Bethany Plays: DQXI Phnom Nonh: That's Rich

Time for us to cross "the great bridge" and enter the South Champs Sauvage. The enemy encounters differ wildly between north and south, but the relevance of this bridge is only important once.

Having been brought up in a tropical paradise, they're cooler than cruelcumbers, and make Multithrust look like a dapper dance move.

Zumeanies come from DQ9 and 10, and they know how to use their spears this time. They can land confusion with their swings, and know the Spear Skills Multithrust and Thunder Thrust. They can also muster their strength and block your swings. They're still not really more threatening than their younger brothers back in Heliodor.

They take secret pleasure in that sweet, sweet moment when a bird lands on their shoulder while they're waiting for someone to wallop.

The golem is among Dragon Quest's most iconic monsters, and the baseline in which other golems are compared. It is also surprisingly sparing. Sure, it first appeared in DQ1 as a boss, but it's first appearance as a monster was in 5- and even then, that was mostly so you could recruit it, it was in an area you had little reason to visit otherwise. It was also a boss in DQ7, but joined the roster of normal enemies for DQs 8-10. They can muster their strength, land crits, and use Forbearance to shield their allies.

Veronica finally gets the improvement on Bang! Unless I'm in a very conservative mood, I'll be using this instead of Bang now.

Due to complicated reasons involving later reveals, I don't really want to invest in Erik any more than I already have for practical reasons, but I do want Erik to have the option of making use of Swords, so Erik is going to start learning his Sword skills. The Skills are less important, I'm more focused on the damage bonuses.

Serena gets a boost to MaMend...

And Jade gets some more firepower.

It'll rain around here and... ooh, there's some rain soon. Rain will be important for a Quest in Champs Sauvage, and I think I'll do that "now"- ie go into town, start the story, go do the quest, and then focus on the Town Story.

First, there is a mini medal that requires acquiring.

Welcome to the hustle and bustle of Phomn Nonh, a tourist trap filled to the brim with merchants hawking souvenirs and other knick-knacks.

There are tourist characters with Australian accents, but I don't think there's an Australia hanging around Erdrea. Maybe he wandered over from Upover from DQ9. Better accent than those guys, though- I'm an Australian and I didn't realise Upover was an Aussie joke until the end of the story, when Greygnarl used some actual Aussie slang instead of just "Strewth".

Jade and Rab are familiar with this place, although I don't think they're any more well informed than us about what's about to happen.

The thing that attracts tourists to Phnom Nonh are the ruins of Nhou Wat, and the ancient mural therein.

Erik, if there's money to be made in it, people will believe anything.

Rab's search didn't tell them much about Mordegon, but perhaps our search will tell us more about the Orbs. One thing I find interesting is that there is benefit to having come here with "a fresh set of eyes".

Phnom Nonh is a town designed such that you have to walk past literally everything to get to Nhou Wat.

It's long and narrow. And I feel like it was definitely built as a tourist trap first.

That's how they get ya.

Even the kids know what living in a tourist trap is like.

I think this is all the one family, and they're all tourists.

This guy is more focused on his goal than the trappings. Although he's still stuck anyway.

So anyway, this guy is the quest. Interesting that he thinks highly of the lanterns and not Nhou Wat.

He needs us to go fetch some of the material needed to repair his lanterns.

It's dropped from a certain kind of monster, of course. A relatively simple quest.

"Beat monster, take their stuff, come back".

It should be noted that, despite nothing in the quest indicating such, you do need to find your brollygagger in the Champs Sauvage. They can be found elsewhere- it doesn't work like that.

And that's why I wanted to visit South Champs Sauvage during the rainy period.

Me too. So let's take a break and go get that rayon.

Campsite to switch to dusk and...

Umbrellas once owned by skilled assassins that carefully observed, and can now perfectly imitate, their former masters' moves.

There you are. Brollygaggers are new to XI, and I don't get what the hype about their assassin skills is, they know Thin Air and Fuddle.

Look, just because you hit me with it doesn't mean I'm afraid of it.

Yay, easy quests!

