HCBailly plays Secret of Evermore - Part 17 of 31

In this entry, we find out what happens when the Diamond Eyes are placed in the Sacred Dog statue... 

All maps by Grizzly.

From here, head back to Nobilia. If you need alchemy ingredients, talk to both the alchemist that gives you Drain as well as Blimp again. You have yet another boss battle coming up. Hope you can get lots of Ethanol and Roots...leveling up Drain for this battle can be helpful.

Nobilia

When you return to Nobilia, you'll find out that the marketplace is empty. Head down to the Town Square and you'll instantly walk up to the Sacred Dog. The fake Horace will place the Diamond Eyes in the Sacred Dog, and you'll have to fight the monster underneath it that's been waiting to be revived after all this time...Aegis.

Boss: Aegis

Aegis sends out three creatures - Bad Dawgs (evil clones of your dog from Prehistoria), Will-o-the-Wisps, and Skullclaws. Attack Aegis when it is not sending out enemies, and keep hitting Aegis with spells when necessary.

When you take him down, you'll get 1200 Jewels.

Town Square

When you defeat Aegis, he'll leave some sort of power core behind. The real Horace Highwater shows up and summons Tiny to throw it somewhere...which he does with relative ease. It will explode north of the camp, emptying the river that flows near the Pyramid and exposing a hidden tunnel. Horace asks you to explore this tunnel as it may be your only hope of returning to Podunk.

If you have five or more Call Beads in your inventory, Horace will also give you the Staff of Life. It increases your ability to defend against enemy attacks.

Now that you can trade in the marketplace again, it is possible to get a Chocobo Egg randomly from buying pots instead of getting just 10 Jewels. Chances are pretty low, though, but if you keep trying, you can eventually do it.

Right Bank

Map

Return to the cave where you got Drain. You'll get the Double Drain formula, which is twice as effective as Drain...especially when leveled up!

Double Drain

2 Ethanol, 2 Vinegar

Also, don't bother going back to Horace's camp to get alchemy ingredients, because Madronius won't be there anymore.

Pyramid

New Map!

When you head back to the pyramid, you'll find out that the river bed nearby has been completely drained of water. Hmmmm...

Go south after you cross the pit and you'll be in what used to be that river. Let's follow the path that used to be a river to the east. There will be a cave. HCBailly goes down here even though we won't be able to do much until near the end of the game.

Oglin Cave

You'll meet three guys cloaked in black running around carrying spears. These are the Oglins, and these guys hurt. There's a teleporter here. I wonder where it goes...

Pyramid

Pyramid (river drained)

There are three switches when you teleport into here: left, center and middle. The left one leads to some more monsters as well as a Call Bead. You can open the center door, but you won't be able to get anywhere here, as this part isn't available until near the end.

The right switch leads to some areas that you can easily access with the Bronze Axe. Equip that, break down the barriers and find stuff. You'll also find the teleporters that take you to the jars that you wouldn't be able to reach otherwise. You'll only be able to reach one of them right now...you won't be able to destroy the big rock wall held together by that wooden brace until you get the Knight Basher in the next world. Yeah, you won't be back here for a while.