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I thought my luck couldn't possibly have improved after the blessed run I had last time that went abruptly sour, but things actually got quite a bit better. One of the features of Shiren is that certain chains of events that you initiate tend to pay off on down the line, after a series of deaths. One of those chains of events unlocks an adventuring partner for you, named Blinding Oryu. True to her name, she can blind every monster in a room at will, and can powerfully punch her way through monsters.

I've had Blinding Oryu in my party for awhile now, and the result is that I'm sitting at level 11 and have gone through very few items in the course of picking off the enemy. It helps that I have a Polearm+5 and am carrying an Armor Ward, a powerful shield that also causes you to burn through food more quickly. At this point, the remote possibility of running out of Riceballs and starving to death is really my only worry. Anyway, let's pick up at floor 14, shall we?

14. Cave Mtn. Spirits

The massive advantage of having a partner, especially a strong one like Oryu, is that it provides a distraction from monsters while also letting you use flanking techniques against them. I get all of the XP off of Oryu's kills, and she automatically detects the approach of monsters that I frequently can't see. In some battles, like the one Oryu's currently having with a Popster Tank, I just pass turns out of attack range while Oryu dismantles the enemy herself. I'm already up to level 12 doing this.

Cryptic Rock Valley

The last village before entering the deadly (and annoying) swamps that lie just outside the entrance to Table Mountain. Before I started these diaries, I escorted a little girl through the last wave of dungeons back to her family here. As a result, I have access to a small (eight slots) storehouse here, and a lot of equipment that I need to figure out what to do with. This includes a fantastic Staff of Paralysis, three Chiropractic Jars with multiple uses, oodles of healing herbs of various types, and a lot of weapons I frankly don't need right now. After lightening my load, I get ready to head into probably the most annoying point in the game.

15. Waterfall Marsh

The Marsh is teeming with enemies that can sap strength and reduce your XP level. I'll be relying on Oryu here to get into melee range with enemies I don't want wasting my stats. There's also an enemy here called Purple Slimes that have the annoying habit of rusting your equipment, making it weaker. That Plating Scroll I lost earlier would've protected my equipment from Slime damage, which is inevitable now. They can also drain strength, including Oryu's. By the time I leave this area, an encounter with Purple Slimes has her doing 1 damage per hit. Fortunately she can still blind everything in a room, which keeps her useful.

16. Waterfall Marsh

Here I encoutner Twisty Hanis, which drain experience levels. Fortunately, Oryu still does plenty of damage to them, and she can blind them, too. I'm still going to be fighting them cautiously, though. Oryu eventually picks a fight with a Gather, and finally gets killed. This lets it evolve into a Killer Gather. I'm not too interested in fighting him, so I Paralyze it with my staff and then run like hell. I manage to get a Staff of Sloth before I head on to the next level, so all told I'm not doing too badly to be relatively ill-equipped.

17. Table Mountain

I don't even recognize most of the monsters in this room, and immediately use a Scroll of Sleep. Then I read the Power-Up Scroll I'm also carrying. I pick off enemies that turn out to be a Greenwalrus, a Master Hen, and a Chainhead, and get up to level 16 in doing so. Not bad. The exit isn't far away, and I'm happy to move on.

18. Table Mountain

I get lucky and spawn one room away from the exit, with only a Master Hen to fight on the way. I rest up a little by the stairs and then head to the next level.

19. Table Mountain

This is incredible luck, though it may bite me in the ass in the long run: I spawn one tile away from the stairs. I'm going to risk moving on, even though I'm not picking up more treasure or leveling up much. I've got plenty of good scrolls and staves, and what I really want to do is just survive long enough to get to the next village.

20. Table Mountain

I've spawned in a large room that isn't a true Monster House, but still pretty dangerous. The mini-map shows six monsters in the room with me, and I can't really see what they are. I decide to play it save and use a Scroll of Confusion. I end up having to use two to get to the next stairway and a Chainhead nearly mauls me, but I do make it to the next level of the dungeon alive.

21. Table Mountain

Things are looking bleak. The monsters are incredibly hard to kill I'm burning through items and scrolls with every combat. I do get a few levels fighting a monster called a Mecharoid, though. I eat my last Big Riceball, so I can't really afford to wear my Armor Ward anymore. I leave it on the ground to free up an item slot and decide to try my hand at seeing how far I can make it without a shield. My Staff of Sloth should help, although I don't know how many charges it has.

This dungeon uses a curious format where you have to step on Spring Traps to move from room to room. Escaping from enemies here is nearly pointless to try, so I'm probably going to tear through a lot of items in the course of fighting my way out. This is also a good place to level, though, since I've skipped exploring so many floors... but if I get overwhelmed by monsters I'm pretty much screwed. I'm also screwed if it takes too long for the Spring Traps to vault me into the room with the exit, because I'll starve to death.

Unfortunately, I discover a nasty monster called a Menbell here. He has an ability to summon other monsters and has very high defense, so killing him quickly is difficult. If I'd known what his ability was, I would've used my Dragon Herb to kill him quickly, but instead I used it to get rid of the Mecharoid with him. Fortunately I got some goodies into my Storehouse Jar before I died, so I'll be restarting at Canyon Hamlet with some of the better items I found while in the depths.

I think if I can get a Plating Scroll on my next run, I'll be in a good position to beat the main game's dungeon soon. The Golden Condor's waiting on floor 30, and I got amazingly far even with pretty lousy equipment. With a fairly awesome 289498 score, I decide to restart instead of waiting on a rescue.

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