,---__ /\ ,. | \ `==-_ ,.__/_|' | \ \_ ._ `. ,~~-__ __ ,----./,-,-,.-. / \/ \ \ `. \\ ._ \ ,--. ,---.,---.,. ,.,---.,-.,-.,='__| / ____/ / / |' \ \ \ \ \\ \_| | ,-.\ |,"\|| | || \||| | || || || .__ / /_| / / / \ \ \ \ \\ _ <\'-' \||_-.| | || . || | || || || `__|\___ \\ / / / \ \ \_/ : \ \\ \|_|\_|\__/\___/|_|\|\ _''.__.'| '-.. ,. : |/ / / \,' _~'\/-//-|-''-'`--' `--'`-'`' `~_' \__|/'___'/\ " /| / / /\ _~' / `-' '-' `--' \`--||_,',' \ \~' _~~' ____ _______ ___ `---|__-' `/_~~' `..' ',,''..'..' \\ // || || \\ // || || \'/ || || ' '--'--' DRAGON QUEST VII WARRIORS OF EDEN GUIDE PART 2: WALKTHROUGH (SPOILERS!) Written by Ian Kelley: ikelley@mail.sas.upenn.edu Version 1.0: Released 1/19/00 First Version: 1/19/00 Copyright 2000-2001 by Ian Kelley (see end of document for details) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This document is Copyright 2000 by Ian Kelley. This FAQ is for private and personal use only. It was created and is owned by me, Ian Kelley. If you wish to use this FAQ on your non-commercial website, please contact me for permission. Distribution of this FAQ must be done electronically and in an unaltered form. This document may not be used in any way, shape, or form for any sort of commercial or for-profit purposes. This includes but is not limited to publishing in a magazine, in part or in whole, magazine/book/guide writers using it as "source material," etc. You may not make any sorts of updates to this FAQ (such as changing names to fit a domestic release) and distribute it without the author's explicit permission. Dragon Quest is a trademark of Enix Corporation. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The most recent version of this guide can be found at: www.gamefaqs.com (GameFAQs) ################################################################################ CONTENTS ################################################################################ Introduction Version History Future Changes Chapter 1: The Ancient Temple Chapter 2: A New World Chapter 3: Sacrifice to the Fire God Chapter 4: The Gray Rain Chapter 5: The Animal Town Chapter 6: Assault of the Mechanical Soldiers Chapter 7: The Gray Rain strikes again Chapter 8: Keefa's Decision Chapter 9: The retaking of Darma Shinden Chapter 10: The People of the Desert Chapter 11: The Craze of Crage Chapter 12: A Stitch in Time Chapter 13: The Great Flood Chapter 14: The Perils of Lumen Chapter 15: The Revival of the Legendary Hero Chapter 16: Aira, Heir to the Dancer Chapter 17: The Valley of the Wind Chapter 18: The Gentle Monster Chapter 19: Sharkeye, Pirate Legend Chapter 20: God and the Demonlord Duke it Out Chapter 21: God, the Tyrant Chapter 22: The Fire Spirit Chapter 23: The Earth Spirit Chapter 24: The Wind Spirit Chapter 25: The Final Conflict Chapter 26: The Grand Finale Appendix A: Tablet Fragment Locations Appendix B: Small Medal Locations ################################################################################ INTRODUCTION ################################################################################ This is part 2 of my Dragon Quest VII guide, and is intended to be a comprehensive walkthrough of the game. It's chock-full of spoilers, so be forewarned before reading it! Note that this is part TWO of the guide, and is not intended to be a stand-alone document. No gameplay or game-system issues are addressed in this document at all. All such information is addressed in part 1 of this guide. Before sending me any questions about gameplay issues, please consult Part 1 of the guide first. I split this (and most of my other FAQs) into two pieces because I tend to write really long FAQs, and this makes reading and downloading much easier. The main purpose of this document is to provide a walkthrough and plot summaries for people playing the Japanese version of Dragon Quest VII, with clarification for those with little or no Japanese ability so that they will know what is going on. If you can read Japanese, you probably won't find this document as useful, but it should be able to help you if you're stuck, regardless of language skills. (I hope) Like the first part of this document, I've taken a different approach to this FAQ than earlier FAQs I've written, and instead of primarily using romanized Japanese terminology and providing translations in parentheses, I've just used English translations wherever I can. I've tried to keep translations consistent when dealing with words that don't have a one-to-one meaning, (for example, "fushigi" could be effectively translated as "amazing," "mysterious," "miraculous," etc) but I probably slipped at least several times in the document, so you might see different terminology used to explain the same thing. It should still be straightforward enough to understand though, I hope. As of this writing, there has been no announcement for an English-language version of DQ7. (and quite frankly, I doubt DQ7 would sit well with most of the American public-->no snazzy graphics) Even if it is eventually announced, I have no intentions of adapting this document to follow the English version. I don't own a domestic PSX, so I couldn't play any domestic version in the first place. So use this at your own risk if you're playing Dragon Warrior VII (or whatever the domestic release might be called) as sections may not apply. Any questions regarding English language versions of DQVII won't be answered, primarily because I don't want to give out particularly misleading information. I may allow a more domestic-release inclined friend to update this document for me should such a release come out--all questions should be directed to them in this case. ################################################################################ VERSION HISTORY: ################################################################################ 1.0, 1/19/00: Initial release ################################################################################ FUTURE CHANGES: ################################################################################ 1) Add walkthroughs for the bonus dungeons 2) Add HP levels for the bosses 3) Add Monster Manual/park data and where to find individual monsters ################################################################################ Chapter 1: The Ancient Temple -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHAPTER SUMMARY: ITEMS: Fishbell: Medical Herb x 5, 10G, 110G, Leather Hat, 3G, 2G, 1G, Hairband, 4G, Antidote Herb, Amitt Cracker, Defense Seed Grand Estard: Hinoki Stick, 2G x 2, 1G, 5G, Intelligence Seed Ruins: 10G, Life Seed KEY ITEMS: Royal Ancient Document Pearl Ancient Key Saint's Helm Saint's Sword Saint's Shield Saint's Armor Amazing Map TASKS: 1. Sleep in your bed 2. Bring Bolkano his lunch 3. Uncover Maribel's stowaway plot below deck 4. Go to the castle and speak to the King 5. Learn that Keefa is looking for you and meet up with him in the ruins 6. Find the Pearl 7. Bring the Ancient Document to the man below Grand Estard 8. Try to use the Pearl on the Statue's rod 9. Regroup with Keefa in his room 10. Talk to the old man below Grand Estard 11. Return to the Forbidden Area and unlock the Shrine door 12. Solve the Guardian of Flame puzzle 13. Solve the Scales puzzle 14. Retrieve the Ancient Key from the lion's head 15. Solve the Branching Paths puzzle 16. Solve the Pillar Puzzle 17. Place the Saint Items on the four Saint statues 18. Solve the Blue/Red flame puzzle 19. Put the Yellow tablet fragments into the hole 20. Return to Fishbell and get a Yellow Tablet Fragment from Bolkano 21. Bring the fragment to Keefa, and complete the first Tablet -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At the end of the intro move, you'll see a voice saying "Well, lets go back for today...but keep this a secret!" You'll start out the game in the small fishing town of Fishbell. Maribel is trying to get some information out of you. She says "So you really won't tell me?" She insists that she will eventually find out what you're up to. She realizes that tomorrow is the annual Amitt fish day, and leaves. Head home to your house on the beach. Sleep in your bed. Your mother, Mahre, will wake you up. She says your father, Bolkano, has already headed to the docks. She tells you when you come downstairs to head to the dock to help your dad. before you go, gives Anchovy Sandwich to give to dad. At the docks, people are there to see your dad and Amitt off. Talk to the merchant, he will give you a free Amitt Cracker and Amitt Bun. Go onto the ship and Amitt and Bolkano are talking. Amitt doesn't want to change course, but Bolkano insists, because of the way the sea is traveling--says catch more fish. Give the sandwich to Bolkano, who scarfs it eagerly. Tells you to help clean below deck. Below deck you'll find Maribel hiding among the barrels. She tells you to be quiet, and the cook hears her. The Cook finds her, and tells her she should stop sneaking aboard the ship. Maribel asks him to let it slide and starts kissing his butt, telling him his food is great. The cook tells her sweet-talking won't work and tells her to get off the ship. She gets mad at you and threatens to "expose you and Keefa." As you go back above deck, Bolkano tells you that once you get strong you can come with him. He asks you to take care of your mother, and you get off the ship. It leaves. Head back toward your house. A soldier will come up to you and tell you that the King wishes to speak with you. He asks you to come to the castle. Maribel comes outside and asks you to take her with you. (No matter what you say, you'll have to) Walk a bit, and Maribel will "remind" you how to speak with your party members. Head to Grand Estard. Maribel will go off, and thanks you. She says she'll make it back on her own. Wander the town if you like. You can hear nasty rumors about your lazy uncle, (you can even find a kid he stole candy from) Hondara, and find Maribel philandering with Orca, the son of the item shop owner. Head to the castle. You can talk to the soldiers there (the one in the southeast gate tower is the only person in the game that likes Hondara) and learn rumors about Keefa trashing the treasury. Talk to Keefa's sister Lisa, and she will tell you that Keefa doesn't believe that Estard is the only continent in the world and is on a quest to try to discover new lands. Once you go upstairs, you can hear the king calling to see if anyone's found Keefa yet. He comes downstairs flustered, and the Prime minister tries to calm him down. The king sees you and takes you to his chamber. He sits you down and says "You're hiding something from me, aren't you!" No matter what you say, you'll learn that Keefa took his mother's Memento Ring. He asks you to ask Keefa to act more like a prince--as you're his best friend, he might listen to you. Go home. They're you'll learn that Keefa looking for you, and will be waiting in "usual spot"--this refers to the Forbidden Lands to the north. Go there. Keefa will give you the Royal Ancient Document. He tells you to read it. Inside is a picture of a man with a bright glowing staff. The next page has a picture of something looking like a tablet on it, but you can't read it. Keefa says the man looks just like the statue, and that the document says something about the sun. He thinks that something will happen if you can fiddle with the statue. He pulls out the Sunstone Ring that he took from the castle. He puts the ring on the end of the staff. It looks like it shines for a bit, but nothing happens. Keefa tells you to hold onto the document while he goes back to the castle to search for other possibilities. Head back to Grand Estard. You won't actually find Keefa, but you'll hear about him trying other possibilities (including jumping into the pool on top of the castle after seeing the sun's reflection) and going back to the ruins to try something else. If you talk to the women by the well you'll see something shining down in the well. Go down and search, and you'll find a Pearl. Return to Grand Estard and bring the book Keefa gave you to the old man who studies below the town. At first he thinks you're trying to sell it to him, but then realizes you want him to study it for you. He takes it and asks you to come back later. Leave and try to use the Pearl on the statue. You'll find a letter from Keefa asking you to come to his room to discuss any further plans. Go back to Keefa's room--he's tapped for ideas. He asks you where the book he gave you is. After you tell him about giving to old man, suggests you go there to see what he's found. Man finished decoding, says that it's not the sun, but "the light of your heart and the strong will of the chosen one." Keefa asks "chosen by whom?" and the man says "by whoever made the ruins." Keefa says that he might fit those requirements, and the old man laughs, saying that you need to stand before the statue and pray. Keefa gets psyched and tells you to head to the statue. As you leave the area, however, Keefa gets dragged off by some soldiers who were looking for him. He tells you to head home and wait for him there. In the middle of the night, Keefa wakes you up. He says his dad shut him in his room, and he snuck out. Head to the ruins. Stand in front of statue and concentrate, and a light on the staff shoots out to open the shrine door. Investigate inside. There's stuff written on the floor, but you can't read it. Try to read it though, and your arm will give off a strange light. After it subsides, suddenly you can read the ancient text. "When the ruins are opened, the legend will be told again." "The saints in a line protect the ruins and will lead to the road of revival." "Continuing into the dark clouds will not open the way." "Use your inner sight to solve the keys within the directions given" Proceed into the basement of the shrine. As you proceed, you will be confronted by several puzzles that you will need to solve before you can continue. Puzzle 1: "I am the Guardian of Flame. When all the flames are extinguished, I will light them again, and give up again the helm I guard." Solution: Extinguish the central flame in the room with four guardians. The guardian that will relight the flame will be the one opposite to the direction that you extinguish it in. Extinguish it from the west side, and the east guardian will relight it, revealing the pressure plate where it was before. Step on the pressure plate to open the door to where the Saint's Helm is stored. In the next room, you will find four statues. They are each labeled as "Statues of the Saints." Puzzle 2: Scales room Solution To complete this room, you need to push the blocks on top of the switches to open the doors and give you a clear path to the exit covered by the scales gate. Then, step on the scales to lift the gate blocking the door. Once you step off the scales, make a dash for the door--if you pushed the blocks onto the right switches, you should just make it in time before the gate is lowered. Puzzle 3: Lion Head. There is a sign on the wall that says: "I am one who only sees the truth. One with a pure heart will receive that which will lead the way, and one with an evil heart will lose their arm." Solution: Stick your arm into the Lion's mouth and pull out the Ancient Key. (It won't bite your arm off...it would make for a pretty short adventure if it did) With the key, you can open the door beyond the gate. Head into the next room. Puzzle 4: Branching paths. The stone slab in the next room says: "All living trees sprout leaves in the direction of the sun. Lost travelers should also head toward the sun." Solution: Look at the picture of the four trees in the center of the room, and in the next four rooms, proceed along the