Traysia/Chapter 1: The Beginning

EVENT 1
You start in the township of Salon with Traysia's pendant, a Leather Vest, a Melon, and 35 gold. Get acquainted with the town for a bit, talk to people and whatnot, and then make your way to the inn at the bottom-right corner of town. Before you go inside, make sure you talk to the guy standing outside the inn. If you don't, you won't be able to get into the Master's house in a moment.

Inside the inn, talk to the guy at the desk and say Yes when asked to sign in the travel log. This saves your game. Paying the money to spend the night only recovers your party, and will always be optional. In fact, try not to spend any money until you've met your fellow party members.

Once you've gotten enough of wandering around talking to people, head to the building in the upper-left corner of town surrounded by the fence. Go in and you'll talk to the Master about the situation at hand, as well as meet the members of your party. Talk to Magellan (the one on your left) and say Yes to join them. You don't really have a choice; you can't go anywhere until you agree to fight with them.

EVENT 2
Besides the spells Houdes, Hou Khan, and Founce; Banegie, Magellan, and Floyd also bring with them their own equipment, a handful of restorative items, and 123 gold. If you didn't spend any of your own money before, you should now have just enough for a Long Sword (in the shop below the doctor's office) and a Shield (In the building with two doors in the left end of town, take the left door and talk to the guy on the right when you first come in). If you want a tiny bit of extra money (12 gold) now, you can visit the building to the right of the building with two doors. Talk to the guy there and he'll give you a free dagger to equip, or sell, or whatever. When you're ready to go out and fight, head back to the right and exit town. You'll be in the overworld.

You can now be attacked by enemies, so make sure you know how to defend yourself. You may want to read the section on battle tactics. In fact, you should wander around outside and fight a few enemies. It won't take long to raise enough money to buy Chain Mail for everyone, a Shield for Magellan, and plenty of Power Sticks. Speaking of which, now is as good a time as any to give you perhaps the most important advice of the game. Ready? OK, here goes: sticks are your friends. Whenever you find a store that sells Sticks, buy as many as you can carry. It may take quite a while to gain enough money to do this, but it will always be worth it. Why? Because Traysia may well be the only RPG that has no limits on the amount of things you can equip. You can only equip one each of a weapon, armor, and shield, but you can equip as many "accessories" as you want. Sticks are one such type of accessory. Almost all will boost your defense, so if you invest the time and money it takes to get a bunch of them, your characters will be nearly invincible.

That being said, you should know that it's a waste to buy Power Sticks (or anything else, for that matter) for Floyd. Just focus on the other three party members. When you've gotten them into pretty good shape, it's time to find the forest and the cave within. From town, head due east until you reach the river, then continue going east, following the river around until you find the bridge going across it. Cross the bridge and head for the forest. There are two entrances to the forest: from the bridge, make your way northwest along the river and you'll soon find the first entrance. If you want a more definite route and don't mind a slightly longer walk, note that you can just follow the dirt path that starts at the bridge and you'll eventually end up at the other entrance.

Once inside the forest, you need to find the cave. The forest can be pretty tricky to navigate, so you may want to follow my directions. These instructions begin at a certain point: a path running east-west intersected by a path to the south. It's like a "T" shape. Here's how to get to the "T", depending on how you entered the forest.

If you took the "LONG" entrance (by following the dirt path): You should be heading west as you enter the forest. Continue west across the first intersection you come to. It will wind southward and then back to the west; the first intersection you come to should be the "T".

If you took the "SHORT" entrance (by following the river): After entering, the path will take an immediate turn to the east. Follow the trail and when you see the first path leading north, skip it and continue eastward. If you take the second northward path, however, you'll come to the "T".

FROM THE "T": Head west, and after the path turns to the north, continue going north, ignoring the path leading west. After an eastward turn, the path will become wider and less straightforward. But keep following the dirt path and you'll come to a nearby four-way intersection. take the north route here, and you'll see the path split off into paths leading west and northeast. Take the northeast path and you'll see the path split again, one going east and one going west. Take the west path, which will curve north and then back east, and split one last time. There should be a north path and an east path. Take the east route and follow it as it curves north and eventually back toward the west. Ignore the path leading south that you'll come to and keep going west until you reach a clearing. Once in the clearing, head west and make your way south along the rocks. You should find the entrance to the cave.

