Daila

Daila is a town located in the northern area of the continent of Indra and functions as the first town entered in Golden Sun: The Lost Age. While you can't avoid entering the town, you can pass through to exit to the other side almost instantly.

Background
Daila was once a hideout for a band of pirates in the distant past (how distant is not specified; it may have been in Weyard's ancient past or not), and they settled here after stealing treasure from the Shrine of the Sea God Poseidon just east of here, including the jewel known as the Sea God's Tear. They hid their stolen treasure in Daila. The pirates were eventually captured, but their stolen treasure was never found.

The hideout developed into a town over time, and the Sea God's tear was found. It was enshrined at the town sanctum which was constructed with a replica of the Sea God sculpture found deep in the actual, ancient Shrine. It was due to this that the town came to worship and honor the Sea God as the villagers came to adapt to a marine lifestyle of fishing.

Story
Daila is primarily an agricultural settlement sustained on crops and fish. It is famous for its seafood. It is rather isolated, with the Kandorean Temple to the southwest and the larger town of Madra at the bottom end of the continent being the only other locations on the continent with people in them. The treacherous, crumbly road of the Dehkan Plateau lies between the two towns, so the town does not get travelers often.

Daila is a town that has been raided by the pirate Briggs for its food and purported treasures in the recent past. Daila is also a town that Master Poi of the Kandorean Temple visits from time to time.

Daila as a town disallows its villagers from going inside the Shrine of the Sea God, much like how the officials of Vale disallow the villagers to freely enter the nearby Sol Sanctum, believing that some sort of terrible retribution awaits intruders. However, two young boy scamps and friends, Riki and Tavi, went inside the Shrine of the Sea God for play and exploration, in obvious defiance to the village mandate that the shrine is off-limits.

Then, the Tidal Wave washes over the town but does not do especially heavy damage. Daila is located to the lower left of a mountain range; that range protects the town from the full force of the tidal wave. Without it, the town would have been leveled. The populace believe that the Sea God they honor saved them from the wave's full effects, which is ironic because the Sea God, the entity Poseidon, is the one that generated the wave in the first place. The wave leaves a lot of salt water standing in the village, however, which is harmful to Daila's crops. As one resident describes it, the town is somewhat turned into a swamp, with everything smelling like stagnant brine. In addition, the wave destroys all of Daila's boats, stranding the town's sailors on land, and thus they are not able to fish either. Having disrupted both the town's primary sources of food, the Tidal Wave leaves the town in quite a troubled state.

Felix's party passes through the town uneventfully shortly after the Tidal Wave. Some time later, Riki and Tavi return home famished, having been rescued from the Shrine of the Sea God by Felix, around the same time Alex enters the town and meets with the town mayor to see about getting a boat. Alex says he will pay the mayor a fortune if there's a boat available, but all the boats were destroyed by the wave. Felix's party can then return at this point and enter the mayor's hut, where they will bump into Alex as he is leaving. Felix and Alex catch up on their mutual objective to find a boat and decide that going to Madra down south, which presumably has a big boat, is the best course of action. When Kraden asks Felix if Alex should join their party in their trip to Madra, even if Felix says yes, Alex declines and says he is merely "preoccupied" before leaving them and the town in somewhat of a haste, much to both Jenna and Sheba's annoyance at his self-absorbed nature.

A good deal of time later, after Felix's party joins up with Piers and acquires the Lemurian Ship, they return here to acquire the treasure at Daila's sanctum which is the most valuable treasure the pirates of the distant past had stolen and hidden in Daila: The Sea God's Tear, taken from the Shrine of the Sea God. With the tear in their possession, Felix's group can now explore the Shrine of the Sea God fully, where the treasure at the end is a prong to the Trident of Ankohl, the only weapon that can defeat the protection of the Sea God, Poseidon.

Description
Daila, entered from the north end, is a contained town that initially does not serve a particularly vital purpose other than a source of information and a place to stock up for Felix's party as he begins his journey in The Lost Age. It features several residential houses, an outside item stall, a weapon shop and armor shop in a building in the town's lower left area, an inn in the lower right area, a mayor's hut in the upper right area, and a sanctum at the town's north end. When you first enter the town, you can talk to people and stock up however you'd like, and you will leave at the bottom end, where you will encounter and automatically acquire Venus Djinni Echo. From there you are supposed to travel to the Kandorean Temple reachable by taking the west road. It is recommended that you stock up on armor only, for at this point your Psynergy powers do much more damage than your weapons which do not have any Unleash effects.

After using the Lash Psynergy acquired at the Kandorean Temple to help Riki and Tavi at the Shrine of the Sea God, the town will update. The puddles of water will have dried up somewhat. You can return here at this point and engage in an optional dialogue with Alex that is triggered upon entering the mayor's house.

At any rate, once you join up with Piers and acquire the Lemurian Ship, sooner or later you must come back here to fetch the Sea God's Tear within Daila's sanctum. You need Piers' Frost Psynergy to get to it. With the item, you can now fully explore the Shrine of the Sea God east of the town.

Vendors
The town has an inn service which is provided at an extremely paltry 6 coins. When you first enter the town, Jenna will most likely have a decreased Psynergy Point meter resulting from the events of the prologue just before, so it is recommended that after stocking up you spend the night here to refill her meter before heading out to Kandorean Temple.

Items
Sea God's Tear: Found at the statue in the sanctum of Daila, use Frost to get to it. Psy Crystal: Found by Scooping the ground near a small puddle on the ground. Herb: Found in a lone jar on top of the stairs in the upper right edge of town, behind the Mayor's house. Smoke Bomb: Found in the lower left barrel of the four containers below the inn. Sleep Bomb: Found in a lone barrel to the immediate right of the entrance inside the inn. 3 coins: Found in the jar to the right of the water barrel in the house to the lower left of the mayor's hut.