Where nobody plays cards, and saving the world is a side-quest.

by Thomas Lipschultz and Nathan Rosen

[ plot synopsis and walkthrough ]
[ v e r s i o n 2 . 7 ]

-An old lullaby, origins unknown

Game Mechanics
"Forgotten Kings" - the backstory
"Backlash of Memories" - the beginning
Sulin/2/3/4, Carma/2/3/4/5, Calisto/2, Potter/2
"Tracking Fallen Tears" - the main quest
"Sudden Reunions"
Ramses, Moriarty/2, Nathan/2,Watson/2, Sherlie,Eden
"Life as a Memento"
Oddh, Petrefax/2, Mordex, Mintrex
"Decisions"
Du, Mikron, Jailie,Mephisto/2
"The Broken Clock"
Doug, Melody/2
"The Job of Humans" (Glod's story)
"A Generation Past"
Jien, Jalk
Glenlin's Story
Glenlin/2/3
Mini-games
QuestChester, Torture,Escape From Epic
"Blood of the Chameleon" - the plot twist
"King of the Ruins" - the final quest
Mara/2
The Ending
An Epilogue?
Character Roster

-- DISCLAIMER --
This game is still in the process of being written. Anything contained in this
document is subject to change!

That having been said...

Forgotten Kings is laid out very similarly to a traditional RPG, but with a few unique twists. The
game progresses on a screen-by-screen movement system, a la the original Zelda. This is done
mostly for effect -- the feeling evoked by walking one screen to the right and finding yourself in
a whole new land is much more awe-inspiring than the feeling you get when you can see the new
land on the side of the screen and decide to walk over to it. Much more is unexpected when
something is thought of as being "one screen away" versus "10 tiles away," even though the map
layout would be exactly the same either way.

Battles are randomIZED, but not random. Each time you move to a new screen, up to four
enemies of a set difficulty (or combination of set difficulties) are visibly placed on the screen in
random spots (also somewhat like Zelda). They move mostly at random, but will begin to chase
you if you get close enough. Should you touch one of these enemies, you will be taken to a
separate battle screen.

In the actual battle screen, combat is turn-based, but perhaps in the truest sense of the word
"turn." You control up to 5 characters, and each time your turn comes up, you choose ONE ACTION
from among all five characters. Following this, the enemy attacks. Then comes the "Free Special"
phase (see below), then it's your turn again. Unlike other RPGs, where more characters mean more
turns for you, Forgotten Kings uses characters almost as "power-up" bonuses. Only one character
may attack per turn (not counting FS attacks), so having a party of 5 characters just means
that you have 5 times as many special moves you can perform as you would with one
character. Learning to combine characters with complementary strengths and weaknesses
will make the game progress more smoothly -- especially if you manage to get two
characters to fall in love (see "couple" spells, below).

Not every character will be available to fight every turn, however. Each character has a "combat
counter" -- a number from 0 to 9. Each time your turn passes, each of your characters' combat
counters decreases by 1. When a counter reaches 0, that character is selectable for an attack on
your next turn. These counters DO carry over from one battle to another, so if a character's
counter reaches 0, but that character was never used before the end of the battle, the
character's counter will still be 0 at the start of the next battle. When a character attacks,
his/her counter is reset.

In addition to the "combat counter", each character has a "Free Special" meter (FS). If a
character's combat counter is at 0, but that character remains unused, his/her FS meter will
begin to fill. If it reaches its maximum (generally takes 2-3 turns), that character will perform
a free attack or magic ability (generally a weak one) every turn, independently of commands.
This will continue every turn until the character is either selected for an attack or is hit by an
enemy's attack, at which point his/her FS meter will be completely emptied. FS meters do
carry over from one battle to another.

The FS abilities used are chosen at random from among the character's full list of known
FS abilities. Although most FS abilities are innate, some become available only by having a
specific weapon or piece of armor equipped. One of the strongest spells in the game may be
an FS ability, but it will only be made available by equipping the weakest armor in the game,
and it will increase the equipped character's FS meter to such a lengthy amount that it may take
upwards of 10 or more turns to fill it.

As with most RPGs, magic costs MP (for Sulin and Carma, at least -- other characters may have
other requirements for the usage of magic), and attacks and magic are elemental-based, in that
they can hold the power of fire, ice, lightning, earth, all, or none (the all-attacks tend to be the
weakest, as any enemy that's strong against an elemental is less likely to be affected by an all-
attack, whereas no elemental means that it's a physical attack and is thus unblockable by
magical alignment). Magic is learned not by levelling-up, but by finding it -- or, rather, by
finding a specific spell's "trigger item". The idea behind this is that magic exists in the air,
to be pulled out and focused by an outside source. Some objects in the world naturally pull a
little magic from the air, and under the right circumstances, these may become "conductors" for
that magic. If a human being touches a conductor -- a spell's "trigger item" -- that person
steals its conductivity, becoming the conductor him/herself and thus learning the spell for
later use. Because of these physics of learning magic, it is possible to "trade" spells between
Sulin and Carma at will during the game, though it may cost a bit of MP to do so!

This game also includes special "couple" spells -- like double techs from Chrono Trigger --
which can be invoked if (A) two characters have fallen in love during the game, (B) both
characters are in your party, (C) both characters' combat counters are at 0, and (D) both
characters meet whatever requirements (MP, etc.) the couple spell requires. Unlike typical
magic, couple spells are learned by fulfilling certain story requirements resulting in the
union of two characters. No conductors are necessary for these.

The strength of physical attacks is determined by a character's base attack power (which usually
starts out at 0) + a random number somewhere between the minimum and maximum strength of
the character's currently-equipped weapon. Any weapon in the entire game can be taken to the
smithy in Phorax for sharpening, which increases a weapon's minimum strength. Weapons can
continue to be sharpened until such time as their minimum and maximum strength values are
equal, at which point the weapon will perform a consistent amount of damage.

A character's defense is represented as a percentage, a weak-point, and a strong-point. The
percentage is calculated first, and tells you how much of the enemy's attack damage is to be
nullified. The maximum defense percentage in the game (at least, for YOU) is 90%. The weak-
point and strong-point are elementals which the currently-equipped armor are weak and strong
against. If an armor is attacked by the elemental it's weak against, then all of the armor's
defense percentage is rendered useless, and twice the original damage is taken. If an armor is
attacked by its elemental strong point, the damage taken -- after being reduced -- is divided by 2.

The enemy AI in this game is controlled by any of several possible attack patterns. These consist
of the following:

[R]andom - The least threatening attack pattern. Enemies will attack a random target every turn.
[S]trong - Not especially effective, but can help to weaken your party for the next battle. Enemies
will target whichever character has the most HP.
[C]ounter - Enemies will target whichever character most recently struck them. Failing this, they will
attack at random.
[W]eak - The most threatening attack pattern. Enemies will target whichever character has the
least HP. If steps aren't taken to protect against W-patterned enemies, you may lose a character.
[FS-] FS Down - Used in conjunction with any of the above attack patterns. Enemies will first
target anyone with a full FS meter. If no one has a full FS meter, they will use their secondary
attacks. An enemy with an attack pattern of FS-/W is bound to cause some serious problems.

Dealing with difficult attack patterns is part of the strategy involved with this game. Glenlin's "cover"
command, for instance, can be used to help protect against a character losing their FS moves in a
battle against an FS- enemy. And spells such as "taunt" (gives any character an 80% chance of being
the enemy's target every turn) and "nonchalant" (gives any character an 80% chance of being ignored
as a possible target every turn) can also be fairly useful against enemies with an FS- and/or W attack
pattern. Finding an appropriate strategy to use against each different type of enemy is a must in order
to truly use this battle system to its fullest.

Death in Forgotten Kings is a bit more of a threat than in other games, but only a bit. If a non-
immortal character dies in battle and is not revived (through magic or some other means) by the
battle's completion, he/she will have to be taken to a shrine to be properly revived.
The exceptions to this rule are any of the special "hidden" characters revived through
Oddh's life potion (see the story of Oddh and Petrefax for further details).

If a character is revived with Oddh's life potion, he/she will be "immortal".
Immortal characters do not die during battle, they merely "pass out" if their HP drops to 0.
An immortal who is passed out may not be revived by any magical means (save for Jien's "splash"
command), and will be rendered useless for the rest of the battle. However, once the battle ends,
he/she will be automatically revived with 1 HP.

If your whole party should die in battle, you will all wake up at the last shrine visited, and you
will all be a little weaker (i.e. you will have lost one experience level).

The game is automatically saved after every battle and major event, and if you choose to quit.
This prevents you from cheating if a character dies, and also saves you from having to worry
about finding a save point.

Also, the equivalent of tents in this game are called "magic shelters". These have to be
bought during the game, and are quite expensive, and are so large that you can only carry one
at a time. A magic shelter can be built (magically!) wherever there's room for one, and they are
completely impenetrable by enemies. Rest inside a magic shelter, and your HP and MP will be
fully restored! Best of all, any magic shelters you build during the course of the game WILL STILL
BE THERE when you return... er, that is, unless a group of enemies got together and destroyed it
in the interval. In terms of programming, there can be 20 magic shelters in the world at any
given point in time. Each time a new one is built, there's a 1 in 20 chance that each of the
old ones could be destroyed. If you should be so lucky as to have a 21st sanctuary built,
the oldest one left standing will be automatically destroyed. So don't DEPEND on your
sanctuaries still being there when you return somewhere... but they probably will be anyway.

(A special aside about the magic shelters: I also plan to keep track of 20 destroyed shelters,
useless graphical representations of ruined shelters designed to add a certain level of
realism to the game. Each time a shelter is destroyed during the course of the game, its
coordinates get sent to the ruined shelter file. If a 21st shelter is destroyed, the oldest
destroyed shelter will be removed from the map entirely -- perhaps you could say it
disintegrated, or was carried away by townsfolk to build a new one!)

Some magic shelters have been pre-built and are part of the game (see Glod's story).
Though other events may occur inside of these sanctuaries, they still function just like
regular magic shelters.

You can also heal your party by taking them to a shrine or a healing pool, which are
scattered throughout the world and extremely numerous... at least, in the most central parts
of the game, anyway. Although the game features auto-saving, you could think of shrines as
"checkpoints" -- the last one you visited is where you'll end up if you're bested in battle.
There is also one healing pool in the game (at the Labyrinth entrance) which will function
as a shrine in this sense, purely to avoid the inconsistency of having your party magically
warped away to a shrine that they couldn't possibly get to without killing the Minotaur.

But now, without further ado, the story!

[back to table of contents]

18 years ago...

It is a sad day for Teras Kingdom, the largest and most prosperous kingdom on Earth, for today,
the kind and just King Jonathan Carmichael has passed away. The late Queen Julia had borne
two sons to King Jonathan, and of course, only one could be crowned king. Both sons had been
good sons to their father, and had performed their duties as prince admirably ever since anyone
could remember. But only one could inherit the crown, and King Jonathan had been perceptive,
realizing that one of his sons, Uther, had a much better temperament than the other, Solramus.
Thus, henceforth, Prince Uther was to become King Uther, and Prince Solramus was to become
merely Solramus Carmichael, brother to the king.

Outraged by his father's decision, Solramus defects from Teras entirely and travels down the
mountain to the neighboring land of Vulteria, where he announces plans to form his own
kingdom and eventually overtake Teras. A large group of townsfolk and soldiers accompany him
(large, though still a minority), and among them is King Jonathan's black mage, Mordex
McCane, one of the most powerful sorcerers in Teras (whose power is matched only by the
court's white mage, Glenlin San Pal). The townsfolk fear for their lives and their kingdom, but
Glenlin's presence in Teras eases these fears a bit.

One year passes without much incident, but then word reaches Teras of Solramus's army
overthrowing the Vulterian kingdoms of Delidia and Phorax, acquiring a treasury key from each
king's freshly-killed body, and robbing the entire land of Vulteria of several centuries' worth of
gold -- all within one day. The whereabouts of Solramus and his army after this incident,
however, are unknown.

A few weeks later, word reaches Teras that a castle made of solid gold has been constructed in
the very center of Vulteria, built by enslaved villagers from Delidia, Phorax, and Shagwood in
the north, in the middle of the barren mountainous region known as Eagle. Magic barriers have
been erected around it, and as far as anyone knows, this Dorado Castle is completely
impenetrable -- not to mention HUGE.

For the next two years, Solramus rules over Vulteria with an iron fist, thanks to the magical
assistance of Mordex McCane. However, this reign of terror would be short-lived. Perhaps a
battle plan was in the works for conquering Teras, perhaps not -- no one would ever find out, for
Teras's King Uther and white mage Glenlin San Pal had spent all of these past two years
focusing their energies, and now is the time to put an end to Solramus.

Using up every last ounce of energy they could, and temporarily draining virtually every drop of
magic from the air around Teras, Uther and Glenlin penetrate Dorado Castle's magic barrier by
sending magic through the ground underneath it. Suddenly, Solramus and his army feel the earth
tremble and shake, watch the gold flake off the walls (for the villagers had merely plated the
stone!), and begin sinking into the ground. The temperature gets hotter and hotter until the gold
melts into a flowing river -- as do many of the people. By the time the trembling ceases, the
mountains that Dorado Castle had previously sat upon have switched places with the castle
itself, and, as far as anyone knows, there are no survivors.

Unfortunately, King Uther had strained himself so much in the casting of this spell that he, too,
passed away. Even Glenlin, who was almost certainly one of the strongest mages in the world,
had fallen unconscious, though he survived.

Uther was celebrated as a hero, but was without wife or child. As a result, the throne was taken
by Glenlin, Uther's most trusted friend, whose first action as King was to construct and apply a
magic seal made of a strong metal upon the mountaintop which stood in the immediate center of
Dorado Castle's former spot. Unless this plate were to be destroyed (which would be a difficult
task indeed!), Dorado Castle would remain underground forever, making it inaccessible and
useless to all but criminals and explorers.

Now, 15 years later, things are beginning to fall apart once again...

[back to table of contents]

At the start of the game, Sulin and Carma are summoned to meet with King Glenlin. The player
(hereafter referred to as "you") is given a choice of which person he/she wishes to play as. This
decision affects very little of the game's outcome, and for the sake of clarity, this document is
going to assume that Sulin is chosen to be the hero. If you would prefer to play the game as
Carma, merely switch these two names whenever they appear in the document hereafter -- for
example, replace, "Here, Sulin will meet up with Carma," with, "Here, Carma will meet up with
Sulin." The two characters are quite interchangeable.

(And, consequently, Sulin and Carma will start out separately, but meet up randomly during the
game, most likely early on. Whichever character is not chosen will actually be moving around
the land of Vulteria independently of the other, and when the two characters meet, they will
join forces. And though both characters have the same battle commands, "FIGHT" and "MAGIC",
each character can only use half of the available magic spells in the game, meaning that if
you want to be able to cast every magic in the game, you need to have both characters in
your party.)

In the village, people speak of the heroic coming of Calisto Knoxbury eight years ago, the bizarre
studies of Potter Slye, the obvious fact that Sulin and Carma each have a crush on the other, the
mopey and depressed attitude of Sulin's mother Mintrex, and the recent happenings in Vulteria
(specifically, the appearance of a shapeshifting wizard known only as The Chameleon who
seems to want to revive Dorado Castle). Proceed onward to meet with King Glenlin.

You are informed that the rumored shapeshifting wizard, The Chameleon, is real, and is actually
trying to revive Dorado Castle, for reasons unknown. Calisto and Potter, with a small army of
knights, were sent to Vulteria as soon as word had reached Teras of this Chameleon, but Calisto
and the knights haven't been heard from since, and Potter has only reported in once to say that
The Chameleon has taken the form of a dragon and placed a very strong magical barrier around
the central portion of Eagle, this time stretching deep into the ground, and is busily working at
destroying Dorado Castle's plate seal. Potter finished this report by saying that he's "going in,"
and hasn't been heard from since. Glenlin, obviously concerned for the future, wants Sulin and
Carma to go in... he's a bit hesitant to send his daughter into a dangerous land (and seems
hesitant to send Sulin in, as well), but feels that no one else has any chance -- and if Calisto and
Potter are alive, they may need rescuing, and only Sulin and Carma have enough strength to
stand on their own in Vulteria.

Glenlin's specific instructions: find Potter and/or Calisto, and bring them home. Failing that,
locate the four Tears -- gems crafted with magic drawn from the air, long ago split among the
four regions of Vulteria as a sign of unity and peace -- and use their combined powers to
temporarily counteract The Chameleon's barrier. The four gems are the Ruby Tear, kept as a
treasure in the crown of Phorax's King Bloodthorne; the Sapphire Tear, kept in the treasure
chamber of King Bluerose's castle in Delidia; the Emerald Tear, kept by the tree druids in the
magical forest region of Shagwood; and the Diamond Tear, rumored to have been in the
possession of the chief of the wandering Eagle tribe, who have long since been gone. Of course,
The Chameleon knows of these Tears as well, and will probably have curses or guardians
protecting them. But right now, the Tears seem like your only hope.

As for Glenlin himself, he has another plan -- a last resort sort of plan. It requires much
preparation, however, and thus he will not be able to join you. More on this later.

Glenlin goes on to inform you that the four regions of Vulteria have each constructed a shrine,
into which magic is constantly being drawn by a solitary monk. These shrines function as
sanctuaries from wild beasts and people of evil intents, and are unaffected by all but the
strongest magic. Because Teras is located on a mountain, and the actual road leading down to
Vulteria is treacherous and virtually impenetrable, the common form of transport to Vulteria is,
as with most everything else in this world, magic. Glenlin says that he can send you to any of
the shrines as a starting point to your quest: Eagle, Shagwood, Delidia, or Phorax. You must now
choose where to begin -- and Carma will choose a separate location, stating that she and Sulin
are both capable of fending for themselves, and they'll cover more ground if they split up.

And so, the quest begins...

Special note: this game is quite non-linear, in that every story arc that exists (with the notable
exceptions of the introduction described above and the final scenes) can be played through at
any point in the game and in any order. This being the case, each optional story arc will be
described separately, in no particular order, immediately following the descriptions of plot-
advancing story arcs (which consist mostly of fetch quests). The final scenes of the game will
be described, appropriately, at the end of this document (though they may be mentioned briefly
during the optional story arcs, i.e. the brief Mordex/Mintrex subplot mentioned during Oddh's
story). Most of the optional story arcs were created solely for the sake of character introduction
and development, so each optional story arc will be identified by the people involved.

But before we get into them, let's go through the plot-advancing scenes. These are kinda boring,
so if you'd like to skip ahead to the optional character-specific story arcs, please look for any
horizontal line markers in the document, as these are placed between each major story arc.

So, without further ado...

[back to table of contents]

The easiest Tear to acquire is probably the Emerald Tear, located in Shagwood Forest in the north.
That is to say, it's easy to FIND, though the boss enemy guarding it is probably the most
difficult of the four.

That having been said, there's a GIGANTIC tree in Shagwood Forest, standing taller and wider than
any other. This tree is hollowed out, and a band of nature-worshipping druids live inside of it.
The only problem is, there are only four of these druids left -- all the others have been
slaughtered and devoured by a strange plant-like creature they call "The Maneater". Of course,
you realize right away that this Maneater is probably one of the four Tear guardians, but the
inside of the tree (beyond the first level) is pitch black. Learning the "Illuminate" spell will
prove to be vital to exploring this tree. Once you know this spell, though, you merely need to
climb to the top and kill the Maneater, whereupon the Emerald Tear can be retrieved from its
stomach.

(Thought: maybe also have the tree "sealed" using solid magic (same as the magic shelter), an
effort made by the druids to keep the maneater inside so as not to endanger the rest of the
world. In this case, the amulet would be necessary in order to get inside.)

