Beyond the Beyond: Update 37: Touch the Sky (Arawn's Palace pt. 4)

[ladyabaxa]

Beyond the Beyond: Update 37: Touch the Sky (Arawn's Palace pt. 4)

When last we saw our plucky protagonists they had walked all the way from Jonowan Village on the southern tip of Greenheim back to the sands of the east and Ophera Village. Having been given a vase by the pirate Domino which was supposed to be some sort of key for entering Arawn's Tower the team stopped to resupply before heading back out into the desert.

I hope I never have to see sand again after all this.
What about the beach, Finn?
That doesn't count.

It doesn't take long for them to reach Arawn's Palace. Having already explored the rest of the structure they enter the main chamber on the first floor.

So now what?
There's an altar here. I guess this is where the vase belongs.
*shrugs* Sounds like a good idea to me.

You know I never noticed it before but the decorations on the vase actually do match the stuff on the wall.
Prrr. Arawn went to a lot of trouble to lock his house.
Assuming he lives in the tower above us.
For all we know this is some elaborate prank someone set up a long, long time ago.
To have a good laugh at us from beyond the grave?
Makes about as much sense as anything else.
Let's see what happens before we jump to conclusions. Miss Annie if you would put the bean in the vase.
The bean? Oh yeah. Of course.

Annie > Magic Bean > Use

Okay bean let's see what magic you've got in store for us. It had better be something impressive for being a national treasure of Marion.
Are you going to go complain if you're not impressed?
Yes, yes I am.

As soon as the bean is placed in the vase Finn and crew quickly step back as a mechanism locks the vase in place.

Then the four clamps release allowing the platform to rise to the top of the pyramid. This structure must have cost a fortune to build. I imagine complex machinery that remains functional after who knows how many centuries of sitting in a desert doesn't come cheap.

Then a beanstalk sprouts from the bean to connect the pyramid and tower. The beanstalk graphic doesn't quite line up right with the top of the pyramid but whatever. As long as there are no giants in the tower we'll take it.

The team hurries up the pyramid to see what they've unleashed. Don't think too hard about how the beanstalk base could not actually support the weight of the stalk above it (especially if there's any wind). This is clearly a MAGIC beanstalk and such petty things like load bearing structures mean nothing to it.

We... have to climb this?
Wow when Domino said it was the key to the tower I never expected this. I mean, in hindsight I should have, but... wow, I'm kind of speechless right now.
Pryaa. So no complaints then?
Nope. I am pretty impressed.
Couldn't Arawn build something more reasonable if he wanted visitors?
I suspect visitors were the last thing we wanted when he made all of this.
This must be some sort of challenge.
*sarcastically* Only the worthy shall pass!
Yes, actually, I think you've got the right idea, Miss Annie.
I'm kind of lost on how a beanstalk is a test of whatever but I guess you've got a point, Sir Samson.
I suppose we will soon find out. Lead the way, Finn.
Okay. This doesn't look like it'll be too tough to climb.

1st level

Welcome to our first exterior dungeon in Beyond the Beyond: the beanstalk. Despite seeing thick stalks reach the Tower of Arawn on the overworld the team must, for some unexplained reason, climb up and scramble over the plant's giant leaves. Again, don't think too hard about how they're not falling right off the leaves because this beanstalk said goodbye to any sort of realism way back when we first got the Magic Bean. It is most certainly not going to care about our petty complaints about things like physics when it can just scream 'magic!' and walk away.

As far as design goes it's pretty straightforward. Finn and company cannot climb any higher right now but they do see a curious pink bud. Note: the buds aren't actually searchable which strikes me as a little odd. You'd think something like that would get someone's attention.

Water is pooled on a nearby leaf.

You're seriously going to take some of this water, Finn?
Pyarr! Finn must be thirsty!
Ha, ha. Just you wait, Steiner. I've got a hunch.
There's some sort of restless magic here.
That's what I'm counting on.

Pouring the water on the bud causes it to instantly transorm into a vine stretching up.

You just guessed, didn't you?
No! Sir Samson saying this must be a test got me thinking.
Whoa! Careful, Finn, or your brain will overheat!
Hey, I'm not totally clueless.
So that was the magic I felt. This whole... thing is teeming with a strong vibrancy but it's especially potent in the water.
Where did the water come from, anyway? It didn't rain, did it?
I don't understand but it feels like the water from the island shrine.
Sooo, it came from the vase?
I doubt we'll ever know.

