After three months of living in a drafty, abandoned mansion and tending to imaginary children, Glenn has suddenly been given control of his own clan, the Crimson Wings. The clan's next mission is to track down and recruit Princess Amalia, whom you met in Farnsport. First, though, there's the simple matter of exploring the world.

Reaching this point of Chained Echoes has unlocked several new features that are worth exploring, and each will have you poking around Valandis. Let's take a look at each.

Hermit's Isle

First off is your new base. Hermit's Isle is the home of the Crimson Wings from this point on, and though it starts off fairly humble you can greatly expand the island's services by recruiting new members to the clan. The more people you meet, the nicer this place will look. Which brings us to our next topic...


Recruiting New Members

Exit the interior of Hermit's Isle and head south. You'll come to a dock, and you'll see Lenne and Robb speaking to a robed woman named Falora. She'll join the clan, and will offer to find you new recruits for 1,000a (though what she offers you are just hints). You'll find Falora on the east side of the interior of Hermit's Isle.

Whenever you find and recruit someone to the Crimson Wings they will come to Hermit's Isle. They'll usually improve it in some way, as well, either by offering new services or just improving it aesthetically. The more recruits you have, the more sense it makes to revisit Hermit's Isle between missions. This guide will help you track down new recruits, a number of which you can get right now - though many more won't unlock until you get further into the game.

You can find new recruits by Fast Travelling back to places you've already visited. That said, you now have a new way to explore Valandis...


The Airship

As an added bonus, you now have control of the Himmelskaiser, Sienna's airship. Operated by Haku, the Himmelskaiser will allow you to explore the world map, setting down at places that you haven't yet visited. The airship is a great method for opening up Valandis, expanding your crew, and hunting down side quests. 

What's that? Side quests? Glad you asked...


Side Quests

Now that Valandis is your oyster to plunder, you can start taking on tasks above and beyond the main story. Included in this are the game's side quests. Every now and then you'll come across someone who needs help, and Glenn's band will throw in their assistance. Partaking of side quests is usually worth the time and effort, and may earn you rewards as useful as new party members.

There are a few side quests you can undertake right away:
Exploring Old Areas

In addition to everything above, you now have access to Sky Armor. This allows you to revisit previous areas of the game, fly around, and pick up items that you couldn't reach before. Let's have a look around.


Rohlan Fields
  • In northwestern Rohlan Fields, above the entrance to the Eternal Flame Temple, is a landing that you can only reach in Sky Armor. Among the ruins up here you'll find three Amber Crystals, chests containing two Exchange Parts and a Manor Key, and a metal box containing All Immunity RAM.
  • In northern Rohlan Fields is a lake with a locked mansion. To the east of the mansion is a small island with a metal box. Inside the box is Attacker's RAM. The Manor Key from above the Eternal Flame Temple will get you inside the home, and if you make your way to the bedroom on the second floor you'll find a secret passage in the south to the west side of the mansion. Here you'll find chests containing Charon's Coin Bag and a Rusty Rapier.
  • Southeast of the Seaside Village, in the south of Rohlan Fields, is an island in the middle of the sea. Fly out to it and you'll find a metal box containing four Element Resist RAMs.
  • Just south of the bridge into Farnsport in southeastern Rohlan Fields is a ledge with a metal box on it. Fly out to the box and you'll find All Out RAM inside.

Kortara Mountain Range
  • In the south of Kortara, on the other side of the bridge that got blown to pieces earlier in the game, you'll find metal boxes containing a Biologist RAM and a Mage's RAM. There are also two Amber Crystals in the southwest corner of the area, and if you check the south you'll see two signs leading to buried treasure. They're pointing to the top-left corner of a splash of darker rock to the north of the right sign, where you'll find 7,009a.
  • In the southwest of Kortara you'll find a metal box on the edge of a forest, sitting on a ledge by itself, if you travel southwest of the entrance to the Wygrand Mines. The box contains SP Up RAM. In the southeast of this same area you'll find an Amber Crystal and a red chest containing a Silph Armlet. If you hover down onto the island in the middle of this area you'll run into Dwelly of the Valley, a Unique Monster.
  • In the southeast of Kortara is a forest that you couldn't access earlier. Now it is open to exploration, and you can find two metal boxes, one containing Evasion RAM and Status Resist II RAM, on the west and east sides of the upper section of the forest. In the southeast you'll find a chest containing four Monster Fangs. This area is heavily populated with Waterflies, and killing a bunch of them (20 or so) will trigger a Unique Monster called Gol D. Waterfly to spawn one map to the north.
  • In the northeast of Kortara you'll find a few free-floating, rocky islands in the northeast corner. On one is a dour man who is clearly going to be important some day, on another is a metal box containing Android RAM, and on the third, largest island is a metal box containing Treasurer RAM. There's also an Amber Crystal on the third island, and an Adventurer's Guild guy with some tips about local Unique Monsters.
In addition to all these items, you'll find a camp belonging to some familiar faces in the heretofore unexplored central section of the Kortara Mountain Range. We'll explore this place in another guide.


Flower Fields of Perpetua
  • Check the southeast cliffs of the western area of the fields. You'll find a metal box containing Status Resist I RAM.
  • Sitting along the eastern shoreline of the central area of the fields is a metal box. Inside is Passive RAM.
  • Look along the ledges in the southeast of Perpetua's northwest area. There's a metal box here containing Critical Chance RAM.
Now that you have Sky Armor you can also access the south, southwestern, southeastern, and eastern sections of the Flower Fields of Perpetua, which consist largely of a huge desert. The enemies in these areas are way too powerful for you, even if you're strutting around in Sky Armor, so we'll skip this stuff for now and come back in another guide. (Though if you do want to get the treasure that's available, you can. Just... don't fight anything.)

In addition to revisiting locations, you can also check out a few brand-new areas, including:
All three are packed with new items, and traveling to the Arkant Archipelago in particular will net you a new character for your party, with a fairly minimal time investment on your part. If you just want to get on with the plot, though, you'd best head back to Basil, in the Rohlan Fields. The story picks up again from there.

Part 27: Searching for a Princess - Dancing City of Farnsport