The Tomb of Raithwall

Cut Scene:  Arial shot of a mausoleum cut out of the stone cliffs –
wait, how did this camera get a flyover?  I thought the sand caused
problems to all fliers.  The temple looks a bit like the Cambodian
temple Angkor Wat. 

This
is the Tomb of Raithwall and the location of the stone that will prove
Ashe’s blood is good.  Walk down the central colonnade and you are
confronted by a large flying bird.

 Angkor Wat.

     ----- BOSS: Garuda (x15a) -----

- Start by throwing the Eksir Berries you picked from the vaporized Urutan
- Put in all your range fighters and attack with arrows or water spells
- Basic Melee weapons will not work on the boss.

     ----- End Garuda -----

Cut Scene: A candle holder starts moving and if you have ever played a video game before you know that inanimate objects don’t get their own cut scene unless they are magic or evil or both.  Ashe uses this opportunity to give a bit of history.  She drops names and territories and ruling classes like she is giving a freshman survey course on the world of final fantasy.  Here are the basics:
- The gods gave Raithwall some magical crystals and a mighty beard.
- He was dubbed the Dynast-King
- He ruled a vast territory and brought stability/peace to many of the factions in Ivalice
- There were three shards that Raithwall had that gave him his power:
     + Midlight Shard–given to House Nabradia (Ashe’s husband was Nabradian)
     + Dawn Shard-hidden in Raithwall’s Tomb for emergency use only
     + Dusk Shard-given to Dalmasca (Ashe’s family)

In the background, Balthier gets bored and turns around.  Basch pretends that he is interested but I know he lost track shortly after Ashe said “The gods granted their favors to King Raithwall...”  Balthier doubts this quest and says no deal, it is too dangerous.  Really?  Balthier?  A sky pirate?  The IT guy at work is more sky pirate than him.  Ashe reminds him there is treasure inside and he changes his mind.

Save at the orange crystal and use it to transport to other areas if you need to buy supplies or level up.  Otherwise go down to the stairs in front of the temple.

Shopping List:
- 10 x Alarm Clocks
- 10 x handkerchiefs
- 4 x Bacchus’s Wine
- 10 x Phoenix Downs
- 20 x Hi-Potions
- 10 x eye drops
- Every gambit from the Rabanastre Gambit shop
- Cura
- Oil
- Berserk

Levels: 15
- Get your grind on if your party is not to the recommended levels. Transport to YENSA BORDER TUNNEL and chain the beasts in the Ogir-Yensa Sandsea.  Focus on the Urutan-Yensas and look for treasures hidden among the various catwalks.
- Buy more Quickenings for party members.  Each tank should have at least two at this point.  
- When your party is to the right levels and has the right supplies, go to the way stone at Raithwall’s tomb.

Cut scene: The Cambodian architectural influence changes to a more Middle Eastern style.  It is very Egyptian and uses some more elements from the Spanish Mosque of Cordoba.  All the doorways have horse-shoe arches on them.  That is the really what they are called – not very creative are they.  Also, the game refers to the burning torches that line the walkways as braziers.  This makes me think of those bra-burning’s in the 1970’s.   The entire temple gives me an ancient, scary, magical feeling.

HALL OF THE DESTROYER > HALL OF THE SENTINEL > ROYAL PASSAGE

HALL OF THE DESTROYER
While on the upper platform, cast protect on your entire front line melee fighters – it will be important in the coming boss fights. 

Descended down the central staircase.  The wall comes alive and pursues the clan.  Run from him, you will not be able to beat him at your current levels.  Much later in the game you will be strong enough to beat him though.  Hold R2 and run to the back door.

HALL OF THE SENTINEL
Cut Scene: The entire room is black and Vaan wanders around.  Another demon wall emerges and as he does, all the torches light.  Fran yells out at the party that “we must be quick!  Together we can bring it down!”  Wow! I just realized that Fran has a slurry, South African/English/Finland-esque accent.  I looked up who did the voice work of Fran and her name is Nicole Fantl.  She is an English actress and I have to say she is hotter than Fran.  Her only real world acting credit was a bit part in Star Wars Episode II as Senator Lexi Dio (that name actually sounds like it would have been a character from the erotica version of Ep. II.) 

