Part 26: Arachnophobia
Music: Dreams Showed by a Cloud of Dust
Now that we've rescued Aht, there's suddenly a new NPC by the palace gates. Nothing else has changed, so obviously this guy is important to progress the plot.
"I've seen you wandering around. Do you need some help? I know all about this area."

"...Yes."

"Whoa... Slow down there. I've heard rumors about you. ...You're supposed to be quite skilled."

"Sorry, pal. Information is my life. You need info; I need to get something in return."

"This won't cost you any money. I need to borrow your skills. My older brother wants to fight a skilled opponent. ...Are you up for it?"

"You can spend your time fighting, or waste your time searching in vain for that lady. Your call. And don't even think about finding another informant. I run the info game in this town. ...So? What's it going to be, Mr. Gladiator?"
I got it.
"...My older brother holds public fighting tournaments in the town square. If you win enough, you'll get to fight him. If you can defeat him, then you'll get the information you desire. ...Good luck."
We can enter the tournament by talking to a gladiator in the town square just south of the palace.

Yeah
"Okay. You seem to have your reasons... I'm not going to ask. Here's your pass. Come back here when you're ready."
Obtained Wood Emblem
The Wood Emblem is just a key. If you talk to him while you're holding it, he'll let you fight the first opponent.

Music: The Edge of Green

The Lizard Rider is a unique enemy, but this really can't be considered a boss fight, the enemies are no stronger than your average mooks.
The Lizard Rider can actually only be fought once, even using the White Chronicle to go back in time. He doesn't have anything important to steal though, (just an Herbal Tea), so it doesn't really matter.

Obtained Stone Emblem
Like the Wood Emblem, speaking to the gladiator while holding the Stone Emblem triggers the next fight. You can't drop key items and the Stone Emblem overrides the Wood Emblem, which is why you can only fight the Lizard Rider once.
Obtained Emerald
In addition to the emblems, each fight has its own reward. The Emerald just raises poison resistance, I've already got like, four of these.
We can save or sleep in the inn or whatever we want between battles. When we're ready to proceed, we just talk to the gladiator.

Bram: Stocke... Of all the random places to run into you!

Bram: Huh? What're you talking about? Whatever! I've got a score to settle with you! This fight won't be anything like last time!
"Combatants, draw your weapons! Let the match begin!"

It's round 2 with the Desert Crows, and they are nasty.
Well, not really. Bram can do some pretty serious damage to Aht, with her low physical defense, but they're really not a big threat. Hertz does compliment Bram's massive attack power by using Guard Break, but it seems like Guard Break only works a fifth of the time, so it really doesn't change much.

They can get into formation and boost their attack power, but pushing them out of it is trivial, and you can even use this formation to your advantage.

By putting a trap where one of them needs to stand to enter formation, you can goad them into stepping on it all by themselves.
The battle is made trivial by pushing them together and then onto one of Aht's traps. They're really nothing special.

Bram: I had my sights set on the gold prize this year, too!
Obtained Metal Emblem
And now that we have the Metal Emblem, we can never repeat this battle with Bram and Hertz. We also get a Madre Blade for our troubles. It's an attack-focused sword that also increases your max HP by 75.
"It seems we have a victor... You even drove off Bram, and he was a worthy opponent. In honor of your skill, you will face me next."
When we're ready to take on the gladiator, we just have to talk to him and show him the Metal Emblem.
Music: Impending Crisis

"But only... if you can break through the power of my Chi!"




"...So not even you can break my spell. Then defeat will be engraved into your body!"





Go with Aht's plan
Music: Blue Radiance


"I don't know what you're up to, but it's futile!"

Aht glows bright, and...


"What!? Aaaagh!! Wh-What the...!? What did you--"


"Gragh! I can't believe you broke through my Chi..."


Music: Where the Wind and Feathers Return
Stocke runs to Aht's side.





Aht sparkles and her body disappears.

Aht gathered her life energy and used it to burst through the power of Chi. The gladiator's shock gave Stocke his opening, and he emerged as the victor. But with her life energy sapped, Aht vanished from the world... Stocke continued to win, and eventually came to be known as the land's strongest warrior. Aht gave her life for his victory, and Stocke knows he cannot afford to lose. His fight will carry on for as long as he lives...
"Aht's Sacrifice"
FIN
Music: The Melody Connecting the World





...
Music: Impending Crisis





"Are you ready? Take this!"



"You're a good fighter... But you lack training in battles where Chi is a factor. Ever since I learned this spell, only one man has ever succeeded in defeating me."

"He was a young Gutral warrior. He may be of a different race, but he is the kind of warrior I strive to be. He broke a Gutral law and faced me to protect the pride of his people."

"I believe he was exiled from the Gutral village of Forgia for his transgression. ...But until you learn how to control Chi, you don't stand a chance against me."
There's a bright flash, and Lippti and Teo appear.
Music: The Melody Connecting the World






Lippti and Teo vanish in a flash.










Aht storms away.

To progress, we go back to A New Alliance in the Alternate History, and choose to team up with Forgia.

The scene continues as normal until the point. Lippti and Teo vanish, and Stocke approaches Gafka. (Who is standing directly to the left, facing the tree. I'm stupid and when I took this screenshot I forgot people other than Stocke and Aht aren't visible when Lippti and Teo appear.)








Music: Wildness and Toughness


Stocke does so.

Stocke swings his sword.


Stocke continues to attack the air, and the screen fades to black.


Gafka punches at the air, and the screen fades out and back in again.




