Walking Over Alice's Grave - Part 4

I'm single by choice. Not my choice.

Orny Adams

I stared at Zhuzhen in shock. "Margarite's here?"

"Yes!" he said. “I'm so sorry Alice, I honestly thought you knew. She should be back now – let's go and check.”

We went out into the corridor, and Zhuzhen knocked on the door next to mine.

“Who is it?” Margarite sang out.

Zhuzhen identified himself, and we went in at Margarite's request. She had a towel wrapped around her hair and was rubbing it dry.

"Alice!” she gasped when she saw me.

I walked over and hugged her, almost trapping her arms in my haste. "Margarite! It's good to see you! I haven't seen you since - "

"Since the moocher mooched off?"

"Well…yes."

"I'm sorry, Alice. I'm really sorry."

Stung with the pain of missing Yuri again, I was barely listening. I noticed that she didn't look as healthy as when I had last seen her. She looked tired and…older. She'd always been so young and beautiful; now you could see the age gap between us.

Zhuzhen, who had remained in the doorway throughout this exchange said "I'll go tell Zhen that I'm leaving."

Margarite looked up at him. "You are?"

"Alice and I are going on a quest,” he said, over his shoulder as he left. “Ask Alice.”

"Well?” Margarite asked, turning her attention back to me. She continued drying her hair while I explained our goal – to find Yuri.

When I ran out of things to say, we sat in silence. I hadn't cried this time but it had been a very close call. I'd never seen Margarite cry, but if she had, I think it would have been over Yuri.

Margarite had been fond of Yuri. She'd known him only one day less than I had, and they'd had very similar attitudes to life. Margarite and I, though dissimilar, understood one another well enough. We'd traversed the trials of Xiaofang together, quite early on in our acquaintance, and nothing bonds two people quite like a near death experience. Like Yuri and I, too. That first night in the cursed village. I'd feared for my life, but he was so brave. So relaxed and reassuring. Later, he'd confessed that he felt he had to be brave, for me, so he wouldn't let me down. He thought I was brave. Me. A priest's daughter in a cursed village. I wasn't brave so much as too terrified to show fear!

Margarite broke through my recollection. "You're heading to the fort of regrets?"

"Yes. Will you come? Zhuzhen's a good fighter but he's better at back-up, and I'm still learning…"

"Oh Alice, of course I will. We're a team, right? I'll always protect you."

"Thank you. Are you sure you aren't needed here?"

"As a spy? No. I let them think I died in Neameton."

"Really?"

"Yes. I'm free as a bird. Shall we leave in the morning?”

I nodded, overcome with happiness. My emotions changed so quickly now; I could go from laughter to tears within minutes.

I stood up to go. "Thanks Margarite."

"I'm not just doing it for you. I was fond of the moocher too."

"I know – huh?"

"What?" Margarite gasped, reaching for her gun.

I waved a hand at her. "Shhh…"

I could hear Koudelka's psychic voice cutting in on my thoughts. "Alice! There…b ...tr…ble…in…Dom...y!…go...ow...!"

Margarite waited for a moment while I recovered. “What is it?”

"I jut heard Koudelka's voice! She said something about…trouble in...in Domremy? She told me to go back!"

"We were going back to France anyway. It won't hurt to stop by Domremy first.”

"I hope nothing's happened...” I say, biting my lip with worry. Margarite placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Koudelka knows where you are, doesn't she? She wouldn't warn you if you weren't able to do anything."

"You're right Margarite, of course you are. I just can't help but worry..."

"Alice, would you like me to steal a plane again?”

"Would you?"

"Alice! I wasn't serious!"

Seeing my face fall, she relented.

“I will. Tomorrow. But we need to sleep now, all right?”

I knew she was right. It was late, but I still tossed and turned for hours worrying about what was happening in Domremy.

Shadow Hearts Covenant: Lucia's Aromatherapy

Lucia's special abilities involve using Tarot cards and aromatherapy oils to invoke special effects during battle.  You can find the oils and mix them as follows;

• Ocean Oil: automatic, Florence.
• Misty Oil: automatic, Florence.
• Grass Oil: Cannes, at the bottom of the stairs which lead to the lowest level of the city.  It's in a small fountain.
• Night Oil: automatic, Goreme Valley. 
• Moon Oil: automatic, Petrograd. 
• Shining Oil: Yokohama Streets; speak to Tomoko three times. 
• Sunrise Oil: complete the Black Forest sidequest.

