B R A V E F E N C E R M U S A S H I The Unofficial Walkthrough Ver. 1.0 By: Matt Hobbs YelseyKing@aol.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Revisition History 2. Walkthrough a. Chapter 1 - The Journey Begins b. Chapter 2 - A New Journey c. Chapter 3 - Mission Vambee d. Chapter 4 - Duel at Dragon Island e. Chapter 5 - The One that Nests Underground f. Chapter 6 - The Sword of Luminescence 3. Other stuff 4. Lists 5. Shops 6. Action Figures 7. Game Functions 8. Credits ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. R E V I S I O N H I S T O R Y ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- V1.0 - First Version ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. W A L K T H R O U G H ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Allucaneet Kingdom... A peaceful kingdom... But that peace is about to be broken... The King and Queen of Allucaneet Palace are away, the perfect opportunity for the evil Thirstquencher Empire to attack, and being an evil empire, they (of course) take advantage of the situation and attack the weakened castle. Due to the surprise of the attack, the castle easily falls. The only survivors of the attack, Princess Fillet, Steward Ribson (who seems to be related to FFT's Professor Daravon ^_^), Butler Livers, Scribe Shanky, and Alchemist Leanman escape to the basement of the castle. None of them have any fighting experience, so their only hope is to perform the forbidden 'hero summon'... After a long conversation, Princess Fillet successfully summons Musashi... Unfortunatly, it appears to be just a little kid... At first, no one believes that this strange looking kid is the REAL Musashi, but since no one has actually SEEN the legendary hero, for all they know, he may well be him. After a bit of talk, the child wakes up and makes some snotty remark about the way everyone is dressed, to which the princess responds by calling him "a little turd". Ribson then goes over and talks to "Sir Little Turd", who reveals that he is indeed Musashi. Ribson and the others explain that Musashi was summoned into their world, and can't return to his own world until he saves theirs. (Pretty selfish, if you ask me.) Anyway, they explain that the Thirstquencher army is after Lumina, the sword of Luminescence, and that they need you to recover it. They tell you that they've hidden atop Spiral Tower, which is located deep in the woods behind the castle. Musashi reluctantly agrees to go after the sword. Before leaving, Scribe Shanky gives Musashi a magical blue sword called Fusion, as well as a note explaining how to get Lumina. The Alchemist then tells you of Fusion's special power: It can absorb enemies, allowing you to use their special skills. An ability called "Assimilation". Musashi then dashes out of the castle towards Spiral Tower before the others can even finish talking. %%%%CHAPTER 1: The Journey Begins%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% ---Allucaneet Forest--- Treasures: Silver Coin x3, Big Heart The quest to recover Lumina begins in a dense forest. Press the Square button to swing Fusion, and X to jump. Proceed forward, jumping over logs, lakes, and the like and defeating enemies. Along the way, you'll find 3 silver coins worth 100 dran (money) each, as well as a big heart which will restore 100 HP. Grab these items then push the center boulder out of the way (or just walk around it). There are other obstacles and enemies along the way, but nothing very major until you reach a big lake with three logs on the other side; it's pretty obvious that he'll never be able to jump across, so Musashi decides to try a different approach. He remembers what the people back at the castle told him about Fusion's Power. Seeing a nearby gunner soldier, he decides to absorb his power and see if it can help. Unless you've already figured it out, this will be your first time using assimilation. Hold down R1 until the gauge in the lower left fills up, then press the square button while facing the guard and you'll launch Fusion towards the enemy. Now press Square repeatedly until you absorb the monster; you'll get the Gunshot skill, which can be used to knock over the logs on the other side of the river, creating a bridge. The only other obstacle of note here is the blue statue near the end, just hit it four times to destroy it. Once you've gotten rid of it, it's just a short hop to Spiral Tower. --Spiral Tower-- Treasures: Silver Coin x2 Actually, there doesn't even seem to be a tower here at all. Musashi takes out the note that Scribe Shanky gave him and reads it. It seems that the only way to make the tower appear is to 'sacrifice a warrior'. Since there don't seem to be any warriors besides Musashi present, it's obvious that the clue is referring to the four nearby statues. Run around the 'tower' and destroy all four statues, and touch the tiles under them. (Be careful, that weird statue head shoots at you the whole time.) Once you've stepped on all four tiles, the tower will raise out of the water. Climb up it, avoiding the rolling wheels and spiked logs along the way, and enter through the opening at the top. Once inside, Musashi will pull out the note again. In order to light up the tower, you must 'douse the dark flame'. Musashi notices a giant bell hanging above the flame in the center of the tower, and exclaims that if he were to cut down the bell, it would fall and put the fire out. Climb up to the top of the tower, killing enemies along the way, until you reach a closed door. If you don't have the Gunshot ability, absorb it from the nearby soldier and shoot at the closest rope. The giant bell will fall on the flame, putting it out. The tower fills with light and the door opens, revealing a path to a portal. Before doing this, though, you may want to climb down the tower a little bit and kill the little blue Sphere Bats. They're not hard to beat, and often leave money and other valuable items. Anyway, Once you open the door, touch the portal and you'll be transported to the roof of the tower, where you'll find...Lumina! Unfortunatly, It's being protected by a forcefield... Upon closer investigation, Musashi finds out that the forcefield is lifted if a living being stands on the white tile in front of it. Since Musashi needs to get the sword, he can't stand on the tile, so the only way to get the sword is to lure a soldier on to the tile, then stun him. Start by absorbing Stun from one of the soldiers, then lure another one on the tile, and hit him with Stun. This will paralyze him just long enough so you can go up and claim your prize! As soon as you grab Lumina, the giant statue head will go berserk, shooting lasers and knocking Musashi down the tower. It then begins to roll down the side of the tower, chasing after Musashi. Now just keep running ahead of it, jumping when Musashi tells you to. It's not very hard to avoid, but don't get stuck behind the rocks in the forest; I don't know what will happen if you get flattened by the giant head. ^_^ After you run through the gate at the end of the forest, you'll be back at the castle, where Princess Fillet is being held hostage by a weird goon with a country hick accent named Rootrick, a member of the Thirstquencher army. He demands Lumina in exchange for the princess and when Musashi refuses to give up his newly acquired sword, Rootrick throws flames at the young hero, which surround him, and boasts that they can't "be putted out easily". The princess yells to Musashi to use Lumina to put out the flames. To put them out, charge up the gauge in the left by pressing R1 (like you did with Fusion), but instead, press the triangle button and you'll perform a spinning attack, which will put out the flames. Disappointed with Musashi's feat, Rootrick grabs the princess and disappears, leaving him to fight the Thirstquencher's powerful Steam Knight. Get ready; this is your first boss battle! %%%%Thirstquencher Empire: Steam Knight%%%% Even though he's the first boss, that doesn't make the Steam Knight easy. As soon as the battle begins, arrows will point towards the knight's legs. Charge up Lumina and spin attack one of them until it breaks, while avoiding the steam coming from it and the Iron Ball he throws. When one leg goes down, the Steam Knight will bend down, and an arrow will point to the cloth near the center of it. Cut the cloth, then spin attack the green core that was hidden under it. The knight will now get back up and continue it's attack. Spin attack the other leg until it breaks, then whack the green core again when it's exposed. When all it's energy is depleted, the Steam Knight will fly back against the wall. Pick him up and throw him through the wall. His energy will fill up and you'll have to fight him again. Do the same thing this time as you did before, spin attack the legs until they break, then attack the core when he reveals it. He has a new attack this round, though. Occationally he'll pick up a pillar and swing/throw it at you, and he also knocks down pillars, and you'll get hurt if you're hit by one. When all his energy is gone, he'll fly back again, in which you have to pick him up and throw him through ANOTHER wall! On the third round of this long match, the rules change. Now the Steam Knight will jump around, and only reveal his core for a short time when he lands. Watch his movements, and try not to be under him when he lands. He also has several attacks. His classic Iron Ball attack is now a bit harder to dodge. To do so, simply keep moving, and jump when he throws it. Every so often, he'll stop and smash a building -- this has no relevance that I can see, but it can't hurt you, so use this time to put yourself in a better position. Three more direct spin attacks to his core will defeat him for good! Oh yeah, don't worry if you lose this fight. You'll have to start the battle over, but you won't have to re-obtain Lumina. After the tough battle, Musashi falls asleep... %%%%CHAPTER 2: A New Journey%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% He awakens a short time later in the palace. At first, he doesn't remember where he is or even why he's here, for that matter! Steward Ribson and Butler Livers then enter, and tell Musashi that they found him asleep on a hill after defeating the Steam Knight. Suddenly, Musashi remembers the kidnapped princess, and starts to rush off. He is quickly stopped by Ribson, who says that Seer Bevealy may know where the princess is, but that she too is missing. She was also kidnapped by Thirstquencher, as well as 34 other people from Allucaneet Kingdom! They have been sealed in "Bincho Fields", which are small green crystals, and scattered all over the world. After Ribson and Livers finish explaining this, Musashi is given a list of all the missing people, as well as a magic watch that detects Bincho Fields; when you're near one, the two 'eyes' at the bottom of the screen will flash -- the faster they are flashing, the closer you are to a bincho field. Finally, you are told of 5 scrolls which can boost Lumina's power: Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, and Sky. One you find and liberate these scrolls, Lumina will gain tremendous power, and that once he finds them, Musashi may be able to return to his own world. After all the talk, Butler Livers basically forces you to go to the library to study up on various subjects. Just as you start to leave, the two tell you that you should go down to Grillin' Village at the base of the mountain. You have a long journey ahead of you, so this village will make the perfect home base for you! Oh yes, this is now your room, so feel free to use it as you please. You'll now be in the library, where the...uhh...odd...Scribe Shanky is waiting for you. He offers to read you the books, so have him read whatever strikes your interest, but he is unable to read the last two books...for now. Once you've had your fill, start to leave and Shanky will tell you that since the gondola is out, there is no way to get to the village... or is there? He suggests that you use your two swords to slide down the gondola rope. Since there's no other way down, Musashi decides to give this a try! After a neat little scene, Musashi arrives at the gondola station, just north of town. The west path to Twinpeak Mountain is being guarded by a big muscly guy named Macho, and he won't let you through, so go south to the town. Upon entering, visit the local shops and talk to all the people at least one time each. The shops are all located near the town center where the fountain is. Be sure to visit the Grocery and stock up on the HP restoring Gels and such. Also, buy some Cheese, it's unpredictable at best, but as it's effect increases by it's age, if you wait long enough, it has the potential to restore full HP and BP! As for the BP restoring bread at the bakery, only buy that if you're going to a long area, as it spoils after 5 days and becomes basically worthless. At the toy store, you buy several action figures based on enemies and main characters. If you buy any of these, you can play with them in your room at the castle. The pawn shop will appraise strange items you find, and buy the useless ones. This shop will prove useful later, but for now, skip it. The restaurant (which only opens at night) servs unusual food which restores HP and BP; it's not worth the rediculous prices, so don't buy any of it. As for the inn...well, it basically explains itself. The different rooms should be used according to how damaged you are. You shouldn't waste your money here, as you can rest for free in the castle, but this place is important, as it's the ONLY place you can make a permanent save! The last building of note here is the church, where the priest will cure you if you're poisoned. There is a well outside the church where you can get water, but it only restores 5 HP, so you don't really need any. All the other buildings here are houses, and the one with the weathervane on the roof is Mayor Govern's house. Once you've explored the town and talked to everyone, pay the mayor a visit. Musashi asks the mayor if he knows anything about the five scrolls. The mayor says that he'll make a deal with you... The beloved village dog, Leno, is missing, if you find him, he (the mayor) will tell you what he knows. Musashi reluctantly agrees and the mayor tells you that Leno was last seen at Twinpeak Mountain. Macho is still blocking the way to the mountain, however... If Guard Lumpwood was here, he'd let you through; too bad he's also missing... This is a good time to explore the southern Somnolent Forest. Across the lake in the village, look for a sign that says "Dead End" on it, and take the nearby path out of town. You'll end up in a small clearing in the woods with...a Bincho Field! Break it open to free Hawker Steakwood. He will thank you for releasing him and tell you a bit about Minkus. If you want to hear more, return to the castle. When he disappears, Musashi absorbs the power from the Binchu Field and your Max BP will increase by 5. (This happens whenever you free someone from a Binchu Field, so I won't bother mentioning it again.) If you'd like, go back to the castle and choose to visit Steakwood, he'll explain that Minkus carry magical berries called Longevity Berries, but you must pick them up and throw them to claim the berry. He also points out that they're nocturnal creatures, meaning they usually come out only at night. After meeting with him, go back across the lake and take the other path out of town, this will lead you to another part of the forest. ---Somnolent/Steamwood Forest--- Treasures: Green Coin x5, Gold Coin, Big Heart Chests: OldCrown Bincho Fields: 4 Explore the forest, defeating enemies as you go. There's a strange lake with a treasure chest in it that you can't get, and a strange crest near it that you can't do anything with. You'll later be able to drain this lake and get that box, but for now, just ignore it. If you go down, you'll come upon a pipeline blocked by steam. You can't by here now either, so once again, ignore