Chapter 4 of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door has you visit Twilight Town and Creepy Steeple. Everything seems to be going well. Mario and the gang get the star, and it seems like the chapter is at a close. That is until it’s revealed that Mario’s body has been snatched, leaving him as a shadow.
Venture back to Twilight Town, and you’ll be confronted by the fiend. He’ll give you a fighting chance, however. Guess his name, and you’ll get your body back.
I could just give you his name, but it won’t do you any good. The keyboard he provides to you to type his name in is missing the lower-case “p,” and you won’t be able to spell it out without it. The key is located in the same place as his name, so buckle up.
A fight will ensue, but just run away (you have no choice) and head into Twilight Town. You’re going to need Vivian.
How to recruit Vivian in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
You find Vivian in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door in Chapter 4, and you’ll need her skills to complete it. She’s been getting bullied by her sisters, and now they’ve given her the task of finding their doomsday device, the Superbombomb.
She doesn’t recognize Mario in his shadow form and asks him to help. You need to search through the grass, pounding down each tuft of it with your hammer. Eventually, the Superbombomb will pop out. It might seem like a bad idea, but give it back to Vivian.
As it turns out, the Superbombomb is broken. Mario then explains to Vivian that his name has been stolen, and she agrees to help. She joins your party.
Where to find the p Key in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
You’re going to need Vivian’s field ability to find the name of the fiend who stole Mario’s name (and body) in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. First, you’re going to need to eavesdrop on the crows around Twilight Town. Simply walk under a tree and press X to have Vivian draw you into the shadows. The crows will then speak freely. You won’t learn the name, but they will say that it can be found under Creepy Steeple.
Return to Creepy Steeple, but don’t enter through the front door. The well in front of the gate is boarded up, but you can butt stomp (ground pound) through this. I’ll bet you did this already because it’s pretty conspicuous, but the solution to its sliding gate puzzle would stump you without Vivian.
To solve the puzzle, you have to push the metal door up the hill for a while. It doesn’t need to be all the way. Once it’s high enough, have Vivian pull you into the shadows, and the door will slide back over you. Pop back out and you’re now on the other side of the door.
Go through the wooden door, then roll up and go through the narrow path. At the end of it is a wooden hatch on the floor. Pound through it, and you’ll find yourself in a gated hallway. Go left, then roll yourself up again to squeeze through a small hole at the bottom of that wall.
You’ll find yourself in a room with a parrot and a few chests. In the far chest is the coveted letter p. Stand under the parrot and have Vivian hide you again. The parrot will talk freely and drop the bodysnatcher’s name: Doopliss.
You have the letter p and the name you need. Leave and continue back to Twilight Town. You’ll be ambushed at the usual spot. This time, enter the name Doopliss into the prompt, and the fiend will panic. He’ll run off, still with Mario’s body.
You can probably guess where he went. Head back to Creepy Steeple (again). Climb back up to the top where you first fought Doopliss. He’ll be there again, this time ready to fight alongside your former companions. Vivian will put things together and realize that you’re actually Mario. She’ll run away at first, but she’ll return for the fight. Mario is the only person who has ever been kind to her.
Take down Dupliss and, this time, you’ll actually get the star with no strings attached.
