We eight, after trudging westward, eventually arrive at a cave opening within the Sine Mountain Range, which cleanly divides the western and eastern ends of Dillingtonlandia.
Like Shop 'n' Get Out, the cave itself was formerly protected by a magic barrier.
I initiate, "So there. The barriers acted as an enhanced security system for Carmealla Gonzalvo."
Gershwin follows, "Good thing we broke into the system even with little experience."
Christian begs to differ, "But even with the security system broken, we still haven't defeated the false leader of Dillingtonlandia! And I have to report what we did and are currently doing within 2 days to the Ishi-shiro HQ!"
That gets me curious.
"Ishi-shiro?"
The big man gets straight to the point.
"The Ishi-shiro is a paramilitary organization which aims at defending the people from all forms of evil."
"Oh, I see. So... could you please give me some more details?"
Uh-oh, I think I pushed one of his buttons, as he points his hammer-axe right at my face.
"Negative! Did you forget the code of secrecy?"
"Uh... nope."
"Good."
CJ, meanwhile, makes her words of urgency clear.
"Hurry! If we don't save Agaton, then we won't have a key offense on The Movement!"
Bearwin adds, "Yeah! And we must hunt for more booty!"
Nolan finalizes, "Whatever our individual objectives are, we are united by fate! Let's go!"
And there we are, exploring what is called Pulanga Cave.
The cave itself is divided into two sections.
The first section is just a simple network of passages; while the second is much larger, as formations of stalactites and stalagmites actually form the passageways we must trudge in order to get to the other side.
In this first section, we can spot a treasure chest, as well as a lady blacksmith.
The chest is, thank goodness, not booby trapped.
[You got a Konoha Headband.]
And as for the lady blacksmith with a pink streak on her black hair...
Yes, she's all friendly and helpful.
"Hi. I'm Dinky. Dinky Clegg, if you want to know my full name. I don't want to serve that merciless Movement even though they forced me to, so I'm hiding myself in this cave.
"I can improve your weapons to level 2 (i.e., add a +1 to them). So... which person's weapon do you wanna forge?"
A note about weapon forging.
In this world of Daig'digaia, weapon forging is the only way an adventurer can acquire a new weapon, as every unique adventurer has a preferred weapon of choice.
There are currently 16 levels for each individual weapon; and as the level increases, so does the weapon's attack power.
At level 7, the weapon's form will change a bit; and thus necessitates a new name, chosen by the weapon's wielder. The same goes when the weapon's level is raised to level 12.
At this rate, we all ensure that our weapons are sharpened to level 2 before we continue.
We eventually get to the second section of the cave, and we don't let its complicated structure overwhelm us.
Slow and steady does the job.
At one dead end, we can spot another innocent-looking treasure chest.
But once we get to open it...
We realize that it's just an empty chest!
"Wait... there's a small message here..." I state as I meticulously read the enclosed note.
"The monetary contents of this chest were diverted to Haytham Aykroyd's bank account. So go kill some monsters to earn your own moolah, dammit!"
–Nadia Sanderson
Oh, well. Our loss, their gain.
Moving on.
We spot another dead end, and here lies another treasure chest.
On impulse, we open it...
...and an angry voice belonging to a boxer with a pasty-white complexion simply shouts...
"Hey! Don't ya go pilferin' my chest!"
The boxer engages us in battle, but we immediately take care of him.
We just feel sorry for ourselves, for letting our treasure-hunting tendencies go too far; and to him, for being so rude about this entire matter.
[You got a Choir Pin.]
With no more dead ends bothering us, we finally clinch the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel...
...and make our way out of Pulanga Cave.
We all breathe deep as we get to see the west end of Dillingtonlandia – which has a name, Greggler Plains.
While, yes, we can spot the lair of Carmealla Gonzalvo around a mile or two away, we can also spot a waterfall due west of it.
So, as a diversion, we decide to visit the waterfall first.
This waterfall, which is named Cosine Falls, has a simple appearance – a small hill that permits water from the sea to gush right into the land below.
The cluster of hills located directly west of the waterfall is appropriately named Tangent Hills.
But this simple appearance brings nothing but simple joys, as we indeed feel relaxed just by staring at this waterfall.
