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S01E10: The Upper West Saga 5: Mammoth Mandatory Monster Mountain Maze MELTDOWN!


I realised I forgot to post the Balthus Golem entry from the manual!

quote:

Balthus Golem (unique, artifact)
8 meters tall, more than 2 tons, these are the impressive stats of this living artifact, built by some Wizard who never claim property of his masterpiece.
Observed in the Tangarian Wastelands, it appears to stay quiet and almost lifeless, guarding an old and now longer used anymore network of mines. Some explorers tried to defeat the Golem, but they were forced to retreat, and the legend now tells the artifact may be invincible.




No dawdling. Let us get right into it.



Guanidia notes that the mountains do not seem to be in agreement and I concur.



Whatever, we bumbled through several dark lairs, some caves, a minotaur town and a forest maze, I'm sure the mountains'll be a cinch.



There's a number of empty chests scattered throughout the mountains.





We'll ignore this cave for now and continue straight up the mountain.







Ah, so these guys. You get decent reward for beating them. 150XP and 1200GP. And they're pretty easy to kill.

The Trick Leprechauns will cast Water Beam, which can do a fair bit of damage, as well as call the Sylphs which poisons.

Lutins, the middle ones, will sometimes, I think cast Death. Not sure what else or what the third guy does because usually the group is annihilated pretty quickly.

Trick Trolls have a extremely low chance of dropping a Dwarven Gauntlet.
Trick Lutins have a extremely low chance of dropping a Nenuphar Ring (! That's an artifact!)
Trick Leprechauns have an extremely, extremely low chance of dropping a Mithril.



These two pots also have the tricky trio. It's a recurring thing.



Ivy's are nothing special. 43 XP.





We're going to be doing a lot of ivy climbing too.



That's nice. Back to the main path.





I'm glad Random takes these things in good humour.



We're gonna ignore this path and the west one for the moment.




Random SIGHS in disappointment.



This hat is greatly inferior to what we got.





Maybe only those first three pots hid a tricky trio...?



Oooh.

Anyway, we check out the well just NW of the bracelet pot and Random says it's empty.







Hahaha. The mental image of Coryool screaming down a well as loud as he can never fails to make me smile.



We definitely will not be going this way. We go east and come to a hilltop with a great many things to look at.













This has been a running 'gag' in the game but this is by far my favourite instance of it.

Luci informs us this statue is of Sylvia, Goddess of Air. There's a few statues like this throughout the mountains.



After a few clusters of empty pots, we were lulled into a false sense of security...

There's a few treasures mixed in with these Tricky Trio pots.





There's also a pot with 3 Krieger Scales.





After a bunch of troll encounters, the dialogue changes. Sarah says she can't get used to their appearance after the battle and Guanidia responds with his line.

We also find a nest, and the party, particularly Coryool, want to investigate it and...







You start this fight poisoned.

Easy though, with Nymph's Para and the power of the others attacks.



Then the second battle has even more. After this, it's a repeat of the first fight. Then Random wonders when we'll run out of snakes to fight and...







After this, the party searches the nest, against the protests of Guanidia.



Guanidia is, of course, not impressed and Sarah says the antidote will be useful and Random thanks her for her support.



Final Destination.







Find some well hidden loot.





Oh, I think we got this from Gudar's Manor and I forgot to use it.





That teaches this. It's an alright spell.



And this is the Cloud Ceremony spell. G-Wave, the spell from 4 Saviors, is a full heal that I teach to Luci as well.



We've upgraded from Harsh Bees to Savage Bees. Nothing special, again.

27XP and 2GP.

We backtrack to the sign about falling rocks and progress up the path by it.





The screen shakes and makes a racket a couple times, but nothing comes of it.



Then we go back and head west.

















We wander the mountain tops picking up lots of minor treasures and fighting -plenty- of encounters.



Like these guys! Nothing fight! Drop fethers sometimes and are worth 27XP and 130GP.

Nearby, we climb down another vine.





This also goes to Luci. Sarah already has it, anyway!





