Go Info Scouting
Ah, Termina. Without stepping two feet within the gates, you're already seeing commotion. Some knight is talking to a flower lady about Karsh and a ghost. That's you. Hmm.. sounds like this knight needs bellflowers. If you feel nice, go catch him and give him the flowers you found in Fossil Valley. Once that's done, visit the shops and stuff. When you're ready, go back to the enerance and go straight forward onto a deck. Here you learn about Viper Manor, and meet Kid if you refused her joining you earlier.
Choose Your Path
You have three ways to bust into Viper Manor. Three different people need your help, and you need theirs. The choice of who to accompany is up to you. Your choices are Nikki, a superstar singer, Guile, a masked wizard, and Pierre, a want-to-be knight. I personally like Nikki and Guile, but the choice is yours. Nikki's path is longest, but perhaps most rewarding. Guile's path is medium length, and Pierre's is short. Once you've chosen your friend, head to their section below to find out how to join them.
Nikki
To find Nikki, head to the very far west of the city. There's a big boat thing on the docks there. If you enter, you'll find a lovely dancer by the name of Miki. (How cleaver.) She tells you Nikki ran into the Shadow Forest, seeking entry to the Viper Manor. Miki offers to divert the guards (I wonder how? ^_~) at the Shadow Forest if you go in to find Nikki. Sounds simple enough, huh?
Enter Shadow Forest
Shadow Forest is straightforeward enough. Until you find Nikki, anyway. It's mainly consisted of following the simple path through the forest, until you run into Nikki and a few demons. The demons surround the hapless bard, and you rush to his aid. They're pretty easy, and Nikki helps a lot.
After that refreshing fight, Nikki join your team. Somehow, you must get past the strange, sleeping monster in the middle of the path. To do so, head under a stone ledge in the basin, and walk through the waterfall into a small cave. Collect the Aroma Pouch, and examine the trees around the area. Find the tree that makes the blue thing follow you, and head back to the cave. Lure the blue monster thingy out with the blue berry, but don't let it eat it. It's hard, I know. Lure the blue thing to the monster, and the monster will gobble it up. Now, you must fight. It's quite easy.
The Dragoon Battle
Just after killing the weak little monster, our heroes are confronted by Zoah, bulky and strong Deva of the Acacia Dragoons. With Solt and Peppor at his side, Zoah makes a few threats, and initiates combat. He's pretty easy, too.
After winning the fight, you can proceed further into the forest. The tunnel you enter is also rather straight-foreward. Just block the flow of the annoying monsters near the exit, and you're home-free.
Guile
Guile is perhaps easiest to find. Just step inside the pub and walk over by the counter. *shrug* He sticks out like a sore thumb, too. Once you meet him, he tells you that you'll need a boat to get into Viper Manor. This is easily remedied- Just head to Termina's east side and meet Korcha, the ferryman. He'll be waiting down the stairs to your left, after you find him.
Speak With Korcha
As I said, Korcha is willing to get you to Viper Manor for a light fee. When you're ready, he takes you to the bluffs north of the manor. The bluffs themselves are a bit of a maze, but it's not too hard to figure out, but bloody hard to explain. ^_~ Once you reach the top, you're met with a short and easy boss battle, and then you're in.
Pierre
Pierre isn't highly recommended, if you're on your first trip through and you haven't got anyone to take his place. Anyways, he's in a side room of the smithy shop. He's distressed over losing his medal, which you can take from the annoying kid outside his door. Give him the medal, and you're ready to head to the manor.
Enter Viper Manor
Interestingly enough, it seems like our little Pierre isn't wanted at Viper Manor. You'll need to bust in. A fight against Solt, Peppor, and Ketchop ensues. Ketchop is quite powerful, but Solt and Peppor manage to mess things up, as usual. After defeating the idiot duo and their giant friend, you'll be able enter Viper Manor.
Viper Manor: Espionage
Depending on who's path you took, your starting point in the courtyard varies. It doesn't entirely matter, they're all generally the same area. Proceed into the dragon stables, located to the far east. If you went with Guile, you should be right in front of it. If you went with Nikki or Pierre, just follow the path toward the stables.
