PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

- Receive Banoa's Letter, and head to the Rall Family Wellness clinic
- Agree to rescue Dr. Flair from the Rasteenie Mine
- Get permission from Elder Cornell to enter the Rasteenie Mine
- Make your way to the Ruins of Moondoria north of Lance Village

OPTIONAL OBJECTIVES:

- Find 500 gold hidden in a baby duckling's mouth - Receive the Smoked Meat from Theo, as well as the Meat Pie from Lucy - Speak to Lilia near the elder's house, and again in the field outside Lance

INVENTORY / EQUIPMENT
(Lance) - Banoa's Letter*, 300 Gold*, Herb, Wing, Apple, Marle Flower, Elixir, Smoked Meat, Meat Pie, 500 Gold, Short Sword, Long Sword, Talwar, Wood Shield, Small Shield, Large Shield, Chain Mail

INVENTORY / EQUIPMENT
(Moondoria Field) - Apple x 4, Marle Flower x 3

CHARACTERS (Lance) - Lilia*, Banoa*, Leonor Rall*, Nurse Sarina, Elder Cornell*, Natasha, Guido, Jade, Gila*, Lazlo, Tess, Tran, Larsen, Bohtz, Sheila, Kris, Ceres, Brody, Marina, Beth, Caesaria, Andy, Oseam, Kate, Lucille, Masontorch, Colt, Tita, Esca, Lucy, Theo, Polo, Saffron

ENEMIES
- None

NOTE
- Lilia is not required at this time (even though she's automatically listed due to the intro scenes), but she will be later; the same goes for Gila. As for Nurse Sarina, while she does speak to you during a required cutscene, you need to initiate the close-up scene with her to receive her character entry. Regarding Kris and Ceres (the twin girls), they need to be spoken to separately for their respective entries, even though the same conversation is initiated in both cases. As for Bohtz, he will disappear from Lance at a certain point in the story (along with Lilia), but you'll find him elsewhere as part of the plot, so don't worry if you miss him.

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After the opening scenes, talk to Banoa (for a couple more discussion topics, ask her about Ys, then Moondoria). As you exit the conversation, she'll give you a letter to take to Dr. Flair. He apparently hasn't returned to the village just yet, but she suggests you stop by the clinic anyway, just in case; it's the building in the far northeastern corner of town, just above Lilia's house (speaking of Lilia's house, you can examine one of the trees just outside it to find height markings Lilia made when she was younger - a really nice touch). Enter the clinic, and you'll be greeted by Nurse Sarina and a panicked Leonor, who asks you to rescue Dr. Flair, who's apparently trapped in the Rasteenie Mine. Well, that's no good. Agree to help, and you'll receive 300 gold to buy some equipment. You'll also learn that someone named Astal is guarding the entrance to the Mine, so you'll need to stop by the elder's house to receive permission to enter.

Before visiting the elder, there are a couple points of interest in Lance (or just skip a few paragraphs to continue with the main game). In the clinic, if you talk to Nurse Sarina, you can get healed for 20 gold, though as she says, it's better if you stand still outside and heal, or you can ask Banoa to rest at her place for free. You can also purchase Herbs for 30 gold each (up to a maximum of three), which heal 50 HP, but there are a few places in the game where you can find them for free, so I recommend saving your money, at least for the time being. If you're interested in a Steam achievement, see those apples on the counter flap? Well, open the flap (just push up against it) to scatter them, and you'll receive the "Keep the Doctor Away" achievement. If you want, you can also climb the crates in the bottom right corner of the clinic to see the pigeon loft where Leonor came crashing out of, but there's not much to do up there.

Directly west of the clinic you'll find Jade's Oddities, an item shop. You can buy Apples and Marle Flowers here for 10 gold each (up to a maximum of three each), which restore 15 HP and MP respectively (don't worry, you're not supposed to have MP just yet); as with the Herbs, I recommend saving your money. Additionally, he sells Wings for 100 gold (though you can only carry one at a time), which can warp you to a few different locations this time around, though obviously, it's limited to just Lance Village for the time being. I recommend purchasing one to save you some backtracking later, but it's by no means required. There's also a one-time only Elixir on display for 60,000 gold, which can revive you from death once, but obviously, it'll be quite some time before you can purchase that.

Right next door from Jade is Guido's Armory, where you can purchase some weapons and armor (you need to walk through the counter flap to speak to him). If you want, you can use the remaining 200 gold to purchase a Short Sword from him, but you can actually receive one for free a short time later, so I recommend saving your money. He also sells some other cheap armor, but the only one you can currently afford is the Wooden Shield, so feel free to purchase that, if you want. That's all you can do here at the moment, but the billboard to the left of the elder's house mentions that he's looking to buy some Iron Ore, so if you come across any later, he'll buy it from you for a good price.

If you want a little extra spending money, there's a character named Brody a couple houses west of Lilia's, but you'll need to butter him up with a few gifts before he'll reveal its location. What are gifts? They are the consumable items you find/buy during the course of your adventure, such as Wings, Herbs, Apples, Marle Flowers, and a few others. By equipping these, you can give them to any non-enemy character you come across (after your initial conversation), which will produce additional dialogue, in addition to unlocking character mascots if you gift someone enough (just a little sprite you can position to customize the game screen a tad). If you want, you can even use certain items to feed most of the animals (the pikkards and pigeons are excluded from this, it seems); for example, the ducklings will eat Apples, and later, Cruberries. The easiest gifts to obtain are Apples and Marle Flowers, and while you can buy them from Jade for pretty cheap, there is a location where you can find a few for free outside Lance Village (though if you talk to Lilia near the elder's house, she gives you one Apple for free). Anyway, I recommend waiting a little bit, but if you don't want to, then buy some combination of 5 gifts from Jade or Sarina (remember, you can get a free Apple from Lilia). To give them to a character, equip the respective item, then you'll get an option to give it to them, or talk to them normally. Give 5 gifts to Brody (perhaps up to 2 more, if you shot him with fireballs later in the game), and he'll reveal that the ducklings in the village will eat anything, including gold, apparently. It is crucial that he tells you this, otherwise you will *not* find the hidden gold stash, which as Brody mentioned, is in the bill of one of the ducklings, specifically one of the babies (they can be found wandering around above the clinic). In addition to 500 gold, if you're playing the Steam version, you will also receive the "Bill the Duck" achievement. I recommend using the gold to buy the remaining first level armor from Guido, but alternatively, you can save up to purchase the Long Sword a short while later (though personally, I prefer to skip the Long Sword altogether, and purchase the Talwar later on).

In addition to Brody, you can gift the characters Theo and Lucy a few times to receive some special items. These can also serve as gifts, but they're better used as healing items, and if you're playing the Steam version, receiving and eating these is part of the "No Reservations" achievement, though you can only get 2 of the 4 items right now. If you gift Theo (a brown-haired fellow who is usually found just below the elder's house, the far northwestern building) 4 times, he'll give you the Smoked Meat (for fun, try gifting it back to him =p). If you'd like, this item can actually be used to feed the cats in the village, but it's purely optional; you may want to keep it in mind as part of a later Steam achievement, however. Anyway, Lucy is the little girl supervising the pikkards in the far southwestern corner of the village, and after gifting her 3 times, she'll give you the Meat Pie (in addition to trying to re-gift it to her, try giving it to Theo, who is her brother). Once you use these (whether to heal, or as gifts), you can gift the respective characters again to receive the item again (though for Lucy's item, I think you need to fireball her to lower her affection level, and then re-gift her). Well, that's all the important stuff you can currently do with gifting characters, but feel free to give others gifts as well, if you're feeling generous (or you just want all the character mascots =p).

Anyway, once you're through shopping, do as Sarina advised, and speak to Elder Cornell to receive permission to enter the Mine; you'll find him sitting outside his house, the one in the far northwest corner of town (if he's not there, you need to head to the clinic and agree to help rescue Dr. Flair, or else he won't show up). He'll notice the Books of Ys you're carrying, and suggests that you return them to the Priest statues found within the Sanctuary of Toal, an area you'll find while exploring the Rasteenie Mine. The entrance to the Mine is within the Ruins of Moondoria to the north, so let's head there now.

Before leaving, if you haven't done so already, you can speak to Lilia underneath the tree to the left of the elder's house. She'll give you a free Apple, saying it's good for your health, or as mentioned above, you can gift it to one of the villagers. More importantly, talking to her here will set up an optional scene with her in the field just outside the village, so if you want to see that, be sure to speak with her here first. As an added bonus, speaking to her manually (it doesn't matter when, just so long as you do it; however, there's a rather long period where she's temporarily unable to be found, but you can always do it later in the game) allows you to mess around in her bed back in her house, which is one of the requirements for the "Juuuuust Right" Steam achievement. Her bed is the one you start the game in (the pink checkered one in her house), and to enter, you simply press against one of the sides for a few seconds (the same goes for leaving).

Head northwest of the elder's house to reach the village exit, which leads to the Moondoria Field. Head straight up until you see some stone pillars, at which point you can head west for some optional things, or if you just want to head to the Ruins of Moondoria, it's a little bit to the northeast. Head all the way left past the steps for a nice view of Esteria, where the events of Ys I took place (if you press against the edge (you won't fall =p), you can even see some dirt falling to the surface). Anyway, head back right a little, and head up the first set of steps, then follow the path left past another set of steps to find a few Apples growing on trees, as well as a Marle Flower. Go ahead and grab them, if you want; do note that the Apples take 5 minutes before they'll grow back, but the Marle Flowers around here grow back simply by refreshing the screen. Anyway, head right, and climb the second set of steps; if you want, you can follow this section all the way right to find another Marle Flower. Head back left, and climb the final set of steps, then head northeast a tad to the next screen, where you can find yet another Marle Flower to pick. More importantly, if you talked with Lilia underneath the tree back in Lance Village, heading all the way up on this screen will initiate a small cutscene with her. This is completely optional, but if you want to do it, you need to do it before exploring the Rasteenie Mine at all (technically, it's after you use either transition point on the first Mine screen, so you could still use a Wing to escape, and then fulfill the requirements for this scene), as Lilia then switches locations in Lance Village, and the event no longer triggers (even if you spoke to her under the tree by the elder's house earlier, the cliff scene still won't activate after setting foot in the Mine). Afterwards, you can find her here picking Marle Flowers, at least until you set foot in the Mine; at that point, she can then be found by the well just south of the weapon and item shops back in Lance.

Head back down to where you saw those stone pillars in the field earlier, and northeast a little ways is the entrance to the Ruins of Moondoria.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

- Obtain enough strength to kill the rock golems guarding the Rod of Divinity
- Use the Rod at the Goddess Statue to receive the ability to use magic
- Find a Roda Fruit to help make Lilia's Medicine
- Speak to Astal to enter the Sanctuary of Toal / Rasteenie Mine

OPTIONAL OBJECTIVES:

- Find the Ancient Tablet
- Receive a free Short Sword from Leggs

INVENTORY / EQUIPMENT
- Ancient Tablet, Rod of Divinity*, Roda Fruit*, Short
Sword

CHARACTERS
- Astal*, Leggs

ENEMIES
- Chrace, Cauction, Godaago*
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If you didn't buy a weapon back in Lance, you can get a Short Sword here for free. If you already have one, equip it, and start killing some enemies in the northwest section of the ruins. If you don't have one, then from the entrance, move northeast a tad, and then go right, taking the second small opening between the walls (the one near the lake). Head straight up, and right above the alcove the rock golems (Godaago) are guarding, you'll come across another opening in the walls. Enter the opening, then head right and talk to the old man, Leggs. If you don't have a weapon yet, he'll give you a Short Sword for free, but this is just for a limited time, which also awards you the "Revenge of Sworded Details" achievement if you're playing the Steam version. However, do note that the moment you open the chest the rock golems are guarding, you can no longer receive this (and in the event you bought a weapon before this - even if it's just the Long Sword - he won't give it to you regardless).

Speaking to Leggs again reveals that he has a favor to ask of you, but he won't actually tell you what it is until you reach level 6. He wants you to retrieve the contents of the treasure chest you passed on the way here, guarded by the rock golems. Unlike most normal enemies, they are completely immune to attacks at lower levels, so you need a high enough STR stat in order to damage them. With the Short Sword equipped, you can do this as early as level 6, but if you buy the Long Sword early, you can do this as early as level 4. Purchasing the Long Sword requires backtracking to Lance at some point (as you won't have enough gold right away, even with the hidden stash from the duckling), so I prefer leveling to 6 with the Short Sword. Sure, having the Long Sword also makes the first boss reasonably doable a couple levels earlier, but at the same time, you'll need those extra levels later, and besides, I recommend using the Talwar over the Long Sword after the Mine.

Anyway, head back to the bottom of the screen, and then left along the wall until you see some pillars (just ignore that other opening in the wall for the time being; it leads to the Rasteenie Mine, but you won't be strong enough to do much damage to the enemies there just yet). Walk through the opening above them, then head northeast at the fork, and follow the path into a small area with a couple enemies. On the ground near the upper left tree, you'll find a Roda Fruit. As you'll learn later, this is an essential ingredient for making Lilia's Medicine, but you can also use it as another potential gift for someone, or using it on yourself will fully restore your MP (when you have it, at least). You can only carry one at a time, so if you do decide to use it for something else, simply refresh the screen, and you can grab another then.

Head back to where the path forked above the pillars, and head left until you see another opening in the wall (there should be a zombie-like enemy nearby, a Chrace). You might notice a small wooden chest in the area below this opening, but there's no way to get it just yet. So, head up, and follow the path right until you see a Cauction (red goblin-like enemies) near a larger opening. Before heading into that area, if you look along the wall in the bottom right corner (close to where the Cauction was), you should see the Ancient Tablet, so pick it up, if you want to (it's not required). You can read it by equipping and using it, which reveals there's a door that will only open after returning the Books of Ys to their rightful owners. Well, the elder requested you do that anyway, but now you actually have a good reason to do so. If you'd like, you can also show this to Masontorch back in Lance, but it's purely optional.

When you're ready, head back to the opening to the left, and kill some enemies until you reach level 4 - it shouldn't take you very long. In addition, you should've received about 200 gold from killing them, so if you didn't spend any money earlier, you should now have enough to buy the Long Sword from Guido back in Lance Village (if you didn't find the hidden 500 gold, remember to gift Brody 5 times, and *then* search the baby duckling). If you buy and equip that, you should then be able to kill the rock golems guarding that chest, provided you're at least level 4 (200 EXP). As noted above, I prefer skipping the Long Sword, but that means you'll need to be level 6. However, as you may have noticed, the enemies in this game give reduced EXP the more you level, so the enemies out here are hardly worth the effort anymore. So, upon hitting level 4, it's preferable to grind on the enemies within the Sanctuary of Toal in order to hit level 6 (400 EXP).

Head back to the opening with the pillars, and follow the wall down and to the right, and go into the first opening you see. You'll find a man named Astal guarding the door, and assuming you talked to Elder Cornell back in Lance, he'll let you inside (if you haven't talked to the elder yet, you'll need to do so before proceeding). Enter the door, and you'll be in the Sanctuary of Toal. So long as you're at least level 4 with the Short Sword equipped, you should be able to make quick work of the enemies here, so use the enemies in this first room to grind to level 6 (it should only take about 4 complete trips through the room).

Once you have at least 29-30 STR, head back to the rock golems, and you'll now be able to kill them. Open the chest they were guarding, and you'll find the Rod of Divinity inside. Show it to Leggs (if you want to), and he'll say that touching the Rod to the Goddess Statue inside the nearby alcove will allow you the ability to use magic. Go ahead and do as he says, and you'll now have some MP to use. If you speak to Leggs again (as before, it's not required), he reveals that there are 6 forms of magic to be found, but unfortunately, we don't have any just yet (don't worry, we'll find some pretty shortly).

