Cantlin is most famous for it's heavy fortifications and for being guarded by a Golem in the original game. It was featured in Dragon Quest Builders as the starting city, followed by Rimuldar.
The city of Cantlin is typically the last city the player visits due to its distance from Tantegel and the strength of the surrounding monsters. When first approached, the city is guarded by a Golem whose battle is triggered when the Hero first attempts to enter the ramparts surrounding the city. This battle is a one time event, and is the only place where a Golem can be encountered. The weapons and armor shop in Cantlin sells the best equipment the character can purchase in the game.
The first game has two doors in southwestern part of town, the first of which leads to man with clues to find Erdrick's Armour, and the second to the hidden shops.
Changes to the original game's non-linear nature now prevent players from walking to the walled city whenever they wish. Instead, the player must wait until Princess Gwaelin has been rescued from the Quagmire Cave so that she can dispel the supernatural fog that shrouds the Weirdwood. This odd and foreboding forest stretches all across the formerly barren stretch of land east of the mountain chain far to the east of the Damdara ruins, and cannot be walked around.
Once the Weirdwood has been cleared, the trek to Cantlin is much the same as it was in past versions of the game and terminates in a battle with the Golem. After it is defeated the Hero is hailed by the gratfeul residents, who reveale that the material monster was indeed malfunctioning due to tampering by the wicked Spiketail, distorting it's original purpose to defend the city by attacking anyone who attempted to enter or leave. This is shown in a flashback cutscene where Spiketail corrupts the Golem on his master's orders while also ransacking Cantlin of Erdrick's sword as well as his shield, revealing the legendary heraldry were stored here due to the Golem's protection. The Protector of Cantlin lies defeated at Spiketail's feet and curses the fiend while it boasts that the citizens will all be killed as those of Damdara were: the Priest of Cantlin thinks quickly and tricks the insectoid by claiming that yet greater treasures are hidden and lay in wait for the Hero to claim them. Spiketail panics and abducts the Priest to it's lair on the Weeping Isle, abandoning the slaughter of Cantlin to press the old man for information.
The Isle is not far from Cantlin, but the bridge leading to it is out and the town's craftsmen cannot work fast enough to repair it without being attacked by monsters. Fortunately, the Hero is owed a favour by the dwarves living far to the northeast, and the little folk are happy to assist. Several dwarves depart for Cantlin and repair the bridge in a single night, allowing the Hero to raid the Weeping Isle. The Priest's gambit worked and Spiketail is lead on long enough to prevent it from making an attack on Cantlin before the Hero arrives, but his life is taken before the battle begins and Spiketail flees the isle for Kol. A funeral is held for the Priest, with the dwarves also attending, the Cantlin's role in the game's story is concluded.
Cantlin is the third destination in the Zalen sidequest, where the wandering musician appears after the player obtains the ultimate key in Kol and have already spoken to him at the Nameless Ruins and in Damdara.
The Dragonlord's great-grandson's line about there once being a town named Cantlin has been removed, and the desert town now appears in all three games of the Erdrick Trilogy. In lieu of the people being unable to create a new Golem after the events of the previous game, Cantlin has been defened by the descendants of the Protector of Cantlin for many generations. The tragedy of the Priest of Cantlin has survived into the modern day, with a wandering Martial Artist reflecting on his life in the cemetery.
Cantlin becomes relevant to the game's plot when the Scions of Erdrick need to make use of the faerie flute, which was left by their ancestor here as a means of safekeeping, after amassing all five sigils. As it happens the flute was taken by the Firstborn Protector after an argument with his family about familial duty, and the troubled young man has fled for Kol to bury the artefact in its traditional resting place south of the hot spring. Beyond being informed of the flute's location and starting the Firstborn Protector sidequest, Cantlin does not play a significant role in the game.
The people of Cantlin have given into despair due to Zoma's tyranny, with the shops being left unattended and the merchants languishing in the streets. A family above the unmanaged inn despair as their child is slowly succumbing to his misery of living in such a world, and even withdraws his plea to the Hero to slay the archfiend out of hopelessness. The man in the next room over researches the technique to build an artificial guardian for the town, but with the people seeing the futility in even tending the fields it is a wasted effort. The only person not depressed is Galen the bard, who traveled to the town after a falling out with his parents.
A Monster Arena lies beneath the town, where some citizens go to project themselves into the life and death struggles of the monsters to feel alive. It's just a distraction from the somber reality that surrounds them, and the only one to not dupe themselves into the false furor is a little girl looking for her father.
After the devil is defeated, the people of Cantlin will find new meaning in life and proclaim the Hero as their savior, with the languishing child becoming active again and the researching tossing away his notes for future generations to pick up instead now that the town no longer needs a guardian.
Cantlin has become a walled city with an arabian theme in the jump to HD and can only be entered from the north, but the theme of dejection and despair remains; the only place where the people are remotely motivated is in the Monster Arena.
One key difference is that the town is now a mandatory visit due to the method to reforge the Sword of Kings becoming more involved than in past iterations of the game. Specifically, the player must speak to the researcher trying to create a Golem to be given the Broken Blade, the ruined remains of the fabled sword after Zoma spent three years destroying it. The learned man admits that little is known of the sword save that it was created many, many years ago, and even its metal is alien to him. He had attempted to use the pieces in the construction of his Golem but failed, and freely hands it to the player.
During the ending sequence the researcher is now shown to be successful in creating the Golem, standing tall in his laboratory.
A Golem appears as the boss of the Gate of Talisman traveler's gate, with the level being based on the encounter with the Golem in Cantlin from the original game. After defeating it, it will join Terry as a companion.
Cantlin serves as the first area visited by the Builder, and it is the region less affected by the Dragonlord's influence. The Cantlin region consists of four different areas, the town region and three other areas that can be reached by using teleportals:
These areas collectively serve as the tutorial for the game, easing the player into the concepts of building, crafting, hunger, and the passage of time. Since the hunger meter and passage of time are activated after finishing Pippa's room request, it's adviced players explore and stock as much as possible before doing said quest.
In this chapter, The Builder learns the dark truth of the time Alefgard fell, and how the survivors from Cantlin succumbed to selfishness which only made the Golem rage and destroy the citadel in order to stop humans from hurting each other. While most of the villagers believe the Builder will bring Cantlin to its former glory and defeat the Golem, one of them -a villager named Larouche- isn't so certain. Larouche, despite believing the Builder's efforts will only bring chaos once again, does nothing to stop the Builder and the other villagers from rebuilding Cantlin. In the end, the Golem is defeated and Cantlin is bursting with life once more.
The party comes across the city in Chapter 3, Episode 5 of the game's limited Dragon Quest I event, hoping to find some way that will allow them to return to Orchesterra. They are stopped by the Golem, who refuses to let any visitors into the city. Mindini becomes enraged and tries to force her way in with brute force, much to the frustration of her companions.
The city takes its name from the Cantlin Stone, which sits near the boarder between England and Wales. The name comes from William Cantlin, a peddler who died under mysterious circumstances between the English Bettws-y-Crwyn parish and the Welsh Kerry parish. An dispute arose over which parish should bury the man who had no family, with Bettws taking the task and claiming the plot of land afterwards. The grave is marked by a cross standing tall in amid the empty field, giving the location its distinction.
NorthwestItem Shop 
