Dragon Quest VI/6 - Day 44 (A metal sammich would hurt your teeth)

And today we're back, where we're entering the not-a-cave to the north... God damn it, I would have bet good money that it was a cave, and not a little shrine thing. I feel somewhat crestfallen, to be honest. I would have bet all of my years of video gaming that's what it would be.


Does... Does this still count? Seriously, I know what it was on the outside, but this is a real cave! It's a cave! Oh thank Toriyama, I feel like a weight has been lifted off of my nerdiness. I've been wrong about so much in this game, it's nice to get something right every once in a damn while.

Now, we need to go and find whatever magical ore it is we need to get the hobo to fix the sword.


Or a small girl... Fuck nuggets, I hate this game. Well, no I don't. Actually I've been enjoying the hell out of it, but I hate that it keeps making me look dumber than I already am. Thank you game, but I need no help in looking stupid, as it happens to be one of my highest ranked skills, right next to Howie Mandell impressions, which are only impressive if you grew up watching cartoons in the 90s. [AD note: They're AWESOME!]

We speak to the girl, and ask her what I can only assume is if we can heat her up on a forge and slowly fold her into the blade of a sword, because what the hell else would we be talking to her for? I am sure this is a hentai anyway, so I don't think it's out of the question. She talks to us for a moment or two more, then I guess she asks if I'm sure, and I am, because I'm willing to sacrifice small children to get a good sword, and she runs away. Can I say I blame her? Yes, as I've already stated, I will kill children for a magical sword.

We chase her back to town, where I assume she's hiding, and... oh shit, that's handy.


Either SHE'S the smith, or she's really, really excited about the idea of being turned into weaponry. Whatever her reasons, freaking awesome, that simplifies shit on a grand scale.

I speak with her, and she asks me something and the dialog abruptly ends. Every time I take a step away, she says something that looks really angry. It turns out you're supposed to stand perfectly still for about ten seconds after she stops talking, and I only figured this out because I stopped to write this paragraph. That was pretty damn lucky.


Well it looks like we convinced her, and it's good that she knows her place... Not as a woman, as an NPC. Everyone knows that a plot essential NPC belongs somewhere prominent, and her place is at the forge... I'd make a comment about her forging me a sammich while she's at it, but I've never thought that joke is funny, and my girlfriend might hit me, and have every right to do so. [AD note: I would.]

Ok, now I guess we wait for the sword to be done...

And we're waiting...

And waiting...

Waiting...

Ok, maybe we have to leave the room and come back?

...

Nope.

Do we have to do more plot before we get the sword? That makes sense I guess. Well then, let's go and see if we can find some more plot.

As we take a few steps, we get a bit of odd dialog, which I'm not sure says something really important.


Yep, no idea. But I head back in to check on the sword, only to find out it's not ready yet, then head back out to look for a place that looks likely for our next stop.


Looks to me like we're heading to the southeast, since we haven't been there, yet.

Aside from a shrine on a small island, which I'm sure I'll need to go to in a little while, there's really only one thing worth note in this entire area. And thankfully for us, it's a big old castle.


Castles are nice. There's nothing strange in a castle... aside from the one with the demon summoning. But what are the odds of us running into two completely bonkers rulers in so short a time frame? Pretty low, I'm hoping.

Things look pretty normal, so I start out by wandering around town, and speaking with everyone. It doesn't take long before I run into one anomaly, which is an old man at the church, who says something about Kami. I only recognize this symbol because of DragonBall, but at least I recognize the word!


And then he walks through Elf, which is pretty standard. Still, he left the building, which I bet means we have to follow him! It's actually pretty hard to find him in this really small town, but I track him down after a few minutes, and a visit to the item shop.


He seems really excited, which I would be too if there were so many ugly people around me at once... no offense to the girl, who may or may not be the same smith from the last town, as well as three thousand other girls we've met along our way.

We speak with the old man for a moment after they're done with the cut scene, and then he runs off again... Or hobbles. He hobbles off, and leaves us to speak to what seems to be a house full of ugly people...

And the old man's twin brother.


I think the old guy coughs when I talk to him, but because it's three symbols he could be saying anything at all. It could be saying, "Cough! Cough!" or "Moo! Moo!" or "Woof! Woof!" or "Potrzebie! Potrzebie!" which I would like to believe is the case.

Whatever the old man says, I'm sure it's important, and tomorrow we'll see if we can track down and explanation, which will also be in Japanese. Stay tuned for more flailing, and let's find more magic stuff!... Probably!