Quesada's Swan

Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7

Giving up on that puzzle again, I press the east wing switch inside the suit of armor, flipping the gate again, and opening a way in to the east wing hallway, where I see three passages: a passage east, and two rooms, one of which is locked.

I head east, and double back to that doorway.

The royal bedroom is pretty vast, where I see a chest on top of a shelf. Two barrels, and a press switch are high in midair. After jumping on a desk to the shelf, I grab the key from the chest.

I leave the bedroom, and head east, where I see two more rooms. I play around with the Fire Wand, seeing if I could light the stone torch on the right of the first room. Failing that, I go in...

It's another bedroom, and six blue gargoyles are there, frozen in time...

Next room...just more posh palace quarters...

I head back past the dining hall, past the tentacle creatures, and into the suit of armor room. After breaking the barrel, I use it to get to a ledge where a locked door lies.

Climbing up more stairs now...

I'm now in a room with high ledges, on the top are two gargoyles frozen in time...a barrel is in the reachable center ledge, and a few crates are also visible. I press a nearby switch...something clicks!

After I let go, the switch turns off again!

I use the barrel as a weight on the switch, after carrying a crate out of the way, I see another barrel on the ground!

The rail on the west side is gone!

I carry the second barrel as a stepping stone, and make it up to the northern part of the room!

I pass the frozen gargoyles, press another switch, and climb the stairs, where I see another switch that instantly clicks off when I step on it.

Huge spiked balls are frozen above!

Another flight of stairs west, and I see another press switch!

A pair of barrels are here too, but they fail in keeping the switches on.

I now see a chest at a ledge at the foot of the stairs, which have only herbs.

I accidentally hit one of the spiked balls again! Ouch!

There's also a platform which I try to carry the barrels there as makeshift stepping stones, but one of the spiked balls hit me!

Time to try this again!

And again! Once more!

I equip my Recovery Ring, and wait for a while...I head back to action!

I try this again! As many times as it takes!

At try number 7, I head out to recover my health and magic.

Back to those barrels in the staircase with those spiked balls again!

---

Yes, I make it! I climb the ladder to the top of the west tower of the Shrine! I see a lot of gears and clockwork in this room, this must be a clock tower of sorts. Drosselmeyer himself would love the Lake Shrine, I bet...

There's a lever, a chest, and a press switch on top of a frozen platform high above! I open the chest first: another key!

I hit the lever next, which...does nothing.

Disappointed, I head back down.

I wonder what this key opens to...

I stop here and save at Jess's house.

---

After reading the guide, I find out that I was on the right track, and I just did half the work, now I have to go to the east clock tower and hit the lever there. Then the first part of this final dungeon is done!

Okay, back to the Shrine!

So what I have to do in the east library is to carry a barrel that's on the top of the second bookshelf and use that as a stepping stone!

I use that barrel and place it on a chair to reach a chest on top of the first bookshelf, which has herbs.

I move the barrel to another chair and use it to get to the top of a bookshelf, and I jump on each shelf until I make it to the east end of the library.

There's another prompt on a bookshelf, and lots of slanted desk chairs here.

I hit the lever with the sword, lowering a bookshelf blocking the way back to the main hall, and read the prompt near the east passage: "Towers pierce the sky in the direction where the light is born and dies. The towers meant to control time are in a deep slumber."

It's talking about the clock towers here. I proceed east.

I pass a room full of tentacle monsters frozen in time. There's also a locked door here. Moving east...

More suits of armor here...I smash all of them, three of them are empty, one of them is a mummy, another holds a chest of herbs, and that's it.

I head back to the library to fetch the barrel.

The barrel, however, disappears once I head into the next room...so now what's next?

I head back to the armory, uselessly trying to find a way to get up to the ledge where the locked door is. I use a bomb to injure Alundra (sorry!) so I can use an herb (since I'm carrying 9 at this point) to get an herb from the chest...

I head back to the library, and then I pause and read the guide again...it seems I have to jump using the chest and the suit of armor as platforms to get to the locked room...

I'm in, and I climb a set of stairs to the west...

Three columns block my way forward. After the third try, where I push the left column north, and the center one right, I climb the ladder.

Two blue gargoyles, frozen in time, are also at the base of the stairs heading to the clock tower. A few press switches are scattered around the stairway, and small spiked balls are in the way forward.

I tread carefully to make it to the ladder to the clock tower.

I make it! After grabbing the key from the chest, I hit the lever! A flash of light...

Time is now flowing back to the Shrine!

---

I wait for the platform with the press switch to lower. Using the chest as a stepping stone, I pres the switch, opening the door outside!

My god, what a view!

I climb the stairs up and another hidden to the right to where a chest is, holding a key.

I head back in, and jump down, and jump down again to the base of the staircase, where the blue gargoyles are now warping around!

After taking care of them, and the gray tentacle monsters in another room, I tail back to the hallway!

First, I use one of the herbs, and get another from the chest!

