The Blue Heaven Trail (蒼天の道, souten no michi?, lit. "Blue Heaven Road") is an small mountain pathway going through the Blue Heaven Peak, which connects the Blue Canyon Hamlet to the Eternus Shaft. This place has several ledges, scaffolds and stairs, and at the end, there is the house of a traveling monk which has a entrance leading to a cave.
History[]
After running away from the Clustanians at the Blue Canyon Hamlet, who wanted to take Saki away, Aoto and Tatsumi decided to camp and rest while Saki recovered consciousness. Aoto was still astonished that Saki had stripped her clothes off and turned the enemies into cakes by doing so. While he still pondered about this, Saki woke up, Aoto took the opportunity to ask her how she was. Saki didn't seem to remember anything of the recent events, even about Kiraha, who had died protecting her. She didn't know anything either about the swordswoman she initially was when Aoto met her for the first time, which led Tatsumi to conjecture that she had suffered partial memory loss from all the shock. However, Aoto committed the mistake of asking her about the moment in which she began praying and her cothes disappeared, prompting Saki to get angry and slap him accross the face, making Tatsumi remark how "boo" he was. Tatsumi then asked Saki if she remembered anything else, to which she answered that she remembered working as a teacher at a place called Ogai, which neither Aoto or Tatsumi knew about. However, Tatsumi thought that an acquaintance of his, a Reyvatologist that lived in the Eternus Shaft, could know about it, and he also could take a look at Saki to see why she lost her memory.
Tatsumi then asked Saki if she was some kind of special Reyvateil, as he had never seen one that could transform enemies into cake, to which she replied that she didn't know, and that the Goddess always helped her whenever she began praying, thanks to her power to "perform miracles". The party then decided it had gotten too later, and chose to set out for the Eternus Shaft the next morning.
Meanwhile, not very far from where they were resting, Mute was reporting her failure to capture Saki to her superior. The general was quite angry due to the disaster that Mute had done in her attempts to capture Saki, which included casualties when she was explicitly ordered to accomplish it without harming anyone, and disappointed to see that she was given an entire squad an still a single boy had defeated her. She then told Mute that this was her last chance, and to make sure to not fail again. Otherwise, she would get demoted back to private. After the general left, Mute angrily vowed that she would make Aoto pay for this.
The next day, Saki asked Aoto if it'd be all right for them to converse at night for as long as their journey continued, as she was scared and didn't want to be alone, to which he replied that there wasn't any problems and that could even help her to sleep better. (This is the event that unlocks the Talk Topics).
During the walk that day, they noticed a group of Clustanian ships flying around the area. Tatsumi remarked that they did the right thing leaving the village, as the Clustanians would begin searching through all the area to find Saki, and wouldn't allow them to return to the village. Aoto began to get worried about Steeps, so Tatsumi told him to find a Telemo he could borrow and call him. They then continued their walk through the trail.
Upon reaching the monk's house, Aoto remarked on how tired he was from walking all the day, making Saki ask if he was okay and if he would like to be carried on her back. Tatsumi told them to stop saying foolish things, and told them they could rest in that house. Saki asked if that was owned by his acquaintance, to which Tatsumi replied "sorta", and told them they could rest for a while in there and use the Telemo. Once inside, Aoto called Steeps, and informed him that he was out of the village and that he wouldn't be able to go back there for a while, while also telling him to not worry. He also asked about what was the current situation with the Clustanians, and upon getting told they already had left the area, he hung up before Steeps could get an answer about where he was. Saki asked if Steeps was mad, to what Aoto answered he was furious, while Tatsumi asked for an update on the Clustanians. Upon hearing they had retreated, Tatsumi commented on how fast they had gone, and told them to stay alert. At that moment, the monk arrived, and told them that they could spend the night there, while telling Tatsumi it had been quite a while since they last saw each other.
The monk then proceeded to explain about the religion unique to the Great Fang region, while Tatsumi introduced him to the group, while explaning them that other monk of his order was his personal mentor: Gengai. The monk then told the group to feel as if they were at home, and thus they went to sleep.
That night, as Aoto snored soundly, Saki and Tatsumi discussed about how late they went to sleep, and about the efforts that Aoto had done to protect her. Tatsumi told Saki to calm down and not worry so much about Aoto, as he didn't think of protect Saki as trouble, while also telling her how gullible and reckless he was. This made Saki laugh, as she realized how good friends they were. However, their conversation got interrupted when a person disguised in a full-body clown suit broke into the house through the window. Aoto instantly awakened due to the noise, and Tatsumi recognized the invader as Clustania's deadliest assassin: Soma.
Aoto insisted in fighting against her, but Tatsumi told him that they wouldn't have any chance, and that it'd be better if they retreated. Saki then began saying her prayers to active her miracle powers once again, but Soma, as if she had sensed what Saki was about to do, retreated. The monk came to check on them due to the noise, and after checking that they were safe, and learning about Soma's appearance, he told the party that they weren't safe in that place anymore. Tatsumi agreed, and pressed the party to continue their way.
Upon entering the cave, the party discussed briefly the fact that Soma had fleed upon noticing Saki's praying, but their conversation was cut short because an Assassin, a Tower Guardian sent by Soma, attacked them. Physical attacks were useless against it, and if they took too long to defeat it, it would send a signal to inform Clustania about their current position, so Saki had to use her Song Magic to defeat it. As soon as the battle ended, Aoto asked why Saki had to take her clothes off, to which she answered this was because it allowed her to gain more power from Ar Ciel, although it was pretty embarrassing to her. Tatsumi then told Aoto to not get perverted thoughts about this, and that he was taking things far too easy, considering how their lives had been in great danger.