Oils	Ocean	Misty	Grass	Night	Moon	Shining	Sunrise	Aurora
Ocean	X	Small amount of HP restored at time of use.	Small amount of HP restored for one turn.	Medium amount of HP restored for one turn.	Small amount of HP restored for two turns.	Medium amount of HP restored for two turns.	Medium amount of HP restored at time of use.	Large amount of HP restored for two turns.
Misty	Protects against Status Abnormalities for one turn.	X	Protects against Ring Abnormalities for two turns.	Protects against Ring Abnormalities for three turns.	Protects against Status Abnormalities for two turns.	Protects against Ring Abnormalities for one turn.	Protects against Ring Abnormalities for three turns.	Protects against Ring and Status abnormalities for three turns.
Grass	Medium increase in physical defence power for three turns.	Medium increase in special defence power for three turns.	X	Small increase in special defence power for three turns.	Small increase in physical defence power for three turns.	Large increase in physical defence power for three turns.	Large increase in special defence power for three turns.	Large increase in physical and special defence power for three turns.
Night	Small amount of MP restored for one turn.	Small amount of MP restored for two turns.	Small amount of MP restored at time of use.	X	Medium amount of MP restored for two turns.	Medium amount of MP is restored only when used.	Medium amount of MP restored for one turn.	Large amount of MP restored for two turns.
Moon	Strike effect x 1.5 for one turn.	Evasion rate doubles for one turn.	Critical rate increases 1.5 times for one turn.	Critical rate becomes 100% for one turn.	X	Critical rate doubles for one turn.	Evasion rate increases 1.5 times for one turn.	3rd Key effect on all characters for one turn.
Shining	Large increase in physical attack power for three turns.	Small increase in special attack power for three turns.	Large increase in special attack power for three turns.	Small increase in physical attack power for three turns.	Medium increase in physical attack power for three turns.	X	Medium increase in special attack power for three turns.	Large increase in physical and special attack power for three turns.
Sunrise	Small amount of SP restored only when used.	Small amount of SP is restored for two turns.	Medium amount of SP restored for two turns.	Small amount of SP restored for one turn.	Medium amount of SP restored, only when used.	Medium amount of SP restored for one turn.	X	Large amount of SP restored for two turns.
Aurora	Medium HP restore and small MP/SP restore for two turns.	Small HP/MP/SP restore.  Protects from abnormalities for two turns.	Small HP/MP/SP restore.  Medium defence increase for two turns.	Medium MP restore and small HP/SP restore, for two turns.	Small HP/MP/SP restore.  3rd Key effect for two turns.	Small HP/MP/SP restore.  Medium attack increase for two turns.	Medium SP/MP/HP restore for two turns.	X

Shadow Hearts Covenant: Pit Fights

You'll automatically unlock the pit fights when you enter Goreme Valley.   These are fights with specific win conditions, for which you gain various prizes.

Beginner Level 1
Win five battles in a row with one character.
Sabnock Crest

I used Yuri and his second level fire fusion for this, because it has an area spell, Magma.  Protect yourself against petrify with a mirror bracelet, and wear a Pocket Watch.  The fights are random, but they tend to be either large groups of low hp enemies, or small groups with high hp.

Beginner Level 2
Win a battle using a 28-hit combo, with four characters.
Blood Jewel


When I first came to Goreme Valley, I had the following options;

• Yuri can hit 7 times using his wind fusion's Howling ability.
• Karin can hit 12 times with her Geuschbenst skill.

• Evil Ray is 7 hits (Raum, Beleth, Vassago).
• Gale Spark is 10 hits (Marchosias).
• Air Shot is 15 hits (combo magic).

You're facing off against Godhand who has around 1500hp, so you have some room for error.  I got a 44 hit combo using Lucia to cast Gale Spark, Yuri with Howling, Karin and Geuschbenst, and finally Anastasia with Air Shot.

Beginner Level 3
Win four battles in a row, with reverse ring in effect, without missing a ring or curing ring abnormalities, with a party of two. 
Third Key

I used Yuri and Joachim; three attacks each, set to gamble ring.  The enemies you fight are pretty weak, so if you can pull off a couple of area of attack spells, it'll be a lot easier.  The trickiest bit is not missing a ring, so just slog through it if you need to.

Beginner Level 4
Win six battles in a row while poisoned, without curing status abnormalities or using items, with a party of three.
Mr Sax


The enemies are pretty easy.  Just make sure a character or two has arc-cure so you can top up occasionally.  I used Yuri, Joachim, and Anastasia.

Monk Level 1
Win one battle using an 18-hit combo without personal skills, with a party of four. 
Gold Necklace

My options at this point in the game were as follows. 

• Bright Crime is 5 hits (Dantalion, Anromalius, Eligos)
• Evil Born is 5 hits (Alloces, Berith)
• Evil Ray is 7 hits (Raum, Beleth, Vassago).
• Gale Spark is 10 hits (Marchosias, Ipos, Seere).  Note, chaining Gale Spark and Gale Spark won't work - the second will miss and break the combo.
• Air Shot is 15 hits (combo magic).

