We parked the Enterprise near Troia. Troia is a location ruled by eight women protected by elite shield maidens who remark on the absurdity of their armor. If we enter their sanctum, they'll tell us that their Earth Crystal was stolen by an evil elf. The elf absconded to the northeast and hides in a cave of lodestone. Lodestone is a mineral that has a great magnetic quality about it that makes metallic weapons useless. In terms of gameplay, it grants an auto-paralysis effect on the character. Should we enter the cave, we should remove all such equipment.
But there's something else in this castle. In the left wing of it, we can find a nearly dead body of a prince. Prince Edward is resting in the infirmary. He managed to survive the Leviathan attack and washed up near here. He's glad Yang is alive, but we all wonder about Rydia's whereabouts. Edward tries to get out of bed to join us, but he's far too weak to move now. He gives us some whsiperweed as a replacement. It's only marginally worse than himself, probably.
The Lodestone Cavern is across a small canal between it and the mainland. To reach it, you need to travel north, on foot, from Troia. There will be a Chocobo's Forest that contains a Black Chocobo, another first for the franchise. Take that fella to the forest around the cavern. Inside, the team will remark about our equipment issues. Yang is fine, but make sure you've removed his accessory. Cid's only weapon is wooden, but be wary of armor. Tellah falls into the same category as Yang, and Cecil is the biggest issue. You can find armor for him, and everyone else, suitable in Troia, but his weapon list is wanting. The Iceshard sword is probably the best thing he can wield for the time being. It's terrible, but it does exploit the most common weakness of monsters we're about to fight. Worst case scenario, he's our tanky, mediocre healer!
There are four map completion rewards, but I'd advise against exploring for the time being. Everyone is fragile, and we've got a long road ahead of us. There are two places to Tent and save if you too, so that's nice. As I said, most of the mobs are weak to ice and don't have too much HP. They do have a tendency to afflict a lot of status effects. Paralysis is a common one, and Sap and Stone aren't rare, either. The treasure therein isn't vital, so if you enter the wrong room, feel free to find the correct way before opening the chests. In time, you'll come to several burning tiki torches that mark the location of the crystal room. The last Save Point is across the bridge to the right. In the room beyond these is the Earth Crystal and the Dark Elf that stole it. He'll tell us that our feeble weapons are nothing compared to his magic, and a battle breaks out.
We lose. He was correct, and our terrible gear sucks! Edward, though, will get the feeling that his friends are in trouble. Rather than ask the attendants, he gets out of the bed and stumbles over his lute. He uses the whisperweed to talk to us and begins to play a soothing melody for us. Not only does it revitalize the team, but the Dark Elf starts to panic. He hates lute music, I guess. This causes him to drop the magnetic spell affecting the cave. We can then equip our proper gear and head into round two!
Round two has him lobbing elemental spells at the whole party. Shell would be a good idea as the damage can add up, and Cecil sucks at healing. Elfy can cast a spell that turns the party into pigs, but the Ruby Ring can negate that. After he's taken enough damage/time has elapsed, we enter round three!
Round three is against the Dark Dragon. This form has all the magic of the previous and a physical attack, too. He also has a breath attack that hurts a lot. Exploit his weakness to Fire with Tellah casting Firega. Yang can also throw on the Fire Claws. In my game, DD had a weakness towards ice. The Wikia doesn't indicate he should, so maybe I misread something. He has less than 8K health, so he's not as tough as Cagnazzo, but Cid and Yang didn't survive the fight because of a last second Dark Breath. So I guess Cecil got caught back up from missing the Baigan rewards.
With the Elf dead, we walk out of the cavern. I wanted the map rewards, so I didn't use the emergency exit item in the chest to the left of the crystal room entrance. Return the black chocobo to the forest and take a yellow one down to Toria. When we speak to the Epopts, a voice echos through the chamber. It is Kain telling us what to do with the crystal. Despite it belonging to them, the Epopts grant us use of the crystal and access to their secret treasure trove. There's not much inside that trove other than misc items, elemental arrows, and 55000 Gil... Like I said, nothing much. Talk to Edward before you leave, though. Tellah will recognize that maybe Edward isn't so bad and swear revenge upon Golbez for both of their sakes. Ed will grant us the Bardsong Augment as we leave. When we return to the Enterprise, Kain's airship will meet with us. Kain will tell us to follow him to reach where Rosa is. They somehow get separated, and Cecil ends up in the Tower of Zot without his treacherous friend. Kain's voice will echo again, telling us that Rosa is at the top of the tower, but we should hurry, or something bad will happen. So we'll be climbing a tower and saving a girlfriend...
...tomorrow.
If you need to return to the world map at this point, you can, but the airship won't allow us to navigate the world. Instead, head back to the black chocobo and fly around. I went to the village of Mythril, home to pig people, mini people, and frog people. It also sells Mythril equipment, which is pretty good. It's better than what we have, although without the Holy Element, but is it better than the Sleep Sword in Eblan? Also, can we reach Eblan?
EDIT: SO we can't reach those places by chocobo. I went there on the airship before the caverns, but I didn't say so. I lied.
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