Part 105: Trials, Tribulations, and Treasure

Entry 97: Trials, Tribulations, and Treasure

We found the courage to disobey.



Just before Alternis/Ringabel lost his memories, he sketched two things in his journal:



The first image is Airy's wing marked with the number 6. The second...



Was likely the last thing he saw before losing his memories.

We now know what it is. Or rather, who it is.



Our dear friend Airy.

Don't stop, Agnès. Destroy the crystal!

I will!

We'll protect you, whatever happens!

Put your faith in us!

I will!



No problem. We'll sort this out and be back on Grandship in time for dinner.



Agnès is busy, so this battle is just the other three. Hope Agnès wasn't your healer!

The air...it's choked with evil.



It's your old friend Airy, boy! And after all the worlds we linked as one... All the battles we fought together!

You've seen too much not to understand. The world is not a singular existence. An endless array of Luxendarcs exist at once. An infinite line of worlds in parallel...

That's obvious enough by now.

And in piercing the walls that divide them, I've gained power. Power beyond the reckoning of mortals. Enough to bring about a grand and final end... To trigger the catastrophe!

I owe you a great deal, my friends. For my power alone could not have broken the world-walls. Not without the aid of the crystals set to rampage!

Then the Great Chasm...

That's your doing!

Please, don't be modest. Or have you forgotten your contribution? The lot of you were eager to assist. We tore that void open together. And siphoned through an army of monsters from the nether what's more.

Good of Airy to confirm our worst fears: the Rite of Awakening was, in fact, the forbidden Grand Ritual. Ha ha, no wonder Eternia hated us!



Of course, the onus was on DeRosso and Yulyana to connect the dots and prevent massive destruction, but they're just a couple of passive softies in their old age when it came to that latter step.

You lied to us!

And you made it so easy. A fine pack of puppets, you lot. Not a thought of your own, so eager to obey. Because obeying is so easy, hmm? You're never responsible when you're only following orders. And who would doubt what seems so obvious? Who bears the courage to disobey? Precious few. Not one human in a thousand.

Now, my lambs, to slaughter.

Slaughter? Ha, we've barely started fighti--



Uh



Hm



Okay then.

This is an insta-kill move Airy does automatically on the third turn. Technically you can get her health down before then, but either way she won't let the party win.



Agnès is strained to her limit. She's concentrating all her will on the crystal, knowing her three friends have just died to protect her.



With Tiz, Edea, and Ringabel fallen, she has only seconds left. They probably died for nothing. She'll probably die for nothing.

How could I...have not seen this for the beastly trap it is!?

...

Grant me this prayer. If it is not too late, please, save this world... Save my friends...

There is no response.



Why would the crystal respond?

It chimes gently, unchanging.

It was hopeless from the start.

The crystal won't break.



Unless it does.




The chiming's stopped, replaced by dead silence.




As the pieces fall, the crystal's glow fades away.



For the first time in thousands of years, the temple is quiet, dark, and utterly empty.

What's this!?

Was this right...? Mother Vestal... Olivia... Sage... So much hurt, so much suffering in my wake...

Agnès gets up and runs down the stairs towards the party.



And towards Airy.



Things might be hopeless, but she's not going down with her back turned.



She pulls off some Dragon Ball moves to hold out against Airy's first attack...



But Airy, like many bizarre alien villains, isn't going down that easily.



It wasn't enough.



The party is dead.



They failed. We failed.

The search for a new vestal and warriors will hold. I need to first find a crystalline core.

To come this far, and be denied for another five millennia... Rraaagh!

Airy gives us an interesting detail: she knows the exact amount of time it takes a crystal to grow. That length of time also apparently means nothing to her.



In the end, after all of the party's efforts, after Agnès successfully broke one of the four crystals, it was all only a temporary roadblock for the Evil One's plans.

I shall bring the Dark Aurora into being and bide my time within the Great Chasm. Accursed fools!

Airy then smoothly slides offscreen.



*scoot scoot scoot scoot*

And that's the inglorious end to our journey.



Well, it was a good run.

Multiple worlds, grinding like mad... Not enough. Even with Ringabel's forewarning, there was no way to prepare for Airy's power.



Anyway, thanks for reading my first LP, guys! It was...something akin to fun.



Shame about that ending. Pretty grim, especially for something so Final Fantasy inspired.

That's what the party really could've used -- a good ol' Final Fantasy-style boost from the power of friendship.

You know, kind of like:



Arise... The time is come.





Those who have kept me safe. Nurtured me... I now grant the power of their hopes and prayers unto you four.

The power to sever the root of this darkness. Receive it now. Rise back to your feet.



Yeah, that looks familiar.



As the power of light increases, so does the power coming from Agnès's pendant.



A second chance! Or, given Ringabel's past events, a third chance? Or... Nevermind.



Am I...

......

Ah!



One by one, the other Warriors of Light get to their feet.

Nh...

...Hnngh.

Rgh...

So, a snip of background on the term Warriors of Light:



Dating back to the original Final Fantasy, Warriors/Heroes of Light is commonly used to refer to series protagonists, particularly when there are bright shiny crystals/gods in need of protection from the powers of darkness/chaos/vengeful idiots.

More directly, Bravely Default is the spiritual successor to a side Final Fantasy game subtitled The 4 Heroes of Light.

What...what happened to us?

...I destroyed the crystal.

Then Airy turned into that...thing.

Didn't we all fall in battle? How are we still...?

I feel as good as new.

Did anyone else have a dream? I heard a voice. A gentle voice...

Yes! I heard it, too!

Where'd it come from?

I believe it came from my pendant... From the crystalline core.

Normally, destroying a crystal isn't very Warrior of Light-ey, but considering it was done in an attempt to save the world from Airy's plan and the crystal will eventually regrow... The crystal(?) obviously takes a long-term view of the situation.



