The Woodcutter

The Woodcutter (known as Woodsman in the American version) is a temporary party member in Dragon Quest VII.

Synopsis

The Woodcutter is a halfling who lives west of Pilchard Bay west of Estard. Should the player encounter him before discovering the village of L'Arca, they see him talking to the animals. Whenever they approach him, the animals run away. He tells the party that the animals are shy.

Once the party has discovered L'Arca, they find animals running the town. The only people they see are unable to communicate to the party. And so, they decide to recruit the woodcutter so that he can communicate with the animals.

When the party reaches L'Arca, the woodcutter tries to talk to with the animals but finds that he is unable to understand them. However, he is able to communicate with the humans. He learns that long before the party arrives, L'Arca was protected by the white wolves. A monster, Deathpal, threaten the town. The white wolves fought the monster and sealed him in a coffin within Mt. Ceide, the mountain of God. However, it did not come without a price. Many wolves were slain. For a time, there was peace.

However, sometime before the arrival of the party, the coffin was opened from the outside and Deathpal returned. He started to kill the wolves that imprisoned him long ago. One of the causalities was a mother wolf. She gave birth to a wolf cub who was taken in by a local farmer. To spite the wolves, he cast a spell which changed all humans on L'Arca into animals and vice versa. He returned to Mt. Ceide afterwards.

They take the woodcutter to the nearby shack where he finds a young boy chained to a wall. The woodcutter frees the boy with his knife and he runs away towards Mt. Ceide.

They decide to go to Mt. Ceide. The party finds the source of L'Arca's troubles, Deathpal. He explains what he did. It is during that moment that the young boy arrives and bites the monster. The party, along with the woodcutter, engage the monster in combat. The party defeats Deathpal and the boy bites him again. With this bite, Deathpal is paralyzed. He realizes that the boy is actually a white wolf who was caught in the spell that he cast in L'Arca. As a final spite, Deathpal casts his final spell on the boy. This spell curses him to remain in human form forever. The party reseals Deathpal in the coffin again, undoing the spell in L'Arca.

After the battle is finished, the party thanks the boy, who identifies himself as Ruff. They are surprised that he is able to speak but he can only communicate in simple sentences like "Ruff go" and growling.

The party returns to L'Arca to see the spell undone. They visit the farmer who took care of Ruff to find his disbelief that the wolf had disappeared. Leaving the shack, they see Ruff and his wolf friend outside the building. The woodcutter understands that he wanted to thank the man for his kindness. It is in this moment that the woodcutter decides to adopt of Ruff.

They party, along with the white wolf, the woodcutter and Ruff, return to the portal and step through it, finding themselves back in the Estard Ruins. The woodcutter tries to bring Ruff with him but he refuses, saying that the seal on Deathpal could have only been broken on the outside and that whomever broke the seal was very powerful. Therefore, he wanted to defeat the evil that broke the seal in Mt. Ceide. The woodcutter acknowledges this requests and allows Ruff to go with the party.

When Ruff gains the ability to speak, the party can visit the woodcutter. Ruff will demonstrate that he can speak. The woodcutter is surprised and happy that Ruff can speak.

At the end of the game, Ruff will take the woodcutter to Fishbel for the fishing expedition.

As a Temporary Party Member

The woodcutter only participates in the Deathpal battle. His attack is lacking, only 1-2 HP an attack. He usually parries though. Every so often, he uses an herb on the party. However, the player should not rely on the woodcutter to heal.

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