Still exploring Crossbell. Hey, there's Fran and Noel's mom. I run into the Hayworths, but Renne isn't with them, so now I'm not sure where she is. Xeno and Leo are talking with Ashleigh at Neinvalli, getting what they need for their raid. Sully is hanging out with Jona, and they let us know that the elevator to the Thaumaturgical Sector is wide open and isn't being guarded for some reason. Sounds like we need to check it out.
Irina and Gwyn are at the RF branch in Crossbell. They've stopped production of the Zauber Soldats, but the Imperial Government is putting more on them than they can realistically produce overall, so they're in a bit of a pickle. I finally find Renne on the East Crossbell Highway talking to Harold, and they actually make plans for their families to meet up once all this is over, which was nice. With that, we can finally move on to Hamel. Once we trigger the sidequest, everything goes red, literally. The Liberl crew says it reminds them of Phantasma.
Oh nice, Joshua takes the party lead here, just like old times. We encounter a bunch of ghosts who turn out to be the manifestations of the memories of Hamel, like in Phantasma. This raises the question of who the mastermind is behind all this. We encounter Joshua's and Ash's parents, and how they each handle seeing them was really good. We find one of the Seventy-Seven Devils waiting in the village, and Rean suspects the anomalies in the spirit veins (as well as the appearances of the Empyreal Fortress and the Salt Pales) are allowing creatures from other planes to pass into this one. Loewe's sword is glowing with a strange light now, apparently having been revitalized by the Great Twilight. After the battle, we get a brief message from Loewe's spirit in the sword and then everything returns to normal.
Let's get back to exploring Erebonia, Crossbell specifically. We find Ines, Ennea, and Bleublanc in the Wetlands, and they've set up a memorial to Arianrhod. It provides a nice photo op (with their permission, of course).
