[Zeromus_X]

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3.6.5 Sylvan Cave
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This mysterious cave is the first part of a sidequest which can be continued later in the game. Of course, you can wait until later to do the whole thing at once, but it’s better to get things out of the way earlier. Once again, this is completely optional. The monsters here may be too much for you, but if you already have Float, and have completed the Cave of Summons, it shouldn’t be too tedious.

The Sylvan Cave is located in the northwest corner of the underworld. Like the Cave of Summons, you’ll need to cast Float on every level to avoid being damaged by the glowing floor panels. This cave may also be very confusing; there are many more false walls here that lead to hidden treasure than most other dungeons. The monsters here are also very resilient, although not impossible to defeat, especially if you’ve already completed the Cave of Summons and obtained Asura and Leviathan. One monster to watch out for, however, is a monster called Malboro (Marlboro). Malboros use two attacks; ‘Breath’ which inflicts a variety of negative status effects on a character, and ‘Digest’ which steadily lowers a characters HP. Breath is the more dangerous of the two. Since Remedies are hard to come by, I wouldn’t blame you if you ran from any and all Malboros you encounter (if not all encounters, period).

At the entrance, you’ll notice an enclosure and some chests to your left. Ignore them, you can’t reach them right this second. Instead go right to three chests. The chest on the far right isn’t possible to reach right now, so just open the other two chests. The top chest contains Angel (Angel Arrows), and the bottom chest contains a Bestiary. Now, go down the steps to the next level located down from the entrance.

On the second basement, from the stairs, go right, up, then left to reach another set of stairs leading down. Go down them and follow the path to reach three chests. Once again, there are three chests with one chest blocked away by the others into a wall. Open the upper left chest for a HiPotion (Hi-Potion). The lower chest contains a MaidKiss (Maiden’s Kiss). Now, to reach the blocked off treasure chest, step on the tile one space below the lower chest, then go right through a false wall. Then go up, and left to be in the wall right next to the blocked off chest. Open it up for a FairyRod (Fairy Rod). Now, go back to the stairs to the second floor, but don’t go through them. From the tile one space down of the stairs, step to the right, through a false wall. Then go up, and then right when you’re to the left of a room with a bunch of empty treasure chests. Go up the stairs above you.

Now you’ll be in the right enclosure of the second floor. Go right, and down following the path, picking up the treasure from the four chests along the way. They contain, from left to right, up to down: Remedy, Kamikaze, 2,000 Gil, and 3,000 Gil. Continue down the path. You’ll see many empty chests, along with some chests that are still closed. There’s also a hole in the ground, avoid it for now. Open all the chests which in no particular order contain: Bestiary, Exit, MaidKiss (Maiden’s Kiss), MaidKiss (Maiden’s Kiss), and an Ether1 (Ether 1). Now, this is completely optional. If you wish, you may step into the hole to reach some treasure, but it’s a lot of dangerous monsters-in-a-boxes with many dangerous monsters in them. The treasure you receive probably isn’t worth the danger, so it’s completely up to you whether you want to get it all or not. If you jump down the hole, you’ll be down on the third basement. From the landing point, head straight up and follow the path to the end, and then go left through a false wall. You’ll now be inside that blockade of treasure chests. Step on the teleportation pad and you’ll warp to a different area.

In this new area, you’ll see six treasure chests. The chests contain rather unecessary ‘attack’ items which cast a spell when used and aren’t really that useful. If you want them for some sense of completion, well, here they are. At least you’ll get a good amount of experience points for everyone. However, some chests contain somewhat powerful equipment too, so it isn’t a complet waste. Unfortunately, each and every one of these chests are a monster-in-a-box. The same strategy applies for all of the chests; have Rydia cast Leviathan (or Titan, if you don’t have Leviathan) have Rosa heal the party, have the men attack. For the chests with Malboros, you may have trouble. You’ll have to dish out healing items appropriately for the many status ailments they can inflict, especially if Rydia or Rosa gets hit by Breath. Have Cecil or Rosa use Esuna on anyone afflicted so they can get back on their feet. With that in mind, let’s start the looting. The chest on the upper left hosts six Ghosts, you’ll get an Inferno for winning. The chest on the upper middle contains six more Ghosts, and you’ll get a Blizzard for winning. The upper right chest will surprise you with six more Ghosts, the prize is a LitStorm (Lightning Storm). The lower right chest contains two Malboros and two Dark Trees. You’ll get a FullMoon (Full Moon) for winning, a great boomerang for Edge, although the Kotetsu has the same attack power it does. The lower middle chest houses a whopping four Malboros. Save me Jebus. Leviathan is great here. The prize is an Avenger (Avenger Sword), which will make the wielder act as if Berserk were cast on them in battle. The final, lower right chest is home to two Centipedes (Centipedes). The prize is ten Medusa Arrows, these can turn the target into stone, a nice instant kill.

