Earthbound – Day 19

–Day 19–

We may have made it out of Brickroad’s dungeon, but I think we still have a long way to go. We haven’t even made it to Stonehenge yet. As much as I would love to continue south through the woods, it looks like we’re going to be passing through yet another cave right away.

For the most part, it is a fairly straight forward cave. It isn’t until about the half-way point that we really come to the only challenge we’re going to face. With no other paths available to us, we need to make our way up the cliff walls. But there’s a problem, the rope is still coiled together at the top instead of dangling down for us to climb. This is where the monkey really comes in handy, give him a little piece of gum and he’ll float right up to get that rope for us.

While this may have been the only real obstacle we faced while passing through the cave, what lies ahead is more than I expected. I can’t really make out the enemy, but that is clearly an area boss similar to the Titanic Ant back in the caves by Giants Step. Jeff clearly isn’t ready for a battle of that magnitude, and thankfully he won’t have to face it yet. Without Ness in the party we’re incapable of initiating combat. We’ll just have to remember to come back here later.

Upon exiting the cave, the monkey catches the eye of a girl monkey, and the two run off together. Well, he more chases after her, but you get the idea. Now I’m all alone. At least it looks like we’ve actually made it to Stonehenge.

However, the rumors of there being Bigfoot in the area happened to be true, though I can’t say I was expecting their appearance. Instead of the large gorilla like appearance most people imagine, these are closer to being cavemen. They are incredibly strong and if it weren’t for their terrible accuracy, Jeff would almost certainly be no match for them.

Best not to test fate much longer, if I can just find the cave entrance I think we’ll be safe. I don’t exactly see anything that looks like an entrance, however, that bare spot in the center looks awfully suspicious. Sure enough that was the entrance we were looking for. It also appears to be yet another chance for a photo-op. smile and say “Secret underground tunnels!”

Unfortunately there’s nowhere to go once we head inside. After a very brief exploration of the tunnel our path is blocked by another large iron statue. This time however it isn’t a pencil, it’s an eraser. I guess now we’re going to have to look for an Eraser-Eraser if we want to go any further. So it looks like we’ll have to find a different route south from here.

Sadly, there isn’t much left for us to explore above ground. Just south of Stonehenge the path ends at the entrance to a lab, so naturally we head inside to look for help. I can’t say I was ready for what was inside though. It would appear we’ve stumbled into the lab of our very own father, Dr. Andonuts.

While usually the family reunions are a happy occasion, this is one of the most cringe worthy things I’ve ever had to endure. It’s painfully obvious that Dr. Andonuts hasn’t exactly been father of the year. He has been absent from Jeff’s life for the past 10 years, and doesn’t seem particularly interested in being a part of it now. After some awkward small talk, Dr. Andonuts suggests they should do this again in perhaps another 10 years.

In between the awkwardness however, the good doctor does offer us up some assistance. It would seem he is working on basically a teleportation device, but it’s not ready yet. Instead he suggests we use one of his other inventions, the Sky Walker. It’s apparently the round machine over in the corner. His instructions on how to use it are a bit vague, but I think we might still be able to handle it.

So we climb inside the Sky Walker and hope for the best as it shoots up into the air and out the top of the lab. As we fly, we occasionally dip down below the clouds to see the ground below. We see another city which I can only imagine is Fourside, as well as a desert which I know is just outside Threek.

Eventually we make it to Threek and start circling around town looking for Ness and Paula. After a few passes of the town the sensors on the Sky walker locate them in the center of the Graveyard. Now we just have to gently land the ship and go save them…Or crash it into the ground, crashing into the ground is fine too.

That may not have been the best choice Jeff! Now the Sky Walker is completely destroyed and you’re trapped right alongside Ness and Paula. Regardless, Jeff is now a part of the team and we can only hope to find some way out of this prison.

But for now, I’m going to let everyone rest and think of a good plan. Join us next time when we make our daring escape from monster prison!