from TrueSite
@ the Shadowvale CSR
by Luz
General Walkthrough
by Author
1) Mandrake's wife, Lara, who welcomes visitors at the Grotto Museum in Mandraketown at (35,33), will open a secret door for you at (30,34) when you ask her about 'where' the 'location' of the entrance is found.
2) Find Mandrake at (26,27). Interrogate him about his friend, the Empress Prazac. He will give you information about the dangerous situation threatening Mendel Island, and will give you a hint about where to look for the First Experimental Farm where cloning experiments have first been conducted. Before you undertake your main mission, the dialog will eventually lead Mandrake to ask you to first help him with a little 'problem'. He asks you to free his assistant Arrowroot who locked himself in a cold room (as he gives you the key -special item- at the same time).
3) Use the portal at (26,24) to go to his laboratory (the "Sheep Barn") where captured Supersheep are studied. The cold roomt is on the third floor of the Sheep Barn. The stairs to reach the 3rd floor are located at (12,46) on the 2nd floor; this requires a bit of slaughtering. Freeing Arrowroot on the 3rd floor is straightforward.
4) Report yourself to Mandrake (mentioning 'Arrowroot'). He will then brief you about your mission to Krakos, the 1st step of the Dolly Mission. You must find the Map of the 1st Experimental Farm where cloning experiments are conducted. He will also give you a password -special item- that you may use to reach Mandrake faster when you need to report to him in the future.
5) As explained by Mandrake, go to Krakos directly south of Mandraketown, and find Sagittus the fletcher. Ask him about 'instructions' and he will send you to Nostradama the alchemist (also in Krakos). Find her and ask about 'gaols'. She will suggest you to '"excavate"to find the old Krakos gaol, but you must first kill the demon who is hiding in her shop. After killing the demon, you will easily find a mouldy wall behind which a stairsway leads down to the gaols.
6) Down in the Old Krakos Gaols, go to the spectre hiding at (6,7). Killing it will give you the Map of the 1st Experimental Farm (special item) and will cause an explosion allowing you to escape from the gaols using the stairway at (4,26). You end up in a small office in the SW section of Krakos. You will be attacked by Bjork, a treator dervish working for the sect responsible for the cloning experiments.
7) Report to Sagittus, and then to Mandrake back in Mandraketown. Mandrake will then assign you to find and explore the First Experimental Farm using the map you have found. He will ask you to get the Royal Seal from Lara. You need that seal to cross the various bridges of Mendel Island.
7) Mandrake has also told you that the Supersheep were first found in the northeast farmland on Mendel Island. This is obviously where you must head out to find the 1st Farm. The map does not unveil the exact location of the 1st Farm, but mentions that a geyser is found nearby. Find that geyser at (33,31) north of Geneport, whcih will allow you to find and enter the 1st Expt'l Farm in the middle of the cornfields at (11,20).
8) Under the ground, you must find your way -CAUTION: nasty traps! - to (43,39) a document revealing the location of a secret door to enter the main Farm building at (26,34). You may trigger the portcullis at (23,30) by pressing a button at (13,37). This is not essential, but will give you access to notes warning you against dangers present either in the NW or NE enclosures of the Farm.
9) You must find two pieces of information in the 1st Expt'l Farm. [1] Read a note at (9,24) about 'meeting in Geneport': this is required to meet one of the leaders of theGenemasters (Watson aka the 'Masked Marauder' ) who is holding an assembly under the town o f Geneport. [2] Find the notebook describing the cloning experiments at (29,22); that notebook contains the secret combination of a doorlock, one of 2 conditions for finding the Map of the 2nd Experimental Farm.
10) Go then to Geneport on the NE coast of Mendel Island to look for the scientists who have fled the 1st Farm. You rent a boat from Kenneth (talk to people in Geneport for some good laughs!). Navigate north to a peninsula where you will see the Dark Pit leading to a secret entrance to Geneport.