it and head back up. There is a small narrow path near the pink flower monster where you can find another Bincho Field. Strike it to release Guard Lumpwood. Now that you've released the guard, you can leave the forest and go to Twinpeak Mountain, but I suggest you stay here and find more treasures and Bincho Fields. Proceed north a bit and you'll reach a field of thorny bushes that you can't get across on foot. Assimilate the nearby Hopper (the pink flower) and you'll get "Hop", with this skill, you can hop over thorns -- remember this. Once you get clear of the thorns, press the circle button to stop hopping. You'll be in an open field with two paths. The lower one (not the thorny path you just came from) will take you back to the village -- use it if your HP is low. Otherwise, take the upper path deeper into the forest. Beforehand, though, you might want to make a short side trip into a hidden path between some trees in the northern part of the clearing. If it's day, you'll only find a pile of "animal dung" here, but if it's night, you'll find a Minku! It moves fast, but if you catch it, you'll be rewarded with a Longevity berry and a 25 Max HP boost. After catching the creature, go up and cross the bridge. If it's still night, you may see another Minku in the south on the opposite shore. You can't get to it now, so don't worry about it and go up the hill. You'll find some bizarre mushrooms here called Sleepies, and as their name applies, they can put you to sleep. A good method for attacking them is to strike once, them jump away before their spores hit you. Another thing... DO NOT assimilate them! Unlike most enemies, assimilating these shrooms will actually give you a status ailment! They make you REALLY sleepy (and incidentally, really weak and slow) until it wears off! Don't say I didn't warn you! When you reach the top of the hill, you'll be in another part of the woods. Assimilate the Hopper and hop up the nearby sloped hill and free Seer Bevealy from the Bincho Field. If you return to the castle, she'll give you a clue as to where the next scroll can be found, as well as the general locations of where some of the missing people may be located. Now go up and walk across the pipe. You'll come upon a treasure chest containing an OldCrown. All items found in treasure chests except store items and Dran need to be appraised before you know what they truly are, so keep this and bring it back to the pawn shop back at the village. After getting the treasure, go back down the way you came up. There are two paths here, one to the north, and one to the east. The eastern path leads you to a strange place with a huge slug-like rock that you have no way of moving yet, and the nothern path leads to the Meandering Forest, where there is nothing of any interest yet. Go back down the hill where the Sleepies are, and cross the river again. This time, take the southern path and enter the pipe at the edge of the screen. You'll now be in Steamwood Forest. The lower path leads to the village, but before you go, there are two more Bincho Fields and some Dran you can collect here. Go straight ahead until you reach a silver pipe sticking out to your right. Jump on it and walk across, collecting the five green 10 dran coins along the way. Jump down, avoid the steam blast, and go up on the next silver pipe next to it. Walk all the way across it and you'll find a Bincho Field, where Musician Pianissimeat is being held. Whenever you free one of the musicians, they add to the background music that plays at the castle. Not major, but still worth freeing for the 5 BP boost you get. If you continue to follow the path here, you'll find another strange crest like you saw before. Once again, there's nothing you can do here, so ignore it and go back the way you came. The only thing left here is to go up a bit and find a long silver pipe on the right side of the screen. Cross it and you'll be on a back hill where you'll find Acrobat Sausages in a Binchu Field. Later on, he and Clown Weinee can perform a neat (and useful) trick, but for now, just release him and move on. The two pipes sticking out next to where he was have a 500-dran gold coin and a 100 HP-restoring Big Heart on them. Grab them and then return to the village; that's all that's here. Back in the village, stock up on items, rest in your room at the castle, save your game, then head up to the northern exit of town. If you talk to Guard Lumpwood, he'll let you through to Twinpeak Mountain, but before you enter, go south on the grassy path (not the path leading back into town). There is another Minku here! Catch it for an HP boost, then enter the mountain! ---Twinpeak Mountain--- This is a fairly simple task. When you enter the mountain range, you'll see two paths. The one on the right leads to Hell's Valley, which has nothing of any interest to you, so (obviously) take the left path. When you reach the end of this path, jump up on the rocks and free Soldier Lardwick from the Bincho Field. He'll ask you to free his brother, Knight Lardwick, who is also trapped somewhere on the mountain. Anyway, you can jump across the lake to the opposite shore by hopping on the lillypad, but there's a King Maneater over on the other side, and he doesn't seem to want you to cross... You can't kill him with weapons, and assimilation doesn't do much either. The only way past this guy is to absorb the Shrink skill from one of those ghost-like magicians. Once you've gotten Shrink, blast the King Maneater with it to shrink him, then jump on him and flatten him. With him out of the way, you'll be able to cross the river. Leno is on the island with the bone on it, but before you go over to him, grab on to those two nearby poles, and take the silver coins on top of them. If you continue to follow the path, you'll see it comes to a large river, of which you have no way of crossing yet. Go back and pick up Leno. Your task is to bring him back to the village. In order to do this, you must pick up and carry the little dog, and bring him through the entrance to town. Since you can't jump while carrying him, you'll have to throw him across the rivers and such, for if he falls in the water, he'll end up back on the island with the bone, and you'll have to start over again. An interesting thing here is that the game seems to count Leno as a monster, so you can do anything to him as you can to a monster. Attack him, use special skills on him, or even shrink and stomp him! (hehe) (Oh yeah, you can't assimilate him... ^_^) He's invincible, so don't worry about killing him, though. Once you bring him back to the village, he'll run off. Now go and visit the mayor. he'll thank you for finding the dog, but...it seems the old man was using you... He doesn't know anything about the five scrolls, but tells you to talk to the man in the stocks in the outskirts of town. Since you're obviously not going to get anything out of the mayor, you might as well see this guy... Before he'll give you any info, the guy asks you for some bread and water, as he hasn't eaten in days. Buy him some RyeBread from the bakery and get some water from the well, then return and give it to him. After feeding him, he'll tell you that his name is Jon, and that he's a treasure hunter. Musashi isn't exactly sure he believes this, but Jon says he'll give him some info on the scrolls if...he'll free him from the stocks. If you agree to help him, Jon explains that he hid the key under a grave in the cemetary at Meandering Forest, but that a strange spell was cast on the forest, so you'll need Leno's help to find it... Go back through Somnolent forest until you reach the area where you saved Seer Bevealy. Assimilate the Hopper and hop under the pipe and over the thorns. Exit the forest through the nearby path and you'll be in the Meandering Forest. This is basically the Brave Fencer Musashi version of Zelda's "Lost Woods", meaning that you have to go in a certain direction, or the forest goes on forever. Only Leno knows where Jon's Key is hidden, so you have no choice but to follow him. When Leno runs up to a path, pass through it to the next screen. Be sure to defeat any enemies you come across, as if Leno is hurt too badly, he'll run away and you'll have to start over. Just for referance, the correct path is Left, Left, Up, Right, Up, Up, but you won't actually be able to follow that path unless Leno has specified it. When you reach the graveyard, walk up to the tombstone nearest to Leno. Musashi will push the stone out of the way and take the key hidden under it. Now that you have the key, exit the cemetary and you'll automatically be outside the forest. Assimilate the Hopper and hop back across the thorns, then return to the village and talk to Jon. When you try to free him, he'll tell you to return after midnight. Go kill some time, and when midnight rolls around, go back and talk to him again. After freeing Jon, he tells you that he'll tell you everything he knows about the scrolls and such if you climb to the top of Twinpeak Mountain, and cut down four trees and gather their logs along the way. Musashi agrees, although somewhat confused, and Jon dissappears... Kill some time until morning (or just sleep) then restock on supplies, and head for Twinpeak Mountain -- this is your first real mission. ---Twinpeak Mountain--- Treasures: Silver Coin x4, Bronze Coin, Small Crystal x3, Medium Heart Chests: OldBook, Dagger, 200 Drans Bincho Fields: 5 Back at Twinpeak mountain, head left again, and collect the two silver coins on top of the poles again, then head to the river you previously couldn't cross before; there will be two lilypads there now. Jump on them to cross the river, then continue to the left. In the next area, continue to the left past the poles to find a Bincho Field containing Mercenary Meitlofe. Free him then backtrack and use the three poles to jump across the river; atop each one of them, you'll find medium size BP restoring crystals. On the other side of the river, climb up the hill and open the box. It's a Memory Box!! You can use these special boxes to save your game. It's only a temporary save, but it will remain as long as you don't turn off the Playstation or hit Reset, so you'd might as well save. After saving, you'll be faced with two paths. Take the left path to get a chest with 200 Dran inside it, then go back up the way you came and go right. When you reach the end of the path, you'll be again faced with a choice of direction. Go right and jump on the platforms to claim an OldBook from the box behind the falls. On the upper left path, defeat the soldiers, then proceed to a pair of retracting blocks. Jump on them after they pop out, and be sure to jump off them before they go back inside the cliff. When you get past them, you'll see a cave entrance, but before entering it, wait for the blocks to go into the mountain, then jump down the hole nearest to the cave and hang to the left. You should land on a platform with a Minku. Catch it and retrace your steps back up to the cave. The cave is small, and only has a few hanging platforms which you have to make some easy jumps to in order to make it through. When you exit the cave, you'll be on a broken bridge. Walk across it until you find a gap with a vine hanging down. Climb down the vine and carefully jump across the platforms and free Shephard Beefalo from the Bincho Field. If you visit her at the castle, she'll tell you how many Minku you've caught. Climb back up the vine, and you may notice some other vines to the left that are 'guarded' by some lightning bugs. Carefully jump to these vines when the bugs aren't near them, and grab the chest with the Dagger on the platform on the other side. At this point, you're probably pretty low on energy, so you might want to make a trip back to town and rest up, save, and have your items appraised. Anyway, go back up on the bridge and continue across to another cave. This cave is basically the same as the last one, with the exception that water periodically falls between some of the platforms, and if you're hit by it, you get damaged. It's not hard to avoid them, though. Outside the cave, you'll be on an island at the bottom of a large cliffside. The large tree at the edge of the island can be cut down if you spin attack it. When you cut it down, pick up the log that it drops; you need to collect four of these and bring them to Jon at the top of the mountain. Now climb up the strange skeleton platform against the cliff wall, collecting the two silver coins along the way, and keep going until you reach a pole. Climb down it and break open the Bincho field to free Knight Lardwick, Soldier Lardwick's elder brother. Climb back up the pole and continue until you reach the end of the cliff. There are two rotating platforms here, wait for them to get to where you can jump on them, then proceed to do so. You'll find another long pole directly on the other side. Climb down and free Carpenter Carvey from the Bincho Field, then cut down the tree and collect the second log. Back at the top of the long pole, you'll see three branches sticking out of the cliffside. Grab on to them and swing across the gap. Climb up the long pole and cut the third tree down (and collect the log), then go all the way to the left until you reach the fourth and final tree. Cut it down then go under the strange bones. You'll find a Bronze Coin and a Medium Heart underneath it. At the end of this path, climb up the staircase. You'll have to jump across the bones now. It can be tough, but take it slow and time your jumps, and you'll easily make it across. On the nearby bridge, talk to Jon, but only if you have all four logs. (If you don't have them, he simply won't talk to you until you do.) Jon will tell you that his big secret is NOT about the five scrolls, but is rather about the "Legendary Armor". At first, Musashi isn't happy about this AT ALL, but when Jon explains that the five pieces of the Legendary Armor have special powers, Musashi changes his mind. He thinks that all he has to do is give Jon the logs and he'll get a piece of the armor in exchange...... WRONG! Jon explains that the armor in question can be found somewhere at the bottom of the lake, and that he wanted the logs so he could make a raft and and have Musashi look for it. Give the four logs to Jon, and he'll fashion a raft from them and toss it over the falls, where Musashi soon follows and enters a cave with some wild rapids! This is a mini-game of sorts. The object is to navigate the raft to the end of the rapids, while grabbing as many coins as possible along the way. It's more difficult than it sounds, as every time you get hit, you lose a log from your raft. Since you only have four logs, four hits and you're out! I can't really give any hints here now... All I can say is...Good luck! At the bottom of the rapids, Musashi will automatically sail over to an island. Climb up the steps, then run to the left and collect the treasure chest to get the Bracelet. Once you have it, jump down the cliff and return to the village. Congratulations, You've completed your first task! Back at the village, rest up and save your game, then take the Bracelet to be appraised. Unlike everything else that you've had appraised so far, this isn't worthless trash...it's actually a piece of the Legendary Armor, the L-Brace. This valuable item will allow you to climb certain walls by using your swords. ---Steamwood--- As soon as you exit the pawn shop, you'll immediatly notice that something is wrong with the village, as there are steam clouds all over the place. Within a few seconds, Mayor Govern and his wife rush up and explain the problem. It seems that Steamwood, a power plant of sorts, has gone out of control. Musashi says that this is none of his concern, to which the Mayor replies in anger saying that it most certainly IS! Steamwood is what powers Allucaneet Kingdom, and if it's not shut off soon, it may explode! They force you to help fix it, and send you to talk to Fores, the foreman in charge of Steamwood. He lives in a