Undaunted, we revived our game just after we saved the Prince, and set off on Plan B: Assault of the Dragoon Tower. This adventure went much better than the fight with Garuda. We made our way up to the top of the tower, picked up some nice Dragoon armor and weapons, and successfully made it back down.

Unfortunately, we don’t have any Dragoons in our party, but the stuff is pretty. Of more importance, we gained quite a bit of experience in the Tower. Maybe now we have enough punch to take on Garuda.

We’ll try again tomorrow.

Status: Trying to Kill Stuff with a Purpose

Well, that was quick. We made our way to the castle, where we were surprisingly allowed entrance. We were told that we would have an audience with the King the following morning.

Somehow, things never turn out as planned in Final Fantasy III. The King came to the Prince in the middle of the night, dagger in hand, and was set to kill his own son! Yikes. Fortunately, a greater inner strength stayed his hand. Unfortunately, he used this hand to kill himself! Argh!

Also with the King was a shifty character called Gigameth. It’s blatantly obvious that he was controlling the King’s actions, and as soon as the King dies, Gigameth goes for the Prince. We jump in to protect him, and the battle begins.

…and ends. Gigameth turned himself into a giant Garuda bird, and fried us up with a vicious lightning attack. In three quick rounds, we were all dead.

Status: Getting Killed with a Purpose

Photo Credit: Tamaki

In the the large city of Salonia things are quieter than in the battle-torn castle, but the locals are talking about their crazy king, who has apparently divided the army into two groups and has them fighting each other. He has also deposed the Prince, who is apparently around the town somewhere. Quite a few people are looking for him. Of other note, there is a tower in the center of the southeast section of town. It is reportedly inhabited by monsters, but also reportedly has vast treasure on the top floor. Humm.

First, however, we join the search for the Prince, as that seems to be the strongest hint we were getting. Turns out that Prince Alus was simple to find. He was in a bar in the northwest part of town. We got to him in the nick of time, as bandits were about to end his life. We dispatched of the bandits, and then the Prince told us that he’d like to enlist us to take him back to the King, to see if we can talk some reason into the guy’s head.

We immediately head for the castle.

Status: Killing Stuff with a Purpose

Turns out that Salonia was hard to miss. It fills up a large chunk of the northwest continent. We circled the city, gave it a fly over, and landed nearby to go explore.

Foiled! The gates are locked! Confused, we reboard our ship and give the town another fly over. This time we cross closer to the massive castle in the center of the city…

Boom! Our ship is hit by some sort of an anti-air shell and kareens to the ground. We awake in the castle courtyard, in the middle of two armies, both of which are screaming death threats at the other. We break for the castle, but are denied entry. Instead, we flee back to the main town.

Status: Killing Stuff with a Purpose

The next day we unlocked our ship, and made one last visit to Amur. Not quite sure of our next course of action, we spend some time talking to the locals. A few of them pointed us towards Salonia, a large town to the northwest.

Before setting out, we decide to change our Viking into a Geomancer. Rumors abound that this job packs a good punch, and our Viking wasn’t quite the powerhouse I had hoped she would become.

We head out across the ocean in the Enterprise, with our course set to due northwest. We spot a small town on an island, and set down to check it out. The town, Duster, turns out to be a good source of armor and weapons for both geomancers and casters. We don’t have enough cash to buy everything, but we get a nice breastplate for our Geomancer and some arm guards for our White Mage.

We’ll continue searching for Salonia tomorrow.

Status: Killing Stuff with a Purpose