The chapter opens with Sol waking up after the crash. He's apparently the last one awake. Dusk surmises that they are far to the west of Lux, and now further away from the Empire than they were before. Sol is still determined to infiltrate the Empire and find Diana and Glaive, but the others are feeling more cautious now that they've been burned.
I was a bit confused about why Sol is so certain his friends are in Imperial hands, but now I think he's latched onto that instead of considering the alternative: that they're both dead.
After we leave, the pink haired girl from before swoops down and watches us go with Visible Silence.
Each character gets 5 JP, which allow us to add to the maximum job level for 1 JP each. Since I'd already reached the max level of 3 on several jobs, this is a welcome addition.
On the world map, we see the smoking wreckage of what was my shiny new aiship for all of five minutes, and a town. The town is called Braska which, if previous experience is anything to go by, means this country is probably called Braska, too. The people here seem to think the Empire has been poisoning their dragons.
There's not much to do here beyond grab some new equipment and rest up, so we're off to the nearby Cave to Deist.
I manage to unlock another F-Ability, Magic Bomb, which I believe was unlocked by Cure + Fire + Fire.
Nothing else of interest happens in the cave until we come out on the other side, where we are suddenly attacked by a dragon. Halfway through the battle, the pink-haired girl jumps in between us and the Drake. She stops the fight by telling the Drake that Ceres is waiting.
Aigis asks if she's a Dragoon, but she doesn't answer. Instead, she jumps on its back and they fly away. We make our way through the valley and to yet another village, named, unsurprisingly, Deist.
Deist's main entrance is a graveyard. Literally. The gravemarkers are all for Dragoons. The town itself is full of Imperial soldiers. We decide to investigate.
The largest gravestone is for the Dragoon Captain, Abel. His mount was apparently named Ceres.
Inside the town is a Bonus Dungeon, but the Moogle inside tells me not to try it yet. I'm stupid, so I go in anyway.
...One load from save later, and we're back in town. It seems Albel's daughter Barbara is missing. Wonder if she has pink hair? The old woman who raised her gives us Abel's Spear to give to her if we cross paths.
There's a lot of great equipment and magic here, but I can't afford it all. So I'm going to pause here to do some old-fashioned gil grinding. Join us next time when we find the Barbara and give her her ancestral weapon. Probably.