     ----- BOSS Demon Wall (x15b) ----- 

Note: Don’t get too discouraged by this boss. Defeating him is really dependent on a number of random factors all going your way.  Several times I would have him down to 10% HP and then the next time not even getting him down to 75%.  However, if you are consistently not even close to defeating him, I recommend going back to the Sandsea and leveling up, buying enhancements from the LP board, and/or upgrading your armor/weapons. See the shopping list at the top of this section for more information as to what to get and where to level up.

GAMBITS:

Caster: Don’t use them for this boss

Tanks:

[Ally: Any > Phoenix Down]
[Ally: HP < 20% > Hi-potion]
[Ally: Sleep > Alarm Clock]
[Ally: Blind > Eye Drops]
[Foe: Any > Attack]

Part I:
- Quickness is the most important thing in this battle.
- All status ailments should be fixed with potions rather than spells.  
- Attack with three of your tanks.  You don’t have time for casters to be using spells
- Before attacking, run straight for the wall and touch the torch right next to him. 
- If the “brazier” flame turns blue, the demon wall will speed up, if it turns orange, the wall will be slowed greatly.  If the flame does go blue, run to the very next torch and touch it to cancel the speed increase.
- Once you successfully start an orange flame, unleash a quickening (you should have many party members with quickenings so you can chain them)
- Burning Bras: When the slowdown effect of the brazier fades, have your party leader run to another one and touch it.  Pray for another orange flame but if it turns blue, quickly go to another torch.

- Switch out any fighters that are sent to the X-Zone (isn’t that what they call raves?)  The banished character will be out until you go to the next room.

     ----- End Demon Wall -----

Cut scene:  The hallway is now clear giving you access to the door behind the Demon wall.  The sweeping shot of the central room to the temple is quite impressive.  It reminds me of the Luxor Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.  

Vossler looks over at Fran and Balthier and condemns them because they are intent on stealing the treasure from this sacred temple.  Ashe says we need their help to get through this temple.  Ashe says she can feel the dawn shard the same way a pregnant woman says she knows what gender the baby is

ROYAL PASSAGE
Get the map – it is hidden behind the way stone.  The only save stone in this tomb is the one at the main entrance.  In case you accidentally die and thus have to fight that demon wall again go save now.  Use the middle way stone that is colored white to take you back to the HALL OF THE DESTROYER.  Once transported, use the way stone there to transport you to the Tomb entrance. 

After you have saved, use the way stones to get back to the ROYAL PASSAGE.  The temple is split into a northern and southern half; each of which you will need to access to get to the Dawn Shard.  The red and the green way stones here don’t work at this time so you have to walk all the way down to the north and south passages to activate them.  I suggest tackling the Northfall passage first, and then go for the Southfall passage.

NORTHFALL PASSAGE
From the ROAYL PASSAGE, descend down the northern staircases. Once you reach the bottom, wind your way through the various rooms to the very center.  You should be strong enough to fight all the beasts here – my favorite the Lesser Chimeras because it looks like a giant turkey.  There are several undead monsters here so set your castors with the gambit [Foe:undead > Cura].  Note that Cura will affect all the monsters in range, so try and round up a bunch of them before casting the spell.

When you reach the center, make sure your team is fully healed and ready for an ambush.  Touch the glowing red stone lodged in the “Northfall Pedestal.” The party stands there for a second and it looks like they are waiting for an elevator.  The pedestal lowers and then out come the zombies.  After clearing the room, transport back to the ROYAL PASSAGE by touching the red way stone.  It would be a good idea to go back to the orange save crystal again to save.

|| HOUR - 14:25 ||

SOUTHFALL PASSAGE
Like in the Northfall passage, work your way room-to-room to the center.  When you get there, prepare for another ambush before touching the green Southfall Pedestal.

The party is ambushed again but this time by ghosts called Liches.  They attack your party by spraying them with oil and then shooting them with fire.  The oil will greatly increase the potency of the fire attack so you should set up a gambit [Ally: Oil > Handkerchief]. 

Another good idea is to send in all your female protagonists so that they all end up oiled.  Just imagine the three of them all slick, shinny, pushing off each other as they swing theirs swords around and probably grunting a lot too.  Ya, that’s hot.  I guess you could send in just guys if you like it that way. But, I can’t imagine Basch getting any oilier than he already is. 

After the fight, teleport back to the ROYAL PASSAGE using the newly activated way stone.  Go back again to the orange save crystal.
|| HOUR - 14:40 ||

There is another boss fight coming and this is your last time to upgrade.  Refer to the following shopping list.