paths where the leaves were on the trees in the picture. (for the REALLY lazy, this is left-right-left-left) Head past the next room and up the long ladder to the room with the dragon statue. There you'll find a tablet saying: "The Dragon servant of God is born with the holy crystal, and dies with the holy crystal." To raise or lower the dragons, move the Holy Crystal from one dais to the other. Move the crystal to the right dais, and climb back down the ladder. You can then ride the raft or proceed into the lower chamber. The lower chamber you can't open at this point. If you go to the door, you'll see a message: "If you want to open my door, seek out the secret great pillars. They refer to here. Seek the four colored pillars in the octagonal room deep underground." Get on the raft and head to the central island. Go down the stairs and you'll find another tablet. Puzzle 5: Pillar Puzzle. The tablet says: "The secret Great Pillars not only show the legend, but open the way to revival. Put the tablets drawn on the stands in the correct order, and a new way will be opened." Solution: In the next room down, use the switches to raise and lower the pillars. Look through the eyeholes (make sure another pillar isn't blocking your view) to see which picture corresponds to the color of which switch in the tablet room. The color is indicated by a colored band on each pillar. Push the tablets in the right positions, and the door to the Saint's Armor will be opened. Once you have the Saint's Armor, proceed further south on the raft and get the Saint's Sword and the Saint's Shield. Puzzle 6: Placing the Saint's equipment Now you need to figure out which saint needs which item. Head back to the Scales room, but instead of proceeding beyond the gate, go up the stairs on the west end of the room. Go down the stairs up top, and head to a room with a large tablet. It has written on it legends on the four saints. Saint 1: "The first Saint is a servant of the Earth. The earth has lived for ages and ages, and the armor that protects him is indeed the earth itself." Saint 2: "The second Saint is a servant of the Wind. The Wind sometimes acts as a blade of vacuum. One could injure oneself with it. What must one hold in one's hand to protect themselves from it?" Saint 3: "The third Saint is a servant of Fire. When the Fire Saint's soul is consumed in the flames of anger, nobody can withstand him. Control your anger with reason. Put that on your head that will be such a protection to grant you that holy courage." Saint 4: "The fourth Saint is a servant of Water. Water is the source of all life. The power of a strong waterfall will become our power and drive off evil. Is true strength anger? Love? The answer lies within the tip of the Holy Sword." Solution: Do I REALLY need to say it? It should be obvious. Come on, just read the descriptions! They practically spell it out for you! :) Puzzle 7: Red flame, blue flame The next room has nine braziers, and two torches--one with a red flame, and blue flame. You need to light the braziers with the right colors, by picking up the torch and using them to light the flames. When you want to switch colors, you need to return the torch to its original resting place. Solution: The two statues at the end of the hall have a red and blue gem inset in them--this corresponds to the color of the flame that their torches need to be lit with. Once lit with the correct flame, they will show you which braziers need to be lit with their color. Note that there will be two braziers with no fire in them at all. Proceed into the next room. A tablet there says: "You who seek to discover the true form of the world. The world is divided into four sources, and that form remains still. Put the right thing in the right place. The world will show its true form." Get used to this area. You're going to be spending quite a lot of time here. In fact, this is probably the most important place in the game. Pick up the Amazing Tablet(Yellow) by the large tablet. Take it into the Yellow Room, where you'll find another tablet fragment. Investigate the pedestals to find out where the two fragments you've found fit. Once you find where they fit, Keefa will suggest you head home for a bit. But before you do, head to the large central room, where you can pick up the Amazing map. As you leave, it's already daytime. Keefa says he's heading to castle to look for more fragments. He tells you to come see him if you find something. When you arrive at home, you'll find out that Bolkano is back from his trip, and his new route paid off, as he got lots of fish. Talk to the sailors, and they'll tell you he found something weird caught in the nets too. Go talk to Bolkano, and he'll greet you, and talk about how his last catch this big was around the time you were born. He then starts to drawl off about how surprised he was that you were born after only 6 months gestation. You ask him about what he found, and it's a Yellow Tablet. He asks you to bring it to the castle and show the king. Bring the tablet to Keefa. He's very surprised, and says it had to be fate that you found it since it's such a coincidence. Go back to the ruins, and you'll find out that Maribel has been shadowing you. Maribel asks to come with you; if you say no she threatens to blackmail you by telling the King that you're hanging out where you're not supposed to go. Maribel joins you. Head down into the Mysterious Palace and complete the first tablet. A strange light erupts from the tablet, and engulfs your party..... Chapter 2: A New World -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHAPTER SUMMARY: ITEMS: Wood Paluna: Clothes, 12G Colorstone Mine: Medical Herb, Power Seed, 40G East Tower: 20G, Medical Herb, Bronze Knife, Mysterious Tablet(Red), Leather Shield, 5G 80G, Defense Seed Wood Paluna, first world: Speed Seed, Medical herb, Leather Hat, Antidote Herb 25G Colorstone Mine, first world: Antidote Herb, 13G, Amazing Acorn, Mysterious Tablet (Red) KEY ITEMS: Green Jewel Wooden Doll TASKS: 1. Defeat the Slimes attacking Maribel 2. Meet Matilda and be escorted to the village of Wood Paluna 3. Meet Patrick and learn about his father 4. Travel to the Colorstone mine and solve the puzzles there 5. Bring a green Colorstone back to Patrick 6. Invade the East Tower with Hank 7. Defeat the boss of the tower 8. Return to the clearing you came to this world in 9. Return to your house, then find Keefa in Grand Estard 10. Go to the cave in Fishbell and find the hidden ship 11. Sail to the new island and investigate it 12. Get the Tablet Fragment out of the Colorstone Mine 13. Return to Grand Estard Castle and get the old man into the dungeon 14. Retrieve the Tablet Fragment out of the Castle basement -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You wake up outside, in a small clearing in the woods. Keefa gets up and checks on you and Maribel to see if you're OK. Maribel wants to know what happened. Keefa says that obviously something happened in the temple, but he doesn't know what. He looks around, and says "I've never seen this place before. Did the island have a place like this?" Maribel tells him that you're here, so it must. She wonders why the sky is so dark. She heads off home, saying "Thanks for entertaining me. It was real boring." She leaves. Keefa suggests you head home too. As you leave the clearing, you hear Maribel scream. Keefa runs off to see what the problem is. Follow him. Maribel is being confronted by three Slimes. They attack! Fight: Three Slimes ------------------- Once the slimes are defeated, Maribel goes into a frenzy, and says "Why are monsters here!" Keefa on the other hand gets excited at having seen real live monsters. Maribel tells you that this is all your fault, for forcibly bringing her with you (Selective memory!) and tells you to take her home safely. In the next area, you'll find a female warrior by some graves. She notices you and asks who you are. Keefa apologizes and introduces himself as the prince of Grand Estard. The girl is surprised at the name Grand Estard. Keefa introduces you and Maribel. She introduces herself as Matilda. Maribel asks why she's weeding out here in such a dark place. Matilda says she's bringing the plants she has to the grave. Maribel says "But they're just weeds!" Matilda says that flowers can't grow here, so they are the best she can do. Maribel offers some flower seeds she picked up in the forest near Grand Estard. Matilda asks for some, and Maribel gives them all to her. Matilda goes and plants them by the grave. Matilda asks where you're going. Keefa says you're going home, and Matilda tells you that you probably won't be able to go home. Keefa is confused. Matilda says that there is a village up ahead where you can rest if you want. As thanks, she joins you to accompany you to the village. As soon as you enter the town, you'll find that Matilda has disappeared. Maribel and Keefa wonder where she went--Keefa suggests that maybe she went home. Something definitely screwy is going on here--the townspeople are in the process of destroying their town. An old man will tell you that the village had been raided by monsters, who took away all the women of the village. They told the remaining men that if they didn't destroy the town, that they would kill the women. One man will tell you the legend of the Town Hero, Paluna. He says 20 years ago monsters attacked town. Everyone decided to attack monster together. Led by a single young man who went out first to scout ahead and give courage to the townspeople, who would come and help after the attack begun. The townspeople chickened out, and the man died. His name was Paluna, so they named town after him. On the edge of town, you'll find a small house that has not been destroyed. Enter, and a young boy says "Who's there!" Upon seeing that you are human, he will bring you inside and shut the door. He says he was afraid that the monsters had found his house, and introduces himself as Patrick. He asks if you saw Matilda. if you say yes, he is glad--she protects the village from monsters, but he hadn't seen her for a while and was worried. The man on the bed then cries out. Patrick goes over to see if he's OK. It turns out the man is his father. Talk to Patrick. He says that his father is a warrior--he went to the East Tower to try to save the women of the town, and got hurt badly in the process. Furthermore, the doctor of the town said that a Green Gem would be necessary to cure him. They are in the southeast mine, but is the mine is currently teeming with monsters so nobody can go close. He wants Matilda to try to get it for him, and asks you to ask Matilda for him if you see her. Head to the mine. Make sure you buy weapons and armor first! In the mine, you'll find Matilda. Maribel asks what she's doing here. Matilda says that she sensed that monsters were here, and came to check it out. Keefa tells Matilda about Patrick. Matilda says that you can definitely mine green Color Stones here, but doesn't know if any are left. She starts to leave. Maribel asks if she's going to ignore Patrick's request. Matilda says that it may seem harsh, but she can't focus just on that one boy. Keefa says she really is cold, and suggests you look for the Color Stone yourself. Take it easy in the mine. Go forward in short steps--don't try to take it all at once. You can do the entire mine in one fell swoop--I managed to do it once--but Kiss Beasts show up on the bottom floor, and they can outclass your party if you proceed too quickly. Once your hero hits level 3 he'll learn Hoimi, which will make your survival a lot easier. When Maribel hits level 3, she'll learn Mera, which she can put to good use against the Kiss Beasts. A few levels into the mine, you'll find some gem puzzles. Gems block your way; but if you push two gems of the same color together, they shatter. First puzzle: This puzzle is so easy it's almost not a puzzle. Just ignore the red gems. Second puzzle: (R= red gem, Y=Yellow Gem, B=Blue Gem) --------------- RY RY R R > B B B R < --------------- First push the far-right Blue stone into the Middle Blue stone. Then push the lower Red stone west against the south wall until it breaks. Push the two Yellows together, then finally push the reds together to access the down staircase. Third Puzzle: ___________________ | ______ ______ | |B| |Y| | | ___| |_ _| |_ | | BR |____| R |_____| | YR ____ RB _____B ___BR_| |_R_| | | | | | | | | |B|______|Y|______| | |___________________| The first thing you need to do is push the far-right Blue Gem into the central Blue Gem. Then push the central Red Gem (formerly next to the center blue) as far left as possible until it breaks. Move one of the central Reds left or right (it doesn't matter which) then go around through the outside and push the Yellow Gem you have freed into the center of the middle room. Push that Yellow Gem as far left as possible, and your path is opened. On the bottom level, you'll find the Green Color Stone. But it's huge, and you don't know how to bring it back. Matilda then comes in--she was worried that you might have gotten whacked by monsters. She offers to help, and finds a weak point on the gem's surface. She hits it and breaks off a shard for you. She gives you the Green Gem. She then leaves. As she leaves, she stops and then gives you a Wooden Doll. She says her older brother gave it to her when she was a little girl, but it doesn't suit her any more, so she thought it would be good with you. Bring the Green Gem back to Patrick. He uses it on his father, and says he hopes it heals him faster. Patrick tells you that Matilda saved his father's life. Patrick went to the monsters' tower as he was worried about his father. He found Hank on the ground wounded, with Matilda next to him; she fought off the monsters to save him. Patrick says you must be tired, and pays your way for a night in the inn. In the inn, Keefa falls fast asleep. Maribel can't. She misses her father and mother, and asks if you'll be lonely if you can never return home to Fishbell. She then takes it back, saying "I'm just kidding, I don't really miss them" and goes to sleep. You'll see a flashback with Paluna leaving to fight the monsters. His little sister comes up and tells him that it's too dangerous to fight them alone, and that he should go with the others. Paluna says that he wants to, but if everyone leaves at once, it leaves the town in danger. He says he'll go to stop the monster from moving, then everyone will get ready and attack. Before he leaves, he gives his sister a doll. He says it's not very good, but he did his best to make it. "Be good, Matilda" he says as he leaves. Go check on Patrick. You'll find that Hank is all better. Talk to Hank, and he says he heard from Patrick what you did for him. He thanks you for your efforts to help a total stranger. Patrick tells him that Matilda also helped by carrying him back to the village. Hank says "Then I'll have to thank her as well if I see her." Hank asks you why you came to the village, and Maribel explains. Hank doesn't know what to do, but suggests that if you can defeat the evil power influencing the area, maybe you can open a route home. In thanks, he decides to go monster hunting. He asks if you will come with him, and promises to protect you. Agree, and he will join you. He tells you that you should head to the East Tower. The entrance to the Tower is guarded by a Golem. It recognizes Hank as the man who his boss beat up earlier, and berates him for being stupid enough to come back and get killed. It attacks. BOSS: Golem ----------- The only thing the Golem does is attack, but he hits hard for this stage of the game. In addition, since you don't