The 7th Saga/The Wizard Rune



You should be at least at level 36 at the beginning of this chapter.

In this chapter, the game plays three very, very nasty tricks against you. The first one as soon as you leave the town of ; the second one when you get to the exit of the, the last one after you defeat the.

Brush
Once you collect the three Runes in North Ticondera, it's time to head back to Brush. There, the historian Brantu completed his flying machine. Using this Mecha-Glider, you can reach the western continent of Barluca. Unfortunately, the mecha-glider crash lands near Valenca, but you can still travel back and forth using Windballs or the Wind Rune.

Valenca
In the town of Valenca, the Prophet tells you about the evil that is spreading over the land: here starts your quest for the seventh and last Rune. An old enemy of King Lemele, Gariso, is back, so it's up to you, Lemele's apprentice, to retrieve the magical Moonlight and defeat Gariso once and for all.

Purchase a '''Desp. robe''' for your spellcaster (Esuna, Valsu, Lejes), but keep wearing the Fire Cloak for the moment: the most dangerous monster outside Valenca wields powerful fire magic. On the other hand, none of the enemies in the subsequent uses either fire or ice spells, so that's where you can don the Desp. robe.

In this area you can meet Sword enemies, that occasionally drop the "sword-sword", the only weapon that Wilme can equip. The same enemy can also drop many other weaker swords, so keep fighting... if you survive!

Here's the first nasty trick: monsters in Barluca are far stronger than the previous ones, so you should definitely spend a significant amount of time grinding. The three previous chapters were all set in the same region of Ticondera, so it's possible to get to the snow-covered Barluca continent when you're still at level 27. Go back to the area of Padal, where you can meet S. Brain enemies, and grind for 6 or 7 levels, until you can defeat a trio of Flames. The game is challenging your perseverance!

Cave of Kapel
The cave of Kapel is due south of Valenca. You have to travel south along the west-coast until you pass the mountains, then turn east and travel between some lakes.

The monsters in the cave are easier than those outside: the P. Moon centipedes are actually the only monsters that live here. They don't use attack magic, so your spellcaster (Esuna, Valsu, Lejes) should now wear the '''Desp. robe''' purchased in Valenca.

There are several chests:
 * Potion 3
 * Magic seed
 * 2 Harps
 * Topaz
 * Magic Water

When you're almost at the exit of the Cave of Kapel, the second nasty trick strikes: you lose the ability of casting magic spells! This won't be a big problem: use the Runes instead of your magic. Otherwise, teleport back to North Ticondera and get grinding up to lv.34 at least.

Without magic, use intensively the Runes in battle, except for the Sky Rune, obviously (because it restores MP, that are now disabled). The Light Rune is still useful because it increases your Magic attribute, and subsequently your defense against enemy magic, too.

There's a trick, though: the curse affects your current team, but not the other characters. If you travel Ticondera, you can change your partner. Still, since you own six Runes, there's a high chance that the others will attack instead. Check the following table if you want a replacement that keeps your playing style:

Bugask
Outside the cursed cave of Kapel, walk a bit south then due east until you reach the town of Bugask. Rest at the inn, then use the Wind Rune to go shopping around Ticondera for all the items corresponding to any spell you may need.

Tonoka, the healer woman of Bugask, recognises that you cannot use magic anymore because of a curse. She suggests you to go north and see if the people of Guanta know more about it. The good news is: the curse can be lifted! You just have to find a way to.

How useful is the '''Kryn. Mask'''? It offers a net improvement on physical defense for your spellcaster (Esuna and Valsu, but not Lejes), while the Amulet found in Bilthem castle makes your spellcaster almost immune to enemy debuff spells (including the annoying enemy MP-Catcher). Right now you have no use for your MP: purchase the mask, but keep the amulet.

Guanta
Guanta is straight north of Bugask.

It was the Sage of Guanta who cursed you, although now he's afraid he made a mistake. Even worse, he can't to lift his own curse, because of a vision he had. At the end of this chapter, you'll see that somehow his vision was right.

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Cave of Silence
The Cave of Silence is where you can find the Moonlight, the item that allows to defeat Gariso. The cave is straight to the west from Guanta.

Only old enemies and monsters can be found in this dungeon. It is as if the "rising dark power" feared by the people is resurrecting all evil creatures. The boss is not an exception, either: Pison is back again! Thanks to these old enemies, the Cave of Silence would be feasible even if you didn't have the Runes.