When you’ve gathered all the treasure (or not), step on the transporter to your right to exit the cave. When you’re ready to continue traversing the cave, go back to that staircase from the first floor on the second floor.

From the stairs leading from the first floor, not very far down are a set of stairs leading up. Go up them to go back up to the first floor, in a different area. When you enter this area, right to the right of you is a Save Point, a good place to rest and save. Afterwards, go up from the Save Point. Then go into the upper right corner of this enclosure (basically eight steps up from the Save Point and five steps to the right). Then go right through a false wall. Then go up, right, and up all the way, then left to be inside the wall to the right of that first closed off treasure chest. Open it for an ElvenBow (Elven Bow). Now, from the stairs you came up from the second basement, go left this time. You’ll see stairs leading back down to the second basement, but don’t go down them yet. Instead go left and up from them, and open two chests which from left to right contain a Cabin and 1,000 Gil. Now go down this next set of stairs.

You’ll now be back in a different area of the second basement. Follow the path from the stairs up until you reach another set of stairs leading back up to another area in the first floor. Go up it, and follow the path to reach that enclosure on the first floor you couldn’t reach before. Open all the chests, which contain from left to right, bottom to top: Fire (Fire Arrows), Ice (Ice Arrows), Bolt (Bolt Arrows), Ether1 (Ether 1), and a HiPotion (Hi-Potion). Now go back down the stairs to the enclosure of the second basement. Continue up the path until you see a set of stairs going down to the third basement, but do not continue down them. Instead walk through the wall to the right of them, a false wall. Then go down, right, up, and then go left when you’re to the right of the enclosure with a chest. It’s a monster-in-a-box with six Tiny Toads and a Toad Lady. Naturally, they’ll cast Toad on your party members. Quickly de-toad Rydia with a Maiden’s Kiss or Esuna if she’s been transformed so she can unleash Leviathan or Titan on the enemy. You can also kill off the frogs with one of Ninja’s Ninja magics, and then kill off the Toad Lady with normal attacks. For whatever reason, she’ll cast Toad on anything, even herself...You’ll get a MageMash (Mage Masher) for winning. It’s a dagger that has a chance of inflicting ‘Mute’ status on the target. After all that, go back out of the false wall and go down the stairs to the third basement.

From the stairs leading from the second basement, go down, left, and up to the corner for a chest with an Elixir. Then go down and follow the path until you reach a strange house (yes, a freaking house). Enter the house, and you’ll find some fairies, ‘Sylphs’, which are the residents of this cave. They are very surprised at humans being in their cave, and tell you to go away. Or course, we aren’t leaving just yet. Check the two chests on the right side of the house for a HellClaw (Hell Claw) and a CatClaw (Cat Claw), two weapons that are for Yang that have no use now and you should just sell them when you get out of here.

Go to the left side of this room, and you’ll meet yet another familiar face lying in bed. It’s Yang! Surprisingly (...), Yang survived the explosion of the super cannons and actually flew all the way over to this cave, where the Sylphs found him and have been taking care of him for some time. Unfortunately, Yang hasn’t waken up yet. The Sylphs refuse to give back Yang, so that’s all there is to do here for now. Just make sure you’ve talked to Yang and the Sylphs. Go up the stairs in the middle of the room, and on the second floor, step up onto the pedestal to exit the cave.