The Lymph Vessel (リンパ管, rinpa-kan?, lit. "Lymph Ducts") are a facility in the Tower of Harvestasha located halfway between Archia and Clustania, right above of the Garvelt Bridge and the Kniehar Signal Station, and right below the Slave District. It's pretty similar in appearance to the Silver Horn from the First Tower of Ar tonelico, given the abundant presence of golden horn-like pipes through the area, and there are also several CD-like platforms (assumed to be made from Grathnode) that serve as elevators and footholds.
The name comes from the fact that these are Tyria's own lymphatic vessels, which transport the energy throughout all of her Tower body.
History[]
First Visit[]
This area is first seen when a Clustanian Reyvateil accepted to take Katene inside the Tower. Katene was really excited to see the place with his own eyes, and thanked the Reyvateil for her cooperation. She then asked if he was Katene, the son of Kiraha. Katene was amazed that she knew that, but before the Reyvateil could answer, Katene noticed something: there was a girl floating inside one of the ducts...
Shortly later the party entered this place upon receiving the password from Luphan. Once there, Filament heard the corrupted and incomplete version of Tyria's song, EXEC_REBIRTHIA=PROTOCOL/., and began running in the direction from where the song could be heard. However, due to their hurry in chasing after Filament, the party didn't notice that Finnel had collapsed behind them, and Soma had taken control of her body once again. She then began following the party, stating that she didn't have much time left.
After a while exploring, the party met face to face with an holographic image of Tyria. She immediately recognized Filament as one of the Wills of the Planet. She confirmed that she was indeed born to be the savior of the Planet, but that was impossible now because their plans had been thwarted. Tyria then told her that if she really wanted to save herself, and all of Ar Ciel, she would have to go to the Rinkernator and help her first. Then she vanished.
Filament then briefly explained how the girl they had just seen was Tyria, but that was a mere shadow of her, and they would need to meet to her in the Rinkernator first. She then dropped some clues about her true nature, including the fact that she wanted to save herself, and didn't want to kill anyone, while also telling the party that both the Clustanians and Archians were doing the same exact thing, and neither would lead the Planet to its salvation. Soma then appeared, telling Filament that her plans were something "they" had abandoned since long ago, and that they had to obey the orders of the "Consensus". Soma attacked them, and Filament had to use the Miracle power she borrowed from Saki in order to give them some time. This turned Soma's mask into cake, which finally revealed her true face. Filament was unable to continue keeping the control of Saki's body, and vanished as Saki resurfaced, who immediately passed away from exhaustion.
Tatsumi then announced Soma he was going to kill her, but Soma told him to slow down, as she didn't want to cause any unnecessary deaths, and proposed a deal to him: if he went with her, Soma would lead him to Harvestasha. Tatsumi declined the offer out of distrust, to which Soma replied that she would then take him by force. Aoto cursed Soma for using Finnel's life as an excuse for forcing Tatsumi to go with her, to with she replied that this was Aoto's fault for taking so long to get to the Tower. This clued Tatsumi on her true nature, which Soma herself revealed in front of the party: Finnel was a multiple-personality Reyvateil like Saki, Soma was one of her alternate personae, and her life span was nearing its end. She then explained that they would need Tatsumi's Selfstabilizing Tesseractal Nuclear Loop in order to extend her life.
Tatsumi then told her to show him some proof of her actually sharing her body with Finnel, but it wasn't necessary: Aoto had already seen it with his own eyes back when they were returning from the Fallen Heaven Peak, and told it to Tatsumi. Despite this, Tatsumi couldn't trust Soma, to which she replied she wasn't as passive as Finnel, and that if he didn't want to hand over the Tesseractal Nuclear Loop, she would have to resort to other means: in other words, expelling Finnel from the body to extend her own life span. She then drew her scythe, which made Aoto jump between them so they wouldn't try to kill each other. However, that wasn't unnecessary, as Tatsumi had no intentions of killing Finnel. He then offered Soma a proposal: competing in something Soma chose instead of having to fight to death. Soma chose V-Boarding, and told him they would have their competition during the V-Board Grand Prix. Tatsumi then set the conditions: if he won, Soma would have to stop wreacking havoc in the Great Fang and bring Harvestasha to him. However, if Tatsumi dared to ditch the race, Soma would immediately expel Finnel from their body. She then ran off.
Tatsumi then called out Aoto on the fact that he never told anyone about Soma sharing the same body as Finnel. Aoto only apologized, to which Tatsumi could only remark he was far too gullible, and that Soma could have attacked them while they slept. Tatsumi then told him they were sharing their fates, so they shouldn't be keeping secrets from each other. Hikari Gojo then advised them to go back to the Great Fang Militia's camp to allow Saki to rest for a while.
