Dragon Warrior Playthrough, Part 8: The Magical Door Mystery Tour

Goddamn.

I wanted to return to Tantegel Castle from Rimuldar, and I figured these Wings I bought from Kol would be a nice shortcut. After all, why risk the long trek across the continent and through the passage? All I have to do is toss the Wings and the air and then...

The moment I release the feathered pests, they expand threefold and grab me by the scruff of the neck. Before I know what's happening, I'm barreling through the air and into the clouds at speeds I never thought possible. It's not more than a few seconds before I can see the castle in the distance, fast approaching. Without warning, the Wings veer sharply downward and before I know it, I'm dumped unceremoniously at the castle gates.

Next time I'll just walk.

Plundering Tantegel

A fistful of magic keys at the ready, I boldly march into Tantegel Castle. There's a locked door on the west side of the castle that looks particularly inviting.

I slide one of the keys into the lock and there's a click. The key fizzles into nothing and the door pops open, revealing a room filled with treasure chests.

Jackpot.

There is one hitch, of course - a castle guard marches back and forth inside the room. He looks at me sternly and says, "Never does a brave person steal."^{[Note A]}

I look at him for a moment, then back at the chests. He continues his march, seemingly unconcerned with my continued presence.

Slowly, I lift up the lid of one of the chests. The guard doesn't react. There are a couple gold pieces in the chest, which I swiftly slide into my pocket.

Still no response from the guard.

I raid the remaining chests. The loot comes out to around 30 gold, which is less than I paid for the key that unlocked the room. Perhaps this is why the guard is ignoring me, but... then what is his purpose here? Just to give moral guidance to passersby?

Sunny Stones

The other locked door in Tantegel reveals more than just a room. It actually opens up an entire wing of the castle.

The first thing I see on entering is, strangely enough, a key shop. The keys are more expensive than in Rimuldar - this actually makes sense if they were bought from there originally. What doesn't make any sense is why someone would run a shop selling a specialty item behind a locked door. It makes me wonder if his primary clientele are of the criminal persuasion. Regardless, I don't need any keys at the moment.

The denizens of the east wing of the castle are among the most helpful I've encountered in Alefgard. A woman loitering near the key shop tells me how a Rainbow Bridge appears when the sun and rain meet. I heard about this bridge in Rimuldar, and also about Stones of Sunlight that are supposedly hidden here in Tantegel; maybe the two are connected.

Another fellow tells me he's wandering the east wing looking for the castle cellar. Perhaps that's where the Stones of Sunlight are, but where is this cellar? I haven't seen any stairs in this part of the castle.

There is at least one person I haven't spoken to in this wing, but he can only be reached by crossing over a metallic floor. A guard on my side of the floor says I can cross over it if I'm strong enough... but how strong is strong enough?

*sigh*

I give a nervous glance at the grooved metallic surface and then forcefully step forward. The moment my foot makes contact with the floor, a jolt rushes through my body, as if an unseen hand were squeezing my insides.

The feeling fades after a few seconds, and then I continue forward. With every step, I can feel myself getting weaker, and by the time I reach the other side, I feel as if my life force is about to expire.

The person on the other side of the floor looks at me with sympathy, but makes no movements to help. He tells me that he ventured across the floor just an hour ago, but doesn't yet have the strength to go back.

As it turns out, this curious fellow studies the dark corners of the towns and castles of Alefgard. While he doesn't know anything about the Stones of Sunlight, he does tell me that there is a wall of darkness at the grave of Garin, which can be pushed on to reveal a secret. I make a mental note of this.

Unlike my new friend, I don't need to wait to recoup my energy - Heal magic will do just as well - so I cross back over the metallic floor, now more prepared for its effects.

Disappointed that I'm no closer to finding the Stones, I try to wrack my brain for something in my recent experience that could hint at where the cellar is.

Then it occurs to me. The key shop in Rimuldar was along the outer edge of the town, in a place where most people wouldn't think to look. Maybe if I search the outer limits of the Tantegel, I will find the cellar.

Sure enough, in the southeastern corner of the castle I find stairs leading downward, which lead directly to the Stones of Sunlight.

Three Doors Down

These stones aren't just shiny, they actually glow with some kind of internal energy. I hope to harness that energy eventually, but for now I place them in my bag.

The locked doors of Breconnary, Kol, and Garinham still beckon to me.

It's a short walk over to Breconnary, where I meet with a man who tells me that I can find the Silver Harp in Garin's grave. This is not the first I've heard of either of these things, as I recall the man in the promontory shrine requesting the Silver Harp. What's more, I recently heard a hint about Garin's grave in Tantegel.

The other door in Breconnary is a shop that sells Fairy Water, the purpose of which is unknown to me. I don't have the money or the time to figure it out right now, but I will keep it in mind.

Before venturing into Garin's grave, I make my way over the Kol to follow up on a hint I heard in Rimuldar, telling me to look for steps south of the town bath.

The bath sits at the north end of town. I watch my feet and count out four steps.

I don't see any signs that the dirt has been disturbed here, but there are several trees, the largest of which has a wide hole in the trunk a few feet above eye level.

After dragging a nearby log over to the tree, I prop myself up just high enough to reach into the hole. Inside, I can feel an elongated object made of smooth wood. When I pull it out, it appears to be a musical instrument of some kind, like a pipe or a flute.

I am no musician, but the moment I put my lips up to the far end of the instrument, a bright, warbling sound echos across the town square.

Huh.

Not a Garin the world

My tour of the locked doors in Alefgard has but one stop remaining: Garinham.

There is a single door, tucked away in the northeast corner of town, but it is the entrance to a large building. In fact, the building appears to be almost as large as the town itself.

Wasting no time, I open the door and step into a vast, dimly lit chamber. As I enter, I'm greeted by a fountain and various people wandering aimlessly about. This is strange in of itself, but stranger still is the trio of unopened treasure chests sitting beckoningly in the center of the chamber.

Greed being one of my many vices, I make immediately for the chests. Their contents are eminently practical, including a Torch, an Herb, and a small amount of gold. Who they were originally intended for I won't try to guess, but I know who has them now.

The inhabitants of this macabre mausoleum are mostly useless, with one making a vague reference to Erdrick's Armor (without any hint about where it is) and another talking about a village that may or may not exist far to the south. There is even a pair of guards behind a locked door, but they are the most useless of all.

Fortunately, I remember a hint that I got from the Tantegel folklore expert: In Garinham, look for the grave of Garin. "Thou must push on a wall of darkness there."

Sure enough, the back side of the mausoleum is shrouded in darkness.

To be continued...

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Commentary

A. What's mine is mine and what's yours is mine

There's an extremely odd moral dilemma inherent in the raiding of treasure from friendly areas in RPGs. If we play the game to feel like a hero fighting the good fight, it makes little sense for us to walk into the locked rooms of our allies and take their stuff.

On the other hand, it's hard not to metagame here. After all, these are not real people you're stealing from and unless the game designer has actually added consequences for immoral actions (e.g., the Ultima series), it's perfectly reasonable to believe that you are expected to take this treasure. I sometimes rationalize it by telling myself that my allies would want me to be as well equipped as possible, but the in-game text doesn't always support that notion.

Really, the main reason I open these chests is not greed. In the majority of cases, I would be perfectly fine doing without the contents of the chest. I open the chests because I want to make sure I don't miss anything important for completing the game. In fact, there are game-essential treasure contained in friendly areas of Dragon Warrior.

So my policy is to open everything, even if it seems dubious from the role-playing perspective.