Part 83: Where the Earth Sleeps, Vanquished

Entry 77: Where the Earth Sleeps, Vanquished

After the war between the templar's forces and the Orthodoxy fifteen years ago, the temple of earth, with the crystal inside, was moved to the top of Everlast Tower. Or the tower was carved out underneath. The exact method is not clear.



The Orthodoxy's last plan was an attempt at the Grand Ritual, which would provide them great power at the possible cost of the crystal itself.



Braev's forces invaded, barely stopping the ritual in time. They set up a network of cables to safely channel away the now out of control crystal's energies.



Fifteen years later, without a vestal to guide it, the earth crystal has entered hibernation and grown vulnerable to dark influence.



The cables still pump out its energies -- or they did until the party arrived and Braev halted the operation. But what is the state of the crystal now?



This question can be seen as hypothetical if you've viewed all the optional background scenes, or in line with the player's thoughts if you haven't.

How awful! What do they think the crystal is, some kind of toy!?

Forgive me.

No, Edea. Why should you repent for the sins of your father? Now, let's get on with the Rite of Awakening.

*Roar*

Ah! What's that on the crystal!?



That's Gigas Lich!

It's the Propogator of Doom as told of in the sacred texts of the Orthodoxy!

Well, whatever it is, here it comes!



A gigas is a giant from Greek myth. A lich is a magician powerful enough to trap their mind and soul in a jar and enter a state of undeath, gaining a twisted version of immortality. The only way to defeat a lich is to destroy the object containing its soul -- kinda like Voldemort.

The lich is a new monster type developed in just the past century, inspired by older ideas of magic-users and ghosts. It's been popularized so much by works like Dungeons and Dragons that pretty much every nerd nowadays knows what a lich is.



Oh, did the boss fall off the platform?



C'mon big guy, you can make it!



There you go.



Gigas Lich, despite his size, specializes in magic rather than physical attacks.



He routinely casts death (instantly kills character) and fear (character cannot use Brave).



Spiritmaster's Fairy Ward protects against both, taking most of the danger out of this fight.



Every turn, in addition to the boss's action, he casts Negative Power, buffing his attack by 10% every turn (up to 150%). This can be dispelled if you have black magic equipped.



The boss absorbs earth and is weak to light. At low health he'll start casting Quaga on himself, but it hardly makes a difference.



If you want to make the fight even easier, you can use healing items to damage the boss for huge amounts, similar to Zombie Dragon. Really, if you've done Vampire Castle, this guy's a piece of cake no matter how you slice him.



Wait, we're defeating a lich by beating him up? Maybe he stored his soul on his person. Maybe this is a particularly stupid lich.



Gigas Lich drops this. Presumably he took it back from the pirates, returning it to its rightful people. Until we took it.



The anchor itself. Interesting material, presumably solid stone.



Agnès stole these. This Gigas may have become an undead lich, but he obviously still had pride in his heritage. But Gigas Lich also tossed away his mortality. Was he still considered part of the 'rightful' people after his undeath?



Where did this proud giant go wrong? Was it lust for the power of the crystal? Like many things in Bravely Default, a scenario is hinted at but never elaborated on.

Let's move on.



For better or worse, I believe the Eternian Forces would have guarded the crystal from such threats. Maybe it took advantage of their weakened state to slip in unnoticed.

Save your jabbering for later. We have a crystal to awaken!

After Agnès changes into her vestal gear:



......

What's wrong?

It's...it's really nothing, but time and time again, the duchy's people have warned us not to awaken the crystal.

Agnès...

...I know, I ought not let it bother me. Now, let us begin, Airy.

The duchy had a talent for making bad decisions. Besides, we're doing this with Yulyana, Mahzer (who was Braev's main confidant), and DeRosso's blessing.



Agnès's fourth round with the crystal is similar to the first three.



The crystal reacts to prayer, despite being hooked up to the white magic cables.



And as it breaks off its calcified shell...



...and begins to wake...



The cables loosen and begin to fall away.







Nnh...hnngh...

Not yet! Just a little longer!

Rgh...!



The earth crystal's power is, for the first time in fifteen years, once again its own.