We still have no idea what powers the crystals are capable of. Which crystal was Agnès's pendant before it was destroyed, anyway? Are there more than four crystals per world or is it here due to dimensional adventures? The more mysteries solved, the more that appear.

I remember it sounded like Agnès to me...

Me?

Or...the one from the world I came from...

No, first things first. Airy is still out there. We have to stop her.

I still cannot believe she's been deceiving us all this time... No, I wish not to believe...

But we've seen her for what she is.

The creature that I saw kill Edea bore that same hideous form. I'm sure of it now.

The me from the previous world...

If we fail to act, that fiend will find new pawns to use in awakening the crystals.

The evil chain must be broken, and it's up to us to do it.

Ringabel mentions his memories of the past here even if you do this in Chapter 5. Then again, it wouldn't be surprising if seeing Airy's true form jogs any missing memories.



The party's soon ready to go, no worse for wear after dying a bit.



We gave our all to destroy it, but seeing empty space where the crystal was doesn't feel good.

This may not be the first time a crystal's been broken, but given the lack of historical records, this Luxendarc's next 5,000 years could be pretty hellish.



But we've got more immediate problems. Airy's still out there.



Despite breaking a crystal, the world is unchanged for the moment. If we hadn't done Yulyana's conjurer side quest yet, it'd become automatically available so long as we'd entered the Finale (broken a crystal) post-chapter 5.

Also, once you break a crystal and enter the Finale, all other crystals awaken and the world acts as though the crystal you broke is awake. This means you'd have a clear ocean even if you broke or never touched this world's water crystal. You can probably interpret it all as a result of the final burst of power given off by the breaking crystal having a lasting effect on its own element and empowering the others.

With all that gameplay talk out of the way:



Airy is somewhere in the Great Chasm, but it might be smarter to prepare before we head over. We could use more power.

Who better to help than another old, old friend?



This scene is only available after Airy's revealed herself and the party's done the conjurer side quest.

The sage has already deemed you worthy. 'Tis time I did the same.

The forbidden arms the sage took from the Orthodoxy lie sealed away on the Kustra Archipelago.

Where is this archipelago?

It is an icy chain of islands north of Florem. The Sealed Cavern shall rise from a frozen crescent moon.

A crescent moon? And what do you mean, the cavern will rise?

We need weapons, man, not poetry!



All-powerful gear from an ancient cult feared by both the Shadowdarkvampirelord and the Orthodoxy? We'll take it.

I only hope they will suffice against the foe you now face.

DeRosso's content to leave the actual dirty work to us, so we're off.



DeRosso's hint for the Sealed Cavern location is similar to the instructions for finding Susano-O, and as it happens both are in the same region.

As you might expect, the Sealed Cavern remains sealed and inaccessible until you have the aforementioned scene with DeRosso. Once we head inside:



We're introduced to Bravely Default's bonus dungeon. Unlike most bonus dungeons, this won't be mind-numbingly long. It will, however, be taking up the rest of this entry.



Adventurer and Fox are at the entrance to offer business and guidance. They're such good friends with Yulyana.

His magic strengthens the beasts who stalk its halls. Spells of teleportation are also nullified within. If you would press on, take care...

This challenge meant a lot more in the first version of this game, with mandatory random battles. Now it just means you have to spend an extra five minutes backtracking out from the bottom floor.

Luckily this place is only 10 floors total, though currently only 9 are accessible (at least so far as the LP's concerned ).



The dungeon's gimmick is that each floor's layout is an exact copy of a floor from some other dungeon in the game. Dimension's Hasp's second floor, for example, is a copy of Harena Ruins B2. All enemies are also repeats, albeit stronger variants.

The only thing that's new is treasure, so that's what we're going to cover. There are also a few additional items in here that I'm picking up new but will cover later on.

Anyway, sit back and relax, because even this abbreviated list of items'll take up some time.



The idea of Yatagarasu originated in China, eventually spreading to Korean and Japanese myth. It is variously seen as a powerful and usually helpful creature representing the sun, guidance, rebirth, and the will of the gods.



Dimension's Hasp B3 is modeled after Temple of Wind B1. Presumably these are all places recreated from Yulyana's memory.

Also, all the new treasures here are in blue chests. Yulyana invented the asterisks, wonder if he came up with the blue chest system, too?



B4 (Mount Fragmentium West)'s treasure. Where is the Sky Continent in relation to us? That's a mystery for another time.



B5 is Witherwood South.



With that form and color scheme I wouldn't mind sealing it right back up again, demons or not.



B6 is a darker version of Florem Gardens Interior.

Artemis, well-known from Greek myth for two main things: One, beating everyone who challenged her hunting skills. Two, being matron god of women's issues in general, ranging from virginity to childbirth.



B7, Swordbearer Fort, ground floor.

The three imperial regalia of Wa Japan are this sword (representing valor), a mirror (representing wisdom), and a magatama jewel (representing benevolence). All three artifacts are supposedly still with the Japanese Emperor, but as a matter of sanctity have not been viewable by the public in a very, very long time.



B8 -- The Underflow 2F West, complete with disappearing floor sections. Can't say I've heard of too many gods of fists.



Finally, B9 is Central Command, 48th floor sans Edea's bedroom.

The mentioned god is Odin of Nordic myth, and the war was the Aesir-Vanir War, which resulted in the merging of two groups of gods, shockingly named the Aesir and the Vanir.


Next: Here we come, Airy, armed and ready!

--

Event Viewer
Main Scenario:
We'll Protect You!
Grant Me This Prayer
Airy Enters the Chasm
Arise, Warriors of Light!
Breaking the Chain

Sub-Scenario:
Lord DeRosso's Counsel