Gurk 3 Guide and Walkthrough ---------------------------- ******** Preface: ******** I've written this Guide because I'm a huge fanboy of Larva Labs and the whole Gurk series. I've written it because there was no FAQ for the game, no single resource, and in the past I've often relied on other fans' guides to get through games myself. So I wanted to give back - partly to the community, and partly to the authors, Matt and John, who deserve all the encouragement in the world for making a game so simple and yet relentlessly addicting. Readers will find that this is a quick-and-dirty guide. I don't give every last detailed instruction, but I try to stop and note anything important that could be overlooked by someone new to the game. Lastly, there is only one other useful info source out there for Gurk 3, and that is the official Wiki. I may occasionally refer to information in it. You can find it here: http://gurk-rpg.wikispaces.com/Gurk+III ################# Table of Contents ################# After every section listed below is a 5-character nonsense code, which you can use to search and find that section of the guide. Each code appears once: here in the TOC, and at the start of that line. Highlight, copy, search, jump down, read away. Got it? Good. ***************************************************************************** Section Sub-Section - Jump Code ***************************************************************************** Beginning the Game - OBMBO Controls - MJJIB Character Selection - YKVZB Rolling Stats - MSIQD General Gameplay - QGGBF Leveling Up Smart - JMORK Spell Effectiveness - EYMUT Battle Tactics - MNVUC General Advice - OJGUA Early Game - WDKLZ Mid Game - JCFGD Late Game - LLCQI Game Walkthrough - Eastern Continent - NQBVK 1. Rivercross and the Kobold Den - PTVTE 2. Port Yester and the Goblin Breeding Pits - HYSVK 3. Lycea and Worgen Keep - FPEMD 4. Brinfort, The Great Tree, and Academy Tower - ISDJX 5. Brinfort and the High Seas - BRWAW 6. Urlopolis, Caves and the Temple - IVOQV 7. Gurnstaad and the Chalice - XQZWU 8. Vloyansk and the Rest of Keshak - MHAVM 9. To the Westerlandes and Teshvar - TSWUO Game Walkthrough - Western Continent - AWCSL 10. Teshvar and the Arena - GVVRA 11. Diversions and Mini-Quests - JQSST 12. Thowan Pass and the Grasslands - XDOSS 13. Telden's Landing and the Chase for Vella - TDLMV 14. Shuunia, the Wastes, and Ubon Fortress - ZZLGI Game Walkthrough - The Endgame - GIHQU 15. Castle Hilenika and the Sewers - KJPVC 16. Forbidden World 1 & 2: Kroga and the Catwalk - IUGLW 17. Forbidden World 3: Where the Heck Am I? - SFAXW 18. Forbidden World 4: The Walled Garden - HTSXA Epilogue and Errata - BNFIW Future Enhancements / Wishlist - EHANV ################## Beginning the Game - OBMBO ################## You're at the home screen. Step 1: complete! Let's start a New game. ******** Controls - MJJIB ******** Gurk harkens back to the days of oldschool RPGs - think the early days of Final Fantasy - and so presents you with a game that's deep in functionality and nuance, but very light on the graphics. In keeping with that, your phone's screen divides into the display part (the top half), and the "controls" (the bottom half). The controls screen is a 3x3 grid of buttons you can push at any point. Sometimes they go dark - nothing there! - and most of the time there's a button that says what it does. 1. When wandering around the world, your options usually are: Heroes Save Quests Map Up/Down/etc - Move the party in that direction Heroes - Go to the party's status menu Quests - Stuff to do! Each one gets a "+" in front of it when complete Save - Saves the game. One more click returns you here. Map - Shows the level map or world map. When on, it shows "No Map" and clicking that turns the map off 2. The Heroes screen. When viewing the party, it'll show each character's name, level, and HP/SP, and also offer you: Options View Exit Options - Change the game settings (music, Sound FX, etc) Up/Down - Scroll between characters, and the Bag of Holding View - View character's details Exit - Return to the level/world/game-playin' 3. The Character screen. When "View"ing a particular character, you've got a few options too: Items Cast|Use Gear Back Exit Items - Show the list of (up to 15) items this character holds Note: Anything equipped has a "+" in front of it, and anything with a limited # of uses has a [5] to its right. Cast|Use - Cast a spell the character knows, or use an item they hold Gear - Equip or unequip any equipment onto that character Back - Return to main Heroes menu Exit - Return to the level/world/game-playin' 4. The Items screen. When viewing a character's inventory of items, your options are: Drop Give Info Back Exit Up/Down - Scroll through the list of items Drop - Discard the item, permanently Give - Place the item into another character's inventory. The next screen shows you how many available slots each char has. Info - Details on the item: who can use it, what it does Back - Return to the Character screen Exit - Return to the level/world 5. The Battle menu. When you're fighting, you have a top screen that looks roughly like this: ) 2 3 ( ) 1( ) W ( ) A M ( XXXXXXXXX ...where "W", "A" and "M" are your Warrior, Archer and Mage, and the #s might be monsters. You'll always control characters in that order, too: Warrior, then Archer, then Mage. Your party gets to act first, unless the battle begins with a notice that you've been "Ambushed", in which case, the monsters act first. The options below you are: Fire* Wield View Pass Cast|Use** Up/Down/etc - Move the currently-active character in that direction Fire* - Select an enemy to target and attack them with your weapon Wield - Change which weapon you're using, if you're carrying multiple View - Investigate the status of a party member or monster Note: very useful for seeing enemy HP to help choose targets Pass - Skip the character's turn in battle ("do nothing") Cast|Use - Select a spell to cast on something or an item to use * If you have a melee weapon, this will say "Attack". If you have a ranged weapon, this will say "Fire". If you have a weapon that does both, it will say "ATT|FIRE", and you just pick an enemy to hurt. ** If you don't know spells, it will say "Use"; if you aren't carrying usable items, but know some spells, it will say "Cast". If you don't have either, it'll be blank. ******************* Character Selection - YKVZB ******************* Hold on, we're getting ahead of ourselves. Before you get to any of those screens I just mentioned, we need to set up our party. Your first choice is to pick which characters you want in your party. There are only two meaningful differences between these characters (the 3-4 options you have for your Warrior, Archer and Mage): 1. Stat bonuses/penalties 2. Spells that they acquire as they level up The stat differences are presented in the "Info" menu when viewing a character option, so you can choose based on that. Spell differences aren't obvious from the game screen, so see below for those. There is a "hidden" character in each Class which is unlocked by beating the game (so you can use them on your 2nd playthrough). Although they give a different playing experience, none of them are usually considered the strongest of the character options within their Class, and they all have penalties to the most important stat (Toughness). Each of the 4 stats (Strength, Accuracy, Awareness and Toughness) impact game mechanics as follows: Strength : (1) Affects physical Damage (e.g. 16 STR = +2 damage per attack) Accuracy : (1) Affects To-Hit (penalties mean more of your attacks get blocked) Awareness: (1) Affects Armor Class ("AC", which helps prevent getting hit) (2) Adds SP gain at Level Up (Mage only; impacts each level) Toughness: (1) Affects Resistance (like AC for Magic attacks) (2) Adds HP gain at Level Up (added to normal rolls, each level) There are no Strength requirements to wear any particular armor or weapon. Stat bonuses for the characters are as follows: --- Warriors --- Character: Sir Rugnar Borakash Lady Alwyn Oloman Strength : +3 +3 +3 +3 Accuracy : -5 +5 Awareness: -5 +5 Toughness: +5 -5 --- Archers --- Character: Feraldan Silvana Pardah Grath Strength : -5 +5 Accuracy : +3 +3 +3 +3 Awareness: -5 +5 Toughness: +5 -5 --- Mages --- Character: Gorlok Gaelabeth Tazatar B'Az Aptar Strength : -5 +5 Accuracy : -5 +5 Awareness: +3 +3 +3 +3 Toughness: +5 -5 All else equal, you would pick the characters with +5 Toughness. But all else is not equal, because there are spell differences. See the Gurk 3 Wiki for the full listing if you want to educate yourself. The conclusions are generally: --- Warriors --- Borakash has the most useful spells, particularly one making himself Berserk (attack 2x in a turn). He is the most obvious choice. The other defensible choice is Lady Alwyn, who suffers an AC penalty (-5 AWR), but who has a Heal spell and a Ranged Paralyze spell (great against very powerful enemies). Of the two, Borakash's Toughness bonus usually makes him the best choice. The other two don't have spells you'll ever think to use. --- Archers --- Feraldan has the most useful spells. All of them enhance his own battle effectiveness, with Rain of Arrows (Berserk to Self) being a fantastic emergency option when facing bosses or tough enemy sets. Silvana can also be useful, with a low-cost Heal spell that can bolster the Mage's healing abilities, and her lvl 10 spell removes Afflictions from an Area (great for healing Poison, Paralysis or Rooting). However, you can use potions for the latter, so I'll generally opt for Feraldan. The other two don't have useful spells. --- Mages --- The comparison is a bit more complex because Mages get 14 spells by endgame. 5 of these spells are common across all Mage characters (and which will be used most often). Among the other 9, certain spells are particularly useful or effective at the level you get them at, and at the SP cost they incur. Other spells just aren't. Gaelabeth has, in my view, 5 of her 9 unique spells rated as "useful" (and, helpfully, she also gets +5 Toughness). Tazatar has 3, and the others have 2. Gorlok and Tazatar are more summon-heavy, with Tazatar having the best one plus some tactical stuff (Teleport, etc). Gorlok has a fantastic end-game spell (Time Prism, paralyzing a 3x3 area), but there are items that have the same effect. So my recommendation is: For your first playthrough, pick Gaelabeth, and if you play through again, try someone else. ************* Rolling Stats - MSIQD ************* After choosing a character for each class, you'll have to roll (and roll, and roll...) stats for them. This is done "D&D style", i.e. the system will roll 3 6-sided "dice" and add up the results, so unadjusted numbers will be between 3 and 18, with numbers in the middle much more likely and numbers at the extremes very unlikely (e.g. rolling at least a 17, before bonuses, only has odds of 1-in-54). To those unadusted numbers are added the character-specific bonuses or penalties (with a floor of 1). Additionally: - You can re-roll as many times as you like. Most people will re-roll until they get a combination of stats that they like. - When it rolls initial stats, the system will likewise roll initial values for HP (floor of 5, max roll of 9 plus any bonuses from Toughness). For your Mage it will also roll SP (floor of 4, max roll of 8 plus any bonuses from Awareness). The numbers it rolls for HP/SP shouldn't weigh heavily in your decision to keep or ditch a given roll, because you'll get to fix that later. - For each Class's "home" stat (Strength for Warriors, Accuracy for Archers, Awareness for Mages), there is a minimum roll of 13 (adjusted), so the system will only show you stat rolls where that stat is at least 13. For this one stat, high numbers will not be rarities. When thinking about stats, bear in mind: - Strength (STR) and Accuracy (ACC) will be more important in the early part of the game - The farther you go, the less small bonuses to damage (from Strength) will matter - Accuracy will always matter a moderate amount, but you'll have item bonuses that will make any small initial differences to the stat become unimportant. - Awareness (AWR) is the 2nd-most-important stat, and affects 2 things: Armor Class (odds of being hit by a physical attack), and SP (Spell Points) gain at level-up. For your Mage, this is their most important stat, because the bonus is applied every level and can make a big difference in total SP by endgame. - Toughness (TUF) is the most important stat (probably co-equal with Awareness for your Mage), and also affects 2 things: HP (Hit Points) gain at level-up, and Resistance to spells. HP gain will matter throughout the game, because the impact builds on itself across many level-ups. More importantly, late-game, the most threatening attacks from enemies will all be Magic, and it is Resistance that lets you dodge those the way you avoid physical attacks with your Armor Class. - At level-up, each character also gains +1 to 2 of those 4 stats (selected at random), so any downsides you start with will eventually be mitigated. Now that we've cleared that up, go ahead and roll. I usually base my decisions to keep a roll on the *total bonuses* that a given roll of stats projects to. For example, if you roll STR 13 (+1), ACC 10 (+0), AWR 15 (+2), TUF 7 (-1), your net bonuses are +2. How high a net bonus you demand in order to keep it will depend chiefly on your patience. You could get a net of +6 in less than a minute if you're not that discriminating about which stats have the bonuses. +7s may take a few minutes (particularly if you insist that, say, Toughness have at least +2). Getting a +8 (or above) is quite rare and may take ten minutes or so, per character. Holding out for a better roll may make the game the slightest bit easier, but even though the selection is permanent, it's not THAT big a deal. Net bonuses of +5 or +6 will do just fine in the game. Stats-to-Bonuses conversion chart (it's the same for all 4 Stats): Stat Bonus Note 1 -4 2 -3 3 -3 4 -2 5 -2 6 -1 7 -1 8 -1 9 0 10 0 11 0 12 0 13 +1 14 +1 15 +1 16 +2 17 +2 18 +3 Highest "natural" roll 19 +3 20 +3 21 +4 Highest starting value 22 +4 23 +5 24 +5 25 +6 26 +6 27 +6 28 +7 29 +7 30 +8 31 +8 32 +8 33 +9 34 +9 35 +10 36 +10 37 +11 38 +11 39 +11 40 +12 41 +12 42 +13 43 +13 44 45 +14 46 47 +15 48 +15 49 50 +16 Highest I've had, but you can do a lot better As you can see, the bonuses to battle attributes increase with every 2-3 increase in the relevant stat. So as a mental shorthand, when considering weapons and armor, I usually equate +2 in Awareness to a +1 to AC, and +2 in Toughness equals a +1 in Resistance (and to a lesser extent, +2 ACC = +1 Hit). Anyway, for now, roll your dice until you're content, each character at a time. ################ General Gameplay - QGGBF ################ Here are a couple of pieces of advice for playing the game, outside of battle: - Save the game all the time. Save after a battle. Save before a Boss battle (or other fixed encounter). Save when you get to a new town. Save after acquiring a big item. Develop a habit of saving all the time, because it only takes 2 clicks, and there will be times you will want to quit the game and reload to your last save. It will happen. Not just when you die (sometimes you'll die, forfeiting your gold, but you'll want to keep the XP you gained and the Items you'd found since your last save), but more typically after making a mistake. Throwing away the wrong item. Buying the wrong item. And, especially, getting a bad levelup result (see section below). - There's just one time you won't want to save the game, and that's if you've come across a glitch. - One well-known glitch in early releases of the game is at the entrance to Tuumbak Arena on the Western Continent. Make sure you properly get into the arena and go to the right just after you enter. If you've fought through a big piece of the arena, it's probably OK to save, but if you accidentally did the wrong thing, you can screw up your game if you save. Be careful there. - Another glitch can happen if you beat Worgen Keep, and then continue north without going back first to Lycea to collect your reward (the Red Exis key). Always get your reward. - Other glitches include screen-display issues that temporarily mess up the "Larvatron 86" heads-up display. You can try to push buttons to get around it, just don't push the top-right button area where "Save" usually is, just in case the glitch is permanent. Much safer to quit-and-load if a few clicks doesn't fix it. - Your characters heal 1 HP and 1 SP every 20 squares that they move around. This happens in places where they are vulnerable to random attacks as well as places they're not (e.g. towns). If you're low on gold or potions but you can just run around, sometimes that's an effective way to recharge a bit. And it's a good way to encourage you to use spells at least occasionally, even in the early game! ***************** Leveling Up Smart - JMORK ***************** There are a couple things to remember around level-ups. (1) right before you level up, SAVE THE GAME. You'll know you're getting close because you're checking the Exp status of your characters (if you've never had them apart before, then they all will have the same XP). (2) By mid-game, you may have certain items that give bonuses to Toughness and/or Awareness, but which you don't normally equip because you have better. You can save these (particularly Accessories but also Weapons sometimes) and equip them only when you're about to level up. As soon as you like your levelup result, you swap them back for your "normal" items. (3) Once you level up, you'll have to decide if you like what you got from the levelup, or if you want more (or different bonuses). If you don't like it, quit the game, reload, go fight another battle, and roll the dice again. This can get annoying if you do it a whole lot, but generally, taking the best result among 3 or 4 levelup rolls will make you much happier. Before modifiers (i.e. your Toughness bonus for HP, or Awareness for Mage SP), the range of HP gained at Level-up is 2-9, and range of SP gained by the Mage is 1-7. It's not evenly distributed in that range, there's a slight skew to the low side. So average "base gains" (i.e., before bonuses) is roughly 16, if you mentally sum up all 4 HP/SP gains. Theoretically, minimum base gains is 8, max is 36, but I've seen lots of 11s and 12s, and very little over 23. If you calculate what your base gains were, anything under 16 is awful, you shouldn't accept below 20, and I usually re-roll anything under 22. I might take 21 if the Stat bonuses are good (see below). Note: - Starting at level 6, your Warrior and Archer get SP and Spells, but you can ignore SP for them because it's a minor part of the game. - For the Mage, though, your SP is just as important as your HP. Then there's the issue of Stat Bonuses. Each character gets 2 of them per levelup. They're random, so over time, they'll tend to even out. But if there are particular stats where you think a character needs the help (i.e., I'm missing all the time, I need Accuracy; or, my Resistance is terrible, I need Toughness), it might be worth repeating a levelup once or twice to try and get some help on that stat. To the extent that you should care at all, you want EARLY levels to get you Toughness. The earlier you get to higher HP/Level bonuses, the more levelups that bonus has time to affect, which will magnify your HP gains by endgame. Awareness and Toughness for your Mage are about equally important. ******************* Spell Effectiveness - EYMUT ******************* Spells increase in power over the course of the game, as you level up. Casting costs don't change, no effects get added, but damage (or healing power) do increase - and not linearly. For illustrative purposes, here are a few of the key spells and their effects at different levels (abbreviated): CLevel Life Touch Energy Ball Flame Chant Psychic Call of 1 5-9 (heal) Assault Armaged. 2 6-10 3 7-11 6-8 dmg 4 8-12 7-9 5 10-14 9-11 6 12-16 11-13 12-18 dmg 7 13-17 12-14 13-19 8 15-19 14-16 15-21 27-47 dmg 9 16-20 15-17 16-22 28-48 10 20-24 19-21 20-26 32-52 35-50A 11 22-26 21-23 22-28 34-54 37-52 12 23-27 22-24 23-29 35-55 39-54 13 24-28 23-25 24-30 36-56 40-55 14 23-27 22-24 23-29 35-55 39-54 15 29-33 28-30 29-35 41-61 45-60 16 26-30 25-27 26-32 38-58 43-58 17 27-31 26-28 27-33 39-59 44-59 18 29-33 28-30 29-35 41-61 46-61 ############## Battle Tactics - MNVUC ############## Battles are the heart and soul of Gurk. You'll spend 80%+ of your gameplay time in battles, and I promise you it'll be fun. The genius of Gurk 3 is in how much strategy a simple, turn-based battle based on a 7x7 chess board can really contain. My advice will vary based on how strong your characters are, what types of items and spells they might have, and what the tactical options of the enemies you're facing will be. So, I've divided this into 3 (very rough) phases: Early game (start to Vloyansk), Mid game (Vloyansk to Blayside), and Late game (post-Blayside through Forbidden World). There's no real order to these tips, so just read them and then see how you do. If you're getting your butt kicked by something, you can either go level up a bit and slightly improve items, or you can play better. To play better, see below :) Note: from here on, I'll use "W", "A" and "M" to abbreviate Warrior, Archer & Mage. ************** General Advice - OJGUA ************** - Don't buy recovery potions. They cost too much and you don't need them. Your Mage can heal very well outside of battle, for 1 SP a pop. You can always wander around the Overworld or even in town in order to recover her or his SP. Feel free to carry along the potions you find, but they don't sell for very much, and you should use them just to save your Mage the effort of healing you. - That said, try to always have ONE set of the most powerful Healing (for W/A) and Energy (for M) potions that you've found, and keep them on your character. The healing potions/jewels/stars are for emergency, in-battle use, if someone's about to die and your Mage doesn't have a ranged Heal spell (or it wouldn't heal enough). They're your "panic button". Late game, my Mage carries a set of Energy Vials too, because he can quaff one and still cast a spell in the same turn. - That said, before going to very lengthy dungeons, you might at least want multiple groups of Energy recovery items. Energy potions are your long-term "wear-down" inventory, meaning as you grind through a dungeon, you'll slowly go through them and once you're out, you're kinda at risk of getting waxed. If I find a lot of Energy potions, I usually don't sell them, I just start using more magic to end battles faster, until I'm back in equilibrium. - Handle status effects ASAP. There are a few that carry on after battle. The most obvious is Death. If one character dies, but you still manage to win the battle, you can revive that character at a nearby town's healing shrine. (if you're deep in a dungeon, though, good luck to you in escaping with 2 characters). Poison also lasts beyond a battle, which can be very painful. To Remove Afflictions, you can carry Curing Potions (self-use), mid-game you'll find Wands of Curing (ranged use), and late game Silvana has a Lvl 10 spell that affects an Area, plus there are Wands of Purity that do the same. Starting mid-game, I try to keep at least one bunch of those available to my party, usually on my W or A. The worst status affect (other than, you know, Death) is Paralyzed status, where the affected character's turn is skipped for some period of time. That one doesn't last after battle, but if you are facing an enemy that paralyzes, you want to kill them first, keep a high Resistance to dodge it, and if possible, Cure any affected character. ********** Early Game - WDKLZ ********** Your very first couple battles are the ones where you're likeliest to get wrecked. You have few HPs, deal little damage, have no potion reserves, and are just discovering that you can't Run from a battle like in Squaresoft RPGs. New players sometimes give up at this point - "the game's too hard!" they whine. Nonsense, you