Volcanic Grotto

Dungeon
Volcanic Grotto
	; HD concept art
Japanese	海底の洞窟; 海底火山の洞窟 (HD-2D)
Romaji	Kaitei no dōkutsu ; kaiteikazan no dōkutsu
Game	Dragon Quest II; Dragon Quest II HD-2D Remake
Old localization	Sea cave (NES); Great Conflagration (2014)

The Great Conflagration is an undersea volcano dungeon in Dragon Quest II, and the first volcanic area in the series.

It is located in the eastern ocean of greater Alefgard.

Appearances[edit]

Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line[edit]

The volcano is normally surrounded by shoals. This keeps the Scions of Erdrick from gaining access to it until later in the game. After acquiring the moonshard, the heroes can remove the shoals by using it in front of the cave entrance.

The cave is one of the more difficult dungeons in the game, along with the Passage to Rendarak. There are multiple basements with many misleading and dead end staircases, along with powerful enemies on the lower basement levels. In addition, this is the only location in the game where lava is a hazard which will damage the heroes with each step. However, it can be avoided like other hazards with the Safe Passage spell.

Also included in the cave are chest which when opened sap some of your characters' HP. Note that these traps were replaced by a poison trap in Dragon Quest I & II, which only affects the character opening the chest.

False Idol[edit]

To get to the False Idol, first find your way to floor B1. From there, head west down the passage, and take the second south opening. Continue west, and head north through the lava once you hit the wall. On floor B2, head past all the tempting staircases marked with torches, and follow the path around to the south. Take the first staircase you see on the main path. On floor B3, go straight northwest into the lava lake, and take the only staircase. Now that you're on floor B4, simply follow the path around to the altar, and defeat the two whackolytes guarding the artifact.

Other treasures[edit]

(NES version)[edit]

(GBC version)[edit]

Monsters[edit]

Nearby monsters[edit]

Dragon Quest II HD-2D Remake[edit]

The Volcanic Grotto is now the lair of Pazuzu, one of the Deities of Destruction summoned by Hargon. It is from here that he issues order to the Children of Hargon cult, instructing his subordinates on how to coerce humans into the temptation of wickedness and evil so that his master will have more wicked hearts as sacrificial stock for his grand plan.

The Scions of Erdrick enter the grotto in hot pursuit of the whackolyte that escaped from the Tower of the Moon with a red jewel the Children of Hargon used to hypnotize the people of Slewse into mentally regressing into petulant children. The use the moonshard to force open the entrance on the barren islet of jagged rocks northwest of the Shrine of Flames. Upon entering, the four Scions state their goals of destroying the hypnotic jewel and retrieving the False Idol statue and mentally prepare themselves to face Pazuzu, expecting the mastermind behind the Children of Hargon's operation to be just as much of a formidable foe as Belial and Mariella were before him.

Humorously, the four children discover the leader of Hargon's cult to be a fussy and rather lazy monkey who is more concerned with having reliable access to bananas than concerning himself with the cult's day-to-day operations. He scolds the whackolyte who fled from the Tower of the Moon for his failure to defend the location and orders him to fetch a pile of bananas from the sealed room behind them, using the False Idol to unlock the door no less. The extent of Pazuzu's idleness is shown when the whackolyte places the fruits on the platform behind his boss, and the ape simply uses his magic to teleport them into his hand one at a time instead of just walking over.

The Prince of Cannock cracks a joke about the silliness of the evil statue being used to seal a room of tropical fruit, and the group confronts Pazuzu. He initially mistakes them as Slewsians who were turned into children wholesale, but the whackolyte warns him that they are the ones who drove the cult from the Tower of the Moon. Pazuzu realizes their identities and states that underestimating the four has been the only mistake Hargon has yet made; when the Princess of Moonbrooke demands to know if he took part in the desolation of her kingdom, the monkey explains it was Belial's doing and that each of Hargon's four Champions has their own role to play in his grand scheme, with his being the managing of the Children of Hargon. He elaborates on the activities of his peers, stating Belial is meant to sabotage the Scions and entire kingdoms while Atlas searches for the five sigils. He also admits that he doesn't actually know what Mariella is up to, but doesn't particularly care either.

Pazuzu tells the four Scions to leave as he's not in the mood to fight. The heroes will hear none of it however, and assault him with a Kaswoosh, Kacrack, and Kazap combo that obliterates his pile of bananas and the hypnotic jewel. Furious over the loss of his tool after going through so much effort to sacrifice humans to make it, Pazuzu goes ape and engages the Scions. Once bested he checks the crispy-but-conscious whackolyte at the Prince of Cannock to make his getaway, which disgusts the Princess of Cannock over how callously their foes use their underlings like disposable pawns. The whackolyte begs to be spared, with the children making him pay penance by handing over the False Idol. Incredibly, the monster turns over a new leaf and remains in the depths of the grotto for the rest of the game. Additionally, the player can use the False Idol to open the banana horde door and find a chest containing a suit of wailer's mail.

Treasures[edit]


x1	x1	x1	x1	x1	x1	x1	x1	x1	x1	x1

Additionally there is also a special scroll that teaches the Focus Pocus skill found on the fourth floor.

Monsters[edit]

Etymology[edit]

A conflagration is a colossal fire that has spread to consume its surrounding area

Trivia[edit]

Pazuzu's inclusion in the HD-2D version of the game is a homage to the novelization of Dragon Quest II released in the 80's, where he ambushes the heroes