So here's the objective for this dungeon. Each level, in order to advance, we have to bring water from a drop on the leaves to the bud. The water makes the bud change into a vine the team can climb up - despite the fact that big vines forming the central stalk are clearly visible reaching all the way up to the tower when you see the beanstalk from the overworld. No, it doesn't make much sense but the Puzzle Gods demand payment so we just have to put up with it.

2nd level

Case in point, when the team climbs upward they find worm things have already eaten sizable holes in some of the leaves. This beanstalk is not going to live long with that sort of predation.

Caterpillars? How did those get here?
Flew in?
They don't have wings, Steiner.
I know that.

The holes in the leaves make the second part of the puzzle design. The team can only carry water for a maximum of 11 steps. On the 12th step it is automatically spilled.

Aargh! Now I'm all wet!
You need to keep steady, Finn.
Hey, these leaves aren't as stable as they look, ok? I'm having enough trouble keeping my balance as it is.
We'll have to find a shorter route then.

Wandering over to the east side the team sees another possible path.

Brrr! Now I'm cold. Ugh, this is just not my day!
Hmm, another bud.
We should be able to do something with this one. Finn you can let someone else carry the water this time.
I'm ok. I'll do it.

3rd level, east side

The caterpillars are a minor nuisance so far but if the team uses the shortest route they can make it from the water drop to the bud.

Finn there's something shiny over there.
Are you sure? This had better not be another prank.
I never joke about shiny things, Finn.

No sooner than the team starts to follow Steiner when a pair of Ice Warriors claw their way up through the leaves but are so obvious the team has plenty of team to attack them first. We do get to see the battle map for the beanstalk and it is even more facepalm-inducing than the dungeon itself. It's like whoever made this did the texturing in five minutes and called it a day. We're walking around on giant leaves. Why not just have one big leaf for the texture? Why were enemies added to the encounters list who spawn in by digging up through the ground when there clearly is no ground?

It gets even better when anyone runs away. The jumping away animation makes it look like they're jumping clean off the beanstalk and should plummet straight to a messy death in the desert below. It's actually pretty amusing to watch.

Alright so here's another problem with the way the dungeon is designed. Presumably the levels above, where the player can walk at least, don't exist until the next bud is watered. We never see any core vines or anything to suggest we can't climb up the main stalk and have to use the leaves instead. It's all open sky as far as the eye can see. Yet, although it is a bit difficult to see, I've had two screenshots thus far showing where the bud that the team hasn't watered connects to this level.

Ya know, the leaf that shouldn't even exist yet?

The beanstalk requires a lot of suspension of disbelief.

Well I'll be damned. There's a treasure chest over there.
How did it get there?
Umm, maybe it belongs to a monster?
In a few minutes it's going to belong to me.
There's no way we can reach it from here, though.
Not to worry. I've already got a plan.
Because nothing will keep you from treasure?
That's right!

Back down on the second level Finn leads the group to this patch of water.

I was wondering why there were two buds.

3rd level, west side

Treasure!
Careful, Finn, something's approaching!

Finn you know you shouldn't just rush off into danger.

As soon as battle begins Annie's AI suddenly decides to use the Ring of Defense she's had equipped on Finn. Why? Heck if I know. There's some randomness involved (and the AI is still set on Reserve) but I suspect the AI isn't allowed to use items like rings until the character hits a certain level or reaches this point in the game's story flags. If not the odds must be extremely low.

The ring's effect is to raise the defense and speed of the target temporarily and by temporarily I mean it lasts all of one turn.

What was that all about, Annie?
Uh, I'm not sure. I'm kind of disappointed actually.
Warn me next time before you do something like that!

Can we focus on the monsters trying to kill us and save the argument for later?

Perhaps desperate to eliminate the one human who seems to be taking the battle seriously the surviving Ice Warrior summons a fog around Sir Samson. In this case it does nothing because he resists the attempt to put him to sleep. I also have to wonder why it's called 'a sleeping fog.' Is the fog itself asleep? Maybe that explains why it failed to do anything.

Annie's use of the Ring of Defense unfortunately resulted in it cracking. Yes, after one use. Cracked items are always shown in red text in Beyond the Beyond which I personally find to be an improvement over the cracked overlay that is used in the Shining Force games. The overlay works ok but it isn't used in all inventory screens in those games so it is still quite easy to forget what has been broken. (Which doesn't happen to me at all except all the damn time in Shining Force 2.)

