from TrueSite
@ the Shadowvale CSR
by Author
Getting Equipped
Swarmer Hive
Detectives
The School of Magic
The Slod-Kedbolm
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Return to Terath
Terath Sewers
SECTION 1: Getting equipped.
AIM: To find as much free stuff as you can in Terath and the surrounding area, then contact Volf, Fletcher and Restet.
Free stuff in Terath City:
-Don't buy beer from Hatty, it's a waste of money. And trying the trick on her just gets you attacked by bandits.
-You can push the barrels near the left gate into a more secluded spot and steal the goods inside.
-There are some hidden passages in the castle with goods inside.
-There's also a lot of good shops here so spend some time and money and skill points, if you have any. Getting l4 mage/priest skill is handy because free spells abound in this scenario. Slow Group and Curse All don't work that well because many bosses are totally immune to magic, but they'll still give you an edge in places like the Quad of Inquity or Acidbeat Shrine. They also make outdoor encounters (esp. the Mould Fort) a lot more enjoyable.
Free stuff in the Throne Room:
-Find a secret passage near the stairs to get onto the ledge and another secret passage from there to find some treasure
Free stuff outdoors:
-There's an encounter in the Bony Valley with some skeletons which gives you a nice weapon.
-Follow the rock trail north and walk through a wall to find the Small Cave. If you behave well you will receive a very good sword.
-Bhor-Tak's hut: Don't try the Quad of Inquity until you're very ready. There's a boat you can take to Aquatis or the Acidbeat Shrine (or later, to the Mysterious Tower)
Aquatis:
-If you play the stock market you can either win a lot or lose a lot. Notably you can get the Energy mace, which is a decent Bashing Weapon and fills up your SP to boot. But save before.
-The monk can train you, which Harmeni won't after Terath Rooftops.
Acidbeat Shrine:
-Acidic Acolytes drop Acid Bottles, which are thrown and cover the target in acid.
-Acid Priests drop Basic Powder.
-Acidbeats spit acid and are very nasty.
-Acidbeat bottles summon acidbeats (naturally enough)
-Get the acid from the labs and use it on the Big Basalt Block to clear a path. Do it quick or get burned.
-You have to take quite a winding path to get round the doors which 'you aren't going to get through'.
-The final fight is against 4 Priests and 4 'beats. Finish them, and good spells and an acid-spraying shield are yours.
Quad of Inquity:
-Don't try this until you've got quite a high-level party. It's very hard.
-To start, ask Bhor-Tak about 'quad' then 'visit' and he'll give you directions.
-The Quad itself is a big, invisible, black maze with nasty, invisible, black Quad Guardians. Some have L3 magic skills. The ????? they drop is money.
-Keep automap on to see roughly where you are.
-The Quad is four seperate mazes, joined by a + shaped Quadwalk. In the middle of the Quadwalk is the grass section you need to go to to leave.
-In each section is a door and a statue (somewhere). The doors give you a spell and heal you up, while you need to visit each statue to leave.
-For finishing the Quad you get the Quad Memory (blesses, hastes, heals, removes all negative effects and makes one character invincible), and a Wave Blade from Bhor-Tak.
Terath Rooftops:
When you're ready, talk to Volf, say 'infestation' to Restet, and go into his lounge to read the papers. You end up on the rooftops, with a lot of slimes to hack through.
-You need to go west, south, then east.
-The Dragon's Tooth is almost the end of this section.
- Heal, bless and haste before you fight Fletcher.
Boss 1: Fletcher
Fletcher has level 4 mage and priest spells, and is immune to magic. Your best bet is to haste and bless yourselves as much as possible then kill him before he can fight back. Luckily he doesn't have any special
spells.
Aim: To capture a live swarmer
Talk to Volf and Restet again, then head east to the Swarmer Hive.
-There are some spells behind a cracked wall
-Picking mushrooms wastes time
-You're headed for the north end of the hive, where 2 Swarmer Mages and 3 Warriors await. There's a secret passage you need to find in the north end.
Boss 2: Probatus-EGG
The egg is a good spellcaster, but the tentacles are pretty weak- a few good fireballs should sort them out. The egg creates 4 Nightmares (invincible), a fire field around itself, and finally some Sleep clouds. All are nasty, and it's level 5 spells which means Firestorms. This may take some tries. The Quad Memory is handy here.
-Fletcher has some nice treasure left behind.
Aim: To find Fletcher's accomplice.
Report to Restet, then Volf. Think about who's missing (spoiler: inemrah) and ask Volf about him/her. If you haven't done the Quad yet, now may be a good time.