The Diamond Tear is also fairly easy to find -- if you consider mazes easy to navigate. There
is a series of underground tunnels running through Vulteria, merely known as "The Labyrinth".
Although its origins are unknown and its discovery fairly recent (in truth, it's actually
the ruined halls of the gold castle Dorado!), this Labyrinth does hold the second of the four
Tears, guarded by a fearful Minotaur (perhaps chosen for ironic value?). Defeat this Minotaur
-- the easiest of the four guardians -- and the Diamond Tear will be yours!

(Thought: taken straight from the game which preceded this, Blood of the Chameleon, the
Labyrinth will have an "exit ramp" leading into the Eagle caves -- which happens to be
connected directly to the section of the Eagle caves containing the torch which teaches
the Illuminate spell. Within the Labyrinth, there will be several darkened rooms in which
the Illuminate spell can be used, but they'll turn out to be dead-ends. HOWEVER, when
returning to previous rooms, you'll notice that the paths you can take have changed!)

The third and fourth Tears are perhaps the most difficult to acquire, even though you know
where they are: the Sapphire Tear is located within Cair Delidia, the castle ruled by King
Bluerose, and the Ruby Tear is located with Phorax Castle, ruled by King Bloodthorne. But
King Bloodthorne has recently gone into seclusion and begun ordering a heightened focus on
militarism in Phorax, and King Bluerose has, most likely, passed away -- the entirety of
Cair Delidia has been swallowed by a gigantic slime, and King Bluerose was within the castle
at the time of its arrival.

Getting into these castles involves retrieving the keys to these castles, and retrieving the
keys to these castles involves -- you guessed it -- a lot of old-school RPG-style fetch quests.
The most notable fetch quests include locating an amulet which allows you to nullify the seal
placed around magic shelters (the guard's chamber of Cair Delidia has been placed inside a
magic shelter, and the key to the castle is within!), as well as locating another amulet
called an Oxygine.

Allow me to elaborate on that last point: there's a seacoast fishing village in Vulteria
called Kaigan. Although Kaigan is a fairly new village, there were signs that it was once
inhabited before, and the inhabitants somehow managed to create an amulet capable of
harnessing enough magical energy to allow one (or many) people to create a permanent bubble
of breathable atmosphere (complete with gravity!) around them, such that a human being can
walk underwater as if he or she were on land. And though it was designed for water, this
Oxygine can even be used to... oh, I don't know... say, go inside a giant slime's body and
be able to breathe and walk normally?

There's one girl in Kaigan, a girl named Jien, who seems particularly interested in finding
out more about this Oxygine. And a few scientists in the city have asked that, should you
locate an Oxygine, anywhere, EVER, you bring it to the city for studying. See Jien and Jalk's
story for further details. (:

Anyway, you will eventually be able to slay the slime by destroying its Nucleus and claim the
Sapphire Tear... and you may also be able to unmask the false King Bloodthorne and defeat
him to retrieve the Ruby Tear concealed in his crown.

And then... well, it's time to go to the one spot in the Eagle Caves where all four barriers
meet: the origin of the spell that brought them about in the first place. But, that's to
be saved for the end. For now, let's hear about some of the characters' sub-plots...

[back to table of contents]

At the back of a popular out-of-the-way bar in Phorax, you'll run into a young man named
Ramses Midfield. As soon as you step into the bar, he'll call out to you, and say that you're a
few minutes late. He'll then proceed to tell you that he knew you'd be coming, he knows he's
going to die soon, and he'd like you to accompany him to locate the source of the upcoming
catastrophe so that maybe -- just maybe -- he can survive it this time around. And, in return, he'll
aid you in your quest (though considering what's at stake, and considering that he seems to be a
good warrior and a good person -- regardless of what he may say about himself -- you suspect
he'd help you anyway). If you accompany Ramses on the path he specifies, you'll come upon a
small house in the middle of the woods bordering upon Shagwood. The inside of the house is
full of weird machines and electronics, the likes of which don't exist anywhere else in the world.
Ramses says that this is definitely the place, and proceeds to tell you his story: Ramses is from a
small village in Eagle, the only one that still exists. But 5 years ago, while exploring the nearby
caves, he suddenly gained 5 years worth of memories. He remembered meeting his true love,
Sophia, for the first time. He remembered getting married. He remembered meeting you and
your party, and joining you... and then he remembered a blast from the sky, some kind of unholy
energy raining down upon him -- and he remembered a feeling unlike anything he's ever felt
before... he was split in half, through time. In that instant, he became two people. One died, right
then and there... and the other flew backwards through time, 5 years, merging with his body and
giving him an almost unbearable flood of memories. He devoted the last 5 years of his life to
figuring out what happened, figuring out what force was able to change his life so much. All of
these things that he remembered happening, he avoided -- he never met Sophia in this time
stream, never got married, and actually got banished from his own town due to his knowledge of
the future -- a knowledge which the simple people of Eagle Village really didn't want to have.
His life had gone from uphill to downhill, from a journey toward a happy and heroic future to
five years of study, rock samples, travels to other lands for the purchasing of air-analysis
devices, etc. And finally, he found a point of origin -- as if a rock were tossed in the ocean,
waves of time seemed to be rippling away... from this house. The long search for an origin is
over, but... what is this place?

The answer comes quickly enough as the party is attacked by a menacing-looking clown. He
accuses them of having kidnapped Watson. Caught off-guard, the party is injured, and the clown
gives you an ultimatum: identify yourselves or die. So, there is an explanation, and the clown
relaxes his guard a bit. He says his name is Moriarty Holmes, though he used to be known as
Mobo the Clown. When he hears Ramses's tale of time-travel, and when Ramses says that the
energy wave should be touching down very soon, Moriarty treks over to a viewscreen and --
finally, someone to verify that Ramses isn't crazy! -- says that Ramses is right. A "wave" of time
is moving outward, and there's enough electricity in the atmosphere from a nearby thunderstorm
that there will surely be some strange effects when it hits in an hour or two. Moriarty informs
you that as long as you're close to his house when the wave energy manifests itself, you won't
get hit -- it's like the eye of a hurricane, immune from the effects of its own wave.

So, you stay, and you begin chatting with this sad, stoic clown. You ask him what caused these
time waves, and he says it was probably a malfunction in one of his inventions, though he
doesn't care to elaborate. He then quickly changes the subject and asks if anyone has seen
Watson, his clown car. It's apparently his most prized possession, his "baby boy", but as of this
morning, it was found to be missing, stolen from him by unknown hands. He says that, once the
wave energy manifests itself, it may be in everyone's best interests to travel to the sites of impact
and make sure that no one else was injured. To do this, Watson may prove useful, as it's
apparently VERY fast. And since this IS a master inventor you're dealing with, he of course has
tracked the exact location of Watson, and it's in the woods, not all too far away. He had planned
on going to retrieve it himself, and was on his way to do just that when it was discovered that
there were intruders in his house. You agree to help Moriarty look for Watson, though whether
or not you do this before checking for damage from the wave energy is entirely up to you.

Anyway, a few hours pass, and, after a certain point, with the lightning raging outside, 4 separate
bursts of time/space energy are recorded. One is in the exact location Ramses identifies as his
"final resting place." The three others are... well... scattered all around.

Assuming that you investigate the kidnapping of Watson first, you head into the woods, and
eventually find yourself in a strange town full of straw huts and piles of metal beams. You
discover, soon enough, that this is a town inhabited by Sasquatch -- and, apparently, they eat
metal. But, fortunately for you, they're also quite friendly.

Moriarty takes off, fearing for the safety of Watson, and eventually finds that Watson is... inside
of a large pile of metal scraps. The metal is heavy, and virtually unmovable. Only one of the
Sasquatch would have enough power to get it out. So, in anger, Moriarty enters the nearby
house, where a male, female, and baby girl Sasquatch live. The male Sasquatch identifies
himself as Nathan, and introduces his wife Helga and daughter Fione. Moriarty questions him
about Watson, and discovers that he is, indeed, the one who stole it. It was to be the family's
dinner.

This obviously doesn't fly with Moriarty, who flat-out attacks Nathan. Battle ensues, but
Moriarty hadn't counted on the amazing strength of the Sasquatch. He falls easily, and Nathan
spares his life, and apologizes for having stolen his possession. "It was outside, so I didn't think
anyone else had claimed it. In the world outside this village, don't people take their goods
indoors?"

Moriarty explains the importance of the car, and seems to be getting a bit emotional about it,
begging Nathan not to eat it. Nathan feels sympathetic, but after all, this is his family's dinner.
He can't let his family starve. So, he asks for a replacement -- something he can eat instead of
Watson. If you find him a replacement meal by dinnertime, he'll dig Watson out of the scrap pile
for you. If not, he and his family will have no choice but to eat it. Sulin suggests perhaps giving
Nathan some armor, and Nathan agrees -- as long as it's strong enough to make a reasonable
meal and made out of metal, he'll accept it.

So, the task here is simple: if you have armor that meets his needs, give it to him, and he'll dig
Watson out for you. If not, go get some good armor! And definitely don't go to sleep until you
do, or Watson will be GONE.

What happens if Watson is NOT eaten:

The armor is given to Nathan, and Nathan, true to his word, removes Watson from the metal
pile, and you're now free to drive it instead of walking from place to place. Moriarty is still mad
at Nathan, but Nathan insists that it's "the way of the world -- if you do not have your valuables
secured, they are not truly yours, and if you want them back, you must EARN them back." You
bid Nathan adieu and begin to drive away, but you'll soon discover that he's following you. He
is upset with The Chameleon for having made his forest dangerous, and has decided to help you
in your quest. And so, you have another ally.

At this point, Moriarty has an idea -- he suggests that, eventually, you trek to the northwestern-
most point in Shagwood, about as far from Moriarty's house as possible. He believes that your
presence will be beneficial to him for his own purposes, and things will be much easier to
explain to you as well. A young woman lives there, named Sherlie -- she, too, is an inventor, and
apparently knows Moriarty. Her laboratory is located beyond what appears to be a dead-end of
thick trees, but this is an obstacle she constructed, and can be removed at will to allow access.

Because of something that happened long ago, Sherlie doesn't usually allow visitors --
ESPECIALLY not Moriarty -- but if Moriarty and Watson stay behind (and out of sight of her
security cameras), perhaps Sulin can fool her into letting them in. He can walk, alone, toward the
dead-end, pretend to be upset that he'd walked all this way for nothing, and as he turns around, a
VICIOUS SASQUATCH charges him -- Nathan. Moriarty knows that, if there's the threat of an
innocent person being hurt, Sherlie will most likely run to the rescue.

The road to Sherlie's laboratory is quite complex, and involves finding a way into Shagwood
without traveling through Eagle (since Watson cannot yet descend or ascend ladders), but it
CAN be done. This route will also take you very near Mikron's crash point -- see his story for
further details. You'll also run into one of the wave energy touch-down points along the way
and Eden -- but that part of the story will be handled later. Just keep in mind that there IS an
overlap in the story here, and this is potentially one of the most critical points in the game.

Anyway, if you perform this little charade as instructed, you'll see the trees at the dead-end
lower into the ground, and Sherlie will run out, phasers blazing. Nathan will be struck once,
slightly injured, and play dead, at which point Sulin will leap in front of him and apologize. It's
a friend, you say. And you apologize for having deceived her.

At this point, Watson motors through, into Sherlie's laboratory, and Sherlie yelps, running after
it at an amazing speed. Follow them, now that the road is clear!

Apparently, Sherlie -- Sherlie Holmes -- is Moriarty's ex-wife. Or, rather, his current wife --
they're still married, though they're currently separated, and have been for 10 years. The reason?
"I'm afraid of him. He's a dangerous person. What he did to our son..." She explains, to the
party's amazement, that Watson used to be a human being -- the son of she and Moriarty.
Moriarty confirms that this is true, and explains, asking Sherlie to listen to his story as well,
since she never heard quite all of it (never wanted to listen).

10 years ago, at the absolute height of Mobo the Clown's popularity, Moriarty took his 5-year-
old son Watson to the Shagwood Cliffs (which you passed on the way to Sherlie's laboratory)
while Sherlie was, of course, in her laboratory working. While Moriarty was distracted, Watson
slipped and fell, knocking himself unconscious and critically injuring himself. Moriarty felt
completely responsible for what happened, and proceeded to drive Watson back to the house in
his clown car, Happy Times. In a panic, Moriarty decided to play God -- in his mind, this was
not yet Watson's time, so something would have to be done to allow Watson to live. As
something of a mad scientist tinkerer in his spare time, Moriarty happened to be working on
building a cyborg when this was all happening. Though his designs were untested, Moriarty took
the cyborg brain he had developed, put it in the only thing resembling a body he could find (his
own clown car, Happy Times), and proceeded to wire it to Watson. With a jolt of electricity,
Moriarty completely decimated Watson's body, and though he thought the procedure failed at
first, and became a complete emotional wreck, some sort of gigantic overpowering indescribable
shock wave swept through the room, and Happy Times began to show signs of brain wave
activity. The body of Watson was lost, but his soul was still alive, still on this Earth, inside his
clown car, which would never be known as "Happy Times" again. And Mobo the Clown would
never return again, either.

Sherlie walked in at this point, and screamed when she saw the dead, electrified body of her son.
She attacked Moriarty, who desperately tried to explain by saying that Watson wasn't dead, he
was alive inside of Happy Times, that he had survived the transfer, his soul wasn't lost...

And Sherlie finally realized what he was saying: Moriarty had killed their own son, then revived
him inside a clown car.

Sherlie began sobbing and screaming. She ran, back to her laboratory. And ever since that day,
she never saw her family again.

After a few months, Moriarty stopped trying to get into Sherlie's laboratory, which was now so
well hidden that you'd hardly know it was there at all. And that's the situation, up until today.

Sherlie is rather upset with you all for having deceived her, and keeps threatening to incinerate
you, though you have a feeling that it's all just talk. You apologize profusely, and explain that
you didn't realize -- Moriarty just said that finding you might be beneficial to our quest, you say.

And therein lies the rub -- when your quest is mentioned, Sherlie becomes a LOT more
sympathetic. You're defending the innocent, after all... she then runs back into the laboratory
suddenly, and Moriarty alone opts to follow her.

Controlling just Moriarty, make your way through her laboratory until you find her, hidden
away, crying. She's still horribly frightened of Moriarty, and will run from him several times, but
eventually she gives up. Moriarty, too, begins to cry, and apologizes to her. He says that he
knows what he did is wrong, and that he regrets it every day of his life -- he kept a soul from the
afterlife. He prevented his son from actually dying because HE thought that it wasn't Watson's
time.

There is much consoling. There is much emotional stress and pain. But eventually, the two of
them make up with one another a bit. Sherlie is willing to accept Moriarty's mistake, even if she
cannot forgive it. They debate whether or not they should destroy Watson, and end his life, as it
should've ended 10 years ago. But such an action would be a murder of the innocent, which is
perhaps a worse crime than resurrection. So they reach a decision: from now on, they will take
care of Watson together. And they will both do the only thing in the world that seems right
anymore: join you in your fight against The Chameleon.

Moriarty and Sherlie must now find their way out of the laboratory together, though they take a
souvenir with them: an electronic lift, one of Sherlie's older inventions, which will allow you to
ascend and descend ladders with Watson. From now on, Moriarty and Sherlie will be available
to add to your party, and Watson will be available for driving. In addition, Moriarty's combat
counter will be lowered.

What happens if Watson IS eaten:

When Moriarty realizes what time it is, and that he's too late to find a replacement meal for
Nathan's family, he'll leave your party. If you go back to the Sasquatch village, you'll find that
Watson is, indeed, gone -- and Nathan and his family are dead. Moriarty has fled, though the
other Sasquatch suggest that he's still in the town somewhere. They're not too sure about you,
either, though they consider you as being from a different race (not realizing that the clown
make-up is artificial), so they don't immediately consider you a threat. And as for Moriarty... he
IS still in the town. If you find him, he'll be scared to death, crying, clown make-up running
down his face. He'll beg you to lead him out of the town, to lead him to safety, and swears he'll
explain everything as soon as he's safe. And, if you agree to help him, and if you successfully
lead him out of the town without him being killed (and without the REST of your party being
killed by angry Sasquatch!), he stays true to his word, and explains the situation to you from his
house (cue flashback scene!). See the above explanation regarding Watson and "Happy Times"
for further details.

If this particular path is followed, Sherlie and Watson will never be available to join your party,
and Nathan will only be available if revived with the Life Potion (see Oddh and Petrefax's story
below). Moriarty's attack frequency will also never be increased, and any visits to the entrance
of Sherlie's laboratory will merely produce a quick story scene in which Moriarty wonders what
Sherlie is doing, and if she's even still alive. Also, you will never again be able to enter the
Sasquatch village as long as Moriarty is in your party -- and if you enter with any other party, you
will be met with hostility and will most likely have to fight several very difficult battles.

Moriarty will still aid you in your quest, though, feeling that it's the only real choice he has. He's
done such terrible things, even just now, that he feels a personal need to do something
beneficial, to help save the lives and ways of life of everyone.

----------

Regardless of which of the above plotlines you follow, Moriarty will finish by explaining that
the transfer of a human soul from a dying body into a machine is a task of grand proportions -- so
grand, in fact, that the process produces very unusual "shock waves" through time and space.
And, like a surfer on the ocean, it's quite possible that these waves can carry a person a short
distance through time, then drop them. And it's also possible that some very strange effects
could occur as a result of these waves, like the duplication of living matter, or, in the case of
Ramses, a "stacking" of souls. Ramses was hit dead-on, and so his soul was whisked away from
his body (thus killing him), carried on a wave 5 years back in time, and thrown back into his
body in that era. Ramses then, in effect, has two souls, and they're both the same.

The technical details of this are, of course, a bit shaky, but here's what I've come up with so far:
every human being's soul has a direct link to a specific point in time, whether it be a moment or
a five-minute block. This point in time corresponds to "the happiest moment" or "the most
memorable moment" or "the biggest decision" of said person's life. When a person dies, this
link is severed, and that specific point in time is "set", so to speak. Whatever happened at that
point in time is now immutable, unchangeable, as we've come to accept all of time as being.
However, if a person is REVIVED, this goes against the very laws of nature. The point in time
which was rendered immutable is now muted -- what progressed as linear time before now
becomes open, changeable, shapeable by means of differing memories. If it's just a brief
moment, this probably won't affect much, but even if it's a few seconds, the ramifications could
be quite grand -- anything that's altered at that moment in time could become a cause that has
effects different than what's been "set in stone" for later times -- and this paradox could grow to
such an extent that it begins to affect an entire timeline, both past and future. This is a "time
wave" -- and when it reaches a point of great paradox, it might generate a physical reaction, and
may end up causing things like knowledge of the future in some people, or could even cause one
person to exist in multiple times.

Moriarty was aware of these waves 10 years ago, when the event occurred, but the skies were
clear that day, and they produced no effect, and, as far as he knew, dissipated quickly. He didn't
expect that they'd travel FORWARD through time, however -- he honestly didn't think that this
one experiment would trigger a large enough paradox for that.

Now that this has been explained to him, Ramses will be extremely pleased -- the goal he's
sought for 5 years has finally been reached, and now he knows his answer. He can't help but feel
a bit saddened, though, by the suddenness of this victory, the lack of fanfare -- the fact that he's
done nothing but chase an answer for 5 years. He wants to make up for lost time -- and, if you
check out Doug's story below, you can see that this IS possible.

But now, jumping back quite a distance, Moriarty suggests that you locate the remaining three
points of shock-wave impact to see if there were any casualties. One of these points produced
nothing but, perhaps, a few rare items. The second smashed a house in the dwarves' village
(see Glod's story for more details). The third, however, DID hit someone. A green-haired
woman, buck naked, is lying on the ground in northern Shagwood, along the path to Sherlie's
laboratory.

Upon closer inspection, you discover that this woman is, remarkably, just SLEEPING. The
ground around her is charred, and she's very definitely been hit, but the effects of the wave did
nothing but knock her into a deep sleep.

She wakes up, and upon seeing other people, runs. If you chase her, you can eventually back her
into a corner, and she'll start to plead: "please, I didn't steal any food!" You assure her that
you're not here to blame her for anything, you just wanted to make sure she's OK from the shock
wave that just hit her.