11) Enter the Dark Pit and follow the tunnel that will lead you to the Masked Marauder. The latter will escape from you as you try to approach him. Follow his trace by going through secret passages in the cave walls east to the portal at (19,21), and then to the entrance (7,9) of a tunnel leading to an abandoned shack in Geneport. You then use the stairway at (25,5) to go under Geneport.
12) You surprise the Genemasters and one of their leaders in the middle of a large meeting. The Masked Marauder will ask you whether you have met Mandrake. You CANNOT kill the Marauder! You MUST obey him or else you are killed. You MUST also burn all pieces of evidence that you have thus far collected (you will be allowed to keep only the password in Mandraketown and your Royal Seal). You are then ordered to leave using the staircase at the north (16,6). Guards will beat you a little bit before opening the magical door of the abandoned shack for you.
13) You should now report to Mandrake. However, as you approach Mandrake or Lara, the latter will tell you to rush to the Arboretum just NE of Arabidopsis because terrible creatures are proliferating there. Arabidopsis is a town on the south coast of Mendel Island (follow the road going east of Krakos).
14) Meet Mandrake at the Arboretum. He will explain to you that the garden is prey to gigantic mutant worms, the Caenorhabdites, that are quite vicious and will easily dumbfound your party if you're not strong enough. Your mission there is to neutralize an Aberrant Caenorhabditis hiding itself in the greenhouse in the east section of the Arboretum. Once you have struggled your way to the greenhouse (WARNING: pretty hard fighting is necessary here!), kill the Aberrant Caenorhab and you will find a metallic tag bearing a sign found on the door of a scientist named Plinus who lives in Arabidopsis. Mandrake will leave you with the mission to check with Plinus.
15) As you just enter Plinus' house, Genemasters are torturing the poor man to force him to speak. You try to save him by killing the Genemasters, but it was almost too late. Before dying, Plinus points to the Map to the 2nd Experimental farm in his library.
16) You bring the map to Mandrake -he's back in Mandraketown now-, who will mention that the 2nd Farm is near extensive swamps where nasty wild cobras thrive. He will tell you to find the Farm and investigate it thoroughly to get 'clues'. He will also give you a Wand of Miasma to counter the poisonous atmosphere of the swamps. The main swamps on Mendel Island (Dismal Swamp) are located immediately south of the dark alley of trees that you follow to go to Geneport. Explore the area and you should discover a Swamp Hut at (39,5).
17) Make your way to the boats hidden at the Swamp Hut at (14,23) and (15,23). After using the locks, navigate southeast to the entrance of the Grand Canal which extends south down to a large lake (Lake Mendel). At a bottleneck in the second half of the Grand Canal, you will need to fight your way against a Naga and its cobras to be able to free your boat from a trap.
18) Once you reach the exit of the Canal, you are no longer able to navigate: the locks won't open. You go to the Canal Tower nearby for help only to find that it is a meeting place for the Genemasters. They are meeting on the 2nd floor of the Tower, that you r each using a secret passage in the furnace at (22,19).
19) Neutralize the Genemasters (TRICK: they easily succumb to a Mass Charm spell) and you will be able to press the button on the pillar at (16,24). Jump from the now exposed catapulting platform at (17,28) and you will land unharmed on a bed of peat moss Bog Island in the middle of Lake Mendel. The 2nd Experimental Farm is on the Island.
20) Enter the 2nd Farm. Go find the map of the 3rd Experimental Farm in the Genemasters Library downstairs by using the stairway at (4,29). (It is hidden at the end of a quite straightforward series of secret passages starting by inspecting the bookshelves at (19,13). Open the portcullis at (29,5) by struggling your way to press the button at (5,61). Find the secret code in Watson's room at (10,3) to open the door of the adobe building at (17,40) where the Original Sheep is kept. Find your way through the maze inside the adobe building to press button at (46,9) to open the entrance to the Original Sheep Compound.
