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A Solution by Lu Richardson
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Please remember:
This game is all about doing your own thing. You have to do your
own exploring, in your own good time and in any way you like - and
take your own decisions at every turn. Investigate at will; the
more time you spend at it, the more you'll find. Particularly at
first, you are given every opportunity to feel free. Try just about
everything - hack at things, jump over things, go swimming - do
anything you like and find out your limitations and your powers.
Into the game proper, bear in mind that there are more items in this
game than you can hope to cope with. In every scenario, find a nice
clear space in which to drop the stuff you don't need just yet, but
from which you can retrieve it before you go on to the next level.
Mostly, there is no return. Since there is really no indication of
how important certain items are, you might easily leave behind
something vital without realizing it, and it's not fun having to
reload and go back several levels just for that reason. If you are
really at a loss as to what to really discard, ingredients for
spells are a safe bet. Another is lesser weapons and armour. I
will tell you which vital objects you must take with you from every
scenario, so that you don't have to do what I did - go back about
twenty levels several times! When I say "Take with you", I mean
hang on to these items, you are going to need them much, much later.
You'll see I also specifically mention two weapons - that is because
I found them both indispensable (Great Blizzard Axe and Valkyrie
Crossbow).
On the subject of weapons, you are going to be spoiled for choice
till you find the above mentioned ones. You'll have to decide which
one you like best and be ruthless with the rest. If you are unsure,
take them with you from scenario to scenario and keep trying them
out in reasonably safe circumstances. But don't carry them all
around with you.
Which brings me neatly onto the subject of combat. Most beasts will
leave you alone if you don't attack them - if you do, their friends
and relations tend to join in and you can find yourself in real
trouble. Still, if you do not fight, you don't advance so fast -
and you need the experience points. It is best to pick on isolated
creatures whenever you have the chance rather than start an argument
when there are several of them around, since they'll all turn on
you. Some can be killed from a safe distance, but any which have
the power to cast things at you, be it poison or spells, are best
fought at close quarters.
Apart from combat, other hazards you will encounter are unexpected
traps and, above all, having to jump to get places. Now, this
jumping business if very hazardous - I had a special saved game
called Jumps and always saved before I started and every time a jump
was successful. A bit of a nuisance, but better than having to
start from the beginning every few minutes. Sometimes you can just
jump by pressing the spacebar or D, sometimes you have to go back a
bit and press the Shift and forward keys to run before the jump.
Some surfaces are slippery, so that you have to press the backward
key quickly or over you go.
As to the ingredients for spells, when you have a good variety save
your game and try different combinations. If you get Arrant Prac,
you know you've got it wrong. Note down anything useful and reload.
Frankly, I found that the ingredients themselves were more often
more useful than any mixture I could concoct...
In writing this, I cannot anticipate what you will choose to do...
or what you CAN do. Very often, you are restricted by which shape
you happen to be at a critical moment. And that's entirely random.
"A Solution" means that I am merely describing the path I took; if
reading this helps you, well and good - but I do not claim that this
is the only way to solve this game.
The most important hint I can give you is: take your time, examine
everything, talk to everybody, be very thorough. Keep examining the
map and make sure you've covered everything. Also look out for
Lizard-sized holes in rooms and other places: not only can these be
short cuts to other rooms but can also contain special items.
Here we go. From the start:
The Caves
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You get comprehensive instructions in the Manual as to how to
proceed in these first caves - with pictures and all! But here
goes, anyway, for a little extra help. Don't, however, slavishly
follow the Manual, or me - the whole puropose of this area is to
allow you to experiment. Try everything you can think of! It will
be invaluable experience for later on, and may be you'll come up
with something nobody else has tried before.
And, now, for some down to earth instructions:
Head generally north (without neglecting watching the map to make
sure you cover all the ground), picking up stones, crystals, etc.
Actually, the only really useful item is the Cave Aloe, which heals
you - but do your own thing. Follow the arrows you'll spot on the
walls. You might like to pick a safe fight or two (i.e., fight one
guard at a time), just to get yourself a sword and a shield and
collect experience points. Avoid the three archers at the entrance,
they'll kill you for sure. Still, you might find it fun to see what
happens if you do try to run through - but save your game first.
Carrying on, when you come to some fireflies over a big rock, click
on them and then follow them. You will metamorphose as you come to
a low entrance on the rock. If you become the Lizard, go through.
If you become the Beast, turn right around and follow the right wall
till you come to a large boulder. Walk against it to move it out of
the way.
Proceed along here till you come to a lit room with two columns
barring the way. Walk around the one to the right and push it
against its fellow. Then go to the front and push it forward.
You'll soon be able to get through.
Past here you will come to several doors, all of which but one will
open by just clicking on them. When you are in front of the one
which won't, turn right and cut the chain with a sword (just click
on the sword symbol). Inside, an ancient magic stone. If you right
click it on the portrait, Luther gets extra magic power.
Check the other rooms. In one of them you'll see some crates.
These can be piled up in front of the smooth wall to climb up
through the hole. Not that it seemed worth the effort - but I guess
we are just being shown the ropes.
In the other room, tucked in a very dark corner, you will meet a Orc
on whom you can click for a conversation. Speak to him twice and,
when he expresses a wish to sleep before he fetches you something or
other, let him sleep - if you poke him once more he just dies.
Don't even bother to come back to him. Let him follow you if he
wills.
I expect you'll come across a lot of waterfalls NE of a big pool.
If you go to the waterfall to the N and smash the gushing rock with
a weapon, this has unexpected results. Push on here, see if it'll
do you any good. Then move on.
In your travels, you might find yourself peeking through a gap at a
guard - on the floor, an oil lake. Cast Spark to fry the poor
fellow, but back off quickly or you will get burned, too. All of
this, you realize, is to let you learn how to come to grips with the
game. Whatever you chose to do here, matters not at all.
Carry on exploring till you come to a bridge over a river. A door
opens and a guard talks to you. If, facing the bridge, you look to
the left, you'll see a lever. This opens another portcullis around
to your right and you can go into the guards' rooms and pick up some
goodies.
Cross the bridge towards the big doors, but don't be in a hurry -
there's some more fun to be had. If you hear the words "Hey, you!",
that really means YOU. Turn around and advance along the bridge the
way you came. When you see soldiers coming along, cut the chains to
have a section of the bridge collapse (with the soldiers on top)
while you back off to safety. Snig, snig.
Enough. Let's get on with the real game. Face the gates and enter
the Draracle's lair. Speak to him. Eventually, he will direct you
to the...
Shinning path
-------------
Move to the door and go in, note the customer to your left and
pretend you haven't, pick up the sword, mail (don't forget to equip
them) and the champion stones. These, as you will know from the
Manual, will make you stronger.
Now, you could open the metal bars by pulling the lever - going
through the mirror is a shortcut to the village you are meant to
visit. However, it's much more fun to move the tapestry aside and
go through the teleporter (just click on the wall).
Advance and click on the Orb. We seem to be in some sort of museum.
Back off a little. To your right you will find, on the wall, a
triangular key. Keep this key in your inventory where you can see
it. The creatures in this area will steal your last equipped item,
and since you are going to use this key all the time to get a
reading of the exhibits, it's always the last - you are going to
have to fight tooth and nail to keep it. Every time you've fought
and the key is missing, search the body of your victim. You might
even have to run after the thieves.
But don't let us anticipate. In front of the orb, a tile on the
floor can be moved and a stand will pop up. Use the key on it and
the wall at the back will open. Go in, cast Spark at the torch and
then take all the scrolls. Open the panel to your right and cast
Spark. Leave the way you came in. Should the wall close before you
can get out, a lever to the left of the door will open it again.
Retrieve the key from the stand.
OK, you must keep checking the map to make sure you don't miss
anything. Try to keep hugging the left wall so that you cover all
of this area methodically. Use the triangular key on the stands by
the exhibits to find out what they are all about.
If the scenario is a bit dark, walk up to the dim or unlit torches
and cast Spark to light them up.
You will first come to a barred room which you cannot enter. If you
stand on the right side and cast Spark, you will be able to see and
pick up a green gem. Put it in the square for magic items in your
inventory - it gives you considerable protection.
The next exhibit will give you a broken sword. Hang on to it.
Still keeping left, you should find a door on the wall which will
lead you downstairs, where you will pick up the Prism Sword. This
is the best weapon to be had at the moment, till you get the
Firesword. Go back up and keep going left.
In a room full of paintings, click on the one on the far wall to
reveal a lever. This opens up the next complex of rooms along (one
of them contains THE hourglass, more of this anon). Naturally, you
will use the triangular key to hear all about the paintings.
Going on, spot the one lit room (containing the hourglass) with the
other three dim ones - using the triangular key on the stand at the
opening to this complex will give you the clue. We'll be coming
back here later. Carry on for now.
You will come to a huge blue gem. After you've heard what it's all
about, you can hack away with a sword and get three chips off it.
If you click them on the fire around this room, they are charged
with the fireball spell. You can only use them once, though. I did
not find where else you could charge them, but I was soon packing so
much stuff, I didn't care.
Having got right around here, you can next do the centre of this
area. You will find an axe over a stand (this axe is extremely
useful because it can be thrown when you need to hit something from
a distance and it comes back to you). When you pick it up, you'll
find yourself in some sort of liquid - going up will get you to the
scroll room behind the orb. To get out, find the lever on the left
and the wall will open leaving you at the orb.
Once you've been all around, go to the room to the S with the
hourglass (don't discard the triangular key, make sure you take it
with you; you'll need it much later). Hit the hourglass with your
sword and it will break. If you now back away and turn to your
right, you will see that bits of the wall have fallen off. Hack at
it with any weapon and then go through.
Just go along the corridor until you come to a barred door. Kill
the creature, click on it to get some Dragon Blood and collect the
other vials in the room (these, by the way, act as delayed bombs).
Open the door and go along to the dragon having a kip, click on him
to chat and he will take you to...
(Take with you: Triangular key)
The Jungle
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You might like to start by discarding here anything you don't need.
Just move ahead of you at first. If you meet a two-headed beast,
don't start poking at it after talking to it, otherwise it'll have
you. Just follow on till you get to the village. An old man will
tell you some people are missing and won't let you through. You
might as well start searching.
The best way of going about this area is to use Luther to explore,
the Beast to fight the two-headed nasties (experience points, you
see) and the Lizard to get into those nooks and crannies. But it's
up to you.
Wandering around the jungle and following rivers is fraught with
danger, particularly if you fall into deep water (oh, do - save
first and have a go, it's really worth seeing). If you spot an
isolated rock spouting water, attack it with a sword or something
and you will find that a river bed dries out. In the north end of
the dried out river there is a hole - the Lizard can get a Speaking
Stone and other items. (On the subject of Speaking Stones, use them
by clicking them on the portrait. They will give you a slight clue
as to what's going on.)
While you are exploring, keep your eyes on the ground and see what
you can pick up. Some bushes with paler and darker leaves give you
aloe (healing). If you cut the trees with a yellow blob at the
bottom, you get ironwood sap. You can get some wax from hanging
hives and, by a small waterfall, Mind Stones. Save your game, use
one in the usual way and you'll see the whole area mapped. If you
then reload, you can use the same stone time and again.
You might come across a small temple by this same waterfall, with
several statues all around a circle on the ground. Pick up the
scroll you'll see on the floor and read it, but save before you
attempt going up the stairs - I got trapped up there because I
couldn't get the jump right, but you do get another scroll and some
experience. You might like to have a bash. Me, I reloaded and
tried something else. If you click on the wall behind one of the
statues, it opens out. On the same side, but nearer the arch though
which you entered there is a hidden panel with a lever. Using this
you can lift the statue in front of the secret door and go through
it. The stuff you can pick up here is pretty useless, so don't
bother - at the end you'll be in another part of the jungle.
To the SW, and going between two green mounds, you'll meet Kit'yara,
who has a fine sword and wants an orb of power for it. She also
tells you, amongst other things, about her son Daniel. She is
important and you will be meeting her later on.
N of here you'll come to a waterfall. Approaching, you'll get a
close up - click on the right and you'll enter a cave in which there
is a skeleton and another Speaking Stone. If you've covered the
whole area thoroughly, we can get on with the business on hand.
Although there is a short cut to where you want to be, you need to
be the Lizard to get to it and, because this is beyond your control,
you might as well head for the maze of thorns. You have to be
careful because they suddenly grow and leave you cut off and
disoriented. Keep an eye on the map and, if you feel there should
be an exit in a particular spot, hack away with one of your weapons
to get through; better still, cast Spark. This prevents the thorns
from growing again and also marks your path rather conveniently.
You want to head south and then west. At length, you will come out
into a clearing. Search carefully for an opening in the rock and
enter...
The Hive Caves
--------------
You'll have to walk them all. Look out for pieces of amber and some
very nasty blue spidery things. You must kill them (careful, you
can get poisoned). You should also find in a nest (or a messy bit
of something or other), around here, a fine armour. You will come a
chasm and you won't be able to get round it on the south side unless
you are the Lizard. Alternatively, hack away at the overhanging
stones in front of the chasm to create a path. You need to be
Luther to do this, and it's worthwhile, so that you don't have to
rely on changing at the right moment. Get across.
If you head roughly E to some lava (jump from one slab of rock to
another), you will come to two statues guarding a large sword - I
don't know what this is all about, but if you want it, grab the
sword and get out very quickly, otherwise you get crushed to death.
Towards the north, you will find a pathetic little pile of bones
which belong to the girl you saw in the intro. And please don't
mutter "serves her right!" Move on to the E of here and you'll meet
her mother. This means you've rescued her, because now you've
killed the nasties she feels free to buzz off to her village.
Before you follow her, just go round here to the NW. You will come
to a tiled room. Before you enter it, note the runes to the right,
on the wall. Enter the room and look around. This is, in fact, a
lift - but you can't use it yet. Make your way all the way back
to...
The Village
-----------
This time, the senior citizen will let you through. Go in, visit
absolutely everywhere and talk to absolutely everybody. After
you've talked to the magician fellow, you can nick anything you can
lay your hands on around him - particularly, get the Speaking Stone
on the floor, to the right of him. He is able to mend that broken
sword... in exchange for an orb of power.
A visit to the clandestine merchant is worth the effort. He will
offer you Kit'yara's firesword in exchange for a spot of murder. In
the meantime, pick up the key on the right and the green poison
alongside.
This key will open some of the locked doors in the village: apart
from a lot of ingredients, you can pick up a really nice crossbow.
Every third shot, it snares your attacker, giving you an edge.
Don't make up your mind yet about that murder. Take that decision
later - remember that, if you commit it, you won't be able to come
back to the village.