Enter the cave and make a note of the layout of the screen&mdash;the entrance doesn't really stand out, so you'll need to be able to find it when you want to leave the cave. From the starting point, head right and you'll come to a treasure chest with a Hammer and a bed. Examine the bed and you'll be able to rest and recover there. If you want a Lemon, backtrack to the cave entrance and go up and continue left instead of going up towards the chest you'll see (it's empty). You should find another chest with a Lemon. Now go back to the bed, rest if you wish, and head upward to find the door to the next level.

Once in the next level of the cave, go a little bit left and then up to find a chest with a cuirass. Then go back down and head all the way left to the far left wall. Make your way upward, but HUG THE WALL as you go. If you go all the way up along the wall, you'll get a chest with a Shield (Have Magellan equip it if you haven't already bought him a shield). Now the only thing left to do is to fight the boss. Be warned, however, that when you go to fight the boss, you will be shut out from all the places you've been before and won't be allowed to go back.

This is your last chance to save the game, buy Power Sticks, and load up on restoratives for a while. The next town doesn't have nearly as much stuff to buy. So, if you want to rest, you can backtrack to the bed on the previous level&mdash;just make sure to hug that leftmost wall on your way out (and on your way back in). If you're ready to fight, head back down a little from the chest that had the Shield. The boss will show up when you turn right and attempt to pass between the two walls at the bottom of that little "hall." If you want a little extra equipment and items, have Floyd give all his stuff to other party members before doing this. He won't need them.

As you make your way into the boss room, Floyd will stop you and give a little speech about his evil plan and how he's been plotting with the Master to kill off the strong people and rule the kingdom of Salon. Then Floyd will escape and the remaining three party members will be forced to battle the boss of the cave.

Boss: Minotauros
The boss's only attack is to smack at you with its club. If each person has the proper equipment and a Power Stick or two, you shouldn't even lose any life during the battle.

EVENT 3
After defeating Minotauros, you'll notice that the way you came in had been blocked off. So, make your way up and to the right, following the path out of the cave. You're now in a different overworld, full of rocks and mountains. If you go west from where you came out of the cave, you'll see the sign for Stone Village. A little further west, you'll see entrances in the north rock wall. These lead to the quarry, which has several villagers working in it. All the way to the west of the overworld, you'll see a path leading through the mountain range. This is where you'll end up going, but for now, go to town and rest, save, and talk to people. The sage's house is at the back of the village, in the right corner. If you talk to him, he'll tell you that you need to cross the mountains to the west to get to a forest which has lumber to make into a boat to be taken back to Salon. If your party is armed to the teeth with Power Sticks, you can go ahead into the mountains. If not, you'll definitely want to build some levels before trying anything. You'll soon notice that the enemies here are much tougher than the enemies you have been facing.

So, when you're ready, head for the western mountain passage. The path will soon split into routes heading northwest and southwest. Take the southwest path and it'll gradually curve southward and bring you to an intersection where you can go southwest or southeast. Go southwest and the path will soon widen a bit and split into two paths going west and south. Take the southern trail and follow it as it bends to the east until it forks into northeast and southeast paths. Take the southeast path and it will soon fork into northeast and southeast paths, just like last time. Again, go southeast. This time the path will eventually turn southward and bring you to a four-way intersection. Take the south path, which will gradually bend to the west and widen into a small clearing with routes going north and west. At this point, continue westward until you come to the next intersection, with paths leading north and southwest. Take the southwest path and you'll soon come to the final intersection, with trails that lead west and southeast. Go southeast and follow the path until you reach the forest, which is really just a large clearing with a few trees. Walk in among the trees and you'll automatically pick up some lumber and be returned to the entrance to Stone Village.

Head into town, rest, save, whatever, and then enter the house to the left of the town entrance (the one next to the house with the closed door). Talk to the man inside and he'll build you a raft for your journey back home. Get whatever items you need from Stone Village, and then leave town and head due south. When you reach the river, take a couple steps west and the craftsman should come out and announce that he's built your raft. You'll then be taken to the first overworld, right next to the bridge. After a little discussion, your party plans to invade the Master's castle to try to stop him and Floyd.

