Western Wilds - Occupied Bridge

The next Spark Tower you’ll be going after is in Nox’s Bayou and to get started on getting there, you’ll have to travel through the Westerm Wilds area. To find the Western Wilds, if you’ve never been there before, you’ll begin by going to the southern exit of Ossex. At the main gate, continue south to the next screen and then head to the west. This should be the screen with the slightly tougher troopers that jump at you to attack. Continue west and on the next screen, head north. You should now be on the other side of the large pit, where there were two moving, narrow platforms and laser-firing enemies. If you didn’t grab the chest here earlier, then do so now for a Bonestone Gem. The next screen will be the Western Wilds!

The first thing you will probably notice here is the large boar enemy straight ahead. These foes might seem challenging at first, but they only really have a single move. They will jump and slam into the ground, causing a mass of spikes to pop up around the point of impact. The easiest way to avoid this is to simply jump whenever they are about to hit the ground. Don’t go too far north with the first one, as there will be a second. Once you get rid of both of them, look at the little pond here, in the one corner. It might seem like nothing, but you can actually burrow underground here, so do just that.

If you’ve retrieved the Drill Driver Sidearm, like noted above, then you can get over the bigger pits here. Jump over the first two and open the chest for a Kear, then get a burrow jump and use the Sidearm to reach the locked chest. Open it up to collect the Joule Box Upgrade inside, giving you more Joules to use. Note that if you go all the way to the west, you can use the hole there to essentially bypass the rest of the Occupied Bridge area, allowing you to easily access Nox’s Bayou. However, there are plenty of things to do in the Occupied Bridge section, so return there via the original hole you dived down into and head north.

Occupied Bridge¶

When you first arrive in the main area here, you won’t be able to go up the stairs, since that way is blocked. That means you’ll have to go left first, where you have to contend with the lava flows. The reddish ground here is special, as burrowing through it will keep dug up, but that is special for a reason. See those red crystals blocking your way? You want to dig a path from the lava to the red crystals, which will destroy them (they stay destroyed, too). Do that in this first section, then go north once you unblock the passage that goes underneath the bridge.

On the other side, clear the debris to your left, then continue up the stairs you find here to a new screen. Note that while you can’t really do anything here right now, if you have a lot of extra Kears on you, it isn’t going to hurt to unlock the lock you find. At the top, you will find a NPC named Franz, who wants to hold a snowball in his hands, but you aren’t going to be able to do that quite yet, as you don’t have Coltrane Peak unlocked yet. So, open the chest here for a Bonestone Gem, then double back to the main area of the Occupied Bridge.

Return to the lava section and continue destroying the red gems while heading left. You’ll encounter more of those boar enemies, who can destroy the ground and cause the lava to flow here, so be careful. Clear out all of the red gems, all the way to the left, then backtrack a bit to the second path that goes underneath the bridge. On the other side, clear the last bit of debris to your right, creating a shortcut, then look just south of that debris. There is a small tunnel here that houses a chest with a Bonestone Gem, so collect it and then fight your way all the way to the building toward the upper right. Enter it to find yourself in the Molten Foundry, but we won’t be exploring it just yet.

Instead, go to the opening on the right and exit there, where you’ll find yourself on top of the bridge now. South is where the blockade is located and you can destroy it from this side, giving a shortcut back to the southern end of the area, as well as new entrance to Ossex on the right. In fact, let’s head into Ossex now.

Upper Area of Ossex¶

The first thing you will see is an Underlab right above you, as well as a chest to the south and a rope you can lower next to it. If you have a Volt Hatchet, then you can toss one to destroy the chest and burrow to retrieve the Bonestone Gem. The building to the right is the train station, so enter it. The train isn’t running and they’re collecting funds to repair it. The machine to the right of the Ticketer is where you donate Bones (move to the right to switch between Bones and Bonestone), with it costing a hefty 10,000 Bones to fully get things running again. Note that this total is shared between all of the stations, and you don’t have to do it all at once. You will be required to do this, though, as one of the main areas is inaccessible without the train.

In the lower left of the station, there is a hole you can burrow through, leading to the Station Underside. Lower the rope here and if you didn’t go over to the right side before, you can easily do so now, without requiring anything else. Back outside the station, hit the crate on the right to reveal a chute. This will take you to the City Center, right in front of Pawnty’s Exchange. This place doesn’t sell anything for you to buy, but you are able to sell anything you’ve collect up to this point, should you really need some Bones. Pawnty can only hold 10 items, though, and you can purchase them back at a slightly raised rate.

Return to the station and head to the right, where you’ll see some red-colored NPC in the corner. This is Blaise and you can race him, if you wanted. The catch is that you can’t really take any shortcuts or touch stairs, so you’ll have to be a little careful. Thankfully, it doesn’t cost anything to do the race, so if you fail, you can keep retrying it. The race is to the fountain in the City Center, meaning it’s not particularly long. Check out the [All Blaise Races] page for details on what to do. Your reward for winning will be some Bones. South of Blaise will be the Trinket Shop, which you can open up from this side. There are a few on sale, with the Plasma Funnel one probably being a good choice.

However, don’t purchase one just yet, as you should see a locked door on the left side. If you get too close to this door, Lady Susan will tell you to get away from it. What you want to do is hit Lady Susan until her head is spinning super fast, then quickly burrow at the door to unlock it. Go downstairs, loot all the breakables, then interact with the large crate on the left side to get a Kear. When you return upstairs, Lady Susan will give you a nice discount on your first purchase, so that is when you should buy something. You should see a path to the left of the Trinket Shop, so go there next. Enter the stairs you see right away.

