-{ CHAPTER 1: STONEBRIDGE }-
So, you start out at the very, very beginning as a humble farmer. You can
pick up the tools around this area if you want, but they're not very powerful
at all. Your best bet is the knife you start out with. Now, first familiarize
yourself with the controls. Click on the ground to move there. Move your mouse
to the edge of the screen to rotate, to the top and bottom to pitch. Click
on items to pick them up, on barrels and chests to open them. As a test, pick
up the hoe by the field. Now, walk over to the house and kick open the barrels.
(Your cursor will turn to a hammer.) You may find some gold in one, so just
click on it and it will be added to your inventory. Now, open the door to
the house. (Your cursor turns to a hand.) Click on the door to the house,
and walk inside by clicking on the ground on the inside. Immediately, you'll
notice that the roof becomes transparent so that you can still see what you're
doing.
Now, let's see if we can find someone to fight. Walk over to the bridge that
Norick died on. It's to the west. (By the way, throughout this walkthrough
I'll make reference to the compass directions. Your compass can be found in
the top right corner of your screen.) But wait! What's that item there, in
orange lettering? Fireshot is a spell. To use this spell, click on the item
to pick it up. Then open your inventory (default: I) and move it from your
inventory to your Spell Book. (default: B) You want to put it into the slot
marked Active Spell 1. When you do this, notice that on the left hand side,
the picture of the knife changes to a red spiral drawing. (GPG says it looks
like fire. I disagree. ^_^) This means that your active "weapon" is Fireshot.
So, if you were to attack, you would use Fireshot. To change this, exit by
pressing I again, and look at the top left corner of your screen. There should
be four slots, the first and third of which are filled - and look, there's
the knife and Fireshot! If you want to use the knife, click on it. If you
want to use Fireshot, leave it the way it is.
Now, you should see some zombie-looking things shambling around. Pause the
game by hitting the spacebar. You can still change your inventories, weapons,
spells, the camera, etc. while the game is paused - time just doesn't pass.
This gives us a little while to peruse the situation. When you put your mouse
over one of the "zombies", at the bottom or your screen, you should see:
"Krug Scavenger: Health 8/8"
This is pretty simple. The enemy is a Krug Scavenger, and its health is 8.
(Also referred to as HP.) For those who haven't played RPGs before, I'll
explain. Everything has a base health value. They will usually start out full.
As you do damage, the enemy loses health. You do 2 damage to something with
10 health, now it has 8. When their health reaches 0, they die. Be aware that
this applies to you as well. If you open your inventory, you can see that
you currently have 49 health yourself. The same rules apply to you; damage
done subtracts from this, if you reach 0 you'll die. I wouldn't recommend
that. =)
Underneath that message, it will either say "Left-click to attack" if you
have the knife selected, or "Fireshot, Mana Cost: 2" if you have Fireshot
selected. This is just to tell you what attack you will use if you click on
the enemy. At this point, it's just preference, so use whichever attack you
want. Unpause the game, then click on an enemy to attack them. I'd go for
one that's alone, because you'll be safer, but you're probably not going to
die right now anyway.
I want to make a recommendation now that will serve you very, very well in
the future. _RIGHT_ click on enemies to attack them. It works exactly as left
clicking, with just one difference - you can't select characters with the
right click. In battle, if you use left click, I promise you that at some
point you will try to attack, but instead you'll select your own guy and not
notice. Then, when you attack the next group, he's left all alone to die.
This is not a good thing. To avoid it, simply right-click when you attack,
and you'll never have this problem. You don't know what you're missing.
Once you've clicked on it, you'll keep attacking until it's dead or you click
on something else. Just wait while you attack until it finally dies. Now,
look at all of the loot that it dropped! Gold is most likely, but also weapons,
spells, potions, armor, jewelry...the enemies in this game drop a wide
variety of items. Of course, from this one all you'll probably get is some
gold and perhaps a spell, but have patience. You could pick it all up by
clicking on it, or you could take a shortcut. The "Collect Loot" command tells
your characters to pick up anything that isn't nailed down, so let's try it.
The default button is Z, so hit Z and watch your character pick up everything.
Learn to love this command.
Now, let's walk along the path to the west and see if we can kill anything
else. One of these enemies may have dropped another spell, whose name would
be written in green - Zap. Zap is also a spell, like Fireshot, but there is
an important difference. While Fireshot is Combat Magic, Zap is Nature Magic;
two different schools of learning. Proficiency in one doesn't imply
proficiency in the other. So, while it is entirely possible to use both Nature
and Combat, just be wary that you don't confuse them. Anyway, for now just
stick Zap into the slot, Active Spell 2. If you've found a bow (it'd be a
Peasant Shot Bow) it should already be equipped, as you weren't carrying a
bow before. If you were to find a hat now, for instance, it would equip
automatically. But boots wouldn't, since you're already wearing a pair. Don't
rely on items to equip themselves, and you should be fine.
Look around, and you should see a few more Krug Scavengers. Kill them, and
see what they drop. One will probably drop a Spiked Club, which is more
powerful than the Knife you're using. Click on the Spiked Club in your
inventory, drag it over the knife, and click. Now they're switched; just place
the knife somewhere in your inventory. Run down the hill to the west, and
take out the two Scavengers there. They should drop some potions, so pick
them up. Potions in Dungeon Siege work slightly differently from in other
games, so you may need a quick primer. Basically, each potion heals a set
amount of health or mana. (Red potions heal health, blue potions heal mana.)
But, and this is the key difference, you don't use the whole thing. If you
take a Small Health Potion, which heals 200 health, and use it when you're
at 10/50 health, the potion will still have 160 left in it. They also work
instantaneously, so that's another thing you don't have to worry about. To
have everyone in your group drink a healing potion, hit H, and to drink a
mana potion hit M.
Keep walking along the path until the game says "Auto-saving" with a little
progress bar. This means that it's automatically making a savegame that you
could load back to this point. Don't be fooled, though, this only happens
about 8 times during the entire game. For the most part, you'll need to save
it yourself. For this, there are two methods. Hit Escape, then select Save
Game, and hit OK. Or, to do a Quick Save, just hit F9. This one writes over
itself every time, though, so you may not want to depend on it exclusively.
Anyway, continue fighting the next couple Scavengers, until you encounter
a new enemy - the Farm Skrubb. They also have 8 HP, but at least they make
for a little variety.
Kill it, and walk onto the bridge. Now, you may not know this yet, but there's
a rule about this game. Put simply, it goes "Every single time you cross a
bridge, you MUST look straight down and marvel at how incredible the graphics
in this game are." So, do so. Right now. =) Once you've had your fill, continue
across. More enemies, and one new one, the Phrak. A bit weaker at 6 HP, but
they can still be really annoying. Not annoying in that they ever do any real
damage to you, just...annoying.
Up ahead, there's another one, the 4-HP Phrak Piercer. (From now on, I'm going
to stop announcing new enemies, I think you get the point.) Kill it, and a
couple scavengers in the immediate area. Now, if you've been attacking
constantly with one skill, (i.e. melee or combat magic) you should be pretty
close to leveling up in it. When you do, a message will be displayed at the
top of your screen, and an icon will appear above your head. For magic, it's
a spellbook, for melee, an axe and mace, and for ranged an arrow in a target.
Also, if you open your inventory you can see that your skill in that area
is now 1. Enjoy. =)
Now, I think it's time for you to try out the megamap. To access it, hit TAB
while paused. (You really don't have to be paused, I just wouldn't want you
to die while looking at the map. ^_^) Look at it, and you can see the path
as it winds through the woods. You can click on the megamap, and if you hit
space to unpause it you can move around. You can even attack on the megamap,
although it's harder and certainly doesn't look as cool... =)
Anyway, through the forest and down to the pond we go, where we'll find some
new enemies. The Snapper, 7 HP, and the Krug Dog, 12 HP, are both relatively
easy to defeat, although they could be dangerous in large numbers. But you
should encounter them mostly one at a time, so you should be fine. Walk to
the house on the right side of the path, and start taking out Krugs. There
are a lot of them, but you should come out all right. If you've taken damage,
it will slowly heal with time, so don't bother with a potion. Walk upstairs,
and watch as the floor fades in. Get the Magic Armor spell from the table,
even though you can't use it yet. Now, if you haven't lately, you may want
to save your game (Either CTRL+S or F9) so you don't have to redo this whole
section.
Along here, you've got a choice. If you walk off to your right through the
trees, you'll see a cave. Inside is a Bear, but the big guy's got 50 HP. He's
actually easier than you'd think, plus he's got some nice armor that I
wouldn't say no to. Better than almost anything else you'll be seeing for
a while. Make a quick bear hunting run for the Altan's Leather, then come
back to the main path.
Walk along the path, (I don't think I need to tell you to fight anymore) until
you see a Pitchfork left on the ground. You should pick it up, but now you
need to make a choice. If you've got a Spiked Club, it does 3-6 damage with
a Fast attack speed. The Pitchfork will do 6-10, but it has Slower attack
speed...it's up to you, although I'd take the pitchfork. The "10% Chance to
Block Melee Attack" is an added bonus. Plus it looks cool to be stabbing Krug
with a pitchfork. Damn cool. ^_^
In the house that you come to up ahead, talk to the man sitting on the bed.