Don't neglect to visit the tavern. When you've finished doing the
rounds, you have a date on a bridge and you know you must go to the
Monastery. This is roughly to the SE of the map, I'm sure you'll
find it.
The Monastery
-------------
When you enter it, click first on the arch leading outdoors and talk
to the brother you'll meet there. Exit by using the arrow which
will appear at the bottom of the screen when you move the cursor
there.
Next, click on the archway to the left. You have an interesting
conversation with Dawn. Exit.
Click on the door directly in front of you and you have an even more
interesting conversation. Now you know you have to get a copy of
the runes with the wax (so make sure you have two bits of wax), and
you have a flute which will let you use the lift you saw before in
the Hive Caves, and which leads to...
The Old Caves
-------------
Make your way to the Hive Caves. Have another look at the runes
before you enter the room with the lift, just to remember their
order. Step on the square platform sticking out and use the flute
by right clicking it on the portrait. The lift will come up. Step
on it. You will see a stick with runes on it. The top one
corresponds to the top floor (the one you are in) - let's call it
the 1st floor. You can visit all the other floors by clicking on
each of the runes.
2nd floor: touch the three hanging blocks. They will drop into
place and a fountain will appear, which heals you if you are hurt.
3rd floor: a poisonous creature guards a hole in the wall. I found
I could kill it from a distance with the wonderful crossbow I got at
the village. You can crouch and go through the hole to a chamber.
Pick up what you see and search the nest for a net.
4th floor: pick up the Speaking Stone on the floor and crouch to go
through the tunnel. You are on another floor. Press the keys
around the cat block in the same order and number of times which you
saw by the entrance to the lift in the 1st floor. This opens a door
up a ramp. Go up and manoeuvre the blocks in the correct niches
(which match the symbol on each block), with the cats facing front.
You will notice that, if you try to transfer the blocks, as they
are, directly into the niches, the tend to be facing edge first and
get stuck - if you see this is the case, move the block all over the
room so that next time you approach the niches with it, the block is
square on. The blocks will turn the right way around automatically
as soon as they are in. This is rather tricky and will try your
patience somewhat. However, once they are all in, this opens up a
couple of chambers which contain a bow and a shield. Picking them
up will cost you health points. In the room with the niches, now
filled and barred, there is a hole in the wall. It could be worth
your while to hang around till you turn into the Lizard and go in to
retrieve the goodies.
Find your way to the lift and call it by pressing the green tile on
the green pedestal. Step on the lift and look at the stick with the
buttons - we seem to have down two floors and we are now on the 6th.
Go to the next floor, i.e., the 5th.
On the 5th floor, turn the blocks so that all the cats are facing
forward. This opens up a secret passage - if you follow the right
wall (carefully) you will come to a pile of rocks with an arm
sticking out. You can get the ring, which is magical. Gross. It's
supposed to heal you and even resurrect you, but it didn't do this
fellow much good. No point in going on further down. Nothing there
except one of those nasty blue spiders. Go back to the lift.
6th floor: we've been there.
7th floor: if you are the Beast at the moment, wait till you are
Luther. Step on the round room, grab the scroll and keep walking
around the edges to avoid the large rolling boulders. By the way,
this type of scroll contains a regeneration spell and it's worth
it's weight in gold to you. Keep it, and others you might find, for
those critical moments when you've run out of magic points and are
on the point of dying.
8th floor: Have a look around. A passage leads to a lit room, but
there is a rockfall when you try to follow it. At the next passage,
you will notice a niche in the wall composed of two tiles with cats
on them and another tile in the middle, with an indentation on it.
Use the flute on this tile. Advance with care - if you see some
blades on the wall, wait till they explode. Move along and to your
left - as you go through here a boulders falls through the roof and
opens up a pit. Try pressing the tiles either side of the wall, I
couldn't figure out what that did. I mean, a passage opened up
leading nowhere and then a pedestal rose from the floor and I
couldn't do anything with it. Is this a red herring I see before
me, or am I too dumb to see the obvious?
Light the burner and step into the pit. By clicking on the beast to
the right, you get one of those magic stones. Click on the left and
you've found the runes - couldn't see them, myself. Take two copies
by clicking two pieces of wax on them. Go back to the monastery but
use the exit to the thorn maze. As you come out of the caves, you
meet Dawn. At the end of the conversation, give her one of the
copies of the runes. Continue on your way. At the monastery, give
the other copy of the runes to Brother Julian, and you will get an
orb of power. Take the orb to the other brother in the garden - he
shows you how to use it, but I'm too dim to understand what he was
going on about. Finally, speak to Dawn in the Library. As you
leave, she gives you a very useful spell.
Now, if you click on the door to the left of the picture, you'll
meet a very odd chap called Rix. Go through the other door and you
will come to a room full of crates. If you pile them up in front of
the bookcase, you can get up there and break it with a weapon. You
can then jump into the...
Dark Halls
----------
I fought my way all the way up the stairs without finding anything
terribly useful, apart from the plasma staff (and I don't know how
useful that is), a couple of other things and a few scrolls in the
bookcases. You have to be careful here when you explore, and not
only because of the blue nasties which attack you. The walls close
behind you as you advance, so go slowly and don't be in a rush to
climb up the stairs. Keep opening the slats on the walls and peer
into other rooms. A tantalizing sight! Do your best to get into
them. For instance, in the case of the very first room, to the
right of the entrance, when you open the slat you will see inside a
crate. Poke it with your finger to reveal the explosives inside.
Cast Spark at it and a hole will be blown in the wall, crouch and go
in. Pick up the scrolls. An oval chamber to the NE contains two
nasties - find the chains quickly, pull them and daylight will come
flooding in. The nasties disappear; pick up the red fruit, which
cures poisoning.
One chamber worth getting into was through an opening in the S,
going N. You enter a room, hack the wall with the crack and pop in
to find some really good stuff.
Eventually, you'll reach the last floor and you will be trapped.
Ignore the large circular room to the left as you advance and move
to the metal door at the end of the passage. Save your game. Pile
up a couple of crates by this door, but open them first clicking on
their tops. Then step well back and fire the plasma staff (which
you get when you meet and kill Rix) at them. They will explode and
destroy the door. Enter and pick up all the goodies you can,
particularly the Speaking Stone.
And now, save again and have a quick look at the circular room. All
right? Reload and open two crates: pick up one. Manoeuvre it to
the left and, counting the bricked-up windows, move the crate under
the sixth. Go back and get the other crate and pile it on top.
Then, step back and fire the plasma staff at the crates and, when
the bricks blow up, jump through the hole back to the jungle.
I think I must have missed something, because otherwise this was a
pretty pointless exercise. Still.
OK, now you are back in the jungle: decision time. You could a) Go
to Kit'yara and swap your orb for the firesword; b) Give the orb to
the Magician so that he mends the broken sword (I have a feeling
this is important; remember the commentary on one of the paintings?)
and afterwards; c) kill the captain and get your reward -the
"merchant" will let you out through the back (you can't go back to
the village, but do you want to?). Or don't kill the captain (if
you do, you might as well pop in and do the ruler in - he's got
useful items about his person). Up to you.
Wander around southwards to find Kit'yara who is now in the jungle
(if you haven't found her already) - she will give a you knife for
her son. Hang on to it - it's important.
Before you head E to the bridge you might like to hang around for a
while and kill plenty of those cats to build up experience points.
Believe me, you won't want to tangle with the beasts in the next
part of the game, since it's pitch dark and you can't see them.
Also, once you are across the bridge, you won't be able to come back
- so if you've left any item you think important laying about, don't
forget to retrieve it before you cross.
By the same token, discard here anything you really don't need, such
as the lesser weapons and armour. Combining reagents at this point
will probably give you more room in the inventory. You are going to
need it.
When you do get near the bridge, you'll meet your four-armed friend.
After a conversation, he will lead you across. You follow him
automatically. Watch what happens. You are now in...
The Savage Jungle
-----------------
Advance and you speak to Daniel automatically. Give him the knife
his mother gave you. At the end of the conversation, the wild ones
scatter - pick up the knife off the floor.
At this point you might like to examine your inventory and discard
anything you feel you don't need just yet - you can always come back
and retrieve it. Leave room in your inventory because you are going
to find many things. A few of them are some of those
strawberry-like fruits (remember, they cure poisoning), those green
light eggs thingies (they light up the surroundings) and a fish
(allows you to see what is going on behind you - what's wrong with
just looking round, I ask myself).
You will find some traps covered with straw on the ground - they can
be tripped, if you are careful (save first), and then the rope which
holds the stone can be cut. But I have no idea what this is all in
aid of.
You will meet horrible little bird-like creatures. Mostly, they
won't attack you if you leave them alone. However, if you do attack
them, they poison you - others join in and fight you from a
distance. Once dead, though, you can get a poison sac from them,
and if you click this on the weapon circle, you'll poison your
blade.
OK, keep roughly to the right to find the Temple to the south. When
you get there, watch what happens. You have to go to the mountains
for a key. I'll save you the trouble of going to the far E to the
mountains, just now - a huge dragon will have you for breakfast
because you don't yet have what you need to neutralize it.
Instead, go back to where you started and keep left this time. By
the river, you'll find the fish I told you about. Round about here
there is a building with a barred door you cannot open. Go to the
back, wait till you are the Lizard and enter through the hole by the
boulder. Inside, some interesting items. You will be able to open
the door from here.
Keep exploring. If you come to a building in which there is a
semicircle of torch stands, lighting them will allow you to reach
the door above - however, you need some sort of key.
To the N, you will come to the settlement of the wild ones. The
guard will let you pass when you hand him Daniel's knife. Speak to
Daniel then leave. Step back. Click on the right, on a campfire and
speak to the herbalist - you can help herself to some of her stuff,
if you want. Step back. Click on the circular building and talk to
the Shaman. He suggests you join the tribe and bring him a
SilverLeaf, giving you the key to the cemetery. If you click on the
right in his hut, you'll meet an old friend. OK, you can leave now
and go...
To the Cemetery
---------------
Go in. If you haven't listened to the Speaking Stones yet, do so
now (just click them on the portrait). Dump them here and anything
else you don't need immediately. Use the key on the gate and go in.
Walk around entering the buildings which are already open. Pick up
any orbs you see laying around (watch the floor). Open the tombs
and look inside. If you see stairs going down, don't use them yet.
Just remember where they are (mark the building on your map). You
will notice than some buildings are locked, and that beside them
there are statues with open mouths. If you click on them, you will
see at the bottom of the pedestals light patterns of different
colours. Three, to be precise - yellow, blue and white. Hm. Make
a note on your map of which colour applies to which building, as you
go around. Count their number (i.e., so many yellow, so many white,
so many blue). When you can't enter any more buildings leave the
cemetery and go SW...
To the Ruins
------------
You'll see a circular pit in the ground surrounded by statues. Go
to the tree trunk laying across. Jump onto it and save your game
before you start negotiating your way downwards (at times, you'll
have to jump - keep looking down). You will do it eventually. Find
the entrance to the ruins. There are pretty dangerous monsters
here, so save a lot. It's also very dark and you can't really see
where you are going; what with that and the monsters hassling you,
you have your work cut out to explore this place.
Fortunately, I got turned into a Lizard as I got through, so I ran
like a scared rabbit to the N and then turned to my left (W).
Hugging the left or right wall, whichever seemed safer at the time,
I didn't even pause for breath till I got to the Tower.
Keep casting Spark to see where you are going, chances are you'll
light a torch or something. Indeed, in this area you have to light
orbs on pedestals to move on. For instance, lighting one of this
will bring down a bridge so that you can get to the Tower.
Inside the Tower, you'll notice a staircase you cannot climb. Find
the orb on a pillar and cast Spark. This destroys the forcefield
and allows you to go up, but before you start congratulating
yourselves, look who's coming down the stairs! I hope you have
changed into something hefty, otherwise you'll have to run around
till you do. Kill the beast and nip up. On the first floor you
come to you'll see a claw. Place one of those glass orbs you found
(the empty ones, not the ones with a sword in them). It will start
doing weird things. Retrieve it - you will see it has changed to
white. Has the penny dropped? Yes, this is what you need to open
the closed doors in the cemetery. If you've counted the colours in
the cemetery you'll know you only need one white orb.
Right, now you've got it, use Spark on the dark orb on the pedestal
to remove the next forcefield. Go up, there is nothing on the next
floor. Do the necessaries and go up again. Here you will find a
beast who talks to you (couldn't understand a word) and then attacks
you. Fight it and kill it. Take the bracers - the dead beast talks
to you and all I could make out is that with these bracers you can
talk to the dead. Right, no need to go any further.
You can go all the way down; on the ground floor, you can go round
the stairs, light an orb and go down to find a pair of gauntlets.
Go up and out of the Tower. If you keep to your right, you will
come to a room with a mirror. Walk through it. You'll find
yourself in a room with three mirrors - the one to the left takes
you to the Savage Jungle and leaves you there. The one on the right
takes you back to where you've just been. The one in front takes
you to the cemetery, so go through it. Note where you are - you can
use this teleporter to go back to the Dracoid Ruins when you want
to. (Take with you: Bracers of the Dead)
The Cemetery
------------
OK, go to the building in which you saw stairs going down. When you
descend you'll find it hard going because it's very dark and you
have to keep consulting the map to see where you are. Keep casting
Spark - with a bit of luck you'll hit the burners and you'll get a
bit of light. You will also be hassled by very nasty ghostly
things.
You need to go N first and then W. You are looking for a lit room
in which there is a claw like the one you saw in the Ruins. There
should also be an orb on the floor. Put what you've got in the claw
- you should have at least two yellow orbs, now.
Leave and let's start methodically opening all the buildings which
can be opened. Always look inside the tombs and on the floor - look
at the walls, as well. Go to the first to the NW and enter it.
Look around. A lever by the door opens a building to the S. Go to
it. You will see a barrel inside the door. Go past it and collect
another orb. Go to the barrel, click on it to turn it on its side
and again to get it rolling. Follow it. Now, wasn't that fun?
I tried to see what was in the barrel by casting Spark - bad idea.
It wasn't dark, as I thought, that was oil on the floor! What you
have to do here is use a Dragon Blood on the portrait, then put it
on the ground and back right out of the building. It explodes and
uncovers an underground complex. Jump in.
It's very dark in here, so keep casting Spark and hope you'll hit a
burner. What you are looking for here is another claw which turns
the orbs blue. You only need two, at the moment. Going east-ish,
you'll find two lots of balustrades, jump over them and you'll reach
the claw which turns the orbs yellow, also you'll be able to find
the stairs and get out.