21) You solve an easy puzzle to pass through the hall with statues and braziers (between (45,41) and (48,44)). Open portcullis at (46,22) using secret lever at (40,19) to find access to the anteroom at the entrance of the conference room where Watson is meeting with Rentar-Ihrno. You surprise them and talk to Rentar-Ihrno to figure out what she is doing there. You can then destroy the Original Supersheep (not necessary, though) south of the anteroom, and escape from the farm (necessary, yes!) after talking to Rentar-Ihrno. Escape from the farm by finding the hidden boat at (58,25).
22) You must now report 'clues' to Mandrake. He will ask you about another map -the Third Map- that you should have brought with you (hopefully, otherwise, back to the Farm!). That map mentions that the 3rd Farm is located somewhere in the area of the mythical Mage's Fault. However, Mandrake (bluffing) seems puzzled because nobody except an old mage named Y (the twin brother of X of who used to work at the Tower of Magi ) apparently believes in the existence of the Mage's Fault and knows its location.
23) You must find Y in Arabidopsis and ask him about the 'Fault'. He will then rant about a mysterious medalion that archmage Erika (cf. the Exile trilogy) once sent to him and that allows flying over long distances. You will need that medalion to survey the Mage''s Fault and finally discover the way leading to the 3rd and last Experimental Farm.. To find the medalion, Y refers you to a lifeguard named Jean-Jacques who works at the Family Beach NW of Arabidopsis.
24) Find Jean-Jacques and ask him about a 'treasure' (that comes up when you dialog with him), and he will offer you to lead you on a boat to where that medalion is supposed to be found, i.e. under the sea off the coast of Piedmont, a small seaport on the western shore of Mendel Island. He will tell you to meet him later at his Ramp SW of the Beach. As he is leaving, he'll ask you what time it is because the beach is about to close. If you reply with 'time' or 'close' , you will make acquaintance with the cloned Iguanas created by the Genemasters. You can try to protect people at the beach against attack by these iguanas, if you want.
25) Meet Jean-Jacques at his boat ramp and mention 'boat' to undertake your boat trip off the coast of Piedmont. Approach the coast at 4 spaces exactly west of Piedmont and Jean-Jacques will make a first (unsuccessful) attempt at diving to find Erika's medalion. Now, move to the west of that spot and you will eventually see Jean-Jacques succeed in finding the medalion.
26) Show the 'medalion' to Y, who will then tell you how to find the Mage's Fault. He also warns you against the dangers of flying using that medalion! You will find the 'hammerhead' peninsula west of Jean-Jacques' Ramp (you can access it by foot or by boat). Standing i n the middle of that peninsula, you will create an opening in the mountains at the north, and you must then fly (using a Flying spell, not the medalion) your way safely to the narrow valley next to the new opening. The mountain range will close back behind you as you move to the east forcing you to survive in that hostile environment until you find a safe place to stay.
27) You will find an opening leading to the Mage's Fault near the end of the mountain passage at (24,45). A mysterious character is now inviting you to move on and fly across the Fault using a Staff of Bravery that allows you to fly across exactly 5 spaces (not more!) to reach an easily visible cave entrance (the Fault's Cave).
28) To enter the Fault's Cave behind its walls, you must turn on a 'hydrant' (!). Starting with the statue at (54,53), there is an elaborate but straightforward puzzle to solve that ends up with sitting down at (59,36), which creates a door at (48,55). Finding your way through the nervewrecking Cave maze is mostly a matter of endurance and should be relatively easy to figure out. To escape the Quickfire that you must trigger to find the exit, unlock doors at (19,51), (20,51) and (21,50). You must take the garnet key off the body at (4,43) and press the button at (4,46) using the magic wall. These will unlock the door at (10,30) and open the portcullis at (10,31), respectively. You will then enter a room with a checkerboard of buttons on carpet surfaces that activates the rearrangement of surfaces to the north, allowing you to reach a row of 5 signs. To cross the obstacles, step on space at (9,27) while avoiding all the others. To access the door behind the signs, simply read them. Towards the end of the long walk, you will need to destroy walls at (25,17), (24,16), (25,15) and (25,14) to access the lava flow and finish your painstaking odyssey in the Fault's Cave at the stairway at (41,5).