He'll give you a quest to clear out his basement in return for any supplies
you find down there. Go around to the side of his house and click on the cellar
doors to open them. Go forwards, killing the Krug in the first room and opening
the barrels, then walk into the next room and stand on the grate. It'll move
downwards, leading to a room with a boss, Brankar the Scavenger. Take down
his 24 HP and complete Edgaar's quest. Now loot the dumb bastard's cellar
of anything that isn't nailed down. =) You may need to drop a couple things
to make room for it all, so just drop some of the weak weapons and things.
Go talk to Edgaar again for another health and mana potion. Save right here.
My current game time: 0:15:38. Doesn't matter if yours is higher or lower,
just to serve as a reference point of sorts. (i.e. "I'm now one eightieth
of the way through the campaign! Yippee-kai-yai-yay!" ^_^)
Head down along that lonesome road to the southeast, murdering all the
helpless Krug as you see them. One tip, though - when you hear growls, pause
and look around. Especially if you're using magic or ranged weapons, the
earlier you attack, the better. Sometime along here you'll notice that your
strength, dexterity, or intelligence has gone up. Your health and mana will
go up too, though the amount will differ. Anyway, this doesn't really affect
you much yet, so let's keep going. If you're watching the megamap, look to
your left and wait for the wall to disappear. If not, just wait until a path
of sorts appears to your left. (It's really just an empty spot in the trees.)
Walk over, and you'll see a cave in the mountain. Kill the 3 or 4 scouts around
the entrance, then take out Klandank, the "boss" of this little cave. Look
into the back of the cave, where you just need to kill some Farm Skrubbs and
a Krug Apprentice - who uses Zap on you! Still no trouble for a farmer such
as yourself...loot the cave and head back to the main road. Clearing out such
hotbeds of debauchery is fun, of course, but never forget that you've got
a quest to complete. Go until you can see the chasm up ahead...and look! The
bridge to Stonebridge! We're almost there!
..
Or maybe not. Go talk to Skartis, who'll tell you that you have to take the
path through the Crypts. Sounds like fun. So, check out the signpost and
continue to the Crypt of the Sacred Blood. Along the way, you'll be fighting
Gray Wolves, who aren't much harder than Krug Apprentices...except that
they're fast and travel in packs. You can still take them down pretty easily,
though. When you see the stone sign for the crypts, continue to the right
just a bit. Even if you have full health, the effects of the Life Shrine are
too pretty to miss. (It's the thing that looks like Stonehenge writ small.)
While you're standing here, you'll probably be attacked by a pack of Gray
Wolves and an Alpha Wolf. The Alpha Wolf can do some serious damage...but
if you're standing on the Life Shrine, you're practically invincible! Kill
'em and take their gold - and don't bother asking how they held it; you really
don't want to know. =)
Down the kill, there's a Krug camp of sorts...take out all the Krug, then
just for fun, free the Phrak. (Say that three times fast. ^_^) Then kill them
too, just to be mean. When you see the sign that points you in the right
direction, turn so you're facing it, then walk straight ahead. (You'll be
going to the right of the path.) When you see a statue you can click on, do
so, and then walk into the secret passageway that is opened. Turn the statue
at the end, and you'll meet your first Skeletons - why do I get the feeling
we'll be seeing a lot of these in the crypt? Kill them both to get the Fuller
Staff, not a bad weapon on the whole.
Go back out to the main path and take a right, along the direction that the
sign points you. When you see a Krug Shaman shooting Fireshots at you, don't
despair. That means that right up ahead is...
The Crypt of Sacred Blood!
*scary music plays*
Now, this place may be confusing at first, so don't forget your megamap. In
the first room, the wall straight ahead of you is a door. There are lots of
doors throughout disguised like this, so remember what it looks like. In the
next room, on the right wall is a Health Fountain, and on the left is a Mana
Fountain, so drink deep. In the next couple rooms, if you're low on health,
just run back to the fountain and save your potions, if you want. In the right
room there's some free gold, and the top room's got some skeletons, but you
need to head to the left to keep going. Up the stairs, you'll find the Skeleton
Captain, who has...68 HP?!? If you're using a bow or magic, I would advise
attacking as long as you can, then retreating in a straight line, then attack
again. If you're using a melee weapon, just get right up there and hope your
potions stand you in good stead. You may need to lead him back to the health
fountains if you're not doing too well, but eventually you should beat him.
Go up to the end of the hall, and if you want, turn and look at the corner
you just passed. You should see a lever on the far side; pull it to lower
the floor and grant access to a new area. There's nothing much in here except
some enemies and a strange room at the end. In that room, there's some gold
just sitting on the floor in the middle. Pick it up, and the faces in the
walls start spitting fireballs at you. Make your way out of here if you even
came in, back to the end of the hallway, and look to your left. There should
be a brick at just above head-height in the wall next to the door. Press the
brick in, and the door opens. Press the lever on the left wall to lower the
stairs, then go down. At the end, turn left and GO STRAIGHT. At the end, once
everything is dead, pick up the Healthy Boots, +15 to Health - they'll be
better than most for a while. Now, if you want, go back and pick up the items
on the squares in the last room. (If you had picked them up before, you
couldn't have gotten to the Healthy Boots. If you've picked them up
accidentally, just drop some gold on the squares to keep them down.)
Backtrack all the way back to the hallway, and go through the door. In the
next room, the faces that shoot fire aren't attackable, so just run through
them all. (Pick up the Health and Mana potions if you want.) In the next room,
when you pick up the empty spell book on the pedestal, some doors will open
and a LOT of skeletons, gargoyles, and jade gargoyles will come out. There's
a good chance you'll die if you just stand there at the beginning. I would
recommend that if you want to take it, you grab the book then retreat to the
back of the room. (The side you came in on.) If lucky, you'll be able to take
out the skeletons and gargoyles in the left room before those in the right
room even notice you. If they call come at you at once, you could be killed,
so divide and conquer.
Continue to the right to a long featureless hallway. Well, almost
featureless. Halfway through on the left wall is a brick. You get three
guesses what to do with it, and the first two...ah, whatever, just push the
thing. Go to the end, grab the hammer, kill the 4 skeletons that pop up.
There's nothing back here but free experience...but hey, who says no to free
experience? Back out to the hall and turn left, you'll find another room with
lots of enemies, but this room's easier than the earlier one. Once you're
finished, the left room's got some loot, but there's a dead end. So take the
right path into yet another room of skeletons. From here, you'll find a
hallway into a room, and at the far end is the other side of that cave-in
we saw before. So head up those stairs on your right, into a circular room
with some very cool-looking candles.
Through the door you'll take a right, up some stairs, through a hallway, and
finally into a room where a Ruby Gargoyle awaits you. (To the layman, a
"Gargoyle with a frickin' laser beam attached to its head!") If you hang back
at the beginning, though, you should be able to take out a lot of the Jade
Gargoyles before the big one notices you. This guy hits fast, so be prepared
to use a lot of potions. Once you take him out, he'll drop the Heart Stopper,
a bow that you can't use yet. But it's nice...real nice. Walk into the next
room, where you'll see...a person? In here? Go over and ask what a nice girl
like her is doing in a place like this. Ulora tells you her story, and then
asks you if you want her to accompany you. I think you know the answer. When
she starts out, she's not much of a specialist in anything, so you can make
her whatever you want.
Open the last door, make your way up the stairs, and greet the light once
again. (It does raise the question of why Ulora couldn't make it that far
by herself, but... ^_^) First order of business - turn around. No, not back
into the crypts; behind them. As you head back there, you'll first see a few
more Phraks than you'd invite to a dinner party, followed by a couple Gray
Wolves. Anyway, you need to get to the source of these guys, and if you walk
a bit farther back towards the wall, you'll find a Black Skrubb hiding in
a little nook. (It could be a cranny, I could never tell the difference...
^_^) If he focuses on one of your characters, they'll start getting hit hard
and fast, but if you have your potions ready, (H) the other should be able
to knock down his health while he's busy. Once dead, loot his pathetic little
trove and make your way back out in front of the exit to the crypts.
Watch out up here, Ulora's not as strong as you are...keep her in the back
or she's got a good chance of death. Watch out for the Krug Grunts - they
look like the other Krug, but they take a lot more punishment. Make your way
to the Krug camp and clear it out. (Watch the Krug when you kill them; the
one eating drops Meat, the one by the fire drops the Fire Poker... ^_^) The
tower on your left has Huskar the Shaman guarding the top, but he's not too
bad. Grab the Rough Linen before you leave. Now head on to Stonebridge. (Check
the signpost in front of the Krug camp if you can't find the direction.) At
the next camp, Futak the Trainer greets you, but you should still be fine.
Check out that beautiful water, then head up the hill. Take out everyone along
this path, until you sight the towering wooden gates up ahead. The gates of
Stonebridge.