As they walked through the cave, Aoto felt he had heard someone walking nearby, which Tatsumi chalked up to him trying to scare Saki. However, upon looking up, they saw he was right: up on a ledge, there was a girl, scared and apparently about to fall down. Despite Tatsumi's protests, Aoto went up, and using the skills he had gained during his time as an steeplejack, he managed to get himself and the girl to safety. Saki complimented Aoto on this feat, while he asked the girl how she ended up on that cliff. The girl explained that she went to walk and got herself lost, which was a pretty pathetic excuse to him. The party introduced themselves, while the girl introduced herself as Finnel, and that she lived in Eternus Shaft. Given that the group was going to that place, they decided to travel together, while Saki decided to give a nickname to Finnel. After she refused the Filulun name, which Aoto used to poke fun at Finnel's clumsiness, Saki settled on calling her "Filly", and the party continued their way. However, right before they continued, they noticed an strange shine on Finnel, which she hurried to hide and explain it was some kind of accesory that was too precious too her and that she had to keep it hidden. Aoto then called out Tatsumi on his refusal to help Finnel just because she gave him a bad feeling, to which he replied that he was far too gullible.
Later on, after returning from the Fallen Heaven Peak Aoto, now accompanied by Finnel, Sarapatra, Hikari Gojo and Tatsumi, returned to this place with the intention of going back to the Blue Canyon Hamlet to talk to Steeps about joining the war against Clustania. However, on the way there, they noticed that there were some soldiers from the Great Fang Militia stationed throughout the place. Hikari Gojo noted they had Reyvateil radars on their hands, which Tatsumi guessed it was to look for Saki, as they most likely had forgotten how she looked like. Finnel got frightened, as this meant that they would seize anyone who happened to activate these radars, but Tatsumi came out with a way out: he gave them patches that, upon being placed over the Install Port, it would nullify all the characteristic signals given off by Reyvateils. Sarapatra was pleasantly surprised to his resourcefulness, and after applying the patches to both her and Finnel, they decided to try crossing the post.
The soldiers and Aoto recognized each other, and greeted cheerfully. One of them asked Aoto if he had any idea of what happened on the village after he went away, and that there were rumors flying around that he had run off with a Reyvateil. They then decided to check out the girls with the radars. Aoto assured them that there wasn't anything suspicious about them, but they decided to proceed with the checking just in case. They passed the radars around everyone, but they didn't show any reactions. Aoto was pleased with this, and asked them to let the party through. However, the soldiers still didn't allow them to pass, recognizing that Sarapatra wasn't one of the Hamlet's inhabitants, and then asked if she was actually Aoto's bride. He was left embarrassed over this comment, to which Sarapatra answered she was. This left everyone shocked, and Sarapatra went on by saying that they were engaged and that they were actually going back to the Hamlet to have their wedding. The soldier congratulated Aoto on finding such a beautiful wife, to which Aoto replied by nervously laughing. Then the soldiers let them pass.
Aoto was relieved to be left off from this, while Finnel was quite enraged from Sarapatra's declarations. Sarapatra assured her she wasn't joking, and that she just wanted to come out again to make many sweet memories with Aoto. Aoto just ended up laughing nervously upon hearing this, which made Finnel's self-restraint run out and she ended up kicking Aoto an entire stairway down, as well as calling him an idiot. Sarapatra was amused, and wondered if Finnel was actually in love with him. Finnel violently denied this and told her she actually liked Tatsumi. Tatsumi asked her to leave him out of this. Sarapatra then complimented Finnel for her spunk, but also told her she still needed to have some more weight in her chest if she actually wanted to attracts boys, further enraging her.
The soldiers watched the scene, commenting that they thought that Aoto would never return to the village. One of them commented that most likely Steeps would be glad to hear the news about his return and his newfound bride. The other soldier then suggested going to inform everyone in the Hamlet of this. His partner hesitated, as this meant betraying Aoto and selling him out to the Clustanians, to which the other soldier replied that not doing this would meant Cleansing for the Hamlet, and that Aoto was brought this upon himself. The party then continued their way to the Hamlet.
Layout[]
As the very first area visited in Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel, the Blue Heaven Path isn't really complicated to traverse, nor are the monsters very strong. However, it's strongly recommended that you pay close attention to your surroundings, as a few treasures can only be gotten by dropping from ledges and scaffolds.
Maps[]
Treasures[]
- Rescue Injection
- Crab Claw Sword
- Kiai Belt
- Bronze Material
- Weakness Detector
- Bronze Material
- Tsurugi 07
- Big Ribbon
- Bitter Capsule
- Bronze Material
Number of Treasure Chests in this Area: 10
Monsters[]
Road Area[]
- Pom
- Cherry Pom (after entering the Stairway to Fallen Heaven for the first time and up to Phase 3)
- Metal Pom (from Phase 4 onwards)
- Mini Pom (from Phase 4 onwards)
- Mock Pom (from Phase 4 onwards)
- Wolf (up to Phase 3)
- Furia Model I (from Phase 4 onwards)
- Furia Model I-B (from Phase 4 onwards)
Cave Area[]
- Pom
- Metal Pom (from Phase 4 onwards)
- Mock Pom (from Phase 4 onwards)
- Wolf (up to Phase 3)
- Flame Hound (after entering the Stairway to Fallen Heaven for the first time and up to Phase 3)
- Furia Model I (from Phase 4 onwards)
- Furia Model I-B (from Phase 4 onwards)
Number of Random Battles in this Area: 5
Encounter Probability: Middle
Bosses[]
- Assassin (during Phase 1)
Talk Topics[]
- It Pains Me (after Sarapatra joins the party)
- That's How Great It Is
- Vacant House
Party Topics[]
- About Soma (after defeating Mute at the Stairway to Fallen Haven, but before the V-Board race in Phase 2)
- Unstable Footholds (after Tyria joins the party)