Day 88

Game - Final Fantasy XIII, Day 88
Hours Played/Hours Total - 6-1/2 hrs / 24-1/2 hrs
Starting Point - Nautilus - Nautilus Station.
Current Goal - Explore Nautilus with Sazh and Vanille. Hopefully get them involved in the actual story rather than they just constantly run away. Make it back around to the rest of the crew. Complete their Focus I guess.

What Happened -Oh boy my pace is just slowing to a crawl anymore. No excuses can be made though, but I really need to kick in more time to beating this. Worst case scenario, I'm going to force myself to finish by the end of July. You might wonder how...I figure I'll just take off a few days in a row and force XIII out the door! Until then, we're going to nickel and dime it in my own time. Onwards...to Final Fantasy Fun!
     Where I left off, I had just made it to the giant theme park town called Nautilus. Being responsible adults, both Sazh and Vanille ran away from their troubles and straight into a big theme park to "hide". We don't get too far into the park when a large news announcement takes place. It's talking about the recent l'Cie attack in Palumpolum, and we even see images of the other group fighting with PSICOM soldiers. Vanille spots Fang in the video and is all like "le gasp!". After the news report ends, the two overhear all the people nearby commenting on the report. Basically, it's something like "blah blah just kill those people" or "they're all infected by Pulse now". Overall, it's pretty negative.
     Vanille seems to get pretty worked up about all of this, so Sazh distracts her from it and suggests they go see some big parade in town. We head over to this "parade" and turns out it's more of a play than a parade. Anyways, it's another very pretty cutscene. It's all these fancy holograms of both red and blue people that are re-enacting/commemorating a battle between Pulse and Cocoon. The hologram people are dancing around and then an "Evil l'Cie" appears! It's an evil Pulse l'Cie, and he starts attacking people. While doing so, he yells out "MWAHAHA! I AM FROM PULSE! I AM GOING TO KILL PEOPLE AND FULFILL MY FOCUS!" Unfortunately for him, a "Good l'Cie" from Cocoon shows up and exclaims his own battle cry. "I shall protect Cocoon and defeat you!" Then they have a big scene of the two l'Cie fighting, and then they randomly change into monsters somehow. They charge at each other and explode in a big flash of pretty. This display seems to bother Vanille though...and then the cutscene is over.
     After that big show, they figure it's time to explore the park a bit more. They're worried about the other group...Then they decide to look around and enjoy themselves instead. Yay for irresponsibility! We walk, walk, walk right into another scene. Suddenly, Vanille decides to ask about Nautilus. Sazh explains that the place is one giant amusement park created by Sanctum for the people. (The whole "pet idea" from waay back there is starting to fit in place...) Sazh also mentions that he had planned to bring Dajh here someday and now just hopes he can tell his son about it. Vanille assures him that he'll get a chance. He does know where his son is...and so we head off from here.
     The next area we enter is filled with Chocobos. Vanille seems a bit happier here because she feels more at home in this natural place. There are piles of chocobos and also some kinda sheep. We enter the farm area, and Sazh's baby chocobo starts flying around. I get to play a game of "chase the baby Chocobo", and it's not fun at all. I'm rewarded with a random accessory after running about, but it still felt like a stupid pointlessness.We follow the baby chocobo around a bit more, and it's getting all friendly and such with its full-sized brothers. Then we go into another scene with Sazh and Vanille talking.
     Biggest reveal here is that Sazh says he's going to turn himself in. He knows that execution is inevitable, but he figures he will at least get a last request to talk with Dajh. He wants to tell him about the chocobos and other stuff in the park. Vanille pleads with him to not do it. She almost convinces him when she reveals she knows who caused the Euride Gorge incident. (The place where she and Fang tried to attack.) The person from Pulse is....INTERRUPTED! Chocobos start running about, and we are being fired upon from above. Soldiers stop dropping down on us, and it's time for us to run and fight our way out. Of course, it's less about running at this point and more about fighting. (Sazh mentioned earlier that he was tired of running.) We fought through a number of troops as we make our way to...somewhere. No idea where we're trying to get.
     Of course, I can't get through this area without a bigger challenge of BOSS BATTLE TIME! It's a large 4-legged cannon robot! This was yet another long and annoying battle to go through. I must have done something wrong here and/or not fought it the right way. The battle was just a large string of changing from buffing and debuffing, attacking, and offensive with healing. It's pretty boring with just two people because you don't have a lot of tactical options here. Honestly, I felt like the boss bot had too much health for just two of us. If it had less HP, the battle would have been shorter and way more interesting. Nothing really special to say beyond that...and we win of course.
     With the battle done, it's time to continue on into a big ol' scene! The robot is destroyed and then Dajh appears out of nowhere! He's quite happy to see his father, and likewise with Sazh. Then...he turns into a crystal. (Oh noes!) Then the lady who helped Sazh with all of this shows up along with PSICOM soldiers. (She was briefly shown earlier but not named then. It's Nabaat.) She's starts talking and tells us how Dajh was of great help to them, and it turns out that his Focus was to find Pulse stuff.
     On top of this, she shows off something a bit more interesting...footage from the Euride Gorge attack! LE GASP! It reveals information to Dajh that I have known for quite some time already! Vanille and Fang were responsible for the attack, and thus Dajh was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Thus, he was branded a l'Cie by the Cocoon fal'Cie that felt threatened at the time. If you do the usual "who to blame" scenario, it quite clearly falls upon Vanille and Fang. Mostly Vanille because she's actually present right now. Sazh takes this new information pretty hard, and Vanille is feeling even worse of course. She runs off, and Sazh chases after her. Nabaat and her group follow them to watch and see what Sazh decides to do.
     I get to walk a short distance and right into another scene. Vanille is distraught with guilt and just feels awful. She figures that the best course of action now is for her to die for what she has done. She sees a weird vision of Sazh shooting her right there, but that passes...and then the real Sazh shows up! He pulls his guns out and is ready to shoot Vanille on the spot, but he ends up not doing it though. Sazh realizes that no matter if she lives or dies, nothing will change what has happened. Of course, now neither one of them know what they should do. Sazh is all emotion-ed up now, and his l'Cie brand starts to glow. A giant ball of fire shoots up and changes into a giant fire robot, so we've got another Eidolon on our hands.
     BOSS BATTLE TIME! EIDOLON EDITION! We're fighting a giant fire robot called Brynhildr, and this battle is basically like all of those before it. He casts Doom on my party member (Sazh), and I'm forced to beat him under a set time limit while following specific conditions. How do you impress a giant fire robot? With chain bonuses of course! Unfortunately, just like Odin, this one is a huge jerk. He does a huge amount of hits and damage in a small period of time. I ended up healing more than focusing on attacks, and this was a recipe for failure. I couldn't get anywhere, was almost out of time, and then I died. This game is all about letting you reset every battle though, so I did just that. I might have failed the first time, but I shot through him on the second time. How? A simple solution really. I equipped Ember Rings (reduces fire damage) to both character, and that solved my only real problem with the battle. On top of that, I used a dual-Ravagers Paradigm to chain like crazy. The second attempt was basically wam, bam, and done.
     WIth its defeat, the giant fire robot changes into a...race car. These Eidolon's Gestalt forms are stupid. Sazh boards it and drive sit a bit to show it off. Now that the battle is done, it looks like Sazh is going to turn on Vanille regardless. Then he doesn't shoot her because she's just a kid, so he turns the gun on himself and...blank screen with shot sound! OH NOES! (I'm skeptical, but we shall see.) This is followed up by a cutscene of Nabaat and her crew carrying Sazh in a coffin-like container and Vanille being escorted as a prisoner. Aaand Nabaat is going to be a bitch about it too. Time to switch back over to our other group!
     Another cutscene! There's a massive airship (and I do mean MASSIVE, bigger than the rest so far I'd say) that is identified as the Palamecia. It's the ship where Sazh and Vanille are currently being held. Then the view switches over to the Lindblum. The group is hearing on the news about the l'Cie being captured and are going to be executed. Snow is all "what the hell damn guy!?", and Cid begins to explain. There's a big of a lengthy and boring explanation that follows, so I pretty much just skipped past it.
