Part 32: Daniel Vinyard And The Holy Grail

Welcome back. Last time on Exit Fate, we explored the ancient tunnel known as Gaia's Heart, and used it to launch a surprise attack on Mayfall from Helman Island. The only problem was that it wasn't a surprise to the Mayfall Army. We found them waiting for us outside the tunnel's exit, and were forced to flee to Amen Corner instead. Thankfully, we managed to get away, and now Leonius has asked us to return to Elysium Castle to discuss the situation further. So let's get to it.




Since we're in the neighborhood, though, before we head back to Elysium, we're going to make a quick stop at the Mayfall entrance to Gaia's Heart.




If we head east from where we found Pestilence (which we weren't able to do until now since we were in cutscenes), we find some treasure.





We get a whole bunch of red accessories out of the deal. The Red Bandana, Cape, and Glasses grant +4 to SKL, DEX, and ACC respectively.



I also decide to stop in at Mayfall City just to see what happens.



It turns out that the guards at the entrance don't recognize us, but they won't let us in either. I guess that makes sense.



Anyway, after a quick trip to Blackwater, we sail back to Elysium and head to the meeting hall.

Music: Kirgard - Suikoden V, "Harbor Town by the Lighthouse"





The whole thing was a set-up. The Mayfall army was expecting us from the start. Thanks to Bast's quick reaction though, we safely managed to make it to Amen Corner. We could've put up a good fight from there, so they retreated to Mayfall City again.
I see... That means we have the city surrounded, doesn't it? In that case we should attack immediately.
They'll be expecting us now. If we leave Amen Corner, the Matrech Guard will be ready to strike us from the rear.
But what else can we do? We're in a perfect situation to seize Mayfall and march on westwards.




The Highland rebels? Surely we can't trust them! What could we achieve that way?
Trust me. Or rather, trust Daniel's ability to convince them. Do you think you can do this? I have a plan, but we'll need Highland's cooperation.
Yes, I'm sure I can do it.
How are you going to get in touch with them?
I'll need to see him in person, and we don't have a lot of time. If we travel to the capital of Bergstadt, I'm sure we can find someone to speak to.





Well, let's get going then.
I'll return to Harlinton. Let me know when anything important happens.



Right then, looks like Highland's our next destination. Now that we've seen that scene, all of the Highland destinations are once again available in the teleporter. Just as Daniel suggested, we'll be heading to Bergstadt. But I have a few other things to do in mind instead of speaking to Rock.



Instead, we're going to talk to the amnesiac dude here that we saw several updates ago.




Well, that's more information that we got last time, at least. But what can we do with this?



That's all there is to see in Bergstadt at the moment. Let's head to Harlinton. Why not?



Hey, the houses here are kind of bronze... -esque... wouldn't you say? Maybe?



Well, regardless of whether I'm colorblind or not, this is the town that Nikolai was referring to. There's no indication as to what we can do here, but our destination is the blacksmith.




The blacksmith's wife, in particular, has some information.



Before we head back to Bergstadt to inform Nikolai of this, though, there's one other guy we can talk to, specifically the guy at this table here. I don't recall if I showed him the first time we visited Harlinton, but he talks about having found some strange ancient ruins when he was younger.



Unfortunately, it was protected with complex locks, and I was unable to enter the castle itself. But it was such a beautiful place that I've never told anyone where it was located, fearing that they'd destroy the site.



Normally, the man would just give his description and that would be the end of the conversation. But now that we've spoken to a certain someone, Daniel will chime in.

Hmmm... yes... There was a name engraved onto the heavy stones over the entrance.




And we do indeed. If you'll recall, we met Nomad on Mt. Bosch back when we were looking for Bast, who told us he was looking for the entrance to Avalon on the mountain.

If you tell me where it is, I promise that it won't be damaged in any way.
Is that so? Someone else has been looking for it as well? I guess it's wrong to take this secret with me to my grave... Just promise me one thing. If you manage to enter the city, please come back to tell me what it was like.
All right, I promise.



Mayfall City, huh? Sounds like Nomad was way off.

The path is not easy to find, and has eroded away in places, but if you follow it then it will lead you directly to Avalon.
I see... southwest of Mayfall City. Thank you for your information.



All right, let's head back to Highland.



First of all, let's talk to Nikolai.




It's all coming back to me now. I wanted to learn from other blacksmiths around the world to improve my skills! Now I can finally continue my journey, and I owe it all to you. How can I repay you? Oh, you have your own army? Hmm... Yes, I could help you with the forging of weapons and armor, but my skills are still a bit rusty. I can still improve, though. If you help me visit more blacksmiths, I'll be sure to reach a higher level of skill.