She seems very surprised that you know about the shock wave, and asks you what it is. So, as
best as possible, you explain it to her. And, to your amazement, this wild, unkempt woman
seems to comprehend everything immediately, and even finishes a few of your sentences. She
introduces herself as Eden, a name which she gave herself, and says that she's from Delidia.
"Though I raised myself, I always seemed to be able to grasp concepts quickly. I taught myself to
read, and began to learn all about human culture, science, and medicine. I stole the books at first,
but after learning a little philosophy, I began to do small chores for people and earn enough
money to buy them. All but a few of the townsfolk were quite opposed to my insistence on
remaining nude, so it was difficult to find work at first -- at least, work of any decent morality
-- but I felt that it was important for me to remain wild, to remain true to my own nature. They
eventually got used to me, and no longer even gave me a second glance."

Eden knows nothing about her parents, she just knows that she's always been accepted by the
Delidians -- until recently, anyway. Recently, they've been very hostile toward her, saying that
she's been stealing their food and water. They chased her out of Delidia, so she went to Phorax,
where she was even less welcomed, and once again accused of having stolen food and water in
the middle of the night -- this time, for the last several years. Even the Shagwood druids shunned
her, and accused her of having stolen goods for years.

If you agree to help her get information from Delidia, where this seems to have been happening
most recently, she'll join your party. And in a group, with you around to defend her, the
Delidians will not completely shun her. In fact, if you press hard enough, they'll start to give you
some information: a naked woman with the same face as Eden has been stealing food and water
from Delidia every night, but is too fast and too wily to ever get caught. The only problem is, the
villagers all say that she looked older, a little fatter, and in worse health than Eden does here, in
the daylight.

So, there's only one thing to do: lie in wait. Once midnight strikes, you'll take control of just
Eden. Follow the villagers' cries, and you'll eventually encounter... well... an older, fatter,
unhealthier version of Eden herself!

An Eden-Eden battle will ensue, though the older Eden is too weak to actually win. She'll then
recognize you as herself, and be quite amazed.

Once the rest of the party arrives, it's time for some answers. Older Eden says that she is, in fact,
Eden. When the shock wave struck, as far as she's concerned, she was thrown to what she
considered another dimension, body and all. Although certain things were different -- different
enough to really confuse her -- the basic layout of the paths she had followed were about the
same, so she returned to Delidia, where she was treated as a total stranger. Confused by the
villagers' reactions to her (as they should've been used to her, either as a friend or a thief!), and
by the unfamiliar look of the town, she got quite panicked. And then, unfortunately, she
happened to wander into parts of Delidia that don't exist where she's from -- basically, the red
light district.

It should be rather obvious what happened.

She had a child 9 months later. Dazed, confused, and now frightened of other human beings
(first they accuse her of stealing, then she's struck by an unusual force, and now she's in a whole
new world where she's a stranger, and where people gang up and overcome her strength and...
take advantage of her), she wandered away, far away, back to the Shagwood area, where she
cared for her child until she was old enough to care for herself, then abandoned her, not wanting
to ever remember what had happened and why she was there. The child never even had a name.
Eden then lived out her life sneaking into towns and stealing food and supplies, avoiding human
contact whenever possible. It never occurred to her that this may not have been another
dimension, but instead, a previous time... and it took her this long -- she estimates around 18
years -- to return to Delidia. Her fear had kept her from the town, and finally, she was willing to
face it.

The young Eden comes to a realization. This older Eden is herself -- she was duplicated by the
shock wave. And this older Eden is also her mother. Eden is, in fact, her own mother.

The older Eden seems unwilling to accept this explanation, but really, it all fits. Suddenly, she
starts to panic. She realizes that all of her troubles, and even the fact that she's IN this situation,
is her own fault. Because she stole food and water from Delidia, the younger version of herself
fled to Shagwood where she was hit by the shock wave.

Two separate lives each stemmed from the same point in time. They share memories to test this,
and indeed, the first 18 years of their lives were exactly the same. They are two halves of a
whole, two souls created from one.

Suddenly, the older Eden goes berserk. She's jealous of the younger Eden for walking the path
of an easier life. She didn't endure 20 years of hardship like the older Eden did. She asks the
younger Eden to kill her, and says that if she doesn't, older Eden will have to kill younger Eden
for making her life the living hell that it is. Younger Eden asks that they work together, says that
she doesn't want to kill older Eden, but it's too late: older Eden attacks.

If young Eden wins the battle, older Eden will collapse and die, her last words being, "I'm
sorry..." If older Eden wins the battle, young Eden will be dead, and old Eden will attack the rest
of your party. Obviously, this is a battle you're required to win, and older Eden will die, her last
words being, "My God, what have I done..." If this happens, Eden will no longer be able to join
your party unless revived with Oddh's Life Potion. If, however, young Eden defeats old Eden,
young Eden will join your party to aid you in your cause.

And thus ends the plotline triggered by meeting Ramses -- one of the two most important
optional plotlines in the entire game.

[back to table of contents]

Although there's not much to it, the story sequence triggered by meeting Oddh results in what
may be the game's most difficult decision -- a decision which has effects on virtually every other
plotline in the game, and certainly on the ending.

Oddh owns and runs a small herb shop in Eagle Village, and has for most of her life. And she
has a story to tell... about 8 years ago, a man named Seda Petrefax began to frequent her shop.
He always would come in with bruises and scrapes, and she'd do her best to heal him. She asked
him what had been causing all of these injuries, and he refused to answer for quite a long time
almost a year. Finally, when Oddh suspected the worst (domestic abuse, etc.), he said that it was
aliens. She presumed him to be lying in an effort to get her to stop questioning him, but he
detailed his answer: according to what he'd said, a race of beings called "Neglifians" were
preparing to overthrow Earth. Some sort of defense system against these Neglifians had been
established by another race of beings who apparently were also targets, called the "Skyh." But
the defense system wasn't foolproof, and one ship made it through, though it was shot down in
the process. It crash-landed on Earth into the northern part of Shagwood. However, the pilot of
this ship was one of the best among the Neglifians, and though the ship was disabled and badly
damaged, it wasn't destroyed, and there were no casualties. So the entire crew of the ship --
apparently around two dozen -- survived the crash, and were now stranded on Earth. The Skyh
who shot the Neglifian ship down followed it, and scoured the area for the nearest inhabitants.
Now, northern Shagwood is completely uninhabited, as far as anyone knows, but it just so
happened that Petrefax had witnessed the crash, and was in the area investigating. The Skyh
pilot came to him and explained the situation, and told Petrefax to either avoid the Neglifians
altogether or kill them. There could be no middle ground -- they were intent on conquest.

Petrefax spoke with this Skyh pilot for quite a while, unsure of what he was being told, when a
group of seven Neglifians showed up. They immediately began attacking the Skyh pilot, and one
of them was approaching Petrefax, weapon drawn. Petrefax still hesitated, but when the
Neglifian approaching him fired and grazed his shoulder, he fought back, viciously. He ended up
killing 3 Neglifians with his bare hands, but the other 4 had gotten away, and taken the Skyh
pilot with them -- presumably, to be killed.

Petrefax dedicated himself to killing as many Neglifians as possible, and ended up slaying well
over a dozen of them over the next 3 years. Finally, he came to Oddh's shop one day, completely
without injury, and asked to buy out her entire stock of healing herbs. He wouldn't say why at
first, but Oddh, who had fallen in love with him by this point, demanded to know -- in such a
way that he wouldn't dare refuse to tell her. Petrefax had found a way to get into the crashed
ship undetected, and intended to infiltrate it. His goal was to kill all of the remaining Neglifians
and find the Skyh pilot, dead or alive.

Oddh begged him not to go, but he said he had to. And from that point on, Petrefax stopped
coming to Oddh's shop.

One night, not more than a month or two later, Oddh went above-ground to Delidia to watch the
skies for any signs of Neglifians (which she had made a habit of doing), and saw something like
a shooting star, but it was unusually bright and seemed to originate from Earth and head
outward, into space. She immediately started running in the direction of its origin, and found
herself near the Shagwood cliffs. There, at the bottom of the cliff, she spotted piles of metallic
debris, and amidst them, what looked like a man's body. She carefully climbed down, and
discovered, to her horror, that it was Petrefax -- dead. It seemed not to have happened very long
ago, though there were many cuts and bruises and strange markings on his body, as if he had
been tortured. Oddh took his body back to her shop, and proceeded to clean and wash his
injuries as best as possible. She then took the body back to northern Shagwood, to the Labyrinth
building, and erected a tomb for him there. She stayed up all night and into the next morning
doing so, but worked as if possessed. By the end, it was definitely a hero's grave, in the sort of
place one might imagine a hero's grave to be.

Ever since then, she'd been working on trying to discover the secret of life, and had been
working diligently on creating a means of resurrecting the dead. (For this reason, Ramses and
Oddh will get along quite well -- they've both spent the last five years of their lives searching for
knowledge, trying to learn something which ordinary people would deem unknowable, pointless
even to pursue.)

And, like Ramses, she found what she was looking for.

She knows exactly what to do. And she's fairly certain it will work. All she needs yet is a very
rare herb (an Arousal Herb, in fact -- the main ingredient of the expensive Arousal Potions you
can use to revive the recently dead) that grows only in the mountains outside of Delidia. So, of
course, you have the option of attempting to retrieve this herb (or, if you can find an Arousal
Herb peddler, you can just buy one -- though it will cost you dearly).

Having done so (hey, it IS an RPG, you need a few fetch quests here and there, ne?), Oddh
proceeds to inform you that the one thing still needed for a Life Potion to work is the essence of
life. Her own, for example, would do nicely. Though her original intention was to revive
Petrefax so that she could be with him, it would be enough for him to just be alive again, to have
a chance to be in this world once more, to continue his work or just relax. So she's more than
willing to die so that this can happen.

You, of course, try to convince her otherwise, and somewhat regret having retrieved the herb she
needs to do this, but her mind is set on this course of action. Of course, YOU'RE the one who
will have to pour this potion onto Petrefax's body if you want him to come back to life. So, as a
result, Oddh makes a deal with you.

Her goal, for the past five years, may have been sought after with a specific purpose in mind, but
in some ways it was just a cover for her to search for the secret of life -- something she's always
wondered about. Now that she's found it, all that she asks is that you don't let it go to waste. She
will sacrifice herself for the sake of another's life -- and in return, she asks merely that you don't
let her sacrifice go to waste. Even if you don't revive Petrefax with it, at least revive SOMEONE
who's dear to you, or who may be able to help you in your quest. This is very difficult for your
party to accept -- especially if Moriarty and/or Sherlie is with you -- but you WILL accept it, and
Oddh will kill herself, and her blood will spill into the mixture she's concocted, resulting in the
Life Potion. (If Moriarty and/or Sherlie is along, they will explain their story to Oddh, who will
convince them to go along with the idea by suggesting that maybe the potion would work on the
clown car and revive Watson into a full human being again -- or, if Moriarty killed Nathan
earlier, Oddh could suggest reviving him as a form of apology.)

Life Potion in hand, you have many options now:

* Go to Petrefax's grave and revive him. Once he's realized what happened, why he's back on
Earth, and what Oddh has done for his sake, he will become very saddened. Oddh may have
loved him, but he never returned or noticed her feelings, for he had immediately fallen in love
with Sa, the Skyh pilot captured by the Neglifians, even when he first saw her. It was for Sa's
sake that Petrefax persisted in fighting the Neglifians, and ultimately for Sa's sake that he
attempted to infiltrate their ship, in hopes that she was still alive. And, in the end, he and Sa
were together, for a very long time, in adjoining cells, tortured at the same time each day.
Finally, in the end, he was killed, and, presumably, so was Sa. Petrefax's only reason for living
NOW would be for the memories of Oddh and Sa, for the sake of the world, or, if possible, for
the sake of getting revenge on the Neglifians.

* Revive Oddh. She's definitely not expecting you to use her own potion on her, and will
actually be quite mad at you for ruining the only chance she ever had to get her true love brought
back to life. However, she'll also be flattered, deep down, that you opted to revive her over
anyone else, and WILL eventually decide to join your fight, hoping that she can now make a
difference in the world.

* Revive Watson. If you use the potion on the clown car, Watson will be revived from the car,
though with no body surviving, he will appear to be nothing more than a spirit or a collection of
light. He DOES forgive Moriarty, though, and says that he kind of enjoyed being a car, because
of how fast he got to travel and all the cool weapons he had. He IS a kid, after all. And he IS
more than happy to join you in your quest.

* If Nathan was killed by Moriarty earlier, bring Moriarty with you and go to the Sasquatch
village. Moriarty will elect to go into the village alone, which COULD spell death for him (and
he really doesn't care, at this point), but if he takes the Life Potion with him and tells the
villagers that he plans to make up for his previous sin, maybe they won't kill him. And, as it
happens, he's right. The Sasquatch prepare to kill him, and ask if he has anything to say, at
which point he mentions why he came. The Sasquatch will be doubtful, but they will allow you
to try it, under their supervision of course. Once the potion takes effect, Nathan will be a bit
flustered, but eventually regain his composure and realize that the man who just brought him
back to life was the man who killed him in the first place -- and his family! With this in mind,
Nathan's feelings will be torn. He's grateful to you for having made the effort, but you also tore
him away from his family in another, more sinister way, AND you're still responsible for their
deaths. By the end of this scene, Nathan will have Moriarty begging and pleading for his life, but
will eventually understand his situation (it's the way of the world, after all), and, though never to
forgive Moriarty, Nathan will join your party. If this plot point is encountered, the character
interaction between Moriarty and Nathan will be quite different than if Watson is never eaten:
instead of Moriarty always being mad at Nathan, Nathan will always be mad at Moriarty.

* A slightly more well-hidden scenario occurs if the Life Potion remains unused throughout most
of the game. If you still have the Life Potion after your first bout with The Chameleon, you'll be
returned home to Teras with it (see the plot scenario for the final scenes), and if you stay the
night at your place, Mintrex (your mother) will find out about the Life Potion, and will elect to
follow you back to Vulteria. Her goal is, of course, to use this potion to revive her 15-years-
deceased lover Mordex, the black mage who was originally responsible for the raising of Dorado
Castle. She swears he's not a bad person, she just feels that Solramus duped him, made him
believe that Uther was not the true king. But after what had happened, she feels that he must
have changed his ways, and begs you to find his body and revive him. So, when you return to
Vulteria, you must make an effort to locate the skeletal remains of Mordex (if you don't,
Mintrex will leave your party!) without Mintrex dying (she is, of course, quite weak). If you do
locate these remains, and if you use the Life Potion on them, Mordex McCane -- Sulin's father --
will be raised from the dead, now little more than a living skeleton warrior, and will aid you in
your quest. He'll explain that he truly believed Solramus, though he disagreed with many of
Solramus's tactics. Mordex actually survived the initial demolition of Dorado Castle, but
Solramus's son was a deceiver, and convinced Mordex to become a black magic tutor for him.
This alone was OK, as Mordex would continue to fight against King Uther -- but the false prince
had planned to revive Dorado Castle, which Mordex thought foolish, fearing that opposition
would be too great for there to be any chance of success, not to mention the townsfolk that
would be injured or killed now that there were mountains atop the Dorado ruins. Eventually,
however, the student surpassed the teacher, and Mordex was killed during a black magic
sparring match, with the grinning form of Solramus's son looming over him, telling him that his
ideas were too old-fashioned and pure, much like his black magic. His final thought was that he
had made a grave error and fought for the wrong side, and that he should've just stayed with
Mintrex and lived out his life in happiness. For 12 years, his body has rotted in the Labyrinth, the
ruins of Dorado Castle -- and now that he's back, skeleton or not, he intends to right his wrongs,
make up for lost time with Mintrex, and get his revenge on Solramus's son: The Chameleon. Of
all the people you can revive with the Life Potion, Mordex is probably the happiest to be back
and may be the strongest character in the game, though he can't be revived until very near the
end. Without Mordex, Mintrex is extremely weak, and not a very worthwhile party member -- but once
Mordex is revived and the Mordex/Mintrex couple ability is unlocked, you'll be VERY glad you kept
Mintrex in your party!

[back to table of contents]

(Note: this story is directly related to Glenlin's, which will be covered later)

Tangentially related to virtually every other plotline in the game, the story arc begun by
encountering Du is perhaps the most important and far-reaching, with some of the most shocking
plot elements and relations yet encountered. Petrefax could potentially play a large role
in this plot, so make sure to read Oddh's story above.

Basically, to get to the area from which this plotline can be triggered -- the bottom of the
Shagwood cliffs -- you need the Float spell. That's it. So, to begin with, cast the Float spell and
fall to the bottom of the cliffs. And so, the story begins...

Mikron is a Neglifian, a typical gray alien with big black eyes. His ship crash-landed on Earth
near the Shagwood cliffs, similarly to the ship 8 years ago. Once again, he tried to sneak through
the defense system that Sa had mentioned to Petrefax so long ago, but failed. Seeing the
Shagwood cliffs as perhaps the largest stretch of barren ground, he tried to make an emergency
landing, but crashed instead, like the last crew. Only this time, the ship's crew consisted entirely
of Mikron, and his ship had already been damaged before he even GOT to the defense system.
He's lucky he made it as far as he did at all, though his ship was rendered completely
irreparable. Whether or not he survived remains a mystery, though no body was found among the
wreckage.

Or so says Du, a Skyh man who happens to be investigating the wreckage of Mikron's ship. His
goal: to find and kill Mikron. Du has a crew of 4 with him: Kap, Io, Joh, and Zul. Kap is helping
him search, while Io, Joh and Zul are busily guarding the other Neglifian ship in the area. Du
asks you to help him search the vicinity for Mikron.

Now, you're probably wondering WHY there's another Neglifian ship in the area. If you ask him
about this ship -- the one that's completely functional -- he says that it's his own. He's the leader
of the Skyh Rebellion Force, and has made it his job to kill every last Neglifian, so as to prevent
them from overthrowing any more planets and overtaking any more cultures. And the other
Neglifian ship nearby was the one that Du and his crew had hijacked several weeks ago.

If you scour the area, you'll eventually find Mikron hidden away in a small cave. He'll be
frightened of you at first, but will beg you to keep quiet about his location (something which
Petrefax will not be all too ready to do, should he be in your party at the time). He explains that
he's not like the other Neglifians -- he doesn't believe in their lifestyle of migration and
conquest, and came to Earth for the sole purpose of warning other humans about the impending
invasion. He's lived for over 300 years, and during the conquest of Skyh around 200 years ago,
Mikron hid himself away in various corners and niches so as not to be seen and recruited as a
slave-driver or assassin. And now, Earth is next in line, and the invasion isn't too far off. And he
wants no part in it.

Mikron (briefly) explains that the earliest known Neglifians lived on the original homeworld,
Neglif, thousands of years ago. There, they lived much like humans live on Earth now, relying
on magic and technology to get them through their everyday lives. Eventually, however, they
made many technological improvements -- especially in the field of weaponry -- and became an
extremely powerful race. However, because of these advances in weaponry, the Neglifians began
to engage in small wars with themselves.

Eventually, the pollution from Neglifian technology had become so thick that the homeworld
could no longer sustain life for more than a few years. Thinking quickly, the whole race unified,
ending all civil war, and created a quick and easy means of space travel using this same
technology, and decided upon migrating, as a race, to the nearest uninhabited planet capable of
sustaining life. There, they rebuilt their civilization and thrived for hundreds of years. However,
the technology had once again begun polluting this planet, so the Neglifians moved on to
another. This process continued up until the present day.

As the Neglifian technology grew more and more powerful, the Neglifians became more and
more dependent upon it, and the periods of stay on their new homeworlds became shorter and
shorter. Eventually, when the periods of stay had degraded to under 250 years time, they began
to seek out inhabited planets, whereupon they would simply overthrow the inhabitants and begin
living in their houses, using their advanced weaponry to kill anyone who stood in their way, and
enslaving anyone who didn't for the sake of building and maintaining factories and the like.

