Beyond the Beyond: Update 102: The Maw (The Abyss pt. 2)

[ladyabaxa]

Beyond the Beyond: Update 102: The Maw (The Abyss pt. 2)

The gate to the Abyss is open and the locked treasures scattered across the world have been claimed. I'd say it's time to head down into the Abyss. The team's run out of means of stalling the inevitable. Oh well.

First though I swap Lorele for Samson. Lorele's lagging behind in Speed and Attack a bit too much for this late in the game. I'm not quite buckling down for maximum offense (I'll save that for later) but I do have to keep in mind that the Abyss isn't going to be a cakewalk. I feel I've given Lorele a fair chance but in the end she's going to the bench. It is inevitable that three characters end the game there.

Then I return to Quamdar to buy Samson an Earth Breaker axe. That brings his attack power up to 187 at the cost of the Speed bonus of the Tempest Axe. Just in case he keeps the Tempest Axe in his inventory.

The Goddess Robe and Athena Ribbon offer defense bonuses for Annie but I opt to hold off until after seeing what treasures the Abyss holds. (I'll come back later and buy upgrades for those who need them.)

Then the team takes the winding path back to the shrine. It isn't exactly an easy hike. Picture Red Dragons in the desert, the forest, and everywhere else because that's what they ran into. Red Dragons, almost always in pairs, around every bend. That doesn't exactly make for a great start to the Abyss but the walk has to be made. As shown in the screenshot above Annie and Edward managed to make the hike with most of their MP intact.

It doesn't take long for demons to crawl out of the darkness.

So where is this door? Have all the monsters already left the Abyss?
There's a demon right in front of us so I'd guess not.
It would be pretty bad if we opened the door only to find out Shutat wanted us to unseal it.
If that were the plan then why try repeatedly to stop us?
Gotta sell the illusion!

I'm just going to continue thinking that Shutat doesn't know what he's doing.

Edward's still carrying the Drain Rod but his attempts to use it to recharge his MP go about as well as Annie's attempts at casting the Steal spell. Both usually fail. Fortunately it seems like the Drain Rod either has an extremely low chance to crack or none at all because it never did.

And of course Annie had her work cut out for her, as always.

Not here even five minutes and we're already beaten up.
To be fair those fire dragons all over the forest kind of helped.
Ugh, don't remind me.

The room immediately beyond the sealed door presents another set of paired statues. Get used to seeing them because they're rather important.

It has a skull on top, cool!
But the wings are still feathery.
I guess the artist didn't know how to carve bone wings.
Aww man. My lair's not gonna make that mistake! Skeletal all the way or bust!
I guess they could be giant bat wings instead.
Ugh, no!
Hmm, tempting!

B1, south side

Well this is it. Welcome to the Abyss! There's a staircase heading down immediately next to the staircase the team just descended but they're not going to take it. For starters they've seen nothing of this floor and secondly that would be a huge mistake in terms of this dungeon's gimmick.

Pretty much anything that shows up outside can also appear in the upper floors of the Abyss. Greater Demons are a bit more common but they're becoming less of a threat. Undead Lectors are still super fast though and often get in Holy Light 3 before dying.

Then Percy hits level 9 and picks up Thunder 2. At 13 MP per cast he really doesn't have the mana to use it but it does have the advantage of hitting all enemies regardless of grouping for a sizable chunk of damage.

North of the two staircases is this open doorway. This is where the team needs to go.

You're sure, Edward?
Absolutely. This is where the dormant magic is.
And it's been bugging him since you walked in.
It has.
You didn't really expect to just go straight to the bottom did you?
Well now that you ask...
The answer is 'no', Finn.
Dang it!

Do you really think we're going to need all of these ocarinas?
YES.
I think Miss Annie's just glad she's not doing all the healing today.
I will admit that I miss Lorele.
I wish I could be there with you but I understand. Besides I'm still hoping to convince Miss Sonya to listen in with me.
Are you trying to give my mother a heart attack?
I want her to know how brave her children are.

One floor down, barely into the Abyss, and the Angel's Ocarinas are already in use. They cast Healing Rain 1 when used with a chance to crack each time they're invoked. Thankfully it is common to get three or four Rains out of one before then and they can be repaired. Even if they were 1-use expendables I'd still carry a bunch because at 1,000 gold they'd still be worth it for that effect.

The door leads to... a huge open circular chamber composed of myriad floors. This is just like the exterior of Arawn's Tower, seen back in update 38, except interior and reverse shape. Alas if only the team had a rope!

That is a long way down.
No kidding.
I'll take your word for it.
Careful now.
It's... dizzying. I can feel it now. The vortex beneath us.

