Recommended Level: 31
This half of Throné's third chapter takes place in Wellgrove, a town in the Leaflands. It's not far from Oresrush, where Throné received a tip regarding Mother's location, and if you decide to do the chapters back-to-back all you need to do is travel west to Northern Wellgrove Trail, then south to Eastern Wellgrove Trail. Wellgrove is to the west of its namesake trail.
If Throné is in the party upon your arrival you can begin the chapter right away. If you'd rather wait, you can instead check in at the Tavern later and choose Hear a Tale from the Tavern Keeper. Throné must be in your party.
Keen to secure one half of her freedom, Throné comes to Wellgrove on the trail of Mother, a vicious taskmaster in charge of the Blacksnakes. Wellgrove is the home of Mother's Garden, an orphanage where Mother grooms orphans into Blacksnakes. Throné will need to look like a nun to infiltrate the orphanage, and it just so happens there's one standing up the stairs and a little ways west of the save point near the entrance. Steal the Habit from her during the daytime.
The next step is to find Mother's Garden, and a passing thief provides a hint as to which direction you need to go. Check the south end of the town and you'll find a rather telltale path to the orphanage's front door.
Path to Mother's Garden
Enemies
- Demon Deer - Weak to Polearm, Axe, Bow, Dark - Drop / Steal Forget-Me-Do
- Dishi - Weak to Bow, Fire, Wind, Dark - Drop / Steal Herb of Valor
- Gargantuan Boar - Weak to Sword, Bow, Light - Drop / Steal Inspiriting Plum (M)
- Great Silk Moth - Weak to Axe, Bow, Fire, Dark - Drop / Steal Dreamy Flower
- Horned Howler - Weak to Polearm, Bow, Wind, Light - Drop / Steal Olive of Life
- Red Fox (day only) - Weak to Polearm, Staff, Lightning, Dark - Drop / Steal Whimsical Leaf
- Silky Cocoon - Weak to Sword, Axe, Fire, Light - Drop / Steal Cleansing Leaf
- Woodland Birdian V - Weak to Sword, Bow, Wind, Dark - Drop / Steal Grape Leaf
- Woodland Birdian VI - Weak to Dagger, Bow, Dark - Drop / Steal Healing Grape (M)
What a pleasant forest path. Immediately south of the entrance to Wellgrove you'll hit a split in the path. Take a right and a set of stairs will lead you down to a chest containing an Herb of Valor. Go left at the split and it will lead you south. Before heading further west, take a look on your right and you'll find a hidden path leading to another chest. This one contains a Stinging Dagger.
To the west you'll come to a river. Down a short southbound path you'll find a dock. Use it to sail north and you can reach a small island with an Inspiriting Plum (M), inside a chest. If you continue sailing north you can cross beneath a bridge and find a small cave on the other side. Inside the cave is a dock, a chest, and a Silent Bandana.
Cross the bridge, or dock on the west side of the river, and check the remaining path. You'll find Mother's Garden waiting, along with a save point. Approach the gate and an Elderly Guard will let Throné pass. (Apparently everyone else is fine in their normal clothes.) Check the west side of the surrounding wall to find a hidden chest containing an Empowering Lychee (L), then enter Mother's Garden: Orphanage.
When Throné enters the orphanage she'll witness the induction of the girl thief she saw earlier into the Blacksnakes. Climb the stairs on the west side of the room after Mother leaves, then check the bedroom on the right on the second floor. Mira, the girl, will discuss her life her - and offer a strong hint towards what you need to do next.
Head back to the ground floor. Morozov, Mother's assistant, is in the central corridor leading to the locked door that you need to breach. Steal Mother's Garden Key from him during the day and use it to unlock the door behind him.
Mother's Garden
Enemies
- Demon Deer - Weak to Polearm, Axe, Bow, Dark - Drop / Steal Forget-Me-Do
- Gargantuan Boar - Weak to Sword, Bow, Light - Drop / Steal Inspiriting Plum (M)
- Horned Howler - Weak to Polearm, Bow, Wind, Light - Drop / Steal Olive of Life
- Ettin Serpent - Weak to Dagger, Axe, Bow, Light - Drop / Steal Herb of Valor
- Silky Cocoon - Weak to Sword, Axe, Fire, Light - Drop / Steal Cleansing Leaf
Ah, a literal garden. Makes sense. Take a left at the entrance to find a chest containing a Healing Grape Bunch, then swing to the right and north. Ignore the rose-covered archway for a moment and head west. You'll find a chest containing a Calming Stone.