Also this piece of evencloth in a sparkly spot is only available at night time.

...Is there any further explanation, or is that it?

This is the journal of Sudo Nim, treasure hunter extraordinaire. After hearing a rumour that the Rainbough was being offered as a prize in exchange for ninety-nine mini medals, I hurried to this school.
Of course, I should have known it was too good to be true. The prize on offer was nothing more than a Drasilian soldier’s uniform (in a fetching shade of navy, mind you).
A rugged, practical outfit like that would be perfect for most adventurers, but it was a touch too tight around the belly for me, which made the sting of disappointment all the sharper.
My journey wasn’t a complete waste, however- the fine young ladies of the academy told me of the kingdom of Sniflheim, where some of the most knowledgeable minds in all of Erdrea congregate.
If anywhere holds a clue as to the whereabouts of this accursed Rainbough, it’ll be Sniflheim. I’m eager to head out, but first I’ll need to find somewhere to spend the night. I can’t spend it here…

There are no prizes for 99 mini medals in this game, but 100 gets you a very fancy shield. I don't think we can source this navy Drasilian armour, either.

...I think this is showing off that you can go to the upstairs of Phnom Nonh houses and find wooden balconies? It's a very weird image.

The inn is not available to visit right now- it's a plot thing.

Thanks for the quest.

Fair enough. If there's one attraction, it's easier to justify not going.

It's always nice to ensure the little things are running as smoothly as the big ones.

Silver Ore! ...Not the greatest of prizes, but it'll help.

Dragon's horn back here, this is a key alchemy ingredient in a few recipes.

Hm, they sell Protective Pendants here. That's your cue to consider buying and making plenty of them.

This girl certainly has... an attitude towards work ethic. I hope her mother isn't tying her meals to the work.

The events leading to the fall of the kingdom that stood on the site of Nhou Wat remain shrouded in mystery, but thanks to recent research on the topic, some details have finally come to light.
In nations whose populations die out gradually, tombs and grave sites are left behind as the survivors lay their dead to rest.
However, no signs remain of any tombs, crypts or even mass graves dating from the period of this particular civilisation’s collapse.
Which would seem to suggest that whatever happened here happened quickly enough that no one remained to bury the dead.
Two other ruined kingdoms have followed the same distinctive pattern: the once-great nations of Zwaardsrust and Dundrasil.
Could the same fate that befell those two realms also have befallen the civilisation of old Nhou Wat- to wit, sudden and catastrophic monster attack?

I don't recall the game being 100% clear on whether Nhou Wat was created by the focal monster of the Town Story or if they're just capitalising on some other monster encounter. I'd believe either, but I lean towards the former.

A lot of people speak highly of what the mural has done for them.

Oh hey, some dragon-themed recipes!

...Not the greatest of recipes. I'd probably recommend passing on these ones.

This guy is worse at keeping a secret than the rest of them. His main role in the setting is to make sure the people at the back understand why tourist traps are built the way they are.

In the armour shop, we have the Strongsam, which is good for Agility on Jade, and the Silver Tiara, which is good for Charm on any of your women. I wouldn't spring for the Tiara, but the Strongsam might be worth it if you're not attached to the bonus effect of whatever Jade has already.

...Yeah, sounds like you should have thought harder about that decision.

...I certainly hope so.

Mini medal on the rafters of this house.

More pearls over on this one.

You know, depending on the price point of enrolling at L'Academie, I think the kid has a better grasp of her future than the adult. If L'Academie is as expensive as an all-girls finishing school would be in real life, though, I'd probably go to a get-rich-quick scheme to source the money.

"We like to think you are people too". Classic.

I'll get there eventually. It's all the way at the back, see.

