Emerging from the Lamakan Desert and back onto the world map, if we take a gander at the map of Angara we can see that our journey across the continent has been a U-shaped one. We have now circled back towards central Angara, and we’re actually not all that far away from Vault and Vale where we started, just a little further south. We’re nearly done with the continent as well, there are just a few more locations to visit. Our next destination is a little further west, but first we can encounter an overworld Venus Djinni by a river that runs right by the desert’s exit cave. Vine’s effect is to halve the Agility of all enemies, and the final Venus summon is Judgement, featuring an armor-clad angel with a lion-headed Arm Cannon nuking the countryside with a Sphere of Destruction for all of your There Is No Kill Like Overkill needs.
The next town is actually Kalay, the city where Ivan hails from. Kalay is a sizable town of Turkish architecture and uplifting music. The hapless merchant Hammet whom we briefly encountered way back at the start of our journey, is in fact the founder of the town, and it is thanks to his business acumen that he was able to found it in such a prime location - on the crossroads of northern and eastern Angara and near the sea routes to the city of Tolbi further west on the boarder between Angara and the southern continent of Gondowan - and I am more than happy to contribute to the local economy by updating everyone’s gear as best I can. Exploring the town and talking to the citizens we learn that despite the fact that Hammet’s wife Layana has tried to keep Hammet’s kidnapping a secret, rumors are still circulating regardless, and on a more lighthearted note there’s an entire tour group staying at the inn, with their destination being the “Colosso” festival in Tolbi. There’s a hidden cave on the cliffs bordering the town that we can reach via some roof-hopping that’ll take us to an underground waterway known as Kalay Tunnel, but most of the passage is currently a dead end, save for a Mars Djinni that we can snag. Scorch deals Fire damage to and may paralyze one enemy, and the fourth Mars summon (the final summon of the game in fact), Meteor, is perhaps the simplest of the lot: a big ol’ flaming rock comes hurtling in from deep space to devastate the battlefield. Equipping four Mars Djinn to Garet bumps him up to Warrior, which is great because it allows him to use the Guard and Impair spell lines that respectively buff and debuff Defense.
Hammet’s palace is one screen north of the town proper, and heading there automatically triggers a scene where the guards stationed at the entrance praise Ivan’s return, seemingly under the impression that the thieves of Lunpa had captured him too and subsequently freed him. After letting them down with the news that no, Ivan’s master is still being held in captivity, we’re taken inside to speak with Lady Layana, and after we fill her in on our side of the story via a wordless sepia-toned transition she reveals that Lunpa has been using Hammet to extort ransom from Kalay. The soldiers are all for attacking Lunpa and rescuing their lord by Layana shoots that plan down on the grounds that there would be no way to guarantee Hammet’s safety if they did that, nor does she seem very keen on accepting Garet’s offer to help somehow, and she ends up accidentally letting slip that Hammet knew about Isaac’s quest all along and Ivan’s role in it.
Caught out, Layana drops some backstory on us: before he became known as a great merchant, Hammet was traveling the world, and ended up in a village of Adepts in the far reaches of the southwest. There, a Jupiter Adept prophesied at him the events leading up to Mt Aleph’s eruption and their consequences and gave him several things: a cache of gold, some business advise, the Shaman’s Rod, and…the infant Ivan. Just trying to imagine what that must have been like amuses me: “Here, take my money, recipe for success, my walking stick, and my kid.” For his part, Ivan’s less rattled about learning his origin story than he is focused on blaming himself for ultimately causing Hammet’s capture, but his….adoptive mother I guess, tells him to put those thoughts out of his mind and to just focus on our mission, and to hold on to the Shaman’s Rod, for according to the Adept Hammet met it will eventually allow us to obtain an item that we’ll need on our quest.
That’s all the plot there is to do in Kalay for the time being. Once we’re done speaking with Layana one of the rooms in the palace contains a treasure chest that we should look at as it contains a Water Jacket, basically a better version of the Fur Coat from earlier that adds some resistance to both Fire and Water, the latter of which will be very handy for what’s coming up soon. Heading back into town shows us a scene where we witness the Tolbi tour group departing, but we’re not going to be following them just yet. Instead, now that we’ve reached Kalay that Broken Bridge to the north, the one just south of Vault, remember it? It’s actually been fixed, allowing us to revisit the Vale/Vault region if we so choose.
And revisit we should, for now that we have both Reveal and Lift, there are some additional little areas that we can get to now. Remember that Venus Djinni in Vault that jumped out of the tree when the bell in the guard tower was rung? Well now we can get to it via a short little cave dungeon that’s now accessible if you use Reveal to expose the hidden entrance to it by some gravestones in the bottom-left corner of the town. This one’s name is Sap and it allows the user to absorb some HP from one enemy. Within the cave is a chest containing the Vambrace gloves, which are nice since they buff one’s Attack up a bit too. On a much less nice note, talking around town (and especially with the town mayor) reveals that those hapless, incompetent thieves we put in the slammer have already managed to break out. The mayor worries that they’ll be out for revenge, but that’s not something I’m worried about. Those clowns weren’t that difficult the first time around, and I highly doubt a second will be any more.
Vale’s additional little cave area is on that screen where Kraden’s cottage is located, right about at the spot where we encountered that “dying” man during the stormy prologue. There’s a fence here, and using Lift on the boulder in the middle of it will let us pass through into a small cavern. There’s a Djinni here to snag too, a Jupiter Djinni named Kite that enables the unleasher to act twice the following turn, and since it’ll just run away from us whenever we approach, we need to make use of the other treasure resting within the cave: the Halt Gem. This bestows the utility Psynergy Halt, which is used maybe like…twice? three times? in the whole game, and never in the sequels. This spell temporarily freezes a moving object before us in place, and since the Djinni runs in a set path around some boulders, all we have to do is stand on the opposite side to stop it and grab it without any further trouble.
Other than that, talking around Vale a couple NPCs say something about how Dora has been largely bedridden with worry ever since Isaac left, so swinging in on by the old homestead (the holes in the roof still haven’t been fixed) triggers another little scene. Basically, she tries to insist that there’s nothing wrong with her, she just has a common cold, and that Isaac shouldn’t’ve broken the promise he apparently made off screen to not return to the village until he completed his quest. Still, she does appreciate the gesture that we were worried for her though.
And that’s a wrap. Next time we will be leaving Angara (mostly) behind and finally Get on the Boat and set sail...if Pokemon doesn’t suck away all of my time first, that is.
Soundtrack
- Kalay
- I feel like this song is perfect for a bustling, prosperous port city...even though Kalay isn't quite on the sea.
