Bravely Default/Chapter 1

At an unknown location, the Eternian forces predict that the wind vestal's next destination is Ancheim. They request the help of an organization called the Khamer & Profiteur Merchantry to capture her.

Ancheim, Land of Sand and Time
You begin in the northern end of the Harena desert. There are several new enemies here, including the very common Venomous Snakes and the rare Sand Worm. Venomous Snakes can easily inflict Poison with their Venomous Fangs, so Poisona and Antidote is very handy here. Sand Worms are more threatening, as their Sandstorm damages and Blinds the whole party, so have a trained Black Mage in your party in case you encounter one. Most of these monsters are weak to Blizzard.

Head south until you reach a city with many windmills. Move along the straight pathway until you reach the outside of the Ancheim palace. As the Crystal of Wind has been consumed by darkness, wind no longer blows and the city employs forced manual labor to sustain its industrial power. Enter the palace to have an unhelpful chat with the king, Eloch Quentis Khamer VIII. Agnes suggests heading to the Temple of Wind so that the Wind Crystal may be restored.

Sub-scenario: The thief and the corrupt merchant
Upon exiting the palace after talking to the king, you will receive a tutorial on Sub-scenarios, which are sidequests that let you earn new asterisks. You can attempt this first sub-scenario before exploring the Temple of Wind as it is slightly easier, and you'll have your characters well-trained by the end of the scenario.

Costly water
First, enter the building closest to the right exit. This is the Khamer and Profiteur Merchantry's building, where Chairman Profiteur lives. Before talking to him, look around to find a Golden Hourglass and a Teleport Stone hidden near the Chairman. After talking to Profiteur, you will be kicked out of the building. Now, inspect the water well beside the building. It turns out that Ancheim is charging a fee for drinking water, forcing the poor to travel to the oasis for a drink. Exit Ancheim and head to the oasis to witness a thief robbing a poor denizen of Ancheim. After that, move northwest to find a cave where the thieves are hiding: Harena Ruins.

Harena Ruins
Harena Ruins aren't too difficult to navigate, but they contain a new threat: dungeon hazards. There will be traps laid around, usually near treasure chests, which will Blind the whole party if you get caught in it. The gas activates for a set period, and there is a delay before the trap activates again. You can time your movement to evade it, but if you have the Freelancer's Dungeon Master support command, it will render you immune to the traps. As for the enemies, you'll find that they are the same as on the overworld, except for the Greater Cait, which can raise another enemy's critical rate. All of them are weak to Blizzard, so a dedicated Black Mage will help you a lot when traversing the ruins.

After you enter, ignore the right path and go along the left corridor until you come across another split path. Head right and travel to the end of the hallway to find some stairs. They take you down to an isolated chamber of a lower floor that contains a Star Pendant, an accessory that grants immunity to Poison. Back upstairs, go down the left path this time. Follow the pathway to a chest. The chest contains only 1 pg, and there is a trap set right before it. If you really want to open it, hug the south wall past the trap and open the chest from the opposite side. Continue down the corridor until you arrive at the steps.

On floor B1, watch out for the trap immediately below the steps. Head west to reach a chest containing Echo Herbs. Return to the middle and head down. Go east when the path splits to reach a chest containing 1500 pg, guarded by a trap. Move close enough to activate the trap, stay out of range, then quickly grab the contents of the chest the moment the trap deactivates. Both corridors leading south converge, and have traps at the end. At the southern corridor, head right to find a chest with a Sleep-preventing Clothespin, then left for the steps.

Deeper into the ruins, head south when you get the chance. If you go west, you'll end up at what seems to be a dead end, but is actually the entrance to a hidden passage. Move through the false wall to the west and head north, then west again until you reach a chest. Inside is the Thief's Knife. Watch out for the trap as you progress to the east. A branch up north leads to a chest with Ether inside. Head south and west, then south again, ignoring the blue chest. Now, you'll be flanked by gas traps at both ends. Race down the left path and quickly duck into the southern passage to find a chest with an Iron Bow. Carefully head north to the end of the passage, dodging traps until you find another chest with Thief's Gloves inside. Run past the traps back to the center, then dodge another corridor of traps as you dash east. Follow the path until you see an Adventurer. Restock and save for the boss fight ahead.

