The Forest of Ragranda

The Forest of Ragranda (ラグランダの杜（もり）) is the twelfth episode of the Log Horizon anime. It covers Game's End, Part 1 chapter 2.

Cold Open
Dungeons are places such as abandoned structures, fortresses, shrines, or caves. What they have in common is that they’re enclosed areas easy for monsters to defend. If there is a lack of monsters, it’s a safe bet that there’s a large one instead, such as a dragon. Fighting large monsters indoors is different than outdoors, requiring impeccable teamwork to survive.

The Ball
The dance begins, and the orchestra starts playing a song with the Elder Tale motif. Serjiad exposes that this event will hold many conferences and balls over ten days, and these formal balls are where young ladies make their social debut. He invites the Round Table representatives to participate in the dance due to the People of the Lands' expectation. Krusty nominates Shiroe to participate and with the help of Henrietta’s Bard skills, they quickly impress the entire ball.

At the camp, Minori sees Isuzu playing the lute, and asks Nyanta about Bards. It’s an offensive support role who’s music auras are lengthy and wide, providing buffs and debuffs with a simple reconfiguration of their songs. Afterwards, she calls Shiroe to inform him of their dungeon training and her insecurity over her usefulness. He reminds her that party tactics are more important than high-level power, which is something that she can definitely manage.

The next day at breakfast with the Round Table representatives, they surmise that the Lander nobles might look down on Adventurers, but will most likely attempt to arrange dealings with them in order to obtain their fighting and technological power. Shiroe proposes that the Round Table Alliance establish rules for when the nobles will inevitably start approaching their guilds individually, Michitaka dissents that this would be virtually impossible to enforce. Shiroe orders Akatsuki to stalk nobles for information about their intentions.

Training Camp
Elsewhere, the training camp makes their way to the Ragranda Forest and split up into parties. Although the parties are provided time to discuss strategies, Minori has trouble speaking her mind in a group with Tohya, Rudy, Isuzu, and Serara after Rudy and Tohya decide to forgo strategy in favor of just forcing their way through. Eventually the party encounter some Skeleton monsters and familiarize themselves with their teamwork. The first wave was easy to defeat, but the second wave of monsters start focusing Rudy due to his reckless attack pattern. With their damage dealer in distress, the party makes a tactical retreat, much to the their embarrassment.

Back at the Ancient Palace of Eternal Ice, Krusty introduces himself to Rayneshia.

Trivia

 * The dance of Shiroe and Henrietta occurs in the prior chapter 1.