Avernum 4 FAQ Version 1.00 By Matt P Email: Elementalizardaolcom Avernum 4 and all names are copyright Spiderweb software, 2005, 2006. Avernum 4 is shareware from Spiderweb softare. It cost $25 to register, though you can play the ~15% game for free. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents 1. Character Creation and Development -Statistics discussion -Special skills -Resistances -Character Traits 2. Hints & Tactics -Items to hold on to -Spell discussion 3. Walkthrough 4. Construction Places 5. Teachers and trainers 6. Spell book locations 7. Notable item list ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. CHARACTER CREATION AND DEVELOPMENT: Character type: I always choose custom. It's not a bad idea to go for a preset class if this is your first time playing the game, but custom classes are almost always superior, as you have much better control over your skills. The most important thing to your character are his/her stats/skills, which are discussed next. It is worth noting that preset character classes get a few more skill points than custom characters, but they are usually more spread around. Due to the nature of the trainers in this game, spreading points around is frequently not a good idea. Hence these bonus points aren't always useful, and are often detrimental to a character's maximal development. Of course, you can beat the game with pretty much any character set, so it's not really worth worrying about that much. Statistics Discussion ++++BASIC STATS++++ > Strength (initial cost- 6). Strength influences your damage, some of your resistances, and the amount you can carry. Every point in strength adds 9 to your weight allowance. Increase your strength when you need to increase your carrying capacity, as the other bonuses are harder to notice. This skill influences other special skills, so be sure to increase it occasionally. The bonus to damage really isn't that big a deal. > Dexterity (initial cost- 6). Dexterity influences your attack position (when you attack compared to when your enemies attack), your to hit%, your dodging ability, and a few other things. It is an excellent skill to increase, and it also affects several special skills. > Intelligence (initial cost- 6). Intelligence influences your spell strength, your mental resistance, and your available spell points. Fighters can mostly ignore this, as aside from the bonus to mental resistance, it doesn't give them much of a bonus. The bonus to mental resistance is pretty low, anyway. > Endurance (initial cost- 5). Increases your HP and some of your resistances. This is a skill that's nice to have, but is fairly costly. Give your fighters ~2 added points each, and keep your priests/mages at 0 or 1 added points. At the beginning of the game, it adds maybe 1 or 2 HP per level. Increase it near the end of the game where the extra HP comes in handy, especially when stacked with some of the permanent spells. ++++WEAPON STATS++++ > Melee Weapons (initial cost- 4). Determines melee weapon damage and to hit%, other than pole weapons. Any weapon that uses only 1 hand is officially a melee weapon. These items usually aren't too strong, but have great bonuses. > Pole Weapons (initial cost- 4). Determines pole weapon damage and to hit%. Pole weapons are much stronger than melee weapons, but you can't use a shield. Sliths get bonuses to this skill. > Bows (initial cost- 2). Determines damage done/to hit% by bows. Allows you to strike from a distance. A nice skill that everyone should add points to (from a trainer though- DON'T add points if you're a mage/priest beforehand). Bows are pretty powerful in Avernum 4. > Thrown Weapons (initial cost- 2). Determines damage/to hit% done by thrown weapons. Thrown weapons are much more limited than bows, but much stronger. However, you have to have a good collection to use this regularly. I tend to stick with bows. > Quick Action (initial cost- 1). Gives you a small chance to attack twice, and increases your attack order. A nice, cheap skill- at about level 5-6, you'll get lots of double attacks. ++++MAGIC STATS++++ > Mage Spells (initial cost- 5). Determines the level of mage spells you can cast, as well as their strength. Mages should get this up to level 17 (without item bonuses, but with natural mage bonuses). > Priest Spells (initial cost- 4). Determines the level of priest spells you can cast, as well as their strength. Priests should get this up to level 17 (without item bonuses, but with pure spirit bonuses). > Arcane Lore (initial cost- 1). Determines your ability to read spells. No more than 20 is needed for the whole game, maybe less. > Spellcraft (initial cost- 3). Provides a bonus to all spells. Once you've enabled magery, improve this till they both cost the same. It's a nice ability for mages/priests only. ++++MISCELLANEOUS STATS & LORES++++ > Hardiness (initial cost- 1). Increases resistances and decreases damage taken by attacks. > Defense (initial cost- 2). Increases dodging ability, or your ability to be missed by melee attacks. Also opens up parry, which is a potent skill in A4. > Tool Use (initial cost- 1). Determines ability to unlock doors, disarm traps, and fiddle with things in general. 15 points maximum is all that's needed, though that's a lot of skill points. Add this skill to your mage only. The spell unlock adds to your tool use, giving you a huge bonus, only if they have some tool use. > Nature Lore (initial cost- 1). This determines your chance of passifying monsters (kill them afterwards, if you like), and of finding caches. If you want to use the best bow in the game, get this up to 25. Otherwise, max it out at about 18-20. Aim for ~12 around Fort Dranlon, ~14 around the TotM, ~15 around the slith lands. I always stockpile a few skill points so that if I encounter a cache and can't get the goodie inside, I add a point or two to nature lore and grab it. > First Aid (initial cost- 1). Influence the health you get returned to you when you've killed something. Interestingly, this skill only kicks in when you've killed something (maybe only killing something for xp, at that). It's a great skill that can return a nice bit of HP and SP for fights. It'll keep you moving through the enemies. > Luck (initial cost- 4). Provides a bonus to many things, most notably resistances. I'm not sure what else it does, really, but it's worth investing in occasionally. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ++++Special skills++++ Once you've gotten established in your game, you'll notice a few special skills become available with a bit of playing. In order to train in them, you have to meet the following requirements (these notes are from the spiderweb message boards). Sometimes it's a bit confusing as to when a skill is ready, since you may have earned points in the skill through other means. To this end I have stated how many points a skill should cost before you can activate the special skill. For example, say you have a slith and are trying to get blademaster. The slith gets automatic bonuses to pole weapons, and these bonuses can lead to over-investment into a specific skill, which is bad. If you want blademaster and have a character with bonuses to these skills, these notes should help you decide where you want to place your skill points. It is worth noting that some skills are slightly redundant (Spellcraft -> Magery, Bows -> Sharpshooter), but that putting points in a new special skill is often cheaper. Another point worth noting is that skill bonuses received from items, blessings, and character traits DO NOT add points towards the skill set requirement, but skill bonuses from trainers do go towards skill set requirement. For instance, one gets a bonus to endurance as a reward for a few quests. However, this bonus does not count towards the resistance / magical efficiency requirements. However, the bonuses also don't increase the skill cost, so it's not all bad. KEY: > Special skill name: Requirement 1 (the point cost per point of requirement 1 when requirement 1 is met) + requirement 2 (the point cost per point of requirement 1 when requirement 1 is met), the initial point cost of special skill name per point. Description. THE SPECIAL SKILLS > Parry: 6 Dex (cost is 8) + 6 Def (starts to cost 5), skill points per point = 3. Gives a chance to completely ignore an enemy's attack. About 5% chance per point. Very easy to acquire, and very potent. Late game enemies have lots of skill points in this skill making engaging them in melee attacks a dangerous proposition. Also gives some chance of avoiding magic (a small chance) and missile attacks (even smaller chance). > Quick Strike: 6 Dex (cost is 8)+ 6 Melee (starts to cost 7 pts), skill points per point = 3. Gives a chance to add an extra AP point per turn, and makes you act faster in combat. A bit less than 5% chance per point. A good skill, one you should buy some points in for everyone. Don't try to train in it for everyone, though. > Gymnastics: 6 Str (cost is 8) + 8 Dex (cost is 9), skill points per point = 4. Increases your dodging ability and makes you act faster in combat. Can make you very hard to hit. > Magery: 8 Int (cost is 9) + 6 Priest/Mage Spells (cost is 6/7). Initial cost is 4. Increases the bonus to your spells. Pretty much equivalent to spellcraft, though a bit more expensive. > Blademaster: 6 Melee (starts to cost 7 pts) + 6 Pole (starts to cost 7 pts) + 6 Str (cost is 8). Initial cost is 5. Increases your damage and to hit % for melee and pole weapons. Very powerful. > Riposte: 6 Blade (starts to cost 8) + 8 Parry (starts to cost 7). Initial cost per point is ?. Gives you a chance to strike an enemy on a successful parry. About 5% chance per point. Very difficult to train, but there are items that augment this skill. > Anatomy: 6 Int (cost is 8) + 8 Melee/Pole (cost is 8), initial cost per point is 4. Increases the damage you do with weapons against humanoid enemies. Humanoids are among the most abundant enemy. Priests are the most likely to be able to train in this skill, since they actually need the intelligence. > Lethal Blow: 8 Anatomy (cost is 8) + 8 Blademaster (cost is 9). Gives a chance to hit an enemy hard if its level is much lower than yours. I'm not sure how damaging this skill really is, though. It's nearly impossible to get your skill high enough to train it, though, especially given the low return of intelligence for fighters. Don't bother. > Sharpshooter: 6 Dex (cost is 8) + 8 Bows/Thrown (cost is 6), initial cost is 4. Adds to damage done by bows. Very potent. Any bow-focused user should strive to access this skill. > Magical Efficiency: 8 Magery (cost is 8) + 8 End (cost is 8). Initial cost is 4. Gives a small chance of conserving some SP when casting a spell. Not good enough to try to get to the point where you can train in it as the return isn't the best. However, there are several points to be obtained in this skill, so be sure to get them as it sure doesn't hurt. > Resistance: 8 Dex (cost is 9) + 8 End (cost is 8) + 8 Hard (cost is 5). Initial cost is 6 per skill point. Gives a chance to decrease the damage taken from spells (fire, cold, energy only). Not really worth getting to the point where you can train in it). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Resistance bonuses. Resistances diminish the amount of damage taken from a specific attack. Most resistances are increased by increasing stats, and the points per point of resistance, armor, and luck are also shown. Luck / point Armor / point Resistance / pt Armor +1 +1 Fire +2/Hard +1 +1/2 +4 Cold +2/Hard +1 +1/2 +4 Energy +2/Hard +1 +1/2 +4 Stun +5/Str +3 Mental +3/Int +1 Poison +5/End +3 Acid +5/End +3 Discussion Armor provides a decent bonus to fire, cold, and energy resistance. This means that it is often better to equip a suit of armor that gives more armor than a suit that gives less armor but a few bonus resistances. For instance, the Ruby breastplate gives 22 armor, and +8 to fire resistance. However, the blessed breastplate gives 34 armor, but no specified resistance bonus (other than to stun). However, it actually provides 6 more points of resistance to cold and energy and only two less points to fire due to the bonus (34-22 = 12, 12/2 = 6) from the armor. Luck provides a huge bonus to resistances. Thus the clover boots (+3 luck), provide a lot of resistance to the character that wears them. The resistance skill gives a decent bonus to your resistance, but it's not enough to actually try to get the skill over. If it gave a bonus to mental resistance, it might actually be worth it. Resistance requires a sizable investment of skill points, and you're best off just buying a few points from a trainer and leaving it at that. Mental resistance is by far the rarest resistance. Having a high mental resistance is also very helpful, as control foes and terror are popular spells cast by bosses. Value items with high mental resistance bonuses higher than items with bonuses to other resistances. For instance, a +15 Mental resistance ring is better than a +15 acid resistance ring. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Character Trait Discussion General overview: Traits provide bonuses beyond what one normally receives from the skill set. Some traits are very much worth having, like natural mage, pure spirit, and elite warrior. Others are a bit more nebulous, and it's unclear what those traits actually do. Characters can only have two traits, so choose wisely. Races can be considered to be an additional trait, and provide substantial bonuses as well. Positive traits (experiency penalty) + Good Constitution (-8%) Provides a hidden bonus to endurance (resulting in poison and acid resistance), and decreases damage taken from some attacks. + Nimble Fingers (-8%) Provides a bonus to tool use and to first aid. These bonuses increase with time. + Thick Skin (-8%) Provides a hidden bonus to hardiness, reducing damage taken. It's unclear how large just yet. + Strong Will (-10%) Provides a hidden bonus to mental resistance. It is unclear how large this bonus is. + Deadeye (-10%) Provides a bonus to sharpshooter that grows with your level. If you want a pure archer, this is the trait to take. + Fast on Feet (-12%) Provides a bonus to AP about 50% of the time, and adds to your attack order. Very useful. + Pure Spirit (-15%) Provides a bonus to priest spells (+2) and magical efficiency (+2). Both skills grow with your level, and I had about +6 to priest spells and +7 to magical efficiency from this trait by level 30. Priests will appreciate having this trait. + Natural Mage (-15%) Provides a bonus to mage spells that grows with level, and a one-time bonus to magical efficiency. Also increases the amount of armor you can wear before hurting your casting ability to -20% to hit (as opposed to the usual value of -5% to hit). Mages need this trait. My mage had a bonus of +6 to mage spells by level 32 through this trait. + Elite Warrior (-15%) Provides a bonus to parry and blademaster that grows with your level. Melee fighters will want this trait. The initial bonus is +2 to both skills, which grows to about +6 by level 33. + Divinely Touched (-30%) Provides bonuses to blademaster, magery, and sharpshooter which likely grow per level.. Makes for a very potent character, though the experience penalty is prohibitive. Negative Traits - Weak Mind (+5%) Makes the character more vulnerable to mental spells (like terror, confusion, daze). The opposite of strong will. There are few mental magic users in this game, so it's not too bad a negative trait, though when it's bad, it's really bad. Still, this one is worth some consideration. - Delicate Skin (+8%) Makes the character more vulnerable to magic attacks with fire, cold, and others. Essentially the opposite of thick skin. This one could be grabbed by those who stay out of the fight and attack slowly (like mages). Counteract this one with a few points in endurance to increase your survival. - Sluggish (10%) The opposite of Fast on Feet. Not really worthwhile, as you need all the AP you can get. - Brittle Bones (15%) Increases damage done from melee and missile attacks. Although mages could find this skill to be useful, the AI in this game is programmed to respond to spells with force, which will result in pain for your mage. It's not really worth it. - Frail (20%) Hurts nearly everything- definitely not worth taking, unless you're trying to do some role-playing. Races: = Human: No bonuses, but no experience penalty either. A safe route. = Nephilim: Provides bonuses to gymnastics, bows, and thrown weapons that grow with time. Bows and thrown weapons have bonuses of +2 initially, which grows to about +7 by level 31. Gymnastics has a bonus of +1, which grows to +4 by level 31. Excellent for archer-type characters. = Slithzerikai: Provides bonuses to pole weapons that grows with time (2 points at the beginning of the game, +6 by level 30), and a one-time bonus to fire resistance (+10%). Sliths make excellent warriors and priests. Given the strength of pole weapons in A4, having a slith will make you happy. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Hints and Tactics Items to hold on to: 1 Shackles 3 Curing Elixirs 1 Mortar and Pestle 3 Fine Leather 1 Towel 1 Pipe 1 Tongs 1 Pliers 1 Hammer 1 Graymold 1 Fine Waveblade 2 Vahnatai Cloaks 20 Bags of Meal 20 Bottles of Wine 4 Bottles of Gremlin Wine Construction items Fine Leather Fine Steel Focusing Crystals Gold Bars (a few) Emeralds (a few) Rubies (a few) Healing Herbs Spiritual Herbs Energetic Herbs Graymold Mandrake Root Sticks (a few) Crystals (a few) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spells. Overview: There are two classes of spells- mage and priest. Unlike previous Avernum games, the bonus you get from learning spells at a higher level is minimal! Most spells incorporate a factor known as the "spell bonus." The "spell bonus" is a combination of your spell skill, spellcraft, magery, and spell level. Thus having a level 2 spell is the same as having a level 1 spell and an extra point in spellcraft. You do not need to buy every level of spell to make your spells stronger- instead, focus on selected spells and maximize your return. Save your money instead for trainers and purchase skills, which will benefit you much more in the long run. Mage Spells Firebolt. The staple of the mage's arsenal, firebolt is wonderful. It does damage to 70-80% of all enemies, and never goes obsolete. Fire creatures (usually denoted by "fire" or "ruby") and demons are typically immune or very resistant, whereas undead and most humans are vulnerable to this spell. Call Beast. Calls a weak monster to fight for you. Myeh, I rarely used this spell. Firebolt is more damaging directly. It has its rare uses when fighting bosses, as do all summon spells, but you can get by perfectly well never summoning a dang thing. Summon spells are much more useful for singletons. Acid Spray. The last resort spell. If it's immune to most everything else, chances are it's vulnerable to acid. This include the Mertis Spiral undead, pylons, golems, and many others. It's a potent spell, though it takes a while to do good damage. Daze. Has a chance to stun some enemies. You're better off using other spells, in my opinion. Others find it to be much more useful. Haste. Increases the number of AP the recipient has by 50% (which drops to 25% with time). Makes a tank character go from annoying an enemy to killing the enemy. Cast this before every major battle, and frequently before the minor ones as well. Slow. Slows an enemy down so that it loses every other turn. Very nice to use on bosses, as few things are immune. You may have to hit them a few times for it to set in, though. Icy Rain. An area of effect spell that hits the recipients with ice damage. It's very useful at the beginning of the game, and often against later fire- resistant enemy hordes. Unlock Door. Opens up doors that are locked by improving a character's tool use. This spell is the reason you want to add tool use to your mage, as tool use has a huge bonus relative to the strength of this spell! Augmentation. Increases your HP by 30-60 points for a long period of time. Nice, and get used to casting it every time you leave town once you have >200 SP. Improving levels in this spell does not have any noticeable effect. Minor Summon. Summons up a weak ally. I tend not to use summon spells, but that's just me. Summon spells are much more useful for singletons. Lightning Spray. If they are strong against fire and strong against melee, chances are they will be weak against this spell. Use it, and it will do >100 damage nearly every time. Great spell for golems. Hits up to 3 enemies, but they must be less than 3 spaces away from your main target. Terror. Scares a monster into either panicking and running, or paralyzing it. Some find this spell to be great; I don't really use it. Prismatic Shield. Grants resistance to cold and mental effects. Nice, and use it before boss fights, or in fights with basilisks. Dispel Barrier. A necessary spell that removes magic barriers. While many barriers can be dispelled with piercing crystals, some can't, and besides, carrying around a bunch of piercing crystals is a pain in the butt. Get this spell, and get it early. Summon Aid. Another summon spell. Summon spells are much more useful for singletons. Strong Daze. Stuns all enemies around you. May be useful on rare occasions. Fireblast. An area of effect fire spell. When groups of enemies are weak vs. fire, use this and divine fire to clean them out. Arcane Summon. The strongest of the summon spells, I'm still not a fan. Summon spells are much more useful for singletons. Arcane Shield. Provides a potent blessing that includes the blessings of prismatic shield and adds a few more. Once you get this spell, use it when you need to guard against bosses or magic users. Arcane Blow. A potent but very costly spell. This spell will do lots of magic damage. Usually other spells work just as well, and are much less costly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Priest Spells Minor heal. The priest's staple, restores a decent bit of health. Curing. Removes poison and acid from a character. Nice, and makes it possible to sell off all those curing potions. War blessing. Blesses characters (adds ~20% to their to hit%, and 4 levels to damage or so). Cast before every significant fight. Protection. Shields characters (decreases damage done). Repel Spirit. One of the most potent spells in the priest's arsenal, this spell is very useful against undead and a few (key) enemies. I've found that leveling up this spell (via books or by teachers) has a significant increase. Smite. A nice priest spell that damages enemies with ice. The cost is prohibitive, unfortunately. If you want to do damage, use bolt of fire. Use this one when your priest gets enough SP to cast it comfortably (>150 SP). Summon shade. Summons a shade. Woot. Enduring shield. Casts a long-lasting shield on a character. It's nice to have, but it soon replaced by higher level versions. Improving levels in this spell does not have any noticeable effect. Unshackle mind. Removes terror and restores control to your characters. It's a great spell, except when your priest is the one affected! Heal. A slightly more potent version of minor heal, use this one in case of emergencies, otherwise use minor heal. Mass healing. Heals everyone in the party. Cast this when fighting characters with mass attack spells (like rain of fire). Mass curing. Removes acid/poison from your party. Use this when fighting acid launching beasts or after killing a pylon. Steelskin. Decreases damage taken. Cast frequently, especially if you don't have enduring armor yet. Improving levels in this spell does not have any noticeable effect. Divine fire. Like fireblast, this is an area of effect spell that does fire damage. It is a good priest spell. Control foe. Gives you a chance to control the minds of an enemy. Useful in rare occasions, I still like killing them first. Enduring armor. The best permanent spell, this spell increases the HP of your character (30-60 HP) and shields them as well. Cast it every time you leave town once you have 200 SP or more. Improving levels in this spell does not have any noticeable effect. Return life. Removes the unconscious state of a character. Use it when out on long treks, as it's quite potent. Just hope that it's not your priest who is unconscious! Divine retribution. A potent spell that damages all enemies on screen. Great and very useful, though very expensive. It's very fun to use. Divine restoration. Removes nearly all bad effects except unconscious, and provides a powerful healing. Good for fixing frozen characters, and restores a lot of health to everyone. Keep this one in mind. Divine host. Summons a vengeful shade. Not bad, but costly. