DQXIS Act 2 Angri La: Wheel of Harma, Turn Turn Turn

...Oh hey, it's that place Rab went to. Guess we found our way after him.

Of all things, you wouldn't really expect the gateway between life and death to just be a copy of Angri La's Field of Discipline.

And we immediately bump into Grand Master Pang pretending to be the arbiter of souls or something.

Not that we're supposed to know this is Pang.

Did you have to call us an idiot?

They really lay the arrogance of Pang down thick. There's a line between "confidence" and "rudeness", and I think Pang has crossed the line on the other side of rudeness. Especially since, as far as she has chosen to believe, we're some random dead kid.

I wouldn't say nothingness. The Field of Discipline, though tacky, is certainly something interesting to do.

Ah great, Mordegon broke hell loose so badly even the afterlife felt it.

...What if I put the Tree back? Will all the souls get back on track, or are they gone for good?

Erdrea is a world about reincarnation. With this in mind, it's possible that by shutting off the tap on the afterlife, Mordegon has created a world with no births.

...Which isn't that bad compared to everything else, who in this godforsaken Erdrea is making new babies?

DQXIS Act 2 Mount Pang Lai: The Ancient Order of Angri La

Oh, so you guys were the ones who fixed the bridge? ...I can buy that, rockslides wouldn't have done that.

It'll be a bit of a quick visit through here.

Hendrik: Loath as I am to admit it, the truth is that I harbour an intense dislike of insects of all kinds. I would be grateful if we could head west of here and make haste for the Costa Valor.

There was a "down here" you could see in the Act 1 version of the Manglegrove, but it is now an accessible area. Which is good, because Flint's bridge has been busted again.

Four shiny spots down here, and one treasure.

This mini medal.

Cute little carnivorous plants that just kept growing and growing until eventually they were huge, hideous, man-eating monsters.

Chewlips are the base form of the gnawchid family as it appears in DQ2, although this family hasn't reappeared until now. These guys can launch crits and Sweet Breath.

This bit, here, is where you get back up. It might be a little hard to pick out at a distance.

...Flint must be feeling really annoyed with this one.

This is a good time to pick up this Campsite again. This one's a good one for a single sidequest later.

Right here, beside Tricky Devil's chest, is our "repaired bridge"- a log plonked down over the path.

...It got us over to the Costa Valor, at least. Can't complain too much.

Hendrik: This place reminds me of my youth. I spent some time in a town in this region... But that is of no consequence now- the King has instructed us to travel to Mount Pang Lai, and seek those whose fate is deeply intertwined with that of the Luminary. We need to head north and find the checkpoint of which His Majesty spoke. Come, let us go there without delay.

DQXI Act 2 Heliodor Castle: A Heart Aflame

The nameless nun seems to have been run off. There's still a ledger if you want to Save the game.

Hendrik: I understand that when you and that blue-haired thief were fleeing the dungeons, you leapt from a cliff in order to make good your escape. How you survived, I do not know. Now it is time for us to retrace your footsteps and gain access to the sewers from that cliff. Come, we must search for a path up to the cliff- and let us hope that the dragon that dwells in the caves is asleep...

Hendrik suggests retracing our steps, except we weren't exactly conscious when we went from the cliff to the church.

There's also a shopkeep out here, if you really need something.

Well, if there aren't a ton of new enemies to run around saying hi to before we go up. Most of these are Vicious enemies, but I'll fetch them all just the same.

Hendrik shows off another of his tricks: Kabuff. He certainly seems the type to not know magic, but he does actually know some spells. A very limited selection, however.

Ghostly knights with no heads who have hideous faces on their shields instead- a testament to their twisted mentalities.

As seen in DQs 8 and 10, the dullahan has added itself to the monsters we can encounter. It can flail around its morning star and block your attacks with its... shield? Face? Whatever it is, it's annoying. They also know Oomphle, in case you thought it would just be annoying on the way down.

Trying to go to Downtown Heliodor through this entrance just leads to disappointment and a hitherto not present Ore spot.

Hendrik shows off his other spell, Midheal. Hendrik does know one more spell, but it's a situational spell I don't think he'll ever have reason to use, even if his AI will let him.

(It's Magic Barrier.)

...The Flamethrower and the Dullahan are the only two new monsters we found. At least there's less work for me digging up bios when there's a lot of Vicious monsters to shore up the ranks.

DQXI Parting Place: The Zombieslayer and his Unswerving Companion

The tent we bumped into earlier that we weren't allowed in happened to be where Carnelian was resting. Now, though, he's ready for us.

...It remains to be seen if we are ready for him.

I imagine Carnelian got a front row seat to that part. Even if he's the only one who did.

But from here, "I remember little" doesn't tell us much about what he did see for those past sixteen years? Did he get possessed by Mordegon and then, the next moment, wake up in Yggdrasil none the wiser about how he got there? Or did he experience the intervening sixteen years, if perhaps not actually aware of what he was doing.

Carnelian is not interested in seeking forgiveness, but instead on making sure his crimes end here. While you could argue for a while about whether Erdward would ever truly forgive him, he can always agree with doing the right thing now.

The answer to this question does not actually matter.

This response somehow does a good job of reacting to both answers.

Carnelian doesn't know how we got out of Yggdrasil, but he would be at the bottom of the list of characters who could anyway. Perhaps Veronica can answer that one. She always seemed to be on top of things.

Jade's just fine, don't worry about that, she was onto you from...

...Oh. Right. Jade survived the attack on Dundrasil, but we're not sure what came after that.

And even if we did know, thanks to the Side Story, it's probably best we don't tell him.

DQXI Last Bastion: Bear This Torch Against The Endless Night

Erdward... sunk like a stone. At least everyone else washed up on land!

...Amber? Oh great, we're dead now.

Or at the very least just hallucinating. This is, I think, an exchange that actually happened at some point when Erdward was a kid.

He got woken up in the middle of the night by something.

Turns out that "something" was him getting into a fight with his best friend.

...Ah, to be a child and to fight over things like that.

...

Seriously, game, why is Gemma not a party member? At least let her pick up a frying pan as a comic relief Guest in an optional dungeon.