Part 56: Chapter Fifty-Four: The Dark Land

With the Verdure Doublet in hand, they left the Sealed Ruins.



His intentions and the recipe for the Verdure Doublet… It’s all so sad.
Let’s head back to Riese Palace.
Yeah, I’m getting a little tired!
Alright, alright. We’ll go back.

Since they’d found something more on Chaos, they returned to Riese Palace to speak to Tolena.



Oh reeeeally, Noin?
yep. It’s a pretty long story, too…
Ahhh…
So, he was fighting for his sister all along…
Do you mind if I read his diary?
Oh, not at all.
System Message: Handed over [Chaos’ Diary].
Hey, Felt.
Don’t you think we should leave her alone for awhile?
Huh?
Yeah, I guess so…

The only place left for them to investigate was the Dark Island, where Palaxius’ workshop resides. The closest place to it was the South Grand Coast, where they once again found a friend willing to help.



Wow, Mitsue! You look great!
I know. I always look great!
I am trying to catch some fresh, delicious fish for you.
Mitsue, may we use your boat to go to the Dark Island?
We only need it for a little while.
It’s fine with me, but…
When you’re all done here…
You have to promise you’ll bring Poe back to Zwital Village when this is all over.
Yes, of course.
Don’t make promises you can’t keep!
We’re doing all this to create a Ruby Prism and save the world from a madman.
But, what about saving my life…?
Hahahaha.

And so they headed to the Dark Island, and at its depths they found the gateway into a land of madness, Vintavne.



Feinne’s Fourth Wall Lectures: Vintavne
This place is seriously harsh at times. It’s large, it’s a bit more convoluted than the Sealed Ruins, and it is filled with an unlimited supply of even more powerful enemies than we saw there. The biggest thing you need to watch out for on the enemy front is called a Baal, it does brutal counterattacks when you hit it and can dish out massive hits when it gets turns. Try to Break them and keep them Broken if your gauge is low while you watch for an opportunity to smoke them with the guaranteed critical hits the Break status will cause.

The Dark Isle and Vintavne are also pretty much the only places in the game where enemies that can be Extracted into Life spawn. The Mana Clusters in Vintavne are one, but the real deal is the Super Puni on the Dark Isle. It’s a red puni with a horned helmet and when Felt or Viese deal a killing blow on it you get a whopping 50 Life. This is never something to say no to and if you find yourself needing to farm Life this is the place.

Deep within the twisted paths of Vintavne, they discovered Palaxius’ workshop.

Video- “Atelier Palaxius”

Watch the Story Unfold

It’s very inorganic and sterile… I don’t feel any life here.
Let’s take a quick look around.
Yeah.
There’s nothing here…
I’m bored.
What?

Noin had triggered something in the workshop by accident.



There’s an explanation here, in ancient writing.
Can you read it?
Yes, I’ve studied it…
The original Azoth sword was made to seal Mana.
It worked as well as expected, regardless of materials.
The personality infused into the Ruby Prism is what guards it.
The Crimson Azoth I am now creating…
This Azoth will be a state of the art device, capable of sealing the unlimited power of Lilith…
Once Lilith is sealed, it shall become the creation Azoth, Elzar.
All creation and destruction.
I shall finally have complete control over both.
This is… incredible.
“All creation and destruction!” So he thinks he’s a god?
We cannot allow such an evil entity to run loose in our world.
We must destroy him.
Look at this. There’s something over here!
What are you doing?

Poe had discovered another set of Palaxius’ Azoth notes.



Gurgu’s Cane, a Ruby Prism material.
I have hidden its recipe in the Statue of Marcus.
I have prepared the materials to Synthesize Gurgu’s Cane…
Look, something came out.
System Message: Received [Ares Liquid]!
Yeah, all thanks to me.
Sounds dangerous!
It mentioned the Statue of Marcus, or something…
I think I’ve seen that in Grand.

The Statue of Marcus was indeed in the Grand region, at an unusual ruin.

Video- “Gurgu’s Cane”

Watch the Story Unfold

I don’t see anything special about this place…

When Viese tried to approach the statue, a horrible automaton attacked!



Boss Battle: Clockwerk
Clockwerk is basically Quetzlcoatl all over again, he hits harder but so do we and that sort of makes him a joke in the end. Blow him up with shit like Power Item and Ein Zecksdance and you’ll have your recipe.

Having defeated the guardian, they were rewarded with the recipe for Gurgu’s Cane.



System Message: You now have the recipe for [Gurgu’s Cane]!
Gurgu’s Cane… Do you think you can Synthesize it?
It says it requires an item called Pigeon Blood…
Isn’t that the item from Poe’s wedding…?
Yeah, the proof of his love…
What!
It’ll be a piece of cake, since we already have that material.
Wait! If I lose that, who knows what Mitsue will do to me!
We’re trying to save the world. Don’t be so selfish.
That’s what you always say…
……
Let’s just head back to Riese Palace for now.

They did indeed use Poe’s Pigeon Blood in the end.



Mitsue isn’t going to like this…
Calm down. You worry about every little detail.
That blood was important to me!
I know. Ha ha!
We need this cane to regulate the power flow during the Synthesis of the Ruby Prism.
Without this cane, there’ll be a huge explosion!
Yes, we’d like to avoid creating another Lake Midgard.
We can’t afford to fail.
It’ll be fine. I trust in Viese.
I… I’ll do my best…

And so they had all the ingredients for the Ruby Prism. Next time, we’ll see what happened when they finished it.