And I realise I haven't shown what these are. There's a point in the postgame(?) where you can grind these.



Pass behind this tree...



I'm climbing down the wrong vine here, but if you go down one of the ones to the left...



Random jumps to this ledge. I don't think you can get up here from the bottom. We climb down the vine, Random has to jump the last part.





These are both 'alchimy' items.

Anyway, we're at a little inn, cafe type deal.









We get another screenshake but nothing comes of it.





That'd be handy if we used Guanidia.







I... guess that's nice.



On the way back down we run into our first Assassin Dwarves. Nothing special, though they can crit for a lot of damage. Doesn't happen often.

Chance to drop a Brutal Axe and worth 45Xp and 265GP.



The inn charges exorbiant prices.



Assassin dwarves are not popular.



The inn has no beds just... slightly more comfortable wooden boards. Sarah will complain about this but Random will say it was fine, if you rest here.

We Egress back to the start of the mountains and head east from the warning sign about falling rocks.




Enter a door we ignored before...





And enter a truly massive cave system.



Here's the infamous tarantellas. They're actually not very dangerous to us anymore. They're fond of casting Water Beam, which hits everyone, but not for all that much damage at this point, and we often slay them before they can. The Fire Fire is much more dangerous. It can cast Mega Flare to hit Random, Luci and Sarah for decent damage, or Giga Flare to do a -lot- of damage to one of them.

They are both useless against Coryool.

Fire Fires are worth 34XP.
Lake Tarantella's are worth 39XP.



There's also these guys. Nothing to worry about. 54XP and 31GP.





The caves are truly massive, and long stretches have nothing going on, and then you'll find a cluster of minor and major treasures.



Also this asshole secret no one ever seemed to have found before a lurker on Discord mentioned it days ago.











I give this to Sarah. Big boost for her.











These guys have sky high defense, but that's about it. Kinda annoying to wail on them for a couple turns. Can drop Misty Chainmail, and are worth 44XP.













I choose not to give this to anyone right away.





So these caves all have multiple exits and entrances back to the mountain tops/sides. It's a real interconnected mess that can easily leave you disorientated. The one saving grace is that the caves utilize pretty much all of the tilesets in RPGMaker they feasibly can to make broadly recognisable areas, so you can roughly figure out where you are after a little experience.

Won't help you the first time though!







Hm!









Oh, that's nice.



After this I Egress back to the start and enter the doorway near the very beginning.



Random says '!!!!!!!!!' in response to this.





I don't know why this sign is here of all places, all the visible paths deadend just offscreen.

Those crates have a bunch of GP too.







Two of them?? Why?





I made really good time on this dungeon because I avoided most of the nothing areas or dead ends. Here I slipped up.











This is still right back near the start. We could've walked here in a minute.





Luci says no one gives a shit about it anymore, and we have no reason to give a shit either.



So we enter the nearby cave east of the one we just came out of.







I make a much too long detour for this crap and then backtrack.















Loot a storeroom...



Hahaha. ahaha.







I don't use this just yet either.







We'll need this guy for a sidequest way down the line too.







He has a store nearby that we rob.







Kind of doubt it has the crit rate of the other swords, but I equip it anyway.







We're loading up on some good shit.





I make another lengthy detour for this MERE PITTANCE!





Brace yourself for Indinera's absolutely incredible mountain design from here on out.











Why are there so many of these as loot?



I believe this cave was a deadend, so we go back outside.







Holy shit. a Blue Flame Savepoint on Hard Mode! Wonder if Indy forgot to remove it. I definitely make use of it.



We continue to climb up.



Climbing on vines does not preclude encounters, of course.

Tangar Wyrms are nothing special either. Rarely drop a Speed Ring, worth 41XP and 102GP.



We ignore the beautiful lake glimmering in the sunlight as we seek the safety of darkness once more.







We have to climb down a loooooooong way.























There's a fair bit of mediocre loot too.



Navigating down a path of stalactites leads us to...













Meh. Good for our score, at least. BACK TO THE CAVE!











