew rushes in and BOSS BATTLE! Not too impressive, my overleveled status (I think?) helped in putting down this snake lady for good. Of course, that does ask...where is the REAL Hilda? Turns out that the empire had her captured, and she's being given away as a prize in the Colosseum. Now that is a twist!...also kind of weird. Gordon jumps back in your party to help you. Anyways, after talking to some NPCs for the Colosseum's location, I jumped on my ship and sailed southward! With the world being fairly small and easy to travel around by sea, I made it to the Colosseum quite swiftly. Upon entering, you find that it is quite a small place. I ran upward to the stairs, when..things happen! Gates drop down and close all the exits. The Emperor makes his presence known and opens a large cage to your left, and then the battle begins.  This time, it was the infamous Behemoth. The Behemoth is a fairly staple FF monster in the series. I'm not sure how many of them it is in...but whatever. Not posing too much of a challenge, just another spell fest plus buffing for spell levels. As he went down, the game tells you "Now is your chance to kill the Emperor!," and so the group heads up the stairs when the he basically yells "trap!" A couple soldiers and the Dark Knight pops out and capture you.
     The party wakes up in a jail cell guarded by a single soldier. Walking around the cell...there's no escape that way. However, when I approached the bars, the guard starts moving back and forth as a character comes along the side of the cell and takes down the guard. Turns out that it was Paul, a travelling thief, who has saved you in return for saving him way earlier in the game. With my release, I began my escape! The enemies were stepped up a notch as well compared to those outside. The main problem ones were the wizard/sorcerer types that were constantly casting super spells. Good thing I had restocked on all my items when I was in Altair. On the way up, you finally rescue and reunite with Hilda. The group has Gordon take her back to Altair while you distract the guards (What guards?). With Hilda rescued, you are free to leave the Colosseum.
     With the Colosseum behind me, I decided to make my way back to Altair for my next mission. However, before heading back, I took some time to gain more levels in the nearby desert. Spent around an hour there...man, am I tired of the leveling up process in this game. Feels like you do dozens of battles with very little results. Regardless, after I took what felt like enough time, I made my way back to Altair and decided to stop there for now.

Ending Point - City of Altair.
Goals Accomplished - Obtained the Black Mask. Found Deist. Retrieved the pendent. Talked to the Wyvern. Placed the Wyvern Egg in the Life Spring. Found the Colosseum and rescued Princess Hilda. More level up time.
Next Goals - Join Princess Hilda and Prince Gordon in the uprising at Fynn.


Side Note - This actually consisted of a couple days of small play sessions, but I didn't feel like there was enough to be worth posting. So...yeah, apologies about the really long post.

~May the Crystals Guide Me~