have a lot of techniques on hand, there's not a whole lot you can do in terms of strategy here. Your best bet is to have Maribel cast Rukani on the Golem to reduce his defense while the rest of the party beats on him. Use your Hero's Hoimi spell to heal your party if their HP gets too low. A few Medical Herbs on other party members as insurance can't hurt either. It shouldn't be too tough a fight, as Hank will help heal you. Once you beat the Golem, it will drop a Green Tablet. Hank warns you that the Golem was merely a low-level guard. If your MP levels are low, you might want to consider going back to town to refill them, as there's a more difficult boss battle coming up soon. Otherwise, continue into the tower. In the heart of the tower, you'll find another monster; he calls you cowards for attacking the tower when the boss wasn't there. He says he'll take care of you himself even without his boss' help, and attacks. BOSS: Chokkinger ---------------- The Chokkinger is not very tough in terms of his attacks; all he does is attack, defend, occasionally cast Hoimi to heal himself, and cast Mera when his life starts getting low. However, his defense is quite strong, and it is difficult to penetrate, so it becomes somewhat of a battle of attrition. However, if you use Maribel's Rukani on him, his defense will be lowered to a level where you'll be able to inflict a tolerable amount of damage. Eventually the spell's duration will end and Maribel will run out of MP, but it helps nonetheless. At this point, all you can do is cross your fingers and hope that Hank casts Rukani himself. Or, if you have Maribel use Payback, when he starts casting Mera you can throw it right back at him for free. He's not very hard overall. The Chokkinger will drop a Defense seed after you win, and swears, saying that his boss would be able to get you easily. As he's dying, he sees his boss coming in from behind you. Matilda enters, and the Chokkinger asks her to finish you off for him. Matilda turns around and kills him. Matilda tells you that she indeed is the source of the terror of the town and the mistress of the tower. She says that she was told by her master to take the children from the town. She shows her true form, and says that she's not entirely a monster, and her memories from when she was a human have come back to her, thanks to Hank's son. Hank tells her to shut up and that he is going to kill her. Matilda says that Hank's son came after him, just like she did for her brother many years ago. Hank realizes that she is the sister of Paluna. Matilda says she was captured by the monsters then and one thing led to another--she ended up joining them. Hank thanks Matilda for saving him and says that he does not wish to kill her; if she returns the women and returns the island to its original state he will not harm her. Matilda tells Hank that the girls have been sealed with her life, so unless she dies, they cannot be freed. Hank says that he will have to kill her then, and Matilda says "I understand." BOSS: Matilda ------------- Since Matilda does nothing but defend, it's hard not to defeat her. You can kill her for the experience if you wish, or run away. If you run away, Hank asks why you stopped fighting. He hits Matilda hard and knocks her across the room. Maribel tells you to do something. Hank starts walking across the room. If you let him get to Matilda, he will kill her. If you get in his way, he'll ask if you are trying to stop him. Hank tells you he doesn't want to kill Matilda, but if he doesn't and the women never return, his village will die, so he has no choice. Maribel tries to stop him. Matilda thanks Maribel and tells her she has a kind heart. Matilda tells you to visit the forest you first met her in again. She thanks Maribel for the flower seeds, then kills herself. The skies clear, but Hank still feels bad for Matilda's death. He suggests you return to town. Do so. You'll find all the women have returned. Go talk to Patrick. Hank apologizes for worrying him, and says that the town will no longer have to fear the monsters. Patrick asks if Hank found Matilda--Hank says he did and thanked her as promised. Patrick goes off to look for her. Inside, Hank tells you he doesn't feel very good, as he would have liked for Matilda to experience the peace of the town. Hank tells you to visit the forest and see if you can find a clue to find your way back to your own country, and that he hopes you can return. On your way out, you'll find Patrick by the grave, with the now-sprouted flowers. You have the option to give him the Wooden Doll if you would like. (There's no other use for it, so you might as well) Where you entered, you will find a strange light. Step into it, and you will find yourself back at the Mysterious Palace. Keefa wonders if what you saw was all just a dream. Maribel berates him, and says "of course it wasn't a dream!" Keefa heads home, and Maribel suggests you do too. Go back to Fishbell. Maribel heads to her house. Head to your house, and you'll learn that while you were out, a new island was discovered. (and it's right near your own, at that!) Amitt and your father are currently at the castle discussing it. Head there, and you'll find the castle locked tight as an important meeting is going on there. Head to the old man's place, and you'll find Keefa there. He'll tell you the old man has also been called to the castle. He's not happy about being left out, and tells you "it's finally time to use it!" He says he's going to Fishbell to get ready, and asks you to come. He tells you "you probably know, but I'll be waiting for you in the cave." Head to the cave in Fishbell. You'll find that Maribel is there as well--she figured out what you're doing. Move the big stone slab to uncover the staircase beneath. Enter and you'll find a hidden bay with a boat that you and Keefa have been working on repairing for the past few years. You all get on board and set sail for the new island. Sail to the island to the northwest of Estard. Enter the town there, and you'll find--Wood Paluna! The people there deny that the island has just turned up out of nowhere and insist it's always been there. Inside a house you'll find a Green tablet fragment like the ones you've seen before. The old lady nearby tells you her husband found it. She'll let you take it, so long as you get permission from her husband. Talk to him, and he'll let you take it, and tells you he found it in the nearby Color Stone mine, and suggests you check it out as well. Inside another house you'll hear a story from a woman that says that the viewing tower in the center of town is called Hank's tower, and is named after the hero who saved the village ages ago. Other hints in the town will suggest that the events that transpired earlier took place years and years ago. Head to the Colorstone mine. Talk to the foreman, and he will let you inside, so long as you don't disturb the workers. The mine is devoid of monsters except for the next-to-last-level, and even then they rarely show up. At the very bottom, head through the north passage to find a Red Tablet. Once you find it, Keefa suggests you head back to the castle. In the castle, you can get inside with Keefa's word to the guards. You'll learn that the old man who translated the book for you angrily stormed out of the meeting, and is trying to get into the dungeon. The guard will not let him pass though. The old man tells you that he wants to meet his friend who resides beneath. Talk to the guard and Keefa will persuade him to open the door. Below, you'll find the old man talking with an old sailor. The old man is trying to get the sailor to give him something. Talk to the old man, and he will ask if you know anything about the new island appearing. Keefa explains what happened to the old man. The old man tells you that if you are telling the truth, then there is something that you will be needing being kept away in the castle. The old man tells you to get on the raft and find it, then bring it to him. Via the raft, go to the rear of the castle and enter the door. Below the castle, push the bookcase out of the way to reveal a hidden door. Behind the door you will find a Red Tablet fragment. Bring it to the old man, and he will tell you that he found it when he was your age, and that Burns' father took it from him and locked it up below the castle. The old man tells you that with it, you should be able to unlock another island. Bring the tablet to the Mysterious Palace and use it to complete the northwest Red Tablet. Once again, you will be sucked into another world. Chapter 3: Sacrifice to the Fire God -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHAPTER SUMMARY ITEMS Engou: Antidote Herb x 2, Life Acorn, Clothes, 6G, Pointy Hat, 10G Volcano: Power Seed, Defense Seed, Medical herb, Holy Knife, 110G, Antidote Herb Engou, present-day: Magic Holy Water, Antidote Herb, 7G, Piece of Cloth Suteteko Pants Volcano, present-day: Mysterious Tablet (Green), 80G, Medical Herb, 350G, 60G Antidote Herb KEY ITEMS: Amazing Holy Water Amazing Holy Water Bottle Round Button TASKS 1. Go to Engou and learn about the Festival. 2. Sleep at the inn and hear the fortune teller's premonition 3. Wait until evening at the Inn and attend the Festival 4. Go to the bottom of the Volcano and defeat the Fire Giant 5. Get the Holy Water from Hondara 6. Use the Holy Water to extinguish the Black Fire 7. Visit the Volcano Island in the first world -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You'll find yourself transported to another, different world. Head southeast, until you reach the village of Engou. Engou is a small village with little in it. The townspeople worship the Fire God, who is said to live in the volcano to the northwest. The four pillars of fire by the town are offerings to him. You'll find a fortune teller, Pamila, here, who is famous for both her accuracy and her special medicine, though she will have nothing to do with you, too ensconced within her own reading. Go to the Elder's house. There you'll learn that the town is about to get ready for an annual ceremony where the townspeople thank the Fire God by returning his gift of fire to them. Talk to the Mayor, and an earthquake will start. If you suggest to him that the volcano is about to erupt, he laughs, saying that his village has done nothing to anger the Fire God. He explains that every year the earthquakes get fierce right before the ceremony. He asks you to stay yourselves to witness the ceremony, and suggests you stay in the inn--he would like to house you himself, but all of his beds are full. Rest at the inn. The next day you'll find Pamila causing a panic among the townspeople--she foresaw that the volcano would explode as soon as the Fire- Giving Ceremony ends. She warns that the Ceremony must not take place. An earthquake occurs, and while Pamila says it's because of a volatile volcano, the townspeople just think it's a sign that it's time for the Ceremony. Pamila says "don't you believe me!?" When you respond, she'll say "I'm not asking you!" At this point the Mayor comes out and asks what the fuss is about. After hearing what Pamila said, he invites her in to discuss the matter privately. The townspeople return to their daily business. Go upstairs, and Pamila suggests that he think of a way to avert the catastrophe. The mayor says that he can't stop the ceremony, as the townspeople will fear that the Fire God might get angry. He then announces to the townspeople that the ceremony will be held tonight. Pamila starts to leave, and is begins to suggest you leave the village, then changes her mind and asks you to come to her shop. At Pamila's shop you'll introduce yourselves. Pamila asks you to help save the village--as outsiders, you can act independently of the village. She'll ask you to come speak to her in the evening if you agree to. If you don't agree, you can offer to help again once the festival starts. (I don't think the ceremony will happen until you agree to help) At the festival, talk to Pamila, and she will say that something is happening inside the mountain, but it is shut off from the public except during the ceremony. She suggests that you investigate when the ceremony starts. Until then, she tells you to enjoy the party, but not to get wasted so that you lose your edge. Go to the northwest brazier and you'll find the mayor with a torch. He has the fire tender give you torches as well. The mayor says that the ceremony will begin and asks if you're ready. Tell him when you are. He starts the ceremony by saying a quick prayer to the Fire God, asking for his protection in the upcoming year, then everyone heads off to the volcano. At the volcano, people are lined up to throw their fire into the volcano. The man at the bottom asks you to line up, but ignore him and head to the top of the volcano. Talk to the guy in front, and he won't let you cut in line. The mayor comes out, however, and gives you the honor of being first in line, being travelers who came a long way and all. The man in front is none too pleased, but agrees to give up his place. The Mayor leads you to the mouth of the volcano. He tosses his torch in, and says that this way the flame that the Fire God lent to the people is returned. Throw your own torches in, and the Mayor will thank you and tell you that you can return to the town if you want. However, you should proceed to the other side of the volcano, where you'll find Pamila. She asks you to hurry into the depths of the volcano to find out what's happening, but warns you that there are strong monsters inside. If you get hurt, she asks you to come back if you get hurt, but not to forget that you're on the clock. When you get far enough into the volcano, you'll actually have to jump down into the lava (or what appears to be lava) to reach the lower level. You'll find a healing circle towards the very end, which you should stop off in to heal your wounds before proceeding. (If you feel that you're not strong enough at this point, this room is also an excellent place to build experience, as you can heal yourself to full after every fight) At the bottom of the volcano, you'll find a strange giant laughing in front of a strange machine, berating humans for worshipping a nonexistent god. The machine absorbs the torches the villagers drop, and when enough have been dropped, the black flame the machine generates will cause the volcano to erupt. Thinking that they have angered the Fire God, the people will then fall into depression and misery. Of course, you'll try to stop it yourself. BOSS: Flame Giant ----------------- The Flame Giant can do several things; attack, use Power Charge, breathe Fire Breath, or use a powerful attack that hits your whole party. If your characters are in good health, the only one to watch out for is the Power Charge; if you see him charging his power, he will do significant damage the next round, so counter it by having your characters Defend the following round. Use your Hero's Skara spell and Maribel's Rukani spell to increase your defense while decreasing the Giant's. Keefa's Flame Slash and Maribel's Mera spell are of little use, not surprisingly--the Giant is resistant to Fire attacks. Instead, if you decide to go on the offensive with them, use their normal attacks. The Flame giant will drop a Blue Mysterious Tablet upon his death. However, even though both he and the machine are destroyed, the Black Flame is untouched, and floats up to the top of the volcano. Head back to the mouth of the volcano, and you'll find the townspeople staring at the Black Flame. Explain to Pamila what happened, and she says that you'll need to do something about the flame, as