Captured[]
After the problem with Soma was settled, the party returned to this place with the intention of sneaking into Clustania. Once here, Cocona suggested to transform Saki into Filament to have less problems with the Clustanians and because the Archians were climbing the Tower. Everyone agreed with the suggestion, so Hikari Gojo went and used the same Hymmnos Spell he chanted back in his clinic at Eternus Shaft to make Filament come out. However, Sakia Lumei came out instead, and thanked Hikari Gojo for having summoned her. Aoto was somewhat disappoited to see this, but thought it would be good enough and told everyone to go on. However, Sakia rejected the idea and ordered Aoto to take Saki back to the Archia Think Tank immediately, as she had a duty to uphold and would prefer to avoid risks as much as possible. Aoto retorted by telling her that if they didn't go to the Rinkernator soon, Saki would die, to which Sakia replied that her mission was more important than her life. Aoto enraged told her that nothing was more important that one's life, to which Sakia replied she had been protecting Saki just so she would accomplish her duty, and that she still continued protecting her just for that purpose. Aoto told her that he would continue protecting Saki until the end of his life, and would never give her to the Archia Think Tank. Then, he asked Gojo to bring Saki back. However, Sakia told them it wouldn't be necessary, as she couldn't stay in the real world for long because she had more important matters to attend in the Soulspace. She also told them this was her final warning, and that if they still wanted to continue advacing, she would have to stop him by force. Sakia then transformed back into Saki.
Confused, Saki asked if they had already arrived, to which Cocona replied that they hadn't even set out. Finnel explained to her that other persona aside of Filament had appeared, while Gojo explained that even if he tried summoning Filament again, the result would be the same. This also made him rethink about Sakia's role, as she seemed to be more beyond a simple guardian. Cocona thought she could be an spy or something from the Think Tank, so they would have to be careful with her. This also brought them back to the current issue: how they would make Saki unrecognizable to the enemy if she couldn't change into other persona? Aoto decided to press on regardless, as it still would be dangerous regardless of what they did. He then came up with other idea: making a costume similar to Soma's to hide Saki's appearance. They then settled in just making a mask, which Saki insisted on it being a cat mask. They then set to make it, to Finnel's and Cocona's dismay.
Shortly later, they had finished with the helmet, and decided to call Saki "Nyamo" for as long as she wore it. Finnel and Cocona were appalled by this, while Hikari Gojo only laughed at how funny this was. On a more serious note, he advised taking it off during battle, as it would be dangerous for Saki. Cocona just remarked they had the worst ideas in the world, while Finnel told them to not run crazily, as that would make them much more easier to spot and catch. Cocona and Gojo were left behind, which Cocona used as her chance to call him out on encouraging them on this foolish plan. Gojo replied that Aoto knew what he was doing, and that this wasn't just to fool the Clustanians: it was just because he was determined to have Saki at his side and protect her at all costs. Aside of that, both Saki and Finnel were running of time, so they had to hurry up; and if this journey was going to be so hard, they should allow them to do whatever allowed them to feel better. Cocona took this as that they would have to work much harder to make up for their foolishness, to which Gojo replied that they should chase after them. After climbing through the place, they finally reached the door leading to the Slave District, which was tightly locked. Finnel tried opening it with an Hymmnos Spell, but unfortunately, she couldn't: apparently her access ID was revoked. Cocona asked if there weren't any other elevators, but Hikari Gojo reminded her that most likely these would be locked too, if they existed. At that moment, Richaryosha appeared behind them, accompanied by a few Archian soldiers, and told them that only the top brass of Clustania could open it. Richa greeted them, and took notice of Nyamo's presence. Aoto awkwardly introduced her, while Gojo greeted her, and took the opportunity to ask what they were doing in this place. Richa answered it was because they discovered that Clustania was using the Antibodies as bio-weapons, and they were going to Clustania to expose and capture their mastermind. Gojo thought that just Richa's platoon wouldn't be enough for such a mission, to which Richa replied that most of the Clustanian Army was currently gathering at the Great Fang and had left the Tower mostly unprotected: they had managed to hack into their database and steal their plans. Apparently, they were going to perform a major Cleansing operation. Everyone in the party got worried for the safety of the people in the Great Fang, but Richa reassured them that they had already sent most of the Archian army to the Great Fang to prevent any major disasters. Everyone congratulated Richa for having devised such an strategy, and the party then tried to leave. However, when Richa told them goodbye, she mentioned both Aoto and Saki, and Saki made the mistake of replying back, which despite being obvious already, revealed her identity to the Archians. Richa then ordered the party to give back Saki, to which Aoto refused while declaring they would go together to the Rinkernator. Richa told him that she could recover with the proper treatment, to which Hikari Gojo retorted by telling her to say the truth, as the Archia Think Tank didn't have intentions to save Saki.
