But then continues with, "That's where I will bury you!" Then he turns into a monster ("Sorcerer"), and underlings and vampire bats appear out of nowhere.

Not a hard battle. I feel like I should go back and ask those kids for their treasure, before I miss the opportunity.

The kids ask us to play with them first, and then all turn into Shadows. They're immune to physical attacks, which means that Frog isn't doing much, but they're still not difficult.

Their treasure was a Barrier Sphere, which reduces magical damage by 1/3. Ok, that was actually a good treasure.

Interesting: when I re-enter the room with the king and queen, the king is back again, even though I just fought him a moment ago. Still, I'm bypassing him this time. The queen is blocking the door to the north, though.

As with the king, her first line is the same: "Frog, your safe!" The next, though, is now, "That will not do at all." Another Sorcerer with underlings and vampire bats.

Crono's mother's text changes to, "You've been very naughty. I think you'll have to die." The straight delivery of these lines is pretty good, it adds to the creepiness.

In the next room, there's a bizarre yellow monster wearing massive epaulets hovering over the throne. I love the design.

Aw, the bat that's been with me since the cave turns out to be the real mid-boss, Flea. I liked that bat.

Flea is transgender? Or possibly intersex? Not sure what the term would be. It's played up a bit for laughs, which I don't care for.

Ok, onto the battle. Flea already seems like they're going to be much more of a challenge than Slash was, warping the appearance of the room to make it look like we're in a dark void.

She keeps confusing or sleeping characters, all while soaking up damage. Definitely more powerful.

She goes down eventually, though.

I avoid the battles as I move back down the castle to the entrance chamber. This time, the save point isn't a save point, it's a teleport. I'm somewhere new.

It's a long, wide corridor, heading north, filled with underlings, blue gargoyles, and sorcerers. Fodder.

I tried out Crono's new "Lightning II" spell. That one's fun.

Ozzie is waiting at the end of the corridor, and turns tail and runs up the stairs rather than fight.

I'm up the stairs. Who puts a conveyor belts-and-swinging axe blades passage in the middle of their castle? Ozzie is up on a platform, furiously driving everything with a crank, and it's pretty funny.

The next chamber suddenly looks like a 2D platformer, straight out of a Castlevania game. The shift in perspective surprised me, but it looks really good.

Another yellow thing with epaulets. Oh, that's a juggler!

I make it up the Castlevania stairs, and the first thing that happens in the next chamber is that Ozzie turns another crank and opens a trap door beneath Crono's feet. I find that guy annoying.

I land in a large room, with skeletons all around. They're still not a problem. The room has a number of minor treasures, and a half-dozen or so save locations along the walls.

I start with the save at 6 o'clock. Turns out it isn't - it splits into three creatures (identified only as "?").

9 o'clock is an actual save location. 12 o'clock is more glitter monsters. 3 o'clock is the teleport back up to the trap door room.

Ozzie keeps opening up trap doors beneath my feet. Every time, the location of the teleport return to get back up there changes. Ozzie is *very* annoying.

He bolts again, of course.

Another Castlevania stairs climb.

Ozzie with another crank, this time bringing up a succession of monsters to battle. Once those are done, he flees yet again.

Another long corridor of battles. But, after that, the music changes. I'm hoping this is where I get to stomp Ozzie.

Ok, dropping him down a pit while he's invulnerable was not nearly as satisfying a resolution as I'd hoped.

Saving and closing up before I continue on to the Magus. Time is 18:12.