Legend of Mana Dragon%: The Fallen Emperor
This is part of a first-playthrough guide using the Dragon story arc. It covers both the original PSX version and the 2021 HD remaster, though some place and item names differ slightly in the latter. You can find an overview of the Dragon% path here.
The Quick Version
Place the Artifacts you got from the last quest and head for the Underworld. Meet Larc the Dragoon and agree to join him. Proceed down through the Underworld until you meet its keeper Olbohn, then receive the Baptism of Flame to go even deeper. At the bottom, prove yourself in a boss battle and accept an assignment from Drakonis. Receive the Skull Lantern and Broken Doll Artifacts at the end of the quest.
The Details (May Contain Spoilers)
Gearing Up … A Little
This is a great time to upgrade your equipment a bit. The highest-tier equipment you can buy right now is likely Iron equipment in Lumina (you start with Bronze) unless you’ve done some significant sidequesting. The weapon shop there (“El Hazardous”) can be found by going west on the town map and then west from the tavern. (The weapon shop in Domina will likely be selling Bronze stuff, which is no better than what you start with.)
The best items to pick up are, in order, an Iron weapon (e.g., Iron Sword) and a pair of Iron Boots. (The Iron Helm has comparable defense to the boots, but we’ll get a piece of headgear through questing pretty shortly.) If you need to vendor some mob drops to buy these items, it’s fine to sell pretty much whatever you’ve picked up from the mobs in Mekiv Caverns.
Navigating the Underworld
The Underworld is the single maziest zone in Legend of Mana, and navigating it is probably the single biggest point of frustration for a new player doing Dragon%. Here’s how to get to the places needed for this quest:
From the Macabre Tombstone:
- Talk to the tombstone to get transported to the First Level.
- Join Larc’s party.
- Go left, right, right, up at the first purple doorway, and up again to reach the Second Level.
- Go to the right, lower left, right, then up into the first purple doorway you see to reach Olbohn’s Control Room (HD: Olbohn’s Office).
Talk to Olbohn until he agrees to let you undergo the Baptism of Flame, granting you access to the lower levels of the Underworld. The Shadole (shadow tadpole) will teleport you to the Baptismal Chamber.
Once you’ve gotten baptized by the Shadole at the upper left of the Chamber:
- Go left (dashed line on above map) to return to the Second Level.
- Go to the lower left like you’re starting to head back to Olbohn, but this time enter the rightmost purple doorway to reach the Third Level.
- Keep going right until you reach the boss fight (Shrine of the Silent Faces).
The boss fight itself isn’t too bad; you can avoid the AoEs by hanging out in the lower left corner of the screen. Afterward you’ll talk to Drakonis, who makes you an offer you can’t refuse (well, you can, but you eventually have to accept in order to leave the Underworld). You and Larc will return to the surface, and you’ll receive the Skull Lantern and Broken Doll Artifacts.
Previous Quest: Faeries’ Light (The Spirits’ Light)
Next Quest: The Monster Corral
