Dragon Warrior III/Soo

To the west of Eginbear and Portoga lies a new continent that is sparse in population, but high in promise. This world's version of North America contains a river bed that cuts a path right through the heart of the land. Follow the river to find a tribe of Indians who have much to teach you about this part of the world. A tower lies on the west coast which contains an item that will aide you in your search for more orbs. On the east coast, a patch of land has been cleared away to plant the seed of a new town. However, one ingredient to the town's success is missing, and only you can provide it.

Starting a new town
If you Return to Portoga, and set sail for the west, you will reach a new continent before too long. You will arrive at a some mountains that extend south along the east coast. Travel north a while, and you may spot a patch of grass cleared out among some trees. This should arouse your suspicion. Park the boat and visit this clearing. You will find a building set up south of a pond. Inside is a man who would like to start a new town in the area. However, he needs a merchant to help build an economy. He's not picky either, any merchant will do.

At this time, you should Return to Aliahan, create a new Merchant at Luisa's place, and add him or her to your party (you'll have to bench one of the members of your team for the time being.) Return to Portoga and set sail again for the continent to the west. Return to the clearing with your newly created merchant, and allow him or her to accept a job at the new town. In return for your charity, the old man will give you a hint and tell you to search around the well in the Soo's village. Once you've parted with your merchant, return to Aliahan and reclaim your fourth party member.

This is by no means the end of the story of this new town. However, it will take time for the town to develop and for people to move there and grow it's population. You would do well to check up on it from time to time as you play through the game. The future of the town will be discussed more later on in the walkthrough.

A new frontier
Assuming you traveled back to Aliahan to fix your party, Return to Portoga, and sail west again. However, when you hit the mountains, sail south instead and follow the coast to the west until you reach the mouth of the river that extends north into the land. Ignore the first left branch and follow the second one. Then continue north while staying to the right whenever you can. As you travel back to the right below some mountains, and above a bridge, a village will come into view. Make your way to the village when the river expands into three great lakes.

The Soo Indians


This is the village created by members of the tribe of Indians known as the Soo (named for the Sioux tribes of Native Americans that lived in central North America). They know a lot about the lore surrounding this part of the world and have a lot to teach you. Their item shop is impressively stocked, while their equipment shop might be considered rather primitive. However, this is the one place in the world where you can purchase the Poison Needle (instead of stealing one from the shop in Kanave).

Among the topics that the Soo know about, you can learn about the Vase of Drought, the Echoing Flute, and the land of Greenlad. If you already possess the Final Key, then you likely know all you need to know about the vase. However, it turns out that the vase originated in this town, and was stolen away and taken east. Although it's not the greatest clue, the most information on where you might find the shoals of the sunken shrine is given to you by a talking horse, who indicates that you can find them in the ocean to the west. Many of the children in town know a bit about the Echoing Flute. This item will echo a tune back to you if you play it in a location that contains an orb, and it is apparently located in a tower. A man at the top of the village tells you about a wizard who reportedly lives on a frozen island far to the north in a place called Greenlad. Another man near the bottom asks if you noticed a town to the east. If you say no, he'll reply that some people left to start a new town there and never returned, but if you say yes, he'll be delighted to hear the news.

Last, but not least, don't forget about the hint provided to you by the man who is starting that new town. If you left a merchant with him, he thanks you by telling you to search around the well. If you stand below the well and search the ground there, you will find the Staff of Thunder. Give it to a spell caster if you'd like to save magic points, or give it to a non-spell caster if you'd like to provide yourself with one more party member who can attack an entire group of enemies.

In search of a tower
After hearing about the Echoing Flute, and the fact that it's hidden in a tower, it would be a good idea to search for this item. There happens to be a tower located on the west coast of this continent. To reach it, you must either sail to the mouth of the river and get off your boat in order to walk to the west, or sale due east from the remote town of Muor (north of Jipang). Either way that you go, you must be on the look out for some powerful enemies. Blue Beaks are like Great Beaks that can cast Inferno, twice per round if they like. Venom Zombies can poison your party with their breath. Witch Doctors can heal themselves when they feel they've taken too much damage, and Bighorns are large goats that can put you to sleep.

The Tower of Arp
Upon arriving at the tower, you start out at the bottom of the first floor. It's important to keep your party healthy and ready for attacks from menacing enemies like Eliminators or Lethal Armors. A few columns are arranged in the interior while two paths ways on the sides lead out to some grass. Continue straight up the middle, and unlock the door. Then you can choose to walk either to the left or to the right, it doesn't matter which, before you will need to unlock another door. Finally, when you reach the top, come back to the center where you will need to unlock one final door. Then step inside, and you will find four staircases arranged in one group in the center of the room.

It doesn't matter which staircase you take. What matters is which direction you walk in when you reach the second floor. If you take the time to explore the rooms in every direction, you will find that only the room to the left of the stairs contains anything of interest: a staircase to the third floor. Any other direction simply leads to a dead-end. So head to the left immediately if you wish to reduce your exposure to battles.

When you arrive on the third floor, you will now be stuck in the upper left corner due to the lack of any floor that crosses the tower. If you drop down a bit and try to peer across the tower, you will see a small platform in the center which contains four treasure chests. However, there doesn't appear to be any immediate means of reaching them, so climb the stairs on your right to the fourth floor.

On the fourth floor, you'll find yourself positioned on a ring that circles the exterior of the gap in the middle of the tower. If you walk counter-clockwise around this ring, you will reach stairwells that climb down to every corner of the third floor. Yet, with each corner that you visit, you will find no clear means of reaching the treasures in the middle of the floor. The only option you are left with, is to climb the final staircase up to the fifth floor.

On the fifth floor, you'll find something unusual: a lattice of ropes tied across the gap in the center of the floor. The ropes extend to the section of floor on the south side of the tower. You'll even find three treasure chests on the other side. However, the middle chest only contains clothes, and the two on the sides are Man-Eater Chests! These are hardly the treasures you were hoping to find.

As you might remember from the Tower of Garuna, north of Dhama, if you walk the wrong way off of the ropes, you can fall down to the floor below. That's precisely what you should aim to do now. Get as close to the center of the floor as you can and jump off the rope. You should land, quite conveniently, on the island of treasure chests in the middle of the third floor. In these chests, you will find not one, but two Acorns of Life, 552 gold, and of course, the Echoing Flute.

Now that you have the Echoing Flute, it should make your search for the remaining orbs a little easier. Whenever you play the flute in a place where an orb is kept, the sound of the flute's music will echo back to you, indicating that an orb is present. However, it's a wide world out there, and you'll need to search every inch of it to find such locations.