More! Keep going!





Finally:

Stop! That's it!



The crystal is reawakened.



See? Nothing went wrong. Everything's going according to plan.

Holy smokes! That was by far the brightest of the four crystals!

Agnès turns around, stumbling.



Yes... Thank you, Tiz.

Now all four of Luxendarc's crystals have been awakened! Nice work, everyone!

What a joyous day. Now, perhaps, the world--

Is the Great Chasm gone!?

Nuh-uh. Awakening all four crystals should have caused a pillar of light to rise somewhere in our world.

It's the Holy Pillar--the First Light, divine source of life and the origin of this world and the heavens above!



...the First Light will spread across the world. And its divine light, born of the awakened crystals, will sweep away all darkness.

And the Great Chasm should vanish along with the darkness.

So all we need to do is take you into the Pillar of Light?

*nods*

Then, let's go! That is where this will all end!

Lead the way!

I'm with you!



The group's rallied together. One final step, and they'll have completed their mission. What's left to stand in their way?



Agnès has come to terms with her role in Crystalism, Ringabel's enjoying being along for the ride, and Edea has reached peace with her family and home country. But under Tiz's calm exterior, he's still an emotional wreck.

By interrupting Agnès in their moment of triumph, Tiz makes it clear that for him, what he's lost still rules his actions and his emotions. Filling the Great Chasm won't bring Til or the rest of his friends and family back, but hopefully it will still give him a measure of peace.



Airy's brooch is now complete. Pretty satisfying to see all four sides finally lit.




The party says goodbye to the earth crystal and exits Everlast Tower.




Outside, the three quest markers are for the three possible airship landing zones.

Sure enough, once we call Grandship, everyone's there to meet us.



You did it, eh! Well done!

Well, it's not as if we had it easy here. You should've seen the hail of cannon fire!

Oh, and by the way, we saw a black airship bearing southwest a short while ago.

Probably a bunch of deserters. Always happens when an enemy is vanquished.



Somehow I doubt it's refugees. The party may have destroyed the establishment, but the vast majority of Eternia remains untouched by their wrath.

One guess who has an airship and painted the whole thing black.



The party's raring to go, but there are a few last things to take care of before we get to the climactic bits.

First on the list is to buy more supplies from Norende.



Once the Pillar of Light appears, the Adventurer will say this no matter where in the world you speak to them.



Lu Bu was a real person, a military general from ancient China. The horse mentioned was named the Red Hare, and both are considered legendarily great examples of man and horse, respectively.



Now this sounds right up Tiz's alley.



No mention of this being from the land of Wa, but it likely is. The design is based off Japanese demons.



Another item possibly from Wa given that swordmasters seem to originate from there.



This was more useful in the original Japanese game version before the addition of the Encounter Rate slider. Still might come in handy for dedicated grinding sessions.



Next on the list is Norende itself: it's finally done!



The restoration effort is complete.

Congratulations, Tiz!

Makes all that hard work worthwhile, eh?

Thank you all... Really, thank you.

Ah ha ha, look at that... I'm actually getting a little misty. *sniff*

Little wonder. This has been Tiz's personal cause for so long. A long, slow effort to build up brick by brick what the Great Chasm stole in an instant.

You began the process alone, from absolutely nothing. Truly impressive work.

I wasn't alone. Not really. So many people came together to help bring Norende back. If not for them, I'd have given up in those times when it all felt impossibly big.

Tiz...

I wasn't sure if people would even come to live here. Whether any of this actually meant something... All those times I nearly gave the village up for lost.

Everything I could do felt tiny. Just a tiny little step along an endless path...

Not so endless now, is it?

One step in front of the next, you've seen it through!

I'm so... *sniffle* I'm just so proud of yoooooou! *hooonk*

Thanks...

Thank you all so much!

Best of all, once the Great Chasm gets filled in, the town can expand out even more. That's a pretty good way to for things to end.


Next: The finish line.

--

Event Viewer
Main Scenario:
The Propagator of Doom
The Earth Crystal
Awakening the Earth Crystal
The Black Airship

Party Chat:
Norende Restored