Lix & Desert of Shifting Sands
After the Crescent, Istory & Jachol chapter, fly the Black Chocobo northeast to Lix, Bartz’s hometown. Lix has three flashback cutscenes and the Alluring Air Bard song, then the Desert of Shifting Sands gates the path south with the Sandworm boss. 4 new bestiary entries.
Lix
Shops
Lix has no chests or hidden items, but three short cutscenes related to Bartz’s past trigger an item-price discount across the town’s shops.
- Rest at the inn.
- Talk to the scholar walking near the pond.
- Examine the pink/purple music box at Bartz’s House on the west side of town.
After the music-box cutscene, speak to the person living in Bartz’s House to learn the Alluring Air Bard song.
The shops are mostly Ninja gear (Kunai, Shuriken, Throw scrolls) plus a few consumables at half price after the cutscenes. Esuna in the Magic shop cures most status effects in one cast and is worth grabbing if it’s not in the spellbook yet.
Exit the town and ride the Chocobo back to the Library of the Ancients area.
To the Desert
Disembark at the forest near the Library and head through the passage between the mountains south of it.
The desert area is an explorable location, not just an overworld biome. Step in to enter.
Desert of Shifting Sands
The desert has one of the highest random encounter rates in the game. Stack on Tents and Ethers from Lix before going in.
New Enemies
- Sandboil casts Spore (inflicts Sap). Weak to Water.
- Desert Killer casts Quicksand (Sap status, HP drains per turn) and Flees often. Weak to Water.
- Sand Bear has the most HP of the three at 1000. Weak to Water. Aqua Breath one-shots it.
Every shifting tile on the floor loops back to the entrance. Cid and Mid appear after a few attempts; talk to them when ready and answer Yes to trigger the Sandworm fight.
How to Beat Sandworm
The fight opens with Sandworm + 3 Holes. Ignore the Holes and target the Sandworm directly.
Winning clears the first stretch of shifting sands.
Crossing the desert
The desert has no chests but the path between shifting tiles is non-obvious. The walkthrough video below covers the full route end to end; the numbered steps and carousel beneath it work as a checklist if the video moves too fast.
The route is five tile choices. Each step below has a matching screenshot in the carousel further down so the destination is clear.
- Cross the bridge south of the Sandworm fight.
- Walk south and step on the first tile closest to the party.
- Walk south again and step on the first tile closest to the party (same logic as step 2).
- Step on the third tile from the bottom-left corner.
- Walk to the third tile from the left, then continue south to the desert exit.
Exit south to the overworld. The path south is linear with overworld random encounters until reaching a village.
Gohn, the Town of Ruin, is the next stop and the next chapter picks up there.