I'm nearing the end of the game as I have the four tasks to do for melanchion.
I was going to do the Darkside Loyalists quest first, but much to my annoyance, I find the entrance area of their fortress completely blocked with magical barriers. (Area west of Spire, go down the trapdoor, and it's the room with 4 loyalist archers.)
While generally not a problem, I have like a 0 in mage spells (fyi: I did cheat in quite a few fights, but in others I didn't -- It really isn't as bad as it sounds considering you cannot join the anama this game (which was very annoying to learn like halfway in....)) and 0 piercing crystals remaining, so I'm not totally sure how I'm supposed to enter. (And, forcing people to need level 11 mage spells is not something that I would consider good design, esp. since such a warning isn't given that it would be necessary.)
So, does anyone know of an alternative entrance or people who sell piercing crystals (or will I just have to use the editor to up my mage spells skill))?