-- Shopping List --
Levels: 15

- protect spell
- Shell
- 10 x handkerchiefs
- 20 x Hi-potions
- 10 x Phoenix downs

HALL OF THE DESTROYER > ROYAL PASSAGE > SOUTHFALL PASSAGE > CLOISTER OF FLAME > CHAMBER OF FIRST LIGHT

SOUTHFALL PASSAGE / NORTHFALL PASSAGE
At the very center of both the SOUTHFALL PASSAGE and NORTHFALL PASSAGE is a secret room that was unlocked when you pushed both of the Pedestals.  To get there use either of the way stones that transport you down there.  Enter the secret room by going through the opening on the west side of the Way Stone room.  The hallway will lead you around to a door that leads to CLOISTER OF FLAME

CLOISTER OF FLAME
Cut scene: The clan descends into the central room and the air is brown.  Penelo wonders about the fog.  Fran says “Not fog – mist.”  Thanks for the big distinction Fran but we didn’t ask you.  And of course she goes on - the Mist is dangerous but it lets magick happen.  Penelo says “I will keep that in mind” with the same phrase and tone I use when responding to bums who yell strange advice at me like “keep your nose clean and all your dreams can come true.” 

Penelo then looks over at Vaan who is talking to Vossler.  You can’t hear him, but Vaan goes “Hey Vossler, do my abs look more like a plate of buffalo wings or popping-fresh rolls?”

Descend around the stairs and into the center of the room.  Along the middle ring of hallways there are a number of chests.  Two of them contain Elixers which are VERY helpful in this game’s very, very, final boss fight.  So DON’T use them until then.  Before you get to the very bottom of this room make sure everyone in your party has protect and shell cast on them.  Doing so will save time in this boss battle.

When you get to the bottom of the room, a large beast with a thick red beard awakens and then approaches the party.  Belias has a parasitic twin who keeps his arms crossed most of the battle.  But, when needed, the little guy will start pointing and casting Firaja.  The pair also has a sword with a cute, ornate heart on the end of it. 

     ----- BOSS: Belias (x15c)-----

Levels: 16 on all party

GAMBITS:
Casters:
[Ally: any > Phoenix Down]
[Ally: any > shell]
[Ally: any > protect]
[Ally: HP < 40% > Hi-Potion]
[Any: foe > water]

Tanks:
[Status: oil > handkerchief]
[Any: foe > attack]

Part I:
- Don’t use ethers – save them for later in the game.
- Hit him with a quickening at the start
- Keep Vossler alive because he can not be swapped out.
- Belias is immune to ice and lighting but he hates water. 
- Fire spells will give him health.
- If someone is covered in oil, clean it up.  It increases fire damage.
- Use potions to heal instead of your magic.  Your casters need to save their MP for water attacks.

     ----- End Belias -----

Cut scene: Belias falls.  The little one puts his hands on its knees – cute in a freakish way.  It growls and then explodes.  A Rorschach test appears.  I see an owl wearing a kimono.

Everyone stands around and it feels post-coital.  Some of them even start with little pillow-talk stories.  Fran goes first with a poem that describes espers as challengers to the gods who are trapped in the Mist.  Ashe, never to let someone one-up her, tells a story that uses the word “thralldom.”  I looked it up, thralldom means slavery.  Ashe’s story is that the boss we just beat served King Raithwall and he is really the treasure of the legend.  Basch sits quietly deciding whether he should go next and tell everyone about the time he got a free 32-oz steak at Rusty Pete’s Chuck Wagon because he ate it in half an hour and then got to wear a cowboy hat for the picture that was pinned on the wall of fame.  He opts to wait for the next boss to tell it.

Go back to the temple entrance and save.  This is the only time to actually buy power-ups for your next boss battle. 

-- Shopping List –-

- Levels: 15

- 10 x Hi-potion
- 10 x Phoenix downs
- Upgrade your Armor
- Have one of your tanks purchase the Esper from the LP board.

Way Stone your way back to the room where you fought the Gigas Boss and proceed through the door that was behind him.  Go down one set of stairs and up the other. 

CHAMBER OF FIRST LIGHT
Get it?  The room is called First Light... it holds the Dawn Shard... very clever.

