On day 30 of my Final Fantasy Marathon, I completed Palom’s Tale. Today, I am starting Edge’s Tale.

Edge’s Tale: Prologue

The start screen for Edge’s Tale tells me that Edge is now King of Eblan. His kingdom is prosperous again, but the Tower of Babil is glowing once more. Edge sends four of his faithful ninja on covert missions to investigate.

Edge’s trainees

The Tale opens with Edge wiping the floor with four ninja trainees. They all kiss his ass. They are introduced as:

• Zangetsu of Thunder, Elder of the Eblan Four
• Gekkou of Fire, Leader of the Eblan Four
• Izayoi of Water, Woman of the Eblan Four
• Tsukinowa of Wind, Youth of the Eblan Four

Edge, whose given name is apparently “Edward,” tells them to quit buttering him up. He says the four practically twisted his arm to get him to train them.

Gekkou says they can’t afford to let Eblan’s ninja arts fade away. Edge thinks they might be better off without them, after all, it is a time of peace.

He questions why they wouldn’t rather have fun than work so hard at being sucky ninjas. The conversation pauses when they all notice a second moon appearing in the sky.

That’s no moon…

The Seneschal is in a taking about the return of the second moon. Edge tells him to chill out.

He instructs the Seneschal to watch the castle for him while he goes out on business. Outside the castle, the Eblan Four stop Edge and question where he is going.

They ask him to allow them to handle the investigation into the return of the second moon, because he needs to stay home and do King stuff. Edge isn’t sure they are ready for such a mission.

Tsukinowa says it can be a test of their readiness. Edge agrees to let them investigate, but tells them not to throw their lives away in vain.

Gekkou’s mission

I get a selection screen asking which of the Eblan Four I want to play. I choose Gekkou. He is investigating the falling star that we saw in Yang’s Tale.

He spots some monks from Fabul confronting the Mysterious Girl. The monks pick a fight with her and she zaps some of them with her magic and then leaves.

The remaining monks chase after her. Gekkou finds a Kenpo Gi in a chest and equips it. He approaches the fallen monks.

One of them asks who he is. He says he is a passing traveler. The monk asks him to stop the girl and save his brothers and then dies.

Gekkou apologizes, saying he has to stick to his mission. He finds and equips a Crescent Axe, Power Armlet, and a Steel Headplate.

I also find a pair of Shurikens. He spots the Mysterious Girl and the monks again. She wants to know why they insist on following her.

They say they have to avenge their brothers. She doesn’t get why they’d give up their chance to live.

Gekkou silently agrees, thinking they shouldn’t be so quick to throw away their lives. The monks claim they must uphold their honor.

The Mysterious Girl has never heard of such a thing. The monks attack and the Mysterious Girl kills them.

She wonders what makes them want to die so fervently. She says the interdimensional elevator launch is going to fall behind schedule.

Gekkou apologizes to the monks again, saying he has his own honor to uphold. He buries them and somehow constructs the monument we saw in Yang’s tale.

Zangetsu’s mission

Zangetsu’s mission opens with King Giott giving a long-winded speech to some dwarves. Zangetsu is disguised as a dwarf.

He nearly blows his cover when he messes up the dwarves jumping routine and says “Tali-ho” instead of “Lali-ho.” The dwarves say their work is done and now they are off to the pub.

Before going to the pub, I loot the castle, finding another Shuriken. At the pub, one of the dwarfs suggests I go fetch the watchmen from the roof, so we can “lali-ho it up a bit.”

I go up on the roof and see the Tower of Babil light up. I decide I must tell Edge right away, because it’s not like he’d notice on his own, given that he’s in a castle right next to the Tower…

I leap off the castle wall and land near the Dwarf mines. I must make my way through the mines to get back to Eblan.

While in the mine, I learn the Flash ninjutsu. I find and equip a Javelin and some Shinobi Gear.

I later swap the Javelin for a Trident and find and equip a Headband. A monster blocks the exit to the cave.

I take him out quickly with a couple of Zangetsu’s Human Kite attacks. Zangetsu hurries home.

Izayoi’s mission

Izayoi is in Troia, disguised as an Epopt trainee. By listening to the trainee’s gossip, she learns that Baron has deployed its airship fleet, and the Epopts have sent Leonora to the Tower of Trials to fill the vacant Epopt position.

Izayoi is intrigued by the Epopt’s urgency to get a replacement trained. She also wonders why they have invested the resources to build an entire Tower for training.

I leave Troia and fetch a chocobo from the Chocobo Village. I ride to the Tower of Trials in the south.

The door is sealed shut, so Izayoi decides to scale the outer walls. She finds and equips a Thorn Whip, and a Bronze Breastplate from treasure chests.

At the top of the tower, a monster attacks. Neither her magic, nor her weapon does a ton of damage to this enemy, so the battle takes awhile, but she wins.

She is impressed that the Epopts built this tower simply as a training tool. She says she senses an intensely powerful monster presence inside and speculates that the Epopts must have something in mind.

She notices the Tower of Babil is glowing and decides she must rush home to tell Edge about it. She spots a ship nearby that she can take.

After collecting a couple more treasures, I use an emergency exit to leave the Tower and then grab a chocobo and ride to the ship. The ship is headed for Mysidia.

The captain agrees to take Izayoi to Eblan. The crew is a bit too enthusiastic about having a pretty woman aboard.

The captain notices the Tower of Babil glowing and Izayoi tells him to speed up. He says he will, as long as he doesn’t have to go near the Tower.

Tsukinowa’s mission

Tsukinowa is disguised as a student of magic, named Lapin, in Mysidia. However, he isn’t doing a very good job of maintaining his cover.

He looks just like the other creepy children, but he isn’t paying attention to the Professor to the point where he suspects that “Lapin” isn’t actually interested in learning magic.

Lapin assures him he is and we flash back to a generic black and white mage finding Lapin washed up on the shore. Porom arrives and tells the professor that the elder is waiting for him in the Hall of Prayer.

She observes that Lapin is hiding something. He tells her he has a toad in his pocket and stole some Gysahl Greens.

She thinks there is more to it than that, but lets it go. She says Lapin sounds just like “him.”

Lapin observes that he should be careful around Porom. I explore the town and get turned into a Toad by some kid.

This allows me to sneak into the Hall of Prayer, because the mage guarding the door is afraid of toads and runs off. Inside the Hall, I hear the mages talking about how the tragedies of the past are returning.

They are upset to learn that Palom, their best black mage, is gone. Porom says black magic is not a panacea for all their problems.

She announces she will travel to Mount Ordeals. Tsukinowa follows her. He learns the Heal Pill ninjutsu while on the mountain.

Porom notices someone following her a couple of times, but keeps going. Tsukinowa finds and equips a Green Beret, some Shinobi Gear, and a Metal Boomerang.

He reaches the top of the mountain, but Porom is nowhere to be found. He notices the Tower of Babil is activated and decides he must rush home to tell Edge.

I head back down the mountain and then walk to the western cape near Mysidia. Tsukinowa then runs across the ocean after bidding farewell to the Professor and Porom and hoping to see them again.

Edge is in Edge’s Tale!

The scene shifts to Edge pondering the return of the second moon in his bedroom. He wonders if it is the same moon that Golbez and Fusoya lived on.

He thinks everything is happening as it did before, just like when Rubicante stormed the castle. He runs through a secret door in his bedroom.

The Seneschal is all het up again. He wants to know where Edge is, so he can tell him about the Tower of Babil.

Edge is on the roof of the castle looking at the tower. He says, “I knew it! It’s back!” and then appears outside the castle.

I save the game and quit at two hours and 19 minutes into Edge’s Tale.