Returning to the Castle and the war room, watch the scenes as Teresa, Shin, and Nina all officially join your party. If you explained yourself to Emilia back at the Academy, she has joined as well and can be found in the library now on the west-side of the Castle. You can take her all of the Old Books that have been piling up in your warehouse. Nina will drag Flik off for dinner and Riou will have to rest for the night in his room.
At the Highland camp, Jowy will ask Luca for Jillia, his sister's, hand in marriage for his conquest of Greenhill. Luca threatens to take his head for asking for such an insolent thing, but Jowy assures him that he has a grand plan for it all.
The next day, return to the war room and Shu will suggest that we attempt to get the Knights of Matilda to ally with us. Nanami will be a required member, but if you choose not to initially add her, you will be given the choice to add her to your convoy instead, if you would prefer to use another character. Our destination is the Path to Matilda which is northeast of Greenhill. Note, that while there are no new characters or items to acquire at the moment, the blacksmith in Kuskus has been upgraded and you can sharpen your weapons to lvl 11 now.
The Path to Matilda is yet another forest dungeon, but fairly short. However, each enemy inside the forest has a rare item to drop. Holly Boys will frequently drop the Boulder Set. Like the Chick from the Ragged One in the last chapter, this is another one of those useless bath accessories. You can only acquire it here or from the rope climbing mini-game, though.
The six-pack of Doremi Elves will drop Sound Set #2. We're still a ways off from making use of these, but you can only get it here, so just store it in the warehouse for now.
Zombie Slugs carry the latest bugged recipe, Recipe #29. Make sure to add this to your warehouse along with the other 2 bugged ones you have already acquired to avoid giving this to Hai Yo until you have all five.
Lastly, Papa Hollys have the Seed Potato, a Castle item for Tony, to drop.
Near the end of the forest, Suikoden veteran, Viki, will appear. She will ask Riou if she can stay at his place and will join your group if you accept. If you allow her to join your current party, she will warp Riou back to the Castle, if there's anything else there you need to take care of. In the grand hall, where the Tablet of Stars is, Viki can warp you anywhere in the game you have visited previously. While Viki appears to be a great mage, and to a point, is, be wary of her as any rune she uses, including her own Blinking Rune, has a chance to backfire and effect the party instead. Also note, Viki comes equipped with your first Magic Ring accessory. This is the only accessory in the game that can raise a character's magic stat. You will be able to find it in a town's rare finds later on in the game, but I would recommend removing this one from Viki and giving it to Riou.
Shortly after, you will be met by the Matilda Knight, Miklotov, whom will escort you to Rockaxe Castle. When you arrive, head inside the Castle and the first doors to the north to meet, Gordo, the lord of the Matilda Knights.
He's not very friendly, much like he was at the Muse conference earlier in the game. He'll put Riou and your army down, then send you on your way. You'll be taken to a guest room to rest for the night. During the night, Leknaat will appear to Riou and encourage him to continue the fight.
In the morning, Miklotov will rush into the throne room to tell Gorudo that Highland troops are massing at the Matilda border and hunting down refugees escaping from Muse. If you choose option 3 "I'll be watching" you will skip the next army battle, but for story purposes, I always select to join them in the battle. Unfortunately, there is little you can do to stop Luca and the Highland forces from slaughtering the refugees as they attempt to make it to the Matilda border; with no help from Gorudo, of course. Is it just me, or do those refugees look a lot like Viktor? Or maybe Viktor just dresses like a poor refugee. Anyways, after the battle, an infuriated Miklotov will leave for Muse to see what is really going on there. Spoiler: Nothing good. Camus will ask Riou to please follow him to Muse and you will be out in the Rockaxe Castle town for the first time.
The first thing to do out in the Castle town is search the bookcase at the back of the appraiser's shop for the Violence Rune. This is the only rune of this type in the game. When you attach this rune to a character, if they receive half of their maximum amount of HP in damage during battle, they will gain the berserk status and the next physical attack they deliver will do 3x the amount of damage than normal. While a Fury Rune may be considered just as good, the 3x additional damage does work with special runes such as Falcon and Angry Dragon, and thus has its place in a character setup. Just chose wisely, as there is only one of these in the game. Speaking of Angry Dragon, I would highly recommend this rune for Oulan, as being berserk allows her to infinitely use her Angry Dragon Rune.