Once inside the stables, offer to help the old man with feeding the dragons. Feeding them is rather easy- but don't waste your time trying to hit 100. Once you're done, you can leave the stables with the old man's key and head to Viper Manor's front door. Fight the guards in front, and bust in.
Viper Manor's entry hall in rather extravagant, but if you try to head down a side-hall, you'll be rudely interupted by a slamming door. I guess your only choice is straight foreward, huh? Since the door doesn't seem openable, you'll need to inspect the odd twirly thing next to it. It asks for a door combination- try anything, none will probably work this time through. After turning the dial, you fall into a trap. Oooh well.
At the bottom of the shaft, you find yourself surrounded by guards. Through some smooth talking, you get the idiots to open the door, which is when you jump them. When you're done witht hat, your team steals their clothes and is ready to go. First, head down the hall on your left. Inside the far door is the dragoon quarters, and the other two doors lead to the mess hall. Iif you took Guile with you, and you're interested in winning your bet with the fortune teller, open up the cabinet behind the chef. At any rate, Glenn with be asking a dragoon the door combination. Follow him to the dragoon quarters, and inspect the wall that he writes on. Viola, you have your combination. Now, head out of that hall for now. If you want a few items, head down in the basement and look around for a Parlor Key. This key can get you into a room just up the stairs from the dragoon quarters, if you feel interested enough. Once you've had enough, head into the right hallway. If you want to avoid a fight with the dragoons guarding the fault, say nothing. The password is silence. Once you're in, get all the treasures. Don't inspect the thing on the wall, yet. If you have Pierre, give him the Hero's Shield that you find. After your treasure raiding is done, inspect the thing on the wall. You fall into a trap, and end up in some strange lab.
You find yourself surrounded by all sorts of oddities. All except for that woman in front of you, but then again she looks odd too. She introduces herself as Luccia, and releases you. To test you, she sends one of her experiments after you. Beat up the little nancies, and then you're free to leave. It may be fun to glance around, but you don't need to. The creature in the cage on the left, Pip asks you to be freed. It doens't matter whether you free him or not- He'll join up with you later, regardless.
When you're done messing around, return to the door and give the combination. You proceed to the upper level, and then you should take a left once you're there. Once you cross the bridge, you find yourself in an expansive library with a little girl. If you have Nikki, he recognizes her. An old man joins you in the library, explaining perhaps why you are where you are. After he's finished explaining, Marcy decides to test you.
Marcy should not be underestimated. She has rather nice physical power, and her magic is top notch. If you have Kid with you, Marcy's ice attacks will take their toll on her. Assult Marcy with physical attacks and fire elements, until she's about ready to give up. By wary when she grows weak- She has a very, very nasty finishing move. Upon winning, you are rewarded with an Ice Blast element, and more advice from the old man. He tells you the location of a switch in the main room, so it's time to go looking.
The Manipulators of Time
Leave the library, and head into the room at the top of the steps. Two dragoons stand watch in front of you, and the room is surrounded by very, very thin pillar-like supports. Investigate behind the pillar the old man suggested, until you find the switch. It may take a while, that switch is rather hard to find. Once the platform lowers, fight the dragoons and head up the upper level.
Take this oppertunity to save your game. Just inside the door waits a showdown with Lynx, Kid's nemesis. When you're ready, proceed inside. Serge has strange visions looking the odd gem on the desk, telling you there's probably a connection there. We'd might as well not worry about it, now. Lynx challenges you to a fight.
Lynx is a black innate, making him weak against Serge's white type attacks. Lynx can also cause some damagae to Serge, of course, so keep your guard up. Assulting Lynx with strong attacks and white elements is of course an effective strategy. With Kid, try to steal from Lynx with Pilfer. He has good items, if you succeed.
When the battle ends, Lynx stands unscratched. Riddel enters the room, and Kid abruptly takes advantage of the situation. Using Riddel, you try to escape, but are immediately surrounded by dragoons. Fleeing to the balcony, Lynx and the dragoons have your party in check. Lynx talks foolishness to Serge, drawing a poison knife and throwing it at Riddel and Kid. Tossing Riddel out of the way, Kid takes the blade and jumps off the balcony.
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