So carry on opening buildings, finding orbs and going to charge them
(in one of them you will also find a fine crossbow). In one of the
buildings you will find the ghost of a priest, who won't give you
the SilverLeaf until you do him a favour, but he does give you his
urn. What's a ghost urn?, you ask yourselves.
Make sure you have opened all the buildings. You should now have
three blank orbs. If you charged too many, you can discharge them
by using them on Luther. Now go to the teleporter to...
(Take with you: Valkyrie Crossbow)
The Dracoid Ruins
-----------------
As soon as you arrive, you could go to the Tower and get one of the
orbs charged white. That's that done. Now, you are going to have a
tough time. For one thing, you are going to change into the wrong
creature every few seconds. For another, you've no idea what's out
there.
Use the Lizard to light up as many torches/orbs as you can, keep him
moving. The Beast is absolutely wonderful at killing gorgons and
snake dragons - he seems to be immune to their poison and hardly
gets hurt at all, but he is totally hopeless for everything else.
Luther is fine for lighting things and manipulating things, and can
also fight the creatures - at a cost. Once last thing: save before
you venture into water.
You want to reach the NE of the map so, from the bridge after the
Tower, head roughly E, S, N, E, S, E, N, W. You will see what I
mean as the map unfolds. You should be reasonably well N now;
you'll come to a river. Cross it and you'll find a square building,
roughly midpoint between E and W. Searching around here you should
find a statue of Belail. Mark this spot on your map. Go back to
the river. Instead of crossing straight E, wade a little to the N
to find a parallel passage. Follow this, skirting the river and
later a large lake.
Quite a way along, you'll see an entrance to the right. Follow this
and you'll come to an antechamber. What looks like a large boulder
on the floor is in fact the body of the priest. Pick it up and
manoeuvre it into the chamber and onto the slab. Light the two orbs
and the body will be incinerated - use the urn the ghost gave you on
the ashes to collect them. Now all you have to do is to get back to
the teleporter. A piece of cake. Get back to...
The Cemetery
------------
OK, you know what to do, just go to the ghost and give him the urn.
Will he give you the SilverLeaf? Hah! No use saying you've urned
it. You won't get it till you do what he says. Right, you might as
well go and charge the other two orbs, one blue and one yellow.
When you've done that, go find the large wall with the symbol on it
(to the S of the building in which the ghost was). Use the key on
the symbol and an underground passage will appear. Go in and place
the orbs in the boxes (just try each one, they will only accept the
right one). Then the door opens and you get to talk to the ghost of
the King, who, guess what, wants you to do something for him. Sigh.
Collect his corpse off the tomb and head for the teleporter. At
least you know where you are going, this time.
The Ruins, yet again
--------------------
Considering you did a very good job of mopping up monsters the last
time, you might like to explore the ruins properly, since there is
some interesting stuff around and at least another Speaking Stone.
Me, I had so many items already, I needed a wheelbarrow to cart them
around. So, if you can't be bothered, just head for the building in
which you saw the statue of Belial, which you no doubt marked on the
map. When you cross the river, instead of going to the building
were the statue is, skirt around it to the W and N and clear the
area of nasties - this is because you are going to be coming here in
a minute and you really don't want to be hassled at that point.
OK, go to the statue and use the corpse you are carrying on the
golden container to the left. Watch. The statue comes to life.
Follow it. You will enter a narrow passage - be on the look out for
an entrance to your left. When you see it, save the game, go
inside, have a look - to your left, there is a wooden contraption,
could be a table. All right. Reload and continue following the
statue. Watch what happens. As soon as you have control, save.
Look at your map. Head for the building with the table (be quick),
and when you get there, jump on it. You'll float up. As you near
the top of the waterfall, step onto the other table and then jump
into the gap. So far, so good. Follow the passage and turn to your
left, ignore the hole with the rock in it and enter the next passage
- this takes you upwards and to an exit. On the floor, a wooden
door. Because this is rather tricky, save again. Move the wooden
door onto the water in front and, hanging on, step on it. You
should float up to the entrance to the Ruins.
Savage Jungle
-------------
Turn over, you are snoring. As you wake up by the flooded ruins
you'll meet Dawn; she'll ask about the bracers - give them to her
and she'll give you a speaking stone and an amulet. Now go back to
the cemetery and talk to the King's ghost. You won't understand a
word. So what's new? Leave and pick up the spell you'll see on one
of the boxes. You will also see a silver tree. Pick up a few
leaves.
Go to the settlement and see the Shaman. Give him the SilverLeaf
and he'll tell you you must fight. Do so, don't hold back and have
the healing spell ready. After a while the fight is stopped and
everybody is good friends. Now go back to the Shaman and he will
give you the potion and also a spell.
OK, time to head for the Claw Mountains. You are aiming E/SE. If
you see a spot surrounded by broken down walls, save, go in and have
a look. You'll probably get killed, but at least you'll know what's
down there. Not that it will do you any good.
When you get to the river, you'll see a huge tree. Push it and
either climb over and then jump or, if you are the Lizard, crawl
through and jump to the tree on your left. That way you can get
down without getting hurt. Either way, head northwards with great
care, hiding behind the boulders as you move. Mix the SilverLeaf
with the potion and then, at an opportune moment, toss it at the
dragon. He'll drop off and you can enter...
The Claw Mountains
------------------
As soon as you are through, you'll meet Dawn again, who suggests you
look for the Dream Stone while she looks for the Citadel. You can
start exploring around here, bearing in mind that ice paths are
slippery and the snow is unstable. Whenever possible, hug the walls
along your way. If you think you should be able to get through
somewhere, try a fire spell. Before you get to where you really need
to be, there are a few minor adventures you might like to undertake;
they are not absolutely necessary to complete the game and they are
also a bit of a pain in the neck. However, it's up to you.
Do, by all means, go S and have a look - nothing there. Come back
and try N. An interesting village and a reagent. Nothing else.
You really need to go E over the ice bridge. If you hug the right
wall, you will come to a cave covered in skeletons. Inside, a
sleeping beast. If you are feeling belligerent, you can kill it;
but this means his mates will hassle you the rest of the way. You
might prefer to let sleeping cats lie. Wait till you become the
Lizard and enter the hole in this cave. You can pick up more magic
stones and also light one of those orbs. Leave. This action means
that a building emerges in the middle of the lake. On top of the
building there is a very necessary axe (Great Blizzard Axe), and you
must leap onto the ice floes to get as near as you can and pick it
up - just keep clicking on it and eventually you'll get it. You can
be in the actual water for a very short while without dying. Then,
jumping from floe to floe, get as near to the shore as you can and
take a running leap out. Continue heading towards the NE.
Hugging the right wall, you'll come to another entrance and you'll
hear the sound of rushing water. Stick like glue to the wall as you
advance; there is an avalanche waiting to take place and you could
well go down with it. If you've made it in one piece and peer over
the side, you'll see some wooden pegs on the cliff side going down.
You don't really need to, but this is what you could do.
Climb down the pegs (save before you try) and make sure you don't
fall in the water at the end, but rather turn right and jump safely
onto the snow. Cross one of the ice bridges, find a funny looking
wall behind some crossed sticks and cast a fireball at it to melt
it. Wait till you turn to the Lizard, go into the caves and you
will come out at a place where, right in front of you, there is a
warrior holding a bow frozen into the wall. Go to the end of right
ledge, fireball the guy and quickly pick up the bow (just click on
it) before it disappears into the water. Leave the caves.
Go half way through one of the ice bridges and wait till an ice floe
floats under you. Jump onto it and wait till you go past a cave -
jump in and get a ring and another recipe. Then wait for an
opportunity to jump back onto dry land. A perfect waste of time.
You'll have to climb up those wooden pegs again.
What you really need to do is to stay up there after the avalanche
and carry on along the right wall till you come to another entrance.
Follow this and you'll find Kenneth's dead body. If you click on it
you get a photo of his girlfriend. Cast it against a wall and it
smashes, producing a highly protective amulet.
And now, there is nothing for it - you'll have to jump somehow
across to the next complex. Examine the map and place yourself in
front of the bit which projects the most from the other side, then
take a running leap.
When you are across, follow along and you will see Baccatta in a bad
state and he tells you the Roloi have Dawn. Continue on till you
get to...
The Citadel
-----------
You in a lot of trouble here. Very nasty creatures indeed are going
to attack you at every turn. The only really effective way of
dealing with them is to get right up close and bash away with your
best weapon. However, they never keep still and they erect pink,
deadly barriers between you and them. If you nevertheless persist
and dodge around and pursue them, they take flight and even go
through walls. Since you must kill them all, you might as well get
practice just as you go through the door, when only one will be
there to attack you. If you chase it around you will see it
disappears through an opening in the wall (with your back to the
entrance, this is to the left, just around the corner). I was still
packing the Valkyrie crossbow, so I shot and shot at that opening
(use Q to rise your sights) until I got it. How did I know? When
you click on the weapon circle, if you are hitting a creature, even
if you cannot see it, there will be a splash of blood. When the
blood doesn't show any more, the creature is dead.
Once that's done, you are about to enter the first chamber. Click
on the orb in the middle of the room and go to your right (E). You
will see eggs in a lake of poison. Go around shooting them all and
dodging behind the columns to avoid the rays being shot at you.
Make sure you destroy all the eggs.
Now go out and go W. You will enter a very large circular chamber,
chock-a-block full of those creatures. Naturally, you will change
into the Beast and the Lizard when most inconvenient - it is best to
be Luther here all the time, but no such luck. You have to have
your heal spell ready at all times if you are going to survive, so
you won't be able to stop yourself from changing.
There are obviously various strategies to deal with this deadly
section, but here is one. Concentrate on destroying the creatures
first - don't touch anything - lighting globes seems to drive them
nuts. Hug either the left or the right wall looking for cover and
trying to spot the holes up in the wall though which the creatures
come and go. Try to find a good place from which to strafe those
holes - once no more creatures are left in them, move on to the
next. If you change into the Beast or the Lizard, go hide somewhere
and use them to let your mana and health points recover. The Beast
can do a lot of damage if he can get close to the creatures, but he
is so slow that he is unlikely to do so. Better keep very still and
recover. The Lizard doesn't stand a change, so either run like fury
or keep very still, too, somewhere safe.
When you feel you've pretty well cleared the larger part of the
monsters, go around clicking on all the orbs you can see. There is
an important one in the shape of an eye behind a large column. The
orbs around the centre open up slabs to offer you lots of reagents.
Take what you like, but make sure you get a dragon blood,
silverleaf, aloe, poison sac and light like egg - if you have these
already, just make sure you don't use them, since you are going to
need them later on.
While you are wandering around you will see an entrance to a passage
to the N. Move along here and click on an orb to open the door.
You'll get shot at. Go through and you'll come to a round poison
pond with a teleporter in the middle. Jump on it and you'll see
Dawn. You'll need the Dream Stone to get her out. Leave. If you
continue along here you'll come to another passage and another
teleporter. You'll see imprisoned women. OK, out you go.
If you have been all around and killed all the creatures, go to the
E where you'll see some pink steps. Jump up on them - you'll find
it easier to use the ledges on the actual wall to help you reach
each step. You should make it all the way to the top without too
much trouble. You will see a bridge forming and disappearing very
quickly. Step in front of the machine spewing the plasma, save your
game and, as soon as the bridge appears, run across. Walk around
here till you find an entrance and go in. Watch. At the end of the
scene, the beast talks to you and asks you to come near. Oh, yeah?
I used the net on it and then moved in with the axe - it backed away
from me, and I just leisurely shot it with the Valkyrie bow. Easy
Peasy. Get the Dream Stone from the claw and step on the teleport.
You come out near the entrance - use the stone to open the door and
go back in. First, go to the imprisoned women. Click on the weapon
circle and the cover on the left will fall. Pull the lever to open
the bars. If you've missed any of the creatures outside, the women
won't come out and you'll have to go searching for stragglers and
dispatch them -one good way of attracting them is to turn the orbs
on and off. You'll know you've killed them all when the women leave
the prison.
Go to Dawn and use the stone on the right of the forcefield and she
will be free. She will give you another spell and will tell you
she'll meet you at the Temple. Don't forget to recover the Dream
Stone.
Make your way back to the circular room and find the column with the
ramp going up. Near the top you'll find a teleporter which will
leave you by the entrance.
Now you have the very tiresome task of finding your way out of here.
When you come to the broken ice bridge, bide your time and jump onto
a floating ice floe. Wait till you get reasonably close to the
accessible land - actually, you can only clamber up on the left
bank. You'll then be at the foot of those wooden pegs. Jump all
the way up, saving every time you are successful. You should be
Luther to do this. Don't try for the very last one. Just face the
cliff and jump up.
(Take with you: The Great Blizzard Axe, the Dream Stone and the
reagents I mention above)
OK, from here on is reasonably easy. Get back to the Savage Jungle,
get to the cliff side, in front of the green bit (save first) and
take a running jump at it. Now it's just a matter of getting to...
The Temple
----------
As you come in, you'll notice a corpse on the ground. Leave it for
now and open the door (both panels). Go in and you will see an
altar with two bowls. In front, to your left, a tapestry can be
moved to reveal a passage. Leave it for now. Go E instead and have
a look at the chapel. Either side of a second altar, an aloe leaf
and poison paint. Aha! Leave them and go back to the first altar.
Put an aloe leaf on the left bowl and poison paint (made with a
venom sac and a light like egg - I hope to brought those with you
from the Citadel). A noise at your back will alert you that things
have changed. Look and you will see a slab. What a lovely place to
put a corpse on! Go back and get the stiff from outside and place
it on the slab. Poke it and it will disappear in a flash.
OK, let's go E. To the left of the altar, a secret door opens out
into another room. Another door appears to lead to a blank wall,
but in fact, if you step in and close the door, a passage will
appear. However, no need to go down it because it's actually a way
out rather than a way in. Go back and around to the second altar;
pick up the aloe and put it in one bowl and then the poison paint
and put it in the other. A ghostly ball of light appears. Turn
around and go out into a courtyard in which there is a fountain - in
front of it, a green shard. Get it. You will notice that this shard
matches exactly the indentation in that round building we saw in the
jungle but had to leave for lack of a key. Take my advice and
forget it. If you go to all the trouble of getting there,
clambering up the steps and then opening the grate, what you'll find
inside is simply not worth the bother. Honestly. Still, it's up to
you.
Back in the courtyard, you will have noticed that a hole has
appeared in the ground. You can do several things, now, whichever
appeals to you the most. You can go down and along the passage, you
can back off, hack at the columns and watch the ceiling fall down,
or you can get in, hack at two columns, then duck as you hit the
last (best done as the Beast). Me, I brought the ceiling down and
backed off smartly. I like to have my back covered - goodness knows
what's down there.