The cat-people of Skyh were the most recently-overthrown, and the planet Skyh had already
begun to show signs of becoming uninhabitable, even after only 200 years. The next planet in
line -- and really, the only nearby inhabitable planet -- was Earth. The Neglifians had sent several
scouting ships to Earth, and were planning to overtake it any time now, at which point all

remaining Skyh would be slaughtered and, most likely, so would 80% or more of Earth's
inhabitants.

The Neglifians had underestimated the Skyh, however, and several Skyh managed to escape into
the vast underground shelters scattered all throughout the planet. Many groups had been formed
to combat the Neglifians, and Skyh technology had been employed to construct a defense system
around Earth perhaps 50 years into the Neglifian inhabitation. As far as the Skyh were
concerned, this was to be the Neglifians' last stand.

Mikron explains that he fully intends to aid the Skyh in their fight, finally going against his own
cowardice and standing up to the rest of his race. He wanted to prepare the inhabitants of Earth
for the upcoming invasion so that perhaps they could fight back -- a measure the Skyh hadn't
even considered (or had they?), feeling that Earth's technology and magic were incapable of standing
up to the Neglifians. He stole a Neglifian battleship, and was almost shot out of the sky before even
getting into space, but managed to make it. He attempted to explain his position to Mephisto, the
current in a long line of guardians of the Earth defense system, but Mephisto wouldn't hear him
out, and proceeded to attack him. Thinking quickly, Mikron tried to pilot his ship through the
defense system before Mephisto could react, and though badly damaged, he managed to make it
to Earth, even if he had no means of getting back. Unfortunately, Mephisto must have called
upon Du and his crew, for they were right on Mikron's tail. After the crash, Mikron barely had
enough time to go into hiding before Du landed. And considering that Mikron had crash-landed
in an uninhabited area surrounded by cliffs, he found it impossible to continue with his mission.

Although you find it difficult to believe Mikron's story, he seems quite sincere, and you agree to,
at the very least, spread his message to as many people as possible. But he has a different
request: help to convince Du and his crew that he's a good person, and is only trying to help the
Skyh with their cause. And, perhaps, join the cause yourselves -- after all, you're fighting to save
Vulteria and possibly Teras from being overthrown, but Mikron and Du are fighting to save the
WORLD from being overthrown. It's an interruption in your quest, and it's a much more
difficult quest, but it seems to be easily worth your time.

If Petrefax is with you, you'll notice that he's unusually quiet, and seems to be contemplating
something.

You agree to, at the very least, try to convince Du and his crew that Mikron is perhaps the best
spy they could get, and is on their side. Mikron informs you, however, that Du is an extreme
radical, and may be very difficult to convince. Keeping this in mind, you leave Mikron behind
and proceed toward Du and his party.

But, where should you begin? "Hey... uh... when Mikron approached the defense system, didn't
he say something about being on your side?"

Bad move. Du realizes that the only way you could possibly know this is if Mikron had
contacted you. This being the case, he becomes quite enraged, and demands that you lead him to
Mikron.

In the background, Mikron is running past you, unseen by Du and Kap. Io -- the guard outside the
hijacked Neglifian ship -- groans and collapses, and an alert siren announces an intruder on-
board. Du yells out a profanity, and runs in the direction of the ship, telling Kap to stay behind
and watch for Mikron. Sulin tells the rest of your party to stay behind and keep after The
Chameleon -- he's going to go after Du, and he's not sure what will happen. If Petrefax is with
you, he will follow you, no matter what you may say, as you run after Du.

Now, for a moment, you will switch over to controlling just Mikron (whose first line is, "I'm
sorry -- I only stunned you," spoken to Io) as he makes his way through the Free Sky -- Du's ship.
He must find his way through the maze of corridors and rooms, through all of the security
barricades, etc., without being caught by Du. Along the way, he will have to fight with both Joh
and Zul. If both battles are won, Mikron will find himself in the control room. As he walks up to
the controls, you will once again be controlling Sulin, who will now have Du (and possibly
Petrefax) with him. And the first thing they notice is that the ship is shaking -- they've taken off.
Du once again yells a profanity, and leads you to the control room, blaming you for what
happened the whole time, never stopping to listen to what you have to say.

Each time Du happens upon the collapsed form of one of his crewmates, he becomes enraged,
but then, to his utter amazement, he discovers that they're still alive -- just unconscious. This
seems to calm him a little.

Finally, upon reaching the control room, Du and Mikron have a bit of a face-off. During this
battle, Mikron does not attack -- he merely speaks. He first says that he's sorry about injuring the
crewmates, then says that he's sorry to have stolen the ship, then tries to explain his situation.
Finally, after being quite brutally injured by Du, he says, "Is it so hard to believe that one of our
kind could actually care?"

At this point, Du lowers his weapon -- slightly -- and the battle ends. After a moment, he says, "...
Yes. I don't think any of you actually care about what happens to us. I don't even know my own
culture -- none of us do. We were all born into slavery. But I must admit, I'm quite confused. All
of the evidence seems to suggest that you DO care. And you're insinuating that the rest of your
race DOESN'T. I don't think I've ever heard a Neglifian address that before."

Du agrees not to kill Mikron -- yet -- and says that, if you (Sulin, and maybe Petrefax) have no
objections, he'd like to take you back to Skyh with him. He feels that you have good instincts,
and would be an invaluable part of the Skyh rebellion. You are now given a choice: go with Du,
or ask him to take you back home. Du reminds you that it's an exceedingly dangerous mission,
and there's a good chance that you may not be able to get back to Earth anytime soon, if at all.

If you decline his invitation, he will take you back to Earth, you will rejoin your party (minus
Petrefax, who will go to Skyh no matter what your answer may be), and you will never see Du,
Mikron, Petrefax, or any of the crewmen again.

If you accept, you will mention that the remainder of your party is back on Earth, and should be
able to handle The Chameleon in your absence -- you will accompany Du to Skyh so that you can
fight for an even greater good.

In this case, you will soon be joined in the control room by Kap, who managed to hop aboard the
ship as soon as he heard the engines firing up. He almost shoots Mikron, but Du stops him, and
says that he thinks Mikron is, in fact, on their side.

Du says to brace yourself for the defense system, as it's probably not at all what you're
expecting.

Begin FMV sequence (please?). Very hard to describe. You watch as the Free Sky hurtles toward the
moon... only, as it gets closer and closer, you begin to realize that the black sky of space isn't
actually clear sky at all, but a gigantic black dome -- and the moon is the only thing in the sky
which is NOT solid -- it's actually a hole in the dome, brightly lit from above. The Free Sky flies
through the hole -- the moon -- and emerges in something akin to a space station with glass-like
walls. The dome, from this side, appears as gray metal, and the sky of space is not black and full
of stars as we'd expect, but consists of brilliantly-colored purple gases of all different colors and
indistinguishable shapes. A being is standing near a table-like control panel -- cloaked in black,
hands in black gloves, feet in black boots, the only visible body part being one solitary glassy-
green eye visible from underneath the unusually-tilted black hood. Very ominous and
frightening-looking being -- and at second glance, it has many many frightening-looking weapons
all over the cloak, all black in color, ready to be called upon whenever necessary.

The Free Sky lands, briefly, and communication with the being ensues. It has a deep but
distinctly feminine voice, very unfitting for its ominous monstrous appearance, and proceeds to
verify that the one piloting the ship is, indeed, Du of the Skyh Rebellion Force. Du verifies this,
and Mephisto says, "You may proceed." The Free Sky is then carefully piloted through the tiny
airlock and out into space -- a very unfamiliar, surprising space.

Of course, the party has vastly different reactions to this. Mikron and Du and his crew are all
quite familiar with this process, and with this sector of space as well, but Sulin is in shock, as is
Petrefax, who manages to also stammer out, "H... her voice..."

Finally, the Free Sky lands on Skyh. Or, rather, IN Skyh. Du dodges a few shots along the way,
disappears into a storm cloud, and then proceeds to expertly navigate the ship into a small hole
in the ground and through a series of narrow tunnels to a landing pad that must be miles below
the surface.

"Welcome to Skyh. I trust, from your reaction, that this is your first time on another planet?"

You barely manage to nod.

After introducing you to a few inconsequential members of the rebellion, and informing you that
the Skyh Rebellion Force has planted bombs in strategic locations all over the planet, Du will
ask if you want to go to the nearby town, on the surface, and have a look around. No matter what
your answer is, he'll take you there -- he says not to worry, the Neglifians will only attack
rebellious Skyh. Because they don't want Earth's inhabitants to know that anything is afoot, they
will treat humans with an unusually large amount of respect -- for now -- with the intent of
convincing you that they're harmless and having you "spread the word" back on your own
planet. They will also "behave themselves" when humans are around, not even attacking the
Skyh. As a result, this may be the only chance Du will ever get to "go to town," and he fully
intends to use it (though, of course, he will don at least a minor disguise, since the Neglifians
may react more violently if a known revolutionary is involved). Mikron, too, is quite safe in
town. The Neglifians only know that a battleship was stolen -- they don't know WHO stole it.

The other members of Du's crew are less enthusiastic about the idea, however, and elect to stay
behind in the underground base, which suits Du just fine -- the less Skyh that are around to draw
attention to themselves, the better. So Du and Mikron (and Petrefax) will accompany you to
Calhaa, the nearest Skyh village, currently the weapons-factory center of Neglifian-run Skyh.

Right before you arrive, Du tells you to cause lots of trouble. Since the Neglifians want humans
to stay ignorant of their intentions, they will be extremely forgiving, even if only a quarter of
your actions performed by a Skyh would result in torture and death. Du suggests that this sort of
thing will be quite "fun."

Though you have the option of returning to the base at any time, make sure to explore the town
first and collect the various weapons that you might be able to find. Also be sure to do as Du
says, and cause lots of trouble. Pick fights with the Neglifians, rob from shops, and just generally
have fun performing various sorts of misdeeds.

If you successfully manage to cause enough trouble that you can no longer be ignored (and it'll
take quite a bit), some Neglifian guards will come by and arrest you all, tossing you into a cell in
the town prison. They announce that they'll be back for each of you that night, and will deal out
"separate punishments" then. Du explains that this probably means death for each of them,
though the degree of torture beforehand will vary. Mikron will probably be killed instantly,
whereas Du will be tortured for months, possibly even years -- especially when they find out who
he is. The human(s) should receive a similar degree of torture, purely because they aided a
known revolutionary.

Du is strangely unconcerned, however -- he's fully confident that they'll be set free. With a
smile, he tells you to just wait and see. Things should be made apparent soon -- and Du mentions
how fortunate you are to be held in this particular cell.

The party falls asleep, not knowing what else to do. Sulin wakes up to find that it's dusk, which
means that their time of judgment is at hand. But he could've sworn he was woken by a voice. A
voice which spoke his name.

"Sulin McCane."

The voice boomed again, from all around him. He could feel his mind being somehow...
"probed."

"Mikron of Neglif. Du of Skyh. (Seda Petrefax.)"

They each woke in turn at the mention of their names, quite confused. Except for Du, who
smiled. "Jailie O'Jailsson, I presume?"

The voice didn't answer, but continued: "Sulin McCane. Seeks to end a threat to his own land,
but has joined with the current group in an effort to end the threat to his world and all of its
people. Mikron of Neglif. Gone against the overwhelmingly unanimous pressure of his culture to
aid in what he believes to be a moral cause. Du of Skyh. An extremist who shuts off his own
feelings and shuns his own culture for the sake of saving millions of lives in the future. (Seda
Petrefax. Brought back to the living not by choice, and fights for the common good, even if
believing himself to be fighting for selfish desires.)"

The cell doors open. "You are all a part of me now, and you have affected me in a very unusual
way. Because you all fight for unselfish reasons, you may go. Please step outside of the cell." As
these lines are spoken, two yellow eyes seem to have formed inside the cell, and something
resembling a mouth is beginning to materialize.

Without a word, the party steps outside of the cell and turns around, now aware that the voice
comes from the cell itself. "I am Jailie O'jailsson, built from Skyh technology and learned from
centuries of occupants. I am fueled by the memories and feelings of criminals, and have acted as
judge and jury in every case. Even if acting against the threat of tyranny, virtually every being
who steps within my bars is guilty of selfish motivation. You three/four are exceptions, and are
motivated by moral good, by the belief that the battle you're fighting will yield beneficial results
for many people. For this reason, you have been freed, as only one Sa of Skyh had been freed
before you." (Petrefax becomes quite anxious upon hearing this.) "And for your cause, I too will
lend my services. Please accept me at your side."

To the party's amazement, the jail cell's "face" has become more defined, and the entire cell
seems to be shrinking. Once it's shrunk to the size of a human head, the ground below it begins
to raise, and forms something of a crude body made of brick-shaped gray stones. With a bit of a
struggle, which quickly wears off, Jailie approaches the party.

"I thank you all for your memories. I was beginning to become a bit selfish myself, with only
Sa's memories and feelings to counteract this. Now, I have more of a balance within me. I have
learned all about each of you, including your powers. I will use these powers to aid you in battle,
if you'll have me." (He walks over to Petrefax. "Sa is indeed alive, Seda, to the best of my
knowledge. I allowed her to escape from within me five years ago, though I did not join her, for
she works alone. She only ever wanted YOU as a partner, Seda.") Jailie steps back to address the
entire party. "I realize my existence must be shocking to you. I am perhaps the best-kept secret
on this planet. I was built by a Skyh scientist over 200 years ago. His plan, as far I can
extrapolate from the combined thoughts and memories of the people who have been within me,
was to develop a jail cell that did all the work of judge and jury. Since all juries are partial and
all judges biased, I was designed to completely absorb the full personality of each person placed
within my bars. At this point, I was to judge them as if an exact copy of themselves were judge
and jury. People who had acted in self-defense were to be set free. People who were wrongly
accused were to be set free. People who disobeyed laws, but fought for the greater good, were to
be set free. And one can only judge him or her self without bias or prejudice. You all realized
that you were breaking laws in the town, and would easily be found guilty of mayhem and
disturbance from any normal jury. But I can see it from your own eyes. You all feel bad for what
you did. And your motivation was not to hurt, but merely to have fun. Your motivation for being
here at all is admirable, and for the greater good. I see no reason to hold you. And, as long as you
promise not to break any more laws in the town -- and I can see that you won't -- I will join you
in your quest. My knowledge of criminal techniques is quite large, and could prove very useful
to you."

So, say hello to Jailie, the newest (and most bizarre) member of your party! For the remainder of
your time in the town, you will be frequently attacked by guards. However, with Jailie on duty,
this shouldn't be a big problem at all.

If you didn't cause enough trouble to get thrown in jail, and you elect to go back to the base,
you've then lost your one and only chance to get Jailie in your party. However, you've also given
yourself free run of the town -- no one will attack you AT ALL unless you break out of Jailie.

Anyway, regardless of which path you ended up on, your next destination is, of course, to return
to the base, where Io announces to Du that the plans are ready, and the operation is about to
commence. This pleases Du quite a bit, though when no one's looking, he seems to be quite
depressed.

When asked what his plan is, Du will respond that it's an all-out attack on the Neglifians -- an
almost guaranteed victory. It's a bit of overkill, he says, but with a race as powerful as the
Neglifians, better overkill than underkill. If Jailie is with you, he begins to lecture Du, with Du's
own inflections, stating that there must be a better way, something a bit more humane, and that
he really should take the time to find it. Du begins to get quite angry with Jailie, until Jailie
finally stops pestering him -- though at the mention of the word "humane," Mikron becomes
quite uneasy.

Du gives you the run of the base, and tells you to get some sleep as soon as possible -- the
operation begins early tomorrow morning. So, after chatting and buying supplies and such, head
to the guest quarters and get some sleep. You've got a big day ahead of you.

The next day, you alone (Sulin) are woken up by Du, who says that the bomb timers have been
set, and you only have a few minutes to get to the ship. He says he's going to get the others, then
be right behind you. So, with your life on the line and not a moment to spare, you hurry to get to
the Free Sky as quickly as possible. Get there and wait, and Du should show up with Mikron,
and possibly Petrefax and/or Jailie. He says to get ready, the Free Sky is about to blast off. You
ask where the other crew members are, and Du says that they're in other parts of the world
they've been assigned to make sure none of the Neglifians disarm the bombs or escape. None of
the bombs should actually show up on any of the Neglifian sensors, and their presence SHOULD
be unknown, but it's possible that one or two could have been discovered, at which point there
might be some sort of preventative measures taken. You ask how they're going to get out, and
Du says that they'll use their own ships -- if there's time.

Du's final words, as you're rocketing through the narrow tunnels leading back to the surface,
are, "So, Mikron, how does it feel to be the last surviving member of your race?"

Mikron doesn't quite understand, and is getting very angry. Sulin (and Petrefax) are in shock
(and Jailie is attempting to lecture Du again, but is drowned out by the sounds of explosions all
around). Cue FMV of the Free Sky narrowly escaping certain destruction as the entire planet of
Skyh explodes in a fireball of tremendous fury behind them. "BRACE FOR IMPACT!", yells
Du, and the Free Sky is rocked by flames and debris, taking extensive damage in the process, but
surviving the whole ordeal, amazingly.

The party checks out the rear view of the ship, but sees nothing more than dust and debris. The
entire planet has been obliterated, along with everyone on it. There are no other ships heading
away from it. Mikron is, indeed, the last of his race. He finally replies to Du's comment: "How
does it feel? You tell me, Du. You tell me." Du is in tears. Sulin's mouth is wide open. If Jailie
is along, Jailie is very silent. If Petrefax is along, he too is in tears -- especially after Mikron's
comment -- and is mumbling to himself, "Sa... Sa..."

Finally, Sulin explodes with anger. "WHY THE HELL DID YOU WANT ME TO COME WITH
YOU, DU?! Did you just want to USE me, to kick the Neglifians a few times before you BLEW
THEM ALL UP?! I did NOTHING, Du. NONE of us did anything. And if I'd've known you
were going to end an entire species -- TWO of them!! -- I wouldn't have even COME ALONG! I
want NO part in this, Du!"

Du is mumbling, barely understandable. Tears are streaming down his face. "I'm sorry... I'm
sorry... I thought it was for the best... oh my God... oh my God, what have I done? My crew, my
friends... all gone... all gone..."

If Jailie is along: "Du made a very large sacrifice, but his goal has been fulfilled. He has killed
perhaps millions of lives, but saved perhaps billions. The Neglifians are no more. They will
never again conquer and kill. Please show pity on him -- he did not want to do this, he had to.
And he needed you all for support. I know you won't let him down."

Mikron: "You rat-bastard. I wanted to stop my people too, but I didn't plan to do it by blowing
them all up!"

Du: "Then HOW ELSE would you do it?! There was no other way... my God... I will never be
able to live this down, I will never be able to forget this, and I will never be the same. But it had
to be done. There was no other way to stop your kind. My people never knew their own history.
They were born, lived, died as slaves. There was no other way to end it. No other way... no other
way..."

Sulin and Mikron (and Petrefax and Jailie) are silent for a moment, and then you're given a
choice. You can console Du, or you can attack him.

If you choose to console him -- try to see things from his perspective -- then the others will
follow, and you will eventually be able to forgive -- not forget -- what was done. Du will then
become an invaluable member of your party, offering to help set things right on your own planet,
so he can see the people he saved, and help set things right.

If, however, you attack him, you'll find the battle very easy. You'll spare his life at the last
possible moment, however, realizing that it wouldn't be right to end his life -- after all, he DID
just save Earth -- and he will agree that, after taking you back to Earth, he will "disappear" and
you'll never see him again. If Jailie is along, Jailie will elect to go with him instead of going
with you.

Either way, your next stop is the defense system, which has suffered quite a bit of damage from
flying debris and the shock wave. The dome has a large crack in it, and the space station has
been dented and banged up, with parts of it collapsed inward and seemingly-inadequate force
fields replacing them. And visible, even from a distance, is Mephisto, collapsed on the ground,
her hood halfway fallen off, uncovering part of her face.

