Nox's Bayou

You’re now officially in Nox’s Bayou, where things are mostly the same, in terms of how you move around the area. After hitting the Underlab at the beginning, burrow under the rope and you will see a boat in the water. These boats only move in one direction upon getting on them, and will break whenever they finally stop/hit something. Ride this first boat to the next screen, where the game will introduce you to Nox’s Bayou with a short cinematic. Back to reality, when you see the opening just north of you while on the boat, get off and land on the slightly hidden platform here. Go right from this platform to find yourself back on the first screen, but you’re on the left side of the building.

Burrow through the hole just above you to arrive in a large area, with some enemies in shallow water. Step in the shallow water and a large shadow should appear, so sit back on the wood and watch as some large creature appears to gobble up the enemies. That essentially means you’ll have to be careful about sitting still too long here, since that creature will do the same to you. The goal here is to reach the rope in the northeast, so do that and climb up to the top to find the Twill Weave Trinket. If you have anything that extends your jump, then you can continue to the left here.

Bayou Band¶

A normal burrow jump won’t make it over this pit, but something like Keri the Wisp or Drill Driver will allow you to cross. Do so and follow the path until you can exit to the northwest. Climb down the rope on this screen and inspect the bucket in front of you to find a frog inside it, named Cliff. If you recall the band you found in the [Backwaters], then they mentioned something about a missing member. This is that member and if you agree to help him, then you’ll have to carry him back to his mates. Burrow underneath to pick him up and whenever you toss him in the water, he will continue moving until he hits land or something else.

If you leave him alone in the water for too long, then he will go under and respawn at his last safe location. Make your way across the first screen, then on the second, you will find some moving platforms. Toss him at the upper one first, then you can get him on the bottom one when they align. From there, you can toss him over to the right, and use the upper path to reach the exit. The next area will just be some narrow platforms, with the dragonfly enemies buzzing about, so either hurry through it or defeat the enemies first. This will bring you back to the screen with the large crocodile-like creature, where you want to drop down on the right side to get back to the Backwaters.

Once you’re back here, hop over the barrier just north of you and get on one of the moving platforms. Toss him next to his mates, then speak to them to get your reward, the Tumbling Tutu Trinket! Speak to Cliff again after and he’ll tell you of their dream to play at the Ossex Music Hall. Hand over the 100 Bones to help them and the next time you go there, you’ll find them there. Note that this may seem inconsequential, but you’ll want to do this for after you’re done with the Bayou.

Back to the Bayou¶

Return to the Bayou and past where you initially detoured. The little enemies skittering on top of the water can be a bit annoying, but they shouldn’t have too much health. As soon as you enter the next screen, look to your south to see a large burrow hole in that corner. This room has nothing of real note, as all the candles have Bones in them, except for one of the ones in the southeast corner. This one contains the Beckoning Collar sidearm, which allows you to summon a creature that sticks around until you either run out of joules or press the button again to detonate it. It’s a good idea to grab it, though, as there’s a Feat related to it and you’ll be using it for that sole purpose.

It’s best to avoid using it until that point, though, so don’t press the sidearm button to bring it out. Back in the main area, continue progressing to the left, using the two boats to reach the next screen. Use the lilypads to go south here, since you won’t be able to head north just yet. Drop down here and fight your way to the large gear thing near the center. Whenever you burrow into this thing, it will raise the water level, so do that. With the water level up, you can use the boats (the chest to the south has a Bonestone Gem) and notice the lily pads here. They sink and rise on a timer, so use them to reach the upper boat and exit back to the previous screen, where you want to take the accessible northern exit now.

Here, go to the northeast corner for another burrow hole, with a bunch of those water spider enemies, as well as another chest in the corner (Bonestone Gem). Back to the previous room, exit to the northwest and you’ll encounter a new enemy here. The fishman creature will toss jugs that explode whenever they hit the ground. If it’s on the water, then a fire shockwave will spread out from wherever it hit. You’re basically going to need to jump over the fire as it spreads, so keep an eye out for that. Once you reach the other side, you can strike the enemy until it’s gone. The next screen is more of the same, except you have some grating above the water to keep you safe, although the enemy’s explosives will destroy those.

