THREE DAYS LEFT, Part 3: Exploring HEADSPACE

MAIN WALKTHROUGH

After a bit of squabbling the group will be free to explore PYREFLY FOREST. This misty, ominous place is home to a lot of creatures, and many of them are not at all friendly. You'll run into the following monsters as you explore PYREFLY FOREST:

  • BUG BUNNY - Melee opponent that can make itself HAPPY. It has a move that will do more damage to HAPPY characters, as well, so avoid that emotion when you can.
  • LOST SPROUT MORE - Stronger, but still pretty much the same, version of the enemy you fought in VAST FOREST.
  • POTTED PLANT - Higher-HEART opponent that can blow itself up and do a fair amount of damage. Can also TRIP your characters and make itself HAPPY. The exploding part is the big concern.
  • RARE BEAR - Powerful melee enemy that makes itself ANGRY and then just wallops your party members. Either use OMORI'S MOCK to reduce its damage output or replace ANGRY with a different emotion. Otherwise, beat the stuffing out of it.
It's important to note that HERO is afraid of spiders, which will handicap him in many of these fights and prevent him from using the majority of his SKILLS. Make sure you have plenty of items on hand to make up for HERO's inability to fight normally.

Take a left at the entrance and head west to start. You'll come to a pond, and you can choose to throw 10 CLAMS into it. This will bring WEEPING WILLOW to the surface of the water, though she doesn't want money. She wants jokes. Grab the JOKE BOOK sitting near the pond and you can use it to record jokes for WEEPING WILLOW, as part of the WEEPING WILLOW side quest. You'll find jokes in a variety of places throughout HEADSPACE. Reading the CONSTRUCTION JOKE to WEEPING WILLOW - only HERO can do this, so put him in the lead - will earn you the LOL SWORD, a weapon for HERO.

Other than the curious face indented in the wall to the left of the pond there's nothing else to see here, so head back to the entrance of PYREFLY FOREST and go north. There's a CHICKEN WING on your left, and straight ahead is a minecart. Climbing in will lead you to a break in the track and send you back to the start, so ignore it for now and head north on foot.

Take a right on the next screen to find a CHERRY SODA, and look along the north end of the raised ground in the north to find a GRANOLA BAR. The path splits here, and if you take a left you'll find a side area with a creature named DEMI, who wants a new book to read. Thus begins the FASCINATING LITERATURE side quest, which will earn you a DEEP POETRY BOOK when completed.

Aside from DEMI the side path is blocked by spiders, so you'll need to head back east and follow the mine cart tracks north. The path splits in three ways on the next screen. Slice through the web to the north to start and you'll find a MATCHBOX sitting on the ground. You can use this in two places so far:

  • If you return to DEMI's screen you'll find a large candle. Set fire to it to attract the spiders blocking your path out of the way. Run up and slice the web they were on, then follow the short path until you find some WOODEN TRACK. You only have a few moments to grab it before a monstrous spider grabs you and sends you back to the entrance, so be quick about it.
  • There's a second big candle to the east of where you found the MATCHBOX. Slice the first web out of the way, then slice the web to the right as you run south. You'll find another piece of WOODEN TRACK. Also here is a girl named CANDLIE who has lost her TEDDY BEAR. She thinks she misplaced it in a big, pink castle. Speaking to her will begin the A GOOD LISTENER side quest. She'll give you a RUBBER DUCK when you're successful.
Head west, back to the wooden railroad tracks. Check the trees to the south of the tracks to find a BERRY SMOOTHIE and some FRIES. You can use the WOODEN TRACK you found to fill in the gap near the western exit.


Continue walking west. On the next screen you'll find one of MARI's picnic blankets. Settle in for a picnic, if you like - HERO's still having trouble with the whole spider thing - and save. There's another gap in the railroad track if you follow it northwest. Look just south of the track to find some CAT EARS behind a spiderweb. Before you follow the tracks north, though, check across the bridge to the west of MARI. There's another big candle on the other side, and the spiders in your way to the north bar you from reaching another WOODEN TRACK. Run up the left side of spiderwebs to quickly grab it. If you're quick you can also find a TOMATO to the left of the WOODEN TRACK.

To the north the track will hit a big, squishy barrier, and AUBREY can't smash her way through it. You'll need to lay down the last piece of WOODEN TRACK and then hoof it back to the mine cart to ride through the obstruction. First, though:
  • Just northwest of the track is a PRESENT.
  • Near the PRESENT is a web you can cut through. On the other side is a RARE BARE, as well as a little fallen mushroom named MUSH. MUSH wants you to eat him. Agree to this and you'll gain MUSH as an item. When used MUSH will boost every stat on one character by a single point. Not bad at all, MUSH. (There's also a ladder leading down into water here, but you can't use it right now. OMORI's afraid of swimming, you know.)
  • If you poke around the trees to the south of the track you'll find a semi-hidden path leading east. On the next screen you'll find a web you can't cut, and further down the path one you can. Going past the second web will draw the attention of a horrifying cat-spider hybrid that will chase you down. Light the nearby candle to attract the beast, then head to the next web. You'll need to cut and light your way through a small maze, avoiding more of these creatures, until you reach a small clearing to the south that contains a FAUX TAIL. Make it all the way east from here and you'll see... something... and after slicing away a few more webs you'll find a MAGICAL BEAN to the north.
  • Check the trees just north of the MAGICAL BEAN. You'll enter the LOST FOREST, a darkened area watched over by DADDY LONGLEGS, who will tell you some revealing stories. To get through this maze you need to only take the paths guarded by GHOST BUNNIES. Take any other path and you'll wind up back at the entrance. If you're successful you'll find a PEARL partway through the forest, and after DADDY LONGLEGS tells you one final tale you'll find the H key for HANGMAN. Sobering.

Return to the tracks and follow them back to the mine cart. Riding it will slam you straight through the pile of goo on the tracks and take you far north, to another section of PYREFLY FOREST. MARI will welcome the group, and you can save, picnic, rest up, and use the nearby MAILBOX to purchase items. There's even a PLUTO'S SPACELINE station if you want to go somewhere else. Eventually, though, you're going to have to head north...

... and the sheer number of SPROUT MOLES along the path should be a strong hint that something bad is waiting for you.

KING CRAWLER

Well, that's... horrifying. KING CRAWLER likes to chomp on your characters, and can do a fair amount of damage in the bargain, targeting one or more members of your party. It can make itself ANGRY to increase its damage output, and occasionally it will summon a LOST MOLE SPROUT into the fight... and then eat it at the end of its next turn to restore its health. This will make the KING CRAWLER HAPPY.

KING CRAWLER doesn't have a ton of HEART, but the LOST MOLE SPROUT edibles prolong the fight. You can either try to kill the LOST MOLE SPROUTs before they're eaten, or simply do enough damage that KING CRAWLER's restored health doesn't make much difference. Either way you should use OMORI's MOCK to lower KING CRAWLER's attack power when it's ANGRY, then make AUBREY ANGRY and use her HEADBUTT to mash a target of your choice. Making KING CRAWLER SAD is also handy, as OMORI's SKILLs can exploit the condition, and AUBREY's HEADBUTT will do more damage. Heal as needed. Expect to receive a lot of ENERGY in this fight.

You'll receive SPROUT MOLE MASKS for defeating KING CRAWLER. Beyond it you'll find a hole in the ground, and inside... SPROUT MOLE VILLAGE.

THREE DAYS LEFT, Part 5: SPROUT MOLE VILLAGE

MAIN WALKTHROUGH