Inside the armor shop, take note of the Guard Ring accessory that is being sold here. While you probably have acquired a few of these already, this is your first chance to purchase them. They are worth mentioning due to the fact they are the only choice for raising a female or kobold character's magic defense due to their inability to equip the Gold Emblem. While not offering the same amount of defense as the Gold Emblem, it does supply the vital +10 magic defense.
Also at the armory, you will frequently find the Thunder God Garb in its rare finds. This is an excellent piece of armor for martial art-type wearers and will be for quite a while. It is also the only place in the game you will find this armor and it will persist here throughout the game. You may want to take a look at the Down and Sleep Runes they are selling at the rune shop here, as well. They are nifty weapon runes that gives you a chance to add the "knockdown" and "sleep" status effect to an enemy when attacking. Knockdown essentially renders an enemy useless for a few turns; and is an excellent option. The Sleep Rune may seem useless at first glance; since the enemy will wake up after the next attack, however, said attack will do double damage which can be nice. The last thing to do in the Castle town, if you are doing Clive's quest, is take him to the inn here. If you are under 15 hours in the game, the quest will continue. For the next part of this quest, you need to hurry back to Radat Town and the tavern there. There, Elza and Clive will have another shootout, which ends in Clive being wounded and treated back at the Castle by Dr. Huan. With that done, we can take a look out on the Rockaxe Castle area world map.
There are only two monsters out on the world map, but one is significant for two rare items you will only have the chance to acquire right now, then will later be unable to obtain once the enemies here change. The Pink Bird houses both items. The first being, the Sylph Rune. This is another awful, novelty rune. If used during battle, it will strip the using character's HP to critical condition and then heal the rest of the party with that number spread evenly amongst, which, as you can imagine, isn't even close to equaling a casting of Great Blessing. I can't even begin to stretch a use for this rune; just dump it in your warehouse since you will be unable to acquire it later on.
The Skunk Rune, however, is marginally useful. When attached to a character, that character cannot be targeted by any single attack. This might be useful if you prefer to use a mage in the front row so that they can attack physically, but, in my opinion, this is a waste of a rune slot. You can get it from the Pink Birds also and need to do so before the Matilda scenario is over, or it will be missable. Instead of heading for the Muse-Matilda Border, let's first visit a new town that is wedged between it and Rockaxe Castle.
Arriving at the Highway Village, you can buy a brand new Calf from a salesman near the center of the town for Yuzu's ranch at the Castle.
Visiting the item store, we will find the amazing Fire Emblem now for sale. This is one of the best accessories in the game. Not only supplying a substantial increase in strength, it also provides a big increase in resistance to fire attacks. The downside is, like the Gold Emblem, only male characters, except the two kobolds, can equip it. In case you're wondering, the Fire Emblem DOES lower the amount of damage that Zamza takes from his Fire Dragon Rune, which makes this an essential accessory for him. It also lessens the damage if using the Fire Lizard Rune, although it is still not a recommended rune for your weapon.
The rare finds here also occasionally contain two rare items: Recipe #26 and Rabbit Plans #2.
If you visit the inn, we will find two old friends from the original Suikoden are staying here. Futch will bump into Riou and you can talk to Humphrey here. Watch the scenes that follow involving a local boy, Kent. In the morning, you'll find a villager outside telling Kent about the rumors of a dragon up on Mt. Rakutei and he will run off. Tell Humphrey what happened and then stay at the inn another night. The next day, Kent's parents will tell Futch and Humphrey that Kent did not return home last night and then it will be revealed that he went to Mt. Rakutei by himself. Agree to accompany them to the Mountain and they will temporarily join your party. Mt. Rakutei is in the far north of the world map.
Take a look at Humphrey's equipment. If you followed my instructions in the original Suikoden and equipped Humphrey with the Windspun Armor, he will have the same equipped if you converted your save file over to Suikoden II. If you didn't, he will have the basic Knight Armor equipped. If he doesn't have Windspun Armor, you are out of luck in obtaining the best armor in the game for Humphrey since whatever armor he has will be locked into place and cannot be changed. Mt. Rakutei will be a fairly long dungeon, so make sure to come prepared.
