The Ice Cave

With the light of the ORB of Fire restored, your journey now points northward. There are no ports in the north, so you'll need a new means of transport to get there: the AIRSHIP. The formerly sleepy traveler in Crescent Lake tells you that you can find the FLOATER that powers the AIRSHIP in the Ice Cave. Like Gurgu Volcano, you'll find the Ice Cave in a network of Rivers. These do not connect to Crescent Lake, though.

The most direct route to the Ice Cave is via the bay northeast of Crescent Lake. There is a port to the north, but it's quicker to dock the SHIP in the river mouth to the west. If you head northwest from this bay, you'll reach Pravoka. This is a much shorter and safer trip than the one back to Crescent Lake because the monsters roaming the area are the same ones you encountered near the Marsh Cave. If you need to head back to a town to rest, Pravoka is usually the best choice. This is not true if you need to stock up on HOUSES or SOFT Potions, however: you'll need to head to ElfLand for those. (It's actually not a bad idea to return to the Aldi Sea and dock your ship in Pravoka for this trip.

To reach the Ice Cave from the river mouth, first head northeast from the small lake you come upon. Head east at the next intersection, then west at the last two. You will come upon a path through the mountains, the the entrance to the Ice Cave just up ahead.

Ice Cave

The Ice Cave is a relatively small dungeon, but you'll need to travel through some areas several times to escape with the FLOATER. The dungeon is one of the last to feature large numbers of Undead, but they are as dangerous as ever here. You'll also encounter a variety of Cold-themed monsters. Both monster types are vulnerable to Fire, so make good use of your black magic. If possible, let your Wh.MAGE handle Undead with HARM spells to save black magic spell slots. AICE is also a valuable spell here, so pick it up in ElfLand if you didn't do so earlier.

COCTRICES are common on the top floor of the Ice Cave, so bring several SOFT Potions for the trip. They are expensive, but you could easily end up in an untenable situation if you run out. Another status you'll run into is KO, which is inflicted by the attacks of SORCERERS. There isn't anything you can do to prevent or resist this, but the LIFE spell is a must-have here.

Ice Cave B1, Part 1

The top floor of the Ice Cave has a very different set of threats than those below. You will most often run into large groups of WIZARDS or COCTRICES with MUMMIES. Don't waste spells on the WIZARDS, though you shouldn't hesitate to use the Zeus Gauntlet on them if you have gone out of order and obtained it already. As in previous encounters with WIZARDS, you cannot run from them. The COCTRICES are another story: unless you have a lot of SOFT Potions on hand, FIR2 is a good way to take out both them and their Sleep-inducing MUMMY allies.

WRAITHS are another monster you'll quickly grow sick of while exploring the Ice Cave, appearing often on all three floors. Their attack causes Paralysis, but with only one per round, they are less dangerous than some of the Undead you've already seen. Their attacks do deal a lot of damage, and they have high Evade, making them a good target for HRM2 spells.

The groups of R.BONES aren't nearly as dangerous as they once were, but they can still cause significant damage to lightly-armored Warriors. The rarely seen Frost Ds are the biggest threat on this floor, as they are elsewhere.

The Ice Cave entrance opens to a very wide hallway heading east. This hall eventually loops back west, leading to the stairs to B2. There is nothing interesting to find on this part of the floor, but you will return here later. If things go badly early in your trip, don't hesitate to leave and rest up. The foes found below are far more dangerous than the ones you've seen so far.

Ice Cave B2, Part 1

When you reach B2 from B1, you will find yourself in a huge square hallway. Neither direction offers a shorter trip, and the stairs down to B3 are found in the opposite corner from the entrance. This part of the floor contains no treasure, and serves mostly to force you into a number of encounters.

Unfortunately, one of the encounters you will see with some frequency is against a group of 1–3 SORCERERS. They have two forms of attack, and you won't want to see either. Half the time, they will use TRANCE, an ability that can cause Paralysis to the entire party and cannot be resisted (since it is non-elemental). Their normal attack has three hits which deal negligible damage, but each has a chance to inflict KO. Paralyzed Warriors are even more susceptible to this attack, since they have no Evade. Like TRANCE, there is no way to resist the KO effect. The only good news is that SORCERERS are relatively easy to kill. Physical attacks will take them out quickly, assuming the Warrior making them isn't Paralyzed or KO'd. They have high Magic Defense, but no elemental resistances, so you can use spells that aren't otherwise useful here, like ICE2 or LIT3, to soften them up.

Most encounters that don't feature SORCERERS will feature WRAITHS. They are sometimes encountered along with IMAGES, GEISTS, and SPECTERS, all of which can cause Paralysis. If a large group appears, don't hesitate to use HRM2 or FIR2. It's even worth using both, just in case one of your mages is Paralyzed before he is able to cast. It's better to waste a spell slot than get locked down by Undead.

MAGES are rare but are potentially the deadliest encounter in the Ice Cave. They are powerful spellcasters that start off by casting RUB and follow that up with LIT3 and FIR3. They only cast spells half of the time, but they usually gain surprise on the party. A group of four MAGES is a party wipe waiting to happen. They don't have much HP, but their defense is considerable. Your best bet is to either run away, or hit them with everything you have. Nothing will be particularly effective, but they have no elemental resistances so your attacks will add up.

The other new monsters of note are the FrGIANTS and FrWOLVES. FrGIANTS are slightly less dangerous than their R.GIANT cousins, but FrWOLVES can be deadly in packs. Take them out quickly, possibly with FIR2. If you can't spare that spell slot, AICE will blunt their repeated FROST attacks. For some reason, you are not able to run from this combination of enemies.