The Ring of Defense still gives its defense bonus while cracked but any other attempt to use it in battle will destroy it. This is easily prevented by just putting the team on manual control until we can get to a shop to repair it.

You look so disappointed, Finn.
I am. This is obviously way too big and heavy for me.
I'll be taking that.

Inside the chest is a suit of Great Mail for Sir Samson. There's no point in delaying so he dons it right away.

So do you still think the chest might have belonged to a monster, Tont.
I... guess. Maybe one of them brought it down from the tower?
I suppose it's not so farfetched to think the Tower of Arawn might have had many monsters sealed inside it. There are still a worrying number sealed inside the palace below.
*shrugs* Maybe Arawn just has a thing for monsters.
I... don't even want to know if that's true.

Then there were High Elves...

...one of whom shot Tont to demonstrate that their bows are not just for show and the row modifier would not save the squishy wizards. We'll definitely take that over being hit with Wind 2.

Why can't I ever call something cool or useful? Just once, please?
I don't think it's listening to you.
They never listen to me! When I get back to Simone I'm going to register a complaint.

Following Tont's latest lackluster summon spell Sir Samson walks over and finishes off the remaining elf for him. That's pretty much a High Elf's entire life bar in one swing.

4th level

Back on track with no more shiny things to distract them the team finds a curious tiny leaf.

It's so tiny... and springy. You're just going to dump water on it, Finn?
Yup. Magic water make my leaf grow!
That sounds vaguely dirty.
What? It worked, didn't it?

5th level

It did work, allowing the team to reach the next bud by instantly changing the tiny leaf into a full-sized one. As soon as the team climbs up to the next region they immediately see another tiny leaf.

Stupid caterpillars are in our way.
This is really a bother, isn't it sis?
Yeah no joke. They had to start eating the leaves right there, didn't they?

The water drops here are red herrings. There is no way to reach the bud from either of them.

Huh? Something's flying towards us.
Harpies? No, different plumage.

Ow, ow ow!

Not shockingly the new enemy we run into, a pair of Siren Harpies (there's a combo I never thought I'd ever have to type) who can use the Wind 2 spell. Because there weren't enough enemies able to nuke the whole group at once running around.

Other than that they're nothing impressive. Like the harpies the team has seen before they always appear in the enemy back row so their physical attacks are hampered by the row modifier.

Fortunately for our side we have Sir Samson of "I have enough attack power I don't care about the row penalty." Unfortunately this doesn't quite kill her because I had everyone attack for the first round to see what they could do. A Holy Light 2 at the start of the next round finishes her off.

And a dose of Fire 2 also gets the job done with some help from Finn. Those feathers are apparently pretty flammable. When the Siren Harpies are dispatched the team heads back to the little leaf they saw.

More Nagas. How did they get up here?
I'm still hoping they were sealed in the tower.
What's the alternative?
That the freaky winged ladies carried them up here. Or maybe down here. Either way they were carried.

So, more Nagas, which means more chances for them to Ice 2 the party. This time one gets a turn because Nagas resist fire spells so Edward's Fire 2 didn't do quite enough damage. The half magic damage flag apparently rounds down (or truncates fractions) because 8 is definitely less than half of 18. Annie got punched in the face in a counterattack so she didn't exactly do much better than the rest of the team overall that round.

Why won't you die? You've caused enough trouble as it is!

Just to add insult to injury she blocks two attacks and gets another turn. Random enemies rarely chain nuke though so I wasn't exactly worried.

Annie are you all right?
Why didn't I think of that sooner?
Hmm?
It's so obvious!
What? What's so obvious?
*wicked grin* Oh you'll see. Don't worry.

That fight might have been painful but it pushed Finn and Annie up to level 18. Annie gained +2 Speed, as if she needed more (of course she did, I won't turn down +Speed in this game) and learned the Heal[ing] Rain spell. Healing Rain is an item in the Shining Force games (albeit called Shower of Cure for some reason in the first one) that heals all party members when used. The group heal spell in Shining Force is actually called Aura but spells can only be all or nothing in Beyond the Beyond so here Healing Rain is the group heal spell. We'll see it in action soon enough.

Seriously, this beanstalk is crawling with monsters that love to nuke the entire party.

Level ups in hand the team proceeds east then north creating another leaf bridge along the way.