Since its discovery deep within the ruins, the beautiful, smiling mural of Nhou Wat has gained something of a reputation for blessing visitors with good fortune, drawing sightseers from across the world.
The ruins themselves are thought to be all that remains of a once-powerful civilisation that was destroyed under mysterious circumstances hundreds of years ago.
But what could have spelled the end for so large a kingdom, blessed with such natural riches, and nestled within the safety of the mountain valleys? This is an enigma that has long troubled historians.
A king gone mad, driving his own legacy to ruin? An unforeseen and unprecedented natural disaster? A concentrated and cataclysmic attack by monsters? Hypotheses abound, but the mystery remains unsolved.
When you pay a visit to Nhou Wat, be sure to visit the mural and enjoy the blessings it gives, but spare a thought too for this once-great kingdom, and the tragic loss those ruins represent…

Where did the mural come from, then? Was it painted in Nhou Wat, then? What about it's enchantment? It doesn't seem to have done the people of Nhou Wat much good, though.

I had to climb like seven flights of stairs to get this far. And there's about three times as many before we get to Nhou Wat- although plenty of those stairs go down.

I always hate those deals. They try to make you come off as the sucker for turning them down, but very little thought is given to those who can't make the deal now for reasons outside their control- the usual example is "on account of not having been born."

It's frustrating.

Make it up that flight of stairs and we bump into... of all things, Sylvando comforting a lost child.

So then, what's going on here?

The name "Dora" is in service to a pun when we learn her full name, but I wonder if the devs were aware of the fact that the young girl's name "Dora" is heavily associated with one particular IP.

Right now, she's not setting the mural up as a particularly nice place to be.

This is actually a dialogue option you could say no to if you were a monster.

Not that we will. "Sylv's Detective Agency" is just a joke, not some actual element of Sylvando's character. Although making up gratuitous reasons to do things is an element of his character.

...Maybe we should get someone to keep an eye on you, though.

I know that feeling. Incidentally, I feel like I should've screenshotted it, but these stairs are weirdly programmed. If you run down them, the slope physics they have are a little weird and you occasionally "fall" down them instead of running. This doesn't slow you down too much, but it is incredibly distracting and concerning. The staircase also swivels around a lot, which is annoying for in-universe reasons.

...

Was it because of the mural?

Another night-time only bolt of evencloth back here.

And something to use it on, too!

This gives us some cool knives, some more Robber's Gloves (and an indication of how hard forging them is "intended" to be), and Gloomy Gloves, which block Dark element attacks a bit.

I forge myself the Swordbreaker for Sylvando. The bloodletter is an extension of the poison needle- it's 6% to kill instead of 4%!

Some Gloomy Gloves won't go amiss.

They also help Erik's Deftness. Although, honestly, that's not an issue at this point. ~~The fact he's wearing two pairs of gloves is never an issue.~~

So now, let's take a look at this mural.

...It's a 6/10.

It's an old mural, Veronica. Although the camera does pay attention to the particularly large crack in the top left.

Remember the comment about a fresh set of eyes? Veronica and Serena have spotted our prize for saving the town of Phnom Nonh- the Magic Key. I think it and the doors it opens are indeed magical in nature, but there's not much said on the topic.

There's a rumbling going on... somewhere.

I think this is the second time Veronica has brought up Erik's attraction to a woman compared to Erik's one time actually acknowledging attractive women. And he didn't even notice the romantic angle, he was just commenting on the bashful body language. I feel like, if Veronica is doing anything other than winding Erik up for the sake of winding him up, it's commenting on Erik's relationship with Serena.

The magic key starts to glow. What magic power the key adds here is some other question, but it's not a power we, the player, will get access to once we get the key.

It seems to be a "summon tourists" power, I don't want it anyway.

...The mural has been appearing in your dreams? Dude, you may need to look up "obsessed."

Erik complains about these guys pushing past. It was remarkably rude of them.

...

...I beg your pardon? Admittedly, we were here longer, but...

Good call. I'd be tempted to give them some pretty bad luck.

Some people would gladly get in the way just for the chance to look at a pretty woman because they got promised riches.

Erik notices we have another mission to be getting on with.

It won't do much, but it's a good deed and perhaps we'll learn something in the attempt.

If... well, if we went both ways and didn't find the parents, we're going to have a problem.

...So we're just casually admitting we forgot to look after Dora? I knew we should've put someone up to it.

...What do you mean, we just gathered everybody! Well, not Jade and Rab, but still.