29) The stairway leads up to the Fault's Tower (first level). You discover that the friendly voice that was speaking to you since you arrived to the Mage's Fault is none other than that of Erika, the archmage who was believed to have been killed after Rentar-Ihrno had created an opening of the cave roof (cf. Exile 3 -Ruined World). You talk to Erika, who will explain to you how she survived, after all, and what will be the rest of your mission to defeat the Genemasters' plans. This will now be your base camp. There are many shops there where you can get almost any type of supplies and items you need (you must talk a little with Erika to know how to enter these shops). Erika will eventually tell you something important that you should have figured out by yourself by now: dead bodies of cloned reptiloid creatures are a precious source of Arabidopsis Extract, that can restore the energy of ALL mages and priests in your group 5 times. You will need it to survive the multiple deadly encounters that await you starting at the Shield Farm onward.
30) Erika will tell you about the 3 main obstacles that her Doomsguard spies have detected and that you must cross before reaching Rentar-Ihrno's base (i.e. the Crystal Cave) and the passage to the 3rd Experimental Farm. First, you must find the Magnetic Wand in the first obstacle, the Shield Farm. To fly over the Mage's Fault, you need to use Erika's medalion. That artefact allows you to fly over exactly 20 spaces. You can use it again at any time to reset your flight allowance to 20 at any time. Erika will suggest that you practice flying with the medalion taking off from a specially marked spot on a ledge over the southern extremity of the Fault, but there is a catch: it gives you a bad case of vertigo/dumbfounding to stand there! Whichever method you use, you need to land NNE from the Fault's Cave near the entrance to the Shield Farm (invisible, located at (25,16)).
31) The Shield Farm maze can be exceedingly difficult to explore, but there is an easier way to reach your goal there (i.e. finding the Magnetic Wand at the exit at (27,3)). After fighting the Gigaskinks that welcome you, you go around the NE corner of the enclosure and then west. You must take care of an annoying Gigaskink that regenerates at (26,18) every time a member of your party steps at (25,18) -there is no way around it!. Once you reach the first conveyor belt, walk it down its south extremity into the lava bed. Walking diagonally up and down (zigzaging) starting with (14,31), (15,32), (16,31), (17, 30), (18, 31), etc., you will step only on false lava spaces and avoid the need for firewalking. Zigzaging like this leads eventually to (39,34), where you are magically transported to (39,30) (beware of Mutant Basilisks nearby!). Use the secret door at (39,20) and step on (41,20), which will cause the sign next to it to disappear, allowing you to simply follow the path going way down south, west, east, way up north, west and then east at the northern limit of the Shield Farm. Once you get the Magnetic Wand at the exit (see above), Erika will bring you back magically to the entrance of the Fault's Tower.
32) You show the 'wand' to Erika. She will then assign you to go to the Crystal Lake area, where demons have been assembled by Rentar-Ihrno and her Vahnatai faithkeepers to take care of intruders. To reach Crystal Lake and the Vahnatai Vanguard (i.e. the 2nd obstacle befoire reaching the 3rd Farm), possessing the Magnetic Wand will automatically allow you to fly across the mountain range north of the Shield Farm at (24,13), always using Erika's medalion, of course.
33) Entering the Vahnatai Vanguard at (24,11) - i.e. north from the Shield Farm -, your goal is to activate the 4 Crystal Lords that block the entrance of the Crystal Cave where is located Rentar-Ihrno. The Vahnatai Vanguard is used to send cloned reptilian creatures to the Shield Farm across the mountain range using a network of conveyor belts. In order to activate the Crystal Lords, you will need to find the four keys located in the NW room of the building to open the doors to access these buttons (you would not see the effect of these buttons unless you check for yourself). To get access to these doors, you must pull the lever in the NW room at (8,6), which will open the center hall leading to each of the 4 similar conveyor belt rooms found in the southern part of the building. Keep the crystal left after destroying the Controller Crystal in that room: it has unique properties that will save your life many times later... You must also reverse each conveyor belt to reach these doors, by destroying the Power Crystals that guard each of 4 levers numbered according to the room that they control (rooms 1 to 4, from left to right). Importantly, you can reverse only one conveyor belt at a time, thus forcing oneself to pull each lever in succession. Destroying the Mind Crystals (not necessary, but almost inevitable!) at the center of the NE room will activate a timer that sets up traps that will eventually destroy the whole building (and yourselves) if you don't act quickly enough. You MUST therefore hurry to finish your duty there. The simplest way is to proceed in an orderly fashion, e.g. starting with pulling lever 2 (and conveyor belt room #2), lever 3, lever 4 and finish with lever 1.