OK, you can go back to the first altar, remove the tapestry and
begin investigating. If you keep left, you will see a large chamber
with two floating dishes - empty, of course. The next room, on the
left and past some beds (amongst which is a lightning crystal) has
some sort of a fountain - if you press the button, an aloe plant
grows). In the next room to the right of the beds, there are some
chairs and tables. As I was looking around, a horrible blue spider
barged in. I followed the tunnel and got myself into a room in
which there were three coffins. Looking inside, I found a flute.
I walked across to another passage and went left. Here things got a
bit sticky because, whereas I was most polite and forbore to
interfere with the spiders, they very rudely attacked me at every
turn and made my progress very difficult indeed. And there were
more of them than of me. Make sure you don't change shape while
fighting, or you are a dead duck. The Lizard, above all, doesn't
stand a chance. If the spiders run away from you, don't go after
them - let bygones be bygones. You haven't a hope of destroying
them all. At any rate, I found my corpse again and pressed a key by
it. It moved elsewhere. I noticed it was on a conveyor belt, and
watched for a while until more spiders distracted me. When I looked
again, it was obvious that it had been minced. I walked around to
the back of the machine and found a box full of... full of... Gulp.
The next obvious thing to do was to transfer this box onto the next
conveyor belt, spiders permitting, and then walk around the back of
the machine to see what we got this time. In fact, it was a
statuette.
Now is the time to explore around, consulting the map, pressing the
odd button here and there and killing a few spiders. You should
then find, in a newly opened niche between the first altar and the
second, a whole lot of statuettes just like yours behind bars. Only
one square is empty, so obviously you will put the statuette in.
Great, you get another shard.
Go back to the room with the floating dishes and, very carefully,
place the shards on them. A wall opens up. Go through it and you
will see three portals. Go first through the one in the centre -
you will be on a tilting floor. If you have one of those light like
eggs use it to see what you are doing. The idea here is to press
two buttons either side when the floor is tilted in a way in which
you can reach them. You'll be hassled by those bird-like creatures
you met in the Savage Jungle. Ignore them, if you can. When the
floor is level, go across and pick up a statue. Leave.
Through the portal to the right, you just have to brave the flaming
passages to get a mist of doom spell and press a button. When
you've pressed all three buttons, a bridge will come down at the
other end of the room and you can cross it to get another statue.
Leave. The last portal leads to my least favourite pastime -
jumping. First you have to press two buttons, to the NW and to the
SW. Then you have to get in through the opening at the other end.
Use the map to see the best way to jump to get to where you need to
be, and save often. Getting through the opening is not as tough as
it seems - line yourself correctly with it and take a running leap.
You'll be on a narrow passage way, walk carefully along here,
braving the fireballs, and collect some regeneration spells and the
last statue. You will be teleported to the entrance of this
particular puzzle. Leave. Behind these three portals there is
another entrance. To the right, you will see an indentation for the
flute - how unoriginal. Advancing along here you will see some
blades. However, a door to your right will allow you to bypass
them. As you emerge into the corridor, cling to the right wall as
you walk forward, otherwise you'll trigger a trap. At the end of
the corridor, don't press the buttons. Move into the chamber
instead and place the statues in the pedestals thoughtfully provided
for you. Some stairs will appear.
Go up them and you'll cross an unstable bridge. Have a look around.
Nothing here, yet this must lead somewhere. I tried the bridge
again to see what happened, but nothing did. I even jumped up and
down. To pass the time, I killed some of those bird-creatures and,
what do you know, their dead weight was enough to move the bridge
downwards. There I met with Belial, or a Belial look-alike (they've
lost me, by now) and had a surprisingly easy fight of it. Once the
beast was dead, I went through the only doors available. Coming to
a stand, I placed the Dream Stone on it. Then there is an animated
bit and you see the Dracoid City emerge from the water, and you take
a Number 9 Dragon to it.
(Take with you: a silverleaf, dragon blood)
The City
--------
You'll start in what looks like a balcony - use the only door there
is and take a lift down. You are now in the main part of the city.
Look, why don't you walk around to see all there is? Then I can
tell you what to do. By the way, don't tangle with the ambulating
blobs if you can help it - if you do, though, you'll find that the
Great Blizzard Axe makes short work of them.
OK? Are you back at the starting point? Right, now we'll advance
directly south, going around the main square. You should be at a
large fountain. Look up and you should see a globe floating over
the spout. Attack it with the Great Blizzard Axe (GBA). The water
will overflow. Marvellous. Now turn around and head N.
Turn right at the square and head towards the round building at the
SE. Along here, on your right, you will see an opening. Go in and
you will see a chip floating on a fountain spout. Hack at the
fountain with the GBA and it will freeze. Break it and get the
chip. Out and carry on towards the SE. To your right, another
opening. Pop in. As you explore around here, you will see pairs of
items. You will also have noticed a stand in front of some sort of
altar. It transpires that if you take one of the items of a pair
and place it on the stand, its fellow will appear on the altar.
Whereas most of the items are not all that desirable, I found it
worth while to use the following pair: ring of regeneration/ancient
magic stone. So I placed all the ancient magic stones I had about
my person and got as many rings as I could carry, and found them
jolly useful later on. You might decide otherwise. At any rate,
leave when you have finished.
Proceed to the round building at the SE. You will see a tall, black
column in the middle with doors which don't open - the same as the
other round buildings in the four corners of the map. Push in, look
around and jump over a ditch and you will see some doors - go
through. The idea here is to keep going through doors which give
access to other doors (some only lead to blank walls with an
inaccessible opening). If you can't get through by way of a door,
try the next along, and so on. Eventually you'll come out in a
large chamber with an oil lake and the head of Belial. Use the
Dragon Blood here and get out fast. This does something or other,
oh, I don't know, something terribly important. When you come out,
you will find, on returning to the circular building, that the doors
on the black column are open. Pick up the lightning storm crystal
and go up the stairs. You will see a box and a teleporter. Move
the box into the teleporter (gently, otherwise it goes right through
and out the other side) and enter the teleporter yourself. At the
other side, move the box into the square hole in the floor and enter
the teleporter again. You'll be back where you started (these moves
have to be repeated at each of the buildings in the corners of the
map).
Right, leave this building and head for the one on the NE. As you
proceed along, you will see an opening to the N of you. Pop in, if
you like, and you'll see statues at either side. You can safely
leave this area for now, but mark it in your map. Leave, and
continue to make for the NE.
When you get to the round building there, you'll know what to expect
- further in, there is a black column with locked doors. What you
do here is the following. Place a SilverLeaf under the red glass
pyramid, turn around and click on the yellow hexahedron (it waters
the plant) and then move forward and click on the hourglass (it
accelerates the passing of time) and you will see that a SilverLeaf
tree has grown inside the pyramid and broken it. Watch how the red
ball inside it moves forward and gets the doors open on the black
column. Go inside - you know what to do. By the way, you can also
grow other useful vegetables on the plots either side of the
pyramid, and by the same means. All I had on me was aloe, and I
really didn't need any more of its leaves since they weren't all
that useful when I was in dire need of healing - but it's up to you.
It's fun, anyway.
OK, now let's head for the NW. As you walk along the road, keep
your eyes either side for openings (in one case you'll see a blank
wall, but clicking on it will let you through). On your left (I
feel like a tour guide!) an opening will lead to a strange scene in
which a dragon is having a kip - I could do nothing about it, so I
moved on.
On the right, another opening will take you to three fountains.
Attack them with the GBA to freeze them, and again to destroy them.
Place the cube on the platform and then follow the corridor till you
come to a wall with bars. Find the other cube and place it on the
other platform. Climb on the cube and take a diagonal running leap
to get over the wall. Advance along here and up the stairs. Save
before you try anything silly. Get your bearings. Grab the chip
and run down the stairs and over the water and over the wall, and
don't stop until you are safe - the reason being that the ceiling
begins to come down and can crush the life out of you.
You can go now onto the street again and continue on your way. To
the right you will see an opening which leads to a chalice on an
altar. This is a colossal red herring - I don't know how much time
I spent pushing it, pulling it, jumping on it, hacking at it and
trying to put things in it. I even tried placing items in the three
alcoves round it. A perfect waste of time and, in the long run, it
made no difference whatsoever to the outcome of the game. May be
you'll think of something I didn't.
Let's move on, why don't we. As you continue, you will spy another
opening on the left. Go in and head for the statue on your left.
Click on it. Turn around and walk towards the statue which seems to
be across a chasm. Save and start walking boldly towards it over
the vacuum - but don't rush and walk straight. If you look down,
you'll see that a path is being created beneath you even as you
advance. Collect the chip the statue is holding and walk back
carefully. Leave.
OK, when you get to the round building to the NW you will find
enough blocks raising and falling to make you dizzy. What you need
here is to destroy three items - one is a floating stone and the
other two a red blob and a white blob. Once you've done that, you
can go in to find the black column - the doors will have been opened
and you can do what you have to do.
Now we must head SW. Round the square and on, you will find an
opening to the right. Another chip is enticingly waved at you - but
save before you get it because the chamber in which you are will
quickly flood and drown you. Get your bearings and be ready to
scamper in double quick time. As you continue along the street you
will see an opening to your right. This is where you use the
triangular key you've been carting around with you. Each room
contains a reagent which you might or might not need - but if you
are going to break the glass and get it, be ready to retreat quickly
or be crushed to death. None of my antics here did anything to
eliminate the glass forcefield in front of the room which contained
a table. However, since this made no difference whatsoever to the
outcome of the game, I have to assume it was another red herring (or
the work of a programmer not it touch with what the rest of the
programmers were doing). Actually, it stands to reason that this
cannot be important - how many players could be expected to keep the
triangular key the first time they play the game?
Enough of this. Moving on, you will see an opening on your left.
If you go in, you will see a deep well in front of you. Either
side, a silverleaf plant. Below, as I found out afterwards, is an
entrance/exit to the Underground Caverns. Of no importance
whatsoever, so let's go on.
You will soon arrive at the last round building in the SW. You just
put in the chips in the right indentations and the last black column
will be open to you. You know what to do.
Now, instead of going back into the teleporter, wander outside and
click on all four yellow hexahedrons. Go through the nearest
teleporter back to the city and this time head for the town square.
A building will have emerged in the middle - go in through the
shimmering gate and meet yet another clone of Belial. After a
heated conversation you will have a fight and, no doubt, kill the
beast. Continue walking forth inside till you come to a forcefield.
Step into it. Ah. Yes. I think this has something to do with the
Mantle. It means that you won't change unless you want to, which is
a great relief.
Leave this building and head for the opening I asked you to mark on
your map. As you come in you will notice that there are doors left
and right. If you open them all and light up the orbs on the
pedestals, a secret panel opens in the room to the SE and, inside,
you'll find a scarab. Blessed if I know what THAT does. However,
this is not important. What you have to do here is to proceed along
the corridor, braving fireballs, to reach a broken-down fountain.
Go on to the next room and you'll find a functional fountain. Get
in it and hack at the dragon and, when it bleeds, a wall will open
at the back. Go through and around and you'll find a teleporter
to...
The Underground Caverns
-----------------------
The idea here is to head to the SW of the map. Save very often.
Don't tangle with the spiders, there's just too many of them. Slip
quietly past and, if at anytime you should be surrounded by them and
unable to proceed, reload and be warned to avoid them. Don't mind
the odd blow as you walk past, just keep your eye on the red bar and
make sure you are not losing too many hit points.
Eventually you will reach a round chamber to the SW. To the W of
that, you'll find an opening (consult your map) blocked by some
tubes - keep hacking at them and advancing and you'll find yourself
at another one of those special entrances. Click on the left and
you will get to a... a... thingie. Hack at it and you'll be able to
go through. You'll find another thingie in the foreground and
something green on the right (I hope I'm not getting too technical
for you). Click around, hack around and wait a bit and a spider
will come along and do something or other - but a gap appears on the
left and, by clicking on it, you will get to...
The Laboratory
--------------
Watch the bit in which Bacatta has a bash at the enemy. He will
give you a horn, which is the only weapon with which you can
ultimately destroy Belial - so hang on to it. As soon as you are in
charge, turn right and move along. Have a look around - the red
liquid from the fountain flows under the wall, and the opening is
barred by spears. Look down at them and hack them broken, then
change to the Lizard (place the Curse Control in the spell circle
and press 3). Jump in and through and turn left. When you get up
there, use one of those light like eggs, if you have any left, to
see what's ahead. I saw three switches and shot at them to move
them, but it didn't seem to make much difference. Next, I found out
to my cost that I had to go right.
Running first W and then S, I got to a round room which in the map
was marked Summoning Chamber. Well, I tried all sorts, and this
worked: place the group of spells indicated by a skull (how
appropriate) in the spell circle and, aiming accurately at each of
the four skulls, cast Lesser Apparition (i.e., press 1); they all
end up in the centre of the room and a Demon appears. Fight it and
get what it's carrying. Get the corpse and go to the doors -
opening them will place you, and the corpse, on a lift. You need to
go to a room to the SE of the Summoning Chamber (consult the map)
and, once there, find the silver circle on the floor and place your
corpse on it. This opens a door to a lift which will take you to...
The Birthing Chamber
--------------------
You meet Dawn, who has another simple request for you. Aren't you
sick of them. Following your nose, you'll come to a blob. Press 5
with the Control Curse in the spell circle. Watch. Fight all the
demons which appear (collecting what they are carrying) and then
attempt to follow Belial. There is nothing for it - hack away at
the door till you get through (in fact, all locked doors in this
area have to be destroyed to open them).
In the next room you will see some unhealthy mists and contraptions
on the ceiling above them. Shatter them with a bow and you will be
able to get through. Along the corridor you will come to a chamber
with platforms going up and down, and Belial will talk to you from
the other side. He conjures up Scotia and you have to fight her -
get right up close to her and bash away keeping your eye on your
health. Then, leap across to the other side.
Before you go any further here, approach the next door with caution.
Look to your left and you'll see an accident waiting to happen.
Leap onto the shelf along the wall on your right, otherwise you'll
trip a fireball trap.
When you get to the next room, you'll see a lot of stone columns
going up and down, also red hot bars and ice columns. By dint of
getting myself killed surprisingly often, I discovered that to the
W, E and N of the entrance there were a stone slab, a white blob and
a red blob to destroy, and this cleared the room of all obstacles.
Head for the next room to the N and you'll have to fight a simile of
the Draracle - get right up close to him and you'll have no problem.
Equip the horn.
Continue along here and you will finally get to Belial. After a
friendly chat, I had the briefest of fights and it was all over.
Watch the daft finale. That's it, you've done it.
