FUCK YOU TYRELL, WE'RE IN A SWAMP

-sea monster is using Pound to destroy the floor behind us. cool, but non-threatening
-succubi are still random encounters because Golden Sun is a half step behind Castlevania for inaccurate and inappropriate mythological references
-looks like this is an area where I can alter the state of water here, Oracle of Seasons style. I can dig it
-"Where did this insane maze and its horrible lizard-monster come from?" rief is the new cyberdwarf
-so Sludge here has a Shield Skull and a Haunt Skull with it. I think I remember this fight, it was kinda like Star Magician Lite
-so far the skulls aren't very menacing though
-Sludge has a self-heal but that's not a huge problem either, never has been
-even so, everyone got a level from that fight, Matthew and Amiti got two each
-the boss dropped the Pound Cube. I mean the Crush Tusk. either way, breaking rocks and the like is clearly Mars typed, so only Tyrell can equip it for now
-also we give the Dream Tree some Hermes' Water I guess why not
-this breaks the curse of its yaranaika face and returns it to merely :o
-a Djinn comes out of it and taunts Tyrell for being an idiot. new best Djinn, Pewter
-Pewter continues to annoy the fuck out of everyone here except Matthew who is rightly pleased with his companions' suffering at his Animaniacs-level comedic routine

AND THEN WE WENT TO KOLIMA FOREST

-Karis claims we should return the favor of Pewter's master Laurel and go visit her in Kolima Forest. which, hey, it's on the way to visiting Tret. we still don't know either one is a tree. either way, Matthew's got no problem with this
-according to a bookshelf in the inn, either Mia or her disciple Megan is tirelessly working in Imil to heal the sick and elderly. We are, of course, ignoring that Hermes' Water makes this like Meals on Wheels but way lamer
-oh right item limits. time to sell en masse
-good, all five Sun Saga books are stored as artifact items, so we can buy and read them again any time we like. not interested right now, maybe later
-with Pewter's help we can navigate the Lost Woods no problem
-oh right I have Crush, should go explore Saha or whatever the town south of Kolima is again
-"Hey, you made it! I owe Laurel five coins." Pewter still the best character in the game

OH HEY LAUREL HOW'S IT GOING

-Amiti is one of the few people to actually recognize the trees as holy and bows reverently. this is seen as eccentric by the rest of our party but I'm willing to give Amiti a pass on account of our party being largely imbeciles
-Laurel clarifies that neither she nor any other Waelda (ent) is a god, although Amiti disagrees. Pewter mocks him for it. I don't think I liked this part very much my first time though but this time is fun
-at this point Karis brings up hey, we're looking for a Mountain Roc feather, can you do anything about that? thank you for remembering the effective main plot of the game, Karis
-Tret's here too. Tyrell's first reaction is to call him ugly, just in case you were starting to think Tyrell was a good character to include in a story or something
-Tret fondly remembers exactly three out of the four members of the Warriors of Vale. the odd one out is Garet instead of Mia, which I find rather nice except that it gives Tyrell reason to say words again
-he also is able to sense our lineage through our auras, which is pretty straightforward for most of the group but reveals Amiti is, in fact, related to Mia. since his mom is clearly known, that just leaves his dad as related to Mia. I mean we knew it was Alex from day one anyway but let's pretend this is a dramatic reveal (which they, to their credit, do not explicitly reveal here since we still don't actually know who Alex is)
-so let's have a dumber dramatic reveal: in order to get the feather from the mountain roc, we have to wake it from hibernation or similar. to do this, we need the Slap Psynergy, which only naturally occurs among beastmen. failing that, we can obtain the sacred Slap Glove relic.

THIS IS STUPID, BACK TO PRISON BREAKS

-they have no problem with us breaking a pirate's son out of Belinsk's prisons
-"You assume a castle built on ruins MUST have a secret passage full of treasure and monsters?" "Well... yes." "Well, you're right... THIS time."
-in order to operate this door, we need a magma orb, same as what we used for cannon ammo in Loho in the Lost Age. or something that comes from the mountain roc, whatever, it's probably a magma orb.
-anyway, we're explicitly ordered by Laurel to, whatever we do, NOT activate the Alchemy Dynamo in the ruins. I already remember from my previous playthrough that we do this and it's disastrous and stupid, so whatever
-Laurel refuses to even tell us how we can possibly activate it, just to ensure we don't get any closer. I appreciate the sentiment, but telling us the fine details of "don't pull this lever" would be helpful if nothing else. safety warnings are there for a reason!
-Tyrell rhetorically (I hope) asks us if we're gonna turn it on, to which I respond with Matthew's angry emote because Tyrell is saying words. against all odds, the game exceeds expectations by turning this into a sarcastic nod on Matthew's part, annoying Tyrell in the process. A+ would annoy again
-Karis remarks that we've turned into a real leader, which I also cannot help but read as dripping with sarcasm following this, making me like the entire party ever so slightly more
-Pewter also joins us, throwing my Djinn totals far off enough that I have to seriously reorder the Djinn in my party

OKAY BACK TO BELINSK TO ACTIVATE THE ALCHEMY DYNAMO

-north of Kolima is a fork, one path back to Belinsk and the other to Talon Peak
-Ryu Kou and Hou Zan (misspelled his name earlier, whoops), of all people, show up here to be roadblocks and force us to Talon Peak
-using their ultimate team technique of Heaven's Machinations, they were able to talk to Sveta and gain the Slap Glove, they overheard our conversation with the Waelda, and all they want is our help when we break into Belinsk Castle to rescue Hou Ju (hope I got her name right too)
-Karis figures out that Sveta engineered their assisting us, which in turn prompts Hou Zan to reveal that Sveta is King Volechek's sister
-despite everything, us having the Slap Glove does make it far easier to actually complete our original goal, so Matthew cooperates easily with Ryu Kou and accepts the Slap Glove, which any Adept can equip. Matthew does so, since as it happens it's actually arm equipment and he's behind on that anyway