     Basically, it's going to be a public execution to quell the common folk about the whole "Pulse l'Cie" problem. Of course, before the execution, the Primarch, leader of Sanctum, is going to judge them guilty and execute them...rather than just immediately execute them. Cid points out that the Primarch is coming in person though, so this will be a great opportunity to get the man directly. Fang thinks it's most likely just bait to lure them out though. Regardless of this, the group all agrees that they're going to do it anyways. They want to rescue their friends/fellow l'Cie. Time to prepare! Preparing is what I'd do if I had money or anything which would allow me to upgrade or whatnot, but I've got nothing. So it's straight on to the Palamecia! Also, it's Chapter 9 now.
     We jump aboard a Cavalry vessel and are transported to the Palamecia. CUTSCENE! It's pretty, pretty airships and pretty sky. They're flying about, and that's really all there is to say for the short cutscene. It's followed by a regular scene. We get a glimpse at the Primarch who is on the Palamecia, and he's talking with Nabaat. Nothing super important though, so I skip past that and back to our group outside. They get clearance and dock on the giant airship, Palamecia. Now that we're inside...It's a Code Red alert! So despite us just now getting on the ship, they already know we are here. (Or so it seems that way...) No time to talk so we're just going to FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!
     The next couple hours of the game was just fighting enemies on the ship. Honestly, it's probably only an hour-ish or so long part, but I kept pausing to take notes and do other things. So...this part was expanded by quite a bit. There's really not much to say for all this bit, but I'll go ahead and detail it as I have taken notes for. Without further ado, this is basically what happened on the ship...
     FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT. We somehow start running along the outer part of the ship with magical-somehow walkways to walk on the outside of a flying ship. There's quite a few enemies out here as well. It's just an assortment of robots and PSICOM soldiers with jetpacks. We work our way around the ship and back inside. GROUP JUMP! It's Sazh and Vanille here. Just like I thought he isn't dead, and the game shows us why. He pulled the trigger but moved the gun right before it shot. He couldn't kill himself, and he couldn't kill her. He's struggling with what he should do, but Nabaat comes up to inform him of what shall happen next. She informs him that his son is technically a hero, and his crystal will be put on display as a memorial for all to see. She then knocks Sazh out, and the game comes back to the now.
     The two of them start talking briefly, and Sazh realizes that Vanille had awaken form a crystal stasis. Thus...Dajh can too! He asks Vanille about what the experience was like, but she doesn't directly say. Just talks about being made into a l'Cie to fight Cocoon, and we flash back to Day One. It's at the Bodhum fal'Cie spot. Vanille is currently a crystal, but then she changes from crystal to alive again. Fang awakens right next to her, and it seems that Fang can't remember her Focus. Vanille admits that although Fang had forgotten, she had not. She lied to Fang about not knowing and simply played dumb. /end flashback
     Also, it switches back over to the other group. They're all running about, and the alarm just keeps going on the ship. Another announcement goes out, and the Code Red has changed into a Code Green. These colors mean nothing to me, so I'm going to ignore them and continue onwards. For this next bit, it's a big ol' pile of FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT! (Once again) That's followed up by FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT! On the side of all this fight is a simple fight fight fight. I'm being slightly critical, but that's honestly all that happens. It's a long pathway full of a lot of fighting. We do finally hit a stopping point, but that's just so it can change back over to Sazh and Vanille for break out time!
     The Code Green is still going here. A couple of PSICOM soldiers along with a robot come to escort the two to a different cell. However, it seems that a plan has been prepared. Sazh lets loose with his secret attack, "Baby Chocobo Strike". This distracts one guard long enough for Sazh to tackle him into the other guard and knock them both out. Vanille grabs one of their dropped guns and destroys the robot that came in with them. So...they just magically escaped with very little trouble.
     Now that they're free, they set out to escape this place. However, Vanille is questioning if she deserves to live after all she has done. Sazh tells her he can't figure a reason out for himself either, but that's why he has to push harder to live now. Apparently, her story of changing from crystal status has given him hope that Sazh will change back someday. So yeah! Off to fight fight fight some random monster robots! We fight off quite a few and come to a scene of CODE PURPLE! OH DEAR LORD, NOT CODE PURPLE! Sazh figures that there are other l'Cie onboard who are making trouble. Vanille is determined that it is Fang. Sazh says they should go get rescued now, but Vanille is all "NO! We are doing the rescuing this time!" All righty then...CHANGE PLACES!
     The other group is suddenly wondering what is up with all the codes and colors. Fang believes that it just means they are succeeding. Nothing more to add there though, we move right along then. We fight some enemies. (Okay, we fought a lot of enemies.) As I make it through one area and into the next, I get a little scene of "elsewhere..." Nabaat is on the bridge with the Primarch, and she's pretty much freaking out over this scenario. She's also proving that their color-coded alert system is stupid because she can't even remember which color means what. Then there is an announcement about how the engines are losing power. The Primarch comments about needing to get things done himself and announces a CODE WHITE.
     The game jumps over to the engine room, and Vanille and Sazh seem to have made their way over here. I get to fight my way through a single but very large room. There's even a group of enemies that I couldn't handle here. It's hard to explain without going into full detail, but the bottom line goes something like this. Two people can NOT handle a group of four enemies with three super fast ones and one big guy who takes little damage and does big blast attacks. I fight every monster that I can and continue towards the exit in this room. Unfortunately, the door is locked and the two get cornered by some monsters. However, they're a small group and easily defeated. Then we get the ol' switcheroo back to Team Lightning.
     Team Lightning is currently on the outside of the ship (AGAIN). They suddenly notice that the wind isn't blowing nearly as hard now, and the ship seems to be decelerating. Snow thinks it's just good luck for them, but then there are robot monsters here. Fight fight fight! There's an awful lot of monsters on the top of this airship...FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT! We're running along the top of the airship that's currently falling, and we don't seem to be affected at all whatsoever. Anyways, things are going well enough, but then suddenly, RAWR! Giant lightning dragon monster! BOSS BATTLE TIME!
     ...Or so I thought. It was more of a tough enemy than anything resembling a boss. I quickly stagger the big beast and kill it during the first instance of stagger. It's dead body falls to the ground and then falls off the ship. A second dragon swoops down at the team, but it's just teasing us at this time. Then there's an explosion on the side of the ship! But it's just Sazh and Vanille. The group almost gets to have a touching reunion, but then that second dragon flies back around for BOSS BATTLE TIME!...possibly. The second lightning dragon wasn't really any harder than the first one. Admittedly, it did put up a bit more of a fight, but I would argue that there wasn't really anything noteworthy to bring up here. It's just a big lightning dragon with big lightning attacks. That's about it. Boss fight is over and off into another scene!
     The group has a quick tearful reunion, mostly Vanille and Fang. Fang looks at Vanille's l'Cie brand and sees that Vanille still has time. With that out of the way, Sazh asks the group what their next plan of action is.
They announce that our next target is to take down Sanctum. This surprises Sazh, who is all like "REALLY!?!" They want to take down Sanctum to return Cocoon to the people. Also "Screw the fal'Cie and their ruling!" Just as they are discussing this, more dragons appear to fight us, but it seems Vanille and Fang have other plans for them! Vanille uses her weird multi-whip horn thing and captures one of them. Fang pins it down with her spear, and I guess we're going to ride it out of here. The group runs towards it, and then the game zooms out to show an ominous white robot owl watching us. Now it's cutscene time!
     The group is flying away on a magical lightning dragon flight! They fly around the large ship and straight at the front of it. We're going STRAIGHT for the Primarch! Somehow, Fang gets the dragon to shoot off lighting and blast a hole into the ship. The group then leaps off their captured dragon and into the ship. Time to go and take out the big guy! This is all followed up by the most AMAZING thing unlocked!
