Final Fantasy V/Gorn Town

Rikks Village
Before going on there is still one more optional town you can visit. Fly over to the Wind Temple, then over the mountains to an isolated valley to reach Rikks Village. Talk to the villagers to quickly learn that this is where Bartz grew up. When you talk to one budding scholar it triggers a flashback where a young Bartz is playing hide-and-seek but hides so well that he ends up stranded.

Go to the inn to rest, for free since the proprietor knows you; the first time you do this there is a cutscene. Bartz visits his mother's grave in the middle of the night. Faris finds him and he tells her that his mother died young and afterwards his father raised him. This his father died as well. Bartz places the Memento on the grave in memory of his father.

The Item, Weapon and Armor shops are all in the same building behind the pond in the north end of town. Everything at the item shop is half price because it's Bartz. There is Ether on sale, but not Phoenix Down; otherwise the inventory is the same as in previous shops. The Weapon and Armor shops are upstairs. The weapon shop has Ninja items including three elemental skills for throwing. The items at the armor shop were already seen in Jachol. The magic shop, in the southeast corner of the village, has only one spell, but it's one to get in case you missed in when Karnak Castle blew up.

Stop by your old house, behind the inn, to find a minstrel living there now. He invites you to look around. Check the pink music box on the table in the corner to trigger a flashback. Bartz is pretending to be asleep while listening to his parents, Drogan and Stella, talk. Drogan is planning to go on a trip but is worried that Stella might get sick while he's away. Drogan is about to leave when Stella has a seizure. (Note, the last line "STELLA!!" is a reference to A Streetcar Named Desire and was a bit funnier in the '90's.) Talk the the minstrel again to learn Temptation Song.

Walz Castle (return)
An optional task that has been left undone for a while is to finish the exploration of the Walz Castle basement. The reason for waiting until now is because a particularly difficult monster called Harpy lurks there. Like SkullEater in Jachol Cave, this monster is difficult to injure, much less kill, and can KO your weaker characters with a single blow. It also casts Moon Flute which gives your entire party Berserk status, making it impossible to do things like heal. One way to get through this area is to have a Thief of Ninja with Flee or Dustb and escape as soon as possible when a battle starts. This particular monster seems to have a higher chance of getting a back attack though, so your party is likely to have casualties even if you try to run. This monster can be defeated though. Since the monster inflicts Berserk status, beat it to the punch by making at least three of your characters Berserkers. Make sure all three are equipped with axes or hammers; if you select Optimum in the Equip screen then the game may give you a Mage Slasher and this won't work. Make the fourth character a Monk and select the Learning ability if you don't already have the Moon Flute spell. Give your Berserkers White ability so they can heal any damage between battles. Remember to keep restore everyone's HP to at least 600HP before starting and after each battle.

When you're done with preparations, return to Walz Castle and get to the first floor by the stairs in the anteroom. Follow the corridor that starts from the north door on the right side of the room to get to the basement. Follow the passages to collect the treasure there and with a bit of luck you should be able to not only defeat Harpy the three or four times he attacks, but collect the Moon Flute BlueMage spell while you're at it.

Library of Ancients (return)
Head back to the Library of Ancients to report that the Fire Ship was sunk. Cid and Mid are more excited about something else; it seems King Tycoon has been spotted. He was seen heading for the Desert of Sand Tides. You decide to go to the desert and investigate.

Before doing this, if you don't have the BlueMage spell Aqua Rake yet, you may want to make a quick trip northeast to the desert between the Library and Karnak. This is to fight Quadrharpy and learn the spell. This spell is Water based so there was not much point to learning it until you were about to fight monsters that are weak to Water, but such are the monsters in the Sand Tides so the time has come. Quadrharpy is a bit of a challenge, but if you did any fighting in the wide ocean your were sure to pick up some LgtningSkills and a couple these thrown at it should do the trick.

Sand Tides
Follow the narrow valley west from the Library to reach the Sand Tides. The shifting sand acts like conveyor belts that carry you around, and carries you back to the start when you step on it. If you entered any time before talking to Cid and Mid about King Tycoon you would have found that the shifting sands made progress impossible. This time when sands bring you back to the start Cid and Mid appear and have found a way to bridge the entrance. Cid (in an homage to Dune) rings a bell that attracts a giant sand worm; all you have to do is defeat the monster. At the last minute, Mid warns you not to use magic.

