AEHU/Plot/Plot Sketch/Prototype Plot Sketch

Ye Olde Plot Sketch; Outdated as of March 25, 2009[edit]

12,000BG[edit]

This will be left as an extremely brief sketch for now with suggested plot points.

Schala's relationship with the Frozen Flame, given that she becomes its Arbiter following King Zeal's death.

Janus' feelings of inadequacy for being unable to help Schala overcome any of the trials she experiences during these chapters, resulting in Magus' later determination to enter the DBT and save her from a horrid fate.

Norstein Bekkler's obsession with Schala, which prompts him to trade in his old decrepit body for that of a virile youth by some means, adopting the identity of Assistant Beck.

A brewing Earthbound rebellion and Schala's dream that Earthbound and Enlightened might live peacefully together within her lifetime.

As a demonstration of his love for Schala, Assistant Beck succeeds in saving the lives of several high-profile Earthbound prisoners. However, the only plausible pretext under which this can happen is the use of said prisoners in Frozen Flame experiments meant to determine whether magical ability can be induced in Earthbound; this is partly fueled by his own scientific curiosity, but perhaps also by a weird desire to see Schala's dream realized through unconventional means -- if Earthbound and Englightened are demonstrably identical genetically, the social darwinist aspect of Zealian political thought should theoretically go out the window. In any case, the experiments cause the test subjects extreme suffering and only four survive -- Grishe, Derben, Wynda, and Valna. The latter of these had a different, more Earthboundy name to begin with but became "Valna" upon adopting Zealian ways after she learned magic. Together, the four constitute the first Magic Guild.

Discovery of Lavos and how this furthers Queen Zeal's search for means of achieving immortality. It should be noted that Norstein Bekkler seems to be immortal, so he may factor heavily into this plot point as well.

Schala and Melchior befriend Grishe's children: Masa, Mune and Doreen. The children later die, perhaps ironically as a direct result of Earthbound action. They later reappear as the embodiment of Melchior's dreams as he creates the blade later termed "Masamune."

Assistant Beck's work with creation fibers leads to the creation and first use of Pengalaan on Earthbound rioters, which understandably proves counterproductive to his aim of wooing Schala. Schala neutralizes the creature with the Magic Guild's help and seals it.

Schala's relationship with Queen Zeal and explaining why Schala could never go against her mother's wishes despite all the other gutsy moves she makes during her chapters.

Prophet's Guile, Chrono Trigger, and possibly even Crimson Echoes events from Schala's point of view.

Schala's final succumbing to Lavos and the birth of the Dream Devourer.

606AG[edit]

"Confessions"

Wittel's rambunctiousness leads him into a frightening encouter with the supernatural in the bowels of the Northern Ruins. Artemis helps him out, since she's recently been contracted by Sensei to rid the ruins of malicious spiritual phenomena.

After learning of a pirate attack on Choras, Wittel abandons his monastic life in Sensei's monastery to pursue the path of the "hero."

"Choran Hero"

Wittel apparently achieves his goal by defeating the Pirate Captain who led the attack on Choras. However, during the celebretory Frog Festival at which he meets Brione, daughter of the Lord Magistrate, Wittel becomes confused and questions the morality of what it takes to receive the label he'd always dreamed of.

"Credo"

Wittel goes to Medina to learn more about the Pirate Captain's reasoning for pillaging Choras. He meets Raqh and wanders with him for awhile, Raqh taking him to Guardia in exchange for the chance to corrupt Wittel and thus acquire another cult member.

During their travels Raqh proselytizes in Porre and Guardia. Their Porrean travels take them through the plague-stricken capital city and also to Viper Manor, where Raqh absorbs Gladus in an effort to extract information from her -- she's an especially old and knowledgeable spirit. Artemis is there by way of another assignment and warns him not to absorb Gladus, but to no avail. Wittel and Raqh meet Fiona and medieval Robo for the first time at her oasis villa. Artemis tracks Raqh and confronts him in Truce, but her shadow hunting skills prove incapable of defeating his Gladus-fueled powers. She teams up with Dalton to find Levantine, an esoteric weapon supposedly capable of "disabling" spirits.

