Chapter 1: Ragnar McRyan
Part 2: Mystery and Mazes!
When we last left our brave soldier, he had made his way to Strathbaile to investigate the disappearing children there.
As we make our way around the town, we notice there's all the regular amenities of a normal dragon quest town; an Inn to pay a modest sum to rest and recover, a church for saving our progress, a weapons AND armor store with things we can't afford, and an item shop selling basic herbs to cure poison and heal wounds. There's even a school for children to learn at, no doubt a fair bit emptier due to recent events.
As we further investigate, the people offer strange goings on; their kids seemingly dissapeared into thin air, a boy named Willy Wally is the missing kid of the Innkeeper, and that a recent traveller had stolen bread and been imprisoned in the town jail. That person is Angus! Somehow he'd forgotten much and now thinks he's a kid!
One of the kids at the school mentions something rediculous. "Magic" shoes that make you fly away, huh? Oh, I'm "Sure" it has to be true!
As we speak to folks, it becomes clear that more info could be gleaned at nightfall, so we take this as an opportunity to test out the game's Day/Night cycle! As you Adventure in the world map, the time will change from daytime to nighttime, and enemies will change and towns will get sleepier. You can also choose to sleep at an inn to change the time to day, but you have to wait out an evening outdoors.
This lends us some fighting practice, and we get to level three! Early leveling in DQ is often important for survival, so any experience is good experience!
As we enter at night, the various townsfolk have different things to say, though all the shops have closed by now. The Weapon and Armor sellers getting drunk near the well is particularly neat!
Inside the Inn, the Keeper says his kid was fiddling with weird shoes shortly before his disappearance, while a sister of the cloth is about to have a bath, and a creep is watching outside! We can't have that, so we circle around outside to tell them off! Some places has hidden entrances you need to use visual clues to suss out, so being observant can pay off!
As he confirms that it is indeed the Angus we heard about, we rest up and make our way back to Burland to speak to his wife.
Surprised at his actions, she accompanies us to Strathbaile to speak to him herself! She's a non-combatant, but the foes between here and there are no match for the mighty Ragnar!
A nice detail is that if the sun is going down as you enter a town, it'll actually be twilight inside! Still daytime, but it looks lovely! As we bring her to the jail, a little scene occurs...
So there we have it! Having finally reunited a married couple, our investigation pays off, as we now have a lead! Leaving the town and futzing around in the south-eastern forest, we come across a clearing with a mysterious well, literally beckoning us to explore it! Perhaps one of the lost children?!?
As heroic as Ragnar is, he enters the well and finds himself in a deep, deep maze!
While we wander, two things become clear. One, the voice directs us through the maze so as to avoid dead ends and loop backs, further pulling us to them. The other? The monsters here are Very Dangerous!
Up until now the foes have been dealing little more then one or two points of damage, but here, they can do four to six, with little wizards casting magic to hurt us significantly with ten! As I mentioned, Ragnar is good at hiting and being hit, but that's all. His agility is low enough to allow enemies the first hits in a round, and he has only his Healing Herbs to recover, meaning this well is likely to defeat you if you aren't careful! The five herbs I brought were barely enough!
I will say, however, that the level of detail that comes out of enemy attacks is absolutely splendid, and if this playthrough inspires you to try the game yourself, you'll be quite pleased!
As we work our way through, avoiding dead ends called out by the voice, we find the magic shoes the kids spoke of, called the Telaria! We also uncover a massive treasure of 550 gold, which combined with our growing coffers from battle means we'll get good equipment soon! And finally, we meet the source of the voice...
What a delightful monster! The healslimes down here are normally not friendly, but this one has grand aspirations and a good heart! Ragnar would be foolish to decline his assistance! This is also the first time we hear the genuine "Party member joins" music, what a classic tune!
As we make our way out with our ally in tow, we try the Telaria to humorous results.
Using spells or equipment that flings you into the air inside or under something leaves you with a bump on your head and no wasted resources. Still, try not to concuss!
As we make it back to where we started, we find an old storage room with a much-needed Agility Seed and a less needed Life Seed, for more Hp. We then exit to the outdoors from the stairs and make our way back to town for much needed rest!
And we end this adventure off with a much needed weapon upgrade, an Iron Spear, as well as a hardwood hat!
See you next time as we find where these shoes will take us!
