Recommended Level: 31
The third chapter of Throné's story, assuming you're still following Father, takes place in the town of Montwise. If you're headed to Montwise after finishing the second chapter of Throné's story you'll need ot head out to the Western Winterbloom Snows, travel south to the Eastern Flamechurch Pass, and head east. Montwise is at the end of this mountain trail.
Upon arrival Throné will be prompted to begin her chapter, assuming she's in the party. If you choose to put if off for a while you can begin the chapter later by speaking to the Tavern Keeper at the Tavern, which is north of the entrance to Montwise. Choose Hear a Tale to get started.
Wise to Throné's plot to kill him, Father has challenged her to come to Montwise and end their, ah, 'working relationship'. Well aware that this is not a trap - not in the conventional sense, anyway - Throné sets out to look for Father. He's not in the town, which leaves the Abandoned Traverse, a mountain pathway on the east side of Montwise.
(I highly recommend buying a bunch of Healing Grape (M)s and Olives of Life before you leave town. The final battle of this chapter is... painful, to say the least.)
Abandoned Traverse
Enemies
- Antagonistic Ant (night only) - Weak to Sword, Axe, Staff Light - Drop / Steal Herb of Healing
- Mountain Apeking I - Weak to Sword, Dagger, Ice - Drop / Steal Healing Grape (M)
- Mountain Ape V - Weak to Polearm, Dagger, Lightning, Wind - Drop / Steal Plum Leaf
- Mountain Ape VI - Weak to Dagger, Staff, Lightning - Drop / Steal Inspiriting Plum (M)
- Mountain Goat (night only) - Weak to Dagger, Bow, Light - Drop / Steal Forget-Me-Do
- Wild Weasel - Weak to Dagger, Ice, Axe, Dark - Drop / Steal Dual Leaf
Nice scenery. Follow the trail east and north. You'll see a bridge on your right as you travel. Take a left before reaching the bridge to find a chest containing a Bottle of Poison Dust. You'll find Father on the bridge, and he'll reminisce a bit about his younger days before leaving. Better catch up with him.
You'll find a chest containing an Energizing Pomegranate if you swing north on the east side of the bridge. To the south of the bridge the path continues, and if you check on your left as you walk you'll find a poorly-hidden chest on a ledge. The chest contains a Guardian Amulet. Continue south down the path and you'll see a small cave built into the rocks, within which is a chest containing an Ice Soulstone (M).
Follow the path long enough and you'll find Father again, in front of an old church. One flashback later, he's gone. Take a guess where he went.
Abandoned Church
Enemies
- Antagonistic Ant (night only) - Weak to Sword, Axe, Staff Light - Drop / Steal Herb of Healing
- Blood Viper - Weak to Polearm, Axe, Ice, Light - Drop / Steal Healing Grape
- Dark Curator Mk. II - Weak to Polearm, Bow, Light - Drop / Steal Shadow Soulstone (M)
- Dark Porcupine - Weak to Sword, Bow, Staff, Lightning - Drop / Steal Dual Leaf
- Dark Spiny Shrew - Weak to Polearm, Axe, Dark - Drop / Steal Healing Grape (M)
- Dark Sentinel - Weak to Sword, Polearm, Axe, Staff, Light - Drop / Steal Shadow Soulstone
- Ettin Ophidian - Weak to Sword, Axe, Wind, Light - Drop / Steal Healing Grape (M)
- Lightning Elemental - Weak to Wind, Dark - Drop / Steal Almighty Soulstone
- Mountain Apeking I - Weak to Sword, Dagger, Ice - Drop / Steal Healing Grape (M)
- Mountain Ape VI - Weak to Dagger, Staff, Lightning - Drop / Steal Inspiriting Plum (M)
- Thunder Guardian - Weak to Sword, Dagger, Bow, Wind - Drop / Steal Thunder Soulstone
- Wind Elemental - Weak to Lightning, Light - Drop / Steal Almighty Soulstone
Head east into the church, which has seen better days. Ignore the stairs to the second floor and continue east, until you reach a smaller set of stairs. Next to them is a chest containing a Healing Grape Bunch. If you climb these stairs and inspect the pulpit you'll find a chest behind it. The chest contains a Black Dagger.
Climb the stairs to the second floor, head east, and use the stairs at the end to return to the ground floor. Next to this second set of stairs you'll find a chest containing an Inspiriting Plum Basket. Continue east of here and, after a few more turns in the path, you'll wind up near a save point. It's a bit difficult to see, so look for the green bush next to it. Go much further than this and you're in for a fight, so make sure you heal and save.
Continue down the hallway a bit further. These's a chest sitting in plain sight that contains an Olive of Life (M), and it will likely serve you well in what's to come.
Father
Shields: 8
Weakness: Polearm, Dagger, Axe, Wind,
Drop: Marietta
Steal: Refreshing Jam
Yikes. Maybe he's unhinged after all. A solo fighter, Father lives up to his reputation built through the last few chapters, and he'll put up quite the fight. Father uses the following moves in combat:
- A normal melee strike
- Vengeful Strike, a pair of melee attacks against one target
- Gouge Wound, a heavy strike against a single target
- Rent Throat, a melee strike against the whole party
- Lacerate Arm, a melee strike against the whole party that can debuff attack strength
- Sever Leg, a melee strike against the whole party that can debuff speed
- The stench of blood hangs in the air, creating a blood effect over weakened characters
- Killing Blow, which Father uses on any weakened characters with the blood effect on them
- Assassination, a charged attack that does extreme damage on one character, typically knocking them out
Father is almost entirely an offensively-minded foe, and all of his attacks can inflict heavy damage on your characters. He starts off slashing everybody with a wide variety of AOE attacks, occasionally targeting a single person for some variety. Break Father and 'the stench of blood will hang in the air', meaning that any characters who are below half health will receive a little blood aura. If left untreated they will likely be targeted by Father's Killing Blow, which instantly knocks them out.
Do enough damage to Father and he'll buff his speed and add a second attack per round. Past this point, aside from inflict tons of damage in general, Father will occasionally charge up his Assassination ability. If you don't Break him in time Father will almost certain OHKO one of your characters with this move. Once Assassination comes out Father's tactics won't change, though what he's doing by this point is bad enough.
Having a Cleric in your party is more or less a necessity for this fight. Father does a ton of damage to every person on your team each round, and this only gets worse as the battle goes on. Killing Blow is perhaps his most troublesome move, since it insta-kills weakened characters on Father's next turn. Either have your Cleric use Healing Light consistently, or, if the turn order goes against your favor, have your characters use Healing Grapes on weakened allies. Any buff that protects against physical attacks - Hired Help / Mercernary is always great - will ward off some of the damage.
Breaking Father is not complicated, and unlike many battles where you may conserve BP for dealing damage during Breaks you may want to go half-and-half here. If every person in your party can consistently shatter at least two of Father's shields on their turn then you should be able to whittle him down over time. Throné is great at this thanks to HP Thief, and having a second Thief can't hurt either. If nothing else this will allow you to damage Father and restore some health at the same time.
Throné will say goodbye to Father after the battle, retrieving the key to her collar in the process. If you haven't dealt with Mother yet, then that's the direction to head. If you have... well, Throné's story isn't done yet.