Faxanadu/Dartmoor Castle

Castle of castles
Interestingly, Dartmoor Castle is more than just an ordinary castle. It is a fortress which encloses a town and two other castles. You will enter from the right side of the highest level. Among this top level, you won't find much of interest. On the left side, there is what appears to be an abandoned settlement, with each of the four doors opening up to some room with a monster occupying the interior. Since you can't use your weapons indoors, you are restricted to using magic. The only door which is worth exploring is the second from the right. Inside this empty shop is a Grimlock, and there is a 25% chance that a Red Potion will appear if you defeat it with magic.

Rather then explore the highest level, you will want to access the bottom of the middle screen and drop down through the gap in the floor. The room below is split into two sections, the left and the right. The left side contains a ladder that you can climb down to reach the level below, but the right side is where you should visit first. Access the screen to the right to enter the final town in the game, the town of Dartmoor.

Dartmoor
Dartmoor is everything you'd expect a final town to be; nothing incredible in the way of newly introduced items and information, but the clues you pick up here will be of some use to you. The first building is a cathedral, where you will obtain the mantra for the farthest starting point you can obtain. Once you reach the rank of Lord, there are no further ranks for the Guru to bestow upon you. Dried meat is getting expensive, near the price of hospital visits early in the game, but obtaining money should be the least of your worries at this point in the game. Two servings of dried meat is practically half the stay at the hospital in the next screen over, and with a Lamprey and a Yuinaru hanging around outside of town, you should only need to buy dried meat to restore magic. The key shop is down to selling only King Keys, but the truth is that you should not need any more keys from this point on. And lastly, you should already have the Giant Blade, so the only thing worth purchasing at the shop is a Red Potion. In fact, you should load up on them as much as possible since the last two boss fights are considerably difficult. When you are prepared to tackle the rest of Castle Dartmoor, exit back to the left.

Exploring the castle
When you leave Dartmoor, defeat the Lamprey and attack the Sir Gawaine through the wall. Then climb up and around to the left side of the screen and climb down the ladder. Drop down to the floor below, and proceed to the left after dealing with any Wolf Men that get in your way. Fight the Wolf Man on the lower level of the next screen and drop down the gap again.

When you land, you have a choice between heading left or right. The truth is that there is nothing of value to the left, only a house where the occupants have very little in terms of useful information to provide you. While you are free to explore it, you are better off heading to the right instead. The screen to the right contains a Fire Giant and two Hornets. Defeat them if you wish, and then climb up the ladder and leap over the gaps between the platforms to continue to the next screen. If you arrive along the lower path, not only will you be stuck, you'll also have to avoid touching a vial of Poison.

In the next room, you will see three doors, but you will not even be able to access the first one without the proper ring. Instead, you'll have to climb up the ladder above (after removing the Mask Man) and defeat the Fire Giant waiting for you. Continue to climb up the ladder on the next screen. Watch out for the Geributa that greets you on the screen above, as it can remove a surprising amount of health in very little time. Wind your way to the top platform, clearing out the other enemies, and proceed to the right. Wind your way past the two Sir Gawaines back to the bottom of the screen and defeat the Lamprey for some bread. Unfortunately, you won't be able to exploit its presence and defeat it over and over again to restore health. As soon as you climb down the ladder, you won't be able to get back up.

Once you land, you will be a short hop away from another entrance (1). This is the Castle of Fraternal, where the Dwarf King once resided. When you are ready, hop across the gap and press in front of the door.

Fraternal Castle
You begin on the top level of the castle. Fraternal Castle has an interesting quirk: the middle level wraps around on itself continuously (as indicated by the green A label on the map). There are two goals to achieve here; defeat the boss of the castle, and visit the Guru in the cathedral of the castle.

To reach the boss from the entrance, jump up to the platforms above and head to the right. Drop down through the gap to the floor and climb down the ladder to the level below. You're best off ignoring the Rokusutahn below and running to the right. Watch out for the two Snowmen in the next room, climb up the ladder and continue right. A Yareeka patrols the top level of the next screen. It is difficult, but not impossible, to exploit this Yareeka for its bread to restore your health.

From this point, you may wish to fall to the floor and head to the right. If you do, you will find a Borabohra. Every time you enter this room, there is a 25% chance that Ointment will appear behind the Borabohra. Leave and return to the room until the Ointment appears. If you collect the Ointment, and run non-stop, you can make it all the way to the boss room just before the Ointment wears off. So collect it, race back to the left, climb up the ladder and cross back over the gaps where the Yareeka flies back and forth to arrive on the platform above the Borabohra.

Climb up the ladder that you see above you, and you will enter a room with a Pakukame attached to the ceiling. The Pakukame releases up to three Liliths in the room, and will immediately replace any that you defeat. However, if you collected the Ointment, the Liliths should not be much of a concern. Climb up the ladder, and head to the right towards the door on the floor. You will probably touch the poison vial, but avoid it if possible. Enter the door, and you will come face to face with the transformed King Grieve (3), former king of the Dwarfs.

King Grieve swallowed the Dragon Slayer sword in a final act of desperation before he lost control of his mind in order to keep it out of the hands of the Evil One. In order to get it back, you're going to have to defeat him. He's quite powerful, like an enhanced form of a Ripasheiku. In fact, his pattern of attack is extremely similar to that of the Ripasheiku. He fires four fireball blasts before flying up to the ceiling and dropping back down to repeat the pattern. There are a couple of strategies that you can employ. For one, using an Hour Glass won't freeze him, but it will prevent him from breathing fire at you. Another strategy is to use the powerful magic of Tilte. Only a few well times blasts of this magic is enough to defeat him. Whichever way you attempt to defeat him, make sure you have a few Red Potions handy and ready to use in case your health becomes critical.

Once he is defeated, grab the Dragon Slayer that he leaves behind. With this item, you can now equip the trio of the sword and the Battle Suit and Battle Helm. You need only select the sword to equip all three. You are now at your most powerful offensively and defensively. Before you leave, you need to find the cathedral in the castle and visit the Guru to obtain the key needed to open the door you passed previously. From the bosses room, exit through the door, climb up the ladder, drop down to the floor and climb down the ladder to the level below.

Above the Borabohra, return to the left, drop down to the floor, and climb down the ladder to the room below. There you will find the cathedral (4), whose entrance is guarded by a Rokusutahn. Defeat it if you like and enter the cathedral. With the Dragon Slayer in hand, the Guru will inform you that it was King Grieve who you just defeated. He will give you the item that you need to access the final fortress of the game, the Ring of Demon. Now you are ready to escape the castle, and return to the Town of Dartmoor for supplies and receiving a mantra. There are a couple of routes out of the castle, but the safest one is to go back out exactly the way you came in.