That allows them to reach the bud they saw earlier from the east side. Beyond the Beyond generally follows the logic that the player must take the longest route possible when going between two points in a dungeon. As if that's going to stop me. (Silly game. Persona was far more vicious in that regard and trained me well.)

6th level

The next region has the same basic route but there's no fakeout. Also, I don't know what's up with that cloud in the lower right corner. It's a tilemap error I suppose but this screenshot hasn't been edited except to crop it.

Huh? How do we reach those leaves over there?
You really care to find out, Finn?
I'm just curious, that's all.
I don't see anything shiny over there. Prr, probably a waste of time.

7th level

Heading up the team finds a loop of big leaves and more water droplets.

Paths that lead to a whole lot of nothing.
There's a small leaf over there. I think from this angle we can just barely make it.

This small leaf means looping around because water droplets are impassable and the shorter path is required.

Then it's up, around the top and down the west side to reach another small leaf. We have to pass by a bud that isn't reachable from either of the water droplets nearby.

Where there were yetis. Well at least they're not giants. What? You didn't know yetis like to hang out on giant beanstalks in the middle of the desert? Of course they do. Where else would yetis be?

I... I have no words anymore.
They try so hard, though.
I need new minions.
Just ask Finn. I'm sure he'll be your minion.

Well he will be once he thaws out.
Don't think I didn't hear that, Steiner.

We get Ice 2ed again because having multiple monsters with Wind 2 and Nagas with Ice 2 just wasn't enough, apparently. Fun fact: Yetis and Nagas can appear in formations together, up to three per group. They can appear like that back in the water shrine. The best option for dealing with a situation like that is Tont's Firedrake spell combined with Edward's Fire 2 spell and whatever heavy-hitting magic you've got. Otherwise prepare for a hefty toll in LP.

Tont is an optional character who is very easy to miss on one's first playthrough unless you're using a guide of some sort and unless you find and give him the Tempest Ring like I did (or some permanent speed boosters) he'll be the slowest character on the field meaning in that sort of situation it's highly likely he won't get that crucial Firedrake spell off in time on the first round.

Beyond the Beyond would just like to remind you that it hates you so very, very much. We've been lucky about what formations we've run into - mostly one or two enemies per encounter. It helps that I've been paranoid about the team's MP and am perfectly willing to eat some Wind 2s and Ice 2s from lone monsters to keep a Firedrake or Fire 2 in reserve in case we stop being so lucky.

Ok. You wanted to know what I figured out, Finn. Here you go.
Hey, that's pretty handy, sis.
Thanks although I still wonder why I didn't figure out this spell sooner.
I guess it sometimes takes a painful encounter to teach a lesson.
*shrugs* I've got it now so, whatever.

That Ice 2 gives Annie a good chance to show off the Heal[ing] Rain spell. In battle it heals a little more than Heal 1 to each player character with some randomization. Outside of battle, however, healing amounts are never randomized and it heals up to a flat 20 VP for every character in the party. I've harped numerous times of the game's poor cost effectiveness in spells but Healing Rain is one that they got exactly right. At 6 MP per cast there is no longer any reason to ever use Heal 1 or herbs if two or more party members are down by 16 or more VP unless Annie's out of MP or needs to conserve it for some reason.

There's no way to reach the bud on the 6th level as-is because caterpillars are again blocking the way.

You're going to find out what's on those leaves you were curious about, Finn.
Ya know, I really do think Sir Samson is on to something about this being a test.
Oh?
Doesn't it seem kind of weird that a beanstalk would grow in exactly the sort of way that makes a perfect little maze?
You mean that it should be essentially random, right?
Yeah. Exactly.
If it's not random then that means there is a predetermined end to this thing.
That would be the tower.
Hell of a lot of magic to stuff inside one bean. Arawn went to a lot of trouble, didn't he?
Yeah and if we ever find him he's got some explaining to do.

6th level, north side

Climbing down to the 6th level the team reaches the leaves they could see but couldn't reach earlier. From there it is easy to reach another bud that will let them climb up.

Piece of cake, sis.

One last little leaf to pour water on then it's a straight shot north to the bud on this level.

Wow, so there is a way into the tower.
Watch your step, everyone. It's a little unstable. Prince Edward...
I'm fine. Thank you, Sir Samson.

Next time on Beyond the Beyond - Arawn's Tower! We've finally gotten entry to it so let's hope Arawn is home.

Update Thirty-Six | Index | Update Thirty-Eight