Chapter 23: the Sacrosanct Spires and the Sky Base

Checklist

The first tower

1. There’s a campfire and save point on the right as you arrive. Walk up to the crystal barrier and B’st shatters it. Go in.
2. New enemies on the way up:
   1. Scout: a quick pink arrow at one character; its charged shot hits everyone.
   2. Anointed: one slash, but it taunts once before striking to throw off your timing. Its charge is a leap, a few spins and a slam — easier to read.
   3. Owlsassin (a bit higher): a short combo of hits; its charge teleports it above a character to strike downward.
3. Climb until you’ve grappled across the room twice. On the north side is a ring that’s easy to overlook; pulling it brings out platforms. Grapple back across and use them to climb.
4. Higher up, walk the tightrope, grapple to the climbing wall, climb, grapple again and open the chest with Sapphire Ore before you exit.
5. A brief scene plays outside; then walk east on the map to the Hunting Fields.

The Hunting Fields and the jail

1. Head east to a campfire and save point. The switch in the upper right opens the way on, and enemies you already know ambush you.
2. Continue east. The south side has two Berry bushes. The switch on the right lowers the wall to the north; the next switch triggers a scene and drops you into a pit.
3. Win the fight where you land. Blow the crate on the south side away so you can circle clockwise round the outside, climb the walls and jump down — into yet another hole.
4. Beat the two Owlsassins and pick up three Mushrooms. To get out, push the crate right, up, left, down, right, up, then climb.
5. Go south for Berries, jump the gap, cross the plank and climb the stairs to a birdman behind a soundproof barrier. To free him you need the switch behind his cell.
6. Drop to the narrow platform to the south and shimmy along the ledge to the switch. It’s a trap: the party is caught — except Serai.
7. Serai’s rescue:
   1. Grapple over the pit and onto the climbing wall. Go right first to a crate puzzle.
   2. Shove the crate as far east as it goes, stand on it and tug the wall ring: another ring shows up further west.
   3. Hop off, slide the crate back west and tug that one too.
   4. Quickly climb down again, push the crate back east and jump into the hole in the wall. The switch inside powers the console below.
   5. The console is a memory game: flip the slates and match the three pairs. The layout is fixed, not random.
   6. A new switch appears. Return to the climbing wall, go left and drop down. That switch lowers both cells.
8. The birdman, Verlot, helps you escape.

9. Ride the wind up to the clifftop. Before climbing further, walk a little east and hop down the edge to a chest with Sapphire Ingot.

Back through the Hunting Fields

1. Head back up the wall and on to the following area. Each ring you pull opens more of the climb, with a bird fight in between; stop when a path branches off to the southwest beside yet another ring.
2. The southwest path exits to the world map. Go south into the other part of the Hunting Fields — where you were knocked into the pit — and climb the ladder to a chest with the Cloudy Simulacrum.
3. Return to the northern Hunting Fields. Pull the rings near the entrance to make a path upward, win the fight at the top and open the chest: Plasma Blade, a strong upgrade for Zale.
4. Leave to the southeast for a scene with the birds, then follow the dirt road north on the map to the second Sacrosanct Spires tower.

The second tower

1. Another memory console greets you; flip the slabs and match them all (the layout is fixed). A pillar you can climb appears.
2. At the top are two buttons. Stepping on one makes the closed holes to the left and right shake — both must be held down together. Keep climbing.
3. Two Owlsassins ambush you on the next floor. One floor up there’s a sphere: push it onto one blue button and stand on the other yourself. A hole opens in the corner.
4. Roll the sphere through the hole; it falls two floors to the next pair of buttons. Repeat the trick to open the holes there.
5. Send the sphere down the left hole: it smashes the thin floor beneath. Jump after it into the basement and drop into the fight below.
6. Once it’s over, hit the floor button to unblock the passage and open the chest for the Crystal Egg.

7. Go through the new opening, climb the wall to the north and set the egg in its holder. An updraft starts on the floor above.
8. Before riding it:
   1. That hole on the right can only be entered from the third floor, so go up there first and drop in.
   2. The basement on that side has a fight and two chests: Sparkmesh Armor and Recipe: Champion’s Omelette.
9. Go back up and ride the updraft out to the world map, then go west to the next area.

The Seat of the Triumvirate

1. A campfire and save point sit up the first stairs. Heal and save.
2. Go west first: a chest beside the stairs holds a Rainbow Conch. Then head north, opening the chest on the way for the Neobsidian Staff — equip it at once.

