Chapter 12 Lindblum Redux and Fossil Roo

LINDBLUM REDUX

Upon entering Lindblum, Zidane wisely suggests that Vivi hide while he and Dagger goes to investigate the damage. Enter inn and go up to the moogle, Moodon. You have a letter for him from Serino, remember. He’ll have a letter for you to deliver as well. Save your game. Head out and head to the square of the Business District. You’ll notice that the alley to the Church is blocked off. Check the debris there for the Lindblum Card. Enter the house beside the alley and open the chests here. Leave the house and head to the shopping area to trigger the next set of events.

We are taken to see Regent Cid. After some discussion we decide the thing to do is to find and stop Kuja in order to cut off Brahne’s weapon supply. Cid has deduced that Kuja must come from the Outer Continent and that there must be a way to get there from the Mist Continent without a boat or an airship, and no it doesn’t involve a whole lot swimming. Basically he has said our next destination is the Qu’s Marsh, but before we can leave, they want us to do some shopping first (and they give us a gift of 3000 gil to help out the war effort).

Here’s our shopping list. You’ll notice we’re mainly sticking to the Synthesis Shop and you only need two pieces of equipment.

Synth
Exploda
Barette

Speaking of equipment, you will notice in your inventory an accessory called the Peridot. We got that last chapter from Ramuh. Equipping this on Dagger will allow her to learn the summon Ramuh. One thing to note, each Summon/Eidolon has its own jewel. In order raise their power, you want as many of their jewels as possible. For example, to raise Ramuh’s power in battle, collect Peridots. The more you have in the inventory, the more powerful he will be.

After your shopping is done, head to the Air Cab and take it to the Theater District, watching “The Third Jewel” along the way. Talk to Lowell in front of the Tantalus’ Hideout to send him to Alexandria. Collect the chests of gil in the hideout and head back to the Business District Shopping Area. Talk to the guy in front of the fountain to move on with “Brahne’s Fleet Arrives.” As we reach the base level of the castle, we learn that Cid has been doing his best to hinder the Alexandrians. He gives us the World Map and we hop on the trolley to Dragon’s Gate. Around the corner, hidden is another Bandana. Talk to the moogle, give him his letter.  You may want to buy a couple extra Adaman Vests from the merchant here. Save and leave here.

Before we move on with the plot, we should first take that Kupo Nut that’s been burning a hole in our pockets over to Moguta in Gizamaluke’s Grotto for another random reward. Now head back to Qu’s Marsh. Find Quina back at the Frog Pond (now how the heck did he/she survive Cleyra’s destruction?). Re-recruit Quina and go talk to Quale, we need Quina to get into our next dungeon area. But first lets catch a few more frogs. Remember to leave the Golden Frog and 1 male and 1 female frog. Go back to where the two moogles sit and walk all the way right until you can go no further and go up the path through the grass.

Thanks to Quina’s gluttony, we find ourselves at what looks like an entrance into a subway. This is the Excavation Site aka Fossil Roo. Run on in.

Recommended Equipment and Abilities
Zidane: Exploda, Bandana, Bone Wrist, Adaman Vest, Power Belt
Man-Eater, Bright Eyes, Insomniac, Antibody, Bandit, Alert
Vivi: Oak Staff, Mage’s Hat, Mythril Armlet, Magician Robe, Reflect Ring
Level up, Ability up, Loudmouth, Insomniac, Antibody
Dagger: Stardust Rod, Mage’s Hat, Mythril Armlet, Magician Robe, Peridot (when Ramuh is done put on the Barrette)
Chemist, Level up, Ability up, Loudmouth, Antibody, Auto-Potion, Auto-Reflect (if you have it)
Quina: Mythril Fork, Bandana, Bone Wrist, Bronze Vest, Fairy Earrings
High tide, Level up, Millionaire, Loudmouth, Insomniac, Antibody

                                                                                                                                                                  

FOSSIL ROO

Head down, down, down to a screen with a cage with something inside it, though we don’t know what yet. Run all the way to the right to trigger a chase/boss fight.

Those pendulums in the path are horrible. Running into them will get you thrown backwards, thus stalling your running. And we do manage to get away from the thing, but on the very next screen we  find ourselves confronted with yet another boss.

Give Zidane the Gladius. When the battle is over, head back to where we were first confronted by Armodullahan. In the cage area, you’ll find an Elixir. Now back to where you fought Lani and down the stairs.

