The Story of Ys I - A Summary
Red-haired adventurer Adol Christin is determined to investigate the Stormwall which, months prior, appeared around the island of Esteria. He sets out for the island but is thrown overboard and washes ashore, saved by a villager named Slaff. He has landed in the port town of Barbado.Adol recuperates with Slaff's father, a doctor, and learns that when the Stormwall appeared around Esteria so too did demons and monsters. This has all but ruined the island's vaunted silver mines and the resulting trade from them.
Adol then makes his way to the larger fort city of Minea, where he meets many people. Among them are a blue-haired woman named Reah whose silver hamonica has recently been stolen by a man with a dark cape and a fortune-teller named Sara who has had visions of Adol's coming. She reveals information about the six Books of Ys to Adol, books named after an ancient civilization that existed on the island more than seven hundred years in the past. The books contain the history of Ys and its mysterious fall to ruin. Sara believes these books will be crucial to stop whatever is causing the appearance of the demons and the Stormwall. She points Adol in the direction of the Shrine of Solomon to find one of the books.
On his way there, Adol meets Sara's aunt Jeba in Zeptik Village. Jeba bestows upon Adol the shrine key, allowing him access. Inside, Adol discovers another mysterious young woman with blue hair; this one has been locked inside a prison cell. Her name is Feena, and she says that a dark-caped man imprisoned her, but she otherwise has no memories. Adol rescues her (slowly) and returns her to Jeba. Upon return to the Shrine, Adol discovers the first book of Ys.
Upon returning to Minea to show the book to Sara, Adol finds her murdered. Fortunately she left her most prized possession - the second book of Ys - with a friend who was there waiting for Adol. The friend explains that Sara was murdered by a man with a dark cape, and mentions a cryptic hint to seek a treasure in the Abandoned Mine. Doing so, Adol discovers Reah's silver harmonica and returns it to her. In turn, she plays a melody for him, stirring up images of the Roda Trees.
Adol returns to the Mine and ultimately seizes the third book of Ys before returning it to Jeba, who has taken Feena under her care. Here Adol learns that Jeba's family are descendants of Tovah, one of the Six Priests of Ys, and therefore Jeba can decipher the previously unreadable books. She tells of the creation of Cleria Ore in ancient Ys, which brought prosperity until a horde of demons attacked, attracted by the very same ore. The Six Priests of Ys, in haste, created six magical books to help guide some future hero and help save Ys.
Jeba tells Adol that she believes the remaining books must be in the Tower of Darm to the northwest. Her son, the bandit leader Goban, stands guard over it but lets Adol pass.
Inside the evil Tower, Adol is caught in a magical trap and is whisked to a cell where the poet Luta Gemma has also been captured. Goban's lieutenant Dogi breaks them both out of the prison by punching down the wall, and sends Adol to seek a scholar named Raba who is trapped further up in the tower. Upon reaching Raba, Adol is given a magical amulet to bypass the trap. Adol is also given a magical necklace by Luta Gemma, also a descendant of one of the Six Priests of Ys, that can dispel magic seals.
Adol continues to climb the tower and finds two more books of Ys along the way. As he nears the top, Adol finds Reah trapped in an offshoot of Darm called Rado's Annex. Reah tells Adol that she let herself by captured so she could give him a magical monocle which would allow him to read the books of Ys on his own.
Adol eventually reaches the very top of the Tower of Darm and confronts Dark Fact, who is himself a descendant of one of the Six Priests of Ys. He tells Adol that by gathering the books he has only aided in a nefarious scheme, and that he himself had the sixth and final book in his possession. Adol fights and defeats Dark Fact.
But when Adol takes and reads the final book, he is enveloped in a white light...
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