The first Errantry location that your daughter is likely to visit in Princess Maker 2, the Eastern Woodland is sort of a 'starter' area. The enemies here are still dangerous, but a daughter who has spent a chunk of her first year in Kung Fu class should be able to survive most of this area's trials without too much difficulty.
To safely traverse the majority of the Eastern Woodland you should fulfill these minimum requirements:
- Get your daughter's Combat Skill up to at least 60 or 70, if not higher. Attack should be about the same. Defense is always useful, but not a necessity for the Eastern Woodland. Kung Fu and Fencing will get your daughter what she needs.
- A Stamina of 200+ will give your daughter enough HP to survive just about every battle. The more, the better.
- If you plan on casting magic instead of fighting you'll still want to raise your daughter's Combat Skill, but you'll also need to work on her Magic Skill, Magic Attack, and Intelligence, so her spells are effective. You'll probably have to delay the trip a bit if you intend to rely on magic, as Magic classes are a bit pricey compared to Kung Fu.
- Your daughter should be wearing Leather Armor, at a minimum, and the best weapon you can afford. If your daughter is more of a magic user you can cheap out on the weapon, though be ready for trouble if she runs out of MP.
Navigation
Despite being the 'easiest' area to explore, the Eastern Woodland is arguably the toughest to navigate. There are several holes that transport your daughter from one area to another, and two of these sets of holes are hidden in swamps. The only way to find them is to accidentally step on one and sink into the mire.
Like most of the Errantry areas, you can do a full circuit of the Eastern Woodland and find a second exit. It's just north of the entrance, and requires you to go counterclockwise through the woods.
Monsters
The monster encounters in the Eastern Woodland are the easiest you'll face in Princess Maker 2. The monsters get tougher as you move deeper into the woods. A Sensitivity value of 200+ will allow you to talk to most of the monsters, the only exceptions being the Maneater and the Pseudodragon, which both require 600+.
- Amoeba - Swampy areas only
- Drop: None
- Bat-Man - Grassy areas only
- Drop: Healing Pill
- Pseudodragon - Southeastern clearing only
- Drop: Fairy Nectar
- Sorgel Mantis - Anywhere
- Drop: None
- Wildcat - Northwestern area
- Drop: Cat's Eye Gem
- Wretch Condor - Anywhere
- Drop: None
Events
Below is a listing of the events you can trigger while exploring the Eastern Woodland. Some are repeatable, while others can only be triggered once.
Fairy Encounters
There are two places where your daughter can encounter faeries in the Eastern Woodlands, assuming her Sensitivity is greater than 150:
- In the cleared section of forest, in the southeast corner of the woods
- Within the circle of stones, in the east of the woods
In order to make the faeries appear your daughter needs to set up camp and sleep in either of these two areas. If you set up near the stones the faeries will increase your daughter's Cooking stat, whereas if you set up in the cleared section of forest they will increase your daughter's Art stat. In both cases they will wipe out all of your daughter's Stress.
Unless you're interested in a housekeeping or artistic ending, you shouldn't visit the faeries too often. The bonuses they offer are permanent, and if your daughter's stats rise too much you'll be forced into one of those endings. Note that the Art encounter (the faeries keep the daughter up dancing all night) will slightly reduce your daughter's Stamina, as well.
The Unicorn
If you visit the clearing in the southeast of the Eastern Woodland you'll find the remains of several felled trees. If you play the Unicorn Flute while standing in this clearing - you can buy it from the Traveling Merchant for 1,000 gold - a Unicorn will appear and ask for the flute, after you've camped out for a night. You can hand the flute over to receive 50 Sensitivity. If you refuse to hand over the flute the Unicorn will instead reduce your daughter's Elegance.
It's important to note that Pseudodragons hang out in this corner of the Eastern Woodland. They're quite a bit stronger than everything else in this area, so you may want to attempt to hide - or flee - if you meet one.
The Tree Elf
If you head to the northeast of the forest you'll find a hole. Enter it to zip over to a tree that apparently belongs to the elves of the Eastern Woodland. If your daughter has 200 or more Sensitivity she'll see an elf standing guard next to the tree.
If your daughter is wearing any iron equipment (swords, metal armor, etc.) the elf will flee. Otherwise, he'll ask for some of your daughter's Combat Skill. Sacrificing 5 points of Combat Skill will earn your daughter a +5 bonus to Magic Skill, Magic Attack, and Magic Defense.
Bandit - Bernazard
The first of the three bandits whom your daughter can encounter on her adventures lives in the Eastern Woodland. To reach Bernazard you'll need to take this route from the entrance:
- Travel east from the entrance until you hit a crossroads
- Go north, then east, to find a bog
- Look along the north side of the bog to find a hole that will send you to another bog, further north
- Walk west out of the bog (watch out for another hole, directly to your left) until you find a stone circle with a chest in the middle
- Go counterclockwise around the rocks, then look south to find a third bog
- Check the upper-left corner of the bog to find a hidden hole leading into the circle of rocks
Bernazard doesn't appear every time you pop into the rock enclosure, and you may need to hop in and out a few times before he shows himself.
Like the other bandits, Bernazard will attempt to bribe your daughter into letting him go. If you accept you'll receive 80 gold, and your daughter's Sin count will increase by 20 points. If you refuse you'll need to fight Bernazard. He has quite a bit of health, but isn't a great fighter. A Combat Skill of around 70, a decent weapon, and 200+ Stamina should be enough to get you through the battle.
If you defeat Bernazard you'll receive 30 gold and some Leather Armor. Upon returning home an official from the palace will give your daughter a further 500 gold, and either her Fighter or Magic Reputation will jump up 30 points. If Bernazard wins the fight and your daughter has 100+ Charisma there will be an extra cut scene, resulting in a relationship boost between your daughter and Cube.
Treasure Chests
- Elf tree chest (enter the hole in the northeast of the map) - 220 gold
- Bernazard enclosure chests (enter the hidden hole in the bog to the south) - Ancient Milk, 250 gold