Final Fantasy I: Dawn of Souls (Part 3)

Alright, so we just landed our ship to the west of Cornelia. Make a short treck southwest through some mountains, and you should find a cave. Go inside - this is Mount Duegar. As soon as you enter, go to the room north of you and get 575 Gil and 450 Gil from the two chests.

Erm, well. Easy to remember who the smith is, I suppose. We actually don't have any need for him at the moment, so just go over to the west wall and follow it south. Eventually your path will split - both roads lead to the same place, but the left one will take you past another room. Enter it for a heap of treasure chests containing; a Tent, a Great Helm, a Wyrmkiller, an Ether, a Potion, some Mythril Mail, 575 Gil, and a Cottage. We're finally starting to get some decent stuff here!

Talk to the guy to the east of this room and he will take your Nitro Powder.

No biggie, just separating a land mass into two separate continents so we can sail past. Y'know. Hero stuff. Exit the small dwarven settlement and return to your ship, then follow the line of land southwest and pass through the canal you created in the cutscene. Just a few seconds to the west you will find a port with a new town nearby. Dock here, and enter Melmond.

Not a very cheerful spot, is it. This is kind of where the "heaviness" of the game starts to set in. If you've been talking to the villagers along your way, you will likely have heard that the land in the west (ie where we are now) has begun to rot, and the decay is spreading. According to the residents here, it seems to be the work of a monster which is just called the Vampire. We'll go and serve the fiend his justice in a short while. First, feel free to check out the shops here.

Weapon Shop
Crosier - 160g
Saber - 360g
Longsword - 1200g
Falchion -  360g

Armor Shop
Knight's Armor - 36000g
Silver Armlet - 4000g
Great Helm - 360g
Bronze Gloves - 160g
Steel Gloves - 600g

*Note: The armory is located across the bridge to the north of the Weapon Shop.

White Magic Shop
Curaga - 4000g
Life - 4000g
Diaga - 4000g
Healara - 4000g

Black Magic Shop
Firaga - 4000g
Scourge - 4000g
Teleport - 4000g
Slowra - 4000g

This time around I left out Curaga (I get more use out of Healara and then just heal up whatever remains with Cure/Cura) and Scourge. Firaga pretty much kills everything instantly anyway, and it's much more reliable.

From the town head west some more, until you see a path leading south. Follow it to a triangular peninsula where you will find the Cavern of Earth.

The enemies here hit hard. First, to the north there is 1975 Gil (guarded by a strong Earth Elemental enemy - like the Piscodemon, you cannot run from it) if you want to take the detour for it, then return to the steps. Of the two southern paths, take the one on the east. When the path splits again, stick to the east to reach a room with 795 Gil and an Antidote. You will notice that there is a spot where you can stand to the right of the northernmost chest and reach both items, and a spot where you can stand below it and reach both. If you step on the space to the right of it, you will have to fight another Earth Elemental. The space below it is unguarded.

 Return to the split and take the left path to another room with a Potion and 880 Gil (the chest on the right is guarded). Go back to the center of the chamber (where the steps leading out are located) and take the east path to some stairs down to B2.

Move down from the stairs and you will see that the path leads south or east. Go east first into the other section, and again there will be exits leading south or east. This time start going south until you reach another path going east. Take this all the way to a room with three treasure chests containing; a Coral Sword, a Tent, and 330 Gil (nothing in here is guarded).

Instead of returning to the previous path, go south from the room and you will see two more paths leading south. Take the one on the left (a third path will come into view also leading south, ignore this one) all the way down to another room. This one contains 575 Gil, a Leather Shield, and 5000 Gil. The spot right inside the door is guarded by an Earth Elemental, so you will have to fight it on your way out as well. Now go back and take the path on the right to a staircase down to B3.

Of the two paths north, take the one on the right to get to a room with a Sleeping Bag. Continue north and the path with split west or east. Go east and head south to find a room with a Gold Needle (guarded at the front by an Earth Elemental) inside.

