Rafael's playthrough - Aka's route

Back to Chapter 2 On to Megail's route

The Three Routes
You can play these in any order you choose, just remember to do Aka's before Megail's if you don't want to miss out on an extra 5k ProN for Megail. Remember that any time you reenter the "Split the Path" room, unequip your entire party's gear so it's available for the other groups to use.

Aka’s route
As you talk with everyone here, the Yhilini ambassador issues his challenge, and Queen Janine gives you a key to the secret tunnels behind her throne room. You’ve got your orders now, so let’s start on the first side quest by going into these tunnels. Talk with Robin, and then it’s off to the palace library for the first book. Talk with Yarra on your way out. Now, you have stops to make but for now, remember we need to visit libraries. Go to the Outskirts first, and talk to Megail and Hilstara before they leave town. Read the notices on the bounty board here and sell anything you still need to get rid of at the shops here. We’re going to the Cathedral next. We’ll tackle those two side quests from the board later.

Cathedral and Mines
Talk to the woman outside the Cathedral first, then have Sarai take you to the library. The book we want is in the top right of the library on the top left shelf. Every other book contains lore or flavor text you can look through. When you’re done, go ahead and talk with Sarai again. Visit the mines now, and return to the court after talking with the guard there. Go talk to the mysterious knight here and check on the house of petitions if you like. The guy standing next to the door inside has a minor quest for you, that we’ll complete later on. After this, go scope out the square, and then Jade Clearinghouse.

Jade Clearing House and House Rose
After the exposition, talk with everyone inside. Now that we have our targets in Jade, it’s time to go exploring again. This time we’ll go visit House Rose. Enter the house on the right. Look at the painting of the king twice, then exit and come back to look at it again. This time, copy the clerk who comes to buy it. Go to House Rose and conclude your business with the lady. Afterwards, talk with the Halfling clerk from House Jade and you’ll convince her to help without having to be copied. Rose’s library has the last book you need for Aka’s curse. You can leave once you have all that. Back to the palace to uncurse Aka. Talk to Robin for a scene, then talk to her again for the partial transformation. You will still slowly lose hp, but at a much, much slower rate. Rest in the bed after, Robin and Altina will be out of mp.

Quick Cleanup and Order of Yhilini Thaumaturgy
We’re going to finish up with these outside areas now. First go to outskirts and copy the Aramite clerk at the tents. Now go to the merchant district and copy the head clerk for house jade in the bank, you’ll notice one of House Jade’s operatives above your wagon, talking to him gets you a key. Next we’ll go to the Thaumaturgy area and proceed up to talk to the mages and start the trials. First trial is easy, the ward doesn’t fight back. 2nd part of this trial is also pretty easy but you’ll want to make sure Aka is healed up before you start. (You’ll be doing this a lot from now on). The next set of trials requires research. Have Robin do the table on the bottom left, then investigate the one on the bottom right. Before we leave, check the closed door in the north of this room, and accept Robin's quest. Get your materials from the merchant in the square and either sleep on Robin’s bed or pay the 100 Sx to get mana back. Do this table with rested up Robin, and the top right with Trin. Leave by the bottom teleporter and head for House Rose’s library. After reading the correct book, go back and let Robin take the last table’s test, then exit by the top teleporter to complete the trial. The final trials are battles, which is why it was a good idea to buy those two ice staves in Stineford. (It’s not vital, but it helps a bit). I got through with the same shining scepter I had before, but you may want stronger equipment now and you can certainly afford some. Of the next fights, only the slimes should really be taxing, and that’s because you need to concentrate all attacks on just one of them at a time. Once you pass, you've got an additional boss battle if you go through the last two statues again. Rest up and do this. At the square, talk to the new shady character by the wagon to get another old key for the mines. Well, this is as good of time as any to finish up with House Jade. Talk to the Zirantian in the palace kitchen and spy on Andrew the shady clerk in Jade Clearinghouse. Off to the lower city to complete this leg.

Lower City
In the lower city, first talk with the lady wandering around just south of the entrance about the cult. Next go to the the left side of the map and heal Aka. Andrew’s knights go down fast, and then you copy him.Janine’s uncle should have shown up at the palace now, so go back, talk to her, talk to him, then copy away! On the way back, stop by the merchant quarter and annoy our favorite unlucky smuggler. Back in the Lower City, we’ll go to the right side of the map just below where we copied the clerk and start a fight with Big Man’s guards at his compound. Then, we’ll copy Big Man himself to max out Trin’s copying ability. Talk with him after for ideas on how to help the area. If we talk to the inquisition member harassing the mage around the warehouses, we’ll be able to visit Sarai and solve this issue. Before we do that though, talk to the elder down in the elves’ shantytown in the south. Go resolve his problems with the queen’s supporters in their bar to the right of the map. (We did not corrupt Altina before, so we’re doing this instead of the Kingsmen bar on the other side). After this, talk with everyone in the bar twice, and you’ll get a reward for copying Big Man. Inspect the warehouse on the left of the map for the cult quest, the correct door should be glowing. The hidden trapdoor is on the other side of the warehouse. After talking to everyone a few times, heal up and tell their leader that you’re ready to start helping. The first wave is pretty easy, heal up and take on the 2nd wave now. This is more challenging, focus on a single target to save yourself some pain here. Remember to use your healing spells if you’re too damaged. Whoever gets the robes will get a nice boost over silk robes, feel free to pick either mage. Afterwards talk to everyone and leave for the Cathedral. Sarai is of course arguing with Andra, and she gets Andra to call off the dogs. You’ve now done everything you can do for the commoners, but feel free to investigate the northern bar in the Lower City for the underground fights. You can easily win a Duelist Pin here for Aka, but you’ll want to clear the mines first. Also talk to the elf near Big Man's home and see if she gives you an alternate mine solution yet. Before you leave the lower city, pick up 3 rune shields in the weapon shop here.

Mines and Final Details
The mines are pretty easy, but we will eventually need to decide which faction to support. Kick out the other House Jade mercs, and chase one down to the North for another key. Destroy every enemy in both areas except the ones you are warned about. Your new key unlocks a room with 3 chests. Killing house Thelon's thugs gives you more money, but killing house Jade seems to be a better long run goal. Janine has said that Thelon doesn’t strike her as potential plotters, so we’ll go ahead and leave them alone. House Jade’s mage is our target, but let's go ahead and screw all the nobles over before killing him. If you didn't already get the third solution spell from the elf mage in lower city, leave the mines and talk to her again before you kill House Jade's mage. The boss is actually right after the mage fight, so don't forget to heal up and check the Bosses page. You can also hand in the extra papers at the house of petitions now and solve that loose end, you should have 6 to turn over by the end of the mine chapter. Now we’ll go ahead and head back to those pit fights and see if the extra xp gain will pay off. It’s dicey, but if you disable and poison early, and use potions as needed in battle, then you will prevail and get your pin. Go back to talk with the ambassador in the castle's bedroom, it will be useful during the summit later on. Talk with Janine to end this path once you’ve done all you care to do. (Don't forget to unequip your party!)

Continued on Megail's route