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Walkthrough (SPOILERS ABOUND!) ----------------------------- Fort Monastery Region ------------------------- FM-MB- | |^^ GL-LS^ | |^^ ^JW-GF-SS^ ^| | |^^ ^JL-GS-OS^ ^^^^^^^^^^ Fort Monastery (FM) Main Quests: Find captain Matos, Get Equipment, Find Goblin Passage, Kill Goblin Leader, Go to Fort Draco Subquests: Check Fort Draco Route, Metal for Dawdy, Philip's Ring, Find Missing Shipments, Inspect Scrolls, Translate Scrolls Jobs: Message to Grindstone, Bat Bits Required, Undead Infestation, Message to Fort Draco Notable items: Shielding band Trainers: Lark and Strout. Stats: Divine Restoration; Arcane Shield (in a LONG time) You start in a helpful demo that mainly just discusses the general features of the game. It's pretty straight-forward. You start out in a room in the basement. Proceed east, pick up the items, and continue on. Kill the goblin, then head south for a few potions, followed by north and talk with the cook. Go up the stairs, and talk with Matos. He gives you a new quest. Go west and claim the few items that are set aside for you. Go back and talk with him again. Now he wants you to explore the basement. Head to the SW of the fort and enter the basement. Clear out the goblins. If you have enough tool use, you can go ahead and take the items in the "authorized soldiers only" chest- you'll find a shielding ring among the loot. Once you've searched the area thoroughly, head back north and talk with the captain again. He is pleased with you and gives you the next quest, to kill the goblin leader. You can either go through the basement route, or through the surface route. Once you've killed the goblin chief, Matos will open up the "authorized soldiers only" area, allowing you to get the items within. He then has you go to Fort Draco. Other quest givers include Oliver (a traveling salesman who wants you to clear the route to Ft. Draco for a fiery wand), Dawdy (a smith who will buy your iron bars for a good 20c each), Philips ring (at the inn- Philip wants you to retrieve a ring. The ring is held by a miner in Grindstone. Doing so gets you a letter of introduction to his family), Appelo (a saleswoman who wants you to find three caravans for 100c each), and two quests for Lark- (Inspect her scrolls, and translate them). Oliver is the main purveyor of interesting goods in town. You may be tempted to buy some of his things, but I wouldn't do so just yet. He will follow you during your adventurers and ends up getting some very nice inventory, but that hasn't happened yet. Philip and Appelo both have some good items that may be tempting, but you will shortly find items as good or better than what they sell, so skip buying from them just yet. Touch the pillar in the NW part of town. Place any items you want to keep next to this pillar as well (bags of meal, wine, herbs, etc.). You'll see what these things do after the demo. There is also a job board in town. The job board will give you a few more quests to do for some cash or items. One job is to deliver a letter to a Grindstone resident (50 c), another is to kill a bunch of mottled bats for Lark (2 emeralds as a reward), yet another is to clear an infestation of undead (100 c). Once these are all done, you get a final quest to deliver a letter to Fort Draco (reward: healing potion & speed potion). Both Strout and Lark will train you with spells. Lark has prices that are approximately the norm. Adding levels to spells doesn't actually have as much of a benefit as it did in the previous Avernum games. In general, adding levels increases their duration time, damage done, and strength. These benefits are nice, but you can save your coins for something else, if you desire. Monastery Bridge (MB) Cache: Healing Herbs There's not much to do here. Clear out the Nephilim when you're high enough level to do so. The only thing of note is to the SW of the bridge, where there is a wagon that Appelo is looking for. I'd suggest killing everything else to the south first. Once you're ready, kill the nephilim on the bridge and take their stuff. They usually drop bows, swords, and leather armor. Lizard Shore (LS) Cache: 1)Healing Herbs, 2)Spiritual Herbs There are a few interesting things to do here for now. First, find Destry, and give her 300 coins for the belt. It's an Apprentice Belt (+1 Mag Eff), a very nice piece of equipment. You'll find another one shortly, but it doesn't hurt to have two. Enter her house, and go up the stairs. Pillage her stuff (some tool use required to remove the trap on her chest), and grab the Yew bow. This is a better bow than you'll be finding any time soon. Goblin Lands (GL) Notable items: Shielding knife. You can explore this area a bit, and can enter either from the Fort Monastery basement, or on foot through the ground. Either way works well. Be sure to explore the basement as you'll find a nice spear hidden by some spiders. On the ground floor you'll find an altar to the SW. Take the dagger- it's a shielding knife, which provides armor for the character who equips it. I usually give it to my mage or priest. Kill the imp that pops up, then head north to the Goblin chief. Kill him (better than threatening him), and take his stuff. He drops a chainmail vest, a decent piece of bulky armor. Take his treasure and report back to the captain for your reward. Swampy Shore Cache: Spirit herbs Notable items: Chilling band. There's not much here, but Sinderbrand will want your help killing a hellhound provided you have enough strength/a high enough level (average level 8 or so). Once you're there, follow him down, and join him in killing the hellhound. Doing so gets you a nice chilling band ring. Goblin Fens Cache: Healing herbs X 2, Lovely crystal Notable items: Blessed Bauble. There's not much to do here, just clear out the goblins and bats wandering around. The majority of what's going on is down below, so explore that region by taking the stairs in this are, or by taking the stairs in the regions north and then heading south. Most important is the region to the west, where there is a group of undead. Kill them all, and their leader, too. This fulfills a job. Search his tomb for a blessed bauble. Ogre Swamp Cache: Energetic herbs, Notable items: Swamp pants There is a nasty ogre (Kog) here who makes you pay for trespassing on his land. Kill him and take his stuff. To the S are some swamp pants, which are nicer than anything else you'll find anytime soon. Grindstone Subquests: Kill Ogre, Clear Barriers Cache: Beautiful Crystal Notable items: Girdle of strength This is the only significant settlement nearby Fort Monastery. There are three people of note here. Grimes is the mercenary captain and gives you the "kill ogre" quest, for which you receive 100c. Jenn is the woman in charge, and she gives you the "Clear barriers" quest. She also sells flawed, lovely, and beautiful crystals (which you should ignore), and a piercing and wisdom crystal (buy both). Wisdom crystals give 2 skill points when used, which is invaluable in the long run. You will need the piercing crystal to complete her quest (and you'll find enough goodies to make purchasing it worthwhile). There is a nice room to explore immediately west of Jenn. In it you find several good items to steal, but close the door first. Head to the basement and so long as you have a decent tool use skill, disarm the traps and claim the items they have hidden here. There are some very tough traps in the SE part of this area (max 10 is necessary for the pink traps- these guard some piercing crystals). Stanos is the last person worth talking to here. If you have accepted Philip's quest, you can get him to give you the ring back. Doing so gets you a letter of introduction to Philip's family (and a subsequent quest). When ready, head through the mines, killing the rats, and reach the barrier. Use the piercing crystal to destroy the barrier, then go down the mines. The static shade is vulnerable mostly to weapons, the decaying shade is strong against fire, and the crystal shade is vulnerable mostly to magic. Take them all out, then grab all of the crystals and touch all the large formation for even more crystals. Grab the two piercing crystals the crystal shade drops as these are quite handy. Tell Jenn to receive your reward, a excellent girdle of strength. Giant Lands (JL) Notable Items: Woven Golden Chain. Only one thing really to do here. The cave to the SE isn't of interest to do yet, but the cave surrounded by rock pillars is. Go down, and prepare for a battle. Talk with the shade, and you'll be tested. There are 6 of these test throughout all of Avernum, and they have excellent rewards. This one is pretty easy, just beat up the shade. It's vulnerable to pretty everything, including repel spirit. Giant Warrens (JW) Very little to do here. Kill some rats for fun. Check out the NE cave for a body and an iron spear. Ready the dead bodies papers to get a name, Terella Venia. This is important for a quest that you'll come to past the demo. -----------------------------Path to Fort Draco------------------------------ MB-NL-NF^ ^| = |^^ ^LS-N2-FD^ ^| | |^^ ^SS-N3-ND- ^---| |^^ ^^^}ST-S2^ ^^^^^^^ Nephil Lands (NL) Subquests: Kill Khrosth Cache: Energetic Herbs Mrrah is the leader here, and he will talk with you. It turns out some nephilim have blocked off the main route to Fort Draco. He wants you to take them out, and he gives you a key to help with this. Doing so gets you an iron spear. Their leader is Khrosth, a nephilim. Head south from the camp and take note of the wagon for Appelo's quest. Then go to the east. North of Fort Draco (NF) Head south and use the key Mrrah gave you to go down the stairs. Nephil Lands 2 (N2) Notable items: Apprentice Belt In the caverns beneath the main level you'll find a number of static bats. Stay back so they don't swarm you. Head to the SW and with adequate nature lore, the fire lizards won't attack. You can still kill them at your leisure. Grab their treasure (some crystals and a wisdom crystal). The south stairs will take you near the nephil temple, the north stairs will take you close to the head nephilim. I'd suggest taking out the priests first, as they can help out the chief. Head up the south stairs when you're ready. There are several nephilim around here, be sure to kill them all. I would suggest first heading to the north gates so that you have a short way to get back to Fort Monastery if you so desire. Clear out all the nephilim there, they are much easier when attacked from the south side. When you're ready, head east and take out Khrosth. He's not too hard, a few good hits will bring him down. He has an iron shortsword, which isn't too bad for melee weapon users. His supplies have the second apprentice belt, as well. Give it to your priest, if you like. You can continue to explore here, there's another staircase (to a few minor items, which are still good this early in the game). Lizard Shore (LS) Notable Items: Coated Cloak You're now on the east side of this zone. There are several lizards around here. Kill them all and search their nests. One of the lizards is a "gazer beast" who will curse you when he attacks. Be sure to kill it. Head up the stairs. Prepare to be swarmed by bats as you head to the SE. Many bats attack, including some tough giant cave bats. Kill them all and continue to explore. You'll find a coated cloak amongst the decent items nearby. Swampy Shore (SS) Cache: Piercing Crystal A few more lizards are located here. Kill them all and grab the cache. Nephil Lands 3 (N3) Notable items: Stability Bauble Some neat stuff here, as you continue to rampage through the nephil clans. Hrrar Blackfur, a nephil leader, drops a stability bauble on death. You'll find some fine leather here as well as a number of minor goods. Fine leather is a useful item that will aid you in the construction of some of your goods. Save it up. The final wagon Appelo is looking for is in the SE section of this map. Near Fort Draco (ND) You are stopped prior to entry by Menta, a guard. Just be honest, and you'll have no problems. When ready, head north to Fort Draco (I'd recommend getting to town ASAP then finish exploring the area). Otherwise, there's not much here. The cave wolves here do drop fine leather, though. The seeds for a job you're looking for are down the nearby tunnel. Fort Draco (FR) Main Quests: Fort Draco Mines, Go to Formello Subquests: Vahnatai Crystal, Hunt Tolliver, Pick up metal, Annoying Hellhound Jobs: Hunting the Gazer Beast, Message to Formello, Find the Seeds, Wanted: Graymold, Hunting the worm queen Notable items: Shield Ring, Swamp boots. Stats: Smite+1. Go speak with Commander Anford immediately to complete the last main quest you've been given from Fort Monastery. You get a new quest, and can now set this up as your base of operations. The new quest is to explore the mines to the north. Do so, return, and he will send you to Formello, and open the armory (allowing access to some swamp boots). Mabile the sage will give you a quest to find the source of a vahnatai crystal. You'll solve this quest as you do Commander Anford's main quest (shield ring reward). Bagli is an agent of the crown and asks you to hunt Tolliver, a criminal (300c). Ess-Eschas is the slith smith for the fort. He gives you a quest to pick up metal from the caves to the north (iron bracers). Potionmaster Hrank has you kill a hellhound that inhabited his prime herb collecting locality. He gives you a reward for killing it, a book which improves your skill with smite. There's a job board here, with jobs like hunting the gazer beast (200c), message to formello (100c), find the seeds (bar of fine steel), wanted: graymold (healing curing, speed potions), and hunting the worm queen (200c?). Do them all for some nice bonuses. Tannik sells some random low level items and is also the object of a Fort Monastery job. Ess-Eschas has some likewise low level items. Potionmaster Hrank will turn your herbs to potions for free. There's a pillar here too. Be sure to touch it and drop your junk around it. The best way to take out Tolliver is to take the SE stairs down from here, go south, then east, then south again (clear the spiders to the east, first). Confront Tolliver, kill him, and take his stuff (namely a null wand and fine leather helm). Slime Tunnels (ST) Cache: Silver necklace There are worms galore here. They will drop crystals, emeralds, and many other nice minor items. Grab what you want, you will eventually want to go down to the next level. But first talk with Febber, to the west. Febber is hunting the worms, and for a bit of money, will disclose the location of a wand for you. It's not so bad (the terror wand is worth the money). Head south and take one of the sets of stairs. Head north, kill all the worms and collecting the crystals. Eventually you'll reach a large open chamber. Explore the wall to the south and grab the wand from the trash pit. There's an ooze crawler to the NW which drops a ruby, and is guarding a dead body. The worm queen is to the north, and is the main boss of the area. It doesn't attack you directly, but breeds more worms. Kill it fast to prevent it form swarming you. Slime Tunnels (S2) More worms for you to kill here. Stay back to keep from being swarmed. Not much of note here, though there is a bridge that will be completed once Formello is taken care of. ---------------------------------Fort Draco and environs---------------------- NF-HM | FD-DR-NW | ND-DF Draco-Formello Road There are bats here, as well as some lava worms guarding a dead body. Take the North route to the basement to disarm Tolliver's traps, and take the SE route to kill the hellhound for Hrank. There's some nice ingredients down here, too. Draco Farmlands Trainers: Ayrie, Hamer There are two trainers here who can help you by improving your spells. I'd suggest getting unshackle mind at least from Hamer. North of Fort Draco (NF) Cache: Bronze Bracers Damien is located here, and is the object of a job (his seed are two maps south). Tresha is also located here, and has the fine steel bars Ess-Eschas is looking for. Be sure to grab (steal) the other bars located nearby. Haunted Mines (HM) Cache: Iron Helmet Notable items: Crystal Symbol. Your first major dungeon. You can go immediately north, and you'll see a wispy shade. It will accompany you, blessing and shielding you randomly. It's a good acquaintance. You'll have to wrap around this level. The shade parts from you half way through, going down a set of stairs. Make it all the way, full circle around. Go past the wheel for the door, and check out the two cabinets. One has a piece of crystal for Mabile. When ready, head down the mine. There are several ways down, but a few require tool use. If you go down the way the shade disappears down, you'll have the most access to things. If you go down south, you'll find a tomb guarded by a bunch of undead, but will get some nice items, including an invulnerability potion. Head east when ready. You'll fight a nasty shade that's been building the skeletons. Kill it and it will drop a crystal symbol (good for magic users). Head south, and get marked by the crystal. Explore a bit more, use a piercing crystal for a knowledge brew, mandrake root, and other nice items. The helpful shade disappears at this point. Go back to town to continue things along. --------------------------------Formello and environs---------------------- Mi-BT-MT{ | | { DR-NW-N4-NE{ | | | { DF-N4-4M-e4{ ---| | | { SW-S4-SE{ ^^^|^^^^^ EG Northwest of Formello (NW) Subquests: Gremlin wine Head straight to Formello to make your life a bit easier. Come back here in a bit. There's not too much to do here, as the area to the west is locked till you can do something with Giscard. There are some bats to the west, and some storehouses here have rats, so search around. Atria, the object of a job, is located here. Once you get Giscard's quest, go here and open the door. Inside is a gremlin, Hreezba. Talk to Hreezba, and it tells you that it wants Giscard's gremlin wine. There's a fair bit in Giscard's main house, as well as some in the nearby storage area. Grab 4 bottles, and give them to it. It leaves happily. Near Formello (N4) Subquests: Giscard's gremlin Notable items: Ruby breastplate Enter Formello through here, then come back. To the west are some patrol men that actually turn out to be evil and attack you. They are part of a grand conspiracy against avernum, and you'll see individuals like them again. Kill them and take their stuff. You can't do anything about Giscard right yet, though you can explore his house. If you go up the ladder you can access his items and treasure, including an excellent piece of armor, the ruby breastplate. Once you've found the letter to Giscard, come back here and talk with him. He gives you a quest to clear out his storage area of golems. Head north to the area you couldn't enter previously. Doing this gets you an emerald, ruby, and piercing crystal. Formello (4M) Main Quests: See the mayor, See Genevieve, Explore Motrax Caves, Go to the castle Subquests: Fetching Leather, Info for Oliver, Motrax Tablets, Prove yourself to Abbess Haehn Jobs: Rat hunt, Message to Farm, Inn clearing, Hunt Spliceworms, Hunt Hrickis, Message to Silvar Notable items: Shield of Warmth, Blessed Vambraces, Magestone band. Trainers: Sage Alice, Sage Townshend, Stats: Curing +1 This is your first big city! Yay! However, like nearly all big cities in Avernum, it's pretty screwed up. Go talk with the mayor. She tells you to go see Genevieve. Do so and return. The mayor tells you to explore Motrax's caves. Once you've done this, the shade moves in and things close up. She lowers the barrier for you, at least. Show Genevieve the scrolls you've been lugging around from Fort Monastery, and she tells you to go to the Tower of the Magi. Ahrens is the leather worker and will help you if you give him 3 fine leathers (he provides you with a blessed belt, some gauntlets, and a fine leather helmet). You can give him more fine leathers for other items (see the craftsmen guide below), but you're best off saving your fine leather till you can get some superior items. You meet Oliver again here, and again he wants you to help him move along (iron breastplate as a reward). His inventory is a bit better this time, though (the yew longbow is better than anything you'll find anytime soon). Sage Alice wants you to retrieve some tablets for her. You'll do this as you explore Motrax's cave, and will be rewarded with a Magestone band (nice ring for mages/priests). Abbess Haehn wants you to go on a quest to prove yourself. Do so for the cheapest priest spells in the game. Right above her temple on the second floor is a room with a spellbook of curing. Go ahead and read it. Check out the Mayor's stairway to enter the town treasury. With ~14 tool use, you can open up