That's what you happen when you send both people who found her to go looking and don't attach Dora to one of them.

And if she didn't, then... well, she's kind of out of directions to go. This place is a dead end.

...Ah, that's a decent reason to come to Phnom Nonh. I wish your daughter best of luck!

I found this one earlier, Veronica. Maybe we should've stuck together just to keep track of what we bumped into.

How much "help" would we really be?

Well, at least dawn finally hit.

Quite possibly my favourite NPC in Phnom Nonh only appears during the daytime- the female martial artist from DQ3. It's partly nostalgia- martial artists in general are awesome, and DQ3's are adorable, too.

This NPC always feels the right mix between "engaged in the Town Story" and "external to the happenings of the town." Really, she's charming to talk to for multiple reasons.

We have an actual named NPC to meet right now.

This is Mony. He's honestly surprisingly superfluous to the Town Story- he's just here to hawk his wares.

Sylvando ran up to us before announcing this. Not that the people who were already here said much.

Oh, that sounds fortunate!

...Close enough!

That's how they get ya.

...

I don't think this is how business deals are supposed to work. What are you getting out of forcing travellers to stay at your inn in exchange for information? Brand loyalty? Dude, we're going to be gone before you see ROI.

You can refuse Mony's deal, and to But Thou Must you into accepting it, Veronica basically admits "yeah, something's fishy here, but we've got nothing better to do."

There are worse reasons to spend the night in a free inn.

Erik seems to have got caught in something.

Despite being a bunnygirl with Erik in her clutches, I don't think this is an "Erik is being hit on" joke, just Phnom Nonh being Phnom Nonh.

More reasonable than it sounds- Dora's story about her parents makes it sound like she's a tourist's daughter, not a resident's.

Serena, of course, is beloved by all.

Among the many fabulous creations left behind by the renowned engineer Gismo Mecánico, perhaps the best known is the stunning ship known as the Salty Stallion.
No other vessel in Erdrea can match this incredible craft in terms of beauty and speed, a quality experts tell us is imparted by its uniquely shaped prow.
Most boats are designed to cut through the water like a knife, but the Salty Stallion weaves through it instead like a needle through silk, leaving barely a wake behind it as it dances across the waves.
Its motion recalls that of the very man who commissioned it- a renowned entertainer and close personal friend of the ship’s designer.

...Sylvando commissioned the Salty Stallion? I don't think we ever find out who this designer is and how Sylvando met him, but dang, that's impressive.

There's a Puff Puff on a balcony in this inn. For, uh, some reason...

Unlike other Puff Puffs, this one actually does have a mechanical purpose: 5 points in Charm for Erdward. Now why does he want that? No clue, but it could never go amiss.

I think she's a makeup expert of some description.

...Mony, I swear to Yggdrasil-

...At least it'll be some compensation.

Well, that is certainly information to take a note of. Maybe. He could've just wandered off, tourists do have the right to do that.

Erik: I wonder how that little girl's doing? You know, the one that you and Sylv met? If she still hasn't found her parents, we should probably go help.
Veronica: Let's get moving, Erdward! We want to take a good look at that mural before all the tourists get in the way!
Serena: Hmm... No. Perhaps I am just imagining it... Or do you sense it too, Erdward? Something feels different about the village this morning. I'm sure it was a lot livelier than this yesterday...
Sylvando: Hmm... That's strange... I wonder where dear little Dora's gotten to? Listen, honey, we should go and check out the place we found her yesterday. I'm worried about her...
Jade: You know that little girl you told us about? Do you think she might still be searching for her parents? I know we must push on, but I really don't think we can leave until we have made sure she is alright.
Rab: Today's the day, laddie. We need to head over to the Nhou Wat ruins on the other side of that hill. I've a funny feeling we need to take a good look at that mural. Don't ask me why- ye just get a sense for these things when ye get to my age.

I don't think that's how people work, Mony.

I'd say kids have a right to sell souvenirs for profit, but then you start getting into questions of child labour laws and the ugly nature of greed and capitalism and...