Just like the exterior of Arawn's Tower the path is blocked - this time by a fissure and a broken pillar with debris lying on the ground. This is necessary because of the way this screen is coded. On each floor are two doorways connecting the two wings of the Abyss. The floor plan is rather confusing hence the need for many screenshots. I'll do what I can to keep things straight.

B1, north side

Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how one feels about this dungeon) the other side of this floor is just one small room with two large statues. Each one holds an orb in its hands.

There...
I think we have more immediate problems your highness.

Of course there are monsters everywhere in the Abyss... except the big connecting chamber. Just like the exterior of Arawn's Tower that one screen is a safe haven. Enjoy it while it lasts. Groups like this, 1 Necromancer, 1 Red Dragon, and 2 Royal Guards, are actually rather mild. The team's been facing Necromancers for so long that dealing with them is almost rote habit. They might have Titan 1, Firedrake 1, and the dreaded Void spell but they're actually one of the weaker enemies in the Abyss. Their heyday is long gone.

The Royal Guards do pack a punch though. Not even the row modifier seems to do much about that.

These two statues are a bit finicky. Searching from the side does absolutely nothing which can lead to a false idea of what their purpose is.

That's awfully high. Is there a stool or something I can climb on?
Hold still. I'll lift you up.

Standing in front of the statue and searching it is what the game wants. Doing so immediately puts an item into Finn's inventory.

Key item Orb of Light got! (Not to be confused with the Light Orb.)

Taking the Orb of Light immediately causes the other statue to start... glowing? Well it emits a bright field of light around it.

What just happened?
Opposing forces. We've disrupted the balance of magic in the Abyss and the statues opposing that orb are reacting.
Then why exactly do we want this?
Probably something about balance and the agreement, yadda, yadda.
What?
It is pretty.
Let's just assume we need this and move on with our lives.
I guess if it becomes a problem we can just bring it back.

As Finn mentioned the orb can be returned to its origin point and the game will do that automatically if the statue is searched while the orb is in the active party's inventory. That's not helpful though. Both are necessary to complete the game so don't do something silly like dump it in the inventory of someone you then bench. Hopefully by this point in the game it's obvious that key items obtained in a dungeon are needed there.

Having obtained the Orb of Light I go ahead and cast Escape. Annie and Edward are both hurting for MP and, quite frankly, the team can use an excuse to sneak in a little grinding. I'll have to do more later to get ready for the end but the stronger my front lines are by that point the faster the team as a whole plows through threats.

Besides, Quamdar's kind of cozy this time of year. Might as well relax since the Vicious Ones aren't doing a darn thing to advance their evil plots.

The next day it's back on the road. This long hike is draining but gets easier as the team levels up. An astute observer might note that I'm actually down some four thousand gold from the last time it showed up in a screenshot. (46,309 vs. 42,034) and that's because it isn't exactly cheap to rest up and resupply.

And to think I haven't had to repair any ocarinas yet...

In the hope that Tont might pick up Attack level 2 I swapped him for Edward.

Back in the shrine all of the skeletal statues lining the right/east side of the foyer are surrounded by an impassable aura. In the screenshot above Finn actually cannot walk forward because of it but he can go around. This is the Abyss's gimmick. Everywhere the team goes will be statues. As long as they have the Orb of Light the statues of darkness will repel them forming barriers and blocking paths. They have to carry the orb down into the bowels of the Abyss. Once the orb is where it needs to be they then must do the same for the Orb of Darkness. Considering what the Abyss represents, a point where two worlds meet in precarious balance, I think this gimmick works well enough.

Regardless of whether or not the player has already fought Yeon Hydra Warriors can turn up at ground level.

So those are the kind of hydras Yeon summoned? They're very... purple.
Uh, better to blend in with the walls?

Tont's Summon level 4 has lost some of its effectiveness. For starters the randomness means he gets things like this Nightmare Queen who Ice 3s a pair of Hydra Warriors innately resistant to ice.

Hey those demon ladies are purple too! Maybe we'll run into some of them.

Do you mind Mr. Hydra? We're talking here!

OW, OW, OW!
I think it does mind.
Or is just really hungry.

Thankfully Finn blocked that first hit or the one-two punch would have sent him to groggy land. Hydra Warriors are still speedy monsters and they love to double attack when they're not calling down lightning. Their defense isn't that great but they're usually paired with something else that requires immediate attention.

Down on B1 the team takes the staircase down that they previously ignored.

B2, south side

Welcome to the beginning of the maze! The demon statue immediately to the right and narrow open passage to the left might seem ominous at first glance but in truth this maze isn't that bad. I actually find the Sand Cave to be far, FAR more aggravating and labyrinthine than anything the Abyss can dish up.

In fact just to the right there is a path between two demon statues thanks to flanking angel statues. On the northern angel statue is a Seraphic Cane but, alas, Annie already has one. One thing to keep in mind: treasures found on angel statues are generally beneficial and safe to use while those found on demon statues are cursed and destined to get dumped in a shop. It's a nice little touch.

