Octopath Traveler: Session 15

Pledging to come back to Shrine of the Archmagus later, I left, and got to Duskbarrow proper.  After noting that Alfyn needs to level up in order to Inquire about all of the NPCs here, I stole what I could with Therion, did some side quest stuff, and fast travelled to Stillsnow.

In Stillsnow, I investigated the trail leading out the back of the city before progressing on to the next uncharted area of the Frostlands, Southern Northreach wilds.  Once there, I noted that there isn't a shrine in this area, and then made the quick trek north to Northreach itself.  Nothing terribly special happened here either, just side quest stuff and more of Alfyn being too low level to use his path action.  Stole what I could, and fast travelled to Noblecourt.

Then Switch update 6.0.0 came out, and with it, Nintendo Switch Online.  I started the free 7-day trial and spent a while playing The Legend of Zelda.  Also, protip, if you have a Japanese eShop account and Nintendo Switch Online active on your US account (as I currently do), you can use the Japanese account to download the Japanese NES application, and run it under your US account.  All the text will still be in Japanese, but hey, if there's ever any region-exclusive releases, you should be covered.

Anyway, back in Octopath Traveler, I headed out of Noblecourt and north to Western Wispermill Flats.  This area does have a shrine, specifically the Shrine of the Starseer.  Remembering my previous experience I just poked my head in to get it on my map, made a note of it for later, and carried on to Wispermill.

I could tell as soon as the Wispermill music started playing that something's going on here.  Attempting to talk to the locals confirms my suspicion, as they only seem capable of grunting at me with varied levels of emotion.  Something's clearly taken their ability to speak.  The only NPC that would actually talk was a side quest NPC, Theracio.  Nothing to steal, only one chest, and Alfyn's too low level to Inquire, so I moved on.  Continuing my own personal quest to explore to the third town of each region, I fast travelled to Goldshore.

I worked my way through West Grandport Coast, noting the lack of a shrine.  Given that Grandport is where a lot of merchants set up shop, Therion had a field day stealing basically everything.  After a bit of fast travelling around and resolving some side quests that I now had the items for, I moved on to Stonegard.

To get to Everhold from Stonegard, one must travel through West Stonegard Pass.  Once in West Everhold Pass, the town is actually the most straightforward place to reach, despite the winding path up the hill.  This time, I explored the town and stole what I could before poking my head into the sub-areas.  Poked my head into the Shrine of the Runeblade while I was in the area.

The Highlands explored sufficiently for now, I fast travelled to Wellspring and made my way to Marsalim.  Did the usual running around and stealing what I could while activating side quests, and then it was on to Saintsbridge.

...Or so I thought.  Upon closer inspection, there doesn't seem to be a way to go south from Saintsbridge.  Noticing a path on the map that runs through the Cliftlands, right along its border with the Riverlands, I decided to fast travel to Quarrycrest and see if that would work.  I saw that it indeed would work, so I skipped right past Orewell to visit Riverford.

Know how I suggested that some serious shit had happened in Wispermill?  Well, that ain't shit compared to Riverford.  The town square looks to be set up to burn people at the stake, and all the residents are on edge.  I did the rounds with Therion and promptly got out of their business.

The journey to Orewell wasn't so bad, and I picked up the Shrine of the Warbringer on my way out of the general Riverford area.  Orewell itself is rather tiny, so there wasn't much to see, and equally as little for Therion to steal.

That concludes my exploration of the world map, outside of areas I'm currently barred from entering because of story reasons, I've been everywhere.  I haven't done everything, but I've made notes of it all so I can refer to them later, perhaps between chapters 3 and 4.  Before I begin chapter 3, though, there's one last thing: equipment upgrades.  Equipment is so far spread out in this game that I'm going to need to make a list of it all in order to make sure I've got everything I want, so that'll take a bit.  We'll see just how long it takes...