"Those Who Devour"

Wittel and Raqh part ways when Fiona is kidnapped in Medina on a goodwill mission; Raqh refuses to help someone who has little chance of seeing things his way. Wittel joins Slash in rescuing Fiona. It just so happens, however, that Fiona suddenly possesses magic ability and defends herself against Ozzie and other captors. This is Fiona's sign that she's a Magic Guild member. Fiona leaves Medina due to the unstable political climate there.

Wittel attempts to alleviate Medina's situation by garnering food aid from Choras but his effort backfires; both he and Slash are taken into custody and shipped to Guardia for trial and imprisonment.

"Bearing the Frog"

Queen Leene gives Wittel and Slash freedom in exchange for tasking them to find the Magus and take Frog to him. Frog suffers from the amphibian strain of a plague spreading like wildfire throughout the known world and it is believed he will recover if he attains human form again. Finding Raqh is an intermediate goal to locating the Magus because Raqh can find out about faraway events via spirit channelling. Leene joins as advisor and Frog's on-the-road caretaker.

[Behind the scenes, King Guardia XXI hires Edmund to retrieve the queen once it is discovered that she's missing.]

With Flea's assistance, Wittel and Slash convince Toma to show them the way into Giant's Claw. They find Raqh inside, then Magus, who had been searching for Raqh himself on Belthasar's advice. Magus and Raqh would appear to be adversaries at first, but they team up once they realize it's in their best interest. Raqh found an Angelus Errare in Giant's Claw and his spirit channelling abilities give him the power to find out how to manipulate the dimensional distortion. Magus, meanwhile, has acquired the ability to create Time Gates. It is theorized that by opening a Time Gate with some catalyst in the presence of the Angelus Errare, the Angelus Errare will transform into a gate to the Darkness Beyond Time. Magus and Raqh leave via a spatial distortion, obscuring their movement from the party.

The party takes Frog to the inn in Choras to recuperate from the journey's toll on him thus far.

"Complications"

While Slash and Flea search for signs of the Magus in Choras, Leene cares for Frog at the inn and Wittel checks in on Sensei and Brione.
- Sensei is apparently starting to go crazy, babbling about a sudden compulsion to journey westward.
- On his way to the Lord Magistrate's manor, Wittel passes through the Frog Festival grounds, which have grown silent with dead frogs everywhere -- a sign of the plague. Wittel finds Brione distraught after malnourished Imp children previously left in her care have perished. He gives her advice on how to avoid catching the plague should it jump from its animal vector to humans.

Wittel returns to the inn and Leene offers to buy him dinner. They discuss some thematic things and very sutble hints are dropped that Leene is in fact his mother. Wittel witnesses Dalton and Artemis hire Toma to help locate Levantine and also takes note of Edmund lurking in the corner of the inn's bar.

Wittel is distracted by an NPC who walks into the inn exhibiting signs of the plague, and he advises that the ill person be confined in a remote location outdoors per advice given to him by Raqh, back in Porre.

Wittel returns to the inn to find Edmund, Leene, and Frog gone. He gathers Slash and Flea and they find Edmund hitching a ride aboard a Guardian ship setting sail laden with a final shipment of untainted Choran foodstuffs. They likewise hitch a ride and find that Sensei has likewise snuck on board, still babbling about the need to travel toward the Zenan mainlands.

Ozzie launches an attack on the Guardian shipping vessel, accompanied by one of Slash's subordinates who has betrayed Slash. When they're fought off the vessel, Ozzie's gang burns it and Sensei puts out the fire with Ice magic, the sign that he's a member of the Magic Guild.

