Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
And so, despite their gross incompetence (or perhaps because of it?),
our feckless heroes have defeated Commander Carbuncle.
But, hold the applause: from the bowels of the earth comes a terrible shriek, like cats
fighting on a chalkboard, revealing that Carbuncle's dark ritual has
opened another crack in the Crystal Prison.
Concerned about this development (and also the legal ramifications of murdering the last
of the Knights of Ibia), the heroes hurry to Ibia Castle.
After filling out the necessary paperwork, they at last get an audience with King Dramm,
along with his new royal soothsayer, Griselda.
It was a big deal and involved a bunch of backstory and prophecy.
The gist was this: way back a thousand years ago (remember my intro speech?),
the Dark Prince swore allegiance to Abnegata, Goddess of Destruction,
and vowed to destroy all of Mederlund, starting with the Paracean Empire.
Then he lost, got locked up, etc., etc.
For your purposes, the big revelation is that the Crystal Prison is past the point of saving.
So the only hope is to kill the IMMORTAL Dark Prince.
Who, apparently, wasn't always immortal. He was once an ordinary *** with a talent
for war.
But somehow, he put his heart in cold storage, making himself unkillable,
but vulnerable to Abnegata's corruption.
So it's just a matter of finding the heart, and reuniting it with the Prince.
How romantic.
The heart is somewhere in the ruins of the Paracean Empire.
The ruins are on the wrong side of the Barrier Sea.
Which means the heroes need a boat.
So on to the port city of Malicovia, home to boats . . . and pirates.