Chapter 5: Mushroom Rock and the Den of Woe

Story mode. Written for a first playthrough and kept free of spoilers — it will not tell you what happens here, only what the game is asking of you.

Mushroom Rock is one of the Chapter 5 stops you choose to visit. What waits here depends on which side you backed with the sphere in Chapter 2. If you backed the Youth League, they have planned a welcome.

The road and its chests

Come in from the Celsius and take the lift up into the northern alcove before anything else. There is a gil chest by the start, and maybe a second chest if you left it alone the last time you were here.

The Youth League tournament

Talk to the group at the entrance and they will set it up. The League wants to see what you can do, so it sends squads of soldiers at you one after another all the way up the road.

None of the early fights is hard. The last few come back to back with no break, so top everyone up before the final stretch. The last challenger buffs herself and puts a countdown on your party. Dispel the buffs and hit her hard. A long fight is the only way that countdown kills anyone.

Winning gives you Episode Complete for this location.

The ravine and headquarters

Drop down into the ravine afterwards. Three new chests sit on the floor of the gorge: Turbo Ethers and two Elixirs. On the way up to headquarters, open the chest beside the lift (a key item) and look along the cliff path to the right just before the entrance (a Crystal Bangle).

Inside, go up to the observation deck and talk to the people there. You will be handed a sphere. Play it from Shinra’s Treasure Spheres list on the Celsius.

The door at the bottom of the gorge

There is a Save Sphere at the bottom of the ravine and a sealed door past it. It opens only if you have been collecting the red Crimson Spheres all game and have all ten. If it does nothing when you walk up to it, you are missing at least one. That is fine on a first run. You lose nothing the story needs.

If it opens, save first. What follows is five fights in a row with no chance to rest. Yuna is on her own for the first two, so give her a grid and dressphere she can heal with and survive in before you go in. The last fight hits the whole party for 5,000 damage once, so everyone needs more max HP than that.

Completionist mode. Full spoilers, in play order, with every permanent loss called out before you reach it. 4 entries below are marked where our sources disagree with each other — we have not picked a winner for you.

Spoilers from here.

Mushroom Rock Road is worth 3.0% of Story Completion in Chapter 5. That is the biggest single location share in the chapter, and it needs four things: the tournament with its Episode Complete, Nooj’s Sphere from Lucil, the “Deathseeker” sphere watched on the Celsius, and the Den of Woe cleared. On the usual 100% route this is the last episode you finish. Expect the display to read 93% when you are done here.

Everything below assumes you gave the Awesome Sphere to the Youth League in Chapter 2. On the New Yevon route there is no tournament and no Den bosses. You can still collect the ravine chests and the Machina Booster.

Chests on the road

The 2,500 gil chest near the start is the same chest that held 1,000, 1,500 and 2,000 gil in earlier chapters. It refills each chapter, and this is the last fill. It is either on the lift ledge in the northern alcove or by the Save Sphere on the ravine path; accounts differ. Both are close to where you come in. The northern alcove ledge also holds a Mega-Potion, but only if you never opened that chest in Chapter 2. It does not refill.

The tournament

Talk to Yaibal’s group at the road entrance. You then fight squads of League soldiers all the way north, following Lucil. Elma is in the last squad, and Lucil herself is the final fight. However many squads there are, the last stretch has no gap to heal between fights.

Lucil has 7,324 HP and no weakness. Steal a Chocobo Feather; she drops a Circlet, and Pilfer Gil takes about 3,000. She casts Harbinger (Doom) early and shields herself with Light Curtain and Lunar Curtain. Dispel or a Dispel Tonic strips the curtains. Armor and Mental Break speed things up. Keep attacking, because Doom only matters in a long fight. Ribbon or Shmooth Shailing blocks her status spells.

Winning gives Mission Complete and Episode Complete.

Mascot

The moment every Chapter 5 location is at Episode Complete, Buddy gives you Mascot back on the Celsius. If this was your last episode, it arrives now. If any location showed “Episode Concluded”, Buddy’s handover is gone for this file. There may be a second way: the Fiend Arena’s Youth League Tournament is listed with Mascot as its first-win prize, after six Grand Cup wins on Hard. That route is unconfirmed, and a long road. Usual causes are Rin pinning the Mi’ihen mystery on himself or the Prophet (set by your Chapter 4 CommSphere calls), or a chain you broke in an earlier chapter.