3. The long staircase ends at the three bird leaders, and after a short talk they attack.

Boss: Abstarak, Casugin & Rachater

1. Three against three. Brother Casugin is the healer, so he’s your main target.
2. The exception is True Terror. At 1 HP, any follow-up such as Claymore Throw ends the run. Whenever Abstarak charges it, break it first; if you can’t, use a delay on Rachater so he can’t act before you recover.
3. Keep Lunar Shield up, heal steadily, and save the combo gauge for Moon Shiv. Once Casugin is down, the other two fall quickly — an Ultimate speeds it up.
4. Scenes about the birds, Resh’an and the Fleshmancer follow. Then go back down the stairs, heal and save, take the stairs southwest and use the teleporter to the world map. Head northeast to the last area.

Es’tristae’s Lookout

1. A chest right by the entrance holds a Broken Handle: another item for Teaks.
2. Climb to the very top for a scene. Instead of a fight, it powers up the underwater glass tunnels and the speed balls, a fast-travel network like the one at home.
3. Teaks arrives in one of the balls and the scenes continue. When they end, hop into the ball to reach the Sky Base.

Sky Base: the lower decks

1. Go northeast through a couple of corridors to the first Yinke. Its normal attack is a three-hit spinning flail — block as it winds up. Its charge, YinkeYank, only targets one character, so the basic attack is actually the more dangerous one.
2. Keep going east. A room to the south has a save point and a camp.
3. The four platforms:
   1. East of the save room are pits and a control panel. The middle button cycles between four platforms, and the others raise or lower the selected one.
   2. Raise the two left platforms all the way and use them to reach a Rainbow Conch.
   3. Then lower them fully, line up the third and fourth with the exit, and cross on all four.
4. The next room holds Yinkes and two Masta’krun Claws. They pounce for their normal attack; their charge drops a bomb that blasts an area for 60–70, so break it if you can.
5. Use the console afterwards and the whole room travels to the next section.
6. Another console leads to a room with laser traps; clear the enemies. A console here lowers a giant elevator. The teleport pad returns you to the save room if you want it; then ride the elevator up.

Sky Base: the ruined wing

1. You’re in space now. The single console in the giant room says the west wing is locked down for safety; Serai isn’t convinced, so keep going.
2. Climb and crawl through the wrecked section to a big room with three crab-like enemies.
3. The grapple-switch path:
   1. Go southwest to a floor switch. Hit the button with the Graplou to make a beam appear, and cross.
   2. Press the next floor button and grapple the south target (the north one only sends you back), then hit one more target to shift the floor beam.
   3. In the room with a grappling post in the middle, use the post and then the computer: it activates a console back in the big main room.
4. Before going back, step off the console onto the east steel beam and use the grappling post: two chests hold the Rosewood Cork and the Sparkmesh Cape.

5. A nearby console warps you back to the hub.

Sky Base: the north wing

1. Fight the enemies behind the laser grid, then use the newly powered console to open the north wing.
2. The puzzle: the wall switches on each side produce a tall block; both blocks have to end up in the black squares on the floor. The central console raises and lowers the barriers.
3. Block moves:
   1. Down, Right, console, Up, Left, Up for the right-hand block.
   2. Down, Left, console, Up, Right, Up for the left-hand block.
4. Through the north door and then west you reach a save point; the chest beside it has Music Sheet #7.
5. Follow the corridors to another moving room, clear it and send it along. When you step off, grab Question Pack #8 at the far east end, then use the console to go up.
6. Up there, ride one more elevator, take the teleporter back down and catch the next elevator to the third floor.
7. The lights in the centre show you’re in the middle room. Use the console to slide east; head up, win the fight, take the Plasma Daggers and use the console. It enables the switch for the west side.
8. Use the west console to travel to the room at the far west end: a save point, a camp and a 3D printer that works as a shop.

Boss: The Catalyst

1. The fight comes in stages:
   1. First wall: two Repeaters. Destroy them and Salvoers take their place; destroy those as well.
   2. Second wall: four slots, now with Blasters and Repair Units too. Your Ultimate may fill here — keep it.
   3. The Catalyst itself: it opens six modules, three on each side. Only when all of them are gone does the core come down; you get about three actions, one round, to hit it before the modules return.
2. Clear modules with hit-all skills and Ultimates. Keep the combo gauge for Moon Shiv and spend it the moment the Catalyst is exposed.
3. The free item each fight plus hit-all skills should handle most module waves; use the gaps to heal and build combo points. Repeat until it breaks.
4. In the scenes afterwards you find an AI Core, but the console is too advanced for the party. Someone back home might be able to help: Chapter 24: The Infinite Abyss.