Dark Cloud/Matataki

Enter Village
When you first enter the village you spot a strange looking boy who quickly disappears into a passage.

The layout here is a bit confusing at first. The entrance to the north. To the left as you enter, on the east side, is an arch with a section of river through it. This leads to a waterfall where you can start fishing right away if you wish. Opposite the entrance is the passage where the strange boy went. To the right near the west wall is the aptly named Peanut Pond and next to it a gate leading to the dungeon for this village, the Wise Owl Forest. The pond is dry at the moment so you can't fish there yet. To the south of this is another section of river going into a second passage. Enter this first.

You see a very large tree next to the dry riverbed. Approach and the Fairy King appears to explain what's going on. The tree is Treant, a Tree Fairy, but his water supply has been cut off and he can't speak without it. You must reconnect the river so Treant can get water; in return Treant will help you with your quest. The Fairy King says that you can restore this village by releasing the Atla in Wise Owl Forest. He then opens the gate for you.

Meeting Goro
It's optional for now, but you may want to find the strange looking boy spotted earlier. Follow him into the passage with the large boulder next to it, across from the village entrance. You enter a wooded area with a treehouse in the middle. Approach the ladder to start a dialog. The strange boy drops down and accuses you of working for the Dark Genie, Then a dual begins, this is the third dual in the game.

There are two schools of thought on this dual. One says you should intentionally lose because then you can enter the treehouse and collect any treasure that appears there. (Actually, this dual is more difficult that the previous ones so it's easy to lose without intending to.) The other school says to give it your best shot since the treasure will be there later and you may get a prize for winning. If you win the dual, the boy disappears into his treehouse, but not before telling his name. You can change his name from the default, Goro, here. You also get the Hunter's Earring which will allow you to talk to Treant if you can ever get his water supply connected again. Once you win the dual, Goro will stand guard at the ladder and you won't be able to enter the treehouse until he joins your party. If you lose and want to try again, just exit, come back, and approach the ladder; Goro will gladly administer as many beatings as you're willing to take.

Wise Owl Forest
Enter the forest through the gate next to Peanut Pond. The gate at the village entrance is very similar looking but it's just a minor annoyance if you go through the wrong one.

The level keys work a bit differently in this dungeon than in the others. Instead of just one key like Dran's Crest, there are three possible keys, Pointy Chestnut, Red Berry and Shiny Stone. One of them, there's no telling which, will be accepted by the Wise Owl who guards the entrance to the next level. You can either collect all three and take them to the owl all at once, or you can take each one when you find it since you don't need all three if you already have the right one. Mustache Keys take the place of Bone keys here, and Sun Dews take the place of Tram Oils.

Make your way through the dungeon levels as with the Divine Beast Cave. If you run low on supplies then go back to the Odd Gaffer in Norune until you get the Wise Owl Shop restored. Level 4 is a Xiao only limited zone, but if you made it through the one in the Divine Beast Cave this one shouldn't be too bad. There may also be a thirst and/or Abs. reduction limited zone in the next few levels; this seems to be randomly determined. So until you know what you're going to find, keep plenty of water and an escape power on hand.

When you reach level 9 there is a dual (#4) with werewolves. When this is over there's nothing more you can do until you get a certain sword. In particular, do not play any musical instruments you may have picked up because you will die (actually you're just returned to the village).

Snake dual
To get through the next level in the dungeon you'll need a few things. First, place the sections of river to connect the waterfall to the riverbed going to Treant. There are several pieces already in place so you only need to fill in the gaps. When the river is connected, return to walking mode and there is a short scene where magicians from the forest open the sluice gate and the river starts to flow. A side effect of this is that the Peanut pond fills up with water and you can start to fish there.
 * At least 25 River sections; get these from Atla in the dungeon.
 * The Hunter's Earring; you get this when you win the dual with Goro.
 * The Odd Tone Flute; get this from Cacao when you've finished restoring his house.

Enter Treant's wood to find him all green and healthy (but still weird) looking. But if you talk to him what he says comes out as gibberish. The Hunter's Earring allows you to understand his language so use it (like a key) to start a dialog with him. As a reward for saving him, Treant gives you a new sword, the Serpent Sword. Talk to Treant again to learn more about Brownboo Village, the home of the Moon People, and about Goro's past.

Since the Serpent Sword is required for an event, it doesn't disappear if broken and it can't be sold or built up, just as with the Dagger. But when the event is done it becomes an ordinary sword. There is only one Serpent Sword in the game so if it does break there's no way to replace it.

Now go back to Wise Owl Forest, enter level 9, and fight the werewolf dual if you haven't done it yet. Make sure you have the Serpent Sword equipped and look for a cave. Use the Odd Tone Flute like a key and a giant snake comes out, then another dual (#5) starts. When you clear it, the monster leaves behind a Bone Pendant; apparently it belonged to Fudoh. Exit back to the village.

The pendant belonged to Fudoh, and from clues given by villagers (see House completion section) it seems that Goro is Fudoh's son, so take the pendant to Goro's tree house, talk to Goro when he comes down from his tree, and show him the pendant. He recognizes it and Fudoh's spirit appears; Fudoh used a spell to leave a message in the pendant. He warns Goro about the Dark Genie and asks him to help fight it. Goro still blames the villagers for letting Fudoh die, but Fudoh explains that the villagers were not at fault. At the time of his final battle, Fudoh was dying of illness and wanted to die in battle rather than sick in bed. Fudoh asks Goro to forget his resentment and join the fight against the genie. Though still angry with his father, Goro agrees to join your party.

Finally, go back to the dungeon and enter level 9 again. Find the closed gate with a small stump next to it, then switch to Goro and pound the stump, actually a switch, to make the door open. Similar gate will appear randomly in dungeons from here on. Go through to clear the level; there is no key to get.

Wise Owl Forest (cont.)
Continue clearing the levels of Wise Owl Forest. There may be another random thirst and/or Abs. reduction limited zone in the next two levels. Level 12 is a Goro only limited zone and now you have the same issue with Goro that you had with Xiao the first time through the Divine Beast Cave; you're probably stuck with Goro's default weapon. The good news is that the Mallet isn't quite as bad as the Wooden Slingshot. The bad news though is that the monsters in Wise Owl Forest tend to throw things and one thing Goro is not good at is dodging things. If you're not lucky enough to get a new weapon for Goro then it may help to upgrade the Mallet a couple of times with some Jewels to boost its stats; you can get most of this back for a 'real' weapon by status breaking the mallet later. In any case, have an Antidote Amulet equipped and on at least one back up in case of poison since those Poison Apples may be hard to avoid. Also, save up on projectiles in the previous couple of levels to use here, a Poison Apple or some Bomb Nuts will take care of the tougher customers for you.

Georama completion
There are 11 requests you need to complete. The person listed shows who you need to talk to to learn them, but you don't actually have to do that since they're listed here.
 * Connect waterfall to Treant's cave with river. (Fairy King/Treant)