Du lands the ship and makes a mad dash for the exit. If Petrefax is along, he'll yell out, "...
Sa?!", and follow at a similar pace. The rest of the party will follow at more of a walking speed.

In the space station, Du will remark that it's somewhat difficult to breathe, and Petrefax will
note, with a bit of relief and a bit of worry, that Mephisto really IS Sa. Du and Petrefax will
bring her into the Free Sky (or, if Petrefax isn't with you, Du and Mikron will bring her in), and
as she's being laid out on a medical bed, her cloak is removed, and you find that Sa is actually
quite a beautiful woman.

If Petrefax is not along, Sa will die here, without ever having said a word. And if the story of
Petrefax is known, then Sulin will remark that she is now with him, and they can be happy
together once more.

If Petrefax IS along, however, he will ask that everyone leave the room, and once they do so, he
will begin speaking to Sa. Asking her how she is, if she remembers him, etc., and saying that he
did it all for her, and he wishes they could be meeting again under more positive circumstances.
Sa will open her eyes, and say, "Seda? Is that you? Am I dead, then?" Petrefax will laugh, tears
in his eyes, and the scene will fade out. Back in the control room, Petrefax and Mephisto (back
in full dark gear), will enter, and everyone will cheer. It's the first good news they've heard in
quite a while. Of course, there will be a conversation of this sort:

Du: "You know, Sa, we're the last two Skyh."
Sa: "Then I guess the species dies with us."

If Sa survived, she will now join your party as Mephisto, unwilling to abandon the persona she's
worked so hard to create. Later, Seda and Sa will go together to Oddh's grave, and give her thanks
for her dedication to Petrefax. And Petrefax will apologize to her, as well, for not having the
same feelings she did.

The Free Sky will now land on Earth (show brief FMV of the ship landing, with a crack in the
sky behind them), and, if Du promised to leave and never return, he will do as promised -- he and
Jailie will blast off again in the Free Sky, headed for another adventure somewhere. If, however,
no such promise was made, they will land the Free Sky, pull out the power source (so as to keep
it grounded for the time being), and continue on the adventure, right by your side.

Thus ends the amazing optional interplanetary adventure, perhaps the single most notable
plotline in the entire game.

[back to table of contents]

Douglas Weidner runs a clock shop in Delidia, which is given the rather humorous name of
"Doug's Clockery." Doug's entire family line has consisted of clock-makers, and thus, they are
the absolute BEST in the entire world. Doug's late grandfather, however -- ALSO named Doug
(it's a name of power, or so the legend goes) -- was always the best in the family, and made a
very unique style of grandfather clock that no one else in the family could even duplicate. And
so, after his passing, production of these clocks ceased, with only 20 ever made (and one was
defective).

If you talk to Doug for a little while, he'll suddenly ask you if you like music. Answer yes, and
he'll then tell you to support the local music hall, as rumor has it that it's going to be torn down
soon due to disuse. Part of the charm of his grandfather's grandfather clocks, he says, was their
melody, which was unlike anything he'd ever heard. But no one in town even owns one of these
clocks, save for Doug himself -- and, as it happens, no one seems very interested in music, either.

He'll then ask if you've got a minute, for he has a story to tell.

It seems that, when Doug was just beginning to realize his own existence (at age 56 -- just
kidding: at age 3 or so), he knew a girl in town a year older than him, named Melody. Melody
was the granddaughter of the man who built the town's music hall, and their family must have
had a music gene or something, because everyone born into it became a musical genius in their
own right. And Melody and Doug were the absolute best of friends for years, always laughing
and playing and doing kiddie things together.

One day, when Doug was age 5, his grandfather allowed him to make his very own clock. Before
he was age 6, he had done it -- he had fashioned a small, plain, wall-mounting clock with the
inscription, "To Melody, for being my friend" engraved upon it. He was very excited that night,
when he was to present it to her. And, with a flash of wit and pride, he presented the clock to her
with a "ba-bum!!"

She reached out her hands and took the clock, and smiled. "Did you make this, Dougie?" "Why
yes I did!"

"It's very nice. You did a good job," she said -- and handed the clock back to him. "You should
keep it in a very special place."

Angered at her for not accepting the gift that took him over 6 months to make, he was very
silent, then suddenly blurted out -- as she was asking him, "What's wrong?" -- "I have to go now.
I'm busy this week. I'll see you soon."

Doug ran back to his house in tears, and when he got to the front door, he purposefully dropped
the clock, which split in half right down the middle.

Doug refused to see Melody again for the next several days. Every time she stopped by to see
him, he'd say he was busy. Until, finally, Melody stopped coming.

Doug's father, Doug, came up to his room only a few days later, and informed Doug that Melody
had fallen into the Delidian Sea and drowned a few days ago. She had gone missing for a while,
and her parents had been searching frantically for her. Finally, her body was found and recovered
by a fisherman the night before.

Before the funeral, Doug's broken clock was noticed on his night stand, and his father asked
what had happened. Doug merely said, "I dropped it." His father asked if he wanted it placed
with her body, and though he was hesitant, he replied that he wanted half of it placed with her
body, and he'd keep the other half. Satisfied, his father took half of the clock and left his room,
at which point Doug threw the other half in the garbage, wrapped in papers to hide it from his
father. He was both angered and confused, and also quite saddened, and felt that this was a good
compromise of his emotions.

It was during the funeral that Doug discovered Melody couldn't read. She could play the violin
extremely well, but her family apparently didn't feel any rush to have their daughter read. She
couldn't read the inscription Doug left for her, and probably didn't even know the clock was a
gift for her.

Doug ran home, in tears -- during the funeral -- to look for the clock half, but found that the trash
had already been taken out and picked up. Half of his clock was lost, forever.

...

Or so he thought, at the time. He now realizes that all of Delidia's garbage is shipped to the
caves of Garbage Island in the Delidian Sea, where it remains indefinitely. And though going to
Garbage Island to retrieve the clock half would normally be futile, a memory had come back to
him recently: on the same day as Melody's funeral, Doug's grandfather had botched one of his
grandfather clocks -- the only defective one he had ever made -- and had it set out with the
garbage. Though it didn't keep correct time, it was quite large, and very sturdy. There's a chance
-- only a chance, but Doug has a feeling -- that, if he goes to Garbage Island, he might be able to
locate the grandfather clock within its depths, at which point he'll be very near his own clock
half.

Doug points to the grandfather clock behind him -- the first one his grandfather had ever made
and says that he needs to find something like that in the Garbage Island caves. He says that
Melody's body was burned, and her ashes are kept in an urn in the music hall, in a small shrine,
with her clock-half placed underneath like a coaster. He wants to find the other half and add it to
hers, and he can't explain why -- he just says that he has a feeling about it, as if some higher
power is commanding him.

He asks if you know how he could get to Garbage Island, and though you suggest throwing HIM
out (at which point he makes a sarcastic comment), you then have the option of offering to help
him locate Garbage Island. If you say you will, he'll join your party.

Take him to the Delidian Sea, and ask the ferryman there to take you to Garbage Island. When
you get there, use your Illuminate spell to light up the caves for Doug, and then Doug will hold
you back, and say that he, alone, must do this. But, if he doesn't come out for a very long time,
he asks that you come in after him.

You now are controlling just Doug, and your goal is to navigate through the caves (follow the
trail of garbage water) until you find the piles of garbage from Delidia. Enemies are tougher
here, so watch out! You now must navigate through the long and complicated labyrinth of
garbage until you find the top of a grandfather clock sticking out through a pile of muck, a
banana peel hanging off of it.

Maybe cue a boss battle here -- seems like a good place for one.

Anyway, Doug does in fact find his clock-half nearby, which thrills him immensely, and then
proceeds to exit the cave, whereupon he immediately holds up the clock half and jumps into the
sea ("Man, I'm DISGUSTING! This sea water better have soap in it!").

After you and the ferryman pull him out, it's time to head for the music hall. (:

If, however, you didn't quite make it with Doug, the rest of your party will have to go into the
garbage caves to rescue him. He won't be dead, but he also will give up, go back to his clock
shop, and never speak of this situation again ("Eew, garbage water!").

Anyway, if you were successful in your mission, take Doug to the music hall -- which is in quite
a state of disrepair -- and find the shrine in the back. Doug inserts one clock-half onto the other,
and, to his amazement, the two halves fuse together! All of a sudden, Doug finds himself alone
in the music hall, which looks like it did in his childhood. He's a little boy again, and
approaching him now is... Melody!

Doug's appearance may be different, but his memories and feelings are the same. He apologizes
to Melody, who says that it's OK -- he was little, and didn't realize that she couldn't read. She
says that the big issue right now is the demolition of the music hall. It must be stopped! And the
only way to stop it is to put it to use once again.

To do this, of course, some sort of band or orchestra will be necessary. Melody says that the 18
people besides him who own his grandfather's grandfather clocks are the best musicians in the
land -- if Doug can gather all 18 of these people and bring them back to the music hall, a band
will form, and the music hall will be saved.

"I'm counting on you, Doug. Please."

With that, the scene vanishes, replaced by the dilapidated music hall of the present, the older
Doug of the present, and the rest of your party.

Doug explains what he has to do, and you are once again asked if you want to help. Say yes, and
Doug will join your party, under the condition that you assist him in locating the 18 best
musicians in the land. Say no, and Doug will leave to do this himself, and won't show up again
until the ending.

To find the 18 musicians, you must follow these steps:
1) Locate a grandfather clock.
2) Find out who actually owns the clock.
3) Find this person and speak to him/her while Doug is in your party. Make sure you have a party
of four or less people, because you need an empty spot for the musician. If you have five people
in your party, the person you're speaking with will be intimidated and refuse to join you.
4) If necessary, satisfy certain special conditions for the musician to join you. Sometimes you
will have to go retrieve an item, and sometimes you will have to have a certain person in your
party. (Case in point: one musician will be Sophia, the girl Ramses remembers marrying. She
will join you if and only if you have Ramses in your party.)
5) Take this person back to the music hall without him/her dying on the way. This may be the
hardest part, as each of these people are mere villagers -- they're not very powerful, and have
very little health. Once they reach the music hall, they will permanently leave your party to join
their fellow musicians and practice.

The musicians you must locate consist of 3 boys, 3 girls, 3 young men, 3 young women, 3 old
men, and 3 old women. One of them will be Sophia (young woman). One of them will be
Melody's mother (old woman). One of them will be Mara (see King of the Ruins).
All of them will have their own stories, and many of these stories may fill in gaps or
otherwise relate to some of the game's major plotlines.

If anyone has any ideas for "musical villager" subquests, please email Thomas Lipschultz!

Once all 18 musicians have been gathered, they will perform a free concert -- and by the end of
the first song, villagers curious about the sound will have begun gathering. As the band is
playing, more and more villagers will show up, and Doug will go over to Melody's shrine and
say, "We did it, Melody. We saved the music hall." A bright light will shine forth from Melody's
shrine, and when its brightness has illuminated the entire room (at least, in Doug's mind),
Melody's voice will be heard: "Thank you, Doug. Take the clock with you now. I will always be
a part of you." Without even pausing, Doug will do as Melody asks, and take the clock -- two
halves fused into one -- and walk away, watching the rest of the show. And from this point on,
Doug will be a permanent member of your party, and the "Melody" command will be available
to him, which will allow him to cast very powerful magic by means of music, as long as he has
the clock.

And thus ends Doug's tale -- a tale with a nice, happy ending, for a change. (:

Special note: attempting to use Oddh's Life Potion on Melody's shrine will result in either Doug
telling you not to, or someone else in your party saying that it wouldn't be a good idea since you
really don't know that person.

[back to table of contents]

Although the dwarves don't particularly want you in their village ("Damned humans're always messin'
SOMETHIN' oop!"), they may bend the rules a bit if you stop by during your time wave investigations.
As mentioned in Moriarty's section, one time wave was found to have hit somewhere within this village,
and if you mention that that's your reason for coming, the guards will get very angry and practically
INSIST that you go in, since your "stupid waves" destroyed old Glod Gloddson's house!

The dwarves aren't all too happy to see you, but not because you destroyed Glod's house -- just
because you're human. They tell you to either pay for the house, rebuild it, or leave in small
chunks, and practically drag you to Glod's mother's house, where Glod is supposed to be staying.

But something terrible has happened -- Glod has gone missing, and taken his life savings with him!
Glod's mother is quite unhappy about this, and is very worried about her son, but as she says (and get
used to hearing this in the dwarves' village!), "ehh, 'tis none o' mah business, y' humans're just
doin' yer job."

Apparently, the dwarves fully believe that the job of humans is to interfere with and otherwise
annoy and pester the dwarves.

She explains to you that Glod's been married to a woman named Ulna for around eight years now, and
last year, Ulna became afflicted with a rare disease, incurable, which rendered her paralyzed from
the waist down. Ulna, however, chose to go against typical dwarven custom (which says that dwarves
rendered "useless", or incapable of physical labor, are to be killed), and elected to live out her
life to its natural end, saying "ah'm happy enoof, and ah can always find somethin' else tah do. Mah
legs dinna work, but mah hands still do, so ah can still be 'f use." Glod, also a custom-breaker,
supported her, and promised to build her the house she's always wanted. He did so, but the house was
destroyed only a short time later by a rock-slide. Determined to try again, he rebuilt the house --
which was, this time, hit by one of Moriarty's time waves and destroyed (though, fortunately, there
were no casualties).

And now Glod had gone missing, and taken all of his money with him.

Although the guards are insisting that you should pay the ungodly repair costs for Glod's house,
Glod's mother once again repeats that you're only doing your job, and instead says that you can pay
off your debt by tracking down Glod and figuring out what the heck he's up to. Anxious to NOT pay
off a debt for the rest of your life, and also anxious to not have your life end here, "in small
chunks", you wholeheartedly agree to this arrangement.

You are then forced out of the town, and told that you won't be allowed back in until you FIND
GLOD. "He prob'ly dinna go far," says one of the dwarven guards, "he'd not be stupid enoof to wander
into the humans' land. He'll be here in tha' mountains somewhe'e."

You marvel at the fact that the dwarves actually trust you to do what they've asked -- though, of
course, you DO plan to follow through with it, right?

Getting Glod to join your party is a rather long and difficult road, but it begins by finding...
er... his house. Or perhaps you could say, his magic shelter. His GIGANTIC magic shelter. His magic
shelter that is much, MUCH too big for its own good, and situated inside the passage leading to the
Dragons' Realm, where even monsters fear to tread.

You have an inkling, but you don't actually KNOW it's his. After all, it could be ANYONE'S. But the
fact of the matter is, the merchant in the dwarven village had recently sold out of magic shelters
(which are, of course, VERY expensive), and here you have the biggest dang magic shelter you could
possibly imagine, in a place where there's really no need for one (no monsters, after all).

And it's sealed, which means SOMEONE is inside.

And some kind of dreadful banging sound is coming from within.

And there are outward dents in the shelter here and there.

And yeah, you get the picture.

So someone is inside, and you suspect it's Glod. After a bit of fearful supposition, you decide to
knock at the door. The banging stops for a moment, but then starts up again.

You knock again, and this time the banging stops completely. The door opens, and out walks the
most stereotypical-looking dwarf you've ever laid eyes upon.

"What the hell d'ya want, human? Can't ye see ah'm busy? Ah'm tryin' tah make a house fer me wife!"

After a little bit of explaining, you find out that Glod had become convinced that a curse was
placed on the building of this house, so he had purchased the dwarven village's entire stock of
magic shelters and used them all at once in the only place that would have enough space for them.
His idea was to reshape the gigantic shelter this produced into the dream house he had promised his
wife. Of course, he knows how hard it is to damage a magic shelter -- it takes wild creatures weeks,
even months, working in packs, to level one -- but he also knows that magic shelters CAN be altered,
and they can be altered by the one thing dwarves excel at, the one thing capable of opposing
magic: physical force.

You, of course, think that this is ridiculous, seeing as how it'll probably take Glod months to
make ANY real progress... but, it's the dwarven way to be persistent, and Glod is VERY persistent.
And though Moriarty apologizes profusely for his inadvertant destruction of Glod's previous attempt
at masonry, Glod, like every other dwarf, just shrugs this off as "a human's job".

But, maybe there's a better way to reshape a magic shelter...

Now, ideally, you will have either Oddh or Sherlie with you at this point. If you don't, Moriarty
and/or Ramses will hint at this, but only Oddh or Sherlie will make it clear enough to set the plot
in motion.

There is one creature who is capable of easily opposing anything magical, and would most likely be
able to alter magical materials with ease. "Most likely", of course, because no one knows for sure:
dragons have never really caused much trouble in this land, and their tremendous strength is known
only through legends.

You are, of course, in a cave which ultimately leads to the home of the dragons.

Now, the dragons have no reason to ever leave their cave. Their cave is their home, and for as
long as anyone can remember, they've never been outside of it. But if you can somehow get the aid
of a dragon (unlikely, since most dragons would just attack you if you "invade their home"), or if
you can get ahold of dragon bones and/or scales (a bit more feasible), you could probably create a
tool much more capable of bending magical metal than Glod's puny little axe.

Glod sees where you're going with this, and says that if you can get him some dragon to work with,
he'll get this done a lot faster.

You have a few objections, of course -- how could WE kill a DRAGON? and why would we do that? what
has the dragon ever done to US? -- but Glod says that he's not suggesting you KILL a dragon... just
take some bones and scales from a dragon that's ALREADY dead!

Glod logically deduces that dragons probably DON'T bury their dead, so all you have to do is sneak
into their lair unnoticed and sneak out with some bones and scales. Piece of cake, right?

And for some reason, you agree to this... you blithering idiot! (:

Glod then says, "Ah s'pose ye want me to follow yah, and watch yer backs in case a dragon goes'n
attacks us, aye?" You can actually choose whether or not you want Glod to come with you, and
this choice affects his attitude later in the game: if you can successfully do this task without
the help of a dwarf, Glod will begin to reconsider the "human's job".

With or without Glod, you're now going to try to sneak into the dragon's lair, stealthfully, get
some bones and scales, and sneak out. If you should happen to be spotted by a dragon, you WILL
have to fight, and the battle will NOT be easy. If you die in this battle, no harm done --
unless Glod's along, but that will be covered later. If you happen to WIN this battle, however,
you're in pretty deep trouble. Sure, you'll escape with your lives, and Glod will be able to
quickly build the house for his wife, and everyone will live happily ever after -- but Glod
also won't join your party. He'll elect to stay behind in case the dragons attack his village,
which he sees as a distinct possibility now (but don't worry, your debt is paid -- you helped
him, and brought him back to the village, you just also screwed up... but hey, that's a human's
job, right?).

If you're successfully stealthy, however, and manage to locate the "dragon graveyard" (read:
pile of bones and scales against a wall), and make it back in one piece WITHOUT tipping the
dragons off as to your whereabouts, you will return to the dwarven village with Glod, who will
have the dragon bones and scales made into an axe, which he (uncreatively) calls the "Dragonbone
Axe". He will offer you beds in his parents' house for the night, and you will be woken up
early the next morning to come see the house, which he worked tirelessly through the night to
build.

You tell Glod of your quest to slay the Chameleon, but he says he has to stay behind and tend
to Ulna and his family. It's his job, after all.

As long as Glod didn't die in battle with a dragon earlier, however, the now-overjoyed (and
up UNTIL now rather silent) Ulna will speak up. "Wait a bloody minute 'ere, Glod. Mah legs may
not work, but mah hands do. Dinna ye say that ah was just fine in bed with ye last week,
when mah hands did all the workin'?" Although YOU'RE embarrassed, Glod doesn't seem at all
phased by this question, and answers it with a simple "aye".

Ulna goes on to explain that she's fully capable of being useful and doing work in the village,
even WITHOUT her legs. She tells Glod to leave, to help you, while she handles things here.
And Glod's response is, of course, that that's none of his business -- it's up to her.