     I CAN ACTUALLY SELECT MY TEAM NOW! Amazing! New! Astounding! Yaaaaaaay... /end sarcasm to the max. Despite this new ability at hand, I keep with my current team of Lightning, Hope, and Fang. It's working for me, and there's really not much of an advantage to switching around right now. The area we jumped down into is annoying as crap to traverse. It's just random platforms that are separated, and you have to go from one to another by activating bridges here and there. That doesn't sound bad, but it's just a lot of long distance running from one spot to another. That...and I wanted to get all of the treasure around. Most of the platforms had enemies as well, so this entire area was just a big long walk of annoying.
     The enemies here weren't very hard, but they weren't complete pushovers either. I took waaay too long here because I wanted all of the items though. With all of the items collected, I head for the bridge of the ship and CUTSCENE! Nabaat (whose first name is Jihl apparently) confronts us and asks the Primarch to run while she holds us off. He simply goes "nope" and says she's going to leave instead...but not in a good way. He blasts her with magic and then proceeds to kill everybody else. The group and I are thinking that he's a l'Cie! He tells us that Cocoon is a factory built by the fal'Cie to create their thralls...HUMANS! He talks down about all of the people who are afraid of just a few l'Cie running around. Lightning tells him that they might be curious to know that a l'Cie runs everything! He laughs at that though and reveals he isn't just a plain l'Cie...He's actually a fal'Cie!!! (DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN!)
     The Primarch is the ruler over all of Cocoon and the Sanctum fal'Cie, Barthandelus! He changes into his true form and it looks...kinda stupid if you ask me. It's hard to describe it, but I'll do my best here. It's like the upper half of the body of a giant. However, the head is much larger than the rest of the body, and it's adorned with a fancy headdress of sorts. That headdress is filled with four upside-down heads that stare at you. So...that's about what he looks like, and did I mention BOSS BATTLE TIME?
     Barthandelus is another lovely multi-step boss to defeat. You can't just directly attack him because that's slow, ineffective, and you will die. Instead, you have to focus on the outer headdress heads before you can get to the large main head. Each head is capable of casting a specific element of spells, and that head is also resistant to that element. Basically, this battle goes a lot like that airship from before. You have to destroy the four smaller heads before you can tackle the main head. Otherwise, he's got a sort of armor that negates a large portion of the damage aimed at him. It took quite some time to defeat each head, and I didn't realize the element thing until I was down the last two heads.
     For those curious, this wasn't that exciting of a battle for me. I mostly just kept switching between three of the Paradigms for this whole battle. It was either all-out attack (Relentless Assault = two Ravagers and a Commando), all-out heal+defend (Solidarity = Commando, Sentinel, and Medic), or some sort of mixture of the two (Diversity = Commando, Ravager, and Medic). If I haven't been clear about some of the Paradigm roles, Commando is straight up attacking, Ravagers use magic to attack and combo up for Stagger, Sentinels are full-on defense, and Medics should be self-explanatory. Anyways, I mostly shifted a lot between those three and spent more time than I'd like healing. Either I was behind or he was super ahead in the damage factor. I did have everybody fairly maxed out at this point, so yeah...
     Once you get down to just fighting his main head, it's still a long battle ahead because unlike the airship, destroying all of the headdress doesn't take HP from the main part. It simply allows me to actually damage him now. He has some fairly powerful attacks at his disposal, so I spent a lot of time healing up between those. It's not too bad if you keep up with healing though, as to prevent dying and wasting time on that. The worst attack in the bunch seemed to be one called "Destrudo". He will sit there and begin to charge up. Attacking him causes him to twitch a bit and eventually flench. It doesn't stop him from charging, but it causes some sorta flash (persay). I just assume that weakens the overall attack. In the end, I took like eighteen minutes to do this battle, and the ranking screen claimed I could have done it in NINE! I don't know how I could have done it that quickly, but I was apparently doing something quite wrong here.
     Anyways, the fal'Cie is defeated now, and it's time to follow up with a nice scene. Of course, by "defeated", I should have just said that we temporarily disabled him somewhat but not really. He's not going to go down that easily, and he reveals that we aren't the ones to destroy the fal'Cie here. Only Ragnarok is capable of doing that. Fang inquires as to what that is, and he gives us all the answers here. (Suspiciously I might add.) Ragnarok is something that one of us will have to become if we want to defeat Orphan and destroy Cocoon. That just brings up the next question of "Who is Orphan?" And Barthandelus just gives us the answer again. Orphan is the source of Eden's power, and in turn, Eden uses that power to sustain all the other fal'Cie and the people. If we destroy Orphan, Cocoon is pretty much done for as well.
     Snow doesn't like the sound of that though, and he throws out that he promised Serah that he'd save Cocoon. It was her Focus and all that! Barthandelus laughs at this and clarifies what her Focus actually was. Unfortunately for Snow, her Focus was simply to bring them all together so that they could destroy Cocoon instead. Events proceed pretty fast from here, and things just jump to it. The fal'Cie blows the roof off of the bridge and then... Remember that white robot owl from like...6ish paragraphs ago? Yeah, it flies into the room and turns into an airship now. Since the Palamecia is crashing now, this is our only way out of here. The group jumps on board and flies off into a cutscene!
     I don't know why we are trusting that guy we just tried to kill, but they all seem okay with it. Also, it's just a big pile of suspiciousness that he gave us ALL of the answers. The group does go over this here in a bit, but I'll get to it when I do. Just...felt like saying it out loud now I guess. Sazh, being a pilot, is trying to control the ship but isn't having any luck. Then everything gets a bit worse when an enemy airship appears in front of us. It's Rosch! He's still alive somehow and is trying to shoot us down. However, our ship starts magically flying and dodging by itself. On top of that, it has super magical shields to block all of his shots that DO hit. It's a big fancy ship flying cutscene with fighting. Yay for fun and pretty!
     Hard to say if things are going well or not, but then we found ourselves in front of a large flying city. It doesn't directly identify it, but I believe this is Eden (also the name of the big fal'Cie). The group somehow manages to gain access and fly right through the city's shield. Rosch on the other hand isn't allowed in... Going to assume it's a little more help from our airship friend here. They almost run into a building while flying around, but then they are teleported into a random large tunnel.
     As the group disembarks, Vanille identifies the area as a piece of Pulse. So...why is a big hunk of Pulse this close to Eden? Everybody's discussing all these new things, but Snow is sulking off to the side. He's all heartbroken now that he's learned what Serah's Focus was and how fulfilling their own Focus kinda screws up his promise to her. Finally, they're bringing up that something isn't right about this scenario. The Cocoon fal'Cie, whose "human" name is Dysley, told them basically everything they needed to know and even gave them a free ride. Something is up here, and they discuss ideas of what could be going down.
     Why would a Cocoon fal'Cie be so determined to destroy Cocoon? Hope goes with the easy answer here. It's some bigger, grand design between the fal'Cie that they, being humans, couldn't possibly understand. Nobody else really has anything to input right here though, so that's really all we got to go on right now. The group tries to get Snow involved here, but he's still all sulky business, like I stated before. The conversation ends, I get to explore this tunnel, and it's now Chapter 10! However, I've decided I've got more than enough post here for Day 88, so time to wrap it on up.
     Dear lord, I'm certainly stretching this game's length out. I should be a LOT further by now, but I'm really not. I'm only a small ways into July, and yet I've really made very little progress. I've got to push harder, or my goal of finishing by this month's end is going to be shot. Worst case scenario, I'm going to plan for an extra day off and just shoot through the game. I'll probably end up cutting off some of the extra side quests, but I can't see myself being very interested in those anyways. So! That's more than enough rambling for the end. Thanks for reading as usual, and be sure to tune in for Day 89 coming soon I hope.

