From Alan Quan, posted to rec.games.video.nintendo on 4/10/1996
[SFC] Fantastic Dungeon 2: Furai no Shiren replay fiction #1: Shrine of Buffu, floor 24
==========================================
This article describes one of Shiren's adventures in a story-telling format. The player is, well, me. The story is targetted at people who have not played that game, so it will contain a fair amount of details on how the game elements, such as items and monsters, work. It is intended to illustrate to the reader what the game is about. (Unlike say the UFO fictions, which are targetted towards mostly players of the game.)
The monsters and items are taken form the game. Various stuff, including game tilte, are copyright Chun Soft. I've made up the enchantations for some of the special attacks, but the effects are loyal to the game.
==========================================
Background: Buffu (original Japanese: Bufuu) is the god of Eating. Naoki the master chef has gone into the Shrine of Buffu to seek some rare meat, and Shiren is going down there to look for him. Shiren will be meeting him from floor 25 downwards, but this time Shiren has decided to travel as deep into the dungeon as he can. The theme of this dungeon is meat, which grants transformation ability. There are two major items, the Butcher's Knife of Buffu and the Staff of Buffu. Their uses will be explained in the story.
-----------------------------------------
As Shiren entered floor 24 of the Shrine of Buffu, he was a bit worried. The gods of Death, with their super speed and mean sickles, would begin to haunt Shiren in the next floor, and on level 26, they would be joined by the frightful Skeleton Witch Kings, whose staffs could cause great grieve to Shiren with /one/ wave. Shiren checked his possessions, and confirmed that he had only one Meat of Darkness Owl - the main item to combat those meanies. The Darkness Owl's night vision allows Shiren to see things in the dark, in fact /everything/ on the dungeon floor. With that transformation, he won't be surprised by the gods of Death, who always seem to appear out of nowhere. Plus, the darkness that the owl creates will allow Shiren to walk right by sleeping monsters without awakening them. A very useful ability against those Skeletons Witch Kings: there is usually more to lose than to gain fighting those guys. They are best left alone.
Shiren shruddered as he recalled the incidence a floor ago, where he lost his Disposable Shield. The Disposable Shield has the highest defense among shields: a defense value of 30 when most shields are around 5 or 7. However, its defense value decreases by 1 every time Shiren sustains damage, and eventually the shield will be down to 0 and totally useless. It is normally meant to be used at critical moments, and then disposed of. But, in the Shrine of Buffu, the situation is quite different: if Shiren eats a Meat and transforms into a monster while equipped with the shield, the monster will have the defense value of the shield, but the shield will not suffer from erosion because it is not actually being equipped. Therefore, a Disposable Shield is among one of the most valuable items in the Shrine of Buffu, since it allows Shiren to have a superior defense whenever he transforms into any monster, and the benefit is effectively permanent. It's not "disposable" of at all, here in the Shrine of Buffu.
Shiren lost his Disposable Shield to a Monster Onigiri Gang Leader. He was walking along a dark corridor, and the monster springed out of the darkness and surprised him. The appearance was too sudden for Shiren to do anything.
"Onigiri Body Change!" the monster chanted, and poof, Shiren is changed into an onigiri (food)! If there had been some more threatening monsters around, Shiren would have been in great trouble, for he can't use any of his crisis items when in that form. However, there was no other monster around, and the Monster Onigiri Gang Leader's close combat abilities are not too much of a threat to Shiren at his present level of experience.
Shiren bashed franctically into the monster in his new, uncomfortable form. He had no other choice: an origiri couldn't do much else. Fortunately, the effect would only be temporary.
"Onigiri Item Change!" the monster chanted again. Oh no, Shiren forgot about this. A Monster Onigiri Change can only do the item change, while a Monster Onigiri Boss can do only the body change, but the Monster Onigiri Gang Leader can do both. Poof! The prized Disposable Shield was permanently changed into a large onigiri.
Shiren proceeded to bash up the monster, and his body eventually returned to normal. But the damage had been done - his Disposable Shield was lost.
Returning to the present situation, Shiren looked at the room around himself. It was empty. This was good: a safe start, and a safe retreat. Shiren chose one of the paths that led out of the room, and proceeded to explore the rest of the floor.
Shiren entered a room. There was a Shu-bell in the other end of the room. A Shu-bell is weak, and it may summon other monsters, but those summoned are likely to be equally weak. Not too much of a concern. Shiren advanced, his Butcher's Knife of Buffu in hand. The knife is Shiren's standard equipment in the Shrine of Buffu. It is very versatile: when it kills a monster, sometimes the monster is changed into Meat, which Shiren can later eat to transform into the monster and use its special abilities. In any case, it is a good piece of weapon.