-----------------------
ENEMIES IN THIS CHAPTER
-----------------------
(credited in order of appearance)
Krug Scavenger HP 8
Farm Skrubb HP 8
Phrak HP 6
Phrak Piercer HP 4
Krug Scout HP 12
Snapper HP 7
Phrak Ballista HP 15
Krug Apprentice HP 12
Gray Wolf HP 18
Skeleton HP 20
Krug Shaman HP 19
Gargoyle HP 9
Jade Gargoyle HP 8
Skeleton Guard HP 28
Krug Grunt HP 28
Krug Grunt HP 11
Brankar the Scavenger HP 24
Bear HP 50
Klandank the Krug HP 28
Alpha Wolf HP 30
Skeleton Captain HP 68
Ruby Gargoyle HP 45
Black Skrubb HP 55
Huskar the Shaman HP 44
Futak the Trainer HP 56
-{ CHAPTER 2: JOURNEY TO THE OVERSEER }-
"With only a name given by a dying friend, our beleaguered hero entered the
battle-worn gates of Stonebridge. Who could know then that the arrival of
one humble farmer from the fields would change the very course of the
Kingdom?"
Speak to Gyorn, the man standing next to the catapult. After all, that's what
Norick wanted, right? But look, he wants to join your party! Well, as I always
say, "Never let an eager old man who would like to become a melee fighter
in your party and accompany you to the next town walk away empty-handed."
And yes, I say that. =) Right now, you want to quicksave, just in case you
need some more money after your purchases and want to try it again. But what
should you buy, you ask?
- A pack mule. You don't _need_ one, but you'll be glad you bought him.
- A new character. Hire the mage in the inn, the archer in the
temple, or the fighter on the second floor of the inn, it's up to
you. But you'll want to have one of them.
- New spells. If any of your characters is a mage, that is. =)
- New weapons/armor. It's not as important as the spells, but it's a
good idea to pick something up.
==[RESTOCK POINT]==
So, first off you can anything you're not going to be using. The closest place
is Blackhammer Forge, the third building you come to. Sell anything you don't
need, and hope you have over 1220. If so, run to the inn and hire Zed, the
nature mage. Then, if you've got over 320 left, run outside into the pasture.
There, you should hire a mule if you've got the dough. A mule will really
help you out with looting dungeons, but it's worth the 320 gold just for all
of the "stupid ass" jokes that can be made. ^_^ (Keep going past the mule
pen, and down by the beach there are two Black Skrubbs, just sitting there
in the middle of town. You don't get anything for killing them, but that's
never stopped us before... ^_^) Now, you've got to pick out anything else
you want. I'd recommend you look at the spells first off. Having Firespray
for any Combat Mages and Flash for any Nature Mages will help out...it really
sucks to try to make your way through Wesrin Cross with Fireshot and Zap.
Remember to get some potions for your two new party members, too. Check out
the man by the burned building (to the right as you exit the temple) to get
the quest, Ordus' Axe. Upstairs in the inn, you can get the quest, A Sister's
Message. Talk to the soldier near the gates to get yet another one, Clear
Glitterdelve Pass. Now head out through the gates, feel appropriately awed
as the "Chapter 2" fades in, and then continue along your merry way. You've
got an Overseer to Journey To, and only an infinite amount of time to do it!
Get going!
Head on along the path until you see a Krug Shaman and a Krug Raider at the
top of some stairs. Be careful here, because Krug Dogs will come out from
the trees and unless you're careful, you can lose a character or two. The
next place that you need to watch out is at the top of a path that goes up
the side of a cliff; right at the top are two Krug Raiders and two Krug
Chuckers. If you run right up there, you're going to lose characters, so try
to coax them down the slope where you can pick them off one by one. But watch
out that you're not making yourself an easy target for the Chuckers, because
when 4 of them hit you at once, you die fast. Same idea when you encounter
a party near the bridge...back up and try to get out of the way of the Chuckers
and Shamans so you can take out the fighters first. Before you cross the
bridge, though, look to the left of the path to find the Northern Guard Tower.
Get everyone on the platform in the floor, then pull the lever. Clear out
the basement and get Ordus' Axe, which is better than anything you've got.
If you can equip it, do. Back to the surface and to the bridge that you saw
earlier. As you cross the bridge, look to the left - that's Wesrin Cross,
where you need to go. When you get to the signpost, you'll see that the gate
up ahead is blocked off. So take the path to the right, down the hill, to
Wesrin Cross. As you walk down a steep path, you'll hear screams...look to
the right of the path for two Black Skrubbs. There're more of them all over
this little clearing, so watch out. Talk to Ilandro under the bridge, then
walk around to the front of...
Wesrin Cross
Walk straight forward, and meet your new grunt enemy - the Arakun Spider.
They're not too bad...unless you meet 10 of them. Watch for another to the
left at the end of this room, then go on through the door. Little room on
the left that has way too many Skeletons...see if you can thin them out a
bit. If you wait up at this junction for a bit, you'll see Yellow Spiders
running along the walls, and then down to attack you. No, you didn't read
that wrong, they really only have 2 HP each. As far as I can tell, they're
the weakest enemies in the game. In the room to the right, there's a couple
Walking Corpses guarding the Ancient Corpse. There's also a Tortured Corpse
to the right. Back out in the main hall, the door on the other side leads
to a room with a LOT of enemies. If you can do anything to isolate some of
them back out in the hall, do so. Clear out this whole room, then go through
either door on the left wall. Hang back in this corridor and try to take out
the Skeletons from the room on the left in waves. After that, take the right
path, down the stairs, and finally meet some new guys - Vile Mucosas. Not
exactly beauty-pageant material, but... ^_^
Clear out this whole room and find the door on the right end of the back wall.
Down the stairs, and down the hall. Through here you've got to watch out on
the sides, because those Yellow Spiders that are oh-so-dangerous might hit
you for a whole 1 point of damage. The horror. The door at the end won't
open...hmm, I wonder what the lever right next to it does? Vile Mucosas
throughout here, but when the left wall ends, watch out. The Rector here uses
Fireskull, and two hits'll probably kill you. Lure everyone around him back
so that you can take on the Rector by himself. Just let all the Arakuns come
to you one by one, they die easier that way. Take a left at the end, but watch
out for the group of Vile Mucosas up here - if they focus on one character,
you won't be able to heal/potion them fast enough to keep them alive. At the
end of this hall, you have a gate that looks exactly like the last one you
went through. The only difference is what's behind it. A Mucosa is right at
the entrance, but it's not too hard; then turn your attention to the Skeleton
Archers. I guess this was a library, more books here than anywhere else in
this place. To the left is the passageway, but past the next door is a room
where they're not content to leave you with all the enemies already there,
they have to add insult to injury by sending Arakuns through the grates. Exit
at the far side, then take a left. There's another Rector here, but this one
isn't as difficult. Take a left and loop around near a wall backing on the
room you went through earlier. Blah blah blah, kill destroy etc. Hallway on
the right up here. It leads to a circular elevator with a lever. Now, since
we all know that this isn't a trap designed by our enemies to kill us, let's
pull the lever. VERY nice music greets our descent to the lower level.
Finally, new music, new items, and most importantly a new paragraph. Take
the door on the right side of this room to find a bigger room. The door at
the end here leads you to a passage where you can hear the tortured screams
of...spiders. They're coming from the holes in the wall; if you want to
explore, feel free...but it's long, frustrating, and I've never been a fan
of mazes anyway. But if that's your bag, baby, then hop on in. It's not very
complicated, as mazes go, and I'm going to stick to the main path. Finally,
up here we have a gate that is for once actually a gate, not this faux wooden
stuff they're so fond of down here. =) Take it slow, because walking past
the pedestal in the middle triggers about 10 Mucosas and what seems to be
the boss, a Dark Mucosa; make sure you don't get your healer trapped in the
middle of the pack. Watch out for the mule, too, it's always a bother when
they die. In my experience, this'll be the hardest battle that you fight.
Once you've cleared out the room, make your way to the portcullis (vocabulary
word there folks) and into the passage beyond it. Absolutely humungous room
here, probably the biggest that you'll see, at least for a long while. Try
to clear the whole thing out for the extra experience, it's always nice. On
the far side, find the huge wooden door set between two wooden
pillars...outside is a new enemy, a Mucosa Brute, if that helps. Behind it
is the boss of this whole place, the suitably impressive Giant Spider,
"weighing in at 480 HP! And in the blue corner..." If you're good at timing
hotkeys, you can attack with your healers between "waves", but if you don't
want to risk it you should still be able to take it out.
I've just gotten an email that details a much easier way of beating the Giant
Spider - it seems that if you position a character JUST outside its melee
range, it will keep trying to attack with its melee attack, but will keep
missing, leaving you free to take it out with a ranged weapon without losing
a smidgen of health. Thanks to Nathan Binns for that strategy.
Once you kill it, it drops a very nice Brilliant Shatter Bow which will serve
you very well once you can equip it. (NOTE: I have been informed that the
Giant Spider doesn't always drop the Shatter Bow; he also drops some nice
Staffs and other equipment.) Now run through the door behind its corpse, climb
into the cage, and greet the wonderful, wonderful daylight. Then start to cry
when you realize that you spent 2 hours going 50 yards. =)
Climb to the top of this tower, if you want. It's my expert opinion that the
Krug in here are only so that you'll realize how weak they really were. Take
the path to the left, and hit the red barrel by the gate. The resulting
explosion will blow away the debris blocking the way, and if you talk to the
guard captain by the gate, you'll complete his quest. You can also run back
to Stonebridge if you want; I'd recommend it, since another character could
serve you well in the next dungeon. If you don't want a new character, though,
don't bother. You can restock at the camp up ahead, and save yourself a lot
of running. Once you're back at the gate, head down and to the left to find
a camp.