---------------------------
Please remember:
This game is all about doing your own thing. You have to do your
own exploring, in your own good time and in any way you like - and
take your own decisions at every turn. Investigate at will; the
more time you spend at it, the more you'll find. Particularly at
first, you are given every opportunity to feel free. Try just about
everything - hack at things, jump over things, go swimming - do
anything you like and find out your limitations and your powers.
Into the game proper, bear in mind that there are more items in this
game than you can hope to cope with. In every scenario, find a nice
clear space in which to drop the stuff you don't need just yet, but
from which you can retrieve it before you go on to the next level.
Mostly, there is no return. Since there is really no indication of
how important certain items are, you might easily leave behind
something vital without realizing it, and it's not fun having to
reload and go back several levels just for that reason. If you are
really at a loss as to what to really discard, ingredients for
spells are a safe bet. Another is lesser weapons and armour. I
will tell you which vital objects you must take with you from every
scenario, so that you don't have to do what I did - go back about
twenty levels several times! When I say "Take with you", I mean
hang on to these items, you are going to need them much, much later.
You'll see I also specifically mention two weapons - that is because
I found them both indispensable (Great Blizzard Axe and Valkyrie
Crossbow).
On the subject of weapons, you are going to be spoiled for choice
till you find the above mentioned ones. You'll have to decide which
one you like best and be ruthless with the rest. If you are unsure,
take them with you from scenario to scenario and keep trying them
out in reasonably safe circumstances. But don't carry them all
around with you.
Which brings me neatly onto the subject of combat. Most beasts will
leave you alone if you don't attack them - if you do, their friends
and relations tend to join in and you can find yourself in real
trouble. Still, if you do not fight, you don't advance so fast -
and you need the experience points. It is best to pick on isolated
creatures whenever you have the chance rather than start an argument
when there are several of them around, since they'll all turn on
you. Some can be killed from a safe distance, but any which have
the power to cast things at you, be it poison or spells, are best
fought at close quarters.
Apart from combat, other hazards you will encounter are unexpected
traps and, above all, having to jump to get places. Now, this
jumping business if very hazardous - I had a special saved game
called Jumps and always saved before I started and every time a jump
was successful. A bit of a nuisance, but better than having to
start from the beginning every few minutes. Sometimes you can just
jump by pressing the spacebar or D, sometimes you have to go back a
bit and press the Shift and forward keys to run before the jump.
Some surfaces are slippery, so that you have to press the backward
key quickly or over you go.
As to the ingredients for spells, when you have a good variety save
your game and try different combinations. If you get Arrant Prac,
you know you've got it wrong. Note down anything useful and reload.
Frankly, I found that the ingredients themselves were more often
more useful than any mixture I could concoct...
In writing this, I cannot anticipate what you will choose to do...
or what you CAN do. Very often, you are restricted by which shape
you happen to be at a critical moment. And that's entirely random.
"A Solution" means that I am merely describing the path I took; if
reading this helps you, well and good - but I do not claim that this
is the only way to solve this game.
The most important hint I can give you is: take your time, examine
everything, talk to everybody, be very thorough. Keep examining the
map and make sure you've covered everything. Also look out for
Lizard-sized holes in rooms and other places: not only can these be
short cuts to other rooms but can also contain special items.
Here we go. From the start:
The Caves
---------
You get comprehensive instructions in the Manual as to how to
proceed in these first caves - with pictures and all! But here
goes, anyway, for a little extra help. Don't, however, slavishly
follow the Manual, or me - the whole puropose of this area is to
allow you to experiment. Try everything you can think of! It will
be invaluable experience for later on, and may be you'll come up
with something nobody else has tried before.
And, now, for some down to earth instructions:
Head generally north (without neglecting watching the map to make
sure you cover all the ground), picking up stones, crystals, etc.
Actually, the only really useful item is the Cave Aloe, which heals
you - but do your own thing. Follow the arrows you'll spot on the
walls. You might like to pick a safe fight or two (i.e., fight one
guard at a time), just to get yourself a sword and a shield and
collect experience points. Avoid the three archers at the entrance,
they'll kill you for sure. Still, you might find it fun to see what
happens if you do try to run through - but save your game first.
Carrying on, when you come to some fireflies over a big rock, click
on them and then follow them. You will metamorphose as you come to
a low entrance on the rock. If you become the Lizard, go through.
If you become the Beast, turn right around and follow the right wall
till you come to a large boulder. Walk against it to move it out of
the way.
Proceed along here till you come to a lit room with two columns
barring the way. Walk around the one to the right and push it
against its fellow. Then go to the front and push it forward.
You'll soon be able to get through.
Past here you will come to several doors, all of which but one will
open by just clicking on them. When you are in front of the one
which won't, turn right and cut the chain with a sword (just click
on the sword symbol). Inside, an ancient magic stone. If you right
click it on the portrait, Luther gets extra magic power.
Check the other rooms. In one of them you'll see some crates.
These can be piled up in front of the smooth wall to climb up
through the hole. Not that it seemed worth the effort - but I guess
we are just being shown the ropes.
In the other room, tucked in a very dark corner, you will meet a Orc
on whom you can click for a conversation. Speak to him twice and,
when he expresses a wish to sleep before he fetches you something or
other, let him sleep - if you poke him once more he just dies.
Don't even bother to come back to him. Let him follow you if he
wills.
I expect you'll come across a lot of waterfalls NE of a big pool.
If you go to the waterfall to the N and smash the gushing rock with
a weapon, this has unexpected results. Push on here, see if it'll
do you any good. Then move on.
In your travels, you might find yourself peeking through a gap at a
guard - on the floor, an oil lake. Cast Spark to fry the poor
fellow, but back off quickly or you will get burned, too. All of
this, you realize, is to let you learn how to come to grips with the
game. Whatever you chose to do here, matters not at all.
Carry on exploring till you come to a bridge over a river. A door
opens and a guard talks to you. If, facing the bridge, you look to
the left, you'll see a lever. This opens another portcullis around
to your right and you can go into the guards' rooms and pick up some
goodies.
Cross the bridge towards the big doors, but don't be in a hurry -
there's some more fun to be had. If you hear the words "Hey, you!",
that really means YOU. Turn around and advance along the bridge the
way you came. When you see soldiers coming along, cut the chains to
have a section of the bridge collapse (with the soldiers on top)
while you back off to safety. Snig, snig.
Enough. Let's get on with the real game. Face the gates and enter
the Draracle's lair. Speak to him. Eventually, he will direct you
to the...
Shinning path
-------------
Move to the door and go in, note the customer to your left and
pretend you haven't, pick up the sword, mail (don't forget to equip
them) and the champion stones. These, as you will know from the
Manual, will make you stronger.
Now, you could open the metal bars by pulling the lever - going
through the mirror is a shortcut to the village you are meant to
visit. However, it's much more fun to move the tapestry aside and
go through the teleporter (just click on the wall).
Advance and click on the Orb. We seem to be in some sort of museum.
Back off a little. To your right you will find, on the wall, a
triangular key. Keep this key in your inventory where you can see
it. The creatures in this area will steal your last equipped item,
and since you are going to use this key all the time to get a
reading of the exhibits, it's always the last - you are going to
have to fight tooth and nail to keep it. Every time you've fought
and the key is missing, search the body of your victim. You might
even have to run after the thieves.
But don't let us anticipate. In front of the orb, a tile on the
floor can be moved and a stand will pop up. Use the key on it and
the wall at the back will open. Go in, cast Spark at the torch and
then take all the scrolls. Open the panel to your right and cast
Spark. Leave the way you came in. Should the wall close before you
can get out, a lever to the left of the door will open it again.
Retrieve the key from the stand.
OK, you must keep checking the map to make sure you don't miss
anything. Try to keep hugging the left wall so that you cover all
of this area methodically. Use the triangular key on the stands by
the exhibits to find out what they are all about.
If the scenario is a bit dark, walk up to the dim or unlit torches
and cast Spark to light them up.
You will first come to a barred room which you cannot enter. If you
stand on the right side and cast Spark, you will be able to see and
pick up a green gem. Put it in the square for magic items in your
inventory - it gives you considerable protection.
The next exhibit will give you a broken sword. Hang on to it.
Still keeping left, you should find a door on the wall which will
lead you downstairs, where you will pick up the Prism Sword. This
is the best weapon to be had at the moment, till you get the
Firesword. Go back up and keep going left.
In a room full of paintings, click on the one on the far wall to
reveal a lever. This opens up the next complex of rooms along (one
of them contains THE hourglass, more of this anon). Naturally, you
will use the triangular key to hear all about the paintings.
Going on, spot the one lit room (containing the hourglass) with the
other three dim ones - using the triangular key on the stand at the
opening to this complex will give you the clue. We'll be coming
back here later. Carry on for now.
You will come to a huge blue gem. After you've heard what it's all
about, you can hack away with a sword and get three chips off it.
If you click them on the fire around this room, they are charged
with the fireball spell. You can only use them once, though. I did
not find where else you could charge them, but I was soon packing so
much stuff, I didn't care.
Having got right around here, you can next do the centre of this
area. You will find an axe over a stand (this axe is extremely
useful because it can be thrown when you need to hit something from
a distance and it comes back to you). When you pick it up, you'll
find yourself in some sort of liquid - going up will get you to the
scroll room behind the orb. To get out, find the lever on the left
and the wall will open leaving you at the orb.
Once you've been all around, go to the room to the S with the
hourglass (don't discard the triangular key, make sure you take it
with you; you'll need it much later). Hit the hourglass with your
sword and it will break. If you now back away and turn to your
right, you will see that bits of the wall have fallen off. Hack at
it with any weapon and then go through.
Just go along the corridor until you come to a barred door. Kill
the creature, click on it to get some Dragon Blood and collect the
other vials in the room (these, by the way, act as delayed bombs).
Open the door and go along to the dragon having a kip, click on him
to chat and he will take you to...
(Take with you: Triangular key)
The Jungle
----------
You might like to start by discarding here anything you don't need.
Just move ahead of you at first. If you meet a two-headed beast,
don't start poking at it after talking to it, otherwise it'll have
you. Just follow on till you get to the village. An old man will
tell you some people are missing and won't let you through. You
might as well start searching.
The best way of going about this area is to use Luther to explore,
the Beast to fight the two-headed nasties (experience points, you
see) and the Lizard to get into those nooks and crannies. But it's
up to you.
Wandering around the jungle and following rivers is fraught with
danger, particularly if you fall into deep water (oh, do - save
first and have a go, it's really worth seeing). If you spot an
isolated rock spouting water, attack it with a sword or something
and you will find that a river bed dries out. In the north end of
the dried out river there is a hole - the Lizard can get a Speaking
Stone and other items. (On the subject of Speaking Stones, use them
by clicking them on the portrait. They will give you a slight clue
as to what's going on.)
While you are exploring, keep your eyes on the ground and see what
you can pick up. Some bushes with paler and darker leaves give you
aloe (healing). If you cut the trees with a yellow blob at the
bottom, you get ironwood sap. You can get some wax from hanging
hives and, by a small waterfall, Mind Stones. Save your game, use
one in the usual way and you'll see the whole area mapped. If you
then reload, you can use the same stone time and again.
You might come across a small temple by this same waterfall, with
several statues all around a circle on the ground. Pick up the
scroll you'll see on the floor and read it, but save before you
attempt going up the stairs - I got trapped up there because I
couldn't get the jump right, but you do get another scroll and some
experience. You might like to have a bash. Me, I reloaded and
tried something else. If you click on the wall behind one of the
statues, it opens out. On the same side, but nearer the arch though
which you entered there is a hidden panel with a lever. Using this
you can lift the statue in front of the secret door and go through
it. The stuff you can pick up here is pretty useless, so don't
bother - at the end you'll be in another part of the jungle.
To the SW, and going between two green mounds, you'll meet Kit'yara,
who has a fine sword and wants an orb of power for it. She also
tells you, amongst other things, about her son Daniel. She is
important and you will be meeting her later on.
N of here you'll come to a waterfall. Approaching, you'll get a
close up - click on the right and you'll enter a cave in which there
is a skeleton and another Speaking Stone. If you've covered the
whole area thoroughly, we can get on with the business on hand.
Although there is a short cut to where you want to be, you need to
be the Lizard to get to it and, because this is beyond your control,
you might as well head for the maze of thorns. You have to be
careful because they suddenly grow and leave you cut off and
disoriented. Keep an eye on the map and, if you feel there should
be an exit in a particular spot, hack away with one of your weapons
to get through; better still, cast Spark. This prevents the thorns
from growing again and also marks your path rather conveniently.
You want to head south and then west. At length, you will come out
into a clearing. Search carefully for an opening in the rock and
enter...
The Hive Caves
--------------
You'll have to walk them all. Look out for pieces of amber and some
very nasty blue spidery things. You must kill them (careful, you
can get poisoned). You should also find in a nest (or a messy bit
of something or other), around here, a fine armour. You will come a
chasm and you won't be able to get round it on the south side unless
you are the Lizard. Alternatively, hack away at the overhanging
stones in front of the chasm to create a path. You need to be
Luther to do this, and it's worthwhile, so that you don't have to
rely on changing at the right moment. Get across.
If you head roughly E to some lava (jump from one slab of rock to
another), you will come to two statues guarding a large sword - I
don't know what this is all about, but if you want it, grab the
sword and get out very quickly, otherwise you get crushed to death.
Towards the north, you will find a pathetic little pile of bones
which belong to the girl you saw in the intro. And please don't
mutter "serves her right!" Move on to the E of here and you'll meet
her mother. This means you've rescued her, because now you've
killed the nasties she feels free to buzz off to her village.
Before you follow her, just go round here to the NW. You will come
to a tiled room. Before you enter it, note the runes to the right,
on the wall. Enter the room and look around. This is, in fact, a
lift - but you can't use it yet. Make your way all the way back
to...
The Village
-----------
This time, the senior citizen will let you through. Go in, visit
absolutely everywhere and talk to absolutely everybody. After
you've talked to the magician fellow, you can nick anything you can
lay your hands on around him - particularly, get the Speaking Stone
on the floor, to the right of him. He is able to mend that broken
sword... in exchange for an orb of power.
A visit to the clandestine merchant is worth the effort. He will
offer you Kit'yara's firesword in exchange for a spot of murder. In
the meantime, pick up the key on the right and the green poison
alongside.
This key will open some of the locked doors in the village: apart
from a lot of ingredients, you can pick up a really nice crossbow.
Every third shot, it snares your attacker, giving you an edge.
Don't make up your mind yet about that murder. Take that decision
later - remember that, if you commit it, you won't be able to come
back to the village.