When you're ready, head back to the door Astal's guarding, speak to him if you haven't done so already (remember, you need to have spoken with Elder Cornell back in Lance first), and enter the Sanctuary of Toal.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

- Return the Books of Ys to the Priest statues within the Sanctuary of Toal
- Find a Mattock, use it to free Dr. Flair, and give him Banoa's Letter
- Find the Fire Magic within the Rasteenie Mine, and use it to kill Velagunder
- Find a Celceta Flower deep within the Mine to help make Lilia's Medicine
- Find the Light Magic deep within the Mine, and use it to find the Evil Bell
- Give the Roda Fruit and Celceta Flower to Dr. Flair to make Lilia's Medicine
- Give Lilia's Medicine to Banoa, and receive the Warp Magic afterwards
- Agree to investigate Gila's Basement, and ring the Evil Bell downstairs
- Receive the Scroll of Guidance from Priest Fact, and make your way to the Ice Ridge of Noltia

OPTIONAL OBJECTIVES:

- Find the Cleria Ring
- Find some Iron Ore, and sell it to Guido
- Clear Gila's Basement and the Sanctuary beyond of all enemies

INVENTORY / EQUIPMENT
(Rasteenie Mine) - Mattock*, Fire Magic*, Herb, Celceta
Flower*, Light Magic*, Evil Bell*, Iron Ore x 2

INVENTORY / EQUIPMENT
(Sanctuary of Toal) - Cleria Ring, Scroll of Guidance*

INVENTORY / EQUIPMENT
(Lance) - Lilia's Medicine*, Warp Magic*, Breast Plate,
Plate Mail

CHARACTERS
(Sanctuary of Toal) - Priest Tovah*, Priest Dabbie*, Priest Hadal*,
Priest Mesa*, Priest Gemma*, Priest Fact*

CHARACTERS
(Rasteenie Mine) - Flair Rall*

ENEMIES
(Sanctuary of Toal) - Warrizor, Gnometh, Zolgell

ENEMIES
(Rasteenie Mine) - Ripplet, Tolpi, Puroid, K'nocks, Carly, Orihalcus, Velagunder*

NOTE - The Breast Plate and Plate Mail are only available from Guido if you sell him the Iron Ore. Even then, they're not available immediately, at least not without entering and exiting a few buildings within Lance's walls.

Regarding Dr. Flair, even though rescuing him and making Lilia's Medicine are both required events, in order to get his character entry, you need to speak to him manually, whether it's in the Mine, or back in the clinic in Lance.
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Follow the path through the Sanctuary of Toal, and along the bottom of the screen, you'll come across a sealed door. This is the one the Ancient Tablet mentioned (if you found and read it), and it will only open once you return all the Books of Ys to their respective owners. So, continue following the path, and you'll soon come across a larger door along the top of the screen. This one will open for you, so step inside and investigate the statue to speak to Priest Hadal, who informs you that the source of the evil resides within Solomon Shrine. He'll also fully heal you, both your HP and MP (and as you're indoors, you can't stand still to gradually heal your HP). Anyway, exit the chamber, then head right until you see stairs leading downward, which is the entrance to the Rasteenie Mine.

Follow the tunnels until you arrive in a room with some small plant-like enemies (Ripplets). The stairs on the left-hand side of this room lead to another section of the Sanctuary of Toal, so go ahead and enter. Follow the path, and in the southeastern corner, you'll find another large door, this one leading to Priest Tovah, who tells you that you'll need all 6 forms of the Priests' magic to defeat the evil plaguing Ys (actually, you only need to find 4 of the magics to beat the game =p).

Exit the chamber, and back in the Mine, take the tunnel on the far right. Follow it until you reach a room with 3 tunnels to choose from; you'll want to take the one in the bottom right corner, followed by the middle one in the next room. You should now be in a room with a Puroid (horned pink demon). More importantly, this room contains the only usable Mattock throughout the Mine, and you'll need it to free Dr. Flair, so be sure to pick it up (there's a few broken mattocks scattered about, as well as some unusable shovels, but those are obviously no good).

Before heading off to rescue Dr. Flair, if you want, that other chest in the Ruins of Moondoria can now be obtained, and it contains the Beastiary Potion. If you don't know where it is, it's in a sealed-off area just above the field entrance; you'll need to use the Mattock (equip and use it) on the heavily cracked wall just northeast of the entrance. Be sure to drink it (equip and use it), and you can now learn the stats of the various enemies you come across. Please refer to the Ys II "Enemies" section for more info on how that works.

Anyway, continuing from the room where the usable Mattock was found, exit it and head back to the tunnel on the far left (there's nothing of interest in the other one), then take the far left tunnel in the next room as well. In the next room, take the tunnel on the far right, and you should be in a narrow room with a Puroid. Carefully dispatch the enemy, and after heading through the next tunnel, you'll find yourself in a room with a caved-in passage in the top right corner. Approach it to speak briefly with Dr. Flair, who says you'll need a Mattock to get through. So, assuming you found it earlier, equip and use it to clear away the rubble, which awards you 100 EXP.

Now, you don't actually need to speak to Dr. Flair at this point if you don't want to (as soon as you completely leave the Mine/Sanctuary, he'll automatically return to the clinic regardless), but let's do so anyway. After giving him Banoa's Letter, he'll tell you that both a Roda Fruit and Celceta Flower are needed to make Lilia's Medicine. You should've already found a Roda Fruit, but if not, he mentions that they can be found in the Ruins of Moondoria (in the northern center area, next to a tree). As for the Celceta Flower, he says it only grows in dark areas, close to water. Hmm, we haven't seen anything like that yet, so hopefully there's some deeper in the Mine. Also, you may notice another caved-in passage off to the right, but there's nothing you can do to clear it. Anyway, as mentioned above, Dr. Flair will return to the clinic automatically upon completely exiting the Mine/Sanctuary, but if you're feeling generous, you can actually gift him a Wing so he doesn't have to walk (but then, why can't you slip him the Wing through the hole in the rubble instead of using the Mattock to break through? =p). Of course, doing this means you'll have to walk back to Lance, so do whatever you want. In any event, he won't take the Roda Fruit (or the Celceta Flower, if you're rescuing him a little later) just yet, so let's continue exploring.

Head back to the last room with 3 tunnels, and this time take the one on the far left. You'll be in a room with stairs leading to another portion of the Sanctuary of Toal, and another tunnel at the bottom - take the stairs. On the left-hand side, you'll find a large door leading to Priest Dabbie, who tells you that so long as magic exists, so too will the demons. Well, that's certainly troubling... Exit the chamber, but before heading back to the Mine, there's a chest in the northeastern corner of this part of the Sanctuary, which contains the Cleria Ring. This is one of a few optional equipment accessories you can find throughout the game, and equipping this one will sometimes nullify the damage you'd otherwise take from an enemy. It usually doesn't happen very often, but you may find it useful, so pick it up, if you want.

Head back to the Mine, and take the tunnel in the bottom right corner (be careful of the Ripplet). In the next room, take the bottom right tunnel again, and the bottom left one in the room following that (beware the Puroid). Carefully dispatch of the Tolpi (a larger plant like enemy), and take the tunnel to the next room. Here, you'll find a chest containing the Fire Magic, but the Puroid guarding it is kinda tricky to get around; you'll either need to get lucky with its positioning, or lure it to a wider part of the passage to safely dispatch it (either the part where the passage turns near the bottom, or near the room entrance). This magic is essential to be able to kill the boss down here, so assuming you found and used the Rod of Divinity in the Ruins earlier, you should be able to equip and use this right away (if you haven't already, you first need to find and touch the Rod to the Goddess Statue in the Ruins to acquire MP to use magic, otherwise finding this will do you no good). Obviously, its main use is to kill enemies, but you can also use it to shoot the various townsfolk for various reactions (shooting 50 townsfolk - or maybe even the same person 50 times, I think - gets you the Steam achievement "What the Legends Don't Tell You"), though if you're going for character mascots, you'll need to give them 1 or 2 extra gifts to make up for your abuse. Anyway, in the Eternal/Complete versions, the "Ctrl" button is the default for using magic, but in Chronicles, it's the "confirm" button. For the Fire Magic, you can hold down the button to charge it up; the longer you charge, the more damage you do (until you begin to glow, that is). However, it does drain your MP at a slightly faster rate than using normal fireballs, so be wary of that. To restore your MP, in addition to resting somewhere (no, standing outside doesn't work for MP, just HP), you can use certain consumable items, such as Marle Flowers, a Roda Fruit, and a couple others. Also note that this magic is an extension of your STR stat, so leveling up affects its damage as well (it's not an exact damage conversion, but close enough, I guess), though there are certain enemies that it just won't work for, like the Godaago in the Ruins, for example.

Back in the last room with 3 tunnels (no, there's nothing of interest in those other tunnels), take the one on the far left this time. You'll be in a small room with a body of water, but there's no Celceta Flowers here. There is, however, an Herb, so pick that up if you need it (this one has a 5 minute recharge time before growing back). Ignore the tunnel on the far right (nothing of interest there, either), and take the middle one. You'll be in a room with another Puroid, with tunnels along the bottom, and stairs in the northeastern corner. Take the tunnel on the far left, and in the next room, take the stairs inside to another section of the Sanctuary (be careful of the Tolpi). In the southwestern corner of the Sanctuary, you'll find a large door leading to Priest Mesa, who tells you that to reach Solomon Shrine, you need to scale a mountain of ice, and then pass through a moat of lava. Well, nobody said this would be an easy journey. =p Exit the chamber, and head to the northeastern part of the Sanctuary to find another large door leading to Priest Gemma. Speaking to him reveals that if you could talk to the demons, it might prove helpful. Perhaps so, but how do we go about doing that?

Exit the chamber, and head back to the last room with the Puroid in it. Now, you should have been killing everything in sight during your trek through here, so you should be level 10 or 11 by now. If you have the Long Sword, level 9 or 10 (preferably 10) will be enough for the upcoming boss, but if you only have the Short Sword, then level 11 or 12 (preferably 12) is required to deal additional damage. So if you need to, use the Puroid here to level up some (you'll need to refresh the room each time upon killing it). When you're ready, take the stairs in the northeastern corner, and follow the path southwest to another tunnel. Pass through the doorway in the next room, and you'll find yourself at another large door. This one leads to a boss, so make sure to save your game, get fully healed (use an Herb or some Apples, or re-visit one of the Priests), as well as have a decent amount of MP (at least 15-20 should be good - use a Marle Flower, or re-visit one of the Priests, if needed). Unlike Ys I, you're actually able to use consumable items during boss battles, so long as you have them equipped beforehand (if you're on the Easy difficulty, you can switch items and equipment mid-battle, but not on Normal and above); I recommend equipping either Herbs or Apples. In addition, make sure the Fire Magic is equipped, and when you're ready, head inside the door, and move forward a bit to awaken the first boss.

HP - 160
LVL - 11
STR - 100
DEF - 40
EXP - 400
GOLD - 600

RECOMMENDED LEVEL - 12

STRATEGY
- For a first boss, this guy is pretty easy, especially when compared to Jenocres (the first boss of Ys I). That said, he can still be a little troublesome on higher difficulties. The first thing to note is that physical attacks are completely ineffective here, and trying it will likely get you a quick game over. So, in order to damage him, you absolutely need the Fire Magic; that said, having a weapon equipped is still beneficial here, as the Fire Magic's damage is closely linked to your STR stat. Anyway, he'll open up his arms every so often, and shoot a couple waves of projectiles at you (if you're having trouble getting his arms to open, it generally helps to not be directly below him, at least not at first). This is your opportunity to attack, so let loose some fireballs (preferably fully charged ones) between his arms, and then dodge the projectiles as best you can. His arms will serve as shields against the fireballs (you can destroy them, but it's not really worth it, especially on higher difficulties), so you'll want to aim for the center part of his body. If you're on Easy or Normal, this is pretty easy, though on Normal, sometimes the projectiles will clump together if you don't move around very much. On Hard and Nightmare, there will be even more to dodge, so in that case, I recommend shooting a charged fireball, then quickly moving off to the side (you can attempt to slip between them, but it's generally harder to do consistently, especially since they now tend to slant a bit). In either case, you'll want to stick to the bottom of the screen as best you can (but be careful you don't accidentally exit the boss fight, if you have that option turned on in previous versions; for the Steam version, it seems to be enabled by default). Repeat the process a few times until he's dead (for his arms to open, it generally helps to not be directly below him, at least not at first). For your efforts, you'll receive 400 EXP, as well as 600 gold.

If you're having trouble finding an opening to deal damage, as mentioned above, you can destroy his arms. Generally, I advise against doing this, as it not only drains your MP further (the damage they take is tracked separately from the rest of his body), but the arms can take quite a beating, especially on higher difficulties. If you do decide to destroy them, it's probably best to shoot at them diagonally, as the projectiles may otherwise end up pinning you against a wall if attempting to shoot them straight from the side, so this method allows you to damage them while keeping a safe distance away. Even so, you still need to damage him from the front, but destroying them at least allows you to angle your shots, instead of being directly below him.

Do note that in order to deal additional damage, you'll need to be at least level 11 with the Short Sword equipped, though of course, level 12 (or above) is preferred. With the Long Sword, this fight is doable as early as level 9, preferably 10 (or above), but as noted earlier, it effectively puts you behind a couple levels later on; besides, the Talwar can be purchased soon, making the Long Sword quickly outclassed.

After the battle, the door at the top of the room can now be opened, so let's see where it leads. Follow the passage southwest, and once you see the third Carly (pink enemy that kind of looks like a foot), head north, and when that path splits, take the center path. You should come across a small body of water with flowers growing nearby - these are the Celceta Flowers we're looking for. Go ahead and grab one, and as there are 3 to pick, you can use one to fully restore both your HP and MP. Like the Roda Fruit, you can only carry one at a time, but these have a 5 minute recharge time to grow back, so don't use them carelessly.

Anyway, head back to the fork where the third Carly was, and head all the way south. Pass through the small passage to the right, and then follow the path northeast until you see another doorway. Head through this one as well, but in addition to the Orihalcus (headless armored enemies) lurking inside, it's also a bit darker than before, making this section pretty dangerous. Once inside, make your way as far northwest as you can, and then follow the path to the northeast. In the far northeastern corner, you'll find a chest containing the Light Magic. It's probably a good idea to equip this right away, as it'll help you see a bit better down here (but it slowly drains your MP, so be wary of that). Equipping this will also reveal some hidden passages down here, indicated by ripples along the wall once you're within range (though you don't actually need it equipped to enter the passages).

The first hidden passage is just outside this darkened area with the Orihalcus, just to the southeast of the doorway you passed through to enter that area (if you're having trouble finding it, there's a little indentation along the bottom of the wall). Inside, follow the path to the right, and you'll find a chest guarded by a K'nocks (green serpent-like enemy), which contains the Evil Bell. Equipping and using this item will attract the attention of nearby demons and summon them to you. It may seem pointless, but it's necessary to reach Priest Fact's tomb, which is still yet to be found. There's one other hidden passage down here (actually, there's another one a little earlier in the Mine, but it's useless), so exit this room. Head back southeast, and through the small tunnel to the other side of the room. A short ways to the northwest, the Light Magic will reveal another ripple along the bottom of a wall (again, there's a little indentation to help find it). Inside, investigate the box up top, and you'll find a piece of Iron Ore inside. Actually, there are in fact two pieces to be found in this box, but you can't get the second one until you sell the first piece (unfortunately, you can only carry one at a time), so if you want some extra spending money, keep this room in mind.

Well, that's all there is to do here, so assuming you returned all the Books of Ys except for Volume Fact, rescued Dr. Flair, and found both the Celceta Flower and Evil Bell, you can go ahead and return to Lance (if you still have it, now's a good time to use the Wing). Upon arrival, check the billboard if you want (it's just south of the entrance), and assuming you returned the first 5 Books of Ys, there will be a request from Gila regarding demons in his basement. Strange, why would they be down there? You can also talk to the elder about the location of Priest Fact's tomb, who says that Lance was once a part of Moondoria, so it should be somewhere nearby. Hmm, it'd definitely be a good idea to check out Gila's request.

Before doing that, let's go see Dr. Flair about Lilia's Medicine, so head tothe clinic and speak with him. On your way there, you might be tempted to stopby Guido's and sell him the Iron ore immediately for 3,000 gold, but if you dothis a short while later, you can actually get him to up his offer to 6,000gold. Do note that the increased price only applies to the first piece yousell him, so be sure to take advantage of it (if you sell it too soon, he'llalways offer 3,000 gold; plus, even if you got the 6,000 offer for the firstpiece, the second one you sell will always be for 3,000 gold). If you don'tcare about that, selling it to him should still bump your gold up enough topurchase the Talwar, or fairly close to it, at least (again, I recommendagainst purchasing the Long Sword, but it's a decent alternative, for the timebeing). Getting back to Dr. Flair, upon giving him both the Roda Fruit andCelceta Flower, he'll give you Lilia's Medicine, which he instructs you to giveto Banoa (remember, Lilia supposedly doesn't know that she's ill). Head toBanoa's house, and speak with her inside to give her Lilia's Medicine. Goahead and leave, and after the cutscenes, Banoa will give you the Return Magic(it works just like the Wing, at the cost of 20 MP), plus you'll also receive300 EXP for saving Lilia.

