04. Secret of the Claridian

LUCE PLAINS

Contains 2 Cracked Rocks.

You're given a save chance, so use it. You need to head W in Luce Plains to get to Nolaan. A dragon appears trying to impede your progress by shooting fireballs in your path. If you manage to reach Nolaan without sustaining any injury, you get SITUATION BONUS [Reached Nolaan without being hit.], and award is 500 EXP. You also get an achievement <ON THE RUN>.

When in control, follow what used to be a road and hide behind pillars in order to wait for dragon to stop fireballing you. There's a slight pause before it begins again, so dash for next cover. Enemies will leave you alone, and it's funny to watch them fly thru air when hit by fireball.

NOLAAN

There's a shop inside the house at entrance of the village. Follow the twins to N part of village, go up the slope, save your game and approach the twins.

Aya temporarily leaves the party, and Rucha and Rico join the partay. WTF, I don't want underage girls! Rucha is lv2 chr, and comes equipped with TOY DRUM, KENAF TUNIC, SANDSTONE CIRCLET, CORK SANDALS. Rico is lv2 chr, and comes equipped with TOY BATON, KENAF TUNIC, SANDSTONE CIRCLET, CORK SANDALS. If you stole equipment from Eugene before, you can put his armor pieces on one of the twins now.

Here's some more lowdown on Connecting:

• While in towns, you can Connect with one ally. Approach that chr and press RB to display Connect menu, then press A to Connect.
• Approaching certain people (and even other allies) while Connected with specific chr will sometimes give you free items or new quests, in addition to having chr's traits/palates changed, as well as possibly gain some background on allies.

So people cry more and Capell to the rescue. Where have I seen this before? After the scene go back to twins' and talk to mom twice to get rest option. Nail WCH for GRAAD ONION, then try going down the slope...

Here's some lowdown on Item Creation (IC):

• Under Creation menu you can combine multiple items into a new one.
• A chr with required personal skill must be in the party to utilize Creation menu. When in towns, you have to Connect with desired chr.
• Whenever you perform successful IC, that chr gains some EXP. Eventually chr's skill in IC will go up, resulting in more possible creations and higher rate of success.
• Capell can also perform IC, but his time has not yet come.

Creation menu has been added. Talk to various village folk to get items...

• BLACK BERRY POTION from 'Anxious old woman'
• RED BERRY POTION from 'Worried old woman'
• RED BERRY POTION from 'Fretful woman'
• PANACEA from 'Energetic old man'
• ANTIDOTE from 'Spirited kid' (must Rucha Connect)

QUEST 2 START - MISSING ITEM FROM THE SHRINE

Let's do some quests in Nolaan. Rico Connect and talk to 'Distracted man' in one of the houses so that he mentions something being buried in the shrine. That's all for now.

QUEST 3 START - MISSING FRIEND SNOUTY

Rico Connect and talk to 'Spirited kid' running around the well. He'll ask you to find his lost mouse Snouty.

Also the shop is now open, but they don't sell anything hot yet - maybe buy some Red Berry Potions; loot WCH in the shop for COBASNA LETTUCE. Now that you're ready, go N in the village below the slope and follow your nose until you enter Dragonbone Shrine.

DRAGONBONE SHRINE

Contains 1 Cracked Rock.

Warning! There is no SPN in Dragonbone Shrine, and you also don't have the option to save before facing the boss of the Shrine. I'll tell you when the boss comes up, so you'll know to be ready.

At 1stcross go S to find two mice Toothy and Cheddar. Rico Connect and talk to mice for some clues - Toothy will mention some unfriendlies going deeper in the shrine, while Cheddar warns you of bats.

QUEST 2 CONTINUE - MISSING ITEM FROM THE SHRINE

In vicinity of two mice you'll find some 'Rubble' - examine it and Capell will comment about something being dug up.

Back to 1stcross and go NW to enter a dark cavern. See the glowing in the dark? Run to it, sheathe your weapon and examine the glow - it's a lever which will bring light to the cavern allowing you to kick ass of legion of bats that swarmed onto your location.

Continue N, pass first branch leading W and enter the second. Open WCH for ANTIDOTE, then continue N to enter a room full of cobras (here's third branch leading W that has cracked rock blocking your way). Continue N and enter 4th W branch. Rico Connect and talk to mouse Scamper to learn of a secret room, but it'll only show you the way if Sewaria will ask.

Continue E to third large cavern - if you flip the lever, you'll be ambushed, so think twice before doing it. Waltz further E and peek into N branch to find mouse Sewaria. Rico Connect and talk to her, then walk back to Scamper, Rico Connect and talk to it to have it run off in order to show the room's location.

Pass Sewaria's hideout and path takes you S into fourth large cavern. Locate the lever and flip it, then kill a couple of cobras and bats in it. Continue S, ignore the branch to SE and enter fifth large cavern. Kill all enemies, then sniff around E side of the cavern to find Scamper. Rico Connect and you found the entrance to secret cave! Examine the wall near Scamper and you get SITUATION BONUS [Found the secret room.], with a reward of 1000 EXP.

Open three BSCH for MIRACULOUS MEDICINE, MUSICIAN'S QUILL, BLACK BERRY POTION.

QUEST 3 CONTINUE - MISSING FRIEND SNOUTY

Rico Connect and talk to mouse Snouty, then agree to 'Show him the way.'.

It is wise to level Capell to lv5 so that he learns Cutting Gavotte.

Return to previous large cavern and head W to bump into a strange door. Black wings and poisonous fangs, eh? The only enemies you met so far were bats and snakes, and another key factor is Rico's skill Penguin Parade. This skill takes control of the enemy when successfully hit with it.

Take heed that boss awaits you behind next door!

Rico Connect and return to previous big cavern, which contains one bat and one snake. While targeting an enemy, command Rico to perform Penguin Parade. If the enemy is hit successfully, you'll know so by black&white mist surrounding the enemy. Rico's control over the enemy eventually weakens, so make haste back to the door. WHILE STILL BEING CONNECTED TO RICO, AND WHILE STILL BEING IN CONTROL OF CAPTURED ENEMY, examine the door. The captured enemy will die and half of the door will unseal - repeat for the other enemy and door is unlocked.

Examine the door and...

Here's some lowdown on flute playing:

• Press X to play the flute. Tunes can be changed by left/right directionals.
• Up to four tunes can be assigned via Skill menu.
• Tunes' effects vary from uncovering invisible chests, increasing your party's stats, or neutralizing enemy's magic.

You'll get a bunch of stuff - SARULEUS AMARLISTA KI, SARULEUS FLUTE KI. Capell learns PRUDENTIAE TUNE (creates an area which cancels lunaglyph effects and magic), PERCIPERE TUNE (uncovers hidden objects).

So how do we leave now? Walk to N end of the room behind Saruleus' altar, and you'll begin to hear a strange noise. Whenever you hear it, it means that invisible object is nearby, and when you're close to the source of the noise, you'll see a wavy air around it.

Whip out the flute and play Percipere to dispel the illusion wall and make an exit appear. Follow your nose, open BSCH for MEMOIRS OF A MAGE, and play Percipere near another strange noise spot to uncover BSCH with MIRACULOUS MEDICINE in it. Walk out the shrine back to Nolaan.

NOLAAN

When you walk back into village, peel your ears for that familiar strange sound. The source is NW from the well - play Percipere to uncover BSCH with BRONZE RING. Now go to twins' house to advance the story.