Water, water, everywhere....

Now that two crystals are saved, you might be wondering what to do. Well, a visit back to Gaia, a town waaaay off in the mountains, shows us level 7 spells and... hmm. The suspicious scent of plot. Since this seems to be as good a lead as any, it's off to the west. The only thing of interest to the west is a desert, with a smaller desert inside it.

It ALSO contains the other half to the dark secret Kammy discovered back in Elftown. Being a true and noble hero, I rescue the fairy and then set her free in Gaia. Even though she flies off to the east, you have to head due north to find her.



She offers me a magic bottle of air that will work underwater, so it's off to find yet another dungeon -- the water shrine! It's pretty easy to find -- you fly right over a little town that you can only access by river, and that river runs right into a waterfall. Curious. Naturally, the waterfall is a cave. With monsters from way back when. We're talking Citadel of Trials old. It's a giant maze too. The goal, when you FINALLY find the chests, is a bunch of crap, and a Ribbon!

Oh, and a plot item. Meh. Back to the supicious little town, they're all aflutter about Oxyale. In fact -- a ghost woman gives me a submarine just because I have it! It leads to the Sunken Shrine, where I can finally fight some new monsters!







Some have unusual names, but I'll roll with it. There's also a ridiculous encounter rate here. Except for, interestingly enough, the Diamond Emporium, which has tons of treasure (and another key item, the fabled Rosetta Stone!). Sadly, not even that can compare to what you find when you head the other direction. The Giant's Gloves are one of the best items in the game (in my opinion), and you'll find out why when I start taking out bonus bosses left and right. Oh -- and I found another ribbon. Which is hotness in a bowl.




I think the Kraken looks like a bit of a Superhero reject. Maybe that's just me. A depressingly easy fight, and another crystal is saved.