house in the northern part of town where the Gondola is located. Grab onto the brown wall on the right and alternately press the triangle and square buttons to climb it (you can do this now that you have the L-Brace, and you can climb any similar looking walls as well). When you talk to Fores, it turns out that he's a lazy man who wants Steamwood fixed, but it simply too lazy to do it himself. After a short chat, he hands you Steamwood's manual, and forces you to fix it... Before heading out, he says that you only have 24 hours to fix it, or it'll explode! A timer for 24 Hours (24 Minutes, actually) appears in the corner and you're on your way... ^_^ Head for Steamwood forest through the exit of town near the windmill, and head immediatly for the wall at the far end. Climb up it and jump on the pipes. Head left to grab an AgedCoin from the treasure box, then quickly run under the pipes at the top of the screen. You'll now be at Steamwood. When you run up to the door, Musashi checks the manual to find out how to fix the reactor. You'll learn what you have to do, then will perform a test run on the door. ===Steamwood operating instructions=== In order to stop the plant, you'll have to shut off all the valves in numerical order. Inside the plant, the valves are numbered 1-8. When you touch a valve, two gauges will appear. The one on the left is the pressure gauge. This will fill up, and you must press the square button while the yellow bar is over the green "OK" section. If you hit the button at the right time, the gauge on the right will fill up, if you hit the button while the yellow bar is NOT on the OK section, the gauge on the right will decrease. The gauge on the right is the power gauge, (see above for how to fill it). When this gauge is full, the valve is secure. However, when you close a valve, another timer appears in the corner. This is the time you have to close the next valve. If this timer runs out, all the valves will re-open, and you'll have to start over; don't let this happen. ===Back to the game=== It's not very hard to open the door, you'll only have to hit the "OK" section twice and the door will open. Once inside, jump on the elevator and ride it up to the first floor. Run around to the right and close valve #1 -- this isn't any harder than it was to open the door. Keep running to the right and close valves two and three. You'll have to hit the "OK" section three times for both valves, but it's not much harder. In order to actually REACH valve 3, though, you'll have to jump on the pipes to the left or right of the actual platform, as the steam is blocking you. Once you've shut these three valves off, hustle back to the elevator and ride it to the next floor. The entrance to this floor is blocked by steam. You can get in the same way you got to valve #3. Run around to the left, pass by valve #6, and get to valve #4 the same way you got to the previous one. Run to the left and get to the last two valves on this floor. Fortunatly, they're both normal. Ok, so six valves have been shut down, time to go after the last two! Get back on the elevator and go up to the highest floor. The entrance is normal, but both valves have steam blocking them, and need to be approached the way valves 3 and 4 did. Don't panic, you're almost there! The gauges for the last two valves really fly, and you need to hit the OK section SIX times! Take it slow and it should be no problem. Once you've shut off valve #8, you've saved Steamwood! After a cool scene in which the steam is released, Fores and the Mayor show up to thank you for saving the town. They talk for a while, then Fores tells you that you can use the passage between Steamwood and his house anytime you want. Then the two head back to the village. Now that Steamwood has been saved, and you have the L-Brace, there are a few optional side areas you can get to: - In southern Somnolent Forest, you can now get behind the pipe that was blocked by steam. 500 Drans can be found in the chest, and the Bincho Field holds Maid Loinette, who will accidentally teach you "Dashing Pierce" technique should you visit her at the castle. - Another Minku can be caught by climbing the wall opposite to where Fores lives in the Gondola section of the village Now return to Grillin' Village and speak with the mayor. He rewards you with a Longevity Berry, then informs you that a strange man with a cape was seen heading towards Twinpeak Mountain... A quick visit to Mr. Lands' house confirms this. Man in a cape...? Could it be Rootrick!? Well, only one way to find out, and that's to head for the mountain. Work your way over to the other side of the river, where you found the memory box, then head down the hill. At the very bottom, you'll find none other than Rootrick himself trying unsuccessfully to climb up the cliffside. Musashi shouts at him, and demands to know where the princess is. The Thirstquencher hick merely counters with the tried and true "Ya'll don't wanna know!" bit, then accidentally reveals that he's after a scroll, which is at the top of the mountain. This bit of news excites Musashi, who has been searching high and low one. Obviously, Rootrick isn't going to just let you TAKE the scroll without some sort of challenge! Since he was trying to climb up the cliff, he challenges Musashi to a climbing race. First one to the top of the cliff wins the scroll! This race isn't very tough, but watch out for the blocks that pop out partway up -- they'll knock you down. Fortunatly, they also knock stupid Rootrick down as well, which you can use to your advantage. When you win, Musashi will find some clever (and funny) way to get rid of Rootrick, then he continues his search for the scroll. Run around to the other side of the cliff, then jump down in the crater. You'll see a strange looking slab with a symbol carved in it......This is where the elusive Earth Scroll is! Strike the slab with Lumina and it will shatter, granting you the power of your first scroll! With the Earth Scroll in your possession, you can use it to shake the ground and stun enemies, and also to knock certain boulders down. To use a scroll, you must first select it from the subscreen where the box that says "Sword" is. "Norm" is your normal spin attack, and "Earth" is your scroll (the other four scrolls will also appear here as you acquire them.) Simply select which power you want, and it will appear in the left 'eye' at the bottom of the screen. To use the power, simply do the same thing you did to charge up the spin attack (hold R1 until the left gauge fills up, then press the triangle button.) The Earth Scroll is now in your possession, and Musashi starts to leave when suddenly...Lumina begins...talking!? Well, not exactly talking, more like telepathic communications. Anyway, Lumina explains that the scroll has been obtained, but it's power can't be used to it's fullest until the Crest Guardian who protects it has been defeated. Musashi has no clue what a Crest Guardian is, and when he asks Lumina, it mysteriously stops talking... Figures. When you regain control, walk over to the boulder and use the Earth Scroll. The boulder will fall, allowing you to jump back down to the hill near the memory box. If you'd like, you can climb back up the mountain now; Jon is no longer blocking the bridge, so you can freely explore beyond it. If you've climbed up here, you'll see a large rock hanging off the cliff just beyond the bridge. Shake it down with the Earth scroll, then jump on it and swing across to the other side using the poles. There's no reason to climb the long pole nearby, so ignore it and jump (CAREFULLY) on the little platforms leading to the top of the mountain. At the top, grab the treasure chest for a...rock!? ALL THAT TROUBLE FOR A ROCK!? Well anyway, go back down the mountain until you reach the falls. The raft is back, and you can shoot the rapids again if you want. If you decide to, (and make it all the way to the end), you'll end up on the hill where you got the Bracelet earlier. Walk to the right and go off screen. There is a boulder blocking the way to the treasure chest, so knock it down with your new scroll, and it will fall in the spike pit below. Now go claim 200 easy drans from the box, then walk back to the previous screen, jump down the cliff, and take the path to the right. You'll be in the area where you just were, but on the ground level. Since you knocked the boulders down into the pit, you'll be able to cross. Smash open the Bincho Field to rescue Knitter Lunchetta, who will tell you about something called "The Legendary Cloth"... Keep going and use the Earth Scroll again to knock the boulders on the cliff into the spike pit, then jump across them. When you reach the hill with the triangle shaped rock, once again, use your scroll to knock it down, then climb up and continue on. There's nothing more here, but you've cleared the way for the next mission, so go back to the village. As soon as you enter, you'll meet up with your old friend Jon! Musashi offers to return the L-Brace to the treasure hunter, but he says that you should keep it. Musashi then asks Jon about the 'Crest Guardians' that Lumina spoke of. Jon says that they're, as the name suggests, the guardians of the crests. When questioned about the crests, Jon explains that once you defeat a crest guardian, Lumina will become stronger, and will be able to break the seal of the crest using the corrisponding scroll. Since the Earth Scroll is now in your possession, a guardian is probably waking up in Hell's Valley. Musashi starts to run off after the guardian, but Jon stops him and says that Hell's Valley was once a maximum security prison, and because of that, is extremely hard to get in to. Musashi decides to return to the palace and ask the 'geezer' for help. When you talk to Steward Ribson, he'll tell you that they'll help you, but they don't seem to have enough people. This angers Musashi at first, saying that he doesn't need any help, but Ribson says that there are four panels that need to be stepped on at the same time before the gate to Hell's Valley will open, and thus, you need four people to help you. The ones who are willing to help are Soldier Lumpwood, Knight Lumpwood, Mercenary Meitlofe, and Carpenter Carvey. If you've rescued them all (and you should have), you'll be ready to go. Ribson will send the four helpers ahead to Hell's Valley, and tell you to join them when you're ready. Go to the grocery and stock up on healing items (especially C-Drinks), then go to Twinpeak Mountain and take the right path as soon as you enter. ---Hell's Valley--- You should have come here earlier and knocked all the rocks down into the spiked pits, but if you didn't, just stand close to the pits and use the Earth Scroll to knock them in. When you reach the end of the valley, your four helpers will stand on the tiles and open the gates and let you inside. As soon as you enter, the first Crest Guardian, Skullpion, shows up for one tough fight! %%%%Crest Guardian: Skullpion%%%% This is another tough battle. Your four helpers will assist you in this battle. They'll put either a bomb, a bunch of bombs, a boulder, or an herb in a bucket, and send it across a rope above the battlefield. The object here is to knock the weapon out of the bucket by using the Earth Scroll. If whatever is in the bucket hits Skullpion, he'll take damage. After about 250 damage, he'll fall unconcious and expose a core. Strike the core with Lumina and he'll lose energy. Repeat this three times to defeat him. However, Skullpion is no pushover. Everytime you strike his core, his attack pattern changes, thus there are three rounds to this fight. - Round 1 - At the start of the battle, Skullpion will mainly focus on dashing straight at you. This hits pretty hard (20-30 damage), but Skullpion stands still and basically shows you that he's getting ready to charge, so it's fairly easy to dodge if you're watching for it. His only other attack is a sort of sand breath beam. He stands in the middle of the field, shoouts out a blast of sand from his mouth, and spins around. You can avoid this beam rather easily though, bu running in the opposite direction. While he's charging up for the beam, however, is a good time to activate the Earth Scroll and try to drop some debris on him. Once you've managed to expose (and hit) his core, he gets back up and Round 2 begins. - Round 2 - This round, Skullpion doesn't seem to use the sand beam attack. Instead, he climbs up the cliffsides to try and knock the helpers unconscious for a short time. If both people on one side are knocked out, they'll be unable to send the 'supply bucket' across to you, therefore you just have to wait until they get back up. Fortunatly for you, Skullpion *can* be stopped. When you see him climbing the cliff, just use the Earth Scroll to knock him down. This is probably the longest of the three rounds, because you rarely have a clear shot at the beast... - Round 3 - This is it, the last round. It's not all that difficult, though. Skullpion has regained his Sand Beam attack, and will still climb the cliffs on occation. You know how to deal with these attacks already, so I'll focus on his new one. If you see him bury his tail in the ground, and hear a drilling sound, start running. Once he does this, his tail will pop up from under the ground right where Musashi is standing. While this isn't all that hard to dodge, know that it'll poison you if it hits. Anyway, just repeat the previous strategies from here, and you should be fine. --- When you beat Skullpion (it may take a few tries), your maximum stat levels will increase, and you'll recieve a 25 BP bonus! Your helpers will congratulate you, and return to the castle. (If you leave the area, then return to where you fought Skullpion, you'll find a Minku.) Following the battle, there will be a scene at the Thirstquencher Empire's palace. A strange man with a Russian accent named Fuhrer Flatski seems obsessed with claiming Lumina and the five scrolls, and is quite upset that Rootrick failed... He calls in Bubbles, another of Thirstquencher's Generals, and sends her after the remaining scrolls. Though her sister, Gingerelle, doesn't seem to think she can succeed, Bubbles has devised a new type of Bincholoid soldier. Rootrick may have failed, but she brags that her "Mission Vambee" won't... %%%%CHAPTER 3: Mission Vambee%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Back in the village, the music has changed (not that this matters), but Musashi senses that something is horribly wrong... Go into town and you'll find Mayor Govern and Hotelo, the Innkeeper standing outside Hilda's grocery. It seems that Hilda locked her son Tim out of the house the night before to teach him a lesson, but he was bitten by a half-vampire, half-zombie creature called a Vambee, and is now very sick... They could probably sure him if they made the legendary "Remedy", but it requires that you mix both Misteria and Aqualin. Mayor Govern sends Hotelo to Twinpeak Mountain to find the Aqualin, and asks Musashi to get the Misteria, which is a magical flower that grows in the Mine. (You may have seen the mine entrance before; it's east of the restaurant, but it's always been locked.) Wid, the old man who lives in the windmill has the key to the mine, but he's always sleeping... When you regain control, and before visiting old man Wid, head for Steamwood Forest and return to the place where you may have seen an Earth Crest earlier (it's near where you rescued Musician Pianissimeat from a Bincho Field). Stand on the Crest and use the Earth Scroll -- a part of the cliff will fall back, allowing you to climb the cliffside and catch another Minku. You'll also find the Wind Crest up here, but you're a long way from being able to use it... Anyway, back in town, pay a visit to Wid at night and he'll give you the key and a valuable bit of information. Misteria is found in the mine's underground river, and it ONLY blooms between the hours of 3:00 AM and 7:00 AM. Armed with this knowledge, head for the mine and