just aren't thinking about your battles. This isn't a button-mashing game, it's turn-based strategy. Here are the tips to get you through that first part of the learning curve. - Make enemies burn their turns to move next to you. That means, if your W would be next to an enemy with one move, *just don't move*. You can "Pass", and then they'll move next to you, and then you get a free hit before they can attack. This obviously doesn't apply to the A(rcher), but will frequently be relevant for your M as well. Also, this tip only applies to enemies that are melee-only. Anyone with a Ranged attack will probably just sit back and throw/shoot things at you - you're better off charging them and risking getting hit once than sitting back and likely getting hit anyway, but being no closer afterwards. - Plan ahead. At the start of battle, decide on a general order of attack about who you'll kill first. If you have two equally-good moves you can make (typically with your W or M), make the one that moves you more towards where you'll want to be after the current enemies are killed. - Focus on the nearest threats. Like an old game of Space Invaders, the baddies are coming down from the top and you have to stop them before they reach the bottom. Anyone farther away represents "time", and time is your best friend in Gurk battles. So hit the ones nearest you first (unless there are ranged attackers, in which case, usually nail them first). Often, you can plan it so that every turn, you're killing 1-2 guys who are right next to you, then the next wave spends their turns moving closer, then they get killed, etc. All the while, you're avoiding giving the enemies any opportunities to swing at you. Fewer attacks means less life lost, which means longer survival in dungeons. - Monitor your health and its rate of change. Every time you take a hit, make a mental note of what your HPs are at. You'll get a feel for how much damage an enemy is doing to you, and based on that, how much time you have before their hits would kill your character. - Select targets based on who is behind them. If you're facing a big crowd, then all else equal, you want to kill the guys on your flanks first. This is because it'll be inevitable that the enemies get next to you, so you want to minimize HOW MANY of them get next to you. The ones coming straight at you from the middle will get in each others' way, making them either sit idle for some turns while you deal with more pressing matters, or at least making them take extra turns moving laterally to get at you. Every turn they're not attacking you is some HP saved. - Optimize your damage. Keep a rough idea of how much damage each character can inflict per turn, and choose who-attacks-who based on maximizing your kills. Since the W attacks first, I'll often think "wait, no, don't hit that guy, the A or M can clean him up". My W usually does the most physical damage, so I want him wailing away on the nearby guy with the highest HP. Basically, I don't want to "waste" any damage that I'm entitled to. - Buy time by running away. If your W has moved way out in front and is starting to get low on HP due to a single strong enemy, you can always have him retreat square-by-square and use the extra turns that are now available to have your A (and M, if necessary) get some free hits in without your W being a punching bag. At some point, you'll run out of room and have to make a stand of it, but that extra time may be an advantage. - You can change an enemy's target. If an enemy starts attacking one character, he'll keep hitting it until the character dies or moves away. When its target is no longer attack-able, it will then (1) attack any other adjacent characters, or failing that, (2) move to close the shortest gap between it and the nearest character. When facing a very strong enemy, you can gain an advantage with this by a tactical retreat. Bait him into switching targets by moving back one square, let him target another character, then the next turn move forward again and resume bashing him. - Summoned monsters. Starting at lvl 2, every Mage but Gaelabeth gets a Summon spell (Gael gets her first at L5, but there are also items that have Summoning "charges"). Tazatar even starts with one (Rat Warrior). Although you don't want to use them for every battle (because your SP are limited), for larger battles they have two purposes. (1) Meat shields. Summon them in front of you, and let enemies hit them and kill them first while you take them out. Less useful for enemies with ranged attacks. Or, (2) Flank aids. Summon them to the side, let enemies acquire your characters as targets, and then bring the summon in so that they get the benefit of a lot of turns of hitting before they die. Don't get too attached, though - summons disappear after the battle. By Lvl 6, all Mages have a useful Summon, and you'll want to get used to them. - Tip for summoning: you can save a turn by summoning diagonally, if the enemy is positioned at least 2 spaces away from you in both directions. Consider the partial battle map: ) 2 3 ( ) 1( ) W ( ) A M ( XXXXXXXXX Now suppose the Warrior has other things to deal with, and #1 is the Mage's responsibility. To close the gap for melee, you'd normally need to take 2 turns for moves (up and right, or right and up). But instead, if you summon to M's top-right, your Summon can attack the very next turn, saving you precious time: ) 2 3 ( ) 1( ) W S ( ) A M ( XXXXXXXXX Of course, if #1 is melee, he'd probably close the other half of the gap if you were to walk at him. But maybe he's a row or two higher, and you expect him to charge down. This diagonal-summon thing is something to keep in mind when looking at the relative position of enemies. - Fight Range with Range. Starting around lvl 2 (if you go in the Forest and fight a Spitting Spider), you'll be facing Ranged attackers. Some will only melee if you're standing right next to them, some will sometimes spend a turn Moving rather than attacking from distance, but in all cases, you can't rely on them moving towards you. If there's a particularly strong enemy (e.g. a Two-Headed Troll) with range, maybe your W moves to go get him. But usually, I find that it's most effective to let the W deal with whatever's in front of him, and have my A take out the Ranged attackers. Often, once I get her the Magic Staff, my M will help out - it deals low damage, so she's on cleanup duty, going after anything with 5 HP or fewer. But the important point is, rather than chasing after them for great distances with your W, you should usually fight range with range. ******** Mid Game - JCFGD ******** Although the usual jumping-off point for "Mid-Game" is considered when you leave the Eastern Continent using the Exis Key, I believe the real transition is when you first buy your Warrior a pair of Speed Boots. Why something so trivial? Because it fundamentally changes the game for you. Your tactics shift, you begin thinking more moves ahead, about how you can move-and-hit, move-and-hit. As your arsenal becomes more sophisticated, here are the things that you can add to your bag of tricks. - Using Extra Moves. Starting in Gurnstaad (though reportedly, you can buy them in Sailor's Cove), you can buy Speed Boots. You'll want them for your W first and foremost (A can wear them but gets more mileage out of some +RES gear). What this enables is that you can move and strike ON THE SAME TURN. Or move twice, if you need to. But mostly move-and-attack. Start planning out battles based on where you're going to move WHILE attacking with your W. If one guy will take 3 hits, that's 2 extra turns that you can use to position yourself to get to the next enemy and minimize downtime. And note - you can only move THEN strike. Once you've made your attack, your turn is over. Same goes for using items or casting (Normal-speed) spells. For single-enemy battles, this won't matter much. For battles against 20 weak enemies, it won't matter much either. But for those fights with half a dozen strong enemies, this can cut down your work by several turns, saving you precious time, HP and SP. And note that I say "Move and Hit", not "Hit and Move". Once you have launched an attack in a turn, even if you're entitled to multiples moves and multiple attacks in a turn, you will not be allowed to move any more, only attack. - Strong Ranged Attackers. For some battles, the strongest, most dangerous enemies on the screen are the ranged ones. Skeleton Wizards. Ghouls. Wraiths (man, do I hate Wraiths). Although you'll normally Fight Range With Range, sometimes the situation dictates that your W needs to charge right up to that guy and wail on him. Sometimes for no other reason than, "if we let him keep firing at my Archer, who has no RES whatsoever, he's going to kill him in a few turns". It can be easy to fall into the thinking of, "just deal with what's in front of me", and to assume the attacks from distance are all penny-ante annoyances. That's true frequently, but you'll soon learn the exceptions. And for those exceptions - prioritize them. The Clay Golem can wait. Who's an exception? Anyone dealing >15 damage a hit, for one, but particularly anyone dealing a meaningful status effect with their hit, like Rooted, Weakened, Blinded, or worst of all, Paralyzed. I'm looking at you, Forest Dwellers. - Bag of Holding. In the Ice Cave in the Keshak Fiefdoms, you can get the Chalice and continue with your quest. But you can also find a very valuable item: the Bag of Holding. It acts like a 4th "Character" in the party, allowing you to hold an additional 15 items. My usual behavior is to put anything I intend to sell for cash into the Bag of Holding, so that when I get to town, I can just cycle through its entire contents and liquidate it without having to think. My characters hold stuff that is actually useful, as well as 'overflow' sellables when the Bag fills up. - Area Attacks Are Awesome. An "Area" attack (as opposed to Touch or Range) hits a selected square on the board as well as anything immediately adjacent to it in all 8 directions. If you aim it in the middle of the battlefield, it hits a 3x3 area; if you aim it at a corner, it will only hit 4 squares. Anyway, the use is to kill more enemies faster. It may be useful to have your W and A wear down several enemies rather than kill one of them, because when your M goes and casts Flame Chant, they all go down. You may also find Explosive Vials that can hose large groups of weaklings on the ocean very quickly (e.g. Swordfish), or even Wands of Fire. When facing a big group, I'll often evaluate which ones are clustered together so that I could hit 5, 6 or even more enemies with one attack. The more damage I deal with one attack, the fewer turns it'll take to kill the whole bunch. Note: If your W has charged into an area into which you are casting an Area attack, he/she will take damage from it. Unless they block it. Sometimes that won't matter much, but other times it can be pretty severe. Always think far enough ahead that you can move the W out of the way if you need to. - Summons with Ranged Attacks. Tazatar's Summon Troll spell, Silvana's Summon Elf, and both of B'Az Aptar's summons have ranged attacks (similar to your Archer). Same with various Summoning items, like Enchanted Skulls, or (late game) Flayer Talismans and Dragonstones. There are even some items that grant that ability, like the Staff of the Unliving. The biggest problem with Summons in general is that, often, they'll die very quickly. If you have one of your back-row characters, your A or M, summon something that has ranged attacks, their contributions to your battle can pile up without them necessarily taking it on the chin. And if they end up dealing more damage than some other spell or attack you could have made during the turn that you summoned them, it was a net benefit to your battle. You don't want to use them all the time, but until late-game, your most useful summons will probably be ones with Ranged attacks. - Some enemies have multiple actions. You'll quickly learn which ones can move more than once per turn, or attack more than once per turn. I have tried to indicate that in the Enemies lists for each area, but those lists may not be complete. In response to multi-attackers, I will often do one of several things: (1) Kill the multi-attack enemies before the rest; (2) Stack up multi-movers or multi-attackers behind each other or behind lesser enemies so that they have to burn useless turns just sitting there; or, (3) Pied Piper 'em: with Speed Boots (or better) on my W, I can walk away from aggressive melee enemies while still hitting something on the way back. Late-game, you'll come across ranged attackers who get multiple attacks. Abominations and Keepers are the worst (multiple Area attacks per turn), but also Jylix and Mind Flayers, among others. Nightmares even get 3 ranged attacks. Sometimes it'll be necessary to charge right past melee enemies who aren't causing you as much grief, to get to the back row that's actually dealing the damage. - Spells for Everybody! Starting at Lvl 6, your Archer and Warrior get SP, and spells to use them on. They get one spell at levels 6, 8 and 10. Often, these spells are useless (Lady Alwyn's Disarming Glare makes an enemy 'Sluggish', but it's unclear whether that's useful at all). However, some of them are extremely helpful, giving you Berserk status (Borakash's Hymn of Anger, Feraldan's Rain of Arrows), giving you extra spells that Heal (Silvana's Field Medic, Lady Alwyn's Inner Peace), or just useful effects like Teleport, Paralyze, or Remove Afflictions. With one exception, all of the W/A spells are 'Fast', meaning if you use them once *before attacking*, they don't consume your turn but rather let you do two things in that turn. And you regenerate SP as you walk around between fights, so if you get something helpful out of a spell, you might as well use it frequently. - Ranged Warrior Weapons. Starting with the Hydrosword (legendary sword that is found in the Underground Sea), your Warrior can gain the ability to make ranged attacks. This ability is very helpful because it means you can let the enemies come to you for an extra turn or two while you pick them off. - Ranged Mage Weapons. Likewise with the Mage's Spark Staff or Staff of Wrath, you'll find items that give the Mage more options than just "cast/use something" or "hang around and hope nobody closes to melee range". Ranged attacks really become a big deal with the Staff of Wisdom, which you can buy in Gurnstaad. It changes the way you view a battle: you think about "who would it be nice to kill the fastest", because you can hit anywhere at any time. - Berserking. The most fun and useful status buff in the game is called "Berserk". What it does is, you get 2 attacks each turn rather than 1, at the expense of not being able to cast spells or use items until Berserk wears off (or the battle ends). Berserk wears off if you fail to attack during the character's turn. So, generally, you'll want to use it on your Warrior (for maximum damage improvement) when you're up against a swarm of enemies (or where their line is expected to keep advancing towards you). Given that long battles can last 20-25 turns or even more, if you can keep Berserk going for most of the battle, you'll deal a lot more damage and make that battle shorter and less painful. > Casting Berserk: You can get Berserk from 5 sources: (1) Gaelabeth's Lv 7 spell, "Essence of Fury", cast at range; (2) Borakash the Barbarian's Lv 8 spell, "Hymn of Anger"; (3) Feraldan's Lv 10 spell, "Rain of Arrows"; (4) a Potion of Rage, which can stack up to 7 and can be bought cheaply as early as Gurnstaad; and, (5) two legendary Warrior swords have it as a "once per combat" ability, cast by the holder, of which the common one is the Sword of Vengeance. That sword can be bought in Teshvar for $2,301 and is my top priority when I get there. > You can attack different enemies with your multiple attacks. This means that, unlike just doubling your damage with Strength, you can use your hits more intelligently. If your first hit reduces an enemy to, say, 5 HP, maybe you let your Archer or Mage finish him off and move on to a different enemy with your second hit. > Order of Actions: Berserking becomes really fun when you get Speed Boots, starting in Gurnstaad. Because when your Warrior is berserk, he can now move AND hit. The way it works is, if you use all of your available Moves (normally just 1), it ends your turn without letting you attack. But if you still have a *remaining* Move after moving, then you can Attack too (which gives up your right to make the rest of your Moves). Also, if you've Attacked once, then you're OK to keep Berserk status for another turn - you don't necessarily have to attack with your second action! You could use an item instead, or swap a weapon. - Weapon Swapping: Under some circumstances, you may want to use the Wield function in the battle screen to change the weapon you're using, mid-battle. Those circumstances include: (1) Early-game, when your Mage has used her once-per-combat ranged attack (like the Spark Staff or Staff of Wrath), but then wishes she had better melee damage (e.g. some Elvish Staff +3 or something). (2) Mid-game, when you've found the Hydrosword and its 6-12 ranged damage 1x/combat, but have a Warrior weapon with better melee damage. First turn, you use your ranged, then swap, then melee away. (3) Late-game, when you may want your Warrior to start a battle with the Sword of Vengeance (to give berserk), attack once, and then swap to the Bloodsword (for the life-steal ability) or Kingsword (for highest damage) for the rest of the battle. In all cases, you'll need to swap back using the Char screen once the battle is over, or else you'll begin the next battle with the swapped-for weapon equipped. - Enemies to Prioritize: Some mid-game enemies will become known to you as more obnoxious and damaging than the others. These you should take out first. Teams lvl 6-10 will be most hassled by: > Skeleton Wizard > Wraith > Two-Headed Troll > Mummy > Golem Maker > Death Viper ********* Late Game - LLCQI ********* To be added later: - Which wands/vials to keep - Which enemies to prioritize (Vampire, Abomination, Keeper. Dragons?) - Spreading out to avoid Area hits - Wandering Berserker - Advanced Weapon Swapping - Vials - Cornering yourself - Tactical Teleport (blink gems, Gladius Enigmus, Mystic Boots, Tazatar L7 spell for 2 SP) - Enemies that Paralyze. Mention the Author. - Normal vs Fast spells/potions - Enemies To Respect. There are certain enemies that strike fear into my heart. At whatever stage of the game you start encountering them frequently, they can pack an unexpected punch. Here are the ones to worry about, roughly in order of appearance: > Wraith (26-50 HP). Blue cape, leaning diagonally, holding a staff. Wraiths drive me nuts, because they have a VERY high physical defense. You'll have your attack blocked, probably, more than 2/3s of the time. Their weakness is magic attacks, so prepare to burn SP with your M, or Wand charges with your W. By the end of the game, they're often the 3rd or 4th strongest enemy on the board, and yet somehow they'll be the last ones standing at the end of the fight. > Abomination (45-60 HP). Orange-y oversized head. These guys get 2 attacks per turn and essentially cast Flame Chant. You have to physically separate the party to avoid taking a bunch of damage. It's often hard to prioritize them over guys who can paralyze or do 60+ damage in a turn, but if you get stuck together in a crowd, these are the guys who are going to make a sticky situation into a critical one. Use Blink gems to get right next to them. > Ravenous Slime (~20 HP). Blue blob-looking thing. It's relatively weak, only has a melee attack, only moves/attacks once per turn. Why care? It replicates itself. It doesn't summon some lesser minion, it creates a new one of itself, which can then create new ones. All on its own, they're not a problem, but suppose there's 2 of them amid a big group of baddies. You focus on the spellcasters the first few turns, and then there's 4 of them. Then 7. By the time you realize they're a problem, you've lost control of the fight. Soon there are enough of them that no matter how fast you pummel them, they can re-create as many as you kill in a turn. It's very embarrassing to be overwhelmed by a mob of Slimes, but it's happened to me. Always, ALWAYS prioritize these guys first in a fight. > Hydra (~60-90 HP). Blue-green cluster of birds, with 3 heads. Why fear them? Because they have 2 moves, and 3 (yes, 3) attacks. And they hit often, and for lots of damage. Except at end-game, your Warrior can go down in just a few turns of their assault. They're probably responsible for >25% of my party deaths. Hit them from distance, cast Tangling Roots (they're melee-only), heck even Paralyze - whatever you have to do to keep them from wailing on you. #################################### Game Walkthrough - Eastern Continent - NQBVK #################################### So you've rolled your stats until you're happy. Once you hit Keep that third time, your game begins. You find yourself in a small town... ******************************** 1. Rivercross and the Kobold Den - PTVTE ******************************** --- Town: Rivercross --- Heal: 15 GP Shop: Level 1, Iron Shield 26, sell Elvish Boots 28 Quest: Kobold Den (from Lord of Rivercross) "Defeat the kobolds in the Barrier Caverns north of the town of Rivercross". Actually, it's to the northeast, but whatever, it's not far. You start with 20 GP. With it, you should buy your Archer a Short Bow (15gp) or your Warrior a Short Sword (12gp), and perhaps a Leather Shield (6gp). Strike out from town. For a little while, you'll want to wander around and explore the region. While you're Lvl 1, do not go into the trees except very briefly, because the encounters in there are with Lvl 2 monsters who will hand you your hat. On the plains, you'll face: Lvl 1: - Kobold (1-5hp) - Imp (1-4hp, but they hit 2x per turn - kill them fast!) - Giant Snake (1-4hp) - Giant Spider (3-8hp) Lvl 2: - Treant (8-23 HP) - Giant Bear (8hp) - Spitting Spider (7-10hp, RANGED ATTACK - Archer hits him till he's done) Once you've leveled up to lvl 2 (preferably getting good bonuses - see the "Leveling Up Smart" section), and bought better weapons for your W and A, you can probably handle yourself in the Trees. Go try a few battles, heal via your Mage spell if you like, and win some weapons to reduce what you have to buy from the shop. Spend this time exploring the perimeter of the land you can access right now - it'll help later, and break the monotony of level grinding. Don't go into the Goblin Caves (southwest) or the Troll Cave (south of Rivercross) just yet. Definitely don't go to Worgen Keep, if you find it. A good gauge of your strength is the fixed Spider encounter just east of Rivercross. If you can handle that, you're probably ready for the first test. At level 2 with good equipment, or level 3 without it, you should probably try out the first quest, just northeast of Rivercross: --- Dungeon: Barrier Caverns --- Enemies: - Kobold (1-5 hp) - Wererat (3-4 hp) - Imp (1-4 hp, but they hit 2x/turn) - Kobold Mystic (6-7 hp) - Giant Snake (1-4 hp) As soon as you enter, there's an "entrance guardian" fixed encounter. This will become a theme. Save before the fight. You'll face 4 kobolds (Easy) and a Kobold Fighter (less easy). The rest of the dungeon winds pretty linearly. Use your Map button if you're not sure where you've been or where the boundaries are. If you go underneath the first big pond, there is a fixed encounter with Kobold Mystics (x3). North of the pond, there is an optional fixed encounter with Wererats (x5). At the next junction go right; there is another fixed encounter with Kobolds (x9!) and a Kobold Mystic (A should nail
him first), which has some fixed treasure: Goblin Crossbow and Goblin Scimitar
(terrible items but sellable).  The last fixed encounter is a pair of Kobold
Fighters who block your path; they hit 2x/turn, and they hit hard.  Respect
their offense, you don't want to die this far into a dungeon.

