Explorer's Crypt

The Explorer's Crypt is the penultimate dungeon of Oracle of Seasons. Within lies the seventh of the Essences of Nature, the Seed of Life.

Entrance to the Crypt
Fittingly, the entrance to the Explorer's Crypt is found within the Graveyard in the southwest corner of Holodrum. In order to access the graveyard, Link must cross the sea west of Horon Village in southern Holodrum, with the help of the Piratians and their ship. However, when arriving to Holodrum, the Piratians fell victim to a violent storm, causing them to crash in the nearby the Samasa Desert. The force of the impact was so violent that the part of the ship that was driven into the ground emerged in Subrosia. Stranded in a strange world, the Piratians are unable to do anything as their Captain is preoccupied with other matters: During the crash, the captain lost his precious bell, a gift from a "special someone", who is, in fact, Queen Ambi of Labrynna, the captain's long-time lover. Link must locate the Rusty Bell found in a cave Samasa Desert and have it polished at the Subrosian Smithy before returning it to the captain. Relieved, the Captain begins ordering his crew and prepares for the departure. Link boards the ship, and the Piratians pull out of Subrosia and sail to the Western Coast. From there, Link is able to access the Graveyard and the Explorer's Crypt found within.

Themes and Navigation
The Explorer's Crypt, as could be expected, is a dark and eerie dungeon dimly lit by torches and overrun with the undead. In some rooms, even the floor tiles are possessed and will fly at Link in an attempt to harm him. Much like the Forest Temple in Ocarina of Time and the Arbiter's Grounds in Twilight Princess, the Explorer's Crypt is haunted by two Poe Sisters. Each sister has cursed a room in the dungeon, causing the torches in that room to extinguish one by one. If all the torches should be put out, Link will be expelled from the dungeon. When Link lights two torches on either side of the sisters' tombstones, the Poe Sister will rise from her grave and fight Link. Defeating the Poe Sisters, one by one, lifts the curses on their respective rooms.

The item obtained in the dungeon is the Roc's Cape, which is used to fly across gaps within the crypt. Later on in the dungeon, Link will meet the two Poe Sisters once again, who together serve as the mini-boss for the dungeon. Once Link rids the dungeon of its haunters, Link may progress to obtain the Boss Key and use it to enter the lair of the dungeon's boss: Gleeok. Defeating Gleeok yields a Heart Container and the next-to-last Essence of Nature, the Seed of Life, a stark contrast to death-themed dungeon in which it is found.

Minor Enemies and Traps

 * Armos
 * Bubbles
 * Darknuts
 * Flying Tiles
 * Keese
 * Mini-Moldorms
 * Stalfos
 * Whisps
 * Wizzrobes
 * Zol/Gels

Trivia

 * Although being named "Explorer's Crypt", no signs of an explorer are ever found throughout the dungeon.
 * Each floor of the dungeon forms the shape of a skull.
 * In the French version of Oracle of Seasons, this dungeon is named "Crypte Étrange", meaning "Strange Crypt". This is the only version of the game to name the dungeon differently.