I head west to the dining room, where the lever's lowered now.

Flipping the lever right, four torches come down on each table!

I reread the first prompt from the library, and use that as my guide to light the torches in order!

Starting from the north table, I light the torches from right to left! The south table, same. The northwestern door opens!

I'm now in a kitches, where more gargoyles want to play with me!

After taking care of them, a chest drops, containing another Life Vessel!!!

My health is now at 47!!!

I go back to the west suits of armor room, and accidentally break the armor where the mummy was!

After taking care of him, and finding the suit of armor with the barrel, I leave and go back. Using the same strategy to get to the eastern clock tower, I break the armor to find the barrel and use another suit of armor to get to the ledge where the chest was. The chest has a Strength Tonic!

I head back to the main hall and head upstairs, breaking the armor containing the east press switch, flipping the gate horizontally!

I did not notice there was a huge gap at that part of the hall! I head north in one of the bedrooms, where two barrels and a press switch drop! I use the barrel on the switch to open the door east!

There's a suit of armor covered by square blocks, two press switches, a gate south and a staircase north.

I head up, where I see scattered press switches on tall blocks except for one, and a column in center of a circle of switches.

I press one of the switches, lowering it. Counting the one I pressed, there are 14 of them!

There is an order to pressing all of them, but it's timing that's important here!

After a few tries, I hear the okay sound, and the door south opens!

I'm now in a room with two huge fast moving spiked balls!

Treading carefully, I head to the south passage, where I see a lot of gargoyles warping everywhere in the next room!

This room is probably an attic of sorts meeting a maze! After heading up a flight of stairs, I see a press switch. After takng care of one of the gargoyles, I press the switch, flipping the gate, and blocking my way forward! I flip the gate back, and traverse the attic halls until I'm outside!

I fall down to get to the second floor balcony!

---

Heading to the doorway, I make my way to the balloon room again. This time, the balloons around the center are moving! Easy enough...

The platform holding the chest comes down and I get a Wonder Essence!

I jump down the hole, and make my way upstairs again! I head east, and jump down the chasm, where I'm at the north end of the library!

A painting of a man and a woman are there, and a way east.

The next room has four suits of armor, and a chest on a high ledge here!

All of the suits are mummies!

After taking care of them, the door south opens, and I'm back!

I head up again, and I backtrack to the room with the two press switches.

I break the blocks and the suit of armor behind them...

The suit of armor has a column in it!

I re-enter the room again and use the blocks as stepping stones to make sure I push the column from the other side, and push it to one of the switches! I press the second switch, opening the door southwards!

Leaving that room, I head east and into the bedroom with the six gargoyles!

A chest drops, and I get another key!

I head upstairs and south to the huge spiked ball hallway, and unlock the north door!

There's a huge block that's moving, with the small blocks stacked to block its way! In the center is a press switch, which pulls two small decorated pillars out of the way to reveal another press switch on a ledge.

The block moves counterclockwise. After a while, a jar drops down! I destroy all the square blocks asap to ensure that the jar drops after the block makes its way to its destination.

There's a column on the edge of the ledge I need to push to press the switch in the middle of the floor. I manage to push the column on the huge block and have it on the switch.

I now press the switch between the two columns...

One of the barriers in the main hall are down! Yes!!!

---

I make my (painful!) way to the top of the west clock tower, opening its door forward.

Pretty nice view here too! There are two gaps for me to jump down to, one at the south end, and an eastern gap near the top!

I jump off from the south gap, and press on a switch...

Down goes the second barrier!

I head inside, and make my way down!

There's a way to the east, and a set of stairs south!

I head east, then go back and take the south path, where a lever sits, which opens the way back to the base of the clock tower!

I go back and head to the eastern part of the room, and head south, which leads to the perches of the Shrine!

I climb another set of steps, and head inside, where I'm now at the west wing hallway of the Shrine!

I head east and use a Spring Bean on a pod to create a shortcut back to the other side of the chasm.

But I head into one of the bedrooms near the pod in the hallway, which has a column and four barrels, and six press switches close together...

After a while, the switches rise!

Trying again, I push the column and carry the barrels to the switches, and press on the sixth one, dropping a chest of herbs!

I head west into the farther part of the hall, where I use a key to unlock a room there...

I'm in a room of platforms, ledges, and more gargoyles!

After the gargoyles have been taken care of, I hit the lever at the base of the steep steps, moving the platforms to the other side!

I see a press switch on the southwest ledge...

I use the bombs and timing to ensure I hit the lever right!

I press the switch...

Down goes the third barrier!

But the gargoyles are back, and I flee west to the next room, which have the flame spouts again!

Tired, I give up for now, leaving that room...

At the main hall, I check my handiwork, only three more barriers to drop before facing Melzas!

I leave the Shrine, recover, and save back at the village.

My god, this is a long and hard dungeon! The developers didn't screw around with this one, since it's the last one in the game!