There's a great argument amongst the party about what to do next; Slash wants to follow the subordinate who betrayed him back to Medina and find out what's happened to his group, but Flea supposes that his group is already dead or joined Ozzie, and convinces him that they need to find the Magus if Medina has any hope of overcoming the political stalemate causing Mystic civilization to wither. Wittel notes that Raqh promised to return to Porre on a specific date, and the Magus will probably be accompanying Raqh. Sensei notes that they still have some time to kill and prevails on the party to continue toward Guardia. At Frog's suggestion, Leene teaches Wittel how to use magic.

The party arrives in Guardia, where Sensei leads them to Banta the Blacksmith. It is revealed that Sensei's insistence on a westward journey was fueled by premonitions that Banta is undergoing some ordeal, which the party helps him with and which results in the revelation that Banta is the Magic Guild member of Fire.

The party meets Artemis, Dalton, and Toma, who are investigating leads into Levantine's whereabouts, beginning in Guardia (Guardian soldiers would have raided Levant's laboratory and may have stolen the weapon or whatever state it was in at that time). They find that a former Guardian soldier found an item of interest during the seige of the Magus' citadel in 600AG, and the name of that Guardian soldier was Marco. Sensei, sensing nebulous danger again, prevails upon the party to intercept them at Fiona's villa.

Dalton, Artemis, and Toma arrive at Fiona's villa and their search for Levantine turns violent when Marco doesn't pony up with whatever is supposedly in his possession. After a showdown, Wittel & co. learn more about Levantine and Dalton's party heads to Porre after Marco gives them some important clue. The Magic Guild convene and find their purpose (possibly something to do with keeping Gladus at bay, requiring Levantine). Robo joins, either to accompany Fiona or on his future counterpart's suggestion to observe the goings on more closely.

[Behind the scenes, Raqh uses his spirit channelling capability to discover that Levantine will provide the catalyst they need to open the DBT gate. He and Magus are thus drawn into the quest for Levantine.]

Porre events. Raqh meets up with his peeps and updates them on his plans. It is now time to prepare for the opening of the way to the Dream Devourer, so Raqh sends them to Giant's Claw and occupies them with the task of building a monument devoted to the Dream Devourer. Wittel & co. find that the person who holds the item sold it to a Medinian slave trader. Everyone heads to Medina.

Everyone converges on Ozzie and it turns out Levantine does not actually exist -- he only holds the schematics for the blade in his personal collection dating back to the Magus' rule over Medina. Wittel snatches the documents from Ozzie, hoping this will stop Raqh and moreover serve as a bargaining chip forcing Magus to reverse Frog's curse.

Magus obliterates Wittel & co. in a battle over the Levantine schematics.

Toma joins for some reason and the Magic Guild teaches him non-elemental magic.

Slash's lieutenant abandons Ozzie and joins Raqh's cult, becoming one of Raqh's top lieutenants.

"Memento Mori"

Dalton and Artemis continue following Raqh and Magus, and they are shadowed by Wittel & co. Everyone learns Raqh's intention to forge Levantine with knowledge acquired from spirit channeling. Since Raqh is accompanied by the uber-powerful Magus, he is unapproachable. However, Dalton begins devising a plan for snatching the Levantine. His plan will require manipulating different factions, so he teams up with Ozzie while Artemis joins Wittel & co. on some pretense.

Raqh and Magus recount everything they'll need to forge Levantine: knowledge, materials, and facilities. Gladus informs Raqh that he can gain the knowledge he needs by absorbing the soul of several of Melchior's students, who now inhabit different bodies in the medieval era (Melchior's soul is unavailable because he's still alive in the 1000AG era). Raqh kills Wittel's monk friend in Choras but also convinces Brione out of a suicide attempt and recruits her into his cult. Artemis, who also tried to intervene along with Wittel due to some aspect of her character, witnesses this and the episode has repurcussions for her relationship with Raqh later on. Then Raqh proceeds to hunt down and kill another important character who houses a necessary spirit.

Raqh wonders what he has become; the gift of Gladus' knowledge is both a blessing and a curse, compromising the moral standards he has set for himself and his cult -- by killing these people and releasing their spirits into the Shadow Realm, he has denied them the salvation he wants to give as many people as possible, because it is assumed that the DBT gate will last only a short while once created and freeroaming spirits have a natural aversion to the Dream Devourer.

