Part 5: Meribia and Meribian Sewers
Your party is one person lighter, but you'll get a chance to remedy that soon enough. Leave Meribia and follow the path east, then south. Eventually you'll catch sight of Vane, the floating city of magic, and it's as majestic as Nash made it out to be. Attempt to enter it via the small Transmission Spring on the ground, however, and its guardian insists that Alex, Luna, and Nall require an application to enter.
Head to Althena's Shrine, a short walk to the west of the Transmission Spring. Check the northern room inside the shrine to meet Phacia, the Head Priestess, who will (gently) try to persuade Alex to give up on becoming Dragonmaster and study in Vane. She'll give the team an Application that will allow them to enter the city. The remaining NPCs in the shrine are filled with interesting information, but there's nothing else of practical use here.
(At this point, if you really want, you can check out the Nanza Pass to the southwest of the Transmission Spring. The enemies here are stronger than what you fought in Meribia, if you want to do some leveling, and there are some items to grab. You can't get through here right now, however, and you'll be headed this direction soon anyway, so the Nanza Pass probably isn't worth your time.)
Head back to the Transmission Spring, and, assuming Alex and Luna are outfitted with the best gear you can get, speak to the guardian again. It turns out that having an Application is only part of gaining entrance to Vane. Dungeon time!
Cave of Trial
Enemies
- Death Shroom - 23 HP - Can Poison targets - Weak to Fire
- Gunfoot - 65 HP - Can hit everyone in a straight line
- Ice Mongrel - 4 HP - Usually runs at the beginning of the fight, but is worth lots of experience and silver if defeated
- Slumber Moth - 20 HP - Can put targets to Sleep
- In the second chamber you'll find a chest containing 250 silver.
- Also in the second chamber you'll find another priest who will restore everyone's health, though he'll only do it once. You probably won't require his services on your first pass through.
- On your right in the fourth chamber is a locked red chest. Come back when you can open these and you'll find Soap inside.
- Near the exit in the fourth chamber is a chest containing 250 silver.
- Among a bunch of other NPCs you'll find another priest in the northeast of the fifth chamber. He, too, will restore Alex and Luna once. Hold off unless you're struggling.
- Flash Bang, a single-target attack that can Paralyze one character
- Mad Spark, a Thunder attack that hits both characters
- There's an Armor Shop on the west side of Vane. You likely have lots of money after the last two dungeons, so outfit Alex and Luna with the best equipment you can afford.
- There's also a Weapons Shop on the east side of Vane. Same applies here. Luna can equip the Dream Cane for sale here, though if you use it to attack it will send Luna into melee range, which usually isn't a great idea. Leaving a Battle Bow on Luna is probably a better idea.
- There are two Item Shops in the center of Vane. The one on the left is nothing special, but the one on the right sells some accessories that are worth buying... if you have enough money. Which you probably don't. The Crystal Pendant in particular is worth it for your casters a bit later in the game. This is also one of the few places in the game where you can buy Star Lights.
- There's a library on the east side of Vane. You can interact with basically every book shelf to learn more about the world, as well as partake in silliness. You can find 10 silver in a book on one of the southeastern shelves.
- And, in case you're looking for it, the statue of Althena is in the northwest of Vane. Not quite as central as in other locations. South of the statue you can find a locked, red chest containing a Devil Pendant. It's barely visible between two small, pointed towers at the top of the building.