On day 23 of my Final Fantasy Marathon, I left off after rescuing Rosa from the Tower of Zott. Today, I’m headed to the Underworld.

Agart

I fly the airship to a small island where I find the town of Agart. It contains no chests and one item.

Several of the residents talk about being the descendants of Dwarves, so this seems like a likely place to find the entrance to the Underworld. I discover a well in the center of town and drop the Magma Rock into it.

This causes the volcano on the island to erupt, opening a passage into the Underworld. I leave the town and fly the airship into the volcano.

The Underworld

We don’t get far in the Underworld before we get caught in the crossfire between the Redwings and some tanks. This damages the airship and forces us to land.

Dwarven Castle

Fortunately, we land right next to the Dwarven Castle. It contains 12 chests and six items.

We speak to King Giott, who wants to know what we are doing in the Underworld. Cecil tells him we are searching for the Dark Crystals.

Giott tells us that Golbez has already taken two of the Crystals. One of the the remaining Crystals is hidden behind his throne.

Giott tells us that his tanks took a beating defending the Crystal. He wants to know if we can help out with our airship.

Cid tells him that we’d love to, but the ship was damaged in the crossfire. He needs to make repairs and add armor to protect the ship from the magma.

Giott says he will help in any way he can. Cid tells us he needs to return to the surface to get supplies. He leaves the party.

Yang senses an evil presence and we see something hopping around behind the throne. Giott orders the guard to open the door.

Calcobrina

We rush into the Crystal chamber and find four creepy dolls. The dolls talk about fun stuff, like how much they love to kill.

The Calcobrena dolls seem to be working for Golbez. They attack. There are initially three Brinas and three Calcos.

The dolls are pretty weak in this form, but after we take out the Brinas, the Calcos combine into one giant doll that packs more of a punch.

We use our usual strategy of attacking with Yang and Cecil, jumping with Kain and healing with Rosa to defeat it. The dolls call us bullies and then summon Golbez.

Golbez returns

Golbez tells us that he needs all eight crystals to reactivate the Tower of Babel, which leads to the moon. He claims that legends say there is a power beyond comprehension there.

Golbez attacks. He seems to be immune to our attacks. He calls forth a Shadow Dragon, which quickly wipes out everyone except for Cecil.

Just when it looks like its the end of the road for our heroes, a Mist Dragon appears and destroys the Shadow Dragon. Rydia joins the party.

I scramble to revive my fallen party members and then use Rosa and Cecil to heal the party, while Kain jumps, Yang attacks, and Rydia uses her Summon magic. We defeat Golbez after a few rounds.

Rydia reunion

Cecil asks Rydia what happened to her. She says that Leviathan took her to the Land of Summons, where all the monsters she can summon live. She became friends with him and learned a lot.

She can’t use White Magic anymore, but has grown strong as a summoner. She is also much older now, because time flows differently in the Land of Summons.

Kain asks who she is, and Cecil explains that she is the girl they found in Mist. Rydia says the queen in the Land of Summons told her that a great force is working secretly, and they must confront it together.

Not dead yet

Once again, Golbez is not really dead. This time, he morphs into a creepy hand and crawls to the Crystal, grabs it, and disappears.

Giott’s plan

Cecil apologizes to Giott for losing the Crystal. Giott says there is one crystal left and we must protect it.

He says it is in the Sealed Cavern. He assumes Golbez is headed there, but thinks he can’t get in without the key.

Instead of having our crew go after the crystal, he wants us to sneak into the Tower of Babel and steal back the seven crystals Golbez already has, before Golbez returns from the Sealed Cavern. After talking it over, we agree to his plan.

Looting the castle

Before I leave for the Tower of Babel, I loot the castle. I find a Dwarven Axe, which goes to Kain.

I also find a Power Armlet and a Black Belt Gi, which goes to Yang. I purchase a few equipment upgrades at the shops and then exit through the basement.

Tower of Babel

We walk north to the Tower. As we get close, we see the Dwarven tanks bombarding it. We sneak into the Tower, while the Dwarves keep them distracted.

The Tower has 16 chests and no items. I find a Green Beret that goes to Yang. A monster-in-a-box fight yields an Icebrand for Cecil.

Another monster-in-a-box provides an Ice Lance for Kain. We get a Cat Claw for Yang and a Killer Bow for Rosa.

Another monster-in-a-box provides some Ice Armor for Cecil, and he gets the Ice Shield from another. At the top of the tower, we see Dr. Lugae speaking with Rubicante.

Rubicante says Eblan and its ninjas have already been decimated. He leaves Dr. Lugae in charge of the Tower.

Lugae attacks us with the aid of his robot, Barnabas. When we destroy Barnabas, Lugae takes control of him.

We take down Barnabas-Z and Lugae attacks again as yet another robotic form. This one has some annoying status attacks that he periodically heals with a panacea.

I attack with Yang and Cecil, jump with Kain, heal with Rosa, and cast Titan with Rydia to defeat him. I receive Dr. Lugae’s Key.

Lugae tells us that we are too late. Rubicante has already taken all the Crystals to the surface and Lugae’s cannons will annihilate the dwarves.

Yang and Cid’s sacrifice

Lugae disappears, and we rush back down the tower to the locked door and use Lugae’s key to open it. We find three Goblin Captains operating the cannons.

They attack, but we defeat them easily. They destroy the controls to the cannons before dying.

