Another ride back to Castle Ironfist for us.
Once there, we are all business. We clean out our bags, and sell some stuff. We also train up two levels, to level 16. Ain't life grand?
Skill points allocated. Now, we take advantage of the local trainers and get some skill expertise mojo going. Everyone gets Bow and their respective armor skills at Expert, Cate gets Expert Dagger (dual-wield time!), Toblerone gets better with Swords, and Huaryu gets Expert Shield. Sweet!
Now, it's time to travel to Bootleg Bay and do another dungeon...or should I say, half-dungeon? We overland travel there and head to the dungeon, just to the west of the little town...welcome to the Temple of the Fist.
The entry hall has two ramps leading down, and we take the right. Both lead to parallel corridors, linked by a room containing a skull pile. We accidentally step inside this room and discover the skull pile here works a little differently. It drains the Might of you if you go near it. Whoops.
Anyway, who needs Might when we have magic? We go up to the door on the right, and Ring of Fire the monks here to death. Keep in mind these are not Warrior Monks...these Monks are actually more like mages! Squishy ones, at that.
Having done that, we go in and find a sealed door. No way to open it here...back to the left side!
The left side is very simple, it's just two rooms with...rats. Yes, these monks have pet rats. No one told them cleanliness was next to holiness, I guess.
The second room also has a row of barrels bisecting the room. On the other side of these barrels is an arrow painted on the floor, which points to a nearby torch. What the hey, let's fiddle with it!
A secret door opens in the nearby wall, revealing a button. Pushing this button...opens the sealed door. We go back around to the other side now.
Next, we come face to face with monks, who apparently don't like us and hit us hard. Time to make a tactical retreat.
After resting up, we head back in and Ring of Fire these monks...and apparently most of the ones upstairs, too...to death. Now we head up the ramp. The final room, with the evil crystal to be destroyed...and two Master Monks guarding it. These guys are nasty, so let's take them on!
Ouch! They manage to two-hit KO Huaryu. And by KO, I mean he is DEAD. Retreat to the local temple!
After healing up there, it's clear we can't take these guys head on. Hmmmm...time for game exploits! Since the monks only attack by casting spells...
We go back in and use the corner of the room's entrance to be able to hit them with melee attacks while they sit there and cast spells into the wall. Final score - Us: 1, Monks: 0
Now we walk forward and Toblerone does his best war cry, and smashes the crystal. Guess what...
Temple of the Fist complete!
We head back to the old man at the temple at tell him. He's grateful, and pays us 3000 gold. As we leave, something strikes Eno as odd, so we head back...and the man vanished! Spooky...
Well, time to head to the local trainer, as we can level again! Now at level 17. 3 levels in one chapter for the win!
Now for a break, and then we get to tackle a doozy of a dungeon. It's time to stop mucking around with side-quests and get on with the story! The Silver Helm Outpost awaits!