However, before she could say anything, Akane appeared accompanied by a platoon of Clustanian soldiers. This caught Richa by surprise, as she was supposed to be at the Great Fang. Akane told her that falling for such a trap was quite a disgrace for her predecessor, which made the party stare at her in surprise: Richa used to have Akane's position in the Clustanian army, and supposedly, the record of her death was actually forged. Regardless of this, Akane told Richa that she committed a huge oversight, and that she had become a dog of the humans after being around them for so long. Richa took this as an insult, and asked Akane if this was the proper way of talking to her predecessor, to which Akane replied she would show her proper respect when she interrogated her later on. She then ordered to capture everyone for trespassing into the Tower. Richa then told Akane to not understimate the Archian forces, as they had enough power to annihilate a whole Reyvateil platoon or two. Akane told her to prove this, and called her pet Kukuro, revealing it was actually an Antibody. Finnel asked Akane to stop, to which Akane replied that she should freeze, and that if she continued resisting, she would personally kill her. If Finnel still wanted to talk, that would have to wait until they were in Clustania, but for now, she would accompany her to their headquarters. Then, she took the party as prisoners and sent them to the Slave District, while taking Finnel with her to Clustania through the Granvert Gauge.
Ar Ru? (Finnel's Route)[]
Shortly after entering the Vessel following the mysterious girl that had possessed Finnel, they saw her, who seemed to be entranced listening to the Song echoing throughout the place. Aoto asked her if she knew the song, to which she replied that this Song had killed her before. Aoto was just dumbfounded, but the girl then added that she would never forget it: how it had drained all of her energy by using Moocheriel. She then declared she would go to Moocheriel to regain everything that was stolen from her. Aoto stopped her and asked if that was why she had attacked the humans. The girl simply replied she had never done such a thing, to which Cocona retorted that she was the one who was spreading the Antibodies in the world, but the girl merely replied she didn't know about what Cocona was talking, leaving Aoto dumbfounded again. At that moment, Kukuro entered the place and began squeaking to the girl. Cocona and Aoto couldn't understand him, but as the girl was a Will of the Planet, she easily understood what Kukuro said: that if she was actually was a personification of Ar Ciel's Will, she should let Finnel come out. The girl questioned why if Finnel's body belonged to her now, to which Kukuro replied it was because Akane had been captured by the Archia Think Tank. He then pleaded Finnel to come out if she could hear him, and that Akane was waiting for her. Finnel finally awakened again, and asked Kukuro if that was true. The girl couldn't hide her surprise to this, while Finnel told her she needed to do this. The girl told her she couldn't come out without her permission, so Finnel told her to allow this to as her final request. Upon hearing these words, the girl then agreed, and told her that she would give Finnel her body temporarily and help save Akane. However, once that mission was complete, Finnel's body would belong to her. Finnel accepted these conditions, and thus the girl let her come out again, while warning her to not forget this agreement.
Aoto reacted in surprise to Finnel's reappearance, and asked if she was all right. Finnel told him she was, to which Aoto replied that he was very worried for her, and that he was glad she had returned. Cocona asked why everything had gone back to normal so easily, and if it was because of Kukuro's influence. Finnel then remembered the conversation, and told them she had to save Akane. Aoto didn't understand why she was saying this, but Finnel then explained that Kukuro had come in search of help, as Akane could be killed by the Archia Think Tank at any moment. She then remarked it was her fault because she was the true host to the Antibody Brain. Aoto then asked how they would be slipping into the Think Tank with all the security they had, and what would happen if Finnel got captured. Finnel replied she couldn't leave Akane like that, and that she had to go no matter what. They then ran off to Archia City.
Layout[]
The Lymph Vessel is quite a large and confusing maze, which requires careful exploration in order to not get lost in its many ducts and elevators. Aside of this, this area features an abundance in treasure chests, although not all of them can grabbed in the first visit: if the player enters room 5 or room 11, they will trigger the plot events related to Tyria and Soma, which will force them out from the area. This forces the player to visit it once more, not only to continue advancing to Clustania, but also to find the chests they missed.
Maps[]
Treasures[]
- Battle Tape
- Mandragora
- ?Revival Flute?
- ?Blind Mask?
- Spark Stick
- ?Spray?
- Rainbow Coat
- Platinum Material
- ?Popular Hat?
- Ice Pop Can
- ?Make Believe Set?
- Soul Charger
- ?Injector?
Number of Treasure Chests in this Area: 13
Enemies[]
- Type 1: Failure (until Phase 3)
- Type 3: Void (from Phase 4 onwards)
- K-01 (until Phase 3)
- Skull (until Phase 3)
- Furia Model I (from Phase 4 onwards)
- Furia Model I-B (from Phase 4 onwards)
Number of Random Encounters in this Area: 10
Encounter Probability: Low
Talk Topics[]
- Security Issues (requires having Filament as an equipable body before being able to watch it).