enter... ---Grillin' Mine--- Chests: OldGlove Bincho Fields: 4 Upon entering the mine, you'll discover it branches off into two paths. The one on the left leads to a watery area, where there is nothing to do, so take the right path.Near the end of the path, you'll encounter a purple mushroom called a 'Toadstool'. These enemies fight (and look) identical to the Sleepies in Somnolent Woods, except for the fact that these shrooms can poison you! Do *not* get hit by their spores! The same "attack and retreat" method will kill them, though. Oh, and don't assimilate them either, as you'll also get poisoned... Get ridda the thing then climb up the back pole and continue. Walk along the wooden platform, dodging rocks and jumping over holes until you reach a spinning mine-lift platform. Wait until one of the platforms get near you before jumping, then wait until the lift is at a good position before jumping off. After clearing the first spinning lift, you'll be faced with two more. Jump across these ones the same way and go out past the next set of wooden platforms. Enter the door and you'll be in a room with a huge fan. Wait until it stops, then jump in the pit below it. You'll land in an open area with two paths and a treasure chest. The chest is a memory box, so save if you want, then choose your path. The right path leads to a long gap that you can't cross yet, but it might be worth it to come here and assimilate one of those falling 'Cure Worms' to get the Antidote skill, which will prove helpful later. The correct path is the one on the left. In the next area, you'll be faced with moving floors! When the path first branches off, head down and rescue Knight Brisket from the Bincho Field. He'll offer to teach you his special sword technique when you visit him at the castle. Go back and follow the path and take the upper route to smash another Bincho Field, this one containing Carpenter Dicey. >From here, there's nothing else in this room, so continue out to the left... Finally, the underground lake (which has extremely Alundra'ish music...) There are a series of moving platforms here which you must use to get to the island in the center. Jump on the first platform and let it carry you around the room to the different platforms. The first one has a Minku on it, the second one has a Bincho Field containing the somewhat useless Chief Gravie, and the last one has a box with an OldGlove. After getting everything on the small ledges, jump on the moving platforms until they bring you to the center island. On the very back, you can jump off and free Cook Mary-Nade from a Bincho Field, but where you want to go is the brown area near the bottom of the island. Climb up the spiraling landscape and you'll find a crystalline flower at the top. This is Misteria, but as Wid says, it only blooms between the hours of 3:00 AM and 7:00 AM. If the time isn't between these hours, just go to sleep for a while. When it blooms, collect the flower, then work your way back to the entrance of this room, leave, and head back to the pit where the fan was. Totally ignoring the warning on the nearby sign telling you not to, climb the wall until you reach the fan. You can't get back up the left path, so wait until the fan starts to move, and ride the wind up to the passage on the right. This next room has the same basic land formation as the first area (the one with the spinning lifts), except the rocks fall in different locations and some of the platforms on the spinning lifts have spikes. Pass through this room and you'll be in a cave with some putrid yellow water. DON'T fall in this stuff or you'll be poisoned. (Which isn't a problem if you were able to assimilate a Cure Worm earlier.) Jump carefully across the platforms until you reach an elevator. Ride it up and make your way across the upper ledges. At the end, you'll find a cave that leads to the mine entrance. Return now and give Misteria to Mayor Govern. He'll thank you, but tells you that Hotelo hasn't returned from Twinpeak Mountain yet, and asks you to go look for him. Before going to the mountain, return to the castle and speak with Knight Brisket, and as promised, he'll teach you the Tenderize attack. Also, if you haven't already done so, visit Knight Lumpwood again, and he'll teach you Crosswise Cut. After learning the two techs, climb up Twinpeak mountain until you find Hotelo in the second cave. He tells you that he failed to get Aqualin, and asks you to go after it. Unfortunatly, there are only 12 more hours before Tim becomes a Vambee! You must hurry! A timer for 12 minutes now appears in the corner of the screen, so you must hustle to the top of the mountain. There is a wall that you can climb just before the two moving platforms, which will save you some time. Quickly run to the left and climb up to the bridge where Jon was earlier. He's gone and you can now cross. If you didn't already do so, use the Earth Scroll to knock the boulder down, then jump on it and swing across the gap using the poles. On the ledge, climb up the pole and examine the lake to get the Aqualin (You can get Aqualin here from now on; it restores a bit of HP and cures poison.) Now quickly make your way back to the cave where Hotelo is -- he'll take the Aqualin back to the village. Now you should also return to the village where one of two scenes will occur, depending on whether or not you ran out of time on the mountain. - If you ran out of time... Mayor Govern will meet you at the entrance of town, and inform you that you were too late, and that Tim has become a Vambee. Musashi tells the old man to try the remedy anyway, even though the mayor says that it probably won't work... Looks like the only possible way to save Tim is to get rid of these ghouls at the source... Back in the village, Hilda, who is in shock after having her son turned into a monster, will close her shop until after you rid the town of the Vambees, and Motelo (Hotelo's twin brother) will run the inn for the rest of the game. (Though I don't believe this makes any real difference.) - If you didn't run out of time, you'll be greeted at the town gate by Tim, who has fully recovered, although he doesn't seem too grateful to you. Oh well... Visit the grocery and you'll find Hilda, Hotelo, and Mayor Govern there. They'll thank you repeatedly, then Hilda will reward you with an Orange, which you can take back to Clown Weinee at the castle to learn a neat (and useful) trick. The shop will remain opened and will from now on be selling oranges. Hotelo will also return to the inn. Either way, the game becomes rather vague here. Go to the bakery and talk to Jam, the girl behind the counter. She'll say that her father goes to the restaurant every night for dinner, but the owner of the restaurant has dissappeared. She wants to use this as an opportunity to get her father to eat dinner at home with her, and asks you if you'll talk to him. Jam says that her father goes to the restaurant every night at 6:00 PM, which is when you'll find him there. When you meet Jam's father, Mr Towst, you'll discover that he's a pretty pathetic excuse for a human. He doesn't seem to care much about his daughter, and is angry that the restaurant is closed because the owner dissappeared. When Musashi asks what happened to the waitress and the other customers, Mr. Towst says that they're probably at the inn. Before leavign, Musashi tells the old baker that his daughter wants him to eat dinner at home with her once and a while. He agrees to this idea and leaves. At night, pay a visit to the inn and choose to talk to the two people there. Wanda will tell you that the restaurant owner always does something suspicious behind the counter, and that he's probably hiding something, and Macho says that he saw a monster come out of an opening in the restaurant -- also behind the counter. Since the restaurant seems like the obvious home base of the Vambees, you'd might as well take a look. Kill some time until midnight, then wait for a Vambee to come out of the restaurant, and sneak in while the door is open. Musashi will indeed find a small passage behind the counter, as the patrons said there was. It leads to a strange temple- like basement, where you'll find Mannick, the restaurant owner. Mannick claims that he came here to get rid of the ghouls, and leads you to a door with four stone eyes. He says that the leader of the vambees is behind it, and asks you to find a way to open it... In the basement room, there are four doors, each leading to a mini-area, a big door blocked by a pit that you can't reach yet, a cracked wall, and a Memory Box. There's no particular order in which to do them, but you'll have to complete all four mini-areas. They don't have names, but since they're all basically color themed, I'll refer to them as the "Blue, Red, Green, and Yellow" temples. This Cheesy ASCII map will show you which areas are behind which doors: |-----FT-----| | | | BIG PIT | | | |---| |---| | | |---| |---| |-----B-----| | | |-----Y-----| | |----| |----| | 4 M C | |----| ¤ |----| | |-----R-----| |---| |---| |-----G-----| | | |Strt| 4 - Four-eyed door Y - Yellow Temple M - Mannick B - Blue Temple G - Green Temple C - Cracked Wall R - Red Temple FT - Fire Temple ¤ - Memory Box Oh yes, if you need your HP and BP restored, talk to Mannick -- he'll refill both for free. ---Blue Temple--- Chests: Powder Bincho Fields: 1 The Blue Temple consists of several dark rooms and spike pits, making it one of the most difficult areas so far. Enter the door and walk up to the first pit. Tan and Brown tiles pop out of the sides of this pit, allowing you to get across, however, only one color tile will be out at a time. When the brown tiles come out, the tan tiles will retract. Time your jumps and you should make it easily across. (If you happen to fall in it, simply enter the door at the far end, which will warp you back to start.) When you reach the other side, you'll find a door and paths leading both left and right. The upper door has nothing of interest in it, so head right. There are some spike pits here, but if something is placed on the red "eye tile" on the other side, it will close. Whack a Vambee across the pit to hit the tile, then continue down and through the door on the right. (BTW, if you need to kill a Vambee, be sure to use the Shish Kabab technique to do so, as it does a *lot* of damage to them.) This room is pitch black... The blue Wisps will provide light, but they'll do a nice amount of damage if they hit you, so watch out. Walk to the end of the room, then wait until a wisp comes nearby and you'll see a big spike pit with three poles sticking out of it. Jump to the first one and climb up to the very top of it, then repeat this for the other two. Break open the Bincho Field at the end to release Bailiff Jerky, then make your way back to the crossroads and go left. The spike pit on this path can be closed the same way the other one was (by throwing a Vambee across the pit onto the red tile). Close the pit, then take the lower left door. The layout of this next room makes it difficult. Again, this room is pitch black, and only the wisps can light the way, but this room has several smaller pits scattered around it. Let the wisps light the way and search for the door, which leads to a small room with two warp portals. The one on the left brings you back to the start of the area, while the one on the right brings you further into the temple. Take the correct warp and you'll be sent to a ledge with a door on it. Enter the door and you'll again be faced with a dark room. This time, however, you can light the way by assimilating a Lamp Bat (the little bats carrying lanterns.) At the end of this room, you'll find two more warp tiles. The right one brings you back to start and the left one brings you to a room that looks identical to the one you just went through, but backwards. Do the same thing there as you did the first time, and you'll reach ANOTHER room with two warps. This one is the same as the last one (right leads back to start, left leads deeper in). This warp will put you on a ledge with a door as well. Go through the door and you'll come to a lava filled area. Jump over the arrows the statues shoot, and jump in the pits at the end. When you reach the bottom, ignore the burning (!) Vambees and go through the door. This is another dark room filled with small spike pits where only Wisps can light the way. About mid way through the room, you'll find a treasure box with Powder inside. Take it and continue through the upper door. There is nothing here but a strange blue eye on a pedistal. Walk up to smash the eye with Lumina; there will be a great flash of light and a warp leading back to the start will open. Musashi isn't sure that this was right, so he jumps in the warp and heads back to talk to Mannick. It seems that one of the eyes on the four-eyed door has opened! Now that you've completed one temple, time to do the rest! ---Red Temple--- Chests: Shield, OddHat Bincho Fields: 2 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom comes to mind in this obstacle course full of lava, rolling boulders, moving walls, and numerous pitfalls! Climb up the stairs, ignoring the endless stream of Oozes, and defeat the huge flower-like Bowlers. Bowlers shoot giant bowling ball sized seeds at you, but they only shoot in a straight line, so attack them from the side or the back. When the path turns, watch out, because there is a bowler at the other end rolling seeds down the narrow path. To avoid them, duck into the little ledges on either side. When you get to the plant, assimilate it to gain the Bowl skill, which lets you roll bowling balls to damage enemies and cracked walls, like the one behind the plant you just killed. Break open the back wall to find a Shield, then go back out and climb up the wall. There is another Bowler here shooting seeds down the path, so to avoid them, jump in the small holes. At the end, kill the plant then walk carefully down across the narrow ledge, jump over the gap, and go in the door. Here, you'll find some more of those weird burning Vambees. They can still be killed with Shish Kebab, but since they're on fire, it hurts you to pick them up; just ignore them and walk down the hall. Much like in the Blue Temple, you'll be bombarded by flaming arrows. You can avoid them by jumping, but only if you have perfect timing, so expect to take a few hits. Enter the far off door and if you don't still have Bowl, assimilate the Bowler and break open the wall to the right. This room has a button and a burning bridge which you can't yet walk across. Jump on the button and a platform with ten Vambees will drop on the other side of the bridge. In case you couldn't tell by the formation they're standing in, you now get to do some bowling! It's just ordinary bowling, (except you get unlimited chances to knock all the... err... pins down), so you shouldn't have any trouble here. Once you've made like FF1's Garland and "knocked them all down" ^_^, the bridge will cool off allowing you to cross. Proceed through the door in the back to rescue Mercenary Potrowst, then use Bowl to break the wall on the right side of the room and collect an OddHat. Now go back to the previous room and stand on the platform where the Vambees were -- you'll be carried up to another room. Smash the flame pillar with Lumina's spin attack when it's looking away from you, then go in the door it was blocking. As soon as you enter this next room, the wall starts closing in! Quickly run to the end of the hall and enter the door to the next room, where again, the wall will start closing in. When you reach the end, you'll be in a long passageway where blocks will fill the room. Jump on them to avoid being squished until they fill the pit. When they stop, go up through the door. Defeat the bowler and break through the cracked wall on the left side of the room. You'll be in another room with a burning bridge and a button, and yes, you again have to bowl. When you finish, enter the door in the back to free Mercenary