"Hm. This one looks interesting." Caleb has, by sheer chance, taken out Faxanadu. Having grown up in the 3000s, he has no knowledge of things like "blowing into the cartridge", but it's easy enough to think of how to get it in.
And then he hits the power button. He's used game consoles before, he knows how this works.
With the relatively higher strength of Caleb's weapon, the dwarf goes down like a bitch. Victoly is sweet.
...though if he tries the door for himself, he's going to find it's locked with a J-shaped lock. Must be to keep dwarves out, though fat lot of good that did.
"... you have got to be joking me," Caleb says with a sigh. Why does he need to pay for a key to get out, anyway? He's a damn hero, is what he is, and they're going out of their way to make his job more of a pain in the ass.
Welp, back to the stores. "Let me guess," he says, a bit snappishly, "The J key goes to the door outside."
The shopkeeper, to his benefit, looks sheepish. "Yeah, well, the King didn't want too many people heading towards the tree. Lost too many folks, you know? So they locked the door. Keeps people from being stupid and going out, keeps dwarves from getting in. Used to, anyway, before the walls started to crumble." He sighs. "Anyway, the idea was that only the really determined types could get through, and the king usually provided the funds for the keys. We can't seem to make 'em last more than one use, so I've gotta make a living somehow, you know? Incidentally..."
He leans over the counter. "Between you and me, this is the cheapest you're gonna find these suckers, and they're a pretty common lock this low in the tree. So." Man, savvy seller.
"Wait. So you mean that not only are you making me, who is supposed to save your town, buy a key to get out of the town so I can save it, but you're telling me there are more locks... that use the same type of key." Caleb's tone indicates that he thinks this is some of the stupidest shit he's ever heard, because really, it's not that secure.
At all.
It's really dumb. He can't work in NES logic too well.
The shopkeeper just seems irritated now. "Look man, you gonna buy or not? I gotta feed my family somehow, you know, especially with everything going down the can lately."
Nintendo logic. Not even those who live under its dictates can explain it.
"Well, if I do not buy it, you are not going to be able to feed your family *anyway*, but..." He sighs. "Fine." Even heroes have to pay by the rules, and he purchases a key... or two. Or three.
"Glad to be of service!" And the poor guy really does look like he's thankful for the cash. Then again, considering the atmosphere outside, that's not really too surprising.
Caleb will be rather annoyed to find that another of the same sort of dwarf has made its way to the area in front of the door, and is prowling around like it owns the place. Now technically, if you want something approximating realism, you could say it jumped in through that noticeable crack in the wall which, while too high to climb to, is nothing to a creature whose entire method of movement involves jumping.
Technically, it's just sprite regeneration. Go video games.
Assuming it is vulnerable to the exact same method (sticking out a sword at it when it hops at him; Caleb, after all, is not limited by the response rate of the NES), yes, it dying would be a fairly safe assumption.
The real question is, does it inexplicably drop anything?
"Fuckin' dwarves," Caleb mutters under his breath as he tries one of the J-keys in the lock. That'd better work, because if it doesn't, he may need to go in there and strangle the king himself.
Coming through the door, one gets a real sense of exactly how enormous this tree is. The roots surrounding Caleb are easily the size of buildings.
The dwarves are much more active out here as well. One could definitely see why a lesser fighter wouldn't stand a chance, but one with Caleb's skill should do fine. (Interestingly, only the hoppers drop cash; the spikey creatures drop bread, of all things, and eating them will make Caleb feel a bit better.)
Past a few ladders leading higher up, there's a lone shop sitting on a ledge, guarded by a blue, almost zombie-like (but no less sliceable) dwarf. How odd.
Caleb sure as shit isn't going to pick up that bread. Seriously, there is no damn way that is sanitary - who the hell would eat bread, especially because it has to have been INSIDE those guys - there's nowhere for them to hold it, anyway.
Maybe if he gets really hungry.
Caleb has little trouble dispatching the zombie-like dwarf, unless it has some unknown powers that he should be expecting; he's reasonably skilled with a sword, and it's a very nice sword. Time to check out this shop.