there's no telling what it will do. The Mayor asks if she knows how to deal with it--she says she doesn't. She does a quick divination, and sees a dirty room and an unsavory-looking man holding a jar with a strange fluid in it. Then she sees you (the Hero) in the same room. She says that the fluid in the jar must have the power to quench the Flame. She asks if you know who the man is. (It's Hondara, if you haven't figured it out already) Head back to the portal that took you to the Engou area, and you can return to your time. Leave the Palace and go find Hondara in Grand Estard. He's in his house, and offers you some Amazing Holy Water in exchange for information about what Bolcano and Amitt were called to the castle about. Affirm his suspicions that it was about the new island. Hondara gives you the Amazing Holy Water while he starts to think of another get-rich-quick scheme and asks you to leave. Return to the volcano in Engou. Stand between Pamila and the Mayor and use the Amazing Holy Water. After sprinkling it on the flame, it goes out. Pamila breathes a sigh of relief and says that there is no more danger of her prophecy coming true any more. The mayor declares you the heroes of the town, and you return. You'll see a message saying that everyone partied hearty for the rest of the night and you stuffed yourselves silly. You'll wake up in the inn and the innkeeper wishes you a good journey. Go talk to Pamila, and she will give you a Blue Tablet Fragment as thanks for your help. She then tells you to come back if you ever need her help again. You're done in Engou for now, so head home. When you reach the Palace, Keefa suggests you head back to Grand Estard castle to see if you can learn whether or not another island appeared upon rescuing Engou. Do so. There you'll learn that the King wants to hear from you directly about the islands. Talk to him, and he will tell you that the old man told him that you are on a journey to try to return lost islands to the world. He doesn't believe entirely that you can, and that he sent out a scout team to look for new islands. At that moment, the scout team returns, and reports a new volcanic continent to the northwest. He leaves, and the King realizes that the old man spoke the truth. He apologizes for doubting him during the earlier meeting. Then the King thanks Keefa for his work in uncovering the mystery--but forbids him from going on any further adventures at the same time! The old man, shocked, says "You're breaking your promise!" but the king ignores him, and tells Keefa that he needs to take responsibility and not put himself in any danger, as he is to be the future king of Estard. Amitt seconds the notion with Maribel, forbidding her to go on any more adventures. Bolcano applauds your courage, but says "A man knows when to bow out" and tells you to come home with him. Back at home he will tell you that he will not force you to stop your journey, but is not too happy about you putting yourself in danger like that. He asks if you want to continue your journey. Regardless of your decision, he will tell you to go to bed for the time being. When you leave home the next morning, you'll find Maribel waiting for you. She'll tell you that she stayed up all night doing it, but finally managed to convince her father to let her continue on the journey. She asks if you were intending to continue on your own, then tells you that she won't let you hog all the fun. She joins your party again. She suggests you go check out the new island, and that you continue on without Keefa. However, Maribel and you alone will not be able to move the stone slab in the cave to get to the ship. Leave the cave, and you'll find Keefa outside. Maribel asks why he's not at the castle, and Keefa laughs and says that he snuck out past the guards again. He goes on to say that during his compulsory lecture the night before, he said that he was going to continue to sneak out of the castle until his father accepted it. He joins your party. Move the slab, board the ship, and head toward the new island. Not surprisingly, you'll discover that it's Engou's island that appeared. Engou in the present is much like in the past, except that now it has public hot springs at the bottom of the well in the center of town. In Pamila's shop, you'll find Pamila and her assistant Ilma. Or at least another Pamila. If you question her about her name, she'll tell you that it's a special name given to everyone in her family that has fortune telling power. This Pamila, however, can't make special medicine like the first Pamila could. You can have your fortune told, but Pamila won't be able to see anything. She'll tell you that you are special and don't have a predetermined future, so she can't foretell it. Of course, that doesn't stop her for charging you for her "services." However, she's not totally useless--there's a boy in town who's lost his Round Button. Talk to Pamila and she can scry the location. She'll tell you to look by the sign to the Inn. There you can find the Button. Return it to the child, and he'll give you a Small Medal in exchange. You can go to the volcano too; it is open to the public. There's nothing of critical importance there for the moment, but there's a portal inside that will send you directly to the Fire Shrine in the Mysterious Palace. You might want to head into the lower levels of the volcano too--there is a Green Tablet Fragment that you will eventually need. When you're ready, return to the Mysterious Palace and complete the northwest Blue Tablet--it will take you to your next destination. Chapter 4: The Grey Rain -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHAPTER SUMMARY: ITEMS: Direluck: Leather Hat, 7G, 10G, Medical herb, 5G KEY ITEMS: Angel Tears TASKS 1. Talk to the old man and get the Angel's Tears 2. Rest in the inn and learn the story of the town's demise from the statues 3. Read Joseph's diary to learn the location of the Secret Base 4. Go to the Secret Base and use the Angel Tears on the town 5. Talk to Joseph and bring him to the old man 6. Visit the new island in the first world -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You'll find yourself on a very small island. Head to the nearby village, Direluck. "Direluck" about sums up the people of the village; they've all been turned to stone. If you examine them, you'll discover that they've been petrified for quite some time; the statues are all heavily weathered and starting to crumble. There is, however, one live old man at the rear of the village by the well. He's very surprised to see travelers, and asks what you're doing. Keefa explains your quest to him. The old man is shocked to hear the extent of your quest, but asks you to forget about restoring this island, as it is too late to save the people of the village, with no way to bring them back any more. He tells you to continue on your journey. As you leave, the old man will stop you and give you some Angel Tears. He says that they will restore any petrified human to their normal selves. He tells you that he was able to find the Tears too late; by the time he managed to get them, all of the statues had weathered to the point where the Tears would be useless. He goes on about how the townspeople must hate him, and starts to talk about the night, but stops in mid sentence, and tells you that if you are going to rest in the inn, not to go outside, because nighttime in the already-darkened area is impossible to see in, and very dangerous. Head to the inn, and rest. You'll be woken up in the middle of the night by a sad voice. Go outside--notice that the statues are now glowing. Examine them and the light will become stronger, and will grow and show you a vision for each person. Farmer: The Farmer is thinking about the upcoming Rain Ritual to try to call down rain. Direluck is in a very dry area, and he worries about his future if it doesn't rain and his crops don't grow. A young boy, Yosef, runs by and knocks him over. He stops and apologizes before running off. The farmer smiles and says "With energetic children like that, this town surely will have a bright future." Woman by front: A warrior walks by her. She asks if he's going out to buy things from another village. The warrior, Cleman, says that he is going to buy food and as much water as he can to bring back to the village and try to sustain it until it rains. While the woman worries that the Rain Ritual won't work, Cleman is confident that rain will fall this year. He leaves, and the woman asks him to be careful. Priest: The Priest is in his church. A young woman, Millie, comes in and prays that Cleman will be safe on his journey. Then a young man comes in and prays that he can one day marry Millie--but since Cleman stands in his way, he prays that Cleman doesn't return to the village. Little Girl: Yosef scribbles something on the wall. The girl, Lena, comes up and chastises him for writing graffiti. Yosef tells her not to be so loud, and explains that he's just writing it to mark the location. Yosef says that "I've found something better than that secret base I found before!" He asks her to come over during the Rain Ritual--if she's late, he'll head to the base and wait for her there. Lena agrees. Middle-aged Woman: The woman is searching for Yosef (she is his mother). Lena comes up and asks her if she's seen him anywhere, and she explains that she's looking for him herself. She's upset because she told him to stay at home and help during the Rain Ritual. Lena has an idea, and Yosef's mother asks if she might know where he might be. Lena plays dumb, and Yosef's mother asks her to tell him to come home if she sees him. Lena agrees, and leaves. Old Woman: The old woman is praying to the rock to let rain fall. The priest comes up and thanks her for her prayers, then asks why she's not praying to the Water God statue. The old woman says that the statue is just something made by human hands, but the rock has been here since long before any people were. The priest wonders what the rock is doing there, and the woman laughs, saying "The rock isn't here by us, we're here by the rock" (tough to translate) The priest agrees, and says that he still has much to learn, thinking about it from a human's point of view. Young man: The man is looking at the Water God statue, and gets the sense that it is smiling. He thinks "The Rain Ritual is going to work this year." He also gets glad that Cleman is going to be out of town, because it gives him a chance to move in on his girlfriend, Millie. He chuckles and looks forward to the Ritual. Young Woman: The young woman, Millie, is waiting for Cleman inside her house. Cleman comes in and apologizes for his tardiness. Millie asks him if he really intends to leave town. Cleman says he is, and Millie objects, saying that monsters are common outside of town, and she worries what might happen to him. Cleman insists that that makes it all the more important that he be the one to go--if someone has to go out and go shopping for the village, it should be him, since he has a better chance against the monsters than anyone else. Cleman tells Millie that he wants to announce their engagement to the rest of the town as soon as he gets back. Millie agrees, and Cleman says with that out of the way, he can go to town without worry. He (hugs? kisses?) Millie, then leaves. Bartender: The Bartender is preparing drinks while Keene talks with Yosef. (his son) Yosef asks Keene if he knows what was on the site of the town before it was Direluck. Keene doesn't know, and asks the bartender if he does. The bartender says that this area was once a battlefield, and that an old town was destroyed. The ancestors of the current residents got together after the war and rebuilt it as Direluck. He explains that's the reason why old artifacts are occasionally dug up in the area. Keen asks why Yosef wants to know. Yosef says "I just did." Yosef leaves, and Keene tells him not to dally during the Rain Ritual. Keene: The bartender kicks Keene out of the bar, saying that he's going to go to the Rain Ritual. Keene leaves, and outside skeptically watches the townspeople perform the ritual in the center of town. He starts to go home, and on the way it starts to rain! At first Keene is thrilled, but then notices how unusually polluted the rain is. The rain starts to turn him to stone! He runs back to his house, but doesn't make it inside before he is fully petrified. Once you examine Keene's statue, it will shatter into smithereens. You can then enter his house. There you can read Yosef's notebook. He recorded the location of a secret base that he found--the entrance is below a tree near where he scribbled on the wall. You can examine the area now, and discover a hollow point, but it will be too dark to find the handle to the entrance. Head to the top of the cliff and talk to the old man. He explains that since rain is so scarce in the area, every year the townspeople perform the Rain Ritual. He will explain that he is Cleman, and 50 years ago went out to buy supplies during the Ritual. On his way back, he saw a strange purple cloud over the town, which rained a disgusting gray rain. He arrived in town as soon as it stopped and discovered the petrified townspeople. He says that the townspeople must have wanted to return to their normal selves, and must hold a grudge against him for not being able to grant their wish. He explains that he just wants to sit in town and wait to join them. Go to sleep, and the next day you will be able to find the entrance to the secret base Yosef was talking about. It will lead to a tunnel that comes out on top of the rock in the middle of town. Go to the top of the rock and sprinkle the Angel Tears over the town. The townspeople won't go back to normal, but the one person who was petrified in an area not exposed to the elements--Yosef--will be returned to normal. He comes out of the secret base he had been in, and stumbles around a bit, confused. Talk to him, and he will ask you who you are and what happened. If you tell him what happened, he won't believe you. He joins your party and asks you to help him look for the townspeople. Go talk to Cleman. He will note that the area became light after you used the Tears, then will notice Yosef. He asks Yosef where he's been all this time. Yosef explains that he's been in the underground secret base. The old man realizes that he had been guarded from the wind from within the base, and thanks you for discovering that the town is NOT dead after all. The old man is very happy, and decides to celebrate. You'll see some messages that talk about how Yosef eventually accepted the reality of what happened to the town, and how the old man got his zeal for life back. The next day Cleman tells you that he and Yosef are going to start a journey to warn people of the Gray Rain, and perhaps search for a way to reverse the curse on the weathered statues. Return to the present. Yet another island will have appeared. Head to it, and you'll discover that Direluck is no more. Instead, just the standing stone is there, with an old man. The old man says that he came to the area hearing of the stone, and wants to live there, but there is no town. Therefore he wants to build a town there himself. He asks you to tell people about the area in case you discover anyone who is thinking of moving on your journeys. If you can get enough people to come, then perhaps you can build a town there. The old man introduces himself as Sim and asks you to consider his request. This area will become your player-made town. The town will change depending on who you move into the area. At the moment, there aren't too many places where potential immigrants will spawn, but as you complete new areas of the game, more places for immigrants will pop up as well. Note that until you hit disk 2, you'll only be able to raise your population to 27. For more information on the immigrant town, check out part 1 of this FAQ/walkthrough. You'll find a Green Tablet lying on the ground near the standing stone. Be sure to pick it up! It will allow you to complete the northwest green tablet. Chapter 5: The Ancient Curse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ITEMS: Orphie: Horse Dung, Sharpened Bone, 5G x 2, Small Medal, Antidote Herb, Protection Seed, Medical Herb, Acorn of Life, Hairband, Bronze Sword Mountain Cave: 20G, Mysterious Tablet (Blue) x 2, Power Seed Orphie, Present: Clothes, Medical Herb, 5G, Protection Seed, 30g, Green Tablet Mountain Cave, Present: Stone fangs, 120G, Small Medal, Rabbit-ear band TASKS: 1. Explore the town filled with animals 2. Talk to the lumberjack near Fishbell 3. Bring the lumberjack to the animal town and have him translate. 