everything there to grab some nice armor and a lot of gold. Sage Alice and Abbess Haehn both teach you spells, though you must complete a quest for the Abbess before she will help you. She has the best prices for spells in the game. Sage Townshend will also train you, which is something that few people do. Training will increase your ability with a skill up to two times, unless you've already added skill points to the skill. You can always train a skill even if you have gained points in it through some other means, just so long as you haven't added points to the skill. Several jobs are available. Rat hunt will have you looking in storage rooms for rats (they respawn, so keep looking in the same place when you find one, 250c), Message to farm (she's on the second floor, 30c and some fruit), Inn clearing (kill a zombie for some gremlin wine), Hunt spliceworms (Gold bar, 2 fine steel), Hunt Hrickis (NE of Formello, shield of warmth), Message to Silvar (Ruby). South of Formello (S4) Cache: Fine steel Notable items: Shining Silver Band Not much to do here, you can be abused by Goodwife Donna, and can kill her basement rats if you want (no reward, but counts towards job bounty). If you're ready to fight some lizards and other nasties, use the small pathway down in the SE of this map area. You'll immediately find some lizards, kill them. Search nearby for a cache. Continue west to fight some spiders, and to get a few nice items, including a shining silver band, which provides cold resistance. Southwest of Formello (SW) Subquest: Herbs for Forrest Forrest wants 3 sets of healing herbs, and gives you 2 healing elixirs in exchange (an excellent trade). His storage room occasionally has a scavenging rat in it. Otherwise, that's it. North of Formello (N4) Notable items: Woven silk chain Newman is a tailor with a few interesting items, namely the woven silk robe. I'd skip it, as you'll find some on your own. There's another storeroom to the south with scavenging rats. Check out the gatehouse to the north, and go up the stairs. Investigate the room to the SW, and you'll find 6 cave slimes. Blast them with icy rain, and they'll drop a wolven silk chain, a decent necklace (+1% to all resistances). There are a few areas around here and to the NE that have "You hear a strange scratching sound" appear as you walk on them. Move immediately or get ready for a fight. Worms usually pop up shortly when this warning is given, unless you get off their territory. Northeast of Formello (NE) Notable items: Grounded Cloak Stats: Haste +1 Herbmaster Tori is helpful and will make potions from your ingredients. She mainly makes energetic potions, which are among the most useful. To NE you'll find Hrickis, a necromancer. Kill his skeletons, then go up the stairs to his home. Prepare yourself for a battle as you head south. A few nice spells help, including haste on your fighters. Kill Hrickis early, as he enjoys summoning lots of nasty things to fight you. Kill his pylon even earlier, as it will terrify you. He drops a grounded cloak on death, and you can read his spellbook to improve your haste spell. East of Formello (e4) Cache: Speed potion There's a bit more to do here. Talk to Donaldson about wine if you'd like. Head to the stone circle. Prepare yourself (bless, shield, haste if you like), then touch the central crystal. You'll be attacked by 4 groups of shades. Kill them all. This allows you to buy spells from Abbess Haehn at dirt cheap. Southeast of Formello Cache: Spiritual Herbs, Healing Herbs Notable items: Swampwalker Leather Swampwalker Hurking is the only person here. He's not that friendly, but will sell you some items, including a ratskin shawl and some graymold. Buy the graymold at the least for the job for Fort Draco. When you're ready, head down a nearby set of stairs (probably to the south of Formello). From the west section of this basement, you'll find an old mining encampment with some nice crystals, including a piercing crystal. Continue east, and before entering the center island, prepare for a fight. You'll be attacked by groups of lizards, so stay in fight mode. The last enemy you face is a spitting lizard. On death, it drops swampwalker leather. Several of the lizards here dropped fine leather, which you can use to fulfill Ahren's quest. Head up from the south first to claim some crystals from a searing slime, then head up the east steps, go through the lizards, and be done with this mini dungeon. Formello Mines Cache: Gold bar Notable items: Thick wool tunic Goodwife Hortense sells some items from the mines here, and will also pay you when you remove the spliceworms. She doesn't have anything useful, sadly. Search this area, and loop around to the north. Kill the spliceworms and take the stairs down to the mine. Kill some more spliceworms, and the lava worms. Grab the tunic off the dead mage, and go back to Hortense to report on your success. Clean out the mines to the south (you have to disarm a trap) for some nice crystals and metal bars. Barren Tunnels (BT) Notable items: Stunning blade, Armor Ring Dazed enemies abound here. These enemies have been taken over by some sinister force. You'll find some nice stuff on their bodies, including slith spears on the bodies of sliths. Also, Testing cave #2 is located here, though I would not attempt it until you have learned Prismatic Shield. For successful completion of this test, you get an armor band. The next test is near Cotra/Dranlon. You can get a stunning blade by going to Motrax caves, and looping around back west. Take the stairs down and kill all the thorny fungi. There's a dead body with this nice little weapon here. Motrax Caves (MT) Cache: Fiery wand. Notable items: Treated carapace, wyrmskin helmet, blessed silk tunic. Stats: Icy Rain +1 This area is the main quest region for Formello. Be sure you have bought all the mage spells you want first, before finishing this area. There's a crystal to the NE, and you will have to return to it once you've cleared out Motrax's tunnel. Clear out the ground floor level, then head to the basement. There's a number of enemies here, including some slimes. Near where ol'Motrax used to sleep, you'll find a treated carapace shield. It's a better shield than most you'll find. Head to the west first, as the east has the final boss. There are many lizards in the west corridor, as well as some bats and other nasties. You can get some help for this section by going to the north and activating the west-most golem. It will help you a fair bit, though not endlessly. Head south and take out the drakespawn and eventually the young drake. Kill it for a wyrmskin helmet, a better helmet than 90% of what you'll find in the next few hours of playing. Check out the jar next to it for the Motrax tablets. Next head to the east corridor. You have to take out 4 thorny fungi, so be prepared. Once you clear these fungi, head to the east room. There are 4 basins here that you can drink from. Drink from the westmost and eastmost basins for some decent effects which will aid you in the battle to come. Head south. A vahnatai confronts you. Kill it (it can be tough, so use some of those wands you've saved up, and give your fighters some curing potions). It drops a blue crystal shard and a blessed silk tunic (this tunic is good for mages). Check out its loot for a spellbook of icy rain, and two vahnatai cloaks (keep these for a later quest). Head back up to the crystal, and you'll get a very important item. Return to town, and the shade has moved in. This closes many things, preventing you from getting some items. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ END OF DEMO: BUY THE GAME! $25 FOR 50-100 HOURS OF GAME PLAY! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------Eastern Gallery-------------------------- S2-BC-SW S4 | | | Rt SL-E0-E9-E8-B2-BL-EG-E3{ | |^^| | | | | | | { RT-SC^DR-NR-E6-E5-BR-DV-E1{ ^^^^^^| | | | | | | { ^EZ-E7-WC-CT-GW-NS-E2{ ^^^^|^^^^^| | | | { ^^RI^^^^E4-WS-SV-AV{ ^^^^^^^^^^^|^^^^^^^^ Eastern Gallery (EG) You leave from Formello to arrive in the big caves. You're greeted by several bandits. If you enter the nearby deserted farmhouse, you'll be attacked by several bandits. Not much else is here. Fort Duvno (DV) Subquests: Sacks of Meal, Bottles of Wine, Kill Bandit Hanvar, Kill Raider Kelda, Jobs: Message- Fort Avernum, Clean the Farm, Dranlon Delivery, Bandit Caches Notable items: Polar fur cloak, Archer's band Trainers: Walner Stats: Enduring Shield +1 I'd recommend heading to Fort Avernum first, as you can get a potent ability there. Maybe hit the pylon first here, then go to Fort Avernum. The pylon is to the west. Several subquests are available in Fort Duvno. Kisenwether wants 20 bags of meal (3 energy potions), then he wants 20 bottles of wine (3 scrolls in exchange). Commander Johnson gives you a series of quests to kill bandits. The first one he wants dead is bandit Hanvar. He's in the bandit ruins (BR). Killing him gets you some plate vambraces, which are pretty crappy. Next is to kill Raider Kelda. This will get you a steel shield. Again, whoop-de-doo. Finally, he wants you to take out Bragg. Doing so gets you a steel breastplate. Jobs available include getting a message to Fort Avernum (100c), cleaning a farm of slimes (reward: archer's band), delivery of 8 chitrach claws to Mairwen (200c), and determining the locations of 3 bandit caches (iron breastplate). There is a bandit mage on the second floor of the building, from the NW. She is crazy and becomes hostile. When she dies, she drops a polar fur cloak. Walner will train you in the two lores, which is nice. He also has a spellbook of enduring shield upstairs. He will make potions for you as well. Siri has some nice items for sale, but you'll find much better ones on your own. Fort Avernum (AV) Notable items: Blessed gauntlets Trainers: Captain Nathan Stats: Prismatic Shield +1 This fort is the home of one of the great conveniences available to you as adventurers. Talk with Ayrie, and she will give you access. Captain Nathan is just indoors. Give talk with him, and he tells you what's around. He will also train you for a bit of money. Go down, and talk with Vidrain. He informs you on how the portal works. Now you can use it to go anyplace you'd like. I'd go back to each of the towns you visited and gather any items you placed near the pillars. Drop them off in the main room of the teleporter so that you can get them whenever you want them. There's a barrier here that can only be dispelled by the spell, dispel barrier. Behind is a cabinet with some blessed gauntlets, for what it's worth. Eastern gallery (E1) Subquests: Mysterious fort. There is a bandit cache in the northern caves hugging the wall. This area is home to William, a farmer. William sells some minor items, including a woven silver chain (+1 resist all), and he gives you a quest to investigate Fort Avernum. This quest is mainly designed to get you to go to the fort and use the teleporter, so it doesn't give you a reward. You can check out his basement for a wand and some scrolls, but that's about it for this area. Eastern gallery (E2) Subquests: Torvald's lizard Cache: Energetic Herbs. Notable items: Blessed gauntlets, ivory band Torvald and his farm are the main attractions here. Talk with Torvald, and he tells you that one of his lizards is evil and mutated. Kill it for 200c. You can steal his stuff in the room just to the north. One of the items is a pair of blessed gauntlets, which are better than some bracers, but without the to hit% penalty. There are two stairs to the north of Torvald's place. The northern stairs take you to a batch of lizards, including a lizard matriarch. She is guarding an ivory band ring in her nest (+15% mental resistance, the rarest resistance). The southern stairs take you to another bandit cache. Eastern gallery (E3) Cache: Armor elixir Notable items: Viperskin boots The farm that is a job ("Clean the Farm") for Fort Duvno is located here. Gaseous goos inhabit the farm, and they cast a mass poison spell at the beginning of their turn. Kill them in one turn from far away to avoid this effect. Go down to the basement in the farm. Continue to kill these obnoxious goos. Eventually you'll find the "quivering breeder" who is the cause of the slime infestation. Kill it quickly (magic works well), as it will start to breed more slimes every turn. Check out the nearby nest for a pair of viperskin boots. The pit down to the north leads to a bandit cache with some nice minor items. North of Silvar (NS) Notable items: Blessed belt If you enter the east building, prepare for a fight with some thugs. Kill them, and take their stuff. Head down the stairs, and kill the burning fungi. You can continue south, though the enemies become progressively tougher. If you enter the west room from here, you have to fight a nasty familiar, but can get a number of good items, including some steel things. You can head down the cave near the map's center, and you'll find a gremlin. Gremlins are tough, and this one enjoys confusing your fighters. Kill it if you want (either talk to it 3-4 times, or head east), and take its stuff. Its items include a blessed belt. Silvar (SV) Subquests: Hunting Hosharr, Shade Experiment, Search the island Jobs: Chitrach Claws, Message: Fort Avernum, Cotra Bandit Bounty, Kill the Goo, Message: Mertis, Dranlon Bandit Bounty. Notable items: Shield of Warmth, Blessed silk tunic, Clarity Talisman Trainers: Captain Call A lot of interesting things are happening in Silvar. For one, there's a shade here, and its presence keeps a few merchants closed. These merchants include Captain Call, who is trains you in several skills, but only if the shade isn't in Silvar. Once you kill the shade, he is one of the best trainers in the game. There is a shield of warmth in the storerooms to the west, as well as other minor goodies. A blessed silk tunic is in a building next to the inn. There are many quests here. Awrmm the nephil bowmaker gives you a quest to hunt Hosharr, a nephil bandit. Do so for a blessed bow. Ruth is a shipwright and will give you a quest to investigate an island provided the shade isn't in Silvar (300c on completion). Otherwise she won't talk about it. Lorena is the queen of the slums, and she gives you a key to the sewers, which allows you to see Pea Eye, an individual who is investigating the shade. Go down the sewers. Pretty much no matter what you do, you'll have to fight a gaseous goo to get to Pea Eye, but that's OK as it's the object of a job. Talk to Pea Eye and he has a few ideas on how to investigate the shades. For one, he wants you to hurt the shade bad enough that it regenerates. This is a bit tough for a low level adventuring party. First, make sure the shade is in town. Next, haste, bless, shield, and cast any perma spells you have. Hit it hard, especially with repel spirit. Then run away, once it heals itself one time. Leave Silvar as far as you can, and try not to get anyone else killed on the way. When the shade has stopped following you, go back to Pea Eye. He tells you that you can have some of his treasure in Cotra. There's a pylon here, so be sure to touch it. Also, check out the area that Bolivar hints to for 30c- search for a dead body. Open the door, and kill all of the thugs and the cultist. Search their stuff for some info on the conspiracy, and to grab a wand. Jobs here include Chitrach Claws (blessed shield), Message: Fort Avernum (reward: mindshield scroll), Cotra Bandit Bounty (2 emeralds, 2 rubies), Kill the Goo (50c), Message: Mertis (30c), and Dranlon bandit bounty (Clarity Talisman- one of the best amulets in the game). Bandit Ruins (BR) Cache: Golden Goblet Notable items: Girdle of Nimbleness, Static band Stats: Minor Heal +1, Heal +1, Unlock doors +1 A4 pokes a bit of fun at the bandit ruins as this is the area where adventurers have killed evil doers for the past 40+ years. There are many bandits here, as to be expected. Take the NE stairs after killing some lizards, and use a piercing crystal to get to a spell book that improves some of your healing spells. Make your way west through the bandits, then head to the SW. There are a few named enemies here, but don't worry about it. Go up the stairs, and proceed north, killing the bandits (and mage who drops a static band) along the way. Prepare yourself for a decent battle, then hit Hanvar and his cronies hard. Two icy rains make short work of the warriors, and Hanvar can be taken the next turn with some firebolts and melee attacks. He drops a girdle of nimbleness on death. Read his spell book for improvements to unlock doors. Grab the bronze key as well, it will make the next bandit much easier. Gallery Woods (GW) Subquests: Bugs in the cellar Notable items: Blessed boots, a girdle of strength, crystal-woven chitin armor If you descend the staircase near the north-center of the map, you'll encounter several nasty mindreaper spiders. Use bows and magic on these things or else you'll become charmed. Once killed, spiders burrow out of the spiders and attack you. At the end you'll find another bandit cache. Hinkle has a quest for you- kill the bugs in his cellar. This is a very difficult quest for low level characters, and I wouldn't recommend trying to take it on just yet. It's very rewarding, however. The chitrachs drop some blessed boots, a girdle of strength, and a crystal-woven chitin armor. West Silvar (WS) Chapelle is here and will make nice equipment out of your fine steel. Blessed breastplates are excellent for your warriors. Cotra (CT) Subquests: Cotra Investigation, Question the prisoner, Eyestalks required Jobs: Swamp nodules, the bone borer, message: Fort Dranlon, Grob's tools Notable items: Trainers: Incantor Cecil Cotra has been rebuilt since A2, and it's back in business. There's no plague for this city, which is highly unusual. There are, however, a number of fruitful quests. Angarahad is the head merchant and wants you to figure out how bandits have been evading the Cotra guards (iron halberd reward). Be sure to pillage the merchant storage right above her. Mayor Falko wants you to question a prisoner he captured, which he thinks knows something about the plagues. The basement of the inn has a trapped lizard which may drop some fine leather on death. Incantor Cecil will train you in spells, but hold off on buying from him just yet. Instead, get his quest (retrieve an eyebeast stalk) and do it for him to get much lower prices, and the ability to increase some other skills. Jerim will sell you a stability bauble for you, which is the only useful thing in his equipment. You'll still find better with little effort, so I'd skip it. If you've done Pea Eye's quest, then you can get some nice equipment (steel breastplate, steel shield, iron halberd) from his old house to the NE. There's a disruption wand down the stairs to the NE as well. When ready, head outside the Cotra walls and enter the building to the NW. Go down the stairs, and you'll find a bunch of brigands. Kill them all (including Quickshank), and you'll find a notice on who has been letting the brigands in (Yong-Mi). Go confront her in west Cotra, and kill her. Then report back to Angarahad. Jobs here include: Swamp nodules (collect 6 in the swamps near Cotra for a healing and energy elixir), the bone borer (2 emeralds, 1 ruby), message: Fort Dranlon (200c), Grob's tools (terror wand) Eastern Gallery (E5) Cache: Healing Herbs. Notable items: Nimble chain Stats: Augmentation +1 Chitrachs roam this area, and you should be able to get a few claws from them. Grob's axe can be found to the NE, be sure to grab it. There are several entryways down for you to explore if you wish. In the SE part of the tunnels below, you'll find several dead bandits guarded by infected chitrachs. Among their items, you'll find a nimble chain, and a spell book of augmentation West Cotra (WC) Subquests: The island route Notable items: Pearlescent band Stats: Heal +1 West Cotra is actually where Cotra's Pylon is located. Go ahead and hit it. Marshall is a fisherwoman here, and will give you a quest to find a route to a nearby island (100c). Orbus is a potionmaker here and sells you a knowledge brew, among other things. He also has a book of heal. There's a nearby dead body guarded by some cave widows with a jeweled wand (one of the best wands in the game). The most important thing nearby is the jail to the NW. Go down the stairs, and prepare for battle. Inside the last cell is an eyebeast. He actually doesn't know anything about the plagues, but is trying to get free and eat some adventurers along the way. Kill it and take its potent ring and eyebeast stalk. This ring is excellent for slith warriors, and good for most everyone else. Bandit Lands (BL) Notable Items: Fine Cleaver, Aranea Silk Tunic Some bandits try to shake you down in this territory. Kill them instead. Kelda's fortress is here. Head to the north, and use the key you got from the bandit ruins to make your job much easier. Otherwise head to the west, and fight your way through 4 fire lizards. It's not too tough of a battle, especially if you haste your fighters. Proceed on through the goblins and ogres. If you head east, the path will curve north and take you to the southwest of Formello map. If you go north, you'll find more goblins and ogres. One of the ogres drops a fine cleaver, a weak knife with a +1 dex bonus. Go up the stairs, kill the goblins, and head to the NE. You'll find an alter guarded by a named goblin shaman. Kill him then touch the altar to get an aranea silk tunic. Fight the demon that pops up. Head west. Kill the bandit alchemist. The north of the two basins here gives a good bonus, the south one does not. Continue west past the worgs and burning fungus, and you'll see Kelda. Kill her quickly. She doesn't drop much that's good, but such is life. Take the keys from her box, and leave this area. Southwest of Formello Cache: Scroll- control foes Notable items: Girdle of endurance River goblins inhabit this area. March on a bit, and you'll find Graytusk, a nasty ogre who is the target of Boris's quest. On death he drops a girdle of endurance. Bandit Lands (B2) Subquest: Hunting Graytusk Cache: Girdle of Nimbleness Notable items: Piercing gauntlets Some ogres confront you in the south part of this area. Kill them, and take their stuff. Boris is waiting in the east section of this map. He is a bounty hunter, and asks for your help killing Graytusk, an ogre. Doing so gets you a speed potion and invulnerability potion. Head down the nearby stairs, and kill the fire lizards. You'll find one more bandit cache, only this one has some very nice piercing gauntlets (+1 anatomy). Bandit Castle Notable items: Blessed spear, clover boots Stats: Daze +1 There are two ways into this castle- the sneaky way, and the full-frontal assault. The sneaky way continues the path through southwest Formello (where you fought Graytusk). I prefer the full frontal assault, as it's more satisfying. You will need Kelda's key for this, though. Move through the fort, killing everything that moves. Head to the temple and touch the altar. Kill the undead, and grab the blessed spear. Ossious is a slith who drops a composite bow (a step up from yew for those characters still with those bows). Head west and go down the stairs. Look around a bit. You'll find a room with a daze spell book to the west. Head up the north set of stairs and you'll find Bragg. He's a bit tough, as he has a few healing potions. Hit him hard in one round and you'll take him down. He summons a few bandit allies to attack you from the behind, so watch your mages. When he dies, he drops some steel items, and has some clover boots nearby (+3 luck). That's the end of the bandit quests! Slime Tunnels Cache: Beautiful crystal Notable items: Girdle of insight The bridge should be complete when you return to this locale. There are a few more worms to kill, and a nest with a girdle of insight (+1 int). Eastern Gallery (E6) Cache: Energetic herbs, spiritual herbs, healing herbs, graymold, mandrake root, chilling band Notable items: Mercuric leather, serpentskin helmet Chitrachs galore, again. Fortunately, there's a lot of caches here too. This region is dominated by a large lake, with an ogre sitting in the middle, and rimmed by submission fungi (one step up the fungus ladder). The ogre is the goal of a Fort Dranlon job, so at some point you will want to take him out. Be careful, Swamplouse is tough. When you attack him, he summons several fungi to help. On death he drops a mercuric leather, leather with a penalty to strength but a bonus to AP. He's got some other nice goodies, including a knowledge crystal, in the nearby jars. Try to pick up any rocks you find nearby, as they could be swamp nodules. You can get under this level by going to (NR) and taking the stairs down and heading east. Underneath are a bunch of chitrachs. Near the center of the area is a "Eggtender chitrach" which is nastier than most. Kill it and it will drop a serpentskin helmet. Eastern Gallery (E7) Cache: Energetic herbs, Spiritual Herbs, Mandrake root, Graymold, healing herbs, gold necklace Lots of caches here. Rabid rats guard a nest to the south with a scroll and other things. Kill them. The building here has a few herbs and a swamp nodule. Be sure to grab them. There's a body to the north with a letter of introduction to Giscard. Use this to get to Giscard's house (N4). The north house has a chest guarded by two plated chitrachs. Kill them to get some nice items, including a steel breastplate. Head downstairs to continue exploring. This area has a nastier group of enemies than the tunnels to the north. Submission fungi team up with plated chitrachs and give ground slowly. Take it easy, and kill everything that moves. If you head south, you can go to Reptile island. Head west and you'll end up near to the source of the chitrachs. Fort Dranlon (DR) Subquests: Terella Venia, Fetching Tools, Chitrach hunt Jobs: Swamp goblin trophies, Hunting swamplouse, Reach the spires, hunt Skunky Joe Cache: Spiritual herbs, healing herbs Notable items: Drakeskin bracers Trainers: Mother Phelps Stats: First Aid +1, Nature lore +1 The last major city/fort of this region, Fort Dranlon is pretty small. Nonetheless, there's a fair bit to do. Be sure to go around and touch the pylon. Ariadne tells you of an artifact that's located in the slith lands. It's very potent, but guarded by a powerful foe. Be careful. Mother Phelps wants you to find her friend, Terella Venia. She's at JW, a corpse. Tell her as much, and you'll get a bonus of +1 to one character's first aid skill. George wants you to find him a hammer, pincers, tongs, and some fine steel (drakeskin bracers). Mairwen, the commander, wants you to find the source of the chitrachs and destroy it. Once you've found it, let her know and she'll unlock a door with mediocre treasures inside. Mother Phelps will train you in some priestly spells. Her prices are on par with other priests. There's a barrier upstairs that will require the spell dispel barrier in order to get past. Behind is a specter which drops a spectral robe on death, which has decent resistances, especially to mental resistance. There's a job board here as well. The jobs are Swamp goblin trophies (300c), Hunting swamplouse (400c), Reach the spires (doing this gives one person +1 to nature lore), hunt Skunky Joe (600c). Near Fort Dranlon (NR) Subquests: Nasty Chitrach Cache: Scroll- group heal. Chitrachs. More chitrachs. You can go down the stairs nearby and kill even more chitrachs. Most important here is Grint, who is in the SW section of the underground portion of this map. He gives you the "Nasty Chitrach" quest. The reddish chitrach is in some tunnels to the east. Do it, and he tells you to go see Mairwen. Mairwen gives you 250c for your help. Eastern Gallery (E8) Cache: Beautiful crystal. Notable items: Tinker charm, girdle of insight Stats: Mass heal +1 Some chitrachs pop out of the ground near the road on this map. One drops a piercing crystal and another drops some razordisks. You can head down the stairs and to the NW. You'll have to fight several spiders along the way (prepare for the battle beforehand!), and will end up at a crypt. Kill the undead, and open the door. Kill the ghost, and pillage this area. You'll find a girdle of insight, a tinker's charm and a spell book of mass heal. Eastern Gallery (E9) Caches: Beautiful crystal, lovely crystal, 3 x flawed crystal. Notable items: Blessed short sword, Bonding knife Stats: Lightning spray +1 Grob's saw is located in the SE section of this map, along with a bunch of caches. Skunky Joe and his band of goons are near the north center of this map. Prepare for battle before attacking him, as he's pretty easy if you get the drop on him. Otherwise, he'll cast a few nasty spells that will rapidly render you unconscious. Once he's dead, explore his hideout. You'll find some nice items, including a jeweled wand and a blessed short sword, and a spell book that improves your lightning spray. You can enter the sublevel of this area from the area just to the south, Near Fort Dranlon (NR). Head to the NW and you'll find the third trial. This trial has you fighting an automaton with magic. Whatever you do, don't hit it with weapons. It'll just charm you. Hit it with lightning first, then change the magic you hit it with to suit the hints it gives ("fiery" = firebolt, "blue" = Ice/smite). When it dies, it lets you get a bonding knife. The east path from the central area has spiders, the north path has more spiders and a bursting spider which bursts into 3 more spiders on death. It's guarding a scroll and some crystals. You can head west to E0. Eastern Gallery (E0) Cache: Mandrake root, graymold, energetic herbs, spiritual herbs Notable items: Silken shield, spectral gloves. Stats: Minor summon +1, call beast +1 The north area of this level holds the most interest. Make your way through the tunnels, and kill the sliths. A named slith, Oasss-kss drops some spectral gloves, which are pretty nice. Spiders (namely Aranea) inhabit the sublevel. Aranea are pretty easy if you engage them in melee, so hide and let them run to you. The final spider to the west is a Werlikanen, a nasty one. It drops a silken shield on death (+1 gymnastics, +1 parry). You'll also find a set of webs that increase your minor summon and call beast spells. If you take the north tunnel on this level down to the sublevel, you'll be able to go to the other side of the water. You can now explore a few of the slith lands, and may also be able to get a powerful piece of armor (though your level may be a bit too low right yet. Eastern Gallery (EZ) Cache: iron bracers Notable items: Girdle of endurance, Rat-tail band More chitrach-popping areas are located here. You will get a girdle of endurance from one set. The bone borer lives in the SW part of this area. It drops a rat-tail band on death. If you're in the tunnels under this area, you're close to the source of the chitrachs. Make your way west, killing the beasts as you go. Eventually you'll make it to the chitrach queen. It's not too tough, but if you attack it by melee, you'll be splashed with acid. Stay back and take it out. Reptile Islande (RI) Cache: Iron broadsword, ruby, mica band Notable items: Drakeskin bracers, wyrmskin helmet. Stats: Enduring shield +1 You can reach this locale through the tunnels of (E7). Head south, then east. Kill the burning fungi then kill the searing wyrmkin. Move slowly, as they can both team up on you and really hurt with their acid spits. Go upstairs, and you'll find an island full of lizards. If you have sufficient nature lore, they shouldn't be hostile. Kill them if you want, you can take them out one at a time. If you have a decent first aid, then this can actually end up recharging your MP as well. When you're ready, head down the south pit entrance. Head up, and notice the fissure. As you move along, searing wyrmkin will pop up out of this fissure. They're not too tough, but can gang up on you if you're not careful. Be prepared, and kill them all. Head south, you'll find a breeding ground for the sea creatures. Then you'll find a drake, Ksoral. Prepare yourself, then attack it. It has too much goodies to ignore. When it dies, it leaves a pair of drakeskin bracers, and a wyrmskin helmet. Read its book to improve your enduring shield ability. Return back to the mainland and tell Marshall and Ruth about your success. Slith Lands (SL) Cache: Mandrake root, graymold. Notable items: Blessed spear, Mercuric leather, woven silk robe, emerald chestguard Stats: Repel spirit +1, summon shade +1, unshackle mind +1 Lots of sliths here. Kill them all and take their stuff (blessed spear included). If you've talked with Ariadne about treasure, she told you about the north area. Approach it and it'll open up for you, reveal a pathway to a new dungeon. Note that if you want to enter this way, you can not exit till later. So be sure this is what you want to do. When you've decided to come down, head down the stairs to a dark pit. Undead enemies here include Pit bones, which slow you, and Spiked shamblers, who reflect melee damage back on you. There are three basins to the SE, the north one heals you, the middle one poisons you, and the south one casts a permanent shield on you (use this one!). Pit ghouls and revenants are to the north, as is a disruption wand, which is pretty nice to have handy here. Three more basins are here, one refills your energy, one protects you mentally, and one summons a vengeful shade to fight you. Go ahead and use them all. Then head back to the center where Nicoduas is located. Hit him hard, as fast as you can, or he'll summon a demon. If you're less than level also has a healing potion that will restore nearly all his health one time. USE THOSE INVULNERABILITY POTIONS! You've probably been saving them up, this is an excellent chance to use them. Together they are tough, but you can beat either set. He will probably charm you once, but that's OK. On death he drops a mercuric leather. Read his spell book for 3 more spells. Check out everything, and you'll find some bodies. On them is a woven silk robe, and the almighty emerald chestguard (with huge resistance bonuses and little penalty). This armor will last you through the game. Follow the route to get out, and you end up next to Grindstone. Use the pylon to return to the action. Note that you don't have to do the Nicoduas battle. It takes him 4 turns to summon help, so just run past him and grab the Emerald chestguard. The dungeon is actually designed so that this is possible. You may miss out on the spells, but it's by far the easiest route to get this artifact. The battle with Nicoduas is among the hardest in the game, and easily the hardest in proportion to your level when you take it on. Slith Caves (SC) Cache: Spiritual herbs, healing herbs, energetic herbs. Notable items: Deadeye cloak Not much on the north side, but take the tunnel south. Kill the bats if you want, then head out of the tunnel. There is a large group of sliths here. Prepare with spells, and kill them all. They have some good drops, including a deadeye cloak (+1 sharpshooter). Head east to the spires briefly. Fort Dranlon (DR) Cache: Gold bar. You've reached the spires. Woot. Remote Tunnel (RT) Nothing here on the surface. Remote tunnel (Rt) Not much here on the surface, just a dead body with some crystals. Typically the last thing I do in this region is grab the emerald chestguard. At that point, it is possible to grab it (though extremely difficult- I reloaded 6 times). Once done, head to a new area altogether, to Mertis. West Silvar will get you there. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mertis, Honeycomb, TotM WS |^^^^^^^ DT-H3-HC-SM-MS | | | | G3-G2-CS H2-H1-ME-EM ^^^| | | | -AL-GC-S5-S3-S2-SR ^| | | | | | ^G4-G1-SF-SP S1-TC You are warned on entering that there are tough undead here to fight. That much is true. The undead are very tough. The are two ways of effectively fighting them. The first is to complete the quest given to you by the local priest, who wants you to go find some hermit in the Honeycomb. That's the recommended way. The way I did it my first time was I used acid spray. This spell alone affects the undead, but you can completely avoid seeking out Sleater through this method. Silvar-Mertis Road (SM) Cache: Scroll-mindshield. This is the way to Mertis. You'll have to fight an undead along the way. This undead is here mainly to show you what a pain these things can be. Use acid spray. Once you've got Sleater's blessing (if you wanted to get it), return and clear out this area. Mertis (ME) Subquests: Clearing the Spiral, Honeycomb bandits, Trimming the Bushes, the mayor's sash Jobs: Icy Geodes, Delivery: Tower of the Magi, Cauldron Spawn, Hunting the Worm Cache: Shining golden band Notable items: Armor Ring, woven silk robe Trainers: Elder Arron Stats: Smite +1, +1 Blademaster, +1 magery Mertis is a town that has been plagued by undead since A1. Voorhees is to the north, give him his letter. The pylon is to the south. Elder Arron will train you in priestly spell casting. Buy at least mass curing, as it's cheaper here than anywhere else. Go down his stairs for a spell book of smite. There's a farmhouse with an armor ring, which you should steal if for no other reason than to sell it. As always, there are a number of quests to do in town. Elder Arron gives you the main quest to destroy the undead. Doing so gets you 500c and a powerful blessing (warriors gain +1 blademaster, mages/priests gain +1 magery- I'm not quite sure on the criterion for who gets what). Corrin is in the inn and wants you to tell her the location of the Honeycomb bandits. Doing so gets you 3 emeralds, 2 rubies, and a piercing crystal. Maxfield is in the employ to the TotM, and wants you to hunt down some of his bushes. They're in a locked building nearby, and you can kill them. Haste, and cast mass curing every turn (maybe twice, if necessary). Report back and you'll be told to go talk with Kelner at the TotM. Goodwife Lisa wants you to put her husband to rest. You'll recognize him as you purge the Spiral. Lisa will give you a woven silk robe for killing the mayor. Several jobs await on the job board, including Icy Geodes (like the swamp nodule quest- do it for 400c), Delivery: Tower of the Magi (Madness, Group haste, Mass bless scrolls for a reward), Cauldron Spawn (disruption wand reward), Hunting the Worm (bladeshield chain). Be sure to grab Cauldron Spawn before taking on the majority of undead, or else you might be stuck with an incomplete job. Honeycomb Surface level Much better maps can be found at the spiderweb message boards. +---------+---------+ H = Hermit | -g f\ d | W = Cerebrous worm | H h | c \e b | This corresponds to the area: | i | a | H3-HC | 5 - 9 7 8| | | | |W | H2-H1 +-|---|-|-+---|--|--+ | - 1 | Stairs down are numbered, paths | 4 6 | - through are marked as well, | | 2 - | - - to Mertis |B j | 3 | +---------+---------+ Honeycomb basement level +---------+---------+ | |g=f /d | | | c e/ b | h and i both 1-way. | | a\ | B is bandits | 5 - \9 7 8| | | | +--|--|-|-+-|------|+ | - 1 | | 4 6 | | | | 2 | | | | |B j - 3 | +---------+---------+ It's very easy to get lost here. To get to the hermit, follow one of these two paths: if you're strong in melee and morally ambivalent, go down 3 and up 5. The longer route is to take stairs 9 to a, then a to d, then d to e, then Otherwise, just explore the area thoroughly. Honeycomb (H1) Cache: Deadeye cloak, beautiful crystal Notable items: Swamp boots, tribal symbol, flowing silk robe The SW corner of this map has burning bushes. There are some icy shades nearby the SW corner who are guarding a piercing crystal, other crystals, and an icy geode. The NW corner has several cave widows and a static spider leader. The latter holds an icy geode which it will relinquish on death. Ravenous lizards are to the west, they are around a body with some swamp boots. Go down the stairs (1 or 2). Some slimegrubs are in the center of the map, these spawn searing slimes when killed. An icy geode is nearby. A bit west, near stairway 2, are a group of nepharim. Killing the nephar spiritist nets you a tribal symbol, a nice necklace. There's a barrier to the west which requires dispel barrier to remove. Behind it is a manifold revenant, which splits to form 4 ghasts on death. The basins here yield a shade (SE), experience (SW), and a cave demon (W). The coffin holds a flowing silk robe and a knowledge crystal. If you head down stairs 3, you'll be in an area that can be easily reached through 1 and 2. The spiders to the west guard another icy geode. There's a small pathway to the SE that is populated by nephar archers, submission fungi, and warped wolves. This allows you to get to H2, though. Honeycomb (H2) Cache: Fine steel, icy geode. Notable items: Blessed shield, magestone band, blessed vambraces Stats: Terror +1 If you're coming from the sublevel of H1, proceed on, and you'll find some adventurers! They're not too friendly though, and are mainly here to block you. I'd kill them, as the bonus is pretty nice. They drop a number of potions, a blessed shield, and a few scrolls. This also allows you to reach the hermit easily. Staircase 4 will bring you up to the bandits. Staircase 6 takes you down to a bunch of acid spraying shrubs. Argh. South from here are a bunch of lava bats (which are really annoying if they catch you unprepared). They may drop leathers when killed. If you're on the top level, head to the NW to fight a bunch of worms. An icicle worm will drop a magestone band when killed. When you're ready to take on the bandits, come back and prepare with a few long-term spells, then storm the fort. Hosharr is under the fort, and is accompanied by a number of bandits. Kill them all. Hosharr can be tough since he attacks 3-4 time a turn, and has a high to hit%. Still, you should be able to kill him with minimal losses. Take his steel halberd and blessed vambraces as a reward. Read the nearby book to see that Hosharr was in cahoots with the conspiracy, and to get +1 to terror. Honeycomb (H3) Cache: Icy geode, emerald Notable items: Drakeskin shield, infernal shroud. Stats: Lightning spray +1, Mass healing +1, Summon aid+1 If coming from H2, go up the nearby stairs. Kill the three spraying bushes, and you'll find Sleater. He'll give you the ability to destroy the undead if you ask. Come back after you've done it, and he wants your help to explore Athron's old lair. Go north and down the stairs to reach the lair. Ghessalus is a drake and is guarding the entrance. Kill it. It drops a drakeskin shield. Prepare yourself, then head north through the door. A dragon's familiar waits for you. To beat it, kill the dark blue pylon (ONLY!), and then hammer away on the demon. It goes down easily. Otherwise, you won't make any progress against it. It drops an infernal shroud on death, easily one of the best cloaks in the game. Read the stuff in the boxes to improve lightning spray, Mass healing, and Summon aid. Go back and tell Sleater of your success. Other points of interest in this area include Xandros the rogue, a mage- bandit. Kill him and his clan for some minor goods. Blind skunkworms are northeast of Xandros, and have a number of crystals nearby. Kill them and take their stuff to get one more piercing crystal. Distant Tunnel This area can be reached through the sublevel of H3. There is not too much here, though you can retrieve a wand of flames (quite potent). Honeycomb (HC) Cache: Icy geode x 2 Notable items: Inertial Shield, pustulent vambraces Initially this area is just a quick pathway on your way to Mertis. Once you're exploring the Honeycomb, this area has the least combative way to reach Sleater. The cerebrous worm is located in the SW part of the main level of this area. Go ahead and kill it, though you may not like to do so. It drops some pustulent vambraces on death. Staircases 8 and 'b' lead to some undead, and a "sentient bones" who drops an inertial shield on death. Staircase 'a' has a few slimes. East of Mertis (EM) Subquests: Hunt down Crain. Goodman Thorious lives here, and he's the father of the fellow you helped long ago. However, he and his family are a bit nuts. Still, talk with him to get a reward- 300c. He's much more friendly after you give him this letter. He will sell some (over-priced) items to you, including a woven silk robe, a blessed shortsword, some graymold, and an ivory band. The mold is the only stuff I considered buying. He will give you another quest, if you'd like. Your reward for this second quest is an armor ring. Mertis Spiral (MS) Notable items: Ruby breastplate, Pustulant vambraces, Polar fur cloak, jinx blade, warmth ring. This area is fairly straight-forward. Just move along, killing all the undead you encounter. Use acid spray frequently, as it does a lot of damage for low SP, and repel spirit on harder enemies. There's lots of valuable non- magical stuff here, grab it up as you go along. This good loot includes a mandrake root. To the NW you'll find a ruby breastplate in a coffin, and a magic barrier. Dispel the barrier to fight a tougher cauldron monster and get a wisdom crystal. Near the center of the map is another barrier, this one leads to another nasty monster guarding a disruption wand. Go down the stairs to continue this dungeon. You have a choice- north or south. South leads to the mayor, and I'd take him out first. The mayor drops some pustulant vambraces on death. This fulfills the mayor's wife's quest. Head to the NE. You'll need to either use two piercing crystals or the spell dispel barrier to proceed. Undead abound in the attached rooms. Go ahead and kill them now, otherwise they'll