South from the Kobold Fighter encounter, you'll see a red carpet and King
Gorba.  Ideally, you'll want to have leveled up to Lvl 3 before you face him,
mostly so your Mage can use Energy Ball.

* Boss: King Gorba (~18 hp)
Minions: 2x Kobold Mystic, 2x Kobold Fighter
Treasure: Gorba's Cloak (Legendary Mage armor, AC 2 with Summon Kobold Guard
ability)
Notes:
- King Gorba can create Kobolds.  They're less annoying than the other minions
but you don't want them adding up.

Fight your way back out of the caves and head back to Rivercross, where you'll
see a treasure chest with your reward: 20 GP.  Not bad.


*******************************************
2. Port Yester and the Goblin Breeding Pits		- HYSVK
*******************************************

You've made your way all the way south and have come upon a new town!


--- Town: Port Yester ---

Heal: 20gp
Shop: Lvl 2 (Iron Shield: 28, Sell Elvish Boots: 24)
Quest: Lighthouse Cyclops (from Sailor, at south of town)
"We be landlubbers since that curs'd cyclops began with its occupatin' of
yonder lighthouse out West!  Nary an anchor can be weighed 'til the lighthouse
be regained.  Can ye help us, matey?"  Yes, yes ye can.
"...Scupper ye blubberin' and make haste to the lighthouse out West!  Me
longclothes be itchin', and that cyclops be gettin' no smaller while ye wait."
Your what clothes?
Quest: Breeding Pits (from Lord Yester, near town entrance)
"Our town is well-armed, but goblin hordes are attacking us endlessly!  We
can't hold out against them much longer.  THey are being bred in subterranean
pits located west of town.  Can you stop them?"  Not yet, we'd better level up
first, but eventually, yeah.
"...the Goblin Breeding Pits can be found to teh west, nestled in the hils on
the far bank of the River Trinth."  Got it.  West.
* NOTE: Right after accepting the Breeding Pits quest, a Key is placed on the
ground.  Pick it up.  It'll say, "Take this key, it was discovered on the
person of a Goblin General that we vanquished during a raid last week."  QUEST
ITEM!  Score.

Port Yester is bigger than Rivercross.  Heal is at the extreme SW; the Sailor
is south, and the shop is just SE of the entrance.

Shopping notes:
- Definitely don't leave here without your Archer at least having a Long Bow.
Ideally, a Long Bow +1 (dmg 2-6), or better.
- The store will also sell a Great Sword, dmg 4-12 with +2 To-Hit, for 84GP.
If you've racked up lots of gold, that will be a big help in the levels to come.
- I suggest getting a few extra Energy Salves, as you're likely to run low in
the next dungeon.

When you're stocked up, head west across the river, around a 2nd river, PAST
the cave entrance, and all the way to the farthest west point and the
Lighthouse.


--- Crowhook Lighthouse ---

There's nothing to this area except the boss.  A cowering lighthouse keeper
will tell you to go upstairs, and there the Cyclops is, just waiting.  There
are no random encounters in the Lighthouse, it's just a boss battle.

* Boss: Cyclops
- He will have ~55-70 hp, and packs a punch.  Like, 15 damage a hit kind of
punch.

- If you have Gaelabeth, the key will be to cast Tangling Roots on him (makes
him Rooted, so he can't move) while the Archer hammers him.  In between casts
of Roots, the Mage can hit him with Energy Ball (and will just do that if you
don't have Gaelabeth).

- The other tactic is a "chase me around the battlefield" tactic.  Send your
Warrior up as high as he can go without being reachable by the Cyclops, and
then keep him one square away, *to the side* (while the Cyclops is rooted,
ideally).  Your warrior keeps running away, but not in a direction that brings
the (chasing) cyclops closer to the main party.  Meanwhile, your Archer keeps
Firing, your Mage uses Energy Ball, and your Warrior is buying time.  If the
Cyclops finally closes on the party, bring your Warrior in to take the first
few hits (And swings), and when he's on life support, retreat and let someone
else take a few hits.

Treasure: Amulet of Precision (+2 ACC).

Glad that's over!  There's a reward back at Port Yester, but while we're at it,
we might as well go to:


--- Dungeon: Goblin Breeding Pits ---

Enemies:
- Goblin (2-7 hp)
- Goblin Swashbuckler (2-6 hp)
- Goblin Warrior (3-9 hp)
- Goblin Archer (4- hp)
- Goblin Scout (1-4 hp)

Soon after you enter, you'll be confronted by a set party of 4 Goblin Warriors,
2 of which will have triple HP (a normal "miniboss" adjustment).  They deal a
lot of damage.  The Great Sword will help bigtime vs the HP-enhanced guys.  A
Goblin Scimitar +1 is your reward.

To the right is a dead-end; to the south, you'll wind along a path and
gradually come to some water.  Go right at the fork for a Goblin Scout fixed
encounter.  There are 6 of them and they have an Ambush advantage, but they
drop a Goblin Crossbow +1 (still not worth using, but sells OK).  Around to the
left, there's another fork; left is a dead-end, go right.  You'll come to a
Gate, that your Key unlocks, and then a fixed encounter with Goblin Shamans
(!).  2 Shamans and 4 Goblins block your way.  A victory gets you a Goblin
Staff +1, dmg 4-7, which should immediately go on your Mage.  You can continue
down to the Pits.

Down in the Breeding Pits, the path is linear again, but the fights are harder.
There's a fixed encounter blocking your path a short way in, with 1x Goblin
Shaman and 8x Goblins.  The Shaman has 3x HP, so you'll want to focus some big
firepower on him first.  After the next island, there's a bridge and a Goblin
King encounter waiting.  He has 2x Goblin Warriors, and can create Goblins, but
otherwise isn't a huge threat.  Deal with the Warriors first, then him, take
the Wand of Striking [2] that drops, and move on.

From there, go to the top side of the wall, and around to the right and down,
over to the next island, and to the "far bigger" Goblin King in the back.

* Boss: Goblin King (~36 hp)
Minions: 2x Hobgoblin (~6 hp)
Notes:
- The Goblin King packs more of a punch than the last one, and so do the
minions.  If you start wearing down a bit, trying to get across the battlefield
to him, your Mage can always fire off Energy Balls.

Once done, heal up, and slog back out to the Overworld.  Head to Port Yester
for your reward(s):

- For the Goblin Pits: 25 GP
- For the Lighthouse: 45 GP
... plus quite a quote: "Well I'll be a midshipman's trousers, ye did it!
Weigh the anchor, trim the topgallant and study the mizzenmast, for we be
marooned no more... huzzah!"


************************
3. Lycea and Worgen Keep		- FPEMD
************************

So you're in Port Yester, feeling victorious.  I suggest not selling your loot
until you get to Lycea, as you'll get slightly better prices there.  I also
wouldn't buy anything other than necessities, because there's better stuff to
buy there, too.

Note: You can now charter a ship from Port Yester for 100 GP.  If you don't
want to follow the game's plan for you, feel free to spend it, run wild, and
see how far you get before a Kraken takes you out.  You'll be able to charter a
much less expensive ship in a little while, though, at which point you'll be
better prepared.

Let's move on.  Leave Port Yester and head a bit north-east, to the Troll Cave.


--- Troll Cave ---

As you head in, you'll notice there are no random encounters, which is nice.
Go left at the first fork and you'll see a fixed encounter with some Black
Spiders (x2) and a Spitting Spider.  They'll drop an Imp Talisman +3 [1-3],
worth selling.  Going back to the right, your path winds around and up, and
eventually you'll see the Trolls.  The Trolls have HP of ~22-28, and throw
rocks (But may also move / melee).  Don't hold back - unload Energy Balls and
anything else you've got at them.

After beating them, there's a treasure room above and to the left, with 16 GP
and: Crude Club +2, Long Staff, and Leather Armor +1.  Use or sell.


--- Journey to Lycea ---

After clearing out the trolls, head up north past Rivercross, go above the
mountain range, take a left, and before you get to the bridge, take a look at
the grove of trees to your north.  There's one that doesn't look like a tree -
it looks like a Treant!  Let's go kill it.  Well, them.  3 of them.  And one
has 3x HP.  They drop a Long Oak Staff, which would have been awesome earlier
but you got the Goblin Staff +1, so no need.

Head back south of the grove, west over the bridge that's right there, and go
northwest to the city in the middle of the forest.  This town's an important
one.


--- Town: Castle Lycea ---

Heal: 10 GP (north of entrance)
Shop: Lvl 2, southwest of entrance ("Trading Post").  Excellent prices, just
about the best you'll get.  (Sell Elvish Boots: 32)  Sell stuff here, but don't
buy stuff here, because there's another, better shop just to the right...
Shop: Lvl 3, south-and-east of entrance ("Lycean Antiquities") (Iron Shield:
31gp, Sell Elvish Boots: 20).  Tough prices, but if you run in and out of town
for a bit, you'll find some great stuff.

Quest: Worgen Pass
- East from the entrance is a garden, and then an entrance to the
"Sacrineceum", where some monks will tell you the history of the land you're
in, and the central plot of the game.  Start from the top monk and work your
way down.  You have to save the princess and stop her evil brother!  The middle
monk ("Steward of Trintha") will give you the Key to Worgen Keep and charge you
with breaking the blockade there.
- "Brave adventurers, we are cut off from the Northern Forests by the barrier
at Worgen Pass.  Will you take this key to Worgen Keep, defeat the occupiers
within and break the blockade?"  Sure, sounds fun.
- The monks also tell about an underground passage to "the Westlandes", which
is basically the 2nd third of the game.  To get there, you need the 4 Exis
keys.  The monks have one of them here in Lycea, and will give it to you once
you clear Worgen Pass.

Shopping notes:
- Make sure everyone has all the basics - hat, boots, armor.  If not, the
Trading Post is a cheap place to at least get some baseline.
- Lycean Antiquities sells a Heavy Crossbow, an archer weapon with damage 3-9,
which will be a big upgrade over the Long Bow unless you've found one that's at
least +2.  The Crossbow is 66 GP, and a Fine Bow (dam 2-7, +2 to Hit) is 72 GP.
Pick your favorite.
- They also sell a Battle-axe for 84GP (dam: 5-14), but that may not be enough
of an upgrade over the Great Sword to part you from your money.

Before heading up to the castle, let's do a quick...

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Equipment Check: Lvl 4
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

By now, you should be level 4.  Here's my party and equipment, just so you can
do a sanity check:


Char:	Borakash (W)		Feraldan (A)		Gaelabeth (M)
Basics:	HP 47, AC 9		HP 37, AC 5		HP 39, SP 25, AC 10
Weapon:	Great Sword (4-12)	Heavy Crossbow (3-9,bt)	Goblin Staff +1 (4-7)
Shield:	Leather Shld +1 (2)	N/A			N/A
Helm:	Iron Helm +1 (3,bought)	Leather Helm (1)	Apprentice Hat +1 (2)
Armor:	Studded Armor (3,found)	Leather Armor +1 (3)	Gorba's Cloak (2)
Boots:	Leather Boots (1)	Leather Boots (1)	Elvish Boots (2,found)
Ring:	(None)			(None)			Amulet of Precision

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

So leave town and head north.  Amid the mountains, you'll see a castle.  Head
inside, and you're at:


--- Dungeon: Worgen Keep ---

You're greeted by a Orc Champion (x5) fixed encounter.  They can cast "Strong"
on themselves, which doubles their damage, so if you have the chance to dodge
away from a Strong'd guy, do it.  Your newer, stronger weapons should help you
take these guys down without much fuss.

After the welcoming party, you can either explore (south and right), or head
straight to the next level.  To find the locked door, go left, south, left
around the bend and up, fight through the Spiders (3x Spitting Spider, 5x Black
Spider), and go right.  The stairs up are right there.

After going up, there's a Bugbear fixed encounter.  4x Bugbears, 14-21 HP, with
one of them having 2x HP.  These guys have high defense and will do 4-10 dmg
per hit, so don't sleep on them.  They drop a Great Sword when you beat them.

To move on, go to the bottom of the big room you're in, and notice the gap in
the wall.  Following that along, eventually you'll come to a Troll (x3) fixed
encounter.  Same strategy as the Troll cave, although you may want to take a
few extra hits instead of deploying Energy Balls, just to conserve SP.  Beyond
the trolls is a room with the stairs up in the center of it.  If you go to the
Goblin Scout, he'll run off alerting people.

Up the stairs is another Troll battle - this one has ~60 hp, but luckily is
alone.  Charge at him with your W and M, maybe summon with Gorba's Cloak, and
just try not to spend too much SP.  If you like, due south of the stairs is a
Spider Queen battle.  She has 2 Spitting Spider minions, 2x normal HP (~48),
and generates a new Black Spider 80% of turns.  All you get is 17 GP, but some
decent experience, too.

Meanwhile, if you go around to the left, and all the way down, and as you go to
the right, take the BOTTOM door, there is a treasure chest with some
much-needed potions in it.  Going back out to take the top door, you'll come
into the room of...

* Boss: Troll Lord
Minions: 2 Trolls, 2 Hobgoblins
Notes:
- Troll Lord always uses his ranged attack, and attacks twice, doing about 8
damage per hit (~16 per turn).  Unless you can get something next to him for
him to melee, he will keep focusing on one character.  That character had
better have a Healing spell or Potions (not just Salves) in order to withstand
that for a goodly amount of time.
- If he's within a couple squares' range of your Warrior, I suggest going after
the Troll Lord first.  He just causes too much damage.  Otherwise, try to take
down the other guys in 3-4 rounds so you can move on Troll Lord.
- If all else fails, restart the battle (by Quitting and Loading, aka Q&L)
until the boss is conveniently located near you and you can just bum rush him.

After finishing him off, pull the lever that he was standing in front of.
Quest completed!  The barrier is gone.  Heal up, and shoot your way out of town.

*** IMPORTANT ***

You need to go back to Lycea after finishing Worgen Keep.  Aside from the quest
reward (25 GP, big whoop), you need to talk to the middle Monk in order to get
the Red Exis key.  You can kinda screw things up for your game if you go
straight north from Worgen Keep without collecting that key.  Also, go ahead
and sell at the Trading Post, might as well get good prices for your loot.


**********************************************
4. Brinfort, The Great Tree, and Academy Tower			- ISDJX
**********************************************

Head back towards Worgen Keep, but first I want you to do something a little
odd: hug the north/west coastline as you do.  If you get to the extreme north
end of where you could go previously (Before opening the Blockade), you'll
actually see a town at the end of your range of vision.  That's where we're
headed next.  Go up through the Worgen pass, and around to the right of the
mountain range, then up along the river, west over the top of the mountains,
and down the west side of the range.  You'll find a town there.


--- Town: Brinfort ---


Shop: Lvl 4 - "Brinfort Arms" - (Sell Elvish Boots: 20) - Prices are poor, but
they have the next generation of weapons if you check them a few times.  Magic
Bow, Magic Sword, etc.
Shop: Lvl 4 - "Brinfort Armors" - (Sell Elvish Boots: 20) -

- I do recommend getting one or two Magic weapons if you can afford it.  The
shops in the other two towns up here are pretty useless by comparison.
- The most significant thing you're going to do here is charter that Ship
outside, for 35 GP.  But we've got one quest to complete before we go do that.
- By now you should be level 5, or close to it.  Pay attention to your XP
levels, because the Summon spell you'll usually get at Lv 5 is very helpful.


--- Journey to the Great Tree ---

So, head back out of Brinfort, and go north and then east over the top of the
mountains, then down alongside the river.  If you like, up in the extreme
north, through a mountain pass, there's a battle against a Two-Headed Troll.
It's very mean, has ~80hp, and the payoff is just an Amulet of Might +1.  You
may want to save that fight for later.  Whether you do or not, afterwards
you'll follow the river south until you see a crossing, and a Town on top of
that crossing.


--- Town: Bridgetown ---


Shop: Lvl 3 ("Bula's Unctions") - (Sell Elvish Boots: 24) - very lame, sells
only potions, and annoyingly long to walk to from the entrance.

- Basically, this is a non-town, as its one resident will gladly tell you.
Keep moving on.


--- Journey Continued ---

On the other side of the bridge is an enormous, mostly-dead forest.  If you
like, there's a fixed encounter with Ogres (x2) towards the south.  They have
~65 HP each, but can be Rooted and picked off, or just tanked.  The prize is a
Battle-axe +1, which is good enough to use it if you didn't buy a Magic Sword.

If you don't like, continue around to the northwest, and eventually you'll see
that there's one tree that looks really weird.  Instead of a normal tree shape,
it's like a big cone.  Go to that - it's really an Elvish town.


--- Town: The Great Tree ---


Shop: Lvl 4 ("Fine Elvish Wares"), (Sell Elvish Boots: 27), offerings are
mostly potions.  Not worth shopping unless you need some potions.

- This tree is like a huge circle.  The shop is roughly at 2:00.  The next
quest is at 12:00 - but NOT at the extreme north end.  He's actually just a
little south of the top.

Quest: Academy Tower (via Forest Chieftain).
- "Friends from the South, our forest is threatened by an evil magic!  We
have traced the evil to the old Academy Tower to the North, but cannot
penetrate its defenses.  Will you investigate the tower?"  Sure, how bad could
an old Academy be?
- "...The Academy Tower was a training ground for mages during the grand
years of the Empire, but has since fallen into ruin.  You will find it in the
hills North of the Great Tree."  Hold on, did you say mages?

Strike out from town and head north and you'll see the Tower.  Can't miss it.


--- Dungeon: Academy Tower ---

Enemies:
- Spider Queen (19-30 HP, Summons Black Spiders)
- Black Spider (4-9 HP)
- Imp (1-4 HP, 2x attack)
- Goblin Warrior (4-9 HP)
- Goblin Swashbuckler (2-6 HP)
- Kobold Fighter (~7 HP)
- Goblin Archer (4-11 HP)
- Goblin Shaman (3-10 HP)
- Orc Champion (10-15 HP)
- Bugbear (8-23 HP)
- Lizard Gladiator (13-18 HP)
- Hobgoblin (5-17 HP)

Tips:
- Kill any Spider Queens first in a battle, using whatever you have to.  By now
you should be able to one-hit-kill most Black Spiders.

Head north from the entrance, and you'll find the welcoming party: Lizard Men.
5 of them, HP 6-10, except 2 of them have double HP.  They move 2x/turn and
have good to-hit, but aren't that hard.  Your reward is a Heavy Axe +1.

Continue after that, and if you want to ascend the tower, go left, around the
bend, into the big room, and the stairs are down and to the right.  If instead
you go right, you'll have 5 whole rooms to explore, full of... nothing.
Seriously, go left at the top.

On the 2nd floor, ignore the first door and head up, ignore the 2nd door (on
the left) and 3rd (on top).  Go east in the corridor, ignoring the (north) 4th
and 5th doors.  As you start to go south in the corridor, the 1st door on the
right offers a fixed encounter with a Goblin King.  There are 4 kings, with
22-38 HP each, plus a Shaman and an Archer.  The Kings get 2 attacks, as you
know, and can also summon Goblins.  Why bother with this?  Well, the prize is a
Goblin Staff +3, which is a nice improvement for your Mage.

