空の軌跡 // Trails in the Sky ⚔ Story Club・Week 19

Week 19 11th November 2024
Last Week Week 18
Next week Week 20
Home Thread 空の軌跡

Onto Chapter 2. This week we’re stopping after we’ve bought our 弁当 but before we eat them.

Side Quests

Two quests mentioned earlier can be completed, and there’s one new hidden quest.

  • 盗まれた指輪
  • 黒いノート

For the hidden quest
First: Talk to コメルス who can be found at the Orbment factory
Then: Go to ハーケン門’s prison and talk to who you find there.

Double check you’ve completed all quests in the Bose tab of your notebook before moving on.

  • 灯台の魔獣掃討

Can be found by talking to the old man in front of the lighthouse which is after the point where you cannot return to Bose.

Screenshot

Vocabulary

Vocab Sheet , thank you to everyone who has been helping with this.

We also have an arts sheet if you’re struggling with the in-game version. I added a characters tab, so far all that’s there is name, age, occupation, but feel free to add any notes you think are relevant or you might want to remember.

Please read the guidelines on the first page before adding any words.

Discussion Guidelines

Everybody should feel free to post and ask questions–it’s what makes book clubs fun! But please do not post until you are familiar with Spoiler Courtesy!

Spoiler Courtesy

Please follow these rules to avoid inadvertent ネタバレ. If you’re unsure whether something should have a spoiler tag, err on the side of using one.

  1. Any potential spoiler for the current week’s reading need only be covered by a spoiler tag. Predictions and conjecture made by somebody who has not read ahead still falls into this category.
  2. Any potential spoilers for external sources need to be covered by a spoiler tag and include a label (outside of the spoiler tag) of what might be spoiled. These include but are not limited to: other book club picks, other books, games, movies, anime, etc. I recommend also tagging the severity of the spoiler (for example, I may still look at minor spoilers for something that I don’t intend to read soon).
  3. Any information from later in the book than the current week’s reading (including trigger warnings that haven’t yet manifested) needs to be hidden by spoiler tags and labeled as coming from later sections.
Instructions for Spoiler Tags

Click the cog above the text box and use either the “Hide Details” or “Blur Spoiler” options. The text which says “This text will be hidden” should be replaced with what you are wishing to write. In the case of “Hide Details”, the section in the brackets that is labelled “Summary” can be replaced with whatever you like also (i.e, [details=”Chapter 1, Pg. 1”]).

Hide Details results in the dropdown box like below:

Example

This is an example of the “Hide Details” option.

The “Blur Spoiler” option will simply blur the text it surrounds.

This is an example of the “Blur Spoiler” option.

Posting Advice
  • When asking for help, please mention the page number, and check before posting that your question hasn’t already been asked. As the threads get longer, it becomes more convenient to use the Search function, which is located in the upper right corner of the forum. It is the magnifying glass which is near your profile picture! The best way to search is usually to type part of the sentence you are confused about, and select “in this topic”. This will show you all posts within the current thread which has that string of text.

  • Be sure to join the conversation! It’s fun, and it’s what keeps these book clubs lively! There’s no such thing as a stupid question! We are all learning here, and if the question has crossed your mind, there’s a very good chance it has crossed somebody else’s also! Asking and answering questions is a great learning opportunity for everyone involved, so never hesitate to do so!

If necessary, include an explanation of any discrepancies in the Ebook page numbers from physical page numbers. If there is an easy shortcut for some ebook versions to relate back to physical page numbers, it would be worth it to include it as a third bullet here, or if you want to use chapter page numbers instead of volume page numbers, as is the case with some manga. For example:
Example

For the Kindle version of this manga, the page numbers and the location number are always 3 apart. If you subtract 3 from the location, this will give you the accurate page number!

OR

Please use the chapter page numbers, instead of the volume page numbers. These are located in between the panels!

Discussion Questions

  1. What sentence/passage gave you the most difficulty? Feel free to request some help, or if you figured it out on your own break it down for the rest of us!

  2. What was your favorite new vocab word from this week’s reading?

  3. Was there any passage that you found particularly intriguing? Did it resonate with you (either positively or negatively)? Was it surprising? Offer any insight or new perspective? Was it just beautifully written?