Side Note - For those who care to know, I've got another album review coming up in the mix, a side post random RPG review, gotta start working on Chapter 3 of my story, and Day 89 somewhere in there. Before Chapter 3 but probably after one of the other two.

Ending Point - The Fifth Ark - Upper Traverse.
Current Party -

• Lightning - Commando Lvl 3, Ravager Lvl 3, Medic Lvl 2

Goals Accomplished - Made it to Nautilus and learned the truth about Vanille...for Sazh. I already knew it for a while. Obtained the Eidolon, Brynhildr. Got captured by Nabaat and PSICOM people. Boarded the Palamecia to save our friends and kill the Primarch...I think. Fought an awful lot of people and monsters to make it to the Primarch. Learned the TRUTH behind everything.
Next Goals - Figure out what's really going on here. Destroy Cocoon maybe?

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

VGBA 1 - Gaia's Bane

This is my first VGBA (Video Game Band Album) review, so I figured I'd go with a Final Fantasy favorite of mine...

Gaia's Bane

Final Fantasy Metal at it's best

Band - Knight of the Round

Sites - Facebook. Bandcamp. (Can't seem to find a main site, so we'll stick with those two.)

Type of Album - Final Fantasy metal cover album. Contains various songs from various titles that have been metal-ified for your approval.

Genre - Metal, Thrash.

Favorite Song - TEAR IT UP

Review - Do you enjoy Final Fantasy music? Do you enjoy metal? Does the combination of the two stir up mixed feelings of joy and confusion? Then do I have an album for you! From the highly unknown Knight of the Round comes their debut album, Gaia's Bane.
     I have known about this group for a little under a year, and I honestly bought their album on a whim. But oh boy am I glad I bought it! From the very first song all the way to the final bit, you are being pumped full of great Final Fantasy music carefully and awesomely covered into metal. It's loud, awesome, and just blows you away with tasty music. The selection of covers is mostly focused on Final Fantasy VII, VIII, and IX, but there is also an FFVI song and even one from FFXIII! Again, it's a really good selection and all of them just feel right.
     And that's probably one of the best parts of this album. Every song is metal-ized in a way that just feels right. It's very well covered and reminds you of the game it came from, but at the same time, it's fresh enough to feel exciting and fun. I don't feel like this is just a plain old cover of the song. The band has come in and made the song their own while still paying homage to the original version.
     I'm not musically knowledge-ified, so there's not any real way for me to go into details here. For what it is, it flows and plays really well though. I've linked the album to a random friend, as well as a couple other FF-influenced albums and bands. He enjoyed this album over those, and he's not really the video game music kind of person like myself. If you aren't getting the point here, it's a very well done album. It's got the right sound to be enjoyable for a lot of people while giving you a dose of the Final Fantasy to make you say "Whaaaat?"
     If I had any complaints about the album, I'd say it's fairly short. Of course, it's video game music covers, and they're all instrumental. The length isn't a real complaint here because it's all quality music, and the second addition to that is pointless because you wouldn't be reading this if you didn't like "video game music" or "instrumentals" since that's what most of this is in a nutshell...
     Regardless of all that though, I'd still say it's totally worth your time, money, and a listen. Click the link above and give it a listen! If you're a fan of Final Fantasy music, metal, or both, you should have already gotten this album before I finished the post so...GET OVER THERE NOW AND BUY IT!

And now to summarize this album in a pros and cons section...

(That I don't really need because this is like 4 paragraphs long.)

Pros - Final Fantasy covers, Metal-liciousness, Easy listening, A great homage to great music.
Cons - Kinda short? It's not a very good con to list...so probably ignore this and get it!

Overall Rating - 5 out of 5.


Side Note - And thus ends my first video game band awareness! It's not an award winning post by far, but it's my first attempt here. Thus, I can only go up from here! Thanks for reading, give the album a listen, and look forward to more album reviews that shall be an improvement over this one!

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

Call of the Night - Chapter 2

With Chapter 1 all said and done, it's time to shoot into Chapter 2! I don't plan to rewrite the first chapter unless a true need arises, but I will take any suggestions into account as I write new chapters.

