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Mysidia
- Cecil washes up on a long-distant shore from his destination. Make the quick trip to the nearby town and… well, people won’t be happy with you.
- Mysidia’s people don’t like Cecil. If you go around talking to people they’ll likely cast spells on you, such as the dude near the entrance who uses Toad if you speak to him. Should this happen, speak to the same person again and they’ll cast the spell a second time, turning you back to normal.
- On the right side of town are an Item Shop and an Inn / Pub. To the left are a Weapon Shop and an Armour Shop. Neither are terribly useful to Cecil on his own, but you may want to revisit this place once you have new party members.
- To the north is the Manor of Prayers. Speak to the Elder inside and, eventually, he’ll give Cecil a mission: travel to Mt. Ordeals, far to the east. He’ll appoint two young mages, Palom and Porom, to accompany Cecil. Palom uses black magic, and has the Bluff command to temporarily boost his magic’s damage; Porom uses white magic, and has the Cry command to make escaping battle a bit easier. Together they can use the Twin command, which, after a long charging time, results in a powerful, all-hitting magic attack. The twins both belong in the back row.
- Follow the bends of the land to the east. The enemies ‘round these parts are largely familiar, with the exception of Zus. If you equip the Deathbringer Cecil stands a good chance of KOing these things in one hit, which is handy given their high HP. Eventually you’ll find a large cluster of mountains…
Mt. Ordeals
- This is not a huge area, but it’s tricky for one very important reason: Cecil’s sword is almost useless. Most enemies here will take little to no damage from his attacks. You’ll need to use Palom and Porom’s magic to destroy most clusters of enemies. Fire is a good choice, as are Porom’s restorative spells. Spirits and Souls are a nice exception to the undead rule, and Cecil can prove quite useful taking them down. Note that Dark will hurt undead creatures, though using it over and over is not a great idea.
- Make your way north. There are chests containing two Potions on the first screen, and on the second… Tellah! He rejoins the party. His presence will lessen Porom’s fire-casting burden.
- On the third screen there’s a minor split in the path. Head all the way west to find an Ether, then backtrack and head north up the mountain. Near the next passage is another Ether.
- You’ll find a save point on the right once you reach the Summit. Make sure you use it, as a boss is about to hit.
Scarmiglione
Accompanied by four HP-absorbing Skullnants, Scarmiglione is a fairly simple fiend. If he’s not casting Thunder on a member of your party, he’s whacking them with a weak physical attack. Take out the Skullnants with some strong Fire or Fira attacks (hopefully Palom knows Fira by now), then go to town on Scarmiglione himself. Fira is great, especially if bolstered by Bluff. Scarmiglione is not undead, so Cecil’s physical attacks work just fine.
Pop back to the save point and use a Tent if that battle did you in, ‘cause you’re not finished yet. Scarmiglione makes a comeback in a back attack when you try to cross the rest of the bridge. The real battle begins now. Swap your row to start, then get to work. This version of Scarmiglione ditches Thunder for poisoning, and will likely inflict it on your entire party. This is not so much a problem as Scarmiglione’s normal attacks, which hurt quite a bit when they hit one of your three casters. Cast Protect on everyone, then use either curative spells or Fire / Fira on Scarmiglione. If Palom Bluffs himself once or twice and then uses Fira he can easily take Scarmiglione out on his own. Cecil’s sword, once again, works fine during this battle.
- Past the bridge is a small tomb. Without spoiling what happens, you’ll get into a battle with Cecil alone, now transformed into a paladin. Defend throughout the fight to win. Simple.
- Cecil is now, basically, a different character. He starts over at level one, and in exchange for losing the Dark ability he gains basic white magic and the Cover command, allowing him to leap in front of weakened allies when they’re about to take damage. Cecil can no longer use his old equipment, so you’ll either have to settle for whatever’s in your inventory, or, if you spent the coin, the stuff you bought in advance while visiting Mysidia. At the very least he now has the Sword of Legend, which works wonders against the undead of Mt. Ordeals.
- Also? Tellah has regained all of his spells. He knows freaking everything, including the ultimate spell, Meteor. His MP never increases, though, so you’ll have to content yourself with weaker spells… or one or two very strong ones on rare occasions.
- Head back to Mysidia. (You’ll have to kill Zus with Thunder and Thundara from this point on, as auto-kill is no longer an option.) If you didn’t get the gear before, sell all of Cecil’s dark equipment now and outfit him with paladin fare at the Armour Shop. Then head back to the Elder and speak to him. He’ll open the way back to Baron via the Devil’s Road, a teleporter south and to the right of the Elder’s Manor. Step inside and you’ll automatically whiz across the world.