Back in the corridor, follow the corridor all the way around, ignoring all
doors, until you come to the end.  The very last door, that's the one you want.
Head into the stairs there, but be careful - at the top of the stairs is
another welcoming party.  4x Lizard Gladiators,  2 of them with double HP, and
each of them hit REALLY hard (~12 damage a hit, with very good accuracy).  Your
Mage's Summons will be helpful to slow down the oncoming wave.

With them defeated, go up and to the side, either door will lead you around the
back to another fixed encounter: a Lizard Mage (~39 HP), flanked by a Lizard
Gladiator and 2x Lizard Men.  If you focus some firepower on the Mage, and
respect (or Root, or distract) the Gladiator, this should be pretty easy.
Prize: Elvish Armor, AC 4 for your Archer.  Go up the stairs into the roof
garden, and wind around the path until you come to:

* Boss: Lizard Elite (~54 HP)
Minions: 1x Lizard Wizard (~17 HP), 1x Lizard Gladiator (~16 HP), 1x Lizard Man
(6-10 HP)
Notes:
- This fight is pretty serious, because they get an ambush attack, and the
first thing the boss does is cast an area-effect Weakening spell on your party.
Things just got real.
- Summons are your friend.  1 will probably turn the tide of battle.  2
(Oliphaunts, Ogres, Trolls, whatever) will pretty much overrun this fight.
Treasure: Bow of Illness (Legendary bow, 3-9 damage, hit effect Poisoned(4),
To-Hit +1).  Arguably better than the Magic Bow, but only for facing high-HP
enemies.  I usually sell it.

Once finished, walk over to the statue, and Smash it.  Quest complete!  Fight
your way out of the tower and back to the Great Tree, where you'll be presented
with your reward: 45 HP, and the Green Exis Key.  Cool!  The Chieftain tells
you to go speak with "Ol-yun in Brinfort", so let's head there.  If you haven't
taken out the Two-Headed Troll in the northern mountains, you should do that
now.


*****************************
5. Brinfort and the High Seas			- BRWAW
*****************************

Wind your way around the forests and mountains and back to Brinfort, as you did
before.  Now, there is a new guy there who will give you a quest item.

Ol-Yun: "Noble heroes!  You will not be granted permission to enter my
once-glorious home of Urlopolis without displaying a family seal.  Please take
mine, and good luck on your quest!"

OK, great, now we can get into Urlopolis.  But let's figure out how to get
there first.  After a quick refueling at the shops here, head outside of town
and down the docks and charter your ship for 35 GP.  We're off to foreign
lands!  At Lvl 5, you should be able to handle most everything the random
encounters in the Sea will throw at you.

Enemies:
- Swordfish (2-5 HP)
- Giant Jellyfish (~21-27 HP)
- Giant Crab (4-10 HP)
- Merman (2-14 HP, can move 2x/turn)
- Merman Swordsman (5-13 HP)
- Craw Fighter (4-10 HP, 2x attacks)
- Sea Snake (3-9 HP)

There are a couple of destinations of note:

1. Castle Hilenika.  Just to the southwest of your Brinfort departure is the
island castle that used to rule the empire.  The door is locked for now but
you'll be back here later... much later.

2. Head south and around the continent at the lighthouse, and just south of
where the old Goblin Breeding Pits were, is a fixed encounter with a bunch of
Mermen.  There are Merman x4, Merman Swordsman x2, and a Merman Sorceror.  Two
of them will have double HP.  Prizes include a Seaweek Cloak (4AC for Mages),
and some Fish-Oil Salve +2 (Heal 6-12), which should save some SP in the next
dungeon.

3. Due southwest from Castle Hilenika - is a one-square island with a town on
it.  This is...

--- Town: Sailor's Cove ---


Shop: Lvl 5 ("Four Kingdoms Market") - (Sell Elvish Boots: 16) - very poor
prices, but a rather good selection if you check the shop a bunch of times.

If you have cash burning a hole in your pocket, you can stop off here on your
journey to top up the equipment a bit.  They sell things up to and including an
Embroidered Cloak (AC 5 / RES 2 for your Mage).  Don't obsess, though - there's
better gear to be had in the next town.

Moving on with the ocean exploration:

4. Due west from the Lighthouse and across the ocean is an island with a cave
on it.  It's just a little southwest of Sailor's Cove.  This is the Underground
Sea.  If you're at least Lvl 5 and feel up to it, head on down there - or save
it and come back a little later.

--- Underground Sea ---

Enemies: Same as overworld ocean, but now including...
- Merman Sorceror (9-16 HP, Ranged attack, Summons Swordfish)
- well, there's that Sea Monster too, but otherwise it's pretty much the same
as the Overworld ocean.

You start on the upper right of the map.  The "goal" - there's a boss and
secret sword down here - is at the lower right.  Well, not the extreme lower
right, but you have to go there and then wind your way through a small passage
just up and to the right of it.  Once you find it, guarding your path is a Sea
Monster!  Roughly HP 80, it deals a lot of damage, but is all melee.  You can
Root it (with Gaelabeth) and pound away, or just make a few Summons and let
them clean up.  Lvl 5 and up, it shouldn't be a major challenge.

Treasure: Hydrosword (Warrior weapon, 4-18 dmg, +1 Hit, +1 RES, and 1x/combat
can hit for 6-12 damage at Range).  Very useful, better than the Magic Sword
(though arguably less so than the Flamberge, which we'll see shortly).

You can explore all around the Underground Sea but there isn't much else to do
there.  On the west side, just south of the middle, there is a Fixed Encounter
if you like: a single Merman.  Yay!  OK, he's got 2x HP, and only drops 10 GP
and nothing else, but still... yay.


**********************************
6. Urlopolis, Caves and the Temple		- IVOQV
**********************************

With our fishy adventures behind us, let's get back on the main track of
things.  Due west of Castle Hilenika, you'll come to some swampy river delta,
and inside it is... a town!

* Note: If you can't get into Urlopolis, or can't see the Padishah to get your
Quest, you need to get the Scroll from Ol-Yun back in Brinfort.


--- Town: Urlopolis ---

Heal: 45 GP (north of town)
Shop: Lvl 5 Amulet shop ("Ur-Izan Artifacts") - (Sell Elvish Boots: 16,
Strengthsword: 120) - very poor prices, but great selection of useful jewelry,
if you can afford it.  Located just north of entrance.
Shop: Lvl 5 Potion shop ("Wi-zun's Apothecary") - (Sell Elvish Boots: 17) -
potions only (not just recovery, but also effects like strength).  Located
south-central, across a bridge.
Shop: Lvl 6 Weapon shop ("Cur-Lani Arms") - (Sell Elvish Boots: 24,
Strengthsword: 180) - great weapons at affordable prices.  Located next to
Armors in the north-central part of town.
Shop: Lvl 6 Weapon shop ("Cur-Lani Armors") - (Iron Shield 31, Sell Elvish
Boots: 24, Strengthsword: 180) - prices are reasonable, selection is great.  If
you can afford it, this is a great place to improve your gear.

Urlopolis is one of the larger towns you'll come across.  Spend some time
exploring it, remembering where the 4 shops are, and talking to everyone.  If
you've got the cash, these are the things you'll want to blow it on:

Shopping list:
- Flamberge (Warrior Weapon), 306 GP, 8-17 dmg, +3 Hit, +2 ACC
- Archer's Helm (Helm for Archer, duh), 366 GP, AC 4, RES 2.  You won't find
better for a good long time.
- Magic Staff (Mage Weapon), 234 GP, 3-10 dmg, 1-5 Range damage (!), +3 Hit, +2
AWR -- This is your first ranged-damage weapon for the Mage, and is worth
giving up the Goblin Staff +3 for.  Hand your M the Amulet of Might +1 for a
little extra damage boost, and they can be picking off weaklings in every
battle.
- Helm of Valor (Warrior Helm), 360 GP, AC 4, RES 1.  A luxury item at this
point, but if you have the cash...
- Amulet of Life (Amulet for All), 180 GP, +5 TUF.  You'll be collecting a few
of these soon, because they're great level-up aids.  You equip them just before
you level up, and it boosts your HP gain at that levelup.  You swap them out as
soon as you're happy with the levelup.
- If you see the Spark Staff, don't buy it, it's not worth it.

Quest: Pi-Yun Temple (via Padishah): "Our most sacred Pi-Yun Temple is in the
grip of unspeakable evil.  Undead now roam its hallowed chambers.  I will grant
the Yellow Exis Key to those who restore the Temple, will you accept the
quest?"  Sounds like a bargain.

But before you go there, talk to the guy in the northwest of town, who says:

Urlani Elder: "None can enter the Pi-Yun temple South of the river but the
original Clerics.  Most hav been eradicated by the undead, but one is believed
to be held prisoner in the Curzon River Caves to the Southwest.  His rescue may
be your only way in to Pi-Yun!"

Held prisoner by the undead?  Sounds legit.  OK, in that case, let's head to
those Caves first.  Stock up on healing items (you'll need extras here if you
haven't got a ton of Fish-oil Salves).  Then, head out into the Swamps.

Enemies in the Swamps:
- Skeleton Guard (~3)
- Zombie (5-8 HP)
- Brood Guard (9-15 HP)
- Spitting Spider (5-10 HP)

Directionally, head west from Urlopolis just a little bit to the bridge over
the river.  Due south of the bridge is the Pi-Yun Temple, which you can't get
into right now.  (Don't believe me?  Go check it out yourself).  Instead, head
east, and then south along the edge of the continent, then west, again along
the edge of the continent.  Along that south edge, you can turn north (on top
of the swampy trees) to find a fixed encounter with a bunch of Snakes - the
Fire Snake is dangerous but the rest are easy.  Anyway, go west on the
continent until you hit the mountains, and right there at the head of the
river, you've reached...


--- Dungeon: Curzon River Caves ---

Enemies:
- Spider Queen (19-30 HP, Summons Black Spiders)
- Fungus Keeper (12-23 HP)
- Painted Spider (12-27 HP, Attack can Paralyze) -- one of these dropped a
Strengthsword for me.  Ridonculous.
- Broodling (4-9 HP)
- Spitting Spider (5-10 HP)

Most of this dungeon is pretty linear.  Start by going straight west along the
river - any diversions are just that.  The welcoming party is a bunch of Brood
Guards (x3, 9-15 HP) and their Broodlings (x3, 9-15 HP).  Two Guards will have
the usual double HP.

Continuing along the river, the first bridge will take you back around to the
right, and you'll pass a fixed encounter with some Spiders.  1x Spider Queen,
1x Spitting Spider, 2x Painted Spider (~23 HP), 5x Black Spider.  As usual, get
the Queen first.  The treasure is very nice though: Battle-ax +2, Elvish Armor
+1 (hello, Archer!), and a Great Helm.  Worth the diversion.

Back along the river, you'll come to a 2nd bridge, and a 3-way split.  The west
fork is the way forward, but the north fork takes you to a fixed encounter with
a bug-eyed gentleman: 2 teleporting Cave Peepers!  With roughly 34 HP and an
ability to jump right next to you, they're annoying but not hugely dangerous.
And they drop what would normally be a late-game item: Blink Gems.  One use can
teleport the user to any selected spot on the battlefield.

Continuing west along the river, you get another fixed encounter with 4x Fungus
Keepers.  Despite two of them having double HP, they will shortly be double
dead.  Farther along, the river bends south, and there is a path going left
some more.  That path leads to a fixed encounter with one of the more unusual
creatures: a Mother Fungus (~44 HP), with two Mushroom Drones (14-20 HP) for
good measure.  The Mother Fungus produces a new Mushroom Drone every turn, and
every Mushroom Drone produces a (minor, annoying) Spore Soldier every turn.
This battle can get crazy very fast unless you close on the Mother Fungus and
wreck her.  Prize: an Amulet of Life.

Follow the river some more, over a bridge and around to the south, and at some
point the only way forward is to take a path away from the river.  IT comes
to... a stone room?  On the other side of a door is a Skeleton Wizard.  Now
we're getting somewhere!  This fixed encounter grants you the joys of:

- Skeleton Guard (3-8 HP) x6!
- Zombie (5-6 HP) x2
- Ghoul (~21 HP?) x1
- Skeleton Wizard (~45 HP) x1.  But yeah, 45 HP.  And a tough mage to boot.

If you're not level 6 by now, this is going to be rough on you.  If you are...
your Mage can cast Flame Chant on the biggest group of them, twice if need be,
and that will simplify things for you.  Your reward is a Magic Staff, if you
haven't already bought one.  Well, even if you have.

Down the stairs you go, into the Underground Prison.  You're in a room with
many doors.  The enemies have now shifted:

Enemies:
- Skeleton Guard (3-11 HP, ranged attack)
- Wraith (26-50 HP, Ranged attack, high AC) -- this is kinda unfair at this
level, but he usually appears alone
- Phantom (14-22 HP, ranged attack)
- Brood Guard (8-17 HP, 2x attack, casts Eagle-Eyed on self)
- Ghoul (~21 HP, 2x attack) -- they not only attack, they can also cast
Paralyze.  Kill them first!
- Clay Golem (29-49 HP)
- Zombie (4-7 HP)
- Mummy (~24 HP, 2x move, 2x attack, hit effect: Weakened)

The bottom-right door is the correct one.  It winds around, and you'll come to
another room with a Skeleton Wizard guarding the door.  This gets messy: it's
one Skeleton Wizard, one Skeleton Guard... and two Mother Funguses.  This is a
great opportunity to use one of those Blink Gems you got earlier to save your
Warrior the time of having to walk across the room to engage them.  The prize
is a bunch of Energy potions and a Wizard Hat.

The corridor then winds up and around to a series of doors.  At the end of the
corridor is a room with another Mother Fungus in it.  It has double HP (~80),
but is otherwise alone.  Good luck to ya's!  Your prize is a Brood Figurine +1
[3], which is pretty useless because you can already summon better stuff than
that.

I'll let you explore the rest of the maze yourself - it's fun! - but I'd be
remiss if I didn't mention a fixed encounter with some Phantoms (x5) at the
bottom-right of the map.  The prize is a Dark Sword +1, dmg 6-26, +4 Hit, but
-4 TUF.  Arguably better than a Flamberge.

At the end of the maze is a Mummy guarding a door.  Looks suspicious.  Turns
out...

* Boss: Mummy x2, Ghoul x2, SKeleton Guard x3
Notes:
  - Take out the Ghouls first.
Treasure: Enchanted Skull +4 [4]

Inside the room is a Cleric, who gives you a scroll.
Cleric: "The prisoners and even the fungal denizens of this cavern are
subjugated by the undead.  I must stand by them.  But please travel to the
Pi-Yun Temple with great haste.  Read this scroll at the entrance, and the
doors will open for you."

Non-Quest complete!  Time to fight our way back out, head to Urlopolis to
sell/reload, and on to the next quest.

After resting up and cashiering your loot, leave Urlopolis, head across the
bridge to the west, and straight south to the...


--- Dungeon: Pi-Yun Temple ---

OK, it's not really a "dungeon" because it's outdoors, but still.  As you
enter, your scroll grants you:

"You open the scroll and pronounce the words you see written: 'Sicul Amina
Mutarg'.  The gate vibrates, then disintegrates, as does the scroll.  You step
in to the erstwhile sacred temple of Pi-Yun!"  Not exactly "One Ring to Rule
Them All", but hey, it's 8-bit.

Your welcoming party of Spectres is right ahead, sir.  4 of them, really.
Often ranged attack, sometimes they'll move/melee.  31-47 HP.  Prize: Dark Bow,
6-18 dmg, +2 Hit, -5 TUF.  Not sure I'd take it ahead of the Sharkbone or Magic
bows.

Enemies:
- Ghoul (11-22 HP) -- I'm telling you, kill them first in any battle
- Skeleton Guard (3-12 HP, Ranged Attack)
- Skeleton (3-15 HP)
- Phantom (14-28 HP, Ranged Attack)
- Skeleton Wizard (~21 HP, Magic Ranged Attack, Summons Skeletons)
- Zombie (4-7 HP)
- Spectre (24-36 HP, Ranged Magic attack)

This is your first semi-serious dungeon, because many of the enemies
(particularly the Ghouls and Phantoms) use magic.  If you go to the top of the
area, there's a fixed encounter vs a Skeleton Wizard and his tribe (4 Zombies,
6 Skeleton Guards).  Why bother?  Well, the prize includes a Wand of Blasting
+1 [6] (good for your Warrior to burn a turn here and there), and a set of
Energy Potions +1.

There's a diamond-shaped building occupying the middle of the area.  Entrances
are from the left and right sides.  In the middle is another square-shaped
building.  Entrance is on the bottom.  But guarding the inner one is a fixed,
close encounter with the Mummy kind.  3 of them, double HP (43-51 HP).  And a
hit casts Weaken, too.  A simple Summon should turn the tide; frankly, random
encounters against Ghouls are tougher.

Second floor now.  This map is a fun one: the map forks out in the same way, in
all 4 directions from the stairs.  You have 4 options, and for each one, it
splits into two more, and then sometimes two more.  There is a fixed encounter
with a Wraith at the far South end, who has 2 Ghouls and 2 Skeleton Wizards
with him.  But there is a serious reward for such a serious fight.  He will
leave you a unique item: Staff of Wrath.  It's a downgrade in that it lacks a
Ranged attack, but a big upgrade in one respect: once per battle, you can
essentially cast a mini-Flame Chant for free, doing 5-15 dmg to a 3x3 Area.

Anyway, the correct path forward is to go (from the middle) Up, then Left, then
Left again.  Wind around the bend, and finally, go Down from there.  You'll end
up facing an evilly grinning dude with a staff.  It's a boss!

* Boss: Undead Prince (~67 HP)
Minions: 2x Zombie (double hp), 3x Phantom (normal hp)
Notes:
- The undead prince has an area-attack spell that Poisons everyone.  Having
high Toughness helps you get over it faster.
- Just send your Warrior up to wail on the Prince while your other two focus
on the minions.  At least all 3 of you won't be poisoned at the same time.
- If the Prince is far away, consider using another Blink Gem to get there
fast.
Treasure: Wand of Paralysis [3], a staff that paralyzes at range.  Useful!

With the Undead Prince out of the way, you can smash the Energy Beam (just by
stepping on it).  "As you approach the energy beam, it emits one final burst of
tremendous power, then dies out!  The undead menace in Pi-Yun has been
defeated, but what has happened up North?"

Don't worry, we're about to find out.  But for now, fight your way out of here
and head back to Urlopolis for your reward.  In this case, there is no Treasure
reward, but you do get the Yellow Exis Key.  And the Padishah also tells you to
head up north and see what's up in the Keshak Fiefdoms.

Also: Save your pennies, because we're about to go on a shopping spree.


****************************
7. Gurnstaad and the Chalice			- XQZWU
****************************

Sail northeast from Urlopolis, until you find some ice floes and a gap in the
mountains.  Sail right up the river and you'll be at a small town.  Ditch the
ship here, it's pretty much useless now.


--- Town: Haerhagen ---

Heal: 45 GP
Shop: Lvl 6 Amulet shop ("Keshak Bazaar") - (Sell Strengthsword: 198) - Good
prices but he's not selling anything useful.  Keep your cash.

This town is just a waypoint if you get wrecked by the much-tougher overworld
enemies while walking around.  Sell up, and let's head out of here.


--- Journey to Gurnstaad ---

This gets its own section because the enemies have just kicked it up a notch.

Enemies in Keshak:
- Drow Elf (13-22 HP, 2x Ranged attack/turn)
- Troll (9-23 HP, ranged attack)
- Bugbear (8-23 HP)
- Hobgoblin (5-17 HP)
- Frost Snake (9-17 HP, ranged attack)
- Blue Goblin (7-12 HP, 2x move)
- Orc Champion (8-13 HP, casts Eagle-Eyed on self)
- Snow Ogre (18-29 HP, casts Berserk on self)
- Ice Troll (14-22 HP, has Melee & Ranged)

Go north above the rivers, and turn east.  For a while.  You'll go around a
lake to the north, and on the north side is a castle.  Hooray!


--- Town: Gurnstaad ---

Heal: 25 GP (and you'll probably need it!), Location: Citadel, just left of the
Baron
Shop: Lvl 7 Armor ("Gurnstaad Armory") - (Sell Strengthsword: 174) - A few runs
here will get you the best armor available for a long time.
Shop: Lvl 7 Weapons ("Gurnstaad Arms") - (Sell Strengthsword: 174) - Likewise,
some great things for sale here, see shopping list below.