Call of the Night 

Chapter 2 - The Bonds of Blood 

     "So, Master Gramstin, where is our current destination?" Noldor and Andrew had caught up to Aswane as they were just heading through the gate. Aswane looked back at the two and answered, "Before we can find the Time Master, we'll need to make a stop in the town of Avgard. If we can proceed with haste, we should be able to make it there in two days." Andrew looked over at the old man and asked, "Avgard is quite far away, and it will be a hard ride to make it in two days. I know this may sound stupid...But why don't we just teleport there?" Noldor wasn't sure of what to think of this question and wondered just how ignorant the paladin was. Thankfully, Aswane spoke up first.
     The old man chuckled a bit and answered, "Despite what most normal folks think, a wizard doesn't just teleport everywhere he needs to go. The concentration and skill required to teleport can be quite taxing on even the best of wizards, and that is simply to teleport oneself. Teleporting a group requires several wizards, and the location has to be known quite well to all involved, or you risk teleporting people to the wrong destination or in the middle of objects." Sir Andrew's eyes lit up at the final bit that Aswane said, and it almost looked like he would inquire further. However, the thought seemed to quickly pass as he simply replied, "Well, if that's the case, I guess we should hurry on now." Aswane nodded at the paladin, and the group continued onward.
     As they turned to head on, Aswane continued to inform the two of the journey they'd be taking. "As you know, we'll have to cross the Florian Plains to the south first. From there, we'll weave through the Larren Hills. After that, we'll simply have to pass through the Yvelten Woods, and beyond the woods lies Avgard. We will rest for the night once we reach the Yvelten Woods, but we'll have to move quickly to complete the first half of the journey before nightfall." Andrew nodded his head and replied, "It would be best if we left the Larren Hills before nightfall. That area can be quite dangerous what with all of the warring goblin tribes."
     Noldor seemed puzzled by what Sir Andrew had said though. "I thought there were treaties set up with the goblin tribes to keep them from attacking travellers." Andrew looked over at him and shook his head in dismay. "True, there are treaties in place to pacify the goblins, but the evil creatures can't be completely stopped by promises on paper. As long as they don't leave any proof of their misdeeds, nobody can prove their guilty actions. Of course, there are other monsters in the Larren Hills to worry about... However, we should be safe as long as we make it through before night comes." Aswane shook his head in agreement and added, "We are more than prepared for anything that should come. However, it is still in our best interest to avoid any trouble until we reach the unavoidable. Now, we have a long ways to go, so we'd best pick up the pace." The three spurred their horses into action, and they quickly galloped towards the Florian Plains.
     Noldor was unfamiliar to most of the regions surrounding Mesnonia. He and his family had come from the elven forests of the West, but that was quite some time ago. He had never traveled further south than the Florian Plains, so much of this journey would be new to him. The Florian Plains would be simple enough to travel over though. The wide flat plains combined with the nearby Nervua River made for a fertile and productive farmland, and being right next to Mesnonia, the area had little trouble with monsters or bandits. Noldor had come here many times to explore the plains and collect seeds and herbs for his studies. Normally, he would have enjoyed his ride through here, but with so much distance to cover, they weren't going to waste any time to take in the scenery.
     The group rode on in silence for the span of several hours. There wasn't much to say, and they had much ground to cover anyways. Unfortunately for Noldor, this silence really only gave him time to think. Would the goblins or any other monsters be a problem? Why were they going to Avgard? Would they actually be able to find this Time Master? Would he even help them? The more he thought on it, the more depressed he felt about the whole ordeal. He finally had to push the questions to the back of his mind and decided that he would ask Aswane later. After what felt like an eternity to him, the group was finally about to leave the Florian Plains behind. In the distance, Noldor could already see the massive Larren Hills. Despite being called hills, they appeared almost like small mountains from here. Noldor moved closer to Aswane and asked about the region in front of them.
     "Ah, yes, those are the Larren Hills that lie ahead. The entire area is just a sea of hills, but we won't be travelling them like you might think. The constant up and down of the hills would be too much of a strain on our horses. We'll have to follow the path at the bottom of the hills and weave in and out of them. It might seem like that would take longer, but I can assure you that it isn't." Andrew overheard this and commented on it as well. "Another plus of riding the bottom path is that we should avoid any goblin encounters. During the day, they tend to stay in their villages scattered throughout and avoid the main trails. However, I'd highly advise that you all keep an eye out because the little devils aren't really known for their predictability."
     When they finally came upon the hills, Noldor saw that they were quite a sight to behold. The hills were like small green mountains that blanketed the area as far as he could see. He could definitely see why it was easier to ride between the hills rather than over them. When they finally reached the bottom of the first hill, Andrew sped up and took lead of the group. If they were to encounter any trouble, he would be the first to greet it head on. Aswane followed after Andrew, and Noldor took up the rear. Their trip through the Larren Hills went quite well at first. They had been riding since early this morning, and it was just now midday. This hilly area was known for being quite serene most of the time. The wild animals that lived around here tended to keep to themselves, so anything they did come across moved about its way. The group was making fairly good time, and it seemed that they would pass through without any trouble. However, as soon as the thought passed, Noldor realized that something was wrong.
     Noldor began to yell something at Aswane and Andrew, but they seemed to have already sensed the same thing. The three of them brought their horses to a stop and started looking around. They noticed that the animals that were around earlier had all disappeared. They weren't seeing much wildlife before, but now the area was void of life. As they were looking around, Noldor felt his ears perk up and could hear something approaching from the West. He whistled over to the other two and pointed towards the large hill to the West. Just as they all looked over, some dark figures were coming over the hilltop. They all got off of their horses and drew their weapons in preparation.
     Sir Andrew pulled out a large double-headed Axe. It was a massive weapon to behold and decorated with a large sun emblem in between the axe heads. Glowing runes decorated the hilt, and as he drew it, he yelled out "Burn through Shadows!" The large axe was fully aflame from handle to the blades, and he was ready to fight. Aswane reached inside the arm of his robe and pulled out a small, blue glowing orb. The orb was just barely bigger than the palm of his hand, but it was swirling with magical power. The old wizard started chanting something and magical energies began to swirl about him. Noldor got his longbow prepared and notched an arrow. He took aim at the dark figures coming down the hill and waited. As the figures were approaching, it was quickly becoming apparent what they were.
     The creatures that were coming down the hill appeared to be small humanoids, but they were nothing even remotely human. They were slightly larger than a small child, had sickly green skin, and wore strange, unidentifiable fur for clothing. Their faces were a strange cross between a bat, a pig, and a very ugly human. They were all squealing and barking as they charged down the hill. Each one of them was holding some sort of crude blunt object, and the group knew without a doubt that this angry mob of goblins was heading straight for them.