Next, Raqh discovers that a Lavoid Core (a Lavos Spawn's immature Frozen Flame) will suffice as raw material for the blade, giving it the properties necessary to catalyze a reaction between co-spatial temporal and dimensional distortions. Magus decides to send Raqh back to 12,000BG so that he can acquire Lavoid Core from a Lavos Spawn already captured in the Schala chapters by this point, and Raqh surmises he can use Melchior's facilities to forge the blade right then and there.

Magus creates a temporal Gate for Raqh, and is rendered immobile by the need to keep the Gate functioning until such time as Raqh is ready to leave Zeal. Wittel's team confronts Magus again and tries to convince him to heal Frog for a second time, but to no avail. Frog falters, so Wittel & co. take him somewhere to rest. Frog's death seems imminent.

Dalton and Ozzie find wittel & co. at whatever rest house they chose and tells them of his plan to capture Levantine. This is important for them, too, because Magus is also desperate to acquire the blade -- if they cooperate to nab it, Wittel can use it as a bargaining chip per the original plan.

Flea visits Magus, who in turn still keeps vigil over the time Gate he created for Raqh. Flea reminisces with Magus about his teenage years spent under Flea's magic tutelage and tries to tempt him to abandon his quest and return to leadership of Medina. Rebuffed and angry as Raqh reappears, Flea informs Magus that he's surrounded; Wittel & co. emerge, accompanied by Dalton and a small army brought by Ozzie (Ozzie wants to take out Magus and show his body off in Medina to prove that Magus is dead, leaving Ozzie politically enhanced).

Raqh, totally confused, is ushered away by Dalton while everyone else takes on Magus, distracting him just long enough [for Dalton to explain Magus' true intentions to Raqh -- Magus is likely to kill Raqh and seize the Levantine for his own purposes; now that the blade is forged and Magus knows the location of the Angelus Errare, Raqh is technically useless to him. Raqh's cult lieutenants arrive to check on the proceedings and Dalton and Raqh agree to a deal: Dalton will run like hell with Levantine while Raqh locates the Masamune and kills Magus with it, and then Dalton will give the blade back to him at Giant's Claw. Brione and Slash's former lieutenant are tasked with accompanying Dalton to ensure that he keeps up his end of the bargain.]

Magus, in a crazy frenzy, obliterates Ozzie's troops and proves his superiority over Wittel's party again. It seems as if Magus may kill Wittel's party, but he spares them, perhaps feeling soft after his conversation with Flea.

Wittel's party recovers and follows Magus back to the now-discontinued Time Gate's location. To everyone's surprise, both Dalton and Raqh are gone. Artemis surmises that Dalton has just double-crossed everyone and she and Magus head off to track Dalton down.

Wittel & co. check in on Frog and find Raqh seizing Frog and Leene (Edmund may also be in on this). Wittel & co. trail them to Choras, where Raqh uses Frog and Leene to summon Cyrus' spirit. Raqh absorbs Cyrus' spirit and heads to Guardia, where the Masamune is stored.

Raqh seizes the Masamune and Guardia XXI suffers an heroic death defending it. Raqh's ploy to use Cyrus' spirit works and the Masamune mistakenly allows Raqh to wield it. Raqh seeks out Magus and seems to kill him, utterly dashing Wittel & co.'s hope of saving Frog. Lacking a partner, Artemis rejoins the party with plans to find Dalton and Levantine.

All hell breaks loose in Guardia due to the king's death, with Raqh's cult being sought out for extermination. Meanwhile the dying Frog gives Wittel his Hero's medal, which Wittel doesn't feel he deserves, and there's thematic conversation. Frog also reveals that Leene is Wittel's mother and that he, under the name "Glenn," was the one who brought Wittel to Sensei's monastery in 590AG.

Artemis believes she knows where Dalton may have gone based on some clue she learned while traveling with Dalton previously. She sets off to find him and Levantine, which is now the only hope of defeating Raqh and Gladus.