Alright, let's go see Gila about his request now. His house is in thesouthwest part of town, right above the pikkard pen. Inside, you'll find himstanding in front of a locked door (if he's not, then you need to return thefirst 5 Books of Ys to the Priests), so talk to him, and agree to search hisbasement for demons. Head downstairs, and examining the exposed brick wallreveals there is indeed an evil presence down here. Ring the Evil Bell (equipand use it), and demons will come crashing through the wall. If you're playingthe Complete version of this game, after ringing the Evil Bell, it is importantthat you do *not* head back upstairs until the demons break down the wall; forsome reason, movement was still allowed between the period the Evil Bell isrung and the wall being destroyed, and walking back upstairs during this periodresults in an unwinnable game (the game basically assumes the wall is brokenthe moment the Evil Bell is first rung down here - even if you don't see ithappen - and so the event will never re-activate). In any case, carefully makeyour way to the tunnel in the north end of this passage (if the enemies areclogging up the passage, ringing the Evil Bell may help lure a few towards you,which should then make it easier to get around them), which actually connectsto another part of the Sanctuary of Toal. This is right next to where we foundDr. Flair earlier (as indicated by the caved-in passage off to the left, whichis unclearable). In the northeast corner, there's a large door leading toPriest Fact. Speak to him, and he'll give you the Scroll of Guidance to use atthe various Goddess Statues, as well as open the sealed door seen in the firstSanctuary area (before speaking to him, you need to have cured Lilia andreceived the Return Magic from Banoa, otherwise the sealed door won't be open).

If you're feeling up to it, you can actually clear Gila's Basement and thisSanctuary room of the demons, but it will take a good deal of kills before thathappens. In addition to the regular EXP you get for killing the enemies, anadditional 400 EXP is awarded for clearing out both areas, as well as the Steamachievement "Gila's Monsters", so it's definitely worth it. If you do decideto do this, it's recommended that you have either the Long Sword or Talwarequipped, so you might consider putting it off shortly (you can clear it at anypoint in the game). For the first room, it's recommended that you don'tactivate screen transitions until it's completely clear, otherwise the demonscould spawn endlessly, regardless of how much you kill (aside from the finalwave, they all don't need to be killed during the same visit). Once the firstarea is clear (about 60 kills, or so), you'll get a message saying there'sstill an evil presence in the area beyond, which then enables the Sanctuaryarea to be cleared, which only consists of a couple of Zolgells (slime enemies).After killing both of them, you'll get a message saying the area is completelyclear, plus you'll receive an extra 400 EXP

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

- Find the Blizzard Bulb, and use it to form a path to the other side of a cave
- Find the Alter Magic, and use it to speak with the demons
- Find the Stone Shoes, and use them to climb up the icy slopes
- Find the Anti-Illusion Mirror, and use it to reveal the true door to Tyalmath's lair
- Kill Tyalmath, and pass through to the Moat of Burnedbless

OPTIONAL OBJECTIVES:

- Find both the Spirit Cape and the Hawk Idol
- Find the hidden 1,000 gold stash in Tyalmath's lair

INVENTORY / EQUIPMENT
- Blizzard Bulb*, Spirit Cape, Hawk Idol, Alter Magic*, Marle Flower, Herb x 2, Stone Shoes*, Anti-Illusion Mirror*, 1,000 Gold

CHARACTERS
- None

ENEMIES
- Neeli, Gercard, Eggnid, Galgata, Gworter, Swoff, Tyalmath*

NOTE
- While there are no new characters to encounter at this point, both Lilia and Bohtz will go missing from Lance at a certain point (namely, as soon as you enter the screen where you can find the Hawk Idol, as well as a Goddess Statue), and it'll be some time before you encounter them again. Thankfully, no character in Ys II is permanently missable, so don't worry if you haven't spoken to them yet (in Lilia's case, this is only important for entering her bed).
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Throughout this whole area, you'll probably notice some icy slopes; for the time being, you can only slide down these, as they're too slippery to climb up with your current equipment. It's also worth noting that, while this is an outdoor area, you can't stand still here to gradually heal - at least, not without finding a certain equipment accessory in the area. It should also go without saying that Fire Magic is pretty effective for the majority of the enemies here, but of course, you still need the appropriate strength for it to be of much use.

Anyway, head straight up the first 3 sets of steps, then take the steps to your left, ignoring the icy slope. From there, take the steps just to the northwest, and follow the path all the way left, where you should encounter a Gercard (horned demons with a sword and shield). Follow a few sets of steps downward until you see some icy monsters (Neeli), and then take the steps to the southwest, where you should see another Gercard. From the tree it's next to, head left a little ways, then take a couple sets of steps downwards, where you'll find the Blizzard Bulb hovering above an icy stand, so go ahead and grab it. Just northwest of here, you may have noticed an area with some more icy slopes; unfortunately, there's no alternative path to go where they lead, so you'll need to re-visit this area once you have the proper tools, so keep it in mind for later.

Make your way back up to where the first Gercard was (just take the steps all the way back up, or if you prefer, you can loop around the bottom of the screen, but that's slightly slower). Head right a little ways, and after going down the first set of steps, follow this path all the way right to reach some more steps (you should encounter another Neeli along the way). Climb them, and follow the path until you reach a cave. Inside, ignore the eastern section (there's nothing over there, except a passage that leads to a dead end), and head to the southwestern corner. You should notice an icy draft coming from the ground near a chasm, similar to how you found the Blizzard Bulb. In order to cross, you'll need to stand where the draft is, and use the Blizzard Bulb (equip and use it) there to form an ice bridge leading to the other side of the cavern.

Upon exiting the cavern, take the steps downward, and you should notice a Gercard at their base, so go ahead and dispatch it. If you want another equipment accessory, then look closely at where it was standing, and you should notice a set of footprints, so follow them left to enter a hidden cave (if you're having trouble finding it, it's the area just to the right of the base of the steps). Inside, you'll find a chest containing another optional equipment accessory, this one being the Spirit Cape. Much like the Heal Ring from Ys I, equipping this will allow you to stand still and recover HP, even in areas (like this one) where you can't normally do so; using it in an area where you can already heal gradually will help speed up the process a little. Anyway, exit the cave, and take the next set of steps downward. Follow the path all the way left, and take the second set of steps you see (the other set just leads to a dead end; you may also notice a treasure chest along the bottom of this path, but you can't get to it yet). Follow the steps upward until you see some Eggnids (green winged demons) near a cave. The other paths here lead to more dead ends, so go ahead and enter it. There's nothing of note inside, so just follow it outside to the left.

On the next screen, take the first set of steps downward, and just to the northwest, you'll notice another icy slope near a Galgata (spiky shelled turtle-like enemy). There's a Goddess Statue at the top of this one, but as with the other slopes, there's no way to climb up it yet, so keep it in mind for later (well, if you want to - you don't need to visit this one, either). For now, take the steps to the southeast of the icy slope (the path further left just leads to another dead end) until you see another Galgata, this one near a tree. The path splits here, and while both lead to the next area, the one off to the left leads to another equipment accessory, so let's head that way. Eventually, you'll come across a group of Gworters (cyclops), as well as another Galgata, so go ahead and dispatch them. You should notice an icy slope leading downwards, so go ahead and slide down. Before sliding down the second one, grab the chest off to the left, which contains the Hawk Idol. This is another equipment accessory, and equipping this allows your fireballs to automatically home in on any nearby enemies (though it will still sometimes miss if the fireball has to arc too tightly). I recommend having this accessory equipped when you don't need to use the Spirit Cape to heal, as it allows you to kill enemies safely from afar fairly easily - the downside is that your fireballs won't automatically arc around environmental obstacles (trees, stalactites, etc.), so you still have to be careful to not waste your shots. Anyway, slide down the other icy slope, and take the steps to the southwest, where you'll find another cave.

As noted above, the path below just loops around to a different section of this screen, but there's nothing of note that way, so go ahead and enter the cave. Inside, you'll find a bunch of ice clumps, and the only way through is to destroy them with fireballs (which, oddly enough, give 1 or 2 EXP each, depending on your level - as if them giving EXP isn't awkward enough, it's actually scaled, just like normal enemies =p). In order to minimize MP loss here, I recommend carving a path along the top - this makes it so you only need to destroy a minimum of 5-6 ice clumps, if you're careful.

Upon exiting this cave, head right to find a chest containing the Alter Magic. Equipping this will turn you into a cute little Roo, which most characters - even most enemies - mistake for a demon. So, you can use this to speak with the various enemies (it doesn't work on the bosses, unfortunately), who will sometimes give you hints, or you can use it to mess with the various characters you encounter (either way, using it is completely optional at this time, but it's necessary for later events). However, as with the Light Magic, this one will slowly drain your MP simply by equipping it, so try not to use it recklessly. Anyway, head back to the left, and take the steps downward. There's a Swoff here, but before killing it off, use the Alter Magic to speak with it, if you want (it's not required). Doing so reveals that it witnessed a pretty female human being carried off by a flying demon. That doesn't sound good... Anyway, you can then turn back to normal and dispatch it, if you want (how heartless of you =p), or you can continue chatting with the other monsters in the area (again, keep an eye on your MP if you do this). Take the steps on the left, and follow them until you reach another icy slope above you. Again, you can't climb this, but you should be able to see a door up there, so keep it in mind for later. Instead, head off to the right, but before climbing the steps above you, there's a Marle Flower further to the right, so go ahead and grab it, and use it to restore a little MP, if you need to (this has a 5 minute recharge time before growing back). Head up the steps, and when the path splits, take the steps to the northwest to reach another cave (the other paths are just dead ends again). Inside, you'll find an Herb growing along the wall, just to the northeast of the entrance, so grab that if you want (as with the Marle Flower, this also has a 5 minute recharge time). There's nothing else to do here, so follow it outside to the right.

Off to the right, you'll find a Gworter, so go ahead and dispatch it, and inside the chest it was guarding, you'll find the Stone Shoes. Equipping these will allow you to walk up those icy slopes you've likely encountered all throughout this area. For now, you need to head all the way back to the first screen, and explore the area to the northwest of where the Blizzard Bulb was found. As it's a few screens back, instead of walking, I recommend using the Return Magic (or a Wing) to warp to Lance, if you can spare the MP. If you do warp to Lance, talking to the villagers reveals that both Lilia and Bohtz have gone missing, even though they probably should have returned by now. Hmm, that one demon did say it saw a pretty, young female being carried off... Either way, there's nothing you can do about this now, so let's move on. Before leaving, if you're particularly low on MP, you might consider getting healed at the clinic, or resting at Banoa's; you may also wish to purchase some new equipment, preferably either the Large Shield or Plate Mail, if you can afford one (you probably won't be able to afford both yet - at least not without a fair deal of grinding - but the next boss should be easily doable without them). Before heading back to the Ice Ridge, now that you have the Alter Magic, you can use it to speak to a certain demon within the Rasteenie Mine to get the Steam achievement "Where's Aldow?". The demon in question is the K'nocks in the top left corner of the room where the Evil Bell was found deep within the Mine. Unless you missed the second piece of Iron Ore from before (same spot where the first piece was found), there's nothing left to do down there, so make your way back to where you first entered the Ice Ridge.

The area just northwest of where you found the Blizzard Bulb is where you want to go (if you're coming from the Sanctuary, it's faster to loop around the bottom of the screen), as you can now equip the Stone Shoes to climb up those icy slopes. Go ahead and do so, but be careful of the Eggnids as you're climbing up. Just to the northeast, take the steps leading to that chest you may have seen earlier, which contains the Anti-Illusion Mirror. This allows you to reach the boss of this area, so be sure to pick it up. Anyway, back on the screen where the Hawk Idol is found, if you want, you can now climb the icy slope just southwest of the northeastern cave to reach the Goddess Statue, which reveals that the door seen earlier is a fake, so you need to find a way to dispel the illusion and reveal the real door. Assuming that you have the Anti-Illusion Mirror in your possession, head back to the screen where the Alter Magic was found, and west of the Marle Flower on that screen (if it's grown back by now, feel free to pick and use it again), there's another icy slope. Climb up this one, and you'll find a door up top. Trying to open it just results in your body passing right on through, so equip the Anti-Illusion Mirror, and use it in front of the door. The real door will appear off to the left, so go ahead and step inside. Be sure to save your game, get fully healed (use the Spirit Cape, or just use an Herb from the cave that led to the Stone Shoes), and make sure you have a decent amount of MP (the 15 MP from the Marle Flower should be enough, or if you have one, you can use a Roda Fruit to completely replenish it), and make sure the Fire Magic is equipped; also, if you have it, I recommend equipping the Hawk Idol, but it is by no means necessary. When you're ready, head to the very top of the screen, and prepare to face the next boss.

HP - 280
LVL - 20
STR - 121
DEF - 74
EXP - 600
GOLD - 1,200

RECOMMENDED LEVEL - 18/19

STRATEGY
- This boss is one of the easier ones, though he may still be a little troublesome on higher difficulties. Immediately upon initiating the fight, this guy will attempt to pounce on you, so as soon as you see him leap, move out of the way (he'll track your position temporarily, so even if you immediately move to the bottom of the screen or something, he can still land on you if you're not careful). Shortly after he lands, he'll send waves of ice along the ground in multiple directions, so you'll need to keep a constant eye out to effectively move between them; naturally, being further away from him gives you a better chance to read their direction, and dodge accordingly. On higher difficulties, this attack is harder to dodge, as not only will he send out more waves, he tends to clump a few of them together, meaning you'll likely have to move completely out of the way instead of trying to find an opening to move between them. He'll then either send out more ice waves, or leap in the air and try to land on you again (if he happens to catch you with that attack, it hurts quite a lot, and is likely to outright kill you, even with full HP and good armor). The best time to attack him is as soon as he lands (as with Velagunder, physical attacks are completely ineffective, so you need to use Fire Magic), as trying to shoot between the waves of ice is tricky, since they can easily block your shots. Having the Hawk Idol equipped makes hitting him a fair deal easier, perhaps even arcing your shots between the ice waves, if you're lucky (of course, that's easier said than done).

After taking off a certain amount of his HP, he starts to leave ice clumps behind (at what HP threshold he does this, and how frequently, is dependent on the difficulty level, I believe), making him a tad trickier to deal with. If you have the Hawk Idol equipped (which I recommend), then your fireballs tend to be directed towards these, instead of the boss. In order to counteract this, I recommend either firing at him point blank (which obviously tends to be more risky), or destroying the ice clumps as best you can before aiming for the boss again (on higher difficulties, he tends to leave a lot of these behind, so destroying them all may be tricky to do - it's probably better just to take out only the most problematic ones, or avoid them entirely). Anyway, once you win, you receive 600 EXP and 1,200 gold for your efforts.

For this fight, being at least level 17 with the Talwar equipped is required to do additional damage here, but level 18 or 19 is preferable (perhaps even 1 or 2 levels higher, if he's proving to be too difficult). Even without clearing Gila's Basement for extra EXP, so long as you clear everything in your path through the Ice Ridge, you'll probably reach level 17 or 18 naturally. If you still have the Long Sword, you won't do much damage to him until level 20 or 21 (technically, level 18 or 19 with the Long Sword is when you start doing additional damage, but that's still quite a slow battle).
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Before heading through the door at the top of the room, you may have noticed a treasure chest where Tyalmath initially leapt down from. So, how to get to it? In the top left corner of the room, there's a secret passage looping around to it (the entrance is just a little below the top of the room), and it contains 1,000 gold; it's worth noting that this passage is only open after the battle with Tyalmath, not before.