So we have to navigate around these? Okay, doesn't sound so hard.
Ahh but it will become more challenging the farther into the Abyss you go, I bet.
So we should keep our eyes open. Got it.

Yes, that would be wise.
Yeah, didn't see that coming.
I hate it when they do this to us!

Undead Lectors rarely opt to cast Illusion on the team. I would be concerned but it's illusion! I got hit by the most useless status effect in Beyond the Beyond instead of getting nuked with Holy Light 3! I'll take that result any day.

I guess now we get to know what it feels like when demon ladies conjure up ice.
I can't help but feel that this is somehow revenge for all the times you've summoned them to do your bidding.
I regret nothing except the pain I'm about to be in!

As would be expected from the many times Tont's conjured up Nightmare Queens and they've cast Ice 3 they're perfectly capable to doing the same when faced as enemies. Fortunately with magic resistance this only does 14 damage to each party member. An odd quirk in the game's spell engine means that enemies actually suffer more damage from these spells than player characters. Want an example? Scroll back up to the two Hydra Warriors who got Ice 3ed. They took 23 and 22 damage respectively and that's after resisting the spell. Enemies have more VP so I suppose this balances out.

Nightmare Queens however have another trick up their sleeve. They can also use Blizzard Breath 3. Why? For the same reason some magic using enemies have Fire Breath - breath weapons don't cost MP and thus can be used even if the user has run out of or has been drained of all their MP. The developers clearly wanted to be certain that high end enemies continue to deal plenty of group-wide damage without the player being able to shut them down without killing them.

I opt to head south through the statues and find a staircase down. I'm not using maps or a guide to get through the Abyss. I just look around and let the state of the statues determine where the team goes. Down, that's where they need to go. Always down into the Abyss.

B3, south side

On the next floor down there's no immediate indication of where to go but the paths aren't blocked either so that's a good sign that I haven't taken a wrong turn.

This place is actually pretty creepy.
Who built all this anyway? It's huge.
Someone with a lot of time on their hands?
They didn't bother to sign it.
That would just make things too clear and we can't have that!

What about the monsters? Can we have them?
As long as they're trying to kill us, no.

The downside of Tont's tier two elemental summons is that they target individual groups rather than all enemies. Firedrake 2 feels too MP expensive for the damage it deals but I suppose in an emergency it might be worth it. I don't bother. Summon 4, Firedrake 1, and Undhine 1 are what he uses most often even at this late point in the game.

Heading north through the open passage the team finds a partially-blocked chamber but seeing an angel statue at the top of the screen is encouraging.

Wait, did Tont actually say he thinks this place is creepy?
You're just now realizing that?
It's big and gloomy. Makes my skin crawl.
What did you expect the Abyss to be like?
Not this. I can't even put my finger on it. It's all too, uh, normal. Edward was talking about a vortex and stuff so, uh, hrm... Maybe I expected something obviously not of this world?
We really haven't left the Common World yet. We're just sort of on the border.
Huh, I guess that's true.
And before you ask we're not going into the Underworld unless we absolutely have to.
Agreed, sis. That might be a journey of no return.
A shame. I'm so curious to know what it's like!
I think we all are. But we don't belong there. No more than they belong here.
Oh I understand that. I'm still curious.

Just past the angel statues is an open door. That can mean only one thing: entering the main shaft and heading to the north side.

With all the MP demands on them Annie and Tont are essentially casting Steal every chance they get. Annie doesn't actually get many but waiting for Finn to recover from groggy status (don't want him to miss the experience for this battle) is a pretty good reason to try. Anything that has MP can theoretically have it drained but the success rate probably depends on some unseen under-the-hood variables. After many casts I've found Hydra Warriors to be more reliable targets than Necromancers or Undead Lectors. High end demons tend to be long strings of MISS!!-es.

Each level of the interior shaft is slightly different but probably not different enough to know which is which without spending a lot of time in the Abyss.

Should we be worried about these big holes in the floor?
As long as it doesn't collapse while we're in here I guess I'm okay with it.

B3, north side

The north side presents several options but I choose to head east.

Then Annie hits level 16 and picks up the fourth and final level of the Heal spell. This completely heals one target, regardless of how much damage they've received (assuming they're still alive) at the cost of way too much MP. I suppose if one did a lot of grinding and reached an absurd level far beyond what is necessary to complete the game this might be useful.

It turns out heading east was the right way to go. A series of demon statues blocks the staircase down (just offscreen to the north) if approaching from the west.

B4, north side

Downstairs is another juncture of choices and I choose to move forward. There's no immediate reason not to.