Norstein Bekkler's medieval incarnation visits Wittel and informs him that Magus has just barely survived, also offering to show Wittel the way to him, and Wittel seizes this one last chance to save Frog. Alone for some reason, Wittel braves the raging battle in Truce with Frog on his back, following Bekkler all the way to Magus, who lies on the beach of a small island just off the coast of North Zenan.

Wittel confronts Magus with Frog and they end up discussing dreams. Something Wittel says reminds him of what Beck(kler) told young Janus at the end of his life (a matter which would have been addressed in the Schala chapters). Magus finally agrees to heal Frog, just as Frog seems to be drawing his last breath.

There's an environmental disturbance outside whatever grotto Wittel, Glenn, and Magus are in, and when they investigate they find Dream Schala laying outside. Magus literally thinks Schala's been freed from the Dream Devourer somehow.

Robo leads the rest of Wittel's party to Wittel's and Glenn's location per instruction from 2400AG Robo and Belthasar. Everyone rejoices and learns more about Dream Schala. Robo senses something may be wrong, since all available records and theories indicate that Schala has never been freed from the Dream Devourer.

Raqh and his cult are causing an immediate crisis in Guardia that needs to be resolved, and Dream Schala somehow saves Leene together with Magus. She calls Raqh out on his hypocritical moral code (a matter that Raqh takes very seriously, because his wish to save as many people as possible is pure) and takes him on as a guest with Wittel's party, against Magus' wishes. She uses all of Magus' old Chrono Trigger skills, which shouldn't go unnoticed by the player (especially if Schala has Light/ning skills in her chapters). This endears everyone to Dream Schala except Robo, who still thinks something weird is up. However, Raqh unleashes Masamune's full capability and causes insane destruction. He seems to deliver a killing blow to Dream Schala, but she's miraculously unphased (further evidence that she's not all as she seems). Magus throws himself into the battle to intervene, and in his weak state barely manages to get everyone out through a spatial distortion. Raqh tells his followers that the time of deliverance is nigh, and the survivors of his Guardian sect begin the pilgrimage to Giant's Claw.

At Fiona's villa, Wittel's party and Magus/Dream Schala come to the conclusion that Raqh must be stopped somehow, Dream Schala leading the discussion out of pure concern for innocent life. They know that Levantine is the key due to its ability to disable spirits (such as those residing in the Masamune). Wittel remembers that Artemis went after Dalton to acquire it.

"Sleep, the Beloved Children"

Wittel & co. (now with Dream Schala as guest and a recovering Magus in tow) seek out Artemis and find her at Giant's Claw, now confronting Dalton to retake the Levantine. She joins the party to battle the cult lieutenants assigned to Dalton, and Dalton surprisingly thanks them and hands over the blade. Raqh arrives with his Guardian cult members just as this occurs, so he knows Dalton double-crossed him. Raqh flees since he's aware of Levantine's properties.

Wittel & co. track Raqh down and confront him. Human Glenn wields the Levantine, disabling the Masamune in a battle that's highly emotional for him. After defeating a super-duper version of Masamune that pops out of the blade in a last-ditch effort to protect their master (presumed by Masa and Mune to be Cyrus), Glenn uses the Levantine to leave them in such a weakened condition as to be rendered "asleep" for the foreseeable future. Artemis wants to kill Raqh and thus release and terminate Gladus, but Brione swoops in to defend Raqh and Wittel stops her. Dream Schala observes that Raqh has been rendered impotent and the party heads back to their ship, everyone except Artemis and Robo thinking everything's sort of fine and dandy now. However, just as they leave Dalton mysteriously walks up to Raqh.

"Black Dreams"

Wittel & co. and Dream Schala return to their ship. They speak with Magus in recovery, who reveals that while they were fighting Raqh, Dalton visited him and reminded him that, with Levantine recovered, Magus would have all the keys to opening a DBT gate. However, now confronted with the Levantine, Magus repeats what he told Dalton: that he has no need of the blade now, because his dream has been fulfilled -- Schala is at his side, and he will serve as her Seneschal until the end of their days.