     Noldor waited just long enough for the monsters to get in range before he let the first arrow fly. Noldor, like most elves, was a good shot, and this arrow was no exception. It flew straight towards and went straight through one of the charging goblin's skull. The creature immediately went down and tripped up a few of the others. However, it barely phased the majority of the horde as they charged onward. As they were getting closer, Aswane finally stopped chanting and thrust his hand with the orb forward. The orb changed from blue to yellow, and a bolt of lightning shot out towards the goblins. It hit the ground in front of them and caused a massive blast. It took out a good five or six goblins in the group, but they didn't seem phased at all by this and charged on regardless. Sir Andrew looked over at Aswane and said, "Well, they are definitely determined... I will give them that. I'll going to go and meet the foul beasts head on. I should be able to handle what's left of them, but feel free to watch my back." Sir Andrew began to run straight at the charging group.
     Noldor wasn't sure of what to think of this. The number of goblins easily numbered a dozen if not double that. Noldor yelled out, "What is that fool thinking? He can't possibly take them all on by himself! Aswane, I'm going to go help him." Noldor dropped his bow, got out his rapier, and followed after the crazy paladin. As he was chasing after Sir Andrew, he was surprised how fast the human could move in his heavy full plate armor. At this point, the goblins were only a couple hundred feet away, but Sir Andrew was already upon them. His large flaming axe burned brightly and hacked through the remaining goblins. Every swing of the axe spilled more goblin blood onto the hillside. The axe easily sliced through their flesh, and those that weren't cut were quickly set ablaze.
     The screams of agony coming from the goblins was almost too much for Noldor to hear. Sir Andrew cut down one after another, and it was clear that the paladin wasn't going to hold back. He cut one Goblin clear in half and then turned around to immediately bash another goblin to the side. As their numbers quickly dwindled, it seemed that the creatures were just now starting to realize how much they underestimated their targets. Even with their combined numbers, the goblins clearly stood no chance against the paladin's strength and speed. He was fighting through the goblins quite easily, and after just a few minutes, the handful of goblins that were left had decided that this wasn't their fight.
     They turned to run away, but strangely, Sir Andrew chased after them. The elf had only caught a glimpse, but he swore that the paladin's eyes were burning red with rage. Despite the goblin's retreating surrender, it appeared as if Sir Andrew wasn't going to let them go. Noldor wasn't sure why the human was continuing with his slaughter, but he suddenly felt the need to intervene. Even these creatures didn't deserve to be maimed beyond comprehension. The crazed paladin yelled out as he cut the closest goblin's legs off and then spun around to sever off its head as well. A few of the goblins saw this act and made an awful screeching noise. It seems they weren't even remotely prepared for anyone or anything like this. Noldor started chanting something as he rushed towards the currently preoccupied paladin. Sir Andrew was just about to slice another goblin's head down the middle when suddenly...he couldn't move. He slowly fall over and noticed Noldor had struck him from behind with his palm.
     Noldor had cast a paralyzation spell and managed to stop the raging paladin just in time. The goblins didn't think twice about this opportunity and what few were left scampered away up the hill. Noldor looked around and almost couldn't bear what he saw. The area was now littered with the bodies and blood of dead goblins. He wasn't a friend of these awful beasts, but many of them were horribly maimed and never deserved a death like this. He noticed a nearby goblin who was trying to crawl away despite his lack of an arm and leg. Noldor couldn't bear to see it suffer though and used his rapier to end the creature's misery. The rest of the goblins seemed to have already bled out, so Noldor went over to check on Sir Andrew. His spell over the paladin was still holding though, and he was still paralyzed there.
     Noldor approached the stunned human and knelt down next to him. "I apologize for doing that to you, but you were going beyond your duty. These monsters might have tried to attack us, but you slaughtered them without a second thought." Sir Andrew was staring right at the elf despite his stunned state. His eyes were glowing before, but the rage and angry energy was slowly subsiding. The elf continued as he saw this, "When you started chasing the fleeing ones, I felt that I should step in. Now, I'm going to release the spell's hold on you, and I'm going to ask that you don't turn whatever rage you had on me. My next spell will not be as kind." Noldor chanted a few phrases and then touched the spot on Sir Andrew's back that he had struck before. A mystical rune appeared briefly and then shattered into thin air. The paladin could move again, and the first thing he did was gasp for air.
     The winded paladin slowly got around and up onto his feet. He looked over at the elf and said, "I... I do apologize for my actions. I would tell you more now, but I believe it would be in our best interest to hurry on now. We might have defeated this group, but they'll most likely be back and with reinforcements. I'd be happy to not repeat this experience today." Noldor nodded at what the paladin said. Then two of them turned around and quickly returned to where Aswane and their horses stood. The old wizard looked at the two and decided to save any talking for later. Like the other two, he figured the goblins would return soon and had already gotten back on his horse The two rejoined him and also got back on their horses. Once remounted, they quickly rode onward.
     After the brief encounter, the next part of their journey went by slowly, quietly, and uneventful. If there were any other creatures watching them, it seems they had taken the goblin's defeat as an example and left them alone. To Noldor's surprise, Sir Andrew had recovered quite quickly from the paralyzation spell. Either Noldor wasn't that effective, or the paladin had an incredible fortitude and willpower. Either way, Noldor was glad he hadn't harmed the human in any way. He was also interested to learn more about what actually happened and looked forward to some answers when they stopped for the night.
     The remainder of the Larren Hills went by without any major problems. As they reached the final group of hills, Noldor could spot the Yvelten Woods in the distance, and they had arrived not a moment too soon. Night was starting to set in, and they were all quite tired from the rough ride and brief fight earlier. As they left the hills behind, Aswane stopped and looked over at the two. "Despite our goblin ordeal, we've arrived almost right on time. We'll go a small ways into the woods and find a good campsite. Best to have a bit of cover during the night if our goblin friends decide to pursue us." Nobody was going to disagree with Aswane's statement, and the group slowly approached the woods.
     The Yvelten Woods is a well known forest that stretches from the Nervua River to the surrounding mountain regions. It's a well known area for a couple of reasons. The trees in the woods here are well known for the curative sap that seeps from them. Many healers and wizards come from far to collect the sap for common use. There's also a common myth that the trees of the Yvelten Woods are alive somehow. It is said that they used to be an ancient race that surpassed life and death by turning into trees. Nobody has ever proven it, but those who travel through the forest always feel as if the trees are watching them. Aswane considered having them go around, but he knew time was of the essence here. He knew that Noldor would have pushed for them to go through the Yvelten Woods to save time. Anyways, the woods shouldn't be a very dangerous place as long as the three of them stayed together.