Nikolai is a fairly average character. His MAG is pretty shitty, but other than that he's got okay stats pretty much across the board. Nothing about him really stands out though.





Nikolai's weapon of choice is the Red Star, a morningstar which is totally not a reference to Soviet Russia. His damage isn't bad, but there are better characters for dealing physical damage.



However, Nikolai has another use in that he opens up a blacksmith in Elysium Castle.



He's not very good to begin with, though.



However, if we put him in our party and take him to a blacksmith...




... he'll jump up to that blacksmith's level. In addition, while he can't beat any of the blacksmiths in towns we can currently visit, if we take him to visit every blacksmith in the world, he'll become the only blacksmith in the game who can forge our weapons to the maximum possible level.



And if that weren't enough, he also runs an armor shop which auto-updates like Bartolli's and Mai's. Then again, armor? Buying? Who does that?




Now then, it's time for us to make use of the other piece of information we received in Harlinton and go see Nomad.



He is predictably surprised.

All right, I'll go check it out. You want to come with me, don't you? I'm the only one who knows how to open the gates, so don't even think of going by yourselves. I've studied ancient records of Avalon for years, so I can read their language. But you can bet it's going to be dangerous. I'd feel safer having some others with me, so you're welcome to accompany me. I'll even share the treasures we find with you. I'm only interested in one thing anyway. Well, what do you say?






And Nomad joins us temporarily.



Nomad is another fairly average character. Unlike Nikolai, he's actually got a usable MAG, but again, nothing really stands out about him.





Nomad's weapon of choice is his glaive. His STR is literally the same as Nikolai's, so don't be fooled by the difference in damage. Nikolai has an elemental advantage against these wolves and also scored a critical.



Before we head to Avalon, however, Nomad mentions that there may be, in fact, a "key" he was supposed to find around here. As it turns out, there actually is something here we need to find, and I accidentally took a screenshot of it way back in update 17, when we first explored Mt. Bosch. I'm going to save the surprise for when we need to use it, but if you go back to the older update you may be able to find it yourself in my screenshots.




One trip to the teleporter later and we're back in Mayfall, just outside of Avalon. Just like the explorer said, it's straight southwest from Mayfall City.

Music: Avalon - Xenogears, "Omen"




We actually could have come here as soon as we spoke to the explorer, but...



... we would have hit a roadblock pretty quickly. The door is, as you might expect, locked.





Let's head inside.




We barely take two steps before we're confronted with a massive bribe jump and a whole bunch of enemies.




These fellows are Crusaders. Their only move is a decently powerful physical attack, but they're not threatening at all individually. Their danger comes from the fact that they always show up in large groups, and they're quite capable of doing some serious damage if they all decide to attack the same target.



They're not too tough though. Just as with the misty forest, this place is going to be giving us a whole bunch of level ups.



Avalon's a bit different from most dungeons, because instead of a linear path, there's a whole bunch of buildings to explore. Most of them will have a treasure or two, even if they're not our ultimate goal.




Case in point is this first building which contains a Templar Helmet. The Templar Helmet is a pretty decent piece of armor that grants +7 PDF as well as +10 max HP for 5 weight.



Speaking of Templars, they're also regular enemies in this area and will always show up with a group of Crusaders.




As one might expect from a "leader" type enemy, their physical attack is a bit beefier than that of the Crusaders.




They also will occasionally use Life Drain, though as with other drain attacks, no green number shows up on them when they use it. I'm going to guess that it heals them anyway and the game just doesn't show it.




In another building near the entrance, we find a free Waterfall spell.



The main area of Avalon is divided into two sections by this long impassable hedge. Our ultimate destination is to the north, so we need to find a way around this.



We do that by entering the building on the right side of the area.






Then we run into a unicorn.




Unicorns have a decent physical attack, but...




... their main gimmick is that they know Mend-All and will spend most of their turns casting it. The healing is negligible though, considering that most of our characters can put out more damage than that with a single attack or spell.



Speaking of which, they also carry copies of Mend-All to steal, and it's actually pretty easy to steal from them.




Also in this battle is an Enchanter, who looks like a mage but has a strange tendency to use physical attacks, and shitty physical attacks at that.



They also like to use Enfeeble...




... and as I found out in a later battle, Thunderbolt. This can be particularly nasty if there are two of them and they both decide to cast Thunderbolt in a row on the same target.




Anyway, the lower floor of this building contains two Gold Dusts.





The exit also takes us to the other side of the hedge outside.