The Speed gap between Finn and Tont is large enough that calling Steiner to douse large groups with dragon fire is awfully tempting. It drains Finn quickly though so I usually opt to suffer through a round or two of enemy attacks instead.

RAWR! FINN DOESN'T CALL ME ENOUGH!
Rub it in why don't you?
Always! You know how happy I am to help.
When this is all done you're going to make me suffer, aren't you?
I cannot tell a lie. YES.
But would you have it any other way, Finn?
I can't complain that my life's boring.

A quick jaunt south finds a staircase down. That was easy.

B5, north side

The moment the team emerges on the fifth floor I see angel statues to their south and a veritable wall of demon statues at both flanks. In this dungeon that's encouraging.

To the south are more angel statues which I search one at a time. There's nothing to find.

If you keep moving forward then you can't be lost, Finn.
But I have no idea how to get back.
That's what magic's for!
These statues all look the same. Is that magic too?
Of course.

And of course the enemies keep coming.

For every one of these we kill there seems to be ten more!
I've sometimes wondered about that. Could some power be raising them from the dead?
Possible.
That would explain why we never seem to make any progress in wiping them out.
But what could possibly have that sort of power? Besides, a bunch of them are already undead.
One crisis at a time!
These monsters aren't a crisis.

The crisis is the fact that we're lost in the Abyss and now the ocarinas are breaking.
Eh, it's just a crack.

I expected this to happen sooner but the team has reached a milestone: it has cracked its first Angel's Ocarina! Expect many, MANY more.

The angel statues lead directly to the main shaft.

B5, south side

The sight of this doorway is a welcome relief although it looks nondescript. The team has crossed a boundary.

And as evidence the battle that begins seconds later includes the highest tier of demons: Barrogs. That's probably supposed to be Balrogs but the translation is what it is.

Never seen those before.
You must be getting close to the heart of the Abyss.

Barrog's mean business. They're fast enough that only Annie can pre-empt them and LOVE to use the "emits a terrifying scream!" move. Greater Demons can do it too but rarely actually use it in preference for direct nuking.

GAH!
I think I lost a few years of life just hearing that.

This is a bit of a problem since the scream attempts to paralyze everyone in the team. Both of these Barrogs use the move but thankfully only Samson is affected.

Stupid demons! Why do you have to get in our way?
But isn't this kind of their home?
I refuse to believe that!

A Barrog's defense isn't that great so Finn and Annie can double-team them but that becomes, well let's just say "challenging," when they're spamming group-wide paralysis screams.

For a supposedly holy spell I'd expect Holy Light to deal extra damage against the game's various demons but it never does. I suppose summoning Undead Lectors to cast the spell is worth the 10 MP even when the damage dealt feels piecemeal. It just wish they were capable of casting Healing Rain on the team when summoned. Alas, no.

Barrogs are also able to use Fire Breath 2 and being so tall the animation leads to rather unfortunate implications. It's not nearly enough to halt the team's advance though.

Have feeling back yet?
*grumbles something inaudible*
You got hit with lightning and had fire breathed all over you and you didn't even flinch!
Hrmph! I still felt it.

The left/west side of the floor has more angel statues. This is good because the passages around them are narrow enough to be blocked by their auras if they were activated.

A battle with two Necromancers brings Finn to level 17 where he fails to break 200 attack power due to only gaining +1 Strength. You're failing me here, Finn!

He does learn the last spell on his list: Mystery. There's only one level of this spell and I'll show it off later.

Heading south past the statues and around the corner into the center of the floor reveals a staircase.

B6

There is no north/south split on the sixth floor. It is one small room containing the statues of Light and Darkness.

Have we reached the bottom?
We seem to have come as far as we can right now.
Oooooohh! Pretty statues!

I guess we've gotta do the climbing thing again.
Just try not to kick me this time.

Items > Finn > Orb of Light > Use

Placing the orb causes the aura around the Statue of Darkness to recede which means all of the paths that were barred are now open. Alas the door beyond the statues is sealed shut and will not open until the Orb of Darkness is brought down to join its twin.

Now the team could walk all the way back up the Abyss they just traversed. Or they could do the smart thing and just have Finn cast the Escape spell. A Guiding Branch would also do the same thing if Finn were dead or out of MP. On a side note Annie's MP is looking pretty good at 52. Tont's isn't at 24 but that's because of the big difference in their Speeds. Unless she's groggied Annie always gets a turn whereas Tont isn't always assured of one.

Hello there Marion Town!

We're not going to stay in Quamdar?
I'd like a bed in a town that isn't right next to a pit swarming with demons.
And a town where I can keep a watchful eye on you, Finn.
And that is probably the most terrifying thing of all.

 

Next time on Beyond the Beyond - we've completed the path of light. Next up is the path of darkness.

Update One hundred and one | Index | Update One hundred and three