Anyway, head through the northern door, and you'll be in another cavern, one that seems significantly warmer. Head straight up, and if you need it, there's another Herb growing behind the cluster of rocks (this one also has a 5 minute recharge time). From there, head northwest a little, and you'll find a cave leading to the lava-filled Moat of Burnedbless.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

- Find the Colony of Lava, and use the Alter Magic to get Ruba to reveal Tarf's kidnapping
- Offer to rescue Tarf from the demons, and receive the Whisper Earrings
- Use the Evil Bell to find the hidden Roos' Nest, and use the Roda Leaf within to traverse the poisonous passage
- Find the Black Pearl, and using the Whisper Earrings, give it to Keith to free both him and Tarf
- Escort Tarf back to the Colony of Lava, and cross the bridge to the other side of the Moat of Burnedbless
- Kill Gelaldy, and make your way to Ramia Village

OPTIONAL OBJECTIVES:

- Find another piece of Iron Ore, and sell it to Guido
- Receive the Raw Meat from Nash

INVENTORY / EQUIPMENT
(Moat of Burnedbless) - Iron Ore, Black Pearl*, Herb, 2,000 Gold

INVENTORY / EQUIPMENT
(Colony of Lava) - Whisper Earrings*, Raw Meat

INVENTORY / EQUIPMENT
(Roos' Nest) - Roda Leaf*, Roda Fruit

CHARACTERS (Colony of Lava)
- Ruba*, Tarf*, Fred, Natalie, Noit, Rafa, Rex, Chelnie, Favre, Elle, Meryl, Carson, Ischt, Kasim, Flonne, Darie, Nash

CHARACTERS (Roos' Nest)
- Roodle, Brooce, Tallyroo, Touroose, Prooto, Roo-kie, Rooroo, Droozy

ENEMIES (Moat of Burnedbless)
- Preliguard, Onuman, Scollun, Xelbenoth, Gene, Dirga, Topus, Magnute, Gelaldy*

NOTE
- Tarf's character entry can be obtained outside the Colony of Lava by manually speaking to him at any time in the prison area during the escort mission, but as it's possible to miss this opportunity, he can be spoken to manually back inside the village, or at a mandatory point later in the game. Also, Noit disappears at a certain point later in the story, so he's temporarily missable, but he's also found as part of the plot later on, so don't worry if you miss him. As for the Roos, you need to have Alter Magic equipped to receive their entries.
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At this point in the game, if you haven't been grinding a whole lot, the enemies in this area may be a bit troublesome to deal with at first, even with the Talwar equipped. Even though the Ice Ridge boss can be dealt with reasonably a level or two earlier, I recommend starting this area at least at level 20, as it enables you to deal with both the lizard warriors and ape-like enemies right away (the Preliguard and Onuman respectively - at level 19, you can only do reasonable damage to the Preliguards). Of course, later enemies in the area require even more STR to deal with effectively, so starting off higher than that certainly doesn't hurt.

Anyway, head northwest a little bit, and you'll get a message saying you feel like someone's watching you, but there doesn't seem to be anyone around. That's definitely odd, but let's keep moving northwest for now (or if you want, you can actually discover what's watching you right away - if so, skip a couple paragraphs for the solution). If you'd like, you can also check out the Goddess Statue here (as with the previous ones, this isn't required), which reveals that there are creatures nearby who may be of help to you. In addition to some magical items, it's also suggested that there's another magic to be found in this area, but that's not exactly true - the only new magic is the one you should've already obtained from the Ice Ridge (Alter Magic), which will be needed shortly.

At any rate, on the next screen head north past the Preliguards (lizard warriors - be careful around them, as they tend to turn nearly invisible, but you can then use Light Magic to see them better, if you want), and you should see a passage along the eastern wall (it's near the first Onuman, an ape-like enemy). The passage in the northwest will eventually lead to a poisonous corridor, and there's no point in going that way at the moment (even if you already found the needed item to safely pass through, you won't be able to proceed much further at present), so take the eastern passage. Inside, follow the path, and take the passage in the northeastern corner. On this next screen, the enemies have some interesting things to say, so equip the Alter Magic and chat with them, if you'd like. In any event, you'll need to loop around the right side of the lava in this room, and take the passage in the northwestern corner. You should now be on a screen with some Scolluns (scorpion-like enemies), so if you want to (again, it's not required), speaking to them also yields some interesting dialogue about checking up on a bridge guard, Ruba. What could that be about? In any event, head two screens west, and on the next screen, loop around and enter the northeastern passage (if you noticed, there's also a blocked path in the southwest corner, but there's currently no way through). Along the way, if you want, speak to one of the Dirgas (shelled enemies), and it'll ask you to check up on Ruba - do keep his request in mind. Anyway, carefully dispatch the Scolluns on the next screen, and follow the path east.

Head northeast a tad, and you'll come across the Colony of Lava. Step inside the village, and if you'd like, you can stand still to heal for free (but not for the rest of this area, as you probably noticed). Now, most of the villagers here will instantly clam up at the sight of Adol's red hair (and consequently, you can't give gifts to most of them at this time, but their character entries are still obtainable), but a few of them will still be conversational, mostly the ones outside along the bottom. Speaking to the fellow just left of the entrance reveals that he too feels watched near the Goddess Statue, and says there must be a way to lure whatever it is out of hiding. The guy right next to him says that there used to be sacred animals known as Roos somewhere around here, but they were cursed by the demons, and went into hiding. In any event, your real destination here is the far northern part of the village, where you'll find a blue-haired man guarding another bridge. This is Ruba, and if you first attempt to speak to him normally, he'll claim that the bridge was damaged by the demons, and can't be repaired or lowered at the moment. Instead, you'll need to use the Alter Magic, and speak to him as a Roo, who he believes to be a slave of the demons, sent to keep tabs on him. Doing so reveals that he's not letting you cross in order to have his son, Tarf, returned to him unharmed. After learning of this, change back to normal, and speak to him again; after he explains himself, offer to rescue Tarf, and he'll give you the Whisper Earrings to aid in the task. After doing so, the two villagers near him can now also become a little more friendly, meaning they can now be gifted, but there's little point in that (unless you want their character mascots right away).

Return to the screen with the Goddess Statue, and if you wear the Whisper Earrings here (it's not required to use them here), you can hear the footsteps of non-humans nearby. So, go ahead and ring the Evil Bell, and you should see a furry little creature come out from the northeastern corner to briefly investigate the noise. It is essential that you do this, otherwise you will not be able to enter the area he emerges from (if he's not showing up, you need to ring the Evil Bell in the northeastern part of the screen - however, doing it to close to where it appears causes it to head straight back inside, though you can still enter the passage afterwards). Go ahead and follow the creature back inside, and you'll be at the Roos' Nest. In order to speak with the creatures (Roos) inside, you'll need to use the Alter Magic, otherwise you won't be able to understand them (as well as receive their "Notes" entries, if you're collecting those; also, note that you are unable to give them gifts). Of particular note, the one in the southern end mentions he saw demons taking a human boy through the poisonous corridor. Interesting... Also, if you're low on MP, you can speak to the stationary Roo near the tree in the northern end, and he'll let you rest to fully recover both your HP and MP. And speaking of the tree, you can grab both a Roda Fruit and Roda Leaf from it. The Roda Fruit isn't needed at this point (but if you do grab it, note that this location has a 5 minute recharge time, unlike the one from the Ruins of Moondoria), but the Roda Leaf is; speaking to the Roos after grabbing it reveals that it allows safe passage through the poisonous corridor.

Exit the Roos' Nest, and head back to the northwestern passage. On the next screen, take the passage in the northwestern corner this time, and you'll be in a small room with no enemies; there is, however, another piece of Iron Ore lying about in the northwest corner, so pick it up and sell it to Guido, if you'd like. Anyway, take the passage in the southwest, and follow the path west (be careful of those Dirgas). Follow the path to the northwestern passage, but before you do, the reptilian enemies in the area (Topus) are a good spot to grind for a bit, if you need to - I recommend at least getting to level 24 before proceeding. On this next screen, if you don't have the Roda Leaf equipped, you'll get a message saying it's too dangerous to proceed, so make sure you're wearing it before continuing west (as one of the Roos mentioned, just having it with you isn't enough). As an aside, it is actually possible to make it through here without the Roda Leaf, but you do need some healing items to make it through alive (3 Herbs will just barely work at level 24 or so), but as this place acts similar to the Devil's Corridor in Ys I (in that it delivers more damage the farther you proceed), the timing for when to heal can be tricky, so I don't recommend doing it.

After passing through the poisonous corridor, the path splits, so take the passage directly to the west. The Magnutes (magma creatures) on this screen can shoot projectiles, so it's probably a good idea to finish them off quickly, but you'll need physical attacks to do so, as they are invulnerable to your fireballs. There's an Herb growing behind the big rock in the northwestern corner (if you can't find it, choosing to make Adol visible behind walls should reveal it), so grab that if you need it. More importantly, there's a statue at the top of this screen, and examining it reveals a Black Pearl in its forehead, so go ahead and grab it. Upon doing so, a bunch of Magnutes will appear below you, so carefully make your way past them (it may be easier to slip by them with the Alter Magic). Head back to the previous room, and this time take the passage in the northeastern corner, and go northeast again on the next screen. Along the northern wall of the next room, there's a crack, but as it's too dark to see inside, equip the Whisper Earrings and examine it (if you're still using it, you'll need to un-equip the Alter Magic first). This is where Tarf is imprisoned, and at the request of his friendly demon inmate Keith, he asks you to find an object known as the Black Pearl. Assuming you found it before, you'll automatically hand it over, and Keith will use it to bust down the wall Dogi style, but before you can speak with him, he shies away via another makeshift exit. After all the dialogue, agree to escort Tarf back to the Colony of Lava, as he can't make it back on his own (whether you initially accept or decline, you can warp back to the Colony of Lava and speak with Ruba for some amusing dialogue - his reaction varies depending on whether or not you agreed to help =p). If you'd like, there's a message from Keith carved along the wall just left of the prison bars. Also, if you look at his stats, you may notice that, aside from the Black Pearl, he has another random item equipped (such as a Cactus, a Red Bell Pepper, or a couple other possibilities), but I'm not sure what determines what item he has - not that it matters in any way (or so I assume =p). Anyway, you'll want to take the passage in the northeast corner, as trying to go back the other way means passing through the poisonous corridor again, and Tarf won't be able to survive that. Before heading through the passage (make sure Tarf follows you through), it is strongly recommended that you save your game, as the enemies can kill him rather easily, which means game over for you if that happens.

At this point, you can take Tarf back to the village immediately (unfortunately, warping there won't bring him with you, so you have to walk; if you do warp here during the middle of the escort mission, talk to Ruba for some amusing dialogue =p), but there are a couple optional things you can do with regards to him (if you don't care, then just skip a couple paragraphs to move on). First, if you have at least 7 gifts on you, you can go ahead and give them to him (after speaking to him manually at least once, and assuming you agreed to escort him), which will bring his level to 2 (also, depending on what you give him, he may use it in the event he gets hurt). Unlike Ys I, you can actually warp somewhere else during the escort mission, so if you need to grab some gifts, you can go ahead and do so; however, Tarf doesn't warp with you, and will remain where you left him, so be sure not to carelessly leave him in the midst of enemies. Anyway, gifting him a total of 7 times enables him to fight alongside you (via throwing pebbles at the enemies), but for the moment, he's pretty weak. While you can continue to level him up by giving him gifts for 1 EXP each, that is an extremely slow process, so you'll want him to deliver the finishing blow to an enemy instead. Instead of letting Tarf do all the work (aside from being weak, his aim isn't very good, at least not at first), the easiest way to do this is to whittle an enemy's health down until it has a sliver left, and then to transform into a Roo, and speak to it (alternatively, you can transform into a Roo and not speak to the enemies, but still act as a shield - however, this consumes MP, where the previous method doesn't, at least not as quickly). This forces the enemy to stay in place temporarily, meaning Tarf can score a free hit before it moves again, but it's best to clear out the other enemies nearby, as they'll very likely head straight for him (trust me, Tarf very likely won't outrun them). For killing an enemy, he seems to receive 5 times its listed EXP value (while you can only ever get double - what a cheater =p), but he doesn't require nearly as much EXP as you, so he'll hit level 4 on his first kill (level 5 if you go back and let him kill a Magnute). You can repeat this process to get him to level 25 (his maximum), at which point you'll also receive the Steam achievement "Personal Trainer".

Next, much like Feena, you can actually learn Tarf's measurements (if I didn't list Feena's, I'm definitely not listing these). Why Falcom included this in the first place, I have no clue, but doing this also awards a Steam achievement if playing that version of the game. Anyway, to do this, you need to escort Tarf all the way to where you found the Iron Ore here in the Moat of Burnedbless. It may not seem too far, except that you have to circle all the way around, as you can't go back through the poisonous passage with Tarf in tow (just ignore his comments about going the wrong direction, even if they are true =p). On your way there, you can also swing by the Roos' Nest, where he'll temporarily mistake the Roos for demons, chucking pebbles at them as well. You can also take him outside on the Ice Ridge, but he quickly heads back inside. Anyway, getting back to measuring Tarf, you need to push him against the back of that narrow corridor where the Iron Ore was found. This can be a rather tricky process, and I think it's necessary to use fireballs to force him around some of the bends. Upon doing this, you'll receive the Steam achievement "Police Are On Their Way" - I hope it was worth it. =p

Well, that's all the optional stuff there is to do with Tarf, so let's get him back to the Colony of Lava. Unless Tarf is fully leveled (he's actually fairly strong then - he even has 1 more STR than your base at that level =p), it's best that you kill the enemies to make a safe path for him, as they will otherwise target him, and believe me, he moves rather slow (plus he tends to get caught on the terrain rather easily). Anyway, if you didn't realize it yet, the northeastern passage out of the prison cell area was actually pretty close to his home. So, make sure Tarf's following you, and from there, take the passage in the northeast again, and follow the next screen back to the Colony of Lava. As soon as you step foot inside the village, Tarf will be re-united with his father, which gets you 900 EXP. Ruba decides to raise the northern bridge against the demons' wishes, so head to the northern part of the village, and speak to Ruba to have it lowered (that, or just approach the bridge directly to initiate the conversation). It's worth noting that the remainder of the villagers become friendlier at this point, meaning they'll start taking your gifts now. Of particular note is Nash, a young man just outside Ruba and Tarf's house (just southwest of the northern bridge), who upon giving him 5 gifts (unless you fireballed him, in which case it'll take 1-2 additional gifts), he'll give you some Raw Meat (unlike Lucy and Theo, he doesn't react differently if you try and re-gift it to him), which is another one of the items needed to obtain the "No Reservations" Steam achievement.

When you're ready, cross the northern bridge, and take the passage in the northeastern corner. As soon as you enter this passage, if you return to the Colony of Lava, you can talk to Tarf (and later, Ruba) inside his house to fully heal both your HP and MP for free. Anyway, on the screen northeast of the village, head straight down past the first couple Xelbenoths (minotaur-like enemies), and along the second path to your right, there's a small chest containing 2,000 gold, so pick that up if you want. Back near the start of the room, follow the path to the right, and loop around to the passage in the southwest corner. Go ahead and enter, and follow it west, being cautious of the Gene (fire elemental) inside; as you might it expect, it is immune to fireballs, so you'll need to use physical attacks to kill it. This next room is good for a little grinding, so if you need to, I recommend using the Genes here to reach at least level 26 or 27, if you're not already there. At the very least, you should have bought the Talwar from Lance by now, and probably both the Large Shield and Plate Mail as well. Anyway, along the northern wall of this room, you'll find a large door, so save your game, make sure you're fully healed and that you have a decent supply of MP (the Roda Fruit from the Roos' Nest is good for this purpose, or as noted earlier, you can fully recover both your HP and MP for free by speaking to Tarf in his house), and open the door. Inside, advance to the main part of the platform, and you'll see a giant severed head occupying it, which is the next boss.

HP - 360
LVL - 27
STR - 163
DEF - 99
EXP - 1,000
GOLD - 2,000

RECOMMENDED LEVEL - 26/27

STRATEGY
- This guy will immediately start chasing you around the room, and for the moment, there's nothing to do but evade him. You've probably noticed that your fireballs are ineffective against him in this state, so you need to wait for him to open his mouth, at which point he'll release a strange "worm" of sorts to chase you around the room. Be careful it doesn't trap you, as it will likely kill you quickly (although, if you have an Herb or other consumable item equipped, you can use it for a brief invulnerability period, and walk right through it safely - this does not work for the head, however). Anyway, your goal during this period is to try and lead the worm as far away from the head as best you can, as he'll eventually re-absorb it, and will repeat the cycle again shortly. As he's re-absorbing the worm, that's your chance to strike, by shooting fireballs into his exposed mouth (be careful the worm doesn't block your fireballs as you're doing this). Maximizing the distance between the two of them beforehand allows you more time to attack here, as it takes him longer to re-absorb it. In order to do this, you should try luring the worm to one corner of the platform, and the head to the opposite side (preferably with the head being in one of the top corners). On Easy and Normal (not Hard and Nightmare, it seems), shooting charged fireballs at the head is a good way to keep the head away, as they can push it back slightly (though if you fire from a bad angle, it sometimes won't work), but the ends of the worm will block your shots (the rest of it won't, though), so be wary of that. If you have good aim, you can also sneak in a few fireballs at the corners of his mouth when he's releasing the worm, but this requires pinpoint accuracy. In order to accomplish this, I recommend having the Hawk Idol equipped, and using it to arc your shots to that point (it's not strictly necessary for this purpose, but it makes things a lot easier). This is quite tricky to do, because even if you do manage to hit him like this, you still need to be at a good angle for your shots to do full damage.

