Main Walkthrough

Recommended Level: 36

The fourth chapter of Osvald's tale takes place in Montwise, a town on the far east end of the Crestlands. To get there from Conning Creek, the setting of Osvald's third chapter, you should jump back to Cape Cold and travel east, to the Eastern Cape Cold Snows. Head south of here to the eastern Flamechurch Pass, then go east again. You'll wind up at Montwise soon enough.

Upon arrival Osvald can begin his chapter immediately, assuming he's in the party, or wait until later. If you opt to wait you can begin the chapter by visiting the Tavern and choosing Hear a Tale when speaking to the Tavern Keeper. The Tavern is north of the entrance.

Thinking back on his friendship with Harvey as he arrives in Montwise, Osvald decides to look for his former colleague in the town's enormous library. It's the largest building in town, and difficult to miss. Head inside during the day and have a look around for three people to Scrutinize:

  • A Scholar on the west side of the ground floor is An Eyewitness to Harvey
  •  A Scholar on the west side of the first basement floor, down the stairs, knows Harvey's Whereabouts
  • A Scholar on the east side of the first basement floor heard a Lubrary Rumor

The three tidbits of info will point towards a hidden passage somewhere inside the library, in the second basement, that is known to Harvey. Climb down to the lowest level of the library and check to the left of the western ladder to trigger a cut scene, culminating in Osvald's discovery of the passage.

Underground Laboratory

Enemies

  • Dark Curator - Weak to Polearm, Bow, Staff, Light - Drop / Steal Shadow Soulstone
  • Dark Guardian Mk. II - Weak to Dagger, Bow, Light  - Drop / Steal Shadow Soulstone (M)
  • Dread Viper - Weak to Polearm, Axe, Staff, Light - Drop / Steal Energizing Pomegranate
  • Ettin Asp - Weak to Polearm, Axe, Staff, Wind - Drop / Steal Energizing Pomegranate (M)
  • Furious Fungoid - Weak to Polearm, Staff, Wind, Light - Drop / Steal Healing Grape (M)
  • Sentinel Mk. II - Weak to Sword, Polearm, Axe, Bow, Staff - Drop / Steal Ancient Sentinel Core

How devilish. Head east from the entrance and you'll see two small side rooms. The room further to the right has a chest containing 14,000 leaves. Begin your trek west along the main path and you'll find a third side room, and inside are chests containing two Bottled Nightmares.

Continue west. The next two doorways lead to a connected room, within which is a chest containing a Fire Soulstone (L). Further down the corridor you'll find... a save point? Oh, that was fast. Heal your characters up, save, and head into the room beside the save point. 

Creatures

Shields: 3 (Deformed Creature, Synthesized Creature) / 2 (Cobbled Creature)

Weaknesses:

  • Polearm, Ice, Light (Deformed Creature)
  • Polearm, Staff, Lightning (Cobbled Creature)
  • Dagger, Axe, Staff, Ice (Synthesized Creature)
Drop: Magic Nut, Light Nut, Fortifying Nut
Steal: Nothing

Yeah, okay, these things aren't really a boss. They're just glorified enemies. None of them have a crazy amount of shields, and they're all weak to Osvald's attacks in various ways, so launching strong magic at them should do the trick.

Save after the battle, then head to the final room of the laboratory. Harvey makes an appearance, and... so does something else.


Grieving Golem

Shields: 7 / 14
Weakness: 
  • Polearm, Staff, Wind, Light (first phase)
  • Sword, Bow, Ice, Dark (second phase)
  • Sword, Polearm, Dagger, Axe, Bow, Staff (crumbling)
Drop: Olive of Life (L)
Steal: Olive of Life (L)

Yikes. That is messed up. The Grieving Golem is a fairly standard opponent with a very much non-standard status ailment on its side, and it can mess your party up if you aren't prepared to heal or use a lot of items. You may want to trek back to a Provisioner and buy a bunch of SP- and BP-restoring items before you fight this thing. The Grieving Golem uses the following attacks:
  • A normal melee strike
  • Pound, a heavy melee attack against one character
  • Pulverize, a heavy melee attack against one character that also does BP damage
  • Shake Off, a melee attack against your whole party
  • Wail, an attack against the whole party that debuffs elemental attack
  • Dissolving Darkness, a Dark attack against a single target with an ongoing HP, SP, or BP drain effect whenever that character takes an action
  • Dark Torrent, a Dark attack against the whole party that has the same drain effect as Dissolving Darkness
  • Rampage, a charged attack that inflicts heavy melee damage twice
  • Stampede, which raises the Golem's shields to 14 and gives it an additional attack per round
The Grieving Golem begins the fight with two attacks per round, and will use a combination of physical attacks, debuffs, and Dissolving Darkness to harm your party. Dissolving Darkness inflicts a unique status ailment that drains either HP, SP, or BP whenever an afflicted character takes any action, and you don't know which stat will be affected until it happens. There is (as far as I can tell) no way to dispel this ailment, short of the character getting knocked out, though it will go away after a few rounds.

Do enough damage and the Golem's weaknesses will shift, and it will begin using Dark Torrent, which can inflict the draining status ailment on your whole party if you're unlucky. At this point it will begin using its Rampage charged move. Keep damaging the Grieving Golem and it will boost its shields to 14, as well as give itself an additional attack per round. Do enough damage and the Golem's weaknesses will shift a third time, though when this happens the battle is effectively over, and you can stop attacking completely if you like.

There's virtually nothing you can do about the Dissolving Darkness status ailment besides healing and waiting it out, so dedicate one character to restoring the party, whether they're healing with magic or using items to restore HP or SP. Take your time at first and build up a reserve of BP so it's not disappearing completely if it gets drained, then unleash everything you've got when the Golem boosts its shields to 14 and begins to charge up. Having a Merchant that can Donate BP to your attackers will make this part a bit easier.

Beyond that, this fight is fairly standard. Buff your party to make up for the lack of BP going into your attacks, and debuff the Golem so it doesn't hit too hard and takes more damage from each swipe. Having a Thief along will make the debuff part quite easy, and they can restore their health with HP Thief to offset the drain effect. Osvald himself is not that helpful in this battle with his normal moveset, aside perhaps from using Elemental Barrage during Breaks, so he's a good candidate for a Thief.


Some horrifying revelations will follow the defeat of the Grieving Golem, and once Harvey leaves Osvald will puzzle out his foe's next stop: The town of Gravell. The stage is set for their final confrontation. Chapter complete.

Main Walkthrough