Don't neglect to visit the tavern. When you've finished doing the
rounds, you have a date on a bridge and you know you must go to the
Monastery. This is roughly to the SE of the map, I'm sure you'll
find it.
The Monastery
-------------
When you enter it, click first on the arch leading outdoors and talk
to the brother you'll meet there. Exit by using the arrow which
will appear at the bottom of the screen when you move the cursor
there.
Next, click on the archway to the left. You have an interesting
conversation with Dawn. Exit.
Click on the door directly in front of you and you have an even more
interesting conversation. Now you know you have to get a copy of
the runes with the wax (so make sure you have two bits of wax), and
you have a flute which will let you use the lift you saw before in
the Hive Caves, and which leads to...
The Old Caves
-------------
Make your way to the Hive Caves. Have another look at the runes
before you enter the room with the lift, just to remember their
order. Step on the square platform sticking out and use the flute
by right clicking it on the portrait. The lift will come up. Step
on it. You will see a stick with runes on it. The top one
corresponds to the top floor (the one you are in) - let's call it
the 1st floor. You can visit all the other floors by clicking on
each of the runes.
2nd floor: touch the three hanging blocks. They will drop into
place and a fountain will appear, which heals you if you are hurt.
3rd floor: a poisonous creature guards a hole in the wall. I found
I could kill it from a distance with the wonderful crossbow I got at
the village. You can crouch and go through the hole to a chamber.
Pick up what you see and search the nest for a net.
4th floor: pick up the Speaking Stone on the floor and crouch to go
through the tunnel. You are on another floor. Press the keys
around the cat block in the same order and number of times which you
saw by the entrance to the lift in the 1st floor. This opens a door
up a ramp. Go up and manoeuvre the blocks in the correct niches
(which match the symbol on each block), with the cats facing front.
You will notice that, if you try to transfer the blocks, as they
are, directly into the niches, the tend to be facing edge first and
get stuck - if you see this is the case, move the block all over the
room so that next time you approach the niches with it, the block is
square on. The blocks will turn the right way around automatically
as soon as they are in. This is rather tricky and will try your
patience somewhat. However, once they are all in, this opens up a
couple of chambers which contain a bow and a shield. Picking them
up will cost you health points. In the room with the niches, now
filled and barred, there is a hole in the wall. It could be worth
your while to hang around till you turn into the Lizard and go in to
retrieve the goodies.
Find your way to the lift and call it by pressing the green tile on
the green pedestal. Step on the lift and look at the stick with the
buttons - we seem to have down two floors and we are now on the 6th.
Go to the next floor, i.e., the 5th.
On the 5th floor, turn the blocks so that all the cats are facing
forward. This opens up a secret passage - if you follow the right
wall (carefully) you will come to a pile of rocks with an arm
sticking out. You can get the ring, which is magical. Gross. It's
supposed to heal you and even resurrect you, but it didn't do this
fellow much good. No point in going on further down. Nothing there
except one of those nasty blue spiders. Go back to the lift.
6th floor: we've been there.
7th floor: if you are the Beast at the moment, wait till you are
Luther. Step on the round room, grab the scroll and keep walking
around the edges to avoid the large rolling boulders. By the way,
this type of scroll contains a regeneration spell and it's worth
it's weight in gold to you. Keep it, and others you might find, for
those critical moments when you've run out of magic points and are
on the point of dying.
8th floor: Have a look around. A passage leads to a lit room, but
there is a rockfall when you try to follow it. At the next passage,
you will notice a niche in the wall composed of two tiles with cats
on them and another tile in the middle, with an indentation on it.
Use the flute on this tile. Advance with care - if you see some
blades on the wall, wait till they explode. Move along and to your
left - as you go through here a boulders falls through the roof and
opens up a pit. Try pressing the tiles either side of the wall, I
couldn't figure out what that did. I mean, a passage opened up
leading nowhere and then a pedestal rose from the floor and I
couldn't do anything with it. Is this a red herring I see before
me, or am I too dumb to see the obvious?
Light the burner and step into the pit. By clicking on the beast to
the right, you get one of those magic stones. Click on the left and
you've found the runes - couldn't see them, myself. Take two copies
by clicking two pieces of wax on them. Go back to the monastery but
use the exit to the thorn maze. As you come out of the caves, you
meet Dawn. At the end of the conversation, give her one of the
copies of the runes. Continue on your way. At the monastery, give
the other copy of the runes to Brother Julian, and you will get an
orb of power. Take the orb to the other brother in the garden - he
shows you how to use it, but I'm too dim to understand what he was
going on about. Finally, speak to Dawn in the Library. As you
leave, she gives you a very useful spell.
Now, if you click on the door to the left of the picture, you'll
meet a very odd chap called Rix. Go through the other door and you
will come to a room full of crates. If you pile them up in front of
the bookcase, you can get up there and break it with a weapon. You
can then jump into the...
Dark Halls
----------
I fought my way all the way up the stairs without finding anything
terribly useful, apart from the plasma staff (and I don't know how
useful that is), a couple of other things and a few scrolls in the
bookcases. You have to be careful here when you explore, and not
only because of the blue nasties which attack you. The walls close
behind you as you advance, so go slowly and don't be in a rush to
climb up the stairs. Keep opening the slats on the walls and peer
into other rooms. A tantalizing sight! Do your best to get into
them. For instance, in the case of the very first room, to the
right of the entrance, when you open the slat you will see inside a
crate. Poke it with your finger to reveal the explosives inside.
Cast Spark at it and a hole will be blown in the wall, crouch and go
in. Pick up the scrolls. An oval chamber to the NE contains two
nasties - find the chains quickly, pull them and daylight will come
flooding in. The nasties disappear; pick up the red fruit, which
cures poisoning.
One chamber worth getting into was through an opening in the S,
going N. You enter a room, hack the wall with the crack and pop in
to find some really good stuff.
Eventually, you'll reach the last floor and you will be trapped.
Ignore the large circular room to the left as you advance and move
to the metal door at the end of the passage. Save your game. Pile
up a couple of crates by this door, but open them first clicking on
their tops. Then step well back and fire the plasma staff (which
you get when you meet and kill Rix) at them. They will explode and
destroy the door. Enter and pick up all the goodies you can,
particularly the Speaking Stone.
And now, save again and have a quick look at the circular room. All
right? Reload and open two crates: pick up one. Manoeuvre it to
the left and, counting the bricked-up windows, move the crate under
the sixth. Go back and get the other crate and pile it on top.
Then, step back and fire the plasma staff at the crates and, when
the bricks blow up, jump through the hole back to the jungle.
I think I must have missed something, because otherwise this was a
pretty pointless exercise. Still.
OK, now you are back in the jungle: decision time. You could a) Go
to Kit'yara and swap your orb for the firesword; b) Give the orb to
the Magician so that he mends the broken sword (I have a feeling
this is important; remember the commentary on one of the paintings?)
and afterwards; c) kill the captain and get your reward -the
"merchant" will let you out through the back (you can't go back to
the village, but do you want to?). Or don't kill the captain (if
you do, you might as well pop in and do the ruler in - he's got
useful items about his person). Up to you.
Wander around southwards to find Kit'yara who is now in the jungle
(if you haven't found her already) - she will give a you knife for
her son. Hang on to it - it's important.
Before you head E to the bridge you might like to hang around for a
while and kill plenty of those cats to build up experience points.
Believe me, you won't want to tangle with the beasts in the next
part of the game, since it's pitch dark and you can't see them.
Also, once you are across the bridge, you won't be able to come back
- so if you've left any item you think important laying about, don't
forget to retrieve it before you cross.
By the same token, discard here anything you really don't need, such
as the lesser weapons and armour. Combining reagents at this point
will probably give you more room in the inventory. You are going to
need it.
When you do get near the bridge, you'll meet your four-armed friend.
After a conversation, he will lead you across. You follow him
automatically. Watch what happens. You are now in...
The Savage Jungle
-----------------
Advance and you speak to Daniel automatically. Give him the knife
his mother gave you. At the end of the conversation, the wild ones
scatter - pick up the knife off the floor.
At this point you might like to examine your inventory and discard
anything you feel you don't need just yet - you can always come back
and retrieve it. Leave room in your inventory because you are going
to find many things. A few of them are some of those
strawberry-like fruits (remember, they cure poisoning), those green
light eggs thingies (they light up the surroundings) and a fish
(allows you to see what is going on behind you - what's wrong with
just looking round, I ask myself).
You will find some traps covered with straw on the ground - they can
be tripped, if you are careful (save first), and then the rope which
holds the stone can be cut. But I have no idea what this is all in
aid of.
You will meet horrible little bird-like creatures. Mostly, they
won't attack you if you leave them alone. However, if you do attack
them, they poison you - others join in and fight you from a
distance. Once dead, though, you can get a poison sac from them,
and if you click this on the weapon circle, you'll poison your
blade.
OK, keep roughly to the right to find the Temple to the south. When
you get there, watch what happens. You have to go to the mountains
for a key. I'll save you the trouble of going to the far E to the
mountains, just now - a huge dragon will have you for breakfast
because you don't yet have what you need to neutralize it.
Instead, go back to where you started and keep left this time. By
the river, you'll find the fish I told you about. Round about here
there is a building with a barred door you cannot open. Go to the
back, wait till you are the Lizard and enter through the hole by the
boulder. Inside, some interesting items. You will be able to open
the door from here.
Keep exploring. If you come to a building in which there is a
semicircle of torch stands, lighting them will allow you to reach
the door above - however, you need some sort of key.
To the N, you will come to the settlement of the wild ones. The
guard will let you pass when you hand him Daniel's knife. Speak to
Daniel then leave. Step back. Click on the right, on a campfire and
speak to the herbalist - you can help herself to some of her stuff,
if you want. Step back. Click on the circular building and talk to
the Shaman. He suggests you join the tribe and bring him a
SilverLeaf, giving you the key to the cemetery. If you click on the
right in his hut, you'll meet an old friend. OK, you can leave now
and go...
To the Cemetery
---------------
Go in. If you haven't listened to the Speaking Stones yet, do so
now (just click them on the portrait). Dump them here and anything
else you don't need immediately. Use the key on the gate and go in.
Walk around entering the buildings which are already open. Pick up
any orbs you see laying around (watch the floor). Open the tombs
and look inside. If you see stairs going down, don't use them yet.
Just remember where they are (mark the building on your map). You
will notice than some buildings are locked, and that beside them
there are statues with open mouths. If you click on them, you will
see at the bottom of the pedestals light patterns of different
colours. Three, to be precise - yellow, blue and white. Hm. Make
a note on your map of which colour applies to which building, as you
go around. Count their number (i.e., so many yellow, so many white,
so many blue). When you can't enter any more buildings leave the
cemetery and go SW...
To the Ruins
------------
You'll see a circular pit in the ground surrounded by statues. Go
to the tree trunk laying across. Jump onto it and save your game
before you start negotiating your way downwards (at times, you'll
have to jump - keep looking down). You will do it eventually. Find
the entrance to the ruins. There are pretty dangerous monsters
here, so save a lot. It's also very dark and you can't really see
where you are going; what with that and the monsters hassling you,
you have your work cut out to explore this place.
Fortunately, I got turned into a Lizard as I got through, so I ran
like a scared rabbit to the N and then turned to my left (W).
Hugging the left or right wall, whichever seemed safer at the time,
I didn't even pause for breath till I got to the Tower.
Keep casting Spark to see where you are going, chances are you'll
light a torch or something. Indeed, in this area you have to light
orbs on pedestals to move on. For instance, lighting one of this
will bring down a bridge so that you can get to the Tower.
Inside the Tower, you'll notice a staircase you cannot climb. Find
the orb on a pillar and cast Spark. This destroys the forcefield
and allows you to go up, but before you start congratulating
yourselves, look who's coming down the stairs! I hope you have
changed into something hefty, otherwise you'll have to run around
till you do. Kill the beast and nip up. On the first floor you
come to you'll see a claw. Place one of those glass orbs you found
(the empty ones, not the ones with a sword in them). It will start
doing weird things. Retrieve it - you will see it has changed to
white. Has the penny dropped? Yes, this is what you need to open
the closed doors in the cemetery. If you've counted the colours in
the cemetery you'll know you only need one white orb.
Right, now you've got it, use Spark on the dark orb on the pedestal
to remove the next forcefield. Go up, there is nothing on the next
floor. Do the necessaries and go up again. Here you will find a
beast who talks to you (couldn't understand a word) and then attacks
you. Fight it and kill it. Take the bracers - the dead beast talks
to you and all I could make out is that with these bracers you can
talk to the dead. Right, no need to go any further.
You can go all the way down; on the ground floor, you can go round
the stairs, light an orb and go down to find a pair of gauntlets.
Go up and out of the Tower. If you keep to your right, you will
come to a room with a mirror. Walk through it. You'll find
yourself in a room with three mirrors - the one to the left takes
you to the Savage Jungle and leaves you there. The one on the right
takes you back to where you've just been. The one in front takes
you to the cemetery, so go through it. Note where you are - you can
use this teleporter to go back to the Dracoid Ruins when you want
to. (Take with you: Bracers of the Dead)
The Cemetery
------------
OK, go to the building in which you saw stairs going down. When you
descend you'll find it hard going because it's very dark and you
have to keep consulting the map to see where you are. Keep casting
Spark - with a bit of luck you'll hit the burners and you'll get a
bit of light. You will also be hassled by very nasty ghostly
things.
You need to go N first and then W. You are looking for a lit room
in which there is a claw like the one you saw in the Ruins. There
should also be an orb on the floor. Put what you've got in the claw
- you should have at least two yellow orbs, now.
Leave and let's start methodically opening all the buildings which
can be opened. Always look inside the tombs and on the floor - look
at the walls, as well. Go to the first to the NW and enter it.
Look around. A lever by the door opens a building to the S. Go to
it. You will see a barrel inside the door. Go past it and collect
another orb. Go to the barrel, click on it to turn it on its side
and again to get it rolling. Follow it. Now, wasn't that fun?
I tried to see what was in the barrel by casting Spark - bad idea.
It wasn't dark, as I thought, that was oil on the floor! What you
have to do here is use a Dragon Blood on the portrait, then put it
on the ground and back right out of the building. It explodes and
uncovers an underground complex. Jump in.
It's very dark in here, so keep casting Spark and hope you'll hit a
burner. What you are looking for here is another claw which turns
the orbs blue. You only need two, at the moment. Going east-ish,
you'll find two lots of balustrades, jump over them and you'll reach
the claw which turns the orbs yellow, also you'll be able to find
the stairs and get out.