As usual, there are some people who reside in this waterfall area.
We take the time to talk to them.
A green-haired woman tells us, "I don't mind getting spotted by those Movement fiends just to get here. I've done that many times now, you know. Now for the limited-edition 'Gaia Memory' USB drive I hid behind the waterfall... or was it a tree?"
Wait a sec. This can only mean one thing.
We check the only tree within this immediate area, and we can see something sticking out from one of its branches.
[You got a Ration.]
Probably someone left it behind. Hope it's not rotten, as we all know military rations are designed to have long shelf lives.
Next, we talk to a man who actually sits beside the waterfall.
"Hey... I'll tell you a secret.
"See this waterfall? Think of it as a larger version of those portable water fountains that are said to have a relaxing effect.
"And for some reason, this waterfall has an extra effect of warding off the dangerous dancespores."
Dancespores? Maybe it's an evil invention cooked up by The Movement, that's for sure.
"Obviously, those Movement thugs didn't do the research when they chose to build their dungeon near here."
I ask him the obvious question, "So what are you, anyway?"
"A defector from The Movement. I really love this place, and I don't want it to be taken away, that's all."
A fairy who prances around the waterfall has this to say...
"As a fairy, I just hope that some schmuck won't abduct me and put me in a bottle to be sold in a shady caravan."
And finally, we come across a girl with pink hair and green eyes, and she suspiciously looks like one of my all-time favorite female game characters.
She greets us all, "Hello!"
I answer, with a heavy, beet-red blush on my face, "H-hello to you, too."
"Say... You kinda look like the guy I met and loved back in my world. Are you part of a guild just like him?"
"Y-Yeah... sorta."
While I get all smitten with the girl, CJ comments, "Benoit just can't stop blushing..."
Jurina says in turn, "Maybe he's dreaming of her every night..."
Eventually, I get so embarrassed by this heavy blush of mine, and thus I command my buddies to get me out of Cosine Falls very quickly.
They already know I can get so love-struck at times; but for them, I'm taking it to astronomically high levels.
After I calm myself down and rid myself of the blush and the embarrassment that comes with it...
I command the team to formally enter the dungeon.
Carmealla Gonzalvo's Dungeon, to be exact.
The outside entrance, which lies in the very center, is surrounded by four smokestacks that release something vile, but that something vile somehow has no effect on us...
...except for poor little CJ.
She coughs uncontrollably, until she can say the following...
"I hate those air contaminants! They... make... me... sick..."
This of course, catches the big man's attention.
"Oh no! You have fainted!"
Jurina inquires, "What happened to her?"
I hypothesize, "Those tall chimneys have the answer. They emit some kind of substance that makes CJ weak."
"I wonder..." Gershwin ponders, "we're immune to that substance you're talking about, but CJ's weak against it."
"The answer can be found inside."
The storming of this lair begins with us eight approaching the front door, and the front door greeting us by voluntarily opening itself.
The basement first floor is nothing to write home about.
It's just two adjoining pathways of equal length that both lead to a stairway leading to the next floor.
The basement second floor has a more complicated network of pathways.
To prevent ourselves from getting lost, we have have to hug either the rightmost side or the leftmost side of the dungeon's walls, and then plot the direction we will be going from there.
Following that rule, we eventually come across a dead end that has a treasure chest in it.
No sooner do we open the chest.
[You got a Note of Ingredients.]
I comment, "A note... hmmm... it says..."
CONTENTS OF THE SPORUS INFINITUS BAILENSIS DANCE-INDUCING AIRBORNE SPORES
Methamphetamine hydrochloride
Toadstool spores
Cannaweed extract
Methyl alcohol
Genetically-modified mongo beans
Ionized water
Barbiturates
Diffusing agents
But it sucks that the rest of the note's torn off. Will I bother finding the other half?
Nah, we'll just look for the rest of the treasure here while fending off random encounters.
From the exploration of this floor, we find more goodies in three more separately-placed treasure chests.
[You got 4 Dexterity Spheres.]
[You got 4 Magic Spheres.]
[You got 4 Health Spheres.]
And it's on to the next floor.