I’m already standing at the place I need to go to, so all I have to do is go in. And…oh wait, it’s not the Lethe Forest. I’m not there yet. This is Ring End Falls. Lethe Forest is next chapter.
Well, that sure made me look stupid. Anyway, I go there.
Apparently, this waterfall is where the road ends. The Lethe Forest is north of here. All of a sudden, Mel shows up. She says she was waiting for Lucia. Sounds like she’s going to guide us to the Witch Village.
The menu pops up. I select “Action.” I can talk to Cecille, Mel, or Lucia. I pick Cecille first. This triggers a conversation where they’re all wondering about the Witches. Not all of them seem to be like Vanessa. If that’s the case, then why does the Church say that Witches are evil? Lucia answers that – they’re fighting against the god that the church worships. If they truly believe in their god, then they’d have to agree.
Next, I select the option to talk to Mel. She assures Alph that the curse can be lifted. Lucia says that we’ll also need some “Draconic Geode” to undo the curse. Leon is a little suspicious of Mel, since she attacked us on the boat before. But she and Lucia insist that this time, she’s here to help us.
I talk to Lucia, and she asks Alph if he still thinks that Witches should be condemned. Alph says no, but he still can’t forgive Vanessa and her monsters. Lucia tells him that Witches don’t actually summon monsters. They represent the natural elements of the planet. Monsters are different, and don’t represent any element. Alph asks what monsters are, and Lucia says she doesn’t know.
Now that I’m done with that, I go back to the world map, save, and continue the story.
The first thing we see is Andre, saying he’s finally found us. Considering what kind of person Andre is, this doesn’t bode well. Leon asks what he want, and he says to “turn over the boy.” Wait, do they mean Theo? This really isn’t good.
A new guy shows up, saying that Andre hasn’t explained the situation to them. Cecille calls the man Provost Hugo, and asks him why he’s here. He says he wants to take Theo into custody. Apparently, Johannes will cleanse the curse of the dragon from his body. That doesn’t sound too bad. But then Andre says there’s one condition. We have to kill Lucia and Mel right here, right in front of them.
Andre reminds us of our orders, and that we ignored them and decided to work with the Witches. Alph isn’t sure what to do. Lucia says that if we decide to fight them, then they will fight back with all their power. Alph says that he wants to save Theo, but he doesn’t want to turn on Lucia in order to do it.
Andre gets impatient while we’re waiting, and tells us that he was going to punish us no matter what we did. He was going to execute us after we got rid of the Witches. Not only that, but he doesn’t actually need Theo alive – he just needs his arm. He plans to take that arm and do experiments on it. Wow. Looks like the Church is starting to show its true colors.
The preparation screen comes up. Looks like I get to bring Mel along with me this time. In fact, she and Alph are the two that I have to bring in. I’ve finally got a full party of eight now, as well. Once I start getting more people, I’ll have to make decisions about who to bring in. Also, just so you know, Mel is level 22. That means I probably shouldn’t use her too much in this fight. I bring everyone in, and the battle begins.
The map has a lot of variety in elevation, so it’s probably going to be difficult to get around. Four of my characters start on the left, the other four on the right. My opponents are five monks and an archer, as well as Hugo and Andre. About time I got to beat the crap out of Andre.
I save early in the battle, because I remember having some trouble with this one in the past.
When Mel’s turn comes around, I see that her spells are exactly the same as Cecille’s. She does have a healing spell that can affect more than one person, but that’s the only difference. Now why would they give me two characters that serve the same purpose?
I decide to move everyone up the same side of the cliff, just because it’s easier that way. If I split them up, I’m more likely to have problems.
It looks like Hugo can use an area-of-effect water spell. And Andre’s attacks hit three people in front of him. Wow. That sucks. Theo gets killed by that. No problem, I can res him.
I have Nicolai do that. Mel heals him after that. Cecille levels to 18. The battle goes on for a while without much of anything happening. I’m trying to get everyone up the hill and over to the same spot. Leon learns a new skill.
Hugo also seems to be able to heal a good amount of HP. I better watch out for that. Alph levels to 21. I’m getting Andre to get down from his spot so he’s not blocking the way up anymore. Theo levels to 21.
I finally manage to take down Andre. That’s pretty much the hardest part done. Nicolai levels to 21. Mel levels to 23. Leon levels to 22. Saki dies AGAIN. At least I can res her this time. But I won’t, because I’m doing well on the battle anyway. Cecille levels to 19. Hugo heals himself, but it doesn’t matter. Everyone’s over there, and he was almost dead anyway.
We’ve just got Hugo and a monk left. Theo and Alph level to 22, and Theo learns a new skill. Lucia levels to 20, and learns a new spell and a flash drive. Leon levels to 23 after killing the monk. He learns a new flash drive. This is getting kind of boring, and I really don’t know what else to say. Things are just going smoothly. Alph finishes Hugo, and the battle ends.
My spoils are 2300 Rico, a Silk Cape, an Iron Brace, a Holy Wing, and an FP-Max. I decide to intermission with Theo.
Andre is disgusted that the Garden Children would betray the church that raised them. They were orphans, and no one else wanted them. The Luminous Church gave them a reason to live!
Andre and Hugo run off, telling us that this isn’t over. Leon isn’t too upset about being branded as a traitor. He was expecting something like this, after all. Cecille, on the other hand, seems very upset. She’s a priestess, after all, and she always believed in the Church. But she says that’s not it. She just can’t believe they were planning to experiment on Theo. She can’t forgive them for that. There must be something big that we don’t know about the Church.
Mel confirms that suspicion. We don’t know anything, and if we come to the Village, we’ll be filled in on the whole story.
My intermission starts. Theo misses the Ever Garden. My answers are “Yeah, me too,” “We have an important job,” and “Really? I don’t.” I pick the first one. Theo says that we were always happy at the Ever Garden. But I don’t get anything, so maybe it wasn’t the right answer.
Kopin says that a nice drink is a good way to end the day. He sits at the pub and enjoys his time. He says his life is pretty rosy. I kinda wonder what the barkeepers think when a little critter like him comes in and asks for a drink…
Anyway, the path opens up. Next time, we actually ARE going to the village. Sorry I didn’t realize before that this entry wouldn’t cover that. But I can guarantee that the next entry actually will involve going there.