Boss: Khint and the Jackal
Head to the end of the path to exit into the thief's hideout. The robber is known as The Jackal, a misanthrope that justifies his actions with his miserable life. He is angered by the party's lecture and challenges you to an asterisk battle! However, he doesn't fight alone, paying his bodyguard Khint to battle alongside him.

The Jackal fights like you would expect a ruthless thief to. He relies primarily on physical attacks, occasionally using Brave to strike multiple party members. He can also rarely steal one of your items and use it for himself. Khint is much more dangerous due to his powerful sword magic. He can use Sword Magic Fire to deal increased elemental damage, but you'll really want to watch out for his Sword Magic Silence. It let's him Silence targets with regular attacks, and can render your mages useless very often. If you have obtained the White Cape from Lontano Villa, now is a better time than ever to equip it for your White Mage. Fortunately, Khint will ditch The Jackal if either of their HP drops below half. Without Khint, Jackal will start using Brave recklessly in desperation.

Khint is much more disruptive than The Jackal, so your goal is to force him to leave as quickly as possible. Obviously, the fastest way to win the battle is to focus on The Jackal. Fight as you would against a normal boss with careful use of Default and Braves to wear him down. Have Echo Herbs ready when Khint activates Sword Magic Silence. Once you get Khint to leave, the battle is a cinch. The Jackal's Brave spam will leave him wide open for several turns. Use Default whenever he can attack to block his Brave combos, then attack him mercilessly while he is vulnerable. Soon, you'll witness The Jackal curse his tragic life with his dying breath.

The Jackal carries the Thief asterisk. True to its name, the Thief job gives you the ability to steal items from enemies. Thieves are very agile and evasive, so you can build them as glass cannons if you want. As the group celebrates their victory, Ringabel makes a startling recovery: The Jackal is part of a conspiracy by Khamer & Profiteur Merchantry to drive up water prices. It's time to confront Profiteur and put an end to Ancheim's water issues.

Boss: Erutus and Khint
Back at Ancheim, enter the Merchantry building and walk up to the chairman. He does not deny causing the conspiracy, and intends to kill the party then and there. Khint returns and joins him for another asterisk battle!

Khint is the same as before. You still have to deal with his annoying Sword Magic Silence, and you can make him leave by reducing either character's health to half. The Merchant of Death is your main worry. He is more strategic with his attacks, often choosing to use Default to nullify damage and set up safer Braves. His Takeover is a deadly attack, always doing 300 damage with each strike regardless of your armor or stat buffs, and he will not hesitate to use it during Braves. At this point in the game, two Takeovers will likely result in a KO, so you absolutely to have a Silence immune White Mage on constant support duty.

Once again, your first objective is to get Khint out of the picture. This will be harder than in the fight against The Jackal, since Profiteur is very fond of using Default to dampen your attacks. Use Brave to wear him down with care, and always have your White Mage ready on every turn to heal off Takeover damage. Even if the party is healthy, have your White Mage Default to save up BP for Brave heals that you'll inevitably want. Unlike The Jackal, Profiteur's tactics do not change drastically when Khint abandons him, so continue with your current strategy until the Merchant of Death meets his end.

Erutus Profiteur drops the Merchant asterisk, granting you one of the more unique jobs in the game. Merchants are all about amassing and using money for attacks and buffs, but they'll need careful financial management if you don't wish to go broke. After Profiteur's defeat, Ringabel finds a memo to enter the Grand Mill Works. It seems that the mastermind of this sinister plot is still undiscovered, but only after restoring the Wind Crystal can you get to the bottom of this mystery.

Temple of Wind
Heading south from Ancheim, you'll find a spiraling tower. This is the Temple of Wind, home to the wind vestal, now in ruins. Each floor's layout is rectangular, but the debris on the floor will force you to take alternate routes. Aero Lanterns appear here, as do Gargoyles and Golems. The Aero Lanterns can heal themselves and are immune to wind magic, while the Gargoyles can inflict Sleep. The Golem is a straightforward attacker, with a powerful Megaton Punch that has low accuracy.

From the entrance, go north into the hall and look for an opening to the left. Go into the narrow corridor and move south to find a chest containing a Wind Charm, which grants a resistance to wind magic. The rest of the 1st floor is straightforward. Move east and follow the linear path to the stairs. You can inspect the room with shelves for some backstory if you want.

