This is not in the same train of thought as the OP, but I am also stuck right before the Sky People and didn't want to make a new thread. I fear my problem is a glitch, though.
I am stuck in the Sky Cannon chamber and unable to get out. Watever-his-name-is, in the purple with glasses etc., is not in the chamber at all, it's just me and the cannon. BUT, every time I try to walk out of the chamber, Purple-Shirt chastises me as if he was there, and I can't leave.
I can't turn into a wolf, because supposedly he can see me. I can't warp myself or the cannon out of the room for the same reason. There's no other exit to the chamber, besides the staircase, which I can't use. I can't even kill myself, because I don't have enough bombs to do so and there's no water to drown myself in. I can't return to an earlier save, because I don't have one.
Can't walk out, can't climb out, can't warp out. I've logged thirty hours, I don't want to restart. Does anyone have any advice?