Part 14: Necromancer's Lair

Main Walkthrough

Let's begin the operation. Once you're done prepping - and there's only so much prep you can do on Wraith Island, though if you check the previous guide you'll see a little laundry list - speak to Headmaster Moraine in Lucent's tavern. He'll ask if you're ready, and if you tell him 'Yes' the group will head off to deal with the Dweller of Woe.

Haunted Mansion - Enemies

  • Boulbe - 99 HP - Weak to Sun
  • Lonzon - 75 HP - Weak to Sun
  • Spellbook - 108 HP - Weak to Sun
  • Waltzers - 99 HP - Weak to Moon
  • Woodland Spirit - 63 HP

How eerie. The other Solstice Warriors will head off to complete their own tasks, leaving your group to deal with the ballroom and the gardens. Best get to work. Start by heading to the upper level, where Headmaster Moraine is working on a barrier. To the right of the headmaster are some unlit candles, and if you light them you'll open a path to a nearby chest. It contains an Obsidian Ingot.

Go back to the lower level, then go through the northeast door on the ground floor. As you head through the hallway Seraï will appear and rejoin the party. You can only have three active party members in battle at once, though you can use the Swap command to change fighters on the fly. Characters that get knocked out can't be Swapped, so be sure to change out to a fresher party member before someone takes too much damage.

To the north you'll find a living room with a save point, and if you try to go east through the room you'll be attacked by two Spellbooks. These little creeps use charged attacks to build up a variety of nasty spells, and should be destroyed post-haste. Zale can handle them. Once the Spellbooks are gone a Ghost will appear, thank you for the help, and activate a nearby fireplace that you can use for camping. He also acts as a Merchant, and you may want to buy a Spectral Cape for Garl to get him caught up.

Head east through the living room and you'll come to a small dance hall. There are two Waltzers dancing away in this area, and their slow projectiles are both powerful and annoying to block. Valere's Moon attacks will do them in. Take them out to reveal another Ghost, who will suggest pulling the candle to the left of the fireplace in the north. This will shift the fireplace to the side, revealing a hidden passage to a lever. Pull the lever, then kick the nearby rope ladder.

You're back in the foyer. Go through the now-open door near the bottom of the rope ladder and head north to find the dining room. There are more Spellbooks waiting that you should wipe out with Zale's Sunball. Inspect the dining room table for Meat and Dairy once the room is cleared, and open the chest on the right side of the room for the Mooncradle Fish Pie Recipe. (There's another chest in here, but you can't get it yet. Soon.)

A Ghost will appear in the dining room once you defeat the Spellbooks. Speak to her and she'll ask you to make something tasty, then open the kitchen to the left. Inside you'll find the ingredients needed to make a Master Ghost Sandwich for the Ghost. They're all shining. Use the following combination to master the Master Sandwich:

  • Two parts Hepar, from the jar in the south
  • Four parts Dust, from the heap of dust on the left
  • Three parts Sugar, from the bowl of sugar cubes on the left
  • One part Rust, from the rusty rod on the right
  • Two slices of Dread, from the glowing loaf in the north
Speak to Garl once you have anything and he'll cook up the Master Ghost Sandwich. Take it to the Ghost and she'll open the door to the library next door. Prepare the Master Ghost Sandwich perfectly and you'll receive an extra 100 gold for your trouble.


Head through the next hallway in the north - which contains a little clue, if you inspect a scroll along the way - and you'll enter a spacious library. There are Waltzers and Spellbooks haunting the west side of the room, and two more Spellbooks on the east side. Wipe them all out to reveal a rather unhelpful Ghost. 

Check the shimmering, southwestern bookshelf for Question Pack #3, then climb to the upper level of the library via the ladder in the northwest. On your left, near another Ghost, is a Crown. Head east along the upper level, grappling when you reach the halfway point, and you'll find a rope ladder that you can kick down on the east side of the library. 

Near the bottom of the rope ladder is a statue with a Knight's Helm. Take it and put the Crown on the statue's head. Next, head back to the west side of the library and put the Knight's Helm on the statue by the western ladder. Once both headpieces are in place you'll reveal four little skulls, set into bookcases on the upper level. There are four more on the east side of the library. These are combination tumblers of sorts, and interacting with them will change them to different skulls. 


In the middle of the library is a painting of four skulls, and you need to set the skulls to correspond with those in the painting. From west to east, set the skulls as such:
  • Bird skull
  • Bug skull
  • Human skull
  • Ox skull
  • Ox skull
  • Human skull
  • Bug skull
  • Bird skull
Do that and you'll reveal a scroll that will teach Zale and Seraï the X-Strike Combo. You'll also open a doorway on the east side of the library, by the statue with the crown. 

Inside the door is a ramshackle passage that you'll need to grapple through. Just after grappling and dropping to the lower level you'll find a chest containing a Spectral Cape. At the end you'll come out in a hallway, and if you bust through the bricks to the south you'll create a shortcut back to the fireplace and the save point.