Dream Schala, acting on her weird sort of one-dimensional, character-less programming, wants to solve all the world's problems. Together with Magus and Dream Schala, the party takes care of various dilemmas in Truce, San Dorino, Choras, Porre and finally Medina. Each main character's situation is further developed.

In Medina, Wittel & crew encounter Raqh and sense growing frustration within his congregation at Raqh's failure to produce the salvation they've been waiting for. Magus confronts Raqh and his Medina sect and delivers an ideological assassination by explaining that the Power Raqh once sought has been dissolved, Dream Schala being proof. Raqh insists that he can still feel the Power but his Medina following collapses. Dream Schala observes that the time seems ripe for Magus to reveal himself in Medina and officially proclaim Slash his successor. Slash insists on finding Ozzie so that he can be present to swear fealty in public, and Artemis convinces Glenn (he's the keeper of Levantine) to help her assassinate Raqh. However, neither Ozzie nor Raqh can be found. Raqh's Medina lieutenant (the one who betrayed Slash earlier and now apparently having abandoned Raqh's cult) informs Wittel & crew that Raqh is hatching a scheme and they need to finish him off before it's too late.

Slash's former lieutenant leads the party into the the Black Omen's sunken ruins. Inside they find not Raqh, but rather Ozzie completing a necromancy ritual with the clones of the Heroes of Time left in the Ocean Palace, all under Dalton's direction. Raqh enters and summons some vehement spirits to inhabit the Heroes of Time, tasking them with an attack on Magus and Dream Schala, who were left behind on the ship. Dalton and Ozzie keep the team busy while the Heroes of Time complete their task, Dalton using his knowledge of the Ocean Palace infrastructure to slow the team down with bizarre puzzles.

Wittel & co. finally make it out of the Ocean Palace and witness Magus trying to take on all six of the Heroes of Time and losing. Raqh seizes Dream Schala and threatens to kill her, goading Magus into opening a time gate leading to 2400AG. Raqh takes Dream Schala with him and the Heroes of Time scatter.

There's a discussion between Robo and Magus in which Robo determines that Magus is attached to Dream Schala irrationally, unable to see that she's just a dream creature because her appearance has allowed him to live out his childhood dream of being Schala's Seneschal. Still bewitched by Dream Schala, Magus remains in place to keep the time gate open, keeping up his end of the bargain he made with Raqh. Dalton arrives to suggest that Wittel & crew check up on the Magic Guild members.

Even though they know that everything Dalton does is a ploy now, they do so and discover the Heroes of Time (now in dark garb, so they're really the Antiheroes of Time) converging on the Magic Guild in cooperation with Raqh's cult lieutenants. There's a showdown with the Antiheroes of Time, and when Wittel's party is about to bite the dust, Dalton thanks them for the opportunity to learn more about the strengths and weaknesses of the Heroes of Time. He attempts to get Glenn to hand over Levantine by threatening to kill Leene, but Robo overrides the spirit inhabiting Antihero Robo, sending him instructions to turn on Dalton. In the ensuing chaos, Dalton is somehow forced to reveal that the Magic Guild members have to survive for now, to prevent the Antiheroes of Time from killing them accidently while they trash Antihero Robo. Wittel & co. escape with Leene and Levantine, but without the Magic Guild, though they know where Raqh's cult are taking the Magic Guild, though they don't know why yet. Ozzie expresses discontent at the fact that they failed to acquire Levantine (this is supposed to be Ozzie's payment for his services), and Dalton assures him that there will be future opportunities.

"Race Against Time"

Raqh returns with Dream Schala and a Time Egg from Chronopolis. Now he has two of the three keys needed to open a DBT gate: the ability to open a time gate and knowledge of where an Angelus Errare is. Still keeping Dream Schala with him as insurance, Raqh goes to check in on how Dalton's attempt to acquire Levantine went. Magus follows to ensure Dream Schala's safety.

