Obel Lake

Obel Lake (オーベール湖, Ōbēru-mizuumi) is a location in Final Fantasy VIII. It is located north of Timber. It is a horseshoe-shaped lake with a small ledge, and a river flowing northwards through Vaulny Canyon.

Obel Lake is the location for a sidequest that requires Squall to travel all over the world in search of rare items and hidden locations with a guide from a friendly black shadow. The sidequest is best done earliest after the player obtains the spaceship Ragnarok, or latest before the player enters the Lunatic Pandora at the end of Disc 3, before Time Compression begins. The player may opt to get the ability Enc-None to avoid random encounters.

Start
The player should travel to the inlet of the lake, and press the button. An option will appear: Selecting "Throw a rock" causes the rock to skip a certain number of times. For this part, the option is only "the rock x"; x being either "sank", "skipped once", "skipped twice", "skipped 3 times", "skipped 4 times" or "skipped 5 times".

Selecting "Try humming" causes a black shadow to rise on the surface. Options will appears again; "Throw a rock" causes said shadow to disappear, while "Try humming again" will initiate a conversation.


 * Shadow: "...Hello human. What a lovely tune."
 * Squall: (There's something large there...)
 * Shadow: "Thanks for speaking to me again. Can you do me a favor?"
 * Squall: "What is it?"
 * Shadow: "It's my friend, Mr. Monkey... Can you find him for me? Please... Mr. Monkey should be in a forest somewhere. Keep walking around, and I'm sure you'll find him. If he's not around, perhaps he took a train towards Dollet?"

At this point, the player should start looking for Mr. Monkey at Roshfall Forest near Dollet. Walk around and an option appears.

Selecting either option prompts:
 * "You suck!"
 * The monkey disappeared into the forest...

Once Mr. Monkey is found, the player should return to Obel Lake. After Squall "relayed the whereabouts of Mr. Monkey", the black shadow will thank him. The first part ends.

Black Shadow's clues
If Squall decides to stay and chat, the black shadow will relay random statements. Each statement points out clues to a hidden draw point, messages regarding two rare items in the game and some random trivia.

Random Trivia
This statement points out to a location near Almaj Mountains in Centra. If the player goes there, they should find a forest with clearing within. If the player presses, a message prompts out:
 * Squall: ...This place just has rubble lying among the grass... Absolutely nothing...

This perhaps refer to one of the many Centra ruins found around the world.

Take a break
Points out a hidden Draw Point for the spell Break. The player should head towards the railroad bridge found at the river near Dingo Desert.

Take time off
Eldbeak Peninsula, which is located north of Balamb on the Trabia continent, contains a clue to a rare item. Walk towards the tip of the Peninsula, and a message prompts: Following the shadow's clues, remove the phrases "TIME" and "OFF" to reveal "TREASURE-AT-MINDE-ISLAND".
 * There is a stone pillar. If you look closely, there's something written on it.

Minde Island is located between Kashkabald Desert and Esthar's West Coast. Walk around the place while pressing, and the player may receive a Luck-J Scroll.

Rocks
Next, the black shadow mentions "something" found at three different locations. Walk around while pressing the button, and a message may prompt out to show the player has received the item. This refers to Nanchucket Island. The message goes:
 * You found a piece of rock by your foot... It looks man-made, and has some carving on it...
 * R E A I D R

This refers to Rinaul Coast, the only beach in Balamb. The player may have to try again and again. The message goes:
 * You found a piece of rock by your foot... But it was just a rock...
 * You found a piece of rock by your foot... It looks man-made, and has some carving on it...
 * S T S L R M
 * Squall: (...Seems like the same rock I picked up before...)

Here, the player should travel to an area called Monterosa Plateau where there is a cavern with a river flowing out of it. Land the Ragnarok on top of the plateau and walk towards the ledge. A message will be displayed: Selecting "Check it out" prompts a battle with two Thrustaevis. Defeat them and Squall receives this clue:
 * You found a piece of rock by your foot... It looks man-made, and has some carving on it...
 * E A S N P D
 * Squall: (...Seems like the same rock I picked up before...)

This is yet to be complete. For the fourth piece, travel back to Obel Lake.

Mr. Monkey
When the player returns to Obel Lake, s/he can try "throwing a rock" again. At some point, they may come across the message "The rock skipped many, many times." This should be the moment at which they return to where Mr. Monkey is. Once there, select "Sing" prompts the "You suck!" message. Select "Throw a rock" and Mr. Monkey will respond.: "Throw a rock" again S T S L R M R E A I D R U R H A E O E A S N P D (...?)
 * "Ahhh! Damn it! Y-You're just a big loser! I'm able to skip the rock as many times as I want! So there! Ha-Ha! Loser! Moron! Idiot! You mum wears combat boots/a shellsuit!"
 * "...OUCH!...D-Darn it!...You're gonna pay for that!"
 * The monkey threw a rock at you and ran! ...Upon inspecting the rock, it looks man-made, and has some carving on it... U R H A E O.
 * Squall: (...This must be all of them...)

Next, leave for Obel Lake, and talk to the black shadow for the last time: [ S T  S  L  R  M ] [ U R  H  A  E  O ] [ R E  A  I  D  R ] [ E A  S  N  P  D ] "I wonder what it means?"
 * Shadow: "Hello! ...This must be all the rocks."

In fact, reading it from top right downwards for each column reveals:

To Mordred Plains
Now, the player should travel to Mordred Plains. It is an area found North of Esthar, sandwiched between two mountain ranges: Vienne Mountains to the north and Nortes Mountains to the south. The start of this sidequest occurs with this message: There are four colored rocks here: blue, white, black and red. They give the player, or rather try to give them, clue to the final item. Pressing the button prompts messages from the rocks as long as the player is within the area.

The best reference is the blue-faced rock:

The white-faced rock is the one talking nonsense.

The black-faced rock is the one that just repeats the same thing.

The red-faced rock is the one that say the opposite of what it mean. Whatever the red-faced rock says, do the opposite. If it says "north!", which refers to the "up" direction in the control pad, press "down" instead. Eventually the player will finally found what they were supposed to find: A Three Star item that enables a GF to learn Expendx3-1 - this means that casting three spells under Triple status will only cost 1 magic spell in stock.

This ends the sidequest.

After Time Compression
The player should do this before entering Disc 4. If not, going to Obel Lake at Disc 4 prompts nothing. No black shadow will rise, only "nothing...".