Final Fantasy VI Walkthrough
Written by Djibriel
Contributor
2.38: Narshe Revisited for Treasure
Enemies: Test Rider, Lukhavi, Garm
Party: Locke, Optional: Terra, Cyan, Shadow, Edgar, Sabin, Celes, Relm, Strago, Setzer, Mog, Gau, Gogo, Umaro
Welcome to Narshe! Lone Wolf tipped us off earlier; only a true treasure hunter could pick the locks of these houses. When Narshe was abandoned for reasons never exactly explained in the game, the inhabitants were clearly planning to return, as they locked their stores and houses carefully. Meh, those items won't be needed by them when Kefka kills them all, so it's only logical we should be able to take them. Besides, we need to find the owner of the Weapon Shop anyway; the thief at the bottom of the Fanatics Tower, where we found Strago, told us he was looking for us.Locked buildings include the Inn; unlocking this building will get you nothing. Unlocking the item shop is the same - neither salesmen nor leftover items are to be found. Same story with Relics! Once you're in the Weapon shop, though, things change a bit. Here, you'll find the owner of the shop. He shows you a piece of Magicite and offers to forge a weapon out of it. In other words, you get to choose between the
Ragnarok Magicite and the 
Ragnarok Sword. For a full comparison between the two, I suggest reading our handy miniguide.In short: The Esper's summon attack is pretty crappy but does grant access to some rare items you could otherwise obtain only in very limited supply. The Esper also teaches
Ultima at a x1 rate, which is the strongest spell in the game. On the other hand, the Ragnarok Sword gives a +7 bonus to all stats except for Speed (where it grants a +3), randomly casts Flare, deals MP-driven constant criticals and adds 30% MBlock. You can bet it at the Colosseum for the Lightbringer, which gives +7 on all stats, has the same MP-driven criticals ability, randomly casts Holy with twice the power of a normal Holy spell (due to the automatic criticals; Flare doesn't get to enjoy a similar power boost), has Back Row compatibility and gives 50% MBlock. I'd advise the sword unless you're really bent on a 254-item list, as you can learn Ultima in another way.The house above the Relic Shop has been empty throughout the WoB, but now you will find an old man sick in bed inside. He will give you the
Cursed Shield, a possessed shield of awesome power that is useless at the moment due to a curse. It's up to you to break it in order to unleash its awesome abilities, if you're up to the task.The curse is broken when the shield is equipped on a living character other than Gogo for 256 battles. It doesn't matter if the character dies during the battle, as long as he or she is alive at the end of it. Gogo can't uncurse the
Cursed Shield as the counter is semi-tied to gaining Magic Points, which Gogo doesn't gain.Equipping the
Cursed Shield is bad. It makes the equipped character weak to all elements and lowers all stats by 7. Also, it inflicts the equipper with inherent Muddle, Berserk, Seizure, Mute, and 
Doom. You wind up with a Berserked character that hits your own team every turn with a physical and dies after a while. You can either counter these effects with a 
Ribbon/Lich Ring combo (the Ribbon protects against all but Doom, and the Lich Ring makes sure you're revived when the counter reaches that final 0), or hijack the system to make it work to your advantage by equipping the 
Healing Rod (possibly in conjunction with the Master's Scroll) for mad, random healing.Upon lifting the curse, the
Cursed Shield will transform into the Paladin's Shield, which is awesome. It allows the equipped to absorb Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Holy while nullifying the effects of Earth, Poison, Wind, and Water. In other words, the wearer becomes entirely immune to elemental attacks. Combined with the second-best Defense rating (Tortoise Shield on an Imp beats it), the third-best Magic Defense rating (Tortoise Shield and Force Shield beat it) and a +40% boost to MBlock, it's clear you've found yourself the ultimate shield. The big bonus on top of all this is the fact it teaches Ultima at a x1 rate to the wearer.The quickest way to uncurse the
Cursed Shield is fighting battles on Solitary Island. If you want some kind of extra meaning to the hours on the Solitary Island, you can bring Locke, Gogo, and Shadow to try to steal as many Elixirs (and possibly Megalixirs) as possible. If you want to go into the desert, be sure to equip Amulets or Ribbons to protect against Land Ray's !Poison Tail and Black Dragon's !Bone Powder.If you went with the Sword, you absolutely want to trade it in for the
Lightbringer at the Colosseum; aside from Ragnarok's random Flare being non-elemental and Lightbringer's random Holy being Holy-elemental, there is no reason to stick to the original sword. Bet the Ragnarok and you'll fight a Daedalus. Daedalus attacks with Battle, Flare, Flare Star, and Blaster. If you equip a Reflect Ring and a Safety Bit/Memento Ring, Flare and Blaster won't be a threat anymore; a Flame Shield/Ice Shield or the 
Minerva Bustier bustier can take care of Flare Star and the Dancing Flame Daedalus sometimes uses to counter Fight attacks with. Battle is all that's left to this opponent, and that's nothing to worry about. Don't send in Relm; her Sketch attacks will usually make a Quake spell appear, which hurt her as well.Obviously, from now on, I won't be assuming that you have either the
Lightbringer or the Paladin's Shield; choosing the Esper over the Sword is a legitimate choice, and obtaining the Paladin's Shield is quite a bit of work. Obtaining either piece of equipment, however, will provide great benefit to your party. Just remember, whichever choice you make, use it wisely and when appropriate since I can't tell you what to do any more. Get your big-kid pants on.
Caves of Narshe: Final Fantasy VI
Version 6
©1997–2025 Josh Alvies (Rangers51)
All fanfiction and fanart (including original artwork in forum avatars) is property of the original authors. Some graphics property of Square Enix.
Version 6
©1997–2025 Josh Alvies (Rangers51)
All fanfiction and fanart (including original artwork in forum avatars) is property of the original authors. Some graphics property of Square Enix.