Time runs more slowly in Skull Cavern than elsewhere in the game: whereas one hour of game time normally lasts 43 seconds, in Skull Cavern one hour lasts 54 seconds. Radioactive nodes can spawn here, like the dangerous mines. While the quest is active, stronger variations of Monsters occupy the Cavern similarly to the Dangerous Mines. It is completed by reaching floor 100 of the Skull Cavern within the given time limit. The "Skull Cavern Invasion" is a possible, repeatable Special Order, that may be accepted in Qi's Walnut Room on Ginger Island. Another strategy to regain health without eating is to equip one or more Vampire Rings or to use a weapon with the Vampiric enchantment. While this quest is active, Big Slimes may occasionally have hearts that will give 10 health points when slain. Buffs from food/drink before entering the Skull Cavern will stay active. While this quest is active, no food or drink can be consumed while in the Skull Cavern. "Qi's Hungry Challenge" is a possible, repeatable Special Order, that may be accepted in Qi's Walnut Room on Ginger Island. If the player reaches level 25 of the Skull Cavern during the first visit, the quest will automatically be fulfilled the next day.
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Completing the quest awards 10,000g, delivered by mail the following day. The letter begins the quest Qi's Challenge, which is completed by reaching floor 25 in the Skull Cavern. Even blindly placing staircases will take some time though the lower the player descends with staircases, the less time they have to explore.Īfter entering the Cavern for the first time, a letter is received on the following day from Mr. Staircases can be stacked, so a single inventory slot can hold 999 staircases. Rapid descent to floors with a higher chance of spawning Iridium Nodes is often more efficient for acquiring ore than through exploration. High Luck increases the frequency of ore veins and the appearance of ladders/holes. It can be a good idea to bring the Lava Katana or Galaxy Sword, as enemies are particularly strong. The monsters in the Cavern also have a chance to drop ore and Iridium Bars, as well as special items. The chance to find Iridium Ore increases steadily as the player descends into the Skull Cavern. Passing out at 2:00 am will cause the player to lose 1,000g or 10% of funds, whichever is less. A fee of 1,000g will be deducted for emergency surgery. If the player runs out of health while exploring Skull Cavern, they will wake up sometime later on the same day in Harvey's Clinic. Each visit must start again from the first floor.
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Unlike the Mines, there is no elevator to save progress, but on every floor there is a ladder at the starting point where the player can leave the Skull Cavern. Note that if the player has not reached floor 100 in a given Skull Cavern run and a shaft is calculated to drop the player past floor 100, it will be modified to only drop the player to floor 100. Jumping down the shaft causes health damage equal to 3x the number of levels skipped (although jumping down a shaft will never reduce health to less than 1). In addition, this means that if there are multiple shafts on a given level, they will drop the player the same number of levels, so it does not matter which shaft is chosen. In particular, Luck does not affect the chances of jumping down a certain number of levels. The amount of levels dropped is predetermined based on the mine level, game day, and game seed. The way this works is that a pseudo random integer x between 3 and 8 inclusive is chosen with a 90% chance that the player drops x levels and a 10% chance that the player drops 2x-1 levels.
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There is a 20% chance for a rock to spawn a shaft instead of a ladder. The player can sometimes find a shaft, or hole, which makes it possible to skip 3-15 floors. Similar to the Mines, the player advances through floors in the Skull Cavern by finding a ladder on each floor, either by mining rocks or defeating enemies. There is no practical limit to the number of floors, or levels, in the Skull Cavern.