==[RESTOCK POINT]==
Buy anything and everything that you might need, then head down the right
path to the town. Watch the cutscene, then speak with Gloern to get a new
quest, and a new character. There's nothing much left in this town, so head
into the Glitterdelve Mines. They're long, they're annoying, and they just
might be the least fun dungeon in the game. But then again, that's just me
- maybe you'll enjoy them. It could happen.
Glitterdelve Mines
This dungeon can be pretty confusing, so I'll be using the compass quite a
bit. When you first enter the dungeon, you've got a choice. The right path
leads to the exit, but if you want the experience head to the left. Just fight
your way through until you see a Mana Shrine, that's the end. Now go back
to the first room and take the north passage. Notice that when you break the
red barrels, the explosion reveals a passage behind it. This'll be on the
quiz later, so pay attention. Take the west passage here, it loops south to
enter another big room. A barrel on the right wall leads to a "secret" room,
complete with Scorpions to give it that nice homey feeling. Head out the south
side of the big room into a long tunnel, with two red barrels - each with
their own room behind. There's a dead-end little offshoot right before the
last room on the level, a big one. The elevator to the lower level is on either
side, but clear out the whole room. Just for kicks and giggles. =)
If you want, you can loop through the passage to the south and east of you,
but there's not all that much there. Head north, across the water, taking
out the Mine Worm that pops up, then up the stairs on the far side. Watch
out for the Venom Fiend, then once you're done head north into a very long
room. If you've got archers and/or mages who can take out the Mine Worm on
the ground, it's always fun...and you don't have to worry about it later.
Turn left, killing the Scorpions along the wall, until you reach a dead end.
Now wait, and the platform will swing over to you. If you can get everyone
on, do so - if not, be careful. The Scorpions are smart; they'll try to make
it past you and onto the platform, and if your mule is alone back there, it's
dead meat. Once on the other side, you get to repeat the process, this time
with a platform that raises and lowers. Be careful when you're on the ground
floor, though, you can be surrounded much easier in open spaces like this.
You may want to leave your mule above, because if he starts running like the
coward he is, he can attract even more enemies. Head to the west when you're
done, and through the little arches that for some strange reason evoke
memories of those Thomas the Tank Engine books that I used to read when I
was a wee little lad...sorry, got sidetracked. =) Anyway, the Krug Scouts
in here aren't too much trouble, and neither are the other Krug behind 'em.
When you get to the end, you can head right (north) to continue, or you can
clear out an extra room or two to the south. They look pretty cool, a nice
change from the monotony of the mines, and there's an Amulet of Refreshment
which gives +20 to Mana in a chest in the southeast corner of the second room.
Back in the long room, head north along the tracks. There are a LOT of Krug
Guards here, enough to seriously deplete your store of potions. You should
be fine if you keep on your toes and keep healing the whole time. Head west
in the next room, then north. Pretty straight path through here, except for
one small room to the left. (It's hiding behind the boulders by the red
barrels.) Despite its size, it contains a Mine Worm and more than a few
Darklings, so be careful.
As soon as you exit this passageway, three Scorpions and a Rock Beast form
the welcome party, so watch out. Don't let your healer, archer, and mage all
decide to sit right in front of the Rock Beast while it kills them...not that
_I'd_ do that, of course. =) To the east and south is another nice big room,
so clear it out and head north. At this intersection, if you turn right towards
the Rock Beast, and then south, you'll come to a Life Shrine. Try, if you
can, to get to the shrine before you fight the Darklings, as its healing will
help you immeasurably. Wander around the two side passages if you wish, but
eventually head north. The Scorpions in here are no problem, go on up north.
At the end, head onto the moving platform and across the gap. There's a Horrid
up ahead, with more HP than anybody has a right to. But with everyone focusing
on him at one time, you can drop him in only a few seconds. Straight ahead
from here, across yet another of those annoying platforms, then to the right
and down _another_ one. Tired of them yet? There's a Krug Commander to the
south a bit, but he's not that hard. The Cutter he drops does more damage
than any weapon you've seen, though you probably can't use it yet. From here,
head east until you see the elevators in the floor. The first one that you
find is down and unreachable, so look to the northeast to its counterpart.
Down at the bottom, you'll find two Rock Beasts, but you should be able to
take them out. And they drop some very nice loot, so it's worth the trip
overall. Back up through that elevator or the other, and walk north until
you find the next elevator on the left. You need to go down this one, so do
so, then break the wall and speak with Torg to complete one quest, receive
another, and also get a very nice +2 Dexterity amulet that'll look very nice
'round the neck of your archer. Come back up to the top, fight your way through
to the last elevator and take it if you want to, then go through the door
at the end and rise to the surface.
First of all, you can circle around behind the well and climb the mountain,
if you want. If not, just head straight south. Follow the path along until
you see a sign to Glacern pointing the way you're going. Here, take a left
to an ice cave that provides some variety from the snowy monotony of the path.
It's filled with Furok, monsters that rather remind me of the yeti. Nothing
in here is very hard at all, it just serves as a nice break, and a bit o'
loot while you're at it. Make it back to the path, and just head east. Follow
the path all the way until you see men standing beside the path. You've reached
Glacern...
-----------------------
ENEMIES IN THIS CHAPTER
-----------------------
(* denotes new enemies)
Krug Scout HP 12
Krug Grunt HP 28
Krug Shaman HP 19
Krug Raider *HP 30
Krug Dog HP 12
Krug Chucker *HP 23
Black Skrubb HP 55
Arakun Spider *HP 48
Skeleton HP 20
Skeleton Guard HP 28
Yellow Spider *HP 2
Walking Corpse *HP 36
Tortured Corpse *HP 34
Skeleton Archer *HP 27
Vile Mucosa *HP 47
Mucosa *HP 58
Rector *HP 41
Dark Mucosa *HP 68
Krug Killer Dog *HP 46
Giant Rat *HP 61
Rock Beast *HP 132
Krug Guard *HP 55
Scorpion *HP 73
Mine Worm *HP 152
Darkling *HP 46
Giant Moth *HP 55
Horrid *HP 352
Krug Commander *HP 190
Klaw *HP 202
White Wolf *HP 153
Braak Mage *HP 137
Furok *HP 225
Ancient Corpse *HP 66
Mucosa Brute *HP 102
Giant Spider *HP 480
Monstrous Rat *HP 95
Venom Fiend *HP 96
Grizzly Furok *HP 263
Dark Klaw *HP 240
-{ CHAPTER 3: THE SEARCH FOR MERIK }-
"Our hero emerged from the wilderness with a message of warning for the
Overseer, and a spirit strengthened to endure the travails that were yet to
unfold."
First things first - walk forwards to the Lucky Hurgiss Inn and speak with
the Overseer. I can't confirm this, but I think that you receive some
experience for this, or possibly for all quests; I know that Zed increased
in Intelligence when I spoke to Ibsen Yamas. Recruit either, both, or none
of the characters in the inn. Then walk to the pentagonal building in the
center.
==[RESTOCK POINT]==
Speak with Onoc to sell your excess items and restock on spells and potions.
Then speak with Ardun on the right to get the Book Return quest. (To complete
it, speak with Elio, in the house right next to this one, and with the
Legionnaire Archer in the guard tower by the gate.) Walk into the house
directly behind the pentagonal one to get the Homeless Blacksmith quest, and
also to buy weapons and armor. The house to the north of here contains Ada,
to complete A Sister's Message, and also a strange dungeon of sorts. (At the
end you'll find two Furok Slashers, HP 313.) Once you've completed all that
you need to here, head out the gate at the northeast end of town.
If you just follow the path, you won't meet any enemies for a while. Then
right before the bridge you'll find way too many Braak Mages. When the path
takes a sharp right turn soon after, keep going straight to find Orlov's
house, he of the Homeless Blacksmith quest. The cellar's on the left side,
and after you take out the Frost Spitters and Frost Golems, don't forget to
take the right nook/cranny to find a rare weapon and some other assorted loot.
Back on the surface, follow the path, and when the path forks, (kind of) look
along the right path to for another mini-dungeon. Check it out if you want.
On the main path, follow it up, past the mana shrine, and when you start
passing through very small divides, watch on the right (east) side. There's
a very long area over here that, once again, isn't necessary, but you can
take it if you want. One word of caution - be VERY careful near the explosive
barrel at the end of the snowy part. It can kill any of your characters that
are near it. Does more damage, comparatively, than anything else in the game.
