The Lich Yard is an old village overrun by the undead, and is the lair of Specter Knight. It is one of the earliest and easiest stages of Shovel Knight, located in the first quarter of the Valley. Once cleared, it unlocks the Forest of Phasing or Forest of Fishing. In Specter of Torment, the stage is the lair of Phantom Striker.
Due to Specter Knight's presence inside the puzzle box, an illusory copy of The Lich Yard can be found inside the Pocket Dungeon.
Description[]
The Lich Yard takes the appearance of a spooky, dark, worn-down village in the middle of a swamp. It neighbors a large cemetery cluttered with gravestones, catacombs and many more death-related details. The gravestones sometimes release an Invisishade when damaged by an attack from above. Some parts of the stage are pitched black, with only brief lightning strikes to give a glimpse of the surrounding platforms. It always takes place during the night.
In Shovel of Hope and Plague of Shadows, only the cemetery and catacombs are explored. The village itself is visited in Specter of Torment and King of Cards, and has larger buildings than the Village north from it and the Armor Outpost. Specter Knight's secret room can also be found there but gets devastated after the Lich Yard is abandoned by the living.
Story[]
The Lich Yard is older than the Village, as hinted by its imposing cemetery. While the restless dead occasionally rose at night, they were kept from attacking the village by the Phantom Striker. However, the latter left his post to wander across the Valley after Specter Knight defeated him in order to recruit him for the Order of No Quarter. Later when the Order was fully formed, The Enchantress had Specter Knight and her newfound forces of living dead overrun the Lich Yard and drive out its inhabitants.
Specter Knight guarded the Lich Yard until his defeat by Shovel Knight or Plague Knight. After The Enchantress's demise, he returns to the Lich Yard to partake in games with Mona and some other villagers.
Obstacles[]
- Bounce Bush
- Gravestone
- Ghostly Flame (SoT)
- Invisible Wall (SoT)
Specter Knight's Secret Room[]
A secret in the wall in Specter of Torment reveals that Specter Knight lived in the Lich Yard, even when he was alive. His room is guarded by a Super Skeleton impersonating Specter Knight to intimidate and repel trespassers. To find the secret room, in the room before the second checkpoint, one must slash the leftmost wall, and then jump on the ground it exposes, and a ladder should appear. After going down said ladder, the Super Skeleton will open the room after being spoken to.
As shown in Specter of Torment, the room contains various items from when Donovan was alive, including a picture that can be torn (which will spawn an Invisishade) and an empty chest guarded by chains. Specter Knight returns there to hide his keepsake locket inside the empty chest during the campaign's ending. In the room there is also a map, that was later shown in Shovel Knight Dig (only flipped) being used by the Hexcavators, implying that Donovan and Luan somehow retrieved and used that same chart to reach the Amulet during their own (disastrous) attempt to claim it.
This is the same room, albeit somewhat different due to having been damaged after being flooded with water, is where Plague Knight finds the Phase Locket in Plague of Shadows, which he later trades with Chester, and which is then sold to Shovel Knight in Shovel of Hope.
In the post-credits scene of Specter of Torment, Donovan remarks "And you simply made off with his boots?". These same boots can be seen in Specter Knight's secret room in the Lich Yard.
Like for Plague Knight's and King Knight's own secret quarters, entering this room will earn the feat Get out of my Room!.
In Pocket Dungeon[]
The Lich Yard (simply referred to as Lich Yard) is the third stage visited in a run of Pocket Dungeon. This is one of the four stages that always spawns a Shrine Portal, making it a necessary stage to complete to achieve the true ending. Once the stage has been visited naturally for the first time, a shortcut for Percy's cannon can be purchased for 11,000 Gems.
The Lich Yard features only three enemies, though all of them are tricky to defeat in their own right. Brown Boneclangs, Invisishades, and Tadvolts are the only enemies in the spawn pool, and the stage lacks a mini-boss. The Legendary Path rectifies this by adding the Super Skeleton (distinct from the Shrinemaster) as a mini-boss, as well as adding a new Gravestone obstacle that spawns Zambies if manually attacked without chaining to other Gravestones. Additionally, the stage may feature a hazard in which the screen sometimes darkens, only illuminating units around the playable character's immediate vicinity, though not obscuring the golden sparkles of a Key or Treasure Chest.
In a normal run, this stage will feature one out of three "first boss" battles at its end, being either King Knight, Plague Knight, or the stage's traditional boss encounter, Specter Knight.
Trivia[]
- In the files, the Lich Yard is called the "Village of Death".