Stue, then go back out and ride the platform that the vambees were on up to another room. Enter the door and smash the eye on the pillar to finish this second temple. If you still have the Bowl skill when you exit here (which you should), you can break open a cracked wall in the area where the green and yellow temples are to find treasure chests with 500 Drans, an OldSword, and a piece of cloth. When appraised, the sword turns out to be nothing more than a useless shovel which can be sold, but the Cloth is something more... It becomes L-Cloth! It's not Legendary Armor, but it can be used to make some later on, so be sure to hold on to it. ---Yellow Temple--- Treasures: Small Heart x2, Small Crystal Chests: OldPipe Bincho Fields: 2 This is what I'd call the second hardest of the four temples, due to it's tricky jumps and bottomless pits. Walk across the upper ledge and jump across the moving platforms to the other side and enter the next room. This room is exactly the same as the last one, except the blocks move differently and you can find Librarian Brisketta in a Bincho Field in the upper left corner of the room. The next room is a long chain of spinning platforms, where you'll be bombarded by pesky Sphere Bats. Assimilate a Vambee to absorb B.O., which will keep them away for a short time. The spinning blocks in the following room move at such an angle that they're tough to jump to; wait until a corner of the block passes close to you before jumping. On the other side, you'll find two turnstyle spiked walls. They're easy enough to avoid by standing close to them and waiting for them to spin around. Pass them, then jump across the two spinning blocks and enter the door on the other side. This room is by far the most annoying one here. The platforms move up and down, and unless you wait for them to be at the perfect height before jumping, you'll fall in the bottomless pit. Oh, and did I mention that you have a bizarre flying vambee and a whole mess of sphere bats hounding you the whole way? Needless to say, this is a difficult secion, though it's short. When you make it through, you'll be in a much easier area. The three swinging scythes do a lot of damage if they hit you, but move in a predictable pattern, making them fairly easy to dodge, and the flying vambee in the next room has about as much sense as a brick. Pass through this room and you'll find yourself in a big room with small wooden platforms hanging over a sea of boiling lava! If you're low on BP, go right to pick up a small crystal. Now go left until you reach a small stone block, in which case you should go down. You'll eventually come to a spinning block, but instead of jumping to it right away, head down and grab the small heart and rescue (the very strange) Soldier Hanky-Flanky from the Bincho Field. Once you've gotten them, backtrack and jump on the platform you saw. On the other side of this room, scout around and pick up an OldPipe and another small heart, then take the lower door to exit. The last section of this temple has lots of tricky jumps, including ones where you'll have to jump over a pit while avoiding a scythe! All in all, it's really not all that difficult if you plan it carefully and take your time. At the end, you'll (as usual) find an eye which you must smash with Lumina. ---Green Temple--- Chests: Helmet Bincho Fields: 2 The Green Temple has lots of puzzles and moving platforms, though it's probably the easiest of the four. Start by climbing down the stairs and riding the moving platforms across the pit. Climb the stairs on the other side and jump across the three ledges with Vambees on them to reach another moving platform. Use it to get across the upper part or the room, then jump across the ledges here and enter the upper door. Keep going straight up until the path turns to the left, then enter the door. Here, you'll be faced with a simple puzzle. You have to push the red block down over the red eye to open the door. Push the block two spaces to the left and two spaces down. The next room has a tougher version of the puzzle. Start by pushing the top block up one space, then right two spaces. Push the left block right one space, up three spaces, and left one space. Finally, push the remaining block left 1 space, up three spaces, then left another space. All the blocks should be covering the eyes, and the door will open. You'll again have to deal with some moving platforms. Jump across them carefully and enter the lower door. The following room contains a series of falling blocks, but unless you're really slow, they won't hit you. Enter the door at the end to reach a different sort of moving platform room. Here, the platform moves up and down, so wait until it's at it's lowest point, then jump on to it. Now wait until it's at it's highest point, then jump off it on to the lower ledge and continue through the door. An interesting puzzle awaits you here. There is a path leading across the pit, but as soon as you try to cross it, the lights go out, and you can't see it, forcing you to follow an essentially invisible path. Fortunatly, there IS something you can do. Assimilate the ghost-like LoneMist enemy near the entrance to get a skill called Sublime, which lets you leave your body and explore the room with the lights on. Scroll around the room to get a glimpse of what you're up against. If you still need help, the correct path is (from the center block): Right, Down, Left, Left, Down, Right, Right, Down. That will lead you directly to the door. Pass through the next room which has more easily dodged sliding blocks, and you'll come to another invisible maze room. Assimilate Sublime and look around, then go (from the center block, as usual): Down, Right, Down (To free Carpenter Cubey from a Bincho Field), Up, Left, Left, Down, Right, Down. Enter the door to find a dark maze room which is different from the first two. I don't remember this room, so just use Sublime to look around and make it to the lower door. The dark maze in this room is the same as the two you just did, but is REALLY big, and has numerous pointless dead ends. From the middle block, go Right, Up, Left, Up, Left, Up, Right, Right (Grab the treasure box for a Helmet), Up, Up, to reach the end. OR... from the block with the treasure chest, go Right, Up, Up, then walk off the screen to find a secret room. Here, you'll find Knight Chucks trapped in a Bincho Field. Free him and he'll offer to teach you a technique if you return to the castle. Jump in the warp that appears when he dissappears to reach the end of the area. Walk through the door and smash the eye. Congratulations, you've cleared all four temples! ===Back to the game=== Now that you've completed all four temples, return to the big door where Mannick was standing. You'll see that he's mysteriously vanished... Walk up to the door and it will open, only to reveal, not the Vambee leader, but rather Mannick himself standing over treasure chest! Yes, he used you... you did all that work completing the temples so this greedy pirate can claim one lousy treasure! Excitedly, Mannick opens the box, only to find that the treasure he released the vambees for was nothing more than an ugly old beat up belt! After a serious flaming from Musashi, Mannick reluctantly gives you the UglyBelt and heads off to the inn... Back in the village, take the belt you just received to Conners and have it appraised... It turns out to be Legendary Armor L-Belt! This valuable piece of armor allows you to perform a double jump by jumping once, then pressing the jump button again in mid-air. This can be used to jump high obstacles or long gaps. It will be essential in some areas, and just plain useful in others. As soon as you leave the pawn shop, Mannick will rush up and inform you that the village well has dried up, and asks you to investigate. In order to get into the well, you'll need a rope. One can be found inside the church, but before going there, there is an extremely important side-task you can and should do. - Return to Twinpeak Mountain and climb up to the area where you found the THIRD tree near the beginning of the game. Climb up the long pole, and double jump off it to the right. You should land on a small platform with a lone Bincho Field on it. Smash it open to free Weaver Dinneretta, she'll say that if you bring her the L-Cloth later, she'll make you something special. Return to the castle and, assuming you have L-Cloth (which you should), she'll offer to make you either a quilt or some gloves out of the magical cloth. If you chose to have her make gloves, you'll get L-Glove, which increases the chances of getting a critical hit, but what you REALLY want is the quilt! Not only does it reduce tiredness at twice the speed of normal when sleeping in the field, but it also lets you reduce it to 0% (Previously, the lowest you could get it by sleeping in the field was 20%). That's not worth it you say? Well how about this. When sleeping, the L-Quilt actually RESTORES HP *and* BP at a fixed rate! I can't possibly stress the importance of getting the L-Quilt, It WILL save your life many a time! Anyway, whether you pick the gloves or the quilt, Weaver Dinneretta will say that it'll take three days for her to make it. Go to your room and sleep nine times then return and talk to her again to receive your prize! Anyway, whether or not you got the bonus Legendary Armor, head for the church. The gate is locked, but you can double jump over the fence into the yard outside the chucrh where you'll find the priest, Father White, sleeping outside. When you talk to him, he'll say that some thieves stole the church bell and when he ran after them, they tricked him and locked him outside, so he can't get you the rope! Now Father White says he's been hearing strange noises at night. Musashi figures it's just mice or something, but the priest asks him to come back at 2:00 AM and investigate. Kill some time, then return and talk to Father White at EXACTLY the specified time. You'll hear some strange noises, which Musashi expects is the ghouls. You have to find some way to get inside the church now... White says that if you can get on the roof, you can climb in through the hole where the church bell was. He'll crouch down allowing you to climb on his back and jump up to roof, where you'll automatically jump through the hole into the church. Inside, you'll meet Bubbles, a female Thirstquencher soldier with a real attitude! After exchanging taunts, Bubbles sics a whole group of a new type of Vambee soldier on you and runs off. ---Mini Boss: Vambee Soldiers--- Try as you might, you can't seem to be able to defeat these ugly ghouls, so Just keep attacking them to keep them back. Everytime Musashi says something, they get more aggressive and attack in larger packs. Eventually, after getting nowhere, Musashi will notice that it's getting light outside, and that the Vambees don't come out during the day, so maybe... After he says that, they become EXTREMELY aggressive, attacking you in massive groups! They can't do much damage alone, but if they gang up on you and capture you, you'll die no matter how much HP you have left. Oh yeah, watch out for those smoke bullets that the soldiers in the back shoot at you -- they'll momentarily stun you if you get hit by one. Eventually, if you hold them off long enough, the sun will come up, shine through the windows, and destroy all the Vambee soldiers! Once they're destroyed, Musashi will run outside and inform Father White that the church is his again, and he'll reward you with the rope you need to investigate the well. He also asks you if you'll search for the missing bell. Tell him that you'll bring it if you find it, then go to the inn, rest up, and save. When you're ready, stand next to the well and Musashi will throw the rope down, allowing you to enter it. Walk across the stone path until you find a huge stone slab. Smash it with Lumina to earn...THE WATER SCROLL! With this scroll, you can walk on water for a short time and shoot water to put out flames. Ok, now go back down first section of the well and activate the water scroll. Walk across the water, and you'll find the missing Church Bell on one of the islands. You'll have to carry it back to town. Remember when you had to bring Leno back to town in early Chapter 2? Well, you have to do the same thing here; the only difference is that if the bell falls in the water, it returns to the last place you dropped it. Pick up the bell and toss it across the water. You obviously can't climb back up the rope while carrying this heavy bell, so you'll have to make your way to the cave leading to the mine, and make your way out the normal way. Make sure you're carrying the bell when you switch screens, or you'll have to start over. After you exit the mine, you'll be met by Father White, who takes back the bell and rewards you with an Angel Statue. With the water scroll in your possession, there are a few tasks you can do. - Back at Twinpeak Mountain, make your way to the dead end where you found Mercenary Meitlofe, and use the scroll. Walk across to the island a little ways to the left. Climb up the hill and rescue Doctor Tung from the Bincho Field, then use the scroll again and jump off the cliff and head left again. At the very end, you'll find a minku! Catch it -- that 25 HP boost will come in handy! - In Somnolent Forest, you may have seen a Minku in a small clearing on the opposite shore of the river, but were unable to reach it before. Now that you can walk on water, go catch it! Back to the game. Go pay a visit to the store and stock up on C-Drinks, then return to the restaurant basement. This time, go straight ahead to the room on the map above with the big pit and double doors, which is labeled "Fire Temple". With the statue in your possession, you can open the door. ---Fire Temple--- Chests: None Bincho Fields: 1 This is the temple where the Crest Guardian protecting the water scroll lives. It's a fairly short area, but the boss is pretty tough -- I hope you stocked up on items! Immediatly inside, you'll be faced with a big lake. Use the water scroll to get across, and enter the door on the other side. You'll now have to double-jump over a series of small platforms in a big pool of lava. It's not hard, just watch out for the dive bombing bat in here. After passing this section, you'll end up on a platform with two rotating spiked walls. Pass them and ride on the moving platforms to reach the other side of the lava lake. Just keep going until you come across a bunch of brown blocks floating in the lava (be careful, they sink if you stand on them too long). Make your way past them, rescuing Taster Salmonelli from the Bincho Field along the way, and continue on. When you reach solid ground, you'll be ambushed by a couple flame creatures. Cool them off with a blast from the water scroll! Upon getting to the spike pit, pick up a Vambee and toss it across on to the switch on the other side to close the pit, allowing passage to the door leading to the end. There's one last puzzle here before reaching the Crest Guardian. There are four alters, each with flames burning on them. Use the water scroll's bubble attack to put douse the flames, and the door in the back of the room will open... The lair or the Crest Guardian awaits... %%%%Crest Guardian: Relic Keeper%%%% Actually, the Relic Keeper itself is too big to fight in this chamber, and is stuck under a collapsing ceiling. Instead, he sends a living flame to attack you. Like all Crest Guardian battles, there are three rounds here, which are determined by how many times you strike the beast's core. I should warn you, though, neither Lumina nor Fusion can do anything to the Flame. You must use the water scroll's bubble attack. Yep, that's right, fight fire with water. Heheh. Each attack will do about 8 damage to the flame. Every 150 damage or so, the flame will dissolve, and the Relic Keeper's core will be exposed. Strike it three times to win. Anyway... (BTW, if this boss strategy bores you, you can always count the