Part 24: Prepping for the Grindery

Main Walkthrough

A massive sacrifice has put a stop to the relentless advance of the Grindery, and now Alex and company need to infiltrate the towering juggernaut and put the Magic Emperor down once and for all. You can do this by heading to the Transmission Spring of Vane on the world map, via Meribia, as the Grindery is stalled nearby. Approach the Grindery when you're ready.

Be warned! There is no coming back from this point! Once you enter the Grindery you're committed to the end game content, and you'll never get another chance to explore the world map, as well as any towns besides Meribia. If you have other business, do not enter the Grindery.

The Grindery

Enemies

  • Archmage - 288 HP - Can inflict Stone on targets - Weak to Sword, resists Ice, Wind
  • Arrow Fish - 243 HP - Melee opponent - Weak to Fire, Ice, Thunder 
  • Blyzzer - 378 HP - Can hit your whole party
  • Bomb Angel - 297 HP - Ranged opponent with AOE attacks - Weak to Fire, Ice, Thunder, Wind
  • Death Armor - 315 HP - Melee enemy - Weak to Ice, Thunder
  • Magic Machine - 315 HP - Can Paralyze targets
  • Soul Yanker - 270 HP - Ranged enemy - Weak to Sword, resists Fire, Ice, Thunder, Wind
  • Tank Golem - 360 HP - Can hit your whole party

The battle of the Grindery begins before you even get inside the thing, as a bunch of monsters will leap out and attack the party. You'll need to win two battles to enter the Grindery, and given that your team is surrounded on both sides in each fight you should use magic to avoid damage. Nash's Thunder spells are great at ripping through the Death Armor.

1F

This area consists of narrow hallways and pipes that shunt your party around. If you enter the correct pipes to make your way through you'll be cut off from collecting everything, so if you want all of the treasure you'll want to do the following:

  • Take a right from the entrance and make your way east, as far as you can go. You'll come to a pipe, and next to the pipe is a chest containing a Healing Nut.
  • Use the pipe. It will drop you into a hallway with three enemies to the north. Use the pipe at the north end of the hall.
  • You'll be dropped in a larger room with two enemies. Look in the upper-right corner of the room to find a chest containing a Healing Nut, then jump into the pipe to the left.
  • Head east in the next area until you see a pipe with an arrow above it. A short ways northwest of the pipe is a chest containing Saint Clothes. Head up the pipe.
In other words, no, you're not missing out on much if you skip the chests.


2F

Follow the entry hallway east. As the path swings south you'll find a chest on your left that contains a Silver Light. The remainder of this floor is devoid of chests, so unless you want to fight enemies and earn levels (not a terrible idea, honestly) you can find the exit by heading south of the chest, taking your first right, and head south again. The pipe is at the bottom of the map.


3F

Head east of the entrance. You'll find thin walkways populated by enemies. Look northeast of the walkways and you'll find a dead end hall with a chest at the end. The chest contains a Silver Light. Backtrack a bit to the west and head northeast of the walkways to find two pipes. Take the left pipe and you'll be dumped by a chest containing a Stone Bracelet.

Make your way west. In the northwest is a pipe that will dump you in a room with several enemies, then drop you near a chest, though you can avoid the enemies by sticking more to the south and just heading west. The chest contains an Angel Ring. You'll find the exit to the east and south of this chest.


4F

You'll start off at an intersection on this floor. It doesn't matter which path you take through here, as all of the pipes will ultimately dump you off in the same room in the northeast. Take the pipe in the north to make a hideous discovery - one already hinted at a few times - and to find a chest containing an Insane Shield. The exit is to the south of the chest.


5F

This garden is a pleasant halfway point through the Grindery. There are no enemies, and you can learn more about Ghaleon by speaking to the NPCs roaming the area. The statue of Althena in the middle of the garden makes this the perfect place to level up your party if you find that you're struggling against the monsters of the Grindery. It only gets more difficult from here.


6F

This room consists of a bunch of linked rooms filled with monsters, and for the most part you can ignore everything. The one exception is the lamp-like fixture in the southeastern hallway, as there's a chest behind it that contains a Healing Ring. Don't miss out on this excellent accessory while you're in the area. You'll find the exit stairs in the south of the map.


7F

To the east and the west of the entrance you'll find a small rooms, two of which contain chests. To the east you'll find a chest containing a Holy Bandanna, and to the west you'll find a chest containing an Insane Helmet. The exit to the next level is in the north.


8F

There's a bit of a split at the entrance. Head east and south to find your way to the exit. A bit further west of the exit you'll find a chest containing a Phantom Ribbon.

The eighth floor is more or less the end of the Grindery as a dungeon. When you enter the ninth floor you'll find chests on either side of you, containing a Star Light and a Healing Nut. Head north to trigger a cut scene which will seem to create a point of no return, though when you enter the chamber in the north you can backtrack south and go back down the Grindery. If your party is in rough shape this is a good idea, as the northern chamber will bring you to a fight that has been a long time coming.


Magic Emperor

Hoo boy, he's big. The Magic Emperor is more or less a replication of Ghaleon as a party member, and he uses all of Ghaleon's spells to batter your party. Any elemental protection will come in handy when fighting this guy. Expect the following attacks from the Magic Emperor:
  • Teleporting melee attacks (two per round)
  • Inferno, a Fire attack against the whole party
  • Nitro Dagger, an Ice attack against the whole party
  • Rock 'N Roll, an Earth attack against the whole party
  • Tornado, a Wind attack against the whole party
The Magic Emperor tends to move back and forth between his melee attacks and his spells, which means that one character will take heavy damage one round, and the whole party will take less-heavy-but-still-heavy damage the next round. If the Magic Emperor goes after your weaker spellcasters with his melee attacks there's a good chance they will get knocked out.

Despite the danger the Magic Emperor represents, this fight is fairly by-the-books. You should know the drill by now:
  • Alex gets buffed up and uses Sword Dance. He can also use Blue Dragon Heal if you're in a pinch.
  • Kyle is the same as Alex. Power Slash is the way to go.
  • Mia can use her buffing spells - Ice Shell is especially useful against Ghaleon's melee attacks - and then batter Ghaleon with either of her single-target spells.
  • Jessica will have to work overtime in this fight with her healing, and should do nothing but. If the Magic Emperor used his melee attack on a character, use Heal Litany or Althena Litany to get them out of the red. If the Magic Emperor used a spell - or if you lucked out, and he used his melee attack on two different characters - Calm Litany has to come next. Normal attacks barely damage the Magic Emperor so there is little point having Jessica attack.
  • Nash is your item user in a pinch, and his Thunderbolt spell does appreciable amounts of damage to the Magic Emperor.
This fight will have your party riding the line between life and death on a regular basis, but it's not actually that difficult. So long as you can promptly revive and characters that get knocked out (especially if it is Jessica) you'll take down the Magic Emperor with sustained attacks.

Head north after you defeat the Magic Emperor. Given that the boss fight wasn't really endgame material, you won't be too surprised to learn that Lunar: Silver Star Story isn't over yet. There's one town left to visit and one dungeon left to complete, and the dungeon is a doozy.

Main Walkthrough