(I think.) Of course, that means if you can hit it with an arrow it'll kill
anything in the area, but... Whether you take this path or not, head north
for just a little while longer, and find the two Ice Warriors up here. Just
beyond them, step on the hidden platform and enter the Alpine Caverns. They
so pretty. =)
Alpine Caverns
When you first get in here, take a minute to admire it, but not too long -
the Ice Warriors and Ice Flies in here may be beautiful, but they can also
do some nice (or not) damage. Take out the Braak Mages on your left, then
up the hill in front of you. Take out the Ice Burrow as soon as you can, so
it'll stop spitting Ice Flies. Past the Braaks, keep heading north and some
ice chunks in the way'll explode to reveals Ice Warriors and Ice Archers,
so take them out. But now you want to backtrack just a bit to the little path
that goes up the right side, it's easy to miss. Consult your megamap if you
have to. Follow this enemy-less path until it leads you...outside? Kill the
monsters here and continue to a shrine of sorts. Step on the pressure plate
in the middle, then run all the way back to the main path, where you first
encountered the Ice Archers. Now just continue to the north; we'll see those
shrines again, never fear. Up here you'll find on the left that the Ice Archers
never seem to go away, so kill the Ice Mage that's summoning them. Keep going,
taking out the Frost Warrior, then heading north and curving to the northeast,
until you see a mana shrine. There's a signpost near it as well, and you should
follow the sign pointing the way to Jeriah's Trading Post. That's roughly
northeast, if you're blind. =)
You should turn east through a little tunnel pretty soon. Watch for a turnoff
to the right (south) soon after this - if you reach the demon's skull, you've
gone too far. Come back a bit and sweep the south edge to find the passage.
Follow it outside and to the second shrine, where you'll raise a bridge that
you can just see to the southeast. Head back to the main cavern and on past
the demon's skull. You're still heading east for a while, until you go down
a set of stairs. Once you've cleared out this area, you need to double back
almost immediately after the stairs, to the south - it doesn't look like you
can fit through, but you can. Go outside, and yes, I know this sounds familiar.
I promise, this is the last one. Shrine at the end, with two chests. They
might have some nice stuff you can use, it depends. But look to the east of
this little island for the really good chest. Now run your little butts back
to the main caverns, by those big stairs. Head east, take out the Frost Mage,
then south to the Life Shrine. Now, go west again, and kill the Frost Archer.
Then head south through the narrow defile (coming up with new words now ^_^)
and keep going. Be careful up here, though, the Ice Archers are all in exactly
the wrong spot. The tunnel to the west is a dead end, and so is the one to
the east, though it's much longer. There also happens to be a Frost Drake
in here... =) Back in the main tunnel head south, ever south. At the top of
the stairs, watch out, there's another Frost Drake. Heading over the top of
this ridge, you're faced with yet another challenge, but fortunately this
is the last one. Run up ahead to the ice crystal in the center, and break
it to free Merik.
"I've been suspended for what...nearly a month now? Most astonishing! Their
powers have grown. I should have been paying closer attention. I should have
foreseen this, blast it! The forces behind this violence will be searching
for my Warding Staff. That's the magical artifact they're after. Thanks to
me, they believe it to have powers it doesn't actually possess, but it could
still be a terrible weapon in the wrong hands. It must be recovered!"
Head onwards and out of the Alpine Caverns.
-----------------------
ENEMIES IN THIS CHAPTER
-----------------------
(* denotes new enemies)
Furok Slasher *HP 313
Braak *HP 189
White Wolf HP 153
Braak Mage HP 137
Klaw HP 202
Furok HP 225
Frost Spitter *HP 108
Frost Golem *HP 195
Scorpion HP 73
Ice Warrior *HP 288
Ice Fly *HP 97
Ice Burrow *HP 210
Ice Archer *HP 243
Frostnid *HP 177
Ice Mage *HP 100
Pitiful Braak *HP 279
Frost Warrior *HP 327
Frost Mage *HP 138
Frost Archer *HP 285
Frost Drake *HP 936 (x2)
-{ CHAPTER 4: THE WARDING STAFF }-
"With the Grand Mage freed from his icy tomb, it was now clear that there
was an evil hand behind the forces overwhelming the Kingdom. Our hero went
forth seeking clues to the whereabouts of the Warding Staff."
Defeat the Frost Drake and the last of the Ice Warriors, then head out to
Jeriah's Trading Post.
==[RESTOCK POINT]==
Once you've bought any and all supplies you need, (it'll be a while before
the next one) continue along the path until you reach a cave in the mountain
at the very end of the path.
Subterranean River
As you walk in, you should be heading south. Continue until you meet the Dark
Lungers. Now keep going until, in the crystal on your left, you find a Teal
Shard, an enemy. These guys (and their brethren of all colors of the rainbow)
are very, very annoying. Not too hard to kill, but annoying nonetheless. Make
your way to the water's edge and fight off the Slarg in the water. Continue,
but watch out for the Lectar; though it's not that dangerous, it's got more
health than you'd expect. The Green Shards on the west bank can do some damage
if you ignore them, but the mana shrine next to them should make up for any
healing you had to do. Head south and watch out for all the shards hidden
in the crystal on the left - there's a Green and three Teals there, and if
they surround one guy he could be toast before you can do anything. Your path
here turns to the west a bit, but before too long you're heading south again.
Pick up the chest on your left and keep going south. When you see the stairs,
take them. The path continues for a bit, but it's just a dead end. You're
going to have to head southeast across the water here, though it's really
not far at all. Here, you can fight a pretty cool boss over to the left, just
keep going along with the water until Syrrus pops up. Now find the south edge
of the water and continue on; hero, meet Trog. Trog, hero. The Trog are the
main denizens of these caverns, and you'll be fighting quite a lot of them.
Once this whole area's secure, head up the hill and over the bridge. See the
signpost? It tells you to go straight ahead, and at the end turn south down
the stairs. Run around killing things for a while, when you find the Trog
Knight grab the Trog Great Sword that he drops, and run around killing some
more. If you hug the north edge on the right, you can make your way back around
to near the bridge you crossed earlier, only on the lower level. There's a
chest around under the bridge, and when you're done just click on the bridge
to run all the way back - just stop halfway when you get back to the clearing.
Near the bottom there's a ramp down to yet another level, where you get to
- surprise - kill more monsters. The next ramp down is actually north, head
down it and kill, kill, kill. You get the picture. At the bottom of the next
ramp are a LOT of Trog and a Great Trog Warrior. You want to have your healer
already on, at least. You should be able to win without _too_ much effort,
though.
Run along to the west, then curve south, then to the west again. You shouldn't
have any trouble with the Dark Slingers - or anything else - in this area.
Fight your way through here, heading south through the little narrow part.
Run forwards until you see the Skick. It's very cool-looking, like a cross
between a Trog and a praying mantis. And you can summon one later. =) Kinda
hard to get off the path here, until you come to a fork. One leads west, the
other south. The path to the south leads to a Life Shrine with a few Stalagnids
scattered around it. On the west path, there really is only one way to go
on these thing walkways, until you reach another fork. You'll see a carved
gateway on pillars, if that helps you recognize it. There's a bridge of sorts
to the west, but the path also continues north. The north path leads to a
very interesting dungeon, and one that you'll need to complete in multiplayer
if you want to access the Secret Chicken Level. You won't miss the entrance,
it's right in the middle of a group of stone pillars.
As you'll quickly see, when you pick up the gold in the first room, the
passageway is blocked. When you stand on the platform, it opens again, but
you can hardly leave two characters in each room, you'd never get to the end.
The secret is that you can drop either a worthless item of a little gold,
and it'll stay down. Leaving 1 gold and picking up 51 isn't that bad a deal...
=) In the next room, there are two platforms on each side, about a third of
the way into the room, and then another in a little room off to the left at
the end. In the next room, there are two on each side and one in a room on
the _right_ at the end. The next room's the last one, and once you fight off
all of the Trog you can loot the place. The Fury's Eye is in a chest on the
left, and a rare item is over to the right. Once you've cleaned out all of
the chests, head all the way back up to the surface, and back to the place
where the path forked so long ago. Now let's take the bridge.
There's only one path to take for much of this area, so I won't bother you
too much with directions. Just run along the little narrow bridges until you
come to the signpost. Follow its directions, and head down the side of the
hill. Clear out this area, (the Shadow Lunger's on the east side) and then
head north along the river. There's another Syrrus here, but he's a lot easier
this time. Clear out everything around here, then the path leads northwest.
The Purple Shard up here is big and dangerous, but at least he's alone. Grab
the chest next to him, kill the _other_ Purple Shard, and then run out of
this dungeon. I doubt you'll miss it too much...
This here forest is the Dark Forest. And it's dark. Hence the name. If you're
having too much trouble walking around, turn your Gamma Correction up on the
Options menu - the gamma basically governs the brightness. I don't turn it
up unless I need to, though; after all, it's supposed to be Dark. There isn't
much I can give you in the way of directions except to follow the path until
you come to the Travelers' Camp.
==[RESTOCK POINT]==
Speak to the man in the camp on the right to get the Bandit Boss quest, restock
on anything you need, get Phaedriel if you want, and then head out into the
forest. As long as you stay on the path, you shouldn't meet any enemies until
right after passing a sign pointing to the Eastern Swamp. Just continue this
way until you encounter the Bandits and Bandit Archers. Be careful when you
hit the second group, they can easily overrun you and start taking out your
archers and healers. Once you find their camp, with the fire in the middle
and everything, head out along to the right. Pretty soon, you'll come to a
fork in the path - and don't worry, you won't miss it. There're three torches
set along each of the paths; I guess the developers wanted to make sure that
absolutely no one missed it. But anyway, head down the right fork. Take out
the groups of Bandits along the way and enter the cave at the end of the path.
