-240207-170850.png "Screenshots copyright Square Enix.")
Shortly after recruiting a fourth member - Sabin - into the party, you'll find your way off Mt. Kolts and back to the world map. On the other side of Mt. Kolts is a narrow mountain range that forces you north. The enemies hereabouts are the same as the ones you fought on the South Figaro side of Mt. Kolts, so there's not much new to find. (Though you may want to try and Steal some Mythril Claws from a Belmodar, if you don't already have some. Sabin likes claws.)
Follow the path north and you’ll find a small location on your right. This is your next stop. Things start to branch out a bit from here, so don't enter until you're ready to lock yourself into the next phase of Final Fantasy VI.
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Returner Hideout - Merchant
Welcome to the home of the resistance. Speak to the guard blocking the way inside and, after following him and speaking to the gentleman in the next room, you’ll hit a lengthy cut scene. This introduces Banon, the head of the Returners. Once the scene's done you’ll be playing as Terra alone. You'll need to speak to your party members to advance, and we'll poke around the hideout at the same time.
- Start by speaking to Locke, standing to your right. Beside him is a chest containing a Phoenix Down. Leave the room.
- Head west and north into an adjacent storage room. Here you’ll find three chests containing a Phoenix Down, an Air Knife, and a Knight’s Code. Check the pot and the bucket in the rear of the room for an Antidote and an Ether, and if you check the right side of the room, behind the boxes, you’ll find a secret passage that leads to a final chest containing a White Cape.
- Return to the main room and speak with Sabin, near the central table. The man behind the counter near Sabin sells basic items, and in the room to the south is an inn where you can stay for free. Check the pot north of the table where Sabin’s standing for a Green Cherry.
- If you investigate the north side of Sabin’s long table you’ll find a scrap of paper. Leave it where it is for a useless, but mildly funny, aside in a later scene.
- Enter the room where you met Banon earlier and speak to Edgar. Check the chest on the right side of the room for a Hi-Potion.
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Return to the entrance hall in the west and speak to the guard blocking the front door. He’ll mention that Banon is outside. Go have a chat with the old guy and he’ll ask if Terra is ready to become the Returners’ ‘last ray of hope’. Multiple things can happen depending on your answer.
- Say ‘Yes’ and Banon gives you a Gauntlet. You’ll proceed to a meeting cut scene.
- Say ‘No’ and you’ll be sent back inside. Speak to the Returner in the northwestern storage room and he’ll give you a Genji Glove. Speak to Banon again to jump to the meeting cut scene.
- Continue to say ‘No’ and eventually you’ll be interrupted by a cut scene that forcibly pushes the story forward. You’ll receive nothing, unless you picked up the Genji Glove earlier.
The Gauntlet and the Genji Glove are both Relics that affect the wearer's attack power. The Genji Glove is ultimately more powerful than the Gauntlet since it allows you to equip two weapons and attack twice per turn, which, when you max out your damage (9,999 HP), doubles that character's damage output. The Gauntlet can't compare to the Genji Glove in the long run.
Regardless of the outcome of all this, Locke leaves the party for a while and Banon joins in his place. Banon's a fantastic healer at this point in the game, thanks to his Pray command, and can almost fully heal your whole team each round for free. Unfortunately, Banon comes with a dire caveat: If he’s knocked out, you get a Game Over. Put Banon in the back row and have him Pray every turn, since Banon stinks at attacking.
You'll get one last chance to look around the Returner Hideout once Banon joins the party. After that, you'll need to use the secret passage in the south of Banon's room to head to the Lethe River.
Lethe River - Enemies
This bit is... a bit different. The Lethe River leads the party on a course through treacherous rapids, and you must choose which direction to go whenever you hit an intersection. You can't really get lost along the Lethe River, but there's one loop that prevents you from progressing until you choose the correct path.
You'll run into enemies on a regular basis as you flow along the rapids. Expect your characters to get Blinded as you explore, lowering their accuracy. The only enemies worth mentioning are the Lesser Lopros, draconic creatures that use the Fireball attack. This is a harsh Fire move that can wipe out a weakened party. Keep Banon Praying and they shouldn't be a huge deal.
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The first intersection of the Lethe River leads you in the right direction regardless of your choice, while the second intersection takes you in a short a loop if you choose to go Up. If you have a turbo controller (or just a lot of time on your hands) you can use this loop to endlessly train your team, since Banon keeps everyone healed. This isn't a great idea in the long run, however, as your party's stats suffer without extra bonuses provided by a mechanic later in the game.
After two save point pitstops you’ll wind up on a stretch of river patrolled by a nasty creature. Make absolutely sure you save at the second pitstop, as you might get a Game Over if your luck is bad with this guy.
Ultros
HP: 3,000
Weakness: Fire, Lightning
Get used to this Ultros, as you’ll see him many times over the course of Final Fantasy VI. He uses the following attacks:
- A normal physical attack
- Tentacle, which hits one party member especially hard
- Tentacle, which hits multiple party members for less damage
- Ink, which damages one party member and can inflict Blind
Ultros tends towards the physical, and slaps your team with his tentacles. Tentacles that hit everybody aren’t bad; a tentacle that slaps one person really hurts. If Banon’s in the front row this can easily kill him. Heal consistently with Pray and use your strongest attacks to wipe away Ultros’ HP. Terra’s Fire spell is especially effective against Ultros.
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Ultros flees the battle when you inflict enough damage. Once he does... well, the progression of the story changes just a tad. You'll be redirected to a short interlude scene where you regain control of Mog, the leader of the Moogles who helped you at the beginning of Final Fantasy VI. You'll need to use Mog to choose between one of three scenarios:
You can play these scenarios in any order that you like. That said, the inventory you pick up in one scenario carries over to the others, so it's not a terrible idea to start with the scenario with the most opportunities to buy things. In this case it's Sabin's scenario, which is also by far the longest of the three. We'll start there.
(Side note: If you didn't steal Mog's Mythril Spear and Mythril Shield during the battle of the Moogles at the beginning of the game, you can do it now. Edgar could use the extra firepower. Just make sure you do it before choosing a scenario.)