Part 22: Talon and Talon Mine

Main Walkthrough

Alex and company have reached the outskirts of Ruid, fortress of the Vile Tribe, only to be stopped at the front door. Unsurprisingly, it won't open for them. You can rectify this by visiting the small, egg-shaped structure to the southeast of Ruid. This is Cadin, and a familiar face inside will give the team a password for entering Ruid.

Ruid

Enemies

  • Baigen - 234 HP - Melee and ranged opponent - Weak to Fire, Ice, Thunder, Wind
  • Devastator - 279 HP - Has a strong AOE attack
  • Flash Lord - 185 HP - Has a Thunder AOE attack - Weak to Sword, resists Fire, Ice, Thunder
  • Master Mirror - 98 HP - Melee opponent - Resists Sword

The first thing to note is that Ruid is fantastic for building up levels. Some of these enemy groups will give upwards of 5,000 experience per kill, and the enemies aren't that difficult to defeat. That said, you don't want to spend too much time leveling here, at least not yet. If / when you decide to do some grinding, you can use the statue of Althena in Cadin to heal up and head back in.

Ruid is nice and straightforward, for the most part. Head north. The chest in the small room to the right of the entrance contains a Silver Light. The chest in the small room northwest of the first chest contains a Star Light. The third chest, a bit further down the hall and on your right, contains a Fortune Ring. In the northeast is a final chest containing a Dark Mace.

Leave the entry hall and you'll wind up outside. Head north along the railway tracks and you'll see a room on your left with two chests. They contain a Healing Nut and a Silver Light. Continue north and you'll find two buildings on your right. The northern building has a chest that contains a Fire Armlet, while the southern building leads you to the next area.

The next small enemy-filled area has a chest containing a Tri-Ring. Climb the stairs in the northeast, then again in the next small area, to find an eastbound hallway. Ignore the stairs just south of the entrance to this area - they lead nowhere - and go east. There are more stairs to climb, and they will take you up to a laboratory...

... and, to everyone's delight, a very punchable fellow is pitted against the party.

Mage Masher

Weakness: Fire, Ice

Nash, you little fool. The party finally gets their chance to put Nash in his place for his betrayal, and, yes, he may not be in control right now, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the fight. The Mage Masher uses the following attacks:

  • Normal melee attacks
  • Thunder Bolt, a single-target Thunder attack
  • Thunder Bomb, an AOE Thunder attack
  • Thunder Shower, a Thunder attack against the whole party
Ultimately this fight is not that big of a deal. The Mage Masher is slow, and most of its attacks don't do that much damage. Thunder Bolt is the only big exception, though even it usually can't do enough to knock out your whole party. The usual rules apply: Buff up Alex and Kyle, let them loose, and heal with Jessica. Mia's single-target spells do a nice amount of damage here, as well.

Once the battle is over Nash will officially come to his senses, and he'll spend the rest of the game getting nagged for being so stupid, since he rejoins the party. (And he is all caught up with everyone in levels, so you don't need to worry about leveling Nash.) Follow Taben, the Mage Masher's inventor...


... and you'll catch up juuuuust in time to watch the Magic Emperor roll away in his new toy, the Grindery. It's on a collision course with the Green Earth, everyone's home, and you'll need to pursue it back in the airship.

Leave Ruid and return to the world map. Look southwest of Ruid and you'll discover that the Grindery has created a nice hill over the crater surrounding Ruid, giving you an easy path back to the airship. Before you sail back to Green Earth, however, reenter the Talon Mine and make your way back to the room where you saved the miner from the rockslide, about halfway through the mine. Speak to the purple miner in the southwest corner of the room a few times and he'll give you Xenobia's Bromide.

The folks in Talon have plenty of new dialogue, if you want to learn their feelings on the departure of the Grindery. Otherwise, head back to the airship and set sail. You have an emperor to stop.

Main Walkthrough