Indeed, a wonderful magic hand-and-a-half sword had somehow materialized from the Orochi's remains over the night the group killed it. The group was going to let Thomas use the sword, but he was inadequate in using it due to its heavier than normal weight. So Alice was given the sword while she gave her zombie slasher to Thomas. Ron had taught her how to wield such weapons. Alice examined the blade and found that it could also release the spell that increased vulnerability to physical harm.
As good as the sword was, however, the group's best reward had come in the form of one of Himiko's treasures. In one of his treasure chests was a purple orb, which the people of Jipang bestowed upon the group. Suzanne wondered if it was one of the orbs from the Portogan legend. Alice and Thomas both launched a heavy investigation on the object, but could only identify that there was a mysterious, unknown, yet powerful magic within the orb.
"This could very well be proof of the legend!" exclaimed Suzanne. "We could give the king of Portoga and Eginbear and any other person proof of the danger if we could just get to the Archfiend's land!"
"Or this could just be a dangerous artifact of some other sort. Hell, even if we could get to the Archfiend's land, how are we going to leave without fighting our way out? Unless this means of transportation mentioned is a teleporter I don't see how this really helps," said Thomas, as usual providing the healthy skepticism for the group.
"If there are other orbs, we can't let them fall into the wrong hands, if they're not already there," chimed in Alice. "We know there's a lot of power in this orb. If there are others, we have to see what they are capable of."
"I say we search for the orbs," agreed Ron. "We don't have a lot of other leads at the moment."
"I suppose you guys are correct. We can't risk such powerful artifacts falling into the wrong hands," conceded Thomas.
"Then it's settled! We'll search for more of the orbs!" declared Suzanne.
"Not any time soon you won't," came the voice of Captain Marbeley. "As the climate grows colders, sea monsters become the least of our worries. It's too dangerous to go sailing for much longer until spring. Even I'm not foolhardy enough to do so."
The group took four months off their quest to wait for the waters to thaw. However, the group did not simply relax during the break. They continued their training in both weapons and magic. Thomas and Alice, in addition to their other studies, searched for any text that would give clues on the purple orb. Unfortunately, there was no information to be found.
The game decided to resume their journey on Suzanne's 17th birthday. The group had tried to argue that they should relax for the extra day but Suzanne had said otherwise.
"The greatest birthday present you guys could give me is to join me on the road again. There is still so much to do," Suzanne had said.
The group had also settled on a course of action to restart their journey. They would start by paying Bill and Polce a visit in the area Polce hoped to begin a new town. They wanted to see their old friend again before setting off. After that, the group would search for the Tower of Arp on the southwestern side of Malandoras.
"Remember what the Soo shaman, Banil, told us," Alice had reminded the group. "In this tower there's supposed to be an Echoing Flute that is supposed to help locate the orbs."
"A wise suggestion," agreed Suzanne. "We found the purple orb by chance. If we're to have any chance of finding the other five, we'll need such an item."
The group teleported to Portoga and they found Captain Marbeley and the Mad Hound ready and waiting for them. After catching up with the captain the group set sail for where they had left Bill and Polce in eastern Malandoras. They found the forest had been cleared out a bit since they had first been there. There was a path that led from the edge of the forest to the lake where the four had met Polce. They now found there were several houses surrounding the lake in addition to the one that had been there before. There were even some people milling about, going about their business.
"Wow, I didn't think there'd be any more people here!" remarked Alice.
"Yeah, there wasn't a lot of time between when we visited and the seas becoming dangerous," noted Ron.
"There's even an inn and a shop here," noticed Suzanne.
"Let's go to the shop! I'm sure we'll find Bill there. He'll probably try to rope us into buying some rare item only found in these parts," laughed Ron.
"Of course, some people here might fall for such a trick," replied Alice.
Ron glared at her, "Hey! He didn't con me that one time. That was a perfectly good item I bought from him and I'm glad I spent the money on it."
"Sure you are Ron. Sure you are," Alice retorted.
The group entered the shop and they were surprised to find a woman behind the counter instead of Bill. Suzanne walked up to the clerk and asked, "Hello. Do you know where we could find a man named Bill?"
The woman smiled and answered, "Oh you must be those friends of his! You can find him in the building being built just south of here.
The four thanked the woman and went to the building she spoke of. They found a shell of a building just south of the shop. There were a few men working on the construction while Bill appeared to be looking over their work.
"Hey Bill!" called Ron.
Bill spun around and saw the group. He walked up to them, shaking his head and smiling, "Well if it isn't you lot. I suppose you must have blown all your money by now?"
"Nice to see you haven't changed a bit," laughed Alice. "Looks like the town has really shaped up since last we were here. I can't believe this many people came before the waters froze over!"
"Well I don't like to brag, but I may have had something to do with that," said Bill, as the four rolled their eyes at his statement. "I can't believe old Polce just waited around here for people to show up! No, I took some action. I gathered up some items around the area that I'd never seen before and used a wing of wyvern to go to Portoga. I went around advertising and selling the rare goods of Malandoras and telling people of a wonderful place where they could either start over or make some quick gold. Then I traveled to some other regions. I used the money I made to rent a ship back over here."
