Bachular's Graveyard

The Graveyard of Bachular is a sprawling area divided into three distinct portions. In addition to Bachular and the third Crystal, this is where you will find the awesome Valley Sword, which triples (!) your damage output. However, you will also find dangerous enemies and confusing, mazelike terrain.

The actual graveyard is bisected by a river into north and south portions. You will also find a huge chasm to the east. You begin in the south portion, and that's where I recommend you begin exploring and collecting Bibles and Life Potions.

The South Graveyard

The way to begin is to head directly north and pick up a Bible. Assuming you have found all the previous Bibles, you should now have a Maximum Gold of 8,000—enough to return to Rolick Desert and purchase Aruzasu's Shield. You may not want to do this right away, though. You will need a lot of money to buy everything in the Graveyard of Bachular, and Aruzasu's Shield is a bit lackluster. Water Spirits rarely fire projectiles, and Bee projectiles aren't that dangerous. On the other hand, every sword or shield upgrade changes the overworld music, which is pretty cool. (If you do return to Rolick Desert, take advantage of the convenient Green Snake farming there to max out your gold before you resume your quest.)

You'll want to check out the northwest and southwest corners of the southern graveyard to find a Bible and a Life Potion, respectively. Both are quite expensive, but you'll need them going forward. Also take note of Randar in the middle of the area. Getting around is difficult, since the pathways are very mazelike, but it's worth taking the time to explore. The enemies here are mostly tougher versions of enemies you've already seen, so use the same strategies as before, but keep an eye on your life.

The Eastern Chasm

You can cut past the chasm on the west side, but there is nothing to find along that route, so you're better off taking the long way around. Beware, as several dangerous enemies lie along this path, chief among them the White Pigmy Skeletons and Blue Stone Knights. The skeletons have less hit points and deal less damage, but they are arguably the more dangerous because they are fast and will swarm on top of you, given the chance. It is often prudent to run from them, perhaps even bouncing back and forth between screen edges. The Blue Stone Knights take three full sustained blows, and can fire projectiles, but they are slow and relatively easy to avoid.

As you proceed, you'll run across a reasonably priced Life Potion near the southeast tip of the chasm, and a similarly priced Bible near the lake that feeds the river. Make sure to pick both of them up when you can. If you're thorough, you'll also find a number of hints leading to the location of the Valley Sword.

You may notice an island of sorts in the middle of the chasm, on which lies a skull surrounded by rocks. This is the resting place of Ramurasu's Pendant, an awesome item which a.) you can't reach and b.) you can't afford. You won't be able to pick it up until you find the Ascent Boots at the very end of the game. It will drop all damage you take by half (effectively doubling your life), so it's well worth the trip at that point.

The North Graveyard

The northern graveyard is further subdivided. The path north of the river leads to the Warrior's Grave, where you can purchase the Valley Sword for 12,000 gold. If you've been assiduous in collecting Bibles to this point, your Maximum Gold should be exactly that amount. You could challenge Bachular to make the money more quickly (especially if you collect the Bible in the area first), but the Valley Sword will make your fight through Bachular's Cave much easier. It's worth spending the time to earn the money and buy the sword now. The Green Snakes west of the river are conveniently located for farming. Be careful, though, as there is no cheap way to heal in the vicinity.

With the Valley Sword in hand, it's time to pick up the last few available upgrades before facing off with Bachular. In particular, don't miss the Bible in the north of the graveyard. You can find Dina, who will give you 150 gold if you let her drain two life meters (not a good deal!), in the center of the graveyard. There is also a Life Potion found to the west, but you'll have to run a gauntlet of White Pigmy Skeletons to get to it. Don't try it without the Valley Sword!

On your way to the last Life Potion, you'll find a cave that opens of its own accord if you wait a few seconds. Rio will give you a hint as to how to find Bachular's Cave. The "certain grave" is the uppermost in the northeast corner of the graveyard. Unlike every other cave you've seen so far, striking the correct grave opens the cave in another part of the screen—this is something you will be seeing more of going forward.

Bachular's Cave is another vertically-scrolling dungeon. This one has two Giant Bats, and you may need all the health you can get from them, especially if you didn't pick up the Valley Sword. You'll also encounter Ticks for the first time. These enemies just fly in a straight line, although they often appear just slightly to your right so you need to adjust to strike them with your sword.

Be careful when the path splits in three—the center path is a dead end! The left path is the easiest of the three to follow. You'll fight the first Giant Bat immediately after the paths converge. Try to defeat it quickly and move to the top of the screen, because the following area requires a lot of lateral movement, and it's very easy to get caught by the auto-scroll. You won't have to worry about any more dead ends after this point, just some more standard enemies and another Giant Bat. Try to take this one out in the center of the screen so you can collect its health tokens

Bachular is a nasty foe, but his pattern can be exploited. He will disappear and try to appear on top of you, then fire a spread of three fireballs at Kelesis. The fireballs remain for quite a while and deal 3 damage if you touch them, so be careful. The good news is that Bachular will remain where he appeared for a few seconds after shooting the fireballs, giving you a chance to strike. If you have the Valley Sword, it should only take a few volleys before he falls. Otherwise, you're in for a long fight. Be careful around the fireballs, don't rush in until they've been fired, and most of all, don't touch Bachular! Do this and he will eventually fall. If you've collected every Bible to this point, you should now have 16,000 gold.

Your next destination is to the south, slightly west of where you originally entered the Graveyard of Bachular. You'll find the third Crystal just north of Randar in the southern graveyard. Continue directly south from there are you will eventually reach the Central Forest.