Trials of Mana/Part 13: Bark at the Moon

When you arrive at Mintos make sure you stock up honey drinks, pakkun chocolates, magic walnuts, angel's grail, and round drops. Then buy some new equipment because the moonlight forest is one of the hardest places in the game so make sure that your on level 20 and by the time you get out of that place you'll be on level 25. When you're ready, head west into the Moonlight Forest. I must warn you, this whole thing is like an endurance test -- a very TOUGH endurance test. You must be able to beat all the enemies here without taking too much damage. The less damage the better because there is no Gold Statue before the boss, only a Grey one. Once inside the forest, Kevin will turn into a werewolf, seeing as the whole place is night time (the werewolf type depends on your class change choice.) The Moonlight Forest is a nightmare to navigate. It's worse than the Corridor of Wind in Rolante! There are TWO routes through the forest, one direct and the other indirect. The direct route does NOT pass through a Gold Statue so you'll be in trouble against the last boss. The indirect route does pass through a gold statue so you can level up further. The downside to the indirect route is that it's longer. The routes are as follows:

Indirect (with Gold Statue): southwest, southeast, southwest, southwest, west, southwest, southeast, southwest, southwest, east. You'll end up in the place with a Gold Statue and Karl's grave (from Kevin's intro.) Once you've saved and refreshed, the next step is to get to the boss area. To get there, go (from the Statue) west, north, east, northwest, west, northwest, north. Save here (Grey Statue) and head northeast to face the boss.

Direct (with _NO_ Gold Statue): southwest, southeast, west twice, southwest, south, southwest, north. Save here (Grey Statue) and head northeast to face the boss.

When you head into the opening, you'll find Deathjester with some fatally injured Altenian wizards. He casts Death Spell on one and Energy Ball on the other, absorbing the souls. Kevin appears and accuses him or lying about Karl. Deathjester says that Kevin is an fool for believing him. Kevin and Deathjester starts to fight. Deathjester casts Stun Wind (which damages and silences a single enemy) and Kevin is paralyzed (you get Kevin in this scene even if he's not on your team.) Then you appear with the rest of the team and challenge Deathjester to fight. Lugar appears and accepts the challenge. If Kevin is a member of your team, he'll get up and fight with you, otherwise, he'll lie out cold to the side of the opening for the duration of the battle. If Carlie is on your team, she'll blabber on at Deathjester (after all, he DID kidnap Heath, didn't he?) before Lugar appears. Deathjester will reveal that Heath has accepted a new role under his master the Masked Mage and is now the number two man. Deathjester is the number one man. Now you must fight:

Boss: Beast Man Lugar
Lugar is one of the toughest bosses you'll ever face so make sure that your HP is above 200 at all times. Lugar is VERY tough. He can switch werewolf types when he wants. EVERY class that Kev can learn, he knows already and can switch between them. Because of this, he has no weak spots. Lugar can pull off the Suzaku Sky Dance (Dervish) and then immediately do the Seiyu Death Fist (Death Hand) and finish off with the Water-Moon Slice (Bashkar.) You will need full slots of Round Drops, Angel Grails, Pakkun Chocolates and Honey Drinks. Make sure you have at least one person who knows Heal Light. If they can multi-target it, all the better. The battle starts in earnest with you doing a lot of damage, and then Lugar does Moon Saber (Death Hand) and he lets rip with all the BAs you can think off. Get ready with the healing items. If you can't beat him, resume from the save game and build up about another 5 or so levels before trying again. If you have Lise on your team, try using her stat spells.

After you beat Lugar, Deathjester will run away and you'll get a scene involving Lugar, Kevin, Luna and the Fairy. After the fight, it appears that Lugar is dying. Luna appears and, at Kevin's request, revives Lugar as a baby. If Kevin is on your team, he'll rejoin your team, if not, he'll wave bye and take off.

Head inside the Moonreading Tower (don't go up any floors yet, we'll come back later to do that) and talk to the Mana Stone. After the short conversation, leave the tower and head south to get to the Grey Statue. Save here (unless you want to fight Lugar all over again. Personally, I don't.) Now we need to make our way back to Mintos so retrace your steps. Go southeast, east, north, east, northeast, east, north, northwest, east to end up back in Mintos. Sleep in the inn, stock up on supplies and then head north, northwest to get to the beach. Call Booskaboo and get ready to head to Diorre and Dryad, the final spirit.