"Rare goods of Malandoras huh?" commented Alice. "I knew that'd fit in somewhere."
"Now I've got some volunteers to go make the next recruiting trip for me," continued Bill. "But we need some more things to draw the people in. So I'm overseeing the construction of a theater. Without a strict government to rule over the entertainment industry here, I think that this will bring a lot of people, both artists and viewers, over here. With no censorship laws or danger of enraging the king, it's an artist's dream!"
"That does sound like a really great plan," complemented Suzanne. "Sounds like you're having a great time here after all."
"I'm sorry I can't come back with you guys. You must be so lost without me," apologized Bill. "But I have a good thing going over here."
"We understand, man. Sounds like you're really raking it in here," said Ron.
"But hey! How would you guys like some Malandorian merchandise? I've got some herbs in the shop that heal all sorts of injuries! You won't find them anywhere else!" asked Bill.
Ron's eyes lit up, "Oh really? Well let's take a look at - "
"Not today Bill," cut off Alice, giving Ron a quick elbow to the ribs. "We have to be going."
Bill's cheerfulness dropped a little bit, "Oh not today? Well be sure to come back sometime! I'll have even more wonderful goods by then!"
The four returned to the Mad Hound and set off for the southwestern region of Malandoras. The group took a somewhat unorthodox route there. If they wanted to simply go around Malandoras, it would take four days to reach the region. However, Alice studies the maps she had and decided that it would be much quicker to teleport to Jipang and set off from there. Indeed, it took only two days from Jipang to reach the western coast of Malandoras. The group took to land to search for the tower.
According to all information and maps the g
roup found on the tower they guessed it was in the field in southwestern Malandoras. The group could see the tower from where they docked due to its height and proximity to the shore.
"So what's the scoop on this place?" asked Ron.
"According to what I've read, it was built by the elves before the First Great War as a tribute to some god-bird. It's said that the reason there's no roof over the top floor was so this bird could make this tower its nest," explained Alice.
"Oh that's great. Our last meeting with the elves went so well," commented Thomas dryly.
"Well at least they didn't try to kill us. The elves were driven out of this tower and the region during the First Great War. They returned some time later only to be driven out again by Desmond's forces in the Second Great War. I would guess that this place is home only to monsters now," said Alice.
"I don't suppose you found any maps of the interior?" asked Suzanne.
Alice laughed nervously, "As usual, I did not."
"It wouldn't be right if we didn't walk blind into a hostile area looking for some trinket or other," noted Thomas.
"Well we know the drill by now," said Suzanne.
As the group approached the tower they found that there was a group of three men in crimson armor guarding the entrance.
"Does anyone know what nation sports crimson as their colors?" asked Suzanne.
"Samanao I believe. I remember reading about them during my brief stint as Emperor," answered Ron.
"Excellent! If we talk with them we might find out more about their land. We might even figure out how to get there!" said Suzanne.
The four approached the soldiers with their arms raised high, meaning to show their lack of malicious intent. When the soldiers spotted the group, however, they immediately drew their swords. The group halted in their tracks, not wanting to provoke the men.
"We come in peace!" Suzanne called out to them. "We just want to talk!"
The three men appeared to talk amongst each other for a short time and then suddenly charged at the group.
"Either they don't believe us or they really hate getting visitors!" warned Ron.
"Try not to kill them, guys!" advised Suzanne.
The four had no choice but to draw their weapons and prepare their spells. Alice took out the staff they received from the Soo and spoke the command word, gesturing forward at the soldiers. The stream of fire materialized and struck the men, but only the man in the middle of their formation seemed to be affected.
"They must have magic-resistant armor!" yelled Alice.
Thomas had been preparing a sleeping spell, but at Alice's warning decided that it would be useless. Thomas drew out his sword instead. Suzanne and Ron were already rushing to meet the men in melee. Suzanne barely managed to block her foe's strike with her shield, though her counterattack was similarly blocked. Ron executed a cunning sidestep followed with a slash to his opponent's midriff. The man's armor blocked the majority of the strike, but the strength of the blow knocked him back, almost taking his wind.
One of the three men had hung back from the melee and cast a spell. The group found themselves engulfed by the familiar purple light of a spell that increased their vulnerability to physical harm. Alice wasted no time busting out the counterspell, as the group now found themselves bathed in its yellow light.
Suzanne gave a low stab to her opponent's legs but in doing so let herself be slashed in the arm. Ron took a hit to his shoulder but managed to slice his foe's side, getting around the man's armor. Before the man could recover his fighting stance after taking the wound, Thomas rushed forward and landed a terrific blow to his neck, killing him. The spellcasting soldier ran into the melee at this point and gave a terrible wound to Thomas going from his shoulder to his hip.