In the next area, we see why  they put the word Roo in the name of this place, the gargants. However, you’ll have to catch them manually. It’s a lot easier than it sounds, just pick the yellow flower and go to the where you see the ! and hit X to call the gargant to take you to the next spot.  At the first drop-off head into the door on the right. You’ll see a miner as you enter and two moogles down on the lower platform. Stiltskin is one of them and he has three more items for you to buy. Buy them and talk Mognet to Mogki. Tent up and Save. Afterward, go out through the bottom right of the stage. Take the gargant. At the drop-off go through the doorway and pick up a pair of Fairy Earrings out of the chest. Go back to the screen with the moogles and take the exit to the north. Take the gargant to the next switch. Flip and go get back on the gargant. Where the gargant drops you go up the stairs and to the next screen for a chest. Double back and go to the next screen again, this time you’re on the bottom tier. Go to the end of the path and flip the switch. Go back to the gargant flowers and take them up the stairs to the guard rail to call the gargant in this area. You’ll end up back at the last switch. Flip it again and head back to the moogles. Tent and save so that if the worst should happen, you’ll won’t have to do the first half of this dungeon again. 

This time take the very first gargant we used (when we got the Fairy Earrings). The guy here we see when we first land has an equipment shop, but we don’t need anything from him.  Head up the stairs and flip the switch before exiting stage right. Take the gargant here and find  a Lamia’s Tiara at the end of the path to the right. Equip this on Dagger right away to go ahead and start teaching her Confuse. Go back to the Gargant and take it back to the previous area. Flip the switch again and take the gargant again. Follow the path around to the right and you’ll reach a pretty little pond (one of my favorite areas, for its beauty, the designers went over the top on this one).  Climb across the vines, being careful not to get too close to any of the statue mouths. Climb directly right of the starting point. Go through the lit door and speak to the miner. Give him a potion and he will let you dig. You want to dig all the way to the right, against the pile of rocks in the wall. Dig and dig and dig until a moogle falls out. Immediately ask about Mognet and Kuppo will give us a letter to take to Kupo. Tent and Save as per usual and talk to the miner to both end the mini-game and move him out of our way. Once he’s moved his kiester run to the right and around to the end of the path where you’ll see the field icon. Pick up a Survival Vest. Backtrack back to the mine.

With the moogle in this room, this is a great place to AP grind. Rotate the Survival Vest from Vivi, Dagger, Quina and Zidane, leaving it on Zidane until further notice. When Zidane has finished Annoy, give him back the Exploda, both it and the Gladius have Lucky Seven. When Dagger and Vivi are done with the Survival Vest, give them both Magician Robes. When she’s done with the Barette. Use the Magician Shoes to teach Zidane Clear-Headed, replacing them with the Madain Ring when he’s done with it. Save the Magician Shoes for Dagger. Vivi should already be wearing a pair. Quina should rotate from the Silk Robe to the  Bronze Vest to the Magician Robe to the Mythril Vest to the Survival Vest and ending with the Adaman Vest. Zidane and Quina should be wearing the Bandana, Vivi the Mage’s Hat, and Dagger the Lamia’s Tiara. When Zidane is done with the Madain Ring, he should put on the Reflect Ring (if only to have someone working on it and he won’t need to worry about Level Up, at least not for a while). When you’re done grinding for AP, remember Zidane is mainly a melee fighter, Dagger and Vivi are magic users and Quina is inbetween. Therefore, Zidane should be wearing equipment that either boosts speed, strength, stamina or defense. Vivi and Dagger should wear equipment that boosts magic and spirit (as well as magic defense). And Quina should wear a mixture.

When you are ready, return to the pretty pond and climb going up and left. Your goal is the switch at the very top of the left wall. To avoid getting washed out, climb as close as possible to the last statue’s mouth. Jump off and push the switch. Hopefully you have all the treasures here because once you flip this switch, that’s it. Hop back on to the vines and get far enough under the statue’s mouth to initiate a torrent of water sending you into the pond. When you see the field icon hit the X to jump out of the water and run to the right. You are at the last gargant area. Pick the flowers and summon the gargant. As you hop off, we are at the exit. That’s it for this well-designed very entertaining area.

As usual, thank you so much for reading. I do hope you will deign to leave feed in the comments section. See you tomorrow for Chapter 13 Rally-Ho and Pyntie Hets.