Lifespring Grotto

The Lifespring Grotto is a Soul of Chaos bonus dungeon in the Dawn of Souls and 20th Anniversary Edition releases of Final Fantasy. The entrance to the grotto is located in a whirlpool at the entrance to the Aldean Sea, off the coast of Mount Duergar, but is sealed until the Fiend of Water, Kraken, is defeated. Within players can challenge bosses from Final Fantasy V. While it is not the last of the of Soul of Chaos dungeons to be unlocked or the longest, the bosses found on the final floor, Omega and Shinryu, are superbosses stronger than any other boss bar Chronodia, making Lifespring typically the last of the Soul of Chaos dungeons to be challenged.

Layout[]

The Lifespring Grotto contains twenty floors after the entrance, with all floors bar B5, B10, and B20 presented in random order; the excepted floors feature the boss encounters. It is only possible to exit the Grotto on the boss floors, where the player must defeat a boss in order to leave. Entering this dungeon unprepared is a common mistake, as its bosses can over nineteen times as much HP as Kraken had, with Omega and Shinryu surpassing the final boss, but losing a battle in the Grotto ejects the party to the world map rather than the title screen, retaining any items or experience they gained. B20 contains two bosses but the party can only challenge one per run, necessitating that they run the dungeon a minimum of two times to complete it. Additionally, the earlier bosses are significantly less dangerous, so it may be worthwhile to clear up to B10 for the powerful equipment they drop and return later to challenge the superbosses.

The floors are based on several different environments:

The entrance, boss floors, and six random maps based on the Sunken Shrine.
Three maps based on the Chaos Shrine.
One map based on the Cavern of Ice.
One map based on the Dragon Caves.
One map based on the Flying Fortress.
One map based on the Marsh Cave.
A flooded village.
A village swarming with dancing girls.
A library.
A flying castle, using a unique tileset distinct from the Flying Fortress.

Most of the combat floors are straightforward affairs without any additional complications, with two exceptions. The Cavern of Ice floor features tiles covered in ice spikes that serve as damage floors. Meanwhile, the Dragon Caves map does not feature random encounters, with the party instead tasked by Dark Bahamut to defeat a random assortment of dragons by speaking with the dragon NPCs throughout the room.

The non-combat maps are mostly navigation puzzles: a flooded village one must traverse via canoe, a village filled with dancing girls, a maze-like library, and a flying castle connected by intermittently vanishing pathways. Lifespring Grotto is also the only Soul of Chaos to feature a puzzle on one of its boss floors: on B5 the party will find the mermaid village of Seahold. There they must speak with the mermaids for hints as to the boss's random location.

Items[]

Treasure lists are static on each floor. The number of chests each floor has varies with up to five chests, and these are randomly sorted for each run. The flying castle features an additional five chests for a total of ten, with the five extra chests having their own loot table separate from the chests than normally appear on every floor. Floor B20 additionally features a static chest behind Shinryu that always contains the Hero's Shield.

Floor	Treasure	Castle treasure
1	200 gil, Dry Ether, Echo Grass, Hi-Potion, Phoenix Down	Dry Ether, Feathered Cap, Hermes' Shoes, Mind Plus, Red Curtain
2	400 gil, Ether, Eye Drops, Giant's Tonic, X-Potion	Genji Shield, Golden Apple, Lunar Curtain, Mind Plus, White Fang
3	3000 gil, Potion, Speed Plus, Spider's Silk, Tiger Mask	Elixir, Light Curtain, Remedy, Soma Drop, White Curtain
4	Ether, Hi-Potion, Red Fang, Speed Drink, Strength Tonic	Dry Ether, Emergency Exit, Hermes' Shoes, Phoenix Down, Power Plus
5	—	—
6	123 gil, Blue Fang, Cockatrice Claw, Emergency Exit, Faerie Tonic	Crystal Ring, Elixir, Giant's Tonic, Luck Plus, Silver Apple
7	Golden Apple, Phoenix Down, Protect Drink, Spider's Silk, Vampire Fang	32000 gil, Megalixir, Speed Plus, Strength Tonic, X-Potion
8	300 gil, Hermes' Shoes, Light Curtain, Speed Drink, Turbo Ether	4464 gil, Mind Plus, Remedy, Silver Apple, Stamina Plus
9	Blue Curtain, Faerie Tonic, Hermes' Shoes, Silver Apple, X-Potion	Deathbringer, Elixir, Eye Drops, Power Plus, Protect Drink
10	—	—
11	Cockatrice Claw, Orichalcum, Protect Drink, Silver Apple, White Fang	Elixir, Lunar Curtain, Soma Drop, Speed Plus, Strength Tonic
12	5000 gil, Ether, Light Curtain, Mind Plus, Remedy	Giant's Tonic, Hermes' Shoes, Megalixir, Power Vest, X-Potion
13	Blue Fang, Power Plus, Red Curtain, Strength Tonic, Vampire Fang	Elixir, Megalixir, Stamina Plus, Turbo Ether, White Curtain, Power Plus
14	Faerie Tonic, Hermes' Shoes, Hi-Potion, Phoenix Down, Silver Apple	Emergency Exit, Gaia Gear, Mind Plus, Luck Plus, Soma Drop
15	Asura, Blue Curtain, Echo Grass, Potion, Spider's Silk	Golden Apple, Power Plus, Speed Drink, Stamina Plus, X-Potion
16	800 gil, Elixir, Giant's Tonic, Protect Drink, Turbo Ether	40000 gil, Hermes' Shoes, Kenpogi, Light Curtain, Speed Plus
17	Hermes' Shoes, Phoenix Down, Sage's Mitre, Spider's Silk, X-Potion	Crystal Shield, Dry Ether, Elixir, Gigantaxe, Mind Plus
18	Feathered Cap, Hi-Potion, Lunar Curtain, Remedy, Strength Tonic	14464 gil, Crystal Ring, Faerie Tonic, Luck Plus, Soma Drop
19	Ether, Hermes' Shoes, Phoenix Down, Sage's Surplice, Speed Plus	Elixir, Golden Apple, Light Curtain, Power Plus, Stamina Plus
20	Hero's Shield	—

