Final Fantasy III/Cave of Shadows

''Using the power of Noah's Lute, the Warriors of Light can awaken Unei, Master of Dreams. She joins the party and helps restoring an old and powerful airship, the Invincible. With this new airship many new areas can be accessed and explored. The Fang of Earth is almost in your hands, and it is key to get the Earth Crystal.''

Suggested team for this chapter (from Falgabard):
 * Dark/Mystic Knight, but only after you find his equipment in Falgabard; in the NES, he can use White Magic;
 * Bard, because in this team he can support two physical fighters; in the DS, he can heal the party.
 * Viking, because of the lightning-elemental weapons;
 * Evoker, because of the new summon spells that can be obtained;

Unei's Shrine


You can walk here from Saronia: walking is good for gaining further experience.

Use Noah's lute (found in the underwater Temple of Time) to wake up Unei, who joins the Warriors of Light.

Ancient Ruins


You can walk here from Saronia: walking is good for gaining further experience. If there's a Geomancer in your party, you'd better take a detour to the west coast and avoid the rivers as long as possible.

Unei can remove the rocks that block the entrance to the lower levels. At the bottom, the legendary airship Invincible can be found. It allows to access all the subsequent areas in this page.

Falgabard


Falgabard is the town of the Dark Knights, therefore let's give a look to all the Dark Knight equipment, not only to what is available here.

In Falgabard you can find full equipment for one Dark Knight for free: a Demon shield, a Demon armor and a Kiku-Ichimonji Dark Blade. To obtain such Kiku Blade you have to defeat an old Shinobi who lives under the waterfall.

To access the cave under the waterfall, walk through the trees on the left of the waterfall. When you leave the waterfall cave, follow the river down to the pond. On the islet, search its four corners to find four items (Demon armor, Demon shield and two Hi-Potions).

Falgabard Cave


Optional dungeon. Access from the town of Falgabard. Some chests can be found in it, but they contain nothing essential (see tables above). The value of this area is training the Warriors of Light in fighting splitting enemies and finding invisible passages.

The Dark/Mystic Knight can act independently, but the other three party members should use a formation. Take advantage of the fact that enemies don't split if attacked by magic, neither do sleeping or paralysed enemies.

Here's an example of an effective formation:
 * 1) The Evoker should stun the enemies by summoning Shiva (sleep) or Ramuh (paralysis);
 * 2) * in this turn, the Bard can sing (NES: cheer) for the allies and the Viking can cast Thunder2 from Thor's hammer.
 * 3) Now the Viking can physically attack a stunned enemy;
 * 4) * in this turn, the Bard can keep singing (NES: cheer) for the allies and the Evoker can summon a different creature.
 * 5) Then, the Bard can put back to sleep the awakened enemy using the Dream Harp, while the Viking attacks another stunned enemy.

Lake Dohr


Optional dungeon. Access using the airship Invincible near the Living Woods. Enemies' strength is scaled to be between Doga's Grotto and the Ancients' Maze.

Enemies are very strong, so the debuff abilities of the Evoker and the Bard will be necessary; moreover, most enemies are weak against Lightning element, therefore the Viking will be very useful too. Defeat Leviathan to obtain a Summon spell.

Bahamut's Lair


Optional dungeon. Access using the airship Invincible near Tozus. Enemies' strength is scaled to be between Doga's Grotto and the Ancients' Maze.

Enemies are just slightly stronger than in Lake Dohr, but your team is more experienced now; on the other hand, enemies aren't weak against lightning anymore. Defeat Bahamut to obtain a Summon spell.

Cave of Shadows
It conceals the Earth Fang, necessary to access the areas in the next two chapters. It is guarded by a boss, Hecatoncheir.