You begin the third chapter right outside of the town of Nubia (A). Inside, you will hear a lot of talk about a maze, the Cimaron tree, and how they are related. The fruit of the Cimaron tree is needed to light up the darkness of the maze. Many citizens will also be concerned about the onset of winter.
Nubia layout
Shop
You cannot ask for a discount in this expensive store. Bread, Mashroob, and Carpets are 60 Rupias, Rupia Seeds cost 100.
Hotel
One night's stay will set you back 25 Rupias.
Entrance
You must now begin your journey north to Kasimeel. When you start, head one screen west and two screens north to the lower exclamation mark (!) on the map and cast Oprin. You will reveal a staircase that leads to a maiden who offers you 50 Rupias for defeating Sabaron. Then work your way to the eastern sides of the region, particularly the cut down woods. You will encounter bouncing trees in these areas. They are not too difficult to kill, and they award a lot of experience points. It's not too hard to reach level 12 in very little time, and level 13 with just a little extra effort. Be careful, however, as they can remove a lot of hit points if they gang up on you. Stay close to an exit just in case.
Continue north up the east side, and then west above the stream. From the stream, head straight north and you will find an MP recovery field. Cast Pampoo until your health is fully restored and then stand on the star to recover all your MP. The continue back to the east and head north until you reach the Town of Kasimeel(B)
In Kasimeel, you will meet Mohamed, who informs you that he planted a Cimaron seed to the west of town. Remember this bit of info as you continue to talk to town members. Many here will talk of spring time.
Kasimeel Magic University
The Aries Course is all about how you should use the Aries formation against the Fire Squad. There is no reward for successfully passing the exam.
The Sirius Course is all about how you should use the Sirius formation against the Gilas Regiment. There is no reward for successfully passing the exam.
The Spricom Course teaches you about the spell Spricom, and how you may obtain it from a Wise Man 30 years in the future. You will obtain the Red Armor, for completing the course, which improves your defense.
Kasimeel layout
Shop
Mosque
While you still can't ask for a discount here, this shop is far more reasonable, with bread, mashroob, and carpets priced at only 20 Rupias.
Because of events soon to pass, you will need to switch to the Saint class. Do so at your earliest convenience.
Magic University (Oprin)
Hotel
As soon as you arrive, a man in the corner will instruct you to cast Oprin. You'll find a staircase that leads to a Magic University. You won't earn any new weapons, but you can earn a very valuable defensive item. In truth, the Spricom class is the only class you need to take. See the right sidebar for more information on the classes.
This hotel also costs 25 Rupias to spend the night.
Entrance
Once you are ready, you'll need to explore the region to the west of town. If you travel far enough, Coronya will tell you to cast Oprin at the location marked with a (c). Doing so will cause a staircase to appear, and below you will meet a young Cimaron tree. The tree will tell you that it doesn't have enough power, but it will grant its first born to a Saint in the future. It will give you a password to identify yourself, so write it down or try not to forget it.
After meeting the young tree, you must choose between going south or further west. Heading further west will lead you to the entrance of the very dark maze that you should not try to attempt without the Cimaron fruit. So instead head south and follow the trail that will eventually lead you to the location of the time door (t). Step inside and head to the future. It will help if you are already a Saint, as you will do a lot less backtracking. Fighting as a Saint can be a little awkward at first since you are restricted to the weakest weapons possible. However, you will find your defense is significantly better.
The winter that the Samalkandians predicted is more like an iceage. Aside from being extremely cold (to the point where you will slowly lose health, just as you did in the desert heat) the region has not changed much in 30 years. You will find yourself in roughly the exact same location, marked by the (t) on the map.
To start, head one screen to the west and two to the north, and you will return to the location of the Cimaron tree (c). Assuming you are a Saint, cast Oprin and head down the stairs. The Cimaron tree will ask you if he promised to give you 3000 Rupias. Be sure to say no, especially since you can't even hold that many. Then the Cimaron tree will ask you for the password. Enter the password, and you will be given the Cimaron fruit, along with the next rod, also made from Cimaron. If you forgot the password, check the spoiler at the bottom of the section.
Now you can make your way to the future version of Kasimeel (C). If you managed to get the Cimaron fruit, you can change back to any class you like (preferably a Magician). If you were not a Saint when you arrived, change to this class, collect the fruit, and return to Kasimeel. With the exception of the Magic University, which is now gone, the layout future Kasimeel is identical to present Kasimeel. In addition, you can ask for a discount from the future shop owner. You will now hear talk of a puppet maker in Nubia, your next destination.
On your way to Kasimeel, you may have noticed Coronya ask you to cast Oprin one screen to the left of Kasimeel. This is the magic field. The problem is, this is not the time period in which you plant the Rupia Seed. Since you are now in the future, you must plant the seed in the present. Because it is found in an inconvenient location beyond the dark cave, it may not be worth the effort to grow a Rupia Tree in this chapter.
You must return all the way to the south in order to reach Nubia. The path to get there is identical to the path in the present. There is no more Magic Field along the way. You are more likely to encounter the Grim Reaper in this cold land. He will follow you from screen to screen until you defeat him. There are more opportunities to fight trees along the way. Try to get your experience points up to 3800 in order to reach level 14
Instead of finding a girl who will give you 50 Rupias at the (!), you will find a Wise Man who will teach you the magic of Spricom, which you can cast during a solar eclipse to temporarily end the effects of winter. The spell has no other use outside of this chapter, so you might as well use it if given the opportunity. Nubia (D) is only two screens south and one screen east from there.
Nubia layout
Supapa
Casino
If you bring the Cimaron fruit to Supapa, he will proceed to make you a puppet from the fruit named Pukin. Pukin will join your party and help you light up your way through the dark maze.