Cut scene:  There is a stone floating in a pedestal.  Vossler gets a strange look on his face and tells Ashe that we need to get out of here.  Ashe ascends the stairs and just before she reaches the stone she sees her late husband, Rasler, in ghost form.  It seems as if Vaan can see him too.  Ashe toys with her wedding ring and then says “you will be avenged.”  Funny, because in her hand appears the item that will help her with that vengeance: the Dawn Shard.  I have to say that this is some pretty good emotion that the artists are able to get out of a cluster of polygons. 

Go back to either the SOUTHFALL or NORTHFALL PASSAGES and teleport your way back to the Tomb’s entrance.

Cut scene: Vaan runs out of the tomb and the shadows of airships pass over him.  The whole armada is there overhead – they seem to have no problem flying over the Sandsea.  Vaan is all this is soooooo cool until a pack of attack ships come down and arrest him and the rest of the clan.

Judge Ghis fondles his gold helmet then addresses the clan.  He has grey umpa-lumpa hair.  Ghis wants the nethicite – the good stuff, not that manufactured crud.  King Raithwall’s Dawn Shard is pure, deifacted nethicite.  So wait, how did the judge know we got the good stuff?  Vossler betrayed Ashe and ratted her out.  He justifies his actions by telling her that this is a pragmatic approach that would give the Empire what they wanted (nethicite) in order to get her back in power and thus Dalmasca’s sovereignty back.

Ashe reluctantly gives up the Dawn Shard.  Ghis says that Dr. Cid will love to analyze this sample – he is the coked up weapons expert we saw earlier.  Ghis gives the stone to a lab tech for testing just to make sure that it isn’t fake. 

The clan is flown to a secondary airship for transport back to Rabanastre.  Vossler discusses his future plans and Ashe is quite mad at him for betraying them.  Remember when we first met Vossler back in Damalsca, he was looking for a mole – it turns out it was him all along.  

One of the lab techs places the stone in Michael Jackson’s hypobaric oxygen tank. 

Note: Nine times out of ten I prefer Ashe over Fran.  However, this next scene could be one of the hottest in all of video-game-dom.  It starts when Ghis and his crew begin heating up the Dusk Shard.  Fran starts to feel some the Mist-related side affects.  As the heat is turned up further, she has some slight herbal-essence style quivering but quickly transitions into all out finger curling, in heat, orgasmic, fervor.  A guard notices her strange reaction and tries to control her but she jump kicks his face.  Exactly!  Kicks his fat Imperial face!  The controller even shocked me.  Fran goes on a total tear jumping and kicking and Balthier says “I always knew Fran didn’t like to be tied up” – oh I bet you don’t.  Guards are thrown around and it sounds like she is beating the crap out of bag full of Bud Light cans.  Vossler thinks this has all gone far enough and tries to stop the party by force. 

Cut Scene: Vossler looks at Basch and asks him if he realizes that he is going up against the whole Empire.  Basch says “I do know, All too well” and then his brow furrows and he stands there with an empty look on his face.  I have a feeling he doesn’t know, and that he doesn’t understand what is going on. 

     ----- BOSS: Vossler (x15d) -----
GAMBITS:
[ally:any > raise]
[ally: HP < 40% > cura]

- Send in 2 healers and keep Fran in.
- Keep Fran in her berserk state and keep her healed.  You can’t control her during this battle.
- Defeat the Vossler’s helpers before attacking him.
- Cast the new Esper to attack Vossler and it should kill him.  It is listed under the Mist ability on the Tank that you purchased it from.  Note your character that purchased the Esper must have full MP to summon him.

     ----- End: VOSSLER -----

Vossler falls and says “gasp, gasp, guttural sounds.”  Cut to the main deck of the Dreadnaught Leviathan an all the sirens are going off.  The nethicite is draining all of its power.  Vossler says that he was always trying to do the best for Dalmasca.  Vossler turns Ashe-sitting duty over to Basch.  Basch doesn’t know what to say so he just runs away with Vossler crouching there like he is ready to run the 100 meter dash.  Vossler looks bad but not on his deathbed; Basch may have been able to carry him back to an escape pod.

Ghis’ ship, the Dreadnaught Leviathan, makes this sound like the DC metro pulling into the station and then implodes on itself sending out a layer of gooey, buttery fire.  All the other ships in the fleet are taken out by the resulting fireball.  Balthier and party escape via a stolen imperial craft.  Penelo, looking like a gelfling, asks “what’s that?”  It is the dawn shard trying to sneak away from all the carnage that it wrought.  Balthier turns the ship around to pick it up.

Use the save crystal.

|| HOUR - 15:12 ||