Apparenly. we're in 600 A.D. That totally explains all the fog.
In the forest, Tusca learned a new tech, Flamethrower. Flamethrower deals light fire damage to enemies in a line for 1 MP. We also get our first dual tech. As we learn more techs, some of them can combine to form dual techs. These babies use up both characters' turns and MP in order to be used. Our first is Fire Whirl, which deals fire-based physical damage to enemies in a circle and costs Tempo 2 MP and Tusca 1 MP.
After making our way through the forest (and possibly getting a bunch of shelters from that source I mentioned last time), we go east, into a church that isn't there in the future (not that a building getting demolished in 400 years is unusual). This only makes me wonder what religion is practised in the Chrono world, even as I know this game will not trifle itself with minor issues like that.
Once you're done talking with the not even vaguely suspicious-sounding nuns, examine the sparkle on the floor. Tusca recognizes it as a hairpin with the royal crest, so the nuns reveal their true forms as nagas. Coveniently, they are weak to fire. Less conveniently, they know a slow-inducing spell.
After that battle, Tusca is one-shotted from behind by another naga like the ones with pitiful attack power that we just slaughtered. Fortunately, she's saved by a frog-man out of nowhere. I'm calling him Trana... a lot of T's in this party, I must say.
Trana's stats are a fair mix between magic and physical, though he's still mostly a melee fighter. He uses Western swords and there is a water droplet next to his portrait. So far, he has one tech: Slurp. It uses up 1 MP and heals an ally by licking them. There is nothing odd about that. Still, good that we've got a healer.
Play the piano and a passageway will show itself. Go down hallways and rooms, fight monsters, take treasure, the usual. Along the way, Trana learned Slurp Slash and X-Strike with Tempo. Slurp Slash uses 2 MP to damage one enemy. X-Strike is a single-enemy dual tech that costs 2 MP from both Tempo and Trana.
In one of the rooms, some monsters say one of them impersonated the Chancellor. Interesting. Go up, go right, slide down stairs, go around while flicking skull-shaped switches along the way to removed the spikes in the center room. Play the organ there to reveal another door a bit further around and up. What is it with these guys and organ-revealing doors? Anyways, Tempo learned Wind Slash, a 2 MP tech that damges enemies in a line.
Go through the new doorway, past the enemies, to find the Chancellor and the real Queen Leene. Once she escapes, the Chancellor reveals himself for the impostor he is, named Yakra. Time for our first boss battle!
We don't have many attack options, but he's easy anyway (he'd better be, if he's our first boss). He has a damaging needle attack, but it only attacks a single ally The only thing to look out for is that he'll sometimes attack everyone immediately after being attacked. It doesn't do terribly much and just use your most powerful techs and he won't have much chance to use it before going down.
From the fight, Tusca learns Hypnowave, a 1 MP spell that puts enemies to sleep. I never used it to see if it's any good. Open a chest and the real Chancellor pops out (the other chest has a mid-ether, which is nice). Talk to Leene and you cut to the castle, where everyone thanks you for your work. Too bad Trana blames himself for a really stupid reason and leaves your party. Walk outside to save your game.
