Izumo

Izumo is located at the northwest coast of the island northeast of the Sea of Time and stands near the mandatory dungeon Gaia Rock.

Izumo (イズモ村 Izumo Village) is a village featured in Golden Sun: The Lost Age. It is located on the island northeast of the fog-shrouded Sea of Time in the heart of the Eastern Sea, and it bears a strong resemblance to ancient Japan both architecturally and culturally. It is the site of a subplot where the village leader Uzume's brother, the warrior Susa, seeks to save his betrothed, Kushinada, by slaying the monstrous Serpent that makes its home inside the nearby mountain dungeon Gaia Rock.

After joining Piers on his Lemurian Ship, Felix's traveling party explores the Eastern Sea and its various settlements and dungeons looking to eventually make the journey into the Sea of Time to reach Lemuria. They end up exploring Gaia Rock and acquiring the Sand utility Psynergy needed to complete their quest; in doing so, they save Susa and Kushinada and put an end to the Serpent's reign of terror. This allows them to obtain a Mars Djinni from Uzume and explore the optional, subterranean Izumo Ruins underneath Izumo for the Ulysses summon tablet.

In Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, Matthew's party can visit the island – whose name is now given as Nihan – during their time spent sailing the Eastern Sea throughout the game's final arc. It is mentioned that Izumo was destroyed by natural disasters during the preceding thirty-year timeskip, forcing its citizens to relocate to Yamata City further southwest on the island.

In Golden Sun: The Lost Age

For all NPC gossip, see Side Scripts.

When the party gains the Lemurian Ship and becomes capable of sailing the Eastern Sea roughly one third through The Lost Age, Izumo and three other settlements strewn across the Eastern Sea become possible to visit all at once. The other three are Yallam at the northeastern coast of Osenia, the Apojii Islands at the far east end of the world, and Champa at the southern coast of the northern continent of Angara. Izumo is located at the island northeast of the foggy Sea of Time, and the dungeon of Gaia Rock stands within walking distance southeast around the mountains; Gaia Rock and the similarly expansive Aqua Rock dungeon at Apojii are two dungeons that can be completed as soon as the Eastern Sea first becomes accessible, despite appearances.

Izumo is worth making stops at both before and after clearing Gaia Rock, with some quality pieces of gear on offer.

Prior to clearing Gaia Rock, Izumo mainly exists to give in-universe context to the dungeon and present its citizens' plight to the player, which stands to be resolved once the dungeon is cleared. Between talking with the village leader Uzume in the large building at the north end and approaching the sacrificial maiden Kushinada in the small building left of that, the player learns that the local warrior Susa went into Gaia Rock to slay the monstrous Serpent that has been terrorizing the village. One gossiping old lady dispenses a hint that sunlight ought to be shown into the Serpent's cave to help combat it.

Before heading off toward Gaia Rock, the player can shop at the general store. The common War Mace and the weapon artifacts Shamshir and Ninja Blade should be ignored because stronger weapons can be acquired throughout the player's time in the Eastern Sea, whether by being found for free in dungeons or being crafted out of materials handed to the blacksmith in Yallam and then purchased for comparable prices. The Platinum Circlet may amount to a viable defensive improvement over your caster-style Adepts' equipped head-armor. On the other hand, buying a Silver Vest is more dubious because you can both collect the superior Festival Coat from the large wooden crate in the large southeast building and buy the Blessed Robe artifact at the general store in Champa. Easily the most useful artifact available at Izumo's store is the War Gloves, which gives both strong Defense and Attack boosts and will likely remain on a warrior-style Adept for most of the rest of the game.

One of the game's finite Lucky Medals is hiding under the left line of weeds a short ways south of Uzume's northern residence and is uncovered by casting the Cyclone Psynergy around them. A Water of Life can be found in a jar hidden in the trees north behind this building; to reach it, head behind the inn in the south part of the village by walking left behind a green tree and hopping north across the river using a stone in the water. The linear route you find yourself on winds around through the trees and the cliff-like walls running along the edges of the northwestern "quadrant" of the village.

After completing Gaia Rock, you can exchange the leftover Dancing Idol for the Mars Djinni Coal at Uzume's residence.

Typically, the player would head into Gaia Rock's main entrance and head through a linear route to reach Susa in the heart of the mountain and find him trying to weaken the Serpent by plying it with "Dragonsbane". If the player tries to fight it prematurely, they will find that defeating it is impossible because it restores most of its HP meter at the end of every turn, and they will respawn in Izumo's sanctum after falling in battle. The true "dungeon" begins by climbing up a ladder left outside the main entrance, and the key Dancing Idol item can eventually be acquired at the mountain's peak. After using it to open the rest of the dungeon's interior, the Serpent can be weakened with sunlight by solving puzzles before a proper attempt can be made to defeat it as a boss. Slaying it will reward Felix with the utility Psynergy Sand.

Slaying the Serpent at Gaia Rock will cause the village's populace to update their spoken gossip and Mind Read-able thoughts, and a fairly long optional cutscene now takes place inside Uzume's residence. After this, you can talk to Uzume again and use the Dancing Idol in front of her to be given the Mars Djinni Coal. Meanwhile, another cutscene that triggers as you exit the building explains that a certain weapon lies hidden all the way back at where the tip of the Serpent's tail used to lay, essentially instructing first-time players to travel all the way back into the heart of Gaia Rock and fetch the powerful Cloud Brand. It is possible to retrieve it from the liquid behind the Serpent's dead body before leaving Gaia Rock in the first place, and doing so would save a good deal of time.

