CHAPTER 15 ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING AND THE SOURCE OF THE MIST

Forgive the lack of chapters this week. I was unable to type due to an injury, but I'm back now. So onward we go with

 CHAPTER 15 ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING AND THE SOURCE OF THE MIST

Before pressing on, I should probably touch base on the Phoenix Pinion and why we have been saving them thus far. You likely noticed that you can use the Phoenix Pinion to teach Eiko the Phoenix Summon. Using the Phoenix summon will deal heavy fire damage to the enemy and revive any fallen comrades. However, this is only half of its worth. If your party is wiped out by a monster, and Eiko is in that party, there is a chance that Phoenix will appear and save your butt. This chance is determined by the number of pinions in your inventory. This chance is (# of Phoenix Pinions in stock/256)*100). So if you had the max number of 99 in your inventory, that would equal a 38.671875% chance of Phoenix being summoned in such an emergency. Moral of the story, collect as many pinions as you possibly can.

Finding your next destination is quite easy. Once you’re back on the world map, simply rotate the camera until you are facing away from the mountain path. To upper-left of your current position is Madain Sari. Also note, there is a Friendly Yeti in this area which will give you 20 AP and an Elixir for your troubles.

We enter Madain Sari and are immediately greeted by a coven of moogles. When we get control again, we first watch Vivi’s Feelings, which detail Vivi’s thoughts on the idea of death. An interesting topic for a kids his age to be concerned about but I didn’t write the script. After that, we have full control again, at least for now. Right behind Dagger is a chest. By the broken section of the fountain is the Libra coin. Exit, Stage Left even. Zidane talks to Vivi and we get another ATE, Dagger’s Feelings. Next try and enter the little house there. A moogle tells you not to enter and we get yet another ATE, Eiko’s Feelings.

This is an interactive ATE. Eiko wants to make a scrumdidliumptuous dinner for everyone but the moogles all agree that she can’t cook worth nothing. So we get to help out. Not Zidane and Co, I mean us, the players at home. 

When prompted to choose who should do what, here is what you should answer.

Dig Potatoes-Mocha
Help in the kitchen-Chimomo
Fish-Momatose.

Go back to the fountain and this time take the northeastern exit. Try and enter the odd structure. We are told it’s restricted and then we get to watch Quina make a pest of him/herself again.  Go back to Eiko’s house and talk to the moogle there again. Morrison says he is to take you to see the Eidolon Wall. When we go back to the fountain screen we get another ATE. Eiko’s Kitchen.

Yet another interactive ATE. We get to help Eiko cook some more. Simple solution is this, water for 11 people. NO OGLOP! And when Momatose catches a fish choose to let Chimomo handle things and go give him a hand. This lets us reel in Quina, whom Eiko mistakes at first for Kuja (snort, snicker).

Head back to the odd structure that we now know is the Eidolon Wall. After some talk, Zidane asks if he can bring Dagger along because she can summon Eidolons too. Dagger is at the entrance path of Madain Sari if you remember from Dagger’s Feelings. Find her and bring her back here. Talk to Morrison to initiate the next automatic sequence. When it’s over, exit the wall to trigger another ATE (Eiko’s Kitchen 2).

During this ATE, ask Quina for help and s/he will grade you on your progress in the kitchen so far and will suggest having Vivi help with the fire.

Return to Eiko’s hut and Mog will let everyone know in his adorable way that it’s time for dinner. Bon Appétit. During dinner, the question of the Summoners of the village is raised. Where are they? Why is Eiko all alone? These are very valid questions after all. Eiko also makes some very obvious gestures toward Zidane but either he doesn’t notice or he purposely ignores them because even he wouldn’t hit on a 6 year old (he’s not Edgar!).

Before getting the pot, get the treasures in the room. Take the pot now to Eiko. Once you’ve dropped it off you’ll be able to find the second rare coffee, Kirman, in this room. See the picture to the left.