Kill the Bandit Boss to complete the quest, then head back to the Traveler's
Camp to restock. Now head back along the path until you reach the fork in
the path, where the right fork led to the Bandit's Cave. So take the left
fork. Soon after you should hit a beautifully verdant clearing - not even
the Bandits here can restrain my happiness over finally getting out of that
damn forest. From here you should be able to see the edge of the swamp, so
head right until you see the bridge; talk to the Azunite Scholar next to it
to receive the Purify the Temple quest. Before you head across the bridge,
follow the edge of the swamp around to the right; you'll probably want to
use the megamap. Watch the wall, and when it bends away from the swamp follow
it through to find a very ambient temple. The only enemy here is The Lost
Witch; once she's dead, loot the four chests in the last room, then head back
to the bridge by the Scholar. Enter the Eastern Swamp.
This swamp is long, this swamp is boring, but above all, this swamp is
beautiful. Take a second to look around, watch the currents flow through the
algae on the water, see the spanish moss on the tree branches...this is done
very, very well. And I guess it's for the better, since we'll be seeing so
much of it... =) Anyway, walk along the bridge until you hit land. Follow
the south edge right to the next bridge. This one also leads straight to land,
but this island's got a bit more in the way of defenses. Once you've cleared
it out, the next bridge is over behind the little cabin. This next little
island nevertheless holds a Swamp Witch, so be careful. On the next island,
the bridge is over to the east. Here, as you walk by, a Hydrack will pop out
of the water right next to you. It can do a lot more damage than any of the
other enemies around here, so take it out as soon as you can. Then mop up
all the Manglers running around. This island looks like a dead end, but look
to the east of the bridge you came in on - it wasn't just a coincidence that
they're so close together. Once you clear out this section, don't bother
looking for a bridge, there isn't one. Instead, in the southeast corner you'll
find a small isthmus, which leads to another big island. Head straight east
to find a cemetery of sorts, with a church at the end. Enter it, and kill
the Wretched Zombie, then click on the altar to complete the Purify the Temple
quest. Watch out, because there'll be Zombies coming up from the graveyard
now. Once you're done, head east, through the gate of the cemetery, and to
the edge of the water - where you find yet another Hydrack. Head northeast
now, following the narrow strip of land as it curves around. When you see
a bridge leading off to the right, take it. In the house it leads you to,
you can find Andiemus, a Nature Mage. He's expensive, but he's almost
certainly better than any of your nature mages, so you might want to pick
him up. Head across the bridge, take out the Hydrack, then continue on the
bridge. Follow the next bridge across, and then you should see another bridge
ahead, but this time with a sign on it. A Potion shop, out here in the middle
of the swamp? Well, it gives us a chance to unload some of that loot, so let's
not look a gift horse in the mouth. Stock up on anything you need.
==[RESTOCK POINT]==
From here, head south and just start running around killing things. You want
to be generally moving south, but this is all one big island, so it really
doesn't matter all that much. You will need to eventually move over to the
east, but as long as you use the megamap and just go where you haven't before,
you should find it. When you move right and a large clearing opens up on the
megamap, head for the center of it - if you find a Gobbot Igniter, you're
very near the entrance to the dungeon. Look to the east of him for a large
tree-stump, or something that looks much like it. It is, in fact, the entrance
to yet another dungeon - The...
Goblin Caves
This little home-away-from-home is the work of the goblins, scrawny little
guys who just happen to be better with machinery than Van Gogh with a
paintbrush, or Einstein with a piece of chalk. Some of their flamethrowing
attacks will hit all of your party, and hard, so be careful - you might want
to just keep a permanent healer in case of emergency. Anyway, when you first
get in here, just walk everyone onto the spiderweb grate in the middle, then
have someone turn the valve. Be careful, though; as soon as you hit the bottom,
you'll have to fight off quite a few Goblin Grunts and Goblin Guards. Just
keep healing and you should do all right. From here, the path is mostly
straight and narrow, no pun, so just continue on along it. The first fork
you find really isn't a fork - you can go right or left, but you'll end up
the same place. It's much like a capital D, where you enter at the bottom
corner and exit at the top; you can go straight up or around, it's up to you.
Up here, when you see a platform on the left with a valve, turn it - it'll
turn off the green gas up ahead. I'll give you one warning now that will most
likely serve you well in the rest of this chapter - do NOT stand near the
red barrels when they explode. They hurt. On the other hand, if you can hit
them from afar with an archer, they'll do some serious damage to any enemies
around... Anyway, snag the items from the platform on the right and continue.
The path is totally linear from here, and not too difficult, but finally
you'll come to a large door. Open it, and...keep going.
Turns out we were just in the entry chamber, the vestibule, the little room
by the door where you wipe your shoes off. Now, we're heading into the real
thing. Take out the five Goblin Guards that run in at first, then continue.
It's still very linear in here...almost makes me feel useless. =) Pretty soon,
you should come to another big door. Now, right after it, there's a shortcut.
You should see a bridge in the middle (facing N-S) that rotates when you pull
the lever. Now, there are a couple ways you could get across here, but the
easiest is to first take your strongest fighter, (to take the hit from the
Proxo, or shoot it with an arrow) and send them onto the bridge, then onto
the left platform once it's rotated. Now spin the bridge back towards you
(E-W) and get everyone else on. Now pull the north lever with your lone guy
and send everyone to the south. Here's a diagram of what you're skipping.
You come in from the west and would have taken a big loop around, but instead
you just jump across and head south. See?
/--<--
| |
V ^
| |
-->--(+)->--/
|
V
|
Oh well, follow my instructions even if you have no idea what they mean. Unless
you're the kind of person who feels honor-bound to cover every inch of ground
in the game, in which case you can take the loop if you want. It's no skin
off my back. Anyway, just fight through a couple rooms until you get to a
platform on rails. You're going to need to ride it, but first there are two
things you'll need to do. First, explode the barrel on there so it can't be
used against you. And secondly, save your game. Probably the hardest section
in the dungeon is coming up and you will most likely need to try it more than
once. Oh, and if you can, leave your mule behind. You can come back again
afterwards, but right now she'll just be in the way. When (if) you make it
past here, the door's over on the south side. Throughout these next passages,
the red valves on the wall will turn off the steam, acid gas, etc that's
covering the path. Just continue all the way along the passageways until you
get to another platform, this time one that lowers you down. (It's a little
tricky at the bottom but you should be fine.) Then follow the halls to another
platform that raises you back up to ground level, whatever that means down
here. (Along the way there's a side path to the left that is really hard to
get through, and all you get is a dead end and a couple chests. Not worth
it at all.)
Soon after this, you'll come to a small door. Behind it are more Gobbots (of
various occupations) than you'll ever find anywhere else. If you can lure
some of them outside, great, but otherwise prepare for a long and drawn-out
battle of attrition. Once you're done, just continue straight up to the next
set of big doors. There're some enemies scattered around the door, but once
they're gone head across the catwalk. If you look right, there's a door there
- it's not the main path, but it's got quite a few nice items. Anyway, continue
along the catwalk to the left, and through the door, to face the Goblin
Inventor. And yes, he is the size of a lawn gnome.
"Wretched Krug, wretched invaders! Everything wrecked! Seck no have magic
staff! Stupid Human Wizard no have staff! Warding staff ours! Goblins'! You
all pay!"
And he's back, only writ large. For some reason, though, he's not _that_
difficult, despite his 3120 HP. Probably his most dangerous weapon is his
flamethrower - it's got huge range on it, and it can take out your healers
before your fighters even notice. As you hit him and knock down his HP, parts
of the suit will break off, making him easier to defeat. Finally, you'll break
it down completely, and can take Merik's Warding Staff, which just _happens_
to be a great item. =)
"I lose but no difference! Ancient evil and humans fight now! Goblins watch,
goblins laugh, goblins take what's left! Hee hee!"
Collect any items around here, then run to the end of the tunnel, stand on
the spiderweb grate, and turn the valve to rise out of this dungeon.
"Having defeated the Goblin menace in its very own lair, our hero stood with
Warding Staff securely in hand. But the ancient evil remained elusive. Time
was running out, and answers were in short supply. The truth would have to
be found further east, towards Fortress Kroth."
As you run along here, you'll see Deactivated Gobbots, which were assumedly
turned off when you beat the Goblin Inventor. Whether they were or not, they
can't harm you now. Pull the lever at the end to open the door to the outside.
