Part 13: Tournaments and Vampires
Chapter 11 - Tournaments and Vampires
When last we left off, we were getting some really neat items from
GET EQUIPPED WITH:
Glory Staff - Bless as a built-in tech. (Magic defense boost to one I think?)
Masquerade - Starts as an epee, use Awakening to turn into a Big Sword.
Holy King Spear - Victory Song as a built-in tech (party damage up).
Seven Star Sword - Learns Starburst which transforms the sword into a 60 attack power sword for that battle.
Devil King Axe - 42 attack power BUT it doubles all Tech and Magic skill cost. Has Final Strike as a skill but it won't destroy the weapon upon use.
The Holy King Spear is the most useful out of this set, but the Seven Star Sword is the most powerful normal sword once transformed in battle. It's a shame that none of my characters are using normal swords!Now, Loanne is unlocked for us but we can't enter the palace just yet. Won't be able to go there until at least one Abyss Gate is sealed up! Let's see what's going on in Zweig, I heard that there was a tournament being hosted there!
Do I! Let's see what the rules are, first.
Soldier: The rule is to perform a one to one group match. The winner will stay, and the loser will be out. The team can have anyone, and any number of persons. There is no restriction on fighting methods. The champion will receive a prize from Duke Zweig.
Here's the listings of the tournament! We have some very interesting teams here I'm sure. I'm going for the Goblins myself.
How this works is that you set the order in which your team will play. It's one on one, but when someone dies they are automatically replaced until the very last one dies. Try to space out the powerhouses in your group and don't put your weakest last! Counter techs in this section are pretty powerful depending upon the enemy you fight.
All of the fights are pretty much the same when it comes down to it. You fight a chain encounter of enemies and then you'll win. It's a short sidequest if you're appropriately levelled but it can be rough if you end up fighting a Red Dragona t the end of it.
Here's the final team I ended up fighting. I got lucky and didn't have to deal with the dragons. Also I didn't really show the other matches because it was mostly Boston spamming counter over and over.
Final Match - Wall of Hell 
What was the point of all of this? Well, you get a hefty sum of cash in the form of 10000G, as well as a Gold Medal!
Duke Zweig: Right now it's in the hand of the vampire in Podol. That monster seizes the Holy King relics for some reason. We must get it back!
This unlocks Podol and the ability to complete the dungeon that is in the castle there. Duke Zweig must not know that Leonid is an ally to Mikhail, but hey it's alright. Nobody's doing any staking here.
Podol is a cool town if you take the whole vampire aspect out of it. There's an inn, a pub, and a mage selling moon magic in one of the houses. The objective is to go up to the castle here...
Katrina: just break it open!
Not pictured above is Katrina taking a step back and the door opening. How amazing! Let's go in and see what all of the fuss is about.
Katrina, of course, gets right down to business.
Leonid: Yes, but it is underground. Please go there to get it. Of course, you must stay alive on your way there. Ha ha ha ha....
Vampires have to be dicks on principle I think. In either case, to the right is an area for you to get a free inn recovery. To the left has a room full of enemies and then the start of a dungeon!
This guy right here is a fixed fight of five gargoyles. Easy as pie if you beat the Zweig tournament. Go through this room and you're ready for Leonid's dungeon.
Alright! This is a fairly short and direct dungeon as far as things are concerned, but there are some fixed fights that have to be cleared before you can access treasures. They're pretty hairy too if you aren't really that strong, and it's complete suicide if you come down here during the other intro with anyone but Harid, Mikhail, and Katrina.
Just wanting to point out here that the room to your upper right there is a dead end, just continue on downward and you'll reach...
The next fixed fight! Just continue on until you get to the next juncture here.
One thing I do want to point out here for anyone using a Big Sword character: Alves are a very precious enemy to encounter. You can steal a Victory Katana from them providing you have learned Stealing hands as a counter skill. TO learn it, use Shadow move and hope that they attack you. This is better facilitated by putting the big swords character in the middle in Phoenix Dance formation. You can steal weapons if you have a weapon/shield slot open in the equipment section and the enemy attacks with a weapon skill.
Alves ALSO drop the Beauty Katana rarely. MAKE SURE TO GET THIS as it is the best Big Sword in the game at 43 attack power and no ice barrier problems.
Aside from that, continue on until you find this cheery fellow.
The last fixed battle, and also:
He's relatively powerful! He'll regen at 999 per turn and can take some fair punishment. However, he's still undead so that means Evil Breaker from Kung Fu and Southern Cross from Epees will do a number on him. After that, go up to collect the dragon scales
and the rune staff. Go down to head outside and get to the final area of this place.
We made it!
You will receive the Holy Grail now if you have a free inventory slot. With that, Podol is complete! Now, when you have a free party slot AND the Holy Grail, Leonid will offer to join your party.
That ties up most of the loose ends, but there's one more thing we need to do to prepare! Let's head over to Pidona and take a visit to the Devil King's Palace.
This time, head all the way down once you take the stairs in the first room. Keep on going until you get to this scene.
From here you can go right and reach the lower levels relatively easily, but you'll miss on an important treasure. The way down via the lower left stairs is where you normally would go.
Basically, head lower until you find this treasure chest here. It's important!
Message: Praise Death! It is lucky to die. Now, to lucky place.
I'm sure that must've been an ornate prayer or maybe even haiku, but here it's engrish. This is important for later on with the secret. Continue your way down until you find the red carpet area.
Down through the door below is a room with a fixed battle of five enemies that guards a teleporter. Clear the room out and then go back up. From then, just keep on going up until you reach this door here.
Cryptic message right? Remember, though, a kid here said that the Royal Ring is an heirloom of the Holy King and it was being kept by the Holy King's descendants, right?
Leave this dungeon via the shortcut and go to Lance.
There we go! We can now access three out of four of the abyss dungeons, as the wind dungeon requires at least one gate to be sealed first.
I am going to do the Water gate first because it is part of a secret. You shall see on my next update, but until then please vote on where you'd like me to go next?
The choices are: EARTH, WIND, FIRE
Arakes, Byunei, and Aunas respectively.