What are you even talking about. Is this like how medieval people though worms just spontaeneously appeared in mud?





Crab room.



This is the lone treasure of the crabs.



Funny number GP.



Unlike most of the locked chests we encounter, we'll be able to do something about this one.



The Crown can bite my ass.



This is much more acceptable than the other Pine Apple. Given that you'd bump into it trying to search all the pots.

















I think Coryool can also use this, which is either a funny oversight or a joke about him drinking anything, as someone on the Discord put it.





You cannot walk behind waterfalls so I have to circle around to the other side.



Woo!

Anyway, we backtrack allllll the way to the locked chest.





Meh.

Let's get outta this ice cave.



We come upon a helpful... spirit or elemental or something.





She then challenges us to a friendly fight. I think you only get the one shot at this, and it's not a Game Over if you lose.



She's not very hard after we buff up, which lets Sarah more effectively debuff her with the Diamond Jewel. She has a few thousand HP so she can take quite the beating, but she's reduced to complete ineffectuality against us.



Another ore we won't be able to use until LP3. She's kind enough to full heal us too, not that we needed it.









We get the Georgi Ring from one of those chests. Indinera's just dumping Limitless Spell items on us now. How many JRPGs give you stuff like that? I know Final Fantasy 1 did even thought the game never actually tells you that.



Skip this northern path for the moment to...



Walk in front of an incredibly wide waterfall.





I remember this being a pretty good Dark spell.



ANOTHER ONE

We backtrack to the path we ignored.





Gotta say this looks really weird, Indy.



Armour for the pets, I believe. Fur isn't murder if you're putting it on your Garfield or Slime.

We leave the cave.



And... we've done it. That's Tangar with all the treasures done. You can go a much more straight forward path if you know where to go, and don't care about the loot, but getting everything is a real ordeal. And finding your way the first time.



THANK YOU GOOD SIR

I want you guys to look at these maps. Of Tangar.


https://imgur.com/a/gZYIcTL
This is what I just spent THREE HOURS clearing, while knowing where to go and what deadends/empty rooms to avoid.


Anyway, there's a FAQ section for this game and Indy put a few related to this dungeon.

quote:

3bis/ I’m stuck in those damn Tangar Mountains/Tangar Cave !
Yeah, this is the biggest dungeon ! 
The good path is quite a regular path, so search everywhere, and use the ivies !

3bis*2/ Where are the Rillian Mountains where Kevin’s supposed to be ?
Probably near Rillia…

3tierce/ The Lake Tarantellas/Fire Fires kill me too easily…
Find a way to either survive or kill ‘em before they move. Choose the most adapted team. Level up.

3tierce*2/ The DWARVES kill me too easily…
I can’t believe you…





There's a funny deadend I avoided that FUCKS you nearby, just when you think you're done with the caves.



There's a bunch of stranded people hanging around this little inn.





Random tells Sarah to shut up. Rude.





See? Other side of the destroyed bridges.



That cave is just like... a little house for an old man.



A woman named Lise gives us another sidequest to deliver a package to her son Jock, In Merthuns.



What???







We find Meenoba's lost rose. Random convinces Sarah to give it up by pointing out it's a dried rose.



This guy gives us a steep discount, and only charges us 2000GP. This is only a temporary teleport location too.

:sirenO NOT NEGLECT TO DO THIS!



We actually can investigate the package but I shall not until I save the game again.



The rose doesn't seem very interesting.







Last bit of loot.



There's also another loose rock path nearby but there's no point to it that I could see. it just deadends.



I also finally remember to put this on. Look at those resists!



W-wait...



We have to step on the bridge ourselves to trigger a minicutscene of the camera panning northward VERY slowly, and then back again.

The party comes to the conclusion we cannot pass.







Well, fine, at least we got the teleport place here.

I teleport to Rillia. We'll handle the two new sidequests next update.





He's not in his room. And his son and wife aren't in their normal spots. Just grandpa and...










...





...




...


LP's over.

The End.