-----------------------
ENEMIES IN THIS CHAPTER
-----------------------
(* denotes new enemies)
Ice Warrior HP 288
Ice Fly HP 97
Klaw HP 202
Braak Mage HP 137
Furok Slasher HP 313
White Wolf HP 153
Dark Lunger *HP 262
Teal Shard *HP 114
Slarg *HP 273
Lectar *HP 411
Green Shard *HP 138
Syrrus *HP 504
Trog *HP 297
Trog Warrior *HP 325
Trog Knight *HP 420
Blue Shard *HP 162
Dark Slinger *HP 138
Dark Caster *HP 116
Skick *HP 390
Stalagnid *HP 294
Spiked Maw *HP 188
Purple Shard *HP 567
Forest Troll *HP 540
Forest Klaw *HP 510
Hell Boar *HP 315
Gorack *HP 900
Bandit *HP 360
Bandit Archer *HP 315
Black Wolf *HP 270
Swamp Slinger *HP 280
Swamp Stinger *HP 180
Mangler *HP 360
Hydrack *HP 800
Swamp Troll *HP 488
Swamp Witch *HP 210
Swamp Creature *HP 1040
Tretch *HP 480
Grave Crawler *HP 640
Bronze Gargoyle *HP 170
Goo Walker *HP 500
Zombie *HP 620
Headless Zombie *HP 752
Gobbot Igniter *HP 660
Goblin Grunt *HP 320
Goblin Guard *HP 440
Heater *HP 460
Kill Bot *HP 400
Gobbot Shocker *HP 660
Blaster *HP 840
Copter *HP 300
Proxo *HP 40
Tesla Coil *HP 250
Perforator *HP 680
Hunter *HP 480
Gobbot Grenadier *HP 660
Gobbot Gunner *HP 660
Frost Drake HP 936
Great Trog Warrior *HP 472
Rabid Spiked Maw *HP 238
Shadow Lunger *HP 414
Muding Troll *HP 710
Enraged Gorack *HP 1203
Bandit Boss *HP 950
The Lost Witch *HP 650
Wretched Zombie *HP 1152
Dungeon Crawler *HP 2120
Rotten Troll *HP 700
Goblin Robo Suit *HP 3120
-{ CHAPTER 5: AN ANCIENT EVIL }-
As you come out here, you can talk with the Guards to your left to have the
Reinforce Fortress Kroth quest updated. You can check out the very
cool-looking beach to your right, but watch out for the Sea Manglers. If you
follow the path, it'll end shortly after, but you should be able to see a
sign up ahead that'll lead you up a set of hills and gullys. Soon you should
see the path reappear, though, and if you follow the torches, you should make
it to Bonepicker's Post.
==[RESTOCK POINT]==
Once you've bought everything you need, simply follow the torches through
the forest. You'll find a house soon after Bonepicker's Post, that has a few
chests in the basement, if you want to check it out.
I've now gotten a LOT of emails about this area, so let me summarize what
I've learned from them.
The house that I mentioned has a cellar. One of the walls in the cellar is
breakable. Behind this wall are the Unguis, the tentacled monster the
Legionnaire was talking about; an abandoned goblin laboratory that seems to
be just aesthetic; and the lost treasure hunters that Gregor told you about.
Talk to them to complete Gregor's quest.
Many thanks to Talos, Cameron, and Mastertypo for their help in clearing this up.
From here on, the forest lightens up a bit, and the path isn't lighted by
torches any longer, but you should still be able to follow it easily. If not,
there's a signpost to help you out. Pretty soon you should emerge into a
clearing; there are some Wraiths soon after. Loook through the ruins of a
temple here and you should be able to see a Blue Drake up ahead...as pretty
as it may be, you should probably kill it. Right behind the Blue Drake there's
a passageway leading underground; take it. These ruins aren't very long, and
although there are a lot of the wraiths in here, they're not really that hard
in the end. Your biggest problem by far will be with the "boss" near the end.
Anyway, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Clear out the first room, then
through the hall to the little fork; to the right are some Googore Grubs,
whatever that means. Really easy little buggers (get it?) to kill, though.
But head left, past the Wraiths on the left. Follow the path, but take a detour
to the right to take out the Fury Spawn waiting there. Now keep along the
path to the north. Look to your left at the Googore - I'm glad that not all
the Grubs have matured, eh? Follow this path along, it's too narrow to get
lost. If you go all the way to the end, you'll find a Life Shrine, but the
path turns away to the right a bit earlier. You should have seen some Googore
Grubs making their way up the slope earlier, but if not just click on the
floor and your characters should find it themselves. Keep going through the
passageway here and turn left at the well. Cross the bridge, then look down
at the Fury and either A) Run away in fear, or B) Attack and get beaten. You
need to get past here, though, so you're going to have to overcome your fear
of large Beholder-like enemies and kill the Fury. Now just walk up the path,
kill the two Fury Pests, and run out of this short little dungeon.
As you first come back outside into the light, you'll see Boryev; you can
recruit him if you want, but you'll be getting a much better mage pretty soon,
and for free. Now just run down the walley a little bit until it oepns up
into a vast clearing. It's wide open, and you can see form one side to the
other, so you shouldn't get lost, but if you do just follow the path; there's
one sign that points the way to Fortress Kroth, and then another signpost
soon after. When, through the little vallet at the end, you see a man standing
on a pile of dirt, slow up a second. Heal your party, get ready, then go fight
him.
"At last, an enemy who doesn't cower behind walls! I thought I'd die of tedium
fighting these pathetic Legionnaires. Let us see if your mettle is greater
than that of your worthless kin!"
When you first enter this area, spikes come up and cover all of the exits,
and then Gresh has to go and summon up a couple dozen Skeletons to fight for
him. You should be able to kill them, though. Once you've taken out most of
them, Gresh himself will come down and start fighting, but by now you should
have him surrounded, and if he doesn't go down easy, at least he goes down.
As you can see once he's down, there are two paths out of this valley, but
you want to take the northeast one; it leads straight to Fortress Kroth.
"With Gresh died the greatest threat to Fortress Kroth, but the grave danger
of a resurgence of this manner of ancient evil weighed heavily on our hero's
mind."
-----------------------
ENEMIES IN THIS CHAPTER
-----------------------
(* denotes new enemies)
Sea Mangler *HP 720
Forest Phrak *HP 180
Spiked Dweller *HP 285
Black Wolf HP 270
Cyclops *HP 1240
Larch *HP 888
Unguis *HP 640
Forest Darkling *HP 441
Wraith *HP 740
Battle Wraith *HP 960
Wraith Archer *HP 495
Googore Grub *HP 260
Wraith Mage *HP 450
Fury Spawn *HP 1960
Googore *HP 1330
Fury Pest *HP 1960
Krug Dog Skeleton *HP 660
Skeleton Mercenary *HP 752
Skeleton Ranger *HP 525
Infested Larch *HP 1507
Warrior Wraith *HP 1212
Blue Drake *HP 1680
Fury *HP 4200
Skeleton Captain *HP 924
Gresh *HP 3200
-{ CHAPTER 6: UNWISE ALLIANCE }-
Here we are at Fortress Kroth - finally. Stock up on anything and everything
you might want, recruit Rhut if you'd like, and basically just relax a bit.
==[RESTOCK POINT]==
When you're ready to proceed, head through the doors behind Rhut and down
into the caverns below. Just follow the path until you see a Droog Grunt.
After taking down the Droog Archers here, go down the stairs on the right
and keep going along the path. Look to the right up here and you'll see a
huge skull on the wall; press the button to the left of it to open the
passageway to the Hall of Skulls. In the first room, there's only one Droog
Grunt, (although there are others in rooms to the left and right) but in rooms
along the hall there are a few Possessed Skulls. And then in the next room,
there are a lot more than that. Once you've cleared out the whole room, (or
maybe if you haven't, you could try a hit-and-run if you have to) turn the
statue on the far side of the room to open a passage to...another room. Only
this one's got Sikra, a great dual Nature/Combat Mage. Once you've recruited
her, (it's very unlikely that you've a better mage) head back out through
the skull you came in, and turn right. Follow the path down the little hill
you come to, through the narrow passages in here, and out into the open desert.
If you follow the river left, you'll come to a dead end, but you might as
well take the experience if you need it. But either way, head to the right
and basically follow the river. One thing - if one of your characters seems
to spontanteously go up in flames, try to follow the path back - it's one
of those pesky Sand Mages. Up ahead, there's a bridge across the river; though
there's a Mana Shrine on the right side, eventually you'll have to end up
on the north. Follow the river again to a bridge; if it comes to a waterfall,
you've gone too far. Head south; the path doesn't deviate much, and the only
thing that might confuse you is the overhangs on the megamap - just remember
that if it looks like you're standing on top of a sheer cliff, and you're
not, that's the reason. Anyway, along the way you'll find Ulfgrim, who you
can recruit if you want, or not, it doesn't really matter. Right after
Ulfgrim's a signpost pointing the way to the Cliffs of Fire, if you needed
directions. (There's also a Life Shrine over to the right.) r you cross over
the river on the bridge, cross back over to the right side so you can take
a trip on the wooden bridge hanging over the waterfall - and yes, the view's
great. Basically, you're just going to be criss-crossing back and forth on
these bridges for a while. After a while, you'll find an elevator against
the cliff face, so raise your party up. Cross the absolutely huge stone bridge
that just grows out of the cliffs, and continue along the cliff face.
Eventually you'll find a signpost that points both to the Cliffs of Fire and
to Castle Ehb, and the village walls are directly behind it.
Just wind your way through the village, where instead of attacking you, the
villagers bow to you - well, all except for the fanatics on the upper levels
who'll attack you anyway. =) One quick warning, though. It's only happened
to me twice, but it is possible to get your characters stuck in this town.
Some of the tables, chairs, bowls, whatever they are, they're laid out badly,
and it's possible to get a a character stuck between them and the wall. And
you can't get them out, even if you dismiss them and rehire them. So unless
you've got a recent save, you're screwed. (So don't do it. ^_^) Run up to
the top of the village and enter the town hall building; talk to Nonataya
inside for a quest and a shopping spree.