...Honestly, if you live here, the giant pile of rocks out back isn't going to be as inherently interesting.

........

Hey, what do you know, Dora was in the last place we left her!

Erik: That little girl we saw- she's the one you told us had lost her parents, right? I think we'd better go after her.
Veronica: Was that the little girl who's lost her parents, Erdward? She didn't look alright, did she? I mean, she didn't even seem to notice you. I wonder what's going on...
Serena: Was that Dora? The little girl you were telling us about? Oh dear. Something really didn't seem quite right with her. We'd better catch up with her and make sure she doesn't come to any harm.
Sylvando: Dora was walking towards those old ruins, wasn't she? Well, come on, honey. We can't let the poor child wander around on her own!
Jade: The girl you told us about- Dora, was it?- I saw her walking towards the ruins. I expect it's not sightseeing that's drawing her there- just what is it about that place?
Rab: Ye know, I'm sure I've seen that wee Dora lass before somewhere. And not too long ago, either... Ach, curse this memory of mine! I'm probably getting her mixed up with some other bairn.

Despite the fact that Dora appeared to be walking towards the ruins, she is no longer here once we actually make it there.

...So what reasonable explanations are there for what just happened? By this point, we have passed "reasonable".

...Wasn't us!

You know, I wonder if the people of Phnom Nonh notice this. Do they send people to check what the mural looks like? I imagine, if you live here long enough, you know what the mural looks like, you only need to see it a few goes at once.

Rather helpfully, the game points out exactly what's different- both for the less observant players and to highlight exactly which people are new.

If you remember back to the cutscene where Bazza and his friends pushed us aside, and think about the designs of the characters present there, you might notice those designs are the same ones used here. The game wasn't really preparing the player for a mystery, but it's nice that they made the clues work for the player as well as in-universe.

...

Well then. Clearly we should've taken Veronica's advice a little faster than that.

...Huh. What do you know. I guess the mural was magical.

Not sure I'd count this as "good fortune" though.

Trust me, "dreaming" was the last thing I had in mind.

...I take it back. That was the last thing I had in mind.

For one thing, where's all this blue coming from?

That still leaves us without a working hypothesis.

Or at least find. I think we've got bigger problems to deal with than helping one person right now. For one thing, we also need to help ourselves, or nobody's leaving this situation better off than they are now.

Welcome to... the Other Side... and trust me, we got no friends here. Are you ready?

Erik: What the...!? Where the heck are we!? We were just standing in those ruins, right? And then the mural started glowing, and now...this! Man, I just don't get it...
Veronica: Ugh, this place is so grey and horrible! If that girl's in here, let's hurry up and find her and get out!
Serena: Look, Erdward! Can you see those people over there, in the distance? There's something strange about them- it's almost as though they've been possessed. It really is ever so eerie in here...
Sylvando: Little Dora came in here, I just know it! Come on, honey! Let's track her down!
Jade: Ever since we came in here, I feel as if we're being watched. Can you sense it too? It's as if some evil presence is following our every move... I fear for that poor girl. It can't be safe for her to be here alone...
Rab: I've seen a fair bit of the world, laddie, but I've never seen anything quite like this before. What happens next is anyone's guess- all I know is that we need to stick together and stay safe.

Having been dug up and brought back from the beyond, they're not big fans of the living, and will eagerly curse them at every opportunity.

Corpse corporals have been in DQs 2, 5, 6, 10, and the 7 remake. I'm surprised he's not in all the same games as the walking corpse. These ones can curse and paralyse you, and also call for more of them.

...There's another mural inside the mural! The person who painted this thing may have gone insane.

So what's going on with Bazza and, uh... do we have to worry about the same thing?

Erik, I'm fairly sure it's time to consider Bazza is not in control of his actions anymore. We didn't actively choose to come here, neither did this guy!

So it's time to consider who the woman in the mural is- she seems to be the focal point of the mural, and the people like Bazza are looking "up" at her. ~~...Excuse me, this video game analysis blog just turned into an image analysis.~~

Ignoring the question of Veronica's sexual maturity... the woman in the mural isn't really leaning on the sorts of attractiveness that only apply to adults. Sure, she is attractive, but she doesn't have a massive cleavage window (or even a massive cleavage, although they are substantial), her makeup is modest and most of her skin is covered.