When the battle is over you say goodbye to Cid and Mid for now and ask them to take care of your chocobo. It's a good idea to exit the desert temporarily so you can save before going on. Crossing the sands seems complicated but it's actually pretty foolproof. Just keep taking whatever path you think will get you generally southward and eventually you will end up in front of a large pyramid in the middle of the desert. The pyramid is locked so there's nothing you can do here. From the pyramid find the sands that carry you east until you're within sight of the exit. Then there is one eastern flowing path to reach the end.

Gorn Town
Continue south, avoiding the desert unless you want another battle with QuadrHarpy. At then end of the valley you reach Gorn Town, also called the Ruined City. This is technically a town so there are no monsters here, giving some breather time from the difficult quicksand desert. The town is deserted, so there are no shops are even treasure here. If you explore though you will keep spotting King Tycoon. The idea is to keep chasing him until you corner him. He can be spotted and several places and there is more than one possible order of the locations where you see him. Finally you see him standing in a room in the central building. As you approach, Reina and Faris both recognize him has their father, but just then you fall through a trap door. After you land Faris finally admits to everyone that she is really Reina's sister, as if everyone hadn't already figured it out already. Galuf lands in a separate room and the rest of you assume that he will rejoin you later. Galuf overhears this and crawls through some tunnels to join you again, though understandably a bit miffed.
 * 1) Approach the stairs in front where you spot King Tycoon near the entrance heading east.
 * 2) Go to the ruins in the southwest corner, spot King Tycoon going north.
 * 3) Go to the ruins in the southeast corner, spot King Tycoon going north.
 * 4) Head back to the stairs in the middle and spot King Tycoon on the hill.

Exit through the door in the northwest corner, this takes you to a platform over a large room. Then you reach the end you will make a one-way teleport to similar platform in an underground area beneath Crescent island. This causes a malfunction and you escape just as the platform is destroyed.

Meanwhile, Cid and Mid ride the black chocobo to the forest on Crescent island intending to release it there. It's not clear how they intended to get off the island without the chocobo though.

Airship Hangar
Having had a narrow escape, you start exploring the underground area. Go to the exit in the northeast corner and up two levels to large room. You can go north or south from here; explore the way south first. You enter another large room where you can rest in the central section.

There is a short scavenger hunt here to reach the tempting treasure chests on the south side. Go to the south end of the room on the left and check the plaque on the wall. Say Yes to push the switch but nothing happens. But you do spot something written about checking flowers. Go to the middle room, then check the flower boxes on the south wall; the one on the right has a paper which points to the room on the right. Go there and check the sheet of paper on the desk which reveals the whole thing was a practical joke. But you decide to check the urn. Actually there are four urns here, but the one you want is next to the wall in the left room. A frog jumps out when you check it an knocks a book off the bookshelf. The book gives you directions back to the plaque where you started, so check it again, pull the switch, and the door to the chests opens.

Go back, check the plaque on the wall next to the north door, and pull the switch. This causes a small earth tremor and Cid and Mid fall through a hole that opens in the chocobo forest. But it also opens the door out. Save at the save point and continue on to find the Fire Ship. You can go inside and fight the monsters again if you want, but there is a more interesting ship further one. Cid and Mid land on the deck and after a bit of confusion they go to work on repairs. Go below deck and talk to them again to see they've got it ready to take off. A hole opens in the ocean and the new ship comes flying out of it like giant helicopter. Talk to Cid back on deck and he explains it's an airship, though none were known to exist in a long time. Just then you realize there's a monster stuck to the hull and a battle begins.

After the battle, Cid lands the ship to do some final repairs. Now Cid and Mid stay behind while you search the skies for clues to find the Earth Crystal.

You now control the Airship. This moves very fast and the map is shown in perspective while in flight. The ship has no problems flying over mountains and can land in deep water or on clear land, not desert or forest. Once in the water it sails like the Fire Ship.