4. Free the child chained to the wall 5. Go to the mountain tomb and defeat Death Amigo 6. Visit the new island in the present and participate in the ceremony 7. Receive the Blue Tablet from Death Amigo in the present -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next town you run into, Orphie, is a strange town--it is filled with animals. Animals even tend the shops and will sell you things. There are some humans here, but none of them say anything. Explore the town. In one barn, you will find a young child chained to the wall by his neck. Here Keefa will decide to try to start a conversation with the cow in the barn. He says "I bet you know what happened here!" but of course, the cow is a cow and doesn't say anything. Keefa mentions that there is a man somewhere that can speak with animals that might be able to help. The man in question is a lumberjack who lives in a house near Fishbell, on the southwest corner of the island. When you find him, he is advising a cat about its love life. He doesn't have any interest in your story, but the cat convinces him to come with you. The lumberjack will join your party as an NPC. He'll participate in combat to a limited extent, but many rounds will do nothing. Fortunately he has an unlimited supply of Medical Herbs, which he will use on your party during combat. Bring the lumberjack to the town. He will try to speak with the animals, but will not be able to understand what they are saying. However, when you try to talk to the humans in the town, the lumberjack will discover that they in fact are animals who were turned into humans by some curse. Talk to all the human/animals, and the lumberjack will piece together the story behind the town. Apparently, many years ago the town was guarded by white wolves. There was a monster that was terrorizing the town, and the white wolves managed to use their special powers to fight the monster, but all were killed except for one. She managed to imprison the monster in a sarcophagus in a cave on the mountain. Recently, someone or something opened the sarcophagus in the cave and released the monster. In revenge, it cast the curse on the town, changing all the people into animals, and all the animals into people. When you find the child chained to the wall, the lumberjack will free him using his knife. Without saying a word, the boy runs out of the shack. Leave town and head north to the mountain. At the foot of the mountain, you will find a wolf. Follow the wolf to a chamber in the mountainside. As soon as you go up the stairs, the child you freed will kick you out of the way and examine the wolf, who is wounded. The lumberjack warns you that the monster is nearby. Sure enough, the monster appears, and demands to know where the white wolf cub is. He says that he had fought the white wolf cub earlier and wounded it, and thinks you and the brown wolf are protecting it. He attacks you. BOSS: Death Amigo ------------------ The cave you're fighting in has an anti-magic aura, so you can't use any spells during the fight. That means no Hoimi, so make sure that all of your characters have a good supply of Medical Herbs before going into the fight. The Death Amigo won't use magic either, but packs a pretty hefty punch with his physical attacks. He can attack twice in one round, and also occasionally will use a Kamaitachi to deal extra damage. To add insult to injury, he also will use Blinding Light to make it harder for your party to hit him. You can use this against him though--have Maribel use her Payback technique, and you'll end up blinding Death Amigo, which is useful, since all his attacks are physical rather than magical. The Lumberjack will help out with his unlimited supply of Medical Herbs, but it's good not to rely on it too much, as he won't always use them. Once you defeat Death Amigo, he starts to lay down some smack talk and threatens to turn you into animals. The child then leaps on him and bites him. His bite paralyzes Death Amigo, and Death Amigo realizes that the child is in fact the White Wolf, as only they have the power to paralyze him like that. Before he is imprisoned, Death Amigo curses the child to stay in his human form forever. After Death Amigo is imprisoned, the Lumberjack talks with the brown wolf. He tells you that the child's mother is the Legendary white wolf that defeated Death Amigo the first time. She died in childbirth, and the brown wolf adopted her cub. The child then tells you his name--Gabo. Unfortunately, that's pretty much the only word he can speak. Return to town to find the curse has been lifted. You will learn that the elder had kept Gabo as a pet, thinking he was a dog. You'll also learn that it is impossible to open the sealed cave from the inside, so that someone must have deliberately freed Death Amigo. The Lumberjack will decide to adopt Gabo and his mother. Head back to the present time. However, once you enter the temple, Gabo will decide to stay with you to search for whomever opened the cave and stop him/her/it. The Lumberjack leaves your party with Gabo's adopted mother, and Gabo joins your party. Head to Orphie in the present time. You'll find that just like the past, everyone here is an animal. However, upon further investigation, you'll learn it's just that there's a festival going on celebrating the animals saving the town in the past, where everyone gets into animal suits. Once you get animal suits of your own from the elder, (pig suits, in this case) people will talk to you. You'll get to play a game at the festival where there are six people dressed as animals in front of you. Three are men, three are women, and you have to guess which three are women. I don't think you can actually lose this contest--if you guess wrong they will give you another chance. (Though I'm not sure, mistakes may be limited--I guessed wrong first try, then lucked out and got the other three all right in a row) When you find all three women, you will get the Monster Dictionary. You can use it on the overworld to see pictures and data of the monsters you've fought. (how many you've beaten, what they've dropped, how much EXP and gold you've gotten from that type) You can press the circle button while using the book to animate the monster sprite too. Head north to the mountain and go into the Sealed Cave. You'll find it open again. When you go to the coffin, a voice will threaten you and warn you to stay away. Ignore it and open the coffin, and out pops Death Amigo. Only after several hundreds of years, he's turned into a human, and has lost the bad attitude he had before. In fact, he's extremely polite, and apologizes profusely to Gabo for cursing him. He offers to use his magic to turn Gabo back into a wolf. Maribel tells him it's OK, but Death Amigo insists and casts the spell on Gabo. However, after many years his magic has gotten very rusty, and the spell makes Gabo even MORE human, and grants him the ability to speak. Gabo is very happy that he can communicate with you now and thanks Death Amigo, telling him that he's happy with his human form. Death Amigo then gives you a Blue Mysterious Tablet fragment that he had in the bottom of his coffin, and asks you to come back and visit whenever you want. Head back to the Mysterious Palace when you're ready, and complete the Northeast Blue Tablet to travel to the next location. Chapter 6: Assault of the Mechanical Soldiers -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHAPTER SUMMARY ITEMS: Forish: Small Medal, 3G, 10G, Leather Armor, Mysterious Tablet (red), Power Seed, Medical Herb, 15G Forod Castle: Leather Shield, Scale Armor, Defense Seed, Power Seed, Small Medal Zebott's House: Shell Hat, Sharpened Bone, Bronze Knife, 2G Soldier Hideout: Power seed (in man-eating box), 250G, Power Seed, Iron Shield, Mysterious Tablet (red), 100G Forish, Present: Net Tights, 3G, Small Medal, Scale Armor Forod, Present: Royal Clothes, 2G, Mysterious Tablet (green), Medical Herb, 5G, Small Medal Zebott's House, Present: Hairband, Mysterious Tablet (red), Small Medal Soldier Hideout, Present: Power Seed, Small Medal, Iron Claw KEY ITEMS: Mechanical Parts TASKS 1. Visit Forish and learn about the mechanical soldiers 2. Go to Forod Castle and defeat the guard to become a mercenary 3. Talk to the king, then go to the briefing room to discuss the situation 4. Talk to Zebott in the house to the west 5. Report to Trad, then take watch on the tower, then speak to the wounded man 6. Take Trad to Zebott's house 7. Return to the castle and fight off the mechanical soldiers 8. Assess the situation in the castle, then rest 9. Invade the Mechanical Soldier's hideout, defeat the Machine Master and the Death Machine. 10. Visit Forish and Forod, and receive your reward from the king and Heinz 11. Visit Forish in the present and meet Alman 12. Visit Forod in the present and talk to the king, then go to Zebott's house 13. Return to the castle and talk to the king, then talk to Alman in the dungeon 14. Talk to Alman's granddaughter, then dig under the barrel near the lake 15. Repair Elly at Forod castle 16. Receive a Red Tablet from Alman's granddaughter -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The first town you will run across in this area is the town of Forish. There's nothing essential here, but you will learn the general situation of the area. Forish and the castle Forod have been under attack by an army of mechanical soldiers that have been extremely difficult to defeat. The people of Forish are essentially holed up in a makeshift fortress in fear of the attacks. You can meet a the captain of the guard from the castle, Trad, who is checking up on the situation of the town. Head to Forod castle. Here you can talk to a soldier, Heinz, and volunteer to be mercenaries to protect the castle and town against the mechanical soldiers. Before they will allow you to become a mercenary though, the castle soldiers will test you in battle to decide whether or not you're worthy. You will have to fight a Forod Soldier. MINI-BOSS: Forod Soldier ------------------------ The Forod Soldier does a fair amount of damage, but Gabo's Howl works on him almost every time. You can go through the battle untouched if you have Gabo howl every round. You might want to bring along some medical herbs just in case. Overall he shouldn't be too difficult to beat. Once you pass the test, you are told to talk to the king. The king tells you he is in desperate need of help in defending the country from the mechanical soldiers. He asks you for your assistance in defending the country; you should agree. At this point, Trad comes back and reports on the situation in Forish. The king points you out as new mercenaries, and Trad asks you to come to a briefing to discuss the current state of affairs in the country. Go to the briefing. At the briefing, Trad opens the floor to any suggestions on how to deal with the mechanical soldier menace. Talk to the soldiers and get their ideas. One of them suggests talking to Zebott, a scholar/hermit who researches mechanics. Trad doesn't like the idea, and thinks that Zebott won't be able to help. He eventually gives in though, and asks you to go talk to Zebott to try and enlist his help. Go to the small house to the west of the castle. Inside you will find Zebott. Talk to him and ask him to help, but he refuses. He says he actually feels bad for the mechanical soldiers, and doesn't care what happens to the castle or the town. He won't give in no matter what you say, so return to the castle and report. Trad is not surprised that Zebott wouldn't help when you return to the castle. He thanks you for going and tells you to go take watch on the tower for the time being. As soon as you reach the tower, a wounded man limps into the castle. The guards go up to help him, and he says that Forish has fallen to the mechanical soldier attacks, and that they are approaching the castle to siege it as well. Trad says that maybe he can talk Zebott into helping you, and joins your party. Head back to Zebott's house. Trad tries to convince Zebott to help you, but he refuses again, saying that "everyone dies eventually." Trad tells you enlisting Zebott's help is hopeless, and suggest you head back to the castle. As you're leaving, a mechanical soldier approaches the house. However, it is broken from a previous attack. Zebott comes outside and is intrigued by the soldier. He asks Trad to help him bring it inside, so he can study it. Head back to the castle while Zebott and Trad are examining the mechanical soldier. You will arrive to find that the castle is under attack by the mechanical soldiers. You can take out a few of the wandering soldiers outside if you want, but you should talk to the guards by the entrance--they suggest you try to fortify your defenses so as not to allow the Mechanical Soldiers inside. While guarding the door, you will have to defeat three Mechanical soldiers. However, as soon as you beat them, more come. It looks hopeless, but Zebott and Trad arrive, and all the soldiers attacking the castle start to go nuts, attacking each other, falling over, etc, effectively ending the assault. Zebott explains that upon researching the soldier he found (who he has named Elly) he found that all the soldiers were being controlled by remote via sound waves. He altered Elly so that she gives off a similar sound, so by using her, he can send commands to the Mechanical soldiers and fry their circuitry. Talk to Trad, and he will suggest you make a counterstrike against the Soldiers' hideout tomorrow--until then you should rest. At this point, you'll have to play messenger between Heinz and Trad several times carrying menial messages/status reports assessing the status inside the castle. Once that's done and you've rested up, you'll have the plan underway--you'll use Elly to confuse the mechanical soldiers guarding the hideout, then kill their boss. Go to the hideout, which is in a valley east of Forish. Elly will give off her wave signals, frying the Mechanical Soldiers' circuitry so you can get inside. The Soldiers' hideout is pretty straightforward. Just proceed to the bottom of the area via the elevators until you reach the Machine master at the very bottom. He will be very shocked to see you got past the guards, and sics several Mechanical Soldiers on you. BOSS: Machine Master -------------------- The Machine Master's physical attack is very powerful, so use Manusa on him to reduce the his chances of hitting you. He will also summon Mechanical Soldiers to attack you. Don't kill them off first, because he will just summon more. Instead, use Gabo to distract them with his Howl, while you, Keefa, and Maribel concentrate on the Machine Master. If he has