Ice Cave B2, Part 2

The stairs from the square halls of B2 leads to a very tiny part of B3 featuring a pair of staircases. The other will send you back up to B2 in a new part of the floor.

This part of the floor features a single room containing three chests. On first glance, that seems well enough, but don't be fooled: this room is designed to make your life miserable. The circles on the floor are holes which will drop you into a small room in B3. You'll notice that it's impossible to reach the central chest without falling into one of the holes. Ignore that chest for the time being—you'll be coming back here soon enough.

The chest on the left contains the Flame Sword, a weapon that would be far more exciting if elemental weapon affinities functioned in the NES version of the game. As it is, the Ice Sword is far superior, and you will only want to use the Flame Sword if you have a second sword-user (e.g., a RedMAGE) or didn't pick up the Ice Sword already.

The chest on the right is a trap, among the cruelest in the game. It contains only Cloth, and is guarded by an encounter with MAGES. Unless you're feeling lucky, it's best to avoid this chest entirely. (If you really have to open every chest, you can always come back later.)

You'll notice there are no stairs on this floor other than the ones you arrived by. As you might expect, the only way to advance is to step into one of the holes. Which you choose doesn't matter, as they all lead to the same place.

Ice Cave B3

The larger part of B3 is filled with treasure and odd ice tiles that work just like the lava tiles you saw in Gurgu Volcano. You'll start off in a tiny room filled with Undead: there is an unavoidable encounter with a variety of Paralyzing Undead directly in front of the door. As such, you'll want to proceed directly out of the room after that fight.

At this point, you'll have a choice to make. It is possible to collect every treasure in the Ice Cave in a single trip, but it's risky due to the number of ways bad luck can lead to disaster here. The other option is to spend one trip gathering treasure, and the other collecting the FLOATER. If you're going to go this route, I recommend grabbing the FLOATER first, since the AIRSHIP will make it quite easy to come back here for the rest of the loot.

There are fewer WRAITHS to be found on this floor, but that just means there are more MAGES. The FrGIANT/FrWOLF encounter is now more common, as is the encounter with 1–2 Frost Ds. These aren't individually as dangerous as their Red cousins, but should be taken seriously, especially in pairs. Their Evade and Magic Defense are quite high, so they aren't easy to take out quickly. Their attack is powerful, but the real threat comes from BLIZZARD. The damage from this ability adds up quickly, so use AICE.

When you are ready to collect treasure, you'll want to stick to the two treasure rooms, ignoring the rest of the map. The first of these is in the northwest corner, past a path of damaging ice tiles. You'll find a Silver Gauntlet and the Ice Armor here. The Ice Armor is identical to the Flame Armor except that it resists Fire rather than Cold. That resistance won't do anything for you here, but the combination of the Ice Armor and Flame Shield (or vice-versa) will give you resistance to both elements without sacrificing any defense. (Neither gives any vulnerability to its opposite element.) These treasures are guarded by one or two Frost Ds. The encounter point is just inside the door, so you'll need to fight twice if you grab the Silver Gauntlet. If resources are running low, skip it—you should have one already anyway.

The larger treasure room is at the southern end of the floor. Bear right at the intersections in the middle of the floor, avoiding the path leading east on an ice floor. When the path splits at the south end, that's the time to head east. This room contains two rows of three chests. There is an encounter point between the rightmost chests, leading to a fight against a large pack of FrWOLVES. FIR2 and AICE are your best bets here, if you have them available. You can avoid this encounter by opening the southern chest from below and ignoring the northern chest, which only contains 180 G anyway.

To make your way back up to B1 (skipping past B2 entirely), head to the southeastern corner of the floor.

Ice Cave B1, Part 2

The stairs from B3 lead to the second part of B1, which contains three treasure rooms. The smaller western room contains 10,000 G, while the larger hides only a HEAL Potion. You'l find 9,500 G, a TENT, and the Ice Shield in the eastern room. There is also a hole in the floor—avoid it unless you're ready! There is a staircase back to the world map just northeast of this room, where you can rest and (more importantly) save if you're not ready to go after the FLOATER just yet. The choice is yours.

If you're ready to fight the EYE and claim the FLOATER, step into the hole in the western treasure room. You'll land in B2 among the holes in the treasure room. The chest you couldn't reach earlier is just two steps away.

The EYE and the FLOATER

The square just in front of the FLOATER triggers a battle against an EYE. The EYE is a dangerous foe with a number of nasty spell and gaze attacks. It will use spells about 2/3 of the time, and always leads with XXXX, a spell that never fails to inflict KO on a Warrior with less than 300 HP (unless they have resistance to KO). With that in mind, make sure you heal up any Warrior with a max HP of at least 300 and put them at the top of the party. The EYE follows XXXX up with BRAK and RUB, two more KO spells. The fight is unlikely to last much longer than that, but its subsequent spells aren't nearly as deadly. If the EYE uses special attacks (or better yet, attacks), consider yourself lucky. Its first two gazes cause Stone and KO, respectively, but are less likely to work than its spell selection.

The good news is that the eye is lacking in defense, for a boss. Its Absorb and Magic Defense are high but not unbeatable, and it only has 162 HP. Hit it with absolutely everything you have, since you don't know which Warriors will survive to make their attacks at all. Some more good news: the EYE yields a ridiculous 3,225 G and Experience when defeated.

Back to the Surface

After you claim the FLOATER, you will have no choice but to jump in another hole, leading to the room of Undead on Ice Cave B3. You'll have to climb back up to Ice Cave B1 and reach the stairs before you're finally safe. At this point, resources are likely low, so don't hesitate to run if you have to. The Ice Cave is dangerous, but you can survive if you are able to accurately estimate when you need to leave. At this point, there's only one way to go: out.