attack you shortly. The same is true of the NW. You'll find a lava-fired spear in one of the coffins nearby, so be on the lookout. There's a barrier to the south, beyond is an undead guarding a polar fur cloak. In the center of the map is the cause of the undead. There are several basins around. Not a one is helpful (all poison or cover you in acid). You'll find the cauldron shade nearby. It's guarded by two crystal pylons. They can be tough, but take your time and you'll take it out. It drops a jinx blade and warmth ring on death. Return to Mertis for your reward. South-eastern Road (SR) Cache: Wyrmskin helmet, energetic herbs, mandrake root Notable items: Thrusting gauntlets. This is the route to the Tower of the Magi (TotM). There are two routes south- the west one is the main pathway, the east one is the backroads. The west one has a merchant who has some decent armor (but not too much), and the east one has ogres and a cache. You can head down a stairway for the east route to kill an ogre mage. This is the full on attack path, and is a bit tougher, though still doable. The ogre mage is to the south, and once destroyed will drop a set of thrusting gauntlets (+1 blademaster, +1 lethal blow- very nice). This is the area you must go to test X's lizard. Go to the NE from the Tower colony, and you are prompted to place the egg down. Cast shielding, blessing, and haste spells, and cast an augmentation on the lizard. Your job is to keep it alive till it kills over naturally. There will be three waves of chitrachs trying to kill you and the lizard. Once over, the lizard dies on its own. Nearby is a stairway down which leads to a rod of succor and a few other minor goodies. Tower Colony (TC) Subquests: Route through Almaria, Purge the Tower, Lizard Testing Jobs: Glowing basalt, Research notes, Message to Camp Samuels, Ogre discipline Notable items: $Bladeshield chain$ x2, Girdle of Avoidance, temperate necklace, radiant belt, girdle of genius, blessed helmet Trainers: Kelner, X Stats: Dispel barrier +1, prismatic shield +1, steel skin +1, mass healing +1, mass curing +1, fireblast +1 This is the remains of the old tower of the magi. There's a fair bit to do here. Talk to Oliver again to see what he's got for sale. At least buy his knowledge crystal. The Bladeshield charm is pretty nice, too, so you may want to go ahead and get that. Tell Kelner you helped Maxfield out for a nice girdle of avoidance (+2 dex). There's a pylon to the SE so be sure to hit that as well. Several quest await you here. Oliver wants a route through Almaria, sticking with his previous theme of "make sure the path is clear" type quests. Once you've made it past, return and tell Oliver for a sniper vest. You'll see him next in Dharmon. X wants you to test his lizard egg, and will sell you spells in exchange for successfully completing this quest. His prices aren't that good, but he's the only one who sells prismatic shield for now. Kelner wants you to do a very important quest, to purge the tower of a big fat demon. The reward for this quest is one of the best in the game, in my opinion. When you're ready, head up to the tower. Go up the eastern stairs first to grab some research notes. Be on the lookout for more research notes. Then go up the western stairs. Kill the lizards hanging around, some drop fine leather. Before heading to the NW, cast protective spells as some nasty creatures await (worms and similar ilk). Kill them fast, as they're weak but very damaging. You can kill the automaton if you want, it drops a silver necklace. The door right in front of the automaton has a bunch of slimes. Kill them to grab a research notebook. Then head NE, and you'll find another automaton. Kill it, but don't use melee weapons. Firebolt and repel spirit both work well on it. It drops a temperate necklace on death. Head south, and use the control panel once to summon a nasty slime creature (as with all slimes, use magic). Use the control panel again to face a nasty demon. The best way to approach this demon is to bless heavily, haste, shield (including prismatic), then send on tank up next to him, and hammer away with magic (slow/lightning spray/repel spirit) and missile weapons. You don't really even need to talk to him, you can just go ahead and attack him right off. He has a high attack order, so if you attack him first, he loses a turn. He enjoys summoning, so use area of effect spells to remove his summons. With a bit of effort, he will go down. Your reward is the spell dispel barrier. You can do a lot with this spell. Go around and use it throughout the tower to get a few good spells- prismatic shield, steel skin, mass healing, mass curing, fireblast. You can also get some items since you have the keys now- including a radiant belt and a girdle of genius,. All in all, you get a lot. You can now use this spell up at Fort Dranlon, if you'd like. There's a job board here with a few good jobs: Glowing basalt (healing, curing, speed elixirs), Research notes (scrolls- lightning, control foes, acid shower), Message to Camp Samuels (200c), and Ogre discipline (blessed helmet reward). If Sage Carlotta is here, talk to her for a reward- a wand of the inferno. South-eastern road (S1) Subquest: Digmaster Grugg Cache: Glowing basalt There are fungi here, but fortunately they don't attack. Explore, and you'll find Komlos, a magical smith. He gives you a quest to hunt down an ogre by the name of Digmaster Grugg. Do so and he'll do work for you. The best way to access the sublevel is through the ogre caves just north. Digmaster Grugg is easily found, and when he dies, he drops a girdle of might (+2 strength). South-eastern road (S2) Cache: Mandrake Root, healing herbs, spiritual herbs, focusing crystal, Notable items: Spear of the fen, treated leather, static band Ogres guard the route west. Kill them to and take their stuff. Head NW. More ogres. Kill them and take their stuff. Go downstairs. More ogres. Kill them and take their stuff (including a wand of death). Chieftan Ugglug will charm you if you engage him in melee, so use magic and missile attacks. He drops a spear of the fen when slain. Other items nearby include a treated leather, and a static band. You can go south and west from the sublevel here, both give some decent items. South-eastern road (S3) Cache: Piercing crystal, graymold, healing herbs Notable items: Tinker's gloves If you enter this region from the main level from the east, a dazed miner will stop and talk with you, telling you to go to the SW, near the sulfurous flats. It's up to you if you want to do that just yet. You'll be sent to do it no matter what when you finally reach the castle, but getting it done and over with now isn't too bad an idea. You may want to wait till you've reached Camp Samuel's first, so that you have a base of operations. There are a number of merchants around, some have good items for sale (Lyun), but most are best used to sell things. Head south to the sulfurous flats, and you'll find a few caches. In the sublevel, some aranea seers are to the south, they guard a body with some tinker's gloves. Surface Portal (SP) Subquests: Portmaster Pirro Caches: Glowing basalt Notable items: Shielding knife, grounded cloak. The surface portal is located here. There's not much that can be done just yet, but go ahead and look around. There's a shielding knife upstairs and a grounded cloak near the portal. Portmaster Pirro will talk with you and asks you to let him know if you find the mages the castle sent to fix the portal. He opens a box for you as a reward. He also tells you to go see Sage Carlotta at the TotM. Sulfurous Flats (SF) Cache: Glowing basalt x5 Notable items: Ruby necklace Stats: Haste +1, Slow +1 Fire lizards abound, as do bats. Check out all of the cubbies in the cave wall, most are populated by hostile creatures, and you'll find a lot of glowing basalt as a reward. The most important thing here is to the SW. Here you'll find several vahnatai, and a book which teaches haste and slow spells. Talk with the vahnatai if you want, they're not that helpful. Head downstairs. Summoning platforms and some containers with minor goodies are to the NW. Work your way around, and you'll find some crystal pylons. Kill them now, one at a time. Doing so will save you a lot of trouble later (Yes, this level is a trap). The basins to the SE restore energy, poison you, and heal you, from left to right. Head to the SE, and you'll find the individual who is causing most of the problems here. Turn around, haste, bless, and shield, and take out the creatures nearby. Go slow, and as soon as you cross the glowing green runes, more creatures attack you. None are all that tough, but they can be obnoxious. Once you head up the stairs, the vahnatai here become hostile. Prepare beforehand and rush them. They drop a ruby necklace and some vahnatai items on death. Southeastern road (S5) Cache: Healing herbs, spiritual herbs Notable items: Woven silk robe, incantor's ring, oozing blade There's a sublevel here that's ripe for exploring. You find a crypt that's guarded by a trap and then a golem. Beef up your spells and smash it. The only difficulty is that the golem can freeze you when it hits. Kill it for a woven silk robe, and an incantor's ring (among the best rings for mages). Head immediately west and go up the stairs. Prepare for a battle with some tough slimes. Magic works best, but try to kill them fast as they can frenzy themselves. They drop the oozing blade, one of the best weapons in the game. Great Cave (GC) Commander Xaba warns you to stay away from Almaria. Everyone's gone crazy there, so take his advice. You'll get in shortly, though. Camp Samuels (CS) Subquests: The lost mages Jobs: Message: Almaria, Hunt Orchard Fungus Cache: None Notable items: Runed jade necklace Trainers: Shrum Stats: None A bit of civilization before dealing with the crazy Almarians. There's a pylon here, be sure to hit it. Talk with Commander Krizsan and find out about the situation. Krizsan talks with you about how to enter Almaria. Your best bet is to talk with Sheehan. Sheehan tells you that there's an old tunnel that will get you to where you want to be. Finally, Crain (of the crazy Mertis folk quest) is located here. Kill him if you want. There's a house nearby with a stairway down. Inside are a group of bandits. Kill them for a nice jeweled wand. Go down the monster storage area, and you'll face a steelclad golem who drops a wisdom crystal and fine steel on death (use lightning spray). The other nearby monsters include a gazer (runed jade necklace and eyestalks dropped on death), and a pustulent zombie who drops some leather and an invulnerability brew. It's guarding a cabinet full of fine lances and a scroll. Quests available include finding out about the lost mages from Krizsan (opens a box), and Shrum's quest. Shrum's quest is to go kill an ex-bandit down south. Do so for one of the best training options in the game. The quest is a bit morally ambiguous, but that's OK. Jobs located here include: Message: Almaria (250c), and Hunt Orchard Fungus (500c, 3 almarian wines). Great Cave (G1) Cache: Fine steel, graymold x2, mandrake root Notable items: Blessed bow, wyrmskin helmet, drakeskin bracers, nimble sandals, nullity shield Stats: Terror +1 Aruebis is located to the SE. Go ahead and kill him. This gets you a blessed bow and a wyrmskin helmet. Some fine leather and some drakeskin bracers are in the room to the south. Check the stairs down and to the NE to find a body with some nimble sandals. The most notable thing here is the shard spiders, which occupy the entire SW portion of this map. They aren't hostile, but they are very tough if you choose to be hostile. However, you can simplify your life greatly by killing the aranea stoneseer first. This removes all the protections on the other nearby spiders and makes them vulnerable to all attacks. If you don't kill this spider first, then you're stuck using acid spray to do any damage. The stoneseer drops a nullity shield on death. You can also investigate the nearby room for a point of terror. Great Cave (G2) Plenty of orchard fungi roam this area. Kill them as best you can. Crenshaw is nearby, and is a producer of wine. He will reward you well for killing the orchard slimes. Other than that, he mainly fills in the backstory. Check out the cellars nearby to steal some wine. When you're coming through this area to get to the castle, prepare yourself for a fight as you approach the SE. Several assassins attack as you walk through this area. Kill them, then head out to leave this area and continue on with your quest. Great Cave (G3) Cache: Graymold Not much here on the Camp Samuels side, just a cache and some herbs. Great Cave (G4) Here you will find the tunnel down. A guard sees you and freaks out. Kill her. Almaria (AL) Job: Message: the castle. Nothing to do up top, but underneath is much more complex. Head to the north, killing the submission fungi along the way. Continue all the way north, and you'll find Sage Carlotta, the mage in charge of fixing the portal. Free her and her two comrades. Head on west, and up the stairs. Welcome to Almaria! Hug the wall and avoid the shade. There's even a job board nearby (reward- mass bless scroll). Grab the one job, and head to the NW. Avoid being spotted by the shade and any guards. Head down the stairs, through the submission fungi, and out of here (to G2). -------------------------------------The Great Cave-------------------------- By far the biggest section of the game, the Great Cave is very rewarding, but also frequently difficult. S4-S2-SC Z3-Z2 EZ | | | | | FS S3-S1-FE-G8=ZL-Z1 | | | | GW-BL-GN-G9-G7-G6-G5 | | | | | | | GV-DH-GX-GY-ML CA G3-G2^ | | | | | | |^^ Gk-GP-Gi-Gh-G0-GZ-GU-AL- | | | | | |^^ WW-RT-Gm-Gj-PT-Gg-GR-GT-G4^ Great Cave (G2) There's a pylon here, so go ahead and hit it. Stay away from Almaria the best you can just yet. They're all hostile. Great Cave (G3) Notable items: Tinker gloves The River Inn is located here, and you can find some nice goods upstairs. You can also stay here for free (effectively recharging you completely). The Castle (CA) Main Quests: Vahnatai Sighting, Vahnatai Rescue; Fort Emerald Box, Rentar Ihrno's Keep, Hunt Down Rentar Subquests: Shade Essence, Accounts Ledger, The Fissure Post, Fort Saffron, Shade Artifact, Kill a Shade, Kill the shades, Darkside Loyalists Jobs: Great cave bandits, Correlea's needs, Abyss report, Ghall-Ihrno's comfort Notable items: Blessed boots, bracers, and breastplate, crystalline plate, putrified gauntlets, Blessed armor band, Magus Vest Trainers: Rone Stats: Arcane Summon +1, Divine Retribution +1, Finally, you've made it. After several hours of goofing around, you now have a goal in sight. Proceed through the castle, and you'll be told to go see Houghton. He's to the SSW. After a bit of dialogue, you're given your next quest- Vahnatai Sighting. This quest has to do with the fortress near the Sulfurous Flats (SF). If you've been following this walkthough, then you've already completed it. Otherwise, go there and do it now. Once you've completed it, you get another quest, and Almaria ceases being hostile (mostly). This is one of the more interesting quests of the game. Once you've done the Almaria quest, you're given one final quest from Houghton. Ghall-Ihrno will now talk with you about the vahnatai and the threat Avernum faces. Once you've grabbed the box from Fort Emerald, head back, and it's taken from you before you can get any further. Go upstairs to the observation chamber (near Correlea) and prepare yourself. Houghton dies pretty much no matter what. I don't think he can be saved by any means. Anyways, you can now see the king. Head in to see Starrus. He tells you what happened at Fort Remote, and gives you the quest to hunt down Rentar. Do so, and you're told again to Hunt Down Rentar. This time the process is a bit more complex. Many other quests can be found near here. Rone, the court wizard to the NW will train you in high level mage spells, and is also right next to the Castle's pylon. Directly upstairs from Rone is Correlea, his talented assistant. She gives you a quest to go whack off a portion of a shade and return it to her. The only option you have is the shade of Dharmon or Blosk. Blosk is the only reasonable possibility of these two places. Arcane Summon is your reward. Once you've got the quest to hunt down Rentar, return to Correlea for a new quest- to retrieve an item that will help destroy the shades. Do so to get your next quest, to destroy a shade, and to get a book of divine retribution. Destroy a shade for a book of arcane shield, and the last quest- to destroy all the shades. For this you get a pair of putrified gauntlets Next to Rone you'll find Gilda, the castle record keeper. She gives you a quest to find an old accounts ledger in Almaria. Your reward are scrolls of madness, mass bless, and mass shield. Levitt is upstairs in the SE corner of the building. Talk to him to get set on the "Darkside loyalist" quests, the conspiracy that you've been finding infrequently throughout your journeys. He gives you a quest to investigate a nearby inn for details. Return and he unlocks a room for you, getting you some blessed boots, bracers, and a breastplate. He then wants you to explore Fort Saffron (rather, its bandit problems). Do so for a blessed broadsword and some stability boots. Your final quest is to hunt down the Darkside loyalists. Once you've smacked Dorikas around enough till he flees like a coward, return for two items: a magus vest and a blessed armor band. There is a job board here, too. The quests available are Great cave bandits (1000c), Correlea's needs (rod of battle), and Abyss report (emerald x 3, ruby x 3). You may be able to Correlea's needs right off, if you have stockpiled a few nodules/geodes/basalts. Otherwise, you'll find a few more as you roam the countryside. The two great cave bandits are located moderately close. The abyss report isn't going to be done for a long time. Ghall-Ihrno's comfort becomes available once you've rescued him from Almaria. The reward for this quest is 2 wisdom crystals. If you can, dispel the barrier off of Starrus' room. This leads to the castle treasury. Kill the infernal shade and pillage the treasure (Crystalline plate reward). Consider it your fee for services rendered. Great Cave (G5) Cache: Mandrake root, graymold. Nothing really here, unless you're coming from the slith lands. Then there's a basilisk and some herbs. Great Cave (G6) Three merchants are here, and all have items for sale. Only Cross and Oswalt have remotely useful items, and only Oswalt buys stuff. Nonetheless, you can get rid of a lot of those items you've been saving up. Memorial Lands (ML) Subquest: Graverobbers! Notable items: Reflecting shield, blessed broadsword, breastplate, airy vambraces Stats: Control Foes +1, Minor summon +1, summon aid +1, +1 Luck This is nice little area full of graves to rob. You can also get a good quest here from Elder Caridad to kill a graverobber who is competition. Nikka is the graverobber, and he can be found in the central part of this map. Other graves here have some nice items, including a reflecting shield, blessed broadsword and breastplate, and one grave with two books which improve control foes, minor summon, and summon aid. When you're ready, head to the central grave and take out the graverobbers. There's a slith and an archer with Nikka. When Nikka gets pretty hurt, he'll disappear on you. Go tell Elder Caridad, and leave for a while. Then check the SE crypt. Nikka has returned. You can kill him this time. He drops some airy vambraces on death (these are really nice). Tell Elder Caridad about it, and he's happy enough to bless you permanently (+1 to luck for everyone). Great cave (G7) Cache: Blessed helmet. There is a huge dungeon and additional area attached to this zone. It's great fun. This heads up to G8. Great Cave (G8) Cache: Mandrake root, graymold, focusing crystal, wisdom crystal Notable items: Cryos spear. Bortund is located here. He can make some excellent items. I would definitely have him make at least one runed helmet for you, for your mage or priest. He's pretty much insane. He'll charge you 1000c to join his preferred customer club, so that's an additional fee. You'll find one on your own, so it's up to you. If you're coming to this level from the sublevel of G7, there is a crazed bugmaster to the west. He drops a cryos spear on death (with great bonuses). Head east to get to the slith lands. Slith lands (ZL) Cache: Mandrake root x3 Notable items: Tribal symbol, blessed shield. You start in the sublevel here. A few sliths are nearby, so kill them. Go up the stairs and interrupt the ritual. Kill them and take their stuff. Use the altar and fight a slith avatar for a slith warspear. There are many sliths in this area, and some are warded against spells. Make your attack strategy based on their names (fire-warded means don't use firebolt or fireblast, ice-warded means don't use smite [or lightning-spray, apparently], etc.). Slith lands (Z1) Cache: Graymold x2 From here you can get to a few interesting areas, including the dead body you may have seen in the eastern gallery. Slith lands (Z2) Not much here other than some graymold. Slith lands (Z3) Notable items: Woven silk robe, bonded knife, girdle of life, Avenger's ring Stats: Enduring armor This is the main map of this area. A slith chief taunts you from behind his giant slave. I'd recommend first heading to the NW. Some sliths and hellhounds guard the area, and you'll find some herbs and a knowledge brew for your efforts. Head to the SE for a bonded knife and woven silk robe (on the body near the runed lizard). Also nearby are two basins that bless and shield you (not too impressive, sadly). The other nearby animals drop minor goods. Finally there's a spell book of enduring armor here. Read it. Head through the basement for a girdle of life. When you're ready, head to the NE, and take out the giant. It drops a charmed plate, which is great armor. Continue and kill the chieftain, who drops the excellent avenger's ring. Minor goods are all that's left, so grab what you want and return to the great cave. Great Cave (G9) Very little here. One merchant sells a blessed broadsword for cheap, but that's it. Great Cave (G0) Cache: Mandrake root x2, graymold x2, wisdom crystal, piercing crystal Notable items: Spectral boots, crystal woven chitin, crystal symbol There are some nice herbs on the main level here, but most of the interesting stuff is below. The SW holds several shades guarding crystals. Destroy them all. One of them drops some excellent spectral boots. Gather up the crystals (include an icy geode). To the NE, there's a golem with two pylons. Kill them all, though it'll take a little while (no spell really does much damage, and physical attacks against