Welcome back to Vagrant Story.

When you play the game for the second time, you'll find that all your equipment from the first time around is still in your possession, so you'll be able to rip through all the old challenges with no problem. But there are other challenges that are only accessible on second play. For example, you'll be able to open doors that are sealed with the Rood Inverse now. There are only three such doors, but they're crucial. Only by opening them will you be able to get the items you need to explore the special second-play areas - the Snowfly Forest East, the Escapeway, the Forgotten Pathway, and of course, the rest of the Iron Maiden.

Before you bother with the special areas, I recommend beating the regular game again, including the Iron Maiden B1, up to the beginning of The Great Cathedral. Thus, by the time you beat Kali, you'll have the Iron, Chest and Silver Keys, which you'll need to get anywhere in the special areas, so you don't have much choice. (You'll also have Teleportation, making it easier to get to all of them.) Besides, it'll only mean you'll be stronger by the time you get to the special areas.

The first door is in the Town Centre West, in the Glacialdra Kirk Ruins. Doubtless you saw it as you came through on your way to the Undercity West for the first time. Well, now you can open it and head down the staircase. Don't expect any easy enemies - the first thing you'll see will be a Lich, and a Lich Lord awaits in the very next room. Use the same strategy against both that you used previously. Since they're both alone, it's not as hard a pair of fights as it could be. When you kill the Lich Lord, you'll have a choice of two exits. One is locked with the Iron Key and one is sealed with the Rood Inverse. If you go through the Rood Inverse door, you'll be able to go through a couple of rooms before you get to a door that's locked with the Silver Key. (It opens onto the very first part of the Undercity West, the one where you fought the Giant Crab.) The Iron Key door leads down into the Escapeway.

The last Rood Inverse door is in the City Walls East, adjacent to the Town Centre South. This door leads to the Snowfly Forest East.

A bunch of out-of-the-way treasure rooms are hidden behind locked doors that can only be opened with the special Keys. You don't have to access them to beat the game, but by this point it isn't about just beating the game, anyway.

Iron Key:

Okay, so this one is accessible on first play, but if you warp to Bandits' Hollow in the Abandoned Mines B2, there'll be a treasure room there that's locked with it. Among other things, it contains the Spark Fusion spell, which is quite useful.

Silver Key:

Warp to The Dark Tunnel in the Abandoned Mines B1. If you go north, there'll be a locked door. Open it with the Silver Key and get the treasure that's in the room.

Warp to The Auction Block in the Limestone Quarry and open the locked door. A small wing, consisting of four rooms, is now open to you. You can also open another door to enter the Temple of Kiltia from the side, as well as get a chest with some equipment.

Lastly, in the Undercity West, different wings are joined together by locked doors. Use the Silver Key to open the one in The Washing-Woman's Way and Sewer of Ravenous Rats.

Gold Key:

Once you get this key (look in the "Escapeway" section of the walkthrough to find out how), you can return to Escapeway and open a door in Shelter of the Quake to find a chest that contains the Radial Surge and Meteor spells, as well as the Bec de Corbin weapon, the second-best one-handed Blunt mace.

Warp to The Keep. There's a locked door right across from the entrance to the Iron Maiden. You can open it with the Gold Key to get to the Forgotten Pathway.

Warp to The Auction Block in the Limestone Quarry and go east. There's a locked door there, and once you open it, you'll be able to get a chest with the Curse spell and a whole pile of equipment.

Warp to The Sinner's Corner, go east, then north. You can enter the Abandoned Mines B2, open a locked door with the Gold Key, and end up in Bandits' Hollow. There's no prize for doing it, but you have to do it if you're aiming for 100% map completion.

There's also a hidden part of Undercity West that you can access with the Gold Key. Warp to The Sinner's Corner and go east, and look for a locked door there. Enter it and you'll immediately be double-teamed by a Lich and Lich Lord. The Lich Lord is the bigger threat, but the Lich has less HP and can be easily disposed of. Cast Magic Ward and go after either one's shadow, and drop him the second he materializes. His cohort will then attack you, but Magic Ward will block that attack and allow you to go after him, as well. Now, you can go one way for another Lich Lord and a door that you can open with the Gold Key to get to Tears From Empty Sockets and the exit to Town Centre East, or you can go the other way for a fight with two Deaths.

Yes, that's right: two Deaths. If you've gone through Iron Maiden B2, you've already met one, and that was probably enough. If you haven't, Deaths are tougher versions of Lich Lords, with 360 HP, and they can throw every spell in the book at you. Magic is pretty much ineffectual against them, but they are weak against physical attacks. So, cast Herakles and Prostasia on yourself, add a Magic Ward for at least some insurance, go after one of them, and do your best to drop him with one Heavy Shot / Crimson Pain chain, the same tactic you used against the final boss. If you can't take them on, you could try running right through them to the door, before they have time to react. Either way, that other door leads to the Workshop called "Godhands," where you can combine any materials you desire. You probably won't have a lot of practical use for it, unless you really want to make Damascus that badly, but it's a nice symbolic victory.

Once you get the Iron Key, you'll be able to descend into the Escapeway from the Undercity West. You'll meet some Quicksilvers, and though they're as disturbing as ever, by now they shouldn't be a big threat. There will be two locked doors and one open one. Take the open one to fight Marid and Dao all over again. Just cast Spark Fusion for one and Luft Fusion for the other, and take them one at a time with your best weapon. Herakles and Prostasia are recommended. Then keep going down the passage to fight some weaker enemies and get to a chest with some equipment.

Return to Shelter From the Quake and use the Silver Key to open the east door. A few rooms and Quicksilvers later, there will be an exit to the Undercity West, again. Go up and through the door. You'll be in The Crumbling Market, the room you get to from the end of the Abandoned Mines B2, except now you're on the other side of the huge waterway. Just kill the Liches and Lich Lords that hang out here; there should be enough space for you to start taking them out one by one before they really have a chance to team up. Now you can finally open the chest that you saw before. There are traps all around it, and you can't disable them, so just jump on the square right in front of the chest to trigger just one Gust trap. Then take the Gold Key from the chest.

This small area, tucked away in the Keep behind a locked door, is crucial if you want to get into Iron Maiden B2. There are only five small rooms (two of which contain treasure), and a few enemies. First, you'll have to take down the Damascus Golem, so take your Bec de Corbin, cast Luft Fusion, and smash him to pieces. Then kill the Imps and Blood Lizards and take all the treasure - accessories, Gems and the Steel Key.

This area is even smaller than the Forgotten Pathway. Just go straight down the path until you get to the Damascus Crab, then cast Spark Fusion on your Bec de Corbin and kill him for the Platinum Key. Now loot the chest for some equipment, and go back the way you came (that other exit just loops back onto itself). That's it.