Dragon Warrior III/The Final Key

The time has come to use your ship to navigate the world and reach far away lands to investigate the secrets they contain. One such destination is a castle on an island found to the west of Kanave and north of Portoga. However, under no circumstances will they permit entrance into the castle. You'll have to search the world for a means of sneaking into the castle. You just may find such a means in a town on an island continent to the south.

Setting sail
Whether you went to Dhama to change your class or not, cast Return and head to Portoga. Your ship will be waiting for you in the water below the kingdom. Once you board the ship, you will see a shrine very close by to the south. Visit the shrine if you like, and climb up to the second floor. You'll find a man who tells you the lay of the land if you sail to the south. He will also tell you that whoever collects six orbs will gain the ability to travel anywhere in the world. However, he says nothing about sailing to the north.

If you set sail north of Portoga, you will eventually arrive at a small island kingdom with a castle on the south portion of the larger island. The castle is named Eginbear (named after Edinburgh, the capitol of Scotland.) However, after you park your ship and approach the castle, you will find it difficult to get past the snobby guard who insists that you aren't distinguished enough to enter the castle. The castle is very secure, and there's no other method of entering. You'll need to find some way to sneak past the guard. Surely somewhere in the world, another method can be found.

Note: It's unlikely, but if you happen to have a level 33 Wizard or Sage who happens to know the spell of Invisible, you needn't search the world for a solution; you have all the ability you need. You'll still have to visit Lancel eventually, but you can jump down to the Castle Eginbear section of the walkthrouh.

A land down under
It just so happens that you'll find a helpful item in a town called Lancel. To reach Lancel, you'll have to find a small island continent that lies in the southern sea. It can be a little difficult to find, but there's one sure-fire way of reaching it. Return to Baharata, board your ship, and simply travel due south until the eastern portion of the island comes into view. Park your ship along the east coast and and walk to the west to the town that awaits you. If you wander around the continent, you won't encounter any enemies that you haven't seen before, except perhaps for Goategons and Witch Doctors.

Lancel


Lancel isn't so much a town as it is a small village with a large shrine at the top. It has an inn, and item shop, and an equipment shop, and a few occupants but not many. The equipment shop has some powerful items that you may not have seen before. The Sledge Hammer is a powerful alternative weapon for a Soldier. The Sacred Robe is great for spell casters, and the Iron Mask is good head protection for Heroes and Soldiers. A little girl walking around will introduce herself as the daughter of the item shop owner, and will implore you to buy Invisible Herbs, the most expensive item at the shop. However, it may be good advice to follow. You will hear rumors about the Vase of Drought. Supposedly, it is needed to find the Final Key, and it's kept inside Castle Eginbear.

If you wish to visit the shrine above the town, you'll need to find a path to get there. Such a path exists on the right edge of town. You can walk around the right side of the equipment shop and continue up to the top. You'll reach the gates, but they are locked. A woman nearby will tell you that you can reach the Navel of the Earth from here. There are two doors on either side, but they are also locked. Clearly, this will be a good place to return once you obtain the Final Key. If you weren't convinced about the Invisibility Herb, and strange man standing in an alley between the left door and the main gate will advise you to buy the herbs and visit Edinbear. That is your next task. Head back to the item shop and by some Invisibility Herbs. If you already visited Edinbear, you can simply cast Return to go back there. Otherwise, cast Return and visit Portoga before sailing north around the coast.

Castle Eginbear
Standing just outside of Eginbear's main entrance, you should utilize the Invisibility Herb that you purchased in Lancel (or, if you have the spell, cast Invisibility.) With your party invisible, you can slip right past the guard without incident. Don't walk around too much unnecessarily until you're all the way in the castle, as the invisibility won't last long. Once you're past the guard, you'll have the run of the place until you leave.

As castles go, Eginbear is fairly average. People inside talk about the Vase of Drought, and the history of a shrine that sank into the sea. People will still note that you're foreigners, and the princess will laugh at your accent. A gap in the lower left wall leads to a small garden where a childen will inform you that the Final Key is in a shrine. You can go upstairs to visit the king, and he will record your progress. His chancellor appears to be an expert on the continent to the west, and he will tell you about a tribe of Indians that live there called Soo. The south wall of the throne room has two gaps which you can use to explore the roof of the first floor. If you examine the right side, you'll find a stairwell that leads down to the gardens outside of the castle, where a single man stands in the lower right corner. He will tell you about arranging boulders in the basement.

To visit the basement, return to the first floor and walk down until you see a flight of stairs leading down. When you arrive, you will be in a room with three boulders, a couple of pools of water, and a blue and white pattern floor at the top of the room. Your objective here is to move all three boulders on to the blue and white pattern. To do this, you must carefully position each boulder so that they do not become stuck, or block you from completing your task. To learn the solution, read the spoiler down below.

Once all three boulders have been pushed into place, a door will open to your right. Walk through the door and follow the narrow corridor to the end, where you will find a treasure chest. Open the chest, and you will find the Vase of Drought. With that, your quest in Eginbear has ended. However, there's one more discovery to make. If you return to the castle at night time (which will require another dose of invisibility), visit the throne room. You will embarrass the chancellor by catching him seated on the throne. Speak with him, and he'll reward your secrecy by advising you to explore an empty field on the shore of the continent to the west.

Finding a sunken Shrine
With all the information that you've received concerning the Final Key, you should know that it requires the Vase of Drought, that it's contained in a shrine, and that there's a shrine that sunk into the sea, leaving shoals in its place. Clearly these three pieces of information are connected. The problem is figuring out how to locate the whereabouts of a sunken shrine. This is one aspect of the game, that you'll receive very little help with by talking to people. You must essentially sail the seas until you find it if you don't wish to use a walkthrough or map. However, assuming you want help finding the shoals, there's two easy methods of finding them.

The first method is to return to Aliahan, jump on to your boat, and sail due south for a very long time until you reach the shoals. The second method is to sail to the location in the world that corresponds to the Bering Strait, the icy region where Russia and Alaska almost touch. You can find this location by sailing east from Baharata and following the coast around to the north. Once you reach the ice (shown to the right), and sail through the strait, continue north to arrive at the shoals.

Which ever way you choose, steer your ship right up to the shoals. When you're parked next to it, use the Vase of Drought. It will cause the water to recede from the shoals, and the shrine to rise up out of the water. Once the process is complete, step inside the shrine. You'll find a single chest in the center of a decorated floor, and in this chest, you'll find the Final Key. In the back, you'll see a skeleton sitting on a throne behind a set of jail doors. You can now open these doors with the Final Key. Speak with the skeleton, and he will tell you about a pit in the Necrogond mountains.

Unlike when you obtained the Magic Key, there's little reason to return to any previous prison doors that you've encountered at this time. Other than all the jail doors in Lancel, there is a prison in Aliahan, and one jail cell in Romaly, but you won't obtain anything useful by visiting them. However, it would be a good idea to visit the vault in Aliahan and store the Magic Key and the Vase of Drought there since you won't be needing either one in the future.