Localizing wobbly stuff.

We're in the snow around a city whose name is too complicated for my brain. Neva Talira!

But Wilhelm wants us to see his house out east. As we enter, we see a shadowy figure teleport out. Wilhelm looks around at the mess and assumes he's been robbed. Cristopher asked what he wanted to find here, and Wil said he was looking for keychains, accessories that modify weapons. We look around at the center cabinet only to see they're gone. But only in the present! Wilhelm congratulates his pupil for being proactive in sending Matias back in time. The three keychains are still there. One reduces the defense of an enemy, another can inflict poison, and the third damages the user. I sold the last one. We then look around to see if there's anything to salvage.

The Crises found an old sphere with a woman on it. Topher, though, said it was his brother, Aden! He confronts Wilhelm, wanting to know why and how he knows Aden. Wilhelm says they were a part of the same squad in the first war against the Empress of Time. They managed to succeed but at the cost of many lives, and it only bought them time. Time, which is running out now, and we need to visit the Talira Cathedral.

It's to the west of town. We can't enter the city because of parade preparation, so it's off to the salt mines. The cathedral and mines are in the same location because the mines once were vital to the city. The chapel is in the back, and we see several women with blue hair talking. One of them is the local Mother Superior. She's being assured that the Orowitz family is helping to find who broke the mural in the back. This is Rhallus, and she really doesn't like it when we volunteered to help. She also lacks a past and future. There was another girl there, but she was just around...hanging out. We could see another person in the past, but they weren't there in the future. Crisbell investigates the broken glass and feels some power is there, but she can't use it. We'll need to fix it, and they pick up some scrap parts of it before heading to the city.

We can enter Neva Telaria, but the first thing we experience is racism. A nearby country, Cinder, had to be evacuated. Many refugees fled here, and the sorta bird people of Telaria don't like it. And this guy isn't even from Cinder. Rojo, the man being harassed by guards Biggs and Wedge, owned a crystal workshop. He'd be able to repair the mural, but his shop was robbed, and his tools were stolen. And no one cares except us. We offer aid, and he sits in the cold, waiting. And then we hear the loudest "psst" in gaming. Another blue haired girl wants to speak with us.

This is Ryza, a "relative" of Wilhelm. Cristopher instantly falls in like-like with her. Wilhelm is famous in this region, and even the Mother Superior called him "master." Ryza calls him "uncle." She wants our help in finding the thief. She's seen some shadowy figures moving in the museum her family ran before it was closed down. We believe everything is connected and agree to meet her at the museum.

While we wait for Ryza to join us, we inspect the museum exhibit. The only thing there is a dissected torso with, I think, a head that pops off! And it speaks!! This is Buki, a stuttering Witness similar to Paulina (not Paula). But she has no idea why she is. Buki is old and has been sleeping for a long time. She asks if we can find the rest of her body and joins the team as a key item. Ryza joins us for this as well. We're looking for her (actual) uncle's office.

The museum is a dungeon that contains eldritch horrors, guards, and wolves with a new shape! The worm things are not fun, wolves are rare, and the guards are only worth it because they drop healing items pretty regularly.

The "gimmick" here is we need to find three words to open a lock to the employees only section. We'll need to investigate the rooms, solve some puzzles, and use a new power. We find Buki's hand, and it collapses a pillar. But it gives us a new mechanic. Crisbell can shift individual things back and forth through time, which allows us to pass. But restoring them makes them look pretty! We can perform this at the pillar to return to the path, a painting to find a code, and a bookshelf to find another code. We can also find two seemingly random key items that I suspect will be a part of a side quest. I didn't find the third code, but I took a good guess! "Telira's Elite Prowess." The country's name was just passed the lock. We also found a diary of Gladys, Ruza's mom and head of the Orowitz family. Her death kicked off all of this mystery, and that event was also a strange and sudden enigma. A bit more down is the office of Lucio. And we overhear a conversation.

Rallus is talking to a new emissary of the Empress, Kari. Rallus "returned" to Talira during Gladys' funeral disguised as a distant cousin. She's been ruining things ever since in order to get a taste of the Empress' time shift power. Ryza wants to confront them, and we rush in. Rallus already left to "keep up appearances," so we've only got this Kari person. But she's busy and leaves, attacking us with the Bugat Boss!

Bugat is a tar monster revived by the Empress. It attacks by throwing tar at us and teleporting to it through us. I also remember a lot of burning... Take out that tar ASAP, and this is pretty manageable.

We investigate the office, but all we find is a love letter from the past. It's written to Lucio from Fanny. It's all we got, so we visit the Orowitz Manor. The two twins don't like Wilhelm, but Lucio is a pretty cool guy. He tells us Fanny disappeared some time ago, and we all jump to the conclusion that she was kidnapped. Lucio gives us the key to the museum and promises to reward us tools for Rojo. We return to the museum, take the back way, and find the jail cell. Inside is a woman, but there's also a sneak attack!

This was the hardest fight yet. The horror and the Teiflu Royalty. Both of these things are fast and love status effects. Burning, poison, and paralysis are gonna happen. Both targets are immune to scan, but they seem weak to fire. They're not immune to burning, at the very least. I almost died, so I can't give a good strategy.

We'll free the prisoner, who is Fanny. We bring her to the foyer of the museum, where Lucio is waiting, and there's a happy ending. We even see their future selves change. There's also the past woman from the cathedral here now, too. She's still in the past. Lucio tells us the tools are in the college, so we'll collect them...

..tomorrow!

This is quickly becoming one of those games that I enjoy playing but hate writing about. It packs a lot into a little time, and I want to keep enjoying it. But this blog helps me remember it more, so I must continue!