Gurnstaad Baron: "The Blue Exis Key, aye I know it.  But I don't have it, the
Baron at Vloyansk does.  But he'll ne'er grant an audience to a Southerner,
'less you bring him something he badly wants.  What ye need is the Ice Chalice,
talk to my treasurer 'bout it."

That treasurer is up from the Baron's room, and to the left (twice).  Talk to
him for a quest.

Quest: "Keshak Ice Maze" - (Treasurer): "Durin' the ol' Fiefdom wars, we fought
for decades o'er a single crystal chalice.  Seems meaningless now.  Yet, if ye
could retrieve it from teh Ice Maze just Northeast of here, it may get
Vloyansk's attention.  Will you attempt it?"  Sounds dubious, but OK.

Gurnstaad should be your base of operations for the next few quests.  In
particular, some things you should look to afford here include:

Shopping List:
- Speed Boots (For W/A), 362 GP, 3 AC, +1 Move.  Requires a longer explanation
- see mid-game Battle Tactics.  But get this, at least for your Warrior.  Top
priority.
- Bow of Seeking (Archer weapon), 762 GP, 5-20 dmg, +5 Hit, +3 ACC.  This is
the best bow for an Archer for a while, and should be a required purchase here,
even if it takes a few runs in and out of town.
- Staff of Wisdom (Mage weapon), 843 GP, 5-15 Melee, 4-10 Range, +5 Hit, +1
RES, +3 AWR.  I hope you enjoyed the Staff of Wrath, because you don't need it
anymore.
- Helm of Valor (Warrior Helm), 375 GP, 4 AC, 1 RES.
- Archer's Helm (Archer only), 381 GP, 4 AC, 2 RES.  If you didn't get it in
Urlopolis.
- Sheepskin Boots (For W/A), 331 GP, 3 AC, 3 TUF.  Unless you've found better
for your Archer.
- Wizard Hat (Mage Helm), 397 GP, 3 AC, 3 RES.  I usually end up with an
Apprentice Hat +3 or something, though, so this may not be necessary.
- Platemail Armor (Warriors), 900 GP, 6 AC, 1 RES, 1 TUF.  The steep price tag
might require a bit of grinding to deserve, but one of these (or especially a
+1) is well worth keeping for a while.
- Strengthsword (Warrior weapon), 750 GP, 10-30 dmg, +5 Hit, +5 STR.  This is
somewhat optional, because you're going to find better shortly, and a Flamberge
+1 or the like may get you to that point.  Still, it's a staggering upgrade
over previous weapons like the Magic Sword, so it may serve you well if you
have the cash.

When you're all shopped up, head out of town and head northeast to the cave
that's there.


--- Dungeon: Ice Cave ---

You stand at the entrance of the Ice Maze, once a right [sic] of passage for
young Keshak warriors.  Dare you enter?

It's a fair question, because the enemies here are serious, lvl 8 baddies.
Those new weapons you've got are going to be super necessary.

Enemies in the Ice Cave:
- Ogre (21-34 HP)
- Two-Headed Troll (25-45 HP, 2x Ranged Attack/turn)
- Drow Elf (13-23 HP, 2x Ranged Attack/turn)
- Troll (10-24 HP, Ranged attack)
- Ice Golem (25-41 HP, 2x Attack/turn)
- Bugbear (8-23 HP)
- Snow Ogre (18-23 HP, casts Berserk on self)
- Ogre Assassin (20-29 HP, 2x Move)
- Frost Snake (7-18 HP, Ranged)
- Yeti (50-56 HP)
- Hobgoblin (5-17 HP)

From the entrance, go down a little bit, and to the right.  Continue taking the
rightward option, and you'll eventually come to something that looks like a
flower pot.  It is in fact the one and only, glorious ** Bag of Holding **, and
it acts as an auxiliary character's worth of inventory slots.  My suggestion is
to use it to put all your sellables in, and only use your characters'
inventories for useful things or as overflow space.

Head back towards the entrance; you're now going to go Left.  I'll let you
explore the rest of the maze.  When you get to the end (middle of the right
side of the map), you'll know it, because you're facing...

* Boss: Ice Golem x4 (double HP)
Notes:
  - No minions, no treasure... no problem.
- Use your positioning and Speed Boots on your Warrior to only face 1-2 of
them at a time, and have your Mage summon at least 1 guy to take them down.

The treasure box behind him is the Chalice they were speaking about back in
Gurnstaad.  Oh, and 85 GP, a Jewel of Health, and the Hammer of the North, a
fantastic Warrior weapon.  If you don't have a Strengthsword, this obviates the
need for one (and gives a net 4 Resistance - very handy).  If you do have a
Strengthsword, I tend to prefer it, as the minimum damage on the Hammer of the
North is very low.  Either way

Enough talk, you're getting cold in that ice cave.  Better fight our way back
outside and head to Gurnstaad.

When you get there, the Treasurer tells you, "Ye have the Chalice!  An
impressive feat for a thin-skinned Southerner.  Present that to Vloyansk, and
ye may get inside the Blue Tower."

The Baron also says, "If I know Vloyansk, and I'd bet me beard that I do, then
he won't be able to turn down that old Chalice.  Why it even warms me cold
heart to see it once more.  Now head West!"

I wouldn't want to deprive a dwarf of his beard, but he may not know Vloyansk
quite as well as he thinks.  Still, we're headed there regardless.


**********************************
8. Vloyansk and the Rest of Keshak		- MHAVM
**********************************

First we're going to do a little exploring before heading to the next big
dungeon.  And a word of advice: bring Energy potions.  By now, each of your
characters should be carrying a set of Jewels of Health (I usually find them
along the way).  Just so you're prepared.


--- Exploring the Fiefdoms ---

There are a couple of things worth doing before we head to the Blue Tower.
We're going to go counter-clockwise around the Walk back past your ship, and
after you clear the rivers, head down.

1. Fixed Encounter with Ogre Assassins.  Just to the southwest of Haerhagen and
your ship is a fight with 2 Ogre Assassins, 2 Snow Ogres, and 3 Ogres.  No
melee attacks, though - so stay back and pepper them until they close the
distance.  If you have Borakash, your Hymn of Anger spell gets you Berserk,
which means 2 attacks so long as you connect with at least 1 attack per turn.
Your prize is pretty good: Sheepskin Boots +1 (Archer), and Vial of Frost,
which summons an Ice Golem (this is actually useful, have your Mage keep it).

2. Islann Cavern.  Continue westward to the cave in the south mountains.  It's
actually a...

--- Town: Islann Cavern ---

Heal: 5 GP (this is VERY useful if the random encounters are kicking your butt.
Or the one you'll go to next.)
Shop: Lvl 8 Potion shop ("Islann Refectory") - (Sell Strengthsword: 218).

Useful recovery stuff for sale.  Jewels, Blink Gems, and the like.

Also, the southernmost dwarf tells you about "An enormous White Dragon" who he
needs avenged.  It's not an official quest, but we might as well take a hint.

3. Frost Cavern.  Head out from Islann, go west a little bit, and you'll find
something odd: an inland lake, and a ship just sitting there waiting to take
you across it.  Well, across it is an intimidating-looking cave.  There are no
random encounters in it, just one very non-random one:

* Boss: White Dragon
Minions: None
Notes:
- Separate the party.  The Dragon's attack goes over a 3x3 area, so charge
ahead with your Warrior (who gets 2 moves), and maybe step to the right with
your Mage.  That will minimize the damage he can do.  Other than that, just
wail away.

Treasure: 273 GP, and a legendary sword for your Warrior - the Dwarvenkin!
12-32 dmg, +5 Hit, +3 STR, +1 RES, and 1x/combat, cast Strong on Self.  Nifty!
Enough better than Strengthsword to switch.

4. Western Passage.  This is where you'll come once you have all 4 Exis keys.
But you can go there now if you want to run back and forth on the first few
squares and fight some battles.  See if you're up to snuff to cross to the 2nd
part of the game.

5. Ice Troll fixed encounter.  At the extreme northwest of the map is a nice
little Troll battle.  Aside from 5 Ice Trolls and 2 Trolls Original Recipe,
there are 2 Two-Headed Trolls (yikes!  top priority), and 1... Troll Lord.  ~64
HP, 2 attacks, eyes glowing red, and very mean overall.

Bring out your best tactics for this, because there's going to be a lot of
damage.  Flame Chant, Psychic Assault (if you're Lvl 8), casting Strong or
Berserk on your W, and remember to heal if under 30 HP or so.  For your
victory, you get the Trollhelm, an excellent Warrior helm with a free (if
minor) heal every battle... if you remember to use it.

That's it for the diversions, but I'd suggest heading back to Islann to sell
and stock up.  The next dungeon won't give you the option to retreat - you have
to make your way through the whole thing, or fail, but there's no ducking out
and going to town partway through.

When you're ready, head to a little bit east of the last Troll fight, where
there's a cluster of mountains mostly encircling a thin, blue tower.  That's
our goal.


--- Dungeon: Blue Tower ---

The beginning of this is very theatrical.  Talk to the middle dwarf guard, who
will let you in.  There's a warp to the top floor at the end of the corridor,
and then... mayhem.  It may be a little early, but talk to the Baron, and let's
rumble.

* Boss: Baron Vloyansk (~85 HP)
Minions: 2x Wraith (n'gahhh!!), 2x Phantom
Notes:
- Vloyansk creates Phantoms.  It's what he does.  Focus on him, ignore the
Phantoms.
- Well, him and the Wraiths.  The key to the Wraiths, as always, is to cast
Eagle-Eyed on yourself.  Borakash can do it, Feraldan can do it, and there's
this helm, I think... shoot, where do you get it... oh, right, you win it from
a guy on the first floor of this tower.  Well, if you don't have either of
those guys in your party, just have someone occupy Vloyansk while your Mage
goes nuts with the magic attacks on the Wraiths.
  - This wouldn't be a bad time to use some of those Wands of Paralysis you got.

Treasure: 86 GP, the Blue Exis Key, and some Jewels of Energy.

OK, Vloyansk is dead, but you're on the 6th floor of his tower.  We gotta get
out of here.  Down the stairs is a winding corridor, at the end of which is an
Ice Magi fight.  Oh, and you've got random encounters now.

Enemies in the Blue Tower:
- Snow Ogre (18-23 HP, casts Berserk on self)
- Troll (10-24 HP, Ranged attack)
- Ogre (21-34 HP)
- Two-Headed Troll (28-45 HP, 2x Attack/turn)
- Drow Elf (13-23 HP, 2x Ranged Attack/turn)
- Bugbear (8-23 HP)
- Ghoul (11-22 HP) -- They're back!  Get 'em while they're hot.
- Mummy (16-28 HP, 2x move, 2x attack, hit effect: Weakened)
- Spectre (24-36 HP, Ranged Magic attack)
- Ice Golem (25-41 HP, 2x Attack/turn)
- Ice Magus (~27 HP, Area Attack (!), Summons Snow Ogres)
- Ice Troll (14-22 HP, has Melee & Ranged)

The Ice Magi summon Snow Ogres, so focus some firepower on them, as they don't
do a ton of damage.  You win a Wand of Destruction, which should be a
last-ditch "good lord I'm gonna die, time to drop the big one!" kind of weapon.

On the next floor, there are fixed encounters with some Ice Golems.  Beefy, 2x
HP ones.  They appear solo, which at this point is pretty much self-sacrifice.
You can pick a fight with a second group of them if you just can't get enough.

The top-right one gets you an Amulet of Light +1, which is a fantastic Amulet
for this stage of the game: AC 4, +5 AWR, +2 TUF.  Upgrade for your Warrior.
The bottom-left one leaves you nothing.  But if you're looking to put them away
fast, get used to using the special ability of the Dwarvenkin.  With Strong on
your Warrior, that thing can do 70 damage in a turn.

Down to the 3rd floor.  There's another fixed encounter with some Ogre
Assassins, 2 of them, backed up by 2 Drow Elves and 2 Snow Ogres.  No prize,
but if you go south from there, you're down to floor 2.

Floor 2 is bigger, but square and very predictable.  And no fixed encounters.
Head to the top left and go down to the ground floor.

On the ground floor, there are no random encounters (yay!), but if you go to
the far right (through the dwarf guards), and up to the top right and wrap
around, there's a fixed encounter with some Yetis.  They each have ~100 HP, so
it's no joke of a fight.  Your prize is pretty sweet, though: the Helm of
Seeing, which as I mentioned before gives Eagle-Eyed (near-100% chance to hit)
once per combat.  Great for your Archer!

On your way out, be sure to talk to the Dwarves.  They're nicer now.  And set
you straight on your way out of here.

So, head to Islann to sell, heal, restock potions, whatever.  Your next
destination is due west, through the Western Passage, to the Westerlandes.
West west west!


**********************************
9. To the Westerlandes and Teshvar		- TSWUO
**********************************

Congrats on beating the first third of the game.  Yep, there's about double
what you've done so far remaining!  Get up in that Western Passage and be
prepared to hit it like a ton of bricks.  Now that you're prepared, there's a
Cleric outside it who gives you his words of wisdom.

"You have done well to collect the Exis Keys, but your quest is not yet at an
end.  The Westerlandes are wild and dangerous.  If Vella yet survives there,
she must be found and returned to Hilenika."  Yeah yeah yeah, your precious
princess is in another castle, I'll save her from Bowser or whatever.  Lemme at
'em.


--- Dungeon: Western Passage ---

Enemies:
- Minotaur (45-70 HP, 2x Move)
- Clay Golem (29-49 HP)
- Mind Flayer (35-55 HP, 2x Ranged Magic Attack/turn)
- Death Viper (25-36 HP, 3x Move (!!)) -- very strong hit, be careful with 'em
- Fire Snake (16-24 HP, Area Attack), annoying but not a real threat by now
- Mummy (16-28 HP, 2x move, 2x attack, hit effect: Weakened)
- Wraith (26-50 HP, Ranged attack, high AC)
- Ogre Assassin (20-29 HP, 2x Move)
- Phantom (14-28 HP, Ranged Attack)

This place is a series of fixed encounters, interspersed with hair-raising
random encounters.  Don't go too far without checking all the branches, because
there are some nice items from the fixies.  Your first fixed encounter is some
rock golems.  Haven't seen them before?  Too bad!

* Rock Golem (41-63 HP, Ranged attack) x3
Prize: Armored Boots +1 (Warrior only).  Not displacing the Speed Boots.  To
the Bag of Holding they go.

When you next come to a fork where you can go down or right, go right.  It'll
take you to a door with a Beholder behind it.  Behold!

* Beholder (~106 HP!, Ranged attack) -- alone, thankfully.
Prize: Bow of Seeking.  Unless you didn't go shopping very much in Gurnstaad,
you already have one equipped.  Bag of Holding it is.

Head back to that fork, go down and left, and next up is a fixin' with some
Death Vipers.  They have Ambush, just to make it more annoying.

* Death Viper (29-39 HP, 3x Move)
Prize: Platemail (wearing it!), and Staff of Wisdom (wielding it!).

You're now at another fork.  Down is a dead-end, head up and start going
through the rooms.

** IMPORTANT ** If you go past the second room in the straightaway just ahead
of you, it will lock a door behind you, sealing you off from the Eastern
Continent until very late in the game.  Be ready to leave that all behind if
you go forward.

OK, so you went.  And now there's the end of the dungeon.  And in view as you
exit is a town.  Cool!



####################################
Game Walkthrough - Western Continent			- AWCSL
####################################



--- Town: Herazni ---

Heal: 40 GP (probably worth it after that ordeal)
Shop: Lvl 8 Potions ("Pajoon Apothecary") - (Sell Trollhelm: 277)

Not much else here aside from some plot-related news from the locals.  Hit the
(sandy) road.


--- Journey to Teshvar ---

OK, you're on a new Overworld, and you don't yet have a ship to sail around.
But we can explore for a bit, gathering gold and sellables, because we're about
to dump a boatload of cash.  What's that you say, you already have a boatload?
We'll see about that.

In case you start running low or whatever, Teshvar is roughly Northwest of
Herazni, and you have to approach it from the west to get in.  But regardless,
let's go around the edge of the map counterclockwise.

Enemies:
- Lizard Wizard (15-24 HP, Ranged attack, hit can Poison)
- Lizard Gladiator (~11-13 HP)
- Hobgoblin (5-17 HP)
- Bugbear (8-23 HP)
- Cyclops (31-46 HP)
- Oliphaunt Sentry (19-28 HP)
- Spider Queen (19-30 HP, Summons Black Spiders)

1. As you turn the corner in the northeast part of the map, you'll see a cat
standing there with a sword.  Looks legit.  Let's investigate.

* Cat Warrior (~24-29 HP, 1 has double HP, casts Blessed on self, 2x
Attack/turn) x6
Note: "Blessed" status basically means they take half damage, or less.  I
suggest focusing attacks on those who don't have it enabled, if you can, and
waiting for the status to wear off on the others.
Prize: Speed Boots, Tempered Shield

2. Continue on for what feels like ever, until you come to a river.  Go south
to the bridge over the river, then back up to the north and then west until you
see a fixed encounter with some Oliphaunts.

* Oliphant Priestess (~64 HP, Summons Oliphants, Ranged Attack) x1
* Oliphaunt (13-16 HP) x3?
* Oliphaunt Charger (19-30 HP, one with double HP, 2x Move, 2x Attack/turn) x4
* Oliphaunt Sentry (??) x3?
Prize: Oliphant Talisman +2 [4], Flamberge +1

Head south after this, noting where the (currently barred) entrance to the
Moors is.  Head east to go back over the bridge on the river, then south.  If
you head to the extreme south, you'll notice a Ship - access to which is
currently barred, but you'll get there.

OK, not much else to explore.  You can clear up your whole map if you like, or
just head to the big oasis city in the middle of the continent.


*************************
10. Teshvar and the Arena		- GVVRA
*************************


--- Town: Teshvar ---

Explore around a bit!  This is the biggest town in Gurk 3.

Heal: 75 GP (Location: large room in middle-right of map)
(Shops Location: large room in upper-left of map)
Shop: Lvl 8 Potion Shop ("Alchemical Elixirs") - (Sell Trollhelm: 210)
Shop: Lvl 8 Weapon Shop ("Teshvari Arms") - (Sell Trollhelm: 210)
Shop: Lvl 8 Amulet Shop ("Antiquities of Tuumbak") - (Sell Trollhelm: 210)
Shop: Lvl 8 Armor Shop ("Teshvari Armor") - (Sell Trollhelm: 210)

First thing to do is get your Quest in order.  Follow the main building (above
you as you enter) around to your left, and don't take the first couple doors
but go all the way up to the river above and take the topmost door to your
right into the castle.  You've been granted an audience with the Sultan!  Cool.

Quest: Tuumbak Arena
Sultan: "All people in Pajoon are my subjects, no matter where they hail from.
So I will only grant passage out of Pajoon if you can prevail in the Tuumbak
Arena.  Take this scroll to the Arena entrance, and prepare for gladiatorial
combat!"

You got it, pal.  But first, let's go SHOPPING!  Sell your stuff and then try
to get your grubby paws on these...

Shopping List:
- Sword of Vengeance (Warrior Weapon, 2301 GP, 16-38 dmg, +5 Hit, +4 STR, -4
AWR, 1x/combat: Berserk(Self)).  This is an incredibly important weapon and you
need to buy it.  For an explanation, see the "Mid-Game" section of Battle
Tactics, towards the start of the guide, under "Berserking".
- Enchanted Boots (W/M, 1222 GP, AC 3, +1 RES, +1 Extra Move) - Great for Mage
- Mithril Armor (Archer Armor, 1755 GP, 7 AC, +2 RES).  A big upgrade.
- Dimensional Cloak (Mage Armor, 2210 GP, 7 AC, +3 RES, +2 ACC, +2 AWR).  A
luxury at that price, but it'll be a little while before you see better.