     Apart from the trees, the Yvelten Woods are home to an indigenous tribe of wood elves. Very few people have ever met them though. The wood elves tend to keep to themselves, and they only reveal themselves to those they would consider great enemies to the woods or someone who has shown the woods great honor and respect. Most people avoid the woods purely out of fear of these dangerous and mysterious creatures. However, the group had a goal in mind, and Noldor wasn't going to let anything, even a group of mystical beings, keep him from getting through the woods. Despite the dangers that lurk ahead, they continued into the woods. 

     They needed to distance themselves from the hills without fully entering the woods. The wood elves didn't generally come close to the border of the Yvelten Woods, so they would be safe to sleep for the night. Within just a few minutes, Sir Andrew had located a nice clearing among all of the trees. There was a small spring nearby as well, so they'd have a fresh supply of water to use. He brought his horse to a stop and turned around towards the other two, "This looks to be a good spot. Shall we settle here for the night?" Noldor looked around at the spot and seemed to approve. Aswane had already begun to get off of his horse. "It's been a long day. A good rest would serve us all quite well." Noldor proceeded to get off Swiftwind, and then he went over to get Aswane's horse. He then led the two horses over to the spring so they could get a drink. 

     Noldor took the saddlebags off both horses and patted his horse briefly on its back. "Thanks again Swiftwind. Please rest up because we have a long ride ahead of us." The horse briefly acknowledged him before going about its own business. Sir Andrew eventually brought his own horse over to join the others. As he was taking care of his own horse, the paladin looked over at Noldor's and commented on it. "You certainly have a fine steed at your side. Where did you get such a magnificent beast?" Noldor hadn't expected the paladin to comment on Swiftwind, and it took him a few moments to respond. "Err, I've always had Swiftwind. He was given to me by my people before I left my homeland long ago." Sir Andrew looked over the majestic animal a bit more before returning to his own a horse. After removing their things from the horses, they left the beasts to graze and drink.
     Noldor and Sir Andrew returned to the camping site to find Aswane busy with some scrolls. Noldor moved on past the old wizard and began to set up the site. Sir Andrew was somewhat surprised to see the two wizards do so much by hand. He had always figured that wizards tended to rely on their magical powers too much. However, as he was setting things up, the only magical thing Noldor did was light their fire. Otherwise, the elf quickly and quietly prepared their site. He only stopped briefly during his preparations to put a large pot over the fire. Sir Andrew realized he was staring too much and began to set up his own bedroll.
     It didn't take Sir Andrew long to set up what little he had brought with him though. He looked up from what he had unpacked and noticed that Noldor had begun to cook something. Sir Andrew went over and looked at what was inside of the pot. It was filled with various vegetables and some sort of meat. It appeared to be some sort of stew, and regardless of what kind, it smelled quite delicious. As the paladin was looking over the contents of the stew, Noldor looked up and said, "It's Glorian Rabbit Stew. I've mixed in some of the tree sap to help with your wounds and weari-" Sir Andrew seemed quite taken in by the stew at hand, so Noldor decided not to go into anymore detail. He dished up a bowl and handed it to the hungry human. Sir Andrew only briefly said a "Thank you" before he began to inhale the food.
     Before getting his own bowl though, Noldor filled one up for Aswane and took it over to him. The old wizard was still hard at work on whatever scrolls he was studying. "Master, the stew is finished." Aswane didn't seem to hear him though, so the elf decided to insist further. Noldor took hold of the scroll Aswane was holding and pushed it downward. "It has been a long day, and you need to eat. There will be plenty of time to look over the scrolls after a good meal." The old wizard snapped out of his studying and gladly took the bowl from him. Then Noldor dished up a bowl of the stew for himself and joined the rest of them in eating.
     The group ate in silence mostly, and the stew seemed to do the trick for their hunger and aches. Sir Andrew seemed to be enjoying it quite a bit. He went through four bowls and even started on a fifth one. Aswane ate what Noldor gave him and went straight back to studying his scrolls without a second word. Noldor had to force himself to eat what little stew he had gotten for himself. Even with an empty stomach, he just didn't feel hungry. The weight on his mind was great, and nothing seemed to pull him from it. Noldor couldn't seem to clear his head, so he decided to try and distract himself from his thoughts. He was still curious about the events from earlier, and now was as good as any time to ask.
     Noldor looked over at the paladin, who seemed to finally be done eating, and asked him. "Sir Andrew, would you care to explain what happened earlier?" Sir Andrew froze for a moment. He didn't seem ready for the question and ended up sitting there for a moment before he responded. Finally, he looked over at Noldor and sighed. "You did help me out of a situation back there Noldor, so I guess it's only right to explain." The paladin placed his bowl on the ground and started his story.
     "When I was only five years old, my home and family was destroyed in a fire. However, it wasn't an ordinary fire nor did it come from normal means. It was the work of a demon. He spared me and forced me to watch as he burned everything. The images still haunt my memories sometimes... Luckily for me, a nearby group of paladins saw the fire and sensed the evil inside. They managed to save me from the demon, but not before he cursed me. Many of the paladins saw my survival as a bad omen and felt to show me mercy by killing me there. Their leader, Sir Harrison Tyfendor, had them spare me. He felt it wrong to blame me for the happenings. Later on in my life, he told me himself that he sensed a greatness in me, and that is why he spared me. He knew I would grow to fight the Good Fight for Pelor and..."
     Sir Andrew seemed as if he was about to trail off into his usual speech, but he heard Noldor clear his throat. "Oh! Sorry, as you may know, I sometimes tend to get caught up and talk about the Good Fight. Anyways, back to my story, Sir Harrison adopted me and raised me as a paladin. He was a great mentor and a loving father, but he knew there was something wrong with me. It all started on that one fateful day. I was training with my fellow initiates when we decided to have a sparring match. Everything seemed fine, but then suddenly, I blacked out. Next thing I remember, my brothers were pulling me off my opponent's beaten body. The Order wanted to kick me out, but Sir Harrison convinced them it wasn't my fault, and that the demon's curse was to blame. The Order tried several times to remove the curse, but nothing seemed to work. Sir Harrison even went so far as to seek outside help with my problem, and that's when I met Aswane..."
     Sir Andrew paused from his story to look over at the old wizard. At his name being mentioned, he simply lowered the scrolls he was looking at and nodded before going back to the scroll. Noldor hadn't heard much of Aswane's life previous to being his student, so he decided to inquire a bit. "So, what was Master Gramstin like back then?" The paladin was surprised by this question but simply nodded and continued. "Even by that time, he was well known across the lands as a master wizard. Sir Harrison figured that Aswane the Almighty might have an answer for us. He located him and enlisted his help."
     "When I first met him, I was only ten years old and had never met a wizard before. He was quite nice to me and only asked me a couple of questions about my problem. Aswane had only been there a couple days, but he already seemed to be onto something. Aswane went before the Council of Pelor, the highest ranking paladins in the order, and told them how he would fix it. Unfortunately, the Council, aside of Sir Harrison, wasn't much for outside help in matters that involved the Order, especially that of a "meddlesome wizard" as they put it. They thanked him for taking the time but told him that they felt his help was unnecessary. They would teach me how to deal with my ailment and help me get past it with the holy power of Pelor."
     Suddenly, Aswane said out loud, "A bunch of fools! Had they let me help you back then, none of this would be a problem now!" Noldor was surprised to hear his master speak this way, but Sir Andrew seemed to agree with him. Aswane mumbled angrily to himself and continued with reading the scroll. Figuring that the old wizard had nothing more to add, Sir Andrew continued with the story.
     "As you can tell, Aswane wasn't too happy to hear their decision, but he wasn't going to interfere with Order business. He packed up his things and set out to leave the same day. However, before he left, he gave me a final piece of advice. He told me that despite what they may think, holding back my emotions would only worsen my condition. Of course, the Order felt he was wrong and instead chose to help me supress my curse through strict training and discipline. I've had very few incidents over the years, and what we saw today was the first one in quite a while. Unfortunately, it was the worst I've ever experienced. Thankfully, you were there to stop me Noldor."
     Sir Andrew looked over at the elf and said, "You stopped me when I would have horribly slaughtered those creatures... Granted, they did attack us, but I wouldn't have torn them to pieces like I did. I thank you my friend for holding me back, and I promise you...With Pelor behind me, I will stay with you until you have your family back." Noldor was quite moved by this statement and didn't know how to respond. "I...I thank you Sir Andrew." The paladin nodded but added, "Please, call me Andrew. We are friends now, and I've never really liked the 'Sir' part." For the first time in many days, Noldor felt somewhat happy. The thought of his family did plague the back of his mind, but for a brief period, he was able to push it to the back of his mind. "Thank you, Andrew."
     With Andrew's story concluded, Noldor figured it was time to finally get some answers. He looked over and asked the old wizard, "Master Gramstin, where does Grandell the Time Master live?" Aswane was still studying the same old scroll, so it took a few moments for the old man to respond. "He lives in a tall tower called The Ageless Spiral. I believe I know where to find it, but I'd hate to misinterpret these riddles and take us the wrong way." Noldor looked quizzically at the old man and asked, "Riddles?"

