Kandorean Temple

The Kandorean Temple is located below Daila, secluded within the center of Indra's mountain ranges.

Kandorean Temple (カンドラ寺 Kandola Temple) is a dungeon in upper-central Indra, connected to a vast cave network that functions as the earliest, mandatory "main" dungeon in Golden Sun: The Lost Age. It is reached by traveling southwest from Daila and wrapping around back northeast, but a venerated local monk heading the temple, Master Poi, does not let in outsiders while having his acolytes practice meditation. The reward for completing it is the Lash Pebble, which bestows the Lash Psynergy useful for completing side objectives and eventually required for proceeding through the main quest.

Unexpectedly, it is possible for players to skip this dungeon at first and head southeast instead into the next big dungeon, Dehkan Plateau, and be able to proceed through the main quest for a fair while before the missing Lash Psynergy becomes required to bypass obstacles blocking the main path. This roadblock only definitively occurs in Kibombo Mountains in the south part of Gondowan; up until then, Lash's absence will only prevent the party from reaching various collectables along the way through the main course. In that scenario, the party would have to travel back through Dehkan Plateau to reach Kandorean Temple, so completing the temple before starting the plateau is highly recommended.

Walkthrough

The initially sealed-off courtyard of this temple is reached from the inside by climbing out of the pictured well to the lower right.

At first glance, Kandorean Temple seems just as closed off to the player as it is to in-universe visitors from the outside world because two monks outside the main gate keep it tightly locked and turn you away when talked to. If you walk west and north along the perimeter of the wall under the cover of the trees, you will approach a bush in front of an entrance into a cave, and Kraden will appear and point out how suspicious it looks. This is your cue to cast Sheba's Whirlwind Psynergy to remove the bush (though keep in mind that the Whirlwind Psynergy series is exclusive to Sheba's mono-elemental Wind Seer class series, meaning she will not currently have it if her class is being influenced by any element of set Djinn other than Jupiter Djinn or no Djinn at all). Kraden will once again advise you to "keep a watchful eye for any strange-looking areas."

Follow along with the underground cave trail filled with shallow water and climb up the rope connected to the pail to climb out of the well inside the sealed-off temple grounds. You can freely talk to and Mind Read the monks outside, and as soon as you enter the temple, you will see a cutscene where Master Poi evaluates one of his acolytes as worthy of taking the test that is represented by the cave network beyond the double doors. Follow the acolyte into the double doors to begin the dungeon.

Exploring the caves

Battling random monsters in the complex of cavernous chambers that Kandorean Temple connects to.

In the first screen of the cave-like dungeon portion of Kandorean Temple, head straight upward to find a chest that will reveal itself to be a hostile Mimic once inspected; it will drop a Game Ticket when felled. Head northwest through the winding trail partially obscured by the cracked stalagmites and follow along with what will turn out to be a very long, linear, winding trail that will bring you downstairs.

Climb down the wall ladder just underneath you and head southwest to the lower-left corner of the room full of flat-topped stalagmites to find the winded acolyte from earlier having failed to manage the test. Head through the gap between the pillars right of the acolyte and weave your way a short ways northwest and northeast through the pillars so you can then climb up the wall ladder at the northwest corner of the area. Follow along southwest to the ledge above the acolyte and hop east twice atop the pillars, then south once, east once, north once, east once, north once, west twice, north once, east once, and north twice to reach the elevated cave doorway at the north end of the area.

The next area features gaping pits with tightropes crossing them in the distance. Take the left, narrow branch and follow along until you reach the downstairs staircase at the northwest corner of the area, and you will climb down into an area where a rushing stream of water pushes you through a maze of rocks. Follow along the lime-colored ground running parallel left of the river until you get to an open, crossable part of it at its south end, and hold the run button while traveling east across the water to force your way back north. Use this running approach to travel the entire way up through the center of the rushing river, which will let you touch down on the lime-colored ground running parallel right of the river. Follow along to the next area.

The player's ability to solve environmental puzzles will be thoroughly tested by the obstacles in Kandorean Temple's interior cave network.

You are now in a chamber where two wall vents will regularly vent out steam, and a water spout underneath the left, round platform will propel the platform up into the air as the left vent spews out steam; the same will hold true the vent and its connected water spout at the east end. Neither will propel Felix far enough into the air to reach the room above, but moving the earth pillar over one platform will cause the geyser under the other platform to propel Felix up the extra distance necessary. This means there are two ways out of this room, and pinning down the left platform with the pillar allows you to ride the right pillar up to an enclosed part of the previously mentioned pit-and-tightrope chamber, where you can hop to a chest. (This chest contains the Mysterious Card, the first of three equippable items that replace the Adept's class series while equipped — the Pierrot class series in its case). Hop back onto the water-elevated platform to ride it down, then move the earth pillar all the way to the east platform to pin that down instead, and ride the west platform up.