Next you should try to leave the house entirely and you will be prompted to rest for the night. In the middle of the night, Vivi can’t sleep so Zidane talks to the boy and introduces him to the joys of male bonding (NO NOT THAT YOU GUTTER BRAINS!). The next morning Eiko decides she’s going to take the group to the Iifa Tree (and thus retains the fourth spot in our party).

You’ll remember from a previous chapter that we were told that a silver dragon was seen on the northwest of the continent. We are on the northeast side of the continent. How do we get to the northwest you ask? Return to the Mountain Path and from the intersection where you fought Hilgigars, take a left.

On this side of the continent, we can encounter yet another friendly creature, the Nymph. She’ll ask for 3 ores and will give 30 AP + 1 Emerald in exchange, not a bad deal. However, since we shouldn’t have any new abilities to learn at this time, forego her for now. When we are ready to come back here for her, this section is called Pualei Plains.

I hardly think directions here are necessary, as it should be obvious that our goal is the big tree in the center of the plains. Enter for a short scene in which we first make morons out of ourselves, Eiko undoes the seal, and we acquire the next Eidolon, Carbuncle.

Those who have read the Treno chapter know that I do not like the Reflect status, which Carbuncle is best known for. However, Carbuncle has more than just Ruby Light this time. Once you have learned the ability completely, you can equip different stones to allow Carbuncle to use different status effects on our party.

Diamond – Diamond Light – Vanish or Vanish and Protect
Emerald – Emerald Light – Haste or Haste and Protect
Moonstone – Pearl Light – Shell or Shell and Protect

Now is as good a time as any to cover summon sequences. When summoning eidolons thus far you have likely noticed that sometimes you get a longer animation and sometimes you get a shorter animation. The length of the animation determines how powerful the summon will be. Or in Carbuncle’s case, determines whether you get one or both possible effects. Once again, this is also effected by how many of that eidolon’s jewel you have collected.

Either way, you should give Eiko the Ruby right away and get Carbuncle over with. Enter the Iifa Tree.

This area has two types of monsters. Stone and Undead. To finish off the Stroper (stone beast) easily, use a Soft on it. To take care of the obvious undead monsters, use either a Life spell, a Phoenix Down or a Fira. There is also some Blue Magic to get here, but since we don’t have Quina in our party, there’s no point in covering those spells just yet. Make your life easy and equip Zidane with Stone Killer and Undead Killer too. Oh and make sure you have everyone equipped with Jelly.

It’s impossible to get lost here, just keep going to the next screen. What we need to worry about is the treasure here as it is possible to miss one or two. A moogle waits you after the sixth screen. You have a letter for him from Mogryo if you remembered to get it. Approach the center of this screen to reach an odd lift. Try standing on it to move on.

We are now INSIDE the tree. Press on, down the root-path. In the second screen you’ll see a chest you can’t quite get yet and right beside it is another small offshoot. On this offshoot we see the telltale !. Press the switch to make the chest fall down. Grab the Phoenix Down and keep going, taking the next offshoot for a Hi-Potion. Be very careful on the next screen as there’s a very easy to miss Ether. The third screen down, look on the left side where the there's a hidden switch -- this drops a Healing Rod in the area right before. The next offshoot has two treasures, a Lamia’s Flute and a Remedy. On the next screen we are treated to another interesting lift in the shape of a leaf. We hop on and another automatic sequence starts up. At the end of which we are thrust into battle with undeads. After stepping off the leaf and regaining control over Zidane. At the bottom of the longer staircase is an Elixir and around underneath the top level in a blind spot you’ll find a Brigandine (give it to Zidane). Now Zidane finally gets Ability Up.Speak to Vivi first, then to Eiko and finally to Dagger. When you are ready to advance the plot, approach the very left of the bottom floor. We call Dagger to join us but she loses her footing. Go and get her and everyone gathers at the very left of the screen. It’s BOSS TIME!

Beating Soul Cage earns us this FMV, where I will leave you for this chapter. Next Chapter we will see the Disc 2 Finale.