Once you damage him enough, he'll release a Gene every so often when opening his mouth (if you're playing on the Easy difficulty, you can even use Alter Magic to chat with it, but not the boss itself, unfortunately). As with Tyalmath, I believe difficulty plays a part as to when he does this, as well as how frequently. On Easy, I think he only ever does this once, but he seems to have an infinite supply of them on higher difficulties, although there can only be a certain amount on-screen at once (I think the number varies depending on the difficulty level). Anyway, as you should know, Genes are immune to Fire Magic, so you'll probably want to dispatch of them as soon as possible (with both Gelaldy and the worm on-screen, this can be a bit difficult to accomplish), as they will also block your fireballs (especially if you have the Hawk Idol equipped, as your shots may re-direct to them). Anyway, once you win, you'll receive 1,000 EXP and 2,000 gold for your efforts.

For this boss, level 25 is when you start to do minimum damage (with the Talwar equipped, which you should definitely have bought from Lance by this point). However, the additional damage isn't very much, so I recommend being at least level 26 or 27. While the damage output is still on the low end at level 26, this battle is primarily one of patience, so hopefully it won't be too much of an issue, though of course, being a level or two higher certainly doesn't hurt.
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After the battle, head through the door up north, and take the passage in the southeast. Follow the path east, and in the northeastern corner of the next screen, you'll finally see some sunlight again, so exit the cave to reach Ramia Village.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

- Speak to Gorto, and agree to see Hadat about exploring the Shrine of Solomon
- Receive the Lila Shell from Hadat, and speak to Gorto again to enter the Shrine of Solomon

OPTIONAL OBJECTIVES:

- Receive the Cruberry Pie from Zalem

INVENTORY / EQUIPMENT
- Lila Shell*, Cruberry x 3, Marle Flower, Cruberry Pie, Long Sword, Talwar, Hyper Cutter, Wooden Shield, Small Shield, Large Shield, Breast Plate, Plate Mail, Reflex

CHARACTERS
- Gorto*, Lloyd, Hadat*, Karen, Regg*, Zalem, Frau, Frith, Blitz, Paulie, Tanya, Neal, Faye, Muto, Jill, Reise, Rimera

ENEMIES
- None

NOTE
- Regarding characters, Regg will become important a short while later, but not at the moment. But as he can be spoken to here in Ramia right away, this is where I chose to list him, instead of the next section when he's actually needed.
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OK, so your main objective here is to get Gorto to let you inside the Shrine of Solomon. Before we go and speak to him, there are a few optional things to do here, if you're interested (if you're not, just skip a few paragraphs).

First, just a tad southwest of where you entered from, there are 3 goats. If you want, you can feed them either Herbs or Cruberries, and doing so 3 times for each of these is part of the requirement for the Steam achievement "The Hand That Feeds Them" (though Sara points out that after feeding an animal, you can reload the file to keep your gifts, and the achievement counter will still consider them as fed). If you don't know where to find Cruberries, a couple can be found growing along the fences in the village (one just below the goats, and one just south of Hadat's house, the building furthest southwest), or the little girl Rimera (outside, to the northeast of Hadat's house) can be gifted 5-7 times to receive one; however, getting one from her isn't worth it, as a simple screen refresh gets the ones on the fence to grow back immediately. By the way, if you eat them, Cruberries restore 40 MP each, which is decent. Anyway, the other requirement for the above achievement is feeding the cat in Gorto's house (the building in the south, just east of Hadat's), which will eat either Smoked Meat or Raw Meat; once you've fed all the animals here, you should receive the achievement (if not, try feeding them more than once).

Next, let's visit the equipment store just to the west of the Moat of Burnedbless entrance. Inside, talking to Zalem at least once lets you enter her bed in the bottom right corner, which is the second requirement for the "Juuuuust Right" Steam achievement. You can also gift Zalem 5 times to receive the Cruberry Pie (again, it'll be 1-2 extra if you fireball her; you can also try re-gifting the pie to her a couple of times for fun =p). This is the last food item you can receive, and eating it along with the Smoked Meat, Raw Meat, and Meat Pie will get you the Steam achievement "No Reservations" (don't worry, each of these items can be re-obtained by gifting the respective characters, though in Lucy's case, you may need to fireball her to get another). That stuff aside, it's a very good idea to purchase the Hyper Cutter from her at some point, although if you don't have enough money yet, the Talwar should suffice for a little while. You'll probably also want the Reflex at some point, but that will more than likely have to be bought later.

If you decide to talk to the townsfolk, many of them will mention the demons raiding the village and abducting people from time to time, and one of their latest victims seems to be a girl named Maria. You can speak to her mother, Karen, in the house directly below Zalem's for a small scene. There's also an empty house on the far western side, apparently victims of one of the earlier demon raids. There's nothing to do inside the house, but there is a Marle Flower growing outside it just to the left (like the Cruberries, this one grows back upon refreshing the screen). You can also visit the graveyard just below the empty house, and read the headstones, but there's little else to do there. Finally, Regg's house in the northern end (just east of the entrance to the Shrine of Solomon) contains a healing well in his basement, which you can use for free to fully recover both your HP and MP. Even if you don't need healing now, do keep Regg in mind, as he will become important later.

Anyway, climb the two sets of stairs in the northeastern part of the village, and guarding a huge door at the top, you'll find Gorto. Speaking to him reveals that he's hesitant to let you inside the Shrine of Solomon, so he requests that you first speak with Hadat for some assistance. Hadat's house is the wooden one at the base of the first set of stairs, so head back down, and speak to him inside. Assuming you spoke with Gorto first, he'll ask you to look for his son, Sada, inside the Shrine. Agree to his request, and he'll give you the Lila Shell, which you can use to speak with him from afar for guidance. If you'd like, you can then speak to Hadat again and ask him about a few discussion topics, but it's not required. There's also a locked chest inside his house, but there's nothing you can do about that now. At any rate, once you have the Lila Shell, go ahead and speak to Gorto again, who will then unlock the first gate to the Shrine of Solomon.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

- Use the Alter Magic to get the gate guards to let you inside the Shrine
- Obtain a Pass from the eastern sector, and use it to advance to the northeastern part of the Shrine
- Using the Whisper Earrings and Alter Magic, learn the password to explore the western section of the Shrine
- Find the entrance to the Subterranean Canal, and get turned into a demon
- Use the Light Magic to find the Sacred Cup in the western sector, and show it to Regg to undo your demonic curse
- Find the Runaways' Hideout, and receive the Shrine Key from Lilia
- Explore the eastern section of the Subterranean Canal, and obtain the Silver Pendant
- Kill Druegar, and use the Silver Pendant at the Goddess Statue to warp to the central part of the Shrine
- Find and explore the central section of the Subterranean Canal, and receive the Floodgate Key from Keith
- Drain the canal waters, and make your way through the central canal section to reach the Campanile of Lane
- Kill Zava, and attempt to save Maria from being sacrificed
- Obtain the Dreaming Idol, and show it to the Goddesses in the Goddesses' Palace
- Speak to Tarf in Ramia about the Black Pearl, and after finding it in the meeting room inside the Shrine, take it to the Goddesses' Palace
- Use the powered-up Dreaming Idol at the top of the Campanile of Lane
- Speak to all 5 runaways, and receive the Gold Pendant
- Speak to Sada in the eastern section of the Subterranean Canal, and receive the Cleria Sword
- Use the Gold Pendant to reach the heart of the Shrine
- Kill Dalles, and make your way to the Core of Ancient Ys
- Find Lilia within, and use the Goddess Ring she gives you to dispel the nearby barrier
- Use the Silver Harmonica from Goban to free the Goddesses, and speak to both
of them - Kill Darm

OPTIONAL OBJECTIVES:

- Find both the Ring of Ease and the Falcon Idol
- Find the Iron Shield
- Find the Battle Sword, Battle Shield, and Battle Armor
- Find both the Time Magic and Shield Magic
- Receive the Cleria Armor from Hadat after speaking with Sada
- Receive the Cleria Shield from Luta Gemma

INVENTORY / EQUIPMENT (Shrine of Solomon)
- 2,000 Gold, Pass*, Ring of Ease, 3,000 Gold, Roda Fruit, Sacred Cup*, Shrine Key*, Iron Shield, Time Magic, Silver Pendant*, Celceta Flower, Battle Shield, Floodgate Key*, Battle Armor, Battle Sword, Falcon Idol, Dreaming Idol*, Black Pearl*, Gold Pendant*, Cleria Sword*, Shield Magic, Goddess Ring*, Silver Harmonica*, Cleria Shield

INVENTORY / EQUIPMENT (Ramia)
- Cleria Armor

CHARACTERS (Shrine of Solomon)
- Feena*, Reah*, Goban*, Luta Gemma, Lilia*, Bohtz*, Noit*, Keith*, Sada*, Maria*, Kyle*, Boris*, Ed*

CHARACTERS (Ramia)
- Tarf*

ENEMIES (Shrine of Solomon)
- Zearot*, Ashveil, Baocar, Nashzar*, Malochius, Allomod, Trover, Godrup*, El Endes, Nustarl, Bearot, Delpus, Dyphthelloid, Ceabith, Rewillvan, Forkless, Gearot, Charront, Valkyria, Zavanite*, Druegar*, Zava*, Dalles*, Darm*

NOTE
- Regarding characters, while Bohtz and Noit can be found earlier in the game, it's possible to miss their "Notes" entries then, plus they're actually required now. As for Tarf, he's listed here because he'll make his way to Ramia at a certain point (namely, after you exit a certain building in the central section of the Shrine), where he'll play an important role a short while later (plus, it's actually possible to miss his character entry from earlier, but not in Ramia). And even Luta Gemma shows up for a mandatory story scene, he doesn't speak to you unless you manually talk to him (at which point he'll give you the Cleria Shield, which isn't actually needed), so that's why he's not listed as required.

As for the enemies, the Zearot, Nashzar, Godrup, and Zavanite are marked as "required" only because they need to be spoken to in order to proceed at different points in the Shrine, not because you need to kill them (of course, you can do that as well =p). Speaking of Zavanites, I don't think killing the ones during the Zava battle counts towards revealing their character entries (probably due to them being linked to Zava's HP), so if you want that entry, you'll have to repeatedly kill one of the normal ones (excluding the one that gives you the Pass, as it's in an unkillable position).
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As you should've gathered from Gorto and Hadat, this place is pretty big, and quite easy to get lost in. If you haven't been doing so already, it might be a good idea to keep your status displayed on-screen, as this place is divided into various sectors named after the Priests (they did use to rule here along with the Goddesses, after all); I'll do my best to keep things simple, though. Also, for the outside portions of this place (which is most of it), you can stand still to heal for free if you don't feel like retreating elsewhere or using healing items.

Anyway, as Gorto told you before, there's another gate before actually entering the Shrine, and this one is guarded by some demons (Zearots). You can't kill them with your current equipment, and besides, it appears this gate is locked as well, so how do we get in? If you were paying attention during your first encounter with Gorto, he sarcastically mentioned turning into a demon to gain entrance, which is exactly what you need to do. Equip the Alter Magic, and as you approach the guards, they'll briefly interrogate you (if they noticed you in human form, you'll need to refresh the screen and try again), but it appears Adol already had an alibi in mind. =p They agree to let you in, but tell you to report to Zava, who's supposedly in the eastern sector (Mesa's) of the Shrine.

Once inside, you're free to un-equip the Alter Magic for the time being, and kill the various enemies. The Baocars (mages) shoot projectiles at you every now and then, but everything else right now is pretty standard. Anyway, do as the guards told you and head to Mesa's sector, as the path to the northwest requires a password to explore further (none of the current password options will work), and there's nothing of interest in any of the rooms around here (do keep the center building in mind for later, though). To get there, head east from the entrance (which is considered Hadal's sector, by the way) and climb the stairs, and then the ones just to the northeast. On this balcony, head left and all the way up, then follow the path east.

It's worth noting that the western section of this next screen is considered Mesa's sector, but the eastern part is considered Gemma's. At any rate, follow along the balcony, and descend the stairs at its end (the start of Gemma's sector). For now, ignore the stairs to your right (or you can take them right now and skip to the next paragraph, as this next stuff is optional), and instead head northwest under the balcony you just descended. You don't have to just yet, but speaking to the Nashzar (purple armored demon) at the gate reveals that there's a meeting going on ahead, but you need a pass to get in. Hmm, sounds like something important is happening, so we better try to find out what. Anyway, these next little tidbits are also optional, but it does put you close to some nearby gold. From the Nashzar at the gate, head straight left as far as you can (passing under the balcony along the way - you should be back in Mesa's sector), and then climb the stairs just to the southwest. Near the entrance here, there's another Nashzar, and if you speak to him, he tells you that this is Zava's room, so head inside. Speaking to the woman (a Zavanite) inside reveals that Zava is attending a meeting at the moment. If you'd like, you can then kill off the Zavanite (hopefully it won't be an issue, but you'll need to be at least level 30 with the Hyper Cutter to even damage them); if you do so, be aware that they are shielded from your fireballs, so you'll need to use physical attacks. It may take a while, but as they give good EXP, repeatedly killing this one may be worth your while (though I prefer to use the Dyphthelloids in the western canal area a little later on; they may give less EXP, but they're easier to kill), plus it's a good excuse to learn its stats. Back outside, descend the stairs and head south a little, and off to the left, there are two entrances to the other part of this building, so go ahead and enter one (it doesn't matter which). Inside, there are stairs leading down in the northern part of this room (there's nothing in that northeastern section with the different colored walls), so go ahead and take them. On the next screen, exit the building to the south, but take the other entrance off to the right. Follow the path inside, and you'll come across a small chest containing 2,000 gold, so grab that if you need a little cash.

Head back to the beginning of Gemma's sector, back where you descended the first balcony on the screen east of the Shrine's entrance. There are stairs off to the right leading to another balcony, so go ahead and follow that path to the northeast. There's a building up top, but there's nothing inside, so ignore it and follow the path to the southeast, where there should be a Baocar near the balcony stairs. Go ahead and descend, and follow the path to a doorway in the northwest corner. Go ahead and pass through, and once you're back outside, ignore the passage to your right (you can take it if you want to, but it's basically a more roundabout way of getting to the same place), and descend the stairs instead. Head southwest (you can pass underneath the balcony here - look for an archway), and follow along the bottom of this building to the west, where there's another doorway. Head inside, and at the desk, there's another Zavanite (an unkillable one, at that), so equip the Alter Magic and speak to it to receive the Pass. With this, you're now able to enter the northeastern section of the Shrine.

That's all there is to do over here, so head back between the two balconies at the beginning of Gemma's sector (where we first started this area), and move northwest between them. Equip the Alter Magic, and assuming you received the Pass, speak to the Nashzar, who will open the gate and let you through. Head north, and on the next screen (which is considered Fact's sector), take whichever path you like (it doesn't matter which). Do be careful of the enemies here, the statues (Nustarl) especially, as they'll also try to hit you with projectiles. Anyway, from the fountain in the center, descend the stairs just to the right, and enter the building along the bottom guarded by the golden-armored Bearots (it's best to either just kill them, or use Alter Magic to get by). Approach the door inside, and you'll get a message saying there's a lot of commotion inside. This is where the meeting's being held, but to find out what's going on, you'll need to equip both the Whisper Earrings and the Alter Magic, otherwise you won't be able to understand what's being said. You'll learn that some human prisoners have escaped, managing to swipe the Shrine Key along the way. More importantly, the password to the western sector is revealed, which you'll need to overhear to proceed. Before heading to the western sector (where the password is used), there's another equipment accessory to be found in this area. From the fountain outside, head to the building up north (you can't do much in the northeast building now, but keep it in mind for later), and take either entrance. At the bottom of the middle left part of this room (the passage with a different colored wall), you'll find a chest containing the Ring of Ease. Equipping this will reduce the amount of MP your magic uses by half, which can be very useful (especially when using the Return Magic).

Anyway, back at the Shrine entrance (Hadal's sector), climb the stairs to the west this time, followed by the ones just to the northwest. On this balcony, head right and all the way up, and then follow the path west. This screen is also split up into two sections, with the eastern part being considered Tovah's sector, and the western part is Dabbie's. This screen is full of some pretty sturdy enemies, but they're not too bad (unless you still have the Talwar equipped); however, do be careful of the enemies that kind of look like robots (Malochius), as they'll also try and pelt you with projectiles. Anyway, descend the balcony here, and use Alter Magic to talk to the Godrup (red armored demon) guarding the gate below. It'll ask you for the password, which you need to have overheard from the meeting in the northeastern section (Fact's sector), otherwise the correct option will never appear. Now, depending on what version of the game you're playing, the password may vary a little. If you're playing Eternal, Complete, or the Japanese version of Chronicles, then the correct password will be "tierra", but if you're playing one of the English localized versions of Chronicles, the password will instead be "miikka". Upon stating the correct password, you'll learn that the human prisoners have escaped, and seems to be hiding out somewhere in the Subterranean Canal. The entrance to the canal is the building just down the stairs to the southwest, but before entering, there are some treasures to pick up in the area.