Hut: The front way in is full of sword-blade traps. Go through the forest round the back (the rocks are trapped too) and go in the back way. You fight a Mage, two archers and some bandits but at least you're coming from behind so you can get hand-to-hand with that mage nice and fast. Look for some more secret passages in the bandits' bedroom.
Under Hut: You have to follow a secret passage (again) and chop up a hell of a lot of Vapour Rats, then go down the Stream of Filth. There's another mage to fight as well as some more bandits, before you
can get the letter and the key (don't forget some more treasure).
Aim: To enter the school of magic and get to the basement.
-There's a friendly bandit, Raven, in the dormitories, behind a secret passage. He doesn't give you anything but advice, food and rest. -Stalkers: Throw darts, use poison, but not too bad.
-Chameleon Slime: Fireballs work well because this stuff splits, but the chances are you won't notice it's there until it's too late.
-There's a friendly Stalker to the northeast end, where you can get the Stalker Potion (adds Skill Points)
-To finish this section, go to the long passage in the southwest corner of the lava viewing gallery and enter the secret passage just south of the sign.
Aim: To kill the Slod-Kedbolm that is blocking the waste disposal system.
-Get to the control panel on the platform, using fireballs to take out tentacles and go down to L2
-The Slod-Kedbolm stops the system going all the way down to the basement. Get off the platform and find the main hall. Open the letter there.
Boss 3: Harmeni
Harmeni appears in the Main Hall. She's extemely fast and a great fighter, but doesn't use magic so you can cover her in summons or wuss out and bless-haste again. A good tactic is to hide behind the
table and use Conflagaration, because she can take some time getting round it.
-The ring you get will summon the ghost of Lytrian Mancis.
-Ask the ghost about the Slod-Kedbolm and he'll give you a lot of information.
-Get his key from the north-east and go to the room with the lava spout, making sure you're high on SP.
-First, pull the lever in the east wall.
-Go to the pedestal and try to turn the barrier off. Insert the key and say his password. Now run like hell to the north portcullis- it'll open at the last moment. Follow the passage. You end up trapped in a
room with quickfire, so Light Heal your party to keep yourselves alive. After about 5 turns you'll be saved.
-Head east and rest until the panel informs you that it's safe.
-The Slod-Kedbolm should now be dead.
-After you take out the Slod-Kedbolm, you can take the waste system down to the basement.
-Once in the basement, talk to Harmeni, bless and haste, then enter the north door.
Boss 4: Probatus-LARVA and Fletcher.
Another fight with Probatus, then. Try to keep him away from your weakly-defended characters, because he can do a LOT of damage in one turn, especially because Fletcher'll Major Haste him.
Probatus will summon Nightmares as he moves, but they're not likely to hit you. You can't hurt Fletcher easily. He's behind a forcefield which makes him immune to weapons, he's already immune to magic, resists fire, and too strong to hurt with missiles. When Probatus dies, Fletcher dies too, so just concentrate on Probatus. Hasting a Priest and Wounding him works well but you'll have to be fast. Luckily there are no special spells.
-Head back to the castle and talk to Volf again. You can now enter the southeast area of the map.
-While you're there, you may want to visit Carding.
-Or the Mysterious Tower.
CARDING:
Carding is a sort of cross between a town and a dungeon. You can play it either as a fight or as a town or a mix of the two.
-If you fight the guard who asks for money, the town becomes hostile. Give him 100 gold and he won't bother you again. If you choose 'leave' then you now have to choose between 200 gold or a fight, and worse, the guard'll bother you again.
-There's a secret house somewhere with no signs. Try some secret doors and you'll find Blackthorne the Witch, who sells you spells and recipes.
-Blackthorne also buys food off you, but it's not a good rate, only really useful if you're extremely rich on food or short on cash.
-The Unspec Services Liason, Kranen, sells you good weapons, armour and projectiles, as well as some interesting tools.
-Don't drink anything. It's a waste of money. In the case of the cocktail, you'll lose all your cash.
-You also get pickpocketed with time, so avoid Long Waits.
MYSTERIOUS TOWER:
The Mysterious Tower is one long gauntlet of puzzles, east of the river in the Restricted Area.
To get in, touch the northwest, southeast, northeast, and southwest trees in that order. You get a bell, which you can use to get out.
The first floor is solved by going west a room, north a room, through the east portcullis then through the west one you're teleported to.
Then south one room, walk up to the south portcullis, then go east (the portcullis will open), south, and finally west again.