Enter the hedge maze in the north. Take a right just after passing through the archway and you'll find a path to a chest. It contains a Horned Helm. Head straight down the middle of the hedge maze and you'll find another path your right, this one leading to a chest containing 13,000 leaves. Then head back to the main section of the hedge maze and make your way west.
There are more archways ahead. Check on your right as you head north to find a chest containing a Refreshing Jam, but otherwise just keep following the path. Pretty soon you'll be headed up stairs to a save point, and Mother will be waiting a little further up. Three guesses what you'll be doing when you run into her.
Mother
Shields: 6 / 8 / 11
Weakness:
- Dagger, Bow, Ice, Light (Mother)
- Sword, Staff, Fire, Lightning (Mother's Aide)
Drop: Refreshing Jam
Steal: Refreshing Jam
Man, this lady has earned her beating, and then some. Dragging an Aide into the fight, Mother is a combination of strong melee attacks and orders to her subordinate. Mother uses the following attacks in combat:
- A regular melee whipping
- Punishment, a melee attack against one target
- Double Lashing, a two-strike melee attack against one target
- Pliant Whip, a melee attack against your whole party
- Mother Knows Best, which inflicts Terror on one party member
- Whip of Terror, which enables more moves for Mother to use - and those attacks can inflict Terror on characters
- Mother's Love, which inflicts Terror on your whole party and stops them from Boosting
- Lashing of Love, which inflicts Terror on the Aide but boosts their attack strength for the rest of the fight
- Elation, which boosts Mother's physical attack and defense
- Punishment, a heavy melee attack against one character
- Obey Me, which charges up Mother's Aide and forces them to use Ominous Shudder, a heavy-duty melee attack
- Fierce Lashing, another charged attack used by Mother alone that hits everyone twice for heavy damage
Mother and her Aide make quite the pair. Both will smack your party around with some heavy-duty melee attacks, particularly Mother, and they will go into their charged attack more often than the average boss. In this case you need to Break the Aide rather than Mother to stop it. Partway through the battle Mother will use Whip of Terror, which unlocks Mother's Love and Lashing of Love. Neither are good news for your party.
Once you've defeated the Aide Mother will reveal a major secret regarding Throné's parentage. She'll then increase her shields to eight and start using a few new attacks. Nothing crazy, but the combination of her Terror whip and love of physical attacks will render your party Terrorized on a regular basis. This can get very irritating later on, as Mother will increase her shield count to eleven once her health dips into the red. Breaking her shields is not easy when no one can Boost their attacks. At this point Mother will use charged attacks on herself, which if not Broken will earn your whole party a Fierce Lashing. Last, Mother will increase her number of turns per round to two, which is no good for anybody.
Mother's Aide has a ton of HP for a mook (20,000+!), so you can't just brush him off. You'll spend much of the first half of the battle bopping back and forth between the two of them, keeping them Broken so you aren't facing both at once. Focus most of your damage output on the Aide when both enemies are Broken. Use Hired Help - Mercenary to boost everyone's defenses if you find that you're taking too much damage from their physical attacks.
Once Mother breaks out Whip of Terror you'll be fending off the effects of Terror on a regular basis. The best way to do this is to put Castti in your party and use a Medical Concoction combo of Cleansing Leaf and Diffusing Serum to clean the ailment off of your whole party at once. Use Castti's Latent Power to offset the ingredient usage. Mother can still put plenty of pain on your team, but with BP available it's not that difficult to keep her Broken. If you can't offset Terror, for whatever reason, using Skills that hit multiple times regardless of Boost (HP Thief, Elemental Barrage, etc.) to get rid of her shields instead. Hired Help - Mercenary is a great alternative if you can't Break Mother before Fierce Lashing goes off.
Once the battle is over Throné will learn more about her infancy, and she'll collect the key from Mother... as well as a vendetta from one of Mother's children. It's a tough time to be an assassin. Chapter complete.