  4. How the eff did he get a mobile phone? Those have not been invented yet!

  5. What do you make of the attack on the army checkpoint?

  6. Who do you think the lighthouse keeper was talking about? (You’ve got three guesses and the first two don’t count)

Participation

Will you be playing along with us this week?

  • I’m playing along
  • I have finished this part
  • I’m still playing the game but I haven’t reached this part yet
  • I’m playing this game after the club has finished
  • I’m no longer playing the game
0 voters

If you’ve already played this game but are still going to join the discussion, please select “I have finished this part.”

Don’t forget to set this thread to Watching in order to stay abreast of discussion!

5 Likes
Spoilers

Guild rank up again! Between the reward for that making enemies have a harder time spotting you, plus the display enemies on the radar ability, I had a pretty casual trip through the 峠. Figured before too long someone else (Agate) is going to join us so I’ll put off getting in too many fights for now and catch up then. Or just catch up a little later with the 2 if it takes longer than I expected.

Olivier being in a sort of spy role is a cool development – I feel like I should have had some thoughts along those lines the way he persistently appeared around us and just seemed unrelated to everything going on, but I think RPGs have also kinda trained me to not question goofy characters like him. With the cell phone, feels like we’re looking at one of these fantasy cases of a lost past that’s closer to the modern real world. There was mention of the artifacts being officially managed by the 七耀教会, but it seems like maybe people aren’t aware of the sort of things that they are? That could be a big future development.

Lighthouse keeper managed to annoy me more than Agate did, haha. Agate definitely seems like the type who is going to keep talking down to them but ultimately is just brash but a good guy. Especially the way he jumped to credit us in part for fending off the monsters.

In fights I really miss having 4 characters, but for the story vibes it’s kinda nice and cozy that right now it’s just Joshua and Estelle on a big hike. This week felt really comfy in a way.

5 Likes
黒いノート

I feel like I missed an episode or three here. I remember @Sasabonsam (I think?) mentioning that something fishy was going on in the orbment shop but I didn’t investigate further.

The guy effectively usurped the previous owner or something like that? But how did Joshua tie the random note to this case?

I don’t really get any of this.

Doors

First we had that rusty grate in the Rolent sewers and now a mystery locked door at Hamon gate.

Alright, keep your secrets…

4 Likes
黒いノート

So, this is one of the many plot lines that can be found if you go out of your way to talk to all the NPCs, and the only way you’d be able to find this quest is to either have been following along with their plot or by using a guide.

Cornelius and Nigel were business partners. (I’m using the localisation’s version of the names for convenience’s sake)

By the time we arrive in Bose, Nigel stole ownership from Cornelius so he is running the shop while Cornelius drowns his misery in alcohol. He is confident that his illegal actions will never be discovered as the only evidence (the Black Notebook) is hidden.

While investigating the south block’s robbery, Nigel is freaking out because the army people are investigating him. They want to know what was stolen, and Nigel doesn’t want to tell them “Yeah, that ledger were I kept track of all my illegal doings was among the items stolen.”

Carrie, who works upstairs, has moved to be standing near the orbal vacuum cleaners. This is the closest thing to a hint that the notebook was hidden inside of one and it’s been stolen by the Capuas.

Estelle & Co find the notebook while raiding the hideout, and Nigel is arrested and Cornelius has his shop back. But the army can’t find any evidence of his illegal activities and so can’t keep him arrested.

Joshua remembers the notebook full of numbers that was suspiciously hidden inside a vacuum cleaner, and shows it to the guard. With the magic of accountancy, they can link this specific ledger to the illegal things Nigel has done.

That’s the gist of things. I cannot be sure how much my localisation memory differs from following them around in Japanese, so if any details are wrong/missing, sorry about that.

4 Likes
黒いノート

Ok, I very roughly managed to piece that together through context. Actually I coincidentally visited the orbment shop to stock up before the great journey west before I read your sidequest guide and I caught that the owner had changed and the mean guy had been taken to Hamon Gate so I almost finished the quest without the spoilers but then I assumed that this story arc was already concluded somehow and I didn’t think to follow up by going to Hamon Gate myself, so I would probably have missed it in the end.