To the north, we find a staircase up to a larger building, but there's also this doorway in the wall below. Let's check it out.





There's a spiraling staircase that takes us into a more open building.





Inside, we find some Templar Greaves, which grant +6 PDF and +5 max HP for 4 weight.





There's also a switch at the end of the passageway. Stepping on it makes a satisfying click and it stays down after we press it, but nothing obvious happens as a result.




Afterwards, we head outside, up the staircase, and into the large building at the northern end of the city.



There's another locked door with a control panel nearby here.



What does that mean?
I uh... don't know. Maybe it has something to do with those rumors I heard about Avalon. I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to find in those mountains.



So we have to enter a three-digit number, and as Nomad hinted, this is where we need to use the "key" that was supposedly on Mt. Bosch. Were you able to find it in my old update? If not...



... it was in this screenshot. Notice something in the upper-left corner?




You all learned about Roman numerals in elementary school, didn't you?




In the next room we find a couple of staircases down, as well as a locked gate at the north end. We can also see the switch we stepped on earlier. It looks like there's a second one that needs to be pressed.






Heading down the left staircase takes us up to the second switch, which opens the door.




There's also a library nearby, but there doesn't seem to be anything of use in here.






We can head through the northern gate now, but first let's check out the other staircase. It leads us through a long passageway that ends in a locked door.



There's a bit of a minor puzzle here.




In order to find the key, we need to head back to the library and check the bookcases. This one in particular contains the key.





The passageway beyond takes us to a balcony which holds the treasure we were able to see from the entrance.



The Templar Plate is the last piece of the set, granting +18 PDF and +15 max HP for 12 weight. Not bad.



The other chest holds an Opal Amulet, which boosts MP+ by 4. This, combined with the levels we've been gaining here, brings Midian to the MP+ milestone of 25. He can now cast Eclipse on the first turn of every battle. And we are going to have some fun with this.




Yeeeeeesssss.



Now then, let's see what's through that gate.

Music: None





But where is it?





Nomad inspects the throne, looking for something.





Feel what?
It's like we're being watched...
No, I can't say I feel anything.




What are you doing?




OPTIONAL BOSS: Pendragon

Music: Boss Battle - Wild Arms 2, "Battle vs. Solid"





At first blush, Pendragon seems an awful lot like the Mad King. Most of his moves are single target and deal moderate damage. He's particularly fond of Photon Beam, but even our frontliners can easily survive it.




He's also got a fairly powerful physical attack, but again, it's nothing a single Mend can't handle.



I manage to get the steal from him fairly early on. The Blue Bandana is an accessory that grants +8 SKL.





The main thing to know about Pendragon is that he's deceptive. As the battle goes on, you'll keep doing good amounts of damage to him while not taking much in return. After awhile you'll get complacent and start thinking, hey, this guy's not so bad, I'm probably going to beat him without any trouble at all.





And then the motherfucker will unleash Knights of the Round Table and carve your party, and especially your back row, into ribbons. Frankly I'm surprised Myst was able to survive this.




That said, he uses Knights extremely rarely, so if you can get your party back into fighting shape you'll probably be okay. I finally get a chance to show off Restore, and afterwards a few Mend-Alls get things back to normal.




But that doesn't mean we're out of the woods yet. Pendragon also will occasionally use Bright Excalibur, a physical attack that causes Blind. Since it's physical, that means it'll be hitting your frontliners, and they're the last people you want getting blinded. Fortunately I had a random Clearsight laying around to deal with this.



Then he blinded Bast.



At this point I said "fuck it" and decided I wanted the battle to be over as quickly as possible. So I busted out the attack items.




It turned out that by that point I only needed one.

Music: Boss Battle Won - Chrono Cross, "Victory (A Cry In Summer)"



As a reward we get the Holy Grail, whose use I'll get to in a second. More importantly, look at all my goddamn money. You can see now why I decided to wait to do the party vote until after this--with this much Arn I'll be able to forge up anything I want. Speaking of which, it's voting time! I'm doing things a little differently this time around, so check the end of this post for details.

Music: None




What's so special about that thing?
This grail contains the so-called water of life. It rejuvenates those who drink from it. It's an artifact of incredible power. I owe you. I've been searching for this city for years, investigating one rumor after the other with no success... until now.









And that's all there is to do in Avalon. Now, I suppose you all must be wondering what the Holy Grail is used for. As it turns out, it's an item much like our Herbs and Dusts.