The arrangement of debris makes the basement of the temple a labyrinth, but as long as you check the map on the lower screen, you should find your way around with no trouble. Travel along the winding path and you will find a chest with a Remedy on your main route. Head north until you reach a split path. Go south to the end of the pathway for a chest containing a Turbo Ether, then go into the rooms up north to find one containing a Hi-Potion. Go east to progress, making a U-turn around the northeast corner of the floor. Ignore the path directly to the south and head down the west path to reach the steps.

This is another straightforward path leading to the next set of stairs. You can inspect the dining room along the way if you want. Head south down the passage. Before the hallway transitions into a room, move east to enter a secret corridor. Head south to the end to find a Peace Ring that grants Confuse immunity. Back on the main path, head west to a dead end. You will find a chest containing Ether there. Head north, west and north again, ignoring all of the side paths, until you come to a series of three rooms. The leftmost room contains a Mythril Rod, the middle room has a strange figure that won't help you at this stage in the game, and the right room has the stairs leading downward.

Back on the first floor, go down the hallway and head north into the room with fabric strewn around. Inspect the room and Agnes suggests to visit the altar. As you continue down the corridor, be sure to pull the sparkling lever to open the door to the south, creating a massive shortcut from the entrance to the altar. Continue to head east until you reach another narrow corridor. Head south to find a Mythril Dagger.

The presence of an Adventurer might make you cautious of what awaits in the altar, but when you go through the door to the north, all you'll find is the inactive Wind Crystal. Agnes must wear a special gown to perform a rite that will awaken the crystal. Exit the altar and head back to the room you inspected before. A dismayed Agnes finds the vestment torn and tattered. You'll need to get her a new vestment to restore the crystal. A sage living in Yulyana Woods could know how to create one, so head back to the Eschalot and head northeast for Yulyana!

Yulyana Woods Needlworks
After landing in Yulyana, go straight to the closest building to enter the sage's residence. After exchanging greetings, the sage says that rainbow thread is needed for the vestment, and the vestal must retrieve it herself from the Vestment Cave, which requires you to trek around the lake to the other end of Yulyana.

For the time being, the Needleworks will serve as your base of operations. It's a small area, but has all the standard amenities a city can offer. You can rest for free in the east room of the Needlworks by checking the beds. Beside the flowing river, you can also find a fox that will sell you various items and an Adventurer. The weapons and armor the shop carries are a bit expensive, but they're better than the ones found in Ancheim.

Vestment Cave
The path to Vestment Cave is quite long, so you'll likely encounter some overworld enemies along the way. Blood Bats are annoying as they can drain your HP, but Zombie Wolves are the true damage-dealers, as they can raise their P.Atk at the cost of their health. Greater Caits are also common around the forest, and can make Zombie Wolves quite deadly. Inside the Vestment Cave, Dark Lanterns join the mix, and they can easily inflict your party members with dread status.

From the entrance, follow the path around a bend, then take the top route. Continue along the route until you see a branching path. Head down it to a dead end with a Hi-Potion. Back on the main path, go north until another branching passageway appears. Head west and north to find a chest with a Phoenix Down. Return to the center and continue north until you reach a split path. Both lead to the steps downward and take roughly the same time, so pick either one and head on down.

Now that you're on floor B1, head down the passage to a dead end to get 500 pg from the chest. Backtrack a bit and travel west. Ignore the branching passage north as it leads to a locked blue chest. Head west until you reach a junction, and head north to find a chest with a Remedy. Now head south down the path until you reach a dead end with some steps. You'll end up on an isolated section of the lower floor, with one chest containing a Mage Shell. Head upstairs, get to the center and travel south from there to reach the stairs leading to the rest of B2F.

The southern half of this floor is quite linear until you reach the western end. Head south from here to reach a chest containing Echo Herbs. Head north and follow the path until you reach a junction. Go west to arrive at a chest with an Ether. Now keep heading east, past a junction, until you reach a dead-end, where you'll find a Teleport Stone. Return to where the path splits and head south, then west to reach a chest containing 1000 pg. Go north then east this time to reach the steps downward. Finish up your preparations with the adventurer, then move toward the clearing up north.