Glod's reason for joining you, however, varies depending on whether or not he was present when
you raided the dragon's cave. If he was, he'll join you because "ye'll probably screw somethin'
up if yah have to do all o' that on yer own, since yer joos' humans 'n'all. And ah'd much rather
see ignorant humans all aroond me than a human who wants tah conquer this land -- I dinna want
tah FIGHT yer kind!" If, instead, you got the dragon bones and scales on your own, he'll say
(rather indirectly) that you've proven yourself as being more than just dwarf-annoyers, and he
wants to pay you back for helping when you didn't have to.

As he leaves, he'll tell Ulna that he's going to miss her, and that he wants to see the new
house stocked floor to ceiling with ale when he returns. Ulna's response to this is a mere
"aye".

And he'll start out with the Dragonbone Axe, his second-strongest available axe -- though it
takes a lot out of him when he swings it!

Also, one thing which didn't come through here too well: no matter what sorts of hardships
Glod and Ulna face, they're both very positive individuals. They're extremely optimistic and
happy, and always see the good and fun side of life -- though they're still easily annoyed.

This being the case, Glod develops quite a friendship with the people who need the most
cheering up during the game, and this ultimately results in he and Mikron becoming drinking
buddies, which eventually results in a COUPLE command being unlocked between them. Make
of this what you will! (:

[back to table of contents]

Perhaps more directly related to the game's plot than most, Jien's story is triggered automatically,
and you will be given a choice whether or not to pursue it every time you play. When returning to
the town of Kaigan with the Oxygine, Jien will be especially excited at its discovery. You will be
given the choice of whether or not to spend the night in Kaigan while the scholars and engineers of
the town study the Oxygine. If you agree to this, there will be a short cutscene in the middle of
the night: one engineer will be leaving the lab to go to sleep, and have a short conversation with
another who will be taking his place, explaining that all of his notes are near the Oxygine, and
that it shouldn't be too difficult to duplicate the device now.

Upon returning to the lab, though, the engineer will be shocked to discover that the Oxygine has
been STOLEN.

Cut to Jien, clutching the Oxygine close to her bosom as she leaps into the water.

The next morning, when returning to the lab to reclaim your Oxygine, you will be informed that it
has been STOLEN. However, the engineers who had studied it have managed to actually DUPLICATE it,
so your quest can still continue unabated if you so desire. However, you're also given the option
of trying to find the missing Oxygine. If you take this option, you will eventually discover that
Jien stole it and leapt into the water with it. And if you follow her, you'll be thrust into the
middle of Jien's quest.

This is a quest which introduces the bit character I affectionately refer to as "the first RPG
man-whore". (:

Under the sea, you will discover what seems like a hole in the ocean floor... and you can see an
entire VILLAGE under the waves there! And though you're given the option of leaping in or not
leaping in, this is game -- of COURSE you're gonna take the plunge, right? (:

You will land on the street near an intersection, and many of the nearby merfolk (!) will be
quite shocked at your arrival and swim away frantically. Others -- perhaps a bit more well-armed
than those who fled -- will show up, surround you, and attack.

Although you're certainly much stronger than a bunch of fish-people, one of the guards pulls out
a technique called "Fishwipe", which reduces your entire party to 1 HP. But then, just as the
merfolk are about to finish you off, you too somehow use this Fishwipe technique. The guard flees
from battle, leaving you severely wounded -- but alive.

It turns out that another merman had shown up just in time to save you. He introduces himself as
Jalk, and briefly explains that "fishwipe" is a type of gun invented by the merfolk for killing
fish, but has also been issued to all police officers as a means of crowd control. And Jalk just
happened to get his hands on one of these fishwipes, which you are, of course, QUITE grateful
for.

Jalk leads you down an alley and through a basement door into a large bar-like room full of
merfolk. But unlike the merfolk that fled from you earlier, these people seem quite excited in
your presence. You're being surrounded by joyful faces.

First and foremost, you're asked why you've come here, and you explain that you're searching
for another human, Jien, from the Kaigan fishing village. At the mention of the name Jien,
Jalk seems to get a bit flustered, and asks when she would have arrived. You tell him
everything you know, and he ponders the situation for a moment.

"See, we merfolk are traditionally rather intimidated by your kind because of... events from
the past. As a result, a human entering our town is a rather serious occurrence, and within
minutes, the whole town is usually gossiping about it. I guarantee everyone is already aware
of YOUR presence here. But this Jien person you speak of... well, as far as anyone here is
concerned, YOU'RE the first humans who've come down here in twenty-five or more years. If
Jien did indeed come here, she either managed to keep herself completely hidden, or the
Council has quietly taken her away for some reason or another. And the former option is VERY
unlikely."

You question Jalk further, and he expands upon his mention of "events from the past"... the
village of Kaigan was built by fishermen only about 50 years ago, and every now and again,
the merfolk would swim on the surface -- a popular hobby, especially for the women of the
species. But these fishermen had caught sight of these so-called "mermaids", and had begun
trying to either seduce or hunt them. It became such a problem that the merfolk had started
fearing the surface and staying away from it entirely.

And that's when the fishermen of the village invented the Oxygine.

The Council considered humans to be a threat to the town, ESPECIALLY now that they were
capable of invading it, and issued a law stating that humans were to be killed on sight.
In private chambers, merfolk inventors were busy creating their own magical amulet, a
device called an "Aquadine", which would place a bubble of water around its merfolk
wearer, allowing him/her to walk and breathe on dry land with as much ease as when
swimming. Their goal, of course, was to actually invade Kaigan and wipe out its residents,
ending the threat to their town once and for all ("though fishwipes can only properly
function underwater, knives are universal").

Of course, the merfolk are NOT an ignorant or heartless species. They concluded that an
all-out invasion of Kaigan would be a last-resort effort ONLY, and would only be carried
out if a merfolk were actually harmed by a human being.

And, for the time being, the surface was considered off-limits.

But that didn't stop an adventurous young merwoman named Jien from swimming on the surface
anyway.

And one day, a sweet young fisherman named Pete saw Jien swimming amidst the waves on a
cold November morning, and cautiously tried to speak with her. The two of them were afraid
of one another, but at the same time, they were intrigued by each other. They agreed to
meet again the next night, and the next, until they had finally fallen in love.

And, as so often happens in these kinds of love stories, one thing led to another, and
sweet, innocent Jien got pregnant.

She didn't know how to tell Pete, and stopped coming to the surface -- but Pete still
waited for her, each and every night.

Back down in her town, everyone knew she was pregnant, but no one knew who the father was,
and Jien just wouldn't tell anyone. And then, nine months later, Jien disappeared. She
went off by herself, and swam to the surface in terrible pain, where Pete was even still
waiting for her. She confessed that she was about to give birth to his baby, and Pete
stood by her side and helped deliver it. And to their surprise, their new baby girl was
born with legs instead of fins, and breathed air instead of water!

Determined to prove to everyone, once and for all, that not all humans are bad, Pete and
the new baby girl each donned an Oxygine and, with Jien leading them by the hand, swam
down to the town below, to the Council building.

Though not many people were awake at this time of night, those that were roused everyone
else, and soon the whole town was trailing them, staying at a safe distance from the
spectacle of a human and a merfolk swimming hand-in-hand.

But Jien, who thought this could be the start of a new bond between the two cultures,
had not considered the strength of the merfolk's hatred of humanity. The Council saw
this as the rough equivalent of a human breeding with a monster -- and having it
produce something! -- and ordered all three of them killed at once.

Now, Jien was extremely weak from having just given birth, but the strength of her love
and her determination made her shoot up, like a bullet, still holding the baby in one
hand and Pete's hand in the other, to the surface, to save the life of her new family.
The merfolk gathered around her merely stood aghast for a moment, but then began
pursuing her. The police fired fishwipes at her, but amazingly, she outran them!

...well, almost. She made it to the surface, and Pete swam to shore with the baby. But
even when outrunning a gunshot, you'll still get hit by it when you can run no further.
Hit and weakened, she splashed back into the sea, followed by a trickle of blood a
moment later -- no doubt her life blood spilling from her after a knife had finished
where the fishwipe left off.

Pete left the baby with another fisherman, and was prepared to dive back into the sea,
when all of a sudden, dozens of merfolk began leaping OUT of the sea, encased in
magical spheres of water.

This was the last straw. The invasion had begun.

Jalk finishes his story by saying that the city of Kaigan was almost completely levelled, and
everyone was killed, though Pete and the baby had gotten away, and were never heard from or
seen again. Every Oxygine was also destroyed -- or so the merfolk thought.

"So this 'Jien' person you're searching for... it seems quite possible that she may, in fact,
be the child born of human and merfolk, named after her deceased mother. And if she's the one
who came down here, that would explain why it's been kept quiet, and might mean that she's
being kept somewhere inside the Council building -- though I'm not exactly sure what they'll
be doing with her. This is a political nightmare for our people."

Jalk -- yes, he's STILL talking -- continues by explaining that the people you see in this
room represent a fairly large political faction which believes that not all humans are bad.
And although these sympathizers aren't paricularly liked by the rest of the merfolk, their
numbers are high enough that they HAVE sparked debates with the Council, and may have indeed
affected the Council's actions in regards to human life. In other words, if Jien is still
alive, you pretty much have this very group of people to thank for it.

So the next step is to get inside the Council building and seach for Jien. Jalk seems quite
happy to help you with this, "since there's a good chance she may still be killed -- and
let's hope we're not ALREADY too late!" He does, however, point out that it would be fairly
impossible to get inside during the day -- and even at night, since there IS a night sentry.

The best time to sneak in would be during the changing of the guard, when you can sneak in
and attract the least amount of attention. There IS a back entrance into the Council
building, as well, which isn't usually very heavily-guarded -- and CERTAINLY not during
the changing of the guard.

The time to strike is 6am.

And so, Jalk offers you rooms at the "bar" -- you really don't have much choice but to stay
the night.

However, Jalk is a very smooth talker, and if you have Carma with you, she WON'T be seeing
her room much (if you ARE Carma, it will be made glaringly obvious that you and Jalk spend
the night together, and if you're Sulin and have Carma with you, it will be rather blatantly
suggested, but not 100% certain).

Fade to black, and have Carma getting rather upset with herself: "What have I done?"

The next morning, the party is roused from their sleep early, but not too early for Carma to
seek out Sulin (assuming both of these characters are in your party). She seems very nervous
and upset (gee, I wonder why), and wants to say something to him, but can't seem to spit it
out (maybe "I just shagged a merman!" is a little hard to say, ne?). Instead, she says
something like this:

"Uh... well, Sulin... no matter what happens... I just want you to know... I... I love
you..."

This is the first time these words have ever been spoken between Sulin and Carma, and Sulin
is quite flustered by this, unable to say anything. Finally, Carma says, "W... we should
go."

Of course, you DO manage to successfully get inside the Council building -- with the
trained and exceptionally bubbly help of Jalk, that is. And by doing a bit of spying from
afar, you learn that Jien was indeed captured by the Council, and because of the political
sensitivity of this issue -- not to mention the fact that, if she were killed, SOMEONE
would certainly leak that information to the public -- her life is safe, for now.

Apparently, she was told that humans and merfolk don't particularly like one another, and
in order to function as a valid member of merfolk society, Jien must agree to live wholly
within it. She was asked, upon her capture, if she wanted to stay among the merfolk or
return back to the human world -- and, amazingly, she said she wanted to think about it.

She was given until today to make her decision -- but apparently, if she decides to return
to the human world, she will not be allowed to, and will, in fact, be publically executed
(politically, a captured human cannot be allowed to return to its own world, after all --
it would be a sign of weakness on the part of the merfolk Council!).

Obviously, this doesn't fly with the party.

Jalk says that this is a very tricky situation, because the merfolk DO still have their
Aquadines, and if Jien is taken back to the surface, the merfolk will almost certainly pursue.
And right now, the merfolk are on high alert -- they know you're here, after all. But never
fear: apparently, Jalk and his group prepared for this situation. "Just watch your backs.
The merfolk WILL follow you, but they WON'T be much of a threat. I made sure of that personally,
a long, long time ago..."

So, here's the plan: Jalk calls for backup, and tells his group to wait outside the Council
building. "We're going to see what Jien decides. If she chooses to stay with us, then so be it.
I'll look after her from hereon in, and make sure she's never in any danger. But if she chooses
to go back to the surface... well, then I'll just have to be her escort, won't I!" And the other
sympathizers? They're coming to help YOU return to the surface. "Nothing should happen to us.
We represent a fairly large political power in this town. Even if no one likes us, the people
still won't be able to forgive the Council if they should exterminate us completely -- and that's
EXACTLY what they'll have to do if they want to stop us!"

And so it begins... viva la revolucion! (:

Jalk instructs you on which path out of the Council building is most to your advantage when the
time comes for you to leave, and then, from a secret vantage point, you stare down at Jien, who's
been caged like an animal.

"So, Jien, half-merfolk half-human... which half have you decided upon?"

"How can I decide? Both halves are a part of me!"

"You must abandon one now. I'm sorry, but there's no other way."

"If I must abandon one, then I will abandon the one I've only known for a day, the one that's
kept me locked in a cage. I've lived my life so far as a human, and frankly, I wish I'd never
come down here. I just wanted to find out more about myself... I didn't intend to stay, nor did
I intend to hurt anyone or in any way disrupt your culture..."

"Then so be it..."

Jalk gives you the signal. "Leave Jien to me. I'll take her to a safe place, and then, when
things die down a bit, I'll bring her to the surface. While I distract the guards, get the hell
out of here, and look for the merfolk you met yesterday, OK?"

And so, Jalk dives into action, swiping Jien away as soon as her cell is unlocked, and leaving
you to your escape.

And it's your escape that will be focused upon first.

At least, in the game. For the purposes of this document, your escape isn't particularly
interesting. All you do is escape, and when you find the sympathizers, grab their hands and
swim with them to shore -- the guards will start to chase them, but eventually be called away
and told to pursue Jien and Jalk instead -- "the other interlopers will certainly be waiting for
Jien on the surface -- we can track them down later!"

And though none of the characters hear this, you, the player, will: one of the guards will add,
"Jien has been kidnapped from us by the Council President's son, Jalk! This is his LAST offense,
and the President has ordered that he be taken by force and killed on sight! He's a disgrace to
the whole town!"

And speaking of Jien and Jalk... in a party consisting of Jien and Jalk, you'll now have to
fight numerous guards and follow Jalk's lead as he employs his knowledge of the Council
building and attempts to lead you to safety. And, of course, he and his kind have dug tunnels
for just such an occasion -- he's basically a radical, so would you expect any less? He also
reveals that he used to WORK in the Council, as a guard, though his identity as the president's
son never comes up... he merely says that he became a guard before he joined the sympathizers,
but he had the sympathizers in mind at the time, and memorized the layout of the Council just
in case something like this should ever come up.

Anyway, Jalk and Jien manage to duck into a tunnel undetected, and hide there. Fade to black.

(Remember what happened LAST time the screen faded to black? Ahem... just something to
take note of!)

Flash forward to that night, in the town of Kaigan. Everyone is sleeping at a tavern.
But, party depending, Carma wakes up in the middle of the night, and mutters Jalk's name.
She quietly leaves to go to the shore and watch for him.

Next, Sulin wakes up, and notices that Carma is missing. He has a feeling she's gone to
the shore, and decides to go look for her.

So, the scene is set: a quiet night, by the shore, with a gentle breeze blowing. No music.
Carma is sitting, watching the waves, when she hears Sulin's voice. "Carma?" She turns and sees
him, and blushes a little. Without saying anything, Sulin walks over and sits next to her. "Um...
about what you said before... d... did you mean it?"

Carma continues blushing, saying nothing.

Sulin gulps, and continues. "I... I love you too, Carma..."

Carma is still silent. But, from this point on, Sulin and Carma's COUPLE technique will be
available.

Then, suddenly, the quiet waves break. Jien's head pops up, followed by Jalk's fin. Jien yells
at you, "Get ready, they're coming!"

As all hell breaks loose, Jalk yells and breaks the relative silence of the area: "Go back to
the town, merfolk! Your Aquadines are VERY weak! They'll shatter at the slightest impact! I
know -- I MADE them that way!"

Jien runs out of the water quickly, heading toward you. Then, with a cacophany of splashes,
merfolk appear left and right, surrounded by spheres of water. One of them has a fishwipe, and
hits Jalk dead on. He slumps backward, and another nearby merfolk takes out a knife. Though
you don't see the impact, an FMV (pleasepleaseplease, somebody!) makes it quite clear that Jalk
has been struck dead, with blood oozing out and turning the water red.

Jien and Carma scream in unison: "JAAAAAALK!!" (remeber, they BOTH... er... "faded out" with
Jalk!).

One of the larger guards heads straight for you, and begins attacking. Jien is automatically
in your party (which should be just Sulin, Carma, and Jien at this point), and automatically
casts a protection bubble around you, which greatly turns the tides of battle, and makes these
merfolk into pretty wimpy opponents.

Actually, what makes these merfolk into pretty wimpy opponents is the fact that their Aquadines
shatter after only a few hits, leaving them to flap their way back to the ocean.

You'll have to fight a few battles like this, but without strong Aquadines or the ability to
use fishwipes, the merfolk are no match for you. They will eventually retreat into the blood-red
sea.

The ruckus has, of course, roused a few of the townsfolk from their bed.

The next morning is quite an awkward one -- mostly because Jien is so incredibly upset with
herself for having started all of this mess. She was just curious -- she wanted to learn about
the sea, which she had always yearned to see. She never imagined that she was a mer-half, nor
could she have possibly guessed that such a militant race could live beneath the sea. She just
had an urge, an uncontrollable urge to see what lay beneath the waves.

You tell her that she managed to reach many people -- that there were many sympathizers, Jalk
included, who had been waiting for this day for a long time. Jien had, in effect, given the
xenophobic merfolk a slap in the face, made them reconsider their stance on humans, if only
for a moment. She had, at least, stirred a pot that really needed stirring.

Etc., etc., etc. You know, encouragement speeches and the like.

You also compliment Jien on the protection skills she employed, and tell her that you could
really use someone like her on your quest. And, after all you've done for her, of COURSE
she agrees to help -- why wouldn't she?

And, if you should explore the coastline of Kaigan closely, you'll discover Jalk's fishwipe,
which can be taken and used as a beam weapon by Moriarty or for berserking by Petrefax. It's
not very useful under most circumstances (read: it does NOTHING), but whenever you find
yourself underwater, it's probably the single most useful item you can possibly have, as it
will instantly reduce any enemy -- bosses included! -- to 1 HP.

And thus ends the revolutionary story of Jien and Jalk -- at least, for now. During the game,
anytime you find yourself eating, people will notice that Jien has "put on a little weight"...
which is, of course, a baby. And when she HAS the baby, in the ending, there will be some very
interesting scenes between her and Carma... and it will finally be time for Carma to admit to
Sulin what had happened that night under the sea... but, that's for another time. (:

I would just like to note now that this is the NEWEST major plot scene I've written into the
game, and I've grown quite attached to it. I think the character of Jalk, who was created and
devised entirely during a single walk home from school, may be one of the coolest minor
characters I've ever come up with. (:

[back to table of contents]

(An addendum to Du and Mikron's tale; will not be directly addressed during the game, but
every piece of information within this story CAN be discovered by thoroughly exploring things
and chatting with everyone.)

450 or so years ago...

The Neglifians, as described in Du and Mikron's tale, migrated to the planet Honshin. The
residents of Honshin, a long-living race with incredible technological ability, were still
no match for Neglifian weapons, and decided to peacefully co-exist, as best as possible, with
their invaders.

Then, about 200 years ago, the Neglifians began to slaughter the Honshin people, ready to move
on to Skyh. The Honshin tried to fight back, but to no avail. Some tried to flee in their
ships, but the Honshin were mostly a pacifistic people, and their ships were suitable only for
exploration, not for escape or combat. The low speeds and inadequate weaponry quickly fell
to Neglifian assaults.