You are now under the left of the two pits making up this tightrope chamber, and you can only follow along west and then back east to where you will then walk east across the left tightrope. At a fairly complex intersection between the two tightropes, if you immediately head east along the right tightrope, a perpetually active steam vent will force you to fall into the area below, which exists only to let you bring yourself back up through the staircase at the north end of the intersection. Therefore, head a short ways southeast from that staircase in the tightrope chamber and cast the Move Psynergy to remotely shift the position of the earth pillar left of the vent one tile worth of space right, then hop to the earth pillar and push it in front of the vent. That way, you can now cross the right tightrope without incident. Do not bother climbing down the wall ladder below you; instead, follow along the elevated, winding trail south and hop between the rocks on their opposite-facing ledges so you can reach the wall ladder southwest of them.

After receiving the Lash Pebble from Master Poi, backtrack and cast it on the coiled rope so that you can climb up to and battle the Mercury Djinni Fog.

You will head south past a coiled rope near a Mercury Djinni standing on an enclosed ledge to the upper right, and you will be forcefully led up through two separate staircases to a final test where a sign left by Master Poi instructs the examinee to move the boiling cauldron of water off to the side while tolerating the searing pain. Since you are playing as a Psynergy-wielding Adept, simply cast Move to shift the horizontal position of the cauldron and hop over the furnace tile. Walk up and approach the three gorillas to initiate the boss battle with three Chestbeaters, which are ideally dealt with by piling on damaging area-of-effect Psynergy. When you win, a ladder will be lowered for you, and follow along with it to a chamber just behind the upper level of the one where the monks were taking the test. Master Poi will give you the Lash Pebble utility Psynergy item, which will bestow Lash to the Adept who has it equipped.

It is possible to slide down a purple wall slide just out of the southwest exit of the chamber with the Lash Pebble, then cast Lash on the coiled rope to turn it into a "climbable ladder" that lets you climb back up to that level of the temple. Far more importantly, you will want to retrace your steps back north from the Lash Pebble chamber, back through the boss area, and back several screens until you reach the area with the visible Mercury Djinni you passed by, and cast Lash on the coiled rope to be able to climb up to it. Battle it to obtain it as the Mercury Djinni Fog, though be warned that any Djinni battled has the chance to flee in a given turn. If this happens to you, you will have to exit out of the door and reenter it to make the Djinni reappear. Once you have gotten it, you can save time leaving Kandorean Temple by casting the Retreat Psynergy. The main gate outside the temple, meanwhile, has permanently opened up.

Enemies

Bestiary of Kandorean Temple
Monster Name	LVL	HP	ATK	DEF	AGI	EXP	Coins	Weakness	Drop	Drop Rate
Amaze	6	39	36	10	18	5	6		Oil Drop	1/16
Angle Worm	6	37	40	9	14	12	10		Elixir	1/32
Giant Bat	5	32	30	6	22	6	6		Herb	1/16
Punch Ant	4	26	26	8	6	5	6		Smoke Bomb	1/32
Wild Wolf	5	45	34	8	13	7	7		Herb	1/16
Mimic (unique)	9	207	47	12	23	64	46		Game Ticket	1/1
Mercury Djinni (Fog) (unique)	6	165	32	6	22	28	85			N/A
Chestbeater (3) (boss)	9	155	44	11	20	40	28		Nut	1/1

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

Collectables

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

History

Master Poi is sensitive to the use of Psynergy, which his temple's grueling obstacle course tests one's control of.

Kandorean Temple is run by an elderly yet highly capable monk named Master Poi, who instructs monks-in-training in attaining spiritual power through intense meditation; this power appears to be a form of Psynergy. His temple connects to a large network of waterlogged caverns, which amounts to a grueling test for his acolytes; however, its obstacles are suited for Adepts who can control Psynergy, and Kraden theorizes that the temple was specifically designed to test one's aptitude in Psynergy in this regard. (This makes Kandorean Temple quite similar to Fuchin Temple in eastern Angara, where Psynergy is also needed to complete the test at Fuchin Falls Cave; Isaac's party can easily pass it with their own Psynergy in the first Golden Sun.)

Very early in Golden Sun: The Lost Age, Felix's newly formed party of traveling Adepts stops by Kandorean Temple to give themselves a head start on the development of their own Psynergy powers so that they can eventually contend with Isaac's party, who seek to put a stop to Felix's quest to light the remaining Elemental Lighthouses. Master Poi is surprised to find that visitors from outside his temple could have surmounted the many dangerous obstacles in the caves connected to Kandorean Temple, and he gives them the Lash Pebble as a reward.

Trivia

• Kandorean Temple is likely named after Kandola Kalan, a village in the Punjab region of India. The temple portion's architectural style resembles those from ancient India, or possibly Southeast Asia.