Optional Shopping:
- Staff of Power (Mage Weapon, 3875 GP, 15-25 melee / 10-25 range, +8 Hit, +2
AC, +4 ACC, +5 AWR).  This beast can be had as a prize shortly after the Arena.
- Bow of Virtue (Archer Weapon, 3520 GP, 20-36 dmg, +8 Hit, +2 AC, +4 STR, +2
ACC, +2 TUF).  This massive upgrade for your Archer will serve him well into
the late game, but is also available for free as a fixed-encounter drop,
shortly after the Arena.
- Kingsword (Warrior Weapon, 3900 GP, 25-50 melee / 8-15 range, +8 Hit, +2 AC,
+4 STR, +2 ACC, +1 TUF).  Why buy two weapons for the Warrior?  You'll see.
But Kingsword is less of a priority at this exact moment than the Sword of
Vengeance.  You'll get awarded one, not shortly, but soon enough.
- Helm of the Archers (Archer Helm, 3125 GP, 6 AC, +2 STR, +3 ACC, +1 TUF).
You might prefer keeping your money and your Helm of Seeing with its Eagle-Eyed
ability and +RES.  Also, you'll be getting one handed to you not long from now.

Ignore:
- Gladius Enigmus.  You're buying better.
- Dimensional Staff.  You're about to have better.
- Cloak of Displacement.  Dimensional Cloak is better.

All stocked up?  Let's head to the Arena entrance (left side of main castle),
and let's rock it.

** IMPORTANT **

There is a bug in earlier releases of this game that could screw up your entire
savegame.  When you enter the Tuumbak Arena, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES GO LEFT.
YOU SHOULD GO RIGHT.  If you move left with your first move, you may get
'caught' on the other side of the walls, with no escape.


--- Dungeon: Tuumbak Arena ---

There are random encounters here, plus a series of fixies of increasing
difficulty.  Nothing here is all that bad.

Enemies:
- Painted Spider (12-27 HP, Attack can Paralyze)
- Cave Peeper (25-35 HP, Teleports before attack)
- Forest Dweller (32-55 HP, Ranged attack)
- Fire Snake (16-24 HP, Area attack)
- Nuth Swordsman (49-61 HP, 2x Move, 2x Attack)
- Wyvern (55-78 HP, Ranged attack)
- Ogre Assassin (20-29 HP, 2x Move)

Fixed Encounters:

1. Cat Warrior (~24-29 HP, 2 with double HP, casts Blessed on self, 2x
Attack/turn) x6

2. Minotaur (45-70 HP, 2x Move) x5

3. Oliphaunts:
* Oliphant Charger (19-30 HP, one with double HP, 2x Move, 2x Attack/turn) x3
* Oliphant Sentry (19-28 HP) x3
* Oliphant Priestess (~64 HP, Summons Oliphants, Ranged Attack) x1

4. Nuth Swordsman (48-79 HP, 2x Move, 2x Attack) x4

5. Golems:
* Iron Golem (~95 HP) x1
* Rock Golem (41-63 HP, Ranged attack) x2
* Clay Golem (~85 HP) x1

6. Orgolon (~220 HP, 2x Attack/turn) x1
Notes: You can make him Rooted, or even Paralyzed, to slow down the battle and
wear him down.  He only has Melee.
Prize: Charm Amulet (Legendary Amulet, W/A/M, +4 AC, +2 RES, 1x/combat:
Resistant(Self)).  A solid move for your Archer, who probably has an Amulet
that stinks and has by far the lowest AC/RES in the party.

After winning, exit the Arena to the right and talk to the Sultan.  You've
already completed the Arena quest, but now he'll give you a proclamation so you
can travel freely.  Congrats, you've got freedom - now what are you going to do
with it?


******************************
11. Diversions and Mini-Quests			- JQSST
******************************

You've now got the opportunity to do some cool stuff that the game wasn't
thinking you'd do until much later.  If you want to play the game "as it was
intended", skip this section and go to #12; you'll come to these things in turn.

...So if you're still reading, you're gonna skip around a bit.  Cool.  There's
one requirement: head south (just east of the river) and find the Ship that you
can charter for 125 GP.  Set sail for the southeast!  We're going to go
clockwise around the ocean here.

Enemies on the Western Seas:
- Sea Monster (45-71 HP)
- Giant Jellyfish (19-29 HP)
- Kraken (27-44 HP, 3x Attack/turn!)
- Merman Swordsman (~16-18 HP, 2x Attack/turn)
- Merman Sorcerer (7-15 HP, Ranged attack)
- Blue Dragon (~136 HP, 2x Move, Area attack)

Here are the "attractions", going clockwise from where you set sail:

1. Vampire Island.  Due south of Herazni is a small island with a cave.  Even
if you're Lvl 9 by now, you may not be up for the battles here without better
equipment.  There are a couple fixies:

* Vampire Bat (38-40 HP, 3x Move (!), Steals Life) x6

Followed by, at top:

* Vampire (60-85 HP, 2x Move, casts Blessed on Self, Hit Steals Life) x2
* Vampire Bat x3
Prize: Wand of Destruction (25-40 Area damage!), Dark Boots (good upgrade for
your Warrior)

2. Continue around something that looks like old fortress walls, until you get
on the south side of it.  Amid a bunch of rocks is a landing pier, except that
the other side is guarded by...

* Green Dragon (~284 HP!, Ranged Attack) - the fact is, he's a pushover.  Get a
strong Summon in up there, cast Berserk on your Archer or use a Potion of Rage,
and just wail away.  Those 284 HP will be gone in no time.
Prize: Dragonboots (Boots for All, AC 4, +1 TUF, +2 Extra Moves!).  These are
basically endgame boots for your Warrior; you'll only replace them with
Dragonboots +1, +2, etc.

3. Shuunia has the best shopping you'll see before the very end of the game.
It also has fantastic prices.  I'll detail the town later when it becomes
plot-relevant, but the shop has ridiculous stuff.  For example, if you can
afford it (5500 GP!), they sell an Amulet of Truth (3 AC, +2 RES, +2 ACC, +6
AWR, +1 TUF).  That place makes me poor very quickly.  Feel free to come back
here when money is plentiful, but for now let's head out.

4. Continuing along the southern reaches of the sea (but not necessarily on the
EXACT south end), you'll see a small island with a black dragon on it.  He's
cute, mommy, can we bring him home?

* Black Dragon (~238 HP, Area Attack that Weakens).  He can't do a ton of
damage to you, just occupy him with a Summon or a beefy Warrior and you'll wear
him down eventually.  Berserk is your friend.
Prize: Orb of Time (Paralyzes an Area - very tactically useful in the crazy
endgame situations), and an Amulet of Truth.  Remember that 5500 GP price tag?
Freebie!

5. Sail farther to the west, to the uttermost southwest, actually.  There will
be a path between some rocks that is guarded by a shark.  Well worth the fight
here:

* Leviathan (~206 HP, 2x Move).  He isn't much of anything other than a big HP
counter.

Continue along to an area called "The Edgeland".  It's not a real dungeon,
because there are no fights.  But just north of the Hooded Figure is a Staff
lying on the ground.

Staff of the Unliving (Mage Weapon, 16-28 Melee / 12-24 Range, +8 Hit, +4 ACC,
+5 AWR, Hit Effect: Weakened, 1x/combat: Summon Wraith).  It's a massive
upgrade over your Staff of Wisdom, and in my opinion better than the Staff of
Power that you might have dropped 3875 GP on in Teshvar.  Plus, it's my
favorite price: free.  You'll probably use this until just before the end of
the game.

Head on back out and continue our clockwise-ing.

6. As you proceed up the western edge of the map, you'll see a small island
with a Minotaur on it.  Well, this ain't Crete, but it'll have to do.

* Minotaur (96-122 HP, 2x Move) x2.  Absolute pushovers for you by this point.
Prize: Wand of Curing [7] - very helpful, now not everybody needs to carry
Curing potions - and a Tempered Shield +1 (probably an upgrade for your Warrior)

7.  OK, now just a little south from the Minotaur island, go east to a rather
big island.  In the middle of it - just east of a watery inlet - is a fixed
encounter with a bunch of Forest Dwellers.  And they're angry!  And more
importantly, they can paralyze you, so don't hold back.

* Forest Dweller (54-65 HP, 2x Ranged Attack/turn, casts Paralyze) x3
* Treant Elder (17-33 HP, 2 have double HP, Ranged spell that casts Weaken) x7
Prize: Strengthsword, Healing Vial +1 [4]

This is a very hard battle, because you'll be Rooted most of it and perhaps
Paralyzed too.  Have your W use Blink Gems to travel over to the Forest
Dwellers and bring the fight to them.  Use Curing Potions, use Summons.  The
prize will be very disappointing, relatively speaking, but the fight is more
about taking the measure of your own strength.  If you can win this, despite
the assault of status effects, you're in very good shape for the next several
dungeons.

8. Back on your boat.  This time we're not going clockwise around the map,
we're instead sailing just east of this big island.  There's a very rocky
island, with only a single pier to land on.  And it's guarded by...

* Blue Dragon (~237 HP, Ranged attack).  He's not that dangerous, but he has a
very high AC, so you'll need good To-Hit in order to connect.  If you start
getting frustrated, use magic.
Prize: Bow of Virtue (Archer weapon, 20-36 dmg, +8 Hit, +2 AC, +4 STR, +2 ACC,
+2 TUF).  A fantastic upgrade, and you didn't even spend $4k to get it.

By the way, there's no point to going all the way up Blayside Citadel, as the
plot hasn't gotten there yet.  But it's now time to return to the place we're
supposed to be.


**********************************
12. Thowan Pass and the Grasslands		- XDOSS
**********************************

--> If you just came from #11 and did all the diversions, then here's your
route: From the fight with the Blue Dragon, go just a few squares east and then
straight north, just to the west of the edge of the desert.  When you hit the
top, you can turn left a little bit to drop into a town if you like.  You can
sell stuff there.  I'll detail the town in a little bit.  When done, use the
ship to go just a bit east to the desert, and up a bit, and you'll see some
bridges up above and a cave on the left.  Make sure to enter the cave from the
east (going west).

--> If instead you came straight from Teshvar in #10 and are doing the game
"the right way", without skipping things, then pretend you don't have the ship
yet.  Head west from Teshvar, across the bridge over the river, even farther
west, and eventually into the cave going west.

However you get there, it's now party time!


--- Dungeon: Thowan Pass ---

This pass over the mountains was meant to be done before you got a Ship.  So we
might as well do it that way.

Enemies:
- Life Golem (100-130 HP, 2x Attack/turn).  Slow, dumb, and big HP.  You don't
need to fear them, but they can consume a lot of time.
- Forest Dweller (32-55 HP, Ranged attack)
- Bane Mage (44-68 HP, 2x Move, Magic attack)
- Mind Flayer (35-55 HP, 2x Ranged Magic Attack/turn)
- Wight (43-63 HP, 2x Move, Attack can Paralyze)
- Painted Spider (12-27 HP, Attack can Paralyze)
- Death Viper (25-36 HP, 3x Move (!))
- Cave Peeper (25-35 HP, Teleports before attack)
- Clay Golem (29-49 HP)
- Two-Headed Troll (28-45 HP, 2x Attack/turn)

The path is pretty linear, but goes through a couple different climates
(background tiles :) ).  There are a series of fixies, which by now should be
cake for you:

* Bane Mage (51-69 HP, 2x Move, Magic attack) x4.  Their attack does a fair
amount, so mind your health.  No prize (booooo).

When you come to a fork in the road, go left for an additional, fun fight.

* Jylix (56-85 HP, 2x Attack/turn, Teleports, hit causes Blinded) x2.  No prize
from the fight, but...
Treasure: 187 GP, Helm of the Archers (yay!), Energy Vials, and Sword of
Wasting (Warrior weapon, 22-45 dmg, +6 Hit, +4 STR, -4 TUF, Hit Effect:
Poisoned(9)).  Would be great if we didn't already have better.

The choice of Helm of Seeing vs Helm of the Archers is, +2 AC and +1 Hit, vs +2
RES.  The Eagle-Eyed thing isn't a big factor.  Your call to make.

When you wind around the mountain to the snowy areas, you'll come to your next
battle:

* Ice Magus (59-64 HP, casts Blinded, Area Magic attack) x2 -- get them first.
* Yeti (85-93 HP) x2.  Tough attacks.
Prize: Wand of Curing, Jewel of Energy

Back in the green grass, you've got yourself one last fixin':

* Golem Maker (~67 HP, summons Clay Golems) -- goes without saying, but handle
him first.
* Life Golem (100-130 HP, 2x Attack/turn) x2
Prize: Dimensional Cloak.  Very handy if you didn't buy one in Teshvar.

The exit is shortly thereafter.  We've got a few things to do in the area that
you've now come to, but first you should head a bit south to the town you see
nestled in the mountains, in order to unload and reload.


--- Town: Sparrowcrest ---

Heal: 145 GP (whaaaaa?), Location: far right
Shop: Lvl 9 general store ("Marketplace") - (Sell Trollhelm: 268).  Good prices
for selling stuff.
Quest: Telden's Landing
Thowan Man: "If you seek Kroga's prisoner, then make haste to the ruins of our
great city on the coast, Telden's Landing.  An evil presence remains, and most
likely Vella is being held there as well."

Well OK then.  Yeah, yeah, Vella, whatever.  But we have other stuff to do
first.


--- Journey through the Thowan Moors ---

Having gone through Sparrowcrest, we gon' rock through this next part.  If
you've done #11 already, here's the good news: You have much, much better
weapons than most people do when going through this stage of the game.  If not,
well, you'll get them soon enough anyway.

Enemies:
- Forest Dweller (32-55 HP, Ranged attack)
- Mind Flayer (35-55 HP, 2x Ranged Magic Attack/turn)
- Two-Headed Troll (28-45 HP, 2x Attack/turn)
- Painted Spider (12-27 HP, Attack can Paralyze)
- Cyclops (31-46 HP)
- Minotaur (45-70 HP, 2x Move)
- Ogre (21-34 HP)
- Cave Peeper (25-35 HP, Teleports before attack)
- Ogre Assassin (20-29 HP, 2x Move)

1. Wyvern den.  Northeast of Sparrowcrest, to the east of the river going down
from the mountains, is a fixed encounter with a Wyvern.

* Wyvern (~184 HP).  Not very remarkable.
Prize: War Amulet (All; AC 1, +3 STR, +2 ACC, +1 TUF).  A solid upgrade if
anyone is still using Eastern-Continent Amulets.

You're welcome to explore what's over the bridge, but there's nothing of note
aside from random encounters.  Unfinished part of the game, probably.  Make
your way south, and eventually you'll come to a town-looking, castle-like
thing.  More of a ruins, really.


********************************************
13. Telden's Landing and the Chase for Vella		- TDLMV
********************************************

You've come to an ancient, ruined city.  Kroga did this, and he must pay.  But
be advised: here there be dragons.  Literally.


--- Dungeon: Telden's Landing ---

OK, it's not really a 'dungeon', but the baddies are fierce enough that it
deserves some respect.  You enter from the top-middle, and there is an entrance
in roughly the middle of the map that gets you to the right-middle where the
boss is.

Enemies:
- Life Golem (100-130 HP, 2x Attack/turn)
- Jade Golem (81-119 HP)
- Keeper (65-80 HP, 2x Attack/Turn, High AC, casts Area Heal, Area Attack) --
These guys are very dangerous, prioritize them.
- Beholder (46-63 HP, Ranged Magic attack)
- Rock Golem (41-63 HP, Ranged attack)
- Golem Maker (46-67 HP, Summons Clay Golems) -- Prioritize if you can.
- Jylix (56-85 HP, 2x Attack/turn, Teleports, hit causes Blinded)
- Nuth Swordsman (49-61 HP, 2x Move, 2x Attack)
- Red Guard (60-88 HP, 2x Move, Ranged attack, casts Eagle-Eyed on self)
- Minotaur (45-70 HP, 2x Move)
- Gargoyle (51-86 HP, Ranged Attack)
- Shambling Mound (95-145 HP)

Right at the start is an interesting welcoming party.  By himself this guy
isn't bad, but in a larger group they can spell trouble.

* Abomination (~102 HP, Area Attack, 2x Attack/turn)

You can explore around the grounds if you want some interesting random
encounters, but inside the building in the middle of the map is what you're
after.

There's a fixed encounter guarding a door.  Look out!  These creatures do two
things: attack, and replicate themselves.  You have to contain them VERY
QUICKLY or you'll end up with a screen full of them as you try to figure out
what the hell you're going to do to slow them down.  Oh, and helpfully, in this
battle, they have Ambush status and get to attack/replicate first.

* Ravenous Slime (17-36 HP, SELF-REPLICATING) x3

My best advice on tactics is, don't hold back.  Call of Armageddon if your Mage
is Lv 10, get Berserk on your Archer to nail down 2 of them per turn, and Blink
Gem around with the Warrior.

As you go through the narrow corridor and into the door of the next room, you
can see a Gargoyle guarding a girl, with a prisoner nearby.  Unfortunately,
what's in front of you right now is...

* Stone Guardian (60-94 HP, 2x Move, Self-healing, Magic Resistant) x3
Prize: Dark Helm (Warrior Helm, AC 5, +1 RES, +1 ACC)

Coming out of the battle, Vella and her Gargoyle Guardian are gone, but the
prisoner remains.  And he say:

Thowan Elder: "I was the Lord of Telden's Landing, before Kroga and the Dragon
came.  I am grateful for your rescue.  The Gargoyle has carried Vella off to
Blayside Citadel of the Ilstock Isles.  Will you sail there to save her?"
FINE.  Jeez.  You people are always on our case.

Leaving Telden's Landing, there is a ship right outside, available for Charter
for 90 GP.  If you haven't already done Section #11 above, you should take the
time to do at least a few of those.  Note that #8 on that list takes you to
Blayside Citadel, which is where our plot continues.  The entrance is due South.

Whether the Blue Dragon guarding its entrance was dead a while ago, or you just
got him, we're going to continue on into the Citadel now.


--- Dungeon: Blayside Citadel ---

This place is pretty rough going.  You've probably accumulated lots of Energy
potions and jewels by now, so make good use of them and rain destruction down.
I suggest Level 10 minimum here.

The welcoming party is a bunch of Gargoyles (x4), 51-86 hp, with a Ranged
attack.  They're not hugely fearsome, but their attack (when it connects) does
a lot of damage.

Enemies:
- Iron Golem (56-78 HP)
- Rock Golem (41-63 HP, Ranged attack)
- Life Golem (100-130 HP, 2x Attack/turn)
- Jade Golem (81-119 HP)
- Golem Maker (46-67 HP, Summons Clay Golems) -- prioritize if you can
- Minotaur (45-70 HP, 2x Move)
- Green Dragon (132-160 HP, Ranged Attack that Poisons)
- Black Dragon (95-125 HP, Area Attack that Weakens)
- Vampire Bat (20-38 HP, 3x Move (!), Steals Life)
- Wight (43-63 HP, 2x Move, Attack can Paralyze)
- Shambling Mound (95-145 HP)
- Jylix (56-85 HP, 2x Attack/turn, Teleports, hit causes Blinded)
- Wraith (26-50 HP, Ranged attack, high AC)
- Stone Guardian (60-94 HP, 2x Move, Self-healing, Magic Resistant)
- Fire Snake (16-24 HP, Area Attack)
- Abomination (45-60 HP, Area Attack, 2x Attack/turn) -- huge pains in the
butt, kill them fast.
- Ravenous Slime (17-36 HP, SELF-REPLICATING) -- on second thought, kill these
guys first.
- Mind Flayer (35-55 HP, 2x Ranged Magic Attack/turn)

If you go straight left from the entrance until you hit a corridor, then go
down, far left, and up, you'll come to a fixed encounter with a Skeleton King.

* Skeleton King (~103 HP, Ranged attack that does ~25 dmg)
* Wraith (26-50 HP, Ranged attack, high AC) x2
* Wight (43-63 HP, 2x Move, Attack can Paralyze) x2
Prize: Staff of Power, which would be a great weapon for your Mage if we didn't
just get the Staff of the Unliving.

Head up for the stairs to the 2nd floor.  There, you'll find a large open room
with many rightward exits.  Hint: it's the one above the middle one, 3rd from
top.  Just before the stairs is a nice fixed encounter with a total grab-bag of
enemies:

* Djinn (~82 HP, Ranged Attack, Ranged status buffs for enemies)
* Wyvern (55-78 HP, Ranged attack)
* Beholder (46-63 HP, Ranged Magic attack)
* Warpling (25-40 HP, Teleports, Teleports YOU on hit)
* Death Viper (25-36 HP, 3x Move (!))
Prize: Ethereal Potion [3] (casts Blessed, which is pretty awesome), and a
Kingsword!  See the Mid-Game Tactics item, "Weapon Swapping", for more details
on how to get the most out of it.