You can use this to your advantage to get the Bones underneath, if you want those. At the far left side, there is an Underlab and you can either go left or up. Left is a dead end, but lets you preview another area you’ll visit later, so head upward to the Big Lagoon.

Big Lagoon¶

As soon as you enter this area, head right and across the deep water, then look along the bottom wall for a spot you can hit. This takes you to the one jug tossing enemy on a higher ledge, and right next to it is a hole you can burrow into. There is another Beckoning Collar in here, as well as a Volt Hatchet. The chute here takes you back to Lucky’s Lair in the Backwaters (the little house that had a Kear inside from the one NPC). Back in the Big Lagoon, make your way north, minding the explosive jugs being thrown at you. When you reach the northwestern corner, you can destroy the log there to reveal a hidden hole. Go underground to find yourself in a slightly dark place.

Despite it being dark, you’ll always have a light on you. On the opposite side will be a fish enemy tossing jugs, so use the fire to help determine the path. Defeat the laser enemy at the end, then jump over the barrier to defeat the jug enemy and secure the Kear in the chest. Return topside and head to the top-right corner, where you can discover another hidden burrow hole, although this one just has some Bones inside. Outside again, continue making your way south again on this eastern side, until you reach the central part with the jug-tossers. Destroy the vines in the way, then dispatch the toad and raise the water with the gear.

Things will be a little more challenging now, as the large beast under the water returns here, and you have to navigate the area with lily pads. The first thing you should do is head to the southeastern corner, as there is a small hole in the wall you can burrow under. In this room, make it to the other side to grab the Vascular Syrup Trinket from the chest. Back in the main area, make your way to the northeastern corner now and enter the house there. The Kindly Hag can sell you the Pit Preserver Trinket, as well as a Kear. Use the Kear on the lock behind her and open the chest for the Blaststrike Maul weapon (or an upgrade).

The next stop in the main area is the northwest corner, where you only want to destroy the wood blocking you along the top. Once you do that, ignore the path heading north and start making the trek to the southwest corner. There’s a big hole in the wall there that you can burrow under, leading to the Moonlit Path.

Moonlit Path - Mock Moon Boss¶

The goal here is to make it all the way north, using the sets of lily pads as they float down the river. Before you start heading north, go south first to find the shortcut rope in the bottom right corner, as well as a chest containing a Bonestone Gem. Other than enemies, the rest of the way north will be pretty uneventful. You will have to hop over some barriers along the way and at the end, some vines will impede your way to the exit. Hopefully, you have a good amount of Vials on you, as the next screen will contain the mini-boss!

For the most part, the Mock Moon will threateningly float around the arena and usually have explosions following it. These explosions are marked with big circles, so you don’t have to guess the range of them. There are other times where it will jump into the air, crashing down and having a ring of explosions around it. Another attack it can do is disappearing, then popping out of the ground and dashing across the screen. This is where you should just concentrate on dodging, since you want to avoid getting hit. As you lower its health, you will see the Mock Moon retreat to one side of the screen, filling the entire area with explosions.

There will usually be one or two spots that are clear, so you’ll have to quickly move to those to be safe. Once you bring its health down to like 30-40%, then things can get a little more challenging, as it will make the arena darker. It will still have all of the same moves as above, but since there is deep water to worry about, you won’t be able to really see its location. If you have the Beckoning Collar equipped, then this is a good contender for the Beckoning Buddy trophy/achievement. Bring it out at the start of the fight, then leave it alone and don’t touch the sidearm button. Depending on the amount of joules you have, you might need to be extremely aggressive with the boss.

When the Mock Moon has been defeated, head to the next screen to the north and loot the Iron Lung Trinket from the chest. The mirror to Astral Orrery is also here, so you can hit the gear to enable the green tiles there. Return to the boss arena and take the stairs in the southeast, then bust the shortcut to the right to get back to the Big Lagoon. You’re pretty much done here, so follow the northern path to the north exit, bringing you to the Thick Thicket.

Thick Thicket¶

After touching the Underlab, the only way to go is to the left, so fight past the big toads and exit in the northwest. On the next screen, you’re introduced to some plant-like enemy that can spawn a lot of thorns. It will also lash out at you when you get close, so be careful. Continue into the next screen and drop down into the shallow water for more enemies. Note that this is a great spot to try for the Four-Point Hatchet Feat, since the thorns of the plant enemy count as enemies. So, keep the plant alive to try and get to to make some thorns, preferably in a big mass, then toss an axe in the middle to unlock the Feat.