34) Once this task is finished, you can fly east to the nearby Crystal Cave. If you proceeded correctly, all 4 Crystal Lords should have now be activated, creating entrance points to reach the Crystal Cave. Active Crystal Lords are very powerful, and you will have a tough time fighting them. But the reward is substantial because each Crystal Lord destroyed yields one Power Crystal. Don't forget to collect them!
35) The Crystal Cave has a single purpose: to control passage to the north. Whoever possesses the 8 rocks forming the password 'GENET ICS' will be allowed to fly over the mountain range NW of the Crystal Cave. To find these rocks, Aster-Ihrno (Rentar-Ihrno's daughter !), who hides near the room with the Crystal Dispatcher, will tell you to talk to the Crystal Dispatcher. The latter will teleport you to one of the 8 rooms to the east, where you easily find and collect the lettered pebbles. Once you have collected the 8 rocks, you teleport back to the Dispatcher and ask it to 'pass': you answer the password 'GENETICS' and the Dispatcher will teleport you north of the Cave. N.B.: If you have answered incorrectly to the 'pass' question, the Dispatcher will teleport you back to the East rooms and will alert Rentar-Ihrno, who will show up in one of these rooms at random and be very cross at seeing you! IMPORTANT: even after you have figured out the password, you MUST save the 8 lettered rocks in order to reach the valley north of the Crystal Cave!
36) However, something wrong has happened at the Fault's Tower: Rentar-Ihrno and a few of her accomplices have been informed about your plans with Erika, and have invaded the Tower with evil plans. She calls for your help (quite an honor!) and teleports you back to the Central Hall where she is barricaded with her Doomsguards. You must unlock the door to the south in order to defeat Rentar-Ihrno, but you can then leave the nasty business of trying to kill Rentar -Ihrno to Erika and her bodyguards, unless you have REALLY strong PCs. Rentar will NOT be killed but will simply disappear out of view before it's too late. After the incident, you are ready to travel to the desolated valley north of Crystal Cave.
37) The next part of your mission is VERY trying, and you will need all Arabidopsis Extract and Power Crystals that you can use. You fly your way up to the mountains just NE of the Crystal Cave, where the 8 pebbles that you had collected allow you to fly over the mountain tops (N.B.: for an easier flight control, use the Staff of Bravery instead of Erika's medalion). You will then march along a long valley with plenty of special encounters with large cohorts of cloned creatures, all very lethal if you're not well prepared! This will build up your character to face a big deception at the end of the long march: you reach a dead end instead of your ultimate goal. There is simply no trace of human activity except for a small canoe attached to a tree, next to a mountain stream. Examine the area carefully, as guided by the special messages. Erika will once again provide her help to take you back to the Tower, but not before you have walked back to a point found just NW of the Crystal Cave.
38) As suggested by Erika's message as you enter the Fault's Tower, go rest yourself in the guest apartment at the SW corner of the Tower. Once you are well rested, Erika will come up with a tentative solution to reach the 3rd Ezperimental Farm. She suggests that the 3rd Farm may be accessible by following a brook that runs through the nearby town of Piedmont. She asks you to enquire with persons in Piedmont about the 'brook'. She will tell you where to find a tunnel leading out of the Tower to a place near Piedmont (ask about 'leaving'). In Piedmont, ask Sister Mercy about the 'brook' and she will reveal the location of the secret entrance to the underground water supply at (32,36).