This is the same residence with the tall giraffe from earlier, although it’s a different area. Break the chest for some Bones, then drop down on the right side and enter the hole there. Go to the top and throw something/use yourself to hit the lever in the corner to lower the spikes. You can now exit this small section and speak to the main giraffe for another Bonestone Gem. Note that there is another NPC on the small table mnext to the giraffe, so check them out for a little surprise. Back outside, continue left and enter the next residence. The woman on the right will hand over a Kear if you gave Bones to the various beggars in town.

Burrow through the hole in the middle, collect the Bones here, then follow the path to the left, where you’ll emerge outside in Western Wilds. Follow the path here first, to an area with some bushes and a long pit. If you have a long-range Sidearm, then you can clear the path ahead. One of the bushes is hiding a bounce pad, so once the path is clear of obstructions, move it as far to the right as possible and use it to get to the other side. At the end of the path will be a chest, which contains a Kear. It’s time to returen to the Western Wilds now.

Battle on the Big Bridge¶

Make your way to the bridge now and start going across it to the left. You’ll have some enemies in the way, as well as some spikes, but you’ll eventually reach the end. Drop down and you’ll have to face off with two Hulk Troopers. Try to take it one at a time, but having them break the rocks here will reveal some hidden Bones underneath. Once you clear them both, open the chest for a Bonestone Gem, then clear the way to the north. This exit in the northwestern corner leads to the Kindlewood (and Septemburg), but we aren’t going there right now. Instead, drop off the ledge to the right to find Blaise again.

This second race is harder than the first, as you still have to reach the fountain in Ossex without doing any of the bad things he mentions. Complete this second race to get a Kear from it. You’re just about done in the Western Wilds, so return to the far left via the lava-filled section and before you exit to the south, burrow underneath the hole above you to find a chest with another Bonestone Gem. One of the candles here will also have the Fog Thrower Sidearm, if you wish to add it to your collection. You skipped the Molten Foundry earlier, so let’s head back there now to get some stuff.

Molten Foundry¶

Upon entering the Molten Foundry, you will see a lot of boxes around the place, so break them all first. In the upper right corner is a hole in the ground, which you can burrow into, so do that and follow the grating along the floor. Head through the “door” just to the left of the furnace in the middle to arrive in the main area of the Molten Foundry. There will be an Underlab here, as well as a Sidearm cycler, in case you need one. The biggest problem in this section is that there are spots of darkness and if you sit long enough in those dark spots, you will see a red flash. Keep staying in the dark and something will happen, so you’ll want to move quickly in here.

You can either go left or go right, with both offering distinct prizes waiting for you at the end. For starters, let’s head to the left first. Similar to the outside section, with the lava and burrowing, you’ll be doing the same thing here, although the lava will help illuminate things. The path is three tiles high and there will be a burrow hole in the middle there. In the next room, you will be destroying some red gems, like with the outside area, so keep going until they’re all gone. The last one towards the upper side will reveal a lava pool you can use as a light. Behind it is a breakable wall, revealing the third of the locations for Poppit.

Make sure you buy Helio the Wisp and the Kear from him and if this is your third time finding Poppit, something else will happen. Just go with it and after it’s over, you can use the holes to the right to fast travel to any of the previous Poppit locations. Return to the central section of the Molten Foundry and carry the lava over to the right side this time. In the corner here, there will be three permanent lava spots underneath the red gems, giving you some light on what’s there. You will see a two-Vial Lock by the lava spots, as well as an inkling of a chest towards the right.

This chest is a bit annoying to get, since it involves two one-tile moving platforms, as well as some pits, making it impossible to get in the dark. What you want to do here is make a path with the lava, but not activate the lava flow just yet (get all the other tiles first). The entrance to the moving platforms is in the center, so you want to activate the lava flow from the center, so it doesn’t harden again so quickly. As soon as you get the flow going, quickly move south, jump over the barrier and get onto the first moving platform. From there, it’s just a matter of getting to the path over there, destroying the wood barrier and opening the chest for the Bonestone Gem.

Go back to the Vial Lock and pay the toll, then use a Kear to go through the locked door behind it. Head downstairs and you should see a Trinket Chest to your left, but you cannot reach it from here. Fight your way to the stairs in the lower right, where you have ropes sectioning off the next part. The enemies here move back and forth and dig up the hardened lava, so whenever you burrow into those parts, you need to quickly move, since the lava will be following behind you. For the next part, you can defeat all of the enemies, then you can guide the lava to the lower left corner to unlock another lava tile.

The moving platform in the middle might be annoying, but there’s a trick that makes it work every time. Dig all the tiles up first, other than the one next to the lava, then when the moving platform is on the left, make the lava flow to get all red gems destroyed, except for the right one in the middle (only a few measly Bones under it). The final screen through the northwestern exit will have two moving platforms now, making things harder. However, you can do a similar thing first, by digging up the non-connect tiles first. Then set things in motion and one of the moving platforms will get set on fire. After it hardens again, dig up the tiles on the same moving platform.

This should lead you to the upper right corner, allowing you to reach the screen with the Trinket Chest. Open it up for the Flame Guard Trinket, which is all there is to do in the Molten Foundry now. Return back outside and make your way to the southwestern corner, where you will be exiting to the Backwaters - Shanty Swamp.