At the northeastern area of the main village screen is a set of six standing pillars that the NPC standing guard hints to the player ought to be realigned by shifting the leftmost pillar one tile right using the Move Psynergy. Casting Reveal shows a hidden ladder hole in the center that will only be open while said earth pillar rests right of its original position, and it brings you into the short optional dungeon Izumo Ruins. The puzzle in the first screen requires you to use the Sand Psynergy to pass it; once you do so, you can collect the Phantasmal Mail artifact, but reaching the summon tablet for Ulysses at the end also requires the Parch Psynergy earned by completing Aqua Rock.

Vendors

The village's inn service is located just above the western exit into the overworld and charges 15 coins per party member, making it cost 60 for much of the game. If Izumo is revisited after the party's roster has doubled, the price becomes 120 coins in total.

General Store
Name	Class	Cost	Effect
War Mace	Mace	6200	Attack +84
Silver Vest	Clothing	3200	Defense +28
Platinum Circlet	Circlet	4200	Defense +29
Herb	Consumable Item	10	Restores 50 HP to one Adept
Nut	Consumable Item	200	Restores 200 HP to one Adept
Antidote	Consumable Item	20	Cures Poison and Venom from one Adept
Elixir	Consumable Item	30	Removes Stun, Sleep, and Delusion from one Adept
Sacred Feather	Consumable Item	70	Temporarily lowers monster encounter rate
Artifacts
Shamshir	Long Sword	10000	Attack +99, Unleashes Acid Bath
Ninja Blade	Light Blade	8800	Attack +94, Unleashes Cyclone Smash
War Gloves	Gloves	4000	Defense +32, Attack +10
Psy Crystal	Consumable Item	1500	Restores all PP to one Adept

Collectibles

• Festival Coat: Found in the upper-right large crate inside the large, southeastern building.
• Lucky Medal: Uncovered by casting Cyclone on the line of three weeds south of Uzume's residence, left of another pair of weeds.
• Water of Life: Found in a jar hidden at the north end of the main village screen, north of Uzume's residence. Can only be reached by first hopping straight north from the inn onto the small stone in the river that crosses behind the building.
• Antidote (x2): Both are uncovered by casting Cyclone at the large mass of weeds at the lower-right part of the main village screen.
• Elixir: Found in the right jar among the two jars just right of the entrance to Uzume's residence.
• Smoke Bomb: Found in the lower-left white jar inside the small building east of the elevated stage with the drum in the plaza of the village.

The following can only be received after defeating the Serpent in Gaia Rock:

• Coal: Exchanged with Uzume for the Dancing Idol by using it in front of her after the long cutscene with her, Kushinada, and Susa in her residence. She gives you the Djinni in another, shorter cutscene.

The Sand Psynergy acquired at Gaia Rock also allows you to find the Phantasmal Mail inside Izumo Ruins underneath the village. If Parch was also acquired at Aqua Rock, you can find the summon tablet for Ulysses at the end of the ruins.

History

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Spoiler warning: The following section(s) contain plot details that some people may not wish to learn before reaching this point in the game on their own.

With the Serpent now slain, the villagers initiate festivities to celebrate the survival of Kushinada.

Sometime before the party arrives at Izumo, the Serpent residing in Gaia Rock awakened (possibly a result of the Psynergy Stones scattered during Mt. Aleph's eruption, as are many of the obstacles encountered throughout the games). At the time, the people of Izumo were having a festival, which the Serpent promptly ruined. At some point Lady Uzume ordered barrels of Dragonsbane (which has an effect on the Serpent similar to catnip on cats) to be transported to the Serpent's lair deep within Gaia Rock. Supposedly, the Serpent demanded a female sacrifice each year, and so a lottery was formed to determine who the sacrifice would be. Kushinada, a close friend of Lady Uzume and her brother Susa, was chosen as the first sacrifice.Enraged, Susa traveled to Gaia Rock on his own in an attempt to destroy the Serpent before Kushinada could be sacrificed. Lady Uzume predicted that a great hero would come to slay the Serpent by the next full moon.

After the Serpent is destroyed, the townspeople are in much better spirits, and are even preparing another festival. A cutscene can be triggered by entering Lady Uzume's house, during which Kraden attempts to explain Psynergy to Uzume and Kushinada, and it is revealed that both they and Susa possess some level of Psynergy (most likely of the Venus element, which is later confirmed after defeating Gaia Rock). Also, Susa tries to deny having defeated the Serpent, but Felix and Co. point out that Susa greatly weakened the Serpent with the Dragonsbane (Sake in the Japanese version) and delivered the final blow with the Cloud Brand, making him an essential part of the Serpent's defeat.

Some time after the Golden Sun event, Izumo is destroyed by a tidal wave, with Yamata taking its place as the primary settlement. Its encyclopedia entry reads as follows:

This village once rested upon Nihan, but it was destroyed by massive tsunamis that flooded it.

It was once terrorized by a monstrous dragon called the Great Serpent until the Warriors of Vale slew the beast.

Spoilers end here.Those who did not want the plot ruined for them may now continue reading as normal.

Trivia

• In the updated form of the village in which the villagers partake in a celebratory festival, the Mind Read-able thought expressed by the elderly man at the left drum inside Uzume's residence says "sometimesi" instead of "sometimes", which is a typo.
• One of the young female NPCs is a self-proclaimed great dancer who is given the name Okuni, who is named after a miko who resided at the real-world Izumo Shrine in Japan and invented the Kabuki theater genre.