Before we made our eastern split off the path, you probably saw another room on the left - go back to this now and get 3400 Gil (guarded at the front). Follow the path around (the first room you see is empty) and when it splits go east. Enter the room here and open the chest for 1020 Gil (guarded at the front). Go south from here and east into another room where you will find the first (yes, first) boss of Earth Cave.

Vampire
HP: 280
P.Def: 26
M.Def: 76
Weakness: Fire, Dia
Resistance: Quake, Ice, Stone, Paralysis, Poison, Darkness, Sleep, Silence, Confusion, Mind, Death

If you're thinking that this guy doesn't look very imposing, it's because he's not. Beat him up and then take the Star Ruby out of the chest to the left. Now I've got some horrible news for you - we have to backtrack all the way out of the cave, and on top of that we have to return later. Rawr. Go back to Melmond and rest at the inn, you probably need it. Once you're healed up and re-stocked on items, head west from town (northwest of the earth cave) to find another crag amongst the mountains - the Giant's Cave.

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Pretty straightforward, yes? Once he moves, go south and into the room there and collect a Mythril Helm, 450 Gil, 620 Gil, and a Great Axe. Go north and take the stairs out of the cave. Head south across this small island to the only other available location. As you go through this area, ignore the first door - it has nothing. Behind the second door is the sage Sadda who will give you the Earth Rod. This is what we need to venture to the very bottom of the Earth Cave. I've never felt greater joy.

Go all the way back to where we faced the Vampire and take the room's second exit. Follow the path to a stone slab and inspect it to reveal a stairway (this only works if you have the Earth Rod). Go down the steps.

On the next floor you will quickly find yourself in a wide open area. First go north and follow the path all the way to a room with various treasure chests. The one in the bottom left is guarded from above and the right by Sphinx enemies (I either got 1 or 2) and the two on the right are guarded at the front by some combination of Ogre, Ogre Mage, and Hyenadon enemies. The chests contain; 1455 Gil, 5450 Gil, 1520 Gil, a Staff, and 3400 Gil.

Return to the open section and go west, south, west, north, and west. You should now be in an area with several bats. From here go all the way north, then west, then south, south, south, south (there are a lot of branches in the path okay). You will arrive at a room that contains a Tent, 1250 Gil, and a Mythril Shield. The lowest chest is guarded on its eastern side, the other two are guarded from the front (by ogre, ogre chief, and hyenadon) Exit the room and go all the way north to the stairs.

The next floor seems like quite the maze, but it's actually very simple. From the stairs, go north until you hit a wall. Walk a few steps to the left and go south until you hit a wall. There is a room to the left which contains the Earth Cave's real boss, so save and heal before you enter.

HP: 1200
P.Def: 40
M.Def: 120
Weakness: Fire, Dia
Resistance: Ice, Stone, Paralysis, Poison, Darkness, Sleep, Silence, Confusion, Mind, Death

If you have anyone in your party capable of equipping it, make sure someone has the Rune Blade. Have a black-magic user caste Temper and/or Haste on that character asap and then have them switch to using Fira. A white mage will likely have to spend quite a few of their turns using Healara, as Lich knows Blizzara and Thundara. Trying to use Slow or Silence or similar debuffs won't yield much result, so just focus on pounding him into the ground as quick as you can.

After the battle there is a short scene. Step on the glowing golden circle to be teleported out of the dungeon. Head back to Melmond and recovery - and that brings this section to its end! See you in the next part!

Reminder: You may now wish to return to Elfheim and replace your White Mage's Poisana spell with NulBlaze.

Go to part 4 -->

We can also go and take on the first bonus dungeon now, though I recommend waiting until you are about level 25-30 to do so, it depends on who you have in your party. This is one time when having a Monk set me back - the bonus bosses hit very hard so if you have a Warrior you will do a bit better at lower levels on account of having access to better armor. Even if the Warrior is the only one alive at the end of the fight it won't matter, the bonus bosses don't give out experience.