Boss: Dragon
At the deepest level of Vestment Cave, the beautiful rainbow thread can be found. However, it is guarded by a ferocious Dragon, so you have no choice but to take this dangerous beast out. The Dragon is a brute, but its sheer power makes up for its simple tactics. Other than its normal attacks, it can use Mow Down to strike your whole party, and Bully to target your lowest HP target. It will often use both out of a Brave, which can likely incapacitate one of your party members in one turn, so keep an eye on everyone's health. The dragon is vulnerable to Blizzard, but resists Fire.

Your main concern in this battle is simply keeping your health up, as the Dragon lacks any disruptive debuffs or tricky combat tactics. Timely uses of Default will prevent you from taking too much damage, as with liberal use of Protect. A Black Mage is also of good offensive help, as Blizzard will chip away a lot of health. As long as you can keep your party members alive and well, you'll be able to slay the dragon with a bit of effort.

The new vestment
With the Dragon defeated, you can take the Rainbow Thread back to the Needleworks. That night, Tiz wakes up to chance upon Agnes talking to the sage about the vestal of water, Olivia, and her mysterious pendant. The next morning, Agnes and Sage Yulyana present the finished vestment. It's time to head back to the Temple of Wind and restore the crystal! Fly back to Harena on the Eschalot, then head straight for the temple.

Boss: Othros
Return outside the altar using the shortcut you opened from before. Make your preparations and save with the Adventurer before entering. Inside, the crystal is surrounded by a fog of darkness. It turns out to be a monster thought to only exist in Crystalist scriptures, the two-headed Othros!

Both of Othros's heads count as one enemy, so it can attack twice per turn, not counting Braves. The blue head is weak to Fire and does water elemental damage with Deep Freeze, while the yellow head is weak to Blizzard and does fire elemental damage with Hellfire. When both heads have used their respective elemental attacks, they can perform the devastating Blazzard, which strikes your entire party. Stop this from happening by attacking one of the heads with their weakness after they used Deep Freeze or Hellfire. Once one head dies, the other will start using Brave more for aggressive attacks.

Concentrate your attack on one of the heads first. Taking it out means one less enemy to deal with, and removes the possibility of a Blazzard. A Black Mage is very helpful here, as you can target Othros's weakness directly, which can also shut down Blazzard. Due to Othros's fondness for magic attacks, White Mage's Shell should also be used for more protection. After killing a head, you should have an easier time with the other. Defeat both heads and claim the Tempest Braid!

The Wind Crystal awakens
With Othros out of the way, it's finally time to proceed with the Awakening ritual. Simply mash until Airy tells you to stop. The restored crystal glows with a bright green light, and a shield now prevents anyone from tampering it. With the winds blowing again, you should return to Ancheim.

The wind has not blown to Ancheim yet, and King Khamer is using this opportunity to vilify the vestal. Agnes interrupts his speech and presents proof of Othros's defeat, as the winds begin to turn Ancheim's windmills once more. The people's regard for the vestal is restored, and the citizens of Ancheim are free from their forced labor. As you try to leave the city, you will be stopped and thanked by Prime Minister Harena. Your next destination is Florem to the north, but the only route there Harena knows about is through the dangerous Miasma Woods. Perhaps you should take the airship to Sage Yulyana and inquire about an alternate pathway.

Sub-scenario: The pompous king's downfall
If you might recall from the previous sub-scenario, you've obtained a note from the Merchantry regarding a meeting at Grand Mill Works. This building is located next to the magic shop, and until you have restored the Wind Crystal, a guard will prevent you from entering it. Even after the guard leaves, you can only enter the building at nightfall. Wit on the overworld for the sun to set, then reenter the city. Head into the mill and up through the door to find...a maze-like dungeon!

An unexpected passenger
While everyone is on the airship, Ringabel decides to get some air and heads out. A while later, a black armored figure comes in and incapacitates Tiz. Edea recognizes him as the Dark Knight Alternis Dim, a member of the Council of Six, the highest governing body in Eternia, who she seems to have some history with. Alternis doesn't wish to fight against Edea and retreats, but not before shattering the Skystone powering the Eschalot. Without it, you're seabound, so the only way to go to Florem now is to enter the Miasma Woods.