Alice drew out her sword and ran over to help Suzanne. Her attacks were easily blocked by the more experience swordsman, but distracted him enough for Suzanne to run him through with her sword. Thomas backed out of melee with his foe and quickly cast a healing spell on himself. The man foolishly tried to follow him, opening his defenses to Ron in doing so. He managed to bring his shield back around to knock Ron's strike just enough to avoid being killed.
Unfortunately for the soldier, he was now severely outnumbered. Alice and Suzanne ran over to help Ron. Using Alice as a distraction again, Suzanne knocked the man across the face with the flat of her blade, knocking him out but not killing him.
The four had little time to relax, however. Drawn by the commotion, four more similarly armed and armored men had come around from the sides of the tower. Seeing the last moments of the fight, they now rushed at the group to avenge their comrades.
Since the soldiers wore magic-resistant armor and since the four new enemies were split into groups of two too far apart to target with a stream of fire or ground-rising ice, Suzanne knew that an attack spell from Alice would not be effective.
"Alice! Raise our attack power! Start with Ron!" yelled Suzanne.
Alice did as she was told and soon Ron was engulfed in crimson light. Ron, Suzanne, and Thomas formed the front line to protect Alice as the four soldiers drew near. Ron, under the influence of Alice's spell, ran one of the soldiers through with his sword. Suzanne took slashes from two soldiers to her left shoulder and midsection but returned with a slash of her own to one soldier's shoulder. Thomas tried to slash at the last soldier but had his attack blocked and then was knocked off his feet as the soldier used his shield to bash Thomas.
The soldier lifted his sword up to deal a terrible blow to the prone Thomas, but Alice had drawn out her own sword and leapt to Thomas' defense. She was not strong enough to completely block the soldier's blow, but she knocked it off course so that it missed Thomas. Ron attacked one of the soldiers who had slashed Suzanne and almost cleaved the man in two. Suzanne dueled with the last remaining of her opponents and managed a terrific sidestep around the man's attack and counterattacked, almost taking the man's sword arm off.
Thomas quickly got to his feet and together with Alice fought the other soldier. The soldier slashed Alice in the shoulder but left himself open to Thomas' attack, taking a slice to the knee. The man was unable to keep his footing and fell. Alice took advantage of the man's fall and stabbed him in the back of the neck. She breached the jugular in doing so and the man fell to the ground dead.
Suzanne tried once again to take out the last man without killing him. She swung with the flat of her blade but was surprised as the man knocked her sword out of her hand with his shield. She had thought he would be unable to put up much resistance with his sword arm being useless, but he followed his block up with a shield bash to Suzanne's face. Ron came to Suzanne's defense by also attacking with the flat of his blade. He struck the man in the face, but as a result of Ron's increased strength the man's face was almost taken off. He fell to the ground dead.
When no additional soldiers began running at the group, they began healing their wounds and discussing the situation.
"Damn it. We only could save one of them," cursed Suzanne.
"I'm sorry Susie. We should have tried harder not to kill them," apologized Alice.
"No, we did all we could. It's difficult, impractical, and dangerous to hold back against opponents that are trying to kill you," replied Suzanne.
"Ironically, their advanced armor may have led to their demise. If it weren't for their magic resistance, we could have put them to sleep. We could have saved more of them then," remarked Thomas.
"So do we interrogate the one we kept alive?" asked Ron.
"We can't take the chance now," said Suzanne, shaking her head. "Looking at where those other four came from, it looks like there are two other entrances to this tower. Those men were guarding this building. Besides that, they must have been ordered to kill anything on sight, or they would have at least considered our words of peace. Something is going on in this tower, and there's bound to be more soldiers in there. We need to press on and take the initiative before they realize the guards have been
defeated. Then we should hold the element of surprise."
"Good idea. We better hurry then," agreed Ron.
After tying up their prisoner, the group finally made their way into the tower. There were three entrances into the tower, which is why the group met one group of soldiers first and then fought reinforcements from the sides. The initial group was guarding the south entrance and the reinforcements came from the west and east entrances. The three entrances led to a large room that was separate from the main portion of the tower. A door at the north end of the room led to the main tower, which extended upwards several stories.
"This room looks like a lobby of sorts, except for the fact that there's no furniture or decoration here," observed Suzanne.
"It was probably used as a social spot for the elves, as well as a room used to wait for ceremonies that were held here," theorized Alice.
"At least they were nice enough to clear the room of monsters and not post any additional men here," said Ron.
"This could be a trap," cautioned Thomas. "Those men had magic on their side. They may have triggered an alarm of sorts."
Then Suzanne led the team to the door leading to the main tower, "We'll have to try and be quiet then. It's a safe bet that there's several more men in the tower, all ordered to kill on sight, no questions asked. We will need surprise on our side."
The four found that the door was locked, though such trifles were mere annoyances with the Final Key. The group left their prisoner in the entrance lobby. They came into a hallway of sorts that went to both sides. It circled around the middle of the tower and the two ends of the hallway converged on the north side. The hallway was cut in the middle by a couple of doors on each side. Where the hallway converged was another door that led into a room in the center of the tower. Inside that room was a grand staircase leading upwards.
Dragon Quest Novel Page 22