EVENT 4
Head back into Salon and you'll find two people standing at the entrance. The one on the top will tell you how the Master and Floyd terrorized the warlocks from the north. After the info, he will put the guards that are guarding the entrance to the castle to sleep. The one on the bottom is Bellenue, a warlock who has lost her family to the Master and who will join you and teach your party the Hound spell. So, talk to both of them (FYI, the guards won't be put to sleep until you've talked to both warlocks), and then get ready to fight through a dungeon. You should buy and equip Bellenue with a Cuirass, a Long Bow, a Shield, and, of course, all the Feather Hats she can hold. Feather Hats, like Sticks, can be equipped as many at a time as you like, except that only warlocks (like Floyd and, more importantly, Bellenue) can equip them. The great thing about them is that they give a whopping +35 bonus to DP. This means that right off the bat, your Level 5 Bellenue can have a DP in the 500's! She'll be invincible! As if that wasn't enough, they also cost dozens LESS than Power Sticks! Can you believe it? This is an outstanding investment to make, and I STRONGLY recommend that you take the time to get enough money to supply Bellenue with a full inventory of Feather Hats. To maximize your party's defense, have your weakest character drop one of his/her Power Sticks and replace it with Bellenue's Mage's Stick before buying Bellenue all those Feather Hats.

When you're ready to storm the castle, head to the upper right corner of town. You'll see two stone buildings side by side. Enter the smaller one and go through the (now unguarded) door. Walk down the hall and continue going left into the wall at the end. You'll pass through a hidden door and wind up inside the castle.

Once inside, immediately head right and enter the room you find for four treasure chests containing a Melon, Dried Meat, Short Sword, and a Pear. Of course, none of these are worth dumping a Stick for if everyone's inventory is full. You can leave this room and walk straight down for a similar room with a Crystal, too. When you're done looting, head into the room in the upper left corner of the level and go up the stairs there.

There's nothing of interest on the next level, so go straight down from the entrance and take the stairs inside the room there. On the following level, walk to the right, then turn upwards when you come to the first opening. Go all the way left, then all the way up to find a chest with a Great Sword inside. Equip it on either Roy or Magellan, then work your way to the right around the upper part of the level. When you're above the central room (the one with the beds and table), you can go down through the doorway and take the stairs to the next level; if you want a Long Bow you can continue going right, then turn down and back to the left before leaving the level.

On the next level, you can enter the room directly below where you start from and walk to the right to get a chest with Chain Mail; otherwise make your way right and then up. The room on your right with a table has a chest with a War Hammer if that interests you, otherwise continue upwards, then left, And stop when you get to the door leading upwards into the room. Just past that door is another door leading down into a small room that has the stairs to the next level. If you're maxed out on Power Sticks, go on ahead to the next level here. If you want another Power Stick, though, you can continue going left, then down, and enter the room on your left and get the chest before returning to the stairs.

The following level is the last dungeon level before the boss fight. It has two Red Shields which you should make sure to pick up and equip. After you enter the level and follow the hall as it turns upwards, make a left at the intersection and follow the path around; you'll see two chests. One has a Ruby, the other has a Red Shield. After getting the first one, wind back around to the same intersection, but this time, take the path that leads off to the right. You should see a chest in the upper right corner of the level as you pass. Inside is the other Red Shield. After equipping it and otherwise readying your troops, make your way downward and to the left and you should see the stairs to the boss. After you take the stairs, you'll be taken into the final room to face off with the bosses, Floyd and the Master. After a pathetic attempt to recruit the party for their purposes, the Master and Floyd will attack.

Boss: The Master and Floyd
In this battle, neither boss will use magic, which should make it a pretty easy fight, even for those parties without a lot of Power Sticks. My only advice is to focus all your attacks on one character until he dies, then work on the other one. They're both pretty much the same in terms of stats, so pick on whoever you want, then finish off the other one. Also, you may want to keep Bellenue at a distance, since she'll still probably be fairly weak. She might even be too weak for her magic to have an effect, but she'll still be able to launch arrows from across the field.

EVENT 5
After the battle, your party will be alone in the throne room. You'll need to backtrack your way out of the castle. After you emerge in town, rest and equip your party as needed, say your final farewells to the Salon kingdom, and leave town. Talk to the people standing by the town entrance if you want some congratulations, and then step out into the overworld. The game will go auto for a while, your party members will talk, and Banegie will reveal that she's a female, which for some reason is a big deal. Afterwards, you'll be asked to save before continuing to Chapter 2.