Admittedly I wouldn’t have expected that the military, who the last time we visited that place threatened to lock us up if I ever set foot there again, would now allow bracers to just barge into their HQ during the interrogation of a suspect…

4 Likes

I just realized that it’s Haken gate and not Hamon. ゴゴゴゴ

5 Likes

:joy: I wasn’t sure if it was another case of the katakana being localised very different or if you just typoed.

3 Likes

Due to the increased weekly word count I’ve decided to stop being so thorough in my lookups and I allow a bit of ambiguity as long as I manage to understand the gist of what people are talking about and frankly it’s probably for the best. I don’t feel like I’m missing too much.

Admittedly I struggled a bit with Olivier’s dialogue at the beginning (he always uses such rich vocabulary compared to most other characters) but fortunately he’s not in the party anymore and Joshua and Estelle’s dialogue is much easier to follow without looking anything up. I think I managed to go through the dialogue at the with only a single lookup for 薪 because it’s not a kanji I knew (it’s now in my Anki deck).

3 Likes

I have just realised I haven’t mentioned the Shining Poms. It’s, uh, a bit late to be mentioning them now, but uh, better late than never?

They spawn in exactly one location in each region, and drop a lot of sepith, rare accessories, and lots of exp. They have a tendancy to run away soon after the battle has started, are difficult to hit with weapons, and four of your spell elements cannot hurt them. So if you want to kill them you either need to use S-Crafts, or the シャドウスピア art that has a 20% chance of insta-killing them.

Where are they in Ruan? - map spoiler

4 Likes

I encountered them a few times but only managed to kill one or two of them before they fled.

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The bento being the end marker for this week was fun both because it’s hard to miss and easy to remember, and also because I had no idea when it would happen.

Summary

The thing I like the most in JRPGs is this feeling of being on a journey. Getting to the ocean, new vistas etc… It’s so comfy.

The geography here ressembles that of the Basque country when crossing from the French side: you have to cross the Pyrenees mountains and then you end up on the steep Basque coast:

Curious to see what shenanigans await us in Ruan given that the main plot appears to be on standby for the time being.

Yeah, very frustrating! The enemies inside hit pretty hard too, I managed to die once.

4 Likes
Week 19

I thought the lighthouse guy was funny! In a “ha this guy is clearly unreasonable and poking fun of the same kind of cranky old person you might meet in real life” sort of way. Those monsters were definitely tough though. The only reason I didn’t die was because my Estelle is loaded up with a bunch of blue quartz and strong healing magic. And luck, probably.

On Olivier, I’m not at all surprised about the possible spy development. It was established early on that he was from the empire and was a little too interested in following the gang around. Silly, charming guy from a country that was very recently an enemy of the home state, shows moments of unexpected competence, goes out of his way to join our team of crime fighters… ya know? The idea that he could be a spy is easy to have in the back of your mind. I don’t think he’s got bad intentions, though, he’s on a mission but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be harmful to Estelle&co and Rolent. He also said he wasn’t playing the fool at all and I believe it, the weirdo. The ancient cell phone is more surprising. How does he even power that thing? Clearly he dug up an ancient usb-c charger, too.

I’d really hoped the notebook would be more mixed up in the pirate business. That means the only narrative reason the pirates robbed that store was so we could follow them back to their base to rescue the hostages, hm. I’m also slightly confused about the circumstances of the storekeeper’s arrest, even though I already had an idea of the situation a few weeks ago. I assume the notebook was proof that he was defrauding Cornelius, but why’d they arrest him if they didn’t have any evidence to begin with? It feels almost like we missed steps in the quest. Well, at least he got his comeuppance for being a smug jerk. Knew it would happen :stuck_out_tongue:

The event at the checkpoint was definitely an intentional attack by… somebody. The monster description for the dogs mentions that they’re controlled and though the exact moment has slipped my memory, you can hear a dog whistle in the background at some point during the scene. A little bit of intrigue to start out the chapter 2 story arc? I’ll suspect everyone we meet, naturally.

4 Likes

Next week is up

1 Like