Kandorean Temple

Kandorean Temple (カンドラ寺 Kandola Temple) is a temple-monastery located in northern Indra, southeast of Daila, and serves as the first proper dungeon explored in Golden Sun: The Lost Age. While its placement on the world map suggests it is an optional location, the Gondowan Cliffs in the western part of Indra cannot be crossed without the Lash Psynergy that the temple rewards your party with at its end.

Story


Kandorean Temple is run by an old monk named Master Poi, who instructs monks in attaining spiritual power that appears to be Psynergy through intense meditation. The temple's architecture is modeled on Ancient Indian, or possibly South East Asian styles; however, the temple also connects to a large network of watery caverns within the rock face, which are used as training grounds for the monks (in this regard, it could be viewed as similar to how those that train at Fuchin Temple in Angara aspire to undergo a similar test at the Fuchin Falls Cave, which is a dungeon in the first Golden Sun game). Early in Golden Sun: The Lost Age, Felix's newly formed traveling party makes this one of the first stops on their journey across the world, so as to gain much-needed development for their Psynergy powers. After they pass the grueling tests within, they win the recognition of Master Poi, who is surprised that people outside his temple could have achieved this; thus, he bestows upon them the Lash Pebble.

Walkthrough
When you enter the location, the front gate is sealed off, and the guarding monks tell you that no one is allowed inside during the acolytes' meditation period as dictated by Master Poi. Go left and up to get to a bush that, as Kraden himself says, looks rather suspicious, so cast Sheba's Whirlwind Psynergy to remove the bush and reveal a hidden passage. Go through the underground passage and climb up out of the well to get inside the temple grounds, and enter the main entrance to see a cutscene involving Master Poi and one of his acolytes. Enter the main dungeon area after the acolyte.

In the cave area, go up to fight the first Mimic in The Lost Age, which rewards you with a Game Ticket. Now go northwest amongst the various pillars and rocks dotting the path (you can see how the taller pillars only visually obscure spots that can otherwise be easily passed through), and the dungeon path linearly leads you to the floor below. In this new, complex-looking room, climb down the ladder and go a short ways left and down to where the acolyte from earlier is twitching on the ground; from there, go through the left part of the maze of pillars (easier than it looks) to get to a ladder on the upper left of the room. Climb it, go down along the left elevated floor, hop right twice onto the pillars, hop down, hop right, up, right, up, left twice, up, right, and up twice. Go up into the door at the top part of the room.

In the new large room, take the left narrow fork, which leads you downstairs to a room with a river/waterfall. Climb down and go along the left side of the area, cross the river, then run upward against the river current in between the various rocks and stalagmites until you reach the upper right end. Go down along the right side of the area to be led through a doorway to a room with a unique puzzle: Two circular tiles regularly spout upward, and an earth pillar can be moved onto either one to propel the other one higher up. Move the earth pillar onto the left tile, then stand on the right tile. When it spouts up, you are transported to the upper floor where you can hop down and claim a chest that contains a unique item: The Mysterious Card, one of three equippable items that manually change an Adept's class series into something all-new, in this case the Pierrot class series. Return to the lower floor by hopping onto the circular tile when it reappears, then push the earth pillar all the way right and down onto the right circular tile so that riding the left circular tile up lets you hop onto the next part of the dungeon.

From where the circular tile drops you off, the path linearly leads you left, then right and across a tightrope. Before crossing the second tightrope, go a short ways to the upper right so that you face an earth pillar across a gap. Use the Move Psynergy and move it right, then hop right and manually push the pillar right so that it blocks the air spout. Now you can cross the second tightrope without being blown off. From there, don't go down the ladder; follow the narrow pathway to the right of that clockwise, and hop your way between gaps as you go southwest and out of the room's bottom exit. You will pass by a Mercury Djinni on a ledge with a coiled rope nearby as you follow the path south and go up two set of stairs. Now follow the winding path to a boiling pot near a wooden sign; Move it out of the way using the Move Psynergy.

When you proceed past the boiling pot, you engage in the game's first boss battle: An encounter with three large gorilla-like monsters named Chestbeaters. While three enemies at once might seem difficult at this early point in the game, using area-of-effect Psynergy like Earthquake, Flare Wall, and Ray makes it over surprisingly quick. Following this, climb up the ladder and engage in a cutscene with Master Poi, who lets you take the dungeon's reward: the Lash Pebble, the item that bestows which Adept it is equipped onto with the Lash Psynergy that makes use of any coiled rope throughout the game. Before you leave the dungeon, retrace your steps back into whence you came, and return to the point where you saw the Mercury Djinni; use Lash to turn the coiled rope into a tightrope that lets you climb up onto where the Djinni stands on. Save the game in case it runs away from you when you attempt to battle and defeat it; once you defeat it, the Mercury Djinni Fog is added to your Djinn collection. Now cast the Retreat Psynergy to help exit Kandorean Temple.

Enemies
Enemy Formations
 * Group 1: Wild Wolf x1


 * Group 2: Wild Wolf x1, Punch Ant x1-2


 * Group 3: Wild Wolf x1, Giant Bat x1-2


 * Group 4: Punch Ant x1, Giant Bat x1-2


 * Group 5: Angle Worm x1


 * Group 6: Angle Worm x1, Punch Ant x1-2


 * Group 7: Angle Worm x1, Giant Bat x1-2


 * Group 8: Amaze x1-2

Collectibles
Fog: On a ledge late in the dungeon area reached by casting Lash on the rope on the ground. Lash is gained at the end of the temple. It must be fought to be gained.

Lash Pebble: The reward at the end of the dungeon following defeating the three Chestbeater bosses. Mysterious Card: In a chest reached via the earth pillar and water spout puzzle.

Origin
Likely after Kandola Kalan, a village in the Punjab region of India.