number of times I use the word "Flame". ;P) - Round 1 - This isn't so bad. The Flame starts off slow, and only has a few attacks. It's main method of attack is to float around the room, dropping easily dodged fireballs at you. This is the best time to blast the flame with as much water as you can. It's other attacks include turning into a big Fire Sword and 'slashing' at you. This attack is tough to avoid, so I hope you have the water scroll activated in order to take the hit from it. The Flame's last attack is a blue fire wave. The Flame moves to the center of the chamber, turns blue, and shoots a wave of fire on both sides. Since you can't damage the flame when it turns blue, just dodge the wave by double jumping. - Round 2 - In Round 2, the flame uses a whole mess of new attacks, and doesn't use any from the first round. It's new chief attack is to turn into a fireball and bounce around the room. This is a surprisingly difficult attack to dodge, so just try to get as many hits in as possible. Another new attack involves the flame moving to one side of the room, turning into a big fire snake, and jumping across the room. You can avoid this by standing a short distance from the snake; if positioned right, he'll just jump right over you. For the last attack, the Flame floats to the center of the room and turns into a pillar. He then sticks an 'arm' of flames over the part of the room where Musashi is, and drops a few fireballs on him. They seldom hit, however. - Round 3 - Ok, now for the fun part. The flame has *all* the moves from the first and second rounds, and most of them are improved upon. For example, the blue flame wave now shoots three waves instead of one, the flame snake goes across the screen twice, and the when bouncing around the room, the flame now shoots out little blue fireballs! The Flame Sword attack, however, doesn't seem to do anything different, which is just as well, since it was a pretty mean attack to begin with... Oh yes, there is also one new attack that I like to call 'Fire-go-round'. The flame turns blue, moves to the center of the room, and makes a "Merry-go-round" of flames. You can dodge them by running towards the flame and double jumping. --- Once you've beaten the Flame, the ceiling will collapse, crushing the Relic Keeper, and you'll get his core. Yous limit levels will all increase, and you'll get a 25 BP boost. Now that you've liberated the water scroll, that makes two down, and three to go! Following the battle is a scene at Thirstquencher Castle. The captive Princess Fillet is growing impatient. Noticing that the careless Thirstquencher troops left a Binchotite in her room, the princess decides to perform another hero summon. She succeeds, and another hero appears in a flash of light. Unfortunatly, the 'hero' this time is Kojiro, who doesn't care about the princess, and only wants to duel with Musashi. The flash caused by the hero summon, however, catches the attention of Topo, a mouse woman, who goes to investigate. When Kojiro mentions that he's looking for Musashi, Topo says she'll take him to his rival, and they both leave. The princess just sits there, confused... %%%%Chapter 4: Duel at Dragon Island%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% After the scene, you'll be outside the restaurant. The town is back to normal, and if you weren't able to rescue Tim, Hilda's Grocery is now back in business. Both shops are also selling new items, so be sure and pay them a visit. EX-Drinks are a good buy -- they cost 800 Drans, but restore full HP. The Biscuits at the bakery are also useful, as they restore 100 BP and don't spoil like the other bread items. Anyway, when you're done looking around town, pay a visit to the mayor's house. It seems that Mayor Govern has fallen ill, so Mrs. Govern asks Musashi if he'll act as a substitute mayor until the Mr. Govern recovers. Agree, and you'll be asked to find a way to restore the well. Once you've regained control, head back and jump in the well. ---Well--- Chests: UsedBoot, Armor, OldShirt Even though you're given no directions on how to do so, it's easy to figure out how to restore the well. I'm sure you remember seeing the Water Crest when you were here earlier. well, now that you've defeated the Crest Guardian, you can activate this. Do so, and the water drains from the right side of the well, and fills the left side up, restoring the well to normal. As soon as you do this, a two men, a big dumb guy named Ben, and a short guy with a stutter named Ed walk in and start discussing the bell that they stole. Musashi overhears them, and tells them that he already returned the bell. This angers the thieves, and a (funny) argument takes place between them. Once they're done ranting, they leave. Now that you've problem of the dry well, there're a lot of treasures to be gotten! On the now dry right side, jump down and grab the chest for a UsedBoot. Walk around and enter the small cave on the other side, and make your way through. There's a chest along the way containing Armor, and at the end is an unusable Fire Crest -- take note of it. Go back out of the cave, and enter the flooded left side of the well. Use the water scroll to walk across the water, and you'll find a Minku on a ledge on the north wall, and an island in the lower left corner with an OldShirt on it. The UsedBoot and Armor you picked up earlier are just trash that you can sell, but the OldShirt turns out to be the Legendary Armor L-Vest. This piece of armor allows you to charge your weapon twice as fast, and will be invaluable later on. After getting the Minku and all the treasures, exit the well. The rope is gone, so you'll have to leave via the mine entrance. If you'd like, there's also a nice sub task you can complete now that you can use the Water Crests. - Return to the south section of Somnolent Forestwhere the small circle lake is, and you'll come across another Water Crest that you've probably seen before. Stand on it and activate the water scroll. The small lake will dry up, allowing you to get the chest that was in it. Once appraised, the Glasses that you find in the chest turn out to be Legendary Armor L-Goggles, which allows you to appraise items as soon as you pick them up. You'll still need to visit the Pawn Shop to sell useless items, however. Anyway, back to the game. Return to the Mayor's house, and Musashi will ask for his next assignment. Mrs. Govern says that the Gondola's been broken for quite a while, and now would be a good time to repair it. When given the choice, ask what you're supposed to do. Mrs. Govern tells you that you need a Gondola Gizmo, and that there are some in the Scrap Depository in the mine. She also tells you that there are three carpenters in the castle who know about Gondola Gizmos, and old man Wid might know about them as well. If you talk to Wid, he'll tell you where the Scrap Depository is, but you still don't know what a Gondola Gizmo is, so go back to the castle and talk to the three carpenters. They'll give you clues as to what the Gondola Gizmo looks like: - It has a gold rim, and is fancy looking. - It looks like a wheel. - It has 4 holes. With this knowledge, enter the mine and make your way back to the room with the big fan. Wait for it to stop blowing, then jump down the chute below it and take the right path. You may have come here before, but were blocked by a long gap you couldn't cross before. Now that you have the L-Belt in which to double jump, you can make it across. This path leads to the scrap depository, but on your way there, you'll have to cross some trecherous moving platforms. You've been up against them before, but some of these go in the opposite direction, meaning you'll have to be fast. Also, some of the platforms have some kind of green slime in them, and if you touch it, you'll get poisoned. At the end of this obstacle course, you'll find a small room with a bunch of junk, and four wheel devices -- these are Gondola Gizmos... or rather, *one* of them is... They're so heavy, that you're only able to carry one of these at a time, and only one of them is the Gondola Gizmo, so choose carefully. Using the clues given to you to narrow down the choice, you should know that it can't be the first one on the left, as the description says the G.Gizmo is gold. Likewise, it can't be the last one from the left, as that one has 5 holes. The 2nd and 3rd ones, however, both match the clues... The third one from the left is the correct Gizmo. Take it and bring it back to Steward Ribson. If you brought the correct one back, you'll be told to kill some time while the Gondola gets repaired, so Musashi decides to go back to his room to take a nap. When he wakes up, Musashi finds that he overslept, and quickly dashes off to the village. When you arrive at the village, you'll find a place of chaos! The entire town is on fire, and people are trapped in their houses! You'll have to play firefighter, and stop the blaze! Using the Water Scroll's bubble attack, walk around town and douse the biggest flames (don't waste time with the smaller ones, you can't affect them). Once you've started to spray a flame, don't let up until it goes out, as if even a small piece of the fire remains, it will quickly grow back to full size, forcing you to start over. There are 8 major fires in the town, here's where they are: - Two at the Church - Two outside the bakery - One at the Mayor's House - One at Farmer McRice's House - One at Farmer Grange's House - One outside Hilda's Grocery Once you've put all the fires out, Mrs. Govern will thank you and tell you that she saw two suspicious looking men, one big and one small, looking at the church, talking about something. Musashi suspects that the ones who started the fire are probably the same people who stole the church bell... The next morning, pay a visit to the Mayor's house. It seems that Mayor Govern has recovered. He gives you a Calendar as a reward. This doesn't do anything now, and won't be useful until much later on. After rewarding you, he goes back inside, and Mrs. Govern comes out and also rewards you by giving you some Rocksalt. This item'll be useful shortly. ---The Beach--- Chests: 500 Drans Bincho Fields: 1 The game is pretty vague on what you're supposed to do at this point... Head to the northern part of Somnolent Forest, and take the path leading to the left. You'll be behind a huge slug-like rock, which you can use the Rocksalt on to turn into a normal slug, clearing the way. Look around for a chest containing 500 Drans, and a Bincho Field which hold Artisan Teebone, who will temper up Fusion should you decide to pay him a visit at the castle later. Now activate the Water Scroll and walk across the water to a small island with yet another water crest on it! Stand on the crest and use the scroll; all the water on the beach will drain into the ocean, allowing you to go down and take the Fire Scroll from the altar! There's no time to celebrate, however, as Kojiro appears and challenges Musashi to a duel. Musashi shrugs him off, saying a duel would be a waste of time, but Kojiro insists, and decides to play his trump card: the princess! He says that if Musashi refuses to duel, that something 'not nice' will happen to the princess... Having no other alternative, Musashi reluctantly agrees... ---Mini Boss: Kojiro--- He may talk big, but Kojiro really isn't so tough, especially if you built up your stats. He has four attacks: 1) A basic sword slash, which is close range only, and easily dodged. 2) A double slash, which is also easy to dodge, but causes a bit of pain if it hits. 3) A smoke wave, which flies in a straight line, and is a bit harder to dodge. You'll know if Kojiro is going to use it if he yells "Die!". 4) A cool-looking Firebird that is similar to the smoke wave, but has a longer range. He always says "Take that!" before using it, though, so prepare for it. Since none of the scrolls do any damage, you'd do best just to switch Lumina back to it's normal spin attack. Kojiro seems to block a lot of your attacks if you hit him from the front, so wait until he stands still (to use his smoke wave or firebird attack), and hit him from behind, preferrably with a spin attack. Four to six well timed spin attacks should do him in. Another method of attack is to assimilate Kojiro with Fusion (yes, it works for some reason...), and get his "Fence" skill, which allows you to attack him from a distance. This isn't a bad strategy, but spin attacks are far more effective. Once you've defeated Kojiro, you've rescued the princess! When you regain control, leave the beach and you'll automatically be taken back to Allucaneet Palace, where you're greeted by Steward Ribson. Although there is momentary excitement for Musashi, who expects that he can now go home, Ribson reminds him that peace has not yet returned. Musashi realizes that he hasn't yet caught the thieves, or dealt with the Thirstquencher Empire. After a bit of talk, you're asked if you want to go seize the thieves. It doesn't matter what you choose, the outcome is the same. The princess returns to her room, and Ribson tells you that the three Mercenaries can help you find the thieves' hideout. Assuming you've rescued Mercenaries Meitlofe, Potrowst, and Stue, they'll each give you a clue as to where to find the hideout. They all point to Meandering Forest as the location of the hideout, and the directions to reach it refer to the game "Shogi", which you can read about in the library, which if properly figured out, lead directly to the hideout. The directions are obscure, and extremely difficult to decipher, so just head for Meandering Forest and follow the following instructions: (The number after the way to go indicates the number of screens you must cross.) >From the entrance, go left 1, up 2, right 1, up 2, right 1, up 2, left 1, up 4. If you've followed the directions carefully, you'll end up at a mysterious frozen palace... ---Frozen Palace--- Treasures: Small Heart x3, Gold Coin x4 Chests: RedEye, BlueEye, GreenEye, LongTube, Wh-Cloth, Bl-Cloth, RedCloth, RedShoes Bincho Fields: 5 As soon as you'll enter the icy palace, you'll meet a strange woman. Musashi asks her if she's one of those dumb thieves, to which she replies that she's insulted that you thought she was a part of "Leader's Force", which is the name of the group Ed, Ben, and Topo belong to, and that her name is Gingerelle. Musashi shrugs and asks her if this is the thieves hideout. She says "Maybe, but they're not at 'Frozen Palace'.". She then taunts you a bit more and walks out. Dismayed at the news, Musashi decided to explore anyway, as he might find something there about the 5 scrolls. This is the longest and toughest dungeon yet. The monsters are surprisingly strong, even if you've maxed out your stats. Anyway, when you gain control, take a look around the room. There's an icy staircase which you can't climb yet due to the fact that it's extremely slippery, a memory box in the far back, and four doors, one of which is blocked by a stone slab with a picture of a red eye on it. The two doors on the right side of the room lead to blocked paths you can't do anything with, so ignore them and take the upper left door (It's the only other opened one). Pass through this next room, and you'll find two more doors at the end. One of them has a stone slab exactly like the one in first room blocking it, this one with a picture of a blue eye on it. Ignore it for now and take the upper door, which leads to a chamber where penguins are pushing ice blocks into a pit -- do *NOT* kill these penguins. Instead, jump on an ice block, ride it out into the pit, and jump off to the ground on the other side when the block gets close enough. You'll be faced with two *more* doors! Enter the upper door first, to reach a dead end with a bunch of penguins in it. Defeat them all and a chest will appear. Grab it for the special "RedEye" item. With the eye in your possession, go back to the previous room and enter the door on the right. Climb up and free Chef Julienne from the bincho field