The Cauldron

The Cauldron is a gigantic stone basin that is filled with all sorts of piping - some of it looks like someone strapped the Michelin Man to a wall. This is area is controlled by one of Ahriman's dark henchmen: The Alchemist. Elika explains to the Prince that before he sold his soul to Ahriman, the Alchemist used slave labor to construct these pipes and machines. Then, after they finished building them, he performed experiments on the slave who built them. At least he is into reusing what he is given.

Then without trying to patronize the prince she tries to explain that the Alchemist is what they call a scientist. The Prince interprets this as her belittling him and cuts her off and names occupations that he considers to scientists too: alchemists, astronomers, and conjurers. Dang, scientists were sooo much cooler back then.

Realizing that these two kids are here to clean up this area, the Alchemist floods the basin with corruption. The result is a platforming stage where one small misstep causes black death. Follow along the many platforms, including the sliding plates that make you a medieval Tony Hawk. When you reach the fertile ground the Alchemist is already there waiting

The Alchemist is a tall beast. He wears a cape that is strangely open in the front like he is a lecherous old flasher. To compensate, he wears a crown to kinda class up the ensemble. His combat relies on shooting webs of corruption that grab you and yank you around. He is much too good to touch you himself I guess.

Fight the Alchemist

• Most of the Alchemist's context sensitive attacks are countered by hitting the "X" button so get ready to tap it frequently.
• Let the Alchemist make the opening move, block his attack, and then follow up with a combo.
• Perform this combo on him: press the Elika button (Y for xbox users) followed by the gauntlet toss (B) and then an Elika attack (Y) a sword hit (x) to send him up again. If you keep him away from the wall, you can repeat the Y then X combo over and over.
• Pretty much just keep reusing that toss combo, it got me through this whole.

After defeating the Alchemist, Elika has to again purify the fertile ground. That same animation plays that shows the expanding grass and blooming flowers. In a different context, this animation could be reused to sell feminine hygiene products.

Pick your next destination by opening the map screen and selecting one of the levels in the first tier. Not all the areas are available to you so select one of the levels in the first tier.

• King's Gate
• The Cauldron
• The Cavern
• City Gate