In this same room, you can burrow under the wall on your right to find a small area with a chest, that contains a Bonestone Gem. The next few screens will be linear, with more plant enemies. When you reach the room with two plant enemies, as well as an explosive barrel, there’s a slightly hidden chest in the upper right corner that has a Bonestone Gem in it. Just beyond there will be a bridge area, with some old ladies tossing something at you. They can be a little annoying, as they run away whenever you get close, so try to pursue them to get rid of them as soon as possible.

At the far right, go south to another section with more older ladies. When you reach the bottom, ignore the stairs in the bottom right and look for the partially hidden stairs in the bottom left. Jump while moving right on this obscured path, until you reach the center, where you can strike the wall above you to find a secret cave. Inside, use the boats to reach the upper right corner for the chest, which has a Kear. Back on the main path, the stairs in the bottom right bring you to the shortcut rope by the Underlab, and right of that is the Tainted Lair.

Tainted Lair¶

Lower the rope here and make your way to the center of the room, with the four buried Bones. Once there, the only way to continue is to the right and then up, through the exit to the north. Drop down in the next room and evade the jug-tossing fishman, until you can reach it and take it down. Return to the screen to the south and defeat the enemies here, but don’t touch the water-raising gears yet. There is a secret you can get around here, but you can only activate one of the two water gears (don’t worry, you can go in them to lower the water again). Once you do this, go back north and drop down again, but there is something different now.

The hole along the northern wall is accessible, so burrow through it to arrive in a room with a large storm drain. Ignore that, as it leads to a dead end, and concentrate on getting the chest with the Bonestone Gem in the corner. To get out of here, you can bust the wall in the lower right, allowing you to reach the main area again. Activate the second water gear and then exit to the south (nothing new up north). Ignore the jug enemy on the far left and quickly make your way to the right side. The button in the bottom corner will lower the spiked bars, allowing you to get the chest here (Bonestone Gem).

Return to the left side to access the Underlab, then bust the wall in the upper left to create a shortcut back to the water gears. The exit on the far right side leads to another screen with some boats, so ride them across and go through the vines to arrive at the boss of this area.

Nox’s Beast Boss Strategy¶

The first thing you want to pay attention to here is that Nox’s Beast jumps around a lot and creates patches of deep water. That means it’s possible that you can fall in and take unnecessary damage, so pay attention. In addition to this, the boss has a number of attacks that can be problematic. One such annoyance is whenever the beast spits out a large number of green bubbles, similar to the large toads with the clubs. There are a lot more here, so your range of movement will be diminished some. Thankfully, you can destroy them with your weapons, so don’t forget about that.

Another attack is when the Beast starts sucking in just about everything, so avoid this by doing some burrowing, as normal walking speed won’t cut it. Nox’s Beast can also pop up from underneath, like you’ve seen it do throughout this entire area. Additionally, you will see the beast swimming around, usually showing its head at some points. You can attack it if you want, which you should do when you have clear shots, but don’t push things too much here. At some point, while swimming around, the boss will do a charge, but line it up so it can only go in one direction, instead of all over the place.

When you start getting Nox’s Beast lower on health, it will change up a few things. It will begin shooting out some explosives, similar to the jug-tossing enemies, meaning that there will be a shockwave of fire throughout the entire room. Likewise, the green bubbles have been replaced with fire ones, so breaking them can cause some damage from the small fires coming from them. The final new attack here will be whenever the Beast shakes, then jumps around to slam its fists on the ground, creating short shockwaves. Keep at it and the Beast will eventually go down, putting things to rest here.

After the fight is over, collect your Bones, as well as the Health Rose, then exit to the right. The waterfalls here obscure the way forward, but with enough trial and error, you will reach the Underlab. To the north will be the Spark Tower, which isn’t really any different, except that enemies and obstacles from this area will populate it. Just keep an eye out for the fuses you can burrow into, and you should be fine. Remember that the enemies should be pretty much ignored now, as they are distractions and getting hit with the wave will send you all the way back to the beginning of the tower.

At the top, do the usual and you will finally be done with Nox’s Bayou, unless you missed something.