the golem are painful). Once dead, it drops a crystal woven chitin and a crystal symbol. There's a stolen book in a nest to the NW. Great Cave (GZ) Notable items: Blessed bracers, blessed belt There are a number of Blosk refugees located here, and they are being lead by Goodwife Newberry. Talk to her and find out that some thugs have moved in to the SE. Go to the SE dome and kill Lott. He drops a blessed belt and some blessed bracers. Tell Newberry about it for, well, nothing. Almaria (AL) Subquests: Find Demonslayer. Jobs: Message: Castle. Cache: Mandrake root Notable items: Blessed helmet. Trainers: Starcap, Abbot Erlanger Stats: War blessing +1, Protection +1, Repel Spirit, Smite +1, Endurance +1 Come back here when the gates have been forced open. The town is still on edge, but there's a lot you can do here, still. Starcap is a potent (but expensive) trainer. His equal can be found in Silvar once the shade there has been destroyed. Abbot Erlanger is a priest, and will train you in spells. He is one of the few unaffected by the shade (along with the nephilim). Underneath his temple is a book that increases your war blessing and protection skills, and another that increases your repel spirit and smite skills. Near the barracks is a room you can rob (blessed helmet). Head on down the stairs near the mayor to explore this region. It's best to clear out this area prior to taking on the main quest. Underneath you will find a number of rooms. The room to the SE has two barriers, with a box with a key. Grab the key. If you head down from near the commander, you'll find the ledger than Gilda wants. Also, you'll find a golem in this area. In the north region you'll find a bunch of nasty corrupted rats. There's a body with a steel halberd near here, and a nice cache. When you're ready to continue the main storyline, go talk with Mayor Bevan. Demand the release of the Vahnatai. Prepare yourselves by casting spells, and then talk with the vahnatai. He tells you that he's been kept here. Tell him you know an escape route. Now follow the vahnatai and keep it safe. Kill all of the vigilantes who attack you, and keep the vahnatai alive at all costs. At the end, you'll be attacked by a vigilante by the name of Grosk One-eye, and on death he drops a mercuric chain. The vahnatai gets free and will meet you at the castle. The only quest-giver of note is Abbot Erlanger who gives you a quest to find Demonslayer. Doing so gets you a bonus to endurance (yay!) Great Cave (GY) Cache: Emerald, glowing basalt Notable items: Blessed boots, polar fur cloak The Fissure Post is located here. Enter the building, and talk with the innkeeper. He tells you who's been making trouble here, a fellow named Stout. The inn is populated by rich empire citizens, many of whom have never seen an adventurer in real life. Since these people are so fascinated with adventurers, show them what being an adventurer is really about. Loot all their stuff. You'll find some great items, including a lot of nice non- magical jewelry, a knowledge brew, a wand, a pair of blessed boots, and a polar fur cloak. Go up the stairs, and talk with Stout (well, do whatever counts as talking). Kill him, and take his stuff. Search the jar in his room for a map. Fort Emerald (FE) Jobs: Hunt Szorizass, Wyrmkin Tails Notable items: Blessed boots, Mica flecked chain Trainers: Tisiana This fort is pretty dead. There's a job board here, so go ahead and grab the jobs. Hunt Szorizass (600c) and Wyrmkin Tails (Mica flecked chain as a reward). Tisiana will train you in archery for extremely costly amounts. There are some blessed boots upstairs. Eventually go talk with Captain Biden. He'll lower the barriers for you. Scree Caves (SC) Cache: Healing Herbs Head up north of Fort Emerald. You'll find the box slightly to the west and to the north, in a small passageway. Magic orbs guard the box. Attack them with bows, and kill one. This should cause the rest to die as well. Scree Caves (S1) Cache: Focusing Crystal This holds the path from Fort Emerald to Gnass. Several green Wyrmkin are here, and some should drop the tails you need for Beadle's job. Scree Caves (S2) Cache: Fine steel Notable items: Gazerskin sandals, demonslayer This is the home of demonslayer. If you've got the ritual from Solberg, haste, bless, and shield, then take the east stairs. Quickly head clockwise and you'll find some controls for golems in the SW corner. Turn them off. This machine is an infinite golem spawner, and the golems don't do much for you (no XP, no first aid). Stopping them allows you to search the area in peace. Hit all of the switches in the NW and SE corners. Then explore this area. Watch out for the eyebeast in the NE corner of the map. It's not too hard, but it can catch you by surprise. Kill it for the stunningly powerful gazerskin sandals. When ready, head to the inner SE. You'll find a demon and a golem. They'll talk with you briefly, then will attack. You'll get a message along the lines of "golem looks shielded" or "demon looks shielded" so attack the one that's not shielded. With time and a few good lightning sprays, they'll fall and you can collect demonslayer as a prize. Go tell Solberg and the priest of Almaria for your rewards. Scree Caves (S3) This is the location of the hideout Fort Saffron wants you to check out. Scree Caves (S4) Notable items: Helm of klin This is where Szorizass the drake is located. It's pretty well holed-up, and is well guarded by ember lizards and other nasties. Bless/shield/haste, and storm their reptilian hideaway. The drake tries to plea with you (at least, as far as drakes go, it's a plea), but it hasn't really ended its human-eating ways. Kill them all. They have some great items, including a knowledge elixir and a helm of klin. Gnass (GN) Subquests: Mariotti, Help Gnass Notable items: Slith warspear, fibrous breastplate Stats: Resistance +1 This is the slith town. There's a few quests for you to do, with some great rewards. Aktitoss wants you to kill a bandit who killed her mate. The bandit's name is Mariotti, and he's currently located in Blosk. Once you kill him, tell Aktitoss to be told to ask Shath for a reward. You get a fibrous breastplate, which is absolutely crappy armor. Gless-Thsss wants you to get help from the mayor of Dharmon. Sadly, she won't help the sliths till you kill the shade. The final item of note here is a small basement behind the east house. Enter it, and kill the guardian hellhound. Steel all the things you want (knowledge brew), and grab the slith warspear. When the Dharmon/Blosk shade is destroyed, return for a potent blessing from Pathass, resistance +1 to all characters. Dharmon (DH) Subquests: Hunting Tyrol, Dharmon Pests Jobs: Message: Tavernise, Mine Infestation, Shaynee's Delivery, The Blosk Maps Cache: Piercing crystal Notable items: Nimble chian. Trainers: Priestess Kyra Stats: +1 Endurance (Kyra's blessing), Divine fire +1. This town is full of angry, crazy people. It also has the best priest in Avernum, so be sure to bring money. However, first clear out the townies in the center. Prepare yourself (augmentation/haste), then talk with Keith near the pit. Attack the thugs. One drops a nimble chain. Once cleared, continue to explore. Whatever you do, don't head to the north, as the townpeople are protective of their shade, and everyone will attack you. Other things of interest include the inn to the SW. No one here is very friendly, except for one person- Oliver. You've found the traveling merchant yet again. This time he stays still, and he's got some really nice items. Definitely buy the knowledge brew, and think about the airy vambraces, blessed longbow, and cap of thoughts. After you've bought what you want, head to the Temple and peruse Kyra's spells. Definitely buy the blessing (+1 Endurance). I'd also recommend enduring armor, as it acts to increase your HP as well. Go above the temple to find a book of divine fire, and a barrier guarding a chest with some gold and other goods. The pylon for this town is immediately outside on the main level to the SE. Haldeman the tailor has a few nice items, including a specter robe and an archer's cloak. The latter is the better of the two. Quests include kill Tyrol from Captain Harrum (reward: singing rapier), who is to the north, and Dharmon Pests from Rippel. Rippel is willing to deal with you, unlike most individuals in this town. She doesn't have much good yet, but is willing to do custom orders for you in exchange for doing this quest. If you're doing the Hunting Tyrol quest, head to the north side of town outside (main level). Check out the trash pit, then head west. Take the stairs down, then head west. You'll be in an abandoned lab. Remove the barrier and kill the rats for Rippel. Then head east. Kill the three thugs (one drops some graymold), then head south. Kill Tyrol and his thugs quickly and take their stuff. They don't have much, but are members of the darkside loyalists. Four jobs are available: Message: Tavernise (200c), Mine Infestation (1000c), Shaynee's Delivery (ruby chain), and The Blosk Maps (1200c!). Tavernise is in town, just head up the southmost stairs to the SW. These stairs are located inside the crappy inn. Shaynee's delivery requires a pipe, clean towel, mortar and pestle, and some shackles. Great Cave (GW) Cache: Energetic Herbs, spiritual herbs Notable items: Frozen blade Shaynee is located here. Talk to her and you can buy her items. She has a few nice things, though you've probably found most of it along your travels. Grint is a bandit and can be found near the center of the map. Beat him up till he disappears. There are three farmhouses with stairs down nearby. Go down two of them and you'll get messages along the lines of "he just snuck past you". In the third farmhouse you find Grint again. You can kill him this time. He drops a frozen blade on death. Blosk (BL) Subquests: Destroy the shade, Blosk Reinforcements Jobs: Brigand Grint, Having Worms, Message: Spire Fort Cache: Silver necklace Notable items: Blessed bracers, runed helm, shining golden band, mercuric plate, girdle of genius Stats: Curing +1, Mass curing +1 There's little to do here since the shade destroyed half of the town. Stuff here is the goal of a few places though, and this is the best place to gather a piece of the shade for Correlea. Prepare for the battle like you did with the shade in Silvar. Then hit it hard. You need to hit it with melee attacks in order to fill the crystal vial. If the shade is not here, pillage the nearby body for a girdle of genius. Check out the east barracks for a ladder. Use the ladder and grab a pair of blessed bracers. Head to the NE to find a bunch of brigands, and kill them all. One of them drops a runed helm, an excellent item. Head to the NW and search the upstairs area. You'll find the Blosk Maps (good for a job), and a dead body with a shining golden band. The SW has mayor Vicky who will give you a quest to destroy the shade. There's also a book nearby that increases your curing and mass curing spells. Also nearby is a chest with a mercuric plate. Nearby Commander Thrac is a stairway up. Commander Thrac will give you a quest to get assistance from Fort Saffron. They will only help after you have completed their quest (750c). Go up the stairs and dispel the barriers. Kill the worm for a job which gives a nice set of potions as a reward. Jobs here include Brigand Grint (500c), Having Worms (invulnerable elixir, knowledge brew, energy elixir), and Message: Spire Fort. Grab them all. Great Cave (GX) Cache: Flawed Crystal x2, lovely crystal, beautiful crystal x 2. Some refugees are here but they don't do anything. Head down the south stairs, then head west to find a bunch of crystals. You find a crystal basilisk (somewhat tough) guarding a knowledge crystal. Near the north staircase are a bunch of brigands. Kill them and take their stuff. Then head down the north stairs, and grab the caches. Great Cave (GU) Cache: Beautiful Crystal Not much here, as far as I can tell. Great Cave (G4) Cache: Gold Necklace. Notable items: Blessed shortsword and breastplate. Not too much up top, but head down one set of stairs to reach the interesting stuff. Head west to find some crystals guarded by shades. Kill them before they attack. Spells work the best on them, but really only fire and repel spirit. Cold and lightning don't seem to do a thing. Head to the east and you'll find the bandit leader Abisynthe. Knock her down to 1 HP, and she'll summon a bunch of doppelgangers. Only one image is really, so whichever one you're doing damage to the most is the true Abisynthe. Once you've got her down to 1 HP, she recalls the doppelgangers to restore her health. Kill her now. She drops a blessed shortsword and breastplate on death. Great Cave (GT) Notable items: Hero's necklace Stats: Parry +1 Head down the stairs to the NE. Approach the well. Drop in 50c to gain a point of parry for everyone. Very nice. Some bandits are hiding out in the tunnels to the east. Kill them and take their stuff. Head down the south stairs, and make your way north. You'll find two golems. This is another adventurer's test. This one, you just have to survive for 20 turns or so. The golems are pretty much unbeatable, and the tide of burrowing crawlers is unending. Use delaying tactics, like strong daze and terror to minimize problems with the worms, and keep healing for when the golems hit your fighters. Great Cave (GR) Cache: Piercing crystal, mandrake root, beautiful crystal Notable items: Nullity shield, Samaritan sandals Stats: Heal +1 Wolves are to the SE, including a dripfang wolf. Kill them. They are guarding a knowledge brew. Otherwise, head to the south, past the brigands and down their stairs. Head north to find Randolph Halfbreed. He's easier than Abisynthe it seems, though he has a nasty charm spell. Kill them all and take their stuff (Nullity shield, Samaritan sandals). There's a nearby book of heal. Great Cave (GV) Cache: Beautiful crystal, piercing crystal, wisdom crystal, mandrake root, graymold, spoon This is a pretty rich area on the top level. Eli is a friendly guard from Dharmon. Most important are two sublevels. There's an underground mine noted by "Fresh Claim" and guarded by a mage named Andreas. Kill him if you want (there's no penalty other than guilt). Grab his crystals and go up the stairs to grab some more crystals (including a wisdom crystal). The other nearby mine is the object of a job. Go down the stairs and start heading west. Kill the writhing masses with magic, and eventually you'll be attacked by unstable masses. These things explode so kill them from a distance. You'll find three spawner fungi causing all the problems. Kill them with lightning or ice, and watch out for their unstable mass spawn. They're resistant to fire. On death they drop a mandrake root, a swamp nodule, and a blessed longbow. Great cave (GP) Cache: Fine steel x3 The mine to the SW is guarded by Krytos and his crew. What are they guarding? Several gold bars (~6), a few focusing crystals, and a fine steel cache. It's your choice if you want to rob them or not. More interesting is Cicero to the NE. He and his crew are bandits. Kill them and take their stuff (mostly items to sell). Great cave (Gm) Subquest: Kill Chitrachs Cache: Icy geode Notable items: Shadow Band The big thing here are a group of soldiers who need your help to kill some chitrachs. Talk with Lieutenant Aelfin to get the scoop. You and the soldiers will be swarmed by chitrachs if you take this quest on. The first batch are pretty easy, but the next batch are armored (use magic). The following batch are spiked, so switch over to bows as magic doesn't work too well. Finally the queen comes out. Kill her for a potent shadow band. Tell the commander of Fort Remote for a sparkling wand. Great Cave (Gi) Cache: Fine steel, gold bar Notable items: Enchanter's robe, Helm of Khar Necromancer Tork lives here. He's pretty wimpy, but his undead are a bit tougher. Kill him for an enchanter's robe. Underneath this level and to the south is a pulsing crawler. Kill it, and it spawns several spiny crawlers. Kill them, and they spawn many burrowing crawlers. This situation can get out of hand fast. Kill them early, or you'll be hurting. The big enemy of this area is the infernal shifter, a demon to the NW. Hit it a bit and it'll turn blue, and shed a few fire lizards. Hit it a bit more and it turns into a golem and sheds some wyrms. Kill them all, and you'll get an excellent helm of khar. Great cave (Gj) Cache: graymold, skull Notable items: Incantor's ring, molten halberd The top level of this map If you go under the map's main level, there's more of interest. An escaped experiment guards the west area, and there are a bunch of hulking ogres in the center of the map. They are led by shaman Hronk. Kill the shaman for an incantor's ring. Kill them and head up the northern stairs. Some giants can be found here. They have a molten halberd and a stolen book on them, among other things. Great cave (Gk) Cache: Girdle of Life Notable items: Warrior's cloak There's an old ruined city here, populated by hellhounds. Smite and lightning spray work very well. The SE has several nasty bloodeye hellhounds, and upstairs is a pouncing hellhound. Kill it and loot the nearby body for some decent wands and potions. Nearby is a cache with a girdle of life. Located here is one more test for adventurers. This one has you killing a wolf and several hellhounds that are out to get you. Each hellhound summoned has one goal character. Kill them all, and weaken the wolf as best you can. It'll summon wolves again, do the same thing. This should let you kill the beast. As a reward you get a warrior's cloak, which is a nice cloak for fighters. Great Cave (Gh) Cache: Spiritual herbs, Energetic herbs Notable items: Assassin's shield, seeking rapier There are some fell razorhounds guarding a nest with some graymold to the east. Go down the pit. There is a nasty shambler to the North, which is guarded by several pylons. Fortunately, it will follow you, so lead it away from the pylons. Then smack it around with spells. Kill it for a stolen book and an assassin's shield. Then go kill the pylons for some crystals. Head to the center of the map, and you'll find a slime fungus with some slime zombies. Kill them for some potions, herbs, and a seeking rapier. Great Cave (Gg) Cache: Ruby, scroll: group haste Stats: Terror +1 Basilisks inhabit the SE portion of this map. Kill them and head down the stairs. Continue west to find more basilisks. They are guarding a stolen book. The big baddie here is Ghorath, the Icelord. Don't drink from any of the nearby basins. Power yourself up and then destroy his restoration pylon. Once it's dead, you can kill him much more easily. Then kill his pylons, since they don't attack. It'll be a bit painful this way, but it's better in the long run. He drops a temperate necklace and an ice hydra helm for your troubles, and there's a book of terror nearby. Patrick's Tower (PT) Subquests: Purge Patrick's Tower, library thieves, Find Demonslayer! Cache: Mass shield Notable items: Armor ring, radiant gauntlets, jade chain Trainers: Sorengard Stats: War blessing +1, Protection +1, haste +1, slow +1, control foes +1, fireblast +1, Unlock +1, Enduring Armor +1. This is an old place of learning in Avernum. Oasss-Kss sells herbs for decent prices. Sorengard will teach you spells, but at extremely high prices. Julz will make some potent potions for you, and also sells a knowledge brew. A spell book of war blessing and protection is to the NW, and one of haste and slow is the the SE. Other spells are near Rita and include bonuses to unlock and enduring armor. Note that in order to open the 35 tool use door, you'll probably have to have a mage-thief with potent magic skills. There's a stairway down to the north that leads to a gazer (wisdom crystal, eyebeast stalks, and icy geode), and a rotting shambler (mandrake root, jade chain). Solberg is to the west, and is a shadow of his former self. He has a quest for you, if you want it. Do this quest and you'll get 1000 c, a spell book of fireblast, and you'll be informed of the location of demonslayer (which also has an excellent reward). This gives a new quest. Rita, a sage, will reward you if you return five library books to her. Your reward is a storeroom opened to get control foes. The best way to get under Patrick's tower is to go below level someplace else N,E, or W and then walk toward the tower. Near the center you find Lord Bhoralon, a demon. Prepare for a fight, then talk with him. First he summons 4 hellhounds that seek targets (one is set to your mage, so kill it fast), then he summons a nasty golem which is best damaged through melee/missile attacks, then you have to fight the demon itself. It's pretty vulnerable to repel spirit. It drops some radiant gauntlets and an armor ring on death Fort Remote (RT) Subquests: Boat Plans, Interrogate vahnatai Jobs: Lost Raiders, Graymold needed, Mandrake Needed, eyestalks needed Notable items: Girdle of avoidance Trainers: Thompson This distant fort holds many good things. Note that pretty much none of them are available till after you do the Fort Emerald quest. Hit the pylon near the south central part of the map. There's a wisdom crystal behind a locked door (tool use 20). Once you've done the Fort Emerald box quest, come back here. Thompson is a trainer who will increase a number of skills for you, including resistance and magical efficiency. Get a few points to help yourself out. Talk with Private Chelsea to get a very important quest: Boat Plans. Do this one before heading to the west. I ignored this quest till after I stormed Rentar's keep and regretted it. Go to Silvar and steal the plans. Return and you're given a key, which will open up most of the paths west. Before the captain is willing to open up the west path, he requires you to do a quest first. Head to the SE and go up the stairs. You'll find a vahnatai shaper. Talk to it. It'll die but will release some beasts. Kill them and take their stuff (girdle of avoidance). Tell him about your success, and head west. The job board then becomes available. Grab the jobs: Lost Raiders (1000c), and Graymold Needed. You can probably do the graymold quest right off, so go see Selissa for your reward (healing elixir, energy elixir). One new job opens up after doing this: Mandrake Needed. Do this one for a speed elixir, restoration elixir). One final quest: eyestalks needed. If you have some in your inventory, give them to her (invulnerable potion, knowledge brew). ----------------------------------------Rentar's Keep----------------------- Pylons are your main enemies throughout this region. Fortunately, the pylons here have a pretty low area of vision, and you can avoid them with ease if you follow the correct path. Come back after you've beaten Rentar and collect everything you've missed. It's not too worthwhile to kill or collect things on the way there. Note that these pylons can be beat if you have a heavily shielded/augmented character which placed right next to them, and follow this up with archers and mages hammering away. Opal pylons fall to fire, ruby fall to ice, and jade fall to lightning. BF | W3 | W2 | W1 | WW-RT Western Wastes (WW) You are greeted by a group of seemingly friendly vahnatai as you head west. They're not friendly for long, and attack. Kill them and take their stuff. Down to the SW are some stairs. Go down them and use the key Private Chelsea gave you for some graymold and other items. There are three paths to the north. Go up the west-most path. Western Wastes (W1) Cache: Ruby Head north past the chasm, then head east. Head up the east-most passage, then head north to W2. On your way back, head down the stairs to the NE and collect the wisdom crystal. Near the west is a second wisdom crystal. Also nearby is a coated cloak and a shining silver band on a dead body. Western Wastes (W2) Notable items: Falchion of invasion Stats: Icy Rain, Lightning spray, smite, divine fire There are five options from here: 1 2 3 4 5. 