Using it heals a good chunk of a character's HP, and unlike Herbs, it's reusable and the amount it heals scales as we progress through the game. The catch, however, is that the Grail can only be used by and on the person holding it. I can't really say what sort of situation it'd be useful in, since I spent most of my first playthrough of this game not knowing it existed. If anyone wants to chime in on this I'd be happy to hear what you guys think.




Also, just as we promised, we can go back to the guy in Harlinton and tell him about what we found.




Doing so results in us receiving our first buff spell, Regen. Regen is the light-aligned buff, and as its name implies, it causes the target to restore 10% of their max HP every time their turn comes around. It's a mighty expensive spell in terms of MP, though, and frankly I like the other buff spells better since the amount of HP Regen restores is pretty small. If we do end up using this, it probably won't be for awhile.



Now then, it's time for us to get around to what we were actually supposed to be doing this update and go see Rock. He's taken over Banhk's old mansion and we can find him there.



We've come here to speak to Rock. Is he inside?
He's very busy at the moment. What do you need him for?
Just tell him that Daniel Vinyard is here.



Glad to see our name's getting around.

... Wait here.





Fade to black...

Music: Rebel Leader - Final Fantasy Tactics, "Officer Cadet"





Last time I spoke to you, I was here as an emissary of the State Army. It's strange how things can go.
I don't find it strange at all. You've seen with your own eyes how weak and corrupt the State Union has become. I knew someone with your personality would clash with them sooner or later... but I didn't expect you to recover so quickly.
Talking like that, it seems you haven't changed one bit.



You have no reason to harm me.
Maybe not, but I'm sure you were thinking the same thing about the State Union before they tried to get rid of you. Well, enough about that. What brought you here?




Of course I have. The fabled legendary strategist of Kirgard, huh?
I'll get to the point immediately. I'm here to propose a military alliance between Kirgard and Highland.
An alliance? With us? Our numbers are nothing compared to yours. What do you need me for?
Zelmony will be defeated. It's inevitable now. No matter how much they resist, it's only a matter of time before Matrech falls. But I want to finish this as cleanly as possible. I want to prevent high casualties on both sides, not just out of goodness, but also to discourage further resistance.



A refusal to cooperate will be seen as an act of hostility towards Kirgard. I'm doing my best, but I can't guarantee that Highland won't be the next target after Zelmony. If Highland is conquered by Kirgard, it will come under direct control of the crown. You will be overthrown, and all your hard work will have been for nothing.






General Keyser, what are the risks involved for the Highland army?
The risks are minimal. The Highland army may have to fight, but we'll be supporting you... Perhaps I should just explain the whole plan from the beginning?
Go ahead, General.
Let's take a seat, then.

Fade to black...



If it turns out successful, it will allow us to take Mayfall City with little effort.
The current state of the Zelmony forces? Are you talking about their low morale?
It's more than just a low morale. They're desperate. They've lost control of Helman Island and Highland, Elysium Castle is a constant threat to the capital, and the State Army is in disarray. They know just as well as we do how hopeless their situation is, but they still cling on to their dying country. In this situation, they are very likely to grab any opportunity to regain some of their territory. Even if that territory is Highland.





We want to lure the Matrech Guard away while we attack Mayfall in the meantime.
But why would they try to reclaim Highland if they're sure to lose Mayfall in the process? Even if they're desperate, they're not stupid enough to do that.
I'm aware of that.



Now, you've leaked a secret plan to the State Army before, haven't you? Some of their spies are probably still active.
Yes, I have no doubts about that.
Good. We'll need them again. First, you must spread a message in such a way that it will definitely be picked up by a spy. Don't make it look intentional, but don't be too subtle about it either. This message will tell of the new alliance between Kirgard and Highland, and also mention reinforcements arriving from Kirgard. It will say that a large contingent of Kirgard troops is coming here, possibly to prepare an attack on Matrech. This won't entice them to attack Highland of course. If anything, it'll have the opposite effect.



That's why we'll release a second, "real" message. This one must be passed on to Zelmony in a more subtle way. We could even use a double agent to deliver it.



That sounds like a clever plan, but what is this second message supposed to say?
The second message confirms the alliance, but reveals a different turn of events. As you may know, Kirgard has suffered several attempted invasions from its eastern mountain tribes over the past few decades.



This urgent situation will require immediate attention, and so only General Knight will be staying behind in Mayfall. The aim is simple. Since part of the Kirgard and Highland armies are supposed to be temporarily leaving, the leaked message would look like it's meant to prevent an attack in the meantime. Once they receive the other news, they will think the first message was a ruse, and that Highland is left virtually undefended, while Kirgard is occupied at home.
A double layer of deception... Very clever, but wouldn't this situation sound a bit -too- good to be true?



