On your own

Lord David and the 4 Generals of Athlum.

With the recent revelations and uncertainties causing Rush to become impatient, you end up with Rush back in Athlum's Town Square, just outside the castle. You are alone now so don't leave the city.

The Athlum Soldiers standing around recommend for you to head for the guild, which you must do to continue the main story.

PC: You can now have 2 Unions, 3 Units per battle, and 10 Units total. X360: You can now have 3 Leaders per battle, 5 Leaders, and 10 Soldiers total.

To the Guild

Go to the guild (you can find it in the Virtuous Parish) and talk to the Guild Officer. You can now hire additional leaders by selecting "Recruit Leader". Examine the status, equipment, and learned arts of two prospective leaders, McGrady and Oakes, then decide if you want to hire one or both for your party. Note that Oakes, a qsiti Fighter, has two combat arts available, whereas McGrady, a mitra Shaman, knows no attack-related arts but has learned the mystic art Restore.

Beef up Rush's Squad since it's better to have one strong union than two weak ones generally. In the early going, you can deploy only three units total. Hire two new leaders from amongst those available in the Athlum and Celapaleis guilds and put both into Rush's Squad for now.

If you do hire McGrady, Oakes, or both (and you should probably hire at least one), open your Party Menu afterwards and select Union Board. You see that Rush is listed as leader (i.e., in the number 1 slot) of your number 1 union, Rush's Squad. You can create a second union for a new hire, but a far better option is to fill up Rush's union first. A good plan is to assign your new units to slots 2 and 3 of Rush's Squad. Another great option is the Arrow of Athlum formation, especially in the early going.

The First Sidequests

You have to complete two sidequests now to advance the story: A Day's Beginning and Mr. Diggs.

Start with A Day's Beginning by talking to the woman with the red bubble above her in the Athlum pub. See the quest pages for more details.

Afterwards talk to the bartender in the pub to open up Celapaleis on the world map.

The sidequest Baulson (enables Baulson to be hired) is now available.

Spoiler warning: Instructions for Baulson's quest.
You may consider completing the quest Baulson and hiring him afterwards (ditch one of the other leaders if you don't have enough space) because he is one of the better leaders available early in the game and some consider him good enough to keep him till the end. To start the quest, just leave the pub and immediately re-enter it after completing A Day's Beginning.

After completing A Day's Beginning and Baulson's quest if desired, head to Celapaleis and complete the quest Mr. Diggs.

Back to Athlum Castle

There is nothing else you can do now. Again you will see Soldiers standing around. Talk to one of them, David requests your presence. Head back to the palace in Athlum for another cutscene.

Spoiler warning: Cutscene details.
A messanger from Celapaleis arrives and Pagus tells Rush that Athlum is to investigate Blackdale. Torgel explains how Athlum is under the rule of Celapaleis, although this particular task is merely a suggestion.

Previously: Intruders in Dillmoor	Next: The Battle in Blackdale