Aptly named...

The town of Coffinwell is a city being raked by plague... Why does this keep happening in these times of plague?

The citizens are getting sick, and we can see many of them writhe in pain as their perfectly fit loved ones look on in horror. Visitors are not immune to this disease, either, based on the two people in the inn who choose a bad place for a honeymoon. Rumor has it, this same illness struck the town 100 years ago, but no one knows how they saved themselves back then.

Head to the mayor's house on the hill and speak to the guy in charge. He'll inform us he's got someone looking into how this ended 100 years ago, but he's not happy about it. A man named Phlegming is in charge of reading old scrolls. For some reason, the two don't get along. If you speak to the maid, she'll inform you why. The mayor's daughter, Catarrina, married Mr. Phlegm. She doesn't tell us why, but the mayor doesn't like the archaeologist. Because of the rivalry, we're asked to see if the son-in-law has made any progress. We're told he lives in the house to the west. Inside is a lone woman, and she's Catarrina. She appears fine, but she has the occasional coughing fit, so we'd better fix what's causes this before she gets worse. Her husband isn't here, but he's locked himself in his lab in the alleyway below. Cat takes us there and gets Phlegm to open the door with her secret knock. After some quick...introductions, Phlegm tells us he's deciphered the writings (of 100 years ago). This isn't a disease but a curse. To the west is a sealed entity that is causing all of this. The earthquake a few days ago must have stirred something. Phlegm is ready to investigate, but we need the mayor's permission and key. After getting it, we all head there.

The Quarentomb is open, and Phlegm assumes it was by the quake. There's nothing out front, so we head deeper in. There's an inner sanctum sealed by two doors of different colors. To open the doors, we need to activate two lasers in the back corners of the dungeon. An inscription at the front says to go right, so I went counter clockwise around this area. There's some decent treasure to be had in the middle, by the way. In the back corners are two statues that shoot a laser. That laser bounces off various mirrors and comes to a point at the locked doors. We don't need to change the mirrors, and this is a very simple puzzle. Be on the lookout for metal slimes! I almost got one...

On the otherside of the doors is a broken pot with a sealing ward on it. Fortunately, the seal is intact, so Phlegm goes to repair the pot. Before he can, though, something purple comes out of it and attacks him.

The Ragin', Ragin', Ragin' Contagion is actually hard. Maybe it's because I didn't fight him at full strength, but I had some trouble. For starters, he gets two attacks a round, and his physical blows are pretty tough. They can take out a mage with focus, but I don't think he ever targeted one person twice. His next tricks are his debuffs. He likes to lower our defense, but he can also put people to sleep. Start by casing Sap and then go all in. Lucy needed to heal a few times because I've been using up all my medical herbs for alchemy. Maybe if I (character) hadn't run out of MP, Drew wouldn't have died. The good news is even the dead get EXP.

We'll win, and Phlegm repairs the pot at the same time. The contagion, and his southern accent, is sealed back in the pot, much to his chagrin. Does this mean we saved the town? We don't know yet, but Phlegm isn't in a rush to find out. He heads down the stairs to explore the rest of the ruins. All that's down there is a plaque about a long lost King and a confused ghost.

When we return to Coffinwell, everyone seems happier. We did save the town! The mayor promised us a reward, so we head there. But, on our way, I wanted to see if Catarrina had anything to say. Stepping into her house, we see her lying on her bed. She's not moving... Phlegming comes in and tries to stir his wife, but she's dead. We were too late. He bemoans the cruelty of our timing and his own failure to recognize that Cat was even sick. We cut to her funeral, and the whole town is there except for Phlegming, who's locked himself in his lab again. Stella is upset that we're going to get zero Benevoessense from this but does want our physical reward from the mayor. He's outside his house but is too despondent and angry and his son-in-law to give us anything. He'll ask us to come back in the evening.

If you go to him then, we get a feathery headband, which isn't very good. However, there's something else new in town. The ghost of Catarrina is at her grave, unable to go on because of her husband's grief. She guides us to him and tells us how to open the lab. Phleming rushes out, forgetting his wife is dead, and berates us for using their secret knock. But we then convey Catarrina's last hopes for her husband, which has us guiding him around town. She wants him to see all the people he's helped. Phlegm joins the group as we show him all the people who once thought he was weird but now hail him as a hero. The old lady at the church, the visitors in the inn (who tries to kiss him), and a sleeping child are the required places, but even the healthy love him now. After the last, we'll return to his lab, and he seems more lively than before. Catarrina begins to have that familiar glow as she's ready to go to the afterlife. He's clearly still grieving, but I think it'll be alright. The sun is about to rise, so we get a free stay at the inn. In the afternoon, we step outside, and Stella tells us the whole town is glowing green! Is this enough to activate the Starflight Express?

Outside the train is a ghost who's looking for someone. She doesn't stay long enough to get any information, but I'm sure it's nothing. Once again, we try to turn on the train. It works! Stella doesn't seem like a good conductor, but she's good enough. We lift off, the cabs appear behind us, and we sail into the sky.

Sure is stormy up here... Our aim is the Observation, where the game started, and it's still suffering from the effects of that fateful night. It's still standing, but repairs will be needed. Apus Major is praying to Yggdrasil for a safe return of the Celestrians as he hears the Starflight whistle overhead. We land behind the world tree and stop out before him. He's shocked we're here, alone, and halo/wingless. We all return to his throne and fill him in on what's happened. As we do, Stella leaves us. After we're done with Apus, he tells us to pray to Yggdrasil so we may get our true form back.

As we do, Lucy falls asleep. She has a dream that a voice from the sky is angry at humans. He thinks they're terrible creatures and tries to destroy them. A red light emerges from the sky, but a purple light intercepts it. This light is another godlike entity and calls the first voice "father." The second voice believes in humanity and wants to preserve them. We get a glimpse of our next destination and told something about fyggs. Things get hazy as we wake up, just in time for Apus to climb the stairs. We still don't have our halo, but Apus thinks our dream is meaningful. We're reminded that Yggdrasil bloomed before we all died, but her fyggs fell to earth. Maybe if we collect them, something good will happen. We learn the spell Zoom, which is the DQIX's Return, and we go talk to Stella. She's annoyed at someone not paying her and wants to go find him. This is perfect because we both need to return to the Protectorate!

The Starflight Express lands near to where our dream told us to go, and it's the Alltrades Abbey. I've been looking forward to this place because we can change jobs here. But we can't now. It seems the guy in charge, Jack, has gone missing. The backup guy in charge asks us to go find Jack, so we start our investigation. After talking to everyone, it seems Jack found a fygg and went to the Tower of Trades, where the ancients once changed jobs. It had been monster infested, but maybe the fygg gave him powers capable of clearing the place out? We'll have to find Jack...

...tomorrow!

The stuff in Coffinwell got to me, man. A few tears were shed, for sure, but I promise I didn't ugly cry. I don't know why, but it hit me in ways games normally don't, especially for bit part NPCs. But the last big mechanic is finally dropping tomorrow! Also, why are butterfly wings so hard to find?!