The Misty Woods is a mid-game dungeon with a supernatural horror theme. This nearly-lifeless forest is controlled by the evil dragon magico Life Drinker, and the traps and enemies you encounter here embrace its themes of death and life-draining. Additionally, the Misty Woods are home to two minibosses: Nylisa the Dryad and the enigmatic Mistwalker.
You can access the Misty Woods after completing Eric(a)'s day trip to Earth.
Preparation
More than any other dungeon, the Misty Woods are willing to kill off your party members in an instant, be it through moves that inflict instant death, or simply with massive damage attacks. On top of that, poison, charm, and confusion are all fairly common. Expect to burn through a lot of consumables during your time here. Stocking up on Fairy's Dust, White Crystals, and Seals of Focus is strongly advised, especially if you aren't the best at dodging enemy encounters.
Additionally, you may wish to bring along Bunny Print Panties. This accessory grants total immunity to instant death effects, allowing you to protect one member of your party from the most devastating effects in the area. However, this is by no means necessary: wearing it still leaves the other three party members vulnerable, and most death effects have a roughly 50% chance of missing anyway. Feel free to use them if you have them, but don't be afraid to ignore them entirely.
Layout
The Misty Woods are composed of four main areas: the forest, the cave, the farm, and the magico's lair. Additionally, there are several buildings spread throughout the forest and farm. While there is lore to be found by searching the buildings and burying the corpses of the magico's victims, doing so does not accomplish anything. Your objective here is to reach the magico, but first you must explore each area and collect nine Tiles.
The Forest
Upon entering, you will find yourself in the forest. This is a large, wide-open area with a lot of ground to explore. Be sure to avoid the green flames - those encounters are traps, and touching them will harm your party in various ways.
The key features in this area are the hunter's cabin in the northwest corner of the map, the cave in the center, the path to the farms on the east border, and the barrier protecting the magico to the north. You'll need to collect four Tiles in this area:
#1: To the left of the entrance, there is a chest in a clearing of trees. #2: Search for a chest to the right of the magico's barrier.
#3: As you approach the path to the farm, the mist covering this area will get thicker. If you search to the south of the path here, you'll see a chest nestled among the trees.
#4: Open the chest inside the hunter's cabin.
An additional Tile can be found behind the hunter's cabin, but it serves no purpose. You can also acquire a Creepy Doll for Alice by searching for an additional chest hidden behind a tree next to Tile #1, and some consumable items in other chests. Once you're done here, enter the cave.
The Cave
This smaller area doesn't take long to explore, though the tighter environment makes dodging battles a little more difficult. Only one Tile can be found here:
#5: Head north, then east to find a chest containing Tile #5.
Apart from that, the cave contains little else. To the right of the entrance is a chest containing Fairy's Dust, and to the left you'll find another fake tile. Once you've gathered everything, your next stop is...
The Farm
The entrance to the farm can be found by going to the northern portion of the forest, near where the magico's barrier is located, then heading east. You'll find a dirt path where the mist gets thicker. Under normal circumstances, trying to use the path to the farm simply teleports you back to the entrance of the dungeon. There's a trick to getting past this, which is hinted at in the journal in the hunter's cabin: so long as you step on the four white flowers found on the dirt path, you will bypass the teleport effect and reach the farm.
Once there, you'll need to acquire the last four Tiles:
#6: You'll see a large pine tree just to the right of the entrance. There's a chest with a Tile hidden behind it.
#7: Behind the central house, you'll see a tree with a hole in its trunk. There's another chest hidden behind its branch.
#8: The chest on the first floor of the central house contains a Tile.
#9: The house on the left contains a Brass Key. Bring that to the central house to open up the basement. The final Tile can be found there hidden in the top right corner of the room.
Upon entering the house on the right, you'll be warned by a ghostly voice to turn back, for there is nothing for you here. This is true; the chest in the back only contains the last of the fake Tiles. You can also find a pair of White Crystals if you explore further (one behind the house on the right, and another in the basement of the central house), but that's all there is here. Once you've grabbed everything, head back to the forest and approach the barrier.
The Magico's Lair
Before you can face the magico, you must first deactivate the barrier by placing the Tiles on the 3x3 grid, forming a complete image. The design you are looking to recreate is a set of four circles, each of which has a star in the middle, with a fifth star in the center. Based on the location you found them at, the tiles are laid out as follows:
| #9 | #2 | #3 |
| #5 | #1 | #6 |
| #8 | #4 | #7 |
Once you've disabled the barrier, go north to face Life Drinker and finish the dungeon. Doing so will earn you the Death Mist Core give Yoshida another opportunity to rob you.
Minibosses
There are two minibosses you can encounter during your visit to the Misty Woods.
Mistwalker
The Mistwalker is an optional opponent which can be found by searching behind trees in the forest. Its spawn point is randomly generated, so you'll simply have to check them all until the encounter begins. Fighting it has no impact on the plot, but defeating it makes it occasionally drop a Subconceptual Vestige.
Nylisa the Dryad
Nylisa the Dryad is a former victim of Tilia's affections. Upon your arrival here, she recognizes the scent of her old enemy upon you and attacks. Any random encounter here has a chance of being a fight against Nylisa. Although she does not give much of a material reward for defeating her, each encounter does provide dialogue revealing more of her past.
Enemies
- Consumed Beast
- Consumed One
- Lost Soul
- Mist Maiden
- Mistwalker
- Hidden miniboss.
- Winning provides the Subconceptual Vestige.
- Mutant Spider
- Nylisa the Dryad
- Recurring miniboss.
- Fighting her repeatedly reveals her backstory and ties to Tilia.
- Requires performing Tilia's first two Nature Lesson events and successfully saving the Big Tree in order for her to be encountered.
- Summons a pair of Nylisa's Spider during the battle.
- Satyr
- Only encounterable after Nylisa.
- Tree Spirit
- Only encounterable after Nylisa.
- Life Drinker
- Magico Boss. Randomly uses debilitating skills and a unique status effect that may cause Instant Death.
- Losing results in the Delicate Shoulders Transformation, but only if Eric(a) saw Veronica's spaceship. Otherwise it leads to the Life Drained Game Over.
- Winning provides the Death Mist Core, only to be stolen by Yoshida.
Treasure
- Creepy Doll (Forest: In a hidden chest next to Tile #1)
- Fairy’s Dust (Cavern: To the right of the entrance)
- Lume Elixir (Forest: Behind a tree to the left of the bridge)
- Purple Crystal (Forest: Just south of Tile #2)
- White Crystal x2 (Farm: Hidden in a chest behind the rightmost house, andi n the cellar of the second cabin)