The 3rd floor just leads straightaway to your destined battle with this guy:

* Boss: Undead Dragon (~199 HP, Area Paralyze (!!), Ranged Attack)
Minions: Gargoyle (51-86 HP, Ranged Attack) x2
Prize: Vial of Unmaking [2] (it's like casting a strong Flame Chant that
doesn't use up your turn), and the Electric Cloak (Legendary Mage Armor, AC 7,
+4 RES, 1x/Combat: Damage 35-70 (touch)).

A Dimensional Cloak +1 is probably the equal of the Electric Cloak, unless you
plan to let enemies close to melee distance next to your Mage all the time.
But the Electric Cloak is a clear upgrade over anything less than that.

Through the gate is Vella Trinth.  QUEST COMPLETE!  But there's more - she says
we need to meet her back in Hilenika Castle.  But how do we get there?

Quest: "The Trinexus"
(Scroll): "Seek the 'Trinexus', a device that can return you to your homeland,
then we shall meet at Castle Hilenika.  The Trinexus is hidden int he Shuunia
Wastes in the Southeast of the Westerlandes."

OK, sounds good.  Fight your way back out, and let's head Southeast-ish.


******************************************
14. Shuunia, the Wastes, and Ubon Fortress		- ZZLGI
******************************************

Back on your ship, set sail for the southeast part of the map.  Remember when
we went there to fight a dragon to gain access to the region?  If you don't,
you're about to (see Part 11, Item #2).  Head to the town you see just east of
the landing pier.


--- Town: Shuunia ---

Heal: 25 GP (quite reasonable), location
Shop: Lvl 10 General Store ("Antiquitates") - (Sell Trollhelm: 268), fantastic
prices and selection

No quest in town, but the townspeople give clues as to what you're supposed to
seek.  Specifically, they say the Trinexus is in the Ubon Fortress found up
through the wastes.  And take note of the Healing station, whose prices are
very fair given the beating you're about to get.  You may return here several
times before making it through.

As I mentioned before, the Shuunia Shop is a shopper's paradise.  You should by
now know what things need upgrading on your characters, and what constitutes an
upgrade - so be prepared to shop accordingly.  I won't prescribe any particular
must-haves (half the stuff you really want is just a +2 or +3 version of what
you've already got), but here are some examples of things I've bought here that
I considered good buys:

- Amulet of Awe +1 (given to Warrior)
- Enchanted Boots +1 (Mage)
- Mithril Armor +1 (Archer)
- Wizard Hat +3 (Mage)
- Dark Shield +1 (Warrior)

Don't go too nuts shopping forever, though, 'cause there's another, better shop
at the end of the game.

My advice is to level up to Lvl 11 before seriously attempting the castle.  The
enemies you'll face in the Wastes and Castle are a big upgrade over those
you've previously faced, and Late-Game Tactics become necessary.  If you're
below 11, use the intervening time to practice those tactics, hone your
approach, and rack up a little extra cash, while being a short walk from town.
Why here, why not just blow through it all?  Well, the last 2 dungeons are
gratuitously long affairs, and when deep within them, you won't be anywhere
near a town if you find yourself getting hosed and need to run and recharge.

So with that, let's do a...

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Equipment Check: Lvl 11
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Here's my party and equipment at this point, for comparison purposes.
Parentheses are (AC/RES), as in (7/3) would be +7 AC, +3 RES, net of AWR/TUF
bonuses.


Char:	Borakash (W)		Feraldan (A)		Gaelabeth (M)
Basics:	HP 140, SP 28, AC 28	HP 131, SP 33, AC 31	HP 125, SP 102, AC 32
	RES 15, +9 Dam, +2 Hit	RES 18, +3 Dam, +10 Hit	RES 17, +5 Dam, +7 Hit
Weapon:	Sword of Veng. (bought)	Bow of Virtue (found)	Staff of Unliving (fd)
Switch:	Kingsword (for Ranged)
Shield:	Dark Shield +1 (7/3)	N/A			N/A
Helm:	Trollhelm (5/1)		Enchanted Helm +3 (8/5)	Wizard Hat +3 (5/5)
Armor:	Platemail Armor +1(7/3)	Mithril Armor +1 (8/3)	Dimens. Cloak +1 (9/4)
Boots:	Dragonboots (4/0.5)	Sheepskin Boots +2(5/2)	Enchnt'd Boots +1(4/2)
Ring:	Amulet of Awe +1 (6/2)	Amulet of Truth (6/2.5)	Amulet of Awe +1 (6/2)

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%


You might come back and forth to town while getting stronger, but for now let's
head out to:


--- Shuunia Wastes ---

This is a small, relatively compact part of the overworld map.  Generally
speaking, you're going to go left, then up, then right to reach the castle.
Here are your fun, furry friends.

Enemies:
- Green Dragon (132-160 HP, Ranged Attack that Poisons)
- Life Golem (100-130 HP, 2x Attack/turn)
- Jade Golem (81-119 HP)
- Rock Golem (41-63 HP, Ranged attack)
- Clay Golem (29-49 HP)
- Forest Dweller (32-55 HP, Ranged attack)
- Wyvern (55-78 HP, Ranged attack)
- Warpling (25-40 HP, Teleports, Teleports YOU on hit)
- Spectre (24-36 HP, Ranged Magic attack)
- Glomorg (40-70 HP, 2x Attack/turn, Ranged Magic Attack, Summons Beholders or
Shambling Mounds)
- Shambling Mound (95-145 HP)
- Minotaur (45-70 HP, 2x Move)
- Death Viper (25-36 HP, 3x Move (!))
- Hydra (76-103 HP, 2x Move, 3x Attack/turn!) -- Does a ton of damage, take
them out quickly
- Wraith (26-50 HP, Ranged attack, high AC)
- Nuth Swordsman (49-61 HP, 2x Move, 2x Attack)

The Hydras are new, and worthy of respect, here and anywhere you meet them in
the future.  When you're ready, and you get to the end, you'll find yourself in:


--- Dungeon: Ubon Fortress ---

This place packs a punch, but isn't very long.  At the end of the first room is
a fairly easy welcoming party:

* Jade Golem (99-145 HP, high AC) x4 -- stiff damage from them, too (~20)

Continuing on, we'll face:

Enemies:
- Jylix (56-85 HP, 2x Attack/turn, Teleports, hit causes Blinded)
- Ravenous Slime (17-36 HP, SELF-REPLICATING) -- get 'em while they're hot.
- Undead Dragon (107-144 HP, Area Paralyze (!!), Ranged Attack) -- move apart
to guard against this
- Jade Golem (81-119 HP)
- Stone Guardian (60-94 HP, 2x Move, Self-healing, Magic Resistant)
- Shambling Mound (95-145 HP)
- Iron Golem (56-78 HP)
- Wraith (26-50 HP, Ranged attack, high AC)
- Nuth Swordsman (49-61 HP, 2x Move, 2x Attack)
- Beholder (46-63 HP, Ranged Magic attack)
- Skeleton King (45-75 HP, Ranged attack that does ~25 dmg)
- Bane Mage (44-68 HP, 2x Move, Magic attack)

After the welcoming party, turn north; there's nothing if you go down.  Follow
the path around to the huge room with a bunch of silent, waiting Keepers.
Creepy.  In the middle is a guy who doesn't look like the others...

* Boss: Lich (~157 HP, 2x Attack/turn, Summons Wights or Wraiths, Magic Attack
Steals Life)
Minions: Keeper (65-80 HP, 2x Attack/Turn, High AC, casts Area Heal, Area
Attack) x4
Notes:
- It's hard to know what to prioritize here, since the Keepers heal each
other in a group and the Lich can summon every turn a Wight or Wraith that'll
keep you busy for a full turn.  My strategy is to eliminate the Keepers using
whatever area attacks you've got, then ignore any Wights and just wail on the
Lich, then play cleanup.
- With that approach, you have to make sure the Wights aren't paralyzing you.
If they close to melee range around your Archer or Mage, definitely take those
guys out.
Prize: Soul Prism[1-3], which steals 25-60 life when used (Touch).  I often
sell Soul Prisms, as I can never seem to really find a use for them.

Once defeated, a guy appears to the right:
"Before you stands an ancient undead emperor!  'Make haste, before the Lich
reforms, use this key to access the Trinexus...'  The emperor collapses into a
pile of bones and dust!"

OK, a Quest Item that'll open the door to the right.  Let's head there.  Go to
the right and step inside the Trinexus.



##############################
Game Walkthrough - The Endgame			- GIHQU
##############################



--- The Trinexus ---

As you might guess from the name, the Tri-Nexus connects between 3 paths.  The
Middle one goes to the Western continent (Ubon Fortress), the Left one to the
Eastern continent (Castle Hilenika), and the Right one... is locked for now.

Head left to rejoin Vella in Castle Hilenika.


**********************************
15. Castle Hilenika and the Sewers		- KJPVC
**********************************

Vella welcomes you with a new quest:
Quest: "Hilenikan Sewers"
"Heroes of the Hilenikan Empire, welcome back!  Kroga has yet to be found, but
his minions are occupying the sewers below the Castle.  Will you search out
Kroga and his minions in the sewers?"  Sewers, you say.  I can hardly think of
a more appealing task.

But first, since this joint is now open for business, let's explore the grounds.


--- Town: Castle Hilenika ---

Heal: 50 GP (Location: bottom-right of courtyard)
Shop: Lvl 10 General Store ("Hilenikan Market") - (Sell Trollhelm: 210).

At the shop, the selection is no better, and prices much worse, than Shuunia.
The one thing they have that Shuunia didn't is Stars of Energy.  The one thing
I did buy here was an Elvish Hat +6 (8 AC / 8 RES), but that's a freak
occurrence.  However, by this point in the game, you should have so much money
that you're having a hard time finding a good use for it - any upgrade you see,
you should buy.  By the time you make it to the next-and-final town, you will
have substantially mo' money and mo' problems.

If you leave town, you can charter the boat here for 125 GP and go back to your
old stomping grounds.  If you want to go back to the Western Continent, take
the Trinexus to Ubon Fortress and fight your way out.

However, the path forward is what Vella asked: go to the sewers.  From her
throne room, go down and immediately left, then up and left out the door, and
then it's the 5th (and leftmost) door going up that'll show you the stairs to
the sewer.


--- Dungeon: Hilenikan Sewer ---

This level is MASSIVE and loaded with dangerous enemies.  And very winding,
with lots of dead ends.  Come with LOTS of energy potions, because you're in
for a slog.

Enemies:
- Red Dragon (120-160 HP, Area Attack)
- Hydra (76-103 HP, 2x Move, 3x Attack/turn!)
- Warpling (25-40 HP, Teleports, Teleports YOU on hit)
- Green Dragon (132-160 HP, Ranged Attack that Poisons)
- Jylix (56-85 HP, 2x Attack/turn, Teleports, hit causes Blinded)
- Drogann (51-78 HP, 2x Ranged Attack/turn)
- Vampire (60-85 HP, 2x Move, casts Blessed on Self, Steals Life, Magic Resist)
- Gargoyle (51-86 HP, Ranged Attack)
- Ravenous Slime (17-36 HP, SELF-REPLICATING) -- get 'em while they're hot.
- Bane Mage (44-68 HP, 2x Move, Magic attack)
- Wight (43-63 HP, 2x Move, Attack can Paralyze)
- Minotaur (45-70 HP, 2x Move)
- Vampire Bat (20-38 HP, 3x Move (!), Steals Life)
- Golem Maker (46-67 HP, Summons Clay Golems)
- Stone Guardian (60-94 HP, 2x Move, Self-healing, Magic Resistant)
- Beholder (46-63 HP, Ranged Magic attack)
- Dark Mage (~49-53 HP, Ranged Magic attack)
- Shambling Mound (95-145 HP)
- Nuth Swordsman (49-61 HP, 2x Move, 2x Attack)
- Skeleton King (45-75 HP, Ranged attack that does ~25 dmg)
- Spectre (24-36 HP, Ranged Magic attack)
- Djinn (50-78 HP, Ranged Attack, Ranged status buffs for monsters)
- Life Golem (100-130 HP, 2x Attack/turn)
- Gargantuan Worm (147-209 HP, Casts Berserk on Self)
- Jade Golem (81-119 HP)
- Rock Golem (41-63 HP, Ranged attack)
- Mind Flayer (35-55 HP, 2x Ranged Magic Attack/turn)
- Glomorg (40-70 HP, 2x Attack/turn, Ranged Magic Attack, Summons Beholders or
Shambling Mounds)

The walkthrough is going to be a bit confusing here because it's hard to
adequately discuss where you're walking in such close-knit space.  Broadly
speaking, the sewers are divided into two halves, left and right; you start at
the bottom-left, cross to the right half only at the very top, and then the
boss is down at the bottom-right.  After beating him, a bridge appears back to
the other side, so that you have only a short walk to get out of there.

So, from the start, go right, and don't cross the bridge.  Head right until
you're at the middle column of the map (the big sewer, or "grand canal" if you
prefer).  Just up from there is your welcoming party:

* Vampire (60-85 HP, 2x Move, casts Blessed on Self, Hit Steals Life) x4
Prize: Amulet of Truth

The path wraps around, through a room, and to a split.  Right is a dead-end; go
left, then up and right again, and up when you get to the grand canal.  You'll
continue left, then up on a long bridge where you'll see another bridge to the
left.  Notice how the top of it just ends; so, don't go down the one to the
left!  There's nothing there.  Instead, zig right and zag up, and this will
wrap around to the bridge over the grand canal.  Take the bridge (don't go
down).

Once on the right half of the sewers, follow the winding path, and you'll come
to a junction after a bridge where you can continue left, or go down.  You
should go down; the left just leads back up to where the big bridge was.  The
path winds on, through a room with split paths, left and down the grand canal,
right and over a bridge.  The next fork is up vs down; go down.  After another
small bridge, you have left vs down; down is a dead-end loop, so go left.
You'll head down the grand canal, right and down one last bridge, and around
and underneath an area with some inlets.  Almost there!

In this area with inlets, you want to go right and take the middle road
(between the two streams), straight up to the fixed encounter with the flame-y
looking guy...

"You face a large creature made entirely of flames!  It hisses, 'You are too
late!  Kroga has mastered the Trinexus and accessed the Forbidden World!  There
will soon be hundreds like us roaming this land!"

* Boss: Flame Daemon (~93 HP, 2x Move, Ranged Magic Attack)
Minions: Jade Golem x2, Shambling Mound x2, Stone Guardian x2
Note: Remember that Stone Guardians are resistant to magic.
Prize: In the treasure box is a black key, and a Pendant of Honor (+4 AC, +2
RES, +4 STR, +4 ACC, 1x/combat: Blessed(Touch)).

The Pendant of Honor feels a little under-powered for this stage of the game,
even with the fast-casting of Blessed.  Amulets of Truth (which you have many
of) are much better, in my opinion.  However, your warrior might prefer it over
an Amulet of Awe +1.

When you hit the Treasure Chest, it creates a new bridge across the river, so
you can continue left and head out very easily.


--- Journey to Kroga ---

So you've gotten the Black Key (you can see it in your Heroes menu), and can
open the locked door in the Trinexus.  Cool.  Back to Vella we go.

Quest: "Kroga Trinth"
Vella Trinth: "So Kroga resides in the Forbidden World?  He must plan to merge
it with our world.  Will you enter the Forbidden World via the Trinexus and
defeat him there?"  Sure, honey, I'll go anywhere for a party.

Being that Kroga is her brother, she's pretty bloodthirsty.  Hollywood would
have made this bit more angst-y.  Anyway, sell your stuff, heal up, and be
ready for a wild, wild time.

Once you're ready, head back into the Trinexus.  This time, we're going to take
the right-hand path.  Be careful going through the locked door - there's a
fixed encounter right on the other side.

* Nightmare (116-143 HP, 2x Move, 3x Attack/turn, Ranged Magic that Weakens) x3
Prize: Dark Armor +1 (Warrior Armor, 9 AC, +3 RES, +2 TUF), which is probably
an immediate upgrade.

After the fight, you can take the Trinexus to the Forbidden World.


************************************************
16. Forbidden World 1 & 2: Kroga and the Catwalk		- IUGLW
************************************************

The Forbidden World has 4 levels.  On the first is Kroga.  The game then
continues - because why shouldn't it? - and each level is harder than the last.
Also, try to conserve ammunition for bosses, because there's not a break for a
good long time.


--- Dungeon: Forbidden World Level 1 ---

Enemies:
- Gargantuan Worm (147-209 HP, Casts Berserk on Self)
- Vampire Bat (20-38 HP, 3x Move (!), Steals Life)
- Probably a bunch more, but I don't have the patience to scare up lots of
random encounters right now.

This is kind of a non-level.  You go straight up from the entrance, dodge
around a column, and there Kroga is.  If you look around the edges, there are
statues of Nightmares, Keepers, Undead Emperors, and the like, hanging out
everywhere.

Before taking on Kroga, equip your Kingsword rather than the Sword of Vengeance
(you'll use a spell or potion to get Berserk, time is too important on this
fight).  And save your game, cause it may take a couple tries.

* Boss: Kroga Trinth (~285 HP, Heals Self, hit Teleports YOU)
Minions:
  * Keeper (65-80 HP, 2x Attack/Turn, High AC, casts Area Heal, Area Attack) x2
  * Red Guard (60-88 HP, 2x Move, Ranged attack, casts Eagle-Eyed on self) x2
Notes:
  - Be prepared to use a Dragonstone if you've got one
- Vials of Unmaking are also very important aids, because they let you throw
it and then attack.
- Potions of Rage (for Berserk) and anything that makes you Strong,
Eagle-Eyed or Blessed will be a help here.
Treasure Chest:
"Congratulations, Kroga has been defeated, and the world has been saved!
Inside, you find copious amounts of gold and a wondrous amulet."
  - 1250 GP
- Destiny Amulet (+5 AC, +7 RES, 1x/combat: Heal Self 25-60).  I usually put
it on my Mage, though I lose some damage and to-hit.

Congrats on the victory.  Once you're done celebrating, head straight north for
the stairs to move on.

"Your glorious quest is completed, yet the Forbidden World remaisn
unexplored... will you venture forth"?  Hell yes we will.


--- Dungeon: Forbidden World Level 2 ---

Yeah, we're doing separate sections for the floors here.  I mean, the music
even changes.

This area is somewhat short; you start on the left and need to go all the way
right.  Not a lot of false turns.

Enemies:
- Flame Daemon (74-104 HP, 2x Move, Ranged Magic Attack)
- Life Golem (100-130 HP, 2x Attack/turn)
- Jade Golem (81-119 HP)
- Nuth Swordsman (49-61 HP, 2x Move, 2x Attack)
- Probably a bunch of others that you've seen before.  Mind the Hydras.

At the end of the catwalk is a room with a door.  On the other side of the door
is a strange, hovering green orb.

* Boss: Keendu (~304 HP, Ranged Magic Attack that Paralyzes)
Minions: Glomorg (40-70 HP, Summons Beholders or Shambling Mounds) x1, Heedron
(~111 HP, 2x Ranged Magic Attack/turn) x1
Notes:
- This looks simple and isn't.  Keendu does ~40 dmg per hit and paralyzes who
he hits.
- The best choice is to use an Orb of Time to paralyze him before he gets you
(and anyone near him), then go after the minions.
  - I'll usually bring some Blink Gems just to get my warrior close to him.
- I'll also pre-equip my Kingsword; potions of Rage or Borakash's Hymn of
Anger will take care of Berserking duties.
Prize: 1873 GP and the Mystic Boots (All chars, AC 6, +2 RES, +1 Extra Move,
1x/combat: Teleport Self).  Unless you have Enchanted Boots +2 or greater,
these are going on your Mage.

"A strange, sulfurous odor greets you as you approach this doorway.  Will you
enter?"  Why, what are my other options?


*******************************************
17. Forbidden World 3: Where the Heck Am I?			- SFAXW
*******************************************

This next area is the hardest in the game, not because the enemies are that
different from what you're used to, but because (1) it's an unspeakably long
maze, basically the size of the overworld, and (2) the boss at the end is, for
my money, the toughest fight in the game.  Plus by the time you get to him,
you're already worn down (see #1).

So the lesson here is: conserve your strongest consumables (i.e. keep one
Dragonstone, save any Vials of Unmaking or Embalming, try to keep Stars of
Healing/Energy on hand for emergencies), so that you've got your whole bag of
tricks to throw at the boss.  If you find the Vampire Bow or the Bloodsword,
use their life-stealing abilities to keep yourself healed, rather than
magic/items.

I recommend being Lvl 12 before you try it.  Ready?  OK, let's do this.