Gafka charges at Stocke as the screen fades to white, and...

Music: To the Future that Awaits Ahead




Obtained Anti-Chi Seal

Our mastery over Chi has no gameplay benefits, it is literally a key to progress in the Standard History and nothing more.
...







Music: The Red Locus

The gladiator (named Gold Shell Gadeff for some reason) is mostly a pushover. His best attack is Repeated Slash, which hit Aht three times for about 70 damage each. He can also use Charge to boost his attack power, at which point Repeated Slash becomes devastating, dealing over 100 damage with each hit.
But as long as you poison him and abuse Aht's traps, he's pretty easy. After the battle Aht hit level 33 and learned Area G-Heal, the skill that makes her the best healer. As you can probably guess from the name, it's Greater Heal, but it targets everyone. Marco and Eruca learn it too, but they both learn it at level 60, so Aht will be the superior healer for a long while.
Music: Victory!

Obtained Sword Emblem
Obtained Gospel Armor
"Show my brother the Sword Emblem, and your desires shall be granted."
The Gospel Armor boosts DEF and MDF by a significant amount, and also boosts LUC by 20.
The Sword Emblem lets us proceed with the plot, and also opens up another battle in the tournament. From this point on the tournament becomes a sidequest, but we couldn't possibly complete it right now, so I'll save it for later.
Music: Dreams Showed by a Cloud of Dust

"Good job, Mr. Gladiator. Looks like you defeated my brother in an entertaining fight... I just wanted to give my brother the true test of his abilities that he desired."

"Easy, there. I'm a man of my word. The woman you're looking for is imprisoned in the castle. The cells are on the right. I told the gatekeeper to be expecting you. You're supposed to be bringing her her meal, so make sure you keep that in mind. ...I wish you luck."

The cells are directly east of this guy, so we head over there.

The guard stands aside, and we enter.






????: Whoa, come on! Don't push!
????: Ahhhhhh!!
There's a thud to the left, and everyone looks in that direction.
Music: To the Future that Awaits Ahead

How convenient, they've saved me the trouble of tracking them down.












Music: Impending Crisis

Hedge: Report!
"Yes, Sir! Fully matured Hell Spiders coming in from the northwest! Four of them to be exact, Sir!"
Hedge: F-Four!? Are you sure you weren't seeing double!?
"N-No, of course not..."

"Sir!"
Garland and his men head south, outside of the city.

"Aaaaaagh!"
Citizens of the city are running around in a panic.














We run back to the cells to pick up Eruca.






To avoid explaining just how Stocke opened the lock, the screen fades out, and when it fades back in Eruca is standing outside the cell.







To fight the Hell Spider, we just have to leave the city. I wanted to use Eruca for this fight, but she's level 24 and is more of a liability than anything else, so I settled for Raynie and Marco. Why not Aht, you ask? Well...
Boss: Hell Spider
Music: The Red Locus

It's huge! The Hell Spider takes up all 9 spaces on the grid (and its body extends well past them and off the screen, even), so it cannot be pushed. Area G-Heal can be useful for this fight, but without her traps, Aht isn't an ideal party member.

For this battle, I started by casting Magic Boost on Raynie and poisoning the spider while I was at it. Raynie is going to be our main source of damage for this battle, with her spell G-Fire.

The Hell Spider hits hard, but it's slow, so it doesn't hit terribly often. When I tried this battle with Eruca she literally could not survive a single attack from the Hell Spider, due to a combination of low DEF and HP.

Marco himself doesn't have a lot of damage output, so I used him for healing, and when I didn't need to heal, I used Trans-turn to give Raynie an extra action. With Stocke I used Double Slash to boost the combo count by as much as possible, alternating between his strikes and Raynie's G-Fire. Air Assault does not work on the Hell Spider, because it simply weighs too much.

The Hell Spider will sometimes choose to be merciful and attack with Speed Down. It looks like that goo should hit everyone, but it's actually a single-target attack.
Toward the middle of the battle I put together a big combo and decided to use Phantom Gain to boost the counter. A Turn Break probably would have been more useful, but I wanted a reason to actually use a level 2 Mana Burst.

The Hell Spider's most dangerous attack is Death Grind. It hits the entire party multiple times for massive damage. The spider can use it for the entire battle, but when the spider is almost dead it will use it every single turn and wreck you.
I'm really not happy with how this battle went, but it's the best video I managed to get, so there it is. In hindsight, it probably would have been a better idea to save my huge 19 hit combo until the end, since the spider isn't too dangerous at the beginning.
Music: Impending Crisis


"I'm sorry, Sir!"
Hedge: You fool! You call yourself a soldier? What if--








"Where's the spider that got through!?"
"It must have made it to the city!"










Hedge: N-Now just a moment! What are you doing with that woman!? We had her locked inside the prison!







Hedge: !
Hedge: ...That's it! I've figured it out!

Music: To the Battlefield
Hedge: I knew this woman had a familiar look about her... ...Bwaha, what an unexpected bounty. There's no mistaking it... This woman is none other than Princess Eruca.

Hedge: That is correct. We've stumbled on quite a trump card. Our conference with Sir Dias is drawing near. Princess Eruca is his political enemy. If we hand her over to him...


Hedge: What was that, gladiator dog!? It isn't your place to decide such matters!

Hedge: B-But...

Hedge: ...Y-You can't m-mean that...

Hedge: Aieeeeee!!
Hedge flees from the city.


Music: To the Future that Awaits Ahead










Music: The Melody Connecting the World