Wittel & co. track Raqh and witness his meeting with Dalton and Ozzie, whereupon he discovers that they failed to acquire Levantine. Raqh says that they'll still go forward with the plan, and Wittel & co. follow them to Choras where Raqh seeks out Norstein Bekkler. Wittel & co. learn that Raqh plans to resurrect Pengalaan to provide the serious roadblock he needs to set up in front of Giant's Claw to buy his remaining cult members the time to walk into the DBT. Raqh learned during his time in Zeal that the Magic Guild members house the spirits of those who sealed Pengalaan during the Schala chapters, and he must kill the Magic Guild members, release their spirits, and absorb their spirits to acquire their knowledge of how to work the seals on the Pengalaan chambers in each elemental ruin. Bekkler would provide the knowledge necessary to opening the seal on Pengalaan's main body stored in the Light elemental ruins, but Raqh finds out that Dream Creature Bekkler contains only Bekkler's desires to help others achieve their dreams, and none of Bekkler's memories. Raqh & co. are exasperated, but Raqh receives some info from Gladus that he doesn't reveal just yet and decides to collect Pengalaan's other pieces for now. Raqh, who realizes that Wittel & crew are actually watching, leaks the information that Dream Schala holds the key to unlocking the Shadow seal on one of Pengalaan's pieces. Raqh says that any Magic Guild member can certainly cooperate of their own accord and avoid death, so he doesn't have to kill Dream Schala as long as she cooperates. Dream Schala says she knows nothing about the Shadow seal, but Raqh assures her that she'll just have to remember, and Magus provides him a gate to one of the elemental ruins, but Wittel & co. don't know which ruin.

Realizing that the Magic Guild members are in great danger, Wittel & co. split up into teams like so:
- Flea and a partner (either Toma or Robo) head to the Flaming ruins to rescue Banta. Antihero Lucca is a major adversary.
- Slash and Wittel head to the Ice ruins to rescue Sensei. Antihero Marle is a major adversary.
- Glenn and a partner (either Toma or Robo) head to the Water ruins to rescue Fiona. Antihero Frog is an adversary.
- Artemis steals Levantine before everyone else leaves and waits in the Shadow ruins for Raqh to appear; her purpose is to destroy Dream Schala when he appears there and deny Raqh the Shadow piece of Pengalaan. Antihero Ayla is an adversary (lacking Antihero Magus since the Black Omen had no Magus clone, Raqh's cult sent Antihero Ayla to the Shadow ruins).

Each dungeon has a good result and a bad result; we follow the exploits of the characters in the order in which Raqh will appear in the dungeons and try to force the corresponding Magic Guild member to open the seal on that dungeon's Pengalaan piece. If the infiltrating party members can reach the Pengalaan chamber in time (probably being blocked by the elementally appropriate Antihero of Time), they save the Magic Guild member and dispose of the ruin's Pengalaan piece. If not, the Magic Guild member perishes and Raqh acquires the dungeon's Pengalaan piece.

After the Flaming, Ice, and Aquatic ruins are cleared in the order in which Raqh visits them, and Artemis defeats Antihero Ayla in the Shadow ruins, the entire party heads for the Shadow ruins, leading to a cliffhanger ROM switch.

Having just experienced the division and sealing of Pengalaan in Schala's chapters, the player now knows that Raqh is fooling Wittel's party -- Demeria sealed the Shadow ruins, and Dream Schala, containing the memories of someone who witnessed Bekkler seal the Light ruins, holds the key to the Light ruins and not the Shadow ruins. However, Artemis and Wittel's party are still laboring under the impression that Dream Schala holds the key to the Shadow ruins and that the Light ruins are inaccessible to Raqh.