This first one you're not technically supposed to know about just yet, but it will be needed a short while from now, so let's go and grab it now to save a little backtracking later. It's in Dabbie's sector to the west, in the northernmost building. Instead of descending the stairs to the canal building, pass them, and climb the stairs just to the west. Follow the path (be careful of the Allomods, the centaur-like enemies), and once it splits, head north, then descend the stairs just to the west. Head north through one of the arches, but ignore the doorways just ahead; while there is a useful treasure inside, it's behind a locked door, and we don't have the key for it yet. Anyway, head east, and climb the stairs to another balcony. Follow the path west past the Godrups, and enter the doorway. Upon entering, you should receive a message about the atmosphere here being solemn. Notice the altar in this room? As this is Dabbie's sector, and we seem to be in a rather sacred area, go ahead and equip the Light Magic, and suddenly a cup will appear on the altar, so go ahead and grab it (the Light Magic is needed to get this, so if you somehow missed that magic from the Rasteenie Mine, you'll need to go back and get it first).

Now, these next two treasures are minor and completely optional, so skip to the next paragraph, if you want. Back outside, head back to the balcony with all those Allomods. Climb the stairs, and this time, head west at the fork (ignore that doorway just south of the fork, as there's nothing inside). Circle around to a doorway with two Trovers (green halberd-wielding enemies) out front, and inside, head downstairs. To the east, there's another locked door you'll want to keep in mind for later, but for now, head south. Instead of heading outside here, take the stairs leading down in the southwest corner, and follow that path outside. Head straight west to another doorway, and upon passing through this building (just ignore that room in the northwest, there's nothing inside), you should be back outside near another small chest. This one contains a Roda Fruit, so go ahead and grab it if you need to. Head back through the buildings, and back upstairs to the room with the locked door, and go outside there. Climb the stairs to the east to a higher balcony, and follow it to the northeast (ignore those two doorways along the bottom; the one on the right with the locked door has some useful info a short while later, but nothing else). Upon descending the stairs (be careful of those Malochius), head east to reach a small building. Inside, there's another small chest, and this one contains 3,000 gold. If you haven't done so already, it's highly recommended that you use this to help purchase the Hyper Cutter from Zalem (or if you already have that, you might want to purchase the Reflex armor from her).

At any rate, make your way to the canal building, which is in the building northwest of where the 3,000 gold stash is found (it's in the lower area just southwest of where the password was used, if that makes things easier). Upon entering, you'll be greeted by the mysterious robed figure (Dalles) that's been spying on you throughout your journey (if you enter with Alter Magic equipped, his text will be different, but he'll see right through it). Ignore his request to leave, and move into the corridor above him (be careful not to bump into him without Alter Magic, as he'll deal quite a lot of damage - and no, you can't harm him in any way right now). Seeing that you won't keep your nose out of things, he decides to transform you into a demon before warping away. Unlike the Alter Magic, you can't simply change back into a human (if you look on the equipment screen, you'll see that the Alter Magic is cursed), and you also can't speak to enemies like this, only attack them (with the exception of the Zearots); the upside is, you won't waste MP by being in this form, plus you can still use your other magics. Anyway, if you use the Lila Shell to consult Hadat for help, he won't understand you, and suggests you go see Regg. Before doing so, let's explore the Shrine a little further, as there's a warp checkpoint nearby. Continue through the corridor where Dalles transformed you, and take the stairs down to reach the Subterranean Canal.

Inside, head down through the doorway, and after crossing the second bridge to the right (crossing the third bridge leads to a strange door, but it can't be opened yet), follow the path south (watch out for that Delpus). At the fork, take the bridge to the right, and follow the path until it forks again (again, be careful of those Delpus), at which point head south. At the next fork, head south and across the bridge to the west, and west at the final fork. At the end of this path you'll encounter a human down here, Bohtz from Lance Village, who was one of the people reported missing earlier. As you approach him, however, he gets scared by your demonic look, and slams the door shut. There's nothing else to do down here right now, so make your way back to Ramia (I recommend using Return Magic, if you're able; before leaving, you might want to make sure "Runaways' Hideout" is now in your warp list, otherwise you'll need to walk back here later).

As Hadat said, you'll need to talk to Regg about getting rid of this curse - his house is the one directly east of Gorto. Speak with him inside, and he'll say you need the Sacred Cup to help make holy water to undo the curse, so if you haven't already, you'll need to grab that from Dabbie's sector within the Shrine (the screen west of the Shrine entrance, in the far northwestern building - use the Light Magic inside). Once you have it, go ahead and speak to Regg, and after the cutscene, you'll be back to normal (as well as an automatic HP and MP refill). There's nothing else to do in Ramia at the moment (except to purchase the Hyper Cutter and Reflex armor, if you still haven't done so yet), so head back to the Runaways' Hideout in the far southwestern corner of the Subterranean Canal (I recommend warping there, if you have it listed already). Approach the door (as a human, not a Roo =p), and Bohtz will open the door for you, saying Lilia's here along with a few others. Noit from the Colony of Lava is here as well (if you visited there anytime after gaining entrance to the Shrine, various people comment on his disappearance), and speaking to him reveals that the central part of the Shrine can be reached by wearing something belonging to the Goddesses when touching a certain Goddess Statue. Anyway, Lilia's downstairs, and she'll talk to you as soon as you move, so if you want to speak to the two people below her right now (don't worry, you'll be required to speak with them later), you'll need to bypass her with Alter Magic; the one on the left, Boris, makes an interesting comment regarding a helpful green demon... In any event, talk to Lilia (in human form =p), and she'll hand over the Shrine Key to open the locked doors throughout the Shrine, at which point Dalles will warp in, and turn the runaways to stone (if you want, there's a close-up portrait of petrified Lilia). That's not good, but at least he spared you this time... If you use the Lila Shell, Hadat says the holy water won't work this time, as the person needs to be able to consume it, which the runaways obviously can't do in their current state. Also, if you head back to Lance at this point and speak to Banoa, Adol can't bring himself to tell her of Lilia's fate just yet.

After Dalles turns the runaways to stone, a very minor side event can now be done in the Ruins of Moondoria. Just east of where the Rod of Divinity was found earlier, in the water near the wall is a swarm of mosquitoes. If you stand right next to them, they'll attempt to swarm you. Let them do so (it's easiest to just stand still and let them fly around you for a few seconds), and lead them to a screen transition, and if done right, you'll get a one-time message saying the mosquitoes are no longer following you; if you're playing the Steam version, seeing that message will get you "Mosquitoes!!" achievement. The screen transition can be something obvious like back inside the Sanctuary of Toal, or back to the Moondoria Field, but I actually find warping to be the best way (though the act of warping itself doesn't count as a screen transition, you'll get it on the *next* screen you enter, if done right). Either way, it's highly recommended that you save before activating the screen transition, as the mosquitoes move slowly, and you probably don't want to lead them along again if you didn't receive the message (in that case, you probably didn't let them swarm you long enough). In addition to the above, if you happen to be playing the Eternal version of the game, you can lead the mosquitoes to both Astal and Leggs, which will trigger a few small additional dialogues from them (I don't understand Japanese, but from what I'm told, they're just surprised and annoyed by them).

In any event, now that you have the Shrine Key, you can open most of those locked doors you may have seen earlier (all except the one in the western canal area, which requires a different key). This means that the huge door in the center building of the Shrine's entrance area can now be opened, but before doing that, you should check behind the other locked doors first. Let's start with the ones back above ground in the western section of the Shrine (the ones there are purely optional, though, so skip ahead to the next paragraph, if you want). First, let's take one of the doorways below the building where the Sacred Cup was found (it doesn't matter which one you enter. Make your way to the northwestern corner of this room, and beyond the locked door is a chest containing the Time Magic. For 6 MP per use (or 3 MP with the Ring of Ease equipped), enemies are frozen in place for a few seconds, meaning you can freely attack them for a short time, even if you're off-center. Next up, head to the doorway on the balcony above where the Roda Fruit is found in this sector (in the southwestern section, with one Trover nearby). Inside, head straight up, and beyond the locked door here is the Iron Shield, which may be useful for the next boss, which is coming up pretty shortly. This last door in the area doesn't contain any treasure, but you can learn a very important hint (it's entirely optional, though); it's below the building where all those Malochius are in Tovah's sector, the one on the right (the building west of where the 3,000 gold stash was found, if that helps). Unlock the door inside, and you'll find an empty chest, as well as another Zavanite, and speaking to her reveals that a Goddesses' Pendant has been transferred to the eastern section of the Subterranean Canal (I know she says the western canal section, but trust me, she's talking about the eastern portion - the western part is the one where the runaways are, and there's nothing else to do there right now). Hmm, Noit did mention needing to wear something belonging to a Goddess at a Goddess Statue to reach the central part of the Shrine, so let's search for it.

To reach the eastern canal section, you'll need to head back to Fact's sector (the northeastern screen), the area where the meeting is being held (which is still going on, but we'll be back there later). For now, head to the building in the far northeastern corner of this sector, and step inside. Head downstairs, and unlock the door here, then head northwest, and take the stairs down again to reach another part of the Subterranean Canal. This section contains fire-breathing enemies (Dyphthelloids), which can be dangerous, but are a good source of EXP; I recommend using them to get to at least level 36.

Anyway, from the entrance, take the passage to the southwest, and cross the bridge to the right. It doesn't really matter which path you take, but the top one is a little shorter, so follow that all the way west (ignore the fork to the north), and take the first fork south. Cross the bridge, and follow the path northeast, and open the chest to find the Silver Pendant, which you'll need shortly. That's all you need to do in this area at the moment, but there is a Celceta Flower hidden down here, as well as another petrified person who will become important later (or, you can just skip to the next paragraph). From the entrance to this canal section, take the southeastern passage again, but this time, follow the path to the southwest. Along the way, you'll come across another bridge to your right, but just ignore it, and when you come to another fork, step through the passage to the north. Immediately head west, and keeping along the bottom of the wall near the water, there's a hidden passage leading to a small chest containing a Celceta Flower. If you want, you can visit the other petrified person now, but as with the runaways, there's nothing you can do to help right now. Anyway, head back outside this passage, and follow the path directly to the south, then cross the bridge to your left. Examine the statue at the end of the path, and you'll note that it's a swordsman. Hmm, didn't Hadat say his family's sword went missing along with Sada? If you use the Lila Shell (or talking to him in person, if you prefer), he confirms that this likely is Sada, so that's just one more reason to undo the petrification spell. As noted above, you can't help him now, but you'll definitely want to keep him in mind for later.

At any rate, return to the Shrine's entrance (Hadal's sector), and enter the building in the center of the screen (or you can use one of the other doorways, if you prefer). Inside, unlock the huge door in the center, as well as the one beyond that. Step inside, save your game, and get your HP and MP fully healed (a quick trip to the well in Regg's basement is advised, if you need it). You may also want to equip a healing item (I recommend Herbs, or one of the Meat items), as the boss ahead can be a bit tough. It may also be a good idea to select the option to make boss fights inescapable, as this fight is one of the easier ones to unintentionally exit (if you're playing either of the Chronicles versions, you unfortunately do not have this option). Approach the upper part of this room, and a giant spider-like demon will emerge from the wall.

HP - 420
LVL - 36
STR - 192
DEF - 144
EXP - 1,500
GOLD - 2,200

RECOMMENDED LEVEL - 35/36

STRATEGY
- As soon as the boss lands (unless you moved further up, it should avoid landing on you), it will head straight for you, trying to pin you against one of the walls. Obviously, you don't want to get pinned (especially near the door, as you're likely to accidentally exit, if you're able to), as it's very hard to escape under normal circumstances (in a pinch, you can use a healing item for a brief invulnerability period, and use it to walk right through his center). Occasionally, it'll also fire a ring of pseudo-homing projectiles at you (kind of like how the Hawk Idol curves your fireballs, except this seems to have a much wider arc); more than likely, these will head off-screen and not be any further nuisance, but they can sometimes continuously circle around the room if your positioning is bad. The easiest way to avoid them is by being near a wall as they approach, preferably one away from the boss. In addition, it will also lay eggs after a while, which shoot projectiles in various directions when hatched (depending on the difficulty level, both the number of eggs and projectiles varies). You'll probably want to dispose of these as quickly as possible (physical attacks or fireballs - preferably charged - will work, though I find physical attacks are more effective) to reduce the number of projectiles. On higher difficulties, you may not be able to destroy all of them in time with physical attacks alone, so I recommend using a combination of physical attacks and charged fireballs (that, or hope for the best in dodging the projectiles; as with the other ones, you'll want to try and have some distance between them).

Anyway, this guy's weak point is the front of his head, in between the two antennae (I have no clue what purpose they serve, except as a deterrent for fireballs - especially homing ones). As with the previous bosses, trying to attack him physically leads only to an early grave, so Fire Magic is needed. However, do note that you can't damage him as soon as the battle begins; you need to wait until he starts moving around before any damage will register. Anyway, as the boss never turns its head, you'll need to constantly try and lure him away from the bottom of the screen, and shoot fireballs from underneath him; it helps to try and keep him all the way near the top of the screen, if you're able. Of course, this is easier said than done, as he'll likely lay eggs around the same time he's firing the ring of projectiles, which makes for a lot of things to dodge. So, unless you feel comfortable with the amount of incoming projectiles, you should make destroying the eggs a priority, and then move around to attack. Once you win, you'll receive 1,500 EXP and 2,200 gold for your efforts.

Regarding equipment accessories, you may find that using the Hawk Idol hurts more than it helps. However, if you're good at arcing your shots, it may make things easier, as you don't have to be directly below him to deal damage. The downside to using it is your shots are likely to be re-directed to either his antennae or the eggs, which of course lessens the damage you do (fortunately, the antennae go down fairly easily). If you don't use the Hawk Idol, then the Cleria Ring is probably your next best choice.

It's also worth noting that using the Time Magic on this boss will actually stall him temporarily, meaning you can then switch to Fire Magic to score some free hits. However, you need to be on the Easy difficulty for this to be of any use, as other difficulties do not allow you to change your magic around in the middle of a boss fight (or any items or equipment, for that matter).

As noted above, level 35 or 36 (preferably 36, maybe even higher) is needed to deal extra damage here (technically it's level 34, but the damage output still isn't very good then), but that's only with the Hyper Cutter equipped, which you really should have by now. It's also recommended that you bought the Reflex armor from Zalem, as well as found the Iron Shield in Dabbie's sector. If you feel that level 36 isn't high enough, the Dyphthelloids in the eastern section of the Subterranean Canal (where the Silver Pendant is found) give double EXP up to level 38; and if *that* isn't high enough, the Zavanites (in either Mesa's sector, or in Tovah's) give double EXP up to level 42. While the Zavanites technically give more EXP, I prefer to use the Dyphthelloids, as they can be damaged both with physical attacks and fireballs, whereas the Zavanites only take physical damage, making it ultimately a slower process.

NOTE
- If you're playing the Eternal version of the game (this will not work in the Complete and Chronicles versions), using Time Magic immediately at the start of the fight will actually allow you to skip this boss, if you can touch the door up top in time. However, for this to work, you need to exit and re- enter the fight first (probably because there's a brief period before the game loads up the fight, hence Druegar's invulnerability at the start). In order to permanently skip him, you'll need to do this at least twice throughout the course of the game. But since bosses give fixed EXP no matter your level, killing him could be useful for an easy level later in the game.

After the battle, open the door to the north, and approach the Goddess Statue inside. You'll learn that this statue can take you to the central part of the Shrine, by wearing a pendant around your neck. It also mentions two different paths, but as we only have one pendant right now, we can only explore one of them. So, equip the Silver Pendant and approach the statue again to warp to another part of the Shrine (even if you had the Silver Pendant equipped before, the statue still needs to be approached twice). After warping, exit the room, and head south through the next passage. Instead of taking either of the exits leading outside (they contain nothing of interest), head up the stairs in the northwestern corner of the room. On the next screen, again avoid taking the southern passage outside (it's another dead end), and instead take the passage leading north (if you have the status displayed, you should now be in the East Wing), and follow this one outside.