As Shiren approached the Shu-bell, a Stubborn Old Guy Tank entered the room behind it. Since the Shu-bell was the closer enemy, Shiren had little choice but to take on it first.
"Bang!" the tank fired. It was aimed at Shiren, but the shot hit the Shu-bell, which was right in the line of fire. In any case, since Shiren was too close to the explosion, he was hurt too. But the weak Shu-bell couldn't take it; its body was totally consumed by the blaze, not leaving a trace.
"Monster Level Up!" the tank cheered. Oh no. For some reason, when a monster kills another monster, it gains a level up, gaining a boost to its abilities. The boost can be small, or threatening, or lethal. In the case of the Stubborn Old Guy Tank, it was lethal: Shiren was now facing a Super Stubborn Old Guy Tank. Twice as fast, twice as tough, and more than twice as powerful as the Stubborn Old Guy Tank.
Shiren didn't have to think too much for his immediate action. The tank must be stopped in the next moment, or it would be Shiren who would be stopped. Before the tank had a chance to fire, Shiren reached into his backpack.
"In the name of Buffu, god of Eating, I command you, evil monster, to become Meat!" Shiren waved his Staff of Buffu. Poof! The tank instantly became tank meat. A top quality one, too. Such is the power of the Staff of Buffu. However, the number of uses of a staff is limited. Shiren could not use the staff indiscriminately.
Though, this particular instance was certainly not indiscriminate use. Not only was Shiren saved from sharing the fate of the Shu-bell, when Shiren would use the Meat in the future, the speed and firepower of the tank would ensure easy victory over nearly all monsters. However, since a transformation can last at most one floor, Shiren must pick carefully the moment where he would use it. Perhaps on level 26. Hmm, this thing is much better, though also rarer, than a Meat of Darkness Owl.
Feeling a bit more confident now, Shiren pressed on. A few rooms later, Shiren entered a room, but the light of his torch did not light up the room. A Darkness Owl was here.
Shiren searched the room, hoping that he would not run into some other mean, powerful monster in the dark. Shiren knew that he would be attacked by the owl when he approached, but the owl is weak and not a real concern. What was on Shiren's mind, besides the threat of other monsters lurking in the darkness, was the valuable Meat of Darkness Owl: Shiren had the Staff of Buffu in his hand.
"Owwwwl!" The Darkness Owl pecked at Shiren. The blow was painful, but there was not any substantial injury. Shiren waved his Staff of Buffu, the owl became Meat, and the room lighted up. Shiren picked up the Meat, feeling yet more confident now. With other Meat such as the Super Stubborn Old Guy Tank, Shiren will not get any new Meat while using them, since he will neither be fighting with his Butcher's Knife of Buffu nor using his Staff of Buffu. However, once he transforms into a Darkness Owl and has got a good look at everything around, he can undo the transformation, and fight with his knife or staff whenever he sees fit, gaining new Meat in the process.
Another Shu-bell showed up. Shiren promptly took care of it. The dying monster dropped a pot. Shiren took it, and it was a Pot of Holding. Good. Shiren can normally carry only 20 items, but with a Pot of Holding, Shiren can carry more. Items are a major resource for Shiren; the more he can carry, the better. Shiren now felt really confident. Since he had already explored most of the floor, the next room or two should contain the staircase down to the next floor.
Shiren walked towards the passage to the next room, feeling lucky and confident, not noticing that a Men-bells had just shown up from the passage. When Shiren realized the appearence of the monster, they were already very close.
Well, a Men-bells doesn't fight very well. Shiren knew he would not have a problem even if he took a few bruises from it. Shiren drove his knife into the monster, and it was injured.
"Summon Monster Level Two!" the Men-bells rang its bell of summoning. Poof! To Shiren's horror, a Killer Gyazer, a blue, giant crab, appeared. It was the Men-bell's lucky day, and certainly not Shiren's. A Killer Gyazer is one of the worst things among those the Men-bell will summon. It is capable of taking Shiren, at his present level of experience, out with a single blow. Shiren did not expect this.
Before Shiren had time to react, a huge, blue claw struck at him. Shiren had lots of items in his backpack that could deal with a Mel-bells and a crab, but he lost consciousness before he could use any of them. Shiren never reached the following floors, where he would have had a easy time, with the Meats of Darkness Owl and Super Stubborn Old Guy Tank.
==========================================
This is quoted from an advertisement of the game:
"The greatest enemy is your own carelessness."
--
"Live Life with Heart."
Alan Kwan kw...@cs.cornell.edu