on the wooden ledge, and jump down to the other side. Here, take the lower door and you'll end up back in the main room. Now that you have the RedEye, you can move the stone slab with the red eye on it, allowing you to enter the room behind it. The room beyond the previously blocked door is a dangerous one. There are icy spikes all over the place, and two fearsome enemies. The first one is the Copycat, which looks like a sparking robot, and copies your every move. They don't, however, copy your Lumina attacks, meaning a sword spin can defeat them easily. The other enemy here is the Ice Plant. A pumped up version of the Herb Plants you fought back at Somnolent Forest, who's shots freeze you temporarily. Take your time here, and defeat all the enemies -- it's actually easier to defeat them than it is to try and run from them. You'll find a chest containing a LongTube at the end, as well as a door. Enter the door, and you'll be in a big ice maze. I really can't help too much here, but look around for a small heart, a gold coin, and a bincho field where Alchemist Leanman is being held. This doesn't make a whole lot of sense... Why is Leanman here!? He was in the intro! Oh well, no matter. Make your way through the maze until you come to a door in the lower left corner. There are four clones here. Defeat them all without getting hurt (use the spin attack), and you'll be rewarded with the BlueEye. Now go back in the ice maze and look for another door in the lower right corner, it takes you to an outside balcony blocked by steel spikes. You can't destroy them now, so go back in the maze. Throughout this place, you've probably seen Stomp Golems, those big piles of rocks that drop from the ceiling. You can assimilate them (only from behind), to get "Steel", which allows you to destroy certain types of spikes. Whatever you do, don't let the golems stomp you! Even if your Mind is maxed out, you'll still lose a massive 77 HP! Once you've gotten the Steel skill, go back to the spike room and plow through them. At the end, pass through two more rooms to rescue Butcher Chops from a Bincho Field. There's nothing more you need in the maze, so jump off the balcony and you'll end up back in the first room again. With the BlueEye, you can now move the stone slab with the blue eye on it that you saw in the upper left room. After it's opened, proceed through where you'll find an easily accessed bincho field, where Janitor Sloppy Joe is being held. He doesn't do anything for you, however, but you might as well free him for the usual BP boost... Jump on the two ice blocks in the room, and make your way up to the next door. You'll come out on a series of platforms floating above the room with the blue door. Carefully make your way across to the door at the end -- if you fall, you'll have to go back and make your way up here again. When you make it to the end, you'll be on a balcony with the chest containing the RedShoes. If you found the L-Goggles earlier, you'll discover that this is actually the Legendary Armor, L-Shoes! With these on, you can walk on icy floors without slipping. Jump off the balcony and you'll be back in the first room... Notice a trend here yet? ;) Go now in the door on the lower right. If you came here before, you were stopped by the slippery slope, but now that you have the L-Shoes, you can climb up it. When you make it to the other side of the slope, grab the chest for RedCloth, then go across the next slope, and into the door. You'll end up in another ice maze. Again, I can't help with it much, but look around for several gold coins, and watch out for those powerful Stomp Golems -- they're everywhere! Eventually you'll run into a Copycat; be sure to assimilate it. It's difficult to do because it always throws it's sword at you as soon as you throw Fusion at it; try to get him to face in a different direction. You'll get the Clone skill when you finally succeed. Now look for a door on the lower right corner of the maze. Inside the small room, use the Clone skill to create a Musashi clone, and lure the single monster here over to it. When it gets close, press O to detonate the clone. The explosion will kill the monster, and make a chest containing the GreenEye appear. Why did you need to use Clone to kill the beast? Read the sign in the room. It says "May the Clone have victory". This means that the only way you'll get the GreenEye is if the clone destroys the monster... It took me forever to figure out what to do here! Anyway, look around the maze again until you come to a lowered platform in the lower left corner of the maze with a small heart on it. From here, you can make your way to the upper level of the maze, where a chest containing Wh-Cloth, and a Bincho field containing Musician Al Forte can be found. Also on the upper level of the maze, look for a stone slab with a green eye painted on it. Yep, you guessed it! Use GreenEye, and the door opens. The next room is a series of small ice blocks, and penguin monsters. Pass through it and the room after it, and you'll come out of the upper right door in the main room. Now that you have all three Eyes (Red, Blue, and Green), climb up the stairs in the center of the room and examine the big door in the back. It's frozen shut, however, so use the Fire Scroll and thaw it out. Insert the three eyes into the door, and it'll open, leading to a room with a big spiraling staircase. First, go under the staircase, and grab the chest for Bl-Cloth, then climb to the top of the stairs. Save at the memory box, then light the two torches with the fire scroll, and enter the door that opens afterwards. You'll be in some kind of shrine. Strike the statue of the dragon, and you'll fall into an ice cave. Walk forward, melt the two sets of ice spikes with the fire scroll, then turn and walk out onto the ledge overlooking a huge glacier. The glacier shatters, revealing a huge blue serpent... %%%%Crest Guardian: Frost Dragon%%%% This is an unusual battle, and probably the easiest Crest Guardian of all. Just watch out; all it's attacks can freeze you in a block of ice for a short time, making you an easy target! As you've probably guessed, the only thing that works against the dragon is the Fire Scroll, so get it ready! - Round 1 - This isn't really a round at all. The dragon floats around in the background, and occationally dives at you. During this time, blast it with as many flames as you can. After a short time, the dragon will smash a bit of the cliff on the right side of the screen. Quickly jump up onto it, and run across the platform until you come to some an ice bridge. Now's the time to really hustle! The Frost Dragon is destroying the room, and you've gotta make it to the end of the ice bridge before he destroys it! To make matters worse, you'll have to stop and melt ice spikes along the way! If you're not quick enough, the dragon will smash the bridge below you, killing you instantly! The L-Vest is a life-saver here, as it reduces charge time, allowing you to melt the spikes quicker! When you finally reach the end, you're safe, but will have to fight the beast! - Round 2 - Here's where the battle begins. The dragon only has three attacks: For the first one, he slams his head down against the ice. You can hit him during this time, but it's best to wait. His second attack consists of him shooting easily dodged ice cubes at you. The Dragon's third and final attack is an Ice beam. You can avoid this by watching which way he's gonna shoot it, and running to the other side of the room. Be sure you've got the fire scroll charged up, as after the dragon uses this, he'll have to rest a moment. Take this opportunity to blast the dragon with as much fire as possible -- hold the O button and don't let up! If you've scored enough damage, the dragon will collapse. Strike his core! - Round 3 - At the start of the round, the dragon will sweep across the battlefield. This attack is near impossible to avoid, but the damage is bearable. After using it, he'll fly into the air, and crash back down, sending ice chunks flying every which way. Once he's landed, however, this round is exactly like the first one. Wait for him to fire the beam, then rest, and flame him some more. - Round 4 - Same as round 3, except the Ice cube attack is a *lot* faster and harder to dodge. The same strategy applies here. Once you've struck the dragon's core this round, you'll win. As always, you'll gain the guardian's core, and will get a 25 BP bonus, and a limit level increase. After getting your bonuses, you'll be warped back outside the boss's room. Three scrolls down, two to go! --- As soon as you leave the palace, there will be another scene at the Thirstquencher Empire. Colonel Capricciola is reprimanding Ed and Ben for their failures, and as usual, Ben ends up saying something stupid. Capricciola then talks a bit about Bubbles and Gingerelle, then mentions Topo's new strategy... %%%%Chapter 5: The One that Nests Underground%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% After the scene, you'll automatically be taken back to Grillin' Village. The mayor tells you something has happened while you were gone, and says to talk to the shop owners for more info. ("More" info? He didn't give you any to begin with!) Proceed to speak with all the shopkeepers, and you'll find that Princess Fillet came in to town, and demanded the shopkeepers' savings! Something doesn't seem right here... Return to the castle, and Musashi tells Steward Ribson about the princess's little 'shopping trip'. Ribson is shocked, and asks you to return to the village and find out why the princess did this. Since the Gondola is now fixed, he suggests you take a ride on it. >From now on, you can select the Gondola from the castle's transport menu. This is basically a longer way into town, so it's not necessary to use it at any time besides the one or two times the story forces you to. When you arrive at the village, Musashi notices some disturbingly familiar looking clouds of steam, and decides to pay a visit to Steamwood. There, you'll find the foreman, Fores, who tells you that the princess forced him to take her here, then knocked him unconscious and ran inside. To get even with her, he locked her inside Steamwood and removed the handle, thus preventing her from escaping. However, the princess has gone berserk and is tearing up Steamwood! Fores tells you to (once again) stop it from exploding, and gives you Handle#0, which you can use to open the door. I hope you remember what you did here last time, 'cuz you gotta do it again! Well, if you've forgotten, just say so when Musashi asks, and you'll get a reminder. Open the door, and proceed inside, where you'll find the Princess, babbling about Colonel Capricciola... Musashi notices, however, that she seems to have a tail now, and goes over to take a closer look. Realizing that her cover is blown, this obviously fake princess throws off her disguise. She's actually the mouse woman, Topo, that was in the scenes earlier! Musashi and Topo talk for a while, and she disappears, leaving behind the Stores' profits. Take them, then save Steamwood! ---Steamwood--- Items: Handle#1, Handle#4, Handle#8 This area is done exactly the same way as before, except there are now a few new steam leaks, and some of the handles are torn off the machine! Walk around the tower, grab the spinning wheel on the ground (Handle#1), then take the elevator up to the first level. Shut off the three valves, then head up to the second level. On a platform to the left of the damaged valve 4, you'll find it's missing handle. Grab it, and shut off valves 4-6. On the third level, run around to the very back of the platform, and grab Handle#8. Shut off the last two valves, and you've saved Steamwood... Again! Like last time, Fores and the Mayor are waiting outside. They thank you, then take the profits and go back to town and return them to the shopkeepers. Also like last time, Fores takes all the credit for saving Steamwood... ^_^ With the Steamwood matter resolved, pay another visit to the castle, and inform Steward Ribson of the previous events. He is glad that the princess was a fake, so the real one is innocent, but this leaves another matter... Where is the *real* Princess Fillet!? Musashi says he'll continue to search for her, and goes out after the rest of the 5 scrolls. Since there doesn't seem to be much action in the village, return to the small cave inside the village well, where you saw the Fire Crest earlier on. Because you defeated the Frost Dragon, you can now use this Crest. Activate it, and there'll be a huge volcanic eruption, which blows a huge hole at the top of the cave. Climb up the wall at the back of the chamber, and you'll be on a strange hill. First things first, catch the nearby Minku for an always needed HP boost, then proceed up the hill. At the very top, you'll find the Wind Scroll! This new found power temporarily turns Musashi into a cyclone by holding down the Triangle button. During this time, he can go against strong gusts of wind, and dig holes in certain places. Ok, that's all well and good, but... Now how do you get off this hill? You can't climb back down the same way you got up... Stand in the middle of the field and activate the new scroll. Hold the triangle button, and Musashi will dig a hole through the cliff, causing him to fall into a remote section of Meandering Forest, where Bubbles and Gingerelle appear to be waiting for him... Since the fall from the cliff knocked Musashi unconscious, the sisters take this opportunity to steal Lumina. However, just as they're about to try, Musashi wakes up. His sudden awakening causes Bubbles to freak out, and she shoots him with a green beam, sealing him in a Bincho Field. This action angers Gingerelle, and she runs off to tell Fuhrer Flatski of her sister's stupid move. Bubbles once again panics, and runs off after her sister, leaving Musashi stuck in the crystal prison... When you 'regain control', press the triangle button, and Musashi will break out, gaining a whopping 50 BP in the process! There's nothing else to do in the forest, so just walk back to the village. When you arrive, it's obvious that something's wrong, but everyone there seems to be acting fairly normal... Everyone, that is, except for Tim and Mint, who are standing near the north end of the village jumping up and down. Talk to them, and you'll find out that a giant ant is attacking the Gondola Office! Better take a look! At the site of the Gondola office, you'll see that the children were right, a giant red ant *is* attacking it. Mr. Lands, the Gondola operator says that it's probably after the shipment of syrup and pea soup being transferred from the castle. He's worried that because of the ant, the food won't be delivered... This gives Musashi an idea! Instead of wasting time trying to kill the ant with your swords, head back to the castle and take the Gondola back down. When you reach the bottom, you'll smash the ant! Unfortunatly, it's not dead. It climbs up the nearby cliff, smashes a grate at the top, and goes inside the cliff. Might as well follow it... ---Old Mine--- Items: Big Heart x5, Big Crystal x4, Bronze Coin, Silver Coin x2, Gold Coin, Green Herb Chests: LrgTool, OddBone Bincho Fields: 3 Upon entrance, it's quite apparent that the mutant ant didn't live much longer, as it's twisted corpse lies at the bottom of the shaft... Just ignore it -- it's not gonna hurt you. :P There are two passageways here. Go left first and catch the Minku, then go back and use the Wind Scroll to blow away the poison on the right path. This room has quite a complex layout. Make your way to the series of small platforms and grab the LrgTool from the nearby chest, then go up and left to a Bincho Field. Break it open to release Cook Chiffonade, who will make useful "NeatBalls", which you can buy at Hilda's Grocery later. Head back to the right, and keep going until you reach a pit of spikes with a bunch of boulders behind it held by boards. Use the Earth Scroll here, and the boards will