Mascot is a different dressphere for each girl. Yuna’s mascot borrows from Warrior and Dark Knight, Rikku’s from Berserker and White Mage, and Paine’s from Samurai and Black Mage. Their signature moves, Moogle Beam, PuPu Platter and Cactling Gun, need abilities learned in other dresspheres first, not AP in Mascot.

The ravine and headquarters

Jump down into the gorge for Turbo Ether x3 and two Elixirs. Take the lift toward headquarters. The chest on the south side next to it holds the Machina Booster key item. The small cliff ledge on the right just before the entrance holds a Crystal Bangle (Max HP +60%), which is worth having before the Den.

Go up to the observation deck and talk to Lucil and Yaibal for Nooj’s Sphere. On the Celsius, talk to Shinra and play it from Treasure Spheres. It is called “Deathseeker” and counts toward Story Completion.

The Den of Woe

The door at the bottom of the ravine needs all ten Crimson Spheres. Four of them could only be had in earlier chapters:

• 9: Chapter 1, Ormi at the Den entrance.
• 4: Chapter 3, the chest in Chateau Leblanc’s hidden passageway.
• 1: Chapter 3, on the ground in Bevelle after the Malboros.
• 5: Chapter 4, Leblanc in the engine room before you talk to Shinra.

6 and 8 come from the Via Infinito: 6 from the ghostly figure on Cloister 0 the first time you enter, 8 from clearing Cloister 20. If the door does nothing, open Key Items and see which number is missing. A missing 1, 4, 5 or 9 means the Den is closed on this file, and so is 100%.

Save at the Save Sphere in the gorge. Walk up to the door for the scene, then follow the arrow east and jump the chasm. There are no chests inside. Five fights follow back to back, and you cannot heal between them except with items and abilities.

Bring a Thief to steal, because every Den boss carries a Lore accessory. Bring a strong physical attacker too; Dark Knight’s Darkness ignores evasion and costs no MP. And bring a White Mage.

Rikku (Yuna alone). 7,800 HP. Steal Bushido Lore; she drops Black Lore. Fast and evasive, but her Grenades and Gems do little. Protect, then attack.

Paine (Yuna alone). 9,200 HP. Steal Sword Lore; she drops a Champion Belt. Normal attacks only, but quick ones. Protect, Power Break, heal early. Berserker’s speed and HP suit this fight.

Baralai (all three). 12,220 HP. Steal Nature’s Lore; he drops a Crystal Ball. Open with Mighty Guard if you have a Gun Mage, then Dispel his Not-So-Mighty Guard and Regen. Looming Glacier stops and drains MP. Drill Shot takes 75% of max HP. Protect softens it, and a Gun Mage hit by it learns it. This is the last chance at Drill Shot if you missed it on Baralai at the end of Chapter 2.

Gippal. 14,800 HP. Steal White Lore; he drops Kaiser Knuckles, and Pilfer Gil is worth about 15,000. He uses Grinder, Bullseye (about 9/16 of current HP), Flash Bomb and Hush Grenade, and Potion Plus for 600 HP. Mortar comes out as his HP falls. This is the only place in the story a Gun Mage can learn it. Keep a Gun Mage standing and do not burst him down before he uses it. Silence and Darkness do not stop Dark Knight’s Darkness.

Nooj. 23,800 HP. He resists magic, so hit him physically. His pattern is three attacks, then Greedy Aura (3/8 of everyone’s HP and MP), then repeat. Lightfall hits the whole party for 5,000 once. It usually comes when his HP drops below 3,000, possibly as early as 75%. Either way, nobody under 5,000 max HP survives it. Use a Stamina Tonic, the Crystal Bangle or a heavy HP grid. Accounts also disagree on whether Arcane Lore is his steal and Magical Dances, Vol. I his drop, or the other way round, so steal before the kill.

Clearing the Den gives Supreme Light. It lets any dressphere use the White Mage abilities you have learned, and its gates add Auto-Life and Holy. Magical Dances, Vol. I comes from Nooj or as a Den reward.

Before you leave

Check the Celsius for Mascot and watch “Deathseeker” if you have not. If this was the last episode on your list, the next stop is Brother and the Farplane. Finish the Via Infinito to Cloister 100 first if you are going for 100%.