2,3,4, and 5 all lead to a bunch of pylons. 1 is the best option. Go down the stairs and head west then south. Head north, then west. Go up the north stairs, then head east. Hug the north passageway, then go up the stairs. Kill the west vahnatai and drink from the basin (restores SP). Head east, then head north on the eastern most path. If you head up north on the middle path from W1, you'll find the lost raiders that are the object of a job. Unfortunately, they become hostile. One of them drops a falchion of invasion on death. A book in the SW improves your icy rain and lightning spray skills. Another nearby book increases your divine fire and smite skills. Western Wastes (W3) Notable items: Mooneye girdle. Stats: Unshackle Mind, control foes, Daze, Strong Daze Continue north, then head up the slightly western path (where your vahnatai mark begins to tingle), then head down these stairs. Go up the north route, and you'll find Kabraxaz, a vahnatai warrior who will help you storm the keep. Then head up the other stairs out. If you want, taunt the gazer into attacking you, then kill it for a mooneye girdle. Head down the western stairs, follow the short pathway, then head up. Use the crystal key to open the door here (otherwise you must take a much longer route). Go south through the wolves. Head up to the final area, BF. Go north from where the wolves and vahnatai were located and head down the stairs. Go west through the nullity golem and make your way into the room. Inside is a spell book of control foes and unshackle mind. If you head to the sublevel then go west, you'll end up in a minor passage which gets you bonuses to both daze spells. Basalt Fortress (BF) Cache: Mandrake root, Graymold Notable items: Icedrake vambraces, blessed bracers, stability belt, quicksilver sandals, worgskin cloak Stats: Divine Restoration, divine host, arcane blow Talk with Kabraxaz, then head east. Beef up, then take the vahnatai guarding the doors out. You can then either recruit the friendly vahnatai to your cause or kill the enemies on your own. Either way works. As you make your way through the fortress, be on the lookout for crystals of divine restoration and divine host (requires a bit more arcane lore). Head to the NW, and some wolves will be let out of pens. Kill them, then explore their pen for two caches. Disable the machine immediately to the south to help the vahnatai keep fighting. Head south and kill the drake for some icedrake vambraces (cold resistance but otherwise similar to some of your items), and a nest with blessed bracers. Head south and you'll find the room in which the three great shades were made. Grab the control rod from the west, and head down the nearby stairs. Follow the vahnatai east, and kill the few enemies here. Then head back and south. Prep yourself, and fight a whole bunch more vahnatai. They drop a number of decent items, including a stability belt. Look at the nearby crystal to improve your arcane blow spell. Head up and hit the lever (it's a bit hard to see), then head out of this area and meet up with the vahnatai. Bless/shield/haste, and attack Rentar. If you want the diplomatic ending of the game, be friendly to her. Otherwise, be aggressive. She has 3 forms, the first two are relatively easy. The last one summons a rain of fire every turn (heal every turn), and shields Rentar. Use acid, poison, and repel spirit on her. If the vahnatai have survived, this fight is fairly easy, relatively speaking. She teleports away. Loot Rentar's body for some quicksilver sandals, worgskin cloak, and a fine waveblade. Now that you have the control rod, return to the castle. Tell them about what happened (especially Correlea). Now you can kill the shades. I'd head first to Silvar and take out the shade there, as Silvar has one of the best trainers in the game. You probably have a few thousand coins burning a hole in your pocket, and this is an excellent way to use them. ---------------------------------------Fort Saffron and The Abyss------------- ^^^A5-BA-J1 ^^^| | ^^^A4-A2 ^^^| | RL-A3-SP | | | ER AB-A1 | SF-S4 | | FS-S3 | GW Fort Saffron (FS) Subquests: Saffron Brigands Jobs: Liberate the Spire, Bandit Lair, Elixir Needed, Message for Bargha Cache: Notable items: Trainers: Stats: Augmentation, Prismatic shield This town is one of the last towns before the Abyss. Commander Elphaba here will talk with you and inform you of the situation. She's worried about the Darkside Loyalists, and it's your job to help her out. Incantor Hermes fills in a bit more of the story. His office is fairly suspicious, and you can gain a few points in Augmentation, and Prismatic shield from his book. The last person of note here is Kasaz, who doesn't do too much, but is the object of a job. Attor Feral will buy from you. Check out the trapped passageway in the NW corner of the map. No bandits, fortunately. When ready, head up the east and go attack the brigands. There's a job board in town. Grab the quests: Liberate the Spire, Bandit Lair (750c), Elixir Needed (3 curing elixirs needed, traded for 2 restoration elixirs and 400c), Message for Bargha. When you return, confront Hermes. He'll attack with his fungi, but isn't too hard with lightning spray. Talk with the commander for your reward (a bow of decay). Then talk with her about sparing some troops for Blosk. Scree Caves (S4) Cache: Ruby Not much here on the outside, immediately. Scree Caves (S3) Cache: Mandrake Root, graymold Notable items: Leaden band, fine cleaver, piercing gloves, jade halberd Stats: Control Foes, Strong daze Just a few caches on the outside. If you're coming here from Fort Saffron's jail, you'll find a fort filled with pylons. Unfortunately, these pylons are all invulnerable (or nearly so) at the moment. I'd recommend beefing up, and taunting Khester just inside the fort. Get him to chase you, then smack him till he dies. He drops the extremely powerful jade halberd on death. Head to the SE. Kill the darkside tinkerer (mica-flecked chain on death) and use the machine to deactivate the pylons' shields. Then go to town and kill them all. Note that I mean "Go to town" figuratively. Unless you're low on HP/SP, there's no real reason to go to town. Kill everything that moves on the main level, then go upstairs and do the same. Things of note on the bottom level include a spell book of control foes/strong daze near the darkside wizard, and a room nearby the north pair of crystals that discusses who the infiltrator is (it's not that much of a surprise). Grab all the steel stuff on your way out to sell. The cultist upstairs drops a leaden band and nearby is an odd bandit map for the castle. Also notable are some rooms with a fine cleaver and piercing gloves, and a few other goods. Spire Fortress (SF) Notable items: Blessed bracers, grounding vest, runed vambraces. There's not much you can do here coming from Fort Saffron. However, when ready (after beating Rentar the first time), talk with Rone then Vidrain to be teleported to an area where the fort is actually accessible. Don't worry about their predictions of death and destruction, as far as I know you won't die through this route. You are teleported to the trash pit. Head west from here, clearing out the brigands. Head through the fort, and kill everything that moves. Some goblins to the NW drop a runed vambrace, which is especially good for mages. Head upstairs. Again, kill everything that's hostile. Tresham is a named mage, who doesn't drop anything, it appears. Miers is an Avernite agent here who will talk with you and tell you about the leader Hecht here. He wants you to kill him. Do so. Dervish Hecht is the leader here, and is in the central NW. He's a pain in the butt to kill since he has a decent magical ability on him. Once you get him down to 1 HP, he summons 3 doppelgangers. One is vulnerable, so kill it. Wrong one. A second becomes vulnerable, so kill it. Wrong one again. The third becomes vulnerable, so kill it. Yup, wrong one again. Kill Hecht. He doesn't mock you this time, and drops a grounding vest. Tell Miers, then Levitt (1000c) about your success, then tell Commander Elphaba (2000c). This gives you a nice bit of cash, perhaps to spend on spells from Gladwell. Abyss (AB) Cache: Graymold, Mandrake root Notable items: Radiant boots Head north from here. Amorc pleads with you and states that the attack on Fort Spire was crazy, and doesn't know who really was to blame. Otherwise there are some lizards here to kill. Goblins are hiding out to the NW, kill them and take their stuff. One drops a pair of radiant boots, the highest armor boots in the game. Abyss (A1) Cache: Mandrake Root, graymold Notable items: Farsight band Head to the SE and you'll be attacked by some brigands. Their leader, Bothnar, drops a farsight band on death. Spire (SP) Subquests: Find spiders, Battlemaster Crewl Notable items: Blessed longbow, radiant plate, stability girdle, blessed armor band Welcome to the armpit of Avernum. The people here are mostly thugs and are lead by Annatolia, who is queen of the thugs. The most interesting thing here is the arena, where you can kill stuff for money. It's definitely worth fighting in the arena. Other things of note include Coromrr, a nephil merchant who will buy your stuff (like the stuff you've looted from bandits), and Sage Eichler, a madman who will make you wands if you bring him the correct ingredients (including a stick). I don't use wands so I don't know what he has to offer. There are some bandits hiding in the north portion of the town, a mage drops a knowledge brew on death. Sage Eichler will give you a quest to find some friendly spiders. However, he likes to dissect things, so it's your choice whether you want to help him out. Fight in the arena. You first fight a slavering wolf (400c), then a spitting pit spider (750c), then a gladiator (1000c and the mayor will speak with you), then a basilisk queen (400c, rod of alacrity), and finally a spiny terrordrake (radiant plate). Talk with queen Annatolia for a quest to kill Crewl. Check out her nearby rooms for a blessed longbow and a stability girdle. If you're here to kill Annatolia, prepare yourself and tell her as much. Use magic at first, until her statues come to life. Then use melee attacks and kill the giants. She falls and drops a blessed armor band on death. All her guards are now hostile so you'll have to fight your way out. This is your best opportunity to level a town without feeling much guilt. Go ahead and have fun! Abyss (A2) Cache: Energetic Herbs, Notable items: Helm of Khar, Cap of Farsight This is the battleground between Bargha and Spire. You'll get caught in the middle, and everyone will attack you. Kill them instead. The east farmhouse has a helm of khar, which is nice. If you talk with the Spire mercenaries to the east, they'll be attacked during conversation, and you'll be trapped in between. Kill them all, and you'll find a farsight cap. Abyss (A3) Cache: Healing herbs, spiritual herbs Some very stupid bandits live here. They are guarding a passage to the west. They all drop golden rings on death. Gervais is here, and he is the object of a letter. Give it to him and then talk with him. Tell him he has to go home, if you want. Remote Lands (RL) Not much to do here yet. Mindless Muckwalkers drop some herbs on death, so collect those. Erika's Ruins (ER) Cache: Graymold, mandrake root Some more muckwalkers to kill. You can go down the pit to see where the darkside loyalists are hiding, but can't do much from this side except get attack. Respond in kind if you want. Abyss (A4) Notable items: Ebony bow Some crystals are found around here. Head down the east pit to find a crocobasilisk. Kill it and loot its nest for an ebony bow. Head down the west passage to find the final testing cave. Talk to the shade, then head up the west stairs. This test requires that you protect the four wolves that are summoned from 3 demons, followed by protection from two slimes (use magic), and then from several vicious boremaggots (use melee/bow attacks), and then from a gangrenous shambler. Success gets you a pair of the almighty gloves of the hammer, and a knowledge elixir. Bargha (BA) Subquests: Feeding Time, slay Imiriel, queen Annatolia Cache: Swamp nodule, jade chain, sandals, skull, gold necklace Notable items: Charmed plate, blessed broadsword, radiant shortblade Trainer: Gladwell. Stats: Arcane Summon +1 Bargha is much more civilized than Spire. The people here are disciplined free spirits who enjoy battle. When you enter the town you are told to see Battlemaster Crewl. Crewl wants you to slay Imiriel, a darkside loyalist spy. Do so for a key to the eastern tunnels. If you have Annatolia's quest to kill him, you can tell him as much and he'll counter with a quest to kill her. You get a radiant shortblade as a reward. He is not evil compared to Annatolia. Talk with Gladwell to buy some spells and get a quest: Feeding Time. Haste your party, then head down his nearby stairs. Do not hit the slimes or hurt them in any way. Just run around them and use the table. This calms the slimes. Tell Gladwell for a point in arcane summon. Gladwell also has a pylon for you to touch and travel through as you will. Underneath Gabriel's inn is a filthy crocolisk who drops some leather on death. There's a bountiful garden of caches to the SE, down the stairs. There's also a few herbs, so grab them. Kelda will make you some potent artifacts if you bring her some leather, focusing crystals, mandrake, graymold, and 1000c. These artifacts are among the best in the game, and it doesn't hurt to have some made. You will find a few soon, though. Sierwerath is a slith who will buy and sell with you. Nearby is battlemaster Crewl's personal gear, which includes a charmed plate and a blessed broadsword. Steal them if you wish. Rebecca is here and is the recipient of a letter you may have grabbed off a job board. Give it to her and she will sell you her goods. Her goods include a pair of blasted vambraces, which are close to the best legwear in the game. Save up your money and buy them. Once you're ready to proceed, go just west of town and head north. Enter the secret door and go down. If you have the key, just go through the north set of doors and leave. Otherwise you'll have to unlock those doors or disarm the traps and fight a bunch of giants and fungi. This takes you to the giant lands. Abyss (A5) Cache: Healing herbs Notable items: Bonding knife, blessed helmet. Stop in to see Bluth. Go down his stairs. Head back up and kill him for a bonding knife. Go the north and you'll find a lever. Pull it then head to the farmhouse to the east. Enter the house and go down the stairs. You're confronted with a fishy situation. Pull the lever if you want to fight 6 archers. Otherwise use unlock on the door and kill the people inside. You can take out the archers with ease this way. Head to the east then south. You'll find Imiriel, the darkside spy, along with a pet slime. Kill Imiriel early, as he (she?) casts spells. The slime is tough, but can be beaten. Items of note include a blessed helmet, but that's it. -----------------Giant Lands-------------------------------------------------- KR | R3-R2-R1 |^^^^^| A5^BA-J1-J3 JW^ |^^ | | |^^ DL-A4^ J2-HR-JL^ Giant Lands (J1) Cache: Fine Razordisks Giants are the common foe here. Luckily, they're pretty dumb and rarely try to gang up on you. Progress slowly, killing one at a time. Their drops include emeralds, which are nice. The stairway north will take you closer to the endgame. I'd clear out the giants first, as they have some nice items. Giant Lands (J2) Cache: Healing herbs, spiritual herbs Notable items: Radiant vambraces, Eliavri's Bow Slavemaster Kragg is to the SW, and has an altered giant tied up. Kragg drops a pair of radiant vambraces on death. Go down the nearby stairs, and you'll find two bodies, one with a Giant Key. Grab it, then disarm the traps then head up the north stairs. Go south and kill the altered giants. Grab Eliavri's bow from the dead body. This is an extremely potent bow, one of the best in the game (the best bow is near the endgame, sadly). Giant Lands (J3) Subquest: Free the bugs Cache: Wisdom crystal Notable items: Silk-woven cord. This is the location of the giant intelligent friendly talking spiders. GO upstairs and talk with their leader (to the south) for a quest. You can tell Sage Eichler in Spire if you want, but it just feels icky to do so. I'd lie about their position instead. You're reward for completion of their bug quest is the very nice silk-woven cord. Giant Lands (HR) Notable items: Acid-etched legs Stats: Dispel barrier +1 This is the location of the ruins of Harston. There's a cave giant diviner here who drops some acid-etched legs on death. Not too bad, honestly. Go down the nearby stairs for a book of dispel barrier to the west, and a demon guarding a knowledge crystal to the east. Giant Lands (JL) Subquest: Tra'Kronn Stats: Gymnastic +1 all. You've nearly come full-circle. Storm the fort. Open the southern door, it's easier. Head down the west stairs and you'll find Peggy, a spy for Avernum. She gives you a quest to kill the giant leader. Do so for a stat increase of gymnastics +1 to everybody. Giant's Warren (JW) Cache: Mandrake root Notable items: Ruby chain, Lightning girdle, wyrmskin helmet, symbiotic cloak. This is where the majority of the giants are hiding in the game. There are ogres to the NW, they guard three stairways down and an iron key. Go down one of the stairs. Head to the NE to find Byala-Tel, a vahnatai who is aiding the giants. Kill him for a ruby chain and fine waveblade. If you head up the north stairs you can reach a peninsula with a nice cache on it. To the SW you'll find the chitrachs Spider asked you about. All the giants here have fine cleavers as well, though those weapons aren't really that great anymore. Release the chitrachs. Tra'Kronn is to the SE, and has a number of allies, including some obnoxious altered giants that can stun and hurt your party. Kill them all for a lightning girdle and wyrmskin helmet. Pull the nearby lever to access his treasure. Then go to the center of the map and enter the gated area. Most of the goods are just nice money things (gold bars, etc.), but there is a rather nice symbiotic cloak as well. Remote Lands (R1) Cache: Focusing crystal You can reach this location going underneath from the giant lands (J1). Head west through these tunnels. Remote Lands (R2) Cache: Mandrake root, graymold Go up the stairs (any set will do). Kill the vahnatai in the center of the map. Head north then west. Remote Lands (R3) Notable items: Explorer's ring, assassin's shield. Eye Krotus is here. Kill it, and its slaves. It drops an extremely valuable explorer's ring, and an assassin's shield can be found nearby. Head down the nearby stairs, dispel the barriers, disarm the traps, loot the chests, then head up the nearby stairs. Upstairs is your best friend in the game- craftmaster Strine. He will make some moderately potent artifacts for you if you kill the eyebeast across the way. Most important of all, he will make knowledge brews for you from all of your herbs. I had about 42 mandrake roots by this time, and was able to get them all made into potions. Khoth's Ruins (KR) Notable items: Talisman of might, drakeskin cloak, blessed helmet Stats: Arcane Blow +1, Divine Host +1, Divine Restoration +1 This area is dangerous but rewarding. Bless up and walk slightly north. Chitrachs swarm you. Kill them all and go down the north set of stairs. The goal here is to find three levers and pull them all. To the west is an aranea queen. She has two lurking broodmothers with her. The queen summons enemies every turn, and the broodmothers summon cave widows every 2-3 turns. Kill the queen first (the excellent talisman of might is your reward!), but don't drink out of the basins. To the WSW are a group of obnoxious flaming shrubs. They guard a knowledge elixir, and one of the levers you want to pull. To the SSW are some null goos (with all-damaging spells) and a book that will allow you to translate Lark's scrolls. Near the north is a room that's blocked by the WSW lever-gate. Behind is a book of arcane blow. Horton is to the east, and he's a vampire. He summons shades during the fight. Kill him for a drakskin cloak, and to access his lever. The nearby basin restores 90 SP, and the door the lever opens is near the south center of the map (book of divine host). The room to the east holds another lever and a bunch of shamblers. Kill them all. The room opened is to the west (divine restoration). To the SSE you'll find out a bit about the sea monsters. Nothing big. To the ESE you'll find Lich Anastasia, who is the "boss" of the map. She is surrounded by ward shades. Kill them, and she'll lose her protection to that ward (kill the ice to remove her ice protection, disruption to remove disruption protection, etc.) She's annoying, but beatable. On death she drops the crystalline aegis (best shield in the game for mages/magic users). Use the left basin for some experience points. When ready, leave. I'd head back to Fort Monastery shortly just so you can translate Lark's scrolls (Divine retribution, arcane blow). Abyss (A5, A4) A few monsters block your path into the dark lands and end game. Kill them. -----------------End Game---------------------------------------------------- RK | D2 | D1 | DL-A4 | RL^ |^^ ER^ Dark Lands (DL) Notable items: Stability boots A vahnatai greets you. You can either have him join you in fighting, or take everything on yourself. Either way works. If you follow them, they'll show you the easy way to the end of this map. It's the way that