I want the perfect body...

...my body!

I found where I was supposed to go. Don't worry about the caves or the clock tower. Exit the Shrine of Rhule and head onto the world map. However, you can find the Holy Grail there, so go get that first. To the east is a forest with a single dude in it. He'll give you the clue on how to find the Hidden Village, which is to treat this place like a clock. This is a "Lost Forest" type of dungeon where we can only advance with the correct pattern. Go clockwise from 9:00. Once you strike 6:00, we'll enter the Hidden Village. It's a village started by the Danams, the first civilization, just after they went "extinct." But we're here for Lolo.

Find your way through the poorly designed town until you reach the Chief's Hit in the northwest. We'll sit down with the chief and Pipin, who's left Riza's group for Lolo. The entire conversation is that Lolo was born here and is the youngest Danam. Everyone is split about what Lolo should do. Some want him to stay with his people, and others think he can learn more while traveling. The second option wins out, and Lolo stays with the group to save the world. Before leaving, talk to the three elders in the south to learn about the world. The Four Greats fought against another god and won. They created the Danams, but the old god wasn't truly dead. It now shows up every 4000 years to try again. So why is Hausen our enemy? From here, we can return to the world map.

The heavens begin to shake as everything gets weird. The world starts to combine into one mass. The heavens fall onto the world, vastly altering the landscape. Landmasses form new bridges we can travel on to reach new areas. Just north of us are those caves I said to ignore. We'll have to traverse them now to get to our next destination. We can find a defensive mantra in there. Eventually, it'll take us back through the Great Forest, where we'll run into a boss sent by Hausen. I don't remember anything about it, but he blows up the bridge. We'll be back in Orieb, and we should talk to Legin's dad. We need to get to Surlent's hometown, but Hausen's attack left that place ...in a state. Boats no longer go there, so we need to cross the desert. But there's a sandstorm constantly blowing. Fortunately, deus ex exists in Treasure of the Rudra! Legin's dad has a way to stop the sandstorm.

There's some optional stuff to the west of here, but the results are sketchy. Don't buy any elemental armor (or equip it, at least). It'll ruin your life later on. Once you begin crossing the desert, Legin activates his dad's item. It breaks instantly, but it works. After a short walk, we find the true source of the sandstorms.

Desert Rose is hard. I haven't been keeping up on my mantras, it seems, so I'm pretty weak. The trick is buffs and debuffs, which I haven't discovered. Apparently, there are no earth defense spells, either, which was how I thought was the way. Disappointing...

We'll wake up on the world map just outside Avdol. Everyone in town is a zombie, except the innkeeper, and there's a terrible haze that makes it hard to path find lingering over it. It's dumb. Head to the basement in the lab, and we'll read the description of Surlent's Jade. It's a Rudra prophecy, indicating Surlent's body will kill two people close to him. Muench was one (apparently), but who's the other? Solon!

A map would do this game wonders because I had no idea how to get back to Thor's Volcano. Could we have taken Cast's boat? I wandered around for too long until the teleporter took me somewhere I could figure out. New mobs are in the volcano as we head to Solon. As you'd expect, Solon is dying. His last words to his students are about how they've grown and an indication that our body is in the Ruins of Rhule. Once again, figure out the landscape and return to where you found the Holy Grail. I think there's a teleporter there.

We'll see Surlent's fake and chase him through the tower. We'll end up cornering him in the basement, where he lets slip that Hausen is with a Lago Stone in Sigmund Glacier. He'll attack us, which gives him the ambush in the boss battle.

And this guy teaches you why you should carry many elemental armors with you. I went in weak to wind because I had bought four Baker's Hats. Don't do that, or Culgan can one shot everyone. Attack him with electricity and defend against wind. I used a spell to up my speed because he's very fast. I also upped our attack and lowered his defense. Proper mantras break the game. Surlent will place the Holy Grail on his dying body and steal the soul of the fake. Automatically, his soul returns to his body, leaving nothing of Rostam's. We're back to full power and can start looking for Hausen in full.

As we leave the ruins (and more wandering around), the world becomes a better place. From a small island to our southwest comes a wave that cleans the oceans and rivers. Like the land and skies, they, too, are purified. We have six days left to save the world, but we'll start that...

... tomorrow!

The pacing of this game needs work. Everything comes so fast that nothing has time to sit. And it's all so repetitive! Also, why did dead Surlent spend so much time in the sun?