it, use Keefa's War Cry charge to increase his attack power. Once the Machine Master is dead, picking off his Mechanical Soldiers is pretty easy. Before dying, the Machine master says "To hell with the Demonlord's orders--I'm going to kill all humans!" He summons a gigantic Mechanical soldier to kill you and then all the humans on the continent. It attacks you. BOSS: Death Machine ------------------- The Death Machine has plenty of nasty techniques to inflict a world of hurt on you. A good plan is to put each character in a specific role: have your Hero focus on raising your characters' defense power, or casting healing if necessary. Keefa should be your primary damage dealer--have him use War Cry Charge/Flame Slash. Have Gabo concentrate on stunning the Death Machine with Howls, and Maribel should be used primarily for healing and reducing the Death Machine's defense rating with Rukani. (Unfortunately, I've found Manusa to be ineffective against the Death Machine) Once the Death Machine is in pieces, Trad decides to "come help" and sees that you've already taken care of everything. He thanks you and tells you to go get some rest. Go to Forish. The survivors have come out of hiding now that the Mechanical Soldier threat is gone. Zebott stops by with Elly, and when a girl sees the robot, she gets very upset and attacks it. Zebott berates her, and says that the only reason that she's safe is because of Elly. Nobody else believes that Elly is not evil or helped you, and Zebott leaves in disgust. Go to the castle, and talk to the King with Trad and Zebott. He asks how he can reward you. Trad declines any special reward, and tells the king to give it to Zebott and the mercenaries that helped defend the castle. Zebott says he doesn't want anything either and leaves. The King gives you a Poison Moth Knife as reward. As you leave, you will hear the princess talking to Zebott. It turns out that Zebott was very close with the princess' older sister, Elly, but she died in an accident when she went hunting with Trad--this is the reason that Zebott has refused to speak with Trad for so long and holed himself up in a little hut. Zebott named the mechanical soldier Elly after the dead princess, because this way she will never die, as machines have no life to begin with. Before you head out back to the present, talk to Heinz. He will give you a monetary reward as your pay as mercenaries. Go examine the new continent that has appeared in the present-day. The Mechanical Soldier base is now abandoned, and a strange fortune teller has taken up residence there. She will help you all through disk 1, and will tell you the locations of any Tablet fragments that you are missing should you find yourself unable to proceed. In Forish, you'll meet an old swordsman named Alman. You'll learn that he trained the King in his day. In Forod Castle, you'll see mechanical devices all over the place. The big thing they are trying to accomplish there is completion of a mechanical human. You can watch the researchers fail trial runs if you want. When you talk to the king, a soldier comes running in, and reports that he has found an ancient mechanical human in the "forbidden lands" to the West. Alman comes in and forbids the king from investigating. The king ignores Alman and goes anyway. Alman will ask you to chase after the king and try to stop him. Head to Zebott's place. Zebott is long dead, but his skeleton is still there, lying on his bed. Elly is there too, but doesn't realize Zebott is dead and is trying to nurse him back to health with soup. As you witness her trying to feed the corpse soup, the King arrives and pushes you away, and orders the soldiers to take Elly to the castle. She doesn't want to go, but the soldiers take her anyway. The king gives deference to Zebott's remains, asking to borrow his knowledge to help him make a mechanical human to make the peoples' lives easier. Back at the castle, the researchers are starting to disassemble Elly to find out what makes her tick. Alman pleads with the king to return her. The King realizes that Alman must be hiding something from him and throws him in the dungeon, saying that he'll speak with him in more detail later. Go to the dungeon and talk to Alman. He'll explain that he is a descendant of Zebott's family, and knows all about him. He wants Elly to return home, saying that she will not be happy without her master. (or what's left of him) He tells you that his granddaughter in Forish has some mechanical parts that he can use to repair her. Head to Forish and talk to Alman's granddaughter. She tells you to dig under the barrel near the pond. (The barrel in question is on the "island" between the wall of the building and the stream) Search under where the barrel was, and you'll get the parts. Bring the parts to Alman and he'll leave with you. The guard (who didn't want Alman imprisoned in the first place--he is very respected in the castle) switches clothes with Alman so that he won't be noticed in the palace. Take Alman to lab, and the researcher there asks you to guard Elly while he goes and gets lunch. Alman repairs Elly, and she wakes up. However, she mistakes Alman for Zebott, and tells him that he is too sick to be walking around, and should go home. She picks Alman up and tries to take him home. The king and some soldiers see the robot carrying Alman away, and the soldiers start to attack her. At this point, the king has a change of heart and realizes that Elly should not be disturbed, and agrees to let her go home. You bring Elly back to her house and she returns to her normal routine of trying to nurse Zebott's corpse back to health. The King leaves, but says that even without Elly, he won't stop trying to make a mechanical human. Alman thanks you and goes home. He asks you to stop by before you leave the country. Stop by Alman's house--his granddaughter will give you a Red Tablet, which you will need to complete the Southeast Red Tablet and go to your next location. Chapter 7: The Grey Rain strikes again -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHAPTER SUMMARY: Greenflake: Traveler's clothes, 25g, Flashy clothes, Wooden hat, 3G, Rabbit-ear band, Small Medal North Cave: Mysterious Tablet (green) x 2, 50G, Small Medal Greenflake ruins, present: Mysterious Tablet (green) KEY ITEMS: Pamila's Special Medicine TASKS 1. Defeat the Amefurashi on the balcony 2. Use Angel Tears on the town 3. Investigate the Herb Garden 4. Visit Iwan, then Linda, then Pepe's father 5. Go to Engou and receive medicine from Pamira 6. Use medicine to cure Pepe 7. Attend party and look for Pepe, then talk to Boruck, then find Pepe again 8. Go to the north cave, defeat the Cave Demon, and get tablet fragments 9. Visit the ruins of Greenflake in the present 10. Visit the new town east of Greenflake ruins -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Head to the Mysterious Palace and complete the next Tablet to go to the next island. Head to the town nearby. Upon entry into the town, Greenflake, you will see that you have found yet another town that has succumbed to the Grey Rain, and everyone has turned to stone. However, unlike Direluck, the statues have not yet degraded. Search the town, and you will find a monster on top of the balcony. Surprised to see you, it attacks. BOSS: Rainbringer ----------------- Yet another boss that relies almost exclusively on physical attacks, Rainbringer is not very tough. Drop his defense with Rukani, raise yours with Skara, and he shouldn't be too tough to defeat. If you're lucky you may be able to stun him with a Howl or two as well. As the Rainbringer dies, he laughs and tells you his death alone will not cure the townspeople. Indeed, they don't return to their normal selves even after Rainbringer dies. However, if you use the Angel Tears that the old man at Direluck gave you on the balcony, you can spread them over the town and cure the townspeople. Head downstairs. You'll see a young man, Iwan, look out the window and get very angry; he thinks he sees the gardener's son, Pepe, trying to fool around with his fiancee, Linda. He runs out. Go outside to the garden. You'll find Pepe on top of Linda--and unconscious. Linda says that Pepe threw her to the ground and shielded her with his body to protect her from the rain. He got hit directly and continually, so he was affected by the rain worse than the others--while he has returned to normal, his body is stiff as a board. You help Iwan bring Pepe's body into his house. Inside, you'll explain to Boruck, Iwan's father, that everybody had been turned to stone by the gray rain. Boruck notes that an old man and a young boy had stopped by the village earlier to warn them about the rain. He is upset that only Pepe fell victim to the rain's effects. At this point Iwan asks Linda what she was doing in the garden in the first place, but Linda won't tell him. She is very upset at Pepe's plight. Iwan heads off to the mansion to think of a way to cure Pepe and make Linda feel better. Head to the mansion, inside, you'll find the maid, Kaya, making some moves on Iwan. She tries to convince him that Linda liked Pepe and was philandering with him. Iwan rejects Kaya's advances and refuses to believe her. Go find Linda, and you will see that a man is trying to give her some money that he owed her parents. (Linda is not very well-off financially; there are rumors about the town that Pepe wouldn't hook up with her because he wouldn't be able to help her with a gardener's salary) Linda doesn't want to take it though. Once you've visited both Linda and Iwan, talk to Pepe's father. He will talk about a special medicine that would cure anything, made by Pamila in Engou, which is over the mountains to the East. Well, being Sealed off from the rest of the world, there IS no Engou east of Greenflake. You'll have to go back to the Mysterious Palace and go to Engou via the northwest Red Tablet. Once there, talk to Pamila and get Pamila's Special Medicine. (Pamila is in the Elder's house-- she will go back to her shop, and give it to you there) Bring it back to Greenflake. The medicine revives Pepe. He wakes up and thanks you. Iwan is happy and decides to throw a party to celebrate Pepe's return to health. However, when the party actually starts, Pepe skips out of it early. Go search the town; in the northwest corner, Pepe is talking to Kaya. Kaya is trying to get Pepe to elope with Linda so she can have Iwan. Pepe refuses though. Return to the party and talk to Boruck. As soon as you do, it starts to rain. All the townspeople panic, thinking it's the Grey Rain again, and run into their houses. (However, it's just garden variety rain) Go back to the northwest corner of town--this time you'll find Linda trying to convince Pepe to elope with her. He refuses, and she calls him a weakling and a coward. He leaves. Go to the entrance of town, and you will find that Pepe is leaving town. Keefa tries to talk him out of leaving, but fails--Pepe leaves to seek his fortune. The next day you'll get some clues about the whereabouts of the nearest tablet-- a merchant in the town has gone to the North Cave to find a piece. Head there yourself. The cave is pretty much empty except for two Green Tablet fragments. However, before you can get both, you'll enter a room with a monster that has been eating people who were lured into the cave because of rumors of great treasure there. He laughs at you, saying it was just a ruse to get meals, and attacks. BOSS: Cave Demon, 2 Dancing Gems -------------------------------- The Cave Demon is decidedly the tougher of the opponents you'll be facing here; in addition to a double attack, he can cast Gira and Begirama to damage your whole party, or blind you with his Blinding Light. The Gems are primarily forms of annoyance, casting Rukanan to lower your defense, using Amazing Dance to drain your MP, etc. You should focus your efforts on the Demon and get him out of the way. Have your Hero cast Behoimi on your party members to heal them, while Keefa deals most of the attacks. Maribel can cast Manusa and Rukani on the Demon to lower his defenses. Gabo can sometimes distract the Gems with his Howls, but another alternative is to have him as a backup healer. Once the Demon is dead, focus your efforts on taking the Gems down. Once you've got the two Tablets, head back to your world. You'll find that Greenflake is no longer a town, but ruins. However, you can get a Green tablet on its site. Head further east, and you will find a prosperous Herb town called Memorial Leaf. It was founded by Pepe after he left Greenflake. With the Green tablet, you can complete the Southwest Green Tablet to travel to the next area. Chapter 8: Keefa's Decision -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHAPTER SUMMARY ITEMS: Gypsy camp: 25G, Small Medal, Leather Hat, 5G, Defense Seed Mountain camp: Speed Seed Altar Cave: Fur Cape, 5G, 15G, 20G, Medical Herb, Wisdom Seed, 3G, Amazing Acorn, Prayer ring, Mysterious Tablet (Yellow), 15G, Defense Seed, 2 Small Medals, Poison Moth Knife Archaeological dig, present: Mysterious Tablet (blue), Small Medal KEY ITEMS: Bell of the Earth Keefa's Letter TASKS: 1. Investigate the gypsy camp and witness the ceremony 2. Talk to Lyra and bring her a drink 3. Witness monster attack, and head to the altar 4. Rest at the Mountain Camp 5. Accompany John into the cave 6. Empty the lake to go to the Altar 7. Get the Sacred Artifacts and perform the unsealing ceremony 8. Return to the present and visit the Archaeological dig to get a tablet fragment -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Head to the west from where you enter the next world. You'll find a small camp of nomads, the people of Yuvarl. You enter in the middle of a ceremony going on in the Chief's tent--it is a ceremony to dub the next Dancer of the town. The Dancer is an important role among the Yuvarl that is passed down from generation to generation. Talk to everyone; the ceremony will end, and the chief will come out with a girl named Lyla. He announces that she has been dubbed as the next dancer. A celebration starts and your party splits up. Talk to the people in the area. You will learn that the Yuvarl are on a quest to revive God. In order to revive God, a special ceremony must be performed first; one that requires a Dancer and a Tura player. Lyla is the Dancer, and her fiancee, Jan, is the Tura player. The Yuvarl are currently on a quest to find the Holy Altar, where the ceremony must be performed. Talk to Keefa and Lyla. Keefa asks you to get Lyla a drink. Go talk to the man giving out drinks and get one for her. Bring it to her, and she thanks you. Keefa is talking to her about his home country, and how the prince there doesn't want to be king. Lyla says she'd probably get along well with the prince, since she tried to run away from her destiny once too. At this point Jan comes in the tent and gets angry to see you talking to Lyla. He calls you out, but Lyla insists that you just brought her a drink. After hearing what really happened, Jan apologizes. Go to sleep. Before the morning breaks, you'll find that a monster is attacking the camp. Keefa drives it off, but Darts, the town guard, got injured and will be out of action for a few days. Lyla insists on staying behind to make sure he's all right, and Keefa volunteers to stay behind and protect them. Jan wants to stay behind too, but as his music is what keeps the monsters at bay when the Yuvarl are traveling, he is needed. The next day, follow the Yuvarl caravan and head toward the Altar. In the mountains to the west, you will find where the Yuvarl have set up camp. There, you'll learn that in order to revive God, you'll need two items which