...Oh yeah, uh, the mural is talking.

...Oh yeah, that's not normal!

~~...What do you mean, "now I start panicking?"~~

So we've got a painting that's doing things on its own.

...This line is so hilarious if you're playing with costumes. Especially this set of costumes: We've got the girls wearing uniforms, Erik in black, Erdward and Rab in similar shades of Drasilian green, and Sylvando's teal. Hold on...

Here's the default colours- who knew the L'Academie root had use! ...We're certainly a more vivid bunch, and probably more colourful than Bazza's crew, but I'm not entirely sure we have the full complement of the rainbow between us. A lot of reds, a lot of greens, purple on Erdward, oranges and blues here and there...

So does everyone want the Luminary power?

...Maybe we shouldn't do what she says.

Erik, sometimes, the villains use colourful metaphor to describe what they're planning to do to us.

This time, I think the mural is being very very literal.

And the people who got sucked into the mural before us mindlessly follow the mural's words.

...Yes. Find Dora. That's what we're doing by following the creepy voice deeper into the Other Side.

Erik: She's got a nerve! All that stuff about her squeezing the colour out of us... It sounds kind of horrible, right? How about we try not to let that happen.
Veronica: That woman from the painting was just awful! There's nothing I hate more than being treated like a child... And before anyone says anything, do NOT tell me I should be used to it!
Serena: Do you remember those people we saw in front of the painting? We definitely saw some of them earlier, when we were walking around the village. I think they were tourists, here to see the mural... It looks like we aren't the only people who got sucked into this place.
Sylvando: Honey, did you hear that awful ghost-woman!? What she said made my blood run cold! This place seriously gives me the creeps... Let's just find little Dora and get out of here!
Jade: That woman in the picture, it's strange, but she seemed to be especially fond of you, Erdward... Oh, and you know what else is strange? I've started to feel as though we're being watched again. Ever since that woman in the painting went away, in fact...
Rab: This isn't good, laddie... Did ye see the hollow look on those people's faces? And what about the things that painting was telling us!? I've got a terrible feeling that this isn't going to end well. Let's head after those people. I don't think they're capable of looking after themselves.

Extremely intelligent but utterly unlikeable, they have all manner of horrible habits, including belching up great gouts of grim gas all the time.

Drohl diabolists come from DQ1, and they have the Zam spell to throw at us. That "grim gas" is also an attack, but I don't actually know what it does.

Oh yeah, if you get Cursed, use Rab immediately, no matter what the Curse does (assuming it persists to the field- sometimes I don't think they do). They're all bad, and if you can't tell which curse you got, just pretend the curse is going to do something horrible immediately.

This is where the hypothermions live. Their name is pretty long, and their relatives aren't that differently named (and I can never spell them right from memory), so it didn't occur to me these guys were in Tickington earlier.

I can't tell whether this was obvious or not. All gigantic chests are giant mimics, but I'm not sure what expectations you'd get out of this. If we can tell immediately you're a trap, you're a bad trap.

Titanic treasure chests whose grotesque gluttony is so unstoppable that they'll even swallow a Gigantes whole.

Colossal canniboxes are new to DQ11, and they're rather strange- there's like one of each stage. This one has Kasnooze instead of Sweet Breath, but the critting and Whack is the same. Also, while canniboxes always drop one Seed of Skill, these guys have normal drop systems and drop rates (common slot is a Drasilian guinea, rare is a Drasilian sovereign).

We've got to land the heavy hits more than ever- he may be "just a cannibox", but he's much bulkier, and canniboxes are still scary.

When the colossal cannibox is gone, he leaves behind a normal chest with a normal item inside it.

...Moving on.

These massive mountains of muscle make an easy living as bodyguards for monsters smaller than themselves.