The answers for the riddles on the second floor are shadow, then keeping to the north are bookkeeper and air.
Next you'll get hurt by the floor and quizzed on classical music. The answers are Elgar (not Greenday!) and Handel.
Don't kill the dog. Just walk around it. Then ignore the chests to meet Ikal. Tell Ikal about Probatus, and enjoy all the other stuff you get too. Remember to search the bookcases! You get some L5 spells, very handy.
In Carding you can try to asassinate Grouse, the crimelord. This gets you the Ebony Sceptre, a nice item which completely heals your party. However, the fight is hard. You're up against Grouse, (who is roughly equivalent to a Bladesman), and a Mage, Priest and various smallfry. To find Grouse, either enter the slums via the secret passage in the east wall of the bar or Move Mountains the cracked wall in the Trash Pit. Then it's just a case of fighting your way through the slums to the secret door in the house marked PRIVATE. If you kill Grouse, Carding becomes hostile forever, and the secret door vanishes. Life will be easier if you can kill Grouse on the slums-side of the secret door, but that's not likely. If you don't, the previously locked door in the wall will unlock itself and you have a dash through a hostile
town ahead of you. Luckily you don't have to worry about super-strong Guards, but Carding citizens are pretty tough and there are four When you leave, open the package you find for the Ebony Sceptre.
THE DESCENT:
Make sure you're ready, then enter the cave to the northeast of this area. Walk along the gangplank into the Voyager and sit down. When it crashes, enter the south section and talk to Rannis. He will
explain your new objectives: Find a source of heat to get the Voyager moving again, and some remains of Probatus. Now leave Voyager, into the Deepest Caverns.
The two things you need are the Smashed Egg, which is a t the top right, and the Magic Crystal which is at the bottom left. On your way you'll have to fight several Deep Slimes. These are HARD. They only have 20 hp but are immune to everything except fighting and Wound, and are L7(!) mage and priest spellcasters. This makes it VITAL for you to finish them as soon as you see them. One of the best ways is to move any priests you have to the front line. The Magic Geysers that the slimes sit upon completely refill your SP, which is basically the only way you'll survive this. When you have both items, return to Rannis and sit in the chairs.
BOSS 5: Commander Restet
Get out of the Voyager as quickly as you can, or it's instant death. (Although you don't need go into combat mode) Once you're out, you're up against Restet. The two mages are friendly, so let them form the front line. Restet resists magic and fire, but isn't immune, so pile spell effects onto him. It doesn't make any difference whether you finish him off or not, he dies anyway. Another casualty.
Terath has been destroyed! The only survivor is Lakos, the priest. Walk through the barrier in front of his temple and talk to him. Make sure he mixes up the anti-sleeping elixir for you, or you won't win.
Now, if you've missed any side quests that you want to do, do them now. The most important are the Small Cave, Carding and the Quad of Inquity. If you've done any of these, go back to the area to get yourselves some allies for the up-and-coming battle. When you're done, rest, mix alchemy if you can, and then go to the hive entrance just south of Hatty's. You're faced with a horde of Swarmers. The Swarmer Soldiers and Enforcers are immune to most magic, so summoning and fighting hand-to hand is your only hope. Soldiers aren't much harder than Warriors, and Enforcers only have L4 magic. If you have all the allies, it'll be a doddle.
You've got a long sewer hike ahead. Head clockwise round the sewers to get a boat, then go west and south to find a secret entrance into the hive. There's a corpse hidden with lots of potions, but his spirit will fight you. The hive is full of Swarmers, although the walls can be Move Mountainsed to pass hard bits. Chop your way through it, drink potions, use the Ebony Sceptre if you want (although it's more useful later) and then enter the basalt-wall area.
BOSS 6: Probatus-MATURE
Okay, this is it! Probatus' final form is really going to test you. You can kill it by attacking the head-section, but you'll probably want to weaken it a bit first by taking out the spellcasting tentacles. Also, after 11 rounds, you lose invincibility, so save Ikal's gem for the next fight.
What's this? Where's the nice ending sequence? Why aren't I getting a fat cash reward? What's happening...?
Head up the Dragon's tooth, to find...
BOSS 7: Fletcher
Fletcher is strong, but uses no magic and dies after five rounds, so just stay in town mode if you want.
FINAL BOSS: Probatus-AMALGRAM
Fletcher's mutated state is HARD. Great fighter, good spellcaster. Good luck. You'll need it. Use all the special items you have left. The Ebony Sceptre is useful for removing the effects of Spray Filth
and Major Ravaging.