Chrono Trigger/The Guru on Mt. Woe

Chapter 20: The Guru on Mt. Woe (12,000 B.C. second time)

Mt. Woe
You begin this chapter after fighting the mud imp and the two beasts, and when you can walk up the chain link to the Mountain of Woe. You can head back to the earthbound village to rest for free or to stock up on some more weapons, but head up the chain link when you're ready to move on. One general note for the Mountain of Woe is to make SURE you fight all of the rubbles. They offer a whopping 100 tech points a piece, and while they lock all your techniques and items, they're easy enough to kill if you just keep attacking, they only have 515 health. They don't reappear however, so make sure you get them all, and don't let them run away.

The first area has two rubbles, an exit to the west then north, and a Lode helm if you walk around the cliffs. In the next area, you'll fight three rubbles scattered about, run into a save point, cross a bridge to the northeast to find a Lode Vest, and climb a cliff and cross another bridge to exit to the east. In the next area you'll get some random items, fight a single rubble, and reach a save point before climbing further up the mountain. The last area is surprisingly empty, just pick up a Time Hat, and grab a magic tab in the bottom right corner before climbing the giant chain to face Giga Gaia.

Giga Gaia will do some nasty Fire and Shadow attacks with both hands, so equipping the red mail, red/ruby vest, black mail, or black vest may come in handy if you have them. I recommend having someone like Frog or Robo heal the party periodically. Attack with your best multi-enemy techs when the arms are both alive, such as Lightning 2, Fire 2, etc, and attack with your best single-enemy techs when only the head is alive. When the arms are revived they should be weaker than before so just a few techs should finish them off. After a couple rounds of defeating the arms, you can say goodbye to Giga Gaia and say helllooooo to Melchior. You'll escape to the Earthbound Village as the mountain collapses, and Schala and Janus will come to help you, only to be abducted by Dalton. Melchior will give you a Ruby Knife to help destroy the Mammon Machine. Don't bother buying any weapons before you head out, you'll be able to pick up some better ones in Kajar soon. Rest before you head out, and you'll be in the next chapter.

Challenging Lavos
If you go back and challenge Lavos at this point, you should get The Prophet Ending. There will be a few scenes involving "the Prophet" from this period and a particularly nice speech from him, hinting that he would have gotten the chance to do what he wanted without your interference.