Good lord. This shop reeks of money. This is not a shop, it would seem, for the peons, and the two main pieces of adventuring spells here seem to prove that. Granted, they sound like killer spells -- Magic Shield? DEATH? AWESOME. ...until you look at the prices, and realize you could feed a village off these prices. (7600 and 12,500 "golds" respectively.) Just... who the hell would put this sort of shop this early in the game? It's sadistic.
The shopkeeper eyes Caleb in that sort of fashion that says, "Oh, I know YOU can't afford this stuff. It's not FOR you." Funny how a guy that looks so much like the other arms dealer could have such a different attitude. "Can I... help you?" he asks.
"Well, you could lower your prices for someone who has every intention of saving your world," Caleb says, rolling his eyes a bit. Fucking capitalist system; in the Clans, they would realize that he needs these things to do his job, and give them to him. Chits and vouchers.
The shopkeep sneers. "I'm afraid business doesn't work like that, SIR. These are very high quality goods for... *sniff* VERY high quality customers. And if you were such a great adventurer, you'd probably have enough money to afford these." He scoffs. "As it is, I've wasted some of my perfectly good scrolls on people already who said they were going save our world and, well, you saw how that one turned out."
Wow. What a dick.
He makes a sort of dismissing maneuver. "At any rate, if you cannot afford my fine wares, perhaps you could make room for those who can?" he requests. (Note: The store is empty aside from Caleb.)
And then he hits the power button. He's used game consoles before, he knows how this works.
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With the relatively higher strength of Caleb's weapon, the dwarf goes down like a bitch. Victoly is sweet.
...though if he tries the door for himself, he's going to find it's locked with a J-shaped lock. Must be to keep dwarves out, though fat lot of good that did.
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Welp, back to the stores. "Let me guess," he says, a bit snappishly, "The J key goes to the door outside."
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He leans over the counter. "Between you and me, this is the cheapest you're gonna find these suckers, and they're a pretty common lock this low in the tree. So." Man, savvy seller.
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At all.
It's really dumb. He can't work in NES logic too well.
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Nintendo logic. Not even those who live under its dictates can explain it.
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Okay, three.
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Caleb will be rather annoyed to find that another of the same sort of dwarf has made its way to the area in front of the door, and is prowling around like it owns the place. Now technically, if you want something approximating realism, you could say it jumped in through that noticeable crack in the wall which, while too high to climb to, is nothing to a creature whose entire method of movement involves jumping.
Technically, it's just sprite regeneration. Go video games.
We assume this one goes down just as fast.
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The real question is, does it inexplicably drop anything?
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Looks like the way's free from here.
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He's got some world-savin' to do.
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Coming through the door, one gets a real sense of exactly how enormous this tree is. The roots surrounding Caleb are easily the size of buildings.
The dwarves are much more active out here as well. One could definitely see why a lesser fighter wouldn't stand a chance, but one with Caleb's skill should do fine. (Interestingly, only the hoppers drop cash; the spikey creatures drop bread, of all things, and eating them will make Caleb feel a bit better.)
Past a few ladders leading higher up, there's a lone shop sitting on a ledge, guarded by a blue, almost zombie-like (but no less sliceable) dwarf. How odd.
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Maybe if he gets really hungry.
Caleb has little trouble dispatching the zombie-like dwarf, unless it has some unknown powers that he should be expecting; he's reasonably skilled with a sword, and it's a very nice sword. Time to check out this shop.
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The shopkeeper eyes Caleb in that sort of fashion that says, "Oh, I know YOU can't afford this stuff. It's not FOR you." Funny how a guy that looks so much like the other arms dealer could have such a different attitude. "Can I... help you?" he asks.
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Wow. What a dick.
He makes a sort of dismissing maneuver. "At any rate, if you cannot afford my fine wares, perhaps you could make room for those who can?" he requests. (Note: The store is empty aside from Caleb.)
REALLY a dick.
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