Dust Sprite
| Dust Sprite | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Monster |
| Location | The Mines |
| Floors | 41-79 |
| HP | 40 |
| Damage | 6 |
| Defence | 2 |
| Speed | 3 |
| XP | 2 |
The Dust Sprite is the valley's walking coal seam. It lives on the frozen floors of the Mines, travels in chattering packs, and leaves Coal behind on roughly every second kill, which makes a sweep of floors in the fifties faster than any pickaxe for stocking a Furnace. The sprites are quick, bouncy and awkward to hit, and they smash through rocks that get in their way. Five hundred of them earn the Burglar's Ring from Gil at the Adventurer's Guild, the ring that doubles every monster drop in the game for the rest of the save, so the long grind pays for itself many times over.
Behaviour
An idle Dust Sprite bounces in place and chirps, which is the sound that gives a pack away before it comes into view. The moment one spots the farmer the whole group bounds across the floor, and contact is what hurts.
Their hopping is the problem. The sprite is often closer than it looks, because the bounce carries it further than a walking monster would travel, and several arriving at once from different angles turn a simple fight into a scramble. The counter is a wall. Backing a pack into a corner stops knockback from carrying them out of reach and lets a single weapon work through them without chasing.
Sprites also break rocks that block their path, which can be either a nuisance or a favour. The stone they shatter yields nothing to the farmer, so a floor cleared by sprites is a floor stripped of its ore nodes.
Defence rather than damage is what makes them survivable early. They hit lightly but often, so Space Boots or a Crabshell Ring matter more here than another point of attack, and a dish that raises defence turns a frozen floor into a farm.
Location
Dust Sprites hold the frozen stretch of the Mines, from floor forty one down to floor seventy nine. The thickest concentrations sit on floors fifty one to fifty nine, where the cave darkens and a fog effect settles over the ice, and that is where coal runs are made. Frost Bats and Frost Jellies share the ground throughout, with Ghosts from floor fifty one and Skeletons in the castle floors from seventy one.
Restocking a floor is simple. Travelling back to the Mines entrance resets every floor, so riding the elevator down to fifty five, clearing the sprites, leaving and returning gives a fresh pack within minutes. Monster Musk doubles the number waiting before the farmer even arrives.
Drops
Coal comes off about half of all kills, and Coal is the fuel the whole farm runs on: every bar smelted in a Furnace needs one, and the Bee House, the Preserves Jar and dozens of other recipes ask for lumps of it. A pack of sprites is cheaper than Clint's prices and faster than a Charcoal Kiln.
A Frozen Tear appears on one kill in fifty. It belongs in the Geologist's Bundle in the Boiler Room, and ten of them with Iron Bars and Coal craft the Warrior Ring, which means the sprites supply two thirds of that recipe themselves. A Crystal Fruit drops at the same rate and would otherwise wait for Winter foraging: it completes the Winter Foraging Bundle in the Crafts Room and goes into winter Wild Seeds.
The prize on the list is the Coffee Bean, which comes off one sprite in a hundred. Coffee Beans are the only seed for a coffee plant, they keep producing every couple of days once grown, and five beans in a Keg make Coffee, so a single lucky drop turns into a permanent supply. A Gold Bar also appears very rarely, which is a pleasant accident rather than a plan.
Items this monster can drop when it is defeated, with the chance of each.
| Item | Image | Chance |
|---|---|---|
| Coal | 
|
50% |
| Coffee Bean | 
|
1% |
| Crystal Fruit | 
|
2% |
| Dwarf Scroll II | 
|
0.5% |
| Dwarf Scroll IV | 
|
0.1% |
| Frozen Tear | 
|
2% |
| Gold Bar | 
|
0.1% |
| Diamond | 
|
0.05% |
| Prismatic Shard | 
|
0.05% |
Notes
Five hundred Dust Sprites complete the eradication goal, and the dangerous variety counts towards the same total. The Burglar's Ring that Gil hands over makes the game roll every monster drop twice, which is worth more over a save than any weapon; Marlon sells a second one for 20,000g.
Clint's special order to clear Dust Sprites counts both kinds as well, so a single frozen run can serve the order, the eradication goal and the coal supply at once.
Oil of Garlic works against a sprite hunter, since it keeps weaker monsters from appearing at all. The Monster Musk recipe, which arrives from the Wizard after the Prismatic Jelly order, is the drink to carry instead.