Enemies[]

Encounters (random floors)		Area
B1-4/6-9	B11-19	Area
[18/64] Black Goblin x1-5 [18/64] Gloom Widow x1-3 [15/64] Gloom Widow x2-4 [13/64] Revenant x1-5	[18/64] Black Goblin x1-5 [15/64] Gloom Widow x1-3 [12/64] Gloom Widow x2-4 [12/64] Revenant x1-5 [7/64] Elm Gigas x1-3	Cavern of Ice
[18/64] Black Goblin x1-5 [18/64] Wild Nakk x2-6 [15/64] Gloom Widow x1-2 [13/64] Black Goblin x2-5, Wild Nakk x0-2	[18/64] Wild Nakk x2-6 [15/64] Gloom Widow x1-2 [12/64] Black Goblin x1-5 [12/64] Black Goblin x2-5, Wild Nakk x0-2 [7/64] Silver Dragon x1-2	Chaos Shrine
[Fixed] Black Dragon x1 [Fixed] Blue Dragon x1 [Fixed] Dragon Zombie x1 [Fixed] Green Dragon x1 [Fixed] Holy Dragon x1 [Fixed] Red Dragon x1 [Fixed] Silver Dragon x1 [Fixed] White Dragon x1 [Fixed] Yellow Dragon x1		Dragon Caves
[45/64] Black Goblin x1-5 [19/64] Death Elemental x2-4	[30/64] Black Goblin x1-5 [27/64] Death Elemental x2-4 [7/64] Death Manticore x3-4	Flying Fortress
[18/64] Black Goblin x1-5 [18/64] Desertpede x2-4 [15/64] Skuldier x2-4 [13/64] Revenant x2-3	[18/64] Desertpede x2-4 [15/64] Skuldier x2-4 [13/64] Yellow Ogre x1-2 [12/64] Black Goblin x1-5 [6/64] Revenant x2-3	Marsh Cave
[24/64] Black Goblin x1-5 [18/64] Python x2-4 [18/64] Death Elemental x1-3 [4/64] Sahagin Queen x5-8	[15/64] Death Elemental x1-3 [12/64] Blue Troll x1-2 [12/64] Black Goblin x1-5 [12/64] Sahagin Queen x0-1, Killer Shark x1-2 [6/64] Killer Shark x1-2 [6/64] Killer Shark x1, Dark Eye x0-1 [1/64] Dark Eye x1	Sunken Shrine
Encounters (fixed floors)		Area
[Boss] Gilgamesh		Seahold (B5)
[Boss] Atomos		B10
[Boss] Omega [Boss] Shinryu		B20

Surrounding area[]

The Lifespring Grotto's entrance is located in the ocean, and thus the surrounding area features the same encounters found in the ocean over the entire map.

Encounters
[12/64] Sahagin x0-6, Bigeyes x1-2 [12/64] Shark x1 [12/64] Buccaneer x1-5 [12/64] Sahagin x4-6 [6/64] Shark x1, Sahagin Chief x0-1 [6/64] Sahagin x3-7, Sahagin Chief x0-2 [3/64] Shark x1-2, Sahagin x0-2, Bigeyes x0-1 [1/64] Shark x1-2, Sahagin Chief x0-3