So carry on opening buildings, finding orbs and going to charge them
(in one of them you will also find a fine crossbow). In one of the
buildings you will find the ghost of a priest, who won't give you
the SilverLeaf until you do him a favour, but he does give you his
urn. What's a ghost urn?, you ask yourselves.
Make sure you have opened all the buildings. You should now have
three blank orbs. If you charged too many, you can discharge them
by using them on Luther. Now go to the teleporter to...
(Take with you: Valkyrie Crossbow)
The Dracoid Ruins
-----------------
As soon as you arrive, you could go to the Tower and get one of the
orbs charged white. That's that done. Now, you are going to have a
tough time. For one thing, you are going to change into the wrong
creature every few seconds. For another, you've no idea what's out
there.
Use the Lizard to light up as many torches/orbs as you can, keep him
moving. The Beast is absolutely wonderful at killing gorgons and
snake dragons - he seems to be immune to their poison and hardly
gets hurt at all, but he is totally hopeless for everything else.
Luther is fine for lighting things and manipulating things, and can
also fight the creatures - at a cost. Once last thing: save before
you venture into water.
You want to reach the NE of the map so, from the bridge after the
Tower, head roughly E, S, N, E, S, E, N, W. You will see what I
mean as the map unfolds. You should be reasonably well N now;
you'll come to a river. Cross it and you'll find a square building,
roughly midpoint between E and W. Searching around here you should
find a statue of Belail. Mark this spot on your map. Go back to
the river. Instead of crossing straight E, wade a little to the N
to find a parallel passage. Follow this, skirting the river and
later a large lake.
Quite a way along, you'll see an entrance to the right. Follow this
and you'll come to an antechamber. What looks like a large boulder
on the floor is in fact the body of the priest. Pick it up and
manoeuvre it into the chamber and onto the slab. Light the two orbs
and the body will be incinerated - use the urn the ghost gave you on
the ashes to collect them. Now all you have to do is to get back to
the teleporter. A piece of cake. Get back to...
The Cemetery
------------
OK, you know what to do, just go to the ghost and give him the urn.
Will he give you the SilverLeaf? Hah! No use saying you've urned
it. You won't get it till you do what he says. Right, you might as
well go and charge the other two orbs, one blue and one yellow.
When you've done that, go find the large wall with the symbol on it
(to the S of the building in which the ghost was). Use the key on
the symbol and an underground passage will appear. Go in and place
the orbs in the boxes (just try each one, they will only accept the
right one). Then the door opens and you get to talk to the ghost of
the King, who, guess what, wants you to do something for him. Sigh.
Collect his corpse off the tomb and head for the teleporter. At
least you know where you are going, this time.
The Ruins, yet again
--------------------
Considering you did a very good job of mopping up monsters the last
time, you might like to explore the ruins properly, since there is
some interesting stuff around and at least another Speaking Stone.
Me, I had so many items already, I needed a wheelbarrow to cart them
around. So, if you can't be bothered, just head for the building in
which you saw the statue of Belial, which you no doubt marked on the
map. When you cross the river, instead of going to the building
were the statue is, skirt around it to the W and N and clear the
area of nasties - this is because you are going to be coming here in
a minute and you really don't want to be hassled at that point.
OK, go to the statue and use the corpse you are carrying on the
golden container to the left. Watch. The statue comes to life.
Follow it. You will enter a narrow passage - be on the look out for
an entrance to your left. When you see it, save the game, go
inside, have a look - to your left, there is a wooden contraption,
could be a table. All right. Reload and continue following the
statue. Watch what happens. As soon as you have control, save.
Look at your map. Head for the building with the table (be quick),
and when you get there, jump on it. You'll float up. As you near
the top of the waterfall, step onto the other table and then jump
into the gap. So far, so good. Follow the passage and turn to your
left, ignore the hole with the rock in it and enter the next passage
- this takes you upwards and to an exit. On the floor, a wooden
door. Because this is rather tricky, save again. Move the wooden
door onto the water in front and, hanging on, step on it. You
should float up to the entrance to the Ruins.
Savage Jungle
-------------
Turn over, you are snoring. As you wake up by the flooded ruins
you'll meet Dawn; she'll ask about the bracers - give them to her
and she'll give you a speaking stone and an amulet. Now go back to
the cemetery and talk to the King's ghost. You won't understand a
word. So what's new? Leave and pick up the spell you'll see on one
of the boxes. You will also see a silver tree. Pick up a few
leaves.
Go to the settlement and see the Shaman. Give him the SilverLeaf
and he'll tell you you must fight. Do so, don't hold back and have
the healing spell ready. After a while the fight is stopped and
everybody is good friends. Now go back to the Shaman and he will
give you the potion and also a spell.
OK, time to head for the Claw Mountains. You are aiming E/SE. If
you see a spot surrounded by broken down walls, save, go in and have
a look. You'll probably get killed, but at least you'll know what's
down there. Not that it will do you any good.
When you get to the river, you'll see a huge tree. Push it and
either climb over and then jump or, if you are the Lizard, crawl
through and jump to the tree on your left. That way you can get
down without getting hurt. Either way, head northwards with great
care, hiding behind the boulders as you move. Mix the SilverLeaf
with the potion and then, at an opportune moment, toss it at the
dragon. He'll drop off and you can enter...
The Claw Mountains
------------------
As soon as you are through, you'll meet Dawn again, who suggests you
look for the Dream Stone while she looks for the Citadel. You can
start exploring around here, bearing in mind that ice paths are
slippery and the snow is unstable. Whenever possible, hug the walls
along your way. If you think you should be able to get through
somewhere, try a fire spell. Before you get to where you really need
to be, there are a few minor adventures you might like to undertake;
they are not absolutely necessary to complete the game and they are
also a bit of a pain in the neck. However, it's up to you.
Do, by all means, go S and have a look - nothing there. Come back
and try N. An interesting village and a reagent. Nothing else.
You really need to go E over the ice bridge. If you hug the right
wall, you will come to a cave covered in skeletons. Inside, a
sleeping beast. If you are feeling belligerent, you can kill it;
but this means his mates will hassle you the rest of the way. You
might prefer to let sleeping cats lie. Wait till you become the
Lizard and enter the hole in this cave. You can pick up more magic
stones and also light one of those orbs. Leave. This action means
that a building emerges in the middle of the lake. On top of the
building there is a very necessary axe (Great Blizzard Axe), and you
must leap onto the ice floes to get as near as you can and pick it
up - just keep clicking on it and eventually you'll get it. You can
be in the actual water for a very short while without dying. Then,
jumping from floe to floe, get as near to the shore as you can and
take a running leap out. Continue heading towards the NE.
Hugging the right wall, you'll come to another entrance and you'll
hear the sound of rushing water. Stick like glue to the wall as you
advance; there is an avalanche waiting to take place and you could
well go down with it. If you've made it in one piece and peer over
the side, you'll see some wooden pegs on the cliff side going down.
You don't really need to, but this is what you could do.
Climb down the pegs (save before you try) and make sure you don't
fall in the water at the end, but rather turn right and jump safely
onto the snow. Cross one of the ice bridges, find a funny looking
wall behind some crossed sticks and cast a fireball at it to melt
it. Wait till you turn to the Lizard, go into the caves and you
will come out at a place where, right in front of you, there is a
warrior holding a bow frozen into the wall. Go to the end of right
ledge, fireball the guy and quickly pick up the bow (just click on
it) before it disappears into the water. Leave the caves.
Go half way through one of the ice bridges and wait till an ice floe
floats under you. Jump onto it and wait till you go past a cave -
jump in and get a ring and another recipe. Then wait for an
opportunity to jump back onto dry land. A perfect waste of time.
You'll have to climb up those wooden pegs again.
What you really need to do is to stay up there after the avalanche
and carry on along the right wall till you come to another entrance.
Follow this and you'll find Kenneth's dead body. If you click on it
you get a photo of his girlfriend. Cast it against a wall and it
smashes, producing a highly protective amulet.
And now, there is nothing for it - you'll have to jump somehow
across to the next complex. Examine the map and place yourself in
front of the bit which projects the most from the other side, then
take a running leap.
When you are across, follow along and you will see Baccatta in a bad
state and he tells you the Roloi have Dawn. Continue on till you
get to...
The Citadel
-----------
You in a lot of trouble here. Very nasty creatures indeed are going
to attack you at every turn. The only really effective way of
dealing with them is to get right up close and bash away with your
best weapon. However, they never keep still and they erect pink,
deadly barriers between you and them. If you nevertheless persist
and dodge around and pursue them, they take flight and even go
through walls. Since you must kill them all, you might as well get
practice just as you go through the door, when only one will be
there to attack you. If you chase it around you will see it
disappears through an opening in the wall (with your back to the
entrance, this is to the left, just around the corner). I was still
packing the Valkyrie crossbow, so I shot and shot at that opening
(use Q to rise your sights) until I got it. How did I know? When
you click on the weapon circle, if you are hitting a creature, even
if you cannot see it, there will be a splash of blood. When the
blood doesn't show any more, the creature is dead.
Once that's done, you are about to enter the first chamber. Click
on the orb in the middle of the room and go to your right (E). You
will see eggs in a lake of poison. Go around shooting them all and
dodging behind the columns to avoid the rays being shot at you.
Make sure you destroy all the eggs.
Now go out and go W. You will enter a very large circular chamber,
chock-a-block full of those creatures. Naturally, you will change
into the Beast and the Lizard when most inconvenient - it is best to
be Luther here all the time, but no such luck. You have to have
your heal spell ready at all times if you are going to survive, so
you won't be able to stop yourself from changing.
There are obviously various strategies to deal with this deadly
section, but here is one. Concentrate on destroying the creatures
first - don't touch anything - lighting globes seems to drive them
nuts. Hug either the left or the right wall looking for cover and
trying to spot the holes up in the wall though which the creatures
come and go. Try to find a good place from which to strafe those
holes - once no more creatures are left in them, move on to the
next. If you change into the Beast or the Lizard, go hide somewhere
and use them to let your mana and health points recover. The Beast
can do a lot of damage if he can get close to the creatures, but he
is so slow that he is unlikely to do so. Better keep very still and
recover. The Lizard doesn't stand a change, so either run like fury
or keep very still, too, somewhere safe.
When you feel you've pretty well cleared the larger part of the
monsters, go around clicking on all the orbs you can see. There is
an important one in the shape of an eye behind a large column. The
orbs around the centre open up slabs to offer you lots of reagents.
Take what you like, but make sure you get a dragon blood,
silverleaf, aloe, poison sac and light like egg - if you have these
already, just make sure you don't use them, since you are going to
need them later on.
While you are wandering around you will see an entrance to a passage
to the N. Move along here and click on an orb to open the door.
You'll get shot at. Go through and you'll come to a round poison
pond with a teleporter in the middle. Jump on it and you'll see
Dawn. You'll need the Dream Stone to get her out. Leave. If you
continue along here you'll come to another passage and another
teleporter. You'll see imprisoned women. OK, out you go.
If you have been all around and killed all the creatures, go to the
E where you'll see some pink steps. Jump up on them - you'll find
it easier to use the ledges on the actual wall to help you reach
each step. You should make it all the way to the top without too
much trouble. You will see a bridge forming and disappearing very
quickly. Step in front of the machine spewing the plasma, save your
game and, as soon as the bridge appears, run across. Walk around
here till you find an entrance and go in. Watch. At the end of the
scene, the beast talks to you and asks you to come near. Oh, yeah?
I used the net on it and then moved in with the axe - it backed away
from me, and I just leisurely shot it with the Valkyrie bow. Easy
Peasy. Get the Dream Stone from the claw and step on the teleport.
You come out near the entrance - use the stone to open the door and
go back in. First, go to the imprisoned women. Click on the weapon
circle and the cover on the left will fall. Pull the lever to open
the bars. If you've missed any of the creatures outside, the women
won't come out and you'll have to go searching for stragglers and
dispatch them -one good way of attracting them is to turn the orbs
on and off. You'll know you've killed them all when the women leave
the prison.
Go to Dawn and use the stone on the right of the forcefield and she
will be free. She will give you another spell and will tell you
she'll meet you at the Temple. Don't forget to recover the Dream
Stone.
Make your way back to the circular room and find the column with the
ramp going up. Near the top you'll find a teleporter which will
leave you by the entrance.
Now you have the very tiresome task of finding your way out of here.
When you come to the broken ice bridge, bide your time and jump onto
a floating ice floe. Wait till you get reasonably close to the
accessible land - actually, you can only clamber up on the left
bank. You'll then be at the foot of those wooden pegs. Jump all
the way up, saving every time you are successful. You should be
Luther to do this. Don't try for the very last one. Just face the
cliff and jump up.
(Take with you: The Great Blizzard Axe, the Dream Stone and the
reagents I mention above)
OK, from here on is reasonably easy. Get back to the Savage Jungle,
get to the cliff side, in front of the green bit (save first) and
take a running jump at it. Now it's just a matter of getting to...
The Temple
----------
As you come in, you'll notice a corpse on the ground. Leave it for
now and open the door (both panels). Go in and you will see an
altar with two bowls. In front, to your left, a tapestry can be
moved to reveal a passage. Leave it for now. Go E instead and have
a look at the chapel. Either side of a second altar, an aloe leaf
and poison paint. Aha! Leave them and go back to the first altar.
Put an aloe leaf on the left bowl and poison paint (made with a
venom sac and a light like egg - I hope to brought those with you
from the Citadel). A noise at your back will alert you that things
have changed. Look and you will see a slab. What a lovely place to
put a corpse on! Go back and get the stiff from outside and place
it on the slab. Poke it and it will disappear in a flash.
OK, let's go E. To the left of the altar, a secret door opens out
into another room. Another door appears to lead to a blank wall,
but in fact, if you step in and close the door, a passage will
appear. However, no need to go down it because it's actually a way
out rather than a way in. Go back and around to the second altar;
pick up the aloe and put it in one bowl and then the poison paint
and put it in the other. A ghostly ball of light appears. Turn
around and go out into a courtyard in which there is a fountain - in
front of it, a green shard. Get it. You will notice that this shard
matches exactly the indentation in that round building we saw in the
jungle but had to leave for lack of a key. Take my advice and
forget it. If you go to all the trouble of getting there,
clambering up the steps and then opening the grate, what you'll find
inside is simply not worth the bother. Honestly. Still, it's up to
you.
Back in the courtyard, you will have noticed that a hole has
appeared in the ground. You can do several things, now, whichever
appeals to you the most. You can go down and along the passage, you
can back off, hack at the columns and watch the ceiling fall down,
or you can get in, hack at two columns, then duck as you hit the
last (best done as the Beast). Me, I brought the ceiling down and
backed off smartly. I like to have my back covered - goodness knows
what's down there.
