The party returns to Vector to see it lit ablaze. Many of the buildings are on fire, and the inhabitants are replaced with confused members of the Returners. We make our way to the palace where a red-hooded man who, I'm assuming, is a religious leader of the empire and escorts us to Emperor Gestahl.
Troops along the way have been emotionally beaten by the Esper attack. The Emperor, himself, is among those dispirited. He’s ready to end the war and asks us to talk to the troops as he and Cid prepare a peace banquet. We’re tasked with talking to 24 troops throughout the palace, four of whom fight us, in four minutes. The more we talk to, the better the rewards at the end of this sequence will be. I had nearly a minute left on the timer, but the pro strat is to avoid Kefka in jail. The treasures can be gotten later, so consider avoiding them for now too.
After this, dinner is ready. There isn’t much food eating, but there is a lot of talking. Mostly by Gestahl, apologizing for his actions. We have dialogue options during this, and, depending on how fair, impartial, and kind we are, we can get good rewards for doing this. If we're fair in our post-war deliberations, troops leave Figaro and Doma, we gain access to the treasure in the army base, and we can get two relics. Maxing out the points gets us a relic that reduces the encounter rate. Cid joins our side, but this doesn’t matter. After the talks, the Emperor asks us, because Terra is the one who can, to talk to the Espers who fled eastward. Locke joins her, to my chagrin, because he wants to protect her, while every else stays back in case Gestahl is lying.
The two walk to Albrook to take the boat to our destination, Thamasa, where we finally meet General Leo. He’s hired back-up in the form of Shadow, and his number two joins us as well. His number two is Celes. Locke is shocked, and the two are at a loss of words for the whole ride over. Celes is upset he didn’t believe she was with them, and Locke is uncertain how to treat both women he’s promised to protect at the same time. Fortunately for him, when they land, the party splits up. Leo and Celes go somewhere, while Locke, Terra, and Shadow head to the town. The only thing of note on the ship was Terra pouring her heart out to Leo. She’s unsure if a hybrid like her can feel love. Leo reminds her she’s young and, in time, she’ll find the answer. The gravitas of the scene is ended when a seasick Locke ruins it because he sucks.
The inhabitants are wary of us, with the innkeeper asking for 10000 G to spend the night. At several points across town, we’re reminded of the rumor a soldier told us on the boat: magic still exists in Thamasa. We see a woman go to cast cure on her child before noticing us and running off. Her child pleads after her to use the spell. We then see a boy practicing his fire spell before he runs off in fear. The place we need to go to is the house in the north. Inside is an old man named Strago, who claims he has no idea what magic or Espers are. From behind him comes his granddaughter, Relm. Oddly enough, Shadow’s dog, Interceptor, takes a strong liking to the girl and goes to play with her. You’d think the loyal hound of a notorious assassin would be more hostile... After talking to him, the party leaves, Interceptor returns, and we go to the inn, which is now only 1G because Strago vouched for us.
We’re awoken in the middle of the night by Strago. He’s screaming that a house is on fire and Relm is inside. The party goes to help, but Shadow stays behind. Interceptor leaves his side. In front of the house are three panicked locals. After realizing hope is waning to save Relm, Strago begins to cast ice/water on the house. He’s a natural magic user! Everyone tries to stop him since magic is forbidden around outsiders, but they eventually give-in and help. They’re bad at it, and the flames rise. Out of options, Strago goes in, and we aid him. Try to avoid the sentient flames, as touching them initiates battles. If you so touch one, they can be easily dispatched with an Ice 2 or Strago’s Aqua Rake. At the back of the house, we fight the original flame and boss of the area.
It’s weak to ice and water, and its adds are still one-shotabble. Eventually, it’ll cast reflect, so don’t use Ice 2. Aqua Rake, though, cannot be reflected, so cast that instead. There’s an Ice Rod in the house to attack with in the meantime. Locke died because he sucks, but the fight isn’t very hard, pending your luck.
