Mind the Gap

The Hollows

It was time to move on, deeper down into the deep dungeon of Midlight’s Deep. We were only on the third floor and I had a feeling we had plenty more to go. Rapha, too, had a distinct feeling. She had donned the Dragoon gear as she went on ahead, but the little bravery she had mustered up to do so quickly dissipated when we arrived at the next floor: the Hollows. For its name was not ill-chosen.

There was an eerie draft that came from within the floor when we entered and touched upon a slab of stone. The room was drenched in darkness, as usual, and without our sense of sight it felt as if the room was riddled with stony paths drawn over a great abyss, and my bravery left me too. How were we ever going to cross that?!

Fumbling around

Ramza and Balthier wasted no time teleporting themselves onto the highest stalagmites in the room, and perched themselves while shooting at the Piscodaemons whose home we had quite aggressively invaded. The only way we were going to see where we were going, Balthier had claimed, was by getting some crystals started, so why wait and fumble around?

Sure, the draft that came from the depths was enough to point out the gaps for us, but one step and… I do not want to think about what would happen, so I glanced at Rapha who started her tried and tested routine of dancing around the room and picking up treasure, and then I realized how well her foresight had been.

As a dragoon she was swift and jumped over the gaps like it was nothing. She could even do it blind, which was probably for the better since those robed sea creatures were not dying quick enough. By the time that Balthier, having lost his patience with these monsters not doing what they were supposed to, had trusted his keen eye and gleaned the exit, it was still pitch dark…

Pet Toad

Then, finally, one monster after the other – as well as those two lost adventurers – turned into a light source and the entire Hollows appeared before us, revealing just how treacherous our journey through this floor had been. Along with Reis, who looked flustered when she realized we were all staring at her in confusion.

The poor toad got caught in that fire blast one of the other Piscodaemons had flung at Ramza, and if the poor little creature died, we would have to continue on… No one had ever heard of anyone lingering on a battlefield, right? She muttered.

Ramza calmly reminded her of what happened the last time we kept a toad alive, the last thing she would want was to — Ramza’s words weren’t even cold or the toad gobbled up a crystal like a madman. Ramza snarled; wasted a perfectly fine bottle of X-potion as well, he growled. Now it’s got one of our potions and full health. He was certain he even saw some light emanating from it.

Rapha jumped and danced and rushed over the gaps. She had gotten most of the treasure lying about (but tell me how would a Piscodaemon even use a Yoichi bow?), but had gleaned an Elixir bottle close to Ramza’s hiding place. Growing even more impatient, Balthier reminded everyone that we had some more treasure to find below. If no one would mind, he would get ready to launch a barrage of fiery bullets onto the toad so they could call this floor cleared. Wouldn’t want to stay around for any longer than necessary, he mused, the darkness of the abyss is where the monsters come out…

Just when he finished loading his Blaze Gun, Rapha cried out in victory! We had the Elixir!