OK, you can go back to the first altar, remove the tapestry and
begin investigating. If you keep left, you will see a large chamber
with two floating dishes - empty, of course. The next room, on the
left and past some beds (amongst which is a lightning crystal) has
some sort of a fountain - if you press the button, an aloe plant
grows). In the next room to the right of the beds, there are some
chairs and tables. As I was looking around, a horrible blue spider
barged in. I followed the tunnel and got myself into a room in
which there were three coffins. Looking inside, I found a flute.
I walked across to another passage and went left. Here things got a
bit sticky because, whereas I was most polite and forbore to
interfere with the spiders, they very rudely attacked me at every
turn and made my progress very difficult indeed. And there were
more of them than of me. Make sure you don't change shape while
fighting, or you are a dead duck. The Lizard, above all, doesn't
stand a chance. If the spiders run away from you, don't go after
them - let bygones be bygones. You haven't a hope of destroying
them all. At any rate, I found my corpse again and pressed a key by
it. It moved elsewhere. I noticed it was on a conveyor belt, and
watched for a while until more spiders distracted me. When I looked
again, it was obvious that it had been minced. I walked around to
the back of the machine and found a box full of... full of... Gulp.
The next obvious thing to do was to transfer this box onto the next
conveyor belt, spiders permitting, and then walk around the back of
the machine to see what we got this time. In fact, it was a
statuette.
Now is the time to explore around, consulting the map, pressing the
odd button here and there and killing a few spiders. You should
then find, in a newly opened niche between the first altar and the
second, a whole lot of statuettes just like yours behind bars. Only
one square is empty, so obviously you will put the statuette in.
Great, you get another shard.
Go back to the room with the floating dishes and, very carefully,
place the shards on them. A wall opens up. Go through it and you
will see three portals. Go first through the one in the centre -
you will be on a tilting floor. If you have one of those light like
eggs use it to see what you are doing. The idea here is to press
two buttons either side when the floor is tilted in a way in which
you can reach them. You'll be hassled by those bird-like creatures
you met in the Savage Jungle. Ignore them, if you can. When the
floor is level, go across and pick up a statue. Leave.
Through the portal to the right, you just have to brave the flaming
passages to get a mist of doom spell and press a button. When
you've pressed all three buttons, a bridge will come down at the
other end of the room and you can cross it to get another statue.
Leave. The last portal leads to my least favourite pastime -
jumping. First you have to press two buttons, to the NW and to the
SW. Then you have to get in through the opening at the other end.
Use the map to see the best way to jump to get to where you need to
be, and save often. Getting through the opening is not as tough as
it seems - line yourself correctly with it and take a running leap.
You'll be on a narrow passage way, walk carefully along here,
braving the fireballs, and collect some regeneration spells and the
last statue. You will be teleported to the entrance of this
particular puzzle. Leave. Behind these three portals there is
another entrance. To the right, you will see an indentation for the
flute - how unoriginal. Advancing along here you will see some
blades. However, a door to your right will allow you to bypass
them. As you emerge into the corridor, cling to the right wall as
you walk forward, otherwise you'll trigger a trap. At the end of
the corridor, don't press the buttons. Move into the chamber
instead and place the statues in the pedestals thoughtfully provided
for you. Some stairs will appear.
Go up them and you'll cross an unstable bridge. Have a look around.
Nothing here, yet this must lead somewhere. I tried the bridge
again to see what happened, but nothing did. I even jumped up and
down. To pass the time, I killed some of those bird-creatures and,
what do you know, their dead weight was enough to move the bridge
downwards. There I met with Belial, or a Belial look-alike (they've
lost me, by now) and had a surprisingly easy fight of it. Once the
beast was dead, I went through the only doors available. Coming to
a stand, I placed the Dream Stone on it. Then there is an animated
bit and you see the Dracoid City emerge from the water, and you take
a Number 9 Dragon to it.
(Take with you: a silverleaf, dragon blood)
The City
--------
You'll start in what looks like a balcony - use the only door there
is and take a lift down. You are now in the main part of the city.
Look, why don't you walk around to see all there is? Then I can
tell you what to do. By the way, don't tangle with the ambulating
blobs if you can help it - if you do, though, you'll find that the
Great Blizzard Axe makes short work of them.
OK? Are you back at the starting point? Right, now we'll advance
directly south, going around the main square. You should be at a
large fountain. Look up and you should see a globe floating over
the spout. Attack it with the Great Blizzard Axe (GBA). The water
will overflow. Marvellous. Now turn around and head N.
Turn right at the square and head towards the round building at the
SE. Along here, on your right, you will see an opening. Go in and
you will see a chip floating on a fountain spout. Hack at the
fountain with the GBA and it will freeze. Break it and get the
chip. Out and carry on towards the SE. To your right, another
opening. Pop in. As you explore around here, you will see pairs of
items. You will also have noticed a stand in front of some sort of
altar. It transpires that if you take one of the items of a pair
and place it on the stand, its fellow will appear on the altar.
Whereas most of the items are not all that desirable, I found it
worth while to use the following pair: ring of regeneration/ancient
magic stone. So I placed all the ancient magic stones I had about
my person and got as many rings as I could carry, and found them
jolly useful later on. You might decide otherwise. At any rate,
leave when you have finished.
Proceed to the round building at the SE. You will see a tall, black
column in the middle with doors which don't open - the same as the
other round buildings in the four corners of the map. Push in, look
around and jump over a ditch and you will see some doors - go
through. The idea here is to keep going through doors which give
access to other doors (some only lead to blank walls with an
inaccessible opening). If you can't get through by way of a door,
try the next along, and so on. Eventually you'll come out in a
large chamber with an oil lake and the head of Belial. Use the
Dragon Blood here and get out fast. This does something or other,
oh, I don't know, something terribly important. When you come out,
you will find, on returning to the circular building, that the doors
on the black column are open. Pick up the lightning storm crystal
and go up the stairs. You will see a box and a teleporter. Move
the box into the teleporter (gently, otherwise it goes right through
and out the other side) and enter the teleporter yourself. At the
other side, move the box into the square hole in the floor and enter
the teleporter again. You'll be back where you started (these moves
have to be repeated at each of the buildings in the corners of the
map).
Right, leave this building and head for the one on the NE. As you
proceed along, you will see an opening to the N of you. Pop in, if
you like, and you'll see statues at either side. You can safely
leave this area for now, but mark it in your map. Leave, and
continue to make for the NE.
When you get to the round building there, you'll know what to expect
- further in, there is a black column with locked doors. What you
do here is the following. Place a SilverLeaf under the red glass
pyramid, turn around and click on the yellow hexahedron (it waters
the plant) and then move forward and click on the hourglass (it
accelerates the passing of time) and you will see that a SilverLeaf
tree has grown inside the pyramid and broken it. Watch how the red
ball inside it moves forward and gets the doors open on the black
column. Go inside - you know what to do. By the way, you can also
grow other useful vegetables on the plots either side of the
pyramid, and by the same means. All I had on me was aloe, and I
really didn't need any more of its leaves since they weren't all
that useful when I was in dire need of healing - but it's up to you.
It's fun, anyway.
OK, now let's head for the NW. As you walk along the road, keep
your eyes either side for openings (in one case you'll see a blank
wall, but clicking on it will let you through). On your left (I
feel like a tour guide!) an opening will lead to a strange scene in
which a dragon is having a kip - I could do nothing about it, so I
moved on.
On the right, another opening will take you to three fountains.
Attack them with the GBA to freeze them, and again to destroy them.
Place the cube on the platform and then follow the corridor till you
come to a wall with bars. Find the other cube and place it on the
other platform. Climb on the cube and take a diagonal running leap
to get over the wall. Advance along here and up the stairs. Save
before you try anything silly. Get your bearings. Grab the chip
and run down the stairs and over the water and over the wall, and
don't stop until you are safe - the reason being that the ceiling
begins to come down and can crush the life out of you.
You can go now onto the street again and continue on your way. To
the right you will see an opening which leads to a chalice on an
altar. This is a colossal red herring - I don't know how much time
I spent pushing it, pulling it, jumping on it, hacking at it and
trying to put things in it. I even tried placing items in the three
alcoves round it. A perfect waste of time and, in the long run, it
made no difference whatsoever to the outcome of the game. May be
you'll think of something I didn't.
Let's move on, why don't we. As you continue, you will spy another
opening on the left. Go in and head for the statue on your left.
Click on it. Turn around and walk towards the statue which seems to
be across a chasm. Save and start walking boldly towards it over
the vacuum - but don't rush and walk straight. If you look down,
you'll see that a path is being created beneath you even as you
advance. Collect the chip the statue is holding and walk back
carefully. Leave.
OK, when you get to the round building to the NW you will find
enough blocks raising and falling to make you dizzy. What you need
here is to destroy three items - one is a floating stone and the
other two a red blob and a white blob. Once you've done that, you
can go in to find the black column - the doors will have been opened
and you can do what you have to do.
Now we must head SW. Round the square and on, you will find an
opening to the right. Another chip is enticingly waved at you - but
save before you get it because the chamber in which you are will
quickly flood and drown you. Get your bearings and be ready to
scamper in double quick time. As you continue along the street you
will see an opening to your right. This is where you use the
triangular key you've been carting around with you. Each room
contains a reagent which you might or might not need - but if you
are going to break the glass and get it, be ready to retreat quickly
or be crushed to death. None of my antics here did anything to
eliminate the glass forcefield in front of the room which contained
a table. However, since this made no difference whatsoever to the
outcome of the game, I have to assume it was another red herring (or
the work of a programmer not it touch with what the rest of the
programmers were doing). Actually, it stands to reason that this
cannot be important - how many players could be expected to keep the
triangular key the first time they play the game?
Enough of this. Moving on, you will see an opening on your left.
If you go in, you will see a deep well in front of you. Either
side, a silverleaf plant. Below, as I found out afterwards, is an
entrance/exit to the Underground Caverns. Of no importance
whatsoever, so let's go on.
You will soon arrive at the last round building in the SW. You just
put in the chips in the right indentations and the last black column
will be open to you. You know what to do.
Now, instead of going back into the teleporter, wander outside and
click on all four yellow hexahedrons. Go through the nearest
teleporter back to the city and this time head for the town square.
A building will have emerged in the middle - go in through the
shimmering gate and meet yet another clone of Belial. After a
heated conversation you will have a fight and, no doubt, kill the
beast. Continue walking forth inside till you come to a forcefield.
Step into it. Ah. Yes. I think this has something to do with the
Mantle. It means that you won't change unless you want to, which is
a great relief.
Leave this building and head for the opening I asked you to mark on
your map. As you come in you will notice that there are doors left
and right. If you open them all and light up the orbs on the
pedestals, a secret panel opens in the room to the SE and, inside,
you'll find a scarab. Blessed if I know what THAT does. However,
this is not important. What you have to do here is to proceed along
the corridor, braving fireballs, to reach a broken-down fountain.
Go on to the next room and you'll find a functional fountain. Get
in it and hack at the dragon and, when it bleeds, a wall will open
at the back. Go through and around and you'll find a teleporter
to...
The Underground Caverns
-----------------------
The idea here is to head to the SW of the map. Save very often.
Don't tangle with the spiders, there's just too many of them. Slip
quietly past and, if at anytime you should be surrounded by them and
unable to proceed, reload and be warned to avoid them. Don't mind
the odd blow as you walk past, just keep your eye on the red bar and
make sure you are not losing too many hit points.
Eventually you will reach a round chamber to the SW. To the W of
that, you'll find an opening (consult your map) blocked by some
tubes - keep hacking at them and advancing and you'll find yourself
at another one of those special entrances. Click on the left and
you will get to a... a... thingie. Hack at it and you'll be able to
go through. You'll find another thingie in the foreground and
something green on the right (I hope I'm not getting too technical
for you). Click around, hack around and wait a bit and a spider
will come along and do something or other - but a gap appears on the
left and, by clicking on it, you will get to...
The Laboratory
--------------
Watch the bit in which Bacatta has a bash at the enemy. He will
give you a horn, which is the only weapon with which you can
ultimately destroy Belial - so hang on to it. As soon as you are in
charge, turn right and move along. Have a look around - the red
liquid from the fountain flows under the wall, and the opening is
barred by spears. Look down at them and hack them broken, then
change to the Lizard (place the Curse Control in the spell circle
and press 3). Jump in and through and turn left. When you get up
there, use one of those light like eggs, if you have any left, to
see what's ahead. I saw three switches and shot at them to move
them, but it didn't seem to make much difference. Next, I found out
to my cost that I had to go right.
Running first W and then S, I got to a round room which in the map
was marked Summoning Chamber. Well, I tried all sorts, and this
worked: place the group of spells indicated by a skull (how
appropriate) in the spell circle and, aiming accurately at each of
the four skulls, cast Lesser Apparition (i.e., press 1); they all
end up in the centre of the room and a Demon appears. Fight it and
get what it's carrying. Get the corpse and go to the doors -
opening them will place you, and the corpse, on a lift. You need to
go to a room to the SE of the Summoning Chamber (consult the map)
and, once there, find the silver circle on the floor and place your
corpse on it. This opens a door to a lift which will take you to...
The Birthing Chamber
--------------------
You meet Dawn, who has another simple request for you. Aren't you
sick of them. Following your nose, you'll come to a blob. Press 5
with the Control Curse in the spell circle. Watch. Fight all the
demons which appear (collecting what they are carrying) and then
attempt to follow Belial. There is nothing for it - hack away at
the door till you get through (in fact, all locked doors in this
area have to be destroyed to open them).
In the next room you will see some unhealthy mists and contraptions
on the ceiling above them. Shatter them with a bow and you will be
able to get through. Along the corridor you will come to a chamber
with platforms going up and down, and Belial will talk to you from
the other side. He conjures up Scotia and you have to fight her -
get right up close to her and bash away keeping your eye on your
health. Then, leap across to the other side.
Before you go any further here, approach the next door with caution.
Look to your left and you'll see an accident waiting to happen.
Leap onto the shelf along the wall on your right, otherwise you'll
trip a fireball trap.
When you get to the next room, you'll see a lot of stone columns
going up and down, also red hot bars and ice columns. By dint of
getting myself killed surprisingly often, I discovered that to the
W, E and N of the entrance there were a stone slab, a white blob and
a red blob to destroy, and this cleared the room of all obstacles.
Head for the next room to the N and you'll have to fight a simile of
the Draracle - get right up close to him and you'll have no problem.
Equip the horn.
Continue along here and you will finally get to Belial. After a
friendly chat, I had the briefest of fights and it was all over.
Watch the daft finale. That's it, you've done it.