Yang tells us to leave this to him and pushes us all out of the room and locks the door when we object. We beg him not to do whatever it is he is doing, but he says his goodbyes and asks us to tell his wife he will always be with her.

We hear an explosion, and the cannons stop. We go back down the tower, but as we are crossing the bridge to leave, we hear Golbez.

Golbez destroys the bridge, causing us to fall. However, Cid arrives just in time to catch us on his airship.

Unfortunately, the Redwings are still pursuing us. We can’t outrun them, so Cid tells Cecil to take the controls.

Cid says when we fly out of the Underworld, he will use a bomb to seal the entrance, so the Redwings can’t follow us. We plead with him not to do it, but of course he does.

Cid tells us to go back to Baron afterward and get in touch with his men. He then jumps over the side of the ship and leaves us with one final dad joke.

The bomb explodes, sealing the volcano behind us. Everyone is sad, but we decide to journey on to Baron.

Return to Baron

We fly back to Baron and speak with Cid’s crew. They tell us that Cid instructed them to attach a hook to the Enterprise.

Cid’s men attach the hook and then tell us we can use it to pick up the hovercraft, allowing us to move it around the map, so we can reach places like the Cave of Eblan that leads to the Tower of Babel.

Before leaving, I visit a section of the castle that was previously blocked off by magic. The ghost of the King of Baron makes an appearance.

He tells us to go to the Land of Summons and then come back. He may be able to help us then.

Eblan Castle

I fly to where we left the hovercraft and pick it up and then fly to Eblan Castle. The Castle is deserted, but contains 19 chests and two items.

I find a Blood Lance for Kain and a Silver Apple that I give to Rydia. I get a Sleep Blade, but decide not to equip it.

Cave of Eblan

Once I’m done looting the Castle, I use the hovercraft to get to the Cave of Eblan. It has 20 chests and no items.

I find two Shurikens. In the middle of the cave, there is a settlement where the survivors of the attack on the castle are hiding out.

It has no chests and two items. It also has some shops, where I pick up some equipment upgrades.

Back in the cave, I find a Blood Sword, but don’t equip it. At the end of the cave, we see a man confronting Rubicante.

He says he is Edge, the Prince of Eblan. He attacks Rubicante.

Rubicante defeats him easily, but claims to be impressed anyway. He tells Edge he looks forward to meeting him again after more training and then disappears.

We tell Edge we are also after Rubicante. Edge tells us to stay out of it. We point out that Rubicante just wiped the floor with Edge.

Edge still insists he can take on Rubicante by himself. Rydia can’t take it anymore. She’s tired of watching men throw away their lives.

Cecil says we must recover the Crystals. Edge finally agrees to work with us, saying he can’t bear to see a pretty girl cry.

Rosa casts Cura on Edge. He joins our party. Edge is a level 25 Ninja. We exit the cave and enter the overworld version of the Tower of Babel.

Return to the Tower of Babel

The tower has eight chests and no items. There is no obvious entrance, but Edge takes us through a passage in the wall.

We find an Ogrekiller in a chest that goes to Cecil. Edge gets the Ashura. Eventually, we encounter Edge’s parents.

At first, it seems like a happy reunion, but it quickly turns sour when his parents reveal they were turned into monsters. Edge’s parents attack.

After a few rounds, they break free of the spell they are under. The King says they are no longer human and don’t belong here.

They tell Edge to serve their people well and bid him farewell before disappearing. Rubicante appears, saying Lugae overstepped his bounds.

Rubicante rematch

Edge is furious. Rubicante tells him that it was Lugae who turned his parents into monsters.

He claims to only want to battle Edge fairly. Edge tells him to go to hell with his self-righteous babbling.

Rubicante admires his spirit, but says anger can never draw out one’s true strength, because it blinds you to what you truly need to see. Edge tells him to shut up and then anger evokes his dormant powers, granting him the Flood and Blitz Ninjitsu.

Rubicante says this is interesting, but nothing can penetrate his Cloak of Flame, not even ice. He restores our party to full strength and then attacks.

Rubicante’s gimmick is that when he closes his cloak, magic heals him. However, when he opens it, which he must do to use his most powerful attacks, he is vulnerable to Edge’s Flood ninjitsu and Rydia’s Blizzard spells.

This is an annoying fight, because Rubicant’s magic is powerful enough to repeatedly knock out party members. Additionally, if you mistime your magic spells, you end up healing him, instead of hurting him.

My tactic is to attack with physical attacks while his cloak is closed and heal the party with Rosa. When he opens the cloak I cast Blizarra with Rydia and Flood with Edge.

Rubicante’s inferno attack often knocks out a party member, plus he has other magic that hits the whole party, so I end up going through a lot of phoenix downs reviving people. However, I eventually manage to take him out.

Rubicante compliments the party on a battle well fought and says we will meet again, before disappearing. Some of Edge’s people show up ready to fight Rubicante.

Edge tells them we already got him. He then asks who Golbez is. Kain explains. Edge decides to go with us.

Gramps says Eblan needs him. Edge says Eblan can wait. We enter the Crystal room and soon realize it is a trap.

Tower of Babel Underworld

The trap drops us into a part of the Underworld version of the Tower we couldn’t access previously. We make our way to an enemy ship.

Edge says we should take it. Rydia objects, saying that is stealing, but she is overruled. Rosa is worried it may be a trap.

Edge decides to name the ship the Falcon, and we lift off, emerging into the Underworld. I save the game and quit at nine hours and 23 minutes in.