Troopers
Shop
You can hire 4 troopers for 100 Rupias if you head down the stairs.
The Nubia shop has moved. While you still can't ask for a discount, the prices are much more reasonable, with bread, mashroob, and carpets at 20 Rupias, and a Map for 40.
Entrance
Once you have Pukin, you are finished with the future. You may walk back to the time door (t) and return to the present. If you have a carpet, using it to travel to Kasimeel will save you a lot of time.
From the time door (t), you may decide to return to Kasimeel if you have any need to rest up or shop for items. Otherwise, from the Cimaron tree (c), you can now make your way to the west and visit the southern (!) screen. Cast Oprin here, and you will discover the entrance to the dark maze.
The dark maze can be a little unnerving. Even with Pukin in your party to serve as a light source, you can see very little of the area around you. There is only one hazard that you must truly watch out for, and that is a strip of water that occupies a dead end to the left of the cave entrance. Always be sure to start out be heading right and you will be fine.
There are pitfalls in this cave, but they only seem to exist in the upper right corner of the long vertical corridors. Unlike the previous cave, a second pitfall does not appear in the left side of the center of the corridor, so you are always safe to walk up along the left side.
You may recall a villager mentioning something about a sword in the dark maze. You can find it by traveling to the top of the long central corridor, and walking to the left. Follow this path around until you reach the entrance to (b). If you enter it, you will earn the Kashim sword.
Once you have the sword, there is nothing left to do but to retrace your steps until you return to the corridor, walk south a bit until you find a passage to the right, and follow it until you reach the staircase at (c) which takes you out of the cave.
Exiting the dark maze will deposit you on the screen with the northern exclamation mark on the overworld map above. If you travel one screen north, Coronya will advise you to cast Oprin. This happens to be the magic field of the present, where you are supposed to plant the Rupia seed so that you can collect money from the resulting tree in the future. As you can see, it is quite a chore to do so, return to the future, collect the money, return to the present, and continue on. If you do decide to do this, you may prefer to visit Passora first so that you can easily return to it with a carpet instead of having to pass through the dark maze once again.
From the magic field, you can go left or right. Head to the right first in order to visit Passora (E) in order to collect yet another ally, and so that you can rest up before you challenge the palace and boss of this chapter.
Passora layout
Mustafa
Hotel
Unfortunately, Mustafa will not gladly join your party for free. He demands a hefty 100 Rupias upfront before he will join you. Agree to pay him and he will tag along. You will need his services to defeat the boss.
It costs 40 Rupias to stay the night.
Shop
You can actually bargain the prices down in half at this already relatively inexpensive shop. Bread costs 20 Rupias, while useful palace items like Keys, Horns, and an Amulet cost 40 Rupias.
Entrance
After you have paid Mustafa to join you, you are ready to take on the Frozen Palace (F). Head south, then west, then north again to find it.
The Frozen Palace is the first to contain multiple floors. You begin on the bottom floor at (a) and must locate the staircase which leads to the second floor at (c). Some of the floors in the palace are frozen over with ice which makes walking slippery. This normally isn't a problem unless you happen to be walking near water.
There are two paths to take, each with their own challenge. If you take the north route, you will encounter statues, although they are easily dealt with by tossing a horn at them. You may also encounter shadow enemies, but if you do Pukin will cast a light spell allowing you to see and fight them.
If you take the east route, you will enter an inescapable fight with a Changral. The Changral is the first instance of a transformation mini-boss. These enemies summon allies and toss objects at you. If you get hit with enough objects (usually two), you will be temporarily transformed into some vulnerable state. In this state, if one of the allies touches you, you will immediately lose a life. You will eventually transform back to your normal shape if you wait long enough, but if you happen to have amulets, you will transform back even faster. Be very careful in these fights.
If you happen to take the east path and travel south beyond the Changral, you can find a room (b) where you can reveal a shop that sells typical items. They are expensive, but you can bargain them down to half price.
Either way that you go, make your way to the stairs at (c). When you take them, you will arrive in the lower left corner of the second floor at (d). You must go up and around to reach the boss. Along the way, you will have no choice but to face off with another transformation mini-boss, Mardul. Do your best to avoid the flowers she tosses at you, defeat her, and exit through the portal that appears.
After you travel south through a corridor containing a Hebel house, be careful not to exit through the right side of the door to the next room below. If you walk too far, you will fall in the water and drown (although the game is very forgiving with the first few steps you take.) From here, head left and up to reach the boss (e).
Although Troll has two forms, neither are particularly difficult to figure out. Pukin helps with the first form, allowing you to identify which of the five Trolls that you see before you is the real Troll. The real Troll will constantly switch places. Only hitting the red Troll will cause any damage to him. While he performs this trick, he is very likely to cast a Thunder spell at you. Just continue to hit him when the troll directly above you turns red. If you stand between two of the trolls, you have an equal chance of hitting both, effectively doubling your chance to damage the red troll.
Troll's second form Once you've hit the real Troll enough times, he will give up the charade with the illusions and come to attack you personally. If you have Mustafa with you, he will cast a spell that will slow his movements down and make him far less difficult to dodge. He does possess the ability to transform you and instantly kill you, so it is important to stay as far away from him as possible, just in case this happens. Keep a healthy distance between the two of you and fire away with the rod (or sword) until he has taken enough damage and is killed.
Once Troll is defeated, you will be promoted to level 15 if you did not reach it already. You will rescue Sheherazade's third sister, Roxanne. You will then see the usual cutscene with your expanding party exchanging banter as they fly on a magic carpet to the world of the next chapter, Flower World Celestern.