As soon as you step outside here, you'll get a message from Hadat, saying that a little boy came to Ramia looking for you... Unless you feel like doing some backtracking, I suggest holding off on returning to Ramia for a little while. Anyway, follow the path to the east (beware the Forkless - red lizard-like enemies - as they can also shoot projectiles), and head inside the building. As you make your way outside again, you'll hear a couple demons conversing. Equip the Alter Magic (if you want to, it's not required here), and step outside to chat with the two golden-armored Gearots (not to be confused with the Bearots or Zearots). They'll mention Keith is hiding nearby, likely having swiped the key to the Water Control Room along the way. Just what is he up to? Anyway, head down the stairs to the west, and inside the left doorway is another locked door. Behind it is a chest containing the Battle Shield, so be sure to grab that, if you want (it'll definitely help for the next boss battle or two). Back outside, head back up the stairs, and continue to the building in the west (ignore the other set of stairs leading up). Speaking to the Gearot inside reveals that Keith is somewhere below.

Head downstairs, and you'll be in another section of the Subterranean Canal (the central section). Much like the Preliguards in the Moat of Burnedbless, the Ceabiths (lizard-like warriors) have a tendency to turn invisible, so be wary of that (as with the Preliguards, they can be detected via Light Magic, if desired). Anyway, it doesn't matter which direction you take, but for simplicity's sake, let's take the southern path (though again, watch out for those Ceabiths). When it splits, follow it southwest over two bridges, and then head straight up as far as you can. There's another bridge just a couple steps to the left, so cross that, and then the one on your right. Follow this path all the way around to the far northeastern corner of the map, and you'll come across a green demon. If you didn't manage to catch a glimpse of him before, this is Keith, the one who helped you rescue Tarf from the Moat of Burnedbless. Talk to him (in human form), and he'll give you the Floodgate Key to drain the canal waters so you can reach the Goddesses' Palace. That's all there is to do here right now, so head back to the western section of the Subterranean Canal (I recommend warping to the Runaways' Hideout, if you're able). In the northern corner of this map, there's a strange door you may have come across earlier, which you can now open (coming from the aboveground entrance, simply head straight east over three bridges). Inside, there's a lever on the top wall, so approach that, and pull it to drain the canal; you'll also receive 1,500 EXP for doing so.

Now that the canal is drained, all three sections of it are now interconnected, which can get a bit confusing. Your destination now is back in the central section of the canal, but don't bother using the Silver Pendant to get back there, as that's a pretty big and pointless detour. Instead, exit the floodgate room, and go west back across two bridges, at which point head south. Follow the path around, and descend the steps to the canal floor. At the split, head north, then east at the next one (just below the floodgate room). Follow that path, and at the split, climb up the steps to the north to find a chest containing the Battle Armor, which you'll very likely want for the next boss. Descend the steps, and just a little to the right, follow the path north, and climb those steps. Take the path to the right, and descend the next set of steps you see. On the canal floor, follow the path to the north through the arch, which should put you back in the central canal section.

Follow the path southeast as far as you can, and you should see a chest above off to the right. We'll come to that shortly, but for now, head west as far as you can, and take the second fork to the south (for now, ignore the first path to the south). Climb the steps at the end, and at the end of the path, you should see an indentation in the southwestern corner of the wall. Step inside to find a hidden room with a chest containing the Battle Sword, which you should equip right away (you can also show this to Zalem for some amusing dialogue =p). While it's not required to find this, it's highly recommended that you do, otherwise you'll need to be a few levels higher to do any decent damage to the next boss (even with the Hyper Cutter). In any event, exit the room, and head back to the other path south we ignored earlier. Climb the stairs at the end, and follow the path all the way east to the chest we ignored earlier, which contains the Falcon Idol. This is basically an upgraded version of the Hawk Idol, because not only does it home your fireballs, but upon impact, a charged one will then split into a few smaller fireballs for added damage. In any event, follow the path to the south, and head upstairs. You'll find Keith up here, and chatting with him (if you want, it's not required) reveals that Maria (Sada's lover) is about to be sacrificed inside the bell tower (aka the Campanile of Lane), but Zava is standing guard. Not good...

This next screen contains some pretty dangerous enemies, but they're one of the best sources of EXP at this point in the game. And believe me, you will very likely need to grind some to have a decent shot at the next boss. The Charronts (mages) shoot projectiles at you, and can only be damaged by physical attacks. The Valkyria (knights) you have to be especially careful around, but at least you can use both fireballs and physical attacks against them. If you have it, you might consider using Time Magic to make things easier, preferably in conjunction with the Ring of Ease to conserve MP. In any event, I strongly recommend using this screen to grind to at least level 44 or 45, perhaps even 1 or 2 levels higher (if you need to, I suggest using the Ceabiths in the central canal to reach level 42 first, and *then* use the Charronts and Valkyria).

Outside the room where Keith is now, climb up the balcony to your left, and though you don't need to visit there just yet, let's follow the path to the southwest to reach the Goddesses' Palace. Head inside, and approach the big circle in the center to speak to the Goddesses' spirits, who tell you that the other pendant is in possession of one of the petrified people, and that you'll need the Dreaming Idol from the Campanile of Lane to help undo the curse. They will also fully heal your HP and MP, if you need it (though this will be unavailable at a certain point in the game). There are also steps on either side of the room, but they just lead to the balcony of this place, which is nice for an additional view of Esteria, but is otherwise pointless. Anyway, as the Goddesses' Palace is one of the six warp locations, now might be a good idea to see Adol's visitor in Ramia (though you don't need to do this just yet). Inside Hadat's house is Tarf, who apparently made his way here from the Colony of Lava, spying on Dalles. In any event, back on the screen with the Charronts and Valkyria, make your way all the north, and enter the large doorway to the Campanile of Lane. Before proceeding through the door within, save your game, and make sure you're fully healed (I recommend heading back to the Goddesses' Palace again, if needed). You'll probably also want to equip healing items (again, I recommend Herbs or one of the Meat items). When you're ready, head inside the door to face one of the game's more difficult bosses.

HP - 480
LVL - 44
STR - 225
DEF - 191
EXP - 2,500
GOLD - 2,400

RECOMMENDED LEVEL - 44/45

STRATEGY
- For the first phase of this battle Zava will sit back and let her minions take care of you; trying to attack her directly will do you no good right now. Unlike normal Zavanites, their bat forms are immune to physical attacks, and can only be harmed via Fire Magic, so be sure you have that equipped. They'll fly all over the place, trying to shoot projectiles at you (how much depends on the difficulty, I think) in addition to dealing collision damage (for fun, try running into them with the Alter Magic equipped =p). The best way to deal with them is to have the Falcon Idol equipped, as otherwise you may find it hard to connect your shots (the Hawk Idol works too, but the Falcon Idol's multiple homing ability makes it better for crowd control); the one downside is that sometimes your shots will get harmlessly re-directed to Zava, but it's usually not too much of an issue. As they are capable of shooting a lot of projectiles at once, it's best to not get trapped in a corner; in fact, that's what you should be trying to do to them. After several charged shots, they should go down (if they don't, you're either under-leveled, or you didn't pick up the Battle Sword), taking off a chunk of Zava's health for each one you kill. Once both are dead, Zava will send out 3 more, followed by a wave of 4. These two waves in particular can be quite hectic, but do your best to keep them in a corner (or at least clustered together), as that way your fireballs have a better shot of damaging the others (using the Falcon Idol, of course).

Once the wave of 4 bats is disposed of, Zava herself will move to the center of the room and constantly shoot small fireballs all over the place (again, how much depends on the difficulty, I think). She'll also send out one final bat, but feel free to ignore this one, as Zava herself can now be damaged (if you want, killing this Zavanite will still take off some of her health, but it's no longer necessary). Weave between the fireballs as best you can, and just pelt her with fireballs of your own until she goes down; if you've made it this far, this part shouldn't be very difficult (unless you're low on health from dealing with the Zavanites, then it might be troublesome). Once you win, you'll receive 2,500 EXP and 2,400 gold for your efforts.

It's worth noting that Time Magic is effective during this battle, especially if you have trouble dodging all the projectiles. However, as with Druegar, you need to be on the Easy difficulty for it to be of any use, as otherwise you can't alternate between magics.

Due to the presence of Zavanites in this battle, one might think that being able to take care of their normal forms would be enough to dispose of them quickly here. However, this is not the case, likely because these particular ones are linked to Zava's health, meaning that you need enough STR to deal with Zava herself for them to go down relatively quickly. In this case, level 43 with the Battle Sword is technically the minimum for dealing extra damage, but disposing of the bats is still a little inefficient, so I'd recommend at least level 44 or 45 to speed things up. If you feel that's not enough, you can gain a couple more levels using the Charronts and Valkyria without too much trouble. With the Hyper Cutter equipped, I believe it's level 49 or 50 before you start dealing any extra damage; while you can grind that high with a little patience, it is strongly recommended that you instead grab the Battle Sword (if you don't know, it's in a hidden room in the southwestern part of the canal section you just came from). In fact, if you want to reach max level (55 - 65,000 EXP) before the final boss without too much trouble, accumulating around 54,000 EXP (just a little bit over level 50) before killing Zava is highly recommended. The remaining EXP will come almost completely in fixed amounts (including this boss, that's a total of 10,700 EXP, which leaves you 300 short of max level - however, that 300 EXP can easily be made up via the few normal enemies you'll encounter during the final phases of exploring the Shrine), and trust me, it's a far less tedious option than using just regular enemy kills for the remaining levels. However, do note that the remaining bosses are actually pretty easy, so use your best judgment.

NOTE
- In the Eternal version of the game, using Time Magic right away will freeze Zava in her normal (non-boss) form temporarily, and you are actually able to kill it off via physical attacks (just like her minions' normal forms, this form is shielded from fireballs). However, as it is her normal form that you are attacking, the boss fight does not end upon killing it, and she has to be dealt with as normal to continue with the game. If you drank the Beastiary Potion, this is why you see her portrait on the display screen during the fight, but nothing like this for the other bosses. Even more intriguing is that her normal form has different stats than her boss counterpart (please refer to the "Enemies" section for Ys II if you want to know them), and they can be learned by repeatedly killing it, just like a normal enemy (with the exception of the STR stat, as that is learned by taking a random number of hits from said enemy in this version). And since this form functions like a normal enemy, it means you get scaled EXP for killing it, meaning that if you're under-leveled, she can give up to 4,000 EXP (this form gives 2,000 EXP normally).

Do note that while killing this form of Zava is impossible in the Complete and Chronicles versions (she can still be frozen temporarily, but physical attacks no longer work), evidence of its existence can still be found there. In Complete, you are still able to learn that form's STR stat, but nothing else. However, Chronicles changed learning an enemy's STR to be the same as learning its other stats (meaning you can't learn any of them now), but her portrait still appears on-screen.

After the battle, enter the room up top, and upon passing through the giant archway, you'll hear the bell start to ring. A little further up, you'll find Maria chained up, but as she says, there's no way to free her. Well, Keith did say the bell is rung 5 times before the ritual is complete, so maybe there's still time. If you want, using the Time Magic in her presence displays a curious message (in the Japanese versions, it says "Timestop understanding", but the English localized versions changed it to "Maria is not amused!"; if you're confused about its meaning, it should become clear upon finishing the game); if you're playing the Steam version, doing this will also get you the "Timestop Understanding" achievement.

Anyway, continue up the stairs in the northeastern corner, and inside the next room, head southwest through the archway, and follow it around to the northwestern corner. Head straight east on the next screen, and enter the passage along the bottom of the wall (marked by a small indentation), then head up the stairs in the northwestern corner of the next room. Again, head southwest through the archway, and follow the path to the northeastern corner. Head straight west on the next screen (you should hear the bell ring again), and enter the passage along the bottom of the wall (again, there's a small indentation). On this next screen, you'll probably notice a chest in the middle of this room, but there's a barrier preventing you from grabbing it just yet. So, follow the path around to the northeastern corner, and head upstairs again. Head southwest through the archway, and upon stepping outside, go straight west until you reach another building (the bell should ring again out here). Back inside, follow the path around to the far northeastern corner, and you should be back outside again near the top of this building (where the bell will ring yet again). Head southwest a tad, and climb up the steps to confront Dalles again. Unfortunately, he's still no match for you, and after a quick chat, he rings the bell one final time before warping away.

There's nothing more to do up here, so head back downstairs, and back to the top of the first building. Head downstairs, and in the middle of this room, the barrier around the chest is now gone, and inside you'll find the Dreaming Idol, which the Goddesses said to bring to them to help undo Dalles' petrification spell. If you prefer, you can warp straight to the Goddesses' Palace (provided you went there earlier, of course), but if you decide to walk back, a quick check of the platform where Maria was held indicates that she didn't make it after all... Assuming you have the Dreaming Idol, head back to the Goddesses' Palace (if you don't know, it's in the far southwestern corner of the screen outside the Campanile of Lane), and approaching the big circle in the center to speak to the Goddesses' spirits. You'll learn that the Black Pearl is also needed to undo the petrification, so you'll need to find that and bring it to them. Let's see, we last gave the Black Pearl to Tarf to enable Keith to bust them out of the prison in the Moat of Burnedbless, so let's go find him.

If you didn't realize it earlier, Tarf is the visitor Hadat told you about some time ago as you were exploring the Shrine, so warp back to Ramia, and you'll now find him inside Hadat's house. Speaking to Tarf reveals that he seems to have lost the Black Pearl somewhere, but he at least remembers having it when entering Ramia (you *must* hear this from him; if he's only mentioning the bit about Dalles, then you didn't visit the Goddesses' Palace after finding the Dreaming Idol, which is also necessary). Speaking to Gorto (you can actually skip this step, if you want) reveals that he saw someone in a black cloak pick up something off the ground. Great... In any event, head back inside the Shrine, and if you return via the front gate, the guards will mention that the meeting's finally over, thanks to something Dalles found (as with Gorto, you don't actually need to hear this from them, should you decide to warp back in or something - not that I'd recommend it in this case, as this is faster). So, head back to the meeting room (if you forgot, it's the center building in the northeastern section of the Shrine - Fact's sector). You should now be able to unlock this door (if you get a message saying the meeting's still going on, then you missed one of the above steps), and inside on the stand, you'll find the Black Pearl again.

Head back to the Goddesses' Palace (preferably via warping, especially since you'll be fully healed again anyway) and speak to the Goddesses again to merge the Black Pearl with the Dreaming Idol. They tell you to use it at the top of the Campanile of Lane, so make your way back there. Along the way, if you investigate the platform where Maria was earlier, you'll notice that her body is now gone. Strange, Dalles did complete the sacrificial ritual earlier, didn't he...? Anyway, at the top, go ahead and use the powered-up Dreaming Idol (equip and use it) inside the crest where Dalles was standing when you encountered him here earlier. Doing so will release everyone from Dalles' petrification spell, and you'll also get 2,700 EXP for doing so.

At this point, return to the Runaways' Hideout (again, it's easiest to just warp there if you can spare the MP), and speak to everyone there (as Boris says, Lilia went wandering off on her own). Upon doing so, Keith will arrive with a Wing to get everyone home safely (unlike Dr. Flair, they won't use any Wings you might've gifted them earlier =p), and before taking off, Bohtz will give you the Gold Pendant. Before visiting the Goddess Statue again, Ed mentioned that someone else was turned to stone somewhere in the Shrine, so we should make sure they're back to normal as well.

You'll want to head back to the eastern canal area, the one where you found the Silver Pendant earlier - the person in question is in the far southwestern corner. While you can use the Runaways' Hideout as a starting point, I find the fastest way to be to warp back to the Goddesses' Palace, and start from the central canal entrance next to where the Falcon Idol can be found. Starting from the chest, head west, and descend to the canal floor. At the path split, take the path just to the northwest, and follow it all the way up. Head northwest at that fork, and at the end of the path, there's an arch leading to the eastern section of the canal. On the next screen, head straight south a little ways, and you should eventually see steps on your right, so climb those. Follow the path to the right, then go straight north as far as you can (those Dyphthelloids still do a fair deal of damage, so be careful around them). Head northwest across the bridge, and then take the path to the southwest; you'll eventually come to a bridge on your right, but ignore that, and go south at the next split. Cross the bridge to your left, and at the end of this path, you'll find Sada, who you may have found before as a statue. Speak to him, and after learning of Maria's apparent death, he'll entrust you with the Cleria Sword. Be sure you equip this, as it is absolutely necessary to defeat the remaining bosses.

