1 The Great Flood (Past): Raft Routing + Early Shards
Hardlypool’s “flood phase” is designed to slow you down unless you treat it like a route. The trick: don’t wander — pick a rooftop loop, grab key pickups, then move on to the tower.
Don’t-Miss Pickup
Mayor’s House (Past) → Level 2: Red Fragment. Grab it now — revisiting via raft later feels awful.
Treasure Room Note
Wetlock Treasure Room (Past): the Grey Fragment behind bars often becomes “reachable” only after you manipulate water progression. If it looks blocked — don’t panic.
Routing rule: When a chapter has “vertical dungeon + flooded town,” you win by reducing revisits. Secure town shards first, then commit upward.
🧭 Decision Module: Highendreigh Tower Routing
This tower is long and punishes sloppy resource use. Pick a plan: safe + stable (recommended) or fast + push. The wipe pattern is always the same: entering upper floors with half MP and no recovery.
Plan A: Safe & Consistent
Recommended- Heal early; avoid “KO healing” (wastes turns).
- Use MP sparingly on trash; save for dangerous packs/boss gate.
- If you hit a floor that spikes damage, treat it as a checkpoint and stabilize.
Plan B: Fast & Push
Speedrun- Skip side rooms unless shard-checking.
- Accept higher risk; if you lose tempo early, reset instead of limping upward.
- Use burst to delete threats before they act (the only “safe” speed strat).
2 Highendreigh Tower (Past): Drain Sequence
Think of the tower as “the lever that makes the region playable.” Once the drain sequence is complete, the chapter opens: Citadel access + post-boss rewards + easier cleanup.
Post-Gracos Reminder
After defeating Gracos (below), return to the top area / key NPC loop: Old Man Riffer provides a shard reward once the seal is broken.
3 Sunken Citadel (Past): Boss Gracos
Once water is lowered, the Citadel becomes the “real boss arena.” Beat Gracos to end the flood arc and unlock the chain of shard rewards that follows.
Common fail state: players treat the tower as the boss, then arrive at Citadel underprepared. If you’re low on recovery after the climb, restock before committing to Gracos.
4 Present Wetlock: The 9-Fragment Sweep
Present Wetlock is where this region becomes “high value.” Don’t free-roam: follow a sweep order so you don’t forget the mini-medal and optional boss fragments.
Wetlock Storage → Tallest Tower (Mervyn) → Treasure Room cleanup → then branch to Citadel optional + King Maximo.
Gracos V (optional, hits harder) and King Maximo (mini medal threshold). If you skip these now, you’ll forget later.
