Ember Plains Enemy Lore
The Ember Plains
Returning to the hub world after dismantling the mobster syndicates of the Emerald Canopy, Koopa and Kiko are met by a frantic Mortimer Mole. One of his prized museum artifacts, originating from an ancient, dormant volcano known as The Engine, has begun violently shaking and glowing red-hot. Right before their eyes, the relic explodes into a puddle of molten lava, burning straight through its display case.
Desperate for answers, Mortimer directs the heroes to Minigame Mills, who recently travelled near the volcano. Mills reveals he took a shortcut through the Ember Plains, a vast desert biome home to a sprawling, parrot-run vacation resort. However, the resort was facing a crisis: extreme, uncontrollable heat from the volcano was causing all the swimming pools and lazy rivers to evaporate. Armed with this knowledge, Mortimer hands over the heated artifact, which acts as the third key to open the Elder Turtle portal.
Stepping through the portal into the Ember Plains, the heroes find the once-bustling vacation getaway almost entirely abandoned. At the centre of the dried-up oasis, they meet the desperate Parrot General Manager.
The manager explains that their geothermal boilers (which tap directly into the lava of The Engine) have completely malfunctioned, steadily growing hotter over the past month. The heat has boiled away the resort's artificial waves and lazy rivers, driving away all the tourists. Worse yet, the rising temperatures and evaporating waters have awakened a mysterious, monstrous creature that has been snatching the few remaining visitors right from under the sand.
Venturing out of the resort and into the scorching desert dunes, Koopa and Kiko encounter a bizarre new enemy faction: The Utensil Beetles.
Long ago, these insects worshipped a ravenous, shelled Scorpion god, and their sole purpose in life was to feed it. Over generations of servitude, the beetles comedically evolved to resemble kitchen utensils to better serve their master's endless appetite. The less-evolved grunts of the swarm have simply raided the resort's kitchens to arm themselves, resulting in aerial Electric Whisk Beetles and fast Rolling Pin Beetles aggressively searching the sands for food to appease their god.
As players explore the Ember Plains, they must constantly stay on the move. The hungry Scorpion god actively stalks Koopa and Kiko from beneath the earth, indicated by an ominous, shifting shadow directly beneath the players. Lingering in the shadow for too long will result in a deadly ambush sting that forces a respawn.
To uncover the mystery of the desert, players can use their Duo-Slam ability on specific dark patches of sand to break through the crust and drop into hidden underground shrines. These safe havens contain ancient murals that explain the lore of the Scorpion's insatiable hunger and provide a brief respite from the stalker above, as well as hints of the Bunyip Alchemist that Koopa and Kiko will meet in the next chapter.
The journey through the harsh desert culminates at the towering, fiery entrance to The Engine. Just as the heroes attempt to breach the volcano to fix the overheating boilers and track down the next stolen gemstone, the massive Shelled Scorpion bursts from the sand. It is revealed that this beast is one of the Japanese Spider Crab's chosen commanders, embedded with a stolen Elder Turtle gemstone. Defeating the supercharged Scorpion in a high-stakes boss battle secures the first gem of the expedition and forces open the heavy, fiery doors to the volcano.