We then see Relm being pulled away by Interceptor as another explosion shocks the place, knocking everyone out. Shadow descends, saves everyone, are uses a smoke bomb to get everyone out. Because more smoke in a fire is a good thing!
In the morning, Strago comes clean. He knows magic and about the Espers. He suspects the Espers are in a cave to the east and joins us as we go there. Relm wants to come along, but her grandpa stops her. ...or so he thinks. Shadow doesn’t come along because he’s edgy. I'm pretty sure that Strago also tells us the backstory of the town here. After the War of the Magi, magic users were persecuted, and any that survived fled to Thamasa. If he doesn't tell us now, he'll do so in the upcoming dungeon.
The cave isn’t long, but it’s filled with things weak to ice or fire. In various locations, we clearly see Relm running from us, but no one calls out to her. In time, we come to a room with three statues in the middle. Strago says this is where all magic comes from. These statues represent the three goddesses who gave magic to mankind. Some humans were turned into beings of pure magic, which became Espers. Non-magic humans grew jealous, and that’s how the War of the Magi started. The real goddesses are believed to be in the Esper World. As the party leaves, a purple octopus drops on their head.
The third Ultros fight is actually hard. He has high level magic and casts haste and protect on himself. He has the same elemental weaknesses, though, so spam fire and thunder and have a cure 2 ready at all times. If we had a full team, or someone better than Locke, this would probably be simple. Sadly, the JCC has limited my healers. I guess that’s good news!? After doing enough damage, the savior shows up. Relm wants to paint Ulty’s picture, but he won’t let her because he’s evil. Relm is then shown to be quite manipulative, going so far as to say she’s going to jump off the ledge of this cliff. Ultros gives in, and the battle returns to normal. Alas, Ultros kills everyone but Relm before she can act. On her turn, we see her special skill, Sketch. Relm is a painter, and her special can cause her to act in a way the monster she painted would act. It's similar to Gau, but Relm doesn't go into a berserk mode after using it. Use that, and she’ll paint a duplicate of Ultros. He’ll finally notice he’s nothing but an octopus and fades away...
The party, along with Relm, keep walking until they met the Espers. The leader, Yura, apologizes for destroying Vector. The Espers didn’t mean to attack, but the moment they came into the human world, they lost control, just as Terra did. Everyone returns to Thamasa. Leo and Celes are waiting, as all groups seem to be ready for an amicable peace until the wretched laugh of a mad clown is heard.
Kefka begins to attack the village, Espers included. He casts a spell that turns the Espers into magicite. He wants their power, and no one can stop him. Leo tries to interfere and is easily killed for it. Leo is strong, but Kefka is stronger. Espers still in their world breakout and come to help, but they’re turned to magicite just as efficiently. After killing ten or so, and his three subordinates, Kefka is satisfied for now and leaves. The party buries Leo and mourns his passing, wondering what he could have taught Terra and how just he was. As they leave the town, the rest of the group shows up and confirms that Gestahl was lying to us. He used us again to draw out the Espers and is now heading for the Esper World. Edgar remarks a barmaid told him the plan, and Locke congratulates him. Everyone, including Strago and Relm, boards the repaired Blackjack. In the US version, Edgar then remarks that Relm, a ten-year-old girl, has grown up too fast. In the Japanese version, he thinks about having sex with her. If Ted Woolsey didn’t change that translation, I’d stop playing the game here. Relm is ten. She’s clearly ten, not even something just short of eighteen that could be construed as looking of age. Pedophilia isn’t funny!
We board the Blackjack and see the land where the Esper World once was rise out of the ocean. Villages are torn in two, people fall in the cracks, and a massive shadow blocks out the sky. At the top, we see Kefka, Gestahl, and three statues. The team prepares to head there...
...tomorrow!
Or maybe not. I might go Blue Mage hunting for Strago. I don’t know how I’m gonna build him, but I know I like Blue Magic and want to gather some. This might take all night, or at least enough to delay the Floating Continent. It’s a long dungeon filled with very hard enemies, so it’s gonna be a minute. Plus, ya know, things happen on the other side that, well, you know...
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