Jockilles is a new kind of monster to DQ11, and these guys are terrifying. They attack twice and have a punch that lands a flurry of hits- as you might expect from a guy with four arms. He can also flex his muscles and make your units skip their turns, and their muscles are so strong they can block your hits. These guys are minibosses and should be treated as such.

Evencloth back here. It can be hard to spot behind the giant candlesticks (...why are there giant candlesticks anyway?), but most of the sources so far are time-dependent, so it's a good time to stock up- both here, and on later enemies.

The stairs around here are pretty massive. Earlier on, we had to jump up each stair individually. Now, we have to climb the stairs like mountains.

...If it wasn't unsafe before now...

...Good question. It appears to be a vine with a teleportal to another dimension for a mouth. This is almost certainly not what it is, but whatever it is is probably not good news for us.

It does seem to be the means through which the mural leeches the "colour" out of its victims.

So, you know, a bad time to be surrounded.

...You know, I don't think it's sustenance in this case. Doesn't really seem like it fits.

Erdward stares into the abyss for a while...

But his Luminary powers seem to trigger some kind of allergic reaction.

We get an escape route.

Erik: Thanks for getting us out of that jam. That was a close one... Okay, we can't go back to where those thorn things were, so I guess our only option is to keep pushing forward...
Veronica: Are you alright, Erdward? Those thorny tentacle things were horrible! Let's make sure we don't get tangled up in them again...
Serena: I just feel terrible for poor Bazza and the others. They were so keen to see the mural, and it turned out to be this awful nightmare... There's nothing worse than having your belief in something betrayed...
Sylvando: You know, when I saw those thorns, I started to fear the worst for little Dora... But we can't give in to despair! No, she's going to be just fine. We're going to get her out of here- and everyone else, too!
Jade: You saved us, Erdward... Thank you. There is evil in this place that must be confronted, but for now I think it's best for us to find a way out of here.
Rab: Heaven knows what would've happened if ye hadn't saved us from those tentacles, laddie. Aye, this place is nasty, and no mistake. Let's get out of here as soon as we can, eh?

The vines don't pursue us in any way after we use it, so we're free to stumble upon and remark on this random pile of stone on the way out.

Clearly, whatever lives here didn't want people looking at this.

"Discovered". Not painted. I thought this was the painter.

A "fresco" is a kind of lime plaster painting where, through complicated chemical processes I don't fully understand from my brief research on the term, the end result is a painting that is an integral part of the wall. If you just paint right onto a wall, eventually it's going to peel. Fresco seems like it doesn't do that.

I feel like, if you don't understand magic enough that you get these two confused, you should probably not be making hypotheses about magic. Just a hunch.

And here we get to the most insidiuous trap of all... the trap of a genre savvy villain. It's ridiculously easy to set a trap where the bait works because humans are greedy- that's like 99% of all traps. Accounting for the 1%, though, with a second trap that prays specifically on the weaknesses of the kind of people likely to ignore a greed-based trap?

We were smart enough to avoid the trap of fabulous wealth. We weren't smart enough to avoid the trap of manipulative pity. We had to do the right thing- and the right thing wasn't possible.

Now it's time?

Erik: Oh, man! I don't believe it! We walked straight into that portrait's trap! But that doesn't mean we're beaten yet! Dora's not getting away with this!
Veronica: Stop daydreaming, Erdward! We need to find a way out of here! I mean, you're welcome to stay for as long as you like, but this place just isn't for me!
Serena: Gosh... The warning on the stone was rather frightening, wasn't it? If the mural is evil and it's luring people in to feast on their souls... well, you know what that means, don't you, Erdward? Dora was part of the trap!
Sylvando: Colour me shocked! Dora's been tricking tourists into coming to the ruins so they can be sucked into that awful mural! I've seen all sorts of bad stuff in my time, honey, but taking advantage of people's kindness? That really is the pits!
Jade: This is not going to end here. I won't let it. Now come on, Erdward. Let's find a way out- we're not going to let some wretched curse stand in our way!
Rab: So this mural's cursed, is it? And it's been that way for centuries, by the sounds of it... Right, laddie. Let's go. Someone's got to put a stop to this reign of terror- and there's no time like the present!