==[RESTOCK POINT]==
-----------------------
ENEMIES IN THIS CHAPTER
-----------------------
(* denotes new enemies)
Droog Grunt *HP 1040
Droog Archer *HP 630
Possessed Skull *HP 1180
Giant Wasp *HP 720
Giant Lizard *HP 1200
Sand Mage *HP 798
Sand Ripper *HP 960
Droog Mage *HP 540
Impaler *HP 1340
Sand Basher *HP 1260
Soul Stinger *HP 560
Droog Grunt Fanatic *HP 540
Droog Archer Fanatic *HP 630
Droog Mage Fanatic *HP 540
Droog Captain *HP 1448
-{ CHAPTER 7: KING AND CASTLE }-
"The surrender of the Droog meant the safety of the kingdom had been secured.
But a warning had to be delivered to the throne before the revenant Seck could
succeed in their mysterious plot."
Make your way out of the Droog village and back on the road again. (Got a
feeling that I'm home again.) Kill the Green Drake and speak with Goquua to
get another quest. Now just follow the path once again until you see a
roped-off path on the right. Take it, and follow this path all the way to
a cave - Dragon's Rathe. You'll know the Ancient Dragon when you see it;
weighing in at 20260 HP, it doesn't get any bigger than this. Kill it, then
clear out this whole area for tons of loot. Now run back up to the main path,
where you turned off on the roped path. Head east into a small cave that opens
on fresh air. It should be easy to just follow this path straight to where
Lord Bolivar waits, and from there to the gates of Castle Ehb.
First, you need to go inside, through the stairs directly in front of you.
You can explore around these rooms if you want, but eventually you need to
get out to the rear courtyard. The path to the King is to the southwest, a
simple staircase leading upwards to the ramparts. From here, you want to
circle around counter-clockwise to the northeast corner, where it ascends
further. Once inside, turn west, then north until you find the doorway onto
the roofs. On the roof, head south between the two buildings, then west and
down four flights of stairs. You should now be almost above where you entered
Castle Ehb. Look for a structure that looks something like a well, and wait
for the platform to rise. Get on, and let it take you to the dungeons of Castle
Ehb.
==[RESTOCK POINT]==
Take the first right through the small little door here. From here, you can
look in all of the rooms on the sides if you really want to, (in one of them is
the restock point I mentioned), but if you just want to get to the King stay on
the main path. When you see a jail cell door in front of you, open it and free
the King.
-----------------------
ENEMIES IN THIS CHAPTER
-----------------------
(* denotes new enemies)
Green Drake *HP 1560
Soul Stinger HP 560
Desert Braak *HP 1732
Sand Basher HP 1260
Sand Mage HP 798
Impaler HP 1340
Giant Wasp HP 720
Skeleton Mercenary HP 752
Krug Dog Skeleton HP 660
Giant Skeleton *HP 1200
Seck Grunt *HP 1480
Seck Archer *HP 780
Mucosa Raider *HP 1240
Seck Mage *HP 993
Punisher *HP 880
Scorch *HP 20260
Ghost *HP 1600
-{ CHAPTER 8: THE CHAMBER OF STARS }-
"We live on borrowed time, so you must listen well, and act quickly if we
are to survive. Three hundred years ago, our ancestors entombed Commander
Gom with the remnants of his Seck army, following their craven surrender to
the 10th Legion. Rather than obliterate the remains of their race, our
forefathers magically bound them one by one in the Vault of Eternity as a
sentence for their savagery against our people. It would appear the magical
wards have weakened during Merik's long absence. The Seck that imprisoned
me here somehow breached our castle defenses and caught us unaware. Unlike
the rest of my retinue, I was spared, but I am sure they were simply holding
me for some unspeakable sacrifice. Were it not for your rescue, they would
eventually have figured out that I hold this key.
Within the bowels of the castle there is a hidden sanctuary known as the
Chamber of Stars. If what you say is true, the Seck must be plotting to acquire
the Imperial relics concealed therein. They could possibly hold the power
to revive their dark lord Gom and the rest of their kin. You should hurry
to retrieve the artifacts from the Chamber to safeguared them. If any of them
can be of use to you, so much the better. Once the artifacts are secure, I
charge you to seek out, and vanquish the remaining Seck before their dark
vengeance can be unleashed on the good folk of Ehb... You have become out
last bastion of hope. I shall remain here and pray for the deliverance of
our kingdom at your hands. May Azunai bless and guard you in your crusade...
Heroes of Ehb."
First of all, pick up that Star Key. Wouldn't do to get to the Chamber of
Stars without the key, now would it? Now basically just make your way through
each successive room, it's pretty linear. When you see a hanging cage in the
air on the right, go over, push the button to lower the chest, then break
the door to free the occupant.
"Tried, tried, tried, but Swanny didn't give it away did he? No, he's a good
boy, isn't he? Old red-eyes, evil eyes... They tried to crack his head with
magic, but he's got daisies for brains now, don't he? Don't he? They wanted
to know where the Chamber of Stars was, those Seck devils, but Swanny wouldn't
tell them... The secret chamber with all the king's magical goodies... You!
You nearly tricked ole Swanny, but I'll not give it away! Never! Bloody Seck
traitors!"
Now kill him, just because it's more fun this way. =) And because Swanny's
Club is the best weapon in the game so far. Anyway, if you want to get some
loot you can, taking out the Kell on the other side of the west door, then
continuing on through the south one. You eventually want to exit this room
through the north door, though. When you come out on this bridge, the Vault
of Eternity is to your right, but you can't get in. So look to the left, towards
the Star Device....which just happens to match your key. When the bridges
come down, run in and turn each of the four statues set around the device
to make it spin. Run around collecting all of the treasure, then run back
outside to the Vault of Eternity.
-----------------------
ENEMIES IN THIS CHAPTER
-----------------------
(* denotes new enemies)
Seck Archer HP 780
Mucosa Raider HP 1240
Punisher HP 880
Toreck *HP 1280
Seck Grunt HP 1480
Seck Mage HP 993
Seck Elite Archer *HP 750
Mucosa Predator *HP 840
Synged *HP 640
Lava Imp *HP 920
Warlock *HP 630
Terror Wraith *HP 1280
Kell *HP 2080
Wraith Piercer *HP 765
Ghost HP 1600
Lava Runner *HP 920
Swanny the Mad Jailer *HP 3400
Dungeon Crawler HP 2120
-{ CHAPTER 9: DUNGEON SIEGE }-
"Our hero stepped forth from the Chamber of Stars a fearless champion who
wouold valiantly stride into the army of horrors that lie in wait."
As you walk in here, you'll be mobbed, but just take the doorway in the left
wall, then west in the next one, then north, then east, and then east again.
Now you should be directly north of the first room. Keep heading north. See
the gaping hole in the infernal lava-covered wall? Yeah, that one. Go through
it. The path along here is pretty simple, though by no means easy. Just walk
along down by the lava pools, take the bridge over the lava river, and then
lava the lava with lava lava on top. =) You're going to want to head west
after the bridge, running parallel to the river. Now take the second bridge
back across the lava. Now curve back towards the river, and go through the
passageway in the cliff face. This section is just one huge long skinny
peninsula in the middle of the lava, so just follow it or use your megamp
to find your way. Eventually you'll meet a Red Drake, mostly just as a herald
of what's to come. Just keep trudging along past even more lava, until you
get to a strangely-bent two-part bridge. Keep going until you enter a tunnel
and the red lights fade to black - now keep your eyes peeled for the last
change in scenery you'll see. (It comes right after the Magma Beast.) Anyway,
right after the first platform, the one with the two Black Drakes and the
Molten Drake, take a left and curve all the way around to the very south,
where you take a left, then go west just a little bit before heading north
for a long time. (You'll eventually be heading west when you finally find
it; if the game autosaves, you're on the right track. It's a long thin platform
limned with teeth.) So, descend down to the bottom level and meet Gom...
"So this is the mes the kingdom has to send against me. Did Merik tell you
that he came to us seeking his misplaced staff? And did he tell you that
without it he could not revitalize the wards binding us, and it was only a
matter of time until we would all be free? Your ancestors put us into thishole
then told fairy tales about us to frighten their children. Eventually you
forgot that the Seck were once real, a power to be reckoned with! Pray your
god is more merciful than I."
His first form's hardly difficult at all, you should be able to take it out
without much trouble at all. His second form, however....is not such a
pushover. Your best strategy for this is a pretty simple one - just take out
as many of his summoned monsters as fast as you can. Then, just hit him. Then
do it all over again. Eventually, after many healing spells and potions have
been used, he'll die. And you'll win. And...that's it. The only thing left
for you to do at that point, really, is to go and play multiplayer with the
imported character. (Or you could start from scratch, but that's not nearly
as fun...)
"With the Seck defeated, peace once again returned to the Kingdom. History
would record the names of those brave heros that drove the Seck back to the
hell from which they had crawled... a hell they would never return from again.
Though victory was ours, and nary a vile creature would show itself for many
years, the story does not end here. There was a new plan being devised...
an evil plot that would once again plunge the Kingdom into war...
C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S ! ! !
