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[replay fic][SFC] Furai no Shiren: replay fiction #1 (long)

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Alan Kwan

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Apr 10, 1996, 3:00:00 AM4/10/96
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[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

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