In order to use Air Shot, you'll need to have Blanca in your party, and Yuri is useless since he can't use combo magic.  That said, Yuri's physical attack can hit five times, as can Joachim's, so an entirely physical combo with Yuri, Joachim, Karin and Blanca might work.

Anyway, I went with a team of Karin, Blanca, Anastasia and Lucia.  You'll be fighting against a Pendulum and Victor, the latter of whom will try to silence you.  Just take out the Pendulum with physical attacks.

I had Karin use Gale Spark for 10 hits, followed by Lucia with Bright Crime for another 5.  Another Bright Crime from Blanca and Anastasia using Air Shot took the hits up to 35.

Using special skills at any time - not just in the combo - will cause you to fail this trial.  I found this out by using Anastasia's Snapshot.

Monk Level 2
Win three battles with tight ring in effect, without missing a ring or curing status abnormalities, with a party of two.
Fifth Key

I used Yuri and Anastasia, purely so she could snapshot the enemies.  Both with Gamble Ring so I only had to hit one thing per attack.  The enemies are all from very early on, so they're quite easy.


Monk Level 3
Win three battles in a row with a party of three.
Step Doubler

I used Yuri, Joachim and Anastasia, again so she could snapshot the enemies.  The only challenging battle here is the last one, with the Night Queen.



Monk Level 4
Win three battles in a row, with blind ring in effect without curing status abnormalities, with a party of one.     
Mind's Eye

I used Yuri with Gamble Ring again.  With three attacks, you'll need to aim to hit the halfway mark.

Believer Level 1
Win three battles in a row, with Reverse and Tight Ring in effect, without missing a ring or curing, with a party of two.
Warlock Earrings

I used Yuri and Anastasia.  Yuri was wearing a Mind's Eye and using gamble ring anyway, and I took his hits down from five to three to make the area I had to hit slightly bigger.  I took Anastasia's attacks down to one too.  Just take it slowly and use physical attacks.

Believer Level 2
Win five battles in a row while poisoned, with Fake Ring in effect, without curing abnormalities, with a party of three.
Shax

 I used Yuri, Kurando and Anastasia.  Both Yuri and Kurando were using practice ring with five hit areas.  Anastasia had Arc Cure and Raise.  Start trying to cure early; with only one hit area, Fake Ring will create two and make the real one the fake half the time.

Believer Level 3
Win four battles in a row with Small Ring in effect without curing abnormalities, with one person.
Gold Band

I did this whole thing with Anastasia, because I hoped there'd be something new to photograph.  There was not.

Believer Level 4
Win twelve battles in a row with a party of four.
7th Key

I used a party of Anastasia, Kurando, Joachim, and Karin.  No challenge here.  There's a couple of new albums, though.

Worshipper Level 1
Win four battles without using attack, using a party of Gepetto, Blanca, Lucia and Anastasia.
Silver Angel
 

Not at all complicated.  The tricky bit is remembering not to just hit attack.


Worshipper Level 2
Win five battles without using Crest or Combo Magic, with Yuri, Joachim, Kurando and Karin.
Ultra Belt.

You can take the crests off your characters, if that makes life easier.  Again, really not complicated. 

Worshipper Level 3 
Win three battles in a row, with Fast Ring in effect, without curing abnormalities, with a party of three.
Dragonfangs

I used Yuri, Kurando and Anastasia.  Anastasia had Practice Ring, and she took out most of the enemies with area spells.

Embodiment Level 1
Win six battles in a row, with one person.
Dark Angel
 

Anastasia.  No new Albums, but a couple of enemies who haven't been photographed before.  Just give her Cure All and get through it.


Embodiment Level 2
 Win six battles in a row with a party of four.
Electro Band

I used Yuri, Anastasia, Gepetto and Blanca.  MechaLord pops up halfway through, so you want a party slightly more geared to magic.

Creator
Win four battles in a row, with a party of four.
Puppeteer's Cape

This one only unlocks once you've completed all the other trials.  I used Yuri, Joachim, Geppeto and Anastasia.

The final enemy, the Tin Lion, has few weaknesses.  Petrify, Instant Death, or Joachim's Drain Attack can work.

Final Battle
One battle, with your normal party.
Solomon

Speak to Sarah after completing the other trials and Solomon's Key.

I used Yuri, Gepetto, Joachim and Anastasia.  Neo-Amon has the ability to revive all allies, and this will be useful.  Use a mixture of arc-cure and cure, but prioritise healing Yuri so he can revive everyone when necessary.  The Replacement Man accessory is also useful; it won't revive your characters until their next turn, so it won't go off the first time you use it.