Finally, a dungeon that's not a forest. Let's take a look at the enemies you will encounter here. Keep in mind that like the monsters on the world map, these are available for a limited amount of time and will change much later on in the game. Watch out for the Assassin enemies pictured above; especially groups of six. While not heavy damage dealers, with each hit they have a chance to instantly kill a character. Without a Resurrection Rune, this can become a disaster. Also keep in mind if you leave a character dead at the end of the battle, it will lower their kindness "points" which adds to the attack of the Kindness Rune if they equip it.
While extremely minor, there is an item here to note that may interest completionists. The Pixie enemy will frequently drop a seemingly normal Antitoxin. However, if you look at it closely, it comes bundled in a count of six. You cannot obtain a bundle of six anywhere else in the game. I always stash one of these away in my warehouse as you will be unable to acquire this bundle later on in the game once the monsters here change.
The Hawk Man monster will fairly commonly drop Turtle Plans #3; the only place you can acquire this Castle item. The Hawk Man-looking enemy that will take its place here later on the game can drop this too, so it is not completely necessary to acquire this at the moment.
However, an item you absolutely cannot acquire later is the antique, Black Urn. It has to be gotten now from the Spiker enemies or it will be missed. This will require patience to get as it has a very low percent chance to drop and the Spiker also drops two other antiques along with it. You will need to return to either the Highway Village or Rockaxe Castle frequently to appraise your ? vases to see if you have obtained one.
There are many chests scattered throughout Mt. Rakutei; many of which will require you to take varying paths. Nearing the end of the dungeon, in the maze-like structure of paths, you will find a chest containing the Castle item Unicorn Plans #2.
On the far-west-side of this area, you will also find a chest with the Dragon Plans #2. Other noteworthy chests nearby are the Skill Ring and Medicine Rune, of which have been covered in previous chapters.
At the end of the area, make absolutely sure to save at the Journeyman Crystal as a tough boss will be ahead. This is probably the hardest boss fight up until this point in the game. The Harpy will attack with devastating wind magic that effect the entire party. If you have been farming Wind Hats from the Cave of the Wind, this will help to drastically lower the damage. Make sure a Water Rune bearer keeps Protect Mist cast on the party for an attempt to void the effects of the magic. While its The Shredding spell is just moderately damaging, particularly watch out for its magic, that looks similar to Storm from the original Suikoden, that will heavily damage everyone. Battle Oath or Kindness Rain will no doubt be needed afterwards. After the battle, the party willd rescue Kent and find that a real dragon egg has been laid here. Futch will refuse to accept a new dragon, but will stop Humphrey from destroying the egg. The egg will hatch and Futch will bestow the name of "Bright" on the new dragon pup. You'll get to know this little guy more in Suikoden III. For now, the party returns to the Highway Village with Kent and Futch and Humphrey will permanently join your party. Note, if you ever want to return to Mt. Rakutei at anytime throughout the game when it is available, you must have both Futch and Humphrey in your party or you will be unable to enter.
When you return from rescuing Kent, talk to his mother in his home with all of the milk containers outside of it, to obtain Recipe #32. One more note, now that Humphrey and Futch are members of your group, you can return to your Castle to exchange them for others, if you would like. I would also suggest, if Humphrey has Windspun Armor, that you attach a Double-strike Rune to him. When you are ready, head down to the Muse-Matilda Border where you will meet up with Miklotov whom will temporarily join your party for the trip down to Muse.
The monsters on the world Map near Muse have changed, and thus, no more Gales Runes. However, the White Tiger enemy is another chance to obtain Double-Beat Runes. Later on in the game, these monsters will change again, but you can still get Double-Beat Runes from the Cut Rabbits at North Sparrow Pass when it is available once more at the end of the game.
When you approach Muse, you will bear witness to a horrifying scene as a Silver Wolf appears to devour the souls of the Muse citizens...
Try to approach Jowston Hill and a man will stumble out, revealing what has transpired here. A furious Miklotov will want to return to Rockaxe Castle immediately to request that Gorudo invade Muse in response to this. You can fight random battles in Muse with some Highland soldiers here now, if you'd like, but your destination is to return to Rockaxe.
Of course, Gorudo will refuse to help the people of Muse. This will lead to both Miklotov, Camus, and half of the Red and Blue Knights throwing their emblems to the floor relinquishing their oath to Gorudo. Camus and Miklotov will officially join your party. Shu will meet the party back at the Path to Matilda to escort you to the Castle to resume the game.
