Arriving in Lenankamp, stay at the inn and watch the events to meet Odessa. Your next destination is to return to Rockland to save Varkas and Sydonia; the bandits you capture earlier. Before heading out, stop by the blacksmith here if you hadn't ventured here earlier, and take a look at the armor shop.
After Viktor lights Grady's mansion on fire and you are inside, notice the slits on the side of the walls here. These are actually doorways and contained enemies as well as treasure.
Minor boss fight at the end. You may get a Flower Painting or Lover's Garden painting from this battle if you are lucky. If not, don't worry about it. You can get them much easier a little later on. Saving Varkas and Sydonia, head back to the hideout in Lenankamp. Odessa will join your party and you will be venturing across Mt. Tigerwolf to the town of Sarady. If you recall, this is where you got the Fortune/Prosperity Rune at the very beginning of the game.
Some really good rare drops on Mt. Tigerwolf. First, the Killer Slimes drop Water Rune Pieces. These and the Earth (Wind) Rune Pieces the Black Wild Boar had earlier on Mt. Seifu are the only rune pieces in the game you can acquire infinite of and as such most of your characters will be outfitted with one or the other if you so choose. The Water Piece recovers 5HP per piece every turn when attached to a weapon. Very nice. And you can attach up to 9 pieces which will add up to 45HP restored per turn. Killer Slimes are your only resource for these in the game.
Item two is the Defense Rune Piece; the Giant Snails drop these. Used in the menu, they permanently increase a character's defense so needless to say these are nice to have. You'll find a few of these in chests in the game, but other than those, Giant Snails are your only source for Defense Rune Pieces.
Along the way you will open a chest containing a Wind (Earth) Rune Piece. The only one in the game; so don't waste it unless you know who you want to attach it to. This is the mistranslated brother to the Earth Rune Piece you found on Mt. Seifu. So, this is actually an Earth Rune Piece. When attached it gives earth element to your attack as well as a +3 to your defense.
Halfway through the mountain, the party falls victim to the 'ole poison tea trick. Thankfully, Kessler shows up to ruin Ledon's fun. Make sure to save here before you continue on.
You'll find the Clone Rune a little bit ahead. It's...rare. One-of-a-kind, but it's usefulness is debatable. Basically, it allows a sword user to do double damage in one turn, but they are unbalanced the next turn (Similar to Pahn's Boar Rune). You can also use this from the back row as well if you wanted to use 4 short ranged characters. I personally would prefer to use a Killer Rune, but since you cannot acquire those yet, go ahead and stick this on Viktor when you can. Sarady is just up ahead. Watch the scenes at the inn and return to Lenankamp.
Before entering Lenankamp, strip Odessa of her items; she will be leaving your party for the rest of the game, just like Ted did.
Back at the hideout, the worst happens. Odessa is killed defending a child. She'll hand the Earrings over to Tir and ask him to meet with a man named Mathiu down in Seika. You'll have to pass through the Kwaba Fortress to the south first though. Just a warning: once you proceed through Kwaba you cannot return to the Gregminster area until the very end of the game. Any item drops you missed or want to farm do it now. If you haven't gotten a Celadon Urn from the BonBons, this is your last chance in the game to do so. Once you return later, the world map enemies will have changed. Not to worry, the enemies on Mt. Seifu and Tigerwolf remain the same so you can return there later to get more of those items.
At the fortress, the party picks aliases to pass through. Viktor's will become a running gag throughout the later Suikoden games; go ahead and choose to be Reinbach IV for Tir.
Seika is just to the south of the exit of Kwaba. Talk to the children in the building to the northeast and then talk to Mathiu who is the guy in the tan outfit. When he leaves, follow him back to the school and fight off the soldiers there. Watch the scenes and Tir will become the new leader of the Liberation Army. Your next destination is Kaku which is on the lake to the southwest of Seika. At the pub, speak with Camille who is the red-headed girl here and she will join your party; then take the pub stairs below and speak with Tai Ho and beat him at his game of Chinchirorin. It's fairly easy, but random. Afterwards, talk with him at the dock to sail to the Castle of Toran. Once you are there Tai Ho will join your party, but before heading inside, sail back to Kaku and sharpen everybody's weapons to max and buy the best equipment you can, as well as having medicine on each character; you have a fairly hard boss upcoming. But, since we now have a full party, let's check out the rare items that the enemies have on the world map outside.
More antiques. The Hex Doll and Japanese Dish are dropped by Killer Rabbits and show up as ? Ornaments until appraised. You more than likely picked a Hex Doll up in a chest earlier in the game, but the Japanese Dish dropped here is the only place in the game to get it. If you wish to see all of the bath scenes in the game you will be needing 6 Hex Dolls as well. To appraise items at this point you will need to go to the town of Kouan, which is due south of Kaku.
The other rare item on the world map here is the Phero Rune dropped by the Beast Commanders. Getting this is for completionists only as the drop rate is ridiculously low and it in and of itself is a terrible rune. When equipped, it gives a chance for a party member of the opposite gender to protect that character from damage. This is the only place in the game you can acquire this rune. Now, onto the Castle of Toran...
A bit into the dungeon and you will open a chest containing a Power Rune Piece. This is similar to the Defense Rune Piece earlier, but this increases a character's PWR stat permanently. The downside: this is the single only one in the entire game. To use or to store in your vault later on? Your choice.
The Hazy Rune is good (Evade%+ which in turn allows for more counterattack chances), but you can buy it later. The picture is because you need to walk through a secret passage to get to it. Walk down by the V shape in the wall in the upper left hand corner of the picture, then you will need to turn right, and then down, and left into the crevice containing the chest. Before you go further make sure that you have gotten all of the chests here, as you cannot return to this dungeon afterwards, and make absolutely sure you saved at the save point before going further because...
Yeah...this is tough. Always is no matter how many times you play. Not a whole lot of options at this point in the game either: it's just down to whether the Zombie Dragon decides to use his entire-party targetting fire attack every turn or not. Everyone should just attack except Cleo who should use every Fire Rune spell she can. If you gave the Clone Rune to Viktor, he can use it and then disperse Medicine on his unbalanced turn afterwards. This is all about luck. When the battle is won, the game truly begins.
