Magma Sparker
| Magma Sparker | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Monster |
| Location | Volcano Dungeon |
| Floors | 6-9 |
| HP | 310 |
| Damage | 15 |
| Defence | 8 |
| Speed | 2 |
| XP | 17 |
The Magma Sparker is the hard half of the Volcano Dungeon's flying pair, and the only monster on Ginger Island that sets a farmer alight. It drifts through solid rock, picks a line, then dashes, and a hit leaves the Burnt debuff behind: attack and defence both drop, speed drops with them, and the next monster in the room gets a much easier fight. Sparkers only appear on the deep floors, where they arrive mixed in with the weaker Magma Sprites, so the same swarm carries two different levels of threat. One hundred and fifty magma monsters of either kind complete the Adventurer's Guild bounty, and the reward is Marlon's phone number, which lets lost gear be bought back from the farmhouse telephone.
Behaviour
Walls do not stop a Sparker. It flies through rock and ore towards the farmer at speed, which means a corridor offers no cover and a floor cannot be read by sight alone. The first warning is often the thing itself coming out of a wall.
The attack is a charge. A Sparker closes, pauses to line itself up, then dashes in a straight line, much as a slime does before a lunge. Because the dash is committed to a direction, stepping sideways as it begins takes the farmer out of the path entirely. A sword's block will also stop it dead and bounce it back, and that is the safer answer when two or three come at once.
Getting hit is what costs. The Burnt debuff lowers attack by three, defence by three and speed by two for several seconds, and a second hit while it is running extends it rather than replacing it. Three points of defence is a large slice of early armour, so a farmer who takes one hit and keeps swinging tends to take a second and a third. The right move after a burn is to back off, let it expire, and start again.
A Basilisk Paw removes the problem completely, since it keeps every monster-inflicted debuff off the farmer. Without one, footwear that raises immunity gives a better chance of shrugging the burn off.
Location
Magma Sparkers hold the deepest stretch of the Volcano Dungeon, the floors just below the Forge. Everything shallower is Magma Sprite territory, so the step down in floor number is also a step up in difficulty, and the swarm the farmer learned to handle on the way in is suddenly made of tougher animals.
Every trip climbs from the top, so those floors are reached with whatever health and food is left. Most deaths to Sparkers happen there rather than in the fight itself: a farmer arrives thin, takes a burn, loses three defence, and the Hot Heads and Dwarvish Sentries on the same floor finish the job. Warp totems made before the trip, and a meal that raises defence, matter more than another point of weapon damage.
A floor cleared of Sparkers refills on the next visit, since the dungeon regenerates each time it is entered. That makes the bounty a matter of repeated climbs rather than one long grind, and Monster Musk doubles what each climb is worth.
Drops
Cinder Shards are the whole reason to clear a Sparker floor. Half of all kills give one and a fifth give a second, and every piece of work the Forge does is paid for in shards. Twenty combine two rings into one slot, twenty apply a random enchantment to a weapon or a tool, and ten, then fifteen, then twenty forge gemstones into a blade for its first, second and third upgrade. The Dwarf stationed in the dungeon also takes a hundred shards for Cinderclown Shoes, and the Island Trader accepts them for goods and recipes.
Because Sparkers appear on the floors nearest the Forge, their shards are gathered where they are spent. A farmer who wants a ring combined can clear the deep floors, walk up to the Forge and pay on the spot without leaving the volcano.
A Diamond or a Prismatic Shard appears on very rare occasions, as from most monsters.
Items this monster can drop when it is defeated, with the chance of each.
| Item | Image | Chance |
|---|---|---|
| Cinder Shard | 
|
50% |
| Cinder Shard |
|
20% |
| Diamond | 
|
0.05% |
| Prismatic Shard | 
|
0.05% |
Notes
The bounty counts Sparkers and Sprites together, and the Sprites are far more numerous, so nobody farms Sparkers for the count. The phone number at the end of it is genuinely useful: it opens Marlon's item recovery service from home, which is how a Galaxy Sword or a favourite ring lost on a blackout is bought back without a trip to the Guild.
Oil of Garlic is no help in the volcano. Monster Musk is the drink to carry, and its recipe arrives from the Wizard after the Prismatic Jelly order is handed in.
Burnt is a monster-inflicted debuff rather than a self-inflicted one, which is why the Basilisk Paw stops it while a drink like Ginger Ale does nothing for it.
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 |