Overworld

The **Overworld** is the playable area of the planet Ekzera. Though its primary role is to house the entrances to most of *Songbringer*'s Dungeons, it has plenty of enemies and rewards of its own for Roq to encounter.

## Navigation

The Overworld, though it is primarily traversed one room at a time, contains elements which can block or facilitate travel.

### Obstacles

Certain areas of the Overworld are blocked by barriers which usually require specific items to destroy or bypass.

* On Normal runs before the player's first victory, the rooms surrounding the *Crash Site*, the initial starting location, are occupied by walls of brambles preventing the player from wandering further. For most world seeds, the only way to get past these brambles is to cut them down with the Nanosword found in the *Sword Cave* at the Crash Site.
* On all runs, certain rooms contain a 2-tile-thick wall of pillars blocking access to a particular adjacent room. The most common variant is the cracked pillar wall (requires explosives, initially Matter Bombs, to destroy), but there are also bramble walls, blue pillar walls (requires Ghost Sword/Hat to destroy), and torch pillar walls (requires a fire source, initially the Lighter, to destroy).

### Quick-Travel Tunnels

Waterfalls near the left and right edges of the Overworld have a high chance of containing the entrance to one of two *Quick-Travel Tunnels*, underground passages which allow for rapid transit between two distant locations. One tunnel has its entrances hidden underneath bushes in front of the waterfalls (requires a fire source to uncover) while the other tunnel has its entrances hidden somewhere in the rocks, sometimes behind the waterfalls (requires explosives to uncover).

### Teleportation Landmarks

Certain objects of interest, if they have been visited at least once, are valid targets for teleportation once the player has acquired the Teleport Cube. These are the Crash Site and each of four *Courage Refills* distributed among the four quadrants of the Overworld.

## Points of Interest - Surface

A variety of interesting places are dotted about the Overworld:

* **Crash Site:** The starting location of every run. Contains Roq's wrecked hoverbike and the entrance to the *Sword Cave*.
* **Ren's Crash Site:** Located far away from the Crash Site. Contains Ren's wrecked hoverbike.
* **Kiel's Crash Site:** Located far away from the Crash Site. Contains Kiel's wrecked hoverbike.
* **Hunter's Camp:** Located near the Crash Site and inhabited by Brutus the Hunter. Contains the entrance to the *Hunter's Stash*.
* **Smalls's Camp:** Inhabited by Smalls. Contains his wrecked hoverbike.
* **Cryo Cave Entrance:** Located near the Crash Site. Contains the entrance to the *Cryo Cave*.
* **Ascension Cave Entrance:** Spans two rooms at the top edge of the Overworld. The left room contains the entrance to the *Ascension Cave*.
* **Dungeon Entrance:** Location and appearance based on dungeon type. Only accessible from a single adjacent room.
* **Durin's Dwelling:** Only accessible from a single adjacent room under special conditions. Inhabited by a Drobth musician with a special gift.
	+ **Durin's Domain:** Sometimes Durin can be seen wandering about rooms adjacent to Durin's Dwelling.
* **Kusanagi's Dwelling:** Contains a large floating orb. Can be broken open to start the fight with the Overworld's bonus boss, Kusanagi.
	+ **Kusanagi's Domain:** While alive, Kusanagi will attempt to steal items from Roq within the rooms adjacent to her dwelling.
* **Stone Archway:** An artifact of the civilization which used to dwell on Ekzera.
* **War Memorial:** An artifact of the Great War.
* **Mysterious Ribs:** If Roq has not already obtained the Top Hat Drone from the *Cryo Cave* before entering this room for the first time, contains a Drobth miniboss which drops the item on death. Located close to the Crash Site.
* **Well:** Contains a well in the middle of a pond with its bucket already lowered.
* **Lore Rockface:** Contains an unusual-looking rock face. Four of these are distributed throughout the Overworld.
* **Courage Refill:** Special structures which can be used to fully restore Roq's Courage and save progress. Four of these structures are distributed throughout the Overworld.
* **Store Entrance:** Contains the entrance to a Store offering items for Diamonds. Three store entrances are located close to the Crash Site while two more are located far away from the Crash Site, potentially behind a waterfall (requires explosives to uncover).

## Points of Interest - Underground

The Overworld contains underground areas which, though interesting, are not large enough to be proper Dungeons.

* **Sword Cave:** The cave holding the Nanosword. Grabbing the weapon spawns a floating miniboss - defeating it allows Roq to learn Charge.
* **Cryo Cave:** A cave holding some people in cryo sleep vats. The Top Hat Drone can be obtained here if it was not already obtained at the *Mysterious Ribs*. Starting with version 1.2.0, Eiael's Snare can be obtained here if Roq carries the Victor's Emblem.
* **Hunter's Stash:** A small cave holding a 40-Diamond stash.
* **Ascension Cave:** Two pillars contain old journal entries.
	+ Starting with version 1.2.0, reading the entries opens a way to the next room. A switch on the opposite side of a chasm in that room must be activated in order to reveal the way to the Trial of Ren.
	+ The Trial of Ren consists of several waves of enemies culminating in a bonus boss fight. Roq's friend is temporarily unable to assist Roq during combat in this cave. Victory allows Roq to acquire Battle Meditation.

## Overworld Secrets

Most secrets of the Overworld are hidden in single-room caves with their entrances hidden underneath bushes (requires fire to uncover) or behind rock walls (requires explosives to uncover). Consuming Cactus or using Meditate will reveal any such entrances in the current room.

Several secrets in the Overworld, however, take on different forms:

* **Secret Lore Obelisk:** A standard Overworld secret that contains a black pyramid on blocks rather than a tangible reward. Using Meditate in front of this pyramid grants the lore for the boss of The Songbringer and one of 14 Sarira required for Enlightenment.

* **Sword Cave:** Extinguishing the four flames in the corners of the room spawns a bonus reward, either a Diamond Stash or a Quarter Demon's Tooth.
* **Cryo Cave:** A Quarter Demon's Tooth is often hidden in a room behind one of the cryo sleep vats. Depending on which one it's behind, Blink Orb and explosives may be required to access the room.
* **Bush Secret:** A valuable item is usually hidden inside a bush rather than inside a cave hiding underneath a bush - the room with such a secret will be marked as a Point of Interest on the map.
* **Water Secret:** A valuable item, usually a Matter Bomb Container, is hidden underneath the surface of a water body in a particular Overworld room marked as a Point of Interest. An Ice-infused item is required to uncover the hidden item.
* **Four Spheres:** A room with four floating spheres will spawn a reward, usually a Diamond Stash, if all four spheres are hit at once (an easy way is to touch all spheres, then stand in the center and lay a Matter Bomb).
* **Four Torch Pillars:** A room with four torch pillars (rarely three if world generation prevents one from being placed) often spawns a Quarter Demon's Tooth when all enemies in the room are dead. Additionally, lighting the pillars using fire usually spawns Diamonds or a drop normally obtained from slain enemies.
* **Large Pillar Cluster:** A room with a large cluster of stone pillars often spawn a valuable item when all pillars have been razed.