The Echo of Thunder

Soundless City

In Soundless City you find a soldier, wounded from battling the target Avalitia. After defeating it, you bring him to a resting spot nearby.

Upon waking up, he’s shocked to hear that you defeated the Avalitia—so much so that he insists on calling you master—and introduces himself as Carvein. He claims to have been investigating something for a friend and gives you an Imagine Seed for saving him before heading off.

Evergreen Desert

After regrouping, Tyris says they’ve detected another Avalitia in Evergreen Desert. Upon arriving at the entrance to the desert, you are presented with new policies for passing through the checkpoint. The policies were implemented as at the request of the desert town Salamzart due to Commander Dunkirk of the Knights of Bernhardt visting the region.

One of the requirements includes obtaining a guarantor who has lived in Asterleeds for at least 10 years. Feste asks the innkeeper, who agrees on the condition that you help repair his Imagine Seed so he can contact his younger brother. You bring him the materials and obtain the necessary documents.

Rescue Mission

Shortly after entering the desert, you’re asked for help rescuing a girl being chased by monsters. You encounter a priestess wielding dual pistols who lends a hand fending off the monsters.

After defeating the monsters chasing the girl, she thanks you and introduces herself as Charlotte, a member of the Traveling Troupe. Aerinse remarks that it’s the first time she’s met a traveling entertainer, to which Charlotte warmly invites the group to watch their performance in Salamzart before regrouping with her troupe member.

Salamzart Oasis

Feste notices a stream of light reflections in the sky (“Lumichoroma Winds”—think of them like the aurora), which disrupt the flow of Engram, preventing the use of the omnistron. Unable to locate the Avalitia without the omnistron, Aerinse asks if there is a nearby shrine for the Bapharian Church as they may be able to provide a hint. When Feste questions how the two are related, Aerinse asks you to trust her for the time being.

At the shrine, you run into the dual pistol priestess from earlier who introduces herself as Electra. Electra appears to have some strange proclivities—namely, her true self seems to communicate very crudely, but she tries to catch herself to speak like a respectful maiden. It’s revealed that she is assigned to be Einrain’s guard and had planned to rendevue with her, but can’t find her. Aerinse says that the Oracle Priestess may know something about the Avalitia in question, so the team agrees to look for Einrain.

Found elsewhere in Salamzart, Einrain is telling some children a story. Feste notes that the tale, The beast who destroyed the old world, is probably boring for children, to which Einrain replies that the only thing she knows other than that are doctrines. Feste then begins to sing a calming acapella song that grabs the attention of everyone in town.

The kids get excited and ask Feste to teach it to them, with Einrain joining in as well. However, Feste reveals that she doesn’t know the details of the song, and Electra shows up to scold Einrain and take her back to the church.

Just before Einrain and Electra walk away, Aerinse asks Einrain if she knows anything about an Avalitia in the area. Sending Electra to go on ahead first, Einrain tells us that there is a high probability of an Avalitia being at the Insect Fortress. Feste asks why she would know such a thing, but Einrain dodges the question and excuses herself from the scene.

Insect Fortress

At the Insect Fortress, you make quick work of the third Avalitia. However, you’re caught off guard when it gets back up. In a flash, an armored man plunges from the sky, impaling the Avalitia’s head with a half-moon, spear-like weapon before acrobatically landing on the ground. The man is Dunkirk, commander of the Knights of Bernhardt, and is accompanied with his vice commander Veronica.

Dunkirk commends your strength, but remarks that it’s still too dangerous a place to bring those who cannot fight (Aerinse). He goes on to explain that Avalitia are like an embodiment of Engram, akin to a dead body. He says that these ruins do not seem to have the treasure you’re looking for, and the knights take their leave.

After the Avalitia ritual is complete, the team heads back to Salamzart and Tyris notices a message from the omnistron, but it’s indistinguishable due to the ongoing Engram interference. An ominous message saying, “So they’ve released the third one, huh. It’s almost time…“.

Showtime

Back in town, a crowd gathers around the central plaza as Charlotte takes the stage. Just as the performance is about to begin, an armed group of bandits show up to abduct Charlotte, chasing her out of the city. Upon arriving to the scene, you find Carvein single-handedly protecting Charlotte from the group of bandits, and the two of you wipe them out.

Tyris arrives to report that there were no serious injuries in town, and on the way back to Salamzart she finds an insignia on the ground that belongs to Carvein. When Tyris asks where he found it, he says it was dropped by a member of the group that kidnapped his mother and he keeps it in case it could serve as a clue. Tyris apologizes for asking such an insensitive question, and ponders why that insignia exists in the current time period.

Everyone heads back to town to rest.

Into Hiding

In your dream, you see a scene of Carvein crying out as his mother is abducted by an unidentifiable group. You’re woken up by Charlotte leaving a bag of money on your bed, and you and Feste follow her. Charlotte’s planning to leave town and hide somewhere so no one else gets involved with the bandits.