To the north in the aforementioned hallway is the ballroom. There are Waltzers waiting to fight you on both sides of the ballroom. Clear them all out and a Ghost will appear to the north of the entrance. Speak to her and you'll open a door on the west side of the ballroom. Head through.

This brings you to the gardens. Check the dining table in the middle of the gardens for some Meat and Dairy, then head to the west end. There's a lone pot sitting against a wall. Inspect it to find a switch that will open a door into the dining room, where you'll have access to the chest you had to skip earlier. It contains a Rainbow Conch.
 
Head north through the gardens to find a small hedge maze. There are Berries and Eggs sitting in plain sight throughout the maze, which is simple to traverse. There are also brambles, and they're generated by Boulbes in the northeast and northwest corners of the maze. They're attended by a bunch of familiar monsters who shouldn't stand a chance against your party. Take out the northeast Boulbe to gain access to the northwest Boulbe.

Wiping out both Boulbes will remove the brambles in front of the greenhouse in the north of the gardens. It will also free up a campfire and a save point in the northwest. Use both before entering the greenhouse.


Botanical Horror

HP: 
  • 105 (Top Flowers)
  • 88 (Bottom Flowers)
Weaknesses:
  • Moon (all)
  • Poison (all)
  • Sun (all)
Living up to its name, the Botanical Horror is, well, horrific. It consists of five parts - the main body, two Top Flowers, two Bottom Flowers - and can cause a lot of trouble. The Botanical Horror uses the following attacks:
  • A melee strike (Bottom Flowers)
  • Quillshot, which randomly hits up to two of your party members (Top Flowers)
This battle is pretty simple. The Botanical Horror's main body doesn't use any attacks, and relies on its four Flowers. The Bottom Flowers just hit you, while the Top Flowers charge up to Quillshot. Wipe them all out and the Botanical Horror's main body will be vulnerable for four rounds, at which point it will revive all the Flowers. You can only damage the Botanical Horror's main body while its four Flowers are out of commission.


If you want to play it safe you should use your MP to hit all of the Flowers at once with Moonerang, Dash Strike, and / or Venom Flurry. (If you care to save up CP, the Solar Rain Combo will basically give you a free round.) Then build everyone's MP back up with melee attacks against the main body and repeat the process. The riskier approach is to save your MP for attacking the main body, which will allow you to maximize your damage. Either way, try to do your healing while at least one Flower is active, so you can dedicate all of the subsequent rounds to pummeling the Botanical Horror.

Seraï will split again after the fight, a bad habit that will eventually cease to be a problem. Use the campsite outside to rest and save up, and check the now-open door next to the campfire to find a chest containing Music Sheet #2. Then run back through the mansion to the main hallway. Moraine is waiting, and once you approach you'll put yourself on the path to battle.


Dweller of Woe

HP: 525 (Mirror Images)
Weakness: Moon, Sun

This is it, the big one. With backup from Moraine, Brugaves, and Erlina, the party needs to take down the Dweller of Woe over a lengthy, semi-scripted fight. The Dweller of Woe uses the following attacks:
  • A melee slash against a single target
  • Mirror Images, which summons in two Mirror Images to help the Dweller of Woe fight
  • Soul Spikes, an AOE spell
During this battle you have partial control over Moraine, and you can choose one of two moves: Hold Rune, which boosts the damage output of the party, or Heal, which heals everyone. Hold Rune is ideal unless your party is really hurting. Brugaves and Erlina also fight, but they will choose their own moves.

For the most part this battle fights itself. If you have MP, use Valere and Zale's best AOE attacks; if not, attack a few times to build up MP. Moraine can handle healing, with occasional help from Erlina, while Brugaves and Erlina will do their best to whup the Dweller. Just keep fighting...


... and eventually, Moraine will call on Garl to help. Run south through the hallway and go up the ladder on your right to reach the roof. Inspect the glowing points on the roof until you find a weak spot in the rubble on the left side. Inspect the rubble a little ways north of here and Garl will blow a hole in the roof, learning the Cooker Surprise Skill in the process.


After this quick interlude the Dweller of Woe will take on its, uh, 'true' form. Ew. The Dweller now uses some new attacks:
  • A possession attack that forces one of your characters to attack someone else
  • Pain, an AOE spell
  • Spectral Scythes, an AOE slicing attack that hits more times the fewer Locks you break
The fight gets a bit more dangerous from this point on, but not by much. You should only commit yourself to healing if your party members get close to 30 HP. Otherwise you should be able to weather the Dweller of Woe's attacks by blocking at the right times. Skills continue to do much more damage than melee attacks, so use your magic whenever possible to quicken the fight. It'll take a while, but beating the Dweller of Woe isn't difficult.


You'll receive the Dweller of Woe Achievement for defeating the Dweller of Woe. A lot will happen after the battle, and before you know it you'll be back in Lucent. Time to leave Wraith Island, apparently...