Dragon Warrior III/Jipang

Of the many places that you've been hearing about since you got your ship, you may be hearing about Jipang the most. Jipang (clearly representing Japan) is located on some islands along the east side of the giant continent you've been primarily exploring. It appears that they are going through a considerable crisis, with daughters being chosen through a lottery for ritual sacrifice to a demonic beast that has the entire country living in fear. The citizens revere their leader, Himiko, even though he seems unable or unwilling to do anything about the problem. Perhaps you will be reward if you can solve their crisis.

Sailing East
Reaching Jipang is relatively easy, and once you visit it, you can cast Return and instantly arrive just outside of town. You can either Return to Baharata and sail east along the southern coast, or Return to Dhama and sail down along the river until it opens up into the sea, and continue east. Jipang appears to be located right alongside a cave. Northwest of Japan, there's a shrine on the mainland. The shrine contains an inn that will allow you to stay for 60 gold. A girl occupying one of the rooms tells you that the demon named Orochi is terrifying the village that she is from. If you open the prison door on the right with the Final Key, you'll discover a Travel Gate, which transports you to a shrine containing a House of Healing that is located south of Isis along a west coast.

Jipang
You've reach Jipang. A cursory examination of the town will reveal that it has no inns and no shops of any kind. What's more, by talking to the people, you will learn a whole lot about Jipang, and incredibly little about anywhere else in the world. What you will learn is that a demonic beast called Orochi has been terrorizing the land for a while, demanding young female inhabitants of town as sacrifices. Families are frightened of the prospect of losing their daughters, and some are going to great lengths to protect their children.

Just to show you how desperate the situation has become, if you visit the small shack in the lower left corner of town, you'll find a staircase that leads down to a basement. In the basement is a collection of large jars. Search the right most jar, and you will discover the woman who has been chosen as the next to be sacrificed. She is hiding in the jar and begs you for one last opportunity to say goodbye to her homeland.

There appears to be only one other visitor to Jipang, a missionary who is trying to spread his faith, but finding it difficult because of how devoted everyone is to their leader, Himiko. You can pay Himiko a visit by heading to his palace in the north half of town. However, after speaking with him, it appears that he will be less than receptive to any offers of help from outlanders like you. Other occupants in the palace claim that even though Himiko authorizes the sacrifices, he might be pleased if someone were to eliminate Orochi.

Due to the lack of an inn or shops in town, there's not much preparation you can do before you decide to tackle Orochi by visiting the nearby cave. If you feel that resting at an inn is necessary, use the one in the nearby shrine before setting foot inside the cave.

Orochi's Cave
You may be preparing for a long slog through a large cavern, but the cave next to Jipang is actually quite small. However, flows of magma cross sections of the cave, making it impossible to travel through certain passages. You'll encounter Lava Bashers here. These, along with Fierce Bears, are powerful creatures capable of doing a lot of damage to you with each strike. However, the greatest danger of the Derangers, who have the ability to cast Chaos and turn members of your own party against you.

When you enter, you will have to option to explore left or down. However, the passage below is cut off by a lava flow, so head to the left. After it bends and starts heading down, you'll see two doors on either side. The one on the left leads to a small empty room. The one on the right leads to a larger room with an exit on the opposite corner. That exit will take you to the main room, but lava has swept across the room, preventing you from exploring any of it from this direction. Instead, continue south along the original path.

After the main room becomes visible on the right, the path branches to the right and the left. If you head to the right into the main room, you will find that lava flows still prevent you from accessing the majority of the room where a staircase can be seen. Take the left branch and follow the path down and around until you reach the southern entrance to the main room. If you like, you can follow the path to the right, but it leads to another empty room.

You can now reach the staircase that goes down to the next floor. However, before you do this, you can continue to investigate the room to the right. There, you will finally discover a treasure chest. In this chest is an item called the Noh Mask. It is actually defensive head gear, like a helmet, but it is cursed! Do not let any of your party members equip it. Head back to the stairs and climb down to the floor below.

Shortly after you arrive on this floor, you'll reach a four way intersection. The path to the left leads to a quick dead-end. The path heading up leads to an alter. Presumably, this is where the sacrifices to Orochi are left. That only leaves the path to the right.

When you set foot beyond the darkness of the right path, you will find a bridge which crosses a long span of magma. Cross the bridge to reach a rocky island. On the right side of that island is a red serpentine beast that awaits you. Before you approach it, be sure to heal up all of your members in preparation for the battle to come. As soon as you set foot in front of the beast, you will begin your battle with Orochi.