39) Find the secret lever at (20,25) to open the lock in order to row your boat out of Piedmont Water; you MUST also kill the Genemasters hiding in the opposite corner of the secret cave near (6,21) to finally obtain the ultimate indication of the way leading to the 3rd farm.
40) Row your boat up to the entrance of the Abysmal Cave. The place is a complex system of levers that open cave rooms to access another lever, etc., until you open the space at (42,8). It is relatively straightforward to find each successive step, especially using a Magic Map. Take t he Genemaster disguises stored in the chest at (40,7): they will prompt the Genemaster guarding the Farm to open the portcullis.
41) You finally emerge froim the Abysmal Cave in full view of the 3rd Experimental Farm. Enter it from the north and the Genemaster there will open the portcullis if you wear their uniform. As you enter the place, he does not recognize you as a sect member and becomes hostile. Step in and the portcullis closes back on you. Fight your way through the NW section and find the Worm Key in the Vahnatai Lord's room at (14,18). This will allow you to climb to safety to the 2nd floor, where Genemasters arenow acting in a friendly manner.
42) Talk to Crick in the nearby room. He will inform you that the Master Plan to flood Mendel Island with cloned creatures is over, as decided by his 'friend' Watson and himself. The problem remaining is that Rentar-Ihrno still wants to execute the Plan. He tells you to meet Watson and himself in the large central room where Rentar-Ihrno and several of her Vahnatai friends have barricaded themselves. The 2nd floor of the building is divided in 4 sections that communicate between each other through a teleportation system. Use the portal in the room south of Crick's office to go to the portal control room and use the portal at the upper right to reach the NE section of the building (the portal at lower right is used to vist Watson, if you desire).
43) From there, find your way to the meeting room in the center section of the building. Take the Zirconium key at (44,25) and enter the meeting room at (46,29). Crick and Watson with a number of their friendly Genemasters are coming to assist you in an epic combat that will end up with the near killing of Rentar-Ihrno. The best method for neutralizing Rentar (she is NOT invulnerable!) is, of course, by raw force, surrounding her and yourselves with an Antimagic Cloud. Leave the other foes to Watson and Crick: they will do a good job for you.
44) You manage to nearly kill Rentar-Ihrno, but she escapes before receiving a fatal blow, carrying the Master Plan with her. You are informed about horrible screamings in the SW section of the 2nd floor. You must now find Rentar-Ihrno again and rob the Master Plan from her. To reach the SW sector, use the lower left portal in the control room at (30,9). Cross the hall as quickly as possible (nasty humanoid clones have been kept in that special empty room...) and tear down the wall at the SE corner of the room. Climb to the roof (3rd floor) at (37,54).
45) As you explore the roof, you will be surprised by the sudden appearance of Rentar-Ihrno with a large number of copies of herself... The Rentar clones are relatively easy to defeat by protecting yourself using a Power Crystal and spelling Shockwaves until only Rentar-Ihrno is left, perhaps still alive but already weakened. You terminate the villain in the usual manner: Rentar-Ihrno will REALLY be killed this time. Find the Master Plan inside the small closed building at the center (you will need it to finish the scenario), and come back to the 2nd floor to report to Crick. He and Watson tell you that they will accompany you showing no resistance and constitute themselves as your prisoners.
46) Use the secret tunnel leading from the NW corner of Crick's meeting room and exit at Piedmont. You report yourselves at Mandraketown. Mandrake congratulates you and tells you to come back in a day or two for a special barbecue in your honor at Heraldic Park, right east of Krakos. (A messenger will deliver the news when it is time to meet at Heraldic Park). At the barbecue, Mandrake will ask you to burn the Master Plan in a brazier in front of everybody. You can then open your gifts in the building at the north. The END. [You're invited to spend more time on Mendel Island pursuing minor side missions -Dropeye's Heartbreak a nd the Quest for the Giant Radish), if you want so].