has the least obnoxious enemies. Then again, you miss some items and experience going that way. Near the south center of the map are groups of infernal worms that guard some minor goods, including a wisdom crystal. Other items of enemies of note include a gazer and skeleton warriors to the south, a vahnatai necromancer to the west (drops some stability boots), and a bunch of demons to the NW. Remote Lands (RL) Notable items: Quicksilver bulwark Much more to do here, including a way home! Head to the east and you'll find a bunch of brigands. Kill them and take their stuff. You'll get an excellent quicksilver bulwark for your troubles. Hit the pylon as well. Erika's Ruins (ER) Cache: Graymold, Mandrake root Notable items: Robe of the magi, blessed longbow Stats: Divine restoration +1, Arcane summon A few more muckwalkers are on this side of the map, and again they drop herbs. Since you're so close to Craftmaster Strine, ponder making the trip back and cashing them in. You'll find the old home of Erika and you better believe there's something nasty living here now. Dispel the barriers nearby the center of the map, and prep yourself (arcane shield would be nice). There's a lich, some pylons, and a nasty trap that summons energy orbs whenever you cross the runed threshold. However, there's something nearby that makes this battle much easier. Drink from the basin in the room to the north. You'll become invulnerable for a short while. Now go fight the lich, killing the restoration pylons first. Use the energy orbs to your advantage- let them approach you, then kill them. They do ~100 damage per batch to everything in the room not surrounded by invulnerability shields- i.e., not you. They make this fight much easier. The lich drops a robe of the magi on death. Drink from its south basin for a few experience points, then continue to look around the tower. You'll find a book of divine restoration nearby, and an unusual rune to the north. Hit the rune and it'll open up a new area, where you'll finish up one major quest. Go down the hatch and you'll find a suspicious area. Head east, then south, then west. Some lizards are in your way. Go a bit north and a door will collapse. Head back east and kill the soldiers inside. Many of them drop good items, but pick them up after you're done with this area so as to minimize excess weight and maximize your spell durations. Otherwise, they'll swarm you later. Head back to the SW, and go slightly north. You'll find Dorikas. Hit him hard. He'll cheat once he's been smacked enough and summon some tough cryodrake automatons. Kill them, then continue to hit him. He'll cast a terror spell that will remove you from commission. He'll continue to run. Hit him some more and he'll summon some demons. Kill them then hit him some more. He'll cast terror again then run away and jump in a nearby portal. That's all you can do with him for now, sadly. Time to look around again. Near the portal you'll find a radiant soulblade, which is a potent shortsword (but not that damaging because it's a shortsword). Some minor goods are in the lab, and a book of arcane summon is behind a barrier. The slith incantor you killed dropped a slith bloodspear on death, so grab that as well. Leave this place, and tell Levitt to complete the Darkside quests. One last quest to go. Dark Lands (D1) Cache: Wisdom crystal, Putrified Gauntlets, Mandrake Root, emerald Notable items: Eyebeast chitin Some friendly vahnatai are to the SE. You can recruit them to help you fight the giants. Or rather, talk to them and then have them get attacked by the giants. It's not too hard to survive with the vahnatai's help, and you can get an eyebeast chitin (potent shield with mental resistance) for your efforts. Search this area thoroughly, you'll find a lot of good caches for your efforts. Dark Lands (D2) Cache: Gold Bar, Heartstriker Bow Notable items: Infernal helm, flaming sword More friendly vahnatai are towards the south. Talk with Monoaha-Tel to initiate a charge. I prefer not having their help just yet, as they will help you later much more so than right now. Enemies here include undead and a gazer. Also, the hated pylons are here. Kill them if you can, perhaps while they're still neutral. You should be able to kill them in one turn now. To the NW you will find the all-powerful Heartstriker Bow, which has the highest damage potential of any weapon in the game. You will need 25 nature lore to uncover it though, so it's your choice as to whether you want to invest so much for it. Head north and you'll find a haakai. It's hostile, naturally. On death it drops an infernal helm and a flaming sword. Rentar's Keep (RK) Notable items: Runed jade necklace, venomous blade, robe of the magi, hero's necklace, crystalline plate Stats: Divine Restoration +1, divine host +1, arcane blow +1, arcane shield +1 Last area! The vahnatai following you all get trapped by an enormous machine to the NE. I'd free them before going to the main basement area. West of the vahnatai is an area with spiders that spawn frequently. There's also a book here which gives you a point in divine restoration. The spiders are lead by a terror aranea which drops a runed jade necklace on death. Head down the stairs to the NNE and turn off the panel. To the NW you'll find a hellhound area with a cryos demon. Kill the demon and drink from the basin to restore 90 SP. Nearby is a hostile vahnatai who summons 4 demons during the fight. Kill him for a venomous blade. To the west is a barrier which can be dispelled to reveal a hellhound and a crystal that improves your arcane shield spell. To the SE are a bunch of locked rooms. Unlock them and pillage what's inside. One has a book of divine host. Others hold more demons. One room with a soulsear demon holds a staircase down. Use them and deactivate the machine. To the SW is a tormented wretch. I won't spoil it, but you'll find out who it is. Kill him. You get a second robe of the magi for your trouble and a crystal with arcane blow. To the west you'll find a crystal soul, but it's not Rentar. It's Vynas-Bok, the tortured crystal soul from Avernum 2 & 3. It activates its golems as you fight it, so be prepared. Kill it for a hero's necklace and a wisdom crystal. Pull the nearby lever to go down the stairs to the SE from here (still in the SW of this map). The vahnatai to the NE should now be free, so talk with Monoaha-Tel to free them. Head to the center of the map (with the vahnatai if you desire), and kill the enemies. Head down the stairs and talk with Monoaha-Tel again. Loop around and kill some more vahnatai, including an obnoxious vahnatai lord who enjoys terrorizing you. It drops a crystalline plate, if you're interested. Head west through a few golems, then north to kill a mindreaper lich. This lich is one of the most annoying enemies in the game, as it enjoys abusing the charm foes spell. Kill it fast- repel spirit, lightning spray, heartseeker, and a few meat shields will keep you protected. Use unshackle mind with frequency. Maybe get your priest to use an invulnerability potion, as that seems to significantly increase your mental resistance. The vahnatai accompanying you may also get charmed, but it doesn't matter too much. Killing them doesn't hurt you in any way. Head north a bit more and fight Rentar. She's easier than the rest of the fort, I'd say. If you've sabotaged her machines, then energy orbs don't keep spawning too much, otherwise you'll have a bit of a nastier fight. She does three special attacks, unless you have the shade crystals to prevent her from attacking. Wear her down, and you'll be able to destroy her. Unless you don't want to and want to have her healed instead. In that case, be diplomatic- stop fighting, return her to her homelands. She will listen to you. Run and touch the pillar, and enjoy the end sequence. The end sequence depends on a few things- destroying the shades, beating up Dorikas, helping Spire/Bargha, and what happened to Rentar (freed, destroyed). Either way, you're done! Look forward to Avernum 5! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Construction places: Use the items listed to make some new equipment for your party. The best recipe is acquired late in the game, and is the production of knowledge brews from all herbs. The limiting reagent for knowledge brews is mandrake root, so save them up for a late-game bonus to your stats. Formello: Ahrens: 1 fine leather = fine leather helmet 2 fine leather, 20c = leather vambraces 2 fine leather, focusing crystal, 50c = blessed boots Silvar: Chapelle: 400c, fine steel, focusing crystal = blessed shield 400c, 2 fine steel, focusing crystal = blessed short sword 400c, 3 fine steel, focusing crystal = blessed breast plate West of Tower of the Magi Komlos: Fine Steel, Focusing Crystal = Blessed Bracers 2 Fine Steel, Focusing Crystal = Blessed Vambraces 3 Fine Steel, Focusing Crystal = Blessed Broadsword Dharmon Rippel: 3 Fine steel, 2 Focusing Crystals, 2 bars of gold = blessed breastplate 3 Fine steel, 2 Focusing Crystals, 2 emeralds = radiant shield 3 Fine steel, 2 Focusing Crystals, mandrake = radiant vambraces 3 Fine steel, 2 Focusing Crystals, 2 mandrake = blessed halberd N of Castle Bortund: 3 Fine Leather, 1 Focusing Crystal, 1 mandrake = Warrior's Cloak 2 Fine Leather, 2 Focusing Crystals, 1 mandrake = Enchanter's Robe 3 Fine Leather, 1 mandrake = Treated Leather 1 Fine Leather, 2 Focusing Crystals, 2 mandrake = Runed Helm Bargha Kelda: 2 fine leather, graymold, mandrake, focusing crystal, 1000c = Mercuric Leather 4 fine leather, graymold, mandrake, focusing crystal, 1000c = Stability boots 4 fine leather, graymold, mandrake, focusing crystal, 1000c = Magus Vest 5 fine leather, graymold, mandrake, focusing crystal, 1000c = Answering Gloves Near End game Craftmaster Strine Gold Necklace, Focus crystal, Mandrake Root, Glowing Basalt = Opal Chain Platinum Ring, 2 focus crystals, mandrake root, icy geode = Leaden Band Fine waveblade, 2 focus crystals, mandrake root, swamp nodule= Venomous Blade *** All Herbs = Knowledge brew or shielding brew **** ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Spell and Trainer list. Mage spells: Lark (Slightly Expensive)- Fort Monastery Bolt of Fire Call Beast Spray Acid Daze Haste Ayrie (Slightly Expensive) ~Fort Draco Bolt of Fire Call Beast Spray Acid Daze Haste Slow Sage Alice (Slightly Expensive) Formello Spray Acid Daze Haste Slow Icy Rain Unlock Nathan (Expensive) Fort Avernum Slow Unlock Doors Icy Rain Augmentation Cecil (Exorbitant, very reasonable after quest) Cotra Slow Unlock Doors Icy Rain Augmentation Minor Summon Lightning Spray Kelner (Expensive) TotM Unlock Doors Augmentation Minor Summon Lightning Spray X (Exorbitant) TotM Unlock Doors Augmentation Minor Summon Lightning Spray Terror Prismatic Shield Rone (Expensive) Castle Bolt of Fire Call Beast Spray Acid Daze Haste Slow Unlock Doors Icy Rain Augmentation Minor Summon Lightning Spray Terror Summon Aid Strong Daze Sorengard (Utterly Ridiculous) Patrick's Tower Bolt of Fire Call Beast Spray Acid Daze Haste Slow Unlock Doors Icy Rain Augmentation Minor Summon Lightning Spray Terror Summon Aid Strong Daze Priest Spells: Strout (Expensive) Fort Monastery Minor Healing Curing War Blessing Protection Repel Spirit Hamer (Expensive) Fort Draco Minor Heal Curing War Blessing Protection Unshackle Mind Abbess Haehn (Very Reasonable) Formello War Blessing Protection Repel Spirit Smite Summon Shade Enduring Shield Mother Phelps (slightly expensive) Fort Dranlon Minor Heal Curing War Blessing Protection Enduring Shield Unshackle Mind Heal Mass Healing Elder Arron (slightly expensive) Mertis Smite Summon Shade Enduring Shield Unshackle Mind Heal Mass Curing Mass Healing Abbot Erlanger (exorbitant) Almaria Summon Shade Enduring Shield Unshackle Mind Heal Mass Healing Steel Skin Divine Fire Return Life Priestess Kyra (Exorbitant) Dharmon Minor Heal Curing War Blessing Protection Repel Spirit Smite Summon Shade Enduring Shield Unshackle Mind Heal Mass Healing Mass Curing Steel Skin Divine Fire Control Foes Enduring Armor Return Life Gladwell (Expensive) Bargha Prismatic Shield Summon Aid Strong Daze Fireblast Arcane Shield Divine Fire Control Foes Enduring Armor Return Life Divine Retribution -------------------------------------------------------------------- Trainers. Note that you can only improve a skill by up to two points, and only if you haven't already increased the skill by two points. Some skills are definitely more worthwhile to wait off on than others. One point skills aren't really worth holding off on unless you have money to burn or are otherwise so inclined. Cecil can be reached fairly early, and you should definitely use him to increase your mage's and priest's magery skill, and possibly their spellcraft as well. Shrum should be used to increase everyone's bow or sharpshooter skill, since he's the cheapest in the game. KEY: Trainer- Location (cost) Skill (saved points) coins Townshend- Formello (expensive) Arcane Lore (1) 1400 Spellcraft (3) 2800 Walner- Fort Draco (expensive) Arcane Lore (1) 1400 Nature Lore (1) 1120 Cecil- Cotra (after giving eyebeast stalks- pretty average) Arcane Lore (1) 1000 Spellcraft (3) 2000 First Aid (1) 800 Magery (4) 1500 X- TotM (exorbitant) Arcane Lore (1) 1700 Spellcraft (3) 3400 Shrum- Camp Samuels (Very Reasonable) Bows (2) 960 Thrown Missiles(2) 800 Sharpshooter- (4) 800 Priestess Kyra Bharga Endurance- 5000, all gain 1 point Tisiana (Utterly Ridiculous) Fort Emerald Bows (2) 2640 Thrown Missiles(2) 2200 Sharpshooter (4) 2200 Starcap- Almaria (Expensive) Melee Weapons (4) 2100 Pole Weapons (4) 2100 Bows (2) 1680 Thrown Missiles(2) 1400 Hardiness (1) 2100 Defense (2) 2100 Arcane Lore (1) 1400 Spellcraft (3) 2800 Tool Use (1) 2800 Nature Lore (1) 1120 First Aid (1) 1120 Quick Strike (3) 2100 Thompson- Fort Remote (Slightly Expensive) Arcane Lore (1) 1200 Spellcraft (3) 2400 Magery (4) 1800 Magical Efficiency (4) 1800 Resistance (6) 2400 Captain Call- Silvar (Slightly Expensive after shade is dead, Expensive prior to that, and without the skills denoted by *) Melee Weapons (4) 2100, 1800 Pole Weapons (4) 2100, 1800 Bows (2) 1680, 1200 Thrown Missiles(2) 1400, 1200 Hardiness (1) 2100, 1800 Defense (2) 2100, 1800 Quick Action (1) 2100, 1800 *Quick Strike (3) 1800 *Parry (3) 1800 *Blademaster (5) 1200 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. Spell book Locations. As before, spells aren't greatly benefited by increased levels. Some spells must be bought, most notably return life. Most all other spells can be found in the game for free, and these are summarized below. Priest spells Minor Heal: Bandit Ruins Curing: Formello, Abbess Haehn's room; Blosk Protection: Almaria, under Abbot Erlanger; Patrick's Tower War Blessing: Almaria, under Abbot Erlanger; Patrick's Tower Repel Spirit: Nicoduas lair; Almaria, under Abbot Erlanger Smite: Fort Draco, Alchemist; Mertis, Arron's room; Almaria, under Abbot Erlanger; West of Fort Remote Summon Shade: Nicoduas lair Enduring Shield: Fort Duvno, Walner; Lizard island basement Unshackle Mind: Nicoduas lair Heal: Bandit Ruins; Cotra (Orbus, west of town); Bandit hideaway, S of refugees Mass Healing: Northern wall of Eastern Gallery, tunnel, behind spider/undead; TotM; Athron's Lair Mass Curing: TotM; Blosk Steel Skin: TotM Divine Fire: Above Priestess Kyra, Dharmon; West of Fort Remote Enduring Armor: Slith Lands Control Foes: Memorial Fields; Patrick's Tower; Darkside Fort near Ft. Saffron Divine Restoration: Rentar's Keep; Fort Monastery (Scrolls quest); Erika's Tower; Rentar's Second Keep Divine Host: Rentar's Keep; Khoth's Ruins; Rentar's Second Keep Divine Retribution: Castle; Khoth's Ruins; Mage Spells Call Beast: Aranea runes near Chitrach Caves Daze: Bandit Castle basement; West of Fort Remote Slow: Vahnatai Home; Patrick's Tower Haste: Hrickis' lair; Vahnatai home; Patrick's Tower Icy Rain: Motrax's cave; West of Fort Remote Unlock: Bandit Ruins; Patrick's Tower Augmentation: Eastern Gallery, Chitrach caves; Fort Saffron Minor Summon: Aranea runes near Chitrach Caves; Memorial Fields Lightning Spray: Near Skunky Joe; Athron's Lair; West of Fort Remote Prismatic Shield: Fort Avernum; TotM; Fort Saffron Dispel Barrier- TotM; Harston Ruins Terror- Bandit Fort, Honeycomb; Stone arachnids (S of Camp Samuels) Fireblast- TotM; Patrick's Tower Strong Daze- West of Fort Remote; Darkside Fort near Ft. Saffron Summon Aid- Athron's Lair; Memorial Fields Arcane Summon- Castle (Correlea's quest); Bargha; Darkside Fortress Arcane Shield- Castle; Fort Monastery (Scrolls quest); Rentar's Second Keep Arcane Blow- Rentar's Keep; Khoth's Ruins; Rentar's Second Keep ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. Notable Item list (incomplete). These are the items that I've found that are fairly rare/uncommon for a majority of the game. This list describes their stats. Anything followed by an "R" is a resistance (ER is energy resistance, SR is stun resistance), and other things are stat increases/decreases. Hopefully the list should be self-explanatory. Blessed Broadsword 12-36 Blessed Shortsword 10-20 Bonding Knife 6%, 7-14, -1 Str, -1 Dex, -1 Int, +4 End Demonslayer 16%, 12-36, +15 FR, +15 CR, +15 ER (Demonslay) Falchion of Evasion 7-14, +2 Def, +4 HER Fine Cleaver 6-12, +1 Dex Flaming Sword 11-33, +10 FR, +10 TH Freezing Blade 11-33, +10 CR, +15 TH (Jinx) Ghostly Blade 8-24, +6 Protection from Weapons, +6 HER (Jinx) Oozing Sword 11-33, +10 AR, +5 TH (Acid) Radiant Shortblade 16-32, +15 ER, +10 TH Radiant Soulblade 8%, 15-30, +2 LB, +2 QA, +3 Parry Seeking Rapier 13-26, +1 BM, +3 Anat Singing Rapier 10-20, +2 QA, +1 BM Shielding Knife 6%, 4-8 Steel Broadsword 9-27 Stunning Blade 3-6, (Stun) Venomous Blade 12-36, +12 AR, +12 PR (Venom) Blessed Halberd 12-48 Blessed Spear 12-36 Cryos Spear 12-36, +15 CR, +1 LB, +1 AP Jade Halberd 12-48, +10 HER, +10 Protection from Weapons (Acid) Lava-fired Spear 10-30, +10 FR Molten Halberd 9-36, +2 QS Slith Bloodspear 12-48, +10 FR, +5 TH Slith Warspear 9-36, +8 FR, +5 TH Spear of the Fen 12-36, +10 AR, +3 Def, +1 Rip Blessed Bow 11-22 Blessed Longbow 13-39 Bow of Decay 7-14, (Acid) Ebony Bow 13-39, +1 QS, +10 MR Eliavri's Bow 13-39, +2 QA, +3 Bows, +2 HER Heartstriker Bow 8-56 Shockwave Bow 8-16 (Stun) Blessed Boots 8% Clover Boots 4%, +3 Luck Gazerskin Sandals 16%, +10 HER, +10 SR Nimble Sandals 2%, +1 Dex Radiant Boots 14% Samaritan Sandals 2%, +1 PS Spectral Boots 8%, +5 CR, +1 Def Stability Boots 8%, +1 Dex, +20 SR Swamp Boots 4%, +5 PR, +5 AR Viperskin boots 6%, +10 PR Aranea Silk Tunic 6%, +8 FR Blessed Breastplate 34%, +50 SR, -20 TH Blessed Silk Tunic 6%, +1 SC Charmed Plate 28%, +40 SR, -15 TH, +3 Luck, +8 HER Crystalline Plate 34%, +50 SR, -20 TH, +15 AR, +15 ER Crystal Woven Chitin 12%, +20 SR, +1 SC Emerald Chestguard 42%, +20 AR, +20 PR, +1 BM, +20 SR Enchanter's Robe 9%, +1 MS, +1 PS, +2 SC Fibrous Breastplate 20%, +50 SR, -15 TH, +12 ER, -5 FR Grounding Vest 16%, +20 SR, -5 TH, +10 ER Magus Vest 20%, +1 MS, +1 PS, +2 AL, +1 SC Mercuric Chain 16%, +20 SR, -5 TH, +1 AP, -1 Str Mercuric Leather 10%, +10 SR, +1 AP, -1 Str Mercuric Plate 34%, +50 SR, -20 TH, +1 AP, -1 Str Radiant Breastplate 40%, +50 SR, -20 TH Robe of the Magi 18%, +3 MG, +2 Resist, +4 ME Ruby Breastplate 22%, +30 SR, -10 TH, +8 FR Sniper's Vest 4%, +1 Dex, +2 SS Specter Robe 10%, +5 ER, +20 SR, +20 MR, -4 FR Swampwalker Leather 12%, +10 SR, +5 PR, +5 AR Treated Leather 10%, + 10 SR, +2 HER Woven Silk Robe 12%, +10 ER, +10 FR, +20 SR Bladeshield charm 1%, +1 Rip Blessed Bauble 2% Crystal Symbol 2%, +1 ME Hero's Necklace 6%, +1 MW, +1 BM, +1 LB Jade Chain 3%, +25 AR, +25 PR Mica-flecked chain 3%, +18 ER Nimble Chain +1 Gym Opal Chain 3%, +18 CR Ruby Chain 3%, +18 FR Ruby Necklace 2%, +5 FR, +10 ER Runed Jade Necklace 2%, +10 PR, +10 AR Stability Bauble +10 SR Temperate Necklace 2%, +10 FR, +10 CR Tinker's Bauble +1 TU Tribal Symbol 2%, +1 Luck, +1 Hard Woven Golden Chain 1%, +2 SR Woven Silver Chain +1 HER Answering Gloves 3%, +2 Parry, +3 Riposte Blessed Bracers 9%, -10 TH, +3 SR Blessed Gauntlets 5% Drakeskin Bracers 6%, -5 TH, +3 SR, +2 FR Gloves of the Hammer 8%, +2 Str, +1 QS, +2 BM Piercing Gloves 2%, +1 Anat Putrified Gauntlets 8%, -2 Str, -2 Dex, +20 AR, +4 SC Radiant Gauntlets 9%, +5 TH Spectral Gloves 5%, +5 ER, +10 SR Thrusting Gauntlets 4%, +1 BM, +1 LB Tinker's Gloves 2%, +2 TU Archer's Cloak 3%, +2 Bows, +2 TM, +1 QA Coated Cloak 4%, +5 FR Deadeye Cloak 2%, +1 SS Drakeskin Cloak 10% Flowing Silk Cloak 2%, +1 Parry, +1 QS Grounded Cloak 4%, +5 ER Infernal Shroud 4%, +15 FR, +15 ER, +2 LB, +1 Anat Polar Fur Cloak 4%, +5 CR Ratskin Shawl 7%, +6 PR, +5 TH Symbiotic Cloak 5%, -1 Str, -1 Dex, +2 int, +1 def Warrior's Cloak 5%, +1 MW, +1 PW, +1 Hard, +1 def Worgskin cloak 7% Assassin's Shield 12%, +2 QA, +1 Anat, +2 LB Blessed Shield 12%, -5 TH Crystal Aegis 16%, +10 HER, +2 AL, +2 MG, +2 ME Drakeskin Shield 8%, +10 FR Eyebeast Chitin 12%, +40 SR, +25 MR Inertial Shield 8%, +40 SR Nullity Shield 10%, +15 SR, +5 ER, -2 FR Quicksilver Bulwark 12%, +1 AP, +1 Anat, +2 LB Reflecting Shield 8%, +5 HER Shield of Warmth 6%, +5 CR Silken Shield 8%, +1 Gym, +1 Parry Treated Carapace 10%, +10 PR Apprentice Belt 2%, +1 ME Blessed Belt 6% Girdle of Avoidance 5%, +2 dex Girdle of Endurance 2%, +1 End Girdle of Insight 2%, +1 Int Girdle of Life 5%, +2 End Girdle of Nimbleness 2%, +1 Dex Girdle of Strength 2%, +1 Str Lightning Girdle 8%, +2 QA, +2 QS, +2 LB, +8 ER Mooneye Girdle 6%, -5 TH, + 10 ER, +15 MR Radiant Belt 8% Silk Woven Cord 6%, +5% Protection from Weapons, +2 AL, +1 SC, +1 FA Stability Girdle 6%, -5 TH, +12 SR Archer's Band +1 SS Armor Ring 6%, +8 SR Avenger's Ring 6%, +8 SR, +2 Anat, +2 LB, +2 Levels of damage Blessed Armor Band 10%, +10 SR, +5 HER Chilling Band 2%, +15 FR Explorer's Ring +2 NL, +3 FA, +2 Luck Farsight Band +3 SS Incantor's Ring 6%, +8 SR, +1 MS, +1 MG Ivory Band 2%, +15 MR Leaden Band 8%, -15 TH, +10 SR, +2 HER Magestone Band 1%, +1 ME Mica Band 2%, +15 PR, +15 AR Pearlescent Bad 4%, +5 SR, +2 PW, +1 SS Rat Tail Band 2%, +6 PR, +5 TH Shadow Band +1 Pa, +1 Gym, +1 Def Shielding Ring 4%, +5 SR Shining Golden Band 1%, + 7ER Shining Silver Band +7 CR Static Band 2%, +15 ER Warmth Ring 2%, +15 CR Acid-Etched Legs 6%, +7 SE, -10 TH, +1 Anat, +5 AR Airy Vambraces 4%, +5 SR, -5 TH, +1 Gym, +2 QS Blasted Vambrace 8%, +8 SR, -10 TH, +1 Str, +2 Resist Blessed Vambraces 8%, +8 SR, -10 TH Icedrake Vambraces 4%, +5 SR, -5 TH, +8 CR Pustulent Vambrace 4%, +5 SR, -5 TH, +8 AR Radiant Vambraces 10%,+10 SR, -10 TH Runed Vambraces 4%, +5 SR, +5 ER Swamp Pants 2%, +5 PR Blessed Helmet 7%, -5 TH Cap of Farsight 3%, +1 Bow, +1 SS Helm of Khar 7%, +1 Gym, +1 Anat Helm of Klin 9%, +1 Par, +1 BM Ice Hydra Helm 5%, +10 SR, +5 CR Infernal Helm7%, +5 HER, +25 SR, +2 Levels damage in combat Runed Helmet 10%, +1 Mg Serpentskin Helmet 5%, +10 AR Wyrmskin Helmet 5%