Dragon Warrior Playthrough, Part 11: The Diabolical Metal Beast Menagerie

As I rematerialize among the brush at the entrance to the island shrine, I reflect on the arbitrariness of fortune. This old man clearly wants something from me, but unlike the fellow in the shrine west of Kol, he was not specific about what that something is.^{[Note A]}

Nevertheless, I feel as if I am close. I keep reflecting on the words I heard in Rimuldar. "When the sun and rain meet, a Rainbow Bridge shall appear."

I now possess both the Stones of Sunlight and the Staff of Rain but cannot find any meaningful way of combining them. I try spraying the stones with the staff's mist, shining the stones on the prone staff... I even try tossing a stone in the air and swinging at it with the staff. Clearly, a pop fly is not the answer here.

But it must be out there somewhere. I had heard talk of a town well south of Garinham called Hauksness, perhaps it's time for a visit.

Heart of gold

With a long journey ahead, I pack up my things and make my way back over the hills surrounding the island shrine. A few hours into my trip, I notice large figure appear on an adjoining hill, making its way towards me. By now, I am no stranger to such sights, but there is something particularly striking about this figure. For one, it's enormous; I'm guessing 7 or 8 feet tall and almost as much wide. Even more striking, however, is the fact that it seems to glint when sunlight strikes it at certain angles.

Preferring to clash with this behemoth on my own terms, I charge forward with sword held high. As I get closer, it quickly becomes clear that the reason this creature is shining is that it is made entirely of gold!

Rather than stop and consider the sheer absurdity of such a being, I lunge at its left shoulder, hoping to cleave a limb and render it helpless. The result is not what I hope; the effect of my strike instead seems to radiate from the point of impact, and the massive creature buckles slightly. It recovers itself quickly, but fortunately that is the only thing it does quickly.

The creature's movements are so slow, that despite its extraordinary girth, I am able to weather its attacks without too much trouble. When my final blow finally breaks the evil magic, the creature tumbles to pieces at my feet, now little more than a pile of valuable rocks.

But the rocks are not quite as valuable as I initially thought. It seemed at first that the creature was made of pure gold, but it was in fact only coated in it. Nevertheless, I am able to scrape enough from its remains to fill my purse nicely.

Hauked up

The long journey back to Garinham passes largely without incident. The monsters of Rimuldar and the swamp cave are no longer much of a threat and the surroundings of Tantegel offer nothing but sword fodder. My confidence is high after a stay at the Garinham Inn.

I pass the Mystery Cave going south, finally entering unexplored territory. It isn't long before I reach a forest bridge, around which I spot several familiar villains, including Wyverns and Goldmen. Despite my increasing capacity for weathering battles with such creatures, the amount of Heal magic I need to recover is getting frustrating.^{[Note B]}

As I continue across the bridge and onto a grassy plain, a mountain range rises up on my left. It has an ominous air about it, and civilization feels somehow more distant in this land. The Dragonlord may be far away, but his will is animate here.

As if to punctuate these thoughts, I hear the clank of armor echoing faintly over a nearby hill. An enormous metal monstrosity, like a walking suit of armor, slowly comes into view.

Unlike the Goldman, this horror is quick, and its fists move more quickly than I can dodge. I direct my thrusts toward the gaps in its armor, but am beaten nearly to death before I finally land a killing blow.

Fortunately, salvation appears to be on the horizon. In the distance, cradled against a mountain range, I spot what appears to be a town. The fabled Hauksness!

I use the remains of my energy on a forced march to the city limits, but as I step onto the main road at the town entrance, my heart sinks. Debris litters the road and every structure is stripped to a mere husk. Walls are alternately beaten and charred, as if a family of titans had made it their playground.

A profound sadness washes over me. Despite my best efforts, I cannot help but think of the innocent sparks that must have been extinguished on this spot...

But I am not given much time for reverie. In a moment, a winged figure emerges from the center of the town and bolts toward me with a shriek. Before I can react, it knocks me to the ground.

I get a brief glimpse of the beast as as it passes and it appears to be a cousin of the Wyvern. However, I am no condition for a protracted battle, and look for something that might provide cover. About 10 paces away, there are two large pieces of the ruined town wall propped up against one another, so I lunge in that direction. It is a tight squeeze, but I manage to crawl into the triangular-shaped crevasse.

The flying monstrosity screeches and claws around the edges of my improvised shelter, but it is not made for tight spaces and does not dare confront me on such terms.

I don't know how long I actually spend crouched in this claustrophic hell, but it feels like hours. When the cacophony finally ceases, I am in a state of numbness that resembles a waking sleep, my body deeply fatigued but my nerves too frayed for actual slumber.

I wait for nightfall to leave my hiding place and make for the nearby mountains. I don't know if the monster needs to sleep, but the cover of night seems safer than the daylight, and the wilderness safer than the cursed remains of Hauksness.

To be continued...

Commentary

A. What to do, what to do...

Of all of the "puzzles" in Dragon Warrior, the shrine south of Rimuldar is the most ambiguous, both in terms of what you need to do and why you're doing it. I will go into more detail in a later entry, but for now I'm going to follow my usual approach: explore everywhere I can and talk to everyone.

B. Vital energy

Dragon Warrior waits too long to upgrade the player's healing abilities. Having to cast four or five Heal spells after routine battles is just tedious. What's more, at this stage the monsters do so much damage per hit that Heal serves no purpose in battle other than to waste magic points.

Giving the player an intermediate-power Heal spell would also serve to reduce the grinding because the player could more readily survive difficult areas and amass more experience points per battle. And isn't it more fun to fight one tough battle than two or three easy ones?