Chapter 22: the Cerulean Expanse and Lost Ones Hamlet

Checklist

How the Expanse works

1. The first screen is just a corridor. The next one looks completely empty, but it isn’t.

2. The Probe does two jobs:
   1. Digging. It drifts around you and beeps faster as you near something buried in the sand. Dig spots can hold ingredients (meat, grains, apples and so on), enemies, or chests. Expect two to five per screen; they seem to vary between visits.
   2. Navigation. Each screen has a stone slab with a ring of circles, one of them lit green. Every screen also has eight exits, and the green circle tells you which one to take. Pick any other and you’re sent back.
3. Enemies here include Ronin Cowboys, Horsemechs and Drones.

The eight screens

1. Follow the slab on each screen and the eighth one lets you out into Lost Ones Hamlet.

The hidden area

1. There’s a secret screen with four chests. Start from the first screen (the one with the first slab) and leave by these exits, ignoring the slabs:
2. The route:
   1. South
   2. Southwest
   3. Southeast
   4. South
3. You arrive at a screen with several ingredients and the four chests: Adamantite Ore, Question Pack #7, Obsidian Ingot and a Rainbow Conch.

4. To get out, step back to the previous screen and take any exit: you’re returned to the very start of the Expanse.

Lost Ones Hamlet

1. Cedric seemed sure people lived here, yet the hamlet is empty. Look around (there really is nothing), then go north to the door.

2. Resh’an explains that the Fleshmancer built this place. He breaks a bottle, and the spirits who live here become visible.
3. Talk to them. The spirit on the west side is a merchant:

4. Both recipes are the reason to shop here.
5. The other spirits mention a soul called B’st who went south. Try to leave and he blocks your way.
6. What B’st tells you:
   1. He knows what the Sky Base was originally for and can help you reach it.
   2. For that you must enter the Sacrosanct Spires, which are sealed. He knows how to get in, but only if he comes along — and he can’t leave the dome.
   3. Resh’an brings up Living Glass: a way to give B’st a body. It means breaking into the Fleshmancer’s workshop.
7. Watch the scenes that follow; they end with the workshop open.

The Fleshmancer’s workshop

1. Turn west as soon as you enter: a chest holds the Walnut Cork.
2. Go east, and on the way north turn into the little hallway on the west: a sparkle gives Sapphire Ore.
3. Continue north for a short scene, then go all the way west to a campfire and save point. Prepare well; the next room north starts a boss fight.

Boss: Meduso

1. Everything here revolves around canisters: Meduso grabs them and the colour decides what happens.
2. Phase by phase:
   1. First half: it holds only two canisters at a time. Break the green ones (the heal) and let the rest go off unless you have a multi-hit skill ready.
   2. After its face comes off: the purple canisters arrive. They can wipe the party, so focus on lowering their power and keep everyone near full HP.
3. Healing is the key to the second half. The free item from the Magic Pocket helps a lot here, and keep a revive item or two ready.
4. Spend combos and Ultimates on raw damage to shorten the dangerous phase.

B’st joins

1. Walk north into the next room. After the scenes, B’st steps out in a body of glass and joins the party.
2. He takes over the hammer that Garl used to carry, and his skills use the purple element. He prefers single targets, has a revive, and has lots of HP.

3. Leave the hamlet. You can stop in Repine to rest; otherwise walk back through the factory to the dock and sail for the western island, the largest one in this world, with its dock on the south shore: Chapter 23: Sacrosanct Spires.