One man, however, managed to successfully stow away, unnoticed, aboard a Neglifian vessel. His
name... was Glenlin.

Glenlin rode the vessel all the way to Skyh, and managed to leave it just as stealthfully as
he had hidden away within it. He would explore his surroundings under cover of night, and hide
away during the day, observing the goings-on around him. The Honshin were known for their
extremely advanced ability to adapt, so Glenlin managed to quickly pick up the Skyh language,
and just as quickly figured out who the Skyh resistance were and where they were operating
from.

And he paid them a visit.

With Glenlin's know-how and the Skyh's slightly more well-designed ships, Glenlin helped the
Skyh resistance get started, and decided to do whatever he could to help stop the Neglifians.

From his spying, he had ascertained that the Neglifians' next target would be Earth. So the
Skyh resistance planned to take a ship and travel to Earth, to warn its people of the certain
invasion that would occur in 200 or so years.

As expected, a Neglifian vessel pursued them relentlessly, but the Skyh vessel -- carrying
Glenlin, as well as several members of the resistance -- was able to easily dodge the
Neglifians' shots, and fought back tirelessly.

But, in doing so, a slight miscalculation led to a terrible, terrible mistake: the destruction
of Earth's moon.

Eventually, the Neglifian ship fell, and the Skyh ship landed on Earth -- as it happens, in
the middle of Delidia, near the site where Cair Delidia stands today (thus the strange markings
on the ground there).

The people were frightened at first, but Glenlin quickly adapted to their language (a truly
amazing feat, considering how quickly he began to understand them!), perhaps through a magic
unheard of, and said that the Skyh were here to help, that an invasion was coming, and that the
Earth inhabitants should prepare for it in about 200 or more years.

And, amazingly, the humans were quite willing to accept this.

The Skyh lived with the humans for a few years, learning their language and culture to a near
perfect extent, while all the while the Neglifians completely left them alone -- as mentioned
earlier, the Neglifians are always kind to their future targets, and would never do anything to
intimidate them prior to their imminent conquering.

The Skyh did, however, fully admit responsibility for having destroyed the Earth's moon, and
promised to make up for this by building a protective shield around the Earth, using magical
materials from Skyh, the know-how of the Skyh and Glenlin, and a hefty dose of magic (which
the Earth seemed to have quite an abundance of). The idea was to build a large sphere, mostly
out of solidified magic (similar to the magic shelters, but much thicker and thus exponentially
stronger), but with a few actual solid sections made out of a strong and unusually magical metal
from Skyh, in case the sphere should be attacked by tremendous forces. This so-called "sky dome"
would encase the bulk of the Milky Way galaxy, sun and all, and would spin at the exact same
speed (and in the exact same direction) as the Earth, giving the solitary exit portal a moon-
like appearance. The dome would be heavily-guarded by Skyh forces, and, when the time came for
the Neglifians to move on, the Skyh would devote themselves completely to making sure that the
Earth would NOT be invaded.

The humans were overjoyed and extremely thankful -- all, that is, except for those who were
involved in the Natural Guardians, a constantly-growing religion which forbade man from flying,
and thus considered all Skyh to be heathens.

And though the sky dome was built with relatively few casualties or problems, the people were
NOT happy about it.

The Skyh had not only destroyed their moon, they had now blackened the sky as well. The elderly
lamented that they'd never again see the purple glow of the night sky, and the young marvelled
at the fact that it actually once WAS purple, unable to remember any such scene.

The Natural Guardians suddenly became a dominant religion, and the Skyh were driven off the
planet. But Glenlin, who had an appearance indistinguishable from a human being, had been
forgotten about, and told the Skyh that he would stay behind and watch after things here if the
Skyh would look after things up above.

As the Natural Guardians grew more and more, they began to order all records of the Skyh's
life on the planet destroyed, and the people, convinced that the Skyh were devils (of sorts),
gladly complied.

And although the Natural Guardians died out completely within 50 years time, the people forgot.
They forgot that the sky was once purple, and began to interpret "purple sky" as an idiom for
"clear sky" whenever it was encountered in old tales. The Skyh, usually just called "cats" by
humans, were still mentioned in some stories that survived the Natural Guardians' ban, but
were thought of in much the same way as we think of angels today -- or, in some cases, devils.
A whole mythology arose about feuding cat-people from Heaven and Hell (which weren't called
that, but might as well have been), and all history from this period was completely lost --
partially added to legends, partially made up, and partially forgotten altogether.

The Skyh, upon returning to the planet Skyh (which fortunately occurred without casualty),
found their culture in ruins. They decided to take action, and began teaching the English
language (the young Skyh could barely speak their native language, so English communication
had become very important!), as well as a few of the more admirable aspects of human
culture. Unfortunately, since the Neglifians were constantly watching over them, the
Neglifians, too, learned English, and learned all about how to fit into human culture --
thus Mikron's proficiency.

And Glenlin? Well, he eventually moved to the kingdom of Teras, where he employed his white
magic skills for the king. No one ever knew who he really was, or where he came from -- or
that he was the last of his kind.

And Glenlin brought with him some documents which he added to the library at Teras, including
paintings depicting the purple sky of night, paintings depicting the Skyh together with
humans, and old tales which had some basis in truth.

And, considering all he did to fight against Solramus 15 years ago, I'd say he kept his
promise -- he watched over us here, while the Skyh watched over us from above. And he
continues to watch over us, even now...

And then there's the story of his love affair, and his daughter Carma... but that's another
story altogether...

[back to table of contents]

Throughout the game, as with any other good RPG, there will be a variety of mini-games
scattered about, though one of them is quite a bit more interesting and involving than the
others. All three of these mini-games can be found and played at the carnival where Moriarty
used to work, though QuestChester is actually located in 8 different places around the
world. Anyway, let's get started, shall we?

"QuestChester"

QuestChester is the biggest mini-game in Forgotten Kings, and is actually very important to
its plot, believe it or not. More of a whole other game than a mini-game, it'll be as
interesting to play as it will be a pain to make. (: For more information, please click here!

"Torture"

The idea behind Torture is simple: man runs along the ground at a set speed and can't stop.
There are walls along the way that he has to duck under, and pits he has to jump over. And if
he manages to survive this gauntlet, he will be sped up and forced to run it again. This will
continue until it becomes virtually impossible, at which point you'll be rewarded BIG TIME if
you can make it.

Torture is, in fact, an arcade game in the world of FK. Many versions of it exist, though the
main difference is in the graphics and music (the normal FK version of it resembles an old
Atari 2600 game, whereas Moriarty and Sherlie have beefed-up versions of it, and there's one
version of it on the planet Skyh that's quite impressively high-tech -- perhaps even 3D!). As
with any arcade game, you have to put in some money in order to play, and you really don't get
anything in return -- but every now and again you may be able to enter a Torture tournament,
usually taking the form of a race, which could have a big payoff in the end.

And, finally...

"Escape From Epic"

Existing solely as an excuse for me to remake my old side-scrolling puzzler, Escape From Epic
is... erm... a side-scrolling puzzler. (:

Though free of enemies, your main character will be placed inside a magical labyrinth, within
which there are stones, blocks of ice, and water. By using magic orbs you find along the way
(fire, ice, lightning, and earth), you must escape from each section of this odd labyrinth --
and you will be given just enough orbs to do it with, no more and no less.

Fire, ice, and lightning, brought forth from orbs, can be used to move blocks. Fire can melt
ice blocks, Ice can freeze a small section of water or make a small ice bridge, and Lightning
can destroy an entire body of water or melt ice to make a small waterfall. And, when combined
with Earth orbs, you can make Fire melt all the ice on the screen, Ice freeze all the water on
the screen, or Lightning destroy all bodies of water in the area AND melt all of the ice on the
screen. In addition, two Earth orbs used in conjunction with one another will result in the
ground beneath your feet growing, ever-so-slightly.

In addition to the orbs, there will be "eggs" contained within this labyrinth. These eggs may
contain prizes, or they may contain chickens. Whatever eggs you acquire during your raiding
of this tomb (hey, wait a minute...) will be cracked open upon your exit from it. Any prizes
you found are yours for the keeping -- and any chickens you found will gang up on you, forcing
you into battle -- a battle that gets harder and harder with each chicken you located. (:

There's a small admission fee to get into the labyrinth, though the big downside of it is, of
course, the whole "Angry Chicken Gang" battle. (:

[back to table of contents]

And now, the final scenes of the game, whereupon the fun non-linearness of everything comes to
an abrupt end...

There is one spot -- and ONLY one spot -- in the caves of Eagle where the multi-elemental
barrier can be directly interacted with. If you have the four Tears, go to that spot and touch the
barrier, and it will vanish before your eyes. Step into the next room, and you will be greeted with
quite a sight: a dead-end cave room with a hole in the ceiling and the critically-injured body of
Potter Slye, Teras's famous shapeshifter, sprawled out on the ground.

Speak with Potter, and he'll tell you what happened: seeing no other way to get through the
barrier without the Tears, and fearing that he'd never be able to find and retrieve the Tears in
time to stop The Chameleon, Potter shapeshifted himself into smoke and attempted to drift
through the barrier. This endeavor proved successful, but just barely: he was very badly injured
in the process. The barrier was still up, and he was in too weak of a condition to shapeshift again
-- into ANYTHING -- so he just collapsed onto the ground, where he's been ever since. Now,
nearly dying of starvation, he begs you to find him some food, and some drink, and to heal his
wounds.

Of course, you'd NEVER be so cruel as to refuse a man's pleads for life... would you? With
Potter in your arms, you proceed back to Eagle Village, where he is kept on a bed and nursed
back to health over the next 3 days.

Although still quite weak and malnourished, Potter insists that you cannot wait any longer. He
demands that you take him back to the cave beyond the barrier, where he will assist you in
reaching and, ultimately, defeating The Chameleon.

When you've finished buying supplies and completing sub-quests, speak with Potter and tell him
you're ready to go. You will automatically walk back to the cave beyond the barrier, with Potter
trailing behind, and Potter will transform himself into a giant eagle, right before your eyes!

"This is the best I can do right now, I'm afraid. I'd like to transform into a dragon, but I'm a bit
too weak for that right now. Only one of you can ride on my back -- the others will have to stay
behind."

Of course, Sulin is the one who eventually decides to go -- but before he does, you are asked to
leave the four Tears in someone else's care. Although they dance around the reasons for this, it
is, of course, something of an insurance policy in case you fail and... well... die.

You are now presented with a distribution screen: you must split the four Tears up amongst your
allies, or elect to leave some (or all) of them in Eagle Village (if you have no allies, they will all
be kept in Potter's care). This is a very important decision, and the best choice, ultimately, is to
leave them all in Eagle Village.

And now, you take to the skies on the back of Potter Slye, soaring in the air above the mountains
of Eagle! And there, in the distance, you see what could only be The Chameleon: an ugly, mean-
looking red dragon, hovering in the air above a small valley and breathing fire down upon a
metal plate on the ground. Presumably, the seal of Dorado Castle.

As soon as The Chameleon notices your presence, it begins to come toward you. It's time for
your biggest battle yet!

Although it's only Sulin fighting, Potter is officially part of your party, and thus CAN be used in
battle. He has many talon attacks and the like that are quite powerful, though his combat counter
is quite high, so he will only be able to attack a few times during the course of the battle.

Eventually, this battle IS to be won, and the red dragon form of The Chameleon will turn and fly
off into the distance, spiraling slightly downward as it flies. It looks as if it hit the ground off in
the distance -- which means, amazingly, that you won!

Potter says that it would probably be in your best interests to check the plate and assess the
damage that was done to it, then fly to the spot where The Chameleon crashed and make sure
it's dead. He goes in for a landing next to the plate.

Even with its magical protection and virtual invincibility (greater than that of a magic shelter,
even!), The Chameleon got very close to destroying the plate seal -- so close, in fact, that it will
probably have to be resealed soon, or else it could pose quite a risk!

Just as Potter and Sulin are noting this, the red dragon re-emerges on the horizon. A ball of fire
is hurled directly at them, and Sulin is knocked off of Potter's back as Potter is engulfed in
flames. Another ball of fire, even bigger than the last one, is hurled forth, and Sulin leaps to
avoid it. It collides directly with the plate seal, which finally shatters under its impact, and Sulin
is knocked into the hole. Landing in a sea of red-hot liquid gold, Sulin begins to drown, his skin
burning. He's given up all hope of surviving at this point, and has resigned himself to death. The
world around him goes black, and he passes out...

...and wakes up in his bed, in Teras. He's bandaged and scarred, and finds it difficult to breathe
but somehow, he's alive.

He learns from Mintrex (or Glenlin, if you played as Carma) that Glenlin had sensed his danger,
and since the barrier had been taken down, Glenlin had pulled him out of Vulteria in the nick of
time. His injuries were severe, but had already mostly healed. Another day or two and he'd be
back to normal.

Carma, too, has returned, though she came the long way and actually took the dangerous path
from Shagwood to Teras.

Unfortunately, Potter Slye was not so lucky. He had been killed instantly by The Chameleon's
flames. His weakened state just couldn't take it. His body was brought back, though, and he
would be given a hero's funeral as soon as the seal plate was rebuilt and put back into place
(an event to be handled in the ending).

The situation, according to Glenlin: the seal plate had been destroyed, leaving Dorado Castle
open for revival. The only way to prevent this revival from occurring would be to safely guard
the nearby shrine -- the place from which Dorado Castle was banished, and thus the only place
from which it could be revived -- while the plate is being rebuilt. A smithy is currently working
on forging a new plate to Glenlin's specifications, and until that time, he, and you (if you're up
to it -- which you are), and Carma (if she's alive), and Calisto (the head of the guards, who was
also trapped within the barrier, and was brought back when the barrier was destroyed) will go to
the shrine, with a handful of guards, and proceed to protect it with your lives.

On the way to the shrine, Glenlin explains to you what he's been doing since you've been in
Vulteria. Magic, as you should know by this point, is a power pulled from the air. And although
it seems like there's a limitless pool of magic in the air, this is only because magic multiplies
when unused. There IS a limited amount of it, though, at any given moment -- and Glenlin had
been seeking this limit. His goal was to cast the world's most powerful magic spell -- one that
would suck every last bit of magic out of the air. If no magic remained in the air, then no magic
could multiply, and, once and for all, magic would vanish from the world. The Chameleon's
barrier would surely disappear, and The Chameleon would find himself stuck in whatever his
natural shape may be, unable to ever transform again. The revival of Dorado Castle would also
be quite impossible, plate or no plate -- it took magic to banish it, and would take just as strong a
spell to bring it back!

Glenlin had thought himself on the verge of a breakthrough when he had seen, with his mind's
eye, the destruction of the barrier and, unfortunately, the destruction of the sealing plate. There
was no longer any time to seal the magic from the air, as the spell would take at least a week to
cast, and would probably cost him his life. And if all of the world's magic were voided AFTER
the revival of Dorado Castle, it would already be too late -- the damage would've already been
done.

You stare at Glenlin in disbelief and remark on what an unusual idea that is, and how it
would've surely taken The Chameleon by surprise, but how it also would've been terrible to see
Glenlin die for such a thing. All the while, Calisto is unusually quiet.

Finally, you reach the shrine, and, fortunately, The Chameleon doesn't seem to have gotten here
yet. The guards are stationed all along the outside, while you, Carma, Calisto, and Glenlin
protect the shrine from the inside. Glenlin expresses his regret, but says that he must prepare the
spell that will end the world's magic, for surely, inside these walls, he'll be safe -- at least, unless
and until The Chameleon shows up. And if the spell takes effect before The Chameleon comes,
then the battle will be won!

Only a few moments into the spell, though, Glenlin says that something is causing a disruption:
an evil presence. He stares at Calisto, who grins.

Suddenly, it all makes sense. Sulin and Carma draw their swords. Glenlin prepares his magic.
Calisto is The Chameleon, and he must be killed -- NOW.

Calisto introduces himself. His real name is Ruth -- Prince Ruth, son of the former King
Solramus, and the rightful heir to the throne of Dorado Castle -- if not also Teras Castle! He
managed to escape from Dorado as it sank into the ground 15 years ago, and had been trained in
the ways of black magic by Mordex himself, in the Labyrinth -- the ruins of what was once his
castle. He had also been studying magic on his own, though, and had learned how to shapeshift,
among other things. And so, he bested his own master, killing Mordex. It was accidental, but he
knew then that he had enough power to retake his kingdom -- and now he plans to prove it.

Battles ensues, but all for naught -- Calisto easily defeats you, and leaves you, nearly dead, in the
shrine as he casts the spell to revive Dorado Castle.

Cue FMV (please?). The wreckage of the once-great Dorado Castle rises out from the mountains.
Mountains are pushed aside and crumble, barraging the villages all over Vulteria with a flurry of
rocks and boulders and, indeed, whole mountain peaks. Liquid gold escapes from the hole and
rushes down into the villages like magma from an erupting volcano. Pieces of the old, now ugly
castle, rise from the ground right underneath houses. The entire land of Vulteria is completely
decimated, with only wreckage and a few sparse survivors remaining.

Pan back to Calisto, who grins even wider as he casts a SECOND spell -- this time, to "activate"
the four Tears.

The person holding the Ruby Tear will burst into flames. That person will die instantly unless
his/her armor is strong against fire, in which case he/she will just take a lot of damage. If his/her
HP is not high enough to handle this, he/she will die.

The person holding the Sapphire Tear will be encased in a bubble of water. The rocks, as they
fall, will turn to mud and harmlessly cake upon the holder of the Tear. This person will survive
the disaster, and will be waiting for you later when you return to Vulteria.

The person holding the Emerald Tear will become supercharged with electricity. This will make
the rocks take more damage than the holder of the Tear as they hit. This person, too, will survive
the disaster, though he/she will be unconscious when you find him/her later.

And, finally, the person holding the Diamond Tear will be caught in a gigantic earthquake, with
jutting rocks and everything -- and, on top of it all, will have to deal with falling boulders! This
person will take an extraordinary amount of damage, but if it's someone who has a LOT of HP
AND is strong against earth magic, he/she WILL survive.

The remainder of the party members left behind in Vulteria will survive the disaster if they have
enough HP to handle it, or if they have armor that's strong against earth magic. (Consequently,
the "band" of 18 people [see Doug's Story] will also survive, if they've been amassed, by pure
virtue of the basement of the music hall acting as a bomb shelter!)

At this point, Calisto vanishes, and says that he's going to take the throne -- the throne that's
been his for at least 15 years now.

[back to table of contents]

A few days later...

You, Carma (if she survived and if she didn't have the Diamond or Ruby Tear in her possession),
and Glenlin (and possibly Mintrex -- see Oddh's Story) agree to set off to the ruins of Vulteria
for one last mission: to seek out Calisto and end his life, once and for all. No Vulterian shrines
remain standing, however, so you must walk the dangerous mountain path into Shagwood and
wind your way through the gold-splattered boulder-filled ruins of Vulteria to the very center of
Eagle, where Dorado Castle awaits.

At this point in the game, auto-saving has ceased. Your last save-game is in Teras, right before
your final departure for Vulteria. And though it's not really noted in the game (though you'll be
able to figure it out if you really want to), you WILL have the option of convincing Glenlin to
use all his power to turn back the hands of time (in other words, if there's something you didn't
do before the destruction of Vulteria, or if you want to do something differently, like
redistribute the tears, you DO have this option -- though the result will be a slightly
weakened Glenlin when you get him in your party again). The alternative to this is the use of
your main character's "Remember" spell (if you learned it), which will take you back to the
exact moment (i.e. like a savegame) in which your secondary character (Carma) cast the "Record"
spell. This has no negative repercussions whatsoever, making it a far better choice than
sacrificing Glenlin's power -- but finding the "Record" and "Remember" spells during the game
is a slightly challenging task (see the end of the QuestChester plot summary for more details).