Enemies:
- Abomination (45-60 HP, Area Attack, 2x Attack/turn) -- almost as annoying as
Keepers
- Bane Mage (44-68 HP, 2x Move, Magic attack)
- Beholder (46-63 HP, Ranged Magic attack)
- Black Dragon (95-125 HP, Area Attack that Weakens)
- Cave Peeper (25-35 HP, Teleports before attack)
- Drogann (51-78 HP, 2x Ranged Attack/turn)
- Gargantuan Worm (147-209 HP, Casts Berserk on Self)
- Gargoyle (51-86 HP, Ranged Attack)
- Glomorg (40-70 HP, 2x Attack/turn, Ranged Magic Attack, Summons Beholders or
Shambling Mounds)
- Golem Maker (46-67 HP, Summons Clay Golems)
- Green Dragon (132-160 HP, Ranged Attack that Poisons)
- Gurgeez (~59-88 HP, Teleports)
- Hoogon (124-185 HP, 2x Move, casts Berserk on Self)
- Hydra (76-103 HP, 2x Move, 3x Attack/turn!) -- dangerous as always
- Iron Golem (56-78 HP)
- Jade Golem (81-119 HP)
- Jylix (56-85 HP, 2x Attack/turn, Teleports, hit causes Blinded)
- Keeper (65-80 HP, 2x Attack/Turn, High AC, casts Area Heal, Area Magic
Attack) -- always a priority
- Life Golem (100-130 HP, 2x Attack/turn)
- Mind Flayer (35-55 HP, 2x Ranged Magic Attack/turn)
- Nightmare (110-143 HP, 2x Move, 3x Attack/turn, Ranged Magic that Weakens)
- Qeego (61-99 HP, 2x Move, 2x Attack/turn, casts Eagle-Eyed on Self)
- Red Dragon (120-160 HP, Area Attack)
- Red Guard (60-88 HP, 2x Move, Ranged attack, casts Eagle-Eyed on self)
- Shambling Mound (95-145 HP)
- Shammaq (72-94 HP, Self-healing, Hit Paralyzes you)
- Silver Dragon (~106-129 HP, Area Magic Attack)
- Stone Guardian (60-94 HP, 2x Move, Self-healing, Magic Resistant)
- Undead Dragon (107-144 HP, Area Paralyze (!!), Ranged Attack)
- Uulog (59-78 HP, 2x Move, 4x Attack/turn(!!))
- Vampire (60-85 HP, 2x Move, casts Blessed on Self, Hit Steals Life)
- Vogloon (74-90 HP, 2x Attack/turn, Ranged attack)

Overall, the path we're going to follow is down the left side of the map, along
the very bottom edge, then back up and left through the middle, into a very
large room in the center, then over the top of that room and to the right,
ending down about midway down the right side.  Got that?

So, starting up, you'll wind around and take your first left fork.  At the next
fork, stay left rather than go up.  You'll next head down, and wind around
until you're at the lower-left corner.  Proceed right, for what feels like ages.

Coming out the other end of the Infinite Corridor, you'll wind up (down is a
dead-end), and then diagonally to a fork.  Keep going straight left,
particularly ignoring the downward forks, until you're going through small
rooms with a lava pit in the middle.  After 4 such rooms, you'll turn
downwards, and want to go down a bit and to the left (but not all the way on
the bottom), and continue on that left path around and up and to the right.

The path eventually comes to an enormous room, with a big lava pit in the
middle.  There are three exits from the room, all on top.  The left exit just
shows you the platform you could see from back at the beginning of the level,
and has a dead-end.  The right one goes almost literally nowhere.  The middle
one leads to a throne-room-looking place, but if you look carefully, just to
the right is an exit that goes up.

Following that exit around, you'll have a split-and-merge, then another, and
will exit to the right.  As you turn the corner, prepare yourself for battle.
you've finally come to the baddest boss of them all:

"A very unusual creature looks at you with a curious expression... and then
suddenly attacks!"

* Boss: Mlonnix (~180-228 HP, 4x Move, 2x Attacks/turn, Magic Attack doing 40+
damage a hit, SELF-REPLICATING)
Minions: Keeper x4
Notes:
  - They always get Ambush status
- If at all possible, put something in between you and Mlonnix.  Your
strongest Summons, ideally.  Blink Gem away from him if you have to.  His hits
are nearly unblockable and do incredible amounts of damage.
- If not possible, then at least summon something to the side of the guy
tanking him, to divide up the punishment.  I use Dragonstones if I have them.
- A Star of Health restores roughly the same amount of HP as one turn of
"taking a beating from Mlonnix" costs you.
- Do not let a turn go by without using a "Fast" item or ability, including
Warrior/Archer buff spells, Vials of Unmaking, Vials of Health/Energy, or the
special abilities of Legendary items.
  - Mlonnix is essentially invulnerable to Paralyze or any other status effects.
- If you take out Mlonnix, the Keepers are not much of a threat.  On the
other hand, if Mlonnix replicates himself a few times, you're probably screwed.
- Mlonnix will usually Attack if a target is next to him; if one isn't, he
might Move, but he also might Replicate.
- I have successfully won a fight that at one point had up to 5 Mlonnixes,
but doing so requires that they get stacked up against the walls or in a corner
so there's nothing useful for a few of them to do.
Prize: 2384 GP, a Hovering Shield +1 (Warrior/ARCHER shield, AC 5, +4 RES), and
Vial of Embalming +1 [1-2] (sellable, though you may want a few for the last
boss).

If you beat him, great.  If you didn't, relax - you're not alone.  I must've
taken 4 tries to beat him in my first playthrough, and even then, it was by the
skin of my teeth.  Sometimes you just get lucky, and he doesn't replicate.  But
if you find that you're just not up to snuff, it might be worth it to retreat,
find your way back out of the Forbidden World, sell/recharge at Hilenika, and
come back and try again (likely at least one level-up better).

The Hovering Shield is the only shield that the Archer can use; you can find it
dropped from the enemies on the final, upcoming dungeon floor.  And if you're
upset that the Archer gets a shield (despite using a bow!) but the Mage
doesn't, my answer is, just hold on for a little while longer.

Moving along: You've come to a little lake.  There are stairs up to the right,
but don't take them yet.  Instead, go to the right and wind southwards.
Through a door, miraculously, there is a Town!


--- Town: Forbidden Town ---

Heal: 777 GP (ha!)
Left Shop: Lvl 11 General Store ("Spoils and Treasures") - (Sell Kingsword:
750) - Tough-but-fair prices, and fantastic selection.  Many critical Legendary
items are sold here.
Right Shop: Lvl 11 Potion Shop ("Rations and Elixirs") - (Sell Kingsword: 450!)
- Terrible prices, unless you really need some Vials or Stars and are desperate.

Congrats, you've made it past a really tough gauntlet and now have a town
within range for the rest of your explorations.  Sell stuff - you should by now
have at least $20-30k saved up.  This also means it's time to go shopping!

Shopping list:
- Bloodsword (Warrior Weapon, 5000 GP, 24-48 dmg, +9 Hit, +2 ACC, +5 TUF, HIT
STEALS LIFE).  An essential weapon for the hot-swappers among us.  A warrior
with this equipped, when Berserked, is nearly invincible because you'll recover
HP faster than you'll take damage.
- Daemonsword (Warrior Weapon, 7500 GP, 30-60 melee / 15-25 range, +10 Hit, +3
AC, +4 STR, +4 ACC, +2 TUF).  This is the stoutest sword you can buy, if you're
just going for damage, and it means you can sell your Kingsword.
- Bow of Redemption (Archer Weapon, 13500 GP, 30-55 dmg, +12 Hit, +5 STR, +5
ACC, 1x/combat: 20-45 dmg to Area)
- Vampire Bow (Archer Weapon, 6000 GP, 22-35 dmg, +8 Hit, +2 ACC, +5 TUF, Hit
Steals Life!).  This is an optional add-on, partly in case your archer starts
taking massive damage, and partly for the +5 Toughness for a level-up boost.
- Staff of Ascension (Mage Weapon, ??? GP, 18-30 melee / 20-32 range, +10 Hit,
+3 AC, +4 ACC, +5 AWR).  Not that the Staff of the Unliving is all that poor.
There's also another option, which does less damage but is more fun...
- Staff of Cursing (Mage Weapon, 10625 GP, 25-35 melee / 18-25 range, +10 Hit,
+3 AC, +3 ACC, +3 AWR, Hit Effect: PARALYZED).  You read that right - every
time you hit, the monster is paralyzed.  You'll deal a little less damage, but
you'll enjoy it that much more.
- Armor of Ashes (Legendary Warrior Armor, 8325 GP, +10 AC, +4 RES, Extra
Moves: 1).  This is one of two pieces of armor that will grant an Extra Move.
With it and the Dragonboots, your warrior can move 3 times in one turn and
still attack (or 4 times without attacking).  Dark Armor +2 or greater may be
the stat equivalent, but you can't get that Move any other way.
- Doomsday Cloak (Legendary Mage Armor, 13500 GP, +9 AC, +6 RES, 1x/combat:
Summon Gargoyle, Extra Moves: 1).  This is the other armor that grants an extra
move.  Very useful.  Arguably, Dimensional Cloak +3 or greater could be more
useful, but the extra move is fun.
- Warhelm +Lots (min +1) (Warrior Helm, ~11500+ GP, 7+ AC, 4+ RES, 4+ ACC).
You have probably already found a Warhelm from your battles on the way here,
but just know that you can buy a +1 or +2 version if you look hard enough.
- Enchanted Boots +Lots (min +3) (~6800+ GP, 6+ AC, 4+ RES, Extra Moves: 1).
Aside from the Mystic Boots, a good pair of Enchanted Boots +X is going to be
what your Archer wears.
- Dragonboots +Lots (min +1) (~$5k+ GP, 5+ AC, 2+ TUF, Extra Moves: 2).  Your
Warrior will really benefit from the Extra Moves, so just find the best pair of
Dragonboots you can.

Optional:
- Master Helm (Archer Helm, 11375 GP, 7 AC, +4 RES, +3 STR, +4 ACC, 1x/combat:
Eagle-Eyed(self)), the best Archer helm.  Ideally, hold out for a +1 version of
this, which you can also buy in the shop (for MUCHO DINERO, ~$20k, but still
worth it).
- Amulet of Truth +Lots (min +1) ($11k+ GP, +4 AC, +3 RES, +3 ACC, +7 AWR, +2
TUF).  It's unclear whether you can buy an Amulet of Truth here with a +
greater than 2.  But you can definitely find them dropped upstairs.  And a +1
or +2 is still a big upgrade over a vanilla one.
- Royal Pendant (10937 GP, +4 AC, +3 RES, +5 STR, +5 ACC, +5 AWR, +5 TUF).  Big
price tag, but it beats the heck out of the Amulet of Awe, and out of the
Amulet of Truth too.  See if you can buy the +1 version - the shop sells it!

Avoid:
- Guardian Shield (the Shield of Justice is better, and so is the Dragonshield)
- Vampire Bow (yeah, it drains life, but your Archer doesn't take many hits and
the Bow of Legends, Bow of Redemption, and Gemini Bow all do way more damage)
- Armor of the Rangers is optional.  It's 8 AC / 4 RES / 1 TUF, but Mithril
Armor +2 or more probably tops it.

When you're done shopping, you can head out and either explore the other nooks
and crannies of Level 3, or take the stairs by the water pool up to...


****************************************
18. Forbidden World 4: The Walled Garden			- HTSXA
****************************************

Well, this is it.  LarvaLabs' big "throw the kitchen sink at you" level, much
like the last level of Gurk 2.  But by now, you're super-charged and ready to
handle everything.  This will actually be much easier than Level 3, and it's so
straightforward that I don't even need a walkthrough.  Well, maybe not, but
it's more fun like this.  I like to keep some surprises in the game.

At the very least, here's what's facing you up there.

Enemies:
- Abomination (45-60 HP, Area Attack, 2x Attack/turn) -- almost as annoying as
Keepers
- Bane Mage (44-68 HP, 2x Move, Magic attack)
- Beholder (46-63 HP, Ranged Magic attack)
- Black Dragon (95-125 HP, Area Attack that Weakens)
- Djinn (50-78 HP, Ranged Attack, Ranged status buffs for monsters)
- Drogann (51-78 HP, 2x Ranged Attack/turn)
- Flame Daemon (74-104 HP, 2x Move, Ranged Magic Attack)
- Gargantuan Worm (147-209 HP, Casts Berserk on Self)
- Gargoyle (51-86 HP, Ranged Attack)
- Glomorg (40-70 HP, 2x Attack/turn, Ranged Magic Attack, Summons Beholders or
Shambling Mounds)
- Golden Dragon (~120-152 HP, Area Attack, ...?)
- Golem Maker (46-67 HP, Summons Clay Golems)
- Green Dragon (132-160 HP, Ranged Attack that Poisons)
- Gurgeez (~59-88 HP, Teleports)
- Heedron (90-129 HP, 2x Ranged Magic Attack/turn, High AC, low damage)
- Hoogon (124-185 HP, 2x Move, casts Berserk on Self)
- Hydra (76-103 HP, 2x Move, 3x Attack/turn!)
- Irrelephant (138-190, Area Attack, Ranged Attack, Melee Hit Teleports YOU)
- Jade Golem (81-119 HP)
- Jylix (56-85 HP, 2x Attack/turn, Teleports, hit causes Blinded)
- Keeper (65-80 HP, 2x Attack/Turn, High AC, casts Area Heal, Area Magic
Attack) -- always a priority
- Lich (96-149 HP, 2x Attack/turn, Summons Wights or Wraiths, Magic Attack
Steals Life)
- Life Golem (100-130 HP, 2x Attack/turn)
- Mind Flayer (35-55 HP, 2x Ranged Magic Attack/turn)
- Nightmare (110-143 HP, 2x Move, 3x Attack/turn, Ranged Magic that Weakens,
Blinds or Roots)
- Qeego (61-99 HP, 2x Move, 2x Attack/turn, casts Eagle-Eyed on Self)
- Red Dragon (120-160 HP, Area Attack)
- Red Guard (60-88 HP, 2x Move, Ranged attack, casts Eagle-Eyed on self)
- Rock Golem (41-63 HP, Ranged attack)
- Shambling Mound (95-145 HP)
- Shammaq (72-94 HP, Self-healing, Hit Paralyzes you)
- Silver Dragon (~106-129 HP, Area Magic Attack)
- Skeleton King (45-75 HP, Ranged attack that does ~25 dmg)
- Stone Guardian (60-94 HP, 2x Move, Self-healing, Magic Resistant)
- Undead Dragon (107-144 HP, Area Paralyze (!!), Ranged Attack)
- Uulog (45-78 HP, 2x Move, 4x Attack/turn(!!))
- Vampire (60-85 HP, 2x Move, casts Blessed on Self, Hit Steals Life)
- Vogloon (51-90 HP, 2x Attack/turn, Ranged attack)

Making your way through the level should be fairly easy.  As to the identity of
and tactics for the last boss, here is all the advice I'll offer:

- They always get Ambush, so unless one of your party has a really high (like,
26+) Resistance, you will probably all be Paralyzed for 1-2 turns while they
wail on you.  Let the good times roll!
- If someone avoids the Area Paralyze hit, they can use Wands of Curing to heal
other party members, and then GTFO: move out of range of each other.
- It's very hard to paralyze the boss, but it's possible.  Vials of Embalming
cast Area-Paralyze and are also Fast to act, which is a huge advantage in time.
The whole hard part about this battle is time - buying time, costing them time,
saving time moving around.
- The boss's minions are kinda wimpy by comparison, and none of them are able
to cause serious damage or impact your party's status the way the boss himself
can.  So until you feel like things are well under control, you can probably
ignore them.
- Summons make a big difference.  If you were somehow able to beat the Mlonnix,
but find that you can't handle this guy, then just have each of your party
bring a Dragonstone into battle (bought for $5k or found) and use them as soon
as you are able.

Once defeated: Congratulations!  There's now nothing more to do in the game
other than level up, collect more items, and wander around.  As with the other
Gurks, there's no credits that scroll or anything, there's just no more
challenges that await.  Enjoy your Badge of Honor (Mage Shield).  You win!
Quit when you're bored.  Some people on the Gurk Forum have kept on playing up
to Level 40+.

Here's my final party, just for comparison's sake:

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Equipment Check: Lvl 15
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Here's my party and equipment just before fighting the last boss, for your
comparison purposes.  Parentheses are (AC/RES), so, (7/3) would be +7 AC, +3
RES, net of AWR/TUF bonuses.


Char:	Borakash (W)		Feraldan (A)		Gaelabeth (M)
Basics:	HP 220, SP 46, AC 37	HP 203, SP 62, AC 40	HP 180, SP 165, AC 41
	RES 26, +11 Dam, +5 Hit	RES 32, +5 Dam, +13 Hit	RES 29, +4 Dam, +6 Hit
Weapon:	Sword of Veng.(berserk)	Bow of Redemption	Staff of Cursing
Switch:	Daemonsword (high dmg)	Vampire Bow (life steal)
Switch: Bloodsword (life steal)
Shield:	Shield of Justice (6/4)	Hovering Shield +1(5/4)	N/A
Helm:	Warhelm +1 (7/4)	Enchanted Helm +3 (8/5)	Elvish Hat +6 (8/8)
Armor:	Platemail Armr +4(10/7)	Mithril Armor +5 (12/7)	Dimens. Cloak +3(12/6)
Boots:	Dragonboots +1 (5/1)	Enchnt'd Boots +3 (6/4)	Mystic Boots (6/2)
Ring:	Pendant of Honor (6/2)	Royal Pendant (6/5)	Destiny Amulet (5/7)

How would I improve this, you ask?  Great question.  Things I'd still like to
find in the shop or the battlefield include:

- Royal Pendant +1 (or find higher +)
- Dragonboots +2 (or higher)
- Warhelm +3 (I'm sure it's out there)
- Dimensional Cloak +6 (theoretically, the shop should sell it)
- Helm of the Magi +6 (I really should be able to do better than Elvish Hat +6)
- Gemini Bow (a found-only-on-the-last-level bow that gives 2x attack/turn)
- Kingsword +6 (might replace my Daemonsword, given the stat bonuses)
- Oversword (another found-on-Forbidden-World-4 weapon - would replace both
Sword of Veng. & Daemonsword)

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

You do get one thing for beating the game, though: if you start a New Game, you
can now choose from the 4th set of characters.  I don't happen to consider them
all that special, but they definitely change the way you'll play the game, so
they add some replay value.

Best of luck, and enjoy.



###################
Epilogue and Errata		- BNFIW
###################

A few more things before I go...

************************************
Copyright and Distribution Statement
************************************

This document is (C) 2014 by Steve Estes.  Anyone may download and use it for
free, but must leave it unchanged and may not offer it for sale or claim it as
their own work.

I only authorize two locations for it to be distributed from: GameFaqs.com, and
the official Gurk Wiki at http://gurk-rpg.wikispaces.com/ .  All other hosted
locations are unauthorized.


********************************
Acknowledgement and Contact Info
********************************

Thanks for reading, I hope you've gotten some use out of this guide.  Frankly,
though, what I really hope is that you enjoyed playing the game itself.  John
and Matt had the creativity to come up with something so fun, and to them goes
the credit - I'm just typing away, procrastinating, explaining their game to
you.  But if you have a correction, suggestion or other piece of feedback for
the game, don't hesitate to email me at:

denzera(at)gmail(dot)com

Happy hunting!

-Steve

---------
To be added in the future		- EHANV
---------

- Talk about equipment
- Legendary items (Some buy-able, some only found once), and all show colored
squares in inventory/shop menu
  - Each + adds 80% to buy/sell price, geometrically
    - Military Boots +6, in Forbidden Town, cost 5527. +1, 292.
- Flamberge +3, in Forbidden Town, costs 1858.  +6, 10841. +1, 573. +4,
3346.
- Armored Boots +4, in Forbidden Town, costs 7086. +3, 3936. +2, 2187. +1,
1215. +0, 675.
    - Amulet of Awe, in Forbidden Town, 1500.  +1, 2700.  +2, 4860. +4, 15746.
  - For potions, Each + adds 50% to buy/sell price, linearly
- Explain shop price variance
  - Running town: Q&L vs run out and in
- Spell speed ("fast = can still attack after casting it")
- Bugs list, from other text file
- Explain the "Sell Trollhelm" thing
- List of Warrior/Archer spells (add to XLS)