Volcano Dungeon
| Volcano Dungeon | |
|---|---|
| Type | Location |
The Volcano Dungeon fills the inside of the mountain at the north end of Ginger Island, and it is the only dungeon in the game that cannot be rushed with staircases. Ten floors stand between the entrance and the Forge in the caldera, each one asking for a door to be found rather than a ladder, and lava has to be watered into stepping stones along the way. Cinder Shards are the reward that matters, because the Forge spends them on enchanting tools and weapons and on combining rings. The chests hidden on the deeper floors hold the Dragontooth weapons and the best boots and rings in the game, which are found here and made nowhere. Reaching the bottom once changes the dungeon for good, since a shortcut then links the caldera to the entrance and the Forge can be visited in a few steps.
Area
The way in is a cave mouth on the south face of the volcano. Just inside, a river of lava cuts the room in half, with a pool of water on the west side and a gate on the east whose floor button sits out of reach on the far side.
Pouring water from a watering can freezes a path across the lava, and a steel can or better lays five tiles in one go, which is a bridge in a single swing. The path lasts the day and melts away overnight. Once the dungeon has been finished, a parrot offers to build a permanent bridge for Golden Walnuts, which is one of the most quietly useful purchases on the island.
The floors above are mazes rather than mine levels. Some have gates with coloured dots on them, red for locked and green for open, which are released by standing on the pressure pads scattered around that floor. Mushroom floors are crowded with Magma Caps and the False Magma Caps that pretend to be them, and the husks between them can be cut like grass, with a slim chance of an Ancient Seed falling out. Island floors break the ground up into patches surrounded by lava, so the watering can comes out again to reach a chest or a node stranded in the middle.
Everything on a floor is placed once a day. Walking out and back in does not refresh the rocks, the crates or the chests, so a day in the volcano is a single pass rather than a grind. There are no ladders either, which means climbing back out the way the farmer came, or carrying a Warp Totem to skip the walk. Blacking out at two in the morning down here costs a fee and a wake-up in the Island Farmhouse.
Floor ten is the caldera. The Forge stands at the far end, and a doorway in the southwest corner comes out behind the gate at the cave entrance, where the floor button can finally be pressed. From then on the gate stands open every day, so the Forge is a short walk from the island rather than a ten-floor expedition. Finishing the dungeon also brings a further set of floor layouts into rotation, so later runs stop looking familiar.
Shops
A dwarf keeps a stall on floor five, beside a pool that refills a watering can, and no monsters spawn in his room. Trading with him is impossible without the Dwarvish Translation Guide, so the museum has to be fed first.
His shelf is built for a dive. Bombs come in all three sizes, which is what most visitors are here for, and a filling dish appears each day from a choice of two. The Cinderclown Shoes are the prize, priced in Cinder Shards rather than gold and worth saving for, and The Diamond Hunter costs ten Diamonds and makes every stone broken by hand a chance at another one. He also sells the recipes for Warp Totem: Island and Ginger Ale, both of which make island life easier, and a Pink Bow for anyone with ten thousand gold and a sense of humour.
A parrot turns up on the same floor and will cut an exit through the floor for Golden Walnuts. That hole drops the farmer outside on the east face of the volcano, right next to the Parrot Express, which turns floor five into a one-way shortcut home.
Fishing
The only water worth a rod is the molten pool in the caldera. Casting there pulls up Lava Eel, along with rubbish and the painting called Physics 101. The eel is worth keeping rather than selling, because a Fish Pond full of them turns red and pays out roe and ore every few days. Nowhere else inside the dungeon can be fished at all, so the rod stays in the bag until floor ten.
Notes
The monsters here are a set of their own. Magma Sprites, Magma Sparkers and Magma Duggies drop the Cinder Shards that pay for the Forge, and the Sparker can set the farmer alight. Hot Heads turn into bombs as they die, so the sensible answer is to hit them and step back. Lava Lurks sit in the lava and fire volleys that pass through walls, and they can only be killed when they surface near the edge. Dwarvish Sentries climb out of broken crates, and Tiger Slimes wander in from the island with everything from a Tiger Hat to a Mango Sapling in their pockets.
Chests come in common and rare kinds, and the ninth floor is where the rare ones gather. A common chest can hold a Protection Ring, a Soul Sapper Ring or one of the Dwarf weapons. A rare chest is where the Dragontooth Cutlass, Club and Shiv come from, along with Mermaid Boots, Dragonscale Boots, the Phoenix Ring, the Hot Java Ring and an Ostrich Egg for anyone who has not yet found the nest. The first common chest and the first rare chest each hand over a Golden Walnut as well.
Walnuts come out of the volcano in several ways at once. Rocks, monsters and metal crates each give up a handful before they stop, and the two first-chest walnuts sit on top of that, so a thorough run through the dungeon is one of the better island hauls.
Two secrets wait at the bottom. An Ancient Doll thrown into the lava of the caldera brings something back, and once Perfection has been reached, a red monkey up there hands over a hat for anyone who talks to it.
All Shops
Every entry in this group, with its key details.
| Name | Image | Open Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Abandoned House | 
|
All Day |
| Adventurer's Guild | 
|
2:00pm to 2:00am |
| Blacksmith | 
|
9:00am to 4:00pm |
| Bookseller | 
|
- |
| Carpenter's Shop | 
|
9:00am to 5:00pm |
| Casino | 
|
9:00am to 11:50pm |
| Desert Trader | 
|
Always |
| Fish Shop | 
|
9am to 5pm |
| Giant Stump | 
|
- |
| Harvey's Clinic | 
|
9:00am to 3:00pm |
| Ice Cream Stand | 
|
1pm to 5pm during Summer |
| Island Trader | 
|
Always |
| JojaMart | 
|
9:00am to 11:00pm |
| Marnie's Ranch | 
|
9:00am to 4:00pm; (Building open 9am to 6pm) |
| Oasis | 
|
9:00am to 11:50pm |
| Pierre's General Store | 
|
Shop: 9am to 5pm; Building: 9am to 9pm |
| Qi's Walnut Room | 
|
Always |
| The Stardrop Saloon | 
|
12:00pm to 12:00am |
| Traveling Cart | 
|
6:00am to 8:00pm Friday and Sunday; 5:00pm to 2:00am during Night Market; 12:00pm to 2:00am during Desert Festival |
| Volcano Dungeon | - | - |
| Wizard's Tower | 
|
6:00am to 11:00pm |