I see. Then what is our -real- strategy going to be?
You'll need to assemble part of the Highland army at Ansee Port, to increase the believability of the story. Once there, they will indeed be picked up by our ships, but they will not go far. Instead, they'll lie at anchor a few miles away from the port. General Leonius and his fourth legion will join you there. As soon as there is word of an attack, both of you will move in to intercept them. Meanwhile, our troops at Amen Corner and Blackwater Port will lie in hiding as well. I will join General Knight at Blackwater, while Colonel Vinyard and the Elysium army take the Amen Corner position with Major Gunwood.




And so everything falls into place... I can see how you earned your reputation in Zelmony, General Keyser.
Does that mean you'll accept our offer, Rock? You have little to lose. If anything, it'll improve your relations with Kirgard, and you'll need that once they're your new neighbors.
Hmmm...
Are you still in doubt?




But... I've heard this promise being made before, and I'm very well aware that there was no intention on Kirgard's side of keeping it. Colonel Vinyard, if it had been anyone else asking this, I would have refused outright.



I hope that you'll continue to be a man of your word.
I'll do anything within my power to fulfill my promise. I guarantee that.
I'm expecting no less from you. Then for now, we're on the same side.
I'm glad to hear that. Would you like to accompany us back to Elysium castle to finish things up?
All right. They can handle things here without me for a while.




And Rock joins us temporarily.



Rock is the strongest character in the game. It's not even a contest. The dude is six levels behind Bast, and still has higher STR than him (he has 98). The problem is, Rock has the speed of... well, a rock. He's the second-slowest character in the game, behind Shadfork, and to top it off, he's also quite inaccurate, so it's quite likely that his powerful strikes will miss. But if you want lots of physical damage, you can't do better.





Rock attacks with a giant fuckoff hammer, and his damage is top-notch. This is without a critical or elemental advantage. But you can also see from the turn order how low his speed is--even Bast and Myst, our slowest characters, are getting two turns before Rock gets one.



Rock is also required for this next segment, along with Keyser, for some reason. More importantly, now that I've got a shitton of money, it's finally voting time! We're going to be doing things slightly differently this time around, but I'm also in a bit of an awkward position here. Here's the way things are going to work:

1) Please vote for five characters that aren't Daniel. As much as I wanted to remove this, Daniel is still required and will be the sixth character in the party. The reason for this is that the majority of the rest of this chapter will be spent with two characters aside from Daniel being required for one reason or another, which means I won't have the space to dump Daniel and the required characters in the entourage. However, as soon as it's no longer necessary I'll hold another vote where you'll all be able to vote for a full party.

2) That said, I'm no longer putting any restrictions on character categories. Vote for whichever five characters you want. My recommendation is that you vote for a party with two warriors, two mages, and a thief, but you're free to disregard that if you so desire. I would appreciate it, though, if you didn't vote for an obvious joke party like five mages or whatever.

3) Finally, I'm going to be taking a page out of the Fire Emblem LPs. If you want to see a certain character but don't care about the rest of the party slots, you may choose to leave your unused votes to me, and I will use them to balance the party if it ends up being too lopsided in terms of strength or magic. I'll try not to defy the will of the goons too much, but it's hard to say what I'll want to use the votes for without seeing the results first.

Here is the list of our current characters and the categories they fall under, as well as notable relations:

Warriors
Ayara, Bast, Derek, Griever, Jovian, Keyser, Mike, Outsider, Petra, Shiro, Rock

Mages
Beau, Deus, Ljusalf, Mai, Midian, Myst, Naja, Orlando, Yan Angwa

Thieves
Joe, Rorschach

Other/Hybrid
Alex, Angel, Bartolli, Carson, Cid, Col, Deke, Fitch, Francesca, Johnny, King, Klaus, Mandala, Meiko, Nikolai, Nomad, Richard, Royston, Sally, Shadfork, Stromgaard, Teej, Venkal, Wilona

Notable relations
Daniel/Angel/Jovian (all have A- or B-rank relations with both others)
Bast/Shiro (A-rank both ways)
Griever/Klaus (A-rank both ways)
Mike/Outsider (A-rank both ways)
Ayara->Daniel (A-rank, not reciprocated)
Derek/Myst (Derek->Myst is F-rank, Myst->Derek is B-rank)
Deke/Joe (F-rank both ways)

Please bold your votes. You have 48 hours to cast them. I'm also going to suspend interviews and interview requests while voting is open so they don't get confused with party votes.

Next time: An unexpected ally joins us in the battle for Mayfall.