     The old wizard lowered the scroll and replied, "Well, the details to reaching Grandell the Time Master are here, but unfortunately, they've been made into a riddle. I figure my teacher did it to protect the secret of the Time Master's location." He rolled the scroll up and handed it over to Noldor. "I have deciphered most of what is contained, but I wouldn't mind a second opinion on it." Noldor took hold of the scroll and opened it up. The scroll was covered with a couple different images along with several lines of words. Noldor began to read it out loud:

"In a great tower does the Time Master stay."

"But this tower knows not the sky nor light of day."

"Beneath the great giant's steps of yesteryear."

"You'll find a passage to bring you near." 

"Great challenges and tests will block your path." 

"Only courage and wisdom will conquer the wrath." 

"Before you enter the Master's tower,"

"Prepare these items of mysterious power." 

"A precious jewel of deep crimson hue."

"The eye of a beast with a single view." 

"A blade forged from sacred steel." 

"Finally, a drop of blood to bind the seal." 

     Noldor wasn't sure what to make of any of that, but the last group of lines seemed to familiar. They seemed related to the items that Aswane had him buy. The old wizard quickly confirmed Noldor's suspicions. "You probably recognized the last couple lines. Those strange items you bought yesterday, the blood diamond, the cyclop's eye, and the silver dagger, are my best guess at the items asked for in the riddle. Of course, that only covers the items we'll need. The tower's location is our current priority." Noldor looked over the scroll again and focused on the first couple lines of the riddle. "Well, a tower that knows not the light of day suggests that the entire tower is underground."
     Andrew finally joined in on their discussion and added, "That'd suggest an incredibly massive cavern." Noldor nodded at his response and added, "Yes, and there aren't very many large caves around that could house such a structure. That leaves the only other clue as... Beneath the great giant's steps of yesteryear. You'll find a passage to bring you near. Any idea where that could be?" Noldor looked over at Aswane, who had begun to smoke a pipe, and turned towards Andrew who seemed lost in thought.
     "Well..." said Andrew, "There are a couple of places that come to mind for me in the nearby mountains." Andrew saw that the elf was surprised by his geographical knowledge. "Being raised by the Order of Pelor, we are required to learn quite a few things. It's not all preaching and smiting you know." He chuckled after saying and continued, "There are a few locations that fit the description, but there's one in particular that stands out in my mind right now... The Dragon's Claw Reach."
     As soon as he said the name, Aswane pulled his pipe away and joined in. "There are a couple places around that could fit the description... What makes that area stand out to you?" Andrew looked over at the old man and gave his answer. "Honestly? Part of it is just pure feeling. It seems like the right place, but if I had to think about facts or the like. 'Beneath the great giant's steps of yesteryear' suggests a location where giants were commonly living and found. I doubt your old master would be as simple and straightforward to mean actual giants. My historical knowledge of this area isn't the best, but I do know of the Dragon's Claw Reach."
     "Most common folk believe it's called that because of the numerous landmarks that look like...well like dragon's claws. However, the place was actually home to a race of dragons. Dragon's are one of the oldest races that we know of, even older than the elves...." Andrew looked over to Noldor as he said this, but Noldor didn't seem to care about that and was focused on what the paladin had to say. "No dragon's have been spotted there for over a century though. Besides that, the area is said to have many interweaving underground passages. Being as dragons used to live in them, that seemed the most likely place for a large tower to be hidden underground. "
     As Andrew finished his explanation, it seemed that the old wizard found his answer satisfactory. "So it seems the Order was good for ONE thing after all. You are quite well informed about the land. Dragon's Claw Reach was the area that I had in mind. It's an area that would most likely have the cave we are looking for, and it most resembles the wording of the riddle." Noldor spoke up at this point and asked, "Master, Andrew mentioned that there are many underground passages at this Dragon's Claw Reach. If so, how do we know which one will be the correct path?"
     Aswane seemed to be expecting this question and responded almost immediately, "Part of the myth of Grandell the Time Master is that only those who truly seek him can find him. As long as we're in the right cave, the path will make itself known to us. It might sound silly, but that's how these things generally work." The old wizard smiled as he said the last part. "Let's just say that I've done something much like this before. It's getting late now, and I figure we should probably turn in soon. Do either of you have anything else to ask?"
     Noldor looked over at the paladin, but Andrew seemed to be satisfied from his previous accomplishment. The elf did have one question that he knew the old wizard could answer. "Master, why are we going to Avgard in the first place? If Dragon's Claw Reach is where we need to go, why don't we just head straight there instead?" Aswane took another puff on his pipe before answering the elf though. "Well, Noldor, beyond restocking our supplies again, the main reason I wanted to go to Avgard is to speak with an old friend of mine there. He should have a map of the mountains to help us find the caves. He was also a friend and companion of my master, so he might be able to tell us something about Grandell."
     Noldor was surprised to hear this. Whoever this mysterious friend was, he'd have to be incredibly old to have been a companion to Aswane's master. The elf was about to inquire further when he saw Aswane put out his pipe. "I realize you might have further questions, but we had best turn in and get some rest while we can. We'll need to wake up early and get moving if we wish to reach Avgard before tomorrow evening." The old man rolled up all of his scrolls, packed them away in his backpack, and went over to the bedroll Noldor had prepared for him earlier.
     As the old wizard was going to sleep, Andrew stood up from his spot and said out loud. "I'll take the first watch of the night. Be sure to get your rest." The paladin got another bowl of the remaining stew and sat at the edge of their fire. Noldor went over to his bedroll and prepared for his meditation. "Thank you Andrew. I should only need a few hours of meditation, and then I can relieve you from your watch." Noldor sat quietly on his bedroll and began to clear his mind. This had been a long day, and he certainly deserved a rest. He knew in his heart that this long and difficult journey had only just begun...

End Chapter 2 - The Bonds of Blood