Like the battles you had with Kandar, this is a significant battle. Unlike the battles with Kandar, careful strategy is recommended over mindless attacking. Orochi can attack twice, and his flaming breath weapon can have a devastating impact on your party. Have Pilgrims cast SpeedUp and Sap. Wizards should cast Increase and Slow. If you learned the spell of Bikill, Wizards should also cast that on your Hero and any other warriors. Pilgrims should obviously monitor hit points and heal anyone in need. Orochi can be put to sleep, but he won't stay asleep for very long. When he wakes up, he still gets to have his second attack, which is usually his breath weapon.

When you finally defeat Orochi, you will earn a lot of experience points, and you will find a treasure chest. In the chest is the Orochi Sword and some gold. The Orochi Sword makes a great weapon upgrade for your Hero. Then you will see a kind of gate appear on the right, which Orochi will jump into. Follow Orochi through the gate, and you will find yourself in Himiko's chambers!

Back in Jipang
Himiko appears to be severely injured and one of his attendants is trying to tend to his wounds. You may feel incredibly compelled to talk with Himiko, but if your party sustained a tremendous amount of damage in the battle with Orochi, it is recommended that you first leave Jipang, and heal at an inn before returning to speak with Himiko. He will remain wounded when you return.

When you are ready, speak with Himiko. He will assume that you now know his secret identity as the Orochi. He will promise not to eliminate you if you keep his secret. You can agree, and nothing will happen. If you don't promise to keep his secret, he will transform back into Orochi and challenge you one more time!

Despite his bravado, this battle will be a near duplicate of the previous battle. He will use all the same strategies, so you should continue to use whichever strategies worked best for you the last time. Orochi will tend to attack directly more often, and breathe fire a little less. Equipping the Orochi Sword should help you cause a little more damage to Orochi than last time. After you defeat him, you'll find another treasure chest, but this one will only contain gold.

The real treasure chest is the one that is left in his place in Jipang. Open it, and you will find the Purple Orb. This is likely to be the first of six orbs that you have collected. News about Himiko and the Orochi will spread throughout town. Many of the citizens will thank you for your brave deeds. Some will surmise that the original Himiko was killed by the Orochi, who then took his place. One occupant will suggest that you can find the Invisibility Herb in a town far to the south of Baharata, a clue that might help you if you have not been inside of Castle Eginbear yet.

The middle of nowhere
Before you leave to quickly for your next destination, it's worth taking your time to explore the remainder of the east coast north of Jipang. After sailing for a short while, you'll come across a town in the north east corner of the continent, just below some ice. This is the town of Muor. IceBolt casting Snail Slimes and Demonites are common around this area.

Muor


In this remote location, you will actually find a fairly happy and thriving town. You can walk to this town from Dhama, but the trip is fairly arduous. A man in town will be surprised if you tell him that you didn't arrive by ship. Note that you can't cast Return or use a Wing of Wyvern to bring you back to Muor; Jipang is the closest destination you can warp to. Other people around town seem to be mistaking you for a man named Papagatero (an anagram for "Papa Ortega"). You'll also hear a bit about a boy named Popota, and how he's so great with a Water Pistol.

The covered building in the upper right is a market. From the equipment shop, the Staff of Judgement is a good weapon for Pilgrims and Sages. It casts Infernos when used in battle. Full Plate Armor is of course an upgrade for any member wearing Half Plate Armor. Another shop keeper will mistake you for Papagatero as well. There is a prison door which you can open with the Final Key. If you do, you will be given a clue about the presence of a man in a room in the upper right corner of the building.

It turns out that you can exit the shop, walk around the left side, and along the top. Walk to the right side of the building and drop down into the wall, and you will access the room that you could see. The man inside will welcome you as Papagatero. From there, you can access a stairwell in the back of the shop below. Upstairs, you will find a family resting by a fire behind a locked door. You can speak to the family members. One of the little boys is Popota. He was given a Water Blaster by Papagatero, and he will give the Water Blaster to you because you remind him so much of Papagatero. The man by the fire will confirm that Papagatero was indeed your father Ortega, and he mentions that Ortega regretted leaving his son behind.

The Water Blaster can't actually be used as equipment, it's simply an item that you can hold for sentimental reasons because it belonged to your father. You can walk up to people and use the Water Blaster on them, and squirt innocent victims for comedic effect, but it has no other purpose beyond that, and is best kept in the vault. You'll learn nothing else about the world or your father, even at night.