Recommended Level: 45
The final chapter of Castti's tale takes place in Timberain, the largest city in the Leaflands. Timberain isn't close to any place Castti needed to visit previously, so your best bet is to jump to Cropdale, where Agnea begins her story. Head south to the Southern Cropdale Trail, then west, to the Southern Timberain Trail. On the north end of this trail (reached by staying in the south until you find a northbound path along the west end of the route) you'll find the entrance to Timberain.
With Castti in the party you can begin the chapter immediately. If you put it off and look around Timberain for a bit you can instead trigger the chapter by visiting the Tavern and speaking to the Tavern Keeper. Hear a Tale will get you started. Timberain's Tavern is on the east side of the town, a quick walk to the right of the save point when you first enter. There's plenty to grab in Timberain if you decide to do some sightseeing first.
Castti travels to Timberain hoping to intercept and stop Trousseau, the mad Apothecary who thinks that killing everyone is the best way to save them from the world's ills. Check up the western stairs in Timberain, just south of the Armory, and Castti will run into Edmund, the plain-talking soldier from Sai. He quickly agrees to help Castti deal with Trousseau. Follow Edmund east, to the Tavern, and he'll deal with getting everyone indoors.
Head north through Timberain to Timberain Castle. The doors are now open, and monsters wait inside.
Timberain Castle
Enemies
- Fire Elemental - Weak to Ice, Dark - Drop / Steal Almighty Soulstone
- Ice Curator Mk. II - Weak to Sword, Axe, Fire - Drop / Steal Ice Soulstone (M)
- Ice Guardian Mk. II - Weak to Sword, Dagger, Bow, Fire - Drop / Steal Ice Soulstone (M)
- Ice Sentinel Mk. II - Weak to Sword, Polearm, Axe, Staff, Fire - Drop / Steal Ice Soulstone (M)
- Shadow Raven - Weak to Sword, Bow, Ice, Wind - Drop / Steal Cleansing Leaf
- Spiny Shrew - Weak to Sword, Axe, Fire, Wind - Drop / Steal Cleansing Leaf
- Woodland Birdking II - Weak to Axe, Bow, Ice, Wind - Drop / Steal Grape Leaf
- Woodland Birdking III - Weak to Axe, Bow, Wind - Drop / Steal Energizing Pomegranate (M)
Inside the entrance to Timberain Castle you'll find a knocked guard, a save point, and an otherwise empty room. Take the stairs on your right and you'll find a chest on the second floor containing a Diffusing Serum. Save, then take the stairs on the left. They'll lead you along a westbound course for a bit, then sweep north and back into the castle. There's a chest at the top of the third set of stairs containing an Herb Elixir.
Continue up the stairs until you reach a long hallway. Head all the way north through this hallway and you'll find a chest containing a Cleaver of Destruction. If Castti's feeling a little weak during this chapter then the Cleaver is a good weapon to give her. That done, head down the stairs on the east side of the hallway. You'll find an eastbound hallway with three doors. Two lead to balconies, and if you go through the middle door you'll find a chest containing a Dreamy Flower.
The door furthest to the east will bring you to the roof of the castle. Follow the main path until you reach stairs, then keep going west and north until you get to a chest containing Mage's Robes. Get back on the main path and follow it north, until it veers west. If you enter the dead-end door in the northeast of the map you'll find hidden stairs on your right, and they'll take you down to a chest containing 23,000 leaves.
Head west until you find a ladder. Go south of here and you can enter the watery enclosure with the chest inside, which contains a Dragon's Helm. Run south of this enclosure and you'll find stairs on your left that lead to a chest containing an Energizing Pomegranate (L). To the west of the ladder you'll find a chest containing a Strenghtening Serum.
Head up the ladder and follow the remaining path to the west and south. It will bring you to a save point. Your destination is to the north, and it's difficult to miss. Heal up, save, and head to the final confrontation of Castti's story.
Trousseau
Shields: 8 / 12
Weakness:
- Polearm, Axe, Ice, Dark (first phase)
- Sword, Polearm, Axe, Staff, Ice, Lightning, Dark (second phase)
Drop: Olive of Life (L)
Steal: Olive of Life (L)
An Apothecary gone mad, Trousseau can nevertheless still sling potions with them best of 'em. Rather than being an extremely potent opponent Trousseau does his best to stall your party, and he's quite good at it. Approach this battle head-first and you might find yourself getting frustrated. Trousseau uses the following attacks:
- A normal melee attack
- Spoiled Substance, which Poisons a single target
- Strong Sedative, which puts a single target to Sleep
- Dark Liquid, which Blinds a single target
- Stupefying Solution, which Confuses a single target
- Prickly Tonic, which inflicts 1,000 points of damage to every character
- Bursting Liquid, a series of Light attacks against a single character
- Hinder Healing, which prevents a character from using any healing Skills or items (Trousseau seems to target characters that specialize in healing with this, notably Clerics)
- Frenzied Sickness, a charged attack that inflicts Confusion and Blind on the whole party
- Neutralizing Smoke, which removes any buffs from your party and prevents more from being applied for a few turns
- Enfeebling Extract, which depletes everyone's SP
- Ravenous Hunger, a charged attack that will eliminate everyone's BP
The battle will begin, not with Trousseau, but with the rain above. It will immediate drain a small amount of HP from every character's maximum total, and it will continue to do so each turn. Trousseau will do his best to drain everyone else of their health, battering the party with a variety of concoctions that inflict status ailments alongside damage. Trousseau has two attacks per turn, and they're always annoying somehow.
Do enough damage to Trousseau and he'll use Hinder Healing on one of your healers, preventing them from using any restorative Skills or items. He'll then begin to charge up Frenzied Sickness, which will Blind and Confuse everyone in the party if it's allowed to go off. Keep damaging Trousseau and the rains will grow stronger, sapping even more health from your party per turn. Eventually you'll reach a scripted moment, and when it's over Trousseau will bump his shields up to 12 - though he'll receive a bunch of new weaknesses, on top of the old ones. He'll also begin to charge up, and this time he'll use Ravenous Hunger, wiping out everyone's BP.
This fight is a race. Trousseau isn't terribly strong, but everything he does will give the rain more time to chip away at your team's health. Take too long and you won't have enough HP to withstand his attacks, particularly Prickly Tonic, which ignores defense and hits everyone for a flat 1,000 HP. Trousseau's status ailments get in the way of attacking, so Castti should spend most of the fight using Concoction - Cleansing Leaf and Diffusing Serum to heal everyone. Her Latent Power will keep you from using up ingredients too quickly.
Trousseau doesn't have weaknesses that lend themselves to a ton of attacks at once, at least not initially, so unless you have weapons that can attack twice (Double Tomahawk and Sea God's Spear) your best bet is to save up BP for bad moments and then let Trousseau have it. He tries to charge up several times, and if you've been saving your BP you shouldn't have much trouble Breaking him. This gets easier in the second half of the fight, as Trousseau suddenly gains a Sword weakness that can be exploited with Aggressive Slice. As long as you have plenty of items to restore lost SP your Skills should get you through this battle just fine.
Once you defeat Trousseau you'll need to find a cure for his foul rain in a final combat segment. Boost Castti up to the max so she can mix all of the ingredients. With that done, enjoy the finale of Castti's story. She'll learn the Remedy EX Skill once the chapter is complete, and if Castti was your starting character you can hereafter remove her from your party at a Tavern, like anyone else. Story complete!