Day 26

Game - Final Fantasy 4, Day 26
Hours Played/Hours Total - 2 hrs / 3 hrs
Starting Point - Underground Waterway B2.
Current Goal - Make it to the Kingdom of Damcyan. Retrieve the Sand Pearl* to heal Rosa.
     *Yeah, I found out I was saying it wrong. It's Sand Pearl, not Desert Pearl.

What Happened - Wowzers, there is a lot of plot going down in Final Fantasy 4. Insanely large amount of plot-ary. I'm going to try and avoid revealing too much, but there won't be much of a post if I don't. Since that is the case...I'll just add the following line below.
--WARNING! SPOILERS ABOUND!--
     I started back up in the Underground Waterway, and I continued forward to the exit. I was able to quickly race through the rest of the cavern. With two mages and a powerful dark knight, there was very little trouble that came my way. I even got a new set of armor and weapon for Cecil! It took around 20-30 minutes to finish up this dungeon. Most of this was backtracking time where I tried to get all of the treasure chests I could see. I eventually gave up on one of them because I had no idea how to get it. When I finally made it near the exit, Tellah informed me we were closing in on the monster he had mentioned previously. It turns out that the exit was guarded/covered by a monstrous giant squid called  Octomammoth. BOSS BATTLE TIME! Octomammoth wasn't too much of a challenge unfortunately. I threw part of what I had at him, and he most easily went down. It took some time, but he didn't seem able to deal out any real damage. The most interesting bit of this battle was that at the beginning. His head was up plus tentacles all around him, but as I brought his HP down, he slowly lost tentacle after tentacle until they were all gone. Of course, he was also dead at that point. With Octomammoth out of the way, I was able to proceed out of the cave and into the desert nearby Damcyan Castle. However, it seems that I was too late...
     A small scene went down when the castle was in view. I saw a small grouping of air ships bomb the castle. After passing by, the castle was left in ruins. I quickly proceeded to the castle to search the remains. Upon entering, there were bodies of soldiers all over. I climbed up the castle until we came upon...Anna. Tellah ran to his daughter and called to her. While he was near her, someone came in and was shocked at what he saw. Tellah recognized him as the bard that tricked his daughter and attacked him. The next "battle" is a fairly well known and infamous moment in Final Fantasy history. Basically, it is composed of Tellah yelling at and smacking this mysterious bard with his staff. The famous line he yells of "You Spoony Bard!" is fairly well known...also funny. The battle dissolves, and Anna speaks out to both the bard and her father. She tells her father that she truly loved the bard, who we discover is Edward - Prince of Damcyan. However, she did feel wrong about running away and was going to return, but the ships came. She apologizes to her father and tells Edward that she truly loved him. She passes on after all this.
     I found out from Edward that a person by the name of Golbez is responsible for all this. He was made the leader of the Red Barons (Cecil's old job! :O), and he was apparently behind the plot to steal the crystals from the various nations. Tellah, angry at Golbez and grieving over his daughter's death, takes his leave of the party to go and take his revenge. With Tellah gone, the rest of the group joins together and focuses on the task of retrieving the Sand Pearl. Edward, still saddened by Anna's death, agrees to the task only because of Cecil's situation with Rosa. Edward informed the group of what the Sand Pearl was as well as where and how they would obtain it. It involves a giant ant lion creature and its secretions...Anyways, Edward gives us access to a hovercraft, which we need to get to the ant lion den, and it was time to move on from this sad, sad place and moment. I began the journey eastward to the Ant Lion's Den. The reason for the hovercraft was so we could traverse over a rocky patch of water.
     After crossing the rocky waters, I was able to delve into the Ant Lion's Den. Inside, it was a short crawl to the bottom. Edward went down to the ant lion as to retrieve the Sand Pearl. He claimed that the ant lion's were domesticated and gentle. However, something had gone wrong, and the ant lion attacked us! BOSS BATTLE TIME! It was a quick and tumble battle. I didn't come out unscathed, but I also didn't have much of a challenge from it. While looking up names on a guide, I found out that physical attacks on the ant lion cause it to counter attack with its pincers. This means I could have avoided some extra damage that I didn't need to take...oh well! After defeating the ant lion, I obtained the Sand Pearl and left the den. With the Sand Pearl in hand, I climbed inside my hovercraft and made way back to Kaipo. There was a shortcut I could take back using the hovercraft. Yay! I ran inside the town and used the Sand Pearl to heal Rosa. After being healed, Rosa gave more information on the situation at the kingdom of Baron. Apparently, many things are going weird. She mentions the name of Golbez, and how he took over control of the Red Barons. She also thinks that Golbez might be behind the king's strangeness and the reason for all the crystal collecting. Currently, Golbez has both the Water Crystal and the Fire Crystal. After some talking, the group figures his next target will be the Kingdom of Fabul and its Wind Crystal.
     Edward informed the group that the only way to get to Fabul is to climb across Mount Hobs. However, he does mention something about there being ice in the way. Rosa figures that won't be a problem since Rydia, being a summoner and mage, should be able to melt it with Fire. So I made my way back North to Mount Hobs and started climbing. The first thing we encounter was the ice I was warned about. However, a funny thing about Rydia is that for some reason she didn't have the Fire spell. It turns out that the trauma of her village burning down disallowed her usage of Fire. The group talks her through it, and she manages to pull through and cast Fire. The fire melts the ice, and I'm able to continue up the mountain. Mount Hobs was fairly uneventful...until events happened! The group was moving along when we came upon a monk being attacked by a group of monsters. Edward identified him as a monk of Fabul. He was able to easily handle most of them, but then he was attacked by a Mom Bomb (Yeah, I don't get it either). The group decides to help him out and BOSS BATTLE TIME! begins. The Mom Bomb was a slightly different version of the regular Bomb. It looked different, and after I did a good pile of damage to it, it exploded into a pile of Bombs and Grenades (different colored Bombs). I then put those Bombs and Grenades in their place...by defeating them.
     After the battle, the monk thanked the group and told us his name was Yang. He was the lone surviving monk of the monster attack. Everyone informed Yang of the impending doom that was heading for the Kingdom of Fabul. It was suspected that Golbez was behind the monster attack, and that he planned to take the Wind Crystal from Fabul. Yang realized that he needed to head back, and the group offered their help. He wasn't completely ready to accept their help, but they all talked about their situations. They showed their willingness and resolve to help him and Fabul, so he agreed and joined our little group. A small ways later, I was off the mountain and making my way to Fabul. Feeling like I did a lot (but not a lot timewise), I saved my game and stopped for the night.

Ending Point - On the opposite side of Mount Hobs.
Current Party -

• Cecil - Level 17
• Rydia - Level 15
• Edward - Level 13
• Rosa - Level 13
• Yang - Level 11

Goals Accomplished - Made it through the Underground Waterway. Made it to the Damcyan Nation. Gained the bard, Prince Edward, as a party member. Retrieved the Sand Pearl from the Ant Lion's Den. Cured Rosa of the Desert Fever. Proceeded to and through Mount Hobs. Helped Yang, the monk, and he joined the group.
Next Goals - Make it to the Kingdom of Fabul before the Baron forces do. Defend Fabul and keep Golbez from getting the Wind Crystal.

~May the Crystals Guide Me~