The Messenger - Magic Seashell / Underwater Maze / Sunken Shrine / Key of Love Walkthrough (with images)
WHERE THE CURSE IS STRONGEST, A MAGIC SEASHELL AWAITS THE ONE WHO DOESN’T FEAR DROWNING.
If you pay for the hint at the shop, it’ll mark to go here on the map of Quillshroom Marsh:
Go back to the prophet and head through the third teleport portal from the left to Howling Grotto. You’ll want to get to this square and head through the portal from the right side to go to 8 bit. Head back down the way you came and when you reach the bottom, head to the now opened right pathway. Head all the way right to this frame and ride the wind upwards!
Now you’re not far away at all…
The first new area that you can head down into doesn’t contain the destination, but it does have some Time Shards, which is always nice.
If you go to the marked spot in the future, nothing will be there, and the altar further on indicates that there was once an artifact there. First, you’ll need to head up and change to 8 bit.
Once you’ve done that, head to this frame here…
Despite how much your instincts may tell you not to, go into the sinking sand on the left and let yourself sink down. You’ll come out the other side. Make your way to the alter and retrieve the Magic Seashell!
Now that you have the Magic Seashell, head back to the Prophet and go through the same teleport portal from last time to Howling Grotto.
You’ll first want to head to this frame in order to change from 16 to 8 bit (and collect more of those sweet sweet time shards!)…
After that, head to this frame, go through the portal to 16 bit and head down.
The beauty of the Magic Seashell is that it will tell you which way to progress through this underwater maze by allowing you to hear the music as you get closer. Or, you can just follow the images below…
And lo and behold:
The Sunken Shrine
As you proceed onwards, you’ll find a big door that has two empty sockets – so let’s go and find what needs to go in them!
First, jump and strike the lantern on the left, then jump again to cling onto the wall. Make your way up and proceed onwards.
Follow the path and make your way to the portal in the room to the top-left.
You’ll need to do that so that when you get to this frame, you can go through this portal to go back to the past, jump in the water and proceed forwards…
Further up ahead is the Lightfoot Tabi, allowing you to run on liquid surfaces by holding the ZR button (neat!). Note that if you stop moving whilst walking on water, you’ll sink. You know, basis physics!
On your way back, proceed into this frame and go through the portal. Now you’ll be able to swim onwards by being able to maneuver around the rotating circular saws.
Now when you get back to the door again, you can head through the bottom-left platform, fall to the bottom, go through to the next room and run over the spikes that were previously halting your progress.
As you make your way through to this section, head into the water first from the left to go through the portal at the end and make it 16 bit. Once you’ve done that, then you can go through the wall portal, as you’ll want to be proceeding in 8 bit.
Proceed onwards and down into the water all the way to here…
You may have noticed that you couldn’t break the bricks in the water, so you’ll need to break these bricks above and go through the portal up the top to change it to 16 bit. Go down and destroy the bricks that are blocking your way, but you cannot jump and get a grasp on the wall on the other side. So you’ll need to head back up and change it back to 8 bit and the bricks won’t be there.
Continue downwards and when you hit the bottom, you can go left by ducking and letting the current take you, or proceed right to where the main plot progresses. Left is for a coin but for the sake of this guide, we’ll be going right.
Proceed onwards and arrive at this frame…
If you head left and break the bricks in the top-left corner, you’ll be rewarded with some Time Shards. But let’s move on and continue right. In the next room, we’ll obtain the Sun Crest which is one of the keys to opening the door.
Now, to get the second one! As you make your way right and back up, you’ll arrive at the door again. Now go down the right platform.
From here, much of it is straightforward. Just remember that if you stop or are stopped whilst running on spikes, you’ll fall in; also, there are some basic time jumping sections that are super simple. So keep going until you arrive at this frame:
For a coin, head to the bottom-right opening. You’ll need to time it right so that you aren’t impaled by the spikes. Proceed through the opening in the bottom-right to get a coin. But if you aren’t collecting them, then proceed left.
Keep following the path, and once you get there, you’ll need to go down, change to 16 bit and there will be an opening above. Swim upwards and go through the top-right opening. In this room, you’ll need to strike a lantern whilst dodging the projectiles coming towards you and jump onto a moving platform. The next portal is in the top-right corner. If you head back down and left, you’ll be rewarded with some Time Shards but if you aren’t in need of them, I’d recommend progressing through the top-right – otherwise you’d have to dodge those damn annoying projectiles again.
And then keep progressing until you get the moon crest from this frame…
Now we can head through the big double door! Make your way back, watch and read the short cutscene and you’ll be bestowed upon the Key of Love – hooray!
We hope this short guide on the Magic Seashell and the Key of Love helped.
Here are a few more that may come in handy…
The Messenger – First Key / Key of Hope
The Messenger – Astral Seed / Flowerbed / Key of Strength
The Messenger – Dark Cave / Magic Butterfly / Fallen Messenger / Key of Symbiosis
The Messenger – Forlorn Temple / Demon King / Corrupted Future / Music Box / Final Boss
The Messenger – Phobekins / Little Creatures
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