If you managed to rescue all 18 of the musical villagers earlier in the game (see Doug's story
for more details), the music hall will still be standing (barely), and the band will all be amassed
in the basement. If you didn't get all 18 villagers, the music hall will have collapsed, and there
will be no survivors. If the music hall is around, though, be sure to pay it a visit, and one of the
more eccentric women you rescued (Mara Connelly) will approach Glenlin... and you'll
discover, to your amazement, that she's Carma's mother!! As it happens, she's a thief, and
she was caught one day, by Glenlin, attempting to steal some pocket change from the Teras
treasury. Glenlin recognized her, and though she was an adopted child and knew nothing of
her parents, Glenlin claimed to have been good friends of them. He told her stories about
her parents, and realizing that she was only stealing to survive, he said nothing to the king, and
in fact gave her a weekly allowance, under the condition that she stop stealing from people.
Although she thought of Glenlin as a father figure, she found herself seducing him one day,
quite successfully, in a moment of weakness. This one night of weakness yielded a baby
girl, which Mara was too embarrassed about to even mention. Nine months later, she showed
up at Teras Castle with the girl in her arms, and begged to be allowed to see Glenlin. She
revealed the girl to him, and asked him to take care of her, feeling that she deserved a better
life than a mere thief could provide. Glenlin, of course, objected, and even proposed a
marriage, but Mara felt embarrassed at her own weakness, and wouldn't hear of it. After
much pushing, she finally gave Glenlin an ultimatum: take the baby, or I'll leave the baby
with someone else. Glenlin gladly took the baby into his custody, and begged Mara to
stay and help raise it, but she just left, in tears, and hadn't been seen since. Until now.

She had named the baby Carma, because she believed that, if raised by a kind and selfless soul
such as Glenlin, this little girl would surely live a very priveleged and wonderful life free of worries.
Mara believed very strongly in karma, which is why she felt that a thief on an allowance would
be nothing more than a negative influence on the child, and would significantly decrease her quality
of life. Consequently, Carma disputes this claim, explaining that she believes that one's karma can
only be affected by oneself, and not by one's family.

Glenlin, to Mara's surprise, forgives her completely, and asks that she please come back to him
as the Queen of Teras. Though Mara may struggle with her weakness, Glenlin never believed her
to be weak: after all, she came to confront him face-to-face all those years ago rather than just
abandoning the baby with a note. She has a strong will, but a weak ego. Mara doesn't believe him,
so he asks her to prove herself: fight alongside him, and help to rid the land of the dark force that
plagues it. If she can handle that, then she must surely have an iron will. With a little more convincing
from Carma, Mara finally agrees, and rejoins your party for the first time since the musical villagers
quest. This unlocks the extremely powerful COUPLE spell shared between her and Glenlin, and
also allows you to get the Amethyst Memory later (see the Hidden Epilogue section, below).

Anyway, upon making your way through the now-ruined land of Vulteria, you'll discover that
your friends (the ones who survived, anyway) are all here, and basically, your only real goal
right now is to get to Dorado Castle and find Calisto (possibly preceded by finding and reviving
Mordex and/or getting the Amethyst Memory). And when you DO find Calisto...

...cue FINAL BATTLE.

Calisto was slightly weakened by the revival spell, and so he'll actually be POSSIBLE this time
around. Upon defeating him, he'll remark that it's all for the best: there's no sense in ruling over
a dead land anyway.

The castle will begin to crumble (for after all, the one who revived it has just died, so the
magical bonds have been broken). Your party automatically escapes from the castle and ducks
back into Eagle. Cue FMV of Dorado Castle sinking, once again, gold melting from its walls,
mountains reforming overtop. The threat to the land is over, though the damage has already been
done.

[back to table of contents]

The ending to Forgotten Kings varies, depending on which characters are still alive and which
quests remain incomplete. This is probably going to be the hardest part of the game to make,
since there are so many possible combinations -- but, if done well, it will also be the single
best reason to replay Forgotten Kings! (:

I need to spend quite a bit of time thinking about the possible endings for this game, so they
will NOT be included in this version of the plot summary. If you use your imagination, though,
I think you can figure out what sorts of things might show up in the ending (coughcoughJIEN
PREGNANTWITHJALK'SBABYcoughcough). (:

[back to table of contents]

It may seem a bit odd to place a plot event AFTER the game's ending, but that just happens
to be when this particular event is encountered.

Be thoroughly warned, this section is a fairly major GAME SPOILER, in that it tells you
exactly how to get to the single biggest hidden story arc in the game (though don't worry, I
decided against detailing the actual plot of it in this document!).

The idea behind this "hidden epilogue" is that, should you thoroughly explore the game and
undergo virtually every subplot and minigame available to you, you will be rewarded by finding
out a bit more about Sulin and Carma -- why they love each other as they do, and how their lives
are connected with the lives of Thannis and Mendies -- and, as it happens, Mara Connelly,
Carma's elusive mother.

To unlock this epilogue, you need to complete the following plot points:

* Complete the musical villagers quest (see Doug's story for details).

* Complete all eight treasure chests in QuestChester (thus winning the Music Box).

* Make sure Carma doesn't get killed when the four Tears are set off.

* Get Mara to join your party during "King of the Ruins".

* Locate Dorado Castle's treasury while Mara is alive and the Music Box is in your possession.

Upon stepping into the treasury, the Music Box will begin to play. Mara should recognize the
melody, and will beg you to give the Music Box to her. She says it's hers, left for her by the
parents she never knew. 15 years ago, during the first reign of Dorado Castle under Solramus,
it was stolen from her when Cair Delidia was pillaged, and she had actually risked her life
and snuck into Dorado Castle to get it back -- from this very room. It's the only memento
she has of her parents, and whenever she hears its melody, she feels like they're right there
alongside her, telling her all about themselves, to make up for having never raised her the
way proper parents should. Because of this strange power -- whether real or imagined --
the Music Box has always been Mara's most treasured possession. When reminiscing about
this, Mara laughs at her own over-sentimentality.

At about the time the second attack on Vulteria began, the Music Box had gone missing, with
no rhyme or reason. She couldn't find it anywhere, no matter how hard she looked. And
somehow or another, it appears to have ended up in a treasure chest, heavily guarded, that
only you were able to open and disarm.

Stranger still is that it appears to have gone off on its own, at this exact moment in time.

Suddenly, the music changes. The room fills with a white light, and we see a few quick flashes
of past events: two people (who happen to be Thannis and Mendies) kissing; the birth of
Mara; the birth of Carma; the birth of Sulin. They only last for a moment, though, so it's hard
to make out any details.

When the light dies down, the Music Box is on the ground -- and next to it is a purple-hued
gem. Mara quickly snatches up the Music Box, but says that the gem is all yours if you want
it. She's not greedy.

As you touch the gem, you receive a few more quick flashes: this time, of Thannis and
Mendies, and then a similar scene of Sulin and Carma. The flash ends quickly again, but
stuns you for a few moments.

You now have the "Amethyst Memory".

This is a very important item, as it will allow you access to the game's prologue/epilogue,
filling in several minor gaps in character development and tying things together nicely.
After the game's credits, if the Amethyst Memory is in your possession, you will see a
quick cut-scene of Sulin and Carma in bed (together, of course), asleep. But, slowly
and subtly, a purple glow begins emanating from a desk in the room. Whichever character
you played as is woken up by the light, and wakes the other person up as well. Together,
Sulin and Carma's hands touch the eerily-glowing Amethyst Memory. The screen
becomes a brilliant purple, and then...

...cue the QuestChester II title screen. Surprise! You thought the game was ending, but
now, a NEW game is just BEGINNING!

QuestChester II plays just like QuestChester, only now you have complete freedom of
movement. There's actually a world map, so you can go wherever you want,
whenever you want, however you want to get there. There are also new locations
to explore -- but most importantly, there's a LOT more story to work with!

And much of this story comes from -- you guessed it -- treasure chests. In a rather
unique parallel of the original minigame, special treasure chests are strewn about the
world which, when opened, will show you a non-interactive (or perhaps limited-
interactive) plot scene from Sulin and Carma's past. These will tend to be short,
and can be viewed in any order (the treasure chests will NOT be randomized, as
each chest will contain the plot element most closely paralleled by what's currently
happening to Thannis and Mendies). When each of these small glimpses into Sulin
and Carma's past are considered as a whole, it should hopefully give the gamer
some new insight into the relationship between Sulin and Carma, and how their
relationship came into being.

And now, keeping all of this in mind, here's the plot of QuestChester II... is what I'd
say to you if I didn't plan to keep the QC2 plot a complete secret until the game's release.
Well, that and I haven't quite finished it yet. (: Guess you'll just have to wait, huh! You
know, I'd finish the game a LOT faster if I had some help... (:

[back to table of contents]

Sulin McCane (Apprentice)
FIGHT, MAGIC, COUPLE (with Carma)
Sulin can attack with an equipped weapon or cast simple magic.

Carma San Pal (Apprentice)
FIGHT, MAGIC, COUPLE (with Sulin)
Carma can attack with an equipped weapon or cast simple magic.
Her COUPLE spell with Sulin allows you to cast any two spells in one turn (from a shared
pool of spells including everything either Sulin OR Carma knows), and the cost of these
spells is the average of the MP costs of each individual spell, to be deducted from both Sulin
and Carma. In other words, if you were to cast CURE and CATACLYSM, at MP costs of
5 and 50, about 27 MP each would be deducted from Sulin and Carma.

Glenlin San Pal (White Mage)
COVER, WHITE, COUPLE (with Mara)
Glenlin, with his 999 HP and strong defense, can cover a weaker character or cast strong white magic.
He also has auto-cover enabled, and will cover anyone who's near-death.

Mara Connelly (Thief)
SNEAK, HIDE, COUPLE (with Glenlin)
Mara is extremely weak, but she IS a well-experienced thief, and can thus almost always succeed when
attempting to SNEAKily perform a quick backstab on the enemy, doing minor damage and stealing a little
money. If things get too bleak for her, she can always hide, too, effectively removing herself from battle.
Although a largely useless character, like Mintrex, her strength lies in her extremely effective COUPLE
spell with Glenlin, which is one of the strongest attack spells in the game.

Mordex McCane (Black Mage)
INTENSIFY, BLACK, COUPLE (with Mintrex)
Mordex is a black magic specialist, and is capable of INSENSIFYing his own power almost exponentially
(though the MP needed intensifies with it!).

Mintrex McCane (Medium)
DEFEND, CHANNEL, COUPLE (with Mordex)
Mintrex is extremely weak, incapable of attacking with her own power. She can, however, protect herself
from attack (useful, because of how easily she dies), or attempt to channel someone else's power (any
other person you've met who isn't in your party, living or dead, who is currently "thinking about you" --
the person chosen is random, and the command doesn't always work, but when it does, you'll be able to
turn Mintrex into a weaker version of someone else for at least a few turns, if you have enough MP!).
Although a largely useless character, like Mara, her strength lies in her extremely effective COUPLE
spell with Mordex, which is one of the strongest attack spells in the game.

Jien Quillisamo (Mer-half)
SPLASH, BUBBLE
Jien's "splash" command is a very unusual one, in that its effect varies depending upon circumstance.
If the character you're casting it on is undead, but has been "knocked out", splashing them will bring
them around with a few HP. If the character you're casting it on isn't at full HP, he/she will recover
100 HP. And if the character you're casting it on IS at full HP, his/her battle counter will be reduced
to 0 immediately, making him/her battle-ready instantly. And, if used against fire enemies, it can even
function as an attack spell! And best of all... it doesn't use any MP!
Jien's "bubble" command, on the other hand, does -- it allows her to cast any one of a number of shield
spells, including the FF equivalent of "wall" and a more MP-costly reflective wall ("mirror").

Jalk Johann (Merman)
FISHWIPE, KNIVES
Although Jalk is only in your party for a brief period of time, you really couldn't make it through
Jien's introductory scene without him. His fishwipe will reduce the enemy to 1 HP, and his dual knives
will do a whole heck of a lot of physical damage, especially to merfolk and fish.

Sherlie Holmes (Scientist)
DEVOLVE, RIG, COUPLE (with Moriarty)
Sherlie can devolve any normal enemy into a weaker enemy, or she can turn a party member into a human
bomb (rendering him/her/it useless in battle, but doing a lot of damage if that person is attacked!).

Moriarty Holmes (Inventor)
BEAM, JUGGLE, COUPLE (with Sherlie)
Moriarty can use various unusual beams or juggle up to three bombs in his hands (which he could
potentially drop, especially if more than one bomb is used, but they could also do a lot of damage!).

Watson Holmes (Spirit)
DEATH, POSSESS
Watson can kill enemies instantly (depending on their level and how much he's levelled up his DEATH
command) or possess them for a short period of time so that they will do your bidding (bosses, too!).

The Watson (Clown Car)
GLOVE, MISSILE
The Watson is equipped with a boxing glove and a stash of missiles, but has no means of self-reparation,
so if a battle goes poorly, your only hope is to run (er, drive), or be left "with no wheels". But fear
not! Should the Watson be taken out of commission, you should be able to repair it with parts from
Sherlie's lab!

Oddh (Alchemist)
CREATE, HERB, COUPLE (with Ramses)
The alchemist Oddh can create items from MP (with limited success) or combine herbs to cast both simple
and complex magic. Some items can only be acquired through Oddh's creation process, and some spells can
only be cast by combining herbs.

Mephisto (Guardian)
GUN, DELUGE, COUPLE (with Petrefax)
Mephisto, a trained battle specialist, is capable of using a variety of heavy-hitting guns, either by
themselves or in combinations (DELUGE). Big damage, but it takes a lot out of her.

Du (Radical)
STEAL, TECHNIQUE
Du is the thief of the group, capable of stealing items from enemies or using a variety of espionage
techniques (including turning his own HP into a pool of MP for the entire party to use).

Seda Petrefax (Undead)
BERSERK, RAMPAGE/CALM, COUPLE (with Mephisto)
Petrefax can be sent on a one-turn rampage with any weapon of your choice, doing an excessive amount of
damage to the enemy while also hurting himself in the process. Or, if you'd prefer, he can be made to go
on a rampage every turn, at which point you'll lose control of him, but he will perform weaker damage
every turn, independent of commands. During his rampage, you WILL be able to summon him back to
your party by selecting CALM.

Calisto Knoxbury (Captain)
SWORD, SPELL
Calisto's sword techniques and spells are virtually unstoppable, and usually do 999 damage to enemies.

Potter Slye (Shapeshifter)
TALON, ALERT
Potter, shapeshifted into an eagle, can attack with his talons or focus some energy into dodging the
dragon's advances (uses up one turn, but greatly increases your defense for the rest of the battle).

Nathan (Sasquatch)
RAGE/ATTACK, DANCE
Nathan is a powerful fighter, but he has to focus his RAGE before he can ATTACK. He can also perform
a special DANCE that has many potential effects on the enemy, including fear and confusion.

Doug Weidner (Clockmaker)
PSIWAVE, TIMER, MELODY
The clockmaker Doug is capable of using his infinite wisdom to send a damaging psiwave at the enemy,
which may have alternate effects. He can also freeze time briefly once per battle, as well as speed up
the party, and if he completes his subquest, he will be capable of summoning Melody to take his place.
If Doug learns how to play any instruments during the game, he will also be able to form a COUPLE
attack with Melody when she's summoned, with each character playing a different instrument,
resulting in their combined effects, for only slightly more MP or HP (see Melody's attack
description below).

Melody Pinkett (Ghost)
SING, PLAY, COUPLE (with Doug)
Melody and Doug exist at the same time, and occupy the same space (and HP/MP!), but when Melody
is summoned, Doug's abilities naturally are replaced by Melody's. Melody can learn new songs to sing or
play by visiting former magic conductors and drawing music from them. These correspond to Sulin and Carma's
spells exactly (fire, cure, etc.), but the effect they have in battle is a little more unique. When Melody SINGs
one of these songs, the spell will not be cast, but rather added to her FS (Free Special) abilities. Melody's FS
meter requires 3 turns to fill up, and her FS abilities usually only include "Bridge" and "Verse", which are mild
attack and healing spells. For weaker or weakened enemies, she may also use "Coda", an instant-death spell.
But if she recently sang a song, she'll also have its "Chorus" added to a mix, giving her about a 1 in 3 chance of
casting it, independent of MP, every turn (assuming her FS meter isn't emptied in the interim).
Melody can also PLAY these songs, using a variety of instruments. This requires a fixed amount of MP (or, in
some cases, HP), determined by the instrument being used. The effect of playing the song, rather than singing
it, is that (1) it's cast right away, in addition to being added to her FS abilities, and (2) it's altered in some
way, depending on the instrument being used. A flute, for example, will cast the spell instantly, add it to her
FS meter, and fill up her FS meter. A guitar will double the damage/healing of the spell. An accordion will
cause all damage and healing spells to target MP instead of HP (creating the only MP-healing and tue magic-
prevention spells in the game), but at the cost of quite a bit of Melody/Doug's HP.
If Melody/Doug's HP drops below 1/3 of its maximum, Melody will be unsummoned and unable to be
summoned again for the remainder of the battle.

Mikron (Rebel)
FLASH, DISTORT, COUPLE (with Glod)
Mikron's FLASH does a small amount of light-based damage to the enemy, and randomly results in blindness
(thus affecting the enemy's hit percentage). His DISTORT command is very unique, and begins a 15-second
period of command-entering in which you have a limitless number of turns to enter as many commands as you
want, to be stored into a command queue. However, every 3 seconds during this time, the enemy will also
contribute a turn to the queue, so you really have to hurry if you want to benefit from this. After the
15 seconds have passed, the entire command queue is executed, in order, until (a) every command has been
executed, (b) the enemy is dead, or (c) YOU'RE dead. Once the queue has begun, it CANNOT be broken out of.

Glod Gloddson (Dwarf)
AXE, THROW, COUPLE (with Mikron)
Glod's "Axe" ability is very similar to Mephisto's "Gun" ability, in that it allows him to use any one of
a number of axes and hammers against the enemy. However, unlike Mephisto's guns, Glod's axes and hammers
can be swung in a variety of ways, some of which do more damage but have slight repercussions, such as
increasing Glod's battle counter for his next turn, or using some MP. Glod's "Throw" ability is much like
in other RPGs, where any item, weapon, or armor you have in your possession may be thrown at an enemy to
do optimum damage. However, unlike other RPGs, anything you throw is retrievable at the end of battle
(why wouldn't it be?), and party members are also throwable! Just be aware, though, that throwing things
will use up MP and battle counter points quickly depending on the weight of what's being thrown, and
anything thrown may take damage (a weapon's sharpness may be reduced, or a thrown party member may suffer
some HP damage, etc.).

Eden (Naturist)
KICK, MEDDLE, COUPLE (with Ramses)
Eden's attacks are very similar to Petrefax's, and might be used well in combination with Petrefax's.
Her kick sends her flying at the enemy, doing a small amount of damage, but a completely UNBLOCKABLE
amount of damage that penetrates through all forms of defense and cannot be reduced or miss. And if you
elect to have her meddle with the enemy, she'll leap onto its head and remain there for an indeterminate
amount of time (until she either dies or falls off), and will either absorb (part or all), redirect, or
block the enemy's attacks, both physical and magical. She'll take a lot of damage from this, but the end
result will be a much less effective attack against your party. And, of course, Eden WILL do some
unblockable minor damage while she's up there, too...

Jailie O'Jailsson (???)
MIMIC, SKILL
Jailie can mimic any technique used by your party or the enemy, but he can only remember three techniques
-- and only the last three that he's witnessed. He also has the knowledge of the characters who have been
within him, and can regurgitate this knowledge and use similar SKILLs, but without using as much MP.

Ramses Midfield (Scholar)
REPORT, ALTER, COUPLE (with Oddh or Eden)
Ramses, the scholar, master of elementals, is capable of telling you exactly what an enemy's weak and
strong points are, at which point he'll be able to actually ALTER these weak and strong points (as well
as the party's!) or remove them altogether -- if he has enough MP, that is.

[back to table of contents]

[back to home]