Crystal I - Palace of Darkness

Journeyman

Our first stop in the Dark World is the Palace of Darkness.  As we navigate the growth that has surrounded the palace, we encounter a small structure in which is a small tree.  Behold, the tree speaks!  It warns us of the Dark World's nature!  This guy explains much better why we turned into a bunny on our first trip here, and further reveals that only the first person who touches the Triforce may have his wishes granted!  Well, doesn't that suck for us?

Kiki the Monkey!

Further in this growth we find Kiki the Monkey, a money-grubbing little creature who is our only way into this dungeon.  Unless we give him most of our rupees, we will never be able to open the door, so we might as well say good-bye to those rupees.  What creeps me out is this monkey has an awkward smile and he's purple.

Zelda Now?

Now that we are in the Dark World, we can no longer communicate with Sahsarahla.  Sad day, I know.  But despite the fact that she is trapped within the forsaken Turtle Rock, Zelda can still communicate with us and alerts us to her situation and opens the window on the goal of the second part of the quest, which incidentally was the same as the first: to rescue her.  This will be the third time we've saved her in this game, so let's go!

Magic Hammer

Deep in the confines of the Palace of Darkness, Link finds the Magic Hammer which is a nice little weapon and the door to several puzzle solutions in the over-world.  We won't beat our next boss battle without it, so let's keep foraging!  The Palace of Darkness really isn't too complicated or difficult, one just needs to pay attention to the path ahead of them and keep pressing forward, not worrying about the dark because it's not too scary...it just makes things a little more difficult to traverse.

Helmasaur King

The Helmasaur King is the boss of the Palace of Darkness.  He can be quite a pain in the butt, and is quite damaging.  Those who don't know what they are doing are going to have the hardest time, but that's always the point of Zelda: seasoned players will have a much easier time with this boss: simply hammer away at his mask then slice and dice at his face, all the time taking time to play defense in the form of avoidance.  Hit and run seems to work wonders against many Zelda bosses.

Crystal #1

After the King goes down in a fiery death, the first crystal is released to you.  Within, you find a maiden who tells you she was trapped within thanks to Agahnim's design.  She also tells you lots and lots about Ganon, the leader of thieves, who is responsible for the shape of the Dark World, and then she unleashes the time bomb: that by releasing the other six maidens trapped within the crystals, you will be able to defeat Ganon and restore order to the Golden Land.  The true mission of the second half of the game has been revealed to you, now you don't need to worry about being so aimless anymore!  You just have to worry about surviving six more dungeons!  : )