The dungeon is divided in three parts.
 * Part 1: go down and left, then enter the first door you can see: it's a small detour that allows to get a Bottle of Protect. Backtrack and then first follow the path up to get a Topaz and a Seed of Protection. Backtrack again and go down to get a Bottle of Fossil, then continue to the gate.
 * Part 2: follow the upper path and get a Magic Water, then continue all the way to the right to the next door.
 * Part 3: you can see a portion of Part 1 from here. Follow the path and get a Shield Destroyer and a Bottle of Protection. Experience one of the most disturbing moments in the history of video games (more shocking that the death of Aeris in Final Fantasy VII). Fight the boss (see below), then continue and get a Potion 3, a Mosquito and then the long sought Moonlight!

BOSS: Metal Pison
Just abuse yor Runes and also drink two bottles of agility. Then beat him up for the third time.

Back to Guanta
Show the Moonlight to the town sage, and he'll be persuaded that you're not evil, therefore he'll lift the curse that sealed your magic away.

Before proceeding there are two things to do: first, level up until you get to level 40, that is the level by which every character learned every spell he/she can cast; two spells are the exception: at Lv.42 Olvan and Valsu learn "Revive1" and "Elixir", respectively. Leveling up should be comparatively fast: the enemies north of Guanta can easily give you more than 2000 experience points per battle. Also, if Esuna's (or anyone else's) Magic attribute gets greater than 150, she'll start dealing noticeable damage to the Swords.



Second, but optional, you can chase down the other four apprentices (one was slain in Patrof). The "Revive1" trick doesn't work anymore, probably because these battles are not a mandatory part of the plot; if you let your ally die, the other four will invariably tell you to heal your friend. At this level, if your opponent has high Speed, even with six Runes and a bottle of Agility you have little chance to win. Note that if you lose the Runes you cannot get to the seventh one.

The following list of locations was originally compiled by Treemother199; apparently, at this stage of the game, the competitors appear more often in the North region of Ticondera. 🇨🇴 🇨🇴 🇨🇴

Cave of Baron & Castle of Gorfun
Before adventuring in the following double dungeon, you should better know that afterwards some items will be permanently missing from all shops. It's not a glitch, it's part of the plot (but no spoilers here). Therefore, stock up eight of each item. A few important items that will be missing are the following:
 * 9 Bottles of fire
 * 9 Bottles of protection
 * 9 Exigates
 * 9 Magic herbs 1 (9x20 = 180 MP, that can be useful)
 * 9 Magic siphons (extra source of MP, that can be useful)
 * 9 Potions 1 (9x40 = 360 HP, that can be useful)

The cave
There are no chests nor items in the Cave of Baron. The shortest way through is to turn left, then up; after the boss, hug the wall to your left. Anyway, feel free to explore the cave at leisure.

BOSS: Monmo
Monmo is weaker against Ice spells, as opposed to Fire spells. This is especially noticeable because his defense is extremely good against everything else. After using the Runes and two bottles of Agility, attack with ice spells (Valsu, Lejes) and fire spells (Lejes, Olvan, Kamil) and/or bottles of Fire (Esuna, Valsu).

The castle
Emerging from the cave of Baron, you get to a peaceful area in front of the gates of Gorfun. If you are missing some of the six Runes, the castle gates will stay locked.

The only chests in Gorfun can be found in the basement.
 * Ground floor: turn left and continue to the stairs;
 * Floor 1 and upper basement: enter the first door and climb the stairs down to the basement; the Crystal shows you a chest, and that is a K. Trick, that should be easy to beat now; the stairs down are in the lower-left part of this floor;
 * Lower basement: climb down several small floors to the basement bottom, where you can find three chests: a P. Seed, a Harp and the Fort. sword, that can be equipped by Valsu or Esuna.
 * Floor 2: climb up from the basement, then continue right and find the stairs to the 2nd floor; here, just walk all the way to the left to find the next stairs; the door in the halfway in the corridor leads to a series of empty rooms.
 * Floor 3: walk right and enter the first door you see; continue straight and you'll make acquaintance with Gariso, the holder of the Wizard Rune.

BOSS: Gariso


Gariso is initially invisible. First, use the Runes and two bottles of Agility; then, use the Moonlight to make Gariso visible, and attack him. When Gariso turns invisible again, first heal up with the Water and Sky Runes, then use the Moonlight again.

When you defeat Gariso, you obtain the Wizard Rune.

And here is where the third nasty trick strikes you in the back: as soon as you collect the seventh Rune, they all break into pieces!

Worse, the seven Runes restore the powers of the real enemy (no spoilers here), and he sends you back to the Dark Ages (Dark World in the English localization).