All Monsters
Every entry in this group, with its key details.
| Name | Image | Location | HP | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armored Bug | 
|
Skull Cavern | 1 | 8 |
| Armored Bug (dangerous) | 
|
Skull Cavern | 250 | 20-27 |
| Bats | 
|
The Mines & Skull Cavern | 24, 36, 80, 300,; 268, 277 | 06, 07, 15, 30, 13, 14 |
| Blue Squid | 
|
The Dangerous Mines | 310 | 18 |
| Bug | 
|
The Mines | 1 | 8 |
| Bug (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 250 | 15-16 |
| Carbon Ghost | 
|
Skull Cavern; The Dangerous Mines | 190 | 25 |
| Cave Fly | 
|
The Mines | 22 | 6 |
| Cave Fly (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 266 | 13-15 |
| Duggy | 
|
The Mines | 40 | 6 |
| Duggy (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 280 | 8 |
| Dust Sprite | 
|
The Mines | 40 | 6 |
| Dust Sprite (dangerous) | 
|
The Mines | 280 | 13-15 |
| Dwarvish Sentry | 
|
Volcano Dungeon | 300 | 18 |
| False Magma Cap | 
|
Volcano Dungeon | 290 | 15 |
| Ghost | 
|
The Mines | 96 | 10 |
| Grub | 
|
The Mines | 20 | 4 |
| Grub (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 265 | 12-13 |
| Haunted Skull | 
|
Quarry Mine; The Mines random dungeon floors | 160 | 15 |
| Haunted Skull (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 310 | 19-26 |
| Hot Head | 
|
Volcano Dungeon | 215 | 18 |
| Iridium Crab | 
|
Skull Cavern | 240 | 15 |
| Iridium Golem | 
|
Wilderness Farm | 430 | 15 |
| Lava Crab | 
|
The Mines | 120 | 15 |
| Lava Crab (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 340 | 19-26 |
| Lava Lurk | 
|
Volcano Dungeon | 220 | 15 |
| Magma Duggy | 
|
Volcano Dungeon | 380 | 16 |
| Magma Sparker | 
|
Volcano Dungeon | 310 | 15 |
| Magma Sprite | 
|
Volcano Dungeon | 220 | 15 |
| Metal Head | 
|
The Mines | 40 | 15 |
| Metal Head (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 280 | 19-26 |
| Mummy | 
|
Skull Cavern | 260 | 30 |
| Mummy (dangerous) | 
|
Skull Cavern | 445 | 38-55 |
| Mutant Fly | 
|
Mutant Bug Lair, Skull Cavern | 66 | 12 |
| Mutant Grub | 
|
Mutant Bug Lair | 100 | 12 |
| Pepper Rex | 
|
Skull Cavern | 300 | 15 |
| Putrid Ghost | 
|
The Dangerous Mines | 500 | 25 |
| Rock Crab | 
|
The Mines | 30 | 5 |
| Rock Crab (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 272 | 13 |
| Royal Serpent | 
|
Skull Cavern | 150 + (50 × tail segments) | 32-48 |
| Serpent | 
|
Skull Cavern | 150 | 23 |
| Shadow Brute | 
|
The Mines | 160 | 18 |
| Shadow Brute (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 370 | 22-32 |
| Shadow Shaman | 
|
The Mines | 80 | 17 |
| Shadow Shaman (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 310 | 21-30 |
| Shadow Sniper | 
|
The Mines | 300 | 18 |
| Skeleton | 
|
The Mines | 140 | 10 |
| Skeleton (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines, Quarry Mine | 655 | 16-18 |
| Skeleton Mage | 
|
Dangerous Mines, Quarry Mine | 355 | 20-25 |
| Slimes | 
|
The Mines, Skull Cavern, Quarry Mine, Secret Woods, Tiger Slime Grove, and Volcano Dungeon | Varies | Varies |
| Spider | 
|
The Mines (Shrine ON) | 200 | 15 |
| Squid Kid | 
|
The Mines | 1 | 18 |
| Squid Kid (dangerous) | 
|
The Dangerous Mines; Skull Cavern | 250 | 22-32 |
| Stick Bug | 
|
The Dangerous Mines | 700 | 20 |
| Stone Golem | 
|
The Mines | 45 | 5 |
| Stone Golem (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 283 | 13 |
| Truffle Crab | 
|
The Farm | 30 | 5 |
| Wilderness Golem | 
|
The Farm | 30 | 5 |