Following Directions (FFIII, Day 28)

I really don't think I'd be as far along as I am without sticking pretty close the walkthrough I've been following. It's pretty likely that without it, I'd be writing right now about how lost in the ocean I am right now, and that I have no idea what I need to do next.


Not Pictured: My Horrible sense of Direction

Thankfully that's not the case. I finished up with the southern points of interest as the walkthrough suggested. Mostly that involved buying some things and talking to people. Then my next stop was Argus Castle in the Northwestern quadrant of my map. The place was totally deserted, but there was plenty of loot to be had in secret doors and locked rooms. I switched Ektorp to a thief and had him pick the locks to get to the loot. Then I set off for Gulgan Gulch as suggested and chatted with some blind guys. I also got a free Toad spell from them to make the next dungeon possible. Desch got a rather ominous earful as well. I grabbed all the loot in the gulch and made my way to the Tower of Owen. 
The place was a Steampunk dream (or nightmare, depending on your point of view) and the only way to progress further than the bottom was to Toad my party. This shape shifting stuff is neat, but it's getting a little silly. It's not even that much of a hassle, I just don't like having to waste MP on it.
 The tower itself was easy to navigate up to the point where there was a wall in my way. Thankfully my trusty walkthrough told me about the secret switch and saved me probably 20 minutes of trying to figure it out on my own. It didn't take long to reach the top where the lovely Medusa was messing with the workings of the tower. No idea what she was doing, but we killed her ded before she could finish whatever it was.


"I'm Not Dead Yet!"

Desch now had his memory jogged and knew he was the guardian of the tower. So he dove into a fiery pit to try and fix whatever Medusa broke. His actions somehow stopped the whirlpool that was blocking my path into the rest of the ocean. So there was a moment of solemnity and a few statements that alluded to the ambiguity of his sacrifice. Where I'm concerned, when someone dives into a flaming hole, it usually spells DED, but as he might somehow still be alive, I'm not going to start a death count just yet.

My next destination was the Dwarven settlement in the new section of sea to which I now had access.  I discovered they were having issues with a thief called Gutsco. He made of with a horn of ice, whatever that is, and fled to the subterranean lake. Now because dwarves can't swim, they asked us to go after the guy.

After a short dungeon crawl, we found the boss, kicked the stuffing out of him, and retrieved the missing horn. Then he disappeared. Which normally isn't an oddity in a Final Fantasy game, but this time, a character actually commented on it, so I knew something was up. When I got back to the Dwarven settlement, I noticed an extra shadow following me around. It would have been nice if the game had rewarded me for noticing this, and correctly assuming that Gutsco was up to no good instead of just making me helplessly watch as he 'duped' everyone. Of course the dwarves asked me to put the horn back in its rightful place. Of course they lowered the magical barrier protecting the other Ice Horn. Of course it was Gutsco and this time he made off with BOTH horns.

Turtle Power

Once more it was up to me to track him down and get the treasures back. I tromped back to my ship, and sailed to the other side of the island to enter the Molten Cave. This dungeon was a slightly bigger pain than the previous due to the fact that you have to SWIM THROUGH LAVA. Apparently warriors of the light aren't bothered much by full body contact with magma, other than to have their hit points slowly tick down. Not to mention the fact that the most common enemy in this dungeon is an Adamantoise.

Lucky for me, I had an Ice Staff on hand to do some major damage. With considerable effort, I made it through to the boss, Gutsco. He immediately transforms into Salamander and attacks. The battle was going really well for a while, but things took a swift downhill turn the moment I ran out of Phoenix Downs. needless to say, it ended badly. The worst part is that the last place it's possible to save is outside the dungeon. Looks like I have my work cut out for me this evening as I go for take two on the Molten Cave. 

That went well...