Sada also tells you that there's a powerful suit of armor back in his home, so if you want, head back to Ramia, and tell Hadat the good news. Upon doing so, he'll give you the Cleria Armor, so be sure to equip that as well (actually, this item can be skipped altogether, but it sure does help). He also makes mention of the Cleria Shield, but it's unfortunately not in his possession. If you haven't done so already, now is also good time to purchase the Elixir from Jade's shop in Lance Village, if you're able to (if you're playing the Steam version, you might consider getting the max money achievement "Spendthrift" before purchasing this). This is a one-time item, and equipping it will revive you upon death, so use it wisely.

Anyway, head back into the Shrine, and now that you have the Cleria Sword, you are finally able to damage the Zearots (guards) at the entrance (even then, you have to be level at least level 47 to do any damage, which probably won't be an issue if you made it this far). Killing ten of them (for them to respawn, you simply need to refresh the screen, or get as close to the Ramia transition point as possible) will get you the Steam achievement "And Your Children's Children" (as you kill them, they'll get numbers next to their name if you speak to them via Alter Magic). As these guys are very dangerous, I recommend using Time Magic to help take them out (or you can use the last magic to make quick work of them, which will be available shortly - however, using this method doesn't award any EXP). Also note that even if you kill them, the only way through the door they guard is by speaking to them via Alter Magic, so a screen refresh will likely be necessary.

Anyway, head back inside the center building of the first screen (Hadal's sector), and make your way back to the Goddess Statue again. Make sure you have the Gold Pendant equipped, and touch the statue again. Upon warping, head downstairs on the next screen, and you'll find yourself back in the eastern section of the Subterranean Canal, in a part that you may have noticed earlier, but were unable to access. Follow the path around to the bottom portion, and climb the other set of steps leading up. Head downstairs to the Shrine's underpass, and in the southwestern corner, there's a large door. Before opening it, save your game, make sure your HP is fully restored (don't worry if you're low on MP - you won't be needing it this time), and equip a healing item (either the normal 3 Herbs or one of the Meats will do - I'd advise against using the Elixir here). Also, make absolutely certain that you have the Cleria Sword equipped, as otherwise the upcoming boss is flat-out impossible. It's also a good idea to have the Cleria Armor from Hadat's house, preferably coupled with the Battle Shield. For equipment accessories, the Cleria Ring is probably the best choice here, as anything magic-related will be useless. Anyway, step inside the door, and you'll encounter Dalles once again.

HP - 510
LVL - 49
STR - 238
DEF - 219
EXP - 3,500
GOLD - 2,500

RECOMMENDED LEVEL - 47/48

STRATEGY
- For all the trouble he's caused throughout the game, Dalles is actually pretty easy. He'll generally stick to one area of the room, shooting a bunch of small projectiles in all directions (as usual, the amount depends on the difficulty), so you'll want to weave in between them as best you can. If you wait too long, he'll do another attack, this time firing two strings of laser-like projectiles, followed by a string of normal ones (on higher difficulties, not only are there more projectiles, but four strings of the laser-like ones). This attack can be quite difficult to avoid consistently on higher difficulties, as while the laser-like ones can be avoided fairly easily (by moving around or between the strings, though one has to take into account their slight angle due to Dalles' movements), the string of normal ones can be problematic. The best way to avoid those is to be outside the laser-like strings altogether (before the attack, try to be above or below him, and move to the opposite end of the room when you see the magic symbols around him - the sign of this attack), or to be near the middle of the attack (while still maintaining your distance, of course), which provides the next most maneuvering room. Anyway, he'll do both sets of attacks twice before warping away and hurling the meteors circling him towards you, but they're pretty easy to avoid (in this instance, at least).

As he tells you himself, magic is completely useless against him; trying to use your sealed Fire Magic, you can still hit him at close range, but it won't actually hurt him (and if you try to use Time Magic, he'll make it so *you're* the one moving slow, and then summon a bunch of projectiles that zoom in on your position before spreading all over the place - it is possible to squeeze between these, but it is pretty hard to do, so it's obviously not recommended). So, you'll need to use physical attacks to do any damage, but as noted above, you *must* have the Cleria Sword equipped to actually hurt him - anything else will be completely ineffective (if you're so inclined, you could actually do this with Alter Magic equipped; after all, you can't actually talk to boss enemies, only attack them). While you can try to attack him as soon as he appears (do note that he has brief invulnerability at the start of the fight), the projectiles will generally get in your way, so I usually find it best to wait out his first set of projectiles, and move in quickly before he starts his next attack (if done properly, he won't ever use the second attack, as he does the patterns in the same order every appearance, given enough time). So, after weaving between the projectiles, quickly make your way straight to him (if you're not quick, he's likely to get his next pattern off), being careful of those meteors around him, as they change directions every so often. Upon damaging him, he'll send the meteors after you, but you should usually be able to land at least two hits before he warps somewhere else (if you're lucky, perhaps even 3 hits - and if you're *really* lucky, it's possible to get 4 hits per appearance, but this pretty much requires using the meteors to push you back towards him really quickly). The meteors tend to move a bit more randomly upon damaging him, so do your best to avoid them. He'll re-appear shortly, and you'll need to repeat the process several times before he goes down (it helps to be near the center of the room so you can get to him quicker, though of course this has the drawback of less reaction time to dodge the projectiles). Once he's dead, you'll receive 3,500 EXP and 2,500 gold for your efforts.

NOTE
- Despite the recommended levels listed above (you'll probably be at level 47 naturally), you can actually reasonably defeat this boss several levels earlier, as you start doing extra damage as early as level 40 (of course, this means you have to go through the rest of the game under-leveled, and that's no easy task). Even so, if you find that level 47 or 48 isn't enough, I recommend grinding on the enemies outside the Campanile of Lane. While the Zearots at the Shrine entrance give more EXP per kill, it's a slower process, especially as it's a bit tedious to respawn them; going back and forth outside the

Campanile of Lane can accumulate EXP quicker, as there are a fair amount of enemies, plus just enough distance to make respawning them relatively painless.

After the battle, touch the golden orb at the top of the room, and you'll be warped even further inside the Shrine. Immediately after warping, there's a chest to your left, so open it to obtain the Shield Magic. This magic shields you from all attacks, and if an enemy successfully deals collision damage to you with this equipped, the enemy will be the one to take the damage, at precisely a third of its total health (however, killing an enemy this way does not award you any EXP, presumably because it pretty much kills itself). The drawback is that using this drains your MP pretty quickly (even moreso should an attack hit you when using it), and even equipping the Ring of Ease doesn't help reduce the cost.

At any rate, pass through the archway and step onto the platform, which will take you down to the core of Ys. Head to the next screen, where you'll encounter Tarf; if you talk to him (you don't have to), he just says everyone's waiting for him further inside. Hmm... At any rate, head inside the passage just to Tarf's right, on the next screen, follow the path around to the northeastern corner, where you'll encounter Maria. Talking to her (again, you don't have to), she reveals that she survived the sacrificial ritual due to her bracelet absorbing the damage instead (if you gift Frau of Ramia Village, she mentions that Maria's bracelet used to belong to one of the six priests). Talking to her here (speaking to her in the Campanile of Lane does *not* work) is the trigger for getting into her bed back at her place (the one on the right), if you're interested in that (for the Steam version, it's the last requirement for the "Juuuuust Right" achievement). Of course, it requires backtracking to Ramia (if you want to warp back, you'll need to head back to the room with the elevator platform for it to work - otherwise, simply touch the golden orb near where the Shield Magic was and backtrack), but you can also report the good news to Sada (who's now in Ramia's graveyard, provided you talked to Maria in the Core of Ys), Karen, and Hadat (as well as a few others).

Back in the Core of Ys, take the passage just to the right of Maria, and on the next screen, you'll need to follow the path all the way to the far northwestern corner (or pretty close to it, at least). After doing so, backtrack to the middle, and Keith will create a passage for you Dogi style. Go ahead and enter, and if you speak to Keith (again, it's optional), he'll tell you the Goddesses are a bit farther in, as well as Gorto (if you didn't notice, there's a different gate guard in Ramia Village). Anyway, follow the path to the northeastern corner, and enter the passage. Head up a little ways, and you'll encounter Gorto near a barrier. Chatting with him (also not required), he speculates that the Goddesses are likely past this barrier, but there doesn't seem to be any way through (at present, it just pushes you back). He did seem to notice a movement off to the right, so we better check it out. Follow the path to the northeastern corner (along the way, you'll get a couple messages saying someone is around), and you'll find Lilia. Speak to her, and after some brief dialogue, she'll give you the Goddess Ring, courtesy of two mysterious girls she encountered earlier. Head back to the barrier, and provided you have the Goddess Ring (which you can show to Gorto, if you'd like), touching it this time will now dispel it. Follow the path to the far northwestern corner, and step inside the warp symbol (by the way, those rotating crystals don't do anything of note, but you can shoot fireballs at them for a neat ripple effect).

Upon warping, you'll find yourself back in the room where Vagullion was fought in Ys I. Strange, why are we back here all of a sudden? As you can't open the door off to the east, take the passage to the northwest. You'll notice the Goddesses being held in place on either side of the door here. Touch the door between them, and you'll promptly get pushed back by the other mysterious entity from the intro video, but Goban and Luta Gemma come to your rescue with the Silver Harmonica. As there is nothing else you can do (not even Shield Magic will protect you should you try attacking this guy as he is now), so go ahead and play the Silver Harmonica (equip and use it) to break the curse on the Goddesses. Afterwards, go ahead and speak to both of them, who reveal themselves to be Feena and Reah (in case you didn't pick up on it earlier =p). After speaking to both of them, they'll imbue your sword with power; you'll also receive 2,000 EXP, which will likely level you up (or very close to it, at least). Finally, the door to the final boss will be open, but before stepping inside, speak to Luta Gemma first, as he will give you the Cleria Shield to help with the upcoming battle (you can skip grabbing this, but it's obviously not recommended.

Before stepping through the door, Goban did mention that Ys has returned to the surface, and most of the characters will now have something new to say, should you decide to visit them at this point (I mean, it's not like the world's in imminent danger or anything =p). Of particular note, the view has changed a little on the far western portion of the Moondoria Field (just outside Lance, the part of the island where Lilia found you in the intro scenes), as well as the view on the balcony of the Goddesses' Palace (for obvious reasons, the Goddesses' spirits are no longer there to heal you).

Anyway, getting back to the Core of Ys, stepping through that door next to the Goddesses is the point of no return, so in case you want to do something else, be sure to save before entering it. Speaking of which, like other characters you encounter, Feena and Reah can also be gifted (Goban and Luta Gemma as well, but they're less significant in this regard). Giving 3 gifts to Feena will have her fully heal you if needed, so you'll want to use cheap gifts like Apples or Marle Flowers to do so. Gifting Reah at least twice will cause her to wink at you during a certain point of the post-game scenes, but that's about it.

At any rate, save your game, get fully healed (this should be a non-issue, but if you need it, either gift Feena 3 times for a full heal, or use anything aside from preferably the Celceta Flower), and step inside the door. Head straight up, and Adol will automatically run across the collapsing platforms to another warp symbol. Before stepping inside the warp symbol, make absolutely certain the Cleria Sword is equipped, because as with Dalles, the final boss is impossible without it. Having the Cleria Armor and Cleria Shield equipped would also be a good idea, though it's technically not required. In addition, you'll want to equip the Goddess Ring if you haven't already, though this also isn't necessary. For items, I recommend having either the Elixir or a Celceta Flower equipped, as they both can fully heal both your HP and MP. You can also equip the Shield Magic, as it makes this guy pretty easy (however, if you want a decent challenge, I honestly advise against using it - that, or being no higher than level 50). When you're ready, step inside the warp symbol to confront the final boss.

HP - 510
LVL - 51
STR - 278
DEF - 240
EXP - 5,000
GOLD - 2,550

RECOMMENDED LEVEL - 51/52

STRATEGY
- Just like Dalles, most magic is ineffective here (as before, using Time Magic here backfires on you, but Darm doesn't do anything special during this time, aside from pelt you with various projectiles). So, as noted above, to even damage this guy, you absolutely *must* have the Cleria Sword equipped (though again, feel free to attack him using Alter Magic to completely humiliate him =p). It's worth noting that he seems to have slightly increased DEF (and of course, STR), but this is actually true of all bosses, just that it's more evident in this fight in particular, as he seems to take a bit more punishment. Anyway, it's also preferable to be wearing the Goddess Ring, as it'll briefly freeze him in place periodically throughout the fight; if that isn't enough incentive, it also gives you a +2 increase in both STR and DEF, and every little bit helps. While you don't need to do this, it's the best opportunity to land hits on him, otherwise he'll be moving all over the place, making him hard to catch - even moreso on higher difficulties.

Almost immediately upon starting the fight, he'll send out a bunch of small projectiles in all directions, so you may want to hold off on attacking him right away (besides, in Eternal and Complete, he has brief invulnerability if you decide to bump into him as soon as possible). All the while, six bomb-like projectiles will periodically appear in the center of the platform, and be automatically thrown at you shortly afterwards. These are rather easy to avoid, but you do need to remember to keep an eye on them. Anyway, after he does the burst of projectiles, weave between them as best you can, and try to land a few hits on him before backing off, as he'll send more projectiles out shortly after (he alternates between a big burst and a small burst of these). After dodging the projectiles a few times, the Goddess Ring should activate, which is the ideal time to strike. Do note that if he's in the middle of shooting out projectiles, the attack may be cut short, but the bombs in the center will keep on coming, so keep a constant eye out for those, and back off if you need to. Aside from dodging all of those projectiles, the biggest issue with this phase is keeping up with Darm, as he loves to move away from you. When attacking him, try not to push him outside the platform, because if the Goddess Ring activates while he's there, chances are you'll be unable to reach him, which is a wasted opportunity.

Once you take off a little over half his health, he'll hover to the center (he's invulnerable during this period), and you'll then have to deal with the Black Pearl itself. During this phase, he'll shoot out a few curving lines of yellow projectiles over half the screen, followed by a small burst of normal blue ones to mix things up. To avoid this attack, you either need to get lucky and be on the other side of him when this happens, or to keep in between the flow of the lines as best you can, and hope no stray blue projectiles get in your way. His other attack during this phase is a huge energy beam that he fires, briefly indicated by a small sparkling line before he lets loose. While he can move pretty much anywhere during this attack, his downside is that whatever angle he chooses to fire at, he can't change it until the attack ends, so to avoid this, get behind him if at all possible. If this hits you, it'll eat away at your Shield Magic pretty quickly, so be sure to avoid it at all costs. Also note that while the projectile attacks can be cut short by the Goddess Ring, he can still fire his energy beam in that state, though of course it's stationary. In addition, the bombs are still present throughout this phase, but as the projectiles leave you more space to work with, they're a lot easier to dodge this time around. At any rate, this form is more annoying to hit, as not only is his movement more erratic, he's much more prone to flee to the center or outside areas as the Goddess Ring activates, so do your best to push him away from there, if you're able to. Otherwise, this form is all about patience, and once you win, the game decides to award you 5,000 EXP and 2,550 gold, even though the ending sequence starts immediately afterwards. Thanks Falcom, that's real helpful...

For a final boss, this guy is honestly a bit disappointing (even on Nightmare), mostly because of how over-powered the Shield Magic is. If you want an easy fight, just equip that, as well the Elixir or Celceta Flower to completely heal you (which is pretty much the equivalent of having 4 health bars - of course, the Celceta Flower requires you to be paying attention to your health, but the Elixir will activate automatically upon depleting your HP). Of course, this isn't a foolproof method, as there are a lot of things to dodge this fight, and getting hit by them using Shield Magic drains your MP quicker (higher difficulties take more MP off when you're hit, I believe), so you still have to use caution.

NOTE
- This boss can actually be reasonably dealt with as low as level 49, but the damage you deal per hit is reduced a tad, which starts to add up with the amount of HP this guy has, so you better be good at dodging his attacks if you take him on that low. To be honest, level 51 or 52 isn't that much of an increase in terms of your damage output, but I think what really helps is the increased DEF, especially on higher difficulties. If you feel more grinding is needed, I again recommend the enemies outside the Campanile of Lane, as the gate guards just take too long to be worth slightly more EXP per kill. However, using enemies for gaining levels beyond level 51 or so can be quite the chore, which is why I previously recommended using all that fixed EXP from Zava onwards or so to get those last levels.

Also, if you want to have a full beastiary, this guy's stats are only listed upon beating the game. For the Eternal and Complete versions, this means one could load up a previous save, and the stats would show immediately, as enemy stats are tracked throughout all playthroughs. The Chronicles versions, however, track them only for your current playthrough, but as there's no other way to get Darm's entry, it's given to you automatically at the start of your second playthrough onwards. Of course, the downside is having to get all the previous enemies' stats again if you want to see a complete beastiary.