Artemis strikes Dream Schala with the Levantine, causing Dream Schala to dissipate into a form in which Raqh can more easily absorb her and acquire her memories (dream creatures, being slightly different in nature than pure spirits, must apparently be disassociated or "put to sleep" before Raqh can do this apparently). Magus flips out and attacks Artemis, killing her (or not) depending on whether the player succeeded in saving Sensei, Banta, and Fiona. If all three were saved, they somehow soften Magus' deathblow. If the Ice, Fire, and Water Magic Guild members were not saved, Raqh absorbs Artemis' spirit and unlocks Pengalaan's Shadow piece. Whatever the outcome, Dalton swoops in and seizes Levantine, Ozzie at his side waiting to receive his payment from Dalton. Raqh leaves for the Light ruins as the party realizes how they've been duped, and since Raqh can't get a spatial gate from an uncooperative Magus, Dalton and Ozzie hold the party off and buy Raqh enough time to physically access the Light ruins. In the middle of the battle Dalton flees without giving Ozzie Levantine as payment; Ozzie realizes that he's been duped and the battle ends.

In the Light ruins, the entire party is held at bay by Antihero Crono long enough for Raqh to unlock Pengalaan's main body. Dalton arrives to give Raqh Levantine, and they somehow transport Pengalaan to the entrance of Giant's Claw, combining it with any other pieces Raqh acquired in the previous dungeons.

Robo reassures a distraught Magus that Dream Schala was not in fact actually Schala, and that he can still save Schala if he re-adopts his original mission of destroying the Dream Devourer.

"The End of All and Nothing"

Wittel & co. confront Pengalaan with help from Ozzie's personal army and Magus. Pengalaan's form and attack repertoire depend on the player's performance in saving the Magic Guild members.

Magus and the party follow Raqh into a ceremoniously furnished temple that has replaced the deep caverns of Giant's Claw. Once Raqh has created a temporal distortion that results in the creation of the DBT Gate, he double-crosses Gladus and seals her with the Levantine. He allows his wife to leave the temple with his infant son, seeing as neither consciously wanted to share Raqh's fate and now his son can live free of Gladus' curse on the Guildstern bloodline (as far as he knows). All the spirits hiding inside Raqh flee his body as he walks into the DBT gate.

Giant's Claw gets sucked into the DBT and becomes transformed into the game's last dungeon. Magus approaches the Dream Devourer while Wittel & party keep Raqh occupied in a penultimate boss battle. Wittel & co. then approach the heart of the DBT, where they witness Magus confronting the Dream Devourer. Magus, now corrupt by the anger he experienced when Artemis slew Dream Schala, awakes an angered Schala. She explains how Magus, now fully corrupted by hatred, represents the very justification for her universe-annihilating desires. She subjects Magus to a fraction of the pain he has inflicted on others. The trauma levels him and Robo notes that it appears to have damaged his neurons.

Glenn intervenes as Schala is about to destroy Magus, reminding her that he is still her brother. Schala attacks them, and thus the (apparent) final boss is the Dream Devourer. There are two ending variations here -- either the party kills Schala outright or they focus their attacks on the Lavos portion of the Dream Devourer, forcing it to shut down momentarily. In the former case Belthasar despairs in 2300AG and calls off the Time Crash. In the latter, Schala briefly regains her senses and fulfills Glenn's request that she spare the seriously injured Magus. She opens a portal to a time and place apparently conducive to his survival, and Glenn says his goodbye to Wittel and co., handing Guardia XXII the sleeping Masamune for safekeeping. Wittel and co. escape the DBT while fending off all the game's bosses teleported in from various dimensional distortions. Wittel, Artemis (if she's alive), Robo, and Toma all return to 606AG but Slash and Flea take their chances in a random dimensional distortion, seeking better prospects in a new time and place. Dalton and Ozzie follow suit.

Provided the party did not kill Schala, an ending plays out in which Glenn carries Magus into Castle Guardia circa 1005AG, leaving him in King Crono's and Queen Nadia's care. Belthasar notes that Project Kid will not play out as expected but gives the go-ahead for the Time Crash anyway. 2300AG Robo offers to be incorporated into FATE to prevent the super AI from doing anything patently immoral.

The Time Crash epilogue becomes available if the player saved all Magic Guild members and Artemis.

AEHU/Plot/Plot Sketch