[Zeromus_X]

---------------
2.3 Mysidia
---------------

Seeing as he pillaged their town and killed many innocent people, it isn’t too surprising that the villagers of Mysidia harbor ill will towards Cecil. Quite a few NPCs, when talked to, will curse Cecil.

The Black Mage near the entrance of the town will turn you into a toad. The Black Mage working at the diner will poison you with a drink. Finally, the dancer inside the Inn will turn you into a pig. So steer clear of those people, okay? The rest of the villagers will just scorn you.

Ignoring these individuals, head up to the northernmost house in Mysidia. (The biggest one.) This is the elder’s house. Enter it and talk to the old man in the middle, which is the elder. (Whom I’m sure you recognize from the beginning of the game?)

The elder asks what Cecil is doing here. Cecil says he can never ask for forgiveness. The elder replies that apologies will not bring the dead back to life. He remarks that Cecil too, has suffered, and is no longer a mindless killer. Cecil tells of Golbez, and how he’s kidnapped his friends, and how he got shipwrecked. The elder says that as long as he is dependant on the dark sword, he cannot defeat true evil (sound familiar?), and that he may even be consumed by darkness himself if he continues. In order to fight with true righteousness, Cecil must take a trial and become a Paladin, a warrior of light. He must climb Mount Ordeals east of Mysidia and take the test at the summit in order to become a holy knight. Of course, no one has ever actually passed the test, but Cecil will do anything to save his friends.

Of course, it’d still be really hard to do this test alone, so the Mysidian Elder sends two apprentice mages to help out Cecil, Palom and Porom. The girl, Porom, a White Mage who is obedient, and the boy, Palom, a Black Mage who is always getting into trouble. Porom is very soft spoken, and Palom is...’outspoken’ to say the least.

After they introduce themselves to Cecil, they become playable characters in your party. With that settled, it’d be a good time to save your game, if you haven’t already. You’ll notice that most of the equipment in Mysidia is pretty expensive, and there is some none in your party can even equip...yet. If you wish, you can go fight battles outside of Mysidia to raise Gil and Experience, but it isn’t necessary. Prime choices of equipment for both Palom and Porom are Magus (Magus Hat), GaiaGear (Gaia Gear), and Silver (Silver Ring). Of course, you probably won’t have enough money for all of that yet, but you will have a lot more Gil after you go through Mount Ordeals. The Zuu that is a frequent encounter outside town can be KO’d with Cecil’s Death Sword, and gives 489 Gil! Another way is to sell all of Cecil’s older Dark Knight equipment. It certainly wouldn’t take too long, either way. This also gives more experience to Palom and Porom so they can gain levels and better spells.

Whether you decide to raise money now, or just go ahead to the mountain now, Mount Ordeals lies east of Mysidia. Follow the long passage of land east until it opens up and you see a very large mountain. That mountain is Mount Ordeals.