break, dumping the boulders into the pit, allowing you to cross. To get past the next two pits, jump down and grab the ropes. This'll raise the weights, allowing you to cross. After this, you'll find *another* spike pit with boulders near it. Again, use the Earth Scroll to release the boulders and fill the pit. From here, you're free to go to the next area. Like the mine earlier on, this one also has a room with elevator platforms and vile looking yellow water that poison you if you fall in it. This room, however, is a bit different... The elevators here are inactive, meaning you'll have to use them as steps. There are two passageways you can take here: The upper path, or the lower path. The upper path is completely optional, so if you don't want to do it, skip the next section and go straight to the lower path. Also, there is a chest on one of the platforms on the lower level containing an OddBone. Collect it and move on. - Upper Path - The first part of the long upper road takes you across a narrow path, blocked by strong winds. Activate the Wind Scroll, and you can use the cyclone to go against the winds. Along the way, you can collect a Bronze Coin, a Big Heart, Two Silver Coins, and a Gold Coin. When you reach the end of the windy path, you'll find a steep hill and a spiked floor. Assimilate the nearby Hopper plant, and use it's "Hop" skill to jump up the hill and over the spikes. When you get past it, you'll be faced with a more difficult obstacle... Double Jump across the gap, and you'll find that there's another steep hill on the other side that you need to use the Hop skill to climb, but the nearest Hopper is on the other side of the pit! How can you get up the hill? Well, it's a difficult task, but here goes: You have to throw Fusion at the Hopper plant so it starts to assimilate it, then quickly jump across the pit and press X like a madman! If you were quick enough, you'll absorb the Hop skill, and will be able to make it up the hill. If not, keep trying, you'll make it eventually... Consider this next room a bonus. Not only can you assimilate a Cure Worm to heal any poison you may have contracted here earlier, but the easiest Minku in the entire game to find is also here! Although this place may look like a dead end, it's not; you can climb the wall near the sign. At the top, you'll find an huge inactive fan, a strange machine, and a passage to the left that you can't reach. Walk over to the machine and examine it, the fan will start up (as will the elevators in a previous room), and blow you up to the passage. This leads to a long hall where you'll find more mutant ants. You'll have to perform a lot of tricky jumps here as well, but it's tough to describe. Just make your way to the end. Along the way, be sure to free Conductor Scores from a Bincho Field. At the end, you'll find a big empty room with a single Bincho Field inside. Break it open to release Knight Rumparoni, who will later teach you the sixth and final technique: Rumparoni-SP. If you've been following the walthrough, this should be the last person... You've saved everyone except the Princess! After freeing the knight, the only thing left to do in this room is use the Wind Scroll to dig a hole in the center of the room and escape. This drops you back down to the room with the elevators. Take the lower path... - Lower Path - This is a straight, short path leading to a mine cart. Jump on it and you'll play a mini game. The object here is to move the mine cart left and right to avoid obstacles along the way, such as bugs, rocks, and closing gates. You can only get hit four times, then you'll have to start over again... I can't offer any help here... (If anyone would care to map out the mine cart course, I'd appreciate it.) After reaching the end, the mine cart crashes, leaving you stranded in a crystalline cave full of healing items. Collect them and save at the memory box, then stand in the center or the room and use the wind scroll to dig a hole. You'll fall into a room with a squishy ground...or so it would seem... At a closer look, you're actually standing on the body of a huge winged ant! %%%%Crest Guardian: Queen Ant%%%% This is another easy boss. Watch out for the queen's tail, though, and don't go near green slime around her, either. Both are poisonous. Otherwise, the battle should go pretty smoothly. - Round 1 - It starts out almost too easy. Queen Ant only has a few attacks, and most of them are pretty easy to dodge. Her first attack is a simple claw swipe, which can be dodged by double jumping; her second attack is a poisonous cloud that flies up into the air, and explodes into eight small clouds, and descends down to the battlefield in two waves of four clouds each. You can avoid these easily by watching where they're gonna land, and simply moving out of the way. The last attack is where the queen makes spikes pop out of her abdomen. The section they're gonna pop up on shakes for a second before- hand, however, so jump off the shaking platform easily. The trick here is to wait until she uses the claw swipe attack, because afterwards, she'll have to rest a moment, revealing a flashing eye. This isn't the core, but hit it with Lumina anyway. At first, it only serves to make the queen angry, and she'll shoot out a group of small larvae out of her tail. These are just normal enemies and can be killed in one or two hits. They sometimes drop Green Herbs, too. Just stall the battle until the queen uses the claw swipe attack and needs to rest again, then whack her eye. This time, however, she sits there and screams in pain, revealing the core hidden in her tail. During this time, quickly activate the wind scroll and spin dash her tail. She'll lose some energy, and round 2 begins. - Round 2 - After hitting the tail core, the queen gets royally pissed and starts flapping her wings, creating a strong gust which will most assuredly blow you off in to the ooze. You can go against the gusts by using the wind scroll, but it's unlikely you'll have the time to activate it. Besides this one new move, this round is exactly like the last one. Hit her eye twice, then smash her core! - Round 3 - All of a sudden, things get really hard! The poison cloud now has 4 waves of falling clouds, and are a lot faster; the abdomen spikes pop up faster than before, and a lot more times, too, and when you hit the eye, almost a dozen larvae pop out! Oh, and did I mention her majesty's new attack? Occationally the Queen Ant will stick her pincers out, and if she grabs you, your HP steadily decreases! There's not a whole lot you can do about this; I just hope you have enough HP to withstand it... To make this round worse, you have to hit the eye *three* times before the core will be releaved, and the ant recovers quicker after using the claw swipe attack, meaning you'll have to be quick to hit it! Once you eventually succeed in blasting the core a third time, the queen will blow to pieces, and you'll claim the her core, getting the usual stat and BP boosts that go with it. --- You may have beaten the guardian, but you're not quite out of here yet. Stand on the crest and activate the wind scroll. A tornado will appear and transport you outside the cave. %%%%Chapter 6: The Sword of Luminescence%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% You'll awaken in the dead end path, where you'll have one final meeting with your old friend Jon and his pooch Leno. He congratulates you, and tells you that all you need now is the Sky Scroll. As luck would have it, however, Jon has been reading some ancient books that gave him clues to the scroll's whereabouts: "A pillar of wind... Day of the sky... Tears of God fall on the forest with the prodigious tree..." After relaying the clues, Jon tells you he wrote them down, and gives you the Note containing them. He and Leno then walk off and disappear...again... Before you continue your mission, there're a few simple sub-tasks you can accomplish. - In the village, pay a visit to Farmer Lacter's house. It seems that kindly old Mrs. Lacter thinks that you're her grandson Bob, and has bought you a toy. Unfortunatly, she has fallen ill... Farmer Lacter gives you the toy, a Kojiro action figure, and tells you to take care of it... - Speaking of Action figures, If you've rescued everyone from the Bincho Fields scattered around the world, you can buy a Princess Fillet action figure from the new "Special" collection! - On a similar note, if you've caught all 13 Minkus, visit Shephard Beefalo at the castle. She doesn't seem too happy that you've caught every single Minku in the entire world, but gives you a clue about the legendary "Mother Minku". To find this elusive beast, return to the Meandering Forest. Before you get very far, mom will ambush you! She has her mind set on repaying you for how you treated her children earlier! ---Mini Boss: Mother Minku--- Mom is pretty tricky. At first, she just hops around slowly, occationally spinning around, using her massive ears as weapons. During this time, just do as much damage to her as you can. Once you've hurt her enough, she'll start jumping in the air and landing on you. This attack is nigh impossible to avoid, so I hope you have a healing item on hand! Eventually, the mother Minku will let up and stop bouncing on you. At this point, you're pretty close to beating her. Just keep attacking a bit more, and eventually she'll shower you with various hearts, crystals, and coins, then shrink and run off. Collect whatever items you can before they disappear, then leave the woods and return to town. As an added bonus for beating the deceptively mean creature, you'll be able to buy a Mother Minku action figure at the toy store! ;) Once you've completed these three tasks, it would probably be a good idea to start trying to make sense of Jon's clues. The town citizens don't help too much, but there're a few key people here. Though he's been pretty useless before, pay a visit to Fores, the Steamwood foreman. When questioned about the clues, he tells you that Steamwood is sometimes called "The Prodigious Forest". That answers one part of the riddle, but look for more info. Actually, there's really only one other person here who says anything important: Farmer McRice, who tells you that it rains every Skyday morning at Steamwood Forest. Rain is sometimes called "Tears of God", and there *was* a Wind Crest in that forest, which may account for the "Pillars of Wind" part of the clue... The riddle is solved! You must go to Steamwood Forest and activate the Wind Scroll on Skyday morning during the rain. With this solved, take care of any last minute details. Make *absolutely certain* that all your stats are at level 30 (their max level) before proceeding. Even with the stats maxed out, the final areas won't be easy... Also, go to Hilda's Grocery and stock up on EX-Drinks. Also, I hope you didn't buy the S-Revive earlier, as you may need it now. Buy it! When you're all set, head for the Wind Crest and sleep until Skyday morning. Activate the scroll during the rainstorm, and a tornado will appear and whisk you up to Sky Tower, location of the 5th and final crest... ---Sky Tower--- This is a short and easy area. You're on a moving floor, circling a watery platform with three blocks bearing the Earth Crest on it. Carefully jump to each of these blocks, and use the Earth Crest on them to stomp them down into the ground. Once all three have been smashed down, a door will appear near the waterfall. Use the water scroll to walk across the water and make your way to this door. It'll take you to a higher ledge with three torches on it. Light the torches with the Fire Scroll, and the platforms they're on will rise up to the very top of the tower, where you'll find the Sky Scroll! Success! Your celebration is cut short, however, by an extremely untimely visit from Thirstquencher Empire's flying base, "Soda Fountain", which shoots a pipe out towards Sky Tower. Colonel Capricciola shows up and, as usual, demands Lumina in exchange for the Princess. When Musashi refuses, Capricciola retreats, and Musashi jumps out at him, only to fall onto the pipeline below. He then runs along it and enters the base through a hole in the wall. ---Soda Fountain: Part 1--- Chests: C-Drink, W-Gel The first part of this long area is pretty straightforward, but rather tough. You have to use the Sky Scroll to fly through some narrow passages with electrified walls on the sides, and acid on the ground. If you hit the walls, the scroll's effect will be cancelled, and you'll fall into the acid... Fortunatly, if you hit the walls, you're still able to perform a double jump, which may be able to save you. The only advice I can offer you here is to take your time; the Scroll's effect lasts long enough to make it over all the pits. Along the way, be sure to grab the C-Drink from the chest. At the end, you'll be faced with a second obstacle course: a rotating tunnel. The chest at the entrance of the tunnel only contains a W-Gel, so don't waste another item to get it if your inventory is full. Anyway, the rotating tunnel is split into two parts. The first part has electrified spikes all over the floor, but they only do like 8 damage if they hit you, so they're not so dangerous. It's the second part of the tunnel that's tough! The floors are littered with holes, and if you fall in them, you'll have to go through the entire tunnel again! Not to mention that the tunnel is getting smaller... It may take you a few times, but when you finally get through it, you'll encounter your old 'friend' Ben. In a last ditch attempt to get back on Capricciola's good side, he attacks you. ---Leader Force: Ben--- Well, there have been tougher bosses. Ben's attacks are predictable, but they do a lot of damage. He starts the battle by floating around the room scattering bombs all over the place. He always drops them in the same places, and they always explode in a predictable pattern, so find a corner to hide in while they all explode. Once they're all gone, Ben lands and throws three easily dodged Shurikens, then two equally easily dodged boomerang axes. During this time, attack him as often as possible, while doing your best to avoid his attacks. After throwing the shrapnel at you, Ben follows up with a swift spear thrust. This is tough to dodge if you're still close to him, so run away after he throws the boomerang axes to be safe. He then starts the whole process over. Just use the same strategy throughout this entire battle, attacking Ben when he lands, and you should win easily. Once Ben is out of the picture, enter the door behind him and you'll be prompted to save. Do so if you'd like, then you'll be sent to the part 2 of this incredible 4-part dungeon! ---Soda Fountain: Part 2--- Part 2 is more of a puzzle than anything else... Start by walking to the right, through the transparent wall, then going back to the left and entering the door. From here, you'll be in a hallway filled with a bunch of doors with symbols on them. It took me forever to figure out what you're actually supposed to do here, but here's the deal. Remember that old Thirstquencher calendar Mayor Govern gave you in Chapter 4? Well, now you can put it to good use. Looking at it, you'll see a bunch of strange symbols that corrispond to the symbols on the doors. What does this mean? Well, plain and simple, it's a clue as to which doors you should enter. The first symbol on the calendar is the Earth Crest, so look for the door with that on it, and enter it. In this room, walk to the left until you find a switch and a large pit. Either use the Earth Scroll to stomp the button and make a platform appear over the pit, or just use the Sky Scroll to fly over it. On the other side, ignore the Wind Crest door, and jump on the yellow platform. Use the Earth Scroll three times here to stomp the button down, and the wall on the right will drop down, revealing a door with a 'bullseye' on it. Go in. This next room's answer is a bit more obvious. First, use the Sky Scroll to float over the spikes. On the other side of