are in a cave. The nomads are worried about getting the items. Sleep in the camp and proceed ahead the next day. The third nomad camp is by a large lake. You'll learn that the person translating the ancient Yuvarl documents was mistaken, and that the two items are actually in the temple by the altar itself, not in a cave. However, the altar and temple are currently at the bottom of a lake. In order to get to the temple, you'll need to empty the lake, which can only be done by ringing a special bell that only the Yuvarl can ring in a cave nearby. You will need to enter the cave, and Jan will come with you to use the Bell. The cave is fairly straightforward, with only a few minor obstacles. For each, there is a tablet with hints on it. Tablet 1: "The Brave one will be led by the Flame of God" (Follow the fire to get out of the room) Tablet 2: "To the East is the Flame of Courage. To the West is the Flame of Knowledge." (Apparently this only denotes the two hidden passages leading to treasure chests) Tablet 3: "Lack of Greed will lead you to God's Road" (Exit the room via the passages without treasure chests near them) At the bottom of the cave, Jan will offer the bell to lower the water level. You can then go out an exit which will take you to the Altar. At the foot of the Altar is a door you can enter, where the Pure Robe and the Earth Tura are kept. The Earth Tura must be played by the Tura Player, and the Pure Robe must be worn by the Dancer during the ceremony. As you enter, Keefa and Lyla arrive. Keefa apologizes for being late; he says that Lyla twisted her ankle on the way and he had to carry her. Jan gets really upset, saying that with a twisted ankle, she won't be able to dance. Lyla gets angry at him and says that she'll be fine. When you leave the room containing the Robe and the Tura, the Chief says that it's not the right time to release the seal and revive God; the ancient texts say that it will only work when the Earth Tura glows gold, which it is not. Jan ignores the Chief and performs the ceremony anyway--it doesn't work. After the ceremony, Jan says that he was deliberately trying to perform the ceremony early for his own sake. There is a rule in the Yuvarl tribe that before God is revived, the Dancer cannot marry a man with a special type of birthmark, which Jan has. Jan says that if God were revived, he would be able to ignore the rule and marry Lyla. He apologizes for his actions and runs off. Lyla tries to chase him, but the Chief stops her. Since the time wasn't right, you now need to go back and fill the lake. Darts comes with you this time to take care of the bell. Return to the first camp. As you sleep, Keefa gives a little talk to you about how he thinks you're destined to be great--however, he wants there to be something special that only he can do as well. When you wake up, you'll find Keefa is fighting Darts for the right to become the protector of the Yuvarl. Keefa wins, and the Chief welcomes him into the tribe as the new protector. Keefa tells you he's decided to stay behind in this time, and offers to escort you to the Traveler's Gate. When you arrive, he pushes you in and stays behind. When you return to your time, you'll find a bag with a letter from Keefa and his equipment. He apologizes for his selfish decision in the letter, and wishes you well. Bring the news of Keefa's decision to the King. The King is extremely upset, especially since he was about to officially sanction Keefa's journey. He gives you a Blue Tablet, and asks you to leave him alone for the time being. The new area you'll find back in the present day has an archaeological dig in it. If you pay money to enter, you'll be able to see what looks like a huge dinosaur skull. Here you'll be able to get a Blue Tablet to take you to the next area, the Southwest Blue tablet. MINI-SPOILER: In case you're wondering, Keefa is not going to rejoin your party. Nor is there any way to get him back, so please don't ask. :) Chapter 9: The Retaking of Darma -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHAPTER SUMMARY: ITEMS: Traveler's Inn: Speed Seed, 3G Darma: 50g, Power Seed Drifter's Town: Sharpened Bone, Horse Dung x 2, Medical Herb x 2, Antidote Herb x 2, Small Medal x 2, World Tree Leaf, 20G, 30G, 3G, 5G Valley Village: Medical Herb, Antidote Herb, Leather Armor, Pointed Hat, Small Medal Darma Tunnels: Kusari-Gama, Defense Seed x 2, Horse Dung x 4, Amazing Acorn, Iron Shield, World Tree Leaf x 2, 50G, Small Medal, 15G, Antidote Herb, Medical Herb, Power Seed, Chiton Shield, Speed Seed, 350G, 200G Arena: Medical Herb x 2, Antidote Herb, 50G, Scale Armor Darma, Present Day: Silk Robe, Small Medal, Yellow Tablet, 5G Traveler's Inn, Present Day: Iron Mask, Defense Seed, Magic Holy Water, 3G Bandit Hideout: Clothes, Horse Dung, Small Medal, Iron Shield, Iron Spear Mezare: Pirate Clothes, Small Medal, Life Stone, Holy Water, Hoimi Slime Spirit, Medical Herb, Mysterious Tablet (Yellow), 6G, 7G KEY ITEMS: Darma Key Bandit Key TASKS: 1. Visit the Traveler's Inn 2. Talk to the Priest at Darma Shinden and try to change jobs 3. Meet Kashim and Fural 4. Fight Suifu and his thugs 5. Accompany Fural into the Darma Tunnels 6. Talk to Zajis and Kashim in the bar 7. Meet Kashim and Neris in the Darma Tunnels, and travel to Valley Village 8. Find and release the High Priestess, and defeat Inopp and Gonz 9. Get the Darma Key and defeat the Man-eater 10. Enter and win the tournament at the arena 11. Defeat the Evil Priest 12. Learn about the bandits in Present-day Darma and defeat them in the Pass 13. Follow the bandits to their hideout and learn the password 14. Use the password to enter the hideout and defeat the bandit boss -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The first place you will arrive in in the next area is a small inn--this is the Last Inn before Darma Shinden. Darma, of course, is the traditional place in the Dragon Quest games where you go to change your characters' jobs. There are quite a few people here getting ready to go to Darma to change their jobs. One fighter in pink armor leaves as you arrive, hoping to change jobs to a Hero. The people that run the inn and bar here are friendly, but are somewhat upset that nobody who goes to Darma to change jobs stops at the inn on the way back--they wonder if something is wrong with the inn. Other than that, there's not too much going on here. Probably the biggest attraction here is the Casino down the well. You might want to stay here for a while and build up your Coin reserves, or play the Lucky Panel game in hopes of getting better equipment than you have now/making money. Whenever you're ready, head north and west to go to Darma. Inside Darma, go talk to the priest at the central altar. He will ask you what job you would like to change to. Pick whoever you'd like to change jobs to and what job you'd like. After you choose which job you want to change into, the priest tells you that in order to change jobs, you need to bathe in the pool of holy water behind him to purify yourselves. Enter the pool, and you will discover that instead of purifying yourselves, the water robs you of all your spells and abilities. The priest laughs, and you are dropped into the Nameless Town. As you come to your senses, you will find yourself in a run-down slum, full of downcast people who have similarly been tricked by the High Priest into bathing in the holy water, and have had all their skills and spells stolen. The slum is a lawless place, where might makes right. The strongest man in town, Suifu, is de facto leader of the town--he achieved this status by beating up the previous "leader" of the town. He enforces one rule of the town--"No touching the Soulshatterer"--and anything else goes. You can see this practice in action near the entrance of the town, where you'll find a warrior mugging a priest. He'll tell you to go away, and if you say no, you can beat him up. You'll end up fighting a Devil Armor. He's not easy with abilities or spells, so about the only thing you can do is attack and use Medical Herbs to heal yourself. Other than this little incident, the town is fairly peaceful at the moment. It's certainly not a happy place though; just about everyone you talk to laments how they're trapped here. The only way out is through a cave nearby, which is guarded by monsters--and since everyone is without their powers, nobody is in any condition to stand up to them. There are various shops here where you can buy some fairly good equipment to help you survive without your powers. A "don't-miss" store is the item shop--here you can buy a Thief Key, which will allow you to open those locked chests you find in town. Be sure to buy one. In a secluded corner of town, you'll find two men, Kashim and Fural, talking about a deal. Kashim is a guardian of the High Priestess of Darma, and Fural is trying to get "into the group" and become a soldier of the High Priestess as well. He had just completed a job for Kashim and retrieved some special medicine for him. Kashim tells Fural he will let him join after he completes one more job. Fural is upset that he's not getting accepted immediately, but agrees. At this point, a group of monsters come to the town. They tell all the townspeople that anyone who destroys five people's souls with the Soulshatterer Sword will be given their powers back. Suifu comes out and tells the monsters to get lost, and that nobody will be taking them up on their offer. The monsters leave. Suifu notices you as newcomers and welcomes you to the town--then gives you a proper welcome by beating you up. You'll have to fight him and two of his flunkies, but don't waste your items trying to beat him, because you can't win this fight. Just take the fall. You'll wake up in a woman's house. She comes in and greets you as you wake, and introduces herself as Neris. Neris herself is rather sickly, but is taken care of by her younger brother, Zaji. Kashim enters Neris' house and gives her the World Tree Sap that Fural got for him--he got the medicine to help her out. He leaves after giving her the medicine. As you leave, you'll find Kashim talking with Fural outside to give him his next job--to rescue the High Priestess from the monsters that are holding her captive. Fural will ask you to come with him to help. Agree, and he will give you the Miracle Stone. This extremely useful item can be used in battle an unlimited number of times, and will heal one character's wounds roughly to the equivalent of a Hoimi spell. Making judicious use of the Miracle Stone will allow you to fight monsters in your "powerless" state without having to bring several hundred Medical Herbs with you. Head west to the mountain cave. Proceed up a few levels to where the two monster guardians of the cave, Inopp and Gonz, hang out. Fural stops you before you walk straight into their path, and plans to create a diversion. Unfortunately what he doesn't tell you is that his plan is to use YOU as a decoy; Fural creates his diversion and gets away while Inopp and Gonz are busy killing you. Inopp and Gonz are far too powerful for you to kill in your weakened state; they will kill you and you'll wake up back in Neris' house. Maribel is very angry at having been used, and swears to get back at Fural. Meanwhile, Zaji is not happy with the state of affairs between Neris and Kashim. He talks to Neris and gets angry at her flirting with him in order to get him to do things for her. Neris' response is less than cooperative, and Zaji goes off to the bar to have a word with Kashim himself. Follow him there, and you will find Zaji accusing Kashim of playing around with Neris. He warns Kashim to stay away from her. Kashim insists that he's not just playing around with her, but Zaji doesn't listen. Zaji tells Kashim that he can protect Neris by himself, and doesn't need any help. As you leave the bar, you hear someone scream. Apparently, the pink-armored fighter that you met at the Inn decided to take the monsters up on their offer, and used the Soulshatter sword to destroy someone else's soul--he tries rationalize his action in that he's not actually killing the people. Suifu comes out of his house, and upon seeing that the one rule of the town has been broken, prepares to kill the fighter. The fighter runs away, and you hear more screams in the direction that he ran. Follow him, and you'll see the trail of soulless bodies he left behind. You'll find him in combat with Suifu and Kashim, who heavily wound the warrior. Defeated, the fighter gets angry, since he only needed to shatter one more soul before the monsters gave him his powers back. In his last breath, he charges at Neris. Zaji blocks her and takes the blow of the Soulshatterer. The monsters appear and tell the fighter that Zaji's soul is not completely destroyed, as the sword needs to pierce deep into the body in order to do its work. They're pleased by his efforts though, and agree to give him his powers back anyway. They teleport him and the bodies away. Neris is very upset at seeing her brother disappear, and asks for your help. Kashim wants to help as well, and decides to go save Zaji and the High Priestess. He goes off with Neris, and tells you to meet up with him where Inopp and Gonz attacked you before. Leave the Drifter Town and reenter the cave that leads to Darma. You'll find, however, that Inopp and Gonz are no longer guarding the path. Rendezvous with Neris and Kashim right beyond where they were, and head into the Valley Village. The Valley Village is really just a large cliff on the side of the mountain. It's here that all the true priests of Darma are being held captive by the false priest who took over the Shinden. The priests are not specifically incarcerated, and can do whatever they like in the village, but are prevented by leaving by the zombified people who had their souls destroyed by the Soulshatterer. This is also where all the people with broken souls get dropped off by the monsters after they get teleported away. You'll find the most recently "destroyed" being taken care of by the priests in their makeshift clinic. Here you'll run into Fural. He tells Kashim that he found the High Priestess, but was unable to rescue her. He was, however, able to confirm that she is physically unharmed. All of you enter the small house on the hill, which is where the Head Priest and right-hand-man of the High Priestess is. Together, you formulate a plan to enter into the Darma Prison and attempt to free the High Priestess, and take back Darma from the imposters that currently control it. Kashim and Fural will take care of the guards, and join your party to enter the North Cave. A soul-shattered zombie threatens to call the monsters, but doesn't stop you as you enter. Here the path splits into two. The right path leads to Darma itself, but the door is locked. The left path leads into Darma Prison. Head there, and continue through the prison. It's fairly straightforward, but will take a while to get through. At the very end, you will find the High Priestess, Foz, who is imprisoned within a magical barrier. You'll see that in fact she is only a child. Your next task is to free Foz. In order to free her, you have to cut off the power being fed to the magical barrier. In order to do so, you need to climb up above the area where Foz is imprisoned, and push blocks off the catwalk onto the magical generators. The catwalk looks roughly like this (forgive the lousy ASCII artwork): _________________ | __ ___ __ | | | | | | | | | | |__| |___| |_X| | ] __ ___ __ [ | | | | | | | | | |X_| |___| |__| | |_ ________ __| The two "X" marks indicate the areas directly above the magic generators. You need to drop the blocks here in order to