Carvein and Einrain show up, revealing that they’re friends and were waiting on another friend to meet them in Salamzart, but there’s been a change of plans. Carvein also needs to go into hiding, and offers to go together with Charlotte. Einrain’s gut instinct is to have Charlotte protected at all costs. Charlotte learns that Einrain is the Oracle Priestess, able to receive divine messages, and we find out that that Carvein is a Knight of Bernhardt. The influx of coincidences—the appearance of Dunkirk, and Carvein being a knight—triggers Feste’s suspicions.

Childhood Friends

Einrain requests you two to escort her to meet her friend, stating that it’s important. You meet York, one of Einrain’s childhood friends, and explain to him why Carvein is absent. Einrain hands York a note from Carvein, and Feste asks for an explanation.

York says that he’s asked Einrain and Carvein to investigate something that he was concerned about, though it was a personal matter. York asked Carvein to take a leave of absence from the knights, and doesn’t want his father—Dunkirk—to find out as Dunkirk would be angry. He thanks Einrain for meeting him, and asks you escort Einrain back to Salamzart.

As you walk away, Feste points out that York is quite an adept conversationalist, carefully avoiding mentioning anything overly important.

Mysterious elder

Having regrouped with the others, you learn of an old man in the town that may have performed a chronoleap. According to the locals, the man showed up a few years ago and nobody knows of his past. Also, it appears he is not fully aware of his surroundings, so it’s difficult to have a conversation with him. When approached by Feste, he appears to be continuously mumbling “Alicia’s Blessing”.

The man is extremely startled when he sees Tyris, but it is not revealed why. He says he will answer your questions if you bring him a Sandbloom, the flower that “that person” liked.

Presented with the flower, the man is asked where he learned the phrase Alicia’s Blessing, to which he replies with a story.

"Long ago, once upon a time, there was a priest of the church. The priest was in love with a woman. However, that woman had lost all of her emotions. The woman spent her emotionless days like a machine. So the priest wanted to do something to make her smile. It was in that moment that the woman muttered that she wanted to see the Sandbloom. She whispered it in such a quiet voice, as if it was an unconscious sigh. The priest coincidentially overheard this, and set out on a long journey to find the Sandbloom. It must've taken him years. After finally obtaining the flower, he started making his way back to the woman. All of a sudden, the priest was surrounded by a mysterious light, and transported to an unknown land. Yes, an unknown land. Location-wise it was the same, and yet the culture and people were all different. It's as if he had traveled through time itself.. The priest set out to find a way to travel back to his own time. However, nobody believed his story, and they all pitied him. Even the priest began to doubt himself, thinking it was just a delusion. Time passed by. That phrase was one whispered by the woman. At least, if my memory serves me right."

The man offers the Sandbloom to Tyris in exchange for her to smile for him—even a fake smile would suffice. After speaking for so long, the man gets tired and says he will send your reward to the rest area in a few days before bidding farewell.

A young man from the rest area delivers your reward and informs you that the old man has passed away. The gift is a Bapharian Church Anniversary Coin, dating back to the founding of the church.

Another Avalitia

Electra and Einrain inform you of another Avalitia that appeared on a planned pilgrimage route and you accept their request to help defeat it. Before heading off, Electra apologizes, saying that the church should be the ones to handle Avalitia as they are the ones keeping them in their holy lands and using them as Engram sources.

Aerinse adds that the place where you first met had an Avalitia housed above the chronogate. Chronoleaping requires a fuel called chronogram, and activating the chronogate requires a large amount of Engram—the Avalitia act as the gate’s power source, though this is not the only way Avalitia are used. The church’s holy lands are actually Avalitia-sealing mechanisms.

Feste asks what that makes Aerinse, having known all this, who replies that she’ll explain after the current task is complete.

Ambush

After defeating the Avalitia, Feste distracts Electra so that Aerinse can perform the ritual. The omnistron alerts Tyris of incoming danger, and Voldigen appears. As you tell Aerinse and Tyris to run away, Feste is knocked to the ground by Electra, who transforms into a dragonkin. When Aerinse calls her real name in confusion, Frelbe is annoyed that she knows her name, and Tyris notes that this isn’t the same Frelbe.

Voldigen commends Frelbe for doing a good job of luring Aerinse here. You take on Voldigen while Tyris fights Frelbe, however you are both overpowered.

Just as Voldigen is about to absorb Aerinse’s power, Voldigen is paralyzed by a song playing from one of your Imagine Seeds. He’s completely unable to fight and is forced to retreat, leaving only Frelbe left.

Frelbe transforms into her dragon form. You are able to defeat her, and she falls off a cliff. Feste remarks that you have quite the mysterious Imagine Seed with you. After the battle, the four of you head back to Salamzart to rest, agreeing to stay away from the church for the time being.