successfully remove the magic barrier trapping Foz. If you accidentally drop the blocks in the wrong places, you can leave the area and return; the blocks will have returned to their original positions. Once the barrier has been lowered, Foz will be freed. You will be introduced to Foz, who will thank you for helping her. However, just as you are getting acquainted, Inopp and Gonz come along and attack you. However, now that Foz is freed, she uses her magic to reduce their power to normal levels; formerly, their powers had greatly increased from absorbing the power of the souls that had been shattered in the Drifter town. BOSS: Inopp & Gonz ------------------ Because your characters are still powerless, there isn't a heck of a lot you can do in terms of strategy to win this battle. The best thing to do is give your character with the weakest attack (mops likely, this will be Maribel) and have them use the Miracle Stone every turn to heal injured party members. I'd also suggest getting rid of Inopp first, since his weapon attack is strong. This battle is slightly easier in the sense that Kashim and Fural will also participate and help fight. Their attacks are anything but reliable, but they will serve as helpful dummy targets. Like most NPCs that join your party, they have infinite HP, so they cannot be killed. Once Inopp and Gonz are dead, Foz joins you. Head back to the Valley village. All the priests are psyched to see Foz back, and she takes them off to make a plan to take back Darma. When you enter the Head Priest's house, you'll find he's not there, but Zaji and Neris are. Kashim asks how she is, and Neris says that she's fine. Zaji is silent. Neris is missing the hairband that Kashim gave her, but doesn't know where she lost it. The High Priestess gives you the Darma Key so that you can enter Darma through the underground tunnels. She tells you there's a room in Darma where the life force of all the tricked people is stored, and there you can get your powers back. Despite the unusual demeanor of Zaji and Neris, Kashim decides to take them with you. Go to the door to the Darma tunnels. Neris asks to borrow the key that the Priestess gave you. If you say yes, Kashim will stop you and demand to know who she is. If you say no, Neris will laugh and say "Guess I can't mimic her personality, just her form" and shows her true form as a monster. Kashim demands to know where Neris and the Head Priest are. The monster tells him that Neris is alive, but that he ate the Head Priest. The monster gives Zaji the Soulshatterer and tells him to steal Kashim's soul with it. Still in his zombie state, Zaji complies and attacks Zaji. Meanwhile, the Man-eater attacks you. BOSS: Man-eater -------------- Without your powers, this is again a pretty tough fight. The Man-eater can cast some pretty hefty magic, so it's a good idea to have some Medical Herbs on your characters other than your dedicated Healer. Otherwise, there's not a heck of a lot that you can do other than keep your HP as high as possible. Even after the Man-eater dies, Zaji continues to attack Kashim. In the altercation, Kashim manages to steal the Soulshatterer from Zaji. He throws the sword at him, hoping it contained his soul and could restore it. Surprisingly enough, it works, and the Soulshatterer vanishes. (though for a minute it seems as if Zaji was killed) Zaji says that he initially was being controlled by the Man-eater, but even after the Man-eater died, the sword increased his hatred for Kashim to uncontrollable levels, and he couldn't stop fighting. Now that Zaji is restored, your next task is to find and rescue Neris. Continue through the underground passages into Darma. Eventually you will find a room with a huge glowing ball of light. Stand on the altar below it, and you will finally get your powers back. Continue through the passages until you reach the basement of Darma. Here you'll find that the monsters have erected a gigantic arena. It is here that the people who shattered souls for the monsters back in the Drifter town are brought. Their powers are restored, and they are pitted against each other in a tournament. Whoever comes out of the tournament as the victor will be allowed to leave Darma. The rules of the tournament are that you have to enter in teams of four. If you make it to the final round, you'll have to fight the monsters' champion, and only then will you be allowed to leave. If you can't agree to work with the other fighters, then you are allowed to bring three monsters with you to complete your team. As none of the people here want to work together, this means that everyone uses monsters on their team. However, the champion is Neris herself, who wields the Soulshatterer! Talk to the right people here, and you'll also learn the true reason behind the conquering of Darma; the monsters are stealing peoples' powers in order to give to the Demonlord, who has been greatly weakened in his battle with God. The arena is just a diversion to amuse the monsters. Go into the back room of the arena. You'll find Neris with the Soulshatterer. Zaji tries to get it from her, but she refuses to give it to him, and threatens to destroy his soul if he keeps bothering her. After leaving Neris' room, Kashim and Zaji decide to enter the tournament to try to restore Neris to sanity. Zaji says he doesn't want Kashim's help, and goes by himself. Talk to Zaji, and he will offer to team up with you to enter the tournament. Whenever you're ready you'll enter the tournament. TOURNAMENT: Battle 1: Nepalo and 3 Dragon Slimes ------------------------------------ This battle is a cinch. If you have trouble here, you might want to rethink your strategy or buy new equipment, because you probably won't be able to win the upcoming battles. Battle 2: Garcia and 3 Thunder Rats ----------------------------------- This battle isn't all that tough either, though it's significantly tougher than defeating Nepalo. Have your hero attack Garcia, and have Gabo continually stun the Thunder Rats with his Howl. Maribel should be used as support, and can use the Miracle Stone to heal. Try not to use any MP if you can. Battle 3: Thompson and 3 Mud Hands ---------------------------------- This battle is actually easier than defeating Garcia; the Mud Hands are so weak you can just ignore them. Focus all your efforts on killing Thompson quickly, and you should have no problems taking out the Mud Hands and healing your party up to full with the Miracle Stone before the next bout. Battle 4: Naputo and 3 Buchuchunpas ----------------------------------- Of all the preliminary Tournament battles, this one is the toughest. Naputo's Martial Artist techniques are nothing to sneeze at, and can dish out some heavy damage. You may need to use a little MP here in order to win. Try to put the Buchuchunpas to sleep with Rariho, so you can concentrate on Naputo--if you leave him for last, you'll either die or be heavily wounded for the upcoming battles. Be ready to cast healing spells if it's necessary. Battle 5: Don Jose and 3 Straw Mouths ------------------------------------- This battle is actually not very hard. Don Jose is nowhere near as threatening as Naputo, although the Straw Mouths can be irritating. Cast Manusa on them and they won't pose nearly as much as a threat. You can try to put them to sleep or Howl at them if you want, but I've found them to work a lot less. Final Battle: Neris and 3 Slime Knights --------------------------------------- This battle is VERY tough for this stage of the game. When I first got here, Neris had me taking a dirt nap so fast I thought it was a "story" battle that you were supposed to lose. Neris hits very hard and is very fast so she usually strikes first. She also can use several spells and techniques that are a bit too powerful for this stage of the game, though she doesn't always use them. Overall, this battle relies a lot more on luck than most have up until now. Neris often uses a double attack, and if she consistently uses her Hyadalko/Mahyado-Slice combo over and over again, it doesn't really matter what you do--you're probably going to die. If your party is weak, this is one of those battles where you might be better off letting one of your party members die, and focusing all your healing efforts on one heavy-hitter, rather than trying to keep the entire party healthy. Once you win, you disarm Neris, and Zaji slashes her with the Soulshatterer, as the sword seems to have the opposite effect on those whose souls are already destroyed. As you have won the tournament, you get the right to leave the palace, and in fact are forced to do so. The monsters leave Neris behind, and while Zaji wants to stay behind to help her, won't let him. As you are taken away, Zaji calls to Kashim and asks him to help his sister; Kashim agrees. Right at the entrance to the main temple, Zaji darts away back to the arena. The monsters chase after him. If you follow them, you'll see that Kashim and Zaji have started a revolt, and all the imprisoned warriors are fighting against their captors. They will tell you to go take care of the imposter High Priest if you try to help. Continue onwards, Foz will join you to fight the false Priest. As you enter the main area of Darma, you will find a Martial Artist arguing with the false priest. He demands to know why he isn't allowed to leave Darma, even though he won one of the tournaments in the arena. The false High Priest tells him that he will let him leave, but not alive. He casts a spell and fries the fighter. Go up to the imposter and attack him! Boss: Antoria ------------- Antoria is a real bruiser, and can dish out some heavy damage with his physical attacks. Most status effect spells don't work well on him--however, you can succeed in casting Manusa on him, and if you do, he will become significantly easier. However, even blinded he can throw an energy blast that can do over 80 points of damage, so keep your HP as high as possible. Once Antoria is dead, you'll read messages about how you were able to reclaim Darma. The next day, you'll find Kashim offering Fural a position among the Darma elite as promised, but Fural decides to decline his offer after all. With the job changing function of the Shinden restored, Zaji becomes a Warrior to protect Neris. He informs Neris of his decision, and Neris responds by saying that she is OK on her own and doesn't need his help. Zaji says nothing and decides to go buy a sword. As you leave, you'll see that he has really decided to go on a journey by himself. Head back to Darma in the present day. But before you do, make sure to Foz and change your jobs! What jobs you take will be the most important factor in how you do in your upcoming battles throughout the rest of the game. (For more information on each of the jobs, see part 1 of this guide) Not much is happening in Darma, other than people changing jobs, and providing a plethora of information about jobs and job changing for you. There is word of a strange band of bandits that is plaguing the area. They have an odd habit of burying their victims in the ground up to their shoulders. In fact, there have been stories of the bandits NOT robbing people, just burying them. There is also someone talking about a man that gives people Magic Carpets in Mezare, a town to the east of Darma. Head South to the mountain pass. There you'll find a priest sprawled out on the ground. Talk to him, and he won't respond. But once you walk past him, he'll call out: "HEY!! Were you just going to leave me here!? What cold-hearted bastards you are!" He goes on to lecture you and say that if he REALLY was hurt so much that he couldn't respond, he could have died. As it turns out, he's really just one of the bandits who laid a trap. He calls his buddies, and they attack you. Fight: Bandit Soldier, Bandit Mage, Bandit, and Eteponge -------------------------------------------------------- This can actually be a tough fight if the bandits get some lucky strikes in first. The Bandit Soldier and the Bandit Mage are the heaviest hitters, so try to take them out first. Once they're out of the picture, the fight becomes relatively easy. If you get lucky, sometimes Manusa will work on the bandits. If you find yourself severely outclassed, you might want to try raising a job level or two and trying out your new techniques. If you win they flee. Chase after them to their hideout. The guard won't let the trailing bandit into the hideout until he answers the question "Which way is Darma?" The bandit angrily says "Go to hell!" and the guard lets him in. Go up the guard and try to bluff your way in. He asks you the password, saying that you'll know it if you're really one of the bandits. He asks: "Which way is Darma?" You get the following choices: "North, of course." "How the hell should I know?" "Go to hell!" Tell the guard "Go to hell!" and he'll let you in. None of the bandits seem to recognize you, so go into the furthest room and talk to the little guy in the middle. He asks if you are looking for the boss, and you learn that HE is the boss. He says "You came to drive off the bandits right? Well then fight me!" BOSS: Bandit Boss ----------------- The Bandit Boss is a total wuss. When/if he casts Iora, he can dish out a fair amount of damage, but he only has enough MP to cast it once. You can just let the AI handle him and you'll win. Once you beat him, he asks you to wait a second and listen to him. First, he gives you a Yellow Tablet. He says it's passed up from the stronger to the stronger--when the person carrying it meets someone stronger than him, he gives them the tablet. Second, he says that he thinks the Demonlord isn't completely dead, and that you'll need the Tablet to stop him. (Whereas it's not said openly yet in the game, you can piece together bits and pieces from various books in bookcases and things that NPCs say that there is a legend that God fought the Demonlord in ages past, and neither survived the battle.) You can go East to Mezare if you want and start the quest for the Magic Carpet. You won't actually be able to finish this quest until the end of Chapter 13 of this walkthrough, so I'm covering the entire quest in that chapter. However, you are going to need to stop off at Mezare before you can get the Carpet regardless, since there is a tablet fragment in the bottom of the well there that you will need at the end of Chapter 12. Therefore, you might just want to stop off there and retrieve it. When you're ready, head back to the Mysterious Palace, and complete your next tablet, the Yellow Tablet in the center of the room. Chapter 9: The People of the Desert -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHAPTER SUMMARY: ITEMS: Desert Palace: Silk Robe Desert People's Village: Small Medal, Defense Seed, 7G, Antidote Herb, Medical Herb, Leather Whip, Yellow Tablet Earth Spirit Statue: Power Seed, Defense Seed, Speed Ring, Small Medal, 350G, Silver Breastplate Archaeological Dig: Small Medal, Mysterious Tablet (Yellow) Desert Isle House: Beauty Plant, Silk Robe Desert People's Village, Present: Medical Herb, Dancer Clothes, Small Medal, Mysterious Tablet (Yellow), 15G, Horse Dung, Life Acorn, Amitt Cracker, Amazing Acorn KEY ITEMS: Charm of the Desert Ancient Fossil Bone of Tyranos Black Key Warehouse Key Money and a Letter TASKS: 1. Explore the ruins of the Desert Palace and meet Hadeet 2. Go to the Village of the Desert people and talk to the Chief 3. Sleep in the Chief's house, then learn the story of the palace 4. Return to the castle and fight the Bone Rider, then join with Hadeet 5. Return to the Village and report to the Chief 6. Use the Desert Charm to get info from the villagers about Tyranos 7. Return to the